Author's Note :Thank you very much for reading and reviewing! This is my first HM fic and I was really nervous about it but now I'm already thinking of new ones to get started on! There's a little AWL crossover in here. I hope it's not too confusing. Everything about Mary's past and what happened with Karen will be explained soon! :)

I saw the silhouette of a man as we were approaching the lake. I stopped and gripped Jack's arm in fear. Who could be walking around here so late at night? Hands took hold of my insides as a thousand possibilities trickled through my head. Jack, however, didn't seem to be fazed. He shook my hand off and looked rather annoyed as if me pointing out this danger to him was a nuisance.

"It's Gotz, Mary." He informed me, giving me the sort of stare he used to give all the village women when they passed on some stupid gossip to him. I had found it funny when it had been a secret between us but now I was on the receiving end and secret thoughts danced around his own head, it wasn't enjoyable at all. I tried to regain my composure.

"Oh yes, of course. It's the light playing tricks on me." The relief was flooding my body. The thought of some mysterious, threatening looking man loose in the mountains and Charlie being out of my reach was the most scary thing that's ever shivered it's way through my mind. But as we got closer I became of aware of his beard and podgy belly and from the way he had his hands on his hips I could be in no doubt. He did not smile when he saw us but looked apoligetic in my direction and deathly serious in Jack's. Gotz was never one to bother with niceties. He got straight to the point.

"I've been having a good look around here since the young 'un went missing. You gotta be careful with the mountains because there's so many places to hide. I've heard noises from the cave." He pointed across the lake where there was a small island and some rocks. In the midst of these rocks was a small opening. I had never been inside but in the winter when the lake was frozen, Jack had gone across and told me that if you dug you could climb ladders lower and lower and find some interesting things. He'd brought some rocks and ore back to show me and the necklace that I wore was made from some beautiful stone that he had stumbled across. "I checked it out earlier but there was nothing. There's definately something now, can you hear?"

All three of us stood in complete silence. Sure enough, if you listened over the sounds of nature you could hear a low mumbling sound. It sounded almost like a man singing. Jack's eyes flashed and his fists clenched at his sides. "Lets go..." He said, pulling up his sleeves ready to swim. I also kicked off my shoes and undid my necklace. When I got up Jack was giving me the nuisance look again. "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming too." Charlie was close, I could feel it. And there was no way I was going to stand around and wait while the men found out alone.

"Fine." The nuisance look disappeared and for a moment I thought I saw the old Jack return beneath his blue eyes. The Jack who looked at me in admiration, not exasperation. "It's a good job, you're a good swimmer." He looked at me with the corner of his eye but I looked away.

We all dived down into the lake. The water was much cooler at night than in the day time and in your clothes and it was slightly harder to swim. There was no way I was taking them off though and I'm sure Jack and Gotz felt the same. Besides I was pretty good at swimming through any kind of obstacle. I didn't used to be until a few years ago. Until a few years ago I couldn't even go near water. But it was Jack who had taught me. With his time, patience and gentle coaxing I had learnt to swim and fallen as much in love with the ocean as he was. My Mum had tried to get me to learn in the local swimming pool and failed. I think it was the fact that Jack had understood the reasons why I was so afraid that had made me, quite literally, take the plunge. I had told him everything that had happened and he seemed determined to show me that not everything about the water was dangerous.

By the time we reached the other side we were all dripping wet and Gotz was panting heavily. Jack caught hold of my arm, and locked me in his gaze. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I shook myself a little and then walked into the dark cave. It smelt of damp and the darkness made me blink. I was relieved to hear the two men's footsteps behind me but of course I wasn't about to admit that. I could feel movement. Sort of like when you feel a butterfly fluttering around your face but you can't see or hear it. Lucklly Gotz was carrying matches in his pocket and after some rustling around we were bathed in light. I heard Jack exclaim and after a few blinks for my eyes to get used to the change in surroundings, I saw why. There was a long haired, bearded man sitting in the corner. His eyes were as large as walnuts and he wore nothing but rags. In his arm he carried a green bundle. I cried out because I recognised the romper suit of my beautiful son! I ran forwards but Jack calmly reached out and pulled me back. He knew that this man wasn't going to listen to my hysteria (I know it's hard to get your head around having hysteria and me in the same sentence but this is my missing son we're talking about) and was much more likely to hand Charlie over if spoken to in sensible tones.

"Moi." The man said and there was something about his eyes that made me draw the conclusion that something wasn't right about him. Something was wrong in his head.

"I'm Jack." He said and from the way his hands shook I could see that his calm demeanour had not come easily. "Where did you get the baby from?"

"He was c... crying. Needs me to look after him." The man said, raising Charlie a little higher protectively.

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"M... Murrey."

"Where are you from, Murrey?"

"Po-po valley."

Gotz folded his arms and shook his head at me. I could tell he was trying to tell me that no such place exsisted and I clenched my fists and bit my lip. Please just let him hand Charlie over. I'd do anything if you'd just give me my son back.

"Right well I'm from Mineral village and this is my wife Mary." He gave me a sharp nudge and nodded. I took a deep breath and held in a thousand things.

"Hi Murrey, how are you doing?" I squeeked.

"N... Nice to meet you." He smiled a little.

"And our son Charlie is who you're holding there. We've been looking for him for a long time and he really needs his mum so she can feed him and look after him."

"I'm h... hungry."

"If you come back into the villiage with us you can stay at the inn for a while. The cooking is so good there and we could probably get a few days worth of meals for free for you." I had to admire Jack for that. It seemed to hit right on Murrey's weak spot and he stopped holding Charlie so tightly. Charlie immediately started bawling and I had to sigh in relief with him being so quiet I had been worried but now I was completely sure that he was okay and it was just a matter of getting him back. Jack looked desperately at me again for back-up.

"My Mum and I are baking a chocolate cake tonight. You can have a piece of that too."

Finally he handed our baby across to Jack who cuddled him close then turned to me. For a moment we were all gathered in a big hug just the three of us like in the old days. Charlie was on my hip and Jack's arms were around both him and myself. For the moment I could not soothe Charlie's cries but it didn't matter because they were soothing ours.