Disclaimer: I don't own Midsomer, because ITV owns it. Also, I own all characters except Ben and Stephens.
Author's Note: Well, I'm back again... :) The idea for this came from a song me and some other people made up years ago, but it has nothing really to do with this... Also, this is for Lee (AlternativeRocker), because I said I'd write her a story for her birthday, and she wanted some Jones/Stephens... (Which reminds me, I refer to Jones by his first name for the whole of this, but Stephens by her surname and her first name interchangeably... Hmm...)
Anyway, on with the story, and Happy Birthday for tomorrow, Lee! :)
******
The Hero
The whole building shook as there was an explosion inside the station. Along with everyone else in the room, Ben and Stephens were thrown to the floor by the shockwave. When everything had died down, Ben sat up. Stephens followed suit.
"Are you alright?" Ben asked her.
"Well, I don't think I've broken anything… What about you?"
"It doesn't matter about me; we need to get everyone out of here, before this place goes up completely…" He gestured around. Already it was starting to heat up in the CID office.
"Right. What's your plan?" Stephens said.
"As such, there isn't one…" Stephens looked shocked and opened her mouth, but Ben put his hand up to silence her. "… We need to get as many people out as possible; there are too many lives that will be wasted otherwise…" Stephens nodded, not quite sure what to say.
Ben stood up, motioning for Stephens to do so as well. "We need to see who can help us… We'll need people to look after any injured people, and we need to find an escape route…" he said calmly.
"Right you are…" she replied. How the hell is he managing to keep this calm? she thought.
Ben and Stephens walked around the office, searching for people and checking whether they were injured or not, and encouraging those they found to do the same.
When they had finished searching, Ben called everyone over into a group near a window which overlooked the front of the station.
"Is this everybody?" he asked the group, opening the window.
"We think so, serge…" said one officer.
"As we haven't been able to find anyone else around here, we're guessing this is it, serge…" said another.
"Right. New rule: ranks don't apply, so first name terms for all, alright?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now we need to split into groups. Has anybody done any first aid courses or qualifications recently?" A few people put their hands up. "If you guys don't mind, I'd like to have you in charge of first aid, just in case people get injured, if that's alright with you…?" They all nodded. "Great! Now, some of the rest of us are gonna look for some escape routes. Everyone else, stay here, because the less people who have an opportunity to get injured, the better… Anyone got any questions?"
One person put their hand up. "Yes, Harry?"
"Who put you in charge?" said Harry.
Ben was about to answer, but Stephens got there first. "Well, Harry, as you obviously want to be in charge, have you got any better ideas as to how we're gonna get out of here?" she asked. Harry shook his head. "No? Well, I think our best plan is to listen to Ben, because he seems to know what he's doing. Is that alright with you?" Harry nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. That put him in his place... thought Stephens.
Ben cleared his throat. "Thank you, Gail. So, unless you're helping with first aid, everyone this side, come with me, and everybody else, go with Gail. She's in charge of you lot, listen to her! Oh, and one more thing: any volunteers to keep watch at the window and raise the alarm if anyone sees us?" A couple of people put their hands up. "Thanks, guys. Now you lot, stay here for a minute…" Ben beckoned to Stephens to follow him out of earshot of everyone else.
"Make sure you keep an eye on them, I don't want too many people getting hurt unnecessarily. And seeing as you dealt with Harry well, you're in charge of him. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, sure…"
"Good." Ben removed his jacket, undid the top button of his shirt, loosened his tie and rolled up his shirt sleeves.
"Look, Ben, are you alright?" Stephens asked, worried.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I will be once this is over…"
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You just seem so… so calm!"
Ben shook his head. "Calm? I am far from calm right now!"
"You didn't seem anything but calm a minute ago!"
