Hate (I Really Don't Like You)

“Stay in this car so you don’t get in anyone’s way,” Gerard warns Frank. Frank had been ushered into the passenger’s seat of Brendon’s car, while Gerard and Patrick drove ahead of them, and Hayley stayed back to further question Mr. Carmycle.

When they get to the downtrodden little house, there’s one marked car outside and Gerard walks in quickly followed by Brendon. Patrick stays behind and waits for a second squad car to show up. Frank just sits grumpily in the seat, wanting to go into the house.

The man who assumingly owns it, watches the cops walk in and out with annoyance. The man out front is Mr. Carmycle’s brother and looks incredibly upset to be intruded upon, but Gerard had brought a warrant with him so there’s nothing that man can do. He doesn’t loon unlike the other man, but he’s uglier. Gerard can’t help, but think that he looks guilty of something. Whether that guilt is caused by kidnapping or tax evasion he doesn’t know, but he intends to find out.

Frank drums his fingers on the dashboard with his legs swinging out the side of the open passenger’s side door. His brain is brainstorming every possible outcome of this raid and he can’t help but dwell on the bad possibilities. He wants more than anything to make sure everyone’s safe.

Frank became a cop for the sole intention of helping people. He doesn’t want to see people hurt or dead, he wants to see them safe, and Lily Rosessen is included in that hope. She’s only seven years old though. Who could ever possibly hurt someone that small and innocent? The very idea of someone that young being dead is enough to make Frank’s skin crawl.

A very furious and whimsical looking Gerard exits the house about five minutes later looking ready to stab someone. His face is stern but his eyes are wild with fury. He goes up to the house owner and screams a few obscenities at him before turning back and walking over to his car.

“The girl’s not in there!” Gerard says as he walks across the unkempt lawn in front of the house.

Frank looks at it and frowns knowing instantly that something is off. The girl is in there he just has this feeling. He can’t be sure what it is but he just knows. He wants it to be true of course, but he feels it beyond just an emotional level. Something is wrong, and he needs to find out what.

Frank makes his decision quickly, and it’s a very stupid one at that. Gerard is going to kill him, and he knows that, but Frank jumps out of Brendon’s car anyway and rushes toward the house.

“Frank don’t go in there, she’s-,” but it’s too late because Frank runs past him and into the house looking determined. He’s not sure which emotion is more dominant right now, the need to prove Gerard wrong or the need to find that little girl. It’s honestly a dead tie, but it combines to make him extremely dogged.

As soon as he steps into the house he hates it. There’s a few other people in there, just regular uniforms who look at him angrily. They really don’t like the FBI, and Frank never really understood how far that hatred went until he sees their looks right now. He doesn’t care though. Something has to have been overlooked. A closet, or a bedroom. Maybe a bathroom. He doesn’t know he just needs to find Lily.

There’s very little room inside, and everything is cramped, with a set of stairs practically hiding in the corner. The house only has two levels because there’s no way that they could have a top floor, so Frank walks around the cramped living room thoroughly. He opens every cabinet in the kitchen and pulls the cushions out of the sofa. Nothing.

He checks behind the shower curtain in the bathroom, in the towel closet, and under the sink. Nothing. The bedroom, under the bed, in the dresser and even in the nightstand. Nothing.

He can’t bear to think where else Lily might be. If she’s not alive then it’ll be the worst thing he could possibly imagine. It’s his first case ever, and he needs it to have a happy ending. If Mr. Rosessen didn’t take her then who else would have? There’s no motive for anyone, even the Carmycle’s, but this is the best lead they’ve got. If Lily isn’t here then they’re back to square one and Gerard is going to baby him even more.

Frank tears the place up before heading down the stairs two at a time. He’s aware of Gerard walking behind him pompously. How can Gerard possibly be so haughty in a situation like this? Sure, he has a big ego, but people’s lives are at risk.

It’s more of a cellar than anything else, and it’s not a living basement, but a storage one. The floors are a gritty cement and the wall have exposed beams with pink insulation sticking out in weird intervals. It’s dingy and decrepit, making the whole house all the trashier.

The only thing that this place seems to house is racks of wine and giant boxes filled with papers. Frank looks at the only person in the room, a female cop, searching through the contents of one of the boxes.

