Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this one. If it seems a little rushed at the end, sorry, but I just had to get it finished. Moving On Author: Louise Email: lj_brown2@yahoo.com Disclaimer: I do not own Stingers or have anything to do with the show. 17 years later "Ellen, are you home," Sean called out as he walked through the front door. "Yeah, I'm upstairs," she replied. Sean made his way into their bedroom looking as though he had some bad news. "You're home early," Mac greeted as she kissed him softly on the lips. But when she sensed his mood she pulled back slightly. "What is it?" "Do you remember Damien Foster?" Mac thought for a few moments, "the name rings a bell, but I couldn't tell you the reason why. Why do you want to know?" "When you were still in undercover, your unit arrested him for murder." "Yeah, possibly." "He broke out of prison early this morning and when prison guards searched through his cell, they found a `tell all' book, about how he is going to exact revenge on those responsible for putting him behind bars – the undercover cops." Mac scoffed, "he wouldn't know anyone's names. He only would have known our cover names!" Sean shook his head, "somehow he found out your names." "Everyone's?" "He named everyone's, but he mainly wants to kill Peter Church and Angie Piper." Mac sat down on her bed, "it was their case. Am I named at all?" "Your name is in the book, but he doesn't want you dead." "If he doesn't want me dead then why name me at all." Sean took a deep breath, "because he wants you to hurt inside when he kills Church!" "Killing Pete isn't going to hurt me…not anymore at least!" Mac stated as she stood sharply pretending to be busy. Sean looked at her waiting to see if she said anything else, but she didn't. "Why would he want that?" "Beats me," she replied shrugging. Sean wasn't satisfied with her answer, so he turned her around so she was facing him. "Ellen…what is going on? Why does this guy think that if he kills Pete your heart will be broken?" "Sean, it is just something from the past, so can we just forget about it?" This was the first time Mac had even thought about Pete in years and all she wanted to do was to forget about him for good. "Mum, Dad, I'm home," a voice called out from downstairs. Mac saw this as a chance to get out of the discussion, although Sean wouldn't forget it. "Hi Caitlin. How was school?" Mac asked her daughter as her eyes were fixed on the young man holding Caitlin's hand. "No different to any other day…Mum, dad, I'd like you to meet Brad, he's partnering me for my deb." "Deb?" Mac asked surprised. "Yeah, remember we talked about it the other night?" Caitlin replied with a cheeky grin. Mac shook her head, "I don't recall discussing that!" "Ah, nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Peck." Brad greeted trying to get Caitlin out of trouble. Sean smiled as he shook Brad's hand, "yeah, nice to meet you too mate." Mac managed a smile, "so Brad, how old are you?" "Sixteen." "You look older," Mac stated with suspicious eyes. "Mum!" Something hit Mac as she watched Brad smile. It was a smile so familiar to her. Then she pictured Pete in her mind, with the same smile. Mac looked back at Brad and shook her head thinking, it couldn't be…could it? "Mum, are you alright?" Mac's mind was snapped back to present. "Yeah, fine. Brad, are you staying for dinner?" "No thankyou…it's dad's birthday so I better head home." My god, it has to be, Mac thought again. "So, are you going to tell me now about why Pete dying would hurt you so much?" Mac knew that until she gave him an answer he would understand, there was no way Sean would let this go. "Let's just say that before you and I got married, his death would have torn me apart, but now, it wouldn't mean that much!" There, I said it. As Sean was about to open his mouth again, Mac quickly pulled him to her and kissed him deeply. "Now, shut up and make love to me," she ordered with a smile. "How could I refuse that?" Sean replied, kissing Mac deeply as they feel onto the bed. Mac was woken up by the sound of her mobile ringing "Mackenzie," she answered sleepily. As she listened to the other end, Mac moved away from Sean's hold and flicked her bedside lamp on. "…Yeah, I'll be right there…" Mac put her phone down while she got dressed. She quietly tiptoed over to Sean and kissed him on the forehead, "Sean, I have to go into work." "Mmm, okay," he replied half asleep. But soon after Mac walked out the front door, he was awoken by the sound of his mobile ringing. "Yeah, Peck speaking…must be where Ellen's headed…who?" Shit, thought Sean as he hung up the phone and got dressed himself. * Mac couldn't believe what she saw when she walked into the room where the victim lay. "Her name is Angie Stone," stated a uniformed officer as he approached Mac. "I know," she replied in a shaky voice. "We worked together in undercover." Mac