It was a warm early summers morning again with the birds chirping and the sun shinning brightly as everyone in the Taylor house were fast asleep, all except one. Jessica was up early today determined to get the engine for her Mustang running, so she had been in the garage for a couple of hours tinkering with it. Suddenly inside the garage there was a huge explosion like a bomb going off or some sort of mining explosives being detonated. BOOM! CRASH!
This surprising noise woke the whole house up with a start, making Jennifer fall out of bed, Hohenhiem and Tom sit bolt upright and the Elric brothers yell a bit. Everyone rushed to put on some clothes to go and investigate the terrible noise that woke them. Tom was first to the top of the stairs quickly followed by his daughter and the Elric's, making their way hurriedly down to the front door.
"What in gods name was that!" Exclaimed Tom.
"I have no idea. But it was close." Hohenhiem answered.
"Dad do ya think maybe it was a gas main?" His daughter asked.
"I'm not sure sweetheart." He said.
"It sounded as though it came from the direction of the garage." Commented Alphonse.
"UH! I hope not!" Edward said getting a sinking feeling.
As they all got out the front door Tom looked around for anything that could indicate what the bang had been, noticing there was smoke coming out of the gaps around the garage door. His eyes widened in panic as he rushed over to the door realizing Jessica kept this side locked at all times. The others joined him as he began to hammer his hand on the door calling out to his daughter, Hohenhiem doing the same while Alphonse tried to calm Jennifer who was beginning to panic also.
"JESSICA! JESSICA OPEN THE DOOR!" Tom yelled while hammering on the garage door repeatedly.
"Tom! Can you hear anything?" Hohenhiem asked urgently.
"NO!..JESSY!" Jennifer was shaking and crying scared out of her mind.
"It's gonna be ok. Our dad's will figure it out. Please try to stay calm Jennifer." Alphonse spoke calmly to her hugging her to stop her shaking so much.
Edward meanwhile had the foresight to go around the path to the back and try that door, opening it to find the whole garage full of thick smoke. Coughing he made his way inside.
"Jessica! Jessica are you in here?" He called out coughing more as he breathed in smoke.
By now everyone else had gone around back and were nervously waiting not daring to go into the smoke themselves, it seemed to take so long. Edward was slowly making his way deeper into the garage not able to see much beyond two inches in front of him still calling out to Jessica and not getting a reply, he began to worry until he came to the area at the front of the car..there on the floor was a body a short distance away from the front bumper laid out unconscious on the concrete floor.
"AH! Jessica! Hey talk to me..are you ok? Jessica? Oh no!" Edward quickly picked her up in his arms.
Coughing a lot more Edward made his way outside to the back yard, laying her down on the ground once he was far enough away from the garage. Hohenhiem was already heading for the phone to call the fire department, Jennifer was getting very upset scared for her sister with Alphonse trying his best to calm her down, Tom immediately started CPR on his daughter to bring her round working relentlessly..Edward just knelt beside her watching and hoping she would come round soon still coughing a little from inhaling smoke. After what felt like an eternity Jessica finally coughed into consciousness much to everyone's relief her father hugging her gently.
"Oh thank heavens! I was so worried." He said holding her.
"Urhh dad? What the...how did I get out here?" She said a little disorientated.
"Edward carried you out. You are so lucky he found you in all that smoke. What on earth were you doing in there?" He replied.
"I was.." She coughed hard as though her body was trying to expel something. "Trying to get the engine running dad. But I was over by the work bench...I had the welding torch..working on a bracket and...I think I put it down and set light to some oily rags dad..ones next to the gas can..I think?..I don't really remember after the blast." She said sounding confused.
"Ah you and your cars. You scared me half to death young lady. I'm just glad your safe." Tom uttered holding her still.
A couple of hours later the fire department had extinguished the small fire that had caused all the smoke and checked that everything was safe before leaving and the ambulance service had treated Jessica on the scene checking for wounds giving her some oxygen, Edward having a little too to ease his coughing also being complemented on how brave he was to risk his life to save her. Once all the emergency service people were gone they all went to the living room to rest and relax after the mornings incident Tom and Hohenhiem needing a stiff drink while Jennifer was finally calm watching TV with Alphonse. Jessica was sat on the couch with a blanket on her as she felt a chill, Edward came in and sat beside her glancing over at her.
"You feeling any better now?" He asked.
"Yeah a bit. Listen Edward..I..wanted to thank you..for saving me today." She looked at him sincerely.
"It's ok you don't have to thank me. Your my friend why wouldn't I help ya." He replied smiling.
