Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I make no profit from it.
A/N: This is my first attempt at a fanfic and my first time posting to this site. Please be gentle with me as I navigate with my new story. I would love to have reviews. I am interested in what you all think.
Sarah stood watching the lithe thin man coming toward her and Mac. Unconsciously, her fingers tightened their grip on his arm. The red haze was back around the man and now there seemed to be a smudge of black drifting around his head. Sarah blinked a couple of times, trying to clear her vision. She looked questioningly at Mac and had to swallow a small gasp at the warm and pleasant golden glow that seemed to hover around him and envelope her in its soft light.
"Coop!" Mac greeted the other man. "This is Sarah Williams from the DA's office. She's going to get those kids from last night's drug bust all fixed up." Sarah stood still as a statue next to Mac, for some odd reason she felt the need to be close to him, protected by him, from this dark and dangerous seeming man that was his partner.
"CPS is being a pain about the whole thing." Coop responded. "Won't let me anywhere near the rugrats until the DA chick gives the ok." He said this with a smile on his face but Sarah didn't trust it.
What is the deal? She thought to herself. I am seriously losing my grip here. Just a couple of cops doing what cops do.
Sarah gently cleared her suddenly dry throat. "Um, well," she croaked. "Let's just see what we have, shall we?" Letting go of Mac's arm, Sarah took a determined step towards the door Coop had just exited. Just as she made to move past him, his hand snaked out and grabbed her arm.
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. The memory of her words in the Labyrinth came unbidden to her mind. The feel of his hand on her arm sent a chill throughout her body and she resisted the urge to shiver. She turned her head to look at him and almost gasped at the complete and utter lack of emotion in his bottomless, almost black eyes.
"Excuse me Detective Cooper. Please release me so I can make my assessment of the children." Sarah was impressed at the steadiness of her tone. With the way her insides were shaking, she was almost sure that her voice would have come out in an embarrassing squeak.
"As you wish My Lady." He gave a mocking bow and a smirk as he removed his hand from her arm and walked toward Mac. "What a stiff." He said to his partner.
"She's nice." Mac mumbled as the two turned to walk back to their desks. "You let me know when you're finished in there Ms. Williams." Mac called back to her. "I'll take you to see the deadbeat parents."
"Thank you Mac." She responded as she quietly knocked on the door. "Come in." Someone called softly from the other side.
Sarah stepped through the door and gasped at the sight that confronted her. Two children, age and gender undeterminable, gazed at her with a mixture of hope, fear, uncertainty and defiance. Again her eyes saw a colored haze, this time around the children. A soft medley of blues, purples and pinks seemed to hover around their small filthy bodies. A woman surrounded by the same gentle golden haze that had surrounded Mac sat speaking low and gentle to the smaller of the two.
"Hello," Sarah said softly. "My name is Sarah." The woman speaking to the child turned around and graced Sara with a beautiful sad smile. Her soft brown eyes gleaming with unshed tears and warmth.
There's such a sad love, deep in your eyes. Sarah shook her head lightly to get the unbidden memory out of her head. What is the deal? She thought impatiently.
Oh, Hoggle and I will most definitely have a long talk later. I cannot afford to be losing my mind during a case of all times!
"Hello dear," the woman said gently. "I'm Susan Powers from CPS. These two dears are Liam and Siobahn. We've had a bit of trouble tonight, haven't we dears?"
"Ms. Powers," Sarah began.
"Susan, please dear." She interrupted softly. "We should, after all, be friends here."
"Uh, Susan, yes. You are correct. We should be friends. Could I speak with you a moment?" Sarah inclined her head to the opposite corner of the room and Susan gently patted Siobahn's head and murmured something to her. Liam shifted to his sister and watched the two women warily.
"We'll not go anywhere Liam." Susan reassured gently.
Sarah studied the bruised and battered boy, understanding why the confusion over age had happened. These children were small, malnourished and filthy. They looked like a gentle breeze would knock them over. It was impossible to tell the genders and she wouldn't have known but for their names, that one was a girl and one was a boy. Susan mirrored her look of pity and heartache as she joined her on the other side of the room.
"What's the story, Susan?" Sarah asked the older woman. Still watching the boy as he gazed defiantly proud back at her.
"Ah, the poor things." Susan started. "Their parents came to New York from Ireland. Dublin, near as I can tell. The parents had no ID on them and had the distinct misfortune of catching the eye of Detective Cooper. We are trying to contact the Irish authorities to see if there is family left that is fit to take them. They can't get anything out of the parents and very little out of the children. All Liam will say is that his uncle will come for them, they have to but call. We have asked for a phone number, poor dear, he says he doesn't know it." Susan sighed heavily while also trying to suppress a yawn.
"Let me try, hmm? Maybe I can get him to give me a little more to go on." Sarah offered. "Go get some coffee, make some calls, first thing we need to do is get them cleaned up and checked over by a doctor."
"That's very kind of you Sarah. I could use a cup of coffee. Can I bring you something?"
"Ah, sure, black with two sugars if you don't mind." Sarah responded.
"Now, dears, I'm going to go make some phone calls. I'll leave you in Sarah's kind a capable hands until I return." Susan said, addressing the children. "Make sure you are just as darling for her as you have been for me." With that, Susan stepped out of the room, looking for a coffee pot and a phone. Most likely in that order.
Sarah looked at the children sitting in dirty and ragged clothes, wondering when the last time they ate was.
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" She asked, walking over to sit beside them.
"Oh no, miss." Siobahn responded, a gentle, lilting, singsong to her voice. "Miss Susan gave us some biscuits and tea."
"Who is this uncle you can call? Do you know his last name? Any of his telephone numbers?" Sarah studied the girl with her dirty red curls and curious hazel eyes. Almost an exact twin of her brother.
So lost was she in the study of these obviously beautiful, if bedraggled children, that she missed what Liam had said and had to ask him to repeat himself.
"I said, Uncle Jareth doesn't use telephones." There was a defiant glitter in his eyes and a hard edge to his young boyish voice.
"Who?" Sarah squeaked out. Her last thought before fainting dead away was that she couldn't really be hearing that cruel laughter again after all these years.
A/N: I generally really hate cliffhangers. I will try not to do it to you very often. This story is fighting so hard to get out, I just need to wrestle it into the shape I want. Be patient with me, I promise a glittery appearance in the next chapter.