Claire shifted to a seated position and brought both of her feet together. She snapped her legs out, her boots easily crashing through the window.
Knowing the sound would catch someone's attention she worked fast as she could. Removing her sweatshirt, she wrapped it around her hand using it to sweep away the sharp shards of glass.
"Claire!" Maisie squeaked as she desperately tried climbing up the wall. Her nails scraping down the brick as she desperately tried to latch onto something. Trying once more, she bent her knees and jumped up, her fingers coming up short from the small window.
"It's ok." Claire reassured her as she reached into the window. She waved her hand to calm Maisie down, needing her to gather her energy. Laying flat on her stomach, Claire was able to fit her shoulder's through the small window and reached down towards Maisie.
"It was around back!" Claire heard someone yell as the flashlights drew closer from the front of the house. She turned her attention back on Maisie, stretching her arm as far as it would go.
"Come on, Maisie! Reach!" Claire pleaded, doing her best to reach down to her. Tears stung her eyes as the voices got louder. She couldn't fail this. Her anxiety built up knowing her back was unprotected. She was too far through the window to see anyone approaching. Fighting the urge to pull away and protect herself from the approaching threat, her eyes met Maisie's, the fear and terror reflected there reminded her of when she found Owen and Maisie on the roof. There were many nights Maisie's screams haunted both Claire and Owen's dreams. Now here she was frightened once more. "You can do it, Sweetie. Just grab my hand." Claire urged her on, desperately wanting to have Maisie by her side. There, Claire knew Maisie would be safe.
With one large jump, Maisie stretched her arm as far as it could go. Claire's fingers locked with Maisie's and they both let out a sigh of relief. "Use your feet and climb up the wall," Claire instructed her. She shifted on her stomach to hold Maisie's weight. "I got you."
"HEY!" Eli yelled, gripping the bars and desperately trying to get the cell door open as he watched Maisie scramble towards freedom.
Maisie's hand tightened around Claire's. "Claire!" She called out, panicked as she did her best to use her feet climb the wall. She turned her head to see Eli searching for the key to open the door. "No," she whimpered and turned her attention back to Claire.
"Hey, hey," Claire spoke calmly regaining Maisie's attention. "I've got you and I swear I'm not letting go." Focusing on Claire's hand wrapped tightly around hers. She was seconds from being wrapped in safe arms. Using her upper body strength she pulled herself up as Claire reached in with her other hand to support Maisie's weight. Gritting her teeth together, Claire tightened her grip on Maisie. "Just keep climbing. Come on!" She demanded.
Eli got the door open just as Claire pulled Maisie through the small window. "I'm going to kill you, Claire! You hear me!" Eli screamed.
Maisie scrambled through the window, both collapsing on the ground. "You're ok!" Maisie cried into Claire's chest. They both laid there for a moment holding on tight to the other.
"They never had me. It was a lie." Claire informed her.
Maisie tensed in Claire's arms and her eyes met Claire's confused. "But Owen saw pictures of them taking you." Claire's blood boiled as she realized the torment they were putting Owen through. "They said they'd kill you if he didn't go with them."
"No, Sweetie, I'm fine, but we need to get—" Claire was cut off by the cock of a gun.
"That's mine." Anton stood a few feet away from them, gun pointed at Claire.
Quickly getting to her feet, Claire dragged Maisie behind her. "No." She answered flatly.
Anton laughed at her confidence. "Give it to me," he demanded, raising his hand and pointing at Maisie. "The clone is mine."
Maisie gripped onto Claire's arm with one hand. The other fisted the back of her shirt tightly. "I want to go home." Maisie whimpered against Claire's back.
"We will." Claire answered her.
Claire raised her gun, pointing it at Anton. "You don't want to deal with kidnapping," She raised her eyebrow in question. "do you?"
Anton shifted slightly, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's not a child. It's a clone. I paid for it."
"She is mine." Claire growled, squaring her shoulders as she steadied her gun. "I don't know what Eli told you, but he's a lier. Maisie is not a clone that belongs to Eli. She's my daughter and you really don't want to have to go through me to get to her."
"Your daughter?" Anton gasped and dropped his gun to his side.
Even though the adoption wasn't finalized, it was the only thing she was positive would turn Anton against Eli. The word daughter didn't quite register to Claire, but Maisie melted into Claire's back, loosening her grip to quickly wrap her arms around Claire's waist. Her whole life was spent dreaming about being someone's daughter. She knew the adoption was happening, but hearing Claire speak the word made it all real. Her arms tightened around Claire's waist, keeping herself attached to her. She had a mother and she was not going to let anyone separate them.
"Damn you, Claire!" Eli yelled, pulling Maisie from her thoughts. She held tighter to Claire as he rounded the house, storming towards them.
"Stop." Claire warned, pointing her gun at him.
Anton threw his arm out, him palm against Eli's chest. "You sell me her kid?"
"What?" Eli gasped, looking passed Anton towards Claire. "You're going to listen to that bitch? She's not her kid!"
