Chapter Text
It was just a small, single-alarm house fire called in by neighbours. The smoke out of the kitchen window had caught the attention of the older lady living two doors down. Upon arrival, one of the male residents had most of the flames extinguished while the other nursed a burned hand and a somewhat dazed look after receiving an electrical shock, but was conscious and fully alert, watched over by Hen.
So why were these guys acting so cagey?
“Is there anyone else at home?” Chimney asked as Eddie sprayed the last pump of CO2 at the smouldering outlet.
“No. No, just us.”
Eddie’s ears perked. Lie. You got pretty good at detecting the too-quick, nervous ‘lying’ tone when you were a medic attending to embarrassing home accidents, and as a father to a young boy with a sweet tooth who wasn’t allowed sugar after 7pm.
But why lie about who was in the house?
He caught Bobby’s eye as the Captain scanned the wall with the thermal camera to see if the fire had spread internally.
“Eddie, why don’t you go check the circuit breaker?” Bobby asked.
Eddie nodded and placed down the extinguisher. He’d already switched off the circuit breaker, which they all knew. The sound of Hen asking with some questions followed him as he left to do some snooping.
He sniffed as he moved from room to room. As an alpha, his sense of smell was sharper than most other people’s, and it would be far from the first time that Eddie was able to find someone by following his nose. Chimney loved having their own ‘sniffer dog’.
But it was mostly useful in rescues, less so fires. Even with the small fire here, the acrid smell of smoke covered much of the house.
All three bedrooms and bathrooms were clear, but as he approached another door that either led to a basement or a coat cupboard, he smelled something sharp, human and scared under the smoke.
Eddie tried the handle, but it was locked.
A choked noise sounded from behind the door.
“LAFD! Open up!” he called, in case whoever was behind the door could answer.
“You don’t need to go down there!”
One of the men skidded down the hallway with wide eyes, followed closely by a grim-looking Bobby.
“You can either give us the key, or stand back,” Eddie replied coldly. Who was back there he didn’t want them to find?
“Dispatch, we’re going to need police to the address of the kitchen fire,” Bobby piped into his shoulder radio, taking a firm hold of the man’s upper arm.
The man looked terrified.
“Look I don’t know about keys man, I don’t know anything, I’m just paid to hang out here and make sure no one comes in,” he babbled. More lies.
Eddie turned back to the door.
“This is LAFD, I’m going to break down the door. If you can, take cover!”
The lock was no match for his boot, and the door went flying open with a couple of wood chips, revealing a staircase and a dim basement.
And a scent that hit him in the face like a hammer.
Fear, sweat, some sickly-sweet chemical…
And omega.
A strangled cry sounded and he glanced quickly at Bobby. The other man paused a moment before coming to the same, silent conclusion as Eddie and nodded.
There were best practice protocols for dealing with injured omegas, and they certainly didn’t involve a crew of alphas swarming them. But waiting for a social worker would take at least 30 minutes and by sound and smell, they were in serious distress.
Eddie went down the stairs, scanning for anyone else that might be with the omega. There were three beds – cots, more like – but only one was occupied.
He was big for an omega, tall and wide shoulders, despite being curled in on himself. Eddie catalogued how his wrists were tied together, and his ankle wrapped in a metal restraint tethering him to the floor. A scrap of fabric acted as a gag, hence the muffled sounds.
And stunning, bright blue eyes shone with tears, staring straight at Eddie.
“I’m LAFD – I’m a firefighter, I’m here to help you,” he said as soothing as he could muster over blind rage.
Traffickers.
Eddie held up his palms in the universal sign of ‘I mean no harm’. He shuffled closer.
The omega tried to speak, and he could both see and smell the tears leaking out of his eyes.
“I’m going to untie you, hold tight buddy.”
He knelt down beside the cot, and reached slowly for the material wrapped over his mouth. He tugged the material down over his cheeks with caution – scared animals bite, and scared people could be just as dangerous.
