Zoe, tears streaming down her face, stumbled out of the hatch and looked around as the wind whipped at her hair, pulling it in all different directions and making it appear to have not been brushed for weeks.
Then she noticed the brown heap lying next to the cables and she let out a cry and she sprinted towards it. No. Not Dan. She'd just lost Frank, she couldn't lose Dan too.
"Dan!" Zoe cried, collapsing next to him. "Dan, wake up! Dan, please –"
She broke off as Dan's blue eyes opened, staring into her own as he sat up. "Zoe? What's happening? Where is everybody? Is Frank okay?"
He broke off when he noticed Zoe's tears, dread making his chest feel cold as ice. "No. No, no. He can't be."
"He's gone, Dan." Zoe managed before she broke down completely. Dan pulled her to him, his arms wrapping around her. After a while, Dan noticed that Zoe wasn't just shaking with her sobs, but with the cold. Dan shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, knowing that the heavy material would go far to keep her warm.
"Zoe?"
Brushing tears out of her eyes, Zoe held her communicator to her ear so she could hear Tom's voice.
"Frank's just woken up. He's thinking about Flopsy, but he's alive. He's okay, Zoe!"
Zoe put her communicator back in her back and glanced at Dan as a smile found its way to her mouth.
"Zoe?" Dan asked. "Zo, what's going on?"
"He's awake." Zoe said, dazed. Then she laughed. "Dan, he's awake, he's okay!"
Both the blonde and the auburn-haired girl embraced each other, unable to think of another way to express their feelings of relief.
"Look." Zoe said, pulling away from Dan and pointing at Mr Flatley as he grabbed Mrs King's arm and kissed her square on the mouth before he began dancing with Roly and Preston. Zoe and Dan exchanged a glance as they started laughing at Mrs King's reaction, which included wiping her mouth and looking like she was about to walk inside and sanitise her own mouth. Or cut it off.
"Well, this is embarrassing." Frank said, pushing a dangling light out of the way as he ventured inside HQ. He noticed Flopsy sitting inside a lone drawer on the floor and he bent down, picking up the rabbit and surveying him for any injuries before passing him over to Zoe. "Well, thank God I didn't hurt Flopsy."
Dan looked guilty and refused to make eye contact with anyone, even Zoe.
"It's not your fault." Zoe murmured.
"Zoe's right, Dan." Frank said, turning to look at him. "No one got hurt, so everything turned out fine anyway."
Dan nodded, looking relieved. He looked at Zoe who smiled up at him with a I told you so look in her eyes. Dan smiled fondly at her and rolled his eyes, scratching behind Flopsy's ears.
"The question remains, though," Frank said, bringing their attention back to where it was needed, "what was an old STERNUM base doing under St Heart's?"
"I found this at MI9." Stella said, bringing up something onto the screen – it was a photo of the hatch with the words 'CLASSIFIED FILE' written underneath. "It's a file about the hatch."
"And . . . what does it say?" Tom asked.
Stella sighed. "It's classified. I don't have the clearance to open it."
"So MI9 did know about it." Aneisha said.
"I'll keep looking into it. In the meantime the hatch will be sealed and you're to stay away from that lab." Stella said, walking into the lift.
"Oh. And that's an order." Stella added before the lift doors closed on her.
"Aren't we missing something?" Aneisha asked.
"No, what?" Tom asked, sharing a glance with Dan, who looked equally as confused as the two girls grinned at each other.
"Hello. There's a party going on upstairs and we're missing it." Aneisha said.
"Oh." Dan and Tom said together.
"Come on!" Aneisha cried, grabbing Tom's arm and dragging him out. Zoe placed Flopsy on the table as Dan offered her his arm, smiling at her. Zoe happily linked her arm through his and allowed him to lead her into the lift.
When the lift stopped and they both found themselves in the broom cupboard, Zoe moved towards the door but Dan pulled her back, pressing his mouth against hers. Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, kissing him as hard as she dared.
When they finally came up for air, Zoe looked up at him. "We should get going. The others are going to start wondering where we are."
Dan nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then he stepped back, his eyes grazing over her body before he had to return to playing the role of her best friend again. They'd retrieved her heels from the lab and she had them on once again so she now stood as tall as he did. Zoe had never been as thankful for whatever magic the lift wielded – her makeup was just as she'd done before she'd left home, dark and gothic-looking again and her hair was perfectly straight again, free of all the tangles that wind had given it.
Dan pushed the door open and held it open for Zoe, standing aside so she could squeeze past him. They walked side by side as they walked through the corridors and every few steps, Zoe's fingers would brush against his and she'd have to fight the burning urge to intertwine her fingers with his.
The urge lessened, however, when they found their way back to the party and she pulled him out onto the dance floor – one of her hands gripping his while her other arm was draped loosely across his shoulders. Dan's hand, that was on the small of her back, seemed to burn through the thin material of her dress, as if he were touching her bare skin.
"Damn . . ." Dan muttered, his voice so low that only Zoe could hear him over the pounding bass line of the music that seemed to bounce off the walls.
"What?" Zoe murmured.
"You and that dress." Dan breathed. "Are going to be the death of me, I swear."
Zoe flushed as he whispered, "You look beautiful tonight, Zo."
Zoe sighed, ducking her head. "You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now."
She imagined Dan's smile, but she didn't look up because she knew that if did, she'd crack. Even as it was, she had a hard time controlling herself as he said softly, "I do, Zo." Then his voice so low she barely heard him, he said, "Keep your window open tonight."
Zoe raised her head to look him into the eye and the look the passed between them spoke a thousand words – and also crackled with so much electricity that they shouldn't have needed to use a lightning bolt to power the cage.
