I'm so sorry for the extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly long wait, you guys. Thank you for being patient and helping me out with your suggestions. hopefully I'll be able to keep this rolling to the end, because to be honest I've just been losing my motivation to write. Not that I don't know where I'm going with this story; I can see in the end in sight (hint, it is VERY close), but I guess I just ran out of steam. Anyway, it's god to be back, and enjoy the new chapter!
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Ciel had seen his chance and taken it. He could not just sit there while he had an opportunity to let Sebastian know where he was, or at least...what he knew of where he was. He had slipped out of Charlie's grasp, shifted into his feline form and leapt upon Claude's shoulder, shouting as loudly as he could into the phone,
"We're in the country, Sebastian! The count-"
He was cut off as Claude smacked him hard, throwing him from his shoulder with the force of the blow. The world flew around him in a dizzy swirl as he tumbled through the air. Ciel thankfully landed in the leather chair, and lay still as he tried to recover, his ears ringing. The next second Claude sized him by his scruff and pulled him up to eye-level. Ciel yowled in displeasure, his body curling up beneath him, but could do no more than that.
"You must be the gutsiest creature on the face of the earth." Claude observed, slight heat to his tone. Ciel, while pleased to hear the sound, was too disoriented by the blow to respond; Claude's face swam before his angry eyes. "I will be quite pleased to get rid of you and have my Alois back."
Ciel's drooping ears perked at this, and he spat out weakly,
"You'll never get him back! Sebastian will never allow that!"
Claude's eyes narrowed and he stared more intently into Ciel's face.
"Are you saying that your Sebastian cares so little for you?" Ciel was caught off-guard by this question, unable to answer as he did not even understand. Claude went on, "Sebastian will not risk going to the law for you; he would be tightening the noose around not only his neck, but his best friend's as well. Do you really think that he would take that chance? Do you believe he would rather take down the dear friend of his youth than save you, a stray he picked up off the street?"
Ciel wanted to retort as he had been doing since this entire nightmare had started, but he found he had nothing to say. He could not combat what Claude was saying. It could be very true. Although in his heart he knew that Sebastian would never ever let Alois come back to this monster of a man, he could not say with certainty that he would try and rescue him either. There was so much at risk, for both Sebastian and Bard, beyond the risk to Ciel...he could not say what they would decide to do.
Claude seemed satisfied with Ciel's silence, and he placed him down onto the chair again.
"That's a good boy." Claude said, his voice shifting back into a neutral contentment. "Just sit there and wait like the bait that you are. I'll be back for you if I need you."
Without another word, Claude stalked from the room and closed the door, leaving him alone with Charlie. The American had seemed to take a shine to him despite being his warden, so Ciel was not surprised when he chuckled and leaned on the seat of the chair to look down at him. The man's grin appeared upside-down to Ciel, who was lying on his side.
"I can't believe my eyes; did you really shut your mouth for a second when you had the chance to shriek and whine?"
When Ciel didn't even respond to that, Charlie shrugged and gave up, walking to the other chair in the room and reclining in it to watch him. Ciel hated being under constant supervision, but there was nothing he could do about it besides complain, which had gotten him nowhere over the past several hours. He wanted to be alone, to hide the troublesome thoughts that must be showing on his face. He leapt down from the leather chair and began poking around the room as he had been doing for most of his time here.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked in a longsuffering tone craning his neck to watch the kitten. "You know there's no way for you to squeeze yourself out of here."
Ciel continued his silence, and his search. Finally he wedged himself between the back of a sofa and the wall, squirming until he was directly behind it, huddled up and covered in cobwebs. He sneezed a little.
"Bless you." Charlie muttered from his chair, "Have fun hiding back there while you can."
Ciel curled his face into his outstretched paws and went utterly still. Someone would come for him. He was sure of it. Whether or not it was Sebastian, someone had to be aware of what Claude was doing. Perhaps he would get lucky and they would take him down by the end of the day. He remembered the promise Sebastian had given him over the phone; 'I'm going to get you out of there...I'm going to bring you home.' He clung to those words, letting them ring over and over in his mind like a mantra. Whether or not Sebastian was actually able to make good on that promise was one thing, but Ciel let the notion comfort him regardless. Even when he had been living on the streets there had always been a plan, an alternative, an escape. Now he was trapped, and felt more helpless than he had in his entire life. The lease he could do was let the memory of that soft voice soothe his fears.
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"No, Alois, that is out of the question!" Bard's insistent voice rang out through the meeting room, "We already have one of you serving as bait in his situation, don't make yourself the second!"
"But it's the one condition that he gave." Alois argued, "If he sees me, then he'll release Ciel."
"And then what?" Bard asked, "How will you escape his clutches then? You'll be right back where you started, even worse."
"But I have to do something!" Alois all but yelled, frustration and pain fueling the desperation in his voice. "It's all because I ran away that any of this is happening in the first place!"
"No, my lad, that's not how I see it." Henry chimed in, clearing his throat from the other end of the long conference table. "This all began because your own Mr. Michealis here took in a stray Leonard without reporting him."
