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| Trial By Fire A UC story By Deana Lisi |
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| Disclaimer: I do not own Frank Donovan (darn!) or any other UC character, however I do own Rose. This one was inspired by ‘Manhunt’, you’ll see why! It takes place after my UC story, ‘Caught in the Middle’. Thanks to my buddies Tracy and Karri for giving me opinions and suggestions! Rated PG-13 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ |
| “ACHOO!” Everyone looked up as Frank walked into HQ, and watched as he walked over to the stairs leading to his office and climbed them, not saying a word. They all exchanged glances. “What was that all about?” Jake asked. “Uh, Jake,” Cody said, from his computer. “I think when someone sneezes it usually means they have a cold.” Jake snorted, rolled up a piece of paper, and threw it at his back. “He didn’t even give us his usual, ‘Good morning’,” said Monica. “Yeah,” said Alex, looking towards the staircase, and then standing. “I think I’ll go see if he’s okay.” She climbed the stairs and approached the door, wincing when she heard him blow his nose and sniff loudly. “Frank?” She walked in to see him slumped miserably over his desk, blinking tiredly. When he saw her his face changed completely; so fast that it left Alex momentarily stunned. “Yes, Alex?” he asked, looking surprisingly better. She frowned. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” he asked, knowing what she was talking about but playing dumb anyway. She walked closer. “You—you looked terrible, but then when you saw me, you put on a…a mask of health, or something.” She shook her head. “It would’ve actually worked, had I not seen you before you did it.” Frank sighed. It made him cough and he tried to hold it in. “I’m a master of disguise,” he said. She smiled. “You made a joke!” He made a face at her and sat back in his chair. “I’ve been known to do that on occasion,” he said, hoping to change the subject. “Don’t try to change the subject,” she said, leaning on the front of his desk. “If you’re sick, you should’ve stayed home.” Frank frowned. “Stay home? I was home enough a couple months ago.” Alex sighed, trying not to think back to the horrible situation Frank’s mention brought to her mind. Frank had been a hostage in a bank robbery, and had been stabbed, losing his spleen.* He’d only just returned to work full-time a couple weeks ago. She suddenly looked up at him, her eyes opened wide. “Frank! Go home! You have no spleen!” Frank made a sound of annoyance. “I know that. So?” “You remember what the doctor said! People without spleens get sick easily,” she told him, noticing that he’d let his mask of health drop again, either because she already knew and there was no sense in maintaining it any longer, or maybe he did it accidentally. “You have no spleen to protect yourself against infection; you should rest.” “Hey,” they heard. “You having a party in here or what?” Cody came in, with Jake and Monica behind him. Alex watched with fascination as Frank replaced the ‘mask’ again. “You okay Frank?” Monica asked. Oh great, now I have to hear that question again for the next week, he thought, with a sigh. He forgot it would make him cough, and this one he wasn’t able to hold in. “Fine,” he said. “You got me. I have a cold, all right?” Cody tried not to laugh at his tone. “So go home.” “No. We have work to do.” “How do you know that?” Monica asked. “I may not have shown awareness to your existence when I came in,” he said. “But I did see the folder you were holding, Monica.” “So, we’ll start the new case when you come back,” said Jake. Monica looked at him. It wasn’t exactly a case you could wait very long on. Jake returned the look. She could imagine him saying, ‘We’ll do it without him. We’re not incompetent, you know.’ “This is my job,” Frank said, with another sniff. “So?” Jake said. “You want your job to kill you?” “A cold never killed me before!” Frank said back, almost an exasperated yell. “But that was when you had a spleen!” said Cody. “Remember that? Small organ, fights infection? You lost yours!” He blinked, and smiled. “Well, you didn't exactly lose it but you know what I mean. You don’t have one anymore! Any of that sound familiar?" Frank shook his head, with a laugh. Then he groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, leaning forward again in the chair. “People, I am not in the mood.” He took a breath to sigh again, but caught himself when he remembered what that would result in. “Downstairs,” he said, standing and walking towards the door. