Chapter 21
"Why haven't we called the police yet? I didn't even think to do it." Amelia started panicking when they were on their way down to the security room.
"We can't file a missing persons report until forty-eight hours have passed." He told her calmly.
"But Gordon-"
"Gordon can't do anything more than any other police man, there's protocol. We can, however, try and find her ourselves." He quickly cut in.
"Whoever hacked the system was good but, we had backup cameras that they obviously didn't take into account." The security guard informed them when they entered the back room. "We know for sure it was a man, by his size and physique. He looked around middle aged, but he had a black cap on and kept his body turned away from the cameras at all times. We zoomed in on the footage of him approaching Sophie, and she seemed to remain calm so, he probably lied about being a friend of the family."
"What about his mode of transportation? Did he drive a car?" Bruce asked the man, working hard to keep his voice level, his jaw hurt from being clenched so tight he thought it would just snap.
"He took a charter bus out going toward the Narrows; 42nd street. License plate number 'J-D-R-S-4-7-1' He looked like the only one on minus the driver, but we had a limited view from the street. I sent out a red flag to the people who monitor the stop light cameras to look out for the bus." The security guard informed them, not making eye contact.
"I'm going after her." Amelia said, taking her keys out of her jeans pocket. Bruce told her no, but just because they were in front of people, so he had to look like a protective fiance.
"One more thing, we found a janitor's outfit in the dumpster out back. So, whoever he is, he's been in the building for at least a week, that was when cleaning staff last hired someone."
"Thank you." Bruce growled. He couldn't believe he could let this happen in his own business. He needed to tighten up security, and monitor every hiring that went on.
"Bruce, let's go. I don't know how long we have." Amelia ground out from clenched teeth.
"Okay, but, cry. We don't want the paparazzi knowing we're going out to look for her." He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Amelia slumped her shoulders and put her head down, letting more tears fall from her eyes. When they exited the building, paparazzi were hovering outside the door to the parking lot, waiting for the distraught couple. Millions of questions flew their way, but they didn't answer any of them. Bruce just glared at all the cameras and Amelia kept her head down, making it obvious that she was crying. She waited until they were safely out of the parking garage and away from the paparazzi to put her head up, wiping away the moisture. She balled her hands into fists and put her head down once again, the anger taking back over. Bruce took one of her hands, after flipping on the radio.
'It seems our former playboy, Bruce Wayne, has finally given up the recklessness and embraced parenthood. We've been informed a couple minutes ago that Bruce's Fiance, Amelia's, adopted daughter, Sophie, was stolen from Wayne Enterprises daycare this very afternoon. The couple coming out of Wayne Tower looked, distraught to say the least. Bruce had on the face of a parent who's just been told their child had gone missing and Amelia was in tears. They refused to answer any questions, and left the parking lot in silence. Watch Gotham City News at ten on channel three-oh-five for more det-'
Bruce abruptly shut off the radio after the newscast. They had not left Wayne Tower five minutes ago and they were already shelling out reports. And of course he'd looked like his child just went missing, she had! As far as Bruce was concerned, Sophie was his child.
"Bruce, when we have kids of our own, the paparazzi are never getting sight of them. This can't happen again." Amelia muttered after a long silence.
"Agreed." Was all he said. He was afraid of taking his anger out on her to say anything more.
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"So, you're a friend of my mommy's?" Sophie asked, swinging her legs back and forth as she munched on chicken nuggets. She didn't know who this man was, but he said he knew Bruce-y and he gave her chicken nuggets.
"Yup. I've known your mommy for a while." The man said. His voice was deep and he had steel blue eyes, and close cropped brown hair.
"Is mommy coming here to get me?" She looked him in the eye. The man was sitting across from her at the table, just looking at her, as if she were about to make a sudden move and he was ready to pounce.
"We'll see." He answered shortly. He couldn't stand the thought of Amelia having children. She's mine. She couldn't have had kids.
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When Bruce and Amelia arrived at the bus depot in the narrows, they found the bus they were looking for refueling. They found the short, tubby, bus driver at the vending machine getting a bag of chips.
"Remember Bruce, this man may not know what's going on. Try and be calm." Amelia advised as they approached the man. Bruce leaned casually against the vending machine until the man noticed him and looked over at him.
"You dropped off a man and a little girl a little while ago. Where did you take them?" He asked as calmly as he could. The man looked to the left of him nervously.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Ain't no one been on my bus." He said nervously.
"Tell me where you took them." He said through clenched teeth.
"Look, buddy, that's none of your business." He said, picking up his bag of chips out of the machine. Bruce slammed his hand against the machine so hard the man thought it would break.
"It is my business! The man stole my child from my work place, and God only knows what he's doing to her right now." He yelled threateningly.
"Alright. He paid me to take him to Lane Avenue house number two-forty-three. Just, don't hurt me. I didn't know what he was going to do. He said it was his niece." He plead to Bruce pathetically.
Bruce growled and stomped back to his car, taking Amelia with him. He jammed his key into the ignition and the car roared to life. As they made their way over to Lane Avenue at top speed, Amelia was stressing herself out by expecting the worst. Who could have stolen Sophie, and why?
