Chapter 4- Hotel O'Donoghue

*Luke's POV*

Smoke surrounds me as I begin to cough as dust fills my lungs and my ears ring. I smile slightly as I push myself up from the ground, all still in one piece. "Jay! Jay we did it!" I cry, turning to look for my friend. "Jay?" I call through the dust.

"Luke, Luke!" I hear his voice cry but it's not a call of victory, of joy, it's a cry of pain, of fear.

"Jay?!" I yell, scrambling back into the huge, thick dust cloud, sliding down a bank back towards the explosion. I try and follow his voice but it is being drowned out by the bangs and explosions around me- oddly reminding me of bombfire night, only now I know I am not safe, they are not just pretty lights in the sky anymore.

Somehow through the sand I find him, shattered with derby, his face full of pain and his right leg savaged. "Jay!" I cry, falling down beside him.

"What took you so long?" He asks, a weak smile on his face. I return it as I wrap my arm under him, pulling his arm around my shoulders.

"Come on, we have to go." I say "3, 2, 1, heave." I say, hauling him up slowly. His cries of pain vibrate around in my ears but I grit my teeth, trying to stay focused. "Come on, we have to go, get you help." I say, trying to stop my voice from shaking as I see the maroon colour the sand has become around what is left of his leg.

"Just a scratch, nothing to worry about." He says, probably sensing my thoughts.

"Yeh...right, come on." I say before I slowly begin to drag him back towards base. Despite what he said, every movement is countered by a sharp cry of pain. It's not long until I can hear him sob, feel his body fall weaker and weaker against me and soon he is muttering, the same three words again and again,

"Leave me, please leave me, leave me, please." He cries over and over.

"No! Stop it! I won't and you know I won't!" I cry, tears burning against my eyes. Suddenly, in a split second I hear it coming, the split second before the bang, the bang so loud I could hardly hear it. For a second, I feel as though I am flying and a comforting thought crosses my mind- maybe I am flying off to a better, safer place. But then I am thrown roughly back into reality as my body smacks into the earth. But this time I can see him, right next to me, our blood mingling together in the sand his however drowning mine out.

"Jay." I say, my voice hoarse.

"I'm sorry." He whispers weakly.

"Shush, what are you on about? You have nothing to be sorry for!" I say.

"I have failed." He says and my breath sticks in my throat as my heart crumbles.

"No, no you haven't. Oh god of course you haven't! Come on, we are not far away now, come on, you can do it, please, come on." I mutter, tears forcing their way down my face.

"I can't, I'm so sorry, I can't." He says, his tears making dark lines through the sand covering his face.

"You can! Come on!" I say, ignoring the terrible pain in my side as I try to haul him up.

"Luke stop! Please stop! I'm sorry!" He cries and I give in, falling to the ground beside him. "Tell them, please tell them I love them." He says, his voice choking on sobs.

"Stop it! Don't talk like that! I am not leaving here without you!" I cry and he smiles sadly.

"I want you to tell Sophie, tell my mum, my dad, tell them I love them and that I am sorry." He says, "And you must do this, in person, get out of here, go home, tell my family and then be with yours! Please, for me, one last thing." He says and I nod shakily.

"I promise." I whisper.

"Pinky promise?" He says, his smile as weak as his voice.

"Pinky promise." I say, locking my little finger with his. He smiles at me, his brown eyes still just about sparkling.

"Thank you" He whispers before slowly his eyes close and his hand becomes heavy, his little finger still entwined in mine.

My breaths are gasping, like a fish out of water. The water raining down from above me washes my tears off my face, dragging them down into the depths of the plug hole. I take another swig of the drink, trying to blot out everything. My hand finds the scar down my right side, the scar from the wound that stopped me saving him! If I hadn't have been so stupid and got injured I could have carried him! We could have got help, he could have lived and he could have still been here today!

I beat my fist hard against the scar in anger, the impact causing me to choke slighting on my drink. It should have been me, he had a fiancée, he had so much living left to do! Nobody would have minded as much if it had been me, I've got no girlfriend, hardly any friends, ok so mum and the girls would be upset, Sean and Danny too, but they would get over me. Jay's parents lost their only child, Sophie lost her fiancé, and nothing can bring him back, and I am to blame.

*Danny's POV*

They are all different; tears. They all make a slightly different shape as they hit. They are so delicate, just the slightest pressure and- puff- they explode into wetness. It's odd, how close a representation of life a tear can be. So small, so beautiful, and get so delicate and so easily destroyed. I remember a time, it feels so long ago but it must be merely a year or so, we found Autumn in tears, silently crying in a corner. Cat went to her, held her close and the words she spoke were so beautiful, so...so kind and so full of hope, all I wish is to hear them now, with her and Autumn at my side, as it was back then.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Cat whispers, moving slowly towards the corner and bending down in front of Autumn. Autumn lowers her head, burying it in her arms as if ashamed. Cat sighs, leaning against the wall beside her. "You don't have to hide them you know." She whispers, softly. "Tears are nothing to be ashamed of."

"These are." She whispers through her arms.

"Why?" Cat asks softly.

"Because of who they are for." Autumn replies quietly. Cat sighs, moving closer to the girl, wrapping her arms around her and drawing her in to her.

"Autumn, listen, no tears are worth being ashamed of. It is right to grieve, for tears are merely water and without water flowers and trees could not grow. Without your tears the future will find it hard to grow, no person can live without tears, but plants cannot survive on water alone, they must also have sunlight and equally no person can survive on tears, they must also have happiness." Cat says. "Do you understand what I am trying to say?" Cat asks.

