Thank you everyone for your kind words! I love hearing from you. Anyway, on with the chapter! Enjoy!

Previously on Stumbled…

"Come on, I'm taking you home." Traci said, swinging her arm around Andy. "It's another hour's drive."

"No, no… the painkillers are doing their job. I want to go down to the station and give my statement… and see Dean."

The constant hum of the car's engine slowly died down and her body tugged against the restraints as the vehicle slowed to a halt, waking her from her sleep. Andy opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She was back at the 15th division. A sort of comfort bubbled within her. She pried her face away from the cool window and sat up, unbuckling herself.

It was dark now—chilly too. She wrapped her arms around herself once she fumbled out of the car. She glanced towards Traci, who seemed to be stifling a yawn, before she headed towards the entrance to the police department.

Her feet shuffled tiredly through the doors, threatening to give out under her weight. She did not realize how tired she was. Although she had slept most of the ride him, she felt utterly exhausted. She walked, as if on autopilot, straight to the holding cell where she knew Dean would be. She heard Traci's quick steps follow her, though she did not say a word—which Andy appreciated. She knew her friend was wary of her talking to Dean, and without her insistence of seeing him, Traci would no doubt have completely objected to the idea.

"Maybe we should take your statement first." Traci said, breaking the silence once they stood outside the holding cell.

Andy ignored her as she reached for the door, finding herself face-to-face with her former captor.

"Andy!" Dean exclaimed in surprise, sounding relieved and unsure. He quickly rose from the pathetic excuse of a bed and hurried to the bars—she met him there. She felt his eyes scan her carefully, eyeing her bandage above her eye. "You got that gash bandaged up… good. How does it feel? How are you?"

"Just a couple bruised ribs—I'm fine." She couldn't help but note how odd this picture must look to most people. Here she was having a conversation with the man who had kidnapped her and held her hostage, and that did not bother her in the least bit. In fact, it was easier to talk to him than it had been with Traci. She knew it was twisted, but yet… it didn't feel that way.

He gave her a small, genuine smile. "Good, good."

"How are you?" She asked as she now inspected him. Her eyes fell upon the large purple bruise on his right cheek, as well as the scratches on his wrists where the metal handcuffs had dug into his skin. The very sight of it sparked a source of bitterness within her. She was angry. He did not deserve that type of treatment.

He shrugged. "Fine." He followed her gaze towards his wrists. "Nothing I didn't expect… or deserve."

"I'm sorry." She apologized, feeling guilty and responsible.

"Don't be." He said. "It's fine. I expected worse actually."

Andy looked down, embarrassed that she was coworkers with people who beat up this man.

"So, um… do you know anything? About my daughter?"

Speaking of guilt, the knife that twisted in her gut right now was quite painful. She did not have the heart to tell him that the police had bluffed about him seeing his kid, and the promise she had made him was not within her realm of keeping. "I promised you that you would get to see your kid… I will do whatever it takes to keep that promise to you." And she meant it.

Dean nodded, looking on the verge of tears.

"I will make sure they know that the gun wasn't loaded and that you were giving yourself up. That will help your case."

"Thank you, Andy." Dean looked towards Traci. "You uh, you probably should go before that friend of yours decides to shoot me or something."

Andy looked over her shoulder; Traci's glare was quite piercing.

"Thank you for coming, Andy. I know it's probably really weird for you, all things considering." He looked nervous again. "Just know… I really appreciate all that you're doing, and I'm glad you're okay. Take care of yourself."

Andy nodded. "Yeah… you too. I'll see you later."

She spun on her heels and left, not bothering to even look at Traci as she walked past her.

"Hey…" Traci said, right behind her. Her hand caught Andy's arm. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Andy clenched her teeth, both from the pain of her ribs and her anger towards the cops who hurt Dean.

"Andy!" She turned, seeing Luke walking down the hall towards her. He looked surprised to see her. "What uh, what are you doing here?"

"She wanted to see Dean." Traci answered when Andy didn't.

Luke looked at her, concerned. Andy mentally rolled her eyes. "Okay, uh, well, since you're here… want to get your statement out of the way?"

