Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Hanna Malone was struggling to keep her clothes on. She and Ray were at a party at someone's house, although right now she couldn't quite remember whose. She couldn't figure out how she had managed to get this drunk on beer, but she knew she was loaded. She could barely see straight, and Ray was trying his best to get off bra off, while his other hand tried to inch past the waistband of her jeans. She knew she didn't want that. She wasn't quite that drunk. She pushed at his hands, but that only made him try harder. His kisses had turned brutal, and finally she realized she didn't have a choice. She pushed hard against his chest, and when that didn't work, she did what her dad had taught her. She kneed the asshole in the balls as hard as she could.
And just as her dad had said, it worked like a charm. One minute Ray was pawing her like a caveman, and the next he was on the ground, writhing in pain. Hanna looked around in panic for help, but no one was around. She started to run.
Kevin was starting to get worried. Hanna wasn't answering his e-mails or IMs, and she wasn't answering her cell. He hadn't told his mom, but he and Hanna had been e-mailing each other regularly since their parents had introduced them online. He didn't think she was really interested in him, even though she came off like a flirt. He thought she didn't know to act, so she fell back on that. But he liked her anyway. She had said she was going out with her boyfriend, who sounded like a real loser to him, and it was already two a.m. in New York, and she still hadn't answered. He knew it could mean nothing. She could have been tired and gone straight to bed. Or she could have gotten wasted at that party, and something could have happened to her. He didn't have to have a cop for a parent to know what went on at those parties. Having a teacher for a mom was bad enough; she always thought in worst-case-scenarios. But he had a bad feeling something was wrong. She'd e-mailed or called him before when she'd gotten home late from a party, and it bothered him that she wasn't calling him now. He could hear his mom in her bedroom, talking to Jack on the phone, and he knew what his mom would expect him to do; he just couldn't make himself do it. Not yet.
His phone rang. Hanna. When he answered it, she was crying.
"Jesus, Hanna, I've been so worried. Where've you been?"
"I was at a party with Ray, and we…he…oh, God, Kevin, it was awful. He tried to…he was going to…I kicked him in the balls and got out of there."
"Where are you, Hanna?"
"What difference does it make? It's not like you can come by and pick me up."
"Call your mom."
"I can't. I'm... uh... I'm kind of in New York. Ray has some friends here."
"You're in New York. I'll call your dad. He'll come pick you up."
"No! Please don't call my dad. He'll be so pissed, and he'll probably kill Ray." And me.
Good, Kevin thought, but he was thinking now. "How about Samantha? She'd come." Hanna had talked about her once, how they had hung out a lot when Samantha was with her dad.
"Hello? She and my dad aren't together anymore. She won't come."
"I bet she will. Call her and ask her, and call me right back."
She finally agreed, and Kevin hung up and went to his mom's room. It was weird how his mom kind of seemed to glow when Jack was around, or even when she talked to him on the phone. He could see how happy his mom was, and he kind of loved Jack for that. He took a deep breath. "Mom? I need to talk to you."
She looked at him in surprise. "What's up, honey?" She told Jack, "hold on a sec."
"Mom, I talked to Hanna just now. She was at a party with her boyfriend, and he tried to…well, he tried to go further than she wanted to go, and she got out of there. She needs a ride home, and she's afraid to call her mom and dad. I told her to call Sam for a ride, but I wanted Jack to know what was going on. She said she'd call me back."
Kate looked at her son like she didn't know who he was. Since when did he talk to Hanna Malone? But it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he'd told her. "Thank you, son. I'll tell him for you."
"Jack? Yeah, I have some news for you. Hanna had to fight off the boyfriend at a party, and she's scared to call you or Maria. No, She's in New York. Kevin says he told her to call Sam for a ride, and he's waiting for her to call him back." She grinned at Kevin as she held the phone away from her ear as Jack started to yell. "He needs to get that out," she explained, returning the phone to her ear. "Are you better now? Good. Why don't you hang up the phone and call Sam, and call me back later, okay? Okay. I love you, too. Bye."
She looked up at Kevin. "Yes, I love him. Do you have a problem with that?"
Kevin sat down next to her. "I just want you to be happy, Mom. If Jack makes you happy, then I say, go for it."
She put her arm around him and hugged him like he was still her little boy which, of course, in her heart, he was. "Okay, now tell me about Hanna."
The phone rang, and Brian grabbed it before it could wake up Sam or Finn. He blinked and turned to Samantha, who was already alert and reaching for the phone. "Phone's for you," he said.
