Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
The team drove together towards a downtown area where a building was being burned down. Becca frowned when a couple of people began to bump her after she was out of the car “Are you sure this is the right place? Looks more like a job for firefighters.”
Chuck shook his head “This is the address Joe gave me.” He too wondered what they were doing there “I guess we should take a look.” He nodded to everyone as they followed him closer to the building.
They were in the middle of a chaotic group of people who were screaming for their loved ones who were stuck inside the burning building and some who were injured. Ambulances maneuvered around the firemen and people as they rushed to get to the hurt people. Eric was working on the hose when he turned up and found the team there. He waved for a co-worker to take over as he approached them “What are you guys doing here? Do you have family in here?”
Everyone shook their heads “We got a call in from Joe to come here.” Ted advised their former agent “Maybe there is someone in this building? Someone important?”
Chuck nodded “My thought exactly.”
Mia tilted her head “It’s a nice building. How could it have burned?”
“Arson.” Eric guessed, “I hear there is a girl trapped on the top floor. Everyone else is being saved since it’s burning from top to bottom.”
“Well we don’t want to bother you. You should get back to work.” Doug nodded as he saw a few firemen looking towards their direction. After Eric left he turned to the group “There should be a reason why Joe asked us to come.”
As if on cue, Chuck’s cell phone rang. He picked up the call and after listening for a few seconds his face turned solemn “Yes, don’t worry, we’ll get her out.” He hung up and turned to his team “Joe’s daughter lives on the top floor. She had called him when the fire started and is in a panic. She’s afraid of heights and would not climb down the ladder.” He turned up to the sky as he found a young girl looking out her window, she clutched her chest and returned to the smoke filled room “Shit…we have to get her out.”
“We don’t have the uniform or equipment to get inside.” Doug reminded them.
“We can’t just let her die.” Mia turned up to the sky as she shielded her eyes with her hand “She’s going to suffocate.”
“I’ll go.” Darren offered. Before he got the okay from Chuck, he was already rushing over to the firemen. He talked to Eric, who then turned to his father for assistance. The man said some words and Darren was put into a suit.
“What is he doing?!” Mia asked as she turned back to the team.
“Being the hero.” Becca sighed.
“But it’s dangerous!” Mia cried “Is he crazy?”
Chuck felt that Darren was doing out of determination. Maybe he was trying to prove something to himself or maybe he was just finding something to distract him from Mia. He remembered Erin telling him what a difficult time Darren was having “Let’s just hope he knows what he’s doing.”
Darren put on the last part of the uniform before he was put on the ladder that reached the top floor “We tried to calm her earlier but she refused to come down. If she doesn’t not follow you, you have to come back down or the building will blow up. We don’t know how long until the fire leads to the gas pipe.” Eric warned Darren.
“Okay.” Darren nodded as he got on the ladder and began climbing it. As he got closer, he could see the girl more clearly, she was coughing and crying hysterically “Miss! Come with me, the building is going to collapse!”
She shook her head “I can’t!” she pointed to the ground and quickly turned her head when the sight made her dizzy.
“It’s okay, I won’t let you fall.” Darren assured her with his hand reaching out for her.
She shook her head vehemently “I can’t!!! I’ll faint!” she yelled over the noise.
“What’s your name?” Darren asked urgently.
“Jenna.” She replied, her eyes darting behind her “The fire is coming in!!” her voice screeched while her began to tear up again.
“Jenna, listen to me.” Darren tried to get the girl to focus but she was too frightened “You have to trust me. Please, I don’t want to leave you to burn to death. Your father is waiting for you.”
“You know my father?” for a second she forgot about her fears “He sent you?”
“Yes, he sent me to save you.” Darren held onto the subject that apparently calmed her “Come on, take my hand.” He reached out for her “Trust me.” He said solemnly.
She nodded slowly as she reached out and took his hand. She was dressed in a pair of pajamas with no shoes on. Her foot was placed on the windowsill as he pulled her closer to him. But at the moment, her foot slipped off the edge and she fell through the gap between the ladder and the building. Her voice echoed around as the onlookers gasped. Mia took a step forward, her eyes worriedly watching on. Darren’s hand gripped around Jenna’s as he nodded down at her, she looked like a scared puppy “I’m going to die!!” she cried.
