Authors note: Thank you for bearing with me on my re-intro into the writing world. Song for this chapter is "Lullaby For A Soldier" by Maggie Siff. Please take a listen before or during reading! Thanks!
Grace opened her eyes and immediately began coughing despite her mask, feeling like she'd been hit by a Mac truck. Fear filled her as she felt the heat surrounding the overalls and jacket of her turnout gear. Her helmet and hood still keeping everything above her shoulders covered. She looked around desperately to try and come up with a plan to get out of this mess. But as she tried to move, she realized one of the ceiling beams had her pinned down. And like a matchstick, the fire was crawling closer. She closed her eyes as a flashback stole one of her few precious remaining breaths- Waking up in a hospital bed her eyes fluttered then slowly looked around the room. She looked down at her body and was suddenly hit by a freight train of pain. Her whole front felt like it had been shredded by a thousand knives and her arms, in a way she felt almost like she couldn't feel the pain and yet it was still there. Her blood pressure spiked and her oxygen level dropped as she started breathing fast. 'Where is my brother? Where are my parents?!'
A doctor stepped into the room, "Grace, you're in the hospital. You've been in an accident. Do you remember what happened?"
"Fire." She croaked. Her throat feeling constricted and raw as if she had been screaming at the top of her lungs for days. "I remember fire. And my family- My FAMILY WAS IN THE FIRE! WHERE IS MY FAMILY?! MOM?! DAD?!" She began crying. "Grace, you were in a car accident and there was a fire. You pulled your brother out of the car and he is in the other room being treated for his injuries. You sustained 2nd degree burns to your arms and hands. The plastic surgeon will be in to speak with you soon to discuss your healing process." The doctors words faded out. Grace felt like drugs were sliding through her veins, forcing her body to relax, her mind to slow down and her eyes to blur but on second thought, maybe that was just in her head. "Where is my brother? Where are my parents?" The doctor looked down at her and sighed. Grace hated it when medical people sighed. It always meant bad news. "Your brother inhaled a lot of smoke before it caused him to stop breathing so he has been intubated and is about to go into surgery. Then he will be placed in the burn ICU under sedation. Your parents are both already in the burn ICU. They have been intubated and sedated. No one is feeling much pain at the moment. Is there someone we can call?"
"No. I'm the only one, there is no one else."
"I'm sorry Grace, but despite our best efforts, it is likely that your parents will not survive their injuries. Their burns are significant. Do you know if they had a living will or health directive?"
"What? No. No, why would they?"
"We will need to speak with an adult to determine how care should be continued." And just like that, her head cleared and her brain began working again as clarity returned to her, just like how Dad had taught her to react in stressful situations. Grace slowly looked up at the clock, "I turned 18 three and a half hours ago." The doctors eyes widened and her mouth slightly dropped. "We were coming back from celebrating my birthday a day early since I am leaving for college. Was. Was leaving for college." 'Remember to breathe Gracey. You need to breathe through the stress, whether you stay with firefighting like your old man here or go to college for nursing like your mom, you will always have to be able to breathe. God will take care of the rest baby girl.' Her dads words came to her from a far distant memory, back when she was just a teen going through junior firefighter but debating about wanting more. She shook her head as more tears flowed from her stormy blue eyes. "What are the options?"
Everything was getting hotter. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a slow breath before she tried to lift the beam off of her, but it wouldn't budge. She fell back breathing heavy. She could feel pieces of her equipment beginning to fail under the immense heat. Her PASS alarm started to chime, a noise beacon in the midst of fire and smoke. She just needed to wait for the rescue team. But she was so tired. Her eyes drifted closed once more.
"To be clear, you are deciding to end life support for your parents, is that correct?" Grace could barely nod in affirmation. "Your brother will continue on life support in a medically induced coma as he has his additional surgeries and skin grafts, is that correct?" A barely perceptible nod. "I will need you to sign these forms. Are you sure there isn't anyone else who can call?"
"No. Its just us. We were all the other ones had."
She signed her name on the line.
"I would sell my soul to keep my family alive." She whispered.
