“Yes ma’am,” Tim saluted.

“I’ll go with him,” Shane offered adjusting her gear and following Tim into the almost completely burnt building. The last of the fire was extinguished as the fire fighters started putting things away.

Tasha got in her car and drove directly to the hospital. She didn’t know what it was about Alice Piezeki that haunted her, but she hadn’t stopped thinking about Alice and her little daughter since she delivered that rose on September 11^th. She felt like her heart was about to explode when she realized the girl she had pulled out of the building was Mandy.

She parked her car and rushed inside where they directed her to a room. She found Mandy hooked up to tubes and a breathing apparatus, and Alice holding her hand.

“Hey,” Tasha said softly.

“Comm…”

“Just Tasha please,” Tasha smiled, “I thought we talked about this.”

Alice chuckled and said, “yes we did, sorry. It’s just, my respect for you went sky high, even more then when you showed up at my doorstep.”

Tasha smiled and said, “My respect for you has been that high. It must have been hard for you to lose your wife and raise your daughter all on your own, and then this happens.”

“I don’t know what I would have done if…”

“Shh,” Tasha said putting her finger on Alice’s lips gently, “don’t even think it.”

Alice let go of Mandy’s hand to wipe her tears. She looked into Tasha’s eyes and became lost. Tasha’s eyes were so deep, so soulful. They were in a trance, just looking at each other.

The trance was broken by Mandy grabbing Tasha’s hand and squeezing it.

Tasha’s normally hard face turned into a puddle of tenderness as she turned around and said, “hey Mandy.”

Alice’s felt her heart skip a beat, she had never seen anything so sweet in her life. ‘What the hell is happening to me?’ Alice said to herself.

“How you feeling sweetie?” Tasha cooed caressing Mandy’s face tenderly.

‘She’s probably sweet and tender like that in bed,’ Alice thought.

Tasha turned to Alice who gave her a sweet smile. “I should get going,” Tasha stood up, “I’ll visit in the morning, I gotta clean up all this ash off of me.”