Rescued
"Just make sure no one sees you. You don't know who is around watching." Punk told AJ who undone her seat belt and nodded.
"I guess I… I won't be long." AJ shook her head, getting out of the car whilst Punk parked up, watching as AJ disappeared over to the school gates.
AJ made her way over, watching all the little kids playing around, crouching down by the fence as she looked around to spot her children anywhere. Eventually she found Vivian and shouted on her as quietly as possibly. As soon as Vivian noticed her she immediately ran straight towards her as quick as she could.
"Mommy!" Vivian cried out happily as AJ smiled.
"Hi, baby." AJ gasped, putting her arm through the fence and taking her hand, "Hey." AJ smiled, "Hey, are you ok?" AJ nodded.
"No, mommy. I miss you, and daddy." Vivian sighed, "Please let us come home."
"Baby, I'm trying." AJ nodded, "It's not up to me." AJ said, "Where-Where is your sister?" AJ asked.
"Polly wouldn't let her come to school with me." Vivian said.
"Polly? Who-Who is that?" AJ shook her head.
"She's at the place we're staying." Vivian said, "She's mean." She said as AJ looked at her.
"What… what do you mean by that?" AJ asked calmly.
"She hit Raimy. And she hurt me too. And James won't stop crying because he misses you." Vivian sighed. It was clear she was very scared and stressed.
"She… she hit Raimy?" AJ shook her head, not believing her ears.
"Yeah. I don't like her." Vivian sighed, "Can you just come get us?" She asked as AJ placed her hand over her mouth, turning around to the car where Punk was waiting. It was the worst possible thing she could have ever heard in her life. To know someone was hurting her babies. She just couldn't sit still whilst knowing what was going on.
"Mommy is gonna get you tonight." AJ nodded, reaching her arms through and cupping her cheeks, "Ok, I promise you." She said, "I'm… I'm so sorry." She shook her head. It was the one thing she was trying so hard to protect her children from and somehow they were caught right in the middle of it, "Is… Is Raimy ok? Is she… is she hurt?"
"She's fine." Vivian nodded, "She's got a bruise on her cheek but she's ok." She shrugged as AJ nodded.
"And you?" AJ asked, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah." Vivian nodded, "James wants to come home."
"Ok, just… just look out for each other. Mommy and daddy will get you out tonight, ok?" AJ nodded. She never made promises that she didn't keep. She wasn't letting her children suffer. There was absolutely no way.
"Ok." Vivian nodded.
"Ok, go… go back and play with your friends." AJ stroked her cheek lovingly as Vivian nodded and ran away whilst AJ placed her hand over her eyes, wiping the tears that were coming and standing back up straight as she headed back to the car.
"How is she?" Punk asked immediately, "I only saw you talking to Viv." Punk noticed, "Where is Raimy?"
"They're hitting them." AJ turned to him as Punk looked across at her, "Raimy and Vivian." She nodded as Punk shook his head in disbelief, "Yes." AJ said, "I don't care if I have to go into that care home and wave a damn gun around to get them out. We're going tonight and we're getting them." AJ spat as Punk gulped, not having words to say, he was filled with rage, emotion, anger, helplessness.
"W-What? Who is… who is hurting them?" Punk shook his head.
"Polly. It's a name. I can work with that." AJ nodded, "We get them out and we take them far away from here. We get your lawyer friend and then we get them arrested." AJ said.
"Why isn't Raimy at school?" Punk questioned, "And what about James?"
"Viv said they won't let Raimy go to school and James… won't stop crying." AJ placed her hand on her forehead as Punk leaned over and pressed his forehead on the steering wheel.
"Fuck!" Punk yelled angrily as AJ jumped.
"I am not leaving them in there another night. I don't care. I will literally kill if I have to and you know I'm being serious." AJ said as he turned to her angrily and nodded.
"We'll get them out." Punk nodded, "We'll get them out and then we'll find the son of a bitch who reported us and put them in there. No one can tell me this wasn't intentional. Someone in there knows they're our kids." He said as AJ nodded.
"Who the hell would want to do that?" AJ shook her head.
"I don't know but we're gonna find them." Punk spat as AJ watched him. She'd never saw him so angry before, and she'd saw him very angry at times. He was a controlled kind of angry. Like if he was touched he would just explode into millions of pieces, "How are we getting them out?" Punk asked, pulling away in the car.
"I'm going in and I'm taking them. That's what we're doing." AJ spat.
Later that night, AJ and Punk had left all their other temporary plans and decided that enough was enough. Once they had heard that hands were being raised to their children, it was over. There was no planning, there was no waiting around, they were going in and getting their children.
"The people running this place are probably being paid off to keep the kids there, same with that social worker. She was a shady bitch." AJ nodded, walking down the side of foster home building with Punk.
"We should have never let them go." Punk said as AJ turned to him.
"Hey." AJ paused and pulled his arm to pause him, "We didn't have the choice. You know damn well that if we resisted the cops would have been called and that would have just worsened the problem." AJ said. She could see guilt on his face and couldn't understand why, "This is not our fault. Someone is setting us up and their using our children as leverage."
"But who?" Punk shook his head, "I thought we… I thought we got rid of all our enemies." He shook his head.
"So did I." AJ sighed, "But obviously not." She said, "We can figure that out later. Once we get the kids we can get that lawyer you know to fight all of this off. Then we can figure out the son of a bitch who did this." She nodded, "Let's just focus on getting them out."
