London's Burning - Ain't No Sunshine

Written by: Gemma Lambourne
Date first published online: 9TH June 2002.
Genre: Angst.
Rating: PG - 13.
Starring: Sally and Hyper and a bit of Recall.
Disclaimer: The characters are not owned by the authors, they are copyright of London's Burning and LWT. Featured is Will Young's "Ain't No Sunshine".
Authors Notes: ER fans may notice slight quotes from the Season 3 episode "Union Station" when Susan left Chicago leaving a heart - broken Mark standing on the platform at the Union Station.
Summary: Sally moves away from London and Hyper misses her and begins to feel feelings of a confused nature that he'd never felt before.
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"Alright Hyper?" Recall asked.

Hyper nodded slightly, then his nod modified and he began to shake his head.

"You miss Sally don't you?"

Sally had moved away a month before. She felt like a change, London was well London. The busy streets were becoming too much. She transfered out of London to the West Sussex fire brigade. She still wanted a full - time position and ended up taking a place at Chichester's Green Watch and was living in a flat in the village of Fishbourne.

"Why don't you give her a call?" Recall suggested, after Hyper was really quiet and didn't answer.

"I don't know Recall..."

"Why? Give her a call or go and see her..."

"I can't go and see her..."

"Why not?" Recall questioned.

"Cause I can't... it's too weird," He replied, going silent again.

"What's weird?" Recall asked.

"My feelings... Sally's a friend, was a friend until she moved. I'm not attracted to women but I feel... I don't know..."

"Attracted to her?" Recall asked.

"In love," Hyper answered.

"Maybe like the love a person has to their siblings and family members," Recall suggested.

"Maybe..." Hyper replied, althought he wasn't entirely sure.

Ain't no Sunshine when she's gone,
It's not warm when she's away,
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

-------------------

Hours went at work, the shouts seemed to be really dull all day. First a shout to a skip, which was set alight by a group of teenagers for a 'laugh', then a hoax call to a leisure centre and finally, a cat stuck up a tree.

Hyper turned on the TV at home, sitting on the sofa alone while he watched. He felt lonely, he missed the company, missed somone to talk to and missed his friend.

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
Only darkness everyday,
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

------------------

He decided he had to ring Sally. He stood up and walked over to his phone, first dialing the area code... 01243 followed by her phone number.

"Hello?" Sally answered the phone.

"Hiya Sal."

"Rob... Hi... How are you?" She asked.

"Good," He replied quietly, "You?"

"Yeah, I'm great!" She replied enthusiastically.

*Great*? obviously not missing London or anyone in it. "Um Sal..." Hyper began, "In a couple of days I've got a day off, I was thinking maybe that I'd come down and see you?"

"That would be great!" Sally replied, "My watch finish at 12 that day so... you could meet me outside the station."

"Great," Hyper replied.

"You do know your way right?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, yeah, course I know the way..." Hyper replied casually.

They talked for a while, about old times and about the present. Sally had to go because she had an early start in the morning.

Days past and Hyper though about going to see Sally. He was so exited that he stayed awake at night. She was his best friend and he missed her dearly.

The day finally came, Hyper got up really early and began driving out of London around nine in the morning. Traffic was quite bad in city areas on the way down in areas such as Brighton and Worthing and on the roads outside of Chichester. He circled certain areas of the city for a while, but couldn't find the street where the fire station was... St. Pauls Road.

Sally stood out the fire station waiting and watching the cars turn in different directions. It was now quarter past and still no sign of Hyper. Then, her mobile rang. "Rob?"

"Heya Sal, I'm lost," He confessed.

Sally smiled, "Where are you?" She asked.

"Across the road from Chichester College of Arts, Science and Technology... it says that on a sign anyhow..."

"Aah, down Avenue De Chatres... Just carry on down until you get to the round - a - bout, go round and carry on in the same direction. You'll pass a junior school called Central... keep on carrying down, then when you come to the end of the road you'll see the fire station opposite."

"Cheers Sal, I'll see you in a while."

Hyper started up the engine of the car that he had borrowed from a friend and drove using Sally's directions. He found his way soon enough, it was only a little way down the road anyway. He drove up and into the fire station's drive way for the appliances and got out of his car.

He stood in front of her, looking at her, "You look great," He complimented.

