(A/N): Okay, many, many apologies about the lateness of this chapter. I've only been posting that which I'd done before June, if I'm being honest, because real life hates me enough that on top of looking after my sister, I also have to re-register for University and I got a new job too, which also keeps me insanely busy. Still, I have finally managed to churn this out of my fried brain, even if it is shorter than my other ones. A lot of action in this, I think, but hey, make up your own minds.

A huge massive world encompassing hug to Adelled, without whom this chapter would have never seen the light of day. A big thank you for prodding me to work on it, especially when I didn't want to! I hope you like it!

Still don't own anything, haha, and please let me know what you think of it.

HeavenSkye x

No Matter What

Chapter 5

Just before dawn, Norah found herself sat on a park bench in the middle of Central Park, Mary's cell phone in her pocket and the box beside her. Norah pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, trying to stay warm. The hood was up on her hooded sweatshirt, and she wore two pairs of leggings with her sneakers that she'd taken from her bedroom before leaving the house that felt oddly empty when Norah knew her mother wasn't there.

Whilst she waited, Norah's thoughts drifted to the tall, lanky marshal that her mom had frequently talked about. Norah knew that disappearing in the middle of the night without a word would worry Marshall, and her brother and sister, but she refused to put them in danger, and if them worrying was the price she had to pay to keep them safe, then so be it.

Marshall didn't know about Tommy, Norah was sure, but she hoped he'd figure it out, or at least get an inkling in regards to it. There wasn't much more that the teenager could do, apart from literally screaming it at him, and she preferred to let people come to their own conclusions when the stakes were high. She didn't know what would happen when Marshall found out about Tommy, or what would happen between Mary and Marshall when they found the former, but Norah hated the idea of Marshall getting angry with her mother, and she hoped that if he found out of his own accord, then he would have a chance to calm down before he spoke to Mary about it.

A hooded figure made Norah sit up straight, still clutching the phone and the box tightly, not wanting to give up pieces of Mary unless she really had to. The figure stopped at the side of the bench, looking hunched and uncomfortable. "Norah Shannon?" The figure asked, their voice lilting with an accent Norah couldn't quite identify.

She nodded. "How's my mom?"

"She is fine, for now." The hooded figure replied, stepping slightly closer, allowing Norah to see that it was a man, about six feet tall, with dark hair and eyes, and a vaguely awkward look on his tanned face. "Please hand over the items, Miss Norah."

"I want proof my mom is okay first." Norah insisted, standing up from the bench and clutching the box to her chest, the phone still securely in her hoodie pocket. The man sighed, but produced a phone from his pocket and clicked on a video, showing it to Norah and turning up the sound so the teenager could hear it.

"I don't care, I won't do it!"

Norah almost smiled at the sound of Mary's voice as a dank, dreary room came into focus, with high up windows that Norah could just about see the details of. The video then focused on Mary, who was tied to a chair with two black eyes and a split lip, a gash that was clearly from a knife marring her shoulder, and her once white top was covered in grime and blood, some old, some new, if the differing colours were anything to go by.

"Don't you want to say hi to your pretty daughter?"

Norah frowned. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint from where. Mary glared on screen, her eyes shooting fire at the man holding the camera.

"What?! Leave my children alone!"

"But Miss Norah is just so pretty, and clever, Miss Shannon."

"Leave Norah alone, you sick bastard! Don't lay even a finger on my daughter!"

"Oh please, do give me more credit than that. Miss Norah will not be harmed as long as you follow my rules. I've told you that, Miss Shannon."

Norah bit back her tears when Mary looked directly at the camera.

"Norah, bug, get you brother and sister, and get the hell away from wherever you are now. I'll be fine, I promise you, but please, get the hell out of there and run, far way! Norah!"

Mary's yell was cut off as she was unceremoniously punched in the mouth and the clip stopped. Norah blinked back her tears and looked up at the man, who seemed even more uncomfortable after the video. "She's alive?"

"Yes, Miss Norah." The man lowered his voice. "I don't want to do this, miss, but I have to. Gambling debts miss."

"I understand." Norah told him before pulling the phone from her pocket and placed it inside the box, showing the man that both the objects were indeed there. She then passed the box to the man, who took it from her gently. "What's your name?"

"I can't tell you that, Miss Norah. Against my orders." The man held out a hand. "I am sorry about all this."

Norah leant forward and shook his hand, feeling a piece of paper pass from his hand to her own. "I'm sorry you had to do it. At least you didn't take me too."

"Ah, no, Miss Norah. I would never have agreed to that, I swear."

"I believe you." Norah assured him. The man looked upset for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Miss Norah, but I have to knock you out now, so you cannot follow me." The man placed the box on the bench and leant forwards. "Pretend." He hissed at her before his hand made contact with the side of her head. Norah felt herself be thrown off her feet, landing in the slightly damp grass, eyes shut tightly, body unmoving.

She stayed immobile until she heard footsteps running towards her and a voice calling out her name. Opening her eyes, she saw Bobby and Samantha rushing over to her, followed by a couple of other detectives from Bobby's unit. Slowly, she sat up and opened up the piece of paper in her hand from the man. It read:

Tobias Sanchez. And I am very sorry, Miss Norah.

