Well folks this is it -- the last chapter, and probably one of the longest I've written. I hope I did the ending justice.
Chapter 8
The chubby blonde bustled down the street as fast as she could without losing half of her body. She was so excited but tried not to get her hopes up yet – she was one step closer to catching Brad, but it hadn't been accomplished yet. Still, when she plunked herself down with great effort in a booth in the quiet restaurant John had designated ahead of time, she could hardly restrain herself from shouting with joy. She settled on allowing a large smile to break across her face.
"It's good to see you smiling again," John commented. "So I take it that means you have good news?"
"Apartment 309 in this little building a few blocks away," she softly announced. "So tomorrow, you'll make sure to occupy him at work for awhile while I go out and get Alison. It shouldn't take more than an hour to get both of us safely to the police, and hopefully, Brad arrested."
"Mon, we're really going to do it," John said, even allowing a smile to overtake his usually serious face.
"I just want to be able to stop worrying about you, me and Alison."
"Don't worry, it'll all be fine."
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This time a woman with dark sunglasses and a large puff of curly red hair stuffed under an ugly floral hat walked toward the building.
She tried to remain calm as she walked up the stairs and approached number 309, but her heart was beating so forcefully she feared her chest may burst open. A few moments later, it was the door to apartment 309 that burst open, after her attempts at picking the lock failed. Although she was expecting what she saw, it still shocked her to the core.
Sitting in the corner, tied to a chair which was in turn secured to the wall, was a long dark mass of sleek hair draped over a sullen face that instantly snapped to attention with the considerable noise generated by Monica's forced entrance. The rest of the apartment was understandably barren and decrepit.
"Alison?" Monica questioned softly. She didn't really have a doubt – the girl matched the picture, but she just didn't know what else to say.
The girl remained silent.
"I'm Agent Monica Reyes with the FBI."
At once a look of panic crossed the girl's face and she futilely tried to move away from Monica.
"Look," Monica began, keeping her distance. "I know you don't trust the FBI, and you have good reason not too, after what Brad did to you. But I'm here to help you, I'm here to take you back home and put Brad in jail. If you can possibly find it in your heart to trust anyone ever again, please believe me, because I know what you're going through. Brad took advantage of me and treated me like dirt too. And with your help, we'll give him what's coming to him."
Alison raised her head slightly.
"Now, can I come and untie you so I can get you out of here?"
She slowly nodded.
Monica cut and untied the ropes and tape quickly, all the while trying to reassure Alison that it was going to be okay. However, she was worried about the girl. While it was a blessing that she was found alive, Monica had no idea the level of mental trauma she had suffered. Alison tried to stand but started to crumple until she was caught by Monica's arms – she had been sitting in that chair for weeks. So Monica carried her swiftly down to her car and laid her down in the backseat, just in case.
They were quickly on their way to the police station, and once they arrived, Alison started sharing her story.
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"At first I thought it was a really great thing, me and him, you know?"
Monica nodded.
"I met him during this internship I was doing at the FBI. He was so nice and so much more mature than all the boys my age. Brad could take me out to expensive restaurants and he drove a nice car, and we had fun together. Plus, ever since I can remember, I've wanted to work at the FBI, and Brad told me that he would get me a really nice job."
"Then what happened?"
"Well, he was kind of getting weird, in like a possessive sort of way I guess. And my parents were getting suspicious, so I thought I would just explain to him that I wanted to be friends. You should have seen him. He went into this rage, shouting and hitting me. I guess he was freaking out because he didn't want anyone to find out about us and thought I would tell. I kept saying that I wouldn't tell anyone. But he just wouldn't believe me; he thought I would crack under my parents' pressure and would spill everything and ruin his career. It hurt me that he only cared about his career, not me. I started crying and I guess I thought that made him feel bad, so he said, 'why not stay here tonight?' I thought he was changing his mind and being nice again, so I agreed. When I woke up the next morning I was all tied up. I never went home after that."
Alison's abrupt stop brought Monica crashing back to reality. She didn't realize there were tears in her eyes. Monica couldn't think of anything to say to this poor girl, so it was a good thing that John and Dana arrived shortly after with good news.
"We got 'em!" John shouted happily. "You should've seen 'em with handcuffs getting shoved in the back of a cop car outside of Headquarters. He was swearing up a storm too. All the while saying he was innocent! He really isn't as smart as people think."
Everyone in the room was smiling, including Alison, for the first time in weeks. Her parents shared in the emotion as she finally came home after weeks of sleepless nights spent worrying. John was right; everything was going to be fine.
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Monica finally free – as if somehow by saving Alison her own wrongdoings had been avenged. She was happy again and didn't feel constantly defeated. She pondered this great new feeling in her life one night as she put Jane to sleep. Right after she had turned off the light, she heard John's voice calling to her from the hallway of her building.
"Mon, it's me," he said softly as she opened the door. He was wearing jeans and she was in pajama pants and a tank. Monica appreciated that she could feel so relaxed and informal around John. Something just felt right. She offered him a beer and they sat down on the couch.
"It's good things are back to normal," John began as he gingerly slid his arm around Monica's shoulder. "During that whole time, I realized something, something I had already kinda known, but not wanted to admit to myself. And I was gonna tell you that night when I came over, cept things turned out a bit differently…"
Monica smiled. She wondered what John was going to say and hoped it was similar to what she had been trying to say for years.
"Well, what I wanted to tell you was that, when you were going through those tough times, I wanted to tell you that I'd always be there for you – and I'm still here for you now that things are better, and I'll always be there for you Mon, because I care about you so much. It killed me to see you hurt like that because, well, because I –"
Monica, seeing the difficulty John was having getting his words out, cut him off by planting a hesitant kiss on his lips.
"Love you," he finished before returning the kiss, this time with more passion and force.
Yes, everything was truly going to be fine.
