The crew of 51's were asleep, that is, all but one of them. It had been a relatively uneventful day and that had been a nice change for them. Their last several shifts had been quite busy. They were over due for a quiet one. With the sounds of snoring in the background, Roy was lost deep in his own thoughts. He had too much on his mind to be able to sleep. He had so many mixed feelings about Sam. He knew he would deal with his feelings eventually, but right now what was bothering him most was that the two of them were withholding their relationship from the department.

Roy doubted that their relationship would prove to be a problem as far as training went. And there wasn't an opening at 51's so it wasn't like there was any chance of them becoming partners. That position was already permanently filled. But still, it was wrong not to inform the department that they were siblings. Worse, two others already knew and that would not go over well with the brass if they found out through the grape vine. Even though Sam had been the one to with hold the information, Roy knew that ethically, he would have to speak up. The way he figured it, with Sam being new and with all the publicity surrounding her arrival to the department, it would go over better coming from him. He made up his mind. I'll speak to Cap first thing in the morning. That decision finally clear in his mind, he felt himself start to relax and finally he drifted off to sleep.

Station 51, Station 36, Truck 8, Engine 10, Battalion 14 Structure fire 25417 Murdock Avenue. 2-5-4-1-7 Murdock Avenue, Cross street Butterworth Time out 3:04.

The klaxons sounded, the lights went on and the announcement blared loud throughout the station. The crew all jumped up, stepped into their boots and pulled their suspenders up over their shoulders as they ran out to the bay. Captain Stanley acknowledged the call and recorded the address. He handed a slip to Roy and jumped into the engine. The squad pulled out first with the engine right behind, sirens blaring.

Hank Stanley began his size-up of the scene as he hopped out of the truck before they had even rolled to a stop. It was a two story wooden taxpayer with heavy smoke billowing out of the rear exits. Before he could even wonder if all of the occupants had made it out safely, the apartment manager came running towards him.

"Please, you gotta do something!" shouted a balding, pot-bellied man in blue plaid boxers and a grubby tank top that might have been white once. He looked to be about fifty five-ish.

Hank instinctively put his hand out, palm forward to keep a little personal space between himself and the man. "Whoa, slow down. Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, man, I'm okay, but I don't think Mrs. Manke and her daughter came out. I can't find them! You can't leave them in there by themselves! They'll die! You gotta do something!"

"Now calm down, sir. We're working on that right now." Hank put a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder in an effort to calm him down. "DeSoto, Gage, Anderson," he shouted over his shoulder. Turning back to the pot-bellied man he said, "These firefighters are going to make a search so I want you to tell them exactly where Mrs. Manke and her daughter might be, okay?"

The man shook his head with eyes wide and almost bulging out from excitement and fear. Sam reached him first. "Tell me about the missing people," she said. What are their names, how old are they and which apartment is theirs?" DeSoto and Gage were standing with her waiting on the man's answer before Sam even finished asking the question.

"It's Mrs. Manke and her daughter, Sara. She's seven. They're in the top apartment to the right of the north stairwell. It's number 2-B. Hurry!" the man explained as a fireman with a shoulder load of hose hustled past them, another fireman hustled along side of him.

"All right, now you just wait out here and we'll go find them", said Roy, steering the man toward an officer who was working crowd control. The three rescuers hastily pulled their masks into place and rushed into the building behind Lopez and Kelley who were already knocking down flames. Roy was the last to enter the building, having stopped briefly to inform his captain of where they would be focusing their search.

As they entered, Roy's stomach suddenly felt sour. The acrid black smoke was so thick they could barely see each other as they ascended the stairs. Roy reached out and grabbed hold of Sam's arm to keep her near himself. Sam followed suit, reaching out for Johnny's arm and the three of them snaked their way to the top. The smoke grew thicker and the environment hotter as they climbed. By the time they reached the landing the smoke was so thick the rescuers could barely see their hands in front of their faces.

Johnny felt along the wall for a door. When he found it he felt for heat with the back of his hand. Then he tried to open it.

"It's locked. We're gonna have to force it." He shouted through his mask.

"I got it." Roy shouted back and the other two stepped aside. Roy gave a good kick to the door and it gave way. It only opened about six inches and bounced off something, closing again. "Something's blocking it." Roy shouted through his mask.

