Taylor didn't stop struggling even as the rope rubbed red welts into her wrists and ankles from where they were bound together. The concrete was cold and hard beneath her, stray gravel cutting into her hands as she tried to push herself upright even with her limited mobility.

"Why are you doing this?" she panted when she finally got herself into a seated position. "Just- what do you want?"

"I want…" her father said slowly, staring down at her struggling without an ounce of compassion. "...a daughter who is grateful, and shows that by helping her father when he asks."

Taylor choked on a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. "Grateful for the father who murdered my mother?"

Rage rippled across his features, snarl turning his face into something monstrous that Taylor had never seen before. Throughout it all, the accusations, his arrest and trial, even his imprisonment, he'd maintained the same careful facade of the affable small-town doctor who wouldn't hurt a fly, much less his beloved wife. It was that facade that Taylor had believed for so long and had made it impossible for her to determine once and for all if he could have done what they said he did.

That facade was gone now and Taylor could finally see him for who and what he truly was.

"You killed her," she said again, just because she needed to say the truth out loud. "You really did it."

"I asked you to do one thing for me, Taylor, and you couldn't even do that."

"You wanted me to say you were innocent," she scoffed in response, trembling with anguish and rage at how close she'd come to doing just that.

"Ungrateful, so ungrateful," he said softly.

"You're crazy," she breathed.

His hand struck out so fast that she didn't even see the blow coming until she was hit across the face. With her hands bound she had no way of breaking her fall and her face exploded into pain from both the strike and from slamming into the ground, rough cement cutting into her cheek.

"I guess it's time you find out what happens to ungrateful daughters."

Taylor's eyes widened as she struggled to regain her bearings and pull herself up onto an elbow. She'd dismissed the warehouse he'd brought her to when she realised she didn't recognise it, but it was only now that she looked around that she noticed how dark and remote it seemed. That low level of fear thrumming through her ratched up another few notches as she realised how unlikely it was that anyone would hear her screams.

"What are you going to do?" she asked slowly.

Her father just turned away, leaning down to pick up a bright red bottle she hadn't noticed before. Even before he uncapped it and the scent reached her, she knew what it was; gasoline.

"Don't," she whispered, even as he ignored her and started pouring it a line around the perimeter of the big room. Far enough out that she would be forced to watch as it edged closer and closer, destroying everything between it and her. "Dad," she pleaded, hating the word in her mouth. She tried to get to her feet but the blow must have been worse than she thought because her vision swam and even without the ropes around her ankles she thought she still would have crashed onto her knees. "Dad, please don't do this. Daddy, please!" she screamed, when she saw the match in his hand.

"Goodbye, Taylor," he said gently, dropping the match as he stepped through the door and disappeared.

"What have we got?" Chimney asked as they rolled up on the scene.

"Abandoned warehouse," Bobby replied, glancing out the window. "Not sure how it started, but it looks like it could have been arson."

Buck followed his gaze as he and the rest of the 118 stepped down from the truck. Red and blue lights already flashed across the brick of the warehouse, and they could see Athena standing by the back of her car, holding a man's arms behind his back as she cuffed him. Buck caught sight of his face and felt his blood run cold.

"Oh my god," he muttered, and the others glanced at him but he was already gone.

Buck moved so fast that even Athena didn't see him coming as he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the trunk of his car.

"What the hell, Buck-"

"What are you doing here?! What did you do?!"

Recognition lit up the man's face even though he and Buck had never met, never even seen each other before.

"Ah," the man said softly, and there was something so very dangerous about his tone. "The boyfriend, right?"

"What did you do to her?! What did you do to Taylor?!"

He could feel the confusion and concern of Athena and the 118 swirling around behind him, but he didn't really care to explain as he yanked Taylor's father forward and slammed him back down again.

"Where is she?!"

Her father didn't so much as flinch even as Buck yelled in his face. A slow smile just unfurled across his mouth as his eyes slid between Buck's livid expression and the warehouse, still burning beside them.

"You're a firefighter," he said slowly, seeming a bit too delighted about it all. "Let's see if you can save her."

Disgusted, Buck released him and stepped back, Athena wasting no time in yanking him away and shoving him into the back of her cruiser. Buck took another few steps away, running a shaking hand through his hair.

"She's in there, Taylor's in there," he said, eyes raking over the burning structure. He moved towards it but Bobby's hand clamped down on Buck's shoulder and pulled him back.

"If Taylor's in there we can't afford to make mistakes," Bobby said, talking to them all. "So we do this smart, we do this fast, and we all come out of there safely. And that includes Taylor," he said with a significant look at Buck.

"You got it, Cap."

"Yes, Captain."

"We'll get her, Buck."

As a group they all knelt to the ground, to pull their oxygen masks into place, then they were busting down the door to the warehouse and spilling inside.

"Eddie, Chimney, you take the right, Hen and Buck, we'll take this room to the left."

Eddie and Chimney moved off, while Buck kicked down the door leading to the next room, Bobby and Hen following him in. The room looked like a large storage space, filled with clutter and debris, all of which was up in flames. Then in the middle of it all, both tears and blood smeared down her face, struggling to get up was Taylor.

"Taylor!" Buck yelled, kicking aside burning rubble as he tried to get to her. "Taylor!"

"Buck! I can't-"

Buck finally got closer and saw why she was having so much trouble getting up; ropes, tied with thick complicated knots, were around her wrists and ankles. He fell to his knees beside her, took one look at those knots, and helped her hook her bound hands around his neck instead.

"Just like this, Tay, I'm gonna get you out of here."

"Buck," she said on a shuddering sob, as he slid one arm around her back and the other under her knees.

Bobby and Hen helped clear a better path out while Buck hoisted her into the air and carried her out, the rest of the 118 clearing the rest of the building while he took her straight to the waiting paramedics.

"I've got you, I've got you, I've got you," Buck chanted over and over. He gently lowered her onto the gurney but she didn't let him pull away, clenching one hand around the collar of his turnout coat while she anchored the other in his hair.

"I thought- I thought," Taylor gasped, body shuddering with sobs.

"I know," Buck said, forcing down his own raging emotions of anger and lingering fear. "I know, but I've got you now."

Catching up on yesterday's febuwhump prompt. Hope you enjoyed it x