Supernatural RPS fic: Playing with Fire (Jensen/Jared) 1/3
Title: Playing with Fire
Author: agt_spooky
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 9,837 this part (30,156 total for three parts)
Genre: Firefighter AU, Angst, Established relationship
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: It’s RPS, people. It never happened, but I wish it would. :-)
Author’s Notes: Many thanks, as always, to my fabulous beta, charityflint, who really whipped this puppy into shape, to sn_24lover for her great input along the way and to wilde_moon for surprising me with the awesome banner.
Summary: Fireman!Jensen and Paramedic!Jared are back in this sequel to Light My Fire.
It’s five months later and Jensen is nearly a full-fledged paramedic. But becoming a medic means no longer being able to work with Jared at Station 127 and giving up his chance at a promotion to Lieutenant. As graduation looms, will Jensen change his mind? Then add in a young man Jensen rescues from a fire that becomes an obsessed stalker, and Jared’s altercation with a victim’s husband that threatens his career, and things turn explosive at the FDNY.
(banner created by wilde_moon and agt_spooky)
Author's Notes 2: This story was born out of my love for the shows Emergency! and Third Watch and any references to them are entirely intentional. :-)
Playing with Fire
By AgtSpooky
March 9, 2009
The sounds of New York City waking up outside his window slowly pulled Jensen Ackles from his sleep in the early dawn hours of an October morning. Sighing contentedly, he blinked open his green eyes to the soft light filtering in through the half-open blinds in his bedroom, playing over the naked skin of the man lying next to him.
Jensen let a lazy smile play over his face as he watched Jared sleep. It was almost five months to the day since they met; a night when all Jensen wanted to do was crawl into the bottom of a bottle of booze, trying to forget a tragedy. Then Jared walked into his life and turned it upside down, bringing him happiness that he never thought he’d have again after Ryan’s death.
It was a long road to get to that happiness, though, thanks to Jensen himself. But Jared never gave up on him, pushing past the barriers that Jensen had erected around his heart, showing Jensen that it was okay to love again, despite the risks.
And now it’d been months of this - of waking up across from one another in their bunks at the station, or next to each other in bed at Jared’s apartment, or here at Jensen’s own. They spent most of their time at Jensen’s, it being larger and in a better neighborhood than Jared’s, plus it was closer to the station. But this place held old ghosts for Jensen, and it had been on the tip of his tongue for weeks now, wanting to ask Jared to move in together, to find a place of their own. The time just never seemed right to ask the younger man, though.
“Are you staring at me again?”
Jensen smiled at Jared’s sleep-rough, amused voice, but didn’t answer, watching as Jared’s hazel eyes slowly opened. He stretched languidly, tangling his legs with Jensen’s, smiling softly, whispering, “Good morning,” as he slid his body even closer to Jensen’s.
“Move in with me.”
The words were out of Jensen’s mouth before his brain realized he was going to say them. But they were out there now. No going back.
He saw Jared’s eyes widen as he continued. “I don’t mean here. I want us to find a place together.” He swallowed nervously. “What…what do you think?”
There was a heartbeat of silence where Jensen’s stomach twisted in knots, before Jared was covering his body with his own, his mouth warm and firm on Jensen’s. And Jensen let go of the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as Jared kissed him long and hard.
Jensen smiled when they pulled apart long moments later. “I take it that’s a yes?”
“It’s more than a yes,” Jared answered seriously. “God, Jen, been thinking about asking you, too. I want that with you…want you…” he trailed off, capturing Jensen’s mouth once again.
The kiss was deep this time, tongues sliding against one another, igniting a fire inside Jensen’s body. It was always like this with Jared, just a touch and Jensen was lost to the sensations Jared created inside him. Like now, as Jared’s hands skimmed up his side, over his bare skin, raising goosebumps in his fingers’ wake.
Jensen hummed into the kiss, pushing his hips up as he felt his cock start to fill and lengthen, one hand flexing on Jared’s broad back, the other tangled in Jared’s shaggy brown hair. And Jared kissed him harder, mouths slanting against one another until they had to pull back for breath.
“You feel so good,” Jensen panted against Jared’s lips, as the younger man rotated his hips, sliding his cock against Jensen’s, pulling a groan from them both.
Jensen raised his knees, drawing Jared’s body between his legs and they rocked together, rutting against each other, their cocks leaking, slicking their stomachs as their desire grew higher and higher.
“More,” Jared growled, kissing Jensen again. “Want you…want you in me. Gotta feel you in me, Jen…please…”
Jensen felt his cock throb at the thought of being buried inside Jared and he crushed his mouth against the other man’s in response before flipping them over in one smooth move. Jensen raised up on his knees to look down at the long body beneath him - all that hard muscle underneath smooth skin that Jensen had kissed every inch of. Jared’s hazel eyes were wide and nearly all pupil, mouth open slightly as he drew in shallow breaths, his long fingers flexing restlessly on Jensen’s thighs. He reached down between Jared’s legs and took Jared’s long cock in his hand, stroking twice. He grinned as Jared threw his head back against the pillow and nearly bucked him off.
“Oh god, don’t tease, Jen,” Jared pleaded. “Need you so damn bad…”
Jensen leaned over and kissed the younger man swiftly, deeply, as he reached over to the bedside table for the lube. Straightening up, he rearranged himself between Jared’s legs as Jared bent them, spreading himself open for Jensen.
“C’mon, Jen,” Jared encouraged, hips shifting on the bed as Jensen slicked his fingers. “Don’t need much…”
“Not gonna hurt you,” Jensen replied softly, kissing Jared as his first finger slid easily inside Jared’s body, realizing the other man was right, he was still loose from their middle of the night lovemaking a few hours ago. A second finger joined the first, Jared’s eyes falling closed with a moan at the stretch, lifting his hips, trying to get Jensen’s fingers deeper.
“Yeah…yeah,” Jensen breathed, watching as another pearl of liquid leaked from the tip of Jared’s cock while his fingers stroked in and out, searching…
A choked off sound combined with the sudden jerking of Jared’s body and Jensen knew he’d found the spot. He rubbed over it again and again, reveling in the sounds Jared was making as he drove Jared closer to orgasm. But before he could push Jared over the edge, the other man was grasping at his wrist, stilling his movements.
“Wait, wait,” Jared panted harshly. “Don’t wanna come yet…want you in me when I do.”
Jensen kissed Jared again as he slowly removed his fingers. “Gonna make you come so damn hard,” he breathed in Jared’s ear, feeling the other man shiver as he reached over and picked up a condom. But again Jared’s hand was on his wrist, stopping him from tearing open the foil packet.
“Do we need these anymore, Jen?” Jared asked seriously. “We’re clean and it’s just you and me. Always gonna be you and me. And I…I wanna feel you, Jen.”
“God, Jare…” Jensen whispered, letting the condom fall from his fingers. “Want that, too.” A kiss, then another. “Gonna feel so good…” he promised, slicking up his bare cock, rubbing the head against Jared’s opening, teasing them both with the new sensation of skin on skin.
Then Jensen was pushing in slowly, so slowly, knowing how much Jared loved feeling Jensen’s cock entering him. He drew it out as long as possible, looking down and watching as Jared’s body stretched around him and took him in.
“Oh, fuck, Jen, yes…” Jared moaned, squeezing his eyes closed, back arching up slightly off the bed, fingers grasping at the sheets.
It was only a thin layer of latex that had separated them before, but the difference nearly took Jensen’s breath away as he slid all the way inside Jared, able to really feel the heat of Jared’s body, the way his muscles gripped his erection.
“Jesus Christ,” Jensen breathed, leaning over, hands braced on the mattress on either side of Jared’s head.
“It feels amazing,” Jared panted.
Jensen smirked down at him. “It’s about to get a lot better,” he replied, shifting his hips, sliding his cock nearly all the way out of Jared before pushing back in with one smooth move.
The younger man groaned deeply at the action, wrapping his legs around Jensen’s waist as Jensen set up a quick rhythm, urged on by the sounds falling from Jared’s lips. And it wasn’t long before Jensen felt the first stirrings of his climax, burning hot at the base of his spine. As did Jared, as he reached for his own cock to push himself to completion. But Jensen pushed his hand away.
“Not like that,” he told Jared, voice gravelly. “You’re gonna come just like this, just from the feel of me inside you. God, Jared,” he ground out, snapping his hips. “So hard for you, feel how hard I am…”
“God,” Jared gasped. “More…deeper, Jen. So close, I’m so -“
The rest of Jared’s reply was lost to Jensen’s mouth as he leaned down, claiming Jared for another burning kiss, changing his angle of penetration just enough. Jared threw his head back, breaking the kiss as Jensen once again found the spot that made Jared shake.
“That’s it, that’s it,” Jensen encouraged, barely hanging on himself, moments away from climax. “Let me feel you come…”
“So good, Jen, you feel so fucking good,” Jared rambled, breathing harshly. “Ahh…god, yes!” he suddenly cried out, arching beneath Jensen as his orgasm finally overtook him.
Jensen raised up slightly, looking between their bodies, watching in erotic fascination as Jared’s cock jerked and pulsed, leaving hot, wet streaks of white on both their bellies. The sound and feel of Jared coming apart under him was Jensen’s undoing. His hips stuttered, faltering in their rhythm as Jensen let the fire burning deep inside surge out of him, filling Jared, and with no condom between them, he could finally really feel it, experience it like never before, and his orgasm was all the more powerful because of it.
Arms trembling in the aftermath, Jensen sagged down onto Jared, trying to catch his breath, feeling Jared’s arms come around him, holding him close. Jensen closed his eyes as Jared kissed his forehead, placing his own kiss onto the side of Jared’s neck.
“Love you,” Jensen murmured.
“God, love you, too, Jen. That was amazing,” Jensen could hear the smile in Jared’s voice.
“Don’t wanna move,” Jensen mumbled, his softening cock still snug inside Jared’s body.
“Hmmm...don’t want you to, either. You feel great right where you are. But,” Jared sighed, “You have somewhere to be in about an hour.”
Jensen closed his eyes and groaned. “Shit.”
Jared chuckled. “Ready for your first day of final exams?”
Jensen lifted his head up. “You ask me this now, after my brains just exited through my dick?”
Jared laughed, kissing Jensen quickly, smacking him lightly on his ass. “C’mon, let’s go make you a paramedic.”
With a sigh, Jensen shifted, kissing Jared softly as he let his cock slip from the younger man’s body. But instead of getting out of bed, he laid down on his side next to Jared.
“You know, we’ve been avoiding talking about what happens after graduation,” Jensen began, and Jared tipped his forehead against his. “There’s no open paramedic spot at 127,” Jensen continued. “If I go through with this we won’t be able to work together anymore. Maybe I should -“
“No.” Jared cut him off. “You are going to see this through. You’ve worked too damn hard to walk away from this now. Will I hate not working with you? Of course I will. But knowing you’re happy, doing what you really want to do, will make up for the 24 hours that I won’t see you.” He kissed Jensen lightly. “Now put this out of your head, okay? It’s all gonna work out. You need to stay focused today.” He smirked at Jensen. “Especially if you think you can beat my test scores.”
Jensen laughed, his concerns temporarily allayed. “Oh, it’s on, buddy.”
~~~~~
Jensen took a deep breath as he opened the door to the classroom at the community college the FDNY used for their paramedic classes. Most of his fellow students were already there, milling about or with their head buried in a textbook for a last minute cram. But there were a lot fewer students now than had started the course six months ago, having either flunked out or dropped out on their own, realizing the career of a paramedic wasn’t for them. But it was for Jensen and he was only two days of testing away from passing the course and graduation - and on a new path in his life.
The professor entered the classroom just as Jensen took his seat, and began passing out the text booklets.
“Alright, everyone,” Professor Collins said, clapping his hands together. “You will have two hours to complete your exam. Take your time, think things through. Good luck. You may begin.”
And with another deep breath, Jensen picked up his pencil.
