A/N: This story is inspired after watching the memorial event honoring all the firefighters, policemen, rescue workers and paramedics, doctors, nurses, surgeons and EMS workers. It doesn’t take super powers to be a hero; a real hero is out doing his or her best to help out those around them.



“A Hero’s Heart”



~A true hero can live right next door~



**~Chapter One- The Calling~**



-July 12, 2001: Tampa, Florida. 4:56 PM.



He ripped open the large yellow envelope and sits down on his white leather sofa. Pulling out the only item in the envelope, a sheet of paper written in dark bold black lettering, he gazes at the writing and feels a smile crossing his face. His blue eyes open wide as he scans the paper, he can feel a grin emerging on his light complexion now tanned from the Florida’s sun. After training for over a year, he was about to become what he always dreamed of as a little boy. ‘A fireman’ He mouths out the words, enjoying the vibration his lips made with each word.



“This is like a dream come true.” He states, running his fingers through his blond spikes. Excitement flooded through his body and he wanted to jump and shout. It was tempting to run around and scream, “I did it! I did it! I’m gonna be a firefighter.” But he restrained himself from doing it. He can feel the pounding in his heart leap joyfully at the news he just received. He laughs and runs over to his cell phone lying on its back on top of the dining table. Nervously dialing an all too familiar number, he waits impatiently for someone to pick up the other line. “Come on, come on. Answer. I know someone’s home.” He mutters to himself, drumming his fingers impatiently on the table top. Suddenly the phone was answered on the other line and a woman spoke.



“Hello and good evening. This is the Carter residence, how can I help you?” The woman on the other line states calmly.



“Mom! Guess what!” The man states holding down the excitement in his voice as best as he could.



Laughing the mother responds, “Hey Nicky, what happened? You seem eager to tell me something, what is it?”



“You won’t believe it! I got a letter from the fire department I’ve been training in for over a year. They said I’m in! Mom, I’m in! I’m a fireman!” Nick states, excitement clearly showing in his voice; his blue eyes wide open in pure happiness.



“Oh my God! Are you serious? Congratulations sweetie! This is what you always wanted and now you get to live it!” His mother replies over the phone, her voice sounding so sweet over the phone. He can hear her yelling to the rest of the family the great news. Suddenly a different voice answered the phone.



“Hey Bro! I can’t believe it! Congrats! Mom is so happy. Hey, maybe I can stop by the fire station and say hi to you!” His little sister Angel replies.



Nick gulps knowing there was no way they can see him at work, because he won’t be working within the state fire department. He holds back his voice knowing if he said anything, his voice will crack and she would know something is up. He didn’t know how to break the news to her and anyone in the family. But he knows he has to tell them any how. Deciding to kill time before he broke the news, he looks at a CD he got yesterday through the mail, “Hey Angel, put mom back on the phone I have to finish telling her something.”



A groan was heard from her the other line, “Tell me! I’ll pass it on to her! Nick, I miss hearing your voice, you’ve been away training so hard we hardly see you anymore. I miss you.”



That statement broke Nick’s heart, he knew the transition to New York was going to be way too emotional for his family. He was always bless with a warm family that he can rely on and to break the news that they won’t see him at all once he leaves, was just too much. “Listen I miss you too. Please put mom back on.” Nick replies steadying his voice so he won’t show any sadness.



Sulking, the sister hands the phone back to his mother and Nick can hear laughing and cheering coming from behind the other line. They were shouting, “Congrat! Congrats! You’re gonna be a hero!”



“Sweetie, did ya hear everyone! We’re all so excited to see you do what you wanted for so long.” His mom states suddenly, through the loud cheers coming from the household.



Nick nods his head and nervously licks his lower lip. Of course with great news as this, Nick realized it would be bittersweet to tell his mother the dreaded news. “Mom, the fire department I’m in, is planning on recruiting me over to the New York City fire department. It seems they‘re in need of more workers and word has it that they heard about how great I am. I’m getting transferred. They want me to head over there tomorrow and begin training there immediately.” He stopped to hear the screaming stop and his mother passed on the phone to someone.



Nick’s ears rang out as his father’s voice infiltrated the phone. “Hey Boy, congrats on the job! Nice career! But what’s wrong? Your mom is crying and she doesn’t want to tell. Is something up that I should know about?”



Nick gulps, the air in his throat stops, as he chokes out the same news he just told his mother.



“Transferring you! What! Wait, you just got hired to be a full pledge firefighter and they want to send you away already. This doesn’t make sense, I mean you’re not seriously considering this are you? You can train in any department or something, but to send you away is almost ridiculous. This isn’t some kind of team where they can send and transfer you to where ever they need you. This is your home Nick, right here!” His father’s voice states strongly. But Nick knew behind such harsh words his father’s heart was breaking knowing that his eldest son will be leaving and he couldn’t be there all the time for him.



“Dad, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You said so yourself, to achieve my goals some sacrifices will have to be made.” Nick states calmly, controlling his urge to stop the sad tears that were beginning to blur his vision.



“I know son, you’re right. What am I thinking? I’ll be there to support you no matter where you are! Come over tonight and have dinner with us. We might not have the chance later on.” Nick’s father states sadly. By now the cool tears are running down Nick’s face as he agrees to head over there in a few.



Stating bye and hanging up the phone, Nick rushes over to the bathroom sink and splashed cold water on his face. If he was going to visit his family for the last time tonight until who knows when: he wanted to at least make the effort of looking happy. He needed their support and their happiness before he flies off tomorrow to begin a new life. And he knew saying goodbye will be one of the toughest things he will have to face. But until that time came, he wanted to enjoy his moments with the people he cares about the most. He grabs his car keys and heads out the two story house he owned for over a year and locks the door behind him. Sliding into his Cadillac Escalade, he pulls out the driveway and sighs softly knowing tonight will be so difficult on him and his family.

~*~



- July 12, 2001, New York City, New York. 6:15 PM



Flipping through the channels endlessly, he found nothing until a music video by a beautiful Latin pop singer blasts through the screen.



“Kinky, ain’t she? I like that in a woman, she knows what she wants.” His friend states, entering the small entertainment area of the fire station and settles down on the sofa next to Howie.



Howie shrugs his shoulders, “I’m not really paying mind to that.” His chocolate eyes not losing focus on the sexy video by Shakira called “Suerte” (The Spanish version of ‘Whenever, Wherever’).



A.J. laughs and turns off the TV, surprising Howie.



“Yo, J man I was watching that!” Howie shouts, reaching for the remote in A.J.’s hand.



“Uh, uh. I thought you said you weren’t paying attention to that.” A.J. grinned wickedly, his chocolate eyes twinkling in delight.



Howie grumbles and sits down on a dark blue bean bag in the corner of the small room turning on some music on the stereo next to him. He passes his tanned caramel fingers through his unruly brown curls and stares at A.J. angrily.



A.J. laughs and turns back on the cable to watch another video playing on MTV. “Looke that, a pop group! I don’t get want so many girls find fascinating about those five guys there. All they do is sing and dance. They don’t even look that good to begin with.” A.J. states, running his tan caramel fingers down his goatee and passing his fingers through his black short hair.



Howie sucked his teeth, “Well lucky for you, you’re not a girl then right. Besides my sister is in love with them and she’s a grown woman.”



A.J. nods his head sadly, “Poor thing I feel for her, really I do!” He states in a sarcastic tone, placing his right hand over his chest in sympathy.



Howie rolls his eyes and gets up to join A.J. on the sofa. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous of them.” Howie states holding back laughter as A.J. stood up from the worn black furry sofa and glares at him.



“I ain’t jealous of no pop group, hell I can sing better than those dweebs on MTV and I don’t have a record deal.” A.J. states confidently, clearing his throat.



“Uh oh, if the chief hears you singing, he’ll have a heart attack.” Howie snickers.



A.J. flips his middle finger at his friend and begins singing a song, causing Howie to burst out laughing.



A new firefighter transferred from Kentucky two weeks ago enters the entertainment area of the fire station to see what all the commotion was about. He spots the wild rebellious fireman singing a tune from a pop group on TV. Since transferring to the NYC firefighter ladder company 12, he felt at home with all the guys there. They made him feel welcomed since he arrived and he was glad to be a part of such brave men. In the last week, fires have broken out: most of them false, but still to see the eagerness that these men portrayed upon the incidents made him feel ecstatic. His blue eyes lit up as he recognizes the song and joins in with A.J.



A.J. and Howie stop and stare at Brian the new transferred firefighter singing his heart out. Brian’s sandy blond hair lays tossed on his head, his light white complexion and his beautiful angelic voice seem like he fell from Heaven. Brian opens his light blue eyes and smiles to see the guys were clapping and whistling in joy.



“Man I didn’t know you could sing!” Howe states mystified at Brian’s singing ability.



A.J. nods his head in agreement watching Brian in awe, “D’s right man. You got a voice. You could be the next pop star! And who knows maybe be get famous with that voice of yours.”



Brian shakes his head and blushes, “Thanks, but I wanted to be a firefighter all my life. Singing is just a hobby for me, I’d doubt that could make me money. I was part of a gospel choir when I was younger hence the singing ability.”



The lieutenant of the company appears behind Brian clapping his hands, his tall height and broad shoulders appearing menacing, “Nice singing cuz. The general commander heard your voice and wants you to sing at his little girl’s birthday party next week.”



Brian laughs and nods his head, “Ok, I’ll do it but only you all gotta sing with me.”



The shocks looks pierce at Brian, “You gotta be out of mind! You know we don’t sound that good, at least compared to you.” Howie shouts.



A.J. rolls his eyes, “Speak for yourself, I think I sounded great.”



Kevin laughs, his green eyes sparkling, he passes his light colored hands, through his black spikes. He was the oldest of the young firefighters and before becoming a firefighter he was trained as a pilot on the air force. Originally his father owned the fire station here in Manhattan but after his sudden and fatal death, the son didn’t want his father’s plans to vanish and he himself took control over the fire station with some help from the general commander and chief of the station. He trained as a firefighter and with his past experiences he was able to excel in the new occupation to become a lieutenant of the fire house.



Brian stares up at his older cousin, “Well are you in?” His southern accent appearing.



Kevin nods his head and grins, “Alright, but if we’re fired from this job cause we sounded so bad, know it was all your fault.”



The others laugh and nod their heads, “I’m down.” Howie states.



Kevin laughs and shifts his weight, “Oh wait real quick, tomorrow we’re getting a firefighter. He’s a young one, twenty two only, but the Tampa fire department wanst to transfer him here cause he’s that great.”



A.J and Brian look at each other mischievously, “Looks like we got a new prey to test out our new tricks.” A.J. whispers.



Brian chuckled and Kevin rolls his eyes. He knew tomorrow will be a long day and with a new man to join the crew, he knew things will go crazy. A.J and Brian were known to do tricks on the new recruits coming here and tomorrow wasn’t gonna change that plan. It was more like a welcoming or a tradition for tricks to get played on, ‘Poor kid, hope he handle the tricks.’ Kevin thinks to himself leading the rowdy men behind him to the dining table.

~**~



~**To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Yea! I’m back with a new chapter! I’m writing this story along with another story I posted up in the action part called “Troubling Gifts” Remember it doesn’t take much to be a hero, all one has to do is help those around them. This story is dedicated to all the heroes in New York that risked their lives on that dreadful September morning. Please leave a review or e-mail me at bluekitten11436@aol.com to leave a review. Until later bye and take care!



“A Hero’s Heart”



- A hero can live right next door- unknown



~**Chapter Two- Meeting Destiny~**



-July 13, 2001: Tampa, Florida. 8:30 am.



He opens the trunk of his silver Cadillac Escalade and flings the last suitcase in there. Closing the trunk, he sighs: thinking about last night. It was depressing to see how his family was all crying with joy yet with a bit of indignation in their voices. He didn’t want his family at the air-port, it would hurt too much to see his mother all sad. He decided to go there on his own, without his family it would be easier to board the plane. His father would later come to get his car, he reserved a spot in the parking lot and hoped his father would remember to pick the car up. He turns around at the sound of gravel spraying. He sees his younger brother running up to him out of breath. “Hey buddy, what are you doing here? I thought you’re on tour.” Nick whispers, knowing if he speaks anymore his shattered heart will break into more pieces. And right now he didn’t need that happening. He needs to be strong and crying won’t help him out.



Brown eyes stare back at him under similar blond locks. “I, I can’t believe this is it. I mean mom called me last night from the tour and I had to head back here to see you. Is this it? I mean are you leaving just like that?” Aaron asks sadly, his brown eyes filling with tears. “You know I won’t see you as it is. With me on tour and you living in New York, it’s gonna be hard. Are you coming back here to visit?”



“Of course, how can you ask that? I love you, mom, dad and the girls. You think me living there will make me forget you.” Nick asks incredulously.



Aaron shakes his head, “Sorry, it was stupid to ask, but I wanna know that you’ll be ok. That you can come back and not say that this is the last time I’ll ever see you again. You know dad said this is a dangerous job. Something could happen to you and we might never see you again.” Aaron asks, soft tears staining his light tan face.



Nick gulps and did his best to hold back his own tears, but again failed and let the tears trail down his face. “Don’t ever think that way! I’ll come back! Please don’t ever say that again, you hear me.” He whispers softly.



Aaron sniffs and held back some tears, “Sorry. God, I’ll miss you!” He states running to his brother and throwing his arms around Nick’s shoulder, giving him a tight hug.



Nick clutches his younger brother in a hug and lets the tears fall down on his face. “I’ll miss you too.” Trying to leave without a depressing moment like this, Nick wanted to see his brother smile and laugh for the last time until he can find time to visit and see him again. “Hey listen, you got any of those girl’s numbers on you that were at your concert? Let them know that you have an older brother who’s interested to know if they have an older sister. And I’m very single for them.”



This statement got a laugh out of Aaron and he nods his head, “Sure thing bro, though they probably wouldn’t believe me!”



Nick laughs, “Hey I’m sorry I’m not famous like you! But I’m trying over here.”



Aaron laughs and his brown eyes glitter in joy, “You’ll always be a hero in me and mom’s eyes. And you don’t need fame to tell you that.”



Nick smiles softly at what his brother stated, “Hey, I’ll buy you a present for your fourteenth birthday. I’ll be back by then to see you guys.”



Aaron nods his head and smiles, “K, that be cool.”



Nick pushes his brother back playfully, “Tell mom I’ll call her when I get to New York.” He states boarding his car. “Take care bro. I love you.” Nick says, waving bye as he pulls out the driveway. Nick kept his eyes on the street as he pulls his car out. He couldn’t bear to see the hurt sad look on his brother’s face. He sticks his head out the side of the car window, “Aaron, remind dad to meet me there so he can pick my car up at the airport. It’ll be in lot 5 near my gate.”



Aaron nods his head and waves goodbye too depressed to answer back. And with that, Nick pulls away from his house, the hurt gnawing in his heart. He drives slowly down the street and glances one last time at the front yard of his house where the figure of Aaron begins to get smaller as Nick drives further away from the house. Nick looks back again to see his house and Aaron disappear from his view and Nick sighs knowing today his life will begin a new.

~*~



~July 13, 2001: Queens, New York. JFK Airport. 10:30 am.



He closes his eyes and suddenly opens it when something smacked the back of his head. Glaring around the wide waiting room in the airport, he found the culprit. “Can I ask why you did that?” He growled at A.J.



A.J. shrugs his shoulder, “Don’ know, I was bored and you looked too happy sleeping. You can’t be happy if I’m not!” He states, a large grin appearing on his caramel complexion.



“Screw you Alex.” Kevin muttered under his breath loudly.



A.J. gasped, “Oh by Heavens no! This isn’t the right place and we can always have time for that later.” A.J. states in a joking matter.



Brian rolls his eyes and Howie muffles his laughter from what A.J. said.



Kevin grumbled, “It was a rhetorical question, wise mouth.”



Brian busts out laughing, “We all knew what you were gonna say!”



Kevin was known for his foul language and decided as a New Year’s resolution that he was going clean up his language and he’s succeed so far. And nothing, not even A.J.’s little antics was gonna mess that up. “Whatever, just look out for the kid will ya?”



“Just curious but Kev, do you know what the new recruit looks like?” Howie asks sitting besides Kevin in the soft plush seats.



Kevin shrugs his shoulders and A.J. responds for him, “D, I take that as a hell no. I bet he doesn’t know what the heck we’re all suppose to look for. I bet this new guy is all buff and built and will make us all insecure with his strength. If he’s as young as he looks, I bet he’s cocky too. And let me tell ya, if that’s the case, he’ll be hearing it from me!”



Laughter follows that statement from the other guys as A.J. smirks and glances around towards the gate they were waiting near by. Suddenly a black screen above the gate shows red lettering, letting them know that the plane has arrived. A woman’s voice fills the speaker, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Flight 24 from Tampa, Florida is now arriving at gate 7. Please wait for the passengers at the entrance of the gate and clear a path for the arriving passengers. Thank you for flying American Airlines.”



A.J. rubs his hands, “Let’s see this kid. He better be nice or he’s sleeping with Kevin. Cause I won’t share a room unless he gets on my good side.”



Howie pats A.J., chocolate eyes meeting chocolate eyes, “I’m sure he’ll be just like you Alex.”



“Uh, uh, I hope not! One Alex is one too many as it is!” Brian states, his southern accent coming out as his blue eyes twinkle mischievously at A.J. Howie laughs and notices Kevin talking to tall blond haired man. The man has broad shoulders at stands at an incredible height of six feet two inches. “Dag, he’s taller than Kev. He’s a big one.” Brian muttered, his blue eyes staring at the man.



“Well I guess that’s him, judging by the way Kevin is talking to him.” Howie states. “Let’s go and introduce ourselves, we don’t wanna give the new recruit a bad impression.” Pushing a quiet and surprised A.J. towards the gate, Howie waves to the new man.



“Hi, I’m Howard, but you can call me Howie or just D if you like.” Howie states happily shaking hands with the newcomer. The man smiles and shakes Howie’s hand. “Wow, strong grip you got there.” Howie states surprised.



The man smiles, his blue eyes a bit swollen maybe from crying. Howie knew how it felt. He remembered when he was transferred to the New York fire department two years ago how difficult it was to leave his family and friends that he knew all his life. And judging by the new man’s face, that must have happened to him.



“I’m Nick.” The man says smiling at Howie’s direction.



Brian and A.J. stick their hands out shaking Nick’s. “Hiya! I’m Brian, this here is A.J. He’s a bit moody cause he didn’t get any last night.”



A.J. glared at Brian and pushes Brian away roughly. “As you can tell, our friend Brian, or Rok as we call him, wouldn’t know what it feels to be next to a woman since his wife is a couple of states away.”



Brian snorts and laughs, “Hey at least I have a woman!”



“I have one too, I just ain’t whipped by her.” A.J. states smiling, all the while making a whipping sound.



The guys laugh and continue to playfully joke around with each other.



Brian looks back at Nick and helps carry some of the suitcases. “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? You seem to look so young to be in such a business.”



Nick smirks, “Twenty one and I promise I’m good at what I do.”



Brian whistles and calls out to A.J., “Hey did ya hear that? Nicky boy here says he’s good at what he does, I’m thinking A.J. you just found your missing roommate.”



Howie, Kevin, A.J and Nick laugh as they cross the parking lot.



Nick smiles and follows the four men to a waiting car. ‘I guess it won’t be that bad, they all look real young too. I’ll fit in.” Nick thinks to himself and smiles, “I gotta call my mom, hold up.”



A.J. turns and makes a high voice, “Is my baby calling momma? You go ahead and be the nice southern boy you are. You so precious now.” A.J. states pinching Nick’s cheeks as the rest of the guys laugh in hysterics.



Nick shakes his head and smiles, he knows he will definitely fit in alright.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Hey peeps what’s up? I’ve got another update for this story, I hope you’re all enjoying it and now for your entertainment here is the new chapter!



“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A true hero can live right next door~**



**~Chapter Three- True Colors~**



-July 13, 2001, Tampa, Florida. 10:46 am.



Yawning, he walks back to the tour bus waving bye to his mother.



“Sweetie, before you leave, how was Nick when you saw him? I mean was he sad? What did he say?” The mother states, her blue eyes wide open.



Aaron smiles, “Mom, he’s gonna be ok. He said so himself. Said that he’ll be back to see us soon enough. I’m gonna go to one more city and come back here. Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon. He should be in New York about now.” He states shrugging.



Suddenly her cell phone begins ringing and she raises the phone to her ear excitedly, recognizing the number on her phone.



“Hello, honey, is that you?! Nick sweetie are you in New York already?” His mother states softly.



She nods her head, as she listens to what seems like laughter coming from Nick’s side of the phone. “Are you in a crowded place? I hear so much talking in the background.”



She smiles, “Oh ok, those are the guys that you’ll be working with. Ok, well I see you gotta go, you sound busy already. I’ll call you later tonight then. Be careful, I love you too. Ok, bye.”



Aaron smiles, “See mom, I told you he’s gonna be ok.”



-July 13 2001, New York City, New York. 11:25 am.



The black navigator slows down the crowded street full of firefighters and people. Kevin rolls down the side window to examine what’s happening down Central Park West. The other four guys all roll down their side of the window and stick their heads out to see thick white smoke fuming from a third story red bricked building.



“Hold up! Wait! Why didn’t they call us for this?” Brian says, narrowing his blue eyes from the smoke that was floating outside of the building on this murky day.



Kevin sees a couple of firefighters from his company, taking out the last flames that were left in the burning apartment. Chief Lawrence, a tall, bulky firefighter at a height of six four, walks over to the still vehicle where the guys are. His grey eyes examine the group and he leans his head near the driver’s window where Kevin is at. Chief Lawrence is wearing the thick black firemen coat and pants. The coat and pants are aligned with a bright white and yellow lining. The chief lowers his black fireman helmet with the numbers of the fire department along it. At the back of the chief’s jacket, his name is scrolled across along with the initials FDNY.



“Morning chief. What happened?” Kevin asks nervously gazing at the smoky building that just a minute ago was on fire.



“We got it covered Richardson, nothing serious, no one was in the apartment when it happened. I’m guessing someone left something cooking on the stove and forgot to turn it off. Nothing big, just smoke and a small flame began. You know it’s a pain when this happens, people can be careless at times.” Chief Lawrence states: wiping his forehead with his large bulky dark colored hands. His dark chocolate face glimmers in sweat and exhaustion as he explains the incident. A soft ray of sunlight beams down on his shaven bald head.



Suddenly Chief Lawrence stops and notices an extra person in the vehicle, confused, he raises his eyebrows and looks at Kevin, “Who’s he?”



Howie smiles and points to Nick, “Chief, he’s the new recruit.”



“Wow, really? He looks like a kid, are you sure he’s the one?” Lawrence asks bluntly, not caring if Nick was annoyed by the comment or not.



“Sir, I’m twenty one and I’ve training for this job for over four eyes since I was eighteen. I’m one of the top students and firefighters down in my department in Tampa. Being recruited here is a new experience and I promise to make it worthwhile.” Nick states trying to keep his cool without lashing out at the chief.



A.J. smiles, his soft brown eyes twinkle in glee, “See chief nothing to worry about. We won’t be babysitting him, he can handle himself well.”



Lawrence nods his head and smiles, “Well then boy, welcome to the team then. Glad to have you on board. I hope these guys are treating you well.” He sticks his hand through the window and shakes Nick’s awaiting hand. His grey eyes open wide in eagerness as he gazes at Nick. “Man what I wouldn’t wish to be that young again. Hey so I’m guessing by what Brian told me yesterday that you all are gonna sing to my little girl right? ” Lawrence says smiling at the group.



Nick’s eyes grew wide open at this statement, “Who’s singing? They are right?”



Chief Lawrence smirks, “I’ll let Brian explain that to you. Lawrence mutters as he hears his name being called from a firefighter holding a hose and turning off the water from the water hydrant. “Well I gotta get back to work, the guys need me, I’ll check you later and Kevin when you get back to the station call your wife. She sounds moody.”



Snickering is heard from other guys as the chief stated that. “Oh man, I know why she’s so moody! When was the last time you gave her some loving? You know what, now that I think about it, why don’t you visit her, cause you look like you need some release, all that tension from the job is getting to you.” A.J. says between laughing.



Kevin glares at him and starts the navigator up, pulling away from the scene with the guys teasing him.



Howie slaps the back of A.J.’s head, “That’s wrong, apologize to Kevin.” He says still snickering and obviously enjoying the joke.



Brian sighs and smiles, patting Kevin’s shoulder, “Don’t pay mind to him, he’s just acting up in front of our new guest.”



“So Brian what did you do? He wasn’t talking about me right?” Nick questions, pointing to himself bringing the conversation back to what the chief had stated earlier.



A.J. laughs, “Whoo, well Brian go on, tell the boy, I’m sure he’ll be very happy like we were when we heard the news.”



Nick crinkled his face, “I don’t like where the conversation is heading, what exactly did you do?”



“Uh, see I kind of promise the chief that we all, including you Nicky boy will sing to his daughter at her party next week.” Brian states smiling, enjoying the vehemence look Nick gives him.



“S, s, sing! Dude, do I look like freaking singer to you?! This is a mistake. I can’t sing! I’m not gonna do it! I want the chief to like me not fire me!” Nick states, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.



A.J. laughs, “Yo that’s what me, D. and Kevin said, but since Brian is such a goody too shoes, it looks like we’re all in this mess.”



Nick shakes his head in disbelief, “Perfect, what a trip man. That little girl is gonna hate me.”



Howie smiles, “Hey I’m sure once she sees you, she’ll like you, just stand there and she’ll be happy.”



“Hey pretty boy. Ever attempted singing?” Kevin asks, trying to keep a straight face.



Nick growled, “In the shower, that’s all.”



Brian chuckles, “Just pretend you’re in it, when we start singing, but please for all our sake, maintain your clothes on! Let’s keep this clean shall we?”



Kevin smirks, “Yes please, I wanna be able to sleep tonight.” And with that pulls into the station all the while hearing Nick complain that what Brian did was wrong. Kevin smiles, ‘Oh yeah, this is gonna be interesting.’ He thinks to himself, turning off the Navigator and taking keys out.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A True Hero Can Live right next door~** Unknown



**~Chapter Four- The Beginnings of A Hero~**



-July 13, 2001 New York City, New York. Central Park West 23st. Fire company Twelve 2:23PM



The trunk of the Navigator slams closed hard, the loud thumping vibrating in the fire house. He gazes at the small bright yellow lights hung above him through out the station as Brian and A.J . chuckle softly among themselves. The walls are all polished mahogany planks and a fire banner hangs across the right side of the wall. Along the left side of the station, a couple of hoses are curled tightly around and hangs on the wall along side other items such as an axe, hammer and a couple of protective glasses. The guys each carry a suitcase of Nick’s and head over to a brightly polished stairwell in the corner of the station. Placing the suitcases and a green back pack on the edge of the stairs, Brian smiles and gives Nick a thumbs up sign. Nick’s blue eyes absorb the scenery around him, he takes in the station and smiles.



Howie notices the look on new recruit’s face and whispers, “Yup this is all real buddy! Shortly you’ll be experiencing the real life of a true firefighter. You know what I always loved about this job?” Howie asks, his chocolate eyes burning with pure excitement.



“What? The attention of women when they see a man in a uniform?” Nick asks, shrugging his shoulders anticipating Howie’s answer.



“Well besides that.” Howie laughs softly and continues, “The pole, sliding down it is like pure ecstasy.” Howie states, holding back more laughter from the disgusted look passing on Nick’s face.



“Whoa, hey, dude whatever makes you feel good. I just didn’t think you’d share this info with a newcomer.” Nick states laughing as a shock look crosses Howie’s face.



“Nick man that’s not what I meant. Aw, that’s sick!” Howie states, his laughter no longer under control.



“Really cause you used some pretty intense words there D.” A.J. states appearing out of no where with a smirk on his face. His medium brown eyes twinkle in delight to see the new recruit getting along with everyone.



Laughter broke out in the three men as Kevin rolls his eyes and cuts in the group.



“Nick go make yourself comfortable. Oh, we have a receptionist that you’ll have to pass by in case of anything.. We have to have some order and she’s helping us out. Just show her this pass.” Kevin states, handing over a small plastic ID card cover to him. “You’ll have to fill that out and she’ll do the rest.” Kevin states smiling.



Nick nods his head in confusion and shrugs his shoulders heading over to the large thick mahogany doorway frame. He enters a small comfortable room: to his right is a large window showing the beautiful view of the buildings near by, one of the empire state building and the other of the World Trade Center.



“Nice view huh?” A young woman with medium brown hair cascading down her back responds breaking the quietness.



Nick’s eyes focus at the center of the room where a small polished mahogany desk is at with the young woman sitting behind the desk. On the desk, lied two manila folders and a small stack of papers in a neat pile in one corner. On the other end of the desk, a glass vase with five white carnations are placed softly. Bright sunrays filter the room from the window casting the only light in the room at the moment. A black cordless phone lies in its cradle in the center of the desk. Next to that lied a fake rose pen holder with pens, scissors and markers in it. On the desk near the folders lies a small black Macintosh lap top closed for the time being. The walls were a light blue mixed with a tint of grey and two large glossy posters: one of the entire fire company 12 with a total of 45 firefighters taken in front of the station and the other taken of a little girl hugging Kevin, in Brian’s arms.



