Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Hope you enjoy this update.

Grace went about hanging the laundry on the clothes line slowly. The longer she took to do it the longer she got to put off looking at that picture. She prayed that it wasn't John Ryder in the picture with Nathan. She turned from the clothes line and headed over to the garden table that was on their decked area. She was glad that there was enough light for her to see. Nick had placed it there so that she wouldn't have to bend to retrieve the clothing. She picked up one of Nick's Wal-Mart t-shirts and two pegs before she turned and headed back towards the clothes line. As she walked past the end of a large purple Buddleia bush a figure stepped out and blocked her path. She gasped as she looked up and saw a face that she wished that she would never see again. She dropped the t-shirt and pegs as the person in front of her grinned.

"Hello Gracie. Miss me?" John Ryder asked in a low tone.

Grace quickly turned and tried to hurry back to the house. It was no easy feat being seven months pregnant. She could hear him following her and opened her mouth to scream. As she did she felt a piece of cloth cover her mouth and an arm wrap around her neck, the hand resting on her shoulder. She struggled to free herself and discovered that the cloth was soaked with a sweet smelling liquid. She also discovered that she was becoming sleepy rather quickly. It was only a matter of moments before everything turned black.

~X~

"Grace is taking her time hanging the laundry out," Nick said as he frowned worriedly. Keith looked over at him. "I'm going to go and check on her."

"Maybe she's taking her time because she doesn't want to see if it is John Ryder or not." Keith suggested.

"I hope it's that and not anything else," Nick said as he sighed. He then headed out of the lounge and to the back door. He headed out into the garden and frowned when his eyes fell on the fabric that was on the grass. He headed over to it and saw that it was one of his t-shirts. He also noticed the pegs on the ground. He straightened and looked around. "Grace. Grace honey where are you?"

"Is everything okay?" Keith asked as he headed out of the back door.

"No," Nick said as panic began to set in. he held the t-shirt up to Keith as he spoke again. "This was on the floor and there's no sign of her. I have a bad feeling."

"Grace!" Keith yelled as he headed around the side of the house. He saw that the side gate was open. "Nick your gate is open."

"That was closed last night," Nick told him as they walked through the gate and to the front of the house. "I checked everything before we went to sleep. I'm kind of paranoid about security now."

"There's no sign of her Nick," Keith said worriedly. "I think you better call the cops."

"I already am." Nick replied as Keith faced him. He saw that Nick had his cell phone to his ear.

~X~

Nathan looked up from his new position as John came into his prison carrying a body. It took Nathan only seconds to recognize Grace. He shifted in the chair he had been tied to and muttered an expletive into his gag as John placed her into the chair that faced Nathan. He didn't do it gently either. Nathan saw the way her head sagged forward and prayed that she wasn't dead. John then proceeded to tie her to the chair exactly how Nathan was tied. Once she was securely fastened to the chair, John pushed it forward until Grace and Nathan's knees were touching.

"What's it like having some female company after all this time?" John asked Nathan as he moved Grace's hair out of her face. "She really is stunning isn't she? Didn't even put up much of a fight when I caught up with her in her garden when she was hanging laundry out. If you carry on being a good boy I might consider letting you have her to yourself for an hour."

Nathan muttered something against his gag in response as he frowned at John's words. John looked at Nathan as he did and grinned. He then walked around the chairs until he was behind Nathan, before he ripped the tape from Nathan's face. Nathan winched as he did and John laughed.

"What did you say?" he asked Nathan. "I didn't quite catch it."

"I said you're sick," Nathan said in a disgusted tone. "I would never touch her like that!"

"Like what?" John asked as he smirked. "I never said that you had to touch her did I? I said you could have her to yourself. You obviously want to touch her. And I can't really blame you."

"I don't want to touch her," Nathan replied. "She's my friend."

"Well if you don't want her to yourself for an hour that means I have more time to have some fun with her." John said, knowing that it would wind Nathan up.

