A/N: The lyrics are from "Feeling Good" most recently heard by me by the fabulous Michael Buble. Disclaimer in first chapter.

Stars when you shine

You know how I feel

Scent of the pine

You know how I feel

Oh freedom is mine

And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

Zach was singing along to the song on the radio as he was driving home for the day. He had TIVO'ed the hockey game last night and planned to spend the afternoon explaining the nuances of the game to Will. Normally Kendall beat him home for the day, so he rarely got time like this with Will, just the two of them in the middle of the day.

As he turned the corner, he saw four police cars in front of his house and an unmarked car sitting in the drive. He felt the knots form in his stomach as he pulled in the driveway and pulled the key out of the ignition. He took a deep breath as he saw Derek Frye walk out of the front door. Zach threw open the door and sprinted toward the house and stopped in front of Derek, who was blocking his way into the house.

"Derek, what is…"

"Zach, you need to come inside." Derek walked him into the house. Zach walked into the living room to see Beverly sitting with one of Derek's deputies, crying hysterically. Zach was immediately at her side.

"Beverly?"

She looked up at her boss and the tears started flowing again. "Zach, I'm so… so… sorry" she said between tears. He kneeled down in front of her as Derek placed his hand on her shoulder. "Beverly, maybe you should tell Zach what happened."

She looked at the police chief and nodded. She took a deep breath before looking back at Zach. "Will and I had just come home from being at the park. He was half asleep by the time we got back here, so I had to carry him in, along with the bag and all the other stuff. Well, I thought… no, I know I kicked that door shut, but I didn't have a free hand to lock it like I normally do – I swear, I was going to lock it when I came back down. Anyway, I put Will down and came back… the door was standing wide open… I thought that maybe I didn't get it shut all the way or that the wind…" The tears started to come again, so she took a couple of deep breaths so that she could continue. "Well, I shut and locked the door and I turned around and ran into… I swear, Zach, I have never seen him before, but he looked so mean, so angry. Derek said he knocked me out with some chloroform – all I remember is a rag over my mouth and falling down… I woke up about a half hour later on the couch… I guess he moved me… anyway, he… Zach, he took Will and his clothes and toys and the extra diaper bag. I swear, I scoured this house…"

Zach stood up. Everything she said after 'he took Will' was a buzz in his ears. "Will… someone took my boy?" he asked, looking between Derek and Beverly. Beverly stood up in front of Zach. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Zach – you are always telling me to make sure to lock the door and…" she started to cry again and Zach broke out of his trance. He put his hands on Beverly's shoulders. "Hey, stop. You didn't do anything wrong. This is not your fault. I'm not mad." Beverly gave him a slight smile before sitting back down.

Derek came over next to him. "Maybe we should talk in the kitchen. She's had a rough afternoon." Zach followed Derek into the kitchen and sat down at the bar.

"Ok, so for the obvious questions – do you know who could have done this? You or Kendall got any enemies?" That last question made Zach laugh out loud.

Derek put down his notebook and looked over at Zach. "Zach, I think you need to go get Kendall."

Zach dropped his head to the counter. "How do I tell her that…"

"I don't know, but it's about to break all over the news. You don't want her finding out that way, do you?"

"No, no one should find out that way. Derek, can you send an officer to Myrtle's to get her, to New Beginnings to get Erica and over to the house to tell Jackson and…"

Derek marched out of the kitchen and sent three deputies to all the places. He ordered them to bring everyone back here. Zach stood up and gathered his thoughts. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed for the door. "Zach, do you want one of the officers to drive you?"

Zach nodded at Derek and immediately handed his keys over to the officer that appeared at his side. Thank god the officer didn't try to talk to Zach. He left Zach alone in his thoughts. Zach collapsed into the back seat of his car. 'How do I tell her that our boy was taken from the home I promised her would be their safe haven?' he thought to himself, willing the tears that had started to form in his eyes to not fall.

