Erin slept through her alarm the next morning, and it took John screaming her name to pull her out of her slumber. Groaning, she sat up and allowed the quilt to pool around her waist, her eyes still aching from all the tears she had cried the previous evening. Glancing towards the door, it took her a few moments to recognize that he was just exiting from her room, and her body moved too slowly to get out of bed and run over to the door before it closed with a finality that hurt her heart. Slumping back against the headboard, she began to cry once more, feeling completely defeated in the harsh light of day. Still, she knew that she couldn't give in to that despair, since it would overwhelm her. She needed to regroup and refocus, to find a new way to view her escape.

A part of her heart had to wonder, in the cold light of day, if John had manipulated the situation between Penelope and David. Anything was possible with that man, he hated her so, and he loved to see her break down, to give in to despair, and so there was a good chance that he had caught Penelope comforting David. The woman was exuberantly effusive in her affection, and could very well have been showing David how much she cared. She had seen her kiss Agent Morgan in a private moment during the bank heist, after all, and there hadn't been anything remotely sexual about the embrace. However, if someone had taken a picture of them in that moment, they might paint quite a different story. With that thought in mind, Erin got up and stretched, heading to the table where John had laid out her breakfast. There was a letter waiting for her, and Erin frowned as she set that aside so that she could focus on eating, wanting to keep up her strength so that she could find a way out and get the answers that she wanted.

Erin was a little perturbed to find that John had made her favourite breakfast, and she let out a deep breath of frustration as she dug into the ham and cheese omelette. Since it was so large, she quickly found herself getting full, but she didn't want to let the food go to waste, so she tried to eat as much as she possibly could before giving in and pushing the plate away from her in order to pick up the letter. She grimaced a little at the way John had elegantly written her name on the front of the envelope, as if he seriously thought he was wooing her. Pulling out the sheet of paper, Erin took another deep breath before unfolding the paper to see what he had written to her.

As you can see, Erin, I wasn't lying when I said that David is starting to move on with Penelope. And yes, I did choose the cruelest way I could think of to let you know that. I thought it would be a delicious sort of revenge to have your joy stolen from you in the blink of an eye. I just wish that I had thought to record the moment, though seeing it live was just as wickedly satisfying. I'll keep you abreast on any further developments in that area, because I am quite certain that you'll want to know. Oh, and you should really check out your picture frames when you finish eating. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

Rolling her eyes a little at his closing line, Erin folded the paper once more and stuffed it back in the envelope, deciding to hold on to it, just in case. Getting to her feet, Erin picked out a fresh outfit for the day before bringing the empty tray over the door and setting it on the shelf before heading into the bathroom and hurriedly showering, knowing that she had lost precious knitting time by sleeping in that morning. Once she was dry and dressed, Erin went into her room and before starting work on the sweater once more, did as John had suggested and took a look at her pictures. There was a new frame there, and she looked, closely, it was the shot of Tabitha that she had fallen in love with. The spot of kindness after the cruelty of his letter was both a balm to her battered heart and a sharp reminder that she couldn't begin to trust him. Everything could be suspect, and she took a few deep breaths as she pulled out the sweater and set to work on finishing the front.

Erin knew that there was too much to complete that day, but she wanted to make as much progress as she could, since the days were quickly moving towards Christmas, and if she knitted fast enough, she might just be able to make something for Tabitha and Karen as well. Letting out a little breath of frustration, she made herself comfortable on the bed before beginning to knit. She soon lost herself in the pattern, the complicated cables taking her mind off the fact that she was missing David something fierce that morning and trying to come to terms with the fact that he was moving on. As her hands worked, she began to sing. It seemed natural to sing the lullabies that she had once soothed her children with, and Erin found her stitches falling into line with the rhythm of the song.

Once more, Erin became so focused in her work that she didn't hear the food door open until she heard John address her. "Your food is here when you're ready to eat, Erin. I must say that it was nice to be serenaded on my way here. It's just too bad that no one else will ever har that voice again."

Erin finished her pattern set before capping the ends of her needles and setting her project aside. "I have good reason to doubt that that will be true, John. Someday, I am going to be able to sing to my babies again, and you will just be a faint memory of a very rough time in my life."

"Ah, such optimism, Erin. It's just too bad that you'll never be free from me. That scar on your wrist proves that quite well." Before Erin could form a proper rebuttal to that, John had closed the door, and she let out a huff of breath before making her way over to the tray. Again, he had made another of her favorites, and she slumped in her seat as she set the tray on the table and began to eat. While she was doing that, Erin began to look through the rest of the pictures that John had given her. There were more of her children, and she smiled to see Karen and Bruce cheering their sister on at her competition. She was just about to start crying when she turned to the next picture and gasped. This time, it wasn't of David and Penelope, but rather Alex. To her surprise, the woman was also at Tabitha's riding competition, and she smiled to see how Alex grinned at her children. Turning that picture over revealed one of all four of them smiling at someone, the relaxed smile on Alex's face telling Erin that whoever they were looking at, whoever had taken this snapshot, it was not John. And she couldn't help but wonder just how John had gotten his hands on the picture, along with wondering who had taken it.