The incredible evening and the even more incredible night following it definitely gave Lilly a boost of energy to continue dealing with the demanding case; Scotty also complained a lot less than usual when the alarm went off at six the next morning, signaling the start of another long day. The arrival of the FBI didn't seem to dampen his spirits either, even though she was sure her fiancé still wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with Ryan's presence due to the history she had with the agent; she wasn't any better, really, unable to stop herself from glaring at Frankie during a status update from the labs. She even made sure the younger woman definitely saw her ring, feeling quite silly and annoyed by her own actions since this wasn't professional behavior and it certainly wasn't Lilly Rush behavior either; after the meeting finished, Scotty stayed behind to have a talk with his ex, and Lilly dragged her feet on her way back upstairs, kind of hoping she could be a fly on the wall to listen.
Frankie appeared quite subdued the next time they crossed paths, just quietly mumbling congratulations without really meeting her eyes; Lilly managed to nod in response, sighing as she turned to look after the lab technician in the empty hallway, feeling like she should say something. She didn't know Frankie at all, really, but she could imagine life had probably been quite tough for her lately, with the divorce and all the other changes, and even though she wasn't happy with what the younger woman had done on the day before, none of them needed this schoolyard drama to complicate things further.
"Hey, um… you'll find it too, you know, the… the person you're meant to be with. I didn't really think I ever would, but…" She shook her head, chuckling slightly. "Turns out he was with me all along. So… don't give up, okay?"
Frankie watched her for a moment, her expression unreadable; then she offered a small smile. "Thanks. I'm sorry for the… for yesterday; I didn't know about you and Scotty, and I just assumed that he'd still be… well, available. I guess I should have known better, huh?"
Lilly shrugged, feeling the still remaining slight anger slide, appreciation for the apology taking its place. "There's no way you could have known, really; we haven't exactly been advertising it. So let's just… forget about this and move on."
"Sounds good." Frankie sighed, made a move to turn away, then glanced at her one more time. "I hope you know how lucky you are, Detective Rush. Break a leg at the FBI, both of you."
She muttered a quiet thank you, swallowing as the younger woman left her alone in the hallway; after spending a little while gathering herself, she returned to the squad room, heading back to her desk. Scotty glanced up from his computer, arched a questioning eyebrow and reached to grasp her fingers gently.
"Hey, you. Everythin' okay?"
"Yeah." She gave him a smile, tightly holding his hand for a long moment; God, she truly was so, so lucky to have him, and she needed to remember that, Frankie's words having driven the point home very effectively. "All good."
Ryan's new partner Andrea was a determined young agent with Italian roots and a temperament to match them; despite having just arrived to the Bureau, she wasn't accepting any bullshit from him, gave it as good as she got and Lilly observed them curiously, grinning to herself at the expression on Ryan's face, a mixture of total exasperation and reluctant admiration. Andrea definitely stood her own ground when it was needed, while still managing to behave in a perfectly respectful manner towards the more senior agent; there were clear sparks flying every time the two were bickering about something or other, which was a very regular occurrence. The younger woman's warmth and eagerness to listen to everyone's points and opinions about the case were a far cry from the disdain they had all received from Diane Yates during the sniper investigation; Lilly and Kat bonded with her immediately, happy to have another woman in the team to work with.
"So, I've been hearing some rumors about you and Ryan," Andrea commented on Friday evening, glancing up from the report she had been browsing through, arching an eyebrow towards the blonde. "Is it true that you guys… hooked up during the Woodstock case?"
Lilly rolled her eyes, tossing a pen from her hand. "Let me guess. Vera told you?"
"No, I overheard a couple of other agents speculating about it in New York, when the boss assigned us to come here." Andrea sighed, shook her head. "I swear, sometimes it's more like a damn magazine office than the Federal Bureau of Investigation; you'll probably notice this pretty quickly too when you join us."
"Brilliant." Lilly rubbed a hand over her face, annoyed and frustrated to the point of just wanting to scream or have a good session with a punching bag; despite all of them putting in insanely long hours, the agents and the detectives alike, the case seemed to be at a total standstill, and every possible lead ended up hitting a wall almost instantly. "Yeah, we had… something, but that's all definitely in the past now; I can hardly wait for the whispers that I only got the job offer because I had a fling with an agent."
