Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve: Setting a Trap

"Who's at the door Harry," Harriet called. Harry remained silent, although his jaw worked as he tried to form words, but his brain seemed unable to process thought into words. From the other room, he heard Harriet sigh impatiently and her soft footsteps on the carpet as she headed towards the foyer.
"I asked you who's at the-" Harriet's words dragged off into a stunned silence. She stared at the their mother, who stood quietly inside the foyer, smiling politely.

"Who's she," CJ asked, curious as she poked her head into the front entrance way. In his peripheral, Harry noticed that even Henry had drawn his attention away from his own activity, becoming interested at the additional person in the room.
Although CJ had been a bit too young to fully remember their mother and Harry just barely remembered her, Harriet had had the best memory of her. The look of surprise on her face was subtle; Harry would have missed it altogether had he not noticed her eyebrows raising as her eyes got as big as saucers.

"Mum," Harry muttered. It was a word that sounded foreign on his lips. "She's our mum." CJ glanced between Harry and their mother, her curious look turning into shock and awe.
"I'm getting dad," Harriet muttered, before taking off down the hall to the master bedroom. Harry briefly wondered how awkward this situation was going to get, and how fast it would take for things to turn south and head to hell.

Harriet stormed back into the room with their father and Emma in tow, both of them looking equally confused. Upon laying eyes on his mother, Harry's father froze, his jaw dropping open in surprise.
"Mary." The room was deathly silent. The two of them looked at each other for what seemed like ages. Harry could see tears glistening in his mother's eyes; tears of happiness he assumed. Their mother smiled, her eyes wrinkling around the corner. She took several steps forward as though she wanted to hug their father, but she stopped short after catching Emma's eye.

"It's so good to see you again, James." Their father nodded uncertainly and recomposed his face into a stoic expression.
"It's been awhile." Harry refrained from scoffing. It had been more than awhile. Ten years was much more than "a little while".

"It's been a decade," he said, his voice laced with venom. He didn't really care that he was barging into a conversation that should be private, that should be strictly between his parents. But it seemed like everyone was either too stunned or too stupid to move. "And all you have to say to her is 'it's been awhile'? What's wrong with you? She's our mother, our blood, you should want to take her back..."

"Your mother is sick, Harry," James exclaimed, trying to maintain a calm voice, "She's bipolar. When she was pregnant with Harriet she stopped her medication and never went back on it. The illness makes her irrational and act impulsively: that's why she left."
"I came back-"
"No, Mary," his father exclaimed, holding a hand up to silence her. "It doesn't matter that you came back. You've been gone for nearly ten years. You left me, you left your children. We are divorced, you signed the papers I sent when you were living overseas."
"You had contact with her," both Harriet and Harry exclaimed, clearly surprised. Harry would have loved to hear from his mother, even though she was not physically, or emotionally, present in his life. But knowing now, that his father had kept his contact with their mother a secret, made him angry. He should have a right to see his mother, whether his father wanted the woman in his life or not.

"Mary, I suggest you leave," his father instructed. He took several steps towards his former partner, ushering her towards the door. After all these years of being absent from his life, and suddenly reappearing, his father was just going to turn her away like that? What if she had nowhere to go?

"You can't just throw her out-" Harry exclaimed.
"I can do whatever I please in my house," his father yelled, his calm façade finally breaking. The look in his eyes was deadly, but Harry could also see a pain that went deep. He wasn't sure if that was personal pain, or a pain directed towards Harry at having to force his biological mother out the door.

"Harry-"
"I don't want to hear it!" He barged past his father and Emma, who lingered in the entryway to the kitchen, and grabbed his phone off the counter before heading out the back door. Winter was rounding the corner and frost had begun to appear during the night. Without a coat, he was slightly chilled, but with the anger that was coursing through his veins, the coolness was welcomed on his heated skin.

