Juliet's P.O.V.
Just a few more dunks of this tea bag into the hot water and I was going to eventually have to face my...face Logan. I didn't want to, but I wanted to. He was a wreck. Not that I blamed him. I don't want to know how I'd react to finding out Max never came home and was no where to be found. But wanting to be the shoulder for the man who not 5 days ago I was having a nasty conversation with, without holding back, was making me a little nervous. I just knew he'd do the same thing for me if the roles were reversed. So my soft sigh I let out as I headed out of the kitchen, throwing the tea bag away as I went gave me a much needed burst to go out to him.
I ignored the four uniformed cops standing around my dining room table, looking down at a map of the city, with Carlos pointing to something. I ignroed the two more cops sitting on our loveseat, looking rather useless at the moment, and went straight to Logan and James. They were sitting on the couch, with Kendall beside James, and Max sitting on the arm rest beside his dad. I swallowed hard as I approached Logan who was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. James had one hand rubbing up and down Logan's back, soothingly, while the other hand held up his cell phone waiting for a call, no one knew would even come in. As I sat next to Logan, his head raised and he looked at me. I literally felt my heart snap in my chest. Logan's eyes were red, and dry looking. He probably had cried all the tears out of his body and now his eyes were just raw and red. I extended the tea too him, making him smile small, and take it with one hand. The other hand wiped at his nose and he closed his eyes taking a sip of his tea. "She doesn't have any problems with anyone at school?" I looked over to my husband who was furiously writing down a desription of Emily and her car.
"Not that we know of. Emily is a great kid. She literally is nice to everyone." I bit my tounge at James's comment, not wanting to make Logan feel worse. James sat back a little and put his head back.
"And the last place she was last night?"
"At her girlfriends, Mandy. I already talked to her mom. She said Emily left at about 10:45 last night after the girls finished thier history assignment." Kendall nodded as he slowly stood himself up, still writing. Just as he was completly up, Carlos walked out, with all four cops behind him.
"Okay...I got ahold of search and rescue. We're going to start combing through the hills surrounding town. I have a few units heading out right now, and the rest are going to start at the lake." Kendall and Carlos looked at each other, while Carlos handed a peice of paper to one of the cops heading to the front door of my house. Kendall then handed the paper he's been writing on to another one and stopped him from leaving.
"Alert with a 10-57, priority." The officer nodded and the rest of them all walked out, including the two on my loveseat. When the front door shut James stood himself up and cleared his throat.
"I'm going to go out and look too. I need to find my little girl." My heart broke again and Kendall slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I understand. But I don't want you going alone. Incase something has happened to her." The whole house went quiet and I stood up giving Kendall a stupid look. He moved past me and turned to Carlos. "I think to cover more ground we should both go out. One of us ride with James." Carlos nodded and looked to James smiling. Logan shot up fast.
"I'm coming. I want to look too."
"Me too." We all turned to Max who walked inbetween his dad and his Uncle Carlos and shrugged. "I want to help." Kendall grabbed the back of his neck and nodded turning to me.
"How about one of you go with Max and I, whiel the other goes with Carlos."
"I'll drive with Carlos too." Kendall gave me a little smile, silently telling me thank you, and I nodded.
"I'll drive with you guys." James nodded to Carlos who nodded back and pulled out his car keys. "I know this sounds stupid but there is this little fishing hole we used to take her too before she got in high school. She loves to take pictures up there. Maybe we could check there?" Carlos nodded and I stepped around my coffee table, going right to Max. But my hand was grabbed and pulled gently. I turned just to have Logan pull me in and hug me tight putting his lips by my ear.
"Thank you for being here." He let me go quick and walked over to the front door pulling his coat on. I couldn't help my smile as I walked to Max, and not caring people were looking at us I put both hands on his face and kissed his forehead.
"She's gonna be found." I whsipered it so only he could here, and all he did was nod. Kendall kissed my right temple as he handed me my coat and turned to Carlos.
"Were gonna go drive around the school and then go to the west side." I saw Logan cringe hearing that, but didn't approach him. Just because he thanked me for being there, and I made him tea, didn't mean we were back on good terms.
James let me sit up in the front seat of Carlos's SUV, while he got in the back and gave directions to the fishing hole. I felt disguested with the idea that something had happened to Emily. After being married to a cop for as long as I have, I knew jumping to the worst conclussion was sometimes the best. The impact of finding someone dead or seriously hurt, isn't as bad as if you kept your hopes high. It was a sick thought but a thought that was necessary. I don't think anyone in this family, including the ones who I fought with at the hospital, would be able to move on if something happened to Emily. All I could think about was the day she was born and how happy Logan and James were. I could remember the day she rode her bike all the way over to my house, crying because she got her period and thought she was dying. I remember the first dance Max and her went to, and designing and making her dress for her, by hand. This little girl had such a huge impact on my life, it very well might kill me if something has happened to her. "Right up here on the left, is the turn in." I snapped out of my sad thoughts seeing Carlos pulling donw a dirt road turning on his headlights. The trees looked thicker as you got further in, and it worried me.
