"I'm glad everything's going well." Alexis said as she sat on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table. Kristina called her every night once she was back in her hotel room, as per their agreement. She would tell Alexis about her day and checked to make sure Alexis, Sam, and the baby were all right. Some calls were easier than others before some nights Alexis could hear the homesickness in Kristina's voice, and on other nights Kristina could hear just how tired her pregnant sister was. "I can't wait for you to get home. Jax has gone completely insane."

Kristina laughed over the line. "What's he done now?"

"He bought out the baby boutique on Grafton Street." Alexis chuckled as she rubbed her every growing belly. "We had an ultrasound yesterday and on our way home we stopped and finally picked out furniture, which won't be delivered until after the painters come tomorrow to paint the nursery. While we were there we looked around for a while and had fun picking out things we liked. So what does he do? He goes back today and buys it all. He came home tonight with so many bags he couldn't get through the front door!"

Kristina was laughing harder now.

"To make matters worse." Alexis laughed as well. "He doesn't want Sam feeling left out so he raided the toy store three blocks over. She has so many new toys and games she doesn't know where to start."

Tonight was one of those nights where Kristina's voice betrayed how homesick sick she was. "Sounds like I'm missing a lot. I should be home in time to help set up, though. Lois wanted to add a few more shows but I told her no. I want to be there for the last few weeks of your pregnancy and be there when my new niece or nephew is born."

"Good, I'm glad, we miss you." Alexis said. She and her sister talked for a few more minutes before hanging up. Then she spent far longer then usual getting up off the couch. She was only a few weeks from her due date and she was showing it. After putting the cordless phone back on it's cradle Alexis waddled over to the door and out onto the deck. "Sammie, baby, it's getting cold it's time to come in."

Sam was sitting on the loveseat wrapped in a blanket; her head titled back as she looked up at the clear star speckled sky. In her lap was Artemis, her cat, who grumbled at Alexis for disturbing their peace. "It's not to bad, Mom, it's nice out."

"It's getting late baby." Alexis said as she smiled softly. There was always something so sweet and serene in Sam's face and eyes when she was stargazing. As she watched her little girl her mind flashed back to a small caretaker cottage on the outskirt of the Briarton Griggs property in the hills of New Hampshire. It was summer break and there was hardly anyone on campus, no one to miss her as she met him there. It was her birthday, she was sixteen, and he planned a romantic picnic under the stars. It had been her first time, and she could still remember lying on the blanket in the grass, in his arms, breathing in the pine trees and gazing up at the stars.

"Uncle showed me all these cool maps today." Sam was saying, unknowingly drawing her mother's attention out of the past. "Star charts, he called them, and he showed me how to use them. He said that when we go out onto the ocean to sail that we'll use the stars to navigate."

"He did, did he?" Alexis asked as she shook herself from her memories and sat beside her daughter.

Sam nodded as she snuggled into her mother's side. "He said that when I'm older I could sail anywhere I want to go and use the stars to get me there."

"And where do you want to go my little adventurer?" Alexis asked as she wrapped her arms around her baby.

The little dark haired, dark eyed, girl with the gleam in her eyes replied simply, "Everywhere."

A part of Alexis loved this side of Sam, the free spirit, the desire to explore, the adventurous heart; and yet it also scared the hell out of her. Those were things she wasn't, thing she couldn't fully understand. Things she knew she'd have a hard time dealing with, especially when Sam got older. Alexis sat there for a while longer just holding her little girl, wishing her to stay a little girl forever, until Sam suddenly yelped in surprise and pulled away from her.

"Sammie?" Alexis asked in concern as Sam stared at her with wide eyes. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"I felt something." Sam replied as she pointed to her mother's swollen belly.

Alexis laughed. "That was the baby, Sammie, it moved." She took her daughter's hand and placed it where she could feel the baby kicking. She smiled brightly, as Sam's eyes got even bigger, and then as a smile grew on Sam's face as well.

"Why is she doing that?" Sam asked as she moved her hand to follow the baby's movements.

