Over the course of last month, Jack got used to Bobby's mansion. It stopped being impressive and became just the place where Bobby, and now Kim, lived. And the large, and imposing, and downright weird place felt warm to him.
But just now, after the news of the accident and kidnapping, the foyer felt oppressive and cavernous at the same time. The floor was shaky beneath his feet and there was an almost damp chill in the space he'd never experienced before.
He stayed in the foyer, unable to go up the stairs. There, on the second floor was Kim's temporary bedroom. There were her clothes in the closet. There was the place he last kissed her... He remembered her teary promise that it would only be a little while and that she'd see him soon and he had to forcibly stop him himself from voicing the pain that the memory brought. He bit his cheek until the metallic taste brought him out of his anguish. She's alive...
He found himself paused in the doorway to the study. This really was a situation room now. This was where they stationed themselves: Chuck, Bobby, Jack, anyone who cared about Kim. The FBI came over to discuss the steps they were taking. According to them, the first 48 hours were crucial. They expected the phone call with some sort of demands soon and both Chuck and Bobby were asked to stay put and were prepped on how to handle such a call. At this point, chances were that it could have been a kidnapping for ransom, considering Bobby's fortune and the alleged relationship to Kim. Ricky was contacted as well. Jeremy and Michael were in the joint employ of him and Bobby. It is was plausible, though not likely, that the ransom call would come to him as well.
The entire clusterfuck of all these assumed relationships that could have been the cause for kidnapping made Jack hate the media even more.
Of course, what was not said, but was ever present, was the fear that the kidnapping was not for ransom, but some personally motivated act of aggression directed at Kim. Jack had the worst feeling that it was the latter and the guilt he felt was as crushing as the fear for Kim was.
He was not asked to stay in Seaford. He would not have stayed even if they did. His conversation with his parents was at once the hardest and easiest he had. They understood, just as he predicted they would. But that understanding was laced with such heartache for him and Kim that he had to cut it short, lest he smashed something or worse - cried.
He and Detective Jones traveled to the hospital where Jeremy and Michael were taken from the accident site. The quiet man in rumpled clothes was silent and Jack was grateful. They drove like this for a while until Detective Jones got the call. His responses were monosyllabic and Jack could not tell if it was a relevant call or not.
"It's the FBI," Detective said after he hung up.
"Are there any leads? Any idea where he's taken her?" now that he'd known about the 48 hours, Jack knew they had to find her as soon as possible.
"They have been keeping me in the loop as much as they can. They're going to want to talk to you. And they've consulted some profiler from the headquarters to try and figure out kidnapper's next move. But there doesn't seem to be any trace of them."
Jack's head dropped and his hands tightened on his phone until he heard a creaking noise of his plastic case giving. She had to be okay.
A heavy hand dropped to his forearm and patted once, "We're going to find her."
"I… she... has to be OK," he was not sure he could have stopped the words from spilling even he tried, but the memory of thinking she was dead still resonated within him painfully.
"And she is, kid." Jack did not mind the moniker. He wanted reassurance, even from a relative stranger.
Jack concentrated on their next steps, all his thoughts focused on what they could do to find her. He couldn't let himself begin to imagine what was happening to her.
Hospital visit was sobering and frustrating. Jeremy was out of surgery and was expected to make a full recovery. The bullet was a clean shot through. He had some blood loss, concussion and broken ribs, which explained why he was unconscious after the accident and the confrontation. Michael had broken ribs as well, in addition to a broken leg and collapsed lung. They run into Sledge at the hospital and his gruff demeanor was slightly softened because his men were down and because, unknowingly to Jack, he was radiating pain, panic and worry so clearly, even total strangers could see it.
Jeremy was awake and his apologetic face directed at Jack nearly undid all of Jack's resolve. He apologized for losing Kim and Jack had to stop a few times before he could say that it was hardly Jeremy's fault. Thankfully, Sledge took over the questioning. Frustratingly, Jeremy could only say that the attacker was most likely a woman or a short man, because they were wearing a sky mask. There was a bit of good news: Jeremy managed to shoot the attacker and the bullet hit them in the right shoulder. Jack could not blame Jeremy: he was concussed from being thrown around in the car, when he had to take on an attacker. He was confident that Kim was alive. He only saw her hit her head twice on the window, so they hoped that that was the extent of her injuries at the moment.
They had similarly frustrating conversation with Eric, who was still shocked by what he saw and intimidated by Sledge. Eric told them that he followed some fan chatter on Weaver fansite to find out about Kim's travel plans. Jack had a suspicion as to who it was and how they came about this information. Unless, Caitlyn was connected to the kidnapper, it probably was a dead end.
Hope that flared when he arrived at the hospital was dwindling fast. Their hopes were pinned on FBI and a ransom call.
They were traveling back to Seaford, and Jack's exhausted body fell into an uneasy sleep.
He awoke couple hours later to the sound of Kim screaming his name. He'd jerked up as if to run towards her only for the seat belt to hold him back, chest heaving when he heard the echo in his mind and knew he'd been dreaming. His body felt loose and weak as he sank back into the seat and let his head rest in his hands while he tried to calm his racing heart.
It hadn't been real. She wasn't there. She wasn't calling for him.
