Hate (I Really Don't Like You)

Frank hears high pitched screams coming from one of the rooms and quickly recognizes the voice as the little girl he rescued. Seeing the door slightly ajar, he pushes it completely open and is slightly surprised at the scene before him. In the hospital room, Patrick and Gerard are trying to reason with an emotional toddler who seems to be ignoring everything they say.

Patrick spots Frank first, and sighs looking hopeful, "Frank, you think you can help us? She’s a little upset and we've been trying for the past twenty min-"

"No! I think we've got everything under control," Gerard cuts in swiftly.

"-But I am in need of a coffee," Gerard adds on, glaring at Frank pointedly.

Frank purposely ignores Gerard, and slowly walks into the room, his feet echoing slightly in the cavernous hospital room. The little girl looks up at him, her wide doe eyes watering.

"Where's my mommy?" She asks, her voice barely above a whisper as she cowers away from Frank. Frank is, at first glance, a bit intimidating with the piercings and tattoos even despite his below average height.

Frank closes his eyes for a moment. How do you explain to a little girl her own mother is being charged for murder? How do you explain to a little girl that her own mother doesn’t love her father? How do you explain to a little girl that her own mother is the reason she was kidnapped?

"Mommy... mommy's not here right now, okay?" Frank tries to smile comfortably as he kneels next to the little girls’ bed, "She's going to be-"

"Where is my mommy? I want her now!" She yells, her voice cracking on the vowels as she grips the sheets, and the tears spill over her flushed cheeks. She looks so scared and, Frank wants to just tell her that everything’s okay, and that her mom is coming but he can’t lie to this little girl.

“Sweetie, she’s uh,” Patrick starts, but he doesn’t know how to finish his sentence.

Frank bites his lip and holds his breath, not sure how to proceed. He looks at the devastated little girl, trying to figure out how to calm her, at least a little bit. He smiles as an idea suddenly hits him.

"Hey," Frank coos softly, walking a little closer to her and picking up one of the girls hands in his own, "Mommy's fine. She's just a little lost, that's all. She's going to be fine, okay?"

Frank peers into her eyes, waiting until she sniffs and nods, but the tears on her face don’t let up, and they catch in her long blond locks like a sponge.

Gerard is eyeing Frank with a mixture of loathing and admiration, but he tries to hide the latter. He can’t believe Frank’s doing better with a minute and a half than he had with twenty minutes.

"So what's your name?" Frank asks, keeping a smile on his face to reassure her.

"L-Lily," The little girl stutters, rubbing her little fist into one of her eyes.

"Lily? That’s a pretty name,” he smiles, and she doesn’t look ready to start balling again so he continues, “How are you feeling, Lily? Are you hungry? Tired?"

He starts rubbing his thumb in little circles around her tiny palm to help her remain a bit calmer.

"M'hungry," She whispers, as she brings her hand down to her stomach.

Frank smiles and he can feel two pairs of eyes staring at him in shock.

"Okay. I'll be sure someone brings you the biggest chocolate chip muffin you can imagine. All for you because of how brave you’ve been," Frank winks and the little girl giggles softly, causing Frank to show his front row of teeth as he grins.

"Gerard here, will be right back with your muffin, Lily," Frank says pointing at the black haired man next to him.

Gerard looks completely repulsed by Frank’s words and sends him a malice filled glare, before grabbing Patrick’s wrist and pulling him out of the room. He leaves Frank alone to talk with the girl.

“Can you believe him?” He asks furiously.

“Well that was incredibly impressive. I’m amazed at how skilled Frank is, but I assume you’re referring to his cavalier little statement back there.”

“Yes of course I am! I’m his boss, he can’t give me orders!” Gerard says, and his footsteps are more like stomps as they walk towards the cafeteria.

“You’re so mean to the kid though, why do you hate him so much?”

“Because he’s a snotty little punk, with no respect for this job or the people doing it,” He answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Um, no he doesn’t respect you, but he respects the job, and the rest of us. You’re just really mean to him. What do you expect?

“Well he’s not exactly an innocent party. It takes two!”

“You’re right,” Patrick says calmly, “but neither of you is really trying that hard to get along.”

“Um, no! Excuse you, but I tried to apologize to that little shit and he wouldn’t even let me get the damn words out.”

Patrick doesn’t respond immediately and they enter the hall leading to the cafeteria so they can hear a slight rumbling in front of them.

“You could always try again.”

“Like hell.”

They return to the hall not long after with Lily’s treat and see Mr. Rosessen leaning against the wall with complete fear.

“Mr. Rosessen, we’re going to send someone down here to take your statement, but you’re free to go see your daughter,” Gerard says. He seems to be the biggest victim in all this, and Gerard feels bad about the fact that the mother didn’t get to see her kid before being taken away. It’s true that she’s a murderer, but she had nothing to do with the kidnapping.

Mr. Rosessen nods looking grateful as the three of them walk over to the room to find Frank and Lily laughing about something. That guy has a damn good personality around kids. Gerard hates him for it. He doesn’t know why, and he think it’s pretty amazing, but he just hates Frank.

“Daddy!” Lily says seeing her father in the door and Gerard smiles seeing how happy he is to see her. Gerard walks over and sets the muffin on the table beside her before deciding to leave the reunited family together. He just wishes they were a complete family.

Frank catches on and waves goodbye to Lily before following Gerard and Patrick out.

“I’m so glad she’s alright,” Frank says looking relieved. “Just a little lung infection but otherwise unharmed. That’s amazing.”

“We got lucky this time,” Gerard agrees. “Patrick would you stay with them for a little while longer? At least until the uniforms can take their statements?”

“Yeah,” Patrick nods helpfully.

“Great, I have a mountain of paperwork to go sign, and so does Frank,” Gerard says miserably and walks down the hall.

“What about me?” Frank asks sounding angry.

“What aboutyou?”

“I don’t have a car to drive back to the office.”

Gerard groans and says, “Fucking hell, fine. I’ll drive you, but you make any noise or snot off about anything and I will push you off the Brooklyn bridge, got it?”

“Fine,” Frank says and he looks about as excited about driving with Gerard as a teenager taking a geometry test.

Notes