It all started in an inferno...

"Come on man. It's going to be a good time."

Sam scoffed as he took his pen and circled the second to the last word in his crossword puzzle, "Maybe I like peace and quiet after long chaotic mornings or nights...or as you call it, being boring."

Charlie rolled his eyes, grunting and muttering to himself as he bit into the last bite of his sandwich, balling the paper up and throwing it at him, "Live a little man. You're the oldest thirty year old I've ever met, minus the wife and kids...hell a girlfriend at that. Speaking of, when is the last time you got laid?"

"That's..."

"It is my business because my friend, you're content with your life when you need to be beyond that." Charlie cut in, seriousness running along with straight passion on his face made Sam tuck in his lips to keep from laughing, "That's why tonight, you're coming out to this new club opening. I got the hookup. Women. Liquor. Food. Music. That's what you need Sam...that's wha-"

Be advised. I need all nearest units to be advised. We have a fire at the science museum on Bryer's Street. All available units are needed immediately.

"That's a block away."

"Hold on." Charlie turned on the lights and sounds, pressing his foot on the gas as he headed to the location, "Don't think we're done with the conversation."

Sam rolled his eyes, sticking his book into the glove department before holding down the sides of his walkie talkie and speaking into it. By the time Sam and Charlie had arrived, there were already four other ambulances on the scene. In a situation like this, all hands were on deck. When Charlie put the truck into park, Sam got out, went to back to grab his medical bag and proceeded to go help out the victims.

"Excuse me sir, my daughter is bleeding from her leg. Can you help?"

"Sure." Sam told father as he bent down, giving the little girl a smile as he opened his bag, "Do your head hurt sweetie?"

"No."

"Can you breath okay?" He asked as he wiped her leg off with an alcohol pad then fanned it quickly to put the cream on so she wouldn't feel the stinging.

"Yes." She mumbled, eyes darting around worriedly to the building then back to Sam as he place the bandaid on her leg, tears starting up rapidly in her eyes, "They have to go get Ms. Jones."

Sam looked at the little girl, who all of a sudden had tears pouring down her face as he stood back to his feet, "Ms. Jones?"

"Her teacher." The father answered as he picked his daughter up, her arms instantly going around his neck, prompting her to start crying full on, "She said that she was helping them all get out but she isn't..."

The words were interrupted by a loud scream, the people watching as the front of the building fell down, the flames beginning to pick up as the firefighters fought to get the water in the area.

"Get these people across the street."

Sam excused himself before making his way over to his brother, Stefan, who just so happened to be a fireman. As he approached, he watched as he took off his hat and sat on the back of the truck, "Bro, the teacher is still in there."

"We know." He said as he turned to him, trying to hide the horror stricken face as he evened out his breaths, "It's too dangerous to go back in."

Sam stared at him in disbelief, not believing that he was hearing him correctly, "So you're telling me you're just going sit back and let a woman die? Y'all are suppose to be prepared for any situation."

"Sam, it's not that easy."

"The hell it ain't." He countered his brother, glaring at him when he didn't budge. He shook his head and looked back at the little kids, whose parents had arrived, who was obviously worried about their teacher because they wouldn't move from their spots. He knew the risk and likelihood of survival, but he wasn't going to just mark it off as a probability and not an actuality. He moved away from his brother when his captain came, observing the building to try to find a spot that wasn't completely engulfed in flames or collapsed. Surprisingly, he did. He knew that time was not of the essence, so he took off in the direction before it was really too late.

"SAM" Stefan yelled as he watched in horror when he saw what he was doing. He was about to head to grab him but stopped when a small aftershock happened, "I'm going to kill him if he doesn't get himself killed first."

