A/N: I'm not sure about this fic. The idea came to me while talking to Mona about Finney Jr. I'm taking a risk and really hoping for reviews, even though I know there aren't that many Finney fans out there. I'm not really one myself. But I'm willing to give this a try.
Also if you see any small spelling errors, let me know. I went over a dozen times, and so did one of my friends. But sometimes even if you go over something a few times you miss. Please -PM- me if you find anything. Thank you.
"Bridget, is that you?" I hear my mothers worried voice call from the living room.
"No Mom, it's me." I reply closing, the wooden door behind me.
She walks out. "Brendan," her eyes are red from crying, "It's your sister. She's missing."
"Missing?" I question her. I go away for a weekend, come home and Bridget is missing.
"She went out the other night with some friends, and she never came home." A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Do you know which friends Mom?" I ask trying to think of anywhere she could have gone.
She shook her head. "No, your father's been trying to look for her, but he hasn't found her.
It was most likely because she doesn't want to be found. She kept her word, that when she was 16 she was leaving. She did. Took sometime, but she did it. I couldn't help but to think, had I not gone away for the weekend would that have kept her at home.
"Brendan it's suppose to get real cold tonight, I'm worried." She sobs.
I kiss my mothers forehead and grab my coat. "Mom I'm gunna go look for her, if she comes home, you call my cell phone okay. Let me know. If I find her, I'll call you."
My mother nods. "Be careful Brendan. Please." She holds on to me, almost afraid to let go.
"I will Mom." I kiss her once more. "I promise." I stop noticing a bruise under her eye. She had tried to hide, by covering it up with makeup. I reach up and gently touch it, as she winces in pain. "Dad do that to you?" I ask her, my hand dropping to my side.
She nods in reply.
"Bastard." I hiss, wanting to kill him right there.
"We got into a fight over your sister."
"Doesn't give him a right to hit you Mom. It doesn't. I gotta go okay, I gotta go find her."
"Okay sweetheart, please - please be careful." She begs.
"I always am Mom." I tell her before leaving.
I knew I wasn't going to find her, she knew what she was doing. She was getting far away from here, like she wanted. That explained the hug she gave me before I left. I had gone away for the weekend before, Bridget she would give me a small, hug. But when I left this time, she had a death grip on me. Meaning she had this planned all along.
I kicked a rock into the street. "God damn it Bridget." I curse to myself as I walked. "I was planning on getting my own apartment, I already had the down payment, why couldn't you have waited. Why?" I'm talking to myself, people are staring, and I don't care. I was so mad at her I wanted to strangle her. If she just could have waited, I would have figured it out. She wouldn't have had to run away.
I wasn't about to give up, especially as the winters chill wiped through me. I didn't want my sister, sleeping outside somewhere. Not in this cold, and not in this city. I wondered as I walked just how hard my Dad was looking for. Sure he might of loved her, maybe. But enough to find her, I wasn't so sure? I didn't think a man, who beat his child; like my dad beat Bridget could possibly love her.
Returning home without her was a lot harder then I thought. I hated seeing the look on my mothers face when I came home alone. "Has dad called yet? He know anythin'?" I ask her, hoping the answer would be yes, but knowing ultimately it would be no.
She shook her head. "I haven't heard from him." She used a tissue to dry her eyes. "She's only 16 Brendan, she's still practically a baby."
"How long as he been lookin' for her?" I nod; I hate seeing my mother like this. The one thing she takes pride in are her children. "I know."
"Since she didn't come home, he really hasn't slept. He slept for a few hours last night. Maybe two, but was up again looking for her."
"I don't know why he bothers." I say. "It's his fault."
"Brendan!" My mother yells.
"What? It is. You've seen how he beats her, he does the same thing to you." I raise my voice, feeling the anger surge through my blood.
"It doesn't mean he doesn't love her." My mom says to me. She always found excuses for him.
"Then what does it mean? Huh? 'Cause what he does to you, does to her. That's not love. I don't care what he does to me; I'm a man I can take it. But damn it, you don't hit girls." I throw a glass against the wall and it shatters. "You don't hit girls an' you don't women."
My mother jumps just as the glass breaks. "Brendan, please."
"Mom, Budgie, she's out there 'cause she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't handle him beating on her. She couldn't do it. She didn't come home 'cause where ever the hell she is, she thinks it's safer and better then here, that's how bad it is for her." I take a deep breath shaking my head. I start picking up the broken glass, and then throw it away. "I gotta go Mom."
"Where you going?" She asks.
"Try an' find her. I have no choice. Someone has got to help her."
----------------------
I walked into the precinct, and towards the locker room.
"Feeling better?" Swersky asks.
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Not going to beat up any unsuspecting husbands today?" He asks I see small smile form.
"I'll try not too sir." He still doesn't understand the SOB had it coming. I'd do it again if I had too.
He looks at me; I can see he isn't happy with that answer.
"I mean no sir." I quickly reply, hoping he doesn't send me home again.
"That's better, go get dressed, we got a call holding, for problems with some squatters."
I look at him. "Shouldn't someone just call housing?"
"They tried that, they haven't had any luck. Hoping maybe we can scare them out for good."
"They're jus' trash anyways." I say. "I'm a cop, not a garbage man."
"Today your part time garbage man okay, go get dressed."
