Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Reviews are always appreciated and they help keep me going! I'm sorry about the wait on this chapter, but I wrote (even if it was just one sentence) whenever I was able to...I'm currently working on Chapter Five...and I want to say that I'm sorry that I said you would find out more about Ryan and Marissa's family shortly before...because you still haven't heard a peep from their kids...but Seth and Summer will be seeing their kids shortly, so you'll be hearing about Ryan/Marissa's kids soon...okay, well enjoy this chapter, I thought it was kind of off balance...but I'm not really sure what I mean by that...if you read it and understand what I'm saying there, feel free to leave some criticism...I could probably use it. Thanks again to everyone who reads and thank you to everyone who reviews. You guys are the best. Okay, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Four
"Okay, Mrs. Cohen, we're done questioning you for now, which means you can leave shortly. Courtney is also done, and Kaylie has about five more minutes to go," yet another office told her.
Summer looked up at the officer and nodded politely. She was sitting on a couch in the waiting area by the main reception. She had a small Styrofoam cup filled with bad tasting coffee in her hands.
The officer studied her face for a few moments and then started to sit down next to her when both Summer and the officer heard a voice say, "Excuse me, my name is Seth Cohen. My wife and two of my daughters should be here—Summer, Kaylie, and Courtney Cohen."
Summer turned and looked in her husband's direction. His back was to her and Summer let out a tiny cry as she jumped up and ran to him. "Seth!" she gasped as she neared him.
Seth whipped around and grabbed Summer into his arms. He ran his hands through Summer's hair and kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay," Seth said in as soothing a voice as was possible. "They're going to find her," Seth said, his voice trembling as he spoke.
"Seth, I-" Summer started to tell her husband something when someone pulled the two apart.
"Mr. Cohen, I presume?" an officer named Kyle Rogers stood besides the couple.
Officer Rogers had been helping out at the house earlier that morning and had met with Summer several times since that morning. "Officer Evans is waiting to question you on the disappearance of your daughter."
Summer sighed angrily. "This is completely, one-hundred percent not needed," Summer snapped. Summer had let them interrogate her, but she refused to let the officers put her family through any of the pain she had been through since she awoke hours ago. The officers' questions were out of line, inappropriate, and did not apply to their family. No one from their family would have taken Shannon. Seth, Shannon's own father, would not have hurt her or taken her. Summer knew the statistics on kidnappings and kidnappers, but she also knew her family and her life. She, her husband, and their extended family were not guilty of Shannon's disappearance.
"Mrs. Cohen," Officer Rogers sighed. "We've explained this to you. If you want to help your daughter, you will cooperate. Cooperating means being questioned if you are a potential suspect. It's that easy."
"We shouldn't be suspects. It's that easy," Summer snapped back.
"In most of these cases, parents or family members are the culprits. Chances are whoever took your daughter is someone who knows her well and is close to her, someone you probably know well and trust," Officer Rogers snapped back. He paused before adding, "In other words, you two are not below reasonable suspicion. In fact, you two have the highest level of suspicion on you right now."
"THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!" Summer bellowed at Officer Rogers. "One of our daughters witnessed Shannon being taken. As long as Kaylie hasn't named either of us, you should realize it's not likely that one of us took Shannon. Kaylie would recognize her own parents. Family members should also be ruled out. Kaylie would have recognized a family member as well!"
"Mrs. Cohen, that is something we are taking into consideration. In the mean time, no one is above suspicion. That means Mr. Cohen will be questioned as well," Officer Rogers explained to Summer.
"This is UNBELIVABLE," Summer muttered angrily.
"Sum, it's okay…I'll go be questioned, then I'll be back and we can get back to what's really important…finding Shannon," Seth seemed to be managing much better than Summer, but his hands were shaking and Summer could see looks of anguish and desperation in his eyes. Summer nodded to Seth and leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
Seth walked away with Officer Rogers right as Courtney walked up with Ryan from behind. "Is that Daddy?" Courtney asked, pointing in the direction Seth was walking off in.
Summer turned and bent down in front of Courtney. "Yeah, honey…Daddy's going to go tell the police some things about Shannon so they can find her quicker. How are you, honey?" Summer asked as she tucked stray dark brown hairs in back of Courtney's ears.
"I wanna go home, Mom. I want to go to bed," Courtney paused here for a few minutes. "Is Shannon going to read me my bedtime story tonight? She didn't have time last night. Remember?" Courtney asked. "You had to do it for her."
Summer's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Court…I…I don't…" Summer stammered for a few moments before looking up at Ryan and saying, "I don't know what to do." Summer burst into tears and starting sobbing hysterically in the middle of the police station. She didn't care that the police were judging her, that the other people in the room were staring, and she didn't even care that her eight-year-old daughter was witnessing her mother basically breaking down.
Courtney watched, confused, as her mother and uncle embraced, each with tears in their eyes. "Mommy?" Courtney asked, reaching for the hem of Summer's shirt and tugging on it. "Mommy?"
