Page 36 of Sawyer
Sawyer shot to his feet, heart racing. He scanned the room, trying to remember where he was, reaching for his gun to find it not there.
Then another scream, gut-wrenching and desperate, rent through the room.
Lele.
He raced to her bedroom, not wasting time pulling on a shirt. He had to get to her. Someone was hurting her. He had to get to her. Now.
The door ripped off the hinges when he crashed through it. Her bed was empty; she was gone. Hurtling over a small bench angled out from the bed, he reached the window, only to find it shut.
Fuck!
He spun back to scan the room again, looking for clues about who might have taken her.
His mind caught up with his body as his adrenaline level lowered. The alarm hadn’t sounded. Why the fuck hadn’t it gone off if someone broke in?
“Lele?” He listened. “Half-Pint?”
At his voice, sobs came from under the bed. It was a sound he never wanted to hear again.
Dropping to his knees, he lifted the bed skirt. A line of pillows blocked his vision, so he tried to pull one away.
“No! G-go away! Go away!” Terror laced every word of her cries.
He lay down, stomach to the floor, and tried again. “Babygirl, it’s me. It’s Daddy, Half-Pint. I just want to move the pillows so I can see you.”
Through spasming, gasping breaths, she called, “D-d-daddy?”
Thank god! Forcing all the calm he could muster into his voice, he answered her. “Yes, babygirl. It’s Daddy. I’m right here. Can I move the pillow?”
The pillow shifted, and he saw her. The shadows under the bed made it impossible to tell if someone or something had injured her. Pushing to his elbows, he scanned the room for bullet holes, but there were no obvious marks.
“No! Don’t leave me, Daddy. Don’t go!”
Fuck. He dropped back to his stomach. “I’m not going anywhere, babygirl. I’m right here. Can you come out from under the bed so I can hold you?”
She shook her head. “No, it isn’t safe. You need to get under the bed with me.”
One glance at the bed frame told him that wasn’t going to happen. “Daddy won’t fit, little one. Your bed is too low on the floor. But I promise if you come to me, I’ll keep you safe.”
She said nothing. He waited for her to decide. If he had to, he could move the bed. But that would probably scare her all over again.
“Here, babygirl,” he said softly, sliding his hand under the bed to her. “If you aren’t ready to come out, take Daddy’s hand.
He held his breath, waiting to see if she would do as he asked.When her fingers wrapped around two of his, the way they trembled made him want to punch something.
Not knowing what else to do, he hummed to tune that had calmed her before. He didn’t care how long it took her to come out. He was staying right there.
Slowly, her fingers tugged his. “I think I’m better now.”
He backed away from the edge of the bed at her pace, so she knew he wasn’t leaving. When he was finally able to pull her out, he gritted his teeth because her entire body shook as much as her fingers had.
He held her in his lap, where he sat, not mentioning standing up until her tremors had slowed a bit.
It took time, but he finally got her back into her bed. She lay on her stomach facing him, but her eyes were unfocused. What the hell kind of nightmares did his babygirl have? Because what she’d just been through went way past a bad dream. That was somewhere between night terrors and PTSD.
He lay down beside her, brushing his fingers through her hair. Her blinking was too slow, bordering on shock. He was about to call Bones, who most people knew as Dr. Preston, but she focused her eyes on him. “Daddy,” she said, her voice weak. “Will you lie down on top of me?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Half-Pint. I don’t want to hurt you.”
