"Miss Davis, you need to calm down"

Brooke stood up, her seat falling backwards, Lucas held in a breath as Brooke leaned forward, stretching her body as tall as she could as she glared at the officer, "calm down? Calm down? She kidnapped our daughter and vanished for nine years and now she has both our girls, and you want me to calm down?"

It didn't seem real, Lucas had dream walked through the last twenty-four hours finding it hard to believe that it was all happening all over again, finding it even harder to believe that someone they had trusted and loved so much had been behind their biggest pain. And now it was doubled.

"There has to be something you can do" Lucas added, "we know who she is now, how hard can it be to find Peyton and the girls?"

"We understand your frustration but we are doing everything we can, an amber alert has been issued. However, until it is confirmed we cannot say that the girl with Peyton Jagielski is in fact your daughter, Adrienne"

"I know it's her" Brooke insisted. Lucas placed his hand on her lower back moving close to his girlfriend, "I should have realised sooner" Brooke whispered as she turned into his arms burying herself into his chest.

The fear had only increased in the hours since Brooke and Lucas had gone to the motel room with the police only to discover Peyton gone. The police had tried to hold them back but as soon as Lucas recognised Lily's bike in the car lot Brooke and Lucas had rushed forward.

The hope of seeing their daughter again had been replaced by the horror that Adrienne was once again out of their reach and Lily was gone too. It had been a hard night. The police had interviewed Nicki who had confirmed that her daughter had died when she was just four years old, they had found records of the death certificate definitive confirmation at least that the girl travelling with Peyton was not Jenny Jagielski.

"I can assure you, the whole state is looking for your daughters. The best thing you could do is go home and standby, they may come to your house-"

"You want us out of the way" Brooke cut the police officer off, "Do you really expect me to just go home and do nothing?"

Those words echoed in Brooke's head as Lucas closed his door behind them, "I don't know if I can do this again" Brooke's shoulders sagged.

"It is going to be different this time" Lucas promised Brooke, "this time next year we will be celebrating Adrienne's birthday with her, the four of us as a family."

-x-

The car came to a stop outside the cabin, Peyton waited a moment before cutting the engine and opening her door to step out. Pointing the gun inside the back of the car Peyton gave Lily a glare, "get out. You too, Jenny"

The two preteens were led into the cabin, Peyton walking behind them, she made them stop at a closet and opened it, "get in"

"Please, Mom" Jenny begged, fear causing her stomach to drop.

Peyton ignored Jenny and pushed Lily inside, then she sent Jenny an apologetic look, "sorry, honey, it won't be for long. I promise. I will sort this out" then she pointed the gun at Lily, "now, Jen, I need you to get in"

Jenny stepped backwards until her back hit the closet wall. Peyton quickly shut it, putting the lock in place, "I love you, I'll fix this" Peyton yelled through the thick wood.

Stiff Jenny slid down along the wall until she was sitting on the floor, Lily sat with her and reached for her friend's hand as the older girl started to whimper.

"You okay?"

"No" Jenny shot back, "I'm kinda afraid of the dark"

"Oh" Lily leant against the wall, "so it's not the whole being kidnapped thing? Personally, it's a new experience for me"

"It's not funny"

Lily sighed, her own tears threatened to fall yet she kept them in, "I know but I would rather laugh than think about…" Lily trailed off, "… everything"

They huddled together and stretched their legs as much as they could, Lily twisted awkwardly and pulled something from her pocket. Suddenly a small light lit up the closet, "you have your phone?" Jenny lifted her head amazed.

"Your-" Lily stopped herself, "Peyton took your phone but she didn't think to take mine"

Jenny grinned, "she thought you were still grounded. What are you waiting for?"

It didn't take long before Lily threw the phone on the floor, "there's no signal, we are screwed"

"They must be looking for us, right?" Jenny tried to cheer Lily up as she herself tried not to think about how close the walls seemed to be in the dark, she hugged herself, "they have to be"

"Yeah, how did that work out for you so far?" Lily frowned, "I'm sorry. But on the bright side you definitely win the competition, and hey you even get the bonus Scott points"

"Yeah, I guess" Jenny hugged herself closer, "do you think its really true, that I'm her?"

Lily nodded, "I didn't 'til you saw your picture, and then crazy lady pulled a gun on us. Like, why else would we be in a closet right now?" she sighed.

"So, Lucas is my dad" Jenny let the words echo in the small room, "and Brooke's my real mom" her voice was edged with disbelief.

"Yep, you hit the jackpot"

Then Jenny unexpectedly smiled, she could not see Lily in the dark but she moved closer to the younger girl and nudged her, "you know what that means? You're my sister"

A chuckle filled the darkness, "well that's one good thing about today" suddenly Lily's chuckle disappeared as she sat up straight her movement knocking Jenny slightly away, "today's Saturday!"