He glared at the screen on his phone, surprised at the sight of so many messages and missed calls. His anger fizzled out and turned into worry as he read through the messages and listened to the voicemails.

Mal had not expected to have Uma show up at her back door in the middle of the night. She was glad her mother slept like the dead, otherwise, both her and the turquoise-haired girl would have suffered a strict lecture from Mal's mother. And even in the dead of night, Maleficent was not someone to be bothered with. Still half asleep, Mal hadn't noticed how quiet the other girl was, and how she hunched in on herself and her walk was more of a shuffle, as though she was in some sort of pain.

They tiptoed up the stairs, past Mal's mother's room, and down the hall to hers. When they had reached Mal's room and when the door had been closed, Mal had barely turned around before she felt Uma's arms around her. She brushed off her momentary shock and forced herself to speak.

"What happened?" she asked. "Are you okay?" Uma shook her head and wiped at the tears that trickled slowly down her face. She sniffed and choked back another sob. She paced back and forth in front of Mal several times before she opted to take a seat on Mal's bed. She curled one leg under her as her hands clenched at the edge of the mattress, her knuckles turning white from how tight she was clinging.

"What happened, Uma," she asked again. She sat down next to her and placed a hand on hers as Uma tried to express herself. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she sighed shakily.
"I-I-he...he-" the rest of her words were lost to tears as Uma started to sob. Mal drew back for a moment, shocked. She had always assumed Uma to be a very tough girl, but seeing her cry made Mal realize that she was just as human as any other teen girl out there. She wrapped an arm around the girl and just listened and waited as Uma continued to cry her heart out. When her sobs had died down to quiet tears and sniffles, Mal removed her arm from around the Uma's shoulders and silently waited to see what Uma wanted to do or say next.

"Can you call Harry and Gil for me," she muttered quietly, her eyes directed at the floor. "I left my phone at home before. I was kind of...in a hurry." She gave Mal two numbers that she had memorized by heart, which surprised Mal since even she hadn't memorized her closest friends numbers. The only number she had truly committed to memory was Ben's; she made a mental note to memorize Carlos and Jay's numbers in her free time.

She tried Harry's cell four times before giving up as it kept going to voicemail. She asked Uma for Gil's number and was relieved when he picked up on the second ring. She gave him directions to her place and told him to come because Uma needed someone. Even though Mal could guess at what happened to Uma, she wasn't about to flat out ask and have her relive the moment she had tried to escape by coming to Mal's in the first place. And although she could sympathize with Uma, even Mal thought that she'd feel more comfortable if it were Gil and Harry that were there for her. Even though the two of them had managed to strike up a friendship, they knew her best.

He had been half asleep when the vibration of his phone on the bedside table had jolted him from his semi-slumber. He didn't recognize the number but answered it anyway. Call him stupid, but Gil enjoyed the rare moments when he got phone calls, even if they were from telemarketers or scammers trying to get money out of the naïve and gullible.
"Gil? It's Mal."
"Uh...hi? Why are you calling me?" He wasn't even aware that Mal had his number.
"It's Uma. She needs someone right now. I mean, she's going to stay with me, but she wants you and Harry."

"What happened?" he asked. There was a long, drawn-out moment of silence. He heard Mal huff in frustration before she sighed, sounding resigned.
"I think...I think she was assaulted." Gil felt a cold knot solidify in the pit of his stomach at Mal's words. Uma, assaulted? He swallowed past a lump in his throat and cleared away the dark images that swarmed his mind.
"Give me directions. I'll be over as soon as I can."

After he had received the location from Mal and some easy to follow directions, he snuck out the backdoor and took off on his bike. He pedaled as fast as he could, intent on seeing Uma. There was a part of him that wanted to see how bad she had been hurt, but the weaker side of him felt sick to his stomach at the mere sight of broken bone and blood. As Mal's house came into sight, he headed round back to where he could see the back door illuminated by a warm porch light.

