May go up to eight chapters...we will see.

Rome – Present

"You were what!"

"That's why she didn't want to tell you," Kenny said, seeing Max's shocked expression. "She knew you would do this. We're adults."

"It's been two weeks and you didn't think something was wrong?"

"I thought she stood me up and was avoiding me."

Oh, Kenny, Max thought, her heart breaking for him. That road…oh, god, Kim. "We'll get out there now…there has to be…We'll find her."

Two weeks, Kenny thought, two weeks ago she…Kim. I gave up on her and…No. I'll get her back.

"You aren't going anywhere," Jimmy said staring down Kenny. He knew, he could have…she drove that road because of him. "If something happened to her."

Max stepped between them, her heart racing. "We'll find her. She's smart, strong…she can fight for herself if."

"None of them have been found, Max!"

She winced at that. "Then it's time we find all of them."

Kenny & Kim – 3 Months Ago

"Don't," she whispered, pulling him behind the car. "Do they know? Did they follow us?"

Kenny looked at her with that, as he parents passed them by on the street as they hid. "I am not hiding from your parents, Kim."

"They'll ruin this, Kenny."

"Ruin what? Us sneaking around?"

"My dad will put you on nights, I'll never see you. He'll have you transferred."

Kenny stared at her, feeling his heart breaking a bit. "We're adults. We can make it work. Kim, I love you…I want people to know."

"I want that too…but you know how they are."

He kissed her behind the car. Max made this work. She and Littleton ignored everything and went about their life…Why can't we? Why are we different? "We don't have anything to be afraid of. Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

Rome – Present

Do not get sick, Max thought, or kidnapped in these woods. John is going to be so mad at me for this…Focus. If something happened to Kim here…I can't believe they had a secret relationship for six months. We really stopped talking about our love lives when I started dating John. It did change things with us, would it have if it was anyone else? Looking at the ring on her finger, she sighed, no. It's because it's John…someone else I work with, fight with, that I took the chance with him and it worked. I let myself love him.

"Kenny?" she asked, seeing how tense he was. "Look."

If I, he thought, if I said anything…I thought she stood me up. That she didn't…if something happened to her…No. "Something was burned here."

"The tracks, they're like the others," she said, looking at the mismatched tire marks, as they pushed back the branches. "A road?'

Kenny shook his head. "An overgrown logging road? You are not going any further. I'm not losing you too."

She looked at him. "You're not going alone."

"And I'm not pissing off the D.A. by dragging his pregnant fiancé into the woods."

"I'm still me."

"That's what worries me. I know you."

"You and Kim?" she asked after a long moment. "How come you didn't tell me?"

"She didn't want anyone to know," he started, looking at her. "Would it have mattered?"

"Of course, it would have mattered. You're my best friend. I want you to be happy."

"She didn't want anyone to know, Max. She wanted to hide it from her parents."

"You know how overprotective Jimmy is of her. She would have…you know she would have told them."

"She was coming," he started, not looking at her. "I thought…Max, if I…I was so mad at her and if she…"

"You'll be able to tell her. We'll find her, Kenny."

Kenny & Kim: 2 Months Ago

"You should stay with me once you finish your semester."

Kim rolled over and looked at him, very glad her roommates were away and that they weren't in Rome. "At your apartment? In Rome? Where my parents live?"

He nodded. "For the summer."

"Kenny," she trailed off. "I have an internship in Madison…I'm going up there."

"What about us?"

She smiled, as she straddled him. "There will always be us."

Rome – Present

"Don't look at me like that," Max stated, late that night, as she sat cross-legged on their bed. "I'm fine."

"You really think Kim was kidnapped?" John asked, studying her. "By something in the woods?"

Max let out a long breath. "We found her car, what was left of it, all burnt up. There is an old logging road that…I don't know. She was taking those roads to see Kenny and…I really want her to be okay and holed up somewhere with some guy having a good time."

"Urban legends."

"They came from somewhere."

He sat across from her on their bed and looked at her for a long moment wearing nothing but his old law school shirt, her hair spilling down her back, looking like she was gearing up for a fight. "Okay. I don't want my pregnant fiancé stomping around the woods if there is a lunatic abducting woman in there."

"Your pregnant fiancé is just fine after doing that today."

"My pregnant fiancé looks exhausted and smells like dirt and sweat."

"You know how to flatter me," she deadpanned, as he took her hands in his. "Hi."

