After the Earthquake

Part 9

Jordan smiled slightly as he saw that Hazel was getting some sleep. He turned off the lights and gently shut the door so she wouldn't be disturbed and went downstairs to call the locksmiths. He wanted to create as little hassle for her as possible. He knew they had been fighting recently, but he still wanted to do as much as he could for her so that she didn't have to feel under pressure when she woke up. He still loved her, after all.

After finishing the phone call, he decided to check on Dean, but as he turned around he saw a stumbling figure sliding their way down the stairs. "Are you feeling okay now?"

"Not really... but I can see now, which is better. What happened?"

Jordan made sure that Dean was sat down before he told him all of the things that had occurred in the past twelve hours. The whole thing seemed to shake him to the core, and his worry for Hazel was clear through the way he stiffened when he heard how she was threatened.

"Is she okay now?"

"Yeah, she's getting some sleep. She'll be fine. Although, I think she could use some company. Could Lyra stay with us for a few days?" Jordan was not very close with Lyra, despite her being Hazel's best friend, so he felt it was more appropriate for Dean to ask.

"No, she can't leave her dad. Her mother needs help to look after him." Jordan looked upset and disappointed, so he quickly added, "I'm sure Sierra would be willing to come around and keep Hazel company."

Jordan couldn't tell whether Dean's offer was through a genuine concern for Hazel or whether he merely wanted to see Sierra more often, but he was not about to say no. "That would be great. Can you call her?" Dean nodded, and he fumbled for his phone on the table.

***

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Sierra tumbled through the front door holding chocolates and a flask. Dean managed to move his gaze enough to face her.

"She's still asleep. You can wait down here until she's awake. Thank you for coming, Sierra. It means a lot, to all of us."

Behind her back, Sierra had brought a camping bed and a sleeping bag, ready for the few nights she was staying. However, she threw all of her belongings to the floor when she noticed the state Dean was in. "What happened to you? How did you end up looking like this? Were you attacked?" Her worry was clear in her quivering voice.

"I'm fine, don't worry. It'll just take a while for me to wake up. Our food was drugged, and of course I took the brunt of it."

Sierra frowned, clearly upset by Dean's nonchalant attitude when he looked so visibly unwell. "I hope you realise that I'm not just here for Hazel. I'm going to take care of you as well." Dean smiled at her fondly, but she simply told him, "That serves you right for always stealing food from others. Maybe you'll stick to your own share next time." The glint in her eye betrayed her teasing, and she took her flask to the kitchen counter to begin pouring some homemade soup out for Dean. "Are you well enough to eat?"

"I'm always well enough to eat." He propped himself up in his chair, but he could feel that his arms were still weak. "Maybe if you just leave it on the table, I'll get to it when I'm ready."

"You need to eat it now if you're going to. It should be nice and hot when you eat it." She bent over where Dean was sitting to put it behind him. "I'll leave it with you anyway. You know how to eat yourself, don't you?" As she went to leave the table, Dean suddenly took hold of her hand. She stopped still in her tracks and looked at him.

"Thank you." He looked straight into Sierra's eyes. "For everything." She smiled fondly back at him, and in the spur of the moment she found herself gently planting a kiss on his cheek. He looked shocked, but she simply ran away, grabbing her belongings and rocketing up the stairs before he could question her.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped and put one hand on her heart. It was beating rapidly. She couldn't believe herself – it was only a kiss on the cheek. Was it really something to feel so strongly about? However, her worry was unnecessary, because back down on the bottom floor, Dean's heart was beating in rhythm with hers, as though they were one and the same.

***

Darkness was all Hazel's vision allowed when she woke up. A sliver of light crept in through the window, although it was only from the dim streetlight down the road. She gritted her teeth in anger as she realised that she had allowed herself to fall asleep. She was supposed to be looking after Dean. More than that, she needed to look after Jordan. She let out a loud groan as she remembered the bombshell that had been dropped on her the previous day. How was she supposed to help someone who was partially blind? They certainly didn't teach how to handle this situation in school.

Her eyes flitted over to her clock, and she was infuriated as she saw that it was three in the morning. This was what she deserved for falling asleep when she wasn't supposed to. She would have to find some way to entertain herself now and hold on until that night so she could somehow fix her sleep schedule.

She headed down the stairs and turned her phone on. She contemplated brushing her teeth, but decided against it. After all, nobody wants to brush their teeth so early. As her notifications popped up, she felt rather alarmed to see the three missed calls from an unknown number. She had to take another look at it, because she was sure she had seen it somewhere before.

It was three in the morning, so nobody would answer a phone call at this time. For that reason, she decided not to call the person back. However, it was as though they could read her mind, because her phone received another incoming call just then. She answered it tentatively and spoke. "H-Hello?"

"Yes, Miss Anderson?"

"This is she. Who is this?" Hazel's confusion was growing by the minute. How did this person know her? Had she handed out the number to anybody new recently?

"It's me – Detective Leonard. We've had a breakthrough in the case, and we need you to the police station as soon as possible." His tone was urgent, but he didn't sound like he was asking. Thankfully, Hazel realised that was where she had seen the number. It was on the card he had given her, and she just didn't have a chance to put it into her phone yet.

"Listen here, Mr Leonard. It's three in the morning, and you can't give me any more information than that? It's probably more risky for me to be wandering the streets alone this early than to stay at home and wait another few hours." She rubbed her forehead, feeling anger strike through her that he would ask her to grant such a ridiculous request.

"It can't wait – trust me. I'll come in a squad car to pick you up. Leave a note for your family to tell them that you went to see a friend."

"At this time of night?"

"I don't know – tell them you went to a bar or something."

"Most bars still aren't open after the earthquake." She heard his infuriated groan at the other end of the telephone. "Fine, fine, I'll make something up." She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote on it: 'A friend needs my help. I should only be a short while. See you later xoxo.'

A few minutes later, she heard the car roll up outside her door. She headed to exit her house, and was quite taken aback by the change of the locks. Jordan must have called the locksmiths out urgently – either that or they had lowered business due to the lack of houses needing locks after the disaster. Her heart warmed and her love for Jordan felt almost overflowing. Their past arguments were all forgotten. She knew he still loved her.

She grabbed a new key which had been hung up next to the door, and she exited and locked it behind her. Detective Leonard had pulled up in a car, a much more sophisticated one than the squad car he had approached her in the day prior. She headed to the passenger seat and jumped in. "Do you want to tell me what this is all about? What could possibly be so important that you needed me to come at this time?"

He shook his head, disturbing the ginger hair which rested on top of it. "You can try all you want, but I'm not telling you until we get to the station." His secrecy and mysterious aura infuriated Hazel. She wasn't sure what sort of personality he was trying to portray, but she was sure that it was an altogether disagreeable one.

They both sat in silence for the journey. They reached some traffic lights, and she noticed he was signalling left. "Isn't the station right?"

"We're just going to take a little detour."