Sammy and Ilna, thank you for your TREMENDOUS help on this one. You are the absolute bestest ever!

REALMcRollers, this became a two parter at Sammy and Ilna's suggestion. I thank you all, as always, for the love and support!

Back by popular demand! There is a REAL World Ask the Authors Q&A answer in the endnotes!

Hugs to all!

Unleashed

Steve and Danny were twenty minutes out on their way back from a stakeout. Both were looking forward to getting home.

"Gracie must have fallen asleep," Steve observed with a nod at Danny's phone.

"Yeah, haven't gotten a text in a whole hour." Danny's smile was full of affection for his daughter. "She was insanely excited to have dinner with Catherine and Carrie. Even though she was texting with Nonna and Theresa last night to see the blizzard photos. Thanks for letting her stay over, too."

"We love having her, you know that. Carrie gets a huge kick out of all the lists and stuff she's making. Said she's having a blast. How could she not? Everyone loves Gracie," he added proudly.

Danny grinned. "I don't think I've seen her this excited about anything, ever. She tells everyone she talks to she's gonna be a maid of honor. Everyone. Including the lady in the window at McDonalds. Not to mention she texted a picture of the venue to half the planet. Ya know -"

He was cut off as both men caught sight of the brightness cutting through the darkened streetscape, and Steve accelerated towards what could only be a fire.

They called it in and less than a minute later they bolted from the car and, grabbing masks from the first aid kit, headed toward the storefront that was ablaze.

"Go, go! I got you!" Danny called over the sound of the fire as they circumvented the front entrance and moved to what was clearly an apartment behind the store.

Steve broke through the door, and they were hit with black smoke and heat that dimmed their vision.

Not two hundred feet inside, they encountered a figure. When they reached it they saw it was a man carrying a second, smaller figure. He coughed out, "Help. Outside. Can't breathe."

Taking the smaller person from his arms, Danny exchanged a look with Steve as his partner grabbed the near-collapsing man.

"Anyone else inside?!" Steve shouted to be heard. The man was close to blacking out, and the fire roared and crackled, making it difficult to be heard.

"Is anyone else here?" he repeated, and when the man shook his head, saying, "No, nobody," Steve hoisted him into a carry and followed his partner outside.

Across the street, away from the building, they reached the first aid kit and as Steve laid the man down, he heard Danny's strangled voice a few feet away.

"No. No. No. C'mon, Sweetheart." His partner leaned over a girl of about nine years old and began CPR.

Beside Steve, the man in his early thirties grabbed at him and scrabbled to stand but promptly fell back in a violent fit of coughing.

"Hey, hey, easy, breathe slow. EMTs are on the way." He grabbed a portable O2 canister and tried to fit the mask over the man's face but he pushed it away.

"No, help … my daughter … ple … please."

"My partner has her. I'm gonna go help. You stay put. Use this." Steve handed him the mask, and while he didn't put it on, he did suck in a few gulps of oxygen before moving to his hands and knees.

When he was sure the child's father wasn't going to lose consciousness, Steve moved the few feet to his partner's side. "Danny?"

His best friend's eyes met his. Watery but bright blue against his soot covered face.

"Grab the AMBU. Where the fuck is the ambulance?" Danny ground out between counting compressions.

Steve motioned he'd take over compressions if his partner was getting too exhausted, but Danny didn't budge, so he took up position to use the AMBU bag himself and began counting one breath every three seconds.

While it could be difficult for a single person to maintain the face mask seal with one hand while squeezing the bag with other, Steve had been trained to do it singlehandedly. In the field, the assistance of a second rescuer was rare.

"You're okay, I've got you, breathe for me, honey, please breathe." Danny talked to the unresponsive little girl as he swiped tears and sweat from his eyes with a sleeve.

"Emily! Oh, God!"

Steve turned to see the distraught father crawling towards them and shook his head. "Stay there. Let us work."

Seconds later, the man seemed to notice the wail of sirens that signaled the EMTs and Fire Department were arriving and looked around.

Just as the EMTs reached them, Danny let out a choked, "There you go!" as Emily gasped and began to cough. "Good girl!"

"We got her, Detective, great work." The EMT, a woman familiar to Steve and Danny, fitted her with an oxygen mask and checked the child's eyes with a pen light.

"Hey, hi. I'm Nalani, breathe nice and slow okay?" She nodded at the men and signaled for a stretcher.

As Danny gently lifted her onto it himself, the girl focused her eyes and said, "Where's Daddy?" her voice muffled by the mask.

"Here, baby. I'm right behind you," he said in a hoarse croak.

Emily tilted her head back to see he was close and when he took her hand, she gave a tiny sigh. "You sound funny."

Danny clapped him on the shoulder and the man gave him a one armed hug, never letting go of his daughter. He did the same to Steve while chanting, "Thank you, thank you," over and over.