"Leave her alone," Nathan said in a low, pissed off tone. "She's pregnant for God's sake."

"So she is. Very pregnant in fact," John agreed. He then pulled a thoughtful expression. "I wonder how long it is until she's giving birth. Do you know?"

"No I don't and even if I did I wouldn't tell you." Nathan replied as he continued to struggle against his bonds. He could feel the plastic ties digging into the flesh of his wrists as he did.

"What do I keep telling you about back chatting?" John asked as he slapped Nathan around the face hard. Nathan's lower lip split under the impact of John's knuckle. Nathan then glared at John, right before a moan came from Grace. John's attention immediately moved to her. "Well it looks like somebody is waking up."

John walked back over to her and stood at her side as he grinned evilly down at her. She continued to stir as she woke from the black void that the chloroform has caused. As her eyes fluttered open she saw Nathan and she frowned. She saw his boxer short clad form and the numerous cuts that covered his pale skin. Her eyes fluttered closed briefly before they opened again.

"Nathan?" she asked in a hoarse voice, her senses not completely returned. "What?"

"Hello Gracie," John said as he bent slightly so that his face filled her vision. "Wakey, wakey!"

"Oh my God!" Grace whispered as her eyes widened and sense returned with a vengeance. "How did you-?"

"Find you?" John finished as he cut her off. "It was an amazing stroke of luck when I ran into Nathan here. I was watching his house to try and get hold of that hot wife of his, but I found you instead. It felt like I'd won the lottery."

"Why did that damn gun have to jam on me?" Grace muttered to herself as she glared at John.

"Careful Gracie," John warned her in a low tone. "Do you really want to wind me up in your condition? Who knows what I'll do to your baby."

"You probably already did something to my son with that stuff you knocked me out with!" Grace snapped as she began to struggle against the ties on her wrist.

"A boy huh?" John said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "When are you due? I hope it's not too long."

"I'm not telling you!" Grace replied defiantly.

"Well I guess I'll just have to make sure not to do anything too bad to you so you'll be around for a while," John told her. "Then when you've given birth you're going to watch as I have some fun. Do you remember that family who picked me up after our first meeting? Do you remember what I did to them?"

"Shut up!" Grace told him as tears stung her eyes. She couldn't bear the thought of him doing anything to her baby.

"Touch a nerve did I?" John asked as he chuckled sinisterly. "I did the math and it's pretty obvious that Jimmy boy isn't the father. It didn't take you long to move on to another man Gracie. You obviously couldn't have loved Jimbo that much is you're having another man's baby already. And looking at the rocks on a certain finger makes me believe that you're married. Again that didn't take you long. Jim would be turning in his grave; well he would if he had his legs."

"Leave her alone!" Nathan yelled as he glared at John. He could see how his words were upsetting Grace.

"You're lucky that I have plans that require you to be alive the way you keep speaking to me," John told him as he glared at him. "Otherwise you would have been dead days ago."

"Changed the way you do things have you?" Grace asked in a disgusted tone as she tried to calm herself. "Now you hitch rides with people and keep them alive to torture them for weeks?"

"It's called adaptation Gracie," John replied as he moved his attention back to her. "I've learnt it's better to take my time with the games now than rush them. And the reason why I haven't killed Nathan yet is because you and him are going to start a new game very shortly. And it's going to be my best game yet."

"What are you going to do?" Nathan asked. A feeling of dread overcame him at John's revelation.

"Don't worry, you'll both find out soon. I have some last minute preparations that I need to do," John told them as he chuckled evilly. He eyed Grace as he spoke and added. "The first one I have to do is have Gracie here in more suitable attire. She's got far too many clothes on for what I have planned."

