Chapter 4
Jonathan took Farrah down to the FBI archives office. The woman he was looking for was sitting by her desk with her head down, looking at some book. Her red hijab framed her face, she wore long-sleeved yellow top with a long light pink cardigan on top along with a pair of jeans. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the open door. Lara looked up to find the magician by the door with a stroller in hand. He gave a nervous smile, "Hi."
The archivist gave a small grin, "Hi. Jonathan, right?"
"Yeah, I'm surprised you could tell."
Lara shrugged, "You and your brother might look identical but you carry yourselves very differently." Jonathan's eyebrows raised slightly in amusement. "Plus your leather jacket is a bit of a giveaway."
Jonathan looked down to the black leather jacket he was wearing and chuckled slightly, "I guess you're right."
"How can I help you?"
"Well... I was wondering if you could help us with something... I don't know if it's really your expertise but-"
"I can do what I can. Have a seat." She gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
Jonathan was about to bring the stroller in when he realized that Lara's office wasn't that big. It could definitely fit Farrah's stroller but it might make things a little snug. He placed the stroller outside the door, lifted up his niece into his arms. He was about to walk back in when Farrah pointed to the stroller and exclaimed, "Bunny!"
"Oh, sorry kiddo. Forgot about your bunny." He took the bunny out of the stroller and Farrah was quick to wrap her arms around the pale blue plush. Jonathan came in and sat down, placing Farrah on his lap. He hesitated again for a moment before speaking up, "I-I was wondering if you had any information in the Blanc family."
Lara raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Well, off the top of my head, I know that they're a rich family. A combination of old money and new money. May I ask why?"
Jonathan nodded, "They're kind of... our in-laws."
"In-laws?"
"Our sister was married to Shawn Blanc."
Lara looked at Jonathan then took a quick glance to Farrah who was still playing on Cameron's phone. She knew from what Kay told her that Cameron and Jonathan were raising Farrah because she lost her parents. All she could say was: "I'm sorry."
Jonathan nodded in appreciation. "And now, there's this." He took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to her.
He noticed how her expressions changed as she read through the letter. Her nostrils started to flair slightly. When she was done, she almost slammed the paper down, "They want to take her away?" Jonathan nodded, a little confused by her reaction. "Why now?"
"That's the same question we have." Jonathan sighed, "I was wondering if you could find anything on them that could prevent them from taking her away... you'd think Bennett Blanc being in prison for actual coldblooded murder wouldn't have them so confident." He tried to joke.
Lara gave a tiny smile, "I'll do what I can. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Jonathan shook his head, "I think that's all for now." Just then Farrah lifted the phone to Jonathan's face to hand to him. He took his brother's phone from the little girl, "You all done playing?" Farrah didn't say anything and instead tried to wiggle her way onto the floor. Jonathan gently placed her on the ground and let her walk around a little, "Sorry, she just needs to stretch her legs."
Lara's smile only grew as she watched the little girl in denim overalls, white puff-sleeved t-shirt with pink flower clips in her hair waddle around her office with her stuffed animal in hand. "I don't mind at all. I think she's very sweet."
"Thank you." Jonathan replied with a grin, "I think so too."
Lara was about to say something when she heard Farrah coo at something behind her. The archivist turned around her chair and found the little girl pointing at the bottom shelf of children's books. She smiled at Farrah, "Do you wanna pick a book?" Farrah just shyly looked at her shoes, "It's okay if you want to try to read one."
Lara pulled out the book Farrah had been pointing at and handed it to the little girl. Farrah hesitantly took the book and gave Lara a toothy smile before she toddled back over to her uncle and showed him the book. Jonathan pretended to be incredibly amazed by the book as Farrah sat down and placed the book on her lap as she clumsily opened it to page through it. He looked to Lara, "Why do you have children's books in your office?"