The omega sucked in a breath
“Alpha.”
He wasn’t sure if it was a conditioned response or perhaps due to a fever. Sweat beaded on the omega’s face and the neckline and armpits of his white shirt were soaked.
Now he was closer, Eddie could tell he was in heat – or at least, something like heat. What would no doubt usually be an appealing scent to an alpha like him was soured by anxiety, stress and that strange, unnameable chemical.
“My name is Eddie. Can you tell me your name?”
He started working on the ropes around his wrists, noting the skin underneath was red and inflamed but not yet broken.
“Alpha,” he whined instead of answering, lurching closer.
Eddie moved quickly, thinking he was going to throw up, but the blonde man seemed to be going for Eddie’s neck. Not to bite, hopefully.
“Hold tight,” Eddie grunted, loosening the knot enough to start unwrapping the rope.
“How’s it going Eddie?”
Chim’s voice behind him seemed to startle the omega, who whimpered and tried to hide behind Eddie’s bulk. Chim was a beta, he should be a lot more palatable to the omega than a full-blown alpha like Eddie.
“Ok – can you get the bolt cutters and some water Chim?”
He thought about asking for some scent-blockers, but it was too late for that. If they’d known an injured omega would be on the scene, they would have all doused themselves in the bland smelling sprays before coming inside.
“Alright, there you go,” Eddie crooned, dropping the rope to the floor. “We’ll get some ointment on those friction burns once we get out of here, promise.”
The omega didn’t seem to register any relief, he just stared at Eddie intensely.
“We’re going to get that thing off your leg next, ok? Can you tell me your name?” he tried again.
The blue colour was bright but the omega’s eyes were glassy. The chemical smell was no doubt some kind of drug – the question was, were the effects like the fever and disorientation on purpose, or was he having a bad reaction?
The man whimpered.
“Ok, that’s alright Cariño. Do you have any pain? Can you point to anywhere you’re hurt?”
He hoped a small endearment might relax the omega a little. It seemed to work, the man uncurled a little, and hesitantly touched Eddie’s hand.
Eddie immediately responded, letting the omega hold his hand, not minding the clamminess of his sweaty palm. He allowed the omega to draw his hand over the cot.
“Everything’s going to be ok, we’ll get you out of here in a couple of minutes,” he soothed, hearing the heavy clomp of Chim’s return.
The omega suddenly pulled Eddie’s arm forward, so his wrist was pressed against the omega’s mouth. For a split second, he thought his fear of biting was founded – but instead of teeth sinking into his skin, the omega huffed loudly and snuffled at his wrist.
Scenting him.
It wasn’t strictly appropriate, though Eddie was hardly going to stop him. If he had been scent-deprived and found any comfort or safety in the scent of a rescuer, Eddie would allow it.
“Alpha,” he said a third time, but ‘said’ was generous. It was more of a moan.
The scent in the room changed. It was still sweat and stress, but the fear had faded and now the honeyed scent of an omega’s slick trickled in.
Eddie blinked.
“Let’s get that leg free,” Chim said, startling the omega violently, making him almost roll off the bed and onto Eddie.
“Hey, it’s ok! It’s ok, this is Chim, he’s a paramedic, he’s here to help you too…”
But the omega was having none of it, pedalling his legs against the sheets to make himself small and as covered by Eddie as possible.
Chim stepped back, and Eddie squeezed the hand that was clinging to his so tightly it hurt.
“Cariño, nobody is going to hurt you. I’m right here with you.”
“I’m not scary, I promise. You want scary, you get between Eddie and his grandmother’s tamales, that’s scary,” Chim joked, though his eyes were sad. The omega calmed slightly, but he was still tense as he tracked Chim over Eddie’s shoulder.
“We have the key – how about I give it to Eddie, huh?”
Eddie kept his eyes on the omega, but leaned back, extending his free hand towards Chim.
