Jem made a show of tilting the morphine syringe in the torchlight. “How much of this did I give you?”

Rosie snorted. “Not nearly enough.”

Jem set the blood pressure cuff going again. She stared at the numbers as the cuff inflated, but she was miles away, considering what Rosie had just said and daring to imagine a possible future.

“Jem?” Rosie said in an undertone, as if afraid of startling her.

“What?”

“I think we should chuck caution to the wind and give us a chance. What do you reckon?”

“I reckon you might be right,” Jem said, and saw the delight slowly spread across Rosie’s face.

“Really?”

“Yes.” Nothing more coherent seemed to be forthcoming, so Jem answered in kind, dangling half over the ledge to cup Rosie’s face for an inverted kiss. Their chapped lips met and parted a fraction, enough for a hint of warmth to ease the persistent chill, and Jem closed her eyes, giving in to the sensation, until a wave smacked into the wall and drenched them both.

“Perfect,” Rosie said, peeling a strand of weed from her cheek. “I’ve had a few kisses in my time, but that was my absolute favourite.”

“We certainly pick our moments.” Loath to sit up again, Jem checked her watch. “They shouldn’t be too much longer. How’s the pain?”

“About a five.” Rosie wrapped her free hand around Jem’s arm, pulling her into a vague semblance of an embrace. “How’s the chest?”

“Middling. But let’s not be borrowing trouble.”

Rosie considered that for a moment, and her shoulders shook as she tried to suppress a laugh.

“Harriet’s going to fucking kill us,” she said, a split second before all hell broke loose and she disappeared beneath a deluge that peppered the wall with pieces of brick and surged over the ledge.

“Rosie!” Jem lurched forward, catching hold of Rosie’s coat and hanging on through the worst of the onslaught. She didn’t have the strength to lift her, but Rosie managed to break the surface, spluttering and gagging on the water she’d swallowed.

“Oh God.” She retched, sank again, and re-emerged to vomit. “Jem? I can’t—” She couldn’t keep her head up, the water was too high, and Jem instinctively tried to pull, stopping only when Rosie screamed and slapped at her arm.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Jem loosened her hold and reached for her response bag, rifling through it until she found the largest endotracheal tube in her resus pouch. “Rosie!”

Rosie’s head jerked, her face flashing white above the flow and vanishing just as quickly. Her hand slipped from the wall, and the defib wailed as her sats plummeted.