[RP] Ringing in my Ears... and an Echo in my Heart

[my_strappyshoes]

It had been a state of constant panic since they had recieved word that Sloane had planned on taking care of everything, and everything included APO and the surrounding areas. The tunnels were being evacuated as quickly as possible, and APO was at a level red status. She had heard over comms that Tom had found the bomb, but that was the last she had heard from him. As more and more people emerged from below the streets her eyes darted amongst the crowd searching for any sign of Tom.

Shrugging off yet another medical team member insistant on checking her out she spotted Dixon coming up through the crowd. Pushing past complete strangers she made her way up to Dixon, "Tom! Where's Tom? He found the bomb, but... where is he?" Her voice was as strained as her emotions were. All her worry clearly expressed in her pale blue eyes. Dixon's hand gripped her upper arm in a supportive gesture as his eyes locked with hers.

"Tom found the bomb in the abandoned tunnel, it's set in an empty car, but he can't disarm it. He's going to slow the countdown with liquid oxygen and -" Rachel cut him off knowing exactly how he was planning on proceeding.

"That only buys him a few seconds at a time! What is he planning on doing? Staying down there?" Dixon didn't need to answer, she saw the reply in his hesitation. She looked beyond Marcus hoping that Tom had changed his mind, that the hero's death he was seeking was a foolish one, and that he had come to his sense. "Time.. Dixon! How much time was on the timer??" She gripped Dixon's arms firmly nearly shaking him into telling her.

"When I left he had four minutes... he said he'd leave when he had a minute left on the timer," That was all she needed to know, releasing her grip on him she pushed him aside and took off full sprint back into the tunnels. "Rachel it's not enough time!!" She barely heard Dixon yelling after her all she heard was her heart pounding in her chest, echoing into her ears. The closer she got to the tunnel the more frustrated she got with Tom's choice to stay down there. It wasn't his time, not this way. Whatever self-sacrifice he had planned she knew he wasn't going to walk out with a minute left on the timer. The evacuation was taking longer than they thought, and she knew Tom wouldn't want that on his conscious.

No matter how much he learned about the death of his wife, it was still something that was going to haunt him, it was still something he was going to accept the blame for. As she rounded another corner leading her deeper into the tunnels she glanced to her watch and heard Dixon over the comms say that everyone was making their way out of the tunnels, and telling Tom to get out of there. She could hear Tom responding and faintly heard it echo from the tunnel just ahead of her.

"Patch me through to Rachel?"

She heard Tom's request clear as day from the stalled subway car just a few yards in front of her. Her pace which had been a full sprint most the way down there slowed up just before she made it to the doorway. Slightly out of breath her hand clasped around the framing of the jammed open doors.

"You'll have to deal with me face to face instead."

Comments

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

With his adrenaline starting to fade just a little, the simple, honest 'yes' from Rachel's lips, and the fact that he was, in fact, very much *not* dead, Tom felt just the slightest bit giddy...just enough to make him grin and laugh quietly, then harder.

He ought to kiss her...that's what happened in moments like this, right? Saw it in the movies every day...but it was just too damn cliche, and it didn't feel like it would *mean* enough, not right now.

So he hugged her instead...turned her in his arms to face him with slow, deliberate intent, wrapped his arms around her waist, and lifted her clear off the ground, head buried in her shoulder as the laughter continued to rise from deep in his chest and shake his shoulders. His shoulders...he could feel the sun on his shoulders, warm and airy for the first time since he'd taken up residence in LA. Rachel smelled good, and the air smelled good when he filled his lungs with it past the scent of Rachel's perfume...every smoggy, humid lungful was a delight.

Maybe it was the fact he had a date. Maybe it having an armful of said date-to-be, warm and squirming and laughing and quite possibly even squealing at him, he wasn't really listening....or maybe it was touching death a little more intimately than he ever had on any deep cover op.

Either way...he was feeling *really* goddamn good.

[my_strappyshoes]

She was thrown almost off balance for a moment as he turned her into himself, and when she felt her toes lift off the ground she wanted to rebalance herself again, but as soon as the sensation came it faded, and the sense of stability and security took over her. When his shoulders began to shake a bit from his laughter her own smile spread wide across her face, she had barely heard Tom laugh, in fact he hardly cracked a smile in her presence. If near death put this much light into him she was almost tempted to threaten him weekly, just for this brand of reception.

Still lifted off the ground his laughter was becoming a bit infectious she found herself laughing along with him. Trying a bit to get him to ease her back on the ground she was pressing slighty on his shoulders trying to give him some sort of signal that she was done being off the ground.

As his laughter started to fade and hers as well she felt his grip around her waist ease up and allow her to slip through his arms back onto the ground, her eyes still dancing a bit with that wide-eyed happiness that she felt only moments ago looked up into his.

"So this date, no explosions, or wigs, or ancient prophecies allowed okay?"

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

As Rachel slid from his arms, Tom had to smile at her wisecrack. He nodded, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, which was still knotted with leftover tension. "I'll go ya one better...no sidearms required." he quipped. "Think you can handle the calm? I mean, now that you're Super Spy Chick and all..."

[my_strappyshoes]

She wanted to hit him hard for that one, and it might have hurt too since she did know all those ways to kill a man, but instead she just shook her head and tipped her chin down a bit away from his stare. Laughing a bit again she glances up to him, "I am not Super Spy Chick, sure I saved your ass, but I figured I owed you 'one rescue from explosion' and I wasn't about to let you get out of that coffee with me again." She smirked at him playfully, knowing that she was probably inching toward getting a smack of her own.

Still close to him she shifted her weight onto one foot and nudged into him a bit, "Besides you got to be the hero, and will you look at that! So did I, though I have a feeling this is far from over. If this was just one part of his plan? There's bound to be more, and I'm just glad I didn't lose the guy that's supposed to save my ass if I get in too deep."

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom snorted, allowing himself to be nudged and elbowed...at the moment, he was in too good a mood to swat her back.

"Is that all I am to you? A coffee date-slash-knight in shining armor?" he joked, "You better be careful, Gibson...I might start to feel cheap. Tawdry, even."

[my_strappyshoes]

"Tawdry? Well, well well Mister Grace, you'll make a woman blush here." Chewing on her lower lip a bit she looked back up at him, "You know you did leave me at the most inopportune time, you don't think I'll let you get away with that again do you? Maybe I'd prefer to keep you closer," Trying to not get hit or swatted away she pushed away her instinct to nudge into him again and instead leaned against him resting her head upon his chest lightly. "Because we both know that this isn't over."

Trying not to kill their lighter mood, but she was well aware of just what they had just walked out of alive, and wondered just what else waited for them before the day was over.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom was a little surprised by the way she leaned into him for a moment, head on his chest, and had the craziest urge to bury his face in her hair, to see if it was as soft as it looked...

Instead he reached up, laying a hand against the back of her neck, letting that hair brush the back of his hand...yeah, definitely soft. For a moment, he just let it rest there before giving her nape a gentle squeeze, urging her to look up at him.

"No," he agreed quietly, "it's not over." He paused, meeting her gaze meaningfully as he shook his head slightly. "None of it." And it wasn't...not only Prophet Five and every other fucked-up mess that lay ahead...but after today, Tom knew that this thing between them...

He didn't know if he was well and truly ready for it yet...but he knew he couldn't shake it if he tried.

And frankly, he didn't really *want* to.