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"Help me! Someone, please! Help me!" The young brunette woman coughs and wheezes as she sits huddled in a corner of her living room. There is smoke surrounding her, quickly rising and filling her lungs. "He—help!" She sputters, a cough attack overtaking her. She closes her eyes after a minute, the thick smoke starting to burn her eyes. She slides down the wall behind her, covering her mouth and nose with the inside of her elbow, trying to stop more smoke from making its way into her system.
She isn't able to stop the smoke and more and more of it passes through her airways and into her lungs. She coughs and sputters. "Help!"
She lies down on her side, coughing as she does, struggling to take a breath. Everything around her starts to become hazier and it's getting more difficult for her to breathe.
"Hello?" She hears someone call out in the distance.
"In…here…"
She manages to catch a brief glimpse of someone breaking down her door before her eyes close and everything goes dark.
"Ward!" The Fire Chief calls out to one of his men. "Is everyone out?"
"Yes sir," Ward answers, walking up to his boss. "Everyone is out and accounted for."
"What about Skye?" Someone speaks up from within the crowd, having overheard the conversation.
"Who's Skye?" The Chief asks, turning to face the woman who spoke.
"She lives in the building on the fourth floor," another person, a man, answers, stepping forward. "But she usually works at night, so she might not even be in there."
"Thank you," the Chief says and then turns back to look at Ward.
"I'm going back in," Ward tells his chief.
"Are you sure, Ward? You heard what the guy said. The girl probably isn't in there."
"But there's always a possibility."
"The building is becoming unstable, Ward. If you go back in there, you'll be risking your life."
"Isn't that what I do every time I put this suit on? I'm going back in, Chief; just to make sure she isn't in there."
The Chief looks at him for a moment before sighing, "Fine. Just be careful."
"I'll do my best," Ward smiles slightly before turning to look at the man and woman who had spoken earlier. "Excuse me," he says to them. "What floor did you say Skye lives on?"
"Fourth floor," the man replies. "Her apartment is at the end of the hall on the left side."
"Thank you," Ward says gratefully, before turning and making his way into the building.
Carefully making his way through the burning building, Ward climbs the charring stairs to the fourth level of the building. He squints through the massive layers of smoke rising to the top, trying to peer around the large flames crackling throughout the building.
"Hello?" He calls out. "Is anyone still in here?"
He makes his way further down the hallway, keeping his ears trained for any sound of someone possibly calling out for help. "Hello? Is someone still in here?"
He hears a faint, "Help," coming from the end of the hallway.
As he gets closer, the voice gets a bit louder, though it still sounds faint. He picks up his pace, almost at a run, to reach the person as soon as he can.
Reaching the end of the hall, he leans close to the door on his left, listening for sounds of anyone inside. "Hello?" He calls out.
"In…here…"
Stepping back, he kicks his foot out and breaks the apartment door down so he can get inside. He steps over the bottom piece of the door that is still there and makes his way into the room. Just a few feet in front of him he sees her, a woman with dark brown hair lying on her side on the carpet of what he assumes to be the living room.
He makes his way closer to her and kneels down in front of her and tries to get her to speak. "Miss," he says, gently shaking her shoulder, "Miss, can you hear me?" He gets no response and starts panicking internally.
He takes a moment to note her clothing; a pair of sleep shorts, a tank top, and some slippers. Her hair is pulled back into a messy bun. Making a quick decision, he removes his heavy coat that protects him from the flames and sets it aside next to him. He then reaches forward and shifts the woman so she is sitting up, her head lolling down in front of her. He picks up his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders and making sure it is covering as much of her body as possible.
Reaching down, he tucks one of his arms underneath of her bare legs and the other underneath of her back. He carefully lifts her into his arms, adjusting her so her face is protected from the flames and smoke.
Taking a deep breath, he turns around and makes his way back to the broken door of the apartment.
Stepping through it, back into the rapidly growing flames, Grant holds the woman closer to his body as he carefully steps back through the fire and towards the staircase.
"How long has it been?" Jemma asks her boyfriend as they stand outside of their burning apartment building.
"I don't know, Jem," Fitz replies. "I left my watch inside and my phone is dead."
Jemma rocks back and forth on her feet nervously, "Oh I do hope she's alright if she's in there."
"Me too, Jem."
"It'd be such a shame if something really awful were to happen."
"I know. Let's just hope that kind fireman gets back out safely."
"Yes, let's hope."
"I see something!" Someone calls out, pointing towards the building.
Everyone's attention quickly turns towards the front of the building. At first all they see is smoke and fire, and then they see a figure emerging from the smoke.
"Ward!" The Chief shouts, rushing towards him. "Your arms, they've got burns all over them. We need to get you checked out."
"Her first," he gestures with his head to the woman in his arms. "Her first."
