A/N: Thank you for the reviews, greatly appreciated! Some slight drama ahead...
Four days later, Scotty was more than ready to just dive into bed and sleep until the following week, preferably with Lilly right there with him; he was exhausted, able to clearly see she was equally tired, just like everyone else at the precinct. The case was getting bigger and bigger; on Monday, Boss had called Ryan Cavanaugh to confirm Scotty and Lilly would be joining the Bureau's ranks, and during the call, Will and Nick had returned from interviewing a long-time employee of the Center City bookstore, bearing major news. The woman had remembered several more women suddenly disappearing without any explanation, after being regular customers at the store.
"We had a lot of regulars because when Sharon founded the store, she wanted it to feel like customers were in their own living room; it was to be a super-comfortable place where everyone could just chill in the middle of the city buzz, and that was exactly what she created. Many people were from out of state, so I just assumed they'd left to go back home," she'd told the detectives, shaking her head, a shocked expression forming on her face. "A few had moved here for work, some from New York, one from Florida, I think; two were med students from Atlanta, doing their residencies. They were here all the time, studying or hanging out after work, and then they stopped coming, one by one; I remember thinking it was a little odd, but like I said, I guess I just figured they'd left, or found some other place."
Upon receiving the information, Boss had decided it was time for reinforcements; the FBI had run a database search using matching criteria, finding 16 more unsolved cases with women killed in the exact same way, buried on the backyards of either their own houses or some others that had been empty at the time. A careful examination of each victim's background had revealed all of them had connections to the bookstore in Philadelphia, in one way or another; it was now obvious they had a serial killer in their hands, and the PPD again found itself working with the Bureau in a search for the perpetrator who had left a trail of bodies all across the East Coast. The workdays ran well into the night, picked up again before the sun was even properly up; on top of everything, Scotty and Lilly were supposed to be familiarizing themselves with several FBI training manuals and other materials, and there simply weren't enough hours in the day to do everything.
"This is exactly the kind of stuff we need you two for," Cavanaugh had told him on the phone, clearly excited, and despite his tiredness Scotty could feel it catching onto him; working on widespread, FBI-caliber cold cases would be a brand new kind of a challenge, one he found himself really looking forward to. Lilly was obviously feeling the same way, he could tell from the little glint in her eye, from the way she smiled at him when they received yet more information from the Bureau databases; they were expected to report at Quantico for training in a month's time and there was so much to do before that, including figuring out a way to inform their families about this sudden career change. At least housing and some other practical matters were getting sorted out by the FBI, so that was one less worry on their shoulders; Scotty wasn't sure what their future supervisors thought about them being a couple, but apparently living together was fine, and neither of them would have agreed to anything else anyway. He and Lilly were growing closer every day, their performances at work remaining just as dynamic as always, despite some initial worries they'd both had about it; he did miss going out for interviews with her, there was no denying that, but the gorgeous smile she always gave him when they saw each other again made it all worthwhile. He was partnered with Kat, and for the first couple of days she teased him mercilessly, clearly drawing great enjoyment from it; despite rolling his eyes at her constantly, he found himself appreciating the way she did her best to make him laugh, lightened his mood. Slowly Scotty got used to the new arrangement, and everything was going well, until Wednesday afternoon when the universe clearly decided it was again time to mess with him a little.
He had just left the break room after his umpteenth coffee of the day, trying to gather enough brain power to remember what he needed to handle next, when someone suddenly ambushed him in the corridor, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the side; the next moment that someone was kissing him, soft lips that felt familiar, hands framing his face. For a fraction of a second his exhausted head thought it was Lilly, making him smile slightly, until his heart firmly informed him it definitely wasn't his fiancée; the woman felt all wrong, smelled completely different, and on top of everything, this would be extremely out of character for Lilly. Scotty tore himself away, giving the woman a good shove in the process, doing a double take when his eyes fell onto her face; well, no damn wonder she had felt familiar.
"Frankie?" He stared at her in shock, anger starting to bubble inside him. "What the hell do you think you're doin'?!"
"And hello to you too, Scotty," she replied sarcastically, a slight hurt flashing in her eyes. "No need to get mad; I just wanted to say hi."
He growled slightly. "Usin' words would have sufficed; what are you doin' here anyway? I thought you quit."
"I did; things didn't work out at the new job, so I'm back." Frankie gave a him quick grin, her eyes moving over his face, then down along his body. "And my divorce just came through, so… maybe we could start over. Are you doing anything tonight? I know about the big case, but... maybe some dinner?"
"Wow." He laughed a little, shook his head. "So you thought you could just… waltz back here, an' I would be waitin' wit' open arms? We broke up, remember?"