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. “Oh well,” said Cody. “We tried.” ******************** “What’s the case, Monica?” Frank asked, sitting in a chair at the table. Monica sighed as she stood at the front, and looked at him. “Senator James William’s daughter has been kidnapped.” Frank’s face registered shock. “We don’t do many kidnappings,” Jake said. “We were requested to do this one,” Monica told him. “Why?” Cody asked. “Senator Williams is a friend of mine,” said Frank. They all looked at him. “I…practically grew up with his daughter,” he said, looking upset. “She’s like my sister.” “Ohhh, Frank,” Alex said, sympathetically. Frank looked back to Monica. “Details?” Monica clicked the button on her remote, and a picture appeared on the screen. “Rose Williams,” she said, for the others’ benefit. The woman had spiraled reddish-brown hair, and blue eyes. She was smiling in the picture. “Niiiice,” Jake commented, elbowing Cody, who nodded agreement. “Hands off, Agent Shaw,” Frank quipped. Cody laughed at Jake. "You too Cody, unless you like typing with your fingers in traction." Cody stopped abruptly. “You were saying, Monica?” Monica nodded. “Williams woke to find his daughter gone, but her car still in the driveway. The sheets on her bed were in disarray and there were things knocked onto the floor; signs of a struggle. When the cops arrived, they found a note left by the kidnapper. It said, ‘How much is your daughter worth?’” Cody whistled. “Wow.” There was silence for a while before a sneeze from Frank shattered it. He stood. “All right, we need to get to the Williams’ home.” They followed as he headed for the door. ******************** “Frank! Thank God—hey, you don’t look very good.” Frank gave Senator Williams a lopsided grin. The man was like a father to him, and could obviously see through his facade. “It’s just a cold, I’m fine,” he said, walking further into the house. “This is my team,” he told him, as the others walked in. “Alex, Jake, Cody, and Monica.” They all nodded at the Senator as Frank said their names. “Nice to meet you all,” Williams said, then sighed, nervously. “I’ll show you Rose’s bedroom.” They followed him through the spacious house, down a long hall. Rose’s room was the first on the right, and Monica was correct; it was in disarray. Frank crossed to the window and looked out it. There were footprints in the snow leading to the window and back, but they were a mess, as if the kidnapper had deliberately shuffled his feet so that they couldn’t derive any clues from them. “She should’ve—” he paused, feeling a sneeze coming on. “Achoo!—locked it,” he said, seeing that there was no sign of forced entry to the window. “God bless you,” Williams said. “I know.” He shook his head. “She always opens it.” “In the winter?” Cody exclaimed. Senator Williams shrugged, with a sigh. “Yeah.” “Frank,” Alex said, drawing his attention to the bed. Frank looked and was surprised to see an enveloped marked, ‘Senator Williams’ lying on the pillow. “I assumed the police took that,” he said, picking it up in his gloved hand. Williams shook his head. “No, I made them leave it for you.” Frank opened it, not surprised at all to see the words taken out of a newspaper. How much is your daughter worth? He handed it to Cody. “See what you can get off it.” Cody took it; glad he was wearing gloves too. “Newspaper words. Now that’s a cliché for you.” Frank sneezed again, as they left the room. “Are you taking anything for that?” Williams asked, paternally. Frank shook his head, as he sniffed. The motion made him dizzy for a second, surprising him. “No, it’s just a cold.” Everyone followed him out the front door and through the snow to the window of Rose’s room. Frank crouched down to look at the prints, as did Jake beside him. Alex and Monica followed the prints to see where they lead. Nothing could be discerned from them. They were a mess, deliberately made so. Frank shook his head and stood up. He tried to take a deep breath but the cold air was biting, and it made him cough. They started to walk to where Monica and Alex were, the senator trailing behind them. “Cody,” Jake called out. “What are you doing?” They looked to where Cody was in the driveway, looking at a low stone wall. He straightened up and motioned for them to come over there. As they neared him, Frank almost started laughing at the silly looking hat that he hadn’t noticed Cody was wearing. It was multicolored, with a huge ball on top; something you’d expect a 10 year old to wear. “Was this already broken?” Cody asked, pointing to a crack in a bunch of the stones. It looked like a car had backed into them. Williams looked at it in surprise. “No, not that I know of.” “Could your daughter have recently done it and you didn’t know?” Jake asked. The senator shrugged, shaking his head. “I really don’t know.” “There’s one way to find out,” Frank said, walking over to her car. He studied the back bumper, finding no chipped paint or anything to suggest that she’d backed into it. “The kidnapper must’ve hit it in his rush to get away,” Cody reasoned. “Man, the jerk actually pulled into your driveway to kidnap her?” Senator Williams sighed loudly, putting his hands over his face. “I can’t believe this! Someone really did take her! She could be hurt or…or…” Frank put a calming hand on his arm. “We’ll find her, Jim.” No one said anything for a minute, and naturally that was when Frank sneezed again. “I know you will, Frank,” Williams said. “I just hope you get to her in time.” ******************** “It’s gonna stink, waiting for a phone