Snitches get Stitches

“Still no Frank?” Lip asked when he bounded in the kitchen.

Fiona groaned and rubbed her face with her hands.

“No Frank,” she said. “And I swung by Harry’s this morning and his uncle is still missing.”

“At least there’s coffee,” Lip said as he snatched one of the Starbucks cups on the counter. “Steve back?”

“Yeah,” Fiona sighed. “He came by last night and stayed.”

Fiona had been filled with a sick mixture of hope and fear when someone knocked on the door at eleven the night before. She hoped someone found Frank, she was afraid someone found Frank.

Things were easier without Frank around. Fiona could buy groceries and not worry that Frank would steal them. The kids could go to sleep at night and not be woken up by their drunk father being dumped in the living room by the cops.

But if something happened - DCS made a visit or Carl got suspended again - they would need a parent to make an appearance. And Frank was a deadbeat and a bum, but at least he was around.

It was a hell of a lot more than anyone could say for Monica.

“I called around the hospitals again this morning and described Frank and Harry’s uncle. None of their patients matched their description,” Fiona told Lip. And Harry’s uncle was a pretty damned distinctive looking guy. He was tall with long black hair, smoky grey eyes, tattoos on his collarbones that always popped through the v-cut shirts he wore…

It was a shame he was a piece of shit that beat on his nephew because he had sexy down to a fucking science.

Lip sat at the kitchen table and pulled a notepad toward him.

“You call the jails again?” Lip asked.

“Tony said he’d call the ones out of our area,” Fiona said. “I dunno, Lip. This isn’t like Frank.”

Lip made some notes on the notepad and didn’t look nearly as concerned as Fiona was.

“Best case scenario?” Lip looked up at her. “Frank and Sirius bought some bad drugs and OD’d together before falling off a bridge.”

Fiona snorted despite herself. “That’s your best case scenario?”

“Yup. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.”

“Harry know you’re over here hoping his uncle’s dead?” Fiona asked.

Lip tapped his ink pen on the table a couple of times before shrugging.

“If Harry knew what was good for him, that’s what he would hope for too,” Lip said, drawing a grin from Fiona.

Sure, Harry might not know what was good for him, but clearly Lip thought he did.

“What’s going on with you two, anyway?” Fiona asked curiously.

Lip looked up with his eyebrows pinched together.

“Same shit as the rest of my friends. We smoke, we hang.”

“Uh huh.” Fiona sipped her coffee and watched Lip with amused eyes. Veronica said that Lip had been using Harry as a pillow when she checked on them Thursday night. Of course, Mandy was too, but Fiona didn’t know any of Lip’s friends that he slept with… or on.

“Oh fuck off,” Lip said. He slapped the pen down and jumped to steal another cup from Starbucks. “Just for that, I’m taking two.”

“For Harry, of course,” Fiona said sweetly when Lip slid on his boots to leave.

“Fuck off, Fi,” Lip said over his shoulder. “I’ll see you later. You can reach me on Harry’s cell if you find anything.”

Fiona let out a burst of laughter as soon as the back door closed behind Lip. She was still laughing to herself when Steve arrived in the kitchen with Liam on his hip, both fully dressed for the day.

“You’re in a good mood,” Steve grinned. He paused to kiss Fiona lightly before sticking Liam in his high chair.

“Lip stole your coffee,” Fiona said instead of teasing Lip when he wasn’t around.

“Bastard,” Steve groaned. He sat down beside Liam and grabbed the box of donuts he must have woken up early to get for them. Fiona watched as Steve gave Liam one with pink icing and sprinkles before grabbing a chocolate for himself.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Steve asked when Fiona went ahead and sat beside them to grab herself a donut.

“I’m supposed to work a shift at the motel, but…” Fiona trailed off and waved at the notes Lip made on where all they had checked for Frank at.

“Why don’t you go to work and I’ll hang out here with Liam?” Steve offered. “I can call you if anything happens.”

“Yeah?” Fiona raised a brow and scoffed. “On the motel phone? That piece of shit is only for show.”

“Or…” Steve reached in his hoodie pocket and pulled out a white box that he gave her. “On your cell,” he said. “Your choice.”

