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“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…~**