(Ozzy)

My radio crackled with static; I was forced out of my trance. "We've got an apartment building fire in the collarbone area! We need help to control it; several cells trapped inside!" Oh, Frank. That's bad! I pulled my jacket on and rushed out of the door, along with several of the other Immunity officers that were going to help. I pushed to the front of the crowd and started running. Thrax's apartment is in the collarbone…what if…? I hoped it wasn't his building. I hoped he wasn't trapped inside. I just feel bad for him, that's all, I rationalized with myself. We aren't friends. He just has enough problems already without his home burning down.

We arrived to see a girl emerging from the building unharmed, holding a cat. She spoke briefly with a fireman, nodded, set the cat down, and went back in. "Are you crazy?" I shouted when I realized it was Tibia. She's gonna get herself burned to death again! But moments later, she reappeared with two small children, still unhurt. I blinked. She must just be lucky. No, wait, she's going back in! I jostled my way through the crowd of anxious people waiting to see what happened. But several people barred my way. "Let me through!" I tried to push them away, but they didn't budge. I was forced to watch helplessly.

Tibia came out again, with two more children…still not burnt. And she did it again, and again. The building started to sag, as if unwilling to fight the inevitable. Get out! But she didn't come.

She was still in the building when it collapsed.

"NO!" I screamed when I saw it. I've lost her twice now. I finally squeezed in between the people in front of me and rushed to the ruins of the building. I dug through the rubble, ignoring the burns that I got on my hands from touching the hot remains. "Please, please be here somewhere!" I begged. A squalling noise reached me; a baby. Turning to where I'd heard the noise, I managed to uncover a foot. Not a baby's foot-I recognized Tibia's favorite boots! With renewed energy, I continued to search. I uncovered Tibia's arms to find a baby cradled protectively against her. I picked it up gently and continued to search through the brick, eventually finding her face, covered in ash with her eyes closed. A tear escaped from my eye. "No…"

Tibia's eyes opened halfway. Seeing me, she half-smiled. "Ozzy…you came for me." she weakly held my hand. "I missed you." My heart soared.

"You're alive!" I whispered. Even if she didn't remember, she was there, breathing.

She smiled, amused. "Of course I'm alive. I don't give up easily, remember?" My breath caught. Could that mean…? "I remember everything," she whispered to me as if in reply to my thoughts. She closed her eyes as I freed her from the rubble the rest of the way and held her as well as the baby. "I never got a chance to answer you that day. In the hypothalamus. Do you still love me?"

"Always." I smiled weakly, afraid to hope.

She smiled and looked at me with those blue eyes. "Good. Because I love you too."

Tibia was recovering in a hospital, as well as the baby she had rescued. She was asleep then, and I was sitting in a chair nearby. It had only taken a few minutes to get her here; the hospital was close to where we were. The small TV in the hospital room was on. The news lady was discussing the fire and dramatic rescue performed by a young Immunity officer of Frank. I smiled. The news turned to the weather. Blah, blah, 98.6 degrees, we know, I thought. But the weather had changed. Shane had a slight fever, but it was rising! I stood up, grabbing my radio. As I left the room, I spoke into it. "What's the status on Shane's health?"

"Not so good, actually," a voice replied. "She has a stomachache—which we are investigating—as well as some muscle weakness and aches. We're thinking Influenza, but hoping it's not." Oh, Frank, this could be bad. My mind flashed back to the day Thrax spilled his story to me. My radio! Shane had already had a headache and stomach pains! I should have paid attention. How long has this been going on, again?

Oh, Frank. Tibia came out of her room looking for me suddenly. I put the radio back hastily, not wanting to worry her. "What're you doing out here?" I asked her. "You're supposed to be resting!" I tried to herd her back into the room, but she stood her ground.

"I've been waiting for a month to get my life back, and now I have it! Why won't anyone let me live a little?" Before I could reply, she held a finger to my lips, grinning. "Don't even start on the 'you're recovering' crap. I'm not burned; I don't have any bones to break. Yay! I'm recovered!" She made a "poof" gesture.

I had to tell her. "I don't want you to leave here for now," I admitted. At her concerned expression, I continued. "There's something wrong with Shane, and I want you to wait until it's resolved."

"Oh, come on, Ozzy! Don't get all overprotective now! I survived two fires, and a building collapsed on me. If I can survive that, I can survive a couple cold germs." I gave her an "I'm not backing down" look and told her to stay put. I have to go help. I sprinted down the hall and out the doors.

"It's gone!" the chief exclaimed to some cell standing in front of her. "The chain is gone."

A horrible idea struck my mind. Thrax's chain is gone and Shane has a fever? "Chief," I said tentatively. Both cells' eyes turned to me. "I think I know what's going on."

"What is it, then, Jones?" She sounded as if she were humoring me.

"I think Thrax has gone rogue," I replied slowly. The venomous look she gave me made me flinch. "Look," I snapped. "His chain is gone and Shane has a fever. What else could it be?"

The chief laughed humorlessly. "Maybe, if you actually paid attention for once, you would have found out at some point that there are two things wrong with your idea." She ticked them off on her fingers. "One, Red Death viruses, as you and I both know, cause cold symptoms before they strike. This was sudden. And two, that's not the only symptom. Shane threw up multiple times, and she has muscle weakness and aches. Those aren't symptoms of the Red Death."

"Maybe not," I replied slowly as everything fell into place. "They're spreading rumors that I'm in love with an Ebola virus!" Thrax had naturally blamed me for it. Why would anyone even talk about an Ebola virus around here? I had wondered. "But those are the early symptoms of Ebola! What if Thrax teamed up—"

"That is enough, Jones!" the chief cried out. "Why do you not trust him, anyway? You're the one who said he helped you save Frank."

Oops, my bad. "I kind of…lied," I admitted sheepishly.

"Get out of my office," she ordered in a dangerously calm voice. "You're fired." I started to object, but decided it was a waste of time. Why is she favoring him? What does she feel for him? I shook my head. I thought that she hated all viruses. But she sure wasn't acting like she hated Thrax. She was acting just the opposite, in fact.

"You're going to regret this," I informed her. "Because if I don't have some sort of help, Shane is going to die."

A/N: Now I feel bad again (still)! An extremely cheesy reunion scene at the top where Ozzy gets the love of his life back. But wait-oh crap, Ozzy lost his job and Shane's gonna die. That's a nice combination, isn't it?