~~~~~
The next morning Jensen walked quickly along the New York sidewalks in Queens, covering the five blocks from his apartment to the station in long strides, his FDNY jacket zipped up against the early morning chill. He was looking forward to seeing Jared, who had picked up some overtime yesterday on B shift, working two 24-hour shifts instead of their normal one. He hated waking up alone, missing Jared’s warm, solid presence next to him, but it was something he needed to get used to. Didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Jensen made the turn onto King Boulevard, always a hub of activity, with Station 127 on the north side of the street and the 55th Precinct of the NYPD on the south side. If there weren’t police cars and fire equipment rolling up and down the street there were pick up games of basketball or football going on between the fire department and the police department. It made for great, friendly rivalry. And today was no exception. Jensen spied their engineer, dark-haired Kyle Everett, and truck man Toby Sanders tossing the pigskin back and forth with two of the NYPD patrol officers. He smiled as he saw blonde-haired Toby do an exaggerated touchdown dance, but then a honking horn caught his attention as a squad car pulled into the spot he was starting to walk past.
Jensen grinned when he saw who it was, stopping to greet the bald-headed officer as he popped out of his car. “Yo! Five-Five-David!” he called out to Mike Rosenbaum, using his NYPD call sign.
Mike shut the door, smiling wide, and reached out to shake Jensen’s hand. “Jensen!” he greeted him. “How’s things, man? Haven’t seen you too much lately. You too good to play a little ball with us now?” Mike teased.
Jensen grinned and shook his head. “Nah. Just been holed up in the common room every chance I get, studying.”
“It’s gonna be really weird not seeing you in the jump seat of that engine when it pulls out,” Mike replied, then glanced down at his watch. “Crap, gotta run. Roll call in five.”
Jensen nodded, then clasped Mike on the shoulder. “Stay safe, man.”
“You, too,” Mike replied as he headed toward the station, and Jensen jogged across the street to his own.
The three bay doors were closed, keeping out the autumn air, so Jensen went in through the main entrance and into the apparatus room. It was quiet; everyone most likely upstairs in the common room or the kitchen, Jensen thought as he passed the gleaming engine in Bay Three, the ladder truck in Bay Two, and finally the ambulance, or “the bus” as it was more commonly referred to, sitting in Bay One. Jensen paused and opened up the rear door of the ambulance, taking a moment to picture himself inside, working on a patient. It both scared and thrilled him.
“You’re gonna look great in there.”
Jared’s quiet voice pulled Jensen from his musings and he turned with a smile. “Hey,” he replied in greeting, his eyes appreciating the view of Jared’s tall, muscular body in his crisp navy blue paramedics uniform. “Missed you this morning.”
Jared nodded, taking a step forward, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jensen wanted nothing more than to lean in for a kiss, but early on in their relationship they had established Rule #1 - No Fooling Around at Work. It just wasn’t appropriate to show public displays of affection in the station, and they needed to keep their focus on their jobs, not each other, as difficult as it was.
Jared swayed toward Jensen before stepping back with a sigh, but the affection still shone out of his eyes and Jensen grinned back. “Rough shift?” Jensen asked as he closed the ambulance door and started walking toward the stairs.
“Actually, no,” Jared answered, following behind Jensen. “For once the citizens of New York decided to behave themselves.”
“Great. You know what that means, don’t you?” Jensen asked as they reached the common room. “They saved it all up and today is gonna be batshit crazy.”
“God, I hope not,” Jared chuckled, throwing himself down on one of the couches, in between his partner, paramedic Alix Jones, and sandy-haired truck man Daniel Hoffman.
“Morning, Jen,” Alix said, glancing up from the book she was reading. “I think the Cap was just looking for you.”
“Ooooh, Jenny’s getting called into the principal’s office!”
Jensen turned his head and playfully scowled at his good friend, Tom Welling, who was in the middle of a foosball game with the last member of their crew, Shawn Larson, who clutched his red hair in frustration when Tom scored. But before Jensen could throw back a reply, a door across the room opened and Captain Jeff Morgan stuck his head out.
“Jensen. Can I see you a minute?”
“Um, yeah, sure, Cap,” Jensen answered, walking across to Jeff’s office. Jeff closed the door behind them and motioned for Jensen to sit.
“So, how are your finals going, Jen?” Jeff asked, relaxing back in his chair.
“Good, Cap. I feel really confident that I did well on the ones yesterday.”
Jeff leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. “I’m proud of you, Jen. Becoming a medic isn’t easy.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve got to be honest, though, and tell you I hate to see you leave the engine company, and most likely this station.” Jensen nodded as Jeff continued. “I was really hoping to see you take the Lieutenant’s exam.”
Jensen’s eyes widened at that. “Cap - “
“You’re a natural leader, Jen,” Jeff went on. “I see how the other members of this crew look to you. I could see you as Captain in less than five years.”
Jensen’s head was spinning. “I - thanks, Cap. That means a lot.”
Jeff nodded as his phone started ringing. “Just think about it, okay?” he said, reaching for the phone.
Jensen gave a wordless nod and walked out of Jeff’s office, stopping just outside to lean against the wall. He saw Jared giving him a quizzical look but he remained where he was, thinking hard about what Jeff had just said. His comments had really given him pause; taking the Lieutenant’s exam and going on to become Captain. It wasn’t like he hated his job as a fireman and that’s why he wanted to transfer over to the paramedic unit. He just wanted to do more, help people even more, and he could do that with the medics. But if he stayed with the engine company it would mean he could remain working with Jared at 127 for years. Jensen blew out a breath and tipped his head back. God, why was all this coming up now? Why hadn’t Jeff said something to him months ago?
“Jensen?”
Alix’s soft voice brought him back from his thoughts and he turned to see her standing at the top of the stairs that led to the dorms, locker room and bathrooms on the third floor.
“Can I talk to you?” Alix asked.
Jensen pushed away from the wall and walked up the stairs. “Sure, what’s up?” he asked as she walked over to Jared’s bunk and sat down, Jensen sitting on his own across from her.
“I’m leaving 127,” she said without preamble.
Jensen blinked. “You’re - you’re what?”
Alix pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “I know how much you want to keep working with Jared,” she told him. “There’s a paramedic spot opening up at 51 and I’m going to transfer over there after your probation is over.”
Jensen shook his head. “Alix, no. This is your station. I knew going into the paramedic program that I was probably going to have to leave 127.”
“But that was before you met Jared,” she smiled, moving to sit next to Jensen, resting her hand over his. “I never thought I’d see you happy again after Ryan’s death,” she said. “I know that you and Jared finally worked past him being a paramedic, but deep down you’re still scared, aren’t you?”
Jensen glanced down at the floor. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I know first hand how deadly this job can be.”
“So what better place for you to be than by Jared’s side, with the two of you watching out for one another? To give you both peace of mind.”
Jensen swallowed. “Alix…I don’t even know what to say. Thank you just isn’t enough.”
Alix grinned, squeezing Jensen’s hand. “Just say you’ll invite me to the wedding.”
Jensen threw back his head and laughed then pulled Alix into a warm hug.
“Jeff doesn’t know you’re leaving, does he?”
“No, not yet. Captain Stanley over at 51 just let me know last night he’d take my transfer, and I wanted to talk to you first. How’d you know?”
“Based on a conversation I just had with him,” Jensen answered. “You just saved me from having to make a tough decision.”
Alix cocked her head. “Oh? What - “
The rest of her question was cut off as the station alarm sounded, and like a Pavlovian response, Jensen felt a sharp spike of adrenaline surge through his body. Both he and Alix looked up at the P.A. speaker as the female dispatcher’s voice came through.
“Station 127, Station 99, Engine 51 - structure fire, 660 Bedford Avenue. Cross street North 10th. Time out - 8:15.”
Jensen and Alix jumped up from the bunk and made their way quickly to the fire pole. “Ready to go to work?” Alix called over her shoulder, just before she slid down the pole.
“Oh, I was born ready,” Jensen said to himself as he grasped the gold pole, wrapped his legs around it and slid down the three floors.
Just as his feet hit the ground in the apparatus room, Tom jogged by, holding up his fist to Jensen. “Let’s rock and roll!”
Jensen laughed and bumped fists with the tall, dark-haired fireman, then followed behind Tom to the equipment room, where the rest of the crew was busy suiting up. Both men quickly located their turnout gear; jamming their feet into boots, pulling up their heavy pants, shrugging the suspenders up and over their shoulders, followed by their thick, protective jackets and finally their helmets.
The three bay doors were opening as one by one the crew scattered to their respective vehicles, red and white flashing lights filling the apparatus room, followed instantly by three sets of sirens as Station 127 pulled out onto the streets of New York.
Jensen looked over at Tom in the jump seat next to him on the engine. The spark in his friend’s eyes was a match to his own, he was sure, the adrenaline thrumming through their veins, hearts beating faster in anticipation of what lay ahead for them. It was a rush like no other.
The engine pulled up to the scene just a few minutes later and Jensen hopped down from his seat - into chaos.
In front of him was an extremely rundown, five storey apartment building, the top two floors of which were completely engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed out of broken windows as bright red and orange fire lit up the morning sky. People were running everywhere, faces covered in soot, coughing, most still in their pajamas and bathrobes, clutching as many possessions as they could carry.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jensen saw Jared and Alix sprint over to the victims just as Jeff, wearing his white Captain’s helmet, started bellowing out orders.
“Welling! Ackles! Door-to-door! Make it double time before this whole thing comes down on us!”
“On it, Cap!” Jensen yelled, turning with Tom to retrieve their air masks and tanks from a compartment on the engine as Jeff yelled over to the truck crew.
“Sanders! Hoffmann! Get that hose laid! I want two inch-and-a-halfs ready to go! Larson! Get that snorkel up! Everett, let’s get water flowing!”
A chorus of “Right, Cap!” reached Jensen’s ears as he secured a positive seal on his air mask, the rest of his crew springing into action around him, just as Station 99 pulled up onto the scene as well. Seating his helmet on his head, Jensen looked over at Tom, air mask also in place; his friend gave him a thumbs up with one gloved hand, while the other held the heavy forked pry bar they would use for entry, if need be.
“Let’s do this!” Jensen yelled, racing toward the burning building - and into the belly of the beast.
As the fourth and fifth floors were already lost to the fire, Tom and Jensen sprinted up the stairs to the third floor as quickly as their cumbersome turnout gear and heavy air tanks would allow, through thick, black smoke that impaired their vision each step of the way. They passed three people still trying to escape the fire, pushing past the fireman on the stairs in blind panic. The heat grew more intense the higher they climbed, but the fire had not yet reached the third floor as Tom and Jensen, breathing heavily, stepped out into the smoke filled hallway, lined with six apartments.
“I’ll take left!” Tom yelled, turning to attempt to open the first door.
Jensen nodded, pounding his fist on the first door on his side of the hallway. “Fire department!” he yelled, trying the doorknob and finding the door unlocked, a good sign the occupant had already fled. He stepped inside, yelling again. “Is anyone in here?” Getting no response he made a quick, but thorough search of the small apartment, finding no one.
Stepping back into the hallway, he saw Tom just entering the second apartment on his side and Jensen quickly made his way to his second as well. Just as he was raising his fist to knock an ominous groan had his head snapping up to the ceiling. Sure enough, the first flames of the fire were eating away at the wood, licking bright and hot. They had five minutes, tops, to get the hell off this floor before the fire completely consumed it.
The door to Jensen’s second apartment was open as well, the smoke so thick now he turned on the powerful flashlight clipped to the strap of his air tank to help guide him in his search. Turning up no one, he exited the apartment quickly, a blast of heat assaulting him instantaneously. The fire had broken through the ceiling at the far end of the hallway, wood snapping and popping, turning black in the fire’s wake.
“Hurry it up!” Jensen called out to Tom as the other man opened the door to the last apartment on his side of the hallway.
Not wasting time knocking, Jensen simply grasped the doorknob of his third apartment and turned it.
Locked.
“Shit,” Jensen swore. This wasn’t a good sign.
Racing across the hallway, Jensen went after Tom, finding him coming out of the bedroom. “I need entry!” he yelled, pointing across the hall. Tom nodded, striding quickly to the locked door, where he jammed the forked end of the pry bar against the door frame. Then with a grunt and a hard push the doorframe splintered, the lock breaking. Tom shouldered it the rest of the way open and the two firemen began their search, Jensen in the bedroom and Tom in the living room.
Jensen had no more than entered the small bedroom when the beam from his flashlight pierced through the smoke to illuminate a body lying on the floor. Dropping down next to the unconscious person, Jensen saw that it was a young man with blonde hair, slightly built, and a few years younger than himself. Taking off one of his gloves, Jensen pressed two fingers to the man’s neck, searching for a pulse. After a long moment he detected one. Faint, but it was there.
