The phone rang; Frank answered. "I want to speak to my children." He
demanded before the caller could say anything.
"They'll be released when Sonny Walker brings the ransom to the Lincoln Park Zoo at 8 pm tonight. Put the ransom money and bonds in two separate cases. He's to put them next to the gate. He'll be watched. He's to leave the area immediately. If there's anyone in the area, your children will suffer the consequences."
"I want to speak to my children or you can forget about the ransom," Frank insisted.
There was a long pause. "Frank?" It was Derek.
"Derek, are you and Sarah ok?" Frank asked as Elaina put her arm around him.
"Yeah, as well as two kidnapped kids can be. Is Mom there?"
"Yes sweetie, I'm here. Where's Sarah?" Elaina asked, trying not to cry.
"Right here. I'm holding her. She can hear you."
"Sarah, I love you baby," Elaina said.
"Momma. Need you."
"I know baby girl." Elaina had to step away.
"Dad, do as they say. Get us back home please," Derek begged.
"That's enough," the caller said, taking the phone back. "Listen to your son. Make the drop and they'll be released within the hour afterwards. Don't try to catch us, if you do they'll die." The caller hung up.
"I want that area secured. You're to be invisible, when you follow them back to where ever they go," Frank ordered.
"No! You won't have them followed. You heard him. They'll hurt the kids, if we don't do as they say. I'm not risking our children's lives to catch them. We know who they possibly are, we'll follow their instructions," Elaina ordered.
"Elaina, we need to follow them. They maybe lying about turning them loose," Andy tried to reason with her.
"I said NO! I can't take the risk of them being taken away from us permanently. Please, just do as they said." Elaina started to cry again, so Monica took her to the living room. Minutes later Frank came in to see her.
"I'm going with them to watch the drop. Sab and Monica are going to stay with you."
"If you're going so am I." Elaina stared at him.
"That's not a good idea, you're too explosive. I want you here," Frank told her.
"I'm going and you better stay out of my way," Elaina threatened, walking past him.
He grabbed her around the waist. "I'm going to get in your way, because you're not going. Stay here, they may call before we get back. If they do you need to answer."
"You stay, you're the one they've been dealing with, not me. If you're not here, they'll know they've been set up and they'll hurt the kids," Elaina's yelling, brought the others from the office.
"You can tell them I broke down and can't come to the phone."
"No! You stay I'll go and that's final!" Elaina was still yelling.
"You both stay here!" Andy said, trying to take control. "Elaina is right. If they call and you don't answer they might try to hurt the children. And Elaina. Frank is right. You're too unstable for this. You put me in charge, so let me handle the drop," Andy said.
"I knew putting you in charge was a mistake. If I want to go, I'll go. No one will stop me." Elaina pulled away from Frank but he grabbed her arm.
"Andy is right. We'll both stay here." Frank struggled to keep hold of her.
"Let go of me." Elaina freed her right arm and decked Frank. He became furious and he twisted her arm behind her trying to control her, hoping she'd calm down.
"E. Stop it! I'm not letting go of you. You're out of control." Frank motioned for the others to leave before she got away from him.
"You better let go of me or you're going to have one hell of a fight on your hands in about 10 seconds," Elaina yelled.
"Give it you best shot, Sweetheart. You're not going anywhere," Frank insisted as he tightened his grip on her.
Elaina kicked at his legs, his grip loosened enough for her to hit him again. He kept hold of her left arm and in defense of her moving to hit him again, he hit her in the face harder than he wanted. His anger was becoming as explosive as hers. The blow caught Elaina by surprise and it angered her more.
Sab heard the fight and came out of the office. "Monica, we have to stop them before they hurt each other more."
Frank heard what she said. "Stay out of it, both of you."
Elaina touched her lip and found blood. She punched him again, staggering him. Sab knew they were out of control and they needed to be stopped, no matter what.
"Stop it please." She tried to get between them. Elaina drew back again to hit Frank as Sab got in front of her. She saw the fear in Sabrina's eyes and she caught herself before she hit her.
"Sab. I'm sorry.I never.I was trying.Please," Elaina tried to apologize but she couldn't find the words before Sab turned and ran from the room.
"I'll go talk to her," Frank said.
"I'll go I know more about her background than you do. We should never have let what happen, go as far as it did." Elaina walked out to find Sab.
