| Title: For the sake of love Part: Thirty Five By: Spanky Content Warning: Adult language, and content. Previously: Sherry and Nicci make plans to go see a movie Authors Notes: The next day ........... While talking with his crew Captain Stanley looked up to watch Sherry as she quietly entered the dayroom." Hey Sherry, I thought you were going to see a movie with Nicci?" " Oh we were, but Nicci decided to go to the mall with some of her friends from school" She said with a hint of saddness while taking a seat at the table. " Wait, are you telling me that Nicci didn't go to the movies with you?" Roy said not likeing what was being said. " No Uncle Roy. She decided to go to the mall with some kids from school, I didn't want to go, and since I already bought my ticket I stayed and watched the movie. Then after the movie I walked around a little then came here."She said her voice rimmed with worry for her friend." Uncle Roy I'm kind of worried about Nicci. Maybe I shouldn't be but I am." She confessed " Why? what's wrong with Nicci?" Roy wanted to know. For a moment Sherry stared downward at the table thinking about the situation at school. She didn't like the thought of the others using Nicci for her money but to her it was a strong possiblity. Knowing that she had to tell Roy about her suspicions she spoke." I don't know Uncle Roy, I just find it a little strange how she was treated before. How the kids were mean to her when they found out she was pregnant the first time and now they're buddy buddy with her. I mean, they're always doing things like sharpening her pencil and stuff. One of them even bought her a gift for the baby." Listening to Sherry's explanation Roy asked." You think they're her friends because of her money, don't you?" " It's a strong possibilty Uncle Roy." She said " I do know that one day Nicci and I were talking and she said she would give anything to have a lot of friends like the more popular girls at school. Uncle Roy, I'm not sure but I think Nicci's so blinded by all the attention that she's getting from them that she cant see the truth. I do know that she said she had to go to the bank before going to the mall." As Roy sat listening to Sherry's words he didn't like the thought that Nicci was being used nor did he like the idea of Nicci blowing her money on a false friendship. He knew that Sherry had legitimate reasons for being conerned. So being the caring and loving father he was, he knew that he needed to try to stop Nicci from making a big mistake that might cost her her future and the furture of his grand baby. With that thought he asked " Where is she now?" " I Don't know Uncle Roy, that was almost three hours ago, She could be just about anywhere." " Roy, Why don't you and Johnny take the squad and see if you can find her. She's probably still at the mall." Captain Stanley said. " Capt's right. We're talking about teenage girls and you know they spend all day there and do nothing." Chet said concerned for Nicci's welfare. Getting to their feet, Johnny and Roy headed for the door only to have Nicci barge in past them. Watching as she stomped over to the couch slamming her purse and jacket down, he as well as his friends could tell that something had upset her by he way her face was redened and her eyes held a haze. " Nicci, what's wrong?" He asked making his way over to her. "WHAT'S WRONG?? I'M PISSED OFF DAD, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG." She said not holding back her temper. Seeing Nicci in the state she was in Roy urged " Nicci, I want you to calm down and tell me what happened." " Listen to your father Nic, It's not good for you or the baby to get this upset" Johnny said as fact. Hearing her Uncle Johnny's words, Nicci began to pace the floor while taking deep breaths to try to calm herself down. Although she was still extremely irritated she began to speak." You want to know what happened? well I'll tell you what happened. I went to the record shop in side the mall with my so called friends. But I didn't see anything I wanted or needed so after a looked around, I decided to go get an ice cream cone while I waited for the others." She stopped then taking a deep breath she continued "Then we decided to get some lunch. I'm thinking a hamburger at McDonalds right, WRONG. I find myself at the fanciest damn resturant in town. Well after suffering from sticker shock for what they wanted for a fricking hamburger, I ordered the cheepest thing which was a small fruit salad and a water, even that was eight bucks. Anyway so now its time to pay my bill. However, unaware to me, my asshole friends spent all their money at the mall and then expected me to pay for their