The whole room looks relatively empty and Frank curses to himself. This can’t be all there is! That girl has to be here. She has to be. Where else could she be? He just needs to find her.

Gerard walks up behind him, he’s standing right next to the bottom of the staircase, and he leers at Frank.

“I told you,” Gerard says.

“Would you stop acting like this is a game. I don’t care about you’re fucking pride, I care about finding that little girl.”

Frank walks closer to the walls and studies the pink lining closely, but he’s thrown off by the weird pattern that the walls seem to be in. It’s like every few inches is a new panel of sorts, but they’ve all got holes or are incomplete. Everything is incomplete, that is, except for one small patch in the corner of the room where the only solid wall is.

He walks over to it and studies the paneling for a second then puts his fingers to it. There’s something more here. He can tell.

Frank walks to the side of it to look at the part of the wall from the side where there is a hollow wall. He crouches down to see that part of the wall is gouged out at the bottom, but the missing part is obstructed from any other angle than the one he’s in. He looks at the side for a few seconds and then pulls back up onto his feet and strokes his fingers on the edge of the surface until he feels a weird little latch at about waist level. It’s impossible to see, but it’s not that hard to undo because it’s like a little hook that catches onto a circular hole.

Frank is startled to realize that if he pushes it forward, the whole wall moves.

“Hey help me out here,” He says, when he tries to move it, but it’s incredibly heavy.

Gerard looks at him annoyed, “Help you with what?”

“This wall moves, just ugh, come on!” Frank says.

Gerard looks skeptical but he walks across the room and stands next to Frank and does what he says, so that the two of them stand shoulder to shoulder and push the whole wall away.

It's extremely heavy, even with the two grown men pushing at it. They can hear the pieces of the wall crumbling and falling to their feet. After they push the wall out of the way, Frank immediately crouches in the small space and looks inside. Barely seeing anything, he takes his cell phone out and allows the light from it to illuminate the dark space.

He sees a little girl with a purple shirt and black pants, but there are little stains on the sleeve of the shirt making Frank hope to god that she had a bloody nose recently.

The little girl lifts her head, her blonde hair covered in dust and grime, and whimpers.

“Oh god, Lily?” Frank asks, with concern, but the girl looks terrified. He barely hears Gerard's badly concealed gasp of shock and despair.

“Lily, it’s okay, I’m here to help you. I’m police,” He assures, and holds his hand out to her. The poor girl looks traumatized, but she doesn’t move away from Frank. He takes that as a sign to continue.

She gives Frank the most beautiful little puppy dog eyes that make him want to get her safe even more, “I want to get you out of here, and get you home.”

She looks excited by that and steps closer to him, then takes his hand. Gently, Frank grasps her hand and tries to get her to stand, but her eyes roll back in her head and he's quick to catch her. Her breathing sounds hoarse and uneven but he guesses that it’s because she’s been held in such a stuffy little room. Probably not healthy for little lungs.

"Lily? Lily?!" Frank crouches fully and gets his other hand under her knees, easily lifting her small frame.

"Somebody get the paramedics! We found her!" He yells, but doesn't get a response. He looks at Gerard who is already staring at him with wide disbelieving eyes.

He turns and sprints carefully up the stairs, through the grotty living room, and out the door. Everyone seems to be getting ready to leave when they hear him approach. They all turn to him with disappointed faces before their eyes land on the girl in his arms.

"Somebody get the paramedics!" Frank yells, his throat suddenly closing up in the relief of finding the little girl mostly unharmed. He looks down at the dirt covered kid and smiles.

He walks her outside and flips off Mr. Carmycle for good measure, before carrying her over the front lawn to wait for aid.

So focused on the little girl, Frank doesn't see Gerard staring at him with a reluctant sense of admiration. Even though the rest of the team was ready to pack up and leave, Frank didn't give up and without him, they probably would’ve taken forever to have found Lily.

Gerard snaps out of his trance once he sees the paramedics lift the girl on a stretcher and pull a mask over her face. He looks back at Frank, only to see him surrounded by the team beaming proudly. If Gerard focuses enough, he can detect the slight blush on Frank’s cheeks, paired with a small smile.

Notes

Happy Patrick Stump's Birthday!