"Will you check in the back for me James? I think I have a first aid kit and a few flashlights." My stomach turned as I looked back and watched James lean his long body over the seat and start digging through Carlos's stuff. "Jules...in the glove compartment should be another flash light too." I quickly reached in and pulled a long black flashlight out. I went to hand it to him, but he put up a hand. "You can use that one." I nodded putting it in my lap and rolled down my window letting the cold fall air, whip around me. It worried me, because if Emily had been out here all night, she would have been freezing. It was barely noon rigth now, and only 38 degrees out. "Holy shit..." I looked over to Carlos concerned, as James leaned forward between us. "Is that her car?" I snapped my head to the front windshield quick and sat up straight. Parked between two huge trees was the tiny red VW Beetle her dads bought for her, on her 16th birthday. I unsnapped my seatbelt and waited very impatiently as Carlos parked his car next to it. We all jumped out at the same time and ran to the car. I turned on my flashlight and somehow felt worse looking inside. It was empty.
"Emily!" James's loud booming voice echoed in my head and before Carlos could stop him, James was running.
"James wait!" I sighed out and started to take after him ignoring Carlos trying to stop me too. "Jules...James..." Carlos voice died out rather quickly and it made me slow down. I still saw James running through the trees but looked over my shoulder. We were already in the thick of the trees which meant even if Emily was calling for us, for anyone, the chance of her being heard was slim.
"Emily!" I looked back to see James slowing down and picked my speed back up heading right to him. He dropped to his knees and I picked up speed thinking of the worst. However, as I got next to him, and shinned my light on what he was in front of, I sighed out. It looked like it was Emily's coat. Not a good sign. "Emily!" He shouted once more and I set a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait here for Carlos. I'm going to go look further down by that creek." He picked the coat up and squeezed onto it standing up. I turned and took in a deep breath as I started to walk towards the sound of the running water. I knew it probably wasn't the greatest idea to go by myself but if we found her seriously hurt or dead, James would loose it.
I'm a pretty big clutz so as I approached the small cliff I slowed down and checked my surroundings. There was nothing else around me, like her phone, or even her and I braced myself. I took one step forward and heard a stick break under my foot. I gripped onto my flashlight and moved my other foot closer to the one right on the cliff edge. The cliff wasn't higher than 15 feet but still percarious. As soon as my foot got next to the other one, the solid ground I thought I was on, fell out underneath me, and I fell. I caught myself with my hands, which hurt, but it was nothing on the fact that the lower half of my body was sliding off the cliff. I tried to grab onto anything around me, so I didn't fall, but there was nothing solid. My flashlight slipped out of my hand and as I rolled off the cliff, I fell hard.
As soon as my back hit the ground I let out a loud ooff and rolled onto my side. I thankfully didn't hurt my head, but my wrists stung from trying to catch myself and so did my back. I rolled over compeltly onto my stomach and pushed myself up on my knees quickly rubbing my back as best as I could. I groaned as I glanced around the dark area around me and stopped on my flashlight a few feet away from me. I groaned and grunted as I crawled to it hating that the jeans I was wearing had holes in the knees and a few on the thighs. Not ideal for fall in Minnesota. As soon as I got my flashlight I spun it, shinning the light on the trees across the creek and started to stand myself up. As I did, the light went with me and something across the small creek caught my eyes. I froze seeing a curled up body lying under a short tree, not moving. I snapped my body up quick and took a few steps forward. "Emily! Sweetheart is that you?" The body didn't move and I took a few more steps. I walked into the creek and gasped at the coldness. I looked down at the shollow water and took in a deep breath. I walked some more through the cold water and kept the light on the body. "Emily! It's Juliet! Can you hear me?" Very faintly I saw movement and felt tears falling out of my eyes. As I got closer to her slow moving body, I ignored the water now at my knees and picked up my speed. I was shivering I knew that, but by the time i got to the shore, Emily was rolling on her back. I let out a little sob as I fell to my knees by her body and pulled my jacket off. "Emily..." Her eyes fluttered open and I sobbed out again. As I laid my jacket on her, I saw her left foot bare. She was missing a shoe. "Baby girl, what happaned?"I quickly reached down, one arm under her knees, the other under her back. One of her arms reached up and wrapped around my neck. She was shivering. I closed my eyes hard and slowly moved her body up on mine. She wasn't a very big girl, height or weight wise thanks to Logan, so she wasn't hard to lift up. But as soon as I stood up straight, I felt a horrible pain in my lower back and let out another sob. "James?! Carlos?!" Emily cried onto my chest and I adjusted her, opening my eyes. "What happened Emily? Why didn't you come straight home?" She cried again and I slowly started to walk myself.