“Tom! I’ve got one!” Jensen yelled, just as the ceiling above him cracked, flickers of flame shooting through.
“Shit,” Jensen cursed again, hoisting the unconscious man up and over his shoulder, grunting slightly with the extra weight as he stood. He turned, spying Tom through the smoke, standing in the doorway.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Tom yelled, making for the front door.
Tom had taken no more than three steps into the living room, while Jensen stood just inside the bedroom doorway, when an explosion on the upper floors rocked the building, sending both Tom and Jensen to their knees. A tremendous crash reverberated throughout the apartment, followed by a wall of deadly flames blasting in through the open front door. The ceiling in the hallway had completely collapsed.
They were trapped.
“Back! Back!” Tom cried out as he stood up, reeling from the force of the blast. He waved his hands at Jensen, who stumbled back into the bedroom, laying the man down on the floor as Tom slammed the door shut.
“The window!” Jensen yelled, breathing harshly inside his air mask, sweat rolling down his face.
Without missing a beat, Tom swung the heavy pry bar at the bedroom window, the glass shattering into a million pieces to rain down upon the street, hopefully alerting one of the FDNY crew on the ground that they needed help.
The thick smoke started billowing out the window, clearing the air in the bedroom slightly, but the fresh air also fed the flames coming out of the ceiling. The wood snapped menacingly, threatening to fall down on the three men. While Tom used the sleeve of his heavy turnout jacket to clear any remaining glass from the window frame, Jensen began removing his helmet to get his air mask off. He had just released the seal when Tom turned and saw him.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Jensen pulled the mask over his head, coughing instantaneously as he breathed in the acrid air and placed the mask over the face of the unconscious man. “The smoke inhalation’s gonna kill him! He needs oxygen or he’s not gonna make it!”
“Put your damn mask back on!” Tom swore at him.
Jensen waved his hand, blinking furiously as small burning embers stung his eyes. “I’ll be fine!” he coughed. “Just get a damn ladder up here!” he told Tom, turning his attention back to the young man on the floor while Tom leaned his upper body out the window, waving one of his arms.
The heat in the small room was nearly suffocating as the fire danced along the ceiling, heading for the walls. A few more minutes and the entire bedroom would be consumed, along with the three men in it.
“99’s swinging their ladder over!” Tom yelled to Jensen, just as the young man on the floor began to stir, coughing, moving his head, blinking open confused eyes.
Jensen nodded his head at the man, coughing with each breath. “Yeah, that’s it. C’mon, buddy…”
As consciousness returned, the young man took in his surroundings and started to panic, trying to push away from Jensen.
“No, no! It’s okay!” Jensen assured him, placing a hand on the man’s chest, keeping the air mask over his face. “We’re getting you out of here!”
The young man’s blue eyes were wide with fear behind the plastic of the air mask, but he stopped struggling, nodding his head as he grabbed onto the sleeve of Jensen’s turnout coat.
Jensen’s lungs were burning, eyes watering as he turned his head toward the window, trying to pull in a breath of fresh air.
“Ladder’s here! Let’s go!” Tom called out, gesturing for Jensen to stand. “You first!”
Jensen nodded, coughing harshly as he stood, having to remove the air mask from the young man. “Pick him up and give him to me!” Jensen told Tom, moving toward the window, putting his helmet back on. He glanced outside quickly to make sure the ladder was in place before turning his body around and crawling out, his gear making his movements cumbersome.
He took in deep lungfuls of clean air as he stood on the top rungs of the ladder, looking back inside to see Tom hoisting up the young man up under his armpits, standing behind him. A bright flash caught Jensen’s attention as the crack in the ceiling split wider, deadly flames shooting further down into the room.
“Hurry!” Jensen yelled, reaching for the man as Tom got him to the window, then draped him over Jensen’s shoulder.
Jensen shifted with the added weight, holding on to the ladder tightly as he adjusted, gaining his balance. Then he began, quickly but carefully, climbing backwards down the ladder to safety.
The ladder shook a minute later and Jensen glanced up to see Tom’s feet make contact with the upper rungs moments before a crash and a wall of fire surged out the open window, singeing Tom’s helmet and the back of his turnout coat.
Jensen blew out a relieved breath at their narrow escape as he continued his descent, his shoulder beginning to ache from the added weight of the young man. But just another minute later he was at the bottom, with helping hands all around him from the men of 99’s ladder company. They got Jensen and the man to the ground, where Jared and Alix were waiting with a stretcher.
Jared, eyes wide with concern and barely disguised fear, grabbed onto Jensen’s jacket, as Alix put an oxygen mask over the young man’s face. “Are you okay?” Jared asked quickly.
Jensen nodded, trying to grin in between his coughs. “I’ll be fine,” he assured Jared, voice wrecked from the smoke. “Take care of him,” he gestured to the man on the stretcher.
With a squeeze of Jensen’s shoulder, Jared turned to his patient and slipped on a blood pressure cuff as Alix started to roll the stretcher toward the bus. But the young man suddenly reached out, holding on tightly to the sleeve of Jensen’s turnout coat. Jensen covered the man’s hand with his own, looking down into scared blue eyes as he walked with the stretcher.
“You’re safe now,” he told the young man. “You’re gonna be fine. You’re in good hands.”
Slowly the young man relaxed and he nodded, letting go of Jensen’s sleeve, but he never took his eyes from Jensen as Jared and Alix loaded him onto the bus. The closing doors finally forced him to break his gaze while the ambulance sped away in a rush of sirens and lights.
~~~~~
Jensen sighed gratefully, closing his eyes, letting the warm water cascade over his tired, naked body. Around him he could hear the other members of his crew finishing up in the showers, heading into the locker room to change into fresh uniforms that didn’t smell of smoke and soot.
The fire at the apartment had taken hours to contain, another two engine companies having to be called in before the blaze was finally extinguished. A dozen or so residents were taken to the hospital with minor burns or smoke inhalation, but thankfully there were no casualties. He’d seen Jared and Alix return twice more to the scene to transport victims to Angel of Mercy Hospital before heading back to the station. But they were gone when the rest of the crew returned, out on another run.
Jensen groaned slightly as he rotated his right shoulder, sore from carrying the young man and lifting hose for two and a half hours. He let the warm water beat down on it for another minute before reluctantly turning off the spray. He stood for a moment, trying to slowly draw in a full, deep breath, but coughed halfway through, his lungs still congested from the smoke. Snagging his towel from the opposite end of the enclosed shower stall he briskly dried off his body, than ran it over his hair until it stood up in spikes. He wrapped the towel around his waist, opened the stall door, and started to turn to the left, toward the locker room door, when movement to his right caught his eye. It was Jared, just entering the bathroom.
Before Jensen could say anything in greeting, Jared advanced upon him with long strides, his mouth in a tight line, hazel eyes a combination of worry and relief. He put a large hand flat on Jensen’s chest and pushed him back into the shower stall, locking the door behind them without breaking eye contact.
“Jared? What -“
The rest of Jensen’s confused question was lost as Jared’s mouth descended hard upon his own, Jared’s arms wrapping around him like vises, holding him impossibly close. Jared backed them up against the wall of the stall, kissing Jensen with an intensity that took his breath away. Their mouths slanted against one another again and again and it was only when Jared pushed a leg between Jensen’s own that Jensen came back to his senses. He broke the kiss, breathing hard, pushing against Jared’s shoulders.
“Jare…God, what is it? We can’t do this here…”
Jared closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Jensen’s, his hands roaming over Jensen’s bare skin, touching everywhere.
“When I heard it was you…that you were trapped…my heart nearly stopped. I was so damn scared.” He looked up, directly into Jensen’s eyes. “Can’t lose you, Jen…can’t,” he breathed, kissing Jensen again, hands gripping Jensen’s hips. “Need to be close to you…need to know you’re okay…” he murmured against Jensen’s lips, pulling the towel from Jensen’s waist.
Throwing Rule #1 out the window in the face of Jared’s very real worry and fear, to which Jensen could so easily relate, he kissed Jared back, assuring him without words he was here and that he was all right. Jared made a choked off noise into the kiss, while one of his hands slid between their bodies, between Jensen’s legs to cup Jensen’s heavy balls and cock.
Jensen couldn’t stop the groan as Jared stroked him, lengthening and hardening in Jared’s palm, feeling the first drops of precome leak from the tip of his cock. “Ngh…fuck, Jare…” Jensen panted, fumbling with the zipper on Jared’s pants. “God, what if someone hears…?”
Jared’s other hand shot out to the side, slapping the shower controls, warm water raining down upon them both instantly.
“There,” Jared replied, his own moan distorted by the sound of the shower as Jensen freed his cock and wrapped his hand around it.
They stroked each other hard and fast, biting at one another’s mouths, the water slicking their movements, Jared’s hand sliding easily down Jensen’s back and over the swell of his ass. A moment later and Jensen felt Jared’s finger moving against the puckered muscle of his entrance and he instinctively pressed back against it.
“Let me,” Jared pleaded. “Gotta feel you, Jen…”
Jensen nodded, a small part of his brain telling him this was crazy, overridden by the haze of desire swiftly building inside him. Jared took him by the waist and turned him around, Jensen’s hands slapping against the wall of the shower stall.
“Gotta be fast, Jare, c’mon,” Jensen urged, spreading his legs, feeling the water run between them, over his opening and down the back of his balls, warm and wet and perfect.
A second later and Jared’s wet finger was pressing inside him and Jensen pushed back, biting his lip to keep from moaning as Jared stretched him quickly, a second finger joining the first after just a few moments.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Jensen panted as Jared’s fingers pressed deep inside him one more time before withdrawing, to be swiftly replaced by the blunt head of Jared’s cock.
Jensen squeezed his eyes closed, one hand clenching into a fist as Jared pushed inside him in one smooth, hard thrust. Jensen relished the quick burn as he felt his body stretch around Jared’s thick cock, the fabric of Jared’s soaking wet uniform rubbing against his bare skin.
“Oh, fuck,” Jared moaned against the damp skin of Jensen’s neck, nipping there before sliding his cock nearly all the way out of Jensen’s body, stopping only when the rim of the head caught on the puckered muscle.
Jensen’s groan at the action turned into a sharp gasp as Jared set a quick pace, snapping his hips repeatedly, driving himself deeper inside Jensen with each thrust, fingers digging into Jensen’s hips. Jensen gave as good as he got, pushing back into each thrust as the water cascaded down around them. He felt the beginning of his climax burn suddenly sharp inside him, the fear of getting caught bringing it on at an accelerated pace.
He clenched his internal muscles around Jared’s erection, pulling a muted groan from the other man and a stuttering in his rhythm. Jared in turn slid a hand around from Jensen’s hip, bypassing Jensen’s hard cock, standing out straight from his body, and instead cupped Jensen’s balls. He hefted them in his palm, rolling and tugging, the sensation shooting straight to Jensen’s cock. He spread his legs wider, throwing his head back into the water’s spray as Jared continued to fondle him, moments away from release.
“Gonna come,” Jensen ground out, his balls pulling up tight now.
“God, yeah, do it,” Jared growled, hand shifting to stroke Jensen’s cock once, twice - and Jensen fell apart.
His orgasm had no more than started to surge through him, painting the wall with thick ropes of semen, when he heard Jared make a sound deep in his throat. Then Jared was coming, Jensen gasping at the dual sensations, his own orgasm and Jared’s, the first time feeling Jared come inside him without a condom.
“Jare, oh god…” Jensen bit his lip as Jared filled him with slick, wet heat, trying not to cry out with the incredible sensation that seemed to go on and on, the sensual feeling of the water sliding over their bodies heightening everything.
But finally Jared sagged against his back, wrapping his arms around Jensen’s chest, one hand over Jensen’s heart as both men tried to get their breathing under control. Long moments later Jared reached over and shut the water off, then wrapped his arm back around Jensen, his cock still inside him. They stood there, quiet, just holding on to one another until Jared kissed him softly on his temple.
“Thank you for this,” Jared whispered. “I know we shouldn’t have done it - “
Jensen took one of Jared’s hands in his. “It’s okay,” he whispered back, swallowing against the memory of smoke and fire. “I was scared, too.”
