Without a Trace

Author's note--*sigh* You still have my every permission to kill me. Writer's block + sucky internet has been kicking my ass of late, if that's any consolation, and I've written and rewritten this scene a hundred times (okay, this was my third time...but it finally feels right.)

I just wish it weren't so damn complicated. You'll see what I mean. I tried to be as clear as possible, so if you're still confused at the end of this chapter, I'm sorry...but there is more on the way that might help explain, so bear with me.

Also, warning for a cliff-hanger...again. And yes, this is the FIRST climax because it's OH so not the end yet!

Thanks for sticking with me, people! I really, really do appreciate it!
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Without a Trace

Episode 2

FIRST CLIMAX (Part 1)

As Draco walked towards his hospital room, his conscious mind surfaced over the weak Imperius Curse and began screaming at being kept hostage. Weak as he was, his magic was stronger than his mother’s. Neither of them had wands, but Narcissa had been in Azkaban for seven years. Most of her magic was sapped when she Imperiused Lily and cast the Cruciatus Curse on Ashleigh through the little girl, with a little bit of Pansy's magical help. Narcissa’s eyes narrowed as her son’s back straightened, and he turned back to her, grey eyes blazing.

“How dare you!”

Narcissa retreated a few steps to the entrance to the ICU. Draco advanced, and Narcissa pushed the door open and disappeared down the hall. Draco took off after her.

* * * * *

Katie was just coming out of another ICU patient’s room when she thought she heard yelling in the foyer. She closed the door after her and noticed that the entrance door was just closing as if someone had gone through it. Her brow furrowing, she hurried to the door and peered through the glass. The corridor was empty. She shook her head and took her place at the nurses’ station desk, wondering if the long hospital shifts were staring to make her hallucinate. She was bent over a clipboard, making notations, when a voice startled her. She looked up at the woman with short brown hair who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

* * * * *

Danny took a pretty good tongue lashing from his enraged girlfriend, in Spanish, knowing that he deserved it. It didn’t help to quell his irritation at the British man, but he knew that he would have to apologize properly once Draco got back. He knew Ashleigh was right, and she knew that he knew it, so he ignored her. He watched out of the corner of his eye after she finished; she lay back, holding onto Parker, and began speaking to him softly.

“Doctor, maybe this isn’t the best time to continue your evaluation,” Danny suggested, walking over to Aoife. “Perhaps you could come back another time?”

“With all due respect, Agent…Taylor? Is it? I would prefer to remain here until Agent Fitzgerald returns with the father’s clothing. I will stay over here, out of the way, but I really need to speak with one of the child’s parents, at minimum, before I finish for the day,” Aoife replied evenly. Katie poked her head into the room.

“Doctor, may I see you for a moment?” Aoife walked into the foyer.

“The child’s mother is here to—where’d she go? Mrs. Malfoy was just here, I promise!” Katie’s head shot up as they heard a scream from down the hall. They rushed towards the ICU entrance.

* * * * *

As soon as he rounded the corner, Draco skidded to a stop, realizing the trap he had just walked into. Blaise Zabini stood, wand drawn and pointed at Draco’s face, with Narcissa standing behind him, grinning wickedly. She was wearing a nurse’s outfit, which explained why Draco had originally mistaken her for one, before he looked at her face. He didn’t have time to wonder where she had gotten it because Blaise stepped forward, pressing his wand tip to the soft spot in Draco’s throat.

“Who’s the sniveling little piece of shit now, Draco?” Blaise smirked infuriatingly. “Have you and Potter been enjoying yourselves? Does your mother know?” Draco’s eyes narrowed; even though he was caught off-guard inside, his face remained unreadable. There was no way Zabini could have known about Harry and him.

“Sod off, Zabini. You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Draco couldn’t say that he was exactly surprised to see his former best friend. Maybe it hadn’t been his paranoid mind when he had mentioned the Slytherin to Samantha. Maybe Zabini really was in on it.

“Does Mother know what?” Narcissa’s blue eyes narrowed, and she lost her superior grin. Draco stared hard at Blaise, trying to send him ‘shut up or you’ll be sorry’ vibes, even as a flicker of fear ignited in his chest; apparently Zabini was feeling brave since he had the wand.

“Does Mother know that her precious only child, the superior and respected Lord Malfoy, is queer for Gryffindor’s whore? If I had to take a guess, I’d say he always has been. Only Merlin knows why he even married my precious Pansy in the first place. Probably just so that I couldn’t have her, the little bastard,” Blaise’s voice became bitter. Narcissa’s eyes widened as she stared at Draco with renewed horror and disgust, not even able to put a sentence together.