"Sir, we need to go. You have to get checked out, too." A second EMT placed a hand on his back. "Can you tell me your name?"

As father and daughter were placed in the ambulance, the man said, "Cole. Cole Owens. My daughter's gonna be okay, right?"

Steve and Danny stood, exhausted and soot covered, and watched him climb in beside her. Among the chaos across the street as the firefighters battled the blaze, Cole Owens called out another hoarse and shaky, "Thank you!"

"Commander?" An HPD detective approached Steve and Danny almost an hour later. "I understand you were first on scene. Is this a Task Force investigation, should I turn over …?" He held up a tablet.

"It's not. We saw the fire and responded," Steve clarified, and the detective, whose name was Michaels, nodded.

"I heard you saved the victims then went back in to make sure the building was empty after the EMTs took the Owens to the ER. I have four kids myself, I can't imagine that poor guy not making it out with his daughter …" He shook his head.

"We were here." Steve shrugged, indicating he and Danny only did what came naturally to both.

"EMTs said they were stable." Michaels brightened. "I figured you were on this one because of the accelerant."

Steve exchanged a look with Danny and pulled out his phone to send a text.

Catherine woke to Cammie's whine and her senses prickled. It was past one and although Steve had texted, Running late don't wait up, she'd expected him home before midnight.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she whispered, throwing her legs over the side of the bed as the dog uncharacteristically pawed the door.

Before she could even rise, the door opened and Catherine saw Steve's figure silhouetted in the doorway. A second later, the acrid smell of fire reached her nose. "What happened?" She'd sensed there was trouble from Cammie's reaction before Steve had even ascended the stairs.

"We're fine," he said as she wrapped him in a hug. Leading him into the room, she flipped on the bedside light and held her gasp at his soot and sweat streaked face and arms.

"Are you hurt? Burned?" Her eyes travelled over him, and she didn't let out her breath until she assured herself he was fine.

She didn't ask the details, she simply kissed him back when he held her against him, and as Steve breathed in the scent of her hair, she ran her hands over his back in small circles.

Turning them gently, she guided him to sit on the edge of the bed, but he kissed her again and said, "I gotta shower." When she didn't release her hold, he repeated, "Cath, I'm filthy."

She didn't want to let go but nodded, knowing once he laid down he wouldn't want to get back up. When he emerged in five minutes, Catherine just stood there, holding out her arms. He held her for a long time, telling her about Danny, the little girl and the CPR. How the child unleashed his partner's paternal side and how Steve had been almost as concerned for Danny if she hadn't pulled through as he was for the distraught father.

"I've seen worse. You know better than anyone, but that kid, Cath, she was about Gracie's age when I met her. Seeing Danny…" He shook his head, and Catherine guided him to sit.

"Danny's here, right? I hope he didn't go home?" She slid her fingers through his hair, and as he rested his cheek against her midriff, she could feel his muscles begin to uncoil.

"No, he needed to see Gracie. He was gonna shower and stay here."

"Good," she murmured as they shifted up to lean against the headboard. Once they did, he held her close and filled her in on more details. She smiled softly when he kissed her at the end of the tale. She knew what it took - and what it meant for him to tell her right away. Years ago he'd have had to process it all first.

When his soft caresses turned more ardent, Catherine slid down and guided him over her. She reached up to return his kiss, knowing he was bone tired but needed the physical reassurance of being with her. She'd felt the same, many times.

There was a firestorm of emotion in his kiss and the "God, I love you," murmured against her mouth.

Looking into his exhausted hazel eyes, she said, "Love you," pulling him closer with a soft press of her heel to his lower back, and ran one hand down his spine while her fingers grazed his cheek.

Later, she lay curled into his side as he began to doze. A loving smile appeared on her lips when just before he completely relaxed against her, he whispered, "I love you, Cath," as he fell asleep.

End Part One

Part Two will be posted tomorrow

The REAL World Ask the Authors Q&A is back by popular demand! We'll answer questions in the endnotes of stories during the last week of every month.

Today's question:

Katydid13 asks, Does Steve have any guilty pleasure tv shows?

Steve will watch IRON DOG or any K9 Dog Competitions whenever they are on cable. After every episode he comments to Catherine how Cammie is smarter.

You can submit questions to the REAL World writing team via reviews, email (realmcroll at yahoo dot com), Tumblr (mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com), and to Mari on Twitter at mari21763

If you are not on the REALMcRoll email list and would like to be, or you'd just like to say hi, drop us an email at realmcroll at yahoo dot com with "Add me, please!" in the subject line.

Looking for links to all the REAL World McRoll stories in one place? Check out our Tumblr page mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com.

In addition, one of our AWESOME REAL Worlders, katydid13, has created a community here on fanfiction dot net that brings all of the REAL World stories, and all of Mari, Sammy & Ilna's pre-universe stories in one place. You can find it at

community/McRoll-in-the-Real-World