▌Chapter 10 ─ We Rebuild ▌

━━━━━ BLAKE AND BEN walked up the steps, Basil, Hugo, and Ollie followed right behind them. Basil had hoped that they'd be safe in the unfinished building until their parents found them. Basil bumped into Hugo realizing that they'd come to a complete stop on the stairs. She followed their eyes to see that they couldn't go any higher. The next level was blocked with some debris that had most definitely fallen at some point during the earthquake or aftershocks.

"Shit." Blake whispered.

Basil looked at the wall to see that they were only on floor 10. She had a feeling that it might not be high enough. Basil scanned the area once she walked through the door. A lot of the furniture and other items had still been covered in plastic wrap. Most likely it would've been unwrapped had they finished the building. But now that didn't seem like an option anymore. Basil tilted her head, turned her body towards the window. A noise ran through her ears, it sounded like something was crashing into something else.

"What's that noise?" Ollie questioned.

Basil walked forward with her sister, the two looking to see something out past the window. Water was rushing towards them. Basil knew what it meant. In the chaos of the water it was knocking down any building that remained standing.

"We're not high enough." Basil yelled, panic and fear coursing through her body. The two ran back towards the brothers.

"Get down! Get down! Take cover!" Blake shouted as she ran for Ollie. Hugo reached his hands out to Basil and grabbed a hold of hers pulling her towards him and behind a pillar. He wrapped his arms around her and the pillar, holding on as tight as he could. Blake did the same thing to ensure that Ollie stayed still. And Ben held himself on another pillar. "Hold on tight, Ollie."

The building started to shake, while the water inched closer to the building they were taking cover in. Basil couldn't look around, instead she closed her eyes tightly trying to remain as calm as she could. Finally the water made contact with the glass and broke into the building. In the process Ben was the first to slip free from one of the pillars he was holding on to. Then Blake and Ollie lost their grip on the pillar.

Hugo couldn't hold onto the pillar any longer, eventually he was pulled away from Basil. Soon after she lost her grip and was submerged into the cold water. Basil was trying her hardest to find her way back to the surface but she was failing. The water was too strong and pushing against her. The panic was starting to really settle in the pit of her stomach as she tried to breach for the surface.

Basil pushed herself up once more, her head popping out of the water. She took in a deep breath of oxygen and grabbed a hold of a piece of furniture. She pulled herself up on it to ensure that she was mostly out of the water. A few coughs left her mouth, she looked around at the others. They were also on furniture, but they were all okay. However she followed their line of sight to watch as another building succumbed to the darkness of the water.

It could no longer stand the amount of pressure that had been on it. Basil lowered her head, hoping that this nightmare would end and she could wake up. But to her disappointment, it wasn't a nightmare. It was happening to her and others in real time.

"The water's still rising. We have to get up higher." Ben exclaimed.

"This way!" Blake said, she jumped off the piece she was holding onto and started to swim towards an exit. Basil pushed herself off and moved back into the water swimming over to the door following behind the others.

Ray and Emma continued their journey through the water. They passed by a ship that had most likely crashed into the water. They came to a slow steady speed, looking ahead at the destruction the tsunami had left behind.

"Oh, my god." Emma whispered. The buildings that still stood for the most part were on fire or smokey. Other buildings were lying in the water, the damage was too much. Debris floated around them from the streets and from the buildings. "Where are they, Ray?" Emma asked, looking over at him.

"They're smart girls. They have each other. They'd know to head for one of these high-rises." Ray answered, keeping his eyes ahead.

"Mm."

"We just gotta find them." Ray moved the steering slightly as the boat picked up speed.

Basil walked into the 12th floor, looking around. This didn't seem complete at all. She heard Ben groan so she turned back to look at him as he kneeled over in pain.

"Are you all right?" Ollie asked him, showing the same concern that Hugo had on his face too.

"We need to take a look at that leg." Blake said. Blake walked back over to Ben and grabbed his arm placing it over his shoulder. Hugo took his brother's other arm and did the same thing. "Okay. Ollie, see if there's something that we can use as a bandage. And see if you can find clean water."

"Yeah." Ollie said, running off.

"I'll come with you." Basil said, leaving her sister with Ben. She looked back to see Hugo help set Ben down before he too took off after her. Ollie had made his way back to Blake and Ben leaving Hugo alone with Basil.