wiped away her tears as she looked around the crime scene for evidence. Immediately she recognised the work – Damien Foster. Shit, she thought, he wasted no time. "Constable," Mac snapped. "Can you organise for another officer to guard Peter Church?" "Yes, I'll get onto that now." The officer said as he hurried off. Mac looked over to the small media gathering outside Angie's house and recognised one figure standing in the front. She stormed out of the house and met him. "You must have been quick to find out where I was going after I left!" "The editor called me, okay?" Mac didn't reply as she was close to tears yet again. "So, do you think it's Foster?" He whispered quietly so the other journalists couldn't hear. "Don't you even think about using me to get a scoop!" She snapped. Sean reached out to hold his hand to Mac's face, but she slapped it away. "Ellen, it's just off the record for the moment." "No! I have a job to do, so if you don't mind," she said as she stormed back into the house. Mac picked up a photograph of Angie, Oscar and their three sons, Cameron, Jason and Mark. "Apparently her husband and sons have gone off on a fishing trip with his father," said the same officer as before. "Do we have a number to contact them on?" Mac asked as she continued to stare at the photograph. "The neighbour is getting it now." "Ah, can you give it to me as soon as you get it…I'd like to make the call?" The officer nodded, "yes of course." * "Dad, how come there's a cop sitting in a car across the road?" Pete walked over and had a look. "I have no idea," he replied as he picked up the phone and dialled the number for police headquarters. "Good morning, it's Peter Church here…I'm just wanting to know why there is a police officer guarding my house? Right…who ordered it? Really…do you know why? What? Ah, thankyou Constable…" Brad looked over at his father who looked as though he received some pretty bad news. "What is it Dad?" "Someone your mother and I used to work with was murdered last night." "Murdered? Do they think we're in danger?" Pete shook his head trying not to alarm his son, "no, it's just a… precaution. Listen mate, you better get off to school. Do you want a lift?" "No thanks Dad, I'm meeting Caitlin and walking with her." "Alright…just be careful son." * "Brad, are you alright?" Caitlin asked as she noticed the quietness in Brad's behaviour as they walked to school. "Not really, no." Caitlin turned to face him with a worried look on her face, "do you want to talk about it?" They both stopped and sat down on a small brick fence. "Last night a friend, an ex-colleague of mum and dad's was murdered. The cops are worried that our family could be in danger so they've put a guard outside our house." "That must have been the same murder that mum was called out to, she went to one where there was an ex-cop." Brad looked at her surprised, "your mum's a cop?" "Yeah…well, you didn't tell me that your parents were cops!" She stated matter-of-factly. "Ex-cops," he corrected her. "So what is your mum?" "Ah, detective inspector…I think. Head of homicide, anyway. What were your parents?" Brad shook his head, "I don't really know…they haven't told me much, just that they were cops and because of what unit they were in they couldn't talk about it." "What unit was that?" "I don't even know that!" "I do," said a voice from behind them. "Shit!" Brad and Caitlin exclaimed as they jumped a mile high. Brad turned to see who it was, but didn't recognise them, "who the hell are you?" "Just someone from your daddy's past!" He hissed. "Oh, and your mummy's," he said as he turned to Caitlin. "Well, aren't the two of you lucky that mummy and daddy didn't hit it off all those years ago, otherwise you would be brother and sister instead of boyfriend and girlfriend." Brad and Caitlin looked at one another confused. "What the hell is this nut on about?" Caitlin whispered, but Foster still heard. "Who are you calling a nut?" He asked as he pulled out his gun from behind. "Get in the van," he demanded, pointing to the black van parked in front of them. Caitlin was hesitant, but when she saw Brad motioning his eyes to do as the guy said, she moved towards the back of the van. Foster opened the door, "you, tie her up, and if you try anything, I'll place a bullet right into her pretty little head!" Brad picked up the rope and tied it around Caitlin's ankles, then around her wrists. He did it so that it looked like it was hard, but instead, Caitlin would have no worries wriggling her way out of it. "Now, you come here," he said to Brad. Foster then started tying up Brad, harder than Brad's job on Caitlin. When Foster had finished, he slammed the door shut and locked it for further protection. The front part of the van was blocked off from the back, so they couldn't see where they were going, nor could Foster see what they were up to. "Brad," Caitlin whispered as she already