Grace gave Nathan a worried look as John headed over to where he had his kit sat. He picked up the same shears he had used to cut Nathan's clothes from him and made his way back over to Grace. Grace saw Nathan swallow as John came back over. Within seconds, her maternity dress was in tatters around her and she was sat in just her underwear. John took her remaining shoe off and threw it onto the pile of Nathan's ruined clothing. Her other shoe had fallen off before he had sat her in his car. Her dress then followed the shoe. Grace was glad that she hadn't chosen to wear her lacy underwear and had chosen to wear a more practical set; otherwise she would have been beyond humiliated. John then took the opportunity to study her before he spoke.

"Hope you're sitting comfortably there Gracie," he said in a tone that made her skin crawl. "I'll leave you and Nathan alone to catch up. I need to finish preparations for our little game."

With that, John left the room and switched the lights off leaving Nathan and Grace in the dark.

~X~

"And your wife is pregnant?" the police officer asked Nick after he had finished writing in his note book.

"Yeah, she's seven months pregnant," Nick replied in a worried tone. "We're having a son and we've named him Ben. He's due in October."

"What was she wearing?"

"Uh, she had a blue knee length summer dress on," Nick began as he visualized Grace in her outfit. "And a pair of black flats on."

"What color blue was the dress? Did it have a pattern?" the officer asked him. "What style shoe was she wearing?"

"It was a plain navy blue dress. It was like a tank top but a dress," Nick answered. "Her shoes were those ones that look like ballet slippers with a bow on the front. She'd put some insoles into them for extra comfort because her feet and ankles keep swelling up."

"Was she wearing any jewelry?"

"Her wedding and engagement ring," Nick told the officer. "And a pair of diamond stud earrings I bought her when we found out about the baby."

"So she went out to hang the laundry out before you were going to look at a picture to see if you recognized the hitch hiker that Nathan Scott picked up?" the officer read to confirm that he had written the correct story. "And you heard nothing out of the ordinary but went to see why she was taking so long?"

"No I heard nothing," Nick replied. "When I got outside I saw one of my shirts on the floor and some clothes pegs. Then Keith came out and he found that the side gate was open. But I'd made sure that it was closed and locked the night before."

"We've found something that we need Mr. Davis to look at," another officer said as she came into the room. Nick looked over to her at the sound of her voice. He saw that she had something in an evidence bag as she walked over to him. "Does this belong to your wife?"

"Yeah," Nick said after he had studied the shoe that was in the clear, plastic bag, complete with insole. He swallowed over the lump that formed in his throat as tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "Where was it?"

"It was on the curb a few houses down." she replied softly as he continued to look at the shoe. He frowned as he noticed something that hadn't been on the shoe when Grace had it on her foot.

"That scuff mark wasn't there before," he told them. "And that red mark wasn't either."

"Get that to the lab and get it looked at," a detective said as he came into Nick and Grace's lounge. "I want the results of whatever the red mark is ASAP."

"Please tell me that you're not waiting the standard 24 hours before you start looking for her." Nick said as he looked at the detective. Keith and Karen came into the house as he did.

"I'm going to forego that on this occasion," the detective told him. "Given your wife's description and current condition I'm making it a priority that we find her. Especially taking into account recent events that have involved females that almost match her description perfectly."

"You don't think it's the same person who has killed those other women do you?" Karen asked in a horrified tone.

"We're not ruling out any road of investigation at the moment," the detective told them. "I've spoken to Mr. Hargrove and he's shown me everything he's discovered about Nathan and the picture that he wanted Mrs. Davis to look at. I'm going to take it back to the station with me and see what is on the system for John Ryder. As soon as I find anything I'll call you and let you know."

~X~

"I don't know what is freaking me out the most," Nick said as he paced in Karen and Keith's living room. "The fact that Grace is missing, there's a psycho on the loose that is murdering women who look like Grace or that they're not ruling out John Ryder."

"Nick, the detective said they were exploring every angle." Keith told him as he watched Nick run a hand through his hair in frustration.

"This may sound weird but I hope that it is John Ryder who has Grace and Nathan." Haley said from her spot on the sofa. Nick, Karen and Keith turned to look at her like she was insane.

