Chapter Four

A sharp crack and an intense burning pain in her throat woke Eddie from her nap. The kitchen was glowing an eerie shade of gold and orange and the heat…Fire, the house was on fire!

"Jamie!" Eddie cried out at the top of her lungs. She could hear Annabeth beginning to cry and choke. "Jamie! Ray! Ray, get Jamie boy. Get Jamie!"

Ray barked and ran to the back door, but his action of flying through the swinging kitchen door spread the fire to the living room with alarming speed. For his part, Jamie was running back to the house at top speed. He just stepped away for a minute and their house had gone up in flames. He dashed in the front door, "Eddie!"

The flames were spreading fast, they could both hear their baby girl crying and gagging in her bed. Ray was pulling on Eddie's clothes trying to get her out of the recliner. "Jamie, go get the baby! Get our baby out!"

The fire had divided the house in half, Eddie was trapped on one side and Annabeth on the other. "Eddie…" The thought of leaving his wife there, he had to think twice.

"Jamie, go get her!" Eddie was demanding that of him. "Get her out, I'll be fine, get the baby out!"

"What about you?" Jamie asked. He was calculating the time, if he went to get Annabeth the chances of him getting back to get Eddie were slim to none. If he got Eddie out, the fire would cut off his access to the nursery, it was a gruesome choice. "Get our baby," Eddie kept insisting over and over again. "Jamie, please…My oxygen is in here, this house is going to explode. Get our baby now!"

Ray was still working on Eddie's body, finally Jamie went into action taking off for the nursey. Even with the sirens in the distance, it was going to be too late for Eddie and by extension too late for him.

"It's okay," Eddie called out. "It's okay, Jamie. I'm at peace with all of this. Just get our baby out please." If Jamie had the time to think, he would have been impressed and astonished at how in control Eddie was. She was facing death in this fire and yet, she was calm and at peace. She had truly seen the face of God.

Jamie was again hesitating, the idea of this was too much. "No," Eddie replied. "No there isn't time. She can't breathe, take her out of her. I love you so much. Don't blame yourself...I love you both so much."

"Eddie I'm not leaving you though," Jamie held Annabeth making sure she was covered.

"Jamie you have to," she begged. "You have to, it's okay. I'll be okay..." The fire was cutting them off. Only seconds had passed but it felt like hours, days even.

Sighing and coughing Jamie gave Eddie one last look "I love you Eddie."

Jamie scooped Annabeth up in his arms, her screams piercing his soul. He couldn't believe that as a father he even hesitated, but he did, he did. As Jamie burst out the door, Henry was hurrying down the street. "Jamie, I thought…where's Eddie?"

Jamie was in tears, "In the house, she's in the house. She made me get the baby."

Henry extended his arms to take the hysterical girl, "The fire trucks are coming. I called when I saw the smoke…"

Jamie hunched over to get his breath, "I have to get Eddie, Pop. I have to try."

Henry knew that, he knew there was no way his grandson was going to let his wife burn alive and not try to get her out. Neither one of them expected that Ray hadn't given up yet. Ray had nosed the oxygen all the way to the back of the house then ran back and was dragging Eddie in his teeth toward the only exit not obscured by fire, the large bay window in the front of the house. He barked and dragged, barked and dragged.

Eddie was crying out in fear and in pain, the skin she could feel was burning, her hair and eyes too, but Ray was undeterred and so was Jamie.

It hadn't even been ten minutes since the fire erupted, but to Jamie and Eddie both it felt like an eternity. Eddie was losing consciousness, she couldn't move air well to begin with and now the air she was moving had no value. She fought hard to keep herself awake, if it was possible to do so, Jamie was going to come back for her, if it wasn't their baby girl was safe, and she had her daddy…that was good enough for her.

Jamie saw the dog jumping up and down in front of the bay window, he smiled, good old Ray, he had Eddie right where he needed her to be to get her out.

"Jamie, think about this!" Henry ordered. "Wait for FDNY, they are coming!"

Jamie didn't hear him, everything seemed to happen in a very slow motion.

Jamie looked at the window, all that stood between him and saving Eddie. Henry stood in shock as Jamie ran at top speed to their shed coming back with a shovel. He swung the shovel like a baseball bat shattering the window frame. Next, Jamie attacked the window with his bare hands. He didn't feel the shards of glass cutting his skin or notice the blood all he could think of was Eddie.

"Please God," were the words in his head and on his heart as he fought with the glass, the sheetrock, the plants and shrubs. Eddie and Henry both could hear the grunts, the groans, the sounds of exertion as he battled with one idea in mind, getting his wife out of that house.

The sounds coming from Jamie were animalistic. Eddie had never heard, even in their worst cases in the field, a sound like that. Then finally, with a final heave, the wall gave way.

