Author's Note:

*Trigger Warning: mild violence, blood and language


"Lauren?" Adam knocked the ladies' room door.

His wife had been there for minutes, he decided to check what was wrong.

"I'm sorry," she opened the door looking awful. "I'm not feeling well."

"If you want we can go to the ER before going home."

"That's ok, it's only my stomach bothering me."

They went back to the restaurant's table where their kids were waiting for them. Lauren assured them she was fine and only needed some rest. It wasn't enough to convince Adam though, he still couldn't find an explanation for her abnormal behavior. She seemed too quiet and preoccupied.

"Adam, I'm not going to the office tomorrow," she said after contemplating the window for minutes.

"Of course not, baby," Adam smiled, placing his hand on hers, "it's Saturday."

"Mom, tomorrow is my final game," Lucas announced. "Did you forget?"

"Oh my God, it's true!" She remembered. "It's my boy's big day tomorrow."

"We'll be all cheering for you," Adam told him. "David and Serenity will be filming everything, so you better do your best."

"You can be sure I will. Remember that guy who used to bully me?" Lucas asked. "His father is super pissed at the coach, he even threatened to get him fired for kicking his son out of the team."

"Well, your coach did what was right. He should've taught his kid it's not how you treat his teammates, right Lauren?!"

Adam noticed she was distracted again. He asked for the bill and drove his family back home. When they were alone in their room he finally asked:

"So, can you tell me what is going on now?"

"Here's the problem," Lauren said. "There's nothing going on."

"I don't get it," Adam was confused. "Was it supposed to have something going on?"

"Do you know that feeling you have that something is wrong but there's nothing wrong around you?"

"Uhhh... no?" Adam scratched his head.

"I only felt this way twice in my life, before your... incident in Napa and before David had a strong pneumonia right after he was born. See why I'm worried now?"

Adam embraced his wife and kissed her cheek.

"Everything is fine. I'm fine and our little trio was pretty energetic tonight, none of them seems to be getting sick."

"I hope you're right," Lauren smiled, worried.


Josh looked himself in the mirror, he was still unsure about his outfit. It was not like he was going out for a date, but he still wanted to look good. He was only going to observe his kids from far, like he had been doing in the last few days. They would be attending a soccer game from school and he'd be there, standing outside while the playboy played the role that should be his.

Lucky bastard. He thought.

"Josh?" Kate appeared behind him, looking surprised. "Where are you going?"

"I-I... I'm meeting a friend," Josh lied.

"What friend?" Kate asked, she had been suspicious her husband was hiding something from her. Victoria's crazy theories were starting to affect her judgment.

"Liam," it was the first of his name that came to Josh's mind. Not that he had many friends, anyways.

"He's traveling with his wife, you told me like three days ago."

Josh didn't say anything, it'd make things worse. He just finished dressing and started to prepare to leave the house.

"Who's she?" Kate asked, angry. According to her experience as divorce lawyer and matchmaker, all signs pointed to that direction.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Josh replied getting his phone, wallet and car keys.

"You have another woman. I know it. You could at least be a man and assume it."

"Bye, Kate," he slammed the door.


Adam was sitting with Lauren, David and Serenity in the bleachers. The kids were starting to get inpatient because the game was 15 minutes late. David went after Lucas to ask what was wrong and Serenity complained all the time she was hungry, because Lauren burned her breakfast.

His wife's mood hadn't changed, she so was anxious and pale as she was the night before. She looked very different from that Lauren from a few days earlier that was so excited for Lucas' game, she even designed them the blue "#TeamLogan" t-shirts they were wearing. In their backs the shirt pointed their positions in the team, his, for example, said "Luke's Dad".

"I'm going after David," she announced. "He's taking too long."

Even if Adam thought it was unnecessary he agreed with his wife, if that would make her feel comfortable again. After she left, Serenity turned to her father:

"Daddy, I'm hungry. Can I buy some popcorn?"

"Sure, princess," he said, giving her money, "bring me some too."


When Lauren entered to the locker room she didn't mind Lucas turned red in embarassment, she needed to make sure all her kids were fine. David was sitting next to his older brother and they were chatting about the game.

"It's that guy's father again," Lucas explained. "He was making a fuss at the coach and the principal. He said somebody's going to pay for the scholarship his son lost at the Soccer Academy."

"I filmed everything," David laughed, showing his brother the camera.

Lauren couldn't care less about the man and his son. If it was one of her boys she'd consent to the punishment, they should start learning since early they were responsible for their mistakes and face the consequences. When Serenity used to punch the little boys on Kindergarten she made her apologize to each one of them.

