I apologise in advance for this chapter...
Heat
Danny got up from bed and sighed. Friday had finally arrived which he couldn't be more happy about to be quite honest. It had been a long week. He walked round to the other side of the bed and opened the curtains. As the light spread through he heard a groan from Clara. She rolled back over and covered her face with the duvet. He chuckled as he moved back on to the bed so that he could see her face.
"Wake up sweetie." He stroked her hair back out of her face and kissed her forehead. She lifted her arms out of the covers to put them around him. She didn't open her eyes, she just moaned a little more.
"Do I have to get up Danny?" He laughed and kissed her arm.
"Yeah, unfortunately you do but it's your last day! So then you can sleep in for a while." She opened her eyes slowly now and stretched a little.
"True, one more day. I think cope with that." Danny smiled as he sat up again.
"Lucky for you, I've still got another week until I finish. I think paternity leave should be the same amount of time as maternity leave, you know." He winked at her knowing that she was going to disagree.
"Hey you! You're not the one that has to have the baby! You do no work! You can just sit there and watch!" She hit him with the pillow playfully. He jumped up out of the way.
"Okay, okay, good point, well made." They both laughed.
"Yeah, I thought so." Clara grinned at him before lugging herself out of bed.
For once, Clara managed to get downstairs before both girls and was greeted by them five or ten minutes later. As they walked in Lily stopped and looked at Clara oddly. Clara looked back, confused.
"Are you okay missus?" It took a minute but Lily eventually replied.
"I... Why... Why are you dressed for work? I thought you had finished for baby now?" Clara smiled at her cuteness. She was still half asleep so took a while to configure what she was actually saying.
"Not yet, today's my last day honey." Lily looked at Clara briefly but was more concentrated on rubbing her eyes and yawning. Clara sighed and walked over to her.
"Are you tired honey?" She nodded and leant on Clara's leg. Clara stroked her hair a little.
"But it's Friday! So it's okay, you can sleep in more tomorrow!" Now she smiled.
"Yayyyyy!" She shouted and stomped her feet. Clara laughed. How a person that little carry so much noise she had no idea but it sure was entertaining. Ellie giggled.
"What are you doing Lily?" She looked to her side to watch Lily trying to climb up onto the chair whilst happily dancing away to the tune she was humming.
"I'm climb-dancing!" They all laughed as Danny picked her up and placed her on the chair to eat her breakfast.
"Climb-dancing." Danny muttered under his breath as he walked over to get the milk from the fridge. He looked at Clara and they both laughed a little more.
The school run was just as jolly. The radio was on and they were all dancing and singing along. Clara and Danny were laughing and Ellie and Lily were jiggling around in the back. They were all so happy. It warmed Clara and Danny's hearts to see them like that. Almost to the point that they didn't want to let them go. They dropped Lily off first and for the first time in weeks she had gone into nursery without protesting. Ellie went in easily as well. It was as though the mood of the house had been impacting everything and now that it was sorted they could go back to normal again.
Both Clara and Danny entered the school with a spring in their step and a smile on their face with was clearly noticeable amongst the staff and the pupils, especially Clara's year 10s. She and them first lesson so was still in a delightful mood. They walked in as usual like their unmotivated selves to which Clara sighed.
"Right, good morning all!" They all sat patiently waiting for her to ask them to get their books out but she didn't say a thing until one boy spoke up.
"Miss? What are we doing today then?" She smiled.
"Well since today is my last day with you guys for a while I figured that we could do something that you want to do instead of me deciding like normal?" A huge number of grins appeared around the room. "So, any suggestions?" One of the boys at the back spoke up first.
"Can we have a football tournament on the field!?" A cheer came from the other boys in the class. Clara laughed.
"Nice idea Jamie but I was thinking more something inside the classroom. Any other ideas?" Now Amy spoke up from the front of the room.
"Can we watch a movie?" An audible chatter and cheer from her peers confirmed the idea.
"I think we could manage that. Which one would you like? Within reason, no swearing or other stuff that you kids shouldn't be watching." They all laughed.