"What?!" Nick asked in disbelief. "You can't be serious with that comment."

"I am," Haley told him. "And I say that because Grace managed to get away from him once. She can do it again. And she'll have Nathan with her."

"There are several flaws with your plan," Nick told her, unable to believe what he was hearing. "One, Grace wasn't seven months pregnant when she had the misfortune to run into him. Two, everybody,except for Grace, who crossed that psycho's path, was dead within hours if not minutes. And three, what makes you so sure that Nathan is still alive if John Ryder has him?"

"Hope," Haley replied as her eyes filled with tears. "Hope that he's got Nathan and he's kept him alive for all this time as part of some twisted game he wants to play. And if I don't have that hope then I have nothing to help me get through this Nick. And if I have nothing to help myself get through this then how the hell am I supposed to help my son get through this?

"At least you get to hold your son," Nick told her as his own eyes filled with tears. He couldn't stop them from falling down his face as he continued speaking. "I might never get that. And if I do he may not be alive. But if John Ryder does have Grace that sick, twisted freak would more than likely make it so that I never know where my son is."

"Nick let me tell you something," Haley said after a few moments of silence. "If he has Grace again, I can guarantee you that she will fight harder than the last time to get away from him. And you know why? Because she has your son to keep safe this time. That alone will give her that extra bit of strength to get away."

"How can you be so sure of that Hales?" Nick asked as he began to sob. Haley got out of her seat and went over to him. She gathered him into a comforting hug as she reached him.

"Because you have to be strong to be a mother," she told him softly. "And with Grace having the strength to survive him once and to be the only one to survive, she's going to have a ton more to keep your baby safe."

"But what if she's incapable?" Nick asked as his sobs grew in volume. Karen and Keith watched the exchange as they tried to keep their own tears in.

"Then if he does have Nathan, Nathan will keep them safe." Haley told him as the front door opened and Kay, Dean, Carly and Sam came into the house.

"Is it true?" Kay asked as tears slipped down her cheeks. Karen and Keith nodded and Kay turned to face her husband and fell into his arms sobbing. Carly went over to where her brother was being comforted.

"We'll find them okay?" she said as she stroked his back gently. "We'll get my sister in law and nephew back in one piece."

"I hope to God that you're right Carly," Nick said as he separated from Haley. "If I lose them then my life is over."

"Have the cops found anything yet?" Sam asked.

"We've not heard anything." Karen told him.

"They even have Andy helping them," Keith added as he sighed. "I just wish that this whole thing was over."

"Don't we all." Dean asked as he continued to comfort Kay.

~X~

Grace and Nathan clamped their eyes closed against the harsh light as it suddenly illuminated their prison. The door opened as they blinked to let their eyes adjust and John Ryder strolled in with his usual cocky smirk on his lips. He had two bottles of water and two sandwiches which looked like he had purchased them from a gas station. John closed and locked the door before he headed over to where his prisoners were sat. He placed the sandwiches and water onto the table he had Nathan tied to before. He then produced a knife from his pocket. He pressed the switch and the blade shot out. He then headed behind Nathan and cut the ties on his wrists before doing the same to Grace. He was surprised that neither of them had spoken to him yet.

"I brought you two some lunch," he said as he handed them each a sandwich and bottle of water. "Don't want you dying of starvation before we have the chance to have some fun now do we?"

"I can't eat this," Grace said as she saw that her sandwich was tuna mayo. She felt her stomach turn. "It'll only come straight back up."

"I'll swap," Nathan told her. "I have a BLT."

"Hope you don't mind tuna." She said as they swapped sandwiches.

"I love tuna." Nathan replied as he gave her a slight smile.

"Isn't this cozy?" John said as he chuckled. "What's the matter Gracie? I take it the baby won't let you eat certain thing?"

"I'm allergic to tuna dumbass." She told him as she rolled her eyes. John was immediately behind her, gripping her hair painfully.

