Showdown (Pavel, Sean, Henri, Dani, Trevor)

[Aurelia Krizova]

Somehow, Aurelia had always known this day would come. It was inevitable that Pavel would find her and try to bring her back. But she never thought it would happen like this. Danica was being held hostage, and it still outraged Aurelia that Pavel would use their daughter (if she actually was his daughter) as leverage to get her back. And she had Henri now, and Sean, as backup to find Dani while she talked with Pavel. Yes, he'd told her to come alone. And he'd told her not to bring her wand, either. But she was not going anywhere without it. She knew perfectly well that Pavel wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Because no matter what happened, Aurelia was not going anywhere with Pavel. She would trust that Henri and Sean would find Dani, and she would distract Pavel long enough that they could get her out before she hexed him. And she intended to make him suffer.

Feeling scared but determined, Aurelia held onto Henri as he apparated them both to the park where she was supposed to meet Pavel. Then he quickly apparated away to the warehouses, where Sean was already waiting for him, so they could look for Dani.

Aurelia's legs were shaking as she sat down on a nearby park bench. The last thing she really wanted to do at that moment was meet with Pavel. She wanted to be with Henri and Sean, searching for her daughter. But this was the way it had to be. So Aurelia took a deep breath and waited.

[Pavel Novak]

Pavel was standing on the edge of the park neer the woods, watching and waiting for his wife to arrive. He turned his head to see her. Beautiful as ever, Aurelia walked down the foot path and sat on the bench, her back to him. He grinned. Soon enough, his family would be back where they belonged, with him, in his home. Aurelia would be doing as a wife should, taking care of him, making his meals, standing proudly and beautifully at his side for him to show her off during business functions. Their daughter, she'd need some work. Danica was much too defiant to be his daughter, he was sure he'd be able to take care of that. MAybe they could even have another child, a boy he could raise to be like himself, a son who respected and obeyed and looked up to him like Pavel did his own father. Whatever happened in their future, it sure as hell didn't envolve any of that god-forsaken magic that they had gotten themselves mixed up in.

He approached his wife slowly, looking around for any suspicious people who could be following her. Finally satisfied she was alone, he moved closer, his fingers brushing through her hair as he rounded the bench and sat down. "It's good to see you Aurelia," he said, kissing her cheek.

[Aurelia Krizova]

Aurelia saw him coming, but she refused to look at him as he approached. He couldn't possibly think that she would be happy to see him, given the circumstances and the history between them. And yet he reached for her, and she felt her skin crawling with his touch. She managed not to pull away, but she was unable to disguise the disgust on her face when he kissed her. Even though it was a chaste kiss on her cheek, it was a familiarity he didn't deserve.

"I wish I could say the same," Aurelia replied coldly. "Before you say another word, I need some kind of proof that Dani is all right."

[Pavel Novak]

He refrained from rolling his eyes. "As if I would ever hurt our little girl," he said, making a noise of shock. "I just want what is best for my family." But he reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a photograph of Danica that he had taken before leaving her with Trevor. It had been an ordeal, to get her to smile and stand still, and he tried to angle the camera so Aurelia didn't see the bruise on her cheek from when Pavel slapped her.

"Here she is, perfectly fine," he said, handing his wife the photo.

[Aurelia Krizova]

Aurelia's glare was as cold and hard as steel. Yes, she absolutely believed he would hurt Dani. She still suspected that he had something to do with her fear of heights and windows. And he had already resorted to kidnapping Dani to get to her, so yes, Aurelia was convinced that he was capable of just about anything. Except, of course, magic... which was her biggest advantage over him. When they were married, she had often been afraid to use it to the best of her ability. He had weakened her to the point where she didn't have the confidence to defend herself. But not anymore. The years had strengthened her, and she was no longer afraid of him. Her only fear was for Danica.

She snatched the picture from his hand and stared at it. She was smiling, but Aurelia knew her daughter better than to be fooled by that. That was Dani's fake smile, the one she used when she got in trouble at school or when she had hidden her peas under her napkin at dinner.

"She looks thin," she said angrily. "Have you been feeding her properly? It looks like she's been crying. And is that a bruise? I swear, Pavel, if you laid a hand on her, you will regret it."

[Pavel Novak]

Pavel closed his eyes. How dare she raise her voice at him! Question him! He was her husband, she should know her job was just to do as he said. Women these days...

He took the picture away. "She's fine," he said shortly, putting the photo back in his pocket. "Now lets go Aurelia. I do't have time to pander around."

[Aurelia Krizova]

Pavel clearly hadn't changed one bit since she left him all those years ago. Part of her had almost hoped, for Dani's sake at least, that he might have learned his lesson when she left him, that maybe he would have grown up a little. But no, he was still the same arrogant, ignorant, hateful pig she remembered. But she was not the same meek, helpless girl she had once been. And she was not going to merely submit to him so easily.

