Thanks for all the reviews and reads on the previous chapter, It really means a lot to me.
When the earth finally stopped shaking around them after what seemed a lifetime, Steven was lying on top of her as she covered the two girls below her own body, shielding them from the damage that could be done, sure there was a bed above them, but that didn't leave them much space now did it.
"Steven?" she asked as she heard him let out a groan when he finally managed to sit up, a couple of rocks had fallen on top of his back when he shielded her and the girls and it had hurt him as she turned to him when they sat down on the ground, after making sure that the girls were okay as well.
"You, okay?" she asked him, checking him over, feeling over his legs and arms, to feel or see if there were any open injuries to him, since she couldn't see a thing, her eyes were stinging from the dust that was still settling around her, upsetting her own and the other's lungs.
"Yea, a rock fell on my back, I'll be fine." He reassured her as he tried to look at her, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"How are we ever going to get out of here Steven?" She asked him once they'd checked on the children together and they settled beside each other, trying to support one another when they were facing a nightmare, they didn't know they would ever get out of alive. Sure, their bodies would be found one day, but they wouldn't be alive if they had to stay here for very long.
"I don't know Amelia, we were in the middle of the building, it's going to take even longer to get to us than the others." He told her wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she leant into him as he winced from the strain it was putting on his back.
"If we ever get out of this, Alex is going to bloody kill me." She told him as he let out a chuckle and they couldn't help but share a small laugh at that.
"He is." Steven confirmed with a nod of his head before resting his head on top of hers, trying to get strength from each other since they knew that they'd be in there for quite a while. Sure, the people who'd been stationed out there to take care of the children and had been sent out by Amelia would know that they were still in the building and would hopefully gather people to dig them out, but other buildings might have collapsed as well, and she would be the first to say that she didn't take precedence to anyone else.
"Do you have your phone on you?" Amelia asked, realizing that there might be some way to get help, but so far it had been tricky already to get service around their camp, let alone out here. Searching in her scrubs she did find her phone, still working and fine, Steven's phone however wasn't as lucky as hers since his had been in his back pocket and had been crushed by falling debris.
"No service though." Amelia whispered as she started to hold up her phone but couldn't find any service, so she put her phone down and put it in the plane status, to preserve more energy of it.
"When do you think they'll start looking for us?" Amelia wondered after a little while, breaking the silence around them. They had already tried to look for something, a place where they could start to try and dig themselves out, but they were out of luck, they were locked in and they also didn't know if the rubble was stable enough for them to try and find their way out and how would they be able to dig themselves out when tons of debris was on top of them anyway, they could only hope.
Inside their little cave they were safe enough for now, shielded under two beds having been pushed together.
"I don't know Amelia, maybe you could try and see if you have service in a little bit." He suggested to her as she nodded her head at him, none of them had any answers, and everything was totally out of their control. It was up to those trying to dig them out of when they'd be able to get out.
But the exhaustion of the last few weeks was catching up with them as well. they couldn't help it, they'd have very little sleep during the last couple of weeks when they'd been here, they'd been here for three and a half weeks and they had worked their asses of.
And now they were caught under the rubble, their bodies exhaustion catching up with them and before they knew against their better judgement, they fell asleep.
****
Back at base, everyone got back on their feet after the new earthquake was done shaking the earth beneath them. The biggest concern at the moment was another tsunami, everyone turned in the direction of the ocean which they could see from the park they had set up camp in. Everyone had worked their asses off to get everyone back on their feet somewhat and they didn't want it to be destroyed again by another quake, sure there had been smaller afterquakes here and there, but this was the biggest one and could it still be called an aftershock since the first one had hit nearly a month ago and it hadn't been a particular small one either.
When they got all clear about the possible danger of a new tsunami, sure there were bigger waves but none as big as the tsunami that hit a month ago.
Things went back to work however pretty soon after they had gotten the all clear from the danger of another tsunami. A stream of new people was trickling in slowly, with minor injuries from the quake, but nothing as bad as how it had been before. A couple of buildings had gone down, but those had mostly been deemed to unsafe after the initial quake, but there wasn't as much damage as before and it was a big relief to all of them.
Two hours after the earthquake however, they'd all been working on the people coming in with their minor injuries when the news started to trickle in from the soldiers who'd left camp to go and help around the city after the earthquake had hit. The orphanage all of them had been at one point or another had collapsed, the children's rescue house had been levelled to the ground.