After deciding on Finding Nemo, they all sat back to watch it. Clara moved to the side to get some final marking done and so that she was out of the way of the screen. As she did she swung round to face the other way without looking where she was going and hit her stomach hard on the filing cabinet. Her hand whipped to her abdomen. She used the cabinet to rest her weight on as she winced in pain.
"Miss are you okay!?" She bit her lip and looked up slowly. She didn't want to show too much pain on her face. Instead she breathed deeply and stood herself back up straight.
"Yes, I'm okay, all is fine." They smiled in relief and continued to watch the movie. Clara moved slowly to sit down and get her breath back. Something didn't feel right now but she couldn't place a finger on what it was. Again, the pain didn't feel normal. That aside, there wasn't much she could do so she just rubbed her stomach carefully.
Break time rolled around and the year 7s left her room. Once they had she sat down and breathed deeply. She regretted not looking where she was going earlier as she seemed to be in quite a bit of pain now. As she was sat back in her chair Danny strolled in. He saw the pain in her eyes so instantly moved to help her. He crouched down in front of her and placed one hand on her stomach. As he did so she whipped her hand down so that she could pull him away. He moved back a little in surprise.
"What's happened Clara?!" He could tell something had because she hadn't told him the second he entered the room. She looked up at him and sighed.
"You're not going to like it... Because I wasn't watching where I was going again." He sighed.
"Clara, again?" He paused for a second to sigh. "Look it doesn't matter, what happened?" She sat back a little.
"I was over the other side of the room and I turned to move away from the screen and I didn't look where I was stood so I hit myself on the filing cabinet. And where you placed your hand was right where I hit it, hence why I jumped away." He looked at her with concern.
"Did you hit it hard?" She nodded to which he sighed.
"Pretty hard yeah, but I can't work out if it hurts because of the way I bashed it or because of the baby." She continued to rub her stomach as Danny brushed his hands over his face.
"Well if you hit it hard then we should really go to the hospital to get you checked out." She shook her head.
"No, no, no, we don't need to do that."
"That's what I thought you would say so what do you want to do?"
"I think I'll be fine, I'll know if anything is wrong. I might as well just plod on with the day." Danny nodded at her rather reluctantly. "It'll be okay, I promise. But you know what you could do for me?"
"Anything, what do you need?" She grinned at his concerned smile, he was so sweet.
"Can I have a cup of tea please?" He nodded before standing up and kissing her head.
"Okay, I'll be five minutes, don't move." He winked.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere in a hurry." He left quickly leaving Clara alone in the room. Being her usual self, always dismissing the safest idea, she got up slowly and walked along to tidy the room a bit.
As she got to the side of the class she heard a huge bang. Screams started to arise from the neighbouring classes but there wasn't enough time for her to react as suddenly the wall crumbled into pieces throwing her to the floor. Then, everything went black...
Meanwhile Danny was quickly getting her cup of tea in the staff room when everyone stopped at the bang. He put the cup down and looked at his colleagues with confusion.
"What on earth was that!?" The head said.
"I'll go and see what's going on." He announced as he walked towards the door. He opened it quickly and was taken aback by the roaring flames he saw before him. He was met by several huge walls of dust and smoke that made it almost impossible to see down the corridor. Rubble lie everywhere on the ground and the building creaked in strain. A few other teachers met him outside now. They gasped.
"What happened!?"
"Oh my god!" Everyone was exclaiming in shock apart from Danny who was looking further down the building whilst shielding his face with his arm.
"It must have been an explosion, call 999!" He heard people shouting from the back but he said nothing. Suddenly it dawned on him...
"Clara! Oh my god, Clara!" Without thinking he went to run through the flames but was held back by Adrien.
"No Danny! Wait! The fire brigade are on their way!" He shook his head, worry overcoming his body.
"No I need to find her!" He shook Adrien's hand off of his shoulder and ran before anyone could stop him. Once he was round the corner he slowed down a little knowing that no one could see him. The school seemed to become like a maze. Everything looked so distorted and nothing like normal. Before he could get his bearings he heard a small child crying. He followed the noise until he saw one of the year 7 boys whimpering in the corner. Danny quickly crouched down to speak to him.
