Truthfully, Kyle Lathrop had not considered all the logistics of a successful kidnapping of one child, let alone two. He had acted on impulse, believing more out of a rash desire than careful planning that he would be able to pull it off. There were a lot of factors involved in his current situation, however, that he had not quite planned out. For one, the other kid being dragged along too: that had definitely not ben a part of his plan, limited as it had been.
On one hand, it was maybe a good thing, if that meant Santana and her little boy toy would pay twice the amount of money and be twice as frantic to get them both back. On the other hand, the practical part of actually having to deal with an extra angry and frightened child almost made it not worth the possible extra money he would bring.
For another thing, Kyle had never particularly liked children. Because of that, he had not willingly spent a lot of time around them, and that meant that he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with them even in the best of circumstances. He was used to using his charm and manipulation on others, whether adults or not, and that had been what he had tried when interacting with Antonia previously. But he now had two children whom were too wound up for charm to even enter their realm of hearing, let alone influence their responses.
He also hadn't expected that children so young could have such strong wills, nor that they could be so strong. The kids couldn't be more than six years old at the most, yet it had taken all his strength- and Kyle didn't lack it, as working out was one of his favorite hobbies- just to drag them both to the car and child lock the windows and doors before they could break out. Forcing them into seatbelts hadn't even been a possibility, let alone something he actually succeeded at.
And then there had been the matter of what, exactly, he could do from this point on. Kyle had planned to take Toni into a hotel room; he wasn't stupid enough to think he could take her back to his own apartment without the police showing up, before any money could be exchanged. He had figured he would drive off somewhere until she wore herself out enough to sleep. Maybe he would give her a drink laced with sleep meds, and then he could just carry her inside without her fighting. But with two kids, this seemed impossible.
For one thing, the little boy was too damn smart. Much smarter than Kyle would have expected.
As soon as Kyle had started driving, the little girl had continued to kick and scream, demanding that he let her go, that he take her back to her mami and daddy, now, right now. She had beat at the windows and doors and pulled frantically, trying to get herself loose. But the little boy had taken a few deep, shuddery breaths, then reached to take Toni's hands, not letting her continue to hit.
"Toni, you're gonna get hurt," he had said, and though his voice was shaky, it was clear even to Kyle that he was trying to calm her down. "The bad man locked everything. You can't get out."
"I can too!" Toni had shouted, still struggling against the boy's grip, but he had held on even as she continued to scream. "We gotta go back, I want Mami, I want Daddy! Make him stop driving us!"
"I want Santana and Sam too," Stevie had said to her, and when Kyle glanced back in the rearview mirror, he had been uncomfortable to see that both children had tears in their eyes. "They're gonna get us. They won't let him have us, and I won't let him hurt you." Then, as though unable to resist adding this, he said in the tone of a beleaguered older brother chiding a younger sister, "I TOLD you he was a bad man."
"Hey," Kyle had to cut in at that point, annoyed. "That isn't true. I'm not a bad man. I'm not taking you forever, and I won't hurt you. I'm not sick like that, I don't hurt little kids. I just-"
"You hurted my arm!" Antonia interjected indignantly, rubbing the sore limb and glaring towards Kyle's direction. "And my feelings."
"And you hurt Sam and Santana too," Stevie added bitterly, scowling. "You are too a bad man. I told you not to talk to Toni. You are too a bad man, but I won't let you hurt her."
"I'm not going to hurt Toni," Kyle had repeated, a little exasperated, and more than a little annoyed by the boy's insistence. "I told you, I don't hurt little kids. I don't hurt anybody, I'm not a psychopath. Your mom and dad just screwed me over, and they need to pay what they owe for that. Once they do that, you can go back home."
"I wanna go home now!" Toni demanded, and she started to chant it loudly, kicking her legs against Kyle's seat. "Take us home, take us home, take us home!"
As though on cue, Stevie took up the cue, kicking his legs too. And what the hell could Kyle do about it? He couldn't pull over. What if someone saw them inside and recognized the kids, or figured out what was going on? How was he going to go get the kids a drink and leave them alone inside the car, but how would he go through a drive through with the kids screaming like that in the back? Even if no one believed the kids had been kidnapped, they would certainly remember them if he were to be traced back to that spot somehow. But how could he carry them both into a hotel, or anywhere else for that matter, with the kids still awake and protesting all the way?
This was fast becoming a headache. This was supposed to be a fast and easy way to get back at Santana, not to mention make back some of the money he was having to pay out now. But now that he had the kids, Kyle couldn't figure out what the hell to do next.
