Elizabeth looked to Laszlo as Charlotte slept on the couch and the two of them had taken their conversation through to the kitchen. Laszlo was sat in a chair, a glass of whiskey in his hands as Elizabeth held her own glass while standing across from him, leaning back against the worktops. Her fingers were shaking as she held the glass and Laszlo was looking down onto the ground, struggling to comprehend what it was they should do. He knew that Charlotte could claim that it had been an act of self-defence. The evidence that Beatrice had kidnapped her and murdered children was undeniable.

"We can't tell anyone," Elizabeth said to Laszlo and he looked to her as she watched him, her own eyes widening and her face pale. Laszlo was dressed in his pyjamas still with his robe around him, his wife remaining in a simple blue dress with sleeves that came down to her wrists and a high neckline.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…what if we simply kept this quiet?" Elizabeth asked from him and his brows pinched together as he watched his wife and shook his head slowly, struggling to understand what she was saying to him. She saw his face grow with concern and she moved towards him, placing her glass down on the kitchen table and crouching in front of him.

"Listen to me," she pleaded from her husband. "What if we simply kept this between us? Charlotte…I know that we can tell the police that it had been self-defence, but what if we say that she managed to run away before she was killed?"

"Because it is not the truth, Elizabeth."

"And we haven't lied before?" she questioned from her husband and Laszlo shook his head firmly, holding a hand up defensively as Elizabeth placed her hands onto his thighs to balance herself as she remained on her feet, crouched down.

"That was different and it technically was not a lie," he said in a hiss to her as she shrugged her shoulders. "What happened to Jacob was self-defence and we both agreed that…we both said that he had fallen on his own in an accident."

"Because you didn't want to risk seeing me sent to jail," Elizabeth said, acutely aware of what they had done. They had lied to the police, setting their stories straight before they had called the police. "You told me that you couldn't risk me, Laszlo. Do you remember that?"

"I remember everything about that night," Laszlo said to her. "You did what you had to do."

"Just like Charlotte did," Elizabeth responded to her husband. "And just like you couldn't risk me all those years ago, I can't risk Charlotte. She is our daughter. What if the police don't believe her that it was self-defence?"

"They will have to. How could it be anything other than self-defence? The difference here is that the police know how deranged Beatrice is…was…" he corrected himself. "The issue that you faced…we faced…was that no one knew what your husband was like and his family could easily have convinced the right people that you had killed him to be with me if we had told the truth."

Elizabeth was well aware of that. She could still remember Laszlo holding onto her as they stood at the top of the stairs and looked down at Jacob's unmoving body. He had told her that it was for the best, assuring her that lying, while he hated it, would serve them right. Jacob had attacked them. The bruises proved that much. He had fallen because he was drunk. Again, the empty bottle of whiskey in the parlour would also prove as much.

"Elizabeth, they're going to find her body," Laszlo said to his wife as she avoided his gaze, mainly because she knew he was talking sense and at that moment in time she didn't care for sense. All she cared about was protecting her daughter.

"You…"

"And the police know that Beatrice had Charlotte…when they find out she is alive here and Beatrice is dead, how do you think that will look?"

"Like she escaped her clutches."

"And when they question people at the hotel where she was staying?" Laszlo continued and Elizabeth ground her teeth together. They had to be clever. They had to think about this logically. "They will have seen her face, Elizabeth. She was the last person to have seen Beatrice alive…if anything she shouldn't have left her. Running back here only makes her appear more guilty."

"She's a child, Laszlo," Elizabeth spat at her husband and moved to her feet, but Laszlo grabbed hold of her hand.

"And I know that," he said, stopping her from running away from him as his grip remained firm on her and he managed to stand up, ignoring the pain in his side. "I know that she is a child and she is scared of what could happen. I am acutely aware of all of that, but I need you to think about how this looks. I need you to think about what it will appear like if we keep this quiet and Charlotte is discovered anyway."

"No," Elizabeth said firmly and shook her head. "Laszlo, I can't…I can't risk it…risk her…"

"She needs to tell the truth," Laszlo said, holding firm as his wife, continued shaking her head and looking anywhere but at him. "Elizabeth, if we keep this then she looks guilty. It looks like murder. Self-defence…we will be able to keep her safe by telling the truth."

"And if they don't believe her?"

"They will," Laszlo assured his wife. "They will believe her because they know what Beatrice was like."

Elizabeth knew that Laszlo was talking sense. She hated that he spoke sense, but she knew it was the truth. Moving his head downwards, his forehead brushed hers as he forced her to look up and into his eyes. Her gaze met his and he moved his good hand up to her cheek as she pressed a hand flat against his chest, a shaky sigh escaping her lips.

