Chapter 35 – Sam

Nic immediately ran over to me, and I bent down and hugged her tight. Michael bent down and hugged both of us together, both of us checking she was okay. She still had a bandage around her head but it didn't detract anything from her. I could hear Joe and Ella talking to Lily on the other side of the room as well.

'Oh, Nic,' I whispered, hugging her so tight. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes, Mummy, I missed you,' Nic whispered in tears.

'You're not hurt, are you?' Michael asked her and she shook her head before grinning at him, hugging him. He immediately picked her up, resting her on his hip where she rested her head against him. I stood back up, my hand of Nic's back. I noticed the bandage around her head, but it looked like a fresh bandage. That would be the cut the boys were on about at base that she got at home when she was kidnapped. Someone did take care of her, then. I looked over at Ella and Joe, who was holding Lily in their arms. They were both talking to her, before Ella looked up and checked on Nic. I nodded at her and she smiled slightly. She nodded too – so Lily was fine as well.

We then turned our attention to the agents who had brought them down. Both of them were tall – about the same height as Michael, with dark brown hair and pale skin, bright green eyes. They both looked between Michael, and then Ella, and back to Michael, and finally Ella before they looked at each other. All the boys wondered their behaviour and I heard one of the Benedict's click their magazine in their guns behind – did that mean they changed to real bullets? I looked over at Zed and Will, who both had the gun trained on the two men. There was something about Zed that raised alarms – he was the one who was getting ready to shoot.

'They don't remember us,' one of the agents asked the other one. I identified as the younger one as the one who spoke. He looked older than me, but more juvenile than the older one.

'Give them time,' The older one said.

Remember them?

'You're the bastards who stole our kids, we remember you,' I snapped and the two guards looked at me.

'We're the bastards who nearly got ourselves killed bringing your kids back,' The younger one said to us.

'Let's just get out, I assume you have an escape plan,' The older man said, diffusing the conversation. I had never called someone a bastard and I had to take a moment.

Ah – an escape plan. Did we have one? I looked over at Michael who was eyeing the two guards with confusion. I looked over at Nic, who was still resting her head on his shoulder. I wondered why everyone was still standing around and not shooting these lunatics. I looked over at Zed and Will, waiting for Ella and Michael's direction to do anything but they weren't saying anything. What were they doing? They looked over at each other, before looking back at the boys.

'Mum never raised us to not have a backup plan,' The younger one whispered and looked straight at Ella. Her face dropped as she realised something. She looked over at Joe, who was still baffled by that comment, and looked back at the man who was looking at her, a smile of his face.

'Cameron?' Ella whispered.

'Hey, little sis,' The man whispered back. 'I didn't lie when I said it's been a long time since I saw you, I don't like the way you've grown up, and I saw "grown"... but it's been a while.' He replied looking her up and down.

'Twenty years,' The other man said.

'Chris?' Ella added and I looked over at Michael and he frowned.

'Eleanor,' He replied back with a smirk.

'No, no, you're both dead. You two, you're both dead,' Ella said, emphasising "dead," and her voice broke. 'You both died. You,' she pointed to Chris, 'You were very much dead, you were so deaded, and as for you, I saw you. You died in the car. We, we saw you. You were so dead.' Ella said.

'You can't be,' Michael whispered, his arm coming around me and pulling me in closer, like he was hugging me – protecting me against witchcraft. Was I the only one here who had absolutely no idea what was happening? I looked around the room; Joe appeared to do on the same level as me not know what was happening but was putting it together. Wait – were they all related? I looked between the two men and Michael. They were pretty similar. The two soldiers had crew cuts though, and were a lot skinnier from the shitty diets they must have here. Lucy was frowning at the two guys. Will and Zed, however, were on the same level of confusion as me, and they both still had guns pointing towards them.

'Michael, neither of them are lying to you,' Sky whispered.

