A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews I'v gotten. Not many but its okay. More would be great and I might get inspired and update quicker. lol.

Chapter 02:

When Mitchie regained consciousness the entrance hall of her house was filled with people. Next to her was sitting an emergency physician who was telling her not to move. Two police officers were standing close, observing the scene and talking to a woman Mitchie recognized as her neighbor. She probably had called the police, she figured, knowing the elder woman always had looked at her with that pitiful glance. For once she was grateful that someone had interfered.

Her head aches heavily. She wanted the pain to disappear so she closed her eyes again, hoping it would ease the headache.

"Don't, stay with me!" the doctor says instantly and claps her cheek and she opens her eyes again.

Finally collecting her thoughts she speaks up. How long was she out, where was Thomas and… Riley? "Wha, what happened?" she asks, trying to remember: "Riley! Is Riley okay?"

She hears her neighbor explaining to the police officer, that Riley was her daughter. One of the officers knelt down next to her: "Ms. Arlington we haven't found your daughter, could you please tell us what has happened?" he asks gently.

Mitchie tries to get up, panicking: "Riley's not here?" she asks looking around. The physician holds her down: "Please Ms. Arlington, stay down, an ambulance will be here shortly!" he explains.

But how was a mother supposed to stay calm when her child was with someone who blamed her for everything that went wrong in his life, someone who had already touched her child the way Thomas had touched Riley the other night!

"No, no ambulance, I need to find him, he took her, he can't, he'll hurt her, he…" Tears were now welling up in her eyes, it was all her fault. If she hadn't had this affair, if she hadn't gotten pregnant from another man then her husband, everything would have been different, perfect. But she did! And she couldn't and wouldn't turn back the time. She just wanted her girl back, wanted to know that she was safe!

Still panicking but hold down by the doctor and the officer she gives up, feeling dizziness taking over. The last thing she hears before again being enclosed by the warm blackness was the officer telling his colleague, that they have to find that girl.

When she wakes up again she's surrounded by white walls, lying in a white bed. A hospital room! Immediately she's sitting in an upright position, looking directly in the face of...

"Dad?" she exclaims surprised.

He smiles worriedly: "Mitchie what the hell did you think you were doing staying with that bastard?" he asks, touching her bruised cheek softly. He felt guilty not having realized what was going on but on the other hand, he and Mitchie hadn't been in touch a lot since she had moved out of San Obispo, left everything and everyone behind to start a 'new' life. He never understood her reasons, she never told him her reasons...

Mitchie couldn't hold back the tears any longer when her Dad enclosed her in his arms. All the pain, the guilt and the fear washed over her and she cried silently, tears falling down her cheeks.

Finally when she had soothed down a little she started explaining him, that she had intended on leaving Thomas, she told him that she had already packed up everything, that she had wanted to leave before he was coming home from the club, but he was earlier than she had expected him.

The words came uncontrolled, unsorted; she just spoke what came to her mind. She was a mess and what she told him didn't really make any sense at all. But as a private investigator and a former police officer he knew how to handle her so he would get the facts he needed. And he got them, in the end he was able to puzzle together what had happened. To make her more reasonable and also to calm her down he went trough it with her a second time, asked her about little almost unimportant things that still might help. She did calm down and started to think as she would have all those years ago when she was still helping her father with all his cases.

Dan then promised her to do everything to find her daughter. Mitchie, being as stubborn as she is, still didn't want to stay in the hospital. She just couldn't handle knowing her daughter being in trouble because of her and do nothing about it. But her father was as stubborn as she was and so she had to deal with being transported to San Obispo Hospital where her stepmother Alicia would look after her while her father will look and find her daughter. She didn't doubt he will. He was good in what he did, even if he was worse than her, he was still the best she knew and she was glad he was looking for her Riley as well. The police also promised to help and Dan told his daughter, that they already had a few leads. He didn't tell her which ones though, knowing that if he would she probably release herself from the hospital to look for her daughter all by herself. Her being emotionally involved like she was that sure was not a good idea!

So after being checked again by a physician they got the okay to transport her to the hospital . Her father told her goodbye; he would stay and look for her daughter right away, which calms her down a bit. Still she feels like she has to do something about it, anything… Her father tells her to get her life ordered and with tears in her eyes she nods and is being shoved into an ambulance car which brings her back to San Obispo, back to where everything began…