“That picture was taken two weeks ago when Brian first joined the department. First day on the job and he was already called to work. That little girl is Samantha. She’s great! Her family got caught in a burning building and our guys got there in time to save them. She visits everyone once in a while.” The young woman says, her peach complexion glowing in the sunlight.



Nick nods his head and clears his throat. He felt uncomfortable and now standing in front of an attractive woman wasn’t making it easier. Silence drifted in the room as the two parties awaited for some form of conversation to start.



“Well hi, I’m Jalisa. You must be new recruit I heard about. The guys didn’t tell me he was gonna be a cutie and young and at that.” The young woman states, gazing at Nick. She nibbles on her soft cinnamon colored lips nervously and reaches to take the plastic card holder in Nick’s hand.



Nick mumbles out, “I’m Nick the new one.” He blushes, knowing that sentence sounded ridiculous. Silence looms in the small room again. The only sound heard was the birds chirping outside the sunny day.



“So, you talk much?” Jalisa states smirking: standing up to show her petite height of five feet two inches.



“I’m sorry, yeah, I talk a lot at times if it’s on topic of interest.” Nick states nervously, his eyes tracing the curves on the woman.



“I see.” She states awkwardly, “Well, I hope I can find an interest to get you to talk more. No need to feel uncomfortable sir. I’ll need you to stand over there so I can take a picture for the ID card you’ll have to carry around you at all times. Later on, I’ll make some metal dog tags with your info that you’ll carry around instead of the card. K, understand.” Jalisa states, blinking her eyes at the new recruit.



Nick gulps nodding and points to the window on the left side, “Over there right?”



She nods her head and gives him the ok sign as she opens a small mahogany desk drawer in the corner of the room to pull out a camera.



Grinning, he walks over near the window as Jalisa flips on the light switch on the wall. “There, better lightening.” She states and snaps a quick picture. She settles back down the grey plush computer seat behind the desk. She smiles and writes some data on the sheet of paper. “Nice eyes, blue. Unique. I love blue.” Jalisa smiles softly, gazing at the man before her.



Nick stands in front of the desk uncomfortably whispering a subtle “Thanks, I actually love green.” Again feeling embarrassed with his statement, he nibbles on his lower lip. The dreadful quietness lingers in the air again. The only sound was the scribbling of the pen on paper coming from Jalisa.



She looks up from her writing and smiles, “You’re all done here. You can leave now if ya want. You know, get unpacked and get settled. So I guess I’ll speak to you later then right?” She whispers.



He nods and stutters nervously, “Yea, yeah. We’ll talk later then I guess. Bye.”



She smiles and runs her peach colored fingers through her hair. “Ok, bye.” And waves bye to the new recruit leaving the room.

~*~



Gazing at the grey cement floor, he hurries over to follow the guys waiting for him at the base of the mahogany stairs. Nick looks back at the room he left and lets out a sigh of relief. He hears laughing coming from the other guys and thinking he missed the joke, he didn’t bother asking. He scrolls his eyes over to the metal iron pole and he feels a smile emerging on his face. The mere thought of sliding down it always fascinated him as a little boy and now he gets to do in real life.



“Hey Carter come over here.” Kevin states, his green eyes shining brightly. Nick gulps and heads over to him unaware something was about to happen to him.



“What’s up?” Nick states scratching the side of his head childishly.



“You have the room upstairs and you’re sharing it with A.J. Don’t worry, he’ll behave I’ll make sure of that.” Kevin states, his face glowing with excitement.



Nick narrows his eyes and stares at Kevin and then at A.J. “Ok.” Nick whispers. He grabs his back pack and a suitcase while A.J. and Howie carry the other two suitcases up the stairs. Once up the stairs, he follows Howie and A.J. down a dimly lit hallway, the wooden planks creaking below him with each step. A.J. flings open the last door to the right and steps into the room followed by Howie and Nick.



“K, buddy this is your room. A.J. is gonna be good boy, we made sure of that.” Howie says smiling and staring at A.J. seriously.



A.J. smirks and jokily salutes Howie, “Sure D, I’ll be nice, you’ll see. I’ll make you proud.” A.J. smiles cheekily.



Nick snorts in laughter and Howie rolls his eyes. Staring at Nick, he pats the new recruits shoulder and whispers quietly to Nick, “ I say watch your back, I feel sorry for you, A.J. has a list of things he’s known to do to torment the newbies.”



“Hey! Hey I heard that! Take that back D! You know that’s not true.” A.J. pauses and adds, “At least not all the time.” He states and laughs softly.



Howie stares at Nick, “Take my word for it, I know he’s up to no good.” And with that leaves the room.



“So Nicky, is it ok if I call ya Nicky?” A.J. asks. Nick nods and sits down in the bottom bunk. A.J. continued, “Well since I’m in such a good mood, I’ll let you call the bunk. You can have dibs on the top since you’re a big boy, you might not fit right in the lower bunk. But it’s your call. Pick.”



Nick smiles, he throws his suitcase on the top bunk and jumps up onto the top bunk. The bed shakes a little from his weight and he gazes at A.J.



“Dude you’re like the quiet type, that’s totally freaky. Speak boy! Speak!” A.J. states, his smile spreading across his tan complexion.



Nick grins, “I talk! I jut don’t know what to say. I mean what do you want me to say?”



“Talk.” A.J. states in the small bedroom, plopping down on a red tiger blanket on the floor.



Nick shrugs his shoulders, “Dude you’re making me mad uncomfortable talking to me like this.”



“That’s it! Great!” A.J. states. “You’re talking, this is good process! See now we’re getting somewhere.” A.J. jumps up excitedly from the floor.



Nick lets out a profanity and stares around the room smiling. A very simple decorated room, the beige walls covered the room with exotic drawings and paintings aligning the wall. “Cool pics. Where you got them from?” Nick states with sudden interest.



“Oh, down in the art museum, they were selling it and gave a couple of them to the company for free. Really cool. I wish I could draw like.” A.J. states, tracing his finger along a picture of black jaguar.



“That doesn’t look that hard to draw, I could do that. I like drawing, I do it all the time.” Nick states smiling at the picture A.J.’s looking at the large cat.



A.J. smirks, “I’m sure you do boy. All the time right? I’d doubt that happen unless you count that chick that was checking you out.”



Nick laughs, “What?! The receptionist! Man you gotta be kidding me.”



A.J. laughs, “You came out the room with a happy face, and it’s not the one with blue eyes!”



Nick gasps and blushes, “Oh man! That bad huh?”



A.J. laughs harder and points at Nick, “Oh yeah, buddy it was bad. Couldn’t have been more noticeable!



Nick grumbles and suddenly the door swings open by Brian, “You guys! Get ready! Hurry up we got a call now! An emergency is happening. Hurry up! Go downstairs and get in the fire engine now!” And with that Brian races out the room.



A.J. looks at Nick in panic, “I didn’t even hear the alarm go off, I guess it’s time to be a hero Nick! You ready?”



Nick smiles and jumps off the bunk, “Born ready!”



A.J. smiles and before running out the room catches a quick look in the mirror, “Gotta make sure I look good saving people.”



Nick rolls his eyes, “While I guess you’re gonna need a miracle for that to happen.”



A.J.’s mouth drops open in surprise, “Oh, the newbie got jokes. Aight I was asking for that! Let’s go, they’re waiting for us!” And with that, races out the room with Nick right next to him.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A True Hero Can Live Right Next Door- unknown~**



**~Chapter Five- Nothing to It~**



-July 13th 2001: New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve. 4:23 PM.



The red fire truck pulls up slowly over the hot pavement into the fire station as a couple of men drenched in sweat and water climb off onto the ground. Chief Lawrence yawns and climbs out the driver’s seat along with the other men of the company excluding the five men that left about two hours before hand. Passing his hands through his shaven bald head, he sighs and gazes intently at the ceiling.



“Chief, just two more days till we head out for vacation, I’m gonna be counting ‘em off. Cheer up! Besides, the place we left was fine and the man felt stupid for forgetting to turn off his stove.” Lieutenant Darrel states, his light brown eyes gleaming in the soft sun. He gave him a crooked grin and pats the chief on his shoulder before walking towards the receptionist office.



“Make sure she jots down the emergency today. We gotta keep records of this.” Chief Lawrence replies to the firefighter as he wipes off a trail of sweat streaming down the side of his chocolate colored face.



Lieutenant Darrel nods, his full set of light brown straight hair is matted with sweat. “Go easy on the girl, this is her first job and she’s so young. We don’t want her running out of here cause you over worked her.” He states, his light flustered tan complexion gleaming in the streaming sunlight from the windows.



The chief rolls his eyes and snorted, “Sure, whatever. That’s what wrong with this generation nowadays. All talk and no work. This job will make her strong even if she is just an intern.”



Lieutenant Darrel shuffles off laughing, his soft brown eyes twinkling in enjoyment. The chief grins and stares at the seven firefighters there, “Hey guys quick question, where did those pretty boys firefighters went to? I wasn’t informed another fire broke out.”



One of the firefighters shrugs his shoulder and smiles, “I’m guessing they came up with a plan to mess with the new guy. You know those guys are probably traumatizing uh, what’s his name? Nick.”



Chief Lawrence smiles, “Figured why it wasn’t reported or told to me. Look their coming back, this gotta be good.” He states staring at the fire engine that pulls into the station. Kevin, the driver, stops the truck as three of the men jumped out the engine with a big grin on their faces. Kevin steps out the fire truck and bursts out laughing as a grumbling Nick covered in what seems like red slime is all over his firefighter attire.



Nick glares at Kevin as he drags his tired feet pass the laughing men. It seemed now the entire company had arrived to see the grand entrance of the new fireman.



A.J. covers his mouth but still manages in laughing loudly as Nick drags pass him giving him the finger. “You know Nicky, your mommy wouldn’t happy to see you know that body language.” A.J. states between laughter.



Brian pats Nick on the shoulder, “Hey buddy listen, it wasn’t that bad. You didn’t get it as bad as Howie did. In fact we went easy on you. I personally think you should feel honored we took time out to plan this just for you.” Brian states, a mischievous grin plastered on his face.



Nick glares at Brian, his blue eyes blazing and suddenly Nick feels a grin crawling on his face. He had an idea, ‘Fine, if I can’t beat them then I’ll get revenge on them.’ He gazes at his prey and chuckles. Staring at Brian- who is now suspicious at Nick’s sudden attitude change, Nick steers his eyes on his first prey. Opening his arms wide open he runs and jumps onto Kevin’s back, covering the unsuspecting victim in the sticky crimson slime.



“Egh! Aww, yuck man!” Kevin cries out surprised at the sudden weight on his back. “Get off me boy! What’s wrong with you?” Kevin states, his emerald eyes showing relief and enjoyment at Nick’s expense.



At this the company howls with laughter as Nick bats his blue orbs in Kevin’s direction. “I thought when you said stay behind you at all times that this is what you meant.”



At this joke, the entire company fills with laughter and each gives the newcomer, Nick, a high five. “That’s a good one kid! Get Kevin where it hurts!” one of the few women firefighters states, her hazel eyes twinkling in glee.



Jalisa steps out the small office to see what all the noise is about and after seeing Nick drenched in the red slime, she joined in the laughter. “You know it’s gonna be killer to take that stuff off your clothes. Nick, I thought you wouldn’t fall for that. They told you it was an emergency and they took you to central park to drench you in that slime right?” She asks smiling, the laughter bubbling inside her.



Nick nods his head and rolls his eyes, “Yeah, stupid me fell for it. But you what, you can’t fool an expert of tricks and get away with it.”



A.J. snorted and replies, “Actually Nicky boy we did get away with it. I mean look at you. You’re the one covered in that red junk we threw at you, not us.”



The entire company of forty five members still in laughter: didn’t realize what Nick had planned as he runs and pulls a white thick rope hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly the company excluding Nick, was covered in a nasty slimy green substance that cascaded from the ceiling in buckets. Everyone was drenched in the green substances and all eyes stare at Nick in amusement.



“Wow, you got the whole company. That’s a first, that never happened before. Way a go Nick!” Howie states in surprise as he cleans off the green liquid that is smeared in his hair and face.



Chief Lawrence grins at Nick and points his finger at the man. “See I knew I would like you. You’re feisty, wanna get the last word. I like that in my employers.”



Nick smiles and feels a flint of green slime thrown at him from A.J. “Since you’re not slimed as bad as we are, I figured with this green junk I thought you might wanna know what it feels like.” A.J. states, his chocolate eyes glimmering with a mischievous gleam.



Brian, Howie, A.J. and Kevin surround Nick each with a grin that held surprises. Chief Lawrence and Lieutenant Darrel also join the circle and all flung mounds of the green goop at Nick’s direction. By now, Nick was laughing and running out of the circle as pieces of the green slime hit him on his fire black jacket. The company was bursting with laughter and a great vibe was running through out the place.



Kevin smiles and stops to breath in the joyful smell of happiness ringing in the station. Brian, out of breath, looks at his cousin curiously.



“Hey Kev. Everything alright?” Brian asks inquisitiveness, his blue eyes open wide.



Suddenly the bright red lights in the ceiling begin blinking as the loud insistent alarm starts ringing. Everyone stops running around and Jalisa runs to the office to get information.



Kevin runs to the engine and opens the door, “Get in! Hurry! We got called on. Let’s go!” He shouts loudly over the loud blaring ringing of the alarm.



A.J. states at Nick with a small smile on his face. “It’s real this time Nick, let’s head out.” He runs and throws on the black fire jacket with the words scrolled on the back of NYFD.



Nick smiles, ‘Time to show where the real heroes are at.” Nick runs to grab his black helmet and smiles, boarding the engine with the other four men.

~*~



Howie leans over to Nick, “Hey that was a good one you pulled on us. You got us good.” Howie says, his brown eyes filled with amusement. The engine door slams shut as Kevin pulls out the station.



Nick shrugs his shoulders and laughs, “Nothing to it D. Nothing to it.” As the fire engine bellows out the fire siren and leaves the station.



Brian still wiping off slime, grins at Nick, “Not for nothing, but how the heck did you have time to fill up buckets and hang it up. I mean you were with us the majority of the time. How was that possible?”



Nick grins, “Yo, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.”



Brian laughs and takes a napkin to take off a glop of green slime off his cheek.



A.J., Howie, Nick and Brian stand up in the back of the fire truck, resting and watching the scenery pass by them. A.J. grins as the engine passes by a group of teenage girls who squeal and whistle at the guys.



A.J. leans on the edge along with Nick as they both blew kisses at the squealing girls.



Howie nods his head and rolls his eyes, “You guys are full of it.”



Nick laughs, “Full of what?”



Howie smirks, “You know of what!”



A.J. smiles as he passes his tan caramel fingers over his black goatee. It looks like things will get better with a new guy around and in fact he didn’t remember having that much fun in such a long time with the entire unit. He stares at Nick and smiles as Brian is telling them the joke he went through two weeks ago.



“Yo J! Yoo hoo, buddy you listening?” Howie states: waving a hand in front of him, interrupting A.J.’s thoughts. A.J. blinks and states at Howie in nuisance.



“Yeah, what is it?” A.J. asks irritated and smiles at Howie’s facial expression.



Howie shrugs off A.J.’ s demeanor and smiles softly at his friend, ‘Well, there’s a small fire in the building we’re off too. It’s on the east side on Union Street. I’m thinking you get the people as we head up the place and take out the fire.”



“And you planned this with out asking me again.” A.J. states watching the passing vehicles on either side of him quickly.



“Well, whatever man. I ain’t here to get in fight over this. If you want take the fire out and I get the people, then I’m down with it.” Howie states softly, his short brown locks blowing gently in the hot stinging summer breeze. The blue clear sky illuminated the sun’s ray on them.



A.J. grins, “Na, it’s aight. I’ll save the people. At least if it’s a cute woman, I can ask for her number when I’m done saving her.”



At that Kevin laughs from the front of the vehicle, “So A.J what if she’s not an attractive woman then what?” He asks loudly over the siren, his green eyes never leaving the traffic in front of him. “Brian turn off the siren for a minute.”



“What?!” Brian asks. “I can’t hear you, the siren is too loud, I’m turning it off.”



Kevin shakes his head and rolls his eyes as Brian asked what Kevin had said before. “Nothin’ B. Nothin’. Just sit down and chill out, we’re about two minutes away.”



The engine pulls up the sidewalk as heavy smoke billows out a second story window. The beautiful silver metal building stands erected at a height of twenty stories. The granite pavement gave the area an exquisite look. Tons of thick smoke and flames spurted from the fourteen floor window. A couple of onlookers stare up at the burning building in shock.



“Oh God!!” People mutter as they gazes at the smoke filtering out of the window. Kevin jumps off the engine as Howie and Brian begin to hurriedly unroll the long hose as Nick opens the fire hydrant. Kevin raises the ladder on the engine until it reaches the window.



“Brian, D, Nick! Go up the ladder and take the fire out. A.J. look to see if anyone is in there. Hurry, the fire is getting thicker and stronger by the minute.” Kevin shouts, fixing the ladder to help maintain it steady.



Nick races up the ladder and in a minute was already climbing the window holding the hose. A large spray of water blasted out of the hose as Brian and Howie race inside the building to get to the front door of the apartment. A.J. helps Nick hold the hose as he climbs in the apartment through the window. Kevin nervously watches and pulls out his walkie talkie to contact Brian and Howie.



Buzzing is heard as Brian talks through his walkie talkie, “Yeah, what is it?”



“How does the place look?” Kevin asks holding the ladder where A.J. and Nick are on.



“Can’t see anything Kev. Too much smoke, dag man. This is messed up. It looked like there was some explosion by the heavy smell of the gas.” Brian states.



“You in the apartment already?” Kevin asks.



“Yeah, we took the elevator.” Howie states, hearing Kevin gasps.



Laughing, Brian talks into the walkie talkie, “Look it was there and I figured we could use it to get there faster. Think about it Kev. It’s the fourteenth floor. You expect us to get there fast enough!”



Howie runs down the brown carpeted floor and reaches the door. He places his palm on the door, “It’s burning! It’s way too hot!”



“I hope we’re not too late!” Brian whispers as he kicks open the door. The door swings open and the thick fog greets them and engulfs them in a hug. He pulls out a small mask and places it over his face and Howie does the same.



Howie turns on his flashlight and searches around the dark smoky room for a light switch. Brian pulls out a box of baking soda and sprays it around the area. The flames were coming from a bedroom where a light bulb blew up. The flames were licking the black burned bed covers as it slowly spreads on the curtains. Brian finds Nick at a window in the living room. He trudges through the smoke and guides Nick with the spraying water.



“Dude, over here! The fire is in the room!” Brian states, wiping the fog off the plastic glasses he placed to protect his eyes. Nick follows him and quickly places a set of plastic glasses and fog mask over his face. Nick, Brian and Howie hold the hose as the flames begins screeching in pain as it dissipates.



A.J. jumps into the apartment from the window and begins yelling, “Hey is any one in here? Does any one live here?” He yells. He places the plastic glasses over his chocolate eyes to protect it from the thick painful smoke that brushes pass his face. A.J. passes a kitchen where smoke was engulfed, no flames had reach the area as of yet. He could hear the other guys running around making sure the fire was out. A.J. walks on the beige carpet as he crosses over to a small bedroom next to the kitchen. He steps in the room only to see it belonging to a little girl. Teddy bears of different colors are aligned on a shelf and a beautiful lilac and powder pink paints the walls. A tiny white seat is placed in the corner and a small white ivory dresser with gold aligning the sides is next to it. A small pink hello kitty television set is placed on a white shelf from the wall. A.J smiles as he enters the room. His eyes rested on the one thing he was glad to see. A living soul. Bright green eyes greeted A.J. from the center of the bed. The little girl who looked no more than six sat staring at him. Her blond curls tumble down pass her shoulders as she fiddles with her pale shaking fingers.



“Hey sweetie are you ok?” A.J. whispers as he closes the door to shut out any more smoke from entering the room.



The little girl smiles and whispers softly, barely audible, “I’m ok, but my sister looks sick. She’s been sleeping since we were hiding from the fire.” Her high voice states. She shivers and she points to a young woman lying on her back side, with her eyes closed.



A.J. gulps and reaches the young woman lying on the floor. He touches her wrist to feel a very weak pulse beating. The young woman has blond tresses down her shoulders and she seemed no more than five feet three inches. Her very light white complexion seemed flushed from the smoke. He passes his fingers over her nose to see any sign of breathing. Gulping he picks the woman up and places her on bed next to the girl. “Ok, this is the deal sweet heart. Your sister isn’t sleeping, she needs air. I’m gonna help give her some air, I need you to help me ok.”



The little girl shakes her head nervously, “Is she gonna die mister fireman?” She asks blinking back tears that emerge in her pretty emerald eyes.



“No, no I won’t let that happen cause you will help me ok?” A.J. states softly gently touching the little girl’s hand.



The girl smiles, “Ok, I trust you.”



A.J. feels his heart melt at the words of that young girl. Trust, she trusts him and he had to live up to that expectation. “Ok, good, place your hand over your sister’s heart, right here on her chest.”



The little girl does as told and stares up at him waiting for further instructions, “Ok, I’m gonna give her air in her mouth. Don’t think I’m trying to kiss her cause I’m not, I don’t know her like that.” He states laughing, bringing a giggle from the girl. He leans down and tilts the woman’s head at a forty-five degree angle and takes a deep breath. He breaths in and cups her lips allowing the air to reach her lungs.



“She breathing, she’s breathing!” The little girl states giggling in pure joy.



A.J. smiles and was greeted by the coughing of the woman as she opens her eyes. Struggling to sit up, she coughs and gingerly touches her throat.



“Thank you.” She croaks out, her emerald eyes greeting A.J. The sun light from the window reflects the gold in her eyes.



“Your welcome, no problem, it’s my job.” A.J. states suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. The woman smiles, her blond tresses lying down pass her neck.



“I’m not usually into guys who kiss on the first date.” The woman states, making A.J. laugh.



She stands up carefully and sticks her hand out. A.J. shakes it and then his walkie talkie blares out, with Kevin’s voice.



“Yo, Mcclean, what’s the deal? Where you at? The others can’t find you. Did you find anyone?” Kevin’s voice blares out.



“Yeah, two people, a woman and a girl, they’re ok. They ran in here when the fire started. They said it was an electrical problem and the light fuse blew up. That’s how the fire started. The woman was found on the floor unconscious. I gave her CPR, she’s alright now. The young girl was left unharmed, she’s safe. Was in the room when the fire started.” A.J. responds eyeing the woman from the corner of his eyes.



“Well get your scrawny behind down here, we’re waiting for you.” Kevin states in the walkie talkie.



A.J. gives the young woman a funny look making the little girl laugh, “Yup, that’s the main man, Kevin. Hey let me get you and your little sister out of this apartment. Gotta let the smoke clear out before you can back here, ok. “He states smiling. He feels a warm hand clasp his and he gazes down to see the young girl staring back at him. “She’s cute, it must run in the family.”



The young woman blushes, “I guess so.”



Once downstairs in front of the building, the other four firefighters waited around for A.J. to come.



“One question real quick you guys. Why did you send A.J. to save the people, he didn’t look he was wanted to do that. He kept grumbling how he wanted to take the fire out but instead sent me.” Nick asks curiously, biting his lower lip.



“A.J. has to be able to do all things as a firefighter and one of them is saving the people. He loves it when he gets behind a hose and it’s just him and the fire but that’s not all it takes to be a firefighter.” Brian says softly watching A.J. carry a young girl in his arms and leading a young woman out the entrance of the building. The small audience that had gathered, begins clapping and cheering when they see A.J. with the two females.



“Great job Alex!” Howie shouts happily, running over to A.J. “Who’s the little one in your arms?” Howie says gently lifting the girl into his arms.



The girl giggles, her blond locks tumbling gently down her back. Her yellow tank top and green shorts fitted smug on the small child. “I’m Summer and that big girl over there is my sister Skye.”



Howie smiles and looks at the young woman who’s blond locks lie shortly almost touching her shoulders. “Well hello Skye, I’m Howie and the man that saved you is A.J.”



Skye smiles and pats A.J.’s shoulder, “Well thank you A.J. for coming to the rescue. You’re my hero.” She whispers seductively into A.J.’s ear. A.J. shivers from her voice that filters into his ear and he blushes a bit.



“Your welcome, it’s my job, nothing to it.” A.J. responds, giving Nick a wink.



Nick rolls his eyes and mutters to Brian, “Looks like A.J. will be saving a lot more people now from the looks of it.”



At this the guys laugh and board the engine to head back to the station. A.J. lets the little girl down on the ground and waves bye to Skye.



Skye laughs and waves bye, “I wish I can thank you all for what you done for me and my sister. Now all I need is a good alibi to tell my landlord about.”



The guys laugh at this, Brian, A.J. and Nick are in the back while Kevin sits in the driver’s seat and Howie in the passengers side.



Nick smiles seductively and leans over the edge of the engine in the back, “Hey if you take me out to dinner, I’m all yours!”



A.J. elbowed Nick, “Watch it Carter. You wanna live today don’t ya?” He whispers to the young man.



Nick back up playfully and laughs, “Aight, I get the drift. I know when to back off.”



The engine begins to pull away and Brian waves at the two girls, “Nice meeting you both, I’m Brian, the blond stud over there is Nick and the grumpy driver is Kevin.”



Skye and Summer laugh as the engine pulls away, back to the station, back to the waiting area where the heroes await their next task.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A True Hero can live right next door to us~**



**~Chapter Six- Not All Is Safe~**



-July 26th 2001. 11:18 pm. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



He flips through the channels endlessly, finding nothing that caught his attention. Grumbling, he stretches out on the worn out black furry sofa. Yawning, his chocolate eyes gaze sleepy at the news that blasted through the screen in front of him. He feels weight on the other end of the sofa as Nick sits and snatches the remote away from A.J.’s hand.



“Yo, maybe you should go back to the room and get some sleep.” Nick mumbles, scratching the side of his head lazily.



“Na, I’m cool. I ain’t tired kid, I’m just yawning.” A.J. states grinning, his fingers fiddling with the remote as he yanks it out of Nick’s hand. “You know we have to rehearse tomorrow and the party is two days away. Kevin is nervous about the whole thing especially since we didn’t have the chance to rehearse before.”



Nick grumbles, his blue eyes dimming as weariness is consuming his tired body. “I don’t know if I should kill B or not. Look what he got us in! I’m surprised Brian didn’t get jumped yet.”



A.J. narrows his eyes and drumming his fingers together, he responds in an eerie voice, “Why that’s a great idea my young one. I feel Brian should get his just desserts. After all it’s your idea.” He says chuckling softly.



Nick smiles and laughs, “Yeah whatever.” He watches the small color 15 inch television in front of him as A.J. flips to the news. “Ugh, you watching the news, dude you’re missing Mad TV. Flip to it, I wanna see what’s happening.”



He leans over and tries to pry A.J.’s fingers off the remote but A.J. stood up and smiles. Grinning, A.J. points to the screen ,”No, we’re watching the news! It’s important. We have to know if there’s anything that we should be looking out for.” He couldn’t help but smile as Nick grumbles and walks away.



“Fine be that way, I’ll just go watch it Brian’s room.” Nick states, tugging on his white t-shirt.



“No can do little buddy, we gotta get started with rehearsing now.” Kevin says quietly as he enters the lounge room.



Nick grumbles, “Dude, we don’t have to rehearse! We’re not freaking singers! It’s not like we’re gonna perform at a baseball event of something.”



“Uhh… well see ah the thing is Nick well I kinda guess the Chief is so excited about his little girl’s party and she loves baseball. So we’re gonna have to perform at a game.” Brian states seriously. Howie, Kevin and A.J. all watch the look on Nick’s face as he paled and his mouth drops open.



“Dude I know you kidding right! Right?” Nick states, his blue eyes wide open in horror.



Kevin clears his throat and holds back his laughter, “Um… actually Nick he’s not joking. This is the real deal, we gotta sing and sing it well cause the chief is gonna record it and if it’s at the game, it’ll be live as well. So that means about thousands of viewers will be watching as we do this.”



Nick stares hard at Kevin’s face and then at A.J.’s face. They all held the serious look and Nick could feel his heart banging on his chest. “No man, that’s enough. This joke is being played for too long.” He grumbles as he tries to clam down but his heart is telling him a different story.



“Nicky, sorry but we should start practicing now ok.” Kevin states as he passes out sheets of paper to each of the guys.



Nick grips the paper and he feels his throat go dry. “You think you can scare me by pulling this joke right? Well fine, two can play at it!” Nick says inhaling deeply and wetting his dry lips with his tongue.



A.J. smirks as Nick looks at the paper in his hands. “You gotta be kidding me, you wrote this song?” A.J. states as he scrolls his eyes down the sheet.



Howie inhaled and gave A.J. a hurt look, “Hey I wrote that. I’m sorry that it’s not that underground hip hop you listen too!”



A.J. stuck his lower lip out, “Sorry D. I didn’t know. My back. Calm down, I ain’t mean nothin’ by it.” He says and smiles at his friend, patting Howie’s shoulder gently.



