Can't Go Back Now Episode 15 |
** "What's the deal with Daniels?" Joe nervously fidgeted as he sat in the 'Cuda next to Nash. "It's his game and he wants us to play along." Nash had already figured out that this was all a game of revenge to Daniels, and everyone was a player. "So what's our next move?" Joe partially felt responsible for their involvement in the mess Daniels had created. "We wait.'' After nearly losing Rachel and all those kids at the school, there was no feasible way for them to plan their next move. "We wait? Nash, this man is a psycho. We can't sit around and wait." The idea seemed completely unrealistic to Joe, Richard Daniels shouldn't be on the loose. "I know, but right now my main concern is for everybody's safety. We'll play his game for a while, but we'll come out with the upperhand. " Nash wasn't willing to risk anyone's life trying to outsmart Daniels. ** Rachel busily searched the computer screen, looking for any clue as to where Daniels might turn up next. She had been taking calls all morning about sightings around the town and was loading the information on to her computer... hoping something might come up. Harvey walked up to her desk, not having gotten the chance to say hello earlier on in the day. "Looks like you're back in full action." Harvey smiled, knowing nothing could've kept Rachel down for long. "I'm beginning to regret coming back, this is mind-boggling." Rachel laughed, she couldn't stay away from work any longer than she already had. She hated having nothing to do. "I might need a week off once we wrap this up to recover." "That'll be the day." Harvey knew Rachel would never take time off unless she absolutely had to, she loved her job too much. "I have to run down to the shop where Daniels was last seen, care to join me?" Rachel shut down her computer and grabbed her purse, anxious to get out of the SIU and talk to the shop owner. "On my lunch break?" Harvey chuckled, knowing he'd gladly give up food to get a chance to talk to Rachel. "I'll buy you lunch later." Rachel really didn't want to go alone, the thought of any possible contact with Daniels freaked her out. "It's a deal." Harvey was happy to get to go along, it would give him the perfect opportunity to ask Rachel about Bill Chamberlain. ** Joe looked towards Antwon, "where'd Leek and McCabe disappear to this afternoon?" "They went to check out that shop on Burbank where Daniels was spotted this afternoon." Antwon wasn't sure if Harvey had gone with Rachel or not, he assumed he had since Harvey hadn't been around the SIU for the past couple hours. "Okay. Nash was wondering if Harvey found anything out. He called the last school Daniels worked at this morning." Joe had checked into Daniels records earlier, before he helped get him fired. He didn't find anything incriminating back then. "He didn't say anything to me." Antwon didn't remember Harvey mentioning anything new coming up. ** "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." Harvey looked at Rachel as she walked towards her car. "If I cook, I'll make too much and over eat.'' Harvey thought about what he was about to do, "how about you join me for dinner?" "You're cooking?" Rachel couldn't help but laugh, she couldn't imagine Harvey working in the kitchen. "I happen to be a very good cook, Ms. Queen of Take-Out." Harvey wasn't insulted by her comment, but he was sure she had no room to talk. He couldn't picture her as being any great culinary master, she was hardly ever home long enough to cook. "Depends, what are you making?" Rachel was intrigued, a decent home-cooked meal was definitely more appealing than another evening of take-out when she got home. "Grilled mahi-mahi, perhaps with some fresh vegetables and whatever else I can find." Harvey had actually been planning on cooking a nice steak for himself, but then considered inviting Rachel. He preferred to cater to her vegetarian tastes rather than eating alone. "Sounds promising." An evening with Harvey would be just the escape she needed from her apartment. This was the first night she actually wanted to get out and do something and not be left alone with her thoughts. It was becoming overwhelming, she needed to do something else. "Maybe with a bottle of vintage Dead Red." Harvey usually didn't bring out Garcia's finest unless it was a special occasion, and that's precisely what he considered dinner with Rachel to be. Rachel laughed, "what do you want me to bring?" It seemed as if he had taken care of everything, almost like he had the evening planned. "Yourself for starters, I'll take care of the rest. Unless you want dessert." Harvey hadn't thought of dessert, and he was sure he didn't have anything good at home. "I'll meet you there." Harvey smiled as Rachel drove off, assured that tonight was going to be a lot better than he originally expected. ** "How did you know this was my favorite?" Harvey smiled as he stuck his spoon back into the Ben and Jerry's ice-cream container that was now nearly half empty. Rachel had brought his favorite, chunky