I know that I haven't updated and all but i would also apreciate some suggestions from readers. Remember the general theme is tragedy not recovery... And if you can't tell already, I'm not much for a romantic.

Amy called Ephram.

"Hello?" Andy answered.

"Oh, um, hi Dr. Brown."

"Amy?"

"Yeah, can I talk to Ephram?"

"Well, I thought that he was with you. He left an hour ago."

"Umm, oh." Amy bit her lip. "Well, I'm sure he's fine. I'll call when he gets here if you'd like."

"I'd appreciate that."

Amy said goodbye and hung up. That was 10 AM.

Ephram left the coffee house carrying two steaming cups of coffee in Styrofoam cups. Halfway down the block he bumped into someone. The loose lids came off and scalding hot coffee poured onto a young man.

"Oh," Ephram coaxed. "God, I am so sorry."

The man did not seem to hear him. After recovering from the initial shock, he lifted his eyes to glare at Ephram. Ephram did have to admit that his heart did seize.

"You gonna be sorry, bitch." The man gave a whistle and soon Ephram was surrounded by four men in their mid twenties.

Ephram dropped the cups and took a step back. "L-look, I, I don't want to cause any trouble."

The man who seemed to be the leader let out a harsh laugh. "You hear that boys? He doesn't want any trouble." He acknowledged Ephram. "I'm in no mood to compromise. My girl wouldn't give me any pussy last night and my boss fired me. Said I ain't treat'n the customers with respect."

Ephram walked back until he felt brick wall against him. They were about five feet into an alley with garbage bags piled up. Ephram tried to talk himself out of this. "Look, I understand that you're mad and and may-maybe, um, I could g-get you a job? Violence is not the answer."

The leader pulled out a pocket knife. "I don't like being talked down to." The three other men took their cue and jumped Ephram.

Amy looked at the clock again. It was now 1:30 and Ephram hadn't shown. She decided to call Andy again.

"Ephram isn't here," Amy said after introductions were made.

Andy sighed deeply. "I'm gonna call the cops."

Amy's heart skipped a beat. "You-you don't think that…"

"I'm trying not to think."

Ephram woke up and realized right away that he was not in his room. For one he was on cold cement and the air was slightly clammy.

Ephram groaned when he sat up. He touched his face but his skin felt raw and burned at the contact.

"Kid's awake," Ephram heard. He turned his head in the direction of the voice but he couldn't see anything in the darkness of the room.

There was some shuffling and the sound of something metal being placed in front of him.

"Eat," the voice commanded.

Ephram slid the tray closer to him but his eyes hadn't adjusted yet to the darkness. He didn't dare speak so he felt the food with his hands. He felt a hamburger wrapped in paper from a fast food restaurant and a small fries. He felt around some more but he did not find a drink which is what his throat craved.

The fries were cold but he ate them in silence. He wasn't sure when his next meal would be. When he finished, he slid the tray away and sat there trying to figure out what he could remember. He remembered the fight but that was it. He was probably unconscious when they brought him here. Wherever here was.

"Where am I?" His voice sounded hoarse.

After a minute of silence he wondered if anyone was even there.

"I can't tell you that," the voice replied.

"Why am I here? Is it money? Is that what you want?"

"A.J. doesn't tell me his plans," he said. "But, yes, money is probably part of it."

Ephram though sadly of his father. How he with have to gather a great sum of money for his son to be released.

"When can I see my father?"

"That is enough questions for now."

Ephram turned away from the voice and laid down on the cold hard cement. He used his arms as a pillow and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up to protect his head from the cold. His teeth chattered but he did not ask for a blanket. He cried himself to sleep.

Harold and Amy came over for Andy.

"I'm sorry, Andy," Amy said, giving him a hug, calling him by his first name.

Andy returned her hug and embraced his friend.

"Thank you for coming over."

"So, what's being done?" Amy asked.

"They're running his picture on TV but no one's spotted him."

"As long as you don't give up hope," Harold said.

Ephram ate the food on the tray as was now routine. They were now giving him water. They were actually feeding him well. Like he was at home. Most of it was leftovers. Sometimes they heated the food.

After he was finished, Charles, the man who was supervising him, the one he met his fist day there, spoke. "We're contacting your father today."

Ephram's heart leapt with hope.

"You are to write the note."

Ephram was surprised. "Me?"

"A.J.'s orders. You know the cop'll run the note for prints."

Ephram understood. Charles handed him a closed package of notebook paper, box of pens and box of envelopes. All closed and sealed. Ephram understood. He opened all of the packages and used the tray as a writing surface.

"What can I write?" Ephram asked him.

"We will read it so be careful what you write. Do not write our names, any clues about our location. Tell your father that he must supply $2 million by the end of tomorrow."

"2 million?"

