Happy Easter to those who celebrate Easter! For those that don't, Hello! Hope you all have/had a wonderful day! (3/31/13)


Chapter 8: Where are you?

"Mommy, wake up . . ." Jossie said gently patting her mother's face, trying to rouse her.

"C'mon Mommy, please wake up . . ." Gracie added, hoping their mother would wake up and help them figure out a way to get out of crazy Mr. Winter's house.

Zoe's eyes fluttered once, twice, then opened completely. Quite disoriented, she wasn't prepared to see her baby girls staring down at her. She gasped as she sat up, leaned against the wall and pulled her girls to her, hugging them to her chest. "Oh, my babies!" She wrapped her arms around the girls, wincing as her head throbbed, rocking her girls back and forth.

"Mommy? Mr. Winters is acting really weird. He wants us to call him Daddy, but he's not. Daddy's our Daddy. . . " Jossie said crinkling her brow.

"Oh baby, Mr. Winters is just a little confused," Zoe said, but what she really meant was that he was psychotic. She hated that she had let this happen. All those weeks, feeling as if someone was following her, watching her, why didn't she see it? How could she have let it get this far?

Zoe was berating herself for not telling anyone where she was going. Kyle had called, saying he had gotten more of the samples she wanted, but that he wasn't able to get to her house. Idiot that she was, she offered to meet him. How was she going to get the girls out of this?


He watched them as he walked into the room, his girls. Feeling proud of himself, he brought them a tray of their favorite food and drinks; juice for the girls, coffee for Zoe. Relishing the thought that he was taking care of them, he continued to observe them. Seeing all three of them, made his heart beat with joy. His girls were together, at last.

He loved seeing Zoe's protective stance with her girls. The stance indicating she would do everything she could to protect them. It was what had attracted him to her in the first place. Not her beauty and certainly not her abrupt manner.

Sensing danger as soon as the door opened, the girls sunk further into their mother's arms. They kept their wary eyes on him. Heaving a sigh, he took in their pale faces. They shouldn't be afraid of him, he was their Daddy. He would always protect them, just like their momma.

He laid the tray on the floor, smiling at Zoe and the girls. Zoe stared at the food, no doubt calculating the odds that it was safe for her girls to eat and that it wasn't laced with any drugs that would force them to sleep.

"Zoe?" He whispered as he knelt down and smiled at her when she looked at him, nothing but anger and contempt in her eyes. Her eyes turned to the gun at his waist.

"Why are you doing this Kyle? You're scaring the girls."

Lifting both of his hands up, "I won't hurt you or them, Zoe. I love you, and we're finally going to be together as a family." Not knowing how to respond to his ridiculous speech, she just stared at him. She wanted to shout at him and tell him off. He had already hurt her and the girls by taking them by force.

"It's going to be okay now. You're all safe with me." He reached out to her, lightly brushing her brown hair out of her face. Fighting the urge to flinch, Zoe bit her lip. She couldn't let her girls sense her repulsion and fear.

"You'll see, it will all make sense once we leave," he said, picking up the take out cup of coffee cup and smiling as he handed it to her. "It's what you drink every day, from your favorite coffee shop." She looked from him to the coffee for a moment. She needed to play along with him, she knew John would come for them, he always did.

"Thank you," she replied as she took the cup, her hand shaking as she did so. Avoiding his gaze, her eyes wandered around the room hoping to find something that would help them escape if they had a chance. Play along, don't make him upset and they may just get out of here unscathed.


John was surprised to realize that it was night again, the sky was completely dark and starless. Looking down at the watch on his wrist, he pulled his cell phone out from his pocket as it rang.

"What can you tell me about Kyle Winters, Finch?" John asked, his fingers fiddling with Zoe's rings. He had found them on the bathroom sink as if she had just taken them off to wash her hands when she left to meet Kyle Winters the day before.

"Up until eighteen months ago, Mr. Winters was a run of the mill father and husband. He was a contractor and a successful one at that. He would buy houses that were in disrepair, then fix them up and turn a profit. A year and a half ago, his wife Patty and daughters, Lily, age 7, and Sarah, age 5 were killed in a home invasion. A couple of juvenile delinquents infiltrated their home hoping to get some money and got a little trigger happy, accidentally shot the little girls and the mother. He was away on business when it happened," Finch responded.

"Are there any properties close by?"

"I'm sending you the viable properties thus far. I'm still plowing through his property records. He's purchased several in the past few years as investments. I'm afraid it will take some time."

"Time is something we don't have Finch. Every minute that we don't know where they are is another minute he could be doing God knows what . . ." John stopped to breathe as his voiced cracked. It had been twenty four hours since Zoe was taken; forty-eight since the girls. Forty-eight hours pure hell. Not knowing where they were, only knowing that an unstable individual had taken them and God only knew what he was subjecting them to.

The disappearance of the girls and Zoe was starting to tax everyone. Carter and Fusco were pulling extra hours at work just to see if they could track anything down about Winters and his various properties. Bear was lying on the floor whining with his head in his paws.

Not surprising was how the situation had taxed John. He isolated himself from the others, devouring whatever he could get his hands on about Winters, his properties, construction sites, anything and he would check each and every one of them.

"Normally, I wouldn't ask you this, but given the circumstances . . . How are you holding up? You sound tired."

"This is much worse than a random number, Finch," John quipped staring out into the darkness. "I can't help but to imagine how frightened all of them are, the girls have been with him for two days, Zoe for one."

"We're going to find them, John."

"I hope we do soon, Finch." John clicked the phone off and scrolled through the information Finch had just sent him.

Giving in to the rage and aggravation that stormed inside of him, John swore and cleared Zoe's desk of all the paper work and threw them on the floor. His heart was rumbling violently inside his chest, feeling as if the walls were closing in on him. He had to get out, he had to do something. God, this must have been what Zoe was feeling two nights ago when she was ready to just drive around without a plan.

The air inside felt heavy and dense, almost suffocating him. He quickly changed into running gear and just took off. Once he was outside, he was able to draw in a deep, calming breath. He started to run, the thumps of his feet on the ground, lulled him to a place in his mind that was calm and structured. On he ran, his mind methodically going through the information Finch had sent him.

Lost in the misery and despair of his helplessness, John aimlessly ran while still going through each and every possibility in his mind. He was running in the dark, but he didn't care, he thought best in the dark. Finally making it back to their home, he sank to his knees on the front lawn. Guilt and fear consumed him; guilt for allowing harm to come to his family; fear for not being quick enough to find them. Never had he loathed himself as much as he did at that moment.

And in an instant, he wasn't sure what tripped it, but he had a revelation. He knew without a doubt where Winters would keep his girls.


AN: Hi all! The reviews definitely went up for the last chapter. Thanks to those that left a review even though some of you think I'm completely and utterly desperate! I am and my ego so totally needs it.

Please . . . may I have some more? (Reviews that is)

AN2: Checkout Fic2 of My Pledge: Standby - yes I'm shameless, even in my on-going fics I'm pimping my one-shots. . . It's got smut! Will that make you go read it?

*Hears the Song Desperado in the background . . . *