“Well, I—no, it’s not—I, well—I ought to kill you for shaming our family!” Narcissa spit, her face red.

“I thought you already disowned me, Mother,” Draco drawled nastily. “I didn’t realize you still cared. How sweet. And you, Zabini. YOUR ‘precious Pansy’? Is that what this is all about? You’re upset because she picked me over you, aren’t you? News flash, you git, you can have her! I’ll thank you to take her out of my life, and leave me and my son alone!”

“No, Draco, we can’t do that,” Narcissa raged. “You don’t deserve to have that boy! You’re both better off out of your misery! Now go get him!” She gave Blaise’s arm a nudge, and he glanced over to her and then back at Draco.

“Cissa,” he said quietly. “You heard him. He’s going to let Pansy go. That’s good enough for me.” Narcissa turned on Blaise, her blue eyes afire. Draco’s heart twisted.

“Don’t YOU go soft on me!” She hissed. “Draco is inferior, and so is his demon-spawn! I should have killed him earlier and gotten it over with! Blaise, we had a deal. Now make him go get Parker.” A cruel look came into her blue eyes as she stared Blaise down. He began to lower his wand when Pansy came around the corner, looking huffy. Draco started, and Blaise’s wand came back up. She stopped short, looking at Draco, and he lunged at her, intending to use her in between himself and Blaise’s wand, but Blaise hit him with Petrificus as he was reaching for her. Pansy screamed, jumping out of the way, behind Blaise, for safety. Blaise put his arm around her as he glared at Draco.

“I ought to Crucio you for that,” he said savagely. “Pansy, love, what’s wrong?”

“The damn nurse wouldn’t let me see Parker!” She replied angrily. “She said she had to go get the doctor, so I left!” Suddenly there were voices coming from the end of the hall.

“Mrs. Malfoy? Are you okay? We heard screaming. Doctor Brady would very much like to speak with you now,” Katie rounded the corner, stopping short. The father of the little boy was frozen in the middle of the hallway in a very odd position, but one of her fellow nurses—it wasn’t Carol, and Katie didn’t recognize her, so it must be a new girl or someone from a different wing—was standing in front of him, examining him. She peered around his body to see the mother standing beside a black man. “Oh, hello, sir. Mrs. Malfoy, your son’s psychiatrist is very interested in speaking with you.” Aoife came around the corner and gasped at the sight of Draco. She pushed past Katie and began examining him for herself, firing questions at the blonde nurse who had stepped back from her examination.

“What happened? How long has he been like this? He appears catatonic again, only this time, it’s a much more severe episode. We need to get him back to his room at once,” she said.

“Wait, um, Doctor Brady!” The blonde nurse exclaimed, looking back to Pansy and Blaise. “He’s only been…catatonic for a few minutes, but if you give me just a second to finish looking at him, I bet he’ll snap out of it in no time.” Aoife frowned.

“Doubtful,” she replied. She glanced at the nurse again. “I don’t think I know you. Are you new here?” Aoife noticed a slight British accent to the nurse, thinking that she had been hearing a lot more of those lately.

“Yes, Doctor, she is,” Pansy replied, stepping forward. “But she’s an expert in…catatonic…um, behavior, so if you could just give her a few minutes, you said you wanted to speak with me?” She walked past Draco’s body, taking Aoife by the arm and trying to lead her back to the ICU. The doctor went with her hesitantly, and Katie followed after the blonde nurse made ‘shooing’ motions with her hands.

* * * * *

Aoife stopped next to the desk and turned to Pansy.

“Mrs. Malfoy, I have just a few questions for you about Parker’s history at home…” she trailed off as the door opened, and Draco walked in, a purpose lit in his eye. Aoife’s mouth dropped open.

“Draco?” Her voice came out as a squeak. Never in her medical career had she seen a catatonic person recover so quickly! He ignored her and stalked towards the room. Aoife spun in a circle as she watched him go, and she would have followed him, except that Pansy grabbed her arm.

“You were talking to ME!” The brunette screeched angrily. Aoife shook her head, trying to focus. Too many things were happening at once!

“Katie,” she said. Katie looked up from scribbling on her clipboard. “Please go check on Mr. Malfoy. Thank you.” Katie nodded, rising from her chair. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, you were saying?” Aoife tried to pay attention, but truthfully, half of her brain was still whirling with Draco’s nearly instantaneous recovery.

* * * * *

Danny pulled out his phone and called Jack for an update. He frowned when he heard about the guard. Danny told Jack about Aoife Brady and Martin going to get Draco some clothing, but he left out their fight. He hung up the phone as Draco came back into the room and marched over to Ashleigh and Parker without even acknowledging him. He wasn’t too surprised, considering their most recent interaction, but he walked over to the trio, drawing his eyebrows together as Draco held his arms out for Parker, but Ashleigh hesitated.

