Vanished... Without a Trace 23/24
This is a moden day, Young Riders/Without a Trace crossover written by me andshantyrfan. All of your favorite characters (and a few not so favorite) are here, and alive and well. The non familiar characters don't belong to us (with the exception of the resort staff and the name of Tag's youngest daughter), they belong to the creators of Without a Trace. For those that aren't familiar with this story, it was inspired by this clip Kid and the Breakfast of Champions
Chapter 23
A few days later Lou was given a clean bill of health from her doctor. After the incident in the hallway with Jeremiah, Tag felt uncomfortable about spending the night with her after seeing the boy’s embarrassment, so she and Tag started meeting at Ike’s again for lunch. On weekends they would take all the children to a movie, a show, a baseball game or the park; something they could do as the family Tag so desperately wanted them to become.
A few days before Mother’s Day, Tag and Lou were enjoying their lunch when Tag decided he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Lou, you know how I feel about you, right?”
She smiled at him from across the table and nodded. “I don't mind bein' reminded…”
“Sometimes when we're together everything is so perfect, it's so romantic. But other times when I feel you pulling away from me, well it's kind of difficult.”
“I know,” she said suddenly wondering if maybe he didn’t love her as much as she thought.
“This will be a lot easier if you don’t interrupt.”
She nodded, hoping she knew what he wanted to discuss.
“So I come up with an idea that'll make things easier and better...” he started taking her hand from across the table. “Lou ... Louise ... will you …”
Lou groaned as they heard her cell phone start to ring. “Ignore it,” she said reaching into her pocket to turn it off.
Tag shook his head. “Go ahead and answer it,” he said, losing his nerve.
“Are you sure?” she asked sounding disappointed. Tag nodded. “Hello?”
Tag’s heart fell as he watched a range of emotions pass over Lou’s face. By the time she hung up, he was worried about her.
“I need to go,” she said hurriedly as she stood up and headed for the door.
“Lou, wait,” he called out, throwing some bills on the table and going after her. “Lou, what’s wrong?” He asked reaching out for her hand.
Lou looked away. “It’s my father,” she said quietly. “He wants to see me.”
“Oh, honey,” Tag said pulling her into his arms.
“I don’t think I can,” she said as she started to sob. “After everything…”
“Then don’t. No one is forcing you too.”
She shook her head. “But in a way, he is. That was Sam Cain, the Federal Prosecutor in charge of my father‘s case. He said my father won’t to take the plea agreement unless I go to see him. If he doesn’t and this goes to trial…” she looked up at him and shook her head. “I can’t put the twins through that. I wasn’t strong enough to testify against Wicks, I don’t want to have to put them under that kind of pressure. But I‘m not strong enough to face him alone.”
Tag led her to a bench and sat down, pulling her sideways in his lap. “You won’t be alone, Lou. There will be guards and the attorneys and… I’ll be there with you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” she said shaking her head. “I’ve dragged you into my family problems enough already.”
Tag pushed a strand of hair out of her face and pulled her closer. “Don’t you know by now that you haven’t dragged me into anything I didn’t want to do,” he said smiling, resting his forehead against hers. Don’t you know I want your family problems to become mine? He thought. And for mine to become yours?
Lou slowly nodded. “What would I do without you?”
“I hope you never have to find out again,” he said kissing the tip of her nose.
~~ *~* ~~
Two days later Tag sat holding Lou’s hand as they waited for her father at the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution, ninety miles away. He knew she was nervous by her trembling hand, and started to feel bad for making her do this. He had no idea what her father wanted, but Tag prayed it wouldn’t upset her anymore than she already was.
“Lou?” Federal Prosecutor Sam Cain said as he walked towards the couple. “Tag, good to see you again,” he said reaching out to shake his hand. “I was sorry to hear about Naomi.”
“Thanks,” Tag said.
“How are the girls doing?”
Tag nodded. “They’re handling it pretty well considering the circumstances.”
“Sam?” Lou started interrupting the two men. “What does my father want?”
“He just wants to talk to you,” he answered. “There was an incident a few days back, and he’s been a little skittish since. He’s refused to take the plea until he talked to you.”
