.../For The Love Of Maia/...

Summary: A woman by the name of Sara Rutledge arrives, causing Diana great concern. But is she who she claims to be?

Warning: This story is loosely based on spoilers/rumours that are floating about regarding Season 3. If you don't want to know, might be best not to read!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my precious 4400 DVDs. Upsetting as that may be.

Thanks to those who have been reading and reviewing. If you like the story, let me know! The next couple of chapters are already written so will be up shortly :) Enjoy!

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Chapter Five

Diana had sat at the table watching her dinner get cold for over an hour now. She had even gone as far as to set the table for two and serve Maia's portion, in an effort to convince herself that nothing was wrong. But it had become all too clear to her it was. Maia was in trouble, and watching mashed potatoes turn to concrete was not going to help her. Diana reached for the phone and dialed.

'Tom? It's me.'

'Diana? Did you leave something behind? I'm just leaving now. I promised Alana I'd be home for dinner, but I'm already 15 minutes late anyway. You know, next time Nina says 5 minutes I'm pulling a sickie. How come you managed to leave so early. You gotta tell me you secret. Cold meals after a hard day at thev office just aren't doing it for me anymore. And it's not like...'

'Tom. Shut Up.'

There was a pause. 'Geez, Diana. What's eating you?'

'Maia's gone.'

'Gone where?'

'Tom! Did someone hit you with the stupid stick? Gone. As in not here. Missing. Vanished. Kidnapped.'

'Wait. Kidnapped? Did I miss something?'

Diana gripped the phone tightly.

'About a week or two ago a woman turned up at our door claiming to be Maia's sister. Maia didn't take it too well. I know she knows something about this woman but I don't know what. This afternoon she turned up to take Maia to lunch whilst I was at work. They didn't come back.'

'Diana... Back when the 4400 first returned. We searched and searched to find a living relative for Maia. We couldn't find anyone. There were a few records which led to the possibility of a sister, but they all said she was dead. And even then, there wasn't that much evidence she had even existed in the first place. It was all a bit of a dead end.'

'I know, Tom. I had my suspicions too. But she claimed a name change to explain the death reports, said she had been traveling when the 4400 came back. And she had this album, all these photos...she seemed to know so much about Maia's past...I didn't know what to think.'

'Well, it sounds all a bit too coincidental to me. And if Maia's missing, we have to find out what's really going on here. I'll be right over.'

'What about Alana?'

'She'll understand. It's Maia.'

'Thanks, Tom.' Diana paused. ' Hey...I'm sorry about yelling at you.'

'Hey, it's your kid. Don't even mention it.'

Diana hung up and took a seat on the couch, trying to take her mind off the gnawing feeling in her gut. She let her gaze travel over the various photos of Maia on the mantelpiece. Maia at the park, at the lake, on her birthday, in the uniform from the school she had briefly attended. Her gaze paused at the newest addition to the display of parental pride, the baby photo Sara had given them. It pictured Maia aged about two or three in an embroidered frock, swinging from an obscurely large oak tree. It appeared to be taken in the frontyard of a modest but well kept house, presumably the Rutledge family home Sara and Maia had talked about. The little girl was standing up on the wooden seat of the home made swing, curls flying everywhere, a defiant and triumphant look on her face. It reminded Diana that, as children as came, Maia was among the braver. But however brave she was, Diana knew that she still needed her Mommy. Diana was going to find her. These past couple of years had been the first time in her life Diana had felt needed, that she was loved unconditionally. And she would fight to the death for that child.

A little while later, Diana's train of thought was broken by a knock at the door. Diana hurried to answer it, and opened the door to a bear hug from Tom.

'Don't worry, Diana. We'll find her.'

Diana sniffed and blinked away tears.

'Thanks for coming. I didn't know who else to call.'

'I talked to Nina before I left to come here. She gave me this.' He held out a manilla file, labeled simply 'Epurez.'

'Apparently the powers that be have been intercepting a whole load of suposedly 'top secret' comunications. I think we had better sit down.'

The two took a seat on the coach, and Tom got out the files, passing them to Diana who looked over them one by one.

'According to what Nina and a couple of others have discovered, an international organisaion has formed, calling themself 'The Epurez Group.'

'Epurez?'

'French for Purify. They believe that the 4400 are alien abductees, and are no longer human, but instead are well disguised extra terestrials seeded back into our timeline to research and report on humans and earth.'

'Like some kind of Alien spies?'

'Exactly.'

'Well that's ridiculous. None of the testing we did back then would back up any part of that theory.'

'These people are fanatics, Diana. They take the returnees somewhere significant to them, under the pretence that they can return them to their previous time. Then they dispose of them. They believe that ridding us of the 4400 will prevent any oncoming Alien invasions, as they will be cut off from from any intelligence involving earth.' The group seems to be in the process of recruting 4,400 people-one for each returnee. I guess they are trying to shift the blame from one small concentration of people...it's going to be a bit more of a challenge to convict 4,400 killers.'

'Well this is unbelievable. Why wern't we made aware of this sooner.? Every 4400 is in danger. Maia, Alana, Shawn..'

'I asked Nina the same thing. She said it all led to rumours and hearsay, most of her bosses believed it was just talk. The few planning details we knew of were in the very early stages. They were waiting till they had more substantiated evidence of a possible attack. But when I told her about Maia...she showed me the file. She thinks that Maia was the first to be targeted as she was the first to be taken, that they have some kind of master plan of order.'

Diana got up, furious.

'Why didn't they tell us about this sooner! We could have prevented this!'

'They didn't think the group was anywhere near even thinking about acting on their plans.'

Diana took a deep, shaky breath.

'So- you think Sara was recruited for Maia? How could she do that, to her own sister.'

Tom shrugged. 'Maybe she's not who she says she is.'

Her hand gripping the couch tightly, Diana's glance again found the baby photo.

That was where she was.

She plucked the photo roughly of the mantle.

'You said the group was taking them back to somewhere special to the returnee before killing them. Sara mentioned that Maia's old house...It's still there.'

Tom got up. 'In Culver City?'

Diana nodded. Tom picked up his mobile , ready to dial.

'Are you sure? If Sara is with this group...we might...we might not have much time.'

Diana bit her lip and looked away.

'I failed her, Tom. I promised her I wouldn't let anything happen to her. I should never have let Sara anywhere near her.'

Overcome with grief and fear, the tears came.

'Why couldn't I protect her, Tom? What kind of mother am I?'

Tom put his arm around her, and dialed.

'The best she could ask for, Diana. Maia is lucky to have you.'

He put the phone to his ear.

'Hello, I'm with Homeland Security. I need two high prority seats to Culver City, Calafornia.'

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Next Chapter: Sara and Maia, and Diana and Tom seach for Maia. Review please!