Mal opened up the door as he stepped onto the porch and guided him upstairs to her room. Uma was seated on her bed, leaning against the headboard, a pillow clutched to her chest. Upon catching sight of him, she cast the pillow aside and leaped off the bed, wrapping him a tight hug. He wrapped his arms gently around Uma, holding her close to him. She nuzzled into his chest as her arms wrapped around her neck.
"Thank you for coming," she muttered. She kissed his cheek. "I appreciate it." Gil nodded mutely; he could feel a slight blush running up his neck from the peck on his cheek.

"Where's Harry?" she whispered quietly. Gil glanced over at Mal, silently asking the same question as Uma.
"He's not answering his calls," she stated. Gil frowned in response; it was very unlike Harry to not answer his phone, whether it were text or phone call. Harry practically worshipped the ground that Uma walked on, so it was strange that he wouldn't have gotten into contact had he been aware of what had happened to Uma. For the time being though, Gil would have to be enough for her; he hoped that he could provide the same amount of comfort that two people could.

He heard Uma's breath hitch, as though she might start crying.
"I'm sure he'll show up soon, Uma." He rubbed circles gently on her back. He hoped that he was comforting in the correct way; his family was never one for physical affection, unless a punch in the arm or a rough slap on the back counted. In this situation though, he was pretty sure that either of those would be highly inappropriate. "It's Harry. You know he wouldn't leave you out to dry."

Uma hummed in agreement. Her hands gripped at the fabric of his shirt and she moved so her face was pressed against his chest. She sniffed and sighed heavily, and Gil could tell that she probably fighting off another onslaught of tears.

They remained intertwined in their embrace for nearly five minutes. Gil didn't try to pull out of the hug. He wanted to say something to her, but knowing himself, he would probably screw up what he had to say. And if what Mal said was true, and that Uma had been assaulted by someone, he really didn't want to trigger anything that would cause her to break down. He hated seeing women cry, it pulled at all the wrong heartstrings.

Finally, she released him from her hug and pulled back a bit.
"Can you come with me? Back to my house? I want to get some things since I'll be staying here for a bit."

From the outside, Uma's house looked silent, and she assumed it was. Her mother, with the odd hours she kept, would hopefully stay gone until the early morning hours. So hopefully luck would stay on their side. To be on the safe side, Uma led them around to the side door and poked her head inside. There was no movement or sign that anyone was in the house at that moment.

She ushered them through the door and headed towards the stairs.
"I'll be quick. Stay here and keep an eye outside to make sure my mom doesn't pull up." She had just reached the foot of the staircase when Gil got her attention. He pointed to something on the floor. In the near pitch darkness, it was hard to make out what he was pointing at, but after squinting at it for a moment Uma recognized the object. It was his briefcase.

"Is this yours," he asked, nudging the open briefcase with his foot. Uma gave a disgusted look at the briefcase.
"No, it's not. Why would I have a briefcase, Gil?"
She raced upstairs to her room before he could say anything else. The longer she stayed in this place, the more her skin crawled uncomfortably. Uma grabbed a duffel bag that had been hidden under her bed and grabbed clothes from her drawers and closet it at random. The memories she got of her previous moments in her bedroom gave her a bitter taste in her mouth and for a moment she thought she might vomit. Once the bag was full, she headed to the washroom and collected her toothbrush and other essential toiletries.

When she came back downstairs, Gil was still standing in the kitchen, still eyeing the man's briefcase which sat on the table, slightly propped open.
"Gil," she snapped, eager to leave, "What are you gawking at, let's go already."
He glanced at her, uncertainty clear on his face. He looked back to the briefcase and then back to her. She could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed heavily.

"Uma..." he started hesitantly, "That man...the one who attacked you...I think he might be responsible for all those nude photos being taken and posted online." Uma felt her blood run cold at his words. Could that possibly be true? That this man who had been tormenting her life, who had violated her, had also been meddling in others. What kind of sicko was her mother sheltering?