Elaina went to the kitchen but she wasn't there. She went to the back porch and found her sitting in a chair. Elaina walked out trying to find the words to apologize. "Sabrina, I'm really sorry.."
Sab didn't look at her. "You almost lost a friend tonight. If you had hit me, I'd never have spoken to you ever again."
"I do know that. I wish that I could take that moment back, I really do but I can't," Elaina told her.
"I know. I have never seen the two of you that angry before. I was really afraid especially after he hit you so hard."
"I don't think either of us was hitting each other. We were just lashing out because of the circumstances and the pressure of what had happened."
"I thought the two of you were different. I never thought you'd actually beat each other like that."
Sabrina, believe it or not that's the first time Frank ever hit me like that. I know he didn't mean it. I saw it in his eyes. Our anger got way out of control from the circumstances of today. We needed to lash out and we did it to each other."
"I have seen the two of you fight but never like that. When I saw Frank hit you from the office, it brought back a flash from my past."
"Of Logan hitting you and your Mom?"
"Yeah. It just came flooding back to me," Sab said, as she looked out into the darkness.
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. If I could just control my anger none of this would've happened. I've tried anger management classes, just about everything to keep it in check but there are times when it has to surface. Frank knew what I was like before we became involved. He told me he could handle it. Right, Frank?" Elaina said, without turning around.
Sab turned to see Frank standing in the doorway. "How did you know he was there?"
"She has Frank radar, I can never sneak up on her." Frank came out to bee with them. "I'm sorry for what happened Sabrina. We should've handled ourselves differently. Elaina is right though. I did know she had a bad temper before we started our relationship. She lashes out occasionally. I know how to handle her, except today, I was lashing out too and it made matters worse."
"I have to be honest, I don't like it when the two of you fight like that. I really don't like you as a person then either. You know I like being your friend but if we're to stay friends in the future, you have got to get a grip on your anger. I don't want to be your next victim. I almost was tonight and it scared the hell out of me." Sab talked mainly to Elaina.
"I don't want to lose you as a friend either. I'll work as hard as I can to keep it in check. I promise you, with all my heart. I know what happened was wrong and can never be justified. I'll try very hard to keep it from happening again," Elaina promised.
"We both promise," Frank added.
"At least in front of me?" Sab smirked. "I'm not naïve to think that you two have a perfect marriage or life, but to me, it's pretty damn close. I hope Cody and I have half the relationship the two of you have."
"I'm wondering what would happen if Cody were to ever lose control and hit you?" Frank asked.
"I'll kill him. No man, or woman, will ever hit me again." Sab's tone was very serious.
"I know that you mean that but I hope your love for Cody is deep enough to try to find out why it happened first. Damn it! I'm sorry if that sounded stupid. A spouse to forgive the other for beating her is stupid but I'm not really talking about beatings, I'm talking about one punch in anger." Elaina sighed in frustration. "Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I only know how I feel. I don't feel abused and I hope Frank doesn't either."
"I don't. I never have, it doesn't happen as often as it seems. She does get angry but she doesn't strike out every time."
"I know what you're trying to say, is that things happen in the heat of the moment, that would normally not. It doesn't make it right for either of you to hit one another," Sab told them.
"Was it ok for you to hit Maria in anger? And I saw the look on your face at the wedding shower you wanted to deck Frank for kissing you then," Elaina asked.
"At the time it was right for me to.. Oh. I see what you mean. I guess I'm one to talk about hitting in anger. Sorry," Sab said as Elaina put her arm around her.
"Why don't the three of us try to keep our anger inside and work it out on a punching bag and not another person?" Elaina suggested.
"I guess I won't kill Cody, but he better never hit me," Sab said.
"I doubt that Cody would ever be that angry with you. Besides if he did and I saw it, you won't have to kill him, I will," Elaina joked.
"He did get angry at Frank today," Sab remembered.
"That was scary to me. I didn't know if he'd realize Cody was just stressed or whether they were going to come to blows," Elaina said looking at Frank.
"I was worried too but you seemed to calm them down."
"Go figure, the hot head making peace," Elaina quipped.
"If you two are going to talk, like I'm not here, I think I will go back in with Monica," Frank told them.
"I do have something I'd like to say to Sab in private, if you don't mind?" Elaina stated.
"I'm sorry. I hit you. This wasn't our first fight but I hope it's our last," Frank told her giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"So, am I. Considering I started it, I should apologize more," Elaina said.
"Damn! You admitted starting the fight and I actually have a witness." Frank laughed.
