Out of The Dark
Charli911, thank you so much for your great help with my previous story. This story is my thanks to you!
And many, many, many thanks to Mahala for beta'ing of this story!
Summary: A hostage's death brings up painful memories from Ed's past.
I've always wondered why, throughout all five seasons, any hot calls involving children or teenagers were obviously so much harder for Ed. This story takes place a couple of months after "The Element of Surprise" but I've put this episode in the 2nd season.
Disclaimer: I own neither Flashpoint, not the characters involved. I make no money from this works, they are for entertainment only.
Genre:
1-9 chapters: lots of Angst! Hurt /Comfort, Drama.
10-18 chapters: Action, Hurt /Comfort, Friendship
17-21 chapters: involves OC.
Spoilers: "Scorpio", "Haunting the Barn", "The Element of Surprise"
Warning: English is not my native language! Sorry for the mistakes and for my limited vocabulary.
I am immensely grateful to all of you who read my fics. I guess that it is terribly difficult to read the texts that are written by a non-native writer. Many thanks for your patience, your feedback, and your support.
...
Chapter 1
Flash Forward
He rose heavily from the ground, coughing and spitting out the dust.
A vast cloud of dust slowly settled around him, revealing a view of the square that was covered with broken glass, fragments of concrete and bricks. Abandoned dirty gray cars. Dust-covered uniformed men, police and firefighters, picking their way through the devastation…
A strange buzzing noise and numbness filled his head, like a soft pillow isolating him from the outside world. Focusing hard, he could just make out the warble-wail of police cars and fire-trucks. The sound was distant and weak, as if he were under water. He shook his head and ran his hand over his face. Then slowly, almost mechanically he began to shake the gray dust from his uniform.
One of the firefighters suddenly appeared in front of him. Taking him by shoulders, the man began to say something to him, gently shaking him. He could see man's lips moving. He could see the anxiety and compassion in his eyes but the man's words mingled with the noise in his own head, making him unable to comprehend them.
He nodded wearily and the firefighter stepped aside.
He continued to stand there, blinking slowly. Maybe he'd been temporarily deafened, he thought to himself with some indifference. Suddenly, he became concerned about the rest of the team. He looked around and frowned, puzzled.
He watched as Wordy put his arms around Jules, stroking her hair, apparently soothing her. It seemed to him that he could hear the sound of her sobs. Why is she crying? Is she hurt? He anxiously looked closer at her and was glad not to see any obvious injuries.
Wordy turned his head toward him and now he could see his face. Tears? His confusion increased.
He noticed that Wordy was looking intently at him and he turned away, for some reason unable to endure this long, suffering, persistent gaze.
He saw Lou was saying something to Spike. Dark eyes, almost black now, swam in the man's face still covered with gray dust, making it look like a creepy mask. Lou grabbed Spike's shoulders, shaking hard, but there was no reaction from him.
Spike... There was something important that Spike had said just before... before... A sudden chill ran up his spin and his heart froze within him. No.
He shut his eyes and shook his head angrily.
Opening his eyes, he found Sam standing in front of him. Even through the mud on Sam's face he could see an expression of dull grief.
There is a reason for this...
He pushed this thought aside.
"Boss?" Sam called him and Sergeant Greg Parker suddenly heard him clearly. At last! He grinned with relief, glad that his hearing was back.
Sam frowned and broke off, noticeably strained at the sight of Greg's smile.
"Yes, Sam?" The Sergeant looked at the young man calmly, expecting him to continue talking. "What were you going to say?"
"Boss, Agent Williams has been informed, CSIS took those bastards. The Bomb Squad from Moss Park Forces Base have arrived... We... We can go back to the Barn..." Sam's voice was low and hoarse.
"Go back?" Greg asked with surprise, raising his eyebrows. "But we can't go back Sam, not without Ed," he said evenly, looking at the young man with a soft reproachful smile, unpleasantly surprised that he should have to explain something so obvious.
Sam stared intently into Greg's face. "Sarge, are you okay?" He sounded worried.
"I'm okay," Greg replied automatically, noting irritably that the strange noises in his head had returned. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head again.
"Boss, let's get you to the SUV," Sam took Greg's shoulder and start to pull him towards SRU cars.
Greg did not move. "Sam, I told you we can't leave yet. Not without Ed. He's still in the building." He heard his own voice which sounded overly loud and uncharacteristically sharp now, almost as if he was... scared?
Hearing him, Spike let out a sound between a growl and a sob. All team members turned to him. Raising his head, Spike glared at Greg, raw pain in his eyes.
