Wow!

It was like a shed load of reviews!

Well actually 8 but that's a lot for me

Thanks lilaeth, Nny11, soccergurl1990, princessmoi, HORSELUVER101, TheFLHurricane, BeastBoyBlitz and a particularly epic one from manicalpha

Sorry about the torch/flashlight thing

I try to make things as American as possible when I write them cos that's the original language

Flashlight just didn't occur to me

Anyway yes, thanks very much; it was great

And now some more

Enjoy! Love LJ xXx

- o -

Throw Me. Chapter Eleven. Unconditional

- o -

"Where is he? Where is he? Did you find him?" Honey rushes to the front door and flings it open before Bob even has his key in the lock. She has a wild and frantic look in her eyes and yet she still believes that maybe, maybe they found him.

"Honey – Honey, listen," Helen starts up, trying to calm her down. Honey doesn't even listen to the rest; she knows the tone of her friend's voice and sinks to the floor in the hallway.

"Can I stay here tonight? I don't want to go home by myself," she asks in a small voice.

"Of course you can," Helen tells her softly and leads her to the fold-out bed in the living room.

"Come on kids," Bob ushers Violet and Dash from the room. "You two should get to bed."

"Did you find him, Dad?" Dash pipes up as Bob picks him up and carries him to bed. Bob sighs.

"We will, Dash, we will."

Everyone at Western View Junior High is on their best behaviour, worried that they'll be caught messing around while there's a cop nearby. There are plenty around, roaming the corridors, though they're not there to keep the kids in order. After a recent major charity fundraising event at the High School, there had been over a thousand dollars stored in the principal's office overnight before they took it down to the bank. It was a good effort – the most they'd ever raised. Now it's gone.

"Vi!"

Violet turns around hearing her voice and sees Tony ducked behind some lockers. She looks around her, self-consciously before approaching.

"What are you doing down here?" she hisses at him.

"I'm so happy to see you again, I really missed you." he smiles at her. She looks at him incredulously.

"You were in prison."

Tony looks crestfallen. "And you think I did it, right?"

"There was a robbery here last night, the night they let you out, in your own school. And now you're hiding in the hall because the cops are everywhere."

"Jesus Christ, Vi – it's not the cops, it's everyone else. All the kids who stare at me like I'm gonna knife them and mutter stuff about me when I head to class. Can you imagine how it feels?" He looks at her desperately.

"Yeah, I know, I got it all the time while you were locked up." she snaps bitterly.

"Vi, I didn't mean..."

"Tony, I tried to believe you. I tried to believe you didn't do it –"

"No, don't Vi – I'm not kidding, I wouldn't lie about something like this. Not to you." His voice shakes, his pale hands tremble and he stares imploringly. She looks away.

"I'm sorry, Tony. It doesn't add up." she sighs and walks away.

Violet tries to keep her mind of the TV that she's half-heartedly watching whilst her Dad reads the paper in the corner of the room. Dash is finding diversions in his room, pretending to do his History assignment and Jack-Jack is napping. Every now and then, in between the show, Violet is distracted by her cell phone buzzing and ringing, crying out for attention. She ignores it every time as she chooses 'silence' from the menu on the cell phone screen, the words just below 'Tony calling...'

Just as her cell stops flashing and buzzing, the house phone begins to ring. Vi sinks further into the couch, cringing to herself and pretending to be deeply absorbed in the TV show as Bob looks across at her. With a sigh, he gets up, puts his paper down and heads off down the hall.

"Hello," Bob speaks lazily down the receiver.

Violet peers down the hall to look at the big shape of her father standing in the darkened hall; prepares to flinch back and try and pretend she's not in. But as she hears the hum of the other voice coming down the phone line, Bob's face visibly changes. His eyes widen.

"'Zone?" he asks, hesitantly. Dash appears in the hall, Vi is on her feet and Helen cranes her stretched neck around the kitchen door in shock. "Wait, wait, you gotta speak slower – where are you?"

"I'm...I'm in danger, Mr. Incredible," Lucius' voice rumbles. "I need you to help me out, you know I would never ask if I didn't mean it, man. Can you please come down to where the fire was? South Street, Number Forty-Seven. Tonight – at 1am."

"'Zone – are you sure you're alright? What's going on?" Bob presses.

"I can't tell you now; you must trust me, if you can't trust your friends, who have you got left? I need your help," he spoke with last words with deliberate firmness.

"Sure – sure thing," Bob nods, knowing his friend's insistent tone.

"I gotta go now. 1am – number forty seven, South Street."

- o -

And the line goes dead.