Hello guys. I'm cured of my writer's block. I actually sat in my bedroom for an hour staring at a blank piece of paper when the idea hit me. Now, Selene Darkmoon gave me a very good idea, but I was already going to do that at a later time. Sorry Selene. It was still a good idea and you were the ONLY one to suggest anything, so I applaud you for trying. C'mon guys. What happened to my faithful reviewers? It went from six of you to three of you to one of you. I suppose it's just because it's summer and you all have things to do with your families. I understand. Like I told you, in about nine or ten days I'm going to the beach with my older sister and nephew, so it's cool. Just please come back soon. Alright, so back to the chapter. On this one we go to Elisabeth and Iggy. It's been a month since Mel was taken. Let's see how they're doing without her. Oh, before I forget, read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by Talon666 and 'My Life to the Max' by angelicreader6. All three are very good stories by two excellent authors. Trust me, you'll like them if you like this one. Just check them out for me. Maybe leave a review, something. Okay, well here we go. I hope you guys like this. I worked really hard and got several headaches with this one. All for you guys. Okay, enough guilt tripping. Enjoy! Hope ya'll are having an excellent summer.

Elisabeth had woken up from her nap. She had fallen asleep on the couch earlier that day, too exhausted to go on. She hadn't had much sleep since Melody had been taken and it had finally gotten to her. Iggy had called the school and told them she was taking a sick day. Then he had asked Paul to cover for him at the restaurant. (He couldn't leave Elisabeth alone in her state.)

She sat up, stretched, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She thought she heard the faint sound of water running upstairs. Iggy must have been taking a shower. That meant she'd have some time to…

She got up and walked to the refrigerator, quietly and slowly. She cautiously pulled the door open and stared, searching for something. She couldn't have hidden it so well that she couldn't remember where she put it, right?

Right, the crisper. She thought to herself, crouching down and pulling open the drawer. How stupid of me. She said, pulling out the bottle of beer she had hidden earlier. She had bought it, hoping she could get drunk enough to forget about her miserable life for a few hours. She didn't want Iggy to find it though. He'd find out later if everything went right.

She closed the door to the fridge and popped the lid off of the bottle. She tossed it in the trash can and sighed. It had come to this. After a month without her only child, it had come to this.

She pressed the bottle to her lips and sighed heavily again. She pulled the bottle away and dumped it all down the sink. What a waste of five bucks that she could've used for something important like toothpaste.

She put her hand to her forehead and, after a few moments of staring into the almost empty trash can, tossed it in and sighed as she heard it shatter.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and almost screamed in surprise. She turned around, coming face-to-face with Iggy. She clutched her hand to her heart and took several deep breaths, while he "looked" at her, slightly worried.

"Oh Iggy. You…you sc-scared me. I thought you were in the shower." she said, eyeing his dry clothes and hair.

"I was. I finished, dried my hair, and put on clean clothes. It's what any normal person would've done." he said. "You okay. Ya seem kinda…jumpy." he said, hopping onto the counter.

"Me? Jumpy?" she asked. "No. Everything's fine. Just got up from my nap and thought-"

"You'd have a beer." he interrupted. Before she could protest he said, "I heard you toss it in the garbage. Poured it down the sink huh? What a waste of five bucks."

Elisabeth stared at him for a second and then she finally broke down and cried. She dropped to her knees and started shaking and sobbing.

Iggy dropped to the ground and pulled her close to him. He hadn't meant to make her cry, but somehow he knew it wasn't really his fault. This had been a long time coming.

She couldn't take it anymore. She hadn't heard one stinking thing. Not one word of good news. Not one sign. Not even something ridiculous in a tabloid magazine about mutants. Even that would have given the faintest hint of hope.

And then there was Sara Richards. She had been calling constantly. As Elisabeth sat there on the ground, crying her eyes out, she heard the phone ring and cried even harder.

"Perfect timing Sara." Iggy muttered darkly as he heard her faint voice leaving a message in another room.

Elisabeth took in deep shaky breaths, still sobbing. "I just…I…m-miss her. Nothing's…g-going right. What the fuck d-did I do to d-deserve…any of this?" she sniffled.

She coughed and sputtered, choking on her own spit, and Iggy patted her on her back. "Hey, hey now. We're going to get her back. We'll hear something soon." As if someone had been listening to him, the phone rang. He knew it wasn't Sara, she wouldn't call back for another hour at least.

He walked to the living room and picked up the phone, full of hope. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hey Ig, it's me." A voice said from the other end.

"Hey Max. You don't know how good it is to hear your voice." he said, walking into the kitchen.