Kevin sighs, “Alright this is the deal. Since I already discussed this with Howie and he wrote the song, he’ll start off with the first stanza. Brian will take up the next stanza and Howie switches back to the following one. Following the stanza with ‘when I look at you’ Brian does that part. All we gotta do is sing that chorus as a group.” Kevin says quietly.



A.J. laughs, “Hold up, I have to sing the second to last stanza with ‘You don’t know, how you touched my life.’ D, come on, this song is too sweet even for us to sing.”



Nick laughs and shakes his head as Kevin slumps down on the sofa. “Oh God please help us.” Kevin mutters, running his fingers through his raven hair.



“Well hey, it’s for the little girl, what the hell man! I’m trying over here!” Howie grumbles and slides into a fold up chair.



Brian raises his hands in the air, “Ready let’s start, the faster we do this, the faster we’re done.”



A.J crinkles his nose and stares at Nick, “I prefer going slow for the night.” Nick trying hard to refrain from laughing couldn’t resist that response A.J. gave him.



“Ok, seriously, come on guys ready at my count, on three. Ready?” Brian states, his blue eyes gaze at each of the four men besides him.



The others nods and wait for the count. Howie begins singing the first stanza as the others follow along on the paper. Brian picks up as the transition between the two men and goes on until the chorus came. Nick shakes his head as he sings along with the others. At his amazement, he was surprise to hear how well all their voices blended in. And not only that but how well each of their voices sounded. A.J sings his part as they end at the final chorus, “Everything in you is beautiful, you’re beautiful to me, to me.”



Clapping is heard as lieutenant Darrel enters the room followed along with a young teenage girl. “Wow, that was amazing, true talent right here in our own fire station. The chief won’t believe this.” Darrel says excitedly, his light brown eyes and matching hair gleam in the soft yellow light illuminating from the ceiling.



“You guys sound like professional singers!” The young woman gushes.



A.J. smiles and takes a bow as the others blush. “Thanks I guess.” Brian whispers, his blue eyes bright and full of happiness.



Howie smiles and points to the young blonde haired woman standing besides Darrel, “Who’s this beautiful creature that entered in the room?”



A.J. chuckles, “Smooth one D. I’m sure she’ll fall for you now.”



Howie glares at A.J. and reaches over to shake the young girl’s hand.



Darrel smiles and grips the young woman by her shoulders, “She’s one of our own, she’s part of the young adolescent firefighters two blocks down from here. She’s been trained as a paramedic and is a true firefighter if I ever saw one.”



The woman smiles, her light white complexion glitters in the light as her blue eyes gleam with admiration and joy. Her blonde locks tumble down right above her shoulders and she stands at a height of five feet eight inches. She speaks softly, “Hello gentlemen, I’m Rose. It’s a pleasure meeting you men. I heard so much about you but I never had the chance to get to see you until now.”



Nick smiles and shakes her hand as she walks around meeting the other men. Each man introduces themselves and she smiles.

“Well guys, I must head back to the station. I gotta get ready for work at any time.” And with that she walks out the exit of the door followed by Darrel. Nick watches the young woman leave the room as she moves every inch. He cranes his neck as she steps out the room. His eyes never lost focus on her steps. He suddenly snaps his attention at Kevin who smacked him on the back of his head. “Ow, what the hell?” He says as he rubs the back of his head gently.



Kevin smiles, “A little more and your head could have fallen off your body. Do you have a strain in your neck with all the craning you did?” At that remark, the others laugh at Nick.



“Oh, I think our Nicky is growing up! Hehe.” Brian says, his eyes twinkling in delight.



Nick grumbles, “That’s it, I’m out. I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. I’m gonna get some sleep.”



A.J. chuckles, “Maybe I should place a bucket under your bed, I mean you sleep on the top and I don’t wanna wake up all wet.” He says as he emphasizes the last word.



“OHHHHH!!!” Howie, Brian and Kevin state as Nick stands there aghast.



“That’s foul!” Nick grumbles and walks away leaving the lounge area followed by the laughter of the guys.



Nick passes the driveway where the fire engines are parked and bumps into Jalisa who looks alarmed. “Hey you ok?”



Jalisa shakes her head no and grabs Nick by the arm. “I don’t wanna alarm anyone but I believe after all the plotting from police investigation that there’s an arsonist running around the city.”



“But it didn’t come up in the news?” Nick asks trying to control his voice.



“I know! We’re keeping this wrapped up until further info is found. Even the media hasn’t gotten any info on this yet. They just believe it’s a regular fire outbreak.” Jalisa says, her voice cracking in fear.



“So why the look of horror on your face?” Nick says, gulping nervously.



“It’s well, well, it’s just that see, whoever is doing this doesn’t seem to have a motive.” Jalisa states.



“Let the police worry about that.” Kevin interrupts as he walks up to Jalisa and Nick.



“Ok, but they called here to inform me to keep a look out against anything that seems suspicious.” Jalisa’s voice trembled. “I just don’t like the idea that a manic is running loose and no track or record is found on him.”



“When did you get the call?” Howie asks as he exits the lounge room to join the others.



“Yesterday and a few minutes ago. I was on my way now to tell you guys about this.” Jalisa explains, her light brown eyes nervously examining the three men before her.



“Who is it that made the call?” Brian asks exiting the lounge room followed by A.J.



“Detective Zy from the police department in Central Park West, two blocks down.” Jalisa says worriedly.



“Why didn’t he call me or inform Lawrence?” Kevin asks concerned, his emerald eyes gleaming in suspicious as he wipes his hands down the seam of his dark blue jeans.



“The chief knows already. I informed him since yesterday.” Jalisa states as she passes her peach colored hands through her long dark medium brown hair.



“Ok, good. If anything, whether you get a call or receive some new data later, tell me first ok. I wanna make sure there isn’t a sicko out there trying to get to us.” Kevin states, his deep voice resounding on the thick grey walls that surrounded the driveway.



Jalisa nods her head, “K no problem. Not for nothing but do you think the government knows about something and isn’t telling us?”



A.J. rolls his eyes, “Oh yeah all the time.”



Brian elbows A.J. and gives him a look to be quiet.



Howie sighs, “Let’s not worry about this now. We’re safe, I’m mean, we live a good country and we’re protected, plus we work for them. So if anything we’ll be informed soon enough.”



Nick gulps and nods his head, “D’s, right Jalisa. Nothing to worry about it. We got it covered.” But even Nick knew how hollow that statement will sound as months pass by.

~*~



-July 27th 2001. 9:35 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



Yawning, he flips open the newspaper and feels his head slowly nodding to sleep. Concern overtook him in his sleep last night as thoughts of the arsonist were creeping in his dreams.



A.J. who’s sitting across from the tired and quite sleepy Kevin, smirks and raises his eyebrows at Brian’s direction. Nick sits there and watches as A.J. places a bowl of cold cereal in front Kevin. Kevin having no idea what they were thinking of and too sleepy to care, places his head on the table and closes his eyes. Instead of feeling the coolness of the wooden table, he feels something wet and feels liquid caress his checks. Snapping his eyes wide open, he lifts his head up realizing that one of the guys placed a bowl of cereal and his head fell in the bowl. He stares around the table as twelve firefighters of the company counting the four guys of his group were laughing loudly and hollering. Kevin grabs a napkin and wipes away drops of the milk and pieces of the fruit that stuck on his face.



“Yo, you should have slept more if you were gonna be like this in the morning.” A young woman firefighter states, her black locks tumble pass her back.



Kevin rolls his eyes and looks at the four guys he knew where responsible. “Ha ha! Real good, Who did it?” Kevin growled as he stares at Brian, Howie, Nick and A.J. Suddenly A.J. and Nick pointed at each other and in unison says “He did it!



“No I didn’t, you did!” Nick shouts across the table as A.J. acted shocked.



“I can’t believe you could blame me for your sinister plan. You made me do it!” A.J. states before both him and Nick burst out laughing as everyone else there joined in.



Kevin stands up shaking his head, “If you all can excuse me, I MUST wash my hair now cause some immature people thought it would be amusing to do that to me.”



Brian responds softly, “Well actually you did it on your own. I mean the plate was just there, you just happened to fall right in it.”



At this statement, the others erupt in laughter as Kevin walks away grumbling and wiping stray milk drops and chucks of the fruit mix off his hair and face.



Nick smiles and notices Brian running to the entrance of the firehouse greeting and picking up a small brown haired girl in his arms. Nick stands and joins Brian to see who he was talking too.



Brian smiles and lifts up the girl in his arms. She seemed about seven or eight years of age and her brown long locks tumble down her back. She’s wearing a school uniform of a pink blouse and burgundy skirt. Nick suddenly realizes who the girl is. “Wait she’s the same girl in the picture you took that’s in the secretary’s office.”



Brian nods his head, “Yup, this is Samantha. Samantha, this is my new friend Nick.” He tells the young girl in his arms.



She smiles, her caramel complexion glowing in the early sunlight, her hazel eyes examining the man before her. “He’s cute.” She whispers in Brian’s ear. But she said it loud enough for Nick to hear.



“Well, hey you’re not so bad yourself pretty mama.” Nick smiles and winks at the girl.



Samantha giggles as Brian places her back on the ground, “Well it was nice meeting you Mr. Brian and Mr. Nick. I have to go to school. My mommy is getting mad.” She states and bounces off to her waiting mother who smiles and waves bye to the men.



Brian turns to Nick, “Well it looks like you got a new girlfriend.”



Nick smiles, “She’s adorable.” He says.



Brian smirked, “I wasn’t talking about Samantha though.”



Nick rolls his eyes, “Give me break, you still on that from last night.”



Howie laughs as he hears the conversation, shouting from the table, he begins singing, “Nick and Rose are sitting on a tree.”



A.J. interrupts and joins Howie in the song, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G, or knowing how Nick was checking her out last night, more than kissing will be occurring.”



Nick shakes his head and sees Lieutenant Darrel and Chief Lawrence laughing along but something wasn’t quite right about them. Their eyes were holding something: some form of truth that can affect the company but yet they stood quiet and that really was irritating Nick.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A hero can live right next door~**



**~Chapter Seven- The Simple Task~**



-July 28th, 2001. 6:18 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West. 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.



He gazes at the full length mirror and smiles as he fixes his navy blue tie. His blue eyes alighted with joy as the day had finally arrived for them as a group to perform. He fixes his sandy blonde hair and gazes at his attire: dark blue pants furnished with a nice white silk blouse and a blue jacket on top for the final look. Howie smirks at his friend as he pushes Brian out of the mirror’s way.



“My turn. You’ve been staring at your self in that mirror. I doubt you’ll change if you keep staring B.” Howie replies, sustaining a small laugh form erupting.



Brian rolls his eyes, “Come on D. I gotta make sure we represent well.”



Howie smirks, “Brian, it’s for a little girl’s party. Not for the Grammy’s.”



Brian playfully stuck his lower lip, pouting like a child. “Well hey maybe one day I or we can all win a Grammy.”



Howie raises his eyebrows, “This is one of the first times I’m singing in front a large crowd, I’m not planning on pursing singing B. It’s not my style.”



Brian sighed, “Hey you never know. I mean you can’t tell me that when we were rehearsing the other night, you didn’t feel anything. We got the singing thing down the first time and none of us had ever sung like that before! Come on D, I say it’s a sign!” He states excitedly.



“Whatever Brian, it’s not big deal. Really.” Howie responds as he fixes some stray strands of dark brown hair that were out of place. He tugs on his black pants and fixes the white collars of his white blouse. Reaching on the top of the mirror mahogany covering, he grabs his long black tie and quickly ties it around his neck. Howie could hear Brian singing softly to himself. Ever since Brian made that little appointment with chief Lawrence, he’s been singing unstop and Howie truly believed Brian found the singing enjoyable. He would remember when he would catch Brian singing before sleeping, while getting dressed, while cleaning. In fact the singing seems to surround him all the times recently as graceful vocals would linger in his room. “Brian if by any chance you could get a record deal would you go for it?” He asks curiously, eying his chocolate eyes at his friend who’s sitting on the edge of his full size bed.



Brian let out a deep sigh and licks his soft lips. “I don’t know, maybe, no, I don’t know D! Don’t ask me that! Why did you say that any way?” He asks annoyed.



Howie smiles, “Nothing. Just curious that’s all.” As he keeps his eyes on Brian who’s fidgeting.



Brian rolls his royal blue eyes and gets up from the bed, ready to head out. Sure enough as Brian was about to open the door, Kevin burst in, his emeralds eyes glimmering happily.



“Hey guys. Glad to see you’re all ready. Get downstairs, we’re taking A.J.’s car. We don’t’ wanna be late.” Kevin says as he gives Brian a thumb’s up sign. Kevin dressed in a black blouse and black pants, carries his long black trench coat over his left arm.



Brian whistles, Looking nice Kec. If you weren’t married I would have thought you were going out to impress some girl. You ain’t right?” Brian gives his a naughty grin.



Kevin rolls his eyes and leaves the room laughing as Howie and Brian follow behind. Howie closes the small bedroom door behind and lets a sigh. ‘Well here goes nothing.’ He thinks to himself as his heart patters nervously in his chest.

~*~



A.J. pulls up his black Mercedes in front of the closed fires station as he hears Nick clapping his hands standing in front of the fire station driveway.



“Nice car J! Where did you get the money for that?” Nick states as A.J. grins, climbing out his car.



“I have my ways. Well look at you Carter all dressed up and no where to go.” A.J. states smirking as Nick stares down at his attire. Nick was wearing navy blue pants with a black long sleeved blouse. A dark navy blue tie swings gently in the evening breeze as Nick holds on to the neck of his long black trench coat in his right hand. His hair today is held up in short spikes and wire framed glasses framed his face.



Nick smirks, “I think we all are going to the same place buddy. There’s a little girl waiting for you at the restaurant and you can’t back down from that.”



A.J. holds up his hand before laughing, “True, I just hope my fiancé doesn’t find out about this.”



Nick chuckles as he holds up his cell phone, waving it in front of A.J.’s face. “Well how about I tell her now?”



A.J. laughs and goes along with the joke. “Please don’t! I couldn’t bear to think what she would do if she found out I’m seeing a twelve year old.” He tugs on his black pants and nice button down black blouse: the sleeves rolled up to his elbow as he slides his black shades to cover his chocolate eyes. His black hair today is tinted with red.



“Alrighty guys, we’re all here. Lets go!” Kevin states as he reaches Nick and A.J. Nick nods his head and watches Brian and Howie whistling, showing how impressed they were with A.J.’s new car.



“Aight, guys this is the rule. This is my baby. Don’t throw any trash inside it. There will be no eating of any kind. No touching, no blinking and no breathing inside my car. You hear! This precious car cost too much for you to mishandle her.” A.J. states as he enjoys the strange looks his friends are giving him.



“It’ll be hard but I can do it. If I start choking though from lack of oxygen, know it’s your fault.” Nick states laughing as they board the car. A.J. gets in the driver’s seat, Nick’s in the passenger’s seat, while the other three cram themselves in the back.



“Owch, Kevin! Get your elbow out of my face!” Brian yelled annoyed as they try to adjust themselves in the backseat. Brian sits in the edge of the right, Kevin the tallest from them three sits in the middle as Howie slides in the left corner behind A.J.’s seat.



“Hey, you guys set?” A.J. asks, adjusting the mirror on his side of the front of the car.



“Yup! Go already, Kevin is squishing me and next time we take a bigger vehicle cause Kevin is taking up too much room.” Brian grumbles, smiling at his cousin.



Kevin rolled his eyes and purposely stretches out, taking up more room on Brian’s side. Howie laughs as A.J. pulls the car out into the busy street.

~*~



Chief Lawrence yawns, watching the clown perform magic tricks on stage for the young children there. He passes his dark chocolate hand over his bald head, his grey eyes glittering in happiness as his little daughter giggles in enjoyment from the clown. Erica his daughter giggles as the clown cracks open an egg only to be filled with the dollar she had given to him earlier with her name on it. Erica wears a causal red tank top with the edges ruffled and her black skirt tumbles down pass her knees. Her jet black hair is straighten down her back in curls as she smiles, her grey eyes glittering in delight. He checks his watch for the fifth time already as Jalisa giggles.



“Mark, they’ll be here in five minutes. Howie just called, they’re on their way.” Jalisa states smiling, her painted bronze glow lips parted. “She’ll love you for all that you did for her party. I mean I would have thought for sure she would hated the clowns. She’s big for that you know?” Jalisa giggles, her light brown eyes glittering. Her dark brown medium locks tumbles pass her shoulders loosely in soft wavy curls. Her peach complexion glittering brightly in the soft yellow light cast from the restaurant ceiling. Her green casual loose tank top, the edges of the shoulder top separated loosely in an elegant style. Her black skirt down her knees, hugged her curves when she moved yet was graceful and flowing at the same time. She smiles at the young teenager sitting in the corner. “Hey Rain, over here. Come chill out with me and the chief.” Jalisa shouts as Rose stands up giggling at the new name people are now calling her by.



“Rain? Who’s that?” Darrel asks, his light brown eyes glittering. His tan complexion glitters from the lights as he passes his fingers through his straight light brown hair. He makes his way back to table with a dish from the food table. He’s wearing a navy button down shirt with black pants.



“That’s Rose. We named her rain after we found out she loves hanging out in the middle of a pouring storm.” Jalisa states as Rose grabs a seat.



“Hey did you guys see the new little girl Summer playing with Kimberly. It’s the cutest thing.” Rose states, her blonde locks hung down in graceful braid down her shoulders and she pulls on her baby blue halter top and plays with the edges of her black knee length skirt.



“Summer’s here? Really?” Jalisa smiles and waves at the young woman sitting next Summer. Skye walks over to join the group at the dinner table.



“Hey any seats in this table? I’m thinking of hanging out here with you guys. I love my sis, but I need to be with my people my age, she’s not even paying attention to me when I talk with her.” Skye states, her beige loose flowing skirt tied in a small bow in the back and her black off the shoulder shirt showing off her thin gold necklace with her name in scripted on it. Her short blonde locks tumble near her shoulders loosely as her green eyes search the restaurant for her little sister. The gold specks in her eyes glitter beautifully in the soft light dimming from the restaurant.



“Hey go ahead, the more the merrier.” Rose states smiling, her small gold hoops swinging gently.



At her statement the others laugh and all settle back waiting for the last five men to arrive. “Hey do you think they’ll sound good?” Summer asks suddenly.



Rose giggles, “I heard them rehearsing, well actually me and Darrel walked in on them. But they sound amazing you guys! You won’t believe how professional they sounded. They sounded like those guy groups you hear on MTV or something. It’s great!” She states in excitement.



Darrel nods his head and between bites of his food responds, “I…gotta…agree…with…Rose…here. They sounded like true singers.” He states wiping his greasy mouth due to the chicken.



“Well I guess we’ll find out now then won’t we?” Chief Lawrence states smiling as the five men entered the restaurant with nervousness etched across their faces.



Rose giggles and claps her hands eagerly, “Oh, you’ll see how well they’ll sound! Ohh, they’re so hott!” Skye and Jalisa laugh and nod their heads in agreement.



“They look so nervous. I hope they’ll be ok.” Jalisa whispers as the five men walk over to them each carrying a present for Lawrence’s daughter.



“Hey guys, nice to see you arrived and right on time. I’m truly impressed.” Lawrence states smiling as he and Darrel carry the presents over to a corner to be joined with the gifts.



“Nervous much?” Jalisa asks Howie who seems to be fidgeting and gulping.



“Na, just suddenly feeling very ill.” Howie replies eying the stage with the clown and about twenty children enjoying the clown’s performance.



“He’ll be fine, just the butterflies.” Brian answers for him.



Nick walks over to Rose and pulls put a white rose for her. “A rose for a Rose.”



At that statement, A.J. started to pretend gagging causing the others at the table to erupt in laughter.



“Nick you need better lines if you wanna impress a woman.” Jalisa states, batting her brown eyes at him, she continues, “Hey maybe I can show you sometime the proper way to do it.”



Brian whistles as Kevin makes cat noises. “Looks like Nicky is getting a personal invite from our receptionist, way to go Nicky boy!” Howie states whistling.



Nick rolls his eyes and smirks, “I’ll think about it, maybe you can show me more than lines.”



“Ok that’s enough of that filthy talk, remember this is a party for my little daughter. I wouldn’t want her to hear this type of talking!” The chief states, holding back his laughter.



“It’s innocent talk Lawrence, I promise.” Jalisa states as Skye stares at A.J. intensely.



A.J. waltzes over to Skye and pulls out of his pocket a small yellow carnation. “It’s hard to find anything blue around this area.”



Skye giggles and gladly takes the small flower from his hands.



“Hey, don’t I get anything?” Jalisa jokes playfully.



“Sure you do!” Howie says as he and Brian each gave her a kiss on her cheek.



“Well guys enough joking around. Onto the stage, my little girl ain’t getting any younger now.” Lawrence says smiling as Howie gulps down the nervousness that is tickling his stomach.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A Hero can live right next door~**



**~Chapter Eight- Wanna be famous?~**



-July 28th 2001. 6:25PM. New York City, New York. 42nd street, Times Square. Amery Restaurant.



The last note hung in the air as Brian sings the last word followed by the chorus of the other guys in beautiful harmony. “Everything you do is beautiful to meeee.” Brian sings. They end the song and smile as the audience erupts in a thunderous applause.



Jalisa whistles as Skye screams out in joy. Rain claps hard and jumps in happiness.



Chief Lawrence could feel his jaw drop in pure surprise as he watched the five men walk off stage blushing and laughing in pure excitement. “That was truly amazing!” He said softly to Howie who walked by smiling.



“Thanks I didn’t think we were that good, I mean I almost choked up there seeing all of you looking at me.” Howie mutters a bit embarrassed.



Lieutenant Darrel grins madly at the five men, “WOW, is all I can say! Your voices, man you guys rock out there!” He states as he shakes the hands of the five men.



A.J. chuckled and looks over to where Skye is standing with her hand over her mouth in pure surprise. “What, look man. I know we didn’t practice as much as we did. But did we really sound that bad that we left you speechless?” he asks grinning silly at her.



Skye shakes her head no and manages to speak. Forming her words carefully she states softly, “That was the best performance I’ve ever seen from anyone. You rocked it on stage and your voices all together send shivers down my back. You sound so beautiful up there!”



A.J. grins and bows, “Thanks I guess. It’s weird, I never knew we sounded as good as we did. It’s like destiny or something. Skye, how about me and you go ditch this place for a few minutes. I wanna take a breather.”



Skye smiles and whispers softly, “Why yes, did you even have to ask?” Her haunting green eyes shimmer wonderfully in the soft restaurant’s light.



A.J. smiles and grabs her hand as they walk out the restaurant and down the pier dock located two blocks down from it. The evening sun casts a stunning glow of orange and red across the sky. They stop near the black railing that divides them from entering the ocean. The water ripples the sunlight and reflects its beauty in Skye’s eyes.



A.J. smiles and turns to her. “Do you really mean that?”



“Mean what?” Skye gazes at him as she inhales the fresh ocean scent softly.



“That we sounded that good.” A.J. states, his chocolate eyes burning into her emerald ones.



Skye nods her head, “Yes! Why you asking? Sounds hard to believe.”



He nods his head, “Somewhat. It’s just that well see the other guys don’t know this but I always wanted to know what it would be like to be famous.”



Skye chuckles, “Alex, you are famous in a different way. Don’t you see everyday you risk your life to save others. You saved my life and I’m grateful for it. You are famous to me. Whether you sing or not.” She says feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment.



A.J. smirks, “Thanks girl. I needed to hear that. Sometimes I daydream and fantasize what it would be like if I were famous.”



Skye rubs A.J.’s shoulder in comfort, “I’m sure you’re not missing much. Most of those people look unhappy even with all the money they have.”



A.J. nods his head, “Yeah, I guess so. We should head back now, before Nick sends out a lost and found team to hunt us down.”



“That kinda sounds exciting.” Skye states giggling as her blond locks blow gently from the warm breeze. Her snowy complexion seems golden as the sun’s ray hit her skin.



“By the way I forgot to mention you look beautiful tonight.” A.J. whispers in her ear as they begin walking down the street back to the restaurant.



Skye smiles as she runs her fingers down her beige loose flowing skirt tied in a small bow in the back. She fixes her gold necklace in scripted with her name on it as she adjusts her black off the shoulder shirt. “Thanks I tried.”



A.J. laughs as he playfully bumps her on her hip with his.



“Hey!” She squeals in surprise. “That’s not fair, I almost fell.”



“Well life isn’t fair all the times.” A.J. states as they make their way to the restaurant laughing.

~*~



Brian sees the employers in the restaurant speaking at how wonderful their performance was on stage. Brian felt stunned in a happy way. He didn’t think the singing would create such a buzz, but he was happy it did. He hears heels clicking behind him as Jalisa places her hand on his shoulder, “Hey you alright? I’m thinking we could have a little festivity back at the station with the others to celebrate our singers.”



Brian laughs, his ocean blue eyes twinkling in delight. “I would love that. Wow, I can’t believe we sounded that great.”



“And I heard it’s on camera so we get to see it when we get back to the station.” Kevin states, his emerald eyes glittering in delight.



Brian smiles as he looks at Nick who’s getting the attention of a few women employers and young teenage girls.



“One performance and the kid thinks he’s famous.” Howie states laughing. His short dark brown locks lies gently on his head.



Laughing, Chief Lawrence claps his hands. “I gotta admit, you guys took my breathe away. My little girl won’t stop talking about you.”



Brian smiles as he runs his hands through his sandy blonde hair, ‘Thanks chief…”



Chief Lawrence interrupts him, “Call me Mark, Lawrence sounds so professional. We’re not at work Littrel.”



Brian laughs at the statement as he gathers around the table to sing happy birthday to Erica, the chief’s daughter.

~*~

-July 28th 2001. 10:05 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West. 23rd street. Fire company twelve.



Yawning, Howie flips through the channels aimlessly until he lands on the channel 11 news.



“Found anything interesting D.” Nick states as he enters in the lounge room.



“Nope, just the good ol’ news.” Howie states, staring at the television lazily.



“Oh, ok then.” Nick responds as he plops down the black worn furry sofa besides Howie. “Flip to comedy central, I wanna see what they’re giving.”



“No, I wanna see that.” Howie grumbles softly.



Nick rolls his eyes, “Look D, ain’t nothing on the news, flip to an interesting channel. I wanna see if they’re giving South Park.” As he passes his towel over his wet hair which he just washed in the shower.



Howie laughs, “You watch cartoons? Figures.”



Nick rolls his blue eyes and runs his blonde locks which tonight now hung wet and lazily on his head. “This is a dirty cartoon, for big people.” He states, batting his eyes at Howie.



Howie laughs and flings the remote to Nick. “Enjoy man, you scare me sometimes.”



Nick laughs and was about to change the channels when suddenly the reporter in the news states, “This just came in. A firehouse down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was just attacked by an arsonist. There seems to reports that the arsonist is picking random firehouses and burning it. Many innocent victims who had their houses burn down all seem to live nearby or are connected to the arsonist in some way or another. No one is hurt from the fires but plenty of houses are burnt down and more than ten families already are left with out a place to live due the arsonist. Fire stations are taking precautions to prepare for the arsonist attacks. No leading suspects are found leading to the arsonist. Police claim the mafia could somehow be involved in the actions but no further reports are settled or confirmed yet. This is Monique Alverez reporting to you live from Williamsburg, Brooklyn at fire station nine.”



Nick drops the remote on the royal blue carpet and stares at Howie, “Damn man. An arsonist? Could that be the one Jalisa mentioned before? I thought Kevin would handle it. Whoever is doing it could be coming for all the other fire stations and we could be next on the list!” He states as a trail of fear traces down his spine.



“Let’s not think that way. If the person is working with the mafia as the reporter states, we could be in bigger trouble than we think.” Howie whispers softly as he watches the animated cartoons before him in the TV.



“Hey guys, time to go to bed. Early morning tomorrow. We have a special meeting due to the arsonist attacks at eight tomorrow.” Kevin states leaning in the doorway and before closing the door whispers, “Good night guys, see ya in the morning.”



Nick gulps and stares at Howie. Howie bites on his lower lip and turns off the television nervously.



“Sleep, he wants me to sleep after what I just heard! Oh yeah, it’ll be easy to get some sleep tonight now won’t it?” Nick mumbles as he rubs his arms from the sudden chills the news on the T.V. gave him.



“Let’s hope sleep is the only thing we’ll have to worry about. See ya later Nicky. I’m gonna talk to Brian about this.” And with that, Howie leaves the lounge room leaving Nick on his own. Nick walks out the lounge room and flips of the lights before leaving to head to his room. He would talk with A.J. about this. There was a nagging feeling hidden deep in his stomach that something worse than the arsonist will occur but he lets the feeling pass and makes his way up the stairs to find A.J.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



~A Hero Can Live right next door.”



~Chapter Nine- Unions In Fear



- July 28th 2001. 10:15 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.



He opens the door slowly to see A.J. reading a magazine. He squints his ocean blue eyes in the bright florescent light, smiling as he throws himself on the top bunk, landing on his stomach. A.J. looks up from the rug and laughs.



“Yo, what’s up man?” A.J. states grinning, his chocolate eyes glittering in glee.



Nick yawns and informs A.J. of the meeting tomorrow with the company.



