AN: Wow, thank you all so much for the response on the first chapter of this story! It has been brought to my attention that I don't thank you all enough. So, please hear me now…
Thank you.
Seriously, it's so wonderful to get that email that says I have a new review. I write for myself, so not receiving feedback wouldn't really stop me, but it makes it so much more fun. Unfortunately, I don't foresee ever having the time to reply individually to each review, but I will try to be more on top of giving thanks in author's notes. On another note, here's the next chapter. I actually really like this one, despite the fact that it turned out NOTHING like I intended. I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and good luck with the New Year!
"Dammit." I mumble as I turn into yet another dead end storage closet. Shielding my eyes, I stumble back into the labyrinth of a hallway and scan the area for the next searchable room. I couldn't find my way around this huge Victorian home, if my life depended on it…hopefully, it won't. Finding another promising doorway, I duck and begin to crawl into the hazy and blazing room.
"Torres, Karev, the last family member is out and accounted for, get your asses out of there, now. Things don't look good." The sound of Sloan's voice fills my helmet, causing me to release a relieved breath.
"Copy that. I'm on my way," I manage to shout back into the radio. As I get back out to the hall, an entire wall collapses next to me, sending me into a tuck and roll in the opposite direction. I briefly congratulate myself on my ninja reflexes until I realize that the tumbling has completely disoriented me. I have no clue which way I came from or which way I should be going. My head is buzzing a little from the noise and rough movement, and visibility is now around zero. Fan-freaking-tastic. Forcing myself to take a long, deep breath, I glance around. I can do this. I'm a bad-ass firefighter, this is what I do.
With nothing more than a guess, I begin to army crawl to my left, hoping that there's some way out…There isn't. This is the fucking closet again and everything past it is too consumed in flames to even consider trying. Shit. A flashing thought alerts me that Arizona is going to kill me if I get out of this. When. When I get out of this.
A deep groan comes from the house. A groan that sends searing hot and frigid cold chills through my body. That's the desperate cry of the house fronting it's final struggle against the unrelenting fire. I'm out of time. Turning around, I will my body to move as quick as possible in the storm of heat and destruction. I make out a vaguely familiar doorway up ahead of me. I think that's the door to the back staircase, probably my only chance. As I move to slip through, rubble comes barreling down around me, causing me to duck away. Swallowing hard and letting out a shaky breath, I determine that I'm still whole and unharmed. Suddenly, a rough force grips my collar and tugs me forward.
"What the hell are you doing just sitting on your ass, Torres! Let's get the fuck outta here!" Avery's voice has never sounded as angelic as it did in that moment.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" I growl back as I hastily follow him toward our freedom.
"Just keep moving." I can hear his labored breathing through the roar of the flames.
The stairs a just stable enough for us to hunch over and sort of run down. The adrenaline coursing through me has my senses painfully alert, and my heart and lungs working too hard. Since we were on the third floor, the trip seems to be miles down, and I start to wonder if we'll ever make it.
"Avery, Torres, I don't want to panic you, but we were just now informed that the husband keeps a gasoline reserve for the tractors in the basement-" I barely register that he is still talking, but I don't hear another word.
"Son of a bitch! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Avery all but squeals as we began to jump down the remaining stairs.
I don't bother wasting any effort adding to his eloquent statement, that's really all there is to say in this type of situation. After what seems like a hundred hours, I see muted light to our right. We dodge more debris and violent flames, bursting through the back door and sprinting across the yard. Once we're about ten yards away, a resonant rumble trembles the earth a split second before the house shatters behind us in an furious ball of smoke, fire, and splinters of the once proud home. Avery and I both yelp as the unseen energy propels us viciously forward, and unapologetically slams us to the muddy ground.
Once we skid to a halt, we both lay panting and shivering in the grass. My ears are ringing and my body aches, but I'm fairly certain that I'm not hurt too seriously. "How you doin' over there, Princess?" I gasp out to Avery.
A pained moan comes from him, "I should have been an actor."
Chuckling breathlessly, I start attempting to move, "What?"
He groans as he pushes himself to a sitting position, "I could pay someone else to do these stupid stunts for me. But, I would get all the fame and girls."
Laughing again, I mirror his position with a grunt, "Well, that's a noble dream, Avery."
"Thank you."