The thought struck him that maybe she was calling for him and he couldn't hear her. Did she think he'd abandoned her? Did she think he'd give up? Did she know that he'd do anything to find her and bring her home?
He shook his head forcefully as if he could physically remove the thoughts, or attempt to make them vanish before they could get any worse and he began to imagine what could be happening to her.
There was nothing else to do, but to wait.
The next 36 hours were nothing but the slow torture. The longer it went without the call, the smaller was everyone's hope to get Kim home soon. Kim's mother was such a wreck, alternating between cleaning the house - and stopping every now and then when she found something of Kim's and she would sob - and constantly checking everyone's phone to make sure they were charged and available for calls. Chuck was forced to comfort his wife when she was crying and tempering her when she was after everyone's phones. Bobby has made several arrangements with his lawyers to make sure that a relatively large amount of money was easily available. Before Chuck could protest, Bobby delivered the most selfless speech Jack ever heard from a man. Bobby felt tremendous guilt over the initial deception about being Kim's dad, and the later manipulation of the story to make it all but confirmed that he was.
As the 48 hour mark was approaching, Jack could not stand to be in the mansion anymore. He did not think he could sleep (he was afraid the dreams would be nightmares as they recently have been). It was claustrophobic and oppressive and he went to where he usually went when he was under an emotional strain.
Milton and Jerry found him at the dojo a little past daybreak, bringing cups of coffee with them. Their tired eyes let Jack know they hadn't gotten much rest either.
The endless sets of reps had allowed his mind to go blank which is exactly what was necessary. When he was concentrating on his form, or counting which pull up he was on he didn't have to wonder where she was or if she was scared or hurt.
Jack finished up another set and dropped to the ground with a grunt, grabbing a towel to wipe over his damp face before he acknowledged the guys with a tilt of his chin as he took the coffee.
"Did you get any sleep?" Milton asked carefully, even though Jack was certain he already knew the answer. Jack simply shook his head.
Jerry let out a long exhale but didn't say anything, just nodded tightly.
"Anything new?" Jack asked Milton.
"The FBI is still running the messages on Kim's social media hoping to flesh out the profile of the kidnapper..."
Jack was silent as he let himself fall back against the wall, head tipping up to study the ceiling before he looked back down at his watch. "It's almost been forty-eight hours." Jerry and Milton exchange glances but Jack ignored them and kept talking, "I should have stayed at the mansion... shouldn't have been here. The agent said-"
"You can't think like that, dude." Jerry said quickly, cutting him off.
"Forty-eight hours. They said the chances of finding her alive after forty-eight hours are low. There are no leads. No trail. Nothing!" his fists clenched and pounded backwards but he didn't feel a thing, "How is this even possible? How come FBI can't find anything to go on?!"
The hot sting behind his eyes and the way his throat thickened let him know he was too close to the edge. Without looking back he shoved off the wall and left the mats to go to the locker rooms, not sure if guys were going to follow him or not.
His head was full of horrible images, things he couldn't unsee, and as he moved through the hallway almost unaware where he was. He stopped when he passed the girl's locker room and the memory of the conversation they had long ago crashed over him like a tidal wave.
He stopped frozen and guys almost stumbled into him. He turned to them, wild eyed and hissed, "It's my fault. I should have stayed away from her. I knew it would happen. Too much attention, too much hate. But, Kim... she is undeniable. And so bright and beautiful, who can deny her anything? Who could blame Ricky for wanting to be with her? Who can fault Bobby for wanting to be her dad even if its only pretend? But we are so selfish, aren't we? It was all about us, and now, now she out there alone and scared, and we are here, safe and sound... It's our fault. It's my fault..."
Jack trailed off, staring into the distance, and Jerry was downright terrified. He had never seen his friend like this: mad, scared, hopeless... He turned to Milton seeking some clue as to how help their distraught friend, but Milton had a very peculiar look in his eyes.
"Dad... dad... and boyfriend... and poisoning..."
Jerry nudged him with the elbow to his side and Milton looked at him wide eyed and unseeing. This was getting very strange. Both Jack and Milton had this maniac looks on their faces. Only Jack looked like the world has ended, Milton looked like he had a museum visit ahead of him. Jerry nudged Milton again, thinking that was was less likely to be punched by his ginger friends, than by his brunet one. "What is it Milton? We kind of have a crisis here..." Jerry said pointing to Jack with his eyes.
Milton blinked once, then twice, and then he told Jack, "We need to go and see Bobby immediately. And maybe police. And FBI as well."
Kim woke up alone with a throbbing headache and general feeling of having been in a fight. She lifted her head and blinked several times trying to focus her eyes over the pulsing pain in her brain. It took her a second, but she recalled the car accident and she jerked her head to the side to see if Jeremy was nearby. That was a bad idea as her head throbbed again and nausea crawled up her throat. She stilled for a little bit and soon recovered her bearings. Slowly she turned her head around.
She was alone. In some industrial building. It looked abandoned, She tried to get up and realized that she was tied to a chair she was sitting on. So she hasn't dreamt it. She was kidnapped. She took stock of everything she could see and feel. She wasn't sure why she was kidnapped, but she hoped it meant that she was worth more alive right now...
A/N: I'm sorry if it feels like I'm dragging this out. Soon... all be revealed.
