I felt sick. Sicker than any bug I'd ever had. Sicker than the beginning stages of pregnancy. Just sick. My mind was a blur of fury and confusion, hatred and loathing. Caleb had come back into my life? He's tracked me down and come up with a disgusting plan that could have harmed so many people, just to get me back?
It had taken so much courage and strength to leave everything I was comfortable with and move, to kiss goodbye to my rota'd life and pack it all up. I left my friends, a job I loved, a house I had made a home - all because of him.
I moved to this town with help of some contacts I had. This place was off the radar. It was a boring place; no extravagant celebrity sightings, alien encounters or crazy world records had happened here. The types of things that made the front page were how big Mrs Lowry's courgettes has grown this year and how well we thought she was going to do in the annual competition. This was a place even I wouldn't have looked in had I been trying to find myself. I almost wanted to loathe the simplicity of their lives without the madness and business of the very well known cities.
I'd holed up in a flat this time, knowing that if I went out of my comfort zone I'd be less traceable. I got help to change my name, to start my life afresh without Caleb and his control. I literally had to start again. I applied for jobs, got interviews, failed them, tried again, scrounged together to pay the rent and lived off basic foods and drinks as I had no income. It was not a good way of living and definitely became one of the worst memories of my life. I felt down, depressed and useless. I was stuck there, all alone, all because Caleb couldn't be a normal person and just understand that I could have friends that were male. It didn't seem to matter that rumours flew around of him cheating on me - but as long as I believed him over everything else, we would stay decent. I was a fool for keeping it going, for staying with him and trying to make it work when in reality he was clearly not in the right frame of mind. Moving ended up being one of the best things I'd done; I found my team and was tackling fires without worry - that was until yesterday.

Finally, my eyes opened drearily - blurry at first but then clearer as every tired blink happened. I was back in my hospital bed, dosed up and praying that I'd managed to cause enough of a scene to get rid of Caleb.
As my body came into motion, I noticed someone's hand laced in mine. It wasn't a tight grip, but one that felt clammy from being there for so long. My heart sped as I began to panic. What if it was him?

"I'm telling you Doctor, something is wrong. I've known her for ages, she's never acted out like that." Johnson's voice was soft as he spoke, his hand squeezing mine unconsciously as he spoke. I relaxed instantly as I realised it wasn't Caleb, letting out a large sigh big enough to attract the attention of both people in the room with me.

"Welcome back, Miss Vasquez. Feeling any better?" The doctor asked, leaning over to check my observations on the screen as he quizzed me.

"Better now." I hissed, slowly gazing across the room to make sure Caleb wasn't there. The doctor let out a hearty laugh.

"Don't worry, your boyfriend has just gone for an X-ray. He'll be back soon." He smiled, as if doing me a favour but instead, I straightened in the bed, fear sending my hairs on end.

"He can't. I don't want- not here." My words were barely forming sentences as memories ate away at my mind, causing me to lose concentration. Even now, so long afterwards, he was causing me pain. My hand instantly tightened around Johnson's and he shot me an unsure look. I stared back at him with raw honestly, true fear.

"Doc, is it okay if Lara and I speak privately for a moment? It's just..." Johnson looked at me with an unreadable gaze before back at the doctor. He hesitated, sighing internally like he normally did before bearing bad news. "Me and her... we're kind of... you know. And Caleb doesn't know." The doctor dropped his pen in shock as his jaw fell open. I shot my head in Johnson's direction with widened eyes but he just smiled back, nodding at me as if to say I should go along with it. I trusted this man with everything. He'd worked in some tough places with me and we'd always had each other's backs, this was no exception. If we could save each other from burning buildings and falling from heights, I could go along with this lie.

"Theo!" I exclaimed as if we'd been caught, slapping his arm playfully. "The doctor doesn't need to know our life story..." I rolled my eyes, doing everything in my power to make it believable.

"They'd get suspicious anyway. I've been here since you came in." He said and my brows furrowed. I'd been rushed in, had surgery, recovered, gone crazy, got drugged and awoken again and all that time, Johnson was beside me holding my hand through this. He was telling the truth but he was trying to cover it up in this facade. A soft smile grew on my face as we looked into each other's eyes, the world fading around us as we finally, properly took each other in.

