Matt's POV:

"You have lost your damn mind Ebony if you think I'm letting this child out of my sight." I said when the doctor when to take the little girl from my arms. "I found her, and she is scared. I am the person that she first saw that made her feel safe."

"Matt, you know I have to check her out. And to do that properly, you must place her on the bed." Said Ebony. "Please, make my life easier and cooperate with me."

"Fine, but I'm not leaving her side. So don't even think of telling me that I have to leave this room." I said as I lowered the child to the bed. "And if you make her cry, it's to be on like Donkey Kong."

"Wouldn't think of it." Ebony said as she rolled her eyes, knowing that my threat was just an idle one as she began checking over the child. "You know, the lord about had his hand on this little angel and her mama. I heard that area had slammed pretty hard."

"It did. When I left, these two were the only survivors we found." I said. "It looks like a damn war zone over there Eb."

"I heard. Sheriff Vann was in here a little bit ago. Said that he wouldn't be scared to say that it was an F5 that went thought that part of Jackson." She said, tickling the baby's belly as she examined her. "He said that Seaboard and Pendleton were a mess too."

"I haven't heard about those towns. Just know what I saw in Jackson." I said with a sigh. "And he's right. It looks just like Joplin did." At my words, Ebony whipped her head in my direction. She knew that I never talked about that day.

"That bad?" she said, her voice cracking. Ebony knew what I lost that day since she had also lost a sister and a niece that day as well.

"Yeah. Maybe even a little worse given the size of the towns my comparison." I said. Needing to touch the child that I'd saved, I walked over to the edge of the bed and placed my finger in the child's hand. Almost immediately she gripped it tight and smiled up at me, sending a pang of sorrow though me. What I wouldn't give to see a smile like that from my own daughter.

But my thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming from down the hall. I could hear her screaming, wanting to know where her baby is. Without even thinking about it, I lifted the child from the bed and began walking towards the trauma bay that the commotion was coming from. As I slid the door open, I saw the woman that had been found holding the baby sitting up in the bed, fighting with the nursing staff to get free. As if sensing that her child was near, the woman stopped fighting and looked me dead in the eye. The relief that washed over her was so strong that she collapsed onto the bed, no more fight left in her.

Walking further into the room, I made my way over to the bed. When I reached the side, I smiled down at the woman. "I'm guessing you must be this little angel's mama."

"Is-Is she o-okay?" asked the woman, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please tell me that my baby is okay."

"She's fit as a fiddle." I said proudly. "Or at least as far as we know." Moving slowly so as not to jostle the child or scare the woman, I lowered the little angel into the woman's arms and watched as he snuggled her to her chest, holding her much like she had been when we found the two of them. Seeing her with the child, watching as tears streamed down her face because of the joy she was feeling upon knowing that she had protected her child had my own tears rolling down my face unchecked.

But they really started to fall when I watched the woman place a kiss on the child's head and whisper that she was so afraid she had lost the best thing she had ever done in life. Her words made me think of my own loss and how I would argue until I was blue in the face that the best thing I had ever done was married Cassie and shared my DNA with a child that she and I had created. Suddenly, the room felt too small, too loud, and just too much. I needed to get out.

Turning on my heel abruptly, I made a b-line for the doors where the ambulances would unload. But I didn't stop there. Taking off at a run, I felt the night air on my face as I made my way as far away from the hospital as I could. When I reached the small pond that was out back of the hospital, my knees gave out on me and all the emotions that had been warring inside of me finally erupted, making me roar in sorrow and frustration. When was this pain ever going to stop? Was I ever going to feel whole again?

I'm not sure how long I sat out there by the pond. It couldn't have been too long because I know for a fact that Ebony had seen my face when I ran out of the hospital. I knew my former sister law like the back of my hand since I had leaned on her hard after I'd lost Cassie and Danielle. Ebony had been the one that forced me to crawl my ass out of bed when the last thing I wanted to do was go one with my life. Ebony had been the one that shoved food down my throat when I could not stand the thought of eating a meal when Cassie wasn't here to share it with me. It had also been Ebony that had made me realize that I needed to seek grief concealing so that I could talk to someone about what was going on in my head. Long story short, Ebony had been my saving grace, in more ways that one. As if she knew I could use a friend, I heard her say my name softly. I could hear the emotions in her voice, telling me that she wasn't handling this night any better than I was.