They figured that it wasn't the location where Amelia and Steven had gone to since there were two of them. But when their team of two sniffer dogs had gone to look for survivors the news was confirmed to everyone's horror, the children's rescue house had gone down like a house of cards, all two floors of them and according to the stories that all of them were telling, Steven and Amelia had been inside of it, ordering everyone out to safety between the small and the then larger earthquake.
A nurse had told Mark and Jacob that Amelia and Steven had stopped their own escape to take two little girls with them who they'd come across on their way out, just before the second and much larger earthquake.
It was then that all of them sprang into action, most of the medical staff had to stay at camp, but a select few, including Frank who was beyond worry about the woman who he'd grown so close to in the last couple of weeks. They were sent over to take care of the injuries of the children, but most would help in digging them out, all of them were under the assumption that the two people they had all doubted at the very beginning would still be alive.
If there was anyone who thought quick on her feet, it was Amelia. She would have found something to hide under or to protect themselves from the collapse. It had been a mutual decision between the three countries that they would keep the fact of Amelia being the one under the building under wraps, which wasn't that easy since the press lived inside of their own camp, but they all did what they had to do to protect Amelia and Steven as well. They didn't need this story getting out, they'd find them soon enough and they'd make it seem like both Steven and Amelia had been the one's helping digging people out and taking care of the injured children.
And it worked for a time, but when they caught wind of the fact that two of their own response teams were now stuck under the rubble of the children's rescue house, they all headed to the location for the story.
Other places had collapsed but no one had been in there, so they all focused on the children's rescue house since there had been people in there and there were sure to be children stuck underneath it as well.
And ten six hours after the big earthquake had hit, the story got out, the fact that it was Amelia, and her close friend Steven were the one's stuck under the building spread like wildfire through the press corps.
****
"How long have we been here?" Steven asked when he woke up after their nap, the children were still asleep on their laps and she was happy to know that they wouldn't remember much of it anymore, at least she hoped they wouldn't remember much of it.
Their bodies had now adapted to being in the small, confined space they were in, there were small gaps here and there, probably providing them with what little fresh air they could get. That had been her first worry though when she woke up, that they would suffocate underneath the rubble.
"Seven hours." She told him, looking down at her phone, she knew that by putting him in plane mode she was preserving her battery. She was still at 70% and she really hoped that at some point she'd be able to contact anyone, someone out there in whatever manner they could.
"Are they even looking for us?" Steven asked her as their throats were hoarse from the dry and dusty air around them and from not having drunk anything since they got caught or left the camp really.
"I hope they are, by now they must know we're still under here." She explained hoping to sound hopeful, trying to look for anything that they could use to make noise with.
"Maybe we could break off a metal rod from the bed to make noise with." She suggested after checking if they had service on her phone, but they had none and she doubted if that would change, knowing how hard it had been to get service at the start of them being here. It was strange how it could be so quite underneath here when she was convinced that there would be a lot of noise outside of the rubble.
"We could try." Steven suggested to her as they checked on the children beside them, their heads resting on their thighs, readjusting them.
****
Alex and most of his family had left Balmoral at the time and was back at work in London when the news of Amelia being under a collapsed building reached him. At first, he'd thought it had been a joke from Meghan since the dislike between them still. She'd been released at the beginning of September but still had to get her treatment twice a week. But she was stable enough to be released from the hospital, or at least that was what they were told, everyone still had a long way to go to trust her again and he doubted she would ever be fully trusted. Harry and Meghan both admitted that Amelia's frank words had been the one thing getting through to her and that it had helped her to realize that she needed the help. He was happy that his girlfriend had managed to do that, and it seemed things were finally starting to look up for Meghan and Harry, privately at least.
They still had a long road ahead of them, to mend all the wrongs that had happened in the last couple of years. But they were on their way to fix things at least, he felt bad that Amelia could see the result of Meghan's transformation yet, but he knew his girlfriend would always doubt her and distrust her, too much had happened between them.
Whilst Amelia was in Peru, he was also in charge of their four dogs, including those she'd brought with her when she loved here. And they were doing fine, except for Alasse always checking if she was with him when he arrived home and being sad at her being gone.
And it had been during a chat with the Queen's grandchildren on WhatsApp that the first mention of it came.
Meghan; 'Just heard about a second earthquake hitting Peru.'
