Watch What Burns (25 page)

“You’re going back to your room,” Tom told her, trying to force her back to her room.

“I don’t have one,” Austin fought back with a lie, her argumentative tone resonating louder and louder with each new syllable. “I’ve discharged myself. I’m going to the station.”

“Why?” Jane suddenly burst in, having come down from Sienna’s room. “You should be resting.”

“I can’t stay here, mom. Tyler’s already left me. Natasha’s still taunting me, and I’m leaving this place,” Austin told her brother and mother. “I can’t sit around in here. I can’t stay here. I can’t continue to do nothing.” She said no more. She stepped around them and began to walk off absentmindedly.

Tom could feel something was wrong and knew he had to follow her to make sure she was okay. He had watched her slip into a darker place over the past few days, now he knew she was basking in the darkness and trying to do whatever to find her way out of it.

“I guess we can’t stop her,” Tom muttered at his mother unimpressed. He couldn’t fight her, but he could make sure to be right there with her until he knew she was safe.

***

“You should be at the hospital,” Jane scolded her daughter as she drove. She hated to see her in pain and acting out like this, but there was nothing they could do. Austin was a woman driven by intent.

“She told me something was waiting at the station for me. What if it’s Gracie, Mom? What if I can go and get
my baby girl back now?” Austin asked and looked to her mother as she said that. “The pain is worth it for her.”

“I’m going to call, Ty, and see if he’s actually at the station.” Tom stepped up to keep the peace and keep Austin calm. He knew that Austin was stressing, and he wished she could just go home and relax and get better; with Tyler
and
Grace by her side.

No one said anything as Tom did as he said. Austin nervously fumbled her hands together and Jane just concentrated on the road ahead.

“Hey Ty,” Tom said after Tyler answered the call. “No, we’re just coming to see if there’s anything we can offer, Aus, to calm her.” There was a pause, the muffled words of Tyler as he spoke back. “Yeah, she told us you left, but not much more. She’s a mess.” Another pause and Tom sighed. “We’re nearly there,” Tom commented. “I’ll see you in a moment.”

“You didn’t tell him I was coming with you,” Austin commented, it wasn’t a question, more an accusatory remark. “Why would you do that?”

“Because he would go ballistic,” Tom stated dryly. “He didn’t say anything about there being something waiting at the station.” He watched his sister turn back to face the front of the car. “Aus, please don’t get your hopes up too much. She could be playing you.”

“I’m not,” she lied, trying to make herself believe what she was saying. She said no more on the matter, just watched as the journey drew to a close, and the station became clearer and closer into view.

The moment her mother had the car parked in the parking lot, Austin climbed from the car and raced towards the station doors. She knew her husband was inside, knew he was working hard with both their fathers. It was the thought that Grace might be inside with her father that motivated her.

“Do you really think
it’s Gracie?” Tom asked, catching up with her. He didn’t want to be doubtful, but he didn’t want to push all his hopes into Austin’s adamant claims.

“I do, I
ju-” she began to say, but her summation was cut off when a loud explosion threw them back. The rush of hot air had Austin and Tom forced to the ground as heat swept through the air.

“NO, no,” Austin said as she painfully scrambled to her feet. “No!” she screamed as she ran towards the burning building. “Tyler! Oh God!” She began to sob, rushing forward. “Tyler!”

“No!” Tom said, capturing his sister in his arms. He was stunned at what had happened, and if Tyler was inside, there was no chance he was going to walk out of there alive. No one would have survived the blast. He hated the force he had to use on Austin, and as she fought him to get out of his
grasp, he tightened his arms around her. “Aus, you can’t go in there.”

“I have to, Tom!” she screamed, digging her nails into his arms to force him away. “I have to get to him! He’s in there! We need to save him! Grace will need him! I need him!”

“You can’t.” Tom fought her harder. This time his tone was calmer than before, but his grip on her was tighter than ever. He knew she would exhaust herself and as much as he hated that, he had to make her wear herself out. He looked to see their mother calling for help, people now starting to gather. “You can’t risk it, Aus.”

Austin didn’t give up fighting against her brother. She fought harder than ever to get away from him. This was like the house all over again. Except, this time, no one was being saved from this fire. She was thrust back to that moment when she came to in the house nearly four years ago. She could feel the heat wrap around her, the flames wanting to catch her and ignite her entire body. She felt the familiarity of pain burst across the scar tissue on her body in remembrance. She found herself howling out in pain, the images cast into her mind were of Tyler suffering the same way she had and it only made her start to attack Tom.

“Please, Aus,” Tom begged her, his voice getting frightfully high. “Stop!”

“Why aren’t you saving him?” she asked suddenly weaker than before, falling limp in his arms. She continued to watch the station engulfed in red hot tendrils, the flames flicking and flying as it consumed the building. All of the fight which had resided within her suddenly dispersed and she was left feeling more broken than ever. There was nothing she could have
done to save Tyler and she knew, mind, body soul, she couldn’t.