'Okay, so now you know that can you tell your friends to drop their guns please?' Chris said, gesturing to them two. The silence dropped in the room against and Ella and Michael picked up telepathy. They were clearly debating if they could trust their own siblings. I remember Michael telling me that only he and Ella survived the crash and everyone else died. They had just found out that was wrong; four of them survived. Two of them were standing in front of them. It must be a hell of a bombshell, and the fact they're both so calm about it still shows they don't quite believe it. The sheer shock of it. It's like finding out that Lucy would be my sister. I wouldn't be able to coherently respond to that.

'Zed, Will, drop the guns,' Michael said, not taking his eyes of them.

'Zed? Will?' Chris whispered, looking at them. 'You were both kids, you could barely walk,' Chris said, looking at Zed.

'Er, should we get out of here now?' Lucy muttered. 'Like catch up perhaps in the boats? Where we are safe?'

'Lucy!' Cameron said before running forward and hugging her tight, 'Please say you've been keeping safe?'

'Yeah,' Lucy replied hugging him back.

'That's my girl,' Cameron said. 'And you must be, Sam, right? Heard a lot of good things about you,' he said to me, before ruffling Nic's hair. She smiled softly at him but she was already falling asleep unaware of the danger we were in.

'Okay, still standing by the "we should get out of here card,"' Lucy said.

'I agree with her, let's go. They might notice we're gone any minute now,' Chris said. We stood for another second before Will turned around and walked out the door.

'Let's get going then,' He said, sliding back through the door. We had all followed him single file, Lucy concentrating on getting the shield back up around us, the two kids, and now Chris and Cameron too who were coming with us. What they would do with them, I have no idea. Michael paused to hand Nic over to me, kissing her on the forehead before gesturing for me to go through the door. I slid through, my hand over Nic's head, and waited for Michael to come through. Instead, Chris and Cameron came through first, smiling softly at me as they walked in front of me. Michael was the last one through the door, and Ella unfroze the door and it closed behind us.

We walked back through the corridor, through stockpiling, and out to the doors leading to the delivery port. We all stopped at the door.

'I'll freeze the door open again,' Ella said.

'No need,' Chris said, walking to the front of the group. He pulled out a pager, which displayed a random series of numbers and letters. He slid back a bit of black plastic, typing in the key code and the door lit up with green, and slid back silently.

Lucy gestured for everyone to be quiet before pointing to the boys.

'Leave your boots,' I whispered to them and they frowned. 'Lucy can block sound too, but it's not very strong. You need to be quiet, and steel toe caps aren't the way to do that,'

Cameron and Chris looked at each other before they both undid their laces, kicking off their boots leaving them by the door inside. We knew it was a stupid idea; it would very much give them a solid trail to them escaping but if they were honest and sincere, they would do it. They took off their shoes quick as anything. I frowned, before going into their heads. Perhaps it wasn't fair but my catalyst wasn't picking up any emotions from them that was concerning; but concern and shock. Looking deeper into their minds I saw that they were genuine and they wanted to escape. Chris was more concerned than Cameron was, but he was more concerned on what to do in the long run. He knew they didn't have trackers in them, so there was no way they would be able to find them, but heading back to Maui would be a stupid idea. The second they leave base, they'll be onto them. But then, what would happen after that? Where exactly would both of them live? The main source of anxiety was wondering if Ella and Michael would ever accept them back. He was shocked by how much they had both grown up but it was inevitable.

Cameron was more concerned about how his kid brother and sister were doing with everything; which so was I. Both of them had grieved over their deaths for years and now they were alive, extremely well. How it was possible I don't know, or what will happen. They'll have to go back with Jason in the helicopter with the girls. I looked down in my arms, where Nic was still leaning her head against me half asleep.

'I love you Mummy,' She whispered.

'I love you too, Nic, we have to be quiet sweetheart, is that okay with you?'

'Okay,' She said, hugging me. Michael came up behind me, putting his arm around me before bending down to kiss Nic's forehead.

'Let's go,' Ella whispered, double checking with Lucy that the shield was in place. 'Just follow us, we've got back up a mile or so down there,'

Single file, we all crept out the door and hovered the threshold of wooden platform. Cameron and Chris looked around, small grins on their face as we made our way down the stairs and down onto the beach. All of us were riddled with silence; on our way here we were terrified. And now, we left thousand times more confused than we had ever been before.