call,” said Cody, as they walked back into HQ. “It will,” Jake agreed. “But we can’t do anything till the kidnappers tell Williams how much they want, and where to bring it.” “I’m starved,” Cody said. “Anyone want lunch early?” “I do,” said Monica. “I missed breakfast.” “Yeah, I’m hungry too,” Jake said. “I’m not, yet,” said Alex. “Sorry, majority rules,” Cody told her. “Frank, you hungry?” Getting no answer, they turned to see that he apparently hadn’t come in behind them. Alex and Monica went back to the door, and opened it. Frank was sitting on the steps, seemingly staring into space. He started to cough, and it sounded pretty bad to them. “Look out below!” Frankie looked up just in time to be pushed to the ground by a body. He grunted, not expecting it. Looking up, he saw Rose giggling at him. “Rose!” he exclaimed, realizing where she’d come from. “You aren’t supposed to climb that tree!” She shook her head, her long hair flying in all directions. “No, you aren’t supposed to, Frankie. I can.” “Who says?” Frankie asked, standing up and brushing dirt off his clothes. “My daddy. Your daddy said you can’t.” “Why?” “’Cause you’re too little! I can because I’m older then you!” she said, with a smirk. “I’m almost 10!” Frankie said, indignant. “Well, I’m almost 12!” Rose said, laughing as she climbed the tree again. “No fair!” Frankie shouted at her, watching as she climbed it. He almost tried to climb it himself to prove to her that he could do it, but he didn’t want to get caught. “Catch!” Frankie almost missed the apple that came careening at his head. He started to wipe it on his shirt, but saw that it was still dirty, so what was the point. He ate it as Rose came down again. “Thanks,” he said. “Welcome,” she said, sticking her hand in his hair and messing it up. “Frank?” Alex said, as they came outside and sat on either side of him. “What are you doing?” “What I shouldn’t be doing; thinking,” he answered, hoping they hadn’t noticed his slight jump at hearing her voice. “About Rose?” Monica asked. Frank nodded. Alex sighed. “You’re right; you shouldn’t be. It’s cold, come in before you catch your death out here.” Frank nodded and stood, walking into the door after them. “Hey, where’s the food?” Cody asked. Alex frowned. “Food? You were going to get it! I’m not hungry yet, remember?” Cody laughed, and walked past them to the door. “What do you want, Frank?” he asked. “Not hungry.” “Wait a minute,” Monica said. “Did you eat breakfast?” Frank said nothing. It was all the answer Monica needed. “Frank Donovan, you know the saying; ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’.” Frank rolled his eyes. He proved them right a minute later when he sneezed, twice in a row. “Without your body's natural defense, you need the food, to give your body something to use to fight with!” said Alex. “Frank, your immune system's compromised as it is. You can't starve it, too!” “I’m not starving it, I’m just not hungry!” He looked at Alex's determined face and sighed lightly, so as not to cough. “Fine,” he agreed, just to shut them up. “Get me something I’ll like, Cody.” Cody made a face, as if that was a tall order. “’kay boss.” ******************** “ACHOO!” “God bless you,” Cody said, walking into HQ, and following the sneeze to the couch, where Frank was sitting. In answer, Frank blew his nose. “Where’d you go? What’d you get?” Monica said, starved. “Chinese, what else?” “Yum!” Frank smiled inwardly. He’d told Cody to get him something he liked, and Cody had gotten his favorite; obviously a trick to make sure he really did eat. “And I thought the girls were the mother hens,” he muttered. “I heard that.” Frank looked at Cody, amused to find the usual dialogue reversed; Cody usually making the quip, and Frank responding with the, ‘I heard that.’ Frank watched in shock as Monica piled the food onto her plate. “Whoa, Monica!” Alex said. “Figures, now I’m hungry.” “I got extra,” Cody said, with a smile. Alex smiled and grabbed a plate. Suddenly a dish was shoved under Frank’s nose, who hadn’t come to the table yet. It was the one Monica had made. “What?” she said. “You thought I was gonna eat all that?” Everyone laughed. Frank smiled, and took it. “Thanks. I think it’s too much for me too.” “You’ll live,” said Jake, sticking a piece of sweet&sour chicken into his mouth whole. ******************** *ring* Frank jumped, startled to hear that his alarm clock was blaring and his phone ringing. He just sat there for a minute, slightly disorientated from a very deep sleep. He’d thought the previous night that he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, due to his worry for Rose, but he was out like a light the minute his head hit the pillow, obviously due to his cold. He started coughing as he hit the alarm’s shut-off button, and fumbled for the phone, rubbing his eyes with a groan. He’d hoped the cold would be minor and go away fast, but today he felt even worse. “Hello?” he croaked. “Go back to sleep!” Frank looked at the phone with a frown. Alex had called to wake him up to tell him to go back to sleep? “What?” he said to