Chapter 6! Enjoy

Rating and Disclaimer in chapter 1

The Perfect Family

Sweet Irony

"Hey man, come on and take a break," Tank said to Carlos, placing his hand on the man's shoulder, "You've been staring at this faces and at the cases for a while now, time to give it a break."

Carlos shook his head and then asked, Tank, why did the suspect pick pregnant women? It doesn't make sense, who preys on pregnant women?"

"I don't know…I would assume it's a woman, because, maybe she wants the child that the women are carrying," Tank said looking at the board, "Maybe that's the reason why."

"But, why would she kidnap so many women?" Carlos asked, looking over to Tank, who frowned and looked at the board.

"Either it's because the woman only likes newborns, or the women and the babies died before they could give birth," Tank said softly, his eyes getting big, "Holy shit, it's a woman doing this, it has to be, no man would kidnap a pregnant woman for a baby, right?"

"I hope so," Carlos muttered softly, looking at Tank, "Morelli has been encouraging me to do a press conference, I think I will…"

"It would be a good idea to get this out into the public," Tank said, turning away from the board, from Stephanie's smiling face, "If only to shake the person's confidence."

Carlos had thought about it, it would get the ball rolling, hopefully, maybe the suspect would slip up and do something different. He needed for something to happen, Stephanie's been missing for a whole month, and Carlos had never felt so empty before in his life.

"Call Morelli and set up a press conference today," Carlos said getting up, "And I'll go take a break from this."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Carlos sat down on the hotel bed, pulling out the tablet that Stephanie had given him as a birthday gift a few months back, stating that he needed to get back in touch with today's technology. He leaned back on the pile of pillows that rested on the headboard of the bed and connected to the internet, looking up information on the Washington Bombing that occurred 20 years back.

Carlos frowned reading the news articles. A building had been flatten but there had been only one victim out of all of this: 27 year old Heidi Vladimir, wife of Thaddeus 'Diesel' Vladimir and second in command of the department she worked in.

Carlos clicked on the tiny picture of Diesel's wife and sighed; she had been so young when she died. Looking at her beautiful smiling face, it caused a sharp pain in his chest, she reminded him so much of Stephanie. No wonder why Diesel felt dead on the inside, Carlos thought as he read her biography, she had been a one of a kind woman.

Carlos looked up from the tablet, hearing his phone go off. He grabbed it and frowned, seeing Diesel's name pop up.

"Yo," Carlos said sitting up on the bed.

"We have a problem," Diesel sighed into the phone, "My boss in the hotel lobby, he wants to talk to us all about the case, it's not good news."

"I'll be down in a moment," Carlos said getting off the bed.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Guys this is the head of the Unmentionable department," Jeanne said to Carlos, Joe and Tank once they were in the hotel lobby conference room.

Carlos looked at the man in front of him. The head of the unmentionable department was an imposing man dressed in a one of kind suit. His dark grey eyes trained on Carlos's form, "Mr. Manoso, I'm Liam Stephens, head of the Unmentionable Department, please sit down."

Liam sat down across from Carlos and said, "I understand that your wife is missing, sir, I've read through the missing person report that you filed but I'm afraid that my two best agents have to return to their line of work, there are high class missions coming in and I need them available at any time."

Jeanne and Diesel exchanged looks before turning to Carlos whose face seemed to turn to stone. Diesel turned to Liam and said, "Look, sir, we can both, if need be-"

"You can do both, but helping to find Mr. Manoso will be happening on your own time, and on your own dime," Liam said softly, clasping his hands together, I'm sorry, Thaddeus, but missions have been pouring in lately."

"I understand sir, Jeanne and I will be helping Carlos with this on our own," Diesel said looking at his boss, "I just don't want him to go through what I went through."

"You're a good man, Thaddeus," Liam said with a smile, giving Diesel a slap on the back, "I'm glad to be your friend."

Liam turned to Carlos and said, "I'll help out when I can as well, the more the merrier."

"Thank you sir," Carlos said nodding his head an standing, "When will Jeanne and Diesel officially be off the case?"

"At midnight, tonight, after that they're officially helping you on their free time."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Heidi looked up from the meal she was making to the sounds of Liam's laughter. After the incident in the gardens, Stephanie had been confined to her room, until Liam said otherwise. That had been two weeks ago, and Heidi wondered if he would let Stephanie out of her room.

Liam walked into the kitchen, smiling and chuckling. He looked down at the meal Heidi was preparing and kissed her cheek.

"What's so funny?" Heidi asked looking over to Liam as he poured himself a glass of wine.