How did these two – I looked at the two men in front of me – survived a crash that killed them? I frowned. Michael had opened up to me about the crash; and it was brutal with many causalities. They were heading to Colorado for New Years, and they had taken two cars down to the airport. The first car had the older siblings in, whilst the back car had the three youngest in; Cameron, Ella and Michael, and their mother was driving their car whilst their Dad was driving the first car. It was snowing; incredibly icy and it was advised on the news don't travel unless it was important and necessary. But they had too to catch their flight. However, they were travelling at 60 mph, which is lower than the normal on a motorway, but a large truck had started to drive the other way towards them – it was on the wrong side of the road with a foreign plate. The first car had gone to swerve, but had skidded and had rolled over, hitting the concrete central reservation. The first car had been completely flattened. The second car had managed to slam on the breaks and got some reduced speed before they rolled, only hitting the concrete at 20mph. Ella and Michael, who were in the back, came away alive. Cameron, who was in the front, died at the scene. So did Chris, the oldest in their family and who had called shotgun in the front car. So how were they both alive? They were both in circumstances that made them impossible to live. I stopped walking and Michael walked straight into me.

'What's up, Sam?' Michael asked immediately – we had past the first cliff break and were in relative shelter for now. We still had another half a mile or so left to trek. He looked over at Nic, who was now asleep on my shoulder.

'You did the thing you checked her DNA, found a link, right?' I asked him and he nodded, gently putting his arm around my waist.

'You and Lucy?' He asked.

'No, you and your brothers,' I said and he stopped and frowned.

'I didn't think of that,' Michael sighed, slipping his hand into mine. There was a moment of stretched silence between us two, and neither boy turned around. I continued to walk over the sand of the stretch of beach, Kingdom behind us and the boats to get us back home in front of us. 'They're both who they say they are,' Michael sighed and shook his head in disbelief. Ella turned around at this point and there must have been an exchange of words between Ella and him, as Ella nodded before saying something to Joe as she turned around.

'They're your brothers,' I whispered. He came around to my side and picked up Nic from my hip. I watched as he gently made sure Nic was resting her head against his shoulder, and the way he held her tight, running his hand over her arm and then her hair, before kissing her, just emphasised how much of a good father he was. I gave him too much stick. I frowned, realising that one day I would want my own kid with him. Another kid, in an odd way. Nic will always be my first kid, but I was more than willing to accept the risk of having a second child – the first biological kid to me. But not for years easily, I wanted to be completely settled.

But this is Michael's life; he would never really be settled. This is what he does for a day job, just normally other people's families involved rather than his own. But it was such a critical job, if I didn't have him on my side, I might never have got Nic back. I owed him a lot for that, and I don't think I would ever be able to repay him.

'It's... insane, Sam,' He whispered, putting his arm around me. 'For years, I wanted all of this and it came around within a few months,'

'Mmm,' I said, slightly confused but content at the same moment; what did he mean he wanted "all of this"? – was he referring to the situation, and finding out his two dead brothers were very much alive and were behind the kidnap of his daughter? Or did me mean having a family?

'Bad phrasing,' He said and I nodded. Oh yeah – terrible phrasing. 'I mean, I wanted you, and I wanted a family,' He sighed slightly, kissing my forehead.

'What's going to happen now?' I whispered to him, looking over at Nic who was fast asleep on Michael. She must have gone through a lot, bless my little girl. But I finally had her back safe and with me.

'We have to hand her over to Jason for medicals and to get her statement, but after that I'm not too sure. The boys were sorting something out, but it's hard now because we have to include those two,' He nodded towards his brothers who were walking in front of him, muscles clenched and on the look out for anything that shouted Kingdom, 'for now, we just do as we are told, and don't let this little one out of our sights,'

'I don't want to give her to Jason,' I muttered. I had just got her back; I don't want to give her up this soon. I would be able to see her again in a few hours, yeah, but I had just got her back. I didn't want to loose her. I looked over at Joe, who was carrying Lily on his shoulders and the way Ella kept looking up to make sure she was okay; I doubt either of them wanted to give up their daughter too. 'There's no way to bend the rules on this one?'