Sam opened the door again and peered inside. She thought she could see a blob on the floor through the smoke. "I think there's a person on the floor." She immediately began shucking her SCBA.

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Roy.

Already choking on the thick smoke she managed to explain between coughs. "It's the only way to fit through the door. I'll get in, check it out and clear the doorway." Sam squeezed through the doorway and knelt down to the blob on the floor. It was a woman. She took off her glove and felt for a pulse. She didn't find one. She immediately gave two rescue breaths to the victim then quickly she pulled the woman back a few feet giving her partners access to the room. They pushed inside and slammed the door shut behind them to try and keep some of the smoke away.

Sam's eyes and nose were running as the smoke assaulted them. Her lungs burned in protest of the lack of clean air. She gave two more breaths and before she had completed them, Roy was pulling on her arm, trying to get her to put her SCBA back on. Johnny grabbed her other arm and the two firemen pulled her up to her feet. Roy held the tank while Johnny helped her into the straps and got the mask to her face. She took several breaths trying to make her lungs stop burning. Already she was lightheaded and dizzy from eating too much smoke.

"We've gotta find the girl," shouted Johnny. "I'll stay and work on her." Sam and Roy began a search of the apartment. They crawled their way along the room, each heading toward opposite walls. Sam found a table and swept her arms under it, shouting as she searched.

"Hello! Fire Department… Is anybody there?" Not hearing any response and not feeling anything she moved on. She continued checking the room and shouting until she was sure it was clear and she found a doorway to a bedroom. She began checking the bedroom in the same way.

Roy was also searching, a feeling of dread welling up inside of him. Usually he didn't feel anything while searching. He did what he had to do and nothing else even came to his mind but this time he couldn't help thinking something bad was going to happen. He came to a doorway and went through it. It was a bedroom and he kept crawling over toys. He made his way to the bed. It was empty. Looking underneath it he called out. "Fire Department. Can you hear me?" He reached under and swept the air space. He didn't find anyone there. Moving on he headed toward the closet.

Johnny had begun CPR on his patient. He had done several cycles of breathing and chest compressions to no avail. Just when he thought it was no use, she began coughing. He placed his mask over her face. "Now calm down, just try to breathe deeply. You're gonna be all right… that's it, just breathe." He was having a hard time himself through the thick smoke and did plenty of hacking and coughing of his own. He had to get her out of here and fast. He had noticed it getting hotter and hotter in the apartment. He knew he had to find a way out. The hall was not going to be an option. The sound of fire was getting louder and had to be just outside the door by now.

Johnny slid his arms underneath the woman and lifted her up. On his knees in order to stay as low as possible he moved across the room toward the exterior wall. He set her back down gently. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get us out of here!" He said to her. About that time she started to become more alert. She sat bolt upright throwing the mask aside. "My baby! Where's my baby?"

Johnny grabbed the mask and took a long deep breath of air. "Don't worry. Calm down. My partners will find her. They're looking for her right now." He took another quick breath and then thrust the mask back at her. "Breathe!"

Johnny was worried that he hadn't seen or heard from his partners yet. He knew they had to get out and soon. He quickly un-strapped his SCBA so that he could move more freely and still let his victim breathe. Feeling around he found a floor lamp. He picked it up and used it to break out the window, stuck his head out and took a long deep breath. Looking down he could see that the glass breaking out had already caught the attention of the truckies and already they were scrambling to get the ladder in place. Johnny took another breath of air then turned around and went for his victim.

"Okay now," we'll have you outta here in a shake," he said. "We're gonna take you down a ladder."

"No! No! I won't go without my baby." The woman screamed and tried to shove Johnny away from her.

Johnny held up his hands saying, "Whoa, wait a minute. Now listen. I can't help my partners find your daughter until I get you out of here safely. Now there's another fireman coming up this ladder to help you down. The sooner you're out the sooner I can help look for her."

The woman seemed confused for a moment but then a fireman with a number 8 on his helmet poked his head in the window and said, "let's go!"

Johnny reached out to the woman and she didn't resist, much to his relief. He helped her out the window and over the shoulder of the fireman on the ladder. As the fireman started down Johnny shouted to him, "I gotta find the others. Come back for us." The fireman gave him a nod and continued his descent.

