Chapter 13

Sam climbed out of her car. When she headed to the front door of the firehouse, she saw an already waiting Chloe and Mr. Franklin .

"Mommy, mommy." The little girl called, jumping up and down when she saw her mother walking towards her.

"Hey sweetie." Sam lifted her daughter up into her arms and gave her a kiss. "Mr. Franklin. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"No, I'm sorry. Cassy got sick and I didn't want Chloe to get sick too, so I thought it'd be better if I'll bring her home."

"Sure. Thanks." Sam said and gave her daughter a smile. "You okay?"

"Yep." Chloe nodded grinning. "Where's John? Is he coming too? He wanted to read me a good-night story."

"We'll talk about this later, Chloe."

"About what?"

"Mr. Franklin, thanks again. And I hope Cassy is feeling better soon."

"I'm sure she will. Then it's no problem that Chloe comes over again. She's a nice girl and we like to have her around."

"Thanks. Good night."

"Night, Mrs. Waters."

Sam moved away and walked past the guards into the building and to the elevator. When they were up in their apartment, she walked into the kitchen. "You wanna eat something?"

"Uhhhmmm, can I have a glass if milk?"

"Sure."

Chloe hopped on a stool and looked at her mother expectantly. "So, is John coming too?"

"No, he won't." Sam filled some milk into a glass and gave it to her daughter. "Here."

"Why not? Didn't he want to?"

Sam stared at the telephone for a moment before she answered. "No. Chloe, look..." she reached up to her neck, fingering the silver necklace John gave her for her birthday.

Chloe watched her mother and noticed her sad expression. "Mom, is something wrong with John?"

"I'm not sure, hon'."

"You're not sure?" she looked at her mother with worried eyes. "What does that mean?"

"Chloe, it's late. You should go to bed now."

"Why don't you wanna tell me what happened to John, Mom? Is it something bad? Is he hurt?"

Sam saw the panic in her daughters eyes and decided to tell her. At least a little bit. "We don't know where he is."

"Why's that?"

"A bad man came and took him away. And now we need to find out where he is."

"The bad man just took him away?" she repeated with wide eyes, holding her hand over her mouth. "Oh no! What if he's hurt?"

"We do everything to find him. It's just... a little difficult but we're working on it. He'll be home soon. I promise." Sam gave her a smile, trying to assure her that this whole thing wasn't that bad and that everything's going to be okay soon.

"Really?" Chloe asked in a little voice.

"Of course."

"Was it the same man that took Daddy away?"

Sam walked over to her daughter and caressed her cheek. "No, sweetie. It wasn't."

"So it's not the same like with Daddy. He never came back but John will, right? He's coming back to us."

"Yes." Sam answered hesitantly.

"Do you think it will help when I do my prayers for John?" Chloe looked up at her mother with sad eyes.

"You can do that. It will help."

"Good." she slipped from her chair and put the empty glass on the counter. "I'm going to bed now."

"It's okay. Don't forget to brush your teeth."

"Okay." she walked over to her Mom and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Night Mom."

"Night, hon'."

Sighing, she watched her daughter walk into the bathroom. She moved around, took a bottle of water out of the fridge, grabbed the folder she brought home and headed into her bedroom. She changed into her pyjamas and walked into Chloe's room to tuck her in.

Then she went into the bathroom herself before she walked back into her room and plopped down on her bed, leaning against the headboard.

For a few moments, she flipped through the folder but then she put it down again.

She reached over and opened the cupboard of her nightstand, pulling out the letter John wrote her for her birthday.

...I know you're smiling right now and I'm glad that I'm the one who makes you smile...

"God, you have no idea John." she whispered and read the letter over and over again, brushing with her finger over John's name.

Same time in Boston

"And? Did you change your mind?"

"No, why would I?"

"Because you're smart."

"Am I?" John paced around. "Then you should know that when I say no, i mean no."

"John, don't make me hurt you."

"This wouldn't be the first time." John hissed, glaring at his father.

"Don't forget what I'm holding in my hand, John. I'm definitely not afraid to use it."