"Ward, we need to make sure these burns aren't serious."
"Her. First." Ward insists.
The Chief nods his head, "Okay." He turns around and motions to a group of people off to the side, "I need medics and a gurney over here." He turns to Ward, "Come on. Bring her over here."
Ward carries her in the direction of the paramedics, meeting them halfway. He carefully lays her down on the gurney, making sure she won't fall off. "Smoke inhalation," he says to the medics as he removes his helmet. "Her apartment was almost completely full of smoke."
"Thank you," one of the medics says. He turns to his partner, "Get her started on a breather, quickly."
"Yes sir," the woman says as she and another medic wheel Skye away towards the ambulance.
The lead medic turns back to Ward, "Come with me so I can check out your injuries."
"Just take care of her first," Ward gestures to the gurney being lifted into the back of the ambulance.
"I can take care of your arms on the way to the hospital," he says.
Ward sighs, "Alright. Fine." He turns to look at the Chief, "Chief, I—"
"Ward, go. Get your arms taken care of."
He nods his head once, "Yes sir." He turns and follows the paramedic towards the ambulance and climbs into the back, taking a seat on one of the benches.
He looks down at the woman lying on the gurney, his large jacket is lying underneath of her and she has a ventilator mask on her face. He hopes she'll be okay. He hopes he got to her in time.
"Alright Miss Conrad," the doctor says to her as he enters her room. "You are one very lucky woman."
"I am?" she furrows her brow. "How?"
"If you had been in your apartment for just a minute longer, it is very likely you would have died from smoke inhalation."
"Died?"
He nods his head, "Yes. Fortunately for you, someone got you out just in time and we were able to get all of the smoke out of your system."
Skye smiles up at him, "Well thank you, for saving my life."
He smiles back, "You're welcome. But I'm just the one who made sure you were okay. The real hero is the man who went back in to get you out."
"Do you know who he is?"
"Just that he's a firefighter."
"Okay, thank you."
"Well, I'm going to go check in on some of my other patients. I'll let you rest."
"Right, of course. Thank you."
The doctor smiles at her before turning to leave through the curtain surrounding her bed. He stops as he steps through and turns back to face her, "Actually, there is someone here to see you."
"Who is it?"
"I'll let him tell you himself." The doctor leaves with a smile.
A second later, a man she's never seen before steps through the curtains. He's tall with short black hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin. When her eyes catch sight of his arms they go wide; both of his arms are covered in bandages.
Realizing he is speaking to her, she breaks herself from her thoughts and looks up at him, "Sorry. What was that?"
"Just uh, I'm glad you're okay."
"Thanks," she says. "Sorry, but uh, do I know you?"
"Not formally, no. I'm Grant Ward."
"Skye Conrad," she replies with a smile.
"Well Skye," he smiles back. "It's nice to officially meet you."
"You too. And uh, your arms, what happened? If you don't mind me asking."
Grant looks down at his bandaged for a moment before looking back at her, "Let's just say really hot flames and sensitive skin don't go well together."
"A fire? Are you—are you the one who got me out?"
He nods his head before looking down and shoving his hands into his pants pockets, "Yeah."
"Thank you."
He looks back up at her to see her smiling softly at him. "I was just doing my job," he tells her.
"That may be so. But I wasn't even supposed to be there. How did you know to come in and get me?"
"Uh, two of your neighbors. They told me and my Chief which apartment you lived in. They said you probably weren't there, but I needed to go in and make sure. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself, knowing I could have saved a life and didn't."
Skye nods her head, "Well I appreciate it very much. The doctor told me if you hadn't gotten there when you did, I would have died. So I guess you really did save my life."
"Yeah," he smiles. "I guess I did."
"Well thank you," she smiles back at him.
"You're welcome." They're both quiet for a moment. "Well, uh, I should probably get going. I'm supposed to have my arms checked again."
"Right. Of course. Thank you, again, for saving me."
He smiles at her, "I'm glad I did." He turns to leave the room when he stops and turns back towards Skye. "So, this might seem a little odd, considering I saved you from a fire today and whatnot, but uh, would you like to grab dinner with me sometime?"
She smiles softly at him, "Yeah. That sounds great."
"Awesome," he breathes out. "Well uh, I'll leave my number with the front desk so you can get it when you check out."
"Great. I'll call you when I'm not feeling and looking completely gross."
"Alright. Well, I guess I'll see you soon then."
"Yeah, you will."
Grant gives her one last smile before leaving her room. Skye is about to close her eyes when Grant's voice pulls her back.
"Hey Skye?"
"Yeah?"
"For the record, I don't think you look gross at all," then he leaves the room for real.
Skye just sits in her bed, a small smile growing on her face. Who knew almost dying in a fire would find her a date.