"I promised to keep you safe and get you out and I will Barbara. Now how's that leg?"

"Still very sore and hot."

Tommy carefully unwrapped the makeshift bandage as she lay back down on the mattress. The wound was still swollen and purple. He wrapped it again. "No arguments, this time, Barbara. I'm going to that First Aid area to see if I can find bandages and something to help you."

"Tommy..." she paused but saw the worry on his face. "Yeah, okay."

Tommy gave her a hug. "I will be right back. I promise I will never leave you."

"Don't promise what you can't guarantee. Besides never is the wrong word. You mean you won't leave me here."

"Never is the right word. Now I will be back in about twenty minutes. If you need me, call as loud as you can."

She nodded. "Can you help me go to the loo first?"

Tommy lifted her carefully to the bucket and closed his eyes firmly as she undid her trousers. He wondered if he should whistle. "Should I wait outside?"

"No, I won't pee long."

Tommy's eyes shot open at her joke. "Barbara, please!"

"You're such a prude sometimes! It is not exactly my choice is it? Close your eyes, I need to wipe."

Tommy felt his face flush with embarrassment. He helped her stand as she re-zipped her trousers then carried her back to the mattress. "Right, well I'll go. I'll be back soon."

"Take care Tommy. Don't fall over or anything."

"I won't." Tommy squeezed her hand then lit another candle. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Barbara watched the glow of his candle disappear. She thought she would feel alone but oddly she did not. Calling him by name had brought them closer, as had their conversations. She had always trusted him but now there was something more, on his side. He would be back. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Her boss strode as quickly as he dared. The floor was coated in a layer of coal dust that slid like graphite over the coal floor. He had to concentrate so he did not fall. He was relieved to find the room. Next to it was a cage full of equipment. There were old picks and shovels and small coal trucks for tracks that had been long removed, sitting amongst the general detritus of the mine. In one corner Tommy could see a wheelbarrow beneath a board full of faded magazine cuttings of naked women in poses that made him blanch.

Tommy turned away and focussed on the first aid room. When the mine had been abandoned in the eighties, due to the failure of the company, much of the equipment had been abandoned. The new owners had asset-stripped the once thriving mining conglomerate leaving the workers, and the towns in which they lived, to rot. He had a lot of sympathy for the miners having seen the suffering in Cornwall of mine failures.

Although the stock was nearly forty years old he was counting on finding something to help Barbara. Most of the stock seemed useless. There were wilted surgical gloves, jars of burn cream, slings to immobilise arms, bottles of various pills that were too old to trust and oddly, several packets of condoms. Tommy raised his eyebrows and banished the thoughts that filled his mind. In another cupboard, he found what he needed. There were heavy bandages in packets that were still sealed. He doubted they would be sterile but they would be clean. He found a large bottle of isopropyl alcohol that had never been opened and on the bottom shelf he found an old-fashioned moon-boot. Beside the cabinet were a pair of crutches.

Tommy decided to use the wheelbarrow to carry his loot. He worried that the tyre would be flat but to his relief it was solid rubber that was in good condition. He loaded it up with a surfeit of bandages, a bottle of the alcohol, moon-boot, and crutches. He glanced guiltily at the condoms but left them in place. He headed back to Barbara chastising himself for even thinking about needing them.

She was asleep when he returned so he sat beside her and watched. She was peaceful. Tommy imagined her sleeping in his bed. He wanted to wake up every morning and see her face on the pillow beside him. He should have acted years ago instead of fearing her rejection and ridicule. Her fear of being alone in the dark had soon given way to a gentle cuddle that was exactly the way he had believed a genuinely loving embrace would feel. He smiled down at her. "I love you, Barbara."

She stirred and reached across the blanket with her hand. "Love you too, Tommy," she muttered in her sleep before giving a loud snore. Tommy had tears in his eyes as he bent down and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek. It was perhaps not the way he had imagined her telling him but it was honest and it made his heart somersault.

It also made him more determined to get out of their situation. He looked at his watch. It was five o'clock in the afternoon. They had been trapped for twenty-four hours and he was beginning to share Barbara's concern about their rescue. As he sat listening to her breathing he fretted more. He pulled out the map and studied it again as he started to formulate a plan.

Barbara woke about seven. She was relieved to feel Tommy's hand over hers before she opened her eyes. "You're back, so soon."

"I've been back for two hours but I didn't want to wake you. You need your sleep."

"Find anything useful?"

"Yes, some clean bandages and some alcohol to clean your leg up. And a moon-boot and a wheelbarrow."

"Yeah, we need to go gardening. Can we drink the alcohol?"

"No, the wrong sort I'm afraid."

"Pity, I could do with one of your expensive Scotches right now."

"Me too. I'll buy you a bottle when we get home."

"If we get home," she corrected him.

"Barbara," he said seriously, "if no one is here by the morning I think we should try to make our way out of here."

"You should. I can't walk." She smiled at him so affectionately that Tommy wanted to pull her into his arms and make love to her.

He took a second to steady his voice. "You don't have to. You're going in the wheelbarrow."

Barbara began to laugh. It became infectious and soon Tommy was laughing with her. "We're...you plan to wheel me out?"

"Yes, essentially." He attempted to sound dignified and assured but she was still laughing and his mouth twitched as he tried not to smile.

"Okay. I'd rather die trying than be trapped here. When do we go?"

"In the morning."

