Littleton House
"Mom?"
Gracie, Max thought, who I loved from the minute I found out. My little peanut. How John cried, Kara took to being a big sister to her from day one…How we really became a family then. "What's up, Kiddo?"
"Why are you sad?"
"Ah, I'm not sad," Max said. I can get us to the bunker. We'll be safe. John will understand. Hugging Gracie back. "I get to hang out with you. One of my three favorite daughters."
Gracie giggled and hugged her back. "You only have three daughters."
Two, really, she thought, Kara isn't Whittaker blood. I can't slip up, I can't vanish, stay the course. Be Maxine Littleton. Devoted wife and mother. Detective. PTA mom. Maxine is real. "So you're at least Top-3."
John watched them for a long moment. She looks like Tatiana Whittaker, those old pictures…that face, all that red hair, the same face that Gracie has. It doesn't matter who she was born as…she's Maxine Littleton. I love her with our kids. "Are you ready?"
She gave Gracie another squeeze. "No."
"Grandma is here. Go give her a hug."
"I want to stay with you and Mom."
"Ah, we'll be home soon," John said, sizing up his wife again. "Boring adult stuff. The fun stuff is coming, Gracie, you know that big second wedding we're planning? See if you can convince your Grandma to get your Mom into a big dress."
"Mom, you'd be so pretty."
"Pick me something out," she said finally, as she released her. "We'll go shopping and I'll try everything on."
Gracie hugged her dad. "Take care of Mom. She seems sad."
John looked at their departing daughter. "She's all you, Honey."
"Gracie is better than me. Less Whittaker in her."
"You're a Littleton."
"I'm a serial killer's daughter. The FBI thinks I was in on this. You're better off without me."
"Get over yourself. I need you. Our kids need you. We'll fix this, Honey, right now," he said, holding his hand out to her. "We're a team."
Team Littleton, she thought, my pack is right here. Grasping his hand in hers. This is what matters. Stay the course. They have no proof.
The FBI
"Hello, Maxine."
She stared at Morell, wishing John was with her instead of the lawyer. The best lawyer, she thought, from his firm. I still wish it was John. "Agent Morrell."
"I didn't expect you to agree to this."
"I want answers as much as you do."
Scared, Morrell thought, twisting her hands around each other, her husband holding her close before she came in here. He believes her, the deputy I knew never clung to anyone the way she was to him today. "When did you find out you were Cana Whittaker?"
She looked at her lawyer, who nodded at her. "When you told me yesterday."
"How did you end up in Rome?"
"I was recruited from the academy. I wanted to be a small town cop."
"When did you meet Solomon Whittaker?"
"I never met him. My parents, the Stewarts, they weren't perfect, but they were my parents. I never…I don't want to be Cana Whittaker."
Waiting Room
"John?"
He lifted his head from his hands and looked at the Brocks. "We shouldn't be talking."
Jill sat down next to him. "How are you? How is Max doing with this?"
"She found out she was illegally adopted, her biological father is a serial killer, and the FBI thinks she was a part of it. She isn't good."
"We know she wasn't."
John looked at them both again. "Even after everything else?"
"She wouldn't have done anything to hurt Kim or Kenny. Even to protect herself."
"She's more concerned about how this effects our kids than her."
"You got her a lawyer?" Jimmy asked.
John nodded. "The best I know. She wants answers too. How are your grandchildren?"
FBI
"Cana," Morrell continued, watching as she flinched at that name. "It is your name."
Max shook her head. "No. Even it was before…it isn't now. I stopped being her when my parents, my parents who raised me, bought me. Even if I was born…Cana…I'm not her. Not anymore. I had nothing to do with that cult in the woods."
"You had three brothers who vanished along with you. Hundreds of half siblings in the woods."
Who I helped kill. Setting off the explosives, poisoning the rest…my full brothers. My mother only gave me and Jonah away, the two youngest, the ones that would be harder to track. Samuel and Jacob, savages, so many wives and children for them in those caves. Jonah…Master found him too. Jonah…who went into the woods with his wife and children. A new pack. "I never knew. Someone saved me by selling me. My parents weren't perfect but they weren't…they weren't this. I don't want to be a part of that."