She shrugged, brushing a lock of dark curly hair from her shoulder. "Yeah, but I also remember telling you it was a mistake, one I was hoping we could rectify now."
Some officers were shooting them looks, chuckling and muttering something to each other and Scotty groaned, felt himself get even angrier. The news about Lilly Rush having an engagement ring on her finger had made rounds rapidly earlier in the week, but he was quite sure the identity of her fiancé wasn't yet known; with the serial killer hunt on top of the usual caseload keeping everyone busy, people probably hadn't had time to notice the changes in the cold case squad, or spare much thought to what might be behind them even if they had. A few had approached him, tried to milk things out of him, pointing out that as Lilly's partner, he had to know who the mystery guy was; Scotty hadn't told anyone anything, wanting to keep things professional at the precinct as much as possible, like he knew she did too. Still, their interactions were naturally different now, and he was slightly surprised no one had figured things out yet; the rumor mill seemed to be broken, and with everything that was going on, he had to admit he didn't really mind at all. At some point, however, the truth would be revealed, it always was, and now this little incident would without a doubt make rounds too; damn it, he needed to find Lilly before some wildly twisted and exaggerated version of events reached her ears.
"Sorry, Frankie, no can do." He moved her slightly to be able to pass, gave a little smile. "I'm taken. Very much so."
He made his way towards the squad room, leaving a stunned Frankie behind, but before he managed to get there, he was attacked once more; this time it was by an absolutely furious Kat Miller, poking her forefinger into his chest and Scotty winced, stalling in place. "Jesus. What the hell, Miller?!"
"You goddamn idiot," she growled at him, her brown eyes flashing angry fire. "What did you do?"
He frowned, swallowing. "What are you talkin' about?"
She continued trying to end him with her glare, and Scotty glanced past her, expecting to spot the familiar blonde head, but Lilly wasn't where she'd been ten minutes ago when he had left the room to stretch his legs and get the coffee. A cold hand of fear grasped his heart, making him pull in a shaky breath. "Where's Lil?"
"Great question, asshole." Kat gritted her teeth. "I have an even better one. What did you do?"
"Answer me, Miller," he hissed, wildly looking around. "Where is she?"
"What's going on?" Nick joined them, frowning at the expression on Kat's face, then turning to Scotty; Kat scowled, crossing her arms with an angry huff.
"I think she saw something; she kind of froze in place, and I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she just ran out, and it looked a damn lot like she was crying." Kat stared at Scotty imploringly. "So I ask for the third time, what the hell did you do? I know this had something to do with you; I can't think of anything else that would have caused her to react like that."
"Are you talking about Lil? Did you honestly manage to screw up already, Valens?" Nick's frown deepened, quick anger flashing on his face now too and Scotty sighed heavily, terrified; he really needed to go after Lilly, but his colleagues looked ready to cuff him into the nearest desk if he even tried to depart without an explanation.
"Frankie goddamn Rafferty, or whatever her last name is these days, jumped me outta nowhere in the corridor, kissed me." He groaned, rubbed his hands over his face. "Apparently she's back in her position here, an' she thinks I'm gonna fall right into her clutches again. Which I won't, by the way, an' I pushed her away immediately."
"He did." Will's deep voice joined the conversation and Scotty glanced over his shoulder, feeling a little more reassured by the nod the older man offered, Will's hand falling onto his shoulder. "I saw the whole thing; it was all Frankie, and Scotty didn't participate in any way, shoved her off straight away. I'm guessing Lil didn't see it that way though?"
"Apparently not. God, I have to go." He felt pure panic setting in now, rushed to his desk to grab his phone and jacket, then crossed the squad room to Lieutenant Stillman's door. "Boss, I gotta go for a bit, I'm sorry; it's Lil, she… I gotta find her."
Boss frowned at him, opened his mouth to say something, but Kat appeared just then, gave Scotty a little push. "I'll explain this goddamn soap opera. Go."
"Okay. Thank you." He muttered another apology towards Stillman, knowing he was probably very lucky he already had the FBI job, as was Lilly, as leaving on personal matters in the middle of a huge case might not be viewed very favorably. Right now he couldn't bring himself to care, however, just desperately needing to find her; God knew what she was thinking, what kinds of horrors she was already developing in her mind, convincing herself he was just like all the other men she'd had in her life, hurting her, betraying her.
Leaving her.
The receptionist downstairs at the lobby confirmed that Detective Rush had, true to her last name, rushed out past him about ten minutes ago, and Scotty followed the example, running out of the precinct and then stalling, for a while not having any clue where to go. They'd driven in together that morning and he had the car keys, which made things even worse as it meant Lilly was out there somewhere on foot and alone; he knew she was tough and resourceful, could take care of herself, but she also probably wasn't in her usual state of mind. The day was starting to fade into dusk too, not the safest time in the city, and on top of everything he was quite sure her gun remained securely back in her locker at the precinct. With trembling fingers, he pulled the keys from his pocket and made his way to the car park, trying to formulate some kind of a plan, keeping an eye out for a flash of blonde hair he was dying to see more than anything right now.