“Give me the boy,” Draco said. Ashleigh stared at him with a mixture of concern and fear in her eyes. His voice sounded flat and almost monotonous. Katie peered in, tired of being sent in and out of this particular room, and she didn’t notice the tension, shutting the door behind her.

“Draco, what’s wrong? What happened? Where do you want to take Parker?” The brunette subtly shifted the little boy to the opposite side of the bed from where his father was standing, keeping her arm around him for comfort. She sat up hesitantly, wincing. Danny put his hand on Draco’s arm, and Draco removed it with more force than necessary. Ashleigh’s eyes widened.

“Give me the boy,” he repeated. Danny forced himself in between Draco and Ashleigh, turning his back on his girlfriend to focus on the blonde.

“Hey, now, easy there, Draco,” he said soothingly, trying to herd Draco to the other side of the room. The blonde was complying unwillingly, but his rebuffs were becoming increasingly forceful. Ashleigh pulled Parker into her lap and whispered in his ear. The little boy was looking more scared by the minute. Draco kept trying to look around Danny, but the agent was adept at maneuvering. Draco’s angry grey eyes finally focused on Danny’s deceptively calm brown ones.

“Agent Taylor, get out of my way. I am here for the boy,” Draco said flatly, intoning what he had been commanded: ‘Get the boy’. Now Ashleigh knew there was something very wrong with Draco. He never called Parker ‘the boy’, and he was acting like Lily had been in the park, disobedient and single-minded.

“Danny, call HJ,” she said in a low, no-nonsense voice. Without taking his eyes off of Draco, Danny unhooked his cell phone from its belt carrier and tossed it in Ashleigh’s direction. She caught it easily, flipped it open, and began pressing buttons. The door opened, and a blonde nurse poked her head in the room.

“Mr. Malfoy, we really need you to bring the boy for those tests,” she said, taking in the scene. Draco turned to her and nodded. Danny stayed put, frowning at the nurse.

“What tests?” He asked suspiciously. The nurse’s eyes narrowed.

“And just who might you be?” She replied coolly.

“Danny Taylor, FBI,” he replied just as coolly. Draco tried to take advantage of Danny’s momentary distraction and push him out of the way, but Danny reacted quickly, shoving Draco back onto his bed. Ashleigh’s face had turned white and she whispered furiously into the phone when the nurse appeared, but she interrupted her phone conversation with HJ.

“Danny, please don’t hurt him!”

“I need to get the boy,” Draco said in a very clearly threatening tone. The nurse nodded approvingly.

“Just hurry up, Draco,” the nurse spat, disappearing. Ashleigh breathed a sigh of relief, hanging up the phone. Parker wiggled on her lap, and the brunette released her accidental death grip on him.

* * * * *

Harry sat in the conference room with his twin girls on one side and Hermione on the other, chatting amicably when his phone rang. Hermione was catching him up on their old Gryffindor group and what everyone was up to, since they couldn’t talk about anything more serious with Vivian at her desk, coordinating with Samantha and Elena. The office had gotten a phone call from a clerk at a cell phone store who wanted to report that the ‘sick people on TV’ had stopped in to purchase a cell phone, and Vivian sent the two female agents to follow up. While they were out, an update on Spaulding’s credit card flagged, a music box store near Central Park, so they went to follow up on that as well.

“Hey Danny…oh, Ash, sor—what? Why are you whispering? What’s wrong with Draco?” Harry sat up, looking over at Hermione fearfully. Vivian overheard Harry’s tone and spun around in her chair. His face suddenly turned white; Hermione leaned over and clutched his arm.

“What? Narcissa…a nurse?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Fuck! Ash, listen to me, keep Draco and Parker in your sight, and try to keep her out. Do not let him take Parker, okay?” She was in the middle of responding when she interrupted herself to implore Danny not to hurt someone. He heard the threatening tone of Draco's response. “I’ll be right there, Ash!” He hung up the phone and sprang out of his chair. He dropped hurried kisses on Molly and Lily’s black heads, motioning to Hermione to follow him, looking back to Vivian.

“You go, HJ,” she waved him on. “I’ll look after—” He was already gone. “—the girls.” Vivian reached for her phone to call Sam and Elena and sent them to the hospital to back their black-haired agent up. She phoned Martin to warn him; he was in the lobby of the hospital, and he promised to keep an eye out for the grandmother. Harry ran for the elevator, this time followed by Hermione, feeling an acute sense of déjà vu. As soon as the doors closed, he turned to his long-time friend.