"Yeah"

"Oh my god, it's your birthday today" Lily eyes widened, "Happy Birthday, Sis. Sorry, I didn't get you anything"

"My birthday" Jenny's voice was not upbeat, "that's so weird. My whole life is a lie, I had my birthday last month"

"Well, also, you're not thirteen. You're twelve"

Realising she knew nothing about herself Jenny slouched back down and then a thought hit her, "what's my real name?"

"Adrienne" Lily answered, "your name is Adrienne"

"Adrienne" Jenny let it play on her tongue, testing the name out, "that's… different"

"They call you Addy sometimes" Lily added, "your middle name is Brooke. It's so weird, that you are Adrienne. We used to play together, I don't remember it… you… but there's photos, and every year we do the bonfire to celebrate your birthday and to remind everyone you are still missing"

As Lily talked Jenny tried to focus on her voice though her chest had long started to burn, the back of her neck became incredibly itchy and it felt harder and harder to breathe.

Suddenly as Lily was talking Jenny stood up and started to bang on the door, "MOM! MOM! PLEASE LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!" she begged, screaming, "I CAN'T BREATHE IN HERE, LET ME OUT!"

Lily jumped at the sudden movement and noise, and when the sound of the lock being opened was heard Lily quickly scrambled to feel for her phone to slip it back into her pocket. Lily didn't have time to so she quickly sat on it as Peyton opened the door, Jenny falling into her arms sobbing

"I'm sorry" Peyton cried back, "I'm so sorry" she ran her hands up and down the side of Jenny's face, tears streaming down both their faces, "I don't want to do this. I just want us to be together"

"We can be, Mom" Jenny insisted, "please, it can just be the two of us again, we can go anywhere" Jenny clung to her mother, her hands gripping her mothers' arms, trying to sounder calmer than she was, "but Lily needs to go home"

Peyton nodded slowly, "yes" she thought about it so much, "I can give Lily back to her parents and then things can be normal again" Peyton smiled so sweetly as she stepped back, her tears disappearing.

In relief Jenny sighed and it ended in a chuckle, she looked back at Lily, "you can go home" she promised her newly found sister, "I'll be okay with my mom, she will look after me" Jenny reassured Lily.

It was a strange feeling for Jenny, torn between love and hate, comfort and fear, yet she had a deep sense that Peyton did love her, she had looked after her for as long as Jenny could remember and Jenny felt that if she played along Peyton would not hurt her. When it came to Lily, there was no such guarantee.

"We can go now" Peyton insisted, "Jenny you stay here and wait for me, I'll take Lily to her parents"

Lily stood carefully picking up her phone as she got up, instead of stepping out of the closet Lily remained standing there as seconds ticked by silently.

"Let's go, Lily" Peyton's voice was too sweet.

The girls' eyes met and held, Lily straightened, her composure returning she walked forward and hugged Jenny, turning her sister as she did so.

Jenny felt something slipped into her pocket as Lily whispered in her ear, "we found each other once, we can do it again" and she let her sister go.

At the door of the cabin Peyton let Lily walk out first before turning back to send a smile Jenny's way, "I'll be home soon" and she shut the door.

Outside Lily felt Peyton watching the back of her head with each step they took back towards the new car Peyton had purchased the night before leaving Tree Hill. And with each step Lily felt her stomach drop further and further, "you're not going to take me home, are you?"

The leaves crunched under Peyton's feet, "I'm going to return you to your parents just like I promised I would"

Lily gulped, true fear making her stomach turn as she knew exactly what Peyton's intentions were, "you don't mean Brooke and Lucas, do you?" Lily whispered.

With a smile Peyton followed Lily, "you're a very smart-"

A loud crack stopped Peyton's words and Lily jumped, there was just silence. Slowly Lily turned and found Peyton lying on the ground, Jenny standing next to her, breathing heavily, and holding a fire poker in her hand.

On the ground Peyton moaned, Jenny dropped the poker and jumped over Peyton's body her hand reaching out for Lily, "RUN!"

-x-

For nine years Brooke had lived with the sense of guilt, that it was her fault her daughter was gone, regretting the choice of location for the birthday party, regretting leaving Adrienne to play on the deck, regretting the minutes her eyes hadn't been on her daughter. The not knowing was hard, the fear that Adrienne had ran down to the water and been swept away, or wandered off from the house and been lost in the dunes, had someone taken her while they were distracted or come across Adrienne afterwards. There had never been an answer, just clues, indents of what may have been footprints and the sound of a car engine as Brooke walked into the beach house to look for Adrienne before she truly realised her daughter was gone. Clues that led nowhere.

Now Brooke felt more guilt as she realised that her actions had been the reason they lost Adrienne, though at the time sending an invitation to a friend had seemed a harmless thing.

