3rd person pov
(A/N: Much thanks again to patrickpopp for some great ideas for this chapter!)
Not long after the wedding, Peter had to return to finish the remaining six months of his deployment, the last quarter in his 2 years of service. Like most that served, he had gotten the tattoo of Semper Fi. Semper Fidelis, or , always faithful. The motto of the Marines. The place he'd chosen for it held a certain memory for him, as it was proudly displayed across his collarbone, the same that his NYPD vest protected from getting shattered by a bullet the day he took down Fire Ring at his high first of his many heroic endeavors. He was now able to be more effective and constant in his communication with his loved ones, now that the war had died down a bit, but he still kept a lot of things from them. They did not need to know everything, after all. There was so much he wanted to forget, so why would he even tell them? Left alone at night with his thoughts, he distracted himself with some of LJ's treats, and one of Pop's piecakies.
Sean's pov
I was starting college, though I only needed 60 credit hours at the very least. Though I was pretty tempted to finish all the way, and not because of my mechanical engineering degree and high GPA. Because of Teresa 'Reese' Carlson, a fellow mechanical engineering student. And, as of two weeks ago, 3 and a half months into my semester, my girlfriend. Surprising me, she came up behind me in the Student Lounge and hugged me from behind, my hands instantly wrapping themselves around her tanned arms
"Hey, Seany."
I smiled
"Hey, Ree. How are you?"
She smiled
"I'm good. How are you? Have you heard from Peter this week?"
I shrugged
"Kind of? Yes he wrote, but pretty vaguely, and even through a letter, I can tell he's holding stuff back. Like my Dad used to get sometimes regarding his own service."
She dropped her head on my shoulder
"I'm sorry. I can't imagine what it's like, but I know you and your family can help him through whatever he needs."
Kissing her, I spoke
"What would I do without you?"
She smirked, a teasing tone in her voice
"Play your cards right and you'll never have to find out, Reagan."
And with that, we enjoyed the rest of our lunch period before going to our shared math class.
Frank's pov
I had been looking over CompStats and the rest of my schedule when Baker knocked on my door
"Sir, ADA Reagan- Kavinsky, Sargent Reagan, Officer Janko, Detective Reagan, Detective Reagan, Detective Baez-Reagan and Detective Hill- Reagan are here to see you."
The amount of Reagan manpower had me on high alert, but I tried not to show it
"Let's have them."
Baker closed the door after they all piled in. My two daughters-in-law, my daughters, my two sons, and my oldest grandson. Well, this did not look like anything good, whether it was family or work related. I spoke
"What is going on?"
Erin spoke up
"I'm only here to say that, should you be in agreement, the legal part for this new division is legally good to go."
Danny spoke next
"Joe had a good thought. Remember how when we first dealt with sensitive, private matters we kept it in house? Pretty sure during the Templar part 1, the only ones other than family we had involved was TARU. Jess was there, but before we knew the truth and Joe wasn't on the force yet. He made us realize there should be a special division for high-security, high-secrecy level threats. A trusted, intimate handful. A family affair."
I sighed
"So what, a Reagan PD?"
Jamie and Joe nodded
"More or less. That won't be the official name, obviously. We already have two cases."
Joe spoke
"Pop is MIA, as are the uniforms that sit on the house; and Mitch Hewitt escaped. That means my Mom could be in danger again, or me, or Laurie and the kids, or even a new slew of victims. Pop's first priority. Are we a go, Commissioner?"
Taking in the new information,I could only nod
"Go. I'll keep your mother, Laurie, Star, CJ and Dusty here. Watch your sixes. Come back in one piece."
They nodded
"Yes, Sir."
And with that, they were gone. I now worried for my children, daughters-in-law, nephew, quasi-daughter-in-law Paula, and my own father. Who could tell if Hewitt was after Paula and Joe, or someone else entirely? We also had no idea who had Pop, having knocked out our security detail that sat on the house. How did they know where to go? And I could tell Peter seemed withdrawn in his letters, we all could. I got a welcome distraction in the form of my own great-grandchildren once they arrived, Paula and Laurie trying to keep up with them, now that they had taken up running. Paula was the one to ask
"What's going on?"
Heaving a sigh,I briefed them on what had transpired. Horrified, they gasped
"Is there any way we can help?"
I replied
"Staying here, staying safe. Laurie, keep up with the 911 calls to see if we get any leads. Paula, please keep in touch with your office to see if they get any leads."
They obviously complied, Laurie asking
"And how's Peter doing?"
I sighed, air making my mustache move
"Says he's fine, seems distant, even in writing. Time will tell."
Joe's pov
I turned to the rest of my family
"Any chance there's a third wave of the Templar looking for vengeance?"
