|
|
The car exploded and Jason and Robin fell to the ground.
Mac, Nikolas and
Emily spun around in what seemed to be super slow motion,
their faces all
etched with the same expression: absolute horror.
~~
Inside the club, Brenda and Jax were getting ready to
leave, as were Alexis
and Ned on the other side of the room, when there was
a loud exploding sound
and the wall near the bar erupted into flames.
Brenda screamed first, a sharp high pitched sound that
echoed in her own ears
as she stood in horror watching the flames consume the
bar, the bottles
popping and the sparks flying. Jax reacted quickly by
pulling her towards the
exit before the spreading flames blocked them from leaving.
On the other side of the room, two people weren't as lucky.
"Oh my!" Alexis, who was the nearest to the fire, exclaimed,
scared and
shocked at the same time. Ned grabbed her wrist quickly
and pulled her back,
towards him, farther away from the flames.
"You okay?" Ned asked quickly before doing or thinking
anything else. She
nodded mutely, her eyes still scared. The flames were
spreading fast and
blocking their way to the exit that lead outside. He
looked around and spotted
another door, the one that lead to Luke's office.
"We have to get out of here." She told him desperately
as she looked around
frantically, not knowing what to do.
"Come on." He said quickly, over the sound of the fire
and alcohol causing
more, smaller explosions, sending sparks flying in all
directions. He pulled
her towards the room, not really knowing what else to
do.
~~
Jason held an unconscious Robin in his arms. "Robin? Robin?"
He asked,
adjusting himself, so that he could see if she was breathing.
She wasn't.
"She's not breathing!" He yelled. He lay her down on
the ground softly and
felt for a pulse, very weak. She must have just stopped
breathing.
Mac rushed over as Jason started CPR. "Come on, Robin.
Come on!" Mac pleaded,
his eyes welling up with tears.
~~
Monica left Justus' apartment with the tape in her bag.
She'd gotten it; now
she just had to decide what to do with it.
~~
Bobbie and Jerry were sitting down, eating dinner at the Port Charles Grille.
"Now, aren't you going to thank me for rescuing you?"
Jerry asked with a
smile.
"From what?" Bobbie challenged.
"Working the whole night away at that hospital."
"Thank you for making me shirk my responsibilities." She droned. "How's that?"
"Not exactly what I was hoping for." Jerry admitted. "How
about, 'thank you
for making me shirk my responsibilities to have an enjoyable
evening.' That'd
be better." He suggested.
Bobbie smiled.
~~
Jason was still using CPR to try to get Robin breathing.
Mac was leaning over
them, feeling pretty much helpless as he watched, one
single tear sliding down
his face.
Just then, Jax pulled Brenda outside and they saw Robin,
with Jason performing
CPR on her.
"Oh my God…" Brenda watched the burning car. "Robin…"
then another thought.
She turned to Jax and motioned to the building, which
was now erupting with
flames in periodic places. "Ned is still in there with
Alexis Davis!"
Emily overheard. "What? Ned is in that building?" Her
eyes lit with terror and
Nikolas, who was starting to hurry over to where Robin
was, stopped in his
tracks and spun around overhearing only Emily.
His eyes were wide. "If Ned Ashton is in that building
then Alexis was
probably…" He trailed off. "Is she in there? Was Alexis
with him in there?" He
asked frantically.
Emily nodded silently and all of them: Nikolas, Emily,
Brenda and Jax shared a
look of desperation and horror as they looked around
them at the chaos. At
that moment sirens were heard over the noise of the fire
and they watched as
the long line of ambulances and fire trucks arrived.
~~
Ned and Alexis were in the office. Alexis looked frozen
with terror and Ned
looked as though he was trying to figure out what to
do. There was only a
little smoke coming in from under the door, but they
both knew the amount
would increase as it got closer.
"We're trapped in here now." Alexis said softly, ice cold
terror in her voice
mirroring that in her eyes.
"I'm sure that the fire station was called." Ned said,
walking to her and
running his hands along her shoulders comfortingly. "They're
going to find us
before anything happens to us." He paused. "But we need
something to keep out
the smoke."
He looked around the room; there were two doors. He doubted
either lead
outside, but he opened one and saw that it was a closet.
No help there, he
thought. He prayed the other was either a bathroom or
a kitchen with running
water. He found a small bathroom, which had a sink with
running water and two
towels. "Thank God." He said softly. It was in the corner
and their best bet
for staying away from the flames the longest.