This was the hard part. She had absolutely no intention of going anywhere with him. He had to know that. But then, he'd never been a genius. So she would have to stall him long enough to give Sean and Henri the time to find Dani. And he was already getting impatient.

"Go?" she said innocently. "Where are we going?"

[Pavel Novak]

"Home," he said. He stood up and brushed imaginary dirt off his pants. "I've kept the house in order, no thanks to you. We've had to hire someone to keep things in check," he looked down at her. "Danica will be delivered shortly after we arrive I presume. Then we can finally be rid of this ridiculous magic thing you caught yourself up with and move on from it all." Without her wand or other magic things, his wife wouldn't be able to get in contact with the magical world again, and he was more than ready to sever all ties Aurelia had with the life she ran away too.

"I'm willing to forgive you for running off, Aurelia," he said.

[Aurelia Krizova]

"Forgive me?" She repeated incredulously. Really, was he that deluded? To think that she had left him for no reason at all? That he was the innocent victim in all this? Had he forgotten what he had done to her, and to Dani? He had kept their house for them, hired a maid to keep the house clean... as though simply waiting for the day she would return for more of his abuse. It was almost sad.

"I am not waiting for Dani to be 'delivered,'" she said bluntly. "I'm not going anywhere without her. And I have things here, a life. I can't just leave with you. Danica is in school now... magic school. She needs to finish her education."

[Pavel Novak]

"She'll. Be. There. When. We. Arrive." Pavel said through gritted teeth, fists clenching. How DARE his wife be so disobedient. Clearly she learned NOTHING. He stepped close to her, grabbing her wrist with a tight grip, glaring darkly.

"You're 'life' here doesn't matter to me in the slightest Aurelia," Pavel said, his voice low and harsh. "It's not reality. You are my wife and you'll do as I tell you to do," he fumed. "And as for Danica, I am appauled that you would even let her go to that school. But I'll just have to squash the magic out of her just like I did with you. Now come along."

[Aurelia Krizova]

In fact, Aurelia had learned quite a lot. Mainly she had learned that she didn't have to take this sort of treatment from him. She was stronger than this, and she was not at all the same woman who had run away from him all those years ago. And she was not going anywhere with him.

"I want to see her NOW." she said, raising her voice loudly enough that anyone else who might be in the park would surely hear her. "I'm not going anywhere until I do. And take your hand off of me. Or I'll scream until the local police come running."

The fact that there didn't appear to be anyone around right now didn't concern her. They were in public, in a park, and surely there would be some police officers patrolling nearby.

[Danica Krizova]

Meanwhile, across town, Dani was sitting in a wooden chair, much like the one she'd been tied to, but that was broken now, thanks to her Dad. Her knees were pulled in to her chest, her arms hugging them to her tightly. Her dad wasn't there, just the man, Trevor. She felt safer with him, though Dani was too young to understand that a calm, silent evil was a lot more dangerous than her father's short temper.

All the same, she gave up trying to appeal to Trevor. He wasn't going to help her, and as long as she stayed quiet, he didn't bother her.

She was shivering though, chills running rampant through her body, and she had a fever, though she didn't know that part. She felt miserable, but not enough to break the silence.

[Sean Leviner]

Sean was absolutely certain that they would find Danica today. While he didn't necessarily agree with leaving Aurelia alone with her husband, they were given limited option and limited personnel to pull this off. She had her wand, though, and one of them, Sean or Henri, would be back with her just as soon as they had the girl with them. It would be fine.

Yeah, famous last words.

When Henri arrived, they split up, taking the warehouses meticulously one by one, covering as much ground as quickly as they could. Danica was his only priority right now.

[Trevor King]

Trevor really just wanted all of this to be over. He hated Pavel, and he wasn't proud of what he'd done to help the git. He'd just been in it for a paycheck, like he was with everything, but he hadn't expected to be facing a moral dilemma. The awful fact was that Pavel did not deserve to get his wife or daughter back. He deserved to be alone with his misery, because he was a stupid, miserable human being. He treated the girl poorly--something Trevor hadn't expected to care about--and he was a drunk. He probably treated his wife the same way, and Trevor didn't think he could blame the woman for running out on him all those years ago. He even suspected that Pavel would short-change him from what he'd promised to pay--luckily, Trevor was actually working for Pavel's father, who would pay him handsomely.

In the meantime, though, Trevor was stuck babysitting the girl. She was acting weird, too. She was shaking and trembling and she looked really pale. He had no idea what Pavel had done to the girl, but he could only assume that whatever was ailing the girl was due to something Pavel had done.

"Quit yer moanin' already. You'll be out of 'ere soon enough," he said in a low voice, eying the girl.

[Danica Krizova]

It turned out, Trevor broke the silence first, and Dani's eyes shifted to him. If she had more energy, maybe she would have tried pleading with him. She felt awful, though. Really sick, sicker than she ever remembered feeling, and she just wanted her mom. Aurelia would make this all better. She always knew how to make Dani feel better, when she was feeling sick and when she'd had a bad day.

"I don't feel good," she told Trevor, her voice sounding so small in that moment.

