The man winced as the redheaded bitch screamed.
"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted at her, but she didn't react, confirming that she was the girl who couldn't hear.
The woman pulled the screaming whore into her arms, settling her.
Spitfire was glaring at him from beside the unconscious boy.
"Don't try anything," he warned her in a low voice. He'd hate to shoot her in her pretty little head.
Her jaw twitched.
The man turned his attention away from her and back to his original intention. "Give me her," he ordered, pointing at Daphne with the gun.
"What do you want with her?" Kathryn cried, bringing Daphne closer to her body.
Daphne felt Kathryn's grip increase and her chest rumble with vibrations as she spoke. But Daphne couldn't see anyone but Bay – whose dark eyes were staring straight back at Daphne.
"What?" Daphne mouthed.
Keeping her signing gestures small, and therefore more difficult to understand, Bay explained, he wants you.
"Why?"
To let go.
Daphne shot upwards. The only thing more terrifying than being in here and knowing the exact danger everyone was in, was being out there and having to pray that Toby woke up, Emmett kept breathing, Bay only received a bruised eye, and Kathryn was only scared – not hurt. Daphne couldn't leave her family; couldn't abandon them to a madman.
Before she could voice her thoughts, Kathryn was facing her, speaking slowly.
"Go to safety, honey. I know you're scared. I know you don't want to leave us, but I need to know you're safe. I love you, okay? We'll be right behind you."
Daphne tried to swallow her fear and nodded to Kathryn. "Okay," she agreed, tears coming into her eyes as she stood up. Carefully, she navigated the bodies scrunched on the closet floor and out the closet door.
Bay watched her leave, an unreadable expression on her face. After the closet doors closed, the words tumbled from Bay's lips. "Mom, what if she's the only one to walk out of here?"
Kathryn stared at Bay, utterly silent as tears appeared in her eyes, making them look liquid. After several long moments, Kathryn finally said, "Switch spots with me? I want to sit with Toby."
(-.-)
The man made Daphne face him.
"Can you understand me?" He asked.
"Yes," she choked out.
"Make sure the police know how bad it is in there and that it will only get worse if they don't leave, okay?"
Daphne nodded, throat clogged with emotion – she didn't want to know what 'worse' entailed.
"And you walk straight out of the house, got it? No stops or detours."
She nodded again.
"Now leave before I change my mind."
Daphne fled from his presence, flying for the front door. The further from the closet, and the closer to freedom, she became the more her tears intensified. By the time she reached the door, she couldn't see the knob through the blur of her tears. Her throat ached from her raw, guttural sobs.
Finally, she door open and she threw herself from the house, crumbling to the sizzling pavement as soon as she was over the threshold.
Two strong arms came and picked her up. She folded into them awkwardly, knowing by scent that it was John who was holding her. She tried to find comfort from the embrace but there was no comfort to be found.
She was shifted away from him, into a set of thin arms, though his steady hands stayed on her back. Daphne knew the new arms better than she knew her own – these were Mom's arms. These were the arms that, from the inside of them, every problem she'd ever had could be solved. These arms meant love; solid ground; and home.
But now most of Daphne's heart was still locked inside that closet, solid ground was nowhere to be found, and home mean danger, fear, and blood.
(-.-)
"Whose blood is on her hands? I know she must be terrified but so am I. What's happening with my son? Are you going to talk to her now?" Nina, the interpreter said to Paul Anders, eyes bouncing back and forth between Cameron and Melody's rapid signing.
Paul held up a hand to stop their hand motions and the questions that were about to come rolling from the other assembled family members.
"Tina," he murmured to his partner. "Lay down your weapons and take the interpreter. I don't think Ms. Vasquez will want to be around another man with a gun right now?"
Officer Dagwood handed her weapons to Paul Anders before approaching Daphne, Nina trailing along at her side.
"Will she sit up and talk to us?" Officer Dagwood asked Regina, who was cradling the tall teenager.
Regina nudged the quieting Daphne. Her daughter peeked her head up, bloodshot eyes immediately focusing on Regina's lips.
"The police have some questions," Regina told her.