'No, Sam, I've checked but there is no way in Hell,' Michael said. 'She'll be fine, though, she's in good hands,' He sounded certain, but I could tell he didn't want to let Nic out of his views. We had said we weren't letting her go again, but only to proceed to her go again. I sighed – I knew it was for procedures, but it would be the longest five hours of our lives to get back to base knowing they were there without us.

'She'll be fine?'

'She'll be with Jason the entire time; they'll be more than fine,'

We had just started to climb over the rocks to the alcove where we hid the boats when Trace noticed us and smiled when he saw the kids, but his face went hard when he saw we came with two strangers. He immediately walked away, talking to someone else. We had just got to the top of the rock, with both Michael and I overtaking the two boys as if to protect them. We all filed over the rock bed, no one spoke to anyone – how could we say what had happened. Michael helped down from the rock, offering his hand as I jumped down, before he kissed me gently. Nic, who must have been exhausted, was still sound asleep with her head draped on Michael.

'Who are they?' Vick asked and I immediately turned around, wondering who he was on about. I see Phee standing beside him, frowning at the rock behind us. We both turned around, seeing both Cameron and Chris awkwardly on the rock, frozen. What was happening? Did someone from Kingdom catch them?

'Phee, it's cool,' Ella said. Oh – Phee had caught them with her time freeze gift. 'They're, well, they're our dead brothers.'

Ella wasn't cool with the whole thing; that much was clear. Why she wasn't okay with it was the question. I looked over at Ella, frowning at her before dipping into her mind. She was annoyed, but it was more that she couldn't comprehend what was happening. For years, she had survived with survivors guilt, she had mourned her brothers and sisters, she thought they had died. She kept thinking about what she saw; she saw Cameron covered in blood not breathing. The other car which had Chris in was flattened. How did they come from that car crash to be Soldiers in Kingdom? Ella hugged Lily a bit tighter, like trying to protect her against Cameron and Chris. Like they were ghosts. Oh, that made a lot more sense. Ella was seeing them as ghosts rather than living. I looked over at the two brothers on the rock where they were still standing, before Phee gently dropped her gift. They both walked down to the beach, looking around at everyone.

'Are they safe?' Victor asked Michael.

'Yeah, we need to discuss everything with them the second we get back to base. Perhaps put them in the car and put them under, or stick them in the helicopters, it's up to you.' Michael replied and Victor nodded.

'Helicopter most likely, get them to base as soon as they can to get them questioned,'

'How are the girls? Did anyone detect you?'

'The girls are just tired but I think they're okay – no one's detected us so far but I wouldn't recommend hanging around. Get the boats ready as soon as we can,' Michael ordered and Yves started to pull the boats out. We all chipped in, helping to get the boats back down the beach. I hugged Nic tight and she had surfaced from the nap.

'Mummy?' She said to me softly.

'Yeah, Nic?'

'You allowed me to call you Mummy,' She whispered.

'You can do whatever you want too now,' I told her, 'apart from leaving me again,' I said.

'I've missed you Mummy,'

'I've missed you too,' I whispered.

'Are the nice men coming with us?' She whispered, looking over my shoulder to where Cameron and Chris were. I turned around slightly to see them both standing next to the rock bed, watching everyone intently. Nic waved at them and Cameron smiled slightly, waving back at her. Chris said something to him, and Cameron nodded before looking over at Michael. They were clearly discussing how much Nic looked like Michael, which was an incredible amount.

'Er, yeah,' I whispered to her and she grinned at me. 'Nic, you're gunna go back to Daddy's work with Uncle Jason, okay love?'

'Are you coming with me?' She whispered.

'No, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Uncle Jason will be with you, and so will Lily. You just have to answer a few questions to Uncle Jason, he'll make sure you're okay too, and then we'll be there okay?' I whispered, but it already felt like this would tear my heart out. I didn't want to leave her already. It'll be an awful five hours until I could see her again.

