A/N: Hi this chapter is dedicated to the presentation that I should have been putting together when it was written. It was my get away from the stress and anxiety of actually putting it together. I've actually gotten past the stress and anxiety and am now in the delusional stage. Like have I have a house that basically being held together with scotch tape and diluted glue and I'm just like, no it'll be good, it's gonna be good, but...fuck it. The presentation has to be presented right. Okay now I'm gonna stop talking about it because my anxiety about it is coming back. Hope you guys enjoy and leave reviews. I do like detailed reviews so if you have something super specific or picky to say please, be my guest LOL.

The car was silent as they drove to the restaurant. It had been a long afternoon. It had only been a few hours but it seemed like years. Every second that their baby was in the clutches of evil in human form was a second too long.

After Olivia had called him, he'd rushed over to her apartment just to make sure Rowan wasn't screwing with her to prove a point. He hadn't been. Lauren was asleep on the couch and Adeline was nowhere to be found. He'd initially thought Lauren was dead, but he'd double checked her and felt a slow, weak pulse and shallow breathing, the effects from the drugs they'd injected her with. He'd positioned her on the couch to stent her airway opened and called Huck to come and sit with her, to watch her and make sure that she didn't succumb to the obviously huge amount of whatever they'd injected her with. It would still be a few more hours before she'd be rousable, and he needed to find his daughter.

He had been about to head out of the apartment when Olivia walked in the door in a hurried manner, though she seemed a little out of it. He'd made sure that she was okay before he'd informed her that he was headed out to track down Rowan. Surprisingly she'd stopped him. Actually, begged him not to. Her reasoning being that she had called her father back and he had threatened to disappear and not show up with the child at dinner that night if they were 'disobedient' and did not follow his instructions. This of course had gotten Jake's blood bubbling even more, but he could tell Olivia was a breath away from a panic attack, and he'd never seen her like this before. So he'd played by the rules. He was confident that he could track down Rowan before he could leave town with or do whatever he planned to do with the child, but he wasn't confident enough to risk never seeing his daughter again and having her mother being crushed under the weight of that. The stakes were too high.

He could barely keep his eyes on the road. Worrying about what they would find once they got to the restaurant. He'd assured her that all they needed to do was set sights on the daughter again. If they could accomplish that, they would definitely get her back. Because he'd kill Rowan before he let him walk out of his sights with his daughter. She'd only nodded, letting him know that she'd be okay with that plan. But still, he was concerned. She wasn't herself. He watched her as she stared out of the front window of the car, seemingly registering nothing that she saw. He watched still as a loan tear rolled down her left cheek, but she made no move to wipe it away. She'd been like this on and off all evening, and there was nothing he could do about it, except for getting Adeline back into her arms and he planned on doing just that.

He guessed he'd been in a bit of a fog as well, as he hadn't even noticed the hand that had reached up to wipe the tear away until after she turned to look at him. A look of surprise on her face as if he'd called her back to reality as well. He stared at her, his thumb gently caressing her face where the tear had once been. "You okay?"

A moment passed before she replied by nodding. She looked down before she spoke, "I will be. I just need to see her." Right now, she was on the same wavelength as him, even though she knew she looked a mess on the outside. She literally wanted to murder her father with her bare hands, and she wanted it to be long and painful. But those vengeful thoughts kept being interrupted by the thought that she might not ever see the child she'd carried and given birth to, ever again. The little girl she'd been trying to teach to say, Mommy and associated with her after she'd learned the syllable of Da and sang it constantly at random times throughout the day. She hadn't succeeding in getting the child to accomplish the task exactly the way she'd wanted it, but at least when someone else would mention the word Mommy to the child, she'd turn her little big head searching the room until she spotted her mother, then she would give a smile showing her two bottom teeth and the two top ones that were trying to break through. She was going to get her daughter back, by any means necessary.

It wasn't long before they were valeting the car and walking into the restaurant. The place as always was full. It was a great tourist and locals a like. It was really close to the white house, it had a really great environment, it was still pretty fancy but still family friendly, and the food was good. Though neither of their stomachs would allow food to touch it right now. The place, as always was packed. And after giving the hostess the last name of the party they were hoping to meet, they were being led through the crowded restaurant.

