Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: Not beta'd; all mistakes are mine. Please mention them if you find any.
A/N2: Sectionals was amazing! I loved it! This story is mostly AU after Mash-up, but with some of the topics discussed in the later episodes, I may sneak in a conversation or cover the same topic, but I will put my own twist on it.
A/N3: Feedback is greatly appreciated! :D It keeps me writing ;)
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Drum roll... Congrats to vivienmarie for being the first one to mention they recognized one of the new schools... Clovis East High School in Clovis, California is where Chris Colfer went to. :D
...
It was late at night, the time really unknown but it had been several hours when the van finally stopped moving. Quinn had fallen asleep against Ethan, but as soon as the metal door slid open, Quinn jumped and clung to Ethan.
"Get out!" The man snapped at them, the gun held firmly in his hand while he still was dressed in black, as mask covering his face.
Ethan shifted a little, lifting his arm up to take it from behind Quinn and then took her hand, his eyes never leaving the gun in the man's hand as he stepped onto the cement below the van. Quinn stepped out right behind him, her hand holding onto his hand as if he was her only lifeline.
It was dark out, no lights around, but they were parked in a driveway of a house that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The man moved behind them and pressed the gun to Ethan's back, "move," he snapped, his other hand pushing him by his shoulder to walk towards the open door. "Terri must have gone inside already," Ethan thought glancing at Quinn as she stayed close to him.
"I know him, but how do I know him?" She thought staying close to Ethan, their bound hands clasped together as she wrapped her free hand around his arm, afraid to let go.
Stepping into the doorway of the small house, Ethan's eyes darted left and right, looking for anything to give him a clue where they were or what was going on. The man led them into a small bedroom, the window barred on the outside, "this has been planned for a while," he thought as the two were pushed inside and the door closed behind them, the sound of a lock clicking outside echoed through their ears and Quinn lost it again, sobs shaking her shoulders as she held onto him.
Biting his lip to hold back the anger he felt for what was going on, he pulled Quinn against him as best he could, "shh, Quinn," he whispered, "I'm here, you're okay, we're okay," he told her softly, wishing he had more answers or some other way to calm her down.
"No we're not! We don't know where we are! We don't know anything! No one is ever going to find us and Puck and Rachel are never going to see their daughter!" She exclaimed as her hand grasped onto his sweatshirt.
Ethan let her get upset, pushing his feelings and worries aside as he guided them back towards the wall, feeling for a light switch. Finding one he flipped it and glanced around, his eyes blinking at the light for a moment until they focused on the mattress sitting on the floor and a single light hanging on the wall nearby, lighting the room enough to see around, "Quinn, look at me," he commented moving his free hand to rest against her cheek as she lifted her head to look up at him. "I am not going to let anything happen to you or Abigail," he stared into her eyes, "I've been a cop for over ten years and I've been in some tough situations before and I've made it through. We're going to make it through, all three of us."
...
Ethan stirred from sleep he'd actually gotten, but it wasn't comfortable. He sat up all night with Quinn asleep next to him, clinging to him in fear. He didn't blame her, he knew she was scared, but he didn't know how else to help her. Glancing at his watch for the first time, able to see it, he read the numbers and saw it was just after one pm on the fourth, "that's if we're still in Ohio," he muttered.
"What?" Quinn mumbled, hearing his voice.
"Oh, sorry," he murmured, "I didn't mean to wake you up," he replied rubbing his face with his free hand.
"It's okay, what time is it?" She asked.
"Just after one in the afternoon on Sunday," he said softly.
"I wonder if they made it to the second round," Quinn murmured.
"I hope they did," Ethan admitted, freezing when he heard the lock outside. Quinn sat up quickly and Ethan stilled her, "just relax and whatever you say, don't mention I'm a cop," he whispered to her.
Quinn nodded quickly as the door opened and Terri Schuester walked in, "Quinn, so nice to see you're awake," she smiled. "How's my daughter doing?" She asked.
"Your daughter? She's not yours! She's not even mine anymore!" She exclaimed, her hands resting protectively against her stomach.
"Well if she's not yours, then who does she belong to? Because it seems to me that you're still pregnant, so she is yours... You can't really put an unborn baby up for adoption," she told her, crossing her arms.
"The baby is my granddaughter," Ethan said calmly.
"Oh, is that so? So your her dad, or Finn's?" Terri asked acknowledging him for the first time.