"Quiet," Charles ordered. "He will go to the park and leave it under the bench in a grocery bag. No cops or the deal is off."

Ephram looked down at the blank paper and sobbed.

Four days have passed since Ephram was missing. Everyone was walking on egg shells around Andy. Delia locked herself in her room and Amy had to let Bright take care of her. Harold was back to drinking and did little to hide it.

The cops were flooding their home. Andy went of the mail box to get the mail. Immediately the police confiscated it from his hands. They leafed through it and pulled out an envelope.

"We've got it."

Andy looked up. "Ephram?"

They were careful to extract the letter with their gloved hands to later dust for finger prints. Andy put on a pair of latex gloves and read it.

Dear Dad,

I know you're worried about me but they are treating me well and feeding me well. I cannot tell you where I am being held because I do not know where I am. My captors do have told me to tell you what follows.

You must supply $2 million by the end of tomorrow. Bring it in a grocery bag and leave it under the park bench that is in the shaded area of the path. You are supposed to 'forget' it there and leave the park and go home. If there are any cops involved, I will not be released.

I know this is a lot of money but I need your help. Please help me Dad.

-Ephram

Andy sank into the couch.

"What is it?" Harold asked.

"They want $2 million. By tomorrow."

"This is Everwood. That is not easy money."

"I know that. But he's my son… I'd die for him."

Andy was on the phone with the bank. After a heated argument he got the supervisor on the phone. He hung up the phone and retreated to the others.

"The mortgage on the house gives me $750,000. Since Ephram's not going to college, that give us 250,000."

"That's only 1 million," Amy said.

"And the second million will be harder to get," Andy said.

Amy looked to her father. "I'm not going to college. We could you that."

"What if you do go to college?" Harold interjected. "Even if it's in a year?"

"I'm not going. And I have to help Ephram."

"You don't have to do that," Andy said. Harold nodded vigorously.

"Yes I do."

Harold sighed. "Give me that phone, I'll call the bank."

So far they had gathered $1.55 million with the house mortgage, and the college tuition money of Ephram, Amy and Delia. Harold and Amy went home to see if they could find anything of value at home.

Once Bright heard the situation, he got on the phone and called around.

"No, we are talking surround sound," Bright demanded into the phone. "The TV is a 36 inch." Bright listened for a while into the phone. "No, that is not enough," he said before slamming the phone into its cradle.

"How much were they offering?" Amy asked.

"100 thousand."

"That's pretty good. You got it for 21 thousand."

"It's not enough."

Amy sighed. She picked up the phone and started calling people they knew.

"Anything that you could provide would help a great deal," she told the woman on the phone.

"Um, thank you very much." She hung up the phone. Looking up at her brother she said, "50 bucks. That'll help."

Amy moved to the patient list her father got for her. It was a list of all of Andy's and Harold's patients.

"You know," Bright commented. "You should probably call the ones that Andy helped the most first. You know, they might be a bit more supportive if Andy saved their life or whatever."

"Good point," Amy said and looked though the list. There was one woman who's daughter attempted suicide and Dr. Brown saved her. It looked promising.

"Hello, is this Mrs. Thompson?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"My name is Amy Abbot and I'm calling on behalf of Dr. Brown." Amy smirked at her own words. Calling on behalf.

"I know him."

"We are trying to gather as much donations as we can to help his son."

Amy was trying to be as vague as possible. "What's wrong with him?"

Amy sighed. "He's been taken and there is a 2 million dollar ransom for his return."

The woman sounded flustered. "Oh, I couldn't possibly imaging what the poor man is going through."

Amy talked to her a while more and then hung up. She grinned at her brother.

"How much?"

"A hundred thousand. From a woman we don't even know."

"Nice. Keep on calling."

Amy called Andy.

"I've called around and in donations alone we got $150,000."

"Wow," Any breathed. "Who'd you call?"

"Mostly your patients who were happy to help out. Most of it was from a Mrs. Thompson."

"That's good."

"And Bright got $200,000 off of his entertainment system."

"Now that's impressive."

"I know, it's a lot."

"Not just that. I mean, it was like his baby."

Amy chuckled. "Well he'll have some parting issues but he wants to help out."

"I appreciate it."

Amy smiled and hung up.

Harold called Andy the next morning.

"Harold, hi."

"I sold Rose's jewelry."

"Harold, you didn't have to do that."

"I did. She'd have wanted that."

Andy sighed. Rose was probably up there right now in heaven poking Harold and telling him she wants to help too. "How much did you get for it?"

"$75,000."

Andy's heart leapt. "So we only need 25 thousand more."

"Glad to help," Harold said and hung up.

Nina was rushing around the house, pulling out drawers and checking cabinets. Hannah told her last night about Ephram and she was determined to help.

