After the Fire
- Reads 4,588
- Votes 150
- Parts 19
Fifteen hours. That's how long Dr. Cassie McKay spent fighting to save lives during the PittFest massacre-long enough to break a court order, destroy her ankle monitor, and very nearly burn herself out.
But in the haze of trauma and adrenaline, there was one constant: Jesse Van Horn. The ER nurse with steady hands and quiet eyes. The one who didn't flinch when she cracked, didn't pry when she shut down, and didn't run when her past started bleeding through her present.
Cassie doesn't do relationships-not with her history, not with a son to protect, and definitely not with a coworker who could see too much. But Jesse? Jesse just stays.
And when her son ends up in the staff lounge eating crackers with him, she starts to wonder if maybe-just maybe-some things are worth risking again.
A slow-burn, found-family romance about surviving trauma, choosing softness, and learning that sometimes, after the fire, comes something warm.
All Rights Reserved
#600
hbo
Join the largest storytelling communityGet personalized story recommendations, save your favourites to your library, and comment and vote to grow your community.
You may also like
Sing for Me
They called her a star. Then they broke her. After a scandal shattered her career and left her trapped in silence, Nova Sinclair swore she would never step into the spotlight again. But when her past resurfaces in the form of the man who once controlled her every move, the walls she built begin to crack. Enter Nate Carter-captain of the LA Titans, her brother's best friend, and the last person she expected to see her as more than a headline. Steady where she's unsteady, fire where she's frozen, Nate refuses to let Nova drown in shadows. But secrets never stay buried. With the media circling, her brother watching, and her past clawing back to claim her, Nova must choose-keep running, or fight for a life she never believed she deserved. And somewhere between the wreckage of yesterday and the fragile hope of tomorrow, she might just discover that love doesn't break you. It saves you.
Nurse know it all
Evelyne's life is going down hill. Penniless, pregnant, alone and to top it off, the man who ruined her life thirteen years ago decides to come back to town and live in the house next door and work in the same hospital she's set her roots in for the past four years. Will the actual truth come out among all the secrets and misunderstandings of the past? Or will everything stay hidden and just out of reach from the truth? βπππ πππ'π πππππ ππ πππππ.β βπππ πππππ ππππ πππ ππ‘ππππππππ, 'πΈ'π πππππ ππππ ππππ πππππππ ππ πππ'?β A slowburn, childhood rivals, to enemies, to friends, to lovers. Started- 10.08.23 Finished- 05.01.24Complete
Somebody Like You
Step one: graduate. Step two: accidentally sleep with your best friend. Step three: get trapped working summer camp together because your other best friend has no sense of boundaries. Now Enya and Maddie are sharing a cabin, pretending nothing happened, and doing a terrible job at it. It's hot. It's messy. It's gay. * * * The summer before college was supposed to be chill; sunburns, iced lattes, maybe a mild existential crisis. But when Skylar signs everyone up to be counselors at a middle school camp, Enya and Maddie find themselves trapped in a mosquito-infested nightmare... together. One small problem: They may or may not have ACCIDENTALLY hooked up after graduation. And Maddie is convinced Enya planned the whole thing. Between canoe races gone wrong, s'mores that end in arguments, and bunkhouse confessions they swore would never happen again, both girls are about to learn that feelings aren't something you can logic your way out of-or yell your way past. Because sometimes the person who drives you craziest... is the one who feels like home.Complete
Feel (18+)
Two completely separate lives join together. A boy, Aiden Anderson, who wanted nothing more than to party and have sex. He has one more year of college left, and still has no idea what he wants to do for the rest of his life. A girl, Snow, was a trained agent at best. Nothing seemed to come between Snow and her job. Growing up with her friends, she's learned the true way to master the art of what she does. But that also made her someone who lost their childhood and happiness throughout the years. Once when this boy becomes her assignment to protect, things take a turn for the worst. Confusing tests and feelings go throughout their times together trying to survive. How would it end with the boy in terrible danger, and the girl losing the last vein of her humanity? *This is a VERY slow burn for the people who are here for romance Started: August 15 Ended: December 3 _____________Complete
The Space Between Us
π§ Under Construction. New chapters coming soon. Zara Monroe lost everything in one rainy night three years ago. The crash took her father and nearly took her along with it, and the woman who walked out of that hospital was someone who had to learn, slowly and painfully, how to start over. But she did it. She built something steady, something real, something that finally felt like it belonged to her. That was before Marcus Creed walked into her life. Charming. Successful. The kind of man everyone falls for without quite knowing why. He made Zara feel safe in a way she hadn't since before the accident, and she let herself believe that was enough to trust. It wasn't. The man she thought she knew isn't the man she married. He's patient. He's calculating. And he's been planning his next move long before Zara ever saw the first one coming. After all, things are not always what they seem.
