A strange package arrives on the doorstep of the townhouse being rented by the Blackbourne Team, in Reston, Virginia. They have only been in town a little over a week and no one knows who they are. Confused and cautious of the package, Owen Blackbourne calls for an immediate family meeting. No one is supposed to know where they are, so who could this possibly be from? The boys gather around the living room, waiting for their leader to tell them why they have gathered.
"It seems we've received a package," Owen announces to the room.
"That's not possible," Kota states. "No one knows where we are."
"Does it say who it's from?" Luke asks.
"It doesn't matter who it's from, it's not possible," Victor interrupts. "I covered our tracks perfectly. No one knows we're here."
"Well it appears someone does," Owen interjects while holding up the envelope addressed to the Blackbourne Team. "Now let's see what it is."
Owen tears open the top of the envelope and pulls out a stack of papers. The first page is a letter, typed, with only a few lines that manages to make his blood run cold. He reads it aloud.
"'I told you to leave her. You didn't listen. Now they will pay. Volto.'"
There is silence for a few seconds before chaos reigns.
"What does he mean we didn't listen?"
"How does he know we're here?"
"I thought you said you covered our tracks!?"
"What does he mean, they will pay? Who's they?"
"Owen, what's going on?"
"How did he find us?"
While his team is frantic, Owen is flipping through the other pages that were in the package. They're all pictures: of them, of her, of children. What is all of this? Owen thinks to himself.
"Owen? What is this?" Sean asks, trying to get the papers from Owen.
They struggle for a moment before the papers fly out of Owen's hands, scattering around the room. The team stops their bickering to look on the floor. Their faces staring back at them, her face staring back at them. A face they never thought they'd see again. One by one, they remember the days these pictures must have been taken. Luke bends down and picks up a stack of pictures with him and Gabe. His mind taking him back to a few days ago.
*Luke's Flashback*
I'm walking through some park with Gabe when my thoughts go to Cupcake, like they usually do. I wonder what she's doing; how she's doing. Does she miss us? Is she looking for us, even though we told her not to?
"Luke."
Has she changed? Does she still like chocolate chip pancakes?
"Luke!"
Will we ever see her again?
"Earth to fucking Luke!"
I snap out of my musings to see Gabe standing in front of me looking pissed. He's changed...we've all changed. He doesn't have the two blonde locks in his hair anymore, he let them grow out. Instead he dyed the back of his head pink, in memory of Sang. You can only see it if he puts his hair up, but we all know it's there.
"What the fuck were you zoning out about?" he asks in a huff.
"Cupcake," I tell him with a shrug.
If anyone would understand my thoughts, it's him. I saw his sketch book before we got here last week; nothing but portraits of Sang.
"You gotta focus Luke. We've gotta find him or we'll never see her again," he tells me.
"I know, I just can't help it," I sigh.
"And why the fuck would Victor send us to a goddamned park anyway?" He continues his rant while walking. "Like Volto would be seen in a goddamned kids' park."
I follow behind him, trying not to get lost in my head again, when I hear a musical giggle. Sang? I stop and look around me. There's a couple with their kids playing on the playground, a lady walking her dog, children laughing and playing, but no Sang. I turn back around and continue to follow my friend. Sang's not here, she's back in Charleston, waiting for us...waiting for me...I hope.
*End Flashback*
Luke and Gabe flip through the pictures of themselves. They see where they stopped to talk. Luke sees the couple playing with their children. With the angle of the photo, the couple is revealed to be Sang and Axel. The children look just like her. Luke sinks to the floor in disbelief, his Cupcake isn't his anymore.
Across the room, Victor, North, and Silas are looking at pictures of themselves from the day they arrived. They went food shopping for the house.
*Victor's Flashback*
"Si, put that junk back on the shelf. I'm not letting him rot his teeth when we can't even go see a fucking dentist," North grumbles.
"You know he'll just find a way to get some. Might as well manage his supply," Silas chuckles.
I'm not sure why I'm even with them. I could've just given them my card and stayed in the house. Of course if I stayed there then all I would do is stare at nothing and think of Princess. I can't even play anymore without her. I can't compose, I can't play, I can't even listen to Vivaldi without breaking into a sobbing mess. No, it's better that I get out of the house; away from the quiet.
It's always quiet now. We don't really talk to each other unless we have to. She changed that, and now that we're without her, it's worse than it ever could've been before we met her. I think we would've had a chance if we never met her. Maybe we would've come to this point sooner, but it wouldn't have been because of her.
No matter what I think though, I'd never wish to not know her. She brought the music back into my menial life. She made me enjoy playing again...made me enjoy the gift I often thought of as a curse. Now without her, it's so...quiet.
"Hey Vic?"
I snap out of my head to see we've reached the checkout. Everything's already been bagged up, they just need the card. I suppose that's all I'm good for now...to her I was more. She didn't want my money, didn't want me spending it on her. I'd give up all of my money if it meant I could see her again. But I suppose that's why we're here.
"Vic?" Silas says again.
"Right, sorry."
I hand him my card, then go grab a couple of the bags, ignoring the questioning looks they send my way. We're here tracking Volto. Trying to anyway. All signs that I've managed to track down, tell me that he's here in Reston. We've followed him all over the south; never able to catch him. We came close in Georgia, but he managed to escape. I guess it would help if we knew what he looked like, who he was, but we're flying blind...always have.
"Morgan sit still," I hear in the distance.
There are children named Morgan all over the world, but something about that voice makes me stop. I look up from walking to the car and see a woman across the parking lot, strapping a child into a car seat. Her blonde hair hides her face from my view, but I swear...Princess?
"Hey Vic? I thought daydreaming was Luke's thing. Get in the car."