“Hermione, Narcissa is at the hospital, and she’s got Draco under some sort of spell. I’m betting Pansy is there too, but neither of them have wands. What were you saying about the British embassy?” Harry was speaking quickly and in a low voice.

“There is a secure Floo network from the Ministry to the British embassy in New York. It’s the only way to Floo into America from England,” she replied. The elevator stopped, and someone got on. Harry sighed in exasperation. There was no way he could Apparate now.

“Okay, listen to me then,” he said. “You go to the embassy, and then to England. Find Zabini and Snape and contain them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pansy tries to contact one or both of them, so we need to get to them first, and you know how they are. I’m going to head over to the hospital to help Draco.” Hermione shook her head.

“I’ll get Tonksy and Lupin to take care of the Sly—uh, them. You need help!”

“No time, ‘Mione! Please, I’ll be fine at the hospital.” Hermione grabbed his shoulder and dug her nails in, making him wince.

“I’m coming with you,” she said firmly. The elevator stopped again at the ground floor. Hermione and Harry stepped out, and he pulled her to the men’s bathroom, glanced around furtively, and yanked Hermione in after him. She squawked in protest, but he silenced her and Apparated them from one of the stalls.

* * * * *

Draco paused, eyeing Danny before lunging again, and the agent caught him, shoving him back again. Ashleigh suddenly leaned over, depositing Parker on the floor, and urging him with a “Go! Go!” The little boy ran into the bathroom, shut the door, and the lock engaged. Ashleigh sat up, her heart in her throat. Wild-eyed, Draco leaped off of the bed, smashing his fist into Danny’s face, got past the agent, and threw himself at the bathroom door, beating on it, screaming for Parker to get out of there. Ashleigh was frozen in shock for a second before abruptly swinging her legs off the bed and standing up, turning to her boyfriend who was clutching his face. He waved her away, and she went over to Draco, trying to grab his arm and calling his name. He gave her a shove, and Danny pulled his gun.

“Mr. Malfoy, get down on the ground.” Ashleigh’s mouth dropped open.

“Danny…”

“Ashleigh, shut up. Mr. Malfoy, get down on the ground. Draco! Do it! Get down on the ground RIGHT NOW!” Danny trained his gun on the back of Draco’s blonde head. Ashleigh knew not to make any sudden moves, and she stayed where she was, near Draco, pleading with Danny, whose attention was on Draco.

“Danny, please put the gun away. It’s not necessary. He didn’t hurt me; I’m fine.”

“Draco, LISTEN TO ME! Get down on the ground NOW!” The blonde ignored the FBI agent and continued to pound on the door.

“Draco, Draco, please listen to him! Draco, we’ll get Parker for you in a minute, okay? Just please, please listen to Danny right now!” Ashleigh said desperately. The door opened again, but Danny didn’t take his eyes off of Draco.

“Ashleigh, who is it?”

“It’s Aoife. Aoife, don’t come in here! Please, get Draco a sedative, will you? He’s going crazy!” Ashleigh implored the doctor. Aoife’s eyes were wide. She heard yelling and had come to check it out, to find the FBI agent with his gun drawn on the father of her patient. She knew better than to get involved in that, and she backed out of the room. “Danny, Danny, please put the gun down!”

“Mr. Malfoy, if you don’t get down on the ground RIGHT NOW, I will be forced to shoot you!”

“DANNY, NO!”
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Author's note--OH. MY. GOD. Where to start? Okay, I'll try to summarize as briefly as possible without giving away future spoilers. Here's what happened in a nutshell:

Narcissa tried to Imperius Draco, which didn't work too well. So then she lured him to where Blaise was waiting (yes, you'll find out how/why Blaise is here, but Snape is still in England. Let's just say that Blaise was so freaked out about Pansy calling from the American cops that he hopped the first plane to America to "rescue" her...plus, I needed someone with a wand who could "do battle" with Harry! haha j/k)

SO Narcissa and Blaise have Draco at wandpoint. Narcissa is dressed like a nurse. Blaise Stupefied Carol, Narcissa took her uniform, and Pansy is currently in the ICU closet, trying to redress the unconscious woman in Narcissa's clothing. No, Carol isn't dead...she'll be okay. But Pansy didn't take the uniform because she tried to play the "mother" card in the hopes that the hospital might not realize she's with Narcissa.

She approaches Katie (and this is while Draco is in the hallway) and Katie tells her to wait a moment while she gets Aoife. Pansy runs back to Blaise and Narcissa; Draco grabs at her and she screams. That's when Blaise hits him with Petrificus.

