this foolish thing of mine

Almost as if on cue, the sudden barking of a nearby rescue dog has Leah whipping her head around and tugging at Blaine’s hand to follow her into what was left of the faculty housing. The golden retriever was insistent - pawing at the rubble and barking at anyone who would listen.

Leah gets to the pile first, only a couple of seconds before firefighters and police, and without thinking she starts picking up large pieces of debris, the first time she’s actually been able to help. “Somebody’s over here!” she yells out desperately, her mind racing with possibilities of who it could be. Even if she didn’t know every single faculty member, she still cared about her peers. The people she lived in such proximity to. The ones she passed by in the halls each day.

Helping the responders remove roofing and broken glass, Leah manages to cut her hands in a few locations but doesn’t care because she sees it- someone enclosed where the dog had been indicating. Leah’s heart drops when she makes out who it is -

He hears Leah scream Erica’s name, and panic seeps into his bloodstream. Blaine gets to her side, sees her bleeding, and tries to guide her a few steps back. “Lovebird, Lovebird - hey!” It’s difficult to get her attention, even with his hands wrapping around her middle. “We have to let them do their work,” he says, indicating the firefighters. “They know what they’re doing. We- We don’t wanna mess it up.”

The doctors told me that I should try and talk to people, and I don’t really have anything else to do with myself while I lay here. So I guess I’ll try it. They think that if I start talking to people it’ll help with my memory.

So. Yeah. Hi. It’s, um. Nice to meet you all.

Well - a little bit. I did run here, once my car couldn’t get any closer. But didn’t so much go into the circus. Found Leah. And helped Erica.

That’s a relief. I couldn’t lose you or your talent. ...Aw, hey. Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to try to eat chocolate. Save it for another day if you want. It’ll wait for you.

Leah feels her body shiver softly, but not from the cold. Just from the way Blaine is with her in that moment. Her nickname gives her a place to find herself, a place to hold up her unsteady feet. The second nickname wraps her up warm and she feels herself falling into him - slipping out of her panic and letting him carry the weight off her shoulders. He wasn’t going anywhere. She had her balance and stability again.

Letting Blaine guide her down to the floor, Leah grabs his forearms softly and continues to calm down. Take a few breaths like he requests. “You came back for me..” she finally presses, seeking something - anything else - from him.

“Yeah, I--” Blaine pauses, trying to figure out what to say. “I guess I finally figured out that I can’t lose you, either. That I don’t-- care about any of the other stuff. I just want you. And when I thought you could be--” He shakes his head. “When I thought I might’ve lost the chance to ever have a future with you, I realized that’s all I wanted, no matter what comes with it.”

Blaine shrugs, trying to play it off like that wasn’t the biggest epiphany of his life. He almost feels shy, for god’s sake, laying his soul right out on the bricks and shards for Leah to see.

Leah collides with Blaine and wraps herself so tightly around him, a small sob puffing out of her chest. Her hands reach all over him, just to make sure she isn’t dreaming - that she wasn’t still in her bedroom with debris all around her and hallucinating. He feels real. Leah lets out another relieved cry, pressing her face into her Dominant’s neck.

“I was so scared I wouldn’t see you again,” she whispers. “I was so scared. Blaine. Oh Blaine..” She keeps repeating his name like a prayer, still in awe that he’s there. Another one of his knight in shining armor moments. She starts shaking her head, pulling back and pressing her forehead to his and spouting all sorts of things. “Blaine I’m so sorry. I love you so much. I love you, Blaine. I love you. I’ll do anything to have you back- anything, Sir. Anything. Please Blaine, I can’t lose you. I just can’t. You’re my world.”

Blaine only falls back a step or two when Leah barrels into him, but he keeps himself upright and wraps his arms gently around her back. She clings to him and grabs at him, and Blaine holds her steady through it all, letting her take her time. Then the words come, spilling out like they always do when she’s overwhelmed. Unlike the last few times he’s had a blender of Leah’s speech opened up on his face, however, he only gets hit with affirmation and certainty. Blaine’s heart soars.

It’s been hours. The grounds of St. Brendan’s still crackle as the last of the flames are contained. She’s heard about a few of her friends: Jaime, Genevieve and Finley have all been taken to a hospital. She doesn’t know their conditions, but she’s happy they’re at least getting help. Something deep inside of her tells her that Carter probably was fine - he’s been through a lot; survived a lot. Leah finds momentary peace in that. The only one she still hasn’t heard from was Erica. And Leah’s lost as to who else she can contact to ask about her. She really only knew Erica through Blaine and Jaime, and neither of them were here.

Leah doesn’t believe in a god, but she puts something out there for Erica to be found safe. Losing Ben all those years ago was hard enough; she’s not sure she can handle another blow to her web. Not in her current state of emotions. And now she’s got a baby to think about. With as much distress she’s placed on it today, she’s not even sure if she should be worrying still.

“Do you know Erica? Miss Wright? Have you seen her?” Leah asks a few students, all of whom shake their heads. The submissive sighs, losing some hope. Where could she be?  Leah bites her lip, trying to remember if she’d seen Erica’s dogs. In the hysteria of screaming people, it was hard to remember that there were innocent creatures who suffered from this event as well. Maybe they’d helped her get away?

Leah turns around from the ashes, giving a sweep of the campus again. Most of everyone has been displaced to a much warmer location or sent to a hospital. She shivers. That’s probably where she should be. Not out here catching a flu. She just. Needs to know.

 “Leah!”

Leah pauses, sure that she’s misheard something. That almost sounded like Blaine, her mind provides.

Even if it’s stupid to get her hopes up, Leah turns and can see a familiar shaved head in the distance. Way all the way by the faculty wing.

Blaine.

He’s looking for her.

She drops her blanket there on the frosty ground along with the heat pack and starts running. She isn’t an athlete by any means, but she swerves pretty okay around people and rubble, her vision blurring from happy tears. He was safe. He came back. God he was still so far away. She tries running faster, no matter how much it hurts to breathe in the chilly, still-ashy air in such large amounts.

“BLAINE!”

There’s a lot of noise. Chaos is a noisy thing. Blaine’s head is aching a bit, dull behind his eyes. From stress, the poor air, or the one-too-many-beers he drank before bed, Blaine isn’t sure, but the constant sound of rescue work around him makes it worse. Stones grinding together, rubble being moved, people coughing.

A distant shriek reaches him through the din. It’s Leah calling his name. Sure enough, when he turns his head, there she is running to him. Blaine doesn’t know what to do. It feels like his stomach is going to fall out from the relief that overcomes him; it’s so overpowering he almost can’t move. She’s safe and whole.

“Leah,” he murmurs, knowing she can’t hear. “Leah.”