I hope you all enjoy this. This is a different concept and I don't think that I've seen any stories out there like this one and I've been thinking about this story for a while, this is absolutely an AU and OOC. It's rated M for language and for adult content in the later chapters.

Let me know what you think and thank you for your support as always.

All the familiar characters belong to J.E. However the story line and original characters are mine. I don't own them and I'm not making any money from them, I'm just playing with them for a little bit.

Trenton NJ circa November, 1991 – At the Plum's Residence

She was in the kitchen starting to get everything ready for dinner so that when her husband Frank finally came home, he'd been gone on this mission for almost a year, everything would be perfect. She missed him so much and was so glad he was coming home. It had been hard enough to handle it all alone but with the girls getting older things were getting harder. Valerie, who was 6, really wasn't so much of a problem since she's always been the perfect little girl being so polite and quiet, but Stephanie had just turned 4 she didn't know what to do with her, she was always getting into everything and being just wild and crazy.

As if to prove her point she could hear Stephanie screaming that she wanted to go outside and play. Valerie was trying to tell her that it was getting cold and she couldn't go outside, but the little girl wasn't listening to her sister and continued to scream at her. Helen walked into the living room to see Stephanie had already put on her socks and stood by the door and said "No Stephanie, it's too cold you CAN NOT go outside." That didn't help her she just screamed louder and continued to throw a fit and Helen was trying to think about what she could do to stop her daughter from going outside but knew that if this was something that she really wanted to do that she wouldn't give up because Stephanie was just like her daddy. She never showed any type of fear and was always looking for the next adventure or mischief that she could get into. She was so glad that his contract was done, that meant no more going out on these crazy missions, maybe with him being home it would settle her youngest down some. She was brought out of her thoughts by Valerie screaming "Owwww" and looked down and saw Stephanie had gone and gotten her shoe back and had thrown it at her hitting her in the head. Helen having enough of this yelled "Stephanie Michelle Plum, you do not throw your shoe at your sister, you could have hurt her and that's not what proper young girls do" Stephanie looked at her and yelled back "I wanna go outside and she won't let me". Helen picked her up and took her to her room and laid her down on her bed and sternly said "No, I told you that you couldn't go outside and I mean it. Now, you are going to stay in your room and behave yourself. Take a nap so when your daddy gets home later you will be nice and refreshed and you can show him what a good girl you are", and with that Helen turned around and marched out of Stephanie's room shutting the door. She walked passed the living room and saw that Valerie was sitting there watching TV and playing with her dolls. She headed to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. She could still hear Stephanie screaming and crying for her Daddy, but she just ignored her and hoped that she would stay in her room and not cause any more problems while she was trying to get everything done.

The timer went off and everything else was forgotten as she went back to preparing her welcome home meal. She didn't have any other interruptions and when she finally had finished what needed to be done and looked at the clock, she realized it was almost 5 o'clock. she only had an hour before he was supposed to be home and dinner would be on the table. He hadn't called her to tell her that he wouldn't be there, and she realized that she hadn't heard anything else except for the TV and then rolled her eyes upward and thanked God Stephanie was quiet. She tried to remember if she knew the moment when she couldn't hear Stephanie scream and cry, but realized that since she was lost in her own thoughts that she couldn't. She was hoping that meant that she had finally fell asleep or that maybe she was just playing quietly in her room. She came out into the living room and saw Valerie in pretty much in the same spot as before. She thought that one could play with her dolls for hours. She looked at her and said "Val why don't you go get Stephanie and get you two washed up for dinner, so I can have everything ready when your dad gets home." Val looked at her and said "Okay mom, I'll go get her and take care of it". She got up and walked to the hallway to Stephanie's room and as she opened the bedroom door she could feel the cold hitting her and thought that was really strange, then she looked over at the bed and saw that it was empty, she looked over at the window and saw it was open. Stephanie was nowhere to be seen. She screamed "MOM! MOM! Come quick, Stephanie's gone".

Helen came running into the room and looked around, she looked at the bed, under the bed, and in the closet and then looked out the window and she screamed "Stephanie". All she heard was the normal neighborhood noises and didn't hear any response from her. She then ran to the front door and threw it open hoping beyond hope that Stephanie would be there and everything would be OK. She walked outside and didn't see her playing in the yard. She also didn't see her across the street at any of the neighbor's house playing. She didn't see her at all. She was really starting to panic now. She ran down to the side walk and looked down both sides of the street. She was screaming her name over and over and didn't hear anything back.

