A/N hello everyone! Thank you all so much for your patience. Between school, volleyball, my semi-formal, and just an annoying writer's block, it seemed impossible to get this chapter out. I hope you all enjoy this update!


Kota had no fear as car drove thru the neighborhood. She made the decision to come out to the car and if she was killed or kidnapped, it was her fault. Not Walter's. Nor Toby's. Her's.

On second thought, it's perfectly natural to jump into a stranger's car when I'm pissed at the people around. Especially since I have anger issues. And when the last I heard from said stranger, he was telling I that he was your father. Nah, it's my fault. I really doubt I can twist it into being anyone else's fault.

She recognized some of streets that the car turned into. Mulberry, Pike, and Quincy; all were roads that her bus sometimes took if there was an accident on one of the more major roads.

The man driving the car wore sunglasses and a hat. In case a security camera picks up his face. It was obvious to her that was the reason they were traveling this way to her house.

It took them the time that was expected to take to get to her home: 12 minutes. The man didn't say anything, just unlocked the doors and waited for her to get out. She grabbed her bag and climbed out of the car. As soon as the car door was closed the man pulled away, not waiting for her to walk away from the car.

She stood for a moment looking at the outside of her house. The small lone tree in her front yard was as it was last time she saw it: full and lively.

Kota dropped her bag off beside the tree and walked towards her front door. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Her mother was nowhere to be seen but the man from before was sitting at her dining room table.

"Where is she?" Kota asked no needing to note that she was talking about her mother.

Collins was watching her from the moment she entered the house and he spoke, "Safe. That's all that matters."

"Since when do you care about her safety? You left. And you knew she could and would OD at any moment."

Collins smirked, "I will disregard your stupidity. This has never been about you or your mother. Sorry to break to you, but I could care less what happens to either of you."

Kota didn't flinch as he delivered the news that should be heartbreaking to any other child. It didn't faze her though. "Then tell me. What has this all been about?"

He chuckled, "This has been about me getting the recognition that I have always deserved. And more importantly, it's about taking away all of the pride that Walter and his band of misfit toys have been getting. Every time they get a pat on the back, I think about how that should be mine."

She looked at him with pity, "You're a grown man. Get over it. Get over the fact that you didn't get what you wanted. In fact, if you ask me, I think you got exactly what you deserved: a cell to rot in." she said approaching him with her hands clenched into fists.

Her comment angered him and he walked towards her as well. Before she could move to attack him, he pulled a stun gun out from behind his back and electro-shocked her, leaving her incapacitated on the ground.


Happy sped through the small streets towards Kota's house. According to Sylvester and Walter's calculations, they were at least 13 minutes behind them. Knowing Collins, it would be easy for him to severely hurt or even kill someone in that amount of time. Several horns beeped at her as she weaved in and out of both lanes, but she ignored the noise. Toby sat beside her tapping his fingers and Walter was in the back looking out the window.

"Don't think, Walter," Happy said looking at him in her rear view mirror. "You'll put yourself in a rabbit hole before we even get there," she continued this time looking away.

"It'll be our fault," he said not making eye contact with her as she looked back again.

"No, she's 18 years old. Legally, she made her decision. It was a stupid as all hell decision. but it was hers. Besides, logically, what would Collins have to gain from hurting her before we even get there? If he's gonna hurt her, he's gonna wait until we're there so that we have to watch."

He brought his hand to his mouth and dragged it down, "Great pep talk, Happy. Just fantastic," he said extremely irritated.

"Walter, shut it. I'm willing to bet that you don't even care about her. You're just mad that Collins might win. I told you before and I will tell you again, 'I am not going to drag you out of a rabbit hole again.'" She waited for him to say something, but when he didn't, she continued, "When we get there, the plan is to save her. Not take Collins. Not win. To get her and escape. Don't get in over your head. Remember who has the upper hand here. Collins knows her house and knows her. And despite what you want, you don't."

Walter was shaking his head, "How dare yo-"

"Will you guys stop it?" Toby interrupted, "Happy, stop trying to be a hero. Thank you for saving me earlier. But it's time he knows the truth. Walter," he turned around to face him, "I convinced Happy the other day to not call Cabe. It's my fault. And I'm taking responsibility. And Walter, stop trying to be some amazing leader. We all have faults. And yours is that you can't let it go. Now, no, Happy. That is not the plan. The plan is we get in, find Kota, and take down Collins. I don't care if he knows the house, so does Kota. And I don't care if he knows her. In case you didn't notice, I'm kinda a psychologist. I know her too. And as far as taking Collins down goes, right now it's 3 against 1. And soon it will be 4 against 1. I'm sure we can figure it out. Plus the fact that Sylvester is calling Cabe now and he'll be here as soon as possible."

Happy pulled into Kota's driveway just as Toby finished his rant. Toby didn't wait for either Walter or Happy to say anything, as soon as the car was parked, he jumped out and rushed up to the door.

Walter and Happy climbed out after him without saying anything either. Toby burst through the door and immediately checked his surroundings; Kota, Collins, nor Kota's mother were in sight. Toby saw a broken window behind the kitchen table and he went to check it out.

Happy went to the back rooms to check if anyone was there. After a moment, Walter and Toby heard her shout, "Nobody's back here."

"I'll go check the basement," Walter told Toby. Toby simply nodded and went to check the second floor.

"Happy you stay and wait in case Cabe comes," Walter shouted to her. He opened the door to the basement and slowly walked down the stairs.