Morrell stared at her for a long moment. She's either a very good actress or she is legitimate about this. Shaking, scared…sending Kimberly Brock off to her father to have an affair with Kenny Lacos, who pursued her and who she rejected? Instead she eloped with John. "The Brocks believe you weren't involved."
"They are like family to me. What happened to Kim…that video…I was saved from being that and…all those people. I'm so glad Amy and Jacob are doing so well."
"I want to give you a polygraph."
She nodded. "Of course."
Lobby
"Honey?" John said, as she paused as she saw him with the Brocks.
Be normal, she thought, be me. The concern is all over his face. He loves me so much. Even now that he knows I'm Cana. "Hi."
John wrapped his arm back around her and pulled her close again. "You okay?"
She snuggled in close to him. I do love him too. The person I became loves him…I won't vanish into the woods. Not the bunker. Not Jonah. "No."
He squeezed her tightly to him. "We know you didn't know and we're involved in this, Honey."
"I'm still that monster's daughter."
"Max," Jimmy said, just watching how shaky she was and how close John was holding her to him. How Max wrapped her arms around his waist and didn't budge from his side. "Morrell has to ask these questions."
She looked at him for a long moment. "If I had known…maybe we could have…all those people wouldn't have died. Did Solomon Whittaker know who I was? Is that why he came to Rome and…I would have never…I'm so sorry."
"He's dead. He can't hurt anyone else."
"Morrell thinks I will. It was all over his face…even after I passed a polygraph. I don't want the kids to know, John. They can't."
"They never will. You took a polygraph?"
And crushed it. Very easy not to be Cana. "Yeah. Can we go home?"
"Max," Jill said, watching her crushed friend. She wouldn't have hurt Kim. She worked that case…even as her pregnancy progressed, she waddled through it, even as they ran off and eloped. "Your father, Solomon, why…didn't he take you? When you were a baby or now?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. They don't know who sold me. I've seen pictures of…my biological mother…I look like her. God, Gracie looks like her. He might have known if he ever saw me…I don't know. I want to think she sold me to save me from him, that because I was a baby I would be harder to find. I don't know. I'm so glad someone sold me and I wasn't…they let me have a life, but I would trade it all in if they never came to Rome, hurt Kim and all those woman and children."
"Do you two want to get dinner?" Jimmy asked, looking at his devastated former deputy and a very concerned former district attorney. "It's been a long time."
"We shouldn't," John said. "Not while this is going on."
Max nodded, as he didn't let her go. "Yeah. We should go."
"Max."
She looked back at Jill. Your daughter brought this on herself. Of course her and Kenny's survived…of the 100's of those kids, it had to be their kids. Gracie and Jacob…down the road they can fall in love and be the couple Kenny and I never did. Master would have enjoyed that. "We should go."
"When this wraps up," John said, focusing on his shattered wife. "Dinner for sure. Come on, Honey."
Littleton House
For my kids, Max thought, as John barbecued and she kicked the ball around with Noah and Anna. All of this for them. Ignore the FBI van in the street. Jimmy and Jill get a second chance with Amy and Jacob. I have a lovely family and wonderful life. Kim got what she deserved. Kenny fed a pack of children for days. If only he loved me before Kim broke his heart and I got pregnant with Gracie. I couldn't leave John then. I had to commit. I am committed to this.
"I want to play, Mom," Gracie said. "You and Anna versus me and Noah. Where is Kara?"
Out with her boyfriend, Max thought, which is making John's blood boil almost as much as the FBI questioning me. His gentle touch, his reassurance, telling me we were a team. "She'll be home later."
"Is she kissing him?"
"Ssh," Max said, breaking into a grin despite herself. "Don't let your dad hear that."
Gracie giggled. "She kissed him on the porch. I saw them last week."
