She leaped out of bed, scooping up Ruby, her smallest child, and grabbed Harriet's hand. "Okay girls, I need you to both do exactly as I say." Harriet nodded. April glanced around her room, noticing her husband's absence. Matthew must not have returned from work yet. She quickly stepped into her ropers that she had taken off before bed, without bothering to lace them up. She peered around the corner of her door. All she felt was heat. The entire hallway was filled with thick smoke, coming from the direction of the stairs and the kitchen. Where her only option of escape was. Both the front door and the garage doors downstairs, past the kitchen. Her thoughts raced as she stepped back inside her room, pulling Harriet with her. She closed the door. "Remember what they said it school girls. Get close to the ground." She set Ruby down, who followed her step-sister's example of sitting down on the floor. April crossed the room to her window. She opened it, breathing in a gulp of fresh air. She pushed the screen out of the window and peered into her back yard. Why did I pick the second floor. She tried to think of the risks. She could jump out first, and try to catch the girls. But Ruby was afraid of heights, and she didn't know if Harriet could convince Ruby to make the leap.

April heard sirens in the distance, and sighed in relief. She squatted down. "Come here girls." The girls crawled over to her, Harriet dragging the family cat, Boots, along with her. April smiled. She hadn't even noticed that Hattie had grabbed her. "Okay, we're going to get out of here, but I need you guys to be very brave."

"Okay, Mommy." Ruby blinked her bright blue eyes up at April and put her small hand in April's. The sirens were now loud, right outside of her house. She heard voices around the side of the house, and let go of Ruby's hand to stand up and lean out the window. "Help! Help!" She screamed out the window, and soon Harriet began to join her. Ruby whimpered, leaning against April's leg.

April grew louder, and soon she saw a dark figure rounding the corner of the house. "April!" April could have cried in relief. "Ben! Up here." Ben Warren looked up into the house and waved. "Is everyone with you?"

"Yes! The girls are in here with me. Matthew isn't here. There's too much smoke outside of my room. I think we need to come out the window."

Ben nodded. "Hold on one second, I'm getting a ladder." Ben ran around the corner of the house, and returned with another firefighter and a ladder. "Can you climb down?"

"I think so!" April turned around to her daughters. "Harriet, you're first."

"What about Boots?" Harriet hugged the black and white cat close to her chest. "I'll get him out." April reassured her, taking the cat out of her daughters arms and setting him gently on the bed. She lifted her daughter off of the ground and out the window, helping her climb onto the ladder. Harriet climbed about halfway down the ladder. She then jumped into Ben's arms at his coaxing. He set her down on the ground and the other firefighter took her around the building. April turned to Ruby. 'It's your turn, honey. I need you to be brave." Ruby nodded and raised her arms to be lifted. April picked her up and tried to life her towards the window. Ruby climbed onto the ladder, and then looked down. She froze. Her blue eyes widened in panic, and she clung to the ladder. "Mommy, its far."

"I know, honey. But Ben's down there. He'll watch for you. You just have to get there."

"Can't."

"Ruby Elise Taylor. You are a very brave little girl. You have to do this. We have to get out." Ruby nodded warily, and took a tiny step down the ladder. She made it about a third of the way down before she started to cry softly. "I can't go more." April heard Ben call up to her daughter. "It's okay, Ruby. You can jump now. I've got you. April held her breath, and watched her daughter let go of the ladder and fall safely into Ben's arms. He set the girl down on the ground.

"Okay, April." April turned around and scooped Boots up off the bed. Her room was now almost completely full of smoke, and her lungs were burning. She looked around for a jacket, and grabbed a hoodie that zipped up. She stuck the cat into her jacket and zipped it, putting an arm around her body to hold the cat in place. She coughed as she gingerly climbed up onto the ladder and carefully made her way down. Ben helped her off the ladder when she got to the bottom. She pulled the cat out of her jacket, and Ruby reached for him, cuddling the cat. He was almost as big as she was, but he stayed still as she carried him.

They made their way around the house to an ambulance, where an EMT was already looking at Harriet. April helped her daughter climb up into the rig, and then she turned to look at her home. The entire front of the house was up in flames. Ben had taken over for one of the firefighters who was spraying a blast of water at house. But she knew it was too late. Everything was gone.

"April, you need to be looked at."

April turned to see Liz, a EMT that she had know through her time at Grey-Sloan. She nodded. "I'm just going to call Matthew. I need to call him." Liz smiled and patted a seat on the truck. "How about I take your vitals while you call him." April smiled back and took a seat on the rig. "Ouch!" Harriet cried out in pain. April moved closer to her daughters and examined them both. Another EMT was currently treating a minor burn on Harriet's arm. "Oh my goodness, lovey. When did that happen?" Harriet looked up at her mom. "Boots was stuck in the kitchen. I had to go get him." April sighed and placed a kiss on Harriet's forehead. "Don't ever do that again, okay? That was really dangerous." Harriet nodded, and Ruby nuzzled in between them, as April pulled out her phone and called Matthew. It rang, and rang, and rang, and then went to voicemail. She sighed, and tried again. It rang twice, and then went to voicemail.

Declined.

April sighed again, but it turned into a wheezing cough. Liz frowned at her. "I think we should take you guys up to the hospital."

"Daddy!" Harriet squealed. "Jacks!" Ruby echoed behind her sister. April smiled at them. "Okay, let's do it."