"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?" The boy shook his head but began to cough violently. "Okay, it's okay, I'm going to get you out of here." He picked him up and ran back round to where he had come from. He looked over to hear Adrien telling him to turn back. The fire had spread violently, blocking most of the ways out. Danny turned quickly to see a fire exit to the left of him. He ran and burst it open. As he got outside he heard the sirens, they whirred around him making everything even more of a blur. The other teachers had got the students to move back away from the building but it hadn't stopped the commotion. They all stared in shock at Danny coughing and spluttering with the small boy in his arms. Another teacher ran up to him and took the boy and gave him to a paramedic.
"Danny, are you alright?!" He bent over and coughed violently. Without answering, he turned to run back inside. "Danny, no!" She pulled him back.
"I have to find Clara!" Before anyone could grab him he ran back inside. He sprinted towards the English rooms but was stopped again by some more students. Jake, a year 11 boy, was stood by the edge of the building resting against the wall.
"Jake get outside!" Danny motioned towards the door he had just come through. Jake shook his head despite the obvious pain he was in.
"I can't, in there." He pointed to the classroom across from them. "There's people in there, we have to get them out." Danny nodded and took the lead.
When they got inside they saw six or seven kids huddled together in the back of the class. Danny ran towards them and smiled reassuringly.
"Come on, let's get out of here." One of the girls shook her head.
"She can't move, something fell on her leg." She showed Danny her friend's mangled calf.
"Okay, umm." He paused as he tried to think back to his army days. "That's fine, we can still get her out. Maisie, come round here and hold her feet. Jake come here and take her weight. Lift her slowly and try not to move the leg too much if possible. Take her outside and to the door, okay?" The girls nodded. But Jake stopped.
"Sir, aren't you coming?!" Danny got up and headed for the door.
"Sorry but I've got to find Mrs Pink. You go on, get out safely." They all got to the corridor and split their different ways. Danny's walk soon became a sprint again as he knew he was only a few classes away.
He saw the door and ran for it, expecting it to be open. Something inside the room stopped it leaving him hitting the wood hard. He fell backwards and groaned in pain. Clutching his shoulder he tried again. On three he pushed it open with all of his might. From the outside of the room he called desperately.
"CLARA!?" He awaited a reply and was more than relieved when he got one.
"DANNY! DANNY I'M IN HERE! DANNY, HELP!" Clara screeched in pain making Danny's determination double.
When he entered the panic took over him. All he could see was fire and rubble throughout the room but no sign of Clara until he heard her voice again. It sounded so full of emotion it made his heart rip apart. It was like a mixture of pain, sadness and helplessness all in one. He had to save her, he had to.
"Danny!?" He saw her move a little under a desk so jumped to her side. He looked at her and immediately wanted to cry. She looked so small, so feeble. Why had this happened to her? Why her, he asked himself. He moved her hair back and leant down to comfort her crying.
"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you." She continued to whimper into his chest.
"Danny." He rocked her back and forwards a little to calm her down.
"I'm here, it's okay. I'm going to get you out of here. I promise." He put his hand behind her head and began to lift her from under the table. A scream in pain stopped him instantly.
"Clara? What hurts?" She pulled her hand down to her stomach.
"The baby, Danny the baby." His eyes widened. She leant back down on him and breathed deeply. He paused for a moment trying to configure a plan in his head.
"Right we need to get out of here Clara. If we don't neither of us are going to make it..." She looked up at him and nodded. She knew what needed to be done, she just didn't know how she was going to do it. The truth had to be faced and reality had to be served but they were the two most difficult things. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, let's go." He placed his hand behind her head again and put the other on her back so that he could pull her from under the rubble. Once she was sat up he paused for a second to check that she was okay. He saw another tear falling down her cheek which he wiped away softly.
"That was the hard part. Not long to go and we'll be safe again, yeah?" She nodded and leaned against his shoulder. She tried to hide the pain she was in as there wasn't much they could do about it at that moment, the best option was to push on and get out of the building.
Danny got up to check the doorway and the fire outside of it. As he did he lost his footing slightly and had to break his fall on the wall next to them.
"Danny! Be careful!" He nodded and began to walk again. He looked at the spreading fire along the corridor and sighed. They were going to have to be quick. The place wasn't going to hold up for much longer.
