Trapped

[sportzgal82]

Story Title: Trapped

Type of story: One Shot

Main Characters: Tony Rachel Charlie Hugo Martha Roman and Miles

BTTB rating: G

Genre: Romance, Drama,

Does story include spoilers: No,

Any warnings: None

Summary: Rahel Charle Ruby and Belle are trapped down a mine near the developement site after comming to the aid of a cry for help. Just as the rescurers set the group free a secondary collaps happens and Rachel is cut off from the rest fo the group

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A rain soaked Charlie, Ruby and Belle ran into the Diner. They are on their way to Yabbie Creek as Ruby is collecting some books for School and Belle needs to pick her car up from the mechanics.

“What would it be girlie” Irene asks Charlie.

“Two lattes’ and a Hot Chocolate to go thanks Irene.” Charlie replies. She looks over to the table and see’s Rachel and Tony talking.

“Im heading off to the baby store in Yabbie Creek, Do you want to come?” Rachel asks Tony. He looks distant, weary, lifeless, not really caring about what’s been said.

“Tony?” Rachel asks again.

“Huh? Sorry. ..Umm... Baby Store right” He is snapped back from his trance. “Sorry Rach but I’ve got some stuff pilling on at work. Tell you what, you head off and I will meet you there after I tie up loose ends, we can go to dinner after OK?”

“Yeah that will be good” Rachel replies but you can tell she’s disappointed. She’s torn between getting Tony involved with the baby and giving him some space to grieve for Jack. She wants to help him but hasn’t got a clue how. He hides from everyone a lot including her, pushes her away all the time and seems disinterested in how the baby is going. Charlie can see her disappointment.

“Hey Rachel” Charlie calls to her. “Belle, Ruby and I are going to Yabbie Creek as well, do you want a lift?”

“Oh, hi Charlie” Rachel acknowledges her. “Yeah that would be great thanks.” She gives Tony a peck on the cheek and returns to the group.

The rain stops and the sun greet the group as they drive towards Yabbie Creek. Charlie is driving with Rachel at the front and Ruby and Belle at the back. Belle can see Rachel stare out the window.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Belle talks to Rachel.

“Sigh! I don’t know what to do anymore!”Rachel looks despondent “He was making some really good progress but having Jack’s boat wrecked and seeing Angelo out of Jail has got him back to where he was. I try to get him to be interested in the baby so he has something to look forward but he gets angry all the time and doesn’t seem to want to do anything about the baby. I can’t even get to cuddle him without him pushing away. I know he isn’t doing this on purpose I can feel it but I don’t think I can take this anymore.” Rachel is almost at the end of her tether.

“Look as hard as this is, you do need to give him some space” Charlie concludes. “People grieve differently and who knows he may feel like starting to care about the baby is like he’s forgetting about Jack. All you can do is to be there when he can open up to you again.”

“I know! I know!” Rachel concedes. “It’s just that I hate seeing him like this and I hate how there is nothing I can do about it! I want to make his pain go away but I can’t.” She barely can hold herself together as she rubs her baby bump.

They make it half way and Charlie can see the development site and she stops the car. She has been going there every day since the realisation that Angelo was not Jack’s killer and the investigation was reopened. As the other get out to stretch, Charlie goes and has another look at the spot where Jack died, seeing if she can find anything she missed from yesterday.

Out of the blue, the group hear a noise “HELP! CAN SOMEONE HELP ME! I’M OVER HERE”

“Did you hear that!” asks Charlie and the group did! “It came from the mine over there. It sounds like someone is in trouble!” As Belle, Charlie and Rachel run to the distressed man’s aide, Ruby was ordered to stay at the side of the road and call an ambulance. She heads for the car to find some reception so she can call them when she hears a rumble and then a bang! She spins around and gasps in horror to find the mine blocked by rubble and stone.

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As group of guys rush past Ruby and start digging, she breaks down as Xavier comforts her.

“What happened?” asks Alf. “It’s Ok take your time”

Ruby takes a deep breath “Well we were taking a break here and we heard a cry for help coming from the Mine. I was told to wait here and call the ambulance. I turned around to find some reception for my phone and I heard this rumbling.” She starts crying again. “Oh Charlie!”

