Thank you as always to Hollie, sorry not sorry for the last cliffhanger! Hopefully this makes up for it!
Boys workin' on empty
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat?
I just think about my baby
I'm so full of love I could barely eat
There's nothing sweeter than my baby
I'd never want once from the cherry tree
Cause my baby's sweet as can be
She'd give me toothaches just from kissin' me
I'm so full of love I could barely eat
Heat. Bang. Heat. Boom. Heat. Crash. Heat. Screaming. A continuous pattern. That was the only thing that would penetrate Jess' head. It sounded fuzzy, as if she was trapped inside a bubble that was wrapped in cotton wool. It was the strangest feeling, the feeling of being there but not there, of being awake and asleep, of feeling suffocated but not. She didn't know how to get out of this cycle.
But...she was starting to drift into consciousness, her brain was beginning to heat up, to switch on. The noises she could hear became clear, the heat became hotter, the weight on her chest became heavier, and the pain became unbearable. And finally it slammed into her. They had been after Neville Barnes for Kim's death. They had found him at the pyrotechnics factory. He had threatened to blow the whole place up. They were supposed to evacuate, but Callum had seen Neville...Jess' brain halted; only one word was registering. Callum.
When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her
"Sarge, additional ambulances are en route, as well as HEMS. The Inspector is also on her way down." Beth said as she jogged over to Stevie.
"Thanks Beth. Could you get some statements off some of the workers who knew Neville? Find out what he was...is like, find out who his friends are, what he does in his spare time, you know the drill. If you can ask Ben and Will to help you as well." Stevie said to Beth, her voice distracted.
It had been ten minutes, but it felt like so much longer. As soon as the explosion happened, the firemen moved straight in, calling in for their own back up. The fire was still going strong, the flames becoming increasingly higher and hotter, even as the fireman batted it down. Stevie was standing far from the factory and she still could feel the heat; she dreaded to think what it must feel like trapped in the factory itself.
"Sarge?" Will said, gently touching Stevie on the arm.
"Yes Will?" Stevie said, turning her back on the burning factory to face him.
"I've just been talking to Neville's supervisor, and she said that Neville talks about his niece a lot, and apparently he babysits her a lot." Will said, reading what he had written down.
"Have we got a name for the niece?" Stevie asked, her interest sparking.
"Er, Nicola Harris, and the supervisor thinks she's about fourteen." Will answered.
"Right, you and Beth get back to the nick, find out where this Nicola Harris lives. Go round there, I want you to find out if he's done this to her as well. Be sensitive though, ok?" Stevie ordered.
"Yes Sarge." Will said, looking over Stevie's shoulder at the factory.
"They're going to be ok." Stevie said gently, seeing the expression on Will's face. He simply nodded and walked off to find Beth.
Boys, when my baby found me
I was three days on a drunken sin
I woke with her walls around me
Nothin' in her room but an empty crib
And I was burnin' up a fever
I didn't care much how long I lived
But I swear I thought I dreamed her
She never asked me once about the wrong I did
Jess forced her eyes to open, then immediately wished she hadn't. The heat seemed to swipe all the moisture from her eyes, making them feel scratchy and irritated. She tried again, her eyes quickly taking in the holes in the roof above her and the heavy object that was over most of her body. She tried to clear her throat, coughing all the soot and ash out. As she took a breath in, it was like swallowing boiling water. She choked on the heat of the air, which made it worse, and her whole body was wrought with coughing.
She was finally getting her bearings. All she had to do now was see if she could move and try and alert someone to that fact that she was alive. But first, she needed to find Callum. She tried to push the object off her, but either her arms had become really weak or the thing across her was really heavy. She tried again, pushing with whatever strength she had left. The object moved, rolling over. Jess' heart stopped beating. Callum. It was Callum. He was the object who had been over her.
She covered her mouth as another coughing attack overtook her body. Once it had finished, she tried to move her legs out from underneath Callum's body. She didn't think she had ever hurt as much as she did now. It was like a constant throbbing. Her whole body felt like it was burning, and she was under no impression that she would get out of this scot free. Her legs finally free, she took a minute to catch her breath and let her strength restore somewhat. She rolled so that she was on her knees over Callum. She dipped her head so that her ear was above Callum's mouth; her hand was resting flat over his heart.