"Ethan Puckerman, Terri, I'm neither of their fathers. Not only is that child not Finn's, it's Puck's," Ethan said calmly.
Terri gasp, "that boy with the funny hair? The mohawk?"
"That's right, and he plans to keep his daughter, so you need to back of right now," Ethan hissed.
Terri stared at him for a long moment, "I..." She pulled something out of her pocket and tossed it onto the mattress, "there's only enough money on there for ten minutes, I hope you can make up your mind who's the most important one to call. It can't be traced so don't worry, no one will find you so you might want to let your son know that I'll be keeping you both until my daughter is born and then I'll find something to do with you two," she said turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her, the lock clicking back in place.
...
"Okay guys," Will clapped, his hands together, "fifteen minutes until show time," he called out, "lets get backstage."
The kids filed out of the practice room and headed down to the stage and waited for their time. They were going simple this time, jeans and their Converse, a signature for them and the guys had on black t-shirts and the girls wore pink ones.
Right at eleven the group was introduced and the band went out, taking their places followed by the rest of New Directions, the girls lining up on the first riser, while the guys lined up in front.
The band began as soon as Puck cued them, Artie playing the very familiar guitar solo as they started to dance; Puck stepping forward to start the lyrics, "so no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA. It's like you're always stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but," Puck stepped back into the group and rejoined the choreography as they all sang the chorus, "I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too."
Finn stepped forward for his solo, "you're still in bed at ten, and work began at eight. You burned your breakfast, so far things are going great. Your mother warned you there'd be days like these, but she didn't tell you when the world was brought down to your knees that," returning to the group, Finn and everyone else repeated the steps for the chorus again, "I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too."
During the chorus, some of the guys and girls switched places so the couples could join together for the rest of the song and Puck and Rachel stepped forward on the stage, following the same choreography as everyone else while Puck sang the next verse, "no one could ever know me. No one could ever see me. Seems your the only one who knows what it's like to be me. Someone to face the day with. Make it through all the mess with. Someone I'll always laugh with. Even at my worst, I'm best with...you – yeah!"
Puck smiled at Rachel as they rejoined their friends, the final bridge and chorus being sung by everyone, "it's like you're always stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too. I'll be there for you... I'll be there for you," Puck stepped forward alone to sing the final words, "I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too," he ended, turning around to face everyone else, lowering his head as the last chords from the guitar echoed through the center.
The crowd erupted in cheers and clapping as Puck turned around and the rest of New Directions jogged forward, joining hands and bowing to the audience. Waving briefly, they headed off stage to clapping and cheering from the adults with them.
It wasn't eleven-thirty yet, but close, so getting back to their practice room, they changed quickly and gathered their things to head back out to the bus. They had the rest of the afternoon free, so by noon they were back at the hotel. Not everyone wanted to go to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, aka, the Ballard Locks so those who wanted to stay, most of the girls and some of the guys and adults, leaving the only ones going to Rachel, Puck, Finn, Matt, Mike, Mercedes, Deborah, Kurt, Burt, Will and a few of the guys from the band.
Those who went, sat up close to the front of the bus to listen to the driver, "you know, Ballard used to be a city, but now it is a neighborhood of Seattle. It's an old Norwegian town, it's like a little piece of Norway in some ways. Lots of old shops and it kind of grew up from the fishing community. The Pacific Shipyard is one of the bigger yards there. The Northwestern and the Wizard dock down there, so I'll take you through there first. It's a weekend so the yard is closed, but you can still walk out on one of the piers and see the boats," he explained.
Crossing over the Ballard Bridge, they got a look out to their left of Fisherman's Terminal full of boats of all shapes, sizes and colors, while to their right was more ships docked along piers. Taking the first exit of the bridge, they came down into an older industrial area. Making a few turns, as he continued to drive, they reached the main street of Ballard, the Norwegian flag flying along side the Washington State flag and the US flag. Driving a short distance, the bus turned off of the main street and into a gravel area, near a restaurant on one side and the Pacific Shipyard on the right, with a small dock jetting out into the water, "see that dock?" He motioned towards it, "just take a walk out to the end and look to your right, if the boats are there, you'll be able to see them."
Climbing off the bus, the group walked across the small gravel area and out onto the dock. About halfway down, Puck and some of the guys who knew the show well, recognized two of the boats no more than fifty feet away, the F/V Northwestern and the F/V Wizard.
"Well I'll be damned," Puck muttered staring at the boats as they continued to walk down to the end where they had a clear view of both of them.
