Only the Curious Have Something to Find
Chapter 19
Note: Hello my amazing little chickadees! I can't believe how many reviews I have! This is totally wicked!! Here's another update!
Also, please just note, this is not a Criminal Minds crossover. I just threw Garcia in the mix for fun!
Enjoy! (PS: I gave Madeline the maiden name 'Hunter', is there a real one?)
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Shawn could feel his heart beating faster and faster. All over him the blood flowed from his body, oozing out with every beat. He was pretty sure the patches of lost skin were getting infected. They were all re-torn when he was dragged across the wooden floor a good hundred feet.
Blood trickled down from his forehead and into his eyes from the new wounds he'd acquired after his little 'stunt.' His face was now bruised (and swollen, he was sure) and bleeding when his grandfather had 'taught him his lesson.' That lesson included a lot of punching and strength Shawn had no idea Clarence had.
Shawn glanced down at his bloody hands and flashed on his vision from weeks ago. His hands shook and his head ached horribly. Oh, God. He thought, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Open your eyes, heathen!" His eyes shot open as his grandfather screamed the eerily familiar statement in his ear.
He felt his lip quivering, tears forming in his eyes. Why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he told anyone about his dreams? Why didn't he talk to his dad? Damnit. "My…my dad…" Shawn managed to choke out over swollen lips.
"It's too late for you, demon. He can't help you. Only I can. Your soul is lost. But I can help you repent." He felt himself panicking, just as he knew he would. He felt tears streaming down his face.
"It'll all be over soon, don't worry…" Shawn froze. That wasn't the same as his vision. Or maybe it was, and he just couldn't remember. But this definitely wasn't his grandfather's voice. This voice was soft, familiar, loving, but most of all distant. He recognized it. It was a voice he thought he'd never hear again.
"M-mom?" He whispered out.
Suddenly pain rippled through his whole body as his grandfather took his knife to Shawn's chest, carving. Throwing his head back he screamed out in tortured agony.
"You do not get to mention my daughter! She was a saint! All she ever wanted was a child to love! A pure, good child! And what she got was you." His grandfather jerked the carving knife harshly. Shawn screamed, he sobbed, it had all melted into one pitiful, heart wrenching sound.
"Ah-aahh-please!"
"She killed herself because of you!" Clarence screamed over his grandson's loud, agonizing sobs. "She's eternally damned because of you! It's your fault I don't have my baby girl anymore! Your fault she's gone!" Clarence had tears streaming down his cheeks now. But Shawn didn't notice, he was too busy screaming in agony.
Suddenly the knife was wrenched from Shawn's chest, causing him to let out one last yelp with it. Once it was gone Shawn let his head fall to his chest, his crying leaving behind pink trails of blood and salty tears as it streamed down his face and dripped onto his chest. His body shook with sobs and his hitching breathing.
"She's gone because of you." His grandfather whispered, his voice shaking. "Shit…" The older man whispered. Shawn dared not glance up at his mother's father, wondering what made him sound so resigned all of the sudden. "Look at your chest. Look what you made me do."
Shawn opened his eyes and looked down at his chest. It just looked like a whole mass of almost-black blood bubbling out of him. His breathing hitched again a few times in a row as he swallowed the sobs.
"I completely messed it up." For another split second Shawn thought maybe again his grandfather might have realized what he was doing. "I completely messed up the left part of the symbol!" Once again Shawn's heart sank as his grandfather walked out, obviously to go regroup and figure out how to fix his mistake. Shawn held his breath, waiting to hear the returning footsteps that would mean more pain. But they never came.
Letting out a shallow breath, he let his eyes slip closed and cried himself to sleep.
--
Gus laughed, a laugh he needed for a long time now. A laugh that he thought he might never utter again, but found possible with his new friend, his new girlfriend. It was a much-needed laugh, but not the same kind of laugh he got when he was with Shawn.
But he was thankful for it nonetheless.
"And you wouldn't believe how pissed Mr. Spencer was. We had to save up for a whole year to buy him a new easy chair."
Juliet giggled and Lassiter laughed. All three appreciated the little distraction of sharing their interactions with Shawn over the years. Though Gus had far more than the other two combined, it still felt good to talk and laugh about Shawn as if he we just out fishing with his father, or on a trip to Vancouver with his Grandfather. As if he were still a person and not a victim.
It just felt good to get their mind of off the 'could be's.
Lassiter sighed and leaned back against Shawn's bed, a smile on his lips. "I'm so glad we got to know you two."
Gus smiled, "I second that statement. If it weren't for you guys life would not have been nearly as exciting."
"Shouldn't we be the ones saying that about you two?" Juliet asked, grinning herself. "I mean, we were the boring vice-president and treasurer, we weren't that exciting." She glanced at Lassiter, who nodded in agreement. "I mean you two…you've just totally spiced up our lives." Juliet leaned forward and took Gus's hand in hers, "I'm so glad you did." Gus smiled into her pretty hazel eyes and nodded.
And then suddenly, tears were forming in his eyes.
"Shawn did the same for me over the years. Without him I'd just be 'Boring Burton'. He's totally made me a different person…and for the better…" He trailed off and looked away, sniffling. "I don't want to lose Shawn." He whispered, "I can't lose him." Their lighthearted conversation suddenly was gone, in the blink of an eye, and it was like all the air had been sucked from the room as reality came crashing back.
