Wow, 100 reviews? You guys are awesome- I never expected this story to get this many reviews! Thank you : ) And special thanks for those of you that review every time I update- it means so much that you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it! In other news, this story will probably be wrapping up in about 5 more chapters. But never fear- oneshot tie-ins are your friends ; )
"What do you mean you talked to Declan?" Hotch demanded as soon as he was able to speak.
"I called Boston PD, and he just started working there- with a detective,"
"Seriously?" Monroe, the red-headed woman asked. "Isn't that where this whole thing started?"
"It's like hiding in plain sight," Harlan chimed in.
"Well, now Doyle's in Boston too," Burke reminded them. "This could get bad..."
"Which is why we've been invited to work with them," Morgan told them all. "We can still work with the police here, should we need them. But we need to get to Boston as soon as possible,"
"Does Emily know Declan's there?" Hotch asked, horrified at the thoughts of what could be happening there now.
Morgan shook his head. "I don't know- Declan didn't say. Legally his name's not even Declan anymore- he's gone by Tyler Brown since Emily told them Doyle found her ten years ago. It's a complete accident I found him, if I hadn't called that department and brought up this case we'd never have known that was him,"
"So what do we do?" Hotch asked a bit impatiently.
"We're going to take the jet to Boston. Hotch, you're coming with us. Once we get there we'll go to the police department and work with them to get Emily and Gabby back," Morgan explained. Hotch was looking for a more detailed plan, but he figured that was all he was going to get.
Twenty minutes and a phone call to Jack later, Morgan's team, plus Hotch were in the air- headed towards Boston. They talked about their future plan, but with no knowledge of what Emily knew about Declan's whereabouts, what she had been telling Doyle since he had them, or exactly how much Declan knew about the situation, there wasn't much they could plan for- except that no matter what they would get both Emily and Gabby back alive.
Once they landed, no one was more eager than Hotch to start taking the next steps. Finally, nearly three days later, he was where he knew he needed to be, where Emily and Gabby were. Knowing they were in the same city made Hotch anxious, if he could, he would find a way to that warehouse himself and get them back, but he knew no one would allow that, and somehow he had a clear enough head to know that would be extremely dangerous.
So, he waited for everyone to get settled in the conference room of the Boston police department. Hotch didn't catch anyone's name in the room that introduced themselves to him except for one- Tyler Brown.
"You probably know me as Declan, though," he added, laughing lightly, trying to break the tension as she shook Hotch's hand. Hotch smiled a little. Even if Declan had never introduced himself, Hotch probably would have figured out he was Doyle's son. His dark blonde, almost brown hair was a curly mess atop his head, but his eyes were just as blue as Doyle's had been. That was the characteristic that would have given it away.
"Okay," Morgan started. "Declan, what do you know?"
"All I know is that ten years ago Emily called Louise-my Mom for all intents and purposes- Emily called her and told her that we needed to relocate, that she had been found. She figured he would be looking for us next, so just like that, we left. We didn't pack anything, we didn't tell anybody, we just left. I changed my name, she changed hers, and we went to Phoenix, Arizona. That's where I stayed up until very recently. I graduated high school and went immediately to college, for law enforcement. I had no idea what I really wanted to do with it. I just knew I wanted to do something. I graduated college early because I was so into all my studies- and a job so happened to open up in Boston about two months ago, so I took it," Declan explained.
"You don't think any of Doyle's men are behind this, are you?" Morgan asked Hotch. Hotch shook his head.
"I don't think so, no," Hotch said. "He never planned on taking Emily too, just Gabby. And he took her to Italy. I think Boston was a spur of the moment decision- when he couldn't think of anywhere else to go,"
Declan nodded, then continued. "Anyway, so, I moved here, but I'm still the new guy so I haven't gotten to do much of anything yet. The only reason I get to help you out now is because I told them who I really was,"
"That's it?" Dunham asked.
"That's it," Declan confirmed.
"Okay, so Emily probably has no clue you're here. You haven't spoken with her at all right?" Greene asked.
"No- not since she told us to relocate. I wasn't supposed to talk to her at all, actually. She was supposed to tell Mom quickly and hang up. But I knew I might never talk to her again if I didn't then, so I begged Mom to let me. That's the last time we've spoken though. In any form of communication. No phone calls, no subtle meet ups, no e-mails, text messages, nothing like that," Declan told them honestly.
"So our biggest concern here now is what Emily's been telling him. You know she's said whatever she has to to keep her and Gabby alive, to keep Doyle distracted with his thoughts. But we have no way of knowing what she's said. What we do know, though, is that he's got an accomplice. Maybe more, but one for sure. We don't know how ruthless this guy is, but we've seen first hand the lengths Doyle will go through for his revenge," Morgan informed the room full of people.
"He's already had them for three days, almost," Hotch added. "I don't- I don't know how much time we have left," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, as if he didn't want to admit it, or maybe if he said it softly it would somehow be less true.
"Should we go to the warehouse now, or wait until tonight?" Monroe asked, pulling her hair back into a ponytail out of her face.