Cameras came out as the boats were pointed out and someone made a comment they are bigger in person than they seem on the show. Taking turns, everyone stood on the edge of the dock while someone else snapped a picture of them, getting the boats in the background. As Rachel went to take one of Puck, she got one taken before he stepped forward, took the camera from her hand handed it to his mom. "It's about time you get in some of these pictures," he grinned, slipping his arm around her shoulders and guided her back to the edge.
Standing with the Northwestern and the Wizard behind them, Deborah took a few photos to make sure at least one turned out, "I think it'll look great once you can get it on your computer to see it," she promised, returning the camera to Rachel before they all began to head back to the bus.
...
It took Ethan a little while to make the call. He knew who he wanted to call, but he had to explain it to Quinn and though she wanted to call Finn, she also understood that it wouldn't be good for him to get that kind of call and if Ethan could contact Adams, he could at least relay some details to him to maybe help in finding them. Once Quinn agreed, Ethan dialed the familiar number, hoping he would pick up.
Mike was standing in the Berry's kitchen about three-thirty that afternoon, when his phone rang. Glancing at the number he saw one he didn't recognize, "I wonder who this is," he said calmly, flipping his phone open, "Sergeant Adams," he answered getting the two men in the rooms attention. One of them was a teammate and the other was Alan. The teammate quickly handed over a tablet of paper and a pen.
"I only have ten minutes on this thing and don't bother tracing it because it's a burn phone," he said quickly.
"Ethan, what the fuck is going on? Where the hell are you?" He asked quickly.
"I don't know. We drove for a while, a long while, we could have driven in circles for all I know, but we're out in the middle of nowhere. House looks old, like an old rambler. Trees around it, but looked like open land away from the house. Paved driveway, though. The house isn't furnished, so they either broke in or got it looking like shit."
"So you have no clue where you are? Damn it... How are you? Quinn?" He asked.
"I'm fine, she's fine, scared, but fine... Um, David and Alan can fill you in better than I can, but Terri Schuester wants Abigail."
"Who's Terri Schuester and Abigail?"
"Ask David and Alan," he said again, "look. This is what I've put together in the time I've had to think about this. Abigail is my unborn granddaughter and Terri wants her. She kidnapped Quinn figuring she can keep her until she has the baby and then Terri can take the baby. I don't think she factored me into her plan, so I don't know how things will change. There is Terri and one other guy and it didn't dawn on me until just now, but I think it's," Ethan paused and glanced at Quinn, "Ken Tanaka, the football coach at McKinley. Deborah told me a few weeks ago about an odd conversation she overheard with the school guidance counselor and him; he told her that he would help Terri get Will back and now I'm wondering if this isn't what he meant," Ethan said glancing at the time on the phone as he heard Quinn say, 'that's where I recognized his voice.' "And Quinn just confirmed that it's Ken," he added.
"Okay, so seriously, Terri wants to get back with this Will guy, figures if she takes Abigail when Quinn has her that will work and what does this Ken dude get?"
"He has the chance to get Emma back from Will, it's a long story, like I said, ask Alan and David. Where's Arin? Is she alright?"
"She's fine. David took her back to your house for a while to get some stuff. She's staying in, uh, Rachel's room, that's their daughters name, right?"
"Yeah. I'm almost out of time," Ethan tugged the silver packages out of his pocket and looked at them, "I have two of our trackers, but if I activate them, they will only last for twelve hours and if I turn them on too soon there's a chance they'll move us again and then they'll die before we get to wherever we're going," he said.
"Just keep them hidden for now. Are either of you hurt?" Mike asked.
"No, we're fine. For now. I know Terri won't hurt Quinn and I haven't seen Ken since he brought us into the room whenever, but I'm sure if I put up a fight, he'd get some kicks in, too," he admitted.
"Don't pick a fight. Save your strength. I need you in one piece. We're keeping the kids and Deborah out of the loop, but now that we've heard from you we might change that."
"Have they performed?"
"Uh, they took second last night so that means they performed today."
"Tell them whatever, but they're there and can't do anything anyway so if they find out they're just going to want to come home early. Look, I gotta go. Tell my family that I love them and I'll protect Quinn and Abigail and if you do speak to the kids, pass on that Quinn loves Finn," he said glancing at her getting a nod in response.
"I will do that, boss. Just take it easy and we'll come for you. We've got some traffic cameras that saw the van so we're trying to trace steps."
