The heart is an embarrassment to the chest if it's not on fire.
Releasing a breath brings shame if it's not a fountain of flame.
"Jason. That's Jason, isn't it?"
Carly looked up at the harsh sound of her cousin's voice to where he and Elizabeth stood just a foot or two away. Her hiccupping-sobs were lost in the mêlée of the moment; around them, officers and firefighters alike raced back and forth, doing their best to combat the blaze.
"Yeah. It is."
Elizabeth turned slightly to face Carly when the older woman spoke and met her gaze dead-on. They stared at each other for a long moment, Carly still shaking with the force of her sobs and out-of-breath gasps, only to further lose it when Elizabeth's lower lip trembled. Lucky remained staring pensively at the fire, not noticing the exchange between the two women on either side of him.
It was perhaps the most surreal moment she had ever experienced; staring past Lucky to his cousin on his right, Elizabeth saw straight into Carly's soul. The pain, the raw anguish, the terrible fear, the desperate hope that had suddenly become the last bastion against the onset of unimaginable grief – she saw it all. And she was fairly certain Carly saw the same thing in her eyes.
As quickly as that single moment of tolerant understanding had sparked between them, it was gone – Carly's eyes flew back to the warehouse when the building emitted a pained and very audible crack, the structure groaning as the right wing of the office began to collapse upon itself.
"Oh, God." Her lips, blue from the February frost despite the palpable heat waves washing over the scene, fell open on a silent gasp of terror, her eyes wide and unbelieving. "Oh, no. NO! SONNY! NO!"
Elizabeth didn't know what propelled her, didn't know how she found the strength to move, but all of a sudden, she found herself at Carly's side, grabbing frantically at the woman's bright turquoise coat as the blonde tried to launch herself toward the warehouse. "SONNY!"
"Carly! Carly, please!" she begged, obtaining a firmer grasp on her rival's flailing arms and using that coupled with all her strength to pull back, and almost pull the older woman off her feet.
"SONNY!" Carly was still struggling, though her body was limper now, and Elizabeth struggled to keep her upright. Her own limbs trembling from fear, exhaustion, dread, and utter exertion in the below-freezing temperatures, she had no choice but to slowly lower Carly's trembling body to the ground, crouching next to her with her arms still around the woman's waist. "Oh, God, oh, Sonny, please…Please, God…Sonny…"
Lucky remained standing in place, lips pursed tightly together in a thin pink line, cold topaz eyes trained dutifully on the roaring, white-hot flames. He didn't flinch at Carly's cries of anguish, didn't notice that Elizabeth was sobbing herself while holding on tightly to her arch-nemesis; all the chaos blended into one hideous scene of utter pandemonium as the leaping, dancing flames held him riveted.
"Oh, Sonny," Carly sobbed weakly, shuddering and curling up into a ball against Elizabeth's side. The brunette, trying to muffle the sound of her own sobs, tightly wrapped her arms around the blonde's quaking shoulders. "My Sonny…Oh, God, please…"
"He'll make it out." She didn't know where she found the strength to speak. "You'll see, Carly – they'll both make it out."
Elizabeth half-expected her rival to suddenly realize her surroundings and launch herself away with a torrent of stings and insults, but instead she felt Carly's fingers burrow into her jacket. The woman's voice was weak and wavering when she finally spoke. "They have to…Oh, they just have to."
Another loud, angry explosion came from the warehouse as the right wing collapsed entirely, immediately combusting in a wave of eager flames. The force of the heat caused Lucky to rock back on his heels, and Elizabeth's mouth fell open as she stared, hypnotized, into the inferno. The officers and firefighters alike were yelling frantically and desperately, stripping off their cumbersome gloves and jackets and welcoming the February chill as they worked together to get the water pumping from the frozen hydrants. But even as they scurried about like ants, their pace fast and frenetic, it was obvious that the fire was winning the race.
