A/N: Okay, so I had this semi-long and witty author's note going on, along with a very blasphemous disclaimer that was totally great, but totally pulled some crap on me saying that I had not logged in (even though I was in the document-editing page where I am now...) and totally deleted it all! So, yeah, long story shot (too late!), here is ch. 10 and ch. 11 is on it's way a whole-hell-of-a-lot sooner than it took to grind out 10! Mainly because it's already written on paper, just needs to get onto the computer....

Disclaimer: I don;t own anything that you recognize from anywhere other than my story, and, no, I'm not making money off of this!

Happy reading!

Two days. She had been missing now for two days and there had still been no word leaked, no leads, just nothing. Dog and Jaime had gone over Hansen's path to work with a fine-tooth comb and had returned nothing. Nobody saw her, or at least that's what they said. It was like she had just vanished, like she was never there to begin with. And Billy knew that the longer they went without finding her, the chances of finding her alive were getting smaller and smaller.

In these two days, Billy had been refusing to go home, avoiding the apartment, their home, since she disappeared. But now here he stood, in front of the door, not willing to face the emptiness that lay on the other side. He wouldn't even be standing here if it hadn't been for Bodie.

"Go home," his lieutenant had commanded him. "You're no use to her or us if you're walking around half dead."

Had it been anyone else to order him like that, Billy would have given them the ass-chewing of their life, if he didn't put a bullet in their skull first, but he knew Bodie was right. Any sleep or rest he'd been desperately needing, he'd been taking in twenty minute intervals while sitting in the chapel, but it still had left him exhausted, shortening the already miniscule fuse on his temper.

Well, he told himself, I can't sleep out here in the hallway. Faster I get some rest, faster I can get back to what's important.

And with that, Billy fished his keys from his pocket, unlocking the multiple locks, and then placed his keys back into his pocket. As he reached out to open the door, he quickly retracted his hand, bringing it up to his face, nervously wiping his nose. His hand was shaking at the thought of the desolate household.

Due to habit, Billy looked around him, making sure no one caught his trembling. He was glad that Joe had opted to stay at the Office; it wasn't in him to show that kind of weakness to anyone, including his baby brother.

With one final sigh, Billy rapidly pushed open the door, watching it swing back slowly. His stomach felt like it had dropped through the floor; he could almost see Hansen running towards him, ready to jump into his arms at the sight of him, the way she did when they first moved in together.

Billy walked determinedly through the ghost and towards the bedroom, shedding his jacket and placing it on the back of a chair on his way. First and for most, he decided he needed a shower.

He stood underneath the showerhead, one hand against the wall supporting his weight as he let the steaming hot water roll off of his body. Though the pressure of the water and the steam was helping with his physical tension, he could feel the gears in his mind working on overtime, yet getting nowhere.

Anger at this whole situation was taking over and clouding his brain. There was no solution in reach, no clues to lead to getting her back, just enormous clouds of despair. And as the hopelessness rose, coming over him in a fit of rage, Billy slammed a punch at the shower wall, cracking the tile into tiny fragments that fell to the bottom of the tub.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he put on a new pair of boxers, lying back onto the pillows. The smell of cherry vanilla and cigarettes suddenly infiltrated his nose, and Billy sat straight up, rubbing his face. He couldn't sleep here, not in their bed, not while knowing she wasn't in it.

In desperate need of a smoke, Billy walked out onto the balcony. He sat in one of the chairs, lighting up a cigarette. After a deep drag, he watched as the smoke from the end of his cigarette swirled in obscure patterns.

Billy parked outside of the home, dropping her off for the night. It had been a silent ride back from the party, his pre-initiation party. He didn't know what to say to her. He knew she had been dreading this day, the destiny that lay before him had caused quite a number of fights. But what could he do? This was who he was before she had come into his life. This was who he was going to be, this is who he had to be.

Instead of saying anything at all, he just leaned over to kiss her before he had to go. But when he did, she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, not letting go. The kiss deepened for a moment, it was new yet familiar and before he could place these feelings, she let go. He could see the tears in her eyes that she was trying her best to hold back. She was scared, and she had every right to be. There were no comforting words he could give her, so he just ignored the tears, knowing they weren't going to change what was to be done.

