CHAPTER 36

A/N: Sorry for the wait. Eesh, I know! I've been busy and I know that's not much of an excuse, but real life got in the way. Thanks for all the great reviews, and here's the next chap. It gets a little intense, but enjoy!

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Jen crumpled and uncrumpled the tissue in her hand as the detective's words floated in and out of her ears. She rested her head against Maureen's shoulder and looked around carefully. The first question that came to mind was why. Travis had obviously gotten what he had wanted from her months ago. Why would he take her daughter away?

"Mrs. Davis, cases like these are pretty common, especially in a major metropolitan area like—"

"It's Miss Walsh. I'm not married."

"My mistake, I assumed from the last name of Abby and Mr. Davis—"

"You assumed wrong."

Maureen cleared her throat. "Jen, sweetie, how about we go out on the fire escape and get a little bit of air, hmm?"

"My daughter just got kidnapped. I'd rather not," Jen said testily. "I want a cigarette. Can you please get Roger's pack out of the drawer and bring me his lighter?"

"You can't smoke."

"I can too and I will."

Maureen sighed and got up to get the cigarettes. She brought them back instantly. "Mark should be home soon. He goes on lunch hour soon."

Jen nodded. Mark always came home on lunch. No matter how busy he was, he always came home on lunch hour.

The apartment door opened and slammed quickly. Roger ran over to Jen and kneeled in front of her, wrapping his arms around her. "Hey. I got here as soon as I could."

"Not soon enough," Jen mumbled under her breath, pulling away from him. She got up and walked out onto the fire escape, slamming the door behind her.

Roger lit up a cigarette and threw the lighter onto the coffee table forcefully. It hit the wood and slid off, ending up somewhere near the wall. "Maureen, I swear to fucking god if she's going to pull shit like this with me I'll—"

"You'll what?" Maureen asked, slightly amused in the seriousness of the situation. "Can't divorce her. You're not married. Yet. Nor are you engaged. Yet. The worst you can do is throw a temper tantrum and recede into the Roger shell. Been there, done that, have the souvenirs. Not really interested in going back to that place with you, okay? So let's focus on what we know, and what we don't know."

"Yeah. Fuck." He got up and walked out onto the fire escape, where Jen was sitting in a chair, smoking, with tears running down her face. "Jen?"

"What."

"Look, I didn't do anything wrong, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't take that…Jen tone of voice with me."

"Fuck you."

Roger sighed and pulled a chair over, taking the cigarette out of her lips. She angrily hit him in the shoulder—his bad one. "Christ!" he winced. "Fine. Fucking take it back. Act like a two year old."

"Oh no Roger. I'll fucking act whatever age I want to. My daughter is out somewhere with a deranged serial rapist!"

"Travis isn't a serial rapist." Roger crushed out his cigarette and groaned. "And for the last fucking time, she's our daughter!"

"Then what the fuck do you call what he did to me? Because I didn't ask for it Roger, and you fucking know that. I said no, dammit. I said no!"

By now Jen was standing over Roger with tears pouring down her face. Roger was staring at the ground, playing with the cigarette butt. "I know."

"Then why would he take her?"

"I just…really don't think he would."

"How can you say that?" Jen sobbed. "He's a fucking lunatic."

"No, he's a stoner with an eight year old daughter."

Jen paused and lit up her second cigarette in fifteen minutes. "A what?"

"He has an eight year old daughter. Melanie. She was born when he was eighteen."

She sat back down and crossed her arms over her chest. "I hope he doesn't have custody of her."

Roger blew out the smoke and wrapped his arm around Jen's waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Actually…he does. He's had custody of her ever since she was born. His girlfriend died of some infection two weeks after Melanie was born. So…you see why I'm saying that he wouldn't take her? Yeah, Travis has a lot of problems that he needs to get help, and is getting help for, but he cares a lot about his own daughter. He always missed practices to be there for her—for school related shit, for her soccer games, for everything. I know—everyone knows what he did to you was wrong, but there was a time when Travis was a good guy. And he still is, but only around Melanie right now. He wouldn't take her, Jen. Which brings me to think that maybe, it possibly wasn't Travis that raped you."

"What?" Jen shouted at him.

The door to the fire escape opened and two cops appeared. "Uh, Miss Walsh? Mr. Davis? I think there's been a little bit of a misunderstanding here."

"Mommy!"

Jen stood up in shock as four-year-old Abby came running towards her, all smiles, with a lollipop in her hand. She collided with Jen's knees and hugged her tightly. Jen started crying, harder, when she saw that Abby was safe. "Uncle Marky took me to work with him today! We were in the park for somethin' and it was so much fun!"

Roger picked up Abby and spun her around, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You scared the hell out of us, princess. Mommy and I thought—it looks like Uncle Marky forgot to leave a note telling us that he was taking you today." He stepped back inside with Abby, shooting a look at Mark, who was standing sheepishly by the front door.

The detective sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, obviously a little perturbed at the situation, but happy that the little girl had been returned safely. "All right, Mr. Cohen. Care to explain yourself?"

Mark nodded. "Well, my girlfriend and I ended up getting into a fight this morning—"

"Hi, that would be me, Maureen Johnson," Maureen smiled brightly at the detective.

Mark shot her a glare and continued. "Anyway, I was pretty angry, so I stormed out of the apartment and took off down the street, trying to cool off. It was about ten thirty when I left. I came back, and Maureen had fallen back asleep, Jen was still sleeping, and Roger was in the shower. I remembered that there was a documentary about theater being filmed in Central Park today, so I figured that since Abby told me she was bored when I walked back in to get ready for work, that I'd take her with me. And I did leave a note, on Abby's bed, because I knew that would be the first place that Jen would look."

Abby squirmed out of Roger's arms and ran into her bedroom, returning with a piece of paper. "Here, Mommy! On the floor!"

Jen took the note, and sure enough it said:

Jen,

Took Abby to work with me today. We're filming in the park and I think she'd like it. Be back around one thirty.

--Mark

"Okay, now I feel really stupid," Jen sighed. "The window was open in Abby's room. The wind must have blown it off."

"Wait a minute," the detective interrupted. "Even though Mr. Cohen's story clears with me, that doesn't explain this ransom note." He then held up the original note that threatened to take Abby away, and everyone glanced around the room at each other uncomfortably.

"What? What's that? I wanna see!" Abby shouted out.

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Short, I know, but please review! Next part will be up MUCH sooner!

Next up: The ransom note is explained, and Jen decides to move out of the city with Abby—with or without Roger. Also, Mark and Maureen decide on something very important that affects the future of their relationship.