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The fire raged on in front of them. They’d been there for a little while already and had to call for backup. What had started as a one building fire had soon spread to the neighbouring building and the 118 couldn’t handle it on their own.
Buck and Eddie moved quickly, looking into each room and calling out for people to respond before moving on.
“Clear,” Buck yelled.
“Clear,” Eddie responded.
They heard a cry from the end of the hallway and rushed over.
“Ma’am, can you hear me?” Eddie asked.
“Yeah! Yeah… thank god you’re here,” she mumbled.
Buck cleared some of the debris so Eddie could settle around her.
“I feel so stupid! The alarm went off and then I fell. I think I broke my leg,” the woman said.
Eddie sighed. “Yup, that looks pretty broken to me.”
“I can see the bone,” Buck said.
“Oh god,” she said.
Eddie glared at Buck. “Cap,” he radioed back. “We have a tibia fracture up here, need to extract her.”
“Copy,” Bobby’s voice came through. “Both of you, get her out. The building’s starting to become unstable.”
“There’s still another floor to clear,” Buck said.
Eddie and Buck shared a glance.
“Go,” Buck said. “I can be fast. Get her out of here.”
“You sure?” Eddie asked.
“Yeah. Just a fast sweep then I’m out,” Buck said.
Eddie nodded. “Cap, I’m coming out. Buck’s going to do a final sweep.”
“Negative. Losing stability right away.”
“Give me two minutes, Cap,” Buck said.
A brief pause. “Two minutes, then get out. No heroics. Structure could collapse at any time.”
Buck nodded and saluted to Eddie as he got the woman stabilized. He watched them head out the way they came and ran to the next stairwell, knocking on doors and making quick work of it.
He made his way to the end of the hall, nodding as he didn’t hear anyone call out. He was just about to turn back when he heard it.
“Help! Help please!”
Buck braced himself. “Stay away from the door!”
He waited a brief second before he broke it down, coming in. He glanced around, seeing two people huddled together in the corner of the room. They looked to be in their late twenties and were clearly terrified.
“Don’t worry! I’ll get you out!” Buck exclaimed.
“Hurry!” they said, watching as the floor started to collapse in front of them.
Bobby wasn’t kidding about the stability of the building.
“That’s not great,” Buck muttered, his radio crackling to life.
“Buck, what’s your status?” Bobby’s voice said.
“Two women trapped in the corner of the northeast apartment on the highest level. Floor’s starting to cave in.”
“Can you reach them?”
Buck frowned. “I’ll find a way.”
“I’ll go back in,” Eddie’s voice came through.
And then there was a loud crash.
“What was that?” Buck asked.
“Just lost our entrance to the building,” Bobby said.
And then it was quiet on the radio.
Buck looked ahead at the two people in the corner. “Don’t you worry. I’m not leaving you.”
“Please hurry,” they said.
Bobby looked on as the front entrance to the building collapsed, closing off the stairwell they had been using to get in.
Eddie winced beside him. “I could make it up to the window with the ladder.”
Bobby nodded. “Get it in position.”
Eddie ran off.
Bobby turned on the radio again. “Buck. Status update.”
“Still working on it, Cap. Going to need a different extraction point.”
“We’re going to get you an exit through the window. Can you make it?”
“Hmmm,” Buck said.
Bobby frowned. “Buck respond. Need more than that,” he said.
Buck’s voice came back. “Just trying to reach them. Give me a few.”
“You don’t have a few. I told you; building is not stable.”
It was quiet for a moment.
“Buck? Respond,” Bobby said.
Bobby frowned.
“Firefighter Buckley!” he yelled.
“I’m fine! And I’ll be fine. What’s a little instability, eh Cap. Now you’re distracting me. Let me get to them,” Buck said.
Bobby sighed, muttering to himself. “I thought he was better. Taking less risks…”
“You know Buck,” Hen said, approaching. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Find me some help to stabilize their exit.”
“On it,” Hen said, running off.
“Firefighter Buckley,” Bobby started again.
“Captain Nash. We’re getting formal, are we? Seriously, if you don’t let me work, it’s going to take longer,” Buck said.
There was another crash outside the building and the frame shook.
“Your time is up. You have to go. Get to the window,” Bobby said.
“No can do, Cap. Still two people here.” Buck’s voice came. And then seemed to be carried toward someone else. “And like I promised you, I’m not leaving you.”
Bobby closed his eyes. “Buck. Seriously. Get out.”
