Hiii, sorry for leaving you all hanging (again!)
I've had this chapter in the works for a while now but when it finally came round to it it was much harder to write than i originally thought! Then when I did finish it it coincided with the awful events that happened at Arianas concert on Monday and it didnt feel like the right time to upload this.
Everything considered, I hope you enjoy the angst which is about to take place in this chapter. I would like to dedicate this one to all of the emergency services in Manchester that night for helping as many people as they did. Thankfully there is some kindness in this world.
Disclaimer: I don't own victorious
It took less than five seconds for Beck to process the flames before leaping out of the car and sprinting towards the apartment. He faintly recognised the faces of his neighbours standing in the street in tears. Some had managed to grab their sentimental belongings before fleeing, others had burn injuries and were being escorted into ambulances. But nowhere to be seen were Jade and Andre.
Beck jumped over the fence into the garden but before he could get any closer, a police officer caught him by the shoulders and held him back.
"THATS MY APARTMENT!" Beck shouted at the top of his lungs. "My girlfriend..." his voice trailed off, "Please let me through!"
"Its not safe sir. The fire service are doing everything they possibly can to diffuse the flames. The best thing you can do is stand back."
"But I need to find her!" Beck yelled back in defiance.
"Sir, I'm sorry. I cant let you through until the fire department confirms that the flames are completely diffused."
"For gods sake!" Beck felt completely helpless. His heart accelerated in his chest as he tried his hardest not to think of the worst case scenario.
"I'm begging you, you've got to let me in. I need to find them!" He pleaded with the cop.
"Beck, they're doing everything they can okay?" Tori finally caught up with him. She had taken longer to process the shock of the fire but somehow she was thinking more logically than Beck about this.
"Jade West and Andre Harris." Tori spoke calmly to the cop. "Jade is eight months pregnant. Please, if you get any information on those two people then please, please inform us."
The police officer nodded his assurance to Tori before stepping aside but Beck was in complete bits.
"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" He yelled.
"Beck." Tori said calmly, "I know this is horrible. There's nothing I want more than to run in there too. But that would be insane."
"Jade and Andre are in that apartment!" Beck shouted back.
"You don't know that." Tori soothed him as best she could. "You won't help anyone by putting yourself in danger too."
"The love of my life is lost in a fire." Beck spoke gravely.
"I know." Tori replied with frightened tears, before whispering quietly to herself. "Mine is too."
Tori wrapped an arm around her friend realising she would need to be the stronger one for a while. All they could do was stand there and wait for an update. The sounds of windows shattering, people crying, and fire ripping through furniture was unbearable. The smoke plumes were getting thinner however that only made it easier to see the devastation around them. The entire building was burned to a crisp.
Beck and Tori looked everywhere for Andre and Jade but they were definitely not standing in the street with the neighbours. They asked everybody if they'd seen them but noone had any idea where they were. Tori tried calling their phones multiple times but neither of them were answering. Nobody appeared to be answering their phones as she only reached the answer machine for their other friends too. Cat and Robbie were still out celebrating with their husbands. It was a helpless situation.
Struggling to breathe in the smoke, Beck was forced to take a step back from the burning building. The people in the apartments across from them had opened their doors and were giving out blankets to their unfortunate neighbours. Beck sat down on edge of the sidewalk in pure shock and put his head in his hands.
How was this happening to them? They were having a baby together, he was about to propose. Everything had been going so right. Overwhelming feelings of regret pulsated round his body as Beck considered the possibility that maybe he'd waited too long. That maybe he'd never get to call Jade his wife.
Just as everything began to feel hopeless, a voice shouting in the crowds caught Beck's attention.
"Is anyone missing a cat?" One of the firefighters shouted, holding a slightly bedraggled black cat.
"She's mine" Beck walked over to the firefighter to retrieve Puss. "Actually she's my girlfriends but she's still missing."
"We found her hiding in the elevator shaft. She's had a lucky escape tonight." The firefighter handed the terrified cat over to Beck who for once didn't scratch him to pieces. The firefighter headed back into the building.
"Wait have you rescued anyone from 14A yet?" Beck shouted after the firefighter but he got no reply.
Everything suddenly got too much for Beck. He needed to be strong but sitting here and waiting was killing him. He felt nauseous thinking about Jade and the baby and where they could be and how the hell this had happened in the first place. Puss began to yowl and dig her claws into Beck's shirt and as he feebly attempted to comfort the frightened cat he felt the onset of tears stinging his eyes.
"There you are," Tori came over just in time as Beck struggled to hold back his panic. He collapsed back down barely managing to keep hold of Puss. Tori knelt down in front of him concerned.
"Hey." Tori squeezed his hands tightly "We'll find them."
"But what if-" Beck's voice wobbled.
"We'll find them." Tori repeated firmly. She knew they couldn't let themselves think like that. Not yet.
More time passed and barely anymore people were being rescued from the apartment. The flames were out, but thick grey smoke still engulfed the building. The remains of what was once their home were a sorry sight.
"I think we should try calling the hospitals, just in case they were taken in before we got here." Tori suggested calmly. Beck barely nodded, his eyes fixated on something else. The streetlight which stood directly in front of their apartment.
"Has there always been a security camera on that streetlight?" Beck asked suspiciously.
