Summary ~ Elizabeth deals with the sudden disappearance of her young daughter.
Genre ~ Mark/Elizabeth
Disclaimer ~ The characters portrayed in this story are in no way mine, and I will return them to their original positions once I am done messing with their lives. The characters of Maura, Matthew, or anyone else you have not seen waltz across your TV on a Thursday night are purely of my own imagination.
Need to Know ~ The last episode that applies to this story is April Showers. Everything up to that point happened, but nothing after it did. Which includes the return of Susan Lewis. Mark has had no recurrences of his brain tumor and is going to be fine. Also, Abby and Luka broke up some time around July of 2001.
Feedback ~ As always, feedback is more then welcomed. Please feel free to email me, or Bridget, with comments (good or bad) on this story, another story, or just the site in general to greeneblob707@yahoo.com. If you could please put the title of the story you wish to make comments on in the subject box that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!
Six days had passed. There was no sign of her anywhere. Elizabeth felt drained. Every morning she woke up just searching for the reason why this had to happen. That Sunday was no different. Her head was heavy when she woke up that morning, just like every other morning. She made breakfast, played with Matthew, got a shower, basically going through the motions. She felt as if all the energy had been sucked from her.
She had no idea what was happening to her daughter, and that thought alone killed her inside. She was pretty sure that she wasn’t in Chicago, and the world was so vast, god knows where she could have been. It made Elizabeth feel small and helpless. That was a feeling she had never experienced before. And it scared her.
Rachel had come. She stayed until Saturday morning. She was a great help to Elizabeth, and she didn’t think that that was possible. She didn’t want her to leave, she wanted her to stay until this whole mess was over, however long that was. But she knew she couldn’t have it that way. She was grateful for anything at that point.
That morning was exactly the same as all the rest. She ate her cereal then got a shower. She helped Matthew get changed then played a game of candy land with him. Carter stopped by around two. He didn’t call first and had no real reason for stopping by. He just wanted to stop and see how she and Mark were doing. Elizabeth was grateful for the visit. They talked for a while about how the search was progressing and he told her everything that was going on at County. He amused her with talk about his upcoming wedding. Hearing him talk about his marriage to Abby made Elizabeth smile. And smiling was something she hadn’t done in a while.
He left a few hours later. Elizabeth watched him drive away. She sighed and went into the family room. She turned on the TV and sat down on her recliner. The news was on. She listened to the weather and the traffic, both were fine. And then the top story came up. Her daughter’s picture appeared in the left corner of the screen. She was taken by surprise when she saw that. For the whole week her daughter had been missing she never once watched the news. She couldn’t bare it if she saw a story on Maura. But there she was, smiling back at her.
The newscaster went on about the search, but Elizabeth wasn’t listening. She just stared at the picture of her daughter on the screen. Her mind saw nothing but her face, and her beautiful smile. In the back of her mind she could hear her laughter. Her enchanting giggles and shrieks when she would become excited. Just the thought of never hearing them again sent shivers down her spine and made her hair stand on end. Suddenly she made a decision.
She quickly got out of her seat and walked into the kitchen. Seeing that Mark wasn’t there she rounded the corner and walked down the hallway. She turned into Matthew’s room. Mark was sitting on the floor, helping Matthew play with Lego’s. Mark looked up when his wife walked into the room. "I’m going out." She said quickly. As soon as the sentence was out she leaned over and gave him a kiss. Mark had a quizzical look on his face.
"What? Where are you going?" he asked with extreme curiosity.
"I have to go look Mark, I have to!" she said after kissing Matthew on the forehead.
"Elizabeth, the police are doing everything they can, there is nothing you can do right now. Just let them do their work." he said trying to reassure her.
"I can’t Mark. I can’t just sit here waiting. I feel like everyone has given up and I am not going to sit here waiting for the police to call telling me something I might not want to hear! I have to do something, she is my baby!"
Mark looked at her for a moment, not saying anything. Just trying to read her thoughts. He knew that anything he said was not going to change her mind. And he really didn’t want her to change her mind. He understood why she needed to feel like she was doing something. Maura was his little girl too. He looked into her eyes and finally said, "Okay, go." She kissed him again and headed out the door.
Elizabeth didn’t know where she was going. She had no idea where to start. In the back of her mind she knew that this excapade would not help find her daughter, but she couldn’t sit around the house waiting anymore. She got into their van and headed down the street.
She just drove for about an hour. Not sure of where she was going, and not even caring. She drove past the bank, Maura’s school and finally the super market. She stopped at a red light outside the store. She refused to look at it. She didn’t want to think about everything that went wrong that day.
She finally decided to stop by the police station. She figured she might as well stop by. She parked her car and walked into the building. When she walked into the building she felt like everyone’s eyes were on her. In reality no one was paying attention, but Elizabeth couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. She walked up the front desk and waited for the officer to notice her.
