Authors note: Okay guys, so this is loosely based on the events that follow from Donna's death.
Disclaimer: I do not own Emmerdale, nor the characters that I within the soap. Purely borrowing them and spinning them slightly.
He felt sick. He felt really, really sick. What had he gotten himself involved in? What had he done? He had really managed to mess things up. What was he going to do? There was no undoing any of it. It was one of those scenarios where you couldn't put the toothpaste back in the tube no matter how hard you tried. He couldn't get the toothpaste back in tube.
Why the hell was he thinking about toothpaste when what he really should be doing is running? He needed to get the hell out of there, far, far, far away and hide. He could hear the sirens approaching. They were getting louder and louder, fast gaining on him. But he couldn't move. His feet were rooted to the spot. He couldn't move muscle, apart from his chest, which was heaving. He was struggling to get any breath into his lungs. No matter how hard he tried to suck in a breath, desperate to get some breath of air, it wasn't working. It was making him panic more. None of it was helping. He needed to run!
He only just made it. He had managed to grab the bag that he had ditched on the rooftop when he saw what danger Donna was in. He grabbed the bag and ran. He had promised her. He had promised her that he would make sure Marlon or April would get their share. They would get all of it. He didn't want any of it now. Ross only done the job and planned to take the money because he thought the three of them were going to run away. They were going live a different life altogether after getting Gary North off of their backs. He had it all planned. She had even agreed to it! It was no use now. None of it was. He couldn't run away now. He couldn't run away with Donna.
As soon as Ross made it back into the village, he was overcome with the feeling to be sick again. The image of Donna lying broken at the bottom of the multi-storey car park made his stomach roll and his heart clench. He left her. He just left her dead beside the police car. Suddenly his stomach rebelled and he stumbled a few steps before he fell to his knees and retched.
His throat hurt, his head hurt. Not to mention his ribs and his stomach. Everything hurt. He had managed to wipe most of the blood off of his face. He'd gotten a few horrified looks when he stumbled around Leeds with facial wounds bleeding. Luckily he had ditched the police uniform for his clothes. He knew he still looked a mess but he didn't care.
"There you are?!" Debbie called to him as she rounded corner, the forecourt gravel crunching underneath her boots. "Do you care to tell me what the hell you were doing with that Astra? I take it, it was you that sped off down the village earlier?"
He didn't need this. He couldn't. He couldn't be dealing with Debbie in the state he was in. His head was all over the place.
"Hello, Ross? Are you even listening to me?!" Debbie exclaimed growing annoyed. She wasn't going to put up with members of her staff going off with her cars. "Oh, you look a state . . . what's happened?"
"Just leave me alone." Ross mumbled, wiping his sleeve across his mouth.
"Ur, excuse me?!"
Ross stood from his hunched position on the floor against a stone wall and headed towards Andy's.
"Ross?! Don't you dare walk away from me?"
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE, ALRIGHT?! BACK OFF!" Ross flew round at Debbie, spitting in her face as he shouted.
Debbie was definitely taken back by Ross's performance just then. His whole appearance was off. Something had happened, something bad had happened. He was covered in cuts and bruises. He looked badly shaken and if his mood swing was anything to go by he wasn't in a good place.
She was going to leave him be for now, give him time to cool down. She wasn't sure what state he would be in if she were to follow him now. She wasn't going to risk it. Debbie would go over to The Woolpack and speak to Chas. She was a good friend as well as Aunt, and she was going out with Ross's dad. She would know what to do. If not she would speak to James. The young mechanic had unsettled her. His eyes, they looked. . . She couldn't explain it. After everything that went on with Cameron in The Woolpack. . . She had seen a look in his eyes similar to that before. It was unnerving
He couldn't breathe again. His chest was heaving, trying and trying to get a breath but he was snatching at straws. He'd trashed the downstairs of the house. As soon as he stepped inside and slammed the front door shut behind himself, he's began tearing up the place. His emotions were all over the place, one minute he was terrified, the next overcome with grief and overwhelming sadness, and then blind rage took grip of him and wouldn't let him go until the entire place was destroyed.
Ross was sat on the floor in the kitchen, gasping for breath, amongst the broken breakfast stools and glasses. Tears streamed down his face, the cuts on his face stinging as the tears mixed with his blood.