That sweet little girl, Max thought, who I used to color with. Kissing boys. "Are boys still gross?"
"Yes. I don't know why Kara likes him so much."
"Remember that in a few years," she trailed off. The FBI will have other stuff to worry about soon, with their eyes on me. They'll see Maxine Littleton, devoted mother, when the find those bodies. They don't get to hurt us.
The FBI
"Maxine was always a wild card," Andrew Stewart said. "She made my wife very happy, she was a beautiful baby."
"None of your kids knew they were adopted?"
"No one knew they were. Alexandra and Peter still don't…Maxine isn't taking my calls. How is she?"
"Tell me about her."
"She was a wild child. We tried hard to tame her, refine her, but she wanted to follow her own path. Men flocked to her and she always…We're very happy she settled down with John."
"John is a good man."
"I suppose he is. They are devoted to their family."
"Tell me more about Maxine."
"We did everything for her. The best schools. The finest clothes. She traveled the world. She met the most eligible men. She was always stubborn, determined, fought back against us…she wanted to walk her own path."
"Who did you buy her from?"
He fell silent at that. "It was 41 years ago."
"You have immunity. Where did you get Maxine? Who brought her to you?"
Andrew sat back. "Why does it matter now? That madman is dead. While I don't approve of Maxine's choices, she doesn't deserve to have her life ruined by this. She is a very good mother to her children."
"It matters because someone out there ensured she didn't go into that cult."
"This cannot leave this room. It would destroy my wife and family."
Morrell nodded. "Go."
"Tatiana Whittaker was my wife's half cousin. She brought us Maxine and Jonah…but we didn't take Jonah. We couldn't pass him off as ours because he was too old. We gave him away to the broker and brought Maxine home. If her father tracked her down in Rome…she always looked like her. If Solomon, who was a madman…I like to think Tati never told him. We tried to keep her with us, but she wanted to protect her older sons. We tried to protect Maxine, but she was so stubborn and insisted on ging her own way…which worried us. Tati ran off and married Solomon. Maxine wanted to make her own way, and I'm very glad she's happy in her life. John has been very good to and for her."
"You knew Solomon Whittaker?"
"He was insane, even back then. We never thought…Our priority was to protect Maxine. It's why we moved. We wanted to start again. We never saw Tati again. It's why we moved from Wisconsin to Colrado. When Maxine took a job there…we couldn't tell her why we wanted her to stay away. She said the town felt like home…and that chilled us. She looks so much like Tati, he would take one look and know."
"She said she was recruited."
Andrew nodded. "She was. She said she didn't even remember applying to Rome, but she got a call to come in for an interview. I thought she was looking more back east, she went to Brown, and I knew she liked it there. Wisconson…all I could thing was Solomon set it up. That he was bringing her back to him."
"Do you think he did?"
"I think he brought her there. To watch her. Have her close to him. She didn't vanish, he didn't take her like all those other women, but that doesn't mean he wasn't going to. I like to think that she would have fought, Maxine likes to help people…but we didn't have the best relationship and we still don't. I'm grateful she let me into her life, that she and John let us know our grandchildren."
Morrell sat back and studied him. "Why didn't you call the police on Solomon Whittaker?"
"To protect Maxine. We weren't sending her back to him. I know buying babies was illegal. When we bough Alexandra and Peter…Peter's mother was a drug addict and Alexandra's family was going to prison. We saved all three of them. Peter is a doctor and Alex is a chef. They're both married, have families of their own, things none of them would have had if we hadn't. We weren't perfect, I know it was illegal, but those kids got a sexond chance."
"Do you think Maxine met with Solomon?"
Andrew sat back. "No. One thing I know about Maxine is that she always tries to do the right thing. She became a cop to help people, not hurt them."
Littleton House
He wrapped his arms around her. "You good?"
Max leaned back against him. "I think I'm in shock. Sleep helped. I'm okay."
"Who your parents are doesn't define you. You know that. I know who I married."
