Watch What Burns (22 page)

“Follow me,” he remarked. “I’ll be back,” he told their families, all of whom took a backseat right now to try and allow their minds to settle so they could think rationally.

Without another word, Tyler shadowed Tom’s every move until they made it through some doors to a row of the rooms. “She’ll be kept here until she’s settled,” Tom stated, trying to make sure Tyler knew every aspect of this. He watched Tyler for a moment as they stood a mere few yards from Austin’s room. “Tyler, she’s pretty beaten up and her blood pressure’s really high. There are so many things that can go wrong right now, but she needs you to help her,” Tom stated, he might not have been the attending doctor, but he pulled enough authority to read his sister’s chart. “I need you to go in there and help her calm down.”

Tyler looked at his brother-in-law pleadingly. “Is there any news on Gracie? Has Austin said anything?” Tyler asked, his tone fraught and his gaze watching his wife through the doors. He might have Austin right before him, but he needed to know if she had said anything about Grace. Anything that could help them find their daughter.

“Go and see Austin,” Tom stated simply at him, disregarding the questions and giving his brother-in-law a solemn look. “Just help her and we’ll deal with the rest after.”

Tyler nodded, he knew he could do that. He could prioritize everything in life behind his wife and daughter and he always would. He walked into the room, hearing the sound of an erratic heart monitor and the gentle heaving of his wife’s weak cries.

“Aussie?” he called out, grasping for her attention the moment he entered.

She looked up at him, her face swollen and discolored from the assault, her body beaten and bruised. “Tyler,” she uttered, shuddering down into more sobs as she saw him. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed out, her voice tired and fragile, her condition unraveling. “I’m so, so sorry.” It was the same litany, but it was all she knew to say when the fault fell so heavily upon her.

With that said, he rushed in, taking to her side. He looked down at her, her face reddening, the bruising beginning to shine brighter and brighter with each passing minute. Yet, the most startling thing he saw was not the discoloration to her face, or the swelling, or the situation that put her here. The look in her eyes so full of fear and loss, it sat so pronounced, it terrified him more than anything else in that moment.

“She took her,” Austin uttered the words that unleashed a fury of terror. She looked to her husband, seeking his eyes for solace, but she regrettably found none. She found the ending of confusion as reality set in and common sense screamed at him what had happened. “Natasha took Gracie.”

“I know,” he breathed out, still unable to comprehend everything.

“She was screaming for me, Tyler. Our baby was crying out for me and I didn’t save her,” Austin’s despair unraveled from her throat, her heart pumping harder and harder, her monitor going crazy. “This is all my fault,” Austin whispered to her husband, forcing herself up from the bed. “She took our little girl because of me.”

“No,” Tyler breathed out, taking Austin’s guilt as his own. He pushed her back, trying to make her lie down.

“I could’ve saved her,” Austin continued to speak lowly, her voice becoming wracked by the oncoming sobs. “If I had just fought harder, I could have stopped Natasha from taking Gracie.”

“Baby, you couldn’t have. Aussie, you got hurt,” Tyler tried to hit her rationality on point and prove she was a victim too.

Austin shuddered into her grief, gripping onto her husband’s hands tightly. “I don’t care! She took Gracie.” She then suddenly pushed half-heartedly against Tyler’s chest, trying to push him away. “You should hate me! I let someone take our daughter, Tyler. I should be hated!” She closed her eyes tight, squeezing them together as she fought with the cracks ripping through her heart. “I lost your first child, Tyler,” she whispered regretfully, unable to look up at him. “Then I allow your second child to be abducted from right before my eyes. How am I good mother?”

“Hey now,” Tyler began, gripping Austin’s arms to still her and make her look at him. He knew what she was doing and he wouldn’t let her deteriorate down to the girl he used to know. “This is Natasha’s doing again, Aussie. You didn’t ask for Grace to be taken, and I know it’s going to be difficult, but I will make sure our baby girl is in our arms before any harm comes to her. Right now she’s probably scared and wanting her mom, so please can you lose the guilt and work with me to bring her home?”

“H-how can you be here?” Austin asked, unable to accept his compassion right now. “Look what’s happening.”