Her dads voice echoed like a whisper in her mind again, it sounded so close. 'Breathe, just keep breathing…'
Grace suddenly felt weightless. It felt like the sun was suddenly shining on her face, like a warm spring day. Was this what death felt like? Like being carried to a higher place? No, that's not right. She bartered her soul so that her brother would heal, so he could live. But then why did it feel like she was being lifted? She cracked her eyes open and thought she must be hallucinating. There before her, lifting her in his arms as if she weighed nothing in all of her turnout gear, was Lucifer. The Devil she traded her soul to. He was walking through the flames but they did not even seem to touch him. He looked down at her and through her blurry eyes, she saw flames within his eyes. "Breathe Grace, just keep breathing." She took in one more slow breath before she closed her eyes one final time as her tank finally ran out of air.
As Lucifer was leaving the hospital, he saw the fire house next door was activating more engines and trucks. With the doors to the bay open, he could hear the overhead speaker as the tones deploying the firefighters and a voice stating a 'mayday' had been called at a house that was part of the hill fires. Concern started to build in the pit of his stomach. The nurse had told him this was Grace's station. His instincts were starting to warn him that something wasn't right. He jumped into his little black Corvette and started following the trail of responders as it seemed like the whole city was starting to converge at the sound of the mayday call.
The sight that greeted him almost felt like home. The heat, the wind the flames were whipping up, the red hot glow reaching its tendrils and shooting its embers into the darkness of the now settled in night. He walked up to one of the firefighters sitting on an engine bumper covered in soot and ash. "What's going on? Who is the mayday for?" The firefighter didn't even look at him before responding, "The floor gave out. She told me to take the kid. She knew it was going to happen." That feeling in the pit of Lucifers stomach made him feel as if he had gone cold. He yelled angrily, "Who is she?"
"Lieutenant Jordan."
That was all it took for Lucifer to disappear from his side.
Concern began to build as he kicked in the back door of the house. Smoke and flames filled all the space from floor to ceiling. He paid no mind to the fire as it licked his Gucci suit without burning it but the heavy, dark smoke impaired his sight. "Grace!" As he walked the first floor, he could feel the heat as it steadily increased. "GRACE!" He rounded a corner from one room into the hall when he heard a faint chiming. He slowly started towards the sound, following it like a guide, fighting the near zero visibility when his foot knocked something hard. This room was a disaster zone full of fire and debris. As if the floor from above had fallen in on it. The chiming was practically ringing in his ears now. "Grace!" Despite the flames all over the beam, he began to feel his way up towards the chiming when he felt something rough but gave way to his touch, a bright white light flashing through the haze next to his finger tips. Now he could see Grace through her mask, her eyes closed. "Grace, I need you to wake up!" When she didn't move, he began looking around her and saw that the beam that he had followed up to find her was actually pinning her to the floor. He lifted it off of her like it was light as a feather as more cracking and groaning was heard above him. Lucifer looked up just as more of the floor above them gave way and Lucifer and Grace disappeared into a fireball.
The flames continued to burn all around as the pile on the floor started to shift. Suddenly Lucifer stood up, illuminating the room with a white light, his wings fully outstretched in all their glory, fire in his eyes. Cradled in his arms, he looked down upon Grace, her helmet and gear blackened. As he gazed down at her, he told her "Breathe, just keep breathing." She slowly opened her eyes and looked back up at him. A gamut of emotions passed across her face before acceptance shone through her sea blue eyes and they again fell closed.
Lucifer carried Grace out of the back of the burning house, illuminated briefly in the doorway by the hellfire behind him and moved away from her fellow firefighters. She had fallen unconscious on their way out but now she wasn't breathing. She was slipping away. He had seen her final memories as he lifted her from the rubble. Everything made sense now. Lucifer was beginning to feel desperation. He had made a deal, her soul was his to do with as he pleased now. Hers to do with… as he pleased… Lucifer laid her down on the grass, taking off her mask and placed both his hands on her chest, just below her shoulders. As he looked down at her young, smoke smudged face he already knew exactly what he was going to do with it.