"I love you," John stated, not taking his eyes off her. "Max, I don't want anything to happen to you. You're not invincible."

She let out a long breath at that, letting herself relax as he wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back against his chest. "I know that. It's just…you didn't see them, John. Jimmy, Jill, Kenny…I thought Jimmy was going to shoot him when he found out they were…then that she vanished the night she was supposed to see Kenny and he…he thought she blew him off and spent the last two weeks being angry and hurt over it to find out that…she's missing and that…This is bad."

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"About Kenny and Kim?"

"What?" she asked, twisting in his arms to look at him. "No. He never said a word to me about it."

"I thought you two talked about everything."

"We did…it's been," she trailed off, as his hands rested on her still flat stomach. "When we, it got…we stopped talking about our love lives when we got together."

"Why?"

"Because it was us, and it got serious between us. I don't think he expected that…I mean look at us."

"What about us?"

She laid her hand over his, looking at their laced fingers resting on where their baby was growing. "Living together, engaged, having a baby and Kara calls me Mommy. And before all that? You made it really easy for me to fall in love with you."

"Good."

"I mean it," she trailed off. "I've never laughed as much with anyone than I do with you. You don't let me get away with my crap."

He kissed the top of her head. "I love your crap. We should go out, Honey, what happened to our weekly date lately?"

"I think it evolved to watching movies on your couch and then getting naked."

"You want to get naked now?"

She giggled at that, as she shifted so she could straddle him. Whipping his t-shirt over her head, she kissed him.

In the Woods

Kim traced the tattoos encircling her in her prison. My pack she thought…just like them.

"Elena."

She looked, feeling his eyes studying her. "Master."

"Stand for me."

She rose slowly, as he took in her new body. Unmoving, as he traced the pack lines, before running his finger across her lips. "Master?"

"Tati did a lovely job," he continued, touching her partially dreadlocked hair, before tracing the markings on her face. "Have you seen yourself, Elena?"

"Tati said not until I am completed and a member of the pack."

He nodded, running his finger along marks around her eyes. "Tell me your name. Tell me who you are."

"I am Elena. I am yours."

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded, looking at the pile of raw meat the children had brought her. "Yes."

He ran his finger over he still straight and flat teeth. "Drink this. When you awake, you will be able to eat all you please."

Fangs, she thought numbly, the last vestiges of Kim screaming in her brain. Like an animal…so I can eat. Survive. Looking at her tattoos and his hands on her. I'm never leaving here. I'm his Elena…Sipping the offered water, she happily slipped into oblivion.

Kenny & Kim: 3 Months Ago

She squirmed, as they sat across from each other at the hole in the wall café. "I can't keep having this same conversation. I've told you why."

Your parents, he thought, you're ashamed of this. Us. Me. "They're going to find out eventually. What do you think is going to happen?"

"Why is this so important?"

"Kim, I love you," he said. "What we have…I don't want to keep sneaking around with it."

"You want Max to know."

"What?"

"I see how you still look at her. Is that what this is? Do you want to make her jealous?"

"She is practically living with Littleton."

"That isn't what I asked. Are you using me to make her jealous?"

Max and Littleton, he thought, how he's always touching her…how he looks at her. She never hid it, past those first few weeks together. I did think…Max and me…I did think it would be us. She did too, she had to think that…until she hooked up with him and never looked back. "Of course not. There hasn't ever been anything between Max and me."

"I saw how you looked at them that night…when John kissed her by the car."

How she melted against him, content, smiling, oblivious to anything but him. "This isn't about Max. It's about you and me…and how I want us to be together. I can deal with your parents. They love you, Kim. They'll be okay with us."

"I love you too," she started, pushing her hair back. "Kenny, I…after my semester is up. I can't deal with them and school."

"Deal."

Rome – Present

"Jocelyn Morgan," Max said. "She vanished 10 years ago."

Kenny looked up, his heart shattered, and very glad Max talked Jimmy down from suspending him. "Who?"

"Those kids…their DNA matches her."

He looked at the picture of the pretty blonde before back at his partner. "Where?"

"A road very similar," she started, catching herself. "About 50 miles north. She was 16, Kenny and…no sign of her. The same urban legend and…they're her kids."

"Where does that get us?"

"There is more. Their DNA also matches a man named Solomon Whittaker. He was a dentist," she started. "A doomsday prophet, survivalist, and…he vanished 30 years ago. His house abandoned, his whole family? It was a huge story 30 years ago."

