Chapter 14

Lauren was being held in a small bedroom. They had blindfolded her immediately after shoving her into the car, so she had no idea where the house was located. They hadn't driven far , the men roughly pushing her out of the car and into the house where they shoved her into this room. She was in full panic mode when one of the men finally came into the room.

"I need answers from you, no more games," he said with a thick accent.

"Who are you? Where is my son?" Lauren practically yelled at him.

"Your son? What do you mean, your son?" he asked confused.

Lauren was now in tears. Was Charlie ok? Was he still in the car, alone? "My baby… I just put him in the car... " she could barely choke out the words.

The other man came into the room just as she spoke. "The man and woman that came to see you today… who are they?" he demanded.

"I don't… I'm not sure… they said they were friends with an old friend of my mother's," Lauren answered, between staggered breaths.

"THEY have your son, I saw them," he spat at her.

Lauren took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. At least Charlie was safe, not left behind in the car still.

"Your mother… Margaret Duncan, correct?" the first man asked.

"Yes, Duncan was her maiden name," Lauren decided the only was she was going to get out of there and back to Charlie was going to be to cooperate with them. She could only hope they would let her go soon.

"And she worked for the Agency, no?" he asked, accusingly.

"Agency? I don't know what that is?" Lauren answered.

"The Agency… government office… like your CIA or FBI only more secretive and dirty," the second man explained.

Lauren looked at one man then the other. "I don't know. I know she was a secretary before I was born, and we moved here but that's all I know. She never talked about work before that," Lauren hoped they believed her. She only knew bits and pieces of what her mom did before they moved to Virginia Beach. And as long as Lauren could remember, her mom didn't work. She stayed home and raised her, alone for the first 5 years until she met her stepfather.

"Secretary…. Don't make me laugh," the first man slammed his hand down on the table beside her. "She was an agent… admit it…"

Lauren shook her head, "No. I don't know what you are talking about. My mother stayed home and raised me, she never worked as long as I can remember."

The second man looked at her. Tilting his head to the side, he replied, "Your mother was an agent for the US government and you had no idea? She is much smarter than we gave her credit. Or you're lying."

"I'm not lying…." Lauren shook her head, tears now streaming down her face, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just want to get home to my son."

"When you give us what we want, maybe we let you go," the first man glared at her. The two men walked out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

Lauren sat down on the twin size bed, her head in her hands, crying. Who were these men and what did they want? She could only hope they were right when they said Charlie was with Amanda and Lee. They told her they could help, said they were federal agents. They only shred of hope she had at the moment was when they saw the men grab her that they saw something that could help find her.

Back at the hotel, Amanda and Lee were trying to figure out where to put the portable crib the hotel had just delivered to their room. With Amanda's help, Lee put Charlie back into the car seat without making him cry again. Once he was secure, they surveyed the room, to figure out the best spot to allow for maximum walking space without tripping over anything. They decided if they moved the sitting chairs over to one side of the room, the portable crib could fit without being too close to the air conditioning unit under the window. Once the crib was in place, Amanda turned her attention back to Charlie's diaper bag. She started taking everything out, one piece at a time.

Lee watched her, curious. "Amanda, what are you doing?" he asked.

She had just finished laying everything out on the bed, impressed with the amount of clothes, cloths and the blanket she found inside. "Lauren packed this well. There are plenty of changes of clothes for him, plus pajamas. Either he goes through a lot of outfits or she really thinks ahead," she explained.

Lee surveyed everything, "Do you think she packed that just for one day? That's a lot of clothes for just an infant, isn't it?"

Amanda smiled. Shaking her head she said, "No, not really. If he's a spitter then he could go through several outfits a day. Or she may pack it for the week for daycare to make it easy for them."

"A spitter? I don't know that I like the sound of that," Lee cringed. All kinds of images started going through his mind.

"It's really not as bad as it sounds. Phillip was a spitter. Every time he ate, it seemed like half of it came back up right after," Amanda recalled.

Lee covered his mouth with one hand, then pointed at Charlie who was very content, watching them, "Hopefully he's not one of those."

"Scarecrow, are you trying to tell me you can't handle a little bit of baby spittle?" Amanda teased.

"Look, I can handle the KGB, bullets, blood, fights, broken bones… I already told you I have zero experience with… " Lee wasn't sure how he wanted to refer to the baby.

"Babies?" Amanda supplied him.