"We're stuck inside a burning building with possibly no escape route, and it's getting hotter by the minute! What is there to be calm about?" he snapped, before running his hand through his hair again. "Sorry. To be honest, I am absolutely terrified right now: what happens if we don't find a way out? We're all gonna die! And that's it. What a waste of our lives!" He paused, taking a few deep breaths. "But I'm determined not to let that happen… I've… We've just gotta work out how to get out of this mess first…"
Stephens took a step towards him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head in his shoulder, before letting go of him and looking into his eyes. "We will get out of this... All of us will; I'm sure of it… And it will be because of you that we were saved…"
Ben smiled at her. "Thanks, I needed that…"
She reached up and kissed him gently on the cheek. "That's alright. Shall we get back to saving the world?" she said, before walking back towards the other officers. Ben chuckled to himself before following.
"Is everyone ready?" Everybody nodded. "Right. My group, come with me…" he said, beckoning for them to follow him.
"Right, just a precaution in case anything happens, I'm gonna give you all numbers, and if I say 'number off', I want you to shout your numbers in ascending order so I can check you're all here. So, Michaela, you're number 1, Jesse, you're number 2, Sonny, number 3, Jasmine, number 4, Andy, you can be number 5, Tom's number 6, Charley, you're number 7, Vicki, number 8, Amanda, if you take number 9, and, last but not least, Robert, number 10, is that alright with everyone?" There was a murmur of agreement from everyone. "Excellent!"
"Ben, where are we actually going?" said Michaela after a little while.
"We're trying to find a safe way out of this building, so everybody keep their eyes peeled; this might be tricky…" Ben replied.
"Can't we just use the fire escape?" said Jesse.
"Providing we can get to the fire escape without being injured and providing it hasn't already been damaged by whatever the hell went off downstairs and that it isn't likely to self destruct as soon as we set foot on it, then I should think so, Jesse. But if not, we need to find another way out, just in case…"
"… Point taken…" said Jesse, feeling a bit embarrassed.
They walked for a little bit longer, before Michaela spotted something. "Ben, I think I've found something!" she yelled. He ran over to her.
"What've you found?" he asked.
"It looks like it might be a door out…"
"But where does it lead to?" asked Jesse, who, along with the others, had followed Ben over.
"Looks like we're gonna have to find that one out…" said Ben.
"Slight problem – it's locked…" Michaela replied.
"Time to use force… Watch out, Michaela, I don't wanna hurt you…" Michaela took a step backwards. Ben stepped forwards and was about to raise his leg to kick the door in when he heard a faint cracking noise from in front of him.
"Everyone get back and get down!" he shouted, as the glass in the door creaked again. Everybody did, apart from Michaela, who stood watching the door, obviously not listening.
"Michaela! Get down!" he yelled. She finally realised what was happening and dived to the ground.
"Ben, it's gonna explode!" bellowed Jesse as the glass broke and the door blew off its hinges. Ben jumped for the floor just a second too late; the door flew through the air and hit him, smashing into his ribs. The door landed on top of him as he fell to the ground. A wave of heat rushed over them, followed by some bits of debris.
About a minute later, everything had settled down. There were a few muted coughs as people started to move around again.
Ben winced slightly as he pushed the door off himself and sat up, coughing. The really small pieces of debris still flying around in the air made it hard to see and breathing slightly difficult. "Is everybody alright?" he asked, looking around. He got a response from a few people, but not everyone.
He coughed again, before saying "Number off, please!"
"One!" croaked Michaela.
"Two!" shouted Jesse.
"Three!" said Sonny.
"…" There was a coughing fit in response.
"Jasmine?" Ben asked.
"She's here next to me, but she's finding it a bit hard to breathe…" Sonny said.
"Alright. Continue, please…"
"Five!" said Andy, before having a sneezing fit.
"Bless you, Andy! Six!" shouted Tom.
"Seven!" said Charley.
"Eight!" croaked Vicki.
"Nine!" shouted Amanda.
"Ten!" said Robert.
"Right, everyone's here. Any injuries?" Ben asked.
"Jasmine still can't breathe well…" said Andy.
"What about you, Ben?" asked Charley.
"I'm alright…" he said in between coughs.
"Are you sure?" said Amanda.
"Yes. I think we should take Jasmine back to get medical attention, then we'll see what we'll do from there…" he replied.
