Taylor settled into her bed. It was weird sleeping in the living room. There was a nightlight in the kitchen so that she could see in the event she had to get up for anything. The street out in front of the house was eerily quiet. She had always remembered a steady stream of cars traveling it when she was a kid.
She looked around in the darkened room. It was by no stretch of the imagination anything like the hospital room she had been in for 2 months. It felt good to be "home," but it would be better if she were in her home and able to walk.
It was approaching 2 AM and still she couldn't sleep. She turned on the TV. She surfed through the channels and discovered that nothing good was on.
"A lot of good that did." She said to herself as she continued to click the remote.
She finally settled in on reruns of Law and Order. It was something. Slowly she faded off to sleep.
"The floor's getting weaker." She noted
"Yeah, just one more room and we'll be out of this part." Jimmy replied
Jimmy was checking around a bunch of tables when he heard something snap.
"Alex?" He said
"Jimmy!" She yelled back
Within seconds the ceiling above them came crashing down. In what felt like slow motion to him, Jimmy watched as debris hit her and then she was forced through the floor.
She grasped for anything she could, but she was falling too fast. She fell down onto the top of machine before rolling off of that and hitting the floor hard. The machine slowly began to topple over and she tried to move but the building was unforgiving and the impact of her fall and the machine caused that floor to give way and down she went.
She lay motionless amid the debris. She was unconscious but could hear the sound of scraping metal. She began to come to enough to realize what had happened, just as her PAS device activated.
"Oh God!" She thought to herself. "That's my alarm. How far did I fall?"
She began running through questions in her head but her thoughts were drowned out by the sound of the alarm and the roar of the fire.
"I've got to get out of here." She said.
She realized that she couldn't move and fear set in.
"Somebody help me!" She cried out.
"Please!" She began to cry
She woke up suddenly, breathing heavily. The glow of the TV made the room blue.
"I was dreaming. I'm okay." She said trying to calm herself down.
Then she wondered if she had awakened her mother. As far as she could tell though, her mother was still asleep. She looked around the room. Then she heard foot steps upstairs. She watched the hallway for the shadow of her mother; but not long after the light came on it went back off.
"Okay I didn't wake her." Taylor told herself
She laid there starring at the TV. It was still a little bright so she had to squint a bit.
"I think I need a glass of milk." She thought. "That'll calm me down."
She looked at her wheel chair.
"Well, this will be the real test of how well I can manage."
It took a few moments but she finally got herself situated in her wheelchair and slowly she made her way to the kitchen. She didn't turn the light on, but rather went straight for the refrigerator. She opened the door and had plenty of light to grab a glass from the counter and pour the milk. Once she closed the milk carton and put it back on the shelf she stopped to think of how she was going to take the milk back to bed with her. Finally she found a way to hold the glass and she returned to the bed.
"Okay, now I gotta get back in bed." She thought. It would be so much easier if she could use her legs, but that option didn't exist.
After struggling for a few moments she managed to pull herself up into the bed. It was a lot of work. She slowly drank the glass of milk. The red numbers on the clock changed to 3:30. It was different being "home." She missed the hospital a little, at least there was activity, the night was too still.
She began to wonder what her coworkers were doing. As much as she hated to be awakened by a call in the middle of the night, she longed to be back in the firehouse.
Taylor thought back to a shift about 6 months before her accident. It was an abnormally slow night in the firehouse. There was a snowstorm moving in over the city. They all watched as it began to snow.
"Good maybe we'll get a call." Lombardo said
"What and ruin this perfectly good shift?" DK asked
"Will you all quiet down, the Knicks game is on." Jimmy said from the recliner
"You and your basketball." Taylor said as she threw a piece of balled up paper at him.
"Is it time to eat yet?" Lombardo asked
"If you keep asking me it'll make dinner take even longer." Walsh cracked
"What the hell are you making anyway?" Taylor asked
"Stir fry." Walsh replied
"What kind?" Taylor asked, "Because you know that fried rice from the place up on Amsterdam is awesome."
"You like that place too?" DK asked
"Of course! Egg rolls, General Tso, it doesn't matter. It's all good from there." Taylor laughed as she sat down at the table.
"Now look what you made me do!" Walsh said as he removed the rice from the stove. "I burnt the damn rice!"
"You burnt minute rice? Wow even Taylor can make minute rice." DK cracked
"Hey now." Taylor objected
"I thought women were supposed to be GOOD in the kitchen?" Lombardo asked
"Oh I'm good in the kitchen." Taylor grinned. "Just not THAT way."
"Whoa! Way more than I needed to hear." DK said
"You're just jealous." Taylor grabbed a piece of celery and bit into it. "Since it doesn't look like we're eating this century."
Walsh just glared across the kitchen.
