Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S8E09

"Tommy –"

"Run. Like the kids are screaming for you. Like their lives are in your hands because they are. They need their mother."

"What about you?" she asked fighting back the tears that wanted to sting her eyes.

He grabbed her hand, "If I'm alive I'll get out and get back to you. You're my wife, the mother of my children, my partner. You're the love of my life."

She took a deep ragged breath and leaned in and kissed him. He kissed back, both of them wanting this contact since this whole mess started. It got deeper and deeper with each passing second. His hand wove into her hair and she rested one hand on the side of his neck while the other cupped his jaw.

When they pulled away she made sure she spoke first, "I can't leave you here."

"Bailey, I'm not going to argue with you."

"Tommy –"

"No!"

She paused, he never raised his voice at her, only in desperate situations would he ever yell at her. He took a deep breath, looking at his lap as he tried to calm down, he wanted to reassure her, he wanted to calm her down. If she wasn't calm she wouldn't be thinking clearly and that could cost her her life.

"Don't worry about me." He began looking back up at her.

She scoffed. "That's not possible, not anymore."

The corner of his mouth turned up at her comment and he looked her in the eye, "When Addy and I were in West Park, when we were still Rita's prisoners, there was a fire. A kid was trapped inside and the building was on the verge of collapse."

He saw her eyes widen and knew part of her already knew where his story was going.

"I didn't really think about it. I just broke free of the guard holding me and ran in. I started looking for that kid, thinking about his parents, thinking about TJ, about how I'd feel if it were my kid in that nightmare and I was helpless to do anything."

She gave him a small smile, "Cockroach."

He shook his head a bit, "Bailey, I got stuck. And I wasn't going to make it out on my own." He saw her small smile drop and her expression became horrified, "My leg fell through the floor, I couldn't get free, the smoke was choking me and I could barely see. I had no chance of surviving that. . . then I felt something, someone, grab my leg and push me up and I was able to crawl away from the hole and get back on my feet."

Her mouth opened and shut a few times while she tried to come up with something to say, "What. . . why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was going to. But then I got back and you were so concerned because I was all cut up and bruised. Then Charlie was born and everything became even more hectic and. . . and I didn't want to put anything else on your shoulders. I didn't want to give you anything else to worry about."

"So why are you telling me now?"

He shrugged, "You're the religious one, I thought. . . maybe you'd get something out of that story that might help make all this now make sense."

Bailey was silent for a minute while she played with the fringe of her cardigan, "Maybe it was your Guardian Angel."

"Bailey I never grew up with all that church stuff." He said and shrugged again as she looked at him, "Would I even have one?"

"Tommy we all have one, no matter what a person might or might not believe."

"So do you think ours will get us out of here safely?"