Sam covered his mouth with the crook of his elbow, coughing as he tried to find his way through the path, managing to yell out, "MS. JONES?" The area he was in was smoky and he saw the fire starting to come in a speed that could hinder him getting out all together but this wasn't going to stop him from possibly saving someone that could be alive. If he died today, it would be of reason. He continued to search the area until he saw something in the corner. That had to be her. He ran to where she was, getting down on his knees and moving the fallen items off of her. Her eyes was closed, "Ms. Jones, can you hear me?" When he didn't get a response or see any movement, he placed his fingers against the side of her neck, feeling a very weak pulse. His eyes snapped over to the side when he saw something, shielding her with his body as the debris fell. Once he figured it was clear, he got the lifeless woman in his arms and stood up. He glanced down at the unconscious women before his eyes darted around trying to figure out how he was going to get them out. He began walking towards the way he came in, now starting to be taking over by the flames but it was his only option. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, barely able to calculate his next move the way he wanted. He moved as fast as he could through the flames, the heat without a doubt making contact. When he felt himself arrive back outside, he mustered up enough strength to balance himself so he wouldn't fall. Once he made it safely away from the building, he laid her down on the ground gently and sat beside her.

Charlie was over within the second he saw him come out. He brought the gurney and medical bag, handing Sam the oxygen and watched his partner placed the teacher's head in his lap, while he put the monitor pads on her chest, turning on the portable machine.

Sam checked her pulse again, and found that it was getting weaker. The adrenaline was such a rush, he definitely didn't react right away to his own labored breathing.

Charlie looked at the screen, "We need to get her to the hospital now." He leaned over and let the gurney down, so they could just slide her on. Once they did, Sam got up off the ground and helped Charlie get her into the back of the ambulance, where he stayed.


Sam monitored her the whole ride, making sure that nothing else happened to her. Her vitals were steady but she still wasn't here. Charlie made it to the hospital quick, parking in the ambulance entrance of the emergency and hoping out to help get the teacher down as the nurses came running out.

"What do we have?"

"Female, unconscious, smoke inhalation, concussion, possible fractured ribs, not sure. Her blood pressure is steady at ninety over eight four." Charlie spoke as they walked into the hospital, going to one of the rooms to the left.

Sam watched as they lifted her from the gurney to one of the beds, his breathing finally coming back to normal as they placed an IV in her hand, cuff on her arm to take her blood pressure once more, and the doctor opening her eyes and flashing the small flashlight across.

One of the nurses moved to where Sam was, grabbing a new pair of gloves, "We got her from here."

Charlie walked out the room, accidentally running into somebody in the process. He started to say excuse me but rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.

"You look like hell, Evans."

"Well, he did just go in a burning building and save this woman's life." Charlie said as he raised a brow at him, "What did your sorry ass do today? Oh that's right, almost let an innocent woman be killed."

Sam ignored them both as he stood in the hall and watched into the room until they closed it off. He sighed as he ran his hands over his face before heading to the nurse's station, seeing a familiar face, "Keep me updated with her please."

"Sam, you know I can't." The nurse answered, her eyes trained on the chart in front of her as she wrote in it.

"You owe me, Symp."

Symphony let out a prolonged sigh as she raised her eyes to him, seeing the seriousness on his face, she pursed her lips a bit, more at herself than him, "No promises."

Sam thanked her before pushing back off the counter. He pulled Charlie along with him before he smashed Damien's face in, running into his brother when they got midway down the hall.

"I'll meet you back at the truck." Charlie said once he saw the scowl on Stefan's face, knowing that this wasn't going to end well and plus, he had enough of interacting with firefighters for the moment.

"I won't be long." Sam countered before he turned his attention to his brother, "What are you doing here?"

Stefan ignored him and gestured the his arms, "You need to get check out."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not." Stefan replied sternly to his brother as the two glared at each other, "One, you were in no position to do what you did. Two, you could've died. Three, what you did was incredibly stupid."

"And what you didn't do was the definition of it. You and your team left her to die when you didn't have to. I'm done with this conversation." He said, not giving him a chance to say another word before he pushed passed him. He wasn't about to let him scold him for doing the right thing. Not by a chance.


A week later, Mercedes locked the door to her truck, walking up to the station, her heart for whatever reason beating so fast, "Why am I doing this?" She wondered out loud, stress filling her as wrapped around the building. She knew why. She wanted to meet and thanked the man that saved her life. It's been one week since the scary incident and it hasn't left her mind. She was thankful that her kids and everyone else had made it out safely. Coming out of her thoughts when she heard a low whistle, followed by some remarks that left her jaw tight and not a fight to roll her eyes.