"They make self help books for that." Taylor cracked
"Will you all go find someone else to pick on?" Walsh asked
"But that takes all the fun out of it." DK protested.
"Go somewhere else!" Walsh said as he threw the rice in the garbage
"Gee I can tell where I'm not wanted." Taylor said, "I'll take my celery and go home."
Walsh just shook his head as DK, Lombardo, and Taylor left the room.
It was only a matter of minutes before the Claxton sounded.
"Squad 5-5, Ladder 100, Adam 5-5-3, Boy 5-5-3 respond for an apartment building fire corner of 108 and Lex."
"Here we go!" Lombardo shouted as they headed for their gear.
The snow began to fall heavier as they approached the scene. They could see fire spewing from the windows of the building. Walsh pulled the truck to a stop and soon the firefighters jumped out and prepared to go to work.
"My children are still in there!" A frantic mother screamed
"Where? Where are your children?" Jimmy asked
"4th floor, in the rear." The woman cried
"We'll find them." Jimmy said
"How many children do you have ma'am?" Lt. Johnson asked
"4." The woman replied
"Go and get them!" Lt. Johnson instructed his squad
It took very little time for Jimmy, Taylor, Lombardo, and DK to reach the fourth floor.
"Alright, let's stay together and get those kids out of here." Jimmy said as they cautiously made their way back the hall.
The heat was intense as they closed in on the apartment.
"Fire Department!" Jimmy yelled
They broke through the door and into the orange glow.
"Alright, let's work quick." DK said
"Fire department!" Taylor yelled as they began to search the apartment.
They made their way back a short hallway where 3 rooms split off. The fire raged on behind them.
"I found one!" Lombardo said as he picked up a little girl who was crying for her mother.
"Okay, the others have to be around here somewhere." Jimmy said
"It's okay we're here to help!" Taylor yelled
Soon two other children appeared, both small boys.
"Where's Andy?" one of them asked
"I don't know." Jimmy said
"We gotta get them out of here." DK said as the fire grew more intense.
"I'm not leaving here without the other kid." Taylor said, "Get them out of here."
"I'm not leaving you here alone." Jimmy urged
"Go! I'll be right behind you." Taylor said
DK and Lombardo quietly objected.
"She's right, we gotta get these kids out." Lombardo said
"5 minutes!" Jimmy said, "If you're not out in 5 minutes we're coming in after you."
"I'll be there." Taylor said
The other three made their way back out of the apartment. Soon the floor began to creak.
"Andy?" Taylor said as she ripped the mattresses off the beds. "Andy where are you?" She frantically searched through the closet. "I'm here to help you."
She heard crying coming from the kitchen. "Andy are you out there?"
"Please help me!" The little boy cried
Taylor moved out the hall and looked across towards the kitchen. The floor was growing weaker and the fire was burning a wall between them. She thought for a moment.
"I'm his only chance." And with that she quickly made her way across the floor. "I'm here." She said kneeling beside him.
"It hurts." He cried
"I know, I know." Taylor said. "We're going to get you out of here."
The little boy shook his head in fear as Taylor picked him up.
"I'm coming out." She said in her radio. "I have the boy."
"Hurry up." Lt. Johnson said as he realized that they were quickly losing the building.
She made her way back to the hallway that led to the stairs. Then she heard an all too familiar sound. There was a hiss coming quickly behind her. She quickly ran towards the stairwell. Soon the floor erupted in a fireball.
"Taylor!" Jimmy yelled from the ground as he watched the flames shoot out the windows. They all covered themselves to protect against falling glass and debris.
Taylor quickly dove out the window onto the fire escape and covered the boy.
"Stay down." She said as the fireball shot debris out the window towards them
As the Squad looked up they could see Taylor lying on the fire escape.
"Taylor!" Jimmy yelled as he and DK ran towards the ground ladder to it.
Taylor gathered her senses and then picked up Andy and headed down the metal stairs.
Jimmy and DK met her at the first landing. Jimmy took the boy from her and together they made their way to the ground where the medics were waiting to take care of the boy. His grateful mother was crying.
"Bless you! Bless you!" She cried
"You're either really stupid or really lucky!" Walsh said
"Yeah." Taylor said as she pushed past him to go to the bus the boy was taken to.
The boy was burned.
"You hang in there Andy." Taylor said
"Will I be okay?" He asked
"The medics are going to take you to the hospital where the doctors are going to take real good care of you." Taylor smiled
The boy smiled slightly. "You're alright for a girl."
Taylor laughed. "Well thank you."
She helped to load the stretcher into the ambulance and closed the doors.
Taylor smiled as she recalled the incident. Then she thought to herself.
"I'm going to get better. I'm not spending the rest of my life in that chair. I need to be back on a fire truck!"