“Will soon.”
Someone else approached from behind.
“Hey, Captain Nash. Heard you’re incident commander. What can I do to help?”
Bobby turned around and froze. “Tommy.”
“Hey,” Tommy said, frowning slightly.
“You’re here…”
“They didn’t need much air support tonight. Sent us out to help. What can I do?”
Bobby paled. “He’s still in there.”
“Who?” Tommy asked, though his face turned back to the blaze.
“He’s not listening to me. I told him to evacuate but there’s two people still up there. Floor’s caving in. He’s been better with not taking risks lately.”
Tommy stared at the building.
“Firefighter Buckley,” Bobby started again on the radio.
“Cap, hold on I’m…. in a bit of a precarious position.”
Bobby sighed. “You know, we aren’t the only station here now. Maybe you’ll listen to someone else,” Bobby said, holding out his radio to Tommy.
Tommy’s eyebrow raised.
Bobby turned to Tommy. “You’re up. Get him out.”
Tommy nodded and he took the offered radio.
Tommy cleared his throat. “Firefighter Buckley, this is Firefighter Kinard.”
It was silent for a long moment. Until finally Buck spoke.
“I can’t leave yet, Tommy. I can make it. I can get them.”
Tommy nodded. “Understood.” He handed Bobby his radio back and gave him a smirk. “I’ll get him out.”
“Yeah? Because I need you to bring him back.”
“Got it,” Tommy said.
“Firefighter Kinard, what are you doing?”
Tommy winked before he turned and ran toward the building.
“Tommy stand down!” Bobby yelled.
And then he sighed, rubbing his hand over his face as he watched Tommy run into the building. “That is not what I meant.”
Buck glanced at the floor around him and then to the wall he was hugging. The floor collapsing in the middle of the room had not been ideal.
“You’re going to leave us, aren’t you?” one of the women asked. “They all want you to leave us.”
“I am not going to leave you,” Buck said. “We just might need to be a little quicker with our exit than I anticipated.”
“Next time we pick out an apartment, we are doing more thorough checks! We could have lived at the one across the way, but you liked this location better,” one of the women said.
“I’m sorry! Okay! How was I to know this place would burn down?” the other said.
“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay,” Buck said.
And then the floor collapsed more as he watched.
The two women screamed.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Buck said again. He manoeuvred himself over to the far wall by the window but then froze where he was. The inside of the room was coming down, leaving him stuck on the side. But now as the floor collapsed it was harder to stay balanced and make his way to them.
His radio crackled again and if he had to talk to Bobby for one more second right now… He knew it was his job but it wasn’t helping him at this moment.
“Cap, hold on I’m…. in a bit of a precarious position,” Buck said.
And then… then Tommy was on the line.
“Firefighter Buckley, this is Firefighter Kinard.”
Buck hadn’t expected that. Tommy was usually in the air and they hadn’t yet been called to the same scene. He felt his breath catch in his throat for a moment and for the first time, he doubted himself. Should he be doing this? Should he just get out?
But he knew he could do this. He could save them. He just had to find a way to safely make his way around this gaping hole in the floor and then also get them both out.
This would be easier if he wasn’t alone.
He swallowed deeply. “I can’t leave yet, Tommy. I can make it. I can get them.”
“Understood.”
And then the radio went quiet. Buck shook his head. He couldn’t think about Tommy being there. Tommy seeing how reckless he could be. He could do this. This wasn’t reckless. He had done this for years. He was a damn good firefighter. And had great instincts. Sure, if he’d tried this at the beginning he would have agreed with them all. But he knew what he was capable of now.
“We’re going to die!” one of the women whined.
“You’re not going to die. Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to inch my way toward you. And then grab onto you and bring you back with me. It looks like we’ve got the ladder coming up to the window so we have an escape route,” Buck said.
“Okay,” they said.
“What are your names?” Buck asked.
“I’m Lisa… this is Katie.”
“Okay, good. Lisa, Katie. I’m Buck. We’re getting out of here. Let me just inch a bit closer,” he said, but had to pull back. The floor crumbled more and the smoke was getting thicker.
Maybe they were right. Maybe this fire was too far gone.
He stared at them for a moment, trying to calculate his next move but then he heard something else.
“Firefighter Buckley! We have to get out of here!”
Buck glanced to the doorway and stared. Tommy. Tommy was there. His Tommy. Standing on the other side of the gaping hole in the floor.
