Victor groaned in pain as he sat up, turning his head to see Allison's lifeless body lying next to him. Slowly, he reached his hand out and pressed two fingers into the artery on her neck to feel for a pulse. Pulling his fingers back, he smiled.

"I gotta admit, Natalie, you're a hell of a shot," Victor said, shaking his head as he looked at Natalie, who was now leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Certainly a lot better than Todd."

"She's…she's dead?" Natalie asked skeptically.

Victor nodded. "No pulse and no breathing. That's dead in my book."

"I can't believe it," Natalie said, her shock evident in her voice. "She's really gone. All these years, and she's finally gone."

"Yeah, and now we better hightail it out of here too," Victor said, trying to push himself up off the floor. "Shit. Come here and give me a hand."

Natalie gasped as she limped over toward him and saw the blood on his shit. "Oh God, you're shot! I didn't do that, did I?"

Victor shook his head. "The gun went off when we were struggling. I'll be fine, it takes more than a bullet to get me down. Now give me a hand, would you?"

Natalie nodded and grabbed his outstretched arm. A few minutes later, after much effort on both their parts, she and Victor were finally both standing in the middle of the basement.

"Now what?" Natalie asked.

"Well, we can sit around and wait for Looney Tunes's hired muscle to come down here and find us," Victor said. "Or we could go with plan B and go out that window over there."

"Wouldn't the stairs be easier?" Natalie asked, looking up at the dusty window in the corner.

"Sure, until we got to the top and ran into whoever else is here," Victor said. "I don't know about you, but even with that gun, I'm not really in any condition to get in another fight today."

Natalie nodded. "I guess you've got a point. Window it is…but if I freeze to death out in that snow, I'm coming back to haunt you."

"If you freeze to death out there, I probably will too," Victor said. "You can't haunt someone who's already dead."

"Let's not test that theory, alright?" Natalie said, standing below the window and staring up at it. "Alright genius, how exactly do you propose we get up there?"

John frowned as he steered his car around yet another bend in the gravel road. "Are you sure we're going the right direction?" he asked, glancing over at Jessica.

"How should I know? This is the road that's on the map, that's all I know," Jessica said.

"We should be there by now," John said impatiently, tapping the steering wheel as he pressed down on the accelerator again.

"Hey, ease up there, alright?" Jessica suggested. "I want to get there as fast as possible too, but I'd also prefer to get there alive. I don't think we're going to be much help to Natalie if you flip this car taking the next turn. And we're close, I can feel it."

"I know," John agreed. "I just hope we're not too late, that's all."

Jessica nodded. "Is that it up on the hill there?"

"It's got to be," John said, swerving the car off the road and parking behind a cluster of trees.

"What are you doing?" Jessica asked in confusion when he killed the engine and started to unbuckle his seat belt.

"You didn't think we were going to just drive up and ring the doorbell, did you?" John asked. "If Allison's in there and she sees us coming, there's no telling what she'll do."

"Alright, well then what's our plan?"

John sighed as he grabbed his gun and stuck it in a holster around his waist. "You're staying in the car, Jessica. We have no idea what we're up against here. It's too dangerous for you."

"Like hell I'm staying in the car," Jessica snapped, quickly unbuckling her seat belt and jumping out after John. "Seriously, it's like you think I'm a child or something."

John sighed and shook his head. "I don't have an extra piece for you."

"That's good, I'm not all that fond of guns anyway."

"Fine," John conceded. "You keep quiet and you keep behind me. If I say run, you run. If I say duck, you duck. If I…"

"Again with the child talk!" Jessica protested.

"Jessica, this isn't a game," John said seriously.

"You think I don't know that? There's a crazy woman in that house holding my sister hostage," Jessica pointed out. "Now are you going to stand here arguing with me, or are we going to go get her out of there?"

Natalie let out a breath of relief as she turned around and looked at the house a few feet behind her.

"You taste that?" Victor asked, leaning heavily against a nearby tree.

"Taste what?" Natalie asked, turning back to her uncle.

"Fresh air," Victor said, his grin mixed with a grimace of pain that Natalie knew he was trying to cover up. "I wasn't sure I'd breathe that in again."

"Yeah, well, let's not get cocky here," Natalie said. "We've got to get moving and find some help before you bleed to death, or before we both freeze to death. We're not exactly dressed for winter, in case you hadn't noticed."

Victor glanced down at the thin shirts they were both wearing. "Yeah, I noticed. Alright, let's go."

Natalie nodded as she helped him up again and they slowly started making their way away from the house.

"Can I ask you a question?" Natalie asked a few minutes later, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them.

"You're going to anyway, so you might as well get it over with," Victor said.

"Why did you help me?" Natalie asked. "When Allison dumped me in the basement, you probably saved my life. And as soon as I unlocked your shackle, you could have taken off and left me, but you stuck around. Why?"

Victor shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe I felt like I owed you one, you know, for the whole paternity thing I didn't tell you about," Victor said. "Now we're even."

"I don't buy that," Natalie said. "You could have let Allison shoot me, but instead you got shot trying to stop her. You don't even like me, Victor. Why would you risk your life for me? It doesn't make sense."

"If it had been me she was going to shoot, you would have done the exact same thing," Victor pointed out.

"Well yeah, but I'm a better person than you are," Natalie said. "So what's your excuse?"

Victor sighed. "Do you really think I could go home and be the guy who let his niece get killed? You think Viki could have ever forgiven me for that?"

"She's forgiven you for a lot of terrible things in the past."

Victor shook his head. "No, she's forgiven Todd for a lot of terrible things. She doesn't even know Victor, why should she forgive him?"

"I'm not following," Natalie said in confusion.

"Look, Todd has a reputation. When I thought I was Todd, people expected me to screw up and do horrible things," Victor said. "People expect to have to forgive Todd for screwing up. Hell, they've probably already forgiven him for killing me. But me…I don't even know who Victor is, so how should anyone else? There's no history there. Why should they care enough to forgive me?"

"Oh my God," Natalie muttered as the realization hit her. "You're actually afraid that we're going to go home to Llanview and no one's going to love you."

"Can you blame me?" Victor asked. "They had all of, what, twenty minutes to get used to me as Victor before I died. There's no bond there."

"Man up, Victor, you'll be fine," Natalie said. "And for the record, the only person who's really even started to forgive Todd for killing you is Starr. Everyone stood up for him at first when he was saying he didn't do it, and then when it came out that he did and he tried to frame Tomas…well, it didn't exactly win him any supporters. As for Victor…you'd be surprised what being dead can do for a guy's reputation. You're practically a saint at this point. Trust me, you'll be welcomed back with open arms."

"A saint? Seriously?"

"Don't let it go to your head, five minutes with an alive you and the rose-colored glasses will disappear."

Victor laughed, grimacing as his abs clenched in protest. "Okay, laughing's not so good with a bullet in your side."

Natalie sighed and nodded. "Come on, let's keep moving. There's got to be civilization out here somewhere."