It feels like old times seeing Rose laying sprawled on the mat, her hair sticking to her forehead with sweat as her chest rises and falls in quick succession to her panting breath.

"That's going to hurt later," Rose groans from her place, raising her arms over her head to stretch. I chuckle and stand over her, holding my hands out to help her up.

"I'll give you a good massage tonight," I say with a smirk. Not that I'd be complaining to run my hands over her. Rose snorts and takes my hands and allows me to pull her to her feet. Rose groans and cracks her neck with a grateful sigh. Now that Rose is finally feeling in better shape, we decided to start working out together again. I warned her that she may not have been able to keep up with me, but she shrugged me off, stating that she could keep up.

"You're coming to Toby's six month check up today, right?" Rose asks as she wipes her face with the towel. I roll my eyes at her even though she can't see me. Of course I'm coming, I like going to them. I enjoy doing the small things with Toby; that includes the doctor's appointments.

"Yes," I reply, taking the towel from her and tossing it into the basket. Rose smiles and heads towards the women's change room and I head to the men's, showering quickly and waiting for Rose.

Rose comes out moments after I arrive and we head towards the daycare center and meet one of the caregivers at the desk. "We're here to pick up Toby Belikov," Rose says, pulling out her ID for the sign-in sheet. The girl nods and heads into the room while Rose leans against the wall behind her.

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Rose asks as she inspects her fingernails.

"Why? Are you cooking?" I laugh, silently hoping she's asking about what I want for take-out. Rose can cook breakfast and that's really it.

"Oh God, no. I don't want to cook but you've cooked every night this week," Rose scoffs and stands up straight. I shake my head and smirk.

"How about Indian tonight? We can try that new place that opened up," I say, leaning forward and kissing the top of her head. Rose scrunches up her nose and shakes her head.

"No, if tonight goes as planned, that is not something we should be eating before," Rose says raising her brows, a wicked look in her eye. I bite my lip and ponder again.

"What about Thai?"

"Now that sounds better," she says. I nod and wink before looking back towards the desk. What is taking so long? The daycare center is not that big. The young lady comes back around the corner with a peculiar look on her face, the manager of the center on her heels.

"Toby isn't here," the manager says hesitantly.

"What do you mean Toby's not here?" Rose asks, her voice thick. I put my hand on her arm and squeeze gently.

"What we mean is that he isn't in the center, the classroom or the bathroom. The last anyone says Toby was about a half hour ago."

"How does a six-month-old baby go missing from a daycare center?!" Rose shrieks, stepping towards the desk. I grip her shoulders and pull her back to me, not just because there's a chance she might leap across the desk to strangle them, but to anchor myself here.

"You have video cameras all over the gym. Is there a chance one of them could have picked up where he went?" I ask firmly, taking a deep breath through my nose.

That was what it took. One request to look at the tapes after the local police being called was what we needed to find out where Toby went. And it was worse than we feared because on the feed is not only Randall, but Tasha as well.

My son in her arms as she walks out the front door.


"Roza. You need to eat something," I coax as I push the sandwich towards her. Rose doesn't respond besides sniffling and shaking her head. I look to Lissa and give her an imploring look. Maybe Lissa can get her to eat? Lissa nods and takes my place on the bed while I head back into the living room.

The house has been as chaotic as the whole situation. Three days and it's like my son has literally disappeared into thin air. Not only are the human police involved, but the Alchemists have stepped in because of our participation in the program.

"Anything?" Christian asks as I walk in. I shake my head.

"No, Lissa's with her now. I'm hoping she may have more luck than me," I say as I sit down next to him. Christian nods and pats my shoulder.

The last visual we had of Toby was at the gym and the last time we had a visual of the vehicle they used was heading upstate. The police officers made the mistake of discussing timelines with Abe while Rose was in the hallway. Hearing about the likelihood of Toby being found after forty-eight hours sent her into a tailspin and has been in shock since.

Lissa appears in the hallway a moment later with a tight smile. "I got her to eat, but she's going to be pissed when she wakes up to find out how I made her do it," Lissa says with a sigh, resting on the armrest. Despite the fact that I would never condone the use of compulsion, this is the only time I'm grateful for it.

"Have you slept or ate at all?" Lissa asks, tilting her head while looking at me. I sigh and shake my head.

"Not really. Any time I fall asleep, I wake up with nightmares and I've only been able to keep a little bit down."

Lissa narrows her eyes at me and purses her lips which draws a laugh from Christian. "Easy Liss. He's not the one who's in shock."

I lean back into the couch and scrub my hands over my face. I feel helpless and am slowly starting to feel hopeless. I just want my son back, and I don't care what it takes to do it. I get up and walk over to the officer who has been stationed at the house with us and start looking through the information he's provided us.