I turn away from the woman and the child to see both Silas and North in the car, waiting for me to put the bags in the trunk and get in. I look back over to the lady, to see the child's door closed and her walking around the car. There's a guy in his late twenties in the driver's seat. Once she gets in, he pulls off, I never see her face. It can't be Sang, she's in Charleston, where we left her. I hurry to put the bags in, then climb into the car, all my thoughts on my Princess.
*End Flashback*
North is flipping through the pictures and Victor makes him stop at one of the parking lot. The angle of the photo shows Sang putting a little girl in the back seat. Behind her, Marc is holding a little boy who looks exactly like her. The Toma Team is in Reston, Victor thinks to himself. Sang is in Reston with the Toma Team. They have kids. My Princess is lost to me.
Over on the couch, Nathan and Kota are flipping through pictures of themselves which had to have been taken just the day before. Kota is counting to himself while trying to sort through his feelings. Nathan makes him stop on a particular photo of a child pulling a woman around a shelf. They were in a bookstore; Nathan only went with Kota to have something to do. He didn't want to lose his mind thinking about her.
*Nathan's Flashback*
I'm looking through the physical fitness section when I hear a familiar accent a few aisles down.
"You should continue your lessons, Chipmunk." If there is a response, it's too low for me to hear. The voice speaks again, "Fine, but you will owe me."
What the hell is he doing here? Walking over to the section where I heard the voice, I see a child pulling a woman out of the section, but my attention is stolen by the large Russian in the center of the aisle.
"Raven?"
He turns around to look at me, the shock clear on his face.
"Nathan? How?"
"What are you doing here?"
"You don't know?" he asks in confusion.
"Know? Know what? How did you find us?"
"Us? Then you all...and you don't...this is bad."
"Dude, finish your sentences, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same."
Anger replaces the confusion on his face, and now I'm the one confused. What the hell is Raven doing here? Kota calling me steals my attention for a moment, and when I look back up, Raven is gone. I don't mention it to Kota as we head back to the house, there's no point, the Academy can't help us.
*End Flashback*
As Nathan stares at the photo, he realizes he should have paid more attention to the woman and the child. The photo shows the little boy, who looks just like Sang, pulling her away from Raven with a smile on both of their faces. Nathan looks around the room and sees nothing but despair on his brothers faces, but that's not what Nathan is feeling. He feels hope. He knows his Peanut, he knows her love for them. She would never betray them like this...but would it really be a betrayal? They left her 5 years ago without a word. Did they really expect her not to move on? But with Raven? No, it's not possible. How would they have ever met? But then, how is he there with her? Nathan shakes his head at his own thoughts. None of that matters, all that matters is that she's here, and she's healthy. All he wants is to see her, even if she never forgives them.
Standing in the same place he was when he opened the letter, Owen looks down at the scattered photos it contained. Sean, who's next to him, bends down and picks up the a single photo, which was taken today. Owen and Sean went to the local hospital to see if there was anyone who possibly treated Volto. In the last city they chased him to, he'd gotten hurt while escaping.
*Sean's Flashback*
Owen is trying to get information from the nurse while I gaze around the hospital. Down the hall a spot a young nurse and pink scrubs with a long blonde ponytail. My thoughts immediately turn to Pookie. I wonder if she ever became a nurse? My nurse Pookie, we would have been the best team any hospital has ever seen. I'm broken out of my thoughts when my gaze zeroes in on the doctor she's talking to. I see a face I'm very familiar with, and when she walks away, he walks towards us. I know the exact moment he sees me because it steps falter.
"Sean?" he says in a whisper.
"Phil."
My face breaks out in the biggest smile I've had in the last 5 years. Owen, hearing my mentor's name, turns around to look at the doctor approaching us.
"Dr. Roberts, what are you doing here?" Owen asks him.
"I could ask you boys the same thing. How did you boys just leave like that? No warning, no goodbye, you just up and leave your families. Your bird!"
"Pookie," I whisper. "Where is she? Is she with you? Why are you here? I asked you to look after her!"
My voice gets louder with each passing second. I'm going frantic, I need to know that she's ok.
"Calm down Sean she's fine. I'm here for a consultation, a friend of mine works here. And no, Sang is not with me."
Owen's eyes narrow at Phil with his last statement; is he lying? I never get the chance to find out as he gets called away on an emergency and Owen and I head back to the house.
*End Flashback *
This photo was taken just a few hours ago. Sean thinks to himself. The photo shows the blonde nurse that Phil was talking to. It's Sang. Phil lied, she was with him. But why are they here? And why was Sang wearing scrubs? Is she really a nurse? Nurse Pookie is real, and she's here, but why?
Owen is stuck in a rage filled haze of the first photo he saw. Sang and Axel with 2 children in the park. The children must be Sang's, they look just like her...but who's the father?
The Toma's were the only team they allowed around Sang within the Academy. They knew how much she meant to them, and this betrayal is unforgivable.
Owen goes around the room, recollecting the photos in a haze. When he has them all, he puts them back in the envelope and goes off in search of the first package that started this. When he's collected everything, he puts it all in a nondescript bag before making a call.
"Hello?" the person on the other end answers.
"Chicken," Owen states.
"Ficus," the person answers.
"Reston Metro Station, ten tonight, Bring your team."
"Who is-"
The person doesn't get to finish his question as Owen hangs up the phone. The boys are looking at him in confusion, Sean being the only one to approach him,
"Owen, what was that?"
"We're done here," Owen announces. "He wanted us away from her, we'll let them handle it from now on. The Toma's want Sang? They can have her, and all the trouble she brings with her. Pack your bags, we leave tonight after we hand this over. We should have listened to him, so now I'm ordering you. Forget Sang Sorenson! She's obviously forgotten about us."