Chapter 25

Danny and Ed pull into the parking garage of Mike's apartment building. They both get out of the car and walk towards the elevator. "Ed…" Danny says stopping in his tracks and pulling Ed back. Ed looks around, wondering what it was that his protégé was seeing. He then follows his gaze and sees what caught his surrogate son's eye; Kent's car with a good size pile of blood in front of it.

"He's still here." Danny says softly.

Ed nods his head, "come on." He says, briskly walking towards the elevator.

The two ride the elevator up to Mike's floor and walk down the hallway to his apartment.

"Mike, it's us." Danny says banging on the door.

Nessa walks over to the door and looks through the peep hole to be sure that it was them. She then opens the door and allows them in.

"Where was he when you left him?" Danny asks as he approaches Mike.

"He was on the floor in front of his car." Mike answers, shaking his head.

"Well he's not there anymore, his car's still there and so is a huge pile of blood. What the hell did you do to him?" Danny asks, worried that this might come back to haunt his friend.

"I hit him a few times with my crutch." Mike says with a scowl.

"But, if his car's still here then doesn't that mean that he must still be here?" Nessa asks.

Ed nods his head, "Danny, why don't you go check around the parking garage; see if you can find him." Ed orders. McCoy nods his head and makes his way to the door, "Danny…" Ed calls before the young man exits the room. Danny turns around to face his mentor. "Nothing too harsh." He says, pretty much telling him not to kill the guy. Danny nods his head again and exits the apartment.

Ed sits down on the couch next to Mike, "What did he say?" Ed asks, knowing that it had to be something awful to make Mike lose control. Mike shakes his head, not wanting to repeat the horrible thing Kent said. "Come on Mike." Ed says, coaxing the information out of the young man.

"I told him that he had to leave…"Mike starts, still a little shaken up. Mike then continues to tell Ed everything that Kent said. He stops for a moment to take a breather. "…then…he said that he was going to lay 'more than just a hand on her'." Ed looks away, starting to feel his own temper flare. "I just lost it Mr. D; I couldn't control myself." He says shaking his head, feeling ashamed.

Ed places his hand on Mikes shoulder, "You did good Mike." He says, trying to take some of the pressure off the kid.
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Danny rounds the corner in the garage, looking for some sign of Kent, but as he approaches the pool of blood he stops. The car that had been there when he entered the complex was gone. He looks around, but doesn't see any sign of the car. McCoy takes out his cell phone and dials Ed's number. It rings once and he picks up. "Yeah" Ed answers.

"Ed, it's me." Danny says, still looking around the parking garage. "He's not here, the cars gone."

"Ok kid, come on up."

"Hey, if he showed up here maybe we should call the girls; tell them to go to the hotel." Danny says with concern.

"Yeah, yeah ok. Give them a call on your way up." Ed says nodding his head as he hangs up the phone.

Danny hangs up and then speed dials D's number. "Hey baby." She says gleefully answering the phone.

"Hi." He says with a smile. "Listen, I need you and your mom to go to the hotel. Just hang out in your dad's office until we get there." He says with a protective tone.

"Why? What's going on?" she asks, starting to get worried.

"Sam's dad showed up at Mikes, he threatened Nessa. He's gone now, but we don't know where he is. I just don't want to take any chances."

Delinda nods her head in agreement, "ok, we'll leave here in a few minutes."

"Ok good, call me when you get there."

"I will, I love you."

"I love you too." He says hanging up the phone. As he ends the phone call he comes up on Mike's door. He enters the apartment to see Ed, Mike, and Nessa all sitting on the couch. "The girls are on the way to the hotel." He says as he puts his hands in his pockets.

"Good, now…" he says turning back to face Mike and Nessa. "I think you two should do the same." He says seriously.

"No, this guys not going to chase us away from our home." Nessa says angrily. "We'll just go and stay at our new place tonight."

"I really don't think that's the best idea." Ed says shaking his head.

"Ed! We'll be fine." She says, using the same stubborn tone that he had.

"Ok, fine." Ed says giving in. "at least call me when you get there." He says, giving her a begging look.

Nessa smiles at him and leans in to give him a peck on the cheek. "I will pops."