monkey. They were sitting together on his couch after dinner. "Because when you were over, you demolished mine." Harvey had completely forgotten about that evening. Rachel had a computer glitch when downloading some files from work and called him over. After fixing the problem, Harvey had raided her ice-cream stash. ''I guess I did." Harvey had a guilty grin on his face, "you're too good to me." He passed her the container, "you better finish this or I will." Rachel stuck her own spoon into the ice-cream, and took a large spoonful. Harvey hesistated a moment before asking, "have you heard from Bill?" Rachel was surprised by the question, not sure where it came from. She removed the spoon from her mouth and stuck it back into the ice-cream, setting it down on the table. "I thought about calling, but...with Cecilia...'' Harvey could see how conflicted she felt and wondered why she wouldn't do anything about it. He couldn't wait any longer. "If you feel this way, why did you give her up?" This question had been burning inside of Harvey, he sensed there was more to it than she had previously let on. Rachel sat back on the couch, not prepared at all to answer. "It's not that easy, Harvey. I was young, financially unstable and a med student. I was twenty-five years old and single." Rachel hadn't been ready for a child at the time, the pregnancy couldn't have been more inconvenient. They had always been careful, but evidently not careful enough. "Is that really why?" Harvey wasn't completely convinced with Rachel's answer, there had to be something else. "What do you mean? It wasn't like I tried to get pregnant, if that's what you're asking." Rachel feared where he was going with this, certain that he would want to bring Scott into this. She wasn't ready to bring him up again, but it was obvious she might have to. "I mean, if you really wanted to --- you could've kept her. Putting your medical career on hold, asking your parents for money... you could've done it and been okay." After his experiences with Anna and Jerry, he couldn't understand how anyone could give up a child. "I suppose I could've, I wasn't ready for a baby at the time. I was barely making it on my own, it was not the ideal situation to bring a child into." At the time, it was the only solution that made sense. Rachel still didn't regret her decision, knowing she had done what was best for her daughter. "And the father?" Harvey knew he was entering turbulent ground by asking about the father of her child since she never brought him up. He just didn't know how far he could take the topic. "He disappeared." Okay, that was a lie. Harvey wasn't there back then to know the nature of their relationship or how things ended. There was no way she could've told Scott about this baby. "By his choice or yours?" He knew he was pushing it now, but he had to know. Rachel had never appeared the type who would voluntarily give up her child to complete strangers without a damn good reason. "He didn't want anything to do with me, he wouldn't have wanted a child." The relationship had ended mutually, to an extent. They were both too devoted to their work to find time for eachother, let alone a child. Work had brought them together and also had driven them apart. "So you just assumed he didn't want the baby and never told him?" That was cold, but she ran away just like Anna did. She hadn't told Scott about their baby and gave her up, just like Anna hadn't told Harvey about Jerry and took him away . "Harvey, there was no way he would've wanted a baby --- especially not with me." There was no way she could've been wrong on this, he wouldn't have wanted a baby and the timing was terrible for both of them. Harvey looked at her in shock, not able to believe she of all people would do this, just like Anna did to him. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe you wouldn't tell him. How could you just forget his part in this and give his child up?" He didn't mean to point fingers or punish her for her deeds of the past, but having been on the other side of the situation himself, he felt that the father had a right to know. Harvey had crossed the line and Rachel had enough. "Now that I know how you feel, I'm sorry I told you any of this. I didn't tell you so you could judge my decision, Harvey. I told you because I thought you cared." Rachel picked up her purse and headed towards the door. "Rache, come on... I just..." It was apparent there was no stopping her. Harvey walked quickly to the door and saw her as she got into her car. "Rachel!" She didn't stop, she started the ignition and drove off down the road. Harvey watched as she pulled down the street, "dammit." The evening hadn't gone as he had planned. ** "No dates tonight, son?" Nick looked over to Nash as he was reading the newspaper. "Nope, I decided to spend my evening at home with you." Nash had wanted to call Rachel earlier and ask her if Bill had called again, but hadn't gotten the chance. He was hoping she could've joined him for dinner. "In other words, Rachel didn't want to