DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ANYTHING ELSE.

Chapter 1

There were three different paths that Sam had to choose between in his senior year of high school. The first path would lead him straight to enlisting in the marines, just like his dad and uncles. Sam was already a part of JROTC at his high school, where he was always told could be a good fit for a soldier. He had a strong sense of duty and could follow orders when he needed to, and when he didn't find them morally offensive. The second path would be going to a fine arts school to specialize in graphic design to bring his comic books nationwide. The third and last path would be becoming a firefighter, so he could dedicate his life to saving other lives.

Somehow, Sam was able to do all three. He enlisted into the marine right out highschool, did two tours and received a Bronze Star. After coming back to Chicago after deployment, he went to Full Sail University and got his Associates in graphic design while teaching arts and crafts at the local community center.

Soon he was ready to take his last path. He applied to the Chicago Fire Department and they quickly accepted him and he works three days a week, 24 hours a day. He would sleep at the firehouse while he was on call, and then he'd have the other three days a week to himself. However, Sam continued to teach at the community center while taking online classes, taking time for himself just wasn't in the cards for this adrenaline drunkie.

All in all, his life was a good one. He still had his health and his sanity which is a rarity when it came to be a former marine. But, the joy he got from teaching kids and saving people was worth it! Sundays were spent relaxing, catching up on TV shows and going over to his parents house for Sunday dinner and to check on and spend time with his now teenage younger siblings Stevie and Stacie.

Ofcourse, being a fireman comes with a lot of risks. You never know what to really expect when putting out a fire in a building empty or full of people or being called to a scene of a deadly or bloody accident. Sometimes those personal risks were small and futile, like a cat being stuck on a roof or tree or a prank call from a kid. But sometimes, there was great personal risk involved.

September 21st.

One the night of September 21st, Sam is peacefully sleeping in his cot in Firehouse No. 423, when the alarm blasts and sends everyone on duty to scurrying down the pole to get into his or her gear. In 90 seconds, two trucks rush off to the scene of a fire in a small apartment building near Wentworth Garden. This kind of fire had everyone on edge and ready to do whatever they needed to do to get people out, hopefully preventing a spread too close to the Garden.

When the truck arrived at the scene, thankfully it wasn't as chaotic as one would think with how large the flames were and the amount of debris. Everyone, fellin line with what was needed. A group of them began to unroll the hoses and get them hooked up to the nearest hydrants. Sam alongside two of his best buddies on the squad, Mike Chang and Jake Puckerman grabbed axes and pulled gear over their faces and proceeded inside the emblaze apartment building.

Luckily for them, it seems like a number of tenants were already outside of the building but were already told that four people were stuck on the top floor. The flames were big and the dark smoke made it hard to see. Sam takes initiative, designates the plan to get to the people on the top roof and quickly runs up the stairs. The first people he finds are a elderly woman with two small kids, who were most likely her grandchildren, one was holding a frightened dog barking loudly, huddled together in their kitchen. Sam quickly leads the family out of the door and down the stairs to meet with Mike who was waiting for them at the bottom.

Sam proceeds down the hallway as bits of wood come down as the fire continues to wreak havoc in the , Sam had one more person to find.

"Hello?" He shouted over the flames. "If you can hear me, I need you to let me know where you are!"

For a few seconds, he listens carefully for an answer. Was the last person a child? Someone who was too scared to talk?

"You need to make some type of noise to help me out, so I can find you," he tries again. "Shout or scream or knock."

A few seconds later

Sam hears a cough. Not a scream, or a yell, but a cough. The cough sounds like it was coming from the apartment to the left. Sam barrels into the place, past the kitchen, towards the bed room that had a lot of smoke and was getting worse. He hears the cough again, coming from the connected bathroom.

"Hello? Can you hear me? "

Sam heads into the bathroom, pushing the shower curtain out of the way, he finds a woman all curled up in her tub, a blanket pulled over her head like it would keep her safe long enough for someone to find her. Reaching down, he pulls the blanket away from her face and finds that the woman looked ill, her eyes look drowsy and she was struggling to breathe due to the smoke.

"I'm gonna get you out of here," Sam offers her his hand. "Can you walk?"

The terrified woman looks up at him, shakes her head quickly.

"I'm going to pick you up, ok," he informed her,

"N-n-o-o to-oo he-a-a-ve-ey", The first words that came out of the woman.

"Ma'am, you're not close to being heavy" Sam leans down to carefully wrap the blanket fully around her and scoop her into his arms.

Sam quickly rushes them out of the apartment and down the stairs. They were the last ones in the building quickly falling apart, the black smoke billowing around them, debris falling down and he needed to be careful. Sam holds the woman close to him as he reaches the second level of the building. He needed to get her out safely, quickly as the roof from the third level started to collapse.

Sam stopped running and started to jump down the rest of the stairs with the grace of a tiger, prompting the woman to strongly grip on his jacket. He finally reaches the landing of the lower level and bolts out the building as both of them were met with two EMT's beckoning them over to the ambulance as they both were coughing, the woman more harshly. Sam sets the woman down on the gurney.

