Locked Away


"Hi Anna." Anna's father, Hal nodded, meeting Anna in a coffee shop the next day with Dean.

"Hi dad." Anna nodded. She'd been used to her father not being in her life since she was little. She didn't really know him if she was being completely honest. She knew of him, she knew his face and his background but… to call him dad felt strange. She wasn't bitter or angry about it. It was just something she had learned to accept over time, "This is Dean." Anna said, introducing Dean to her father as Dean just nodded to him.

"Hi, Dean. I'm Hal." Hal said politely, extending his hand as Dean shook it and nodded.

"Nice to meet you." Dean said.

"Why are you in Chicago, dad?" Anna asked, sitting down at the table as Hal sat across from them.

"To see you." Hal said simply, "I… I've been getting half-filled in on what's been going on here with you and your mother." Hal nodded, "I'm hurt you never even told me that you were having a baby, Anna." He said as Anna just looked down.

"I didn't… tell mom either if it makes you feel better." Anna said, "It… it was just something we kept really quiet and private."

"I'm your father." Hal said.

"You… aren't ever here, so… don't act like it was rude of me." Anna said firmly as Hal just nodded, "What has mom been saying?"

"Just that she wants you to come home. To New York. Pick your career back up. She's happy to sign over full custody to you if you come back home." Hal said.

"Well that's not going to happen." Anna shrugged, "Dad, can you please make sense of this to me… why… why can't she stand the thought of me being here and living here with Dean?"

"Chicago is… it's a tough place for your mom. Lot of bad things happened here." Hal said, "And your mother has just always wanted everyone around her to be well and truly taken care of, in her own ways of course." Hal said.

"Ok, fine. But taking my baby away from me is a bit drastic to prove that point, don't you think?" Anna asked.

"Your mother is crazy." Hal nodded, "Just because I work away doesn't mean I haven't noticed." He said as Dean looked on at him. He wasn't at all what he expected. He was a lot more laid back than he thought he'd be, which was a good thing, but he could see there was no real relationship between Anna and her father.

"So why'd you come here?" Dean asked impatiently.

"Well I…" Hal looked at him, "I just wanted to make sure that… whatever you're planning to do, you do not go after the company that me and your mother have worked extremely hard to keep running." He said sternly as Anna's facial features dropped whilst Dean glared at him, "I don't know what you're planning to do, but this does not need to become personal." He said.

"You've just gave yourself away." Anna smiled a little, "What are you hiding, dad?" Anna shook her head, "Or more importantly, what's mom hiding? I know it's really her business. You just married into it." Anna said, "What's going on?"

"Nothing is going on. Your mother is concerned about your safety here, as well as Skyler's, and I don't blame her. So she thought it'd be best to take her into her care, and hopefully you'll return back with us soon as well."

"Are you all on drugs?" Dean asked him, "You flew out here to side with a woman who has took your daughter's baby for absolutely no reason other than… she felt like it, and because you all have money, it's ok to do it." Dean said, "Here I was thinking you'd be decent." He laughed to himself.

"Dad, why?" Anna shook her head, "Why are you doing this? Why are you protecting?"

"I'm not protecting her from anything, sweetheart." Hal said, "I'm just warning you to keep your nose away. This is a sacred business and your mother only wants what's best for you. It might not seem like it but it's true. She just wants you back home, where we can be a family-"

"We were never a family. You were never there when she was… awful to me. You weren't there when I tried to kill myself. You weren't even there until weeks after." Anna shook her head.

"You were seeking attention, Annabelle. That was very clear." Hal shook his head.

"I had a severe eating disorder that my parents ignored… mom encouraged it actually." Anna said, "I can't believe I actually thought you were coming here to help me and… and tell me how wrong you think mom is being… but you're here to protect her and side with her." Anna said, "No one knows more about the business than you do and… and I know you know something, and that just makes me wanna find it out even more." Anna nodded.

"You shouldn't have even bothered coming." Dean shrugged.

"I wanted to try and help you see where your mother is coming from." Hal said.

"I will never… ever understand why she did this." Anna said firmly, "And I will never forgive her, and I won't forgive you either." Anna shook her head, "You're both dead to me, and I'll make sure my daughter will grow up knowing how disgusting you both are." She spat, standing up from the table.