'We're ready,' Michael came up behind me, hugging me and gently kissing Nic.

'Will Daddy be coming with me?' Nic asked.

'I'll be with Mummy,' Michael said. 'We will see you the second we'll be back, okay sweetheart?' He said, gently leading me to the boat. It was just in the very shallows, and Lily was already in the boat sitting on the floor looking anxiously at her Mum, who was standing in the water next to her, gently playing with Lily's hair. Joe came over beside her, kissing Ella gently. Lily asked something to Ella, and she nodded. Michael walked back into the water, gesturing for me to join him. I put Nic in the boat and she sat straight next to Lily. We had gone back in the boat order that we had left in, but Cameron was coming with us and Chris was going in the other boat. Sky and Zed came up to the boat too, joining Will and Lucy. Lucy said something to Lily softly and she nodded.

'Let's go then,' Will said and we had started to push the boat in. Both Lucy and I jumped into the boat and Nic came over to me, sitting on my lap as I held her tight. Sky got in after, Ella joining her next and picking up Lily who immediately wrapped her arms around Ella's neck. Cameron climbed in and sat next to me and I frowned slightly. Zed and Will got in, before Michael and Joe. Will took over the rudder and immediately turned on the engine and started to head us back to the beach.

We sat all in the boat in silence, Nic hugging me tight. She didn't want me to go and leave her. When we reached open water, I turned around and saw the other boat coming around the cliff corner. I smiled into Nic as Michael put his arm around me and the other around Nic. She turned around and kissed Michael.

'Sorry Daddy,' Nic whispered only so I could hear it, as well as Michael.

'What for, pumpkin?' Michel asked her.

'I bought a storm into your house,' She whispered. 'I'm sorry,'

'Nic, don't worry about it. I'm proud of you, okay?' Michael whispered.

'You're... proud? Like happy? ' She whispered.

'We both are, Nic, we both are proud of you. We both love you,' Michael said, hugging her tightly.

'I love you both too,' She whispered to us. 'What's going to happen to Cameron?' She asked. Michael looked at me as I frowned at him.

'Er, we don't know yet,' I told her.

'He's not a baddy, Daddy,' Nic told me.

'I know, Nic, but it's not up to me,' Michael told her softly. I looked up behind the boat to see the ice spears and the fire balls going up again as Ella and Yves continue to communicate without the use of telepathy. We were just heading to the breakwater of the beach where we left when Ella broke the silence.

'Kingdom has triggered the alarm,' Ella told us.

'We should still have time,' Lucy said.

'They'll search the entirety of Kingdom before the ground and work into the grounds and then head out, as long as you get the helicopter up within the next fifteen minutes and start to drive off by then, they'll find it harder to trace us down,' Cameron added. 'I hope you have a plan, though, they know exactly where you live, and they'll be waiting the second you step foot out of Maui. A part of the truce between Luman and you guys is that you can't touch him because of his crimes if he doesn't step foot on the property of Maui. Even when the kids were kidnapped it was outside of the Blakeley,'

'Crap,' I whispered to Michael and she shook his head at me.

'Don't worry, the boys all have a plan. They didn't tell us so if it all went sour they couldn't pick it out of our heads.' Michael said and I frowned at him – did they have a plan? Since when? Michael didn't know the plan but at least he knew there was a plan. Which was a load more than I knew? I just assumed we would be playing happy bunnies and head back home which I could only assume would be stupid. They knew where we lived; it'll be inviting them back for round two. I hoped whatever the plan was; it was a good one with immediate effect.

Will steered the boat back into the beach, pulling up at the side where we got off. Joe was the first one to jump out, followed by Will, Zed and Michael, and Cameron last who pushed the rubber dinghy back into land. Michael came up to me and gestured for me to pass Nic, who complied willingly. Ella passed over Lily, careful not to get her wet before Ella dived back into the water. Lucy got out next, offering me a hand to get out.

