The Killing Moon
Punk and Dean made it to the house in record time and Punk was already alarmed seeing lights on in the house.
"Did anyone else come here to search it?" Punk asked as he took the safety off his gun.
"No." Dean told him doing the same thing with his gun and they climbed out of the car.
Punk pressed his fingers to his lips and pointed for Dean to go around the house which he did. Punk slowly opened the front door and slowly crept up the stairs where he saw the lights on- gun drawn and all- and once he reached the top level he could hear someone breathing. Punk was growing alarmed he didn't hear his daughter crying who he assumed would have been crying now, unless James did something to her. Punk could see the light on in the nursery and the shadow of a person inside. He knew to be careful in case he was holding Mya. Punk stopped outside the door and saw Dean coming up the other staircase and Punk pointed into the room and Dean nodded and slowly crept behind Punk.
"Don't fucking move!" Punk yelled pointing his gun at the person and the man held his hands up. His back was to Punk but Punk knew it wasn't Sawyer.
"I know what you're thinking." John said slowly turning with his hands up. "But he was here."
"What are you doing here?" Dean asked keeping his gun on John.
"I had the same hunch you two had." John told them. "If he took the baby-"
"There's no 'ifs'! He snatched my kid up from April!" Punk yelled.
"I'm here to help." John told him calmly. "That's all."
"No you're here to get back at James and you'll kill my daughter in the process." Punk argued.
"I'm trying to save your daughter!" John yelled. "He was here!"
"You saw him?" Dean asked.
"You saw Mya?" Punk asked over Dean.
"No." John said and Punk shook his head. "But he was in here because the girl clothes are missing from the drawers." He pointed out and Punk inspected it for himself and he was right. "There's diapers missing too."
"He could have come before he took Mya from the hospital." Dean said to Punk as they lowered their guns.
"There's a dirty diaper on the changing table." John pointed out.
"Fuck. We must have just missed him." Punk said to Dean.
"There were tire tracks in the driveway- fresh over the snow. I photographed in case it snows by the time you get CSI here." John said showing him the picture.
"Where did he take her?" Punk asked more himself.
"His dad had property not far from here but I think he's too smart for that." John said.
"You're not part of this equation!" Punk yelled at him.
"I'm not going to let him kill another kid." John insisted. "And that's exactly what he's going to do with Mya." he told Punk who glared at him. "He thinks the kid will be his partner in this world. Thinks he'll raise her into a little psychopath like him and then maybe when she's older he'll start sleeping-" John began and Punk grabbed him by his shirt.
"Shut the fuck up." Punk hissed. "Do NOT go there with me."
"I'm not it's Sawyer who is." John told him. "You need extra eyes searching for him."
"My daughter is the number priority. When it came to Ape-" Punk began.
"An innocent babies safety is my number priority as well." John told him. "Nobody should have to bury their baby, believe me, I know how that feels."
"We don't have time to argue about this." Dean said to them. "Every second we waste he's getting further away."
"I'll kill you if something has to my daughter." Punk warned John who just nodded. "I'll check the security room because if he came inside cameras had to have picked him up." He told Dean as he rushed out of the room.
April was still in the hospital and holding a finally sleeping J.R.
"You sure you don't want to put him down so you can rest?" Janet asked her daughter.
"I'm afraid if I put him down he'll be gone too." April cried a bit. April had not stopped crying since Sawyer took Mya."Have you heard from Phil?"
"No." Janet frowned.
"I want to call and ask but I also know if there was news he would have told me." April sighed.
"That's right." Janet agreed.
"I just let him walk out of the room with her." April said looking at J.R.
"You can still barely walk." Janet argued. "What could you have done? Gotten yourself killed? Possibly your son?"
"What if I never get her back?" April asked her.
"If he wanted to hurt her he would have." Janet insisted.
"That's not what I mean." April whispered as everyone else was sleeping. "What if he takes her and raises her? What would she be like? She'd never even know about me or her brother or her father and who knows what he would raise her to be. I might walk past her one day and not even recognize her."
"It will not get that far." Janet assured her. "There are an army of people looking for her."
"How will she forgive me?" April asked her. "My first duty as her mother is to protect her and I couldn't do that."
"It was out of your control." Janet reminded her. "You need to start thinking positively."
"How can I be positive? When nothing positive ever comes from James Sawyer?" April asked her hopelessly.
