Chapter 9 – It Begins

On his second day off, Jamie really didn't do much other than some errands here and there. He did visit his dad and grandpa, since it had been awhile since he had seen them, which felt good. He didn't realize how much he needed that until he had gone back home afterwards. His third day off looked like it would be the same; no plans. That is, until he got another call from Danny asking if he could come and watch Sean for a few hours.

"Thanks kid, and sorry this is so last minute. Linda was asked to stay and do some overtime and I got called in to the Precinct for a tip on the case I'm working on," Danny explained.

"Hey, it's okay Danny. I needed something to do anyways," he told him as he got ready to leave. "No Jack this time?"

"No, since it's Friday, he asked if he could go over to a friend's and then stay the night afterwards. Sean really wanted to stay home alone but I told him maybe next time…plus promised that you'd come over, so thank you for saying yes," Danny said, causing Jamie to roll his eyes and smile.

"Yeah, you're welcome," joked Jamie. By this time, he had gotten in his car and was on his way to his brother's. "I'm on my way now so I'll be there soon," he added before hanging up.

When he got there, Danny was already at the door waiting for him. "Thank you, again," he said as Jamie walked in. "I should be back in a few hours, not exactly sure how long. Sean, be good!" he yelled out to his son who was in the living room. He said bye and then walked out the door with Jamie locking it behind him.

Jamie went into the living room where he found his younger nephew playing that same video game from before. "Getting some practice in?" he asked, smiling.

"Yeah so I can beat Jack," Sean replied.

Jamie laughed and rustled the hair on Sean's head. "Hey, how about some pizza huh? I don't know about you, but I could use some food," he suggested.

Sean paused his game and looked up at his uncle. "Yes! Pepperoni please!" he exclaimed in excitement, pumping his fist in the air, making Jamie laugh again.

"Alright, alright. I'll call in an order and then how about I join you? Maybe we'll both get better so we can beat Jack."

"Yeah! This is gonna be awesome!" Sean yelled. Jamie shook his head and smiled as he walked away to order their pizza.

BB-BB-BB-BB

They played for a couple of rounds before Jamie had to get up to use the restroom. 'The pizza should be here soon,' Jamie thought. As he was finishing up, he heard the doorbell ring and Sean yell that the pizza was here as he ran to answer the door. A few seconds later, Jamie came out of the bathroom and walked towards the front, assuming to see Sean with the pizza guy at the door. Instead he found the door slightly open and no one in sight. Jamie froze in place. "Sean?" he yelled out. When he didn't get an answer, he took out his off duty weapon and walked towards the door, peeking outside. He closed the door when he didn't see anything. "Sean?!" he repeated, this time louder. Then he heard a small voice calling his name, so he went towards it, near the kitchen. When he came around the corner, he froze again, his breathing getting faster. "Let him go," he said, raising his gun slightly.

Robert Hastings stood across from him, a smile on his face. He had one hand on Sean's shoulder, while the other had a gun…and it was pointing at Sean's head. "Drop your gun Jamie…you wouldn't want to see your nephew get hurt, now do you?" Hastings threatened, pushing the muzzle of the gun harder against Sean's head, who then started crying a little.

Jamie looked at Hastings and then at his nephew before doing what he was told. "Please let him go," he begged as he raised his hands, trying to keep his voice calm.

Hastings just smiled, which made the hair on the back of Jamie's neck stand up. "Here's what we're going to do," he said. "Either you stay here and I take the boy…or he can stay here and I take you." The hand on Sean's shoulder started to lower down a little.

"No!" yelled Jamie. "Leave him alone you son of a bitch," he continued, seething.

"What's it going to be Jamie? You or him? He seems to be about the same age as you were, all those years ago…" Hastings teased, smiling evilly.

Jamie didn't hesitate. "Take me, let him go. I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt him," he said quietly. He was scared, but he couldn't let Hastings or Sean see that.

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Hastings said coolly. That's when Jamie noticed the roll of duct tape that he had on his arm. "You're gonna use this to tape the kid to a chair…and no funny business or I'll kill you and take him instead, got it?" he threatened, throwing the roll at Jamie.