"What was that for?" he asked regarding that kiss, a shadow of a smile laced with confusion playing on his lips.

"Because I love you," she had told him quickly, getting the words out before she chose otherwise. "And because I want you to be safe. Come back to me in one piece, okay?"

He kissed her once more, just a quick one, meant to promise her that he would come back. She gave him a simple nod in understanding, and then exited the car. He watched her in the rearview mirror, watched her stand on the foot of the stairs in front of the home, watching him drive away.

He hadn't told her at that moment, but there was no denying it: He loved her. That was the bottom line. He loved that girl and everything that she represented for him. Since the moment he saw her sitting on the steps of that group home, he knew she would be his. A cocky thing to think, but that was the truth of it. She was a permanent fixture in his life, even back then, sitting on those steps, neither one having to talk, just knowing the other was there was enough. She gave him so many things that he never thought he'd have: love, family, a future.

A future. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he might've had one of those. Hell, he'd made it into his twenties, not something he'd think would ever happen. He'd been running drugs and other various illegal items for Bones since he was eleven, he was sure that one day someone would pick him off, end his life to save some money. But, now here he was, twenty two and still alive, with a whole lot more than he'd ever thought he'd have.

And family, she'd made that. Sure, he and Joe looked after one another, but Billy knew that one day he and his brother would go their separate ways, always connected by blood and the gang, but not always together. But she had given him the kind of family you come home to everyday, a home and the love of a good women. The all-American dream he never thought he'd have.

Above all, she loved him, unconditionally. He thought he'd lost her that day in the Office. He'd been sure he'd come home to find her gone. And all day he had resented her for making him feel guilty about that, blamed her for him wanting more. He would have been fine having nothing but the gang and his, for lack of a better word, "job", but she had introduced him to more and he was almost mad at her for it. But when he got home that night, she wasn't gone. He walked through the door and found her waiting for him, telling him that she was always going to be there. And she had meant it, proved it even. She'd always been there. Even if he hadn't loved her, which he did very much so, he owed it to her to get her out of this danger.

Still halfway expecting Hansen to walk out onto the balcony and wrap her arms around him, Billy fell fast asleep out in that folding chair.

-----------------------------

"Billy…" Hansen called. He heard her calling him, her voice like the wind, carrying his name to his ears. He felt her warm breath on his ear, her arms wrapped around him. "Baby, wake up."

"C'mon, babe," she sweetly whined. "Please wake up."

Billy opened his eyes slowly, turning over to face her. They were in their bed, she was right there, right in front of him, wrapped in sheet just as she was every morning, staring at him lovingly, but there was something hidden in her eyes. She had a small smile on her face, but her eyes held fear and worry. He gave her a quizzical look, wanting to ask what she was worried about, but before he could, she spoke again.

"You have to wake up," she told him, the anxiety spreading into her voice. "You have to come find me. Please, you have to save me. Please…"

She just kept saying please over and over again, first sweetly until it turned into a pleading, like the way someone pleaded for their life. Then, with an ear piercing scream of fright, she was gone.

Billy woke up with a start, nearly falling out of the chair as he sat straight up. He checked his watch; he'd been asleep for four hours. He lit a cigarette, shaking off the ghost of her embrace, wiping his nose as he shook himself to wake up some more. He could still see her, just as she was in his dream, her body covered with a sheet. He remembered her words. "You have to save me…" But most of all, he remembered that scream as it still echoed in his ears.

After throwing his cigarette over the ledge, he walked inside, putting on some clean clothes. Sleep had been good for him, though the waking up part now left him with an underlying guilt. But now there would be no mercy.

As he dressed, he called Bodie, telling him to gather everybody and meet up at the Office.

---------------

Billy parked in front of the stairs at the entrance to the building, he didn't care about trying to hide his car, he knew what was going to happen now, knew what the next step was.

He found everyone gathered in the cook room, standing there silently, awaiting his order. He looked out over the gathered troops and remembered each and every one of them from when they were all kids, running the streets, not in power, but for the fun of it. They had all grown up together, became family. He'd be damned if anyone of them didn't think the same. They weren't sentimental people, they just had their facts: Your family is your family, and you protect what's yours.