Johnny turned back inside the room and started crawling the floor along the walls. He needed to find his partners and hopefully they had found the little girl by now. As he made his way along the wall the building started making an awful groaning noise. It was a sound he knew all too well. He felt the vibrations under his knees as the building began to shake.

Sam had almost completed a search of the bedroom when she found another door. She pushed through the door and crawled in, her knees felt the soft squish of a wet towel that had been put along the edge of the door. Bingo. She's gotta be here! The hard floor of the bathroom felt cool to her hands. She felt along the walls and opened the sink cabinet looking for the missing little girl. Children and elderly people often hid from fire making rescue efforts that much more difficult. She knew she was running out of time. She felt the smooth edges of a bathtub and feeling up the side of it she came to the sliding glass doors. She opened them and shouted again. "Fire Department. Is anybody in here?"

Sam barely heard the small voice. "Help me. I'm scared."

"It's gonna be okay sweetheart. I'm gonna take care of you." Sam said to her, taking off her mask. The smoke hadn't reached the bathroom too heavily yet. Just then the floor began to shake and the building made an awful groaning noise. The little girl let out a scream and covered her ears with her hands. Sam reached out and put her hand on the little girl's shoulder to calm her down. She put the mask over the girls face and told her to take a breath. "It's okay. I'm right here with you."

Sam continued to reassure the girl while she tried to think. What is the best way to get her out of here? The bathroom had no exterior walls. There were no windows. Sam turned and closed the door behind them to slow the smoke. She pushed the towel back into the crack beneath it. Just then the building let out another grown followed by a thunderous crashing noise and lots of shaking. The little girl screamed again and jumped into Sam's arms looking for protection as her whole world was crashing around her. Plaster bits pelted the two and Sam hunched over the little girl to protect her.

Roy had cleared the closet and the rest of the child's bedroom. He was just crawling back into the living quarters of the apartment when the ground shook violently and the building groaned loudly before an earth shattering crash was heard and felt. Part of the building had collapsed. When the shaking stopped Roy realized he was still there, in once piece and silently thanked God. Sam, Johnny! Roy was determined to find his partners and get them out of this hell before it was too late. He scrambled through the room toward the exterior wall. On his way he found Johnny, heading his direction.

"Roy!" Johnny shouted.

"Where's Sam?" he shouted back.

"HT 51 COME IN!" Johnny reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the radio.

"HT 51" Johnny said into the radio.

"John, are you guys all right up there?" Captain Stanley asked, strain in his voice.

"Affirmative. Roy and I are okay. We got separated from Sam. We're looking for her now. She was searching for the child."

"Negative! No time. The building has partially collapsed. Get out! Get out now!" John could hear in his captain's voice the agony of having to evacuate with a man left behind.

Another voice came over the radio. "All personnel evacuate the building immediately. I repeat... all personnel evacuate the building immediately. That's an order!" The Battalion Chief in charge made himself very clear.

"Johnny, I can't…" Roy started to say.

"Roy, you have to. Jo and the kids need you. Now come on!" He grabbed Roy's arm and pulled with all his might, nearly flinging his partner up to the opening of the window.

Johnny didn't like leaving Sam behind any more than Roy did, but he knew there was no choice. He hoped she had found the child and exited the building already. "Maybe she's already out!" he shouted to encourage his partner. Even he didn't believe it.

Roy shook his head and stuck it out the window. The ladder was being moved away from the window at that moment. Captain Stanley was looking up at the window, willing his firemen to be there. When he saw Roy he ordered the crew to be ready with the net below, his heart filled with relief. Roy saw he would have to jump and removed his SCBA then positioned himself to do so, waiting for his captain's command. "Jump!" came the command.

Roy hated exiting this way. It would be the second time in his career that he had to do it. He guessed it beat the alternative. He took a deep breath and jumped. Johnny was already positioning himself as Roy made his rapid descent. As soon as Roy had cleared the landing spot the firemen holding the net were looking up at Johnny, expectantly. "Now Gage, jump!" he heard his captain order. Glancing back over his shoulder one last time, wishing he had Sam with him, Johnny inhaled deeply and jumped. Even before he landed he could hear the building complaining loudly. As soon as he landed he and all the men holding the net ran for cover away from the building.

