This takes place at the very end of the season finale. I had to write it because…I did. This is sort of a companion piece to One Day in Heaven.
Spoilers: Pay Up, Heroes
Disclaimer: Aiden's sister is mine. Other than that…I got nothing.
"No!" a brunette yelled as the person in the car opened fire on the bar where all her friends sat.
"What's up, Aiden?" another brunette asked her.
Okay so not all her friends sat in that bar, but almost everyone she cared about was in there: Stella, Mac, Sid, Hawkes, Don, Danny, and Lindsey. Aiden had never met Lindsey, but she was important to Danny so Aiden cared about her by default. There were only three people who she cared about that weren't in that bar. The first and second were both dead already and standing next to her as she watched in horror. The third person was the only one on that list who actually was safe at this moment in time: her sister Katharine.
Aiden could not bring herself to speak, so she pointed at the scene taking place below them. The other brunette stood staring for a moment and then yelled at the top of her voice, "Claire."
Claire appeared out of what seemed like no where, "you don't have to yell, Jessica."
"Sorry," Jessica told her hurriedly, "but look."
Claire looked down to where the others were pointing. "Oh my gosh," she whispered, "Is that…?"
"Yea," Jessica replied, "It is." It was their team. It was their friends. It was the people they love. It was their family.
They watched as a blonde, who they assumed was Lindsey, was loaded into and ambulance. Danny watched franticly pacing back and forth. A second body, Mac, was being loaded onto a stretcher. Stella watched him go into the ambulance and they knew that she wanted to go with Mac to the hospital. Instead she turned back to the team and looked around to see who needed her.
Stella walked over to Danny, who was crying. "It didn't look good for her," Danny told Stella sadly.
"Lindsey is tough," Stella told him, "she will make it through this alive. She had a lot to live for." Danny nodded, but could not stop the tears from falling. Gently Stella wrapped her arms around him, and let him cry into her shoulder. When he had stopped crying, he pulled away from her and attempted to pull himself together.
"Was anyone else hurt?" Danny asked Stella hesitantly, "other than you."
"I'm not…" she started but stopped as Danny glared at her pointing to her arm. "That's just a scratch," she defended lightly.
"Stell," he started but she cut him off.
"Look Danny," she told him, "there were a limited number of medic's and Lindsey and Mac both had bullet wounds."
"Mac's hurt, too?" Danny asked her, and Stella nodded.
At that moment, Don walked up, "You guys want a lift to the hospital?" "Stella you're hurt," he told her.
"I am fine, Don, and a lift would be great come on, Danny," Stella told him before addressing the other two men around her. "Sid, Hawkes, Are you guys alright."
"I'm good," Sid said and Hawkes nodded, "you might want to get your arm examined though."
Stella groaned, "Hawkes tell them that my arm is fine,"
"It should be okay," Hawkes told the group and Stella grinned at him.
"Now, can we go to the hospital?" Stella asked.
--- --- ---
Aiden turned to look at the other two, but addressed Jessica, "do you remember that place between life and death?"
Jessica shuddered slightly, "yea, I do. What's your point?"
"Lindsey and Mac are both in critical condition," Aiden explained, "We need to make sure they stay where they belong and don't come with us."
"Mac has lost Claire, and Lindsey lost all those friends in Montana," Jessica thought out loud, "It is going to be tempting for them to stay."
"All the more reason we can't let them," Claire told the other two.
"Come on," Aiden told the other two leading them towards the entrance to Heaven.
When they got their they saw two people looking around the area looking very lost. "God, I hate this place, " Aiden muttered.
"Me, too," Jessica agreed. Both women remember with piercing accuracy those minutes that they had spent in this area. It was where those people between life and death hovered. Claire had not ever been there. She had died quickly and painlessly. Jessica had bled out and then died on the operating table. Aiden had been beaten to death, and her body was burned.
Now, Lindsey and Mac hovered here. It was up to the other three to make sure that they did not lose the battle, too.
Mac looked up as he glanced around where he was standing. His feet were resting on clouds and the only person he saw was Lindsey who was standing a little to his left. "Are we dead?" he asked her.