“I know, I heard. Nick, you think something bad is gonna happen?” A.J. asks so softly that Nick had to ask if he could repeat.



Nick signs and rolls his eyes, whispering he states, “I think something more worse is gonna happen. I mean the whole arsonist thing is pretty freaky. We could be asleep and a fire could break out in here. But I’m thinking something else, like something, I don’t know. But it’s a feeling inside me that’s letting me know something isn’t all right.”



A feminine voice responds back through the crack of the bedroom door, “That would be called female intuition. I didn’t know you had that.” Giggles Jalisa as she enters the room. Her light brown eyes twinkling in the light.



Laughing the guys stare at her as she states that the meeting has been pushed up to 7:30 in the morning.



“7:30! What? Oh man. I just lost a good thirty minutes of sleep right there.” Grumbles A.J. as he flings his magazine onto of a small dresser.



Jalisa smiles and states, “Night guys.” And with that she closes the door and leaves.



A.J. shuffles in the room as he makes his way to his bed. “Nick I gotta say we did good tonight. You know I heard there was record producer in the restaurant that wanted us to sign.”



Nick laughs, “Oh yeah, like we could be singers.” He states sarcastically.



A.J. chuckles, “I would think we make pretty good singers.”



Nick snorts and laughs, “Sure and we could be famous one day.”



“Hey I don’t like the sarcastic tone coming from your voice.” A.J. says chuckling.



“I see what being famous does to a person personally.” Mumbles Nick.



This caught A.J.’s interest, “Really? Who do you know that’s famous? Oh let me guess that rock group you always talking about right?”



Nick rolls his eyes and places his head under his pillow. “A.J. Let it rest. I’m going to sleep.”



He hears A.J. suck his teeth, “You don’t know anybody famous Carter. Cause if you did why don’t you answer?”



Nick grumbles and states loudly, “Night A.J.”



A.J. grumbles, “You just trying to avoid the question. I know you Nicky boy. But fine leave it at that. But you owe me Nick!” He hears A.J. yawning as he turns off the light. “Night Nick.”



Nick mumbles a goodnight under his pillow as he falls into a fitful sleep.

~*~

Howie walks in the room to see Brian on the phone. Howie tiredly walks over to his full size bed and throws himself on it, burying his warm body under the cool white sheets. He throws the cool thin cotton blanket over his head as Brian hangs up the phone and turns off the light.



“You didn’t think I would let you go to sleep without us talking first right?” Brian states flopping on his own full size bed across from Howie’s.



Howie grumbles and sticks his head out from under the covers. His short brown locks sticks up from his head in small tangle locks. He squints as Brian chuckles and pulls out a small camera snapping a picture of Howie.



Howie blinks hard and stares at Brian angrily.



“What, aw come on man, you look so adorable. I’m sure the rest of the company wants to how cute you look.” Brian states in a high pitch female voice, laughing.



Howie sulks and sticks his head back under the covers as Brian turns off the light in the room and plops down his own bed. “D before you go to sleep. What do think about this whole arsonist thing?”



Howie gulps and peers his head from the under the covers. Gulping he responses, “I don’t know. This just came out of the blue. Now I feel like we should be on guard at all times, cause the manic could be out there ready to take us down.”



Brian gulps and slides beneath his cotton white covers. “I’m thinking something else might be up as well. Like what we’re facing isn’t a big deal compared to what could happen later on.”



Howie stares at the darken room to see the moonlight tracing the figure of his friend Brian. He states at Brian’s silhouette, “I’ve been feeling like that too. I wanna ask Kevin about all this, but I don’t wanna alarm him.”



“Yeah well, until we get this manic guy I won’t be getting any good sleep just to let you know.” Brian states as he hits his head on the pillow and falls asleep.



Howie stares at the sleeping figure of Brian and pulls the covers his own head and waits for sleep to capture his body for tonight.

~*~



He paces in his room back and forth and sits on the edge of the bed. He runs his fingers through his black spikes and lies on his back on the soft bed. He stares at the cream ceiling, his emerald eyes gazing softly in the darkness. Thoughts swirled in his mind about the arsonist, the meeting tomorrow and his safety. Now after all this, he just received some startling news that the government is asking to be prepared for any attacks that could be terrorist. Gulping he stares at a framed picture of him and his wife on his small night stand next to the bed.



“Baby, I’ll make it home to you soon. I promise.” Kevin states as he sighs and closes his eyes. Fear runs through his body as chills tickle his spine. He faces the picture and kisses it. Knowing that’s the only sane thing he has left in his life right now.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~A Hero can live right next door~**



**~Chapter 10- The Plot Thickens~**



-August 16th 2001. 5:32 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve Station.



He drums his fingers impatiently on the wooden rickety table as he waits for Brian to come back to the meeting. He decided to talk with the guys alone without other interruptions. He peers his bored emerald eyes on A.J who is making Nick laugh with a joke he thought of the other day. He feels a grin on his face as he watches the two men beside him laugh. Howie taps Kevin on the shoulder, surprising him.



“Hey Kev. Why you call us here?” Howie asks, his dark eyes penetrating at Kevin.



Kevin sighs and looks around the small conference room in the fire station. “You’ll see. Once Brian gets here, we’ll begin.”



Nick interrupts suddenly, “Hey I like to begin this meeting now before the sun goes down. I want to get my game on.” He says smirking, tossing his basketball to the basket ball stand. The orange ball bounces off the rim and rolls on the black waxed tiles.



“You missed.” A voice said coming from the doorway as Brian enters it.



Nick smirks and rolls his bright blue eyes. “You think you can do better than me?”



Brian chuckles, “I know I’m better than you.”



Kevin raises his hands and stands up silencing the playful men, “Alright, play after. We have to attend to business right now.” And with that pulls out a manila folder and opens it, spreading out 8 by 10 black and white photos over the table.



Howie picks one up and peers at it in interest. “Whoa, Kevin. Where did you get these pictures from?” His mahogany eyes trace the picture in his tan colored hands.



A.J. leans next to Howie and grabs another photo on the table, his mouth drops open at the horrific photo in his hands. He runs his fingers though his black and dyed red hair in nervousness. “Whoa, I think this is some serious problem we’re having.” He whispers, leaning back on the metal chair.



Howie gulps and nods his head as Kevin whistles loudly to Nick and Brian who are fighting over who will hold the basketball.



“You guys this is serious, pay attention!” Kevin says as Brian and Nick both nod their heads and sit down each on a metal folding chair.



Brian holds his breath as his ocean blue eyes scan the graphic photos in front of him. He could feel his heart racing at the sight of the site of the destroyed buildings and lives captured in the photos.



Nick leans over the table and stretches out his hand nervously grabbing a photo. He pulls it to him and takes a closer look, examining it.



Howie breaks the silence besides the humming of the air conditioner, his voice almost a whisper in the silent room, “Where did you get these photos?” He asks, clearing his throat and staring at the other three in the room.



Kevin sighs and picks a photo up from the table, staring it as he speaks. “Lawrence gave them to me yesterday. The police station nearby the area took some pictures and passed it along to him. He figured I showed you the photos and tell me what you think.”



Brian gulps, “What you think our answer will be? This is sick. I mean who ever is doing this has to get captured. Not only are buildings causing destruction but too many lives are at stake.”



“I say we find the bastard that’s the cause of this and let him die in his own plot. Burn him and watch the fire eat him.” A.J. states, his voice reflecting the hurt and anger.



Nick nods his head, “I’m down with A.J’s plan. I say we go get more info and track the guy down. Then do what A.J. planned.” He says softly, pulling out a lighter from his pocket and flicking it open. He watches the small flame dance around in the cool quiet room. A small breeze filters from a small crack in a window, causing the small flame to sway.



Brian snatches the lighter away from Nick and watches the blonde man next to him, “Since when you smoke?”



“I don’t. I always owned this lighter. Fire always intrigued me. How small yet powerful it can be. How from one small flame a fire can start.” Nick states in a dream like gaze.



A.J. intakes a deep breath and bites his lower lip staring at Howie besides him. “I don’t know what to think of this.”



Brian nods his head, “You guys realize this is the third fire station in the city the arsonist burned down. It’s like he’s doing a pattern. I mean it started in Brooklyn and he’s making his way over here.”



“Which is why we need to make every precaution we can to be prepared for this man.” Kevin states gathering the photos from the table and placing them back in the folder. “This meeting is done, you guys can go now.” He says softly, tucking away the photos in the manila folder.



Brian, A.J. and Nick get up from their seats and make their way to the door. Howie grabs Kevin’s shoulder from behind and wait till the other three exited the room. He stands in front of Kevin with concern on his tan golden skin. “Kevin. Something’s bothering you, what is it? You seemed so preoccupied lately. I know something’s up, you’ve been too quiet.”



Kevin sighs and stares at the open door eyeing it to make sure the others were gone. He could trust Howie and he felt if he didn’t tell one of the guys, he’ll only be worrying himself to death. “Look.” He begins whispering, hoping the other three were out of ear shot. “I’ve been receiving some sticky news about how an attack on the nation could be coming. It hasn’t told for certain. But from what I was told, it could lead to severe tragedies up ahead.”



Howie gulps, “Severe tragedies? Like what?” Howie whispers, his eyes wide open.



Kevin shrugs his shoulders, “Don’t know yet. No one knows how exactly, but the attack could be serious.”



Howie shakes his head and runs his fingers down his face as he walks over to window staring at the grand towers before him. The World Trade Center glimmered brightly in the bright hazy sunlight. “So what do you propose we do about those attacks?”



Kevin sighs and stretches out his arms, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s worry about one thing at a time, ok D.”



Howie nods his head and passes his hand over his short brown locks. “Ok.” And with that follows Kevin out the room.

~*~



A.J. flips through the channels endlessly until he stopped at what seemed like his friend singing. A.J. leans closer at the television screen to get a better look at the young boy singing in the television. Something about that boy reminded him of Nick. Could it be the short blonde locks and the similar face features? He couldn’t really identify it but that boy sort of looked like Nick. He places the television on mute and whistles at Nick who’s sitting on the dark blue bean bag with headphones on listening to some rock music. “Nick!” He shouts unsuccessfully as no response was heard. Growling at Nick’s direction, he gets up and grabs the cd player from Nick’s hands. Pushing on the off button, he stares at Nick.



Nick glares at him and shouts, “Why you did that? What’s your problem? I was in the middle of my song.”



A.J. rolls his dark eyes and points to the television. “Were you gonna tell me you had a famous brother? Or was I just suppose to know?” He asks, eying the fidgeting man before him.



Nick lets out a loud sigh and rolls his eyes, “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Yeah he’s famous. And I’m not.” He says sadly.



A.J. lowers his eyes at Nick, “You want to be famous?”



“It’s not that, it’s just well it would be nice to do what my brother does. He tells me all the time how much fun he’s having when he travels. You know he’s been around the world more than two times and the furthest I’ve ever been is here.” Nick says quietly, watching the music video fading to black on the television.



A.J. smirks and breaks into a laugh, “I thought I was the only one feeling that way.”



“Huh? What you think about it all the time too?” Nick asks confused.



A.J. nods his head and pats Nick’s shoulder, “Buddy trust me when I say, that what we’re doing has better benefits than the music world could ever offer.”



“How long did it take you to believe that statement?” Nick states, smiling.



A.J. chuckles, “Two days, no, no wait make that more like two weeks.”



Suddenly the fire alarm goes off, the loud pounding noise screeching in the station, the red lights blink and glow brightly warning the firefighters that something is up. A.J. sighs, “Looks like an emergency.”



“Maybe it’s the arsonist!” Nick shouts over the blaring alarm noise.



Brian runs into the lounge room, his blue eyes wide open in surprise, “You guys the station down Union street was struck by the arsonist! We gotta head over there now!” He states running out the room throwing on the fire fighter attire.



Nick gulps as his heart hammers against his chest. He quickly rushes out the room and grabs the firefighter coat and pants, throwing it on himself. A.J. does the same and both quickly throw the attire on and tops it off with the helmet. Kevin smiles and pats Nick on the shoulder, “Hey I won’t let anything happen to you, ok.”



Nick nods his head and for that moment felt comforted.



Howie helps Nick board in the engine as follows up behind him as Kevin and Brian rush to the front of the engine. Kevin takes the passenger’s seat as Brian gets the driver’s seat. A.J. hops in the back with the other two and claps his hand. “Ok guys, we’re gonna get this guy and burn his a…”



“Ahhh!” Howie’s scream interrupts A.J. Nick laughs as he flicks the quite large furry spider that had suddenly appeared on Howie’s shoulder.



“D, it’s gonna be ok. It’s off your shoulder.” Nick states happily.



Howie glares at him and looks at A.J manically.



A.J. simply smiles and shrugs his shoulders innocently. “Hey it’s off you right. I had nothing to do with it.”



And with that the engine pulls away, the siren blasting through the station as the fire alarm on the top of the engine glows brightly and begins twirling. Brian fidgets in his seat and clutches the steering wheel as he drives out the station. Brian through all the noise: glances at Kevin besides him. He sees his cousin with his eyes closed whispering something to himself.



Brian leans in to hear what Kevin was mumbling to himself and was surprise to hear Kevin praying. Brian gulps and focuses on the road in front of him hoping that God heard Kevin’s prayer and that no one was dead when they arrive.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”

**~A hero can live right next door to us~

**~Chapter Eleven- Left in Darkness~**

-August 16th 2001. 6:12PM. New York City, New York. Union Square, 14th street. Fire Company 4 Station.

The white misty smoke creeps along the air as the red engine abruptly stops. The smoke invaded their hearts making it difficult to inhale or breathe properly. Kevin opens the passenger side door and grabs his helmet. Brian jumps out the driver side door and races over to unroll the hose. Howie, A.J. and Nick leap off the back of the engine and help Brian unroll the hose.

Kevin’s heart pattered in anxiety as he blindly makes his way through the thick fog of smoke that clouded his vision. His emerald eyes water with stinging tears as the mist aggregates it. He could see some of the firemen from that company looking around lost and helpless as they stare at what once was their station that towered over that small community. Kevin looks for his friend among the crowd of firefighters from that station. Gently pushing through the large amount of burly firefighters his eyes landed on his friend or rather what was left of his friend. “Adam.” His voice cracked at the corpse of his friend who unfortunately was the first victim of the arsonist fire’s. The body was lying on the ground with a black blanket concealing the burnt form of the remains of the firefighter.

“We tried to get him out on time but he didn’t listen. He wanted to be the hero and get everyone out of the building before he did. He was the last one out and by then it was too late.” A young firefighter stated. The young blue green eyes of the firefighter that spoke to Kevin had stained tears. “Kevin he was a good man. I don’t have the heart to tell his family. I’m thinking since you were the closest to him and his family that you can tell them.” Jeremy, the young firefighter told Kevin.

Kevin nods his head as he hears the guys from his company calling for him.

“Kev. Come on man, we need your help holding this hose.” A.J. shouts as he, Howie and Brian hold the hose, spraying the rushing strong pressured water at the thick flames that was consuming the station. Nick was unrolling another hose as he tries to steady it towards the fire’s direction. Kevin runs over and helps Nick out, “Ok buddy I got it.” Kevin states smiling as Nick nods his head and holds the hose with shaking hands. Nick walks over to the fire hydrant and attaches the hose with the small opening in the fire hydrant.

After the fire was taken out, only the thick suffocating smoke lingers in the atmosphere, causing everyone to cough heavily. Brian drops the hose and walks over to the young firefighters from that station. He glances at the man named Jeremy who’s blue green eyes sparkle with anxiety. Fear lurked behind those big eyes of that man as he stands fidgeting in a white tank top and dark blue jeans. “Hey Jeremy, when the fire break out?”

Jeremy bits his lower lip and with his light brown finger, points to the lobby of the station, “It started about 5:35, I was in the lobby and one of the first out. I saw like a tiny black bomb like explosive crash through the front window. I tried to detonate it but I wasn’t fast enough. It started blinking and I screamed out to the others. The first twenty of us made it out without a scratch. The others were upstairs and Adam who was with me at first outside, decided to head back in the station to get the others upstairs. He…” Jeremy’s voice trailed off as a sob escaped from his throat. “He never made it out.” Jeremy finished as his shoulder rack with his wailing.

Brian thought his lost the ability to breathe for that one moment, “Adam’s gone. I can’t believe it.” He remembered how when he first joined the company, Adam and Kevin had a close friendship. Adam always looked at Kevin as an older brother and Kevin cared for him when Adam caught the flu. There was something about Adam’s attitude that inspired Brian. Adam gave the true meaning of a champion, he cared about others before himself. He remembered how bubbly and happy Adam was, always making everyone around him smile. And if someone was upset for whatever reason, Adam would do his best to get them to laugh or least grin. “Something is only as bad as you make it” was his motto. His presence brought the sunlight of God on people’s faces and that was so joyful. One couldn’t help but smiling whenever Adam was around and now that sunlight has left. Only darkness now remains and no one can fill that spot like Adam. His thoughts are interrupted by Jeremy, “Hey Brian, they’re calling you.”

Brian turns to see the little girl he saved a while back, Samantha, running up to him. Her big hazel eyes glimmer in the evening sunlight, her brown locks tumbling over her shoulders. She giggles and smiles when she spots Brian and he embraces the little girl in a hug. He bends down and looks into her soft eyes, she smiles and whispers, “Where’s daddy? Did you save my daddy? I know you did, cause you’re so good at that.” Samantha stated, her grin spreading across her face.

Nick walks over to where Brian and little girl are talking, he listens as Brian’s ocean blue eyes begin filling with tears. Something was wrong, very wrong and Nick couldn’t understand it. The little girl Samantha looks up at Nick and smiles, her soft peach colored complexion glitters in the soft sunlight. “Brian saved my daddy before. I know he did the same today.”

Nick smiles and gazes at Brian to see him shaking his head in grief. Something was very wrong. Howie pulls Nick aside and whispers that the only causality was of that man Adam who was the girl’s father. Now Nick understood why Brian was upset, the girl just lost her father and Brian had to break the news to her. Nick watches as Brian picks up the little girl in his arms and holding her in a tight hug, he whispers to her in her ear in a soft tone, “Sam, you’re daddy is sleeping right now. God wants him to do a special job for him, God is taking care of your daddy.” He states as his voice cracks in pain and grief. He places Samantha gently on her feet on the ash clouded street.

Samantha gazes sadly at Brian as small tears leaked out of the corner of her eye. “Why did God have to take daddy now?” She whispers to Brian. He smiles painfully and strokes her brown locks gently on her head.

“I’m not sure sweetie. Sometimes God sees something special in people that He needed them right away.” Brian whispers, tears now clearly rolling down his face. Nick watches on at the heartbreaking scene before him.

Samantha stuck out her lower lip and blinks back more of her soft tears. “But I need him, not God.”

A.J. Nick and Howie all watch the emotional scene with the girl and Brian and it broke their hearts to know that one of their finest firefighters are gone.

Kevin breaks the crowd of firefighters that surrounded Brian and Samantha and picks Samantha up in his arms. “Do me a big favor Sammy. I want you to be brave for all of us ok. You can do it. I don’t want your mom to be scared. I know you can do it.” He states and gently kisses her on her forehead before placing her back on the ground.

Samantha looks at Kevin and smiles softly, “Ok. I’ll be strong like my daddy.”

Nick smiles as he feels a cool tear roll down his cheek. It was time to go for now and Kevin and Brian decided to stay with the others and talk with the police about the crime. A.J. tugs on Nick’s shoulder and pulls him away from the crowd of people around Samantha and Brian. “Come on kid, let’s go. There’s nothing else for us to do here.”

Nick nods his head and gulps holding back the tears that would have overtook him watching the little girl learn about her father’s death. Howie looks grimly at the scene of the ruined station and at the sad expressions of the firefighters of that place. It would be an emotional weekend this week when the funeral will be held to honor Adam.

A.J. gazes his dark chocolate eyes at Nick and pats him on the shoulder. “What’s wrong Nick?”

Nick gulps and shakes his head, “I, I never saw a corpse before until today.” He speaks, his voice breaking off, as he seems lost and spaced out.

“I know what you mean. The first time I saw someone dead, I was in shock for like five days. It can get to ya. What’s sad though is this is part of our life. As firefighters we see people die.” A.J. states as he runs his tan colored hands over his face wiping off some soot that had settled on him.

Howie sighs and gets into the driver’s seat of the fire engine. He chews on his lower lip as he slides in the driver’s seat, letting the wet tears make their welcome down his face. He felt terrible today cause he only knew Adam for only a short time. But he knew Brian, Kevin and A.J. were the closet to Adam and were the ones suffering the most. A.J. walks over with Nick to the back of the engine.

“You wanna sit with Howie in the front? I think he needs the company and you can get to know him more.” A.J. states. He wanted Nick to go because he just wasn’t in the talking mood and he needed time to reflect on his own. Nick glumly smiles and heads over to the passenger’s side of the engine. A.J leaps on the back of the engine and stares at the crowd of firefighters, policemen, paramedics and media reporters that had gathered at the station. The engine pulls away and suddenly A.J lets the tears that he was holding back, release. The wet streaks stain his face as it rolls down pass his cheek. He feels the burning and stinging of the tears well up in his soft eyes as he unleashes the pain he had since coming here. It hurts him to know that one of his close friends, Adam, is now dead. He left behind an amazing wife and a precious daughter. A.J. drops on his knees as the engine rolls down the highway. The soft cool breeze stings his warm flesh as the tears continue flowing out. The sky lighted up in orange and yellow as it beams down on him. He clutches his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around it. He would cry for the entire ride, he knew it. The hurt was too strong and the pain will remain. He would call his mother when he reaches the station, he needed to call her. After this incident, he didn’t want to lose another opportunity. Life is too short for that and he needed to hear his mother’s soothing voice near him. Then he will call his fiancé later to tell her he loves her before it’s too late. He needed some light and she would be that light he needed. He was tired of always staying in the dark about the reality of pain, now more than ever, the light from his mother will be his comforter this evening.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…**~

“A Hero’s Heart”

**~A Hero can live right next door~**

**~Chapter Twelve- A Day to Remember~**

-August 22nd, 2001. 9:15 AM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.

He pulls on the black tie and straightens it out as he gazes at the dresser mirror. He feels the lump in his throat rising as he blinks back tears. Today was supposed to be a joyful day for him. A day for him to go out and celebrate his birthday but instead he’s mourning over the lost of a good friend and close companion to the company. The small bathroom door opens and Brian steps out of it: his eyes red and swollen from crying, gazes at his friend Howie who’s standing in front of the dresser.

“Happy birthday D.” Brian hoarsely whispers and manages a small smile. His deep ocean blue eyes stare at Howie. There was pain behind those blue orbs, Howie could tell. He earlier had woken up to hear Brian crying in the bathroom. It was as if he didn’t want Howie to see him crying. Maybe that was how he handled the pain. As for him, he seemed numbed by the whole thing. Not that he was trying to avoid the shocking pain but it just seemed so deep in his body that he wasn’t responding.

Howie grins and does a quick nod, “Thanks. I’m getting old huh?”

Brian smiles passing his hand through his dirty blond locks, “Na, when you’re thirty then we’re talking.”

Howie chuckles and sniffs softly the cool morning breeze that enters through the open window. Howie could tell this was gonna be another hot day from the sticky humidity that entered through the window. He could feel himself already beginning to sweat, but that was the least of his problems. The door to the room opens as Nick steps in all dressed in black like the others.

Nick gulps and gently closes the door behind him. Clearing his throat, he looks at Howie and smiles. “I just wanted to come in and wish you a happy birthday D.” He states quietly, standing uncomfortably in the black attire: a black blouse and pants. His blonde locks are spiky today as he gazes at his friends.

Howie grins, “Thank you. I guess we should go now. We don’t wanna be late today now do we?”

Nick shakes his head and opens the door letting Brian out first. “Hey Brian, how you feeling today?” He asks concerned.

Brian manages a small smile, “I’m dealing, if that’s what you wanna know.”

Nick shakes his head and gulps, “Ok.” He could feel death is something that affects everyone in a different way and he understood how Brian was responding.

Howie closes the door and they head down the carpeted hallway and down the stairs in the fire station to meet the others.
~*~

A.J glances up from the sofa to see Jalisa stick her head through the doorway. “Hey Alex, there you are. I was looking for you” She whispers gently afraid to upset the man before her. She passes her peach colored hands down her black skirt and black blouse. “I just wanted to know if there is anything I can do.” She states, her light chocolate eyes eyeing the man on the worn black sofa. Her dark medium brown locks were tied in a low ponytail as she takes a deep breath.

A.J. stares at the black screen of the television which is off and twiddles his fingers together. He sniffs and passes his tan colored hands over his goatee. Mumbling, he stares at the black screen, “Can you bring him back?”

Jalisa sighs and shakes her head, ‘You know I can’t do that.”

A.J. nods his head softly, whispering, “Then you can’t help.” And with that closes his eyes and places his black shades over his teary swollen eyes.

“It’s time to go Alejandro. We have to get there by ten.” Jalisa whispers.

A.J. nods his head and follows her out the lounge room.
~*~

He runs his fingers through his black spikes and stares at the reflection of himself in front of dresser mirror. He sits down on the wooden chair and sighs. He was a mess. He was supposed to be downstairs now to meet the guys but he didn’t know if he could walk. It just seemed like this passing week went by in slow motion and each day just seems to suck the breath out of him more. The day of Adam’s death, he was responsible for calling his family and informing them of the man’s death. It was hard enough for him to speak and to be the bearer of bad news didn’t help either. His family would be coming into New York today to go to the wake that will be held this morning and following that, the funeral will take place. Kevin didn’t know if he could handle all this sorrow. His heart ache too much and it felt like there was a shocking numbness to the whole ordeal. He had to convince himself that it was real and that his friend did pass away. He grabs a pad and scribbles down something, anything that would be help him get away or at least express his mixed emotions. On the pad, he jots down these words,

Life goes on as it never ends.
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze.

He jolts in surprise when his door opens by Darrel who sticks his head in, “Hey there you are. Come on Kevin, we have to get going. We’ll be running late if we don’t leave in ten minutes.” His light brown hair lies straight as his light brown eyes glitter in the soft morning sun light. Kevin closes the writing pad and throws it in a small trash basket besides the dresser. And with that he follows Darrel out the door.
~*~

He stares at the large group of people that had gathered for Adam. Many people there were the people Adam saved. The rest was firefighters from all over the city as well as his family. He feels a little hand tug on his black sleeve and he gazes down to see the big hazel eyes of Samantha. Her pretty eyes clouded in tears.

“Is it ok if I can stop being brave now?” Samantha asks, her caramel complexion glittered softly in the bright sunlight. Her brown locks were tied in a braided ponytail as her black simple dress covered her small body. Her eight year old eyes held unshed tears.

Nick nods and squats down on his knees to her height. He stares at her as he feels her small arms being thrown around his neck. “Why did daddy have to go now? Why couldn’t he stay with me? Mommy misses him and she hasn’t sleep since it happened. Everyone is sad.” She states and silently cries, the tears splashing down on her precious face.

Nick began getting choked up and didn’t know what to say to her. What could he say that will bring happiness back into her life? Nothing. And that is exactly what he does, nothing as he watches Samantha crawl into his arms. He squats there letting little Samantha bury her soft head in the crook of his neck as she cries her eyes out. He rubs her back gently and closes his eyes. This is the job he wanted, so why was he beginning to regret signing up as a firefighter? He worked too hard for him to give up and walk away. Like A.J. had said, death is part of this job. He would have to learn to deal with the pain and continue working.

“Nick.” A small voice answered. Nick looks down to see Samantha staring back at him. “I’m sorry I made you sad.”

Nick flinches at her words and shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it. It’s ok to be sad. You’re dad was a great guy.”

Samantha smiles and clutches her small arms around Nick’s neck. “I know he is. Mommy told me that he did a lot of great things and that he helped a lot of people. Like that old lady over there.” She points to an elderly dark colored woman sitting in one of the pews of the funeral home. “Mommy said that lady’s house was burning real bad and the woman couldn’t hear her fire alarm go off cause she lost her hearing a while back. But daddy came in and carried that lady out before the fire touched her. That was brave cause everyone else was too afraid to go in the burning apartment.” She states with a bit of pride and sadness in her voice.

Nick nods his head, “Yup, your dad was great.”

Samantha smiles and climbs off Nick. Standing up she cups her hand around a small heart necklace she is wearing. “Daddy was gonna give me this for my birthday next week, but mommy said I can open it now.” She says softly and opens the golden heart jewel to expose the picture of her and her father in an embrace.

Nick’s eyes water as he looks at the picture. He traces the tiny jewelry with his finger and smiles, “It’s beautiful.”

Samantha smiles and bats her wet hazel eyes at him, “I know.”

“Nick, it’s about to begin.” Chief Lawrence states as he holds a red rose in his hand. Nick nods and holding onto Samantha’s hand walk over to the large crowd as the wake begins.
~*~

Howie sighs as he looks at how depressed A.J was sitting in the pews. The wake finished over an hour ago and they were the only two left in the funeral home. “J, we can’t stay here. We have to go to the funeral now.” He whispers softly gazing at his broken hearted friend.

A.J. looks over at Howie slowly and sighs, his wet eyes glimmer his deep chocolate eyes. “I can’t do this D. I mean I shouldn’t be here at the funeral home. He should have lived. He had a family.”