"Watch your tone with me!" he bellowed into her ear. He shouted so loudly she could hear ringing afterwards. His free hand then stroked over her swollen belly. "If you piss me off too much Gracie, you'll be having an emergency c-section this afternoon. Now if you don't want that you'll have to apologize."

"I'm sorry," Grace said almost instantly. "Don't hurt him."

"I'll do whatever the hell I please," he told her as his hand stroked up her bump towards her chest. Nathan watched the direction his hand was taking and his jaw clenched in anger as he moved his ankles against his restraints. He wanted to be free so he could stop John before he went through with his sick plans. He tried to free his ankles with a renewed energy when he saw John squeeze Grace's breasts roughly and she cried out in pain. "They're so much bigger than I remember from when we were in bed in the motel room."

"Leave her alone!" Nathan said in a menacing tone. John moved to look at him but continued his actions.

"Nathan do you really need to keep being reminded about how you should behave in here?" John asked him. "In fact I'm so sick of having to remind you that from now on if you back chat me, Grace will be the one to suffer the consequence. Got it?"

"Got it." Nathan said in an un-amused tone.

"Now for that little outburst Grace will just have to put up with me doing this until she finishes her sandwich as the punishment," John said as he chuckled. Grace quickly tore open the sandwich packaging and began to devour the sandwich. She finished it in record time and she was surprised when John stayed true to his word. She scowled at him as he moved so that he was stood by their knees. "See that wasn't too bad was it? And by the way Gracie, if you have any urges to back chat then Nathan shall be punished. Clear?"

"Yes." She snapped as she opened her water and drank.

"Good," John replied. "Who needs a bathroom break?"

~X~

"Seriously the fucking toilet is a bucket?!" Grace asked Nathan as John left them alone once again. However, he left the light on for them this time. They were again secured to the chairs facing each other, only this time John had tied their legs together from the knees down using more of the plastic ties that were around their wrists.

"Seriously," Nathan replied. "I'm just glad I didn't need assistance like you did."

"That was so humiliating," Grace said as her face turned red once again. "He had a clear view of everything. It makes me want to throw up just thinking about it."

"That guy is seriously fucked up in the head," Nathan said as he struggled against the fresh cable tie around his wrists. "Did he hurt the baby?"

"I don't think so. Although he did put something on a cloth that knocked me out. I just hope that hasn't hurt him," Grace said as she looked down at her swollen belly. "How about you? What has he done to you?"

"Where do you want me to start?" Nathan asked.

"The beginning," Grace told him. "It might help me come up with a plan to get us out of here."

"I doubt that's ever going to happen Grace," Nathan said in a dejected tone. "I've been trying to get out of here since he brought me here. But I can't even get out of these damn cable ties."

"Nathan you can't give up," Grace told him. "Haley and Jamie need you. Hell you should see the amount of people we have looking for you."

"Who?" Nathan asked curious.

"Well besides Haley, your parents, Dan, Deb, Peyton, Julian, me and Nick," Grace began. "We also have my Godfather Andy who is a private detective, my sister Kay and her husband Dean and Nick's twin sister Carly and Dean's brother Sam. Not to mention your friends from Tree Hill and people who know your parents."

"Seriously? People who don't even know me are looking for me?" Nathan asked in a shocked tone. Grace nodded. "Wow."

"See, so don't give up," Grace told him. "Now start at the beginning."

"Well there was an accident and stupid me ended up agreeing to give psycho man a ride so he could get home to his kids. Only when I got driving he started acting all weird and then he stabbed my in my left thigh," Nathan told her as he forced himself to think back. "He said all this weird shit and I pulled the car over and told him to get out. Oh he had a gun to my head as well and I managed to grab it, but then he twisted the knife that was in my leg and hit me over the head with the gun and things got a little hazy for a while."

"Let me guess he asked you to say I want to die." Grace said in a haunted tone.