Elisabeth had gotten up and leaned against the counter, a paper towel in hand, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. Iggy heard her blowing her nose.

"Ig? Ig? You still there?" Max asked.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry Max. Hey, you heard anything yet?" He crossed his fingers, metaphorically speaking of course.

"No. Nothing yet. Believe me Ig, we're trying. Fang's been researching, digging up articles from the newspaper, looking for anything that sounds even remotely like the School." Fang was a journalist for a big newspaper.

"I know, I know. Elisabeth's worried. That's all." He wasn't going to tell her how worried though.

"She dumped out another beer again didn't she?" Max asked, and Iggy began wondering if she'd developed mind reading abilities.

"How'd-"

"She's done it before. Called me just last week, crying her eyes out. Poor thing."

Iggy sighed. "Yeah, well she's okay now. So, why'd you call?"

"I just had a feeling something was wrong. Guess I was right."

"You always are." Iggy said, smiling. Had there ever been a time when she had been wrong. He'd have to think about that. But this wasn't the time for a montage. "Well, if that's all, I should probably get going."

"Right." Max said, her tone suggesting something. "Well, we'll let you know if we hear anything. Bye. Take care of yourself."

"Bye Max. Good talkin' to ya." He hung up the phone and placed it on the counter, walking over towards Elisabeth.

"I'm sorry Iggy." Elisabeth said, quietly. She sniffled again. "I just don't know…what else to do. What if she doesn't come back? What if she's hurt? What if she's…dead?" She grabbed him and put all her weight on him, unable to stand up on her own. "I can't take not knowing anymore."

Iggy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as he possibly could, helping her stand upright. "Maybe it's a good thing that we haven't heard anything. You know that saying: "No news is good news", right? Maybe we haven't heard anything 'cause she's in hiding. Or maybe she's on her way here right now. Maybe she'll be here tonight or in a few days. We just don't know. We just gotta hope."

He cupped his hand under her chin and pulled it up. He ran his thumb under her eyes, wiping off her tears. He heard her sniffle again and then heard her sigh.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. We just don't know anymore. She could be anywhere right now. What would I do without you Iggy?" she asked, drawing closer to him.

He noticed the closeness and responded by placing his lips gently on hers. He still had that sweet touch. Every time he kissed her she felt sixteen years younger. She still couldn't believe he was all hers. It still seemed surreal.

He pulled his lips off of hers, slowly. "Feel better?" he asked softly, brushing his fingers lightly against her cheek.

"Yes." she whispered, pressing her forehead against his, her eyes closed. All her stress seemed to melt away the moment he touched her. "I always do when you hold me like this."

"C'mon." he said, letting go of her and taking her hand. "Let's go sit down on the couch. Maybe watch a movie or something."

She nodded and let him lead her to the couch. She curled up beside him, placing her head on his shoulder.

He stroked her hair and absentmindedly flipped through channels. He came upon a movie that he liked well enough and asked, "Hey Elisabeth, this look good to you?". She didn't answer and he took that to mean that she had fallen asleep.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head. He turned down the volume on the movie because, if he remembered correctly, this one had a lot of explosions and he didn't want Elisabeth to wake up.

He 'watched' the first five minutes and then got angry. It was a stupid remake and not a very good one either. Why did they have to screw up good movies by redoing them? He sighed and switched the channel to some game show. He heard Elisabeth groan in her sleep and stroked her head again.

He knew he had only temporarily fixed her depression. If she didn't hear something soon she'd crack. Heck, if he didn't hear something soon he'd crack too. He wanted his baby girl back more than anything. However, if he knew Melody, they'd be wishing they'd never taken her.

Come home Mel. I know you can do it. C'mon. Your momma and me want you back so bad. Come home. We miss you sweetie.

A few lone tears fell out of his eyes and he leaned on his sleeping wife, kissing the top of her head and praying his daughter was okay and on her way home.

We'll keep the light on for you Melody. Always sweetie. I promise.

Sorta emotional huh? Next chapter we go back to Mel. I'm going to try to get that chapter up before I go to the beach, but I can't guarantee anything. You know how moms can be right? I'll try my hardest though. If not, the day I get back you guys will have a brand spanking new chapter. I'm really gonna try to get this up next Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed. Oh, if you hadn't noticed, since I put this chapter up I haven't started either of my new stories yet. I haven't decided when I'm going to start on those. I guess it just depends on what happens this summer and what you guys want. Well anyway, read and review this story and check out the stories I listed above. You'll love them. Trust me. I've never lied to you before have I? Okay, peace out. See ya'll later.