"Annabelle, please. I'm just trying to help you. You shouldn't poke things that don't need poked." Hal said.

"We're done here." Anna shook her head, walking on by, out of the table and off to the door as Dean stood at the table looking at Hall.

"Tell your wife to enjoy looking after Skyler, because once we get her home, she's never gonna see her again. Ever." Dean made clear as Hal looked up at him, "And we will find out what you're so obviously trying to push us away from." He promised, walking on out of the coffee shop.


"Did you know Jean's husband?" Punk asked, later that night, gathered in JC's apartment again. CJ was playing with Keala on the tablet and Frankie was asleep in the spare bedroom whilst the rest of them shared out Chinese boxes in the living room around the couch and seats.

"No I didn't." JC shook his head, "He didn't go to our high school. I think she met him in college. Do you not know?" He asked Anna.

"I don't know anything." Anna shrugged. She felt like her whole family was just one big massive lie, which it was, but she always thought there was some good in them, and she actually thought her father was coming to help her, not push her further away.

"What do you know about the business?" AJ asked him, passing over some noodles to Punk after putting some on her plate, "Do you know how it was run back then?"

"No." JC said, "I told you, Jean didn't say anything about the business at school, and if she did, she would have said it to Vanessa."

"Well that isn't an option. You're the closest thing we have to that right now." Dean said, "Did mom ever tell you anything? Anything that you shouldn't have known?"

"No." JC said, "All I know is that it was a successful, wealthy business. It went public around the time Jean was born. It's been making big bucks ever since. Jean went in her families footsteps and now she runs it. That's all I know." JC said.

"When did it go public?" Dean asked him.

"Uh… must have been around the time I was born. Long time ago." JC scoffed, "I think you're all digging for something you aren't gonna find."

"No." Anna shook her head, "No, they're all right. There's something that she's scared about us finding out." She nodded, "My dad runs the business, the technical side of it, he would never just show up to tell me to stay away if there wasn't a significant reason."

"Let's say there is a reason then." JC said, "What could it be? We know she wants Skyler because she doesn't like me, which means she doesn't like Dean or Phil, and she wants you to go home and run the business with her." He said, "But what is she afraid of you finding out and using against her in court?" He asked, "What could be the possibilities?"

"Well…" AJ spoke up, "Often with big companies that go public there's… well there's the incidents that get swept under the rug." She said, "Could be illegal funding, some sort of bribery… worse." AJ said.

"You got any brothers or sisters?" JC asked Anna.

"No. I'm an only child." Anna said.

"Cousins? Any other family that isn't around that business but… would know about it?" JC asked.

"No. I… I was never introduced to any of my family. They're all scattered over the place and they don't… they're never together. I don't know any of my family." Anna told them.

"Say mom did know something." Punk said, "Wouldn't she have told you?" He asked his father.

"Probably not. Me and your mom were up and down like a yo yo. She probably didn't want to tell me anything, considering I hated Jean and would have loved to… rat her and her family out." JC shrugged, "If your mom knew something, she would have just turned a blind eye and moved on. She was good at it." JC nodded.

"Are your grandparents still alive?" Dean asked Anna.

"No." Anna shook her head, "They died a few years back." She told them, "Mom immediately took over with dad and… fitted right in."

"If your mom was letting you into the business, that would mean she would have had to tell you everything about it." Punk said, "Right?" He said as they nodded, "So why didn't she?"

"She didn't let me into the business." Anna said, "I done her dirty work for her. I done her… spying and late night copying, phone calls… I… she never let me into the business." Anna told them, "From where I've been standing all this time, I just thought my mom was a journalist in her own company and my dad ran the business side of it. It went public when my mom was just a baby, and that was it. I can't just magically whip up something for you to look into when there isn't anything there." Anna told them with frustration as Dean placed a hand on her knee.

"Ok, let's not all fight over it." JC warned them, "AJ is right, it could be something like illegal investments or bribery over the years, and if we find that out, Jean will be scared that we call her out on it in court. But we can't accuse anyone of anything when we have no evidence of any of it." He said.

