Chapter 11

Tom went back to the hospital later that evening armed with a box of chocolates and a single long-stemmed rose. His heart was about to jump out of his chest as he walked down the hallway to Diana's room. When he entered he saw her in a half reclined position with the remote in her hands. He glanced at the screen to see that she was flipping through the channels.

"Anything good?" Tom asked.

"This is why I work in the day," Diana said turning the TV off and tossing the remote aside. "I get to miss all the crappy television. Please, tell me something more interesting than Martha Stewart is happening in the real world."

"You resorted to watching Martha Stewart?"

"Yes, painfully," Diana said. "I hate that woman. Nobody is an expert at napkin folding."

"Well now you don't have to suffer through Martha anymore," Tom said. "I have bought you chocolates."

"Oh, rocket fuel," Diana said. "Thank you."

"And I bought you a rose," Tom said. "Thought it would help freshen the place up. It smells like quarantine in here."

"It does."

"Listen Diana," Tom began. "I wanted to ask you, um…if you want, after you get out of here, would you like to have dinner?"

"Like a date?" Diana asked with confusion spread across Diana's face.

"Yes," Tom said. "Like a date."

"I would," Diana said. "I would love too, but what's Linda going to think?"

"Don't worry about Linda," Tom said. "All I want is for us to have dinner, a quiet, nice dinner, where there is no talk about the 4400 as whole."

Diana smiled as she turned her head to the nightstand where she has placed the framed picture of her and Maia.

FLASHBACK

Tom called Linda for the umpteenth time on their drive to Appleton Lake and got her answering machine. Diana was checking the map and at the sound of the electronic beep she turned to Tom.

"What she's still not answering?" Diana questioned in disbelief.

"Nope," Tom said putting his phone away.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"No," Tom said.

"Well, I'm going to ask you anyway," Diana began turning her head to the side so that her cheek rested on the seat. "You're son, how long as he been in a coma?"

"Three years."

"That's a long time."

"You have no idea."

"Maybe you and your wife can work things out," Diana suggested.

"Yeah, one day, Kyle's gonna wake up and I'm going to have to tell him that his whole family is falling apart. I go to the hospital everyday and I tell myself that makes me a good father."

"Oh, you are a good father. Kyle is LUCKY to have a dad like you," Diana said. "Cos not everybody does, and you can trust me cos I know."

END FLASHBACK

"Diana?" Tom prompted. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"No," Diana said.

"When we were going after Orson Bailey you said something about Kyle being lucky to have a father like me because not everybody does. And then you said that I could trust you because you knew. What did you mean by that?"

"My dad," Diana said sighing deeply. "He got very depressed when our mother, Dinah, died. He just launched into a deep depression. Drinking too much, sleeping too little, and neglecting us. I was on the Academic Decathlon Team in all four years of high school. I can count on one hand the number of meets he came to see me in. I…um…was in a pretty bad car accident, my senior year of high school… a drunk driver ran a red light and hit my car…I was alone…I didn't have a cell phone…I wasn't really into music...I was fully alert…I just didn't know what hit me. I was in the hospital for five days, unconscious for two of them, and when I woke up my best friend was there asking me what a seven letter word for pink was, but my dad never came to see me. I had to rely on my friend's mother to pick me up when I was released. When I went off to college I realized that I was at a point in my life that I didn't need him anymore. That I could function perfectly well in a dorm room without having to get a call everyday to be reminded to take out the trash or eat because I had been taking care of myself for so long that it just became instinct."

"Is that why you said you where happier alone?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, before I could drive, I would just do puzzles, read books, little things that only one person could do on their own without help from anyone. So even when I learned to drive and got my licensee, and had more freedom to do what I wished I wasn't really thrilled with going out. I just liked to stay home alone with my books. You see why Kyle's lucky?"

"But now your father," Tom began.

"Has Alzheimer's," Diana said. "Now he doesn't remember anything that he's done to me, or who I am. It's really not that big a deal anymore. I got through it didn't I? Now I'm just worried about Maia."

"She'll be okay," Tom said as he sat down on the bed next to Diana and reached a hand up to her face to push a stray piece of hair behind her cheek. "We're getting closer. But if you feel like talking about what you remember, that would probably help us."

"Okay," Diana nodded. "I'll talk about it."

"Hold on," Tom said as he pulled out a video camera, "You don't mind do you?"

"No," Diana said. "I know the drill."

"Alright," Tom said as he set the camera up and hit record. "What do you remember the night that Maia was kidnapped?"

"Maia's birthday was coming up in a few days. I decided that I would bake some cookies for her birthday since I was such I was such a disaster with the coffee cake I made last week. Maia told me to be careful about burning myself on the pan. I really didn't think anything of it but a few batches later I was cursing from a small burn on my in index finger. Maia came in telling me, 'I told you so.' I told her I would have to listen to her next time and to try one of the cookies. She took one and ate it rather gingerly, but eight-year-olds always get some sort of mess on their mouths. So just after she finished I started laughing at the chocolate mess. Then…um…there was a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anybody so I asked who it was. When nobody answer I ordered Maia to hide in the bedroom. I pulled my gun and aimed it as the doorknob jiggled and the assailants forced their way into my apartment. I froze. I couldn't remember how to fire a gun all of a sudden and I was terrified. I kept bluffing, telling them that if they didn't I leave I wouldn't hesitate to shoot them. There were two assailants. The first one walked over to me and smacked me across the face knocking me to ground. He then stepped over me and headed into the bedroom. I'm…not sure where Maia was hiding but they found her. They pulled her out of the room screaming for me. I came around just as she was being carried out I begged the second gunmen to let her go several times but the second gunmen just walked over to me and stood for a minute before he fired at my chest. That's the last thing that I remember."

Ryland shut off the video camera and turned to Tom. "So we're looking for two gunmen."

"Well we're pretty sure about Lindell," Tom said. "And Collier may be the second one."

"So where does Yates fit into this?"

"A catalyst maybe?"

"I don't know," Ryland said. "Has there been any news on Diana's condition?"

"The doctors said that she's healing very well and that she will hopefully be able to go home in few days," Tom said. "They just want to make sure that her lung is functioning correctly before they send her home."

"Good," Ryland said. "At least she's improving."

"The good thing is that he probably doesn't want to kill Maia," Tom said. "The window has closed, he either decided that Maia was more valuable alive or killed her and disposed of her body very very well."

"That last notion really comforts me Tom!" Ryland said.

"Forget that I said anything," Tom said. " Is Collier waiting for us to grill him?"

"Yeah," Ryland said.

FLASHBACK

Tom and Diana depart from the building on their way to Appleton Lake.

"Appleton's what about seventy miles?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, look, when we get up there. I'll handle Bailey."

"Alright. Are we leaning on him?"

"No leaning."

"No problem."

A man approaches them from the parking lot. "Are you Tom Baldwin?"

"Yeah," Tom said. "Who are you?"

"You've been served," The man said handing a thick envelope from his suit pocket. "Sorry man."

He leaves and opens the envelope with Diana looking over his shoulder. "You're being sued?" Diana asked.

"Linda's filed for divorce."

END FLASHBACK

"Are we going to lean on him like you did Yates?" Tom asked.

"No," Rylan said. "Actually, I thought that you should handle him."

TBC