'How are you coping?' She asked me softly as everyone left the boats.

'I'm good – how are you, Lucy, being honest with me?' I whispered back to her and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. Michael turned around and came straight back out to see why I wasn't beside him. Lucy was hugging herself, and it was possibly the worst I had ever seen her. She had return to the place where her father who abused her for over a decade was. There was only a matter of floors between them. Of course she wasn't okay. My question appeared stupid. I didn't want to hurt her anymore, but the question seemed to have just upset her. I hugged her tight.

'I've cleared you to go with Jason,' Michael said, hugging her to his side. Lucy nodded. 'He's just coming down now,'

I looked up onto the beach where Michael was pointing and saw a shape jogging down to where we left the windbreakers up. Lucy immediately ran off and headed towards the shape, and as they met the two collided into a mess of arms, with Jason picking her up to spin her around.

'They're too cute,' I sighed and Michael put his arm around me.

'So are we, though,' He said.

'We can't compete with them,'

'Didn't realise it was a competition,' Michael said to me, bending down to kiss me.

'Mummy, Daddy, no,' Nic sighed.

I don't think I can give her up so soon, I told Michael, who looked down at Nic and then back at me.

I don't think I can either.

Let's just break the rules and go with her.

The helicopter is already at its max people carry, Sam, we really do have to drive back. I could tell Michael wasn't happy about it either. He wanted to be with Nic as much as I wanted to be with Nic.

Fine. I sulked and Michael just guided me back onto the beach, out of the way of the second boat which was coming in now. Jason and Lucy had finally stopped hugging each other and had split up, with Jason heading over to Ella and Joe, and Lucy back over to us.

'I guess it's time?' I asked Lucy and she nodded.

'Jason said the sooner, the better, especially with the alarm going off,' Lucy muttered. 'I'll take care of her, Sam, I won't leave her side,'

She must have seen the hesitation in me and she hugged me. Jason had wiped her tears away and he must have done something to calm her down as now she relatively tranquil.

'We're family now, right? You can trust me,' She muttered softly and I nodded.

'Thank you,' I whispered back, watching in silent agony as Lucy took Nic off Michael, who said goodbye to us – we paused to give her a kiss and a hug – before Lucy walked back to Jason, who had hold of Lily, and they both walked up the beach, each one with one of our kids on their hip. Cameron and Chris followed them but there was a bit more distance between them. It didn't take them long for them to walk up the sand ramp out of the beach and I just turned into Michael's chest and started to cry.

I don't know what had happened to me; the pressure and the stress of them going missing combined with the relief of finding Nic and then immediately losing her again got to me. Michael wrapped his arms around me tight, rocking me slightly as I continued to cry into his chest. Thankfully, his black shirt wouldn't show up the mascara stains I would have left. Michael kept telling me time after time it'll be okay, and we'll see her the second we're back but I couldn't calm down. I heard him say something over the top of my head, and the sound of people talking slowly decreased until there was no sound left. Michael picked me up before sitting down on the ground, resting me on his lap.

'We'll see her again shortly, Sam,' Michael whispered to me.

'I know, I just want her here,' I muttered realising how pathetic I was.

'You're not pathetic, Sam, not in the slightest. This has all happened so fast, you haven't had time to really process what is actually happening. It's okay to cry,' He muttered to me. 'You're doing brilliantly,'

'How can you say that?' I whispered to him. 'I'm a mess,'

'With all the right reasons. Nothing like this has ever happened to you, you've never been involved in the bad side of Savant's, and in a month all of this has happened and only now you're crying. You are absolutely incredible, Sam, I love you to bits. You're such an incredible mother too, you care so much about Nic,' Michael whispered to me.

'And I'm not here for her,'

'You can't blame yourself for the rules, my love,' Michael whispered to me.

'I let her go, Michael,'

'You didn't let her go, you did everything you could to stop the kidnapping. You were injured too, and they wouldn't let you get to her either.'

