Chapter 25...oh, teenagers! Hope that you enjoy, and please review!
Several hours later, things had gotten absolutely no better. It was nearing 11:00 pm, and the living room was crowded with people. Opie, Kozik, Piney, and the Prospects were all there, as were Tara and Gemma. Elliot and Karen had come after discovering that Tristen was not, in fact, at the Telford house where she told her parents she would be. Uncer was also there, and had called in any and all old contacts he had in an effort to help find the girls. Now, they were all playing the waiting games.
Every seat in the house was filled, but it was oddly quiet. Nobody was really talking, mostly because all subjects of conversation had been exhausted. By this point, they were all waiting for news. Fiona was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands, trying to keep herself calm. Tara had warned her, very gently, that at this point in her pregnancy, stress was not at all good for her or the baby. Filip was pacing, back and forth, across the living room. Just about every two minutes, he would check his phone, as if he was hoping Kerrianne had magically decided to text him or call him.
They hadn't heard a single word from Kerrianne, or Tristen, for that matter, since her text that afternoon. Filip had tried calling her about every ten minutes, but she hadn't answered. Eventually he supposed that she got tired of listening to the phone ring, because his calls then went straight to voicemail, indicating that she had turned the phone completely off. She had to know that, after talking to her teacher that afternoon, she would be in some pretty deep shit. He figured that she was just avoiding dealing with that shit for as long as she possibly could. If he was honest with himself, he was a little bit glad that she wasn't here right now, because he had absolutely no idea what he would say to her, nor how he would control himself if she was.
Opie had, fortunately, taken the initiative to inform every single trusted contact that the Club had that his girl was gone. Alvarez was having his guys keep an eye out, and the Grim Bastards and the Niners were on notice as well. He hoped to God that his Kerrianne had not done anything stupid enough to become involved in anything that would draw the attention of their contemporaries. They had done whatever was needed to get the name of this high school dealer out to the crews, and hopefully they would get a call with more information on that sooner, rather than later.
He wished more than anything that the rest of the guys weren't in prison. He was confident that, had Juice been here, he would have hacked into her computer, or traced her cell phone, or done some other kind of technological magic to locate her. Fiona had tried for a while to guess what Kerrianne's password might be, before giving up and nearly throwing the computer across the room. This prompted Tara's first comment about stress and pregnancy. If the other guys were here, they would have had a plan, they would be doing something. Filip felt like they should be out looking for her, but in reality, he was all too well aware that they really had no idea where to even begin to look.
Elliot and Karen had done what they could to contact some of the other parents at the school, but apparently, to most of them, it was not a major concern for them to have absolutely no idea where their kids were. He really didn't understand. All he wanted right now, more than anything, was for his daughter to be safe at home so that he could yell at her and hug her, probably at the same time. It was difficult for him to imagine that other parents were not nearly as concerned about this as he was. He was, in fact, relatively certain that once Kerrianne did actually come home, he would never allow her to leave again.
Unfortunately, Kerrianne wasn't his only concern at the moment. Fiona was also giving him more than enough reason to worry about her as well. It wasn't that she was going mad or crying or yelling. Actually, it was the exact opposite. She just had a steely, cold look on her face. She hadn't spoken more than a handful of words to anybody since they had gotten here, choosing instead to focus on doing whatever needed to be done to find Kerrianne. That was what he had expected her to do. The strange part was the fact that she wouldn't look at him, or anybody. There were no comforting gestures, no 'we're in this together' looks, no hand holding, no light touches to keep him grounded. She had all but retreated into herself, and it scared the hell out of him. Fiona was his rock, and without her, he was pretty much free falling.
Filip was contemplating going over to her, talking to her, holding her, hugging her, or just doing whatever he needed to do to get her to just fucking look at him, when a phone rang. A quick look around the room told him that it was Opie phone. He stood, frozen, as Opie answered it and listened in frustration to the one sided conversation. Opie caught his eye and gave a quick nod and thumbs up in his direction, letting him know that he had some information. Filip let out a breath that he hadn't even been aware he was holding, and listened, unable to get much of anything from Opie's side of the conversation. He wasn't sure how or when it happened, but he found himself standing next to Fiona's seat on the couch. He knew without even looking that she was staring intently at Opie also, waiting to hear the end result of the conversation. He breathed even easier when he felt her hand slide into his and he squeezed lightly, letting her know without words that it was going to be okay.
Opie hung up the phone before looking at Filip and speaking, "That was the Bastards VP. They have a lead and think that know where the little junior drug dealer might be. There is a house party up near Lodi. Said that they scoped out a group of kids around Kerri's age wearing some school uniforms. I've got the address."
"Let's go," was all Filip said. Most of the guys made for the door, and Filip was right along with them, until Fiona's hand, still holding his, stopped him.
"Go find Kerrianne and you bring her here. Bring her to me, Filip," was all she said.