"There you are," the hostess said as she stopped and motioned into one of the room she had led them too. The room itself was full, but not as rambunctious as the bar and areas closer to the main entrance. Her breath finally came to her since entering the restaurant and her hot leapt when she finally laid eyes on the little girl who was standing in the older man's lap as the couple next to them showered her with attention and adoration. Thought none of that seemed to be keeping the child's attention. The Evil played nice with them, smiling and holding light conversation, but the baby seemed more concerned with the lights and the different people that were moving about around her as she chewed on her fingers. Being her mother, Olivia's first thoughts wanted to if she'd been fed recently and what other tortures she may have faced throughout the day.

All of those negative thoughts went away when the baby happened to look their way and made eye contact. Her little hand immediately fell from her mouth as a grin broke out across her face as she did her little happy dance, bending her knees and bouncing up and down. It wasn't long before she was babbling and squealing and trying to get out of the clutches of, unbeknownst to her, her kidnapper. Olivia smiled at the display, but that smile was quickly wiped away as the child's actions drew Rowan's attention to them as well.

Rowan turned to see his daughter and his work son as they started to make their way towards him and his granddaughter. He wouldn't lie, the look Olivia gave him briefly caused his blood to run cold, but this only brought a smile to his face. Finally, he had found something to bring out in her what his daughter had been trying to conceal and deny all along. He was proud, but would she continue to follow through with the lesson he was trying to teach her or would she go back to being a spoiled little brat. He doubted that she would, seeing that he had possession of the bargaining chip.

He sat the baby down on his knee as she kept trying to walk out of his lap towards her parents and she seemed to settle a little bit. She was surprisingly a well-behaved baby, at least he thought seeing how bratty both her parents were. She was busy as hell, and smart, and persistent, but he could appreciate that. He hoped to nurture that into what her parents had failed to become.

The baby reached out as Olivia took her seat next to him and she instinctively reached out for the baby, but Rowan just moved her to his other knee, letting the baby know that she wasn't going to be held by her mother just yet. She seemed to be okay with it for now as he slid a spoon into her little hand and she began to wave it around in the air.

"Give her to me," she said through gritted teeth.

Rowan just laughed evilly. That was until he felt the familiar feeling of metal being pressed into a part of his body, particularly his abdomen. "Give her to Olivia."

There was a stare off for a few seconds. "You're not going to shoot me," he spat confidently. "I can assure you that."

That was when Jake saw a red flash in his eye that caught his attention and drew it to Olivia. He looked down and saw the red dot centered on her chest. She noticed it to as the confidence in his stare faltered. She looked down at her chest as that was where his eyes were transfixed. Her mouth fell open as she looked back up at him, a look of fear on her face.

Adeline babbled something to her new spoon toy, drawing her mother's attention back to her. A look of resolve overcame her. "Shoot him," she said looking back at Jake.

"Do you really want him to do that?," Rowan asked, a smirk pulling at his face. This time his eyes shifted to Jake's chest drawing Olivia's attention to the red dot that was currently sitting there. Jake noticed it too, but didn't really care about the dot directed at him, though Olivia did grow less confident.

"You are not walking out of this restaurant with my daughter AND your life," he informed him. "I WILL kill you.

Rowan laughed again. And that was when they both saw it. Adeline blinked rapidly and turned her head slightly, trying to get rid of the nuisance before her eyes dropped to her chest. She dropped the spoon and she immediately tried to grab at the new toy she'd found. The red dot centered on her little chest.

Olivia gasped and tears immediately sprang to her eyes at seeing her daughter trying to capture the aim of the snipper's riffle that rested on her body, the complete innocence of the child being shown in her actions. She felt like someone had ripped a hole in her chest and was now squeezing her heart and lungs, she couldn't breathe, and she felt like at any moment the organs were going to be ripped from her body.

The only sign that Jake showed was his jaw twitching as his finger flexed on the trigger, but he knew he couldn't take the risk of squeezing it. Not with that fucker outside aiming a gun at his daughter. He made a silent vow to himself to find the agents who'd had anything to do with his daughter's kidnapping, or the current riffle situation and personally show them the price of their actions.

