Caught in the Flames

Chapter One Hundred

As always, none of this is mine. I'm just the perv who want to make our beloved Twilight characters swear, drink, and go at it like horny rabbits. This story will be a combination of love, suspense, some violence and steamy, sweaty sex.

On with it!

Chapter 100

EPOV

With Laurent's firing, the mood of the house had significantly changed. For the better. The tension dissipated. Leah definitely felt more at ease. She didn't fear for her life when we went on calls. In fact, since the whole Laurent debacle, we went out of our way to ensure Leah's safety and made sure she felt like she was an integral part of a team.

Unfortunately, all of us were scheduled to work on Thanksgiving. It was a necessary evil and I was not looking forward to dealing with idiots who tried to deep fry a turkey too close to their houses. Combining food, alcohol and hot grease was never a good combination. We put that in the back of our minds and worked to create a luscious Thanksgiving feast. Alice and Bella were there, helping out, along with Seth's wife, Claire and their daughter. I was shocked when Jet walked in, carrying a pie.

Were Jet and Emmett serious?

Just as we were about to settle down to eat around three, the horns blared. "God damn it," Emmett growled, throwing his napkin onto his plate of turkey. "Why?"

"Don't ask why," Garrett snorted. "Just put it out and we'll finish eating our cold meals."

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Bella said, crossing her arms. I kissed her before darting to my gear. Pulling things up and tossing my coat on, I got into the passenger seat while Jake slid into the driver's seat. We drove to the garage that was on fire. Sure enough, it was someone who had tried to deep fry a still frozen turkey and the grease spilled all over the ground, igniting in a hell of a grease fire. It was struck within an hour and we drove back to the house. As promised, Bella, Alice, Jet and Claire kept the food warm and we were able to enjoy a true Thanksgiving Day meal.

I pulled Bella into my crew quarters after the dishes were done. The tryptophan was kicking in and I needed a nap. "Thank you for making sure that we got our Thanksgiving meal, Bella. We are growing boys and girls."

"Hey, I was going to eat it, too. I didn't want to have lukewarm turkey and soggy stuffing," she giggled, curling to my side. "I don't know how you guys can do this, day in and day out."

"We're all adrenaline junkies," I snickered. "Once that bell goes off, the adrenaline kicks in and we focus on the job at hand."

"Have you ever been hurt? Burnt?" Bella asked.

"The most serious injury I had was the pulled muscle from the train derailment. I haven't been burned severely. Garrett had been. His back is scarred from protecting a little girl from a back draft," I said, running my fingers up and down her arms.

"Obviously he's okay, but wow," Bella mused, a furrow in between her brows. "Is that how he became battalion chief?"

"He was ready to retire. Kate almost lost him and she didn't want him going into the burning buildings anymore. He was about to turn in his paperwork and begin his own fire cleaning firm when the brass asked him about being the chief at this new fire house. It meant that he wouldn't have to run into burning buildings until absolutely necessary. He would coordinate everything from the outside," I explained. "For as long as I've been a part of this house, I saw Garrett go into a building twice. Both times were related to a child being trapped."

"Garrett has a soft spot for kids," Bella said, her brow arching.

"He does. He and Kate can't have any," I frowned. "Well, biologically." Bella's eyes filled with tears. "It's nothing that happened. Just their makeup. Garrett has an incredibly low sperm count and Kate has some condition that causes her to not ovulate on a regular basis. They talked about being foster parents and adoption, but nothing ever has come to fruition."

"That's awful," Bella whispered, her voice breaking. "I know their pain."

"I know you do, love," I replied, holding her tighter. So do I. I wanted nothing more than to give Bella the happiness of being mother. I wanted to murder James for taking away her choice in that matter, to have a child biologically. I wanted...

The horn blared and the dispatcher barked out the needed companies, followed by the address. It sounded strangely familiar. It wasn't until Seth ran into my quarters. "Clear Waters is on fire!" he yelled, his eyes wide with fright and anger.

A/N: Cliffie...don't hate me. Leave me some!