Then she saw Frank's car pulling up, he took one look at her panicked face, shut the car off jumped out and ran to Helen. She looked at him and thought what was supposed to be a happy reunion has now turned into a nightmare because their daughter was missing. How could she tell him what happened? He won't be happy with what she did and he always says he hates it when she punishes her for her just being who she wants to be. Frank ran up to Helen and knew something was terribly wrong by the look on her face. He said "What's going on?" She buried her face in his chest crying and started telling him the whole story about what happened and how she's been yelling for her but she's not answering and hasn't see her. She could see the anger in his face so she decided she needed to think real quick so that she could get away and he wouldn't yell at her so she turned to Frank and said "She's probably hiding somewhere close and she's not coming out because she's afraid she'll get into more trouble, she's probably waiting for you to come home and save her, so maybe you should go and find her." With that Helen quickly walked back into the house so he couldn't reply and that hopefully it wouldn't take too long for him to find her, and then they would all be able to sit down and have the family dinner that they were supposed to have before this whole mess.

Frank looked at his wife in disbelief, did she really think that Stephanie would do something so horrible as to sneak out and then hide until I came home. He put that thought aside and decided that he needed to find his daughter, so he started screaming Stephanie's name and telling her that it was time to come home. He started knocking on the neighbor's doors and asking if they had seen her. So far no one had seen her but they were all willing to help and look for her. They looked all around the neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhoods and she was still nowhere to be found and no one had seen her. After a while he knew he needed more back up because it was going to start to get dark soon and he needed to get the police involved. He told everyone what he was doing and they all agreed that they needed to be called since they'd been looking for a while and still haven't found her but they all said they wouldn't stop and would continue to look.

As he was walking home he thought to himself how is it a 4 year old little girl just disappears with no sign or trace. Those thoughts carried him inside where is wife immediately yelled from the kitchen "Took you long enough, now that you have her back have her wash up since we have no idea where she's been and let's sit down and eat dinner." She came out carrying a serving dish that held the pot roast and looked at his face. She knew at that point that he didn't find her and she dropped the pot roast and screamed "NO!" He walked over to her and held her then looked at her and said "I need to get the police involved, so I have to go call them. All of the neighbors are still out there looking for her. Hopefully, we'll be able to find her soon." and he walked away from her. This was the one of the hardest calls that he'll ever have to make, but he knew he had to do it. So he picked up the phone and dialed the one number he knew would search as hard for Stephanie as he would. After the 3rd ring he heard "Sergeant Juniak speaking" Frank said "Hey Joe, it's Frank. We have a problem, Stephanie is missing and most of the neighbors and I have been looking for her for about an hour but we can't find her. To top it all off I don't even know how long she's been gone." Then Joe answered "What the fuck happened, and what do you mean you don't know how long she's been missing." Frank then proceeded to tell his best friend and his missing daughter's Godfather the story that Helen had told him. After Frank was done he heard Joe let out a breath and said "I'll gather everyone I can here and we'll be over there in 5 minutes."

Joe walked up to the house 5 minutes later and Helen had opened the door and let him in, she didn't know what to say to him, so she just said "Thanks for coming Joe, I don't know what to do, why would she would do this to us?" Joe looked at her with disgust and said "You don't know why she would do this to you, she's a fucking 4 year old little girl, who only wanted to go outside and you locked her in her room." She replied "I did not lock her in her room. I just put her in it and told her to take a nap because I wanted her to be in a good mood for Frank." Joe replied "Helen, from the first day that child was born you have known that Frank favored her and you hated it, so saying that you wanted her to take a nap so that she would be in a good mood for Frank is bullshit and you know it." With that he turned away from her and walked out of the room. He went in search of Frank and said "Let's go find our little girl. I'm sure she's hungry, tired, and cold. I'd say scared but you and I both know she's tougher than nails even at 4 and hasn't been afraid of anything yet." Frank nodded his head and they both walked out of his house to see if they could find his precious little girl.

Earlier Outside the Plum Residence

He's sitting across the street watching the house. He has his orders and knows what he's supposed to do now he just needs to figure out how to do it. He thought about just going up to the door and taking what he was ordered to but he really needed to figure out a way to do it without hurting anyone, as he was told that would only be used as a last resort. He heard yelling and screaming from the house and then heard a door slam. He wonders what that's all about and thinks that this might be the opening that he's been looking for. He was told that Plum was going to be home later tonight and that what needed to be done had to be done before he got home. He was told that he needed to do it in a way that there would be no way anyone could connect him to the job, and that by the time they had figured anything out there would be no way for them to trace it back to his boss. He was brought out of his thoughts by seeing the little girl in question climbing out of her window. He knew she was only 4 so his first thought was what in the hell is she doing climbing out of the window. Then he really looked at her and realized that she didn't have a jacket on or shoes, but at least she had socks on. He thought this must be my lucky day knowing that he had the things in his car to help her. He took a quick glance at the kitchen window that was facing him and saw the mother had her back turned and wasn't even paying attention to anything, then he looked over at the living room window and the other little girl was watching TV and playing with her dolls, she's not the one he was told to get so I don't care what she's doing, but just he just wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be a problem. With that he slides out of the car carefully not to draw attention to himself and slowly walk up to the little girl.