"It's the same temperature all the time and just as dark. Why not leave now?"

"Because it will be hard going in parts and we need to sleep tonight," he explained. "Now I need to dress your wounds. By the morning if no one has arrived we will know it is the right thing."

Barbara nodded. "We better have our dinner then."

After their chocolate and water, Tommy tended to her leg. His old singlet was almost black with dust and he noticed for the first time that her face was caked in coal dust and their clothes had turned grey. "I'm sorry but this will hurt," he said solemnly.

"Just do it."

Tommy saturated one of the bandages in the alcohol and used it to clean the wounds where her skin had split. The swelling was not as bad as it had been and the fluid moved freely under the skin as he ran his hands over it. She grimaced and made little whimpering noises. He glanced up to see her biting her lip to stifle the pain. "I'm sorry," he said as he gently squeezed her ankle.

"It's fine. Keep going."

He squeezed a few times, each time seeing more thick fluid leak from the wounds. Barbara was watching him carefully. "I don't know if this is the right thing to do Barbara."

"Me either but it feels better when you do. You can squeeze a little harder."

Tommy continued as long as he dared. A surprising amount of the yellowish fluid had run from the gashes. He cleaned the leg and wounds with more alcohol then wrapped the ankle tightly in the bandages. "Not too tight?"

"No, it actually feels better to have it bound. Thank you, Nurse Tommy."

Tommy gathered up the mess and took it outside the cage. He came back and washed his hands and face with the alcohol. Then he wet another pad and began to wash the coal dust from Barbara's face and neck.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed his gentle touch. He was a kind, caring man and she feared she was falling deeper and deeper in love with him. In these circumstances, she was not worried about the consequences. Who knew what tomorrow held. After he finished wiping her face, he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She reached up and grasped his wrist before he could remove his hand. In the dull light of the candle, they stared into each other's eyes. Their faces were only inches apart and they slowly drifted together.

Barbara's lips were warm and soft. Tommy groaned loudly as they moulded to his in a very gentle, loving kiss. She responded by moving her arm to his shoulder and pulling him closer. Without noticing, Tommy pushed her down onto the mattress. Their arms were around each other and their kisses became more urgent. Barbara's hands tugged his shirt from his trousers. As her hands caressed his skin she sighed then moaned as Tommy's tongue found hers.

A piece of clothing was discarded with every earnest declaration of love. Their hands roamed over the other with anticipation and the awe of discovery. The candle beside them slowly melted down until it flicked out. "Do you want me to light another one?" he asked.

"Yes, I want to see your eyes, Tommy."

He sat up and fumbled in the dark to find his trousers. He pulled out the matches and struck one. In the flash of light, Barbara saw his naked body for the first time. Any doubts vapourised; she wanted to make love to him regardless of what the future held. "Grab my bag too," she ordered.

Tommy lit the candle then passed her the bag. She was leaning up on one elbow. Her naked torso was golden in the candlelight and his gaze traced her soft contours from her neck down over her large, perfect breasts to the top of her open jeans. Her scar reminded him of how he had felt when she was shot. That day was the first time he had acknowledged to himself that he was in love with her. He wondered why he had hesitated then. He should have followed his heart but at the time, he could not see how it would ever work. Now he wanted to make up for all that lost time and heartache. He knelt down before her. "Barbara, I want to make love to you more than anything on Earth but..."

"Got them!" Barbara said triumphantly. "But what?" she added hesitantly.

Tommy glanced at the string of six condoms that unfolded as she held them up. He laughed softly. "Do I want to know why you have those or should I just be grateful?"

"You never know when you are going to be trapped in a mine with someone you've been in love with for years. It pays to be prepared."

"My ever reliable sergeant."

The force of his kiss pushed her back on the mattress. "Tommy! Oh...Tommy...ohhh"

The next morning Tommy re-bandaged her foot and helped Barbara dress. It took a while between her leg and the kisses that kept escalating. "Next time Barbara I want to make love to you in a soft bed, with clean sheets and real chocolates but if you keep kissing me like that we might never leave here."

"I rather like our makeshift love nest. It will always be special."

With a broad grin of agreement he loaded the mattress into the wheelbarrow and put Barbara carefully on top. "Here, let me put the moon-boot on, it will stop your ankle moving around."

He carefully placed her leg into it and did up the velcro straps firmly. He then placed their rations and supplies around her and wedged the crutches along the side. Barbara held the candle out in front to guide them.

He kissed her lovingly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

The slippery start became easier as they moved away from the rockfall and the dust. They stopped at a junction deep in the mine for their lunch and a break. Tommy's back was sore from stooping over the barrow but he was pleased to be doing something. He did some stretches to loosen it up then gently massaged Barbara's foot and leg. "I allowed four hours to get here and we've done it in under three. The path starts to climb after the next section so it might get slower."

"We'll be home for dinner," she said encouragingly despite a growing trepidation. She tried to rationalise it as the fear that Tommy would not love her outside of the mine but it was more than that. Something was wrong but she had no idea what it might be. Tommy gave her a loving kiss and her fears receded slightly.

Half an hour later Barbara called for Tommy to stop. "There's something blocking the path ahead."

His heart sank, fearing another cave-in. "Can you see what it is?"

"No."

Tommy lit another candle and went to explore. He came racing back. "It's Jones," he said quietly, "he's been..."

With that, a rifle fired and Tommy fell on top of Barbara, extinguishing their candles.