"That's total crap and you know it; Boss told us both you and Scotty were pre-selected for employment already right after the sniper case, before you even laid a finger on Cavanaugh." Kat leaned to give her arm a comforting squeeze. "Just ignore it if anyone tries to claim anything else."
"I definitely agree." Andrea lowered the file, stretching her arms. "Besides, Ryan wouldn't do that; he might be a total asshole at times, and I've only known him for a few weeks, but I can tell it's really important to him that the Bureau has the best investigators. So he wouldn't extend job offers for any other reasons, trust me; from what I've seen so far, you and Scotty are both brilliant, so he was spot on about you two."
"Thanks." Lilly gave a small smile, sighing a little, really wishing she'd be on the field with her fiancé right now, even though she knew she couldn't be; some more FBI agents had joined them that morning, in order to carry out another thorough investigation of the Center City bookstore, and Scotty had asked to join them, bored and restless after days of just reading reports and case files. Everyone was hoping the search would produce something to jolt the case forward, but so far no such luck; according to the newest update from the team leader, nothing of significance had been found and the operation would be finishing soon. Still, something worried her and Lilly had felt out of sorts for hours, some slight fear tickling the bottom of her stomach; she didn't know what was causing it, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. She'd called Scotty once, just to hear his voice; he hadn't seemed to mind at all but she had forced herself to refrain from calling again, not wanting to bother him or possibly hinder the search in any way. All she wanted now was to see him walk into the squad room, unharmed and okay, her gaze regularly moving to check the entrance.
"Ladies." Ryan made his way over, placing some crime scene reports into correct evidence boxes, his eyes taking in her tense form; he obviously identified the cause of her anxiety instantly, chuckling a little. "Relax, Rush; I just gave the team orders to start wrapping things up for the day, so they'll be back soon. We'll pick up the search again tomorrow after everyone's had some rest; maybe it will be your turn to have a go."
"Okay." She swallowed, managing to feel slightly better for a moment; then Ryan's phone rang and a cold hand of fear grasped her into its clutches with a renewed force, making her pull in a shaky breath. Kat looked at her worriedly, opened her mouth to say something but Lilly's gaze was glued to the agent; a frown moved across his face and she stood up slowly, her entire body starting to tremble.
"All right, we're on our way; get everyone out of there now." He ended the call, reached for his jacket and shrugged it on, motioning for his partner. "A fire broke out in the bookstore, most likely deliberately lit. Moretti, let's go; you two stay here… Rush!"
Lilly ignored him, already running towards the elevators, utterly terrified, with just one thought filling her mind: she had to get to Scotty, right away. Behind her, she heard John Stillman's voice asking what was going on, Ryan answering something, and then he and Andrea caught up with her; she faced them with a fierce glare that had the younger agent flinching slightly.
"Don't you dare to try to stop me; I'm going." She hit the elevator call button about five times in a row, then pressed her elbow against it for good measure before growling and making her way to the stairs instead; on the way she locked eyes with Boss, and for a brief moment they held the contact before he nodded, reached to quickly squeeze her shoulder.
"Go. I'll be right behind you."
The agents followed her down the stairs, struggling slightly to keep up; Lilly didn't even know how she managed to get downstairs so fast without tripping and falling down on her face, but somehow she arrived to the lobby without incident, continuing to the front entrance. She really didn't care if she had to run all the way to Center City; two police cars skidded to a halt in front of them just then, however, and she tossed herself to the back seat of the first one, Ryan circling to the front. At the very last second, Kat rushed out of the precinct too, jumped in next to Lilly, slamming the door shut and the agent groaned.
"God damn it. Did I not tell you to stay here, Miller?"
"Oh shut up." Kat rolled her eyes, grasped a tight hold of her blonde colleague's shoulders, the car's tires squealing as the vehicle shot into motion. "Lil, look at me. Look at me, honey. Scotty's gonna be just fine."