The deafening rumble seemed to go on forever as the firemen watched most of the building collapse. Only one section remained standing. Amazingly, it was the north corner.

The crash had been deafening, but somehow Sam hadn't really heard it. All she heard was the screaming of a very frightened seven-year-old girl who was clinging to her for dear life. What she did notice was when it stopped. The air was cooler and the smoke was less thick. The building must have collapsed and the smoke must have found a new escape route. Sam squeezed the little girl gently to reassure her. "It's okay, we're all right,." she said. Her voice was hoarse and she could barely get a sound out. She took the mask from the girl to get another good breath of air before giving it back. The air tasted terrible. She was at the end of her tank. She hoped someone would find them soon. She stood up and reached for the door to the bathroom, opening it slightly. She could feel cool air when she did so and she realized the interior walls to the hallway were gone.

"Come on, sweetie," she croaked, pulling the girl out the doorway with her. Maybe she could find a way out. She walked close to the walls, heading for the exterior wall of the apartment. Much of the smoke had thinned out now that an escape route for it had been created and Sam could see a curtain blowing near the window. She inched her way over to it with the girl hugged close against her body. She stuck her head out and yelled.

"Up here! Can anybody hear me?" Her yell wasn't as loud as she had hoped and her voice was very raspy.

Sam knew no one could hear her. She took off her helmet and threw it out the window as hard as she could. It sailed to the ground and landed near Engine 51, at Mike Stoker's feet. The startled engineer looked up.

"CAP!" he yelled. "It's Sam! Hang on Sam!" Already truck 8 was positioning its ladder to reach the firefighter and the small child. Roy ran to the truck.

"Cap, I'll go." He said to the Captain of 8's as he pointed up the ladder. The captain nodded and Roy climbed up on the truck. He ascended the ladder as quickly as he could. When he got to the top he said to Sam, "Cutting it kind of close, aren't you?" Sam smiled and nodded as she handed the child out to Roy. Roy took hold of the little girl.

"Hi there," he said. "What do you say we get down from here?" The girl nodded and the look of relief on her tearstained face melted Roy's heart. "All right now. Put your arms around my neck and hold on tight." The very relieved fireman slowly climbed down the ladder, followed by an amazing woman, who also happened to be a firefighter. When they reached the ground, Chet took the little girl to her mother who was loaded up onto a stretcher and about to be placed in an ambulance. He spoke to the paramedic from 36's who was going to ride in with her.

"Here's Sara," he said. "That's her mom. Sara seems to be okay but I think she sure would like to ride in with you and see to it that her mother's okay. I'll bet she'd even agree to let you check her out on the way, won't you sweetheart?" He looked down at the little girl. She looked up at him and nodded.

"Sara, baby." Her mother realized she was there and that she was safe and began to cry with relief. Sara let go of Chet's hand and went to the side of her mother, throwing her arm over her in a hug.

"Okay, let's load up and go see the nice doctor's over at Rampart." The paramedic from 36's assisted the ambulance attendants with loading their patient and her daughter into the back of the ambulance. "You can sit right here, honey. I'm gonna take a look at you and listen to your lungs while we're on our way, okay?" The young girl nodded and sat where she was told. Chet closed the ambulance doors and gave them two loud taps.

With the firefighting strategy changed to "surround and drown" it wasn't long before the flames were knocked down and there was nothing left but a smoking, steaming pile of rubble. There would be several hours of overhaul for some of the companies but 51's was first in and first released by the Battalion Chief.

Roy found his way over to his captain as the crew of 51's was packing up. "Hey Cap?"

Captain Stanley turned from what he was doing and faced his senior paramedic. "Roy, are you three headed to Rampart?" He asked it as a question but Roy knew it was really an order.

"Yeah, Cap. Johnny and Sam ate a lot of smoke. I'll see to it they both get checked out."

"What about you, DeSoto?" Captain Stanley inquired.

"I'm fine, Cap. I didn't eat too much smoke. See you later."

Roy turned and walked over to his partners. "Let's go, you two."

*I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Action is not my thing as far as writing goes but I did my best. Thanks for reading and please, take the extra couple of minutes to leave me a review. I appreciate all comments. If you like something say so, if not, it's okay to let me know that too. Just remember that if you leave comments anonymously or without logging in, I can't thank you or answer any questions you may have. Thanks :D Hotflash