Shayne stirred. What was that noise? It sounded muffled, he thought, though still not completely awake. He opened his eyes, noticing Dinah was gone. Sitting up quickly, he looked around the room and saw her slumped next to the chair.

He was over to her in seconds, "Dinah, baby, what is it? What's wrong?" He held her tear streaked face in his hands. Seeing her like this frightened him. As he looked down at her, he realized she was dressed. He noticed her jacket and her purse.

His eyes widened in disbelief, "Dinah, were you…"

She looked at him. She didn't want to tell him this. "I couldn't," she said through her tears, "I tried. I got up and dressed and left you the note and I tried to leave, but I couldn't. I couldn't walk away from you again," she said her sobs overtaking her.

"Shhhhh…," he told her wrapping her in his arms, "It's ok. You're here. You're safe. I'm here. It's ok." As he gently rocked her back and forth he looked up to the ceiling and said a silent prayer, he hoped everything really would be ok.

Dinah regained her composure slightly and spoke again, "I really do have to go," she said again.

"You can't be serious," Shayne said, his voice shaking.

"Shayne, don't you remember everything we talked about last night?," she asked him tearfully.

"I don't really remember doing a lot of talking last night," Shayne said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Please don't do that," Dinah said giving him a small smile, "I know you're trying to help me, but this hurts so much….walking away from you will be the single hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm doing it for you. For you and for our baby," she said placing her hand on her stomach.

Shayne looked down at her hand and carefully placed his hand on top of hers, "What about the baby?," he said softly, "You'll be alone, on the run with a baby. I can't let you do that. I can't lose you. I can't lose you both," he said, pleading with her to reconsider.

"You won't," Dinah told him, the tears still falling, "You'll always have me…at least a part of me," she said looking into his eyes, "when the baby is born, I'm going to contact you and you are going to come and get the baby," she said, her own voice barely cooperating with her. Shayne sat open mouthed, too shocked to even speak.


After a few moments, Shayne managed to collect his thoughts, "So, after the baby is born, I come get you and you both come home, right," he said, terrified of the answer.

Dinah looked at him. Leaving him again was going to hurt, but she knew it was only the beginning of the things she'd be giving up. "No," she softly whispered, touching his face, "I'm not coming home," she managed, barely able to say the words, "the baby, I want you to take the baby," she said not able to look him in the eyes.

Shayne couldn't believe what he was hearing. This didn't make any sense. He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him, "What are you talking about?," he said his voice strained, "You actually expect me to come find you after you've had our child and take that baby from you?," he asked her, watching her eyes fill with tears.

"It's for the best," she managed, her own voice betraying her. She tried without success to catch her breath, but she began to breath in short, jagged spurts.

Shayne put his hand on her back, "Hey, calm down…it's ok. Just breathe," he whispered. She leaned into him. The thought of not being around for her child cut through her just as if someone had sliced her with a knife. She had to make him understand, but she had no idea how.

"Shayne," Dinah started again.

"Stop it," Shayne told her, "Don't you see what this is doing to you? You can't even talk about it. Doesn't that tell you anything. Don't you see that this isn't possible?," he asked her, looking deeply into her eyes. It killed him to see her hurting like this, but he had to get through to her. She was actually considering running a second time and this time, this time he would love his wife and his child. He couldn't let that happen.

"It's the only way," she cried, "I don't want our baby to live her life running. Never having a permanent home, Never feeling safe, Never having a real family," she said, the tears coming harder and faster with each phrase she spoke. "You can give that to her," she said gently stroking Shayne's face.

"No," Shayne said, still shaking his head, "This baby needs you. You're her mother," he said, his own face covered in tears, "What am I supposed to tell her when she wants someone to fix her hair, or when she wants to bake cookies, or send a card to you on Mother's Day? What do I tell her then?," he said, his own voice elevated now.

"Shayne, please," she said, sobbing. He didn't let up. He couldn't. This was too important. "And when all the other children have their mothers to walk them into school and to go to their tea parties and to take them to the parks, what do I tell her then. Are you sick? Are you missing? Did you need some time away? What do I tell her. What the hell do I tell her?," he screamed, unable to control his own emotions.

Dinah was in tears, she couldn't handle much more of this. She looked up at him, "you'll find someone to love," she finally said, "someone that can be her mother,"

Shayne stood frozen for a moment. He walked over to her and grabbed both hands, helping her to her feet. "Do you honestly believe that?," he said touching her face. "Do you really think I could ever replace you?"

Dinah couldn't respond. Her face was covered in tears. She could barely stand. Shayne stopped for a moment. He couldn't do this. He couldn't stand to see her like this.

"Come here," he said, pulling her into his embrace. Dinah fell into his arms and sobbed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Shayne turned around,

"Police," a male voice said, "We got a call about disturbance of the peace," the officer said, "I'm gonna need you to come to the door."

Shayne looked at Dinah who was still standing frozen in place. "I'm not gonna let them take you from me," Shayne said as he looked at her.


"Shayne," Dinah said looking into his eyes, her own eyes full of fear, "I'm scared," she told him.