Harry: 'What Happened?'
Will: 'Just saw the news, not as bad as the first one though, I'm sure Amelia is fine.'
Kate: 'Let's hope so.'
Zara: 'Alex don't go worrying about her too soon, I'm sure she'll be calling you soon enough.'
All the messages read before he replied to them.
Alex: 'haven't heard from her yet and it's been four hours already.' He replied.
He'd been in a meeting that evening about a tour he was to undertake next year. He knew he shouldn't be planning to far ahead since he was going to propose to his girlfriend in two weeks' time. So, they made the plans but calculated the possibility of her joining him into it.
But then came the message that made his blood run cold.
Meghan: 'Amelia's been trapped under a building. It's all over the news'
Hoping it wasn't true he turned to his team around him.
"Excuse me gentleman, I have to check something out." He told them, in what he hoped was a calm voice as he turned on the tv in the meeting room and it was the news coverage of Peru's new earthquake.
"Prince Alexander's girlfriend, Amelia Michaels is trapped underneath this building, it has been confirmed only ten minutes ago by the Belgian response team that she and her close friend Steven are stuck somewhere underneath this rubble. Even since they've been trying to find them and are hopeful, they are still alive somewhere under the rubble, but so far there is no sigh of life of them yet and the two children they ran back in for." the presenter informed them and Alex felt his world caving in around him. He didn't have to look at his team to know that all eyes were on him and they were all familiar with Amelia by now as well.
"Sir, I think it's best for you to home, you shouldn't be thinking about this right now." Marcus said looking at the shocked form of Alex, it seemed like he was in a daze, looking ahead of him, but not there.
Marcus himself couldn't believe it, he and Amelia had grown close together since she put him in his place back in April, he'd been on her team of creating ECIAS, hypothetically still but he was eager to go ahead with it and become her advisor as well. When he'd heard about her going to Peru as part of the emergency response team, he thought that it was incredibly brave of her and what it would do for her image to the public as well, she would be a hero for going there. She'd been caught doing things at the field hospital there and he couldn't be prouder of her and what she was doing. But right now, hearing that she was stuck underneath a collapsed building and might be dead. Well, it certainly wasn't what they had expected and certainly not because everyone knew that she was coming home in just a few days and that Alex was planning to propose to her in two weeks' time.
*****
"I'm thirsty." The young girl in her lap said as she held her against her side.
"I know." She whispered, having discovered that the girls with them were from Britain, their parents had been operated on by her and Frank shortly after their arrival and were in their field hospitals ICU. She tried to reassure them that their parents were slowly getting better, but what else could she say, she couldn't get them out of here, she couldn't get them water because there wasn't any. They'd been stuck underneath it all for close to 24 hours and they wanted to get out, the air was getting stale, and she was starting to get Closter phobic. Her phone was now at 50%, sure the plane modus was doing its trick, but that didn't mean they were going to have her phone for much longer.
"Try and get some sleep." She told the young girl as she felt her nod against her chest.
"They must be looking for us now." Steven pointed out from beside her as they heard the building groaning occasionally, the sound of rubble being removed from on top of them and they really hoped that they were getting closer to them. It certainly gave them hope of being saved whilst still alive, but so far there hadn't been any saving.
"I would think so." She admitted to him, moving around a bit since her ass was starting to fall asleep and they couldn't really move around much.
"Maybe we can find service now?" she said with a hopeful tone, but she knew it was unlikely to happen as she held her phone up, but no bars were seen.
"What if you were to try Bluetooth?" Steven suggested out of the blue as she turned to look at him, their faces lit up by the light of her phone.
"someone out there must have forgotten to turn off their Bluetooth." She told him with a tilt of her head as he nodded his head at her. They had to have some hope, and this seemed to be their best bet right now.
"I know it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we've been trying to reach out to them, and we can't get service for the last 24 hours. It's not going to change by now, by now there must be enough people out there trying to dig anyone of us out. Only one needs to have his Bluetooth on." He told her with a hopeful tone, he really hoped that would be their savior, because their future looked pretty bleak at this point. They were both cranky and tired and hurting and they were slowly getting out of fresh air as well and they were thirsty and hungry since they hadn't even for much longer than they were stuck here and being in such a small space was making them agitated.
