A/N: Back to 1994 :P thanks as always to everyone who has read and reviewed so far :)
Sarah x
July 5th 1994
"In other news, Tropical Storm Alberto has finally moved north of Florida and should pass over the state in the next twenty-four hours, bringing unsettled weather as the depression fades out," the radio reporter told the county. "Expect heavy rain and high winds. It's not expected to cause any damage, though anyone living or working near the banks of the Ocmulgee River is asked to be aware of the risk of flooding."
"Oh, joy," Serena muttered, pouring milk into her coffee, listening to the pounding of the rain against the window, the wind, as predicted, gradually becoming stronger. "Hear that, darling?!" she shouted through to her husband. "We're being told to keep an eye out until Alberto passes. Trust us to buy a house on the river in a bloody hurricane state."
"Don't panic," he called back to her. "It's just passing through."
"Guess so," she agreed. "Ugh. Why did I agree to the backshift?" she muttered to herself.
The doorbell rang and sighed, throwing down the cheese grater with an internal rant to herself about how she was never able to make tea uninterrupted. She opened the door to reveal Tammy and her children. "Serena," she said. "Do you think you could babysit for a couple of hours? I need to go to the store and set up the guest room and dig all that stuff out of the basement...I can't concentrate with these two bickering," she rambled on. Her young face was tired and hassled. "Callan's parents are coming to town and they haven't told me until now. They hate me as it is. Please, Serena."
Serena groaned. She had to be at work by nine tonight, and it was already seven. But she looked at Tammy's face and decided she didn't have it in her to refuse a young mother some help. "Alright, alright. Come in, honey," she said, letting herself slip into the Southern familiarities she had slipped into after only a fortnight living in Macon.
"Who is it?" Edward shouted from the bedroom.
"Tammy!" Serena shouted. "Edward, as fascinating as the Simpson family must be, can you please come and help me make tea? I'd like to eat sometime before next Christmas!" She heard him grumbling about just coming off shift himself and rolled her eyes at Tammy. "Men."
"Don't get me started," Tammy warned. "When I get hands on Callan, he's a dead man walking."
"Would you like me to provide him with the double shift from hell?" Serena asked with a grin. "Easily done. I can make him scrub the operating theatre with a toothbrush?"
"When he gets home, he'll be cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush. I don't care if it's four am," she replied darkly.
Serena felt arms around her waist and a kiss against her neck; she couldn't help but smile, despite the fact she knew she looked like a soppy teenager. She elbowed him in the stomach but he only held her tighter and she could almost feel the smugness radiating from him.
"I'd better get going," Tammy sighed. She took a hair tie from her wrist and pulled her thick red curls into a bushy ponytail. "You two," she knelt down to Trisha and Kayla. "Be good for Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, OK? I'll be back soon."
"Love you, Mommy!" they chorused brightly.
"I love you too," Tammy grinned, kissing both their cheeks. She half-ran out the door without another word, and Edward bent down and picked Trisha up.
"Have you had your dinner yet?" he asked her. The little girl nodded her head, and her twin reached up for Serena, apparently wanting to be held like her sister. It took Serena a matter of seconds to give in and lift Kayla. She knew it probably didn't help the child's discipline, but she couldn't bring herself not to.
"Mrs. Campbell," Kayla piped up. "May I have a drink?"
"Call me Serena," she smiled back. "And call him Edward," she added with a nod to her husband. "Of course you can have a drink, darling. What would you like?"
"Juice!" Trisha butted in.
"Milk!" Kayla added. She and Edward both set the children down again and went to the fridge. Edward quietly took over making tea and left her to deal with the children.
Forty minutes later, Serena and Edward sat on the sofa with the girls playing at their feet. "Do you think you'd ever want kids?" Edward asked quietly, smiling down on Kayla and Trisha. The question froze Serena; children were not high on her list of priorities but she knew there was some part of her deep down that did want to be a mother.
"I don't know," she said. "Guess I wouldn't mind it. Not saying I'd be very good at it though," she added.
"Rubbish. You'd be a great mum," he replied, patting her leg lightly. The shrill sound of the phone rang through the house. "I'll get it," he said before she could even put her plate down. She watched him carefully, never failing to be amazed by Edward's kind nature and the ability to say what was needed in any situation.
When he returned it was with an uncharacteristic frown upon his optimistic face. "What's up?" she asked through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"It was Tammy, asking if we would meet her at Walmart. She hasn't got enough room in her car for everything she's bought," he explained. Serena sighed. This was going to be a long night. "I don't know why Callan's mum and dad couldn't just phone ahead. It's not fair to leave Tammy to do all this."
Serena took Kayla by the hand and picked up the car keys. "To be fair, it sounds like Callan didn't even know they were coming."
"Parents, eh? What can we do with them?" he grinned, strapping Trisha into the back seat.
"More importantly, what would we do without them?"
