Sorry for the delay in this chapter, was moving back to uni and was busy busy busy. I hope you like it, I'm quite proud. Although I am a bit stuck on where to go now, I welcome any suggestions. Please read and review! Thanks again to XTimeGirlX for Beta'ing and thanks to every one of you who take the time to read my little story!

Chapter Eight:

Molly was sat at a table, her light brown hair framing her face, her unique birthmark clearly visible and her favourite light pink top covering her shoulders. She had a faint smile that was pulling on her lips as she gazed into the distance, a birthday cake sat in front of her on the table with candles already lit and waiting to be blown out. She attempted to extinguish the flames, failing every time as the flames refused to disappear. With every attempt the flames on the candle increased in size, taunting Molly's failure. The flames got bigger and bigger and they were larger than her head now, dancing and smoking in level with her eyes, almost laughing. The smoke from the candles was obscuring the sight of Molly – she was disappearing behind the flames, her smile still etched on her lips, until only her silhouette was visible.

And then it was gone.

-x-

He climbed step after step wondering which scenario would play out once he reached the top. He knew which one he'd prefer but whether those events would happen when he knocked on the door, and whether Alex even felt the same way was a different matter entirely. His nose twitched at the smell of smoke but he dismissed it – after all the cigarettes he had just smoked it was no wonder his senses were fucked.

It wasn't until he got to the top of the stairs and was standing outside Alex's flat door that he realised the smell was not his imagination. He looked down at the floor and saw smoke seeping out the gap below the door like dry-ice pouring over a stage.

"Bolly!" he roared. Fear taking hold of every cell in his body as he hammered his fist hard against the door.

"BOLLY!" he yelled again.

His mind seemed to jump into overdrive: was Alex in there? Was she ok? What was going on in there and for how long? What if she needed him but he was too busy fantasising to help her.

No. He couldn't think like that. All he could think about was breaking this bastard door down and finding Alex. He took a step back, more and more smoke was seeping into the corridor, and he ran towards the door shoulder first.

BANG.

No luck.

But he almost certainly cracked something. "Shit." He rubbed his aching shoulder and stood back again from the door. Using his foot this time he began kicking the door in.

Eventually it gave way – the wood around the lock splintering to allow the rest of the door to swing open freely while the locked remained in place.

Striding into the flat he couldn't see a thing, only the light coming from the flames in the living room, slightly illuminating his surroundings. He coughed, struggling to breathe as he walked through wave after wave of smoke. He had to find Alex, whether she was here or not, he had to check – he had to know. Putting his arm over his mouth and nose to try and soften the pain of breathing in smoke he walked through the kitchen. As he delved further into Alex's flat he thought he saw something on the floor – a chair. He got nearer and the silhouette became clearer – it was Alex.

He dropped his arms, any thoughts of his own pain were gone, and ran over to her – falling to his knees at her side.

'What have you got yourself into this time?' he thought while trying desperately not to dwell on the blood that was all over the floor, her blood, that was soaking his trousers at the knee. He forced his arms beneath her unconscious form to lift her up and get her out of this burning flat before it collapsed, but the damn chair was tied to her and he couldn't get her to safety dragging that behind as well.

He coughed, clutching his chest as the stabbing pain of breathing was beginning to become too much to bear. They were running out of time and no-one else knew they were up here, knew they were missing and that something was wrong. He struggled with the knots around her legs, his fingers fumbling with slight panic and his speed held up by lack of light. After undoing a couple of knots he paused, his vision began to blur and his chest was in so much pain, but Alex was still stuck.

Suddenly the flaming curtains fell to the ground and rolled towards them around the curtain pole, the flames darting round and round like some pathetic Catherine wheel. The light fell from the ceiling smashing loudly and he could hear the flat creak with the strain of a burning building. Gene rolled Alex over onto her back and forced his hands under her arms, and although his shoulder was aching and chest was burning he dragged her lifeless body with the chair out of the flat.

-x-

Gene didn't really know what was happening – it was better that way. There was a job that needed to be done and if he thought about it seriously he wouldn't be any use to anyone, especially Alex. He wasn't aware of what he did during the next few minutes after pulling Alex out of her burning flat. He vaguely recalled waking Luigi and getting him to call the fire brigade, and also borrowing a knife. He remembered cutting Alex free from the chair at the top of the stairs next to her broken door and then carrying her outside to safety.

But now it was time to wait and there was no hiding the fact that it was Alex that he held in his arms whispering words of encouragement to, and it was painful. He kept checking her breathing every minute or so, it was weak and her pulse was slow. He knew it was bad, but he was no doctor and even though it killed him to watch her struggling for life he knew he had to wait for help.

Luigi was flittering about, trying to move some of his treasured possessions in case the fire spread, muttering in Italian and just generally being annoying. But to Gene it was just background noise; Alex's heartbeat was all he focused on.

Then he heard it – sirens. Flashing lights were approaching from around the corner, his heart leapt, he couldn't stand the waiting any longer and now help was here; Alex was going to be ok. As the vehicle turned onto the street he saw the lights belonged to the fire brigade, the ambulance had yet to arrive.

The men busied themselves as they assessed the situation in front of them. They tried to talk to Gene to find out what happened but he didn't respond, and thankfully Luigi interrupted and answered any questions they had. Gene looked down at Alex's face, his DI motionless in his arms, and through the blood and the burns she still looked beautiful, she looked peaceful. Almost too peaceful. His heart skipped a beat when he realised he hadn't checked on her pulse in a while – the arrival of the Fire Brigade had distracted him. He couldn't feel her breath on the back of his hand anymore, he leant into her chest – he couldn't hear her heart beating.

"Don't you dare, Alex," Gene grumbled as he laid her down on his coat covering the pavement. He ripped open her blouse, the top three buttons popping off and bouncing over the street, revealing her chest. He began compressions to restart her heart, her body shaking with each one. He brushed a lock of hair away from her face as he blew air into her lungs. Carefully, he then listened to her mouth – nothing. She still wasn't breathing. He repeated CPR, his heart aching every time he stopped to see if she had started breathing again.

-x-

Every second felt like an hour yet time was simply passing too fast for Gene. This couldn't be happening, Alex would never leave, why did she always have to get herself into such a mess? Why did she do this?

Gene got angrier and angrier at Alex as he struggled hopelessly to restart her heart. He paused, listening yet again to her breathing, feeling like he'd been doing this forever, he wished she would just wake up and shout at him for ripping her blouse. He was about to start compressions again but he stopped, his heart leaping once more: could he feel a pulse?

No, he checked again and realised it was his own pulse running fast through his fingertips. His stomach plummeted at this reality: Alex was gone. He couldn't save her. Before tears could well up in his eyes or before any emotion could take hold many things happened at once: sirens could be heard approaching, Alex's flat exploded causing glass to shatter and cover the road below, and Alex started coughing.

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