Lara shrugged, "Usually, some of my co-workers who had to come to work last-minute can't get someone to look after their kids so I let them stay here. It's kind of the calmest place a kid can be in a building like this." She chuckled, "Plus I don't really get that much to do outside of finding files for people."
Jonathan was surprised, "Really?"
She nodded, "Yeah. Mike sometimes has Diego and Jaime hang out here while he has to finish up paperwork so I figured it made sense to just have a few kid-friendly books you know?" She glanced at Farrah who was tracing her tiny finger over the illustrations of the book. "Do you read to her a lot?"
Jonathan shrugged, "Uh, yeah, I guess. She really likes to be read to."
"That's really nice." Lara gave slight grin as she got up from her chair. She walked over to the second bookshelf to the left, "So you said that you needed dirt on the Blancs?"
Jonathan chuckled, "Not really dirt. Just a reason that can prevent them from taking Farrah away."
Lara raised an eyebrow in amusement, "So dirt?"
He let out a laugh this time, "You said it, not me."
(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)
Kay ran a hand through her hair as she looked through traffic camera footage, trying to see if she could identify Cornelia Berossi in the crowd. She had been told by the prison guards that the former mystery woman was now blond as her roots had grown out so that was something to look out for... but she could have already dyed her hair. She took another sip of her coffee, frustrated that somehow the fugitive had evaded all the cameras. It wasn't until her stomach growled that she finally looked up from her screen. At that same moment, Cameron knocked on her office door. She smiled, "Hey."
"Hi." He walked in, closing the door behind him, "Do you wanna get some lunch?"
Kay sighed, "I'd love to but I'm still looking through this footage."
Cameron walked over to her, "Any leads?"
She shook her head, "Not yet..." She ran her hand through her hair again, "I just don't understand it. How is she not in any of this footage? There's only so many ways to leave that prison and they're all under surveillance."
Cameron placed a hand on her shoulder, "Maybe you need to step away from it for a little while. Maybe get yourself some food."
She placed her hand on his, "Cameron-"
"I'm not saying take the whole day off but you do need a break. You've been working non-stop for hours and you've only had coffee since breakfast." She gave him a curious look, "You think that after all this time I can't tell when you're running on just caffeine?"
She rolled her eyes. She looked up to him, "How's Farrah?"
"She's alright. She's with Johnny right now."
"Why isn't she at daycare?" Cameron averted her eyes, "Cameron..."
He sighed, "I know... I'm just worried." He lightly gripped her hand as he looked back to her, "You should eat something. It might help."
"You're right." She got up from her seat. She picked up her jacket, placing her phone and her wallet in the pockets, "Where to?"
"How about that diner down the street? I hear they have good pie."
She smirked, "I thought we were getting lunch."
"Lunch can include dessert." He playfully argued.
"Do you want to ask the others if they want to join us?"
"They already went for lunch half an hour ago."
Kay nodded as she put her jacket on, "You didn't go with them?"
"And leave you to forget to take care of yourself? What kind of man would I be?" She rolled her eyes at him again as they went out the door.
(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)
The day had gone by and they still had no leads on the former mystery woman. Kay decided to stay at her place seeing as she was going to get up early again in the morning.
Cameron and Jonathan went back to their apartment with a tuckered-out Farrah. The two brothers just discussed what they had managed to get done and were trying to figure out if there was something they were just not seeing. Upon arriving home and locking the door behind them, Jonathan let out a yawn. Cameron smirked at his brother, "Tired?"
"Yeah... I guess. I'll get Farrah ready for bed." He said in a bit of an exhausted tone.
Cameron shook his head as he took his tired niece out, "You go to bed, I got her."
"You sure?"
"Take an early night. We'll be fine."
Jonathan gave a grateful sigh, "Thanks Cam. I'll see you in the morning, good night."
Cameron smiled, "G'night Johnny."
"Nigh' nigh' Johnny" Farrah babbled.
Jonathan chuckled, "Good night Jellybean."
