Prologue

“Allen County C-DRT 1 has arrived at the scene.”

“Copy. Dispatch out.”

Kurt tossed the radio into its holder and peeked into the back of the truck, finding his very nervous volunteer, wide-eyed and white-knuckled. “You okay, Mandy? Maybe you should ride in the front on the way back.”

“No. No. I’m good. What do we do now?”

Kurt patted George’s shoulder, his burly, typically grumpy driver, and headed back to walk his new volunteer through her next steps. He opened the back door to swing out of the back of the truck, stopping dead as the sweltering heat smacked him in the face. The last few days had averaged over 100 degrees and there was no relief in sight – for Ohio? It was downright oppressive.

Swinging off of the running board, he somehow avoided landing in a mud puddle big enough to not only ruin his Burberry track pants, but an entire stack of them. “George, pull us up about 15 feet if you can and then set up the stairs, get the a/c cranking. I’ll be back.”

They had arrived at the scene of this particular fire near its conclusion, firemen pulling hoses back onto the engine, puddles littering the yard and of course, the standard charred belongings unceremoniously dumped into piles outside of blackened, broken windows. From the outset, this appeared to be a minor fire – a fact that Kurt would never share with his new clients. To them, it was the worst day of their life.

But, before finding clients, who hopefully were hidden away in air conditioned neighboring homes, he needed to find the chief to get a briefing. Unable to see him with a quick scan, he turned to the captain with a shrug. “Any ideas?”

“I think I saw him head around back.”

And that’s where he found him. A new him to this town, the cranky, closed-minded redneck of a chief that preceded him finally retiring last month. In an unusual turn of events, they hired from outside of Lima. He’d been here only a few weeks and this was C-DRT’s first encounter with him. Unfortunately, this encounter had a twist as the chief was sitting in the middle of the back yard, turnout jacket, white helmet , and O2 tank laying next to him as he slumped his head between his knees.

“Chief? You okay?”

The man didn’t move, but he was clear in his grunted response. “Heat sick. I can’t get up.”

“Okay, lemme get some water. Hang tight.”

Kurt jogged back toward his ERV looking around for a medic, finding none, which really made absolutely no sense. He grabbed a couple of ice cold bottles and, not wanting to waste time trying to figure out the holes in the system, made his way back to the chief. He squatted down in front of him and handed him an open bottle. “Hydrate.”

Looking up from droopy lids, the man grabbed the bottle and drank quickly, water spilling down the sides of his mouth to trail down his neck and soak the collar of his shirt. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, summoning a lazy, ash-stained smile. Kurt’s heart might have flipped in fourteen somersaults. Possibly fifteen. “Mmm. Look at you – an angel in a red vest. Thank you.”

Kurt fought the blush that crept up his cheeks and took hold of the Chief’s wrist to get a quick feel for his pulse. It was faint and slow and the chief’s head drooped forward again. “Chief? Where are your medics?”

“Yeah.” Chief took another swallow and capped the bottle. “Two resident injuries. Low man power.”

“Okay, let’s get you into some cool air.”

“No, no. I’m fine.” He tried to open the bottle again and failed, energy left only to swear and huff.

“No. You’re not.” Kurt hooked his hand under the Chief’s elbow and tugged. “Come on. Our truck is air conditioned. This heat isn’t safe even in the shade.”

The Chief sighed and caught Kurt’s determined gaze, grumbling as he relented and let him help him stand. “Not a great way to ingratiate myself to the crew, is it?”

“I take it you went in for rescue?” Kurt picked up the abandoned turncoat and helmet, keeping an eye on him as he walked, a ready hand when he wobbled.

“Yeah. Daughter was in there and Mom went back to find her. We got ‘em though.”

“Are they going to be okay?”

The Chief stopped and wavered, smiling faintly when Kurt offered him more water. “I think so. They just took them in for observation.”