shit." She stopped as her eyes began to water for she was still very shaken by her ordeal. " So what happened Nicci?" Roy wanted to know " I paid my bill and got the fuck out of there." She told her father as she hung her head wiping her tears. " What about your friends Nicci? Did you pay for them?" " Hell no I didn't pay for them." She stated" They could have dish water up to their elbows and I wouldn't care. Dad I may put up with a lot of shit but I ain't gonna be used." She said as she began to cry Taking her in his arms he soothed." Come on sweety it's okay." Over her sobs he added. " Nicci, please don't cry, they had it coming and you had every right. I'm very proud of you for having the courage to do what you did." Backing away from her fathers arms Nicci managed to speak." I'm not crying about that daddy." " Then why the tears?" Roy asked thinking to himeself that he must have missed something during her fit. With her steady stream of tears she said." I didn't get my hamburger, and I really wanted a hamburger dad." She sobbed Trying hard not to laugh at his over emotional daughter, he turned to his friends. Then turning once again to face Nicci he offered ." Why don't you and Sherry walk the ten blocks to the burger joint down the street and get a couple hamburgers on me" He smiled then pulling out a ten dollar bill he handed it to Nicci. Hearing the girls laugh as they ran through the bay, the crew at station 51 could do nothing more but to look at each other. It was odvious to them that they had just witnessed Nicci changing three differant emotions within a ten minute period. Looking at his friends with a smile Roy chuckeled." Hey what can I say, there's no rules and if there were she would break everyone of them." With Nicci's fit still fresh in his head, Captain Stanley teased" Isn't there a cure for that DeSoto temper Pal." " Nope, not that I'm aware of." Roy said. Then with a smile he added." You know it not the temper I'm worried about it's my survival I'm concerned with. And to think I still have about four months to go." Putting his two cents in Johnny spoke." Well it's a good thing your the adventurous type, because living with Nicci has got to be an adventure all by itself.". With the laughter of his friends Roy concluded " Yeap, I just hope the first words of my grandbaby is something other then a cuss word." ............ Unaware that danger was lurking the girls managed to walk two blocks out of the ten. As Nicci walked next to her true friend she suddenly got an overwhelming urge that she needed to use the bathroom. Stopping she turned to Sherry and said. " Sherry, I got to go to the bathroom now." Knowing that when her freind said she had to go, she really had to go bad Sherry offered"Okay you go to the bathroom and I'll walk ahead and get in line." Although the streets held only a couple cars and the side walks were bare with the exception of a few people, she knew that because it was lunch time they would probably end up waiting in a long line. "Okay I'll meet you there." Nicci said leaving Sherry to walk alone as she scurried to the nearest public restroom. When through, Nicci began her journey closing the gap between her and Sherry who was waiting for her. While walking, Nicci could not shake the feeling that she was being followed. This feeling was confirmed when she looked down to see an extra shadow walking close to her own. Out of fear she began to walk faster only to be stopped by a man putting his hand on her shoulder. Turning she was face to face with a somewhat large man who appeared to belong to the lower class of society by the way he was dressed and by the fact that she could smell the stale aroma of whiskey on his breath." What do you want? why are you following me?" She asked " Your dad wants to see you." He said bluntly " Dad, Why does he want me? he knows me and Sherry's getting a hamburger." She said trying to make sence of the man's words. " I don't know, he sent me for you." He said taking Nicci by the arm. " Well okay." Nicci said as she started walking with the man. Then seeing that they were walking towards a black utility van she stopped. For some reason she senced that something was terribly wrong and for whatever reason something inside told her not to go. Pulling away from the man's grasp she refused." No, I'm not going with you." Then in the state of panic she ran away from the man who had began making advances on her. "Your coming with me you dirty bitch." He yelled over her screams of terror. Closing the distance between them, the man reached out. Then using full force he shoved Nicci to the ground making her to land hard on her fragile tummy. Then punching her