"Mind if I sit?" she asked, flopping down beside me without waiting for me to answer. Just like always, she rested her head on my shoulder as soon as she sat down.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Not really. Do you?" she countered.

"I probably should but I don't think I can right now." I said. But even as I said the words, I knew I was kidding myself. If anyone was going to understand what I was saying -what I was feeling- it was going to be Ebony.

"Matt, you know that's the best thing for you right now." She said, knowing that one of the main rules in grief counseling was that you never held bottled up your emotions.

"I know." I said. "Its just that tonight had pulled on my heart in a lot of ways. Plus, the 11th anniversary of that day is right around the corner. Seeing damage tonight, hearing that baby crying, and then finding that mama holding that child with all of her strength, it's just been too much. But what broke me was when that woman had whispered how she had thought she had lost he best thing she had ever done in her life."

"Got me too, Matt," said Ebony. She stayed quite for a minute, as if she was carefully picking her next words. "You know Cass would be so proud of you right? For putting your life on the line to save someone else's. You do know that Danielle would have idolized you right?"

"Easy to answer yes to both of those questions when they aren't here for me to let down." I said softly.

"Matt, listen to me. You are too hard on yourself. That section of the county is mostly mobile homes, placed in the middle of open fields. I was bound to happen one day. It was just by sheer luck that she was staying in that old house and not one of the mobile homes. Had she been in the mobile home, tonight would have ended a whole lot different." said Ebony, placing a hand on my arm that made me look at her before continuing. "We can't change the weather or the way that things happen. You know that. God is the only one that knows the day and the hour on which we leave this world. And it takes people like you who place someone else's life above their own to make this world one worth living in."

"Eb, I'm no hero. I was just doing my job." I said.

"And that's where you and I are going to disagree. Even though the weather was still bad, even though there was a possibility of more tornados, even though you could have easily gotten trapped under debris when searching for survivors, you still went out there and did what you had to do." Said Ebony. "You are more than just a firefighter who was doing his job. Tonight, given the weather, it was personal for you. Add in finding that baby and her mama, and well, you most certainly do qualify as a hero. Pretty sure that woman in that hospital is going to think so when she finds how protective you were over her child."

"I was just doing my job, Eb." I said once again.

"I know that you do your job to help others Matt, not for the hero worship that often comes with it, but I think you need to come to the realization that not all superheroes wear capes. Sometimes they wear grimy, smoke-filled turnout gear and beat themselves up for not doing more." Said Ebony.

Turning to look at her, I watched as she gave me that gentle smile that reminded me so much of Cassie. Something about seeing that smile settled something inside of me. Sure, my head was still in a mess, thinking about everything, but that smile just calmed me, telling me that I needed to have a little grace.

Stormy's POV:

Sitting on the hospital bed nursing Sadie while l waited for my discharge papers, I let tonight replay in my mind. The last thing I remembered was snuggling Sadie close to my chest and repeating 'Dear god, please let us make it out if this alive'. The next thing I knew, I was in this room, Sadie was not in my arms, and I was terrified. I didn't even want to think about what I would have done had I lost her tonight. All I know is that if I had survived and she had not, this world would not be worth living in. Just thinking about it had the tears pooling in my eyes once more. Leaning down, I placed a kiss on her head and once more told her how much I loved her.

But now the real question was what the hell was I going to do? She and I now had no home, no clothes, no belongings, nothing. According to the doctors and nurses that had been in and out of the room the past couple of hours, the area I lived in had taken a direct hit, leveling everything in its path. I overheard a couple of them talking in the hallway earlier saying how it was miracle that I had been in the little stick-built house with its drafty windows and not in one of the nicer mobile homes. They didn't have to say the words. I knew the chances of someone surviving a tornado while taking shelter in a mobile home were pretty much slim to none.

