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“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…~**