This is a long romance story where the intimacy takes a back seat to the development of the relationship. I have been inspired by Komrad1156, MSTarot, Dreamcloud, and others. Please enjoy and vote.
A half hour out of Sapphire Valley, North Carolina, Aaron Short was just getting into the flow of the back and forth curves on US 64. This was his first vacation since the divorce, and he wanted to go someplace that was different from the Hampton Roads - Mid-Atlantic region where he lived and worked.
Aaron had enlisted in the Marine Corps right out of high school, partly for the sexy uniform, and partly for the firefighting training he was guaranteed. He spent four years as an aircraft rescue and fire fighting specialist, then got out and immediately got a job with the Virginia Beach Fire Department.
One year into the job, with a stable job and a newly purchased house, he met Felicia. She had just graduated Eastern Virginia Medical School as a nurse when they met at an accident scene where she was treating an injured passenger when Aaron's engine arrived. He had noticed her silky black hair and well shaped rear as she bent over the victim as he approached. After the victim was treated, packaged, and transported, he managed to smoothly get her phone number, unnoticed by the rest of the engine crew. Within a year of their first date, they were walking down the aisle, the congregation a mixture of firemen, medical personnel, and police like her father and brother.
Two years later, Aaron was minorly injured at fire and was sent home after a trip to the hospital. He was not surprised to see his brother-in-law's truck parked in front of the house. He was surprised to find his wife naked and riding her brother's cock in the middle of the bed the bed that Aaron and Felicia slept in every night. He turned the corner to the bedroom just as she loudly announced her impending orgasm and then screamed as it washed over her.
Time slowed as Aaron pulled his phone out and took a couple of pictures, the shutter sound announcing his presence. As he stood in the doorway, the lightning speed of his thoughts known as Tachypsychia (a neurological condition that distorts the perception of time during a traumatic event) connected various incidents in his mind over the last year: Felicia's less enthusiastic sexual response, the number times she talked of her brother, the frequency of her changing the bed linens, the number of times her day off happened to be his working day.
Felicia turned to him and was about to open his mouth when Aaron quietly said "Don't say a thing. Just pack your shit and get the fuck out of my house." Then he slammed the door closed and went to the home office, which also contained his weapons safe. He sat there with the safe open, contemplating how satisfying it would be to fill them both with holes and watch them bleed out, but he knew he would not take that step. He heard them leave the house.
Later that night, every item in the house that belonged to Felicia was piled in the front yard, covered in the sheets from the bed still wet with their sex fluids. The mattress was by the side of the road for the next trash day. The next day he changed the locks. Then Aaron texted her to pick up her stuff, and to not contest the divorce or his lawyer would make the pictures public. He then called her parents and told them that he had come home and found her in bed with another man to ensure they knew the truth. He withheld the most important detail, thinking knowledge is power if she tried to make the situation out to be anything other than what it was. Six months later it was a done deal and he was free of everything except the pain and anger.
As Aaron focused on the road ahead, suddenly something alerted in his brain. Smoke...house smoke. It was a smell he was familiar with. He slowed his truck a little and tracked through the next curve, eyes scanning ahead. There was visible thin smoke moving through the trees here from left to right. And there was a side road to the right. He popped his flashers on and turned down the road, eyes scanning back and forth to try and locate the source of the smoke. His mind registered the road name without conscious thought.
'There' he shouted in his mind as he saw an orange glow behind a two story house up the road. He pushed the talk button on the steering wheel of the truck and in response to the 'ping' he said "Dial 911." As he stopped the truck in the yard across the road, the operator answered.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"Laurel Drive, off US 64. House fire. Two story with fire showing on the rear. This is Fireman Aaron Short of Virginia Beach Fire Department. No car in the driveway. Stand by and I will give you a size-up." The dispatcher repeated everything he said back to him.
Aaron got out and opened the tool box in the bed of his truck. He quickly pulled out his bunker coat and helmet. Throwing the coat on, he pulled the phone out of the truck and ran across the road. He pounded on the door loudly twice yelling to see if anyone was home. With no response, he started walking around the house, narrating what he saw into the phone as he walked.
"Two story residential. Fire showing on the entire 'C' side exterior. Exposure on the 'D' side." He heard the dispatcher repeating his words into the radio. As he returned to the front of the house, a car came speeding down the road and pulled into the yard. A woman jumped out and started to run to the door. He ran to block her.
"My son!" she yelled. "He's inside."
"NO!" he yelled, pushing her back. "Let me." She stopped and focused on Aaron, suddenly realizing there was a firefighter here. "Where is he? How old? What is his name?"
