Chapter 7
Stella wanted to run to the house so badly. It was in the middle of a vast clearing; the bush simply stopped at the bottom of the valley. They had to pass a muddy bog at the bottom of the ravine, where water would soon form a river, before climbing a bit higher. The house was so close, she could see someone tending to a garden bed. The flickering she saw before was the sun reflecting off the windows of the stone house.
"Hey!" she tried to call out to the person to alert them of their presence, but it wasn't loud enough. "Hey!" she tried again.
An old man turned around, a spade in one hand and a plant in the other. He dropped them immediately after seeing the pair closer, and stood up. "Rosalind!" he called towards the house, before directing his question to Stella and Grace, "Are you okay?"
Grace spoke. "We're police officers. We need to use your phone, please."
"Of course, of course," his voice was the most comforting thing Stella'd heard for the past three days. He swished his hands through the air, directing them towards the door to the house.
Before they reached it, an elderly woman came out, Rosalind they presumed, and put her hands over her mouth in shock. Stella felt self-conscious all of a sudden; she must look a mess. She knew Grace did. "What happened?"
"It's a long story," Grace said. "Can we use your phone, please?"
Rosalind nodded wildly, waving her hand to follow. "Yes, come on inside, loves."
They followed her and the old man inside, where it smelt of freshly baked pie. Stella's stomach grumbled loudly. Rosalind handed Grace a phone and then disappeared briefly to get some woollen blankets, wrapping them respectively around Stella and Grace. Stella was still cold from the early morning chill, and although the blanket was itchy, she didn't mind a bit. The old man offered them chairs from the table, and Stella gladly accepted. She didn't realise how tired her legs felt until she sat down. She felt the need to pinch herself, to make sure this wasn't just a dream. They'd actually found help. They were safe.
A cup of steaming tea was put in front of her, making her jump because she didn't hear the old man coming. While Grace made the call they'd been wanting to for the last 72 hours, Stella spoke with the old man. "I'm George," he introduced himself, sitting across from her.
It dawned on her that after less than five minutes, she knew both these people's names, yet after two days she never knew their captors. They were very careful. Fortunately for them, not careful enough as they let their guard down.
"Stella," she replied. She knew she probably shouldn't discuss what they'd been through before giving official statements, but she felt her and Grace's injuries would explain themselves. She picked the cup up, her hand trembling slightly, and took a sip quickly to put it back down. "Thanks for the tea," she honestly didn't care what kind it was, she was just happy it was warm and would be a start to quench her thirst.
George nodded his head and smiled in response. "It's the least we can do."
Stella overheard Grace ask Rosalind where they were, and didn't miss the concerned look on George's face. She knew it sounded terrible that they didn't even know where they were. When Grace came to the end of the phone call, Stella looked to her. "Help's on its way," she announced, smiling with relief. "Kerry will meet us at the hospital."
Stella put her head in her hands, gratified. She still couldn't believe it.
"Are you okay?" George sounded anxious.
"Yeah, I'm just a bit overwhelmed. It's been a long few days."
"Honey, you're bleeding," Rosalind said, and when Stella turned around she saw her pointing at Grace's gunshot wound. Her shirt that they'd used to put pressure on had been long gone forgotten along the way, and it had clearly started to bleed again.
"Oh," Grace said, looking at it. "Do you have a...—"
"Sit down, I'll get the first aid kit," she urged, "We should have some dressings in there."
"I'm sorry if we caused you and your wife any troubles," Stella said.
"Don't be silly, not at all," he shook his hands.
Rosalind came back with the first aid kit and gave Grace a handful of gauze pads to use as pressure. Time flew by after that. It was a whole blur. It took less than half an hour for ambulances and police to arrive, where they were taken to the closest hospital. The drugs Stella had been given by the paramedics made her feel rather nonchalant about what was happening around her. She and Grace had undergone numerous tests and were given a lengthy run down of their injuries, and were told they would have to stay overnight for observation, but would more than likely be released the following day.
Kerry arrived after Grace had gone into surgery, and Stella was finally getting a small moment of peace in the ward. Kerry was ecstatic to see her, and later Grace, and to know they were both going to be okay. She told Stella that the rest of TR were coming to see them first thing the next morning.
Connor had come to the hospital as well; he'd been notified by both them and Kerry. Stella suspected that Josh would've been there, too, if it weren't for the possibility of blowing their cover completely. Although the hospital was small, Stella and Grace's beds weren't near each other, and Kerry spent the night between the two. For the first time in the past few days, Stella had the best sleep ever.
