The night I almost left you

Set on the night of the Queen Vic fire. Looking at the incident from the POV of Christian and Syed; how does the tragedy affect them as a couple and will past events rear their ugly head?

Dedicated to Holly and Jemma.

Christian stood in the shower with his eyes closed as he let the stream of hot water bounce off his cold and aching skin. He reached up and turned the dial to full power, allowing the pressure of the water to beat the tension out of his chest. It had been a long, hard day with several regular clients and one impromptu induction with a middle-aged bloke called Pete, whose last exercise programme had quite apparently gone out with the soda stream. He had spent the last hour clock-watching, desperate to get home so he could shower, change and head to the Vic where his beloved Syed would be waiting for him.

As he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist, Christian smiled as he felt that all too familiar fluttery sensation in his stomach. They'd been together for a couple of months now, but he still missed him when he left for work and always got butterflies in anticipation of their meetings.

He finished buttoning up his jeans and took the towel from around his shoulders, ruffling his hair dry. As he rummaged through his wardrobe, pondering which shirt would look best; the silence of the flat was disrupted by the vibrating of his phone on the bedside table. He looked towards the disturbance and deliberated momentarily.

"Leave it" he thought "It'll only be Sy wondering where I am. It'll be a nicer surprise if I just turn up".

Returning to the closet, he selected two shirts and stood with one in each hand, scrunching his face and rocking his head back and forth between the two. Eventually he lifted one shirt high up in to the air and acknowledged it.

"Yes." His head nodded in approval and a mischievous grin broke out on his face. "This'll do the trick!"

He put on the shirt, leaving the top two buttons undone and dressed his exposed chest with a splash of Paul Sebastian. It was the cologne Syed had bought him last Christmas and he only ever wore it on special occasions… or when he really wanted to turn him on. As he patted his jeans pockets and looked around for his wallet, the buzzing noise reverberated from his phone. Christian rolled his eyes and beamed at the thought of his man impatiently trying to get hold of him, despite having only been apart for a few hours.

He flung himself on to the bed and grasped at the handset, cackling as he answered.

"Easy tiger, I'm on my way!"

"Christian?"

"…Jane?"

"Christian, where the hell have you been? I've been trying to get hold of you!"

Jane's voice croaked through the presence of tears and each word she spoke was smothered with panic. As all matter of thoughts raced through Christian's bewildered mind, a wave of dread surged through his chest and his guts began to burn.

"Christian? Are you there?"

Had something happened to mum? Dad? Had Lucy been up to her old tricks; was Bobby ok? He hated not knowing, yet couldn't muster the courage to ask; because he had the feeling the answer wouldn't be something he wanted to hear.

"Christian, there's been a fire!"

A fire? What was she talking about? Christian could hear the words, but couldn't understand them. His head furrowed and his mouth opened, taking in a breath of air as he searched for something to say, but the words just wouldn't come.

"Can you hear me Christian? There's been a fire… in the Vic"

In the Vic. Those three words resonated through Christian's mind and images of Syed flickered before his eyes. As Jane's words echoed around his psyche, the hairs on his neck stood on end and he suddenly began to feel very cold.

"Wh… What are you talking about?" the words stuttered out of him.

"Christian, listen to me ok? There's been a fire in the Vic, a bad one."

As Jane continued Christian detected pandemonium ensuing in the background. He could hear what sounded like female screams and an almighty crash, which startled him and forced a shudder.

"It's ok, the fire brigade are here and they're getting everyone out, but it's…"

"Sy…"

"It's ok, Syed's out, he's safe… but he is hurt… and I'm scared Christian…" Jane's voice broke and she continued talking through tears "…and I think we could both really do with you being here"

Christian had already leapt to his feet and was holding his phone to his ear via his shoulder, as he flustered with his jacket. His clammy hands were struggling and the more panic-stricken he became, the closer he was to losing his patience. Pocketing his front door keys, Christian took hold of the receiver and answered bluntly,

"I'm on my way."

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave a review :-)