An hour later he'd been to her house, to his apartment, to Joe's Tavern, to a few other bars they'd spent time at as a team over the years; she wasn't anywhere to be found and the options of where he could look for her were rapidly running out. He'd tried to call her, only to have Kat answer, telling him Lilly's phone was at the precinct and they had checked with the reception desk again; she hadn't returned to the building.
"Remember that threat Nick issued to you last weekend?" Kat had said, sighing a little. "He's getting pretty close to making that a reality, Scotty."
"Oh for fuck's sake," he'd growled in response, leaning against the wall outside yet another bar within walking distance of the precinct, his eyes never stopping their relentless sweep of the street, his heart jumping a little every time he saw a blonde woman. "I didn't do anythin', Frankie did. Could you try to get that through Vera's thick skull? Send him after her if he needs someone to blame."
"I'm trying to make him understand, Will is too. He's just worried; we all are." Kat was silent for a moment. "Find her, Scotty."
"I'm goin' to." He'd ended the call, spat out a brief expletive in Spanish, so goddamn annoyed that the default setting within the team seemed to be the belief that sooner or later he would mess up, hurt Lilly. He'd earned it all, of course, with the whole Christina bullshit, but it was as though no one even wanted to give him a chance to prove his fiancée was his world, his everything, and he would do whatever it took to make sure she was happy, until his very last breath. There had to be a way to earn everyone's trust, but right now a little voice inside him was questioning whether he even had hers; she trusted him without hesitation at work, he knew that, but did she truly trust him to take care of her huge, beautiful heart that had already been broken so many times?
To his terror and dismay, he realized he really wasn't sure.
Goddamn Frankie Rafferty. The one woman Lilly had confessed to having been worried about when they'd talked about his exes, the one she'd told him he'd probably be with if Frankie hadn't already been married; Scotty didn't quite share that belief. Frankie was beautiful, yes, and he'd been very attracted to her from first sight, but she had a nasty, petulant side that had become obvious during the Kate Butler case when she had screamed at him at the precinct, in front of the other officers; she'd seemed surprised he hadn't wanted to automatically get fully together with her after her husband had moved out, yelling he was making a huge mistake. And then today she'd had the audacity to suggest they could rectify that mistake, just pick things up again right where they'd left them; it was clear that to her, not being honest about her marital status had meant nothing, like marriage was just some tiny, trivial thing, when to Scotty it was sacred, and her withholding it had destroyed any and all trust he'd ever had or ever would have towards her.
Still, he was probably fully to blame, again, after giving her all sorts of false hopes by sleeping with her one more time even after discovering the truth; he'd desperately needed someone following the terrible day Will had been almost fatally shot, and Frankie had been more than happy to provide company. Scotty had often wondered how Lilly had dealt with Will's shooting, as it had happened quite soon after she had been in that situation herself, and he remembered the expression on her face when she'd taken in the crime scene at Pop's store, Will's blood splashed against the cooler cabinets and on the floor. It had been obvious that bad memories still haunted her; it was just another occasion when he really should have put more effort into making sure his partner was okay, instead of drowning his own issues and misery into a stupid fling. On the following day, another detective had offhandedly asked him how Rush was doing as he'd spotted her leaving an empty interrogation room with her eyes red and tear tracks on her face; Scotty had frowned, then forgotten about it as they had been pulled into another case, and his partner had seemed perfectly fine. Besides, she never would have cried at work, to her that would have meant weakness, and weakness was something Lilly Rush would never want to be associated with herself in professional settings, or so he had thought; now, he wondered if the other detective had been right after all, guilt threatening to suffocate him. So many times he should have paid more attention to her well-being, should have asked if she wanted to talk, to decompress, but he hadn't; there was no denying that as a partner, he'd failed her, over and over, and those times he would never get back, but as her fiancé, he definitely wasn't going to make the same mistake.
He was still astonished by the first time he'd actually seen her cry, had witnessed some sort of a breakdown, in the car after they'd rescued Christina; Lilly had heard her niece's name and everything had clearly become too much for her at that very moment. The sight had been absolutely heartbreaking, and for a second he'd felt complete panic, not knowing how to comfort her because this was a completely new situation; that had passed quickly and Scotty had discovered that somehow he did know, somehow he was able to read her when she was upset and knew if she wanted him there or if she required space, if she needed to talk or just to be held in silence. It had been a beautiful feeling to realize how deeply connected they were; she'd allowed her tears to come quite a few times now, as had he, and he knew they had both already released so much pain, completed so much healing, been more open with each other than either of them had managed to be with anyone previously.
