Love, War & Tears (AvaLance)

Chapter 1 - The Phone Call

Randy was sitting at the kitchen bench reading a newspaper while sipping on his coffee. It was a bright sunny day in DC and he was enjoying the morning peace which was rare in his job. Randy reached out and pinched a slice of banana from the chopping board which caught Pam's eye. Pam his wife, gave him a cheeky growl and quickly slapped the back of his hand. "You'll have to be quicker than that if you don't want to get caught Mr Sharpe." "Mmmm Mr Sharpe... Pammy I love the sound of that." Pammy being his pet name for his wife. It was 0715 in the morning and the sun was shining through the glass double doors from the patio bringing the warmth from outside into the kitchen. Pam was fixing some breakfast, maple pancakes with banana and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Randy's favourite. 

The day ahead was theirs to enjoy together, it was Saturday and Randy was about to retire from the Bureau. He had been the Director for the past ten years and was in the process of handing over the role to a new Director. Pam finished cooking the pancakes and topped them off with some slices of banana and a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of maple syrup to top them off before handing the plate of pancakes to Randy. Randy took another sip of coffee and was just about to dive into eating his pancakes when the phone rang. Randy had no intention of answering the phone this morning and was happy to let it ring out. It was Saturday morning and all work calls had been redirected to the new Director, so Randy wasn't expecting to receive any work calls for the weekend. Pam reached out and grabbed the phone and passed it to him. "Here hon you may as well answer it just in case it is work, you only have a few more weeks left and then we'll have all the time in the world together." He took the phone, "thanks Pammy", he said with a slight smirk on his face. With an annoyed tone in his voice he answered the phone, "this is Randy Sharpe".

The voice at the other end of the phone began speaking. Randy noted the voice was of a male tone, gruff and what sounded to be of middle eastern accent as he listened. "Director Sharpe, if you love your daughter and want to see her alive again, you will need to trade her." Randy froze, his mind began racing, was he hearing this right, was this voice talking about his daughter. As he replayed those words in his head he felt himself lose grip of the coffee cup he had been holding. The coffee cup falling to the tiled floor, causing it to shatter, surprising Pam who flinched at the sound of the thud it made. "Randy what is it?" Randy was now talking into the phone, "you have my daughter, you have Ava?" he questioned. Pam stared at Randy not fully aware of what is happening but she knew from the part of the conversation she could hear and the tone in Randy's voice that whatever was happening on the other end of the phone now involved her daughter. She was reading the growing worry now plainly evident on Randy's face. It couldn't be, this isn't.... all these horrible thoughts of what someone might be doing to Ava were now crowding her mind. Randy was talking "who is this, what do you mean I need to trade Ava, who do I have to trade her with, don't you dare hurt Ava."

The voice began speaking again. "It doesn't matter who I am, I want Thawne, Eobard Thawne and if you want to see Ava again you will need to trade her for him. How much is your daughter worth to you? You have him held at Iron Heights, you need to release him and then you can have your daughter back." Randy responded trying to get the words out, "I.. I.. can't get to him, he's out of my hands." "You're the Director, I know you have access to him, your daughter was sent there to speak to him yesterday, you have...." Randy interrupted "I want proof", "you want proof then listen to this....", for a moment there was silence until Randy heard a loud thud in the background and then instantly he heard a female voice cry out in pain. He knew that voice, that voice he has listened to her whole life, that voice that evolved from a young girl to the woman she is now. He knew that voice was Ava's and that he would go to any lengths to get her back. He stopped himself from reacting to what he heard, he couldn't let his wife see what he had felt at hearing that sickening sound of his daughter's cry of pain. He didn't want to imagine what other pain they could be inflicting on her, he had to push those thoughts out of his mind for now.