Lost and Found

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything except the plot, Elena, Allie, and Giovanni.

Author's Note: Read and review please!!!


Don leaned against the doorjamb tiredly, numb from the discovery that Allie was his daughter. Elena was leaning her elbows on her knees, rubbing her eyes and squinting against the bright lights. One of her infamous headaches, they'd been rare and far between when they were together, he wasn't sure about now, but if her bloodshot eyes were anything to go by, she was in a lot of pain. He debated internally.

"Don't think about it, just do it," Sheldon advised, coming to stand next to Don.

"It's hard," Don replied, "She's not the girl I used to know, I'm not even sure she'll let me help." Danny joined them and clapped Don on the shoulder, "That's why you don't think about it, more you think about it you're gonna chicken out." Don squared his shoulders and went over to Elena, Danny and Sheldon left to give them some privacy. Don hesitantly wrapped his hand around the base of her neck, her warm hand gently kneading the tension out of Elena. She sighed despairingly, unwillingly relaxing into Don's touch. He wanted her trust again, wanted her to trust him as she did before, no holds barred. Turbulent seas looked at him through her lashes, letting him know at once just how distressed she was that she wasn't even bothering to hide her emotions anymore. She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang from her coat pocket.

Elena held the phone as if it were a snake about to strike. Hands shaking she pressed the accept button and held the receiver to her ear, "Hello?"

"Is this Ms. Marino speaking?"

"This is she."

"I'm calling from the General Hospital, we regret to inform you that your grandfather was admitted into the ICU an hour ago due to a stroke." Elena numbly thanked the woman.

"Elli, what's wrong?"

"Papi…" She trailed off. Don didn't need her to finish her sentence, "Which hospital?"

"General," she replied tonelessly. She worried him, if anything, he preferred her cold control to this mindless response. Silence thick between them, the couple left the Lab and slid into his car.


Machines beeped and whirred, accompanied by the smell of rubbing alcohol and Irish brand soap. The wash of fluorescent light called a sense of foreboding to the mind, especially when Elena watched her beloved grandfather through the glass, pale and weak with IV lines and wires protruding from his obscenely fragile body. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try to dispel the feeling of helplessness and chill. She'd snapped out of her stupor during the car trip and decided that she needed all her wits and calm if she wanted to get Allie back and nurse her grandfather back to health. A wave of anger whipped through her: when she got her hands on Rossi, he was going to be as dead as the bodies she autopsied in the morgue.


Don took one look at the sharp emerald shards prominent in those swirling, dark pools and almost felt bad for Rossi. He'd rarely been on the receiving end of Elli's temper, so rarely that he sometimes questioned how much it took to spark a bit of impatience, but the times she had been pushed over the edge, she hadn't been very happy with him and he'd spent lonely nights on the couch when he'd been in the doghouse. Somehow, he had a feeling that whatever she had in store for Rossi, wasn't going to be pretty.

"Elli, eat." He wasn't suggesting that she eat the Chinese takeout he'd run out to get her, he was telling her to. She obeyed without comment because she knew she couldn't afford to have her body conk out on her when she needed to stay healthy. She settled on the edge of her chair anxiously, agitatedly.


Hours later, afternoon broke through the frosted corridor windows and Elena tiredly pinched the bridge of her nose, fully aware that she most likely looked like a panda at the moment, but she most certainly did not feel like one. A cup appeared in front of her eyes. She looked up at Don as she took the cup of coffee gratefully, her voice husky from exhaustion, "Thanks."

"How's he doin'?"

"The doctor said his condition's stable and when he wakes up, they'll move Papi out of the ICU." He could see the tension in her slender frame, "You need to rest now, you won't be any good to anyone if you fall, 'specially not Allie."

"Easier said than done," she retorted, "It's easy to give advice but harder to take it yourself, isn't it? You've probably had about the same amount of sleep in the last 56 hours as I have." She rubbed the back of her neck, bending forward to lean on her knees. Don started to say something when the pager clipped to his belt buzzed. Elli heard the vibration and quickly looked up. Their eyes met and, wordlessly, both found the closest phone and called Stella.