"Okay, we can still get out but we need to move now. We haven't got too much longer." Clara nodded and took a deep breath. She used what was left of the table to push herself up but was unsuccessful. Danny ran over to support her. "Steady, steady." They began to head for the door when they heard voices from outside.
"HELLO!? IS ANYONE INSIDE THE BUILDING?" A deep voice called. The fire brigade. Danny looked up in hope.
"WERE IN HERE! HELP, HELP PLEASE!" They heard the sound of fire extinguishers beginning to put out the flames and hoses being pulled from the trucks. Everything seemed to be looking up until there was a massive groan from the buildings infrastructure. They both looked up at the ceiling that was getting weaker every second. The fireman spoke again.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE, WE'LL COME TO YO-" Before he could finish, the roof shook and began to crumble above them. With an almighty roar it fell leaving the whole area a pile of rock and dust. They both dived down towards the floor to protect themselves. Danny used his body as a shield over Clara as she protected their heads with her arms. Once all of the rubble had stopped falling, the room turned to silence...
Danny awoke slowly and rolled himself over. A fit of coughing shook his body like a rattle and immediately startled him awake. He sat up a little and scanned the room around him. It was unrecognisable. It looked like a bomb had been dropped, devastating everything in sight. His train of thought soon changed when he heard Clara wake in a fit of coughing much like he had. He tried to move over towards her but yelled in pain when he did. He looked down to his leg to see a large concrete block pressing it to the ground. He tried to sit up some more and pull his leg away but it was too heavy and only resulted in more agony. Clara opened her eyes slowly and took a moment to adjust. Once she had, she sat up quickly and looked to Danny.
"Danny!? Are you okay!?" He nodded despite the clear look of pain on his face. "You're not, what's hurt?!" He sighed and pointed down to his leg.
"The concrete block, it landed on my leg." She laid back down a little and placed a hand on his face, feeling rather guilty.
"Danny you shouldn't have protected me! You got yourself more hurt!" Her voice was incredibly weak yet full of emotion. He sighed and moved as best he could to see her face clearly.
"I had to, you know that." She gave him a sympathetic look.
"Well it looks like we're both worst for wear then doesn't it." He laughed a little and smiled at her, despite what had just happened.
"Yeah, this has not been a good day... What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here now?" He laid his head back as he said it and she did the same.
"I literally have no idea. But we need to pretty quickly because I don't want to find out what is going to happen if we don't." She finished her sentence rather quickly as she soon groaned in pain again. She grabbed Danny's hand for support to which he squeezed hers harder.
"Breathe, just breathe. It will be over soon, don't worry." Despite being in agonising pain himself he still used up all of his energy on reassuring Clara. After all, there wasn't much else he could do. It wasn't like he could sit up or move closer to her. He was stuck with a broken leg that was bleeding more and more every second. It made him feel so helpless.
They laid back on the rubble hand in hand comforting each other's crying. The building creaked around them and was ready to collapse completely. The fire was spreading further and making it increasingly hard to breathe. Clara seemed to have calmed down a bit but Danny was far from relaxed. He lifted the top of his body up as far as he could to get a good look at his leg. Clara looked over.
"What are you doing?" He pulled himself up even further, breathing through the pain as he did.
"I think I could move this. If I just-" Clara interrupted him.
"Danny stop, just stop." He looked at her in surprise.
"Why!? We need to get out of here!" She nodded.
"I know but think about it, if you move that block your leg is going to bleed heavily. You can't walk on it and I can barely walk either so how are we going to get out anyway?"
"I don't know! But we have to try! We can't give up!" Tears begins to fall down his cheeks.
"I'm not giving up, I'm being realistic. Danny, it's too much. We're stuck." He continued to look down at her in disgust.
"No! I'm not going to stop! We need to get out of here! What about our two little girls!? And our lives and our home!? I'm not giving up that." He started to cry uncontrollably. Clara pulled him down and moved closer towards him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his head.
"We'll be fine. I don't know how but we will. Come on, don't cry. Remember, giving up is not always a bad idea. It can just mean you are doing what is best..."
They laid there, amongst the rubble and the fire, motionless with no hope left between them. Was this going to be the end? What else could they do other than keep each other company in the time that they had left...
*hides far, far away and begs for forgiveness*