Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews!
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Sam sat in the rocker rocking gently as she held a pink elephant. It had been a gift from Scott when he had thrown a baby shower. It had been a very happy day for them. Derek didn't get the hints with all the pink, but then again he was a very dull man when he needed to be. Thankfully he chose that day to be dull.
But the happiest day had been when the baby girl had been born. Derek's face had lit up like the sun the moment she was placed in his arms. She hadn't seen him be so gentle. Well, she had but Sam was a grown woman. She could handle herself. Laura was a baby and very defenseless. Derek had looked at her with such love that it made her happy.
Then the day that came that made her entire world turn upside down. She was only three weeks old when she had been taken from their house. She and Derek had been sleeping when someone broke into their house in the middle of the night. She had seen her baby in the arms of someone else and that broke her heart.
After that night she spent a few nights in the hospital. She had decided to have the cochlear implants removed for two reasons. 1) she was tired of hearing loud noises, and 2) she had an infection in her ears. It was a sleep she didn't want to have but really needed.
When she woke up, Derek was there as he always was. He took her home but they didn't say a word about Laura.
She was looking out the window. It had taken close the three months to get the house finished. It had so much fire damage that she had to take out the back wall. But it was finished and that area was the baby's room.
There was a knock at the door. "Sam?" Derek came into the room. He put a hand on her shoulder. She shied away from him. "Sam…."
"Don't, Derek. I don't want to talk about it."
"We have to talk about it. Sam, we're going to get here back."
"How do you know? how do you know she hasn't been taken to some other country?"
"Because we would have felt it." He knew she was listening anymore. "Sam, I asked Chris and Kate Argent to help us search for Laura."
She stood so fast he was shocked. But what shocked him even more was she smacked him in the face. He held the spot where he had been broadsided and stared at her from his spot on the floor (he had fallen over from the impact). Her eyes were flaming if that was possible because of their greenness.
"Why did you do that?"
"We need help. I couldn't find the scent the other night when I went looking. The guy who took her said it was an Alpha that took her. I can't get to the Alpha alone. We need help."
"Why didn't you ask me?"
"You were asleep in the hospital with pain meds pumping through your system because you had the implants taken out."
"You're a jackass." She stalked from the room.
Derek got up from the floor and followed her down stairs. She was in the kitchen making something to drink when he spun her around to face him. "I did what I had to do to keep my family safe. Believe it or not, you're my family. Our daughter's my family and I will do everything I can to get her back. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about this but I had to do it. Chris and Kate know everything I we need to know about dealing with an Alpha."
"Yeah, Kate sure does since she burned your last Alpha in your house." It was a low blow and she knew it, but she was angry and when a red head got angry she said things.
He stared at her in silence for a moment. There was no way he was going to take that road and yell at her for slandering his family. Well, it really wasn't slander since it was the truth.
He shifted around the island. This was the biggest fight they had to date. The first one had nothing to do with their child so he guessed it didn't quite count. She was agitated because she was missing her baby. He was agitated because he hadn't been able to protect his baby. They were getting nowhere by arguing.
"I did this so we could find Laura. I thought about your feelings about this but our daughter outranks your feelings for Kate. When we get her back and you want to kick Kate's ass, I'm all for it. But right now we need their help. If you're going to be mad about it, you can stay away from this and let me find her."
"Like hell I will. You didn't give birth to her."
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything. She's my daughter."
"She's my daughter as well."
"No, Derek. She's my daughter. I carried her for nine months and I pushed her out. All you did was help me out. She's my daughter and I will help find her."
Derek stared at her. "Are you saying my having sex with you, you getting pregnant and delivering Laura makes her more you daughter than mine?"
"That's not what I'm saying at all."
"Then what are you saying because I'm having difficulty believing it's anything other than that."
"Derek, when women have children, they have a special bond with that child. Laura not being here means I'm not complete. I have to go on this mission with you because if I don't, I will start my own mission and I will not leave anyone alive. That you know."
He held his breath for a few minutes longer. She was right. She was small but she was deadly. She had handed Kate's ass to her and Kate was older and well trained. Sam had her own morals she ran by and this was one of them.
"Fine. I'll call Scott and have him meet us at the Argents house in an hour."
"Good. I'll get all my gear."
Derek frowned. "You have gear?"
"I don't move without it, Derek."