(Maya P.O.V)

Bird chirping woke me and I squinted in the sudden glare. Sitting up, I groaned and put my hand to my head, trying to stop the throbbing pain. I got up off the park bench and began the walk back to my car, needing a good shower. As I walked, the memory of last night came crashing back and I remembered the last thing I'd said to myself.

"I could have saved her." I whispered and that was all it took. Fresh tears began to fall and my knees gave way and I fell to the ground, sobbing.

"Miss, are you okay?" Again a random stranger came up to me. I shook my head.

"I…I…" I looked up at the person, an old lady, and she gasped.

"Oh my god. You need a hospital."

"No, I…"

"Honey, you need help." The lady helped me up and led me over to her car. I was too distraught to think about the danger of getting in and I allowed her to make sure I was comfortable before climbing into the drivers' seat and we drove off. At the hospital, she led me inside and began to talk to one of the nurses. Before long, I was being whisked away to ho knows where. At one point I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I looked horrible, tear stains covered my cheeks and blackening bruises dotted my face. I had huge bags under my eyes as well. Seeing myself like that only led to more tears and it took a while for the doctors to calm me down. When I finally did, they led me to a small interview room.

"Okay, can you tell me your name?" A kind old doctor asked me.

"Maya Bennett."

"Good. And where's home?" the way he was speaking made me feel kind of like a child but I answered anyway.

"Just outside Boston."

"Any family?"

"My husband, Zack Martin. And my two little boys, Jaeden and Reed."

"Do they know you're here?"

"No. Well, they know I'm gone but they don't know where I am."

"What about your parents?"

"I haven't seen them in years."

"Okay, thank-you Mrs. Martin. I just have one more question for you: how long have you been in Richmond?"

"I don't know. Two weeks maybe." I said. He nodded.

"Okay. I'm going to get one of the nurses to help clean you up and then we'll get you a bed to stay for a little while. Those bruises look pretty bad."

"Thank you." The doctor got up and left and I sat in the small room for a while until a young nurse came in.

"Hi Mrs. Martin. I'm Nurse Vicki. Let's go get you cleaned up so we can have a better look at those bruises." I allowed myself to be led away.

(Zack P.O.V)

I was about to leave the house the morning after having dinner at Cody and Bailey's the night before when the phone rang.

"Reed, can you get the phone for me?" I yelled from the nursery. I heard him pick up the receiver and talk to whoever was on the other line.

"Daddy, it's for you!" He called and I rolled my eyes. Of course it was. He appeared in the doorway and handed me the phone which I rested between my ear and shoulder.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mr. Martin?"

"Yes."

"This is Sargent Person from the Boston PD. We have news on your wife."

"Oh my god. Is she okay? Where is she?"

"She's fine. It would be best if you came down to the station to continue the conversation."

"Sure. I've just got to drop my sons off and I'll be there in about an hour."

"We'll be waiting." I hung up the phone, throwing it to the side as I hurried to finish getting Jaeden ready.

"Reed! Get yourself into the garage please!" I yelled. I heard him run through the house towards the garage. Smiling to myself, I grabbed Jaeden's things and my own, rushing down the stairs. In the garage, Reed was waiting patiently by the car and I opened the door for him to get in. Within two minutes, we were in the car and on the road. I used the hands-free phone connection to call mom on the way.

"This is Carey Martin."

"Mom, it's me. I'm on my way to drop Reed off at daycare and I need you to look after Jaeden for a while. The police want me down at the station."

"Have they found Maya?"

"I think so. I'm not sure."

"Do you want me to meet you at the station and I'll take Jaeden from there?" I hadn't thought of that. The station wasn't all that far from the Tipton so it was a good idea.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

"Bye mom." I hung up and turned my attention to Reed.

"You might be getting picked up by Grammy today, okay."

"Okay daddy. Is mommy coming home?"

"I don't know buddy. Maybe."

"Yay!"

"Don't get too excited, okay? I don't know what mommy's doing."

"Yes daddy." I smiled as we pulled into the daycare car park.

