When they woke up the next morning, they didn't speak a word to each other. Peter couldn't bear it when he found himself getting on the highway south onto Interstate 95...the road to Jacksonville. Olivia struggled to sleep, but it was of no use as they drove for the most of the day.

As they got closer and closer to their destination, Hope was getting more frustrated.

"What's wrong now?"

"I really don't know," said Olivia. "I thought she just wanted to be held but now I can't sense anything. Can you?"

Peter looked to the road. "I'm not getting anything."

With each passing hour, Hope was crying more frequently and was the cause for several long stops along the trip. Peter didn't want to tell Olivia but he had that funny feeling that just maybe Hope knew what was happening to her and where they were going. But that wasn't possible for a baby only a few days old to be THAT aware, was it? Soon enough, the decision to leave his daughter with Olivia's relatives was starting to scare Peter more and more. What if they didn't keep her? What if Walternate tracked down the baby in Jacksonville?

They were both beyond exhausted and frustrated. "It's getting late. I think we should find a motel for the night."

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked.

"We won't get anywhere close to Jacksonville until tomorrow. You're exhausted. I'm exhausted. We should get ourselves some decent sleep tonight considering what we're doing."

The baby eventually calmed down once they settled into their roach-infested motel room but she still made it troublesome for her parents to let them sleep right away. Peter stepped out of the room to get some fresh air hoping to ease the tension between him and the girls. By the time he was outside, perhaps Olivia would finally get some sleep.

Peter walked to the other side of the building to the vending machines to get food but sensed something was wrong, as if there was an unusual presence here. He stopped and listened. There was someone on the other side of the vending machines...someone that Peter feared knew him.

He didn't know what to do other than to charge at the stranger before he got to him, or Olivia, or the baby first. But the stranger suddenly faced him and fired something at him. Whatever it was, it was so incredibly painful as Peter was forced to the ground. The strange man in the dark suit looked over Peter and Peter knew it was the end. 'Don't take them,' his mind was screaming. 'Don't take them, please.'

"I'm not here for them," said the man.

Peter looked up in bewilderment. The man knew what Peter was thinking. "I know what you plan to do and I am here to tell you it is a mistake. Your bond with the girl is special. It has broken the limits of human potential and has opened the door for eternal possibilities. The child is proof of that. She must be with her mother and father or the power of the bond will be weakened."

"But how can I...how can Olivia? We're not ready for this. And my father..."

"If he takes the girls, all will be lost. The bond must remain intact if you're to begin healing both worlds."

"And how am I supposed to that?"

"You must be a father and she must be a mother. There is no other way." September looked up towards the direction of Peter and Olivia's room. "Someone is coming. You must go to them, now."

Peter rolled over to his side and pushed himself up. The pain was surprisingly fading. But as he looked back, the man in the suit was gone. He started walking back to the hotel room and the same bad feeling start to fill his gut.

He started running faster.

Olivia thought she would finally get some decent sleep since the birth of her child. But she was being plagued with terrible visions in her mind and a very uneasy feeling.

She heard shuffling at the door and thought it was Peter unlocking the door to let himself him. Of course, the noise caused the baby to cry, so Olivia rolled over with her back to the door hoping to drown out the noise. But suddenly, the door burst open causing Olivia to scramble from the bed. Two men entered the room and one grabbed Olivia by the hair and dragged her out of the motel room and into the nearby woods. She could hear the baby still in the motel room and was at a loss as she was unable to help her.

Peter got back to the motel room and jumped on the intruder as soon as he saw him. What he didn't expect was for the intruder to be so strong. It felt like metal as Peter swung a punch at him. They found themselves wrestling each other to the ground. And Peter fought back with everything he could but the intruder was just too strong.

It was a losing battle. Soon, Peter was struck to the ground and could barely move. The man went for Hope, who was lying on the bed, but just as he was about to lay a hand on her, a massive force sent him flying out of the motel room. Peter suddenly found the strength to get back up. He hurried over to Hope and took the child outside.

The other man had dragged Olivia far into the woods and dropped Olivia to the ground as he rushed to set up a series of tripods. Peter arrived at the scene with baby Hope in his arms.

"No Peter! Run!"

"I'm not leaving you, Olivia."