—
Stella closed the door, turned the lock, and put her clothes on the edge of the sink. Kerry had brought plain uniforms from the station for both her and Grace to change into when they could leave. As she reached behind her to untie the hospital gown, she thought how thankful she was for the pain killers as they masked most of the pain. The gown dropped away, and as she reached to grab the clothes, her breath was taken away when she caught her reflection in the mirror. She looked like she'd been hit by a truck, angry bruises and cuts were everywhere. She ran her hands over her hair, pushing her fringe back in the process, and exhaled heavily. She looked herself over, hardly recognising her reflection. She hadn't seen herself since she went to the bathroom in the cabin, and numerous more injuries had risen since the bruise to the cheek.
There were a mixture of different coloured bruises on her face as well as cuts and abrasions. A bruise framed her eye, almost connecting to a matching one on the bridge of her nose where there was a deep cut, a few butterfly stitches holding it together. She was told it wasn't broken. There was a scratch coming out from her hairline, and another near her eyebrow. Scattered cuts covered her face, neck, and lower arms from branches she'd snagged during their escape, and there was a cotton ball taped to her arm from where the IV had been. Her torso was simply a canvas for different shades of purple, red, and yellow; her ribs were severely bruised and she'd fractured several.
She put her hands on the edge of the sink, retracting her right hand almost immediately at the tenderness. The cut on her palm from the glass had been dressed, and while tracing the bandage she saw dried blood had embedded itself under her fingernails. She turned the tap on, trying to get it out. After managing to clean some away, she dried her hands with paper towel. She looked down, seeing bruises on her legs as well. Everywhere she looked there was an injury of some kind. She didn't even want to know what her back looked like, but she turned around anyway.
Although she thought the front looked worse, her breath still hitched in her throat. The bruising continued on around her ribs from the front, wrapping around her like a hug, and there was a distinct red mark from the punch to the back she remembered receiving from the first fight. Underneath a bandage on the back of her left shoulder, she'd had several stitches from a laceration where she must've hit a stick or rock from one of the times she'd been tackled to the ground. When she actually thought about it, she noticed the discomfort when she moved her arm. She turned back around, having seen enough.
There was a soft knock on the door, followed by: "You okay in there, Stella?" It was Kerry.
"Yeah," she replied, noticing she'd been in there for a while. "I'll be out in a minute."
She reached for her clothes, trying not to be so surprised every time she saw a glimpse of herself in the mirror. For some reason it was more shocking seeing her reflection than her own skin. After she'd gotten dressed she left the small bathroom. Kerry was waiting for her outside.
"You okay?" she asked again.
Stella nodded, despite suddenly feeling unsettled.
"I can give you a ride home if you want?"
"Actually," Stella paused. "I wanna go see Grace."
Kerry had a slightly dumbfounded look on her face, not because she was shocked to see Stella care about another member of their team, but that she voluntarily wanted to see Grace. "Okay," she nodded slowly. "I'll walk you there."
"Thanks."
It was a short walk away, and when they got to Grace's curtained off room in the ward, Kerry left them alone. Grace was sitting up and there was an IV attached to her arm. She didn't look as dirty nor bloody anymore. Connor wasn't there, and Stella assumed he'd either gone to the cafeteria or went home to get some of Grace's things.
"Hey," Stella greeted her, "Look at you, you're looking better than last time I saw you." A lot had changed since Rosalind and George's house the previous day.
"Yeah, you, too," Grace smiled.
Stella gingerly sat down on the chair next to her bed, only half deliberately groaning on the way down. "Pity I can't say I feel much better. If they weren't in such a hurry to kick me out I would've stayed longer to take advantage of the good drugs."
Grace chuckled.
"I wanted to come see you before I left, make sure you're okay," Stella told her.
Grace smiled widely. "Aw, thanks, Stell. Well I'm good. They say I can go home tonight, they just wanted to be sure in case of infection or something."
"That's great. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. Reckon I'll be out for the next week."
Grace scoffed, "Yeah, me, too."
There was a short moment of silence before they both started to speak at the same time.
"Grace—"
"Stella—"
They stopped, laughing.
"You go," Stella said.
"I just wanted to say thank you again for everything you did over the past few days."
Stella smiled, shook her head, and looked down. "No need to thank me. I couldn't have done it without you." After what they'd been through, Stella really saw a different side of Grace and she wasn't all that bad after all. It would be silly if they didn't have some kind of weird friendship after everything that had happened.
