21 Jump Street Shorts

The Elevator [Part 3]

a/n: This is the final part. :)

Summary: Hanson/Booker AU oneshot. They get stuck in an elevator after chasing a possible suspect. The others race against time to find them before it's too late.
Characters: Tom, Dennis
Possible pairing: None
Genre: Suspense/Angst/Drama with hints of Crime

"How long do you think before we start running out of oxygen?"

"Booker!" Tom growled.

"What?! It's a practical question." The other officer replied shrugging his shoulders although he knew Tom couldn't see him.

The truth was that they had been stuck in for a couple of hours already and the last few minutes Dennis had begun to find it difficult to breathe. Tom sensed Booker's breathing had started to change and for the first time since they've been stuck in the damn elevator panic rushed through his veins; what if they stayed stuck in that stupid elevator until it was too late?! What if it takes too much time for help to come in and..no, Tom shook his head to get rid of that thought; everything was going to be fine. Someone should've noticed their absence by now and Fuller and the others were probably looking for them. The sound of faint movement pulled Hanson out of his thoughts and he felt Dennis sliding down one of the walls of the elevator.

"Tom." The sound made his heart fill with dread even more than if Booker had actually yelled his name, because for first time since Hanson knew him Dennis actually sounded scared. The voice of the raven haired officer was quiet and raspy and he was fighting hard to talk. "Tom..I..I can't breathe. I need air."

Booker coughed quietly, trying hard to take a breath.

Hanson stood frozen for a couple of seconds before finally moving and carefully reaching to where Dennis was. He searched for the hand of his fellow officer and put in on his chest where his lungs were. It was something he once saw in a movie and now prayed it would buy Booker some more time.

"Breathe with me, Dennis. Come on. Take a breath and exhale following my lungs." He slowly breathed in and out and Booker tried to take a breath following the rising and lowering of his lungs.

They repeated the breathing technique a couple of times until Tom finally heard Dennis' breathing was slowly getting back to normal or at least as normal as it could be under the circumstances. He gave out a sigh of relief but didn't break the rhythm and continued breathing in and out along with Booker.

The situation was kind of under control but they didn't have much time left until Tom would start to run out of air too.

Hanson prayed that someone would come to their rescue soon. Because if they had to stay in that elevator for another hour..they'd be as good as gone. Both of them.

But the time was passing out too slowly and no one had noticed yet that the elevator wasn't working.

Booker stared up into nothing. His eyes drifted everywhere as he desperately fought for air. Suddenly something caught his eye. One of the elevator buttons was glowing, flickering, faltering. Something sparked inside Dennis, in the depth of his chest, something he'd forbidden himself to feel. Hope.

The button lit up, then faded almost as quickly.

And didn't come back.

,/,,/,

The seconds were passing by, turning into minutes until after what felt like eternity for the two officers but in reality was only about thirty minutes, help finally arrived. When the elevators doors were pulled open and the paramedics looked inside they saw two bodies that were still, too still.

"They're here! We found them!"

Booker's hand was still where Tom had positioned it at his chest and Hanson's palm was resting loosley on top of it. The smaller officer's chest barely rose and fell, but moved nonetheless while Dennis' chest was stirless.

The first one to be moved out of the elevator was Tom. One of the paramedics put an oxygen mask on his face, while the others carried Dennis out and started working on helping Dennis to start breathing again. The mask sent enough oxygen to Tom's brain and his eyelids started trembling. Soon enough his eyes shot open and he struggled to take a deep breath. The paramedic that was helping him, gently spoke to him.

"That's it son, take a deep breath."

Tom reached a trembling hand and pulled the oxygen mask a bit so he could speak.

"Dennis..how is he?"

"You mean the other boy that was found with you?" The paramedic asked gently and Hanson nodded quickly. "He wasn't breathing when we found you. They're trying to restore his breathing."

"What?" Tom sat up so quickly that he got dizzy. "No, it's not possible, he's got to be ok, he.."

He paused talking abruptly when he the paramedics carried Dennis past him. They had gotten back his lungs to work again and there was an oxygen mask on his face, but he was unconscious.

"Dennis!" The smaller officer stood up and hurried to Dennis' stretcher. "Dennis, it's ok, we're safe. You can wake up now."

Tom took the dark haired officer's hand and squeezed it tightly, his eyes filling with mist.

"Dennis, please.."

Booker's fingers twitched and his eyelids trembled.

"Yes, that's it, open your eyes. Come on."

The dark haired officer's eyelids slowly opened and his dark eyes stared disorientedly around himself until finally his gaze focused on Tom.

"Did we make it out of the elevator?" He asked weakly.

"Yes, everything's going to be ok now. We'll be fine." Tom gave him a small smile.

Dennis tried to smile back before the oxygen mask was back on his face. Tom asked for permission to ride with Dennis in his ambulance to the hospital. He was holding Dennis' hand through the whole way and the dark-haired officer didn't protest. When they arrived at the hospital they were checked out and were kept for the night for observation. They were sharing a room and Hanson was glad about it because after everything they've been through he didn't want to leave Dennis' side until he was sure the dark-haired officer was fine. The night came quickly and found Tom and Dennis lying wide awake in their beds. Suddenly Booker gave out a small chuckle and Hanson turned to look at him.

"What?"

The dark-haired officer gave him a smirk.

"At least one good thing came out of this mess."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well it seems to me like you don't hate me anymore."

Tom opened his mouth to protest but realized Dennis was right so he only gave a small amused smile instead.

"You're right."

Booker's eyes widened and the smirk on his lips grew bigger.

"Did you just actually agree with me?!"

Tom threw his pillow at him and Booker laughed; a warm, pleasant sound.

"Would you do me a favour?" Dennis then asked and Tom's eyes widened.

"You want me to do you a favour?!"

"Yes." Dennis said.

He playfully threw Tom his pillow back.

"Next time I get the brilliant idea of using the elevator...slap me."