"Alright, let's go." Seeing as it wasn't too hot, I left Jaeden in the car as I walked Reed into the centre.

"Good morning Reed. How are you today?" The receptionist asked as we came in.

"I'm good. My mommy's coming home." He told her excitedly. The receptionist raised an eyebrow at me.

"Maybe. We've got some news on her, so I'm heading to the police station now to see what's happening."

"Ah. Well, we'd best get you signed in so your daddy can go." She said to Reed as she handed the sign in book to me and I quickly filled in the details.

"Alright, you be a good boy today and we'll get an ice-cream on the way home, okay?"

"Okay. Bye daddy!" He nodded and ran off to join his friends. As soon as he was completely distracted, I waved goodbye to the receptionist and left, jumping in the car.

"Next stop; the station." I said to Jaeden who just looked at me like I was crazy. I probably was. Once again, I used the hands-free phone, this time to call Cody with an update.

"Dr. Cody Martin speaking, how may I help you?"

"Er, I've got a broken heart, can you fix it for me?" I said

"Hi Zack. What's up?" I could practically see him shaking his head at my joke.

"I'm heading in to the station. I got a call this morning saying that they've got news on Maya. Mom's looking after Jaeden for me."

"Oh my god, that's great. Let us know if you need us to do anything for you."

"Well, I'll find out what I can at the station and call you after."

"Call Bailey. I've got surgery in ten. I'll give her a quick call in a bit to let her know."

"Okay. Thanks bro."

"You're welcome. Good luck."

"You too, with your surgery I mean." I hung up and dialed for the office. After a few rings Josiah answered.

"Josiah, I'm not coming in this morning. I've got news about Maya so I'm heading to the station to find out everything."

"Okay. I'll cancel the meeting and send out an apology. Do you want me to give a reason?"

"Yeah, just say it's a family emergency. Don't give any details."

"Alright will do. Good luck sir."

"Thank you Josiah." I had high hopes for the young secretary. He was going to go places in the office, I would make sure of it. By this time, we had pulled into the car park at the police station and I shut off the engine. Taking a deep breath, I got out and waited for mom to turn up. It wasn't long before she appeared around the corner and she hurried over to us.

"Sorry. Esteban needed help in the lobby."

"That's okay. I've only just got here."

"Oh. Good. Now, where's my grandson?" I rolled my eyes at her but stood aside to let her get Jaeden out of the car.

"Alright. Here's his bag. I'll call you when I finish here."

"Okay. We'll have fun while we can." She tickled Jaeden who giggled.

"Please don't stock him up on sugar." I begged but she just gave me a look that clearly said 'oh really?' and walked off. Had it been any other morning, I would have followed her and begged but I really needed to get inside.

"Hi, I'm looking for Sargent Pearson. I'm Zack Martin." I said to the guy at the front desk. He spoke on the intercom for a bit and I heard a door behind me unlock.

"Mr. Martin. Good to see you. Sargent Pearson." The officer who'd come through the door held out his hand and I shook it.

"Hi, good to see you too." I smiled expectantly.

"Alright, let's get this moving, I have no doubt you want to see your wife as soon as possible."

"You have no idea." I said with a laugh as he led me to an interview room.

"Your wife was found in Richmond, Virginia."

"What?"

"She was turned admitted to the Richmond Hospital early this morning."

"Oh my god, what happened?"

"Apparently she went out and got drunk last night. An old lady found her in a park this morning, sobbing on the ground. When she tried to talk to your wife, she noticed bruising covering her face and convinced her to go to the hospital."

"Bruises? What from."

"They look like physical abuse bruises but they're too fresh to be from domestic violence."

"Wait, you thought I'd been abusing her?"

"Well, in a case like this where the wife runs away and is discovered with bruises, domestic violence is the first thing that comes to mind but closer inspection had indicated that the bruises are fresh. Possibly from last night even."

"I just want to say one thing, you know to set the record straight. The only abuse I would do or ever have done to Maya is not knowing enough about her past to help her."

"I know son. But you have to understand the way it looks from the outside."

