"Max?" Jimmy asked, seeing the concern all over Kenny's face. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm good," she said. "Maybe not good, but…okay. I don't…he wanted me to be Caroline. He renovated that place… made me wear her clothes, he had…oh, my god."
"Max?" Kenny asked, seeing her pale. "You okay?"
"He…he brought this guy in to dye my hair. He had a gun to his back…Oh, God, did he kill him?"
"We didn't find a body," Jimmy said. "What did he look like?"
"Terrified. Tall, probably six foot. Slender, dark hair. He didn't say anything, just did this," she trailed off, flicking a piece back. "Did he…I didn't even think about him. He had to of."
Jimmy nodded, carefully watching the way Kenny squeezed her hand. He's going to take care of her. "That warehouse…We're searching it top to bottom, I'll look at the missing person reports. He wanted to keep you looking like this? He might have kept him alive."
She gulped, pushing back the blonde hair. "He was talking…after I had the baby…plastic surgery. He wanted me to be her and…Oh, god."
"It's okay, Honey," Kenny murmured, feeling the tension. "Deep breath."
"He put me in her wedding dress…just so many…it was creepy. He wanted my baby. He's…Oh, God, what was her life like?"
"He snapped," Kenny said, not sure if he really believed it. Did he, she hasn't said…she was pregnant, she couldn't of fought him, no, she got away, she ran, she saved herself. "Max, he…Your sister, she was pretty smart, she would of…Oh, Honey."
"I'm fine," she said, wiping her tears away. "No, I am…it's hormones."
"Did he assault you?" Jimmy pushed. "In any way?"
"He hit me a few times, jammed his tongue down my throat…I told him….sex would hurt the baby. He believed me. He really wanted the baby."
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"I called my Mom. Dad is still really mad," Zach said. "At me, Kenny and Max."
"I want to live with them," Samantha said quietly. "They were really good to us and…they're going to hate me. Nate is going to hate me."
"No he won't. Max had the baby. They found her…Your Dad did…Mom said, she got away and stuff…but he dressed her up like your mom and stuff."
Samantha looked up. "What?"
"Like your mom. I guess she's kind of freaked out and stuff."
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"You okay?" Kenny asked, as they sat in their driveway late the next morning. "Honey?"
She looked up, twisting her hands in her lap. Home, she thought, looking at their cottage. So much as happened here…I remember when we bought this place, gutted it, renovated it together. "Yeah. I'm numb."
He looked back at Chloe. "I know. I'm here, okay? Anything, Max, anything you need. Just tell me, even if it's to back off."
"Be overprotective for awhile."
"Remember you said that."
"I'll be okay."
He looked over at her, dressed in gray sweats, purple camisole, and a sweater coat, with that blonde hair braided down her back. "I know you will. You're too stubborn to have it any other way, Blondie."
"Don't call me that."
"Okay," he said, seeing her tense up. Don't push her. "You ready to bring Chloe home?"
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"Aunt Maxie isn't like Mom," Samantha sighed. "She and Uncle Kenny fought sometimes…it wasn't like my parents. It was so obvious….you know that loved each other and stuff."
"Matthew walked in on them fooling around in the bathroom and their rehearsal dinner."
"I'm scared. What if they hate me?"
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She is perfect, Max thought, watching Chloe as she fed and rocking in the chair in the makeshift nursery. Our last one, she's so…I love her already. No one is ever going to hurt her. "She's almost done."
Kenny leaned on the doorjamb, watching her. "You coming to bed after that? I missed you in there."
She nodded, listening to the silent house. The girls asleep, his parents in Samantha's old room…just us. "Yeah. That'll be good. Okay, Kiddo.'
A natural, she has been since the beginning, he thought. Even if she lingers over the crib, she's been through a lot. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked down at their new daughter. "She's perfect."
"She came out so fast."
"I'm sorry I wasn't there. Max, I…I would of."
She shook her head. "They didn't tell you what was up because they know you. You can't…you can't think with your head when it's me. It's more…It's you and me. It's different, I get it now."
"You, the kids, Max, I…"
"I know."
"Come to bed."
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"Dad?" Zach said hesitantly leading Samantha inside the house. "Hi."
Jimmy stared at his son and girlfriend. "What is going on? Do you have any idea the trouble that you've caused?"'
"Dad!"
"I'm sorry," she practically whispered. "I thought…Nate is okay? Aunt Maxie?"
"We're not sure where Nate is. Your Dad has him in a clinic. Your Dad? Kidnapped your aunt and tried to turn her into your mom. She's pretty shaken up. She had her baby seven weeks early. Your cousins are traumatized over this."
Samantha wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to go with my dad."