"Good idea…" said Robert.
Everyone stood up and brushed themselves off; Tom helped Jasmine up and supported her along with Sonny, and Ben winced again slightly as he stood up.
"Positive you're alright, Ben?" asked Jesse.
"Just about…" he replied, holding his ribs. "Shall we get moving?" Everyone nodded and they started to walk back towards where they started.
They got about half way back before they had to stop: the heat was becoming unbearable, Jasmine could hardly breathe and anyway, they hadn't been moving that fast in the first place in order to account for the injured parties.
"Look, guys, we can't go on at this pace: I know we can't go much faster because of Jasmine, but this is just too slow. The heat also isn't helping…" said Ben, leaning against a wall, his eyes closed.
"But what are we gonna do?" said Michaela.
Ben thought for a moment, before opening his eyes. "Any fast runners here?" he asked. Robert and Vicki put their hands up. "Right, you two, I want you to run back to the main office, grab a first aid kit and warn the first aid people about Jasmine. Oh, and grab any strong people from Gail's group you can and a blanket or something, because Jasmine's probably gonna have to be carried back. While you're there, you can also find out if they've found a way out yet… They probably have by now…"
"Yes, Ben!" said Robert and Vicki at the same time. Just as they ran off to get help, Ben called them back.
"Take some of these guys with you, they don't all need to be here…" he said.
"Sure… Who do you want us to take?" Vicki asked.
"Erm… Take Andy, Amanda and Charley with you… There isn't much for them to do here apart from stand around…"
"Right, sure thing!" Robert said, beckoning for the others to follow him. Ben waited until they had left before closing his eyes, thinking. We've gotta get out of here soon, otherwise we're all gonna end up trapped… he thought. He tried to take a deep breath, but stopped as any movement hurt his ribs. Instead, he settled for sighing as he opened his eyes, walking over to Jasmine, who was still being supported by Sonny and Tom.
"Hello Jasmine, how're you feeling?" he asked. She shook her head. "Not good?" She nodded. "Well, Robert and Vicki have gone to get some help, but for now, I think we should try to calm you down, ok?" She nodded again. "Ok, Jasmine, I want you to take a slow deep breath in, then hold it for a couple of seconds, before letting it slowly, alright? The boys will do it with you as well…" There was another nod, and Sonny and Tom nodded in agreement. "Ready?" He instructed her to breathe in and out, quickly at first as he knew it would be difficult, but then he began to slow down as it became easier.
By the time Robert returned, blanket and a couple of other people in tow, Jasmine's breathing was less panicky than it had been.
"Hi guys. If you just put the blanket on the floor there, then we can lift Jasmine onto it…" Ben said, starting to walk over to help out.
Before he could do anything, however, Michaela grabbed his arm and stopped him. "No you don't, Ben… You've obviously already injured yourself, so you're gonna let us take charge for a minute and rest… We need you! And no arguments!" she said, as he opened his mouth to argue.
Seeing that there was no room for argument and he wasn't going to win this battle anyway, Ben sighed. "Alright, Michaela," he said.
She looked stunned for a minute. "What, you agree already?" Ben looked confused. "I wasn't expecting that…"
"No kidding!" Ben said, the beginnings of a smile appearing on his face.
"… Well, the others told me that I would have to fight to get your agreement… Looks like this proved them wrong!"
"Who said this?" Ben asked, already having quite a good idea as to who it was.
"Erm… Gail, and a couple of others…" Michaela looked embarrassed.
"I thought she might have done... Oh well!" Ben smiled at her. "So, what do you want me to do?"
"Just stand there and look pretty!" Jesse said as he walked past the pair. Michaela snorted, trying not to laugh.
"Very funny, Jessica!" Ben joked.
"Hey!"
Ben shrugged. "Not my fault you have a girl's name…"
"Not my fault you look like a girl..!" This time, Michaela couldn't stop laughing.
"I do not! If anything, you do, what with your long hair..!" Ben replied. Jesse opened his mouth to reply, but Michaela got there first.
"Jesse, go away! Leave him alone!" she said.