Ed and Danny walk towards the door and walk down to their car. "Maybe we should call Sam; tell her what happened." Danny says as they get into the hummer.

Ed shakes his head. "Nah, she's already pretty shaken up and you've got Mitch keeping an eye on her. Just let her rest." McCoy nods his head. "What about the girls, what'd they say?" he asks, looking to Danny as they pull out onto the road.

"I told D what was going on and she said they would go to the hotel."

"Good," Ed says, taking out his cell. He dials a number and brings the phone to his ear. It rings three times before picking up. "Allen, it me. Do me a favor; send a car over to Mike Canon's new place. Yeah just have sit them outside and keep an eye on things."
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Delinda and Jillian drive through the parking garage trying to find a space. They continue to drive through now making their way to the top floor. "There!" Jillian shouts, pointing to an open space.

Delinda sighs with relief, "Finally." She says with a deep breath. She parks the car and steps out, taking out her cell phone as she does so. She speed dials Danny's number to let him know they're at the hotel. She hears her mother shut the car door and start to walk over to her.

"Delinda…" Jillian whispers. "run." She commands as she feels a gun barrel being pressed against her back. Delinda brings the phone down from her ear and looks to her mother with a confused look. But as her eyes land on Jillian she sees Kent standing behind her mother.

Delinda nonchalantly drops her phone into her purse. Kent pushes Jillian forward towards her daughter, but she resists. "Delinda run!" she shouts as she struggles to get the gun away from Kent.

Danny listens in horror on the other end of the phone.

"Mom!" Delinda screams, running to her mother's aide. Kent pushes Delinda to the ground as he continues to struggle with her mother.

"Shut up!" Kent yells, hitting Jillian over the head with the butt of his gun. The older blond falls to the floor in front of her daughter. Delinda looks to her mother's motionless body and quickly scrambles to her side. "Back up!" Kent yells, pointing the gun to her head.

"George what do you want?" she says loudly.

"Shut up!" Kent screams, starting to lose his cool.

"Well then why are you attacking us on the top floor of the parking garage?" she asks, trying to tell Danny where they are.

Ed swerves into the bottom floor of the parking garage. "Stop!" Danny shouts. Ed looks to Danny confused. "Stop! He'll hear us coming." Danny orders again. Ed does as he's told and steps on the breaks. "Get out." McCoy commands. Ed reaches over to the glove compartment and pulls out his 380. Danny runs towards the stairwell, "take the elevator up." He shouts to his mentor as he makes his way up the stairs.

The parking garage is only six stories high, but as he runs up the stairs it feels more like twenty; not just physically but mentally. McCoy clenches the phone to his ear as he breathlessly runs up the next flight of stairs. Three more he thinks to himself.

"Move!" Kent orders, forcing Delinda back towards the four foot wall.

"Please…" Delinda begs. "What do you want?"

"You're going to call Sam and have her meet you here." He orders, shaking the gun in the air.

Delinda nods her head, "ok, ok." She says taking her cell phone out of her purse.

"I'm coming D." McCoy pants as he makes his way up the last flight of stairs.

Delinda pretends to press some buttons on her phone and brings it to her ear. "put it on speaker!" Kent orders. As she moves to press the button on her phone she hears the ding of the elevator. Kent turns around and sees Ed walking out of the elevator. "Stop right there!" He shouts taking Delinda in his hands with the gun pointed at her.

Danny comes up on the door leading to the top floor and stops. He peeks through the glass door panel and sees Kent holding Delinda by the half wall threatening to throw her over. He then looks to his left and sees Ed slowly making his way over to the two while trying to negotiate.

McCoy quietly opens the door and makes his way into the garage. Kent's head swerves in his direction, "Don't move!" He screams, pushing Delinda closer to the edge.

"Listen George, I just want to talk." Danny says raising his hands in the air as he walks towards the man.

"Don't move!" Kent screams again.

Danny continues to walk towards them; conveniently blocking Kent's view of Ed. Ed takes out his gun from the back of his pants. Danny stands just feet from George Kent now. "George listen, just let her go and we can call Sam and straighten this all out." Danny says trying to negotiate with the man. Danny takes another step towards Kent.