Rowan seemed pleased with the earned silence at his table. He subtly waved his hand and the red dots disappeared. "Now that I have your attention, I would like to make it very clear what my terms are go…" he was cut off, and he immediately began trying to clutch at the child that he now felt being lifted off of his lap. But he couldn't be too obvious. They were still in a public setting and he wasn't really one for making a scene and drawing attention to himself. Though he did want to blow up the entire restaurant with everyone in it when he heard the voice of the person who had just stolen the baby back from him.

"Oh sweetie," Maya cooed as she lifted Adeline to her hip. "You are just the most beautiful baby to every grace this earth. Why on earth are you parents letting this idiot put his filthy paws all over you and your pretty little dress, γιαγιά will never understand," she smiled at the baby, while Rowan tried to murder her with his glare. .

Adeline seemed impressed by the new person at the table as she smiled babbled back at the woman. Olivia's stomach knotted a little more, and she didn't really know how else to respond. Adeline was out of her father's clutches, but she didn't necessarily trust her mother either.

"Yes, you agree with me don't you," she smiled at the baby. Adeline responded by babbling some more.

Jake continued to look at Rowan, his gun pressed into his stomach. He didn't see Maya as being as much of a threat as Rowan was. She hadn't necessarily given him a reason to.

"You want to go back to your Mommy?" she stated ignoring Rowan as she walked around him and closer to Olivia. Adeline responded as usual but looking at Olivia. She even flapped one of her little arms to let the woman know that yes, she agreed with whatever she'd just said about her mother. The old man was nice enough, but he was a bit boring.

Rowan tried to reach for the child but Maya stepped between his and Olivia's chair and turned her back to him blocking the child, while simultaneously turning to give him a threatening stare. She rolled her eyes at him, then she kissed the baby's forehead before lowering her down into her mother's waiting arms. She stroked the baby's hair and smiled as Olivia held her to her chest and kissed her cheek, closing her eyes as she took in the baby's scent again. "Hi, baby," she said stroking Olivia's hair, but she was too caught up in the baby to acknowledge the fact that her mother had literally just given her her baby back.

She then turned to acknowledge her ex-husband. "Hello Eli," she said with a vindictive smile. He didn't answer

"Lil boy," she said, acknowledging Jake, as she took the free seat at the table.

He really didn't care as a small smile graced his face at seeing the look of defeat and out doneness on Rowan's face. He packed his gun away inconspicuously as it seemed it was no match for the damage that Maya Lewis. Or Marie Wallace, or whoever she went by at the current time.

"You should leave," he rumbled, turning to Olivia and drawing everyone's attention. Her eyes opened and she stared at him, questioning his comment. They had their baby back now. Neither of them needed to sacrifice themselves to get her back. Yes, she still wanted her father dead for ever daring to try to take her daughter away, but they were either doing this together or not at all.

Maya not being in the mood for the extra sentimentality that was about to occur, spoke, "You should both leave." This time, all eyes turned to her, as Adeline stood in her mother's lap and began trying to crawl out of it to gain her freedom and wreak havoc on her surroundings. She looked at Olivia, "Go on," she encouraged. "Get my baby out of here. She doesn't need to be here for what's about to happen…and take your little friend with you."

"Jake," Olivia said, her tone letting him know that she was completely content with letting her mother handle this. The woman was ruthless and she was pretty sure she'd be satisfied with whichever decisions she made regarding her father.

"Don't you dare move," Rowan growled. "Either of you."

"Or what?" Maya asked, leaning back slightly in her chair. "You gonna put your little snippers on them?" He just glared at her, and she continued. "What was that little hand motion you did?" she mocked him, making her own hand motion and suddenly a red dot reappeared, only this time it was plastered on Rowan's chest.

Fear immediately overtook his face, and Jake smiled as he had never genuinely seen the man this afraid. Maya just sat one hand on the table and rested the other arm across the back of her chair as she turned to Rowan and crossed her legs, the little black dressing showing some of her thigh as she gave him a look that read, 'Check Mate'.

Olivia and Jake both sensing that this was really their time to make their break if they were going to keep their daughter and each other out of harm's way, both started to stand. They knew they were in no danger of walking out now. Rowan's snipers were clearly dead or severely incapacitated.