"Michael is five," she sobbed. "He should be in the front bedroom." She pointed up as she spoke.
"We have a probable child in the building. Second floor, A side. I'm going in." Aaron handed the phone to the woman and ran to the front door, using his weight and momentum to breech the door. He paused at the door to pull his Nomex hood from his right pocket and pulled it over his head. His thick gloves came out of the left packet and he put them on, then entered the house.
Aaron moved into the house and looked around. There was surprising little smoke in the house, but he knew that would not last. He did a quick look into the kitchen before heading up the stairs two at a time. There was some light smoke already banking down from the ceiling in the hall. He yelled for Michael but heard nothing. He moved towards the front room and opened the door. There was less smoke in here so far.
"Michael?" he said, trying not to yell and scare the boy. He heard a noise to the left, and turning, saw a closet door. Quickly closing the hallway door, he went to the closet and opened the door. He saw a small boy with blond hair and big eyes looking at him from the floor.
"Come on, Michael," he said, reaching out to the boy. "We need to get you out of here." He pulled the boy up and started to the door. He slowly opened the door and immediately smoke came in the cracked opening. He quickly shut the door. It would be an easy escape with an air pack but without, it was very risky. He turned and looked at the two double-hung windows in the room. There was a porch roof out of them, and they were vinyl replacement windows. He set the boy down and raised the lower window up, the pulled the top of the lower sash out hard. With a twist, he yanked the lower sash out of the frame. He pulled the upper sash out the same way. He looked out and saw there were three or four neighbors gathered out front. He heard a siren in the distance. Aaron grabbed the boy and moved partway out the window frame.
"Anyone have a ladder?" he yelled to the crowd. One man when running off towards a house across the road. Aaron carefully moved out onto the roof, bringing the boy with him. He moved slowly to the edge and pulled his glove off.
"You hold on to my hand with both hands," he told the boy quietly. "The I'm going to lower you down to your mom. Are you brave enough for that?" The boy nodded, his eyes wide in amazement. Aaron held out his hand and the boy grabbed it with both of his little hands. Aaron closed his hand around the boy's, then lifted him and lowered him over the edge of the roof. The mother and another woman understood immediately and came running up. They could just reach his legs. "Okay...let go now." Michael did and he fell into the arms of the waiting women. The mother smothered the boy with hugs and kisses.
The neighbor came up with a ladder and placed it against the edge of the roof. Aaron climbed down as a fire engine turned the corner at the end of the street and stopped. One man got out and ran to rear. After a few moments, the engine drove closer, trailing large diameter nylon hose behind. The man at the hydrant started to remove the large cap.
The engine pulled up just past the house, and Aaron was surprised to see just a driver up front and one other fireman in a rear facing seat. The other fireman, a slender man in his early twenties, jumped down and went to the rear, getting the supply line disconnected from the remainder in the bed and pulling it around to connect to the intake as the driver, a rather robust older man, moved to the panel and waved to the man at the hydrant. In moments, the supply started to fill with water.
"Who is the company officer?" Aaron asked the pump operator.
"We don't have one," he responded with a shrug. "Chief's on his way." Aaron had just qualified as a Master Firefighter, one who could command a company if the company officer was not available. He thought for a moment as the hydrant man came running up. He also looked very young and unsure of what to do next. Aaron knew what needed to be done. Pointing at the two young firefighters, he gave direction.
"You two mask up and pull an inch and three quarters. At the top of the stairs, charge the line and move towards the rear. Watch for extension above the ceiling." He turned towards the driver/engineer. "Do you have a two inch and a half preconnect?" Getting a positive response, he directed "Help me pull one to the back, then come back and charge it. By then these guys will be ready for water as well." With that, Aaron reached up and grabbed the nozzle and first two folds of the line from the tray and started down the side of the house. As the two other firefighters put on their air packs and masks, the engineer pulled the remainder of Aaron's line from the tray and laid it out to prevent kinks. Then he ran back and charged the line.
Aaron eased open the nozzle to bleed off the air, then opened it fully and started to attack the flames on the rear wall of the house and along the ground where the vinyl siding had melted off. Once he got most of the flames knocked down, he looked around and saw a fire chief, identified by the white helmet, talking to the engineer, who pointed towards Aaron and spoke to him at length. More firemen were arriving as well, and the chief directed them in different directions. Shortly, the chief and another firefighter came to where Aaron was working the hose. Aaron shut the line down as the fireman tapped him on the shoulder.