“No, you’re not!” Darren said firmly “Jenna. Jenna! Look at me!!” he commanded. Her eyes moved up and he nodded “Good, keep looking at me, You’ll be okay.” He soothed as he used his full force to pull her closer to the ladder. Slowly one foot at a time clung on, his hand would not let go of hers even when she was safely on the ladder next to him “You’re safe now.” He coaxed when he felt her shivering.
When the ladder began to move down, he could hear the applause that rang through the crowd. Jenna’s fingers were still gripping on his arm when they were finally on the roof of the truck. Darren gently shook her arm loose “I’m scared.” she whimpered.
Darren smiled for the first time since he saw the fear in her eyes “Don’t be. You’re okay now. I’ll guide you down.” He nodded and began to climb down. Darren was safe on the ground as he turned up. She was dangling on the roof while his arms were pointed up to her “Jump, I’ll catch you.” He assured her.
Jenna nodded as she closed her eyes and pushed herself off the truck, he caught her with his arms around her waist, he had timed the catch to perfection. She opened her eyes and looked directly in his eyes, they were smiling back at her “Thank you.” She whispered before he let her down to the ground.
“You’re welcome.” Darren smiled as he turned up to his teammates who were grinning proudly.
“I didn’t know you had it in you!” Becca jokingly hit his arm with her fist “You’re my new hero for today.”
Doug pouted but didn’t comment. But Mia was quick to catch his expression “I think someone’s jealous Becca.” She nudged her friend.
Becca turned to Doug with a teasing smile “Aww, you’re my hero all the other days.”
Doug had an obvious smile but he tried to play it off “Like I want to be.”
Chuck shook his head at his agents. He turned back to Jenna “Your father was very worried.”
She looked up to him “You know my father? You all know him?” They nodded in reply “Can I see him?”
“Don’t you know that he’s in Beijing?” Darren questioned “When was the last time you saw him?”
“5 years ago.” Jenna replied.
“What?” Doug shook his head “Five years? Shoot, we didn’t even know Joe had a daughter but you two haven’t seen each other in years? How is that possible?”
Her serious face curled into a smile “I’m just kidding! I just saw him last month.” She laughed while pointing to Doug’s shocked expression “You should see the look on your face.”
Mia pulled out a mirror and handed it to Doug while he rolled his eyes “No thanks.” He retorted sarcastically.
“How about we take you to a safe place?” Chuck offered.
Jenna nodded “Okay.” She turned to Darren “Can I ride with you?”
He turned to his teammates and caught Mia’s face twitching “Uh…well…we kinda drove together.”
“Yeah, sorry there’s not enough room for you.” Becca said with slight defense.
“Hey…don’t be so mean. She’s Joe’s daughter. I’m sure she can fit with us. We’re not that crowded.” Ted knew Becca was trying to protect Mia “I can take a cab.”
“Or I can sit on your lap!” Jenna suggested, her eyes glued adoringly to Darren.
He laughed nervously “No, I don’t think so.”
“What’s wrong? Afraid your little girlfriend would get jealous?” she nodded her head to Becca.
“She’s not his girlfriend.” Doug corrected.
“Right, I’m his girlfriend.” Becca pointed her thumb at Doug.
“Ye…No!” Doug shook his head, he glared at Becca “Stop that!”
Chuck laughed along with the others “Look guys, we could stand here all day but frankly, I want to be in a more quiet surrounding.” He nodded at Darren “You guys don’t mind sharing the back row do you?”
“No!” Jenna answered for them as she began tugging at Darren’s hand “Come on!” she pushed.
Becca walked up next to Mia as they began trailing along “Cute as button isn’t she?” sarcasm dripping her the tone in her voice.
“As a matter of fact…she is very cute.” Mia replied with a straight face. Becca snickered and Mia turned to her friend “No, I’m serious.”
“Oh come on! She is so hitting on Darren, aren’t you going to do something about it?” Becca was stunned “If some girl was touching Doug, I would have chopped her hand off by now.”
Mia laughed at the picture she painted “But you’re crazy. Its almost expected of you, Becca. I think I’m a bit more mature than that…anyways, Darren is just a friend to me.”
“Really?” Becca arched her left brow up “Last time I heard, you were engaged to the guy. You’re telling me, you didn’t feel a little pang of jealousy when he rescued her and caught her in his arms?”
“No.” Mia answered too quickly.