Meanwhile, Katie pulled Aoife out of the room because she knew that the psychiatrist wanted to speak with ONE of the parents, and the mother showed up for the first time. They then hear the scream and go to investigate.

Pansy pulls them away. Blaise removes the spell, Imperiuses Draco, and orders him to get Parker ("the boy"). They wait anxiously in the hallway, since it should be a quick in-and-out job for Draco. When he doesn't come back right away, Narcissa goes in to check, but she can't really pull either of them out without suspicion.

You might ask, what was Ashleigh whispering in Parker's ear? She told Parker to go to the bathroom, lock the door, and not to open it unless someone said the magic words. The magic word was "Abracadabra" (heck, why not? haha) She knew that Draco might be saying something like "OPEN THIS DOOR" so she wanted a secret word. That way, Parker would be sure not to open the door (hopefully) until it was safe.

Danny is very focused on Draco at this point, since Draco's being weird and crazy, so he doesn't notice that the nurse is Narcissa. (Remember, the only time he saw her was in the video, and that was yesterday...well, and on the boat, but that was only briefly.) Ashleigh, however, recognizes her from being in the park AND from the picture on TV.

Now Harry knows, and he's on his way. Luckily, Hermione also has her wand, which was why she insisted on going to the hospital with Harry. Even though Harry is really good at wandless magic, she's reluctant to let him go up against two wandless witches by himself.

That's when Ashleigh puts Parker on the ground and sends him to the bathroom for safety. He's safer in there, she thinks, than to be in the room with his crazed dad. Plus, she suspected that Danny might have to use his training to put Draco in a lock or something (like JuJit-Su) or she was thinking that if SHE had to call upon HER martial arts training to confine Draco, she didn't really want Parker to see. Danny pulls something even more deadly, though...

And that's where we're at, so I'm shutting up now! Does that make more sense to you now? If not, apologies, and ask your questions! They will (hopefully) be answered in the next chapter *crosses fingers*

WeasleyWench--Glad I could make you laugh. :D Just before I make you cry with my lack of updating, huh? *stupid stupid stupid* But here's the new update!

You make a good point, and here's how that is turning out! *sigh* Okay, I don't want to ruin the suspense of my awful cliffie, but YES, I am a sap...and that's all I can say about that at present.

Yeah, they're all going to get their asses KICKED! :D Thank you so much for your review!


thrnbrooke--No, no, the plan was never for Draco to end up with Parker under Imperius! But how to keep him from getting Parker was the hard part...thanks for reviewing!

melodelic--Hiya and welcome! Thanks for your review! If you thought THAT was bad...*groan* haha I hope you'll come back!

Night--I had this chapter all written up...and then I read your review and went "Crap!" I wrote it wrong. You made EXCELLENT points, and the story is now better because of you, so THANK YOU SO MUCH! (Hence why I brought in Blaise...with a wand!)

You made a good point about Narcissa, so let's pretend that the "unrealistic" magic she cast in the park (on Lily) was aided in part by Pansy (magical support, perhaps?) and that took all of HER magical ability. But now we have Blaise, who has a wand, so still FUCK!

No Polyjuicing up to this point. Pansy and Narcissa were hiding the old-fashioned Muggle way! New clothes, wigs, etc! (Remember, Pansy LOVES to shop!)

Whether Draco has had Crucio/Imperio cast on him repeatedly in the past...that's not necessarily relevant to the story, but I'd have to go with a 'no' on that one, unless it was commanded by the Dark Lord. But since Draco wasn't a Death Eater, Voldie wouldn't have had him there for training anyway. And there was the one "flashback" that Draco remembered, but otherwise, from the time he was 5 up until that New Year's Day, he was spoiled rotten and not abused. There were just those two isolated instances of abuse in his past.

haha Ashleigh might not be so agreeable to marrying Mr. Trigger-Happy after this...

You make a good point about Harry. However, he's waiting on his girls to get back from the park, plus talking to Hermione, so as much as he wants to be at the hospital right now, he has to trust Danny and Martin to be competent and take care of everything until he CAN go. I hope this helps explain it. Plus, he doesn't really want to be calling Martin every five seconds because that would seem like he doesn't trust Martin to do his job...but he's on his way now! (I hope this makes sense and is acceptable to you?)

Parker's a smart cookie. He'll turn out to be a Malfoy yet... :) Thank you so much for keeping me true! I hope I've explained everything!

DB1--hey you! Welcome! Thanks for your review. I'm glad you think it's emotional, actually. It's been pretty emotional for me to write (especially this first climax...) Hope you'll come back!