began wiggling out of the rope. " I can call mum, I've got my phone in my pocket." "Good. Are you right to get out?" Caitlin nodded, "yeah, I just have to…got it!" After discarding the rope, Caitlin pulled out her phone and searched through the numbers in her directory. "Is it ringing?" Brad asked eagerly. "Yep…shit! There's no bloody answer." "Office or mobile?" "Office. I'll try her mobile…It's ringing…bloody hell, message bank!" Caitlin listened as she waited for the tone, "Mum, it's Caitlin. Some guy has taken Brad and I, he knows you and Brad's father, but I don't know his name. I don't know where he's taking us, but he has a black van, no windows in the back and he didn't have a license plate. If I know more I'll call you, love you mum, please find us, please!" Caitlin looked back at Brad as she hung up the phone, her eyes showing signs she was scared. Brad leant over and held her, whispering, "Caitlin, it'll be alright. They'll find us…but what we need to do is work out a plan!" * Mac took a sip from her cup of coffee, "how did the boys take it?" "Pretty hard…although Mark doesn't really understand. All he knows is that his big brothers are upset about something, so is his daddy, and his mum is nowhere to be seen!" Oscar replied tiredly. "Not to mention all these cops crawling around the place!" Mac paused before continuing, "what about you?" Oscar started to break down in tears, "Mac I love her so much, why did this have to happen?" "Oscar, I know…I'm sorry, Ssh." Mac hugged him tightly as he continued to cry over the loss of his wife. "We'll find him, I'll make sure of that!" Mac was more determined than ever to get Foster for what he had done to her friend. * Pete answered the phone, "hello…yes it is…ah, no, Brad should be school…didn't he? Right, thanks for letting me know…bye." "Who was that?" Asked Danni as she walked into the lounge. "Brad's principal. It seems our son has decided to wag school today." Danni laughed, "as they say, like father, like son!" "I never wagged!" Pete defended himself strongly. "Yeah, right." Pete's mood changed as he went to grab his keys, "I'm going to see Oscar, are you coming?" "No, I better wait here in case Brad turns up or the school rings again…but let him know I'm thinking of him, and I'll try to see him as soon as I can." "I will," said Pete as he left. * As Mac was searching for her car keys after leaving Oscar's house, she felt her phone vibrating. "Mackenzie…yes Mr. Pearson…she didn't turn up? If she does eventually get there, will you let me know? Thankyou sir…" After Mac finished with the call, she turned the ring tone on after having it on silent while she was visiting Oscar. Mac was alerted to the fact there was a message and she had to ring message bank. "You have one new voice message. Message received at 8.45 am today, `Mum, it's Caitlin. Some guy has taken Brad and I, he knows you and Brad's father, but I don't know his name. I don't know where he's taking us, but he has a black van, no windows in the back and he didn't have a license plate. If I know more I'll call you, love you mum, please find us, please!'" Shit, thought Mac as she sped off to police headquarters. * "Mac, I just the rang the school. Brad's surname is Church and his parents are…" "Peter and Danni Church!" Mac cut off her colleague. "You know them?" Mac nodded, "yeah, I used to be their boss in undercover. Can you contact them and ask them to meet me in my office?" "Sure. Do you think it's linked to the murder of that other ex- operative last night?" "Yes, I'm afraid there is the highest possibility that it is." Mac sat down at her desk with her head in her hands. She still had one more call to make. "Jane, hi it's Ellen…I've had better days…is Sean in? Can't you interrupt it, it's quite urgent…Jane, trust me, he'd want to be interrupted for this! Fine, can you just tell Sean that his daughter has been abducted and when he has the time, to call me back… thankyou!" Mac hung the phone up abruptly, thinking that this couldn't be happening. * The van finally pulled to a stop. Brad and Caitlin heard Foster's footprints approach the back door before he swung it open. They were blinded by the bright light that was now covering them. "Where are we?" Caitlin asked as she slowly got used to the light. "Why don't you come out and have a look, eh?" Foster replied as he pulled Caitlin by the arm and then Brad. Brad and Caitlin looked around at their surroundings – bushland. "Now, we are going to go for a nice long walk. Come on then, you two start," Foster said as he motioned for Brad and Caitlin to lead them off. * There was a knock on Mac's office door, "Mac, Brad's parents are here." "Thankyou Daniel, can you send them through?" A few moments later, Danni and Pete appeared in Mac's office. It was the first time Mac had seen either of them since Pete left the force ten years ago and things were still pretty difficult between