“I am, and right now, I am a liability to saving Grace, but I am not a liability to looking after you. Our fathers are running the search, Steve has it sorted, and we’re looking into Robert’s disappearance. We
have it covered,” Tyler told her the plan. Unable to allow her to continue this route into self-despair. “And in the morning, I will be speaking to Michael about helping. Aus, I need to know you’re going to be okay, and I know that you won’t be if you keep this up. We can’t get Gracie back if you’re not well enough,” Tyler attempted to reason with her. “Please, Austin. You can’t fight this, you can’t fight me. You can’t. We need to get her back together.”

Gulping deeply, she realized how her adrenaline was promptly depleting on her and how weak she really was. “Just don’t let go,” she whispered as she felt his hands on her, holding her steadily against her pillows.

Without another word, he lay beside her, his arms around her, allowing her to settle the best she could against him. “I won’t ever let go.”

“I need to get to her,” Sienna reacted promptly just after her mother had relayed the previous evening events. Pushing herself up, she grunted against the pain in her thigh and forced herself to the edge of the bed.

“Sienna,” Jane stepped in, pushing her back. “You are not going to her. What help will you be if you damage your leg worse?” Once Sienna gave up, Jane took to the side of her daughter’s bed, and took her hand. “Your sister was distraught last night, but Tom has said how she’s slept since Tyler got in there to her.”

“I need to get in there,” Sienna fought back, as the reality began to settle in. “I need to help somehow in finding Gracie.”

“You can’t,” Jane replied sternly. “We’re trying everything we can, but you’re injured, Sienna. You
need to realize that. I know how much you love that little girl, hell we all do, but if we all go charging in, we’re only going to be getting in the way. We need her home safely.”

Gulping deeply, Sienna knew her mother was right. She just didn’t want to see it right away. Looking up, she saw Michael coming back in and she tried to see passed his expression. She needed to have some belief right now. “Please tell me you have good news,” Sienna asked, hoping Michael was going to shed some light on something that would offer them a shred of hope.

“Sorry,” Michael apologized sincerely as he shrugged, feeling at a loss. “The guys can’t catch a break to get here,” Michael commented solemnly as he came back into the room. “It’s just me and whatever tech I want at my disposal if we need one.” He kept his face neutral as he looked to them and sighed. “From what Tyler’s told me about the letters and confrontation at the prison, I don’t think she’ll have left town.”

“Why not?”
Sienna asked rashly. “She has Austin and Tyler’s pride and joy. She knows already what Grace means to Austin. If anyone, Natasha knows the most how important a child is to Austin.”

“But she also wants Tyler to herself,” Michael stated calmly, confident in his conclusion. “I guarantee you, Sienna, Natasha is going to play games until she issues, Austin
and
Tyler, the finale of her plan.”

“But why is she doing this?” Sienna asked, questioning every motive under the sun that Natasha could claim to be using.

“If I told you half the things I have seen in my job, Baby, you wouldn’t believe me,” Michael replied, his eyes saddening at the thought. “People can be so twisted with hatred that their actions are unthinkable.”

“What do you think she’s really doing with Gracie?” Sienna asked, reaching out for her mother’s hand. Her question was hesitant, but she needed to ask it. “If people fuelled by hatred do the unthinkable, then what is she going to do to my niece? Michael, what have other people done in these situations?”

Michael’s face fell at that comment from Sienna. “No, you cannot ask me to compare them.” He felt his throat begin to close on him at the thought of past cases he had dealt with. He closed his eyes, trying to take himself away from the situation. He had to desensitize himself to it. “No two cases are the same.” He swallowed before picking up his bravado again. “From what I’ve heard, she just wants to believe that Grace is hers and Tyler’s, and that Austin had nothing to do with her conception,” Michael admitted truthfully and saw how dire everyone took that. “It would add up, because if you remember Tom said how jealous she was when she heard that Austin was pregnant the first time with Tyler’s baby.”

“I need to see my sister,” Sienna said throwing the sheets from her body.

“Sienna,” Jane scolded, trying in vain to prevent her daughter from moving. “You need to rest, getting up will cause you more damage. You heard the doctor, you need to rest. Walking around will do you no good.”

“Fine, get me a wheelchair then,” Sienna stated, folding her arms over her chest, waiting impatiently. She wouldn’t be settled until she saw her sister and could offer some type of help. She wouldn’t feel at peace until she saw her sister, even for one second.