go out this evening?" Nick knew Nash regretted ending his relationship with Rachel and wished he could change how things ended between them. "I didn't say that." Nash hadn't meant to imply anything, he worried his continued affection toward Rachel was a bit too obvious. "You didn't have to. She's a good woman, Nash." Nick wasn't pleased when he heard about the two breaking up, but he knew Nash wasn't the type for commitment. "I know. But, we both know what happened." Nash wished he would've gone out instead of sitting at home with Nick, having to go through this all again. "So, go out and have some fun. Meet someone. No use crying over spilt milk, son." Nick wanted to be supportive of Nash's choices, but he wished his son would settle down. Nash considered what his father said. ** Rachel sat on her couch later that evening with her phone off the hook, trying to avoid Harvey's imminent call. Rachel searched through the phone book, hoping to find his number. What Harvey thought meant a lot to her, and part of her knew that he was right. She had to find Scott and tell him about their daughter, if only to put her conscience at ease. She dialed Oakland General, hoping he'd still be there. "I'm an investigator, I do this for a living. I should be able to find you." ** "Any more Daniels sightings?" Harvey looked at Nash as he walked in, almost twenty minutes after eight. Nash was hardly ever late and Harvey worried something might be wrong with Nick. Harvey couldn't help but wonder when he saw Rachel trailing in not far behind Nash. When Rachel didn't answer his calls last night, he assumed she was just ignorning him because she was angry but it was apparent she had probably gone to see Nash. "Nothing that I've heard of.'' Harvey looked at Rachel suspiciously as she walked towards her desk. It was now more unclear than ever about what their kiss had meant, especially with Nash around. "Rachel, what about you?" Nash looked curiously towards Rachel's desk as she turned on her computer and sat down. Harvey noted she still hadn't taken off her sunglasses. "Nothing yet. Last I checked, Daniels had been spotted at a restaurant on 3rd Avenue but booked when another diner had pulled out a phone." Rachel heard that yesterday before she left for Harvey's, she wasn't sure if Harvey or Nash knew about the incident. "Anyone do a follow-up, try and track him down?" Nash was curious as to why no one would've gone after him. "My guess is that they were too afraid." Rachel put away the list of numbers she had copied the evening before, planning to call during her lunch break. She didn't want Nash, or even Harvey for that matter, to know what she was doing. This was something she had to handle on her own. "Get on the phone with the restaurant and find out, I want to find him before he does anything else." Nash walked back outside to get some air, the case was becoming too much for him. He hated when cases dragged on with no end in site. Rachel picked up a folder off her desk and walked by Harvey's on her way to the copy machine, without saying a word. Harvey got up to follow her. "Good morning to you too.'' Harvey knew she had been upset about his comment when she left, but he didn't think it would carry over to the next day. Rachel glared at him over her dark glasses. She started the copy machine and continued to ignore Harvey's presence. ''What's with the glasses?" Rachel looked at him coldly, she didn't want to say another word. Harvey stood before her with his hands on his hips and waited for an explanation. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to figure it out for myself?" Rachel wondered how Harvey could be so naive, and not even care about how what he said the night before affected her. She picked up her copy and started to walk away, leaving Harvey there to consider the value of her silence."Fine. Be that way." ** "So how's operation MC going?" Antwon looked across to Harvey and smiled as they drove to the restaurant where Daniels had been spotted the night before. He had begun referring to Harvey's unrequited love for Rachel as operation MC after her break-ups with Nash and John. "Let's just say that the Daniels case is going better." Harvey laughed knowing that many people at the SIU considered the Daniels case to be hopeless since it had dragged on so long. "That bad, huh?" Antwon knew Harvey had intended to take things slowly with Rachel, but it was apparent things hadn't even gotten started. "I don't know, I mean --- it's hard to say where we stand." Harvey couldn't explain it any other way. They shared a kiss and many long talks, but it comparison to her relationship with Nash, it was a whole lot of nothing. "Right now, she's going through some stuff and I don't know if she wants me around." "You as opposed to Nash?" Antwon often wondered if Rachel and Nash picked things up after the Van Guard case, but what Harvey had told him bout Monterrey gave him conflicting ideas. "Me as opposed to anybody." Harvey tried not to sound defeated, but that's how he felt. Harvey knew