Authors Note: Writers Block + Life sucks at times. This helped me through both, to my ATD readers, I'll finish that soon, promise. Es, thanks for keeping me going through the dodgy times mate.

For people not aware of this storyline... have a watch of this vid by a good friend of mine, it'll explain the cuteness... and if you watch it, leave her a comment eh? ;) (take out the spaces obviously...)

h t t p : / / www . you tube . com / watch?v= 1tJKOjSX5Q8

Aftermath

Sophie

Tap...tap...tap...

A small tapping noise. That's what woke her up, although she didn't actually remember falling asleep in the first place.

Eyes fluttering open, the brunette tried to look around. Nope. Everything was still pitch black. She blinked a few times, making sure she actually did have her eyes open. Eyes open? Check. Room still pitch black? Check. Straining her ears she couldn't hear anything. Actually, that was weird. Surely she should hear something, anything other than that annoying tapping noise. The sounds of people moving around, cars and traffic, those general sounds of life you get used to and ignore. A pin dropping. Any bloody thing. She sighed.

Tap...tap...tap...

"Stuff this" the sound of her voice startled her with how loud and hoarse it sounded. What had happened? Actually, shit yeah. What HAD happened? Trying to sit up she realised her legs were stuck under some... she ran her hands down her legs to find...planks? Bricks? Whatever the combination was it was covering her legs up to the knees. Managing to get her top half upright, the young brunette ran her hand through her hair, wincing when she felt a large lump on her skull and a sticky substance. She remembered enough to know that probably was the reason why she didn't remember falling asleep or have any recollection of what had happened. A bang to the head and she was bleeding, which would explain the woodpecker that had started drilling a hole in her skull the minute she'd managed to get herself half upright. She ran her hands down her legs again, not feeling any stickiness, she hoped she was just trapped and nothing else more drastic had happened. Mumbling to herself she thought about her family; mum, dad and dozy Rosie. Yeah, the essentials were there. She tried thinking a bit harder. There was other stuff in there, but it was hazy, like it was out of focus and it was seriously seriously hurting her head to try and recall it. Groaning at the pain slightly, she tried wiggling her toes and was relieved when they hurt. That had to be good, right? If she couldn't feel them, then that would be really bad. She'd been made to watch Grey's Anatomy often enough with Rosie fawning over 'McDreamy' or whatever his name was to pick up on rubbish and probably inaccurate medical facts.

Taking her chances with her ever increasing headache, she called out. "Hello?" Her voice strangely echoing and sounding hollow in the dark she tried again, "is there anyone there? Hello?" There was no answer, just that irritating tap tap noise. She tried reaching out to see if she should find a wall, a surface, a hand, anything to give her an idea of her prison and what was around her, but all she found was nothing. The blackness was becoming suffocating.

With the headache overwhelming her, she gave in and lay back to think a way out of her predicament. The darkness taking over as her body shut down again to try and repair itself.

Tap...tap...tap...

x-0-x

MOLLY!

The thought pierced her head and woke her with a jolt, which in turn woke up her headache and the pain in her legs.

She was in the shop. That's where she was. Well, she thought that's where she was. The blackness had put a stop to her checking everything. And Molly.

She's been in the shop...with Molly? She must have been buying something for her mum for dinner. Molly had been behind the counter. Yes! Rubbing her aching head as she congratulated herself on remembering the smallest details, she desperately tried to remember what had happened.

No. The reason for her predicament was just eluding her grasp. And there was that shadowy figure in her mind again. Closing her eyes and groaning with frustration, the annoying tap tap noise was back but louder this time. Opening one eye she sucked in her breath as much as she could (discovering some new aches and pains in her ribs in the process), she shouted Molly's name as loud as she could.

She got no response, only a coughing fit from what she figured out was a mouthful of dust. Still, one benefit was that noise had finally stopped...no... there it was again, louder and louder.

Closing her eyes she finally lost a little bit of her temper. "Arrrghh! Just stop it!" She surprised herself with how loud she really was, even when she was having the worst day possible, what with not being able to figure out what had happened or why there were blurry grey shadows in her memory where she was pretty sure there should be people and important events.

The noise stopped. Sophie laughed. Great. Now if she could just get the pain in her head to stop on command, and find a way out of her dark prison, that would be great. Opening her eyes she wasn't too surprised to see nothing had changed.

No... that wasn't right, something HAD changed. She held her breath as she strained her hearing. A small noise. Only a small noise, but it hadn't been there before she'd yelled. She let out a juddery breath which led to a coughing fit as the dust in the air choked her. Taking a chance, she ignored the pains in her body and yelled Molly's name another time. Hoping the older woman was the one making the annoying noise.

Nothing.

"MOLLY!" She tried again, then listened. "Molly, if you can hear me it's Sophie, I'm trapped." She listened with baited breath. She'd never really ever liked Molly. Something about her always seemed...off. She was always a little too sly for her liking, and Sophie always felt she looked at everyone a little too funny, but right now, she'd pay any money she has, and her parent's money too just to hear her voice. Any human contact would do. The tapping noise restarted, louder and more persistent. Finally being worn down by her predicament, Sophie cried herself back into unconsciousness.

x-0-x

She was woken this time by a loud rumbling noise and then dust dropping all over her face. Opening her eyes cautiously and then cursing slightly when they stung from the dust, she couldn't be bothered sitting up and wasting energy. She thought about her situation for a few seconds, her mum and dad had always said she was the clever one, but right about now she was thinking Rosie's way might be the best route to follow.

"HEEEEELLLLLLPPPP!" Pain in her sides be damned. She had no idea how long she'd been lying here thanks to her being in an out of consciousness and she just wanted to go home to... She thought about it again, but where there was supposed to be people, all she could see was gray areas in her memory.