Before vision came back to her, Kota could hear. She heard someone moving about and she heard voices above her. And she felt pressure on her forehead. Dakota tried to move her hand up to her head but her hand wouldn't budge. Her eyes opened slowly; it was very dark, just a little light came from the side window and a single lamp in the corner. It took her a moment to realize that she was in her basement. Her eyes slid down to her hand and she saw it was handcuffed to the leg of a sofa. Collins was nowhere in sight. Her other hand was free and she brought it up to try and ease the pounding headache.

"You hit your head on the corner of the coffee table when you collapsed," a voice said. Kota heard the words perfectly clear but she had a hard time putting meanings to the words. "Walter is coming down now. You are to remain quiet. Understand?" When Kota didn't respond other than by having a blank, confused look on her face, Collins smirked. "Not that your brain can actually process anything to do anything."

Immediately following his comment, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.


It took a moment for Walter's eyes to adjust to the darkness but once they did, he saw a pair of legs protruding from a couch in the corner of the room. He slowly walked over and saw Dakota sitting there, her eyes wide. She didn't move or make any noise.

"You know, this was never about hurting anyone," a voice said from behind Walter. "It was never about killing anyone, either," the voice continued.

"Then what was this about, Mark?" Walter asked turning around to face the man who had appeared.

"It was about having the upper hand. Honestly, how could you not have known? This was about me being smarter than you. The hair, the eyes, the dimples. How could you have not known that she is my daughter?" Collins asked actually sounding mad that Walter hadn't figured it out.

Walter looked at him cautious as to what to say next, "When did you know?"

Collins smirked and began, "Now if you had been with Happy and Toby when they first came back to her house." He said avoiding Walter's question. "If you had been with them, you would've seen her mother. I'm fortunate that you didn't. Or you would've recognized her and then we wouldn't be where we are today." He gestured around the room.

"Are you implying that I know her mother?" Walter asked trying to stall until Cabe got here.

"I'm not implying, I'm saying you do. And I want you to figure it out. Look at Kota's eyes. Recall her stature, her stance. She is honestly an identical copy of her mother."

Walter actually did as Collins' asked and thought. He looked at Kota on the floor; her breathing was rapid and her face glistened slightly from sweat. Walter thought back to any woman he and Collins had ever interacted with. A possibility came into his mind, but everything about her screamed NO!

"Alice? Alice Grady?" Walter asked quietly.

Collins smirked, "She had a daughter…" Collins said antagonizing him.

"She had a daughter," Walter said ignoring Mark, "named Gabrielle."

Collins nodded.

"But Alice wasn't an addict. Nor did she drink excessively," Walter said trying to contradict what Collins was saying.

Collins laughed out loud and then walked up to Walter. "Why do you think I always cooked?" He said quietly and laughed again. He turned and left a horrified Walter standing there not moving an inch.

"You, you," he stammered, "you got her addicted? You son of a bi-"

"Oh give me a break!" he interrupted, "Alice had the baby before she left. She wasn't addicted while she was pregnant!"

"Why? Alice was our friend," Walter asked dumbfounded.

"Because you never knew! You never noticed the obvious! The hair, the eyes, the dimples! How could you not notice that I was Gabrielle's father?!" Collins screamed.

"Alice said it was known of our concern and I knew that there was no way I was going to get it out of her, so I dropped it. I never thought about it after that," Walter admitted. He was angry with himself for not noticing all those years ago. When Alice had left with Gabrielle, err, or Dakota, Walter was shocked. As he had mentioned, the 3 were friends.

"You never thought about it because you didn't want to. On some emotional level, you loved Alice. Whether you knew it or not, I don't care. But you did. And when she found out she was pregnant, you were devastated."

"Why do you care?" Walter screamed back finally working up his anger on Mark.

"Because, love clouded your intelligence when Kota was a child. And this proves that it still does! You are too distracted by Ralph and Paige that, yet again, you didn't notice the obvious!"

"So this entire thing," he gestured around the room, "drugging Alice, attacking Kota, breaking into her house twice was all to prove a point?"

He shrugged as if it wasn't that big of a deal, "would you have listened otherwise? You let me rot in that jail, not only once, but twice!"

"You let yourself rot in that place, not me." Walter said shaking his head. His comment angered Collins and just as Mark lunged to attack Walter, the basement door swung open and the 3 heard Cabe scream from on top the stairs, "Homeland Security! Put down the weapon!"

Cabe had his gun trained on Mark's torso and 4 agents followed behind Cabe down the stairs. A woman ran to Kota and attempted to help her sit up. Collins looked at Walter and shook his head. Before either could say anything, an agent cuffed Collins and another walked to Walter. He put his hand on Walter's back, directing him to the stairs.

"Your team members are waiting for you upstairs, Mr. O'Brien," The agent told him. Walter didn't argue and heading up to the main level of the house. As he remembered Kota, he turned back to help, but the man stopped him. "She will get the help required. Rachel will guarantee of that." He jerked his chin to the female agent helping Kota.

While Walter ordinarily would've argued, he decided to drop it this time and nodded.


A/N What did you think? Anything make sense? Hahaha, I kind of just had this epiphany and voila! Haha, I'm debating doing what I saw another author do- previews and special content for reviews. I would send it via PM's. Tell me what you think! And if you ever have any questions about the story or the characters, please feel free to review your question or PM me!

Also, I have no idea what the side effects of being shocked with a stun gun are. I do know that different charges have different effects and different levels of pain. For the story, I had Kota have the side effect of just being unable to move or talk for a short period of time. However, please do not think that those are the side effects/the only side effects.