"NO!" Daphne screeched. She hid her head in Regina's shoulders, tears coming again. Behind her eyelids, the images flashed: the man was behind her; no, his gun was at Kathryn's head; no, Toby was flat lining; no, Emmett was bathed in blood, utterly still; no, Bay was bruised head to toe, disappearing into the darkness, never to be seen again.
Daphne howled.
Make her talk, Melody signed viciously at Regina. We all need her answers.
"Give her a minute!" Regina exclaimed.
A minute! Melody scoffed. "You have your daughter. Where in the hell is my son?" Melody's voice cracked like a whip across Regina's ears.
"I have a daughter in there too," Regina reminded her quietly. "Don't think I want answers any less than you do."
Regina raised Daphne again. "I know it's hard, but you have to."
With quiet resignation, Daphne nodded and readjusted so that she was facing the police officer.
"Hi, I'm Tina," the officer said.
Daphne watched the interpreter.
Who is hurt? Any slight injury at all? The interpreter translated.
Bay has a bruise on her eye. Toby got knocked out; his head was bleeding and it seemed dented. Emmett got shot in the stomach. He's alive.
The words felt so good that Daphne had to say them out loud. "They're alive." She, then, was grim and determined. "They're going to stay that way."
Melody sunk to the ground after reading Daphne's hands. She felt Cameron curl around her, and she fell into his embrace for the first time in so long. She cried into his arms. Her poor little boy, who she could not reach and could not help. All she wanted was to gather him in her arms and give him 'magic mommy kisses' like she did when he as younger.
Because magic mommy kisses heal everything, you know.
As the interpreter finished speaking, John was a cluster of emotion. He had one daughter in front of him, tearful but physically fine, so he was relieved. His wife and other daughter were relatively unscathed but still in captivity, so he was worried. His son was unconscious with a dented skull so he was fearful for his boy's life (Toby was just a child; so was Bay – he shouldn't be worried for their lives, the same for his young wife). And then there was Melody and Cameron screaming together on his left, Regina and Angelo holding hands on his right, and he couldn't help but be jealous that they had someone.
So John went to Nikki, who stayed close enough to hear everything, but far enough away that she didn't have to speak to anyone.
"How are you?" John asked.
Her pale lower lip trembled. "He'll be fine!" Nikki blurted. "I have faith that God won't take him away from me."
"Me too," John admitted quietly. "I don't know why this had to happen and what lesson we'll learn from it, but I have to believe it'll be okay … it's funny, because Kathryn is the one with the strong faith, but I feel it in me right now. He will come through for us."
"God has a plan. God loves his children. God will see them, through." She blinked up at him, like he had all the answers she was seeking. "Right?"
John pulled Nikki into a hug. "Right, sweetie."
(-.-)
I'm sorry, Bay signed, looking down at Emmett from her new position by his head.
For?
Bay swallowed; looking into his eyes was hard. His feelings were always reflected in his startling bright eyes. Right now, every inch of him looked absolutely pained.
If I hadn't been yelling at Daphne, then –
Stop. I would have done it anyway. It just so happened that I needed to protect you and Daphne. It's not your fault.
I know it is. But I'm not about to argue with an injured man. Without thinking about it, Bay reached out and began to run her fingers through his hair. When she realized what she was doing, she justified it to herself by saying that he drew comfort from it, and he deserved a distraction from his pain.
Would you kiss one? Emmett asked cheekily.
Despite herself, Bay blushed and glanced at his lips. Don't push your luck, Bay warned, dragging her gaze back to his eyes.
What if it's my last wish? Emmett pushed. You wouldn't deny a man his last wish, would you?
He'd only be joking. Though he was terrified that he was never going to see the outside of this closet again, Emmett would rather joke about it than admit it, and so he joked (about the last wish; not about kissing Bay) but when her face turned dark, he instantly regretted his word choice. She looked so upset, and he couldn't believe that he'd said that.
You. Are. Not. Going. To. Die. Got it?
Got it, Emmett replied. He carefully catalogued her reaction though, because it meant that she was worried about him; that she still cared.
(-.-)
Kathryn carefully placed one hand on Toby's chest, feeling the in and out of his breathing, as well as his heart beating.