"So, after this is over and we get out of here alive, is there a chance I could take you out on a date?" Hugo said, causing Basil to stop walking and turn back to look at him. There was a soft smile on his face as he waited for an answer.

"I don't know. Seems like this could pass as a first date if you ask me." She teased a bubbly smile dropping to her lips.

Hugo stepped closer to her, closing the space between them. His light brown eyes were staring back at her. "You really want to count this as a first date?" He asked.

"Seems adventurous." She was trying to make light of the situation and it seemed to be working for both of them.

"Well, then would you allow me the honors of taking you on a second date?"

"I'd love that, Hugo." She whispered softly.

When he got what he'd been searching for he lowered his lips to hers kissing her softly. His hand entangled into her hair while Basil wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss was short lived when a cough brought them back to reality. The two turned their heads to see Ollie staring at them.

"Mum's going to like her too." Ollie said excitedly with a smile on his face. Basil released a quiet laugh hiding away in Hugo's chest.

"Come on, let's go find some water." Hugo spoke, reaching down to grab a hold of Basil's hand and pulling her with him.

Ray and Emma continued their journey to find their daughters. The two looked up, a large military ship had landed into a building, fire and smoke leapt off from the building as well as the ship. There were other survivors on boats trying to help those that had survived the tsunami. The three were grabbing whatever water had been left in the fridge that had been knocked down.

Ollie stood up walking away from Hugo and Basil when he noticed something. He turned around looking at them, but shouted loud enough for Ben and Blake to hear.

"Hey! I can see some people in a boat!" Basil picked herself up after she had handed some of the water over to Hugo. She walked towards the glass as Blake came running up on her right side.

"No way. No way!" Blake said.

"Those are our parents!" Basil said shortly thereafter. The two started banging on the window.

"Mom! Dad!" They both shouted at the same time. The excitement left their bodies when they realized that they couldn't be heard. Basil looked over at Hugo who had a sad look on his face. He had dropped the water bottles and had now been standing straight instead of kneeling.

"They can't hear us." Blake said. Blake smiled down at Ollie, the confused look rested on his face as he stared back at her.

"What?" He asked.

Blake used the green laser and sent it towards the boat, hoping that one of their parents would see it. "Em, if we don't get to them soon, we're gonna need some gas. We got maybe an hour, hour and a half tops before we-"

Emma placed her hand on Ray's shoulder, "Ray." She said, looking down at the green laser.

"Yeah?" Ray asked, placing his eyes on her.

"H-Hold on." Emma started to turn around to see where the laser was coming from. Ray stopped the boat and he turned around to see their daughters, and two others that he assumed were with them the entire time. The excitement could be seen on their daughter's faces as they finally got their parents attention. "Oh, my god. Oh, my god, it's Blake and Basil! Oh, my god!" Emma started jumping up and down and eventually hugged Ray.

"Emma! We found them." He said, hugging her back tightly. Emma waved back to them, however the joyous moment was cut short when the building started to shake. The building fell into the water, causing a small wave to push out and towards the boat sending the two crashing down. Ray stood back up screaming for his daughters.

Panic once again found Basil as she and the others lied on the ground watching the water come rushing towards the glass until it broke and entered the floor they were on. Basil was being pushed under the water again. She was trying her hardest to push out of the water to get a breath of air. Hands reached around her waist and pulled her up out of the water. She held onto the person soon realizing it was Hugo.

"I've got you. I've got you." He said as they followed behind Ollie.

"Where's Blake, where is she?" Basil asked, trying to break free from Hugo's grip to find her sister.

"I don't know. I saw you struggling and swam for you. I think she was with Ollie but now she's not."

"No. I need to go find her." Hugo held onto her tightly as they reached the door following in after Ben and Ollie. Ben went to turn around while Hugo held onto Basil not allowing her to move. "Let me go, Hugo. That's my sister. I can't leave her." She was struggling.

"Blake! Blake! Bla-" Ben's cries were cut off by the water rising. He slammed his hand onto the wall. "No! No! No!" He then swam over to both his brothers, Hugo was struggling to hold onto Basil as she tried to fight him to go after her sister. "The building's sinking! We have to move."

"No! I'm not leaving my sister. I won't lose her too." Basil was finally able to break free of Hugo's grip but he reached his hand out and grabbed a hold of hers, stopping her from going back. She turned to look back at him, there was a mix of anger and sadness sweeping across her face.