"Ok." Punk nodded, "You know the plan?"
"Yeah. And if I get my hands on this bitch Polly… don't even think about pulling me off her." AJ warned.
"I've never wanted you to beat someone up so badly." Punk nodded to her, walking down the side of the building and through to the back door.
Punk and AJ had agreed to split up as there was a few floors to cover and it was easier and less time consuming. They both knew they could handle themselves which was a plus.
AJ climbed up to the top floor. It was late at night and since Punk was practically an expert on how foster care homes were ran, they knew the corridors would be silent and the kids would be in bed. It was the staff they had to watch out for.
AJ hid behind corners and even in cupboards at the sign of staff roaming the corridors. She once made a living out of doing sneaking around such as this, so it wasn't like she wasn't familiar with how to hide and creep around.
She walked down the corridor and began checking rooms as quietly as she possibly could. It was then when she saw the innocent faces of little kids that she just wanted to take them all home and help them, but her babies were her main priority.
She eventually found the kids, bursting into a room, spotting the three beds and noticing Vivian's glowing up elmo. She could have cried with relief as she saw them all safe in bed.
She rushed over to them, first going to James, waking him up ever so gently as the three year old opened his eyes and immediately wrapped his arms around her neck like a monkey.
"Oh, hi baby." AJ gasped with relief, placing her hand on the back of his head, hugging him tightly as James clung to her, refusing to let go, "It's ok, mommy's got you." AJ kissed his head, "I'm here." She soothed whilst Raimy and Vivian began to wake up.
"Mom." Raimy sat up in bed as AJ looked over, noticing Raimy's bruised cheek as her throat tightened.
"Hey, come here." AJ said quietly as Raimy rushed over to her mother, needing that warm hug from her that only she could give.
Vivian joined in as AJ hugged them dearly and examined them all, "It's gonna be ok. Get your things." AJ nodded, cupping Raimy's cheek whilst still having James clinging to her.
"Are we leaving?" Raimy asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, hurry." AJ nodded, "Come on, baby. Get your things." AJ told James as she began to hear footsteps coming down the hall, "Pretend I'm not here." AJ warned them all as she got underneath James' bed, listening and hearing as a woman walked into the room.
"What are you three doing?!" Polly exclaimed angrily as AJ clenched her fists.
"We were uh… we…" Vivian gulped.
"Sleepwalking." Raimy nodded.
"All three of you?" Polly spat, "Do I have to separate you all? Huh?" She spat as AJ stayed quiet under the bed, waiting for the right moment to get out.
Meanwhile Punk had made his way up to that floor, hearing voices coming from down the hall as he ran down, edging his way to the edge of the opened up door as he saw an older woman standing in the room.
"I think we should take you to a room of your own." Polly spat, grabbing Raimy by the back of the neck as Punk caught eyes on it.
"Hey!" Punk growled as Polly jumped and turned around, "Take your hands off of her." Punk gritted his teeth as Polly looked across at him, immediately taking her hand from Raimy as she looked at Punk worriedly.
"W-What… what are you doing here?" Polly gulped whilst AJ got out from under the bed as Punk watched her come up behind Polly, grabbing her around the neck as Punk nodded to the kids, "Let go of me." Polly struggled whilst AJ kept her grips on her.
"Go with daddy." AJ nodded to James who ran over to Punk who scooped him into his arms whilst getting the girls out of the room, "Take them out to the car. I'll only be a minute." AJ nodded to Punk.
"Have fun." Punk nodded coldly, glaring at Polly before quickly leaving with the kids.
"Please… please let me go." Polly begged as AJ chuckled, kicking the room door closed with her foot.
"Oh, baby you shouldn't have put your hands on my girls." AJ whispered in her ear, "Cause now you have me to deal with." She said, pushing her face first into the door as Polly smacked her face off it and fell to the ground.
"Please." Polly begged as AJ climbed over her, turning her around and striking her repeatedly in the face, not holding back.
"Here's what's gonna happen…" AJ grabbed her by the throat, "You're gonna tell me who wanted my kids put in here, because I know you're in the loop." AJ said as Polly gasped, "Huh? You gonna tell me?" AJ asked, standing up, pulling her along the floor by the hair, "Or do I gotta beat it out of you?" She questioned, "Huh?" AJ asked, climbing back over her.
"Ok ok…" Polly gasped, her face a bloody mess as AJ held her up by the neck, "Ok." She swallowed painfully as AJ looked down at her.
"Who?!" AJ gritted her teeth.
"H-Hilary. Brooks." Polly nodded as AJ looked down at her, tilting her head with confusion, "Now just leave me alone." She begged as AJ shook her head.
"She… she made the anonymous report?" AJ questioned as Polly nodded.
"She paid Claire." Polly choked on some of her blood as AJ looked down at her, "And she… she wanted the oldest one."
"What?" AJ spat.
"She wanted the oldest girl." Polly nodded as AJ felt her heart beating with rage, starting to piece certain things together, "Please, I don't know anything else."
"You lifted your hand against my daughters." AJ spat, "I ain't done with you yet." AJ hissed, grabbing her and throwing her across the room into the bed post. Years in Russian prisons always came in handy, but whilst getting her well needed revenge, she was trying to digest who their new real enemy was, and what the hell she was after.