88
Sam was quickly grateful that it was himself and not Santana in the driver's seat. She was harsh and rapid in her impulsiveness in her commands to Sam even from the passenger's seat, barking at him to turn sharply, cut people off, and heedless of running stop signs or red lights in her haste to follow after any car that she thought looked to possibly be Kyle's. Sam didn't try to argue with her; it was enough to focus on simply being a safe driver, as safe as possible, anyway, under the circumstances.
He felt eaten up from the inside out with his anxiety for the children, even as he tried to keep his hands steady on the steering wheel. But as worried as he was for them, he was just as worried about Santana too. It couldn't be good for her to be so stressed out now, so upset, and it couldn't be good for the baby either. What if the strain she was going through now was somehow poisoning their child, or would bring on early labor? How could he stand to lose three children all at once?
No, that wasn't going to happen. He couldn't let himself even think that, and he certainly wouldn't say it to Santana. They were going to be okay, all of them. They were family, and both he and Santana and their children were strong. He would get them back; they would, together. However they had to do it.
Santana was dialing Kyle's old number over and over, barely allowing the voicemail to come on before she'd hang up and dial again. In between dialing and listening to the rings she kept her eyes open wide, snapping directions at Sam. Sam didn't dare tell her that he didn't think that Kyle was going to answer her, and he might not in fact even have his phone on him. The truth was that he was hopeful that something would come of her efforts too.
But he still didn't expect that her efforts would pay off, when no more than ten minutes into their driving, Kyle finally picked up.
"I was GOING to call you," was his snapped greeting, and Sam let out a huge breath of relief. He could hear the children, his children, in the background, chanting in indignant, shrill unison that they wanted out of the car, and he felt himself grin with sheer pride. They were okay, both of them, and they were fighting every step of the way.
Beside him he felt Santana's sharp inhalation as she heard her daughter's voice, loud and demanding and clearly not in any sort of pain, and he gave her a tense, forced smile as he responded back to Kyle.
"Look, I'll have you know that we called the police and they're going to track you down, if we don't first. You need to bring our children back home safely and you need to do it now."
"I'm not going to harm them, I'd worry more about the brats being stupid enough to cause an accident if I were you-" Kyle started, but Santana snatched the phone from Sam's hand, speaking into it with eyes alit with her rage.
"Listen to me, you fucking sick bastard, you touch my children and I swear I'll kill you. Do you hear me? You harm them in any way and you are dead. How DARE you do this, how DARE you, you damn psychopath, just what the fuck do you think you're doing?!"
Toni, hearing her mother yelling through the receiver, changed the intention of her shouts, now calling out to her in frantic efforts for her mother to hear and respond to her voice.
"MAMI! Mami I hear you, he tooked us! He tooked us and I wanna come home RIGHT NOW!"
Chiming in with her, Stevie added, "Yeah, we wanna go home! Come get us, Santana! Sammy, get us and take us home!"
Sam's heart clinched as he heard the little voices of his children, their children, calling out to them, so earnest in their belief that he and Santana could save them, that they would save them, if they only asked. He could see Santana out the corner of his eyes, blinking back tears even as anger remained tightly etched in her expression.
"We're coming, baby girl, I promise. Be a brave girl and boy for me and Sam, okay?"
"I'm braver than Stevie!" Toni claimed, and Santana and Sam both managed a smile as Stevie countered, "You are not!" It seemed that even in the midst of a crisis, the children were not going to stop being their usual selves.
"You want them back, then we need to start talking business," Kyle started, even as Stevie piped up behind him, shouting loud enough for Sam and Santana to hear.
"My brother doesn't have a business, he plays baseball, you dummy!"
Sam laughed in spite of himself, reaching for the phone that an unwilling Santana finally yielded. Controlling his tone as well as he could, he asked, "What exactly do you mean? Are you trying to make us pay to get our children back?"
"This is fucking unbelievable," Santana snapped, gripping a handful of hair in one hand. "I cannot fucking believe his nerve! This man has to have a fucking death wish because I swear I'm gonna kill him!"
Sam had to take a breath himself before he could steady his anger enough to reply. "And how exactly do you think you're going to get this money and why should we give it to you?"
"Easy. If I don't get the money then I will simply have to take the kids somewhere, preferably in Santana's country of origin, where questions won't be asked and the kids answers don't matter," Kyle responded, before snapping back at one of the children, "I said stop kicking my chair!" Composing himself audibly, he continued, "I'll give you my bank and its account number and you wire a million bucks into it today. I'll give you a few hours to arrange it. Don't do it and don't get the kids."
Santana's eyes bulged, and she snatched at the phone, trying to pry it from Sam's hand to give Kyle a piece of her mind about this threat, but Sam held on. What if Kyle's response to her was to give up on his promise not to harm the children? If she made him angry enough, it could be the children that would suffer.