"Ross! Open up! Ross, it's me! It's Debbie!" He jumped when she banged on the door, threatening to break it down. "Ross, I know. . . I know she's dead. Let me in Ross."
Debbie was the only one that knew about him and Donna. Nobody else knew.
"Ross, let me in please." She said more calmly.
He couldn't let her in. He was too consumed by trying to get some air into his lungs to do anything else. The house went back to being eerily quiet, his gasps filling the silence.
"Oh my god, Ross." Debbie had gone round the back and let herself in.
She was shocked by the chaos around her. What the hell had he done to the place? Andy was going to kill him. Her eyes looked around the room, taking the damage and destruction before they landed on Ross. Ross who was struggling to breath and turning paler.
"Oh god, oh god." Debbie panicked, rushing over to him and throwing herself down onto the floor beside him. She had no idea what she was doing. She had never been around anyone who was having a panic attack. What did she do?!
"I. . . can't brea-." Ross tried to tell her, clawing at the neckline of his jumper and tugging it down.
He felt like everything was clinging to him, his clothes were suffocating him, the walls were closing in and he was running out of air. This was his fault. He deserved this. He hadn't been able to stop Donna. He hadn't saved her.
"Ross you need to calm down." Debbie instructed him. She had placed her hands on either side of his face and guided him to look at her, and only her. "Ross, can you hear me."
What was Debbie doing in the house? Why was she here?
"Ross, I need you do what I do okay, breathe." Debbie tried to remain calm. She tried not to let his lip turning blue ever so slightly panic her. She needed to remain calm. She had to remain grounded if she was going to help Ross. Because Jesus Christ did he need it!
She kept one hand on his face, making sure he kept his attention on her and used her other to take hold of one of his hands and place it on her chest. She breathed deeply and exaggerated each breath to show Ross that he needed to copy her. If not she was going to have to call ambulance.
"Chas I need you to put James on the phone please." Debbie asked her Aunt and best friend.
"Why?" Chas asked concerned. It was odd thing for Debbie to ask, she hardly spoke to the man apart from the odd hello in passing. What did she have to tell him over the phone that seemed to be so urgent.
"Just do it. . . please. I need to talk to him." Debbie told her. "It's a about Ross."
She had managed to calm him down as much as she could. His breathing was back to normal and he colour in his skin was coming back slowly. He still looked like he was in shock. He was barely moving. He just sat on the sofa, where she had moved him to and hadn't said a word, let alone move. He was just staring straight ahead, a million thoughts and what if's running through his mind. He was scaring her. She hadn't a clue what to do. She knew that whatever had happened hadn't been a 100% squeaky clean.
Debbie had overheard in The Woolpack that Donna had died. She had been sat at the bar waiting to have a word with Chas, concerning Ross, when Bob had walked in. She couldn't help but listen into what he was telling Marlon and Laurel. The usual bright and smiley man was distraught. There had been an accident involving Donna. She died while on duty. Some nutter who she had been chasing had thrown himself off the top of a multi-storey car park and taken her with him. She hadn't stood a chance. She had left her little girl behind.
But that wasn't all. According to Marlon it was only a matter of time before she died. She had been dying of lung cancer.
As she sat at the bar for a few moments, not saying anything or doing anything, she began to string things together. Donna and Ross. A police woman and petty criminal. The stolen Astra this morning, Ross's hushed phone calls at work, his injuries today and his meltdown. They had been working together and in the process had fallen for each other. Her heart broke for Donna. She was one brave woman. She couldn't bear to think about what Donna had to go through. How devastated and distraught she was knowing she was having to leave her little girl behind, knowing she had a matter of weeks to live.
"Hello, Debbie? What is it?" James voice came on the phone.
"James I need you to come over to Andy's. It's Ross." Debbie told him.
"What about him? What's happened? He's not hurt is he?" A million thoughts scenarios ran through James's head. He hoped to god that Ross hadn't gotten himself shot again.
"Just get here and I'll tell you everything." Debbie said before hanging up the phone as she watched Ross.
Authors note: I hope you all liked this. The next chapter will involve more of James and how he interacts with Ross. This one was more focused on Debbie and Ross. Eventually I'll begin to add Pete and Finn and show how they cope with the situation that's thrown at them. Please do not be afraid to leave a comment and let me know what you think of this. Do you like it? Where do you think it should go?
I look forward to writing up the next chapter! Watch this space. X