"You don't... know that," she whispered, shaking so hard now that even her teeth were clattering, terrible fears filling her mind. "Where's B...Boss? And...rea?"
Kat wrapped her arms tightly around her, rubbing her upper back. "They're following us in the other car. Can you take a deep breath for me?"
She tried her best, not really managing very well; Ryan turned to look at her, the phone pressed onto his ear, his face looking extremely worried and Lilly pulled away from Kat's hold, doubled down on her seat, her head swimming. "Oh God. Oh my God. No, no, no..."
"The fire is advancing unusually quickly so probably some accelerants were used to start it; the firefighters haven't managed to locate the entire team yet." He didn't need to say anything else, his grave tone telling her the very thing she was dreading: Scotty was one of the team members still inside the burning bookstore. Tears escaped her eyes, flowed down her face, utter terror squeezing her heart.
The site was a huge mess of fire trucks, people rushing back and forth shouting instructions, bystanders behind fences, roadblocks all around; her eyes went instantly to the store, its windows broken and smoke billowing out, hungry vicious flames visible inside the building and against the black night sky on the roof. Lilly jumped out of the car before it had even stopped properly and ran again, desperately trying to spot the one face she longed to see more than anything else in this world right now, but he wasn't to be found; without sparing even one thought to her own safety, she made a beeline towards the main entrance, almost reaching it before someone grasped a tight hold of her arm, yanked her backwards.
"No way in hell are you going in there!" Ryan grabbed her other arm too, held her securely in place; she growled at him, tried to struggle free, over his shoulder seeing Boss look at her. He looked quite pale and she had no doubt he was terrified too, probably keeping up a strong front for her sake; he laid a hand on her shoulder, rubbed it gently and she did manage to find some appreciation for his comforting presence, even in this horrible situation.
"Lil, let the professionals do their job; they'll find him. There's nothing we can do; we have to stay out of their way."
She released a sob, with trembling hands wiping her face, feeling so scared and hopeless; she couldn't lose Scotty, she just couldn't, he was everything to her, her present and her future, and without him she could see no way forward, nothing to keep her going. Then a horrific sound of an explosion rang in the air, making her scream; the fire seemed to burn even brighter and hotter, firefighters shouting at everyone to back away more, and in the momentary confusion that followed, Lilly tore herself from Boss and Ryan and ran to the door, ignoring several people yelling after her. She made it inside, almost colliding with two people instantly, a firefighter and one of the agents he was supporting towards the exit; they all stalled, the firefighter looking shocked for a moment behind his mask, then furious.
"What in God's name do you think you're doing? Stop right there!"
He tried to grab her arm but she ducked out of his reach, running further into the building, spotting another firefighter who was helping someone to sit up; this wasn't Scotty either, and panic was engulfing her completely now. It was so hot and there was a lot of smoke, burning her eyes and already pushing into her lungs; coughing, she tore off her jacket, pressed the bundle of fabric against her mouth and nose and grouched down lower, towards the floor where more air still circulated.
"Scotty!"
The large, open-plan bookstore was three stories high, each one consisting of a big, round main room with smaller storage areas branching off, bookshelves wrapping around the walls with some also in the middle, comfortable reading spaces dotted here and there; a lot was already destroyed, all the paper and wood offering ample material for the fire to hungrily devour. The small cafeteria was on the bottom floor, flames just reaching it, and Lilly could see a lot of shattered glass, broken electrical equipment; she had always felt comfortable here, had visited many, many times, sometimes to buy books, sometimes to just read a little if she wasn't at work during weekends, but now this fiery hell was nothing like the place she remembered. She knew some firefighters through her profession, knew enough of fires to be aware that without an oxygen mask she wouldn't be able to survive for very long, and neither would anyone else; there were mere minutes left, if even that.
"Scotty! God, please..."
Someone grabbed her arm, spun her around; it was the firefighter she'd run into earlier, trying to start dragging her to the entrance door but Lilly resisted, dug her heels onto the floor and found enough strength from somewhere to tear herself free.