There was nothing anyone could have done to save him.

The low moan that escaped Austin imprinted itself into Tom’s memory and it forced Jane to fall beside them. He released Austin into their mother’s grasp and she fully broke down. Her howls increased with each new exhale that Austin struggled to make and she was close to collapsing into eternal defeat.

As she cried against her mother, emergency services now in the distance, people trying to find a way to help, Austin could only think about everything had happened to get them to this point. Natasha wanted Tyler, and for a moment, Austin had speculated allowing her wish in order to protect their daughter, but she realized she was never going to live without Tyler or Grace. They were so far buried under her skin, they were part of her. She had no idea how she could survive without one or the other. She knew Tyler would only adhere to that plan in order to get Grace back, but now, without Tyler, she had no bargaining tools.

“Austin!” A new voice pierced through the crackling of the fire. “Aussie!” It came again, but Austin didn’t move from the protection of her mother’s hold. She couldn’t move. She had no need to move ever again.

“Tyler?” Tom gasped in absolute shock, pushing himself up. “Oh God,” Tom gasped again, the shock dissolving.

Jane cooed at Austin to look up, trying to get her to listen and even though she was crying heavily, she tried in vain to get Austin to react. When she did, she loosened her hold and let Austin fall free for a moment.

Looking up, Austin’s vision was blurry from the onslaught she had torn through. She watched as someone raced towards them. The inferno behind the figure and as it rushed forward, her vision focused. She slowly rose as if drawn to the person coming towards her. She was begging with her mind to not be conjuring up a hallucination of Tyler. When he didn’t disappear she ran forward, collapsing into his arms. It felt so good to have him back, like her world was beginning to spin again, the axis appropriately aligned once more.

“I thought it was you,” Austin cried, her tears slipping incessantly down her face as she looked up at her husband. “I thought I had lost you.”

“I’m here,” Tyler
replied, his voice no more than a stolen whisper as he leaned in, taking her tighter in his arms and bringing her closer to his body. He had seen her on the ground, and his heart had plummeted to the floor. First he was confused as to why she was here, why she wasn’t in the hospital, and then he saw the grief on Tom and Jane and he saw the burning building and he realized what they thought. “I’m here, Aus. I’m not going anywhere.”

“God, I thought I had lost you!” she howled as she collapsed against him, and dissolved into sobs full of utter devastation as the numbness and shock washed away from her. “I saw it explode and I thought I had lost you! I thought you were inside, Ty. I
tho-thought-”

“
Shh,” he soothed her, trying to calm her. “I know, but I wasn’t. No one was inside. We were all out.”

Austin said nothing; she just remained leaning on her husband. She was unable to comprehend any of this. Her mind was racing, her body was screaming in pain from the fall, and she wanted her daughter. The relief that flooded her when she realized Tyler hadn’t died was consuming, but it was short lived because their daughter was still nowhere in sight.

She knew that being given a lucky chance at life with Tyler was given to her for a reason. She had to fight for her daughter. Tyler had fought alone for them for too long, it was time for her to relinquish the reigns of her life and help get their daughter back. She could no longer live oppressed by the threat of Natasha.

However, her body conspired against her. One moment she stood strongly on her legs, leaning against Tyler’s chest, finding her fighting spirit, and then Austin felt her legs give way as her entire world began to shut off from around her. She had no clue what was happening, but she could feel Tyler’s arms strengthen their hold, preventing her from falling and hitting the ground.

“Austin!” Tyler exclaimed, he was horrified at his wife’s listless exterior, and he looked to Tom in panic as he began to lower her body. “What’s going on, Tom? What’s wrong with her?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think
it’s shock,” Tom said as Tyler lay Austin down on the ground. “We got caught in the throw back of the blast too. She literally fought so hard to get into the building to save you that I should’ve have known she was going to do this. The adrenaline rush must have died.” He didn’t care about the paramedics that rushed forward to help; he felt her neck for a pulse and relaxed as he found a steady and strong beat under his finger tips. He leaned down and noticed her breathing was fine too. He sat back up, looking to Tyler. “She’s fainted. I’m sure of it.”

“What have we got?” One of the medics asked as he dropped to his knees with his bag.

“I’m sure she’s fainted, but I need to check her blood pressure,” Tom stated professionally. The medic looked at him confused at his medical assertiveness. “I’m a doctor, she’s my sister. She was attacked and shot only a few days ago. She’s been stable since admittance to the hospital, but I think she’s fainted from the shock of thinking her husband was in the police station.”

“Please,” Tyler pushed, wanting to know if Austin was really okay. “She was fine. I got to her and she was fine, but she literally collapsed in my arms. I want to know if my wife is okay.”

