"𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
-ˋˏ ༻✧𓆩♡𓆪✧༺ ˎˊ-

SADIE WAS WALKING IN between Buck and Eddie, both of the men acting like a barricade to the girl as they carefully rummaged through the unstable building. She huffed, her irritation increasing as she knew the two taller men were sharing worried glances her way, evidently seeing the frustration in her face.

"Guys stop staring, it's rude," Sadie muttered tiredly, gripping the tarnished poles to prevent herself from tripping over the crumbling debris. The boys instantly retracted their heads back to their main focus of finding any survivors.

Eddie was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, however, Buck merely thought the opposite.

"Sadie, you haven't acted like this ever since that son of a bitch—." Buck paused and inhaled a sharp breath. "Seriously, Sadie, what is up with you?" Buck implored, annoyance starting to rise in his voice. Evan Buckley always had a soft spot for his family, but it was Saturn Strand who he thought he was the closest to biologically.

Sadie was always there for him and he was there for her, which is why he is ceaselessly questioning her. Sadie was considerably the most loquacious person in the 118 and seeing her worry or having a thunderstorm hovering over her head, thunder roaring in her ears was daunting and worrisome.

"You're never going to drop this, are you, Buckley?" Sadie asked, not looking down into his eyes.

"I'm Buck, of course not." Sadie shook her head at Buck's antics and continued to weave through the debris while talking.

"It's my brother. H-He did something he promised me he wouldn't do again and it nearly cost him his life," Sadie muttered, attempting to make her explanation as brief as possible. Buck gave her a glance of sympathy until the trio heard voices on the other side of the door.

Multiple calls for 'help' were faintly being heard and once they pried the door open, Sadie was the first one to reel herself down to the steeping room. Cautiously making her way to the people, Sadie nearly tripped and stumbled on her feet, but remembered that she was harnessed to a rope.

"You okay, Sadie?" Eddie asked, his eyes securely focused on the girl.

"Yeah, hand me the rope." Eddie tossed her the rope and she steadily made her way to the man who was laying on a thin film of glass, hovering miles high above the city.

"First date?" Buck asked, making his way towards Ali.

"Yeah, God, he wishes. Amazingly, that sweaty, fat, pock-marked pig is married with five kids. Didn't stop him from asking me to shower with him."

"Gross," Sadie whispered to herself, her nose scrunching up with disgust.

"Man, have you not watched the news at all over the past year?"

"Seriously man, catch up with the times." The trio continued to steadily make their way to the people and carefully made sure they wouldn't initiate any catastrophic movements to jeopardize this save.

But even with the most subtle movement, the thin line of the glass started to grow, the faint crystal clinking noise, making all of the firefighters' heart rates speed up.

"Don't move!" Eddie yelled sternly. "Don't breathe." The creaking glass was starting to get louder and  Sadie swallowed the lump in her throat before speaking.

"Sir, it is imperative that you can't speak or move a single muscle, okay? I'm going to tie this webbing around you and get you away from the glass." The man softly nodded his head and Sadie stepped towards him, being inches away from him, but the sudden vibration of the sharp rumbling earth went against their favor.

"Aftershock! Aftershock!"

Sadie's eyes widened in fear, her hands and body sending sharp pungent chills down her spine. She sprinted towards the man, hoping she can give him some sort of harnessing, but it was too late. The man was falling mid-air, his flailing body certainly going to haunt Sadie for the rest of her life.

"No!" Eddie yelled, his face having the same expression as Sadie and Buck.

Sadie was entirely frozen with fear, her mind wasn't quick enough to comprehend the sound of her line snapping. The sudden weight of her body was being dropped in the air and her hands were desperately fumbling to grasp onto something.

She heard the various screams of Eddie and Buck yelling for her name. Sadie thought this really was about to be the end until she felt the familiar strong hands grip her wrists with their life.

"I got you! Sadie, don't let go, I'm here, I'm here!" The sight of Eddie caused Sadie to audibly gasp in relief, him pulling her up onto the somewhat grounds of the floor. When Sadie was fully inside of the room, she stumbled right into Eddie's arms, wasting no time hugging him, desperately needing to hold onto something.

"You're okay. You're safe," Eddie muttered into Sadie's chestnut brown hair, his hands grasping her waist tightly. Being unable to speak, words were being caught in Sadie's throat, her emotions scattered all over the place. 

"Holy shit, I almost died."

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

Sadie, Buck, Eddie, and Ali were attempting to make their way back down to safer ground until they heard over the radio that there was still one person left behind in the rooms that the group was exceptionally close to. 

"Strand, we have a male, mid-twenties who is in room 104," Bobby said through the open radio, but more specifically towards Sadie.

"Copy, Cap." Sadie clicked off her radio and looked at the boys. "It's a few rooms that way, you guys take Ali back to safety and I will—"

"Woah, Woah, Woah, where the hell do you think you're going all by yourself?" Buck asked like the older protective brother he is. Sadie rolled her eyes and shook her head at the familiar behavior.

"He's right Sadie, you can't go back alone. At least let me go with you," Eddie attempted to persuade the girl. Sadie thought about it for a few seconds, pursing her lips as if she was thinking, and then nodded her head softly.

"Fine, let's go."