"You think," he started, looking at her. "That he…all these years?"

Max gulped, thinking the vast expanse of woods. "We don't have anything else."

"We need to get back out there."

Hundreds of miles, she thought, it's been searched, but there is still so much. "Kenny, wait."

"I am not leaving her out there."

"Jimmy called Morrell. They're taking it over. It crosses state lines."

How is she so calm? Is she relieved she doesn't have to stomp around the woods pregnant? "I'm not backing off this."

She held his gaze. "It isn't your fault."

"She was coming to see me, Max. If we didn't hide it…she wouldn't have been there."

"We don't know that. She's going to need you when we find her."

Max, he thought, really looking at her. "Yeah, it was. She was coming to see me and."

"Stop. It isn't. She's coming home to you," she said softly. "Let's get a beer tonight. Or you get a beer…I'll get something less good."

"Littleton okay with that?"

"He's not my keeper."

Kenny smiled despite it all. She is my best friend. My pregnant and engaged best friend. "Yeah?"

I'd love to go home, curl up on the couch with him and Kara…who is really calling me Mommy…and I like being Mommy. Ah, what have they done to me? I'm such a sap. A pregnant and engaged sap. "Yeah."

"It's a date."

In the Woods

Kim stared at herself in the cave of mirrors, the drugs out of her system completely. No…what…no. I can't ever leave here…I can't live like this. They're watching me…they'll drug and hurt me if I scream and cry. Staring, she felt her dreadlocks, filled with animal fur along with her hair…longer pieces braided in, how…why? The tribal marks of her pack wrapping around her arms, across her shoulders, chest and neck, before decorating her cheeks and around her eyes. Permanent…tattooed. Like them. Reluctantly she bared her teeth, gulping back her tears as she stared at the razor-sharp points…he ripped those two out. Fangs, she thought, letting them rest outside her lips. I'm a monster. I'm his Elena…Elena. Elena.

Rome – Present

"Water, huh? Still puking?"

Max nodded, taking a slow sip. "Not as much…It was pretty bad for a while."

"You're glowing."

"I do not glow."

"Yeah you do, Mom."

Mom, she thought, I never thought I'd be a mom. Kara and the one I'm cooking in here. Stop thinking about this. He needs his friend, not me being a sappy mess. "It's the size of a peanut…how is it doing this to me? Throwing up, I burst into tears at stupid stuff and…stuff."

Glowing, he thought again. "When is the wedding?"

"Undecided," she trailed off, looking at her ring. "We're taking things one day at a time. I just moved in, this baby, getting married…it's a lot for the two of us and Kara."

"How often did you really stay at your place?"

She squirmed at that. "When I worked graveyard? What about the two of you? How…When?"

"Max."

"We've always been able to tell each other everything."

"You're different," he said bluntly. "Not in a bad a way. You talk to him."

"That's different. You get me in a whole different way than John does."

"You're going to be Maxine Littleton…with baby Littleton."

Am I changing my name? "Yup. You can tell me."

Just like that, he thought, not flinching about taking his last name? She actually tried not to smile at it. She's so stinking happy. "It just happened. She was looking for Jimmy at the station and…Max, it… we decided to try it again. She didn't want to tell her parents, I didn't want to hide it. It was perfect when we were alone together, except for that. I looked at you and Littleton…you never hid it."

She nodded. "We had a few weeks, when we first started, out of the way, out of town…figuring it out. Seeing if it was something."

"Then you went public."

"We just wanted," she trailed off. Not make a big deal of it. Dating. Being together. "We wanted to be together. She would have come around. She's young, you know how her parents can be, just because it's different doesn't mean it won't work."

"Like you two. God, you're going to be a mom."

What will our baby look like, half white and half black…what will their life be like? We'll love them enough that it won't matter. "Six months from now."

Kenny watched her as she touched her stomach briefly. "She didn't want me, Max. Not long term…it was just…"

"She's 19. In school. She doesn't know what she wants."

"What if…if she's gone?"

"We're going to find her. You can tell her everything. Jimmy will never give up. Neither will you."

"This Ian…what does he want?"

Kids, Max thought, those were his and Jocelyn Morgan's kids. Taking women. "He's abducting women and having kids…it's a commune, cult, we don't know. You know she'll fight him. She won't give in. She's coming home to you."