Kendall was in her third meeting since lunch with no end in sight. Investors and production managers and everyone under the sun seemed to be invested in the newest Fusion line that had taken the cosmetics area by storm. Demand was huge for all their products and they were trying to figure out how to keep up with demand. Everyone had gotten situated and Kendall was about to launch into her opening speech when Danielle opened the door.

"Kendall." Danielle said from the door. "Kendall, you need…"

"Danielle, whatever it is can wait. We are about to start this meeting and…" That's when Zach appeared behind Danielle and the instant she saw him and the look on his face she knew something was horribly wrong. Babe and Simone just watched as she walked out the door. Danielle stepped in to give them some privacy.

Babe and Simone walked over to Danielle. "Danni, what's going…"

"OH MY GOD, NO!" They all froze and looked at the door from where Kendall's scream had come from. "Someone followed Beverly and Will home today and knocked Beverly out and took Will. He's missing" Danielle whispered to Babe and Simone.

They threw open the doors to see Kendall and Zach sitting on the floor, Kendall in Zach's lap, tears streaming down both of their faces. Zach was doing his best to calm her down, but he was in the process of losing it himself. Simone looked back at her two co-workers. "Babe, will you…" she said, motioning to the boardroom. Babe quickly went back in to cancel the meeting and relay what had happened while Simone and Danni tried to help Zach and Kendall. Simone finally convinced them that they needed to get off the floor. Zach and Kendall slowly got up and he wrapped his arm around her waist when her knees buckled.

"Simone, I'm taking Kendall home. Erica and Jackson should be there by the time we get back and…" he wasn't sure what else to say as he looked between the two women.

"Zach, go. Babe and I will take care of things here. Just call when you hear something" she said, ushering them into the waiting elevator. She gave Zach a forced smile as the doors closed. She took a deep breath before turning to face Babe and Danielle.

"Do they know…" Babe asked.

"Nothing – I guess it just happened."

Danielle spoke up through her tears. "Zach said… he came home at 3:30 and found my dad and other officers there and…" Her tears started to fall so she covered her face with her hands. Simone and Babe quickly wrapped themselves around each other, letting all their tears mix together.

Kendall's tears stopped half way back to the house and she just sat there, numb, feeling only Zach's presence next to her, his arm around her shoulders. 'Will is missing, Kendall'… his words played over and over and over in her head. Zach assured her that Beverly was taken by surprise and that none of this was her fault and Kendall had believed him – there was no way anyone involved with Will would want to take him from his family.

The police had done a good job at keeping the news outlets away from the house, but as they turned onto their road, they were bombarded by flashing lights and people rushing the car. Kendall tucked her head into Zach's chest and he covered her face with his hand while he ducked his head. They pulled up to the house to see Jackson and Reggie waiting for them on the front porch. Zach kept his arm securely around Kendall as they walked toward the house. Jackson leaned in and gave Kendall a quick kiss on the cheek. Zach passed her off the Reggie, asking him to take her inside. Reggie quickly agreed, knowing that Jackson and Zach needed to talk.

"Have they heard anything" Zach asked as he shut the front door.

Jackson sighed. "Nothing much, but a nation wide AMBER alert is being issued right now and Derek is hopeful that…"

With that, Derek and one of his deputies came flying out of the house and down the steps toward the patrol cars.

"Derek!" they both yelled at the same time.

Derek turned around and faced Jackson and Zach. "A cashier in a small grocery store on the outside of town just called in reporting that some guy came in by himself buying up all the baby stuff he could get his hands on – told her that him and his son were going on a road trip. I'll call as soon as I know anything."

The fear that Zach had been biting back all day made its presence known. As Derek pulled away, Zach turned and threw up over the side of the porch.

"Better?" Jackson asked as Zach pulled himself upright.

"Not really."

"I didn't imagine… c'mon, you need to go be with your wife."

Zach walked into the house and looked in the living room. Erica and Myrtle were sitting on the couch, drinking tea and not doing much talking, which was rare for the two of them. Zach's heart broke when he saw Kendall, standing at the window, gripping the 8x10 of the three of them the day Kendall and Zach renewed their vows. He had the same picture in his office. He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She turned and buried her head in his chest.