And gone they went. Sadie and Eddie made their way up to the room and Ali and Buck attempted to make their way down to the main floor. Comfortable silence filled the air for a while until Eddie's voice spoke up.

"So...where are you from?" Eddie asked. Sadie turned to him with an eyebrow raised with a 'seriously' look plastered on her face.

"Really Eddie? We are in the middle of a natural disaster and you're asking me where I'm from?" Sadie said in a sarcastic tone, a small smile creeping up on her cheeks.

"I mean it'd be nice to know where such beauty comes from." Sadie whipped her head around to see Eddie with a cheeky grin on his face and she couldn't help but reciprocate the smile.

"New York. Born and raised. How about you?"

"Texas."

"Wow, hard to believe those movie star looks are from Texas," Sadie chuckled with an amused grin.

"Yeah, I'm a rare breed," Eddie joked with the same humorous tone as Sadie. "You said you were born and raised in New York, I hope this isn't intrusive but were you there for the..."

It was a common question Sadie got as a child and it was always about the forbidden day the earth stood still. 9/11. She was in the building that day with her aunt who was going to show her around the office that day, but before she could, hell broke loose.

"Yeah, I was there on that day. 9/11, fortieth floor. My dad was a firefighter at that time and he was the one that found me, my body nearly lifeless. I was with my aunt, visiting her office, I somehow made it out alive, she didn't."

"I'm sorry, Sadie. You shouldn't have to go through such trauma like that."

"Yeah, honestly that wasn't the worst thing I've gone through in my life, I've dealt with worse."  Before Eddie could ask any more questions, both firefighters arrived at the room where the man was apparently trapped in.

"LAFD!" Sadie yelled, scanning around the room to see if she could find anyone. The room was dark, but she found the man who was hiding in the closet and when she got a more coherent look of his face, Sadie's heart dropped.

"Marc? I-Is that you?"

"Holy shit, Sadie. Is that you?" Marc asked. He was about to strive forward for a hug, but before he could, Sadie instantly pushed him off, her eyes flaring with anger.

"Don't touch me! You really think after what you did to me, you can hug me?"

"Woah, Woah, who's this?" Eddie asked in curiosity, but his guard standing taller, noticing the distress on Sadie's face. He stood next to her, his arms out just in case anything escalated.

"This is Marc, my ex-best friend. Betrayer, nearly...did stuff to me," Sadie muttered, closing her eyes briefly at the unbearable sight in front of her.

"Oh, c'mon, you're being an overdramatic bitch like you usually are," Marc spat.

"Really? You're saying kissing me and laying those filthy hands all over me without consent and when I had a boyfriend at the time, is 'overdramatic'?" Sadie sarcastically asked, fuming as her eyes were intently focused on Marc's. She didn't even realize it, but Eddie's anger was starting to boil as well, his fists clenching and unclenching as the boy spoke.

"Like you didn't enjoy it?" At that statement, Eddie took a broad step forward, inches away from the lanky boy. Sadie put a hand on his chest, preventing him from actually striking Marc.

"Don't. He's not worth it," Sadie objected in a monotone. Eddie stood down and Sadie walked out of the door, both of the men following her. Making their way back to the safe ground, Sadie led the way while Eddie stood in between her and Marc, not daring to let the grotesque man get anywhere near her.

Luckily, the way back to safer ground wasn't horrendously far. The trio got there in no time and Sadie practically threw Marc to the paramedics while Eddie and Sadie went back to their ladder.

"You were friends with that douchebag?" Eddie asked, an incredulous smile rising on his face. Sadie rolled her eyes playfully and took off the gear that was wrapped around her body.

"I'm not proud of that era. I was young and stupid, still am, by the way. But more stupid back then." Just as Sadie finished her sentence, Buck walked up to the duo.

"Who's stupid?"

"Me. Guess who we just saved from the building?" Buck tilted his head in confusion and urged the girl to continue. Whenever it came to gossip, Sadie would always go to the 118, plus Athena to spill her tea.

"Marc." Sadie has talked about Marc several times when Buck was a probation firefighter so his name was not unfamiliar to him. 

"No way. Did you push him out of the building? 'Cause if I were you, I would have done it in a heartbeat considering what he did to you." Both Sadie and Eddie chuckled at Buck's statement, and she took a big gulp of water from her bottle before speaking.

"As tempting as that is, we, unfortunately, had to rescue that shithead," Sadie muttered with a muffled chuckle.

"God, I have such bad luck with men," Sadie finally realized, her eyes widening in realization. "Except for you guys, everyone in the 118 is one of the most important families in my life."

"We love you," Buck announced, Eddie nodding his head in agreement. "You're the daughter of the 118."

"Yup, but us three, we're The Powerpuff Girls from now on," Sadie gleamed, opening her arms for both of the tall firefighters to embrace her. They gladly accepted the initiation and Eddie wrapped an arm around her waist while Buck wrapped one around her shoulders.

Sadie was happy, however, that happiness wasn't going to last. Nothing good ever lasts, especially when her guard was down.

Little did Sadie know, Marc was also the one person who was good friends with her ex, the man that she was desperately attempting to flee from. With both of the men having connections, Sadie's location could be compromised to the one person she needed to absolutely not tell.

here's chapter four ahhh! oh my gosh, i have jury duty today for the first time ever and I'm not ready adsjkfjsd, but i think i got this.

i hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! <333