the case was taking a toll on all of them, especially Rachel and his comments about her personal life the night before didn't seem to help matters any. "Right now, I just want to close this case with Daniels and see where things go." "So you're going to wait again?" Antwon couldn't understand why Harvey kept delaying making the next move, sure someone else would beat him to it. "I think it would be best. She's got a lot on her mind." Harvey didn't want to get into it about Rachel's daughter, assuming she hadn't told Antwon or anyone else at the SIU. "Don't come crying to me when you miss your chance, Leek." Antwon smiled, hoping Harvey would get his chance. He knew Rachel liked Harvey as a friend and respected him as an officer, but he didn't know how she felt on a more personal level.He'd have to rely on Cassidy to fill him in. ** "What's with you today?" Nash looked at Rachel as she poured a cup of coffee, finding it odd she'd be pouring another cup this late in the afternoon. By now she had removed her glasses but her eyes were obviously red and puffy. "Don't ask." Rachel didn't feel like explaining her conversation with Harvey from the night before. She didn't want to get Nash involved anymore than he already was. Rachel set the coffee pot down and turned to face Nash, "it's complicated." "It always is." Nash assumed she had been worried about her daughter, and was concerned with Bill Chamberlain finding out the truth. He could tell she wasn't willing to talk about it, so he changed the subject. "Find anything at the restaurant?" "They said he ran towards the bridge, if that's any help." Rachel knew that clue wouldn't be of much use since no one had gone after him. "What about Joe, has he heard from Daniels again?" "Not that I know of. Joe hasn't been saying much lately, I think he blames himself for our involvement in the case." Nash hated to admit it, but he felt Joe was partially responsible for dragging them into this mess. "What does Inger think of all this?" Rachel wondered how much Joe had told Inger about what was going on. She knew that Joe wanted to keep as much from her as he possibly could. "She's pretty much in the dark." Nash didn't like lying to Inger about what happened, or even what could still happen. But he knew he had to, Joe didn't want to scare her. "So what's next?" Rachel wasn't sure what Nash wanted them to do from here, they had to wait it out. "We watch for his next move, we can't jump to any conclusions with Daniels." Nash couldn't afford to be wrong with Daniels, he was liable to do anything. ** "So how long is this going to last?" Harvey looked over to Rachel as they stood together, looking out on the bay. He wanted to talk about what he said, explain himself. He wasn't sure she was willing to give him that chance. "A day, a week, a month?" "Just leave me alone, okay?" Rachel didn't want to get into it with him, especially not now. She had never before felt so guilty about her decision, and Harvey was unintentionally making everything worse. "If you'd let me explain," Harvey could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't willing to listen. He had obviously gone too far with what he had said. "Drop it, Harvey. Forget last night even happened." Rachel didn't want to rehash their discussion or listen to some explanation for how he felt. She wanted to erase the evening and get on with her life. Why did he care so much anyways? It didn't make sense. his interest in her personal life. Did that kiss really mean what she thought it did? Another work relationship wasn't something she should get involved in. She couldn't risk being wrong again. "Rachel, come on..." Harvey put his arm out to stop her, but she walked away. Harvey stood there in the parking lot as he watched her drive off. He had to do something. ** Joe paced around his kitchen, waiting for the phone to ring. Ever since Richard Daniels got away from the school, he was paranoid about letting Inger and Lucia go out alone. They had been gone just over an hour, but it was just a trip to the grocery store to get a few things. Joe was worried. Just then, the phone rang. Joe quickly ran to answer the phone, "hello?" "Ah, another night at home. Wondering where your wife and daughter are, huh?" Daniels laughed loudly into the receiver, "What the hell have you done to them?" Joe couldn't help but jump to conclusions, this man was psychotically dangerous. "Relax Dominguez, they're safe... for now." Daniels looked up through the window to see Joe pacing around in the kitchen nervously as he saw Inger and Lucia walk up to the front door. "But I won't promise they'll stay that way." Daniels hung up the phone and drove off before Joe could reply. He stood there, motionless --- grabbing the counter for support. "Joe, are you okay?" Inger walked in and saw Joe bracing the counter. He hadn't even heard her walk in with Lucia. "Daddy, what's wrong?" Lucia looked up at her father, worried by the look on his face. Joe picked Lucia up and held her close. "Nothing's wrong. I just missed you." Joe