"Hottie at six o'clock." One of the firefighters said as he dropped the towel on the hood, walking over to her with a smirk, looking at her up and down, "Can I help you, Miss?"

"And exactly in which way if yes." The other one chimed in as he came to his side.

Mercedes gave them a sarcastic smile, getting what she needed to say out in one breath, "If you don't want my fist in both of your face, then I suggest you leave me alone. Thanks. I'm looking for Sam Evans."

Sam came from behind the ambulance when he heard the threat and his name flowing from the woman's mouth. He sat the bag on the gurney before jumping down, making his way to the front.

Mercedes moved her attention from the two idiots in front of her and focused on the man walking towards them, feeling in her heart that this was who she was looking for, "Sam?"

"Yeah, that's me." He answered, the familiar face clicking almost immediately, a smile coming to his lips, "Ms. Jones, right?"

"Mercedes." She responded with a smile of own, the two knuckleheads eyes going wide once they realized who she was and making themselves scarce, "You aren't busy are you?"

"No, I'm all yours." Sam took a good look at her for the very first time since two weeks ago. She looked different yet the same. He saw the stitches that were above her eyebrow, a little bruising and scratches here and there, but nothing major. She was dressed in a green long sleeved turtle neck top with a pair blue jeans and black boots with a square heel to them. Her hair was long and straight, the top portion covered in a black beret, "It's so good to see you like this...alert and talking I mean."

"Yeah." Mercedes chuckled at bit as she shifted on her feet, "I'm doing much better. I had a minor concussion, few bruises and cuts, but I'm alive, so I can live with it."

Sam continued to sport a smile as he crossed his arms over his chest, "So, what brings you around these parts, Ms. Jones?"

"Mercedes, please." She corrected him before clearing her throat, "Symphony was my attending nurse and she filled me in on everything. I just wanted to personally thank you and ask why a paramedic would go so far out of his field to save the unsaveable, which was suppose to be me."

"Well, for starters, everyone is savable. It really wasn't out of my way, I just wanted to make sure that an innocent life wasn't taken due to people not trying hard enough."

"Yeah...she told me about that too." Mercedes glanced over at the set of firefighters from earlier plus more, who had been looking at them but suddenly looked away in shame as if they knew what they were talking about. The guilty speaks, even when not vocal, "As long as the kids were okay, everything else is irrelevant."

Sam heard the sincerity of her voice and saw it in her eyes and that showed him something instantly. She was was selfless and had a beautiful soul. My God, the woman was beautiful on the inside as much as she was on the out.

Mercedes felt her cheeks heat up underneath his intense gaze, prompting her to lift the tubberware container up, "I know it may be cheesy, and in no comparison to you risking your life to save mine, but I wanted to thank you. Homemade brownies with caramel drizzle, no nuts just in case you're allergic."

"I am actually." Sam looked at the container that was outreached, smiling as he grabbed it from her and taking in the neatly cut slices, "This was sweet of you, thank you so much."

Mercedes smiled as she nodded her head, folding her hands behind her, she opened up her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by the alarm going off on her phone, "I should get going. Thank you again, Sam. I really do appreciate you and owe you big. Enjoy."

"Most definitely will." He watched her give him another smile before she turned around and walked away. Who would've known he would see her again, let alone her be the one to come find and thank him.

"You're an idiot."

Sam turned around in confusion and found Willow, one of the EMT's, shaking her head, "What I do?"

"Why didn't you ask for her number or something?"

"Because..."

"Because what? Don't say you're not interested because it's written all over your face, hers too if I'm being honest." She noted as she leaned over and popped him upside his head before grabbing ahold of the container in his hand, raising a brow as she opened it and picked a brownie up.

"Those are not for you."

"Too bad." She took a bite, moaning at the taste as she closed her eyes, turning on her heels, "Now you have another reason to go find her."

Sam glared at her but he couldn't even lie, after all that happened plus the recent interaction, he wanted to know more about the teacher and he was going to set out on a quest to do just that.


A/N. This is most definitely a bribe for First Daughter not being updated :)