"Alright." Amelia said, it was as good as any other attempt they had tried already, opening her Bluetooth. But when it didn't connect with anyone, or seemed to find anyone, she turned it off, because it depleted her battery by 5% and she stopped her attempt for now, hopefully they get lucky in the future.
*****
Outside of their tiny cave, there was panic or rather worry, more than worry, they were beyond themselves with it. Alex was convinced that his girlfriend had gotten herself killed under that building and no one could convince him otherwise. He'd made her promise every single day to stay safe and to not be a hero. Now she'd ran into a building during an earthquake to save two young children. That was the story going around at least, she'd been the one to order everyone out when the first one had hit, followed by the larger and second quake, most of them had gotten out because of it when the larger earthquake hit.
Those who'd been the closest to the door had already been dug up, the one's unfortunate enough to be out of there on time. Half were dead, others were still alive but injured. All the people there reported the very same thing, Steven and Amelia had been on their way out when they'd come across two little girls hiding in fear and they'd gone to get them. Just before the building collapsed.
He was proud of her, incredibly proud for her wanting to save those two girls, but it might have gotten her killed. Everyone was telling him to have hope, that Amelia wouldn't give up without a fight either. That she wouldn't be dead, that one way or another she would find a way to get back to them.
He wasn't so convinced, and his friends and family were trying to keep their hopes up, everyone was there for him, from the new friends they had made through Amelia, to his year-old friends and his and her family. Her own family back in Belgium was beyond worry as well. her grandparents were handling it the hardest, they'd given up all hope of seeing her alive again. They'd been buried under that rubble for 32 hours already and they were still to find them.
****
"how much batter have you got left?" Steven asked her as she looked down at her phone, they'd attempted to lock on a Bluetooth device nearby twice already since their first attempt, but they hadn't succeeded so far. She'd typed a message ready to send through in case they managed to connect to one, but they needed to connect to someone first.
"20%" she told him as he let out a heavy sigh.
"Last time?" he asked her as she nodded her head at him. They'd been under the rubble for close to two days already and they were starting to notice the effects on their bodies of not having been able to drink anything in those two days. And they needed to get out of there. Steven's arm had started to hurt more and more, and she thought that he might have dislocated it, but in the dark she wasn't going to attempt putting it back in place either. Her ribs were hurting as well from the force of which Steven had landed on top of her including rocks on them both. She'd been crushed between Steven and the children, trying not to crush them so she figured she might have a couple of bruised ribs as well.
"Alright." She whispered, putting it on, moving it around she was about to give up again when a name popped up on her screen.
"There is someone there." She chuckled in relief, no matter the pain she felt, she quickly locked on to the phone, when the connection came through, she quickly sends the message through, not able to celebrate just yet, they weren't out of there yet.
Outside of the rubble, Jaak a Dutch search and rescue canine unit was running over the rubble to look for a scent when he felt his phone buzzing. Knowing they didn't have any reception out here, he wondered what it could be.
"Amelia's phone." He quickly read and accepted the connection; he couldn't help but call over people. If he moved anywhere, he could lose the connection with her and he knew that there was ten-meter range when it came to Bluetooth, by the time a couple of them had reached him, the message came through.
"Steven and I are still alive with the two girls, but be need help, get us out of here." Read the message as a small cheer went around the five of them. He ordered them to keep the Bluetooth on for as long as possible now that they had a search area, they could focus on that ten-meter perimeter where he was positioned from.
'we're coming' he added as more people started to dig around him, but half an hour after the lock on Bluetooth they lost the connection. They'd been able to communicate somewhat, and they knew her battery was close to dying, but the important thing was that they now knew where to start looking for them and they were still alive which energized everyone to keep on looking for them.
All around they could only wonder as to why a group of men had started to dig in that particular spot, and then the dogs had started to bark as well, they had found someone.
"What's going on?" one reported asked at a passing by soldier from the Belgian response team.
"Amelia has been able to contact us through Bluetooth with one of us, they're still alive and we're getting them out of there." He said in a very convinced tone before running to join the man on top of the rubble as he too went to help out in digging out the people stuck down there.
And it wasn't long before the news spread around the press present there and shared the message with the world.
*****
"Look she's alive." Kate pointed out to Alex, seeing the report of how she'd managed to let them know that they were still alive and in need of help.
"I know, but how long till they get them out of there?" Alex said, his eyes locked on the screen in front of him as he watched the rescue going on over in Peru. He couldn't help but hope that they would get her out of there quickly. Normally they'd be leaving for Belgium in 24 hours, so the end was near no matter what if they got her out of there on time that was.