"Okay, time's up, so good luck, see you on the flip side," Ethan said glancing at the phone as it shut off on it's own, ending the call.
...
Mike glanced over at Alan who had been frozen in his spot, "I need to talk to you and David and I think you know from that what I need to know."
Alan nodded, "I can tell you now if you don't want to wait for Alan to get back with Arin."
Mike nodded and with that, Alan explained everything he knew of Terri, Will, Emma, Ken and how Puck and Quinn fit into the mess.
"So Will is the kids teacher; that's with them right now in Seattle?" He asked.
"But Will wouldn't have anything to do with this," Alan defended him.
"I know, but he may be the only lead we have. For all we know this is someplace Terri knew about," he told him, "which means he might have an idea about it."
"Oh, yes, that makes sense. But we can't just call without letting them all know."
"So is there someone you could call and tell about this, who could pass on the information and so it's not done over the phone?" Mike asked.
Alan thought for a moment and nodded, "yeah, I know someone."
...
Once back on the bus, the driver headed back onto the main road and a few minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot of the locks, "straight ahead of us is the entrance of the locks. Not only is there locks, but there is a spillway dam, fish ladder and a botanical garden. Lots to see. Check out the gift shop and they offer guided tours if you want to take one."
"How long do you think it'll take to walk around?" Will asked.
The man shrugged, "don't know, couple hours. No hurry, it's only one. It doesn't start getting dark until six or so, so why don't I come back at say four? Gives you guys some time to look around," he suggested.
Getting off the bus, they stayed in a group and walked towards the entrance. Looking around, they noticed the grassy area and part of the gardens he had talked of, but they continued on, passing the gift shop on their left side, but agreed they'd stop in after they wondered around. Venturing further, they came up to a older building and once they walked around it, they all stopped, looking left, right and ahead, to see the huge concrete structure that connected the two sides of land.
"Oh my God," someone exclaimed, while others were stunned silent, having not expected what they saw.
The first lock they came to, the larger one, was split into two sections, heavy doors connected in the center creating a foot-bridge for people to cross. On both sides of the doors, the waters were high for the level of the lake, because that lock was currently not being used.
Will suggested they keep in groups of two or more so no one got lost and everyone crossed over the first lock's doors and onto the center, coming to the smaller lock that was being used, boats filling it up to capacity before their doors closed and either the water emptying out to allow them to head out into the Puget Sound or raising to bring them into the lake.
"This is breathtaking," Rachel commented looking at her boyfriend as they leaned against the railing to watch the boats, "I'm glad I came," she admitted.
Puck slipped his arm around her shoulders, "yeah, I am, too," he replied, pressing a kiss to her lips.
While the boats passed through, Rachel snapped a few photos and Deborah took a couple of them together before the doors closed sealing the small lock's chamber and creating another foot-bridge across to the other side. Letting a large group cross over the other way, Puck took Rachel's hand and guided her across, his mom right behind them as they stepped onto another concrete platform.
Staying on that side for a moment, they walked down to their right, finding a spot along the gates overlooking the water and took in the view. Ahead of them was the Salmon Bay and further from that was the Puget sound, while to their left was the spillway dam and the fish ladder.
Rachel took some pictures and then they headed back to the pathway, and started walking across the dam, to their left the water level was at the level of their heads, while they were about twenty-five feet or more up from the water level on their right side. Reaching the other side, they walked down a ramp and paused at a little balcony and got some more pictures, a great view of the dam and locks, before continuing on down to the fish ladder, where they went into a room with glass windows looking into the ladder, allowing viewers to see salmon traveling up and down, either into or out of the lake for spawning.
Making their way back to the locks, they crossed over to the center between both of them, "there's just so much to see!" Rachel exclaimed, leaning on a railing next to her boyfriend.
Puck nodded, "yeah, there is, but it's just... There's a lot of people here, but it just seems calm," he told her.
She smiled, "I noticed that, too. I've been a little on edge the past day or so," she admitted, "I think with all the nervous energy from the performances and all, but now that they're over, I should feel better and I feel worse and I don't know why."
Puck eyed her for a moment, "I've been feeling the same way. I thought it was all the coffee I was drinking, but not so much now."
"What's wrong?" Deborah asked.
Their answers were cut of by Kurt and Mercedes coming towards them, asking them if they wanted to go to an early dinner at the Lockspot Café just outside the gates of the locks before the bus came back for them.
