Disclaimer: I don't own anything except an old pair of doggy slippers that my real dogs chewed up. Everything in here is someone else's except Ronnie, Maddie, Indigo, Scott, Mark, Aiden, Ellen, Chris, Eliza, Bartholomew and Kayla. And that's it…I think
WARNING: Violence and swearing ahead.
Hero
Chapter 4
Maddie whimpered, curling herself into a protective ball in the bright orange tunnel. She'd tried to run, like mommy had told her to, but she was so tired! She'd been running almost 25 minutes before she'd found the empty park with the bright orange tunnel that she was now hiding in.
Maddie buried her head in her knees, the tears coursing down her face-she wanted mommy! She loved her daddy, but mommy was her favourite. Mommy was the one who sang her to sleep, who kissed her skinned knees and watched cartoons with her. Daddy never did any of those things with her-he was always too busy and the baby-sitter did it instead.
Maddie's eyelids began to droop and the tears slowed as she fell into sleep. Still curled in a ball, her head fell back against the tunnel, her tear-streaked face relaxing in sleep.
Less then 10 minutes later she was awoken by the combination of a nightmare and a man's voice. There was a short, chubby man crouching down at one end of the tunnel, gazing silently in at Maddie.
With the recent memories of what that bad man had done to her mommy fresh in her mind, Maddie whimpered and began scuttling back to the other end of the tunnel. She shouldn't have stopped! Now no one could get help for mommy-unless she got away, to mommy's boyfriend. Nick would help find mommy!
"Wait a minute Madigan," the man said, the use of her name causing her to still uncertainly, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to get you."
Maddie shook her head vehemently, ""I've got to find Nick-he's going to save mommy!"
"My name is Jim, Maddie, I'm a police officer and I work with Nick." Brass said, remaining still so as not to startle her, "If you come with me I can bring you to Nick and your Uncle Scott."
"Uncle Scottie?" Maddie asked eagerly.
"Yes," Brass nodded with a gentle smile, "He's been helping us try to find you and your mom. He and Nick are back at Nick's work. Would you like me to take you to them?
Maddie stared uncertainly at the outstretched hand, saying, "Mommy said to never go anywhere with a stranger."
"You shouldn't go anywhere with someone you don't know," Brass agreed, "Unless he's a police man."
Maddie shook her head resolutely as she began scrambling backwards again, "No! No strangers!"
"Wait Madigan!" Brass called again, "What if I call your Uncle? If you talk to him, will you believe me?"
Maddie stopped again, eyeing him warily. Uncertainly, she nodded, her light eyes following his movement as he flipped open his phone, dialing Nick's cell number.
"Hey, Nicky? Ya, put Scott on…Yes, we found her…An elderly woman walking her dog with her teen granddaughter found her in a tunnel in the park. She recognized her from the Amber Alerts and the granddaughter called it in…she won't come with me, Ronnie engrained it in her to never go anywhere with a stranger….yea, put Scott on, she wants to talk to him…" after a lengthy pause, in which Nick explained what was happening to Scott, the other man came onto the line, 'Hey Scott. Here she is."
Maddie crept forward doubtfully, snatching the phone from Brass and scuttling back before placing it to her ear, asking tentatively, "H-Hello?"
"Hey baby," Scott greeted tearfully, "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Uncle Scottie, but mommy isn't," Maddie's voice wavered and she began to cry as she added, "The bad man hurt her Uncle Scottie, we gotta help her!"
"Oh, baby, we will, we'll find her," Scott soothed, his own voice heavy with tears, "But Maddie, you need to go with Jim now, okay? He's going to bring you to the CSI building, where Nick works. I'll be here, waiting for you, okay?"
"Okay Uncle Scottie" Maddie acquiesced instantly, moving trustingly out of the tunnel towards Brass.
"I love you baby," Scott whispered, too filled with joy over his niece's safety and sadness over his sister's capture to be able to talk normally.
"I love you too, Uncle Scottie," Maddie answered, "Bye!"
Maddie handed back the phone and accepted Jim's hand, getting her first look as the rest of the people outside of the tunnel. There were two more, uniformed, police officers, the elderly lady with her granddaughter and dog and a bunch of curious spectators as well as a pack of reporters.
Suddenly shy, Maddie ducked half behind Jim, pulling his arm in front of her face to hide it from the growing crowd. Jim smiled slightly before gently lifting the girl into his arms. Maddie's arms went instantly around Jim's neck as she buried her head in his chest in a mixture of exhaustion and shyness.
Jim strode to the car, ignoring the curious questions from all of the reporters. Opening the back door, he gently placed Maddie in the back seat, buckling her in safely.
