Chapter Four: In which our heroine leaves for London
Johnny was out of the apartment by 6:30, and by 7:00 Remus and Abbie both had finished Remus' article and were going through the legal papers. Now they were both bored. Abbie was all for prank calling her father; a trait, Remus noted, that had come from Sirius. Remus, on the other hand forbade her from picking up the phone to call Johnny. He'd even gone as far as to placing a semi-permanent sticking charm on the phone. Abbie couldn't call anybody, but if the phone did ring, she would be able to pick up the phone to answer it, and after she hung up the phone would return its self to the charger. This meant that Abbie couldn't talk to Johnny until 9:30, when he would call to check up on her and Remus. Leaving Remus to deal with a severely hyper girl who unfortunately knew were all the candy was, and could continuously add to her sugar induced high. Unless, of course, Remus himself contacted Johnny to end the sugar high. Like he could ever figure out how to use the phone by himself before Abbie came back from the bathroom. Oh, well.
A half hour later Abbie was no longer hyper and was curled up in front of the TV watching reruns of M*A*S*H on TV Land. Remus sat with her amazed by the TV, and thought that M*A*S*H was very interesting; the only problem he had with it was that funny sounding laughter coming from the TV. Abbie called it the 'laugh track', and told him to get used to it, because many shows used it. During that particular episode of M*A*S*H, Five O'clock Charlie, Remus heard something move outside the window.
Rustle, Rustle
"Abbie, can you turn off the sound? I think I hear something moving outside the window," Remus said.
"Sure thing, Uncle Moony," Abbie picked up the remote and muted the volume, thankfully during a commercial; this was her favorite episode ever.
Rustle, Rustle
"There it is again. Do you think there's something in the bushes?" Remus inquired.
"Umm...Uncle Moony, we're on the fifth floor, not the first. There are no bushes for anyone to hide in..." Abbie was cut off as something outside of the kitchen exploded. Thinking quickly, Remus grabbed his goddaughter and thought of some where safe for them to go. Next thing Abbie knew, she felt like she was being pulled through a straw and everything went black.
Johnny was awakened by the alarm that called him and his fellow firefighters out of their warm and cozy beds. They had all fallen asleep very early, seeing as it was only 9:00, with half of the men were sick and they didn't want to risk it. Johnny zoned out on the address of the call as he and Roy stumbled in the squad and got the directions from Tony, the engineer from B Shift. Alan, one of the firefighters, answered the call as it went out to Stations 51, 67, and 99, along with Ladder 1, and the Fire Chief. Two ambulances were going to meet them at the scene.
As they got closer and closer to the scene Johnny was more alert. "Hey Roy?"
"Yeah Johnny."
"Isn't this MY neighborhood?"
"I think it might be, why? Didn't you pay attention to where we're going?"
"Um...no. I was still... HOLY SHIT!"
The squad had turned onto Johnny's street, and it was a mess. The rements of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of his building were spred out across the street. They had to leave the squad at the McDonald's on the corner, the debris were every where. People littered the streets and the cries of the wounded made Johnny's spine shiver. "Oh, crap. I can't do this Roy, I can't. What if we find her body in this mess? Why'd I leave her at home? Why?" Johnny was losing it, he was too worried about his daughter being dead, and he was focusing in on the negative, forgetting that he had left his daughter in the highly capable hands of a fully trained wizard, who also happened to be a werewolf.
"Johnny! Calm down, she's gonna be fine. Maybe she and Remus went out to get some pizza or went to the movies or something." 'Even in my ears', Roy thought 'that sounds like it didn't happen. I just hope she's okay, for the sake of every one involved in this mess. I hope to God that she's alive.'
The men got out and met with the Fire Chief, a small portly man named Finnegan. He was shouting orders into his Walkie-Talkie and calling for assistance from the National Guard. The two paramedics approached slowly as they surveyed the command center, in what used to be Salvatore Castiglione's Deli. Johnny refused to look at the alarming pile of bodies being stacked in front of the store.
"I don't give a damn about a tiny little standoff in West Hollywood! I NEED the National Guard NOW DAMN IT! I have an exploded apartment complex. Yes EXPLODED, and need help with stopping looters! Get any available officer to Lansdowne Street. I don't care if you can only spare four cars. Call more people in on duty then! We have a disaster to deal with here!" Finnegan shouted into his phone, and slammed it down. He noticed the two paramedics in the door way and cleared his throat. "What can I do for you boys?"
Johnny took a deep breath before he spoke. His voice came out throaty and strained, "I have to find my daughter before I can treat anyone. I gotta find her, Chief. She's all I've got." He chocked back a sob before continuing. "I live in that apartment building, on the fifth floor. I gotta know if she's alright." Johnny was now openly crying, and Captain Stanley and several other Captains stood behind the medics, wanting to enter the command center.
Captain Stanley came up and wrapped his arms around Johnny's shoulders as he cried. "I can't go on not knowing if she's dead or not. It's killing me now to think that half of my neighbors are dead right now, and I can't find my own kid." Johnny sank to floor, ripping himself from Cap's arms, sobbing into his hands.
The Chief looked alarmed at the sobbing paramedic in front of him. This was not something Thomas Finnegan was used to. He looked at Stanley and could see tears running down his dirt streaked face, and down the face of the other medic. This missing girl obviously meant something to the men of Station 51, and who was he to break up a little family such as this.
"Go and find her then boys, but you need to treat others as you work." Was all he had to say as he went back to giving orders.
Several hours later, each and every member of the Los Angles County Fire Department, the National Guard, and the LAPD came up empty handed while looking through the rubble for Abbie. Johnny was heartbroken, and with no body, and nothing of his daughter left, he began to plan her funeral. Something he figured, no parent should ever have to do, ever. He continued to treat those with injuries as he mentally prepared a check list of things he would need to do before the funeral, when an owl, yes an owl landed on an empty stretcher next to him. It was snow white, and clutched a letter in its beak. It dropped the letter and screeched, alerting Johnny to its presence. He picked up the letter as it continued to make noise, and looked at the address.
Paramedic John Gage
Empty Stretcher #12
Los Angeles, CA, United States
He shrugged his shoulders as he opened the envelope, and pulled out a sheet of parchment.
Dear Daddy,
It's me, Abbie, and I'm fine okay. When whatever it was exploded, Remus grabbed me and we ended up in umm...hold on a second...
We ended up here in London. I apologize for taking her so far away from home, but this was the first place I thought would be safe for us if anything happened.
-RJL
Thanks Uncle Moony! Yeah, so anyways Daddy, I'm okay, and I have all of that paper work and junk with me. Uncle Moony says tomorrow we're going to the Ministry of Magic to figure this whole thing out. I didn't even know that this place existed! Just tell every one I'm okay, and far away from LA and crazy bombers! Lol.
Love ya!
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Abbie.
Johnny sighed with relief. Sure his daughter was halfway around the world, but she was safe. He got up and ran towards the last place he had seen Roy, so he could show him Abbie's letter.
Hey look at that! I updated this! I've decided to continue with this story, seeing as I already have up to chapter 17 typed and ready to go. I just need to retweek some parts of it. After all, I haven't edited any parts of this since 2008. Thanks to surferdude8225 for looking over this and my other stories :) i'm thinking you guys will get a weekly update. I just need to decide on a day to update this story. As always REVIEWS are appreciated/expected of you. Thanks again! :)