2007-07-09: Get Carter: Reunions

Starring:

Jack_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif Ramon_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Elena_icon.gif Desiree_icon.gif

Guest Starring:

Gene_icon.gif Eric_icon.gif

Summary: Both groups are reunited in the backdrop of a roaring inferno.

Date It Happened: July 9, 2007

Get Carter: Reunions


Abandoned Metalworks Building, South Syracuse, New York

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!!" They got lucky. If Cass hadn't…if she didn't have the foresight to do what she did…. and Cass's klutziness today was a BLESSING IN DISGUISE. Elena gasps, pulling Desiree along with Cass as they both struggle to find a way out. She looks around wildly, and on the left side, in the first floor's west wing, there's a door. Another exit. Please let it not be blocked. "Cass!" she cries, and she starts doing her best to move faster, and faster towards that direction. She's outright dragging Desiree with Cass now, sweat pouring from her forehead.

The door bursts open, three women flying out of it. "We have to go farther," Elena breathes, and she keeps moving. She sees vehicles in the property line, she heads for that direction. She almost stumbles, and falls on her face, the gas still in her system. Finally they make it somewhere outside, Desiree and Elena dropping. When Cass spins around to head back to the complex…

IT EXPLODES. Fire roars out of it, taking out windows, doors flying violently out and almost crushing them if it flew a little lower, sent through the air. Smoke billows out from the chimney tops, and concrete slabs go flying everywhere. They're forced to take cover.

But Ramon never responded.

Neither did Peter.

Dragging Desiree with Elena, they make it outside and the door flies open. There only as far out as is possible to not get injured before everything explodes. However there was no response from Peter or Ramon and that terrifies her. As things go up in smoke - literally - Cass just stares at it in a disparate manner. Did they get out in time? There's things smoking and burning and she has no idea how anyone is inside. Where is everyone? Did they survive?! "Are you okay?" she asks really quickly. But as soon as she discerns that they are, she goes running back to the wreckage. She can't go very far, though, the flames and the heat keep her back. "Oh my God. Lachlan! Ramon! Peter!" She's not sure if she's expecting an answer but this is terrifying her. Are they dead?

"…….." Elena's face drains of color, still holding Desiree and shielding her from the slabs of concrete and shrapnel fly around them. And then, when the explosions cease, and there's nothing left but fire, she could only stare. She can't believe…no. This wasn't happening. Her worst nightmare was coming true before her very eyes. As glass shatters and red and gold flames lick around the now shattered windows, she shakes her head. "N…no….no…" she whispers. She starts shaking, horror settling in and clutching at Desiree for support. "This…this…" This isn't happening. THIS ISN'T HAPPENING.

As Cass yells out the names, there is nothing. All that answer her are the flames. All they can hear is fire, blazing and scorching and -roaring- around them, in front of them. It's as if it was attempting to swallow everything up.

But there are no signs of life. Nothing could've survived the blast.

There is no response to her cries into the night. And something occurs to Cass. It's possible that no one made it out. They're the only ones that did. The thought hits her like a punch to the stomach and she just stares at the wreckage in disbelief. "No…" Lachlan. Lachlan could be gone. Oh God. She's lost him. "No." No, she refuses to believe this. "They…they have to have gotten out. There was another way out." There has to be. She just cannot accept that he's gone. He's not. "We have to find them." Because there out there somewhere. They /have/ to be. She can't accept anything else.
Lachlan has arrived.

"….Papa…." Elena whispers. "Papa….n…no….no…NO!" But at what Cass says, grief starts to overwhelm her. How? They HEARD them fighting inside. The only way they found out about the bombs was when Cass -tripped- and removed the covering of one of the drums. How could they…? How. She tries to keep from crying. She tries to keep from losing it completely. And she grits her teeth, blinking back her eyes. The possibility that Peter could survive doesn't even hit her. All she knows is that it's quiet, save for the fire, and that EVERYONE COULD BE DEAD.

And then….before things can get worse, and before grieving could settle in with the shock…

"CASS! ELENA!"

It's faint. Distant, and muddled by the roaring fire. But it's someone who's torn towards the warehouse to look for survives. Someone……….with a scottish accent.