You don't. You really don't. Smiling up at him. "I know I married the best guy. I don't want…I don't want this to…can it be a blip? I don't want it to change things."
"Max," he said, giving her a long squeeze. "We've been married for 10 years, together for 12 and known each for 14. We've grown and changed together. I love you. You're my wife. We're a team. Nothing can change that."
"Damn it, John," she sighed, wiping her tears. Such a good man. I can't leave him. I can't take our kids and go. It would break him, he would never stop looking for me. I passed the polygraph. He cleared me. I'm fine. I can move on. "I love you too."
"So. Renewing our vows?"
Reaffirming his love for me. If a man like John can love me… "I'm still in for that. Just no ballgown."
He kissed her for along moment. She's okay. "When I kissed the bride last time, Gracie kicked me."
She smiled at him. "I know. I was there. I waddled down the aisle to you."
"You were gorgeous and glowing. And very cute waddling."
"Can we ignore it?" Max asked, not wanting to leave his arms as the doorbell rang. "We can't. I got it this time."
We'll be okay, he thought, we'll get through this. She is pretty shaky.
Max froze, as she opened the door. "Hi, Dad."
"I come in peace, Maxine."
"How much did you pay for me? Or Alexandra and Peter?"
"I spent all day being questioned by the FBI about that. Can I come in?"
"The kids don't know."
He nodded, just looking at her. "Any of it?"
She shook her head. "No. I barely understand it. They don't need this burden. I'm sure they'll be glad to see their grandfather. You are my father, despite everything else. Not…and our kids love you and Mom."
"I need to talk to you too. Where is John?"
I shouldn't have talked Master out of killing him. There couldn't be too many bodies around me. He is a bastard, even if we've made amends somewhat…John smoothed a lot out with us. They surprisingly get along. "He's around."
"Are you going to let me inside?"
She opened the door wider for him, her thoughts spinning. Bought me and I was never good enough. Took me away from my true family. No, John and my kids are my family. The only one I want. My alibis are right here for what is coming. Jonah…Jonah is going to give Morrell something to really work on. "Come in."
Jonah Whittaker
Jonah smiled to himself as he watched Elena's children. Master would want this. To gather his surviving children…Cana told me where to find them. Cana who is preparing her own exit to the our pack. Preparing her children…disposing of her husband. Master's children with their Uncle. It is time. Time to return home. Smiling to himself, he watched them sip their drugged juice. Welcome home, Kids. Cana will be so pleased.
Littleton House
Max fiddled with her wine glass, as her father finished talking. "Wow."
"You told Morrell all of that?" John said. "You knew what he was doing this whole time? You knew he…Did he know Max was his daughter?"
"You look like your mother. You're biological mother. If he saw you…he'd know."
"I got recruited to Rome…Was it him?"
"He's dead, Maxine. He won't hurt anyone again."
"You knew. You could have stopped him. Instead…people died. He kidnapped girls, impregnated them…they lived like animals. And you knew. Don't you dare say it was to protect me, hundreds of kids, dozens of women were…How could you?"
"Honey," John said, feeling how tense she was. "It's okay."
"Solomon was a monster and you knew. I don't want to see you again," she said, standing and looking at him. "I'm going to check on the kids."
"John," Andrew said. "I know she's upset."
"Do you blame her? These past few days…Andrew, you should go. Give Max some time."
Rome
"Zach?" Jill said, looking at her bound 23 year od son on the floor. "Oh, my God, Zach!"
Ripping his gag off as Jimmy undid the ropes, Zach coughed and spit as he sat up. "He took them."
"What?" Jimmy demanded. "Where are Amy and Jacob?"
Zach coughed again. "That man…he looked like one of them. Like Kim did, the rags, tattoos, he took them, he said he was bringing them home."
Jill froze. No, not ever again. Kim's kids, they are supposed to be safe here. Not again. "Where?"
"He said he was bringing them to Cana."
Jimmy looked up at that. Max. No. She wouldn't… "We need to call Morrell. Now."
TBC