Somebody announced the game was about to begin. Lauren wished Lucas good luck, what made him blush even more. David followed her back to the bleachers. The first thing she noticed was that her daughter was no longer sitting next to her father.

"Adam," Lauren shouted, "where's Serenity?"

"She's buying us some popcorn," Adam replied, shocked by his wife's reaction.

"Where?!"

"Right there," he pointed to the cart. For his surprise his daughter wasn't there like she was 10 seconds ago, when he got distracted by some other parent asking for information.

Lauren started to cry as she ran to the cart. Adam went after her confused, her behavior was starting to scare him.

"Hi, have you seen this girl?" Adam asked, showing the cart seller a picture of his daughter. Lauren couldn't say a word, she couldn't stop sobbing.

The seller hadn't seen any girls that matched Serenity's description.


I should grab some breakfast first. Josh thought. He probably would have to wait until the game was over to take glimpse of his children. He turned on the car to leave but when he looked to his side he noticed something weird. Very weird. A tall and strong man wearing sun glasses was dragging a little girl to his car, he was covering her mouth to make sure she wouldn't scream. He looked closer and realized it wasn't any girl, it was his daughter, Serenity.

The man left in a high speed, Josh followed him.


The security guards showed up immediately after hearing Lauren's desperation. She knew something would happen, if only she had stayed in the bleachers. Or maybe she could've been more careful, Serenity wouldn't be hungry if she hadn't burn her breakfast.

"Mrs. Logan?" one of the guards asked, interrupting her thoughts. "You need to tell me in details, what is your daughter wearing?"

"A blue shirt..." Lauren sobbed, "like mine. In her back it's written Luke's sister."

"We took a selfie right before she disappeared," Adam showed his phone. "She was also wearing a cap."

"Right..." the guard wrote, "light brown hair, green eyes, blue shirt... how tall is she?"

"About 4'4''," Adam replied.

"She's probably hiding around the school," the other guard said, trying to calm them.

"She's not!" Lauren yelled. "I know my daughter enough to know she wouldn't do that."

Adam wrapped her arms around his wife. He was trying to show her some safety but inside he was so terrified as she was. He also knew Serenity wouldn't pull this kind of prank on them.

"Hey," a man who was helping them came running, "is it the cap she was wearing?"

Lauren confirmed.

"We found it on the parking lot."


Serenity was in extreme fear. Tears started to roll from her eyes. Despite her young age she knew nothing good could come from that situation, that man looked evil. She looked through the windows, the high speed wouldn't let her see where he was taking her. One thing she knew, she was far away from her parents.

"Don't worry, little girl," the man smirked, "once your parents pay the ransom you're free to go. If they can't, well..." he laughed, "there's a friend of mine that can make a good use of you."

Serenity felt even more scared. She knew her parents had money and so did her grandparents, but was that enough for the man?

"If my son hadn't been expelled from the team and lost his scholarship, you wouldn't be here," the man continued. "It was easy to identify you by this pathetic little shirt you're wearing."

The young girl looked down to her shirt, imagining if her parents already had noticed she disappeared. She noticed something bothered her abductor.

"Damn it!" The man yelled, "Who's that car following me?"

She couldn't answer. Her mouth had been tapped.

"Answer me!" He insisted. "Is that your father?"

She shook her head in denial.

The man useless tried to outrun the car behind them. When he noticed there was no escape, he stopped in the middle of some random and desert street. The other car stopped right behind them.

"You stay quiet here," the man said grabbing something in the glove compartment. "I'm gonna solve this quickly."


At the Police Station, Lauren and Adam repeated everything they told to the school guards. In the end, everything indicated to abduction.

"Is there anyone that could've been considered a suspect?"

"No," Lauren said.

"Yes," Adam disagreed. "Her biological father."

"You're being ridiculous!" His wife shouted. "He always made very clear he didn't want contact with his chidren."

"What's his name?" The police chief asked.

"Joshua Carter," Adam answered, ignoring his wife. "He's the husband of that famous matchmaker, Kate Fox."

"Do you have a picture?"

Adam nodded in agreement while checking the internet on his phone for a clear picture of Josh.

"For the last time," Lauren cried. "He didn't do that! You'll be going after the wrong person and then it could be too late."

"Do you have any other suspects, Mrs. Logan?"

"No."

"Then let's go after this Joshua guy."

While the chief sent a team to Kate's house, Lauren got her keys and headed to her car.

"Where are you going?" Adam asked, grabbing her arm.

"Let me go, Adam," she said, angry. "You're turning this into a personal revenge against Joshua. If you hadn't left her alone none of this would've happened. Now let me go, I'm gonna find my daughter."