There is less grief in Cass' voice because she simply does not believe that Lachlan is gone. No, he got out. He had to. The moment that she hears the Scottish accent, there is no doubt in her mind. Lachlan made it. He's okay. She can't think of anything to say. It's all she can think of to try and find out where the yelling is coming from. "/Lachlan?!/" Immediately, she is running from the wreckage to try and find out where this yelling is coming from. And if /Lachlan/ made it out, the others may have. Oh God. He could be alive. Please let him be alive. This isn't a figment of her imagination.

Similarly, Lachlan hasn't quite hit the point of actually believing that something has happened to Cass. She had to have gotten out. Absolutely. Except his faith is so poor, he just has to be sure. Hence the frantic screaming. Fortunately, Cass' response happens between cries, and Lachlan's able to pick it up just fine. "Jesus," he sighs before he starts running in the direction of the shouting. "Cassie!" It's less of a question now. He heard that. She's alive.

Ramon's head /snaps/ up. "Elena," he says, and then? He just takes off running. "Elena?" He roars out the name. "Chiquita?" God, don't let him be hallucinating. He's already feeling like a madman as it is.

Cass. Elena. Peter's mind doesn't stop working as he kneels down against the ground, head lowered and eyes closed. Grime and smoke hang around him, and the sunglasses that somehow managed to stay clasped at his neck falls off to the ground. Jack's hand on his shoulder doesn't make him rise up, and he keeps shaking, right up until he hears a faint voice. And then Ramon speaks up, and takes off. He sits back up, reaching to wipe his face, and then looks back towards the fire. "Elena…" He pushes himself back to his feet all the way. The broken leg that's healed over doesn't even make him limp anymore as he starts to move in that direction as well. Elena. Cass. Desiree. All three of them have a presense in his head, but one keeps him moving after the older man. And that green in his eyes? It's back. And it's actually carrying him a bit faster than he might normally be able to move.

And then, the rest of the men can hear it. Lachlan yelling Cass's name, and a shout. A response. And then? A more insistent one.

"PAPA!"

Please be okay.

Oh god, please be okay.

Elena can't even get up to look for him. She's cradling Desiree's unconscious body in her arms. As much as hope is springing hard within her right now, hearing Lachlan and Cass's impending reunion, she can't help but hope that everyone else made it out. That everyone else was alive.

"NUNCLE!!!!" She screams as loud as she can, shaking the tears from her eyes. Please be okay. Oh god. Her nuncle. She can't help but think of him. The flowers. The obscene t-shirts. The way he blushed whenever she pecked him on the cheek.

And Peter.

Peter.

"P…" her voice breaks then. She can't say his name, since she's choking so much. Hope warred with Fear, but despite the urge to go running for Lachlan's direction, to see if he was accompanied SOMEHOW, she can't. She had Desiree to take care of. She clutches Desiree tighter to her. She can't see Cass anymore, she's too far away from her, and the smoke was getting in the way.

"What? Shit!" Jack takes off after the other men as fast as he's able, though he can't quite force his own injured leg to operate at full strength. Though he aggravates the injury, it barely slows him. "Scrappy? SCRAPPY! Oh God, please let that be her. If it's her, I swear I'll always go to church and never sleep around and I'll even pay my taxes. Amen." En route, he forms the sign of the cross.

There's a desperate tinge to Cass' voice as she tries to find Lachlan and the other. However, she hears her name and it's something that jars her out of her general grief. "Lachlan! Lachlan! I'm here!" She's yelling as loud as she can to try and find the Scotsman. Through the smoke and the rubble, though, she can make out a form. Elena is a little of the view, but she /needs/ to find Lachlan. There's already tears streaking down her face as she's trying to find him. Hey may not be dead, but who knows.

There's a vague form in the smoke, and Lachlan makes for it without hesitation. He can already hear the others calling across the distance, but there's only Elena's voice from the women's side. Where's the other lady? This is only a back-of-the-mind concern, however. Right now, Cass is top priority. And it's not too long before he recognizes the vague form as her. "Cassie!" He raises his voice louder to be heard by the men following. "OVER HERE!" And then? It's Cass. As soon as he's close enough, he moves to wrap her up in a massive, almost suffocating hug.

Ramon skids out of the smoke, looking like something a horror movie vomited up by now. He checks to make sure Dezi is breathing before skidding to his knees and gathering both women in his arms, leaving plenty of room for Jack and Peter too if they want. He doesn't care. Tomorrow he'll go back to being stern and taciturn and flatly masculine, full of machismo. For now tears keep right on rolling down his face though as he lets out what can only be described as a hoarse, ragged sob. Rapid words spill from his lips. "Gracias Dios. Gracias Jesus. Pens que usted estuvo muerto. Pens que usted fue todos muertos. Es un milagro. El est muerto, Elena. El est muerto. El nunca le doler ni nadie otra vez, yo lo juro."