He looked back at her. He could feel her shaking, and he knew he had to protect her. "Go in there," he told her gesturing to the bathroom.

"But," Dinah said.

Shayne stopped her. He reached up and touched her face, "Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise you. They'll never take you from me," he told her, kissing her quickly, "Now go," he said as he moved toward the door.

"Sorry, Officer," he said as he opened the door.

"You again," he officer said recognizing Shayne's face immediately, "What is it with you? Trying to follow in your wife's footsteps," he said, his voice curt and sour.

"Look, I'm sorry," Shayne said, "I've had a few beers, got a phone call, got a little heated, that's all," he said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

The officer looked at Shayne. He did look disheveled. "Look man, we're already looking for your wife and when we find her, we're gonna lock her up for a long time. Unless you want to be in a separate prison in another state, I'd shape up," he sneered, turning and walking away from the room.

Shayne exhaled deeply and turned to close the door, placing his back against it. Giving the officer a few moments to get some distance, he called to Dinah, "It's ok, you can come out."

Dinah emerged from the bathroom, still shaking. "Is he gone?," she asked him.

"Yeah," he said, extending his arms as an invitation. Dinah allowed him to snake his arms around her.

"You're right," she heard him whisper quietly,

"What?," she said.

"You're right about staying here," he said as he gently stroked her back, "You're not safe."

Dinah looked up at him. "It's best for me to go. It's for the best," she said, already feeling her eyes start to fill with tears.

Shayne reached up to touch her face, "Yeah, it is," he said softly, "But you're not going anywhere without me."


"Shayne, you can't do that," Dinah whispered. As much as she'd love to be with him, she couldn't ask him to leave his home, his family to be with her. Living on the run was no life. It certainly wasn't the life they'd dreamed of.

"Don't argue with me," Shayne said gently kissing her forehead, "Right now, you are going to get some rest and I'm going to get some things packed for us," he said leading her over to the bed.

"Shayne…Shayne, stop," Dinah said, turning around and blocking his arms with hers, "You can't do this. You can't just leave your family," she said tears already streaming down her face at the thought of what she was doing.

"Baby, don't you get it," Shayne said, gently stroking her hair, "You and this baby are my family. Yes, I'll miss my parents, but it doesn't hold a candle to how much I missed you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you and our child safe and what now that's getting both of you out of here. That's what we're going to do," he said smiling at her.

"It's not going to be easy," Dinah said looking at him, "Living the way I've been living is not anything like the life we planned. It's hard," she said, her voice breaking.

Shayne just looked at her and pulled her close to him, "You're worth it," Shayne whispered.

Shayne threw clothes into bags not paying any attention to what was going where. He didn't care. The only thing that mattered to him was getting Dinah out of there safely. He looked at the clock on the bedside table. 4:15. They didn't have much time. He wanted to make sure they were out of town before daylight. Walking over to the bed, he stared at her for a moment. She looked peaceful he thought. Much more at peace than she'd been before.

Pausing for a moment, he gently put his hand on her stomach, "I'm gonna take care of you and your Mom," he said quietly, "Nothing is ever gonna happen to you. I promise."

Dinah slowly began to stir.

"Hey," Shayne said, smiling at her and gently stroking her arm, "You ready to go. It's getting late and I wanna get out of her before daybreak," he said quietly.

"Look at you," she said raising her eyebrows, "you'd think you'd been on the run all your life," she said trying to make light of the very serious situation.

"You sure you wanna go through all of this with me," she asked, giving him one more chance to change his mind.

Shayne put his hands on her face and gently stated, "I'd go anywhere with you."


Shayne looked over at Dinah who had fallen asleep about an hour after they'd began driving. He could tell she was worried, and he couldn't fault her for that. He didn't know where they were going or what they would do once they got there. All he knew is that they would be together, and for now, he thought, that was enough. He called his father earlier and inquired about using the Lewis jet.

Josh hadn't asked many questions, assuming it had something to do with Dinah, and had agreed to have it gassed and ready for him. Shayne hated lying to his father, but he knew he had to keep Dinah safe, and the only way to do that was to keep as few people involved as possible. Reaching over to touch her face with his free hand, he smiled. It felt so good to have her with him. No matter what it took, he wanted to make sure that never changed again.

The blinking lights on the small runway streaked across the windshield of the car, disturbing Dinah's sleep.

"What?," she murmered, looking over at Shayne, who appeared to be lost in thought studying a map.

"Hey," he told her, reaching over to touch her face, "I'm just trying to get some sort of flight plan in mind so I can tell the pilot where we're off to," he said quietly, "got any requests?"

Dinah couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since she'd been this close to him, since she'd had the luxury of being able to reach out and touch him whenever she felt like it. She knew it wasn't perfect, far from it, but it was much better than it was a few short days ago. "Anywhere I am with you will be home," she whispered, leaning in closer to him.

Shayne looked over at her. "Let's go back," he said smiling at her.

"Back," she said, a little confused, "Back where?".

"Back where it all began," he said, getting out of the car and grabbing the bags.