Under Cover

As promised the next morning I woke up and the two of us picked up Anne to go see my mother while Gemma met up with a couple friends she had in town. I was nervous about seeing my mother again after what happened the last time I was there, but it helped having Harry and Anne here instead of dealing with it on my own like I usually did. The nurses directed us to the garden where she often sat and enjoyed the sun or watched the birds fly around in the few trees that were planted there.

“Mum? It’s me. Charlie.” I said hesitantly as I walked over to her.

“Charlie?” She asked as she looked over at me us. “Oh my goodness. Anne, is that you?”

“Hello, Laura.” Anne smiled as she sat next to my mother while I stood next to Harry who grabbed onto my hand and squeezed gently.

I leaned into him as I watched my mother light up around her old friend, feeling my heart ache because I haven’t seen her smile like that in years. It definitely never happened when I came to visit. She mostly just thought I was a nice nurse or a girl who came to visit her every other day.

“Laura, I want to introduce you to my son, Harry. He worked under Tom at the station.” Anne said as she looked over at Harry who was a gentleman as always and reached out to shake her hand to say hello.

“Hello. It’s nice to see you again.” He said with a smile.

“Oh, yes I remember you. Tom talked about you a lot and my daughter had the biggest crush on you.” She said.

My eyes widened and I blushed deeply.

“Oh is that so?” Harry smirked as he looked down at me.

“Shut up.” I mumbled as I nudged his side which only made him chuckle.

“So you must be Gemma then.” My mum said to me which made my heart drop.

“Excuse me.” I said as I walked to the gate and stepped outside the building for a moment trying to catch my breath.

As I walked around the corner I bumped into someone and looked up to choke out an apology, but the words got caught in my throat when I caught a glimpse of who I bumped into as he looked back at me. His blue eyes that matched mine widened slightly and he quickly turned back around the picked up the pace.

“Dad?”

My head felt like it was spinning as I rushed after him, calling out to him and begging him to stop as he quickly got in his car and sped off.

“Dad, please!” I whimpered as I finally came to a stop.

“Charlie!”

Harry ran up to me and grabbed onto me as I collapsed to my knees on the sidewalk, letting out a sob as I leaned into him. I felt like I could barely breathe after hearing my mother mistake me as someone else and now seeing my father, touching him, only to lose him again.

“I saw him, Harry. He was here. My dad was here.”

~.:o:.~

“What do you mean he was here?” Harry asked once I finally calmed down enough to speak.

“I ran into him on my way out. He was here and he saw me, but he ran off. He was alone so I don’t understand why he ran from me. Why did he leave me?” I asked as I looked up at Harry with tears in my eyes.

Normally I would try to hold it all in and seem all tough like some hardass cop, but I’m sure to him I looked like a helpless child who lost her parents. My mind was furiously working on trying to remember license plate numbers or letters and the type of car he was driving, but I was so caught off guard and light headed at the moment that I couldn’t think straight.

“We can talk about this later, okay? Let’s go back in and get you some water. Just calm down, love.” He said softly as he helped me up, keeping a grip on me in case I fell over which I nearly did.

My hands trembled as I held the cup in my hands, barely even able to bring it to my lips because of how shook up I was at the moment. He was so close to me and I let him get away. I still couldn’t understand why he didn’t stay either. He had obviously visited my mother before we came in and the moment he saw us he was making his run for it.

“Maybe he actually did leave us… Became greedy and decided to work for them instead of taking care of his family… “ I said quietly as I stared down at my cup.

“Hey, don’t talk like that. You know it’s not true. Your father loved you and your mum. He talked about you all the time when we would go out on rides together.” Harry assured me as he placed his hands over mine.

“We’ll get him back. I’m sure he’s just trying to protect you. Maybe they have someone threatening you or something like that which is why he’s been hanging back and not trying to escape.” he suggested.

“Even if that’s true I couldn’t possibly imagine that anyone in my life would do something like that to him or me. Or that they would be working with the Irish Mob. They all work at the station and there’s no way a cop could be dirty in there. Not with the way things are run and how many good cops there are.” I shook my head and sighed deeply. “I just want him back. I lost him once and then I found out he was alive… Now I’m losing my mum… I need him here for when she eventually strokes out and dies or something. I can’t handle this on my own.”

My voice broke slightly and I felt his thumb brush a few stray tears off my face.

“You’re not alone. You have me… and Dylan, and Jensen, and everyone else at the station. We’re a family, Charls. Your family.” He said softly.

I nodded at his words, knowing that he was right but it still upset me that my father was gone once again. It made me wish that things were far less complicated because otherwise I would be happy and working my way up to Detective instead of staying hung up over my missing father.

“Hey, Charls. Where did you put the keys? I forgot my phone in the car.” Harry said after a moment.

“They’re in my coat pocket.” I sniffled and wiped my eyes.

I heard shuffling before there was a silence.

“Charlie…” He said as he walked in holding a piece of paper.

“What’s that?” I asked him.

He simply handed it to me and I knew immediately that it was a note written by my father because I recognized his handwriting based on hours of looking over his written reports.

Stop digging. It’s too dangerous. They have someone in the station who is getting suspicious. Please just back off.
I love you, kiddo.

My eyes filled with tears as I read over the note a few more times, realizing that he was there for a reason. To give me this warning. But it only made me want to find him even more.

“I think it's time we bring Jensen into this. He’s the only one I trust and he would know who would be possible to turn at the station.” I said as I looked up at Harry.

“Charlie-”

“No. We’re not giving up. We’re getting him out of there.”

Notes