You Are On My Mind

I Don't Want You Dying!

Linda wasn't sure how to process what she just witnessed or what had happened. The hospital... was on fire? So many questions ran through her head. How? And why? Were all the patients out? And safe? What caught fire?
She ran up to a fellow worker, "is this everyone?"
"I don't know. The firemen are trying to get everyone out."
She nodded, fiddling with her wedding rings. It was a habit she had developed when she started wearing rings all those years ago. She looked around, and saw the fire chief. "Excuse me!"
He turned to her, multi-tasking as he instructed his men on what to do.
"Is there any way I can help?" Linda picked up her name badge, and showed it to him. "I'm a nurse. I can set stuff up, or—"
"Sir." A young fireman interrupted.
"What's wrong?" Ordinarily, the Chief would have scolded him for interrupting. But there were more urgent things to worry about than being polite.
"We've finally got most patients out. But there's a trapped kid. Some detective went running in there-"
"Detective?" Linda stepped between the Chief and the fire fighter. "What did he look like? Did he have short, brown hair, great big puppy-dog eyes, and look generally pissed off?"
"Yeah! That's the dude. Know him?"
"That asshole!" Linda pushed her way through the crowd, and to the police barriers. She desperately looked at the hospital, then the barriers, then back at the hospital.
"Hey! Wait! You can't do that!" A police man yelled at the blonde nurse as she jumped the barrier. "Stop!" He ran after her, but stopped at the stairs.
Instinct took over as Linda rushed to the children's ward. Thankfully, it was a low floor, and the fire was high above them. She coughed as smoke billowed around her, "Danny!" She desperately clawed at the thick, black smoke, searching for her husband. "Danny!!"
"Linda?!"
Did she hear him? "Danny!" Before she knew what had happened, she was snatched by a fire fighter. She felt the familiarity of an oxygen mask on her face as she protested to be put down. "No! No! Take me back! Put me down! He's in there!"
The bright light of the moon sun blinded her as cleaner air rushed over her.
"You need to calm down."
"Calm down? Calm down?! My husband is in there, and you want me to calm down?!"
"Yes! We're getting him. Calm down." He led her to the ambulance, where she received  proper oxygen.
The minutes dragged by as Linda waited. She had never been this scared in her life. She couldn't breathe until she saw him, until she touched him, until she kissed him.
Finally, after the agonizing pain of uncertainty, she saw him. She saw him coming out the same way she had; only he wasn't resisting, and the fireman held a kid.
"Danny!" Linda tossed the oxygen mask and ran to her husband. Her legs flew out from under her as she launched herself at him.
Danny hugged her briefly, but then pulled back, angry. "What the hell were you thinkin'?! You can't just follow me into fire!"
Matching his anger, maybe even topping it, she answered, "then don't run into fire!"
He swatted the mask that the fire man was trying to hand to him away.
"You need oxygen-"
"No," Danny answered firmly. He turned his attention back to Linda. "You could've died!"
"You could've died too!" There was an unmistakable crack in her voice.
"No, Linda, I knew what I was doing."
"That is a load of macho crap! Again, you knew no such thing! You weren't trained for this! You put your life on the line everyday, I understand that. But it's...." she sighed, forcing the tears away. "It's like ever since I was shot, you think you have to prove to me that you're a hero! I know you're a hero! I know! Don't you see? Even if you were a construction worker, or a banker, or... Ugh! Even a waiter! I'd still think you were a hero! I love you, Danny. And I'm not ready to give you up. It's selfish and it's stupid and it's not up to me, but it's true!" Finally, the sob escaped and Linda crumpled. "I need you."
Danny's face softened as he gathered his wife in his arms. "I didn't know you felt like that."
"Of course I do." She clung to his shirt, desperate to keep him near. "I love you so much. I don't want you dying!"
"Sir, you really need oxygen." The fireman tried again.
Danny nodded and easily picked Linda up bridal style. He walked to the ambulance with the fire fighter, and sat down, Linda in his lap.
"Linda, you're gonna have to move," a fellow nurse gently told her.
"No!" She sobbed and clung to him tighter. "I won't leave. I won't."
Danny looked to the nurse, "would it be okay if she did this?"
The nurse sighed but nodded. Judging by his appearance, she knew he was in the building.
Linda slid off his lap, and checked him for injuries, all while sniffling and shaking. "Okay. You- you might have sm- smoke inhalation, but we- we can't tell with- without x- x-rays."
Danny gently pulled her down into his lap. "I'm so sorry, baby. I just..." he chuckled softly, "I don't want you dying, either. And you came so damn close. I just want to protect you."
"And running into fire is going to really accomplish that."
He smiled; she wasn't too pissed. She was being sarcastic, and that was a good sign. "I know I'll be paying for this my whole life, but how can I start to make it up to you?"
Linda sniffed, "promise not to try an' prove to me that you're a hero."
"I can do that. Next?"
The blonde thought for a moment, "take me home to a bubble bath?"
Danny smiled again, "that I can do."