“We are going to get them out” Reassures Xavier.

As the pair walk up a small hill, they see Aiden with Irene, Geoff and Nicole at the top. Aiden paces from side to side. “I want to go and help!” he yells. “I can’t stand here and do nothing!”

Geoff tries to calm him down. “I know but Roman is right! Belle needs experienced heads to get her out quickly and safely. You are being more help by letting those who have done these 1000 times to do their work.”

As much as it hurt, Aiden knew Geoff was right. As they stare into the distance, they are startled by some footsteps in the crunching gravel as Tony, Martha and Leah scurry up the hill. Tony can only stare in horror as he surveyed the damage below - it looked like the mine could go on forever and the mountain of rubble felt like Mt Everest. It’s been two months Jack was brutally murdered and he had barely been able to cope. Despite him treating Rachel poorly sometimes and not seeming to be interested in the baby, she knew it was his grief talking and she supported him regardless and he loved her for it. Fear spread through his mind like a wildfire as panic starts to set in.

“Oh God, look at this place! It’s going to take forever!” He slumps on a makeshift stool made by some rocks. Martha and Leah sit beside him as he looks on helplessly.

“These guys are so trained in search and rescue and probably can do this in their sleep. They are going to get everyone out - they are going to get Rachel out” Martha reassures him. It doesn’t help.

Every minute feels like an hour as they keep searching for the trapped trio. Day tunes into night and big floodlights are brought in to help the brave, tireless rescuers in their ongoing quest. Kirsty, Leah and Colleen try to help by bringing them water and coffee to keep the cold at bay for whoever wants it. Leah offers warm drinks for Ruby, Aiden and Tony but only Ruby take their coffee. Aiden stands next to Irene who is worried sick over Belle and Xavier is trying to be two places at once for his girl Ruby and Uncle Tony, giving them both all the support her can muster. Hugo comes up to his uncle and tells him there has been no development. He turns to head towards the group crestfallen as he can see Tony is clearly struggling.

Hugo rejoins the rescue effort in time for the sun to give the rescuers some much needed light and warmth. Hugo hears a muffled voice and he tells everyone to be quiet as he calls out to the trio. To his delight he hears Charlie’s voice. He starts directing everyone like a traffic instructor as they dig feverously to finally make a hole big enough to see them but still not big enough to go through as a wooden beam cuts their path.

“How’s everyone doing?” Hugo asks.

“Everyone is OK! Just get us out of here!” Charlie pleads.

The beam is directly in the middle and the only way to get through is to cut it in half. He asks Charlie and Belle to hold each side of the beam whilst it is cut, helped by Roman and Miles. Conserved by potential debris hitting Rachel and her bub, she stands clear of the work as it commences. Suddenly there is an earth shaking rumble and the mine quickly caves in again, splitting it into two.

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Charlie and Belle swing around and find a mountain of rocks but no Rachel in sight. They shout out her name to see if they can get any response but nothing. It was a heartbreaking blow for the rescuers who has worked so hard to get to this point. As Bell runs to be with Aiden, Roman tries to get Charlie to come out but she flatly refuses and starts digging with one arm, despite the other throbbing with pain from a dislocated shoulder.

“No! I’m not going anywhere, not until we find her!” Demands Charlie.

Roman forces her out of the way. “What are you going to be able to do with one arm, huh? You won’t be of any help to anyone if you can’t lift a pebble let alone these stones. The best thing you can do is allow someone who’s fit and alert to do this instead. Go be with your sister, she’s worried sick about you!”

Charlie was too tired to fight with him and collapses in his arms. “You are right. I’m too tired and emotional to be of any use.” They turn to look at the group at the top of the hill. “Oh Roman! What am I going to say to Tony?” That was one answer Roman didn’t have.

As he turned to help the group, Charlie climbed up to be greeted by an emotional Ruby who threw her arms around her sister. Fighting back tears of her own, Charlie then pulls away from her to give Tony a hug. “Tony I am so sorry! If I didn’t have a bloody one track mind and headed straight to Yabbie Creek, this wouldn’t of happened in the first place!”