Kurt finally got him to the back of the truck and slipped his hand around his shoulders to balance him. “Step up, Chief. George, need a pull here.”

George pulled, Chief hung on and Kurt pushed, all stumbling into the confined quarters of the truck while Mandy made a hasty dash out of the way.

“Oh god, it does feel good in here.”

“Good. Sit down here. George, Mandy, this is Chief um…” He looked down at the helmet in his hand. “…Anderson. Dealing with some heat exhaustion. Crank up the a/c a little more.”

Kurt flipped on small fans in the corners of their tight workspace, screwing his face up in concern as Chief Anderson leaned back against the truck wall looking even more ashen than before. “Chief…you need to get the rest of your bunker gear off.”

“Mmm-kay.” But he didn’t move.

“Shit.” Kurt curled his fingers in the chief’s suspenders and pushed back, hoping for some cooperation, getting little. “Shrug back…we need to get these off.”

He moved a little and Kurt pulled them down his shoulders, wondering if a firemen always smelled like smoke, if it dissipated into something more appealing or was always that sweet, distinctive house fire smell.

“Keep drinking.”

“Mmm…drinking.” Chief looked at the bottle and laid his head back against the wall again.

Kurt unclipped the sides of his pants, pulling the front flap down to undo the Velcro strapping, chuckling as Mandy fidgeted nervously and turned her back. “Honey, he’s fully clothed under here, don’t worry. Get a cloth out of a comfort kit and wet it, please.”

“But, we’re not supposed to disassemble them. And we don’t have a sink.”

“Use bottled water. And we’ll replenish the kit.” Kurt offered the chief another sip of water before trying to get him to move again. “Stick with us here.”

Chief Anderson grunted and haphazardly grabbed at the bottle and took a shaky sip. “Thank you.” His eyes flickered open again and he sighed. “I am so embarrassed.”

“Don’t worry about it. And uh…lift your ass.”

“Huh?” Chief looked down and saw what Kurt was trying to do and lifted his hips letting Kurt pull his turnout trousers down, sighing as the cool air hit him, even through his street clothes. “Oh, that’s better.”

“Can I remove your boots? Cool feet will help.”

“Yeah, yeah…here, I’ll get them.” The chief bent down to loosen his boots before Kurt could stop him and swayed right into Kurt’s arms, sighing angrily as he flopped back against the wall. “Um. Maybe you’d better.”

“Good idea. You drink, I’ll disrobe.”

“Kurt!”

“Let it go, Mandy.” Kurt caught the chief’s eye as he chuckled behind another guzzle of water, focusing back on his job at hand, loosening his boots and pulling them off with a grunt. “Does that help?”

“A lot. Yes. You’re wonderful.”

“Just doing my job.” Kurt placed the cool, wet cloth on the back of Chief’s neck and took a seat across the small table, pulling out a file and beginning to fill out a form while keeping an eye on his unexpected client. As they sat in silence, Mandy fidgeting, George grumping his way back to the driver’s seat, Chief Anderson’s color slowly returned; his breathing becoming a bit stronger. “You doing alright?”

“Yeah, getting there.” The Chief rubbed the cold cloth across his neck and brow, opening it and covering his face with it as he rested his head against the wall. “I have never done this before.”

“What? Fought a fire or wimped out?”

Chief pulled the cloth off his face and rolled his head to look at Kurt who was diligently filling out paperwork…with a smirk on his face. “You’re lucky I have a sense of humor.”

Kurt looked up and cocked an eyebrow. “No, I’m just lucky I found it so quickly.”

Chief dropped the wet cloth on top of Kurt’s pen and paperwork and reached out his hand. “Chief Blaine Anderson. I’ll try not to wimp out next time we meet.”

Kurt shook his hand and smiled. “Kurt Hummel. And I should hope not. My tax dollars don’t pay for that.”

Blaine leaned back and took a final swig of water and closed his eyes. “I can see this town is going to be interesting…”

“You have no idea…”