couldn't let Inger or Lucia know what was going on, he wasn't going to let Daniels get to them. ** Harvey couldn't stand getting the cold shoulder from Rachel anymore. He hadn't meant to insult her with what he said, he was just speaking his mind. Harvey worried that she'd be back with Nash in no time if he didn't repair the damage, if she wasn't already. Nash was always one to pick up the piece's of a woman's broken heart. He got out his cell phone and dialed her number, hoping she'd pick up. "Hello?" She had been laying down on the couch since she got home, not wanting to do anything but sleep. "Rache, it's me, Harvey." Rachel looked down at her caller ID realizing that she should have checked that before she answered in order to avoid his call. "What do you want, Leek?" She had no reason to be cordial, she felt betrayed by his comments and his second guessing of her decision. "Meet me at the pier off Del Rey beach at 7:30, we can talk there." Harvey felt it would be best to talk on mutual territory and out in the open. "Do I have a choice here?" Rachel didn't feel like going, he was the last person she wanted to see. She hadn't felt guilty over her decision with Cecilia in a long time, and now the guilt was too much. The thought of Scott was too much. "I'll see you there." Harvey hung up the phone, hoping that she'd come. He looked at the clock, seeing it was just now seven o'clock. That gave him time to run an errand and stop at home before he met with her. Rachel felt his concern for her merited at least a chance to explain himself. Rachel got up and went to her computer, pulling up a search engine. She quickly typed Scott Gray's name and waited to see what came up. Page after page of entries followed, she began to read them, looking for the right one. ** Nash quickly scanned the papers laid out before him. He had enough of Richard Daniels and wanted him off the streets. There had to be a clue somewhere. Antwon walked up the stairs and towards Nash's desk. "Hey, boss. I gotta go. I wanted to bring these up before I left." Antwon handed Nash the file he had pulled up off the internet. He didn't think it would be of much use, but didn't want to discard it until Nash looked at it. "Is Harvey still around?" Nash glanced over the papers, discouraged by the first pointless words he read. "Maybe he can make sense of some of this." "He left a while ago. I think he went to go meet Rachel." It wasn't till after he said it that Antwon realized his statement could be incriminating about Harvey's interest in Rachel. "Oh.'' Nash couldn't figure out what was going on with Rachel and Harvey. He certainly didn't think there was any romantic interest, Harvey wasn't her type. He knew they were friends but they had been spending a great deal of time together lately. Nash hoped nothing was wrong and was worried why Rachel wouldn't ask for help. "I could drop these off at his house?" Antwon wondered if Nash picked up on his not so subtle clue. ''That's okay. I'll talk to him tomarrow." Nash decided it could wait, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to ask a question or two about Rachel then as well. ** Harvey sat on the bench in front of the pier, it was exactly 7:30 and Rachel was no where in sight. He figured he'd give her a few minutes, allowing for traffic coming from her side of town. There was so much he wanted to tell her, and needed to say. He ran it all over in his mind, he knew everything he wanted to say. He looked at his watch again, it was now 7:45. By 8:00, he was sure she wasn't coming. Harvey couldn't blame her, he could understand why she'd felt the way she did. He got up and began to walk towards his car. Rachel pulled into the parking lot, noting the late time. She had taken too long searching for Scott and didn't pay attention to the clock. She got out and saw Harvey's car was still there. Rachel hoped she wasn't too late for whatever it was he had to say. Harvey saw Rachel as he walked down the pier, "I thought you weren't coming.'' "I lost track of time, I had something to take care of before I could leave.'' Rachel slowly approached him, meeting him in the middle of the pier. Harvey walked back towards the bench and sat down. "I didn't mean to hurt you with what I said, Rachel." "So why'd you say it?" Rachel couldn't understand why Harvey would say something like that about a subject he knew nothing about. "Because I've been there. I've been on the other side of things." Harvey was ready to tell her about Jerry, he felt she had a right to know. "What?" Rachel sat down next to Harvey, it was all beginning to make sense. "My ex-girlfriend, Anna, never told me about our son until a year after he was born." Rachel looked at him in disbelief, feeling more guilty than ever. "Even now I don't get to see him too often, she lives in Seattle." "Harvey, I'm sorry. I didn't know." "There was no way you could've, I never talk about him. It's easier that way, the more I talk about him the more I miss him." As much as Harvey loved Jerry, he hated to talk about him or