Chapter 6

Again, in Harmony, Theresa frantically scrambled through her purse, trying to find her phone.

It wasn't there.

"Damn it!" Theresa cursed. She ran upstairs and saw her phone in its charging bed. She grabbed the phone and scrolled through the phonebook for Luis' number.

Holding the phone up to her ear, she panted. "C'mon! C'mon! Luis, pick up! Luis!"

-- "Lopez-Fitzgerald," Luis answered.

"Luis!"

-- "Theresa? What's the matter?"

"Luis, I need your help."

-- "What happened?"

"I-" Before she continued, she heard Gwen's words echo in her head. 'I WILL come after you. I WILL come after you and after everything you hold dear.' She couldn't risk putting anyone else she loved in danger.

-- "Theresa?" Still caught up in her thoughts, she didn't answer. "Theresa? Are you there? Theresa?"

"Hmmm. I'm here. Sorry," she broke through.

-- "So, what's the problem? Are you all right?"

"Um… yeah. Yeah, don't worry about it."

-- "You sure? You sounded upset before. You want me to come over?"

"No!" She answered straight. "No, it's all right, really. I just, uh- Well, Ethan's not home and I saw a mouse. That's all."

-- "A mouse?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you."

-- "Theresa, are you sure? 'Cause if you need-"

"No, Luis, really. I'm fine," she assured him.

-- "All right then. When is Ethan supposed to come home?"

Theresa shook at the sound of her husband's name, reminding her that he was missing, he was kidnapped and gone with the woman that wanted to kill her. "Uh, tomorrow night I think. But I think he'll be a little late," she stuttered

-- "Okay, well uh- be careful."

"Yeah, I will."

-- "Theresa, if there's something wrong, you know I'm always here for you. No matter what it is."

"I know. Thanks."

-- "Sure."

Again Gwen's words replayed in Theresa's mind. 'I WILL come after you. I WILL come after you and after everything you hold dear.' "Hey, Luis?"

-- "Uh-huh?"

"Will you take Little Ethan for a while?" She needed to get her son as far away from her as possible. Gwen would be capable of anything now. Anything…

-- "Sure, why?"

"Well, I just- I just wanted some time alone. Just to myself."

-- "Okay, no problem."

"When can I drop him off?"

-- "Now's fine."

"You sure?" Theresa asked.

-- "Yeah. It's no problem."

"Okay great. I'm sure he and Marty will give you something to do."

-- "Actually, Marty and Sheridan aren't home."

"Why? Where'd they go?"

-- "Sheridan had some charity stuff to do up in Boston."

"And where's Marty?"

-- "Sheridan took him with. She says that he needs to start getting into the charities so that the Crane genes don't take over."

"Oh, well that's good."

-- "Yeah, I would hate to think that we have another Alistair in the making."

"Yeah. So, are you sure? I mean, if it's just you, I can just ask Mama for a while..."

-- "No, no. Don't worry about it. Me and the little man will hang out. You know, play video games, watch some TV, storm the wife's junk food cabinet in the kitchen, it'll be great."

"All right. I'm sure he'll love it." Theresa finally gave in. She didn't like the idea of leaving her son, but if it meant protecting him, she had no choice.

-- "Oh yeah. Don't worry. We'll have a blast."

"Okay, great. So, now's okay?"

-- "Yeah, the Celtics are gonna be on soon. We can pig out."

"All right, as soon as I get him all ready to go, I'll be there."

-- "Okay. So you said that Ethan comes home tomorrow night?" Luis asked curiously.

"Yeah. Why?"

-- "Well, I'd like it if he were there watching you. You sounded a little shaky earlier."

"Well, uh, I told you… I saw a mouse."

-- "Right. I actually remember you loving little critters like that when we were younger."

"No, I didn't."

-- "Yes, you did. You would always follow me and Miguel around trying to help us catch frogs and stuff."

"Frogs, Luis… Not mice. Mice are a completely different story."

-- "All right, all right, all you have to do is tell me that you don't want to tell me whatever it is. Sorry, but a bogus story about a mouse isn't flying with me. I know you better than that."

"Yeah, whatever, Luis. I'll be right over then. I'll see you soon."

-- "Okay, don't forget to bring the boy."

"Haha. See ya soon."

After Theresa hung up with Luis, she ran upstairs and packed Little Ethan's things. She wasn't sure how long she would be gone, but she needed to find Ethan. Somehow, someway, she needed to get to him before Gwen did something.

Or worse, what if she already had…?

Little Ethan seemed very curious and almost agitated that Theresa had shoved him in the car and tore off in the direction of Luis' house.

"Mommy, why are we going to Tio Luis' house?" Little Ethan asked Theresa from the back seat.

"Well, Mommy has some work to do. I'll come get you as soon as I can, okay?"

"When's Daddy coming home?"

Theresa didn't know how to answer. "Um… you know what, I'm gonna make sure he's back really soon, okay? I promise."

Within minutes, Theresa had arrived at Luis and Sheridan's home.

She knocked on the front door and Luis opened it for her. "Hey, what's up, my man!" Luis asked his nephew. "Ready for a basketball game?"

"Yeah!"

"All right, you know the way," he said, ushering in his sister. "Little Ethan, there's some chocolate milk in the fridge if you want some."

Little Ethan left the room and Luis turned back to his sister. "So, you sure you don't want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"I guess you haven't heard," Theresa began.

"Heard what?"

"We went to court the other day."

'How'd it go?"

"Rebecca managed to get Ethan's 'safe' judge dismissed and hired Sydney Phelps." Luis' eyes grew at the name. "Yeah, that's the one. In the end, he made me out to be the monster and Gwen got off with twenty hours of community service."

"You're joking!"

"No."