Serenity carefully left the car and removed the tape of her mouth, but she knew it was better to be quiet than scream, it'd attract the attention back to her. She decided to run but her feet wouldn't leave the spot she was standing.

She walked a few steps and watched her abductor punching the other man, the one who followed them, she assumed. This one attacked the man even harder, making him fall on the floor and kicking him repeatedly. It gave Serenity some hope she'd be saved.

The man who followed them looked familiar, Serenity thought he looked nice and trustworthy. He immobilized her abductor on the floor and turned his attention to her.

"Serenity?" He called. "Go to my car, quickly, and lock the doors. I'm gonna ask for help and we're going home, ok?"

She nodded yes. She slowly started to walk to the good man's car.

"Everything will be alright," he continued. "I'm taking you back to your mom."

She stopped. Why couldn't he simply enter the car too and drive away? That sounded better than waiting for the cops in the company of that criminal. What if it was all part of a plan and he was a bad guy too?

"You can trust me, ok?" Josh noticed her confusion. "I won't hurt you. I swear."

Trusting him was her only choice at the moment, she reached the cars door handle. She gave Josh one last look when she noticed the evil man was grinning and slipping his hand to his pocket.

"Look out!" She yelled as the man pulled a knife to attack Josh.

Without thinking twice she jumped in front of her savior.


"Ms. Fox?"

Kate opened her front door and faced 3 police officers.

"Yes, what's going on?"

"Where's your husband?" One of them asked, looking inside.

"He left early this morning..." she replied, nervously. "I don't know where he went."

"Did he ever mention this girl?"

The officer showed her a picture of Serenity Logan.

"No, I don't think he even know her."

The officers exchanged looks. It was obvious Kate didn't know her husband had children out of the wedlock.

"You'll probably want to have a conversation with your husband later, Ms. Fox," the officer said. "Can we take a look in the house?"

Kate agreed, wondering what trouble Josh was getting into.


"You fucking stabbed my daughter, your son of a bitch!" Josh yelled as he jumped on the man, punching him hard in the face, multiple times. "I'm going to kill you."

He grabbed the man's neck, trying to strangle him.

"Stop..." Serenity cried. "Please, help me."

The girl still tried to run and ask for help, she could see houses nearby, but the instense blood loss was making her dizzy and weak, she fell on the floor.

Josh imediately let the man go, he had snapped pictures of his license plate so the police wouldn't have trouble finding him later. Serenity was his concern now.

"Hey little girl," he said, ripping off her shirt and exposing the wound on the left side of her abdomen. "Let me check this."

The man had pulled the knife off her body but Josh couldn't determine how deep was the injury or how much damage it could've caused.

Josh called an ambulance and followed the instructions, he placed Serenity on a sitting position on his lap and pressured the wound with a towel he had in the car. A couple of minutes later he noticed she was about to get unconscious.

"Hey, look at me!" He asked. "You can't fall asleep, ok?"

"A-am I... going to die?" Serenity asked. A single tear dropped from her eyes.

"Of course not!" Josh said, trying to look calm. "I'm not going to let that happen."

His hands were shaking. A lot of thoughts started to come to his mind, what was he going to tell Lauren? She'd never believe him, she'd probably think he caused that.

"It's getting cold."

Josh noticed her body temperature was dropping. He involved her with his jacket.

"Serenity? You need to talk to me, ok?"

The girl gave a positive sign with her head.

"What's your full name?"

"Serenity... Zoe... Logan," she answered.

"Let me see..." Josh thought, "When it's your birthday?"

"September 16."

"Right... and... what is your favorite thing to do?"

"Playing guitar... and to annoy my brother David..." Serenity started to sob, "but I-I only d-do that... because I l-love him."

Josh smiled, he felt happy to know she had something in common with him. Since her age he always liked music too.

He heard the ambulance coming.

"Hang in there, ok?" He asked, noticing her eyes were closing. "Everything will be ok."

"I-I want m-my... mom."

"I'm going to call her, what's her number?"


Lauren had no idea how she was even capable of driving to the hospital. When Joshua called her she answered because, coming from an unknown number, she believed it could be from the police. He told her Serenity was with him. In a hospital. He didn't tell her what happened but he was crying. It should be bad.

The first thing she did when she found him standing in the waiting room was to give him a violent slap across his cheek.

"What did you do to my daughter, your bastard?!" She yelled.

Lauren kept attacking him until he held her wrists and asked her to calm down. She glanced at Joshua's shirt and noticed a considerably big stain of blood.

