Thanks For The Memories
Chapter 29
"John! John, wake up,"
John winced and forced his eyes open. The first thing he noticed was that he was laying face-up on the concrete outside of the hotel, and his head was pounding.
"Oh thank God, he's alive!"
John shifted his eyes to the side and saw Ken kneeling beside him.
"Of course he's alive, stupid."
John watched Ricky kneel down on the other side of him.
"What happened?" John asked, groaning as he brought a hand to his aching head.
The twins looked one another in the eyes, then looked back down at John in unison.
"We were going to ask you that same question… Although we can say it looks like you got beat up and eventually knocked unconscious… And the same people who did that kidnapped Trish…" Ken replied.
John closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Everything suddenly came back to him, so he snapped his eyes open and looked at his brothers.
"Jesus Christ, you're right. Trish got a phone call from someone and came out here to talk. I saw two guys running at her, so I ran outside to protect her… It's only obvious how far that got me…"
Ken and Ricky once again looked at one another, then back down at John.
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
"One of them was barely able to speak English… He had a thick French accent, so he was definitely from Montréal. He had dark hair and light eyes, kinda like Danny's, and was just about as tall as him… The second guy had light hair and light eyes… And he spoke excellent English. A little taller than Danny, though." John replied.
Ken and Ricky sighed and nodded their heads.
"Do you think this had anything to do with Danny being missing?" Ken asked.
John narrowed his eyes angrily at Ken's ridiculous question, but decided to listen to the conversation.
"No, can't be… He didn't give Walters' description…" Ricky replied.
"But, Trish was kidnapped." Ken stated.
"Could be sheer coincidence."
"But what about—"
John had enough. He was trying not to explode, but it wasn't working.
"Of course it had everything to do with Danny being missing! How dense are the two of you, anyway,"
Ricky and Ken turned to look at John, who was now sitting up and holding his head.
"Don't you find it kind of ironic that Toronto isn't really French speaking, yet one of the guys was barely able to speak English? And they were hell-bent on grabbing Trish and getting the hell out of here?"
Ricky rolled his eyes.
"John, Toronto's 9-1-1 emergency service respondents are trained to speak over 150 languages because of all of the different languages spoken here on a day-to-day basis. He could be from a French-speaking home… Come on, Danny knows five languages and he was raised here."
"That's because Danny is a freak." Ken muttered under his breath.
John's hand flew out faster than lightning, grabbed Ken by the collar and pulled him close.
"If you ever speak about him like that again, I'll be forced to hurt you."
"Shit. Sorry." Ken replied, putting his hands up in defeat.
John let go of him and pushed him away. He rubbed his forehead, then sighed and looked down at the ground.
"What do we do now?" He asked.
"Well, we are going to go back to the precinct to see if our warrant has been approved, then file a report about the most recent incident relating to the case. You, on the other hand, are going to the hospital, where you'll be held for no less than 24 hours."
"Are you shittin' me?" John shouted.
He instantly regretted it and pressed a hand against his head to try and ease the pain.
"No, we're not. You have to go to the hospital and get checked out." Ken replied.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Ricky stated.
John growled.
"I'm not staying there for 24 hours."
"Don't make us put a guard at the door, John." Ken threatened.
John glared at him.
"I have a question." John stated.
"What's that?"
"Have either one of you told mum or dad about this?"
Ken and Ricky looked one another in the eyes, then looked back at John.
"We thought you called them." Ken replied.
"Nope." John confidently replied.
"Why so confident?" Ricky asked.
"Well… I could always call them and tell them you promised you would tell them, but never did. Then they'll be pissed at you, especially once they hear about how long Danny's been missing and the fact you haven't really done anything to find him."
"Are you blackmailing us?" The twins shouted in unison, their faces a fine shade of maroon.
John smirked.
"Maybe."
Ken and Ricky glared at John, then turned just as Shawn ran up to them.
"Oh my God! What the hell happened? Are you okay?" Shawn asked as he knelt down beside John.
John quirked an eyebrow at him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" John asked.
Shawn sighed and glared at him.
"I got to New York only to find out that Macey had been released from the hospital about three hours before I got there, and the guy that was with her told the nurses not to release any information to anyone who came in asking about her. I can only assume it was Shane, so I called him an asshole, and a nurse smacked me with a clipboard."
"Good job." John replied.
Shawn took note of the dried blood on John's face.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Trish walked out here to talk to you on the phone, yeah? Well, I saw two big guys running at her, so I ran out here to protect her and wound up getting knocked out. My brothers woke me up not so long ago and told me Trish had been kidnapped."
Shawn's jaw nearly dropped.
"…I thought something was happening… I heard her scream for help… That's why I got here as fast as I did… Has to be some kind of record."
Ken and Ricky rolled their eyes.
"So, are you willing to take John to the hospital?" Ken asked.
"Huh? Yeah, sure." Shawn replied.
"Alright, good. See you two later."
Ricky and Ken walked over to their squad car, hopped in and sped away.
Shawn looked back at John.
"Can you get up?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"We're gonna go looking for your brother."
"Don't you think we should concentrate on Trish first?" John asked.
"I have a feeling that if we find one, we'll definitely find the other."
A/N: Hello all! I truly appreciate your reviews, but I'm confused as to something almost all of you brought up... Why did you think Shane was the one in the basement with Danny and Macey in Chapter 28..? I can guarantee you, if he was down there, I would have referred to him by name. The 'burly man' in Chapter 28 is the same guy that was beating Danny up in Chapter 20...
Anywho... Since I'm unsure of when I'll post the next chapter, I want to take this time out to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas or a very Happy Hanukkah. Be safe, be happy and be healthy.