“Alex, stop blaming yourself for this. You had nothing to do with this.” Howie gently whispers.

“I know that D. But if I had taken the time to stop by and visited him earlier, I could have at least saved him from going back in there. I could have talked to him and change what could have happened.” A.J. states grimly.

Howie gulps and stands up, “Look, I’m going with Darrel. If you see Kevin tell him that we’re at the Roosevelt Island, next to the bay.” And with that Howie exits the funeral home with his heart troubled in sadness.

A.J. stands up, “Wait! D, hold up.”

Howie stops at the entrance and turns around confused, “What, what happened?” He asks concerned.

“Happy birthday buddy.” A.J. whispers.

Howie smiles and nods his head, “Thanks, some birthday huh?”

A.J. nods his head, “Yeah.” He sighs and they both head out.
~*~

-August 22nd, 2001. 10:30 am. Roosevelt Island, Queens. New York.

Kevin stares around at the beautiful ocean, his emerald eyes reflecting the colors of the ocean. He sighs and closes his eyes. He cried himself out, there were no more tears left in him and to a point he felt free, free from the pain and sadness that held it’s strong embrace for the past week. A large crowd had already gathered at the bay. Under the wife’s permission, Adam was cremated and she would throw his ashes into the ocean. She told Kevin, Adam was fond of the water, no wonder he became a firefighter. Kevin watches as Nick, Brian, Howie and A.J. make their way to him. Kevin smiles as the guys approach him. From the corner of his eyes he could see Summer and Skye watching from a distance. “Tell the girls to come in. They knew who Adam was.” He tells one of the firefighters from Adam’s company.

Brian reaches Kevin and sighs as Kevin leans towards his smaller cousin. “This wasn’t suppose to be.” He hears Brian muttering.

“I know but what can we do?” Kevin asks softly as the crowd gathered to begin the ceremony.

“Live.” Nick states, his ocean blue eyes a shade lighter today as the tears had cleared away. Summer and Skye enters the area and sadly gazes at the men.

“I heard and I couldn’t believe it.” Skye states quietly, her beautiful green eyes glitter with unshed tears. The golden specks in her eyes reflect with the touch of the sunlight. Her freckles lie scattered gently across her pale face. Summer, stares at the ocean and sniffs, her little hands clutch onto Kevin’s hand, “I miss Adam, he used to baby sit me and Samantha. Now he left and I didn’t say bye.” She states sadly, her blonde locks blow gently in the soft wind as the trumpets began blowing a sad melody.

The firefighters in Adam’s company were dressed in uniforms: a deep blue blazer type jacket with golden buttons all down in a row. All are wearing a white what seemed like a police officers hat with a black and golden trimming in the front of the cap. There are about ten marching as two of them are blowing trumpets. The three women firefighters of that company walk in the center with the wife of Adam in front of them. The three women are dressed in white flowing dresses, laced up in a halter up. They are throwing white petals as Adam’s wife walks in the center. Her grey eyes sparkle with tears, her soft caramel complexion glowed brightly in the morning sunlight. In her hands she held a clear glass vase with the ashes of her deceased husband. When she reaches the end of the pier, she leans near the edge of pier and gently tilts the glass vase, letting Adam’s ashes tumble on the water’s surface. The ashes drift away as a small current carries Adam’s ashes away toward the horizon. A priest begins reading from the Bible as Adam’s wife clutches onto her little daughter tightly.

Howie watches all this and the pain throbbing in his chest unleashes the cries he held in for a while. Tears stream down his face as he watches the others there, grieve and cry. Howie gulps and closes his eyes. Whispering, he says softly, “Happy birthday to me.”
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”

-A Hero can live right next door-

**~Chapter Thirteen- The Slaying of a Dragon~**

-August 29th 2001. 7:46 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West 23rd street. Fire Company twelve fire house.

He yawns and sits up in the bed rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He was lucky he didn’t share his room with the other firefighters for they would be concerned for his health. Sleep hasn’t been easy for him with all the troubles he experienced this past month. It’s been a month since the arsonist has been on the loose and a week since Adam’s funeral. Through all that time, Kevin was amazed that the arsonist hasn’t been captured. Two mafia men managed to get caught through out the time being but the fire starter was still loose. He gets up and walks over to the dresser scrounging and flipping through pages to find what he wrote the day of Adam’s funeral. He peers next to the dresser to the trash can and recalled he had dropped the paper in there. Reaching in the nearly empty paper filled small trash can, he pulls out the paper he was looking for. Taking out the creases from the wrinkled paper, he sits down and pulls out a black ink pen to jot down more ideas and thoughts he wanted to express. He sighs and scratches the side of his black raven spiked hair and gazes at the paper waiting for an idea to hit him. His emerald eyes stare at the wrinkled paper:

Life goes on as it never ends
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze

Suddenly the door to his room opens as an excited Nick peers in, “Hey Kev, Whatcha doing?” Nick asks softly, the look of curiosity appearing in his ocean blue eyes.

Kevin smirks, “Writing, nothing important if you wanna know. Nick come here and tell me what you think of this” He states holding up the sheet of paper with his writing on it.

“Oh cool.” Nick states and walks over reaching for the paper. He scans the paper quickly and sticks his lower lip out in amazement. “Wow, this is pretty deep. Is this a song?” He asks curiously staring at his friend who seemed exhausted.

“No.” Kevin states confused and surprised. “It’s what I was feeling the day of Adam’s funeral. Just my thoughts that’s all.”

“Oh wow. Cool. No, what I mean is that it’s cool you wrote down your feelings, not that you had to feel sad to write.” Nick states the confusion arising in his voice. He drums his fingers on the mahogany dresser nervously believing that he felt he made a complete fool of himself.

Kevin laughs and nods his head, “It’s ok Nick. I understand you strangely enough.” He states sitting on a leather recliner.

Nick smirks and watches the evening sunset stream through the window in the room as the strange silence between the two dwell. “Oh, look at this.” As Nick picks up the black pen and scribbles something on the paper, adding to what Kevin wrote.

Guilty roads to an endless love
There’s no control
Are you with me now?
Your every wish will be done
They tell me…

Then Nick looks up and stares at Kevin, “Well that’s all I got so far. What do you think?”

Kevin nods his head, “Wow, this is good. You’re a pro.” He states amazed.

Suddenly the door to Kevin’s room burst open as Brian, Howie and A.J. all try to fit through the doorway to get to the room. A.J. being the slimmest, slips between Brian and Howie and laughing races over to the large television in Kevin’s room. He flips through the channels and lands on the live news.

“Kevin you won’t believe this! Watch the news! Look at what happened!” Brian states laughing. Howie smiles and claps when the news begins. Nick and Kevin face the television and watch as a reporter and a camera zooms in to a white slim masked man getting arrested and led to a police car. The reporter talks stating that the man was about to light up and burn the fire station located in the upper west side. But was caught suddenly and arrested when in the act of ignition and lighting the bombs strategically placed around the station.

“The fire starter is now caught and the community can now live in peace. This man will be in jail for a long time so no worries. This is Angela Houghton from the channel five news, reporting to you live on the scene as the arsonist is captured.” And A.J. turns off the TV, staring at Kevin’s face eagerly.

“Well? Dude the guy is caught!! Can you believe it? We don’t have to worry about the sicko anymore. The Mafia went down with that little plot of theirs and come to find out it came to be from the sick demented minds of the few weirdo’s who thought that fire would look interesting on fire stations. It looks like the police have been tracking them for while. For over two months now and they traveled to different states.” Howie states, his soft dark tan glows in the evening sun coming through the window.

“Man did that sick man have to come here of all places?” Brian asks, shaking his head.

Darrel and Chief Lawrence walked into the room with grins on their faces. “Will you look at that? That little son of gun was caught.” Darrel states, his light chocolate eyes stare at the TV screen before him.

Lawrence claps his hands loudly to catch the others attention, his grey eyes stare at the men in the room. “I say we go out and celebrate. This bastard was caught and the city is safe again.”

A.J smiles and yet in his heart he feels a ting of hurt from his loss of Adam. “At least now, Adam can truly rest in peace.”

Nick nods his head and grabs the paper on Kevin’s dresser, “Ooh, ooh, guys check this out. Me and Kevin wrote this.”

Howie yawns and take the paper, smiling. Brian and A.J. lean over as Darrel and chief Lawrence stare in confusion at what the others are reading.

“Wow, you guys wrote this. This is nice. Maybe we can all add what we felt about that day to this song.” Brian states, as he reaches for a pen to jot down some more lines. He writes his feelings above the two guys verses and this is what he wrote:

So many words for the broken heart
It’s hard to see in a crimson love
So hard to breathe
Walk with me, and maybe

Then A.J. reading the words on the paper, snatches the sheet and races over to the dresser to write down his feelings below Brian’s verse. The rest of the guys all look confused and Chief Lawrence and Darrel watch as silence consumes the room.

Nights of light so soon become
Wild and free I could feel the sun
Your every wish will be done
They tell me…

Darrel leans over the dresser next to A.J. impressed as Lawrence scratches the side of his bald head in confusion. The silence in the room seems strange compared to all the noise outside with the honking of car horns and people talking as they pass by the station.

The eerie quietness lurks in the room until Jalisa enters the room with a note. Her light brown eyes twinkle in nervousness “Hey, hey guys I think you might wanna read this.” She states anxiously handing the small note to chief Lawrence. His big chocolate hands grab the note and his grey eyes scan it.

“Well one beast in down and another beast arises.” The deep resounding voice of Lawrence states. Sighing he whistles to get the attention of the guys. “We have a big problem you guys. The police is tracking down some unexpected activities occurring in some plane testing classes down in Florida. I think we should have a meeting about how this can be a danger tonight at nine. So you can get some dinner and we as a whole company, that includes you too Jalisa, will figure out what clues are being noted from here.”

Nick shrugs his shoulders, “What illegal activities?”

“Drop it Nick.” A.J. murmurs under his breath.

“What, I wanna know.” Nick states, “I mean he can’t leave it like this and then go to a meeting not knowing the details.”

Lawrence glares at Nick and shakes his head. “Kevin I suggest you talk with your young firefighter here why there will be a meeting. His questions will get answered there.” And with that Chief Lawrence leaves the room leaving an alarmed Darrel behind.

“Well that’s unusual for the chief to get a bit jumpy like that. Guess we should watch what we say huh?” Darrel states, his tan face getting sweaty with the intense heat permeating through the window.

Nick gulps, “Man what’s up his a…”

“A choo.” A.J. sneezes at the same time, interrupting Nick’s statement. As Kevin slaps Nick on the back of his head, “Watch your mouth.” He smirks as all five men happy that one danger is solved and yet anxious about the new one that will happen, leave the room waiting to see what will be foretold in the meeting.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



**~I can be your hero baby. I can kiss away the pain- “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias



**~Chapter Fourteen- The Beginning of the End



-September 6th 2001. 8:05 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 25th street. Fire company Twelve Adolescence section.



Yawning, she ruffles through piles of clothing her mother has sent her through the mail yesterday. Her soft ocean blue eyes gaze at the dreaded plaid pants her mother thought she would look good in, lying on her full size bed. A giggle was heard from her roommate who is staring at Rose with pity in her eyes.



“You know I heard plaid was coming back in style.” Her roommate answered, her blue green eyes shining brightly.



Rose glares at her friend and flings the pants on the floor. “She has to be bugging if she thinks I’m gonna wear this. I’ll be the laughing stock of this company.”



Her friend Anita stands up from the chair she was reclining and picks up the pants: its grey lines disturbing the forest green color of the pants. “Man, the colors on these pants are awful. I really feel bad for you now, you know.”



Rose runs her fingers down her golden locks in frustration, “She’s trying to help, my poor mom needs to get fashion advice before pulling this off.”



Anita smirks and runs her light chocolate fingers through her jet black braided hair. “Sorry to hear that. She’ll learn one day. Just give her time.”



Rose laughs and collapses on the bed along side Anita, both in fits of giggles as they struggle to compose themselves.



Anita leans on her elbow and rolls her on side staring at Rose’s face, “So, you never told me what you think of the guys at station twelve.”



Rose smirks, “The guys in this station?”



Anita smiles, her red lips widen on her light chocolate face, “Let me rephrase that question, I’m talking the men at station twelve.”



Rose blushes, “Oh the men! Now we’re talking. The blond man with the blue eyes is so sweet. You know, Nick. He’s great. He bought me a bouquet of sunflowers and said it reminded him of me.”



Anita’s mouth drops open, “No way, the guys is like in his twenties and he’s hitting on you! He’s so fine for a white boy that is. No way, why can’t I have that luck?”



Rose giggles and rolls her eyes at her friend, “I guess I’m just lucky.”



Anita sticks out her lower lip and smiles, “Too lucky for some. I’m envying you right now Rain.”



Rose giggles and rolls on her stomach on the bed, “Well envy away girl, cause I think I might have found me a man. No boys for me, I got a man!”



Anita laughs at the statement, “Well let’s not bring up our hopes now, shall we? I think you might have some competition. I heard that intern that’s working there could be the eye candy for your dear Nick.”



Rose smiles, “Jalisa’s cool. I ain’t worried about her, she can play with him but I’ll have his heart in the end.”



Anita gets off the bed and laughs, “Girl you’re too much for me, let’s go. I heard Chief Sandy Rollin is wanting to talk with our company about some problem we should get prepared to do.”



Rose nods and follows Anita out the door but before closing the door, she turns back to stare at the heinous pants that lied crumpled on the floor near her soft plush rug. ‘I gotta get rid of that. I don’t think I’ll sleep with that at the foot of my bed tonight. It might come and attack me while I’m sleeping.’ She thinks to herself and disappears down the hallway following Anita.

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:15 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



He opens one blue eye slowly and gazes at the bright colors of the news. He mutes it and stares at the screen, his eyes on the news but his mind is elsewhere. He twists his wedding band on his finger nervously: his mind seems too unfocused since the last meeting. Since last week’s first meetings, the conferences have gotten longer and more frequently. He feels edgy and recalls the first meeting about reports that a possible threat could hurt the society and pertain to some form of terrorism. Nothing made much sense since then. Police have been tracking and reporting unusual suspects learning and taking driving courses somewhere in Florida. But nothing was certain and no new real information could be used.



“Brian, you ok?” His cousin’s deep voice interrupts his thoughts.



“Not really.” Brian sighs and pats the empty space next to him on the worn dark sofa in the lounge room.



“Wanna talk about it?” Kevin asks quietly, grabbing the remote and shutting off the television.



“I don’t know. I’m confused; I’m not sure what I’m feeling.” Brian states, eyeing his wedding ring.



Kevin gulps and nods his head, “I know. We should have nothing to fear. We live in a country that’s strong and powerful, we’re protected…I think.” Kevin whispers the last words.



“Something serious is gonna happen right, you can feel it, can you?” Brian whispers, he runs his fingers through his sandy blonde hair anxiously.



Kevin smirks, “I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but we’ll be ok. That I know.”



Brian nods his head and leans back on the sofa whispering, “I’m not so sure things will ever be the same.”

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:24 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve Station.



He turns over on his bed and yawns. He opens one eye slowly as the cool white cotton sheets lie tangled at his feet. He is greeted by a masked face of a gorilla. He could feel his heart leap into his throat for that second as he struggles to jump out of bed and points to the gorilla masked man.



“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Howie yells, the surprise in his voice.



Laughter is his response from behind the gorilla mask. “Dude relax, it looked like you were gonna piss on yourself.” Nick states as he yanks off the mask and points to Howie laughing.



Howie smiles and joins in the laughter, “Aight, you got me good. But I won’t take this lying down.” Howie states as he stumbles off the edge of the bed and trips on the tangled sheets wrapped around his ankles. He lands on his stomach and gazes embarrassed at Nick who is now in hysterics.



“Yo D, by the looks of it, it looks like you might have to take this down after all.” Nick states in between giggles.



Howie rolls his eyes and stands up rubbing his stomach, heads for the bathroom.



“Whoa, wait, D. Hold up. Where you going?” Nick asks still in the middle of his laughter.



“To piss in the toilet and when I’m done, I’ll finish spraying the rest on you.” Howie states smiling as Nick makes a disgusted face.



“Well, when you’re done. We have to train the teenagers in the other station to prepare them for anything. Oh and by the way, wash your hands when you’re done.” Nick states smirking and leaves the room.



Howie sighs and closes the bathroom door knowing today will be a long day for him. And Nick better watch his back cause revenge will be sweet will it comes.

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:30 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve Station.



He stares at the liqueur bottle in the small fridge in his room. He opened the small box like fridge to stare at the clear Barcardi bottle sitting there unused. It was tempting to drown his sorrows in the bottle and possibly forget his troubles. Since Adam’s funeral, the constant conferences, the company is suddenly having, it would be quick to solve the dilemma with a nice cool drink of the strong liquid. He loved the burning feeling his throat would sense when bathed in the liquid but today: today it was too early to drink and the other guys would later meet the young teen firefighters in the station two blocks down. And him being drunk would only cause more problems than anything. He runs his tan colored fingers down his right arm and stares at one of the Chinese symbols on his arm. One of them, marked peace seems to perplex him now. “Peace, yeah right. Peace is the last thing I felt since two weeks ago or since the beginning of the month.” He sighs and closes the small fridge loudly and stands up to go wash his face at the bathroom sink.



“A.J. Yo, A.J. You in here?” He hears Nick enter the room.



“Yeah, in the bathroom, what is it?” A.J. shouts as he greets Nick in the bathroom doorway.



Nick smirks and his eyes glittering in glee, states that Howie fell for the joke. “J, man you should have seen his face when he woke up it was to die for.”



A.J. laughs and wipes the dripping water off his face with a small towel on the bathroom railing. “Oh man I missed it. His face! Uh, you took a picture of it right? I would love to see that reaction again.”



Nick shakes his head a mist his laughter, “Sorry but you missed out. I told you to wake up so we can do this but you mumbled something in your sleep about ‘Honey not now, little Alex isn’t ready to party yet.’ So I assumed you weren’t interested.” Nick states with joy in his voice as he watches an embarrassed A.J. blush to a bright red.



Brian opens the door and tells the two to head downstairs to get something to eat, they’ll met with the younger firefighters at the fancy breakfast hall they rented out recently. As they head out, Brian, smiling turns to A.J., “I didn’t know you blush. I guess Nick must have found something about you and I wanna know.”



A.J. sighs and sucks his teeth, “Yeah well it’s a long story and you’re not gonna find out.”



Brian grins and holds up a tape recorder, “Or am I?” He chuckles as he pushes the play button on the small tape recorder in his hands.



A.J could feel his eyes open wide as Nick pats his shoulder, “See even the best can be caught screwing up, oops did I say that.” Nick states, laughing at his irony and playing with the words.



“Oh God give me patience so I won’t kill Nick today. I’ll need all the strength cause right now, they’re going down. Amen.” A.J. mutters under his breath and chases down the hallway after the two who are laughing their heads off.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”



“After the verb ‘to love,’ ‘to help’ is the most beautiful verb in the world.”- Bertha Von Sutter



**~Chapter fifteen- One Wish~**



-September 7, 2001. 2:35 PM. New York City, New York. 96th street, Lexington Avenue.



The raging fire billows out the small window as the flames eat away at the wood. The rush of water blasts out, shooting the fire in a fierce fight to win. The fire starts to consume the small cottage as the trees begin burning, crying out in pain. The arrow of water drowns out the cries and heals the tree, dispersing the fire out.



A.J. runs around the side of the house and climbs in through the shattered window in the kitchen. Nick and Howie hold the large water hose spraying the gentle cooling water on the harmful flames. The thick intoxicating smoke rises and lingers in the atmosphere as the fire dies out. Brian along with Darrel hold onto another water hose and finish drenching the fire out. A.J. pulls on his black fire coat and jumps into the burned kitchen. The entire area was burnt thoroughly and was left with black soot. A.J. crunches over the splintered wood of the table and makes his way further into the house.



The company received a call that a small house residing near a Citibank was beginning to burn due to an explosive fuse in the house. The company received the call immediately and made their way over to the house which belonged to an elderly couple. A.J. accompanied by Chief Lawrence slipped into the house in search of the missing couple in hopes that they had made it out alright.



“A.J. A.J.! Did you find them?” the muffled voice of Lawrence replied from another room in the house.



“Nothing, everything is burnt.” A.J. states walking pass the small cozy living room that now lied burnt and in ashes. The walls cracked and were turning black as a large puff of smoke reeked in the air.



Lawrence shouts from upstairs in search of the bedrooms and shouts “A.J., I need you to look through the other rooms, hurry this house could collapse in a few if we don’t get out.”



Nodding quickly, A.J. rushes up the cracked and splintered wooden stairs and runs to the first close door on his right. With his foot, he kicks open the door and sees nothing but a small library in which the books now burned, lied in ruins on the floor. A.J. rushes to the other closed door on the right and sees Lawrence making his way towards him still in search of the couple that resides there. A.J. kicks open the door to a room and gasps at the sight he sees before him.



Lawrence hurries over, “What happened?”



“We’re too late.” A.J. states, his voice quivering. He tugs on the thick black fire helmet on his head and shakes his head sadly. The elderly couple lied on their bed embracing each other until they had died. Now their burnt corpses stare back at the two firefighters, the white gleaming bones poking out of the black burnt flesh.



“I heard it was an act of suicide. This fire was planned. They wanted to die in each other’s arm.” Lawrence states quietly. The only sound heard was their soft breathing and the hissing of the last flames outside the house. The inside of the house remained quiet with its deadly secret hidden behind the door.



A.J. felt his stomach rumbling, he knew if he didn’t get out of the house now, he would regurgitate the contents of his lunch. The smell of decaying flesh, smoke and ashes was getting to him and he needed to leave the house immediately. Lawrence understood what was wrong with A.J. and rushed him down the stairs and out the cracked broken front door that he entered through. A.J. clutches his stomach and begins reeling and gagging. Brian and Nick ran to their friend’s aid and pull him over to the corner of the sidewalk where A.J. released the remains of his lunch. Brian pats A.J.’s back and waits for the gagging to stop in his friend. A.J. leans over the end of the sidewalk, waiting to see if anything else would come out of his raw throat.



“Buddy, how you feeling now?” Brian asks concerned.



“Great, feeling just peachy.” A.J. responds sarcastically, turning his head and glaring at Brian.



“Dude, what did you see up there that you’re feeling that way?” Nick asks, coughing and waving his hand in front of his face as the thick smoke invaded his body.



“I found the couple living there. They’re dead.” A.J. states and starts gagging again, spitting out nothing but his saliva.



“Suicide right?” Brian asks, gazing at A.J. who’s rubbing his stomach in pain.



“Yeah, the couple started the fire to die together.” A.J. states, getting sick in the stomach again with the smell of his vomit in the air.



“Wow, that’s horrible, what a way to go man.” Nick mumbles, holding A.J. on one side as Brian held the other side of A.J. wrapping his arm around A.J.’s back to keep his friend steady when walking.



Howie and Kevin rush over to A.J. to see if he’s ok. “J, I heard the news man. I’m sorry you had to see that.” Howie states, concern on his tan face. The bright sun shimmered down on him and the others as the temperature in the summer heat rose to a boiling of ninety-five degrees. Kevin wipes off some perspiration that accumulated on his forehead and takes off his fire helmet.



Darrel shouts to the others that the fire has been taken out completely and that Howie needs to help another one of the firefighters in the company carry out the two burnt corpses in the house. “Looks like I won’t get any sleep tonight after seeing them.” He states glumly. Howie sighs and makes his way inside the damaged house behind another firefighter.



Brian sighs and shakes his head. He makes his way over the sidewalk and sits down in the corner of it staring at the few onlookers and traffic of cars down the streets. He hears someone approach him and not feeling like talking, turns around yelling, “I don’t wanna talk right now!” He wished he could take that back after seeing who it was that he screamed on.



The small golden lock child backs away frighten by Brian’s reaction. Her green eyes stare at him glistened in moist tears. Her sunflower dress blows gently in the warm breeze.



“Summer, oh sweetie I didn’t mean to scream at you. I thought you were one of the guys. I’m just not feeling happy right not.” Brian states quietly.



Summer gulps and her little six year hands brush away a speck of dust off Brian’s cheek. Her soft snowy complexion seemed to be glowing in the bright sunlight today. “It’s ok. I understand. I heard what you guys said about the people who lived inside.”



Brian nods his head and sighs, “Yeah. What are you doing here?” He asks gazing at the small girl.



Summer sighs and gazes back at the burnt house where her sister Skye was sobbing and being comforted by A.J. and Nick.



“Your relatives huh?” Brian asks.



Summer nods her little head, “My grandparents.”



Brian gulps hard, “I’m so sorry to hear that.”



“It’s ok. Grandma used to say she was tired of being sick and tried of seeing grandpa sick. So I guess this is what she wanted to do.” Summer states and sits besides Brian, leaning her little head on his shoulder.



Brian gently throws his arm around the little girl and embraces her. She was stronger than a lot of firefighters and that told a lot about her character.



“Rok.” Kevin shouted near the fire engine, “Come here. We gotta pack up and head out.”



Brian nods and picks up little Summer in his arms carrying her over to her older sister.



Skye had her head buried in A.J.’s arm as he held on to her trying to calm her down. “Skye, listen we gotta go back to the station. If you want, you can come over and hang out if you’re not sure what to do.”



Skye picks her head up and wipes away the tears that fell from her emerald eyed. “Ok, I’ll go with you guys. I can’t go home yet cause I know I have to tell my parents what happened and I’m not ready for that yet.” She states softly, smiling through her tears at her little sister Summer.



Nick smiles softly, “Things will work out, you’ll see.” He rubs Skye’s shoulder gently as he throws his arms over her and guiding her to the engine. Howie and another paramedic throw a large black cover blanket over the two corpses and helps another firefighter carry them on the gurney over to some paramedics who just arrived.

~*~



September 7, 2001. 7:14 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve station.



Rose bits on her lower lip as Nick tells her what had happened earlier today near the bank. “Wow, they died in each other arms. How disturbingly sweet.” She mutters under her breath. Her golden locks tumble pass her shoulders as she tugs on one of the stray strands that fell out of her loose bun. Her bright ocean eyes stare back at Nick who’s leaning on the worn sofa in the lounge room. Rose sighs and leans back trying to relax, but the news that Nick told her made her more uncomfortable about the job she’s training for.



“Nick can I ask you a question?” She asks softly, her snowy complexion shining gently from the evening sunlight cascading into the room.



“Yeah, go ‘head.” Nick says, turning his head to face her at full attention.



Gulping, she sighs, “Why did you take this job? You saw so many people die, doesn’t that freak you out?”

Nick intakes a deep breath and grasp his large hands around Rose’s delicate small hands, “Because since I was little I dreamt I could be a hero and make a difference in a person’s life. And yeah it does freak me out but it’s part of the job. I’m still learning that though.”



Rose nods her head and leans back on the sofa. Yesterday the men taught the adolescent firefighters in training about the importance of proper timing when to use the weapons given to them and CPR. Rose remembered she enjoyed that part. It was quite hilarious. Of course the men weren’t gonna be the ones giving them mouth to mouth, instead stuffed dummies were lied on the floor and the teenagers were taught the proper angle and pressure placed on the chest for air to enter. Rose remembered laughing when A.J. practiced CPR on one of the stuffed dummies and acted like he was getting all into it and pretended kissing the dummy.



“What are you thinking about?” Nick asks, breaking her out of her thoughts.



“A.J.” She states smiling, enjoying the look of jealously in Nick’s eyes.



“It seems A.J. gets all the girls. You’re too young for him anyway.” Nick states getting brotherly on her.



Rose smiles and gathering all her courage she finally asks Nick what she was thinking off. “Am I too young for you?”



Nick laughs, “Somewhat.”



Rose rolls her eyes, “So you into anyone?” She asks curiously.



Nick licks his lower lip seductively, “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”



The lounge door opens and a young Asian woman with long jet black curls and big sapphire eyes peer in.



“Chief Li, hi.” Rose states nervously.



“It’s time to go girl. We have dinner set out and we’re gonna have a little talk about you being alone with this man without supervision.” The young woman states, staring at Nick accusingly.



Nick opened his eyes wide and smiles, “She’s ok if you’re interested. I mean she’s only child. I would never do anything illegal with her if that’s what you’re thinking.”



Chief Li smiles and with her hands, beckons Rose to her. “I understand perfectly Carter, but she is still under my supervision and I’m responsible for her safety at all times especially around men.”



Rose could feel her cheeks burn a bright red as the chief managed to yet again embarrass her when she’s around a guy. “Sorry Nick. I’ll go. Talk to ya later.” She states and almost ran out knocking down the woman at the door.



“Alright, take care.” Nick states causally, his arm on the top of sofa. He makes a quick wave and watches the two young women exit the room.

~*~

-September 7, 2001. 7:20 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.



Howie changes the music on the CD player and searches for a song that he would enjoy. “A.J.? A.J.?” Howie shouts sitting on the tiger rug in A.J.’s room. A.J. turns his head away from the television program he’s watching.



“What?” A.J. asks annoyed.



“You don’t have anything here I like.” Howie states, flipping through piles of cd cases A.J. dumped before him.