Every person in the room seemed to stiffen, and brace themselves for what the Detective Inspector would say next.
"Now, Mr. Michealis, there is no law against having a heart of gold," Henry continued, his words somewhat calming everyone, "however, you can see how enrolling him in the Shelter and then adopting him shortly after would have been the best choice."
There was a silence following his words, and then Finny piped in.
"With all due respect, sir, had we just thrown Ciel into the Shelter system, even at Angel Wing, he would have undoubtedly just tried to run away again. We had to win him over and make him want to come to the Shelter."
Henry's eyes softened at Finny's polite statement.
"I understand than, son," He said, nodding at him, "but you can see how ignoring the law does not exactly endear Mr. Michealis or Mr. Collins to my heart."
"The law is subject to change." Finny muttered, unable to keep himself silent. Henry merely grinned at this.
"I am very aware of that. Of course at this rate it will be a long while before deliberations are put aside and votes are actually cast."
"Back to the subject at hand." Alois cut in, "I want to do it. I want to lure Claude into an ambush."
"He's too smart not to have planned on that, Alois." Sebastian said quietly, speaking for the first time where he sat, clinging to his cup of coffee like it was his lifeline. "We would just be putting everyone in danger if we did that."
"I agree." Henry said, biting his lip as he thought hard like everyone else. "Though I do think that the only way we are going to lure him out if with some form of trap, the issue now is to try and work out how we could execute a plan without endangering young Alois here."
"What if I was a decoy?" Finny asked suddenly, "I'm close to Alois' shade of blonde when I'm in my feline form!"
"You're not light enough," Bard interjected, "Alois is white-blonde, you're tawny. Claude would know the difference at once."
"If he was too close he might." Finny tried again, "But if I was in a kennel or something, and he only saw me from afar-"
"He'd insist on seeing you in human form." Sebastian said. "I doubt he would settle for anything less. I wouldn't if it were the other way around."
Finny opened his mouth to protest again, when a loud ruckus sounded from the other side of the door. It was not quite someone yelling, but someone speaking very loudly. Sebastian's eyes narrowed as he listened to it. There was something...familiar about the odd cadence of speech.
"What is this now..?" Henry asked, getting up from his seat. "I apologize, I'll be right back."
As he opened the door, the voice became all the more clear, and Sebastian bolted upright and followed Henry. They walked into a scene of chaos as Becky, the blonde woman from the tech room, was arguing with a gentleman who seemed rather upset. They were the center of attention in the room full of desks and other officers, who were either watching with intrigue or trying to ignore them. Becky was flushed, looking exasperated as she spoke,
"I told you I don't know how many times that you need to reel it in when you're at work, especially when you're in your own shop!" The man cowered before countering with,
"I couldn't help it, he was just oh-so-handsome and his eyes begged me for it! I was practically fulfilling a wish that he himself was unaware he made!"
"If he didn't realize it himself, how on earth could you even -never mind, I can't handle your nonsense!"
"Becky." Henry said, as he approached the two of them, followed closely by Sebastian. "What's all this about, then?"
Becky sighed, and shook her head, while the man's eyes fell on the Detective Inspector and opened widely.
"Oh, Henry! How glad I am to see you, I do so hope you can sort out this little misunderstanding."
Henry promptly turned back to Becky and asked,
"So, what's the charge this time?"
The man made an offended sound, and Becky spoke over him,
"He exposed himself to one of his customers. In his own shop." She smacked the man smartly on the back of the head. As he wailed as grabbed his skull, she continued, "He also claims that the customer asked for it."
While Henry lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, Sebastian took the opportunity to break in,
"We've met before, have we not?"
The affronted man turned to look at him, and immediately his abused appearance transformed into warmth and cheerfulness.
"Ah! I remember you, yes! Do forgive me for remembering your face, and not your name."
"Likewise." Sebastian said, as he took the proffered red-nailed hand in his own for a shake.
"Grell Sutcliff." The redheaded man all but purred.
"Sebastian Michealis." Sebastian replied stiffly, remembering the air of awkwardness around the man if nothing else, as though the redhead would pounce on him at any moment. The unbridled luridness of his expression made it hard to ignore the discomfort.
"Of course, you are the dreadfully kind man who took in little Thunder!"
Sebastian raised his eyebrow.
"Thunder?" He asked.
"Well, that's what my cousin dubbed him," Grell said, to which Becky interjected,
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Not you, Becky, " Grell said, irritated, "your brother Will. When he came out here and stayed with me that time."
Sebastian's eyes flitted to the pretty young woman, then back to Grell, wondering how on earth the two could share the same family line. Becky caught his eyes at one point, and she turned a little pink, and looked away. Apparently she wondered the exact same thing.
"Thunder never told me his real name." Grell continued. "What did you call him? You know, that cute little trick of a Leonard you have living at your place."
"You knew about him?" Henry asked sharply, sensing the shift in the conversation.
"Well..." Grell looked caught for a split second before he answered, "I'd see him every now and again, but catching strays is so very difficult..."
"I see..." Henry said, his eyes narrowing as bushy brows lowered to hide them partially.