Carly hadn't even looked up when the right wing had collapsed; instead, she turned her face into Elizabeth's shoulder and hung on for dear life. The brunette barely felt the dig of her long nails as she watched the hypnotizing dance of the flames, the audacious leaps of armies of sparks. Dimly, she was aware of Carly whimpering through her sobs.
"Sonny, I'll make you a deal." She dared a peek out at the flames, her face ashen and dirty from the smoke. Her nose was bright red and running, but Carly just wiped it on the back of her palm and whimpered into the frigid night. "If you get out, Sonny, I'll promise you – no more frozen pizza. I promise, Sonny. No more pizza, and no m-more soda o-o-r brownies or cookies or…" Her voice broke on sobs and Elizabeth did her best to control her own trembling as she rested her cheek on Carly's hair. "Nothing but what you like, Sonny. For both me and Michael – I mean it; if you come out of there, you can feed us wheelbarrows of brussel sprouts, and, oh, God, Sonny, I swear to you we'll like it. Please…you just have to come out."
"Shhh-shh," Elizabeth soothed, gulping past the lump in her throat and hurriedly swiping at her eyes. Carly didn't need to see her crying – her husband was trapped inside and she didn't need anyone's grief but her own. "They'll come out, I know they will. They're not going to…" She couldn't even bear to finish the sentence. Staring up at the night sky, Elizabeth tried to glimpse the stars behind their veil of dense black smoke. It was difficult, but she finally saw them twinkling, far off in the heavens. Carly's sniffles were soft as Elizabeth closed her eyes in silent prayer. "Please, Jason, you have to come out."
Carly sat silently, practically collapsing into Elizabeth's petite body, and made no move to pull herself up. She heard Elizabeth make a prayer for Jason; she could almost see those reverent and hopeful words float up past the smoke to the merciful stars in the far-off distance. Her fingers wrapped around Elizabeth's arms, either anchoring herself or the brunette. She didn't know. And somehow, it didn't seem to matter anymore.
The fire blazed on.
The seconds ticked by, and Elizabeth could hear her own heart hammering away in her ribcage. Every second that passed…marked every single second that Sonny and Jason spent trapped in that fiery tomb.
She had only seen his back as he raced off into the flames; he was dressed in his usual blue jeans paired with those motorcycle boots she could recognize from a mile away. It had been impossible not to see him, the way he ran into those flames like a gallant knight. And that was in a sense exactly what he was – he had gone in there to rescue his boss from the flames, to rescue his best friend from bereavement, to rescue the little boy he once considered a son from the pain of a life without his father figure. He had gone in there because that was what Jason did; he took care of everyone else, even if it meant that he didn't get to take care of himself.
And despite everything that he had going on in his life right now, Jason still risked everything to save Sonny.
Tears pricked her eyes once more as Carly's nails dug into her shoulder again, and Elizabeth painfully swallowed past the lump in her throat. Oh, God, she couldn't lose another man to a fire. She just couldn't. He was held captive in a tomb of flames, and she didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to him…
Carly flinched when Elizabeth viciously shook those thoughts away. No – she'd never say goodbye to him. It was only "I'll see you later", and at this moment, she wasn't even ready to say that. Because he would come out – he would.
A chorus of triumphantly weary yells broke her from her trance, and both Carly and Elizabeth's frightened eyes flew to the large mob of firefighters and police officers. The fire hydrant had been freed from the grips of the February frost. A relieved sob escaped Carly's lips as she watched several burly cops, all relieved of their winter coats but nevertheless sweating, fasten the hose and start the water.
And then the firefighters took over, swarming the scene and targeting specific sections of the building with the powerful torrents of water. The fire hissed and gurgled but refused to give, spewing angry armies of sparks and embers high into the air. A fine mist clouded the crisp air, freezing into tiny droplets of ice and lightly dusting the ground. Unmindful of the harsh conditions, the Port Charles Police and Fire Department continued to wage a valiant campaign against the flames, trampling hurriedly and desperately over the freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
"See?" Elizabeth's voice was weak and obscured as she numbly rubbed Carly's upper arms, trying to rouse her alarmingly silent rival. "See? They've got it working – it's working! They'll put the fire out!"
