Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except Rosa, Disney does.
CHAPTER 43-PICKING UP THE PIECES
They hadn't heard the sirens at first. Ron and Bonnie were to wrapped up in their conversation with Tara and Penny to know that anything bad had happened around them or to anyone that they knew. Penny had been timid at first but after Marcella had come out and set out a few beers she had begun to relax. By the time that any suspicion of something bad happening came up everyone in the hot tub had stripped off their swimsuits and were beginning to pursue other interests. Tara and Bonnie were making out on one side of the hot tub while Ron and Penny were softly talking on the other side when it happened.
"Ron," Marcella nearly screamed out as she raced out of the house before stumbling and almost falling on the sidewalk leading out to the hot tub. Softly cursing the ground underneath her feet she got back up and kept going.
"Marcella…what is it, what's wrong," Bonnie asked with a suddenly very concerned look on her face and tone to her voice as the look in her old friends eyes scared her terribly.
"The mall…Jessica, Hope…there was," Marcella gasped out softly with tears in her eyes as she tried to keep herself together and relay the message before she couldn't take it any longer and broke down completely.
"What happened," Penny wondered aloud with a bit of a stutter to her voice as she was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this, just from what little Marcella had said and the absolutely terrified look in her eyes.
"There was an explosion at the mall, Jessica and Hope were there," Yori shouted out loudly as she raced up behind Marcella, encircling the taller woman with her arms just as Marcella's knees began to give way.
"What…no," Tara whispered out softly with an insanely scared look to her as her eyes grew wide and she went even paler than normal.
"Shit," Bonnie and Ron both snapped together at the same time before they scrambled out of the hot tub and snatched up their swimsuits, though Bonnie soon changed her mind and grabbed a towel before racing off into the house.
"What do we do," Yori asked with a concerned and worried look in her eyes as she looked to Ron for guidance.
"You stay here and call Kim, she should go to the hospital so that if anything's happened to Jessica or Hope she'll be there for them while Bonnie and I go to the mall, somebody call Zita and get her and Rosa home now," Ron declared with a very determined and commanding tone to his voice as he slid his swimming trunks back on before racing off towards the house.
"Guess this means that my day off is over," Penny joked grimly as she shook her head before she turned back to Tara, gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and then slid out of the hot tub. She barely noticed the stares from Yori and Marcella as she raced naked back into the house.
"I'll…I'll call Zita," Tara mumbled out softly with a tearful expression on her face as she also climbed out of the hot tub and then picked up her robe.
"They have to be okay," Marcella wept out with tears in her eyes before she couldn't help it any longer and her knees gave way, forcing Yori to her knees as well before Marcella let the tears flow.
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The Mall-After The Blast-Hope
Hope wasn't sure of much but she was sure of one thing, she hated explosions. That and her shoulder hurt like hell. Even with her eyes closed she opened and closed her mouth in an attempt to pop her ears as at the moment she couldn't hear anything except for a slight ringing sound. When she opened her eyes finally after several seconds of trying and failing to clear her ears she found herself blind as well. But she quickly figured that she was only blind because of a fair amount of blood that was running down her face and getting into her eyes. She wasn't sure if the blood was her own or someone else's, and at the moment she didn't really care. She could taste blood on her lips and it nearly made her gag. Her mouth was far to dry to speak anything more than a few short gasps and coughs. Pushing off with her free and uninjured arm, at least to her knowledge, she managed to get back up to her knees. The fact that she couldn't see was her greatest hindrance at the moment and in an attempt to remedy that she began to crawl towards where she thought that the fountain was. Not knowing quite where the edge was, and not being able to distinguish between blocks of blown up debris and the side of the fountain she soon lost her balance and fell headlong into the fountain, jerking sharply at the sudden shock of the cold water against her skin.
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The Mall-After The Blast-Jessica
Because she had been seated furthest away from the initial point of the blast when it happened Jessica had been hit mostly by the concussive force of the blast. She and her chair had been flung back like a paper airplane across the small food court and through the plate glass window of one of the shops that lined the area. She knew that she had received injuries but she wasn't quite sure how bad they were. Though she felt sick to her stomach and very sore she didn't believe that anything was broken. She didn't stop to try and figure out her stroke of luck at not being injured, instead she painfully pulled herself back up to her knees and then her feet before she looked back out over the now ruined food court, trying hard to see through the choking cloud of dust. Tears were already forming in her eyes before she could manage out a short mangled shout for first Hope and then Crystal, hoping against hope that they had both made it.