"They won't stop now that they know they're still alive." William told him, clasping his shoulder as they all focused on the pile of rubble that Amelia was under.
****
"Amelia, Steven?" They finally heard voices calling out to them.
"We're here." They attempted to call out, but their voices were barely there and hoarse from thirst and the dust that they had inhaled already. So, they started hitting the side of the bed with the metal rod they'd broken off earlier already. It was making one hell of a noise and it was sure to get their attention as they heard the noises of the rescue group coming closer and closer.
And then 46 hours after being stuck under the building a single beam of light came through a cam from the rubble above them.
"Hey guys you didn't need to get yourselves stuck for me to come looking for you." Chris told her as she couldn't at the way the joker of the bunch had managed to make light of the entire situation, but he'd been worried as well, finally able to let go of that.
"And here I thought you'd be happy to come looking for us." She told him with a hoarse and barely there voice.
"Let's get you out of here." He told them, hopping into the hole with them.
"Let's get them out of here first." Amelia said, looking at the children as Chris lifted them up out of the hole, they were in. the cheer that travelled down into the cave brought a smile to her face as she was the next one to go up.
"You injured?" Chris wondered as her hand went to her ribs.
"I think a couple of bruised ribs." She told him as Chris called out to be careful with her when they pulled her out. He lifted her up and she felt two pair of hands pulling her up. There was another cheer around her when she was lifted out of the hole. It was the real first fresh breath of air that she had since getting stuck inside of it.
"god you have no idea how worried I've been." Frank said as he greeted her with a hug.
"I missed you too." She said with a hint of amusement before she started to cough and started to slip down the rolling rubble as Frank reached for her. Looking behind her she could see Steven being pulled out of it as well as she started making her way down the small hill of rubble.
When she tripped, Frank and Jack, a British soldier reached out to grab her as he lifted her up in his arms.
"So that's what's a girl gotta do to get a lift around here." She whispered and both jack and Frank couldn't help but share a laugh at that, her humor seemed to be very much intact still and she wasn't too badly injured either.
She ignored all the camera's being pushed towards her as Jack carried her up to the trucks that would take them back to base camp. They were finally out of the hell whole they'd been in for almost two days and now they were heading home. Frank climbed on board the truck with her and Steven, jack staying behind to continue digging for other people if there were any left inside still.
On the drive to base camp, they were both hooked up to an IV to get some fluids in them again, they were dehydrated and needed to get some fluids and nutrition back in them.
But they were out of the rubble and on their way to base camp, they weren't that injured. Steven had a dislocated shoulder and she had managed to score a couple of bruised ribs along with Steven. And those things would heal in time, they were safe, and sound and she knew that other people were not as lucky as they were.
****
Alex just like so many other people had seen Amelia and Steven being pulled out of the rubble. So, they knew that they were alive and well. but they were all waiting on the reassuring phone call from them both.
And then two hours after they had seen them being rescued, Alex got the long-awaited phone call.
"thank god." Alex immediately answered the phone call from Amelia.
"Hey love, I'm sorry for worrying you like that." She explained to him, feeling bad about the fact that she must have worried him beyond belief and her family as well.
"God Amelia, you just took ten years from my life, what were you thinking?" he asked her, finally able to let go of the worries that he'd been feeling ever since finding out that she'd been caught under the building.
"I'm really sorry Alex, we thought we had more time to get those girls out of there, the building was deemed safe, so we didn't think it would come down. We never thought that it would happen." She explained to him as he let out a huge sigh, happy and relieved to finally hear her, but the worry he'd been feeling was still somewhat coursing through his veins.
"God Amelia, I thought you were dead." He told her as she let out a huge sigh.
"I can only apologize Alex; we never thought the building would come down." She told him again, feeling even worse for what she must have put him through since she got stuck underneath the building.
"when are you coming back?" he asked her as she looked at Frank coming in to check on her IV.
"The plane leaves in ten hours." She told him as she laid back against the bed.
"The plane should arrive back in Brussels around 6:30 in the morning." She explained to him as she heard him let out a sigh. Talking for a bit longer, she then made the call to her family and friends as well. so many people needed to be reassured that she was indeed safe and well. By the time she was finished, she was told to go to bed by Frank and by the time she was awoken, it was for them to head to the airport, she'd worked when the help had been most dire, but she wasn't proud of herself for getting herself stuck under the building either.