[Trevor King]

Trevor's frown deepened. The girl really didn't look well at all. And the last thing he needed was for this girl to die on his watch. Not that he really thought she was going to die, but stranger things had happened. She was definitely not faking it--a good con artist can always spot a liar and a faker. She was neither. She looked very sick, and as much as he would have hated to admit it, it was starting to get to Trevor. That tiny little crack in the girl's voice was poking at the little tiny bit of compassion left in his jaded heart.

"Ah, for the love of Salazar," he grunted. "What did he do to ya, child? Do you need food, or water? Did he hurt you? I can't have you dying on me, so what do you need?"

Maybe she was just hungry or thirsty. Or maybe the git had given her something to make her sick. Maybe he'd knocked her around a bit. He didn't imagine that the cause of the girl's illness could have come from herself... surely that imbecile Pavel had caused it in some way. And just as surely, he could fix it. Right?

[Danica Krizova]

"I don't... I don't know."

Dani didn't know how to answer Trevor. She was shaking ever so slightly, though she couldn't tell if she was cold or scared or sick, or some combination of the three. She felt almost disconnected, though she didn't know how to explain that to Trevor.

It was a familiar feeling, but she never remembered what happened after this feeling. All she knew was she would wake up with her mother holding her and all of her muscles sore like she'd been holding them all tight for too long.

Her vision started to tunnel, and she met Trevor's gaze. "I need my mom. She knows what to do."

[Trevor King]

Trevor watched in horror as the girl began to tremble slightly. She was most definitely not faking this. There was something seriously wrong, and if he was honest with himself, it scared the hell out of him. The only thing he hated more than children was sick people... and a sick child was more than he was prepared to handle.

She was starting to shake, and yet as pale as she was, she seemed to be sweating a bit. Her voice came out very small, almost inaudible, and when her eyes connected with his, he knew something bad was about to happen. Although she was clearly trying to focus his gaze on his, she seemed fuzzy and unconnected, and then her eyes seemed to roll back into her head.

"Merlin's wooly beard," he hissed under his breath. He glanced at the door, half hoping that Pavel would return, then back at Danica. She was shaking a little bit more, causing the chair she was tied to to bounce precariously.

"Bloody hell," he swore. Pulling out his wand, he uttered a spell to untie her from the chair, and she nearly slipped down like a limp doll, until he rushed over and swept her up into his arms. He had no choice.. the girl needed medical attention. If he thought she could do anything, he would have brought her to Celia, but he was pretty sure this was beyond her ability to help. So he apparated to St Mungo's Hospital.

In the lobby, he quickly dashed up to the brunette behind the desk. "I don't know what's wrong with her. She started shaking..."

[Adrienne Kelly]

Every time Adrienne had the gall to think to herself that they were having a slow shift, something would happen. It was like she was jinxing the poor wizarding community every time she said it.

Today, just as the thought crossed her mind, a man came in with a small child in his arms. She was shaking and her muscles looked tense, and as long as she had worked as a reception witch here, she could recognize it. "She's having a seizure," she told the man, immediately sending a page for any available doctor to the available room she knew they had. She didn't think it was life threatening, but that wasn't her decision to make. She was certainly not qualified to have this girl's life in her hands.

"Bring her this way, we'll get her in a room and one of the doctors will be with shortly." She didn't mention yet that she would need him to fill out paperwork once she was safe and being seen. Assuming the man was her father, she didn't want to overwhelm him. Instead, she pushed open the door to exam room #5 and instructed him to lay her on the bed.

Her body had stopped convulsing, but she was still shaking slightly, and her eyes started to flutter normally. "Looks like she's coming to," she told the man.

[Trevor King]

Trevor didn't like this. The brunette could identify him now, and if the child's illness turned out not to be life-threatening, she could tell her about his part in the kidnapping. He understood what a seizure meant, but he wasn't sure how serious it was. He looked around, silently checking if there were other people who might recognize him, and keeping note of his escape routes. Then he quickly followed the receptionist and carried Danica into the exam room.

He laid her on the bed and stood back, edging toward the door. Bringing her here had been a mistake, he knew that now. If the girl woke up, his cover would be blown. She'd call him out as an accomplice to kidnapping, and the Ministry would be there to haul him away before he could say Pavel's name. The best thing he could do now was to disappear before the doctor arrived, or the girl woke up. Maybe he could double back later and pick her up again and bring her back to the warehouse, but if not, he was just going to have to give his explanation to Pavel and hope for the best. Or he could just take off for the French Riviera for an impromptu "vacation" with Celia until the heat cleared. Come to think of it, that was sounding like a bloody good idea...

As soon as the receptionist mentioned that Danica was coming to, he feigned a sigh of relief. "Ah, thank Godric," he said. "I'll be right back. I need to call her mum and let her know that she's doing better."

Before the brunette could say anything to stop him, Trevor was out of the room, and he hurried quickly down the hall and disapparated in the hospital lobby.i