"They were in an expensive rental car," I say to myself, looking at the highway traffic photo. It was an expensive car, which was clearly something Randall had picked. Who else would pick a BMW as a getaway car for a kidnapping?

The young guy that was with us looked over my shoulder and nodded his head in agreeance. "That's true. But they got their car from Cliffy's. That has to be the least expensive one he's got."

I pondered it over for a few minutes, rubbing the side of my finger over my lips as I stared at the picture.

And then it hit me.

"I know it's not common practice, but do you think he'd put a tracking device in his vehicles? I mean, that car is a $100,000 vehicle. It would be too easy for someone to just change the plates and steal the vehicle," I say, setting the photo back on the table. The officer nodded his head quickly before reaching up for his radio, speaking into it quietly as I headed back to Christian and Lissa.

I fill them in and they both agree that if we can find out that information, we can be just one step closer to finding Toby. We wait with baited breath before the officer's radio squeaks to life again, making all of us turn to him.

The office nods his head. "These cars are tracked. Cliffy is pulling up the information as we speak."


I stretch out next to Rose and kiss her cheek, letting my hand come to rest on her stomach. It's taking longer than expected to get a location on Randall and Tasha, but we are getting it. I gently shake Rose, trying to stir her from her compulsion-induced sleep, preparing myself for the outrage I may receive for allowing her to be compelled.

Rose shifts and rolls towards me, tucking herself into my chest. I squeeze her waist and rub her back in another attempt of waking her. She groans and opens her eyes. For a single moment there's no pain, no sadness, no worry in those beautiful brown eyes before reality sets in and I watch that small spark of serenity fade.

"Toby?' she whispers, her voice timid and small.

I shake my head and press my lips to her hair. "We don't know where he is yet, but we are trying to track the car. The leaser put tracking devices in all of his cars so the police are looking for a location," I say with more hope in my voice than I feel.

Rose sits up in bed and brushes her hair back from her face with a sigh. "Well, hopefully they figure it out quickly. I'm tired of this bullshit," she says quietly before getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom, the shower turning on. I follow and stand in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the doorway with arms crossed while Rose showers. I have no intention of joining her at the moment but I don't want to let her out of my sight right now.

"Dimitri? They found the car!" Lissa says, coming into the doorway of the bedroom, her face flushed. I nod and step into the bathroom and pull the curtain back.

"Roza, hurry up. They found the car," I say. Rose spins around in the shower without rinsing the shampoo out of her hair and steps out, wrapping her bathrobe around her and heading out to the living room with me hot on her heels.

Abe stands up as we go into the living room, his arm moving up to curl around Rose's shoulder as I come to stand beside the two, the officers standing at the dining table.

"We tracked the vehicle to Olympia. Priest Point. It's roughly two hours away. We are notifying Washington State and the police there are going to step in," the older woman explains firmly, making eye contact with all of us. Rose nods her head and slips out from under Abe's arm and goes back into the living room, only to come out a few moments later dressed.

"We're going too. I need to be there when they find Toby," Rose says.

"Mrs. Belikov…"

"No! He is my son! I have to be there," Rose snaps as she pulls her shoes on. The officer looks from her to me, almost giving me a pleading look.

"I'm with Rose on this. We're going to be there," I say as I pick up my car keys. If they want us to stay here, they're going to need to knock us out and tie us up to the chairs. Rose gets in the passenger seat quickly and I'm surprised to see Abe sliding into the back seat with Pavel. That surprise is short lived before I get into the driver's seat and gun it, moving as fast I can towards the state lines.

Rose hasn't said a thing since we left and is sitting there bouncing her knee so hard I'm starting to worry that it may break. I reach over and put my hand over it, squeezing and taking my eyes off the road for a moment to give her a tight smile, trying to keep my own racing thoughts from taking over. I need to keep a clear head. I need to keep focused.

The flashing lights let us know we are exactly where we need to be and I barely have the car stopped before Rose flings herself out of the car. I park the car and tear off after her, catching up with her when she gets stopped by a new batch of police officers, but the officers in Portland must have warned them that we were coming.

I gently pull Rose back and hold her against me as we wait, our eyes both trained on the secluded building. Rose leans against me as we wait, but the deafening sound that rings through the air pulls a strangled gasp from her lips, and I wind my arms around her to keep her with me. It's like every person around us moved at once, talking and directing but the only thing I can hear is the ringing in my ears that I hear every time I've fired a gun.


I know... I'm leaving you on a cliff here.

I'm sorry for the wait on the chapter, but I had a really hard time stringing my thoughts together with this one. If you like it let me know! I could use the encouragement.

A big thank you to TheLittleSubmissive for talking me down from my spot of thinking this chapter was less than fantastic. And for editing, you're a rockstar!

Until next time lovelies!