Chapter 6
"How was it in Indiana?" Nicole asked Jess as they were getting off of the elevator on the first day back after Christmas.
"It was perfect. Colin had fun meeting everyone just like I said he would." Jess speculated.
"He knows you're always right. How did they react when they found out you were pregnant?" Nicole asked her.
"They were surprised, very surprised but happy for me too." Jess stated.
"That's great." Nicole said.
"What about you? How are you feeling since Antonio asked you to marry him?" Jess asked Nicole.
"It still doesn't feel like it's real." Nicole exclaimed, her voice still full of excitement.
"It is trust me." Jess said as the two got their morning coffee.
Jess and Nicole were sitting at their desks talking and looking at their engagement rings when Pollock walked over to where they were.
"Having a nice girl talk agents? Or should I say wedding talk?" Pollock asked them jokingly.
Nicole looked at Pollock kind of surprised at his question. "Ha-ha. Yeah we are sir, talking about our double wedding, who's going to be there, how expensive it's going to be, you know all the normal wedding talk stuff." Nicole commented back at Pollock sarcastically.
Pollock just rolled his eyes at the two of them. "Well it's time to get out of dream world and into reality agents. We have a case." Pollock informed them as he walked off. Nicole and Jess just laughed before getting up and following him to the bullpen where Antonio was also waiting.
"Kayla Rhodes, 16 years old, disappeared last night between 8 and 10 pm from her home. Her parents left her home alone at 8 and when they came back at ten she was gone." Pollock rattled off the facts. "The mom, Sandra Rhodes, 36 years old, professor at Georgetown, and the dad, Eric Rhodes, 37 years old, trauma doctor in the ER at Washington Hospital Center. Only child and the parents say that she had no reason to run away. Go find her." Pollock ordered as everybody already knew what to do.
Sandra and Eric were already at the office waiting to hear any information about their daughter. "Hi, I'm Nicole Scott and this is Jess Mastriani." Nicole introduced herself and Jess as they walked into the interrogation room.
"Do you know anything about Kayla?" Eric asked nervously. Pollock was observing the interview with the parents.
"No, not yet, but with your answers to a few questions, we will." Jess sympathized.
"Can you tell us what happened last night?" Nicole asked. Her and Jess were standing up across from the two.
"We left the house at 8 and she said she would stay home and we completely trust her. When we came back at 10 we couldn't find her." Sandra responded shaking a little from fear.
"Does she have a boyfriend she may have gone out with?" Jess asked them.
"She has a boyfriend but she would never go off without our permission." Eric insisted. "She knows better than to do that."
While Eric was talking Jess felt like she was having some cramps but she knew she shouldn't be but they weren't that bad so she didn't worry about them. Nicole noticed something was up with Jess. "You ok?" Nicole asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jess mumbled.
Nicole just gave Jess an unsure look. "Does she have her driver's license or a car?" Nicole asked Kayla's parents.
"No, she's got her permit but that's it." Sandra said.
"How are her grades in school?" Jess asked.
"They are exceptional. She's in the top of her grade." Eric bragged about Kayla.
Jess's cramps were just getting worse but she kept ignoring them not thinking about them and Nicole could tell that Jess was in a lot of pain but Jess kept denying it. Even Sandra and Eric noticed but Jess denied it to them also. "Is there anyone that might-" Jess began to ask Eric when suddenly another pain came and tears came to her eyes. It got so bad that she fell to her knees and right after that Pollock came into the room.
"Mastriani, what's wrong?" Pollock asked extremely worried about Jess. Even though the pain only lasted for about 45 seconds, it seemed like forever to Jess.
"I keep having cramps but its nothing, I promise." Jess assured them not wanting to make what just happened a big deal.
"It's not nothing." Nicole told Jess. "You were in a lot of pain, I could tell."
"How far along are you?" Eric asked. Jess glared at him wondering why the hell he was asking. "I'm a doctor so I can help you."
"She's about 4 months along." Pollock informed him. Jess also glared at him, she didn't care to have a possible suspect knowing all the details about her right now.
It hadn't even been two minutes and Jess was in pain again. This time it had gotten worse and everyone could tell. Jess was now worried that something was wrong. "She needs to get to the ER." Eric told them. "I can come to if you need me."
"No, but she is going to the ER now." Pollock said. As soon as Jess got her composure back, she didn't have any resentment about going to the ER.
"Nicole, will you call Colin for me?" Jess cried as the pain slowly crept back.
"Yeah, as soon as we are on our way." Nicole promised. Jess rode with Pollock and Nicole followed close behind.
Colin met them at the ER and he was extremely worried about Jess. "Are you alright?" Colin asked, fearful that something might be extremely wrong.
"Yeah, I'm sure I'm fine." Jess insisted. "The pain is slowly getting better."
They immediately took Jess back to be seen by a doctor before anything happened. Everyone including Colin had to wait until the doctor was finished making sure there was nothing wrong with Jess or the baby. About 20 minutes later a doctor came out to talk to them. "You can come back to see her." The doctor told them. As they followed the doctor to where Jess was, they still kept wondering if anything was wrong.
"Is the baby hurt?" Colin asked once they were in Jess's room.
"No, the baby is fine. She just had something known as false labor, where she was having cramps but nothing was really happening. We've put her on some medicine that should stop any part of labor that might be happening and we are going to keep her overnight." The doctor informed them. They all breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Jess and the baby weren't hurt.
"You scared us there for awhile Jess." Nicole said glad that her friend was going to be fine.
"I didn't mean to." Jess said innocently.