"I think she needs to go home and r—"

"Yeah, that would be great." Andy said bluntly, cutting Traci off mid-word. She followed Luke's lead and left a shocked Traci behind…

"Nash!" Sam called towards the detective as he hurried down the hall. They had just arrived at the station two minutes ago and were looking for Andy. "Where's Andy? How is she?"

Traci held up her hands, silently telling him to calm down, though Oliver's nudging his arm may have been sufficient. "She's fine. A couple bruised ribs and a mild concussion—nothing to worry about. She's with Luke right now giving her statement. Come on."

Sam fought the urge to reprimand the woman for allowing Andy to come here instead of going home as Oliver and he followed the detective to the interview room. All his worries and anxiety seemed to dissolve as he saw her through the one-way glass window. She good good—tired, but good.

Traci turned on the speaker; they had missed the first part of her statement.

"After you got to the cabin… then what?" Luke asked.

Andy hesitated for a moment. "The door was locked… I broke a window and sent Gavin in to unlock the door from the inside. I cooked some food, and looked for any possible ways of getting out of the cabin. I did not find any that was safe for both the kid and me. Later that night, Dean got a text from his friend, saying that he saw his picture on the news and that the cops were looking for him."

"How did he react?" Luke asked.

She shrugged, as if it was obvious. "Like any panicked father would."

"He didn't hurt you or the kid?"

"No." She said defensively, her voice sharp and strong. "He never laid a finger on us."

Sam groaned internally. Did she really expect anyone to believe her, or had she simply forgotten about the man knocking her to her knees with the butt of his gun? Maybe she did not realize that incident had been recorded… was she purposely lying for the man who abducted her?

Luke nodded slowly, writing something down. "Continue..."

"We went to bed that night, nothing unusual. The next morning—"

"Did he tie you up?"

Andy swallowed, her hands twisting together—something, Sam noted, she often did when she was nervous. "Yes. The next morning I convinced him we needed food. We drove to a nearby market—I had given him all the cash I had and brought my driver's license with me. Dean was worried that it would be too suspicious if we all went in, so he was going to put the kid in the trunk. I volunteered instead. While they were inside, I tried to come up with a plan of how to leave my license behind. When he came back, he was really distracted and didn't notice me dropping it onto the ground."

Andy paused to take a drink of water before continuing. "He got me some painkillers and Gavin a candy bar."

"Why did you need painkillers?" Luke asked. Sam crossed his arms, wanting to know too. He suddenly had an urge to interrupt their interview with his own questions.

"Just for the aches… being tied up isn't exactly the most comfortable of positions. And my head hurt."

Luke nodded again, not saying anything.

"That night he told me about his daughter, about why he stole the car, how he freaked out when I pulled him over—he was going to drop Gavin off at the fire department or something. We had… kinda like a heart-to-heart—I was getting close to him… I could relate to him. He had a bad childhood… he asked me how I turned out so good and said that I'd…" She trailed off, looking unsure if she should continue.

Luke looked up from his writing, sounding as curious as Sam felt. "Said what?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "He said I would be a good mom—that I would find the right guy… just stuff like that."

Sam glanced towards Traci and Oliver, raising his eyebrows.

"That night he didn't tie me up. I thought about trying to take Gavin and running once he fell asleep, but the door was very loud and squeaky—I knew that we couldn't get out of there without waking him up. The next morning he woke me up—he had heard something outside. From there on, you know most of the rest." She paused. "What you don't know is this… Dean's gun wasn't even loaded and he was in the process of giving himself when you guys burst through the door. You have to note that in my statement—he was giving himself up."

"You think she has Stockholm syndrome?" Traci asked cautiously, staring at her friend.

Sam looked at her in disbelief. "You don't?"

Traci shrugged. She looked worried—as she should. Andy wasn't the type of person to be easily manipulated. She knew the difference between right and wrong. Her damn lion's heart must have gotten the best of her—always finding the good in someone, even if they didn't deserve her faith.

"I..." Andy's small voice pulled Sam from his thoughts. He could tell by the way she started her sentence that he was not going to like what he was about to hear. "I also made a promise to Dean that he would get to see his kid before he went back to prison."

"What the hell is going on with her?" He heard Traci ask, more to herself than anyone else.

Sam sighed and hung his head. "That damn lion's heart."

And that's all for now, folks! Please let me know what you thought. :)