Code A++
She came in unconscious with a cracked skull and a past that read like a case file. Melinda Sage wasn't supposed to survive the trauma buried in her bones. But she did. What she didn't expect was Alex Karev. The surgeon who didn't ask stupid questions. The one who listened. The one who never left. In a hospital full of chaos, the loudest thing was the silence where healing finally began. This is a story about fractures-of the body, of the soul, of everything that shatters when you learn to trust again. And the boy who slept on her lap because it was the only place he felt safe. (This story is mature because of graphic content, not sexual)Complete
Up In Flames (18+)
At 15 her family past catches up to her and her mum, so they move away. New town, New school, No friends and hella trust issues! To make her life tougher, The Trio seem to have it out for her, since Bad Boy Colton Bates took an interest in her. Sapphire survived an abusive father and now is doing her best to move on but it won't be as easy as she had hoped. Colton's never loved, he was too scared to open his heart after his father died and he lost the only person who loved him. But Sapphire slowly crept into his heart. Can Sapphire finally catch a break or will it all end.. In flames? ***WARNINGS: Mental Health Issues, Bullying, Depression and Suicidal behaviours. Mature themes 18+*** This is a slow burn romance with trust issues, broken homes and awful pasts.
Heartbreak Express
π πππππ²π¬ ππππ ππ‘π¨π«ππ₯π’π¬π | She ran from her wedding the day she found out the groom was expecting a baby with someone else. Now, with a broken heart and no suitcase, she's starting over in London... Two men, one new life and a second chance she never saw coming. Isabella SolΓ¨ne Hart was supposed to be a bride. Instead, she became a woman who walked away from betrayal, from shame, from the version of love that left her undone. London offers her nothing but silence and strangers and that's exactly what she needs until it starts to offer more. A job at a luxury PR firm, a flat that slowly becomes a home, a local cafΓ© with warm coffee and warmer smiles, a neighbour with a cat named Rufus and a shopkeeper named Robert, gruff, loyal, quietly becoming the father figure she never had. But nothing shakes her more than the two men who begin to orbit her new life. Skylar, the charming cafΓ© owner with kind eyes, he makes her laugh again, makes her feel again, but when it matters most... he stays silent. And Sebastian, the enigmatic CEO with ice-blue eyes and power in every breath. He shouldn't be looking at her the way he does, he shouldn't know who she is, but he does and what begins as a spark quickly threatens to set fire to the walls she's still rebuilding. Now Bella must navigate more than just a second chance, she must decide what kind of love she's ready for and whether she can open her heart again without losing herself in the process. It's a story of loss, of starting over, and the two men who force her to face what love really means. Of heartbreak turned healing, of strangers turned family. It's not just about falling in love, it's about who you become when your world shatters... and you choose to rise anyway.Complete
They called her a star. Then they broke her. After a scandal shattered her career and left her trapped in silence, Nova Sinclair swore she would never step into the spotlight again. But when her past resurfaces in the form of the man who once controlled her every move, the walls she built begin to crack. Enter Nate Carter-captain of the LA Titans, her brother's best friend, and the last person she expected to see her as more than a headline. Steady where she's unsteady, fire where she's frozen, Nate refuses to let Nova drown in shadows. But secrets never stay buried. With the media circling, her brother watching, and her past clawing back to claim her, Nova must choose-keep running, or fight for a life she never believed she deserved. And somewhere between the wreckage of yesterday and the fragile hope of tomorrow, she might just discover that love doesn't break you. It saves you.
More detailsContent Guidelines