Just thinking about all the lives that were lost tonight, all the destruction that happened in a matter of minutes, had me questioning my faith in God. My brain had me asking myself how someone could love the world so much that he sacrificed his only son, cause so much death and destruction while my heart was telling me that he had his loving arms around Sadie and I tonight, protecting us and leading the firemen to find her and I.

A soft rap on the glass of my room had me coming back to reality and had me snatching the thing hospital blanket over my chest to cover myself as Sadie ate. Even though the last thing that should be on my mind right now was his looks, I couldn't deny that the man was good looking. With brown hair that was cut close to his scalp, a days' worth of beard stubble shadowing his cheeks, and eyes so blue that they reminded me of the sky on a cloudless day, he hit every button for me. Had I met him under different circumstances, I probably would have done some harmless flirting. But since now was neither the time nor the place for that, I settled for a gentle smile as said hello.

"Hey, I'm Lieutenant Matt McGraw with the Weldon Fire Department. My team and I were called into assist with calls tonight. It was me and my guys that found you and the baby in under all the rubble." Said the man as he walked into the room, stopping at the foot of my head. Hmmm, he looked like a Matt... "I just wanted to introduce myself and see how you and that little angel of yours is making out."

"Pretty good I guess given we lived though a tornado that from what I hear destroyed everything in its path." I said.

"That it did." Said the Matt. "do you umm, have family in the area." I watched as he shuffled his feet, acting nervous. What the hell did he have to be nervous about? He had just saved my life. I was the one sitting in a hospital bed, one boob out of my shirt and nursing a child. The answer to my question became clear when I felt the cool breeze of the air conditioning graze across my chest. Sadie had unlatched and was sitting up, making the blanket fall away from me, leaving my bare breast exposed. With a sharp gasp, I snatched the blanket up at the same time as I pulled my shirt down. Damn, what I wouldn't give for a bra right now.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of you know. That's what the good lord gave them to women for after all. To give their child the nutrients they need." Said Matt, his earlier question about my family seemingly forgotten.

"That might be so but I'm not in the habit of having people stare at my bare boob when my child decides she's done eating." I said.

"My wife used to the say the same thing." Said Matt.

I watched as something came across his face, something that I could not put a finger on. It was almost as if talking about his wife caused him pain. But surely talking about someone that you loved enough to marry wouldn't cause that right? I mean, I'd never been married but that did not mean that I didn't have an idea of what love and marriage was supposed to look like.

"I umm... what I meant to say was that my wife used to say that. She passed away unexpectedly 10 years ago." Said Matt.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said, unsure of what else to say.

"It's okay. It's something that I'm learning to live with." Said Matt. "May I?" His question caught me off guard, not knowing what he was talking about. But when I felt Sadie wiggle, I realized what he was asking.

"Sure." I said, lifting Sadie and holding her so that he could pick her up. "It's the least I can do for the man that took such good care of her while I was unconscious.

I watched as she lifted her, smiling and talking in that way that adults have when it comes to babies. It bothered some people but to me, it was just adorable. Especially when the man that was holding her was such an instrumental part of her being safe and healthy. But his talking with her wasn't what had my hormones racing all over again. Oh no, that was the man himself, looking so at home holding Sadie, as if he had done it a million times.

"Do you have kids?" I blurted, my brain to mouth filter not kicking in. Again, that look of pain and sorrow that I'd caught a glimpse of moments ago was back. Only this time, he didn't try to hide it.

"I do, though she doesn't live on earth anymore. She's living with the angels, probably playing barbie dolls with her mama in the garden of Heaven." Said Matt.

"I- I can't imagine." I stammered. Hearing his words, I knew that he knew a pain that a parent should never feel. Not only had be lost his wife unexpectedly, but he had also lost a daughter.

"She was about the age of this little angel here when it happened." He said, gesturing to Sadie as she played with the straps of his turnout gear.