~~~~~
Daniel and Jensen had kitchen duty that afternoon, so while the rest of the crew scrubbed down the engine and truck from the fire that morning, the two men were up to their elbows in soap suds from the lunch dishes when the station alarm sounded. Jensen and Daniel stopped what they were doing and looked up at the P.A. speaker as the dispatcher’s voice came over it.
“Station 127 - vehicle in the water. 300 block of North 12th Street, cross street Kent. Time out - 13:25.”
“Ready to go swimming?” Daniel asked as they hurriedly dried off their hands.
Jensen shook his head at the sandy haired fireman, leading the way to the fire pole. “I told Jared today was gonna be batshit crazy.”
~~~~~
Jensen’s heel tapped a staccato rhythm against the floor of the engine as Kyle expertly maneuvered the large vehicle through the congested New York streets. Water rescues were always difficult and dangerous and required instant action the moment they were on the scene. Time was their enemy when a car was filling with water with a person trapped inside. In preparation, the crew’s turnout gear was stored, saving precious seconds removing the bulky clothing if they were needed to enter the water.
And based on the yelling and screaming of the bystanders as Station 127 pulled up onto the scene, they were going to be.
The bus was ahead of the engine, Jared and Alix out of their vehicle and running toward the water’s edge by the time Jensen had jumped down from his seat. There were a half dozen people there, all pointing toward the water, yelling that no one had gotten out, ripples barely visible on the surface. The entire car was already underwater.
Jensen turned and grabbed the pry bar, toed off his shoes, then sprinted toward the water with the rest of the crew, his heart in his throat. Ahead of him he saw Jared and Alix dive in, and without waiting for orders from Jeff, Jensen held his breath…and hit the water.
The shock of the ice cold water from the East River nearly took Jensen’s precious held breath away. He blinked furiously, the water murky and dark, nearly impossible to see through. But there, a dark shape to his left had to be the sunken car. Kicking his legs, Jensen was upon the vehicle in seconds.
Oh god.
This wasn’t a car or pickup truck. It was a small daycare school bus.
Through the dark water Jensen could see Jared and Alix on the driver’s side, pulling open the door, so Jensen swam to the opposite side. His lungs beginning to burn, Jensen jammed the pry bar into the school bus doors and forced them open enough for him to get inside.
The scene was grim. Three small children, their eyes closed, floated motionless inside the bus. Two boys, one blonde, one dark haired, were at the back of the bus, while a young blonde girl with pigtails was right in front of Jensen. His lungs near to bursting now, in desperate need of air, Jensen took hold of the little girl and swam out of the bus.
He burst through the surface, immediately drawing in deep breaths of fresh air. He saw Jared and Alix swimming ahead of him, pulling the unconscious male driver between them.
“Get another bus!” Alix screamed out to Jeff, just as Jensen yelled out, “Toby! Shawn! There’s two more!”
The two firemen reacted instantly, diving in the water and swimming furiously out to Jensen’s position before heading under the surface.
Jensen cradled the little girl against his chest as he swam toward the edge, the freezing water turning his limbs to lead weights. But then Tom and Kyle were there, taking the girl from his arms and helping him up out of the water. Ignoring how he was shaking from the cold, Jensen immediately turned his attention to the child, along with Kyle. She wasn’t breathing, nor could Jensen detect a pulse on the five year-old.
“Damn it,” Jensen swore, turning the small body to the side and opening her mouth, letting any water trapped there drain out before returning her to her back.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Jensen said to Kyle, who nodded back.
All firemen were trained in basic first aid and CPR, which Jensen was grateful for right now as Kyle positioned himself at the little girl’s head. Tilting her head back and pinching her nose closed, Kyle blew two breaths into her mouth, her small chest rising and falling. Using the heel of one hand, Jensen began the chest compressions, counting out loud.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe!”
Another breath from Kyle and Jensen started the cycle again, peripherally aware of Jared and Alix working on the driver and Shawn and Toby being pulled out of the water by Tom and Daniel with the other two boys.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe! C’mon, sweetheart, c’mon…”
But the child lay unmoving while Jensen and Kyle continued on with the CPR, Jensen wished desperately for an intubation tube and bag, along with the paddles, but the bus only had one set, and Jensen could see Jared drying off the driver’s chest in preparation to shock him.
So Kyle and Jensen kept on with their desperate task to save the life of this little girl, hearing the voices of Tom and Daniel echoing his own as they worked on the boys.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe!”
In a rush of lights and sirens, 99’s bus arrived. The two paramedics spilled from the ambulance with their gear and rushed over to Jeff, who directed them over to the two boys, then jogged over to Kyle and Jensen.
“I’ve got 51’s bus on the way, too,” Jeff told them, then looked down at the little girl. “Anything?”
Jensen shook his head as Kyle blew in another breath. “I need paddles.”
Jeff looked over at Jared and Alix. “I think you’re about to get them.”
Jensen risked a glance at the two medics right before he began compressions again, watching as Alix shook her head and Jared ran a hand down his face, sitting back from the body of the driver. They’d lost him.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe! Don’t do this baby, don’t do this…”
A hand on his shoulder and Jensen turned his head to see Alix crouched down beside him, gear in tow.
“We got it, Jen,” she said, opening up the drug box.
Jensen nodded, moving out of the way. “Five cycles, no response,” he told her, standing up, watching as Kyle got out of Jared’s way as well.
More lights and sirens and 51’s bus arrived on the scene. Jeff directed the paramedics over to the second little boy that Daniel and Shawn were still working on.
The crew of 127 moved to stand silently together to watch the scene play out before them, having done all they could for the three small victims, praying it would be enough as the minutes ticked by.
Jensen didn’t realize how badly he was shivering from the cold and his wet uniform until Tom draped his turnout coat over his shoulders. “Thanks,” he murmured to his friend, sparing him a glance before looking back at Alix and Jared, hands clenched into fists as he watched them work.
The paramedics from 99 were the first to call their victim, unable to revive the boy through CPR, drugs and defibrillation. Jensen watched as one of the men hung his head and gently placed his hand on the little boy’s chest.
“Damn it,” Toby whispered, closing his eyes, the boy having been the one that he and Tom had been working on. Toby took a breath, running his hand through his wet blonde hair, then walked over to the little boy, followed by Tom. The medics from 99 stepped to the side as Toby crouched down next to the child, slipping his turnout coat from his shoulders to gently lay over the small body.
Jensen closed his eyes and looked away, a hollow feeling in his stomach that only deepened when 51’s paramedics reluctantly stopped working on the second boy.
“God, not him, too,” came Daniel’s anguished voice, the fireman stepping forward a moment later with Shawn to kneel down beside the child. Daniel ran his fingers gently through the boy’s dark hair before slowly laying his own turnout jacket over his body, Shawn’s hand coming to rest on Daniel’s shoulder.
As one, all eyes turned desperately to Alix and Jared, the last hope in this devastating afternoon, watching as Alix pressed a red button on the defibrillator machine.
“Charging 200!”
A tone sounded and Jared called back, “Clear!” before depressing the buttons on the small paddles for the second time, the little girl’s body jerking on the cement.
Alix shook her head sadly. “Still no conversion. She’s flat line, Jared,” she finished quietly, sitting back on her heels.
But Jared threw the paddles down and began chest compressions again.
Alix reached over and put her hand on Jared’s upper arm. “Jared, stop,” she said gently.
Jared shook his head fiercely, continuing on with the chest compressions. “No! Not all of them! Not her, too!”
Jensen dropped slowly down beside Jared, placing a hand over the other man’s, stilling Jared’s movements. Jensen felt tears prick behind his eyes and his voice was thick when he spoke.
“She’s gone, Jared.”
The young medic remained motionless for several heartbeats before standing up so suddenly that he nearly knocked Jensen over. Pushing past the rest of the crew, Jared strode straight over to the bus, and without missing a beat, slammed his fist into the side of it.
Jensen hung his head, feeling Jared’s pain deep inside as he looked upon the still form of the beautiful little girl.
“I’m sorry,” Jensen whispered brokenly, then gently draped her body with his jacket.
Silence fell over the solemn scene as twelve men and one woman grieved for three lives that ended before they could really begin.
~~~~~
The mood back at the station house was somber when the crew returned, minus Jared and Alix, who needed to remain at the scene along with the paramedics from 51 and 99 until the Coroner arrived and then had take care of the paperwork on the run at the hospital. The men went about their duties for the remainder of the afternoon, but there was no friendly banter or chit-chat as they rolled hose or mopped the floors, each man lost in their own thoughts. In the line of work they were in, it was inevitable that death would touch them in some way, but it was rare for it to happen to everyone at once, and so profoundly.
Jensen was alone in the dorms, lying on his bunk, staring blankly up at the ceiling when Tom found him. The tall fireman sat down at the foot of the bed, resting his forearms on his legs and looked off at the far wall for several moments before turning to look at Jensen.
“Are you ready to face that kind of thing everyday?” Tom asked quietly, sincerely.
Jensen was silent for several heartbeats. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by it,” he finally answered. “I know being a paramedic is going to be hard as hell sometimes, but it’s still what I really want to do, Tommy.”
Tom nodded and knocked his hand against Jensen’s leg. “Okay,” he replied, pausing for a second before continuing. “I know you’ve got Jared now, but if you get a tough run like that one and wanna talk, you know I’m here for you, right?”
Jensen smiled at his long time friend. “I do. Thanks, Tommy.”
Another nod from Tom, then the rumble of the bay door opening downstairs caught their attention.
Tom inclined his head toward the stairs. “Go see your boy. I’m sure he’s still hurting, too.”
Jensen blew out a long breath then rose from the bed, clasping Tom on his shoulder before heading downstairs. He could see the bus parked in Bay One, the rear doors open, Jared sitting inside writing on a clipboard. He started for the ambulance, but Alix cut him off at the bottom of the stairs.
“Leave him be for a bit, Jen,” she told him. “He’s not ready to talk yet.”
Every instinct Jensen had was telling him to go to the young man, but Alix knew Jared’s state of mind better right now, so he bit his lip and remained where he was.
“Did you get everything squared away at Mercy?” he asked Alix.
She nodded. “I didn’t think we were ever going to finish the paperwork.” She tilted her head slightly. “Doc told us that the driver had a heart attack behind the wheel. He was dead before he hit the water. And the kids…” she trailed off, swallowing deeply.
Jensen stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “You did everything you could. We all did.”
She nodded against his chest. “I know. It’s still hard, though,” she replied as she and Jensen moved apart. “And Jared knows it, too. He just needs to process everything for awhile.”
“Yeah,” Jensen sighed, again watching Jared in the back of the ambulance.
“Is the Cap upstairs?” Alix asked, moving toward the stairs.
“Um, yeah. He’s been in his office since we got back,” Jensen answered as Alix walked away.
Jensen stood there for a long moment, hands stuffed in his pockets, torn between going upstairs himself or talking to Jared. Finally his feet seemed to decide for him, as they walked him over to the bus.
“Hey,” Jensen said softly, but Jared didn’t acknowledge him. “Please don’t keep this bottled up. Talk to me, okay? It would do us both some good.”
Jared never looked up from his inventory paperwork, but Jensen saw his throat working, his jaw muscle tight.
“I love you, and I’m here,” Jensen told him quietly before reluctantly turning and leaving Jared to his thoughts.
~~~~~
Early evening found Jensen outside, in the back of the station, his arms propped on the low wall, watching the sunset. It was a day when the crew desperately needed another run to take their mind off of things, but instead the station alarm had remained stubbornly silent.
Dinner was a quiet affair of low conversations before the crew wandered away to their own devices. Alix buried her nose in a mystery novel while Daniel and Tom pulled out the chess set. Shawn, Toby and Kyle were out front tossing around the football and Jeff was on the treadmill. Jensen had tried studying for his last two final exams but found he couldn’t concentrate on his textbooks, his thoughts on Jared instead. The young medic hadn’t spoken a word since he and Alix returned, heading up to the dorms straight after dinner.
Footsteps behind him had Jensen turning, surprised to see Jared silhouetted against the light spilling out from the back door of the station, walking slowly toward him. Jensen said nothing as Jared approached, letting the younger man decide if he felt like talking or just wanted the company.
The pain etched on Jared’s face had Jensen’s heart clenching in his chest, and when Jared reached out for him, Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared without a word, holding him close as Jared’s shoulders shook and silent tears fell from hazel eyes.