"We have to move up, now Basil." Ben said, pushing them all up the steps and out of the water. Basil was pushed up the steps and the three brothers blocked her from going back down to save her sister. Ray moved the boat closer to the building to see if there was a possible way in.

"No, no, no, no. Oh, my god, Blake! Basil!" Emma cried out for her daughters.

"Em, take the wheel." Ray said, grabbing her arm and placing it on the wheel. "I see a way in. I'm going after them."

"Ray!" Emma called to him as he moved towards the front of the boat. He looked back at her. Then he walked back towards her and placed his hands on her arms.

"I'm bringin' them back." He then moved his hands up to her face and kissed her. "I promise."

Ray dived into the water and swam through the opening. Meanwhile Blake swam up, pushing her hand through the water until it reached the ceiling. She pushed herself up coughing as air filled back in her lungs. Then she started to beat on the glass hoping something would happen. When that didn't work she reached for the flashlight in her pocket and pulled it out to turn it on.

Once she had light she took in a breath of air before moving back underneath the water and searching for a way out. Blake swam over to the door grabbing a hold of one of the chairs that was blocking the way and tried to pull it back towards her. Ray swam in the direction of where Blake was trapped. When he swam closer he saw a light, stopping for a brief moment he looked to see Blake trapped behind glass and trying to find a way out of the small room.

He swam up to the window and banged on it, gaining his daughter's attention. She was shocked and happy to see him all at the same time. She moved closer towards the glass.

"Dad." She mouthed. Then she proceeded to point upwards where she knew there'd be a pocket of air for the both of them. They both swam to it, eventually coming up for air.

"Blake!" He called out once they both had breached the surface.

"Dad!"

"Don't worry."

"The door's blocked! I couldn't get to Basil. I don't know where she is." Blake said quickly.

"Basil's fine, all right? Blake, don't worry. I'm gonna get you outta here. Okay? I'm gettin' you out!"

She shook her head and they both took a breath of air before diving back into the water. Ray swam towards the entrance. First he pulled a ladder out of the way letting it drop to the ground. But nothing was working to loosen any of the objects up. They both swam back to the small pocket of air that was left.

"Daddy, I'm scared." Blake cried out. "I'm running out of air! Daddy, I don't think I can do this." Blake continued to cry.

"Blake, you hold on, hold on!"

Hugo held his grip tight on Basil's hand as they ran up the steps making it to level 15. "There." Ben called out. Once they were clear of the door Basil tried to run back around Hugo losing grip of his hand. However he was quick to catch her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close to his chest again. Ben and Ollie were talking in the background while he continued to hold onto Basil.

"Let me go!" Basil shouted, she threw her head back and it landed on his shoulder. Hugo wasn't letting go until she had calmed down just enough. However before she could get any more words out the building started to shake again, objects around them were falling down. Hugo looked back at his brothers to see them protecting themselves.

The building stopped shaking, "Ollie." Ben yelled looking back at his little brother.

Basil looked towards the door they'd come out of and saw water spilling in and rushing towards them. After everything they'd gone through today, water was going to be her worst fear. Ben picked himself up and called out to Ollie, meanwhile Hugo lifted himself and Basil up from the ground as the water hit them. She looked at the man as he stared down at her.

"I don't want to go out like this." She whispered softly. "I don't want to lose anyone else."

"You're not going to, we're gonna get out of this." He whispered back, looking over at the water as more rushed in.

"Blake's going to die." Ollie said, Basil glanced at the door watching the water rush in. "Isn't she?"

"So are we." She whispered, Hugo noticed the sadness that echoed through her voice. It was clear to him this is not how she wanted to go out.

There was so much fear running through her mind as she hoped and prayed that her sister was still alive. She couldn't lose Blake too, she had lost Mallory, she herself had almost died. There was no way this is how Blake would end. How they would end. Tears started to fall down her face and she shoved her head into Hugo's chest. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and they slowly moved backwards towards Ben and Ollie.

"Blake! Blake!" Ben's voice ran through her ears. She lifted her head and opened her eyes to see her father holding onto Blake.

"Dad! Blake!" She cried out, still Hugo didn't let her go. Ben went to help her father get Blake onto a solid surface. Basil pulled away from Hugo and moved to the other side of her dad, she placed her hand on Blake's head hoping that she'd come back as Ray started to do chest compressions.