her, looking at the clock. It read 8:32am. His jaw dropped as he stood up. “I’ll be right there,” he said to her, realizing that she’d called to see why he was late. “Don’t bother, Frank, you sound pretty bad…” “Don’t bother?! I need to find my sister! Has Williams called?” At HQ, Alex’s eyebrows raised at Frank calling Rose his ‘sister’. It was a strange thing to hear, knowing the man for a year and a half and not knowing about the woman he was so close to. She frowned when he started to cough again. “No, he hasn’t.” “I’ll be right there,” he repeated, and hung up. Alex hit the hang-up button, and threw the cordless phone back to Cody. “What happened?” Cody asked her as he caught it. “Sounds like he overslept,” Alex answered. “His cold sounds worse too.” “Poor guy,” said Monica. ******************** “Has he called yet?” Everyone looked up to see Frank walk in. His clothes looked impeccable, as usual, but he was pale and moving slower then usual, probably so he could breathe slower to prevent himself from coughing. “No, he hasn’t,” said Jake, as Frank came over to the table. “Was thinking of calling him myself and making sure he was still safe at home waiting.” “Good idea,” Frank said, sitting down. A cup of coffee was immediately set down in front of him. He picked it up and inhaled the steam, expecting to smell its wonderful aroma, but to his dismay, he could not smell it at all. He sipped it. At least I can still taste! Wonder how long that will last? “Thanks,” he said, to Alex. She smiled in reply. Frank took the mug and brought it to the couch. Sitting down, he drank half the cup, and looked at Jake who was hanging up the phone. “Williams is fine,” Jake said. “No one has gone after him. He said he’s sitting by the phone, waiting for them to call.” Frank nodded, and downed the rest of the coffee. As he put the cup on the floor next to the couch, he had a coughing fit. “Take a rest,” said Monica, not liking the sound of it. “Since there’s nothing we can do but wait.” Frank winced when it finally stopped, not able to remember a time when coughing hurt his lungs like this. He decided to take Monica’s advice, and lay down on the couch. “What do you wanna be when you grow up, Frankie?” “A cop,” Frankie replied, as he sucked on a lollipop. “I dunno what I wanna be,” Rose answered, eyeing the apple tree. The two of them loved this spot, going to it often. “Why not?” She shrugged. “Dunno. Why do you wanna be a cop?” “To catch the badguys and put them in jail.” “What if you get shot?” Frank bit the lollipop, and chewed it. “I won’t.” “How do you know?” “Because.” “Why?” “Because.” “Why?” Frank took the lollipop stick and plopped it in her hair, where it stuck. “Because!” he said, and jumped up and ran. “Ewww! Frankie Donovan get back here!” Rose said, plucking it out and throwing it, before chasing after her little friend. Frankie laughed, knowing she was chasing him, but suddenly he heard, “Frankie! Help!” He turned to see a stranger dragging her away with him. ‘This didn’t happen in real life!’ He thought, thinking it an odd statement. “Rose!” he yelled. Suddenly Frank bolted upright on the couch; not having realized he’d fallen asleep. “Frank?” he heard, seeing Cody looking at him strangely, as he sat at his computer, facing him. Frank took a deep breath to steady himself, but started coughing. He ran his hands through his hair, irked to see that he felt worse. “You okay there, Frank?” Frank looked up, almost forgetting Cody’s presence. “Bad dream,” he admitted. His eyebrows went up when he heard that his voice sounded scratchy. Cody made a face, and nodded. “Bummer.” Frank sighed carefully, so as not to cough again. He looked around. “Where is everyone?” “Alex is killing the punching bag, Monica is…” he looked around. “No clue, and Jake had to go to the bank.” Hope he used the drive-through, Frank thought, thinking back to what Jake had said to him at the end of the bank robbery case.* “The Senator didn’t call yet?” he asked. Cody shook his head. As if on cue, the phone rang, and Cody answered it. “Hello?” he looked at Donovan, and nodded his head as he tossed the cordless phone to him. Frank stood. “Jim?” Cody leaped from his chair as Frank grabbed his coat. “We’ll be right there, don’t worry.” He threw the phone back to Cody. “Call Jake and Monica and see where they are…” he paused when they both walked in the door. “Williams just called; the kidnapper made his demands,” he told them. “Go get Alex in the gym.” Jake ran to do that while Monica came closer. “How much does he want?” “10 Million,” Frank said, as he checked his gun. Suddenly a sneeze came on, and it was so forceful that he almost accidentally pulled the trigger. Cody and Monica exchanged glances when Frank had another coughing fit following the sneeze; both of them wishing Frank would take better care of himself. Alex and Jake came bursting into the room. “Ready?” Frank asked, with a sniff. Everyone nodded. “Good,” Frank put the gun back in its holster. “Let’s get Rose back.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Trial By Fire - continued |