Adventures in Bobby sitting.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Sue Thomas F.B. Eye, I've just borrowed them for a little adventure.
Written: October 2005
The sun shone brightly, the light dancing and glistening on damp leaves of the trees.
"Mommy, look a duck!" Maddie exclaimed her podgy fingers pointing towards the small duck that had just landed on the pond.
Jessica followed her daughter's gaze, "Yes honey, he's looking for some lunch. Shall we feed him some bread?"
Maddie squealed with glee and jumped up and down eagerly extending her hand towards the bread her mom held out for her. Grasping the bread, Maddie carefully tottered to the edge of the pond and it clumsily at the duck.
Maddie giggled as the duck swam towards the piece of floating bread, dipped its head and gobbled it quickly.
"Look Maddie, here's daddy," Jessica exclaimed as her husband approached them.
Maddie turned away from the duck and saw her daddy approaching them. "Daddy!" she squealed running into her father's outstretched arms. Her giggles echoed in the air as her father swung her around.
As he placed Maddie on the floor she returned to watch the duck, enjoying its movements as it dived through the grass at the edge of the pond back into the water chasing a small fly that had landed on the water's surface.
Wanting to share her joy she turned to where her mother had been standing, "Mommy…" she began, as she realised her mother was no longer there. "Daddy?" she whispered as the tears that had formed in her eyes began to roll down her cheeks.
Suddenly she was all alone, except for the sound of a duck quacking behind her on the pond.
"Hey do you fancy grabbing a bite to eat?" Bobby leant against the edge of Tara's desk, "Everyone else has abandoned ship and gone out for lunch."
Tara smiled, "Jack and Sue slipped out for a romantic lunch for two?
"Yeah, Sparky finally came to his senses and the rest of the world can finally relax and enjoy the show!"
Tara giggled, "At least we don't have to sit and watch them furtively staring at each other."
Bobby grinned, "No, now they can be obvious about it."
Tara threw her sandwich wrapper into the trash can and kept the last part of her sandwich in her hand as they entered the park on their walk back to the bullpen.
Lunch with Bobby had been fun, their friendship had become stronger recently, especially since the change in dynamics in the office, Sue and Jack managed to spend even more time together than they had before and not all of it was legitimate F.B.I business.
Their conversation was easy as they approached the pond; Tara pulled off a small piece of bread from her leftover sandwich and threw it to the awaiting ducks on the pond. She watched as they chased it and quacked calls of delight as they hoped that she would throw another piece of the delicious food in their direction.
"Donald's going to miss his lunches if I ever persuade you to go somewhere different for lunch," Bobby smiled, enjoying Tara's happiness at watching the ducks.
Tara didn't hear Bobby's comment as she noticed a small girl cowering next to a tree. She walked away from the pond towards the girl.
Bobby wondered what Tara was doing until he saw the little girl.
Tara bent down in front of the girl, "Hey, sweetheart, why are you crying? Are you lost?" she asked gently.
The little girl's blue eyes met Tara's but she refused to talk.
"Honey, did mommy tell you never to talk to strangers?"
The little girl nodded.
Tara reached into her pocket and pulled out her F.B.I badge, "Hello, my name is Tara and this is my badge, can you see my picture?"
The little girl looked carefully at the picture, and then her eyes returned to Tara.
"I'm like a police officer; I bet your mommy said that if you got lost you should find a police officer, right?"
The little girl nodded.
"So now that you know my name, why don't you tell me yours?"
"Maddie," she whispered.
Tara smiled, "Hello, Maddie, nice to meet you, are you lost?"
Maddie inhaled deeply trying to calm her body from the sobs that now wracked her small body.
Tara gently outstretched her arms towards the girl and the small child moved quickly into her arms hugging her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder. Tara enclosed the child in her arms and stroked her back comfortingly and murmured words of comfort to her.
Eventually the child's sobs eased and Maddie gently released her grip. "Mommy?" she asked quietly.
"Have you lost mommy?" Tara asked again.
"I was feeding ducks… Mommy and Daddy and Ben… I watched ducks and they all gone… Bad man came… Mommy cried…" Maddie tried to explain between her sobs.
Tara tensed slightly, "Did mommy and daddy go into the trees?"
Maddie nodded.
Tara glanced towards Bobby who was making his way to the tree line.