"See, if you did your research, Eli you would have learned that she, in fact, is… or will be. We adopted her thanks to all the paperwork you thought you hid." Claire couldn't help but smile at his paling face. "You legally have no ties to her anymore."
"I paid for the clone." Anton said, pulling Eli's focus from Claire.
Eli shrugged, turning to smirk at Claire. "So kill her and take it." He suggested and motioned towards the gun in his hand.
With the gun now pointing at Claire once more, she readied herself to take the first shot, but a familiar noise pulled everyone's attention.
"Blue?" Maisie whispered and Claire nodded as she slowly backed them up.
Eli started moving back towards the house, his eyes frantically searching the darkness for any sign of Blue.
"Oh," Anton smiled, his gaze drifting just passed Claire and Maisie. "That my dinosaur?"
"Yep," Eli's voice shook as he picked up his pace. "It's all yours." He called over his shoulder.
Claire and Maisie spun around at the sound of Blue approaching. Claire reached behind her and pushed Maisie backwards until her back pressed against the siding, keeping Maisie secure between her and the house.
Without hesitation, Blue darted towards the small group of men. Maisie, quickly squeezing her eyes shut at the sound of the gurgled screams. She wanted to cover her ears, too, but refused to let go of Claire.
"Come on," Claire reached back and gripped Maisie's hand as she ran towards the forest.
With the moon shining bright, the two were able to make out shadows as they hurried through the trees. They ran for a few moments before a dark shadow darted in front of Claire. It collided with her, forcing her to the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut unsure of the next move the man on top of her was going to make. They got her. She was trapped.
"Claire!" Maisie screamed.
"Just run Maisie!" Claire said as she did her best to punch at the man on top of her.
Strong hands gripped her wrists to stop her attack. "Claire?" Owen's voice immediately freezing Claire's struggles to get free.
Squinting her eyes in the darkness, she couldn't see his face. The light of the moon not quite strong enough to make out his features. "Owen?"
His hands immediately loosened and he sat back on his heels, still straddling her hips. Claire immediately sat up, throwing her arms around his shoulders and crushed her lips against his.
"Owen?" Maisie's whimper had Claire and Owen pulling apart. He reached for Maisie and pulled her towards them, all three of them wrapping their arms around each other.
Claire pulled back after a few moments and shoved against Owen's chest so she could get out from under him. "We have to go. I don't know how many Blue just took out, but we need to move."
The three quickly got to their feet. Owen reached for Maisie's hand and brought the other up to cup Claire's face, bringing his lips to brush up against hers softly. "I didn't hurt you, did I? I thought you were that Robert guy."
Claire shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She heard him sigh in relief and he turned to lead them further into the woods. "My car is at the estate." Claire informed them as they made their way towards the mansion.
Owen stopped short causing Maisie to walk into him with a loud "oof" He turned, squinting into the darkness, trying desperately to see her face. "Your what?"
Claire suddenly remembered he had thought Mika and Robert had taken her. She was quick to respond, "My car, they set you up."
"The pictures! You… They had you!"
"No," Claire shook her head, reaching for his hands. "Owen, they staged it all. I was notified that my car alarm was going off and I went down to shut it off. They made it seem like just some guy was not paying attention and bumped into me, accidentally falling into the van."
"But you're…"
"I'm fine," She reassured him. "Just a little sore from the fall, but they never had me."
Owen pulled his hands free from hers and hugged her tightly. "I'd be more pissed if Mika was still alive." He said and took her hand as they continued walking.
"Yeah, Blue to the rescue again." Claire chuckled.
"Yeah," Owen laughed, but he cut off, turning to look at Claire. "Wait, how did you know?"
"I was the one who shot Mika in the leg." She said, pulling the gun from the back of her jeans and handing it over.
Owen's eyes widened. "You?" His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "You were out there?"
"Yeah, Franklin helped me track down Mika. I saw you with them."
Owen dropped her hand, reaching up to scrub his palm down his face. "Jesus, Claire I almost shot you!"
"What?" Maisie gasped, squeezing Claire's hand and pulling her other out of Owen's grasp.
"No, Mais, not on purpose! Damn, I thought you were another one of Eli's men out there. But Blue…" He trailed off and the three walked in silence for a little while.
All three were deep in thought of how that moment could have ended differently if it wasn't for Blue. Maisie tried imagining the whole situation in her head, but unsure of what actually happened. While Owen felt proud of Blue to know Claire enough to protect her even from him, but he was also sick to his stomach that not once, but twice he attempted to hurt her. "Hey," Claire said softly, squeezing his hand lightly. "You didn't know. I'm fine."
dropping his chin to his chest he slowly shook his head. "I would have never forgiven myself. It's bad enough I tackled you. If I hurt you…"
"You didn't hurt me." She reached for his hand once more and threaded her fingers with his. Her shoulders were sore from his force, but nothing that would leave any mark, so she lied. "Honest, Owen."
Owen was about to speak, but a sea of voices cut him off. "Claire Dearing!" Many voices called out into the forest. The three stood frozen, unsure of who was looking for Claire.
