Disclaimer: Don't own them.
A/N: rating is for language.
Chapter 8
"Dead?" Tony repeated, not sure if he heard it right, "But…" he trailed off, his eyes focusing in on Rachel's, unsure of what to say next. He wanted to ask how, but he was afraid that Rachel would break down again. He looked at little Max; oblivious as usual to anything that was going on. He was only 8 months old, after all. Rachel returned his gaze, seemingly trying to find the right words too. Her little girl was dead, and this man wanted to know all about it. How could she tell him though? It would be like reliving it all over again, like she did every night in her sleep.
Suddenly phone rang; it's shrill call making both Tony and Rachel jump. Max clapped his hands and grinned brightly. Rachel went over to the phone, her gaze never leaving Tony's eyes.
"Rachel Miller" she said, answering the phone. She heard nothing though. Then a deep breath, she knew that sound, when the person on the other end cried so hard she that couldn't speak, it was the sound she would make. "Grace, is everything alright?"
Tony jumped up, "Grace? That's Grace?" he asked frantically, more frantically than he ever had before. He felt this sudden urge to be near Rachel, so she could tell him everything and this nightmare could be over. He stood next to her, a worried expression on his face.
Again though all Rachel heard was her breath, and she knew something was wrong.
She could hear that Grace had been crying, was still crying. "Grace! Talk to me honey!" she begged, fear creeping into her voice. Suddenly Rachel heard a click, and the line went dead. "Oh my god." She said, taking her eyes off Tony as she placed the phone back on the stand again.
"Rachel what's wrong?" Tony asked. "The line went dead." She said simply, her voice quivering.
"It was Grace?" Tony asked her, stepping closer. Max crabbed the zipper at the top of his undone jacket, giggling gleefully. Tony looked down for a split second, before looking back to Rachel.
Finally Rachel nodded. "Yes, it was. I'll tell you everything, but not here." Tony nodded, holding his arms out to collect Max without a second thought. Rachel handed him to Tony and turned to grab a bag filled with Max's baby care items, and two sets of keys. "Come with me." She said, more confident this time, the odd sensation of fear driving her.
She headed for the door with Tony behind her, Max still in his arms. Rachel grabbed her overcoat from the stand and locked the apartment door behind the three of them, and headed down the stairs.
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Tony lowered Max into his baby seat in Rachel's car, stepping aside for her to do the buckles up. They would have taken Tony's car, but Rachel's old rusty family van would have to do, as it was the only one with a baby seat. He saw how worried Rachel was, but had decided not to press her any harder for information. Rachel resisted for a second, then smiled gratefully when Tony took the keys off her and proceeded to put them into the ignition. He didn't think she was in any state to drive, and he doubted she'd be as bad as Gibbs when he drove, but he wasn't willing to take that chance.
Tony pulled out of the car park and headed onto the motorway towards the overpass. He followed Rachel's directions until they reached the freeway, then he could get he chance to ask her what he wanted to hear.
"Tell me about Grace." He asked, looking at Rachel for a split second before going back to the road. She nodded slowly, "Grace Rothman is 9-years-old. She used to live in an apartment two floors above mine. She was best friends with my daughter, Ebony, until…" she paused, catching her breath, "…until Ebony was killed."
Tony kept his eyes on the road, "How?" he asked, trying to keep his tone as gentle as possible. Rachel continued, "I don't know. She went missing eight and a half months ago, when I was pregnant with Max. The police searched for her for a few days, but they didn't hold out much hope…" Tony listened to Rachel, her tone quivering.
"Richard – my husband – pulled them off the case. He's a marine, you see, so he wanted NCIS to investigate." Rachel said. Tony was beginning to see how it all linked together now, and why Kate was involved in it all. "Two weeks after Ebony disappeared, they…" she took a deep breath, "…they found her… body. In the scrub a kilometer away from here."
Tony looked at Rachel; silent tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Oh Rachel, I'm sorry."
Rachel rubbed her face on her shirtsleeve and nodded, "Yeah... she was only six years old." Tony swallowed hard, what heartless bastard would do that to a little girl?
He waited a few seconds before asking his next question, giving Rachel a chance to collect herself. "How does Grace fit in?" Tony asked her as gently as she could.
"Well, she was Ebony's best friend. They were inseparable," she gave a half-smile at the thought or the two little girls together, laughing and playing, "Your friend, Kate, was investigating, and she suspected that Grace's father was involved. Shane Rothman, heartless bastard… Poor Grace had to live with that prick."
Tony remained silent, letting Rachel do most of the talking.
"Grace's parents, Shane and Melanie Rothman, are heroin addicts. How they could let that little girl go through what she did, I don't know…" Rachel said, her voice filled with loathing.
"So where's Grace?" Tony asked.