"Let her sleep," Elizabeth said. "She's had a long day, Laszlo…and she…just please…can we let her sleep?"

"Of course," Laszlo agreed with his wife's request and he sighed to himself then. "We'll get through this. This nightmare will end soon enough, my darling."

"I hope so."

Laszlo wanted to be able to wrap his wife into his arms, but he knew that would agitate his wound. He had to be content with stroking her cheek as she kept her forehead pressed to his and he kissed her softly as they waited for morning to come, knowing that neither of them would get any sleep that night.

Elizabeth didn't know how long they had spent stood together before she heard the phone begin to ring. Standing up straight, she gave Laszlo a final peck to the cheek and said that she would answer it. Moving out of the kitchen and through the hallway, she had no chance to answer it as Charlotte picked it up.

"Hello?" she answered in a soft tone. Elizabeth wondered who could possibly be calling at that time of night as she stood by Charlotte and waited patiently for her to hand the phone over.

But she didn't. Her face fell and her grip on the phone increased. She clung tightly onto it and Elizabeth saw her eyes glaze over.

"No…please…just leave us alone…leave them alone…no!" Charlotte snapped in quick succession before slamming the phone down and turning to Elizabeth, wrapping her arms around her waist and burrowing her cheek against her chest as she sobbed loudly and shook her head.

"She's…she's not dead…it was her," Charlotte sobbed and Elizabeth felt her heart rate quicken as she heard Laszlo's footsteps move into the hallway behind her. Turning her head over her shoulder, she looked to him and he understood completely what had just happened as Charlotte continued to cry in Elizabeth's arms.

"It's going to be alright," Elizabeth promised her, tone gentle and soft. She tried to hide the fear as she spoke, not wanting Charlotte to see how scared she was. Laszlo managed to make it to stand besides his family, a hand holding onto the bannister at the bottom of the stairs.

"What did she say, Charlotte?" Laszlo questioned from her.

But Charlotte shook her head against Elizabeth's chest. Moving a hand to her hair, Elizabeth stroked it softly down her back, letting her fingers tangle through it as she tried to soothe her.

"Darling, you need to tell us what she said," Elizabeth urged from Charlotte. "She isn't going to hurt you…I promise we won't let her anywhere near you."

"It isn't me," Charlotte whispered and looked up to Elizabeth, her eyes puffy and red with tears, her cheeks also turning scarlet. Elizabeth moved her hand from her hair and stroked her cheek softly, brushing away the tears and nodding, urging her to continue. "She…she said that if I don't go back she'd…she'd hurt Lucy and Emily…you and Laszlo…she said she'd take my family from me."

Laszlo's pulse quickened and his hairs stood on edge as Charlotte gripped tightly onto Elizabeth once more. The husband and wife looked between each other and they knew that they had to act quick. They had to try and outsmart Beatrice before she got anywhere near them.

…

It had been quite an event the following morning when Lucy and Emily woke up. Trying to explain to the two small girls how Charlotte was still alive was quite a challenge, but they had managed it between them. They had managed with Charlotte's help, telling them how they had been wrong. They said how she had gone missing, but it had all been a mistake and Charlotte was fine. Elizabeth didn't know if Lucy believed the forced smiles as she seemed weary, but she accepted Charlotte being back, asking her if they would be happy now.

Charlotte had nodded and cried, cuddling her little sister as she sat with her on the couch and promising her that things would be fine and she wouldn't be mean anymore. Lucy had been happy with that and Emily was too young to understand what anything meant. Lucy was still too young to know the full truth and she didn't question it when Charlotte hugged her tightly.

"This is going to be dangerous, Diana," Laszlo informed their maid as they stood with her towards the back of the dining room, knowing that they had to think of something.

The maid was holding her hips in her hands as Elizabeth stood next to Laszlo who was leaning on his cane, his wife's arm also around his waist to try and keep him balanced considering he didn't want to sit down. He had far too much on his mind to sit for a minute, namely going to the police and getting his family away from New York.

"I just…I can't believe any of this," Diana confessed, looking to Charlotte. The little girl was supposed to be dead. She had thought her lost and gone, but there she was. She was sat holding her sisters and she was very much alive. How was any of it even possible?

"I know that it's a lot to take in," Elizabeth said. "We're still coming to terms with it ourselves."

"But we need to decide what to do and we have to decide quickly," Laszlo commented. "I have already made arrangements to speak with a detective who had been working on Beatrice's case. The house in the Hamptons is also currently available and I think it might be for the best if we were to go there for the time being."