A.J. shrugs his shoulders, “Sorry D man. I can’t help out in that department. You’re taste in music sucks.”



Howie curls his lips in annoyance, “Whatever man. All you got here is rap and hip hop. Don’t you have anything smoothing I can listen too?” His tan complexion glitters with the evening sunlight as he passes his hands through his dark brown short hair.



A.J. laughs and joins Howie on the rug, rummaging through more than fifty CD’s on the floor. He finally pulls out a Brian McKnight cd. “There.” He states, handing the cd to Howie. “The brother can sing. Now, can you leave me alone so I can watch my show?”



Howie looks up at A.J. and makes a hilarious cheesy smile spreading from ear to ear. “Ok, good. Now I’m happy.”



A.J. sits on the twirling seat and laughs, “Dude you’re such a weirdo.” He smiles and passes his tan colored fingers through his black and now red dyed hair.



“Ah, but not as weird as you. Keep dying that hair and you won’t have much left.” Howie states laughing as he leaves the room ducking out the way from the pillow thrown at him.

~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Welcome everyone and I want to personally thank all the readers that have supporting this story since the beginning. This story is dedicated to all the everyday heroes that are overlooked. Remember to review this chapter and enjoy it. Take care.



A/N: Welcome everyone and I want to personally thank all the readers that have supporting this story since the beginning. This story is dedicated to all the everyday heroes that are overlooked. Remember to review this chapter and enjoy it. Take care.



“A Hero’s Heart”



-“What do we live for, if it not for helping each other.”- George Elliot.



**~Chapter Sixteen- With All the Heart~**



-September 10th, 2001. 12:09 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.



“Yeah, listen I have to let you go. I’m gonna take a shower and yes I love you with all my heart. I’ll be home in a few days sweetie. I love you.” Kevin states to his wife as he feels a smile on his face. He hangs up his small portable phone and leans back on the on cushion chair as it creaks. Getting up, he makes his way to the bathroom in his room. It seemed the past few days have been pretty slow. Besides the tragic scene with the elderly couple back a few days ago, there hasn’t been another appalling disaster and Kevin was happy about that. He didn’t need to see another corpse anytime soon. The meetings stopped as well as the city seemed to running fine with very few accidents.



“Kevin.” Darrel shouts down the hallway.



Kevin sighs and walks to the door peering out, “What?”



Darrel stares at Kevin down the hallway from his own room he shared with an experienced firefighter Jeff. “Nothing.” Darrel states confused and scratches the side of his light brown hair.



Kevin raises his eyebrows and whispers, “Ok, well I’m gonna take a shower. So if you need me, leave a note or something ok?”



Darrel smiles, his gruff peach complexion glitters in the hallway florescent light. “Ok, cool.” And with that closes the door to his room.



Kevin goes back into his room and was about to walk back to the bathroom when this time he hears Nick in the hallway calling for him.



“Kevin, where you at?” Nick asks, standing in the hallway, his head peering out of the door from his room he shares with A.J.



Kevin sighs and walks back to the doorway, stepping into the hallway. “What do you want Nick?”



“Whoa, what’s with the attitude dude? I just wanted to say hi.” Nick states smiling, his ocean blue eyes glittering in the hallway light.



Kevin smirks, “Is that all? Cause I’m busy now.”



Nick smiles, “Yup that’s all.”



Kevin lets out a deep sigh and walks back into the room heading for the bathroom. As he reaches the door to the bathroom again his name was being called this time by A.J.



Kevin grumbling stood in the bathroom doorway listening to A.J. shouting his name for over a couple of seconds. Finally getting annoyed, Kevin marches over to the door and swings it open to see A.J. standing there in front of him.



Kevin narrows his eyes and grumbles, “Yes, how can I help you Alex?”



A.J. smiles, his chocolate eyes twinkling in mischief, “Uh, hmm. See now I forgot. You took too long answering the door.”



Kevin mumbles something incoherent and whisks A.J. away from the door, “Go, it’s too hot for this. I wanna take a bath.”



“Oh now I remember!” A.J. says suddenly, his eyes lit up in excitement.



“Well?” Kevin asks, gazing at his friend. Kevin knew A.J. was up to something and it was annoying him to know that he’s the joke today.



“Oh you’ll see later, I’ll talk with you later you seem like your in rush.” A.J. states, smiling and walking down the hallway.



Throughout the time they all got together in the beginning of the summer, they all played a joke on one unlucky person and it seemed that today it would look like its Kevin. Kevin recalled this morning was disastrous when he was eating breakfast. The guys felt like serving him some oatmeal only it was sick pudding junk that only made Kevin sick to his stomach. Following that after he had eaten, Brian had brought Kevin a wrapped present for “Just being you.” Brian had told him. Kevin falling for it unwrapped the present to see two tweezers for as Brian would like to say to “Help eliminate the grouchy brows that was frightening Nick in the night. Two, one for each cause one just won’t do!” Brian had stated cockily, knowing he was only fanning the flames to Kevin’s patience. Following that rude present, it seemed to have gotten worse when Howie, poor sweet Howie was involved in being the nuisance for the unfortunate Kevin.



Howie had batted his chocolate orbs at him as he politely had asked if he can clean Kevin’s room. He stated he was bored, that him and Brian already cleaned theirs and Nick and A.J. had kicked them out for attempting that in their own room. So Kevin trusting the innocent Howie had allowed his friend to clean the already neat room. When Kevin had left the room and came back minutes later, the room was a complete disaster area with papers and folders scattered all over the area. His clothes were pulled out and lied in a mess on the crème carpet. In place of the clothes in the drawer, there was trash from the garbage can. Kevin recalled the sudden anger that had hit him then and how fast Howie ran from the room screaming bloody Mary. He knew that the others are waiting to mess with him and Kevin wasn’t too thrilled about that. He steps into the bathroom and locks the door, knowing that at least he can’t be messed with in the bathroom cause he was safe or so he thought.

~*~



A.J. laughs as he folds some of his clothes into his dresser.



“What’s so funny?” Nick asks curious.



“Kevin.” A.J. smirks.



“What about him?” Nick asks, smiling.



“The joke we’re pulling on him. Did you see how fast he wanted to get to the bathroom thinking he can get away from the pranks. Man he’s in for a real good one when he puts on that gel. His nice black hair will look good with green in it, don’t ya think?” A.J. states laughing, as Nick joins in.



“I feel sorry for him man.” Nick states in between his laughter.



A.J. snorts, “Na, don’t be. He needs a good laugh cause he’s been uptight lately.”



Nick shakes his head and laughing, points to A.J. “Just remember he’s stronger than you and he can take you on if you don’t watch it!”



A.J. stands up from the tiger printed rug facing Nick, shrugging his shoulders, “Ah, bring him on. I could take him.” He states joking around. What A.J. didn’t see was the room door open behind him with a color dyed, pissed off Kevin clutching his fists.



“Um, A.J. I seriously don’t think you can handle fighting Kevin. Trust me, he’ll be really ticked off with you.” Nick states from his bunk, his long legs swinging as he sees A.J. turning around to see Kevin.



“Oh hey buddy, how’s the gel? It looks good on you.” A.J. jokes around patting Kevin’s shoulder.



Kevin stared at Nick and A.J. for a few minutes his anger ready to splash out. Nick stops swinging his legs as he jumps off the bunk nervously. A.J. backs away from Kevin gulping as Kevin narrows his emerald eyes at the two. Kevin’s black spikes were now a dark shade of green from the gel and Kevin curled his fists tightly. “You know they say revenge is sweet.” He whispers quietly to the two frightened men.



Suddenly out from behind Kevin: Howie, Brian, Darrel, Jeff, Jalisa and some other workers pulls out some silly string cans and begins spraying the room covering the two surprised men in the mounds of the sticky substance. Laughter erupted in the room but was soon over when the fire alarm went off.



“Oh man, just when we’re having a good time.” Brian mutters, heading out the room followed by the others.



Jalisa runs down the stairs to her office, her dark medium brown locks in a high ponytail. She rushes over to the black phone and does a quick call. She found out only a few of the group is needed. “You guys, send out Lawrence, Jeff and Darrel. They’re needed down the street. It’s a small fire but they need real experienced firefighters cause it’s a preschool burning down and the children are in there. The other fire company twenty is over there already.”



Kevin nods his head and whistles to the others, “Forget the rush you guys, only Darrel, Jeff and Lawrence have to go.”



A.J. grumbles, still pulling off the sticky silly strings that melted with the heat. “Good cause I couldn’t work under these conditions.”



Kevin laughs and watches a sticky Nick and A.J. helping each clean off the mess on them. Brian pats Kevin’s shoulder. “Looks like things will turn out for the best.” Brian states, laughing along with Kevin as the two young firefighters stumble and complain that they got jumped and how unfair that was.



“Life isn’t fair.” Howie states: tomorrow his statement will show how true that is.

~*~



“Yo, when you coming over, I miss ya!” His brother’s voice states in the phone.



Nick sighs, “I’m not on break yet. You guys have to wait till the holidays come around for me to see you. Tell mom I miss her hugs and food and that I’ll be there ASAP.”



His brother sighs over the phone and asks if he bought the CD.



“What CD?” Nick asks, whispering as A.J. enters the room they share.



“My CD, you dork!” Aaron states over the phone line.



“Uh, yeah, yeah I got it.” Nick lied as A.J. listens and asks who he’s talking to.



Nick covers the mouth piece on his cell and whispers, “My brother.”



“Oh, the famous one. That’s right.” A.J. states grinning: flinging his wet towel across the computer chair.



“Did you hear me?” Aaron whispers over the phone line.



“Sorry, my roommate was asking me something. What was it?” Nick asks as he covers the cell over his hands and tells A.J. to go on the internet and search for his brother’s CD.



“I’m asking which song do you think you like?” His brother states with excitement.



Nick gulps and shakes his head, “Oh, oh well wow, I’m not sure which one is my fav. I mean I like the stuff you got there.” Nick gazes at A.J. frantically for help, as A.J. laughs and begins his search on the internet.



“No, come one, I know there’s one song there that you might like. I mean I was influenced by the rock from when we little and dad used to play. So I know there has to be one.” Aaron states waiting for a reply.



Nick gulps and watches A.J. scanning down a porn site not helping Nick at all. Frustrated, Nick tells his brother to hold on and places the cell on the dresser. “A.J! Help me find the stupid names of the songs before I personally kill you.” Nick grumbles rushing over to the computer clicking out of the site A.J. was amused by.



“Yo, man I was looking at that! Get back on there.” A.J. states smirking, pushing the mouse away from Nick. Nick yanks the mouse away from A.J.’s grasp and clicks on music site to find a list of his brother’s song.



“Man, you suck!” A.J. yelled loudly knowing that the cell phone was nearby. Smiling A.J. yelled out, “So you said you’re looking for which track? Number five, really? Aaron, Nick says five is the one he likes it’s the nice rap rock one he listens to all the time.”



Nick’s eyes grew wide and runs over to his cell, “Hey lil’ buddy, A.J. was only kidding. Number 10 sounds good.”



Aaron sucks his teeth, “But that’s a slow song, what about the hidden one, do you like that one?”



Nick gulps and stares at the computer screen which only showed ten of the songs there. ‘Oh God, there’s a hidden one?’ Nick thinks to himself as A.J. is cracking up in laughter.



“Is your friend ok? He’s been laughing for a while now.” Aaron asks curiously.



“He’s fine, just being retarded.” Nick growls at A.J.’s direction.



A.J. opens his mouth and spills the secret, loud enough for the poor boy to hear, “It would have been easier if you bought the CD Nick right?”



Nick dropped the cell phone and glares at A.J., “You’re so dead, you know that right?”



A.J laughs and races out the room with Nick running right behind.

~*~



Kevin went to the burning preschool about two blocks down, his concern for the safety of the children nagged at his heart. He watches Darrel carrying out the last three small children in his arms. The children were unconscious from the hazardous smoke that entered their little bodies. The smoke fogged up the thick goggles he has over his eyes as he makes his way over to the grassy field where paramedics and firefighters from the other company are giving CPR to the small children there. About twenty-five children came out the classroom from the small preschool as the last screaming flames dissipate with the pressure of the water from the hose.



“How are they?” Kevin states feeling useless as the paramedics wake up the children.



One of the women paramedics sighs and smiles, “They’ll be ok. Although I’m concerned the little boy over there isn’t waking up.” The woman states pointing: her dark brown eyes looking at a small black haired Asian child in one of her partner’s arms.



Kevin kneels down and touches the small boy’s face. The man holding the child, another paramedic shakes his head, “He’s not getting up. The smoke got to him.”



Kevin and the paramedic tried to give the child more air and suddenly the little boy’s eyes flew open and he stared dizzily at Kevin. A tear flowed down the little child’s face and the paramedic covers the boy with a cool blanket and carries him over to the back of the ambulance. The little boy coughs and once in the back of the ambulance starts breathing with difficultly. Kevin peers in the back of the ambulance to see a woman paramedic trying to help the boy supply more air for the child.



“Oh God!! He’s having a heart attack!” the woman shouts as the little boy looks over at Kevin, his small eyes filled with unshed tears, smiles at Kevin and reaches out to touch him.



Kevin stares as the little boy opens his hands and drops a bracelet into Kevin’s right hand. “Belongs to my mommy, give it to her.” The boy states in short breaths as he closes his eyes and falls back in the stretcher he’s lying on gasping for his last breaths. The paramedics rush around the child but it was too late for the heart attack took the child’s life away.

Kevin leans back on the rear of the ambulance doors and takes a deep breath. He’ll remember that child as he feels his heart breaking. He wonders how many more deaths he can handle before he begins to quit in hope. Though the question never came before, seeing something like this makes one lose faith in life. But Kevin was stronger that, he’ll have faith but how much of it when tomorrow comes? He’ll be put to the test but will he be ready for it?

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Welcome readers to a new chapter to this story. Due to the details and emotions I want to express on the particular day, this chapter will be divided into two or three chapters. This is the first part of the day that changed a nation forever. The day it happened I was on the train heading into Manhattan- NYC to get to school. When I reached my first class 30 minutes late, I knew why. I met a man who was employed there and had escaped as one of the Towers were falling, he himself was covered in soot from the falling debris. I also met man who volunteered his time to help out. These two people gave the inspiration to write this story. To all who knew a person or witnessed the tragic events, this story will touch you. To all that have risked their own lives to save victims of the catastrophe, thank you and take care. Please leave a review or e-mail me what you think of this chapter. Until later, take care.



“A Hero’s Heart”



**~ “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”. –Helen Keller



**~Chapter Seventeen- Heroes Wanted~**



-September 11th 2001. 6:41 AM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



He shoots the basketball into the hoop and watches it bounce softly on the pavement. He couldn’t sleep well last night thinking about the late call that was made to the fire station. He recalled he had to go along with the four guys as well as Darrel to a highway where a car accident occurred. It seemed it was two drunken teenagers in a car and the passenger sitting next to the driver died in the mist of the crash. It was a tragic incident and the bodies couldn’t be pulled out the trampled car that had flipped and rammed into some trees. Brian had recalled the thick branches piercing the soft flesh of the two teenagers as they screamed in shock. The young woman who was the passenger didn’t survive the crash but the driver, her boyfriend survived through luck because of the seatbelt and safety bag the car provided.



The orange ball rolls past his feet as he picks up the ball and shoots again, the ball bouncing around the hoop before falling in. Brian sighs and gazes at the soft yellow sky as the sun begins to rise slowly. He smiles and takes in a deep breathe of the warm morning air.



“It’s gonna be another warm day B.” Darrel states joining Brian at the small basketball court connected to the back of the firehouse.



“Yup.” Brian states: dribbling the ball before shooting another shot.



Darrel smirks and snatches the ball away dribbling past Brian swiftly and slam dunking the ball into the hoop perfectly.



“Show off.” Brian states, smirking.



Darrel smiles, his light brown eyes twinkling in glee. His light brown hair lies tussled in sleep as his caramel complexion glows in the morning sunlight. “Brian, I told you David made it to the state championship with his team right?”



Brian shakes his head no and smiles trying to snatch the ball away from Darrel. David who is Darrel’s eldest son attending the last year of high school loved basketball and excelled in all his courses, the child was a prodigy in his father’s eyes. David carried the same features as his father and when visiting the station was often mistaken for his father: not that Darrel didn’t mind that. In fact it amused him quite a bit.



“Well now you know.” Darrel states, shooting the ball straight the hoop.



Brian laughs, his ocean blue eyes bright in the morning light. He rubs his hands through his dirty blonde locks messily and heads back to the station.



“Whoa, wait, B. What’s the rush? I thought you could take me on. What happened? Too scared?” Darrel states smiling, teasing Brian.



Brian stops and turns back to face Darrel, grabbing his lower lip, he smirks, “I don’t think you can handle this.” He says laughing and grabs the basketball ready to play against Darrel.

~*~

-September 11th 2001. 6:45 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street

Nick sighs and stares at the white ceiling. Last night was something he couldn’t get out of his head. He recalled seeing the damaged dead body of the young woman under the twisted metal and he couldn’t get the horrific images out of his head. The torn flesh and the crimson blood that drained from the accident of the victims in the overturned car last night was an image he couldn’t easily forget.



He turns to the window and sees Brian playing basketball with Darrel. Nick smiles and rolls over to the edge of the top bunk bed he’s on to see what A.J .was doing. As usual at this time, A.J. was curled under the cool white covers, sleeping peacefully. Nick sighs and leans his head back on the pillow. A small tapping coming from the door, aroused the sleepy Nick and grumbling, jumps off the bunk to answer the front door. It was Jalisa.



Smiling, her light brown eyes glitter. “Sorry if it’s early, but I just wanted to let you know that there’s gonna be a big breakfast down in about an hour at the dining room. Just let sleeping beauty over there know, ok.” She points to A.J. who is still sleeping.



Nick smirks and shakes his head, “Aight., he’ll be there, it’s food, we won’t be late.”



Jalisa waves bye and walks down the hallway to remind Howie and Kevin.



Nick raises his eyebrows and watches Jalisa disappear down the hall until she turned the corner.



“Man, can you make it more obvious, Nick. You’re eyes were glued to her since you opened the door.” Mumbles a sleepy A.J. smirking at the blonde man.



Nick rolls his eyes and heads to the bathroom as A.J.’s laughter follows him to the shower.

~*~



-September 11th, 2001. 8:16 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire station twelve.



Kevin pushes the plate away in disgust, “No more please. I’m stuffed.” He states smiling, his emerald eyes glittering in delight.



Howie laughs, “Same here, I’m actually full myself.” His chocolate eyes shining in the soft florescent light of the dining room.



Jalisa clears away the dishes along with the help of Brian, Nick and A.J. Chief Lawrence smirks and leans back on his chair turning on the large screen television they have hanging on the wall. He flips to talk show and watches it as the soft laughter and quiet talking fills the room of the entire fire company.



Rose gathers some plates and along with Anita carries them to the kitchen to place them in a dishwasher. Lawrence watches the others and smile, a beautiful morning to a wonderful breakfast. There is something in the air that smelled of soft fresh flowers and morning dew and Lawrence grins, yep it was the start of good morning.

~*~



-September 11th, 2001. 8:46 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Station Twelve.



Lawrence stands up to change the channel on the television until the fire alarm goes off in the station.



Jalisa runs into the dining room confused, “There isn’t a call for the anything.”



Nick, Brian, Howie, Kevin, A.J., Rose and Anita stare at the television as they can hear a loud thunderous sound of an earthquake shattering a nearby building. Rose runs to the window in time to see an airplane flying too close to the ground and crashes into the North building. Rose screams out, her blue orbs shot open to see the plane collide into the metal of the building.



The television shows a plane traveling from Boston flying to New York unexpectedly. A reporter’s voice states that American Flight 11 from Boston crashes into the North Building of the World Trade Center. Jalisa runs into her office and watches the scene from the window there.



Jalisa screams, as the company rushes into the office to see the disastrous result of Tower one, the North building burning from the gaping hole from the plane crash. The large flame of fire explodes to burn more of the metal building.



“THE PEOPLE!!! THE PEOPLE!!!” Brian screams out as he sees the traffic on the street stop causing a riot.



Jeff , the deputy firefighter, calls that he, Lawrence, Darrel and the others in the company head out. Kevin grabs his firefighter jacket and was about to board the engine but was stopped by Lawrence as the fire fighters runs around to get ready to be called out.



Lawrence pulls Kevin’s arm and pulls him away from the engine. “NO! You stay here with the other four boys and the teens. Three engines from this station will be used. Howie call the paramedics from upper west side, we’re heading out. See you guys later!” And with that boards the back of the engine and pulls away from the station exiting the area.



Kevin gulps down the nervousness and runs back to the others. Nick already to head out, looks at Kevin confused.



“I thought we’re heading out.” Nick asks, putting on the fire boots.



“We are, but not yet. Lawrence states we stay here until we’re needed.” Kevin whispers as he looks out the window to see the large flames spreading the building. “There’s too much traffic right now. I don’t know if they can make it.”



Howie grimaces and buttons his fire coat, “I’m going.”



Kevin glares at him and grabs his arm, “Not yet. What are you gonna do without any equipment?”



“I can get the people out of there. Come on, let’s walks it and get the people to safety.” Howie states, combing his dark brown hair with his tan fingers.



A.J. smiles, “Let’s go.” And runs out the station with Howie. Nick and Brian suck their teeth and run after the other two out the station.



Kevin shakes his head as Jalisa pats his shoulder, “They can’t help saving others, it’s their job. Go, cause I know you’re dying to help out as well. I’ll stay with the other firefighters and I’ll alert you if something gets bad ok.”



Kevin smiles and hugs Jalisa tightly as he laughs. “Thanks, see I knew we had you here for a reason.” He runs out the station laughing as he tries to catch up with the other guys.

Anita looks out the window and gulps, “You think it’s safe to send them out like that?” Her dark chocolate complexion glittering in the bright sunlight coming from the window. She passes her hand gently over her black braids and gazes at Jalisa in concern.



Jalisa shrugs her shoulders, “They’re gonna do what they gonna do, and I can’t stop them.” She says smiling watching the five men of the company running down the streets.



Rose walks up to window and gasps watching the people screaming and pointing at the burning building. Her blonde locks tied in a pony tail, blow gently in the soft breeze. Her ocean eyes scan the flames in the building and shakes her head in confusion. “What caused the accident? Was it an accident? Did the pilot fly too close and couldn’t get the plane out in time?” No one responded to her question, only the screams of outside answered back.



Jalisa turns on the television in her office and watches the news to keep up to date at what could be the real cause and if it is just an accident with the plane. Suddenly Rose screams out in horror as she stares out the window. Anita covers her mouth in shock as Jalisa runs to the window to see some unfortunate souls jumping out the window of the burning Tower in their last attempt to escape their fiery death.



Jalisa states in shock and whispers, “They’re gonna die either way, it’s too late for them.” And she throws her arm around Anita and Rose in comfort waiting to see what will happen next. Her heart thumped against her heart as she sees a body topple out of the building. She closes her eyes and starts to wish it all away and hopes that it was just an accident that occurred but that will change all in a few minutes.

~*~

-September 11th 2001. 9:03 am. New York City, New York. Greenwich Street, World Trade Center.



A.J. and Howie were the first to reach the burning building. Different fire companies were already at work taking people out the building and trying to control the overwhelming flames. A.J. eyes the building as innocent curious people stare in complete confusion at the accident.



“What are you waiting for?” Brian asks catching up to the two.



Howie shrugs his shoulders and smiles, “Glad you could make it.. I say we take the people coming out the building to the small coffee shop and make sure they’re ok. Then divide up and take the lower lever floors until we can get a chance to move up and get the others out.”



Kevin smiles, “Ok, well let’s move!” He clasps his hands and rushes towards the building until he hears what seems like another plane and gazes up to see the United Flights airline crash onto the side of the South Tower. A blast of fire ignites from the crash and the ground shakes like a violent earthquake. An array of screams and gasps erupted from the public that had gathered to witness the horror of the crash.



“Kevin wait!” Nick screams out, his light skin seems to have lost color and he stands there pale in shock. “Don’t go in there! It’s too dangerous!”



Kevin stands there and watches the second tower burn in pain. Howie clutches his Cross necklace and gulps as more windows from the upper levers of the Tower break with people falling out to meet their death. Bodies land with a sicken splat on the concrete as glass shards crash. The guys looks on to hear the crashing of some more windows breaking, the glass shards clatter to the ground as some employees from the Towers took their last flight in the air before reaching the ground, their death. The fire was spreading fast in the upper levels of the building and some people were stuck in those floors. Some chose to fall out the window rather then to burn with the fire. A.J. stares in shock, his eyes witnessed to the most traumatic experience he has ever seen. The incident will be worse before it can begin to get better.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Thank you readers for all the support I’ve been receiving since the beginning. It’s been quite a chapter and now in details, I’ll take all you to the horrors that shook the nation almost 2 years ago. Please leave a review when done, thank you all once again for taking time out to read this chapter.



“A Hero’s Heart”



-“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope”- Martin Luther King, Jr.



**~Chapter Eighteen- Last Call



-September 11th 2001. 9:31am. New York City, New York. Greenwich Street. World Trade Center.



Howie watches the blanket of smoke and debris that topples of the first North Tower. He hears his name call as A.J. tugs him towards back to the burning South Tower.



“We have to clear the area D. Pay attention buddy!” A.J. states loudly over the screaming of the crowd that gathered to witness the event.



“This isn’t an accident!” He hears Chief Lawrence dropping off a person away from the disaster of the burning buildings. “From the news and new data, this is a terrorist attack! This was planned for awhile.” He hears Lawrence’s voice as he disappears into the building.



“Ok, Howie. You and Brian take the other two levels up, while me and Nick take the few levels below it. Kevin is gonna take the civilians out of here and to safety ok?” A.J. states, his chocolate eyes stare at Howie.



Howie nods his head and hurries off with Brian to the next upper level in the building. Piles of people stumble and crash down the stairwells in fear, almost trampling over each other. “Wow, wait, relax, come on, don’t panic!” Kevin’s voice appears in the lobby of the building.



A.J. feels a tug on his sleeve and turns to see it was coming from Nick, “Alright let’s go! Let’s get the people out of here!” A.J. states confidently. The two race up the stairs and with a hose sprays some on the stairs to stop the rushing of the people. People in business suits cry out in fear as they hit the bottom stairs and make a run to the exit with the help of Kevin.

~*~



Brian and Howie reach the deserted hallway of the building, “Anyone in here? Anyone hurt?” The two men shout searching the hallways as chucks of white plaster topple and create debris.



“Whoa, watch it D! It almost fell on you!” Brian yells, pushing Howie out of the way of the small piece of fallen ceiling.



“Thanks, this hallway is cleared. Let’s go down the other way.” Howie states turning and walking down the opposite way, he tugs on the black FDNY fire jacket as he makes his way down the hall.



“Wait! I think I hear something.” Brian says softly, walking slowly over the cracked plaster and broken tiles. Tons of manila folders with stacks of paper, flutter on the desk and floor. He makes his way over to a desk and looks under it to see a frightened young man curled in fright.



“Come on get out of here. You shouldn’t be in here!” Brian states, grabbing the man’s hand.



“Ow, wait, I can’t leave! My wheel chair! I have to get on it, but I can’t find in this mess.” The man states, his dark brown eyes staring around the clutter of fallen debris from the ceiling and the tangle mess of papers on the floor.



“I found it!” Howie states, pulling up the wheelchair next to the man, with the help of Brian and Howie, the man got on the wheelchair safely. “Brian take him down stairs, I’m gonna finish searching the other side of the hallway to see if there’s anyone else.”



“Don’t waste your time, everyone already left this place, the only people left are the ones with inconveniences like me.” The young Asian man states nervously, as Brian pulls the wheel chair down the hallway.



Howie gulps and stares down the desolate hallway. The white plaster cracked and some tumble almost hitting him again. The windows of the building, were fogged up with the thick suffocating smoke that covered the building slowly like a blanket. Howie walks down the hallway as the ceiling lights blink and shuts off. “Great.” he mumbles, fumbling for his flashlight and continues his way shining the bright yellow light on the carpeted office floor.

~*~



-September 11th 2001. 9:45 am. New York City, New York. Greenwich Street. World Trade Center.



Nick and A.J. help out two elderly people down the stairs and lead them to Kevin. “The hallways we checked are all cleared, we can’t go any further up, the building is too thick in smoke and the fire seems to be spreading.” A.J states.



Kevin sighs and rubs his fingers over his soot covered face, “Yeah it’s alright, we got a lot of people out of here.” Suddenly in his walkie talkie, he hears screaming from back in the fire station. Kevin’s heart bangs against his chest as he looks at a frightened Nick and A.J. Picking up his black walkie talkie in his hands, he puts it near his ear hoping nothing worse could have happened.



“Kevin, you there?” Jalisa’s voice states in anguish.



“Ye, yeah. You ok?” Kevin asks nervously as he watches some other fire fighters race around the lobby and upper levels taking people out of the nearest exits.



“The Pentagon! The Pentagon was hit! Kevin it’s a terrorist attack! One side of the building collapsed. It was an American Flight 77. It’s on the news, people are clearing the area!” Jalisa cries out.



Kevin gulps nervously and informs the others.



