AN: This chapter is based off of Season 1 Episode 6 "Broken". Reviews are welcomed. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Miami or it's character's.
Child's Play
I was outside riding my bike at the fun child play center, Zany Town. I always wanted to come here but my parents never wanted to bring me of course. If anyone would have seen the bruises they gave me, they said they'd be reported to child services. I wondered if my real dad would ever take me to a place like this.
I continued riding my bike around the parking lot, watching as children walked with a parent or both parents, with happy smiles on their faces. That's how I always wanted my family to be, maybe now I'll have a chance to experience that with my new dad.
As I continued riding my bike, when I heard a loud siren go off within the place. The doors got locked down with bars forming squares. I wondered what was going on as security guards locked the doors from the inside. I rode my bike along the parking lot road trying to sneak a peek, but a car suddenly came into my path and I fell off by bike.
"Ow," I cried.
I looked at my knee and saw a big scrape with blood filling the wound quickly. I looked up and a man in a Zany Town uniform crouched down to my level looking me over.
"I'm sorry are you okay?' he asked.
"It hurts," I mumbled.
He looked at my leg his hands gentle at the touch.
"I can help you," he said.
"No, you're a stranger," I said.
"My names Stuart, now I'm not a stranger anymore. What's your name?" he said with a small smile.
"Diana," I said.
"Well Diana, I have something here that'll fix your wound real well," he said.
"Will it sting?" I asked as he took out a bottle and a handkerchief.
"Not at all," he said with a sickening grin.
He put the liquid on the handkerchief and then quickly pressed it against my mouth. I tried to scream but it only came out in a muffle. I started feeling light headed and he grabbed me and threw me into the back of his dirty car. I vaguely remember hearing the sound of my bike crunching under his tires as we drove off. Soon after I fell into a dark abyss in the back of a stranger's car.
3rd Person POV
CSI hummers and police cars pulled up to the entrance of Zany Town. The place was bustling with activity and was being blockaded with crime scene tape. Horatio walked in with his team closely behind him. He quickly gave everyone different jobs and what to look for, while he headed to the bathroom where the deceased five year old victim was.
Everyone knew this was a heinous crime that was committed and knew they must track down the killer before he could claim another victim, but unbeknownst to them, he already found one. Delko and Speedle were searching almost fifty people and taking their fingerprints one by one hoping to get anything off of them. One guy was a lawyer trying to weasel his way out of the process, but they eventually got him to cooperate.
When another person in line heard he didn't have to stay he tried to get some answers, but when Speed caught a glimpse of the guys shirt, which had sparkles similar to the ones on the victim, he was labeled a suspect. It started getting dark outside, but the place was still an active crime scene. Thankfully they finally got all the prints with Calleigh's help of getting Brad Repkin's fingerprints.
"Do you think you could take my footprints back to the lab with you?" Calleigh asked Delko.
"No I do not," Delko said.
Delko was about to leave with the evidence, but a uniformed officer came in with a new key piece of evidence.
"I found something behind the dumpster outside," the young officer said.
He held up a light blue mangled bicycle that looked like it was run over by a car.
"A child's bicycle?" Calliegh asked.
"Yeah," he said.
"Did you see any children around?" Delko asked.
"No," the officer said.
"Hey, Dean," Calliegh called over the manager.
"Yes, what can I do for you," he saw the mangled bike in the officers hand and said, "Oh god, is she okay?"
"Who, did you know the kid?" Delko asked.
"Not personally. She was always out here riding her bike. I knew she always wanted to come in, but you must be accompanied by an adult. She is a cute kid, I'd say about...Seven years old. I hope she's okay."
"Could you give us a description?" Calliegh asked.
"Medium length dark brown hair, about his skin tone," he said pointing at Delko, "and wearing black shorts just above the knees and a red graphic t-shirt."
"My skin tone?" Delko asked.
"Yeah," the manager said.
"Eric, you can't be sure," Calliegh said.
"Let me see the bike," he said as he took it from the cop.
He looked at it thoroughly, until he found what was looking for. It was a sticker of a purple butterfly right near the left handle bar.
"This is Diana's" he said looking at Calliegh.
"Are you sure?" she asked concerned.
"Positive, she just got this sticker a few days ago after our last visit to the hospital," he said.
"Oh god," Calliegh said.
"He has my little girl," Delko said in disbelief.
"What's going on?" Horatio asked as he walked up.
"H, that sicko has my little girl. We have to find him, who knows what he'll do to her," he said.