"Jump, Ray," Jamie told him firmly. "I got her boy." Jamie climbed through the window, cuts as bruises all over him. Eddie was trying to cough, but it didn't happen. "I've got you, Eddie. I've got you."

Ray obeyed jumping out through the window trying to wait and make sure Eddie and Jamie got out.

Jamie didn't think about protecting her back or her posture, he just grabbed and pulled Eddie's dead weight through the window. He just about cleared her through the broken glass slicing open one of her legs along with both of his arms in the process. "Easy Jamie you got her," Henry guided him still holding Annabeth. "Is she breathing?"

"Yeah, "Jaime replied, still not noticing how cut he was. "Are you all right, Angel? Are you all right? Can you breathe at all?"

Eddie's usually shallow breaths were even more so, Jamie carefully laid her on the ground and started to cough her to clear her lungs of the smoke. As he did this, the FDNY showed up with a response time of only nine and a half minutes from Henry's initial call.

"Yes," she coughed. "Yes, I'm okay. I'm okay. Jamie, you're bleeding!"

Jamie didn't care, he heard her coughing and breathing, it was the most beautiful sound in the world. Jamie bit his lip to keep from crying, but it didn't' work. He began to sob, holding Eddie close to him, not even paying attention to her body alignment or the blood running out of both of them.

Jamie rocked Eddie in his arms, shaking from the physical exertion, the shock, and the guilt. He buried his face in Eddie's hair, feeling her chest move up and down, albeit much more rapidly than he would have liked without being in shock. "I'm sorry," he whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Eddie. I'm so sorry!"

Eddie wanted to soothe him, to comfort him, but the medical team from the FDNY pushed forward, breaking their connection for the time being. The medics called for an additional bus but Jamie refused. "I'll ride with her, she needs oxygen, she's a C5 quadriplegic, and she can't breathe or cough hard enough to clear her lungs."

The medics began to put Eddie on the gurney, they hooked up oxygen as the other firemen started to put the fire out. Henry clutched Annabeth to his chest, "The baby has to go too, she's wheezing."

The medics loaded the family into one ambulance providing oxygen for all three of them. Annabeth didn't like it, she kicked her feet and cried, "Momma. Momma…"

Eddie kept trying to get the mask off to answer he baby, but her hands wouldn't cooperate at all right now, not even a little. She leaned her head back and shut her eyes.

It was Jamie that needed the most medical attention. Both of his arms were bleeding, one of them profusely. Henry notified the rest of the family and was getting a ride in a police cruiser to the hospital. Frank and Abby were in route as well.

"Jamie, you need to be still," Eddie told him through the muffle of the oxygen mask. "Let them help you, I'm right here." She was still working hard to breath, there wasn't much that could be done until she got to the hospital.

Frank stood inside the hallway when the double doors opened pushing Eddie and Annabeth on stretchers

Jamie insisted on walking, even as he was still bleeding. Frank moved to his son, he knew of all of them, Jamie needed him most. "Jamie, my God...you are going to get sewn up right now!"

"Dad ,Eddie can't breathe and Annabeth is crying I'll get stitched up later." Jamie told him.

"No, you will certainly not!" Frank said firmly. "You will get sewn now, I will go with Annabeth and Pop will go be with Eddie. Eddie looks better than you do right now.'

Jamie took a deep breath ready to argue with him looking at Eddie then Annabeth.

Eddie softly spoke to the nurse, "Jamie, you can go right next to me here. Right here baby, next to me. Dad, can you go with the baby please and just make sure she's not scared?" Leave it to Eddie to stay in control.

Frank nodded, "go son." He followed Annabeth into a room, standing over her smiling. "Annabeth...Grandpa is here."

The tiny girl was holding up her legs like she was ready for a diaper change and crying, she had a little wheeze and hated the oxygen mask on her face. The pediatrician and pulmonology specialists were in the room.

"I know your uncomfortable, Grandpa is here, everything is okay," Frank soothed checking her diaper.

"Can I hold her while she's getting checked?" Frank asked. "She's scared, she doesn't like all of this, and she doesn't understand where her mother is."

The doctor gave a nod, "Of course, if we need you to set her down I'll tell you."

Frank took the tiny mask off Annabeth's face and held her up on his shoulder rubbing her back as she coughed the smoke out herself.

"Oh Annabeth," Frank sighed rubbing her back in slow smooth circles.

"That's good for her to move the smoke,' the doctor replied. "She looks really good, her saturation is great, I don't see even the slightest bit of skin discoloration. I think she's a very lucky little girl."

"Thank God," Frank muttered turning his head to kiss the side of Annabeth's face.