***

Walking in they found Austin sleeping, her body turned towards Tyler’s chest as he lay there, running his hand rhythmically around her face. His eyes were
stuck on her, his expression heavy with grief. He looked as if he had aged ten years in only a few hours.

Hearing people, he looked up and tried to force a smile. “Hey,” he whispered as he saw his mother, Austin’s, and Sienna being pushed by Michael. “She hasn’t woken up at all.”

“It’s probably best she sleeps,” Jane commented, reaching the side of the bed, and running her hand over Austin’s hair as if she were still the same eight year old girl that wanted her mother’s hugs when she was ill.

“Has the doctor been in?” she asked, tearing her attention from Austin to look at Tyler.

Tyler pushed up a little, rubbing his palm across his face to move off some of the fatigue. “Yeah, he said she shouldn’t be kept in for very long if she has a few good days. She’ll be on a lot of rest when she’s discharged, but apart from that, he couldn’t do a lot because she was sleeping. It’s just speculation right now.”

“Did you get any sleep?” Tanya asked her son, hoping he at least tried.

“No,” he scoffed miserably. “I left for a little bit and headed to the station. I tried to help,” Tyler admitted, his tone dead to the ear. Without Grace he was missing just as much from himself as Austin was. “I was turned down. They won’t let me help.” He closed his eyes at the bitter thought of being helpless and tried to see some form of sense. “I need to be helping,” he told them, looking up to the four people now in the room. “How can I be her hero if I’m not allowed to help? I don’t want to be a failure in my own daughter’s eyes.”

“You’ll be her hero by waiting to take her in your arms,” Tanya told her son as she came forward, settling onto the end of the bed. “That’s the best thing you can do. Be ready to take her in your arms and never let her go.”

“I want her now,” Tyler admitted weakly, and the tears began to fall heavily. “I want her so bad.” Unashamedly, Tyler cried for his daughter, and the feeling of weakness at not being able to help her or his wife. He had taken vows, promising to protect Austin and their family forever and always, but he was breaking his own vows. He was breaking his promises and his own career oath to serve and protect. “I want my baby,” he literally wept, becoming the rawest form of himself. Suddenly he felt trapped on the bed. Releasing his wife, he got up from the hardened mattress and began to pace vehemently. “I’m supposed to keep her safe. I promised her that when she was born and I have absolutely no clue where she is or if she’s okay and it’s,” he paused as all viable air was taken from his lungs. He reached out for the windowsill, needing it as a support to him. “It’s killing me.”

Tanya, immediately feeling her heart breaking for her son, rushed forward and took him into her arms. He might have been well over six foot, but her power as his mother always brought him comfort, and the moment she felt him shudder against him, she knew he needed this.

“How could I let this happen?” he asked his mother, almost begging her for an answer to why this was happening. His hands clawed around her back, gripping the back of her shirt.

Not allowing this to continue, she released him enough to sit him down in one of the seats in Austin’s room, and immediately crouched down before him. “You listen here,” she started sternly, unable to allow him to continue this game of heavy blame. “Neither of you let this happen. If that was the case, we would all be to blame here. We all knew the bounty that Natasha had given, and we took precautions. We changed our entire life and three people we love got hurt quite badly in an attempt to protect Gracie.
Austin fought tooth and nail to stop Natasha, but Natasha had the upper hand. As a mother I know my weaknesses. They’re you and your sister.” She watched Tyler take that acknowledgement hard. “A parent’s biggest weakness is their child, and Austin is no different. All Natasha needed was a split second for Austin to be distracted to take command.”

“I should have been there, mom,” he whimpered pathetically at the thought.
“Except I was sleeping. I was fucking sleeping!” he bellowed shooting up, his hands going to his face in utter horror at the result of his actions.

“Tyler?” Austin rasped out, immediately seeking him out in the room. She had awoken to his breakdown, only fully coming to the moment her husband yelled.

Rushing to her side, Tyler took her hand, focusing solely on her and not his meltdown prior to her waking up. His anger dissolved to the back of his mind, his breakdown forgotten, as Austin stole his attention. “You’re awake,” he whispered, his eyes watering all over as he ran his hand down the side of her bruised face.