Fiona opened the box and saw that it was an actual brand new cell phone. A nice one too, not like the free welfare phone they had that got eighty minutes a month on it courtesy of the State of Illinois.

It was nice, too nice.

“Quit buying me shit.” Fiona put the lid back on the box and pushed it in front of Steve. “I’m not a charity case, Steve.”

And Fiona would never be able to repay him for all the shit he already bought. A new washing machine? Diapers for Liam and coats and shoes for Carl and Debbie? Plus all the food he kept buying everyone. It was too much.

“Quit being stubborn,” Steve said as he returned the phone. “Look, you need a way for the kids to call you if you’re at work, right? Plus,” he leaned over and moved Fiona’s hair so he could whisper in her ear, “now you can send me the filthiest possible photos. Just… filthy, dirty, naught, photos, Fi.”

Fiona grinned and felt her resolve weakening. It would be nice to have a way that she could be reached if the kids needed her. Especially with Frank missing…

“Fine, but no more gifts, got it?” Fiona asked Steve.

“Cross my heart,” Steve said solemnly.

Fiona softened when Steve smiled. He didn’t understand how lopsided their relationship was. Steve was sexy, exciting, rich. Fiona was…

Just really good in bed.

“You sure you’ll be okay with Liam?” Fiona asked worriedly. “He’s got allergies right now so he’s a mess.”

“Oh, sure,” Steve said confidently. “We’ll kick on a movie, hang out on the couch. It’ll be easy.”

“You mean look for Frank?”

“That is exactly what I meant,” Steve said quickly. “Why? What did you think I said?”

Fiona sighed and leaned in to give Steve a long and lingering kiss.

“Thank you,” she said, touching the side of his face gently.

“Anytime.”

Fiona stopped by Harry’s on her way to the motel just to check in on Lip and see if Harry and his other uncle, some new good-looking older guy with scars and an accent, made any progress on their search.

They hadn’t and Harry seemed genuinely devastated. Lip could be as glib about it as he wanted, but just because Harry’s uncle was a drunk asshole didn’t mean Harry didn’t obviously love him.

And even if Lip thought Harry was better off without his Uncle Sirius, it didn’t stop Lip from making a search grid to spend the day using.

“I’m tellin’ you, the girls in this neighborhood have drove both boys to dick,” Fiona laughed. She had filled Veronica in on her morning while they cleaned the downstairs motel rooms in record time and were working on the upstairs ones.

The pay sucked when they split the work, ten bucks a room became five, but Fiona was more concerned about getting home quick than she was making money.

“Or Lip just has a best friend and your horny ass thinks everyone’s hookin’ up,” Veronica said. She shook off the comforter for the bed and jumped when a baby cockroach flew at her. Fiona grabbed the can of Raid off their cart and sprayed the sucker before it could run off.

“Plus how do we even know Ian’s batting for the other team?” Veronica asked while she smoothed the comforter back on the bed. “Maybe he’s straight and that sick fucker just made him think he’s gay.”

“Ian? No way.” Fiona sprayed the bed down with their mixture of Febreeze and fabric softener. “He used to steal the covers from my CDs and take them in the shower with him.”

“Speaking of boy bands…” Veronica sat on the edge of the bed and watched Fiona with a knowing look when Fiona checked her phone for messages again.

“Is that another present from Steve?”

“It is,” Fiona admitted guiltily. She sat down next to Veronica and sighed. “What a fucking mess, V. Frank missing and the boys fighting over the neighbor and Steve and his…” Fiona held up the phone. “God damned generosity.”

“Frank will show up,” Veronica said. She laid her head on Fiona’s shoulder. “He’s like a bedbug, you just can’t keep him away.”

Fiona hummed and tilted her head in silent agreement. The only reliable thing about Frank was his unreliability. If it wasn’t for the disability check stuck to the fridge at home, Fiona might not even notice he was missing.

“And the boys are teenagers, they’re always thinking with their dicks,” Veronica went on. “They’ll figure their shit out soon. Now Steve… that boy is not a problem to be solved, Fi. Who cares if he wants to buy you nice shit? I say let him.”

