Hello everybody! Here's another little story for this collection - a little angstier than the last one!

Prompt: 66. "I Thought I'd Never See You Again" hug.

Pairing: Reds

As always, I own nothing. Just putting words on a page!

Enjoy!

The red and blue lights flashed in the middle of the intersection. A mountain of cars, scrunched together, piled in the middle.

Blossom touched down with her sisters as they immediately began picking their way through the cars with the paramedics – carefully lifting cars off of one another in the ten car pile-up. Not everyone involved in this crash would make it out. It was a hard truth she'd learned over the years. One that she hated.

As she assisted one of the luckier ones out of her car , Blossom barely had time to offer the older woman a smile when something caught her attention. At the very bottom of the pile of cars, there was red corvette – the only visible thing aside from the paint job being the license plate: BLDGENR.

"No." Her voice sounded far away as she zipped over to the wreckage, moving all of the empty cars out of the way. "No, no, no…"

"Blossy? What's the matter?"

"Leader Girl, be careful! It doesn't do us any good if you throw the cars at the people we've managed to save."

She barely registered that they were speaking to her - her focus on unearthing that car. And him inside of it.

Alive.

Please be alive…

Blossom knew it had been a mistake. Giving the boys A'X bracelets had been a compromise for the city – weakening their powers to be almost regular humans as recompense for the crimes of their past. But now…

If that bracelet was the death of him…

But she couldn't think like that. She just had to get him out!

When she found the windshield, she choked on her own tears. Shattered glass littered the ground and the interior of the car – shards of it embedded in his skin. His eyes were closed, and her voice ripped out of her throat.

"BRICK!"

Tearing the frame of the car apart, tears clouded her vision. Not bothering to avoid the glass, Blossom pressed her ear to his chest. The longest moment passed as she waited to hear the intake of breath or beat of his heart.

There! Faint…far too faint to be of any comfort. Brick wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Help! Someone, please!" That didn't sound like her – the panic bleeding through her tone in far too obvious a way for it to be her.

Her sisters appeared by her side in a second, both pairs of eyes widening.

"Oh no…"

"Shit. Hey! We need a stretcher over here right now. The person from the bottom of the wreck is alive. So look it yourself, assholes!"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Blossom knew she should scold her sister for her rudeness to the paramedics. But focusing on anything other than making sure Brick stayed alive at the moment wasn't worth the effort.

"C-come on, Brick. You're going to make it through this. Y-you have to. That's an order, you hear me?" A watery, humorless laugh. "Please…"

What felt like a lifetime later, a pair of paramedics lifted Brick onto a stretcher. As his body disappeared from beneath her, being hooked up to oxygen as they rushed him away, Blossom felt his absence like an ache. As she scoured the area, she saw there were quite a few more cars to be attended to.

A hand on her shoulder ripped her attention to it. She looked up at a pair of sad blue eyes.

"Go ahead, Blossy. We got this."

"What?"

"Follow him the hospital. We can take care of the people here."

A raspy chuckle from her other side. "Not like you're going to be much help while you're like this anyway."

"…you're sure?"

"Get the hell out of here, Blossom. You're going to do nothing but worry until you know he's okay." She felt more than saw the rolling of her sister's eyes. "Although knowing the stubborn ass he'll bounce back better than ever."

Blossom turned a weak smile towards her sisters – her beautiful, wonderful sisters. "Thank you, girls."

Without waiting for a response, Blossom flew after the ambulance Brick was in to the hospital. She did her best not to let it out of her sight until it slid underneath the hospital. Then she charged inside, rushing up to the receptionist.

She prattled off the phone number she knew would get the woman behind the desk in touch with Boomer and ghosted over the details of the situation before running back to find where he'd been rushed to.

"Miss, you can't be here."

"There are people being rushed in here, miss. You need to stay out of the way."

"Are you lost, little lady? I can lead you back to the lobby."

Blossom knew she'd owe more apologies than she could imagine later. But she caught sight of the stretcher with Brick on it and dashed after it, nearly knocking over the fools who got in her path.

When he was rolled into the ER, she knew she couldn't follow. So, she paced, worrying her lip.