"Stel?"

"We didn't get anything off the fax, but he did call, you and Elena might want to hear this."

"We'll be back in an hour."


Elena nodded at Lindsay once, Lindsay, lips thinned, pressed the play button. Rossi's voice rolled out, slick as oil. Elena, sick to her stomach, worried about her daughter's safety. Her heart stopped when she heard her daughter's frightened little voice, "Mommy, I don't like him, he looks like that salamander in Monsters Inc., he said Uncle Don is my daddy, is he lying, Mommy…" Elli's voice cut off on a cry and Rossi's voice returned, "Well, well, well, little miss innocent kept a big secret from her boyfriend. Doesn't that make you furious Flack; you missed all your adorable little girl's firsts. So sad. So who cheated on who, did you knock her up and toss her away, or did she…"

Danny abruptly stopped the file. Nobody in the room said a word, all eyes were on Elena and Don. Elena's terror was palpable, and the women stopped their counterpart with a look, telling them to ask questions later.

Her hands shook violently even after she clenched them so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She couldn't speak, couldn't do anything, simply sat there with the wheels and worries turning in her head. Suddenly alert, her eyes moved about as she searched deeper in her memory, "Danny, could you play the file again?" Danny complied.

"Do you hear that, there's a clock chime and sirens, fire truck sirens." Understanding dawned and everyone set to work quickly, adrenaline and excitement glowing on their faces. They pulled up the fire department records and singled out the ones that corresponded with the time of the message then matched those locations until they found one within a 100-foot radius of a clock tower. When they pulled up the area, both Elena's and Don's blood ran cold:

"That's Rossi's ex-wife's ancestral home."


The Homicide Unit, uniforms, and CSIs spread across the lawn in the dark, surrounding the premises as the heavier armed forces knocked down the front door and stormed the structure, blinding all the perpetrators with smoke bombs and flashlights. Even as Don and Elena refused to stay on the sidelines, they could hear Stella protesting futilely against Mac's adamant order for her to stay, but they knew they couldn't do anything or the case could be compromised on technicality, it wasn't likely, but they weren't taking the chance that Rossi would appeal based on that argument. Elena wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest, so Don stayed in front of her. Gunshots were fired and shouts filled the big space with the smoke, then Elena heard Allie's voice.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Don looked over his shoulder at Elli and nodded in the direction of the rooms down the hall. She, Don, and a couple uniforms searched through each room until they came to the last one. The door was slightly ajar and Don nudged it open further, cautiously. Rossi's chilling voice met them halfway, "Come in, come in, my dears. Join the party, we're having a blast!" The uniforms stayed out of sight while Don and Elena went in. A manic glint in his eyes, Rossi grinned sickly, his gun pointed at Allie.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Keeping a worried eye on Allie, Don and Elena glared suspiciously at Rossi, "What are you playing at? You can't get out now, not with the entire place surrounded."

"That's the fun part. I like playing this game," Rossi declared lightly, playfully. Elena saw Mac climb in the window behind Rossi and knew she had to distract him.

"Why'd you kill them?"

"They were all whores, flaunting themselves like meat in a butcher shop. More importantly, their deaths would bring Donny pain."

"You were wrong, it didn't hurt. Have fun in Rikers, asshole." Playfulness gone, Rossi snarled and swung the gun to Don, "Drop the gun." The muzzle of Mac's 9mm pressed gently into the back of Rossi's head, "Drop the gun." Rossi didn't move. Don lashed out and kicked the gun out of Rossi's hand before he had a chance to tighten his finger on the trigger all the way. Mac arrested him and before the uniforms led Rossi out, Don said in his ear, "Their deaths didn't cause me pain, but if you had gone after Elli, I probably would have killed you first then joined her." Rossi lunged at Don only to be thrown into the backseat of the patrol car.

"Guess you lose."