"N-not a problem. I'll leave you to it then." The doctor quickly interrupted, fumbling with his paperwork before he turned and headed away practically tripping over himself to spread the news to the nurses. I could imagine him gossiping in the kitchen with the staff about the person in bed three and how their life was a mess as they sipped tea or munched in a biscuit. That's how they portrayed it on tv anyway. As soon as he left, Johnson let out a chuckle and leant back in the chair as if to say his job was done. He gave it a moment before he looked over to me with an expectant look on his face.

"Well?" He asked. I gave him a shrug.

"What do you want to know?" I questioned, hoping the less I gave into the questions, the quicker he'd understand this was never something I liked to speak about regardless of who was asking.

"You fall out of bed after surgery to get away from some guy, saying he's crazy and that you want me to stay with you but you're not going to tell me what he's done?" My eyes fell onto the white bedsheet over my legs and focussed on a pulled thread. My fingers scratched at it, slowly causing it to get bigger and scrunch up the material more. I hated talking about my past because people judged me so differently afterwards. If they never knew, they'd take me at face value and treat me like normal. If you suddenly gave people the sob story, they felt sorry for you and that's where everything would change.

"There's no point." I sighed, still not making eye contact with him. "It's my past. Well, it was before he reappeared." Johnson grabbed my shoulders and forced me to face him, once again staring into his eyes intently.

"Lara." He said sternly like a parent or teacher who was angry at a child but didn't want to be too harsh on them. I felt my stomach tense up with nerves. "I've seen you run into burning buildings and sacrifice yourself for strangers." His eyes moved to my arm. "You looked more scared when your supposed boyfriend walked in here than when you let go of that rope and fell to save that man." My face screwed up in disgust as he spoke about Caleb and called him my boyfriend. Please. I'd rather stick flaming stakes into my eyes than be with that man again. "What spooked you?" I sighed again, knowing he wasn't giving up. For possibly the first time ever, he was really concerned for me.

"He was paranoid. He thought I was cheating on him when I went out with the firefighters and a friend walked me home. We argued constantly, he was manipulative, bullied me and sometimes got violent. I ended it before anything got too bad but he became obsessed. He stalked me. I moved town, changed my name and everything. He knew I'd still be a firefighter. He planned that tower block fire with a colleague... someone we work closely with That's what he said to me." Johnson stared, focussed on me as his mind took in all the information I'd just told him. I knew it was a lot and I knew he'd probably start acting differently around me but if anyone could protect me from Caleb right now, it was him.

"Lara isn't your real name?" He asked, perplexed. My face dropped into an unimpressed scowl. After everything I'd just said, that was what he'd clung to? He let out an awkward laugh as he rubbed his hand over his head. "Sorry, it's just a lot to take in." I lowered my head and my voice, so that it was barely above a whisper.

"I know." I said lowly, waiting for the demeanour change that everyone normally did following my sob story.

"You're saying he admitted to starting the fire? Just like that?" Johnson's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. I nodded reluctantly. "With help from someone we know?" I nodded once again. He deflated in front of me. "Shit."

"If you don't want to know me after this, fine. Whatever happens I'm okay with it. Just please, please don't let him near me." A shiver went down my spine as I came to terms with the situation. He was really here, within this building trying to get me back.
As if the world was working against me, seconds later he appeared at the door, scowling at the fact Johnson was still here. I straightened in the bed, the bed cover balled up in my fists as he strolled over, confidence emanating from him.

"Still here man?" He asked Johnson nonchalantly. Johnson shrugged, not letting Caleb faze him.

"What can I say? We look after our staff." He said, a hint of annoyance in his tone. Caleb let out a short smile.

"Well, I'm here now so you can go. Thanks for the help and whatever." He shrugged as if it was nothing, like he didn't care about his rudeness. My eyes flitted between the two men as they spoke to each other, wishing Caleb would just give up and leave after every sentence.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm here for the long haul." Johnson said, leaning back in the chair and stretching his legs out, crossing one foot over the other. Caleb's face faltered for a second, the smile twitching as he tried to calm himself down.