Nina was crouched down and reached under her bed and her hand touched a small wooden box. She gasped excitedly and pulled out the small jewelry box. All of her jewelry was cheap except for this. She opened the box carefully and pulled out the small piece of silver. She smiled.

Nina ran next door and caught her breath while she waited for Andy.

"Nina?" Andy said when he opened the door.

"I found it. My mother's ring." She held it up as proof.

"Nina, I can't accept this."

"Andy I'm not proposing, I'm giving this as a friend."

Andy dipped his head in shame.

"We need $25,000 more."

Nina nodded. "I'll be back with the money in a few hours."

And she left before he could even say thank you.

Andy drove to the park alone after insisting no police be following him. He looked shakily to the clock. 5:45 PM. He hoped that this would work. He parked the car and got out, acting nonchalant and strolling though the park with a grocery bag hanging loosely beside him.

Andy sat on the bench his son told him to. Andy was unsure of what to expect. Andy set the grocery bag full of the money under the bench. It was in a paper bag inside of plastic bag so that the money could not be obviously seen by any passerby.

Andy busied himself by searching though his pockets. He put on a bit of a show looking at his watch and realized he was late for something. He got up and walked away, leaving behind the money. Andy didn't dare look behind him but he did look ahead of him and he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Andy sighed and continued home like the note instructed and waited.

Andy finally called it a night and went to bed. The following morning he waited with his friends and the police but nothing happened.

"Sir," Officer Wilson said. "It isn't time to panic. There have been many cases where the kidnappers keep the victim an extra day or two."

"Don't tell me not to panic," Andy said through clenched teeth. "Give me that," he growled at Harold who was openly drinking a beer. Andy grabbed the bottle and threw it across the room. Everyone flinched at the sound of the clatter.

Nina placed a comforting hand on Andy's shoulder. He shrugged it off as graciously as he could muster and walked slowly out of the house.

After a bit, he looked up at where his feet were leading him. The garage. Ephram's studio. Andy opened the door with a squeak of the hinges. He opened the door to a baren room. Devoid of Ephram's passion because he sold his music equipment to run away. Andy locked the door, laid face down on the floor and sobbed like a child.

Ephram waited but there was no indication that they were letting them go.

"Charles?" Ephram asked.

Charles grunted a response.

"Did my dad not get the money in time?"

"He did."

"W-Well why am I still here?"

Ephram could hear him lean back in his chair. He could feel his smirk radiating across the room.

Charles gave a harsh chuckle the Ephram though they only did on TV. "Kid, that was only part one."

Andy drifted to sleep:

They were in a cold room. It was dark. Like a dungeon. But you could still see what was going on in the room.

Ephram sat in a wooden chair, bound by ropes. There were at least five beefy guys standing in front of him.

"Ephram," Andy called out. Andy ran over to his son, touched him. He saw his hand meet his son's flesh, but there were no senses. He couldn't feel anything. He son appeared as though he couldn't see him at all. "Ephram, I'm here."

"Let me go," Ephram begged the leader of the men. "Please. You can have anything."

The leader smiled. "I know. And I will."

Charles was ordered out of the room and five men piled in.

"Strap him in," A.J. ordered. Two men came forward and transferred Ephram to a wooden chair. Ephram was too weak for malnourishment to fight back. They stopped feeding him two days ago. Charles did slip him a slice of bread though. Ropes were tied around him and if he had the energy to try, he wouldn't be able to move.

"Let me go," Ephram begged A.J. "Please. You can have anything."

A.J. smiled mischievously at him. "I know. And I will."

"You got your 2 million."

"And for that I am grateful. But I feel like I could use… more, you know? So we're gonna have to send daddy a little photo to encourage him."

A.J. laughed and nodded his signal to the men behind him. "Boys, let's have some fun."

"Andy!" There was pounding on the door. Andy woke with a start and was confused for a moment when he found himself in the empty garage. Andy opened the door to an out of breath Amy.

"What?"

"We've… got… a letter," she panted.

Andy raced to the house. Andy put on the gloves handed to him and opened the envelope. The first thing he pulled out was a Polaroid that made him want to purge.

He stared at the severly beaten version of his son. Several bruises claimed his face and crusty blood formed at his nose and the corner of his mouth. His skin was pale and his hair clung to his face with sweat. But what pained him the most were the eyes. His son stared blankly into the camera with compassion. His son knew he would see this.

Andy handed it to the police officer and read the note. It was typed this time.

Sorry to mislead you. That was only the first part. We will let your son go.

For a price.

We will accept a swap. We will give you the boy. If you give us his girlfriend. If she accepts, she will board the 10 PM train tonight going to San Belle. We'll see her in the last car of the train.

If not, the boy received the same beating featured in the picture each night for one week. Then, he's as good a dead.

Andy looked up from the letter with a sickening feeling. He barely made it to the toilet before he emptied his stomach.