He nodded once, and at the very last minute, leaned in to kiss her on the forehead, before following Opie out. Kozik, Miles, and the rest of the Prospects met them at the bikes. Opie nodded at them all before speaking, "Listen, the three of us will go in. I want you guys to hang back unless we call for you. As far as we know, it's just a bunch of stupid kids at a house party. There may be a complication," Opie said, turning to look at Filip. "This Lil Stoner kid. He has some Niner ties. We have to be delicate when handling this."
"I don't want anything from them except my kid. As long as they don't stand in the way of that, there will be no problems," Filip told them, climbing on his bike.
"And if they do stand in the way?" Opie asked, not really excited to hear whatever answer Chibs would come up with.
"Then God help them," Filip said, cranking his bike, indicating to them all that he was done talking and ready to go.
Within a half hour, Filip, Opie, and Kozik rode up to the address. There was most definitely a party happening inside. Part of Filip hoped that his little girl wasn't inside a party that looked too wild, even for him, but deep down, he knew that she was there. There were four Grim Bastards, and Filip was surprised to see Laroy and a few of his henchmen as well. He reminded himself to stay as cool and collected as humanly possible, but he really wanted to get in there and find his kid.
They exchanged pleasantries, before Laroy spoke up, "I hear that SAMCRO has some business at this party."
"My kid," Filip said. "She's in there."
"Listen, man, I get it. I am pretty sure that my little brother is in there too, so we can't go in guns blazing. There can't be blood here," Laroy demanded.
"All I want," Filip spoke through clenched teeth, "is my daughter. The rest will get worked out later. I just want to take my girl home."
All it took was a single nod from everybody there, and they made their way into the house. The music was outrageously loud, and it was nearly impossible to hear. When the screams of teenage girls, shocked to see several grown men in colors barge in, were added, it made thinking very, very difficult. Filip's eyes tried to scan the faces of every kid he saw. The amount of alcohol present made SAMCRO parties look tame in comparison, and he was almost sure he was getting a contact high.
He and the other men were looking for a familiar face, but there were just so many kids. He was beginning to think that they would never find her, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a face he recognized.
"Tristen! Tristen Oswald, don't move," he yelled, loud enough for her to freeze in place. He marched over to where the Oswald girl was standing, red plastic cup in hand, wearing what he hoped to God was not a school uniform. He didn't bother to lecture her about any of that. It wasn't her he was here for. He grabbed her by the arm, away from the shaggy haired boy she was with.
"Where is Kerrianne?" was the first and only thing to leave his mouth.
"I…listen…I just…we were…" the girl stammered. He stopped her with a look.
"Where. Is. Kerrianne?" he asked again.
"The last time I saw her, she was upstairs," Tristen whispered.
Filip shoved the girl at Kozik. He felt almost like he was in a dream. He didn't recall walking past everybody. He didn't remember making his way up the stairs and checking the face of each and every person he passed. All he vividly remembered was opening the door to the first bedroom and finding his daughter, his baby girl, in bed, shirtless, with a boy. Later, he would be glad that Opie had been there to stop him from going with his gut reaction, which was to kill the boy in question. Opie held him back, at least long enough for Filip to take a deep breath and clear his head. He looked over and met the eyes of his daughter.
"Da…" Kerrianne started, looking absolutely shattered at the position she had found herself in.
"Kerrianne, put your shirt on. We're going home," he managed to get out. He turned to look at the boy, who couldn't have been older than 16 or 17. "You. Look at my face. Remember what it looks like. If you ever come anywhere near my daughter again, if you ever even think about her again, my face will be the very last thing you ever see in this life. Do you understand me, boy?"
The kid nodded frantically, clearly terrified, before running out of the room. Kerrianne was crying hysterically at this point, and for the first time in her entire life, the tears did absolutely nothing to him. He waited until she was completely and fully dressed. Finally, she turned and, with a deep breath, looked up at him. It took him roughly half a second to pull her into his arms and hug her, probably tighter than he had ever hugged her in her life. He was beyond furious at her and the stupid, childish decisions she had made, but that in no way meant that he didn't love her more than life itself, that he wasn't thanking God for his baby girl being safe.
After a moment, he kissed the top of her head and said, "Let's go, Kerrianne."
She nodded and picked up her bag from the floor, before following Filip and Opie out of the room, down the stairs, past where Laroy was screaming at some kid, out the front door, and over to the bikes. Filip looked to make sure that Kozik had Tristen before turning and handing his helmet to Kerri. She took it from him, before looking up and saying, "Da, I'm…"
"Yeah, I know," he cut her off. "Let's just get you home. Your Ma has been frantic."
She climbed on the bike behind him as he cranked it to life. He pulled out in line behind Opie, both anticipating and dreading being home again. He knew that there was a conversation, probably a very heated one, that was going to take place between himself, his wife, and his daughter. Before the night was over, he would get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on with Kerrianne.