"I want time with my girlfriend." Caleb said slowly, his arms straightening by his sides as he spoke, trying to get his point across. Johnson leant forwards, looking around the bay at all the beds.

"Well, I don't see her here. Maybe you've come to the wrong place?" I let out a snigger, trying to cover it up as a cough as Caleb's glare shot over to me. He wanted me to stick up for him, to tell Theo to go - but the truth was that was the complete opposite of what I wanted to happen. Caleb let out a low growl in annoyance.

"You're not funny. Get out of here and leave Gabriella alone!" He shouted. At the mention of my old name I let out a gasp, my eyes widening as my jaw fell open. Johnson's head shot in my direction, his eyes searching mine for the answers. My chest tightened nervously as I realised the only way out of this would be for me to stick up for myself, to show Caleb that I wasn't someone who needed him beside me to survive. I was me, but the newest version. The confident one, the strong one.

"I'm not Gabriella anymore Caleb. I'll never be her again. She's gone and you should be too." I said powerfully, despite the anxiety knotting my stomach like the ropes holding sails on a ship. Nausea washed over me, the mere look of Caleb bringing back all those memories I'd spent so long trying to forget. All those good times, laced with the bad, never knowing if I was doing the right thing or if he'd flip and start the arguments all over again. I remember sitting with him to watch a movie, it'd been such a great day spent together; going shopping, to the park to lay on the grass and watch the world go by, having lunch out and coming home to watch a film. We had cuddled up, popcorn on his lap as I lay my head on his shoulder, Friday the 13th playing on screen. My phone buzzed with a text from a pizza delivery shop, letting me know the new deals that were available. His eyes shot over to my screen, he grabbed it before I had a chance to say or do anything, unlocking my phone and scrolling through, trying to work out the code.

"I know this is a man. You're just using code words so that I don't know what you're saying. I'm not stupid!" He had barked, desperately trying to analyse the fact pizzas were 40% off if I spent over £30. I'd laughed in his face at the ridiculousness. His imagination was far wilder than most authors, yet he became furious at the fact I thought it was a joke. I tried seriously to explain it wasn't that and even unsubscribed from the text messages but it still wasn't enough. We needed a whole evening of arguments to carry it on.

"That's not true!" Caleb said, shoving the jug of water and cup from my table onto the floor with an almighty plastic-y clunk. Some nurses poked their heads out from the station and watched the scene unfold as if it were an episode from their favourite sitcom. None of them rushed to help. It felt like everything happened in slow motion. Caleb rushed towards me, his eyes wild with anger, frustration and insanity. Johnson leapt up, getting his body between mine and Caleb's as he shoved him back with a roar.

"Stay away. I'm not here to fight." Johnson said confidently. Caleb just seemed to smile crazily as he cocked his head to one side.

"Oh I see." He said flatly as his eyes roamed Johnson thoughtfully, analysing every cell of him. "You're her new flavour of the week. She's gone for someone with more muscle than brain. A shame." I shook my head, unable to believe that Caleb was stooping as low as insulting someone for helping me.

"It's not like that." Johnson said, knowing he didn't need to explain himself to a crazed man. He shook his head as he took another step closer to me, blocking me from Caleb's view and angering him more.

"Then move out of the way." Caleb snarled. "Or you'll regret it." Johnson looked behind him at me and offered me a smile before he turned back to Caleb, readying himself.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Theo!" I shouted as Caleb launched himself at him, shoving him backwards until he stumbled against the bed, pushing it slightly across the floor. "Someone call security!" I shouted over to the nurses who, as if voice activated, suddenly seemed to jump into action. The two men grappled, desperate to get the upper hand in the fight. I didn't want there to be a fight. I just wanted Caleb gone. I grabbed my food tray and just as Caleb loomed over Johnson, his hands around his neck, I swung it at him. The echo of the hit caused the other patients to shudder. Caleb fell backwards clutching his head with both hands as Johnson rushed to his feet, gasping for air as he made his way over to me.