Jamie caught the item and went to the kitchen to get a chair, keeping his hands up to show Hastings he wasn't a threat. When he got what he wanted, he brought it back out to the duo and set it down, where Hastings then forced Sean to sit in it. Then he pointed the gun at Jamie and motioned for him to tie the boy up. Keeping his breathing as even as possible, Jamie got going to wrapping the tape around Sean, making sure it wasn't too tight. "Uncle Jamie," Sean said quietly, tears rolling down his face.

Jamie looked at his nephew. "It's gonna be okay, I promise. Your dad should be home soon and he'll set you free, alright? He'll keep you safe." After Sean nodded his head, Jamie ripped off a piece of tape and put it over the boy's mouth. "I'm so sorry Sean," he whispered to him. Once he was finished, he stood up and faced Hastings, who then grabbed Jamie's shoulder and led him to the front door. When they were outside, he made Jamie get behind the wheel of his waiting car as he got in the passenger side. "Where are we going?" Jamie quietly asked as he started the car.

Hastings held the gun on him as he answered. "We're gonna go take a trip down memory lane. And I think you know exactly where I'm talking about," he said with a smile.

Jamie took a deep breath as he pulled away from his brother's house. Yes, he did know exactly where he wanted him to go…to that house, to that basement, where it all started. Jamie sat in silence as he drove towards the man's house. He could feel Hastings staring at him and it gave him the shivers. 'Please come home soon Danny. Help Sean so he can tell you what happened…so you can help me too. Please,' he begged.

"You know Jamie, I have a confession to make," Hastings started. "That day that I ran into you and made you spill your coffee? That was on purpose…of course not the coffee part though. After I got out, the first thing I did was look you up. I had been watching you, waiting for the right time to run into you, so you could see that I was still in the city, that you could see me. That car accident however, now that really was an accident…but I was so glad to see you respond to it. You look so good in that uniform, I couldn't stop staring," he told him, placing his hand on Jamie's upper thigh, which made Jamie start breathing heavy again.

"Please don't," is all Jamie could say. He had the steering wheel gripped between his hands, his knuckles turning white.

Hastings just laughed and took his hand away. "Don't worry Jamie…I'll save that stuff for later." By this time they had arrived to his house. "Get out, and remember, nothing stupid or you'll regret it," he reminded his hostage.

Jamie did what he was told, keeping his hands up. Hastings led him by the shoulder to the front door, where he unlocked it, then they went inside. Jamie looked around…everything pretty much still looked the same as it did back then. Then he was led to the stairs that went to that dreaded basement…the place of Jamie's nightmares. When they got downstairs, memories came flooding back to Jamie; a lot more than he realized. Him and his friends hanging out, playing games, reading comics, goofing around. Then slowly, one by one, the group of people got smaller and smaller and Jamie had no idea why his friends weren't coming over anymore. It wouldn't be long before he found out the reason. He looked around the room before his eyes landed on it…the couch. It was the exact same one too. Hastings pushed Jamie towards it and made him sit down, which made his heart start to beat faster and his hands start to shake.

Hastings sat down next to him, his gun never leaving its target. "You know, I never stopped thinking about you Jamie," he told him.

"Why me?" Jamie asked, his voice quivering.

"Because you were the youngest one; so polite, well mannered. You were my favorite," he revealed, putting his arm around the youngest Reagan and pulling him in closer. "That's why you were last…I was saving you till the end…it's just too bad your family had to interrupt our fun," he whispered in Jamie's ear, causing him to shake even more. Hastings started caressing the back of his head, running his fingers through Jamie's hair.

"Please don't do this…aren't I too old for you?" Jamie whispered to his captor.

Hastings laughed. "You were the one that got away Jamie…I never got to do what I wanted, so now I'm finishing what I started," he crooned. He pulled his arm out from around Jamie's shoulders, grabbed ahold of his chin, then forcefully kissed him. When he let go, Jamie was horrified, not sure of what to do or what to think. Hastings then stood up and walked behind the couch. When he came back into Jamie's views, he had a couple bottles of alcohol in his hands, his gun now in the waistband of his pants. "Now why don't you say we get this party started, huh?" he said with a big grin on his face.

Jamie just stared at him, then at the bottles he held. 'Danny please hurry. I don't wanna know what he has planned…I don't know if I'd be able to survive it,' he thought as Hastings set one bottle down on a nearby table and then walked up to him with the other one.

"Bottoms up," Hastings said as he opened up the bottle he held.