When she opened her eyes he was already awake, their heads resting close together on the pillows. She blinked a little, focusing on his face.
"Hey," she murmured.
He blinked slowly. It had been a long shift, and they were both due back in soon. "Hey."
There is a quiet between them as the soft morning light filters into the room.
"I was at work when I heard," she said quietly.
She looked into his eyes, questioning him. He ran his hand down her left arm and entwined their fingers together, resting them on top of the covers.
"I had been processing all night and then we got a call out to a corner store. The owner had arrived early and discovered a break in. I was the rookie, so they sent me." She said with a brief half smile.
"There was a radio playing. I could barely hear it over the rants of this guy about the local thugs, and the officer trying to calm him down. I was looking at a bootprint when they suddenly went quiet.
"It was news report. We all stood there for about ten minutes, just listening. We couldn't do anything else."
She tucked her right hand under the pillow her head was resting on, shifting a little to snuggle in under the covers. She watched him, watched as the grimace flickered over his strong features.
"I was in Queens," he said and she could hear the anger in his voice, though he spoke quietly. "Me and Flack had ta go arrest a guy, and we had just got him in the back of the car when we heard it on the scanner.
"I swear we almost left him behind. We just wanted ta get back into the city. But we couldn't." She could see his jaw clench. "Traffic was gridlocked. By the time we got back ta the precinct, the first tower had collapsed and there was smoke everywhere.
"I couldn't do anythin'. We were short staffed as it was and Mac couldn't concentrate because his wife Claire was in one of the towers and he hadn't heard from her. He just kept pacing around his office, calling all the hospitals."
His accent had thickened with the emotion in his voice. "Hardly anyone from the next shift turned up, they were all down at the towers helping out or looking for someone."
She pulled their hands up to rest between them, and he reached out, brushing away the hair that had fallen over her face with the back of his hand.
"I didn't know till a coupla days later. Two guys I graduated the academy with died when the towers went down. A few others got breathin' problems 'cause of the dust. Flack's cousin was a firefighter- he made it out, but he never really got over it, ya know?"
She nodded, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "My cousin was at NYU. She was fine- in class. But we all rang her anyway, just to be sure," she said.
She pulled her hand free of his, resting it on his cheek. "Thank god you weren't..." she whispered, drifting off.
He shifted over to kiss her. When he pulled back he glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. "Come on," he said. "We gotta get ta work."
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I wasn't intending to write this, which is why it's a little late. I guess I did because I wanted to highlight not how it affected those on the ground, but those who weren't there, who couldn't do anything to help no matter how much they wanted to. Like me.
Peace to all.