the three. Mac knew that Danni and Pete were married; she was even invited to the wedding, but didn't go. But Pete and Danni didn't know that she was married or even had children. There was an awkward silence as they stood and watched each other, nobody knowing what to say after ten years apart. Mac broke the silence in a professional manner; after all, she did have a job to do. "Take a seat. Would either of you like a tea or coffee?" "No thankyou," Pete replied. Danni spoke up, "I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee thanks Mac." Mac went and got Danni and herself a drink. "Any leads?" Pete asked straight away. Mac picked up a file from her desk and handed it to Pete, "do you remember this guy?" "Yeah, Angie and I worked on this case. But he was put away for life, wasn't he?" "He was," Mac paused as she looked down at her coffee, trying to stay composed. "But he escaped from prison early yesterday morning." Pete's gaze levelled Mac's, "is he the bastard responsible for Angie's murder?" "So far the evidence suggest it's Foster. We lifted his fingerprints from inside the house and footprints from outside one of the bedroom windows." The office door was suddenly swung open and Sean walked in. "Ellen, have you heard from Caitlin…is she alright?" Mac scoffed, "I'm surprised you care. We don't know, we haven't heard anything since the message she left me." "What makes you think I don't care about our daughter?" "Wait," Pete cut in. "Caitlin is your daughter?" He asked as he pointed to Sean and Mac. "Yes," Mac replied coolly. "Sean, do you remember Peter Church?" "Vaguely," Sean replied with a nod. "This is his wife Danni. They are Brad's parents who was also taken." Mac was once again interrupted by her phone ringing, "Mackenzie…same description as Caitlin gave…thanks Daniel." "What is it?" Pete, Danni and Sean asked simultaneously as Mac hung up the phone. "A black van, matching the same description as Caitlin's was caught on eight red light cameras along Dandenong Road." "Do you think he's headed for Mount Dandenong?" Pete asked. Mac nodded, "bushland is a prime place to dump…" Mac paused as she realised she wasn't speaking about any abducted person, but about her daughter and the son of the man she once loved, and still loved, quietly. The room was once again filled with silence, but then something clicked in Mac's head, "hang on. Didn't Foster have a little hideaway up there?" "Yeah, some kind of shack," Pete recalled. "Right," Mac started as she picked up her phone again, "Daniel, can you get the police helicopter to fly over Mount Dandenong? He could still have a shack up there…and also get onto special ops? Thanks… we'll head up there now…bye…" * "How much further is this place of yours?" Caitlin asked exhaustedly. "Shut up and keep walking! You're slowing us down!" Caitlin felt the tip of the gun digging deeper into her back. "Well then, why don't you stand at the front and lead us, so we follow your pace!" Foster laughed, "you think I'd be that bloody stupid? Listen here girlie, if I let the two of you walk behind me, I'd need to have eyes in the back of my head now, wouldn't I?" "Fine, you walk at our pace." Foster pulled Caitlin back to where he was walking. "I've got a better idea. You walk beside me, while lover boy here walks in front of us. If you try something, a bullet will go straight into his skull, you got it?" "Yes," replied Brad and Caitlin together. Suddenly Brad tripped over, stumbling to the ground. "Get up ya wimp!" Yelled Foster. Brad grabbed at his ankle, "I can't. I think I've broken my ankle," he said feigning pain. "Just great! Give us a look at it." While Foster rolled up the leg of Brad's pants to look at his ankle, Brad was signalling something to Caitlin with his eyes. Eventually Caitlin caught on and looked behind her. A think branch was lying on the ground, and although Caitlin had to take a few steps to reach it, she did so quietly. Before picking it up, she unravelled the loose rope that tied her hands together. "Aarrgghh," Brad cried out in pain as Foster fiddled with his shoe trying to remove it. "Stop ya bloody whining, or else I'll put this through your head to really give you something to cry about," he yelled as he pulled the gun out in front of Brad's nose. By this time, Caitlin had finally made her way back to where Foster and Brad were and hid the branch behind her back. "How bad is it?" "There, got the bloody sock off. Well, you certainly are a wimp…" "SMACK!" Caitlin whacked Foster over the back of the head with quite some force. The gun fell onto the road and Brad picked it up, while Caitlin untied the rope from Brad and then tied Foster up to a tree. "Great work, Brad!" Said Caitlin with a smile just like her mother's. "I liked what you did better!" Brad laughed. Caitlin pulled her mobile out. "Damn! No signal!" "Hey what's that?" Brad asked referring to a loud noise coming