in the face causing blood to spew out of her mouth he added" Your dad wants to punish you." The man added. Seeing that Nicci was unconsious from the blow he delivered, the man picked her up and headed for the waiting van, unaware that he had left behind one of her shoes that she had lost during her struggle. ............. Looking down at her watch, Sherry learned that an hour had past since she and Nicci seperated. Come on Nicci, how long does it take? you cant possibly be going to the bathroom this long. She thought to herself while once again looking at her watch. Deciding it was best, Sherry set out to see what was taking Nicci so long. Coming to the place where she last saw Nicci, Sherry called out " Nicci." Not getting an answer she called out again. " Nicci, where are you? You better not be playing a joke on me." She warned. For what seemed like a life time, Sherry called out to Nicci, With no answer she began walking around. In her search she spotted Nicci's shoe laying on the sidewalk. As she walked closer she could see the blood that surrounded it. With fear she ran to the nearest pay phone ............. "Hello station 51, Kelly here can I help you? Chet announced into the receiver." Sherry slow down..........." He said over Sherry's loud sobs. Not understanding Sherry he looked at Mike." Mike go get Capt, I can't understand a word she's saying." Grabbing the phone from Chet, Captain Stanley spoke." Sherry you have to calm down and tell me whats wrong....." Captain Stanley said. He knew that Sherry for the most part was cool headed and to hear her in the state that she was in he knew that something was very wrong" Sherry we're on our way, but you have to tell us where you and Nicci are." Even though she was crying in hysterics Captain Stanley figured out where they were. With that he assured " Stay where you are, we're on our way. After hanging up the phone Captain turned to Mike." Stoker get a hold of Gage and DeSoto." he ordered fearing that something was wrong with Nicci ......... Arriving at the scene the engine was greeted by a half a dozen police cars. Fearing the worst Captain Stanley made a mad dash to Sherry who was talking with a police officer. " Sherry what's wrong? he wanted to know "It's Nicci dad, she's gone." She sobbed " What do you mean gone? Sherry your've got to calm down and tell us what happened." Captain Stanley said, his voice filled with concern as the engine crew gathered around him After taking several deep breaths Sherry spoke." Dad, Nicci had to go to the bathroom so while she went to the restroom, I went to the burger place and got in line. I waited and when she didn't come, I came back here to see what was wrong. I couldn't find her dad, all I found was her shoe." She stopped holding up the blood stained shoe. " I'm so scared." she managed while going deep in her fathers chest. Arriving at the scene both Roy and Johnny looked at each other then at their Captain as he held Sherry . " I wonder what's going on?" Roy asked " I don't know." Johnny said shaking his head Hopping out of the squad, Roy darted his eyes around nervously trying to spot Nicci through the small crowd of on lookers that had formed. Not seeing her, he walked up to his Captain with fear welling up he asked " Where's Nicci?" Looking towards Roy with tears of his own, Captain Stanley knew that he must tell Roy what he knew about Nicci. So looking towards his men he gestured Mike to look after Sherry while he told Roy about his daughter. Taking in his Captain's words, it became clear to Roy that his worst nightmare had become a realitiy when he learned that one of his childen was kidnapped. Feeling his knees giving out there was nothing that Roy could do but to sit on the running board of the engine. In a state of shock Roy buried his face in his hands to hide his tears. "Is this the victim's father? I'd like to get some information." An officer asked walking up to Captain Stanley " Yes, this is Roy DeSoto." Captain Stanley stated. Getting down to Roy's level Captain Stanley placed his hand gently on Roy's shoulder. " Roy the officer here needs some information from you." As soon as Roy looked up,Captain Stanley's heart sunk deep in his chest as the look on his friends face was lined with fear. Getting up shakenly, Roy turned to face the officer." What would you like to know?" he asked. After giving all the information, He asked almost in plea." Tell me how long will it take for you to find her." " Well Mr DeSoto, It could take a while. Three hours have past since your daughter was last seen. A lot of things can happen to your daughter in three hours. To be honest the more time passes the less likely that person