They had made it to the exit of the area they had been sitting in, hearing the older couple beginning to bicker behind them, when three police officers by-passed them, heading in the direction they'd just come from. They didn't stop until they heard one of the officers speak, "Elijah Pope?" They both stopped in their tracks and turned around to see Maya grabbing her clutch and standing as well, wanting to get away from the situation.

They continued to watch as the scene continued to unfold. Him confirming that he was indeed Elijah Pope, and the officers, in return, informing him that he was under arrest for embezzlement, earning him every set of eyes that were within ear shot. Olivia watched as a look of frustration and anger came over her father's face, but he did not fight it. A smile similar to her mother's slowly came to her face as she adjusted the baby in her arms and turned again to walk out of the restaurant. Jake followed without a word.

They were standing out front waiting for their car when they saw the police lead Rowan outside and into the back of a squad car and drive off with him.

"I still would have preferred that she'd kill him," he said quietly to Olivia as placed a hand on Olivia's waist, drawing her close enough to place a kiss upon Adeline's head. "Hi, baby."

"I'd preferred to kill him too," they both turned in surprised as they heard Maya's voice, "but I was forced to work with the government. Thankfully I was able to get my guys up on those buildings."

Olivia was torn as she stared at her mother trying to figure out why the hell she was still there. The woman blew in the wind and disappeared in the blink of an eye. On the one hand, she was afraid of her. She was more of a wild card than her father. On the other hand, she wanted to run up to her and hug her for actually being somewhat of a mother when she most needed her to.

"What do you want?" were the words that slipped ungracefully from her mouth. She hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh and disconnected, but she couldn't help it. All she wanted was to take her baby home, lock her door, and shower her with kisses and cuddles until she fell asleep and then she'd watch her sleep.

Maya gave her a look that made her feel like an eight year old that had accidently answered her mother with a 'what?' instead of a 'yes ma'am'. Maya relented when she saw that Olivia had gotten the message.

"Well what I'd like is a ride and a place to lay my head for the night," she said in a tone that let them know she wasn't impressed with their ungratefulness. She rolled her eyes at both of them before turning her eyes to Adeline who was now staring at the lady standing in the valet line behind them who had way too much make up on. She smiled, "I'd also like to spend a little more time with my grandbaby. God knows she isn't being watched properly."

Olivia looked at Jake skeptically, then back at her mother, contemplating her request.

He was staring at her, he realized. He'd initially knew that he was but then he just became mesmerized, but the fact that she was staring at the door more intensely than he was staring at her. This is what had started the whole thing. Her staring at the locked door that her mother occupied the other side of, moving about the condo as if she'd lived there, or at least visited frequently. And Olivia had been staring at the door as if at any moment a serial killer was going to kick it down and come after them with a chain saw. This was why he had originally started staring at her, waiting for her to notice so he could point out the fact that she was being unnecessarily paranoid. If anything she should have felt safer with her mother in the house. He thought the woman had proven tonight that she was on her daughters and her granddaughters side and there wasn't much if anything, that she wouldn't do for them.

Adeline sneezed in her mother's arms and then turned her head so that she was facing her father. Her little eyes blinked tiredly before the rolled into the back of her head again. He smiled as the child had finally fallen asleep after fighting it off for close to an hour, clearly excited by the fact that she would get to fall asleep in her parents' bed tonight. Olivia had initially gotten up to walk her around the bedroom when she started getting fussy from fighting her sleep, but had somehow ended up in front of the door after hearing her mother drop something on the other side. He looked back down at Adeline and smiled as she sighed and settled back in against her mother's chest. This had been the second reason he had been staring at her. Watching her pace back and forth, cuddling their daughter as she intermittently swayed back and forth rocking the child to sleep, he realized that one of his goals had been accomplished. A goal he thought had been a dream and that he had been chasing, he thought pointlessly, since he was in his late twenties. But here he was, even with the scare tonight he still believed in his ability to protect this dream of his, as he knew if Maya hadn't come along, Rowan would definitely be dead and he probably would too. But his daughter and the woman that he loved would be free of the man's evil reign, and in that, he would have found peace in his death.