Following their friends, everyone gathered up and made a quick stop into the gift shop and picked up some souvenirs before heading out of the locks' grounds and over to the Lockspot Café, going into the restaurant that looked to be an old house converted into a restaurant and bar. Taking seats at the large table in the center of the room and a server came over and passed out menus and spoke to them briefly before leaving to let them pick out what they wanted.
While they were sitting at the table, Puck noticed the poster off in the corner that said 'Deadliest Catch' and got up, walking over to look at it, returning to his seat with a smile on his face, "I knew I recognized this place," he said.
"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.
"Um, starting the third season of Deadliest Catch, after a new episode aired, another showed came on, called 'After the Catch' and it was the narrator of the show and the captains and sometimes crew members, sitting around a table just talking about things that happened on the show. That year, it was filmed here," he said patting the table, "at this very table."
"Oh shit, you're right!" Burt commented, glancing around, now recognizing the room they were in.
As their server came over to refill drinks, they asked her about it, and she spoke about it briefly, even mentioning the restaurant's nickname being the 'Deadliest Bar' and they sold t-shirts, which several of the guys wanted. She brought over the shirts in the sizes they wanted and said she'd add it to their bill at the end of the dinner.
Placing orders and marking things down, everyone began to chat over random events of the past few days and when their food arrived, they continued their conversations while they ate. Splitting up bills into groups, they paid for their part and headed outside, just as their bus was returning to pick them up.
"So Will, what's going on tomorrow and the day after?" Burt asked as they climbed onto the bus.
Once everyone was on, Will explained, "well, the award ceremony is tomorrow at ten am so we'll leave the hotel at nine. It probably will only be an hour or so and then we'll have the rest of the day to continue to pack and get ready to go home. Our flight leaves Tuesday morning at eight-thirty, so we have to be at the airport at six, which means we need to leave, how early?" Will looked to the driver.
"No later than five-fifteen just to be safe," he responded.
"Okay, so leave the hotel around five, so it's going to make for a really early morning," Will said, "I guess we should probably have a meeting with all the kids, so why don't you guys text everyone and ask them to come back to the hotel for a meeting."
At his request, they all pulled out their phones sent messages to their friends as their bus headed back to the hotel. It only took about fifteen minutes and as they arrived, some of their friends were returning with shopping bags, "oh, we've got to go down to the waterfront and go shopping," Rachel commented.
"We will," Puck assured her.
Rachel nodded and everyone piled off the bus and headed up to Will's room, taking a seat where they could or standing against a wall. It took about another fifteen minutes before everyone else had joined them and Will went on to explain the next few days to them as he had to those on the bus earlier, "questions?"
"So we have to get up at like three in the morning on Tuesday?" Santana asked.
"I'm afraid so," Will nodded. "Any others?"
Burt took a deep breath and stood up, "not a question, but I need talk to you guys," he scratched his head and looked around, "and since everyone is here, I suppose it's the best time."
"What about?" Finn asked.
Burt rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "um, well, there isn't an easy way to say this, but something happened back home."
"What?" "What is it?" "Did Quinn have the baby?" "What happened?"
Burt held up his hands, "just hang on," he took a deep breath, glancing around the room and his eyes landed on the people the conversation would hurt the most, "just hear me out before you guys start asking a lot of questions that I probably don't have the answers to, but while we were at the locks, David Berry called me."
"What?" Rachel exclaimed, tensing up at Puck's side.
"Your dads are fine," he assured her, "but, damn it," he shook his head and glanced down at the floor, "there is no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to... Ethan and Quinn were kidnapped from right in front of the Berry's house yesterday about three in the afternoon Lima time," he said calmly.
Gasps echoed through the room as the words sunk in. Rachel's hand flew to her mouth, the tears welling up in her eyes, Deborah's eyes flew open in shock, Finn stood up quickly, his hands balling into fists at his sides while Puck stood frozen, but the four of them, along with some of the others began to ask him the questions; some wanted to know why, while others were curious why they were just finding out since it happened over a day ago.
Burt sighed. "I spoke to David and he told me the reason why we are just finding out is because they knew you kids would be performing today and didn't want your focus to be on anything else but that, and right now there isn't anything for us to do."
"Who took them? Have they made any demands?" Puck asked quickly, as Rachel wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Demands, not exactly, but they did learn some more information today, and the officers in charge need to talk to a few of you. They called me because they didn't want to tell you guys this over the phone or have to call everyone, so they asked me to pass this on, so those who need to call home, can," he said calmly.