It was typically her, only she could have done that. But now they were returning home, for 28 days they had been there, and she'd worked 25 of them, before getting stuck under the building for almost two days and then half a day to recover and get back some of her strength. But she'd worked her ass off during those 25 days and it would be something that would remain with her for the rest of her life
****
"Are you ready to go home?" Steven asked her as they felt the plane touching down in Brussels, and with that they were back home, where it had all begun just a month ago. It had changed them; they'd seen things that they'd never have if they'd only stuck to being in a hospital. They had fulfilled their dreams of going to a disaster struck place and aiding those in most need of it. they could have done it without getting stuck under a building though.
She did feel okay now, she didn't have that many physical effects because of it. She had painkillers for her bruised ribs but other than that she was okay, it would be more of a psychological effect that she was concerned about. She didn't think that anyone could come back from something like that and be the same person that left the place. She thought that being a student of a nursing had been confrontational at times.
Well, nothing had ever been as confrontational as being in Lima and the things that she had seen there. She'd put all of it in a box whilst being there, it was easier imagining that it hadn't happened that she hadn't seen the things that she had. She knew that there would be a time to handle all of that. She would have to do the psych eval before she'd be able to return to London, it was a standard procedure for anyone who came back from such missions. And in a way she could understand why now.
But she'd rather talk to Charles who helped her through the ordeal of being attacked earlier that year, she had a feeling she was going to need some psychological help after what she'd seen and she wouldn't be stupid enough to wait till it got too bad again, she'd attack it before it could overtake her.
"Yes, glad to be back, I'm happy to have done it, I fulfilled a lifelong dream and if I wasn't dating Alex with the prospect of what will happen soon, then I would love to go on another mission. But I think he will not let me go on other missions such as this after what I put him through in the last couple of days." She elaborated to him, something he had already considered himself. Alex had been eager to propose in the summer and then she'd gotten herself stuck under a building, probably worrying the man 10 years' worth of his life.
So, he too knew that this would become her first and last expedition of the sort that they would ever be able to do together.
"You getting straight back to work?" she asked him as he shook his head at her.
"I need some time to get through the things that we saw over there." He explained to her as she nodded her head at him in understanding, the reason why they got off for a month after returning from such missions.
"Guess we'll have to find the right way of dealing with this." She told him as he nodded his head in agreement. They'd been talking about it during the plane ride already, it had been agreed that they'd be meeting up several times in the future. The group had grown close by what they had seen, some of them had already been on expeditions before such as Frank, someone Amelia had become incredibly close to, he'd become a guardian or father figure to her, whilst still allowing her to do her job.
And new friendships had been created here, she'd gotten along with a lot of people from the British response team as well and it was safe to say that plenty of people had swapped numbers with the promise of meeting up again.
****
Walking off the plane, they received their last briefing whilst on the plane, because they knew that once they got off the plane, their family and loved one's were waiting inside of the hanger, eager of their return and there wouldn't be much time for debriefing either then.
And then they had been allowed to get out of the plane and into the hanger; Everyone rounded around Amelia so the press wouldn't be able to harass her to much as they were there to cover their return from Lima.
Walking into the hanger, she looked around to find her family and then she noticed her family standing to the side. Steven's family mixed in with hers as she hurried over to them, throwing her arms around her grandparents, happy to see them again and to be able to hug them after what she must have put them through.
"God don't you ever scare us like that." Her gran told her as she squeezed her arms around her granddaughter.
"I'm sorry." She admitted to her as she felt herself relaxing in their arms, glad to be finally home.
"You're not going over there again, are you?" she asked her with a very worried tone as Amelia let out a small chuckle at that, before shaking her head at them and the rest of the family.
"No, I'm not going back." She reassured them all, looking at a specific person, she couldn't believe her eyes, she hadn't thought that he'd come here and that they'd be reunited in London. She hoped that he might be here, but she figured that he wouldn't do it, because of the public interest in her and her family.
"Alex." She grinned, running up to him, ignoring the pain that shot through her ribs as she threw her arms around her boyfriend, both hanging on for dear life.
"god love." He whispered in her hair as he squeezed her against him and she didn't dare tell him off for the pain that she felt as he held her for dear life, too afraid to let her go, thinking it was still all a dream of her returning to him.