Sam woke instantly, a side-effect of the job. "Spade," she rattled off. "Hanna? What's wrong?" She could hear her crying and sat up in bed.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you, it's just…I don't know who to call. If I call my mom or dad, they'll kill me. I don't want to be lectured all the way home. I just…can you come and pick me up? Please?"
Sam sighed and looked over at Brian, who had not gone back to sleep but was watching her warily. She sighed. "Where are you? Okay, you're close to the bus station. Go there and wait for me. I'll be there in half an hour." She hung up and looked at Brian again. "It's Hanna, Jack's daughter. Apparently her boyfriend got too physical and she had to fight back. She's stranded and needs a ride home. Look, she and I bonded, okay? Just because Jack and I aren't together doesn't mean I don't still care for her, just like I know Jack still cares for Finn." He looked at her, and she bristled. "What, you think the feelings just go away, just because he doesn't see him anymore?"
Brian just looked at her. "So maybe he should come and see him sometime, take him to the park or something. I can understand that. I'm sure Finn would like to see him, too."
Sam didn't know what to say, so she just leaned over and kissed him. Funny how he could still surprise her. "I think that's a good idea. I'll ask him. I'll be back soon."
"Okay. Be careful," he said, even though he knew he didn't have to. She always was; it went with the territory.
In the car, she called Jack. "Hi, yeah, I'm on the way now. It doesn't matter what he thinks, Jack, Hanna needs me and that's all that matters. Actually, he was okay with it. He also said maybe sometime you should come by and see Finn, maybe take him to the park or something, and I think it's a great idea, if you want to, that is."
His voice was gruff when he answered. "I would love it. Thank you, Sam, and tell the guy thanks for me." He still had trouble saying his name, and was unapologetic about it.
"Jack, I'll call you when I find her."
"Hey, if you have a chance to beat the hell out of the little shit, or even just to scare the crap out of him, by all means, please do."
"Believe me, there's nothing I would enjoy more. I brought my badge and my gun, just in case."
Jack chuckled. "That's my girl."
She didn't bother to correct him. In some ways, it would always be true, and she knew it. "Goodbye, Jack."
"Okay, okay. Bye."
He called Maria and got worked up again, then called Kate and was calmed down again. By the time Sam called to let him know that Hanna was fine and they were on their way home, he was exhausted.
When Hanna woke the next day, it was to a strange quiet apartment that she didn't recognize. Shit, she was still at Sam's. She'd refused to go to her dad's and had crashed on Sam's couch. She'd been up all freaking night, between that stupid party and then getting lectured by her her dad's ex. That should have earned her a day off. She wondered where everyone was, kind of wishing she could see Sam's little boy before she left, and then decided, the hell with it. Pulling on her shoes and her jacket, she left the apartment abruptly, almost bumping into her father at the base of the steps. She hadn't recognized him at first.
He wasn't in his usual uniform of plain black suit and white shirt, damn it; that was why she'd practically walked over him. He had on a plain white T-shirt under his battered leather motorcycle jacket, with jeans and the oldest pair of sneakers she'd ever seen. Probably the prototypes. God, she hadn't seen that jacket in years. His eyes were on her, even though he hadn't said a word to her yet. His hair was long, brushing his jacket, and he hadn't shaved today. She could tell, because her dad had like the quickest-growing beard of anyone she'd ever met. He had to shave like three times a day. He didn't look like her dad; he looked like a cop, which was probably the whole idea. He'd probably hoped to see Ray and kick the crap out of him. Not that she would mind that, really. She wanted to walk away, but didn't dare. He'd probably handcuff her in front of everybody. So instead she walked right up to him, lifting her chin defiantly. "What do you want?" she fairly snarled.
Jack looked at the precocious goth vixen that he'd been told was in actuality his little angel all grown up. He saw the long, straight, dyed-black hair, the row of earrings in each ear, the loop in her lip, all of which she had supposedly done herself, because she sure as hell hadn't had a parent's permission. He saw the heavy black makeup and the skimpy outfit, and he didn't see the little girl she'd been, the little girl he knew she still was deep inside, crying out for love and attention and affection. Instead, he saw what he knew others would see, what he knew the sick bastards he'd put away would see, and it was a curse of his job. He knew too well what happened to little girls trying to be grown up. "We need to talk," he said without preamble. "Let's go," he said, and Hanna rolled her eyes but followed him to the car. She knew she was screwed.
