I just can't give this one up. I need to update this and give it a proper ending. I owe you guys that much and this fic means a lot to me. I'm really thankful for the reviews I've gotten for this. When it comes to my little British man and his injuries… well I know "this person" in real life and if he knew what I've done to him he'd be pissed at me :P But I guess you all including him are about to find out...
Well I'm just going to pick up where I left off….
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The following seconds seemed to pass in slow-motion for them all.
Jimmy, DK and Walsh was still stuck in the elevator waiting for a word on how to open the elevator doors…
Man, could this go any slower? Jimmy though sighing loudly. Billy placed his right hand on his friends shoulder in a supporting manner. Jimmy looked at him and then at DK and nodded… yes, you have my back and I have yours, no matter what. He just wished with every fibre of his body that this "matter" would have nothing to do with the death of his ex wife… Please… let her be okay…
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Anton and the other teens sat in silence wishing this all to stop… they wanted to be back in England… or even Sweden. They wanted Susanne to smile and laugh at them… dancing at the bar disk. They wanted James to chase them around threatening to throw chocolate ice cream in their faces… Katja took Emma's hand. They glanced at each other and then turned their gazes towards Susanne…
Susanne, James… James, Susanne… could one of them live without the other?
Kim didn't know them but thought that they probably couldn't… She thought of her years without Jimmy. She had survived, but had she lived? No, she thought… That night I found out about Jimmy and Melanie my life stopped. I was lost and I clung desperately to what was left of life as I knew it… work, Bobby and Joey.
Bobby… it had actually been a while since she had thought of him now… really thought of him. Sure he had been on her mind, he always was but it had been more as a comforting thought than painful memories… The way he would want it to be, she thought… Comfort, not pain. Bobby was never much for causing her pain. Jimmy was… he was… he was great at the pain thing… he'd done it so many times.
Kim looked at the young woman in front of her. The woman with the tear streaked face, down on her knees on the dusty floor, desperate to know what was wrong with her colleague… oh yes, she was definitely in pain. So maybe that was it then? Maybe that extra spark that meant love in that tingling, priceless, never old way needed some pain?
She almost smiled when she thought of the conversation she and Joey had this morning.
7.32 am
"Why do I have to go to school at all?"
She sat beside him on the couch and turned off the TV with the remote. She kissed his cheek and smiled at him.
"What's the best part of school?" she asked.
He thought about it for a while. "Winter and summer break?" He grinned.
Kim laughed at him. "Well if you didn't go to school it wouldn't be so fun with winter and summer break now would it?"
Maybe that's what her life would be like without Jimmy and the pain he stood for… a never ending winter break. You need the downs in life to recognize the ups, Kim thought. Bobby had been the loving friend that'd tried to even the in-betweens out as much as he could and she'd loved him for it… but whether or not she liked the smooth and even in-betweens he was gone now and she knew she'd never get a friend like that again. Not with losing trust in her sister. Not with Alex being dead.
Kim looked around the room again. She thought that everyone in there probably had, at least once while being stuck in there, promised themselves to live a better life if they made it through… to do those things they'd always dreamed about doing, to say that thing they've always wanted to say. To take that big chance…
If you want to win, you have to put something at stake, Kim confessed to herself. She brought her hand to her face and kissed the engagement ring on her finger and promised to put one of the most fragile and valuable things she had at stake. Her heart. Ups and downs she thought sighing. She loved the ups enough to risk a few downs.
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Carlos looked at the blood-soaked man on the floor beside him. His dark blond hair was damp with sweat. His blue eyes where foggy and tired. Carlos was amazed by the fact that the young man hadn't passed out since he woke up the first time, about 30 minutes after the roof fell in. He looked exhausted but kept saying he'd sleep when he was back at his hotel room. The comment had made some of the women in the room laugh… a real charmer, thought Carlos, without a clue on just how serious his injury is.
Truth was, James knew he was hurt really bad but him worrying himself or others about it wouldn't help any of them. He'd concentrate on the whole thing, including the shooting pain in his shoulder that made him see flashes before his eyes when he knew Susanne and his students were okay and they were all out of this damn bank.
Through the hole in the wall of debris he held Susie's hand in his. She wanted to know if he was okay. She asked again and again if he was alright. Him, in a strained voice, telling her he was fine wasn't good enough for her.
"James… what's wrong?" She asked. Her tone was desperate and he could tell she was scared. He knew that tone. He also knew that she trusted him to calm her down and make her feel better like so many times before. He wasn't sure he could do that this time though.
His hand slowly moved up to his left shoulder. His fingers became wet and sticky with his own blood that had soaked through the white t-shirt Carlos had tried to stop the bleeding with. Letting his fingers continue to play with the shirt he looked Carlos straight in the eye. He needed Carlos to tell her this. He knew that Susie wouldn't settle with his version. By now she knew he'd hide how serious things were.
The young paramedic that by now had gotten to know the other young man rather well nodded and cleared his throat.
"Miss?"
"Yes?" came the shaky answer from the other side. Susie wanted to know what was going on with James.
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By now, darkness had fallen over the city. Doc paced back and forth outside of the building. Him and Levine had taken the old lady from the elevator to the hospital. She wasn't much to work on so they just transported her to Mercy. They had now gotten back and there was still no word on his paramedics… or anyone else inside. A woman in her thirties sat on a bench nearby wrapped up in a blanket that Doc had given to her. She worked on the ground floor when the building collapsed and she'd been quite shaken up after being "chased across the floor by a growing crack" as she'd told them.