"Yeah," he admitted. He glanced over at Charlie who was now chewing on his hands. Walking over, he reached into the seat and gently lifted him out, much to Amanda's surprise. "But, little guy, you can help me out right? Maybe show me the ropes?" he asked the baby. As he held him, he suddenly felt a warm sensation in his hand. "Um, Amanda… I, ah… I think he might need a diaper change. He feels a little warm…. here." Lee stretched his hand flat without letting go of the baby.

Laughing, Amanda walked into the bathroom to get a towel. Laying it on the bed, Lee placed the baby in the center as Amanda got a diaper and the wipes from the table. Lee was fascinated watching his wife. She talked to Charlie, was explaining to him how she was going to change his diaper, keeping him engaged the entire time she unsnapped the outfit he was wearing. She unfastened the sides first and took a quick peek inside the diaper first before sliding the clean one under him. The quickly she removed the now soaked diaper, wiped him with a wipe and covered him up with the clean diaper. After securing the sides, she rolled the wet one up and handed it to Lee. "Take care of that for me please?" she asked.

Lee stood there, holding the diaper that was now rolled into the size of a softball, watching as she snapped his clothes back up and lifted him into her arms. The entire process took just about 2 minutes and Charlie didn't make a peep the entire time. "Amanda, that was amazing," he stated.

"Amazing? All I did was change his diaper," she replied, trying to figure out what was so fascinating about that.

"But… how did you do that so fast?" Lee asked.

Amanda laughed, "Lots and lots of practice. At this age, it's pretty easy. They aren't squirming all over the place… now a toddler, that's a different story. I used to have to pin Jamie down with my feet just to change him. You'd never know it now but he used to be into everything."

Walking into the bathroom, Lee tossed the dirty diaper into the trash and washed his hands. "Do you want me to take him? So you can wash your hands I mean." he asked tentatively.

"You don't mind? I got used to doing everything myself when the boys were little I even mastered that one handed, but if you want to take him…." Amanda started handing the baby over to Lee.

"Hey Charlie, you're a pretty good guy, aren't you? I'm sure your Mama is missing you. We're going to find her, I promise," Lee said as he sat down against the headboard of the bed. Leaning back, he placed his hand on Charlie's belly, allowing the baby to play with his hands. Immediately Charlie grabbed one of his fingers and pulled it into his mouth.

As Amanda came out of the bathroom, she saw what he was doing and said, "Here, let me make him a bottle. He looks like he's getting hungry." She mixed his formula and ran it under hot water to warm it up. "I don't know how warm he likes it, so let's hope he isn't picky." Taking a burp cloth off the pile, she walked over to Lee and the baby. "Do you want to do it, or do you want me to feed him?" she asked.

"Um… I'll let you handle that. I'm just getting comfortable holding him, I don't want to push my luck," he admitted.

"Push over," Amanda said as she sat on the bed beside him. Taking the baby, she held him as he greedily took the bottle.

"Looks like he's pretty hungry there," Lee pointed out as he gently rubbed the baby's head.

"Let's hope for your sake, it stays in," Amanda teased as she gently removed the bottle from the baby's mouth to burp him. Checking to see how many ounces he drank, she placed him on her shoulder and gently tapped his back. After a minute or two he still hadn't burped so she sat him on her knee facing Lee and tried another burping technique. Holding his chest and chin with one hand, she gently tapped his back again to be rewarded with a rather loud burp.

Lee watched, again, simply amazed at her. As she laid Charlie back into the crook of her arm to give him more of the bottle, Lee couldn't help but think what a beautiful sight he had before him. His wife holding and feeding a baby. He had never once considered being a father and for most of his adult life had taken every precaution to be sure that didn't happen. But now, watching Amanda with Charlie, he couldn't help think what it would be like. He knew he was just beginning to scratch the surface of parenting with her boys but a baby? Could they do it? After this case was over, he decided maybe they should talk about it. He didn't know if Amanda would want to have another child, especially where her boys were practically teenagers.

Breaking his train of thought, Amanda asked, "So what do you want to do for dinner tonight? Charlie's all set… and he seems to be a good baby so if we went out we could take him."

"Um, dinner, yeah… there's a restaurant a few doors down. We could walk. Then maybe when we get back we can go through the rest of the things from Lauren's car," Lee stuttered, almost blushing at the thoughts he was having.

"You okay?" Amanda asked.

"Right now, yeah," Lee smiled, then leaned over to kiss her gently.