"It's ok; at least it was nothing too bad." Pollock said.
"You'll have to stay out of work for about a week." The doctor told Jess.
"I can't! I have-" Jess immediately protested.
"She will don't worry." Pollock interrupted her. Jess went to protest against her staying out of work again. "You're not working." Pollock told her. The doctor then walked out of the room and Pollock turned around to Jess, "You will be working, but only on desk duty. Understand?" Pollock whispered.
"Yes sir." Jess sighed.
"Well we're going to let you get some rest and we will be back before visiting hours are over." Pollock told Jess.
"I'll see you guys later then. Bye." Jess told them. Antonio had never gotten to the hospital but Nicole and Pollock would tell him what happened back at the office.
"Bye Jess." Nicole waved as her and Pollock left.
Antonio was back at the office wondering where Nicole, Jess, and Pollock were at. He was getting ready to call Nicole when Pollock stepped off the elevator followed by Nicole. "Where's Jess?" Antonio questioned them since she wasn't there.
Pollock and Nicole glanced at each other. "She went into false labor here and we had to take her to the hospital. She and her baby are alright but she has to stay in the hospital overnight and I told her that we would come and see her before visiting hours were over." Pollock answered.
"Well that's good that she's not hurt or anything." Antonio said relieved.
"Yeah, but as bad as I hate to do it, we have got to get back on this case." Pollock began. "I want both of you in there to finish interviewing the parents."
"Yes sir." Nicole agreed as her and Antonio walked off to the interrogation room.
"How is agent Mastriani? Is anything wrong?" Eric asked as Nicole and Antonio walked in the interrogation room.
"She's fine, but right now we need to focus on your daughter Mr. Rhodes." Nicole said.
"What else do you need to know?" Sandra asked starting to get annoyed.
"A lot of things. The more we know, the quicker we can find your daughter." Nicole explained to them. Eric and Sandra just sighed in acceptance.
"I was so scared Colin. I thought we were going to lose the baby." Jess confessed now saying how she really felt. "At first I didn't worry about it but as the pain got worse I got more scared."
"Well at least we know that both of you are safe and that you got here in time." Colin reminded her.
"Yeah, thankfully." Jess said.
"Hi Toni, this is John Pollock, Jess's boss." Pollock answered as he called Toni about what had happened to Jess.
"Hi, how are you?" Toni asked Pollock.
"I'm good, you?" Pollock asked.
"Good. Is something wrong?" Toni asked him fear swelling inside of her.
"Not anymore, but something happened to Jess earlier." Pollock told her.
"Oh no, is she hurt?" Toni asked her voice full of worry.
"No, no she's doing well now, but earlier she had gone into false labor causing her to have to go to the hospital." Pollock said.
"But she's fine now, right?" Toni asked.
"Yes and so is the baby. Colin is with her." Pollock said.
"Well Doug and I are going to come down there now so that we can see her." Toni said.
"You don't have to do that Toni; she will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow." Pollock assured her. "I can get her to call you."
"Are you sure?" Toni asked still a little concerned.
"Yes, and if anything changes I will call you and keep you up to date I promise." Pollock emphasized his promise trying to ease Toni's concern.
"Thank you so much." Toni said reluctantly to Pollock.
"It's no problem, bye." Pollock said as he hung up the phone.
Nicole and Antonio had just finished interviewing Kayla's parents and were reporting to Pollock to tell them what they found out. Nicole knocked on his door. "Enter." Pollock said in his usual tone. Nicole and Antonio walked in his office. "What did you get from the parents?"
"Well, they don't believe she had any reason to runaway because she is a good student in school, and she has a loving boyfriend, but she doesn't have a driver's license or a car. They said that she wouldn't go off on her own and they don't know anyone that would want to hurt her." Nicole rattled off the facts.
"The boyfriend, who is he?" Pollock asked.
"Aaron Lawson, 16 years old. He has been dating Kayla for 7 months and her parents totally trust him." Antonio told Pollock.
"Go find him, and talk to him." Pollock ordered them. "Let's see what he says about Kayla."
"Yes sir." Nicole said as her and Antonio walked out.
"I don't know that I want to go undercover even before the baby is born. I don't like leaving you alone if something happens." Colin told Jess.
"It's ok Colin, I know that you would be here for me no matter what, but you do still have to work." Jess told him.
"True, but I just don't like to do that, because I mean, I would have felt bad if I was undercover and couldn't have been here for what happened today." Colin said.
"It would've been alright I promise. You know that Pollock, Nicole and Antonio would've taken good care of me." Jess reminded him.
"I know, but still." Colin said.
"Colin, its ok, if there is an undercover job that you want to take, go ahead and take it. Everything will be taken care of here." Jess said trying to convince him about everything.
"The reason I asked is because Hamilton asked me about an undercover job and I told him I didn't know." Colin told Jess nervously.
"How long would you be gone?" Jess asked.
"A little under a week." Colin said.
"Go ahead and take it. I'll be fine, and if anything major happens, I'm sure Hamilton will contact you." Jess told him.
"You're right. I'll be leaving tomorrow night at around 8." Colin told her.
"That'll be great since I'll be home from the hospital." Jess said.
"I just didn't want to leave you." Colin told Jess.
"I'll miss you but everything will be alright. I love you." Jess said.
"I love you too." Colin said as they gave each other a kiss.
Thanks to all of my reviewers! Do you think anything will happen to Jess while Colin is gone? Please R&R... 4 reviews and I'll update! Lexie... Don't forget to check out my other stories... 'Truth' and 'What Would Happen If'