Tara returned her eyes to the child, "My friend Bobby and I will go and look for your mommy, sweetheart."
Maddie nodded, "I not want to be alone."
Tara noticed an elderly lady approaching the duck pond with an infant in a stroller.
"I am going to ask the nice lady to stay with you whilst I look for mommy, okay?"
Again Maddie nodded.
Tara approached the lady showing her, her I.D. and quickly explained the situation. She also told the lady that if she didn't return in ten minutes to call the police. The lady agreed and she led Maddie to a nearby bench where they sat and began chatting about the ducks.
Tara hurried over to Bobby, "What do you think?" she asked him.
"I can't imagine her mom just leaving her. I guess we go in. Be careful, we don't actually know what we're going to find, if anything at all." He replied as he removed his gun from its holster.
Tara nodded, as she unclipped her gun from her holster and followed Bobby into the trees, carefully stepping through the undergrowth whilst watching for any signs of movement.
They carefully made their way deeper into the trees, guns at the ready. The sunlight was fading as it struggled to find its way through the densely packed trees.
Tara silently signalled to Bobby that she was going to move to the right; he nodded and continued to move into the increasing darkness.
Tara was aware that the only sounds she could hear were the rustling of leaves and the distant sound of traffic moving up and down the streets surrounding the park.
A mewling sound caught her attention, it sounded out of place in the darkness. She decided to move towards it.
She tried to catch Bobby's attention but his head was turned away from her. Oh well, she thought, I need to check it out. She changed her position, supporting her right hand with her left and she slightly crouched as she cautiously approached the sound. She slowly moved around the large tree trunk towards the sound, she couldn't stop the gasp that left her lips as she took in the sight before her.
Before she approached the still forms, Tara visually checked all of the surrounding trees to make sure there wasn't anyone watching and then slowly crept towards the first prone form.
It was the body of a young woman; her face contorted in a death mask of pain, her once white shirt had a patch of deep red where her body's life force had been expelled.
A man's body lay a few feet away, the same red patch peeking through his white shirt underneath his jacket.
Tara moved to the young woman, crouching over as she placed her index and middle fingers on the woman's carotid artery hoping that there might be a faint pulse, her fingers could not detect any indication of a pulse. Knowing that there was nothing else she could do for the woman, Tara stood and began moving to the man's body. As she began to walk around the woman's body she heard the mewling sound again and her eyes noticed a small white bundle nestled in the long grass at the bottom of a tree trunk. She studied the small bundle then she noticed it move, quickly she moved towards the bundle and used her left hand to gently unwrap the blanket to uncover what was wrapped inside.
Tara couldn't believe her eyes as the tiny face of a baby stared back at her, the mewling sound escaping from its lips. A rustling sound behind her alerted all her senses and she quickly turned her body and gun towards the sound, preparing to fire if necessary.
"Careful, it's me," Bobby stated, his eyes glancing over the scene before them. "Do you think these are the girl's parents?"
"It would be a pretty big coincidence if they weren't and do you think this could be Ben?" Tara asked as she quickly holstered her gun and lifted the baby into her arms.
The baby quieted and appreciated the warmth given to it from Tara.
"Whoever did this had no value for human life," Bobby muttered, "I'm going to call this in and get forensics out here. We ought to go and get Maddie too; she might be the only witness to her family's murders."
They walked slowly back through the trees towards the pond, Tara gently cradling the baby in her arms, wondering who could possibly want to destroy a child's life. Bobby was briefing Jack on what they had stumbled upon in the park.
After what seemed like an eternity they found their way out of the trees, Tara saw Maddie sitting on the bench with the old lady still watching the ducks on the pond. She slowly approached them, not sure what she was going to say to the young child.
The baby's cries alerted Maddie to their arrival.
"Ben," She called jumping off the bench and running towards Tara. The little girl stopped at Tara's feet and glanced around her towards the trees. "Mommy? Daddy?" she asked her quietly.
The look on the little girl's face made Tara's heart break. "Maddie, sweetheart, Mommy and Daddy can't come out from the trees; you and Ben need to come and sit with Bobby and me for a while." Tara didn't want to explain that her parents were dead until their identities had been confirmed; there would be nothing worse than shattering the child's world only to find that it had all been a terrible misunderstanding.
The little girl nodded, accepting Tara's answer for now and grasped tightly the hand that Tara offered her.