He sighed heavily, drifting back to the present moment and trying to think of what to do next; the evening had darkened further, and he was getting more and more worried, wondering if he should repeat the earlier check of their homes and the bars. Leaning his head back against the wall, Scotty closed his eyes briefly, then decided to call her father; he didn't want to worry Paul, but the older man was now close enough to Lilly that she might have contacted him, or perhaps even made her way to Haddonfield. His hopes were crushed almost immediately, however, when the older man informed him he hadn't heard from or seen his daughter that day.
"Scotty, what's happened?"
He swallowed, hearing the immediate alarm in Paul's voice. "We had… I got involved in somethin' stupid that upset her, an' she took off from the precinct; I don't know where she might have gone, so I thought maybe she would have contacted you."
"Ah." Paul closed a car door at the other end, locked the vehicle. "I'm sure she'll turn up soon enough; even as a kid, Lilly was always quick to get angry, and she'd seethe for a while, go into hiding somewhere, then come out and tell whoever had pissed her off that she would forgive them this time, but she might not forget. I myself got to hear that quite a few times."
Scotty smiled, tears prickling his eyes and Paul chuckled, sighing. "She really always was way too grown-up for a little girl. But I will let you know immediately if I hear from her, and I want you to do the same. Lizzie and I just arrived at the rehab center to visit her mother; baby, it's your uncle Scotty on the phone, he's a bit worried about auntie Lil."
Lizzie babbled something and a few tears escaped Scotty's eyes, the sound managing to cheer him up slightly, even in this situation. "Hi, little Lizzie. Is she all right?"
"She's doing brilliantly, an absolutely wonderful little girl. I'm sure she'd really love to see you and Lil again very soon, as would we all; I heard that you were asked to be godparents."
"Yeah. It's really an honor to us both." He realized that Lilly's family didn't know about their engagement any more than his did, so they really needed to bring everyone up to speed very soon, both about that and about the new jobs. Suddenly he thought of something, a possible way forward, bit his lip and decided to take a chance.
"Hey, can I talk to Christina quickly? Maybe she'd know where Lilly might have gone."
"Of course; I'm almost at her room, hold on." He could hear Paul walking, Lizzie commenting on something every once in a while in her baby babble; this was a long shot, Scotty knew that very well, as Christina probably wasn't close enough to her sister to know anything, but he had to try nevertheless. He heard a door closing, voices muttering, and then she came on the line.
"Scotty?" Her voice sounded quite worried. "Dad said you can't find Lil; what's going on?"
"It'll be okay, I just need to…" He sighed, rubbed a hand over his forehead. "Look, I know you two haven't been that close, but is there anywhere you can think of that she might have gone to, anywhere at all? I've checked everywhere an'… I'm lost; I don't know what else to do."
Christina was quiet for a moment, then cleared her throat. "Well, there's this one place… Hope Park in Kensington. It's close to where we used to live as kids, and she spent a lot of time there with Ray, and also when things with mum got too much for her and she needed a breather. That's one possibility; other than that I really don't know. I'm sorry."
"No, it's… I'll definitely check it out." He started making his way back to the car. "Thanks, Christina."
"Sure. Let me know right away when you find her; Dad will be here for a while, he's coming to my therapy session so you can call him." She remained on the line, murmured something to her daughter. "Scotty?"
He turned the car on, did a quick survey of his whereabouts and how to get to his next destination. "Yeah?"
"I know I'm the last person in the world who has any right to say this, but… take care of her. Whatever you did to make her bolt… we've both caused her way too much pain, I definitely have and I never want to do it again, like I already promised her. If you hurt her…"
She took a deep breath, a slight hint of steel appearing in her voice. "You'll be in trouble with me. Okay?"
"I know; you can join the line of all the people I will be in trouble wit'. It's gettin' pretty damn long." He ended the call, growled in annoyance and turned the car towards Kensington, taking a few deep breaths to control his temper. Like she had said herself, Christina really was the last person who had any right to tell him something like that, after everything she'd done to hurt her sister; still, her words had sounded more sincere than ever before, and he knew she and Lilly were slowly working things out. Approaching the not-so-great neighborhood of Philadelphia where his fiancée had spent her childhood and teenage years, Scotty could only silently pray in his head, pray that he'd find her at this park and she'd be safe and unharmed, would agree to give him her gorgeous smile and a chance to fix things; he would truly be the luckiest guy in the world if she did, as he really didn't deserve either of those things right now.