Getting in behind the wheel, he could only pray that they would find the child's mother in time.
XoXoXoXo
Archie, Nick, Sara, Scott and Greg all watched in relief as the man returned 15 minutes later by himself. Ronnie still lay unconscious on the floor, but Maddie, at least, was safe.
Rubbing irritably at his throat, the man replaced the camera on the tripod, re-hooking the wires. Contemptuously, the man spat on Ronnie, kicking her in the leg as he gingerly touched the bruises forming on his face before leaving the room. There were two loud 'clicks' as locks were turned.
"Goddamn bastard," Nick muttered fiercely, "I hope his damn face gets permanently fucked up from her hits."
"Amen to that," Sara murmured, eyeing the door distastefully while Greg reached ober to gently squeeze her hand in comfort.
Nick sighed, running a hand wearily across his forehead turning to Scott and sighing, "Okay, go over this guys with me again."
Scott ran his hand roughly through his hair, slipping into a chair wearily as he said, "His name is Indigo Carpenter, son of Markus Carpenter. Markus was a man who, back in Canada, used to pick up girls off the street who were walking alone, beat them, rape them and then kill them.
"He picked Ronnie up when she was 16. She was walking home after her soccer practice. She usually walked home with her best friend, Alana, who lived beside us and used to wait for Ronnie so neither of them had to walk home alone, but Alana was away on vacation." He explained.
"He didn't wear a mask since he didn't think Ronnie would live to tell anyone about it. But she fought like hell-cut him up pretty bad with her nails- and when he-when he stopped to-to zip-up. She kicked him in the balls and ran.
"The police were able to get his DNA from under her fingernails and she made a positive ID on him. I remember that Ronnie sat in that damn courtroom chair with that psycho's lawyer trying to rip her a new one and how she just met that damn Carpenter's eyes without fear.
"A-After that conviction, I remember Indigo came up to Ronnie as we were leaving. He tried to kill her with a knife that he's somehow smuggled in, but my brother Aiden-who used to be a football player-tackled him out of the way. Indigo always blamed Ronnie for his father's lifetime sentence." He ran both his hands through his hair, "I don't know why I didn't think of it before-probably because my mom and dad hated when we talked about it so we never really dealt with it and just kind of pretended it never happened."
Sara squeezed his shoulder gently and Nick said softly, 'It's not your fault. You had no way of knowing Indigo was going to be in America. And now that we do know, we can find where the son of a bitch lives and get Ronnie out."
"Amen to that," Sara repeated, before their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Nick's cell phone.
"Stokes," Nick said anxiously, flipping it open immediately, "Jim! Did you find Maddie?…How?…When are you going to get here?…Sounds just like Ronnie…Okay."
Nick covered the speaker of the phone, quickly explaining the situation to the rest of the room. Scott leapt immediately for the phone, the rest of the room listening avidly to his side of the conversation. Tears spilled from all their eyes as Scott spoke to her, all of them feeling the same desperation they could here in his voice.
Flipping the phone shut, Scott sank wearily into a chair, resting his elbows on the countertop and dropping his head into his hands. The room fell into silence, letting Scott regain his composure. Moments later, Scoot stood, pacing the room once again while throwing anxious looks from the screen, to the hallway to the clock and back again.
Sudden footsteps alerted them to the arrival of Jim and Maddie. All 5 heads snapped up to see the approaching pair walking down the hallway, Maddie holding trustingly to the older man's hand. With a choked sob, Scott stepped out into the hallway.
"Uncle Scottie!" Maddie yelled as soon as she caught sight of her uncle, releasing Jim's hand to continue on in a run.
Scott caught hold of the child as she came crashing towards him, swing her up into his arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around her small frame, burying his head in her hair to breathe in her scent of strawberyy shampoo, chocolate and outdoors- the exact same his sister always held.
"Oh God Maddie," he whispered, "I love you baby girl, I love you."
XoXoXoXo
Ronnie awoke with a slight whimper, her eyes fluttering open to take in the bare surroundings that were becoming increasingly familiar. Her eyes flitted nervously to the door, her head turning slightly to get a better look, breathing a sigh of relief as she found the door closed and the room empty beside herself.
Gingerly, she placed a hand on the floor on either side of her body, just beside her ribs. Hissing in pain, she placed all her weight onto her hands, pushing herself into a sitting position. She whimpered in pain, one hand coming up to her ribs.
"Damn," she murmured softly, breathing heavily, "Damn, damn, damn!"
Taking a deep breath, she painfully pulled herself up to a standing position. Immediately, she stumbled, her battered body to weak to hold herself up. Her face screwed up in pain, she stumbled into the wall, leaning heavily against it.