Uncle Danny started going for his phone
"Let me ask my CIs, the crooked cops always go to them first."
After a while, he received a message back and spoke
"No, not this time. They, whoever got Gramps, did not kill the detail, did not just shootout the car, or tires, or detail for that matter."
My Aunts Jess and Maria started observing the scene
"There was a struggle outside and inside the patrol cars. The detail officers were also taken, unless they were shot and dumped further away."
Uncle Jamie piped up next
"No trace of blood, though. Unless someone heard screams, they gagged the detail or knocked them out, took them somewhere else, and killed them there. Or, they're captive with Pop, but in a way that they can't help Pop escape."
I spoke up again
"TARU or satellites got anything? I know we can't involve other people, but their databases are fair game. Any cellphones to ping locations?"
Aunt Jess spoke next
"No cellphones to ping, running the databases now. Eddie, why don't you and Jamie run a canvass to see if anyone in the neighborhood saw anything of what happened with Pops and his detail?"
The funny thing is that my Aunt and Uncle had already been heading to do just that. I guess that when it came to police work my family really did have a group-think type of thing going. Uncle Danny spoke up
"Joe, while they do that, why don't you and I try to catch the Cheese Freak again? Database isn't picking up anything on him at this moment either, but I'm patched into various cheese and macaroni stores, restaurants and fairs nearby, along with disposable phone stores and cheap clothes stores. He's gonna need those if he just got fresh out of the slammer. And with the food fairs and festivals, maybe he will fall into old habits."
So, for the time being, we divided the workload of the two cases between the six of us. Hewitt was faster to find, as we expected. In the time he had spent away from society, he had been busy. Right before the attack on my mother, he had gotten a woman pregnant, then when he got out, he killed the mother of his baby girl, and then turned the torture onto her. The same torture he had inflicted upon me and my mother. The same torture we had survived, but that I remember, and, since I had been one year old, the same torture that was one of my first core memories. I turned to Uncle Danny, who was whipping out his handcuffs
"Mind if I take this one?"
Handing me the cuffs, he smiled at me
"This one's yours."
Normally, I would not promote revenge, but Hewitt had done so much to my family that I had needed to be the one to slap the cuffs on him. ACS took his daughter Stacy away, headed to the hospital, and I made a mental note to talk to Laurie about a possibility of putting our foster care license to good use, since my mother and I were the only ones who could truly relate to what this child had lived through.
My Aunt Maria broke me out of my thoughts
"I got a ping from the frequency of the radios the detail uses! They're..." her brow arched in confusion
"Under the Statue of Liberty."
I shrugged
"Probably banking on us going easier on the gunfire because of the tourists. Makes sense."
She nodded
"Yeah, makes sense. I'm dispatching 911 to the bridge."
Uncle Danny nodded
"Good. I updated Dad on everything."
After devising a plan, we got Aunt Eddie and Uncle Jamie to redirect the crowd of tourists away from Lady Liberty. Once the coast was clear, we double checked each other's vests and went in, fanning out and securing the area. The statue itself had been cleared. Suddenly, I heard a muffled noise right under our feet
"Guys! Under the statue!"
Once we got under it, we found some members of the Ace Double Treys, a prominent gang Uncle Danny and my Aunts dealt with a lot. They had chloroformed the detail members, along with Pop. A not-so-small brawl ensued, but we soon had the ADT's collared, and returned to 1PP with Pop and the detail, from where Grandpa would follow Pop and the detail to the hospital, just to get them checked out. The rest of the family was relieved with the update, but I still had one thing to talk to Laurie about, puling her aside while my Mom entertained our three nosy children
"Hewitt killed the mother of his daughter. She's two years old, but he treated her the same way he did me. Stacy needs a home, even if it's a temporary one."
Hugging me, my wonderful wife spoke
"She has one with us, for as long as she wants one."
I kissed her
"I love you."
She smiled, hands in my curly hair
"I love you more."
After a thorough inspection, ACS deemed it safe that Stacy stayed under mine and Laurie's care. That following Sunday, it was Sean who had a surprise for us, with his girlfriend in attendance. She shared his major, and seemed like a match from above given the way he often talked about her. It was only fitting that his older brother Jack had also brought Mia around again to meet his younger brother's girlfriend. Sean spoke up
"Guys, this is my girlfriend and fellow mech engineer major, Teresa, or Reese. Ree, this is almost all of my family."
That elicited a chuckle from the newcomer, and we introduced ourselves one by one. She fit right in, especially taking a shine to Mia, much to the delight of Uncle Danny's boys.
The next week we would be gathering at the Bay Ridge house on Wednesday as well as Sunday. As for the reason, Peter was finally coming home.