Chapter Four

Stakeout and Poptarts

After her eventful morning, they went to her still unorganized office and she opened up, walking in. She immediately went to her desk and started up her computer. Out of everything in the room her computer was the newest piece of equipment and very top of the line. It had cost her most of her savings but it had been worth it and she sat down prepared to give it a big work out. Snart had left her for a brief time as she started her search. First, she inputted all the information that he had given her about the incident, then she moved on to his "list" which, as she stated earlier was very colorful. By the time Snart had returned forty-five minutes later with a bag of food, she was in full mode. A cork board had been set up tracing back his sisters moves up until she had disappeared. She had a thought process going on in her head but didn't know rather to voice it or not. She was afraid of the reaction more than anything. The M.O. of this particular case seemed very familiar and it left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She started tapping into the city-wide security cameras when she found what she was looking for. Narrowing in on a license plate she used her program to find the own which to no surprise belonged to a local thug. He worked for a man named Tristian Wilks. Wilks was as close as a mob boss that Central City had. The thing was he was also a known associate with a mob boss in Gotham and that was what was bothering her. This particular mob boss made Wilks look like a puppy dog, he was just plain ruthless. She narrowed in on the video again which showed Lisa being pulled into a van but what caught her attention the most was one of the men in the video. She re watched several times before she was finally satisfied. She was brought out of her train of thought by a bag of food being plopped in front of her. She looked up blinking rapidly at Snart questionably.

"You almost missed lunch." He stated as he sat down in a chair on the other side of her desk propping his feet up on it. Without realizing it she had been working all morning.

"I'm sorry, Sometimes I get focused and lose track of time."

"I've noticed." He paused for a moment. "Did you find anything?" He asked almost hesitantly.

"Maybe, but there is someone I need to talk to first." She pointed at the computer screen that still held the footage she had been watching. "Do you recognize anyone in this video?" He stood up and came up behind her, leaning over ever so slightly.

"Yeah, I've seen them around. She could tell he was holding his anger at bay and then he sent an unexpected shiver down her spine as he brushed the nape of her neck as he bent forward even more. "Are they the ones who took her?" His voice was tense.

"They work for Tristian Wilks."

"The mob boss?" He sounded confused.

"The wannabe mob boss." He looked down at her. "What I'm from Gotham. We do things bigger there." She turned her attention back to the screen. She pointed out one of the men that was off to the left near the ally way. "You see this guy here? He is one of my informants. I need to go talk with him. Shake out any info he may have."

"No alone you're not." She sighed. What made him think she couldn't handle this? She tried to keep her temper in check.

"Look, I know this guy. He is not going to hurt me but if he thinks that anyone else is with me he won't talk." He just looked at her with his arms crossed as he now sat on the edge of her desk. She knew she wouldn't win this one. He was proving to be just as stubborn as she could be. "Okay, fine but you have to stay out of sight, I mean it." She added pointing a finger at him to get her point across. He just smirked at her in triumphant.

"Anything you say Kitten."

"You better believe it."

"You're a bossy little thing, you know that." He was trying to rile he up and it was working.

"When I have to be." She gave him a cheeky smile. He just shook his head and stood up holding out his hand to her.

"Come on McAllister, let's go find your guy." She took his hand and almost snatched it back when he pulled her up. She had felt that sharp tingling sensation again. Instead of letting go he tightened his hold on her hand and looked her in the eye. She had hoped he hadn't noticed but unfortunately, he had. He frowned slightly as he pulled her a little closer and looked her in the eyes. The humor that was there earlier was gone.

"One of these days I'm going to figure out why you do that Sophie Rose." She felt her panic rise and he noticed. He tightened his hand even more before gently releasing it. He turned away but before he got too far she spoke.

It's not you, it's me. I'm not…" She stopped closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew she owed him something, anything but she wasn't sure how to voice it. When she didn't answer, he seemed to pull away and she opened her eyes to see his back as he retreated toward the door.

"If you want this whole no holding back anything to work, it goes both ways." He added over his shoulder. She could feel tears threaten to peak in her eyes. He must have noticed because there was suddenly a flicker of concern in his eyes. His face however, remained unchanged, emotionless. She wiped the stray tear away determined not to let him see her cry and began her explanation.

"I can't control it. I never have been able to, but when someone touches me even when I am expecting it, I just react. It doesn't mean anything…I just." He stopped her by approaching her once more. She glanced at the floor so that she didn't have to look him in the eyes. They stood like that for a few minutes before he spoke.