"No," Mac looked up surprised because it was not Lindsey who had answered. Then he saw three figures walking toward him over the clouds. "Miss me?" asked a women he though that he would never see again.
"Aiden?" he asked her hesitantly and she nodded happily. "You're dead," he said confused.
"I am?" Aiden asked pretending to be confused, "I didn't know I was dead. Did you?"
"No," Jessica answered with a smile, "I had no clue." Lindsey screeched slightly when Jessica appeared, but Mac didn't make a move. He was too fix on the woman standing behind the other two.
"Hello, Mac," Claire said quietly.
"Claire?" Mac asked hoarsely. She nodded in reply and he ran into her arms. Jessica glanced at Aiden and Aiden gave a very small nod.
Aiden walked toward Lindsey smiling. "You want to take a walk?" Aiden asked her.
"Sure," Lindsey accepted a little cautiously.
"I want to tell you a story," Aiden told Lindsey. "Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy. Their were names were Andy and David. Andy loved David, but she was too scared to tell him. She did not know if David would love her back, but she always told herself that she would do it tomorrow, but suddenly there wasn't one. Andy died, and David missed her sorely. Andy regretted leaving him, but there was nothing she could do about it."
"Is this a real story?" Lindsey asked Aiden with half a smile.
"Nope," Aiden replied, "completely fictional."
"So what happens next?" Lindsey asked, deciding to play along.
"David met another girl. This one was named Lisa. Lisa was sweeter than Andy, and much more understanding. David quickly fell in love with her. After a few years, they got married and their daughter Lydia was born. Sadly a few weeks later Lisa was injured. She was in critical condition and had to make a choice. She could keep fighting and go back to her family or she could give up and die."
"How does the story end?" Lindsey asked intrigued.
"I don't know," Aiden confessed. "I thought I would let you decide that."
"I need to know what the consequences are before I chose," Lindsey warned Aiden.
"Alright," Aiden considered for a second, "If Lisa goes back she will have a great family and another child. If she gave up the fight, she would die. It would break David's heart, and Lydia would grow up without a mother. Andy would then feel obliged to find Lisa in Heaven and beat her to a pulp for hurting David."
"I think Lisa should go with the first option," Lindsey concluded.
"So do I," Aiden agreed.
--- --- ---
"Claire I have missed you so much," Mac told her.
"I missed you too," she told him gently, "but you have to go back."
"What if I don't want to go back?" Mac asked but the words were scarcely out of his mouth before a hand collided with the side of his head.
"Don't you dare say that," Jessica told him angrily. "You have a chance to go back."
"But Claire," Mac started, but Jessica cut him off.
"No," she told him quickly passing the point where self-restraint existed. "I am not letting you throw you life away. Claire is dead. Claire will be right here when it really is your time to die. Claire doesn't need you. The team needs you. If you die you would rip them apart. Especially Stella." Jessica paused for breath and let her words sink in. "Stella would comfort Don or Danny or Lindsey or whoever else needed it. She would be the pillar of strength that she has always been, but when she got home she would cry. She needs you just like you need her. I would give the world to be able to have one last day with Don. Aiden would give the world to be able to tell Danny that she loves him. If you throw away your chance to go back to Stella, I will make your life…death…whatever miserable."
"She's right you know," Claire told him gently.
"Yea I know," Mac told them, "I'll go back."
"Good," Jessica said.
"Is Lindsey coming back?" Mac asked.
"If she isn't she gets the same lecture you just got," Jessica told him.
"Not necessary," Aiden said with a smile, as she and Lindsey walked back into the area where the other three were standing.
"Just walk over there and you will be back," Claire told them pointing to a small patch of light a little ways away.
"Thank you," Mac told the three of them, and then he stepped into the light and was gone.
"And Aiden," Lindsey said, pausing on the edge of the light and turning to face the others, "David loves Andy just as much as he loves Lisa. Lisa just got dealt the better cards." Then Lindsey too disappeared into the light.
"What did you tell her?" Claire asked Aiden curiously.
"A story," Aiden answered simply.
There will be one more chapter up in the next two day. Hope you liked it.