Caught in the Flames

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven

As always, none of this is mine. I'm just the perv who want to make our beloved Twilight characters swear, drink, and go at it like horny rabbits. This story will be a combination of love, suspense, some violence and steamy, sweaty sex.

Please read the author's note on the bottom regarding my updates.

Chapter 137

EPOV

"Garrett, when are we going to get some relief?" Emmett asked, scrubbing his face. We had been at the station house for nearly two days, going on three. We were up to our eyeballs with sick crewmates. I was exhausted, just like everyone at the station. "The brass said that we'd be sent home yesterday."

"I agree. My crew is exhausted," I answered. "We're sore and we need a break."

"It doesn't help that there is an influx of fires and accidents," Emmett grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We're not the only house dealing with this flu, Emmett," Garrett answered. "We have four other stations with skeleton crews and this rash of fires, accidents and human stupidity." He leaned forward on his desk, giving both of us a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, but you are here for the foreseeable future."

"Fuck," Emmett spat, shooting up from his seat.

"If it's any consolation, everyone who is on will get at least two weeks off," Garrett smiled.

The horns blared, alerting us to another fire. We groaned, running out to the trucks. We pulled on our gear and we drove to the restaurant that was on fire. It was easily struck, but our exhaustion was apparent. Stupid mistakes were being made by everyone. As we were cleaning up, I pulled Garrett aside. "We need time off. You saw this call, Chief."

"I know, Edward. I know," he breathed. "As soon as we get back, I'll make another call to HQ. I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best."

"Thank you," I said, clapping Garrett on his shoulder. We finished our cleanup, loading up our trucks and drove back to the station. Emmett and I worked on our incident reports. As I was typing, my cell phone rang. It was my sister. "Ali? What's up?"

"I'm in a charming, wet town of Forks, Washington," she grumbled. "This place is soooooooo green. I think my hair is growing mold from all of the moisture."

"Alice," I growled.

"Sorry. I'm here at Bella's dad's place. He's worried about her since she's been asleep for nearly a day," Alice explained. "From what I can see, she's having some pretty hellacious dreams, too."

"Is she alright?" I asked.

"Physically, she's very pale and seemingly exhausted, but she's all in one piece. You can relax, Edward," Alice soothed. "How's the flu?"

"Causing huge amounts of havoc in the house. I'm going on three days of being here and there's no end in sight," I grumbled. "Garrett promised us two weeks off, but it won't help if we're dead."

"Don't say that, Edward!" Alice spat. "Are you trying to jinx yourself?"

"It's true. We're all physically, emotionally and mentally wiped, Alice. There's a reason why we have twenty-four on and forty-eight off. This job is fucking hard," I said, leaning back in my chair. "We just came back from a call and we all made stupid, rookie mistakes because of our exhaustion."

"Well, don't do anything rash," she chided. "And don't try to be a hero. I have a feeling that Bella is going to need you more than you think. There is something unsettled about her. Even in her sleep, she's ready to run. All of this surrounding James, Renee and everything else, it's causing her a great deal of turmoil."

"I know, Alice. She's going to pull away and ... and ..." I trailed off, my heart clenching. "She hasn't returned any of my phone calls. If you weren't there, I wouldn't even know if she was alive or not."

"I'm certain she has her reasons. She's probably blaming herself over Peter's injuries and the loss of his home," Alice explained. "I know she's blaming herself about the disruption in our lives because of what James and Renee have done. And being back in Florida, returning to the place where it all happened; it was too much, Edward. She collapsed from the strain. Yes, it sucks that she ran away without telling you, but probably in her mind she was protecting you."

"She hurt me, Alice," I whispered.

"I know, Edward. But, she's hurting as well," Alice murmured. "Think about it. The person that she lived almost her entire life with is responsible for these fires and abhors her. On top of that, the man who got her pregnant and killed the baby is determined to pull her back into his clutches. It took her so long to open up to us, to trust us. Even now, she's hesitant to fully accept that we love her, unconditionally. She's the sister I always wanted. She's the woman that was made for you."

"But, what if this pulls us apart?" I asked, my body trembling at the prospect.

"In the long run, I see you two having a full and happy life. Now? Until James and Renee are caught, she's going to be on edge and willing to sacrifice herself for our safety," Alice sighed. "Look, Charlie's back from his shift. He's taking me out to dinner. I'll call you if anything changes, Edward. I love you."

"Love you, too." Just bring back my Bella.

A/N: Leave me some! ;-)

PS ~ I'm dealing with pretty substantial badness in RL. My mom is incredibly sick. As a result, my writing time has been cut down, significantly. Not mention, my muse has left the building since I'm worried that my mom is not going to survive until the end of the year. I'd appreciate prayers sent my way for my mom since we need as much positive thoughts and healing prayers as possible. I'm not usually one to air out my personal problems on social media, but I've had several reviews that warranted this announcement.

Thank you.