Now it was Eddie the omega was tracking, fear in his eyes and a white-knuckle grip on Eddie’s hand like he thought the alpha would try to run away.
Chim pressed the key into his palm and he settled swiftly back next to the frightened man.
“I’ll need my hand back for just a minute to get this off your leg,” he warned. But the omega did not release his hold.
Eddie had to slowly coax his hand out of the death grip, which earned him a heartbreaking whimper. He encouraged the omega to take a hold of his turnout coat instead, and was eventually able to reach down to his ankle and unlock the padlock keeping him trapped. He threw the restraint across the room.
The ankle was swollen and red. Eddie rotated it with an apology to see if anything was broken, earning a little hiss from the omega, but he didn’t try to push or kick Eddie away. Probably a sprain, definitely some painful bruising.
“You’re probably dehydrated, so why don’t you have some water, then we’ll work on getting you upstairs and into an ambulance?”
The omega seemed torn between staring at Eddie and keeping an eye on Chim.
Chim gently lobbed the bottle of water to Eddie, who caught it in one hand. He unscrewed the cap and raised it to the omega. He didn’t try to hold the bottle, but leaned forward, parting his slightly chapped lips eagerly.
Eddie fed him some water, noting that the omegas spare hand came up to cling to his coat rather than take the bottle from him. Blue eyes stared at him through every swallow.
The omega wouldn’t move with Chim in the room, so Chim left Eddie the task of helping the omega upright to tackle the stairs. He clung to Eddie tightly and was unsteady on his feet, far more than a sore ankle would account for.
“It might be easier if I carry you. Would that be ok?” he asked earnestly.
He wasn’t small, but Eddie was strong and knew how to lift with his legs.
As he should have expected, his answer was “alpha” and the man trying to bury his face in Eddie’s neck.
Eddie gathered the omega in his arms, looping under his knees covered in thin sleeping pants, and hoisted him into a cradle carry – not the easiest to get up the stairs with, but it allowed the omega to cling to him without the indignity of a fireman’s carry.
He was over six foot tall, probably Eddie’s height at least, but he made himself small as they moved, tucking in his legs and hunching his shoulders.
Eddie was puffing by the time they got to the top of the stairs and daylight streamed in through the windows and open front door.
The blonde turned his head into Eddie’s neck tighter, no doubt scrunching his eyes as he murmured a sound of discontent at the brightness.
“We’re headed right outside,” Eddie told him somewhat breathlessly. Hen had already pulled out a gurney, waiting for a patient.
The omega’s breathing was laboured as Eddie placed him down on the gurney surface, and Eddie let him hold tight to his coat so he didn’t descend into a full-fledged panic attack.
“It’s ok, I’m right here with you. Why don’t you hold my hand again Cariño?” he asked, offering up his left hand to disentangle his vice-like grip on the thick black material.
With a couple of inches more distance and better light, Eddie could make out two visible marks on the omega, other than from the restraints. First was a splotchy patch of pink over his eye, though it didn’t look swollen.
The second was a faded bite mark on his throat.
The placement was unmistakable. It had been centuries since biting omegas was widely accepted; now a relationship between an alpha and omega was marked in the normal ways, like marriage and a ring. But he supposed human traffickers weren’t overly worried about that kind of thing.
In the daylight, he also couldn’t help but notice the man was heartbreakingly beautiful. Without the look of panic and fear on his face, he could be a model, or some kind of influencer making millions from a few pictures and product placements.
“Hi sweetheart, I’m Hen.”
Hen was also an alpha but usually had the best hit rate with calming down agitated patients, with her soothing voice and maternal nature. But the blonde tensed up and leaned away from her, the same as he’d done with Chim.
“He’s uh, not super comfortable with new people,” Eddie noted unnecessarily.
“That’s ok,” Hen smiled sweetly at the younger man. “Eddie’s a great hand-holder and an even better medic, so I think we can all work together to make sure you’ve got the care you need. Would that be alright?”