She remained there several moments before taking another deep breath. Wincing in pain with each step, Ronnie walked to the door, using the wall to steady herself.
Reaching her destination, she carefully tested the door, sighing resignedly when she found it locked. Leaning her back heavily against the door, she gazed around her surroundings in defeat
Suddenly, however, she smiled. It didn't really matter if she died now-her child was safe. With that thought in mind, she pushed herself away from the door and stumbled back to the corner.
Sliding down the wall, she let herself hit the ground with a dull thud. One leg-the one that had hit the ground first when he'd tackled her and which now had a kneecap that wasn't sitting right- was stretched out, the other pulled up to her chest despite the pain. With a sigh, she dropped her head to her knee, waiting silently for the inevitable.
XoXoXoXo
Nick sighed, gently running a hand over Maddie's curls. He was sitting on the break room couch, Maddie curled in his lap with her head under his chin while she stared blankly at the room. Scott sat beside them, his head resting back against the back of the couch, his eyes closed tiredly, but nowhere near asleep.
They'd been sitting there for 20 minutes, tired beyond reason, but unable to sleep. Currently, they were waiting for the rest of Ronnie and Scott's family and Maddie's father-who'd been too 'busy' to make it down any sooner- to arrive from the airport.
Sara appeared suddenly in the room, looking just as exhausted as the others as she said softly, "They're here."
Scott's eyes snapped open, his head coming up as he asked, "Where?"
"Brass is bringing them in here now," Sara answered, her eyes sweeping the trio, "You look like crap."
"Feel like it too," Scott returned with a weak half-smile. Blowing out a breath, he asked tiredly, "How many are with them?"
Sara raised her eyebrows, thought a moment and then answered, "Three younger men, an older one and an older woman and 2 younger ones."
Scott sighed, "Mom, dad, the too-young step-mom, Mark, Aiden and his wife Ellen and Chris-Ronnie's ex."
"Joy," Nick sighed, as they stood, Maddie wrapping her arms tightly around Nick's neck.
Seconds later, Jim entered the room with the aforementioned people. Ronnie had taken after her mother, getting her build-and looks- form the petite woman while her father had passed on his larger build to all his sons along with his blonde hair. Both Aiden and Mark also shared their father's green eyes. Ellen, easily identified but the possessive arm Aiden had wrapped around her waist, was a 5"7, slim, blue-eyed blonde. The other woman-presumably the 'too-young' step-mother was a 5"5 brown-eyed redhead. And Chris-Ronnie's ex and Maddie's father-was a 6"1, well-built man with black hair and blue eyes.
"Maddie!" Chris cried out gratefully as he stepped into the room, "Oh, thank God you're alright sweetheart!"
Scott's lips curled in distaste but he didn't say anything. However, when Chris went to take the little girl from Nick's arms and she shrunk back into the Texan, Scott couldn't contain the smirk that stretched across his lips.
"What's wrong with my daughter?" Chris demanded, before sneering, "Who the hell are you?" at Nick.
Nick shifted Maddie's weight to one arm and stuck his free hand out, saying, "I'm Nick Stokes, I've been dating Ronnie for about a week."
"And," Scott jumped in, "Nick, this is my mother, Eliza, my father, and his second wife, Bartholomew and Kayla, my eldest brother Mark, my second brother Aiden and his wife Ellen and Ronnie's ex-husband, Chris Matthews."
"Pleasure," Nick nodded before Grissom suddenly interrupted the group.
"Nicky," he said, barely pausing to take in the room's other occupants, "We've figured out the radius of the search. You ready to go?"
Nick muttered, "As ready as I'll ever be Griss."
Seeing the odd looks thrown his way, he chose to ignore them. Instead, he placed Maddie gently on the ground and knelt so he was at eye-level with her.
"Maddie-sweetheart, I've got to go help Grissom find mommy now. Can you be a good girl and stay here with your grandparents?" Nick asked gently.
"Bu' I wanna stay wi'h you!" Maddie protested, sticking her bottom lip out, "I wanna help fin' mommy!"
Maybe we should bring her," Brass said contemplatively from the doorway, "She knows the building."
"Alright," Grissom said with finality, "Let's go."
XoXoXoXo
A/N Hey guys! I'm sorry about the way,but, as I've been telling my other readers, I was sick and then I was spending all the extra time I had trying to make up all the work I missed(which, let me tell you, was a lot!).
On a separate note, there's only about two chapters left for this story, but I am toying with the idea of sequal….I just have to decide what it's going to be about! Lolz
Anyways, I have to go and update this, so I'll try and have a new one up next week, little loves. Until then!
'My luv,
Red