Here is the latest installment....and you didn't have to wait almost a month like usual!! :) :)

-Chapter 12-

Flack slowly stood up and took in the area surrounding him, searching for a way to escape. His eyes shifted back and forth through the rubble and looked for an opening large enough to allow him and Angell to pass through easily. An area to his right caught his eye.

"There," he mumbled to himself. The tops of two rectangular steel beams had managed to crash against each other, effectively making a triangular passageway filled with pieces of debris that would be about as high as his hips, even higher on Angell. Enough of an opening was left that the couple could most likely crawl through. Flack just prayed that the other side led to a way out of the building. He turned back towards Angell, still lying on the crooked floor.

"I got us a way out. You think you can stand?" He searched her eyes.

"Yeah," she croaked. "Just help me up."

Flack extended his hand as Angell sat up. Slowly grabbing her delicate fingers, he took the most of her weight as he gently pulled her up beside him. She inhaled sharply at the pressure in her left leg caused by standing.

"You okay?" Flack was concerned. He started to wonder if he should carry Jess, and then quickly chastised himself at the very thought. She was stubborn enough to want to walk out herself and declare to the outside world that she, Detective Jessica Angell, was okay.

"Alright, then, let's get moving. There's a small passageway over there," Flack told her as he pointed to the distant triangular form of the beams.

-&-

Stella groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and took in her new surroundings. The somewhat formed path that they had tried to follow to Flack and Angell was probably now completely gone. Piles of stone and steel lay in front of her, blocking her view of her partner.

"Mac?" She called hesitantly.

"Stella? Is that you?" A voice.

Not Mac.

Think. Focus. Stella forced the cobwebs of confusion out of her aching head and pushed herself up to sit. "Danny?"

"Yeah. It's me." He sounded close. Stella turned her head and saw a new hole in the passageway that had separated them. Danny lay under a pile of minor debris and started to push it off, coughing at the uprising dust. Quickly Stella was up and close to him, helping him clear the garbage holding him down.

"Where's Mac?" Danny looked up at her as he freed his arms and legs.

Stella hesitated. "I-I don't know."

-&-

Angell shuffled slowly, holding her breath in an attempt to mask the intense pain wracking her body. Her leg throbbed and her ribs sent sharp shooting pains through her frame with each step she took. She continued on, pausing every few steps for a quick breath, sweet oxygen mixed with dry, choking dust. Flack's arms were snaked around her and offered support and stability. Had the situation been vastly different, their closeness would have only been fuel on the fire of their increasing attraction for each other. She tripped on a hunk of metal and nearly went down, but was held up by the strength of his gentle, yet firm hands.

"Jess?" he looked doubtful as to whether or not she could continue.

Angell clenched her teeth together. "I'll be fine." She tried not to snap.

Five more steps to go. The steel beams' ominous presence grew closer and closer, and so did their escape.

-&-

"Mac?" Stella called, almost frantically looking around at the surrounding mess. He was there...somewhere. "Mac!"

"Great, just great. We come in here all valiant-like and ready to save two people and end up going after three..." Danny ranted in his raspy voice.

Stella sent him a heart-stopping glare that could send chills through even the most stubborn person. Danny shrugged and sheepishly grinned like a five-year-old. "I was only kiddin.'"

"Well stop it, and start looking for Mac. The sooner we find him-"

"-the sooner we find Flack and Angell," a weak voice stated.

Stella froze. "Mac?" she called.

Danny snorted. "Remember that case a while back? Flack said you two had been working together too long. I think he's right."

Stella ignored him. "Mac, where are you?"

-&-

"You ready?" Flack stood by Angell as the couple prepared to climb through the small opening. Looking at her, he had many doubts but knew that they couldn't afford to turn back. Angell's condition could only get worse as time passed. They had to get out before something else happened.

"I can handle it," Angell took Flack's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She smiled at him, but her eyes still held the pain that he knew she was enduring. He shook off the hesitation and moved behind her. Placing careful attention to not touch her possibly broken ribs, he firmly grabbed her hips.

"Okay, on the count of three I'm going to lift you up. One....two....three."

He hoisted Angell into the opening.

-&-

"One...two...three."

Angell heard Flack's voice behind her and knew he was trying to mask his fear. Suddenly she was weightless and the change in position made her dizzy. The hole was right in front of her, but it started to spin.

"Jess, grab the debris. I'll push you the rest of the way, you won't have to pull yourself up at all," Flack's voice sounded different, farther away.

She put her hand out, but the fact that she was swimming in her surroundings made it difficult to get a clear picture of what was in front of her.

"I-I can't do it, Don." She felt blood rushing from her face and her head began to pound incessantly.

"Jess, try!" He sounded miles away.

"I can't!"

"Jess!"

"Put me down!" she cried. Taunting black spots began to dance in front of her, blocking any effort to reach the opening. They moved fluidly, some melting together, others dividing, multiplying their efforts. Angell was barely aware that she was now level with Flack, slouched against his body for support, her own no longer able to provide any by itself. He looked down at her. She saw his lips move, but the words never reached her ear. The spots joined together, and then she saw nothing.

-&-

Mac choked and sputtered on the disturbed dust that swirled around him as Stella and Danny cleared the rubble from around his body and helped him up. The building's collapse had successfully pinned him into the debris and briefly knocked him unconscious. As he stood up, he only needed to quickly glance into Stella's eyes to see the gratitude and relief that radiated from them. One of them could have ended up a lot worse. He gave her a rueful half-smile as he touched a tender spot on his forehead. He would definitely have a bruise tomorrow. "Shall we continue?"

The reunited trio began to climb once again.

-&-

Flack shifted Angell's unconscious body in his arms as he tried to determine a way to maneuver them both out of the opening at the same time. He had known that collapse was a mere handful of seconds away as soon as she had tried to hold onto the debris surrounding the passage. He had refused to give in to her demands to be put down, hoping that maybe his sheer willpower would keep her conscious until they reached the other side. One look at her dazed, unaware face when he had put her down and he knew that he needed another plan.

She was like a rock. He chuckled inwardly at the thought and knew that Angell would have a fit if he ever called her that. Flack looked down at her again and forced himself to think of an alternate plan.

Thankfully it found him.

"Flack! Angell!" The combined voices of Mac, Stella, and Danny reached his ears and he could barely hold in his excitement.

"We're over here, by the steel beams," he yelled.

"There are a lot of those," he heard Danny shout back.

Flack rolled his eyes. "You see the two that are collapsed together at the top?"

"Yeah, we see it."

"We're right on the other side," he glanced down at Angell, "...and Danny?" he added.

"Yeah, Don?"

"Hurry."

-&-

So I tried to not put a cliffhanger in there. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not. Completely resolving EVERYTHING in a chapter is just not my style. Sorry, but I hope you enjoyed it!!

Happy New Year's Eve!!