A/N: I decided to make this into a short story after realising I couldn't just leave it as I did. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and read the first chap :), you guys are epic.
His announcement was so unexpected that it took Jackie a moment to make sense of it before she could even think to respond, and even then she was at a loss at what to say. Chancing a glance at Robbie she could only discern from his troubled expression that he was as unsure as she was on how to handle the situation. It was funny really, the whole reason they were there was to find out what the young boy knew and now when it came down to it, when he was willing to tell them without being coerced, they were at a loss at how to react. Smiling depreciatingly, she decided that she would have to take control of the situation if they were to get through it with minimal trauma to the boy.
"OK. OK, that's good," she stated shakily. Her nerves were causing her voice to shake a little and she had to clear her throat before continuing. "Are you sure you're ready?" She asked, wincing as she said it. She knew that she had just made a mistake; not only had she contradicted herself by saying he was right before asking him if he was sure, but it was against their basic orders to prevent him from telling what he had seen.
It was a relief to her when he nodded in agreement as she couldn't imagine doing anything to force the story out of him. "Maybe we should wait until we get back, then we could do it at the station."
Her suggestion had been for his benefit, made to lessen the stress of his re-telling by taking him somewhere that would signify safety - the obvious choice being a police station. After all, weren't all children taught to seek out police when they were in trouble? However it only served to make nervous; his face visibly falling at the thought as he struggled to coherently voice his objection. He was stuttering, his words jumbling together in his panic and she had to lay her hands on his shoulder and shake him a little to break him from his near hysteria.
"All right. It's all right, you don't have to go to the station," she soothed, rubbing her hands up and down his arms in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "we can talk here. Well not here, we would probably be better going to the car first in case you get a cold or worse If you already haven't that is. I don't know why we thought this was -"
"Jacks!" Robbie interrupted, his voice easily cutting through her monologue, "you're rambling," he added with a smirk as she looked up at him curiously.
Blushing, Jackie quickly turned her attention back to David, unable to meet Robbie's amused gaze any longer. "Would you be all right with talking in the car?"
She asked her question knowing that she was once more giving him an opportunity to say no, but she didn't have it in her to feel she was doing anything wrong by her actions.
"Can't we get some chips first like you promised?"
His question caught her by surprise. She had almost forgotten about their promise to treat him to a chippy if he restrained from going into the water like he wanted. Although looking at him now Jackie wasn't sure she'd be able to tell the difference if he had jumped in. Smiling wryly at her thoughts and the guardedly hopeful expression on David's face she quickly agreed, her only amendment that they eat them in the car instead of in a café.
She knew it would rile Robbie up – it was why she had said it – and she wasn't disappointed. He shot her a look of pure disbelief before starting a rant on how much it would cost to clean the interior afterwards, how long it would take for the smell of grease to to go away. She rolled her eyes at his ranting, winking at David as she took his hand and they began walking away from Robbie and the beach and towards the chip shop they had passed earlier. The young boy, chuckled a bit at their behaviour when Robbie spluttered mid-sentence on realising that his audience had left him and had to jog a little to catch up to them, still muttering under his breath.
"You'd think I'd asked him to total it the way he's going on," Jackie commented. It was clear her statement was directed at David but she had pitched her voice so that Robbie would be able to hear her over his ramblings.
"No Jacks, if I wanted that I would've just asked you to drive." The drawled response made her pause mid-stride, a snort of derision escaping her mouth before she had a chance to stop it.
"We don't need to eat in the car, " David cut in anxiously, obviously picking up on the tension between them, "we can skip the chips."
The fear on his face caught Jackie's breath and prevented the retort that had been hot on her lips. Glaring at Robbie she was about to admonish him when he waved his hand at her, signalling for her to be quiet. Frowning at him, she watched while he beckoned to David before bending down in front of him when he came. He then proceeded to have what to Jackie looked like a deep conversation. She couldn't hear what they were saying but both their expressions were serious; David's almost comically so as he mirrored the detective's. As she was obviously not needed by the two boys she rolled her eyes in agitation before stalking off in the direction of the chip shop.
She slowed her pace a little as she neared the street that held the few shops that bordered the beach. They were mostly tourist orientated; small units brightly coloured who's main stock seemed to be fridge magnets, but there were a few she classed as normal fare like the hairdressers and the small clothing boutique on the corner, the shops that hinted at what lurked a few yards behind the façade.
Thankfully the rain had died down so it was not unpleasant for her to wait for them to catch up and she passed the time by observing others who had braved the weather. She was watching a man and a young boy playing fetch with their dog, completely unaware of her surroundings as she lost herself in the enjoyment of the two, when she felt a tugging on her elbow. Looking down she saw David gesturing for her to follow him to where Robbie was already in the chip shop.
It turned out there had been no need for Robbie to worry as they had been so famished they had polished off the chips before ever reaching the car. Normally she would have used a situation like this to gloat but watching him muck around with David made her pause before the thought had even fully formed in her mind. As they bundled David into the back of the car, making sure he was wrapped in a blanket to ward off the chill, she caught what she thought was a look of longing on his face that almost melted her heart. It was fleeting however, gone before she had the chance to make sure of what she saw.
Thankfully, neither David nor Robbie noticed her acting strangely and she was able to get into the car beside Robbie without any of them saying anything. The mood was jovial as Robbie started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot and she was loathe to do anything to change it even though she had to. She glanced into the rear-view mirror as they started down the main road and watched David as he stared out of the car window, seemingly intent on the passing scenery. If she didn't know any better she would have said that he had already forgotten declaring to tell them what happened as he had not mentioned it since then, but then again neither had they.