"What? It's not an exit…" She said walking to where he
was. "There are only
three exits from the club and none of them…"
"No. But we have running water." Ned said, pulling her
in and closing the
door. He grabbed a towel and soaked it with water before
putting it against
the bottom of the door. "That will stop the smoke from
getting in."
"It won't stop the fire." She reminded him softly. She
closed her eyes in
silent prayer.
He wrapped his arms around her slowly, gently. "It'll
be allright." He
whispered softly as he held her to him. "They'll find
us. We'll be allright."
He repeated it aloud over and over, like a prayer.
~~
Jason felt Robin start to breathe shallowly, and sighed
with relief. "She's
breathing." She continued to breathe. "She's breathing!"
"She's breathing." Mac repeated like a mantra. That didn't
mean she was going
to be okay, but it meant something.
Frank Scanlon and another paramedic came over with a stretcher.
Jason and Mac
moved out of the way as they lifted her onto it.
"Only one can ride." Frank said as they both started to
follow. Mac rushed
forward, not leaving any discussion about who that would
be as Jason watched
the ambulance drive off desperately.
~~
"She's breathing!" Brenda heard Mac exclaim not a minute
before the paramedics
took Robin away on a stretcher. She saw that Mac followed
and Jason watched
helplessly.
"They're taking Robin to the hospital." Brenda said softly,
not knowing
whether to follow one friend or wait to see if another
was going to be okay.
Jax didn't say anything as he rubbed her shoulder.
Next to them, Emily stood, watching the firefighters work
there way through
the building. Nikolas came to her side and placed a hand
on her shoulder. She
knew who it was, but didn't turn around or say anything.
They just stood there
watching the burning building.
When Jason approached he didn't say anything at first
either. His eyes burned
with a mixture of fury and fear.
"Are you happy now." Jax asked him. "I told you that you'd get her killed."
"If you want to know who got her killed, why don't you
ask Jerry?" Jason
challenged. "Where is he now anyway?"
"Stop it!" Brenda exclaimed. "Three people might die and
you two are arguing
about whose fault it is?"
"Three people?" Jason asked, confused.
"Ned and Alexis are both trapped in that building." Emily
said in a numbed
tone, never taking her eyes off the building.
~~
Bobbie's beeper went off and she looked at it. "It's the
hospital." She said
to Jerry. "I have to go; they must have a full house
in the ER." She grabbed
her purse. "Sorry about dinner."
He grabbed her arm before she could go. "Well, at least
give me a rain check."
He asked.
She nodded with a smile. "Okay."
"Good." He let her go with a smile. "I'll drive you." He got up too.
~~
Ned and Alexis were both sitting on the floor now. He
was sitting Indian style
and she was curled up next to him, leaning against him
with her head buried in
the curve of his neck, her legs tucked to one side of
herself. Neither one was
speaking. Her eyes were closed still, but his were open
and extremely
concerned. He was gently stroking her hair back and then
he pulled her towards
him further. "Alexis?" He asked softly.
She moved her head and opened her eyes to look at him. "Yeah?"
"I…if we don't make it, and we will, but…"
"You don't have to pretend for my sake, Ned." Alexis looked away.
"I know." He said softly. "I know. Anyway, I just wanted
you to know--I mean…"
He shook his head. "Alexis, I love you." He told her
simply, closing his eyes.
She froze at first, surprised. And then she reached up
and softly brushed away
the single tear that was trickling down his cheek. She
kissed him gently. "I
love you too, Ned." She said almost inaudibly. "I love
you too."
~~
"Hold on Robin. Be strong." Mac told his niece softly,
as he watched the
paramedics work on doing all they could to keep her alive.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
`
Chapter 1: In the Aftermath of Disaster...
Awhile later, all that was left of Rinaldo (Alison's little
added note:
::sob:: I loved that guy! ::sob:: Why, why, why do all
of Jason's bodyguards
hafta die? ::sob::) , the car and most of the club was
ash and rubble. The
fire was out and the place looked a mess. No one would've
guessed that there
had been people drinking, talking, and laughing the night
away at an L&B
talent showcase not long ago.
The police department had an investigation started, but
Mac wasn't overseeing
it. He'd put V in charge of that.
~~
"Can I go now?" A pretty much unscathed, and very impatient
Alexis Davis asked
Bobbie. "I'm fine."
"You were very lucky." Bobbie agreed. "Yes, you can go."
"Thank you!" Alexis exclaimed exasperated. "This was completely
unnecesary. I
don't know why they brought me to the ER in the first
place."
"You were trapped in building that was practically leveled
to ash, Alexis."
Nikolas, who was also in the room countered.
"I'm sorry, that I worried you." She said simply.