"Do you know what happened?" Deborah asked softly, but there was no mistake to the quiver in her voice.
"Apparently Quinn and Ethan went to the store yesterday and coming back, Ethan must have noticed a van following them, so he had Quinn write down the license plate and a message. When they got out of car in front of the Berry's, two people pulled guns on them and forced them into the van. The message Ethan had Quinn write was to his second-in-command in Detroit and now Detroit SRT is working the case with the help of the Lima police and the county sheriff. When they were taken there was no contact until about four hours ago, when Ethan was given a chance to make a call. He chose to call the same person he had written the message to, who is also his friend. Ethan and Quinn are fine physically, but Quinn's scared and Ethan's a cop, and what I know of him, he's fine. Quinn also recognized who's holding them and Ethan passed that on, along with some information about what they want."
"What do they want?" Finn asked, his teeth gritting together. "Who is it? Is it Quinn's parents?"
"No, it's not Quinn's parents, but you guys all know who they are," he said softly. Glancing down for a moment. He looked up, "it's Terri Schuester and Ken Tanaka. What they want, or well, Terri wants Abigail."
"WHAT?" Puck exclaimed, but as Rachel began to sob against his chest, he remained where he was, his arms draped around her to try and soothe her, while the anger in him built up.
The room fell into a silent shock, as some of the girls closest to Quinn started crying, while the guys tried to remain calm and help keep the girls from getting hysterical. Some of the band members didn't know all the details, so while they were concerned, it was hard for them to be as upset, so they remained quiet and offered their condolences where they could.
Puck shifted a little and pulled his mom close to him from where she had been standing, trying his best to comfort her and Rachel, while all he wanted to do was be on the next plane home, find them and kill Terri himself.
Burt gave them all a few moments to take in everything, but chose to continue, letting them know what else he'd been told, "I know this a lot to process, but they have no idea where they are. Terri is thinking she can keep them until Quinn has the baby and take her. David, Alan and Mike, that's Ethan's friend, was going to wait until we got back to tell us, but with the new information they got today, they chose to let us know, because like I said, they want to talk to a few of you. I'm sorry you guys had to find out this way. I'm still trying to wrap myself around what they told me. I don't know who at home knows, but I'm sure Finn's mom knows and Arin is fine," he added, glancing at Deborah and Puck, "but they didn't want you guys to hear from someone else."
"Who do they need to talk to?" Will asked shakily from where he was holding Emma.
"You, Deborah and Emma, but I think it'd be best if those who are the closest be here when you guys call, maybe be on speaker phone so you can all hear."
"I want to go home," Puck commented. "I don't care if I have to buy my own plane ticket, I want to go home," he repeated.
"Me too," Finn agreed.
Will pulled away from Emma to look around at the sad faces, "guys, I know you all feel that way, but we can't do anything at more home than we can do here," he started.
"But it's not someone you love being kidnapped," Finn snapped.
Will lowered his head and sighed, "no it's not, but I do care about Quinn just as much as I care about each and every one of you, so trust me, I'm worried sick about her, Ethan and Abigail and I also don't know if there are any flights available to get us home sooner," he told them sadly. "It sounds to me like David and Alan have things under control at home and I don't think Quinn and Ethan would not want us to worry about them. So as much as it hurts me to say this, I feel we should just say a prayer and hope they're going to be okay and continue on the way we have been until we know more. We'll call and talk to them and see what's going on, but I suggest we just go shopping or take a walk along the waterfront and enjoy the last few hours we have here, because tomorrow is going to be crazy," Will said softly, wiping his own eyes.
Puck's anger seemed to soften briefly, realizing what Will had said was kind of true, "he's right. Quinn wanted us to come here and have fun and not worry about her. My dad is a cop and I have faith that he's not going to let anything happen to her or Abigail, so I think we just need to listen to Mr. Schue and take some time to pray or whatever and then go back to what we were doing," he agreed slowly.
His words seemed to end the conversation; some of them filing out of the room until it was just New Directions and their four chaperones, all still in a state of shock. Puck was worried, but he pushed his feelings aside because he had a mom and a girlfriend who were also upset and him freaking out wouldn't help at the moment. Finn was still standing across the room, several emotions playing across his face. Rachel's crying had slowed down, and his mom seemed to have calmed, now her arms just wrapped lightly around her son and Rachel. The group in the room again began to dwindle; patting Puck, Finn or Deborah on the shoulder before they left the room until it was the three teens and the adults left.