"Get out of here." He whispered hoarsely, clutching at his throat. As much as I wanted to run far away and start again, hoping Caleb wouldn't find me again, this time I couldn't. I couldn't leave my job, my team, my friends. I couldn't leave Johnson here by himself, fighting Caleb over something that was to do with me. I had to solve this and I had to do it now. I rolled out of bed as Caleb staggered to his feet, his cheekbone now swollen from the nasty hit. He growled at us both as he shot towards us again. I grabbed my iv drip stand and swung it at him, knocking him to the side as Johnson took it from me and threw it at him.

"We need to get out of here." I whispered to Johnson, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the exit. As my foot hovered over the threshold to the corridor, and leaving Caleb behind, he grabbed our attention the only way he knew how. With danger.

"One more step and I set fire to this block." He shouted, making everyone freeze. I made eye contact with every scared patient as I hinted to them to move towards the exit. Caleb stood beside an oxygen tank, one hand on the nozzle and the other holding his lighter. The one I'd bought him as a present all those years ago with a picture of an eagle on the side of it.

"You wouldn't dare." Johnson tried, ushering me behind his body to protect me. I knew Caleb though and some stupid stunt like this definitely sounded like something he'd do. After all, he'd already admitted to the tower block fire and had spent his time trying to track me down rather than move on. He was clearly mentally unstable but the only way we were going to get that sorted was if we made it out of here alive. In a second, whilst Caleb was distracted with Johnson I reached for the fire alarm and pressed it, causing the noise to blare out from the ceilings and send the patients into an evacuation. The staff grabbed the remaining patients and rushed out with them, leaving the bay empty with just us three left.

"Caleb, put the lighter down." I said strongly, trying to show no emotion as I watched him become angrier. He hated that I'd interfered, that I'd made sure others were out of harms way. He always had a flair for the dramatic and probably would have loved the idea of holding the entire bay hostage.

"No." He answered like a child. "If this is what I have to do to get your attention and for you to come back to me then I'll do it." Both Johnson and I exchanged looks. No matter what we said, we both knew he was going to hurt someone - or everyone.

"Caleb..." I sighed, debating inside myself whether it was better to string him along or to cut it short. Either way would probably end up badly, so was it really a choice at all? "We were over the minute I walked out that door all that time ago. You pushed me to that and I'll do everything in my power not to go back to something that made me so unhappy." I could tell I hit a nerve as Caleb flinched at my answer, the words spinning round his head and cutting into his heart. "I'm sorry." I offered, as if that were going to make it all better. Caleb bit his lips together.

"And this guy is better for you than me?" He asked carefully, his words laced with venom hoping to get under Johnson's skin. He just glanced at me, giving me the strength to continue to voice what had been within me all that time with noone to say it to.

"Yes. I think most people are. He understands me, looks out for me, protects me. He doesn't want to see me sad or hurt. He supports me." It was all true, but not from a relationship perspective. Johnson and I were always close at work but he was always guarded and I kept my feelings to myself. This was something we had to do for the better of the team. Gatsby and Frank had always hinted at it to me, joking about as they said we'd make a good power couple but they never mentioned it to Johnson, probably out of fear of how he'd react. He wasn't one for joking around a lot of the time. He kept himself to himself when he needed to and if he was distant we all knew better than to try to speak with him. He had an element of secrecy about him that intrigued most of the workers - he never seemed to mention any family or friends, yet wasn't your typical loner. Every now and again he'd surprise everyone with pizza or cake and a joke. We never really knew what side we were going to get.

"A-and you!" Caleb flung a pointed finger at Johnson, the lighter still clutched between the remaining fingers. "You treat her well?" For the first time, I watched Johnson flinch as if taken aback by the question. He hesitated. Caleb started to get angry. I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze

"Lara's a great woman. Strong willed and strong minded which, in all honesty, can be tricky sometimes." He let out a laugh. "But I've never met someone so caring towards others, wanting to protect the whole world before she thought about herself. It's awe inspiring really. She's fearless, clever, beautiful..." Johnson made sure to avoid any eye contact as he spoke. "And yeah. I feel lucky to know her."

"That's..." Caleb lowered his head. "What I was afraid of." Within a second he'd spun the nozzle round, oxygen leaking into the air with a hissing sound. As if in slow motion, he stared at each of us for a moment before flicking the lighter open.