"You're sure," Horatio asked.
"I'm positive, this is her bike," Delko said panicked.
"All right, let's get evidence back to the lab and check for any more clues. We need to catch this man and fast, before we lose one of our own," Horatio said.
Diana's POV
I woke up and looked around my surroundings, I was still in the back of the stranger named, Stuart, car. I was bouncing a little bit as we pulled into a dirt road of a medium sized home that looked older. He looked back at me with his piercing light blue eyes as he pulled up and said, "You're awake. Welcome to my place."
"Let me go," I said.
"Hey, now. Don't you want to have some fun and play with me?"
"I want to go back home, to my father."
"Come on it'll be fun. You'll see your father soon."
He got out and opened the door, he held out a hand for me to take and I did. I didn't want to make him mad because I knew how my step dad got when I made him mad. His hand was rough and his fingertips were weird, I wondered why it was like that. He pulled me with him into the dingy and kind of dark home. All the curtains were closed and there was toys and pictures of other little girls and boys everywhere. It looked dirty and dusty, I bet he doesn't come here a lot.
"Have a seat and I'll patch up your knee."
I took a seat on the used old leather light brown sofa, with a green blanket with funky designs thrown over the back of it. I looked at the pictures on the coffee table in front of me, telling me other children were here before. I was warned about child molesters before, we had a whole school function on it. Now I might be a victim of a crime that I never thought was possible to hit home.
He came back with a bottle of alcohol, a rag, and a Band-Aid box. He poured some alcohol on the rag and said, "This might hurt. Do you want to hold my hand?"
I didn't know what to say, I really didn't want to, but I didn't want to make him mad, "Okay."
He held my hand and dabbed the rag over my big open scratch on my leg. I let out a hiss and he squeezed my hand tightly. He finished up and then put two small Hello-Kitty Band-Aids over my scraped knee.
"Thank you," I said being polite.
"You are welcome, how about a little kiss to make it feel better," he said and pressed a sweet kiss to my hurt knee.
"Thanks…" I said awkwardly.
"I'm going to out this away, you can draw a picture if you like."
"Okay."
I took an empty piece of paper from the pile and started drawing a picture. It was a picture of me and my dad hugging, but I gave myself angel wing and a halo because I was scared of what Stuart might do. On the back of the picture I wrote in my sloppy seven year old handwriting, "I Love You Daddy."
I flipped it over, quickly folded it, and stuffed it in my shorts pocket. I took another piece of paper out and started drawing a puppy, I didn't want Stuart to know about my other drawing. He came back and sat next to me on the couch.
"Ooh… That's a cute puppy," he said as he sat closely to me.
"Yeah, what happened to your fingers?" I asked.
"I cut them and placed them back together in different spots," he said.
"Ow… Why would you do that?" I asked.
"It's complicated but it's for a good reason," he said.
"So the cops won't catch you?"
"You're a smart kid," he said.
"My dad's a CSI. He works for Miami Dade Police Department."
"Your dad's a police man?" he asked looking worried.
"Yes."
"Nothing, hey you want to take some photos?" he asked.
"No," I said shaking my head.
"It'll be fun," he said.
"I don't know."
I didn't want to be a part of this, I wanted to get away from this creep. I don't know who was worse my step dad or him.
"I'll go get my camera," he said.
I looked over at the front door and I willed myself to run. If I didn't take the opportunity now, I'll be another victim. I seized the opportunity and bolted out of the room trying to find the front door. I was close to freedom and I yanked open the door when I got to it. I felt my arm being pulled back but I fought him to no end. I wasn't going down without a fight.
I fell and hit my cheek on the rough dirt outside the door. I tried to crawl away from him, he gripped my legs trying to pull me back in. I flipped over to my back and scooted across the ground, probably getting dirt all over me. I kicked him in the shin and then I landed one toward his gonads when he reached over to grab me. He let out a pained groan and fell to the cupping himself.
I took that moment to get up and run hard and fast. There were some trees around and it was kind of like a marshy wooded area. I ran through it dodging trees, I vaguely heard him calling my name but I kept running, falling ever so often on fallen tree branches. When I was out of breath I collapsed to the grassy floor beneath me and tried to breath. I leaned up against a tree and looked at my bloody scraped up hands.
My cheek felt swollen from falling on it and I carefully touched it which sent soaring pain through my face. I curled into a tight ball crying to myself, I'm so scared, what if he finds me or what if no one finds me. I could die out here, I just hope there's no alligators around. I sat there for who knows how long, crying and listening to the sound of Mother Nature.
