Endless

17 Days Before

17 DAYS BEFORE

I look at my detectives as we once again gather in my office, we are all looking worse for wear. Mike called in sick this morning which is not helpful considering we need all the man power we can get, but i'd rather not have him slowing us down. Noah is curled up in Fin's lap, he clings to him for dear life. Every so often he turns and looks up at him just to make sure he is still there, and it breaks me to watch every time.

Nick looks like he is going to be sick any minute, his eyes permanently red from the amount of tears he would have shed. The only thing he has to count on is Peyton keeping his daughter safe, yet non of us know whether or not she is even still alive. If either of them are. We all place our heads in our hands and take a deep breathe before we get ready to dive once again into this head first.

My phone rings on my desk, the vibration shocking us all back to reality. I look down to find an unknown number showing, unsure on whether or not to take it.
"Liv who is it?" Elliot says as he moves from his spot against the wall. He walks towards my desk and sits on the window ledge behind me.
"I don't know it's an unknown number," i hold up my phone so he can see.
"Just answer and put it on speak phone." I shrug at him, why not?

I click the answer button and put it on speaker, when a voice filters out and causes me to cry.
"Liv? Liv? Is that you?"

Peyton's soft shaking tone is music to my ears.

*        *        *

I am sitting up right with my back against the cold wall of the room. I am facing the door so i can see if anyone enters. I am keeping my left shoulder still and for now the cold is helping keep the pain in check.

"Peyton honey, is that you?" Her voice causes me to cry, i just want to be wrapped in her arms.
"Liv," i sob out.
"Yeah baby its me, are you okay?" her voice is shaking.
"No."
"Peyton where is Zara? Is she okay?" Nick's agitated voice hurts me, cause i can't give him the reasurance he wants.
"Nick i don't know. She was fine when i saw her last. She was hiding. I'm not with her now, she is with the others. I am alone." I hear a fist hit the wall hard, as his frustration and anger bubbles over. "I'm sorry," i whisper out.
"I'm not mad at you Peyton, thank you for going with her."

"Okay, Okay. Peyton where are you?" Elliot's voice comes through and it's soothing and comforting the way i imagine a father's voice would sound like if i had one.
"I don't know they have boarded up all the windows, i can't see anything. I think it is an old abandoned school, but i'm not sure." I move slightly to try and see if i can move towards the other wall where the boarded windows are, when the pain rips through my small frame.

*        *        *

She whimpers through the phone and i shudder at the sound.
"Peyton baby are you okay? What's happening?" my mothering instinct taking over.
"I'm trying to get to the windows to see if i can pull the boards off, but i'm chained to the floor. My left ankle is broken along with my left wrist, and my left shoulder is dislocated."
I clutch my chest as my heart aches.
"Then stop moving baby, you ne-"
"No Liv! Don't tell me what i need to do! Zara is somewhere in this building and you have to find her before they hurt her! So you need to block your ears because in about 5 seconds I may scream."

Her heavy breathing and the sound of chains dragging across the floor are hard to listen to. When a sound filters through that sounds like a dying cat. Her sobs echo, and we all cringe as we hear her struggle to give us a landmark.

"Peyton?"
"Yeah El," she breathes.
"Stop moving for a second." We hear the chains and shuffling of her body stop. "When you were in the van which way did you go when you left the alleyway?"

I pull a map out and move from behind my desk to spread it on the floor.
"Um, i don't really remember." I can hear the pain and anger in her voice.
"Just think Peyton, which way did the van go?" Elliot's voice is so comforting and i know he feels like she is his daughter to. I turn to look at him and see him fighting with himself to keep his cool, as i know he just wants to protect her.
"We went right. Up the street away from the precinct."
"Okay good, good." I mark out the alleyway and place the map as if i am in the position Peyton would have been inside the van. I draw a red line up the street.
"Baby do you remember anything else?" i silently plead they hadn't knocked her out at this point.
We hear the chains move again before Peyton yells out, "P stop moving!" i yell down the phone.
Her frustrated sobs, tearing us all apart.
"Liv i'm scared for Zara, you need to find her and i can't remember." her voice is broken due to her constant sobbing. "Can't you just track my call? Liv can't you just do that."

"Baby we can and we will, we are trying to get the IT guys, Fin is calling them, but it will take awhile and we don't know how long you will be alone for. So please think love." I cover my eyes as i listen to her cry on the other end. The most painful thing is i can hear that she is not crying for herself. She is crying for Zara. For Nick, for me, for Marcus, for Noah and for all the other children trapped in that place.
Then suddenly the crying stops. "Liv we passed the Firehouse, we drove past it. We never turned just kept going straight. I remember hearing the alarm go off."
"Okay Peyton that's good, that's good." i continue the line down the street, "do you remember turning at all during the drive."
Her breaths are shallow and weak and i can tell she must have some broken ribs and that breathing is difficult. "No." she whispers, "they knocked me out shortly after we passed the fire station."
She goes silent on the end of the phone, as she realises we are still at the same place and no closer to finding them.

"Liv?" 
"Yeah baby." i whisper into the phone, leaning towards it as i sit curled on the floor.
"I love you," she sobs.
"I know baby, I love you too."
"I'm sorry," she cries, "I should have been better, treated you better, listened to you more. Thank you for giving me a home and a family. Elliot i am sorry for making f-"
"Stop!" Elliot yells down the phone, we all turn to look at him, tears pouring down his cheeks. Peyton goes silent on the other end of the phone, not even her breathing can be heard. "You can tell us when we get you, you are not telling us now. We will find you, you will be safe and then you can continue appologising for being a brat then."
"Maybe your dick will have grown by then huh?" she manages a small giggle before she winces from pain; but that giggle is enough.
We laugh, "Maybe it will have." Elliot chuckles out.

My office door opens as the IT guy files in with his laptop and cables.
"The IT guys is here now baby," i watch the thin man set up his equipment on my desk, "we are going to find you now okay, just hang in there."
"Okay," she whispers.

I give the man my phone, as he taps into, connecting it to his laptop so he can run his tracking software.
"Liv?"
"Yeah Peyton?"
"Hurry."

We can hear the scraping of a heavy metal on the concrete floor, we all stand shocked staring at the phone, as the IT guy taps furiously on his laptop. Her chains are being pulled and we hear her head smack against the floor and the phone go skidding. She yelps in pain, and i jerk my head upwards to meet Elliots eyes. My fear mirror back at me, in his face.
"please hurry," i whisper to the IT man.
"I'm trying." 

The tears once again reappear as an endless flow down my cheeks. A voice belows from the phone and we all freeze.
"Where the hell did you get that phone you little shit?" His voice sending chills down my spine, i look at Elliot who has lost all his colour, turning white as a ghost. "I've had enough of your shit."
"No please don't, I'm sorry, I'll do anything, I'm really sorry." Her pleads echoing off every wall in my office, filling the air with dread and heartbreak.

I look at the IT guy, "almost there," click, click, click, click, click. "Got it!"

BANG!

The gunshot echos loudly from my phone, long after the silence has settled.