Missing

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 2 (Resemblance)

Tori tossed in her sleep, groaning as she pictured Trina in her dreams. It was a frequent thing for her, even to this day, that she couple picture the last day she saw her. "Should have made her stay. Should've fought harder." Trina was going to go live with Holly and their future stepfather, Gary. She didn't want to, but it was a heated argument between sisters that caused her to decide to leave.

She never left. Holly went to Gary's without her because she assumed Trina went out for a jog. The truth of the matter was simple, or it was in Tori's mind. Trina was kidnapped from the Vega home, if not her own backyard.

For years she replayed the events in her head, and the last time she ever saw Trina was on the back patio. Her sister never came back inside, but oddly enough, the door to the fence had been closed and locked. It was as if the kidnapper had the key to the padlock.

Whoever took Trina was crafty, clever, and knew how to avoid being detected at crime scenes. Much like the person responsible for Megan Shapiro's and her child's murders. Still, it had to be someone Trina was comfortable with, or else there would have been signs of a struggle. Trina was a fighter, she practiced martial arts and self-defense, and she didn't fight whoever took her.

Tori's eyes shot open and she sat up with a heavy groan. The alarm clock said 4:08, and the room was pitch black. "I really need to start working the night shift. I can never get any sleep." There were good things to say about working the night shift, though for a homicide detective it meant more work.

She swung her legs off the bed and rubbed her cheeks with her hands. To her right was a bottle of Nyquil, she'd been taking it to help her sleep, but it hardly worked for her. It was probably for the best, since she had to take care of her father.

Sixty years old and the man hardly got around anymore, not that she blamed him. There was no more light in the man's eyes, and even with her there, he still acted as though he lost everything. "I should check on dad, make sure he's sleeping well. God knows I won't be getting back to sleep now."

Tori pushed herself from the bed and made her way out of the room. Her father's room was at the end of the hall, and the little girl she rescued was in the guest bedroom next to hers. As she passed the guest bedroom, she could hear light whimpers seeping from the door.

Concerned something was wrong with the child, she turned on the hallway light and opened the door carefully so as not to startle the girl. "Are you okay, dear?" She spoke softly and with a friendly tone, wanting the girl to know she was in a safe place.

The girl's head turned and her eyes widened as she hugged the blanket around her body. Tori flipped on the light and walked towards the bed. The child's long hair was a mess, and her cheeks were red from tears. "It's okay, you're safe now."

When she sat on the bed, the young girl cuddled up against her and threw her arms around her waist. Tori's raised an eyebrow as the child buried her face into her shirt.

She never had children, and certainly didn't think she had the life suitable for a child, so all she knew was from watching Jade interact with her own kids. With a smile, Tori pat the girl's back and peered down at the young girl.

"If you would like, I'll have my friend bring her kids over tomorrow and you can play with them." The girl's trembling body subsided for the moment and her head lifted up from Tori's body. She thought the child was about to say something, and waited with baited breath until the girl tightened her hug.

The following morning, Tori busied herself with eggs, bacon and cinnamon toast. Jade grabbed a slice of toasted raisin bread and bit into it. "Do you usually cook this much?"

Tori dried her hands with a dishrag and looked towards the table. "I don't have kids, so no, I don't usually make breakfast."

At the table, the child was sitting with Jade's children. The oldest was Kyle, and the youngest was Amanda, they were seven and five. The two kids were talking about a cartoon and trying to socialize with the child, but she was leaning away from them and had a puzzled look on her face.

Jade took another bite of the toast and hummed thoughtfully while chewing. "Looks like she doesn't even know what they're talking about. I know the cartoon they're talking about, it's very popular with kids these days…"

"I wonder if she doesn't know how to socialize with other children." She reached for her glass of water on the counter and kept her eyes on the three kids. Kyle was speaking very passionately about the subject, and his hands were flying through the air. Each sudden movement caused the girl to flinch and cower. "She acts very strangely, you might try and get a swab of her DNA and run it through the missing children database as well as Amber Alerts."

"I will. If someone reported her missing, she'll be there." Jade tapped her nails on the counter and shook her head. "I don't think you'll be getting close to her with a buccal swab though, and she doesn't look like she's been to a doctor in years."

"I know. That worries me. If her parents are abusive, then we'll have another issue to deal with." She took a sip of her drink and looked back to the frying pan where two more strips of bacon were cooking. "You know. She won't talk. I don't know if she's able to talk or if she's mute, but she clearly understands what you're saying when you talk to her."

"You said you found her tied to a tree?"

"Yeah."

"Then abuse is a good indicator." The child took a drink from the glass of milk on the table, and both women looked to the glass with triumph. This would be a good way to lift her DNA and test it against the missing children records. "It wouldn't surprise me much if she's afraid to speak."

"I think she can. She fell asleep last night around five, and I thought I heard her say something about her mother. Dreaming, most likely." Figuring out who this child was a matter of great urgency, and as much as she wanted to get a social worker involved in this, something was telling her not to. "I don't know how well she trusts people right now, and she seems terrified. She shouldn't have to deal with social workers right now."