"You have a son in your arms who needs you. He's missing his sister and he's just as scared as you." Janet told her. "You tell him that daddy is bringing Mya home soon."
"I don't know if I believe that as much as I want to." April sighed sadly.
"April, your daughter needs you to prepare for her to come home. She needs you to be positive." Janet told her and April nodded.
"You are not alone and you are a mother now so you don't get the luxury of getting to breakdown and cry." Janet informed her. "Your life is about them and as sad as you are and scared and the right you have to be down you need to suck it up for him."
"Ok." April agreed and looked down at him. "Daddy is bringing your sister home." she told J.R. "I just hope daddy is ok." she said then looked at her mother.
"I know him, he's gotta be freaking out."
"As he should, that's as much his daughter as she is yours." Janet told her. "He'll focus though. He always did with you."
"I wish he'd call me." April said to her. "Why won't anyone tell me anything?"
"They just don't know anything yet." Janet assured her.
In the house Dean was rewinding footage as Punk and John looked on.
"Stop the tape." John said pointing and they saw a van pull into the driveway.
James Sawyer jumped out of the van and sure enough he was bald like the witness told him. He blew hot air into his mouth and headed to the front door.
"Where's Mya?" Punk asked swallowing a lump. "Put the volume up as high as it can go." he told Dean who did as he was told. "You hear that?"
"She's crying." Dean nodded.
James got the door opened and ran to the van and opened the passenger side door and picked the baby up.
"Fuck." Punk groaned. "She's not in a car seat, he bought Vodka so I know he's drinking and she's not even wrapped in a blanket!"
"Relax. Important thing is that she's alive." Dean reminded him.
"Yea." Punk agreed rubbing the back of his neck. "There's a camera in the nursery."
"I'm checking it now." Dean said putting it on.
James walked into the nursery with Mya and quickly changed her. It was very concerning how familiar James was with the nursery. He knew where everything was placed. He watched as he left Mya unattended on the changing table and began to pack things up. He didn't even look over once at her to make sure she didn't fall off of the table.
"She's still crying!" Punk snapped.
"That's a good thing." Dean told him as he kept his eyes on the screen.
"No it's not. She's scared and probably hungry. She's not a fussy baby." Punk said feeling his stomach twist.
"He took all of her clothes." John noted.
"He should put a fucking jacket on her." Punk spat.
"Let's just be relieved she's ok." Dean said to him.
"How about no." Punk shot at him. "Because she's not ok. It's fucking freezing out and she's barely two days old she needs me."
"He's done." John said as he watched James pick up Mya with the bag and then nearly dropped Mya causing everyone to suck in a breath.
"Fucking asshole. I'm going to kill him." Punk stated coldly.
"Let's see which direction he drives out." John said to Dean.
The car pulled out and drove right and only two minutes later John was pulling up.
"Two fucking minutes!" John yelled.
"He's gotta be close." Punk said. "Take April's car." he told Dean.
"What?" Dean asked standing up.
"He couldn't have gotten too far. He's maybe ten minutes ahead of us? We know what he's driving and have a plate number. We have a better chance of finding him splitting up." Punk told them.
Punk was in the car for five minutes already. There still weren't a lot of cars on the road due to the weather so he was hoping spotting James would be easy. They each went in different direction and hoped to find something. Punk heard his phone ringing and saw April's name and sighed. He put the phone on speaker so it would come out through the speakers.
"Ape." Punk greeted.
"Tell me something." She whispered.
"Where are you?" He asked.
"I'm hiding in the bathroom. My mom told me not to call but I can't stand it." She sniffled.
"He came back to our house and packed up Mya's things." Punk told her. "She was fine. I saw her on the camera."
"Thank god." April said letting out a breath.
"He changed her and packed up her clothes and a few toys." Punk said to her. "I missed him by five minutes. I'm looking all over right now. I have a plate number and a car model."
"Be careful." She told him.
"Are you alright?" He asked keeping his eyes peeled on the empty road. He made sure to keep his car lights off as he searched, not to tip him off.
"My heart hurts." She told him. "I just want her back in my arms."
"I know baby." Punk said to her. "I'm sorry I let you down."
"You didn't. It was me. I let him leave with her." She told him.
"You would have given your life for her if you could, I know that." Punk said to her as he turned down a block.
"I tried to." She whispered. "He didn't want my life he wanted hers. I don't know why."
"He sees her in you." Punk told her.
"J.R is having trouble sleeping without her." April told him.
"He's a good brother, he's worried." Punk noted.
