Being Frank Chapter 2: Back to Reality, a london's burning fanfic

LONDON'S BURNING

The Great Escape

Chapter 2: Back To Reality

Craig Ross had not been in the job long enough to be able to know exactly what he should do in certain situations. He wondered if he should voice his concerns about Frank Mooney to anyone, like Blue Watch boss Mick Callaghan perhaps?

He kept remembering that day on the roof. The event had happened a few weeks ago, but to him it still felt like yesterday. The day Frank Mooney had actually wanted to be swallowed up by the fire. He had been inviting the fire to try him as he stood on the roof, clutching Shauna Callaghan's lost handbag.

The flat directly below them was an inferno. A flash of flame had licked up onto the roof. Geoff Pearce had taken Mrs. C to safety. Only Craig and Frank remained on the roof when the explosion occurred.

"Come and get me, you bastard!" Frank yelled, the wall of flame was only inches away from him.

Having witnessed this, Craig had suddenly found his feet as the adrenaline kicked in. He ran at Frank and pushed him away as the force of the blast caused part of the roof to cave in. The exact spot where Frank had been standing.

Frank hadn't been happy with Craig's intervention. D.O. Ross had though. He was chuffed to pieces that his son had suddenly become a hero overnight. With his father's reaction, Craig had completely forgotten that Frank had actually wanted to die.

But now they were both back on duty at Blackwall Fire Station, and Frank seemed moodier than ever. Craig had been enjoying the attention his moment of bravery had given him, although Frank's reaction was troubling him again.

On the subject of another matter, Mick had finally faced up to the fact that his wife needed help. He had decided to take his family on a long holiday to Florida, leaving Blue Watch to be run by Geoff Pearce. Craig had decided not to voice his fears to Geoff, although he knew the consequences of that wouldn't be as bad as if he'd let his fears slip to his father!

Craig remembered the conversation he'd had with the D.O.

"Well done, boy, I knew you had it in you!" the D.O. slapped Craig on the back. "I'll see that you're put up for an award for your outstanding bravery!"

"Um… I'd rather you didn't Dad…"

"Don't be so modest son! The Brigade needs to celebrate its heroes."

"Um… but… I didn't do anything."

"What's the matter boy? I thought you wanted to be a hero."

"No."

He resisted the urge to tell the D.O. that he, Craig, didn't want to be a hero, it was the D.O. himself who wanted to have a hero for a son.

"Don't be silly son. You saved the life of a colleague, you should be proud."

The D.O. then got on the phone to every relative he could think of to boast about his son's achievements. Craig wasn't happy and tried to keep a low profile. Blue Watch weren't helping matters either, as they kept winding him up about all the attention he was getting.

It seemed that no one cared about Frank Mooney, least of all Frank Mooney. He had disappeared on leave for a while after the incident, and not even Sally had spoken to him. Not that she spoke to him much these days anyway. But now he had returned to duty, his mood unchanged.

Craig decided to voice his fears to Sally, but she didn't seem keen to talk about the subject of Frank Mooney.

"But…" Craig started as she was about to walk off. "He was gonna jump!"

She paused and looked back. "You serious?"

"Yeah, you should have seen him when I pushed him out of the way! He was livid!"

Sally pursed her lip thoughtfully then retraced her steps back towards the spot where Craig was standing in the locker room.

"Have you told anyone else?"

Craig shook his head. "I didn't know if I should…"

"Then don't," she advised. "I'll talk to Frank," she promised.

Livid had been the exact expression on Frank's face as he fell to the ground, Craig landing on top of him.

"Get off me you jerk!" Frank roughly threw Craig aside. "What the hell do you think you're doin'?!" he demanded, glaring at the youngster.

Craig didn't know which was worse, the fire raging in the flat below, or the fire blazing in Frank's eyes.

"Um... saving your life?"

"Piss off. If I want my life saving, I'll ask!" with that, Frank stormed off, leaving Craig alone next to the newly created gaping hole in the middle of the stricken roof.

Adam Benjamin was feeling the happiest he had felt in a long while. The main reason being that D.I Roebuck had decided to leave him alone. He wasn't sure of the exact reason for that, but guessed it must have something to do with Frank. Everything that happened round here lately seemed to have something to do with Frank Mooney.

Also, due to Mick's sudden departure, nothing was being done about Frank's sudden need to confess the truth. Whatever Frank's agenda was, he wasn't about to discuss it with anyone, least of all Adam. Adam decided he didn't care, as long as Frank kept it that way. The less interaction the pair of them had, the better.

Anyway, the text message harassment had stopped, the pub was getting fixed up and Frank was in no mood to be calling in any debts that might still be owed. The only current problem plaguing Adam was in the love department. He hadn't been out with another girl since Maddie dumped him. He had really thought that she was the one. However she hadn't seen things the same way.

