Chapter number 37. In her shoes

"You ready to do this?" Jack asked Martha the next morning as he walked into the lounge room and placed his hands on her shoulders from behind her as she sat on the couch.

"I think so" she sighed sadly, turning her head to look at him as he walked around to the front of the couch and sat down next to her with his arm over her shoulder. Last night they'd told the news to a very excited Tony and Beth, but some how the thought of going home and telling her family seemed to scare her, she didn't know what living here with Jack would bring, in someways she couldn't be more happy, but in other ways she was really going to miss her home.

"Your going to miss them aren't you?"

"Yeah, I know I can always visit them, I just-, it's not the same" she explained fiddling with her fingers and trying to hold back a tear, "gosh I haven't even told them yet and I'm crying" she tried to laugh at herself, letting Jack wipe it away with his thumb.

"It's going to be a big change for everyone" Jack comforted her, "so you want to do this or not?"

"Of course I want to" she smiled as Dylan came bounding down the stairs with his toy car.

"You ready to go buddy?" Jack asked excitedly.

"Yeap" Dylan sot out quickly in his excitement and raced to the door.

"Try not to trip over" Martha panicked.

"Stop stressing" Jack said soothingly, helping her up by her hand and placing a kiss on the top of her head, he loved how protective Martha was of Dylan, just like any mother would be like, he'd never really noticed how motherhood had changed Martha, but now that he was home and getting to know his family he couldn't imagine it any other way.

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Lara lifted her head off the cold hard concrete floor that she woke to find herself on, she could feel rope around her wrists holding her hands behind her back, tied so tightly that she couldn't feel her hands anymore.

She tried to move, to lift herself up, to get away from this mess, but she couldn't, any attempt resulted in her head banging back down on the hard floor and her groaning in pain, she tried to move her feet, but they too were tied together, she was getting frustrated, she was a cop, she should of been able to get herself out of this.

She wanted Peter, she wanted him to be there holding her and holding her hand, telling her that this was going to be ok, even if it wasn't, she just wanted to hear his voice, his warm voice that made her smile no matter how bad her day had been, she could listen to him for hours and never wish to be anywhere else, no matter where they were, she loved being with him.

But he wasn't there this time, he was always there, so much so that all her time without him was spent thinking about him, and now, scared and confused in the middle of nowhere, without Peter to hold her hand or come to her rescue, she began to lose hope, beginning to fear what the last days of her life might bring, and praying with all her heart that Peter could hear her last cries... hear her last words... three little words that would mean more now than ever; 'I love you'... and she could only imagine his response, a response that no words needed to say, the look was in his eyes everytime her eyes met his, 'I love you too' she could only imagine the sound of his voice, the gentle tone that made her fill with joy every time he spoke.

Tears came to her eyes when her heart sank and realized that if this was really the end, she'd never hear or see him again, never feel his warm arms around her, or how his soft lips moving against hers. He didn't even know where she was, how was there any hope?

Giving up in her struggle to be free, Lara sighed and began to look at the room around her, it was dark, two of the walls contained small grates like a prison letting in hardly any light, the other two walls contained shelves, and she found herself squinting her eyes to try and make out what was on them, it looked like photo frames, thousands and thousands of them, all lined up along the shelves that ran along the length of the large wall. As she moved her eyes from the shelves, to the blank wall next to it, to the stairs, she realized that there was something next to her, or should she say someone, they too were tied up.

She couldn't make out who they were, their back was turned towards her and they just lay there, motionless and weak, just like she felt.

She didn't know who they were, but she already felt sorry for them, and she started to wonder what kind of life this person lead, if it had anything to do with why they were here, or if they had a family, friends, husband or wife, kids... the list went on.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted though when the body rolled over and let out a sigh of frustration, "would that idiot hurry up already" she yelled, throwing her tied up hands in the air before they landed on her stomach together.

"Jemma?" Lara asked when sh saw the face of this girl.

Jemma looked sideways and studied Lara for a second, looking at her with a hint of wonder, "so how did you get yourself in this mess hey? You were always such a good girl at school".

"I didn't get myself into any mess" Lara snapped at her, "that stupid idiot decided it would be a bit of fun to kidnap me. So what are you doing tied up then? Aren't you in on this?"

"I was in on it" Jemma explained, sighing and tossing her head back up to look at the roof, "but then he turned on me, said I'd done as much as he needed me for and tossed me in here".

"Bummer" Lara puffed, trying to sound like she cared. "So I here you married my brother".

"Yeah" she shot out, sounding regretful, "stupidest thing I ever did".

"Well if you married him then you must of loved him right?"

"Yeah I did" Jemma said softly.

"Well what's stupid about that?"

"Nothing... well everything actually" she explained, looking aimlessly into the darkness of the roof, "after high school, he seemed so perfect... he was perfect" she smiled slightly, "I still remember the wedding day, everything was so beautiful... and it was after the wedding too, he was still the sweet loving guy I married" she paused, letting out a quick breath, almost like she was letting out a laugh, but she wasn't laughing, she was crying, "then he met Sean".

"So that's where it all started hey?"

"Yeah, it happened slowly" she started, "at first he was going out without me more, and at the time I didn't think much about it, then he started to seem more edgy about things... and, the next thing I knew I got introduced to Sean. At first I didn't link it to any of the other stuff that had been happening, but then eventually I started getting more and more suspicious about him" she sighed sitting up and trying to move her feet apart, but gave up quickly and lay back down before continuing. "Then one day when I got home from work a few hours early I found them plotting some invasions of..." she paused in thought for a moment "actually I can't even remember what, but suddenly things just changed, Matt... he was... different" she stopped, mouth wide open, as if to still be wondering about how things happened and why they went the way they did, "it was almost like his whole attitude was different towards me just because I knew... then he started getting violent, and trying to get me in on his plans to give me reasons not to leave, and every time I'd try and get away... he'd threaten me, and tell me about how life would be in prison as an accessory for a crime that he committed" she told Lara, tears running down her cheeks, for her it was like reliving the whole burden that was upon her, like all these events were playing over and over in her mind, haunting her, making her in pain, emotional pain... and the whole world seemed pointless.

"The police would have been on your side Jemma, he was abusing you!" Lara stressed to her, listening to her sister in laws story had made her look through different eyes, she saw Jemma's pain, her nightmare, how used and abused she'd been, all Lara could think about now is how much she;d taken her own life for granted, she was lucky, no matter how much things seemed to suck sometimes.

"I know, but... by the time I got my head into perspective, it was to late... I was in too deep, I couldn't leave him Lara, I couldn't, and when I did I was so scared about what could happen to me that I ran as far away as I could... and then...".

"Then you met the idiot that put you here" Lara finished her off calmly yet supportingly.

"Yeah" was all she could say, right now she felt like an idiot, a fullish idiot, and it was all her fault, she'd made all the decisions that led here.

Author note: I'm going to be away from this Thursday the 5th of October until the 15th, so the next chapter won't be up till after then, but i promise that the next chapter will reveal a few major questions like who the guy is that was locking Sean up and kidnapped Lara, feel free to tell me who you think it is, there's been at least one clue in the last few chapters, but no one's guessed who yet.