The Life and Death of Girl Unknown (UNDER REVISION AND EDITING)

Chapter 13: Never Poke an Angry Dragon.

Chapter 13: Never Poke an Angry Dragon.

The next day Tommy Walker's parents arrived in town with the Feds. I didn't have to see them to know they were destroyed by what they saw. Juice said the poor kid was beaten up pretty badly. He looked just like Percy in every way, they both have shaggy dark brown hair, bronze-gold skin, a round but thin face, and a button nose.

Last night I watched them on the news begging, pleading for whoever did this to their son to step forward. Gemma almost laughed; we both knew that whoever did this was not going to come forward and take responsibility for their actions. Officer Parker came by this morning with agents Clawson and Andrews. They told Juice and I that they thought the same person who killed Tommy Walker has Percy and they wanted us and Tommy's parents to meet so we could do a press conference. We flat out said no. Juice and I didn't want our faces to be smothered all over the media; we just wanted to find our son. And since the police don't give a fuck about Percy but instead, covering their own asses, we're gonna have to get this done our way. Feds or no Feds.

The only sound that filled the golden morning was sheets shuffling and skin rubbing against skin. By now I was used to the now dull pain of the heeling tissue being rubbed and stretched again. Tara said that this was good to get out some stress. She told me this will help me think clearly and make the right decisions.

It was slow but nice. It was very quiet; unlike any other time when there is at least some amount of noise. But the, sheets shuffling, skin rubbing and hitched breathing was all I heard.

My fingernails dug into the curl of his shoulders one last time before the shrilling sound of Daylon crying seized us. Juice threw himself off of me and onto the mattress beside me. He sighed softly and put himself back into the white shorts, letting the elastic snap back against him. I slipped off the side of the bed, the oversized tee shirt fell down to my mid thighs rather that half way up my stomach when Juice had his hands aching to touch my swollen breasts. I pulled on a pair of plain black pyjama bottoms before I swung the bedroom door open and left it like that. Gemma went home last night but Chibbs took to the couch in our living room, so if he sees Juice lying on the bed in nothing but his Calvin Klein boxer briefs he won't suspect anything happened between us. I don't remember how we started that but we began at about 5:30 this morning.

I cringed with goosebumps when I entered the nursery to see the baby boy had managed to break his hands free from the homemade straitjacket. I slipped my hands under him and pulled the baby out of the crib, the straitjacket unravelled around him as I leaned him against my chest. I went to the corner and sat down in the rocking chair before pulling the bottom of the shirt up; Daylon immediately latched on. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back as I gently rocked us back and forth.

"How is he?" I heard the Scottish accent twang from the door. I opened my eyes to see Chibbs standing there in a black tee shirt and jeans, he kindly took his shoes off before falling asleep on my nice couch. I wasn't worried about him becoming awkward with the whole breast feeding thing, he was actually the one to put it in my head. I wanted to bottle feed Percy but he said it's a nice quiet bonding time between baby and mother. At the time I needed quiet and to have a special bond.

"He's good. He's just eating breakfast." I smiled softly for the first time in days. Chibbs' mouth drew a grim line underneath the salt and pepper facial hair. He came in and looked into the crib, pulling a stuffed animal from the corner.

"How are you and Juicy-boy holding up?" He questioned with genuine concern. My soft smile faded away and I looked down at the full head of thick, luscious dark hair before turning back to Chibbs.

"Considering everything happened so fast, I think we're both still reeling through the rapid fire of emotions and thoughts." I replied in a mothering tone. I knew I was still trying to deal with the postpartum depression from having Daylon, then Juice's suicide attempt, then my dad being in town, and now Percy being kidnapped. It made me worried for Juice's sanity.

"That's entirely understandable. But you've been so worried about Juice's sanity and emotions that you've been neglecting your own. I've read some of your writing in the office; you're really good. I think you should write out what you're feeling since we both know that since you found out about his little accident, you're not talking to him about your thoughts and feelings." He told me. He was right too. I have been neglecting telling Juice things because I don't know where the line between sanity and insanity is for him anymore. I used to know or at least I thought I used to know.

"Don't worry, we're dealing with our stress in other ways." I told him truthfully. It was after all the truth. We don't talk but we get rid of the stressing tension so our minds can deal with assessing the situation better. Before Chibbs could say anything the house phone began to ring, I assumed Juice picked up. I could hear him talking then moving around. Juice appeared in the doorway of the nursery, suddenly surprised to see us in the nursery together.

"It's for you." He extended his arm out with a tired look. My eyebrow knitted together curiously.

"Who is it?" I asked softly. Juice shrugged with the phone outwards towards me. Juice and I made a hand off. I took the phone from him and placing it up to my ear while he took Daylon to burp him,mother shirt fell down immediately.

"Hello?" I greeted unsure.

"Maria, I am so sorry." A familiar voice sang to me sadly. I pulled the phone from my ear to see it was a Charming phone number.

"I thought you left Charming, dad." I said brutally, earning concerned looks from both men.

"I am so sorry, Maria. I just wanted to bring you back to Huntington."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded harshly. My mind kept reeling back to when he followed me like some kind of stalker.

"Percy." It was like he took a whip and slapped me in the face with it. My heart tore out of my chest and my stomach dropped into my ass as I shot up to my feet with wide eyes.

"Dad, do you know something about what happened to Percy?" I asked earning another bout of suddenly wide eyes and dropped jaws. Juice and Chibbs looked between each other as if they knew something.

"I know who took him." He announced flatly. My heart felt like it was about to explode. But there were questions nagging at the back of my head.

"Who has Percy?" I said with a shaky voice. I didn't even realize it was shaky until I heard the words.

"I thought it'd make you realize how dangerous Juice is and you'd come home." He blubbered aimlessly. "-I hired someone to kidnap Percy and bring him to me in an attempt to lure you home. But they never arrived with him and now they're telling me I need to deliver Juice to them in order for your son to live." I was completely taken back by what he just told me. A familiar rage boiled up again.

"Wait let me get this right. You hired a complete stranger to kidnap our son, now they're telling you that you can't have Percy unless you give them Juice so they can kill him obviously. Am I right so far?" I put this all into perspective. Chibbs' face fell into shock while Juice looked worried for his life.

"I'm so sorry, Maria. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted you back." He apologized again but this wasn't going to make things better.

"What's this gang's name?"

"Death's Reapers." He replied sullenly.

"Well then you go and tell the Death's Reapers that they're going to get their dead body. Because I am going to find you and I am going to kill you for putting my child in danger and then threatening my family. So if I were you I'd start running." I promised him before ending the call. My rage was boiling up to the point where I was seeing red.