Jonathan went into his room as Cameron took Farrah into her room. Once he finally got Farrah into her footie pajamas, after a few escape attempts by the toddler. Once he also gave her hair a quick brushing, he scooped up his niece and placed butterfly kisses on her cheeks making her giggle. Farrah grabbed his cheeks with her teeny hands. Cameron smiled as he cooed at her, "Did you know that I love you very much?" Farrah giggled as he took them to the kitchen to get her a bedtime bottle, "Yes I do, I love my little girl." He placed her on the ground for a moment.
When he got out her bottle out, she started jumping up and down and pointed, "Botta! Botta!"
Cameron smiled at her excitement and held out his hand, letting her grasp his index finger. When they got back to Farrah's room, Cameron placed her bottle on a table so he could pick her up. "Now. Are you going to go right to sleep after finishing your bottle?"
Farrah grabbed his nose and giggled, "Botta!"
"Aw, come on Fare Bear, I thought you grew out that." Farrah just giggled again making Cameron smile again as she let go of his nose. He gave her a hug before placing her in her crib. He handed her the bottle, she was quick to grab it and start drinking it. Already, her eyelids began to droop. Cameron tucked her, and handed her the blue bunny she loved so much. As he walked out of her room and turned off the light, he just wished that whatever happened, Farrah would be alright.
(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)
One year ago...
A young doctor with bright brown eyes furrowed his brows as read through some official-looking documents. "Shawn?" He heard a voice call out. A young woman with dark curly hair and blue eyes walked over to him and sat down with an eight-month-old child drinking a bottle.
Shawn smiled, "Hey Fifi." He held out his hand, letting the little girl in his wife's arms grasp his finger, "Hey Farrah... how's my little princess doing?"
Fiona smiled down at her daughter as Farrah grinned at her father, "Well, I got her into her PJs and hopefully the bottle will help get her to sleep." She looked to the papers on the desk, "Whatcha doing?"
"Oh uh... just... finalizing our will."
Fiona raised an eyebrow in amusement, "We have a will? When did we get so fancy pants?"
Shawn chuckled, "Lots of people have wills Fiona."
She just shrugged, "I never have. Never had a reason to."
He gave a sad smile, "Well, I have two reasons to. One reason is the beautiful woman sitting next to me." Fiona rolled her eyes as Shawn leaned over to kiss Farrah's forehead, "And the other reason is my little princess."
"Shawn, it's past 8 o'clock. Does the sap tap ever turn off?" Fiona joked.
Shawn playfully rolled his eyes, "Oh ha, ha. This is actually pretty important."
"How so?" Fiona asked as she took the empty bottle from Farrah and placed it on the desk.
"Well, I just mean that we have a baby and it's not a bad idea to just have some things ready for her just in case..." Shawn couldn't bring himself to say it.
Fiona intertwined her hand with her husband, "Shawn... I get that you're worried about Farrah and it's really sweet but you gotta remember that we're going to be just fine."
"I'm sorry, I guess I just feel better knowing that no matter what might happen, you and Farrah will be okay." Fiona raised an eyebrow. "I just mean financially." He showed her one of the papers, "See, this is my inheritance that I had already separated into my own separate account before my parents..."
"Cut you off?"
Shawn shrugged, "I don't ever plan to use it because I don't trust how my parents made that money in the first place and I have decent job where I make good honest money."
"Why does your father keep sending you checks then?"
"I don't know..." He replied, squeezing his wife's hand, "But I'm not taking any money from that man. There's always a catch with him."
Fiona gave Shawn a sad smile as Farrah held her arms out to him wanting Shawn to take her. "So what does this will do for Farrah?" Fiona asked as Shawn took his baby girl in his arms, letting the baby rest her head on his shoulder.
Shawn handed her the paper, "I've turned my inheritance into a savings account for Farrah. That money will be hers."
Well! Does that clear things up a little? No?
...Don't worry, it will all make sense soon...ish...
Hope you guys liked this chapter, something big will be happening next chapter so stay tuned for that! 3