"Oh my." I said, my voice cracking. If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"She and my wife had gone to my hometown for a family reunion. I was going to meet them there but due to some scheduling conflicts with my work and the fact that she had already paid for the tickets, I told her to go ahead and that I would meet her there after I ended my 24-hour shift. Little did I know that the morning that kissed her goodbye before heading to work was going to the be the last time I saw her." said Matt, his voice flat, as if he was just reciting the events as if they happened to someone else. I watched as he cradled Sadie and walked over to the chair in the room. He sat down, positioning Sadie on his alp before continuing. "My flight had to be diverted to a different airport that was a couple of hours away from where I was supposed to be landing because of some severe weather. When I'd stepped off the plane to call her and tell her that I was going to be a little late, that I was going to have to get a rental and drive the rest of the way, my phone got bombarded with text messages and notifications about the tornado that hit my hometown.

"I tried calling her repeatedly, my fear that the unthinkable happening building each time her phone went to voicemail. I tried calling my grandparents... no answer. I tried calling my aunt and uncle... same thing." Said Matt. "I'd just dialed the number the local sheriff's office in the town when I caught a glimpse of my hometown on the news. I've never seen anything so horrific in my life. I swear, it looked like someone had set off a nuke in the middle of town, leveling everything in its wake. Looking back now, I think I knew my worst fears were confirmed. I think I knew in that moment that I was looking at living a life without my wife and my daughter."

"Matt-"

"The F5 that ripped through Joplin, Missouri that day changed my life forever. It took not only my wife and child from me, but also my grandparents and my uncle. The only reason my aunt had survived was because she had made a Walmart run in a few towns over and wasn't home." Matt said, his last words coming out in a huff. The emotions he was feeling were evident in his tone, breaking my heart into a million pieces. Here I was complaining that I'd lost everything, thankful to still be alive but not really letting the gravity of it all sink in. I guess that old saying about there always being someone who has it worse than you really was true. Though in Matt's situation, I didn't know that it got much worse.

"I remember seeing the footage of that one on TV. It was devastating." I said.

"It was even worse in person." He said softly.

"I bet. Yet, no matter the destruction that you saw that day, no matter what you lost, you were still out there tonight trying to save people." I said.

"That's because he is so daggum good hearted" came a voice from the door. Looking in the direction, I saw the female doctor that had checked Sadie over earlier. "Matt, what are you doing with this poor woman's child... again." I couldn't help but notice the playful tone of her voice. It was obvious that she knew him. I can't explain the jealousy I felt in that moment. I had no claim to this man. Had never even laid eyes on him until today. Yet, seeing the pretty young doctor joking with him, their tones that of two people who knew each other well, left me feeling extremely jealous.

I'd been so lost in my jealous thoughts that I hadn't realized that the doctor was speaking to me until I heard her call my name. Snapping out of my thoughts, I pushed the jealous feeling down and said "I'm sorry. I didn't hear. Guess my mind was in another dimension."

"That's understandable." She smiled sweetly. "I said, are you about ready to get out of here? But more importantly, do you have a place to go when you leave? Do you have family you can stay with until you can get back on your feet?"

"My mama lives in Aulander. Oh my god! My mama" I said, realizing right then that with everything going on, I hadn't called my mama to let her know that Sadie and I were okay. Since I knew she was an earlier riser, there was no doubt in my mind that she had already seen the reports on the news about the tornado. She had to be sick with worry. "I- I need a phone. I need to call her. I need to let her know that I'm okay."

"No problem, Ms. Jones. I'd offer my personal cell phone, but all the towers are down because of the storm. I'll be right back." Said the doctor before she slipped out of the room.

"I can't believe I didn't call my mama. She's going to kill me when she finds out that I'm okay." I said, burying my face in my hands.

"I'm sure she will understand that your mind had been preoccupied." Said Matt, standing from the chair and passing Sadie to me. As soon as she was in my lap, she started rooting my chest, telling me that she was ready for more milk. Of course, she was... It didn't matter to her that the hot fireman that saved her and mommy's life was in the room. It didn't matter to her that he had already got a good glimpse of my chest earlier.

Before I could respond, the doctor walked back in carry a cordless phone. "Call whoever you need to." She said before slipping back out of the room.

"Matt, I umm, I could use some privacy." I said when Sadie began whining as she rooted my chest again.

"No problem. I'll be right outside."

I watched as he walked out of the room. I couldn't have kept my eyes off his wide shoulders if I'd wanted to. Lord knows, the man had shoulders that looked like they could carry the world. Down girl... now is not the time!