A/N: This is for Ms. Twilight to thank her for the review. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee when/if this story will be updated but this chapter was written long ago and it turned out it was still on my hard drive so I thought I might as well post it.
"Mommy…"
Gracie's quiet voice from the back seat.
"Is Teddy going to die?"
Susan sucked in a breath.
"Who cares?" Zack jumped in angrily before she could answer anything. "He kidnapped us, remember?"
"Yes," Gracie said in her stubborn little sister voice. "But I don't want him to die."
"No one is going to die, baby," Susan reassured her, although she had no way of knowing.
"But he looked sick. Can't we send him a doctor?" Gracie insisted.
Susan had thought about this. She should have stopped at the first gas station and called the police and maybe an ambulance. She hadn't, and she was now berating herself over that fact. She wasn't sure what had stopped her. She didn't want anyone to die just because she hadn't called for help. And Theodore had let them go after all, for that fact maybe he deserved better than this. But what if she gave up his location and he somehow managed to escape the authorities? Would he forgive a second betrayal? If he had found her once, he would find her again and this time he would really kill them all.
Yet she couldn't bear the thought of just leaving anyone to die…
She struggled with this all day as she drove to her parents' house. She had decided that was the best place to go for now. When they finally reached the house, she parked the car in front of it and turned around to look at Zack and Gracie.
"It is safer if you don't tell anyone what happened for now, okay?"
"But, Mom, we should call the police!"
"I know, Zack, but just for now, trust me. Teddy let us go. We are all right. Let's wait a little before we are sure it's a good idea to tell anyone. Will you both give me your word, please?"
They did so, Zack far more reluctantly than Gracie.
"Remember you have to protect your sister," Susan told him. "Right now that means keeping silent."
"Mom, why did Teddy do this?" Gracie asked the same night as she was being tucked into bed. Susan had explained the sudden visit to her parents with an unexpected business trip. She hesitated at her daughter's question.
"I think because… he was very ill."
"He said he wanted us to be a family…"
Susan didn't know what she was supposed to say. Gracie was trying to make sense of things rather than just accept her uncle Teddy was bad. It showed that she was an intelligent child and wanted to have the facts before making a judgment but Susan could not tell her why she knew Theodore Bagwell was a bad man. And what was more, she herself was not entirely sure what had happened and why it had happened.
"He did but he… didn't understand that you can't force someone to be your family."
"He understood in the end, didn't he, mom? And he let us go because he loved us. I heard him when he told you."
Susan stared at her. She hadn't really put it in such simple terms but now that she had heard the thought voiced… What other explanation could there be? She had to admit there must have been something good in Theodore. She felt another pang of guilt for just leaving him there. Was he even alive? Maybe it wasn't too late to send someone there… But no, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was afraid she might be endangering her children. What if he had somehow followed them and was just waiting for her to make the wrong move?
She let out a shuddering sigh as she closed the door to the room. She would have to go back and see what she was dealing with first. Her hope was that he wouldn't be there and it would be out of her hands.
