All rights belong to Universal's Emergency!

Realization

"Cassie?"

Cassie hardly responded as she felt something smack her cheek a few times. She felt as if she was in a dream state. She had no idea how long she was out, but she still felt gagged by the smoke and weak from the extreme heat.

"She's alive, but really disoriented!" she heard a voice call out.

"Johnny…is that you?" she wheezed, not opening her eyes.

"Yeah, it's me, Cassie. We're going to get you out of here, I promise. Take this and breathe in deeply," Gage responded gently, settling his breath mask over her face.

She held it in place with a shaky hand as she felt Gage lift the cabinet off her arm, then hoist her up to drape over his shoulder.

"We'll have you out of here in no time, okay?" he called to her.

"What about . . . the man under the cabinet?" gasped Cassie.

"Let's just worry about taking care of you first," Gage responded, weaving around burning objects to make it out of the room, then the building.

Cassie was never so glad to be outside. The cool air slowly returned her body temperature to normal.

Gage carried her a good distance away from the fire to the squad and set her down on a blanket that had been laid out on the concrete for victims.

Gage knelt down next to her and removed his mask from Cassie's face, putting an oxygen mask in its place.

"Let me take a look at that arm," muttered Gage, tenderly examining the extent of the damage.

"That man was dead, wasn't he?" Cassie breathed after a moment of silence.

Gage only glanced up at her for a second, and then somberly replied, "Yes…"

"He wouldn't have been dead if I hadn't meddled," Cassie whispered, tears filling her eyes.

"You can't know that for sure," answered Gage, putting a splint on Cassie's arm.

"But I still feel like it was my fault…I needed…help. I should have asked for it," cried Cassie.

Gage stopped what he was doing and looked up, brown eyes scanning her face to read her emotions.

"I didn't know what to do, I couldn't have saved him!" Cassie exclaimed, leaning forward and throwing her good arm around Johnny's neck.

Gage was still for a second, and then he relaxed and put his hand on the small of her back, and said, "You don't have to have it all together every moment of the day, Cassie. You can believe that women can do a lot, even some things as well as men, and still have days where you need help. We as humans should always be there to protect and assist one another. If no man ever said it before, I'll say it: I'm weak. Everyone is weak in some way or another. Men and women help each other out through their weaknesses. We should be thinking more of how we can help the other, no matter the gender, rather than fighting over which is the weaker sex."

Cassie sobbed into Johnny's shoulder, feeling as if all her strength as a women's lib columnist had been sucked away. She was left vulnerable, to be protected by the man she fought so hard against. But everything he was saying…he wasn't a jerk as Cassie thought. He wasn't arrogant; he had logical views of the human race. And it was then she realized…she was the one who was being a jerk all this time.

"I'm sorry…I've been acting so terribly…" sniffled Cassie.

Gage eased Cassie back on the tarp and replied, "You know the stupid thing? You are strong, and I don't doubt if you went through the firefighting program, you could make it."

Cassie chuckled, "Thanks, but I think I'll leave that kind of work to men. Not saying that some women aren't capable of firefighting…I just think it's time I learned my own personal boundaries."

Gage grinned, "Now you're starting to actually make sense."

For a moment they both just laughed, then Roy walked up and asked in a worried voice, "What happened? That's the first time I've ever seen you two smile while looking at each other!"

"Let's just say we had a little man-to-man talk," Gage answered, winking at Cassie.

Roy stared at them blankly for a moment, then reached over to pull the biophone close, "Well, since you had a talk with one another, is it all right with you if we connect to Rampart and get her to the hospital."

"Sounds good," Gage replied, then went back to looking over Cassie's arm and taking vital signs.

Cassie watched the two work diligently on her. She merely observed them, not saying a word. Somehow, her time in the burning building seemed to clear her view of them a little bit. She felt awful about coming into their lives and poking fun at their male weaknesses. No wonder the reacted so badly to her arrival, she would feel the same way if a man came into her line of work and told her that his gender could do it better. What was she thinking? Of course, she still felt the same about disbanding women discrimination, but she now could see that men were equally is wonderful as women were.

Cassie recalled Dixie talking about how heroic Johnny and Roy were. Before, she had spat on the title 'hero' for either of them. Now, she could think of no other way to describe them.

Hey, guys! I am so excited to finish up this story! I plan on only doing one more chapter, but maybe I'll think about doing a sequel, if a good storyline comes to my attention! Thanks for reading this, reviewers, and thank you for all your patience while I spent a year not writing anything :'(

And as always, constructive criticism and compliments are welcome!

~Face