"How come you're telling me off and not him?" Jesse asked.
"He's injured!"
"Oh wait, I know why… You like him, don't you?"
"Excuse me?" Michaela blushed furiously.
"You fancy him! It's obvious!"
"Hello? I'm here, you know!" Ben said, trying not to laugh at their banter.
"No I don't!" Michaela said to Jesse, ignoring Ben.
"So that's why your face has gone bright red, is it?"
Ben didn't think it was possible for Michaela to go any more red, but she did. "Shut up!" she hissed.
"Michaela and Ben, sitting in a tree..!" Jesse sang.
"Jesse, stop it!" Michaela hit him on the arm.
"You're gonna have to fight Gail for him though… And I'm pretty sure you're out of luck, he obviously fancies her…"
Am I really that obvious?, Ben thought. And Michaela's gonna have a tough fight on her hands!
By this time, Jasmine had been lifted onto the blanket, ready to be taken back to the main office.
"Ben, what do you want us to do now?" Andy asked.
"Hmm?" Ben said, looking at Andy.
"We've got Jasmine ready to go!"
"What, already?" Andy nodded. "Blimey, you guys are efficient!"
"So, are we going then?"
"What? Oh, yeah, let's go! Come on, you two!" Ben directed the last bit at Michaela and Jesse, who were still bickering in the corner.
"What?" they both said at the same time.
"We're going!"
"Oh, alright…"
"Honestly, you two…" Ben said, turning and walking towards the main office, falling into step with Jesse and Michaela. "The two of you argue like a married couple sometimes!"
"Hey!" they both said, still talking at the same time.
"Will you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"Saying the same thing at the same time! It's irritating and just slightly weird!" Jesse and Michaela started laughing at his tone of voice towards the end of his sentence, and Ben followed not long afterwards, although he had to stop because it was too painful for him.
Soon they arrived back at the main office. When they entered, there was hardly anyone around. In fact, the only people still there were a couple of the first aiders and Stephens, who rushed over to Ben as soon as she saw him.
"Ben, are you alright?" she said, putting her arms around him and hugging him tightly. He winced slightly as he hugged her back.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" he said.
"You're clearly not…" she said, pulling away and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Let me take a look at you…" He started to protest. "Nope, I'm not having any of it! Take a seat over here…" She led him over to a desk and made him sit on it.
"Right. Now, you winced when I hugged you, so you've obviously hurt your chest or ribs or something. Take your shirt off, please…"
"What?"
"You heard. Shirt. Off. Now."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, miss!" he said, unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off.
"Cheeky sod!" she said, swatting him on the head with the back of her hand.
"Cheers for that!" he said, smiling.
After he'd removed his shirt, Stephens started examining Ben, looking for any bruising that might have already appeared and for any tender areas. He winced again as she touched his ribs and stomach.
"That hurt, did it?" she said, removing her hands.
"Yeah…"
"What the hell happened?"
"I was trying to see if we could get out via a fire exit, when the door blew off its hinges and hit me. Dived for the floor just a bit too late, I think…"
"Well, I think you may have broken or cracked a couple of ribs, and you're gonna have a massive bruise there tomorrow… You can put your shirt back on now…"
"Great… Since when did you become a doctor?"
"Since I got my degree in awesomeness..!" Ben snorted. "Nah, I'm kidding… I did a first aid course a couple of weeks ago…"
"Oh, right… Anyway, I'm guessing you found a way out then…" he said, as he eased his shirt back on.
"Yeah, not too long after you left, Kat and Danny found an open window, and when the fire crew arrived-"
"There's a fire crew out there?"
"Yeah, and an ambulance too… Actually, I think there are a few ambulances… But the fire crew haven't come in, because they don't think it's safe to send any of their men in yet…"
"Right, ok… I was just gonna ask about that…"
"Yeah, I guessed… Anyway, when the fire crew arrived, they managed to get a couple of really long ropes up to us, along with some carabineers and a couple of safety harnesses and some instructions for how to set it up…"
"So we're abseiling down the outside of the building?"