Summer wiped her eyes, pulled away from Ryan, and looked at her eight-year-old's face. "Yes, honey?" Summer said pulling together everything she had in her to give her daughter a together response.
Courtney stepped forward, arms opened wide, and said, "Do you want a hug, Mommy?" Summer eye's filled with tears again and she nodded at Courtney.
"Of course I do, Court, I love getting hugs," Summer whispered in a soft tone. Courtney threw her arms around her mother and whispered back, "Shannon will come home, Mommy, I swear. She promised she'd read me my bedtime story."
Summer whimpered at Courtney's words, and pulled her daughter closer to her. She even ended up picking Courtney up and holding her so that Courtney's legs were wrapped around Summer's waist. Summer hadn't held Courtney this way since she was four or five, but it felt appropriate at the moment. Summer held onto Courtney this way until she felt a hand land on her shoulder and squeeze gently.
She glanced over her shoulder and spotted Seth standing directly behind her and Courtney. Summer put Courtney down and told her to give her father a hug. While Seth was talking to Courtney, Officer Rogers walked back up to the group. "Mr. Cohen and Mrs. Cohen? Can we have you come back by us one more time?" Officer Rogers asked. "We just found some material in your files that we'd like to run over quickly."
Summer rolled her eyes and nodded. Seth and Summer stood together for a moment, hugging Courtney and telling her to stay with Uncle Ryan until they came back. Finally, the couple followed Officer Rogers back to the room they had both been questioned in earlier.
"Sit down," Officer Rogers said. Summer and Seth obeyed, looking around the room as they did. Inspector Prescott and Officer Evans were also in the room. They occupied one far corner together.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, we're just going to cut to the chase here. We were just looking over medical files for the both of you and saw that Mrs. Cohen suffers from rage blackouts," Inspector Prescott said, as he walked toward the center of the room and positioned himself directly in front of the couple, both his hands lying firmly on the table in front of Seth and Summer. "Is that true?"
Seth and Summer threw worried glances at each other. They couldn't possibly be suggesting what I think they're suggesting, could they? both Seth and Summer wondered.
Summer sat up straighter and said reluctantly, "Yes, I have had a tendency in the past to suffer from rage blackouts."
"Mrs. Cohen, is it possible that you were angry with Shannon last night? So angry that perhaps your rage just took over? Maybe you did something you didn't mean to do?" Inspector Prescott said accusingly as he leaned forward getting dangerously close to Summer.
"I would never hurt Shannon. Or any of my other children. I have never had a rage blackout while they were in my care," Summer snapped as tears flooded her eyes.
"Perhaps she made you so angry that you fell into one of your blackouts. And during that blackout, you killed her. It's starting to slowly come back, isn't it? Memories of her and how angry she made you feel," Inspector Prescott pressed. "You have a lot on your plate, Mrs. Cohen. Your husband is always gone, you have six kids to raise-" Inspector Prescott stopped here. "You know," he said as if he was reconsidering his approach to the argument, "I have three daughters of my own. I understand how frustrating and aggravating children can be, especially when they all choose to be like that at the same time. I can see how you might have snapped, lost control of yourself. No one would blame you, they would all understand how hard this must have all been for you. It's okay, Mrs. Cohen. Just admit you killed Shannon and-" Inspector Prescott was interrupted.
Both Seth and Summer erupted with anger after these accusations fell from Inspector Prescott's lips. "I did NOT kill my daughter. I did not hurt Shannon, I did not hide her, I do NOT know where she is or who has taken her," Summer screamed angrily through heaving sobs.
"Summer would never do that. We love our children. We don't abuse them or hurt them in anyway. Summer has never been irresponsible or reckless with our children and never will be!" Seth yelled as he jumped up to defend Summer. He was clearly infuriated that these types of accusations were being thrown in the direction of his wife.
"Mr. Cohen, be quiet and sit still! Mrs. Cohen, just admit that you lost control and violently put an end to your daughter's life-" Inspector Prescott argued back.
Seth stood up and pulled Summer out of her seat next to him. He pointed to the door and gently pushed her in that direction. "That's all for today. The next time you decide to question myself, my wife, or any of our children you will do so with lawyers present. In the mean time, stay away from my family."
One hour later, Summer sat at the kitchen table in Seth's childhood home, whipping tears of pure anguish away from her eyes. She had Kleenex in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Seth sat to her right, his head buried in his hands. Their kids, minus Shannon of course, were staying at the Atwoods' home for the time being. Their house had been officially closed as a crime scene hours ago, after the last police officers had gone through the house. There was no telling how long it would be before the Cohens would be allowed to re-enter their home.