She waited patiently for his answer, but he turned back to Eddie.
“Alpha?”
He seemed to be taking in some information at least, even if Eddie was quietly horrified that he seemed to be seeking Eddie’s permission to get medical treatment. The bitter scent of fear was once again clinging to him.
“Absolutely. I’ll explain everything Hen and I are going to do, ok?”
The omega was obediently still as they slipped on the blood pressure band and fit the pulse oximeter over his index finger. He started to flip out when Eddie moved briefly to apply an ice pack to his ankle, and went back to scenting at Eddie’s wrist frantically as he talked him down.
Hen’s concerned gaze drilled into the side of Eddie’s head.
He was tense but compliant as they buckled him in, and watched Eddie like a hawk as he switched sides of the gurney so they could lift him into the ambulance with Eddie right beside him.
Throughout, he didn’t acknowledge anything Hen said or asked.
Eddie noted the extra sirens and Athena standing next to a concerned looking Bobby as they loaded the omega into the ambulance. She would want to speak to him soon about what happened to him.
A surge of protectiveness had Eddie blocking the view of the blonde, from Athena and lookers-on alike. Maybe a few hours and some fluids, which Hen was running now, would flush out whatever was in his system and he’d be verbal and able to give a name to contact his family, and he’d be surrounded by relieved loved ones looking after him and holding his hands…
But it was too easy to picture him alone and scared in a hospital bed, unable to answer Athena’s questions.
The doors slammed shut, and they sped away from his prison.
Eddie and Hen kept up a stream of conversation and reassurances on the drive to the hospital, though the omega still only had eyes for Eddie.
They pulled up to the bay doors and unloaded. The ER nurses and doctors were already wearing scent blockers, Chim or Bobby must have called ahead. Clinging to his shoulders still, Eddie helped transfer the omega onto a hospital bed.
His stomach turned at the idea of leaving him. But their job stopped at the doors.
“The doctors and nurses are going to take really good care of you,” he promised, putting his hands over the omega’s to try to loosen his hold on Eddie’s coat.
The omega looked… betrayed. He shook his head and tears welled in his eyes.
Eddie’s jaw clenched. Instead of wrestling him off, he instead stripped off his turncoat. It probably smelled more like fire than Eddie, but stripping off his shirt would probably be frowned upon. At least it might be a small comfort to the scared man, and the nurses usually put stray pieces of uniform aside to be collected after a few days.
“Alpha…” he whined, clutching at the coat, scared blue eyes piercing Eddie’s soul and amplifying his guilt as he was wheeled away.
Eddie watched as the doors swung shut behind the gurney, the omega now out of sight.
“They will take good care of him,” Hen said consolingly from his side.
Eddie rubbed a hand over his face, guilt gnawing at his stomach.
“I know, just-“
“ALPHA!”
They both jumped and before Eddie had made the conscious decision to do so, he was through the doors and chasing after the omega.
The scream had been… petrified. Primal.
Eddie turned a corner and saw the blonde man panicking, thrashing away from the nurses trying to still him.
Perhaps it was ill-advised, but Eddie barrelled through, gripping the omega’s arms before he hurt himself or someone else.
“Hey-”
With a cry, the omega collapsed into him, still gasping for breath. Eddie let the surprisingly strong omega manhandle him into an embrace, turncoat over his legs, and this one would be a lot harder to shake.
“You’re ok, todo estará bien…” he whispered, listening to the man’s breathing slowly coming under control. He ignored the murmurs of the hospital staff around them.
“You have to stay with him Eddie.”
Hen had caught up, watching the clingy omega with worry.
Yeah, he did.
“Can you-”
“I’ll clear it with Bobby.”
Eddie turned his head back to whisper directly in the omega’s ear.
“You hear that? I’m staying with you, ok? I’ve got your back.”