DISCLAIMER!!! Yes, I stole these characters from HB, even though I promised to give them back. I'm not going to!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! {gasp pant wheeze} What? They can *sue* me? Oh. Well, in that case, I guess I'll give 'em back. sigh. And here I was going to donate them to this ml. The cats--Kit, Dana & Colin--are mine. Risk and the kids are up for grabs!

Benton paced back and forth, biting his lip. "Rachel, will you marry me? No, that's no good. Rach, I love you, will--no, no, no. Would you consider--aggh! This is hopeless!" He threw up his hands in despair, wanting to rip his hair out.

"What's hopeless?" Rachel asked as she walked in through the open door.

"Uh, nothing. At all. Nothing's hopeless. There's always hope, right? Heh heh." He knew he was chattering, and his voice was too high, but he couldn't help it. He glanced at the dresser, saw the ring sitting there, and made a grab for it.

The fast, sharp movement caught Rachel's attention. "What do you have there?" She turned and started approaching, noticing with great interest Benton's face go pale as he shoved it behind his back.

"Uh . . . nothing. Nothing at all."

She grinned. "It's something all right. Let me see."

"NO! I mean, uh, it wouldn't interest you!" He backed into the dresser, wondering what was making him so clumsy today. Other then the fact that he was scared stiff.

"Bull. Let me see!" She reached around behind him, and Benton tried to squirm out of her grasp. It didn't work though, and she was able to grab his wrists.

"It's a doggie treat!" he yelled.

"Yeah, right!"

"I swear! Leggo!"

Rachel laughed and tried harder to take the thing. Benton was far stronger then she though, and it was taking some doing.

"It's not--" The alarm to the dorm went off, and Rachel stopped her pursuit. Benton breathed a giant sigh of relief.

Rachel frowned. "What's this about? You think it's a drill?"

Benton stuffed the blue velvet box into his jacket pocket and went to his door. "Smoke. This is no drill, there's a fire!"

Rachel ran to his side and sniffed. Sure enough, there was smoke in the air. "We have to get out."

"Come on." He grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the room and down the hall as other doors opened on either side of them. He pulled her down the stairs, the smoke getting thicker as they neared the bottom. And there was two more flights to go. A bomb blew down the stairwell, sending a blast of plaster and smoke up at them. Benton turned and raced back up the stairs, pushing Rachel ahead of him. He hit the door with his shoulder, bursting out into the hall. Three more kids ran past, heading for the stairwell at the end of the dorm floor. "Let's go," he said, releasing her wrist as she twisted away. They were the last people to get to the stairs, and the first out when they started to crumble. Two others got out, but the blast from the bomb blew out the door, slamming it against the two closest bodies.

Rachel choked back a scream as Benton threw her against the wall, covering her body with his own. Fire raged in the stairs, spilling out the door and licking the edge of the carpet.

"There's no other way out," Rachel whispered.

"Sure there is," Benton said, trying to make their situation sound better. "The other end of the hall, there's a fire escape. We'll climb either up or down, depending on which is the safest." He pulled Rachel along, his jaw clenched. She was terrified of heights. He had no idea how he was going to get her out there. Right now she was following him only because he wasn't giving her much choice, and the reality of their predicament hadn't set in yet. She was sort of in a state of shock. He prayed she would stay that way until they were safely on the roof, or, better yet, on land.

His luck didn't hold. As soon as she saw the window she balked. She'd rather burn alive then willingly climb out a four story window. "Benton. I'm not going out there."

He cringed, then set his jaw stubbornly before turning back to her. "Yes you are. You'll go out there or you'll die here. I'll make sure you don't fall. Come on." He pulled her forward, wrapping his hands around her tiny waist. The window was open already, cool fall air blowing through. Rachel was shaking and pale as she felt Benton start lifting her toward the window.

"Goddammit, Benton! No!" She stepped back, crunching his foot under her heel and elbowing him as hard as she could.

Benton groaned and fell back, releasing her. Rachel turned and ran, heading for the first set of stairs. She opened the door and the fire spilled out at her, forcing her to fall back. Then Benton was there, picking her up off her feet and carrying her, screaming, to the window. She arched back, almost causing him to drop her, then was spun around and found herself sitting on the edge, looking out at the ground below where ambulances and fire trucks sat, spilling blood-red light over the dead grass.

And suddenly she was in a rainstorm, watching as her mother and father went up the ladder first, her little brother after. Watching as her mother lost hold, and fell, screaming, to the pavement below. Remembering the feel of the gun barrel at her back, the man telling her to keep climbing.

She wavered on the sill, and Benton reached forward to grab her. "Rachel. Rachel. You have to go. Now." He looked back over his shoulder at the fire eating up the hall, coming after them. "Rachel, go. I'll make sure you're safe, I swear. Please," he looked at her, very pale, and prayed that she would hear him. Her blond hair whipped in the wind, blowing back and away from her blue eyes.

"I can't Benton. No." She shook her head slowly, looking at the ground below.

"You can, and I'll be with you. I swear." He climbed up on the ledge with her, pried one of her fingers loose and placed it on the ladder that ran parallel to the building. He swung onto the ladder himself, then reached across and grabbed her waist, pulling her out too. She almost fell, then he pulled her against his body and held her there while she found the steps and tucked her sneakered feet onto them. "Look up, you can do it." Benton himself looked down, praying they wouldn't have to go up. Fire was burning out windows, glass exploding. He looked up. There was only one story, and that window was just starting to shimmer yellow.

