February 18th, 2003

Alex and Joey were lying in his bed reading a book before bed. Joey was curled up in her arms looking at the pictures as she flipped through the pages.

"May I have your name? She asked, politely. The pig stared at her. No name, he said in a big hearty voice. Just call me Uncle. Very well, Uncle, replied Charlotte. What is the date of your birth? Are you a spring pig?" Alex read from the book. Joey grinned softly.

"I like Charlotte's Web. Fern is a nice little girl." Joey said. Alex smiled.

"Me too, Buddy." Alex said. "You want me to read you some more?" Joey yawned and shrugged.

"I don't care," Joey said. Alex chuckled as she got up.

"Bedtime. We'll finish more of the book tomorrow." She kissed Joey's cheek. "Sleep tight."

"Love you Alex." Joey whispered as he snuggled into the mattress and pulled the blanket up around him. Alex smiled softly.

"I love you too, Buddy." She quietly closed his bedroom door and walked out ito the living room; "He loves me."

"Joey? He should. You're great." He said. Alex chuckled.

"I am great, but shouldn't he tell Kim that he loves her?"

"He does." Jimmy put down the TV guide and looked at her. "Have you talked to Kim about us?" Alex nodded.

"She thinks its great that you're trying." She chuckled.

"She's probably counting own the day when I hurt you." Jimmy said.

"Well, We both know you're not going to so there's nothing to be worried about." She said with some playful laughter, "The babysitter better get here or we're going to be late."

"She'll be here soon and you can talk to Kim when we get to work." Jimmy said, "All right?"

"Sounds like fun." Alex chuckled.

* * *

Alex watched Kim as she ran a brush through her hair. She glanced at the 'Mommy 2 Joey' on her wrist. Alex sighed.

"Kim, can I talk to you for a moment?" She asked.

"About what?" Kim smiled.

"Joey." Alex bit her lip. Kim turned to face Alex.

"What about him?" She asked. Why was this so hard?

"When I was tucking him in to bed, He said that he loved me." Alex said quietly. Kim stared at her.

"He did?" She whispered. Alex nodded.

"Its…Its just that I spend so much time over there." Alex said, "I'll talk to him in the morning if you want." Kim shook her head.

"No. it's all right." Kim said. "He has every right to love you. You're dating his father…my ex-husband. It's all right."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked.

"I'm sure. You're my best friend. Sure, it's extremely weird and I'm really worried that you'll get hurt, but…but I'm okay with this." Kim said. Alex threw her arms around Kim tightly.

"I promise you I won't get hurt." Alex hugged her; "I'm so glad you're not mad and don't hate me." Kim smiled hugging her back.

"I could never hate you…Unless you hurt Joey and I know you wont." Kim said. Alex chuckled.

"Thank you." Alex said softly. Jimmy had been right. Talking to Kim had taken a large load off of her shoulder.

March 5th, 2003

The flames poured out of the windows of the apartment building. All you could see was smoke and fire. Alex pulled the hose towards the fire hydrant where DK was. He grabbed it from her and hooked it up. Jimmy pulled a pair of tanks on and looked at them.

"I'm going in." Jimmy said.

"You're nuts." DK said.

"There's somebody in there. It's our job to help people out of burning buildings, DK. I'm going in." Jimmy said glancing at Alex, "I'll be on the radio if I need help." Alex nodded.

"Hurry up, Jimmy." Alex said softly as Jimmy put his mask on and ran into the house. He looked down the hallway. The smoke was so thick; you could barely see a foot in front of you.

"Ma'am, are you in here?" Jimmy called out as loud as he could. He pounded on a door that was in front of him. A loud crashing sound made Jimmy turned around. He looked up to see the ceiling crash around him. "Oh Shit." He leapt out of the way and pressed his body to the wall. There was no way out.

"Jimmy, you okay in there?" Alex was on the radio.

"Yes." Jimmy whispered to himself.

"Somebody help me!!" A woman screamed from a bedroom.

"I'm here!" Jimmy yelled and bolted into the room. A woman was lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Thank god." She whispered. Jimmy took off his mask and knelt down in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I can't breath." She gasped. Jimmy nodded and slipped the mask onto her.

"This will help you some." He said grabbing his radio, "This is Doherty. I need back up in here. The ceiling collapsed and it's hard to get out. I have a woman in here with me."

"Jimmy, are you okay?" Alex asked him.

"I'm fine." Jimmy said to her as he helped the woman up to her feet, "We're coming out. Have a bus out there for her."

"Done." Alex said. He could sense the worry in her voice.

"Come on." Jimmy wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and let her out into the smoke filled hallway. Her body was trembling. "It's okay." He had to try everything to keep himself from choking.

"Doherty!" DK and Dave stood on the other side of the flames.

"Okay." Jimmy looked at the woman; "On the count of three we're going to jump through all right?"

"I cant!" She cried.

"We don't have a choice right now." Jimmy said, "Keep the mask on and jump."

"Okay." She whimpered as DK and Dave watched them.

"One…Two…Three." Jimmy held the woman tightly as they jumped through the flames. DK and Dave grabbed them and they bolted out of the house as everything finally started to collapse.

"Jimmy!" Alex ran over to him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said as he helped the woman into the bus, "I just need to get her looked at."

"We have her." Doc said. Jimmy nodded and looked at Alex. She was biting her lip. He gathered her into his arms and hugged her.

"I'm fine. I'm just really thirsty." He said. Alex smiled softly.

"There's water back at the engine." She said as she pulled away, "Are you sure you're all right, Jimmy?" He nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He said. Alex smiled softly and led him back to the engine. She was always afraid to see her friends go into these dangerous situations, but now it was harder. It was harder to see the man she love get trapped inside of burning buildings.