After a moment he noticed Elizabeth standing there and walked over to where she was waiting patiently. He smiled politely at her and asked what he could do to help her. She replied faintly, "My name is Elizabeth Corday-Greene. I am the mother of the little girl who was kidnapped last week." The man’s face fell when the words escaped her lips.
"Yes ma’am, um, come on back here please" Elizabeth attempted a small smile to be polite, but her attempts failed. She came into the back room behind the front desk. The officer told her that he would be right back, and he left Elizabeth alone in the room. Elizabeth could see him talking to another officer through a window in the room. The officer she spoke to first said something and motioned towards Elizabeth. The other officer looked to wear Elizabeth was sitting and nodded at the officer. Elizabeth could feel her palms beginning to sweat. She began furiously tapping her feet on the floor. She started to question her reasons for doing this. She shouldn’t have come; she should have stayed home. They were just going to tell her more bad news. She should have stayed at home.
But Elizabeth didn’t have enough time to doubt herself, because as soon as she began to worry the officers came inside and she pushed the thought out of her mind. One of the officers closed the door and they both took a seat in front of Elizabeth. One of the officers began to speak. "Good afternoon Mrs. Greene. I am Officer Schmidt and this is Officer Moreno." The man next to Officer Schmidt nodded a hello to Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiled politely. Officer Schmidt cleared her throat before speaking. "Is there anything we can help you with?"
Elizabeth stared at them for a while. She had no idea what to say. She didn’t really know why she had come there. She didn’t know how to answer that question. For a moment she regretted coming. She then softly replied, "I, uh, I just wanted to know how things are going with the search." That was a lie, and she knew it. They knew it too. But that was all she could managed to think of as an answer.
"Well ma’am, we are working as hard as we can to find your daughter. Things are progressing slowly, but we are progressing in the search." Officer Schmidt answered calmly. She then added, "But something tells me you already knew that." Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile at that comment.
"I just, I…" she paused and thought about what she was going to say first. She then lowered the volume of her voice and finished by saying, "I just feel like I am not doing enough."
Officer Moreno and Officer Schmidt where quiet for a moment. They both understood what she was saying. They had dealt with these cases before, and it was never easy. Officer Moreno finally answered, "Well ma’am, that is a very valid complaint. You aren’t the only mother who has come to us with that feeling." Elizabeth relaxed a bit after he said that. The feelings of doubt that ran through her mind slowed down. She took a deep breath and waited for him to finish before she said anything. "We are doing our best to find your daughter, but there is something we would like to try." Officer Schmidt concluded. She then looked at Officer Moreno who then nodded his head, ushering her to continue. Elizabeth held her breath, anxiously waiting for what they were going to say.
"We feel who ever did this may try to contact you. These type of people have a history of doing that. They like to try and make family members scared. And if history is any indication, it is highly likely that this person may try and call you sometime in the future." Elizabeth’s thoughts ran wild through her mind. That possibility never crossed her mind. Her stomach churned at the thought of talking to the person who took her daughter. She did not want to have to speak to them.
The officers explained what they would be doing. Setting up a recorder that would be activated every time the telephone rang. Elizabeth listened intently. The more they explained what would happen if the person called the more Elizabeth wanted the person to call. They told her how having his voice on tape and having any information he may let slip out would help them find her daughter. As much as Elizabeth didn’t want to have to speak to the person who tore her family apart, she knew that that was the best way to bring her daughter back to her.
**********
They came to set up the recorder that night, and they left at around eight o’clock. That night was hell for Elizabeth. It was almost like the day Maura disappeared. Every time the phone rang Elizabeth’s heart would start to pound. Her throat would become dry and her hands would sweat. She couldn’t get to sleep that night. She had gradually been getting more sleep throughout the week, but that night she spent staring at the ceiling. She knew the chances of the person calling that night were slim, but knowing that the police thought he would call eventually made Elizabeth uneasy and scared. She got about two hours sleep that night, on and off.
She woke up in Mark’s arms, extremely grateful to have him there. She didn’t want to get up. She wanted to stay there forever. She didn’t want to go downstairs and face the day, but she knew she had too. She rolled out from under Mark’s arms and slid out of bed. She opened the door to Matthew’s room and found him playing on the floor. She looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back and motioned for him to come with her and he eagerly followed. They went into the kitchen and Matthew helped her make pancakes. He helped her stir the batter and he watched as the pancakes sizzled on the griddle. He smiled and quickly ate his pancakes, the syrup dripping from his face. Elizabeth smiled as he tried to grasp the fork with his sticky fingers.
He giggled as he inhaled his breakfast. Elizabeth’s smile grew into a laugh, a laugh she hadn’t laughed for a while. She got out the camera and took several pictures of the little boy. He grinned a big grin and she snapped photo after photo. For the first time in a while Elizabeth felt like everything was going to be all right. Sure something horrible had happened, but right there in that moment she felt like she could overcome this. She thought that maybe everything would be okay after all.