Author's Note: Sorry everyone. I know it's been forever but I lost my inspiration for a little bit. I hope you like this chapter, has a little bit of a twist in it. I'll try to be better for the next couple of chapters. This is going to begin wrapping up and hopefully it will be done by the premier in March. Let me know what you all think. Happy reading.
Carter groggily opened her eyes and the room came clearly into view. For a brief second her mind tricked her into believing she was home. Tricked her into thinking she would hear her mom shouting for her from downstairs to hurry up. Tricked her into believing Taylor would burst through the door to make sure she was up so they wouldn't be late. It was only a split second but it was always the best part of her day because once she registered she was in a motel room with Lori everything crashed down around her again.
They hadn't spent more than one night in a single place and Carter had gotten used to the routine. Each morning she would wake up to find Lori packing up what little they had into their bags while she urged her to hustle and get ready to leave. Carter always dragged her feet, hoping those few extra minutes would do something to help but they hadn't so far. But as she looked around the room she could see that morning was different.
The bags had been untouched from the night before and Lori wasn't in sight. Carter glanced at the clock and could see why. It was only 5:45 am, much earlier than she normally got up. The soft glow of light seeping out from under the bathroom door grabbed her attention and she knew Lori was inside.
Her eyes darted over to the unguarded door. Carter wondered how long Lori had been in there, how long it would be until she came out. She entertained the idea of running away, escaping from the woman she had called mom for most of her life, until she remembered they were in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by woods, at least 5 miles away from the nearest hub of civilization and Carter knew Lori would find her by the time she reached it if she ran.
She let out a soft sigh as she realized that besides the first night when she had been drugged, all the motels had been secluded and Carter figured Lori had done that on purpose for times just like this.
Slowly Lori's voice began to rise and Carter strained her ears to hear what she was saying inside.
"…That wasn't the deal. The deal was you helped me with everything I needed to get Carter away from those people, passports, cash, and in return I gave you an exclusive interview plus much more material for a future book," Lori shouted in a hushed tone.
Able to only hear one side of the conversation, Carter furrowed her brow as she became confused as to who was on the other end.
"…I don't care if you can't get him to write more, that's your problem not mine. I held up on my parts and now you need to follow through with that additional wire transfer…"
There was another pause and Carter picked up every possible noise that came through the door. Fear and anxiety had built up inside her at the revelation that Lori had someone helping her. Someone that was close to their family. And as soon as the name rolled off Lori's tongue, Carter's eyes widened in shock.
"…Listen Toby, I've disappeared on my own before so I could more than likely make it by without any additional help from you, but I think you'll want to keep our agreement because I have no issue with slipping your name to the authorities. And I'm sure you haven't done very will covering your tracks in assisting me. Prison doesn't seem like a good look for you."
Carter strained even more but the rest of the conversation was just short answers and agreements that made little sense being able to hear only one side. The inside of the bathroom went silent and the door opened only moments later. Lori walked out while stuffing the phone in her front pocket.
"Oh, Carter," she said as a wave of shock swept across her face at seeing the girl up. The expression quickly erased as not to look like she had been caught. "Good you're already up. We can get an early start on the day, so grab all your stuff and we can get moving."
Lori began to head over to the bags near the door while Carter remained fixed in her spot on the bed. The conversation was still playing in her head. The new information consuming every thought, and Carter found herself upset. Angry that no one cared about her in this mess. She was simply a pawn so everyone could get what they wanted. Lori only wanted to keep her "perfect" family. Toby only needed her so he could make more money.
She remained motionless on the bed, barely hearing Lori's question, "Do you want to wear your jacket today or should I pack it away?"
Carter shook her head, still in disbelief of what had just played out before her. Though it shouldn't have surprised her, she couldn't believe Lori was able to keep carrying on as if everything were normal. The internal frustration continued to build up until she couldn't take it any longer and ignored the question, directing the conversation in a different direction.
"So you get to make phone calls, but I don't even get to call my family once," she said, her voice raised and anger evident.
She watched as Lori went rigid and slowly turned to face her. Lori's face had gown involuntarily white as a ghost, her eyes wide. It was a look that Carter wasn't used to seeing on the woman. She had seen confidence and love and sometimes suspicion, but never what she was seeing now. This was fear and Carter felt like she possibly had the upper hand for once.
"What did you hear?" Lori asked, almost demanded. She had tried to sound calm but Carter picked up on the subtle panic lying underneath.
"I didn't hear anything, just mumbling, but I figured you weren't talking to yourself," Carter lied convincingly.
Lori let out a small sigh but remained silent, mulling over the thought of how close she had been to slipping up in front of Carter, but not knowing she already had. Carter cleared her throat in the growing silence to gain Lori's attention again.
"It doesn't seem fair," she said.
Lori snapped her head back over to the girl and began to nod. In her conversation with Toby only minutes earlier and now with Carter looking at her for an answer, she had come to the conclusion that they both needed to move on. Forget everyone of the past, go forward with their lives together. And Lori decided the phone call Carter wanted to have with those people would do just that.
"You're right," Lori replied much to Carter's shock.
"I am?" Carter said back, not believing what she was hearing.
"Yeah. I promised I would let you call them once things had settled down a bit and I think we've reached that point."
She rummaged through her purse and pulled out an unopened, disposable phone. With a little bit of effort she was able to remove the packaging and held it out for Carter to take. Carter moved quickly across the room, as if any extra time the phone sat in the woman's hand would cause her to change her mind.
