A/N: This is a bit different from how Jimel meets in the show, but also similar. You'll see :) The last scene ties into the same time as the family vacation from chapter six. Enjoy! xx Mariah

Ages:

Jim - 24/44
Melinda - 20/40
Katie - 15
Aaron - 10
Mackenzie - 4

It was almost daybreak when the sound of a high-pitched alarm ringing brought Melinda out of her sleep. She groaned and kicked off her sheets suddenly too hot for them, even though the fan was still whirring overhead.

"Someone turn it off," she grumbled as she rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in her pillow.

The alarm seemed to get louder as a few minutes passed and then a crash in the hall from downstairs in the apartment building made her sit up abruptly, alert like a cat. She gasped, suddenly overwhelmed by the smoke that was filling her roo, and rolled off the bed onto the floor. It was warm to touch, as though the fire was on the floor below her apartment.

She crawled over to her dresser, grabbing the only thing she couldn't replace in this world. A necklace from her grandmother. She tucked it into her pocket, not having the time or patience to put it on right now. She put her fingers on the door, thankfully it was cool, and she was able to open the door.

She'd been worried that the fire could've been in her apartment too but tried to stay as low as possible as she made her way to the front door. The main area of her apartment had filled with smoke and when she opened the front door, more smoke rushed in.

Melinda coughed into her hand as she tried desperately to crawl further down the hallway, but only found more of the hot black smoke that burnt her throat. A dizzy spell coursed through her, bringing her down as she coughed, holding her shirt over her mouth.

She tried to crawl further, but fell onto her stomach, defeated. One could only hope someone would save her.

Just then, the small beam of a headlamp camp into her blurry view. "Help," her voice strained from the smoke as the person ran toward her. The man picked her up easily, placing his oxygen mask on her face. "Thank you," she breathed in the fresh air as he put his sleeve over his mouth and nodded, walking down the stairs.

She'd never been more thankful to live on the fourth floor before.

He walked out the front door and ran down the steps, bringing her over to the ambulance and sitting her on the gurney. He started to work on her, checking her vitals and situating her with a blanket since it was a chillier night for June.

She hadn't gotten a good look at him until now because of the smoke, but seeing him only made her blood pressure spike. The man was tall with broad shoulders and was very handsome.

Way too handsome to ever go for you Melinda, she thought.

The mess of sweaty black hair fell over his forehead and she couldn't tell if it was that color or because of the soot that covered parts of him. His eyes were a bright blue, which caught her attention when she found them staring right at her.

"How are you feeling, ma'am?" He asked, grabbing her a bottle of water. "Can I check your vitals? I'm also a trained EMT."

"Better if you hadn't just called me ma'am," she coughed, taking the bottle of water. "Thank you for saving me and of course. I inhaled a decent amount of smoke."

He smiled, twisting the cap off and when he held the water to her mouth, she nearly choked on her sip from how handsome this man was. "They said the building should be clear of any smoke in about an hour. A few more of us guys had just gone in for one last sweep-through when I found you. You're pretty fortunate."

"I slept through most of the alarm and managed to crawl out just in time, but thank you." She carefully took the water from him so he could begin to check her blood pressure, which spiked every time he smiled at her. "Where was the fire?"

"In the basement. Some old electrical wiring probably." He explained. "It's old places like this that are owned by cheapskates that cause fires like this. They never fix the wiring and then stuff like this happens."

She nodded, knowing that her landlord was cheap. He never liked to do any actual handiwork when he came to fix things either. His go-to was duct tape and super glue for any type of problem.

"Well, thank you again for saving me." She said, sitting up slowly. Melinda started to remove the air mask and he helped her off of the gurney. "Whether it's your job or not, I am grateful."

Jim sat on the back of the rig, grabbing water of his own, pouring some over the top of his head, and then taking a drink as he watched her walk away.

There was something about that girl. Maybe even a little more than just something. It made him want to go after her, but he looked around at the EMT rig. He had a lot of cleaning up to do.

"Since when have you ever let a girl like that go without getting her number?" Bobby pulled his helmet off his head, running a hand through his hair as he peeked back at her. He hadn't even gotten her name.

"Oh, shut up, Bob," he squeezed the bottle of water at him, and that was when he saw the gold shimmer on the gurney.

His mystery woman must have dropped something. He picked up the necklace, which was a simple heart pendant with the inscription of: To my dear Melinda on your eighth birthday. Grandma will always love you.

