DISCLAIMER: Don't own 'em. Willing to stage a coup.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed and appreciated

A/N: One down…uh… I've actually lost track of how many stories I'm working on. But I am working on them, I promise!

DEMANDS: Part Four

Allie sat on a couch in the hotel's lobby, sipping a hot chocolate, Lily with her, holding her hand and smoothing her hair repeatedly. Jordan stood a few feet away, out of the child's hearing, glaring at the police detective in front of her. "I won't talk to you about this," the M.E. hissed.

Lu Simmons smothered a sigh of abiding irritation. "Look, Jordan-"

"Dr. Cavanaugh-Haley," came the icy correction.

Another sigh. "Dr. Haley… Cavanaugh-Haley… your daughter was kidnapped. You have to talk to me."

"No," Jordan shook her head. "I don't. Get someone else down here."

"Or what?" Simmons raised her voice enough to draw the attention of a passing hotel employee. Lowering her eyes and her voice, she continued, "This isn't the time to make things personal. Your ex-husband is out there."

"It's exactly the time to make things personal. I don't trust you."

Lu rolled her eyes skyward.

"And don't tell me Drew is out there. I know that."

"And you're willing to leave him out there just to – to what? Spite me?"

Jordan smiled darkly. "Hardly, Detective Simmons. Do you honestly think I need the Boston Police Department's help to find him? He does work for the FBI."

"They don't have jurisdiction," Lu retorted.

"You think I couldn't find him faster than you?"

"Oh, good Lord. You know you have a really inflated opinion of your own crime solving skills."

The M.E. arched a knowing brow. "Really? Maybe I just have an incredibly low opinion of yours."

"You called us!"

Jordan shook her head. "No. The hotel manager called you. I argued."

"You lost." Simmons narrowed her eyes. "I could charge you with obstruction, you know."

That earned the blonde a snort. "Obstructing what?"

"The investigation into your daughter's kidnapping and your ex-husband's disappearance."

Jordan feigned ignorance. "Allie wasn't kidnapped. There was a mix up at her school."

"What the hell kind of game are you playing? The staff here heard her say-"

"The staff heard a scared five year old who thought Mommy had forgotten to come get her. Children overreact sometimes, Detective." Jordan's voice was clipped, assured. "Either get another detective down here or that will be the official version."

"Will I do?" The voice came from over Jordan's shoulder.

She whirled and gasped. "Woody!" Jordan backed away, causing Lu to step hastily out of the way, as easily forgotten as she'd been dismissed after Pollack's death.

The female detective threw her hands up in surrender and muttered, "Just like old times."

Woody studied Jordan intently. He knew the last thing he should feel for the woman in front of him was desire, that the regret pulsing in his blood should have been the furthest thing from his mind, but he couldn't help it. Walking away from her had been the biggest mistake of his life. Bitterness knifed through him, scalding and sour; apparently, it hadn't been the biggest mistake of her life. His eyes darted to the little girl sitting with Lily. "Cavanaugh-Haley, huh? You married the FBI guy?"

Throat too constricted to speak, Jordan nodded.

"You want to tell me what happened today?" He took out a notebook.

She swallowed and then began in a voice hoarse with emotion. "Someone – Someone took Allie. I went to pick her up at school-"

"Where does she go to school?"

Jordan told him.

Woody whistled softly. "Nice. Profiling pays well, I guess."

"More like it means a fair number of criminals who have no problem attacking your family." She all but spat the reply at him.

His face softened. "Sorry. That was – callous." His gaze darted back to Allie for a moment. "Were there ever any – any threats?"

She nodded. "That's why she was there. It was supposed to be safe."

He looked down at his shoes, not knowing what to say to her, wanting to comfort her, but knowing he couldn't for so many reasons. He cleared his throat. "So someone took her. Any idea who?"

"The school told me Garret picked her up." She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead. She spoke through the pain in her temples. "Garret's in Hong Kong, visiting Abby."

"Why didn't you call the police right away?"

She let her hand fall back to her side and glared at him.

"Stupid question."

She shrugged. "Drew called me. They'd called him, told him we both had an hour to get here."

"And it was all set up here?"

"Yeah." She told him the story of their arrival and related the gist of the first phone call.

He wrote quickly, looking up at her as she finished with a sigh. She'd left out something, he was certain. He thought about pressing her, but watched her hug her arms around herself and suddenly knew what she'd left unspoken. "So – uh – they called back?"

"Un huh. When they said they would. Drew wouldn't let me hear that one. All he said was we had to get dres- to get going. We came down here and out to the sidewalk."

"And he got into a car?"

"I was too shocked to do anything, Woody." Tears filled her eyes.

"It's okay, Jo." The old, familiar name slipped easily from his lips, but he saw her stiffen in response. "Sorry," he murmured. "Don't – Don't be too harsh on yourself. You were in shock."

