A/N- Kim and Olivia, thanks for your lovely reviews. It seems you two are the only two reading this story. I am glad you are enjoying it.
Chapter 12
"Fox, I can't lose you again...not when we were just about to work things out...please come back to me...please," Teresa pleaded, her eyes overflowing with tears. "I need you so much Fox; if you die my life will be so empty. Don't leave me alone again. You promised to always be there for me. I can't make it without you," she whispered hoping against hope that her pleas would elicit any sort of response but Fox's body remained mobile and impassive.
Unwilling to concede defeat Teresa spent the next few hours alternately pleading with Fox to recover and threatening him with mayhem if he failed to do as she ordered. Finally as utter exhaustion overwhelmed her, she sunk into a deep slumber and only the pressure of a hand at her backside awakened her.
"Fox?" she murmured disoriented but as she glanced at the face of her lover she felt her face pale.
"Nick," Teresa whispered. Not wanting to cause a scene in front of Fox, she motioned for him to follow her outside.
Once they were alone, Teresa waited for Nick to explain his presence but when he remained mute she stared at him perplexed. Noticing his rumpled appearance for the first time Teresa began to get nervous.
"Nick, what's the matter?" Teresa asked worriedly. "Has something happened to Cody," she yelled.
"Teresa…I…damn there's no easy way to say this," he began.
"To say what? Just spit it out Nick," Teresa ordered.
"Teresa, I stopped by your apartment to see if you and Cody were free for breakfast and when I got there I…I found the apartment in shambles…Aubrey lay on the floor unconscious and bleeding and…and Cody was nowhere to be seen. It's as if she disappeared into thin air."
"Nooooo…nooooo…nooooo" Teresa cried. "She couldn't have just disappeared. We have to find her Nick, we have to find my baby," she shouted, emphasizing her statement by pounding her tiny fists on Nick's chest.
As massive sobs shook her frame, Teresa fell to the floor in despair. A nurse standing at her station, upon hearing the commotion, rushed over to see what was going on.
"Miss, you have to calm down, you're going to scare the other patients," she admonished.
"Lay off will you?" an impatient Nick snarled. "She's just found out her daughter's disappeared."
Turning back to a still hysterical Teresa, Nick enveloped her in his arms and helped her to her feet.
"Baby, it's going to be alright, we're going to find her" he murmured reassuringly.
When Teresa turned tear filled brown eyes to him, he smiled and gently stroked her cheek.
"But now you have to pull yourself together because we have to get down to the police station to file a missing person's report. Aubrey was already questioned and the police have already begun investigating," he explained as he guided her towards the elevators.
A dazed Teresa allowed Nick to guide her docilely, lost in her own thoughts. Prayers jumbled in her head, supplication on her lips as she begged whatever God chose to be most merciful to protect her daughter.
Another part of town…
The fair haired man trembled as he watched the raven haired child sleep. His orders had been extremely precise and though he had carried them out to perfection, he now quivered with nerves.
The shrill ringing of his cell phone shook him out of his reverie and he picked it up with shaking hands.
"Bennett," he answered curtly, the butterflies in his stomach making his deep voice even huskier.
"Did everything go as planned?" Alistair Crane asked and Sam frantically nodded his head before he remembered that Alistair couldn't see him.
"Yes sir. Everything went off without a hitch," Sam replied after a few seconds.
"Good. Stay put and await further instructions," Alistair ordered curtly before disconnecting the call.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Sam tossed the phone on the table next to him and ran a hand through his hair. Feeling sick to his stomach, he sat down at the edge of the narrow bed and continued to keep vigil over the little girl that rested there peacefully. A bitter smile curving his mouth he briefly wondered if God would listen to the prayers of a man who had sold his soul to the devil.
Harmony Maine
Pilar Lopez Fitzgerald hummed quietly to herself as she finished the preparations for dinner. The chicken she had marinated earlier with lime juice and sweet mangoes was sizzling on the grill, alongside the tender corn on the cob and red skinned potatoes. Fresh warm rolls drizzled with butter and a green salad topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, and grated parmesan cheese rounded out the meal.
Knowing the meal would be ready in minutes Pilar walked to the dining room to set the table. Even after all this time she couldn't get used to the silent meals. The children had always been so loud and rambunctious and had kept things around the house so lively. A sigh escaped her as she thought of all the meals her family had shared at this very table.
"I miss them too honey," Martin Fitzgerald whispered to his wife as he came up behind her and enfolded her in his arms.
"I know children are meant to live their own lives Martin but sometimes I miss the way things used to be."
What she couldn't put into words was how much she missed her Teresa. Though she loved all her children and would have given her life for any of them Teresa had always been her favorite; in spite of the scrapes she was fond of getting into. Teresa's disappearance had nearly killed her. Not a day passed by that she didn't light a candle and pray for her beloved daughter to come home safely.
Something tingled at the back of her neck and Pilar rolled her shoulders trying to ignore it but the feeling that something was terribly wrong wouldn't disappear.
"Pilar, is something the matter?" Martin asked his wife when he saw how pale she had become.
"I don't know Martin. I just had the strangest feeling that something was terribly wrong…with one of the children," Pilar remarked, closing her eyes and murmuring a brief prayer.
Making a sign of the cross Pilar walked over to the windowsill in the kitchen and reached for the vanilla and jasmine scented candle she lighted almost every night. Striking a match, she once again prayed for the Blessed Mother to bless her children. But most specifically she prayed for the Virgin to bless her Teresita. Wherever she happened to be.
The shrill ringing of the telephone interrupted and Pilar lifted the receiver with trembling hands. Her instincts warned her that the person on the other end of the line wasn't about to impart good news.
"Hello," she murmured with great trepidation.
San Francisco, California
She felt as if someone had taken a hammer to her head and smashed it to pieces. The light was so blinding it almost hurt to open her eyes. Pressing a hand to her aching head, a disoriented Teresa sat up slowly and looked around, panic settling in when she realized she had no idea where she was.
Running her tongue through her mouth she gazed about, hoping something in the room would give her a clue to her whereabouts but nothing seemed familiar. Pressing a hand to a peach covered wall, she tried to stand but her knees were too wobbly and wouldn't support her weight. But before she could fall a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her and a startled Teresa looked up into a pair of very familiar brown eyes.
"Nick?" she murmured in a sandpapery voice she barely recognized as her own. "What's going on?" she asked.
Nick only smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, making Teresa shiver. There was something terrible in that smile. When he pressed a cup of water to her mouth, Teresa gulped the cool beverage greedily, her raging thirst momentarily overcoming her anxiety.
"Nick?" Teresa pressed though deep inside she knew exactly what had happened.
Nick's words confirmed her fears.
"I just wanted us to spend some time together Teresa. Just you and me the way it was always meant to be," he replied.