Who is this, he thought, she still knows everything in my head. Even drinking water, her hand on her stomach, she is glowing, that ring, I miss her. I really miss her. Why didn't we…No, she's marrying Littleton and Kim and me…Whatever she wants. Why wasn't it us? Why did she so willingly jump into his arms? No, stop thinking about her like that. "The FBI is coming to search the woods…Max, I…"

She reached across the table to take his hand. "Do you want to stay with us tonight? You shouldn't be alone."

"With you and Littleton?"

"And Kara."

He looked at her hand in his. Just you, he thought, I want to keep talking to you. Not him. He's made you all…I need you. "Max, I'll be fine."

"Open invite."

"You've lived together for a week."

"Officially. We had a good year and half of me making myself at home before we…made it a thing."

Littleton makes her happy, it should have been us. No, it's me and Kim. Max, Littleton, Kara and that baby. "Do you want to take a walk?"

Rome – 2 Years Ago

"You're shaking."

Max looked up, not caring that people were staring. Get it together. "It's just…people…why?"

"Look at me," John said. "There are a lot of people…Max, it's not the last time this is going to happen."

"How often does this happen to you?"

"Every day. If you stay with me, it'll happen to you to."

"We're not an if," she said softly, looking at the hate speech carved in her car before back at him. "Tell me."

"You want to know about all the racism I've dealt with? Max, that would take weeks. I'll give you this one," he said, combing through her hair. "Why do you think Kara was singled out when a mom couldn't find her phone at ballet? Why was my daughter the first one?"

Max froze at that. "No."

"Yes. And she's four, Honey. She has a lifetime of this ahead of her. You're white. You have options, no one follows you in stores, cops didn't hassle you growing up, people didn't cross the street or assume you're in school because of a special favor. Cops didn't pull guns on your school bus. You and me? This is going to happen, Honey."

She looked up at him. Six months in, him and me…I've never seen that in his eyes before, the way he's looking at me. "I can handle it. I can handle anything with you."

He rested his forehead on hers. Six months. "Max, I love you."

She smiled at that, pressing her lips to his "I love you too, John."

Rome – Present

"Lie down," Max said, all but shoving her drunk friend on his couch. "Get some rest."

"Stay with me, Max," he slurred, reaching for her. "I need you."

She covered him with a blanket. "Sleep it off."

"Don't leave me again."

"Oh, you're so drunk."

"You're so damn hot."

"Right," she sighed, stepping back.

"It should have been us. It still should be us."

She froze for a moment at that. "You're drunk."

"And you're gorgeous," he murmured. "I love you, Max, it's always been you."

Rome – 2 Years Ago

John froze as he watched Max and Kara from the doorway. My girlfriend at eight months, he thought, curled up with my daughter. Kara reading to her, trying to read to her, Max just smiling, nudging her along with it. Ah, Kara does like her…she wants Max to take her to ballet, gymnastics, tuck her in at night…Kara wants a mom.

"Daddy," Kara called, as Max looked up and smiled at him. "Come read with us. Max is helping me with the big words."

He tossed his suit jacket on the chair and loosened his tie. "Is she?"

"Max is smart."

"Ah, you don't need much help," Max trailed off, seeing something in John's eyes when he looked at her. "Full disclosure? We did go to the playground first."

"Reading and exercise?" he said, watching how Kara snuggled in closer to her and Max's ease with her. I'm going to marry her. This prickly deputy is going to my wife eventually. "What do my two favorite people say about going out to dinner?"

Rome - Present

"You spoil me," Max sighed, as he handed her a cup of coffee. "It's not forbidden?"

"Savor it," he said. "Can you keep it down?"

My love, she thought, I can't tell him…I need to tell him. He was drunk. He didn't know what he was saying. I know who I love and what I want. Who I want to marry and have a family with. Don't tell him. It was nothing…just Kenny being a drunk idiot. "I think I'm past morning sickness…it's time to get fat."

"Hey," he said, turning serious. "Don't get mad at me. I want you off the streets. Off this case. And yes, it's because you're pregnant."

"Kim is missing, John."

"And the FBI is on it."

"John, I can't walk away from this."

"You're pregnant," he said bluntly. "With our kid. It's procedure. You're not invincible, Honey. We're having a baby, getting married, we're spending the rest of our lives together. You're three months pregnant, you need to take care of yourself."

Max held his gaze at that. "I know I'm not invincible."

"Do you?"

