Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my own creations.
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The rumbling noise around her was deafening as the rocks crashed below, shattering on the hard sand and rocks littering the beach, the mighty waves rushing ashore suddenly amplified as Heidi finds herself having a mini panic attack.
'Get a grip on yourself woman.'
Her heart was beating at a mile a minute and she could feel her baby kicking in distress. Drawing her eyes away from the scene below her she forced herself to look upward. The sun was in that exact position that when she looked for Sandy - or anyone - on the cliff's edge, she got an eyeful of the sun's glare and was momentarily blinded.
Dots still danced in front of her eyes as she tugged on her rope futilely before remembering that her rope wasn't set up on the pulley system to be pulled up. Amanda's rope had been. And so that left her with one option - climb up.
She disregarded everything around her as she reached around for a grip. Pulling her body up a foot or two, she groaned in pain and exhaustion as she reached for the next foothold. She strained as she rose another inch and placed her foot on another rock.
A rock that promptly fell away.
Her foot swung uselessly in the air as she fought to regain her balance on the cliff face. Breathing heavily, she tentatively placed her foot on another rock as she struggled to hug the cliff face - a feat in itself. She winced as the rope cut into her lower abdomen.
But she had no time to think as the rocks began to fall away once again.
It was like someone had hooked her up to an electrical charger and just flicked the switch. Nothing else mattered. She needed to get to the top and so that was what she was going to do. Scrambling up as quick as she can, rocks and branches falling around her, somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind processed the fact that the rope always seemed to remain taut.
'Heads up!'
She wasn't even sure if that was just something her mind had said or if it actually came from someone up top. Her mind had no time to think as her body reacted instantly and she moved to the left as a rock came crashing down, landing exactly where she had been just seconds ago before it continued it's destructive path to the bottom.
The next few moments seemed to fade away as she somehow made it up to the top. It was a set of familiar arms that pulled her over the edge and she didn't even need to open her eyes as her body was embraced from behind and she breathed in his familiar scent as her head fell to his chest, content to be still for just a moment.
Opening her eyes she saw Lara working at getting the rope off from around her lower body as she then saw Vince's approach toward her. Sweat is still pouring off her as she struggled to sit up and face him, but Jordan's arms had her trapped and he wasn't letting her move.
She breathleslly opened her mouth to say something, but it was interrupted by a god almighty big bang as all watched in horror as the last of the rocks skittered down the cliff and smashed on the ground below. She wasn't sure that she would ever be able to hear that noise again without feeling the bone-deep fear that she was back out on the cliff face once again.
Shuddering, she looks up at the disappointed face of Vince. 'Heidi-ho...'
'I had to do it,' she pre-empted him.
'I know,' he said with a heavy sigh. 'But I don't have to like it.'
'If I hadn't, she would have died,' she tried to reason, but she would never know what his response might have been because at that exact moment Sandy Sydney made her way over and dropped to her knees, hugging her with a fierce abandon. 'Thank you! Thank you!'
It was too much.
Jordan realised quickly that her movements in his arms were for a reason of a most urgent nature and was quick to set her free, ordering Lara to get the distraught mother-in-law back. Heidi fell onto her hands and knees as she upended the contents of her stomach onto the ground in front of her. Gripping her abdomen, she groaned as breathed heavily, waiting for the nausea to pass. She could feel the comforting hands holding back the hair that she now realised was completely and utterly free of it's usual braid.
Job complete, she needed to get away from the sight and stench of it as soon as possible. Determined to stand up, she hated that it took both Jordan and Vince to help her. Her legs felt like jelly and she wasn't sure that she had ever felt so exhausted.
'We need to get you to the hospital babe,' said Lara as she scrutinised her face. 'You're not looking too crash hot.'
'I'm fine.'
'Hospital. Now.' They were the only words Jordan had spoken to her since she had come up over the edge and somehow she had a feeling that they would be the only ones that she would hear from him for some time.
Jordan had been there for her every step of the way since he'd discovered she was pregnant. He'd found out about her pregnancy at the same time as the rest of the team and he'd been so disappointed that he hadn't told her earlier. She'd been afraid. But since then he'd become like a mother hen, always checking that she was eating right and always calling at random hours to make sure that everything was fine. It was nice having someone looking after her, and she only hoped that he might consider continuing to look after her after this fiasco.
She tightened her grip on the shoulders of her two men as an ambulance officer came running over and approached Vince. 'We've got to go. The woman is going into labour and we need to get her to the hospital. Does this one require any assistance?'
'We'll bring her in Chas,' said Vince as he waved him off.
'Cheers mate,' said the ambulance officer as he slapped Vince's shoulder and ran back to the ambulance. 'Let's go.'
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Next Chapter: Jordan drives Heidi home.