"Thanks," She replied, blushing slightly, "You don't look too bad yourself."

He smiled, "Nice station," He said, looking up at the station.

Sally nodded, "It's WSBF's HQ, we get all the important guys over here quite a lot... open days and people visiting the museum parts."

Hyper nodded impressively.

"So... do you want to see my new flat?" Sally asked.

"Sure," Hyper replied.

"It's quite a way... it's out of town in a village," Sally told him, "I'll tell you the way..."

Sally got into Hyper's car as did Hyper. They drove out of the fire station, back in the direction of Avenue De Chartes and carried on down. Passing the college again. When they got to the end of the road, they turned left around the round - a - bout, passing the Westgate Leisure Centre and having a view of Waitrose and the railway line. The back of the college was passed and so was the big Tesco's as they went onto the short motorway journey and into Fishbourne. They drove down certain roads until they reached the block where Sally was living.

The car was parked in the residents car park, as Sally and Hyper walked up the steps to Sally's flat. She pulled her key ring out of her bag and took hold of the front door key, opening it and let Hyper walk in first. Hyper wandered around, closely followed by Sally.

"It's a nice place," He complimented.

"Thanks," She replied, "It's a nice area, away from the traffic and is very quiet at night."

"Nice neighbours?" Hyper asked.

"Yeah..." Sally replied, realising that this conversation was beginning to drag, "Would you like a cup of tea... coffee?" She asked.

"A coffee would be nice, thanks..." He replied with a smile.

Sally gestured for him to go and sit down in her living room area, while she went into the kitchenette and turned on the kettle and began to prepare two mugs of coffee.

"A miss you," Hyper confessed, after they had been chatting for quite a long time. They had spoken about the 'good old days', living together in London, the Blue Watch, nights when they went out clubbing together and when they used to enjoy each others company.

Sally's smile dropped when Hyper confessed he missed her, she really thought he would be ok, forget about her quickly and would generally move on and replace someone else as his flat mate. "I miss you too," She replied softly, "Anyway, I'm sure you'll find a new flat mate soon, a nice guy... and you never know..."

Hyper smiled meekly, "Yeah," He murmured quietly, looking down at his hands.

Sally watched him, putting a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "You'll forget about me, forget about things we went through... well you won't forget entirely but you'll push them back to the back of your mind. Rob, you're my best friend, I didn't think I coild make it without you. But I surprised myself and I did..."

Hyper listened, but didn't remove his gaze from his hands. Sally watched him continually, not knowing what to say, "Rob..." She murmured softly, after a long silence, putting a hand to his cheek. He looked up at her and into her eyes as she studied his face. He looked hurt, almost heart broken...

Hyper took hold of Sally's hand, taking it down from his cheek. Over and over in his head he kept on reminding himself that he was a gay man, "Sally," He began, looking at her, directly in front of him, "I think I'm in love with you."

Sally's facial expressions changed immediately, she was shocked, completely and utterly shocked. She shook her head, "You're not," She began, "You can't be Rob, you're... you're gay..." Sally took a deep breath, "You miss me, making you think you love me. You just miss me, it's missing me Rob, not love."

Hyper shook his head, "I... I know it's weird," He stammered, "I thought it was at first, but..."

Sally didn't know what to answer, she just stared at him completely perplexed, she never saw this one coming.

Hyper could feel a feeling inside of him, he knew she didn't believe his revelation. He felt an urge, an impulse... He put both of his hands on her cheeks and pulled her into a kiss when she was completely off - guard. As he deepened the kiss, he felt strange inside. He'd not kissed a woman for going on twenty - years, but this definitely changed his perspective on things. He'd been kissed by grateful women on the fire scene, he'd been chatted up in bars, kissed by them women on the night in The Oliver Twist when the lads were all doing Adam a favour by dressing as school boys. He'd felt nothing then... but he did now. Was it just emotional love? Love for a friend who he missed?

Emotions seemed to run extremely high and when Hyper noticed Sally wasn't kissing back, he pulled away. She stared confusedly into his eyes, not uttering a word.

"I'm sorry," Hyper murmured, standing up and lowering his head, "I'm sorry," He murmured again, before making his way to the door.

"Rob... wait..." She murmured quietly, after sitting in silence for a moment, gathered among her thoughts, "Rob!" She called again, just to see the door slam.