A/N: I don't even know where the idea for this story came from, but I decided to write it. It'll consist of few chapters, I'm not sure how many, yet, but it's not going to be very long. I completely don't know ASL or any other sign language, so I wanted to give a small explanation. I just write sentences I want them to say, as I have no idea how they would be signed. Bold indicates that the words are signed fluently, while "something... like... this..." means that it's signed, but the person isn't fluent and signs slowly and poorly. Underlined words are said over the phone. I hope you're going to forgive me my mistakes and like the story.
There weren't a lot of thing which could scare the life out of Jack Hudson and everybody knew it. There was nothing more important to him than safety of his family and he never hid the fact that he'd sacrifice everything only to make sure that his wife and children weren't in danger. That's why they weren't surprised when they saw his reaction to the phone call, which he received a moment after getting back from the lunch break.
He has just sat in the chair behind his desk when his cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocked and smiled, when he saw his wife's and photo on the screen. However, the moment he answered it, the smile faded from his face and the happiness was replaced by fear and panic.
"Daddy..! Come..! Daddy..!" he heard his daughter's terrified voice and felt his heart clench.
"Sarah..?" was the only thing that escaped his mouth.
She was repeating those two words like in trance, two of not so many words she could say, and he knew that something had to be wrong. He cursed, knowing that he couldn't do anything to make her know that he heard her and was going to come to her as fast as he can. Then the connection was suddenly cut and he stood up quickly and ran out of the bullpen without word. The rest of the team exchanged looks and Bobby immediately went after his friend. He found Jack pressing the button for the lift impatiently, cursing and shouting for it to come faster.
"It's not going to make it work, Mate." he said, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder; something he always did when he wanted his best friend to calm down. "I know you're scared, but you really need to calm down."
"I need to get to them, don't you understand? We decided to put the autodial for my number on our home phone as well as Sue's and taught Sarah to use it just in case! I've never heard her so scared before and there was nothing I could do so she would know that I'm on my way…"
Bobby nodded, understanding the reason for Jack's frustration. There were few times when he talked over the phone with his son, when the school couldn't reach his mother and the teacher wasn't able to calm Brayden down. It was very difficult to do it when he couldn't just take his child into his arms and had to repeat comforting words over the phone, but it was absolutely impossible to do anything if the child couldn't hear and was way too young to even start reading. Nobody has ever heard Jack say even smallest complaint about his daughter being deaf, but he was sure that it was one of those moments when he wished that little Sarah was hearing.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door of the lift opened and Jack jumped in, followed by Bobby. When he looked at Jack's face, the shorter man send him a grateful look, to which he only responded by nod. He knew that there was nothing what could stop Hudson from going home, and not only he didn't try but didn't even want to do it. If there was nothing to worry, Sue would have already called her husband, and she wouldn't have let Sarah make the phone call in the first place.
"Keys." he said firmly, extending his hand into Jack's direction, and after a moment of hesitation his friend placed the keys in his hand and got into the car. "Sue would kill me if she heard that I let you drive."
He drove to Hudsons' house as fast as was possible with obeying the traffic regulations and making sure that their journey was safe. He completely ignored Jack's impatient complaints that he's going too slowly, and only when he told him that his family needed him in one piece, Hudson stopped talking. Finally he parked the car in front of the house, which Jack and Sue have lived in since getting married. They both jumped out of the car and went to the door, which they've found open. It made Jack even more worried because he knew that Sue always made sure that they were closed after getting back home. And she wasn't even planning to go out today, because Chris was sick and he promised her to do all the shopping...
"Sparks?" Jack heard Bobby's voice and shook his head, getting back to reality.
He took the gun into his hand, opened the door and slowly pushed it open, afraid of what he's going to find inside. He looked around, his concern raising as there was no trace of Levi, who he expected to run to him. They slowly went into the building, and looked around; the house seemed to be empty and quiet, but when they listened more carefully, they heard the sound of sobbing coming from the storeroom under the stairs. Jack looked at Bobby and went to open it.
The first thing he saw was Levi's golden hair, standing out in the dark room. Only when he lit up the small lamp on the ceiling he noticed that the dog was lying on the floor, and there were small arms around his neck; his daughter was there as well, terrified, cuddled to the animal, sobbing. Her face was hidden in the dog's fur, and when she noticed the light she jumped slightly, let out a horrified noise, and cuddled more to Levi. He felt like millions of pins stuck into his heart and crouched on the floor, placing his gun down. The dog only raised his head a bit and nudged Sarah with his nose.
Jack extended his hand and placed it gently on child's shoulder. It made the girl jump, but as if she recognized him by his touch, she looked up. Her huge, brown eyes were full of tears and all of them streamed down her face the moment she saw him.
"Daddy..." she was in his arms within a moment, pressed against his chest and crying heavily, while he stroked her hair and back.
He slowly stood up from the floor, lifting her with him. Her small arms immediately went around his neck, and he held her against himself with one arm under her bottom, and the second one continuously stroking her hair. He went out of the storeroom only to see that Bobby wasn't standing where he left him.
"I found Sue!" he heard in the same moment and went to the kitchen as fast as possible with the child snuggled into him, because it was the room where Bobby's voice came from.
He felt his legs bend under him when he saw Sue's limp body lying on the floor, and the pool of blood next to her head. Her blackberry was next to her and he knew that it had to be left there by Sarah. He only hugged the girl tighter, knowing how terrifying it had to be for her to see Sue like that.
