What No One Knew Chapt. 9
Derek watched as Danielle carried Maddy out of the hospital. He didn't know what to do; now she was going to be on her own in the city and, as far as he knew, she had no money or anyway of taking care of herself and the kid. Never mind the fact that he had formed quite an attachment to Danielle and had no idea how he was supposed to deal with not having her around. As he turned around to walk back into the waiting room he punched the wall.
"Morgan! Stop beating the shit out of the walls." Rossi commanded.
"Stay out of this Rossi." Derek had yet to look at the older man.
"You did not just tell me to stay out of it did you? You can't be serious. In case you forgot, she came to my house, asking for my help. That doesn't stop just because that asshole is dead."
Derek finally looked up at his colleague and he saw a particular look in Rossi's eye that meant the old man knew something that he didn't.
"What do you know?"
"More than I should tell you…"
"Rossi…"
"Didn't you hear the kid?"
"Yeah, she asked Danielle if they could go see Father Jimm…Wait…Father Jimmy?"
Rossi gave him an all knowing smirk, 'I just happen to know of his parish."
"Well come on man! I have to bring her back."
"Don't you think that you need to give her time to calm down?"
"You can't be serious. What if she takes off for good?"
"Isn't that her choice?"
"Fine! You don't want to tell me where she is; I will find it out for myself. I'm going to get her back with or without your help."
Derek took off out the door like a house on fire, not waiting for Dave to answer him. Rossi had to damn near jog to keep up.
"You will need me with you. If she is going to see Father Jimmy and this is a regular set up….he won't just turn her over."
"Fine. Get in. Buckle up."
As soon as Rossi had done just that, Morgan barked tires pulling out of the parking lot headed in the direction of the church that Rossi had indicated.
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Meanwhile at St. Mary's, a good thirty minutes outside of Quantico proper, Sister Celeste heard a knocking on the church door. Opening it she sees her dearest friend standing there, her child on her hip.
Not waiting for the open invitation to come in, Danielle went ahead on into the sanctuary of the church.
"Is Father Jimmy alright?"
"Why wouldn't he be?"
"Lonnie found her….I-I worried."
"He has been visiting the Hospice, he's away today."
That seemed to relieve Danielle like nothing ever had, she leaned her back against the door, cradling little Maddy's head to her shoulder; she could finally breathe. She hadn't been able to think about anything but the safety of her little girl and that of Father Jimmy since she found out that Lonnie had found the child. She was so happy and relieved that tears started pouring from her eyes.
"Come. It seems that you could do with some rest. The Father will be back soon. I can let you rest in his office until he gets here."
Sister Celeste took Danielle's hand and led her, while she carried the child with her good arm, through the cool nave of the church, through to the South Transept; just tucked away in one corner was a small office. It had a few large windows, an old desk and chair, there was a red rug that rested on the otherwise bare wooden floor, and there was an old sofa that Father Jimmy had likely brought from his house to use in there when he was trying to relax while he thought of his next sermon. It was older than dirt but she had heard Father Jimmy say a few times before it was quite comfortable as far as couches go…there was also two leather arm chairs with a high backs that sat in front of the desk.
"Look, settle here; you can rest on one end, and Maddy can have the other….and there's a blanket. Though, with the sun coming in these southern windows, it's rather warm in here as it is."
Danielle was slowly starting to feel the last bit of energy leaving her body. She had run out of adrenaline long ago; but she had gotten a small second wind with her argument with Der…Agent Morgan. But, now, she was almost done entirely. Her eyes felt so heavy. And having carried her child so long, Maddy was starting to feel like a ton of bricks. Danielle weakly nodded at Sister Celeste as the young woman backed out of the office, quietly shutting the door behind her. Danielle got her daughter, little Maddy, settled on one end of the couch, covering her with one end of the blanket that had been on the back of the sofa. Then she slid her own shoes off and grabbed one of the decorative pillows to support her head, and lay down, taking a bit of blanket for herself. It was only a matter of moments before she had fallen asleep, watching her daughter sleep quietly.
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It felt as though she had slept for days when she heard the commotion out in the main body of the church; in reality it had only been a matter of perhaps 20 minutes, if the time on Father Jimmy's desk clock was any indication.
She could hear voices. One she knew was Sister Celeste; she was telling someone else that she didn't care who they were, she would not let them pass until Father Jimmy got back and talked with them. Then she heard two men's voices; Rossi and Morgan.
Danielle jumped up and grabbed her shoes, slipping them on; she leaned over and kissed her daughter's forehead. Walking across the room she positioned herself near one of the windows in the corner; if Rossi and Morgan made it past Celeste, she was going out of that window…it was a drop of only a couple feet, nothing too daring. She didn't want to run…she didn't want to leave Maddy at the church again. If she was honest with herself, she was going to actually miss Derek and his mom….especially his mom. She was so nice. It had been so long since she had a mom, just for a second she had been able to pretend.
She had to suck it up. For far too long her life had not been her own to control. As much as she might care about Derek or the others, she had to do this. She was going to finally have a life where she was in control of something; she could send for Maddy when she was away from here.