“I don’t have the money to pay him back,” Fiona said. She flipped the phone around in her hand and wondered how much it had cost. Probably at least four hundred dollars.

“Did he ask you to pay him back?” Veronica asked.

“No. He asked for dirty pictures,” Fiona said with a wry grin.

“Oh, shit!” Veronica jumped up and smiled widely. “Now you’re speaking my language! Give me that phone and take your clothes off.”

“I’m not getting naked on this nasty ass bed,” Fiona laughed. “He wanted dirty pictures, not to catch crabs.”

“So go stand in the shower then,” Veronica said. She pulled their cleaning cart in the room and shut and locked the door. “Look, you can’t do shit about Frank or the boys, but this? This is an easy one to check off your todo list.”

Fiona bit her lip and considered it before laughing and tossing Veronica the phone.

“Fine, but try and take pictures around the bloodstain in the shower.”

The two of them were still giggling and taking pictures ten minutes later when Fiona’s phone rang.

“He’s dead,” Harry said flatly, tasting the words for the first time on his tongue. They were bitter and made his throat constrict.

“He isn’t,” Lupin said calmly. He had the National Newspaper for American Wizards open on the table and read every single line for any hint that Sirius Black had been apprehended.

Since Harry assumed that would be front page news, he had to think of other options. Sirius was a wizard, he could apparate home or transform into Snuffles and run in most situations.

If he wasn’t a prisoner of MACUSA, then he was either dead or had been captured by Death Eaters.

Maybe they tracked Harry by the mark on his arm and when they moved in to take him, they only found Sirius at home. Harry could see it in his mind so clearly…

Sirius might have been at the exact table Harry sat at… maybe he was having a drink or a smoke… a few cracks of apparation from Death Eaters in black cloaks… Sirius would have fought tooth and nail, but they would have outnumbered and overpowered him…

“Crucio!”

Harry was trembling in his seat, imagining Sirius locked in a dungeon, undergoing torture, because he’d had the bad luck to be stuck living with Harry. When someone knocked on the front door, Harry actually jumped in his seat.

“I’ll get it,” Harry offered quickly, trying to smooth over his startled response. “It’s probably Lip.”

Lip had an entire map of the city with grids drawn to search for his dad and Sirius. Harry had been no help though, as he found a dog at one point and thought it was Sirius.

Lupin had went with Harry to check the dog and pointed out its smaller size and different shaped snout.

Lip probably thought Harry was having a nervous breakdown or was just particularly sensitive about dead animals.

Harry opened the front door and felt his heart sink when it was Tony standing on the porch in his police uniform. Tony had his hat in his hands and his boyish face was emotionless and Harry knew it had to be horrible news.

“Hey, Harry,” Tony said gently. His voice was soft, as if he was trying to keep from spooking Harry. “Fiona said you have another uncle here? Acting as your guardian? Can I speak with him?”

Harry tried to swallow and couldn’t. His throat was so dry while he pictured Sirius in a coffin that Harry couldn’t even call for Lupin. The best Harry managed was to grab the lighter from his pocket and chuck it at the back of Lupin’s head.

Lupin frowned over his shoulder but Harry must have been making a truly terrible face because he nearly knocked his chair over in his haste to get to the door.

“Hi, I’m Remus Lupin.” Lupin offered Tony his hand. “Did you find Sirius?”

“Possibly,” Tony said. He hesitated. “May I come in?”

“Yes, of course.” Lupin ushered Tony inside and then lightly placed his arm around Harry’s shoulders as they prepared themselves to hear the worst.

Tony must have found a body that matched Sirius’ description and needed them to—

“We think that he might be in Canada.”

Harry was sure that the buzzing in his ears made him misunderstand Tony.

“What?” Harry asked after shaking his head. He squinted as if that would help him hear better. “What did you say?”

“We have really good reason to believe that your uncle is in Canada,” Tony said very slowly.

“The country??” Harry asked, genuinely bewildered. Why on earth would Sirius be in another country?

Lupin cleared his throat. “I apologize, Officer…?”