Olivia turned her head suddenly, breaking from the spell the door had put her under but only for a short second before she turned right back to the door. She must have realized he was staring because she did a double take, he forehead wrinkling as if she was annoyed. She looked him up and down before voicing an agitated, "What?" He was staring at her. She knew he thought she was being ridiculous, but she also thought that he was being ridiculous as he was too comfortable with her mother being there.

"You know you're being insane right now," he told her nonchalantly, knowing he was setting himself for an argument.

She turned to him and walked over to the bed as if she needed to be closer to him to make her point. "My father, just kidnapped our daughter," she spat at him.

"And your mother just walked up to him, took her back from him and handed her over to you," he told her, making his own point. "One of those people are behind bars right now the other is getting ready for bed on the other side of that door.

Olivia began stalking over to him, as menacingly as she could without waking the sleeping baby in her arms and began whisper yelling at him. "Do not do that. Do not take her side in this just because she's the only one that can put my father in his place," she told him.

"I'm not," he started to explain. "That is not why I'm," he took a breath. He did appreciate and respect the fact that Maya was the only person that he'd met so far that could get a definitive one up on Rowan and walk away with her life while simultaneously threatening his. But the one thing he had noticed about Olivia before finding the woman the first time was that when she did speak about her mother, it was manner that implied that she'd loved her mother and that they had actually been close and had a healthy relationship. Even after finding the woman, she still spoke of the times before with fondness. Sure, there was that whole time in the middle when the of everything that they'd been separated because of Maya's life decisions, and honestly, he couldn't explain or excuse that. But as far as he knew the woman had never done anything with the intent of hurting her daughter, so he had no reason to think that she would start now. "All I'm saying is, what's changed between before your mother disappeared?"

"What's changed?" she asked as if she was offended and he was the stupidest thing walking the earth.

"I didn't mean it like that," he tried to explain but it was too late. Her fuse was lit.

"I will tell what has changed. She's killed a whole lot of fucking people," she yelled at him.

"Well she was doing that before," he pointed out to her. "And so have I." Her facial expression changed. She was becoming even angrier. "And so has Huck and whole lot of other people you know. You can't just pick and choose when people do things that don't necessarily go a long with your moral compass, giving them passes when it suites you. Hell, you do a lot of things yourself…"

She cut him off, "Don't you dare." She'd unintentionally yelled causing Adeline to startle awake.

"Don't I dare what?" he challenged. "Point out your hypocrite tendencies."

She was gonna answer but now Adeline was crying and there was a knock coming from her bedroom door.

"Fucking asshole," she mumbled, as she went to answer the door.

"Yeah, well you must like hanging out with assholes then because you sure haven't put in any effort to kick me out of your bed," he finished and she gave him a look that reeked of promises of attempted murder as soon as she sent her mother away.

She opened the door and before she could say anything, Maya spoke. "I don't know what the hell you two are doing in here but if you are going to continue you to do it, you better do it quietly or get the hell away from this child while you do it."

Okay, now she was offended. This was her home, and she had graciously allowed her mother to stay the night. She was not going to allow her to waltz in and take over and disrespect her. "Excuse me?"

"Your excused," Maya said unbothered by the attitude she directed at her. "But I know I didn't stutter. Yall keep yelling with that baby right there and I'm going to come in here and beat both your asses. Act like yall don't have any damn sense," she finished as she turned to leave.

"This is my home and my child," she spat out, causing Maya to turn around surprised. "I've gotten this far without your input on how to take care of her, I think I continue to manage without your help. So if you want to continue to be a guest here, I suggest your mind your business and stay out of what I do with my child." With that the door was slammed and locked again, leaving the older woman on the other side staring at the door.

"What!" she turned and spat at Jake.

He held his hands up in the air indicating he had given up on his side of their fight.

He didn't want to fight with her because he saw the tears she was fighting back. Now he better understood what her deal was with her mother. Granted he could understand it before seeing as how her mother's actions had resulted in her inadvertently abandoning her daughter, but he'd just gotten a little more insight into the complicated woman standing in front of him. She was still trying to heal that young girl inside of her that had lost her mother.

He watched as she turned away from him and silently walked into the bathroom, taking the baby who had not settled down since her pacifier was now tucked back into her mouth with her and closing the door behind them. He felt horrible for her and he himself felt helpless. He'd once told her he wanted to help her to not be so sad but it seemed there were some parts of her sadness that he might not ever be able to reach.

