Mistakes of our past | Rhekker

Chapter 27- The call

Ava woke up to her phone buzzing on the night stand, without thinking she picked it up.
"Hello" she called groggily, sitting up in the bed.
"Is this Ava Bekker" a mans voice said.
Ava suddenly realised that this could be a reporter, she had changed her number already to avoid harassing calls. Looking back at her phone she saw no caller Id.
"Depends"
"I know it's you Ava, go down to the park, alone. I think their might be someone down their you want to see" the voice said coldly.
Ava pushed Connors shoulder, forcing him to walk up. She signed for him not to say anything as she turned on the bedside lamp, pulling out some paper from the night stand.
"Yeah, yeah I got it alone" She calls into the phone, scribbling something down.

Go onto other room, call Jay. Tell him go to park, meet me there

Connor stared at her blankly as Ava got up from the bed, getting her shoes on.
"You better be quick Avery, it's cold out their for a kid"
"You bastard" she breathes down the line as it goes dead.

Ava puts her phone down and pulls on some sweatpants over her pajamas.
"Ava what's going on" Connor calls as she runs around her apartment.
"Some called saying theirs a kid in the park that I might want to see" Ava explains frantically, checking the thermometer on the wall she sees the temperature -2°C, it's one of the coldest nights of the year.
"Call jay" Ava shouts again, rumbling through a draw.
"Headphones really?" Connor questions while dialling Jay.
Fitting an AirPod in Ava brushed her messy hair back over her ear, covering them.
"He said come alone, ring me when Jay gets her, I'll pick up the phone from my pocket and talk to you through the headphones" Ava kissed him, picking up the bag from the front door.
"We might get out girl back" Ava whispered hopefully, afraid to say it to loud and jinx it. Jay had just picked up the phone as Ava ran out the door.

Rushing done the street Ava feelings herself getting tired and slows down, she's only just woken up. The streets are empty at this time, it's going on three am. Squeezing her black winter jacket tighter around her Ava tries to dissolve into it.
She feels her phone buzz in her hand and picks it up without looking.
"Ava" Jay calls.
"Yeah I can hear you" Ava whispered back, in case she was being watched.
"We're going to be just outside the park in an unmarked car. Okey your doing great, okey, this headphone idea was brilliant"
Ava was quite for a minute, panting slight as her body shivered to fight off the cold.
"Okey your five minutes out now Ava, when you get their I want to to watch every carefully, check for anyone and anything that seems off. Your not armed and you have no protection, If you feel even the tiniest bit of danger, or that something not right, I want you to run towards the far gate. Haliey's waiting there for you"
"Got it" Ava breathed as she pushed the gate open.

The park was cruelly silent at this time of night, deafening any passerby's. Ava made her way down the stone steps into the belly of the park. How is a place this dark and eerie the same place Sophia, Connor and herself had laughed in. Ava walked slowly, keeping her eyes open wide, the park was a rectangle, with pebble footpaths and no street lights. Ava being a lap of the perimeter, watching the center green area for any sign of movement.
"Nothing" Ava mumbles in a low tone as she carry's on.
"Ava, this may have been some sick prank" Jay reminds her.
"It seemed pretty real" Ava says, covering her mouth with her arm, pretending to cough.
A loud long screech comes over the park, the sound of metal on metal.
"Mammmma!" A young voice calls across the green.
"Sophia" Ava quickly inhales as her eyes fall to the wooden playground structure on the far side of the park. Breaking out in a panicked sprit she runs to the site.
"Sophia" Ava calls as she approaches.
"Ek is koud*" A small figure sniffles to Ava left. Ava spots a metal swing set with a blob of a bed sheet secured into one of the seats. "Dit is okey**"Ava says throwing herself on the ground in front of her daughter. "Ek is hier, Ek is hier***"she breathes, holding her daughters head against her chest.

From behind the swings Ava sees a figure shift in the dark, slowly approaching.
"Fuck off, you hear me" Ava calls harshly to them. Just then the park is flooded with light and the figure disappears into darkness as Ava hears feet pounding from behind her. Ava feels her face warm with tears as she holds Sophia tighter, pulling her out of the swing. Ava's hat falls askew on her head, she pulls it all the way off and places into Sophia, who nearly disappears into it.
Two strong arms wrap around Ava, followed by a the side of a jacket. Ava looks up to find Connor crying above her, trying to keep his girls warm in his jacket.
"My girls" he weeps, Ava turns to face him so Sophia is sandwiched between to two of them, protected and warm.

An ambulance drove into the park as Jay and Connor walked the girls over. Ava still carrying Sophia in her arms, with a protective hand from Connor on her back. Connor and Ava sat together in the back of ambulance, crying tears of relief at having their girl back.

"Female, 3 years old, Sophia Bekker, unknown injures, dehydrated, general check up" one of the paramedics call wheeling Sophia in, with Ava and Connor following behind.
"Ava" Maggie calls seeing the couple walk in.
"Hey Mags" Connor smiles at her through tears. "We got her back"
Maggie came out from behind the nurses station and hugged them both.
"Okey Dr. Manning I need you over here" Lockwood calls spotting Nat.
Natalie runs over to the treatment room spotting Ava and Connor.
"Hi Sophia, it's so great to meet you. I'm Doctor Manning, I'm just going to do some tests to make sure your okey sweetie" Natalie tells her, seeing the girl shrink into her bed, starting to panic. "And then maybe we can see if we can get some chocolate from the cafeteria" Natalie adds playfully. "Yeah" Sophia cheers, ready to go.

"Why don't you to go get some water and a snack, I'll just run some basic tests, make sure everything's alright" Natalie tells the couple, seeing their dishevelled state, and the bags under their eyes.
"I'll wait with Sophia, Ava why don't you go get changed, your still in your pyjamas, you'll freeze in here" Connor tells her softly. Ava nods and wanders off to the doctors lounger. After the world's fastest shower Ava takes a set of clean scrubs and underwear from her locker. Standing in her underwear she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror, her face looks like she hasn't slept in days, which to some degree is true. Her colour seems to be coming back to her face and she no longer looked sickly. Pulling on her crisp, new scrubs she returns to Connor and Sophia.

When Ava gets back to the treatment room Natalie is jokingly testing Sophia reflexes while Sophia happily eats a snickers bar. "I never understood where she got a taste for peanuts from" Ava commented, watching the scene. "Same place you got your sweet tooth" Connor jokes. Ava chuckled to him, seeing his eyes finally free of tears.

——————
* "Its cold"
** "It's okey"
*** "I'm here, I'm here"

A/n: We finally have everyone's favourite Rhodes back ✊🏻 Double update today for my birthday 🎉 and since I can't update this Tuesday, but I'll be back Thursday 💓