"She, or He, is saying hi to her, or his, big sister." Alexis replied. Sam always referred to the baby as a her and Alexis was starting to wonder if maybe they should find out for sure, because if this baby was a boy she was going to have a very disappointed daughter. "Or they're playing soccer, maybe both."

Sam laughed. "That must feel so weird."

Alexis laughed as well. "Kind of."

"Did I kick a lot?" Sam asked as dark eyes looked up and met a matching pair of dark eyes.

"You did." Alexis answered as she pulled Sam close to her again. "You were very active. The only way to settle you down was to read too you."

Sam smiled. "You read to your belly?"

Alexis chuckled and tapped Sam on the nose. "I read to my baby."

"Did you eat weird food when you were pregnant with me?" Sam asked as she shifted so she could put her ear against her mother's stomach.

"I don't eat weird food." Alexis protested.

Sam sat up and looked at her mother with a look that said she couldn't believe she just said that. "You put mustard on your reese cups and tarter sauce on your beagles."

Alexis laughed as she pulled Sam back down so she had her head on her stomach again. "Ok, I guess those are a little weird." She thought about it, calling up the memories that were no longer as painful as they once were, and then said, "Ketchup on sourdough pretzels, and I put onions on everything."

They sat out on the deck for a little while longer while Alexis answered Sam's questions and told her stories about when she was pregnant with her. After she put Sam to bed Alexis went to her own room and after writing in the journal she'd started for the new baby, and in Sam's, she pulled out an old box full of hidden memories. Along with a lock of Sam's hair, there was a little silver bell that said Baby's First Christmas on it, the tennis bracelet she'd thought was her birthday gift that night until she found out what her real gift had been, and a class ring on a chain that he had put around her neck with the promise that he wouldn't be away for to long. While he was gone she'd found out she was pregnant and her father had swooped down like some terrifying bird and whisked her away. She didn't know if he'd ever come back while she was away, but she did know that by the time she came back he was gone for good.

Sam hadn't asked her about her father and Alexis, right or wrong, wasn't jumping in to tell her about him. Jax was Sam's father. He loved her, he was good to her, and he would always be there for her. But, if Sam asked, Alexis would tell her and maybe even give her daughter her father's ring. Until then it would remain in her little box of memories and mementos. Alexis wasn't sure why she'd been thinking about him lately, or why of all people Mikkos was on her mind. The only thing she could come up with was that it was because of Jax. She'd been watching him preparing to be a father and it made her think about how Sam's father had missed out on that, and it made her wonder if Mikkos had been around while her mother was pregnant with her. She had faded memories of him being there when her mother was pregnant with Kristina, she had faded memories of him being in their home and being happy. When she closed her eyes and really allowed herself to remember she could remember his arms around her, his smile, his laugh, but her memories were tainted by the man he'd become after her mother's death. Without her mother and their love Mikkos had given in to the madness of it all. A brilliant man turned into what boiled down to a comic book villain thanks in no small part to the madness and insanity of his position and his marriage. A prince to a kingdom that didn't exist with a wife as vile and evil as Helena, its no wonder her father was so cold and so easily lost in the insanity.

"Alexis?" Jax said softly, not waiting to startle her. He'd been calling her name for a good couple minutes. He finally had to walk right over to her and kneel down in front of her.

"Hmm?" Alexis replied as she finally looked up. Seeing Jax right there in front of her she suddenly jerked back to the present. "Oh!"

Jax smiled lovingly at her. "You were awfully far away. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Alexis replied. "Just lost in thought."

The handsome blonde Aussie moved to sit beside her on the loveseat and looked down into the box on her lap. "What's that?"

Alexis looked down into the box as she said, "What I had left of Sam before I had Sam herself back."

He put his arm around her and pulled her close to his side. He reached in and picked up the lock of dark hair tied in a yellow ribbon. "Is this Sam's? It's so dark."

"The nurse clipped it for me." Alexis said softly. "Her hair was jet black when she was born, and her eyes, they looked like perfect pieces of onyx. They've lighted a little since then."

Jax placed the lock of hair back in the box and watched as Alexis closed it gently. While she slipped into the closest to put it away he undressed and changed. He was waiting for her in bed and when she joined him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and tight. Of course Jax was curious about Alexis' past, about Sam, about Sam's birth father, but he never asked. He figured that if Alexis wanted him to know she would tell him.