"Come on. Breathe, Blake. Breathe, honey." Hugo came up behind Basil, he reached his hand down and grabbed a hold of hers entangling their fingers together.

"Please, Blake." Basil cried out, more tears continuing to fall down her face. The building started to shake again. Ben covered Ollie while Hugo covered Basil and Ray covered Blake.

"We gotta get outta here. Break a window!" Ben nodded his head and he pulled Hugo away from Basil. She moved to the other side of her dad and grabbed a hold of Ollie. Ben and Hugo worked together to break the glass but it was too strong against the pipe's being used.

"Watch out!" Ben yelled running away from the window. Basil pulled Ollie closer to her and turned around, shielding him. Hugo and Ben shielded them both while Ray shielded Blake.

"Get on! Let's go! Let's go!" Emma called out.

"Mom!" Basil cried as she climbed onto the boat.

They all started to climb on the boat, Basil turned back around and helped her mother get Blake onto the boat.

"Take her Emma." Ray said.

"I got her. It's okay. Here you go." Ray picked up Blake and moved her to the front of the small boat.

"Get us outta here Em."

"Okay." Emma moved back to the steering wheel while Basil sat down next to her mother too afraid to move, too afraid of what might happen.

"The building's coming down."

The boat started to move, Basil heard her mother speak but she was in her own world to really comprehend what she had said. Eventually the boat had slowed down, Basil stood slightly. She looked at Daniel's building as it crumbled down into the water, no more than an afterthought. She turned around and moved over to her sister's side. Hugo was quick to be right by her side as Emma came up on the other side of Blake.

Ray was still doing chest compressions trying to bring Blake back. Basil lifted her eyes when she noticed that her dad was slowing down on the chest compressions. Silently she heard her mom call her dad's name, and he silently looked at her. She started sobbing. Basil leaned forward, more tears welling in her eyes. She placed her hand on Blake's hair.

"Blake, please come back. I can't lose you too." Basil said, loud enough for all of them to hear. Her voice was broken as she said it. They all listened as she spoke the next set of words. "I remember it, all of it. I remember you coming into my hospital room and telling me to hold on. I remember you telling me I needed to pull through, that we'd lost Mallory and you couldn't lose me too. I need you to survive. I need you here with me too. I can't lose another sister. I won't lose you." Her words echoed through Ray as he stared down at his daughters.

Her words and Emma's cries seemed to give him enough push to start chest compressions again. "I'm not gonna lose you, too." Ray whispered. On the next set of compressions Blake's body lifted and water rushed out of her mouth as she coughed it up. Ray lifted her up, Basil moved closer as did her dad and mom. Blake slowly looked around, her eyes on their mother.

"Mom."

"I'm right here. I'm right here." Emma whispered. Ray pulled the three of them into a hug. Emma hugged them back just as tightly.

In the aftermath Ray stood with Emma, Blake and Basil. They were all looking at the remains of the Golden Gate Bridge. Emma looked at her daughters, a smile shining brightly on her face.

"I'm so glad you and your sister are okay." Emma said. The two smiled back at their mother. Ollie, Hugo and Ben eventually joined them. Ben had gotten crutches so he could better walk around.

"Ben. Ollie. Hugo." Ray said as they came to a stop.

"I, uh, I found this on the boat." Ben said, holding Blake's necklace up to her. She walked over to him with a smile.

"Thank you." Basil walked over to Hugo who wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I think we should just call the second date our first date." Basil said, as she looked up at Hugo with a smile on her face.

"I couldn't agree more." He replied, Hugo then paused. He moved his lips next to her ears so only she could hear what he said next. "Thank you, for saving my brothers and I."

"You don't need to thank me." Basil whispered back. She held her gaze with Hugo and continued to smile at him.

"Hey, I wanna thank you guys for bein' there for Blake and Basil." Ray said, looking at the Taylor brothers.

"Yeah, thank you." Emma added.

"You're welcome. But it was more like they were there for us. I think." Ben said.

Basil placed her eyes back on the boats that were in the water, some arriving to help while others had survivors on them.

"This is incredible. So... What now?" Emma asked. A few helicopters flew overhead flying past the bridge as a partially ripped american flag moved in the breeze.

Ray sighed. "Now we rebuild." He looked down at Emma, she looked at him, then he looked at the others. Basil might not be going into the water anytime soon but this was a good start.