Chapter 8:

Steffy and Thomas are sitting at the dinning room table at Thomas' new house with Douglas, Kelly, and Hayes playing a board game. Hayes just sitting on mom's lap playing with a stuffed elephant. Everyone is laughing and having a good time.

"I win!" Kelly yells out in excitement.

"How do you always win at this game?" Douglas says laughing. He then turns to Thomas, "Dad can Kelly and I watch a movie in the theatre room?"

"Of course, just let me know if you need any help setting the movie up." Thomas knows at this point Douglas is way more tech saavy then he could imagine, but he figured he'd offer him the help any way.

"Don't be silly Thomas," Steffy chimes in, "He could probably set the projector up faster than either of us." They all laugh. The kids run off to watch a movie.

Steffy's phone pings alerting her of a text message, "It's Finn, he just got home and is wondering if we're over here."

"Tell him to come on over."

A few minutes later Finn comes in the door. "You guys are not going to believe the day I had." He says as he walks over to give Steffy a kiss. Thomas and Steffy listen in complete shock as Finn explains the Dr. Buckingham story. "I can't believe that monster could snatch children away from grieving parents and traffic them on the black market for DECADES!" Steffy says in horror.

"The police have created a database worldwide now to try to track down these families who thought their children had died. They are using anything that may have stored DNA, criminal databases, frequent blood donors, medical records, ancestry sites." Finn explains.

"That's good," Thomas says, "A lot of people are going to be getting a pleasant surprise, but some people are going to get their hearts broken. A family assuming they are raising a legally adopted child only to have them taken away from them." Thomas looks over at Steffy and gives her hand a little squeeze knowing she knows exactly how that feels.

"Yeah about that," Finn says uncomfortably, "Hope and Liam were at the hospital." Thomas and Steffy both look at Finn with wide eyes. "And it did not seem like they got good news."

Thomas' phone starts to ring. "Hello." Thomas answers.

"Thomas Forrester?" The voice on the other line asks.

"Yes this is Thomas Forrester."

"This is Dr. Jones from the hospital, we need to speak with you urgently."

"Is everything ok? Is anyone hurt?" Thomas asks in a panic. Steffy and Finn hear the urgency in his voice and move closer to Thomas to hear better.

"No one is hurt, but it is an urgent matter."

"Ok, I'll be there shortly." Thomas hangs up and looks at Steffy and Finn, "I have no idea what is going on."

Dani and Karen walk in after a date, laughing. They sense the seriousness in the room and immediately stop laughing. "Is everything ok?" Karen asks.

"The hospital wants to see me for something urgent, they say no one is hurt. But it's concerning."

"Do you think you two can watch the kids, I'd like to go with Thomas for support and I'm assuming Steffy would too." Finn asks.

"Of course," Dani says as she takes Hayes from Steffy, "It's always a pleasure watching these little beauties."

"Just keep us updated." Karen adds. Thomas nods as he, Steffy, and Finn all leave to go to the hospital.