Brick was going to be okay…he had to be okay…

[BREAK LINE]

Hours had passed, she was sure. It was a miracle the floor hadn't worn through from her walking the same few feet of hallway the entire time.

Absently, she hoped his brothers had been notified and shown up in the lobby, but she couldn't bring herself to go check. She had to be here. She needed to know…

A doctor appeared through the door and stopped with a start. "Oh, Miss Utonium. I thought for sure you'd be in the lobby. Are Mr. Jojo's brothers here?"

Blossom shrugged half-heartedly. "Is he all right?"

She offered a small smile. "Mr. Jojo is fine. I really should let his brothers know he's all right first, but…he asked for you."

"H-he did?"

"Yes. He got moved to room 324. You'll find him there."

Before she could think better of it, Blossom hugged the doctor tightly. "Thank you."

With a weary chuckle, the doctor nodded. "Of course. Now, go find him."

She didn't need to be told twice.

Once again, Blossom rushed through the hallway, not slowing down until the room number loomed in front of her. Then, and only then, she skid to a complete stop, heart in her throat. What on earth could he have asked for her for?

"I know you're out there."

Of course he did.

Blossom opened the door slowly, heart clenching as she spotted all of the machines he was hooked up to. But, aside from that and a few bandages, he looked mercifully okay.

He smirked. "Why the long face, babe? Surely you didn't think I'd kick the bucket that easy?"

Her mouth thinned into a hard line. "Very funny."

Brick's red eye softened. Only after did she realize a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks. Hastily, she wiped them away.

"Blossom…"

"I just…I thought you were…" She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I'm glad you're all right."

His eyes searched her face for a moment as he forced himself into a sitting position. "You can come closer, you know."

Slowly she did just that, hovering next to the bed for a moment before sitting down on the edge of it. She wrung her hands in her lap for a few moments before a warm hand on her forearm stilled her frantic movements. She allowed him to take her hand.

"I'm sorry I scared you."

"I just…I thought you were…"

"I know."

Blossom eyed him for a moment before deciding decorum wasn't all it was cracked up to be and dove into his lap, arms clasped around his neck. A sob wracked her body as his arms encircled her. Her worries tumbling out of her mouth in incoherent nothings as he squeezed her tighter.

He was here. He was alive. Thank God.

As her tears ebbed, she pulled back to look at him. Without any conviction behind it, she slapped at his chest. "How dare you make me worry like that, you damn Rowdyruff."

He smiled that warm smile that spread tingles throughout her whole body. "I said I was sorry, babe." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "What else can I do?"

"I'm sure you'll make it up to me somehow."

Brick grinned. "I'm sure I'll think of something. Oh…that reminds me. I have something for you."

She cocked her head. "What? You do?"

"Yeah. It's over there."

A small box – distinctly a jewelry box – sat on one of the chairs along the side of the room. Blossom's brows furrowed as she went to pick it up. "This…is for me?"

"Yeah. I was kind of on my way to give it to you when some asshole t-boned me." Brick snorted. "So I hope you like them."

She opened it and a pair of sparkling pink diamond studs stared back at her. "Wh-what on earth are these for?!"

Brick scratched the back of his head, his grin turning sheepish now. "Well, yunno…I thought if I was gonna finally stop being a pansy ass and just ask you to be my girlfriend already, I better bring something good to the table."

Her heart swelled inside her chest. This boy…this stupid, stupid boy…had almost died tonight…all to give her a pair of earrings.

"I would have said yes even without them, you know."

His eyes widened. "Wait, really? You're saying yes?"

Was he serious?! "Of course I am! Why on earth wouldn't I?"

"Well, you're just…a hero. And I'm…well, not." A weak laugh.

"You stupid Rowdyruff." Blossom climbed back into his lap. "That doesn't matter."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

And this time when she hugged him, she felt him grip her a little tighter as a soft, "Thank God" escaped his lips.

She wholly understood the sentiment.

I probably had more fun writing this than I should. Some of these prompts are just built to inspire!

If you have the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts in a review!

See you in the next one!

Love and Rockets,

Stranique