"What building, Boss?! Look at it!" He pointed at something behind Greg, "There is no more building!" he almost shouted. "No more!"
Greg refused to look back. "No, no, Spike, you're wrong. It's all right, it's all right..." He swallowed hard. "You don't understand... Ed's in there. Anyone talked to him?" He grabbed his headset. "Ed? Eddie? Come on, buddy, talk to me!"
He waited, barely breathing. No answer. His throat tightened.
"Sarge, we've called him... But there's nothing," he heard Wordy say in a low voice.
"Silence!" Greg cut him off, desperately listening. There was nothing but static. "Keep calling him! Maybe his radio was damaged..." Frantically, he fumbled for the cell phone in his pocket, becoming aware of his trembling hands.
"Boss, mobile communications in this area are still locked," Sam said gloomily.
"So make them unlock it! I need to communicate with Ed!" Greg shouted and gazed at Spike who was usually responsible for the communication between team members. "Spike, I have to talk to him, now! Do you hear me? Now!" he croaked. Not only his hands were trembling now but he felt all his body shivering.
Spike stiffened. "Talk to him? Now? You're too late, Boss! It's too late to talk now!" he cried out with redoubled fury, "Look behind you! Ed was under the epicenter! He's buried under tons of wreckage! It's over! He's gone! Don't you understand? He's gone!" His voice cracked.
Jules stepped closer to him and tried to hug him, but Spike pulled away from her embrace.
"You shouldn't have let him go in, not in the mental state he was in !" Spike continued to glare at Greg. "He was ... I warned you! You promised you'd help him. You promised that you'd settle all the problems, that you would keep your eyes on him! But you didn't!" He pointed at Greg accusingly. "You didn't do anything! Just talk!Conversations! You were just chatting, but you had to act! And now it's too late." He didn't take his eyes from the Sergeant, who stood dumbfounded before him. "Why did you let him go in?" Spike took a step towards Greg, but Lou stopped him, standing in his way.
"Don't. Not now, Spike. That's enough. Come on!" Lou tried to pull his friend away.
"Why didn't you let me defuse the second bomb, Boss? Why?" Spike shouted, still struggling to get past Lou. "I could have done it! I had the time!" Tears began ran down his face, creating black tracks through the mask of gray dust, "I could have done it," he repeated more quietly as he lowered his head.
Lou hugged Spike's shoulders, silently.
Greg stood motionless. It's not real. It just can't be real.
"No, no," he muttered. "You... You don't understand, Spike. Ed's alive. He's fine," He ran his trembling hands over his face, smearing the dust.
Someone called his name and Greg slowly turned around. "Sergeant Parker! Officer! This man is asking to speak with you. He says that it is very important!"
They saw a gray-haired man in the overalls of the electricity company walking towards them accompanied by a one of UNI's. Beside the man was a youth in the same overalls, staring in astonishment at the chaos around them.
The men approached.
"Sergeant, this is Stan, my son." The pale man hugged the young man's shoulders, pulling him close. "He came out of the building a minute before the evacuation began. There was so much chaos..." He faltered, looking around the silent SRU officers in front of him. "Mobile communication has been disabled, I couldn't contact him. I didn't know... I think he was still inside, in that basement. Your man... They told me that he stayed in there to find Stan. God, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... " he said hoarsely, abruptly, his eyes filling with tears.
Greg nodded, unable to utter a word.
The man left, still hugging the youth.
Finally, Greg forced himself to turn and look at the building that had been devastated by the blast. He stared in horror at the monstrous jumble of wreckage that now filled the place where the right wing of the building had stood before. The only recognizable structure were the now glassless windows in the only remaining standing wall surrounded by twisted iron fittings and steel beams. A few wisps of black smoke hung over the ruins, white streams of water gushed from a fire hydrants.
Suddenly the memory of the last thing that came from Ed on the radio hit him. That one brief terrible scream...
He panted and started blindly toward the ruins that buried his friend. Someone's hands stopped him.
He didn't expect to almost fall as the awful realization of what had happened hit his consciousness. He didn't expect his legs to tremble and almost buckle under him as he was forced to finally acknowledge the inevitable. Nor did Greg expect the yell.
The pain-filled, impossibly loud, "this-can't-be-happening" yell of, "NO!"
He also didn't expect it to come from him.
He bit his lips to hold in the new cry that wanted to come out and for a while he remained standing, swaying, clutching his head in both hands, his eyes fixed on ruins.
"Please, God," he groaned, "Please, no..."
tbc