My Fireman's Secret Baby

“It's coming from the corner,” my partner says. A broken and singed table is there.

I move it aside. The mother dog is crouched underneath. Her body carefully covering all of her babies. She whines when she sees me. It's obvious she’s scared.

“It's going to be okay,” I coo to the dogs.

I look around the room. Everything is chaos, but I see a discarded basket lying nearby. It’s burned in some places but no longer on fire. I grab it and make sure it’s not hot. As I head back over to the dogs, the mother growls in fright. I gently shush her, so I can put the puppies inside the basket. They yip frantically.

“Come on, girl. It’s okay. We’re going to get you out of here,” I say, talking calmly to the mother. After a few minutes of this, I coax her into the basket.

With all my strength, I pick them up and start heading out of the burning building. My partner follows after me. I can’t believe that woman was right. I’m glad we listened to her and were able to save these animals.

When we walk outside, the woman is standing there with tears in her eyes. I carry the basket over to her. The others turn on the hose and start putting out the flames.

“Oh! You found them!” she yells in relief. She relaxes and nearly drops to the ground.

I set the basket on the pavement. The mother dog leaps out and runs over to the woman. She hugs it. I start cleaning the puppies. Together we carry them to the other side of the truck.

“Do you have someplace to put them?” the woman asks me.

“Yes. There's an empty box that we usually use for supplies,” I answer. It's behind the seat. I put the puppies in there. Together we get the mother dog inside as well. She immediately begins cleaning and caring for her babies. We close the door and walk back around to the other side. The fire is almost out. We pause to catch our breath.

“Would you like to tell me how all of this started?” I ask her.

“First, I need to thank you for saving the animals,” she says, turning to look up at me.

At that moment, I realize how attractive she is. This stranger has the biggest green eyes I have ever seen. Set in her small face with a pointed chin, they give the woman a look of innocence.

“It's no trouble. Just doing my job,” I reply, smiling at her. It's touching how much she cares about the animals.

We both look over at the smoldering remains of the building. The flames are out now. My colleagues are packing up the hoses and gear. The woman gazes at the wreckage and then down at the ground. There is a sadness about her right now. Her narrow shoulders shake. Finally, she looks at me like she is ready to talk. Tears line her eyes, making them sparkle.

Just then, a loud scream from the truck gets our attention. We both turn and see one of the firemen backing away from the cab. He hurries to slam the door.

“Dude! That is one huge snake!” he yells.

The girl and I both look at each other and start laughing. The situation is kind of funny. The other firefighters crowd around. They are looking through the windows at the boa. The girl and I are both laughing loud and hard. After a few minutes, I stop laughing to catch my breath. She continues. I stare at her oddly. Something about her laughter seems off. After looking at her face, I realize she is actually sobbing. I stand upright and look at her in concern. My heart breaks for her at that moment, so I step forward and spread my arms out. She lays her head on my chest and sobs loudly. I wrap my arms around her.

I’m not heartless. This has to be a very traumatic experience for her. I hold her while she cries. “It's going to be okay. You are safe, and the animals are safe,” I say, trying to comfort her.

She continues to cry, loud sobs and deep, ragged gasps. I continue to hold her trying to not notice the warmth of her petite body or the firmness of her breasts pressing against my abs.

You need to have a caring heart in this line of work.

As I run a hand over her dark hair, the process of cleaning up goes on around us. I’m focused only on her right now. This part of the job is always sad: the victims dealing with the situation and expressing their emotions. It's unfortunate when it happens to a good-hearted person like this girl. You can tell she is a sweet and decent person because of the care and concern she showed for her animals.