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The Mall-After The Blast-The Rescue
"Oh my God," Bonnie gasped out softly as her hands instantly went to her mouth and tears came to her eyes when Ron slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to a stop. They had been alerted to the blast earlier than most other rescuers thanks to Global Justice and were first on the scene as there had been several other blasts around town in an attempt to keep people from getting to the mall to quickly.
"We'll find them Bonnie," Ron said softly with a very determined and serious tone to his voice as he reached out and gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze with one hand while he used his other hand to unbuckle his seatbelt.
"We have to…I don't even want to think about the alternative," Bonnie said back before Ron unbuckled her seatbelt as well and she was out of the car and racing towards the front of the mall.
"Bonnie wait up, there might be another…bomb," Ron started to shout loudly after Bonnie as he raced to keep up before he got to where the front doors had been and got his first look at the damage. All around them nothing even closely resembled what it had looked like before the blast. They couldn't see any piece of the glass or metal from the front doors.
"How could anyone," Bonnie started to stammer out with a lost look in her eyes as she surveyed the damage before something caught her eye. She saw a bit of movement on the other side of the food court in one of the shattered stores. Without saying anything to Ron she hurried off, making her way towards where she had seen the movement, picking her way through the debris.
"Bonnie wait…where are you going, come back here right," Ron tried to say with a commanding tone to his words as he started to follow Bonnie into the space before he got to the fountain. He was about to continue on past it when he heard some splashing. Instantly he turned to give aid. "It's okay helps here just calm down and…oh God, Hope," Ron started to say with a very nervous look in his eyes and tone to his voice as he stepped over the side of the fountain and looked down before he recognized who it was and pulled her up and out of the water, cradling her in his arms. It took Hope several seconds to spit out the water and almost choke on the amount of it that she had come close to swallowing before she could speak.
"R…Ron…," Hope sputtered out through bleeding lips, as the combination of water and blood was still keeping her from seeing, as she struggled to stay conscious and prove to herself that it was indeed Ron that had rescued her.
"It's okay baby, I gotcha," Ron stated over and over very plainly to Hope as he quickly checked her over before he lifted her up into his arms and stepped back over the edge of the fountain. The last two words that he spoke finally managed to completely break through the ringing in Hope's ears and tears sprang to her eyes.
"Oh Ron," Hope cried out with a greatly relieved and exhausted torrent of tears as he clung to him with her one good arm, leaving her other arm to simply dangle uselessly.
"You're going to be okay, I'm going to get you out of here, just stay calm and," Ron started to say with a very grave look of worry on his face as he slowly knelt down beside the fountain before Hope interrupted him.
"Ron…my arm…I think it's broken, I can't move it," Hope growled out, more from the amount of pain that she was in rather than actual anger at him, as she dug her fingernails into his shoulder, almost as if she was afraid that he was going to set her down and then walk away.
"It doesn't look broken…it looks like you probably dislocated it, I can pop it back it for you, but it's going to hurt," Ron replied with a cautious manner to his words as he didn't do anything that would cause her any more pain.
"Do it," Hope whispered back harshly before she bit her lower lip hard and readied herself for the pain.
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The House
"Hey everybody I'm home," Kim announced with only a few small hints to her looks that she had been throwing up for the last several minutes before leaving her parents house. Her mother had taken the news better than she could have expected. While her initial reaction was more tempered there had been a fair amount of yelling, mostly about that the fact that her mother swore that she wouldn't keep this a secret from Mr. Possible. Before leaving Kim had agreed that she would tell her father, but on her own time. Mrs. Possible had begrudgingly agreed to that arrangement but had made it clear to Kim that sooner or later the choice would be out of her hands as even her father wouldn't be able to miss a baby bump for long.