"Up, Rach. Go up, I'm right here." He stepped up himself, his arm around her waist pulling her up too. Her feet came off the step as he went up, and she panicked, scrambling for the iron. A second later she found it, and started climbing the ladder as fast as she could.

Benton kept up easily, even pushing her faster at times. His body he kept up around her, surrounding her in a protective cocoon. She seemed almost robotic, and he suspected she was in a sort of mental shut down.

As they crawled past the fifth story window it exploded, almost knocking Benton off his perch. He gained his feet again quickly, swinging up behind Rachel who had stopped moving. He pushed up and she started again, her shirt ripped where the blast had caught her.

They reached the roof and Benton swung up, grabbing Rachel and pulling her away from the edge. She was shaking so hard he was terrified she would fall.

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Down below, the firemen started cheering as the couple made it to the top. The captain looked around, trying to spot the helicopter rescue team he'd called for. They'd better get here soon, that fire was going to reach the roof pretty quick.

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Benton took his denim jacket off and wrapped it around Rachel's shoulders.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He nodded and rubbed her arms, trying to warm her up.

"You're bleeding," she said, watching his hands.

"Yeah."

"Let me see." She was trying hard to ignore the fact that A) she'd completely zoned out back there, and B) she was on the roof of a big building. Again. She hated big buildings. She hated them a lot.

She inspected the cuts and burn marks on the side of his arm and body, oblivious to the fact that he was inspecting her just as closely.

"Do you feel all right?" he asked at last, watching her.

She glared at him. "I'm sitting on top of a burning building, praying no more bombs go off, looking at my boyfriend who's bleeding all over, freezing, waiting to die, in great pain, but yes. I'm fine. Why ever wouldn't I be fine? This sort of thing happens to me all the time," she continued sarcastically.

Benton smiled at her as she ranted, brushed her gold hair out of her face. "If we live through this, you wanna get married?" he blurted out before he realized what he was saying.

Rachel stopped talking and watched, open mouthed, taken completely by surprise while Benton's face turned bright red and he dropped his hand. He sat back on his heels, inspecting the roof floor. "I--I mean, that is . . . heh."

Rachel just looked at him, and he grew more uncomfortable and stupid feeling by the instant. "Never mind," he whispered, standing up, hands shoved in his pockets. He kicked at a pebble, watched it skitter across the concrete. Behind him he heard Rachel stand up and walk forward, and he flinched inwardly. He felt so stupid.

"Benton, I--" Her voice was cut off by the sudden drone of a helicopter coming racing in, and landing nearby on the roof.

"Come on!" one of the men shouted, waving frantically.

Rachel turned and ran toward the flying thing, telling herself repeatedly that she wouldn't fall out.

Once Benton had gotten in and they'd both sat down, it took off, flying just far enough away to be able to land on the ground. Rachel buried her face in her hands and kept reminding herself to breathe. She was never going up anywhere again. Not even up a second story. Never.

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Benton sat still while they patched up his cheek. He couldn't believe it. Talk about botching his proposal. She'd never want to talk to him again. He was such an idiot.

"All right, fella, there ya go," the nurse said, stepping away from the young man. Benton ran a hand through his tousled brown hair, blowing air out his mouth. Stupid.

Rachel stood up and went to see him, still wearing his coat over her green, ripped turtle neck and jeans.

"Hey, Ben."

He flinched. "Hi," came the barely audible whisper as he studied the grass with great interest.

"Yes."

He looked up. "Pardon?"

"Yes. Since we got out alive, I'll marry you. But you forgot something." Her eyes twinkled merrily as the meaning of her words sunk in.

"You will?!" he cried, picking her up and spinning her around. "Oh, Rachel! I love you!"

"I know!" she laughed delightedly. "But you forgot something!"

He set her down, worried now. "What?"

She reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue velvet box.

Benton grinned and took it, then grinned wider and sunk to one knee, opening it for her. "Will you marry me?"

Rachel bit her lip, trying her level best to keep from jumping up and down like those giddy diztes they saw on TV. "Yes. Most assuredly I will! Now get up," she laughed, "Before you get grass stains on your pants!"

"Forget my pants," he said, standing, "I don't care. It's worth it. I can buy new pants." He picked her up and kissed her soundly, drawing whistles and congratulations from the crowd that was gathering.

"How romantic!" one woman sighed.

Rachel started laughing again. "Let me go! You're making a scene!"

"They want a scene? I'll give 'em one!" he said, grinning. He swooped her up, carrying her as she kicked and struggled and threatened, then kissing her and threatening to continue doing so until she calmed down. Rachel laughed and continued to struggle.

A young red-head looked over at her boyfriend to date, glaring at him. "Why don't you ever do anything that romantic?"

The jock rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on Estella! You don't really want me to parade around like an idiot, do you?"

"Yes!"

One of his friends laughed. "Poor Jack! I'm never getting caught like that! Not in a million years!"

Estella eyed the tall blond. "Don't be so sure, Roge. One of these days someone's going to trap you."

"Oh, yeah. Someone like you? Right."

Estella arched an eyebrow. "Don't get cocky, Race. Don't even try." The trio turned and walked away, behind them Benton and Rachel dancing around in the fall day, the building's fire burning merrily behind them.

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