Chapter 15 - A small girl's anxiety
"Fine! I did it! I killed that bitch!" the perp exclaimed once Esposito had gotten out to get me.
Esposito had thought my skills to break a guy would help with this one, and it most certainly had.
"She was trying to get that kid back and I was going to let her take away my opportunity to make money of her when she got bigger!" he yelled out in anger and I was glad Esposito was in there with me, if not I would've strangled the guy.
"You were planning on selling her?" I questioned with my poker face, even though my inside wanted nothing more than to see that guy die.
"Of course I was! You see how beautiful she will be once she's mature enough? Her mother was a beauty and I knew she was going to be too, that's why I took her" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I raised from my seat but wasn't faster than my partner who immediately managed to wrap his arms around me to lead my out of the room, constantly whispering "take is easy Kate, he's going away for a long time" in my ear. I tried to calm down as I let him pull me away. We didn't need me to screw things up by giving the judge things to question our police work. When we had gotten to our desks I heard small feet run up to me.
"What's wrong Kate? What happened?!" Alexis's immediate worried voice had me look at her with surprise.
"Uhm, nothing, just... I just talked to... the man who had Molly all these years" I had to clench my teeth not to say something inappropriate in front of the small girl.
"Ooh, that explains it" she said looking away before she glanced up at me carefully and asked "you need a hug?"
What had I ever done to deserve this girl to be in my care? I just nodded and sat down on my knees to embrace the arms the girl offered. She hugged me tight and thanks to her hug I felt myself calm down instantly.
"Don't worry Beckett, the officers taken him to the cells now and he's gonna be put away for good" Ryan said from behind me and I took a deep breath.
Alexis's scent did the last for me and I was completely calm.
"Thanks Alexis" I whispered in her ear as we let go and I stood up again. "Good work boys, now we only have to find out what's going to happen to Molly" I mumbled the last part, not really wanting to admit that we needed to let her go.
"Detective Kate Beckett?" a woman's voice came into the bullpen and I didn't recognize her but figured I would find out her agenda soon enough.
"Yes?"
She reached out her hand to me and I shook it as I saw Molly come out of the break room towards me and Alexis to see what was going on. Molly went to stand behind my leg as she looked up at the lady in front of me.
"I'm Laura Winslow, from the social service, I'm here about the girl you found in your case" the woman introduced herself and I immediately felt the change of Alexis's body posture.
I looked down at her and saw her placing herself in front Molly, looking a little protective. She definitely didn't like the social service.
"Uhm, yes. Her name's Molly, mother's name was Marah Adams, we don't know who the father is though, or if she's had any last name for the last couple of years as a kidnapped girl" I told Laura.
Laura nodded, showing she had heard and understood my information.
"Though we did find an old boyfriend from the time she was pregnant, they were thinking about letting him be the father" Ryan said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Laura looked at him with wide eyes that held a certain wonder in it.
"Do you think he'll still be up for that chance? It uphold one of the mother's wishes in life" she asked looking from Ryan, to Esposito, to me, looking for someone who could answer her question.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask him yourself, in the meantime I would like to know what's going to happen to Molly" I demanded with my police voice.
"Okay, well, I'll have to find a foster family who can take her for the days it'll take me to find that old boyfriend, what was his name?" Laura asked, taking out a notepad with a pen.
"Billy Hoskins" Ryan told her and she wrote down the name.
"We have his contact info too if you want that" Esposito added and she nodded with a "yes, please" and he showed her away to his desk where he had the man's number.
I looked down at Molly who looked a bit frightened, and I couldn't blame her. I stroke her head and she looked up at me, reached her hands up to indicate she wanted to be closer to me than she already was. I understood her worries, Alexis had had that exact same look the day she was brought to me, lost and afraid of what's going to happen to her. I reached down to her and pulled up the small girl in my arms. She immediately clung around my neck with her head in my hair. I held her tight as I looked down at Alexis who watched the girl in my arms with worry in her eyes and she switched to my left side to be able to take my free hand.
"Don't let her fall into any stranger's hands Kate, please" she pleaded to me, quiet to try and keep Molly away from hearing her.
"I will do my best, I promise" I told her before I squeezed her small hand and brought them with me as I walked towards Laura.
I cleared my throat to ger their attention.
"If it's okay I would like to take care of Molly while you see if Billy wants to take the responsibility and have her" I suggested with a strong voice, "I've already bonded with her, she trusts me, and I had her at my place tonight. I'm already a foster mother so I already have the clearance, you see Alexis here is also a foster kid" I paused to look at her, " foster kid."
Laura looked at me and then at Alexis who looked at her with a suspicious and somewhat hostile look. I thought I could see Laura be surprised by the way Alexis was looking at her but I tried not to make a big deal out of it.
"So, what do you say?" I asked when it had gone a few minutes.
She turned to me again before looking down in her notes to write something down.
"Well, I'll have to check up on you in our database of course but since you've already taken care of her you say you're already taking care of another foster kid" she said with a smile on her lips.
"Thank you" I said and I felt Molly change a bit so she could see the woman before us.
"Thank you" she repeated my words with her sweet voice.
I couldn't help but smile at her words. I told my partners we would be in the break room and took the girls with me. When we got there I sat us down in the couch and Alexis immediately hugged me and Molly, who was now seated in my lap.
"Kate?" Alexis asked when she pulled away and I hummed. "If that Billy guy won't take Molly, what happens then?" she asked worriedly.
I wasn't sure myself, but made a quick decision to make sure Molly wouldn't land in the wrong hands like Alexis seemed to have the first two times.
" Billy doesn't want the responsibility, I hope you won't have anything against sharing me, but I really hope Billy wants to because I think Molly deserves someone who knew her mother and can tell stories about her" I told my decision.
"Who Billy?" Molly asked and pulled away to look at me.
I caressed her cheek before I answered her.