"How could I forget when you're pointing it directly under my nose. I hate you and nothing on earth can make me say yes to your stupid plans. Nothing."

O'Doyle snipped with his fingers and a big man named Larry, stormed into the room, pushing John against the wall, holding him tightly at his neck.

"And now?"

John reached up and tried to loosen the grip of that man from his neck, shaking his head. "Interesting. Now you have other people for doing the dirty jobs for you." John coughed.

Larry turned his head back to look at his boss who gave him a nod. With that assurance he gave John an evil grin before he threw his fist into his stomach what made John cringe.

"It's your choice. You just have to give me the right answer."

"And if not?" John brought out though he was gasping for air and his view got blurry, still fighting against the tight grip.

"Do you really wanna know?"

"You can do whatever you want... but I won't make this deal with you." he coughed, his face getting redder.

Larry gave him one final punch before he let go of him and John fell on his knees, holding his stomach.

"We'll see about that." O'Doyle said, throwing the picture of Sam, Chloe and John in front of him.

"Asshole." John breathed out, meeting his father's eyes one last time before he walked out of the door and left John alone on the floor.

It was eight in the morning when Sam's cell phone rang. She jumped and reached over to grab it. "Hello?"

"Sam, we might have something."

She sat up immediately, eagerly to know what Bailey found out. "And what?"

"O'Doyle has a private machine. He came with it to Atlanta yesterday and was flying back the same day."

"So are you trying to say that he took John to Boston ?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure John's there."

"When do we fly?"

"Our plane goes in two hours."

"I'll be there."

"What about Chloe?"

"I... ah well... I think I have to call Maria. She came several times already and Chloe likes her."

"Okay. I can't talk you out of coming to Boston with us, can I?"

"No. Two hours. I'll be there." she ended the call and thought for a moment. Then she dialled again and waited for the other side to pick up. "Maria? Here's Sam..."

On the plane

Sam was sitting on one of the backseats of the plane, far away from her friends. Her head was leaning against the window glass, her eyes staring outside into the space. She was thinking about John. Where he was and if he was okay. If only she could reach him.

She clutched the cell phone in her hand tightly. She tried to call him earlier but she got the same message over and over again. The person you've called is currently not available. Please try again later.

Sighing, she absentmindedly played with her necklace. The necklace John gave her for her birthday.

"Sam?"

She startled and turned her head. "Hey."

"You okay?" Bailey sat down on the seat next to her, looking at her worryingly.

Sam gave him a look before she shifted her gaze back outside the window.

Bailey rubbed his hands over his thighs. "You want something to drink?"

She shook her head slightly, still looking outside.

"Did you have breakfast? I could bring you a sandwich."

"No, thank you." She answered, a little too harshly.

"Look, I know you are worried but everything is going to be okay." Bailey tried to assure her.

"How can you know? How?"

"Sam."

"Everyone is telling me that everything is going to be okay. Danny, Chloe, you. But you don't know that. We don't even know where he is. Damn it. I should've never let him do this. I should have seen the risk behind all this. And now look what happened."

"This is not your fault, Sam."

"I told him to help Danny and made him talk to his father. He did not want that, but I talked him into this. So don't tell me it's not my fault." Sam told him upset and loud enough that the others turned their heads to look at her.

"You didn't know that this would happen."

"I should have." She felt tears forming in her eyes.

"Do you think if you told him not to go and meet his father again, he would've listened to you? Do you really think that?"

"Well…"

"No, he wouldn't. And you know that."

Maybe Bailey was right. John has a stubborn mind. Always had. It was hard to talk him out of something when he was determined to do it.

"Try to get some sleep." Bailey told her while he lifted from his seat. "We still have one hour."

Sam met his eyes before he walked away. Then she threw a glance over to George and Grace who were having a quiet conversation while George was working on his laptop.

Sighing, she put her head on her hand and looked out of the window.

Sleep. She sure as hell wasn't able to sleep now.

To be continued... Please Read and Review. Thanks :)