The police and fire department worked together in teams to evacuate the connecting buildings in case they were in any danger of collapsing as well. Bosco argued with someone a couple of feet away, wanting to know why no one knew what'd caused the collapse in the first place. Had they ruled out explosions of some kind he wondered…
"He sure wonders very loudly…" muttered Doc.
"You know him… he does everything loudly" Faith had walked up behind him. Doc gave her a look of disgust.
"I did not need to know that"
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Jimmy felt like pacing but it was pretty much impossible in the small, crowded elevator. On the ground floor another firefighter popped his head out so that Jimmy could see him through the shaft.
"They're going to get someone from the company that installed the elevator to come down with some sort of key that opens the doors when the elevator breaks down. The janitor is missing."
"What's the ETA on this key-person?" Jimmy asked clearly annoyed.
"They're trying to track him down as we speak"
"There has to be another way to get these doors open!" D.K shouted up to the firefighter above them.
"We don't want to risk hurting anyone on the other side but if we can't open them in a few minutes we'll have to make our way through some other way."
"I'd like that to be my way…" muttered Jimmy.
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"You didn't hear anything? Didn't see anything?" Ty tried to interview a witness but Bosco's loud 'wondering' seemed more interesting to the witness. "Hello?" Ty waved a hand in front of her eyes.
"oh… what was the question again?"
Immediately after asking him that question her eyes wandered over to Bosco again, together with her attention.
"I was asking if it's okay with you if I steal your cell phone" Ty sighed, stepping into her line of sight.
"Mmhmm… yeah…" with Ty in the way she leaned to her right so much that Ty thought she'd fall over.
He gave up.
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"James… um…" Carlos wasn't sure how to put it.
"He's what?" asked Susie holding James' hand so hard her knuckles turned white. All around her the students sat hopeful. He had to be alright! It was James…
James gave Carlos another look. He wanted him to just tell her.
"His left shoulder has been impaled by a reinforcement bar. He's lost a lot of blood and the fact that he hasn't passed out yet is… well it's hard to believe. The bar has to be removed at the hospital and as long as it's still in his shoulder I can't really seem to stop the bleeding."
"James?" One of the girls called from the other side. James took a deep breath to prevent his voice from shaking with pain. It didn't really work.
"Yes, love?"
"We'll get you out."
James gave Carlos a shaky smile.
"Yeah. I know. I'm fine."
Susanne rolled her eyes. "How can you be fine with a reinforcement bar in your shoulder?"
James didn't answer and Susanne felt his hand go limp in hers.
"James! James that's not funny…" She was near panic again. "James!"
"Carlos what's happening?" Kim called.
"He's out" Carlos called back, checking the young mans pulse. He kept an eye on the steady rise and fall of his chest. "He's losing too much blood. I can't stop the bleeding…"
Kim could hear the desperation in Carlos' voice.
"No!" Susanne called "you can't do this now! Wake up!"
She was screaming at him now. He had to come back. They had been through so much. She had to go back with him as well. Having him die on her under a building in NY was not an option.
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"Okay, so we'll…" Jimmy cut D.K short.
"Wait… listen"
"What?" asked Billy.
"Shut up and listen" said Jimmy leaning towards the elevator doors.
"Voices…" said D.K.
The three men looked at each other and then started to pound on the doors, hoping to catch the attention of whoever was on the other side.
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"He can see right through me…" Susanne sobbed. "He takes one look in my eyes and knows what I need… knows what I'm thinking and feeling. I've started this journey with him, I'm not ending it without him!"
Kim nodded. She understood. She looked at the ring on her finger again. Her and Jimmy had started their journey a long time ago and even if she wasn't ready to end it right now she knew she wanted him to be there when that day where to come.
Some of Susie's and James' students couldn't wait any longer now and continued to carefully remove debris from the high pile that divided the room. Kim was about to tell them to stop when something else caught her attention. What was that sound coming from the elevator?
"Can you guys hear that?" she almost whispered. Could the fire department have made their way down?
Nora, one of the Swedish teens made her way over to the elevators. There was definitely a pounding noise coming from inside the elevator. Kim stood frozen next to Susanne, who still clung to James' limp hand. They all watched Nora as she slowly reached out and tapped the metal door.
She turned the tapping into pounding as well. Her face lit up when it was answered from the other side.
"Someone's coming for us!" She looked as if she'd cry. "Susse they'll take James to the hospital. De kommer hjälpa honom."
Kim placed herself next to the girl by the elevator doors. Yes someone was on the other side.
She returned to the now growing hole in the wall of debris and called out for Carlos. "Someone's made their way down into the elevator. Hopefully they'll get to us soon. How's James?"
Carlos didn't answer right away. After what seemed like hours to both Susanne and Kim he finally called back to them.
"That someone better get their ass in here soon…"
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Only one chapter left to this now. This chapter may be rubbish… I don't know.
Reinforcement bar is called "armeringsjärn" in Swedish but when I told my nosy friends about my plan to stick one in James' shoulder they didn't know what a reinforcement bar/armeringsjärn was so in case any of you don't know what a reinforcement bar looks like here's a picture: http/www3.lu.se/bygg/astronomi/P8310021.jpg it's not the best pic out there, I'm sure, but hopefully I'll get my message across anyway.
If you're still reading this feel free to review… I really appreciate it. Tell me whatever you want to…
And I'm sorry for not updating this in years.
