Ross was flooring it, and now, more than ever, he had to escape. He had taken a different route to Kimberly, but kept out of sight, the crowds following her more than him, as he took a different route, but was approaching the rendezvous, and closing back in.

[url]https://youtu.be/yjiGgonCbZM?t=183[/url]

That was till the comms came through, as Ross listened on...it couldn't be. He only could guess by an instinct, a sixth sense where she was, pulling down one block and flooring it, and Kimberly was almost right, when he saw it all in front of him.

There wasn't a thing he could do.

He couldn't be that hopeless. This was the love of his life, the only person that mattered, and to him, he had to change that. Somehow, every bad mistake, every fucking stupid thing he'd done, it felt like nothing, compared to whatever he could do right no matter what, and he was going to make this right. He had been close enough in pursuit, and there were cars behind him, but far enough and out of the way. But that put him in a place to intercept, and to stop. Perhaps it all came clear to him right then.

There WAS a thing he could do. It wasn't going to end well, and it took a split-second decision to decide if he wanted to live knowing he'd done nothing, or throw every chip onto the table, and go all in. And almost certainly lose. He could do something to give her a chance, but at his own cost. And he knew what that was going to be. 

One of the Yukons was headed down the wide open road, as he put the throttle in, swallowing the lump in his throat as the RS's four wheel drive kicked hard, Ross clinking through into second, the turbocharged four-pot roaring as he gave no thought.

Given he'd hit it going about 40, and still accelerating, Ross was fully aware that he was basically going to have killed himself. He'd accepted that. Better she was a mother to Mia, than he was alone. He knew the stakes were high, and given what he'd done, he hoped that it was worth it. Going like this. A lifetime of wonder, gone in an instant just to give the person he loved the most, some chance of escape. Maybe she hadn't seen it, but that route out was enough, with the third car missing. Somehow, it all made sense. For this moment, nothing else mattered, no decision could be made quicker for what he had to do, and yet, it was one that made him feel like he was gonna be sick. It was a stupid life he had. She had a degree, and an opportunity, and here he was, a common criminal, worse than her, and someone who couldn't do fatherhood. A piece of shit, sometimes he wondered if Kimberly had settled. But that didn't matter. Mia had to have her mother, and Ross loved Kimberly, that it drowned out any fear in him and made his decision resolute. And that was good enough to go for, if that meant she'd walk away from all of it, Ross mused, This was going to be horrid, as he watched the GMC's close, the Ford accelerating into a T-bone, as the front arch of the GMC slammed into the Focus's front. It was a good run. And he hoped somehow, it was all going to be okay.

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

But he wasn't dead.

He spat blood on the airbag, the seatbelt at extension, the entire front of the car a crumpled mess, the engine as dead as could be. 

A side-on T-bone into a vehicle significantly larger wasn't ever going to end well, the entire front end of the Focus crumpling and mangling, the GMC knocked a little and totalled, the entire front quarter of the car's wheels smashed in, but that was nothing, not really compared to his own. It had stopped the gargantuan SUV, but right now, Ross didn't even know how he wasn't killed.

His nose was broken, and his face was cut, he must have banged his head pretty hard, and his spine felt that characteristic sort of hurt of a crash, except it was worse than he remembered it when he was going slow into the back of someone. His ribs ached, they must have broke, and he had to be concussed, nothing made sense, he felt blurry and bleary, barely able to make out what the fuck was going on.
"Kimberly....Kimberly.....shit.....run, please...." He was delirious entirely, as he rested back in the seat, the front window smashed and splintered like broken ice, and the car in a complete state. He was going to be sick, but held it back, his head completely in agony, Ross feeling for a moment he couldn't move. But he felt his fingers, then his toes, and knew nothing was broken there.

Looking to the door, he tried to pull the handle, and nothing went. Of course. The whole door was stuck, given how bad the crash had been, and how deep into the wheel arch the Focus had gone, knocking away like a pinball, the whole mechanism was bent. Kicking hard against it, Ross heard the metal creak, but nothing. Window. He tried that, using his driving glove, a little torn beneath to gently punch the window at the corner, as he'd been taught to do with breaking into cars, not out of. And it gave in, the thing shattering in the corner, then pushed out at the rest, as Ross exhaled, the noise of metal cooling and swearing going on. Ross limbered, howling in agony as he pulled himself through the window, and dramatically falling onto the floor in a hail of glass and blood, shoulder first. 

It hurt even more than heaven, as he yelled, barely able to use his other arm to look up, and watch what had happened to Kimberly.