"A witness to what?" Sab teased.
"No, you don't. You aren't going to deny hearing her," Frank said.
"I want it to be our last. I never want to do it again. I'm going to talk to Allison again about my anger issues. My lashing out has got to stop and now," Elaina told them She gave Frank a hug.
"I'll help, I'll even go to therapy with you, if you want?" Frank said.
"Damn! I have a witness to that, so you can't back out." Elaina and Sab giggled.
"I figure the next time you get out of control, I'll just hogtie and gag you." Frank grinned at her.
"I'd like to see you try." Elaina kissed him but it hurt her lip. "Damn, is it that painful for you when you have a busted lip?"
"Yeah but I tend to ignore the pain, because I love kissing you so much," Frank said, smiling.
"Well, I love kissing you too, so I guess I'll have to fight the pain." Elaina kissed him again. "Please leave now, so I can talk to Sab."
"Ok, you can have your girl talk. I'll go." Frank went back in.
"What did you want to say to me that you didn't want him to hear?" Sab asked, after he was inside.
"Sonny said something to me that at the time I thought was just an observation on his part. But then it got me to thinking. More than one person has said the same thing and I always ignored it."
"Elaina, you're talking in circles spit it out," Sab told her.
"When you said I'd lose a friend earlier, it was like a knife through my heart. I realized that you're more than a friend to me. I've grown to love you as a member of my family. In thinking about it, I know that I have acted like a mother figure to you. I guess that comes from being a mother. But it's also because Allison asked me last summer, before we left Montana, to be around for you since she wasn't. She thought you could use someone close by to talk to. So I told her I would."
"You think of me as family?" Sab said, surprised.
"Yes, I do. I've been very protective, trying to keep Maria from hurting you and not even Frank knows this but when you were shot, I slipped into your room when Bea got Cody to step out. I wanted to see how you were myself," Elaina confessed.
"I thought you were out of town then?" Sab asked, thinking back to that time.
"I was but when Frank told me, I came home on the next flight. After checking on you, I went home as if I just got in. I never told him I went to see you."
"Wow. I don't know what to say," Sab was flattered by everything she told her.
"Don't worry about it. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know. I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Before Sab could say anything to her the phone rang. They both ran to the office.
"They'll be released when Sonny Walker brings the ransom to the Lincoln Park Zoo at 8 pm tonight. Put the ransom money and bonds in two separate cases. He's to put them next to the gate. He'll be watched. He's to leave the area immediately. If there's anyone in the area, your children will suffer the consequences."
"I want to speak to my children or you can forget about the ransom," Frank insisted.
There was a long pause. "Frank?" It was Derek.
"Derek, are you and Sarah ok?" Frank asked as Elaina put her arm around him.
"Yeah, as well as two kidnapped kids can be. Is Mom there?"
"Yes sweetie, I'm here. Where's Sarah?" Elaina asked, trying not to cry.
"Right here. I'm holding her. She can hear you."
"Sarah, I love you baby," Elaina said.
"Momma. Need you."
"I know baby girl." Elaina had to step away.
"Dad, do as they say. Get us back home please," Derek begged.
"That's enough," the caller said, taking the phone back. "Listen to your son. Make the drop and they'll be released within the hour afterwards. Don't try to catch us, if you do they'll die." The caller hung up.
"I want that area secured. You're to be invisible, when you follow them back to where ever they go," Frank ordered.
"No! You won't have them followed. You heard him. They'll hurt the kids, if we don't do as they say. I'm not risking our children's lives to catch them. We know who they possibly are, we'll follow their instructions," Elaina ordered.
"Elaina, we need to follow them. They maybe lying about turning them loose," Andy tried to reason with her.
"I said NO! I can't take the risk of them being taken away from us permanently. Please, just do as they said." Elaina started to cry again, so Monica took her to the living room. Minutes later Frank came in to see her.
"I'm going with them to watch the drop. Sab and Monica are going to stay with you."
"If you're going so am I." Elaina stared at him.
"That's not a good idea, you're too explosive. I want you here," Frank told her.
"I'm going and you better stay out of my way," Elaina threatened, walking past him.
He grabbed her around the waist. "I'm going to get in your way, because you're not going. Stay here, they may call before we get back. If they do you need to answer."
"You stay, you're the one they've been dealing with, not me. If you're not here, they'll know they've been set up and they'll hurt the kids," Elaina's yelling, brought the others from the office.