"She's been coughing since I found her in the bathroom due to smoke inhalation for who knows how long plus debris." Sam pulls off his helmet as one of the EMT begins to look over him.

The EMT nods and asks the woman for her name and other possible injuries or health conditions.

"Mercedes ," Sam hears the woman say. "My name is Mercedes."

The EMT pronounced Sam just fine, save for the usual smoke inhalation, but insisted that Mercedes go straight to the hospital to treat the burns on her right arm that were caused by her trying to escape the fire but burning her arm and hand when tried to open her apartment door that was made out of metal.

"Just bandage it. I'm fine," Mercedes goes into a coughing fit making her protests weaker and further pushes the EMT to insist she go to the hospital.

"Okay," Mercedes reluctantly agrees with-

"But I want him to come with me."

All of a sudden, three pairs of eyes were following the line of Mercedes's finger—right to him.

"Me?"Sam asks. "Miss, I don't think—"

She cuts him off with a pleading look, that made her chestnut colored almost shaped eyes stir something inside of Sam. He nods and agrees.

"Okay. I can do that."

Thankfully, the ground unit was able to get the fire out, but the building would have to be demolished. Sam heads over to Chief Severide, telling him that one of the rescues wants him to ride along with her to the hospital. It wasn't customary not a part of their protocol, but Chief Severide allowed it.

Sam returns to Mercedes with his helmet tucked under his arm and watches as they get her into the ambulance before following suit. It was kind of awkward once they got going, with Mercedes's eyes fixed on Sam and Sam's eyes fixed on her monitor.

To tell you the truth, Sam was extremely confused about this. Why did she want him to come? Was it a 'hero' thing? Because he really didn't need that kind of praise—

"What's your name?"

Turns away from the monitor to Mercedes. Sam blinks at her a couple times. This is the first time he could hear her voice clearly not raspy with a bunch of coughs.

"Evans. Sam Evans. Um, and you're Mercedes, right?"

She nods. "Hm, yeah. Jones. Mercedes Jones."

The EMT sitting beside Sam glances between them as he carefully wraps her arm with gauze but stays silent.

"Looks like I owe you one, Sam and I always make good on my debts."

Sam blinks again, taken aback by her teasing tone...especially considering she's still a little woozy, her hair a mess, her nightdress covered in soot and dust and ash.

For the first time that night, Sam notices that Mercedes was only in pajamas, particularly a teddy that was sheer, that did little to hide her very blessed assets. He could see the band of her underwear that are lace and her nipp—Okay, no. Inappropriate. Sam swallows, looks aways, shaking his head.

"You don't owe me anything, miss. I was only doing my job." Sams answers truthfully.

Mercedes lets out a soft laugh and closes her eyes.

"Maybe I want to owe you one," Mercedes counters.

Sam frowns at that and looks back at her, tilting his head to the side.

"Why would you want to owe me one?"

Maybe she hit her head in the tub and got a concussion or still shock.

"Because now you'll have to say yes when I ask you out for coffee," Mercedes quips out, peering up at him again, a mischievous tint in her doe eyes and a growing smirk.

"Plus, I can repay you for saving my life." Mercedes winks at Sam who could help but be impressed because that was smooth as fuck.

He chuckles a bit and ducks his head, hardly believing that he was having this conversation in the back of an ambulance with ash still caked on him from being in that building for so long.

"Well, I guess I can't say no to that, can I?"

The poor EMT looked like he was stuck in the middle of a romantic comedy or something.

"No. You definitely can't. Those are the rules." Mercedes gives him a teasing look and a firm nod.

A few moments later, they arrived at the hospital. Sam is able to follow Mercedes right up until the doors of the ER and heads to the waiting room. He waits for about 30 minutes until a nurse comes out with a piece of paper and hands it over to him, giving him a knowing smile.

On the paper is an impressive sketch of Sam as Captain America with the words,

"My hero,

Meet me at the coffee shop on Michigan Ave, called the Wellhouse. Or text me if that doesn't work for you!

- Your Damsel in Distress,"

Mercedes wrote, ending with her phone number.

Sam laughs at her teasing drawing and words. Plus he was quite impressed with her drawing skills that she managed to do so quickly and accurately. He could stop his wide grin quickly growing across his face as he kept reading the note over and over again. She's a special type of woman.

Luckily for Sam, the EMT were still outside of the hospital and he caught a ride back to the firehouse. As soon as the fire squad saw him, the guys all started to tease and jeer at Sam.

Sam took the teasing in stride. He honestly could care less because the next day, he is cleaned up and waiting for Mercedes at the Well house. And when Mercedes shows up, her sleek black luminous kinkly curls neatly framing her face, blue shape hugging jeans and a white pretty off the shoulder blouse.

To Sam, the teasing was worth it, if she was the prize.

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Reviews are lovely? ;-x Next chapter, is when the smut ensues! You'll meet !SexKitten Mercedes who surprises Sam on shift