The day Grace buried her parents ashes was sunny. Not at all how she thought things like this were supposed to go. It was supposed to rain and be dark, like how her heart felt. A soft breeze gently tossed the branches of the weeping willow over the headstones bearing the names of her parents, 'Jordan' scribed across the top of the stone. So well known in the community, she had always felt proud of her last name. But now she felt it like a ton of rocks weighing her down as she could only stare numbly down at the granite stone before her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to face the Battalion Chief, her fathers life long friend and the man who had introduced her parents to each other. He saw the storm clouds in her eyes and the rain threatening to fall down her cheeks. "Be brave. The sun will shine again. Until then, be proud of the name you bear. Don't forget what your parents taught you. And through you, and your brother, you will never be apart." When she laid her head down on the hospital bed, sitting at her brothers side that night, she knew what she needed to do. She had already been doing it. She knew what she was made to do. She would be brave. She would listen for her fathers words to be reminded of who she was in times of trouble, she would listen for God to lead her heart through the shadows and darkness. Her light from above a lamp to her feet in this new world. As she dreamt peaceful dreams for the first time since the accident, she dreamed of golden wings, shining bright and whispering to her words of encouragement.
Bright light filtered through Grace's eyelids. Blinking dopily, she faced the blinding light until blobs took on form. Blinking a few more times, she realized she was in a hospital bed. She looked down at herself then gasped as the memories from the fire came back. Why wasn't she dead? What happened?
A doctor came into the room with a warm greeting, "Ah, Grace, you're awake. Your brother will be happy to hear that, he's been asking about you."
"My brother? But…. I thought…" The doctor smiled. "The night you were brought in from the house fire, was just hours after your brother made an incredible turn for the better. A miracle really. His final grafts have healed much quicker than we thought and its almost as if the smoke damage to his lungs healed overnight. Your brother is going to be fine. Some light scarring, but fine." Grace could only stare dumbly, a million and one things going through her mind. "But, how did I end up here, last I remember was… being under a beam… and the fire was so close." She put her hand to her head and screwed her eyes shut. "Yes, well you see, our business has concluded." Lucifer swept into the room and smiled at the doctor who then walked out. "I…I don't understand." Lucifer sat at the end of her bed, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap. "Well you see my dear, you traded your soul for your brothers life. Your soul became mine when you died in the fire. Yet I just can't find anything to do with it. Its all… lovey and mushy and slightly depressing and I just simply cannot work with that. Its almost sickening to be around. So I gave it back. Thus, our deal is concluded." He looked at her for a moment before giving a small one sided smile. "Now then. I believe your brother has been asking for you. And there is this lovely buxom nurse I've been dying to chit chat with, and I don't mean using words." Lucifer stood up and walked towards the door as Grace could only look on mutely.
Shock overwhelmed her system and she was sure she either must still be dead or else dreaming from a hospital drug induced cocktail. "Ah, I almost forgot. Something like this, should not be so easily parted with if I understand correctly your stance on its topic." Lucifer turned and raised his fist before opening it and dangling a delicate gold cross from his fingers before laying it down on the bedside table, the clasp repaired and intact. "Oh and don't worry, despite making a deal with the devil which is an automatic heaven bound disqualifier, even though our deal is complete, I don't want your soul at any point. Hell just might freeze over if I brought yours in, with all that mushy, gushy stuff. Dad can have it." He turned again towards the door and was just about to turn into the hall when a soft "Thank you, Lucifer" reached his ears. He paused, and without turning, a small smile found its way to his lips before he grabbed the lapels of his suit jacket and adjusted it. Walking on down the hall as a young man in a wheelchair was wheeled past him into Grace's room.
Lucifer stepped out into the cool night air, stopping to see the sun just starting to kiss the horizon. He realized suddenly what those feelings were that had been in the pit of his stomach. That uncomfortable feeling in Matthew's hospital room. The gut wrenching when he heard the 'mayday'. The fear when he found her in the fire. They were the same feelings he had whenever he was around Chloe. That vulnerability, concern for her safety, and the care he felt for her in his heart. The buxom nurse could wait. There was another blonde he was more interested in seeing and another smile graced his lips. Hopping into his little black coupe, he pointed it towards the LAPD station where he knew his favorite Detective would be hunched over her desk, working on their next case. Now didn't he have a story for her, no longer would Chloe be able to accuse him of not understanding his feelings. He knew exactly what he was feeling now.
Authors note: Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome!