There was something she was just not seeing with the man she met and helped. His little girl looked like she had just lost her best friend. She just left them at the Crown Plaza hoping that they could work out whatever was hurting them. Call it a premonition or just a plain old vibe, but she could tell that they were both in need of someone who could help them. Whatever it was, it went deep within the both of them. She still thinks about them and she enters the on-ramp for I-35 East southbound. There are certain things in life that you take for granted. What Kate witnessed was nothing of the sort. Alexis seems to depend on her father and Rick depends on his daughter. They are like two peas in a pod and they keep themselves together emotionally by reassuring each other. She gets off at Elm Street from I-35 and turns left onto Hall street and is just about where she rescued Rick and Alexis an hour before. The light is red and she stops at the stop line. While she's waiting for the light to turn green she thinks about the shift she just completed and thankfully has the next two days off. When the light turns green an impatient beep from the car behind her blows their horn in aggravation because she's still sitting there daydreaming on a green light, how ironic is that? She releases the brake and steps on the gas and soon she is coming up to a Dallas Fire Department pumper sitting across Elm street that she needs to go around in order to get home. She tries to pull into the area and sees a firefighter in full turnout gear standing near the control panel of the truck. Before she can move forward he is coming over to her side of the Explorer.

"Whoa, there little lady. It seems that you won't be able to move forward due to the fire that's ahead." The Dallas firefighter told her who was manning the pumper.

Kate who was still dressed in her scrubs decided to use her position to get more information from the firefighter who was just about to turn and walk back to the pumper.

"Sir? I just need to get home because I just came off a very long 12-hour shift and sleep is the only thing I would like to do right now."

"I'm sorry ma'am but the street is blocked off due to the fire that's down the street. It is a working fire and I'm not too sure that there will be an end to this anytime soon. So your sleep will need to be done elsewhere."

Kate who always wanted to know what was going on around her asked the firefighter where the fire was. He was very forthcoming with the information she needed.

"That's simple ma'am the fire is at 3333 Elm Street. It seems that somebody had decided to have a barbecue outside on the deck. But they had used too much lighter fluid on the charcoal in the grill, left it unattended and set the whole complex ablaze. This is why I am here manning this pumper on a 104⁰ day."

Kate's face went ashen white because all she could think about were the people in the building. Coming out of her thoughts it hit her that this was where she lived.

"That's my home! How bad is it?" Kate asked hoping it was not that bad.

"Ma'am it looks like they will probably be able to save the foundation." The firefighter snickered as he walked away knowing that there would be nothing left of the complex.

"So, there's a chance that I can get back to my loft?" Kate asked her hope rising.

"Listen, ma'am, the building is a total loss. There will be nothing to go back to. I'm sorry." He shouted over his shoulder as he walked back towards his fire truck.

"But…" Kate watched as the flames rose over the top of what was once her roof. She knew that Reggie the airhead was the one who had wanted to bar-b-que on the deck yesterday and watch the Mavericks game on TNT. He had to be the one who caused this even if it was an accident.

Xx

Two hours later and she is no closer to getting back to her loft. She is glad about one small miracle, her son was not in the loft when this happened. From what she can see there is nothing left of the structure she used to call her home. Since the initial confrontation with the firefighter over 2 hours ago she had been sitting in her Explorer since then off to the side of the road about 100 feet away from the fire truck. She had called her mother to make sure that her son was okay but she really couldn't tell him what had happened to their home. God she really hated relying on other people. She was independent and now with her house in ashes along with most of her belongings, she would have to find a place to stay. Most likely with her parents, because they would not hear of her staying anywhere she had to pay money for. So, a hotel was out. She watched as the firefighters from one area started packing up the truck with the hoses they laid out earlier when the fire started. When they were finished she got out of her truck and asked if it was okay to go towards the building or what was left of it. The firefighters said that the building was still off-limits because the fire inspector had not finished his investigation into why the building had burned to the ground. He told her that in all actuality it would probably be around this time tomorrow when she could start sifting through what was left of her apartment. Sadly, Kate walk back to her Explorer slipped the key into the ignition, started the truck and drove to her mother's house. She barely remembers the drive over there but only started to brighten her mood when she saw her father and son playing catch in the front yard. It was almost noon and time for lunch when she arrived. Her parents knew about the fire and had not said anything to Eli about it.

The second she pulled the car into the driveway Eli was running towards her his baseball mitt long-forgotten lying by the sycamore tree. By the time he arrived at the side of her car, he had his hand on the door handle pulling on it to open it up.

"MOM!" Eli wrapped his arms around his mother's waist and held on tightly once she got out of the SUV.

Deciding that a proper hug was in order Kate got on Eli's level and held him close to her body while he wrapped his arms around her neck with just as much intensity. They stayed there for about a minute before they broke apart and Kate could see that he knew something was wrong. It was then when his grandmother and grandfather decided to come out of the house to greet her.

"Why don't we all go inside and I'll make us something to eat for lunch," Joanna said.

"I think that would be a great idea mom. Eli, there's something I need to tell you after lunch." Kate said as they walked back towards the house.

"Okay, Mom."

Jim just looked at his daughter knowing that what was going to come next was going to upset his world. But they would get through it.

Lunch consisted of a PB&J sandwich for Eli, Jim and Kate had cold cuts, and Joanna had leftover mac and cheese.

"So Eli, there is something that I need to talk to you about." Kate started.

"What is it, mom?"

"This morning I helped a man and his daughter that were lost. When I got them to where they needed to go to I dropped them off at their hotel."

"What were they doing?"

"Well, they are new to Dallas because they just moved here. They were lost trying to find the truck rental place to return the truck. So, I had them follow me to where it was. When they returned the truck they rented they needed a ride back to the hotel they were staying at, so I brought them there."

Both Jim and Johanna's eyebrows raised at that statement. They knew that their daughter was considerate, but they never thought that she would do something like this.

"Okay, mom so that's it?"

"No Eli, there's more I'm getting to it."

"Mom, just tell me what's wrong, you know like you tell me when it will hurt less if you just rip the band-aid off quickly so it won't hurt that much."

Kate knew her son was right and she told him.

"Eli, there was a fire at the building where we live. Everything that we had is now sitting in a pile of smoldering ash." She said dejectedly.

She watched as he mentally went through everything he had in his room knowing that he'd lost everything.

"My baseball card collection, my jerseys, my comic books, all my clothes? All of it is gone?"

"I'm afraid so baby. But we can replace all of it. I'm just glad that we were not in the building when it was burning."

"Mom come on we can't replace everything. The ball that was hit by Robinson Chirinos that Grandpa caught for me at the Rangers game last month was signed by him! I can't replace that because it was a home run ball." Eli told her with his eyes starting to tear up.

"Eli, I know that these things meant a lot to you. But I'm not the one to blame for what happened to our loft. We will get the everyday stuff replaced. But as for the mementos and keepsakes, I'm afraid that those are gone. But look at the bright side when you go to another game with your grandfather maybe you might be able to snag another home run ball. So tomorrow while you're at school I'm going to have to take the day off of work to sift through what's left of our place. From what I saw it doesn't look like there's anything that's salvageable. The fire destroyed everything but I'll try."

"Mom we have no home now. Where are we going to stay?" Eli asked.

"As much as I hate to admit this baby, I think that we will be staying right here that is if your grandmother and grandfather offer their house to us."

Before she could speak the last word and turn her head towards them, her parents were already shaking their heads in the affirmative motion. She knew it was too good to be true and she's grateful because they've always been there for her when she needed them the most. So, what she needs to do now is start hunting for a new place to live. She does have some money saved and thankfully she had fire insurance on her loft so all she has to do is collect from that policy and hopefully buy another place to stay. But now with Eli getting older, she wants to get an actual house and not another loft. The coming weeks will be tough on them but they'll make it through. When lunch is finished Kate makes her way to the guest room to get some sleep because she's been up for over 18 hours.