Chapter 7
Disclaimer: Okay, so it isn't mine. I don't have to develop most of theses characters' personalities, so my writing is a lot better here than it is when I'm responsible for their personalities.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this up! I've been so swamped with school stuff! Two Lit projects, a world geography project, and I was at school until 6:30 last night! These teachers trying to kill me! And I have softball practice tomorrow! Err…Hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor…I'm going to do something other than homework or typing now…
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Leah huddles in the bushes, hardly daring to breath as the car with darkly tinted windows drove slowly past, undoubtedly looking for her. It was the tenth car she'd seen since leaving the house she'd stolen her clothes from the night before, in which she hadn't slept a wink. This time, she'd barely hidden herself before the car had turned the corner.
She was tired, but she was too scared to stay in one place long enough to fall asleep. If she didn't come up with a plan soon, she'd fall asleep standing up, and they'd find her. She wouldn't go back to wherever they'd had her. She'd die first, because she had no doubt they'd hurt her. So she just couldn't sleep.
As she sat in the bushes, her eyes gradually drooped closed and her chin dropped to her chest. And she awoke with a start and leapt to her feet.
"Damn," she whispered. "What am I gonna do?"
Leah realized she had to find somewhere to spend the night. There was no way she could keep on as she was. Standing on a hill among a copse of trees, she could see the layout of an entire neighborhood. Must be the only hill for miles, she thought. Then she grinned, as a plan formed in her mind.
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Kyla Smith was finishing up the dinner dishes when the doorbell rang.
"Mom? Kenny? Could someone get that? Ugh!" she muttered, drying her hands on a towel when both her mother and brother yelled they were busy upstairs.
She glances out the window to see a girl, near her own age but unfamiliar, smiling nervously and shifting form foot to foot.
"Hi," Kyla said, opening the door. "Can I help you?"
The other girl's face fell into a confused frown.
"I'm…I'm sorry…there must be some mistake. This is 1515 Westlink, right?" the girls asked, a crease forming between her bright green eyes.
"Yes." Kyla nodded.
"Oh. Oh, no." The girl studied her feet and turned away as if to leave.
"Obviously there's been some kind of mix up. Come on in and I'll see if I can help. You're not from around here, are you?" Kyla asked, opening the door wide and stepping back.
"No. I don't know what I'm going to do. My cousins…Well, my parents are gone, and I wrote to my cousins, and they wrote back giving me this address and saying they'd be happy to let me live with them while I finish high school."
"You could call them. Do you have a phone number?"
"No. Just the address." She shook her head. "I've been horribly rude, barging into your house without introducing myself. I'm Leah…Patterson." She held out her hand.
"Kyla Smith. You have no way to contact your cousins?"
"None. Looks like my only option is to crash with my grandparents, but they're a four hour bus ride away," Leah said, moving back toward the door. "I'm beat. I should go find a place to stay the night."
"Hey, hold up. I'm sure my mom won't mind if you sleep here, considering your predicament. Just a sec."
Kyla bolted up the stairs, and Leah grinned. It had actually worked! And may be she could use the pretext of calling her grandparents to contact her father again so the could meet tomorrow.
She forced her face to hold the same nervous, slightly hopeful look it had when Kyla left when she appeared at the base of the stairs.
"Come on, I'll show you our spare room," Kyla said happily. "You must be what, sixteen, seventeen?"
Leah smiled. "About."
"I'll let you get settled. The bathroom's just across the hall, if you want to take a shower or whatever. Oh, I forgot, do you want to call your grandparents first?"
"I can call them in the morning, if that's okay. It's a little late, and I'd hate to wake them up." In reality, Leah was too tired to deal with her mother and father coherently. And she didn't want to drag this family into her mess by having the call traced."
"That's cool. Hey, Mom, are you gonna come meet her or what?" Kyla yelled down the hall.
A friendly looking woman came out of a room smiling.
"Kyla, must you shout in the house?" she asked tolerantly. "Hi, Leah, is it? I can't believe anyone would leave such a pretty young girl on her own like that. And giving you the wrong address! Why, you can't be a day older than my Kyla. I'd never dream of leaving her on her own, and you're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"She's sixteen, Mom," Kyla inserted.
"Thank you very much," Leah replied. "But I can promise to be out of your way in the morning. I hate to inconvenience you." That was true enough.
"I could never allow you to have to fend for yourself when I can do something to help out. You just make yourself at home. Why don't you take a quick shower and get some sleep? You look exhausted."
"Um, thanks, I think," Leah laughed. "I'll do that. Thanks so much for letting me stay here."
"No problem," Kyla said. "Mom'll just make me cook breakfast in the morning. You like pancakes?"
"Sure, but you don't have to…"
"Nonsense!" Kyla's mother called from halfway down the stairs. "You'll eat your share and like it!"
"She means well," Kyla laughed. "Go ahead and make yourself at home."
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"Vaughn, I want my little girl," Sydney mumbled softly from her seat on the cheap motel bed.
They both had been prepared to search the little Arizona suburb all night, even though--or may be because--Leah hadn't contacted them all day. They were only there now because Weiss had threatened to tranquilize them both and drag them to a room if the refused to go under their own steam.
At the sound of despair in Sydney's voice, Vaughn crossed the room and sat next to her. He hesitated, then put his arm around her shoulders. He played with her hair, brushing it back from her forehead with his free hand.
"We'll find her, Syd. Now that she's escaped, she'll figure out how to hide," Vaughn comforted.
"But she'll be hidden from us too. If she doesn't call, we'll stand no better chance of finding her than they will," Sydney argued quietly, no fire behind her words.
"We should get some sleep," Vaughn suggested. "So we'll be alert tomorrow."
"I'll never sleep knowing Leah's God knows where," Sydney protested.
"Just close your eyes." He pulled her back onto the bed, pillowing her head against his shoulder.
The next thing either of them knew, a shrill ringing was slicing through the crisp morning air.
Sydney stretched to snatch up the phone by the bed and answered it before she realized it was Vaughn's cell phone that was ringing, and by then he'd answered it.
"It's me, Leah," her voice said with a tinge of nervousness that worried Vaughn.
"God, Leah, where are you? I…hold on, let me trace this…"
"Yeah, good to talk to you too. Listen, Grandpa, there's been a mistake…"
"Leah? What the hell…oh." Vaughn realized belatedly that someone was listening and she was supposedly talking to someone other than him. He heard a door close in the background.
"Look, go ahead and trace this call, but I'm not going to be here. I will not involve this family in this mess. I'll call you back later, after I find a safe place to meet you. I can explain more later. Got the trace?"
Vaughn was shocked by the fearless, no nonsense tone. "Uh, yeah," he said after a moment. "The trace is solid. But wait just a second…"
"Then I have to go." Then Leah raised her voice. "Thanks a lot, Grandpa. I'll see you tonight."
"Oh, damn, that girl is without a doubt your child," Vaughn snapped at Sydney.
"What does that mean?!?" she snapped back, trying to smooth her rumpled clothes and hair as she stood.
"I traced the damn call, but she refuses to stay put unitl we come get her!"
"And how does that prove her my child?" Sydney asked sarcastically.
"Stubborn as hell," Vaughn muttered.
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Hehe! Don't ya just love S/V banter? Of course, I can't have the banter without the cute falling asleep together scene, but there's nothing wrong with that!