“Tony Markovich,” Tony said, offering Lupin his hand. “Most folks around here just call me Tony though.”

“Ah, pleasure,” Lupin said with a half-smile. “What reason do you have that made you believe Sirius is in… Canada?”

Harry couldn’t decipher Lupin’s tone, but it was definitely a mixture of exasperation and some type of repressed laughter. It might have been hysteria, Harry certainly felt hysterical.

“Well we found Frank, your neighbor? And he’s in lockup in Toronto. I managed to speak with the arresting officer and I asked about Mister Black and he asked Frank about him…” Tony’s lips twitched and he raised a shoulder in a helpless gesture. “Frank said when he woke up on a park bench that Mister Black was but then he ‘disappeared in thin air’. So I checked border patrol, they didn’t have any records of him returning to the country. The best I can figure is the two of them snuck in Canada somehow and then split up.”

Harry blinked. Lupin coughed.

“I see,” Lupin said evenly. “I certainly appreciate your diligence in tracking Sirius for us.”

“It’s all part of the job,” Tony said. “I wish I could help more. I think Fiona’s sending someone after Frank. Does Mister Black have a passport on him, you think?”

“I think he left it behind,” Lupin said. “Perhaps I should drive up there, see if I can find him and bring him home.”

“You could probably hitch a ride with whoever they’re sending after Frank,” Tony suggested helpfully. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

Harry was still puzzling over how Sirius managed to get in another country when Lupin danced around answering Tony directly. History of Magic didn’t delve too deeply in other countries and their magical systems until NEWTS, but…

“I thought Canada had anti-apparation wards all around the border?” Harry said once Tony left.

“They do,” Lupin sighed. He kneaded his forehead with his knuckles as if he had a headache. “Harry, do you happen to own a passport?”

“Oh, yeah,” Harry drawled. “My parents took me to get one just last year.”

Lupin opened one eye and fixed Harry with an unimpressed look.

“Hysterical, truly,” he said drily. “Let’s retry, hm? Did anyone get you any legal muggle papers to actually leave England or did Sirius use magic to get you through muggle customs?”

“Who would have signed for my paperwork?” Harry asked, rather annoyed by the obvious question. “My dead parents, my relatives who pretend I don’t exist, or my escaped convict godfather? Of course Sirius had to smuggle me in the country.”

“Great… brilliant… fantastic…” Lupin said. He threw his hands in the air and looked up at the ceiling. “It had to be Canada?”

Harry spent an hour on the sofa, watching Lupin pace through the house and make plans. Occasionally he would borrow Harry’s phone to make calls to his ‘muggle friends’. Perhaps it was daft of Harry, but he didn’t realize Lupin had muggle friends.

Especially not muggle friends who could make fake documents.

“You’re not a pureblood?” Harry asked Lupin curiously after he returned Harry’s phone. Lupin had just managed to work something out with his friend based on Lupin ‘being good for it’.

Lupin looked amused at Harry’s question. His lips curled up on one side and he shook his head.

“I am not, no.”

Harry considered all the small things he’d noticed just in the past thirty-six hours.

“Did you…” Harry tried to think of a tactful way to ask his question. Lupin seemed… a bit less… polished?… He certainly had something of an accent when he spoke with his muggle friends and the way he took down Mickey… “What did your parents do for work?”

Lupin paused in his pacing and grinned fully at Harry. He stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders upward.

“My father worked for the ministry until his death, my mother ran a daycare before she had me. I lost them when I was young, only seven.”

“Oh.” Harry felt a pang of empathy with Lupin. “I’m sorry, Lupin, I had no idea.”

“I was lucky, I grew up in an orphanage that was quite nice,” Lupin said fondly. “And then I started Hogwarts and spent my summers with my friends that had… branched out… from the orphanage.”

“‘Branched out’?” Harry repeated slowly. “What does that mean?”

Lupin rocked back on his heels.

“Have you ever heard of the Sabini Gang?”

“Er… no.”

“Good.” Lupin ran a hand through his hair, causing the sandy blonde locks to fall in his face. “Never join a gang, Harry. They’re brilliant when you’re young, and yes they give you connections that can be quite useful in life, but…”

Harry licked his lips and tried not to grin when Lupin didn’t seem to remember where he was going with his very paternal lecture.