She was shocked out of her thinking as the rumbling noise became a roar and she was deaf and blind all at once. There was suddenly a small bright light shining on her and what felt like a wall of sound hit her, overcoming her senses. She felt large amounts of that annoying dust hitting her face and body and then the most beautiful smell of fresh air, well as fresh as it got in Manchester, but it felt wonderful.

The light disappeared as the noise lowered to a bearable level and a deep male voice came at her from the small gap above her.

"Hello love, can you hear us? It's the fire service."

Sophie looked up, using her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light and smiled softly. "Yeah, s'alright, I can hear you." The disembodied voice repeated some information to her about being trapped and thanked her for telling them about Molly. Another voice then came down to her, asking her if she was injured. She replied to the questioning, realising her ordeal would hopefully soon be over. Telling the paramedic (well, she assumed it was one) that she kept blacking out but could feel her trapped toes, the blacking out made an unwelcome reappearance and everything faded through fuzzy grey and into black. This time she knew the annoying noises were her rescuers coming to help her.

x-0-x

She was getting really, really sick of this zoning in and out or consciousness. She felt someone trying to lift up her eyelid and the next thing she knew there was a bright light again begin shone directly into it.

"Ow..." she managed to screw her eyes shut again, resisting the owner of the bright light who was trying to pry her other eyelid open. Probably to shine that torch in it. After a small struggle, she lost and the torch was in her right eye this time.

Opening both of her eyes she was greeted with the sight of a paramedic smiling down at her.

"Well, hello there" The man carried on fussing over her, gently probing the bump on her head and she realised the reason she could see his face. Looking over his shoulder she could see the beautiful site of a clear Manchester sky, the stars providing their own source of light. Her rescuers had managed to open up her tomb enough to get her new best friend down to help her. "My names Gerry, can you tell me your name love?"

"Sophie" she swallowed, her throat dry from all the dust she must have breathed in over the past... how long? She realised she didn't know how long she's been trapped, let alone what had happened. Her confusion must have shown on her face as she looked at the paramedic. He carried on checking her for further injuries, looking down her body she saw her legs had been freed and there were two fire fighters moving the remainder of the rubble away from her legs and making a clear area around where she was lying. Gerry looked back up at her.

"I'm just going to finish checking your legs ok Sophie?" she nodded at him, "we're going to get you out of here as quick as we can, but we need to be sure you are safe to move." He smiled at her, "you've been trapped for four hours Sophie, it's over now though ok love? It took us a while to get through all the rubble and hear you shouting. You've had a bang to the head there which has given you concussion." He gently rubbed her shoulder "you've been really brave Sophie, anything else can wait until you're out of here, there's some pretty anxious people waiting for you."

She relaxed back, relief flooding her body and taking away the last bit of strength she had. Four hours? She would have thought it was longer. Obeying the commands and instructions given to her, she was relieved to feel the agony in her legs. At least she still had them and she could feel them. Bandaged and strapped to a stretcher, she thought of the people waiting for her. Her family, and, yeah, there were those annoying grey shadowy figures again. Grumbling in frustration, she allowed the emergency workers to do their job. She was swiftly attached up to a bag of fluids and given some pain relief which made her feel a lot more comfortable and drowsy.

She watched her rescuers fussing over her and then she was being moved. Carried upwards, the crisp winter air waking her up as it hit her face. The noise hit her again; louder and rawer than when she'd spoken to the first rescuer through a small hole. She had limited mobility and couldn't really see around her, only directly above and a little to either side. She could see enough though. What had happened to her street? It was destroyed. Looking to the left she could see a huge gap where Nick's new bar was supposed to be and the viaduct had collapsed. Was that a tram? A tram in the street? There were people everywhere, fire engines, police and ambulances. Uniformed people were swarming everywhere like little ant armies. The smell of smoke overwhelmed her and she started another coughing fit.

Placed on the ground she heard familiar voices and her mum's face appeared above her, covered in grime and with tear tracks running down her cheeks.

"Oh Sophie, we thought we'd lost you" She kept sobbing, trying to hug her. Her words eaten up by her sobbing until she made no sense and just cried instead. Over her mums shoulder she saw her dad, equally covered in grime with tears feely falling down his face. He gave her a small smile.

"Hiya kid, you gave us all a scare there." He reached over Sally's shoulder and gently ruffled Sophie's hair. "Your sister is in hospital. She's ok don't panic, just cuts and bruises" He knelt down next to the stretcher, the paramedics allowing them a small family reunion. Wrapping his free arm around Sally, he carried on gently stroking her head. Sophie closed her eyes at the comforting gesture.

Her mum sat up, finally letting go of the death grip she had. Discreetly wiping her face (Sophie had to smile, even when in the middle of what she assumed was a disaster of some sort, her mum was still snobbish) she looked down at Sophie and smiled.

"There's someone else who's really anxious to see you" Sophie frowned slightly. Rosie was in the hospital wasn't she? A blonde blur burst from around her dad and took her mum's previous position of trying to squeeze her to death. The familiar smell from the blonde hair gave it away and the grey areas in her brain started to make a little more sense.

"Sian, what you doing? I'm ok" The blonde head looked up and Sophie was shocked by the look of anguish on her best friends face. The blue eyes red rimmed from crying she assumed. Oh God, she must be worried too. Looking into those blue eyes, one of the gray areas finally cleared.

"Oh Sian, you must be worried sick. Is Ryan ok? Where's Ben? Is he ok?"

To be continued...

As Scooby Doo would say... "Ruh Roh!"