Well, this stinks. (Tag Erica, OTA in the police station)

[yippiekiyaymf]

Matt doesn't show up for work. John waits a bit; the kid was a notoriously non-morning person. Finally with a sinking feeling, born of Lucy's recent disappearance, John pulls out his messenger. There's no 'Farrell, Matthew' in the directory. Well, crap

Comments

[efffthisshhhht]

Just as Deb walked in. Shitty timing there.

Deb stopped, eyes wide. All she did was want coffee. "... you okay, boss?"

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Yeah sure," he opened his eyes, lifted his head and glared at the sink as if it had just committed sexual assault.

"Kid was a fucking pain in the ass anyway." You know, the one he seemed to live to torment, but spoke of with respect and affection when he wasn't around -- that kid.

[efffthisshhhht]

Taking a few steps in, Deb asked, "what kid?"

[yippiekiyaymf]

"The fucking computer geek, Matt." The one who'd saved his life, and Lucy's, who he'd grown to love like a son goddamnit. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and tried to consciously unclenched his jaw and fists.

[efffthisshhhht]

"No shit? Fuck." Deb hadn't even noticed. "Gone-gone? Shit." A pause. "Sorry, sir."

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Fucking village." John braced his hands on the counter and let his head hang. "My daughter's gone too."

Not the first or last time someone would say that.

"They'll be ok. I'll see them again." But they're not here dammit!

[efffthisshhhht]

"Shit!" Deb's jaw dropped. "The baby?!" Because that was fucked up right there. See, Deb didn't know about another daughter.

[yippiekiyaymf]

"No, no." John hastened to reassure her. "My older daughter, Lucy. She ran the paper."

[efffthisshhhht]

"Oh! Shit! Oh. Didn't know you had another daughter." But she was gone anyway. "Does she know Matt?"

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Considering he took a bullet to the leg to save her life, I'd say yeah."

[efffthisshhhht]

"Huh. Well, they're together now?" Was Deb understanding that right?

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Yeah, they're together, they're fine. Well, he's not fine; he's going to go back to when he had a bullet in his leg, but the Feds are there, they'll get EMS, the bad guys are dead. He'll be fine."

[efffthisshhhht]

And that was good, but not good. Yeah, Deb got that. "He seemed like a good kid," she offered, for what it was worth.

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Yeah." John laughed and shook his head. "Surprised the hell out of me. Thought he was one of those anti-social hacker types, but he turned out to be a real stand-up guy. And for all his whining, he didn't quit."

[efffthisshhhht]

"Well, there ya go. So he's doing good shit back home, huh?"

[yippiekiyaymf]

"Just saved the whole fucking country...and probably a lot of the world, 'cause I don't think the rest of the world would go merrily on if we went under."