The sun was starting to set because a light orange glow started to fill my surrounding. Then I heard the best sound I could ever imagine, sirens and lots of them. I hoped my dad was one of the people here, I'd love to see his smiling face again. I tried to retrace my journey at a quick pace, but my body ached from earlier and I think I reinjured my knee wound.
I found my way back and when I arrived at the scary house of that man, it was filed with police officers and Crime Scene investigators. It looked like most people were inside looking around for some evidence. I walked closer and a uniform officer saw me and said, "Hey we got a kid."
I walked closer and my dad came out of the home followed by Horatio and Speedle.
"Diana!" he said as he ran to me.
"Dad!" I said as I tried to meet him.
He picked me up and hugged me close to his chest. I wrapped my small arms around his neck, and my legs around his stomach. I sniffed in his scent, making sure I could savor this moment of seeing my dad again.
"I'm so glad you're all right. Did he touch you?" he asked.
I looked at him and saw the concern on his face, "He didn't touch me. I ran away before he did anything to me. He did kiss my knee though, which was really weird."
"Yeah I guess that would be weird, but you're sure he didn't do anything else to you? Anything inappropriate?" he asked.
"No he didn't, daddy. I think he wanted to, I was scared."
"I know you were, but you were brave for getting away.'
I nodded and he kissed my unbruised cheek, emitting a small smile from me. I returned a kiss on his slightly stubbled cheek. He smiled back and Horatio came up to us.
"Are you okay?" Horatio asked me.
"I'm okay, except for my bruised cheek and scrapes on my hands," I said.
"He didn't touch her, H," my dad said.
"All right but we have to make sure," Horatio said.
"I know," he said.
"Go with her, we'll finish this case up," H said.
"Thanks," my dad said.
He kept holding me and carried me to an awaiting ambulance. He sat down on the stretcher and sat me on his lap. I leaned my head against his chest as he slowly rubbed circles on my back comforting me.
We arrived at the hospital and they took me to an empty room. My dad hoisted me up onto the examination table and stood by my side. While we waited for the doctor, I remembered my picture that I drew, which I placed inside my pocket. I dug for it and pulled it out, handing it to my dad.
"What's this?" he asked with a small smile.
"In case you found me. I wanted you to know I loved you," I said.
I could have sworn I saw a small tear roll down his cheek as he looked at the drawing and words on the back.
He looked up at me, giving me a sad smile, "Thank you Diana. I love you too. Why do you have angel wings and a halo?"
I think he already knew the answer, but I think he wanted to hear it from me.
"Because I thought I was going to die," I said.
He cleared his throat and said, "I don't think I could take it if you did. I'm glad you're here with me and able to give me the drawing in person."
"Me too."
He gave me a kiss on my forehead and right after the doctor came in. The doctor asked my dad to leave while she collected evidence and stuff. My dad nodded and said, "I'll be right back Diana."
The doctor took my clothes and gave me a plain white t-shirt, some white undies, and blue paper like pants. She asked me questions about Stuart and asked if he touched me inappropriately in anyway. I told her that he didn't and then she cleaned up my wound and put Band-Aids and medical tape on them. She got me a blue ice pack to put on my cheek, hoping the swelling and bruising would go down soon.
My dad came back after and stood next to me again.
"I need to fill out some papers and then we can go home," he said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay."
Eventually the papers were signed and he got us a cab home since his hummer was at the precinct. I took a quick shower and then got ready for bed in my Pikachu pajamas. My dad tucked me in and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah why?" I asked.
"I mean I know you're okay physically, but emotionally. Are you sad, angry, scared, or confused?"
"No, I know what happened. I understand it. We had a school function about it a few months ago. I'll be okay dad."
"I'm glad to hear that. You're strong just like a Delko."
"I'm glad I'm like you."
"Me too."
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Did they catch him?"
"Not yet, but Horatio thinks he has a lead."
"Good."
He nodded and said, "Get some rest. I love you Diana."
"Love you too, dad."
The next day my dad got a call from Speedle to let him know they caught Stuart and are booking him for multiple counts. He's never going to get out prison, once they're done with him. I was happy they got another person off the street. My dad and I spent the whole day hanging with each other, and he even took me to Zany Town, even with the crazy circumstances. I'm glad I'm here to see another day and be able to share my happiness with the coolest dad in the world.