~~~~~
Continue to Part Two...
Author: agt_spooky
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 9,837 this part (30,156 total for three parts)
Genre: Firefighter AU, Angst, Established relationship
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: It’s RPS, people. It never happened, but I wish it would. :-)
Author’s Notes: Many thanks, as always, to my fabulous beta, charityflint, who really whipped this puppy into shape, to sn_24lover for her great input along the way and to wilde_moon for surprising me with the awesome banner.
Summary: Fireman!Jensen and Paramedic!Jared are back in this sequel to Light My Fire.
It’s five months later and Jensen is nearly a full-fledged paramedic. But becoming a medic means no longer being able to work with Jared at Station 127 and giving up his chance at a promotion to Lieutenant. As graduation looms, will Jensen change his mind? Then add in a young man Jensen rescues from a fire that becomes an obsessed stalker, and Jared’s altercation with a victim’s husband that threatens his career, and things turn explosive at the FDNY.
(banner created by wilde_moon and agt_spooky)
Author's Notes 2: This story was born out of my love for the shows Emergency! and Third Watch and any references to them are entirely intentional. :-)
Playing with Fire
By AgtSpooky
March 9, 2009
The sounds of New York City waking up outside his window slowly pulled Jensen Ackles from his sleep in the early dawn hours of an October morning. Sighing contentedly, he blinked open his green eyes to the soft light filtering in through the half-open blinds in his bedroom, playing over the naked skin of the man lying next to him.
Jensen let a lazy smile play over his face as he watched Jared sleep. It was almost five months to the day since they met; a night when all Jensen wanted to do was crawl into the bottom of a bottle of booze, trying to forget a tragedy. Then Jared walked into his life and turned it upside down, bringing him happiness that he never thought he’d have again after Ryan’s death.
It was a long road to get to that happiness, though, thanks to Jensen himself. But Jared never gave up on him, pushing past the barriers that Jensen had erected around his heart, showing Jensen that it was okay to love again, despite the risks.
And now it’d been months of this - of waking up across from one another in their bunks at the station, or next to each other in bed at Jared’s apartment, or here at Jensen’s own. They spent most of their time at Jensen’s, it being larger and in a better neighborhood than Jared’s, plus it was closer to the station. But this place held old ghosts for Jensen, and it had been on the tip of his tongue for weeks now, wanting to ask Jared to move in together, to find a place of their own. The time just never seemed right to ask the younger man, though.
“Are you staring at me again?”
Jensen smiled at Jared’s sleep-rough, amused voice, but didn’t answer, watching as Jared’s hazel eyes slowly opened. He stretched languidly, tangling his legs with Jensen’s, smiling softly, whispering, “Good morning,” as he slid his body even closer to Jensen’s.
“Move in with me.”
The words were out of Jensen’s mouth before his brain realized he was going to say them. But they were out there now. No going back.
He saw Jared’s eyes widen as he continued. “I don’t mean here. I want us to find a place together.” He swallowed nervously. “What…what do you think?”
There was a heartbeat of silence where Jensen’s stomach twisted in knots, before Jared was covering his body with his own, his mouth warm and firm on Jensen’s. And Jensen let go of the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as Jared kissed him long and hard.
Jensen smiled when they pulled apart long moments later. “I take it that’s a yes?”
“It’s more than a yes,” Jared answered seriously. “God, Jen, been thinking about asking you, too. I want that with you…want you…” he trailed off, capturing Jensen’s mouth once again.
The kiss was deep this time, tongues sliding against one another, igniting a fire inside Jensen’s body. It was always like this with Jared, just a touch and Jensen was lost to the sensations Jared created inside him. Like now, as Jared’s hands skimmed up his side, over his bare skin, raising goosebumps in his fingers’ wake.
Jensen hummed into the kiss, pushing his hips up as he felt his cock start to fill and lengthen, one hand flexing on Jared’s broad back, the other tangled in Jared’s shaggy brown hair. And Jared kissed him harder, mouths slanting against one another until they had to pull back for breath.
“You feel so good,” Jensen panted against Jared’s lips, as the younger man rotated his hips, sliding his cock against Jensen’s, pulling a groan from them both.
Jensen raised his knees, drawing Jared’s body between his legs and they rocked together, rutting against each other, their cocks leaking, slicking their stomachs as their desire grew higher and higher.
“More,” Jared growled, kissing Jensen again. “Want you…want you in me. Gotta feel you in me, Jen…please…”
Jensen felt his cock throb at the thought of being buried inside Jared and he crushed his mouth against the other man’s in response before flipping them over in one smooth move. Jensen raised up on his knees to look down at the long body beneath him - all that hard muscle underneath smooth skin that Jensen had kissed every inch of. Jared’s hazel eyes were wide and nearly all pupil, mouth open slightly as he drew in shallow breaths, his long fingers flexing restlessly on Jensen’s thighs. He reached down between Jared’s legs and took Jared’s long cock in his hand, stroking twice. He grinned as Jared threw his head back against the pillow and nearly bucked him off.
“Oh god, don’t tease, Jen,” Jared pleaded. “Need you so damn bad…”
Jensen leaned over and kissed the younger man swiftly, deeply, as he reached over to the bedside table for the lube. Straightening up, he rearranged himself between Jared’s legs as Jared bent them, spreading himself open for Jensen.
“C’mon, Jen,” Jared encouraged, hips shifting on the bed as Jensen slicked his fingers. “Don’t need much…”
“Not gonna hurt you,” Jensen replied softly, kissing Jared as his first finger slid easily inside Jared’s body, realizing the other man was right, he was still loose from their middle of the night lovemaking a few hours ago. A second finger joined the first, Jared’s eyes falling closed with a moan at the stretch, lifting his hips, trying to get Jensen’s fingers deeper.
“Yeah…yeah,” Jensen breathed, watching as another pearl of liquid leaked from the tip of Jared’s cock while his fingers stroked in and out, searching…
A choked off sound combined with the sudden jerking of Jared’s body and Jensen knew he’d found the spot. He rubbed over it again and again, reveling in the sounds Jared was making as he drove Jared closer to orgasm. But before he could push Jared over the edge, the other man was grasping at his wrist, stilling his movements.
“Wait, wait,” Jared panted harshly. “Don’t wanna come yet…want you in me when I do.”
Jensen kissed Jared again as he slowly removed his fingers. “Gonna make you come so damn hard,” he breathed in Jared’s ear, feeling the other man shiver as he reached over and picked up a condom. But again Jared’s hand was on his wrist, stopping him from tearing open the foil packet.
“Do we need these anymore, Jen?” Jared asked seriously. “We’re clean and it’s just you and me. Always gonna be you and me. And I…I wanna feel you, Jen.”
“God, Jare…” Jensen whispered, letting the condom fall from his fingers. “Want that, too.” A kiss, then another. “Gonna feel so good…” he promised, slicking up his bare cock, rubbing the head against Jared’s opening, teasing them both with the new sensation of skin on skin.
Then Jensen was pushing in slowly, so slowly, knowing how much Jared loved feeling Jensen’s cock entering him. He drew it out as long as possible, looking down and watching as Jared’s body stretched around him and took him in.
“Oh, fuck, Jen, yes…” Jared moaned, squeezing his eyes closed, back arching up slightly off the bed, fingers grasping at the sheets.
It was only a thin layer of latex that had separated them before, but the difference nearly took Jensen’s breath away as he slid all the way inside Jared, able to really feel the heat of Jared’s body, the way his muscles gripped his erection.
“Jesus Christ,” Jensen breathed, leaning over, hands braced on the mattress on either side of Jared’s head.
“It feels amazing,” Jared panted.
Jensen smirked down at him. “It’s about to get a lot better,” he replied, shifting his hips, sliding his cock nearly all the way out of Jared before pushing back in with one smooth move.
The younger man groaned deeply at the action, wrapping his legs around Jensen’s waist as Jensen set up a quick rhythm, urged on by the sounds falling from Jared’s lips. And it wasn’t long before Jensen felt the first stirrings of his climax, burning hot at the base of his spine. As did Jared, as he reached for his own cock to push himself to completion. But Jensen pushed his hand away.
“Not like that,” he told Jared, voice gravelly. “You’re gonna come just like this, just from the feel of me inside you. God, Jared,” he ground out, snapping his hips. “So hard for you, feel how hard I am…”
“God,” Jared gasped. “More…deeper, Jen. So close, I’m so -“
The rest of Jared’s reply was lost to Jensen’s mouth as he leaned down, claiming Jared for another burning kiss, changing his angle of penetration just enough. Jared threw his head back, breaking the kiss as Jensen once again found the spot that made Jared shake.
“That’s it, that’s it,” Jensen encouraged, barely hanging on himself, moments away from climax. “Let me feel you come…”
“So good, Jen, you feel so fucking good,” Jared rambled, breathing harshly. “Ahh…god, yes!” he suddenly cried out, arching beneath Jensen as his orgasm finally overtook him.
Jensen raised up slightly, looking between their bodies, watching in erotic fascination as Jared’s cock jerked and pulsed, leaving hot, wet streaks of white on both their bellies. The sound and feel of Jared coming apart under him was Jensen’s undoing. His hips stuttered, faltering in their rhythm as Jensen let the fire burning deep inside surge out of him, filling Jared, and with no condom between them, he could finally really feel it, experience it like never before, and his orgasm was all the more powerful because of it.
Arms trembling in the aftermath, Jensen sagged down onto Jared, trying to catch his breath, feeling Jared’s arms come around him, holding him close. Jensen closed his eyes as Jared kissed his forehead, placing his own kiss onto the side of Jared’s neck.
“Love you,” Jensen murmured.
“God, love you, too, Jen. That was amazing,” Jensen could hear the smile in Jared’s voice.
“Don’t wanna move,” Jensen mumbled, his softening cock still snug inside Jared’s body.
“Hmmm...don’t want you to, either. You feel great right where you are. But,” Jared sighed, “You have somewhere to be in about an hour.”
Jensen closed his eyes and groaned. “Shit.”
Jared chuckled. “Ready for your first day of final exams?”
Jensen lifted his head up. “You ask me this now, after my brains just exited through my dick?”
Jared laughed, kissing Jensen quickly, smacking him lightly on his ass. “C’mon, let’s go make you a paramedic.”
With a sigh, Jensen shifted, kissing Jared softly as he let his cock slip from the younger man’s body. But instead of getting out of bed, he laid down on his side next to Jared.
“You know, we’ve been avoiding talking about what happens after graduation,” Jensen began, and Jared tipped his forehead against his. “There’s no open paramedic spot at 127,” Jensen continued. “If I go through with this we won’t be able to work together anymore. Maybe I should -“
“No.” Jared cut him off. “You are going to see this through. You’ve worked too damn hard to walk away from this now. Will I hate not working with you? Of course I will. But knowing you’re happy, doing what you really want to do, will make up for the 24 hours that I won’t see you.” He kissed Jensen lightly. “Now put this out of your head, okay? It’s all gonna work out. You need to stay focused today.” He smirked at Jensen. “Especially if you think you can beat my test scores.”
Jensen laughed, his concerns temporarily allayed. “Oh, it’s on, buddy.”
~~~~~
Jensen took a deep breath as he opened the door to the classroom at the community college the FDNY used for their paramedic classes. Most of his fellow students were already there, milling about or with their head buried in a textbook for a last minute cram. But there were a lot fewer students now than had started the course six months ago, having either flunked out or dropped out on their own, realizing the career of a paramedic wasn’t for them. But it was for Jensen and he was only two days of testing away from passing the course and graduation - and on a new path in his life.
The professor entered the classroom just as Jensen took his seat, and began passing out the text booklets.
“Alright, everyone,” Professor Collins said, clapping his hands together. “You will have two hours to complete your exam. Take your time, think things through. Good luck. You may begin.”
And with another deep breath, Jensen picked up his pencil.
