"We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it." ~Tennessee Williams
Jenny's P.O.V.
Late the next night, after everyone but James and I had left, I wandered into his office before I left.
"Is there anything else that needs to be done before I go home?" I asked, perching on the edge of one of the chairs across from his desk.
"No, you can go ahead and-"
He was cut off by the shrill ringing of the Anomaly Detector. We both shot to our feet and took off into the main room, and I began searching the screen for the location. I couldn't work it as well as Connor, but I knew the general idea.
"It's here again," I breathed. "I'll call the team."
"Good. I'll go do some more paperwork," he said, striding back to his office. I didn't know whether to be amused or infuriated with him.
I called the rest of the team, and they were already on their way; their handheld detectors notifying them of the new anomaly. I went into the armory and armed myself with a tranquilizer gun and a rapid-fire rifle similar to the one James had used at the British Library. I walked back into the main room to find Danny, James's son, Becker, and Stephen had already arrived. Danny said that the rest of the team, except for Connor of course, were on their way.
"Where's the anomaly?" Becker asked, readying his gun.
"Here. I'm just not sure where in the building," I explained, walking back over to the detector.
Sarah, who had just walked in, walked over and glanced at the screen. "It's in the lab," she said after hitting a couple buttons to zoom in on the screen.
"Let's go," Stephen said, nodding to Becker and James The Second.
They left for the lab, and the rest of us quickly followed suit. We walked into the lab and found an anomaly in the center of the room, bright and glittering.
"There's no creatures," Abby, who had just arrived, said. I imagine it must have taken some convincing to get her to leave Connor, even briefly.
"How strange," I said, my brow furrowing.
I snapped my head up at the sound of someone crying out, and I ran out of the lab when I realized that it had come from James's office. I ran into the main room and immediately started cough as a wave of smoke reached my lungs. It emanated from his office, and I gasped at the sight of fire.
James lay unconscious on the ground in front of his desk, and fire was starting to consume his entire office. Someone had obviously lit it, and also knocked him out. That would explain why he'd cried out. I took off into the burning office, feeling my eyes sting as the smoke choked me. I choked and gasped as I ran over to him.
"Jenny no! You're going to get trapped!" I heard Sarah yell, but I ignored her.
All I could focus on was saving James. I slid my hands under his arms and began dragging him out of the office, stumbling under his weight. I heaved and pulled, feeling myself go dizzy. No, you can't pass out, not now. Not until you save him, I thought, blinking as I was overtaken by a wave of light headedness. I glanced around in all directions, wanting to scream in frustration when I saw the doorway already engulfed in flames.
I knelt down beside James, laying his head on my lap. He was pale, and out cold. I had no idea how I could get him out while he was awake, let alone unconscious. There was no way I could get us out of here, not without finding another exit. I glanced between him and the wall of glass that overlooked the main room, an idea forming in my head.
Laying him as gently as possible on the ground, I ran over to his desk and picked up his deck chair, using all of my weight to throw it through the window. The glass shattered with a loud crash, and I ran back over to James. I again hooked my hands under his arms and began dragging his limp body towards the window, my arms aching from the strain.
I tried to avoid cutting us on the jagged pieces of glass that still clung to the bottom of the long window, but the rough edged pieces still nicked us as I pulled him over the edge and onto the platform overlooking the main room. We were out of the now fully engulfed office, but the smoke still threatened to choke us. I was dizzy and lightheaded, trying to keep myself from passing out. Right now, it was adrenaline alone keeping me on my feet.
Becker came running up the ramp to take James from me, and I gratefully shifted his limp body into Becker's arms. He held James's weight easily, and I think he may have said something to me, but the shrill ringing of the smoke detectors drowned him out. I noticed Danny coming up beside Becker, but I was beginning to feel oddly…light. Like I could simply fly over the railing and out of the ARC.
"Hang in there, Jenny," Danny said. It wasn't until he said for me to hang in there that I realized I was on the verge of passing out. I swayed on my feet and wrapped my fingers around the railing to steady myself. The railing was scorching hot, and I yelped as I pulled my hand away.
"Is he going to be okay?" I asked, my voice scratchy from all the smoke I'd inhaled. I looked worriedly down at James, who was completely and scarily limp.
"He's inhaled a lot of smoke. Honestly, it's hard to tell," Becker said as Danny grabbed my arm and began pulling me down the ramp and to the main room, where the smoke wasn't quite as thick. It was lighter, but still dangerous to inhale.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked, gripping Danny's arm to steady myself as another wave of dizziness went over me.
"Nick already got Claudia out, and Stephen's got Sarah out," Danny said as he pulled me towards the exit. He stopped short when he realized the main exit was already fully engulfed.
"What about the rest of them?"
"We don't know. They were in different places when the fire started. I'm going to get you out and then Danny and I are going to look for everyone else," Becker explained as we doubled back across the main room and ran for the back exit.
Well, in their case it was running, it my case it was a lot of stumbling and holding on to Danny. I heard both of them coughing, and shuddered at the danger of all three of us passing out. We would all die, including James.