"You can tell them I broke down and can't come to the phone."
"No! You stay I'll go and that's final!" Elaina was still yelling.
"You both stay here!" Andy said, trying to take control. "Elaina is right. If they call and you don't answer they might try to hurt the children. And Elaina. Frank is right. You're too unstable for this. You put me in charge, so let me handle the drop," Andy said.
"I knew putting you in charge was a mistake. If I want to go, I'll go. No one will stop me." Elaina pulled away from Frank but he grabbed her arm.
"Andy is right. We'll both stay here." Frank struggled to keep hold of her.
"Let go of me." Elaina freed her right arm and decked Frank. He became furious and he twisted her arm behind her trying to control her, hoping she'd calm down.
"E. Stop it! I'm not letting go of you. You're out of control." Frank motioned for the others to leave before she got away from him.
"You better let go of me or you're going to have one hell of a fight on your hands in about 10 seconds," Elaina yelled.
"Give it you best shot, Sweetheart. You're not going anywhere," Frank insisted as he tightened his grip on her.
Elaina kicked at his legs, his grip loosened enough for her to hit him again. He kept hold of her left arm and in defense of her moving to hit him again, he hit her in the face harder than he wanted. His anger was becoming as explosive as hers. The blow caught Elaina by surprise and it angered her more.
Sab heard the fight and came out of the office. "Monica, we have to stop them before they hurt each other more."
Frank heard what she said. "Stay out of it, both of you."
Elaina touched her lip and found blood. She punched him again, staggering him. Sab knew they were out of control and they needed to be stopped, no matter what.
"Stop it please." She tried to get between them. Elaina drew back again to hit Frank as Sab got in front of her. She saw the fear in Sabrina's eyes and she caught herself before she hit her.
"Sab. I'm sorry.I never.I was trying.Please," Elaina tried to apologize but she couldn't find the words before Sab turned and ran from the room.
"I'll go talk to her," Frank said.
"I'll go I know more about her background than you do. We should never have let what happen, go as far as it did." Elaina walked out to find Sab.
Elaina went to the kitchen but she wasn't there. She went to the back porch and found her sitting in a chair. Elaina walked out trying to find the words to apologize. "Sabrina, I'm really sorry.."
Sab didn't look at her. "You almost lost a friend tonight. If you had hit me, I'd never have spoken to you ever again."
"I do know that. I wish that I could take that moment back, I really do but I can't," Elaina told her.
"I know. I have never seen the two of you that angry before. I was really afraid especially after he hit you so hard."
"I don't think either of us was hitting each other. We were just lashing out because of the circumstances and the pressure of what had happened."
"I thought the two of you were different. I never thought you'd actually beat each other like that."
Sabrina, believe it or not that's the first time Frank ever hit me like that. I know he didn't mean it. I saw it in his eyes. Our anger got way out of control from the circumstances of today. We needed to lash out and we did it to each other."
"I have seen the two of you fight but never like that. When I saw Frank hit you from the office, it brought back a flash from my past."
"Of Logan hitting you and your Mom?"
"Yeah. It just came flooding back to me," Sab said, as she looked out into the darkness.
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. If I could just control my anger none of this would've happened. I've tried anger management classes, just about everything to keep it in check but there are times when it has to surface. Frank knew what I was like before we became involved. He told me he could handle it. Right, Frank?" Elaina said, without turning around.
Sab turned to see Frank standing in the doorway. "How did you know he was there?"
"She has Frank radar, I can never sneak up on her." Frank came out to bee with them. "I'm sorry for what happened Sabrina. We should've handled ourselves differently. Elaina is right though. I did know she had a bad temper before we started our relationship. She lashes out occasionally. I know how to handle her, except today, I was lashing out too and it made matters worse."
"I have to be honest, I don't like it when the two of you fight like that. I really don't like you as a person then either. You know I like being your friend but if we're to stay friends in the future, you have got to get a grip on your anger. I don't want to be your next victim. I almost was tonight and it scared the hell out of me." Sab talked mainly to Elaina.
"I don't want to lose you as a friend either. I'll work as hard as I can to keep it in check. I promise you, with all my heart. I know what happened was wrong and can never be justified. I'll try very hard to keep it from happening again," Elaina promised.
"We both promise," Frank added.
"At least in front of me?" Sab smirked. "I'm not naïve to think that you two have a perfect marriage or life, but to me, it's pretty damn close. I hope Cody and I have half the relationship the two of you have."