I sigh, heading to the locker room, less then happy with my assignment. My old man obviously left this part out, when he bragged about the job.
Getting dressed I look over at Davis, and nod him a quick hello. "You almost ready?" I ask holstering my weapon.
"Jus' waiting on you man." He puts on foot on the bench.
"Good, then lets go collect some trash." I say not even waiting for an answer.
We get to the squat, and it's got to be one of the most rundown joints I had ever seen. The rats were everywhere, the smell was even worse. I honestly didn't know how the hell people lived like this or, why they hell they would want too.
I followed Davis, up the decaying wooden stairs, and into the apartment, following him into the first room, where people were gathered. These people were definitely scum. There was no doubt about. Someone of them were strung out on one drug or another, the others were just useless scum.
We quickly cleared that room, and made our way back up the stairs, to another room. There weren't as many people in this one, yet it smelled twice as worse. Holding my arm over my nose, I used my nightstick, to wake up and shoo them away. They didn't have to go home, but they couldn't stay here. "Okay people time to get up. Wakey wakey." I shout walking through the people, pushing them out the door. Then I stopped, Davis runs into me.
"Finney, what the hell?"
I take a few steps closer. It couldn't be, I wasn't going to allow myself to believe it. But as I got closer, I knew it was true. With my nightstick, I tapped her. She moaned, but didn't wake. Cautiously I tapped her once more. Getting the same response, I knelt along side her feeling for a pulse. There was one, but by the looks of her she wasn't doing well.
I picked her up, scooping her into my arms. "Davis, we gotta get her to Mercy." I push her curly hair, out of her eyes. It was in desperate need of a washing. Her whole body was.
"Whoa, wait a minuet Finney. What's goin' on here? Do you know her?"
I look down at the girl, doing my best to keep my anger in control. "Yeah, she's my sister. Davis, c'mon we gotta go." I tell him, hurrying out of the apartment.
"You want to call your Dad?" He questions me.
I look at him. "No!" That would be the last thing, she would want, he was the reason she ran away. He was the reason she was like this. "I don't want him know at all."
We get outside, and Davis opens the back door to the RMP, I slide in with her. "It's goin' to be okay Budgie. It'll be okay." I tell her holding her close. "Go!" I shout to Davis. "Drive!"
I sit along side her bed as she sleep. They had done a tox screen and found Ecstasy in her system. By the looks of things, she had been doing drugs for sometime now. She definitely wasn't the little girl, I knew years ago. She looked so tired, so beaten, so hurt.
"She's going to be okay?" I hear Davis ask.
I push one of her curls behind her ear. "Eventually."
"Are they going to keep her?"
I shake my head. "No, when she wakes up, they're gunna release her. Not enough beds, apparently she's been here before and put up one helluva a fight."
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
"Take to my place, what else can I do?"
Davis looks at her. "I take it, she and your dad don't get along?"
I look at my sleeping sister. "Somethin' like that. Yea, they don't really get along." I look at her chipped nail polish. "She ran away when she was 16, an' until now. I hadn't seen her."
"Wow, damn. I'm sorry man." Davis says.
I run my hand up and down her arm. "Yea me too." It could have been prevented this could have been stopped. I should have done something sooner.
I watch as her deep green eyes flutter open, she looks around a bit, and then looks at me. "Brendan," she reaches out, touching my badge. "Your - your a cop." She says in a whisper, a small smile crossing her lips.
A smile, it had been so long since I'd seen those eyes, heard that voice. "Yea. I graduated the PA, a few months ago."
"That's good." She goes to sit up. "Whoa, wow my head. Holy..."
"You okay, you want a doctor?" I ask her.
"No, definitely no." She manages to sit up all the way her eyes quickly dart outside. I see fear fill them. "You didn't call him didja?"
"Dad? No, he has no idea." I tell her.
She relaxes a little. "Thank god." I see the relief spread over her face.
"I missed you Budgie." I finally manage to say. Until then I hadn't realized how much I missed her.
"Brendan, please not now. Okay." She rubs her head. "Maybe later, but not now."
I nodded. "Fine - but you're comin' to my place an' we're gunna talk."
"No - no I can't. Please Brendan. He'll find me there." I see tears fill her eyes, even after all these years. She's still scared f him.
I take her hand giving her a reassuring squeeze. "No, I promise you he won't. He's not goin' to know Budgie"
"Brendan, I - I don't know?"
"I do, okay. I know. Dad won't find you." I stick my pinky out. "Pinky swear?"
She stares at my finger for a moment, before finally reach out with hers. "Okay."
"Good, c'mon lets get you out of here. Where was the last time you ate?"
"A few days ago." My sister replies with a shrug.
"So I assume your hungry. How about pizza?"
"O-okay."
I turn to Davis. "Davis I have to ask you a big, a big huge favor?" I turn back towards my sister.
"Sure man, what is it?"
"Can you drop me off at my place, have Lieutenant Swersky call me, so I can explain everything to him. Most of all, -whatever- you do. Please, please don't let my dad know what's going on."
He nods. "Got it, no problem man."
"Thanks, I mean it Davis. I owe you."
Don't know how much of a conversation I'm going to have between Finney and his sister. I'm finding it hard to write Finney since we haven't seen much of him. So I'll see what happens.