crack_van | Heatwave, Walls, All Things, by Todd F (PG-13)

Fandom: EMERGENCY!
Pairing: various gen
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: http://kmg365.com
http://www.geocities.com/toddfe2002/brice.html
Why this must be read:

After I recced the Sedentary slash series earlier today, it brought to mind another three-story series (gen this time) that I would be remiss in forgetting.

In Heatwave, Walls and All Things, author Todd F. takes hurt/comfort many steps beyond the basics, digging deeply into the psychologies of the men of Station 51 as they interact with each other, the fire service and the world around them. They live, they love, they get hurt, and they heal... often becoming better people in the process.

Joanne and I never talked much about the possibility of me getting hurt. I’d had a few injuries, some bumps and bruises, ate a little smoke here and there. But each time I came home with a band-aid, or settled on the couch with a hot water bottle, or called her from Rampart, her reaction was the same. Her lips would flatten into a thin, white line, a look of resolution (or perhaps resignation) would settle in her eyes, and she would do what needed to be done – whether it was send the kids out of the house for a while so I could rest, or refill the hot water bottle, or pick me up from the ER. I’d give her a one-sentence explanation for whatever had happened, she’d nod, and that was that. It was a couple of years before I realized what my job really did to her, when I caught her in the bathroom sobbing her eyes out after I came home once with my eyebrows singed off. I snuck back out of the bathroom without her noticing and never brought it up. She is a wonderful woman.

I can’t say all that went through my mind as I plummeted down the stairwell that night. But a whisper of it touched my subconscious as I came to a stop in a pitch dark puddle of muck. ‘Anne is not going to enjoy cleaning my uniform after this one,’ was my first thought. My second thought was obscured by the pain in my hand and arm -- pain that my brain suddenly decided to process all at once. It took my breath away.

Todd varies POV, style, dialogue, and use of canon details to make all three stories distinct, yet part of a wonderful whole. Keep an eye out for how he develops secondary characters as well -- his Brice/Stoker fanon is fascinating.

Heatwave
Walls
All Things

.