"I'm trained to – to observe!"

"It's kind of hard to do that when you're the one in the crisis." He gave her a moment. "Then you heard Allie?"

She averred that she had. "We came in here. The receptionist heard her talking and must have called the manager."

"And here we are."

"And here you are."

"You're not wild about BPD being involved in this, are you?"

She gave him a withering look. "Can you blame me?"

"No. I can't." He sighed. "Do you have any idea who this could be?"

She shook her head. "Wait. Drew said something. He said he thought he knew who it was."

"That's all?"

"I – I – That's when the second call came and then – I was - he distracted me. He did it on purpose."

Woody eyed her speculatively. "Why would he do that?"

She groaned lowly. "He knew I'd go after – I'd – I…."

"You'd go after him."

She dipped her chin in silent acknowledgement. "Woody, I have to – to do something. I can't – I can't – He's out there."

"I know." He glanced again at Jordan' daughter. "Can I talk to her? She might know something without knowing what it means."

Jordan studied her only child for a moment before agreeing.

Woody crossed the space between them and knelt in front of the girl. Jordan followed and watched him closely. "Hi," he said. "I'm Woody; I'm a – a friend of your mom's. You're Allie, right?"

Solemnly, the dark-headed child nodded.

"I hear you had a tough morning?"

Another nod. "I was scared," she told him in a whisper.

"I bet. I bet you were really brave at the same time though," Woody coaxed, his Irish charm twinkling in his eyes.

Allie shrugged, a gesture that rendered her into a miniature of her mother. "I guess."

"Can you be really brave again?"

The child looked up at Jordan, dark eyes pooled in fear and confusion. Jordan moved to replace Lily, who got up graciously, allowing Jordan to sit and pull her daughter close. "It's okay, Allie. You can do it."

"Okay," she whispered. "I'll try."

Woody smiled at her, revealing his dimples. Though both Jordan and Lily knew his easy demeanor was a thorough act, Allie bought it. "Great. Thanks. Can you tell me what happened when you were waiting at school?"

Allie gulped, twisting her little hands against each other. "I was waiting. It was Mommy's day to come get me, so I was looking for her car. Then Miss Rebecca came over-"

"Miss who?" Jordan's voice was sharp, telltale worry in her tone and on her face.

Allie turned and looked at her mother. "Miss Rebecca. Mrs. Nancy's aide."

"I thought Mrs. Nancy's aide was Miss Caroline."

The little girl nodded. "She is. The reg'lar one. She got hurt though."

"When?"

Woody and Lily exchanged glances. Heads were so going to roll at Allie's posh school.

"Umm… a couple weeks ago. Mrs. Nancy said she'd come back when her leg got better."

Woody shot Jordan a look and began to beckon to a uniformed officer. When the woman approached, Woody told her to call the school – Jordan rattled off the number easily – and find out about "Miss Rebecca." Sternly, Woody reminded her, "Full name. Address. All contact numbers." He looked back to the child. "So – um – what happened with Miss Rebecca?"

"She – uh – She came over to me. And said Dr. Macy was here for me." The girl looked up at her mother. "I tried to tell her. I tried, Mommy!"

"I know you did, honey."

Allie looked back at Woody. "Uncle Garret's visiting Abby. I tried to tell her that, but she wouldn't listen. She just took my hand and – and made me go with her." The adults could all see the tears start in the girl's eyes. She trembled fiercely in Jordan's embrace. Jordan murmured sweet nonsense and rubbed the child's back softly. "I started getting scared then. I thought about what Daddy and Mommy always told me. If someone ever tried to steal me, I should yell and scream."

"Did you?" Woody's voice was gentle.

A miserable head shake was the response. "Something happened. Something over in the big kids' parking lot. I don't what, but it was loud and – and everyone looked away."

Jordan smothered her gasp. Looking over Allie's head, she mouthed to Woody, "A diversion. Like here."

He nodded at her. "Can you tell me what happened then?"

The little girl shuddered and her mother held her even more tightly. "Miss – Miss Rebecca came up to a car. She opened the back door and told me to get in." Tears fells down her face and the adults let her gather herself. "I didn't want to. I – I screamed then and kicked. I think I kicked her. She kind of fell backward."

Jordan could not help but smile. "Good girl," she murmured in her child's ear.

"There was a man though. In the back of the car." Involuntarily, the adults stiffened, dreading the next words on instinct more than any evidence. "He put his hand over my mouth. I kept kicking. I tried to bite his hand. It tasted funny. And it smelled like – like when Mommy or Daddy stops at the gas station."

Woody's ears pricked up, as did Jordan's. He made a few hasty notes, before prompting the little girl to continue.

"I was still trying to get away. I scratched his arm."

