Fifteen minutes later, Shawn finally opened the door to
the roof. He rushed over to the elevator shaft and looked down. 'Ob, boy,' he
thought to himself. 'That's a long way down.' Taking a deep breath, he silently
said a prayer and swung his legs over the edge into the shaft. Clinging to the
ladder, he yelled, "Don't worry, Belle, I'm coming!"
"Shawn, please be careful!" Belle yelled through the
ceiling. Then, to herself, she added, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Shawn started climbing down the ladder, but he suddenly
slipped and started to fall. Barely able to grab ahold of the ladder again, he
propped himself with his feet and tried to catch his breath. He heard a faint
"Shawn, are you okay?" from below him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just fell a few feet,
that's all!" he yelled back.
Belle paced across the floor, never taking her eyes off of
the ceiling. "Please hurry, Shawn!" she shouted. "I don't know how much longer
I can stay in here without going crazy!"
Shawn slowly worked the rest of the way down the ladder
until he jumped onto the top of the elevator itself. "Belle? Belle, I'm on top
of the elevator. Now, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to push open the panel
and try to pull you out, okay?" he explained.
Belle nodded, even though Belle couldn't see her. "Okay.
Just as long as I get out of here soon."
Shawn looked around for something to help him pry open the
panel with. Not seeing anything, he mentally kicked himself. 'Right. Duh. Note
to self: there's never anything just lying around in an elevator shaft,' he
thought to himself. 'But, if you don't find what you need, improvise.' With
that, he pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand. "Hey, uh, hey
Belle?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't stand under the panel," he advised. Then, praying
that Belle wasn't under the panel, he punched through the panel with all of his
strength. Shawn peered down into the elevator and saw Belle standing, cowering
in the corner. "Hey there, beautiful, he greeted her with a grin. "How goes the
war?"
Belle offered a weak laugh. "Horrible. I'm losing, bad,"
she confessed.
Shawn laughed. "Okay, I'll tell you what. I'm gonna lean
down a little more, and you can try to reach me, okay?"
Belle nodded. "Okay Hold on tight, all right?"
Shawn smiled. "Don't worry. I'm invincible." He leaned
over the edge a little farther and supported himself up with his knees. He let
his arms dangle down. "All right, now come on over and try to grab onto my
arms," he instructed.
Belle started to walk over when the elevator suddenly
jerked to life.
Shawn let out a cry and fell onto the elevator floor.
Belle was at his side in an instant.
"Are you okay, Shawn?" she asked.
Shawn nodded and sat up slowly. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just hit
my head a little, but it's not as bad as what I'll go through as a Merchant
Marine." He immediately regretted saying that last comment when he saw Belle's
expression go from concerned and worried to sad. He reached out to touch her
arm. "Hey, I'm sorry. I forgot that you don't want me to mention it."
Belle felt her eyes fill up with tears. She tried to wipe
them away, but to no avail. She started crying uncontrollably, and no matter
how hard she tried, she couldn't stop. "I'm sorry," she apologized, turning
away.
Shawn put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.
"Ssh. It's okay, Belle. It's okay. I didn't mean to make you cry."
Belle buried her face in Shawn's neck. "That's okay. It's
not your fault, Shawn. I just-I get all worked up when you talk about going to
be a Merchant Marine, you know? I just can't imagine my life without you in
it," she confessed.
Shawn laid his cheek on the top of Belle's head and
lightly stroked her hair. "I'll always be in your life, Belle, I promise."
Belle looked up into Shawn's eyes and saw that he was
being completely honest. "Really?" she asked.
Shawn reached down and wiped the tears from her face.
"Really," he said softly. He leaned down to kiss Belle's forehead. When he
leaned back again, their eyes met. As if in a trance, Shawn leaned back down
and caught Belle's lips in his own. He was a little surprised when Belle
reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. All of a sudden, the elevator,
which had been moving up, crashed against the top of the building.
Belle fell back against the floor, and Shawn fell next to
her. They lay there for a few moments, then looked at each other and
simultaneously started to laugh. He had perfect timing, too, because the door
started to open. Shawn jumped up and helped push it open, revealing the face of
one of the building employees.
"Are you okay in here?" he asked with a frown.
Shawn nodded. "Yeah, we're all right. What floor are we
on?" he asked, looking around.
The man looked at Shawn as if he was stupid. "We're at the
top, of course."
"Okay, thanks."
Satisfied, the worker opened the door to the staircase and
headed downstairs.
Shawn turned around to face Belle, who was backed into the
corner. "Come on, Belle, we're at your floor," he said, holding out his hand.
Belle shook her head and refused to move from her corner. "Belle, come on. I'm
not gonna let anything happen to you," he said, taking her hand and lightly
tugging on it.
Belle pulled her hand back. "No, Shawn, I-I can't. I can't
move, Shawn, I can't breathe," she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes.
Shawn took both of Belle's hands in his and pulled her
towards him. "Look, Belle, it's easy, okay? In fact, I'll show you right now
that it's easy." He let go of Belle's hands and hopped down from the elevator.
"See? Not a big problem. Come on, I'll even catch you. I didn't have that
luxury." He held out his arms for Belle to hold on to.
Belle took a deep breath and grabbed Shawn's outstretched
arms. Shawn delicately lifted her out and set her on the ground. Belle wrapped
her arms around Shawn's neck and held on for dear life. Shawn tightly wrapped
his arms around Belle's waist and let her cry into his shoulder. Letting go
after a few minutes, he reached into the elevator and picked up her bag.
"That wasn't that bad, was it?" Shawn asked, putting his
arm around Belle's shoulder. "Here's your bag."
Belle took her bag from Shawn. "Thank you, Shawn."
Shawn shrugged. "Ah, it was nothing. I figured you wanted
your purse back."
Belle shook her head. "No, not for that. For risking your
life to help me."
Shawn tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "You
should know by now that I'd give my life for you without a second thought," he
whispered.
"Do you really mean that?"
Shawn bent down and gently kissed her forehead. "Absolutely.
Belle, I love you more than anything."
Belle leaned up and kissed Shawn. "I love you too, Shawn."
Shawn smiled and leaned down to kiss Belle again as Belle
wrapped her arms around his neck. Little did they know that no one but Belle's
brother was watching them.
Brady Black smiled as he watched his little sister and the
young man that she loved. He laughed quietly. 'So, my little sister finally told
Shawn that she loves him. It's about time.'
(Note: Sorry if the ending
sucked. I was having problems ending it, and this was the best I could do.)