"Back to the Hamptons?"

"Charlotte has told us that Beatrice knows the house in the Hamptons, but she does not know where it is…not like she knows where this house is," Elizabeth added on. "It is either that or we go somewhere completely unknown."

"Which is still a possibility," Laszlo agreed with that point. "And perhaps a more safer option."

Elizabeth agreed with him on that point. She chewed down on the inside of her cheek, finding that her nerves were on edge.

"The point we're making is that we don't want to drag you into any of this," Elizabeth said to her. "Beatrice has made a threat against our family and we consider you part of the family."

"That's kind of you to say, Elizabeth and…I…I love those girls," Diana said, looking at the children and smiling sadly.

"And they love you too," Laszlo said to her. "But we do not want you to stay here alone. We do not want you to stay here at all…and we cannot ask you to come with us because this is not part of your job description. I can pay for you to take up lodgings until all of this is finished."

Diana shook her head firmly, wisps of hair falling out of the bun that she had pulled her hair up into. "No," she said to him, not backing down on this matter. "I do not want you to pay for me to stay somewhere else and I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to help…I want to help you and look after the girls. You have enough to worry about and they need a sense of normalcy in their lives because they're too young to understand what is going on. I can do that…I can help you do that, anyway, when things get too much, that is."

Elizabeth looked to Laszlo who returned her stare. He knew that Diana had a point. In the past few months she had been a saviour whenever things had gotten too much for Elizabeth or Laszlo. There were times when Laszlo felt as though he put too much upon her, but she never complained.

"We can't ask you to come with us," Elizabeth said.

"You're not asking me," Diana said determinedly. "I want to come with you. I want to help."

"You're certain?" Laszlo asked her.

"I'm certain," she said and Laszlo suspected that she was a woman who did not back down in arguments. He knew all about women like that, he had married one after all.

…

"The police know everything," Elizabeth informed Sara as she stood upstairs in the house and pulled things out of her wardrobe. Laszlo had insisted on them taking the evening train out of New York and to New Jersey. He had spoken with Jane about the Institute and she had told him she was fine remaining in charge. She had told him about a house she had in Long Branch courtesy of her parents leaving it to her in their will. It was a beachfront house that was quite remote and looked over the South Shrewsbury River.

And so it had been decided that they would travel down to New Jersey, Elizabeth finding the train times after they had told the police of what had happened. The police had been more helpful than usual, saying that they would keep an eye out for Beatrice, but they were more interested in not creating chaos.

"And what did they say?"

"That they would simply alert their officers that she was alive," Elizabeth said. "They seemed more interested in making sure that there was no panic, not wanting to appear as though they have done nothing to catch her."

"I will stay here and do what I can to track her down," Sara said with a firm nod. "John is also writing on it so people will be aware that she is not dead."

"I don't know what we'd do without you," Elizabeth confessed as Sara took some of the dresses she had pulled out of the wardrobe and began folding them up to lay them in the trunk. "It all just feels like a complete nightmare and now we have to travel down to New Jersey."

"But it is for the best," Sara said to her. "You should stay out of the city until she is caught and so long as you have Charlotte, Emily and Lucy with you then you know they're safe."

"True," Elizabeth agreed with her on that point. "I just don't know if Laszlo is up to such a journey."

"He seems to be recovering quite well," Sara said to Elizabeth as she moved into his wardrobe and pulled out jackets and shirts. She folded those herself as Sara finished packing Elizabeth's trunk.

"He is, but I don't want to jeopardise his recovery," Elizabeth said. "But I know that this is for the best…and Charlotte…we just need to keep her safe. We just need to keep her with us."

"I still can't believe it," Sara said, shaking her head and adjusting a shirt she was holding in her hands. "I just can't believe that she is alive. I owe you an apology, Elizabeth. In fact, I don't know if an apology is enough."

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, you don't," she promised her.

"But I do," Sara retorted, dropping the shirt onto the other clothes in the case. "I doubted you, Elizabeth…I thought that your grief had taken over and I didn't listen to you when I should have. I should have believed you. I should never have doubted you."

"Sara, honestly, it's fine," Elizabeth promised her friend in a soft voice. "I might have questioned myself too if I had been in your position. Besides, the fact is that she is back home. She is alive and she is here with us."

"So long as you are certain," Sara said.

"More than certain," Elizabeth promised her. "And I don't want you to put yourself in any danger, Sara. Beatrice…she is deranged and truth be told, she terrifies me more than I care to admit."

"I can understand that," Sara said. "But you don't need to worry about me. I can handle myself. You focus on those girls of yours and that husband too."

"I will," Elizabeth promised her.