'I wouldn't be surprised if you hated me, or you wanted to leave me, or you never wanted kids with me, I'm a shit person,' I muttered, suddenly feeling so dark and tainted. Michael simply lifted my chin and kissed me, wrapping his arms around me gently.

'I don't hate you, I don't want to leave you, I do want kids with you. You did nothing wrong, Sam, you are not to fault for this, you've done incredibly well. I love you so much, my beautiful girl, and all of this might take a few months or so, but when it does and we get back to normality,' He smiled slightly.

'What does that mean?' I asked – was I missing something.

'Nothing, come on. Let's get back to the car,' Michael said, picking me and putting me on the floor, holding my hand as we walked back to the car. In the distance, I heard a helicopter take off. It took another minute for me to see the helicopter flying over us, a bit too high to see in but close enough to see it was a Maui helicopter. The rest of the walk was done in silence, with Michael opening the door for me, letting me slide into the middle seat again. He sat in the passenger seat, closing the door. Joe simple smiled at me, hugging me slightly awkwardly. Ella smiled at me, and Trace put the car into gear and started to drive off.

'We should be back around ten tonight,' Trace said to me and I nodded. 'Er, Tobias left the car, the look outs said he caught a bus to head to the train station,'

'Oh,' was all I could say. Bastard. That might be my new favourite word.

'Also, Sam, Michael, we've decided it'll be better for the statements and probably for you guys too be put under by Joe,' Trace said and I looked at Michael. 'Joe and Ella will go down as well; he'll put it on a timer for five hour, so you'll wake up when we're there,'

'Okay,' I said and Michael nodded.

'See you all in five hours, then,' Trace said. It'll feel like going to sleep, but when I wake up I will have Nic back with me. I was okay with that. I wanted my little girl back. I could feel Joe start to enter my mind, before a sensation of sprinkled dust. My eyelids started to feel heavy as I leant into Michael, and not even a second after that, I was plummeted into a slumber.

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I eventually woke up at God knows what time, curled up on my side with a dead arm. I frowned – how was I lying down in the car? I was incredibly confused, considering that Joe was one side of me and Michael the other, so how exactly did I end up lying down? Unless I was lying on Joe, which would extremely awkward but he would allow it. He was too paternal to not allow it. Too pure to ever turn down someone's request. I think, if I never met Michael, I would have such a crush on Joe with his good looks, innate kindness and charming personality. He was just too cute, and he was such a good father and husband – he was always there for Ella. I envied that, Ella always having someone by her side and being incredibly good with kids. Just looking at them, they really were family goals. I wanted to have someone like that when I settled down.

I realised with a slight shock that I did have that someone; I had Michael. He was everything I had wanted; he was someone who was incredibly gentle with me, who made me realise I was something important. He was the guy who held my hand when we were in the town centre, the first to defend my name the second someone so much as thought I was someone I wasn't, he was the one who played with my hair when I was too stressed with the school work. He held me in the morning when we woke up, and every time I felt useless he would tell me I was incredible.

It didn't end with me either; he would take Nic out every afternoon to the woods, he would build dens with her. He would read her stories at night when I had too much work. He would make her dinner, even helping her make cakes on the weekend. He told me he was more than willing to, one day, have his own kids with me. The current situation made it near enough impossible to think about a future, but I was glad he was up for having a family.

'Sam,' Michael very gently whispered and I opened my eyes, turning my head immediately back to where I heard his voice. 'Morning,' He said.

He sat on a chair next to the bed in the hospital and I frowned.

'Hospital?'

'You didn't wake up from Joe's gift,' He muttered to me. He got up, moving the chair to the other side of the bed. I moved my head, noticing the thing giving me a dead arm was Nic, who was still asleep curled up into me. I hugged her to my side, screwing my eyes up. I didn't want to lose her again. Michael gently squeezed my arm.

'Don't suffocate her,' He whispered softly.

'Is she okay? Have they got the statement? Can we bring her home?'

'Apart from being tired and dehydrated she's fine. Both her and Lily have to stay in for twenty four hours just for their drips and observations. They've got the statements from them, the boys are been completely cleared as well but they're still being questioned heavily. I don't know the plan for when you and Nic get discharged, because they know where we'll be heading and it's pretty safe to say they had plans for her, but they're working on the plan at the moments,' Michael whispered quietly.