Just as she was about to go out of the window, she heard it….Father Jimmy.
"Dave, how have you been?" The sound muffled by the closed door.
Crap! He's friends with the old man.
She could hear continued conversation just on the other side of the door. Agent Rossi was explaining to Father Jimmy what was going on. Father Jimmy seemed to make a phone call quickly to check on his friend that had been in charge of Maddy's care while Danielle was trying to get away from her husband. After making that phone call and arranging to have that friend taken to the hospital, Jimmy hung up and dealt with Rossi and Agent Morgan.
With any luck he would tell them that he had no idea where she was, that she wouldn't have come back here as far as he knew.
Who am I kidding? He's a priest…and he's one of the decent ones…he could never lie.
Danielle made up her mind not to run. By the looks of Morgan he could catch her quickly enough unless she had a substantial head start; and even if he couldn't, it seemed like the old man might have a long reach. It was best to conserve energy; she didn't have a lot of it left to begin with. Thinking quicker than she thought she could, she hustled back over to the sofa, flopping down onto it and bringing the cover up over herself, and pretending to be asleep just as the three men entered the office.
"Stop faking Danielle. I know you were thinking of going out the window." Father Jimmy's voice was to be heard just inches from her ear. "Your friends are here to take you and Maddy home."
Glaring up at Father Jimmy from her reclined position, 'I don't have a home to go to."
"You're coming back to my place…."
"NO! I'm not. I will not be…."
"I won't. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have been such an ass at the hospital."
"All men apologize when they want something. It means little."
"At least come back for the next couple of days, until you can come up with a more solid idea than sleeping on a couch with you kid. I can always send my mom down here to come and get you."
Danielle by this time had sat up; flexing her neck a bit. When she heard Morgan use his mom as leverage she glared at him.
"That is dirty pool. But I'll do it…for your mother; I don't want her to be inconvenienced because of me."
Rossi had watched the whole exchange, along with Father Jimmy, with a slight touch of amusement on his face. Now with a truce in sight, at least for the moment, he was antsy to get on the road and get settled for the day.
"Grab you kid and your shoes and let's get this circus back on the train; we're burning daylight, and I'm having everybody over at my place for dinner tonight."
"Oh alright. Maddy, it's time to get up baby. The old people are starting to get hungry and grouchy, like the lions at the zoo."
"We can go to the zoo mama? Where's da lions?" Maddy questioned groggily as she sat up, mostly unaware of where she was, her hair all askew from sleeping on the couch.
"Come on baby, we have to go. The agent man said we can stay at his house with him. His mommy is there, too; so I need you to behave for me alright."
The little girl nodded her head, her baby soft hair falling over one side of her face as she tried putting her own shoes back on. Danielle leaned over and helped the girl make sure she had the shoes on the right feet and that they were tied carefully before trying to finger comb some of the girl's hair back into place.
"Mommy where are we going? I mean for now?"
"Well tonight we are staying at the agent man's house…."
"Ok, but I mean…"
"Well, you and your mother are coming to my house for dinner tonight with the rest of my friends and Agent Man over there, well he's gonna bring his mother." Rossi answered the tiny girl's question without hesitation.
"Oh, ok." Maddy had gone about sitting quietly on the couch as Danielle tried pulling on her shoes…that is until the child gasped and grabbed her mother by the arm.
"What is it baby?"
"Mommy I don't gots no clothes a sleep in or to go at the dinner." The little girl sounded really upset that the only clothes she seemed to have were the clothes on her back and that they were rumpled and not suitable anymore.
"Don't be so silly,' Sister Celeste came into the room carrying a little travel bag. It was a child's bag, and it had some Care-Bears on it. "Here you go baby. I made sure to put some things away for you, just in case."
Maddy jumped into Celeste's arms and thanked her, hugging the nun's neck as tightly as she could manage.
"There may even be a little dress in there, I don't know. You'll have to look when you get to your friend's house later."
Soon enough Danielle had finally managed to get herself and her child pulled together enough that they could make their way out of the church. At the door, she hugged father Jimmy and thanked him, and then she hugged Sister Celeste tightly as well. She seemed almost sad to be leaving them.
Rossi told Derek that they should be over at his house around 6:30; that would give Danielle time to get herself and Maddy cleaned up and changed, as well as for Derek and his mother to have time to get ready.
As Danielle got Maddy ready to go and hugged Father Jimmy as well as Sister Celeste goodbye, Morgan would take his eyes off of her. Danielle shot a glance quickly his way from the corner of her eye merely to see what he was doing. She would have to ask him later why he was staring.
With that they made their way out to Morgan's truck for the ride back to Quantico.
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Post AN: I know, you probably thought I would never update. I thought I would never update. I have had most of this chapter written for a long time, but wasn't sure if I was happy with it or wanted to change it etc. And quite honestly, I had sort of lost the passion to write for a while, had a little 'blue spell' for a while, maybe some kind of depression, I dunno….a lot on my mind at the time I guess.
Slowly but surely I am trying to get back into things if I can, hopefully some of you are still hanging on waiting. If you are, thanks. If not, it's cool, I get it.
