New York was beautiful in the snow, I decided as I walked to work. It was still dark outside, but my team had a meeting with a company offering a major grant, and we wanted to get together beforehand and go over our material. My mind was already running over my part of the presentation as my boots steadily crunched over the snow.
Though I was a few minutes early, everyone was already milling around the coffee pot in the break room. "Good morning," I greeted cheerfully as I began to shed my many layers.
"What's so damn good about it," Aisha said grumpily, nursing her coffee.
"Good morning," Robert returned brightly, though he cast a reproachful glance at the other woman. They were the only other PhDs on the team, and I'd liked the cheerful man the very first day I'd met him.
"Ignore Captain Misery," Amanda said dryly, making Aisha harrumph. "Her car was frozen shut this morning and her daughter vomited on her."
"Twice." Aisha pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly, and I winced in pity. Her daughter was only 4 months old, and Dr. Radji was convinced the baby's superpower was projectile vomiting.
"It's only temporary," I said sympathetically. "She'll grow out of it."
"Now that we're all here, shall we adjourn to Amanda's office," Robert suggested. "I was hoping we could practice the presentation at least once before the meeting."
Amanda gestured for me to walk beside her as she led the way. "Did you see the latest reports from yesterday? 20% of the candidates are completely immune to the latest prototype."
I sighed. "We're not going to get any money at the rate we're going. You might have to start stripping just to make ends meet," I teased. Amanda rolled her eyes and elbowed me gently. "Oh, crap. I forgot my flash drive in my coat. I'll be right back." She nodded and I turned back.
I trotted down the hallway to the break room, silently checking off a mental list to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything else. Flashdrive, cue cards, pens —
An explosion strong enough to shake the building down to its concrete foundations flung me into the wall and then to the floor, and I instinctively closed my eyes as debris showered me.
For a moment, I laid there for a moment, too stunned to move. My world was spinning; my ears rang from the pressure and noise, I'd cracked my head on the floor, and I'd hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me. The fire alarms were shrieking and flashing violently, even as the sprinklers erupted. The icy water kick started my stuttering brain and I slowly pushed myself to my feet. Dazed, I turned to see what had happened, and then the blood drained from my face.
The explosion had originated from Amanda's office.
I didn't hesitate to bolt for the room. Aisha was unconscious, slumped against the wall opposite the office. I shoved off the splintered door lying on top of her leg and stopped only long enough to verify she had a pulse. Satisfied she was alive, I kicked off my stilettos and fought my way barefoot through the smoke to the screaming in the office.
Robert was conscious and screaming in pain. His leg was bent at a grotesque angle, and his left hand was pinned to the wall by a pair of scissors. He didn't even seem to realize he was screaming, his green eyes locked on the bone sticking out from his thigh.
I made a quick gut check and yanked the scissors out of his palm, making him scream all the louder. The smoke and intense heat in the room was making my head foggy and I knew I had to get him out. It took all my adrenalin charged strength, but I dragged the screaming, heavy-set man out of the door and set him next to Aisha.
That scream would haunt me for the rest of my life; it was the insane, instinctual, mindless shriek of a dying animal out of its mind with fear and pain.
I didn't have time to think before I bolted back into the now-raging inferno, trying to see through the smoke to find my friend. The few seconds it took to search the office felt more like hours. Dizzy from smoke and fear, I tripped over something in the haze and landed on my stomach.
It wasn't until I turned back that I realized what I had tripped over. My stomach heaved instinctively at the sight of Amanda's blackened flesh. Though I was certain no one could survive such intense injury and burns, I forced my own horror aside and pressed two fingers to her neck in search of a pulse. For her sake, I was glad when I couldn't find one.
The smoke was so thick that I had to crawl out of the room on my hands and knees just to breathe. When I finally made it to the hallway, I threw up violently, bracing myself on the wall as my entire body heaved, physically rejecting what I'd seen the only way it could.
With a herculean show of adrenalin-aided strength, I pulled a now-silent Robert down the hall to the fire exit and leaned him against the wall before returning for Aisha. She was much lighter, and I ended up fireman-carrying her to the emergency stairway.
Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, I yanked my cell phone out of the pocket of my white lab coat.
No fucking cell reception.
Cursing the building's architect with every profane word I could think of, I sprinted down the 7 flights of stairs to the ground level and threw myself against the fire exit outside. The door swung open and my momentum threw me onto the snow coated pavement, but it didn't matter because I was finally outside.
Startled by the wild exodus of a soot and blood covered scientist, several early morning pedestrians stopped to watch. I turned my attention to the other startled pedestrians who had stopped to watch. "You," I yelled, pointing at a yuppie in a business suit. He looked startled. "Call 911 and tell them we need firemen and ambulances. A bomb went off on the seventh floor. Two critical injuries and one fatality." Praying with everything I had that he would obey, I sprinted back into the building.
I was on the second story before I realized I wasn't alone. I turned to see three middle-aged businessmen grimly following me up the stairs. Seeing people putting themselves in danger to help complete strangers nearly made me break down right there, but I harshly shoved my emotions aside. I couldn't stop yet.
"Get them outside," I shouted over the shrieking fire alarm as the four of us reached Aisha and Robert. If my colleagues were taken care of, I had time to save what I could of our research. Ripping open the fire door, I sprinted down the hall to Amanda's office. By now, the blaze had turned into an inferno, and I had to cover my mouth and nose with my lab coat to combat the smoke as I ran inside the office. Sweat instantly broke out over my skin as I forced myself into the searing heat.
Through some miracle, the computer tower had been thrown against the wall and had shattered from the impact, making my task easier. My eyes were watering furiously from the smoke, making my vision blurry, but I spotted the hard drive hanging partially out of the chassis. The metal was hot from the fire and burned my fingers, but I grit my teeth and forced myself to hang on to the device long enough to drop it into my pocket.
Two full years of research were on this hard drive, and the information it contained was worth more than my own life, let alone a few burnt fingers. Task successfully completed, I sprinted out of the office and back down the hall.
Emergency services had arrived when I stumbled out of the building a second time, Aisha and Robert already being loaded onto stretchers. It was like slow motion as I watched Firemen already unloading massive hoses from massive red trucks. With nothing left to do, my brain just stuttered to a stop, and my legs gave out. I fell to my knees in the snow, and then numbly lay down on my back, letting the ice cool my overheated skin.
Above me, smoke billowed out from the remnants of the office. The black plume starkly contrasted the gray cloud cover, and flakes fell gently on my skin, but I didn't know if they were snow or ash. I found I couldn't care.
Dazedly, I checked my watch, surprised to see it was only 7:45. Fifteen minutes ago, I had teased Amanda about becoming a stripper. My best friend was dead; I had tripped over her charred corpse.
It had only taken fifteen minutes to shatter my world.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Do you have someone who can stay with you," the doctor asked gently. He was clearing me for release, but didn't want me to be alone for the next 72 hours. Whether it was for the smoke inhalation or worry about my mental state, I neither knew nor cared. My brain was just…numb.
"I'll take her home." Both the doctor and I looked up to see a tall, dark man standing at the bed curtain, looking slightly unsure of himself.
"Gabriel," I realized in surprised relief. Of its own free will, my hand drifted up, and Gabriel instantly took it with a concerned frown.
"I'm here," he said gently. Dark eyes turned to the doctor as he came to stand beside where I sat on the bed. "I'll stay with her."
The doctor seemed satisfied, and handed Gabriel a bottle. "Good. I've gone ahead and filled a prescription for Xanax for her, and I'd like her to take it for the next few days." The doctor's eyes were filled with sympathy as he looked at me. "You saved two lives today, Hero. Try to focus on that." He patted my shoulder gently before heading off to his other patients.
I let Gabriel pull me to my feet, remembering at the last minute to grab my ruined lab coat. "How did you know to come?"
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we made our way out. "It's been all over the news, and when you didn't answer my calls, I came here. They're calling it a terrorist attack. They say you're a hero."