"Callum." she rasped, her voice sounding like it had been sandpapered. After what seemed an age, she felt his cool breath flow over her cheek, like cold water. His heart thudded loyally but slowly under her hand, and she let out an internal sigh of relief. "Honey, you're gonna be ok." she promised, pressing her chapped lips to his hot forehead.
She turned her head slowly, searching for either her radio or Callum's. She soon spotted hers smashed under a piece of debris, and Callum's had melted. There was no way they were going to last much longer in the heat of the factory. She sat down slowly, placing Callum's head in her lap, praying that they would be found.
When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her
The blares of many sirened vehicles assaulted the ears of all the evacuees and officers who were outside the burning factory. The officers' quickly moved all the evacuees back to allow the other emergency vehicles easy access to the site. The three extra fire engines blazed in first, grinding to a halt and allowing the fire officers to jump off and start unreeling their thick hoses, primed to start dousing the factory in cool water, joining their colleagues. As the firemen got to work, shouting instructions at each other, the two ambulances pulled up next to where they were all shouting.
Four paramedics got out and checked over everyone, making sure that no-one had been hurt by the explosion. HEMs landed in the car park next to the factory, a doctor and more paramedics jumping out to join their colleagues, awaiting an update from the fireman's primary survey. And finally came a police car, Inspector Gold climbing out with a horrified expression on her face as she saw the factory. Both the Inspector and the fire Chief made their way over to Stevie.
"You the officer in charge here?" the fire Chief asked.
"Um, yes but the Inspector will now be taking charge." Stevie said, pointing to the Inspector.
The fire Chief turned to the Inspector. "How many people are inside?" he asked her. The Inspector looked blankly at him then looked at Stevie.
"Three. Two officers and our suspect." Stevie filled in.
"Do you know roughly where they were when the factory exploded?" he asked her quickly.
"They must have been in the production area, which is the middle of the factory." Stevie answered.
"How long have they been in there for?" he asked, and Stevie felt like yelling at him to just get the officers out instead of asking her questions.
"Um, must have been about ten-fifteen minutes now." Stevie replied quickly.
"Thank you. We're checking to see if it's safe to enter, and as soon as it is we'll do the primary survey to try and find your guys." the fire Chief said with a nod, running back to his men and women. The DS and the Inspector watched him run off, and then the Inspector turned to face Stevie.
"DS Moss?" the Inspector questioned. "What the hell happened? Why were they still in there?"
"They were on their way out; they saw Neville and tried to arrest him. He was threatening to blow the place up when we were trying to reason with him, I have no doubt that as soon as he saw them he lit the place up." Stevie said, trying to push down the guilt in her stomach.
"Did they know that their first order was to evacuate, not to try and arrest Barnes?" she questioned, and Stevie felt like she was on trial.
"With all due respect ma'am, I gave the orders for everyone to get out, I did my job properly." Stevie snapped, instantly regretting it as the tide of emotion followed. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, trying to force back the tears that were threatening to overflow. There was a pause before a hand was laid on her shoulder.
"Sorry Stevie, it's just that there are two of my officers in there." Gina said apologetically.
"It's ok ma'am, I understand." Stevie said with a nod.
"Inspector! We're going in!" the fire Chief shouted, and the Inspector nodded, hoping that they would be bringing her officers out alive.
When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her
Jess awoke with a start. She must have passed out. She checked Callum's breathing again, sighing with relief as she felt his breath tickle her cheek.
"Hold on honey, we'll be out soon." she whispered, wiping the soot off his face with her hand.
She looked around slowly, trying to see if there was anyone coming to their rescue. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. And then she saw it. At first she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, because it looked like a strobe light. She concentrated her eyes on the area where she had seen it, waiting for it to reappear. Again, it flashed across some of the debris, and this time, a face appeared in a gap.
"Help!" she tried to scream, but it came out in no more than a whisper. She laid Callum's head gently on her stab vest which she had placed on the floor, and she slowly rolled onto her knees. If she could have seen herself she would have laughed and said she looked like a newborn foal trying to find it's feet. She gave up trying to stand up and crawled forward.