At that point Stephanie looked up and saw him and had a look on her face like she knew she had been caught doing something wrong. He smiled at her and said "Sweetheart, you know you're not wearing any shoes and you don't have a coat on. Don't you think your mom would be upset at you for going outside and not wearing them?" She said "I wanted to play outside and I didn't have them in my room, so I couldn't put them on." Then she shocked him by saying "You sound funny." He laughed and told her "Well, I sound funny because I'm from a different country and just moved into the area. You know it's not good for you to play outside with no coat and shoes, you could get sick. You don't want that to happen do you? But I think I can help you, I have a little girl your age and I just bought her a new coat and a brand new pair of shoes. Why don't you come with me over to my car and I'll get everything for you."

She looked up at him with those clear blue eyes and said "I don't think so, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers and I don't know who you are." He smiled at her and said "That's very smart and who ever told you that is right." And then he put his hand out and said "My name is Tomas, what's yours?" She looked at his outreached hand took it and said "I'm Stephanie." He held her hand and said "Now we're not strangers, so what do you say I help you out. I'm sure you're starting to feel a little bit cold, huh?" She replied "Uh huh." And then he walked her over to his car and with a smile and thought this couldn't have gone any better if he tried. When they got over to his car he opened the back seat and told her climb up in the car seat so it would be easier for him to put the shoes. She agreed and started climbing in. When her back was turned he quickly engaged the child safety lock, knowing that once he closed the doors she wouldn't be able to get out. He knelt down in front of her grabbed the shoes out of the box and went to put them on her feet. He said "Hey I have an idea, since you're cold and need to be warmed up, why don't we go and get some hot chocolate. Would you like that?" She smiled and nodded her head. He said "OK do you know how to buckle yourself in?" She looked at him and said "Uh huh" and then proceeded to buckle herself in. He knew that this would probably be his only chance to get her, that while she was so focused on pulling the straps over her shoulders, he grabbed the tiny needle from the floor and quickly stuck it in her leg. She stopped what she was doing and yelled "Oww that hurt" but before she could say or do anything else, she got a dazed look in her eyes and he little head drooped down and she fell asleep. Tomas lifted his head to look around to make sure that no one was coming out to investigate. He saw the that the neighborhood was quiet and that no one seemed to have heard anything, he ran into the driver's seat, started the car and drove away, knowing that he had completed his task and was on his way to make his delivery.

He kept scanning the radio for any news reports that might be about the little one he had in his back seat missing. There were no alerts being sent out and he knew that he hadn't been followed. So he got on the highway and drove to the private airport that he knew that his boss would be waiting for him. After driving for about an hour he turned on to the airport road, he looked at the back seat and verified the little girl was still sleeping. He pulled up to the guard shack and stopped at the gate. The guard walked up to him and he proceeded to tell the guard that his plane is waiting for him on runway 2 and that he was running late and needed to meet up with the pilot. The guard nodded his head towards the little girl and Tomas smiled and said "Man, she's worn out. We came here for a family trip and she's been none stop since we got here. Now it's time to go home and she's finally decided to sleep". The guard nodded his head and asked to see his documents, so he reached over to the envelope that was on the front seat beside him and handed both of their passports to the guard. He looked at them smiled said have a safe trip home and opened the gate so he could go through. As he was passing by the guard, he gave Tomas directions to get to the runway.

Tomas drove right up to the private plane and stopped. He got out of the car as a big burly man came down the steps of the plane and walked right up to the car. The man looked in the back window of the car at the sleeping child and smiled. He looked at the man now standing next to him and said in a very thick Spanish accent "Well done, let's get her on the plane." Tomas said "Yes sir". The man turned around and walked back up the stairs and disappeared into the plane. Tomas opened the back door took the blanket that was on the seat beside Stephanie and wrapped her up in it. Then he carried her up the stairs and boarded the plane. He took her to the back of the plane and laid her down on the bed making sure that she was comfortable. Then he walked out of the bedroom and sat down on the couch. He looked at his boss and said "She's good". The man then told the pilot that everyone was on ready and to take off as soon as possible. The pilot radioed the tower, got permission to take off and down the runway they went and took off into the sky.

Author's Note:

Thought I would share a little bit of my inspiration for one of the scenes with you all and tell you a funny story. When my 16 year old daughter was 4 she used to open her window and climb out of it, then she would walk around to the front of the house and down to the end of the drive way to get the paper. She walked to the front door tried to open it and when she couldn't because it was locked, she knocked on it. The first time she did that and my husband (who's a stay at home Dad) opened the door and saw her standing there with the paper in her hands he was shocked but she just looked at him smiled said Hi Daddy and walked into the house like it was no big deal.

She was also the only one of my kids that was never afraid of anything and proved it time and time again… thank goodness she's kinda grown out of that now.