"This is my shirt," he said and he grabbed at the fabric that had been hastily shoved inside the case, "And it was inside the briefcase with all this...other stuff. There's also film refills for one of those old Polaroid cameras." Uma took her hand off the doorknob and came to stand next to Gil so she could get a better look at the contents of the case.

She glanced quickly at the contents of the briefcase, hating how it made her stomach roll unpleasantly. At what she assumed to be work papers at first glance, she could now see that they were notes, detailed notes about the bodies he'd been peeping on. And not just notes, but fantasies, written wishes; she nearly gagged. There were even some polaroid photos scattered amongst the papers. But there was no camera.

She snapped a quick photo of the fantasy list that the creep had written out and sent a message to Mal. She hoped that the information could be useful. She lifted the bag onto her shoulder and slipped her phone back into her jean pocket and grabbed Gil's hand and pulled him towards the front door. She didn't have the patience or the attention span to worry about this anymore right now. She just wanted to leave so the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach would ebb away and her skin would stop trying to crawl off her body.

When she received a text message from Uma, she was worried. Upon reading it though, Mal relaxed a little. All it read was; "Gil and I found something interesting. To add to our case on the creep with the photos. Sending you a pic." When Mal got a glance at the picture that Uma sent from her phone, she blinked several times just to make sure she had read things correctly.
She had decided to get Carlos and Jay over at her place. From the text, it seemed like something all of them should be in on. She waited out on the back porch, anxiously pacing back and forth. She froze and turned her attention to towards the direction to the gate as she heard the latch lift, followed by several sets of footsteps.

Carlos and Jay rounded the corner of the house, both of them looking slightly irritated. Mal held the door open for them and slid a doorstop into place for the time being. Carlos entered the house without any words, his lips pulled into a thin line. Jay stopped at the door and looked a Mal, his face apologetic.

"I'm sorry Mal, he followed us."
Mal's brow furrowed, confused. "Who-"
But before she could finish asking her question, she heard another pair of footsteps rounding the corner to her house. They sounded like they were close to a jog. In the dark, it was hard to tell who it was at first, but as the person stepped into the warm glow of the porch light, Mal had to refrain from groaning.

"Where is she?" Harry shouted. Mal winced at how loud he was in the quiet of the night. Jay glared at him and shushed him, hissed something in a near whisper about being quiet before he entered Mal's house to head to her room.
"Harry, shut up!" Mal hissed. "You are going to wake up my mother!"
"Where is she, Mal?" he growled. He sounded irritated, more than usual. "I get me phone back and have four missed calls from you. Why? You don't even have my number. And then I see Gilly's been texting me on and on about Uma being at your place. Why?"
As he continued to talk, his voice had continued to rise in octaves until he was back to yelling again. Mal clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up, Hook. Uma's with Gil. They'll be back soon. If you want to come inside, you have to use your inside voice."

Harry licked her palm, which had Mal grimacing in disgust as she pulled her hand away and wiped it on her pants.
"Fine. I'll try to be quiet as possible," he muttered. He slid past her to the porch door which was propped open by a dragon-shaped doorstop. "But I can't make any promises." Mal scowled at him as she reentered the house and pulled the door shut and set the locks back into place. She pointed Harry toward the stairs and the two of them tiptoed their way up the stairs.

"How did you even find out where I live?" Mal whispered as they neared her room.
"I followed yer mates down here. I know where Evie lives because of Gil, and she lives next to Carlos and saw 'im sneaking out the house. So I followed them. I know Uma and ye have hung out a few times. Makes sense you'd know where she'd be."

It was about another twenty minutes before Uma and Gil snuck back into her house. Uma placed her bag in the corner of Mal's room, out of the way and before she could do much more than take a few steps further into the room, Harry engulfed her in a hug. Mal felt her heart twinge in jealousy as she saw the way Harry embraced Uma; it reminded her too much of Ben. The way his hand tangled in her hair, the way she fit into the crook of his neck perfectly, like a missing puzzle piece.