"I just don't understand how she could do this" Nathan was still in shock as he stood in his brother's house, "Peyton?"

Haley sat next to Brooke, arms wrapped around her best friend in a pose all too familiar to them both, the shock not so obvious yet felt all the same. They all felt sick.

It was a betrayal, not just a personal betrayal that their friend did this, it felt like they had somehow betrayed themselves in trusting Peyton.

"You know, she was here the other day and we were talking and I told J-Adrienne that blood didn't matter, that Peyton was her mother every way that counted. How sick is that?" Brooke licked her lips, "I should have realised it sooner. When I first saw her I felt something, it's like a part of me knew, I thought of Adrienne instantly, that she looked exactly how I imagined Addy would. And then Lily told me it was Jenny and I just…"

"You believed it, why wouldn't you?" Haley rubbed Brooke's back. "Why would you look further into something you thought to be true, why would anyone imagine that the Jenny with Peyton was any other girl than the Jenny we used to know"

"I don't get it" Lucas added, his eyes staring somewhere in the distance, "how the Peyton we knew could be capable of being this cruel. She would have known exactly what she was doing to us, she knew the pain of losing a child and she still chose to do that to us"

It didn't make sense to any of them.

They all fell into a silence until the phone started ringing, Lucas almost ignored his phone yet something told him to look at it and he almost dropped the object as he saw the caller ID, "it's Lily" Lucas told the room even as he answered the phone, "Lily?"

"Dad" Lily's laughing voice came through, crackling and far away, the relief evident. Everyone's breath was released, Brooke jumped up from the couch to get as close to Lucas as she could.

He placed it on loud speaker, "where are you?"

"Are you okay?" Brooke asked.

"I'm hungry and my arms killing me, but we're okay. I know it sounds crazy, but I found her. Jenny is Adrienne"

"We know, sweetie" Brooke smiled. "You're both okay? She's with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're okay. Peyton took us to a cabin and we managed to get away, Jenny was bad ass. I don't know where we are though, in the woods somewhere, we are trying to stay close to the road though but we don't know where Peyton is" Lily paused, "she has a gun"

Lucas sucked in a breath, "stay close to the road, look out for cars or a road sign, or any houses" he told his daughter.

Meanwhile Brooke got out her own phone, "I should be able to track your phone, we tried earlier-"

"I turned my phone off so she didn't know I had it and waited til she wouldn't see, but there's not much signal here"

Brooke let the app load and screamed in joy when the dot popped up, "I got it!" she shouted, "I got you, baby girl, we're going to find you both and bring you home"

"Hurry up, please, it's getting dark" Lily voice came over quieter and then suddenly the phone call ended.

Lucas swore yet Brooke grinned, "it's really going to be okay" Brooke grabbed his hand, "we're going to go get our girls"

"What are we waiting for" Lucas grinned as the reality of it hit, their eyes meeting as happiness seeped through them. It's over, Lucas thought. The nightmare is finally over.

-x-

The sky was starting to turn a grey blue, the two girls walked along the edge of the hill that ran along the road, stumbling occasionally and using the tree trunks to help them along.

"I see lights ahead" Jenny pointed down the road.

For the first time they had more than woods and road to guide them, having an end goal gave the girls a boost of energy and they walked faster, soon recognising they were looking at a gas station.

"I would kill for a coke right now" Lily grumbled as they found a good spot the stumbled down to the road, only a few hundred metres away from the run-down station.

As they got closer Jenny froze, "wait" her hand went out to grab Lily, causing the other girl to stop, "look, isn't that her car?"

They moved forward with more caution, crossing the road and going from tree to tree until they could clearly make out the white car.

In the distance they heard sirens from far away, a wonderful sensation that was marred by the sight in front of them.

The white car suddenly turned on their engine, speeding down the road towards them.

"Go, go, go" Jenny urged Lily to run back into the woods yet in a split second decision Jenny looked back at the car and changed direction, leaving Lily running the other way Jenny ran down the road in clear view, crossed it and grabbing a thick root climbed up the steep hill.

The car screeched to a stop, door opening. Peyton didn't bother turning the engine off, she didn't even close the door.

Jenny didn't stop climbing.

The only thing Lily could hear was the beating of her own heart in her head, "this way" she called out and moved to the left where the trees grew thicker. It was then that Lily felt a strange sensation, or lack of a sensation, she flicked her head around frantically searching yet found no sign of Jenny, "shit".

And just like that Lily ran back in the direction she'd come from, running onto the exposed road and looking both ways. She saw the abandoned car down the street and a flash of blonde disappearing into the trees.

As fast as she could Lily ran, she ran back into the direction of the gas station, running inside Lily's appearance shocked the old woman behind the counter. With a cast on her arm the young girls hair was a mess with twigs and leaves caught in it, her exposed skin scratched and dirty, her eyes wild, "CALL THE POLICE!"