She remembered the first day the ultrasound tech had asked if she wanted to hear her baby's heartbeat. She remembered clutching John's hands and straining her ears until that static-filled noise had appeared, causing her to cry. This was her first baby; this was the little life inside of her; this was a piece of her and the love of her life.
This was all she'd ever wanted.
Now, nearly two decades later, that baby had grown up into a much better man than Kathryn had hoped for. He was kind, thoughtful, talented, and … and unnaturally still. His lips didn't twist into his trademark smirk; his fingers weren't preoccupied, playing air guitar at the most inappropriate moments. She'd always swat at him when he did it in church, though he always left her giggling behind her hymn book after a minute or two.
The still man was not the rambunctious baby she'd raised.
Kathryn caressed his upper lip; the slight scar from his fixed cleft. It was something that no one but her ever noticed. Even John always claimed that he could never see it, that the surgeon had done such a fantastic job on Toby's face.
Kathryn touched the cheeks, rough with slight stubble where, once, there had been nothing but a red blush. She traced his lips that once pressed against her cheek, sticky with jam, that now wrapped around girls and fiancés and microphones.
She did all she could to stay below his hairline and the red-blond hair that she adored to this day. She didn't want to look at his injury; at the blood that tarnished his hair and the dainty head that used to fit perfectly in her cupped palm.
She picked up his hand – calloused from a decade long love affair with a guitar. She wondered where his hands had been since they curled around her finger the day he'd been born; since they'd dipped themselves in her cake batter; since they'd grabbed her own hand and tugged her off to show her a new wonder in the universe. She remembered when Toby had first felt his little sister kick. He had placed both tiny hands against the bulge of her stomach and stared at Kathryn, bug-eyed and demanding a more intricate explanation. That had been Toby's first encounter with Daphne, for the next new experience with his little sister had been with Bay.
He'd been tucked under Kathryn's arm, cradling the tiny baby, his toddler hands only slightly bigger than her infant ones.
"Toby," she breathed into his ear, trying not to cry because she'd already cried enough today, "you come back to mommy, okay? I'm not ready to lose you, baby. I love you – we all love you."
She sat up just as Emmett made a horrible gargling sound and blood spattered the wall.
Bay screamed.
(-.-)
Someone just screamed, the interpreter signed to the deaf people, who were wondering what their hearing counterparts were blanching over.
"Screamed?" Daphne repeated. Both her temper and protective streak reared their heads at the same time. She launched herself out of Regina's lap toward Officer Dagwood and Officer Anders, the interpreter flailing behind her.
They both turned at her approach.
"Someone just screamed and you're still fucking here?" Daphne cried, not caring about her language as long as she got her point across to them. "Leave! I don't give a damn if that bastard gets away. They need to get out of there. It's hell in there and it's only getting worse!"
"Daphne," Officer Dagwood murmured. "We can't do that. The criminal needs to be brought to justice."
"Pretend to leave! Set a trap!" Daphne suggested.
"We thought about it," Tina Dagwood admitted. "But we can't ensure that we'll catch him right away. We can't risk him going down the street and doing this to another family."
"Let him!" Daphne screeched. "I don't care about anyone else's family. I care about mine."
"We're doing all we can," Tina Dagwood assured her. "But we're stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"Oh, boo hoo," Daphne scoffed.
"We just need time –"
"Time? Time? Let me explain some things to you. Every moment spent in that hot, fear-filled place is an eternity. It literally feels like hell. Meanwhile, my brother and best friend could be fatally wounded. They need immediate medical attention. Meanwhile, every moment my mother and sister spend in that asshole's presence, the chance that they'll end up the same way increases. So, don't fucking speak to me about time, Officer, you've just run out.
"So fucking do something."
Daphne turned away from Tina Dagwood and ended up right in Regina's arms. "I just want to know what's happening," she confessed.
Daphne felt Regina nod into her shoulder, agreeing with her. Her next words were side-tracked as Melody's wave caught her attention.
Good speech. Melody praised. Couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe now they'll get their asses in gear.
Daphne hoped so. Something had to give and the people in the closet had given enough already. It was time for the police to finally step up and do some protecting.
I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my beta: NuGirl.
~TLL~