"What?" Tori frowned in confusion as Beck walked briskly towards the streetlight. Sure enough there was a professional looking piece of camera equipment taped firmly to the metal base of the streetlight. And the lens was angled directly at their apartment. But before Beck had the chance to properly investigate his attention was diverted back to his apartment as two paramedics ran to the front door with a wheelchair. And to both his relief and horror Jade was carried out of the building and put immediately into it.
"Jade!" He ran to her side instantly. She was coughing and spluttering and struggling to catch her breath in the smoke but at least she was conscious.
"Thank god." Beck kissed the top of her head and wiped the soot away from her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Beck." Jades voice cracked, her eyes overflowing with tears. "Somethings wrong."
It was then that Beck noticed his girlfriends hands gripping tightly to her stomach and the agony she seemed to be in.
"Its okay. We'll get you to hospital. You'll be fine. You'll both be fine." Beck assured her as the paramedics pulled her into the back of the ambulance and immediately fitted her with an oxygen mask. His heart was pounding though. Having no idea wether everything would be fine.
"Jade where's Andre?" Tori ran over to the ambulance in panic. Beck jumped out of the ambulance to speak to the paramedic as Jade shakily pulled the oxygen mask off her face and once again gasped for breath.
"He went- He went back in." Jade managed to cough.
"Back into the apartment?" Tori asked alarmed. But Jade barely nodded before gripping her stomach and clenching her jaw in deep pain.
"Help me!" Jade burst into tears, gasping in between what appeared to be painful contractions. "Please someone help me! Somethings really wrong."
Tori stopped everything and held onto her distressed best friend as gently as she could given the situation and put the oxygen mask back on her face. Not being able to breathe was the last thing that Jade needed right now.
"Slow, deep breaths." Tori coached Jade through the pain as best as she could until Beck and the paramedic returned.
"We need to get Jade to the hospital." Beck said worriedly. Tori nodded having already guessed that would be the case. Seeing her usually tough and fearless friend in true pain was something she never thought she'd see.
"Go." Tori agreed with him wholeheartedly. She wiped the tears that were stinging her eyes. "But I have to stay."
"Are you sure?" Beck confirmed.
"Andre's still in there." Tori explained sadly. "I'm not leaving until we find him. Now go be with Jade."
Beck hugged Tori goodbye before leaping into the ambulance next to Jade. The last thing Tori heard before the doors closed was Jades agonising screams.
Waiting. Waiting was becoming true torture for Tori who was still anxiously sitting on the sidewalk outside the apartment as the firefighters continued their way through what was left of the charred apartment. It wasn't clear which part of the building the fire had started in but it had definitely spread rapidly. Only the lowest to the ground floors of the building appeared not to have been affected by the fire. And since her friends apartment was the very top floor, there was no chance that their home wouldn't be a wreck by now.
She was deeply deeply worried. About Jade and the baby. About Andre. Her brain didn't know what to focus on. Her automatic reaction was that she wanted to talk through everything with Andre. He was the calm one of all of them. The one who remained level headed even in the worst of times. And that only made Tori feel 10x worse.
Waiting. Waiting longer than anyone else. The majority of their neighbours had either been transported to hospital or left to find some other place of refuge for the night. There was only her and one other family left waiting for their loved ones to emerge from the building and it was starting to get desperate. If they weren't rescued soon then surely it was bad news.
A loud crumbling sound came from the inside of the building alerting everyone that some progress was finally happening. Several crunching sounds later and the firefighters emerged from the building holding a small crying boy who despite everything was conscious. They ran him straight into the nearest ambulance and the other family who'd been waiting alongside Tori jumped in after him. Finally reunited.
"Come on Andre." Tori whispered aloud but she didn't need to. Only minutes later someone else was rescued from the building and as soon as she saw them Tori's heart sunk.
"We have a mid-twenties male, who has suffered severe smoke inhalation and blood loss. He is unconscious and has potential concussion and potential broken leg." The firefighter informed the paramedics who transported Andre to the ambulance and set him up on oxygen.
Tori walked over to the ambulance with dread, unsure what she was about to see and whether she could handle it or not. And when she did dare to take a look, it was way worse than she thought. His skin was coated in thick black soot and blood. His leg was completely mangled, something obviously having fallen on it and crushed him. And worst of all his body was limp and unresponsive.
"Do you know this person?" One of the female paramedics noticed Tori watching from the door.
"He's my-" Tori stopped not sure what she was supposed to call him. He was way more than just her friend. She started to cry. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"You can accompany us to the hospital." The paramedic soothed Tori as best as she could lending her a hand up and into the seat next to Andres bed. "He's in a bad way but we're going to do our best for him we promise."
Tori nodded and gulped back her tears in an attempt to be strong. She tried not to focus on how broken and hurt the person she loved so much looked but on the fact that he'd made it out. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it hoping that on some level he knew she was there.
"You have to pull through this Dre" Tori gulped. "I need you to be okay."
"I love you so much." Tori whispered to Andre brokenly, "I love you so so much."
Seconds later the ambulance whizzed off to the hospital with the sirens blasting and Tori had never felt more afraid in all her life. Seeing Andre hurt like this made her realise more than ever that he was her person. He was the only one for her. And that she'd been so stupid to not tell him that before now. Before it could maybe be too late.
Let me know what you think :3