She clambered over the pieces of metal and concrete which littered the floor, slowly but surely making progress. She finally reached the place where she had seen the fireman's face. The way through was blocked by a massive concrete rafter. There was no way she would be able to get through there. She looked up and saw that there was a gap that she could fit through if she could get up there. For now though, she concentrated on getting the fireman's attention. She could see a small group of them not too far away; they were sweeping their torches over all the rubble that used to make up the entrance to the East wing.
She slowly pulled herself to standing, her legs shaking with the effort. She reached her arm through a small gap and started waving it around, hoping it would catch the fireman's attention. Finally, she felt a hand take hers. She moved her hand out the gap and looked into the face of a fireman. He began to talk to her.
"Are you one of the police officers?" he asked her. She nodded. "Where's the other one?"
Jess cleared her throat, holding it to try and make her voice stronger, "He's back there. He's badly injured. You need to get us out!" she begged, her voice coming out a rasp.
"We're going to try our best. Listen, we're sending an officer up through that gap there to get you out, then we can get the other officer out, ok?" the fireman said.
"No, I'm not leaving Callum here. You get him out first, ok?" Jess said, coughing violently.
"Look, we can't do that." the fireman said.
"Well I'm not going until I know he's safely through that gap. I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving him here." she said stubbornly, coughing. She saw the fireman sigh and roll his eyes, but he nodded.
"Fine. Pete is going to get through the gap now with some equipment which we can use to hoist the other officer up with. Then my two other men can pull him through and we can get him to the doctor and paramedics. Does that sound good?" the man checked. Jess nodded.
"Thank you." she whispered.
"Wait there, and you show Pete where the officer is." the fireman said, holding a hand out for Jess to wait.
Jess waited and watched as the fireman who must have been Pete clambered up the wreckage of the other side and put first one leg, and then the other through the gap. He sat atop the piece of wreckage, surveying how to get down. He threw the rope he had in his hand down to Jess, and slowly climbed down.
"I'm Pete. Can you show me where your friend is?" Pete asked.
"My fiancé. He's my fiancé." Jess said, correcting him.
"Sorry. You're going to need to help me get him over to the gap and tie the rope around him. Do you think you can do that?" Pete queried. Jess nodded, leaning over to brush a kiss against Callum's lips.
"We're getting out honey, they've found us." she whispered to him.
My babe would never fret none
About what my hands and my body done
If the Lord don't forgive me
I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me
When I was kissin' on my baby
And she put her love down soft and sweet
In the low lamp light I was free
Heaven and hell were words to me
Stevie and Gina were sitting on the bonnet of the squad car. The firemen had gone into the factory twenty minutes ago. The fire Chief had come over to them fifteen minutes ago to tell them that his lads had found their officers near what had been the rear exit, but not the suspect. He had then told them that his men were working on getting the badly injured man out first on the insistence of the woman.
"I should have done something." Stevie said for what felt like the fiftieth time.
"Like what?" Gina asked gently. "There's nothing more you, or anybody else, could have done."
"I just feel like..." Stevie began.
"Stevie, stop beating yourself up. This wasn't your fault." Gina said kindly. Stevie just nodded.
Shouts from the factory alerted them to the fact that the firemen who had been sent in to get the officers and the suspect out had emerged. Stevie and Gina ran over to them, watching as they laid Callum down on the floor gently, ready for the doctors and paramedics to assess him.
The team unpacked bags, cutting clothing off to assess his burns and started applying cooling pads. Oxygen mask went on, cannulas went in, pain relief went in, top to toe checks completed. A decision was made to intubate by the doctor- Callums airway was swelling up and they were struggling to get oxygen in. Airway secured and Callum stable for now, they loaded him onto a board and placed him in the helicopter, flying him to the hospital.
Jess watched the helicopter leave whilst lying on the ambulance trolley, tears rolling down her face over her oxygen mask. The paramedics attending her had applied the cooling pads to the left side of her face and one of her hands, and were currently giving her pain relief through her cannula. She was loaded into the ambulance, ready to follow Callum to the hospital.
"Jess?" Gina called. Jess looked up and around; she looked as if she was in a daze. Gina hurried over to her, gently holding her non burned hand, "Are you ok?"