Two days later in a hotel room in Memphis Kristina was double-checking to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. When she heard something behind her she assumed that it was Jason. "Is the car waiting?"

"Indeed Princess it is."

The voice wasn't Jason's and the words were in Russian. Kristina spun around to see a man standing there she'd ever seen before. Kristina screamed, but the man was quick. He grabbed her, she struggled but he was stronger. She screamed again as a cloth was placed over her nose and mouth. She tried not to breathe in the vapors on the cloth but in the end she succumbed and everything went dark.

Lois was on her cell phone as she made her way to Kristina's hotel room. The car was waiting to take them to the airport and she wasn't answering her phone. Just as she was about to pound on the door, thinking that teenagers alone in a hotel room were doing what teenagers alone in a hotel room would do, the door across the hall swung open and Jason staggered out. "Oh my god! Jason!"

"Kris." Jason said groggily as he held his hand to the gash on his head that was bleeding. "Where's Kris?"

Lois used her keycard to open the door to Kristina's room. The room was empty and there was no sign of Kristina. Her things were just where she'd left them, but she was gone.

The phone rang and Alexis groaned. She looked at the clock on her bedside table and cursed whoever was on the other end of the line. "Hello?" As soon as she heard Ned's voice she was wide-awake. "What? Missing! What the hell do you mean my sister's missing?"

Jax was just as awake as Alexis was now. "What's going on? Alexis?"

She turned to look at him with tears welling in her big frightened brown eyes. "Kristina's gone."

There were very few people who had the number to the private phone in Stefan's bedroom. So few that he knew as he reached for it that it had to be one of his sisters. "Hello?"

"Stefan." Alexis said, her fear lacing her voice.

Stefan sat up quickly. The tone of his sister's voice sent a chill through his blood. "Alexis, what's wrong?"

"It's Kristina." Alexis told him with a sniffle. "Someone's taken her."

"Taken her?" Stefan asked as the chill turned to fire. "What happened?"

Alexis told him what she'd found out from Ned. That the security detail and Jason were all rendered unconscious and that when Lois went to Kristina's hotel room she was gone. She told him that Lois called the local police who found nothing in the room, and that no one saw anyone taking her. Stefan listened while he went to check on Nikolas. The boy was sleeping soundly in his bed.

"Sam?" Stefan asked as he made his way down to his office.

"She's fine." Alexis answered. "She's in her bed sound asleep." There was a pause before Alexis voiced her worse fear, "Stefan, was it Helena?"

That had been his first thought as well. "I do not know, Alexis, but I assure you I will find out. I will find our sister, Alexis, I promise. Let me take care of this. This strain and stress is not good for you or your unborn child."

Alexis sniffled. "I know. I just don't understand, Stefan, who would want to take Kristina if it isn't Helena?"

"I don't know, Alexis, but whoever it was will wish for death before I'm done with them." Stefan told her as he reached his desk. "I'm going to get on this right now and I will call when I have something. She'll be home soon, I promise."

After hanging up with Stefan Alexis went back to Sam's room to check on her again. Her mind was wheeling, unable to wrap its self around the idea of someone snatching her sister. Her heart was hurting knowing that her sister was in trouble. When she went back to the living room she saw Jax on the phone. He was talking to a contact he had in Memphis, someone who could help out in the investigation. She walked over to him and he pulled her to him as he finished up his call.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her do this." Alexis said as Jax helped her sit down. "I knew I should have made her stay here and start college."

"She's an adult, Alexis." Jax said as he held her in his arms. "You couldn't have stopped her. This is what she wanted. No one could have seen something like this happening."

Tears welled in Alexis' eyes and rolled quickly down her cheeks. "That's what I don't understand, Jax, why is this happening? Why would someone take Kristina?"

"Is the princess secure?" The tall man asked the person on the other end of his phone. "Good. She was given a sedative that will keep her asleep for the entire trip. Yuri will meet you when you land. I will be following shortly." From his dark car the man watched the lakehouse for a few minutes before making another call. "Are you in position? Good. You know what to do."