"It's open. Get out!" Danny yelled over the smoke detectors, pulling me out into the night. I gulped breaths of the cool night air, collapsing onto my knees. I was still severely light headed. Becker laid James down next to me and raced back inside with Danny, leaving James and I alone. He was still unconscious, and I still felt ready to pass out even in the clean air. I had obviously inhaled a lot more smoke than I thought.
I leaned over James and brushed a strand of hair away from his face, feeling sick as I remembered Becker saying that he didn't know if he would be okay. I trembled, clumsily sinking down next to him and falling out of my kneeling position. I couldn't even imagine the world without him in it. Who would be here to make constant sarcastic commentary? Who would be here to know me better than I know myself?
I closed my eyes and thought of everything, from the second we'd met from the last time I'd seen him awake. I remembered walking into the ARC for the first time, and I thought hard until I could remember each individual detail of his appearance that day. Dark red shirt, dark red and pink tie, perfectly form fitting suit. I mentally scrolled through each and every moment, until I came to the last time I'd seen him. He'd been sitting at his desk as usual, looking perfectly alive and well. And now there was a chance that I would never have a chance to speak to him again.
Nausea overtook me again, and I began coughing. I was out of the smoke, but I had inhaled so much and I knew that I wasn't safe yet. I heard sirens nearby and figured that the fire department had arrived, but I noted this with a detached manner. My head ached, and things started blurring. As the strength was drained out of me, I collapsed on top of James, feeling my head land roughly on his shoulder.
Finally, I blacked out.
Stephen's P.O.V.
As soon as the fire department arrived, I grabbed one of the men by the arm and pointed to Abby, who was crumpled and unconscious on the ground.
"Take care of her first," I demanded, holding him in a very strong grip.
"Sir, we first need to extinguish the fi-"
"No. Take care of Abby," I demanded, releasing his arm only pull the gun from my back and press the end of it to his head. It had worked for Becker.
"Y-yes sir," he stuttered, eyes wide.
I withdrew the gun and instructed him to be very careful with him, and I watched as he carefully lifted her into his arms and laid her on a stretcher. She was ashen and cool to the touch when I stroked her face, and I suddenly remembered our conversation when I'd been strapped to a gurney after I'd been bitten by a spider. She had been so good to me, so gentle. It wasn't fair to have her taken out of the world.
"I'm going to make sure you're okay. I promise," I whispered, climbing into the recently arrived ambulance with her.
Abby's P.O.V.
"I can't! I love you!… I knew how much you loved him, I didn't want you to be hurt…Sweet dreams…"
Connor. I was hearing his voice. I was remembering some of the things he'd said to me over time. Which meant…I was awake. I began going through a mental list of questions in my head. Where was I?
I pried my eyes open and found myself in the hospital, with Stephen asleep in the chair next to the bed. Okay, that was one question answered. Now, what had happened?
Someone had set the ARC on fire. Stephen had got me out. I'd passed out in his arms as he carried me outside. I remember thinking that Sarah, Claudia and I were the only ones out. I remember worrying about the rest of the team. About Jenny, Danny, Becker, Nick, of course Stephen, James The Second even though I barely knew him, and I even worried a little bit about Lester. He could be a selfish ass sometimes, but he'd been there for us when we needed him. Alright, another question successfully answered.
The more I tried to figure out and remember, the better I felt. I felt more grounded, more in control. I thought of how Connor's previous words that had echoed in my head when I'd first woken up, and how they'd made me feel more grounded than anything. I needed to figure out what I wanted.
I loved Connor beyond a doubt, I loved him more than life itself. And I cared about Stephen, too. Maybe even loved him. But it hadn't been memories of Stephen's voice that had woken me up. Stephen was fun and wild, and he made me feel alive, but being with Connor always felt like going home. He made me feel loved and safe and important. Even when I didn't deserve his love, it was still there.
Helen's P.O.V.
I stood far away from the ARC, well out of sight. I watched it burn with a warm satisfaction spreading through me. I had finally mastered the anomalies, enabling them to lead to recent pasts. I had seen Stephen, Nick, and Claudia, which meant it had worked.
They had managed to put the fire out, which slightly disappointed me. I would have liked to have watched the ARC and all the silly things it stood for burn to the ground.
I wasn't sure who all had died, but I doubted that Whitehall pincushion James Lester was going to pull through. It had been so easy to slip into his office after he went downstairs with Jenny to check on the anomaly, and then knock him out with a hardcover book from one of his shelves. It had actually been rather fun.
Tomorrow, I would make my presence known.
"Something inexplicable happens, it's a good bet Helen's usually behind it." ~Nick Cutter
Author's Note:
Okay, so I know that I don't usually use quotes from the show, but I couldn't think of anything else foe the end of this chapter. And yes, I know that everyone keeps ending up in the hospital, but I figure with the fire then there would be some casualties. The next chapter will (finally) be the start of Connor/Abby, with some Jenny/Lester. When I originally started this fic it was intended to be them together in the end, but I also like her and Danny together. I am a hopeless Lester fan, though (he's my favorite after Connor), so it still may be him and Jenny in the end.
LOL enough of my ramblings! Thanks as always to my amazing, wonderful readers, and to drodgers89 who pointed out some errors in chapter 10. All of you are fantastic!