~~~~~
The next morning Jensen walked quickly along the New York sidewalks in Queens, covering the five blocks from his apartment to the station in long strides, his FDNY jacket zipped up against the early morning chill. He was looking forward to seeing Jared, who had picked up some overtime yesterday on B shift, working two 24-hour shifts instead of their normal one. He hated waking up alone, missing Jared’s warm, solid presence next to him, but it was something he needed to get used to. Didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Jensen made the turn onto King Boulevard, always a hub of activity, with Station 127 on the north side of the street and the 55th Precinct of the NYPD on the south side. If there weren’t police cars and fire equipment rolling up and down the street there were pick up games of basketball or football going on between the fire department and the police department. It made for great, friendly rivalry. And today was no exception. Jensen spied their engineer, dark-haired Kyle Everett, and truck man Toby Sanders tossing the pigskin back and forth with two of the NYPD patrol officers. He smiled as he saw blonde-haired Toby do an exaggerated touchdown dance, but then a honking horn caught his attention as a squad car pulled into the spot he was starting to walk past.
Jensen grinned when he saw who it was, stopping to greet the bald-headed officer as he popped out of his car. “Yo! Five-Five-David!” he called out to Mike Rosenbaum, using his NYPD call sign.
Mike shut the door, smiling wide, and reached out to shake Jensen’s hand. “Jensen!” he greeted him. “How’s things, man? Haven’t seen you too much lately. You too good to play a little ball with us now?” Mike teased.
Jensen grinned and shook his head. “Nah. Just been holed up in the common room every chance I get, studying.”
“It’s gonna be really weird not seeing you in the jump seat of that engine when it pulls out,” Mike replied, then glanced down at his watch. “Crap, gotta run. Roll call in five.”
Jensen nodded, then clasped Mike on the shoulder. “Stay safe, man.”
“You, too,” Mike replied as he headed toward the station, and Jensen jogged across the street to his own.
The three bay doors were closed, keeping out the autumn air, so Jensen went in through the main entrance and into the apparatus room. It was quiet; everyone most likely upstairs in the common room or the kitchen, Jensen thought as he passed the gleaming engine in Bay Three, the ladder truck in Bay Two, and finally the ambulance, or “the bus” as it was more commonly referred to, sitting in Bay One. Jensen paused and opened up the rear door of the ambulance, taking a moment to picture himself inside, working on a patient. It both scared and thrilled him.
“You’re gonna look great in there.”
Jared’s quiet voice pulled Jensen from his musings and he turned with a smile. “Hey,” he replied in greeting, his eyes appreciating the view of Jared’s tall, muscular body in his crisp navy blue paramedics uniform. “Missed you this morning.”
Jared nodded, taking a step forward, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jensen wanted nothing more than to lean in for a kiss, but early on in their relationship they had established Rule #1 - No Fooling Around at Work. It just wasn’t appropriate to show public displays of affection in the station, and they needed to keep their focus on their jobs, not each other, as difficult as it was.
Jared swayed toward Jensen before stepping back with a sigh, but the affection still shone out of his eyes and Jensen grinned back. “Rough shift?” Jensen asked as he closed the ambulance door and started walking toward the stairs.
“Actually, no,” Jared answered, following behind Jensen. “For once the citizens of New York decided to behave themselves.”
“Great. You know what that means, don’t you?” Jensen asked as they reached the common room. “They saved it all up and today is gonna be batshit crazy.”
“God, I hope not,” Jared chuckled, throwing himself down on one of the couches, in between his partner, paramedic Alix Jones, and sandy-haired truck man Daniel Hoffman.
“Morning, Jen,” Alix said, glancing up from the book she was reading. “I think the Cap was just looking for you.”
“Ooooh, Jenny’s getting called into the principal’s office!”
Jensen turned his head and playfully scowled at his good friend, Tom Welling, who was in the middle of a foosball game with the last member of their crew, Shawn Larson, who clutched his red hair in frustration when Tom scored. But before Jensen could throw back a reply, a door across the room opened and Captain Jeff Morgan stuck his head out.
“Jensen. Can I see you a minute?”
“Um, yeah, sure, Cap,” Jensen answered, walking across to Jeff’s office. Jeff closed the door behind them and motioned for Jensen to sit.
“So, how are your finals going, Jen?” Jeff asked, relaxing back in his chair.
“Good, Cap. I feel really confident that I did well on the ones yesterday.”
Jeff leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. “I’m proud of you, Jen. Becoming a medic isn’t easy.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve got to be honest, though, and tell you I hate to see you leave the engine company, and most likely this station.” Jensen nodded as Jeff continued. “I was really hoping to see you take the Lieutenant’s exam.”
Jensen’s eyes widened at that. “Cap - “
“You’re a natural leader, Jen,” Jeff went on. “I see how the other members of this crew look to you. I could see you as Captain in less than five years.”
Jensen’s head was spinning. “I - thanks, Cap. That means a lot.”
Jeff nodded as his phone started ringing. “Just think about it, okay?” he said, reaching for the phone.
Jensen gave a wordless nod and walked out of Jeff’s office, stopping just outside to lean against the wall. He saw Jared giving him a quizzical look but he remained where he was, thinking hard about what Jeff had just said. His comments had really given him pause; taking the Lieutenant’s exam and going on to become Captain. It wasn’t like he hated his job as a fireman and that’s why he wanted to transfer over to the paramedic unit. He just wanted to do more, help people even more, and he could do that with the medics. But if he stayed with the engine company it would mean he could remain working with Jared at 127 for years. Jensen blew out a breath and tipped his head back. God, why was all this coming up now? Why hadn’t Jeff said something to him months ago?
“Jensen?”
Alix’s soft voice brought him back from his thoughts and he turned to see her standing at the top of the stairs that led to the dorms, locker room and bathrooms on the third floor.
“Can I talk to you?” Alix asked.
Jensen pushed away from the wall and walked up the stairs. “Sure, what’s up?” he asked as she walked over to Jared’s bunk and sat down, Jensen sitting on his own across from her.
“I’m leaving 127,” she said without preamble.
Jensen blinked. “You’re - you’re what?”
Alix pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “I know how much you want to keep working with Jared,” she told him. “There’s a paramedic spot opening up at 51 and I’m going to transfer over there after your probation is over.”
Jensen shook his head. “Alix, no. This is your station. I knew going into the paramedic program that I was probably going to have to leave 127.”
“But that was before you met Jared,” she smiled, moving to sit next to Jensen, resting her hand over his. “I never thought I’d see you happy again after Ryan’s death,” she said. “I know that you and Jared finally worked past him being a paramedic, but deep down you’re still scared, aren’t you?”
Jensen glanced down at the floor. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I know first hand how deadly this job can be.”
“So what better place for you to be than by Jared’s side, with the two of you watching out for one another? To give you both peace of mind.”
Jensen swallowed. “Alix…I don’t even know what to say. Thank you just isn’t enough.”
Alix grinned, squeezing Jensen’s hand. “Just say you’ll invite me to the wedding.”
Jensen threw back his head and laughed then pulled Alix into a warm hug.
“Jeff doesn’t know you’re leaving, does he?”
“No, not yet. Captain Stanley over at 51 just let me know last night he’d take my transfer, and I wanted to talk to you first. How’d you know?”
“Based on a conversation I just had with him,” Jensen answered. “You just saved me from having to make a tough decision.”
Alix cocked her head. “Oh? What - “
The rest of her question was cut off as the station alarm sounded, and like a Pavlovian response, Jensen felt a sharp spike of adrenaline surge through his body. Both he and Alix looked up at the P.A. speaker as the female dispatcher’s voice came through.
“Station 127, Station 99, Engine 51 - structure fire, 660 Bedford Avenue. Cross street North 10th. Time out - 8:15.”
Jensen and Alix jumped up from the bunk and made their way quickly to the fire pole. “Ready to go to work?” Alix called over her shoulder, just before she slid down the pole.
“Oh, I was born ready,” Jensen said to himself as he grasped the gold pole, wrapped his legs around it and slid down the three floors.
Just as his feet hit the ground in the apparatus room, Tom jogged by, holding up his fist to Jensen. “Let’s rock and roll!”
Jensen laughed and bumped fists with the tall, dark-haired fireman, then followed behind Tom to the equipment room, where the rest of the crew was busy suiting up. Both men quickly located their turnout gear; jamming their feet into boots, pulling up their heavy pants, shrugging the suspenders up and over their shoulders, followed by their thick, protective jackets and finally their helmets.
The three bay doors were opening as one by one the crew scattered to their respective vehicles, red and white flashing lights filling the apparatus room, followed instantly by three sets of sirens as Station 127 pulled out onto the streets of New York.
Jensen looked over at Tom in the jump seat next to him on the engine. The spark in his friend’s eyes was a match to his own, he was sure, the adrenaline thrumming through their veins, hearts beating faster in anticipation of what lay ahead for them. It was a rush like no other.
The engine pulled up to the scene just a few minutes later and Jensen hopped down from his seat - into chaos.
In front of him was an extremely rundown, five storey apartment building, the top two floors of which were completely engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed out of broken windows as bright red and orange fire lit up the morning sky. People were running everywhere, faces covered in soot, coughing, most still in their pajamas and bathrobes, clutching as many possessions as they could carry.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jensen saw Jared and Alix sprint over to the victims just as Jeff, wearing his white Captain’s helmet, started bellowing out orders.
“Welling! Ackles! Door-to-door! Make it double time before this whole thing comes down on us!”
“On it, Cap!” Jensen yelled, turning with Tom to retrieve their air masks and tanks from a compartment on the engine as Jeff yelled over to the truck crew.
“Sanders! Hoffmann! Get that hose laid! I want two inch-and-a-halfs ready to go! Larson! Get that snorkel up! Everett, let’s get water flowing!”
A chorus of “Right, Cap!” reached Jensen’s ears as he secured a positive seal on his air mask, the rest of his crew springing into action around him, just as Station 99 pulled up onto the scene as well. Seating his helmet on his head, Jensen looked over at Tom, air mask also in place; his friend gave him a thumbs up with one gloved hand, while the other held the heavy forked pry bar they would use for entry, if need be.
“Let’s do this!” Jensen yelled, racing toward the burning building - and into the belly of the beast.
As the fourth and fifth floors were already lost to the fire, Tom and Jensen sprinted up the stairs to the third floor as quickly as their cumbersome turnout gear and heavy air tanks would allow, through thick, black smoke that impaired their vision each step of the way. They passed three people still trying to escape the fire, pushing past the fireman on the stairs in blind panic. The heat grew more intense the higher they climbed, but the fire had not yet reached the third floor as Tom and Jensen, breathing heavily, stepped out into the smoke filled hallway, lined with six apartments.
“I’ll take left!” Tom yelled, turning to attempt to open the first door.
Jensen nodded, pounding his fist on the first door on his side of the hallway. “Fire department!” he yelled, trying the doorknob and finding the door unlocked, a good sign the occupant had already fled. He stepped inside, yelling again. “Is anyone in here?” Getting no response he made a quick, but thorough search of the small apartment, finding no one.
Stepping back into the hallway, he saw Tom just entering the second apartment on his side and Jensen quickly made his way to his second as well. Just as he was raising his fist to knock an ominous groan had his head snapping up to the ceiling. Sure enough, the first flames of the fire were eating away at the wood, licking bright and hot. They had five minutes, tops, to get the hell off this floor before the fire completely consumed it.
The door to Jensen’s second apartment was open as well, the smoke so thick now he turned on the powerful flashlight clipped to the strap of his air tank to help guide him in his search. Turning up no one, he exited the apartment quickly, a blast of heat assaulting him instantaneously. The fire had broken through the ceiling at the far end of the hallway, wood snapping and popping, turning black in the fire’s wake.
“Hurry it up!” Jensen called out to Tom as the other man opened the door to the last apartment on his side of the hallway.
Not wasting time knocking, Jensen simply grasped the doorknob of his third apartment and turned it.
Locked.
“Shit,” Jensen swore. This wasn’t a good sign.
Racing across the hallway, Jensen went after Tom, finding him coming out of the bedroom. “I need entry!” he yelled, pointing across the hall. Tom nodded, striding quickly to the locked door, where he jammed the forked end of the pry bar against the door frame. Then with a grunt and a hard push the doorframe splintered, the lock breaking. Tom shouldered it the rest of the way open and the two firemen began their search, Jensen in the bedroom and Tom in the living room.
Jensen had no more than entered the small bedroom when the beam from his flashlight pierced through the smoke to illuminate a body lying on the floor. Dropping down next to the unconscious person, Jensen saw that it was a young man with blonde hair, slightly built, and a few years younger than himself. Taking off one of his gloves, Jensen pressed two fingers to the man’s neck, searching for a pulse. After a long moment he detected one. Faint, but it was there.