"Sophie, look at me." He said it so softly that at first, she wasn't sure rather she had heard him. When she didn't respond, he asked her again. "Please, look at me." She finally pulled her reluctant eyes up to his. His face unreadable but his closeness sent that familiar buzz to the back of her head. She wanted to hide from it but he wasn't letting her. It was as if he was starring right into her soul and it scarfed her. She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, she wanted him to kiss her. She blinked suddenly wondering where that thought had even come from. She thought for a split second he even had the same thought. He had her trapped between himself and the desk, she wouldn't have been able to run if she wanted to. She felt her breath hitched slightly as he seemed to lean in and then…the phone rang. They both jerked apart and she quickly turned around to answer in a gruff voice. She answered with a gruff hello hoping her voice didn't betray her still shaky emotions. Once the phone call had ended, a wrong number by the way, she walked around her desk and reached for her bag. She glanced up to see that Snart had moved to the other side of the room, his arms crossed leaning against the wall. His face like normal was unreadable. He looked up at her daring her to look away, which she did as she cleared her throat.

"I'm going to go stack out my informant. I'll let you know when I have something." She didn't give him a chance to protest, she just grabbed her set of keys from her desk for the car she kept in the back of her building and before she could change her mind. She was out the back door and in her black suv in a matter of minutes. She made her way about four blocks over when she pulled over to the side of the road and just sat there. She needed a minute to collect herself. Her reaction to Snart was starting to become a problem and he was very close to learning about who she really was, a freak of nature. Her ability, for lack of a better term was her secret sham. She never shared it with anyone, not even her closest friends. True it was one of the things that made her good at her job but it also brought back the memories of her dark childhood. Memories of the uncle who raised her and abused her. It wasn't so much the physical pain he had enacted, that she could handle. It was what she felt from him when he touched her. His hatred, every time he came near her, every time he touched her. She felt his hatred. For the world but mostly for her. His emotion was so strong that at times it had felt as if her insides would turn inside out. Because that is what happened anytime anyone touched her, she felt what they felt. Every emotion, every fear, everything. It made it difficult to understand her own feelings and times like this was very overwhelming for her. She never let anyone see her vulnerable and she rarely let anyone in.

She set her head on the steering wheel as the tears she had been hold finally came. Ten minutes later she took a few deep breaths and lifted her head. She needed to get a grip, she had a job to do and she would be damned if she was going to let it get the best of her. She wiped away the last of her tears and started her car once again but just as she was about to pull away from the curb the passenger door opened. She reached for her weapon that she kept at her side when she realized who it was. She sighed a slight sigh of relief and went to looking back out the front window.

"Shit! Are you trying to get yourself shot? I told you I would handle this."

"Relax Kitten, I brought you a peace offering." He handed her a box of pop tarts as he closed the door behind him. She turned to look at him giving him a look of disbelief. "Listen I get not letting others see you, not letting others in. I shouldn't have pushed." She knew that this was as close to an apology as she was going to get. He just started at her waiting for a reaction so she nodded her head and pulled her car back out into traffic.

A few hours later they sat outside a bar that was everything less than pleasant. She watched the street with a pair of binoculars as she waited for the person she was looking for to make an appearance.

"He's not coming."

"You keep saying that." She answered back as she nibbled on her strawberry pop tart.

"He's not coming." He complained again.

"Have you ever even been on a stake out before? I thought you were good at this kind of thing." They had been squabbling like this for the past hour. "He will be here, now eat a pop tart and please be patient." He snorted and started disgustingly at the offending pastry.

"Not even if I wanted too."

"Oh, you don't know what you are missing. It's the perfect combination of fruit and sugar."

"Which is wrapped in foil and it's not real fruit."

"And packed full of calcium." He just looked at her with a blank look. "What? It says so on the box."

"And you believe everything that you read?"

"Don't you?" He didn't answer so she went back to starring out the window. She knew he had to be here, its where she always found him when she needed to. Truth be told she was starting to lose patience herself. She would never let on about it to him of course. Instead she decided to use her time to find out more information about her car companion who had recently decided to become a fixture in her life. She should be afraid of him, he was a known thief as well as other things but she wasn't and that disturbed her. In the same sense, she found him fascinating. She had never been able to connect with anyone, ever, not at this level. There was something about him, it was as if she should know him from somewhere. The only other time she had felt this strongly about someone was when she was a child and that person was long gone, or she had been told.

"Care to share?" His voice interrupted her thought process and she looked at him confused.

"I'm sorry?" She asked.

"I can practically hear you thinking over here, so spill." She shook her head.

"Nope, doesn't work that way, if you really want to know then I get the first question." He gave her a smirk and motioned her to continue. She turned to face him and asked the one question that had been bugging her all morning.

So, tell me what is it with you and Barry Allen?" She had caught him off guard and she knew it. His face changed to that ever so familiar controlled look as she gave him a smirk of her own. He didn't speak for a minute and just sat there staring at her and her returning the stare. She tried not to smile and turned her attention back out the window. "Oh, come on, you have to give me something. I mean it's obvious that you have meet at some point and I'm guessing it wasn't fun for you." He snorted and then finally answered.

"He's more of an annoyance than anything."

"So, you have met?" She turned and saw that he was looking out the window his face showing signs of irritation. "And you're not going to tell me anything else, are you?" She knew she was pushing him but she tired of sitting in silence and quite frankly she was growing board. Maybe he was right and her contact wasn't going to show up.