"For the past two days," he began, "We've been taking it easy, trying to move under the radar. Now, two days later, we still have no results. It's time to play hardball, boys. I don't care who you have to kill, how you gotta torture 'em, I want answers. We consider ourselves a family, and Hansen has been a part of this family for years. They, whoever they are, have taken one of ours. Now we're going to find out who, by whatever means necessary. And I mean whatever means necessary."

Joe unlocked the door, letting Bailee enter before him. Taking one last look around the hallway, his brother's paranoid habits having rubbed off on him sometime in life, Joe closed and relocked the door.

He was beat, physically exhausted. He had been out all day and night for the past two days, trying to find just one tiny bit of information on what had happened to Hansen. He was just as frantic as Billy on this whole matter. Hansen was, by every definition, his sister. True, they weren't blood related, but what did that matter? Especially when the people you were connected to by blood were the lowest forms of shit that you knew. With the exception of his brother, Hansen was the only other person who he actually felt like he mattered to.

Sure, he knew that Bodie and the rest of the gang would defend him, put their own lives on the line for his, but Hansen was the one who sat with him at the clinic when his tattoo got infected, the girl who took care of him when his brother had gone to jail, the one who had bought him birthday presents and made their tiny apartment into the first place where he actually felt like he had a home, not just a place to crash.

Joe heaved one more sigh and then collapsed on the couch. Bailee came and sat down next to him, letting out her own long sigh.

"You look tired," she said quietly, looking over at Joe.

"I am," Joe admitted, laying his head on her shoulder.

"So go rest," she told him with a shake of her head.

"Come with me," he said, standing up. He offered her a hand, which she accepted, and lifted her into a standing position. She stood close to him, barely even an inch between the two of them, staring into each other's eyes. Bailee reached up, cupping Joe's face with her hand. Joe leaned into her touch, closing his eyes at the softness of her hand and wrapping his arms around her waist.

Without thinking, Bailee stood on her toes and placed a soft kiss on Joe's lips. Joe deepened the kiss and his hold on her tightened as her arms wrapped around his neck. He kept his hands in the same spot, never reaching for the bottom hem of her shirt or between her legs, just held her close to him. Then he pulled away.

Bailee opened her eyes and looked up at him, an unspoken "Why?" written across her brow. Joe smiled down at her and kissed her forehead.

"C'mon," Joe told her, taking both of her hands in his. "Let's go rest."

Joe led her to his bedroom and they both kicked off their shoes, Joe stripping down to his boxers and Bailee into one of Joe's wifebeaters and his pajama pants. After climbing in, Joe pulled Bailee up against him and she tucked her head underneath his chin as he pulled the blanket around them.

"As much as I wish this was under better circumstances," Bailee whispered to Joe, "I'm really glad I came back."

"Me, too," Joe told her, placing another kiss on her forehead.

Baggie and Dawg walked the path that Hansen took to work once more. It was about the fiftieth time they had tried to do this, but neither one of them was about to fight Billy on the subject. He was out for blood and they weren't about to end up on the wrong end of the gun. So, here they were, walking the path to the Four Roses, hoping to find some new shred of evidence to lead to the safe return of Hansen, not only a large part of Billy and Joe's life, but the whole gang's.

"Do you think we're gonna find anything?" Dawg asked Baggie.

Baggie took another long drag on his cigarette. "I sure the fuck hope so," he replied. "I'd really like to go back to Billy with some form of a fucking answer."

"Yeah, dude, me and you both," Dawg replied solemnly.

They continued down the path, then Baggie stopped. To the left of the pair was an alley that turned at the end of it, leading to the other block, cutting around the back of a building. It wasn't very dark, which was rare of an alley in this neighborhood, with most of the buildings being six stories or more.

Baggie looked to the alley, then back to his friend. "Do you think she would've taken the alley?" he asked.

Dawg shrugged. "She knows this area good, she might have if she was in a hurry."