“It wasn’t a dream was it?” Austin asked quietly as she woke up and reality set in heavily. She looked up
at her husband, saw his tearful gaze, and broke down. “Why couldn’t it have been an awful dream?”

“I don’t know,” Tyler replied, his voice a mere whisper in comparison to his usual tone. “I wish I could have told you it was, Aus, but it’s not. I wish I could do something to make it stop.” He felt himself choke up over the matter and he was unable to form words.

Austin looked to everyone, and then back to her husband. “When can I go home?” she asked Tyler suddenly. “The house needs cleaning up for when Grace gets home. I need to make sure everything’s perfect.” She pushed up weakly, hissing at the smarting racing throughout her body.

“No,” Tyler breathed out, his voice almost hidden. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes at his wife’s latest desperation. “You can’t leave just yet. Aus, you need to rest.”

“What if Grace comes home and we’re not there?” she asked him, looking around. “Mom, please, tell him I need to get home.” She watched her mother remain unmoved and sought out her sister. “Sienna?”

“Sorry, Aussie,” Sienna apologized sadly.

“Please,” she looked back at Tyler. “Please, Ty, you need to let me go home. I need to be there.”

Tyler shook his head, reaching out to settle her back down. “You need to get better, Austin. The doctor won’t discharge you for a couple of days. Gracie will be brought to us the moment she is found.”

“But I need to find her. She’ll be expecting us, Tyler!” Austin fretted, wishing for an easy escape. She wasn’t listening, and she didn’t care about her current health. She needed to fight for getting her daughter home. “I need to show her that I am a good mother. That I would do anything for her. I need to find her, Ty.”

Tyler felt his heart cease a beat as Austin said that to him. “Oh, baby, you’re the best mother Gracie could ever have. She knows she is beyond loved by you. We know how you fought for her. Your injuries are testament of that.”

“What if she comes home and we’re not there?” Austin asked, searching for the answer to the mental scenario that kept coming to mind.

“That won’t happen,” Tyler fought back. “Our fathers are trying to find her. Your brothers too,” he
admitted to her. He was letting her know that their families were striving to get their little Grace back. “Right now, we’re all trying to focus on everyone. You need to heal, as does your sister. Then once you’re home the real fight can happen. We will get Grace back.”

“We’re all staying under one roof,” Jane spoke up, keeping
herself stern and controlled so as not to fall to pieces. “We need each other until Gracie comes home. We needed to be here, Aus. We needed to see you.” She stepped in, taking to her daughter’s side. “I hate that you’re back here because of that damn woman again.” She felt her eyes water. “If I ever see that woman I won’t be able to hold back.”

“She seriously has taken on the wrong family,” Sienna near enough groaned out. Her fiery nature was sending her into attack mode. Regardless of her injuries, she was prepared to do whatever it took to see her niece back. “Plus, Michael isn’t needed back. He’s here to help.”

“Aus, you know I will do anything to get Grace back and Natasha locked away.” Michael broke into the moment, finally speaking up. “And I will personally throw away the key.”

“I hope she doesn’t make it to another cell,” Tyler muttered, a venomous tone spewing from his throat. “That’s too good for her.”

Austin couldn’t help but agree. Her heart singing at the idea of her getting thrown back behind bars; she hated being forced to feel this, but she was at her wits end. However, the moment changed dramatically when Tyler’s phone began to ring out, Austin’s heart began to pound. Her gut told her this wasn’t good. Sitting up, she hissed in pain and didn’t realize how much damage was done until now. The morphine and anesthesia had numbed her well, but now every part of her was trying to fight against the pain in her heart. All the pains were trying to eclipse one another.

“Who is it?” Austin asked, begging for a bearer of good news.

“It’s a blocked number,” Tyler stated looking down at his phone. Without another conscious thought, he answered it, pushing to place the conversation onto speaker. “Hello?” he asked warily, his tone cautious. He kept to Austin’s side, unable to be away from her.

“Daddy?”
Grace answered back, as if not believing it was really him. “Mommy?” Grace’s voice resonated throughout the room. “I’m scared. Where are you?”

“We’re here, baby,” Austin immediately gasped, wishing she could reach for her daughter instead of trying to weakly grasp for the phone.