“You were not to know what would happen, you shouldn’t blame yourself – I don’t.” Tony reassures her.

As Charlie heads to the hospital to be checked out, Tony sits back down and stares at the group below, soldering on as best they can. Another day comes to a close and once again the floodlights light the way. This time it is Roman who comes to check to see how Tony is coping and gives him an update.

Roman takes a seat next to Tony “Nothing as yet, I’m afraid. We are doing everything we can.”

“Thanks mate, it’s good to know that” Trying to fight back tears, he has had enough of waiting.

“I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with recently and Rach has to cop the brunt of it all. I have tried hard not to push her away, to be involved with the baby, my little peanut but no matter how hard I try and no matter how much I want to, I can’t get myself to keep going anymore” He pauses to compose himself. ”Despite treating her badly sometimes, she still stands by me regardless and I’m so lucky to have her in my life. I cannot lose my Rachel or ‘peanut’ Roman, I just can’t!” He burries his head in his hands.

Roman pulls his friend to his feet and grabs him by the shoulders “You are not going to lose her do you hear me. There is no way on this planet we are going to let that happen! We are going to give it everything we have, just have faith!” Martha comes up to offer the pair some drinks and they take it. Roman heads back to the grind below and Martha and Tony look on as the heroes keep digging, searching. They have been searching for so long that they felt it was going to take them forever and their frustrations began to show.

Small rubble fell where Hugo was digging and he was back to where he started. “Arrrrgh! Stupid thing!” He was exhausted, exasperated and fed up. “I can’t take this! First Jack and now Rachel! Uncle Tony doesn’t deserve this garbage”

“I know I know” Miles tries to calm him down. “This is probably the most exhausting and frustrating thing we will ever have to do but we gotta keep a calm head and not give up” They keep digging

The sun rises onto another day and still nothing. As the day wore on with their spirits and energy starting to waver, they hear a cry for help. Hugo screams to the rest of the group that they can hear Rachel and it was all hands on deck. Finally after 3 days, Hugo could see her.

“Hang on! We are coming to get you out!” Hugo promises. Once again a beam prevented the gap to be big enough but they learned from their mistakes. They dig the hole from underneath to make it big enough for Hugo and Roman to pull her out. Weary and dehydrated, Rachel was finally glad to see sunlight for the first time.

“Where is Tony?”Rachel asked

“Top of that hill” Roman replied. “He is worried sick about you”

Tony was startled by the cheers from the group, looks over the hill and to his joy he sees her. Running towards her, tears of relief and joy ran from his face when they melted into each other’s arm.

“Oh Rach, Are you ok?” I was so scared that I was going to lose you. I am so sorry for being such a jerk and so self absorbed these last few months”

“I’m fine now I am here with you and there is nothing to be sorry about. Anyone who has lost a child would feel the way you do and rightly so” Rachel tells him as he takes her to the hospital to see if she and peanut are ok.

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The doctor checks out Rachel from top to toe and as a precaution they have another ultrasound to make sure the baby is OK. Hugo and Marta enter to check in but apologise for interrupting. Rachel tells them not to be and asks the pair to take a seat.

As the picture comes up onto the screen the doctor reassures them that the baby is doing well. She turns to the side and notices something that wasn’t picked up before. “Hello what do we have here?”

Tony and Rachel look concerned “Is there something wrong?” Tony asks.

“No not at all” The doctor reassures the couple with a grin as big as Luna Park. “Quite the opposite actually - congratulations you are having twins.”

Tony cuddles Rachel in his arms. “Oh my!” was all could she say before tears of joy ran down her face. He sits by her bedside looks at her with love in his eyes.

“Rach, despite the way I’ve treated you, you never wavered in your love and support and I can’t begin to tell you how much that means to me. I’m still healing from broken heart but whatever love I have left is yours and our children’s. I don’t have any flowers or a ring and but I do have is the realisation that I don’t want to be without you. Rachel, Will you marry me?

Hugo and Martha have the biggest smiles on their faces and Rachel was so moved she start to cry.

“Oh Tony Of course I will. I love you so much.”

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