AN: This is my first fanfic, let me know what you think! But please no flames. I wrote it for the best ladies in the whole world, Mrs. Butter and the Casserole Goddess. Mrs. Butter the Firefighter scene is for you ;)

I do not own any of this and I have no money so please don't sue me.

Chapter 1: Burn It Down

Home. Andy breathed deeply the familiar scent of vanilla candles and Mr. Clean and smiled. Five months had felt longer than she ever imagined. But they'd got them. Six scumbags and 30 million dollars in marijuana off the street. It had definitely been worth it. Or so she told herself. There was a churning in her stomach that said otherwise.

Tomorrow she would be back at fifteen division. The thought made her want to run for the hills.

I love you. He'd said the words. Though she had half convinced herself she'd dreamed them. They had certainly featured in her dreams on a nightly basis since then. Well.. when she wasn't having that dream. The weirdly specific reoccurring one that had started a few weeks ago and would not let up. But that was not the point. The point was tomorrow she would see him for the first time since she had disappeared without so much as a goodbye and she was terrified.

There really was only one thing she could do. She turned the oven to 375 F and pulled out her bright yellow That's a Bowl, a house warming gift from Claire. There was a pound of butter in the freezer. Andy unwrapped it,. humming to herself as she dumped the creamy block into the bowl. She placed the bowl in the microwave, set it to low, and hit quick minute. It took about three minutes, but then the butter was soft enough to work with. She added two teaspoons of vanilla.

Just as she was reaching for the refrigerator to grad a couple of eggs her phone rang. Sighing, Andy abandoned her baking and began the hunt for her cell phone. She got to it just before the voice mail kicked in. "Hello?"

"It is true!" Traci's voice was high pitched with excitement.

"Trace! Oh my God it's good to hear your voice." Andy tucked the phone into the crook of her shoulder and made her way back to the kitchen.

"I can't believe you're finally home." Traci gushed. "When are you back to work?"

"Tomorrow." Andy carefully measured out a cup of brown sugar and added it to the bowl.

"Nervous?" Tracy asked.

Andy turned on her electric mixers and began blending the ingredients. "A little. It's going to be weird seeing.. everyone."

"You mean Swarek?" Tracy asked, picking up on the pause.

"Sometimes I wish you didn't know me quite so well." Andy said, pouting a little. "I haven't' seen him since... "she trailed off, realizing that Tracy didn't know what Sam had said to her. No one did.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to see you." Tracy said confidently.

Andy shrugged, switching off the beaters and reaching for a bag of milk chocolate chips. "I don't know, Trace... I mean I didn't even say goodbye."

Tracy made an exasperated noise. "You were going on a task force. If anyone is going to understand it's Sam. I mean it's not like he hasn't picked up and left in the middle of the night before."

Andy laughed a little at that. "That's true. But I'm still making his favourite cookies."

"Andy, are you and Sam...?" Tracy's voice was excited.

Andy groaned. "I don't know. It's been five months."

"He isn't seeing anyone... I don't think." Tracy supplied helpfully.

Andy smiled. "Well. We'll see what happens tomorrow." She scooped a dozen cookies onto a baking sheet and slid them into the oven. "How are you?"

Tracy launched into an update on her life. She wasn't ready to start dating yet, but Leo was home and she was sleeping through the night again. It wasn't quite 'normal' but she was starting to heal. "I don't even look for him when I walk into the station anymore."

Andy curled up on her couch, making sympathetic noises at the appropriate moments, but mostly just listening as Traci poured out her thoughts.

"Hey, Andy?" Tracy said, her tone suddenly hesitant.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still have that sweater I loaned you?"

Andy had to think for a few minutes before she knew what Tracy was talking about. "The Leaf's hoodie?"

"Yeah."

Andy stood up and walked towards her bedroom. "I'm sure it's in here somewhere." She had a vague picture in her brain of the over-sized Toronto Maple Leafs' hoodie she'd borrowed from Tracy months ago because she was freezing cold in Tracy and Jerry's new apartment. Suddenly she realized why Tracy was probably asking and felt like an idiot. "Was it Jerry's?"

Tracy's voice was a little choked. "Yeah. I just..." She took a deep shuddering breath. "Nothing here smells like him anymore. I just thought..."

"I don't think I washed it." Andy supplied . For once her less than perfect housekeeping skills were working in her favour. "I'll find it and bring it to the station tomorrow, okay?"

"Thanks Andy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Andy said, disconnecting the call. She tossed her phone on the bed and began rummaging through her closet. She had just found it when she smelled smoke. "Oh shit! The cookies!" Clutching the hoodie in one hand, Andy sprinted out to the kitchen which was rapidly filling with acrid black smoke.

She reached for her fire extinguisher, only to remember she hadn't taken it to get refilled since the time she'd set that cake on fire. "Fuck!" Flames licked out from her oven, catching the towels she had hanging there and spreading quickly.

Her training kicking in, Andy did what she knew she had to and ran out into the hall to pull the building's fire alarm and then made her way outside, Jerry's hoodie still clutched in one hand.

Thirty third station was having a quiet Thursday night. There'd been a cat in a tree at two in the afternoon and a fender bender involving a 911-happy senior at four and otherwise the guys had been passing the time the way they usually did: strip poker.

"Read 'em an weep, gentlemen." Brody said laying down his cards with a flourish. His burnished muscles rippled with even that small movement.

"Christ, Brody! What did you do, hide the Ace in your tighty whiteys?" Ethan stood, prepared to bare it all. His tanned skin was dappled with goosebumps and he tried not to think too much about what the cold air would do to other parts of his body which would soon be exposed for all to see.