"I feel sick." April told him.
"I'm close I know it." Punk told her.
"We can't let him get her again." April told him. "This isn't about me this is about Mya and she's small and innocent and once he gets fixated he doesn't stop." she warned him. "He'll haunt her for the rest of her life."
"He won't get the chance to, the least I could promise her is that she'll never deal with him again." Punk told her as he eyed a van but it wasn't the one he was looking for.
"She'll never remember this." April told him.
"She won't." Punk agreed.
"I really thought he was coming for me." April told him. "I never imagined he'd take her from us."
"Me either." Punk agreed with her. "We just didn't anticipate properly. We put everything around you and never even thought he'd want anything to do with the kids."
"It wasn't the kids, it was just Mya. He didn't care about J.R." She told him. "Do you think he's hurting her?"
"No." Punk answered quickly. "I saw her ten minutes ago and she was crying and awake."
"She missed her feeding." April told him. "She's starving."
"He picked up baby food." Punk told her.
"She can't have that!" April scolded. "She needs her formula. She needs her mother."
"She'll be back in your arms before you know it." Punk promised her.
"Call me as soon as you hear something." She told him.
"Of course." Punk promised. "I love you."
"I love you too." She whispered back than hung up.
Punk had been driving around for twenty minutes when he passed by a motel off the next highway exit. Punk pulled into the lot and sure enough there was the van. Punk felt his heart stop as he parked his car next to the van. He reached for his phone to alert Dean and John where he was but he heard crying and realized the crying wasn't coming from the motel. Punk quietly crept out of his car and didn't even shut the door out of fear of him hearing it. Punk peered into the drivers side of the van and on the passenger side was Mya. Her lips were turning blue from the cold and she was screaming her lungs off.
Punk knew he had to make decision right then and there. He was either going to bust James Sawyer finally or give him a head start by making noise breaking Mya out of the car. Marshal Punk would have busted into the motel room, but he still wasn't sure even what room he was in. He was a father and Mya was his priority. He quickly texted the address to Dean knowing he would know what to do. Punk pressed his face to drivers side window and made sure Mya was in safe distance before using his elbow to repeatedly hit the window which he broke on the fifth try.
Punk opened up the door and crawled across the car and grabbed Mya.
"Oh, baby." Punk nearly cried as he unzipped his jacket and stuffed her into it. "Daddy is here." He said kissing her head. "You're freezing." he whispered to her then turned around and came face to face with James Sawyer's gun.
"Give her back." James ordered.
Punk was holding his gun but James' gun was pointed right at Mya's back.
"You need to put your gun down or you're going to hurt her." Punk told him.
"You need to put the baby down." James challenged. "We've never had a chance to have a long conversation before."
"This isn't going to be a long conversation." Punk told him wrapping his arm tighter around the small baby who was still zipped up in his jacket, hoping his arm and hand would somehow protect her from a bullet.
"I was paying for the room." James told him. "I wasn't leaving her in there."
"She's freezing and needs to eat." Punk told him calmly.
"I'm going to take care of her." James told him and Punk narrowed his eyes at him. "She's mine."
"She's not." Punk told him.
"I named her April." James told him. "She looks like her."
"Her name is Mya." Punk corrected. "And April misses her."
"Mya fills the void that April is leaving." James told him. "She'd never stay with me. She'd force me to kill her. Mya is going to fill that for me. Mya is going to be with me."
"You're fucking twisted. She's a baby." Punk snapped.
"Obviously." James scoffed. "We'd grow together."
"You're going to have to put a bullet through my brain." Punk told him. "Because I'm not handing my daughter off to you. If you want her so badly? Kill me." he told James.
"You're bluffing." James smiled but Punk remained stone faced.
"She needs to get to the hospital." Punk told him. "You're going to kill her."
"You don't know what I feel." James spat. "You don't know the pain and agony I feel. You took everything from me. April, my father-"
"April was never yours." Punk told him. "She lied for you to save me." he informed James.
"Hand over the baby." James ordered pressing his gun to Punk's temple now.