"I left...left Mandy's house. I was...was meeting up with Austin here." I pulled her harder into me feeling her entire body shake from the cold. "We...we were talking in his car, and a group of his friends showed up. They said they were camping out here and had a fire going." I shook my head knowing in this part of the forest, fires of any kind were prohibited. "But someone...I think a cop knew we were out here. He came up behind us, and everyone split." I nodded hearing something like running footsteps and gently kissed into her hair. "I tripped. I fell down that hill over there. Everyone left me." She sobbed out again and in a second, my fear was replaced with rage. "I think my ankle got twisted in a branch because it hurts. And I lost my shoe." I nodded seeing the back and forth of a light, hoepfully James and Carlos and rubbed her leg with my hand as best as I could.
"Are you hurt any other way?" I turned us and because I had already walked through the stream, I trugged through, going to the short end of the small cliff. As I started to walk up the tiny hill, I swallowed hard seeing two bodies coming towards us.
"No. I slept on the ground though. i don't know where my coat is. I'm so cold." I nodded, pushing her up on me some more just as I heard Carlos's voice.
"Juliet?!" I raised my head up and stopped walking seeing James running in front of Carlos.
"Emily!" Emily turned her head as James ran into us, putting his arms under his daughter. I gratefully let him take her but pushed hair out of her face, to make sure she didn't have any wounds on her face. "Baby..." James was crying as he pulled her up and shoved his face into her neck. She threw her arms around his head and cried out, shivering even more.
"Jules...what happened to you?" As soon as Carlos got next to me, i put my hands on him and let him hold me up, pushing hair out my face.
"I fell off that cliff. I'm alright. I caught myself with my wrists. They burn. And then I slid off onto my back." He pulled me in quick and made me wrap an arm around his neck. He started to walk me behind James and Emily and I shamelessly let him basically carry me. "A group of kids left her out here last night when the cops showed up." He sighed out loudly and gripped my side.
We walked slowly back to the cars, and by the time we did, two squade cars were there, along with an ambulance. Carlos walked me back to his car and helped me in the passenger seat. I watched James set Emily on a gurney and let out a soft sigh. I heard her explicity say she did not want to go to the hospital and as she started to argue with her father, a truck I knew all to well pulled up. I watched Logan jump out of the passenger side before the engine was killed. I stayed seated, loving the hot air form Carlos's car cover me and laid my head on the rest ignoring the screams from both wrists, and back. "Mom?" I smiled at Max and Kendall approaching me. "Carlos said you were the one to find her." I nodded and let him walk right up to me. Kendall and Carlos got right behind him and before I could beg Carlos not to say anything he opened his mouth.
"Yeah. After she fell off a cliff, and walked through a near frozen creek." I shot him a dirty look as Kendall gently pulled Max back and got in my face. Before I could object, a fliashlight was in my eyes, slowly going back and forth. "I know she has a concussion. When we got to them, her pupils were super dialated." The light was gone and I blinked a couple times before staring up at Kendall.
"She said Austin and his friends were who she was with. They got scared off by the cops, and she fell, and they left her."
"What?" I heard my son's voice, but only saw Kendall. "I'm going to kill him." Kendall quickly kissed my forehead before turning to our son, but he never got the chance to lay into him.
"Get in line." I peered around Kendall putting my head on his arm feeling a horrible knot form just above my butt. Logan was lookign at us, James right behind him. "Can these guys get thrown in prision or something?" Carlos laughed and patted his shoulder walking away towards the ambulance.
"Loges...I know you're pissed off. But technically those kids didn't do anything to her. They are little pricks but I can't do anything to them." I shook my head and closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than to fall fast asleep in our huge warm bed. "Go with your daughter and make sure she's okay. I'm going to get her home and I'll come check up on you guys later today." I heard James and Logan quietly say okay and opened my eyes to watch them walk away. As soon as they climbed into the back of the ambulance I tugged on Kendall's arm and he turned to me. i raised my arms and he laughed quietly taking my hint. He picked me up from the seat and effortlessly carried me, bridal style, to his truck. "You're in so much trouble little girl." I laughed putting my head in the crook of his neck just as he opened the back door of his truck and started to slid me in.