"Rei-pull the emergency brake!"
"the what?!?" Rei shrieked in panic as he veered around the highway choked with rush hour
traffic. Horns blared as Rei sped into the path of a semi. He let a scream and yanked the steering
wheel. Fraser threw himself over Rei's lap, pulling the emergency brake handle. Which came of in
his hand. "We have a problem, Rei. Someone has tampered with your car."
"Ya think?"
"The emergency brake is, uh, broke."
"Aw sh-AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Rei hollered, narrowly avoiding a mini-van full of children.
"Rei, we have to get out this car out of traffic, or stop it."
"No way out Frase. Look, I have an idea, but we have ta do it quick, before we gain too much
momentum. Buckle up."
Fraser did as he was told. "What do you plan to do, Rei?"
"See that?" Rei asked pointing to a large concrete street fixture.
"Yeah..." Fraser replied, not quite understanding.
"Well, that's gonna stop us before we hurt anybody."
"Understood." Fraser said simply.
They both braced for impact.
"Um, Fraser? I mean, Benton?" Rei said nervously.
"Rei?"
The car shot across the road, barreling toward the fixture that was about maybe 3 feet across, 6
feet up.
"hit it head on, Rei, the more it's centered, the more the impact will b e spread out, therefore-"
"I love you." Rei interrupted.
Fraser looked deep into Rei's eyes, his blue ones speaking the love he had no time to relate. "And
I you, Rei."
Rei made a noise that sounded like a cross between a relieved laugh and a sob. Then he gave the
wheel a sudden turn to the right.
"Rei! What are you do-" Fraser's panicked cry was drowned out in the deafening clash of metal
and concrete. Fraser's head snapped back and for approximately 2.5 seconds, his world went
black.,br>
When he resurfaced from unconsciousness, Fraser was greeted by a killer head-ache. That was
actually a bit of a relief, he had been expecting quite a lot of pain. Forcing his eyes open, Fraser
surmised that his side of the car was fairly undamaged. From what he could see without moving,
the other side looked pretty bad.
*Rei*
"oh god" Fraser thought. "Rei must've swerved so only his side was hit." Fraser frantically clawed
at the seat-belt. Once free, Fraser turned to his partner.
"Oh no, Rei!
The slim detective was caught deep inside the mess of crushed car. One leg jutted up in a quite
unnatural way. The arm nearest Fraser was pinned against his own chest by the steering wheel.
His head faced away and it was quiet, terrifyingly quiet.
Fraser reached out, checking first for a pulse, then for any spinal damage in his neck. His touch
suddenly brought Rei's body to life. He awoke with a scream. "FRASER!!!"
"I'm here, Rei, try to stay still." Fraser said, trying to keep calm.
"Hurts!" Rei turned his head to Fraser. The movement made him whimper in pain. With a quick
jerking motion, Rei freed his arm. "OH GOD!!" he hollered in anguish.
"No, Rei don't move!"
Rei slowly reached down and touched his stomach. Then he held up his hand. It was totally
covered in blood.
"Rei?!?!" Fraser's voice lost all semblance of calm and was replaced by fear.
Rei stretched out the bloody hand, holding Fraser's cheek in his palm. Rei opened his mouth to
speak, but at first, all that came out was blood. Fraser's stomach lurched in horror.
"I..." Rei croaked. "I didn't mean it symbolically. I really mean it."
"Oh, Rei do you truly?" Fraser asked, so full of conflicting emotions, some horrific, some
phenomenally wonderful that he began to do something he hadn't done since Victoria. He started
to cry.
Rei leaned closer, despite the immense pain inflicted. He answered Fraser's doubts with a gentle
touch of his lips to mountie's. Fraser shut his eyes, letting himself be enveloped by Rei's essence.
His tears fell faster as he registered the wetness between them as blood. He felt, tasted, heard and
smelled only Rei. Until a pungent odor permeated their perfection. It was....gasoline. Gasoline?!
Fraser pulled back. "Rei, we've got to get you out of here, there's a gas leak, the car could catch
fire any moment." Fraser said through his tears.
"Fraser, get out of the car, I'm so stuck, you can't get me out." Rei groaned, starting to feel
extremely nauseous and dizzy.
Fraser ignored his order and set about to freeing Rei. Which, believe me, was no easy task.
"Fraser-GO! Get out before we both get killed!" Rei tried to yell. All that exertion made him even
more weak, and he was taken by a coughing fit. Blood gurgled out of his mouth.
"Rei, stop, please sit still, you're making this very difficult. I'm not leaving you, so the best thing
for you to do is to cooperate." Fraser said as he cut off Rei's seat belt.
Rei resigned himself to sit quietly. The lack of distraction allowed Rei's injuries to make
themselves known. His cut stomach burned and ached so bad and he could feel the blood spilling
out. "This is it." Rei thought. "I'm gonna die. Just as soon as I find out I have a chance with him,
I'm gonna die. What a bitch." All of a sudden a particularly vicious wave of pain hit him and he
couldn't hold back a groan. He didn't even notice that his eyes had shut until Fraser gently stoked
his cheek. "Rei, you have to stay awake. Open your eyes for me. Please."
Rei's eyes slowly opened and he tried to give Fraser a weak smile. "I'm okay."
After several long tense moments of struggling, Fraser finally got Rei's last limb-the badly damaged leg- unstuck. Rei couldn't stop tears from leaking out his eyelids- even the smallest movements made a white-hot wave of pain wash over him.
I'm sorry Rei, I know it hurts, but I can hear an ambulance coming, just hang on." Fraser cooed.
Suddenly both their attentions were drawn to the wreckage by Rei. A wire must've gone awray, because sparks started to shower down on them.
"Oh dear." Fraser gasped. "Rei I didn't want to move you because of possible spinal injuries but-"
"let's go!" Rei yelped in panic as the sparks increased their intensity.
"Understood." Fraser gently but quickly wrapped his arms around Rei's mid-section, lifting him from his seat. Rei tried desperatly to stop the cries of pain that itched their way up his throat but failed, miserably. Wrapping his arms around Fraser's neck, he buried his face deep into his chest and cried like a baby.
"It's okay, we'll be out in a second- hang on Rei." Fraser reassured him. He felt Rei's hot tears through his uniform. Then he was startled by a similar sensation all along the front of him. Scared of what he might find, Fraser slowly looked down. Dark red stains covered both men and some blood dripped from Rei's gaping wound, which was still bleeding at an alarming rate.
Fraser suddenly heard a sizziling sound and holding Rei tightly he vaulted out of the car. Before they even hit the ground, the car exploded, spewing fire and car parts everywhere. The blast blew apart the front of the cabin, as well as most of the hood. The force of the explosion sent both men flying but Fraser tried desperatly to sheild Rei from the pavement. When they finally landed, he carefully laid Rei on his back.
"Rei, Rei!" Fraser cried, searching for a response. There was blood all over him, blood everywhere. "Please, Rei, open your eyes!" Tears streaming down his face, he leaned down and gently kissed Rei. In the back of his mind, he registered that the ambulance had arrived. Suddenly Rei's eyes fluttered open.
"...fraser" he croaked faintly. "fraser..."
"I'm here Rei, please stay with me.."
"..love you..."
"I love you."
Paramedics were suddenly all around them. Rei tried to lift a hand.
"I can't die now...""
Rei's eyes drifted shut and a medic pulled Fraser away, the other medics rushing forward, cutting off his view.
