Frank felt a sharp pain in his abdomen before he fell to the ground. He scrambled back to his feet and pulled out his gun, aiming it at the man, who simply stared at him, laughing.

"You think you cops are so good at what you do? You're never going to catch me!" the man said. "I won't be caught, ever!" Joseph snickered at them as he faced down the barrels of the two guns from Alex and Jake.

"Put the gun down and put your hands in the air, now!" Jake ordered him.

Joseph gave a small laugh as he put down his gun and raised his hands. Jake and Alex walked closer to him as Cody and Monica stayed behind, Michelle still clinging to her. They all carefully watched as Alex and Jake advanced on him.

"Whatever you do to me, you won't get out of this alive," Joseph told them with a laugh.

It was then that the man took off into the semi-darkness. The two started to follow him but the man disappeared into thin air. Jake and Alex walked back to the parking lot.

"We lost him. He's gone," Jake told them as they walked up to Frank.

Monica, Cody and Michelle were already surrounding him by his vehicle. He was breathing a bit more heavily than usual.

"Are you alright, Frank?" asked Monica.

"I'm fine," Frank replied as he reached to open the door. "Now leave me alone." He began to climb into the car but Alex stopped him from completely getting inside.

"You have to get that wound checked out before it gets worse, Frank," Alex told him.

"I said I'm fine, it's nothing serious. Come on Michelle, let's go to your house and get some of your things," he told them.

He got into the car, put the key into the ignition and started the engine. The teen slowly headed over to the passenger seat and climbed inside. She put on the seatbelt and they drove off, leaving the others in a state of shock.

"Alright, that clinches it. Let's call Guinness and have them name him 'The Most Stubborn Man Alive'. Who here agrees with me?" Cody said with a sigh.

"Quit it Cody. There's something else that's bothering me," Jake told them.

"What's that?" asked Monica.

"He called her Michelle," he replied before heading to his own vehicle.

00000

"You should really get that checked out, you know," Michelle told him.

"Are you deaf, like the others? I said I was fine," he told her with a sigh.

Michelle decided to be quiet until they got to her house and faced the dashboard. She appeared to be deep in thought as Frank glanced over at her.

"What're you thinking about?" he finally asked.

"Why would a Fed want to know what I think?" she replied. "Especially one that doesn't care much about me, of all people?"

She faced him with eyes that questioned him. It's as if they were saying 'do you know what I think you know?' Frank looked at the road again, not saying a word. He didn't know how to reply as he pulled up to the house. "I'll wait in here. You go get some things," he told her.

She nodded her head and got out of the car, looking back at him before heading into the house. She quietly walked up to her bedroom and began to pack several clothes and belongings into a small suitcase she pulled out of her closet.

She was just about finished when Amelia barged into the room and saw what she was doing. "Now where do you think you're going?" demanded Amelia, putting her hands on her hips.

"Why do you care all of a sudden? You never did before," Michelle angrily wondered as she walked down the stairs.

Amelia followed her until she got to the top of the stairs. "You never wanted to listen to me, you've always been a brat! Always has been, always will!" she said to her.

Michelle couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Amelia, you've never liked me, I've never liked you and that's a fact," the teen told her with a laugh in her voice.

"You're not going anywhere!" Amelia angrily replied.

Michelle soon became angry herself. "You can't tell me what to do! You're not my mother!" she yelled at the adult before rushing out the door.

00000

Frank sat in the car, an arm pressed to his gunshot wound. He shifted his position in the seat as he waited for the kid to come out of the house.

He suddenly heard the slam of a door and looked to see Michelle heading towards the car, a woman following her.

"I really doubt that whoever you're staying with is able to stand you! You're a delinquent and you should be in boot camp right now!" Amelia screamed at her.

Michelle turned around and faced her, anger in her eyes. "Amelia, shut up for once, will you? I'm tired of you ragging on me all the time. Besides, I don't have to listen to you. You're not my mother!" Michelle yelled at her before she opened the car door.

The woman looked in and saw Frank in the driver's seat. "You're going with an older man? That's real smart!" she said.

"I can go with whomever I please. Besides, I feel safer with him than I do you! You don't know what I've been through!" the teen replied.

She climbed in and closed the door. She gave the adult a hard look. Amelia helplessly watched as Frank drove off with Michelle.

00000

The drive to Frank's apartment was a silent one. Michelle sat with her arms crossed, staring out the window.

Frank glanced over at her. "Michelle, is everything alright?" he asked her.

She stared at him with amazement in her eyes. "You, of all people, are asking me if I'm alright? Now's my turn to ask if you're deaf. I thought you couldn't stand me so why would you care anyway?" she told him before returning her stare back out the window.

Frank didn't respond immediately. "I was curious. Can't a man be curious? Especially since you and that woman back there don't seem to get along too well," he finally replied.

"Amelia's always hated me, I've always hated her. We never got along. That fight you witnessed was normal for us. They're pretty much daily," Michelle told her, now staring out the front of the car.

He stopped the car and stepped out of it, heading towards the building. Michelle followed him, lugging her bag. Frank opened the door and walked inside, the teen following him. She gazed around the apartment before setting down the bag.

"You'll be staying here for the night," he told her.

"I like it already. I just want to assure you on one thing Donovan. You don't have to worry about me taking your wallet anymore or anything else for that matter," she told him.

Frank turned to face the teenager. Their eyes locked and not a word passed between them before Frank broke the gaze and headed towards the bathroom. Michelle sat on the couch and watched him head inside. She had noticed the blood on his arm.

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Frank slowly took off his jacket and bloodied shirt, revealing the painful gunshot wound and the cut on his arm. He looked at it for a moment before grabbing a towel, gently but firmly pressing it against the long, deep graze in his abdomen before gingerly sitting down on the toilet seat.

It was then that he heard the door move slightly, and he gave a sigh. "You're not very good at hiding, you know that?" he called out to Michelle.

She peeked into the bathroom before carefully walking inside. "You should've gotten those wounds checked," she told him.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," he said.

"Is that what you tell everybody, no matter how you're feeling?" she wondered. "Here, let me help you," she told him as she knelt beside him.

She grabbed another towel and wrapped it around his bad arm. After that, she applied some pressure on the gunshot wound.

Frank let go of the towel and watched her. 'Is this the same brat who took my wallet earlier? It can't be! It just can't be,' he thought to himself.

He stared away from her, the thoughts swirling through his mind.

00000

"So what? He called her Michelle. What's so wrong with that?" wondered Alex.

"Nothing's wrong with it. It's just that...he's always referred to her as a brat. It surprised me when he called her by her name, but that is not what's bothering me the most," he replied.

"What is, then?" asked Cody.

"That man. He said we wouldn't get out of here alive. How exactly is it that he's going to do this?" he replied.

The three looked at each other before looking back at him and shrugging their shoulders.

"My point exactly. Who's to say that he hasn't done anything to the building, so to speak? To get rid of us once and for all for taking in Michelle and protecting her?" he told them. "Maybe this guy knows something we don't."

The four looked at other, that idea strong in their minds.

"We should keep in contact with each other often then, so we'll know if something's happened to any of us," suggested Cody.

The three looked at him in surprise.

"Is this our Cody? It can't be! Cody's never serious!" Monica said.

"What?" he asked, holding out his hands.

"There's only one problem," Monica said as they looked at each other.

"Frank!" they all said in unison.

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Joseph looked at the building Frank and Michelle had walked into. "So this is where you live her little Savior? Thanks for leading me here so I can kill both of you more easily!" Joseph said with a smile.

He headed towards the building, no one noticing a suspicious-looking package sitting underneath his arm...

TBC...