She moved her oxygen mask down, "Callum isn't." she said, her voice coming out in barely more than a whisper.
"Try not to talk sweetheart. Let's get that mask back on and get you to the hospital yeah?" the paramedic said gently, placing Jess' mask back over her mouth. "Is someone coming with her?"
"I'll follow in the squad car shortly. Take care of her." Gina said with a nod to the paramedic. With a gentle stroke of Jess' hand, Gina stepped out of the ambulance, watching as it sped away in a blur of lights and sound.
When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her
The hours passed quickly. They had both been taken into resus- Callum had breathing difficulties and severe burns to his back and legs. Jess had been treated for smoke inhalation and first degree burns to her left armand hand and the left side of her face. She had more cold gel applied to her face and arm with a clingfilm placed over the top. She had told the nurses to leave her so that she could get to Callum, but they had told her that he would be in surgery for a while to have skin grafts on the worst of his burns.
Whilst Callum had been in theatre, Jess had been deemed suitably stable and a bed found on a ward for her. But finally, after a long 8 hours, he was out of surgery, and after a further 4 hours his doctor had agreed that Jess was allowed to see him.
Jess was beside herself by this point as the porter wheeled her up to the ICU where he was being kept, worst case scenarios running through her head on loop. As they got to the door, Jess was looking around, trying to find him. And there he was. Callum was the only patient in this area of ICU, laying on his side, his chest slowly moving up and down. The porter wheeled Jess over to him, helping her move from the wheelchair to the chair next to his bed. Jess thanked the porter as left and turned her attention to a nurse who was checking his chart. The nurse turned, a sympathetic look on her face.
"How is he?" she asked, moving her mask down to speak. Her voice felt a bit stronger now thanks to the oxygen and water, but she still sounded like she smoked twenty a day.
"I suppose you've been told that he suffered third degree burns to his back and second degree to the backs of his legs. He's been placed in a medically induced coma to allow his body to try and heal itself. His airway was burnt and swollen, so it was lucky you had the doctor out there to get his airway sorted straight away. This will help it to heal. We're giving him lots of pain relief to keep him comfy." the nurse explained. His torso and legs were heavily bandaged, only his arms and face remained unbandaged. A tube was coming out his mouth, multiple cannulas in his arms, wires everywhere, machines beeping constantly.
"What does that all mean?" Jess asked quietly, her eyes never leaving Callum's face. She pulled the oxygen mask down to press her lips to the palm of his hand, tears dripping silently from her face.
"Third degree burns are the most severe form. The skin is not the only thing damaged; other tissue is damaged as well. The nerve endings have also been badly damaged, meaning that parts of his back will be numb from now onwards. Because of the severity of his burns, skin had to be taken from other parts of his body and placed where the burned skin had been cut out." the nurse said.
"Like a patchwork doll." Jess said with a shaky laugh. She held Callum's palm to her face, feeling the cool of it on the heat of her skin.
"Exactly. His legs weren't burnt as badly. We've cooled them down and put gel on them and wrapped them up nice to keep moisture in." she explained.
"When will he wake up?" Jess asked carefully.
"When we think he's ready to. We can bring him out of the coma at any moment, but it's in his best interests to remain in one to allow his body to heal. Do you understand?" the nurse asked gently. Jess nodded.
"I just want him to get better." she said sadly.
"He will, he seems to be a fighter." the nurse said with a smile. She left the room, giving Jess some privacy with him.
"Hey honey. I am so sorry. It's my fault. You threw yourself on top of me, to stop me getting hurt, but look what happened to you! I love you so, so much for protecting me, but there was no-one to protect you, and now look at you." Jess cried, tears running freely down her face. "You have to get strong so they can wake you up. I need you to get strong. Please Callum. For me." Callum didn't stir, the steady beeping of the machine the only sign that Callum was still alive. Jess' chest heaved with tears; she couldn't catch her breath. She laid her head down on the bed, her hand clasped tightly around Callum's. Her tears kept coming, but she was ok now, she was with Callum. She gently kissed his palm again. "I love you Callum Stone, so you stay with me, or I may be forced to take drastic action." And with that, she shut her eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.
Song: Work Song by Hozier