from above. "Sounds like a chopper," Caitlin replied trying to get a better glimpse. "Get your jacket and wave it about." * "The officers in the helicopter have found the black van deep in the scrub. They said from their vantage point it looked as though it was deserted." Mac stated as she got off the phone. Pete shook his head, "there's no way that the chopper will find them on foot through that stuff!" "Let's hope they do," said Mac as she turned to Sean who held her hand supportively. * "Here it comes," said Caitlin as the helicopter approached their position. "It's no use, they can't see us," Brad called out dejected. Caitlin looked around for a better spot. "Up there," she yelled pointing to a clearing. "Quick, before the chopper goes." Brad and Caitlin ran over to the spot, and they could clearly see the helicopter, which could also them and hovered in the sky above. * Mac got off the phone, "they've found Brad and Caitlin in a clearing just up ahead." Mac pointed her head to where they could see the helicopter idling in the sky. Pete breathed a sigh of relief, "oh, thank god…could they tell if they were hurt?" "No. They couldn't even see Foster," Mac said with a worried look on her face. "Maybe he did a runner when he heard the chopper coming," said Sean as he pulled the car to a stop. Mac shook her head defiantly, "that's not how Foster works. Either the kids ran off from him, or…he's hiding and waiting for Pete to turn up." "Well then, let's go find out," said Pete grabbing his gun and heading off into the trees. * "Why aren't they doing anything?" Asked Brad as he continued to watch the helicopter which was still hovering above them. Caitlin shrugged, "they can hardly land that thing down here!" Brad's head turned at the sound of twigs crackling underfoot. "Did you hear something?" "No, why?" Caitlin asked as she looked around, not seeing anything. "I just thought I did." Caitlin smiled, "it's probably just the…" She stopped as she heard a noise this time. Brad and Caitlin turned around to the direction the sound came from. "Shit!" She started, "I thought you were knocked out…and we tied you up!" "You must be as shit as your boyfriend at tying people up," Foster replied, laughing in their faces. Caitlin grabbed hold of the gun, which was lying on the ground behind Brad. She felt her grip tighten around it, waiting for the right moment to produce it in front of Foster. Finally she pulled it out, pointing straight at Foster's head. "Caitlin, what are you doing?" Brad asked watching the gun carefully. "Getting him back for killing one of my mum's best friend's, and trying to hurt us and our families!" Brad looked up at the chopper, not knowing what to do. There was no way the police officers in the helicopter could see Foster, he was covered by the trees. All they could see was a young girl holding a gun, ready to fire. * "Pol-air 1 to bravo 1, the young girl has hold of a gun and is pointed to someone out of our vision," Mac grabbed the radio upon hearing this. "This is bravo 1, where is the boy?" "He is standing beside the girl." Mac looked back at Pete, "could it be Foster?" Pete nodded as the group picked up their pace heading in the direction of the helicopter. "I see them…Mac, it is Foster," said Pete quietly. Mac nodded and walked closer towards Caitlin, Brad and Foster. "Caitlin sweetie, it's mum." Caitlin turned towards where the voice came from, but couldn't see anything. "That's not funny," she yelled at Foster, thinking he was mimicking her mother. "What are ya talking about girlie? That wasn't me," he spat back. "Don't bullshit me!" Caitlin pulled the safety cap off the gun and held her aim steady at Foster's head. "Caitlin, don't do this," Mac yelled again as she appeared next to Brad. Caitlin turned to her mother, handing the gun carefully to her, "of course I won't…I'd rather see this bastard rot in prison." Mac breathed deeply as she hugged her daughter tightly, relieved to have her back safely in her arms. Pete laughed as he opened the gun, "did you know it was empty?" "Yeah, I emptied it," Caitlin replied looking down at the bullets on the ground. "You didn't think I'd really shoot him, did you?" Mac shook her head, as Sean came to hold his daughter as well. "Hey, we were worried about you." Caitlin pulled back, "so, can I still make my deb?" "Oh, alright!" Mac replied with a smile. * Mac and Pete stood in the observation room, watching as Brad and Caitlin were questioned about their abduction. "Who would have thought, eh?" Pete asked grinning. "Who would have thought what?" "That my son would be dating your daughter." Mac smiled, "Caitlin must be as bad as me at choosing boyfriends." "Very funny…but she is very much like you – she knows charm when she sees it!" Pete turned to face Mac, running a hand down her cheek. "Fate tore our love apart…but now our kids have the chance to share the love we couldn't continue."