Stay in the car.
Stay in the car.
It’s always “stay in the car” when you’re the one personally connected.
Dannel had intended to listen to the request from both Haider and Roland. He didn’t anticipate catching sight of Derrick. “Why you sneaky little….”
Across from the church where the first responders were trying to rescue Osian and Ian, Dannel spotted Derrick hiding behind the hedgerow. Right. I’ve got questions, and he’s going to answer them.
Sliding out of the back seat, Dannel strode across the street and caught up to Derrick. He grabbed him by the shirt, swinging him around into the hedge. There was no way he’d let Derrick get away.
“I—”
Dannel shook Derrick, lifting him off the ground. “What did you do to my Osian, you absolute wanker?”
“Dannel.” Haider came jogging across the street toward him with several constables on his heels. “Dannel. You can’t kill him.”
Dannel turned toward him with his hands still keeping a firm hold on Derrick. “Why would I kill him? I’m not a murderer.”
“I—” Haider cut himself off with an impatient wave of his hand. “I wasn’t being literal.”
“Oh.” Dannel hated hyperbolic speech. It always confused him. “He hurt Ossie.”
“We’re aware. Why don’t we let the nice constables place him under arrest? Your Ossie is in the back of an ambulance. I’m sure he’d love your company.” Haider guided Derrick toward the two other police officers and then motioned for Dannel to follow him. “Both Osian and Mr Barrett seem relatively uninjured.”
“After being thrown in a well?” Dannel didn’t believe the detective inspector for a second. He’d been to an incident as a firefighter involving a teenager who’d fallen into a similar hole. “No broken bones?”
Before Haider could respond to his question, Dannel launched into a lengthy list of other queries. His heart started to race the closer to the ambulances they got. He heard a muffled-sounding Ian being his charming self with the paramedics.
“Here.” Haider placed a hand on his shoulder, ignoring Dannel’s flinch. “He’s in this one.”
The side door of the ambulance slid open, and one of the paramedics hopped out. Dannel thought he recognised her, but his mind refused to provide a name. She waved him over.
“C’mon then. Let’s get you in here to see Oz.”
Dannel struggled to get his legs working. “I….”
“I’m Becky. Part of the coalition. Don’t worry. I imagine your mind’s racing something awful. Oz’s fine. We’re only checking him over as a precaution.” She followed him into the ambulance and slid the door shut, cutting off the sound of Derrick arguing with the constables about how he’d never hurt Ian. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
Dannel managed to make it into the seat across from Osian. He grabbed desperately at the hand Osian held out to him. “Had to get your perfect hero origin story, didn’t you?”
“Does this make me Bruce Wayne? Being rescued from a well? There was a distinct lack of bats.” Osian squeezed his hand tightly. He brought it up to rest his forehead against Dannel’s fingers. “I’m all right. A few scratches and bruises. Not going to be rock climbing anytime soon.”
“You’ve never rock climbed a day in your life,” Dannel pointed out. He was remembering how to breathe regularly. “How is he really?”
Becky finished checking Osian’s blood pressure. “I’d say he’s going to have a headache and won’t be up for climbing of any kind for the next day or so. We don’t even need to take him to the hospital.”
“Brilliant. Not sure I want another stay.” Osian preferred to avoid hospitals when at all possible.
“Go on. Get out of here. We’ve got other patients to see.” Becky began unhooking all the monitoring equipment from Osian. “My suggestion? Take a Paracetamol and hunker down at your flat with Dannel for a few days.”
“Hear that, Danny? No climbing anything. Not even you.” Osian got to his feet slowly. He didn’t relinquish his hold on Dannel’s hand. “Ready to face the wrath of the detective inspector?”
“Hopefully he’ll be too busy with Derrick. Wanker.” Dannel dragged him into a tight embrace, clutching Osian against him. The paramedics politely focused their attention elsewhere. “I love you. Please, never do that again.”
“I promise to never climb into a derelict well ever again.” Osian pressed his face against Dannel’s neck. “Quit chuckling, you git.”
“Will you marry me?” Dannel had thought about it on the drive over.
“Yes, though maybe we can talk it over somewhere other than an ambulance with Becky going all heart eyes over in the corner.” Osian tightened his arms around Dannel. “I mean, it’s not a bad story to tell in our golden years.”
“Why don’t you two get out so we can get on with rescuing people who want our help?” Becky prodded Osian in the back. “Send us an invite to the wedding.”
They stepped out of the ambulance to find rain beginning to pour down. The second ambulance had already left with Ian. Dannel paused to take in the scene and allow his heart to return to normal.
The rain and the flashing lights from all the emergency vehicles danced merrily against the stained glass windows of the church behind them. Dannel found it mesmerising. He stared for a few seconds before Osian nudged him forward.
“Think we can sneak away without the detective inspector noticing?” Osian nodded toward where Haider appeared to be mid-conversation with two other detectives. “Who drove you here?”
“Rolly.” Dannel pointed out his brother standing off to one side of the cluster of detectives. “They’d notice if we stole his car.”
“Undoubtedly.” Osian leaned into Dannel’s side. He wrapped an arm around him to help hold him up. “An Uber maybe?”
“We can’t get an Uber from a crime scene.” Dannel wanted nothing more than to be home, curled up with Osian and the largest pizza in existence. He knew they had to deal with the police first or they’d be knocking their door down. “Let’s get this over with.”
Roland stepped around the group of detectives to join them. “Everything and everyone all right?”
“Mostly.” Osian frowned when Roland held out a phone. “Not mine.”
“Yours is currently in an evidence bag. We found it in Derrick’s pocket. You’ll have to wait for forensics to finish their work.” Roland pushed the phone into Osian’s hand. “This one is mine, and you need to call your mum.”
By the time they’d dealt with all the calls and a lecture from Haider about the dangers of amateur investigating, Dannel wanted nothing more than to crawl under the covers. Roland took pity on them, chauffeuring them straight home. He even promised to distract the family.
Adelle and Stanley had swung by on their way to the hospital to sit with Ian and dropped off a platter of sandwiches, crisps, and assorted cakes. Stretching out in bed, Osian and Dannel put on a Twitch stream of a Mass Effect playthrough and hid from the world under the duvet together.
“Danny?”
“Yes?” Dannel lifted his head up, brushing crumbs away from his chest. He found Osian watching him intently. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Genuinely fine. My arms will be screaming in the morning. No jokes about going to the gym.” Osian sat up, shoving a pillow behind him for support. “Do you really want to get married?”
“Not mad about the fuss of a wedding. I wouldn’t mind getting married, though.” Dannel thought an actual proper ceremony sounded like a stressful nightmare in the making. “Want to elope?”
“Can you see my mum and sister handling an elopement well?” Osian shuddered.
“Liv would glitter bomb us until the end of time.”
“And glue unicorn horns to our heads while we sleep.” Osian lifted his hand up. “Want to put a ring on it?”
“I do.”