"Text us the information," he managed, still trying to stay calm. "We'll send it."
"Are you out of your fucking mind?! He's getting shit from us and he's giving those kids back, now!" Santana hissed, her nails now digging into Sam's shoulder, but Sam ignored her for the moment. He could hear his daughter, his little brother, calling out for him in the background, and it was them that he focused on.
"Stevie, Toni, we're going to get you and bring you home real soon, okay? Be good and look out for each other. Santana and I love you."
"I love you!" he heard two anxious little voices chorus. "Don't hang up, come get us!"
But Sam did hang up. Even as Santana half screeched her indignation at this, scrabbling for the phone to call back, Sam held her off the best he could one handed, shaking his head.
"Listen to me! Santana, listen! The police can trace that call, we had him online for a while there! We have to call and let them know what happened, they're going to get him, Santana! He can't be that far away yet, not the way the kids are making a racket in the backseat. They're okay, they're going to be okay. I promise you, we'll get them back. But we can't do anything to mess that up, we can't do anything to make him decide to mess that up!"
Unwillingly, Santana took a slow breath in, begrudgingly agreeing. Of course she would never do anything that could put Toni and Stevie in danger. But it was so hard for her to have to do anything that meant waiting and being patient when their children were gone, in the hands of a man that she now despised more than she could have thought possible to feel towards anyone.
"I just…I just want them back, Sam," she managed, as her throat suddenly choked over with her emotion. "I just need them to be with us. I really need them back."
Reaching for her hand, Sam briefly entwined his fingers with hers, squeezing firmly.
"I know, baby. I do. And I understand. And we will get them back. I promise."
88
In the car with the children, Kyle was having a rather difficult time. Toni was continuing to whine and voice her displeasure with being trapped in his general vicinity, and Stevie was no better. Both of them together were keeping up a running commentary of how badly they didn't want to be in the car with him, how mean and bad he was, and how much they wanted to be with Santana and Sam and how much Sam was going to kick his butt when he found them. It was driving him absolutely insane to have to hear it. He considered pulling over at the side of the road and finding something to stuff in their mouth just so he wouldn't have to hear it anymore, but he was sure that they would then just return to kicking at his seat.
He definitely had not planned this out like he should have. He should have had something to tie them up where they couldn't kick or fight, something to gag them with so they couldn't make noise. But the thought of doing that to little kids, even kids as feisty and irritating as these two, made him uneasy. The truth was that he didn't want to hurt them, even if they were making his life hell at the moment. He wasn't that kind of guy. Just because he wanted the money, and to hurt Santana, didn't mean that he wanted to hurt a kid to accomplish that.
"Stop it!" he called out irritably to the duo in the back seat, feeling the tension that had already been very much present in his neck and shoulders slowly pinching its way down his upper arms and spine. "You're not going to get me to pull over and let you out by doing that, so stop? Where would you go anyway, neither one of you has a clue where you are!"
"But we could get someone who does know," Stevie said reasonably, shrugging his shoulders as he continued to steadily kick the seat, even as he spoke. "Only I guess not 'cause we're not supposed to talk to strangers. Or get in cars with them. So I guess we'll walk until we figure it out."
"Yeah!" Toni half hollered, and Kyle saw her turn and offer a hand for a high five to Stevie, who somewhat reluctantly slapped it. "We'll walk until we figure it out!"
"Well I'm not letting you out, so you're not walking anywhere," Kyle muttered, shaking his head. "So just stop it."
"Please let us out?" Toni switched tactics abruptly. Though whether she was going for polite or annoying as possible as her method of getting her way, Kyle didn't know. "Please please please please please please please please please please?"
Picking up on her new strategy immediately, Stevie chimed in. "Please please please please please please please?"
The more times they said that single word, the louder and shriller their voices seemed to be, and the more it grated at Kyle. How could anyone stand to be around any human being under the age of sixteen for more than five seconds at a time?
"You're gonna go to jail, you're gonna go to jail…please please please please," Stevie switched it up slightly, and when Toni echoed him, punctuating her pleases with kicks, Kyle exploded.
"Will you shut the fuck up before you make me kill us all? Jesus, do the both of you actually want to die back there?!"
Both children fell silent, their eyes wide, and Toni, squirming, leaned over and whispered very loudly to Stevie.
"Are we supposed to answer him? We can't answer him and shut up too, can we?"
Exasperated, Kyle accelerated, still unsure of exactly where it is that he was taking the children, but wanting to get there as fast as possible. He hadn't noticed the police car coming up behind him, and by the time he heard the siren start up and saw the blue flashing lights signaling for him to pull over, he had no restraint left to keep him from screaming.