Punk stood there clutching the baby and he saw James pull the hammer back on the gun and it clicked and Punk didn't even flinch when he pulled the trigger. Punk saw his brother, Jake, just as he remembered him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and his blue softball jersey and red Cubs cap. It was the most vivid image of his brother he had ever seen. Punk looked at his brother's eyes for what felt like the warmest time. It was snowing yet he was standing there in the short sleeve jersey throwing a ball into his baseball mitt. Punk had spent so many years trying to push the memories of that day out of his head. He was so young and he really doesn't remember what happened after his brother was shot but he did remember what his brother was wearing, what his hair looked like, even the smell of body spray he sprayed all over himself rather than shower. He was now positive there was an afterlife and his brother was waiting for him and Punk wad oddly at peace with that. His daughter would get to live and he'd get to hang out with the brother he was cheated out of truly knowing. Punk looked at him with confusion as Jake gave him a cocky smirk and winked at him...
James' face fell as Punk was still standing in front of him and the gun didn't discharge a bullet. Nobody was more shocked then Punk but before he cold react sirens approached and James was jumping in his car. He didn't want to risk Mya by shooting at the car so he quickly got into his car and pumped up the heat, keeping Mya in his jacket.
"We're going baby." Punk promised his crying daughter.
Punk flipped on his sirens and pulled out of the spot quickly and drove in the opposite direction of where James went...
April was looking at J.R who was sleeping in his bassinet and then looked out the window of the hospital. It started to snow lightly again and all she could think about was Mya. Her parents and Phil's parents went out for coffee and there was a Marshal inside of her room but she didn't feel safe enough to sleep. James took Mya with Corey in the room, it could happen again.
"Ape." Punk said and she turned her head.
"Mya?" She asked walking to him and he held up his hands.
"Listen very carefully." He began and her heart sunk. "I found her-"
"And you left her alone?" April hissed shoving him.
"April." He said in a sterner voice. "She was in a car and she was freezing- she was turning blue."
"Oh my god." April sobbed out covering her mouth with her hand. "No." She said shaking her head.
"April-" He began.
"No!" She screamed.
"She's in the NICU!" He yelled grabbing her arms and she froze. "They're afraid she had hypothermia so they need her to stay down there but so far her vitals are good, they're going to feed her-"
"I have to see her." April said but then looked back at J.R. "I can't leave J.R." She cried feeling completely torn.
"What's happening?" Janet and Robert questioned.
"Mya is back! Please stay with J.R?" She asked them.
"Of course." Janet told her.
"Do not let anyone in here." Punk ordered the Marshal who nodded.
April practically ran to the NICU even though she was in so much pain still.
"April, wait." Punk begged catching up to her.
"How was she? Was she crying?" April asked.
"She was crying up until I got here." Punk told her.
"Oh my god." April gasped seeing her daughter being hold by the doctor who waved at April and Punk to come in. "Is she alright?"
"We want to run some tests but her heart rate is normal." The doctor told her. "We're going to keep her in NICU over night."
"Ok." April nodded taking the baby right from her. "Hi, honey." She said kissing her head. "Did you have a little adventure?"
"The nurses are preparing a bottle." The doctor told her and she nodded.
"We'll feed her." Punk told the doctor who nodded.
"Are you ok?" She asked Mya kissing her head. "She doesn't feel cold."
"I stuffed her into my jacket to keep her warm and pumped up the heat." Punk told her. "I didn't know what else to do. It was faster for me to drive her here." Punk explained.
"You did the right thing." April smiled as she cried happy tears. "Mommy missed you so much." She said to Mya kissing her again. "I'll never let you out of my sight ever again."
"Can I hold her?" Punk asked and April looked up at him. "I didn't get a chance to really check her out-"
"Of course." She said passing the baby to him with ease. "You're her hero. You're my hero." She smiled.
"It was a lucky break." Punk admitted.
"He was at a hotel with her?" April asked and Punk nodded.
"I heard her crying. He left her in the car while he paid for the room." Punk told her.
"I knew you'd do it." April said and pulled his face down to kiss him. "You got our girl home and you got James Sawyer out of our lives for good." She said relieved.
"April-" Punk began. He wasn't sure how to tell her he let James go. "Dean and John are looking for James."
"What do you mean?" April asked. "You saw him, didn't you?"
"I put Mya in my jacket and when I turned around he had a gun pointed on her back." He told her and her face dropped. "I couldn't shoot him and risk him shooting me back. He put the gun to my head and told me if I didn't let her go he'd kill me."
"What did you do?" She asked.
"I told him to kill me." Punk shrugged. "I knew John and Dean weren't far behind and I needed to buy time. If he killed me he still would have been caught with Mya."
"So what happened?" She asked.
"He pulled the trigger and the gun glitched." Punk said simply as if it was nothing.