The house was rather easy to locate, it was the last one on the block, and by far the biggest. It also had been abandoned from the look of the weather beaten siding and shutters. Some of the second floor windows had holes in them, and it looked like there was a gap in the roof.
"I'm going in." He said cutting off the engine a few houses down.
"I'm going with you." Bruce had been about to protest when Amelia cut him off, "Sophie is my daughter, my responsibility. Besides, who knows who kidnapped her. We'll both be needed in there."
"Fine, but you get Sophie out of there, and you leave. I'll handle this." She nodded as they made their way over to the house. Amelia looked around the property nervously, expecting someone to pop out and attack at any moment. The air was tense, and they were both poised for attack.
"Crap. I know who took her." She whispered, looking into the house. She could see Sophie sitting at the table with a jug of chocolate milk, and a man sitting across from her through the back window. "That man in there was my neighbor, back in California, when I was sixteen, we had to take a restraining order against him because he was popping up everywhere I went. We found out later that he had been stalking me for a while. He was twenty-one when I was sixteen, and it went on for about two years, until he just moved away. Now he's in there with my child, which means he's probably been watching me for a while. Long enough to know I've adopted. That means he knows who you are too. What have I done?" She started panicking, this man was not right. He had buggy eyes, and unwashed, dirty blond hair.
"You didn't do anything wrong. Look, I'm going to go in there, and confront him. This window is unlocked. You sneak in while he's distracted, take Sophie, and run."
"No, I need to be there. I don't know what he's capable of, and two heads are better than one. I'm gonna take Sophie to one of these houses, and come back. Please, don't do anything stupid, or painful, until I get back."
"Okay. Wait until he leaves the dining room then come in. Open the window so you're ready." She nodded and started lifting up the window as Bruce made his way back around to the front. She heard the door open and slam close, and she saw Rick, was his name, get up and go to the front room.
"Sophie!" Amelia whispered loudly. "Sophie! Hey!" She finally got her attention, and Amelia signaled for Sophie to be silent. She motioned her to tip-toe over to the window, which she did, and Amelia grabbed Sophie and ran her over to the nearest house, which was housing an elderly couple. "Please, I have to go back and help my fiance, can you watch my daughter? I can pay you anything!" She plead with the elderly woman.
"Nonsense, dear, you're Amelia Bennet, hand her over, we'll watch her until we get back." Amelia looked skeptical until she saw the news playing in the background and figured they saw her story on the news. She handed Sophie over, told her to be good, and ran back next door.
When she got back, she noticed that they were simply circling each other silently, waiting for an opportunity.
"Rick, what are you doing here?" Amelia yelled from the doorway, marching over to him and smacking him on the face.
"I just had to see your beautiful face again, so we can live out our future like you promised we would." He said, pathetically.
"What are you talking about?" She hollered.
"You promised that once you grew up, you would come find me and we'd live together. It seems you've forgotten our promise to each other, and moved on." He looked over to Bruce and glared daggers.
"Of course I moved on, I never made that promise! That was almost fourteen years ago."
"Well we can still be together." He said, grasping her hand in his. He felt her ring and ripped it off her finger, tossing it to Bruce. She sighed heavily and did anything she could to distract him, so, she kissed him. His lips were dry and cracked, and the kiss was very forceful, and not in a good way. During the kiss, Amelia waved Bruce over to knock him out or something. Bruce finally got the hint when he looked up from clenching his fists, and moved behind 'Rick' and punched his right temple.
"I was wondering if you'd ever do that." She groaned, wiping her lips, trying to cleanse them somehow. "I was going too, but I thought I'd give you the satisfaction."
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"Well, we pumped her stomach and took a blood sample, and looks like the only thing he gave her was chicken and chocolate milk. Nothing out of the ordinary. Everything is in check, not one hair misplaced on her head." The doctor informed them cheerily.
"Thank you, doctor." Amelia smiled, he nodded and walked away. "You ready to go, munchkin?" Sophie nodded her head, and got down from the bed. She looked at Bruce talking to the Commissioner and told him they'd be waiting in the car.
"He's conscious, and in a holding cell. We put out a new restraining order. He's being shipped back off to California into their jurisdiction." Gordon informed the young billionaire.
"Thank you, Gordon. It means a lot." Bruce said, genuinely.
"No problem, just try to be more careful." Bruce nodded, shook his hand, and signed Sophie out before heading over to the door and headed home.
"So, that guy wasn't a friend of the family?" Sophie asked innocently.
"No, Tidbit. And next time someone comes up to you and says so, you come and get either me or Amelia, or the adult that's watching you. Don't talk to strangers." Bruce told her, he saw her nod from the back seat. Bruce took Amelia's hand and kissed it. "Any other psychotic stalkers I need to know about?"
"No, I'm pretty sure that's the last one." She said with a smile. "Now, let's go home, and pretend this never happened."
"Agreed." Bruce replied.
A/N: Well, there you have it. This was kind of a last minute plot line, as somewhat of a filler and I had to rewrite the last half so, I ope it didn't suck too much.
Good? Bad? Lemme know!