She looked away from their reunion and turned to assess the number of people in her room. Carlos and Jay had taken up her bed. Uma had opted for her desk chair while Harry and Gil had situated themselves on the floor against the footboard of her bed. With five other people in her room, Mal couldn't help but feel slightly claustrophobic. The brief thought of how much trouble she would be in crossed her mind if her mother found out about all the people in her room at such an ungodly hour. And she didn't want to think about how most of this ungodly company at this ungodly hour were males; her mother would have a cow.

"So, do you want to explain the information that you and Gil found?" Uma nodded slowly and pulled out her phone.
"When we were in my house, we found this briefcase with all these strange papers." she glanced over at Gil knowingly, her lips upturning at the corner. "It was actually Gil that spotted it." She pulled up the pictures she had taken and passed the phone around to everyone. Everyone's eyebrows raised in surprise as they laid eyes on the pictures.

Uma continued to explain. "We're thinking that the guy that...that uh, is staying with my mother could be the same pervert that's creeping on you guys in the locker room."
"I found my gym shirt in the guy's briefcase." Gil said. "It went missing when I was taking a shower in the locker room."

"I can search several databases for the guy," Carlos said, sounding slightly excited Do you know his name?"
"Only by his last name," Uma replied, sounding timid. "Is that good enough?"
Carlos hummed thoughtfully. "It depends on how common the last name is. If it's fairly common, it'll be a lot harder to narrow down. But I'm sure I can do it." He clicked around on his computer and typed something in at a lightning quick pace. Mal heard Jay inhale heavily as he caught sight of something on Carlos' computer. He glanced up at Uma and smiled slightly.
"Okay, hit me. What's the guy's name?"

Uma swallowed. She tugged on her shirt sleeve uncomfortably. "Mr. Gold." Carlos typed it in and waited impatiently as the new screen popped up. He turned the laptop around to face Uma.
"Is that the guy?" he asked. Uma' s eyes went wide as she stared at the mug shot of a man that had been in her waking nightmares.
A silence fell over the room. Mal exchanged a knowing look with Jay. Harry shook his head as Gil whispered something into his ear.
"Should we know who that is?" Gil asked.

"He's one of the custodians at the high school. At least, part-time I think." Jay said. "I've seen him around the school and at the town library, but I never knew his name."

"When can I punch 'im?" Harry asked. His hands clenched into fists as he rested them on his knees, eager to hear more about what they were going to do about this creep.
"Slow your horses, Hook," Jay exclaimed. "We can't just jump the guy when he's not expecting anything."
"I'm thinking we can lure him in," Mal said, butting into the conversation. "Uma took a picture of some of those "notes" that he had written down...There are some scenarios he hoped that he would happen to see..." She passed Uma's phone around to everyone to take a glimpse at all the strange notes that the man had written.

"What a slimy git," Harry muttered. He folded his arms over his chest. He glanced at Mal, an eyebrow quirked up in question. "I suppose you want us to lure him in by putting these fantasies into reality." Mal nodded. Despite being an annoying thorn in her side, Harry was quick to catch onto some things.

"Technically yes."
"Whoa, whoa," Jay protested. "I get we want to catch the rat but I'm not doing anything with any of you guys."
"You wouldn't actually have to do it, Jay," Mal exclaimed, "Not unless you wanted to, besides, there are others to pick from. You would just need to act and make it look good. And if it draws the creep in, we'll have some of you guys set up to wrangle his ass in."

Carlos raised his hand to draw Mal's attention. "What do we do if-when we catch him? The police are the ones that are supposed to catch him...I mean, we got visual proof of what he's done, but we'll still need proof that connects him to being the pervert, otherwise, they might just think we're placing blame on him or trying to draw attention. How do we do that?"

"Harry, how good are you at threats?