They finished packing together and carried the cases downstairs with the help of Stevie who was going to go and stay with Cyrus until things had blown over. Laszlo remained in the parlour with Lucy and Emily. Diana had packed her own trunk herself and then packed for Emily and Lucy while Elizabeth and Sara had helped Charlotte. It took just over an hour before they were ready to go, Laszlo eager to get moving and out of the city as soon as possible.

John had come by to the house and was sat with Laszlo, Emily in his arms as she held onto his chin and he beamed down at his goddaughter. They had only told the girls that they were going on another holiday all together, saying that the fresh air would be good to help Laszlo recover. They had tried to keep everything as normal as possible for them, but they didn't know if they were doing a good job.

"You know that she won't be able to hide forever," John said as they finally finished loading the carriage.

Charlotte was sat inside of it with Lucy and Emily. Laszlo and Elizabeth stood on the top steps of the house, Laszlo locking the door as Diana spoke with Stevie. John and Sara stood just behind Elizabeth and Laszlo.

"We hope not," Elizabeth said as Laszlo placed the house keys into his pocket. "And Marcus has said that he will keep checking up on the house."

Marcus had been unable to meet them that day, but he had called after Elizabeth had phoned him at work and left a message. She had explained everything to him and he had told her how he would ensure everything was fine at their house considering he had a spare key that Elizabeth had given him while Laszlo had been in hospital so that he could pick some things up for her.

"And we will keep searching for her. No doubt she will return to the City to look for you."

"I suspect that would be her next move," Laszlo said with a nod. "And she has enough money to stay hidden if she so wishes."

"But she is desperate…unhinged…" John said. "You don't think she will start killing again, do you?"

"I don't know," Laszlo confessed as Elizabeth took hold of his arm to keep him steady as she saw him swaying slightly. "All I know is that she will want Charlotte back and we have already seen the lengths that she will go to."

Elizabeth agreed on that point, nodding her head slowly and looking to Laszlo, fear rising up inside of her about just what lengths she could go to.

…

"You need to rest, Laszlo."

"I can help you."

"No," Elizabeth said firmly, pushing at his chest softly to keep him sat on the bed.

The journey to New Jersey had been long and tiring. They only arrived at the beach house in the early hours of the morning and Elizabeth had been in awe of it. It was large and grand, tastefully decorated in creams and beiges. There were not too many homely touches in it, but Elizabeth had been informed that it had stood empty for quite some time.

"You do not need to do everything on your own," Laszlo said.

"And I know that, but I can cope with this," she said as she unpacked the cases that had been laid out on the chaise longue in the master suite. The room had been prepared by a maid who looked after the house, keeping for when Jane decided to come down to visit. She looked after other houses in the area too, most of them being holiday homes as opposed to permanent residencies.

"I feel so guilty."

"As you should," Elizabeth drawled to him, trying to keep her tone light, "it was rather selfish of you to get yourself shot in the first place."

Laszlo remained perched on the edge of the bed, managing to shrug out of his suit jacket as his wife hung his clothes up in the wardrobe. His lips twisted up as she sent him a sly smirk and he shook his head, chuckling to himself and pulling at the tie around his neck.

"I apologise," he said in response to her teasing.

"I should hope so," she retorted. "But seriously, Laszlo, if you even dare try and unpack this case then I will not be held responsible for my actions."

"I do not see what you could possibly do that could harm me further," Laszlo said and reached for the glass of bourbon on his bedside table. He placed it to his lips and took a sip.

"Refuse to be intimate with you when you're better?" Elizabeth suggested and Laszlo almost spat out the liquid in his mouth. He choked it down, coughing loudly with a deep gulp as Elizabeth looked to him out of the corner of her eye as his cheeks reddened. "I suspect that is a good enough threat?"

"A very good threat," he agreed with her on that point. "However, I do not know if you would be able to follow through, my love."

"I would try my best," she promised him. "Anyway, we should be thinking of other things, namely how we can put a plan in place to find Beatrice."

Laszlo agreed with her on that point. Ever since they had arrived at the beach house, they had felt some sense of relief. The issue was that he knew it would only be fleeting. The chance was that there would always be something about to go wrong and Laszlo didn't know if he could handle that himself. At this moment in time, he was struggling even to look after himself. He was relying on Elizabeth far too much to help him get through the day and perform the most basic of tasks. The feeling of helplessness was too much for him when all he longed for was the ability to protect his family.

"Do you regret it?" he questioned from his wife as she continued hanging clothes in the wardrobe, her palm flattening one of his shirts that had gotten slightly creased from being packed in the case.