I scrubbed a tired hand over my face, wincing when I saw the soot that covered my hand. "If I were a hero, I don't think I would feel so…numb."
His arm tightened around me. "I think that's exactly how you would feel."
Still barefoot, I just let Gabriel hail us a cab. The ride home was silent, and when I tiredly laid my head on his shoulder, he just wordlessly wrapped an arm around me.
For the second time in a month, I arrived home without my keys, but Gabriel just used his power to unlock the doors. I heard the soft click as he closed and locked my apartment door behind us, but I didn't even turn around. Silently, I began shedding clothes as I walked to the shower, leaving a path of lab coat, pants, shirt, bra, and panties. I was just… too numb to care about propriety anymore.
I started the water, not even bothering to shut the bathroom door, and climbed in before the spray had a chance to warm up. All I cared about was getting the blood and soot off me, and I let the icy spray beat against my face and stream through my hair until the cold made my skin as numb as my heart felt.
It wasn't until the water began to warm that my calm broke, but when it did, it was violent. No longer in control of myself, I dumped an entire bottle of shampoo over my head, the thick cream sliding through my hair and down my skin, and I scrubbed every inch of my skin until it was raw and sore.
My hands were shaking violently, but I just kept scrubbing beneath the spray. Dimly, the sound of some chick sobbing hysterically filtered through the walls, and I found the sound obnoxious. No matter how many times I frantically scrubbed myself, I kept seeing Amanda's charred skin against my leg and beneath my fingers. How could I be so repulsed? She was my best friend. What was wrong with me? And why wouldn't that stupid woman shut her trap?
It wasn't until I felt arms wrap around me that I snapped back to reality and realize the weeping woman was me. Instantly, I snapped my mouth shut, but didn't lift my head from the spray. I could feel Gabriel pressed against my back. His large hands settled over mine and stilled their frantic scrubbing, gently cupping them and holding them under the spray. That was when I just sank to the floor beneath the spray, and Gabriel sat with me, his legs on either side of mine and his arms holding me close. He wrapped himself around me as completely as he could.
Using his telekinesis, he shut off the water and just held me tightly as I shook uncontrollably, resting his chin on my shoulder. Eventually, my tears ran dry and I stopped shaking, just slumped against him, still curled into a ball.
I don't know how long we stayed like that, but finally, a small part of me uncurled itself from the fetal position. Enough, Hero. This is enough. Get out of the shower. I took a deep, shuddering breath, and slowly let it out slowly. Again. Another calming breath and I straightened, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.
Sensing that I was calmer, Gabriel released me only long enough to make a towel fly to him, and then he wrapped it around me. Slowly, we uncurled from the protective ball we'd been huddled in, and stepped out of the shower. Gabriel rubbed his hands along the towel, drying me tenderly despite the fact that he was wearing dripping wet clothes. I reached out a hand to still one of his, and he glanced up at me in question.
"Thank you," I whispered, my voice hoarse from smoke inhalation and crying. "Thank you for taking care of me."
He cupped my face with both hands, his dark eyes serious. "I'll always take care of you," he said before gently kissing me. I kissed him back, feeling his hands slip from my jaw to my back, rubbing me comfortingly.
We broke apart, and I handed him another towel from the bathroom closet. "I have some sweats you can wear. They're my brother's, but they should fit."
He nodded and followed me to the bedroom, helping me get dressed into a t-shirt and pajama before bothering to take care of himself. Finally, I climbed into my bed and gestured for him to join me. Gabriel seemed unsure what he should do, and I smiled slightly. "We can watch bad movies in bed. Come on. There's plenty of room." My bed had a thick comforter and a ton of fluffy pillows that created a sort of nest, something I usually only utilized when I was feeling bad. I figured this situation certainly warranted it, and though I'd never had a man in my nest, I decided he was worth making an exception for.
Gabriel decided that I should have something in my stomach, even if I insisted that I wasn't hungry, and ordered a massive pizza that we ate while we watched Star Trek movies, sitting in my bed. We watched for hours until I finally fell asleep in his strong arms.
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