Adam eyed Ethan's perfectly honed six pack hungrily. It was times like this he was glad he hadn't told his workmates the truth. If they knew, or even suspected, he was currently imagining what Ethan would look like smeared in maple syrup, imagining his tongue lapping the sticky sweet gloop off of that perfect, hard flesh, they would beat the shit out of him. And worse than that, there would definitely be less strip poker.

And since some days it took the mental image of a sudsy rivulet cascading over Ethan's perfectly sculpted ass as he washed away the soot after a rescue to get Adam out of bed in the morning - or to sleep at night- no strip poker would be a very bad thing.

"You going to deal or what?" Brody tilted his handsome head to one side, eyeing Adam curiously. Brody had lost his shirt early in the game, but somehow managed not to lose much else. Well... there'd been both his boots, and his left sock, but nothing that increased his nudity meaningfully. Which was a damn shame if you asked Adam, the man made Ethan look positively tiny in the penis department. And he knew how to use all nine inches to great effect.

Adam rolled his lips together, wetting them with his tongue. He was pretty sure Brody didn't remember that night. He had been incredibly drunk. But oh GOD that had been a good night. Adam thanked his lucky stars he was still wearing his coat so no one could see the growing hardness in his trousers. He wasn't sure how he'd ended up at the same station as half the men in this year's charity calendar, but it was a blessing and a curse. His hands bridged the deck effortlessly as his mind worked on removing Brody's trousers, unveiling the perfect cock, jutting proudly from a dark thatch of hair. He dealt the hands while he imagined his own hands wrapping around Brody's hardness, silky soft, hard as iron, hot and perfect. He would stroke it just so, watching Brody's eyes flutter shut, his head fall back, silky brown hair falling away from his high forehead, Body's hands would twist through Adam's hair, urging him downwards. Adam would kneel before him and slowly, so fucking slowly, take the whole length of Brody into his mouth. Brody tasted like nothing Adam had ever had before. Salty and sweet and manly. Adam's cock jumped in his trousers.

A shrill alarm broke the relative silence of the station and suddenly the room erupted into action. Cards were tossed on the table, mostly naked men scrambled to get back into their gear, cursing their luck. Why of why did some fucker have to start a fire tonight? They were off in four hours.

Adam rose with some difficulty. His erection was not deflated by the shock of the alarm, or the mental cold water he tried to splash on his arousal.

Suddenly Brody grabbed his arm and dragged him around the side of the truck. "We're up front" He yelled to the other guys, pushing Adam into the passenger's seat. The rest of the men piled into the back, still buttoning and zipping themselves into full firefighting gear.

Adam leaned his head against the seat rest, taking deep breaths and telling his body to get into work mode.

When Brody's hand reached over and flicked open his fly he almost yelped in shock. He turned to look at his partner, but Brody's eyes were fixed out front, his left hand flipped the switch for the alarm and then returned to the wheel as his right dragged down Adam's zipper, slid inside Adam's boxers, and wrapped itself around Adam's cock.

Adam closed his eyes and focused on the skilled movement of Brody's strong fingers as they squeezed and stroked his cock. It wasn't long before he felt the tightening in his balls and with a barely audibly groan he came, hot spurts of semen making it no further than the cotton of his boxers and then trickling down his thigh. He zipped himself up hastily, just as Brody pulled the truck against the curb of an apartment building. Adam could see flames licking out from one of the windows and as much as he wanted to pull Brody aside and demand an explanation, he forced his brain into work mode.

It took the crew less than an hour to put out the fire, but the unit, and the one below it were destroyed.

"Is there someone we can call for you?"

Andy looked up at the tall, handsome fire fighter. There were lines of soot on his chiseled face and she felt a hot wave of embarrassment. She couldn't believe she'd nearly burnt down her own building. "Uh.. um... no." She stammered. She knew she had to call someone, she couldn't very well sleep on the street in a tank top, jeans and sock feet. It was April, but the nights were still chilly.

"Are you sure? You won't be allowed back into the building until ..." The firefighter continued talking, but Andy wasn't listening any more.

She'd seen a familiar face across the parking lot, and if she'd thought she was embarrassed thirty seconds ago, it was nothing to how she felt now. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. "Sam?" She half whispered his name, willing him to be a mirage.

He wasn't. And he was headed towards her at a jog, a very familiar worried look on his handsome face. "Andy?" He called out when he was still a few feet away.

She tried to force a smile, but it felt very weak.

He closed the distance between them, placing both hands on her shoulders as if to pull her into a hug before thinking better of it. He dropped his arms awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine."

"We heard about the fire on the radio.." He gestured in the general direction of his cruiser, pulled half into a parking spot, lights flashing. She could see Gail helping the fire fighters cordon off the building and saw another cruiser pull into the lot.

"Come on," Sam placed a hand on the small of her back and steered her towards his cruiser. Andy followed without protest, her brain was reeling too fast for her to protest as he opened the passenger side door and gestured for her to get in.

She clutched Jerry's hoodie against her chest and watched as Sam navigated the chaos in front of her building to get to his partner. They talked for a few moments, Gail squeezed his arm and smiled and Andy felt her gut churn enviously. And then he was jogging back to the car.

It wasn't until he'd pulled out onto the street that she found her voice. "where are we going?" She asked.

"My place." He said, not taking his eyes off the road. "You need a place to stay. I have a spare room." His voice was casual, but his hands on the steering wheel were tense, as if he was preparing for a fight.

"Okay." Andy said, nodding. "Thank you, Sam."