"Beck's mother is a social worker, we could have her help out if you're not comfortable sending her through the system just yet."

From careful observation when Jade arrived, the girl hid away. It gave her the impression that this child didn't trust adults, but for some reason, she would cling to Tori. "This child trusts me, I don't know why, but I get the feeling she won't work well with other adults. Until I can get her to tell me what happened, I would rather work with her myself."

"Just watch her and see if she'll open up to you." Jade walked around the counter and moved her hands down to her hips. "Has Mr. Vega come out yet?"

"Dad's still sleeping. He rarely wakes up before twelve."

"Last few years haven't been kind to him."

"They haven't been good on any of us." Tori pushed her hand along the counter and her shoulders tensed as she moved her head backwards. "How's Beck getting along with his new boss?"

"Fairly well." Beck was a security guard at the Los Angeles First National Bank. His new boss was more laid back than the previous, and he sounded like he was easier to get along with. "He says the work environment is less tense now, so that's a good sign."

"He still wants more action, doesn't he?"

"Every day." Jade laughed loudly. "I cannot hear the end of it when I come home from work. First thing he says when I ask about work is that it was boring, then he goes on about how he'd love to have my job."

"It's a hard job to love."

"But when you solve a case, it's a damn good feeling." Tori smiled sincerely and looked to the kitchen doorway as her father walked in.

His once lush brown hair was now grey and with a heavily receding hairline. His cheeks sagged and stress lines protruded from his lips and sack-like eyelids. When she saw him, her eyebrows rose and her eyes darted to the clock.

"I smell bacon," David marveled, "I was wondering the occasion." He closed his hand and moved it up to his lips as he coughed into it. When he lowered his hand, his eyes fell onto the child at the table and his body froze. "Tori, Jade, who is that?"

"We don't know yet." Tori put one hand to her waist and snapped her fingers at Jade, motioning for her to tend to the bacon. Jade hurried over to the skillet so Tori could talk to her father. "This is the girl I found last night, still hasn't said anything."

"Have you taken her to the police department yet?"

"She seems apprehensive towards adults, so I'd like not to do anything to overwhelm her. I want to get her to be comfortable, so she'll be able to tell me what happened. Jade's going to run her DNA through the system to see if she turns up on any missing person's record or any Amber Alerts."

"Sounds fair." His eyelids drooped a bit further and he swept his hand through his wispy hair. "She looks like your sister…"

"Trina?" In the corner of her eyes, she saw the girl look up to her. She folded her arms and closed her eyes. "How likely do you think that is?" She exhaled and shook her head. "Dad, you have to stop beating yourself up, the doctor says all of this constant dwelling is bad for your heart."

"Everywhere I go, I see your sister. I failed both of my duties, as a father and an officer."

"You did everything you could, Dad. We have got to move on, she'd want us to." With a heavy sigh she returned to the counter and grabbed a plate from the pantry. "How many eggs would like?"

"Two." He hobbled to the table and took a seat at the head. Kyle and Amanda greeted him with open gestures while the child only stared.

Tori plated the eggs as Jade scooped the bacon onto the plate. "By the way, Dad. Mom called yesterday, wanted to make sure we were good on rent and bills. She wanted to wire money to us, told her we didn't need her money."

"Don't know why she wastes her time. Won't even tell us where she is. Why do you even bother?"

"Don't want to cut her off completely." Tori set the plate in front of David and reached over for the girl's empty glass of milk. "I kind of feel sorry for her. She only calls once every few months and sounds worse off than you are."

"Sound I feel good about that remark?"

"Feel how you want to." She smirked and gave his shoulder a light smack before returning to the counter and handing Jade the glass. Jade pushed it into a large Ziploc bag and set it to the side. "Just goes to show she's not happy with Gary and made the wrong decision, leaving you to be with him."

"That woman wouldn't be happy with just one guy anyway. There are things I'd say about her, but there are children present." David smiled at the young girl and leaned forward. "How old are you, dear?"

The girl counted her fingers, then held up eight. When Tori looked, she saw a number of bruises and marks along the girl's arms that made her nauseous. "Looks like you might be right," she whispered to Jade, "About the abuse." Jade nodded and grabbed the bag with the cup.

"Want me to go ahead and run by the crime lab now?"

"Please."

"Okay. You'll watch Kyle and Amanda today?"

"Yes. It might be good for her to have a couple children over anyway, to see if she'll ease into playing with them." She hoped that would be the case, but it might take some time for the girl to ease into socializing with the kids. "If nothing turns up from the DNA, we'll have to think of something else to try and identify her."

"Who wouldn't report her as missing?"

"Abusive parents, possibly. Just go, it should take a few hours to process…"

Yeah the child's identity isn't going to be one of those hidden mysteries, you'll learn it pretty early on. David's in pretty bad shape it seems like, but that is understandable given the amount of stress he would have endured over the years.