Sorry about the funny uploading first time 'round... that was super weird, but all fixed. Thanks floralisette for the head up =)

Take Two!

"Can I help you?" a fair haired receptionist asked Abigail as she waited patiently in the reception area of a looming building in the business district.

She had traded her blue sweater for white shirt and had tied her hair back in order to make her look slightly older than she was. Old enough, at least for anyone not to question why she was in an office block, in the middle of a school day.

"I'm looking to speak with," she paused to cough, "Steven Case."

"I'm sorry, he doesn't take walk in's," the woman smiled, unapologetically, then turned her attention back to her work.

"I know that," Abby smiled back, insincerely. "It's quite important, that's all." She did her best to make her words sound eloquent and sophisticated. The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Could you… could you tell him it's Abigail Spencer," she tried. "Please," she added.

The woman, reluctantly, stood up and walked into the adjacent office. Abby brushed the hair off of her face and paced nervously. She still couldn't believe she was doing this, even though the thought had been running through her mind since she had met her father eleven days ago.

At first she had dismissed it but the more and more the notion appeared in her mind, the more she felt it was something she had to do. Not for anyone else, but for her.

"He'll see you in a moment," the woman said when she returned.

"Thankyou," Abby stated and took a seat in the waiting area but, with the nerves, she was struggling to keep still.

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"Any questions?" Nate asked as he stood up in front of the plasmas after explaining the job to the team. Parker's hand shot up enthusiastically into the air as she sat on top of the briefing bench, with her legs swung over the front.

"Do I get to keep the diamond?"

"Uh, possibly," the mastermind decided and was about to continue but was distracted by Eliot's phone ringing.

The hitter pulled it out and, upon checking the caller ID, his brow furrowed. The team stared at him with intrigue but, to their disappointment, he walked away into the adjoining room to answer it.

"Anyone know-" Sophie began to ask but was interrupted by Eliot storming furiously back into the room. "What's-" the grifter started but was, again, interrupted by the hitter.

"Hardison can you trace Abby's cell?" Eliot asked, walking over to stand next to Hardison and placing his clenched fists on top of the bench.

Hardison was hesitant, at first, but his curiosity was far greater.

"Um yeah she's," Hardison typed on his computer for a moment and a map of the city was brought up onto the plasmas. A few seconds later it zoomed into Abby's school, a red dot placing her in the middle of the grounds. "At school, where she should be."

"Eliot, what's-" Nate tried.

"What about her earbud?" the hitter asked, not even registering the mastermind's beginning of a question.

The hacker pressed a few buttons and a second dot appeared on the screen, flush on top of the other.

"At school," Hardison declared again. "Do you mind telling us what's going on?"

"That was the school; they said she didn't show up for class this afternoon," the hitter explained.

"What do you think happened?" Parker asked. "Do you think someone took her?"

"Dunno," he replied simply, shrugging his shoulders.

"What about her car?" Sophie suggested. "Can you track her car?"

"Yes, yes I can and it's…" there was a pause as the map moved across from the school, panning up to the business district. "Main and fifth?"

"Why would she be there?" Parker asked.

"Hardison, find out what's around there, who works there," Nate instructed.

"Sure," he agreed then took a moment to gather a list of businesses and people who worked in the area. "Oh hell," he swore when he saw a name he recognised.

"Hardison," Eliot growled threateningly.

"She may or may not have asked me to run a name last week," the hacker explained sheepishly.

"And ya did it?" Eliot's eyes widened with anger and he tossed his arms about furiously.

"Who was he?" Nate asked quickly before things got out of hand.

"Dunno, guy named Steven Case," the hacker stated, squinting to read the name off the screen. All eyes turned to Eliot, wondering who he was.

"The guy who crashed into her a few weeks ago," Eliot explained further.

"Why would she be going to see him?" Parker's question was one that was weighing on all but Sophie's mind.

"Because, he's also her father."

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Despite the fact that Case knew his next appointment was Abby, he still looked surprised when he walked in. His eyes filled with a sense of shock, as though he never expected her to walk through that door.

"Abigail, what are you doing here?" he questioned, half standing up awkwardly out of his chair and sitting down again, unsure of what to do. "I didn't think-"

"I know what you're doing," the teenager quickly interrupted. Steven looked confused. "Stealing money and siphoning it into your own accounts to feed your gambling and alcohol habits and your other stupid vices."

"How could you possibly know that?" The shock on his face now had change from awe-like to worry and fear.

"I'm resourceful," she replied simply, crossing her arms and swallowing uncomfortably. "You took it from the charity accounts? That money was meant to go to sick kids," she declared, without raising her voice. Instead it remained even and low, conveying a seriousness and authoritativeness she had seen Sophie display on several occasions.

"Is this about your car?" The question was so unexpected that Abby was almost caught off guard.

"You think this is about my car?" Abby sneered in response.

"It's not?" he asked unsurely. Goodness he was insufferable.

"You know the law catches up with these kinds of crimes," she stated vaguely. "And that means prison."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, you're blackmailing me?" he asked in disbelief.

"No, not blackmail," she declared, shaking her head "Just a warning. One day the police are going to come and drag you through that door and lock you away because you can't control your damn habits. And you know what's gonna happen then? It's gonna leave your son all alone, wondering what he did wrong to have his daddy leave him." A tear pricked at her eye, the first real emotion she had allowed to be seen; she brushed it away as inconspicuously as she could. "And he doesn't deserve that! No one does."

"Abigail," he said softly, reaching his hand out towards her. Abby didn't even see it, she'd turned and walked away before he could even begin to explain himself. She never even looked back.