Title: Lost and Found
Fandom: Medium
Genre: Het
Pairing: Allison/Joe
Spoilers: General up to and including season 7
Warnings: None.
Characters: Allison, Joe, Lee, Marie, Bridgette.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Own nothing, not being paid.
Word count: ~1300
Recipient: Yuletide treat for skitz_phenom at yuletide 2010.
A/N: Thank you to my sis for the quick beta. Apologies if there are any non-Americanisms.

Summary: This was one thing that Lee Scanlon had hoped that he'd never be doing. Because doing this meant that something had happened to Allison, and they had no idea what.

This was one thing that Lee Scanlon had hoped that he'd never be doing. Because doing this meant that something had happened to Allison, and they had no idea what.

Marie was almost clinging to Joe, her blonde hair trying to fall out of its ponytail and largely succeeding, her eyes huge behind her glasses that looked too big for her face. Bridgette was staring at him with that half-puzzled, half-suspicious look that he'd only ever seen from her in all his years as a cop dealing with kids. If Ariel had been there, instead of away at college, he knew that he'd have seen worry and a determination to look after her sisters and her dad and try to help him all at the same time.

"Girls, Detective Scanlon wants to know whether you've had any dreams about your mom," Joe said, looking from one girl to the other. The lines around his eyes had deepened overnight and he looked like he hadn't slept a wink. Probably hadn't; Lee knew that he hadn't, and Allison wasn't his wife and the mother of his daughters. "Or any feelings, anything, about your mom."

Bridgette shook her head, for once not chiming in with some smart remark. She understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Marie, honey?" Joe prodded, pulling her in closer against his side. "Have you had any dreams about Mommy?"

Marie nodded, the motion emphatic. Joe glanced up at Lee, surprised, before looking at her again. "What did you dream, Marie?"

There was a pause as Marie looked shyly at Lee, before focussing back on her dad.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Joe reassured her.

"Mommy was scared. It's dark and she misses you, Daddy, and me."

At that, Bridgette scowled. "Hey! Mom misses me, too."

"No, she doesn't," Marie retorted, all shyness forgotten in favour of sibling rivalry.

"Girls!" Joe interrupted. "Bridge, I'm sure that Mom misses you, too. Marie, do you remember anything else?"

Marie shook her head.

Lee had known that it was a long shot that Allison's kids would be able to help, but he still couldn't help but be disappointed that while Marie knew that where ever Allison was it was dark, she didn't know anything else. But then, in that way that kids have, she surprised him just when he thought that he'd better head back into the precinct and try to find a lead somehow.

"When's Mommy coming home? She wants to come home. She doesn't like that man."

"What man?" Lee asked.

That got a shrug. "A man. He's not very nice and Mommy doesn't like him."

"What does he look like?" Joe asked. "What colour is his hair?"

"Red. And he wears glasses, like me."

And suddenly Allison's disappearance started to make sense to Lee.

Allison fought the urge to give into despair and cry. All she wanted was to go home, to the best husband in the world and the most beautiful kids. But she had no idea whether she ever would. Most people would find it ironic that, being who she was, she'd found herself in this predicament. But time after time she'd found that her gift often didn't reveal her own life's little (and big) missteps and mishaps to her.

Greg Stuart, the man who'd abducted her, had left her in the dark, handcuffed to a pipe in his basement. From what she'd been able to gather, he was afraid that she'd figure out that he was responsible for the death of his co-worker, and that's why he'd decided to go to the extreme measure of abducting her. He had been on their list as a potential person of interest, but she knew that Stuart was low down that list. Amanda Stevenson's boyfriend had been their main suspect.

Now that he had kidnapped her, he seemed unsure of what he should do. The death of his co-worker had been an accident, he'd told her, one that he'd covered up, but an accident. This was not who he normally was. Trying to convince him to let her go hadn't worked, instead it had provoked such strong anger that she'd been grateful he hadn't visited her since. Her face felt swollen where he'd hit her. His reaction had her convinced that, while the death of his co-worker might have been an accident, unpredictable violent outbursts were a part of his nature.

There was movement in the house above her, the sound of people walking around, too much noise to be just one person. Even if it was Stuart with some friends, those friends likely wouldn't approve of what he'd done.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Help! I'm down in the basement. Help! He kidnapped me!" She banged the handcuffs against the pipe.

The door at the top of the stairs opened, light pouring into the basement. There was a man standing there, but with the light behind him, she couldn't see who it was. A small beam of light was suddenly on and pointed in her direction, causing her to blink rapidly when it reached her face. It flicked back off.

"Allison, are you okay?"

The voice was Lee's and it was incredibly welcome.

"Lee," Allison half-laughed, half-cried. The overhead light was turned on and Lee and another two police officers came rushing down the stairs. In minutes she'd been unshackled, grateful to be able to rub at her wrists. Lee gently touched her cheek and she flinched. It hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am, now that you've found me."

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?"

Allison shook her head.

"You think you can stand up?" Lee asked.

She nodded and let Lee help her to her feet, leaning into him when he put his arm around her. They stayed that way as they made their way up the stairs and out of the house to the ambulance that was waiting, Allison grateful for both the support and comfort of her friend. Lee sat her down in the back of the ambulance and pulled out his cell, giving her a smile as the EMT started to look at her cheek.

"Calling your husband," Lee explained. "He's just a bit worried about you. Hey, it's Lee. Yep, we've got her and she's fine... Her cheek is a bit bruised, but other than that... You want to talk to her?" Lee held out the phone to her and she took it.

"Hi, Joe...I'm okay," Allison said.

"Oh, Al," Joe sighed, the sound a little watery. "I've missed you so much. We've missed you so much."

"I missed you, too."

Allison had decided that she couldn't possibly feel more safe and loved. Once she'd gotten home, Marie and Bridgette had not left her side, there'd been several phone calls from Ariel, and Joe had been so attentive that it had felt like they were newlyweds again. After a hot bubble bath, she'd snuggled down into bed with Joe, spooned up against him and relishing the feel of his arms around her.

"I suppose it'd be too late to tell you that working for the District Attorney is dangerous and I don't want you to do it?" Joe murmured into her ear.

She gave a quiet huff of laughter. "Just a little bit." When he remained silent, but tightened his arms, she added, "Mostly it's not dangerous."

"Mostly isn't always. For the past two days I was terrified that my wife was never coming home."

"I was scared of that, too," Allison admitted. "But what I do, it helps people. And life never comes with any guarantees, anyway."

"I know, I know, one of us could be hit by a bus tomorrow morning."

She felt herself starting to drift off.

"No dreams tonight," Joe said softly.

"Only the good kind," she murmured.

Family, love, Joe. That's what she wanted to dream about.

-FIN-