"I said don't move!" Kent screams, shooting Danny in the shoulder. McCoy lets out a scream and sees Kent push Delinda over the edge.

"No!" Danny screams out horrified, launching himself to the side of the building, grabbing her hand with his bad shoulder. As Danny launches himself to the edge he clears the path from Ed to Kent. Ed lets loose two bullets in Kent's chest.

Danny looks down to his girlfriend dangling six stories off the ground. "Danny please!" She begs, tears streaming down her face, a look of terror in her eyes. "Danny, please don't drop me." She cries, blood dripping onto her face from Danny's shoulder. The pain he feels is unbearable, but he knows the pain of losing her would be a thousand times worse.

"Delinda!" Ed yells, running to Danny's side. "Give me your other hand!" Ed shouts, extending his arms out to her.

"I can't reach…" she sobs, trying to outstretch her arm further. "I can't reach!" Danny can feel her hand start to slip and the muscles in his shoulder start to tear. "Danny….please!" she screams, just trying to breathe.

McCoy looks down into her eyes filled with pure horror. "I'm…not…going…to….drop…you." he says, suddenly feeling the pain in his shoulder disappear. He looks down to her and starts to pull her up with all his might. She lifts her other hand and grabs a hold of his arm with both hands. Ed reaches out and helps pull her back over the side. She falls to the floor wrapped in Danny's arms sobbing uncontrollably.

Ed runs his hand through her hair when she looks up to him, her face going white. "Mom…" she whispers. Ed feels his stomach sink; he turns around and runs to the side of Kent's car. He sits down on the floor dragging her into his lap, stroking her head. He brings his hand back up to see it covered with blood.

"Jill….Jillian." he says softly, his voice starting to crack. She doesn't respond, her motionless body lays limp in his lap. He puts his fingers to her neck and feels a faint pulse. "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" he screams. The sound of sirens and the screeching noise of the police cars coming up the parking garage get louder.

Delinda looks to her distraught father and buries her head in the crook of Danny's neck. He wraps his good arm around her head, never wanting to let her go.

Ed looks down to his wife and rubs her face. "Jillian…" he says again softly. "Stay with me baby." He says, a tear running down his cheek. He closes his eyes and puts his forehead to hers.

"….Eddie…." she says faintly. Ed's heart skips a beat as he lifts his head. He sees her eyes open and a smile spreads all across his face.

"Yeah, I'm right here sweetie." He says stroking her face.

"Delinda?" she says trying to get up to see if her daughter was safe.

Ed pushes her back down, "She's fine." He says with a smile. "We're all fine."

The ambulance finally pulls up and the paramedics rush over to Danny. "I'm fine!" he shouts pushing them all off him. He lets Delinda go and stands up. "She needs help." He orders, pointing to Jillian and walking over to her. A couple other paramedics walk over to Ed and Jillian while the other two continue to try and calm Danny down. "I said I'm fine! You need to help her!" He shouts, still pointing to Jillian.

The two medics bring a gurney over and carefully transfer Jillian onto it. Ed stands up not letting go of his wife's hand. "I love you." She whispers to him.

Ed smiles and leans down to kiss her. "I love you too."

Danny continues to yell at the paramedics and finally just walks away. He walks to Jillian's side, "I'm sorry." He says shaking his head. "I should have come to pick you up."

Jillian smiles up at the young man, shaking her head. "Daniel…" she says taking his hand in hers. "I'm ok; we're all safe now. So let the doctors look at your shoulder." She says squeezing his hand. Danny opens his mouth to speak. "Go." She orders him.

Danny nods his head, "Yes ma'am." The paramedics lift the gurney into the ambulance, Ed sitting by his wife's side and drive off to the hospital.

McCoy suddenly feels lightheaded as the adrenalin wears off. He looks around, everything around him moving. He stumbles towards the other ambulance starting to collapse, but luckily is caught by the other medics. They help him onto the gurney, but he can't see what's going on. Suddenly he sees what looks like Delinda's face. "…De…linda…?" he says quietly.

"Danny!....Danny!..." he can hear her faintly screaming, as though it were from a distance. Suddenly all goes black.
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