A/N: Hello! Look, I actually found some time to write! I always love hearing what you guys have to say, so I hope to keep hearing from everyone. The idea for this chapter was given to me by willwrite4fics, who also got me the marvelous cover art for this story, which was created by the very talented PeekAboo on DeviantArt.
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"To have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. "
― Elizabeth Stone
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"Ma'am, do you have any idea how fast you were going?"
"Not too fast, I hope."
"Well, you whizzed past my patrol car fast enough that I think I felt a sonic boom from when you broke the sound barrier."
"Oh. Is that bad?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to give me a ticket?"
"Yes. You didn't think I was writing a recipe for apple pie here, did you?"
"No. But I promise I won't speed again."
Hogan peered over his ticket pad at the woman sitting in the car he had just pulled over, and fought not to roll his eyes as she fluttered hers at him in what was probably supposed to be a fetching manner.
"Don't you believe me?" the woman asked, her previous statement having gotten no response.
"I do, but this is my insurance policy," he stated dryly, giving her the ticket.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk this over...maybe over a nice homemade dinner?" asked the woman, looking up at him through her eyelashes.
Hogan was tempted to make a face, but somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered his mother telling him it would stay like that if he kept doing it, so he fought the urge to grimace. This woman was by no means unattractive, but she was really starting to get on his nerves. It had been a long day, and he was in no mood for whatever this was, and he wanted to go home.
"You can pay that in cash or by check," he said finally.
"There's nothing I can do to change your mind?"
"Nope."
"...Are you married?"
It was not the first time in the police force that Hogan was suddenly thankful for his military background; in this case, he was glad he'd been trained to withstand even the most stalwart interrogator.
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Hogan ended up taking his patrol car home. He was exhausted and he really didn't feel like driving back to the station and switching vehicles before heading home. He slowly made his way to the door, and was surprised to find that it wasn't locked.
He went in and hung up his hat and jacket - there didn't appear to be anyone home, which was strange. Newkirk and Lizzy were usually both home when he managed to get off in the evening.
"Hello?" he called out, walking into the living room.
He was surprised to find Newkirk in there, asleep, sprawled out on the sofa. Lizzy must have really worn him out today, he thought. Not wanted to wake his friend, he crept upstairs to see if Lizzy was taking a nap as well.
Upstairs, he saw that her door was open, but there was no Lizzy on the bed, which was rumpled slightly. There was no Schultzie, either, which he thought was strange. He checked his room - no Lizzy in there. There was no Lizzy in Newkirk's room either, or in any of the spare bedrooms, and she wasn't under any of the beds, because he made sure to check there too.
"Newkirk, wake up."
"Wha..what's goin' on?" asked Newkirk, sitting up groggily.
"Where's Lizzy?"
"She's asleep in 'er room, ain't she?"
"No. She's not in any of the rooms. I checked," said Hogan.
"Are you sure?" asked Newkirk, all traces of sleep disappearing from his face.
"Yeah, I checked everywhere."
"Even under the beds?" asked Newkirk. Lizzy had fallen asleep underneath her bed twice before - once when she was playing hide and seek and another time...because it had been so comfortable under there the first time, maybe. They really didn't know.
"Yeah, I checked under all of them," said Hogan, feeling a lump starting to rise in his throat.
Newkirk was off the couch in the blink of an eye, and in less than five minutes they had scoured the whole house as well as the entire back yard. They called her name, but there was no answer. After a little while, they both ended up in the living room again.
"Let's call around - she might have wandered across the street to Kinch's place," suggested Newkirk, fighting to suppress the panic that was welling up inside him.
The phone call to Kinch yielded no answer; neither he nor his wife had seen her since she came home from school that day, so Hogan called the Stephensons, the next closest people Lizzy knew.
Mrs. Stephenson from next door could only assure him that Lizzy had indeed come home from school with Ida and Inez, but that was the last they had seen her.
Their next phone call was to Carter's family.
"No, Lizzy's not here," said Lucy, who had answered the phone. "When did you last see her?"
"She came home from school and we got tired out playin', so I set her down for a nap and then I fell asleep on the couch, and now she's not here! The door was unlocked, so she could be anywhere…" Newkirk informed her worriedly.
"I'll check with the neighbors and see if they've seen her," promised Lucy.
The call to LeBeau's family didn't yield any results either, which only served to heighten their panic. Having run out of people to call, they decided to drive to the police station and see if anyone there might know anything.
The drive to the Huntingburg Police Station only took about five minutes, but to Newkirk it felt like forever. He couldn't get his hands to stop shaking, and he was fighting to keep his breathing under control.
God, please, please, let her be alright. Please let nothing have happened to my little girl. Please let me find her, please, please…
He only had to look over at Hogan to know that his thoughts were exactly the same.
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There was no news to be found at the police station, which didn't make them feel any better, but at the same time, they hoped that maybe no news was good news. Officer Baxter had suggested they use Bruno to try and track down Lizzy, which, in their panic, they had not thought of.
The drive back home felt like it took forever as well, and with each passing moment Newkirk could feel his panic ratcheting up. Despite all the danger he and his friends had been in during the war, he found himself more worried than he had ever been in his entire life.
As soon as they got back to their house, they were both out of the car and heading for the front door.
Newkirk turned the doorknob and opened the front door, and to his amazement, Lizzy was standing there in front of him.
The waves of relief that flooded him were so great that he immediately dropped to his knees and hugged her as tight as he could without hurting her. He felt Hogan drop down next to him and stroke Lizzy's hair, as if checking to be sure it was really her and not a figment of his imagination.
"Lizzy, where were you?" Hogan asked - only the slight tremor in his voice betrayed how worried he'd been.
"I fell asleep in the clothes hamper," the little girl informed them. "The clothes were nice and warm from the dryer."
Newkirk didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry.
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Later that night, after Lizzy was asleep for the evening, they sat down at the kitchen table; coffee in front of Hogan, and tea in front of Newkirk, but neither of them had touched their drinks. They were still unwinding from the whirlwind day - but there seemed to be a silent understanding between them that this was likely not the first time that Lizzy would worry them to death.
It was a very sobering thought - today they had both solemnly realized that they were no longer the only solely in control of their personal happiness and wellbeing. What controlled that lived outside them now, in a small bundle sleeping in a pink nightgown.