A/N: These chapters are on the shortish-side, but the good news is that I actually have been working on this baby for awhile and it's mostly ready to post. :) Until next time-PCGirl.
Bo walked to the door and knocked before entering the hospital room. He had been trying to put out other fires today and hadn't made it back to talk with Jessica until now. The biggest fire had been with Balsom-threatening to find something to put him in lockup for if it meant he would recover from his gunshot wound instead of trying to find his sister. Balsom had given in-for now.
"Hey Jess," he tried to put on a smile for her. "And who is this little one?" he asked and smiled at the little bundle she was holding.
"This is Chloe. Chloe, this is your Uncle Bo."
"Don't forget the great," he smiled and gave her a wink. "Jessica-I need to talk to you about the past few months. And Natalie."
"Bo, do we really have to do this now?" asked Clint.
Bo looked at his brother and seriously wanted to deck him-putting the daughter he raised above the other was nothing new. He just thought that maybe with Natalie being in such danger he'd change this time, apparently not. "We need to get to the bottom of this-and I need to ask Jess some questions."
Jessica looked at the others in the room, trying to figure out what was going on, "Mom-can you get a nurse to take Chloe back to the nursery for a bit?"
"Of course, sweetie," she said and took Chloe from her before leaving the room quickly.
"What's going on with Natalie?"
"Tess has been out these past few months, hasn't she?"
Jessica looked down at her hands and nodded, "Yes, I believe so."
"Oh Jessie," sighed Viki as she came back in the room and heard the confirmation. She walked over and sat down, taking her hand.
"Did Tess do something? Is Natalie ok?" she asked as she began trying to remember something-anything-from the past few months.
Bo sighed, "A soundproof room was built in the basement of Llanfair. There's evidence that Natalie was in that room at some point."
"At some point? Where is she now?"
"We don't know, sweetie. A bomb was set off in the room last night. Jared was found in the rubble-it looks like he's going to make it, but we can't find Natalie."
"I-I killed my sister?" she asked, her eyes swimming with tears and suddenly feeling lightheaded.
"No, I don't think you did. She knew it wasn't you, Jess. She knows you love her and wouldn't have done that."
"You have to find her, Uncle Bo. You have to bring my sister back so I can apologize," she said with tears in her eyes.
Bo nodded, hating the hurt he saw in his niece's eyes. And he knew the guilt everyone that loved Natalie would have if they didn't bring her home safely, "We're working on finding her. We'll bring her home so we all can apologize to her."
"What is the update?" asked Bo as Antonio and Talia both stood in his office at the end of the first day. The first 24 hours were the most crucial and he felt like they were grabbing at very little. He'd been able to breathe a little easier the night before when Antonio called and said there was no body in the rubble.
"Forensics finished going through the video surveillance. It was on an auto record, so it recorded over itself after 24 hours."
"So, we at least have the last twenty-four hours to know what was going on in that house."
Antonio nodded and handed over a few pictures that had been captured off the camera. It was a man walking into the kitchen of Llanfair, he hadn't recognized him and by Bo's expression neither did he, "This was taken about ten minutes before the bomb went off."
"So, this man-whoever he is-was there when it went off? Do we have video him leaving with Natalie?"
"No, the explosion knocked that camera out of service. So, we don't know what shape she was in when he carried her out."
"Or what type of help he may have had," he sighed. "Run his picture through facial recognition software and get a copy over for Viki and Clint to take a look at it. Maybe they'll recoginze him."
"Will do, Boss," they said as they left the office.
Bo turned around in the chair and looked at the photo he kept behind his desk-one with his two nieces' in it. "Nat, where are you?" he said quietly to himself.
John laid on the couch with his eyes closed-trying to figure out the next step. He'd driven around town trying to come up with any possible place he thought she might be if she were to escape that room before it blew. First, he checked the cottage and Crossroads and found both empty, so he'd driven up to the Buchanan Lodge to see if maybe she'd made it there. But it was quiet as well.
When he'd made it home, he'd gone to the roof-thinking maybe she'd gone there and was waiting for him to find her. No luck there either-nothing but memories of a life nearly forgotten.
In between all the stops he'd gone to the hospital to try and talk to Jared-to beat it out of him of what he did with her or what he knew. But there was a guard posted with extreme orders to not let anyone in-especially John.
Bo knew him too well.
Hearing the knock on the door he almost wanted to ignore it-but hearing his name being said from the other side he went to open it and gave Blair a polite nod before letting her in.
"John-how are you doing?"
He laughed at the question and went and got a fresh beer from the fridge, "One minute I'm finding out Marty is alive, and Manning's held her for months, the next I'm finding out Natalie might be dead, and her sister has been holding her for months."
"I'm sorry-is there an update on Natalie?"
"She wasn't in the rubble-that's all I could get out of Antonio. Because of the stunt I pulled at Todd's Bo has me suspended and won't let me anywhere near the case."
"I'm sure you'll be reinstated soon. You are his best detective, and everyone knows how much Natalie means to you."
"Antonio and Talia are on the case," he said as he heard something and looked behind Blair to see a piece of paper be slid under the door. Walking over he carefully picked it up and read the note on it, This is who has her. "And apparently so am I," he said as he showed the picture of the man in the kitchen of Llanfair to Blair.