"Fuck, what the fuck, are you fucking serious, FUCK!"
Still wide eyed, the children regarded him solemnly from the backseat, and it was again Toni who whispered loudly to Stevie.
"He's saying REALLY bad words!"
For the few seconds he had to make a decision before the police car could force him off the main road, Kyle considered the possibility of making a break for it. He could floor it, speed out faster than the police car could run. But what if they already had his license? He'd have to steal a car, and how would he do that? What if he caused a wreck? It didn't bother him to think of the children or someone else being hurt, but himself was another matter.
And the truth was, even with the ten minutes he had been with the children, he was already more than sick of it. Truthfully, money in his hands or not, he was more than ready to give them back.
"Fuck," he said again, more of a sigh than anything else, and he pulled over to the side of the road, rolling down his window. This was it. He was more than done, he was over.
No sooner had the police officer strode over, starting to inform him about his speed and the unbuckled children in the backseat, were the two children in question leaning forward shouting out eagerly that they had been taken, they didn't want to be with this bad man, they wanted to be with their mami and daddy and their Sammy. It seemed an unbelievably short time to Kyle before he was getting slapped with handcuffs and having his rights read to him as he was lead over to the police vehicle in question, his own abandoned after all.
And he had thought the day in court was bad.
88
Sam was still barely able to concentrate on his driving, not with Santana in the car beside him, barking out instructions as to where she wanted him to turn and practically having a heart attack every time they passed a car that even slightly resembled Kyle's. He was on the verge of snapping at her, despite his efforts to be patient, when he saw the car pulled over on the side of the road, parked just in front of a police car. There was a man being guided into the police vehicle, his head down so that Sam could not see his face. But what caused Sam's heart to leap was the sight of the little blonde boy and little brown skinned girl practically skipping around the parked car, both obviously prattling on full speed.
He didn't even have time to alert Santana; she had already seen it herself and was throwing her seatbelt off, rolling down her window and leaning out of it in her haste to get her daughter and Stevie's attention. "It's them, Sam, it's them! ANTONIA! STEVIE! We're here, we're coming to get you!"
Both children clearly heard Santana's shouts, because as Sam pulled in behind the parked police car, he could hear Toni's excited shrieks and Stevie's whoops. He had to be careful that neither child ran in danger's way of the car, nor that Santana leaned so far out the window she fell out, or else jumped out of the car and hurt herself before it was fully stopped.
As Sam parked, hastily undoing his own seatbelt, his fiancé was already out the door and running ahead of him, arms open to engulf both Toni and Stevie at once. Sam hastened to follow her, seeing that Santana was trying to lift both children in her arms at once and struggling, and quickly lent supportive arms to hold all three at once. Toni was chattering away, her mouth all too close to his ear as she dramatically shared her adventure.
"I didn't even want to go with that bad Kyle, he made me! I was good and I listened and said no, but he pulled me and then he got Stevie and he tooked us both! And we were kicking and saying we wanna go home and he wouldn't even listen so now he's gotta go to jail, right, the police guy is gonna make him go to jail!"
"I was making her be good," Stevie declared proudly, one arm slung around Sam's neck, the other around Santana's as he looked between them both, wanting their approval and pride of him. "I was telling her how to be good so we'd be okay!"
"I was good!" Toni protested, misinterpreting Stevie's words, but Santana was not listening to either of them. She was squeezing them both tightly, tears running down her cheeks and seeping into the crook of her neck, and Sam too had to swallow several times, his throat tight and eyes burning with the intensity of his relief. The children were okay. Everything was going to be okay, because everything and everyone that mattered in his world was his again.
"Why are you crying, Mami?" Toni questioned, concerned, as she reached up and touched the wetness of her mother's cheeks. "Did you get hurt?"
Santana wiped her cheeks, taking in a slow breath, and the smile she directed at her daughter was shaky, but genuine, the brightness in her eyes happiness as much as it was tears. "Oh no, baby, I'm not hurt. I'm happy. So, so happy to have you both back again."
"We're happy too," Toni agreed, snuggling in as close against her mother's face with her own as she could manage. "'Cause that car, it was stinky. Like yucky cheese."
"That was you!" Stevie accused, giving her a poke in the side. "You don't got socks or shoes on, that's your own stinky feet!"
"It was not neither me!" Toni's eyes widened with her outrage as she turned on him, hands on her hips. "I don't stink, you do!"
As the children started to argue back and forth, neither Santana nor Sam even really heard their accusations of each other. Both of them simply pulled the children in tight against them, aware of little else around them in the world in that moment. There was nothing else that could matter except having them there with them, close and safe and theirs.