"And Sonny and Jason…" Carly was struggling to move and leaned heavily into Elizabeth as the younger brunette helped her to her feet, keeping one arm around her waist to support her frame. "They're going to be fine. Oh, Elizabeth, they're going to make it!"
"They're going to make it," Elizabeth agreed tremulously, not bothering to swipe away the tears that were already freezing on her jaw line. "They'll get out in time."
Lucky whistled under his breath as the flames continued to lick the building, hissing angrily at the water that dared to stop their advance. "It's really coming down," he muttered under his breath, not noticing the glare of pure disbelief that his girlfriend directed at him. "Holy #."
Elizabeth's nails bit into the skin of Carly's hands as the two women stood stock still, holding their breath as the firefighters advanced menacingly with the hoses. The seconds that ticked by bled into eternity; still, the fire raged on.
"I don't get it-" Carly's voice was raspy and drenched with panic. "Why isn't it working? Why aren't they-" She stopped, having spied Taggert, and Elizabeth wasn't prepared when the blonde recalled her strength and tried to launch herself toward the detective. "TAGGERT!"
He didn't look away from the task at hand, and Elizabeth kept Carly back at a safe distance. "It's okay, it's okay…"
Only it wasn't.
The fire raged on; the firefighters hadn't gained an inch. Carly was attempting to pull away from Elizabeth's grasp, but the dancing flames held her in place, completely hypnotizing her the way they had Lucky. Elizabeth's midnight blue eyes, stinging from the smoke, continued to dart from point to point, searching every available entrance for any sign of Sonny or Jason. She saw nothing past the blinding fire.
A deafening roar issued forth from the building, and as Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat, Carly let out a piercing cry of anguish. The firefighters retreated as the central structure trembled and groaned before slowly collapsing inward. Lucky trembled in front of them, his limbs visibly shaking, and Elizabeth was almost pulled down to the ground as Carly's weight bore down on her body.
Her own strength fleeing from her body, Elizabeth's hands limply slipped from Carly's arms, and the older woman struggled to stay upright. Taggert was talking with his officers, his face grim and his jaw tight. The firefighters were still doing their best to combat the blaze and were torn between their will to hose the entire inferno down and the fear that the pressure and force of the water would only cause the building to collapse more quickly.
Lucky remained unmoving as Taggert approached reluctantly. Something pushed the Lieutenant to walk slowly toward Carly – something he didn't understand but obeyed nevertheless. Also, he had a feeling that if he didn't go talk to her, she'd come tearing after him and rip the entire force to shreds if she could.
Behind him, the firefighters were still aiming but abruptly lessened pressure when the building creaked once more, sections exploding violently in a brilliant spray of sparks and embers. Carly watched numbly, her entire body shaking as a terrific tremor ripped through it, as Taggert approached. His face was ashen and his clothes grimy from the soot and smoke, and the detective's dead eyes fell reluctantly on the two women, still standing close together.
The warehouse screamed in agony once more under the force of the flames as Taggert forced himself to speak. "The place is coming down."
Carly's brown eyes gleamed with murderous intent; had she the strength, she would have gone for the Lieutenant's jugular for what he dared to suggest. "Stop it – do something to stop it."
A silent sob ripped through Elizabeth's shoulders when she saw the dejected set of Taggert's shoulders. The Lieutenant – usually so full of energy and venom – was losing hope and fast. "Taggert, no…"
"There's not much we can do anymore." His voice was soft and tightly drawn, and unseen to them, his hands hidden away in his pockets were clenched into unforgiving fists.
"Yes, there is!" Carly was almost beside herself with grief and rage, an interlaced dynamic that managed to pump strength back into her atrophic limbs. "That's my husband in there! You have to-"
Taggert drew in a deep breath and his next words, though soft, stopped Carly cold. "I'm sorry. But there's nothing we can do anymore."
What we think is obvious is so far beyond our comprehension.
We are still dreaming even when we dream we are awake.