“Yes, and if you say that one more time, maybe you’ll really believe it.” Becca shook her head “You are so in denial.” She quickened her pace when the team climbed onto the van and they were waiting for the final two. Becca climbed in a quickly chose the seat between Darren and Jenna “I don’t like sitting next to the window, it makes me sick.”
Jenna shrugged as she turned to Darren “So, how long have you been a fireman?” she asked brightly.
He smiled and shook his head “I’m not.”
“Wow, but you weren’t afraid of the fire! You were so brave!” Jenna gushed.
“Anyone would have done what I did.” Darren replied humbly, his eyes glanced over at Mia, who turned her head out towards the window.
Jenna giggled “No one that I met. That one fireman that they sent up couldn’t even get me to talk.” She nodded with wide rounded eyes.
“Really?” Darren asked without much feeling.
“Yeah, he—”
“Okay, let’s switch seats. I hate being in a middle of a conversation.” Becca shook her head as she waved Jenna over into her seat. She let out a sigh of relief “Much better.”
Chuck turned in his seat as he waved a finger for Becca to come closer “Good job, now you just made Darren squirm and Mia is fuming with jealously.” He chuckled while pointed his head towards them.
Becca stifled a laugh as she turned to see Darren nodded with a plastered smile while the girl continued to talk on and on. Mia on the other hand was leaning her head on the chair, her reflection from the glass showed that her eyes were closed “Yeah!” Becca whispered back to Chuck and suddenly her face froze, the smile dropped as she flicked her brow up “Don’t talk to me like you’re my friend or something. I don’t know you that well.” She sat back and crossed her arms.
Chuck smiled knowingly as he moved his body closer to Ted’s passenger seat “Hey, did you call the hospital to check on Erin?”
“I just did, they said she’s napping.” Ted replied with a smile “You’re acting like a worried father.” He teased.
“I’ve taken the job since the moment I found out.” Chuck sighed, “I can’t help but be worried, she’s weak right now. I thought I had to worry about Shelly but now Erin…” he trailed off.
“She’s strong. She’ll be just fine.” Mia was listening but her eyes were still closed.
They got to headquarters and entered the place through the backway. Jenna looked around in complete shock “Wow, this is like a futuristic type of operations. What do you guys do?!” She was curiously bouncing around.
The team exchanged glances “You don’t know about your Dad’s work?” Ted asked.
“No. He never told me and I never asked. Wow, I didn’t know Daddy was like an agent or something. Oooh, does he run a mission impossible agency or something?” Jenna asked with wide eyes.
“Crap, we’re in deep shit now.” Becca muttered.
Chuck shook his head “That’s going to be at least 100 push ups for me.”
“Just kidding!!” Jenna cried as she blew up into giggles “I knew. Although I was grounded for a month when I snuck into Daddy’s studies and read about the P.R.A.”
Becca smiled forcefully at the playful girl “Could you warn me when you are about to pull a ‘just kidding’? My heart is too weak.”
“Sure!” Jenna replied brightly “But to be honest, I’ve never seen the headquarters, I’ve only seen blue prints.”
“Just kidding right?” Becca asked sarcastically.
Jenna shook her head with a straight face “No, I’m serious.”
Doug stifled a laugh while Becca threw him a glare “She’s funny.” He commented with a smile that he knew would only tick Becca off.
Becca rolled her eyes as she turned to Chuck “Hey, the doctor said I would go postal if I was around ‘cute’ and ‘funny’ people too long. Can I go home?”
“No. Jenna has no place to go. I need one of you to let her stay over for the night until Joe gives me further instructions.” Chuck looked at everyone sternly.
“I only have a one bedroom.” Becca raised her hand.
“My roommate won’t let me have girls over.” Doug replied and everyone turned to him strangely “He’s gay.” They began nodding with understanding.
Mia was about to offer her place when Darren spoke up “I’ve got a house full of empty rooms. She’s welcomed to stay there.”
“A guy and a girl alone in a mansion?” Becca asked with her head shaking like a disapproving mother “No can do.”
“You have a mansion?!!!” Jenna squealed in delight “I have to see this!”
“I’m not going to get arrested for sharing a place with a girl. She is of age…” he turned to Jenna “Are you?” he was unsure himself.
She nodded “Twenty one.”
“See.” Darren pointed out.
“Fine. But you are in charge of her. If anything happens to her, you are in charge of reporting to Joe.” Chuck pointed out.