"Oh my god. Oh my god, what did he do to you?"
Those words that came out of her mouth kept repeating in her head every time she thought about the previous evening. She could remember the look on the young boy's face as he opened up the door, his head hung low and telling her not to freak out. How could she not freak out? How could she not help but want to cry at the sight of the boy's eye swelling with a purplish tint and his lip bleeding from the open wound? Someone had hurt the person she had promised to keep safe, the person just hours earlier she told to call her if he needed anything. Why? Why had he not called her? She would have dropped everything and gone to his rescue. He was like her own, even though technically Rusty was much different from her own children, whom she had hardly spoken to recently. Hearing a phone ring, she jumped out of her daze and looked up.
Sharon was sitting in her office, the door shut while her team gathered by the whiteboard, going over materials on a case that they had just picked up the day before. She had yet to tell them what had happened, but knew that she needed each and every one of them to help her out. If it would have been up to her to handle this completely, she would have already shot Daniel in the head. The amount of anger she had inside of her own body scared her. Knowing that she held this grudge against a man and would not think twice about pulling a trigger was against everything she stood for. It was that motherly instinct coming out, she would always protect her cubs. Pulling open her purse, she grabbed the envelope that contained the pictures she had taken of Rusty's facial injuries as she stood up. She could feel her knees shaking and she knew it had to stop or she would topple over and break her neck.
She took in a deep breath before opening the door, the sound of the room hitting her. Blinking her eyes a couple of times to suppress any tears that might form as she began speaking of the horrific incident, she walked quietly over to the board and grabbed a magnet.
"We have a second deal to make," She began as she pulled out the first picture slowly, glancing at it for a moment and feeling her heart break once more. Once it was secure on the board, she turned around, blocking the view from her team, wanting to explain what happened before throwing it at them. Clasping her hands together, she looked up and sighed, "As you all know, yesterday Rusty went with Mr. Dunn to meet his fiancee and her children. After asking, they apparently didn't like what Rusty did to get by after his mother abandoned him, so Mr. Dunn proceeded to take Rusty outside and words were said and the outcome was this.." She said stepping to the side and letting her team see the photo.
"Son of a bitch," She heard Provenza say as he slammed his hand down on the table, her eyes glanced over to Andy Flynn who was obviously disturbed.
"Has anyone arrested him yet, Captain?" Amy Sykes asked as she stood up from her desk and leaned into it as she crossed her arms.
"No," she began to say before being interrupted, "No?!" Buzz asked as he arched his eyebrows in confusion. Holding her hand up to stop his protest, she took in another deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts.
"I've been thinking long and hard about this, and the action we need to take should be one that is the best for Rusty. I already have an anonymous tip ready to send to the Special Victims Unit about Mr. Dunn, but he won't know that when he is coming in to meet with Rusty. I have received several phone calls from Mr. Dunn and Rusty has agreed to be in the same room with him one last time."
"What are you wanting to happen at this meeting?" Tao asked as he sat up in his chair.
"Well, with all of us in there, he will be given an ultimatum. He can either sign legal documents surrendering his parental rights and allow Rusty to become a ward of the state, or he can go to jail. It's quite simple." Sharon spoke as she put up the second picture of Rusty from the evening before, and then the ones that she took this morning. "He wants to put it behind him, I want to grant at least one of his wishes.." She spoke as she turned around to look at her team.
"Everyone know what to do? Any questions?" She asked as she fixed her blazer, shoving her hands into the pockets.
"We have your back, Captain." Sanchez spoke as he nodded his head, as did everyone else in the Major Crimes Division