With a final sigh, Baggie and Dawg made their way into the shortcut. It was pretty bare, no one around, the walls lined with mostly trash cans next to back doors.

"Trash hasn't been taken yet," Dawg noted, seeing that each can was not only overflowing but had multiple bags lying next to them.

"So now we're trash pickers?" Baggie muttered as he lifted the lid to inspect the closest can.

Five cans later, they had found nothing relating to their search, only bad smells and rotten food with the exception of a dead cat Dawg had found and let out a shill scream when he saw.

Finally, at the end of the turn, Baggie kicked a trash bag and heard a scrape from the bottom of the bag. Though he thought it was nothing, he figured it was worth it to see what it was. What did he have to lose at this point?

What lied beneath the bag was a cell phone, resembling the ones that the members of the SBE carried.

"Yo, Dawg!" Baggie called. "Think I got something!" Baggie moved around a couple of more bags and found a small backpack and a set of keys with a pepper spray keychain.

The leather backpack, they knew was one that Hansen usually took with her to her day shifts at The Four Roses, she kept a change of clothes for when she got off and a butterfly knife in the side pocket. The keychain had seven keys: four silver house keys, a key with flames on it, one with roses, and a car key, along with the can of pepper spray that carried with her for protection, and two silver letter key chains, a "B" and an "H".

"Those have got to be hers," Dawg said as he inspected the items with Baggie. Baggie handed over the bag and keys to Dawg, looking over the cell phone. It was scratched and dead, but the screen wasn't cracked. It had to be hers, it was the same as all the SBE members carried.

"Yo, let me see your phone," Baggie told Dawg. Dawg reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Baggie then proceeded to pop off the backs of the two phones and replaced her dead battery with the working one. When it powered up, Baggie checked the call list and contact list.

"It's hers," he concluded, seeing all of the members' numbers and a million missed calls from Billy's number. Baggie then pulled out his own phone and was about to dial Billy before they were interrupted

"What are you shitbirds doing?!" someone yelled. Dawg and Baggie both looked up to find an old man coming out of one of the back doors, walking towards them. "I'm sick of you junkies always rifling through the trash! We don't need none of you around here!"

"Whoa there, Pops," Dawg calmed the man. "We're not junkies, we're looking for our friend."

"In the trash?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Nah," Baggie stepped in. "She's been missing for a few days. She usually takes this way to work and this is her stuff. We're just trying to find her."

"Oh," the old man said, more calm now that he knew they weren't rifling for unwanted treasures.

"You seen anything like that around here a couple of days ago?" Baggie continued.

"Well, about two days ago, I saw a girl get thrown into the back of a car, but I just figured she was some druggie who owed money," he told them. "Shit like that happens around here more times than not."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"Well, I usually see her walking this way, I recognized the backpack," he told them. "She seemed in a hurry, was probably because some kid was following her."

"Who was following her?" Dawg asked this time.

"Some local kid, was wearing a red bandana around his neck, the way John Wayne wears in the old western movies," he said. "He followed her, but then when she turned the corner, he cut down the alley. He caught up with her at the street and then some car pulled up and they shoved her in."

"What kind of car?"

"Big black one, looked like the ones cops use," he said.

"Like a Ford Crown Victoria?"

"Yeah, like that. Well, he put her in the car. Then some other guy got out of the driver's side and handed him some money. Then they sped off, leaving the kid behind."

Baggie and Dawg looked at one another, communicating wordlessly. They had something. Hell, they had gold.

"Thanks a lot, man," Baggie told the older man.

"No problem, I hope you find your friend," he said. Baggie and Dawg started to walk away, heading back to the car to report back to the Office.

"Wait a sec!" the old man called again. Baggie and Dawg turned back to him. "That kid, he's a little punk-shit, always getting into trouble. He's usually hanging out at the basketball courts all night with a bunch of other little punks."

Baggie nodded, pulling out his cell and waving to the guy.

"What?" Billy answered after hte first ring.

"Hey, man," Bodie said. "We got something."

Would love to write a personal little thank you note to all my king reviewers of the last chapter, but it's 3am and I have to be up at 6, so... Thank you now, and thank you for the review I know you're getting ready to send!

-Ollie