So, this took awhile to finished.

Chapter 13: Breathe

When Carlos left, I laid in my bed arms and legs stretched out in my thinking position. The sunrise was slowly streaming through the windows, I lost all hope of falling back to sleep. My mind refused to sleep anyway. Even the thoughts of Carlos couldn't stop me from remembering Wulf, Helen, and Agent Johnson. They were the only things I could think about and those thoughts did not abide well for my attempt to sleep. I kept getting flashes of them, I kept seeing the gun pointed at Helen, the way she looked at me, and I can still see the fire bomb and thinking Carlos had perished. Then there were these memories of the day my mom almost killed me, memories that were suppressed and forgotten. Memories that with the help of my family, I thought I had overcome but clearly there was more to the story. It was all I could think about. Would this affect my life going forward, would I have to visit a shrink to talk about what happened? I hate this helpless feeling, it was like a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I kept thinking but could not come up with any reason why a man I barely knew could take polite gestures and think they were signs of affections. What did I do to garner the attention of these men?

My arms and back ached from Wulf's attempted kidnapping. I did not tell everyone about his manhandling but Carlos saw the bruises last night after watching my stiff movements. I laid in bed until I felt the ache and rumbling of my stomach, not even the promise of food could get me out of my bed. Well maybe a Boston Creme donut, but that's a strong maybe. All I wanted to do was to huddle under the comforter, but I had to get up or I would be invaded by my family.

I slowly made my way into the bathroom and started the shower. I paused to stare at my reflection in the mirror, the woman staring back at me had dark circles and pale skin. My eyes looked huge as I stared back at myself. I pinched my pale cheeks to bring a little color to it, the only thing that did was produce little red spots that quickly faded. Clearly I was still in some form of shock. I looked down at my arms and then tried to look at my lower back, I could see the form of his hand where he had grabbed me. I felt sick then, If Carlos would have seen these marks then I'm not sure if we would have continued. I gladly allowed the steam from the shower to coat the mirror so I wouldn't have to see myself.

After a long shower, I felt a little bit better. I changed into one of my yoga outfits that never saw the light of day, with a cardigan, and some Uggs. I walked through my little kitchen towards the coffee maker, I had no idea what time it was but I needed the caffeine. My fridge was full of food that needed to be cooked, I didn't feel like making a mess. After feeding Rex a couple of carrots and grapes and snagging a few for myself, I took my cup of coffee to my fluffy L-shaped sofa and turn the TV to the news.

The first thing that popped up was a picture of Wulf.

" Good Afternoon, Trenton. It's 12:20pm, on September 22. I am Angelia Lambordi with the Channel 4 News and Rebbeca Simmons has the day off. We are coming to you live from the studio with the latest story involving two of Trenton's officers of the law and a Federal Agent. If you are just joining us, at the top of the hour we gave you disturbing details of Wulf Grimoire, a Trenton officer, he is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, and terrorism. He is also believed to be a serial killer along with now Former-Federal Agent Theodore Johnson who have been linked to two currently open murder cases and also unsolved cases in Florida and California. He is charged with kidnapping and assaulting Helen Mazur, and assaulted fellow Joseph Morelli inside the precinct yesterday.

We have recently learned that he also kidnapped and transported Stephanie Plum to an undisclosed location where he also kept Helen Mazur, Ms. Plum she is the top forensic specialist at TPD. We have Dan Deavers at Trenton PD with the latest, over to you Dan."

I muted the TV and continued to stare at Dan Deavers lips move as he told the whole tri-state area what happened. Luckily I do not have a landline and only a few people had my cell number so it was blissfully quiet as Dan reported his story. I was surprised when I didn't see a picture of myself pop up on the screen.

I heard the dog bark before my front swung open and the twins came rushing towards me. Zaiden and Sebastian jumped over the sofa and quickly wrapped me in their little arms. Their dog, a black Labrador named Toothless, barked and turned in circles before curling up on my fluffy rug.

I wrapped them in my arms and had to swallow the lump in my throat, they were sweet and adorable when they weren't trying to live up to their twin terror names.

"Steph!" they both yelled at the same time, it never gets old but still is creepy.

I just held them tighter, "You're squishing us!" Sebastian breathy replied.

"I just love you guys." I lean down to quickly kiss them on their little faces.

"EWWW" I laughed as we let go.

I unmuted the TV and the boys switched the channel to some superhero cartoon movie. They sat and talked to me about little things, like what was happening in school, their friends, and a funny story about Toothless chasing a squirrel.

It was almost as if I took a long blink, and the next thing I knew the sky was a dark orange. I tried to sit up but somehow I ended up with one twin wrapped around my neck and the other one wrapped around my legs. My already sore body will now be even more sore. I felt eyes on me and looked up, for a quick second I was back in that dark room.

"Babe, it's me." Carlos gentle voice calmed me.

"Carlos." I whispered back.

His eyes were warm as he stared back at me, the look on his face was apologetic. How could I for even a split second think that I was back with Agent Johnson.

"I'm Sorry."

"Do not apologize." the tone in his voice deepened and I just nodded my head.

He unwrapped Zaiden from around my neck and placed him on the other end of the sofa. I unwrapped Sebastian and moved his body around so that they were head to head on the corner of the L-shaped sofa. I lifted up and let Carlos sit down before climbing into his lap facing towards him. I buried my face into his neck breathing in deeply and placing little kisses there.

"OK?" he asked.

I just made a content sound and leaned my head back to look in his eyes.

"We literally just met, and I feel…" I couldn't get it out.

"I know."

"Do you?"

"I do."

He angled my head back a little and held me to his chest with his left arm and placed his right hand at the base of my neck. He leaned down and placed kisses on my neck and then a little bite on my ear lobe. He kissed both sides of my mouth before placing an open kiss on my lips. I had to remember to breathe, but the only thing my body wanted to do was to fuse to his lips. His tongue explored my mouth like it was searching for gold. And when he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth my hands went to his hair. We both had fist filled with hair, as we attacked each other lips.

"Helllloooo?"

"UH MMM!"

I jerked away, and panting and dazed staring into his eyes.

"Pumpkin?" I heard my dad, but I just buried my head into Carlos's neck embarrassed to be caught making out.

"That was disgusting!" and of course the twins were awake too.

I looked up at my dad, with a red face to see Regina behind him with two thumbs up smiling.

"Hi, daddy." I smiled through my swollen lips.

He just shook his head and signaled to the boys, "let's give Stephanie and her friend some privacy."

The boys ran out the door, but not before making kissing noises at Carlos and I. My dad looked as if he wanted to say something, but Regina led him out the door.

"So?" I looked back at him to see a little smirk on his face.

"Your family Babe."

I rolled my eyes and started to get up, but his arm tighten around me.

"Carlos?"

"Babe, I am not finished." The look in Carlos eyes sent a shiver through my body cause he to wiggle in his lap.

"Oh, boy."