They had both went out their way to not bring it up, reluctant to spoil his day until they absolutely had to, but now they had to. There was no way it would end well if they turned up at Maryhill without the answers they were looking for, and not just for them. Gasping a little as his eyes turned to suddenly meet hers in the mirror she quickly averted her gaze, her face flushing guiltily. It had hit her as she was watching him, the thought coming with such clarity that she was surprised she hadn't realised her intentions sooner; she he had no plans of pressuring the boy into telling them anything, even if it meant they went back with nothing.
She could only hope that Robbie felt the same way, and from the way he had been acting she was sure he did. So she kept quiet, speaking only when one of the two of them spoke to her first and even then she was distracted as her mind wandered, running through all the possible scenarios that awaited them when they returned. At best they would get a precaution, maybe even a suspension, at worst...well she didn't even want to think about it. After spending the best part of her life within the police force she couldn't imagine her life outside of it.
The choice was soon taken out of her hands however when after spacing out for a spell longer than she had before, she came back to the conversation in time to hear David asking what would happen to him after he told them what had happened. She didn't know what Robbie had said that could have precipitated such a question, but even he seemed surprised by the question thrown at him if his stunned silence was anything to go by.
"I'm not really sure..." Robbie started before trailing off, obviously unsure of how to respond. His worried eyes sought Jackie's and she quickly relented, taking up where he had let off.
"What Robbie means is that we might not know what will happen to you just yet but no matter what, we'll make sure you're OK."
Her voice sounded sickly sweet even to her own ears as she forced some cheerfulness into her words, and she cringed to think of what David heard in her speech when she noticed him frowning.
"No matter what," he repeated slowing, nodding as if the phrase held some significance for him that they couldn't fathom before sighing tiredly. "They had masks on; the bad men, and they laughed a lot when they were breaking stuff, I could hear them."
Both detectives where stunned into silence at his admission; they hadn't expected him to be so calm about the re-telling, or so abrupt. Their silence was all it took for him to continue however and once he started they were loathe to interrupt him.
"We were supposed to be going to the pictures but then someone phoned dad. He was sad afterwards and he made me go hide. He said it was a game but mummy started crying."
He was frowning then, the only sign that he was recalling something traumatic but he soon carried on, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent car as Robbie pulled over into a deserted car park that bordered an out of business petrol station. Both he and Jackie turned in their seats so they were facing the young boy, giving him their full attention.
"I hid in mum and dads room 'cause their cupboard has more room in it, mine is too messy from all my toys, mummy kept asking me to tidy it up but I didn't want to, I like it when it's messy. It was dark in the cupboard and I couldn't see anything but I could hear them. The door went and dad answered it, he started arguing with the bad men and they were all shouting really loud and saying bad words. I couldn't hear everything they were saying but I did hear one of them shout that 'he'd pay for what he'd done' but I don't know what they were talking about."
He paused again to take a breath, his gaze switching from the back of the headrest in front of him to the window, his large brown eyes darting to take in everything around them. "I heard mummy crying again; only this time it was louder and the men were shouting at her to stop and dad was shouting back that they weren't to touch her. It was a bit quieter after that, they were still talking but I couldn't hear them and then the came up the stairs and the banging started. I was thinking about going to see mum and ask if she was OK because she kept crying but I was too scared, especially when she started screaming. I've never saw mummy scared before. Then everything was quiet and all I could hear was footsteps and the men laughing before they slammed the door. I stayed in the cupboard like dad told me too, waiting for him to come and get me but you came instead. I thought you were the bad men."
"David, you said there were wearing masks. How did you know that?" Jackie prompted after another silence descended over them.
"I heard one of them shouting to the other to fix his mask because it was slipping off. That was before the screaming started," he stated calmly even as tears slid down his face. He seemed to realise at the same time they did that he was crying because he quickly lifted an arm and wiped at his face with his jumper's sleeve. "Do you think I should have come out and tried to phone the police? I didn't have to go far, there's a phone in mum and dad's room."
"No son, you did the right thing," Robbie claimed, his face twisted as if in pain as he looked at the distraught young boy. He had started off chillingly calm but as he got closer to the end he had, unsurprisingly, become more and more agitated.
"Are you sure?" He questioned anxiously.
"Didn't your dad tell you to stay hidden?" Robbie questioned, waiting until the boy gave an uncertain nod before continuing. "Then you did the right thing." He still looked unsure however and it took an encouraging smile from Jackie to get him to settle.
"That's good," he muttered, "how long will it take to get back?"
"About an hour and a half," Jackie responded quickly, "why?"
"Do you think I could go for a quick sleep on the way back? I'm really tired." His question once more caught them by surprise and Jackie began to wonder if they would ever get used to anything the boy said or did.
"Sure son, we'll wake you up when we get there," Robbie promised, his eyes flicking from the road in front of him to the young boy and then back again.
"Keep your eyes on the road," Jackie admonished distractedly, more out of habit than anything else. She was watching David anxiously in the rear view mirror, her features soft with worry as she saw him lean his head against the window and close his eyes; he was asleep within minutes.
"So what are we going to do?" Robbie asked softly.
"I don't know," Jackie sighed, her eyes fixed once more on the passing scenery, "I really don't know Robbie."