Picture Perfect: A CaptainSparklez Story {COMPLETE}

Chapter 19: Favors and Family

Six different faces were gazing down at me, their eyes wide with surprise. All of them appeared to have been crying, for their eyes were puffy and red and there were still some faint wet streaks along their cheeks.

The first three people I saw were Robin, Patrick, and Emma.

Robin was leaning against a crutch so as not to hurt her damaged ankle. Tiny bandages covered her facial wounds and there was a faint scab from the split in her lip. Her matted hair flew in crazy wavy strands around her head.

Patrick looked about the same as Robin did; no massive damage except for a few tiny scrapes and bad bruises. There was a white bandage wrapped around his right hand.

Emma sat perched at the foot of my bed on her knees, her eyes watching me intently like a lonely puppy. Her tangly hair had been pulled back out of her face. She was wearing Jordan's beanie and had the Jerry blanket draped across her shoulders, cocooning herself in its warm hug.

Then I saw Ruby, who had her arms around Mark. Her mascara was smeared all around her eyes, trickling down her face in rivers of black. Mark was smiling at me, happy to see I was okay. I was surprised to see his eyes looked somewhat puffy as well.

And then my eyes came to rest on Jordan.

His brown eyes were horribly red and teary. They widened when he met my eyes, staring deeply at me. He took my bandaged hand and placed it to his cheek. I sighed dreamily, happy I could feel him again, even if I could only feel with my fingers. He started to cry again, but this time it was in happiness.

"Jordan," I said weakly, my voice slightly muffled by the breathing mask. "Ruby, Mark, you're...you're all here."

"Of course we are!" said Jordan, holding my hand tighter against his cheek. "We never left!"

"How long...how long was I---" My sentence was cut off by a rather ugly cough.

"Easy, Carrie," said Robin, placing a gentle hand on my chest. "Don't strain yourself. Your lungs still need time to heal. You've been out for a few hours."

"That was amazing," said Patrick, "what you did in there. I would never have been able to lift that beam by myself."

"Not to mention crazy stupid," said Ruby with a nervous laugh. "But hey, you're all over the news."

Ruby shoved her phone in my face. It was open to a YouTube video posted by the Santa Barbara Newsroom titled "Amazing Woman Saves Doctors!". There were amateur videos under the "suggested vids" tab posted by people at the scene of the fire, all of them over five hundred thousand views.

The video showed me running inside with the hose of the firetruck. The news woman who was talking off to the side of the camera sounded frantic and shocked, screaming the usual stuff at the camera man like "are you getting this" and "do you see what I'm seeing".

The dancing flames, in their own strangely scary way, were somewhat hypnotic and beautiful; swaying in sync with the billowing smoke. I heard what sounded a little girl screaming and crying, and my immediate thought was Emma.

"MOMMY, DADDY!" she screamed.

And then there I was, collapsing over the hole of the burning building, Patrick's knees buckling as he clutched Robin in his protective arms. The paramedics took away Robin and Patrick. Two others were running at me with a gurney. I was lurched over, coughing and spitting and gasping. I saw Emma jumping from Jordan's arms and following after her parents. I saw Jordan and Ruby and Mark running at me in hopes of helping me onto the gurney.

"You're a hero!" Emma exclaimed, crawling over my legs and snuggling up against my side. "You saved my mommy and daddy! Thank you!"

She gave me a light kiss on my cheek and then hugged Jordan.