Edward laughed and got in the passenger side, remembering it was Serena's turn to drive. It was pounding with rain already, just as the radio had said. "Here was me thinking Britain got rough weather," she sighed. She looked at her watch briefly; it was already nearly eight and she was working in less than an hour. At least it was the nightshift and so the head of department would not be there. In fact, during the night she was in charge, and she loved the freedom that came with.
She drove up the road and as she approached the bridge she noticed just how swollen the river was. She didn't like this. She stopped at the bridge. "What's wrong?" Edward asked.
"Nothing," she said; she put the car in gear and cautiously took her foot off the clutch, trying to avoid thinking of the rushing river below. "Bloody Ocmulgee," she muttered. "Who even calls a river that?"
She got to the other side and stopped to calm her nerves; why she had got so uptight, she was unsure. Perhaps this was just her first 'real' experience with this kind of weather. She shouldn't have looked over to the river. Once her mind allowed it, she started to carefully drive onto I16, towards Walmart. The window behind her was open – she could feel the wind behind her, the occasional splash of water hitting against her skin.
She looked in the rear view mirror to find four-year-old happily putting herself out the window to feel the rain against her little hands.
"Kayla, close that window and put your seatbelt back on," Edward said firmly. Serena heard the little girl's protest and her sister yelling at her to 'be good.' She heard Edward's groan as he leaned across back of her seat in an effort to wind the window up.
She suddenly felt a knock to the car from the passenger side...the water was rushing onto the road almost like a wave. "Edward," she whispered. "I think the levee's broken."
"Kayla! Sit down!" Edward shouted in panic. The car moved, tipping back and forth as the engine stalled and the water rushed around them. It gave a hard knock to Edward's side and Serena felt herself toppling to the side with the car.
A scream.
A splash.
Serena's mind raced as she realised Kayla had fallen into the water. She fumbled for the seatbelt but it wouldn't come out, and she didn't have enough strength because she was holding her breath. Edward turned around to her, his face full of sheer terror as he had to make a choice between his wife and a child. She nodded at him, telling him to get Trisha out and find Kayla. He forced himself between the front seats, and she felt him touch her arm lovingly.
She grappled still with the seatbelt. She was relieved when Edward fairly easily freed Trisha and swam out the open window; she felt the strength draining from her arms, weak and lightheaded from a lack of oxygen. She willed herself not to breathe in. You're tougher than this, Serena Campbell. Come on. Don't give in!
She was beginning to fade when she finally managed to undo the seat belt, but she couldn't get in between the seats to the back window; she slammed her hands against the windows in vain, knowing full well how little good it would do. Fingers wrapped around her wrist, an arm around her waist.
Her shoulders smacked against the seats, and she felt a surge of pain as her collar bone snapped under the pressure. She had to remind herself not to scream when it hit the border of the window as he yanked her forcefully out of the car. He pulled her to the surface, an arm still around her waist. She breathed in. gasping for the air that burned her deprived lungs.
She looked around, seeing nothing but water and partially submerged trees and signs and lamp posts. She let out a huff of relief to see Trisha and Kayla hugging themselves to each post of a sign, though the twins looked scared out of their wits. She let Edward guide her over. "Everyone OK?" she shouted over the noise of the wind and the rain and water.
"Yeah, they're fine," Edward called back. Serena, terrified, planted a kiss into Trisha's hair when she reached her, Edward doing to same with Kayla. "I think I broke your collar bone!"
"Yeah, I think so," agreed Serena. "You've cut your head, darling," she informed him. His hand reached up to find the blood, his fingertips stained red when he pulled them away.
"I want Mommy!" Kayla shouted.
"Me too!" Trisha yelled.
"We'll find her!" Edward promised. "OK, we'll find her." Serena looked up from the children to find Edward looking less than convinced by his own vow. Serena knew that the flood would have reached Tammy by now, though hopefully not to the same extreme.
Serena shouted hopelessly, "What are we meant to do?! There's nobody here!"
"We wait!"
"We can't!" she pointed out. "What if the river surges? We're dead in a heartbeat!" she told him. She felt his panic and tried not to make him any worse; she looked around her but found no logic. Only water. Water and debris. She couldn't find a way to anything remotely helpful. Maybe Edward was right and they had to just wait for the inevitable rescue operations began.
She was starting to panic herself, watching pulses of rushing water passing through them, and she was wary that the trees were so close, having only managed to get to the edge of the road since the central railings were submerged. She was wary that Trisha was coughing like she was going to die. She was wary that her collar bone was an agony she was struggling to block out. She was wary that Kayla was growing weaker by the minute. She was wary that there was blood flowing from Edward's head.
"Do you think there's a..." he began. "Do you think..."
"Do I think what?!" she asked him, trying to keep focussed and conscious.
"Tammy..." he attempted to convey his fears – the ones that mirrored her own. Suddenly his eyes closed and he dropped like a dead weight below the surface.
"Edward!" she screamed in her terror, trying and failing to catch his arm, or any limb, as he sank.
Hope this is alright!
Please feel free to drop me a review and tell me your opinion!
Sarah x