“Tom! I’ve got one!” Jensen yelled, just as the ceiling above him cracked, flickers of flame shooting through.
“Shit,” Jensen cursed again, hoisting the unconscious man up and over his shoulder, grunting slightly with the extra weight as he stood. He turned, spying Tom through the smoke, standing in the doorway.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Tom yelled, making for the front door.
Tom had taken no more than three steps into the living room, while Jensen stood just inside the bedroom doorway, when an explosion on the upper floors rocked the building, sending both Tom and Jensen to their knees. A tremendous crash reverberated throughout the apartment, followed by a wall of deadly flames blasting in through the open front door. The ceiling in the hallway had completely collapsed.
They were trapped.
“Back! Back!” Tom cried out as he stood up, reeling from the force of the blast. He waved his hands at Jensen, who stumbled back into the bedroom, laying the man down on the floor as Tom slammed the door shut.
“The window!” Jensen yelled, breathing harshly inside his air mask, sweat rolling down his face.
Without missing a beat, Tom swung the heavy pry bar at the bedroom window, the glass shattering into a million pieces to rain down upon the street, hopefully alerting one of the FDNY crew on the ground that they needed help.
The thick smoke started billowing out the window, clearing the air in the bedroom slightly, but the fresh air also fed the flames coming out of the ceiling. The wood snapped menacingly, threatening to fall down on the three men. While Tom used the sleeve of his heavy turnout jacket to clear any remaining glass from the window frame, Jensen began removing his helmet to get his air mask off. He had just released the seal when Tom turned and saw him.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Jensen pulled the mask over his head, coughing instantaneously as he breathed in the acrid air and placed the mask over the face of the unconscious man. “The smoke inhalation’s gonna kill him! He needs oxygen or he’s not gonna make it!”
“Put your damn mask back on!” Tom swore at him.
Jensen waved his hand, blinking furiously as small burning embers stung his eyes. “I’ll be fine!” he coughed. “Just get a damn ladder up here!” he told Tom, turning his attention back to the young man on the floor while Tom leaned his upper body out the window, waving one of his arms.
The heat in the small room was nearly suffocating as the fire danced along the ceiling, heading for the walls. A few more minutes and the entire bedroom would be consumed, along with the three men in it.
“99’s swinging their ladder over!” Tom yelled to Jensen, just as the young man on the floor began to stir, coughing, moving his head, blinking open confused eyes.
Jensen nodded his head at the man, coughing with each breath. “Yeah, that’s it. C’mon, buddy…”
As consciousness returned, the young man took in his surroundings and started to panic, trying to push away from Jensen.
“No, no! It’s okay!” Jensen assured him, placing a hand on the man’s chest, keeping the air mask over his face. “We’re getting you out of here!”
The young man’s blue eyes were wide with fear behind the plastic of the air mask, but he stopped struggling, nodding his head as he grabbed onto the sleeve of Jensen’s turnout coat.
Jensen’s lungs were burning, eyes watering as he turned his head toward the window, trying to pull in a breath of fresh air.
“Ladder’s here! Let’s go!” Tom called out, gesturing for Jensen to stand. “You first!”
Jensen nodded, coughing harshly as he stood, having to remove the air mask from the young man. “Pick him up and give him to me!” Jensen told Tom, moving toward the window, putting his helmet back on. He glanced outside quickly to make sure the ladder was in place before turning his body around and crawling out, his gear making his movements cumbersome.
He took in deep lungfuls of clean air as he stood on the top rungs of the ladder, looking back inside to see Tom hoisting up the young man up under his armpits, standing behind him. A bright flash caught Jensen’s attention as the crack in the ceiling split wider, deadly flames shooting further down into the room.
“Hurry!” Jensen yelled, reaching for the man as Tom got him to the window, then draped him over Jensen’s shoulder.
Jensen shifted with the added weight, holding on to the ladder tightly as he adjusted, gaining his balance. Then he began, quickly but carefully, climbing backwards down the ladder to safety.
The ladder shook a minute later and Jensen glanced up to see Tom’s feet make contact with the upper rungs moments before a crash and a wall of fire surged out the open window, singeing Tom’s helmet and the back of his turnout coat.
Jensen blew out a relieved breath at their narrow escape as he continued his descent, his shoulder beginning to ache from the added weight of the young man. But just another minute later he was at the bottom, with helping hands all around him from the men of 99’s ladder company. They got Jensen and the man to the ground, where Jared and Alix were waiting with a stretcher.
Jared, eyes wide with concern and barely disguised fear, grabbed onto Jensen’s jacket, as Alix put an oxygen mask over the young man’s face. “Are you okay?” Jared asked quickly.
Jensen nodded, trying to grin in between his coughs. “I’ll be fine,” he assured Jared, voice wrecked from the smoke. “Take care of him,” he gestured to the man on the stretcher.
With a squeeze of Jensen’s shoulder, Jared turned to his patient and slipped on a blood pressure cuff as Alix started to roll the stretcher toward the bus. But the young man suddenly reached out, holding on tightly to the sleeve of Jensen’s turnout coat. Jensen covered the man’s hand with his own, looking down into scared blue eyes as he walked with the stretcher.
“You’re safe now,” he told the young man. “You’re gonna be fine. You’re in good hands.”
Slowly the young man relaxed and he nodded, letting go of Jensen’s sleeve, but he never took his eyes from Jensen as Jared and Alix loaded him onto the bus. The closing doors finally forced him to break his gaze while the ambulance sped away in a rush of sirens and lights.
~~~~~
Jensen sighed gratefully, closing his eyes, letting the warm water cascade over his tired, naked body. Around him he could hear the other members of his crew finishing up in the showers, heading into the locker room to change into fresh uniforms that didn’t smell of smoke and soot.
The fire at the apartment had taken hours to contain, another two engine companies having to be called in before the blaze was finally extinguished. A dozen or so residents were taken to the hospital with minor burns or smoke inhalation, but thankfully there were no casualties. He’d seen Jared and Alix return twice more to the scene to transport victims to Angel of Mercy Hospital before heading back to the station. But they were gone when the rest of the crew returned, out on another run.
Jensen groaned slightly as he rotated his right shoulder, sore from carrying the young man and lifting hose for two and a half hours. He let the warm water beat down on it for another minute before reluctantly turning off the spray. He stood for a moment, trying to slowly draw in a full, deep breath, but coughed halfway through, his lungs still congested from the smoke. Snagging his towel from the opposite end of the enclosed shower stall he briskly dried off his body, than ran it over his hair until it stood up in spikes. He wrapped the towel around his waist, opened the stall door, and started to turn to the left, toward the locker room door, when movement to his right caught his eye. It was Jared, just entering the bathroom.
Before Jensen could say anything in greeting, Jared advanced upon him with long strides, his mouth in a tight line, hazel eyes a combination of worry and relief. He put a large hand flat on Jensen’s chest and pushed him back into the shower stall, locking the door behind them without breaking eye contact.
“Jared? What -“
The rest of Jensen’s confused question was lost as Jared’s mouth descended hard upon his own, Jared’s arms wrapping around him like vises, holding him impossibly close. Jared backed them up against the wall of the stall, kissing Jensen with an intensity that took his breath away. Their mouths slanted against one another again and again and it was only when Jared pushed a leg between Jensen’s own that Jensen came back to his senses. He broke the kiss, breathing hard, pushing against Jared’s shoulders.
“Jare…God, what is it? We can’t do this here…”
Jared closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Jensen’s, his hands roaming over Jensen’s bare skin, touching everywhere.
“When I heard it was you…that you were trapped…my heart nearly stopped. I was so damn scared.” He looked up, directly into Jensen’s eyes. “Can’t lose you, Jen…can’t,” he breathed, kissing Jensen again, hands gripping Jensen’s hips. “Need to be close to you…need to know you’re okay…” he murmured against Jensen’s lips, pulling the towel from Jensen’s waist.
Throwing Rule #1 out the window in the face of Jared’s very real worry and fear, to which Jensen could so easily relate, he kissed Jared back, assuring him without words he was here and that he was all right. Jared made a choked off noise into the kiss, while one of his hands slid between their bodies, between Jensen’s legs to cup Jensen’s heavy balls and cock.
Jensen couldn’t stop the groan as Jared stroked him, lengthening and hardening in Jared’s palm, feeling the first drops of precome leak from the tip of his cock. “Ngh…fuck, Jare…” Jensen panted, fumbling with the zipper on Jared’s pants. “God, what if someone hears…?”
Jared’s other hand shot out to the side, slapping the shower controls, warm water raining down upon them both instantly.
“There,” Jared replied, his own moan distorted by the sound of the shower as Jensen freed his cock and wrapped his hand around it.
They stroked each other hard and fast, biting at one another’s mouths, the water slicking their movements, Jared’s hand sliding easily down Jensen’s back and over the swell of his ass. A moment later and Jensen felt Jared’s finger moving against the puckered muscle of his entrance and he instinctively pressed back against it.
“Let me,” Jared pleaded. “Gotta feel you, Jen…”
Jensen nodded, a small part of his brain telling him this was crazy, overridden by the haze of desire swiftly building inside him. Jared took him by the waist and turned him around, Jensen’s hands slapping against the wall of the shower stall.
“Gotta be fast, Jare, c’mon,” Jensen urged, spreading his legs, feeling the water run between them, over his opening and down the back of his balls, warm and wet and perfect.
A second later and Jared’s wet finger was pressing inside him and Jensen pushed back, biting his lip to keep from moaning as Jared stretched him quickly, a second finger joining the first after just a few moments.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Jensen panted as Jared’s fingers pressed deep inside him one more time before withdrawing, to be swiftly replaced by the blunt head of Jared’s cock.
Jensen squeezed his eyes closed, one hand clenching into a fist as Jared pushed inside him in one smooth, hard thrust. Jensen relished the quick burn as he felt his body stretch around Jared’s thick cock, the fabric of Jared’s soaking wet uniform rubbing against his bare skin.
“Oh, fuck,” Jared moaned against the damp skin of Jensen’s neck, nipping there before sliding his cock nearly all the way out of Jensen’s body, stopping only when the rim of the head caught on the puckered muscle.
Jensen’s groan at the action turned into a sharp gasp as Jared set a quick pace, snapping his hips repeatedly, driving himself deeper inside Jensen with each thrust, fingers digging into Jensen’s hips. Jensen gave as good as he got, pushing back into each thrust as the water cascaded down around them. He felt the beginning of his climax burn suddenly sharp inside him, the fear of getting caught bringing it on at an accelerated pace.
He clenched his internal muscles around Jared’s erection, pulling a muted groan from the other man and a stuttering in his rhythm. Jared in turn slid a hand around from Jensen’s hip, bypassing Jensen’s hard cock, standing out straight from his body, and instead cupped Jensen’s balls. He hefted them in his palm, rolling and tugging, the sensation shooting straight to Jensen’s cock. He spread his legs wider, throwing his head back into the water’s spray as Jared continued to fondle him, moments away from release.
“Gonna come,” Jensen ground out, his balls pulling up tight now.
“God, yeah, do it,” Jared growled, hand shifting to stroke Jensen’s cock once, twice - and Jensen fell apart.
His orgasm had no more than started to surge through him, painting the wall with thick ropes of semen, when he heard Jared make a sound deep in his throat. Then Jared was coming, Jensen gasping at the dual sensations, his own orgasm and Jared’s, the first time feeling Jared come inside him without a condom.
“Jare, oh god…” Jensen bit his lip as Jared filled him with slick, wet heat, trying not to cry out with the incredible sensation that seemed to go on and on, the sensual feeling of the water sliding over their bodies heightening everything.
But finally Jared sagged against his back, wrapping his arms around Jensen’s chest, one hand over Jensen’s heart as both men tried to get their breathing under control. Long moments later Jared reached over and shut the water off, then wrapped his arm back around Jensen, his cock still inside him. They stood there, quiet, just holding on to one another until Jared kissed him softly on his temple.
“Thank you for this,” Jared whispered. “I know we shouldn’t have done it - “
Jensen took one of Jared’s hands in his. “It’s okay,” he whispered back, swallowing against the memory of smoke and fire. “I was scared, too.”