"He pulled the trigger on the gun he had pressed to your head?" She asked angrily.
"Yea." he said as if it was nothing. "I lucked out."
"Lucked out? Phil there had to be an angel watching you!" She argued. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Ape, the F word." He whispered nodding at the now content baby.
"Here's her bottle." The nurse said passing it to Punk who quickly placed the bottle to her mouth and Mya was drinking it down quickly.
"Easy pea." He said bouncing her a bit.
"Phil, you were going to die." She said to him. "And you don't even care!"
"It was me or Mya." Punk told her simply. "I made you a promise didn't I? They come first."
"Of course, but there had to have been something else. If his gun didn't jam I'd be IDing your body! You'd be getting fit for a toe tag!" She argued.
"Ape, I did what I had to." He told her. "I feel like shit I let him go. I hope John and Dean caught up to him."
"I don't care about that. I'm talking about you-" she began.
"Nothing you say is going to change my opinion. I'd take a hundred bullets to the brain to keep her safe. Or J.R or you." he told her. "I bought our girl home like I promised, just be content with that."
"Phil-" She began.
"Here. I know you want to spend some time with her." He said passing her Mya carefully without removing her bottle.
"She's starving." April noted. Everything she was upset about washed away upon seeing her daughter. "We have to get him." She told him. "He will kill you, he will kill me and he will take our daughter." she told him. "No more games, no more waiting him out. This is life or death now."
"He's never going to get away with hurting our daughter." He told her.
"I can't believe you let him shoot you in the head." She said shaking her head in disbelief. "Weren't you scared?"
"No." He told her honestly. "I didn't even flinch. I had Mya in my arms."
"It's just never going to end." She whispered to herself.
"It is. He's a wanted fugitive now. There's no way out. Every cop in the country, let alone City is going to be looking for him." Punk told her.
"That's a good point." She had to admit.
"And people who take babies, they don't do well in prison." He told her.
"I just hope he's in prison before he hurts our family again." She said looking up at him.
"We're going to need to get her more clothes." Punk told her changing the subject. "He took literally all of it and whatever he took is going to be locked up into evidence."
"I'll ask your mom and my mom to run to the store and pick up some things just to get us by for now." She sighed. "I don't really care about the clothes. I care about her being ok and you not getting shot in the head."
"Like you said, an angel must have been watching out for me." He said to her.
"You don't believe in that stuff." She pointed out.
"I saw my brother." He confided.
"What?" She asked stunned.
"After James pulled the trigger I swear on everything he was right there." Punk told her. "He smiled at me. I thought I was dead and I was being pulled into this afterlife." he said sitting down in the rocking chair and running his hands over his face. "I can't even describe it."
"That's amazing." April said in awe of it. "Your brother saved you."
"No. The gun was jammed." Punk corrected.
"What are the odds of that happening?" She asked. "My mom told me Mya was being watched over by Robbie but it wasn't just him."
Punk was now looking pale. He not only dealt with the panic and fear of Mya being gone, but he drove all over searching for her, almost died and was now comforting her.
"Here." She said passing him back Mya. "She needs her daddy."
"I think daddy needs her." Punk remarked and smiled at his now happy daughter. "You had your first kidnapping before three days old." He told his daughter.
"You trying to beat your mom's record?"
"Stop." April laughed a bit, the first laugh she laughed since Mya was gone. "She's giving you that look. She's a baby but she knows you saved your tonight. Which means you saved me." she told her husband. "Thank you." She said kissing him tenderly.
"Don't thank me for bringing her back. I'll always bring her and J.R back." Punk told her.
"He's not allowed in here." April noted. "I wish he could see her."
"He'll see her in the morning I'm sure." Punk told her. "Why don't you go check in on him and fill in our parents." He suggested. "I won't let her go. I swear."
"Oh, I know that. You almost took a bullet to the head today for refusing to let her go." She noted.
"I'll stay in here tonight with her too." He offered. "You stay with J.R."
"Alright. But I'll be back to take over for a bit and you should eat and see J.R during that time." She told him and he nodded.
"He's ok?" Punk asked and April nodded.
"I think he was just missing his sister." She told him.
April left the unit and Punk looked down at his daughter and gave her a tired smile.
"There are no lengths I won't go to to keep you safe." Punk told his daughter. "I'm going to tell you this story when you're older and you're going to tell all of your future boyfriends so they know I'll be able to track them down." he teased then kissed the top of her head.