As he watched them work, Tyler felt the helplessness take over. He stood up, listening to Tom to tell the medics what was going to happen and how, and he found himself pacing backwards with his hands on his head. He didn’t care about the station burning down behind him, his wife trumped anything. As he watched Tom thank the medics, he stopped pacing. He waited for him to stand up and walk towards him before he even began to think about dropping his hands down.

“Her blood pressure’s a little high, but we can take her home from here. I don’t think she’d appreciate waking up in a hospital, Ty. We just have to make sure she’s rested,” Tom told Tyler with a weak smile.

Tyler didn’t reply, he just rushed forward, forgetting everything for a moment as he scooped his wife up into his arms and carried her to the nearest car so he could take her home.

***

Coming too, Austin found she was staring up at the ceiling of her living room. She breathed in deeply, the clarity in her head disturbed by the pounding headache that was beating around her skull. She could hear talking in the distance and knew everyone was in the kitchen. She didn’t move; she just listened.

“Why weren’t you inside?” Tom asked confused. He had wanted to ask Tyler what happened, but between Austin fainting and getting home there had been a level of hysteria that no one managed a
chance to ask the poignant question. “You said you were there.”

“We were. We got a tip literally right after you called,” Tyler told them as he looked to Michael and then back to them. “I thought you could just wait for us in my office. It was a dead lead so we didn’t have to wait long to get back. I didn’t expect this to happen. I didn’t know you had Aus with you.”

“Yeah, she took us all by surprise,” Jane joked, her tone mirthless. “If you had been in there, that would have killed her. She would have lost all her fight entirely unless we managed to get Gracie back.”

“We are getting our daughter back,” Tyler admitted, his voice hard and convicting.

As she heard that, Austin knew she couldn’t just linger on the sidelines any longer. Sitting up, Austin couldn’t resist the urge to groan in pain as her head fell into her hands.

“Aus?”
Tyler asked gently as he advanced towards from the kitchen doorway. “Hey, Sunny,” he continued as he came to sit in front of her on the coffee table. “Tom thought you might have a headache so we got you some tablets ready.” He gently took one of her hands as she sat up a little and pushed the pain relief into her palm, reaching for a drink. “You okay?”

“I guess so,” she muttered, taking the pills appreciatively. She swallowed and looked to him, her eyes sore from the beating of tears earlier. “God, this is such a mess.” She sat up slowly, continuing back until she was against the back of the couch. She rubbed her hand to her shoulder, caressing the pain away with the warmth of her palm.

“We’ll sort it.” Tyler tried to remain optimistic for her, but he was gradually failing that small feat.

Austin sat forward again, taking her husband’s hand in hers. “I thought you died, Ty. Our last conversation was you angry with me. I thought you had died and I’d never get my chance to apologize. I watched that building burn and I had all this regret in me and all this horror.” She sniffed and looked down at her scarred arm. “I could feel it again,” she whispered, her hand running over the scarred skin. “I felt like I was back there. I thought you were suffering like that.”

“Hey now,” Tyler responded, he rose slightly, maneuvering to the couch with Austin. He sat beside her, taking her in his arms once more. “By some stroke of luck there was only myself, Michael and Steve in the building, and Natasha gave us a tip that she had left Grace somewhere close. She gave us the address and we left. It was a dead lead. We heard the explosion and rushed right back. I didn’t expect to find my wife on the ground sobbing when she should have been in the hospital.”

“I meant to discharge myself. I told a nurse I’d wait for a doctor, but I just left. Natasha called me, but this time she taunted me, telling me how she wanted you. She told me how she’s only doing this for you to notice her. I begged for Grace again, but she laughed me off. When she told me there was a surprise for me at the station I had to get there.” Austin’s speech began to pick up pace as she became frantic with the way today had become.

“Hey, I know,” Tyler tried to calm her again. “We’ve sorted it with the hospital and Tom’s going to look after you just in case. As for Natasha, she has my attention, but I don’t think she’ll want me for much longer.”

“She loves you,” Austin snorted.

“And by the time I’m through with her she’ll hate me,” Tyler spoke coldly, his tone turning callous and distant for a moment. “Hell will freeze over before I run off into the sunset with her, and if I find out she even harmed a hair on Grace’s head, she will regret the day she ever met me.”

“She’s got a lot of hate to fight through,” Austin scoffed, unable to stop the laughter. She hated to hear Tyler fired up in a demeaning way, but his daughter was gone too and she couldn’t dispute that he had a right to be like this, to act like this. He was losing everything too. He had to deal with her being shot as well as Grace missing. She had to deal with his potential death and Grace missing. They were equals in this just like they always were. “We will get our life back wont we?”

“Yes,” Tyler whispered. “Please believe we will.”

“I do,” she admitted to him softly. “After you left me, I was broken more than ever, but your words hit me. I’m letting her win by not fighting.”

Planting a kiss to his wife’s head, Tyler lingered a moment to absorb her scent, before he pulled back. “I acted how I did to break you down, Austin. I need you to find that fight in you. You need to find it and use it.”