This one was from the lovely Melissa aka goldcaught on Tumblr. "KC + I keep setting my kitchen stove on fire and you're the long suffering firefighter on call AU."
The first time she swears had been an accident. She'd been trying to be a good girlfriend to Tyler, cook him up some pasta after he finished at work for the day.
She will maintain even later that it's not her fault that she got bored with cooking and went to paint her nails. And when she next came back to check on the simmering pasta sauce it was on fire.
Her fire alarm goes off with a screeching wail and she drops her bottle of nail polish on the floor, reaching for a cup or a bowl or anything that she can fill with water and dump on top of the flaming pot.
It's a struggle, but she does manage to stop the fire from spreading, albeit with a few scalds and burns on her hand.
Just when she's finally finished putting everything out, and ruined her nail polish to boot there's a hammering on her door and a muffled voice.
"Ma'am are you alright in there? This is the fire department. Your fire alarm triggered at our station."
With a weary sigh she picks herself up off the floor and heads towards her front door. Wincing slightly she unlocks it and pulls it open, revealing a very concerned looking fire fighter who gazes at her curiously.
"I'm fine." She promises, trying to hide another pained wince. Those crystalline blue eyes snap to hers in concern.
"You're hurt." He deduces lightly, faintest hint of a British accent bleeding through. "Do you mind if I come in and check everything out?"
She steps back, waving him into her small, two bedroomed apartment. He's completely dressed in uniform, his hard hat now tucked under his arm.
His lips quirk into a somewhat amused smile at the sight of the burnt pasta, but he refrains from commenting as he turns down the knobs on her stove.
"What happened here?" He asks with a kind smile in her direction, no accusation in his tone at all.
"I was trying to cook for my boyfriend. Unfortunately it didn't go to plan."
As she watches him move around her kitchen she can't help but wonder when firefighters got so hot.
He was gorgeous.
"Shame." The firefighter replies, eyes landing on her hands.
"Let me take care of that for you. I've got some great burn gel in the truck."
She nods in agreement as he disappears, returning minutes later having shrugged out of his bulk jacket, hard hat obviously discarded in the truck.
She leads him over to the dining table, smiling when he pulls out a chair for her.
"You're not holding up your team are you?" She asks concernedly, as he takes her hands in his gently, holding them up to the light to inspect the severity of her burns.
"Not at all." He replies amiably. I'm on call for the rest of the night actually. This has been the most interesting thing to happen on my shift so far."
"What's your name?" She asks softly as he uncaps the bottle of burn gel, squeezing some onto the palm of her hand. She almost moans at the cooling sensation over her smarting skin.
"Klaus." He replies with a quick smile. He doesn't ask for her name in return, no doubt trying to keep things professional.
"I'm Caroline." She volunteers in reply. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."
"I don't know love, you seemed like you had it pretty covered before I showed up." He remarks with an amused smile.
There's a clattering at the front door as she pulls away from Klaus. Tyler pauses on the threshold of the kitchen, taking in the destruction of dinner, of her and Klaus seated quite close together at the table.
"Who's this babe?" Tyler asks through gritted teeth.
"This is Klaus. He's the firefighter that came to check up on me after I set the kitchen on fire." She replies mildly.
Tyler just gazes between them incredulously.
"Right. Do you mind mate? I sort of need to talk to Caroline."
"Not at all, I was just leaving." Klaus smiles at her before standing. "I'll leave this gel with you. Take some aspirin if the pain gets too bad and keep applying the gel."
"Will do." She smiles shyly at Klaus before standing and showing him to the door.
Tyler breaks up with her shortly after, and all she has to show for it is a burnt hand and a blackened wok.
The second time is also an accident. She's cooking for herself this time, planning a quiet night in with a bottle of wine and some of her favourite movies lined up on Netflix.
It takes all of five minutes for Klaus to show up on her doorstep, an amused smile on his face as he shoulders past her into the apartment.
"How's the hand?" He calls over his shoulder, fiddling with her microwave, checking the electricity.
"Much better thanks. That gel was amazing." She replies, pulling her robe more tightly around her body.
"Glad to hear it. You know sweetheart, you're meant to unseal the bag of popcorn before you put it in the microwave. The whole idea is to let air into the bag."
She just lets out a long suffering sigh, throwing the blackened popcorn into the bin.
"I'll have to remember to read the instructions next time."
"It's a Saturday night love. What on Earth are you doing inside? Where's your boyfriend?" Klaus enquires curiously as she turns away from him, making a show of unsealing a new bag of popcorn before shoving it into the microwave.
"No boyfriend." She replies tightly. "He broke up with me just after you left last time."
"I'm sorry." He sounds genuinely concerned for her, and she crosses her arms over her chest as she stares at him.
"It's fine. I think he was cheating on me anyway."
"Well then you're better off love. I'll get it." He stops her as he takes the bag from the microwave, pouring it into a bowl.
She moves into the loungeroom and he follows, letting her get settled on the couch before draping a blanket over her lap and placing the bowl of popcorn on the table in front of her.
"I should go." He says somewhat regretfully. "Do try and stay out of trouble sweetheart."
She watches him leave, trying to quell her desire to ask him to stay.
The third time is entirely on purpose. She uses a cigarette lighter to light a stick of incense, waving it under the smoke alarm until it starts to blare.
And god she feels slightly psychotic, but it had been almost six months since she'd seen him and she misses him.
Which is stupid because she doesn't know anything about him apart from the fact that his name is Klaus and he's a fire fighter.
The knocking on her door comes about ten minutes later, and it's with a deep breath that she tosses the incense stick into the sink and wipes her sweaty palms against the front of her jeans.
Klaus is leaning up against the opposite wall, dressed down in civilian clothes. It takes her a moment to register the jeans and the boots and the button up flannelette shirt. It's a good look for him.
"You're committing a federal offence sweetheart." He remarks dryly as she crosses her arms over her chest and rolls her eyes.
"That's a good look." She replies, instead gesturing towards his civilian clothes. He raises an eyebrow at her comment.
"Back at you love." He comments with a quick smile. "What seems to be the problem?"
"No problem. I just wanted to see you."
She's nothing if not brutally honest. And really this could all blow up in her face. He could be in a serious, committed relationship, or he could report her to the police for screwing around with her fire alarm.
Klaus' lips quirk into a smile as he steps towards her.
"Well you're in luck, I just finished up my shift. I convinced the lads at the station that I could cover this one and gave them the morning off."
"Well aren't they lucky." She remarks with a playful smile.
"Guess it all depends on which way you look at it." Klaus glances down at his watch then, taking note of the time. "I'm famished actually, and as adventurous as I consider myself I don't want to risk it with your cooking. Would you like to come and get some brunch?" He asks carefully, still giving her room to say no if she wants to.
"I would love that." She replies honestly. "I'll pay, you know in return for not sending me to jail for messing with my fire alarm."
"Good." Klaus smiles at her, and oh god the man actually has dimples. "And next time love, if you want to see me, just call me like a normal person would."
She frowns at him, brow furrowing with confusion.
"But I don't even have your number."
Klaus gazes at her thoughtfully.
"Well then I suppose we should rectify that, shouldn't we?"