“What! Another plane! What the hell is happening?” A.J. screams out in frustration.



Nick looks around the area and closes his eyes when a body crashes onto the concrete outside. “What can we do?” Nick whispers, his eyes back on Kevin.



Kevin shrugs his shoulders, “We’ve done all we can, we’ll wait for Howie and Brian and help out the people outside.”



A.J. sighs and walks over to the front of the building to push through the glass revolving doors when he sees a pool of blood draining from a fallen body that landed in front of him.



Nick squeezes his eyes shut and keep his tears from spilling, this was too dangerous, even for the firefighters to be in.

~*~



-September 11th 2001. 10:05 am. New York City, New York. Greenwich Street. World Trade Center.



Howie meets the other firefighters from his company at the lobby and exits out the building. The five fire fighters make their way to a small café shop near by where many of the employers and slightly injured were held. Suddenly a large rumbling that seemed like a rushing of an exploding earthquake erupted from the first Tower struck. The North Tower billows thick immense smoke as it topples and crashes to the ground. People scream in horror and run out the way in chaos as the building trembles the ground. The five fire fighters watch in pure dismay and shock as the North Tower crashes to the floor, taking down floor after floor. Large particles of metal and debris explodes and tumbles to the ground. A thick engulfing black soot smoke covers the streets down blocks as people run in all directions away from the horror in fright.



Kevin feels his mouth drop open as he watches the panic that invaded his body. Howie gasps and his hands tremble as the building crashes in ruins to the ground. A.J’s walkie talkie blasts with deputy Jeff’s voice.



Jeff’s voice shouts out orders to head back to the station and that is was too late for others to get saved. A.J. clutches the black walkie talkie in his hand and screams out, “No, wait! We have to get the others out! What about Darrel and Lawrence? We gotta wait for them!”



“Get out of there! Do you hear me? Clear the way and come back to the station. You were told to not leave the station, now we have a few adolescences missing from the department because they wanted to be brave like you guys. If those children are caught somewhere in that disaster area, we’ll have to send out a search team.” Jeff’s voice crackles with the loss of static and frequency.



Nick tugs at Kevin who watches the thick smoke coming at them, “Kev, move! Please move! We’re gonna get caught in the smoke!” He chokes out and makes a run down the desolate street. Brian and Howie pull at Kevin and all begin to run down the street as the sunny air filled with the hazardous smoke and soot. The grey smoke creeps along the streets choking it’s victims as it spreads out. A mass rumble of metal, paper and glass filtered the ground and covers the pavements. Some innocent by standers, fall to the ground as the smoke grabs a hold of them. Howie runs up to a middle-age man in a business suit and leads him to a store and out of harm’s way.



Brian sees one of the teen fire fighters and grabs the boy’s arm, “You can’t be here, get out!”



The young teen looks at the thick smoke and nods his head following Brian back to the station. The others find more innocent civilians gasping and in need of medical attention and takes them back to the station with them. Upon arriving back to the station, Nick collapses on his knees and lets out a deep breath.



Brian pats Nick’s shoulder and sits down on the cement ground beside Nick, “It’s a nightmare out there. You know how many lost their lives in that building?!”



Nick gulps and his heart is racing a mile a minute. He has to call his family, he knows they must be worried sick, thinking the possible worst. Nick makes his way to a phone and Jalisa stands near the phone. Her light brown eyes lit up with tears, “You can’t call. We lost all connection on the phone lines now.” She whispers quietly wiping away a tear from her peach cheeks.



Kevin throws his fire hat on the ground and gazes at Jalisa, “Where are they?”



“Who, the teens?” Jalisa asks softly, her dark brown locks tied in a ponytail. She stares at the five fire fighters all covered in thick white soot. It looked like someone attacked them with a ton of powder. Their fire fighter attire was covered in the white soot.



Kevin nods his head and passes his fingers through his matted black spikes.



“They all came back after the tower fell.” Jalisa whispers as the ambulance sirens race down the streets.



“Where’s Lawrence?” Howie asks, his eye lashes covered in the soot white cement particles that floated in the air.



“I don’t know, he didn’t come back yet. He said he was going to the South Tower to make sure there was any one that could have been caught in the rumble.” Jalisa whispers, another tear trails down her face.



A.J. sits next to Nick and stares at the desolate streets, now covered in mounds of white smoke and soot. Brian moves to the innocent victims that they brought back to the station and waited for the paramedics to come pick up the hurt and wounded victims. “This is all wrong, nothing like this should have happened.” Nick whispers softly.



A.J. gulps and leans his head on the wall, “God why this?” He mutters as the news on a small television hanging on the wall shows the devastation.



Rose steps out of the office, her blue eyes stain with fresh tears streaming down her snowy face. She sits next to Nick, the tears falling down, plopping on his hand. Nick wipes the tears away from her face and embraces her, “Don’t cry. It’ll be over soon.”



Rose tucks her head in his chest as Nick holds the young blonde hair woman in his arms. A.J. nibbles on his lower lip as Howie and Kevin call the paramedics and get the innocent wounded ready for the paramedics. Howie helps out and gets the few people injured ready by lying them down on a blanket on the floor.

~*~



Jalisa paces her office as Anita watches the small television in the office. “Jalisa, where’s the chief and Darrel?”



Jalisa stops her pacing and shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know sweetie. They can’t call, so we don’t know if they’re ok.”



“What if they didn’t make it? What if they were caught in the falling of Tower One?” Anita states, her bluish green eyes staring intensely at Jalisa.



Jalisa shakes her head rapidly, “Don’t think that way! Don’t say that! They have to had made it out.” Suddenly a young firefighter, Henry runs into the receptionist office. He seemed to have been outside and was covered in the same soot as the other five. His light tan face smeared under the white soot from the collapse of the tower. His dark brown eyes stare at Jalisa as he shakes his shaven head.



“Jalisa, I don’t know how to break the news to you but Lawrence and Darrel where in the tower when it collapsed. The last I saw was when they helped out a mother and child out the building. I’m sorry. They’re gone.” He whispers upset, his deep voice cracking in sadness.



Jalisa shakes her head, “No!! Are you sure? How do you know?” She screams out, alarming Anita. Anita stands up and passes her hand down her dark chocolate arm. Her black braids were lies messy with all the stress and concern she felt within her.



Henry sighs and shakes his head, “One of the fire fighters found their body already. I’m so sorry!” He says, choking back on sobs. Henry walks away from the office to break the news to the others in the company. Jalisa places her fist near her lips, hoping she wouldn’t scream too loud. Anita in tears runs into Jalisa’s open arms as the two young women shed their tears with the sad news that was just received.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Ok this is the last chapter that will cover the day that changed America and the attitudes of people. Take care and enjoy this chapter. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. Until later, bye for now.

“A Hero’s Heart”

**~ “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”- Helen Keller.


**~Chapter Nineteen- How To Say Goodbye~**



-September 11th 2001. 10:12 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



Brian sighs and finishes loading the last wounded person from the station into the ambulance as a young teenage woman locks the doors and runs into the passenger side seat. Brian waves and turns to head back into the fire station when he hears yelling coming from A.J. and Nick.



His heart pounds against his chest as he hurries over to the guys yelling. Nick grabs Brian’s shoulder and points to the small television screen on the wall inside the station. “Another plane! This one hit the pentagon!”



A.J. feels his mouth drop open as he watches another airliner on the television set crash into wooded area. A reporter shrieks out in the news that the United Flight 93 was invaded with terrorists but innocent fliers help stop the airplane from heading to New York and tried landing in Pennsylvania but crashed instead. Lives were lost but more were saved in the end. A.J. feels the goose bumps rising in his arms in fear. He hugs himself tightly and gulps down the tears that were rising.



Brian watches the screen in horror as the TV showed how the incident occurred. Jalisa watches in pure shock as her eyes watch the scenery unfold before her.



“Oh God, not again!” Anita the young adolescence firefighter screams out as she places her dark chocolate hands over her eyes.



Rose screams out and she feels Nick besides her breathing rapidly. “Nick! It’s getting worse. Look what’s happening!” She states shaking in fear. Jalisa pulls Rose towards her in a hug and watches the planes on the television crash over and over again.

~*~



Kevin paces around the sidewalk in front of the firehouse, he was a nervous wreak and he wasn’t told of the news of Lawrence and Darrel as of yet. Henry runs out the firehouse and crashes into Kevin.



“Hey I was looking for you. I already told the others about Lawrence and Darrel. I thought I could tell you separate from the others so it’s a better time than any right?” Henry states, his tan complexion covered in the white powder of the soot that trampled and covered the streets and buildings surrounding.



Kevin stops pacing and looks at Henry curiously. He could already feel the news he was about to hear will be bad. His heart banged and he feels a trail of sweat rolls down the side of his slightly soot covered face. “They’re dead, aren’t they?”



Henry sadly nods his head as tears pricked the edges of his dark eyes. Kevin swallows hard and watches the North Tower standing alone, lonely without its partner.



Kevin gulps and head back into the station, his tears won’t come out now, he only wanted to save the citizens that was around the remaining Tower. “I’m going.” He mumbles to Brian who was standing next to him.



“Going where? I know you’re not heading back to the Towers. You heard what happened. The city is under serious surveillance right now. You can’t go back.” Brian shouts, his ocean eyes opening wide.



‘That’s why I’m going. There’s too many people in need and I’m not standing here in the back to watch it when I can do something to stop it.” Kevin states: putting on his helmet and stepping into fire fighter boots.



“Whoa Kev. Hold up. Think this through. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?!” Brian states following after Kevin who’s rushing out the station along with some others from the station. “Kevin! We were told to stay in the station. Something could happen to you!” Brian yells, his statement vanishes through Kevin’s ear as he disappears through the thick smog of the streets. “Oh Kev. I’m going with you.” He whispers softly running through the debris of metal, paper and scraps of torn jewelry from deceased victims.

~*~



-September 11th 2001. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire station Twelve.



Jalisa hangs up the phone and orders Nick, A.J. and Howie to head over to the North Tower. “You guys listen carefully, I need you to take the people around that area that are wounded and bring them to the ambulances that are parked down this street. No cars are coming in and traffic is halted so you guys gotta run over there. Don’t go in the building, we already got the rest of the company over there to get others out. Don’t go in, understand!” She states, her light brown eyes scanning the three men before here. Her eyes lower, “Where are the other two?”



Anita shakes her head and pokes Rose on her side. Rose shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head. Nick looks around the station and A.J. scratches the side of his head gently.



Howie stares at his friends and finally speaks up, “I saw them heading out the station. They’re heading back to the Tower. Brian tried talking Kevin out of it from what I heard but I couldn’t see what happened cause of the thick smoke. By the looks of it, it seems they both headed out.”



Jalisa shakes her head softly and runs to a small walkie talkie hoping to get in contact with the other two. “They can’t go in the building! They have to know that!”



Henry stumbles in the station and leads the others out, “They headed out, let’s go, we have to catch up to Kevin and Brian.”



Nick and A.J. run out the station with Howie and Henry leading the way out. Rose watches the men clear the station. She takes a seat besides her friend Anita.



“They’ll be ok right?” Rose asks softly pushing stray blonde tresses away from her face.



Anita shakes her head, “I don’t think anything is safe. Lawrence is gone and so is Darrel. I don’t want those guys to have to be on the deceased list.” She sniffs back tears and covered her face with her hands.



Rose gulps and watches the horrific scene over and over again of the collapse of the building in her mind. Those images will be imprinted in her mind for a long time.

~*~



-September 11th 2001. 10:28 am. New York City, New York. Greenwich street, World Trade Center.



Kevin races up the smog covered street in time to feel a terrible vibration erupt from the sky. Kevin looks up to see the North Tower crumble and topple under its own weight. The Tower let out a loud last cry as it falls to the ground crying out in pain. Kevin can hear Howie scream out and tug on Kevin’s arm.



“Go! Get out of here! We’ll be crushed under the building!” Howie yells as he watches the North Tower explode and crumble sending sprays of metal debris and paper towards their direction.



Nick drops the water hose he was holding. He stands in fear to see the Tower crash down on the ground sending a violent earthquake down the street he was standing on. Nick could feel Brian push him and yelling to “Run!”



Nick in shock stumbles and trips on the ground as innocent people crying and screaming run towards his direction in chaos.



Nick can feel Kevin lifting him off the ground and pushing him to run. “Nick, you gotta move! The building is crashing and coming at our way!”



Nick turns back to see the remains of the North Tower. Only the metal outlining and foundations poked from the ground of what once was the building. The image is quickly covered by an over powering thick smoke that fills the already smog filled area. The black smoke and fire raged on as firefighters from other companies try to take it out. Hundreds of police cars filled the now desolate streets, as many officers scurry around to save people that were caught under the building debris.



Brian begins coughing heavily as the smoke invades his lungs. Howie grabs Brian’s arm and pulls him over to their station. “Brian you ok?”



Brian shakes his head as he tries to take a deep breath. Sweat formed at his forehead as he tries to take a deep breath.



“It’s the smoke. He has to cough it out, to relieve him. He’ll be ok D.” A.J. states, patting Brian’s shoulder.



Nick and Kevin are the last to enter the station again and were covered in the thick white powder of the smoke. A few employers from the Towers walked by pass the station and seemed to be shock with the collapse. A few men stopped by the fire station and give their thanks for helping them escape the area without getting hurt.



Nick smiles and shakes a man’s hand. “You just get home and rest. It’s gonna be a long day for us.”



The man nods his head and walks away, his black business suit now stained with the white soot and powder of the Towers. Kevin gulps and shakes his head, he places his hand on Nick’s shoulder gently.



“You scared me back there Nicky. I thought we were gonna get crushed under the building.” Kevin whispers, his usually deep voice cracked in sadness.



Nick turns to face Kevin and throws his arms around the older man, embracing him as he lets the tears run down his face. Nick could feel Kevin’s arms wrap around him trying to comfort him. Nick stares at Kevin’s face and he sees a tear drop rolling down Kevin’s soot covered face. “They’re gone. Kev. They died saving lives.” Nick whispers, biting his lower lip gently.



Kevin gulps and nods his head, “I know. I heard. Nick, I gotta tell ya something. I don’t think I can do this any more.” He whispers quietly, his emerald eyes burning with tears.



Nick stares back at Kevin, “You have to do this. There are people out there that need our help. You can’t just give up.” Nick argues with Kevin, his ocean eyes burning from the smog that invaded the station and streets.



Kevin points back to the blinding white smoke, “Look at that! What am I suppose to do?! I’m responsible for the safety of the people in this city and I let them down. I can’t do this job knowing I failed once.” He yells in pain, the tears coming out rapidly from his emerald eyes.



Nick raises his eyebrows, “What!? So you’re just giving up like that. Kevin you can’t save everyone! It’s not your fault with what happened today. No one knew this was gonna happen! But don’t go blaming yourself about this.” Nick was quite in surprise for he never saw Kevin go weak, but this was the first time.



Kevin sighs and shakes his head, “Nick, it’s too late. I already signed the papers. I’m leaving the fire company next week. Henry is gonna be co-owning it with another chief.”



“What?!” A.J screams out, overhearing the conversation. “Kevin! No! What are you doing man? Are you insane? You’re leaving the company for what?” A.J’s voice stained with hurt.



“I don’t know what I wanna do yet. I just don’t feel right doing this any more.” Kevin says simply walking back into the lobby of the fire station.



Howie who was standing near by to hear the conversation, shakes his head, “Looks like we did lose someone else in this company.” He whispers and wipes his hand over his tear stained eye.



A.J. sighs and stares outside at the blanketed white covered streets. Fire trucks and police cars were buried beneath the rubble of the remains of the collapsed buildings.



Brian rubbing his sore throat, stands next to A.J. “Alex, don’t be mad with what Kevin did. I can’t blame him for what he’s doing. It’s too much pressure for one person, so I understand why he did it.” Brian whispers.



A.J gulps and watches the thick smoke infiltrate the streets and pass by him. “I know. So what do we do? We lost another brother from the company. Two is enough but now with Kevin walking out. I’m starting to think maybe I shouldn’t be here.” His chocolate eyes scan the smoke and see two employers in business suits pass by them.



Brian lets out a deep breath, “J, don’t say that. Just cause Kevin stopped dreaming, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”



A.J. shrugs his shoulders, “I’m tired. I’m getting some rest. I heard we gotta be back there to look for any survivors buried beneath the rumble.” He whispers and heads into the station and up the stairs to his room.

~*~

-September 11th 2001. 7:16 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire company twelve



He hangs up again frustrated that he couldn’t get through and make a call to his family. He knows they were worried sick about him, but the Towers took down all the phone lines around the area and even his cell wasn’t working properly. He rolls his dark coffee eyes over to the window only to be greeted by the thick black and cloudy smoke. His dark short brown hair lied matted with water. He had taken a quick shower to take off some of the soot that had stuck to him, but he still felt the blood from one of the people who he saved during the collapse. He looks to the empty bed besides his, Brian’s. And wonder how Brian is handling the fact that Kevin is leaving. It won’t be easy, that he knew. Nick had been cursing and trashing the room he shared with A.J. because he was truly upset with Kevin’s decision.



Howie on the other hand didn’t feel surprised with Kevin’s sudden departure. He knew Kevin wanted to do other things and get away from this job for a while. He would often catch Kevin talking to his wife on the phone on how he wanted to quit and go home already. He remembered Kevin saying he didn’t want to see another dead body, it would hurt him too much and he wanted to be able to sleep again without worrying if he was responsible for letting a person die.



So Howie can relate to Kevin’s choice and understood it perfectly. He himself felt tempted to leave the fire house and call it quits at times when it gets to be too much. He felt at times his heart was becoming cold to all the lives he saw gone. Howie sighs and lies back on his bed. He hadn’t cried yet, he guess it was too soon and that he himself was undergoing shock. But the tears were there ready to be freed and that’s what Howie did.



He let the tears pierce his eyes and roll down his face as he remembered how he let down a little child who was caught under the collapse of the building. Howie didn’t get there on time and it was too late for the child. So those tears are for that child and for the parents who lost their children. The tears were for the women who kissed their husbands goodbye to never to see them again, those tears flow down like the sadness of death that consumes each person’s body at the time the plane crashed. Those tears are for those workers who called their families one last time to tell them goodbye and that they love them. Because they will never see them again and those tears are for those missing family members who they may never find. It broke Howie’s heart to know the reality of this tragedy that the nation had fallen to. But what could he do, he was just one man and he doubts one person can help ease the discomfort his friends are facing.

~*~



He turns on the television screen only to see the same news discussing the tragedy he saw. He turns off the television in the lounge room and lets out a deep breath. He rubs his weary blue eyes and gazes sadly at the picture of the company. His eyes well in tears to see Chief Lawrence and Darrel smiling back at him from the picture. In that picture he sees his cousin, his friend- Kevin smiling. Brian remembered those were one of the few times Kevin truly felt happy about doing what he does as a job. But now, it seemed Kevin lost the happy smile, the smile fading until it just disappeared and that concerned Brian. But he knew it was because Kevin was becoming unhappy with this job. It’s not that he hated being a fire man, in fact he remembered when they were young how much Kevin loved the idea of becoming a fire fighter. But death takes it toll and it changed people, it changed Kevin. So now Brian was left to make a decision after next week is over. He will either continue working here or like his cousin: leave this life behind to do something that can put a smile back on Kevin’s face. He was beginning to option for the second choice, though he couldn’t make that announcement until later. Until he was sure he was ready to give this life style up.



Brian leans back on the worn sofa and stares at the picture of the entire company. He knows things will never be the same, his intuition was right.

~*~



He rummages through his suitcase to find a crumpled picture of Lawrence and him back on the day of Lawrence’s daughter, Erica’s birthday party. A.J scans the picture and tries to take out the creases and wrinkles that had formed on the edges of the picture. He smiles and looks around the room that Nick had trashed a few minutes ago. Not that it mattered cause Nick who’s lying on the top bunk taking a nap stated he’ll clean it up when he gets up. A.J. figured that was how Nick took out his anger and sadness. As for him, the news with Kevin shook him up. Kevin was the one who tends to pull the guys through things, but with him leaving the station, how will the station operate. A.J. wanted to reach out to Kevin and tell him what he was doing was a mistake but how can he if he felt the same way. A.J. longed to go back home now more than ever since this incident, he wanted to hold his fiancé and hug his mother. He wanted to see his family and be there with them but that was impossible now. Airports are shut down and hospitals were full of the injured and wounded. It’s not like he really had anywhere to go at this point. A.J. stared at the picture in his hands.



He wanted to cry, scream, curse and break things in all his anger and sadness, but it seemed Nick beat him to it. Sighing sadly, he tucks the picture and pushes aside some of the mess of clothes on the floor, Nick had thrown in his fit of anger. He walks over to his bed and places the picture on the desktop near his bed. He wanted to know that Lawrence was still in the station somehow and this could help.

~*~



Kevin folded a couple of t-shirts and packs them into his small carry on suitcase. He knew for sure he made the right choice. He couldn’t work under all this pressure and his health could be at risk if he stayed longer in this job. Kevin yawns and stares outside the evening sky as the sun begins to set. He longed to be away from all the hurt and pain so he figured leaving away from here would help. Brian wasn’t dealing with the news like Kevin had expected. It seemed that Brian was distant about the whole thing, he didn’t even bother speaking to Kevin even after Kevin announced to the entire company that next Friday was his last day working with the fire company. He shouldn’t feel preoccupied about Brian’s distant attitude, he tends to do that to sort out his feelings. But it bothered Kevin that Brian couldn’t even look at him in the eyes anymore. It made Kevin feel like he somehow had embarrassed Brian with the announcement, but that was the least of his concerns. Today he was gonna go out and search all through the night for any remaining survivors possibly buried beneath the rumble of the collapsed buildings.



He zips up the suitcase and pushes it under the bed. He grabs his keys and was about to leave but turned back around to see the paper he had wrote the poem a while back from Adam’s death. Curious he picks it up to see the poem completed with all the other guys parts printed neatly above and below his part. On the top of the page it stated a title called “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.” Kevin smiles and places the paper back on the mahogany desk and notices a tape recorder lying there next to the paper. Curious, he pushes play and was engulfed with a beautiful voice of his cousin singing, as well as Howie’s, A.J.’s and Nick. The part which Kevin wrote no one sang it but went over to the next part they each wrote. At the end of the song, he hears Brian’s voice speaking:



“Just like this song Kevin, it’s incomplete without your voice. And so this company will function just like that. Know you’re needed and if you do go, know that we won’t ever forget you. If you go, I want to go with ya and the others going too!” And with that the tape stops running and Kevin smiles placing the tape recorder back on the table. He walks out the door of his room feeling glad that he had such good friends.

~*~



-September 11th 2001. 8:15 PM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



Nick opens his eyes and hears A.J. shuffling through some belongings. Nick gazes at the picture A.J. placed on the desk top and he feels his heart breaking. He was just beginning to know Lawrence and Darrel and now they’re gone. It felt strange to him, their absence. And with Kevin making it official that he was leaving next week, he felt torn in so many ways. He looked up to Kevin in so many ways and admired the man. Kevin always faced the battle and was always strong, but now when Nick saw him cry today and tell him that he didn’t want to do this any more, Nick saw the real Kevin. The one who has feelings, who’s heart does break, who feels helpless. Now it seemed that instead of Kevin helping Nick out, it was Nick’s turn to help him out. He hoped the tape he and the others worked on today gave Kevin some impression on how much his presence is felt by everyone in the company. Nick knew if Kevin really was leaving that he would leave too. He didn’t want to be here without all his friends. He lost two and he couldn’t lose another one.



Nick sits up from the bed and jumps down beginning to clean up the mess his anger had made. He felt a hand clamp down on his and looks up to see A.J. smiling.



“’bout time you woke up! I was tired of seeing this room a big mess. You’re worse than me!” A.J. states smiling: his chocolate eyes gazing at his friend.



Nick smirks and with the help of his friend cleans the room.



“Guess we should go now. They’re asking for more help on ground zero.” A.J. states, placing a book back on the shelf.



“Yeah, maybe Kevin changed his mind with the song we left him.” Nick whispers, pulling off his t-shirt and putting on a black tank top.



“Maybe.” A.J. says softly and holds the door open waiting for Nick to follow him out the room.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Hero’s Heart”

-“And they say that a hero can save us
I’m not gonna stand here and wait. – Hero by Chad Kroeger (featuring Josey Scott)

**~Chapter Twenty-One- Closing One Door~**

-September 21st 2001. 9:33 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West. 23rd street. Fire company Ladder Twelve.

The thick doors slam shut and he turns the lock on it, closing the fire station for possibly forever. He feels the pat of the real estate’s hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s hard for you to see this place close down. But you understand you’re helping out the city financially. With all the major budget cuts that has to be made, this city can’t support another institution economically.” The man states, his dark eyes full of disinterest.

Kevin sighs and nods his head, “Sir, I understand. I know this is the only thing that we can do at the moment. I just feel bad, it’s like I stop fighting for this station, for what this job called for.”

The real estate agent remains quiet and steps back to see Kevin tugging on the thick large metal lock that sealed the fire department. Kevin turns around suddenly when he hears the loud siren going off near by. Kevin smiles to the last red engine from their station pulling up the curb. He watches the other four guys: Nick, Brian, A.J. and Howie leap off the engine and all carried a downcast face.

“Hey guys cheer up. Things will get better.” Kevin whispers as Brian stands before him.

“Kevin you know it’s not. So just stop ok.” Brian mumbles, his ocean eyes clouded in distress.

Kevin sighs and shakes his head. He didn’t know what to do, the day had come more faster than they all had expected. The day they closed down the fire station. Calls were made to families as most of the company had already been transferred or moved to other firehouses outside the state. The remaining five had remained in the firehouse to finish cleaning up and putting things away. The day was a mess, from the moment he had woken up, he knew he was making a big mistake shutting the fire company down.

“What was I thinking?” Kevin whispers softly to himself. A.J. heard his soft statement and nudges Kevin on the arm.

“You weren’t. But that’s ok, I’ll forgive you.” A.J. smirks, his coffee eyes glittering playfully.

Kevin cracks a smile for the first time that morning and it felt good to know that even through the city’s hard times, the guys were able to lift each other’s spirit’s up. “Man, I’ll miss you.” Kevin whispers, embracing the smaller man.

“O, mmmhn, man. Breaking bones. Chuhn.” A.J. gasps and mumbles incoherently under his breath.

Kevin pulls A.J. away from him laughing, “Sorry, J. I guess I don’t know my own strength huh?”

Nick chuckles and stares at the locked fire house door. Howie sighs and places his arm around the taller man. “Nick this is it man. We gotta go. Head to the airport in a few hours.”

Nick gulps and shakes his head, “I know. I can’t believe it. This is it. It’s over. I just got here and it feels like I’m already leaving.”

Howie sighs, “I know, same here man. I’m gonna miss all you guys. I gave part of my life to this station and it’s just diminishing now.”

Brian gazes at the dreary skyline, the humid cloudy day casting a grim expression on reality. The city lies in ruins: bulldozers, paramedics and ambulances lie around the area digging alongside volunteer workers with the policemen. The remains and debris of the Towers lie scattered along miles of the sidewalks. The only sound was the bulldozers and people whispers in the atmosphere. Kevin runs his light tan hands through his black raven spikes tiredly. “Brian I don’t know if I can just walk away from this now. I’m starting to think this is wrong.”

Brian smiles grimly, “It had to be done. It’ll be fine, our lives will be different. We get to see our families and get another job back home.”

Nick rolls his ocean eyes and stare at the two cousins, “I guess we should get going then right? Everyone else from the company already left. It’s just us.”

“Not everyone left yet.” A voice joins them.

Nick smiles and sees Jalisa. “Hey you still here? I thought after yesterday’s signing of the real estate company, you’d bounced.”

Jalisa smiles, her peach complexion glittering dully on the cloudy day, “I couldn’t leave without saying bye to you all.”

A.J. smirks, “Oh girl, see now you made me all sad.” He embraces the young woman.

Jalisa smiles and steps back staring at A.J. and Nick, “You guys don’t forget me.”

Howie breaks into a soft smile, “Sweetie, nunca te voy a olvidar.” (I’ll never forget you.) And playfully pushes the young woman into his arms.

Nick grabs Jalisa and laughing gives her a friendly hug, “I guess I never told you, the first day I met you. You were the only woman who made me nervous. And that’s quite a feat.”

Jalisa laughs at the remark, as she passes her peach fingers through her dark brown locks which today were tied up in a low ponytail. “You were a mess when I met you. I thought it was cute though.”

A.J. claps his hands to catch everyone’s attention. “Ok guys. It takes about a good hour or so to get to the airport and our flights are all leaving at close times. I think Howie’s flight leaves first. So we should all get going. It’ll the last time we might get to spend with each other.” His voice cracked at the end, the sadness overwhelming, but he tried to remain strong. His coffee eyes gaze slowly at the pavement as he feels Jalisa’s hand tugging on him.

“I think we should all get on the van, my friend is gonna drop us off at the airport now, k.” Jalisa whispers to the group. The men nod their heads and grab their belongings, each carrying their suitcases and backpacks full of clothes and other necessaries.

Brian sighs and grabs onto Kevin’s arm, “This is gonna suck so much you know that.”