"Oh my God... Is it..." she lost her balance, Josh held her. He placed her on a chair and offered her a cup of water.

"Let me tell you what happened," he said.

Josh told Lauren everything, about how he had been watching his kids, the man who abducted Serenity and how she tried to save him from being stabbed.

"How is she?" Lauren asked.

"She was conscious but she lost a lot of blood."

"My baby..." she stared to sob again.

"Excuse me," a nurse interrupted them, "are you the parents of Serenity Logan?"

"I'm her mother," Lauren replied before Josh could say anything. She had the impression he'd say "yes".

"The doctors are running exams to check the extent of the wound," the woman explained. "Also, she lost a high amount of blood and her type is low in our stock, are you able to donate?"

"She has your blood type," Lauren told Josh, "can you..."

"Of course."

"You can come with me," the nurse requested him.

Before they leave Lauren called her back.

"Is there any risk she could..." tears prevented her from finishing the question.

"The area where she was hit is risky, especially if any major organs were damaged. The danger of septicemia is also high in this case."

Lauren felt like the world around her was spinning. The were chances her daughter, her baby girl, would die. She couldn't even remember what was the last thing she told Serenity. Did she hug her that morning? She was probably too distracted. Last night she was so worried she didn't put her to bed as usual so she also didn't kiss her good night or told how much she loved her. Now she wouldn't have a chance of doing that again.

Her vision started to get black and she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

"Lauren!" Josh yelled as he prevented her from falling, unconscious. "Somebody help!"


After he was done donating blood to Serenity, Josh sought for information about Lauren. She was doing fine, but the doctor told him it was better to keep her sedated for now. He went to his car and changed his bloody shirt, when he came back he was informed Serenity was also well, no organs or arteries were damaged. He asked if he could see her and he was taken to her room.

"Hey, little pretty," he said.

"Hi," Serenity replied, still weak and tired.

"How are you feeling?"

"It hurts... and I'm afraid!" she started to cry.

Josh wiped the tears from her face.

"Afraid of what?"

"That man. What if he comes back?"

"Don't worry, ok? He's going to jail, I promise."

Serenity smiled. Josh held her hand.

"It's gonna leave a nasty scar," she whined.

"But no one will see it, it'll be under your clothes," Josh showed her a scar he had on his forehead, "This one here, people ask all the time how I got it."

"And how was it?"

"Playing with my best friend when I was around your age," he smiled.

"Where's my mom?" Serenity asked.

"She got very very desperate to know you were hurt so the doctors thought it was better to give her something to sleep."

"And my dad?"

Josh felt his heart breaking. For a moment he had forgotten everything, he felt like she was his.

"Uhhh... I'm gonna ask them to call him, he'll be here soon."

Serenity smiled.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Josh."

"Josh, why did you say I was your daughter when that man stabbed me?"

If Lauren knew that she would have multiple heart attacks. He invented an excuse.

"Er... it was the heat of the moment, you know? I have a little girl too and you reminds me of her."

"What's her name?" Serenity wanted to know everything about the man who saved her life.

"Hazel," he said.

"Hazel is a lucky girl," she grinned. "You're an awesome dad!"

Josh smiled but inside he felt like crying. She had no idea of what he had done in the past, if it was for him she wouldn't even had been born.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"For what?"

"Everything."

"It wasn't your fault," Serenity said assuming he talked about the incident.

Josh stroked her soft hair, noticing how pretty she was. She was just identical to Lauren as child.

"I'm sleepy," she announced.

"Then you should rest. I'm going home but your... father will be here when you wake up, ok?"

Josh got up and walked to the door.

"Bye Josh," he heard the little girl saying. "See you soon!"

"Bye little pretty," he wasn't so sure he'd see her again.

Before leaving he decided to check on Lauren. She was sleeping peacefully.

"I love you, pretty," Josh whispered, pressing his lips on hers.


At night, after going to the Police Department to clear up the facts about Serenity's abduction, Josh arrived home and Kate expected him in the living room with a ton of questions.

"Josh, where did you go?" She asked first. "You were out all day, you didn't answer your phone..."

He kept walking without saying a word.

"Could you please tell me why the police is after you for Adam Logan's daughter abduction?"

He kept ignoring his wife.

"Josh!" Kate shouted. "Please, talk to me!"

"Kate," he said calm and firmly, "we should get divorced."


Author's note: This fic was originally supposed to have 14 chapters only (there will be more now), what would make this chapter the middle of the story. This first half was about introducing Josh to the story, starting from chapter 8 things will change and I promise you'll see more from the original show :)

Again, I apologize for any mistakes, I try my best to fix them before I post.