The Shield One-Shots Book 3

Hero/Ambreigns

 Thunder echoed across the night sky, as lightning flashed but no rain fell with it. A large crowd had gathered as they watched the firefighters battle the inferno before them; an apartment building was ablaze. This was the fifth massive building fire this month alone and the firefighters were exhausted between fighting these fires and doing their regular calls. Firefighter Dean Ambrose held the front of the hose, directing it at the building, doing his part to extinguish the raging blaze. His crew had been first on the scene but quickly realized they needed help and called in other companies for backup.

 As the fire raged on uncontrolled despite their best efforts, they could at least be grateful that everyone in the building had gotten out safely. Just when Dean thought that they were going to lose this battle, the rain finally broke free from the clouds, falling heavily onto the fire. Smiling, he handed the hose off to another firefighter and went back to the truck, smiling, he took his helmet off, closed his eyes, and still smiling, he turned his head towards the sky letting the rain fall on him. Thanks to an assist from Mother Nature, they had managed to finally extinguish the fire.

 An hour later, they were done, the Fire Inspector had arrived and taken over the scene with his crew, which meant they could leave. Arriving back at the station, Dean put his gear away, before he helped clean the trucks, making sure they were ready to go for the next call-out. When that was finished, he grabbed his things and headed for the showers. When he was done, he changed into a clean uniform, before he decided to try and grab some sleep, he was exhausted. He wished he could go home and sleep in his own bed, but he couldn't, he still had 10 hours left of his shift. Going into the sleeping area, he sat on one of the beds and took out his phone, smiling softly, he sent off his usual group text before he put his phone back into his pocket.

 Laying down, he tried to get comfortable and get his mind to shut down, but as usual, his damn mind wouldn't cooperate. After tossing and turning for a while, he sighed frustrated as he lay on his back, arms under his head, and stared at the ceiling in the dark. Unable to sleep, his racing, exhausted mind began a trip down Memory Lane, and he began to think about his life.

 Dean has never had an easy life, he was born into chaos and raised around it, thanks to his druggie, alcoholic, abusive, neglectful parents. He learned from an early age how to raise himself, making sure to get an education, despite his hatred for school, to make sure he never ended up like either of his parents. Of course, thanks to them, Dean became a loner, he had no friends and kept everyone at a distance to protect himself. He had no direction in life, but that all changed though when he was 12 and his parents had overdosed while he was asleep upstairs in their house, and managed to set the house on fire because of their carelessness. Both his parents died, but thankfully, Dean was rescued from the fire by a fireman. From that moment on, Dean knew he wanted to become a firefighter so he could help others the way they had helped him.

 So, he worked hard and finally made his lifelong dream come true, his first time trying out, he aced everything they wanted him to do and was hired immediately. Despite his passion and love for his job, he still had no friends because he was so guarded, even though everyone on his crew, including the Fire Chief, was extremely nice, and welcoming, and they all really liked him. He knew he wasn't an easy person to be around, he was outspoken, unapologetically honest, sarcastic, and he had a short temper.

 Then 10 years ago, his life changed when he met the only two people he considered family; Officer Roman Reigns and EMT Seth Rollins. They had seen each other a few times before on the job but none of them had had any kind of contact with each other outside of work. Then one night, Dean attended a birthday party for his Chief at a local bar, that included not only firefighters but police and EMTs too. Dean hated drinking because of his parents but went anyway and he was grateful that he did. He had just stepped outside for some fresh air alone, when he saw two men in the parking lot by the dumpster trying to hurt a young woman, seeing that, Dean snapped. He intervened and was holding his own against both of them, until one of them hit him in the head with a heavy rock, knocking him to the ground.