what happened. "But still, I should've taken into consideration there had to be a reason for you to say what you did." Rachel now regretted walking out before Harvey could explain himself. "The situations were probably completely different, Rache, but Scott does have a right to know. It's still his kid." Harvey felt that no matter how Rachel and Scott left things, he still should've known about his child. "I know. I probably should've told him, but there never seemed to be a good time. He wasn't exactly shy about how he felt when it came to unplanned pregnancies and his career." She paused a moment, to give Harvey a chance to let everything sink in. ''I wanted to tell him, hoping things would change, but I knew he would think I did this to try and keep him.'' ''So then you decided to deal with it on your own?" ''I had no other choice. Abortion was out of the question and I wasn't in the position to care for a child myself, adoption was the best answer. I was a med-student, finding a family was easy.'' She knew that her decision, though it wasn't easy to make, was in her child's best interest. "While Scott was putting in more hours and taking more courses to advance his career, I was planning the adoption of our child.'' "His career took priority over everything else?" Harvey remembered a time in his own life when his job was all that mattered, wondering what he would've done had he been in the situation himself. "That's one way to put it. He and I were both on the fast track and didn't give a damn about anybody but ourselves. There wasn't room in our relationship for mistakes." Rachel didn't consider her pregnancy a mistake when she looked back on it, the mistake was staying with Scott for as long as she did. "So he wasn't one to deal with the consequences of his actions." Harvey despised men like that, who ran away from their responsibilities and obligations. "You didn't want to tell him even after you decided to give the baby up?" "I remember, it was a couple weeks after I found out I was pregnant; Scott had this case with a woman from Stanford who had gotten pregnant and dropped out of school, she wanted to keep the baby despite her boyfriend's wishes. She miscarried, she was devastated and he was practically doing cartwheels out of the ER. Scott came in that night and told me thank God nothing like that ever happened to us, at least if it did you'd be smart enough to get an abortion and not let it ruin your life. If he only knew." Rachel gave a slight smile, "that's when I put in for a transfer to another hospital and told him it was over." "He never asked why?" Harvey couldn't imagine any man letting a woman like Rachel leave without asking why. "He didn't care, Scott was bored with me. His career was advancing and he knew he'd find someone else in no time." By that time, their relationship was little better than stagnant and both of them were looking for a reasonable way to end it. "Wow," he paused a moment as it all sunk in. He couldn't condone her actions but he could certainly understand them. "What about you?" After she had exposed her soul so completely, Rachel was a bit anxious to find out what had happened to him to make him so bitter about the situation. "You mean with Anna? I was married to the SIU at the time, coming off my divorce from Bonnie. I wasn't exactly ready for a committed relationship." Harvey let the series of events run through his mind, "things had gotten pretty serious for us but she still wasn't a priority of mine. One day, she gave me an ultimatum. It was either her or my job, I chose my job. She left town and came back a year and a half later with my son." "Ouch." "Things are better between us now, but, that doesn't change what happened. I can't help but think there's going to come a day where I tick her off and I'll never see my son again. At least with you, it's not like you're keeping your daughter to yourself, neither one of you have her.'' Harvey had to admit, at times he thought that was a better option. It was torture everytime he got Jerry but then had to give him back. "Would you have wanted to stay with Anna, had you known right away?" Rachel couldn't help but ask. She already knew he was a complete opposite of Scott. "You bet. The timing might have been terrible, but we could've made do under the circumstances. I've wanted kids for as long as I can remember, but something always seemed to get in the way." He and Bonnie wanted to have children together but they never got around to it. Harvey couldn't imagine what things would be like now if he had known Anna was pregnant. "You wanted your child, that says a lot. If I knew Scott would've accepted it, I might have said something, but I knew how he felt..." "It's always different when its your own situation and not somebody else's. Puts it into a different perspective." Harvey waited a moment as he gazed into Rachel's dark eyes, "I'm not saying what you did is right or wrong. Just think about telling him." Harvey reached for Rachel's hand and securely held it in his own, "I know." ** |