Behind her, Jordan's face lit up. "Hard, sweetie?" She kept her voice under control. The last thing she really wanted to do was have to take evidence from her own child – or more likely, watch while Nigel or Bug did it – but the rational part of her mind knew that this was exactly the sort of thing they needed, if Allie'd managed to break the skin.

Allie nodded. "He said a bad word and I could see he was bleeding." Above her head, Allie's mom actually smiled.

Woody flicked up his eyebrows in acknowledgement of Jordan's glee. He was feeling the same way. "Do you know where you went?"

Allie shook her head. "No. After I scratched him, the man put something over my eyes. And – And he cut off my braid!"

Woody could barely keep the wry smile off his face. Clearly, the loss of her dark, glossy, long hair was a bigger irritation to the child than much of whatever else had gone on. It seemed that temerity had just been too much. Her stubbornness was clearly the match of Jordan's. "That was bad of him!"

"I know!" The girl shook her head with as much gravity as any adult might. Even Jordan was nearly smiling.

"Allie?"

The child looked up at her mother. "Do you know how long you were in the car?"

The girl shrugged. "Not really. It sort of seemed like about as long as it takes to get home."

"Mommy's house or Daddy's?"

Allie pointed up at her mother. "And I was kind of getting hungry."

"How hungry?"

"A little bit. Kind of like when we go straight home and not like when we take Dianna and Kasey home."

Now Woody was looking confused.

Jordan spoke quietly. "Allie always has a snack when she gets home. Sometimes we carpool and she's usually pretty hungry on those days."

He nodded. "And the days you go straight home, she's not as hungry."

A nod.

"How long does it take? To go straight home?"

"About half an hour."

The detective wrote that information next to Allie's observation about the way the man in the back of the car had smelled.

"Allie, sweetie, can you tell Woody anything about the place you stopped?"

"I don't know." Her voice was beginning to tire and she whined slightly.

"You're doing great, Allie," Woody told her. "I know it's not easy, but it could help me find the people who stole you."

"Okay," she spoke softly and then looked up again at her mother. "Can I have some hot chocolate?"

Lily answered by hurrying off in search of some. It took just a few minutes; the hotel staff was eager to help the little girl. Allie took a few sips of the cocoa and then spoke anew. "We stopped and the man made me get out. He took me somewhere and made me sit down on the floor."

"On the floor?"

She nodded. "It was cold and hard. And it smelled bad."

"Like the gas station?" Jordan asked.

"No. Like when Grandpa takes me fishing." Her nose wrinkled. Allie might love Max and spending time with him, but the end results of their fishing trips were not high on her list of favorite things."

"Could you hear anything, Allie?" Woody sounded excited.

"Like what?"

"Cars? Boats?"

"Birds, sweetie? Could you hear any birds?" To Woody, Jordan mouthed she loves birds.

"Oh! Un-huh. I could hear gulls and some pigeons."

Woody motioned over another uniformed officer and told him to call Nigel Townsend at the Morgue. "Give him these parameters: some place close to the water, probably where a lot of fishing or processing is done. About thirty minutes from the Vaucluse School." He stopped. "Allie, when you came back… do you think it took the same time to get here?"

She shook her head. "No. Way shorter."

He nodded. "And less than thirty minutes to get back to the area near this hotel."

The uni nodded.

Allie sipped at her drink a bit more before Woody went on. He knew the girl was close to being done in. "Do you know who brought you back, Allie?"

"Miss Rebecca."

He could almost hear Jordan growl. They'd better to get to the devious teacher's aide before Jordan did, that was for certain.

"Woody, I think that's enough for now."

"Okay." He nodded for emphasis. "We've got a lot to work with." He sighed. "I think – God, Jordan, I'm sorry – but if she really scratched that guy… and her clothes."

"I know," she replied. "I know. Can Lily take her to the Morgue? She's comfortable there, knows Bug and Nigel. They'd take care of her."

His eyebrows rose. "Aren't you…?"

Her jaw clenched. "Her father is out there somewhere. I can't just sit and – and …."

"Okay." He knew well the futility of arguing with her.

Although it cost Jordan more than she would ever admit to let Allie go, even with Lily, she doubted she would do much but get in the way at the Morgue. She knew, too, that soon her fears would communicate themselves to the little girl. Right now, Allie was confused and angry more than anything. Jordan knew that the emotions were only going to get more complex from here on out.

After Woody had bundled the child and Lily into a squad car, giving the officer driving a menacing growl as he warned the man to protect those two with his life, the detective turned toward Jordan. "You sure you can do this?"

She shook her head. "But I have to." For a moment their eyes locked and it was like old times – before the ring, before the shooting, before Pollack or Lu… before they were little more than friends who'd tried being enemies and lovers and finding neither worked too well. "Where are we starting?"

END Part Four