Nikolas smiled. "You *would* take the time to worry that
you'd worried me." He
shook his head. "I'm just glad you're okay." They hugged
as Bobbie left to get
the release papers.
"Alexis?" It was then that Stefan arrived, having been
called by Nikolas when
she'd been brought to the hospital. "Are you allright...
I just heard that..."
"I'm fine." Alexis repeated with a sigh.
~~
"Monica, really, I'm fine." Ned protested. "All of this is pointless."
"You were trapped in a burning building and you were even
coughing when they
brought you in. They had to make sure that there was
no smoke inhalation or
lung damage." Monica reminded him and he rolled his eyes.
"But there isn't any." Ned reminded her. "Can I go now?
I promise to steer
clear of burning buildings from now on."
"Fine, you can go." She relented. Then she hugged him.
"But it's a good thing
you're okay. What would the family do without you?"
"Glad to know that *someone* appriciates me." Ned smiled.
"Let me go get the paperwork." She said, as she left to retrieve the forms.
~~
Robin was in the ICU. Mac sat, in vigil, beside her bed.
"Take your time in waking up, but don't give up on me."
He said desperately
trying to keep his composure. "You can't give up, you
hear me." He paused, and
tried to grasp a lighter tone. "You know, Robin, I could
say I told you so.
But I'm not going to even though maybe then you'd wake
up just to argue with
me..."
He lost his voice as he buried his face in his hands and
the tears he'd been
holding in fell. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked
up to see Felicia
standing next to him. She sat down in the chair next
to his and sat there
holding his hand, not saying anything at first.
"Bobbie called me." She explained. "I came as fast as
I could get someone to
watch the girls." He nodded mutely, and she pulled him
into a makeshift hug.
"She's a fighter, Mac, she's going to make it."
~~
Jax and Brenda stared into Robin's ICU room. Brenda sighed
as she sunk onto a
chair. "She still hasn't woken up."
"She will." Jax assured her.
"She has to." Brenda said very softly. "She just has to."
"Listen, I want to see if I can track Jerry down just
to make sure of a few
things..." Jax started.
"The bombing?" Brenda asked.
"Yeah. You want to stay here?" Brenda nodded. "Allright.
Call me if there's
any change, okay?"
"I will." She said and he kissed Brenda before leaving.
~~
Jason waited just down the hall, not wanting to have to
deal with any flack
from either Jax or Mac. Or even Brenda. He sighed; he
felt like putting his
fist through a wall. He felt like putting a fist through
his own face.
"It's my fault; it's because of my business." He said with a sigh of disgust.
~~
Ned and Alexis ran in to each other--literally--as they exited the ER.
"Oh!" she said as she collided into him. She shifted her
feet as she realized
who she'd collided with. She was slightly uncomfortable
after what had been
said when they were trapped, not really knowing what
to think of the whole
thing.
"Sorry." He said with a slight smile. "They let you go?"
"I got a clean bill of health." Alexis nodded. "And then
I managed to get away
Stefan a while back there; he got a phone call, thank
God." She looked up and
he couldn't tell if it was to accent her previous statement
or to further
avoid his gaze.
Ned laughed. "I merely had to swear to avoid burning buildings,
myself." She
nodded and then looked away again, unsure of what to
say next. He paused
before speaking again. "You have to go back to the club
to get your car?"
"I totally forgot about my car." She shook her head. "Um,
yeah...if it's still
in one peice."
"I think most of the cars, with the exception of Jason's,
survived unscathed.
At least from what I could tell as they rushed me into
the ambulance. Once the
firefighters found us, it was pretty hectic."
"Yeah, it was." She took a breath and looked to her right slightly.
"Well, I figure, I might as well go get my car now, if
the police will let me
in there to get it, and if they won't, well, I figure
it'd be good to have an
attorney." He looked at her with a smile. "So, do you
want to share a cab?"
A smile played ever so slightly at the corners of her
mouth. "Yeah?" She
agreed with slight nod.
"Good. I just want to check and see about Robin and see
how Brenda is holding
up and then we can go. OK?" He asked and she nodded again.
~~
Jax arrived at Luke's and went right up to V.
"J--Jax?" She asked, confused. "What are you doing here?
How'd you get past
the police? I thought we closed this area off..."
"You did, but when could that ever stop me?" Jax shrugged.
"I need to talk to
you about the bombing. Do you have a minute?"
V paused and then nodded. "I guess so."
"Mac had you trailing Jerry, right?" Jax asked quickly.
V nodded. "Yeah."
"Were you keeping an eye on him tonight?" Jax asked.
Next Part
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