"Well, all three of them will die."

It felt like Gene's mouth had been invaded with sawdust. Seeing Katherine hurt his children, their little faces stained with tears and hearing their whimpering cries was unbearable – but as was seeing Jack sexually assault his wife. He couldn't put her through that again.

"Yer know what," Gene growled, loading his gun threateningly, "I'm not quite feeling yer little arrangement there."

Katherine's malicious smile faltered. "What do yer mean?" she spat. "Yer get 'em all back for our freedom and Drake having his way. Or would you rather they died?"

"He is not touching Alex again!" Gene seethed determinedly. "And you, love, have three seconds to get yer hands off my kids or I'll shoot yer! No guilty consciences 'ere; you are not hurting Melody and Maxy!"

The atmosphere was frozen. All eyes were on Gene. Melody and Maxy had stopped whimpering, Katherine had let go of them, Alex had stopped squirming and Jack had stopped assaulting her. But then, Katherine broke the tension by pulling out her gun.

"Yer leave me no choice then," she sneered, making her move towards Maxy and Melody.

BANG.

There was a spine-chilling shot of a gun and a blood-curdling scream.

Maxy and Melody yelped as Katherine hit the floor with a thud, blood staining her top and her eyes wide in pain. Her gun clattered to the floor and then she was still.

Smoke surrounded Gene's gun as he lowered it angrily, swallowing as he looked at his dead ex-wife on the floor. She wouldn't be hurting anyone anymore.

Gene rushed forwards to his children, and hugged them dearly, planting brief kisses on their foreheads and quickly whispering for them to sit tight for just five more minutes whilst he dealt with Jack, but then –

"YOU BASTARD!"

The shrill and panicked scream of Jack Drake sliced through the air as he clutched Alex's harder, shaking in fear and shock.

"YOU KILLED HER!" Jack shrieked as Alex squeaked in pain.

"She was goin' ter kill my kids!" Gene roared. "And you'll get the same if yer don't let Alex go right now!"

"I don't think so," Jack spat, thrusting the gun harder against Alex's head, "your ex-wife was far enough away from your kids to shoot. Alex however…can you risk hitting her?"

"Gene, please!" Alex cried as Jack dug his fingers into her stomach hard.

Gene was paralysed. He had no idea what to do.

"I think you should watch this," Jack snarled evilly, "watch whilst I shag your wife…"

"NO!" Gene roared as Alex screamed. Still with the gun to her head, Jack pushed Alex onto one of the tables and clambered on top of her, pushing her skirt up to her waist and forcing her legs apart. Jack quickly sat up to undo his belt, removing the gun from Alex's head and giving Gene a clear shot.

Gene knew what he had to do. He was not witnessing this. He was not letting it happen again.

A second shot and gut-wrenching scream echoed throughout the room as Jack felt the bullet ripple through him. He toppled off Alex and onto the floor with a sickening thud, lifeless.

There was a moment of silence as Gene breathed deeply. It was over.

Then he was brought back to reality as a heart-wrenching sob erupted from Alex. Gene ran to her and gathered her in his arms, pulling her skirt down to its rightful position and clinging to her desperately.

It was only a matter of seconds before they both pulled away and ran to their children, untying them and soothing them and promising them that they were safe. That they would never be hurt again. Melody and Maxy clung to their parents, and the four of them were finally together again. United forever. Nothing would come between them.

----

It had been nearly two weeks since what had happened to the Hunt family. Maxy and Melody had been to some counselling to get over the trauma and they were now almost back to their chirpy old selves. However, Maxy now refused to play with guns and wanted to play ponies with his sister which Gene wasn't too pleased about. He was convinced Maxy would turn out gay, no matter how much Alex reminded him that he was only three years old and playing ponies after a trauma would certainly not influence his sexuality.

Gene and Alex were closer than ever after what had happened. The episode with Jack and Katherine had reminded them both just how much they loved each other and cared for each other. Gene's heroics back at the private school had shown Alex that her life was completely safe in Gene's hands, as was their children's.

But one evening when Gene was on his way home from CID and Melody and Maxy were in bed, Alex got the shock of her life as she flicked through programmes on the television.

Alex stifled a scream as she dropped the floor and crawled towards the television in shock.

"No, no, no, no, no, NO!" she whispered desperately.

Molly was in a small room. It looked like small private common room of a court. She was dressed in her school uniform and her hair tied up.

"Molls!" Alex gasped. "Molly, Molly, can you hear me?"

The door opened and a woman approached Molly, sitting down next to her.

"I don't want to go with him," Molly's voice crackled through the television, "he's never been there for me."

"What?" Alex frowned, gripping the television in confusion.

"Now Molly," said the woman, "he won the court case. Your godfather doesn't have enough support for you, not with his age and health. As your next legal guardian, you have to go with him."

"But don't I have a say?" Molly barked. "I don't want my dad. I want my mum."

"Dad?" Alex yelped. "What – no! No, no, NO!"

The screen flickered and cracked as the image of Molly and the woman faded. Then, Alex couldn't suppress her scream as she scrambled backwards in fear.

Jack Drake's face invaded the screen.

"I've got our Molly, Alex," Jack snarled.

"NO!" Alex wailed. "Oh God, please no!"

"I woke up from my coma," Jack grinned maliciously, "your brute of a husband brought me back. I'm back here. I'm in 2008. You may be safe from me, but your little girl isn't."