He decided he had spent too long moping about her. She had turned down his proposal, so obviously she wasn't the one after all. He knew it was time to get out his fishing rod once more and started to think about which bait he would use…

Sally found herself wondering if she should have taken more than four days off recently. But then she knew that she would just have been sitting at home, thinking. She preferred to keep busy and not think about things. She didn't want to think about the life she had just destroyed, a person who didn't even get a say in the matter. A person who had to die because they were an inconvenience to her.

But it was more than that. It wasn't a person, it was a thing. How could Frank Mooney create anything that so much as resembled a human being? He didn't have an ounce of humanity left inside him. She wondered if there was any truth in what Craig had told her. Maybe he had got the wrong impression that day on the roof? After all, it had all happened in a split second, although it had seemed like much longer.

"Frank?" she found him mulling things over in his usual place, the empty gym.

"You got rid of it didn't you?" he didn't even look at her.

"Yes."

"Am I such a bad person Sally?"

She remained silent because she was inclined to answer in the positive, and he knew it too.

"Perhaps it's better off that way," he muttered.

"And since when did you care?" she couldn't hide her surprise that he was showing complacency towards someone other than himself.

"That surprises you?" he allowed himself a small, brief, grin. "I don't like what I've become Sally, sometimes I feel the world would be better off without the likes of Frank Mooney."

She wondered if he was looking for sympathy from her. Like the night he had confessed his misdemeanors to her. The night he had told her that he had murdered someone. Or the night his father and brother had been killed in a house fire. The "nice" Frank had become a firefighter to help others, to stop other families from going through the same hell he had. However Nice Frank had been led astray by Nasty Frank, who seemed to have sucked out all of the goodness he had once possessed.

She wondered if he was looking to find Nice Frank again. She felt the sympathy flowing, if indeed that was what he was trying to do... She liked Nice Frank, she knew she had feelings for him, but Nasty Frank had put a dampener on those.

"I'm not fit to be a father," he was still wallowing in his own self-pity.

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked up at him. Trying to see if Nice Frank was still inside somewhere. There was coldness in his eyes, but she could still see the warmth they had once possessed.

"I know there's a nice guy in there somewhere."

"I don't know if I can come back from this," he sighed. "I've done too many things."

"I know. I can help."

"No, Sal, I don't think you can."

He made a move to leave the gym.

"Frank!" she called after him. "You're not going to do anything stupid are you?"

He looked back. "Anything stupider than I've already done you mean?"

She didn't say anything. He took her answer to be positive and left the gym. She wondered if she should go after him.

Adam was lost in thought, planning his next move to get a girl, when Frank Mooney brushed passed him on the stairs.

"Watch it!" Frank muttered aggressively and continued his way down the stairs.

Adam frowned as Frank had been the one who barged into him. He shrugged it off, not wanting to challenge Frank. Whatever was troubling him, Adam decided that Frank probably deserved it. After the positions Frank had put him in recently, Adam found it hard to muster any kind of sympathy for his colleague.

"Where did Frank go to?" Sally had appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I dunno," Adam decided that he didn't really care either.

"Don't be like that, he's been through a lot."

"Oh yeah? And I haven't?!"

"He just needs someone to help him."

"Don't kid yourself Sally!" Adam tried to choke back his amusement at how naive she was being.

She made a quick check round to make sure no one else was on the stairs, or within ear shot, before she replied in a hushed voice.

"He tried to kill himself."

Adam didn't know how he should react to the news. His first reaction was 'good' but then he thought that Frank must be in serious turmoil to be driven to that. He just looked at Sally open-mouthed.

"Really?" he pulled himself together.

"He needs our help."

"I don't think so! I'm not getting involved with him again! I don't care what his future plans are!"

She sighed, knowing that there was no reason for Adam to change his mind. Still, she felt she should try to do something. She had something with Nice Frank, if only they could get rid of his Nasty sidekick.

"I know you might not understand that Sally," Adam continued. "I mean, he hasn't almost wreaked your life has he?!"

She realised that Adam didn't have any clue as to what had been happening in her life recently.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, Adam," she started off down the stairs after Frank.

"Wait!" Adam caught up with her. "What's he done to you?" he demanded.

"I thought you didn't care?"

"I don't care about him, I care about you though."

"Don't even go there."

She was remembering their very brief kiss, he knew. The very brief mistake made by him as he tried to cope with Recall's death, being dumped, and the problems those events had brought with them. It had been a mistake then, but she had been so nice to him, so understanding of his grief. She had put her arm on him to comfort him, she wasn't looking for sex (not that he had realised that then), just companionship.

He realised that was what his life was lacking. Not sex, but love and companionship. Someone who understood him, knew what he was feeling and could relate to him. He realised now that he was looking for more from a woman than just something to hang off his arm and parade around. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with a person he got on well with.

He realised the right person had been stood right in front of him, but had now left him on the stairs in search of the suicidal Frank. Adam found his legs taking him in the same direction.