He felt someone wrap their arms around him and to his surprise it wasn't Juliet's. "We won't lose him, Gus. I couldn't do it either." Lassiter's tear-filled voice responded. He felt Lassiter shaking a little, as if crying, and soon Gus joined in too. Almost immediately so did Juliet, wrapping her arms around both her boys.
They sat there like that for a long moment until Lassiter was the first to pull away, running his sleeve under his nose he laughed a little, the smile not meeting his blood-shot eyes. "Way to ruin the moment, eh?" The other two let out single laughs, humorless laughs.
Before either could say anything more there was a loud commotion downstairs. Gus stood and went to the bedroom door to figure out what was going on. Lassiter made his way to the window as Juliet got up herself. He saw almost all the officers running from the house. Throwing open the window he cried out, "Hey! Where are you guys going?"
Most ignored him but one officer was kind enough to turn around and respond as he continued to run to his car. He uttered the words that made all three teens' hearts explode with hope.
"We're going to meet Spencer, we got a lead!"
--
Henry haphazardly pulled his car into the driveway of his in-laws, pulling his car half onto their immaculate lawn and half in the actual driveway. He made sure to have the front wheel in their award-winning garden before hopping out into said garden. His late wife's parents lived on the corner of the street so the only likely 'next door' was the house to the left.
Running towards the other house he stomped up to the front step and slammed his fists against the wood, wanting an immediate answer. He heard sirens behind him and other cars pulling up in a frenzy just as the door opened.
There stood a startled looking blond girl, no older than twenty. She was plump and her clothes were almost as bright as the streaks and accessories in her hair. She nervously pushed her red glasses up the bridge of her nose and cautiously asked, "Uh…is there a problem?"
"Penelope Garcia?" Henry asked before she had finished her question.
"Yes, what-?"
Henry opened his mouth to let out a spew of words he would probably regret when he was cut off by "Henry!" He turned to see Hastings, as well as a few officers, run up behind him. Hastings turned to the young woman. "Ms. Garcia?" She nodded. "May we come inside? We need to talk." She nodded numbly, a terrified look on her face, as she stepped aside to let the men at her door in. She jumped a little as Henry grunted loudly when he walked by her.
She shut the door and led them to the living room. Once they were all seated she started to ask, "May I ask what-?" But she didn't get to finish.
"Did you help your neighbor, Clarence Hunter, set up a way to mask his cell phone number when traced?" Henry barked out, not able to hold himself in any longer.
Her eyes widened, "I—what?"
"Answer the question!"
"Henry, settle down…" Hastings put his hand on Henry's arm, trying to calm the man and not scare their only possible lead.
"No! I'm not gonna settle down! If she did help him she's an accomplice to the man who kidnapped and is torturing my son!" Henry was standing now, screaming at the top of his lungs.
He heard a strangled gasp from behind him and turned to see Garcia, her hand pressed to her lips in utter shock, the poor girl having gone white as a sheet. "What?" She whispered, "A kidnapping? I-I don't-"
"Ms. Garcia." Hastings said calmly, so Henry wouldn't do something he'd regret and/or get arrested for. "Did you or did you not help Mr. Hunter learn how to re-route his cell phone calls so they'd be traced back to a landline?"
With wide eyes she nodded, "I-I I didn't mean to do anything wrong." She whispered, trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.
"You may not have but you did!" Henry cried.
"Henry, that's enough!" Hastings finally barked, "Either calm the fuck down or go outside." Henry snapped his mouth shut, glaring at his partner. "Which will it be?" Henry blinked once, sighed and sat down, "Good. Now, Ms. Garcia, please tell us what you did for him."
"Sir, I don't know anything about your son, I swear." She said beggingly to Henry.
With a sigh Henry said in a civil tone, "Just tell us what you know. Please."
Staring at the broken man, the tears escaped her eyes. Wiping them away she continued. "He told me he just wanted the call to be traced back to his house. Said that the phone was for 'work emergencies' only and he didn't want his job to find out he was using it." She hiccuped, "So he gave me his landline and I programmed his phone using my computer."
"Was the number 1-619-2538?"
Garcia blinked at Henry, "Yes, but how did you-?"
"That's my home number." Henry shook his head, "Your neighbor, the grandfather of my child, kidnapped my son and is holding him in an unknown location. By re-routing his call you helped him evade getting caught."
Garcia's eyes widened. "Oh—oh my God…I didn't…I never…"
They sat in silence for a moment, then, "Henry," Hastings said quietly to his partner. "She's not a part of this."
"I know." Henry sighed. "But now what do we do?"
"I can help." Garcia said suddenly, looking eager, "Please. Please I had no idea—I-I want to help. I may be able to trace where his call came from."
Both detectives' heads whipped around at that. "What??" They both asked at once.
"It could be difficult since I don't have the phone with me. But—I mean, maybe I could hack the signal and figure out where it's coming from, I think I still have all his phone's information on my computer. If I do there's a good chance."
Henry found himself smiling for the first time in days, "Hastings, get the boys to pack up her computer and get her to the techs! I want my boy home by dinner time!"
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Hey guys! You like? I hope so, because all I've eaten while writing this was mini-jawbreakers and candy cigarettes…so I'm not really well nourished :D
OPPORTUNITY: The first person to figure out the significance of Henry's phone number gets to be a character in this fic! Reminder: the number was 16192538. -shoots pistol- And the race iiisss on! (Hehehe…)
Thanks for reading!!
-claire
PS: I have no fucking idea what I'm talking about when it comes to the technical stuff…so could you please just play along? Hehheh…