Kevin licks his lips softly and nods his head as he follows Howie and boards the open van waiting to take them to the airport. Brian and Nick follow behind and A.J. and Jalisa board last. A.J. turns his head back to look at the fire station one last time. One part of his life closes as another will hopefully open. And with that, the sad faces of the five men and one woman wave bye to the station as the van pulls away from the corner of the sidewalk and down the street.
~*~

-September 21st 2001. 9:40 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 25th street. Fire Company Twelve Adolescence section.

She sighs and flops back on the bed staring at the white ceiling fan twirling around lazily. She hears her name being called out, “Rain? Are you finished yet? We gotta be at the airport shortly. Chief Li sent the first group already. Looks like we’re the next getting called on.” Anita whispers sadly, her dark eyes big and wide in exasperation as she enters the room. She passes her light chocolate hands through her red one shoulder tank top and down her black jean shorts. Her hair lies in one braid across her right shoulder. Fingering her gold necklace around her neck, she gazes at Rose.

Rose lifts her head up from the bed and rolls her sapphire eyes, “I can’t believe it.”

“I know girl. I feel ya. This is it. After we were getting good training and would become firefighters, we have to get sent back home to try to pick up where we left off before we left. It’ll be such a mess.” Anita whispers as she sits on the edge of the bed carefully, her eyes and mind off somewhere else.

Rose sits up in the small bed and throws her arms around Anita’s shoulders, “Nity, I’m gonna miss ya.” She states fighting back the stinging in her eyes that would later result in tears.

“Girls! Time to go now. Your flight leaves in three hours.” Chief Li shouts from down the hallway.

Anita turns to look at Rose and sticks out her lower lip, “I guess you won’t see Nick anymore then. I’m sure they’re already at the airport either flying back home or waiting for their flight.”

Rose smiles as the lump in her throat rose, she shakes her head, “I guess not. We could have been a cute couple. Don’t ya think?”

Anita smiles and pulls on Rose’s stray golden locks that lie loosely on Rose’s shoulder’s. Rose snowy complexion glittered in the cloudy morning as she tugs on her navy blue boy shorts and black thin strapped tank top. “Put on your sandals and let’s go. You know the chief gets all mad if we’re late.”

Rose grins and slips into her flip flops, “I think she changed. I mean since the incident, she’s a different person. The whole Tower thing changed her attitude with us.”

“I think it changed all of us don’t you think?” Anita whispers getting up and swinging her big blue back pack onto her back.

Rose gets up and grabs her small suitcase, rolling it on its wheels across the room and out the hallway. “Yup, it sure it. Come on. Let’s go.”

“Wait!” Anita yells and reaches into her backpack, pulling out a small camera. “Girl take a picture with me. It’ll help me remember who you are later on as we age.”

Rose giggles softly and waits as Anita runs next to her and holds the small camera in front of them. “Ready? Smile!” Anita states as the bright light flashes before them capturing their moment. The picture will be a reminder to both of them of their friendship, it’ll show both young women of different cultures coming together maybe for the last time for the same purpose. Rose smirks knowing the picture will be sweet, the picture will show both girls hugging each other laughing. Rose figured at least when she will look at the picture, that they were both smiling and not crying. Though she’ll know the crying will come later on as they leave on separate planes to go home.
~*~

The ride on the highway was long and quiet. It seemed the conversation stopped the moment they all boarded the van to get them to the airport. Jalisa sighs and leans her head on the glass pane, watching the buildings whirl by quickly. Nick yawns and settles into his seat as he watches Brian write something down in a notebook.

“Rok, you’ve been writing since we boarded the van. What are you writing anyway?” A.J. asks leaning over Brian’s shoulder.

Brian covered the notebook and clutches it to his chest, smiling, he responds, “You’ll see. Be patient, I’m almost done. I’ll show you when we get to the airport.” And he continues writing down on paper.

Kevin smirks and watches the conversation between the two men. “Howie, what are you gonna do when you get back home?”

Howie sighs and leans back in his seat, he gazes his coffee eyes lazily at Kevin. “You know I didn’t think about that. I guess I’ll be with my family before applying for a job. Don’t know what job? Maybe I’ll go back to training as a paramedic. I’ll see.” He nibbles on his lower lip softly.

“What about you?” Howie asks to Kevin who’s sitting across from him.

Kevin plays with the tips of his raven spiked hair, pulling on it out of pure boredom. “Don’t know. Go into acting I guess. I like being on stage you know.”

A.J. smirks and speaks up, “Not for nothing but I liked being on stage since that day we sang. Hey maybe we can be a singing group or something? You know, be famous?”

Nick laughs, “There we go with the famous thing again. A.J. if we were a singing group, we would need a name. What would we call ourselves?”

A.J. shrugs his shoulders, “Dude, I don’t know. How about since we’re always in sync with everything we do, we could call ourselves in sync but drop the ‘I’ in it.”

At this remark, Jalisa and Howie burst out in laughter followed by the others. A.J. rolls his eyes and sighs, “Man please whatever. Why don’t you try coming up with something?” He states smiling with a hint of annoyance.

Kevin laughs and stares out the window, “How about since we’re always fighting fire out on the streets, we involve that in the name.”

Nick grins, “Oh ok, how about Flaming Street Men?”

At this another roar of laughter erupted in the van. “Or better yet, how about 98 degrees, the human body temperature and you know since we’re firefighters, we can make people’s temperatures rise!” Nick continues, causing the laughter to float in the van.

Nick continues on with the joke, “How about Street Fire Boys?”

Howie crinkles his nose, “Eww, no one would ever buy our cd with a name like that Nick. That kind of sounds like Street fighter Boys or something.”

Jalisa raises her hands as she giggles, “Oh guys please stop. I’m sure a name would pop up if you don’t think about it.”

Brian looks on with flush cheeks as he calmed down his laughter, “She’s right. Leave the name alone. Maybe if we think back in the days when we were in the street as boys, a name could be formed.”

A.J. narrows his eyes and mouths the sentence Brian just said, smiling A.J. throws his arms around Brian’s neck, “Dude you’re freaking genius! Why didn’t I think of something like that?”

The others look on in confusion as A.J. continues, “How about Backstreet Boys?”

Kevin laughs, “J, none of us here are exactly considered boys anymore.”

A.J. rolls his eyes, “Man whatever you guys, I tried.” And he leans back on the soft seat closing his eyes with a grin on his tan face.

Brian smiles in Nick’s direction and winks at Jalisa. Nick noticed it, but figured whatever it was will be told to him and others soon. And knowing Brian, he knew Brian wouldn’t say anything about what that wink was all about. So he leans back enjoying the air conditioning of the van, breathing in the cool wisps invading his warm body and closes his eyes. He didn’t want to think about when they would reach the airport cause it’ll be emotional to leave another family he formed throughout the months he stayed in New York.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Hola, my readers, I believe this is it, we’re nearing the end of this story, don’t get sad though: cause I’m writing plenty of other stories in this site that will keep you craving for more. Though I love writing this story because it can relate to all of us, I must soon end it. Thanks for all your love and support on this story, don’t forget to review cause it’ll help me out so much in my sanity! Hehe. *grins* For now, take care and I’m out.

“A Hero’s Heart”

-“…they call me superman, I’m here to rescue you…”- ‘Superman’, Eminem.

**~Chapter Twenty-two- Opening Another Door~**

-September 21st, 2001. 10:10 am. Queens, NY. JFK Airport.

He paces around the lobby nervously fingering the plane ticket. He glances down to see his watch and sighs. In about a half an hour or so, his plane will arrive and he will have to board it, deserting his friends. He eyes around the waiting room and sees the other four guys alongside Jalisa whispering excitedly about something a few feet away from him.

“Hey what are you guys so excited about?” Howie asks, making his way over to the others after getting annoyed that he was being left out the sudden conversation.

A.J. looks down to him with a grin plastered on his face, “D, Brian has something to tell you. In fact he has something to tell all of us and I’m sure you’ll like it.” A.J.’s coffee eyes lighted up with glee as the soft morning sunlight beams through the thick clouds and into the room their in.

Howie licks his lips nervously and looks at the others expressions: Jalisa’s face was covered with a slick smirk and so was Nick’s, Kevin’s and Brian’s.

Howie placed his book bag on the marble floor and crosses his arms, “Ok, well what is it, since I’m sure you guys already know.”

Nick chuckles softly and elbows Kevin who hides his smile. Howie narrows his eyes and sighs impatiently waiting for one of them to tell him anything.

Brian noted Howie’s impatience and places his hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Ok, I won’t keep you in suspense anymore. I think you might wanna take a seat for this though.” He states with a twinkle in his sapphire eyes that initiated joyful data.

Howie drops into a smooth beige leather seat behind him and leans back, tapping his foot impatiently. Nick surrounds him on the left side while A.J. does the same on his right side. Brian steps in front of Howie smiling widely.

Howie sighs and shakes his head, this was unusual behavior even for Brian so whatever he has to say will be big. Sighing wearily, Howie watches Brian rubs his hands together and chuckle before breaking the big news.

“Ok.” Brian sighs, letting out a puff of air from his mouth. Jalisa and Kevin crack up in laughter as the suspense is eating away at Howie.

Howie narrows his eyes and grumbles, thinking this is one last joke the guys are trying to pull on him.

“Remember the day we sang at Erika’s birthday party?” Brian pauses to see Howie nod his head and have his full attention. “Well see there was a record producer there who was blown away at our performance and had asked me if I was interested in doing a demo and possibly get signed to a record company.”

This caught Howie’s interest and ecstatically he leaps out the seat hugging Brian. “Whoa wait! You didn’t hear the rest of the story?!” Brian chuckles.

Howie breaks into a smile and laughs, “Rok, I’m sure you signed it right? So what more is there?! You have a wonderful voice and now you get to share it with the world.” His tan face beaming with pride for his friend.

A.J. laughs softly and pats Howie’s shoulder, “Um, D. There’s more to this story than you think and it involves you. In fact it involves all of us.”

Howie narrows his eyes, “What are you saying?”

No longer holding back, Kevin breaks into the group and places his hands on Howie’s shoulder forcing Howie to stare at his friend in front of him. “Brian didn’t sign the producer’s lease because he needed to get all of our permission on this.”

Howie was about to say that Brian didn’t need their permission to sign on to do music since it’s his life. But he was interrupted by A.J. who leaps in front of Kevin, pushing the taller man away.

A.J. stares at Howie and finally lets out the news that the guys were holding in, “D, he can’t sign it until we all agree that we’re cool with it and agree to be in the group!”

Howie scratches his head and runs his fingers through his unruly brown hair. “Ok.” Howie whispers, trying to gather the idea just thrown at him. “The producer wants all of us to do a demo and get signed to a deal right?” He says slowly, letting the thought sink in.

Nick nods his head, “Yes!!!! We said yeah!! We’re gonna get famous dude!! You know how hot that is! All we need is for you to say you’re down with this and we’re off to record!” The excitement zooming down his spine as he speaks.

Howie gulps and then he shakes his head, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m cut out for this occupation. Besides I have plans on getting transferred to Miami to work in the firehouse down there. So no, but I wish you guys well on that.”

A.J.’s mouth hangs open as the others gasp. Kevin drops a manila folder he had in his hands onto the floor as he stares at his friend confused. “Wait so that’s it? You’re not even giving this a chance?” His emerald eyes boring into Howie.

Howie sighs and nods his head softly, “Yeah.” Then the announcer bellows out on the speakers that Howie’s flight has landed and for the passengers to begin boarding the plane now.

Howie clutches his suitcase and grabs his book bag staring at the guys. Jalisa is the only one who moved towards him and embraces him. “It’s ok. This is your decision. They have to respect that. You have different plans from them, but you can make up your own mind.”

Howie smiles and was glad someone respected his decision. But he was thrown a guilt trip when Jalisa said the next statement.

“After all, they were only trying to keep everyone together cause they couldn’t bare leaving one another. But that doesn’t bother you, cause you have plans.” Jalisa says softly, eyeing Howie.

Howie gasps and shakes his head, “Why are you making this hard for me?” He whispers loudly annoyed as he eyes the others behind Jalisa.

Jalisa shrugs her shoulders and drops her arms down her side, “Cause it be sad to see such talent wasted on something else.”

Howie stares at Kevin, “So, what you feel the same way too? All of you?”

Nick nods his head and Kevin smiles picking up the fallen papers that lie scattered on the marble floor.

Jalisa giggles, “So will you at least consider this or even give this a chance before you decide for sure?” Her soft peach complexion shining dully in the soft sunlight.

Howie sighs and drops his bags on the floor, sighing he smiles and shakes his head, “I give up! I can’t win with Jalisa around.”

Cheers erupted from the guys and A.J. asks, “So I take it you’re in?”

Howie nods his head, “Yeah, let’s give this a try.”

Cheers surrounded him as the five firefighters embrace and jump around in joy.

Brian laughs, “Alright! Group hug!” And they gather together throwing their arms around one another. Jalisa joins in and laughs as the scene.

Suddenly their rejoicing is interrupted when a fire alarm in the airport went off. The announcer over the speaker stated that everyone in the airport to evacuate the bathrooms nearby because a possible fire hazard with the lighting and electrical currents are running loosely.

Brian turns around to see a young boy screaming that a fire is in the men’s bathroom and as the boy stated, “The fire is fighting the guy!”

Kevin races on instinct and runs over to break the glass case where a fire extinguisher is held. “Come on guys! Get one and head over to the bathroom!” Kevin barked orders at the others. A.J and Nick run behind Kevin each finding a glass case and breaking it with their hands to gain access to a fire extinguisher as well. Howie and Brian fumble through their bags to find a box of baking soda.

Jalisa gazes at the two in confusion, “Hello, it’s not a kitchen disaster you guys for you to use that!” She states alarmed as a crowd of people start running away from the impending fire.

Brian smiles, “Actually if the fire is in the bathroom, I bet it was started with a guy’s greasy hair!”

Jalisa growls, “This isn’t funny, someone could hurt in there!”

Brian smiles, “I’m sure the others got to them already, come on D, lets grab these babies and see that I was right on the whole prospect of how the fire started.” He whispers lifting the small baking sofa in Jalisa’s face.

Jalisa mumbles as the other two sped off to the other three. It always amused her that they don’t get worried about such things but go ahead and handle the business without a second thought. ‘Guess they were trained that way.’ She thinks to herself as she sees a few surprised men coughing and coming out of the long hallway from the men’s bathroom.

Suddenly she hears gasps and footsteps to see Rose, Anita and Chief Li coming towards her direction.

“What happened?” Chief Li cries out, her sapphire eyes wide in fright as her jet black locks tumble down loosely down her back.

“Not a big fire. Looks like something went wrong with the men’s bathroom. That’s all I know.” Jalisa states, her eyes staring at the small smoky hallway that lead to the bathroom.

Anita gasps and clutches her suitcase in her hands, her dark eyes peering at the smoke infiltrated hallway where the guys went in. One guy comes out of there, gagging as Nick clutches onto the man. Brian and Kevin come out coughing and waving their hands as the smoke invaded their nostrils. Howie and A.J. carry out the guy who’s hair went on fire a few seconds ago. The man desperately pats his smoky black curly hair while he pushed out the hallway.

“It’s all clear.” Kevin shouts in between coughs.

“It was small fire but it spreading fast.” A.J. states over the small commotion that was caused in the bathroom. People started crowding around the guys pleading their thanks and how brave they were to help out.

Brian beams at Jalisa and yells out that the baking soda worked, the guys hair went on fire when a hair gel spilled over him and a broken wire from the overhead lights thus causing the fire.

Jalisa rolls her eyes knowing Brian would be bragging about it all day about how right he was with the fire and the baking soda.

Nick pushes his way out of the small crowd and makes his way back to Jalisa. He sees Rose and they run to embrace.

“Hey you! I didn’t think I was gonna see you again Rain. I guess I don’t look too good looking covered in all this soot on my face and shirt.” Nick states laughing, a cough coming out every once in a while.

Rose laughs, her sapphire eyes matching the man’s before her. “Na, smoke looks good on you.”

Nick smirks and pats his smoky shirt. Anita smiles and watches Nick in admiration. “Wow, you went in there?” She asks pointing over to the men’s bathroom, her black braids over her shoulders.

Nick looks at her and smiles, “Yeah, it’s fine though. It’s just smoky. Nothing serious but the smoke makes it more than it really is.”

Chief Li smiles and pats his shoulder, “Good job. I must apologize for my rude remarks before about not trusting you with Rose. You proved yourself in that fire. I should have never doubted you.”

Nick smirks, “Its fine, you were doing you’re job. I’m cool with it. Apology accepted.” He states shaking hands with the woman.

Anita smiles and pokes Rose on the side with her elbow. Leaning over to Rose’s ear she whispers, “Man, I didn’t know he looked this good in person up close. Not bad for a white boy. Not bad at all.” Anita whispers softly, causing both of them into fits of giggles.

The other four make their way back to the girls and smile. After all greeting each other, Chief Li smiles and shakes her head. “I heard about the possible new occupation you guys will take up.”

Anita and Rose stare at the men in confusion. Jalisa laughs and explains to the girls that the guys have decided to pursue into the music business.

Rose squeals in delight and jumps up and down in excitement. Anita smiles, “Oh man I heard you guys on the radio! That was great!”

This time it was the guys turn to be confused.

“What? How is that possible? We didn’t sign yet or even made a first single. How can you hear us on the radio?” Howie asks the same question that was running through the other men’s mind.

Jalisa smiles softly, “I forgot to mention that to you. That it was the Chief’s daughter’s request to hear the live performance played on her birthday. She said it was what her father wanted to hear because he had loved the song you sang to Erika. It was one of the last things he said to her before the tragic events came a day later. Before his death.” She whispers sadly at the men’s faces.

A.J. smiles and Nick wipes away a stray tear that formed in his own eyes. Brian takes a deep breath as Kevin shakes his head. Howie stares at the floor fighting with his own sadness.

Anita felt grim about what she said, maybe it wasn’t the right time to say that. But she wanted to and thought it would cheer them up.

Chief Li smiles, her smile lights up her face, “It’s okay sweetie. You just wanted to see them smile. It’s not your fault.”

Jalisa felt bad for breaking such news knowing if anything she should be the one feeling grief stricken about she just said.

Kevin clears his throat, “Wow. I never knew he felt that way. I guess we gotta make it big now for Lawrence right?”

Howie nods his head and looks around the airport to see that everyone settled back down and the flights continue to function even through the minor disturbance of the small fire.

A.J. perks his ears up to a small speaker in the airport that was playing music. He hears a DJ’s voice talking about how the next song comes from a bunch of local heroes in a New York fire department. The DJ continues stating that the song was played to him from a girl who had lost her father in the World Trade Center tragedy. The DJ said he heard the song the girl played for him and wanted to share it with the radio. And with that, the DJ states, “Now I want to share this song with you guys. Thanks to all the heroes out there. This song is for all ya out there. This song is from a group of guys, five to exact who were apart of the Fire company Twelve which was just closed down due to financial problems. If you guys know who you are- thanks for the song!” And the speakers are filled with the guy’s voices.

Everyone in the airport stops and listens to the speakers as the radio plays “What makes you different- makes you beautiful.”

Kevin’s mouth drops open as he hears the beautiful harmony him and the others have together. “My God! I never knew we sounded that good before!”

“We’re on the radio!!” Nick yells happily as people stare at the five men. After the song was after, some onlookers stare at the guys clapping their hands.

One teenage guy and girl nod their heads, “Wow, wonder who they were? They sounded great.”

Nick yells out, “It was us! It was us!” Drawing attention upon himself and the others as onlookers walk by them getting to their flights.

Jalisa laughs and sees a muscular man dressed in a business suit approaching them. He holds out a paper and hands it to Brian who gladly takes it in his hands. The others watch in silence hoping that Brian would let them in on what just happened.

Brian scans the paper and smiles pulling out a pen and without saying a word hands it to A.J. who does the same and signs his name along with Brian. They hand it to Kevin who signs it and gives it to Nick who is still high in excitement. Nick scribbles his name on the paper and hands it to Howie who decides to read the paper and tell the girls.

“You guys, this is the record label! They just heard us on the radio and want us to work with them in producing a demo and a possible album!” Howie shrieks in happiness.

Jalisa yells in joy and Anita and Rose join in the screaming. Chief Li laughs and claps her hands. And the onlookers over hearing what Howie said begin clapping their hands proudly at the heroes with the voices of Angels.

Howie takes a pen from Brian and takes a deep breath. He was about to step into a different spotlight and now the world would know them. Howie scribbles his name and hands the paper back to the burly coffee colored man who smiles and states they will get far with their talent and hands Brian a business card. “Call me when you’re ready to record.” And with that, the man takes the paper with their signatures and places it into a blue folder. The man then walks away smiling, disappearing the crowd.

Jalisa breaks into a laugh as everyone in the group gathers for an encouraging embrace.

Kevin smiles and knew that today was the day a new life will begin.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: *whistles* Yup, I have gotten around to writing the next chapter to this story. You all know the deal, for those you do read this, check out this hott new story called a “Broken Soul.” Found in this section. But because Summer especially asked for this chapter, this chapter goes out to her and hehe, won’t there be a surprise? *giggles* This is the last chapter to this story, sadly but never fear check out the other stories I’m writing in this site along with other co-authors I'm dipping my fingers in. Enjoy and drop a review!

“A Hero’s Heart”

**-“I’ll be the one to hold you and make sure that you’ll be alright.”–‘The One’ by the Backstreet Boys.

**~Chapter twenty-three- And the Song Goes On My Friend~**

-September 21st, 2001. 10:25 am. Queens, NY. JFK airport.

He sighs and looks back at the gate that separated him and the guys from Jalisa, Anita and Rose.

“Come on A.J. we gotta go now. Our flight is called on. We don’t wanna get the recording production a bad rep of our tardiness.” Brian whispers, tugging on A.J’s jacket.

“Ok. I guess I thought Summer was gonna be here.” A.J. states, scanning his eyes across the airport lobby. No sign of a little blonde girl and her older sister.

“Maybe they forgot. Or something came up. You know how it is.” Howie states calmly smiling, tilting his head towards the hallway for the boarding of the plane.

A.J. sighs and shakes his head waving one last time at Jalisa who was already in tears along with the other two girls.

Nick gulps down his sadness and does a quick bye. He knew if he stood any longer saying goodbye, he might burst out crying himself.

“I hate goodbyes. It’s so depressing.” Kevin mumbles pushing A.J. away from the girls and onto the entrance of the flight.

Howie looks around and yells out to Jalisa, “Hey if you see Summer and Skye, tell them we had to go. I hope they’re not mad at us.” And with that board the plane, not turning back in fear he himself will weep.

-October 12th, 2001. 1:37 pm. Tampa, Florida. Zomba recording studio.

The pen drops onto the black marble floor and rolls over to stop at the tip of Brian’s tan boots. Nick smirks and swipes the pen in his hands fingering it between his fingers. Howie cracks his knuckles, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. Kevin nibbles on his lower lip softly and gazes at the entrance of the door waiting for the record producer to come in and tell his opinion on the newly recorded song they just did. A warm sunlight beams into the glass pane windows as the five men wait anxiously for their record producer to come in for the final opinion.

A.J. runs his fingers through his black goatee and finally stands up frustrated with waiting. “Alright, that’s it. They had us in here in the studio for over a half and hour and nothing yet. If we sucked, why didn’t they just tell us?” A.J. grumbles, his coffee eyes scanning the glass black and white photos of recording musical artists aligning the walls. He walks to the closed front door and swings it open in surprise, stumbling to see Summer and Skye standing there. “Hey guys! What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you guys for the longest!” He yells happily embracing Skye in his arms as Summer giggles and tugs on A.J.’s cargo pants.

Brian laughs and runs over to lift little Summer up in his arms, “Hey little one, what are you doing here?” His sapphire eyes glittering in excitement as Summer’s gentle blonde locks tumble on her shoulders. The little girl shifts her position in Brian’s arms and points to her older sister Skye.

“Skye got a job down here. She had to move down here cause her friend wasn’t feeling too well. But you didn’t say bye to us!” Summer squeal out as her rosy cheeks flushed in pink. She bats her emerald eyes and frowns at Brian.

Nick smiles and grabs little Summer from Brian’s arm’s. “Hey sorry if we didn’t say bye, but you guys still didn’t answer the question. Why are you here? Like here in the studio.” Nick states, ruffling Summer’s honeysuckle locks through his fingers.

A.J. finally lets Skye out of his embrace, as she giggles sweetly. “I got a call from a friend of mine who needed my help financially. I moved down here to help her out. Problem was I didn’t have a job. She mentioned she worked in a music studio and she can get me a position to work here. So I just started working here two weeks ago. I was gonna tell you guys about me leaving but I got to the firehouse too late. It was closed already and you guys left.” She says softly, her voice dropping off at the last sentence.

A.J. caresses his fingers down Skye’s snowy face, “Ah, sweetie. I’m sorry. It just seemed everything was crazy in New York. But it doesn’t matter, you’re here. I’m so happy I get to see your face!”

Skye laughs heartily, her big emerald eyes sparkle in glee, “I guess. I heard too! Why didn’t you tell me you guys are recording and stuff? Imagine that, you guys wanting to be famous. I think this is a sign, I mean me and you guys here.” Skye states smiling, her snowy face glittering happily.

Kevin laughs, “Yeah, I guess so. I feel bad for the poor girls. Anita, Jalisa and Rose were crying when we boarded the plane. I haven’t heard of them since.”

Summer giggles as Nick places the little girl back on the floor. “We did. We know where they are!” Her little voice echoing joyfully.

Howie kneels down and takes off Summer’s plastic yellow windbreaker, “Really? And how do you know that?”

Summer gazes at her older sister Skye and grins, pointing her little fingers towards the doorway entry, “They came down here to visit us. We have a surprise for you guys.” Her little body shifts from Howie and runs towards the doorway, her little sandal feet padding on the floor. She stands impatiently at the doorway, tapping her feet. “Come on you guys. Follow me!” Her high baby voice filters the hallway.

Brian grins and shakes his head, “Well let’s see what she has planned for us.”

Skye smiles and feels A.J. throw his arm around her shoulders squeezing her, “I missed ya. I thought I wasn’t gonna see you again.”

Skye looks up into his dark eyes and grins, “Well you don’t have to worry about that, I’m here now.”

A.J. smiles and clasping his hand with hers, he got a surprise and confused look from Skye.

“Wouldn’t your fiancé get mad at this?” Skye asks confused, her blonde tresses tied up in ponytail.

A.J. snorts quietly, “What fiancé? It wasn’t working between us. Right now, I’m not sure where I stand in the relationship with her.”

Skye gulps softly and nods her head, “Sorry it didn’t work out.”

A.J shrugs his shoulders, “The timing was off I guess.” And they follow the others down a long carpeted hallway. They all reach a large cafeteria room where party decorations were pinned up all over and in the center stood a large cake decorated with the five men’s faces on it. Nick laughs and runs over to the cake as Brian and Howie laugh. Kevin grabs little Summer and picks her up high in his arms, sending her to fits of giggles and squeals. A.J. and Skye stare at the room amused and out of the corner of the room, Jalisa, Rose and Anita step out.

“Judging by all the looks, I’m thinking you guys are feeling this!” Jalisa states happily as the guys notice her and the other two girls. They all embrace laughing and jumping around in excitement.

“Now all we need is a name for you guys. I mean you’re gonna be a singing group right? So you guys need a name.” Rose states, her sapphire eyes blinking at Nick.

Nick smirks and shrugs his shoulders, “Dude we never did come up with a name for us.” He states towards A.J.’s direction.

A.J. pouts and raises his pointer finger in the air as if an idea struck him, “Wait we need something that is gonna sound good. I don’t wanna get played with our name.”

Howie laughs and turns to see their producer walk in with a huge smile on his face. Clapping his hands, the producer yells out happily, “You guys are professional at this whole singing thing. But I think the girl is right. If I’m to release this song and hand this demo to the recording company, you’ll need a name people will call you by.”

Silence loomed the room as the guys mumble to themselves thinking of a name that will best suit their needs. Suddenly little Summer standing next to Anita yells out, “I got it, I got it! Your name can be hmm… Boys something. Or how about Street Boys?” Her little voice causing everyone in the room to smile and laugh.

Chuckling A.J. manages to yell out in between in laughter, “What about Backstreet?”

The others nod their heads, “Yeah we can do that.”

“What about my idea?” little Summer states pouting, her little hands on her hip.

Brian leans down and whispers loud enough for the others to hear, “We’ll use the Boys part I guess. Just for you, Summer.”

The little girl beams and giggles, “Yeah, see I helped out Skye!” She states, running around as Howie runs after her.

“So the name will be?” The producer ask.

A.J. and Skye speak up at the same time as the idea runs through their head, “Backstreet Boys, it is.”

The producer smiles and claps his hands, “Well welcome aboard Backstreet Boys. You got quite a journey ahead of you!”

And with that Jalisa blasts on the stereo in the room and everyone laughs, dancing to the beat of what will be the group’s first single.

Skye smiles at A.J. as he hugs her, whispering in her ear, “I won’t ever leave like that without saying bye to you. But you don’t worry. I won’t be saying bye to you any time soon.” And he embraces a giggling, blushing Skye into his arms as they dance to a song on the stereo.

**~THE END~**