Hello, my fellow Trauma Center writers. I return to you with some romantic fluff for three reasons.
1. I want to stay fresh with some writing. Short writing, but better than nothing.
2. I was feeling pretty inspired to write about something about Southern California.
3. I'd like the 500th story here to be a Trauma Center one instead of a Trauma Team one.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Especially TCGeek, since this one is for you.
Fireproof
It looked like hell on Earth.
Derek peered grimly out the window, watching the smoke billow up in melancholy clouds and the sky turn a sallow, sickly yellow. In the back the TV was turned on to the news, the only illumination in an otherwise dim room.
"After three days of extended burning, the wildfire that started in the middle of the Santa Susanna Mountains has moved south with alarming rapidity, threatening local communities in the northern Los Angeles County."
Derek had lived in these parts all his life, the desert chaparral with its strange and all too flammable foliage. This was not the first wildfire he had been caught in, and he was not particularly frightened. He could see the flames peeking ever so often over the other side of the mountain, imagining how the fire would be consuming the old paths he had hiked before on the other side.
"Derek?"
Angie Stiles emerged from their bedroom.
"I'm done packing. Are we ready to evacuate?"
"We can stay until they tell us to come out. The fire hasn't even reached the other side of the mountain yet."
As she walked over next to him, Derek held her in a comforting embrace as they looked solemnly at that blazing mountain.
"Derek?"
"Darling?"
"I'm scared."
Derek nuzzled her neck, smelling her sweet soft hair. He knew that as soon as they had to get out and evacuate there would only be the smell of ash and burning earth outside.
"It's all right, Ang. The fire hasn't burned any homes yet, but when it's this close, they'll be putting in everything they've got."
"You sure they'll stop it in time?"
"I'm confident in it."
Angie scrunched her nose a bit. "I don't see any firetrucks."
"They're all on the road on the other side, probably. If we're lucky they'll be bringing along the firefighting planes. Then we'll know we're really safe."
As if on cue, they could see a plane flying low towards the mountain. As soon as it was above the fire, it dumped its payload, splashing a large amount of red fire retardant fluid onto the blaze below. Immediately the blaze seemed to die down a little; the sky seemed to glow a little less. The sun was supposed to be setting sometime soon, but with the ash and the fire, it still seemed bright as day.
"Well, speak of the devil then. See how much of the flame it extinguished?"
Derek was smiling a bit, but Angie didn't share his small bit of mirth.
"Derek…what if they can't contain the fire, and we do lose our house? I'm still scared."
He looked at her briefly…in her eyes was doubt, trepidation, and a bit of childlike innocence. He felt as if their unborn child was speaking through her at that moment.
"Shh…it'll be fine. You'll be safe. The baby'll be safe."
He stroked her hair softly, combing out the tangles gently like he always did.
"I guess you're right…I mean, you've gotten out of this fix a lot of times," Angie sighed. "And when I moved to Southern California I thought it would be earthquakes…"
His hands moved down comfortingly to her tummy. She did not have much of one at the moment, being only three months into pregnancy, but it was something that he said he "wanted to get in the habit of doing." At first it had bugged her, but eventually she got used to it. There was something in the way he did it this time, though, that felt so soothing and sensitive.
"So what if there's an earthquake? Or the fire right now burns down our house? Those are pretty small things. I mean, that's really the best nature can throw at us. And heck, if we could take down whatever unnatural things man could toss our way, I don't think there's anything we can't do for each other or for the child."
There was silence except for the TV in the background. Derek walked over quickly to turn it off, then went back to her, turning her by the shoulders to face him.
"No matter what happens, Angie, I'll do anything for you and our baby. Anything. And we don't have to worry about that fire or anything. We're fireproof."
He had that goofy grin again, and Angie smiled. How could she not? Softly they kissed. Perhaps on an ordinary date it might have gotten deeper, but there was a loud knock on the door. Angie tried to break off a bit quickly, but Derek held on for just the slightest moment before releasing.
"That's our cue to leave. C'mon let's go."
Hand in hand, they walked to the bedroom to grab their suitcases and evacuate, knowing that their love was truly fireproof.