“But…?” Harry prompted him.

Lupin blinked and then pointed a finger at Harry. “No gangs. I have to go to London then Toronto. Will you be okay here for a few days? I’ll be back Thursday at the absolute latest.”

“What happens if I join a gang while you’re gone?” Harry asked seriously. “I mean, forming connections for later in life would be dead useful. It’s planning for the future, you know?”

“Cheeky, Harry, you’re cheeky,” Lupin said. He was still grinning though so Harry assumed he wasn’t truly upset. “Okay, give me some of your hairs and I’ll go rescue your godfather from the Canadians.”

Fiona sat on her bed with receipts in her shaking hands.

Fiona had been pissed before, really pissed, but it was nothing to how she felt then.

Steve finally entered her room, just as she planned, and she shoved him against the door as soon as he stepped inside.

“I will fucking kill you,” Fiona hissed. She pushed one hand hard against Steve’s neck and held up the receipts with the other. “How the fuck did you get Frank and Sirius in Canada? Huh?”

“I- I don’t know—”

“YOU PAID A TOLL IN TORONTO!” Fiona yelled, rubbing the receipts on Steve’s lying god damned mouth. “WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THIS?!”

“Frank is ruining all your lives!” Steve cried. “Fuck, Fiona! I thought I was doing you a favor!”

“And Harry’s uncle?” Fiona demanded. “Did you think you were doing me a favor by making that poor boy stress out all weekend because his only guardian is missing? His parents are DEAD, STEVE! He doesn’t have anyone else!”

“And he beats the hell out of him!” Steve shoved Fiona gently, knocking her back but not over. “Who cares if a few pieces of shit get lost in the foreign lands of Canada?”

Fiona was breathing heavily and she knew her nostrils were flaring with rage.

… wait.

“A few?” Fiona repeated. She stepped closer to Steve and narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Steve, who the fuck else did you dump in Canada, you interfering, meddling, stupid, fucking—”

“Kash.”

Fiona’s tirade of insults died and she pulled her eyebrows together skeptically.

“You dumped Kash with Frank and Sirius in Toronto?” she asked.

“Uh… not quite.” Steve made a face and looked up at the ceiling while he struggled to say whatever the fuck it was he wanted to say.

“You know where Huron is?” Steve asked.

“The city in Ohio?” Fiona asked.

“No… the lake.”

Fiona’s jaw dropped and she fell on her ass on her bed while she stared up at Steve in shock.

“You dumped Kash in Lake Huron?” she breathed. “Steve… holy fucking shit.”

That was… that was murder. And there was a difference between threatening it and actually fucking doing it.

Steve didn’t look like he gave a damn at all. He kept a sarcastic little smirk on his face and practically radiated smugness.

“I had a friend with a boat and another friend with Rohypnol, it really wasn’t that difficult,” Steve said casually. He sounded like he was discussing a recipe, not fucking murder.

“So you… you dropped Frank and Harry’s uncle off in Toronto and then dumped Kash in a lake?” Fiona asked slowly. “Steve… what the fuck.”

“Okay, here’s the thing…” Steve sat by Fiona and she wasn’t sure why she didn’t scoot away, why she wasn’t more fucking disturbed.

“I didn’t expect a thank you, but like a really grateful blowjob wasn’t off the table of ideas,” Steve said. He put his hand on Fiona’s knee and slowly slid it upward. “Honestly, I’m kind of a hero, Fi. I rid the city of two child abusers and one pedophile. You giving me a blowjob would be from all the grateful citizens of this city.”

Fiona turned to Steve and slowly put her hand on his crotch before squeezing it hard and twisting.

“You’re going to go get Frank and Harry’s uncle before fucking DCS shows up here and takes all these kids in custody,” Fiona hissed over Steve’s pained whimpers. She twisted a little harder. “And then you’re going to come back and I will suck your dick like a pornstar for killing Kash. Understood?”

Murder was not sexy, Fiona wasn’t that fucked up. But killing a pedophile?

That was a turn on.