"What are you doing?" she heard as she started to come into consciousness. "Stop. You're attacking me for my food." She heard some babbling and felt some movement next to her. "Are you kidding me?" Her eyes popped open because clearly she was missing something. She saw the back of her daughter's chubby little legs and diaper covered bottom as she used her father's arm to pull herself up into a standing position. "Your eyes literally just popped open five seconds ago and you're trying to take my food."

She surveyed the scene a little further and saw that Jake was sitting in bed next to her eating yogurt and Adeline was currently climbing his body trying to get a taste. He was trying to fend her off as best she could while simultaneously holding on to his food. He gave an exaggerated sigh as she reached her little hand out to stick it into the yogurt but he stopped her and gave in bringing a spoonful of yogurt to her little lips that had been smacking the entire time she wasn't arguing back at her father. She eagerly opened her mouth and accepted the offering.

"Why are you eating in bed?" she asked drowsily, causing Adeline to run slightly to seek her out. She reached out one of her little hands towards her but refused to leave her food source.

"Because," he started, "your mother told me to get out of her face, and she's in the kitchen making actually breakfast." He turned to her. "You think we should eat it or do you think she's trying to poison us and by us I mean me."

She rolled onto her back, a little happy that he actually had this concern because it served the point she'd been trying to make. "I don't know she's your best friend. You wanted her here if she kills you well, you asked for it."

He just stared at her a moment with a stoic look before replying, "You know what, I'm not going to let you pull me into your negativity today." She rolled her eyes and looked up at him." "I'm just trying to help you to foster a relationship with your mother, if I'm the bad guy for that then so be it."

"You're not the bad guy. You're the naive guy that should know better. And I just wish you would be on my side on this."

"I am on your side," he said shrugging his shoulder and realizing that he was actually being reeled into that argument he was trying to avoid. "I'm with whatever you decide to do. YOU wanted her here. YOU made the decision to let her get into your car and allowed her inside of your apartment. I'm just trying to support the decisions YOU made. You let her in, there's no sense in being paranoid about her being here now. You made your decision, own it," he finished placing another spoonful of yogurt into Addy's mouth.

"Oh shut up," she told him. "You're trying to get me to get all cozy with my mother when every time I even mention your mother you shut down."

"That's different, and I'd actually prefer not to talk about it," he said truthfully and also just to antagonize her about her point.

"Who's the hypocrite now?" she asked.

"Still," he was cut off by a splash of yogurt to the face as Adeline sneezed right into his face with a mouth full of yogurt. He froze, surprised by what had happened. Olivia initially made a shocked faced but soon started laughing uncontrollably as the baby just stared at him as if wondering why he'd put the yogurt all over his face.

"I'm pretty sure there's snot in there somewhere," she said through her laughing, knowing that they'd received their daughter back with a runny nose.

"Sure tastes like it," he said, causing her skin to flush a bright red as she dove even deeper into her fit of laughter.

He used his shirt to wipe his face clean of the yogurt and mucous and felt the baby's weight being lifted off of his arm. "That's what you get for being a smart ass. Come here baby," Olivia said as she sat up and place a kiss on the baby's cheek. She proceeded to rise from the bed. "Let's go see what we can find you to eat. We don't want to hang out with boys that have snot on their faces," she started laughing again as she exited the room.

"Very funny," he called after her, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He got up and changed shirts before making his way out of the room behind them, hoping that this wouldn't be his last meal.

A/N: So I will make corrections at a later time, as always. Also for people reading my TWD fic I do have most of the next chapter written, I've actually had it for a long time but thanks to my BETA, and I really mean I would like to thank her, I have to change and add a few things. She pointed out some glaring shortcomings which I knew was there but I'm bad about wanting to get a chapter out and not keeping things up to par. So she checked me and made me check myself and actually admit to myself that that wasn't the chapter I wanted to put out with for that fic. It needed work, it wasn't ready and I was trying to put it out. This is what I feel like I'm doing with this story so again if anyone wants to BETA me for this, inbox me. Leave reviews, let me know what you thought.