"Don't answer." Owen whispered, reaching for Claire and Maisie, placing them behind him as the voices drew closer.
Claire pushed his arm away and stepped beside him. "I left my car where the guard could see it. It's been hours. The guard thinks I was running inside to pick up something I left behind. They must have noticed I went missing."
Owen raised an eyebrow, unsure if he should be impressed or not. It was Claire, after all. "Giving yourself backup without actually asking for backup. Smart."
Claire shrugged, "We didn't need the public getting involved, but it looks like we have no choice now." She took a deep breath and turned away from Owen to yell, "I'm here!"
"Claire!" Someone yelled as he approached them. "Claire Dearing."
"Yes," She squinted against the brightness of the flashlight.
Maisie clung to Owen as more uniformed men approached them.
Claire recognized the guard as he hurried towards her. "You ok? Why are you out here?" His gaze swept from Claire to Owen, his eyes widening when he noticed Maisie. "Everything alright?" He asked, his focus now on Maisie.
Claire took a deep breath before she informed the men everything she knew about Eli. Immediately an army of men took off into the forest, rushing towards the hidden cabin. The three were escorted to an ambulance to be checked out. Claire and Owen insisting Maisie be looked over first. Once she was cleared, both Claire and Owen relieved that she had nothing but a small scratch from when Claire pulled her through the window.
Owen was eager to have Claire checked over next, his own relief showing when she showed nothing but a large bruise on her side. With all three of them clear of any medical attention, they stayed close together as more FBI agents spoke to them about what happened.
Claire easily skirted around the fact that they kidnapped Maisie to sell her as a clone. She simply informed them that Maisie was taken along with Owen because of the grudge Eli held over Owen for stopping the auction. While Owen and Maisie were giving their statements, keeping their stories close to Claire's, she asked permission to contact her lawyer.
"Claire?" Karen asked groggily into the phone. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry," Claire winced. "I know it's late, but we have a situation."
Sounding more alert, Karen spoke quickly. "What happened? Are you ok? Owen? Maisie? Where are you?" Her frantic questions were all jumbled together.
"About the adoption…" Claire trailed off as she glanced back at Maisie, clinging tightly to Owen's arm as he spoke to an officer.
"What about it? It's in the judges hands now. We're just waiting to hear back… Wait," Karen hesitated and Claire could hear her rustling around. "You felt the need to call me at 2am to ask about the adoption status?"
"I'm charging Eli Mills with kidnapping and tempted murder." Claire closed her eyes waiting for Karen's reaction. She already had her phone pulled away from her ear before the shrieks happened.
"Kidnapping?! Murder?!" Karen gasped. "He tried killing Maisie? What kind of—"
Claire paced in front of her car as she filled Karen in. She tried desperately to keep herself composed as she explained the evil trick they played to get Owen to willingly go with them. Taking a few deep breaths throughout her explanation to keep composed, she had to keep reminding herself that she was talking to her lawyer and not her sister.
"Oh, Claire," as much as Claire was keeping professional in front of all the officers, Karen was sobbing on the other end. "Let me at that son-of-a-bitch! I'm taking his ass down!"
Claire couldn't help but smile at her sister. Always the big sister. Always the protector. She was just about to answer her, when the commotion behind her caused her to look up. "Oh my God, he's alive!" Claire gasped as Eli was escorted from the woods in handcuffs.
"Who?" Karen wondered.
"Mills… She didn't get him." Claire didn't bother to hide the disappointment in her voice.
"Who get him? Claire what are you talking about?"
"Blue—" Claire cut off, her eyes catching Owen storming towards Eli as Maisie yelled after him. Two officers desperately trying to hold Owen back, but he was stronger. "I'll call you back." She said quickly and ran towards Owen.
"You lied to me! You never had her!" Owen screamed, struggling to get free.
Eli stood silent, his eyes on the ground as the officers holding on to him tried keeping Owen away.
"Hey," Claire slipped in front of him, her palms flat against his chest. She gave a light pat when she felt him vibrating under her. She's seen him angry before, but not this angry. "Not worth it, Owen." He stopped struggling, but continued to yell at Eli. "Owen," Claire said louder, leaving one hand over his heart and the other raised to cup his cheek. "Look at me." Owen finally looked down and the darkness in his eyes faded. She could feel his heartbeat slow down. "Do not give him another look. He's not worth it. Let's take Maisie home." Giving a light pat on his cheek he sighed heavily and nodded.
Claire swatted at the officer's hands still tightly gripping Owen's arms. Still keeping herself between Owen and Eli as they escorted him away she wrapped her arms around him. "It's over." She whispered, listening to his heartbeat slow even more.
Owen's arms wrapped around Claire, securing her to him. He knew this was a distraction. He knew she was keeping him from going after Eli and potentially get himself arrested as well. So he let her change his focus. He could let Eli go as long as she was there in his arms.
The sound of Maisie running towards them had Owen looking in her direction. He pulled back from Claire just enough to let Maisie squeeze between them.