"Oh, a funny day at work, my love," Liam said as Heidi cut lettuce up for a salad, "It seems that our guest's husband is looking for her, and I offered to help him find her, I love irony…isn't it a wonderful thing?"

Heidi nodded her head weakly and said, "Yes it is…may I take Stephanie outside again soon?"

"Yes, in fact, give her a picnic outside in the gardens tomorrow, it's going to be a warm day, and tonight, we'll watch a movie, just you and I, wear something sexy, it's going to be a naughty movie,"

Heidi lowered her head and resumed making dinner. Should she tell Stephanie that her husband was still out there, looking for her? It would raise her spirits, ever since the night Heidi had been beaten, Stephanie wouldn't talk to her, she wouldn't even look at her face. Heidi assumed it was because she was mad that she couldn't go outside again. Heidi didn't want her angry, she would try harder to get Stephanie to talk to her.

Heidi looked down at the simple band on her finger and wondered if her husband would look for her as well, if he wasn't dead.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Here you go, Stephanie, I made some pasta tonight," Heidi said to the pregnant woman, "It has chicken in it instead of shrimp, since seafood makes you ill."

Stephanie nodded her head but didn't look up from her knitting. She wasn't ignoring Heidi because she was mad at her, she was ignoring the woman because she was terrified for her. That night she ate dinner in the dining and watched as Heidi was beaten shook her to the core. Heidi was being beaten because of her, and they weren't light beating either, they were beatings that resulted in broken bones punctured lungs and kidneys and possibly death. The man who kidnapped her reminded her that for everything she does wrong, Heidi gets the punishment, and it wasn't fair that Heidi got her punishment. Heidi had never done anything bad to her, in fact Heidi was the kindest person she had ever met, how did she end up with this man…how…

"How did you two get together?" Stephanie asked Heidi, watching the woman drop the tray she was carrying, "Heidi?"

"There are things that should be left unanswered," Heidi said quickly, picking up the fallen tray and glaring down at the ruined meal, "I'm sorry, I'll go make you another plate."

Stephanie bit her lip and watch as Heidi rushed out the bedroom, slamming the door shut. 15 minutes later she appeared again, with a fresh plate. She placed the plate on the bed, turned to walk out the door and murmured, "My husband saved me after a bomb went off where I used to work, he took me here and healed me, he…he told me that my first husband died during the explosion. He keeps me away from everyone because they blame me for the bombing and for my husband's death, I'm so grateful for his kind gestures."

Stephanie covered her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. The poor woman, Stephanie didn't want to believe her but, why would she stay here and accept this abuse? Stephanie let out a soft gasp as Heidi walked back over to Stephanie and hugged her saying, "Please, don't be mad at me and ignore me, I'm sorry that you weren't able to go outside again, but I fixed it, please, just talk to me again, don't be angry at me, please."

Heidi let go of the pregnant woman and smiled at Stephanie and said, "My husband said we're allowed to have a picnic in the gardens tomorrow, isn't that exciting?!" before she walked out the bedroom, closing the door and humming as she did.

Stephanie looked down at the meal Heidi made and pushed it way, suddenly not hungry. Maybe she had done more damage to Heidi than her husband did with his fist. Stephanie felt tears in her eyes and she cried. She cried for herself, for Carlos and most of all, she cried for the woman who was taking care of her right now.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Liam ran his fingers down Heidi's face, watching as she slept. He had worn her out during the movie, taking her many times in many different positions. Who knew that a good porn movie could get the blood pumping?

Liam kissed Heidi's lips and but frowned as Heidi let out a sigh in her sleep as she had dreams.

"….Diesel…"

Liam wanted to shake her awake, to beat her black and blue for saying that man's name. Oh how he detested that piece of shit, with his care free attitude and his no regard to anything. Liam had been dating Heidi before Diesel swept in and stole his girlfriend from him. His beautiful Heidi, his second in command, how could she had fallen for the likes of that piece of shit?!

Liam smirked and chuckled, he had fixed that jackass and now, he had Heidi and they were the perfect couple. Liam had swept in and stolen Diesel's wife from him. While Diesel only had her for a year, he had Heidi for 20 years.

Oh sweet irony….sweet, sweet irony.

"You're mine Heidi, remember that, Diesel can never have you again…you can dream about him, but you'll never see him again," Liam said softly, kissing Heidi again, "Sweet irony..."

TBC…

Please take a moment of your time to leave a girl a review, pretty please, with sugar and chocolate and cookies on top? Thank you!