"I'm not leaving! My fiancé, he's still here," she screamed, coughing, her voice cracking and sounding so strange she barely recognized it, her eyes continuing their relentless sweep of the room, her mind spinning, praying, hoping…
And then by some miracle the smoke seemed to somehow lighten a little, just enough for her to spot a pair of familiar-looking shoes, across the room by the stairs to the second floor; Lilly honored her last name once again by rushing over as fast as humanly possible, the circumstances considered. She was almost there when she tripped on something and landed on the floor, felt an angry, sharp pain in the palm of her right hand; it turned red instantly but she couldn't pay attention to it now, crawling the rest of the way, starting to cry when she finally saw his face, covered in soot and dirt. She slammed her hand onto the artery in his neck, feeling it throbbing rapidly against her fingers; he was terrifyingly silent and still, but he was alive, and relieved tears flooded down her cheeks.
"Scotty? Scotty!" She shook his shoulders, the white fabric of his shirt turning red from the blood that was dripping from her palm. "Scotty! Baby, please…come on, you gotta wake up!"
A small moan left him and Lilly had never, ever been happier to hear anything in her entire life, pressing her uninjured hand onto his cheek as the chocolate brown eyes finally opened. "Oh thank God. Can you hear me?"
She dissolved into a massive coughing fit, the room starting to feel almost unbearably hot now; her palm gave a nasty flash of pain and she whimpered, hearing another huge crash coming from somewhere higher up, probably a bookshelf falling down. Then the two firefighters were there, hauling Scotty up between them, one grabbing a secure hold of her once he was standing; this time she didn't even try to resist, her legs trembling so hard there was probably no way she would have been able to walk on her own. They stumbled towards the door, and the next thing she sensed was cool air and wet grass as the firefighter lowered her onto a patch of greenery that was across the street from the bookstore; Lilly gasped for breath, managed to turn her head to check Scotty was out of immediate danger too, another wave of relief moving through her when she saw him, an oxygen mask getting placed over his face. She tried to weakly roll over to get closer, just as an almighty bang came from the direction of the store, the entire upper floor of the building crashing down, the flames raging yellow and menacing against the sky.
"Everyone accounted for!" she heard someone shout, closed her eyes and silently thanked God in her head, sobbing a little. One of the firefighters ripped off his own mask and helmet and faced her, took a deep breath as though getting ready to tear her a new one; she knew he had a full right to do so, knew that her recent actions had been very, very reckless, but she didn't care. All she could focus on was the fact that Scotty was there with her, breathing and alive, even though he had probably inhaled a fair amount of smoke and wasn't out of the woods yet; she pressed her face against his arm and the firefighter released a big exhale.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous…" He shook his head, then seemed to come to the conclusion that yelling at her would be totally pointless; Lilly gave a small nod anyway to acknowledge his words and the man chuckled, watching the two of them for a moment.
"The things we do for love, huh?" He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, stood. "Don't ever do anything like that again, all right?"
Paramedics reached them, started to work on Scotty, asking questions about the blood on his clothes and trying to find the source; he weakly lifted his head, looking shocked and confused as he observed the front of his shirt.
"It's from me," Lilly managed to whisper, just too exhausted to do anything else than to rest against him, despite knowing she needed to move, to give the paramedics more room to work. Someone grasped her right hand, looked at her palm, a soft gauze getting pressed against the wound.
"That's going to need a few stitches; it looks like you've probably slashed it on some glass. Can you sit up for me?" A female paramedic grasped her shoulders and helped her into a sitting position, gave her a smile and shone a bright light into her eyes. "How are you feeling? Does it hurt to breathe?"
"Rush!" Ryan's voice entered her ears before she had time to reply, and then he appeared in her vision, looking very, very pissed off and rather pale. "Jesus Christ, woman, what the hell were you thinking?!"
"Don't shout at her, Cavanaugh," Scotty muttered from behind the paramedics, coughing and immediately getting told off for touching his oxygen mask; Lilly laughed, sounding almost hysterical to her own ears, again so happy and relieved to hear his voice. Ryan growled, rubbing his hands over his face in a rather exasperated manner.
"Even one stunt like this at the Bureau, Lilly Rush…" He sighed heavily, then seemed to soften a little bit, looked at one of the paramedics. "Are they okay?"
