Same disclaimers apply!

Danielle groaned in frustration as she crossed off yet another name off her list of potential private investigators. She wasn't asking for much; she just wanted to know where her brother was! How hard could that be?

"Who are you kidding, Dani, he could be anywhere," she dug her nails into her scalp, trying to forget about the two lab reports she had due in exactly forty-eight hours, neither of which she'd started yet. Between searching for Madison and negotiating rates with private investigators, her usual school-work-study routine had slowly but surely begun to crumble. And as a biochemistry major, that spelled trouble.

She had just put her head down on her desk when she felt her phone vibrate.

"Hello?" she spoke groggily on the phone.

"Hello, is this Miss Danielle Quinn available?"

"This is she," Dani sat up.

"This is Celina Morales, we spoke three days ago regarding your search for your brother."

Knock, knock, knock.

Ugh, this is just perfect, she thought. "Just a sec!" she called at the door.

"Do you have somewhere to be?" the woman on the other line asked.

"Oh no, that can wait," she laughed nervously as the knocking only grew more urgent. "So how much are we looking at here?"

"The best I can give you is $250," she replied. "I usually don't go lower than $300, but since you're a student, I'll give you a slight discount."

"Two-fifty?" she yelled incredulously, glancing at the suitcase under her bed where she had locked away the money she'd been saving. She opened and closed her mouth. What would Madison do? She was the master manipulator when the situation called for it. "Look, when I'm not a student, I'm a nanny. I know what it's like having to set rates and have people try to push them down. But I swear on my grandma's grave that all I want is to know where my brother is! Nothing more, nothing less. I don't understand what about that could be so costly…"

"Ma'am, I understand, but I'm already cutting you a deal with here. When we first spoke, you didn't give me a whole lot to work with, therefore more of my time will be required to fill in the gaps. If you want, we could set up a monthly payment plan to cover the cost…"

The knocking continued, and Dani got up from her chair in frustration to see who was at the door once and for all.

"What the fuck do you…?"

Before she could finish, her phone slid out of her hand as her dreams for the past fourteen years suddenly merged with reality.

She slowly picked up her phone, not taking her eyes off her brother. "Um, I don't think I'll be requiring your services anymore. Thank you for your time."

"It…it's really you," she breathed slowly after she snapped her phone shut.

"Yeah," Joey Quinn smiled at his now grown-up younger sister. "It's me."

Her heartbeat quickened by five beats per minute. She should've been happy, overjoyed to finally get what she'd been praying for, but for some reason she couldn't explain, she was confused, maybe even angry.

"Dani?" he asked.

"Oh. Yeah, sorry, come in," she said quickly, not making eye contact.

"May I?" he gestured to her bed.

She nodded, still avoiding eye contact as she made her way to her desk chair.

The siblings sat in silence for what felt like hours, but was really only two minutes at most. Dani had learned to channel her anger and bitterness toward her brother's abandonment all those years ago into her academics and eventual discovery of her love for science, but the sight of her brother was slowly undoing years' worth of effort into doing so. It wasn't so much that he'd left, she'd consistently told herself. She would've gotten over that eventually. It was the fact that he left her with the impression that he would eventually come back and never did.

"So how's my favorite little sister been doin'?" Quinn finally broke the silence, unable to take it anymore and slightly disappointed by the less than warm welcome he received.

"I'm your only sister."

"Yeah. So how are you?" Smooth, Quinn. He chastised himself. Real smooth.

"F-f-fine," she stammered. "You?"

"Alright," he shrugged, deciding to leave his suspension from Miami Metro out of the conversation for the time being and hope she wouldn't press him for details. "Could be better. But I want to hear about you. What's been goin' on with you?"

"You lied to me." Damn, it felt good to finally say it to her brother's face as opposed to her journal.

"Dani…"

"When I was six! You fucking lied to me!" she screamed, letting out fourteen years' worth of anger.

"I waited," she continued, biting her lip to prevent herself from crying. "I waited every day for you to come back, and you never did. You…abandoned me."

"Dani, you wouldn't have understood…"

"I wouldn't have understood?!" she thundered. "So you left me hanging instead?"

"I wasn't even goin' to tell you in the first place!" he threw his hands up in the air.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?!"

"Yeah!" he roared back. "Look. Back then, I did what I had to. If I wanted to survive, had no choice."

"If you wanted to survive? You had no choice?" she scoffed. "Enlighten me because I have no fucking idea what other choice you could've possibly made!"

"When was the last time you spoke to Dad?"

Dani froze. No, she thought fiercely. No, I can't go through this again. This is over! Done! He's gone for good…

"What does he have to do with this?"

"Everything," Quinn replied harshly. "Dani, he…"

Then it hit her.

"Mommy? Mommy, are you okay?" Dani stepped slowly down the stairs after she was sure her brother had left.

"Yes, yes, come here, Sweetie," her mom held out her arms to her. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me."

"Why were you two fighting?" she asked. "I could hear you from upstairs. I was scared."

"It's nothing to be worried about," she assured her. "We just had a little disagreement, that's all."

"Then why did he push you?" she frowned.

"I made him angry, that's all. But enough talk about your brother," her mother shook her head with a sad smile. "Could you help me set the table? It's almost dinner."

"Used you as a punching bag or threw empty alcohol bottles at you when he didn't get what he wanted," she finished his sentence. "And Mom would never believe you when you told her."

"How did you…?" The older Quinn sibling stopped dead in his tracks. No, there was no way he could have…Dad loved her. Didn't he?

"He did it to me, too."

I am so, so sorry it took me this long to update! I had a crazy semester, and I'd started writing bits and pieces when I could, but I only finished this now. Oh by the way, since I first started this story, I've finished the entire series of Dexter, and I - like the majority of other fans - hated that ending, particularly the last five minutes. Hopefully y'all still keep up with this. Thanks for reading!