"It's going to be fine, Kendall. They are going to find him and bring him home and its all going to work out."

"So says you" she spit out, turning back toward the window and pulling out of his grasp. He was taken back by her words, but he knew she was just as upset as he was and she was putting up her guard.

Derek returned an hour later and had a sketchy description of the guy from the cashier. All the cashier was able to give him was that he was about 6' or so, brown hair, blue eyes. She mainly concentrated on the $150 worth of baby goods that he had bought and paid cash for. They checked the security cameras, but the guy had a ball cap pulled down over his face as he exited the store and got into a nondescript four door car.

It was midnight when Zach finally flipped off the television. All the news outlets were covering the story and he had just about enough about hearing about the baby and the two of them. He looked around the room. Myrtle had gone home with Beverly a couple of hours earlier. Erica was asleep curled up next to Jackson on their large chaise lounge. Kendall was next to him, staring out the window, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Jackson?" Jack looked over at Zach. "You all want the guest room?" There was no question that Jack and Erica were staying the night.

"Maybe later – she just fell asleep." Zach nodded and tossed the blanket on the back of their couch over to Jackson. He was tucking it around him and Erica when Zach stood up and looked at Kendall. He could tell she was exhausted and completely zoned out. She didn't make as much as a peep when he picked her up in his arms and started to carry her to the bedroom.

"I don't think I can sleep" she mumbled as he hit the top of the stairs.

"Me neither, but we need to try. There's an officer outside and I've got my cell phone, so we'll know the minute anything happens." He walked as fast as he could past Will's room and shut the door to the master bedroom. He sat her on the bed and helped her out of her skirt and blouse. He quickly divested himself of his pants and dress shirt and crawled into bed next to her, flipping off the lamp as he did so. He could feel her starting to cry again and did the only thing he knew to do – he pulled her as tightly as he could to him and let her cry on his shoulder.

It was after 10 before he had pulled into the parking lot of the motel on the outside of Mount Airy, just across the North Carolina state line. He had stayed her a few months earlier when he started his search. Will had been relatively good the whole way down her and he had fallen asleep about an hour earlier. He smiled at the boy in the back seat – 'why would he be nervous – he knows me' he thought to himself as he pulled the boy out of the back seat. He looked around before entering the motel room. He laid Will on one of the double bed and went back out to the car to retrieve their bags.

He turned on the TV and was flipping through channels. As he flipped to one of the national news channels, he stopped. 'AMBER ALERT' was printed at the bottom of the screen as the anchor talked.

"… and to stay on top of our top story, William Alexander Slater, a one year old boy was taken from his home in Pine Valley, PA this afternoon. The kidnapper knocked the child's nanny out and took the baby from the home. William is the only child of Zach and Kendall Slater. Zach Slater owns several casinos throughout the world and Kendall Slater is the CEO and co-founder of Fusion Cosmetics. Reporters on the scene say…"

'Only child of Zach and Kendall Slater' – this made his blood boil. He knew this was going to happen, he just didn't expect it to happen this quickly. He saw pictures of the three of them flash on the screen – apparently from some sort of wedding… oh yeah, 'the vow renewal' on New Year's Eve. He flipped off the TV as Will started to cry. He tried to shush him, tried to give him a bottle, changed his diaper, but nothing worked. He was getting madder and madder that Will just kept crying for no apparent reason. He tossed Will on the bed and walked outside to make a call. He knew that he was just using her this time, like he did the last time, but he didn't care. A crying baby wasn't going to hinder his plans, not now.

The phone rang twice before she picked up.

"Hey, Marly. Yeah, yeah, it's Ryan. I'm good… yeah, I'm back in town for a little bit… hey, listen, I need your help. Can you come over here?... yeah, same motel. OK, see you in 10."

Ryan sat down on the front stoop and smiled as he listened to Will cry and cry till he cried himself to sleep.

TBC….