"I think they'll be fine, but we'll take them to the hospital for some tests, and her hand needs to be sutured." The woman checked Scotty's blood pressure again, appearing quite satisfied. "He'll probably need to stay in observation for a day or two as he was in there for longer; the doctor will check for any smoke inhalation symptoms and decide on treatment. Most likely he'll only need oxygen."
"All right, good." Ryan grimaced at the sight of the bloody gash on Lilly's palm, shook his head. "Well, you are certainly goddamn brave, I'll give you that. Not a bad quality for an agent to have, but for future reference: we do not run into buildings that are on fire, especially not without permission and equipment, okay? No matter who might be in there."
"I'll try to remember that." She managed a tired smile. "We… can't work… together, can we? At the FBI?"
"You and Scotty? Not on the field, no; you can't be partners but you'll still be on the same team. It'll probably be a similar arrangement as you have here; we will figure it all out later." He patted her shoulder, gave a nod to the paramedics. "Take care of them; I'll let everyone know you're headed to the hospital."
The paramedics helped them both onto gurneys, one starting to clean and bandage her palm; the operation was very painful but she endured, her eyes never leaving the man on her left side. She tried to reach for him but he was just simply too far away, and her strength was almost completely out. "Scotty?"
He turned his head, tiredly moving his hand towards her. "Are you okay, bella?"
"Yeah," she whispered, just about managing to grasp his fingertips now, tearing up again from the sheer exhaustion and all the fear and terror she had felt over the past few hours. "Are you?"
He nodded, looked at the paramedic who was just finishing another check on his vital statistics, lifted the mask from his face. "Could you take me a little closer, please?"
"Of course." The woman smiled, moving his gurney so that they were side by side. "But you keep that mask on, all right?"
"I will, but I kinda have to... do somethin' first." He managed a tired grin, slowly raising his upper body enough to be able to reach his fiancée; Lilly smiled, a massive flood of tears erupting down her cheeks when his lips touched hers. An equally massive cheer erupted around them too, officers and agents and firefighters and even several members of the public clapping their hands and whooping; she laughed, enjoyed the kiss for a few blissful seconds before they had to break apart due to a coughing fit, both flopping back down to their respective gurneys.
"I love you," he muttered, a tear leaving his eye, running down his dirt-covered cheek; she felt a few more depart from her own eyes in response, reaching to grasp his hand properly.
"I love you too, so much." She sniffled, watched their fingers entwining, her ring glittering brightly and filling her with a boost of love and strength like always; thank God it was still safely there, hadn't gotten lost or damaged by the recent events. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, Valens. Do you hear me? You promised me you'd be careful."
"Now you know how I've felt, so many times when you've been in danger," he whispered, some more wetness moving down his face, his words making her swallow heavily. "An' you promised to be careful too; goin' into a burnin' buildin' without any gear does not fit that description, Lil."
"I'm sorry. I had to; I had a feeling something was wrong, all evening, and I… I couldn't leave you in there and just wait." She took a trembling breath, holding onto him even tighter; if it was up to her, she was never going to let him go. She remembered Frankie's words from the preceding day, about how lucky she was to have him, swore to herself right then that she would never, ever take it for granted as life had once again shown how unpredictable it could be, how everything could change in the blink of an eye; Scotty released a combination of a sob and a chuckle at her words, returning her hold securely. Two ambulances arrived, their back doors getting opened and she took one more look at the almost completely destroyed bookstore, sighing heavily; it was quite clear that the perpetrator responsible for all the murders had probably been behind this arson too, in order to destroy any potential evidence in the building, even when the search hadn't really yielded anything useful. A wave of rage moved through her, followed by a steely determination to find the bastard who had almost managed to kill several more people today, including the love of her life.
"All right, you two, we need to get you to the hospital." The paramedic attempted to look stern, but Lilly could have sworn she saw something glimmering in the older woman's eyes as she watched the couple of front of her, a smile threatening to break onto her face; then she shook her head at Scotty, appearing slightly exasperated.
"And what did I just tell you? Mask, right now!"