'Who's they?' I asked.

'The Benedict's are working on it for us,' Michael whispered. 'We'll work it out though,'

'Sorry,' I muttered and he frowned at me, 'It would have been so easy if I didn't come into your life,' I sighed and he frowned.

'I was nothing without you, Sam, yeah this scenario isn't good, but you didn't cause this. You, and this little one, is the best thing that's happened to me ever,' Michael said to me. 'I don't know what I would have done without either of you, you know that I'm not lying. I love you to bits, Sam, and even if this takes time to settle down, we have all the time in the world. We have the rest of our lives together,' Michael whispered to me before leaning in to kiss me. It wasn't a long kiss but it was incredibly soft and tender, full of emotions.

'Mummy?' Nic whispered as she woke up. Her eyes were still closed as I looked down at her lying on my arm. Michael was immediately beside her too. 'Daddy?'

'Hey, Nic, we're right here,' I told her and she rubbed her eyes before hugging me tight. I rolled over, pulling her onto my chest as she wrapped her arms around me. Michael sat on the edge of the bed, and I pulled his arm to include him in the hug. He laughed slightly, lying down beside me, hugging me lightly and putting his arm around Nic. This was my family; I thought to myself. This is my family that I have all to myself. Sure; some people would say mine and Michael's relationship wasn't long term yet but we wouldn't break up. We might argue, we might never see eye to eye and we might struggle with our volatile impulsive behaviour but I love him to pieces. I wanted everything from him. Michael looked up at me, obviously hearing my thoughts and nodded.

'Are you going to leave me?' Nic asked.

'No, Nic, we're never going to leave you,' Michael said. 'Are we, Sam?'

'Nope,' I said, popping the "p" and Nic looked back up to me. 'We are not letting you out of our sights,'

'Okay,' She whispered, yawning. 'Can I have chicken nuggets tonight,' She asked Michael and he just grinned at her, looking down with almost tears in his eyes.

'Of course,' He whispered back, 'With those potato smiles you like?'

'Ya,' Nic replied, yawning.

'Good choice,' Michael said.

'Can I have them now?'

'It's half one in the morning, Nic,' Michael said and I looked at the clock – how long had I been asleep for? But still, sleep was dragging on me and there was nothing more at the moment I wanted than just to fall asleep and not wake up for a few hours.

'Oh,' She whispered, rubbing her eyes.

'Go back to sleep if you want too, Nic,' I told her softly.

You go to sleep as well, you look shattered. Michael told me.

I'm fine.

You're not, you look so drained. Just go to sleep, I have work to be doing and I'll wake you up if anything important happens. Michael told me softly, rubbing my arm. Sam, you need to rest. You are so tired that you're not thinking properly, you're going to get ill and you're gunna need to be able to function properly in the next few weeks. Michael almost begged me.

I'll be fine.

Sam, please, you're not. You're exhausted, Michael said softly as I started to cry.

I'll be no help, I sobbed.

We won't be doing much in the next few hours, I'll wake you up if we do anything important, okay sweetheart?

Fine, I whispered as Michael hugged me, kissing my forehead before I looked up at him.

I love you.

I love you too, I whispered back and he rolled over slightly, letting me lay on his chest like I normally do. Combined with Nic on my chest, I had felt at home again. I love Michael, and Nic, and this new family life we had formed before she was taken and I hoped Michael was working on a formula to make sure the person who took my Nic was behind bars. I hesitated, wondering if they had the email from the labs about the genetic test between Lucy and me, but I was too tired to ask. I closed my eyes and not even half a second later, I was asleep on his chest.

Hello! I hope you like this chapter! Everything kind of happens at once, and of course we welcome Cameron and Chris (Chris is the oldest of the siblings, Cameron is a year older than Michael,) - and also congratulations to Sabinethafangirl for guessing who Cactus is! I thought I hinted at it subtly!