"Hmm..I guess ya have a point there. But still...thank you..Edward." She said leaning over and kissing his cheek lightly, a hint of blush on her cheeks.
"Ah!..hehehe..no probs. Your welcome..Jessica." His face turning a light shade of red.
Jessica spent the rest of the day relaxing on the couch being fussed over by her father and sister, being kept company by Edward the entire time with the occasional "Can I get you anything?" from Alphonse too. She dozed for a while moving from one spot to another,at one point even ending up leaning on Edward a bit as she slept, while the rest of the time she channel hopped looking for something good to watch. Jennifer was being kept quite calm and distracted by Alphonse playing games and her showing him what a CD looked like, how it played and so on. He found he rather enjoyed listening to pop music one of Jennifer's favourites and thoroughly liked the Disney songs too. Jennifer then decided to show him what the internet could do..this stunned and amazed him as he had never seen nor heard of a PC before let alone the internet, he was mesmerized for hours, Hohenhiem and Tom watching quite amused...Edward more concerned with how Jessica was doing.
"Ahh geez..crap crap crap...ugh not that..crap crap..there is totally nothing on." She complained as she flicked through the channels.
"Sweety don't do that it can get very annoying." Tom told her.
"Well what else am I supposed to do? I can't work on the 'Stang. Ya won't let me get up and do anything..geez." She retorted.
"I just want you to take it easy for now ok." He said calmly.
"Can I at least bring my console down here?" She whined.
"Alright but..not too loud with the volume ok." He answered.
"Sure dad I know...hey Jen would ya get it for me please?" She said turning to her sister.
"Ok Jess I'll get it. Oh say can Alphonse and I play your Monopoly game?" She asked on her way up the stairs.
"Yeah sure if ya want to." Jessica told her.
"Thanks!" Jennifer rushed up the stairs to her sisters room retrieved the console and the games, returning to the living room and setting up.
After setting up the game and playing for a little while Jennifer looked up at Alphonse smiling. He noticed her and looked right back at her hazel eyes puzzled.
"Is something wrong Jennifer?" He asked.
"No..I just wanted to thank you. For earlier I would have lost it totally if you hadn't been there to comfort me Alphonse." She smiled.
"Oh..hehehe..really it was nothing. I saw you needed comfort so I did what I could to help. Nothing special at all." He said sweetly.
"No it was something special..thank you Alphonse." She lent over the board game and kissed his cheek close to the corner of his mouth.
"AH!" Alphonse instantly turned red his eyes wide.
"Teehee your so cute!" She exclaimed before returning to the game.
Alphonse merely sat there for a moment before shaking his head a bit trying to focus on the game, his brother snickering quietly on the couch. Alphonse shot Edward a look of "SHUT UP YOU GOT KISSED TOO!" glaring at him a little bit, Edward stopped his teasing and went back to playing the games console with Jessica. The day turned to evening with the arrival of dinner, take out Chinese another new thing for the boys, followed by more gaming and a couple of movies before Tom announced that it was late and time for bed. Jennifer headed upstairs Alphonse close behind her both of them still chatting away, Tom and Hohenhiem also making their way up the stairs talking. Jessica carefully made her way to the stairs reaching the bottom her legs gave out a little from to much non-movement and she stumbled a bit Edward rushing to her aid once more.
"Whoaa!" She reached for the banister to stop herself falling over, but missed it.
"Gotchya! You alright?" Edward had grabbed her around the waist before she hit the floor, pulling her upright, so they were face to face.
"Y-yeah I'm alright just a bit unsteady I guess. Thanks..for ..catching me." She said sheepishly noticing he was holding her rather close.
"Hehehe no probs..you really did get yourself into a tight spot huh?" He smiled slowly loosening his hold on her.
"Yeah that's me..always getting in trouble somehow..hahaha." She said as he helped her up the stairs to her room.
Saying good night to him and the rest of the house too she retired to her bed laying awake for a while thinking. Jennifer fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow nestled under her covers. Alphonse was asleep almost as quickly too drifting off with a smile on his face starting to dream about the girl he was beginning to have a crush on. Tom meanwhile was awake still laying in bed reading for a little while before putting the book down and turning out the light. Hohenhiem was also reading for a little while..slightly longer then Tom but eventually settling down to rest. Edward was on his balcony gazing up at the night sky thinking about Jessica..wondering if maybe he was finally...getting that feeling, he turned and went into his room and turning out the light he laid down to sleep dreaming of things he hadn't before.
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