"If we go tonight, it will attract less attention. It'll also give us more time for an accurate plan to get everyone out. Is there anyway we could get a blue-print of that warehouse? Then we'd know entrances, exits, how many rooms, stuff like that," Morgan asked.
"If not, Garcia would pull it up. You know she doesn't mind," Hotch said.
"I'll work on that, and we'll go from there," Morgan said, nodding his head, pulling his phone out, and stepping out of the room to make needed calls for what would need to be acquired. Hotch glanced at the clock, it was mid-afternoon. He needed time to go by faster, he needed the sun to set. He needed to get Emily and Gabby back. He sighed, and waited, something he had grown increasingly sick of doing over the past few days.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Ian's reaction to Emily's false news was exactly what Emily expected. He yelled, and Emily moved herself away from Gabby before he had the chance to hurt her. He threw Emily against the wall, again. Emily was so used to it, she hardly felt the impact. Or maybe, she was so afraid she might have made the wrong decision the physical pain was nothing in comparison. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gabby get up and run over to the corner of the room, away from them. Emily didn't flinch as she looked Ian directly in the eyes, seeing nothing but fury and pain in them.
"You killed him!" Ian screamed at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and tightening his grip.
"No," Emily said firmly- she couldn't even lie about being the one to take Declan's life, even if she wanted to. "No, Ian. I didn't do it,"
"Then who did?" He asked, shaking her violently as he spoke.
"I don't know who did it, Ian," she said firmly. "But I'm still sorry,"
"You're sorry? Do you think that's going to make everything okay?" He asked her, his voice breaking as he spoke.
"It's not okay. You can believe whatever you want about our time together, but I won't let you believe that I didn't love Declan. Because I did," Emily said honestly. So much, that she'd willingly put her life on the line for his own, more than once.
"I don't believe anything that comes out of your mouth," Ian said bitterly. "You'll say whatever it takes to stay alive, won't you? Whatever it takes to keep your precious daughter alive?" he asked her.
"It's been eighteen years, Ian. If you were going to kill me, you would have by now,"
"I could kill you right now. Both of you. No one would know," he said, obviously trying to scare her.
"But you won't, will you Ian? You won't because you can't. I think you've forgotten I've spent most of my adult life studying people's behavior," she said, not letting him see her be anything but strong.
Emily could tell by the look on his face she was right. She knew Paul wasn't going to hurt them, and for the first time in a very long time, she actually felt safe. Ironically, considering her location and the fact the man that wanted her dead had her in his grasp.
He yelled again, pulling Emily away from the wall and pushing her with such force, she landed on her knees on the cold, hard concrete floor. He proceeded to kick her repeatedly, until she was flat on her stomach on the ground. Emily turned her head sideways, searching for Gabby who was still cowering in the corner. She quickly sent the terrified little girl their sign that Emily was okay.
Ian bent down and grabbed Emily by her hair, jerking her up painfully from the ground. "I'm going out to get some things, when I come back, she is coming with me," he said lowly in her ear, referring to Gabby. "Then, I'm going to kill you, and that will be the end of it," he continued. "Do you understand?"
Emily nodded her head. "I understand perfectly," she choked out. "That- that you'll say these things to scare me, to scare Gabby, but then you won't do it," she chuckled as she continued. "If I'm not scared, she's not scared. And let me tell you, Ian Doyle, I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore,"
"Well," he said, letting her go and shoving her back down to the ground, "you should be,"
He scoffed, his face showing only disgust as he sauntered out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him.
Emily pushed herself up from the floor, finally feeling the pain she hadn't felt earlier. She sat up, giving herself a moment before she tried to stand up and go over to Gabby. However, the little girl was already at her mother's side.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
Emily nodded. "I'm fine," she said as she took the girl in her arms.
"That was scary," Gabby whispered into Emily's shoulder.
"I know, I'm sorry," Emily said sincerely.
"Did Declan really die?" Gabby asked.
"No," Emily said. "He didn't. But I knew that would make him mad and distract him to keep us here,"
"Oh," Gabby said. "When is he coming back?"
"I don't know, hopefully not for awhile," Emily told her.
Gabby sighed. "Do you think Daddy will find us soon?"
"He'll be here before we know it," Emily said, just hoping she was right. Emily let go of Gabby and forced herself to stand up, leading the girl over to the wall. She sat down again, leaning her back against the cold brick, motioning for Gabby to sit with her. Gabby did so without hesitation. Emily noticed Gabby was trying not to cry.
"It's okay, it's all going to be over soon," Emily said softly, trying to calm Gabby down. "Before you know it we'll be home with Daddy and Jack, and it'll all be like its supposed to be- we'll be a family,"
Gabby responded by snuggling a little closer to Emily. "Will you sing to me? Like you used to when I was little?"
Emily smiled, partly at Gabby's request and partly because she still considered Gabby to be little, even if Gabby didn't think she still was.
"Of course," Emily confirmed, beginning to sing the song she had once sung to Gabby every night. Despite their fears and worries, the song seemed to put both of them slightly at ease. As Emily's song ended, she only hoped at she had been right, that at any second the door would burst open and Hotch- or somebody that would lead them to him- would be on the other side and that this would all end and that she could finally stop being afraid.