We wait a few minutes, trying to regain function of our over stressed bodies. An inkling of concern toys with my conscious, like a thought is trying to come through. Looking around, I realize that I don't see anyone we know. A few other firefighters and paramedics have come to check on us, but we've been brushing them off, because we're mostly okay. But, I don't see our crew. Grabbing my radio in my helmet, I call out, "Yo, Sloan, you copy?" After several seconds, I try again. No reply comes, so I shake the headset. Nothing. "I think my com's dead. Try yours."
Avery grabs his and shakes it before depressing the button, "Can anyone hear me?" No reply follows. "Huh, guess the blast shorted them."
I glance around, finally absorbing the chaotic scene surrounding us. Paramedics run between firefighters and the family that was in the home. Firefighters scurry frantically to secure the scene. Police officers survey and take statements, while keeping bystanders at an appropriate distance. Sirens blare and flashing lights illuminate the foggy area. "Shit."
Avery glances at me curiously when he detects the strangled tone of my voice, "What?"
Instantly standing on wobbly legs, I state, "I don't think they know we made it out."
His eyes go wide with the realization that our crew probably thinks we were inside when it exploded. As he shakily stands and begins to follow my stumble to the other side of the house, he mumbles, "Robbins is so going to kill you."
"Shut up." I growl back, even knowing he is entirely correct.
When we round the crumpled heap that used to be a recognizable structure, I can barely make out our engine. Scanning the immediate vicinity, I spot Sloan out in front and Karev toward the back of the engine. As we get closer, Sloan glances in our direction and even from our distance, I can see his shoulders slump in relief, "Thank, God. Where the hell were you two?" He calls over the background cacophony. Before either of us answer, he calls over his shoulder, "Karev!"
Avery gives him a quick run down of what happened, but I tune out as I watch Karev look our way, then turn to say something to someone out of my view. I have no doubt who is hiding behind the huge truck. Confirming my suspicions, Karev makes eye contact with me and nods to the spot that he was talking to and heads over to help Sloan finish securing the site.
Swallowing hard, I take a few tentative steps to round the end of the vehicle. The sight immediately causes my heart to facture and splinter. Arizona's hands are splayed on the truck, her weight leaning against straight arms, her head hung between them, and a visible tremble is arresting her body. "Hey." It's all I can manage with the tension swirling around us. The single word intensifies the instability of her body and she just shakes her head. "Arizona, I-"
With a whoosh of breath, she pushes off the cold metal, and finally looks at me, whispering, "Not now." Blue eyes convey fear, relief, love, and anger all at once as she passes me. This one hit her hard.
Because of the amount of units called in to help with the scene, we finish pretty quickly and head back to the station. Arizona doesn't speak a word to me the entire time, which isn't really a surprise. This is her usual process when I scare her, like I did today. She shuts me out completely until we can be alone, sometimes longer. It can't be easy having to watch the person you love purposefully enter into dangerous situations every day. I honestly don't know how she does it. I can only handle her working with me because she's the driver and almost never goes into a burning building. My protective gaze never strays from her as she drives us back 'home'. Her jaw is set in a hard line, her body moves a little stiffly, and her brows furrow in contemplation. I doubt she's thinking that thoroughly on driving, probably forgoing the extra concern for the road to consider her feelings on almost losing her fiancé a few hours ago.
We finally get back to the station and start to change out of our gear. Noticing that Arizona is not ready to acknowledge me yet, I take the moment to turn to Avery, "Hey, I know I don't need to say it, but, thank you for coming in after me today. I don't know if I- thanks."
Avery smiles softly, "You're right, you never need to thank me for that. But, to be fair, she more or less bullied me into it." With a crooked grin he motions toward Arizona.
Nodding, I notice that the clothes I'm wearing are soaked with sweat and my whole body feels grimy. "I'm, uh, going to go shower."
"Is that an invitation?" Avery asks cheekily.
Intercepting Arizona's glare at Avery, our eyes connect as I answer him, "Not for you."
I trudge into the upstairs bathroom and start the shower running. I lean back against the counter and wait for Arizona to follow me. A few minutes pass without the appearance of a blonde beauty, causing me to sigh and strip out of my stinky clothes. With one last longing glance at the empty doorway, I slip into the shower and melt under the scalding stream of water. Quickly drenching my long hair, I squirt shampoo into my hand and eagerly rub it into my scalp, washing away the smoke and sweat.