"In effect, yes… So pretty much all of my team's already gone down there, and about half of yours, I think…"
"Yeah, I sent about five people back here, but one came back to the rest of us…"
"Well, I think now we need to get Jasmine out next, as she needs urgent medical attention…" Ben nodded. "And so do you, so you should go after her…"
"I'm fine, honest…"
"Well, if you're sure…"
"Yeah… After we've got Jasmine out, I think we should get all the others out… I'll go last, just to make sure everyone's been accounted for…"
"Ben, you don't have to do that…"
"Yes, I do… I need to make sure everyone's safe…"
"I'm not sure about this…"
"If you want, you can be the second to last person out, to make sure I'm safe…"
Stephens sighed. "Alright… But I'm still not happy about this…"
"Relax, it'll be fine…" Ben hugged her again.
"I'm glad you're so sure…" she said, before letting go of him and going over to Jasmine and the people looking after her. Ben followed.
"So how many people can go down at one time?" Ben asked as they walked.
"Two, I think… One on each rope…" Stephens replied.
"Great, that means that we don't need to be up here too much longer, I wouldn't have thought…"
They arrived back by the window just as Jasmine was being strapped into one of the harnesses.
"Are you alright, Jasmine?" Stephens asked. Jasmine nodded.
"You'll be out of here soon, Jasmine, and then you'll be seen to by paramedics and probably taken to hospital, alright?" said Dougie, one of the first aiders. She nodded again.
"Right, who's still up here?" Ben asked Dougie.
"Jesse and Michaela, and Sonny and Tom, I think… Rob and Andy have already gone down the wire, as have Gail's group and the others you sent back…"
"Fair enough. Jasmine, do you want me to send Sonny or Tom down with you? Then they can help you if you need it…" Ben asked her. She nodded.
"That's a good idea, actually…" Dougie agreed.
"Is she going to be able to abseil down on her own rope though?" Stephens asked.
"I don't see why not… But one of the boys ought to keep an eye on her…"
"How many people can one rope hold?" Ben asked.
"One, as far as I'm aware… Well, we've only let one person go down per rope… Actually, I'll check the instructions…" Dougie looked at the paper the firemen had sent up. "Yeah, it says only one person per rope…"
"Hmm. We should probably warn them that we have a seriously injured person who may not be able to cope on their own… Then we can ask what to do about Jasmine…"
"If we send Tom down to tell them, then Sonny can go with Jasmine… And if one of you two goes at the same time, then we've got less people to send…"
"I'd like to stay here, if that's alright…" Stephens said.
"Actually, if we send Tom and Sonny down together, Dougie, then you and Jasmine can go down together, and so can Michaela and Jesse, leaving me and Gail…" Ben said to Stephens and Dougie.
"Good plan, because then I can help Jasmine should she run into any difficulties… Is that alright with you, Jasmine?" Dougie asked her. She thought for a minute before nodding her agreement.
"Well, that's settled then!" Stephens said. "I'll go and tell Sonny and Tom that they should go next, and then we can get you two out, then Jesse and Michaela…" She walked off in the direction of the window where everyone was gathered, waiting to get out of the building.
Ben sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. What a day this is turning out to be! Ben thought. Dougie caught his wince, even though it was barely noticeable.
"Are you alright, Ben?" Dougie asked.
"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…"
"Are you sure? You don't sound too sure…"
"I'm fine, honestly…"
"And your ribs?"
Ben tilted his head to one side, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"You winced when you sighed a second ago, and you've been holding them since we got back…"
Ben rolled his eyes, chuckling lightly so as not to irritate his ribs. "You don't miss anything, do you, Dougie?"
Dougie smiled. "Nope, not me. But then again, I'm ex-army, what do you expect?"
Ben smiled too. "Fair enough."
"Do you want me to check you over?"
"Nah, I'm good. Gail beat you to it, mate…"
"Never misses anything, that bird. Sure you don't want a second opinion?"
"I can see you're not gonna let this drop."
"No chance."
