Vince shifted in his seat, the half eaten sandwich now cold in its wrapper. He loved a well made hoagie as much as the next guy, but they'd been eating out for almost a week now, and nothing could persuade him to finish the sandwich. This should have been a short, simple job. The Boss had sent them to find one kid and bring him in, and after five days they still weren't sure which of the two they were after. They'd found the house easy enough, but there were two boys living there. Both boys were about the right age, had brown hair and dark eyes. It had been fourteen years since Hayden had made the mistake of showing off the photo of his son, and there was no real way for them to know which was his.

They could have asked the kids at the school, but their faces would have been too easy to avoid. Frankie with his extra chins and the food constantly hanging from his short beard. He was disgusting even when he cleaned up. And Himself, Vince hung over the car door, looking into the side mirror. The long scar running from left side of his forehead, across the bridge of his nose to his lower right lip had destroyed his otherwise handsome face. People looked at them and knew they were the 'wrong kind of people'.

"How much longer do we have to watch the place?" Frankie asked, shredded lettuce falling from his mouth between chews.

"Until we know which of the brats is Hayden's. Boss told us to get Hayden's boy and leave." Vince turned his eyes away from Frankie, disgusted by the man's lack of etiquette. More then anything, he wanted the job to be over so that he could get away from Frankie, get back into the real work. Once they got the kid and took him to the safe house, Frankie would be mostly out of his hair. Vince would do anything the Boss asked, he owed the man his life. When the chance to get back at Hayden had come up, he'd been the first to volunteer. But he preferred to work alone, or at least with people more competent then Frankie.

"Why don't we just grab 'em both?" Frankie blurted as he forced himself swallowed a mouthful, his gut grumbling in protest. "Then we make them tell us which one is which."

Vince grinned, letting the motion fade quickly to keep Frankie from getting confident. "Might work." He mused as he watched the house. They could grab both kids easy enough, and it wouldn't take much to get them to give that small bit of information they needed. A flick of a knife with a worded threat usually did the trick. And if they let the one they didn't need go, then Hayden would be alerted all the sooner. He'd waited twelve years for a chance to get Hayden back in his sight, to make him pay for what he'd done. Vince stroked the long scar on his face, his smile returning as he thought of Hayden's pretty boy smile twisting into utter despair.

One by one, the lights in the house turned off, allowing the darkness to stretch closer to the building itself. All but the light he knew belonged to the boys' room. It was almost always the last light to go off, and silhouetted against its brightness, he could see each boy moving around the room. He'd call the Boss in the morning, get the okay to take 'em both and have Joey sent over to help. He barely trusted Frankie to drive, much less grab a kid half his size and bring him in.

Once the Boss gave the order, he'd get Hayden's boy. Then, it would only be a matter of time until he had Hayden himself, and he would make Hayden pay. The Boss wanted Hayden alive, hadn't said what condition he had to be in. And he hadn't said that the kid had to live past his use.

Vince pulled the crunched pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket, shaking one out and holding it between his lips. Nabbing the kid would be easy as lighting a cigarette he told himself as he flicked the lighter into life. And after Hayden rushed in to the rescue, breaking him would be simple as smoking. Just a series of heavy breathes until all that was left was ash and an emptiness in the lungs. "Sleep well." He muttered mockingly as he exhaled billows of smoke. "Tomorrow night, you won't be in that cozy room."

Frankie turned toward Vince, his eyes on the half eaten sandwich. "You gonna eat that Vince?"

Vince crumpled the wrapper around the sandwich before tossing it over. "Eat away." He muttered, hoping that Frankie choked on it.

~.~.~

Hayden Parker pressed his foot against the accelerator, watching the speedometers numbers rise as he slowly gained speed. It was a long drive to San Diego, and if what Calvin had told him was true, he didn't have time to waste. Antony 'Death hand' Franco had been released from prison a month ago, and word on the street was he'd been looking for Hayden.

Hayden wasn't afraid of Antony. While undercover he'd been right under Antony's nose and the man hadn't smelt a thing. His way of thinking and personal flaws had all been exposed. It hadn't been until one of Antony's own informants had gotten wind of the bust Hayden was heading that things had gone wrong. Three years of undercover work all down the drain. The gunfight had been brutal, and he was sure Vincent was still sore about the knife fight, but in the end they had taken down old Antony Franco and his cartel. That victory had come with a price though. He'd had to leave everything behind and go into protective custody. Too many of Antony's men hadn't been caught, and more then a few of them had known his face. His face, and his family.

It had been the hardest thing he'd ever done, just disappearing into the night like he'd never really cared. Leaving Audrey while she was still pregnant, not being able to tell her why. He'd refused to give Franco's men the chance to find her, and after the bust he wasn't sure who he could trust. So he'd just disappeared, no phone calls or letters to tell her why. It was better that way. Hayden had told himself that a thousand times and he still didn't believe it. She had deserved more then he had given her.

If it hadn't been for his own carelessness he might have been able to go back to her, a simple name and location change might have solved everything. He'd made up stories about the women he'd been with to keep Audrey safe. One drunken night had destroyed every lie he'd told, and he'd never forgiven himself for it. Too proud of his son, he'd pulled the picture of Drake out of his wallet and shown it to those criminals, not bothering to fake a name for the boy. They knew about his son, and now that Anthony was free, word had gotten around that he was looking for the boy. They knew that Hayden was alive, and now they were trying to draw him out of hiding.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles shone ghostly white, the anger he still felt rushing through his entirety. He wasn't going to let his mistake get his son hurt, and he refused to put Audrey through anymore suffering. Minutes after Calvin had called he'd packed his bags and set the GPS for his ex wife's location, and now he was on the verge of breaking the speeding limit, desperately trying to get there before Antony's men did. If they went anywhere near his family, he'd make them regret it. He chanced a glance at the faded photograph hanging from his rear-view mirror, the only one he still had. Drake had only been five when it had been taken, and the daughter he'd never met was still inside of Audrey's stomach. Those smiles had pushed him through so many of his darkest days, knowing they were safe had kept him sane in his seclusion. "I won't fail you again." He promised as he pushed the gas petal down a bit more, ignoring the world as he passed through it.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Drake and Josh.

A/N: Got the idea for this months ago, just never got around to writing it. Don't know how regular the updates will be, I've got a lot going on right now, and I'm writing about five stories all together, but there will be updates! I don;t think it will be as long as most of my others, but its the quality of the story that counts. :) I wanted to do a different spin on Drake's dad, where he isn't the villain. So here it is, and I hope you guys like it.