"Do you really think I'm going to do something to hurt myself and our baby?"

"You are reckless when it comes to your safety, Honey. Push papers for a few months."

"What happens post baby? Do want me behind a desk because I'm a mom?"

"You're already a mom," he said. "You're the only mom that Kara is going to know."

"Damn it, John."

"And we're making her a big sister. Max, I'd have a dozen babies with you. I can't wait to marry you. I'd do it tomorrow. You're not sitting behind a desk forever. These six months, maternity leave, part time…it's a lot of changes."

Kenny, Kim, Jimmy, Jill, she thought, I'm bailing and… "Okay."

"Daddy?" Kara asked, staring at them. "I'm going to be a big sister?"

He looked at her and back to Max. "Ah, come here, Kid.

Kara ran to Max instead and hugged her tightly. "But…If Mommy…Mommy, if you have your own baby, you won't want me anymore. You won't be my mommy."

Max felt her heart drop at that as she looked at her heartbroken daughter. Crouching down, she hugged Kara tight again. "I'll always be your mom, Sweetie, no matter how many babies I have. What's so special with you and me is that you chose me to your mom…even if you didn't come from my tummy. You and me? We chose to be each other's family. I love you so much, Kara and I never want to leave you. This baby is so lucky to get you as a big sister. I'm lucky that you want to be my daughter."

"And you and Daddy are getting married?"

Max nodded, as Kara clung to her. "We are. You, your dad, this baby and me? We're a family, Kara."

"Is your baby going to white like you?"

"That is something we have to wait and see," Max trailed off. "Does it matter what color they are?"

Kara shook her head. "Mommy? Do you ever feel weird because you look different from me and Daddy? I want the baby to look like you, so you don't. My friends say you're not my mommy because you're white, but I said that we love each other so you are. If your baby is white everyone will know you're the mommy."

Max hugged her again. "I never feel weird with you and your dad. As for the baby? We have to see. I think it's a girl, your dad is going with boy."

"Girl," Kara nodded, looking at her dad. "It's a girl, Daddy."

John stood stunned, as he watched Max and Kara. Where did that come from? "Nope, boy…and Max and me need to go to work, Kid. Grab your bag, we'll drop you at school."

In the Woods

"Our war," he said, surveying his wife and children. "We are the only hope."

Kim stared at him, as she sat with the other wives, with a child in her lap. Running her tongue along her pointed teeth, she fought to stay passive as her reluctant acceptance of her new life as Elena fought with her old thoughts. Looking at the child in her pack marked arms, she still could still taste the raw meat she had eaten. Elena…I need to be Elena for him. Repopulate the world. Bring others to our home. Make them members of our pack…not my pack…no, it is now…no. I can't think…I'm not drugged anymore. My pack. My home. They made me feel that way when they marked me, I repeated it over and over…my pack. It hurts to think of it not being my pack

"We need more," he continued, looking at his wives. "More members of our family. It is time to expand, for the world to be ours."

"Yes, Master," they chorused.

"Elena," he said, beckoning her toward them. "Is our newest member. On your knees, Elena."

"Yes, Master," she said, bowing before him. "How may I serve you?"

"So very lovely," he smiled. "Undress for me."

Rome – Present

"Max."

She looked up, keeping her face neutral at her very hungover partner. "I'm surprised to see you."

"You brought me home."

She nodded, as he just looked at her. "I did."

He stared at her for a long moment. Radiant, he thought, not showing yet, looking very wary of me right now. "I know what I said to you."

"You were drunk. Forget it."

"I don't want to forget it."

She froze at that. "No."

"Because of him."

She turned back to look at him. "This isn't some casual thing. Your girlfriend is missing. We're not having this conversation."

"My girlfriend didn't care enough to tell anyone about us."

"Max, Kenny."

Out of his mind, she thought, he didn't mean any of that. He doesn't love me. I'm marrying John, having his baby. It's what I want. Following her partner toward Jimmy's office. I can't deal with Kenny. Looking at Morell and John in there too, she forced herself to stay calm. He has is D.A. expression on, not the man who kissed me in the kitchen after Kara went to get her coat. Kara…how could she think I wouldn't love her?

"What happened to Kimberly, Deputy?" Morrell asked, looking at Kenny. "What really happened?"

"What?" Kenny asked. "She didn't show up."

He slammed the bagged pregnancy test on the desk. "We found this in her apartment. Your girlfriend was pregnant."