BOOM

We were all thrown across the room as it became engulfed in flames. The fire alarms blared and we could hear screams and commotion from around the hospital. My ears were ringing, my sight cloudy from the smoke. All I knew was that we needed to get out of here and fast.

"Theo!" I called out, breathing in the thick air and making myself cough. I dropped to the floor, crawling around like a toddler as I tried to find him. "Theo?"

"Lara! I'm stuck..." I could hear from one side of the room whilst another called out. "Gabriella, help me please." Hearing my old name made me falter, and for a moment I hesitated. I took in my surroundings. There was no way this room was going to survive the damage from this fire without collapsing and judging by the strength of it, I'd only have time to rescue one person. As much as I hated Caleb, I didn't want him to die - not in a fire. Not in one I could have saved him from. I could imagine the heat burning him, how awful and painful that death could be. And in that moment I knew I had to try to save them both. I took off to Caleb first. Johnson had said he was stuck and the more people that would be able to help, the better. If I could assist Caleb, he could help me free Johnson and we could all get out of here. Or so I hoped.

"Gabriella, I knew you'd come." Caleb smiled, though blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. His hands gripped onto a large gash on his leg that was bleeding badly.

"I'm surprised you're even alive." I stared blankly as I searched on the floor for something I could use as a tourniquet. Upon ripping up a bedsheet, I tied it tightly and got him to move with me. I helped him crawl across the floor until we reached Johnson, who had a large cabinet wedged on top of him. "Caleb, come and help." I said as I turned, only to find he wasn't behind me any more. My eyes scanned what I could of the room and saw him by the exit.

"Have what's left of a nice life together." He called out as he hobbled away, not even looking behind him as he went.

"What a fucking moron." Johnson snapped, letting out a groan of pain and anger as he tried to move himself from under the cabinet. I wedged myself under the cabinet too, using all my strength to try and shift it, but it was too heavy. "It's no use Lara. Just get out while you still can." My heart pounded in my chest, gut tightening as I thought for the first time that maybe I couldn't save someone. And it would be Johnson.

"No way. I'm not leaving you in here..." I said sternly, once again looking around to find something that could help lift this thing. The fire was fierce, engulfing everything it touched. Without our gear on, the heat was unbearable, the air unbreathable.

"That's an order, Vasquez." Johnson barked his order at me, making me flinch.

"No." I argued, scuffling around by his legs to try and find the smallest way to ease him out. Among the clutter were some blood pressure cuffs, which pinged a small but stupid plan into my mind. I shoved one of the cuffs between his leg and the ground and another between his leg and the clutter that had fallen on top of it. With a pump in each hand I quickly puffed the cuffs up, giving mere millimetres of space extra for Johnson to slip his leg through. We waited with baited breath until the cabinet began to groan. "Now!" I shouted and he yanked his leg back, shuffling out of the mess before the cabinet collapsed on top of it, flattening it all. We both let out relieved breaths as Johnson staggered to his feet and rushed over to me, wasting no time in pulling me towards the stairwell.

"We need to get out of here now." He ordered, leading the way. We flew down flights of stairs and out into the fresh air, the cold breeze hitting us and causing us to shiver. We both turned and looked back at the building, burning heavily with flames escaping the windows. Johnson turned to me, a playful smile on his lips. "No offence, but your ex is a dick." I let out a goofy laugh as I slapped his arm, pulling him into an unexpected hug straight after.

"Thank you for helping me." I whispered.

"Thank you for saving me." He whispered back, still trapped in my embrace. For a moment, all was calm and quiet between us like the world had faded around us. It felt nice. It felt right.

"Hey lovebirds!" Frank's voice was loud and bubbly, his laugh causing us to jump apart within a second. "I always knew it'd 'appen, eh Gatsby?" He nudged his colleague who shrugged as a response. "I 'ate to break up the party but we could use some extra 'ands if you wanna go back in there?" He nodded towards the truck, our uniforms folded nicely in the seat. Both Johnson and I looked at each other, letting out small smiles as we both headed to the truck, ready to face the fire.