"What's that?" Bobby asked.

"I think it's that woman's necklace. I'm gonna go return it to her, and see where it goes," he said and slipped his coat off, no longer wanting the wight to drag on him. "Cover for me? You still owe me one from last week."

"I always owe you," Bobby clapped the man's shoulder before he ran off. "Go on. Call me about her in the morning."

"Thank you," he said with a cheer.

Jim always covered his buddy's shifts, so the least Bobby could do was cover him when he wanted to skip out on the last hour or two of his shift to get with some girl for the first time in forever.

He'd booked it up the flight of stairs to see her about to walk through her apartment door. "Melinda?" He called out and her head whipped over to see him, and she smiled, before furrowing her brow.

"How do you know my name?" She asked. "Are you some sort of firefighting mind-reader?"

"You dropped this, and it has your name on it. I thought I would call it out to see if it was yours and it is," he held out the gold necklace and she gasped, seeing that the pocket in her pants had ripped and it must've fallen out. "I thought it must be important if you'd grabbed it on your way out during a fire."

"Oh," she took the necklace from him, pressing a kiss to it. "Thank you. Yes, it is very special to me."

"Jim Clancy," he said, holding out a hand to her. "Mind if I come in?"

"Melinda Gordon, but don't you have a job to do?" She asked, cocking her eyebrow at him, but shaking his hand anyway.

He shrugged. "Eh, a friend's covering the rest of my shift for me. I wanted to try and flirt your number into my phone and take your out sometime?"

"And what if I have a boyfriend?" She countered, and he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

He didn't know what to say to that. He could've sworn she was checking him out earlier, had she not? "Oh, well," he muttered. "You can always say no. Not to be a cliche, but I'm not that kind of guy. I take rejection well."

"I'm just kidding, Clancy, though I doubt many women turn you down," she laughed, opening her apartment door. "C'mon. I'll make you a cup of coffee. It's the least I can do after you saved my life."

The smell of smoke still took Melinda back to that night, and she shared a knowing look with Jim as his arm wrapped around her and he smiled. It brought him back there too. She could tell.

"I love you," she whispered, sharing a brief kiss with her husband before turning back toward the campfire. Mackenzie and Aaron were both roasting marshmallows while Katie scribbled something new into her journal. "I think that one is done bud."

Aaron nodded, letting his marshmallow catch on fire before taking it out of the flames and giving it a quick blow to put it out. "I like them burnt," he said, sounding giddy.

"Don't ruin mine!" Mackenzie said, concentrating on making hers perfect. "Daddy, how does it look?"

"Almost perfect. Give it a slow twirl to make sure both sides get crispy," Jim said as he leaned forward to help the five-year-old.

He was an amazing father, just as she'd always imagined, and their life was better than Melinda could've ever dreamed up back when she was twenty. She'd thought herself unlovable then, and a freak. Kevin had done that.

And now that's how Katie was feeling too. Freshly heartbroken by Henry.

"Whatcha writing away in there?" She asked, leaning over toward her older daughter.

"Nothing," Katie said and closed her journal before Melinda could read anything. Not that she'd invade her privacy like that without permission. "Just some stuff about what we did today."

"Oh, yeah? Did you put in there about that boy who flirted with you by the pool?" She teased her lightly, but her daughter only looked confused. "Katie, baby, no boy nearly gets into a fight with someone for pushing you in the pool if he doesn't like you at least a little."

Katie blushed. "You think so? I don't know."

"I know you're still hurting but a little flirtation, especially while we're on vacation, might be good for you." She said, nudging her. "It's still pretty early if you want to go find him."

"Maybe tomorrow," Katie laughed. "Isn't it about time for a campfire story?"

Aaron was a bite into his s'more and nodded enthusiastically.

Mackenzie was watching Jim make hers now that her marshmallow was perfectly crafted, but promptly agreed. "Tell us how you met daddy!"

"We only heard the story a thousand times before. He saved her from a fire, duh. Swept her right off her feet, right dad?" Aaron asked in between a bite into his s'more.

"Well, Mack's probably too young to remember if she heard it before nerd. She's only four," Katie huffed, opening her journal again. She'd heard the story a dozen times. It used to be one of her favorites when she was little. "Dad tells the story better though. No offense mama."

Melinda chuckled, but her daughter was right. Jim was the far better storyteller. "None taken, bug," she said.