"I'm so sorry you guys," Will said looking at Deborah, Puck, Rachel and Finn, "I feel like this is all my fault."
At Will's apology, Deborah, Rachel and Finn nodded, but said nothing else for the moment, but Puck's anger flared again, "it's not your fault, so don't even fucking blame yourself for this," he snapped.
Will was a little shocked at Puck's out burst, "well it's my ex-wife who's doing it, so how can I not feel I'm to blame."
"You're not there holding them against their will, are you?" Finn asked, his tone the same as Puck's had been, agreeing with his friend.
Hanging his head, Will shook his head, "no, but she's still my ex," he said.
"And Ken is mine," Emma whispered, "but I don't understand how he could do something like this."
"What I don't understand how we thought we could trust him," Puck commented, his tone harsh.
"HEY!" Deborah snapped pushing away from her son and crossing her arms, "stop it! All of you! Laying blame and snapping at each other is not going to fix what's going on back home! We need to call David and Alan, talk to them, see if they know any more and pray they come home safe. Can we do that?" She asked calmly.
At Deborah's request, they all nodded, and she called the Berry's number from her phone and turned on the speaker, so everyone could hear the rings, echoing through the room.
"Hi Deborah," David answered.
"Hi, David, um, it's all of us. Rachel, Puck, Finn, Burt, Will, Emma and myself," Deborah said.
"Oh, hi everyone," he said sadly, "hang on a second." He paused in talking and they heard a few clicks and then the sound of echos and realized he'd put them on speakerphone. "I take it Burt told you guys," he said slowly.
"Yeah, Burt just filled us in. What do you guys need to talk to us about?" Will asked.
"Hi guys," another voice spoke up, "I'm Sergeant Mike Adams with the Detroit SRT and I've been told all about what's gone on, but I have some questions for the three of you... Will and Emma, I just need to know if you have any idea where they could be. A house they could have gotten or someplace they might like to go and get away from things; anything that could help us find them."
Emma and Will were both blank on ideas, but Will mentioned Terri's sister, "Kendra Giardi," Mike commented with a laugh. "Interesting woman, but I already sent uniforms over there," Mike added. "Emma, could tell me what happened when Ken confronted you?"
Emma quickly retold what happened between her and Ken, and that Deborah heard Ken say the same thing about helping Terri get Will back. "I told Ethan because I thought it was weird, but I never imagined that he would mean something like this," Deborah added.
"Okay, well, we're doing everything we can. We've already gone to Ken's place and are looking for possible place, but we have no clue, we're still flying blind until Ethan activates the tracking devices."
"What tracking devices?" Puck asked.
"We have devices that we can activate when we're on a case where we're out in the woods or doing something where we're all split up, but they only last a short time, so if he activates them too soon and we head for that location, they could be moved and we'd loose them again, so I told him to hold off until it was absolutely necessary. Look, since David called Burt we've rechecked some traffic cameras and have the van seen in Lima still several hours after it was seen heading south, so I think they are still close by and just drove around long enough to make them and us think they are further away than they really are."
"Can't you narrow down the search area for abandoned places that could meet the criteria of what they need or the description you already have?" Puck asked calmly.
"Who said that?" Mike asked, shocked more than anything.
"Puck, uh, Noah," Puck responded.
"Damn, you're more like you're dad than I thought," he laughed, "we're doing that. The van plates are stolen, so we didn't get anything from them, but we're trying to find places like that in town and around, that could be just that. Your dad said they seemed like they were out in the middle of nowhere, so we're looking for someplace that's less populated. Other than what I'm sure you already know, I have a message from Quinn and Ethan. Quinn says she loves you, Finn," he said softly, "and Ethan passes on the same to his family and that he will protect Quinn and Abigail. He will, I know him. He'd do anything he can to keep them safe. We're doing everything we can to find them. Ethan's smart and he's not going to let anything happen to them. Don't try and come home earlier. There is nothing you can do here that you can't do there. I know you're worried, upset, mad, and a lot of other emotions right now and I'm sure you want to come home, but just relax and you'll be home in a few days. I know that's easy for me to say since I'm here, but it's the truth."
"Where do you go from here?" Will asked softly.
"Well, we're posting pictures that we've gotten of the van from traffic cameras with police cars and every office as well as pictures of Ethan, Quinn, Terri and Ken, in hopes that someone will drive by a house with it parked in front or see one of them if they go out. We're trying to look for abandoned homes in the state that meet the descriptions that Ethan gave us and are patrolling. There's not much else we can do until either they contact us again or he activates the devices."