The couple had come to Sandy and Kirsten's house for a few moments of quiet, without the investigators, reporters, and photographers trying to pry into their lives. Kirsten and Sandy were doing everything possible to find Shannon—they were organizing volunteers, ground searches, and even a search center where volunteers could come and offer to help in any way possible. With Sandy and Kirsten out of the house and the remaining kids at the Atwoods' with Marissa, Seth and Summer took this opportunity to catch their breath and discuss the events of the day so far with each other.
Summer swallowed hard and tried desperately to fight back her tears as she turned to Seth and said in a terrified tone, "What are we going to do?"
Seth turned to his wife, and saw someone he hadn't seen in many years. Summer had always pretended to be strong and completely independent in high school, but in her moments of weakness, she always let her real self come out. That was the person who was scared and upset and just wanted to know someone knew what to do, that someone could make things better, that someone cared enough to do all of this. In the years after high school, she had truly become that stronger, more independent person she had sometimes intensely pretended to be in high school. He hated seeing her this way, so scared and unsure.
"We're going to find her and bring her home," Seth said in a confident voice. He was barely wavering in front of her, and appeared to be much more calm than his wife. He was only calm on the outside though; on the inside, Seth was torn up, confused, and just as scared as Summer was.
Summer turned to Seth and looked at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as if she was too terrified to even voice her thoughts. "Say whatever you're thinking, Summer. Come on, just try me," Seth begged softly.
"You say we're going to find her and bring her home…but what if we…what if we can't…" Summer rolled her eyes and turned to Seth. "I'm just going to say this and get it out of my head." Seth nodded at Summer and reassured her that she should just say whatever she was thinking. "What if we can only bring home a body? What if she's already gone?" Summer asked, tears filling her eyes and hands trembling in her lap. She had just let her greatest fear out of her mouth and the fear seemed to be filling the whole room.
Seth turned to Summer and said, "I don't believe she is gone. Nothing is telling me that." Seth glared at her. "I can't believe you said that," he added, almost childishly, a few moments later.
"Seth, something you may have to face in the weeks to come, is that Shannon may be dead. Most kidnapped children are killed before the first five hours of their kidnapping is up. She has been gone longer than five. Chances are not in our favor here," Summer snapped back. Immediately Summer regretted her words. She knew that they were true; she had heard them all morning from many different people involved with the investigation. Even so, she knew above all, this was something painful to hear. Something she didn't want to accept, but she didn't know how she could not. The chances were slim for their family, and she had to go into this investigation understanding what those chances were, exactly. She had never been an optimistic person; she had seen too much and experienced too much growing up in Newport. These experiences and childhood memories were what had taught her to be pessimistic instead of optimistic. She wouldn't allow herself to hope for something that had so slim of a chance of happening. Chances were Shannon was not coming home, at least not alive, and Summer did want to put so much energy into hoping for Shannon's safe return when her pessimism was telling her that Shannon was not coming home.
Seth looked at Summer and all she could see in his face was hurt and disbelief. "If you," Seth started out slowly, "don't even want to try to bring her home, then I don't know who I've been married to for the past twelve years."
Those words hit Summer strongly and she started sobbing almost instantly. "I want her home, I do," Summer snapped. "How could I not?" Summer paused for a moment as the tears continued to silently fall down her face. "I am so scared, Seth. I'm scared that she's been raped or brutally murdered or maybe both. Maybe her throat's been slashed, or she's been stabbed a thousand times. Seth, we don't know what's happened to her. We may never know. I can't accept that though—I need to know what has happened to her, I need to know if she's coming back to us or if she can't. I'm so scared that if I am so certain she's alive and that she's coming home, that I wouldn't be able to handle it if we heard news that she is dead one day instead of hearing that she is alive. I feel like I need to prepare myself for what happens if she's not coming home."
Neither said anything for a few moments. The room was silent other than the sobbing noises coming from Summer. Summer reached forward with one hand and pulled one of Seth's hands toward her. She held his one hand between her two and held it tightly against her chest. "Seth, please, you have to believe me. I want Shannon home. I'm just scared…I'm so scared, Seth," Summer pleaded with him.
Seth crumbled watching his wife sob as he always had when she was in pain. He leaned forward and pulled Summer to him, wrapping his free arm around her and kissing her cheek. "I know, I know, I know you're scared, Sum. I am, too. And just to be clear, I love you, and I'm sorry what I said about not knowing who I've been married to. I know you want Shannon home, I know you're scared, and I hope you know I am, too," Seth told Summer soothingly as he rubbed Summer's back. "But, honey, we can't say 'I'm just going to accept that Shannon is dead because it's easier than hoping she is alive and finding out she isn't.'"
Summer nodded slowly and wiped some of her tears away from her eyes. "So, what are we going to do?" Summer asked him, hoping that he had an idea of where to go now.
"We're going to find Shannon and bring her home," Seth said simply, as if that was that, and as if it was all as easy as that. Summer nodded and mouthed 'okay' at him, but only because she couldn't find the strength to speak anymore. She wanted desperately to believe Seth and to believe that Shannon was alive, but she didn't know if she could believe either of those things.