"Kim…oh thank God you're home," Tara exclaimed with an out of breath and frantic look in her eyes as she very nearly flung the cell phone away before she rushed the redhead and pulled her into an overly tight bear hug.
"Nice to see you to Tara…uh Tara, I kind of need to breathe here," Kim stammered out as she slowly lost the breath in her body as Tara was squeezing her very tightly before the blonde realized what she was doing and broke the hug.
"Oh sorry…where have you been, we've been trying to call you like mad," Tara shot back for a brief moment at first with a guilty blush reddening her cheeks before she shook it off and remembered why she had been trying to call Kim in the first place.
"Sorry…I turned my cell phone and the Kimmunicator off so that I wouldn't get interrupted when I was talking to my mom, why…what'd I miss," Kim answered with a relaxed but still nervous shrug of her shoulders, as if she thought that Tara was overreacting to something again, before she headed for the living room, stopping only long enough to slip her shoes off.
"Kim where have you been, haven't you been watching the news," Zita shouted with a look of great concern on her face, as she held Rosa tightly to her, as she hurried around the end of the couch and tore her eyes away from the television screen.
"Sorry no…I was a little busy telling my mother that I was pregnant and…oh my…what happened, that isn't…no it can't be…that's Ron's car…he isn't, he can't," Kim started to grump back with a bit of an unhappy scowl creeping up onto her features before she turned her attention to the television screen and saw the first bit of news to her about the bomb. Towards the end of the video clip she noticed Ron's car parked near the pile of debris and her heart fell into her toes.
"Stoppable-san is fine, he and Bonnie went to provide aide after the explosion," Yori cautioned with a nervous look in her eyes as she stayed seated on the couch but looked back at Kim over her shoulder, making sure to make eye contact.
"They went there to find Hope and Jessica and help the others," Marcella informed Kim with a tear-streaked face as she looked up from her seat in Ron's chair. After Ron and Bonnie had left she had almost gone catatonic, not saying a word until just that moment.
"Wait what…Jessica and Hope were," Kim asked with a very pointed and deadly scared look in her eyes and tone to her words as she whipped her head around to look first at Marcella, who turned her gaze back down to the television screen while pulling her legs and feet up off of the floor, before then Yori.
"At the mall talking to Crystal," Zita replied with a scared smile before Rosa mumbled something about being held to tight and she loosened her grip.
"Crystal…I thought that she was," Kim started to say with a surprised look and tone to her voice before Tara jumped in.
"Dancing in music videos in Los Angeles…she was until she hurt her knee, Monique told me about her, she just got back into town," Tara replied with a steadily growing look of worry in her eyes as she started to get the picture that Kim was seeing in her head and wasn't liking what she was seeing.
"I can't stay here, I'm going to the mall," Kim announced with a very clear and determined look in her eyes as her hands balled up into fists before she turned on her heels and started back towards the front door.
"No…you can't," Zita exclaimed suddenly with a very scared look to her as she hurried to get in front of Kim and stop her from getting first to her shoes and then to the front door.
"What, and why not," Kim demanded with an impatient and unhappy scowl on her face as her hands found her hips and she glared straight at Zita.
"Ron said that you were supposed to," Zita started to say back with an unsure smile as she cautiously set Rosa down before Kim interrupted without hearing all that she had to say.
"That I was supposed to what, stay here at home and do nothing like a good little," Kim started to snap back angrily as she looked like she was about ready to take a swing at Zita before Rosa walked up to her and wrapped her arms around Kim's left leg in a powerful hug.
"Don't go aunt Kim," Rosa said with a very pleading look in her eyes as she lifted up her chin and looked straight up into Kim's eyes.
"Ron said that you should go to the hospital so that if they brought Hope and Jessica in that you'd be there for them," Zita added with a sincere tone of honesty to her voice as she slowly walked up to Kim and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Go Kim, we will call you if we hear anything," Yori said with a concerned look in her eyes thought calm tone to her voice before Kim nodded her head and then took off out the door.
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The Mall-After The Blast-Bonnie
"Hey…is anybody in here," Bonnie called out with a scared and nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach as she carefully stepped over the debris and then through the shattered window. At first she didn't hear or see anything, but then the dust cleared and she caught sight of Jessica. "Jessica," Bonnie exclaimed with a great amount of relief and panic in her voice before she hurried forward and hugged the blonde.