Ben rolled his eyes again. "Go on then. Don't let the 'bird', as you so eloquently put it, catch you, though, or we'll both get told off…"
Dougie laughed. "Fair enough. Now, stand still and undo your shirt for me…" Ben saluted before undoing his shirt again. Dougie thwacked him gently on the head. "Cheeky bugger..!" He continued speaking while he examined Ben. "You've got a good mate in that bird, Ben. More than that, maybe. You'd be wise not to let her slip through the net…"
Ben looked at him. "You think?"
"Yep. I've seen the way she looks at you, and I'm sure others have noticed. She likes you, mate. As in, really likes you."
"Well done, Sherlock..!"
Ben got another slap on the head for that. "You know what I mean. And I'm thinking you probably like her too. Go for it!" Ben raised an eyebrow. "Seriously. Don't miss your chance. If you do, you'll regret it later."
"I'll bear that in mind. So, got anyone special in your life, considering everyone seems so interested in mine?"
Dougie chuckled. "Nah, I'm still on my own. Free as a bird, me…"
"What kind of bird? A lark?" Dougie cocked an eyebrow. "Or perhaps a sparrow? Or maybe even a robin..!"
Dougie rolled his eyes. "Very funny."
"I know. I thought so too!"
"Right, you've got some bruising appearing, which means you've probably broken a rib or two, but apart from that, you seem to be fine… You can do your shirt up now…"
Ben saluted again. "Yes, serge!"
Dougie laughed. "Honestly, you civvies have no respect…"
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again..!"
"Don't lie, you know it will…"
"Fair enough…"
"Anyway, you're gonna have fun with the harnesses…"
"Oh god. Are they the ones which you have to have up here," Ben indicated his waist, "and really tight?"
"Pretty much, yeah…"
"Oh, excellent..!"
"It is, isn't it? Think of it as payback for insulting a soldier!"
"Huh. Thanks, Dougie."
"My pleasure!"
Ben and Dougie walked to the window where Jasmine was putting on a harness, with help from Stephens.
"Looks like it's your turn, Dougie…" Ben said, as Dougie was handed a harness and a helmet.
"It seems that way…"
Ben shot Dougie a worried glance, and saw that the ex-soldier was a bit paler than he had been before. "What's up Dougie?"
"I'm guessing now's not a good time to mention I don't particularly like heights..?"
"Not really… So let me get this straight: you don't like heights, but you work on the 2nd floor of a building with massive great windows, and you're ex-army?"
"That sounds about right…"
"How the heck did you survive the army? Or did you not have to do any jumping out of planes or stuff like that?"
"Oh, trust me, I did. But when you're in a uniform, things are different, you know what I mean? Like, 'I'm wearing my uniform, so I'm not as scared as I would be if I wasn't' kinda thing?"
"Yeah, I get that… Don't worry about it, Dougie, you'll be fine… Trust me…"
"Trust you? Who'd want to do that?" Dougie joked.
"Funny. Really funny."
"That's me!"
"Perhaps you went into the wrong line of work?"
"Yeah. Should've been a comedian, not an army medic…"
Ben laughed softly. "Just remember, you've got to look after Jasmine when you go down…"
"I know. Maybe that'll take my mind off the heights…"
"Maybe." Ben clapped Dougie on the back. "Good luck, comrade."
"I might need it..!" Dougie attached himself to the wire and climbed out the window. "Catch you on the flip-side, Jonesy!"
Ben saluted again. "Sir, yes, sir!" he shouted, as Dougie and Jasmine disappeared from view. He turned around and looked at those remaining in the building. "Just us left now, guys… Jesse, Michaela, are you ready to go next?"
Jesse nodded. "Well, I am, but I don't think Michaela is…"
"What's wrong Michaela?" Ben asked, seeing that she didn't look too happy. She's been crying, if the mascara on her face is anything to go by… Ben thought. "Actually, let me guess: you don't like heights?" She nodded, and started crying again. Ben walked over to her and put his arms around her. "Don't worry, you'll be fine… I'm sure Jesse will look after you, won't you, Jesse?"
