2 ff chapters in one day. I'm on a roll! Enjoy
He shook the door once more just to check. It was indeed locked from the inside.
The rest of team one raced over to Sam as a look of hope and fear spread across their faces.
"Casey? Casey are you in there?" Sam tried to hide his excitement but this was the only place they could be. He needed them to be in there.
"Casey its uncle Sam, are you in there?" The silence seemed to echo over the back yard.
"Go away!" Whilst they weren't the words that Sam wanted to hear, he was thrilled to hear that they were in fact coming from Casey's mouth.
"Casey I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help" Sam didn't know if this was the fatherly side of him speaking or the skilful negotiator he was quickly becoming.
"I know you must be pretty scared, are Kiana and Ariel in there with you?" He had to level with the subject, let them know that he understands and make sure that everybody involved is ok. He would usually be running through the SRU manual in his head but he wasn't this time. He was acting almost automatically.
"They're here and they're fine Uncle Sam, now you can go" It always amazed Sam how strong and determined this 5 year old girl could be.
"Casey, I just want to make sure that all three of you are ok. Please, can you open the door so I can see you?" Start the requests small and make them simple to understand. Again, this was coming naturally to him.
"We're fine, I have food and water and bottles and diapers for Ariel, we can live down here for as long as we like."
"But what about mummy? She'll never get to see you again" This wasn't going to be as easy as Sam had first thought.
"She won't care. She told me that daddy wouldn't hit me again but he did" The words were like a knife through Sam's heart. Hit her again. This had happened before?
"Casey, listen to me, I will never let daddy hit you ever again. We're going to find him and put him away so you never have to worry about him again."
"And mummy…well Casey, mummy loves you and your sisters so much. I don't know what she would do without you girls"
Casey remained silent.
"And I would be pretty upset too. Who would I play hide-and-go-seek-with? Who would watch Dora the Explorer with me?"
Greg began to smile. Here he was watching Sam, the rookie, acting as a negotiator with what seemed like the skill and experience of a veteran.
"And what about Jules Casey? Who would help her make those delicious cookies?"
Greg and Ed glanced at each other. They had known about Jules and Sam's relationship but they each believed it hadn't gotten very serious. In Ed's own words "They didn't seem like a couple".
A small giggle could be heard from underneath the house.
"Is Jules out there?" Casey finally piped up.
"She sure is and I know she'd love to see you" Sam turned around to look at Jules who shot him that beautiful smile that always made him melt.
Jules stepped forward and spoke.
"Casey, why don't you come on out here so we can make sure your ok and then maybe later we can do some baking?"
The words had barely escaped Jules' mouth before the small door began to open. Sam looked down into the small space and was met with Casey's beautiful blue eyes.
However, it was hard to miss the large purple bruise covering the side of her face. James had hit her and in Sam's mind, there wasn't anything worse then a parent purposely inflicting pain upon their child. He wanted James dead.
Casey picked up 4 month old Ariel and handed her up to Jules. She then helped Kiana make her way up the ladder to the back yard. Finally, Jules reached her hand out to Casey as she made her way out of the space.
Casey didn't seem to take any notice of her surroundings and ran straight to Sam as she broke down in tears on his shoulder. She wrapped her arms tightly around him as he lifted her up onto his hip.
Jules looked on in amazement. He was like a natural father and for a minute she seemed to wonder what it would be like to have kids with him. She quickly threw the thought out of her head before looking over at Wordy who was holding Ariel in his arms sound asleep.
"I was so scared…" Were the only words that Casey could say as Sam continued hugging her.
"Casey I'm so proud of you. What you did today, that was amazing. You are so brave and you took care of your little sisters. You got them food and water and to a safe place, that was very good of you" Compliment the subject. Reinforce their behaviour.
"Boss I've got some news on James Thornton" Spike came over on the headset.
The cheery smiles and happy laughs silenced and everybody listened in to hear what Spike had to say.
"He was caught in a traffic jam on the highway and is now in police custody"
Casey couldn't hear what was being said but judging but the smile that took over Sam's face, she knew it had to be good news.
********
The three girls were taken back to SRU head quarters before Sam would take them to the hospital to see their mother.
Casey sat at the briefing table with Jules as the rest of Team One sat around the table. Sam left them for a moment to call the hospital to be filled in on his sister's condition.
"Jules?" Casey was always full of questions but Jules didn't mind.
"Yes Casey?"
The rest of Team One were still off quietly having their own conversations.
Casey cleared her throat before speaking "When are you and Sam getting married?"