"Grell, Ciel has been kidnapped and is being held for a ransom." Sebastian explained, wanting if nothing else to wipe that sappy grin off the man's face. It worked. Immediately his expression fell so that even the false eyelashes and lined lips could not hide the utter masculinity of his resolve.
"Who..?" He asked in a low serious voice that sounded nothing like his flowery one, "who did that to little Thunder?"
"A man named Claude Faustus." Becky answered, seemingly surprised at Grell's reaction. If she had been surprised before, she was even more so when Grell's chest swelled with anger and he clenched his jaw.
"You mean that same man who beat on that poor little blonde thing?" He asked, looking toward Sebastian, "The one Laurence and I brought to you that night? After finding him on the side of the road?"
Sebastian nodded, impressed at Grell's attitude. From the little time he had spent with the man, he had thought that something like male anger was out of his delicate reach, but Grell was proving him wrong.
"Why did he do that?" Grell demanded, looking now to Henry, who was having a harder time hiding his surprise at Grell's turnaround than Becky or Sebastian. His eyes were wide and staring, his jaw hanging slightly open at Grell's voice and stance. He pulled himself together and cleared his throat at Grell's question.
"I didn't know that you were involved in this, but it sounds like you are." Henry said. "Especially if you helped rescue that young Alois Leonard."
"You're straight I did!" Grell stated firmly. Sebastian saw Becky pressing her lips together in an effort not to giggle at the irony of her cousin's words. This brought a smile to his own lips that none of the others noticed.
"Well, Faustus wants him back. That's why he snatched Ciel away from Sebastian here."
"Dirty rotten..." Grell mumbled curses to himself as he became more agitated.
"I didn't realize you cared for him so much." Sebastian said, though he remembered Ciel's stories about Grell helping him out numerous times.
"Cared for him?" Grell asked, "He's like my own little brother. I never had one, being the younger son. But when he first came to me, hurt and helpless, I took him in. Just because I hardly saw him didn't lesson the times that I did. He was tough as nails, but still so fragile. Something that small and needy..." Grell squared his shoulders and drew himself up taller. "No one should harm anything weaker than themselves. That's pure cruelty and cowardice."
"I agree." Henry said, in a tone that indicated he could hardly believe he was saying it. "That's why we're trying to determine a course of action here."
"I want to help." Grell said determinedly, "Anything I can do, just name it!"
"Thank you, Grell," Sebastian said, "but there is very little to be done at this point."
"I can bring you up to speed if nothing else." Becky offered, glancing at her superior for the go-ahead. Henry rubbed the back of his head, sighing.
"What harm could it do?"
"I'll start by showing you the ransom video." Becky said. As she was leading her cousin into the tech room, Henry called across the office space,
"Sutcliff! If you end up being useful to us at all on this case, I'll drop the indecent exposure charges."
Grell cast him a sappy grin over his shoulder and called out,
"You're too kind, Henry!"
As he and his cousin disappeared into the tech room, Henry groaned.
"Maybe I just made a mistake by promising him that. I was swept away by his sudden manliness."
Sebastian chuckled.
"As was I, sir. Perhaps he will somehow give us the break we need."
"Perhaps." Henry looked uncertain, then turned to Sebastian, "Coffee?"
"Of course."
A few moments later, from their place in the break room where they were doctoring their coffee with sugars, creamers, and milk, Sebastian and Henry heard a slight shriek that was undeniably Grell's. They could not help but grin at each other before they hurried to the tech room. Grell was flailing a bit and pointing at the screen when they entered. It was just at the portion of the tape where the camera man showed himself, holding Ciel in the frame as well.
"That's Charlie!" He was repeating, "I know that lowlife scumbag, that's Charlie Briggs!"
"How do you know him?" Henry asked, as Becky paused the tape. Sebastian listened to Grell's reply, but all the while his eyes stayed upon Ciel's face on the screen.
"He's come into my store enough times!" Grell said, "Always trying to sell me something, even though he's in my store and can see that I have enough...of course...what he was offering was...different."
"What do you mean?" Becky asked. "Was he a drug dealer?"
"Worse." Grell said, looking suddenly nervous and ashamed. "He...tried to sell me Leonard children more than once."
"What?!" Three different voices asked in unison as they all voiced their horror.
"Of course I always kicked him out!" Grell insisted, "You already know my stance on that kind of depravity, I don't even think Leonards should be kept as pets in the first place!"
"Why did you never report this?!" Henry asked, angrily. Grell huffed a little sarcastic laugh as he answered,
"You charming policemen never take my calls seriously anymore, so I just stopped calling about him."
Henry heaved a sigh, staring up at the ceiling.
"This is why criminals roam free; because morons like you clutter up the lines with complaints about nonsense until we no longer listen."
Grell wisely kept silent at that, and the quiet that followed hinted at minds whirring and scheming. Finally Henry spoke again, this time with determination.
"I think I might have a plan."
All eyes turned to him, and he nodded.
"Grell, we're going to need your help."
"Thank goodness I'll be able to do something!" Grell exclaimed. "What will role shall I play, do tell!"
"Well, that depends..." Henry said, rubbing his chin and grinning, "How well can you flirt?"