"How about we just bluff?" Dean asked, "Give her a call, tell her we know her secret and if she doesn't sign over full custody then we'll take her to court with it… see how shaken up she gets it."

"She'll call our bluff, there's no point." JC said, "I know this woman. She was… conniving. Knows how to play people who are playing her." He nodded.

"Any way we could get into any emails she has? Do you know her address?" AJ asked Anna.

"No, she would never tell me that." Anna said.

"Didn't you question anything?" Punk asked her with confusion, "You were brought up in this business and you never asked about anything? How it's run?"

"No. I didn't want to ask." Anna said.

"Did mom have any other friends? She might have told something to?" Dean asked his father.

"No, she… her only real friend was Jean and then after that it was just me." JC said, "Forget about your mom for a second, she's… no offence, but she's no use to us with any of this." JC said as Punk and Dean just nodded, knowing that to be true.

"Do you know anyone working in the business that could give us information?" AJ asked Anna.

"No. I… I never knew any of them. And workers would never know anything. It's only the people high up that would know things and I… I was never allowed around that." She admitted. Hearing herself say things like that made her realise how shady the business her mother and father ran really was, and it made her nervous to know what it was they were hiding.

"Do you think it has anything to do with JC and your mom?" AJ asked, "The thing she is hiding?"

"Nah can't be." Dean said, "She just doesn't like JC, therefore she doesn't like me or Phil. Explains why she came after us so much in the paper those years ago. Explains why she doesn't want her daughter or her granddaughter around us." Dean shrugged, "Can't have anything to do with them." He said as AJ just nodded.

"Ok, I'm telling you all right now." JC said as they looked up at him, "We'll get Skyler back here, no matter what we've gotta do, who we've gotta talk to." JC nodded, "We need to help one another and accept the fact that it's not gonna happen overnight." He said, looking specifically at Dean and Anna, "I know you two are finding this unbearable, but it's not over. Not by a long shot. We'll find someone. Something… that will help us get her back and also take your mom down in the process." He said as Dean just nodded and Anna smiled softly.

"Look at you, being a dad." Punk nodded as JC just looked down and nodded.


"Vanessa, where are you going looking like that?" Vanessa's mother, Kelly asked as she walked into her daughter's room where Vanessa sat on the edge of her bed, quickly shutting over the journal she wrote in every day.

"Looking like what?" Vanessa tutted, looking at herself and not finding a problem.

"I can almost see what you had for breakfast." Kelly folded her arms, looking at her daughter's outfit which consisted of a short denim skirt, a cropped band t-shirt and a leather jacket, "And the amount of make-up you have on is ridiculous." Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Anything else, mother?" Vanessa asked, sitting her journal over on the night stand and standing up.

"Just don't go standing at any street corners. People may get the wrong idea." Kelly told her as Vanessa just nodded, used to those type of comments, "Seriously, where are you going?"

"I'm going on a date, mom." Vanessa told her.

"A date? With who may I ask?" Kelly asked.

"A boy from school." Vanessa said.

"There are a lot of boys in your school." Kelly nodded.

"His name is Jack." Vanessa nodded.

"And is Jack all you write about in that silly journal of yours?" Kelly asked as Vanessa looked at the book.

"None of your business what I write in there." Vanessa said, immediately taking the journal, putting it inside a drawer and locking it with a key, throwing it in her purse as Kelly just laughed.

"So you're sleeping with this boy?" Kelly asked.

"What are you gonna do if I am?" Vanessa teased, zipping her purse back up as Kelly just shook her head.

"Make sure you're being safe for starters." Kelly said.

"Yes." Vanessa nodded.

"What's his second name?" Kelly asked curiously whilst Vanessa began to creep out of her room.

"Brooks." Vanessa said, "Gotta go." She said quickly, rushing out of her room.

"Wait, Vanessa-" Kelly sighed as she heard her daughter quickly leave the house, slamming the door shut as she groaned to herself.

She shook her head and turned to the locked drawer where that journal was in, where she knew her daughter wrote everything. EVERYTHING. And wondered what could be so important and sacred in it, that her daughter had to lock the drawer.


A/N: Let me know what you think!