Buck shook his head. “I can’t leave. There’s two people here…I’m not leaving without them!”
Tommy stared at him then glanced at the others.
“Tommy, I can’t leave them here,” Buck said again.
“I know,” Tommy said.
“I’m being serious. I know this isn’t ideal but I know I can do this and…”
“I know,” Tommy said. “Doesn’t mean you don’t need help. Here, harness yourself up.”
Tommy threw a harness over to Buck across the room and Buck barely caught it.
“What?” Buck asked. “Really? You’re not asking me to leave?”
Tommy motioned to hurry up and Buck did that.
“Of course not. We have people to save. Attach this rope,” Tommy said. “We practiced this scenario before at Harbour. And I know you haven’t, but I also know you’re a pretty quick learner. It’s usually used for mountain rescues, where we have to climb to the patient. If we pull backwards on the rope between us, we can keep the tension tight so we don’t fall down the hole in the middle. We can make it to them.”
Buck scrambled to get it set up and with Tommy’s signal, they both used the tension of the rope to keep themselves balanced and make their way to the two women.
“Oh my god, I love you. I could kiss you right now,” Buck said.
Tommy snorted. “Save that for after. Hard to do that with our masks on.”
One of the women, Lisa, blinked. She coughed a little then asked. “Do you always confess your love to your coworkers?”
“Only if they’re also my boyfriend,” Buck said. “Here, you need this more than me right now.”
He took off his mask, letting Lisa have it for a good moment.
Tommy snorted, then rolled his eyes, but did the same for Katie. “I think it’s time to get out of here. Eddie has the ladder set up by the window.”
“Right,” Buck said.
Tommy grabbed Katie while Buck grabbed Lisa, making their way back to the window, slowly and carefully.
“What are the chances we get rescued by two hot firefighters and they are both dating each other?” Katie asked.
“Obviously not nothing,” Lisa said.
Buck grabbed his radio, turning it on. “Cap, we’re heading out. We have two people with us who will definitely need to be looked at. Looking for extraction at the window? I can see the ladder.”
“Affirmative, locking in place. Eddie, help them out.”
Tommy moved forward to get the window opened, having to use a little force to get it there.
“Hot and strong. What a catch,” Katie said.
“I know, right?” Buck said.
Tommy chuckled. “Okay, I’m flattered, but we should go. Out you go.”
Tommy held a hand out to help Lisa out the window first, helping her most of the way out and then Eddie helping her out on the other side.
Katie turned to Buck before she went. “You better lock that one down. Marry him right now.”
Buck chuckled, leaning in close to whisper to her. “Oh, I definitely plan to.”
Tommy froze, turning back to stare at Buck for a moment before he muttered, “You know you have your radio on still?”
“That you do,” Bobby’s voice came across.
Buck blushed, shaking his head. “Let’s just get out of here.”
Tommy grinned, reaching a hand to pull Buck out of the building as well, and they descended the ladder together.
Buck and Tommy sat side by side in the back of the open ambulance. They had oxygen masks over their faces and they kept glancing at each other every once in a while, unable to stop grinning.
Hen had cleared them beside needing the supplemental oxygen, and then berated them for removing their masks. Chimney had given them both a brief hug then shook his head, wandering off to finish up at the scene.
The fire had mostly died down and Eddie came to check on them as well before he was back to putting out the last of the blaze.
Finally, Bobby walked up to them. “You know Tommy, when I asked you to get him out, I figured you’d just talk him out of it. Instead, you go in there all guns blazing.”
Tommy shrugged. “Hey, if Evan said he could get them out, he could do it. And to be fair, I said I’d get him out. I didn’t say how.”
Bobby sighed and Buck laughed, coughing slightly.
“You didn’t have to take off your masks though,” Bobby said.
“They needed it more than us,” Buck said. “Plus, they were right. How do we kiss if we both have our masks on?”
“You don’t,” Bobby said, eyebrow raised. “Not during a call.”
“Really?” Buck asked.
Bobby coloured slightly. “You know what? You two are not allowed to work together anymore.”
“What? Why! This was our first call together and you know what? I think we actually worked together really well,” Buck said.
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “We did.”
“You are both too impulsive. Buck, I knew. But you, Tommy? You I expected more.”
“What?” Tommy asked, laughing slightly. “Expect less impulsivity from me?”
Bobby raised an eyebrow and finally the others joined them again, Hen, Chimney, and Eddie, sauntering up.
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “You’re supposed to the responsible one.”