"I'm wondering what would happen if Cody were to ever lose control and hit you?" Frank asked.
"I'll kill him. No man, or woman, will ever hit me again." Sab's tone was very serious.
"I know that you mean that but I hope your love for Cody is deep enough to try to find out why it happened first. Damn it! I'm sorry if that sounded stupid. A spouse to forgive the other for beating her is stupid but I'm not really talking about beatings, I'm talking about one punch in anger." Elaina sighed in frustration. "Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I only know how I feel. I don't feel abused and I hope Frank doesn't either."
"I don't. I never have, it doesn't happen as often as it seems. She does get angry but she doesn't strike out every time."
"I know what you're trying to say, is that things happen in the heat of the moment, that would normally not. It doesn't make it right for either of you to hit one another," Sab told them.
"Was it ok for you to hit Maria in anger? And I saw the look on your face at the wedding shower you wanted to deck Frank for kissing you then," Elaina asked.
"At the time it was right for me to.. Oh. I see what you mean. I guess I'm one to talk about hitting in anger. Sorry," Sab said as Elaina put her arm around her.
"Why don't the three of us try to keep our anger inside and work it out on a punching bag and not another person?" Elaina suggested.
"I guess I won't kill Cody, but he better never hit me," Sab said.
"I doubt that Cody would ever be that angry with you. Besides if he did and I saw it, you won't have to kill him, I will," Elaina joked.
"He did get angry at Frank today," Sab remembered.
"That was scary to me. I didn't know if he'd realize Cody was just stressed or whether they were going to come to blows," Elaina said looking at Frank.
"I was worried too but you seemed to calm them down."
"Go figure, the hot head making peace," Elaina quipped.
"If you two are going to talk, like I'm not here, I think I will go back in with Monica," Frank told them.
"I do have something I'd like to say to Sab in private, if you don't mind?" Elaina stated.
"I'm sorry. I hit you. This wasn't our first fight but I hope it's our last," Frank told her giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"So, am I. Considering I started it, I should apologize more," Elaina said.
"Damn! You admitted starting the fight and I actually have a witness." Frank laughed.
"A witness to what?" Sab teased.
"No, you don't. You aren't going to deny hearing her," Frank said.
"I want it to be our last. I never want to do it again. I'm going to talk to Allison again about my anger issues. My lashing out has got to stop and now," Elaina told them She gave Frank a hug.
"I'll help, I'll even go to therapy with you, if you want?" Frank said.
"Damn! I have a witness to that, so you can't back out." Elaina and Sab giggled.
"I figure the next time you get out of control, I'll just hogtie and gag you." Frank grinned at her.
"I'd like to see you try." Elaina kissed him but it hurt her lip. "Damn, is it that painful for you when you have a busted lip?"
"Yeah but I tend to ignore the pain, because I love kissing you so much," Frank said, smiling.
"Well, I love kissing you too, so I guess I'll have to fight the pain." Elaina kissed him again. "Please leave now, so I can talk to Sab."
"Ok, you can have your girl talk. I'll go." Frank went back in.
"What did you want to say to me that you didn't want him to hear?" Sab asked, after he was inside.
"Sonny said something to me that at the time I thought was just an observation on his part. But then it got me to thinking. More than one person has said the same thing and I always ignored it."
"Elaina, you're talking in circles spit it out," Sab told her.
"When you said I'd lose a friend earlier, it was like a knife through my heart. I realized that you're more than a friend to me. I've grown to love you as a member of my family. In thinking about it, I know that I have acted like a mother figure to you. I guess that comes from being a mother. But it's also because Allison asked me last summer, before we left Montana, to be around for you since she wasn't. She thought you could use someone close by to talk to. So I told her I would."
"You think of me as family?" Sab said, surprised.
"Yes, I do. I've been very protective, trying to keep Maria from hurting you and not even Frank knows this but when you were shot, I slipped into your room when Bea got Cody to step out. I wanted to see how you were myself," Elaina confessed.
"I thought you were out of town then?" Sab asked, thinking back to that time.
"I was but when Frank told me, I came home on the next flight. After checking on you, I went home as if I just got in. I never told him I went to see you."
"Wow. I don't know what to say," Sab was flattered by everything she told her.
"Don't worry about it. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know. I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Before Sab could say anything to her the phone rang. They both ran to the office.