Underneath it all

[nyoka]

Demetrius let out a rather large yawn sitting at his desk at work, it was slow but not any more than normal. That is what he liked about this little town, there wasn't much chaos and when there was, it was controllable. The last time he was needed for a fire response was over a week ago, and that was only a tiny fire when kids found matches and a bush to ignite.

Today was the last day for his work week and then he would get a few days off. Being a part time firefighter wasn't as intense but it could be when some of the full time took vacations. He hated keeping Kameron at a sitter's but he didn't need to be here, odd child that he is.

Only a couple more hours then he could go get Kameron and go out and have some fun with his son. He so much reminded him of Claudia, Kameron inherited her eyes and although he was only 6 he seemed to inherit her facial structure as well. Smiling he pushed that thought from his mind, it had been a while and though it still hurt a little it was over and now he and Kameron had moved on.

Adjusting his feet that were now resting on the desktop and kicked back, Demetrius turned the page to his book. "Only one more chapter to go..." It was a pretty good book called The Mask by Dean Koontz and he just couldn't seem to put it down. Barely making it past the first paragraph, the fire alarm sounded startling him from his book and almost knocking him back wards.

Grumbling under his breath he put the book down and headed out to the gear station and suited up. What was it now, another bush fire, an illegal burn barrel, or his favorite, a cat in a tree. Yes, he had actually responded to that, and although the family was grateful, the cat he had retrieved wasn't their's and they just called to help the poor creature out.

The fire was only a few blocks away and it didn't take long to get there and by god it was an actual house fire. This house was a raging wild fire and thankfully hadn't set any of the neighboring houses afire. Snapping up the hoses the team began to spray but it had little effect, it was just too red hot.

Demetrius had thought he heard someone inside and stood listening again. Sure enough there was a woman's voice heard just beyond the roaring fire. Despite his team's objections, Demetrius plowed through the door of fire and just through the door was a woman on fire. The odd thing was she wasn't panicked or worried but looked more angry than anything. "Um, OK then. Ma'am?..."

[Demeter]

Alex didn't pay attention to the fireman standing in her hallway. Her attention was focused on the child cowering under a day bed. "Mia, we've discussed this and you know you are not allowed to set things on fire! We've only been in this house for a week and I already have to pay for repairs. Get out from under that bed, now!"

When the firefighter finally caught her attention, Alex turned around to face the masked man and sighed. "Shit, the neighbors must have called in the fire," she muttered while slapping at the annoying flame dancing on her arm. "Yes, can I help you?"

She knew that she had to look odd, standing there in the middle of a fire and not worrying about burns, just the sweat stains this was bound to cause. She was a very annoyed young woman who'd been woken up from a very nice dream by smoldering curtians and Mia's screams. She'd hoped that the blaze would be easily contained and extinguished but no...in reponse to whatever nightmare had attacked her daughter tonight had Mia hiding under her bed while the sheets burned. When her daughter remained under the bed, Alex groaned. "Excuse me for a moment," she said before kneeling down, placing one hand on a creeping line of flame and reaching the other under the bed. "Come out of there, you little monster, and take responisblity for what you did" she said while blindly feeling around the floor.

When she finally found some part of her daughter, Alex gripped and dragged. "Come on you little arsonist. We get to leave and let the nice men put your fire out." She knew that she looked like a bad parent but she honestly didn't care at the moment. Her house was on fire and the culprit was her six year old daughter's dreams.

[Maira]

The evil baby duckies were chasing her again! Screaming she ran for the board in the fence that she knew was loose but when she pushed it and scrambled through the big bad wolf was waiting for her, laughing and baring his fangs. Screaming again, she tried to scramble -back- through the fence, but the evil duckies were waiting for her, their beady red eyes and sharp teeth and all. Unable to think of what to do, she just gave in to her natural power and when the big had wolf grabbed her leg he caught on fire. The evil duckies that lunged at her and bit her turned into little flaming fireballs as they fell away from her. Even though she knew the flames couldn't her her, she continued to scream because not only had the big bad wolf grabbed her leg but now he was pulling her towards him.

*****

When her mother finally dragged her out from under the bed, Mia snapped awake. Instead of finding the big bad wolf holding onto her leg, she found it was her Mom and it only took her a minute to notice that the house was on fire... "I did it again huh Mommy?" she asked more than a little ashamed. Her powers had gotten stronger recently and they tended to act up at the worst times. For poor Mia, that meant at school if she got bullied or when she was plagued by nightmares...

[nyoka]

Demetrius watched the scene for a moment or two as he made sense of the whole thing. Coming back to his senses the house was still on fire and advancing with little damage to the woman and her little girl. At this point the door he had kicked in fell off of its hinges and smothered out the flames that were licking at the door way just behind him. Training taking over he grabbed the woman by the shoulders and led both of them out into the yard all the while the mom was muttering something about fires and her daughter.

It didn't take long, thankfully, for the fire to get put out. Now instead of an inferno, the house looked as if it just went through a hurricane. As everyone else tended to the house he stayed with them, and even though it wasn't too cold Demetrius took off his coat and offered it to the woman. "Well I can only assume the both of you are alright since you managed to swat away the flames on you."

Letting out a sigh, he reached up and took off his helmet no longer needing it and let his hair fall down to its normal length and returned attention to the little girl. She must have been somewhere around Kameron's age but he couldn't really tell. "How are you doing little one? It had to be kinda scary in there huh?"

[Demeter]

Alex sighed as she was dragged out into the yard, grumbling when she saw that her new lace curtains were turning to ash. She looked down at the girl by her. "You are so grounded. To your room, when it is fixed that is, for a three weeks."