"Yeah." Nathan replied as he gave her a surprised look.

"That's the same thing that he wanted Jim to say," Grace told him. "Right before he pulled me into the front of the car and held a knife to my eye."

"Jesus!" Nathan muttered in shock.

"He probably stabbed you in the thigh so that you couldn't kick him out of the car like Jim did." Grace said.

"Probably." Nathan agreed.

"What else did he do?" Grace asked as she looked at his scarred torso.

"He cut my clothes off me while I was tied to that concrete table thing over there," Nathan said as he looked over. Grace copied his actions and grimaced as she saw the dried on blood that was on the concrete construction that looked like a workbench. "Then he got a scalpel and cut me up before he poured high strength peroxide all over me."

"Ouch." Grace said as she grimaced.

"It gets worse." Nathan told her.

"Of course it does." She replied with a sigh.

"He cuts the soles of my feet with razor blades," Nathan told her. "Then he made me walk around on this damn floor. It hurt like a bitch."

"I'm not surprised," Grace said as she looked at the rough stone floor and saw dried on blood in the shape of footprints. "Do any of your wounds feel infected?"

"They've not had the chance to get infected," Nathan told her. "He has a large supply of that damn peroxide."

"He burnt your car out," Grace told him. "Your dad came and told us that the cops had found it. He then said that they had a picture of your passenger from a traffic cam and your dad and Andy wanted me to go look at it and see if it was John Ryder. Only I never got the chance because he grabbed me when I was hanging the laundry out."

"Unbelievable! I just finished paying for that damn car!" Nathan said in an annoyed tone. "But I guess I should count my blessings. At least I'm not like those girls he brought back here."

"Girls?" Grace asked. It then dawned on her. "Oh my God! He's the one who's been kidnapping girls that look like me."

"Yeah he is," Nathan confirmed. "He made me watch while he did stuff to them."

"What kind of stuff?" Grace found herself asking.

"Trust me you don't want to know," Nathan said as he felt the nausea build in his stomach. "I lost track of the amount of times I puked until I was dry heaving."

"It must have been bad then," Grace mumbled. "I saw some pretty fucked up things that he did when he was after me and Jim but I don't remember puking. Not even after he ripped Jim in half. I think I was too numb."

"Trust me it was severely fucked up," Nathan said as he shook his head to dispel the images that had suddenly over taken his brain. "The worst part is I can still hear their screams as he did what he did. Then they begged him to kill them. All of them said I want to die. That was the only way they could end what he was doing. And I couldn't do anything to stop him. I should have tried something when my hands were free. I just wish he left something near me that I could reach and use as a weapon."

"Likewise," Grace agreed as she gave up trying to struggle against the cable tie. "We will get out of here though Nathan. We'll have a stroke of luck at some point and then we'll finally be out of this hell hole."

"God I hope so," Nathan replied. He then smiled as he asked. "Did the baby just kick then?"

"Yeah he did," Grace answered. "How do you know?"

"I saw it," Nathan told her. "So you're having a boy huh? You thought of any names?"

"Yep he's a boy and he's going to be called Benjamin William Davis," Grace told him. "I just hope that I manage to keep him safe."

"I'll help you make sure he stays safe," Nathan promised her. "I don't know how but I will."

"Thanks Nathan." Grace replied gratefully as the door opened again and John came in.

They looked over towards the door and saw that he was dragging an object through it. Both swallowed harshly as they saw it was a wooden version of the concrete table that was already in the room. John continued pulling it into the room and then pushed it over towards the concrete table so it was adjacent to it. Nathan and Grace shared an uneasy look as he did. He then went out of the room and came back in moments later with a large sheet of corrugated metal. It looked like it had been taken from the roof of an outbuilding. John then placed it onto the wooden table and began to secure it to the top, almost deafening Grace and Nathan with the cordless power tools. Once he had finished, he turned to look at his prisoners and grinned evilly as he said.

"Let the game begin."