"You ask a lot of questions." He finally broke his silence.

"And you never answer them. Besides it's my job to ask questions." She grinned slightly. He sighed and adjusted his position.

"You wouldn't like the answer." She gave him a questionable look.

"What does that supposed to mean?" His only answer was a shake of her head.

"I'm not going to tell you. Look he is obviously not coming so I will catch up with you later." Without another word or even looking at her he exited her car leaving her speechless and a little angry. For a man who prided himself on being cool and collected he had more mood swings than anyone she had ever meant. She knew she pushed him, she had that habit. That and pushing others away but she was doing him a favor, only god knows why, and he could never give her a straight answer. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed her contact when he finally appeared.

Timothy Rion was anything but a pleasant man but his information had always been sound. He was a tall thin man, middle aged and had hair that was not only greasy but attempting a comb over. He would be described as a weasel and rarely did anything unless it benefitted him.

She watched as he disappeared into the bar which ironically was called The Pigs Swallow. She hated the idea of going in there but knew she didn't have a choice. She got out locking her doors and headed across the street. She slung her bag across her shoulder, put her mace in her back pocket and her gun in her waist band of her pants, covering it with her jacket. She entered the dimly lit dirty facility and found him sitting bar. She scrunched her nose at the smell of the place and really tried not to gag. The place was basically empty and he was nursing a bottle of beer. She approached him determined to get this over with so she wouldn't have to be there any longer than possible. She wasn't liking the looks she was getting from some of the patron's and sat down on the set nest to him turning to face him.

"Imagine running into you here of all places Timmy." He quickly turned to her giving her a sour look and turned back around.

"What do you want McAllister?" He asked in a snarky voice.

"Now don't be like that Timmy. If you want me to keep your secrets than I need information." She said matching his tone.

"You always want information. I don't give it out for free anymore."

"That's too bad. You see I was just thinking about ignoring that shipment you have coming in every Friday."

"All right, fine! What do you want now?" Sophie grabbed a photo from her bag and slapped it in front of him.

"This girl was taken several nights ago on the corner of Lexington and Brown street. I know you know about this because you were there. See right there in the corner." She pointed at his face in the picture. "I need to know where they took her." He looked up at her with a sneer.
"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that." They stared each other down when suddenly he stood up and bolted toward the back door. She shook her head in disbelief as she grabbed the photo from the bar and took off after him. She really hated it when they ran and for a rat he sure was fast. He made several turns up and down back alley ways, scaling a few fences and running through several back yards, with her not far behind. She had kept up to him up until he turned corner and seemingly disappeared. She suddenly heard a vaguely familiar sound followed by a bright blue light. She turned the corner only to find herself slipping on a huge patch of ice. It wasn't nearly cold enough for ice and yet here she was skating across it. She felt someone grab her from behind only to slip right through landing on her knee, hard. She looked up finding Rion trying to get away on his hands and knees also slipping on the ice. She was not letting him get away again. She crawled after him not even realizing there was someone watch all this unfold and her fit of anger. She grabbed Rion by the lag and used it as leverage so she could pull herself up. Grabbing the back of his pants, she flipped him over, kind of and sat on his chest using her legs to straddle him, with him squealing the whole time. That was until she pulled her gun pointing it at his face.

"All right you little shit head, answer the question! Where is she?" She was beyond angry at this point and quite frankly ready to kill the little rat. He held his hands up in defeat.

"I don't know!" He yelled back.

"One!" She pulled back the safety on her gun. "Two!"

"Okay, okay!" He added panicked. "Just get off! I can't breathe!"

"Too bad for you, now talk!" His eyes got big when he finally realized just how serious she was.

"Gotham! She's in Gotham!"

"Where?!" she demanded gun still in his face.

"A warehouse down town! Something about keeping her there until her brother stole something for them. She is their leverage."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know! Some big mob boss. That's all I know! I swear!" She looked at him for a minute before lowering her gun, clicking the safety back in place and tucking it back in her waist band. She reached down and patted his cheek.

"Good doing business with you Timmy." She stood up sliding slightly again only to have someone catch her from behind. She looked up to see Snart looking down at her with an amused look on his face. So, he was the reason for the ice, she should have figured. She looked back to see Timmy scrabbling to get up slipping and sliding the whole time.

"You're crazy McAllister." He shouted at her as he rounded the corner.

"You have no idea!" She shouted after him pulling herself away from Snart who reluctantly let her go as she slide and made her way back out on the street.

"I see you decided to come back." She threw behind her sensing more than seeing him follow her.

"I said I would find you later. This is later."

"Oh, so now we are going to be a smart ass." She sassed back as she started to limp toward her car. "I told you he would show up!"

"Where are you going?" He asked with a note of concern in his voice.

"The one place I said I would never return too, Gotham." The thought leaving a sick feeling in her stomach.

A/N So this was a fun chapter to write Please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.