"Nathan, you've gotta go home," Duke almost yelled for the third time "go home, relax, think! Jeez, get a freaking shower! Let's face it, Audrey's not going anywhere." Nathan just stared at her. She hadn't moved in the three hours he had been there. There had been some people from the town that had stayed to try and comfort him, but in the end the silence was too uncomfortable – they couldn't bear to look at his broken face – and each, in their turn, left with mumbled excuses. Nathan didn't even blink an eye.
"Go back to the Station," the Chief said more empathetically, knowing his son needed something to do, not somewhere to go "I know the firemen need help cleaning the ashes away and sorting everything out. We'll stay and look after Audrey – you go. We'll call you if anything changes." Nathan didn't have the energy to be angry of grumpy at the Chief – he just stood up and left. Everyone in the hall seemed to avoid him – even the people he had never seen before kept a safe distance.
Nathan couldn't remember leaving the hospital, or getting in his car, or even driving to the Station – all he knew was that he was suddenly standing outside the smoky remains of his workplace. It didn't look that bad from the outside, but Nathan could see firemen carrying blackened files and debris from the ruined doors.
"Evening," greeted a fireman close to Nathan. Nathan nodded in reply.
"You're that bloke, aren't you?" the fireman continued "The husband of that pretty blonde woman? The pregnant one?"
"Yeah," grunted Nathan.
"I'm Bill – I pulled her out the building when it was still alight." That caught Nathan's attention "Can you tell me if she's alright?"
"She's in a coma – if she doesn't wake up in two days, she won't ever." Nathan replied emotionlessly.
"Oh, damn." He gasped "That's bad – I'm sorry for you, man." Nathan nodded again and watched the firemen pull his burned desk from the building.
"Strange," Bill began, staring at the papers before him "we looked for any signs of arson or accidental fire, but there was nothing. It was like the building spontaneously combusted or something. And another thing," he pointed to a box of scribble on a sheet of paper – now Nathan was really interested "the fire seemed to start and pretty much stay in your and your wife's office – hardly anywhere else was even touched by the fire, yet your office is so burned it looks like it's made of coal." Bill crewed up his eyebrows and shook his head. But Nathan was staring. Suddenly, he stood up and ran into the Station – Bill wasn't lying. Most of the office spaces were untouched, if a bit smoke-damaged, and could be cleaned up and fixed in no time. His and Audrey's office, however, was barely recognisable; everything was broken into ashes and burnt wood on the floor. A few firemen were milling about, picking up the shattered remains of unrecognisable objects. Nathan stepped into the office and his eyes caught on a pale flash, half-buried in ashes. He walked toward sit and picked it up – it was a photo of him and Audrey on their wedding day, their faces smooshed together, both of them grinning like idiots. Audrey's hair had fallen out of it's pretty up-do half-way through the ceremony and had spent the rest of the day brushing it out of her eyes. It had miraculously managed to escape the flames with nothing but a few singed edges to show for it.
This was no accidental fire.
This was supernatural, and this was personal.
This was killing Audrey, her time running out.
This was Trouble.