"Hmm?" she questioned in an absent-minded fashion.

"Coming here…do you think we might have made a mistake?" he asked from her.

She turned back to look at him, standing by the wardrobe and folding her arms over her waist. Tilting her head to the side, she looked down to her husband.

"Why would I regret it?"

"Because I worry what she might do when she finds out Charlotte is no longer in New York," Laszlo confessed. "She has already killed before when Charlotte was not by her side and those children…they were innocent in her schemes. They did not deserve any of that."

"Nor does Charlotte."

"I know," Laszlo replied. "But if she does kill again…if she does it to try and manipulate her…I worry what that might do to Charlotte. I worry about the burden it places on her shoulders. You've seen her, Elizabeth. She is no longer that carefree little girl we helped raise."

"But she is still innocent in all of this," Elizabeth said and closed the wardrobe door. Moving back to the bed, she sat down next to Laszlo and took hold of his hand inside of both of hers, holding onto it tightly. "Beatrice is responsible for her own actions and God knows what she might have done to Charlotte in the end. I do not even want to think of it."

Laszlo nodded once more, agreeing with what his wife was saying to him as he reached his other hand around his body, grunting in a slight amount of pain as his good hand landed on top of one of hers and she cautiously leant her head against his shoulder.

"Nor do I," Laszlo concurred. "She…she has been through so much in her life already and I always felt as though we did everything we could to shield her from the horrors of the world and to keep our past from her too."

"I know we did," Elizabeth said and Laszlo dropped his chin to sit on the top of her head, his fingers finding Elizabeth's engagement ring and twirling it around her finger slowly. "Just think, your life would have been so peaceful if you had never met me."

He chuckled. "I do not disagree with that," he said. "However, it would be nowhere near as enriching. Look at everything we have…we have three beautiful daughters…and our marriage…it has endured so much. It continues to endure so much."

"I don't know how," Elizabeth scoffed.

"Because we are strong enough to handle whatever is thrown at us," Laszlo informed his wife. "And, despite what happens, we have never abandoned each other."

"I…there were times when I wondered why you wanted it to endure," Elizabeth confessed to Laszlo. "I haven't always treated you as well as I should and I regret that. I regret pushing you away whenever I struggled. I regret making a stranger of you when all you have ever tried to do is help me."

"No," Laszlo said firmly, shaking his head and moving so that he could look her in the eye. His hand went to her cheek and brought her gaze to his. He refused to drop her stare, his thumb running over her cheekbone. "Don't talk like that, Elizabeth. I never want to hear you talk like that. Do you understand me?"

"I just want you to know that I have regrets…that I…that I love you so much and I will always need you…always want you…"

"And I know that," Laszlo said to her. "But the way you're talking is almost like a goodbye, Elizabeth. You don't have to say goodbye to me because nothing is going to happen. Nothing is going to come between us. We're going to make it through this. We're going to be happy, you, me, Lucy, Emily and Charlotte."

Elizabeth nodded her head as she looked her husband in the eye and moved her free hand up his arm, letting it sit against his chest. "And I want that," Elizabeth said to him. "But she scares me, Laszlo. Beatrice terrifies me…what she is willing to do…the lengths she will go to…taking Charlotte and almost losing you…I've never felt fear like it."

"I know," Laszlo assured her. And he did know. He knew all too well how she would have felt because he had felt the same way before too. "And when I thought that I might lose you, I felt exactly the same thing you felt. I felt the grief…the pain…the stabbing feeling in your chest that won't go away…not being able to sleep…eat…and I know I can't stop you from being scared, Elizabeth. I confess that I myself am terrified, but all we can do is stay with each other and do everything in our power to protect our daughters."

Elizabeth nodded, agreeing with him as she let out a shaky breath and he kissed her chastely for a moment, closing his own eyes before deepening the kiss. He moved his wife slowly, giving her subtle hints until she was hovering over his lap, her knees bent either side of him as her hands held onto the back of his neck and she continued kissing him with fervour, determined not to agitate his wound. Laszlo lifted his bad hand to her hip, gripping hold of it and wanting her closer but knowing he would be in pain. His other hand tangled into her hair, keeping her lips pressed to his.

…

Standing outside of the house, she peered inside to the bedroom. They had left the curtains wide open and she could see the two of them enveloped in each other. The doctor had his wife in his lap, both of them so oblivious to the outside world. She scoffed at the sight of them and her hand clenched into a fist. She advanced forwards to the house, the blade glimmering in the moonlight as she made her move.

...

A/N: So I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but I think I'm going to be wrapping things up shortly. In the meantime, would love to know if you're reading!