The soft scrape of metal on metal tells me that someone is pulling the shower curtain back. A brief pause, then the same sound signals the re-close of said curtain. I don't bother turning to identify the intruder. Lean, strong, fair-skinned arms wind around my mid-section, instantly pulling my body flush against hers. Her soft breasts press into my back, and despite the ambiguousness of her emotional state, a burning tingle tickles my insides. Warm lips place a feather-light kiss in the crook of my neck before a smooth cheek lays on my shoulder. After a few silent moments pass, each simply soaking in the other, I twist in her gentle embrace to face her. Her eyes are dark with desire, love, and uncertainty. Instantly recognizing this look, I grin softly and brush a damp strand of gold off her face. After momentarily cupping her cheek, I reach behind her and grab my loofah and body wash. We probably don't have time for all this, but hopefully the guys will cover for us and no fires interrupt.
I pour a generous amount of sweet smelling liquid onto the loofah and silently offer it to her. Arizona takes it with a small smile and slowly works the soap into a delicate lather. Starting at my neck, she runs the fancy sponge along my collarbone and over my shoulders. She moves gradually, taking care to cover every inch of my tanned skin. I stay motionless, content to simply observe her as she watches her own hand glide over my body. My bottom lip nestles between my teeth when the slightly rough material grazes through my breasts and over my sensitive nipples. Her hand moves in lazy circles around one tight bud, then slips to the other. The hand not holding the loofah reaches out and laces our fingers together as her other continues down to tease my abdomen. My muscles twitch with anticipation and just a little ticklishness. Instead of dropping below my hips, Arizona takes a small step forward to reach her arm around and drag the soapy sponge along my spine.
I grin down, gazing into her eyes while she runs the loofah over my ass several times. An adorable smirk now rests on her perfect lips, revealing her growing ease and increasing interest in the current activity. She places a kiss on my collarbone as her hand trails lower, skimming along the back of my thigh, the back of my knee, and finally my calf before traveling back up the front of my quivering leg. By this point, I'm getting a little antsy. I'm all for leisurely love making and body worshipping, but that doesn't mean it doesn't turn me on quickly. However, this is her show. Today she gets control. So, I stand still impatiently allowing her to take the lead. She carresses small designs on the top of my thigh, seemingly enjoying the way I'm starting to squirm and almost pant in her face.
At last, I feel the loofah shift to the apex of my legs. I unconsciously move for the first time when I slide my feet further apart, granting her better access. Unhurriedly, she brushes my outer lips with the pleasurably abrasive material. A small sigh escapes, and she adds just a little pressure to her next stroke. Steam swirls thickly around us as we let the water pour over our bodies, staring lovingly into the other's eyes as we connect on beautifully intimate level. Using a knuckle, she nudges my lips apart and drags the loofah lightly through my folds. A gasp falls from my parted lips when it sweeps over my clit. She repeats this process a few more times, before allowing the no-longer-needed tool to tumble to the bottom of the tub.
In the next instant, two delicate fingers plunge swiftly into me, my body more than ready for the intrusion. A moan bubbles up from me as she begins to move very slowly in and out of my core. My legs quake, causing me to plead for a little help with my eyes. Arizona understands immediately and spins us so that she can brace my body against the wall as she pumps into me. Her fingers feel amazing within me, my slick muscles clenching tighter with each stroke. I drop my forehead to nuzzle her neck as I whimper and groan in pleasure. It just takes a few minutes for me to teeter to the edge of bliss, one hand wrapped tightly around hers above our heads, the other gripping her hip as she brings me closer and closer. Finally, with a curl of her fingers and a swipe of her thumb, my entire body goes rigid and my breath catches. Heat hotter than any fire rips up from my core and singes my skin. Spasms rock my body against hers, our soapy forms rubbing deliciously together.
She keeps close as I ride out the aftershocks, placing tender kisses on my neck and shoulder. A few long moments of ebbing tremors pass, then she withdraws her coated fingers, my muscles twitching in protest of the loss. When our eyes meet again, she kisses me for the first time since this morning. A deep, leisurely kiss that turns my insides to mush. Our arms snake around the other as tongues battle goal-lessly. When we break for air, her eyes shine with love. A nearly inaudible whisper trickles from her lips, "Try not to scare me like that again."
All I can do is nod and kiss her with unyielding devotion.
AN: So…what did you think?
AN3: There's a good chance that I will be starting a new story in the very near future, so it's likely that updates will be even slower as I try to straddle two stories for the first time. I'll really try to lessen that effect as much as possible, though. I just got an idea and now can't get it out of my head. Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up, and keep an eye out for the new one (For now, the title is "I've Been Waiting")
