Disclaimer: I do not Universal's Emergency!

Gentleness

Cassie blinked, fearing that her eyes were decieving her. She'd never seen anything like this.

At was a basic city structure, a two-story with a shop on the first floor and a living flat on the second. It might have even been quaint a few hours earlier.

Now, flames burst out of the all the windows and licked the brown brick walls. Fire engines were scattered about the base of the building, shooting streams of water into the blazing structure.

"Amazing!" Cassie gasped as she took in the sight.

"There's nothing amazing about that. It's a danger the tenants of the flat, but also all the structures around it," Gage responded, glaring at Cassie as the squad pulled in next to Station 116's pumper engine.

Cassie stuck her tongue out at Gage and pushed his arm, shoving him into the squad door.

"Get out, I need to take a look at this!" she ordered him.

Gage violently jerked his arm away from her and opened the door, sliding out onto the pavement.

Cassie gazed at the fire as Captain Stanely dashed up to Gage and DeSoto, saying, "We've got a woman and a child who were just reported missing. You two go in and get them out."

The two paramedics were already halfway done getting their gear on by the time Stanely finished.

"I've got Lopez and Stoker inside, hosing the stairs for you guys," Stanely added.

Gage and DeSoto both nodded and began to head into the building. Cassie took a step towards their direction, but the Captain's hand flew out in front of her.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked sternly.

"I was going to get closer so I could write about the events in great detail!" Cassie shot at him.

"I'm sorry. That house is extremely unstable. You'll have to stay back," Stanely instructed her, then headed back to his coworkers.

"You wouldn't say that if I were a boy!" Cassie yelled after him in frustration.

She threw her notepad on the ground angrily and went to sit down on the running board of the squad.

"Those stupid bastards think that they are the only gender that can withstand the hot flames. I wasn't even going to go inside, I was just going to closely observe everything happening..." Cassie mumbled under her breath, sticking a pouting expression on her face.

Minutes seemed to drag by as Gage and DeSoto tried to find the victims. Cassie restlessly looked at her watch, then back at the flames, then repeated these actions.

It was only 12:30 and she'd seen a death, a stupid male ineptitude accident, and a fire. She wondered what else she would get to see.

After approximately 14 minutes, Gage and DeSoto emerged from the building. DeSoto came out empty-handed, while Gage held a little girl in his arms.

"Get the oxygen, Kelly!" Gage barked at Chet.

Chet obeyed and retrieved the o2 bottle. He brought it out and Gage took the air mask and placed it over the little girl's face.

The brown-haired, little girl was about five years old. Her bright blue eyes were opened, but they looked red. She seemed fairly well, considering she had just come out of an almost demolished building.

Cassie smiled at the girl when their eyes met, but as soon as the girl spotted her, she pulled the mask off her face and began to cry.

"Mommy! Mommy!" she wailed.

A building tenent came up to the paramedics and said, The woman who was reported missing was her mother."

Cassie watched as Gage's brown eyes snapped up at the tenant with shock. He threw a questioning look at DeSoto, who shook his head firmly.

"Johnny, she can't be-" his voice was cut off by the sound of wood crashing down.

The flat had just fallen in.

Gage cringed as the little girl cried harder, seeming to be aware that her mother wasn't alive. The girl reached up for Gage and clung to his turnout coat, sobbing into his shoulder.

Cassie then heard Gage say to the girl in a tone that she'd never heard come out of him before, "It's all right, honey. Everything is going to be fine. We're going to take good care of you. Shhh, calm down, sweetheart."

After a moment, the girl settled down and merely placed her head underneath Gage's chin, cuddling her cheek against his neck.

"Gentleness..." thought Cassie as she watched Gage cradle the girl and tenderly rock her back and forth, "DeSoto was right. A fireman has to be kind and gentle to deal with situations like this. It would be impossible to be in this line of work without a kind spirit..."

Cassie looked up to see DeSoto looking intently at her. His blue eyes seemed to say, "See what I mean?"

Cassie's cheeks went red. For the first time since she arrived at Station 51, she felt as if she truly learned a lesson that did nothing to improve her women's lib column. She didn't appreciate that. She came here to do a job, not have her mind warped into thinking men were great.

She'd have to be more careful to not be evaded by that Roy DeSoto, who seemed to have a way of being tolerant, yet having his own opinions set. And somehow he managed to slip his beliefs into Cassie's mind. She refused to let that seed of a belief grow.

And that John Gage. He was a puzzle by himself. He wasn't guarded in how he felt about feminism, but he unknowingly made Cassie admire him for a split second. For a fleeting moment, Cassie stared at him in awe when he showed such tenderness to the little girl. This was a side that Cassie had never seen of him, and she was caught off guard when he did show it. She would not allow him to so easily catch her off guard again.

After all, she was fighting for equal rights. She would prove that men and women were equal, even if she had to spend a year with the fire station.

A/N: Thanks for everyone's reviews! I'm glad y'all are enjoying the story!

There's something quick I wanted to let everyone know about. In the first chapter I mentioned that Cassie was going to spend a week at Station 51. But what I meant was that she'll be spending 7 days with A-Shift, because it would be too difficult for her to learn everything I want her to learn by spending days that I'd probably skip when she wasn't with A-Shift. Just letting you know!

As always, kind comments, compliments, and constructive criticism are welcomed and appreciated!

~Face