"So, you were presumably the last one to have seen him?"

Kris nodded, nervously picking at her nails as she sniffled. "When's the commander going to get here? I need to see her."

Julio placed a hand on hers to stop her from picking at her nails which had now started bleeding. "Go home, Kris. We've got this covered."

"When's Sharon getting here?" Kris repeated.

He sighed. "She's on the first flight back but we don't know when she will return."

Kris sighed, accepting his answer as she glanced up, wiping her tears. "He was going to see-"

"Detective Sanchez?"

Julio stood up, patting her shoulder before leaving the questioning room.

She quickly sent a text to Rory, telling him that something came up and that she'd need him to look after Lauren for a couple of hours but a part of her wondered why she was bothering to stay and wait.

Weren't she and Rusty hostile to each other? Weren't they on the brink of going to court regarding Lauren's paternal questioning?

Julio returned, unknowing of how to break the sudden news to her. "We've found him. He's at a hospital."

Kris looked up, her eyes wide as she rushed out the room and followed Sykes to her car.

"Wh-what happened?"

Sykes turned to her, starting the ignition. "When we get there, we want to question him first, make sure that there was no foul play but you will be able to see him after."

"If he's at the hospital then that must mean that he's hurt, right?" Kris asked, her eyes becoming watery. "I know that I haven't been his most favourite person at the moment but I still care about him. We went through a lot together. We have a past and hopefully... still a future."

...

Once Amy gave her the okay to see him, Kris brushed past her to enter the room.

"Oh, Rusty..." She hugged him tightly before stepping back to examine him. "You don't look to hurt..." she mumbled, brushing her thumb on a bruise on his forehead which made him back away, flinching in pain.

"I'm fine."

Kris sighed. "What happened?"

Rusty shrugged. "I was leaving to drive to the airport but Stroh's brother burst in. I found Mom's spare gun and just... I shot him. I thought he was dead but he'd only been knocked out when he fell. So, when he woke up a few seconds later, he grabbed me and forced me to drive him to a contact of his who could help him. He kept asking where you were. It was you he wanted."

"How did you escape him?"

"We crashed. I... I crashed on purpose. He's in intensive care now. He won't hurt you, or Lauren." He placed his hands on her cheeks, leaned their foreheads together. "You're safe."

Kris nodded. "For now, though. What happens when he wakes up?"

"I don't know. You need to go now. Rory would be wondering where you are." He let her go and got back into the bed, raising his knees to his chest. "Tell... T-Tell Lauren that her da- I'm fine."

Her breath hitched in her throat as she turned around to face him. "I will."

She slowly left the room, her heart pounding in her chest when she remembered the last time she'd been in this hospital. Where everything became a downward spiral of lies and heartbreak. Where she'd killed a man.

She hadn't told Rory much about her past. Only that her 'best friend' had got her pregnant but he was 'still' in her child's life. That was all that she was willing to tell her current partner. A part of her really liked him - loved him even but the thought of telling him that she had killed a man, who was her child's real father scared her. She didn't want him to ever see her and think of her as some deranged monster despite all that her torturer put her through.

Kris hated to admit it but Rory had once pointed out that Lauren looked nothing like Rusty with his blonde hair and his blue eyes. She had told him that her genes had dominated his but then Rory had told her that her mother was also blonde and she had blue eyes. It made her think about her mother but the DNA proof was finite. Her mom was her mom even with blonde hair and she had her father's brown features. But this was honestly alarming, Lauren looked absolutely nothing like her supposed father. Sure, some kids don't look like their parents but to Rory, it seemed as if she was born to a completely different set of parents. He had once asked her if she adopted her which insulted her but they had left the argument nonetheless.

She gave Amy a small smile and the latter responded with a gentle nod as she watched the brunette make her way to the lift and press the button downwards.

Her phone beeped in her pocket and she retrieved it, calling Rory.

"I'm fine. Look, I'm on my way home and... I'll explain everything."

...

In fact, it had taken her longer than expected to get home.

She had mysteriously thrown up just as she had exited the elevator, alerting an off-duty nurse to rush to her aid and whisk her away to get checked by personnel on duty.

They'd ask if she had anyone who could stay with her and she had called for Sykes and Rusty but only Amy had come.

That was when they had announced nervously that she was pregnant.

Her hands shook as she placed the keys where they were meant to be and sat down on the sofa, breathing heavily.

She knew the glances the doctors gave each other when they realised who she was. The one who gave their hospital a bad name. But she didn't care. She only cared about her children.

It was past eight in the morning and Lauren was due to wake up for breakfast. She had to get herself sorted.

"Kris?"

"Hey..." She smiled, yawning.

Rory sat beside her, placing a kiss on her lips. "Where have you been?"

Kris sighed, glancing down. "Sharon called. She was worried about Rusty and it turned out that she did have a right to worry."

"What happened to him?"

"He was kidnapped. I got to their house and there were clothes, glass and blood everywhere. It looked like something out of a horror film."

Rory nodded, taking her hand. "Did they find him?"

"Yeah. He saved himself. His mom taught him well. I saw him at the hospital and he was a bit bruised up and traumatised but he was fine. He will be fine."

"That took hours?"

"Yeah... Well, I then felt really unwell so I went to get myself checked out anyway." She had downplayed it. She had been feeling out of sorts lately, tired even and she had noticed herself sneaking naps and snacks more than usual. It wasn't exactly the same as she felt when she was expecting Lauren as she had been in a mental health ward and had been severely depressed in which she still even now needed to see a counsellor to help her through her past ordeals.

Rory placed the back of his hand on her head. "You don't feel warm or anything."

Swatting it away, she chuckled and shook her head 'no'. "That's not it. Rory... I'm pregnant."