"What was it you wanted to say?"
"Oh, I was just wondering—"
Before Stella got to ask her question, Leon strolled into the cubicle with a huge grin on his face, stopping short of Grace's bed and opening his arms up. "What's this? What is happening?" Stella was confused for a second. "Are you both drugged up? Feeling okay? I stood over there watching for like five minutes to make sure what I was seeing was real."
"What?" Grace asked.
"You're actually getting along," he whispered. "I'm so confused!" he laughed.
Stella and Grace just looked at each other and smiled.
"Get over here," Leon opened his arms up again to Stella, stepping over to her and giving her a hug in the chair. "I'm so happy you're both okay." He hugged Grace next.
Stella saw Josh by the entrance out of the corner of her eye, looking around for them, and then rushing over. She could see he was holding himself back from anything more than platonic affection. "Grace..." he was far too distracted to even notice herself and Leon. "I was so worried. I'm glad you're okay."
"I'm okay, too," Stella couldn't help herself, it was just waiting to be said.
He looked across to Stella, then noticed Leon as well. Stella saw he had a gash on the back of his head, some stitches visible through his short hair. "What happened to your head?" she asked.
"Got knocked out. When I was looking around outside the warehouse I saw a car, but before I got the chance to check it out I was attacked from behind. I woke up in the bushes and the car was gone, no one was around, and you guys were missing. I'm sorry. I was so close."
"Don't beat yourself up, there was nothing you could've done," Stella told him.
"Yeah," Grace agreed, "And we're both okay so that's all that matters."
Josh sighed.
When Kerry came back, a few other members of TR were with her—the rest were on their way. Kerry had explained to Stella and Grace their plan for getting them back. They reviewed the footage shot from their vests, which led them to the identities of the two men that kidnapped them. They later found out their connections to the other two guys, and assumed it was highly possible that they were involved as well. After getting their ransom video, Leon worked on finding their location while the rest of TR came up with a plan. They'd put the money in the locker at the last minute, go undercover at the gym, and await the arrival of the collector. They were going to follow him back to the cabin in an unmarked car, but the tall and muscular guy figured out he was being watched before they had a chance to follow through, so they were forced to arrest him there. He gave up the location of the cabin, where TR and local police rushed to. By then, Stella and Grace had already escaped.
They caught the other two guys trying to hitchhike nearby, and police discovered the car at the cabin had been tampered with. Stella knew the only person that could've done that was the tall and muscular guy. He'd definitely still had some impact on their escape despite them not even going the way he told them to go—he'd helped with the successful arrests of the other two guys. And that she was grateful for. She told Kerry to make sure they went easy on him.
"Did you find the other guy?" Stella asked. "Short grey hair. Kind of tall."
A few people looked at each other, waiting for someone else to talk. Leon spoke up confidently, "Not yet, but we will."
"He was about a kilometre away from the cabin, heading east," she told him, distantly adding, "I shot him."
"Okay," Leon nodded. "That'll help us."
Both Stella and Grace had given their statements to the police earlier, but TR weren't allowed to officially do it due to conflict of interest, so their knowledge was somewhat limited since they hadn't had the chance to talk about it.
The other members of TR had arrived at once, and suddenly the curtained off room was crowded—they would later have to take turns visiting because they were "disturbing other patients" in the ward. Most of them were in uniform, and they said they'd arrived in such a rush because they wanted to see the pair as soon as they could, they didn't have time to buy any flowers or gifts for them. Despite both Stella and Grace saying there was no need, after spending several minutes with them they insisted they go to the ever so convenient florist across the road; they were in a small country hospital that didn't have a gift shop.
Later, the guys came back with a beautiful and colourful flower display for each of them. Having everyone there really took things off Stella's mind, distracting her, and she was so glad that everyone came. She loved how close their team was and how they were always there for one another. She hoped that would never change. Although some of the members weren't exactly close—like she and Grace—they always had each other's back.
A/N: Thank you to all those who read my fic, I hope you enjoyed it! As I've said before, I'm planning a sequel, but to be honest I really don't know how long it'll take me to write, since believe it or not, this one took me over 7 months to complete even with every chapter planned out. Plus, I have another fic I haven't completed yet, which I fully intend to finish before starting the sequel. But I've started to plan it out and I will go ahead and write it, but unfortunately it won't be ready for a while. I hope you can have a little bit of patience! Oh, and kudos to anyone who spotted some little hints in the last few chapters that signify this story isn't the end :)
Billy1990ism - so am I! It was so much fun to write!