The ground began to shake and Peter struggled to pull Olivia away as a shimmering glow began to appear within the series of tripods. The man pursued the trio as they attempted to escape the woods.

Olivia knew that she was slowing her family down. "Leave me, Peter. Get Hope away from here"

But Peter would not listen. The man was getting closer and Hope was crying more furiously than ever. A sudden breeze began to pick up from the shimmering glow. Peter could see that it was a mirror to the other world. The man took two more steps and suddenly flew backwards. Peter got down and held onto Olivia as the man was sucked into the shimmering glow that a few seconds later would suddenly vanish.

Peter, Olivia, and Hope lied still until everything was calm again. They looked back to find themselves all alone. "We have to get outta here," said Peter.

They hurried back to their motel room to pack, but just out in the parking lot, they were stunned to the find the body of the first man. He lied dead in the middle of the parking lot with his head splattered, except what came out wasn't blood. It was a silvery substance, almost like mercury.

"Peter...who were these guys?"

"I don't know."

They hurried like mad to get out of their hotel room and drive away.

...

The hybrid soldier realized he had been pushed back to the other reality without his partner or the ones he was supposed to capture. The report went back to Walternate. The child was proving to be more powerful and more of a threat and he immediately doubled the amount of hybrid soldiers they had at their disposal.

"It'll take a week to get that many soldiers made and out there," said the assistant.

"Then I suggest you get started now and have the ones we do have on hand over there." He looked at the map of where the attempted capture took place somewhere along the coast between the two Carolinas. "I want every inch of the surrounding area swarmed with them before they have any chance of escaping."

...

Peter had stayed up the whole night sitting on top of the Vista. They had run out of gas along the beach and Olivia was sleeping with Hope in the back. The sun would rise soon and by then, surely someone would drive by and offer assistance.

"Peter?" Olivia crawled out the back with Hope in her arms.

"You okay?" asked Peter.

"I'm still scared," she said.

"You know, I think a nice walk on the beach will help." He took Olivia by the hand and they walked down to the beach towards the water. "Peter, what happened back there...at the motel?"

"As far as I know," Peter said. "...those guys were after you...and Hope. I don't know how, but I think she saved our lives."

Olivia could feel Hope clinging to her mother just a little bit tighter than before and it brought tears to Olivia's eyes. "Olivia, we can't let her be apart from us. She needs to be with her real mommy and daddy. She's just that special." Peter sighed. "I know this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't…if I..."

"It's not your fault, Peter. I don't regret what we did. I mean, I'm still scared by what's happening because of it, but I love you...I wanted you to be my first...my only..."

Peter wrapped an arm around her, silently cursing Walter for never teaching him about condoms or safe sex. "I love you and I love our baby, Olivia...because she was created by our love. That's why all of this things are happening to us. I know it's scary but at the same time it's beautiful. I don't want to give that up. I don't wanna lose our child."

"It all happened so fast," said Olivia as she gave the child over to Peter. "I'm not ready..."

"Hold her hand, Olivia."

Olivia shrugged at the request and reached out for Hope's little hand for the first time, feeling all the energy that connected her to her daughter. She could feel Peter picking up her other hand and soon the energy was flowing through all three of them. They were one. Her connection to her own child was strengthened then. She now knew that the energy, created by her and Peter when they made love, was now stored inside her little girl. Hope was now the physical link between her mother and father.

Olivia let go of both Peter and Hope's hand and she could still feel some of the energy flowing. She became overwhelmed. "Peter..."

"It's okay, Olivia."

"I heard her...in my head. When I held Hope's hand, I heard her voice."

"What did she say?"

"She said 'please don't leave me, mommy'." Olivia took Hope into her arms again. "Don't worry baby girl. You're going to stay right here with your mommy and daddy. I'm so sorry."

Peter led Olivia and their daughter back to the car as the sun was now shining across the beach. As they saw the Vista in the distance, they could see two men in suits filling the tank with gas. "It's okay," said Peter. "I think we can trust them."

The two men had gotten into their sedan and were gone by the time they got there. Peter noticed that they had left a note on the windshield as Olivia and the baby were getting into the car.

'More are coming. Hide them in the mountains.'

Peter was unsure if it was meant to be cryptic or literal. Still, he would follow their directions, hoping that the mysterious men were truly on their side.