"I do. I can't believe it though. Hang on, you said the bruises could be from last night, what does that mean?"

"Well, it could mean that she was in a fight of some kind but they bruises are too symmetrical for a random fight."

"So where did they come from?"

"That, Mr. Martin, is where you come in. We were hoping that you could possibly talk to her and find out what happened. Apparently a psychologist has been talking to her all morning but she's hardly said anything."

"Of course I'll talk to her. But it has to be face-to-face. I want to see her, not talk on the phone."

"We wouldn't think anything else. You'll be flown in to Richmond in an hour. So you can make any plans you need to. For your sons or anything. The police helicopter will be waiting when you're ready."

"Thank-you Sargent." I shook his hand and went out to my car, deciding to grab a coffee before talking to mom. Sitting in the café I pulled out my phone and dialed Bailey.

"Bailey Martin speaking."

"Hey Bailey."

"Oh, hi Zack. How'd it go at the station?"

"They've found her in Richmond, Virginia. She apparently got drunk last night and was found in a park with bruises covering her face."

"Oh my god. Is she okay?"

"She's in the hospital at the moment but she won't tell them anything so they're flying me down in an hour to see if she'll talk to me. You'll never guess what they thought the bruises were from though."

"What?"

"Domestic abuse."

"Seriously? As if."

"I know. And I assured them that I've never laid a hand on her."

"Well—"

"You know what I mean. Anyway, they looked closer and found that the bruises are fresh, like last night fresh so they're thinking maybe she got into some sort of brawl."

"Wow. And to think this all started from a stupid slip of the tongue."

"I know. Look, I just called to ask you a favor."

"Ask away."

"Can you look after the boys tonight for me?"

"Sure. Do you want one of us to come with you though?"

"No. this is something I've got to do myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. Is Reed at daycare?"

"Yeah. And Jaeden's at moms. I'm going to head over there in a bit and get her to drop him at your place."

"Don't get her to do that. I'll get Cody to pick him up after work. He's coming home after this surgery anyway."

"Okay, fine. Are you sure you can do this, I mean, you'll have three new-borns in the house."

"Zack, I've already got two, I don't think adding Jaeden will do any harm. And Kimberlee can have the sleepover with Reed she's been begging for." I laughed.

"Alright then. Thank you so much. I'll see you when I get back."

"Any time Zack. Good luck with Maya." We hung up and I quickly threw back the rest of my coffee before driving back to the Tipton. I headed up to the 23rd floor and knocked on the door to Mom's suite.

"Hey Zack. How'd it go?"

"Great. They've found her in Virginia but she's in the hospital and she's not talking to them so they're flying me down in about half an hour to see if she'll talk to me."

"What's happening with the boys?"

"Bailey's going to p

ick up Reed from daycare this afternoon and Cody's going to pick up Jaeden on his way home from work. They're going to look after the boys for me."

"Aww, I could have done it for you. I did raise you and your brother."

"I know but I thought you probably didn't want a baby and a toddler running around while you're trying to perform tonight. You've had enough performances ruined by Cody and I."

"Whatever you say."

"Alright, I should probably get going. I've got to run home and grab some clothes for Maya. I know she didn't take any with her when she left."

"Okay. Good luck." She hugged me and I waved to Jaeden before rushing back down to the car and driving home. I stood in our wardrobe staring blankly at Maya's clothes, wondering what to take for her. In the end, I grabbed a pair of black jeans, a woolen sweater and a pair of boots, chucking them into a back-pack and running back out the door, making sure it was locked behind me. I rushed back to the police station where Sargent Pearson was waiting.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"I think so. Let's do this." I smiled and he led me up to the roof where a helicopter was already whirring away. We climbed up into the cabin and I slipped on the headset that was handed to me. Slowly the helicopter lifted off the ground and we were on our way to Richmond.

Preview: Zack sees Maya again and she tells him something that shocks him.

A/N: Another hard chapter to write but also a fun one to challenge my own writing skills. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next one: the reunion of Zack and Maya, finally. You have no idea what it's been like to not just make Maya call him… anyway, enjoy guys.