“Sam, what exactly is the plea deal?” Tag asked.
“We’ll drop the kidnapping charges against him and place him in protective custody for several terms of fifteen years to be served consecutively, if he names the people who worked for him. We needed names, dates, and people who were targets.” Sam grew quiet as he looked at Lou. “We also wanted names and ages of Wick’s other victims.”
“Have you talked to my brother about that?” Tag asked quietly. He knew Jed was going to have to serve jail time as well, but hoped he would also work out a deal.
Sam nodded as the trio started walking down the hallway to where Lou’s father sat waiting for them. “He’s given us names as well. He’ll only serve six months in a minimum security facility. He’ll most likely be out in a month or so on parole.”
They stopped in front of several glassed in rooms, where Lou was able to see her father. “By the way,” Sam added. “Thank you both. If it weren’t for your hard work, we would have never have closed the case this soon.”
Lou barely heard anything else that was said as she looked in at her father. She silently chuckled at the thought that she’d seen the man more in the past month than she had since she was fifteen. Since Mama found out what Wicks was doing to me… She thought. No! Don’t think about that anymore. Neither one of them can harm you any longer.
Tag felt Lou’s grip tighten around his hand as Sam left them alone. “You don’t have to do this,” he said in a comforting voice. “He deserves to rot in jail for what he’s done, for what he let Wicks do.”
“I have to,” she said barely above a whisper. “I need to know what he wants.”
“Well, I’ll be right there beside you. I promise you, Lou. No one will ever hurt you again, including him.”
Lou nodded and then slowly opened the door with Tag right behind her.
“Penelope!” Boggs smiled at his daughter and shook his head. “I mean Louise.”
“What do you want?” Lou asked as she and Tag took seats across the table from him.
“I want your forgiveness,” Boggs said softly. “I know I don’t deserve it...”
“Damn right you don’t deserve it!” Lou interrupted him. “You were too busy with your business to realize your partner was targeting your own child for his sex games!”
“I’ll never forgive myself for letting him near you.” Boggs eyes filled with tears as he lowered his head in shame.
“Yet you expect me to?” Lou looked at him in disbelief.
“Lou, calm down.” Tag took her hand, hoping to show his support and worry for her.
“No, I guess not.” Boggs shook his head. “But there’s a good chance I won’t make it out of here alive. If that’s the case, I wanted you to know how sorry I am for all the pain I caused you and your mother.”
“It’s always about you isn’t it? You brought me here because you wanted a clean conscious in case the mob gets to you.” Lou stood up in anger. “How dare you bring Mama into this? She loved you, despite everything you put her through, yet you did nothing to keep him from hurting her too!”
Not wanting him to see the tears about to burst from her eyes, Lou stormed out of the integration room. Tag got up to follow, his own heart torn. He hated everything Boggs did and stood for, but as a father himself, he could see the love and regret in the man’s eyes.
“You care for her a great deal, don’t you?” Boggs asked right as Tag’s hand grasped the doorknob to leave.
Tag nodded. “Very much.”
“I know I don’t have the right, I gave that up when I failed to protect her, but treat her right. Take care of my little girl and make her happy.”
“I plan on it.”
Lou’s father smiled. “Just remember if you don’t, I still have connections.”
Tag tried to hide his grin at her father's over protectiveness. He knew he would do the same thing for his girls in a heartbeat. "I'll talk to Lou. See if I can get her to come back and talk to you some more.”
“She doesn’t have to,” Boggs admitted. “I was surprised she agreed to see me in the first place.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision for her to make, that’s for sure,” Tag said as he opened the door and stepped outside. His heart broke as he saw Lou’s shoulders shaking as her head leaned against the soda machine.
“Lou?”
Lou jumped as Tag’s hand rested on her shoulder. She turned and immediately went into his arms that were waiting for her. Tag held her tight as she cried, trying to soothe her with words of love.
Finally Lou spoke. “Part of me wants to forgive him, but then I think about everything and I can’t.”
“You don’t have to right now, Lou. Maybe someday you’ll be able to, but I really don’t even think he expects it.”
“What would you do if you were in my shoes?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you what to do. That’s something you have to figure out on your own.”