"Sure thing, kiddo!" Jesse replied.
"But what if I fall?" Michaela asked quietly.
"You won't fall, don't worry… You'll be attached to the rope, there's no chance of you falling…" She nodded. "Anyway, would you rather be stuck up here, or back down on the ground where it's less dangerous?"
"On the ground, I think…" Michaela replied.
"Exactly. Now, you'd better get ready, both of you, because it'll be your turn soon…"
"Sure. Come on, Micks, let's get sorted so we can get out of this inferno!" Jesse said, taking Michaela's hand. Michaela blushed and mouthed 'Thank you!' to Ben, before she was dragged away by Jesse to put on a harness and a hat.
Ben walked over to where Stephens was standing near the window and put an arm around her shoulder. "Just you and me left now…"
"Yeah… I'll be glad to get out of here…"
"Join the club…"
Both Ben and Stephens watched as Jesse made sure Michaela was attached to the rope properly before he clipped himself onto his rope. "You know, I never realised that Jesse liked Michaela that much…" Stephens said.
"Oh, I did…" Ben replied. I noticed earlier, when they were talking across me… "Hey, why did you tell Michaela that she'd have trouble trying to get me to agree with what she wanted?"
Stephens had the decency to blush and look at the floor. "Well, normally, I have a hard time trying to get you to agree to anything..! I guessed she would too…"
"Did you never think it might have been because it was you?" Stephens looked at him questioningly. Here goes, Ben thought, time to bite the bullet. "I was… wondering… if you perhaps wanted to go for a drink sometime..? You don't have to, but-"
"Are you asking me out on a date, Mr Jones?" Ben blushed slightly. Stephens grinned. "Of course, I'd love to!" Ben looked relieved. "What made you think I wouldn't?"
"I don't know… Perhaps I thought that I had no chance with you…" Ben's cheeks reddened a bit more.
"Ever think that that feeling was reciprocated?" Stephens said, and she blushed as well.
"Really?" Ben smiled. "I like how everyone else noticed about us, but we never did anything about it…"
"Yeah, I though about that too…"
"Oh well, at least they'll be happy now…" Stephens nodded. "Shall we concentrate on getting out of here now?"
"Sure."
As they were both putting harnesses on, there was a loud creaking noise. "What the hell was that?" Stephens asked, looking around.
"I don't know. But it didn't sound good…" Ben looked around too. "I think we'd better get out of here pretty soon…"
"Good plan."
They both clipped on to the ropes and climbed out of the window.
"Ready?" Ben asked.
"As I'll ever be…" Stephens replied, nodding.
"You first. I want to make sure you get down there safely… Then you can check on the others…"
"If you insist…" She began to abseil down the building.
When she was near the bottom, Ben began to lower himself down. However, he almost didn't notice the glass falling from windows above him that had exploded.
Everyone on the ground watched in horror as the shards of glass threatened to hit him. "Ben! Look out!" they all yelled.
Just in time he noticed one huge piece of glass falling towards him and flattened himself against the building. The glass cut his shoulder as if flew past him, but otherwise missed him.
He winced as the glass cut him, and he could feel the blood running from his shoulder down his back, but he ignored it.
"Am I clear now?" he yelled down.
"Go now, quickly!" the spectators shouted, and he abseiled the rest of the way as quickly as he could.
As soon as he reached the ground, he unclipped his harness and sprinted away from the building, just as the building collapsed, bringing down rubble and more glass.
"My God…" he panted when he stopped running, bending down and resting his hands on his knees. "That was a very close shave…" Paramedics and other officers surrounded him, and the paramedics steered him towards and ambulance.
Stephens ran over to him and grabbed his hand. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so…" He smiled mischievously, then pulled her closer to him and kissed her. There were all sorts of reactions: gasps, people saying "Aww…", clapping and a lot of wolf-whistling.
Ben broke the kiss. "Definitely alright now…" He grinned, and Stephens grinned back. "I don't think I'd want to go through that again, but it definitely had some advantages…"
"Definitely…" Stephens agreed.