Author's Note: Finally... Some Answers! But not all of them... Enjoy it a little early!

Thank you! PhillyGirl27, Proudofyoubabe, trhodes9, Barb4psu, emmme3, melyons, Guest, Guest, MarshaMac1215, JB, aruvqan, Claudette Miller, Bandit3s, First Generation Scot, Guest, and ThePartyParrot.

Short but Sweet!

Chapter Ten
Chocolate Doesn't Always Help

"So, I have news on Velma and Scout." Joe announced as he made himself at home in my kitchen.

He woke me up, pounding on my door and yelling my name. When I opened my door, he breezed past me mumbling something about meetings and work and he didn't have too much time before he had to get back to work. While he was pulling breakfast sandwiches, donuts, hash browns, and who knew what else out of the bags he had, I was racking my brain, trying to remember. I massaged my temples, trying to make the pain go away. Oh fuck, I had a headache from hell.

"Cupcake, you okay?"

I looked up to find Joe right in front of me, a look of concern on his face and in his voice.

I slowly nodded, wincing at the pain in my skull.

"Steph, you look kind of... out of it?" He made it into a question. I guess he wasn't sure what to call my state of mind at the moment.

"I feel out of it." I admitted.

Joe's brows furrowed with worry. "You are looking a little rough, too." He stated with a smile.

"My head is pounding."

Joe reached up and replaced my fingers with his own and rotated them in circles on my temples. "Does that help?" He asked, hopeful.

"Not really. I think I need some aspirin for sure." I replied.

He stepped back and nodded. "And maybe some greasy food." He grinned.

I grinned back. "Definitely."

After grabbing a coffee that Joe had brought and some aspirin, I took a seat. I then preceded to grab a sausage egg biscuit, hash browns, and a donut with sprinkles. I was really hungry. Don't judge me! Judging is wrong. So there.

"Sooo... you said something about Velma." I hinted as I took a huge bite out of my sandwich.

Joe nodded, chewing. "She was into human trafficking, Steph."

My eyes got wide as the black dots clouded my vision. "Trafficking?" I squeaked out, horrified.

He chugged his coffee after finishing his sandwich. "So apparently, she got caught up with the crowd -"

"Wrong crowd?" I interrupted. "She was like eighty."

He grinned. "That she was, but it was her family actually. Her son started it and she pretty much stumbled in on a bad screen. She's been a spy for the FBI for the last two years."

"Ooo-kay." I was confused. "Can you explain some more?"

He nodded. "She walked in on a sale. Son threatened her so she kept her mouth shut her about six months, but she couldn't handle the guilt anymore. She went to the police chief, not sure who to trust. Lucky for her, she could trust Chief Juniak."

"And then?" I urged him on.

"She was given to the FBI pretty much. They asked her to be a spy for them so they put her son and his crew behind bars for good."

"And she did?"

He nodded again. "She did."

"Sooo... she's not dead then?"

Joe took a deep breath. "She could be." He winced as he said it.

Confusion etched my features. "I don't understand."

"There's a leak in our department. Not sure who, but there's a small group of us investigating this along with the FBI."

"A leak?"

Another nod. "We don't know who. Don't have a fucking clue either."

"So whoever took Velma wasn't a good guy for sure now." I asked, my voice shaking.

He shook his head. "No. Whoever grabbed her knew what she was doing and they..."

"Not good, I know." I cut him off.

Joe grimaced at my tone. "I'm sorry, Steph. I know you were holding out hope."

I shrugged. "Wasn't your fault."

"Doesn't mean I'm not sorry, Cupcake."

"She wasn't nice to me." I stated, tears welled up and I bit my lip trying to stop them.

"Steph..." Joe's voice was low and sympathic, but it was the fact that he rounded the counter and pulled me up and out of my chair and into his arms that made the tears finally spill over and down my cheeks.

"She hit me with her cane and sprained my ankle, but I didn't want her to die." I sobbed in his arms.

He rubbed my back. "I know, cupcake."

"I need chocolate. Did you bring any chocolate?" I whined.

I felt Joe chuckle. "I brought some chocolate donuts."

He urged me to sit back down and put a chocolate donut in front of me.

"What about Scout?" I asked around a mouthful of donut and chocolate-ly goodness.

"He's disappeared. Fell off the face of the earth. We can't find him."

I swallowed the donut lodged in my throat. "Is he involved?"

Joe nodded, eating his own donut. "He's the one that lures them in."

My mouth dropped. "What? He doesn't seem..."

"Smart enough." Joe finished my train of thought.

I nodded slowly. "Exactly."

"Let me explain a little more. It's not sex trafficking."

"Oh? What? It's not?"

He shook his head. "Scout travels around the world. He finds people that are in dire circumstances and lures them in. He lures immigrants from all over the world to the good old US of A with the promise of a better life. But then they're sold into slavery."

"Can't they just leave? I mean, they are adults, right?"

"They are but they're usually threatened with something. Could be a family member or being deported back to where ever they came from or even going to jail. They're too scared to do anything about their situation. Too scared of the consequences to think about actually getting away."

"What about Velma's son?"

Joe curled his lip in disgust. "He's not in even in the US last I heard. So I'm not really sure."

But now, Velma's missing, presumed dead. Scout's disappeared. There's a leak in the police department and there's a slave trafficking ring right here in Trenton, New Jersey. Am I missing anything?" I laid it all out on the table.

Joe cocked an eyebrow. "You have a stalker." Joe added, pointing out something that I wanted to forget.

I let out a sigh. "Yes I do." I put down my donut, my appetite gone.

"Have you received any more gifts?" Joe questioned, looking around my apartment, his body tight with tension.

I shook my head. "Not even a note."

Joe nodded. "Good. But even still, please keep be vigilant."

"I will. I promise."

He let out a sigh. "The chocolates you received were just chocolate. No poison, no fingerprints, no clues."

I let out another sigh. My life sucks.

"Sooo... Cupcake, did you have a good time last night?" He asked, a small smile teasing the corners on his face.

I nodded. "I did have a good time. Especially once we ditched you and Sara."

Joe's eyes widened. "Did you two..." He motioned with his hands in reference to us having sex.

I rolled my eyes. "No, you idiot. We just hung out and talked. He's really cool. And nice and sweet..."

Joe chuckled. "I feel a but coming."

I nodded. "There's no chemistry. It was like kissing my grandma."

Joe shuddered in horror and I laughed. He glared at me. "I'm sorry there's no chemistry there. He really liked you."

I blushed. "He did?" I asked, a little surprise.

Joe shook his head. "Don't act so damned surprise. You are a great catch, Steph. But yes, Nick really liked you. So much so that Sara was just in shock at her brother last night."

I shook my finger at Joe. "I saw that! I saw the way she was acting! What was up with that? She was creeping me out."

Joe threw his head back and laughed. "According to Sara, Nick is a major ass and a player. He was acting way different than he normally does around women and Sara was shocked as shit. Even the part where he joked about marrying you, she almost fell out of her chair. She said Nick wouldn't have even joked about that before. Sucks there's no chemistry because Nick thought a lot of you."

I frowned. Figures. Fuck my life.