"B…Bonnie, what are you," Jessica painfully stammered out with a lost look in her eyes as she tried to smile when Bonnie pulled back after the hug.
"Are you…oh God Jess, you're hurt," Bonnie started to ask her lover with a very concerned tone to her voice before she looked down and saw the blood on her hands.
"What," Jessica responded with a confused look as she leaned up against a display case that had survived the blast and stared blankly at Bonnie.
"You're bleeding," Bonnie shot back with a panicked tightening of her chest as she turned her hands over and showed them to Jessica.
"Really…I don't feel so," Jessica started to say with a look of disbelief on her face before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed forward into Bonnie's arms.
"Jessica," Bonnie screamed fearfully before she couldn't help but stumble to the ground from the force of Jessica's body hitting her own. She was just about to get up when a large chunk of the ceiling out in the food court gave way and was sent crashing downwards.
END OF CHAPTER 43
Author's Note: This chapter starts out with the group that was in the hot tub having some fun and talking, well Ron and Penny were talking while Bonnie and Tara were making out. Then Marcella comes rushing out to tell them that there was an explosion at the mall and that Jessica and Hope were there, but it quickly becomes to much and her knees get weak before Yori runs out and catches her. Yori and Marcella try to explain what happened as best that they can before Ron and Bonnie jump out of the hot tub, pull on what they can find of their swimsuits and then rush off into the house. But they do that after telling Yori and Marcella to call Zita and get her and Rosa back to the house while telling them to call Kim and tell her to get to the hospital so that when and or if Jessica and Hope go there she'll be there to greet them.
Then comes the aftermath of the explosion from Hope's point of view. She wakes up with a terrible pain in her shoulder, her ears are ringing from the blast, and there's blood in her eyes and on her face, making it impossible for her to see. She tries to call out to Jessica but can't as her mouth is to dry. She's hurt and tries to crawl her way towards where she thinks that she remembers the fountain being. She gets to the edge of the fountain and goes over it, as she can't see the edge and she falls into the fountain.
Then comes Jessica's point of view of the aftermath. She and her chair got blown back into one of the shops that surrounded the food court. She's stiff and has some injuries but doesn't feel that she's hurt to badly so she forces herself back up to her feet and then she starts to stagger back towards the food court, hoping to find Hope and Crystal and help anybody else that's hurt.
Next comes Ron and Bonnie as they arrive at the mall. They both worry about Hope and Jessica as they rush to the entrance. They're both overwhelmed at what they see as it doesn't resemble the mall that they knew and loved. Bonnie sees a bit of movement in one of the shops and she rushes off to see if it's Jessica or Hope. Ron starts after her before he gets to the fountain and finds Hope in the fountain. He pulls her out just before she drowns and she's a bit out of it as she doesn't immediately recognize that it's Ron. She finally does and is overjoyed as Ron cradles her in his arms and checks her over. He gets to her shoulder and Hope says to go ahead and try to pop it back in as she readies herself.
Then comes a bit with Kim coming home from telling her mother that she's pregnant and walking into the house to find out about the bomb. She's obviously stunned by the news along with the fact that Crystal is back in town and why she's back. Kim gets upset when she thinks that Ron wanted her to stay back at home and not get involved, but she's set straight soon enough. Marcella is very scared about Hope and Jessica and barely speaks or does anything, which is odd for her. Kim starts to rush out of the house but Rosa stops her and wants her to stay, Kim says that she has to go and then leaves the house.
Finally comes Bonnie finding Jessica staggering out of the shop and she's very happy to see her. Jessica is surprised that Bonnie is there before Bonnie hugs her. When she pulls back she sees that she has blood on her hands and asks Jessica about it though Jessica didn't know that she was hurt. Just as they get out of the shop some of the ceiling collapses some distance from them.
In closing thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing this and the other chapters of this story. I hope that I haven't gone to far out of character with anyone. Upcoming chapters will have more on the bomb, like who planted it and the like, and what happened to Crystal and the others, with Liz showing up as well. So again in closing thanks to everyone.