As Carter took it in her hand Lori pulled out a small scrap of paper and set it on the table, sliding it in front of the girl. It was a phone number and Carter scrunched her face in confusion.
"Call this number. Elizabeth probably has recorders and traces on every call into the house and I am not risking them picking up some noise or something in the background."
"I still don't understand how this…," Carter said pointing to the paper. "…is going to let me talk with my family."
Lori tensed at Carter's use of the word family before she started to explain.
"This number is to another disposable phone. A phone that happens to be in a basket of bills and old newspapers in the kitchen of their house," Lori paused for a moment. She could see Carter thinking, wanting to ask more questions, and so she continued.
"I knew that it was going to take some time for us to get back to where we were before this entire mess happened and that you would probably want to contact those people at some point, to tell them to move on. So I planted the phone the day I was over at the house disguised as the counselor."
Carter was sent reeling at the statement. She recalled the day that Lori had shown up at the house. Remembered their talk in the kitchen and began to shake her head. At the time she thought that she had gotten through to the woman that she wanted to remain with her family, that she didn't want to go back with her, but it was apparent now that her opinion meant nothing.
"You knew you were going to take me way back then?" Carter practically yelled.
"I knew we were once again going to be a family at that time, yes. I just wasn't sure if you were going to come with me willingly," Lori replied.
Feeling bold, blood-boiling Carter spat back a reply. "I will never willingly go with you anywhere ever again."
Lori took in a deep breath trying to keep the comment from getting to her. She had figured Carter might be resistant to everything at first, but she thought by now she would have seen they were better off together. Carter seemed to sense that she had pushed further that she ought to have but couldn't find it in her to apologize.
Carter reached for the piece of paper that lied on the table between them, but before she could pick it up Lori set her hand on top of hers to stop the movement. Carter's eyes went wide and she silently cursed at herself as she thought Lori had changed her mind because of her outburst.
"We need to make a few things clear before you call them," she stated and Carter gave her a nod before she continued. "First, you get three minutes and that's it, just enough to let them know you're okay and to say goodbye because there won't be a second one."
Carter felt her breath hitch in her throat. She had expected that this would be the only one she would get, but hearing Lori say it out loud made it feel like someone had punched her in the stomach.
"Secondly, and more importantly, is don't try and tell them anything about where we are, which direction we're headed, our new identities. None of it, got it?"
"Sure," she replied, her tone one of annoyance.
Lori gave her a stern look. She could see the look of defiance in Carter's eyes, it was a look that she had become familiar with having raised her her whole life.
"I'm serious Carter, do not mention anything or there will be consequences."
Carter scoffed at the statement. She knew she ran the risk of Lori taking away the privilege of making the call is she made another quip, but she was fed up.
"Consequences? You've already taken me from my family twice. I'm stuck on the run, against my will with a kidnapper. I don't think there is anything else you could possibly do to make my life worse."
"Why would I want to make your life worse? You're my daughter. I love you and I want you to have the best, but David and Elizabeth's well I have no problem trying to ruin theirs," Lori said, her voice cold and Carter thought she saw the corner of her mouth twist up into a menacing grin.
"How do you think Elizabeth would react if she found out about the history between me and David? David must have thought something when you were taken and me working just down the street, and yet he said nothing. Do you think Elizabeth could ever forgive him for that? You know her better than I do, maybe she would but maybe she wouldn't. Would you want to risk that?
"And Elizabeth, well David already knows about her affair so no upper hand there, but what about the rest of her department, her colleagues. That could be quite a dark mark on her record if that got out."
Carter's face had lost most of its color as Lori finished speaking. "Fine, you win. No hidden messages."
Lori smiled in satisfaction and took her hand off of Carter's.
Slowly Carter brought the paper up close enough to read it and began to punch in the numbers on the phone, double-checking each one as she went to make sure it was correct. She knew Lori would only let her make one call from the phone and she wasn't going to make some stupid mistake. Her finger trembled slightly before she pushed the button with the little green phone symbol on it and then waited for what seemed like an eternity.
With each ring a little more anxiety built up inside. She held her breath as the seconds passed by, praying that someone was up and near enough to hear the call. Her mind had been racing with all she wanted to say but went blank as she heard the click of the other end of the line. There was a moment of silence on each end before a familiar voice flooded her senses.
"Hello?" The tone was confused and unsure but Carter could hear the hope in it as well.
Tears quickly filled her eyes. Tears that months ago she never thought would have been there. Her throat closed up, forcing her to swallow so she could speak but she still couldn't get any words out.
"Hello? Carter?" Elizabeth's voice was soft and pleading.
Memories of the last time she had spoken with her mom rushed to the front of her mind, "… you are my mother…", and she wished above all else that she could be wrapped up safely in her arms. A strangled cry escaped her lips as she tried to swallow back all the emotions so she could speak.
"Carter if that's you please say something, anything," Elizabeth said, and Carter could hear that she was struggling to speak through her own tears.
There was too much to say and too much she couldn't speak of as the warnings Lori had told her moments ago re-registered. She wanted to ask how Taylor and Grant were holding up. How her Dad was doing and if Toby had been around the past few days.
Instead only a single word escaped, not much louder than a whisper.
"Mom…"
Carter could hear the muffled sobs on the other end of the phone and it made her heart break. She knew Lori had only let her use the phone as a good-bye call, but as she listened to the woman on the other end and looked at the one sitting in front of her she knew. No matter how long it took, the only good bye she was going to be saying would be to her kidnapper. She was going to make sure of it.