“Am I? Well, that’s news to me,” Tommy said.
“Tommy? Responsible?” Chimney teased.
“Hey!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Yeah, this guy?” Hen teased.
“Guys lay off,” Eddie said.
Buck chuckled. “Cap. We’re fine. We’re both fine. And we saved those women. All is well.”
“Could have been bad, though. Tommy, you running in there after the entryway collapsed,” Bobby said.
“Yeah,” Buck said. “How did you get in anyway?”
Tommy shrugged. “The roof. Easier to go down a flight than up collapsed ones.”
“Huh,” Buck said.
Eddie snorted. “I don’t know why we thought Tommy would calm you down, Buck. If anything, you’ve been a bad influence on him.”
“Hey!” Buck exclaimed.
Tommy chuckled. “I haven’t done anything I haven’t wanted to do.”
“Yeah,” Buck said. “Plus, the save was all Tommy. I was honestly struggling for an idea so… thanks.”
“Anytime,” Tommy said.
“So is Tommy more impulsive than Buck then?” Eddie asked.
Tommy shrugged. “I mean I literally flew you guys into a hurricane after one phone call. And I agreed to come to your wedding, Howie, after one date with Evan.”
“Shit,” Chimney said. “You are worse than Buck!”
“Hey!” Buck and Tommy said at the same time, causing everyone to laugh.
Bobby sighed. “I’m just glad you’re both okay. That could have gone way worse.”
“Yeah, it could have,” Tommy said. “But I knew he could do it. You were right. He is much better at not taking risks now. So I knew this was calculated. He could do it. And if the floor hadn’t collapsed, he would have been fine on his own. But it did so he just needed some help.”
Buck stared at him, eyes shining. “Tommy,” he said softly.
Tommy grinned at him, reaching over to squeeze his hand.
Buck just about looked like the sun shone out of Tommy’s ass.
“And I mean, on impulsivity,” Tommy started.
Buck turned to him, his smile turning slowly into a frown.
“Someone might have mentioned marriage on an open line,” Tommy said.
Buck blushed. “Okay, we were just talking and…”
“And I’d very much like that at some point,” Tommy said.
Buck’s mouth dropped open.
Everyone grinned at them and took their leave.
Buck turned toward Tommy now, head on. He put the oxygen mask down. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “Though, you’re right. We should do this in the correct order.”
“Correct order?” Buck asked.
“Well. I did say I’d go at your pace. So, would that be getting married, or moving in together first?”
“Moving in together. Definitely. Right now,” Buck said.
Tommy grinned.
“I mean, the main reason for that right now is just to take you home. And be home together and…” Buck rambled.
“Okay,” Tommy said.
“Okay?” Buck asked.
“Yeah, we should move in together.” Tommy smiled. “I should come join you on calls more often.”
Buck laughed. “Only so many milestones we can jump to.”
“True.”
Buck smiled at him dopily.
“What?” Tommy asked with a smile.
“You… you didn’t doubt me. You didn’t tell me to leave.”
“Why would I? You said you could do it.”
Buck blushed, smiling softly. “Because it was dangerous.”
“Evan, our jobs are dangerous. We were both in there.”
“Yeah but…”
“But other people have told you to stop before.”
“Yeah,” Buck said.
Tommy made sure both their masks were down before he leaned in, kissing Buck deeply.
Buck pulled back, starry eyed. “What was that for?”
“You are an amazing firefighter. You have amazing instincts. And I trust you in there.”
“Yup, moving in together. Right move,” Buck said.
Tommy chuckled, pulling his mask back up. “Taking off our masks was stupid though.”
“Yeah,” Buck said, pulling his oxygen mask up. “That it was.”
Buck leaned his head against Tommy’s shoulder, watching as the crew started loading up the trucks and packing up.
“Hey Tommy?” Buck asked.
“Hmm?”
“Since you trust my judgement?”
“Yeah?” Tommy asked.
“When we move into your place, because… we’re moving into yours, not mine,” Buck started.
Tommy raised an eyebrow.
“Can I remodel your kitchen?”
Tommy chuckled. “You can do whatever you want to our kitchen.”
“Yeah? Our kitchen, huh?”
“Our kitchen.”
“Cool,” Buck said.
And then they were interrupted by the rest of the crew finally ready to pack up the ambulance.
Tommy said a quick goodbye, and headed off to his firetruck, sending a brief smile back on his way.
Buck sighed happily. He picked a good one.