The older lady moved around the counter and wrapped an arm around the girl, bringing her further inside, "you're safe now"

"You need to call the police, my sister needs help" Lily tried to catch her voice, aimlessly sitting down as soon as she was led to a chair hidden behind the counter.

"WALTER!" The lady called, then she smiled "what's your name, darling?"

"Lily"

The older man entered the front area, "Donna, what's all the screaming about?"

"Call 911, tell them we've got one of those missing girls" Donna instructed and then she brushed Lily's short hair back, "everybody is looking for you, darling, we'll get you back where you belong, now do you need anything?"

Lily smiled, "I would kill for a coke and some food, I haven't eaten all day" and soon Donna was handing Lily a bottle of water and a bag of crisps. After eating it and then the muffin and banana Donna handed her Lily relaxed, energy returning to her.

When Donna moved away from her again Lily suddenly remembered, she pulled out her phone and smiled when she saw the bars on display.

This time Brooke picked up, her voice coming through straight away, "we're on our way, we are so close, are you okay?"

"I'm at a gas station, I'm okay" and Lily eyed the grey-haired woman near her as Donna pulled out a rifle and smiled at Lily with a nod, communicating with a stubborn look that nothing would happen to Lily under her watch. There was still a sense of foreboding for Lily, she gave a whimper, "I think Peyton has Jenny again, I lost her, I'm so sorry, I lost her"

Sirens grew closer, pulling to a stop outside the gas station.

-x-

From down the hallway Lily could hear their voices, heard an angry Brooke demand to be let through to see her daughter, could hear a stern Lucas lay down the rules, and then Brooke was in the doorway not waiting a beat before running forward.

"Mom!" Lily called out in instinct, wrapping her arms around Brooke as they finally met, and then Lucas was there too his arms joining the embrace. The two parents started checking Lily over, questioning id she was okay, questioning the care. The nurse in the room assured them that there were superficial wounds, her arm needed a new cast and she was being treated for dehydration.

Then the officers started talking and Lily zoned out as they went over the search party and how they'd located the cabin and taken in the car Peyton had used. It was all just a reminder for Lily though, a reminder that Jenny and Peyton were still missing.

Lily watched her parents, who each had kept at least one hand on her the whole time, their faces a look torn between relief and anguish. Brooke and Lucas looked at each other, "I'll stay with Lily, you go join the search party" Brooke spoke first.

"You sure?"

Brooke nodded, then she quickly kissed Lucas, resting her forehand against his, "go bring our girl home"

Lucas nodded but then looked down at Lily on the bed, "Lil, will you be alright?"

"Yeah" she nodded, "please, you need to help Jenny. She's all alone out there" and Lily looked turned away as Lucas left the room after one last hug, and she stared at the window where the sky had turned black.

-x-

Jenny stumbled through the woods, leaning from tree to tree refusing to stop while her body screams for her to lay down. Only the stars gave any light and Jenny could no longer tell where she was stepping, sometimes her foot went out from under her, sometimes she walked into a bush or tree trunk, her mind a fog Jenny simply ignored the obstacles and kept walking forward.

She was so tired her head throbbed, her face hurt, she could not walk straight, Jenny hadn't slept since Wednesday night, having got no sleep the last two. Yet she did not lay down to rest, afraid that Peyton would find her.

Sometimes she thought she heard her name being yelled from afar yet it barely made sense to her muddled mind. So Jenny took another step and another.

The pain was not too bad, in a way it helped keep her mind off how dark it was, how dry her lips were, and how cold the air was. Her shoes and socks were soaked, her cold feet slowly getting numb, none of it mattered. Jenny walked and walked.

She used the moon as her guide following it hoping to find the road again, and finally Jenny fell, rolling down a hill and hitting asphalt. Jenny looked up at the black night and she smiled. Stumbling up bac k to her feet Jenny started walking down the street, slowly, so slowly she was not sure how she was even moving.

In the distance two round lights were seen, Jenny blinked unsure if she was seeing what she was seeing, half afraid it would be Peyton again yet hopeful she was so close to help. The car came closer, the lights bigger and Jenny through her fog could tell it was a f=darker and larger vehicle so with the last of her strength she walked onto the road and lifted her arms, slowly waving them, and after a few false starts she started screaming.

The car slammed on their breaks, swerving to the side of the road to avoid hitting Jenny, a redheaded middle-aged woman stepped out, "miss, are you alright?" the question was redundant as her eyes could see by her headlights that the girl on the road was far from okay, she moved closer to the skinny blonde child and was suddenly met with clear blue eyes.

Jenny stepped forward, her arm out reaching for the woman, her voice suddenly strong, "my name is Adrienne Scott, I've been kidnapped" and she promptly collapsed.

-x-