“Do you think I should go back in there?”
Tag shrugged. “It’s up to you. Just remember, I’m right here with you whatever you decide to do.”
Lou nodded and took his hand. She thought back on how she had treated her mother growing up, and her father’s words about how he was worried that he wouldn’t get out of jail alive, and knew she was being selfish by refusing to listen to her father. When she thought of the feeling of guilt that had increased after her mother’s death, even though her mother had forgiven her, she knew he deserved a second chance.
Lou slowly led Tag back into the room where her father sat with his head buried in his hands. He looked up when he heard the door open and Tag could see him trying to regain his composure.
“You didn’t have to come back,” he said quietly. “But thank you.”
Lou and Tag sat back down across from him, and she continued to hold Tag’s hand. “I hope someday I’ll be able to forgive you, but right now…” she said shaking her head. “Right now I just need more time.”
“I understand.” Boggs nodded. “I know it doesn’t account for much, but I tried to find both of you after you and your mother left. I had no idea she was planning to testify, I thought she just got tired of the double life I was living. I couldn’t really blame her I was so busy trying to keep everything going that I gave you whatever you wanted to keep you happy rather than actually being a father to you. I guess I started corrupting you before Wicks...I still can’t...” He looked into his daughter’s eyes. “I would have rather died than let him do that to you. When I would see the newspaper clippings of him with you, I just ignored them. I just thought you had turned to him for a father. I’m sorry I was such a fool.”
“Mom said the same thing,” Lou said softly remember her mother’s tears as she cradled her daughter in her arms only weeks after discovering Lou’s pregnancy. “But it wasn’t her fault that it happened.” Lou sighed, “So it really wasn’t yours either. You didn’t know what he was up to and I thought he loved me.”
“I would’ve done anything to keep you safe.”
“I believe you.”
“I realized after I saw you and the twins at your mother’s funeral that you were better off without me. Better off on your own.” Boggs’ voice was full of regret for the pain he caused his family.
“You were there?” Lou looked at him curiously.
“I stayed in the car several plots down until everyone left. My heart broke thinking she’d kept me from getting to know my own children, even though I couldn’t blame her. But my heart broke even more when I realized why she really left, when that monster bragged about what he’d done to you.”
Lou remembered Jimmy mentioning a car parked in the distance as they were walking back to the car. Afraid it was Longley or Wicks was watching them, she hadn’t dared to even look in that direction. “You were in the car Jimmy saw, I was afraid it was either Longley or Wicks coming after us.”
“Jimmy?” Boggs asked.
“We were dating at the time,” she said looking at Tag shyly. “But after she died… Jimmy and I ended up just good friends.”
Tag felt a slight pain of jealousy when he realized Lou had leaned on one of his best friends in her time of need all those years ago. He quickly chided himself for such thoughts, reminding himself that he should be thankful Jimmy cared enough about her to be there for her. Besides, he thought. You and Naomi had just found out Emma was on the way. At the time you hadn’t even known Lou enough to be considered an acquaintance.
“Did Jimmy know? Does he know how much of a monster your father is?”
Lou shook her head and looked over at Tag. “He does now, but before… I couldn’t trust anyone enough to tell them. Until I met Tag that is.” Lou squeezed his hand and smiled at him.
“And Jimmy doesn’t think you’re a monster,” Tag added. “Neither do I.” Tag was surprised to realize that he was telling the truth.
“I guess I don‘t either,” Lou said quietly looking her father in the eyes; eyes that looked so much like hers and a bit like Teresa’s. “It would be different if you had known what was happening, but you didn’t.” Lou let go of Tag’s hand and started fiddling with hers on the table.
“I wish I had,” her father replied, taking one of her hands. He was relieved when she didn’t pull back. “I know I wasn’t the best father…”
“I didn’t make it any easier, for you or mom, and no matter what happened, I’ll always regret that.”
There was a knock on the glass window, and father and daughter knew their time was up.
“Louise,” her father started. “Just know that if anything happens to me, that I’ve always loved you. And just remember that if I could go back and change the way things were, I would.”
Lou watched as her father was escorted out of the room and turned to Tag, sobbing into his chest.