Once the fire was out, Alex sighed as she looked at her house. She'd only owned the place for a week and now she had to hire contractors in order to repair her house. Not to mention her yard...due to the firefighter's efforts the deep green lawn was now a large mud puddle. Alex turned her glare on the firefighters. "Yes, we are fine. Thank you very much."
-----
Kameron leaned against Mrs. Anders, his babysiter, and watched the watched the flames paint the sky pretty colors. He pulled away from Mrs. Anders, slipping away from her old lady grasp and eased up to the barricade erected by the firemen. His daddy was one of those guys and maybe he was in those group and he would get to go home early tonight!

Kameron slipped under the barricade and looked through the men standing around. When he saw his father's hair, Kameron scampered over and tugged on Demetrius's sleeve. "Daddy! Daddy!" he called, still tugging. "Do I get to go home early tonight?"

[nyoka]

Demetrius eyed the woman for a moment as she uttered her thank you, she hardly seemed thankful but he was kind of expecting some gratitude, even if she wasn't mortal. Looking at the house he took in all the fire and water damage that had happened. "I'm sorry about the house, its kind of one of the those things that happens in.." the broke off then hoping she would pick up on his hint about mortal issues.

Letting out a heavy sigh he was caught off guard when Kameron started tugging and asking about going home. "Hey Munchkin!" He picked Kameron up and gave him a rather large hug only after scruffling his hair a bit. "Well I don't know what time it is but I think I will be able to get you and go home in just a little bit, just only after I finish here at this nice lady's house." He motioned to the woman and her little girl. "And as soon as I am finished I will come and get you from Mrs. Anders, ok?"

[Maira]

Her Mommy was awful mad at her, Mia knew that all too well by how tightly she was holding her. She was also still a bit scared from her nightmare, so when the big scary fireman asked if she was okay, Mia burst out in tears again. "I didn't mean to do it! It was the duckies! They were after me and they bited me, and the wolf was grabbing my arm! I just--" She couldn't finish her sentence as at that point she was just bawling. She wanted to go hide with her kitties!

At the thought of her kitties, Mia panicked. Squirming like a slippery little eel, Mia started calling out at the top of her lungs, "Arachne!!! Weasel!!! Arachne!!! Weasel!!!" Then, tears still streaming down her face, Mia turned to her mother and wailed, "Momma! My kitties! I want my kitties!" Then, just as suddenly as she'd started squirming, Mia collapsed against her mother, her whole body shaking as she cried. Because of this, Mia never noticed or heard Kameron come up and talk to his father.

[Demeter]

Alex sighed at the mention of those damn cats. "Mia, sweety, you know that I let both of them out at night before I go to bed. I let them out and they scampered off towards the back fence. I'm sure that they are just hiding because of all the commontion. They'll come back when they want to.

Alex patted her daughter on the back, wondering exactly why she agreed to both cats and not just one. She looked towards the fireman, blinking at the sight of the man holding one of the small, neighborhood kids. And then she recognized him. He was her neighbor. "Oh gods above...I don't believe we've met you, I'm Alexandra, your neighbor."
---------------
Kameron rested his head against his father's shoulder, not quite willing to let go of him just yet. He liked the nights when his father was home and he hated the nights when he had to go sleep at Mrs. Anders house. The place smelled funny and the blankets over there were sratchy. "I dun wanna go back to Mrs. Anders. I wanna go home with you!"

[nyoka]

Demetrius was taken back a little when the little girl began wailing about her kitties, only to have he mom assure her they were alright. Grinning he patted Kameron's back just as the woman mentioned they were neighbors. He hadn't even looked where he was until now being all caught up with the fire issue. Sure enough right next door was his place, and katty corner across the street was Mrs. Anders'. Looking back at Alexandra, he really only did just recongnize her a bit. She had just moved in a week ago and he remembered Kameron was happy to have a little neighbor friend.

"Oh whoa, weird. I'm Demetrius by the way. Now I remember seeing you just move in almost a week ago. I'm terribly sorry about the house."

Kameron interupted about not going back tothe sitters then, "Kam, its just for 30 min. and I promise I will right back to get you. So you will have to deal with the scratchy blankets for a bit longer."

Looking at the soggy house he turned back to Alexandra, "I will be getting off in about 30 min. so since I kinda ruined your place, you are more than welcome to stay the night at mine."

[Maira]

When her mother explained that the kitties were outside when the fire started, Mia's crying slowed and eventually she looked back at her mother. Her head tipped to one side in a combination of confusion and curiosity and she asked, "Are you sure? Arachne and Weasel are okay? Are you sure?" Hope gleamed in Mia's eyes as she waited for her mother's answer.

Before her mother could answer though, Mia finally noticed the little boy that the fireman was holding and she hurried to wipe her tears off her face before smiling at him and holding out her hand, "I'm Mia, who're you?"

[Demeter]

Kameron huffed and squrimed away from his father, intent on going back to Mrs. Ander's scratchy blankets. When he heard the little girl's voice, he stopped and smiled. He bounced right up to her. "I'm Kameron. That's my daddy," he said while pointing up at Demetrius. "So, you have kitties?"


Alex blinked at the offer of a place to say. "Well, that's very nice and I think I will have to take you up on that offer. Um, how should we go about this? Should we just wait here for you to return, since you said that it would only take you about 30 minutes or what?"

[nyoka]

Demetrius was never the type of person to invite unknown people into his house unless there was some major problem, and what he had just done to Alex's house was big. His internal voice was screaming at him to stop and not allow this to happen, but it was already offered and she already accepted. Swallowing back his concience he finally got around to answering Alex, postponing by pretending he was checking the time and seeing how soon he could be off the clock.

"Well I would be able to stay and allow you to get settled with my help if my normal clothes weren't still at the station. And since that is the case I think it would be ok if I walked you into the house now and I'll be back in a little bit? Sound ok?"