will be found. This is a very dificult case because there are no leads. And there's only one wittness that came forward. It's not un common for people to turn and look the other way when they know that a crime is being committed. They do this because they don't want to get involved. Folks keep to themselves if it doesn't effect them directly and they withhold vital information. This is especially true in big cities such as LA. But what we did learned from the wittness that did give a statement is that they heard your daughter screaming " The officer stopped. Noticing the look on the mans face in front of him he added. " Mr. DeSoto, we'll do everything we can to find her. The best thing you can do now is go back to your station, we'll contact you when and if we hear anything." Feeling a great sence of loss for his best friend Johnny spoke." Roy come on, I'll drive you back to the station." ........ As Roy slowly made his way into the day room he was greeted by his wife Joanne and his children Jenny and Chris. No words were needed for his tears of pain said it all. As he took his wife in his arms he was no longer able to contain his tears." Oh Jo she's gone." He cried. " I know Roy, I know." Joanne soothed with her own tears falling down her cheeks." McConikee called me and told me." Hanging his head as he faught his tears Chris cried" I'm sorry dad, I didn't mean it. It all my fault." "Chris it's not your fault, why do you say that." Roy wanted to know Picking up his head Chris exposed a portion of his pain through the steady flow of tears he was shedding. In a small voice he spoke." Cause dad the other day when I wish Nicci would disappear. When I went into my bedroom I prayed that Nicci would." Chris trailed off giving into more tears. " Chris what are you trying to say?" Roy's heart needed to know " I wished that Nicci would die." Chris stopped to swallow his tears." Oh dad I didn't mean it, I was just mad. " Chris stopped again." Dad I didn't mean it. I don't want Nicci to die." He caved giving into more tears. Holding out his fatherly arms towards his son Roy allowed Chris to crawl between. Through his son's tears he soothed." I know Chris. And it's not your fault you didn't know this would happen, none of us did. Hell I'm the one who set her to get a hamburger." Roy said giving into tears of his own. " Oh daddy what about the baby." Jenny cried wrapping her tiny arms around her fathers legs. Her tiny tears landing on her fathers boot. " Look we have to believe that Nicci and the baby are fine." Roy said in hopes to raise his family's mood as well as his own. He wanted so much to believe in his own words, even though the words of the police officer kept ringing in his ears, he had to hold on to his faith that Nicci would return home unharmed. Watching the DeSoto family embrace each other in tears, Chet hung his head. In silence he prayed for Nicci. Then feeling his eyes begin to water he left the room. In the locker room, Chet took a seat on the bench in front of his locker. As he shut his eyes he was reminded that just a short time ago Nicci allowed him to feel the movement of her un born child. Craddling his face in his opened hands and gave up on the tears that threatened. ..........Later that evening.......... With moon beams filtering through the leaves high above her head Nicci came to. As she took in her surroundings she could just make out three figures sitting around a camp fire just a few feet away. As she turned she could see what looked like an old army tent setting off in a distance. Trying to move her arms that was above her head she felt a sheering pain in both of her wrists from the rope that was holding her arms in place. Feeling a chill from the cold night air she looked down to find that she had been stripped of all clothing. Feeling very cold and alone she hung her head to cry. " You better shut up over there, if you know what's good for you." The figure barked out. Hearing those words, Nicci tried desprately to hush herself. But it was no use as she couldn't stop her tears from falling. "I told you to shut the hell up." the figure repeated while making his advance towards Nicci. Then open handedly slapping her in the head causing her to cry out in pain" I told you to shut the fuck up." He scolded grabbing Nicci roughly by the arms shaking her. Picking up her head, Nicci's heart sunk as she realized it was Roger who was standing before her." Oh no..... it can't be, your in jail." " No I was in jail, I broke out so that I can get back what you took away." Roger said After motioning to his imate friends to hold her down Roger cut Nicci his famous cold grin while starting his brutal attack. TBC |