Chapter 2
After a very long shopping through several clothing stores in the shopping center, Nell and Eric were now on their way back to their car in the parking garage. "I really can't wait to see you in that gorgeous red dress because you really looked even more beautiful than you usually look and it's really a shame that you can't wear that one at work." That last part Eric said with a big grin on his face and Nell couldn't help but grin back at him, as she was thankful but also a little flattered by those words even if Eric surely wasn't the first man ever to compliment her that much. Maybe she still got so much butterflies in her stomach when she with Eric because of the fact that they really did have that very special connection from the first day she worked at OSP.
"Trust me if I would wear that one at work, you wouldn't be able to concentrate on your work anymore and then Hetty would definitely make her threat of separating us real this time around." Nell replied with her best dead serious look on her face but of course she was very well aware of the fact, that Eric know her good enough to know when she was trying to mess with him. But on the other hand she always had to be the rational one from this enigmatic duo, because Eric sometimes tended to act a little bit childish but also very smart at the same time. With nobody else in the lift with them Eric spontaneously decided to tickle Nell at her weak spot shortly and then said:
"Yeah you're probably right Rockstar but I will always keep that mental picture of you sitting next to me in that red dress back in OPS."
As the lift finally touched down in the parking garage Nell softly hit him on the right shoulder and said: "Yeah you do that Beale and I will remember how you drooled over seeing me in that gorgeous red dress." Eric pretended like that little punch had hurt him a lot as he made his bad sad face and then followed her out of the lift as the door had silently opened.
Meanwhile the little Stephanie was still hiding behind the driver seat and deep down she wanted to scream for help, but her mind told her not to do it because the evil men that they had encountered on their way back to the car could still be there and then they would definitely come and take her away too. Her entire body had been trembling since she had heard those two shots from the distance and of course she couldn't help but ask herself: Did I just lost mommy or daddy or did one of those evil men die? Of course coming out of her hiding place would have answered that question with no doubt at all but in the end she was just too scared to do so and because of that it only left her one choice: Wait till this whole nightmare was over and return home safely with Mom and Dad. She waited for a few more minutes until she finally opened the locked car door for the inside, slowly but surely she stepped away a little bit more from the car looking in every direction for somebody who could help right now but the parking garage seemed to be totally empty right now.
For a moment she just stood there right in the middle of the huge garage that seemed to be endless to her and complemented for a while what to do now. In the end she only came up with two options: Trying to find the way back into the shopping center and get some help there or walk around this dangerous place a little bit more and search for Mommy and Daddy. Making a decision was really hard for her, of course she was a lot smarter than a lot of the other kids at this age but deep down she still felt lonely like every kid would do in this scary situation but she finally decided to go onto a little adventure as she explored the parking garage a little bit more.
Meanwhile Nell and Eric had almost reached Nell's red Mini Cooper as they heard a loud scream for the other end of the parking garage. Instantly the two ran to the position where the scream had originated from and Nell was already aware of one fact: The scream came from a little child and of course she wondered in which kind of distress the young girl was at the moment.
Stephanie had curled herself up in one dark corner with her legs dragged close up to her body and she was shaking with fear again as that image of the dead body of her mother kept replaying over and over again in her mind. Of course she was aware of the fact that all of this was the harsh reality but somehow she still couldn't help but wish that somebody would pinch her, so that she would finally wake up from this nightmare that kept getting worse by the minute. Nell was the first one who reached the two dead bodies, quickly she and Eric checked the vital signs from both persons and then Eric said: "So what do you think happened here? Did a robbery may go bad?"
Nell didn't answer at once as she was already lost in thought and somehow tried to think through in her mind what kind of situation had lead up to this with both of them being dead. After doing some thinking she replied: "That could be the case, but the scream we heard didn't came from her because it somehow seems to me that she's been dead for a little bit longer as the blood pool already seems to have dried. The voice clearly belonged to a female but it was definitely a child that probably went into hiding after seeing this."
"Okay so this little kid is still somewhere around here all alone, very scared and definitely doesn't know what to do right now. Do you have any idea where she might go?" Nell had told him that she had baby sited her nieces a couple of times in the past and so it wasn't a big surprise that she had so much experience with children than he had.
"Just follow my lead Wolfram; she can't be far because I expect that she definitely doesn't know this place too good." Nell said before she started walking again and Eric just did as he was told, being already a little bit amazed what kind of a little adventure this ordinary shopping trip had now become. The Geeks finally came to a stop at one dark corner close to the two dead bodies as they faint sobbing and instead of saying anything and because she didn't want to scare the little girl in any way she motioned to Eric to stay put while she slowly made her way to the little girl. Respecting the personal boundaries from her Nell kept some safe distance between them, as she didn't want her to feel cornered and said as she kneed down on the hard ground: "Hey there don't be afraid, you can come out of your hiding place now because nobody is going to hurt you I promise." She then extended her hand to the little girl and waited patiently for her to take it, as the wheels in Stephanie's head kept spinning trying her best to figure out if she could trust that woman.
AN: Thanks to- Dubigail for adding this story to her story alert subscription, adding it to her favorite stories list, reviewing this story, Thanks to- Lightning's Halo for adding this story his/her story alert subscription and reviewing this story, Thanks to- Charlotte Beynon for reviewing this story, Thanks to-Mpathy for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and reviewing this story, Thanks to- The Alphabet Song for reviewing this story. Please read and review