In the car, Jack just looked at her. He wished Kate were here. She would know what to say, what to do. She had, in fact, given him some ideas, but he thought he'd screw this up, anyhow. Don't yell at her, don't make it personal, came Kate's voice, calm and soothing. She had a low voice, he thought, for a woman, sort of husky and throaty and very sexy. And he was still looking at his daughter and still drawing a blank. Finally, he sighed.
"What can we do to fix this?"
Hanna was actually impressed. He wasn't acting like nothing was wrong, and everything was perfect but her, which is what everyone usually did. Shit. Now she'd have to actually talk to him.
"I don't know," she said quietly. She didn't know where to begin. Everything had gotten so fucked up, and she couldn't go back.
"Would it help to get out of this school?" He asked it so quietly, so kindly, so much like he actually understood that Hanna felt tears sting her eyes.
"Maybe. But that's not gonna happen. Where am I gonna go?"
He shrugged. "You could live with me again for a while, try a change of scene. New group of friends, new wardrobe that doesn't advertise quite so loudly."
She rolled her eyes again, but she was listening. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at him as if he'd just grown a second head. "You don't want me to live with you. It didn't even work last time."
He shrugged again. "Why not? It's not like you'll be in the way of anything. It's just me and the cockroaches. Think about it. You could start over fresh." She started to complain and he help up both hands. "Just think about it, it's just an idea. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you had plans for spring break."
Yeah, me and some friends are gonna stay high all week long, she almost said, and then stopped herself. She hadn't really wanted to hang out with those losers anyway. What the hell?
"Not yet. Why?"
"I'd like to take you and your sister on vacation for the week, if it's okay with you."
He got the narrowed-eye look again. "You don't want to take us on vacation. You don't even do vacation."
He laughed at that. She had a point. "Well, I'm taking a week off. I want to be with you and your sister, and I want to go to San Antonio and introduce you two to Kate and her boys."
Hanna snorted. "So that's what this is about. A booty call."
Jack threw up his hands in mock exasperation, careful to keep from losing his temper. Kate would be proud; her lessons were actually sticking. Lesson #1 in Dealing with Teenagers 101 for Dummies: Don't let her make you lose it; that's their thing. Pushing buttons: it's what they do. "Fine, you don't want to go to SeaWorld and the Riverwalk, that's okay. I'm sure Katie and Kate and the boys and I will have a great time without you." He grinned. He couldn't believe that he had two Kates now. Just another reason to call the elder Kate 'Katie,' which made her roll her eyes, which, of course, was one of the reasons he enjoyed it so much. He'd tried it with his own Kate years ago and she had flat-out refused.
She looked at him askance again. "You hate all that kind of stuff."
"Yeah, I'm counting on the company making it worth my time." Meaning you, you little…
"Kevin seems okay. We chat or IM every day, pretty much. His mom's kind of weird, though."
Jack smiled at that. If she only knew… "It would just be a week, Hanna. I think we'd have a good time. Think on it. You can let me know later. I still have to talk to your sister."
"Mom'll freak."
"She's fine with it. We talked about it."
"You talked to Mom? When?"
"Last night? When you pulled your disappearing act? And last week, too."
Oh. Yeah. Last night.
The look in her dad's eyes let her know that he sure as hell hadn't forgotten last night. "Listen, you can come and live with me or you can stay with your mom, but something's going to change. You let me know what it's going to be."
Hanna rolled her eyes again as Jack started the car and pulled out into traffic.
"Where are we going?"
He shrugged. "Wherever you want. I was thinking ice cream. What do you think?"
He enjoyed her shocked look immensely as he kept driving, smiling a little at the satisfaction and relief that flooded him. Kate was a genius; he was getting exactly what he wanted without yelling, slammed doors or handcuffs. And Kate was right; keeping them guessing was worth it. He couldn't wait to call her and tell her how it had gone.
That night, as he lay in bed talking to her, he couldn't believe it had actually worked. "I felt almost like a real father," he said with so much wonder that she laughed.
"You are a real father," she reminded him.
"I haven't been a real father in a lot of years," he said with a sigh. "Maybe never."
"It's not too late to change that," she told him quietly.
"Yeah, I got that today. I never thought…I never thought I'd be any good at it, so I kind of stepped back and left all of that to Maria, figured I couldn't do too much damage that way. But today…today felt really good."
In San Antonio, Kate smiled, picturing him facing off with Hanna and keeping her off-balance enough to actually get her to listen. "I'm glad."