Thinking of his deputy lying in the stairwell, in labor, looking small and vulnerable in the hospital. Her kids clinging to her. The videos from that warehouse he took…he messed with her pretty badly. "I know."
"Do they want me back?"
"I know they do."
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Max gripped the edge of the sink, as the images rushed through her mind. His hands on me…Caroline…No. I'm home. Taking a steadying breath, she raised her eyes to the mirror. Gulping, she wrapped her hair in a bun, so she wouldn't have to look at it. Safe. Home.
"Honey?" Kenny said, knocking on the door. "You alive in there?"
She opened the door, forcing herself to be normal. Seeing the concern all over his face, she forced a smile. "Yeah."
Liar, he thought, wrapping his arms around her. "Listen, I'm a crummy cook. Mom made waffles."
"How long are your parents staying?"
"Dad has to go back to work…My mom is here for as long as we need. I'm surrounded by women."
"I'm sorry about the tea parties and unicorns."
"Nah, I like fake tea. I'm turning Emily into a jock."
"She'll love it. She'll probably want to play football."
"Mommy are you sad?"
Max looked up, reluctant to move from Kenny's arms. Seeing Emily watching them, she offered her oldest a smile. "How can I be sad? I'm here with you and Daddy."
"Ah, come here, Princess," Kenny said, finally releasing Max, as Em ran to them. Scooping up the four year old, she squealed in delight. "Come on, lets go eat."
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"I want to see my dad," Samantha said finally. "He'll tell me where Nate is."
Jimmy looked at her blue hair, track marks on her arms and the way she kept wiping her nose. "What drugs are you on? Don't lie to me."
"Uh…cocaine. I tried heroin."
"I'm not sending you anywhere until you're clean."
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"Where is my wife?" Michael demanded, as Skeeter followed Dr. Mott into the hospital room. "My baby?"
"Max did have a beautiful baby," Skeeter thought, thinking of the infant he delivered two days ago. "They make good looking kids."
shot him a look, wary of being in the same room with Michael. "They do. How does your pelvis feel?"
"I want Caroline."
Skeeter jumped up, as he pulled Dr. Mott onto the bed. Running in closer, he gasped at the fist hitting him in the gut. Michael pulled the gun from his holster and fired.
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"You tired them out," Kenny murmured, joining in on the couch, as she nursed. Looking at a sleeping Emily and Lindsay. "Reading is that tiring?"
"They're exhausted," Max said quietly. "Physically, emotionally, all they know is I vanished, I'm back…they don't know what to think."
"I don't think they're ever leaving your side again."
"I don't want them too."
"She done?" Kenny asked. "Want me to take her?"
No, she thought, looking at the sleepy infant. I never want to let go. He's so great. "Here."
"She's tiny," Kenny said, shaking his head, cradling Chloe. "I always forget how little they are."
Max smiled as she watched her big and strong husband with their two day old daughter. Home, safe, he won't let anything happen to them. To me.
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"What?" Jimmy said, as he arrived at the hospital. "You have got to be kidding me."
"There were shots, Sir," Pete said. "Skeeter and Dr. Mott are in there."
"With Michael Richardson?
"He wants his wife and baby."
Max and Chloe, he thought, thinking of the trauma he saw her face. My deputy, in there. "Get me a line into that room."
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"Please," said, as she did her best to stop Skeeter's bleeding. "He needs to go to surgery."
"And I need my wife and daughter," Michael said. "Uncuff me from this bed. What is that?"
"The phone," he said, pressing into his shoulder wound. "Stay with me."
"What do you want?" he barked.
"Michael," Jimmy said, as the continued to evacuate the floor.
"Sheriff. You bring me Caroline and our baby."
Max, in Caroline's clothes, make-up, the hair, Jimmy thought, screaming in pain, in labor…I can't…No. "I need some time to find her."
"You might want to hurry, a man is dying in here."
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Kenny glanced back toward the living room, after talking lowly with Jimmy. I can't ask her…how can he? He just saved her life.
"Let me talk to her," Jimmy said. "I know she's been through a lot."
Glancing back again. "Yeah, hold on. Max?"
She looked up, from where the girls were yammering excitedly to her. Something is wrong, she thought, trying to get a read off of him. "Yeah?"
"I need to borrow you for a second," he said. "Mom, can you?"
"Go," Carol said. "They'll be fine. Mommy and Daddy need to talk for a minute."
"Mommy," Emily cried, hugging her. "I want you."
Max hugged her back. "I need to talk to your dad. Boring grown up stuff. Can you tell Grammy about the elephants?"
"Okay."
"Hey," he said, reluctantly handing her the phone. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
"It's that bad?"