~~~~~
Daniel and Jensen had kitchen duty that afternoon, so while the rest of the crew scrubbed down the engine and truck from the fire that morning, the two men were up to their elbows in soap suds from the lunch dishes when the station alarm sounded. Jensen and Daniel stopped what they were doing and looked up at the P.A. speaker as the dispatcher’s voice came over it.
“Station 127 - vehicle in the water. 300 block of North 12th Street, cross street Kent. Time out - 13:25.”
“Ready to go swimming?” Daniel asked as they hurriedly dried off their hands.
Jensen shook his head at the sandy haired fireman, leading the way to the fire pole. “I told Jared today was gonna be batshit crazy.”
~~~~~
Jensen’s heel tapped a staccato rhythm against the floor of the engine as Kyle expertly maneuvered the large vehicle through the congested New York streets. Water rescues were always difficult and dangerous and required instant action the moment they were on the scene. Time was their enemy when a car was filling with water with a person trapped inside. In preparation, the crew’s turnout gear was stored, saving precious seconds removing the bulky clothing if they were needed to enter the water.
And based on the yelling and screaming of the bystanders as Station 127 pulled up onto the scene, they were going to be.
The bus was ahead of the engine, Jared and Alix out of their vehicle and running toward the water’s edge by the time Jensen had jumped down from his seat. There were a half dozen people there, all pointing toward the water, yelling that no one had gotten out, ripples barely visible on the surface. The entire car was already underwater.
Jensen turned and grabbed the pry bar, toed off his shoes, then sprinted toward the water with the rest of the crew, his heart in his throat. Ahead of him he saw Jared and Alix dive in, and without waiting for orders from Jeff, Jensen held his breath…and hit the water.
The shock of the ice cold water from the East River nearly took Jensen’s precious held breath away. He blinked furiously, the water murky and dark, nearly impossible to see through. But there, a dark shape to his left had to be the sunken car. Kicking his legs, Jensen was upon the vehicle in seconds.
Oh god.
This wasn’t a car or pickup truck. It was a small daycare school bus.
Through the dark water Jensen could see Jared and Alix on the driver’s side, pulling open the door, so Jensen swam to the opposite side. His lungs beginning to burn, Jensen jammed the pry bar into the school bus doors and forced them open enough for him to get inside.
The scene was grim. Three small children, their eyes closed, floated motionless inside the bus. Two boys, one blonde, one dark haired, were at the back of the bus, while a young blonde girl with pigtails was right in front of Jensen. His lungs near to bursting now, in desperate need of air, Jensen took hold of the little girl and swam out of the bus.
He burst through the surface, immediately drawing in deep breaths of fresh air. He saw Jared and Alix swimming ahead of him, pulling the unconscious male driver between them.
“Get another bus!” Alix screamed out to Jeff, just as Jensen yelled out, “Toby! Shawn! There’s two more!”
The two firemen reacted instantly, diving in the water and swimming furiously out to Jensen’s position before heading under the surface.
Jensen cradled the little girl against his chest as he swam toward the edge, the freezing water turning his limbs to lead weights. But then Tom and Kyle were there, taking the girl from his arms and helping him up out of the water. Ignoring how he was shaking from the cold, Jensen immediately turned his attention to the child, along with Kyle. She wasn’t breathing, nor could Jensen detect a pulse on the five year-old.
“Damn it,” Jensen swore, turning the small body to the side and opening her mouth, letting any water trapped there drain out before returning her to her back.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Jensen said to Kyle, who nodded back.
All firemen were trained in basic first aid and CPR, which Jensen was grateful for right now as Kyle positioned himself at the little girl’s head. Tilting her head back and pinching her nose closed, Kyle blew two breaths into her mouth, her small chest rising and falling. Using the heel of one hand, Jensen began the chest compressions, counting out loud.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe!”
Another breath from Kyle and Jensen started the cycle again, peripherally aware of Jared and Alix working on the driver and Shawn and Toby being pulled out of the water by Tom and Daniel with the other two boys.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe! C’mon, sweetheart, c’mon…”
But the child lay unmoving while Jensen and Kyle continued on with the CPR, Jensen wished desperately for an intubation tube and bag, along with the paddles, but the bus only had one set, and Jensen could see Jared drying off the driver’s chest in preparation to shock him.
So Kyle and Jensen kept on with their desperate task to save the life of this little girl, hearing the voices of Tom and Daniel echoing his own as they worked on the boys.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe!”
In a rush of lights and sirens, 99’s bus arrived. The two paramedics spilled from the ambulance with their gear and rushed over to Jeff, who directed them over to the two boys, then jogged over to Kyle and Jensen.
“I’ve got 51’s bus on the way, too,” Jeff told them, then looked down at the little girl. “Anything?”
Jensen shook his head as Kyle blew in another breath. “I need paddles.”
Jeff looked over at Jared and Alix. “I think you’re about to get them.”
Jensen risked a glance at the two medics right before he began compressions again, watching as Alix shook her head and Jared ran a hand down his face, sitting back from the body of the driver. They’d lost him.
“One and two and three and four and five - breathe! Don’t do this baby, don’t do this…”
A hand on his shoulder and Jensen turned his head to see Alix crouched down beside him, gear in tow.
“We got it, Jen,” she said, opening up the drug box.
Jensen nodded, moving out of the way. “Five cycles, no response,” he told her, standing up, watching as Kyle got out of Jared’s way as well.
More lights and sirens and 51’s bus arrived on the scene. Jeff directed the paramedics over to the second little boy that Daniel and Shawn were still working on.
The crew of 127 moved to stand silently together to watch the scene play out before them, having done all they could for the three small victims, praying it would be enough as the minutes ticked by.
Jensen didn’t realize how badly he was shivering from the cold and his wet uniform until Tom draped his turnout coat over his shoulders. “Thanks,” he murmured to his friend, sparing him a glance before looking back at Alix and Jared, hands clenched into fists as he watched them work.
The paramedics from 99 were the first to call their victim, unable to revive the boy through CPR, drugs and defibrillation. Jensen watched as one of the men hung his head and gently placed his hand on the little boy’s chest.
“Damn it,” Toby whispered, closing his eyes, the boy having been the one that he and Tom had been working on. Toby took a breath, running his hand through his wet blonde hair, then walked over to the little boy, followed by Tom. The medics from 99 stepped to the side as Toby crouched down next to the child, slipping his turnout coat from his shoulders to gently lay over the small body.
Jensen closed his eyes and looked away, a hollow feeling in his stomach that only deepened when 51’s paramedics reluctantly stopped working on the second boy.
“God, not him, too,” came Daniel’s anguished voice, the fireman stepping forward a moment later with Shawn to kneel down beside the child. Daniel ran his fingers gently through the boy’s dark hair before slowly laying his own turnout jacket over his body, Shawn’s hand coming to rest on Daniel’s shoulder.
As one, all eyes turned desperately to Alix and Jared, the last hope in this devastating afternoon, watching as Alix pressed a red button on the defibrillator machine.
“Charging 200!”
A tone sounded and Jared called back, “Clear!” before depressing the buttons on the small paddles for the second time, the little girl’s body jerking on the cement.
Alix shook her head sadly. “Still no conversion. She’s flat line, Jared,” she finished quietly, sitting back on her heels.
But Jared threw the paddles down and began chest compressions again.
Alix reached over and put her hand on Jared’s upper arm. “Jared, stop,” she said gently.
Jared shook his head fiercely, continuing on with the chest compressions. “No! Not all of them! Not her, too!”
Jensen dropped slowly down beside Jared, placing a hand over the other man’s, stilling Jared’s movements. Jensen felt tears prick behind his eyes and his voice was thick when he spoke.
“She’s gone, Jared.”
The young medic remained motionless for several heartbeats before standing up so suddenly that he nearly knocked Jensen over. Pushing past the rest of the crew, Jared strode straight over to the bus, and without missing a beat, slammed his fist into the side of it.
Jensen hung his head, feeling Jared’s pain deep inside as he looked upon the still form of the beautiful little girl.
“I’m sorry,” Jensen whispered brokenly, then gently draped her body with his jacket.
Silence fell over the solemn scene as twelve men and one woman grieved for three lives that ended before they could really begin.
~~~~~
The mood back at the station house was somber when the crew returned, minus Jared and Alix, who needed to remain at the scene along with the paramedics from 51 and 99 until the Coroner arrived and then had take care of the paperwork on the run at the hospital. The men went about their duties for the remainder of the afternoon, but there was no friendly banter or chit-chat as they rolled hose or mopped the floors, each man lost in their own thoughts. In the line of work they were in, it was inevitable that death would touch them in some way, but it was rare for it to happen to everyone at once, and so profoundly.
Jensen was alone in the dorms, lying on his bunk, staring blankly up at the ceiling when Tom found him. The tall fireman sat down at the foot of the bed, resting his forearms on his legs and looked off at the far wall for several moments before turning to look at Jensen.
“Are you ready to face that kind of thing everyday?” Tom asked quietly, sincerely.
Jensen was silent for several heartbeats. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by it,” he finally answered. “I know being a paramedic is going to be hard as hell sometimes, but it’s still what I really want to do, Tommy.”
Tom nodded and knocked his hand against Jensen’s leg. “Okay,” he replied, pausing for a second before continuing. “I know you’ve got Jared now, but if you get a tough run like that one and wanna talk, you know I’m here for you, right?”
Jensen smiled at his long time friend. “I do. Thanks, Tommy.”
Another nod from Tom, then the rumble of the bay door opening downstairs caught their attention.
Tom inclined his head toward the stairs. “Go see your boy. I’m sure he’s still hurting, too.”
Jensen blew out a long breath then rose from the bed, clasping Tom on his shoulder before heading downstairs. He could see the bus parked in Bay One, the rear doors open, Jared sitting inside writing on a clipboard. He started for the ambulance, but Alix cut him off at the bottom of the stairs.
“Leave him be for a bit, Jen,” she told him. “He’s not ready to talk yet.”
Every instinct Jensen had was telling him to go to the young man, but Alix knew Jared’s state of mind better right now, so he bit his lip and remained where he was.
“Did you get everything squared away at Mercy?” he asked Alix.
She nodded. “I didn’t think we were ever going to finish the paperwork.” She tilted her head slightly. “Doc told us that the driver had a heart attack behind the wheel. He was dead before he hit the water. And the kids…” she trailed off, swallowing deeply.
Jensen stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “You did everything you could. We all did.”
She nodded against his chest. “I know. It’s still hard, though,” she replied as she and Jensen moved apart. “And Jared knows it, too. He just needs to process everything for awhile.”
“Yeah,” Jensen sighed, again watching Jared in the back of the ambulance.
“Is the Cap upstairs?” Alix asked, moving toward the stairs.
“Um, yeah. He’s been in his office since we got back,” Jensen answered as Alix walked away.
Jensen stood there for a long moment, hands stuffed in his pockets, torn between going upstairs himself or talking to Jared. Finally his feet seemed to decide for him, as they walked him over to the bus.
“Hey,” Jensen said softly, but Jared didn’t acknowledge him. “Please don’t keep this bottled up. Talk to me, okay? It would do us both some good.”
Jared never looked up from his inventory paperwork, but Jensen saw his throat working, his jaw muscle tight.
“I love you, and I’m here,” Jensen told him quietly before reluctantly turning and leaving Jared to his thoughts.
~~~~~
Early evening found Jensen outside, in the back of the station, his arms propped on the low wall, watching the sunset. It was a day when the crew desperately needed another run to take their mind off of things, but instead the station alarm had remained stubbornly silent.
Dinner was a quiet affair of low conversations before the crew wandered away to their own devices. Alix buried her nose in a mystery novel while Daniel and Tom pulled out the chess set. Shawn, Toby and Kyle were out front tossing around the football and Jeff was on the treadmill. Jensen had tried studying for his last two final exams but found he couldn’t concentrate on his textbooks, his thoughts on Jared instead. The young medic hadn’t spoken a word since he and Alix returned, heading up to the dorms straight after dinner.
Footsteps behind him had Jensen turning, surprised to see Jared silhouetted against the light spilling out from the back door of the station, walking slowly toward him. Jensen said nothing as Jared approached, letting the younger man decide if he felt like talking or just wanted the company.
The pain etched on Jared’s face had Jensen’s heart clenching in his chest, and when Jared reached out for him, Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared without a word, holding him close as Jared’s shoulders shook and silent tears fell from hazel eyes.
~~~~~
Continue to Part Two...