"She's alive." Bobby answered the unspoken question which was very visible in his friend's eyes, and Jack let out a breath with small relief. "She's got a bad wound on her head, but at least it's not bleeding anymore. I called for an ambulance, they should be here any moment. She regained consciousness for a moment."
"Have you found Christopher?" Bobby shook his head.
"When she saw me she said that someone took him and we need to find him. Then she passed out again."
In this moment they heard loud knocking to the door and Bobby ran to open it. Paramedics went into the kitchen and got to Sue, checking her state.
"We're taking her to the hospital." one of them looked at Jack, and he only nodded "Will someone be going with her?"
"I will." answered Hudson, following them outside, where he found Bobby "Take Sarah."
He passed his daughter to Bobby, and the girl immediately started whimpering, extending her arms in his direction.
"It's okay, Sweetheart. Stay with Uncle Crash." he signed, and disgruntled Sarah laid her head on Bobby's shoulder.
She watched him with sad eyes, when he got into the ambulance. Bobby went with her to the car and sat her on the passenger's seat.
"We... call... aunt... Lucy..." he signed slowly, speaking every word. Every time he was alone with this little girl he wished he had learnt more ASL. "Go... to... dad... later..."
He saw her sign something, and even though she did it slowly, he had no idea what she wanted to say. He sighed, took the phone out of his pocket and dialled Lucy's number.
Jack was sitting on the chair in the hospital, with his elbows on his knees and face hidden in his hands, waiting for anyone to come and tell him any information about Sue. He couldn't remember being so scared in his entire life; not only he didn't know if his wife was fine, but he also had no idea what happened to his son, where he was and if he was fine. The only thing he knew was that he wouldn't survive if something happened to them. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up he saw that it belonged to Lucy.
"The team went to your house… They told me that they promise to bring Chris back to you and Sue sound and safe." said the woman, sitting in the chair next to him. "Bobby will be here any moment with Sarah. Any news?"
Jack only shook his head, but in this moment the doctor came out and approached them.
"Mr. Hudson..?" he asked and Jack immediately stood up. They moved a bit, so the doctor could talk to him privately. "Your wife received a strong blow in her head and is suffering a concussion, but other than this she's fine and so is the baby."
"The baby..?" he asked in shock, and the doctor nodded.
"Well, I thought you know…" Jack saw that the man was visibly abashed "Your wife is about five weeks pregnant…"
"I had no idea… When will she be released? Can I go to her?"
"We want her to stay over night, but if everything will be okay she'll be allowed to go home tomorrow morning. And yes, you can go to her. In fact she's been asking for you and Sarah, which I assume will be the lady over there?"
They both heard the door open, and as if on command, Bobby came through them. He was holding Sarah's hand and the girl was almost running to keep with his pace. However, the moment she saw her father she let go of Bobby's hand and ran to Jack.
"No, this is Sarah." Jack said to the doctor, lifting the child up, and the man nodded. "I can take her with me, can't I?"
A moment later he stepped into the hospital room. His eyes landed on the bed, when he could see Sue laying still, with her eyes closed. There was no blood in her blonde hair anymore and if it wasn't for the bandage, he wouldn't be able to say that something happened to her. He touched her hand and she immediately opened her eyes. She smiled slightly at the sight of them and Jack sat Sarah at the edge of the bed. He noticed that according to the unspoken agreement between his girls, their daughter laid down next to Sue and snuggled into her side, while Sue's hand immediately started to stroke the girl's long, wavy, dark hair.
"How is she?" she asked, when Jack placed the chair on another side of the bed and sat in it, taking her free hand into his.
"She's still a bit scared I think… And quite moody… She just wants to stick to you or me… She didn't even want to stay with Crash to let me come here with you…" he squeezed her hand, caressing the top of it with his thumb. "How do you feel?"
"My head hurts and I feel week… But besides this I'm completely fine, even the doctor said so… I know that he talked to you, so I guess you know about the baby..?" Jack nodded, and Sue let out a small sigh "It should have been me who told you, but I didn't even know myself until he came and said that it's fine…"
"It's okay, Sue. The only thing that matter is that you are both okay." he said, leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"What about Chris..? Do you know anything..?" Jack swallowed the lump, which suddenly appeared in his throat and shook his head.
"Lucy said that they're looking for him… I think that as for this moment probably all police departments as well as the F.B.I. are looking for him…" he said in shaking voice, and noticed that a tear escaped each of Sue's eyes. "They'll find him… They have to find him… He's going to be fine, Susie, I promise…" his voice broke, and he couldn't fight the tears any longer and they felt wet traces on his cheeks as well.
She moved her hand out of his to softly caress his face, and then lifted it, motioning for him to come closer and let her hug him. He understood her movement without problems, sat at the edge of the bed and leaned down to hide his face in her neck. Her arm immediately went around his shoulders and started caressing his back.
Lucy watched the scene through slightly opened door and sighed, wiping away the single tear. There weren't a lot of times when Jack called his wife Susie, she only heard it few times and it was only when he was terribly scared. She knew that they both of her friends were frightened, there was no doubts for it and the way Sarah acted only indicated that even though she couldn't understand what was actually going on, she knew that something was wrong. They could only hope that everything was going to be okay.