Six Months Later

Benson

I wake up and stretch. I'm surprised to see Faith's side of the bed empty. I roll out of bed and pull on a pair of boxers. I smell coffee when I exit the bedroom, but I don't see Faith. She's nowhere in the apartment. I returned to the bedroom, pulled on sweats and a tee shirt, and left the apartment, then my office, and noticed Faith's office light was on down the hall.

About two months ago, we made some changes on my third floor. Liza now sits at the reception desk and works as Faith's assistant. Cindy has her own office beside mine, and Faith's office is across from Cindy's and next to Liza's area.

Cindy still works as my assistant. Liza receives all incoming calls into the office. If they ask for Easton Real Estate, she forwards the call. If the call is for Double Faced Advertising, she handles the call. It's been working quite well. Faith is currently renting out her office building and brownstone.

It's been six months since Grace went missing. Faith has her good days and bad days. Some days, she still has hope for Grace to return to her, and there are days of anguish when she has lost all hope of ever seeing her sister again.

Thomas and her make a real effort to be strong for each other, and Liza has been an amazing best friend for Faith to lean on when I can't. Henson has tried to contact Thomas and Faith, but neither is ready to open up that part of their lives. We had our private detective follow Henson for four months, and nothing had come of it, nothing at all. Detective Kidwell has had the same results. While Walker remains a person of interest, he's no longer the prime suspect. The mysterious woman is.

Detective Kidwell had high hopes that the video forensic team would clear up the video enough to identify the woman or the vehicle that she was driving. The video was too grainy to get anything definitive. We know that the car was a dark-colored four-door sedan and that the person who took Grace was a female.

As I get closer to Faith's open door, I can hear her crying, and my heart breaks for her. I knock lightly on the door frame to announce my arrival. I walk in, and she looks at me with red, swollen eyes.

I kneel in front of the woman who holds my whole heart in her hand. "Come here, Baby."

She doesn't hesitate. She falls into my arms, crying. I hold her and let her take all of the time that she needs to work through her breakdown. I'm not sure how long we were in that position. What I do know is that I no longer can feel my legs. I attempt to adjust without disturbing Faith and miserably fail when I allow a slight groan to escape my lips.

Right away, she leans back and looks at me while I grimace. "Oh, Babe. I'm so sorry."

I give her a look. "There's nothing to be sorry about. You know that I would walk over hot coals for you?"

There it is, her brilliant smile. She stands and reaches her hand down to help me up. I don't refuse.

She brushes her plump lips against mine. "I hope you know I would do the same for you."

I place my hands on her face and tilt it towards me. "Talk to me, Faith; what's going on today?"

She sighs. "I'm having an awful feeling today. I feel like Grace is slipping away from me. I can't explain it."

"Twin-tuition?" I ask.

She shakes her head as fresh tears begin to fall. I wipe them away with my thumb.

"Want to go and make me breakfast?" I grin.

She smirks. "You sure know how to make a girl feel better."

"Only because I know that cooking is your happy place." I hug her as we make our way back into the apartment.

I know that she tries so hard to be strong for Grace. While her breakdowns are fewer and far between, every time she has one, it's because of a feeling that she gets out of nowhere.

Today was probably the worst that she's been since Grace first went missing. I know from experience to hold her till she works through the pain and to be ready to talk when she comes out of it.

I sit on the stool as she gathers the ingredients for a ham and cheese quiche. I could cook something just by the many times I've sat here watching her work her magic.

"So what happened?" I ask as she cracks eggs into a bowl.

She takes a deep breath. "I had a nightmare."

My ears perk up. "A nightmare?"

Faith has had a few nightmares in the last six months where she cries in her sleep. Once I wake her up, she can never remember anything about the nightmare.

"Yeah." She looks away from her cooking to look at me. "Benson, I remember everything about the nightmare."

I get off of my stool and step behind her. I wrap my arms around her and whisper, "Tell me" in her ear. She kisses my cheek and continues to work on breakfast. I sit back on the stool and do what I do best: watch her.

She adds onions, cheese, and ham into her egg mixture and gets one of her homemade pie crusts out of the freezer. I patiently wait until she's ready. She pours the egg mixture into the pie crust and places it into the oven. She refills her coffee, then mine, and sits next to me. I put my hand over hers.

"It's dark, and I am alone. I call for you, but you don't answer." I squeeze her hand, and she gives me a slight smile. "I hear screaming and follow the sound, unable to see a thing. The scream turns into sobbing, and I get closer. All of a sudden, I can see. Grace is almost unrecognizable. She looks at me with lifeless eyes. It takes every bit of strength she has to reach toward me. I try to reach her, but she gets further and further away. Just before she disappears from my sight, she says goodbye." A single tear trickles down Faith's cheek.

I stand up and turn her towards me. She separates her legs so that I can stand between them, and I hug her into my chest. "Awe, Baby."

She looks up at me. "I'm losing her, Benson. I know that I am."

Her phone rings, making us both jump. We both look down and see that it's Detective Kidwell. She answers and puts it on speaker. "Hello, Detective."

"Hello, Detective," I add.

"Hello, Faith, Benson. I need Faith in my office as soon as possible. Your brother is on his way."

She gives me a look of complete fear.

"We're on our way." I hang up Faith's phone. "Babe, I need to get dressed. Please pull breakfast out of the oven."

While she dressed, I quickly called Robert to meet us downstairs immediately and change into appropriate clothes. We rush downstairs and into the waiting car.

"Babe?" I ask, and she looks at me with the saddest fucking eyes that I've ever seen.

"It's bad, Benson; I can feel it."

"I'm here, Babe. No matter what the detective has for you, I got you." I place my arm around her shoulders, and she cuddles into me.

Thankfully, the traffic was light for the time of day. We make it to the station and see Thomas pulling in behind us. We greet each other and enter the station together.

Detective Kidwell is waiting for us in the lobby. "Thank you all for coming in so quickly. I have something that I need you to hear. A 911 call came in early this morning. I need you both to verify that the voice that you hear is Grace's."

I look down at Faith while she looks up at me. To say that she seems shocked is a fucking understatement. Her dark eyes are wide, and her beautiful mouth is gaping open.

Could this be the break that we all have been waiting for?

*****