"I'm never letting you out of my sight again." He told her as he hid his face in her neck.
"I'm fine love." she whispered to him with a reassuring tone as she felt him rub his fingers through her hair and down her back and she felt him nod against her.
"I thought I'd lost you." He told her as she pulled back to rest her head against his, looking into his eyes.
"You haven't, I'm still here." She reassured him, rubbing her thumb back and forth on his cheek as he closed the gap between their lips, happy to see each other again.
"And since when do you have a stubble?" she asked him, rubbing her hand against the stubble that formed on his cheeks.
"You always liked it when I had a stubble?" he pointed out to her, rubbing his own hand over his cheek as she nodded her head. She did love to see him with a bit of a stubble, he looked very hot with one. But he always kept himself to the unspoken rules and shaved.
"I do," she confirmed to him as he gave her a small smile.
"I didn't feel like shaving it off when you were under that building and I kept it." he told her as she let out a chuckle.
"So, I'm responsible for it." she teased him as he dropped his head against hers whilst he nodded his head.
"I don't mind." She told him as he kissed her lips again, happy to have her back in his arms where she belonged.
"I love you." She whispered as she gave him a small smile, looking up at him with a tilt of her head.
"I love you too." He told her as he nudged his nose with hers.
"You ready to go home?" her mum asked her once she'd been greeted by everyone there of her family.
"We still need to be debriefed and get a psych eval." She told them as they nodded their heads in agreement.
"how long will that last?" Alex asked her as she went to shrug her shoulders unknowingly.
"I don't know, an hour maybe more." She told him as he nodded his head.
"We'll get a cup of coffee whilst you do that." He told her as she nodded her head at him, looking at Steven, the two of them headed for the room for the psych eval. They wanted to get it over with as soon as they could and head home. She didn't know what the plan was, if she and Alex would stay here a couple of days, or if they would go to London in the next couple of days.
***
Because they had been trapped underneath a building, the psych eval took a little longer. Both her and Steven were happy to leave that part behind them. They'd made it out of Lima alive and that was the most important thing for both of them.
When they finally got out of the room with the psychiatrist, both of them had been given a prescription for anti-anxiety medication in case they felt the need for it after getting caught under a building. But she also knew that they might need them at one point so she would go after them and keep them close by.
"So, when are we returning back to London?" she asked Alex as they sat next to each other in the car. She didn't want to leave her family behind, but she also believed that getting back to normal life as soon as possible would help her more than staying here where everyone else worried about her and around her.
Bot that she had a job to get back to in London, so far no one had hired her, sure Roy had offered her a job at the university to become a part of the research team as a nurse. But she didn't feel like getting straight into that for the moment either.
But getting back home which was London now in her case would definitely do her good, the psychiatrist had told her that getting back to a normal routine as soon as possible was the best thing for her to do now.
That if she were to hide and retreat it would make things worse for her and part of that would be returning to London. She wanted to see her dogs, her friends there, she wanted to move on from Lima, she'd seen plenty of things there that she'd rather forget for now. She'd seen children dying, she'd held children in her arms as they died, that left an impact on a person.
And though that would be hard to get passed by, she was angrier at herself for getting stuck under that building. She hated that she had been the one needing help in the end of it, because she'd gone there to give help, not to become the one in need of help. The psychiatrist had reassured her that it was totally normal to feel that way at the moment though.
"I have to get back to work the day after tomorrow and then we leave next week for Iceland." He told her as she nodded her head at him.
"I'm not really sure if I want to go on a holiday." She told him as he took her hands in his. If this trip got cancelled now, he wouldn't be very happy. He understood why she didn't feel like going, she had only just returned. But the entire trip to Iceland had been planned around his proposal. She'd always said and spoken about her desire to see the northern lights and he'd planned his proposal around it. sure, he knew it would be better to go in December or something, but he didn't want to wait that long to propose to her either.
This trip had been planned since May, he'd only told her of it since August and then she'd looked forward to it. To be able to see the Northern lights.
It would be something and he'd planned the entire trip out, now he just needed to convince her that going there was going to be a good thing.
Right now, everything was still fresh, and she needed to come to terms of what had happened to her and what she'd seen. Maybe by the time that they left next week, she'd be thinking about it in a different way.
That's what he hoped for at least.So that was the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, please do let me know below and expect a small preview to be headed your way.