"Sort of" Autumn sniffs and Cat smiles slightly.

"I am trying to say, don't be ashamed of tears for nobody would live without them but at the same time, don't let them drown you, you need to move forwards, you need to be happy and you need to be loved." Cat says, suddenly looking up at me, a twinkle in her eyes. "And that's what we are here for, Autumn, Danny and I, and Glen and Mark, we are here for you to cry on and to make you happy and to love you Autumn; because we do you know, we all love you." Cat says and Autumn slowly lifts her head to look at us both.

"Really?" She whispers, her emerald green eyes glistening as tears dance in them.

"Really," Cat whispers with a smile before slowly placing a kiss on Autumn's forehead.

"For always and forever, we will always be here and we will always love you." I whisper, bending down next to them. A small smile appears on Autumn's face as a few glittering drops of water fall from her eyes before she buries herself into Cat's chest. Slowly, very slowly I joined in, the three of us, all hugging, all crying slightly but all happy, all safe and all of us loved.

*Sean's POV*

'Lonely, I'm Mr lonely, I have nobody, for my owwnn!'

I smile to myself; I can't even hit that note when singing in my mind! I sigh, allowing myself to sink deeper into the sofa. Guy still hasn't emerged from the bedroom and I doubt we will see anything of him till at least midday tomorrow. I sigh; I don't think I will ever truly understand why they have to fight-Luke and Guy that is. I mean I know siblings naturally get on each other's nerves but these two go way beyond that. But then, Luke really does regret what he said, I know that. He broke a silent vow by bringing up Annamarie and the tragic events that happened. I don't think anybody really knows what happened, it could have been an accident or suicide, I guess we will never know what happened to her, but what I do know is that Guy will never be able to let it go.

Suddenly the sound of knuckles against wood snaps me out of my thoughts and draws my attention to the front door. I sigh, slowly getting to my feet. I only ordered pizza five minutes ago... that is one quick pizza delivery guy! I slowly open the door to see a guy...but no pizza. "Mark?!" I exclaim, recognising the lack of hair and ginger beard almost immediately.

"Sean?!" He says, sounding just as shocked as I am.

"What are you doing here?" We say in unison before smiling.

"Luke, Guy and I are staying with Dan for a bit." I explain.

"Luke? He is back?" Mark says and I grin.

"Yep surprisingly all in one piece!" I say and Mark grins.

"That's great!" Mark says.

"Yeh. So, why are you here at this time of night?" I ask and suddenly Mark's face falls a little.

"Ah, well, I think you all sort of beat me to it, I was hoping for a bed for the night..." Mark says slowly. I smile,

"Aw I am sure we can find a place for you!" I say, stepping aside to let him in. "Welcome to hotel O'Donoghue!"

*Joey's POV*

All I wanted is some fish and chips and what do I get? Bloody coppers coming after me! So what of the shop was closed? So what if I went in through the window instead of the door? So what if I served myself to some fish and chips...and the contents of the till? I don't know, but for some reason, the coppers didn't like it.

I speed around the corner, my trainers skidding on the wet tarmac. Seriously surely someone is committing a worse crime than stealing fish and chips right now! Can't they go busy themselves hunting down a murderer, or a bank robber or something? Dan wouldn't have had the coppers chasing him; he would kill any that tried. I don't know when he is coming back but he will, he is probably robbing the woman-you know, the one on pounds and stuff...umm...the Queen! He is probably robbing her or setting fire to that big building with a clock. I do wish he would hurry up and come back though; at least he could stop these coppers chasing me.

Suddenly I can hear a car advancing on me from behind and I push my legs to go faster. The car drives past me before swinging round, stopping in my path. I don't have time to slow down, I just run straight into the side door.

"Get in!" A voice yells. I can hear people behind me, getting closer and closer. "If you want to get away, get in the car!" The voice yells again and I take one look behind me to see the three men running towards me before I pull open the black door of the car an throw myself in. The car reeves into life again as speeds off as I slam the door shut, leaving me sitting there panting in a strange car driving away from the police, and still without fish and chips!

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.......Hello......

right ok so sorry for not updating in 3 weeks! its a scandle i know! but i have had exams etc, all the usual excuses.

Right well this was a sort of filler/setting up chapter....but i hope u liked it anyway!

1. Luke's flashback.....yeh i really dont know why i wrote it...i just started trying to write loads of things but i couldnt think of anything so i just wrote that to get it started....lol oh and btw yes Luke is drinking (probs beer....in my mind its beer) in the shower....which i think is odd but hey, i once ate an apple in the shower when i was 7 so yeh!

2. OMG Autumn! I told u there would be a few flashbacks to her, and there is your first! I have missed writing her so much!

3. Oh and a tiny bit more info on this girl Guy loved........it would seem that the O'Donoghue brothers arent very lucky at the min.....

3. Joey is back! I just had to bring him back because, i think he is based on a lot of differnt people i know and i just like to write about him lol but who is the driver of the car?!?!

Oh btw in other news, last week my dad found 2 abandoned kittens up on the moors! We took them to the vets but sadly one of them has died, they think she had been hit by a car and got brain damage, but the other is happy and healthy....and...after a lot of persuding....has come to live with my family! lol our dog is so jealous of her! Lol she is called Nutmeg (her fur is that sort of colour) but we call her Meg or, when she is refusing to come out from under the bed, Meggie Monster! Lol, yeh i just randomly thought i would share that, cause who doesnt love a kitten?!? :)

Anyway thanks so much for reading! please do vote and comment! I really do appreciate it! Thanks, Your all amazing! :)

Jess :)