Silence Ch. 10
'You stupid worthless brat. What the hell is wrong with you?' Mrs. Sampson yelled and Daniela cringed. This was the third time in the week that Mrs. Sampson had yelled at her and Daniela had no idea what she had done to make her so mad
'I'm sorry,' Daniela answered meekly, having quickly learnt from Evelyn that it was best to apologize under any circumstances.
'Shut up, and get out of my sight,' Mrs. Sampson snarled and Daniela bowed her head. Her work was still sitting on the table behind the old woman and Daniela desperately wanted to grab all of her belongings and leave the room. Shuffling to the table, she began to pick up her work, but all of a sudden, Mrs. Sampson yanked her arm harshly and Daniela let out a small gasp of pain.
'Just what do you think you are doing?' Mrs. Sampson thundered. Before Daniela could formulate a response, a slap landed on her cheek and Daniela instinctively reached up to slap it away, much to Mrs. Sampson's chagrin.
'You dare touch me?' Mrs. Sampson shrieked and completely lost control. Picking up a frying pan that was conveniently laying next to her, she slapped it against Daniela's head. Daniela's cry of pain only serves to infuriate her even further. Tossing the frying pan away and picking up another wooden spatula, she began to dish out her punishment, inflicting a large amount of pain on Daniela's small body.
Daniela tried to focus on something in front of her, but darkness threatened to overwhelm her, and as much as she fought against it, she could feel herself slowly slipping away. The images of Stella and Mac swam in front of her and a small smile appeared on her face. Her world then went black and she lost consciousness.
*Silence*
'Mac, where is Stella? She is not picking up her phone,' Flack called, urgency laced in his voice as she spotted Mac and jogged over.
'I think she's working in ballistics. Is something wrong?' Mac asked.
'A girl called Evelyn Giles just showed up at the precinct. She is looking for someone called Stella or Mac. She said that they were the only names that a girl she knew has mentioned in her stay at the foster home,' Flack told him.
The words 'foster home' registered in Mac's brain, and he immediately knew whom the young girl was talking about. The only recent contact that he had with anyone child in foster care was Daniela Myerson.
'What happened?' Mac asked, dread growing in his stomach.
'Apparently, the foster mother, Mrs. Sampson had beaten her repeatedly with a frying pan and a spatula. They have managed to get her to the hospital, but they don't know how she is doing. Mac, the girl is Daniela,' Flack told him, but before he could finish his sentence, Mac was already rushing towards the ballistics lab, hoping to be able to be the one that tell Stella about Daniela.
Looking in, he saw that Stella had just finished firing the gun, and was running the striae against all the known ones in the database. Looking up, she spotted Mac at the doorway and gave him an easy smile.
'Hey, Mac. I'll have the results for you in a second,' Stella told him, as the images flashed across the screen of the different bullets.
'Stella…' Mac started and stopped. He had no idea how he should tell her about Daniela's condition. He knew that Stella's previous experiences at foster homes made her more sensitive during subjects like these, and he was not sure that he could hold her back from killing Mrs. Sampson. In fact, he did not know whether he wanted to hold her back.
'Mac, is everything ok?' Stella asked, seeing how nervous he was, and Mac gave a little chuckle. No matter how well he tried to hide it, he could never hide any emotion or feelings from Stella. She can read him like an open book at any time.
'Stella, it's Dani. She's… hurt,' Mac told her, watching Stella's reaction carefully.
'Hurt? How?' Stella asked, knowing that he was hiding something behind that little pause before using the word 'hurt'.
'The foster parent was… not the best one there is,' Mac told her, and that explained everything to Stella. She crumbled internally, and Mac was right next to her in a second, holding her in his arms as she tried to calm her down. Although he knew that their relationship was supposed to be a secret, and that the walls around the lab were made of glass, allowing everyone to see what was happening, he could not care less at that moment.
'How bad?' Stella whispered, wanting to know the answer, but fearing it at the same time.
'They don't know yet,' Mac answered, his shoulder slumped.
'Where is she?' Stella asked, brushing away her tears.
'Mercy General,' Mac answered and Stella started taking off her lab coat.
'I need to see her. I need to know…' Stella started and Mac held up his hands.
'I'm coming too, Stella. I'll get Danny to take charge for a while. She'll be alright,' Mac reassured her, but Stella shook her head.
'This is my fault, Mac. If I had insisted that she stayed with us, this would have never happened. This is all my fault,' Stella told him softly, and Mac placed a hand under her chin and gently tilted her face until she looked at him.
'Stella, listen to me. This is not your fault. She will be fine, and we will get her back. Do you hear me?' Mac told her, authority ringing within his voice.
Nodding, Stella sighed. 'Why? She has done nothing that deserved such brutalism to her. How can anyone do this to a child?'
'I don't know, Stella, but she'll pay. The person who did this to her will pay for what she did to her and countless other children one day,' Mac told her. 'Let's go.'
As they were heading out of the lab, Mac beckoned Danny over, who was with Lindsay and Danny.
'Flack has already told us what happened. Go take care of that little girl,' Danny told him as he was coming over, and Mac nodded gratefully. Neither Stella nor Mac noticed that their hands were entwined in each other, holding on tightly for support, but that did not go unnoticed by any of the other three. They gave a glance to each other, and silently agreed not to say anything.
After the doors of the elevator closed behind them, Danny turned to face his wife and best friend. Walking over to them, he looked at them both seriously.
'Do you think Daniela's going to make it?' Danny asked.
'She made it through the murder of her friends and her own kidnapping. She's a tough girl,' Lindsay answered. 'She'll be fine.'
'I hate it when something happens to kids. It could have been anyone. It could even have been Lucy,' Danny growled, and Lindsay placed her hand on his shoulder, effectively calming him down.
'I'm worried about Stella though,' Flack spoke up. He had seen the haunted look in the eyes of the woman who he loved like a sister. He knew of her experiences in the foster systems and he was worried about how she was going to take this.
'I'm glad that she and Mac are together now. He'll always be there for her and maybe this time, she won't push him away,' Lindsay answered.
'They'll all get through this,' Danny spoke up decisively. 'They have each other, and Daniela has both of them. They'll all be alright.'
A/N: Hooray, a new chapter. I swear that I was planning on updating on Monday, because we have a week with no exams in between, but the idea of simply taking a break from everything was just too tempting, and so, I procrastinated. I hope that this chapter makes up for the long wait.
As usual, PLEASE REVIEW. Criticisms are much appreciated, but no flamers please.
A massive thank you for those who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are the reason that I feel so guilty for procrastinating.
Zoe tabbycat