"Oh, my God! She practically killed you and she didn't even-- uh!"

"I know. But there's nothing else to do. Ethan said he'd appeal it but it won't matter. The judge is around Rebecca's manicured finger and I can't change that."

"And where's Ethan?"

"He had a convention in Minnesota to go to." The thought of Ethan, alone, without her, somewhere with Gwen, scared her and brought tears to her eyes yet again. "That reminds me, I wanted to ask you… I need to talk to Rebecca. Maybe even find Gwen. Do you know where they might be? I called the mansion and Phyllis said they haven't been there in a few days. I know they wouldn't stay at the B&B so I don't know where to look."

Luis thought a moment. "Well, Rebecca's old house maybe."

"Great, where is it?"

"It's on the outskirts of Harmony. About an hour away from here. But, as far as I know, no one's lived there for years."

Little Ethan came back from the kitchen and plopped down on the couch. "Tio Luis, are we gonna watch the game?"

"Yeah, one sec, buddy."

"Thanks, Luis. I owe you," she said, turning to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I have to find Eth-- I mean, I have to find Gwen. I'll be back soon I hope."

Theresa jumped into the car and floored it. She needed to get to Ethan.

She had completely forgotten that Rebecca's childhood home was around Harmony. How could she not think about that? Gwen was there, Theresa could feel it.

The hour-long drive isn't what drained Theresa, it was the fear of what lie ahead, at the end of the drive. She was consumed by the fear of finding her husband badly injured because of her.

Or even worse.

As she pulled up to the house, she was so frozen by her fear that she was numb, almost oblivious to everything that she was about to step into.

She had no weapon and she just realized that this 'mission' was a futile one. If Gwen was in this house, there was no telling if Theresa would come out alive.

Theresa turned off the car and walked out, around the car to the trunk. She grabbed the bat, the only thing she could find to protect herself and walked slowly to the door.

The house looked quiet and it should have been reassuring to Theresa- it wasn't. Theresa waited another minute and rang the doorbell again. Still no answer. Maybe this was useless. Maybe Gwen wasn't even here.

As Theresa turned to walk away, Theresa heard a noise from within. It sounded like glass breaking. A surge of adrenaline pounded into Theresa's heart and she knew this was it. She ran back up to the door and turned the knob. It was locked. Theresa pulled back and forth and it wouldn't move. It was then that she thanked God for having a cop for a brother. He had taught her how to pick locks with a hair pin in case she ever got locked out.

Theresa removed a bobby pin from her hair and jabbed it into the keyhole, twisting and turning until suddenly, the door clicked open.

She was in…

It was dark inside, but Theresa heard something. It sounded like a low hum, a muffled moan of some kind. What if it was Ethan? What if he was hurt? Theresa charged, focusing and straining her eyes on darkness.

"Gwen?" she called into nothingness. Her voice reverberated and echoed through the large house. "Anybody home?" she called again.

The moaning grew louder as Theresa stepped into what she thought was the front room, next to the foyer. Theresa drew her bat and held it in the air, ready to strike if Gwen did anything funny. She passed a window and Theresa could see the outline of a lamp with the light from outside. She switched it on. There was a scream and Theresa couldn't believe her eyes…

The scream was piercing and Theresa stood in utter shock at the image before her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here!" she said, standing from the floor, trying to cover her body.

Theresa didn't know what to say. "Rebecca…," Theresa whispered, noting her half-naked body and the man lying on the floor, using a pillow to cover himself.

"Uh, Theresa! What the hell are you doing in my house! How did you get in here!"

Theresa was almost frozen and seemed to find this situation rather amusing. She looked down at the embarrassed man on the floor and she was surprised further. "Senator Fields…?" The man turned a deeper shade of crimson at the mention of his name. He didn't say a word. Instead, he grabbed another pillow and held it to his backside as he stepped out of the room. "Doing politicians now, Rebecca?"

"Just shut up! You know, I should have you shot!" Theresa tried to speak but was cut off. "You barge into my house, it's dark, and you have an assault weapon. I simply killed an intruder. I can't see who you are." Theresa didn't say anything. "It's that simple, Theresa. So tell me, what the hell are you doing in my house?"

"Is Gwen here?"

"Why? Do you want to hit her with the bat?" Rebecca laughed.

"Is Ethan here?"

"Ah… Did he finally come to his senses and leave your lying ass?" Rebecca asked with a smile.

"No, she kidnapped him, Rebecca!"

It took Rebecca a moment to register what Theresa had just said. Her face first flashed with disbelief, but then she realized that Gwen was her daughter after all. Her lips pressed upwards and she shook her head pitifully at Theresa. "Ah… well, my Gwennie's finally seen the light. It's about time that she gets what she deserves. Even if she has to take it by force."

"Where is she, Rebecca?" Theresa asked forcefully.

Rebecca put her finger to her chin in ponderance. "Let me think…," she mocked trying. "I don't know."

"Rebecca!" Theresa rose the bat high above her head, ready for blood. "I'm thinking you might need another nose job if you don't tell me!"

"Davey!" Rebecca called to her lover and he came charging into the room. "Davey," Rebecca whined. "Get rid of her for me."

"Sorry, I don't hit women," he said rather cowardly.

"Uh!" she huffed. "Some good you are! Fine, I'll do it myself!" With that, Rebecca went for Theresa, and Theresa ran. They chased each other all around the sofa, across the bar, in front of the fireplace, and all over again. Theresa knocked over a lamp with the bat and Rebecca screamed.

"GET OUT, Theresa!" Rebecca yelled at her.

Theresa ran out of the house and into her car. Gwen wasn't there. Neither was Ethan. Gwen wouldn't have made it that easy for her. She would be in a place where Theresa least expected it. But where…?