A Cry in the Park - A Bob's Burgers fanfic - by BobsBurgersStories1

A Cry in the Park - Part 4

Chapter 4 

After several hours sleep, Linda awoke once more. She was lying on Bob, whose head was next to the well. Sitting up silently, she stretched and looked around her. The sun had risen and early morning daylight flooded the park, shining in between the trees. The rig was still drilling, and there was now a canteen truck in the park, a few feet away from the ambulance. Most of the rescue personnel were sleeping, scattered about the area, using their jackets as blankets, with empty polystyrene cups surrounding them. There were more of them, she noted, looking at their hi-vis jackets, and she realised they must be more drillers.

Only Davis, Richards, Tim and Charlie were still awake; despite the tiredness in their eyes, they looked happy at the way the rescue operation was going.

Tim and Charlie had moved back to the well after Bob and Linda had fallen asleep. They had slept in shifts that previous night; one would sleep for a few hours, while the other listened to and comforted Louise; the girl had dropped off shortly after 4am.

Olsen Benner and Ed had filmed until gone 1am the night before and, after phoning her boss, Nathan, with the latest updates, they had gone home for the night, arriving back at 7am to resume filming. As Ed positioned the camera on his shoulder, Olsen noticed that a few other reporters had shown up. Due to all of the equipment in the park, they had pressed themselves up behind the barriers and some of the more nosey residents had returned to watch the scenes unfold.

   "Louise?" Linda called, taking the headphones Tim offered her and placing them over her ears. "It's Mommy. Can you hear me?" Her only answer was silence. "Louise? Answer me!" she called, getting worried.

   "She's probably sleeping, ma'am," said Tim, smiling comfortingly at her.

   "No, she can't sleep! Because if she sleeps, then we can't hear her, and if we can't hear her, we -" she paused to gather herself, inhaling deeply. "I need to know she's still alive," she said desperately, trying not to cry. Tim nodded understandingly and they both began calling to Louise, not stopping until they heard her grumpy, tired voice. "Oh, thank God!" Linda cried, placing her hand over her pounding heart. "Louise, baby, we're coming to get you, just hang on, okay?" 

Their shouting had woken Bob and Teddy, both of whom sat up, rubbing their eyes.

   "A small mini-camera is on its' way right now," Tim told her. "We're gonna try and use that to see if we can see her."

   "Thank you," said Linda gratefully. "How far have they gotten?" She asked, and the smile on Tim's face dropped slightly.

   "They're still digging the tunnel; we're more than halfway done."

   "What time is it?" 

Tim glanced at his watch.

   "Eight o'clock, ma'am," he said and Linda's face fell.

   "She's been in there for around twelve hours," she said worriedly.

   "I'm sure she's fine, ma'am," said Charlie comfortingly, but Linda didn't look all that comforted.

   "MOM! MOM!"

Bob and Linda turned around, only to be greeted with bone-cracking hugs from Gene and Tina.

   "Mom, where is she, it's been all night! You didn't come and get us! Where is she?" cried Tina, with Gene pretty much saying the same thing.

   "She's not out yet," said Bob, and Gene gripped him harder.

   "But.. they said she would be," he said, unable to comprehend why Louise was still in the well.

   "I know, I know they did, but they're working on it," he said, getting to his feet, which was difficult with his son wrapped around his waist. The children swapped over and hugged the other parents, when Mort finally approached, panting slightly.