"Nor, are you okay?" Bobby asked hurriedly, throwing himself down beside her and pulling the girl into his arms as Norah abruptly burst into tears, burying her head in Bobby's shoulder.

"She-she's ali-ve." Norah burst out as coherently as she could. "Track-tracking device in the phone."

"What?" Samantha asked gently as Norah pulled out her own phone and brought up an app she'd invented herself for it.

"Tracking it." She whispered, wiping her tears with her free hand and standing up, Bobby following her lead, before handing the paper to one of the other detectives. "He said he was forced to pick up the things; that he didn't want to. He had gambling debts."

The detective nodded to Norah before walking back over to the car, the second detective on his heels as Bobby turned to Norah, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Bug, this was a very stupid thing to do, you know that, right?"

"I'm not stupid Bobby. I knew that I couldn't contact the police, but Sam could. That's why I sent the text to her about all this." Norah protested.

"It was still dangerous and reckless." Bobby insisted as Samantha nodded in agreement.

Norah nodded. "I know, but that's not all. I think I know where she is!"

…

Bobby and Samantha took Norah back to the hotel, where Marshall was waiting for them, the other two still sound asleep not knowing anything was amiss. Bobby had a few quick words with Marshall before he and his wife left, leaving Marshall glaring at Norah, who stood by the door, a stubborn expression on her face.

"Norah, how could you?!" He asked lowly, in an icy tone.

Norah's head shot up and she met his glare with one of her own. "I did what I had to in order to save my mom. Don't even think about lecturing me about it."

"Norah, it was so stupid of you to do it!" Marshall burst out. Norah flinched a little.

"I don't care! I did it; it's over and done with! You can't stop me from doing something I've already done!"

"You're grounded." Marshall decided abruptly. Norah stared at him before snorting sarcastically.

"Uh, yeah, okay dad." She snorted again, though in amusement. "That's not happening."

"I'm your guardian, Norah, so what I say goes for now!"

"No it doesn't!" Norah bit back, her Shannon temper rising to the surface. "Mom may love you, but that doesn't mean I have to! I hate all of this; the lies, the pretences, the subterfuge! But you know what? I'll do it all over again in a heartbeat for any one of my family! So don't you dare try and punish me for sneaking out! I'm sure you've done worse!" She paused to catch her breath, sharp eyes honing in on Marshall's expressions. "Oh," She blinked in realisation. "You didn't do anything rebellious as a kid; that's why you can't understand how I did what I did." She opened the door to the room. "I'm gonna sleep on the couch in Betty's office, which is locked and needs a passcode to get into, so I'll be safe. I need to calm down, and so do you. Knock on the door if you find anything out about my mom. Bobby has my phone."

Leaving that as her parting words to the Marshal, Norah fled the room and rushed down two flights of stairs, across a corridor and up one flight of different stairs before Marshall could even get to the stairwell of the first flight of stairs. Norah ran into the private office quarters and punched in the passcode, only just remembering to shut the door after her before collapsing onto the sofa and falling fast asleep.

…

Marshall re-entered the room, feeling guilty for yelling at Norah, though he'd only done so because she'd scared the shit out of him when he had awoken about dawn and found her missing when he'd gone to check on them. Calling Bobby and finding out that she was safe had turned that worry directly into anger, and he'd lashed out. It had hurt him when Norah had been sarcastic over the use of dad, but he knew that the teenager had no idea about the troubles he'd had in starting a family with Abigail.

Bizarrely enough, the other words Norah had spoken to him flew into his mind, that there was more to the night of his bachelor party than he remembered. Marshall could only think of one thing that would be 'more', that his brain may have wanted to shield him from, and that was if he would have slept with Mary. Though if he had, surely Mary would have wanted to talk about it, or at least let on that they had slept together, discussion or no discussion.

A thought crept into his mind as Tommy walked out of his room, rubbing at his blue eyes sleepily. "Hey, Marshall, where's Nor?"

"She's uh, sleeping in the office for now." Marshall brought enough of his mind back to the present to answer the boy. "Tommy, how old are you?"

"Thirteen, why?"

"When's your birthday?"

"January the twenty first." Tommy responded slowly, suspicion clear on his features. "Why?"

Marshall's jaw dropped. Tommy was thirteen and had been born in January. His bachelor party had been close to the end of April the year before. The timing fit, and it would explain why Mary waited a whole month later, and then left in his honeymoon, and if they had slept together, then that would explain Mary's hopeful look the morning after, and how she descended into pretty much ignoring him up to the wedding.

"Marshall, are you alright?" Tommy asked, approaching the marshal that seemed shocked into a catatonic state. Warily, Tommy placed a hand on Marshall's shoulder, jolting the man from his mind.

"Tommy, I think… I think I might be your dad."

…

Mary fought once more against her bonds, despite knowing that it was futile. Six hours earlier, the man had walked in with a camera and forced Mary to talk to Norah. Mary didn't know why they were going to meet Norah, but she didn't really care. All she wanted was for her kids to be safe and sound, no matter what happened to her. A familiar sound made her head shoot up and a small smile cross her face. Somehow, her kids had found her, for the sound she could hear was sirens of police cars, and that was enough knowledge to have Mary smiling as she sat up straight, ready for whatever would come her way.

TBC