"St. James Hospital." Rachel said quietly, almost to a whisper. Tony turned to look at her, "She's sick?" he asked.
Rachel shook her head, "No, not physically. More like…" she searched for the right word, then gave up, "When Ebony was killed, Grace went into a kind of shock, the doctors said, and stopped talking. Just like that. They call it mute, a psychological condition or something. I don't know. But what I do know is that Grace hasn't talked for eight months."
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When they arrived at the hospital Rachel took Max out of his baby seat and they headed towards the entrance. Rachel headed up to the check-in desk like she'd done it a million times, the receptionist waved and greeted her and pointed in the direction of the west wing of the hospital.
Tony stopped and looked up at a sign swinging above his head, "The psych wing?" he asked. Rachel turned back to him, "There's something I left out… Grace has been committed."
"Committed? What! She's nine years old and she gets thrown into an asylum?" Tony exclaimed loudly.
"Hey! You don't want the whole bloody hospital to hear, do you?" she hissed at him. Tony apologized quickly and lowered his voice, "Please Rachel, you have to tell me everything…"
Rachel nodded and looked around, she saw the sign to a quiet room where people could go and talk about the well being of friends and family. They headed into the room and sat down, Tony well and truly not in the mood for Rachel's messing around.
"Grace was committed to the psych wing here about eight months ago, when Ebony died… She hasn't spoken and no one knows why. Your friend Kate seemed to have a way with the kid, and she managed to get a bit more out of Grace." Rachel said.
"How?" Tony asked her, "If she hasn't spoken…"
Rachel interrupted, "Drawings. Kate got Grace to draw how she felt, and I think that she got more out of her," She stopped and Tony urged her on, "Kate thought that Shane killed Ebony."
"Did he?" Tony asked the obvious question.
"I don't know!" she exclaimed, a few of the nurses looking into the room. Rachel smiled and nodded and they seemed to take the hint, "Now, Grace needs me."
Tony nodded and stood up, "Wait, you've been coming to see Grace? How often?"
Rachel sighed, "Only a few times, when she calls me like she did before. She never says anything but I know it's her. And I think that she's in trouble this time."
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Tony and Rachel arrived at the check in desk, a separate one to the other part of the hospital. Tony smiled at a pretty young nurse at the desk as she directed them to room 22 14 22. The rooms had codes rather than actual numbers like the rest of the hospital, each number corresponding to various different things for each patient. Tony stopped at the white door and stared at the code on it. 22 14 22. "Oh my god." He said. Rachel came up behind him, "What?" she asked.
Tony stared at the code, then quickly pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He searched in one of the pocket sections and finally found what he was looking forward. 22 14 22, it read. It was the piece of paper Gibbs had given him back at NCIS. The piece of paper that Kate's lawyers had given Gibbs. He had no idea that the numbers would lead him here. He didn't think Rachel needed to know all this, and he just waved it off.
They headed for the door where a blonde-haired man was standing, looking through the glass window. He turned to look at Rachel and Tony as they walked up to him. "Rachel!" he greeted her, Tony giving her a Gibbs-like, wondering just how many times Rachel had really visited Grace.
Rachel talked to the doctor, her tone almost a whisper like she didn't want Tony to hear. Soon enough the doctor had opened the big white door to Grace's room. It swung open, creaking loudly. Rachel turned to the doctor, ho, without words, took Max from her arms and headed off. Rachel turned to Tony then entered the room. She tried to smile, but Tony could see she was terrified, of what, he didn't know.
Rachel tried to smile as she entered the room, looking over to the bed where Grace usually sat. Today it was empty. There, in the far corner of the room sat a little girl, big, brown eyes and a head full of gorgeous dark brown curls. A white hospital gown covered her tiny frame. She was thin and you could see her ribs, but Tony mostly noticed those eyes. They had the same look that Rachel's eyes had when Tony first met her, dark and sunken. Grace sat in the corner, her arms wrapped protectively around her knees. She tucked her head into her knees as Tony and Rachel entered, with just her sunken eyes peeking over the tops of them.
"Grace? Are you alright?" Rachel asked. Grace lifted her head up, her eyes filling with tears. She looked at Tony, then pressed her tiny frame further into the wall like a scared animal. Rachel looked at Tony, then back to Grace. "Honey?" she asked.
Grace's eyes filled up with tears and she released the hold of her arms around her knees and jumped up. Launching herself at Rachel, she hugged her tightly Rachel returning the embrace. "Oh Gracie…" she said, squeezing the little girl tighter.
Grace looked up at Rachel, and opened her mouth like she prepared to speak. The words formed in her mouth, but no sound came out.
Tony watched them as Rachel hugged her tighter. Rachel whispered to Grace, but Tony couldn't hear what she said from his position over by the door.
He strained his ears and managed to catch the words, "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you again."
A/N: review, review, review!