The room that is left for him is very much appreciated, because as soon as Peter reaches her, uncaring that she's supporting another woman's weight on her own, he's wrapping his arms around the hispanic young woman that he's claimed as a "best friend". Many present know he feels more than that. Which is exactly why he's wrapping his arm so tightly around her and pressing his face into her hair. While her father speaks Spanish, his hearing is fairly limited. It's hard to explain how the sound of a heartbeat could overpower everything else, with a smoldering building not too far away, and a man speaking in distinct Spanish right next to him. "Told you…" he mutters against her, eyes closed. Whatever he thought he told her, he doesn't seem to wish to clarify more, as if he hopes she'll figure it out.

She thought HE was dead. Elena disengages herself from Desiree once Ramon's got her, wrapping her arms around her father and not letting him go. For a few minutes, her worst fears had been realized. She had plenty of friends. Plenty of good friends. But her father, she can't lose. The one, constant, forever anchor in her life. She squeezes him tight, and for his sake, she tries not to cry too much. But she's clung onto him like a barnacle. "Soy vivo," she tells him, her voice tight as she reins her composure in. No le dejare. Nunca. -Nunca-." She takes several deep breaths, holding her father until her eyes catch two other figures move out of the smoke. Since Lachlan's got Cass wrapped up, she could see Jack and Peter….and when her father is composed enough, she extricates herself gently. "Dezi got hit a little bit on the head. She'll be fine, it's just we'll need to carry her back to the cars," she tells Ramon. "She's not hurt bad, just sleeping…"

She takes a deep breath, hugging her father tight again, and then she stands up slowly, and turns to face the running Jack and Peter….only to almost fall over once Peter's reached her. The vehemence of the hug takes her aback a little, especially since what happened to them the last time they were in the same room. But the shock doesn't last long. She hugs him tightly, squeezing her eyes shut. "Y…you…you…you LEFT YOUR EAR PLUGS!" she cries. She can't help it. She didn't know what to say, she panicked! But she buries her face into his shoulder. But at the whisper, she nods, and nods. She knows what he's saying and all she does is response is hug him back.

Jack staggers to a halt when he finally gets Elena in clear view. A shadow of his usual lopsided smile spreads across his face. He tries to blink away another tear as it forms, but no such luck. More follow. Briefly, he lifts his gaze skyward. "I owe you one, Big Guy," he murmurs. Then he sucks in a deep, shuddering breath and limps up to join everyone else. As he approaches, he swallows around the lump in his throat. He doesn't say anything, he just nods approvingly at Peter and Elena's hug.

Before she can really see that it's Lachlan, Cass is wrapped into a crushing hug. And it's something that she doesn't mind. Hugging and mostly just collapsing into his embrace, she can't help but start crying. It's a soft sort of sob, but the tears are still undeniably there because she thought that he might be dead. She thought that she may have lost him forever. There's nothing even that she can say so she holds him tightly and tries to stop the tears that she's already shedding. Thank God he's still here.

Ditto on Lachlan's end, only replacing the 'he' with 'she'. He doesn't outright cry, but he gets teary-eyed. That's something. "S'a'righ', baby," he murmurs, relieved and shaky. "Jesus, I though' ye were gone." But he knew. Somewhere. Denial's such a beautiful thing that way. "They got 'im. He's gone."

Despite anything that may have happened between them, Peter keeps a firm hold of her. He does pull back just enough to press his forehead against hers, eyes closed. "Didn't need 'em," is all he says. But God, he sounds so relieved. She's alive. They're all alive. That's the important part. The hug doesn't become anything else, though, because he takes a slow breath and pulls back, allowing her some room to move away and tackle someone else, should she wish… But wow, he's really looking pale now. Someone's going to pass out in whatever vehicle they take home.

"Yeah well I didn't know that," Elena mutters petulantly, but when he presses his forehead against hers, she can't help but smile. And when he pulls back, she frowns at him. "You look tired," she says with a small frown. Because he did. EVERYONE looked tired. But she does step away slowly, and turns around so she can -tackle- Jack. She'll feel bad about probably making his injuries worse, but she can't help it….

But it doesn't end here.

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