As the reality settled in of just how helpless they all were, Mike's voice came through the phone again, "I don't think I need to tell you guys this, but should Terri or Ken contact any of you, call me. I'm staying a hotel in town with the team, but I'm here at the Berry's a lot and they have my number so call, okay? Terri and Ken's phones are turned off and we have flags on all of their bank accounts and credit cards, so if they use one, or try and make a call, we will be able to get a location, but right now we've got nothing with those yet."
Promising to contact him if they did hear from them, they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. "I think," Deborah took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, "I need some air," she said softly.
"Me, too," Finn nodded.
Finn, Deborah, Rachel and Puck left Will's room quickly and all of them silently rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked outside. "Come on," Puck commented, leading them down to the pier he and Rachel had been on the morning before to watch the sunrise. Walking all the way out to the end of the pier, they all took places leaning against the railing, looking out over the water; no one saying anything for a long while, but Puck broke the silence, "we should talk."
Deborah was fingering her engagement ring, "we just get him back and then something like this happens," she whispered, "it's not fair."
Puck nodded, "no it's not. It's also not fair that the man that Finn and I had as a coach for three seasons would do something like this to us. We trusted him and this is what he goes and does; helps Terri kidnap dad and Quinn, oh if I ever get my hands on him..."
"I'm right there with you, bro," Finn commented looking at Puck.
Rachel had been silent, afraid to say anything in fear of crying again, but she finally spoke up, "what if we never see any of them again and what if we never get to hold Abigail or meet her," she sobbed.
Puck pulled his girlfriend against his chest and held her, rubbing her back gently as they all kind of wondered the same thing, but took the question better than she had. "We can't think that way. We have to have faith they'll be alright and we'll see them soon. I trust dad and believe he will do anything he can to protect them. '...there can be miracles, when you believe. Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve. When you believe, somehow you will. You will when you believe.' I can't believe I just quoted a song we just sang, but it fit," Puck finished, laughing lightly at the irony of just what that song meant now.
Listening to the words he spoke, Rachel calmed down and looked up at him, "you're right," she whispered, "we need to believe they will be alright."
"As much as it hurts and we all will worry, we do," Deborah agreed, wiping her eyes.
Puck reached out and slipped an arm around his mom's waist and tugged her into their hug and Finn joined them for a group hug, needing each others strength more than ever to help them get through the next few days. Glancing up at the dark sky, some faint stars visible, Puck silently asked for some help, "please let them be alright. We've come so far for it to end like this, just let them come home safe and sound, all three of them."
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Music: "I'll Be There For You" by the Rembrandts ~ Thanks Ilyssa (elbbubniaevili) for suggesting another song with this name, which reminded me of this one.
Also, yes, Puck quoted the chorus from "When You Believe" that they performed the day before; I planned ahead and chose that song for a reason ;)
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The Ballard Locks (Hiram M. Chittenden Locks) is one of my favorite places to go and yes, I'm a HUGE Deadliest Catch fan. I could go over there and spend hours just watching the boats come in and out of the locks. It's fascinating! Here's a link on Wikipedia about them: .org/wiki/Hiram_M._Chittenden_Locks
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Ironic that this chapter is the next to come up... As I said above I'm a huge fan of Deadliest Catch, so when Burt made the comment in 'Preggers' that he came home early to watch it, I had to bring this up when I chose Seattle as the town for Nationals... One of my favorite captains on the show is Captain Phil Harris owner/skipper of the F/V Cornelia Marie. I just found out that 1/29/10, he suffered a stroke while the boat was off-loading Opilio / snow crab... I posted a few entries on my LJ if you're interested... There are two for now, and as of today there are no new updates, but if I get more news, I'll post a new entry.
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A/N4: This morning/afternoon was the funeral for my cousin's wife. It was a tough day, but we said our goodbyes. Their 10 year old daughter is really tough and it reminded me of how I see Arin in this story, which is why I didn't make any comments about Arin yet. I couldn't get a conversation to work correctly and I also want to focus on it after... I remember that she was kind of the strong one when Puck got hurt and I wanted her to be that way now, but at some point it'll hit her, and I'm going to put it in soon, just not yet.
A/N5: Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. It is greatly appreciated during this tough time. Every day gets easier and all your comments and words mean so much. :)