AN: So, as it has been requested that I not post these chapters right before book club so certain people have time to calm down from them, and I am working until 6pm tomorrow, I thought I would update this now. For those interested in Worlds, I will try to do my weekend update for that story tomorrow evening. So, this is going to be a hard chapter. Though not the end of the darkness, this is probably going to be the hardest chapter to read, though 12 might be close behind it.

Elizabeth and Jack were sitting at the dinning room table finishing super, when the front door opened. Concerned, Elizabeth immediately got to her feet. She wasn't expecting anyone and though Rosemary did not usually wait for her to answer the door there was usually a knock. Heading the front hall, Elizabeth gasped and stopped in her tracks when she saw Lucas standing just inside the door, casually taking off his suit jacket.

Before Elizabeth could get over her surprise of seeing her husband standing there, Jack went past her. Putting himself between Elizabeth and Lucas, the little boy stood with his hands on his hips in a defiant stance as he spoke to his stepfather.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked. "Uncle Bill put you in jail."

Not at all threatened by the little boy, Lucas chuckled. "It would seem your Uncle did so erroneously," he said. Elizabeth could hear the bitterness in her husband's words. "Like I said, I did not shoot Nathan," he added smugly.

"Who did?" Elizabeth asked, the question slipping out without any thought. She realized her mistake the moment she had asked the question.

"Asking that is more important than even welcoming me home," Lucas said, his eyes darkening with anger. "I can't even get a welcome home after you did not bother visiting me the whole time I was stuck in a jail cell for no reason."

"Hurting Mama is enough of a reason," Jack responded. "You belong in jail."

The next sound heard was Lucas' open palm striking Jack across the cheek. The boy was so shocked that he did not even cry, though he put a hand to his cheek.

Elizabeth however was angered out of her shock. Maybe her son should not have spoken to Lucas like that but he also did not deserve to be slapped so hard. Lucas hitting her was one thing but she was not going to take him hitting Jack passively.

Moving quickly, Elizabeth stepped in front of Jack.

"That was uncalled for," Elizabeth told Lucas defiantly as she shielded her son from further wrath from his step father.

"Then teach your son manners," Lucas spat back, not an ounce of remorse in his voice or expression.

"He is four," Elizabeth countered. Turning to her son, she spoke softly to him. "Go upstairs to your room please, Jack. I will be there shortly."

Though his hand still covered his cheek, Jack had not cried. Elizabeth figured her son was still in shock of being hit. With an indignant look at Lucas, Jack headed for the steps. With the boy heading upstairs to relative safety, Elizabeth looked back at Lucas.

"How can you hit a child?" Elizabeth asked.

"A little discipline will do him good," Lucas told her.

"There are other ways to discipline a child rather than slap them," Elizabeth told him.

"You indulge that boy too much," Lucas retorted. "Just like when you let him go take Nathan cookies in town. Or was that just an excuse so you could see Nathan? Have the two of you been sleeping together this past week?"

Elizabeth felt as much indignation at that accusation as she did at the fact that Lucas had slapped Jack. It wasn't indignation for herself. She knew what her husband thought of her. She was use to his insults. No, the indignation was for Nathan, who was a truthful and honorable man. To imply that he would let an affair occur even if she had been willing was too much for her to remain silent.

"How can you even suggest that?!" Elizabeth told him. "Nathan is a good, honorable man. You do not have to like him but there is no need to slander him just to inflate your ego."

Lucas reached out and grabbed her wrist then. He pulled her toward him, his other arm encircling her waist and pressing her against his body.

Elizabeth knew that she should enjoy being held by her husband. That the proper way to have reacted to him getting out of jail and coming home would have been to happily embrace Lucas, kiss him and tell him she was glad he was home. She felt none of that though. In fact, there was a piece of her that did not like the fact that he was home. Life had been less tension filled with Lucas in jail. Jack had been happier. Even now, part of her wanted to fight to get free of Lucas' hold on her. Experience told her though that resistance would only make things worse in the long run.

"I think I will let you do that," Lucas told her in a low voice before pressing his lips against hers.

Elizabeth forced herself to kiss him back. She tried to convince him that she felt the same way he did about her in the hopes that what she knew was coming would go easier. However, even as she kissed her husband there was no surge of good feelings welling up within her. No longing for this activity to be drawn out. Instead, there was only dread at what would come next. Perhaps if she did not resist, it would all be over with quickly.

"You are my wife," Lucas told her, breaking their kiss and glaring into her eyes. There was no love and compassion there, only smoldering anger and jealousy. Jealousy toward a man who had been nothing but respectful for Elizabeth's choice despite his own heartache. "A wife should have at least visited her husband in jail. She should have believed in his innocence, especially when he was innocent."

"I am sorry," Elizabeth said, knowing that it was the only safe thing to say. She was thankful that the locket was still safely with Rosemary given the accusations.

"Instead of being sorry, perhaps you should just fulfill the desires I have been denied for the past two weeks," Lucas told her, one had still firmly gripped her left wrist as his left arm encircled her waist.

Elizabeth simply nodded. What else was there to do? Willing or not, Lucas would have his way. What was the point of fighting?

"Just let me make sure Jack is all right and occupied in his room," Elizabeth said, the words more of a plea than anything else. Her son had been through enough already. She just wanted to make sure he was all right and stayed safely in his room. She did not want anything else happening to Jack.

"He will be fine," Lucas said instead.

Letting his hand around her waist drop, Lucas headed for the steps. Still holding her by the wrist, Lucas pulled her along after him. Elizabeth went, knowing that she could not break free from her husband's grip. At the top of the stairs she spotted Jack standing in the doorway of his room.

"Just go play with your toys, Jack," Elizabeth instructed, struggling to keep her voice from wavering. "I will come tuck you into bed later," she promised, knowing that no matter how much this session left her hurting that she would go to her son.

Lucas did not pause as he continued to lead her toward their bedroom. They hadn't gone far when Jack came up to Lucas and his tiny fists started hitting the man's thighs. Lucas did stop then.

"Leave Mama alone," Jack told him. "Stop hurting her."

With the hand not holding her wrist, Lucas reached down and shoved the little boy away. Jack fell backwards, toward the banister lining the balcony across the front hallway. The dull thud as Jack's forehead hit the wooden spindle went right to Elisabeth's heart and sounded louder than it truly was.

"Jack!" Elizabeth said, trying then to pull away from Lucas' grasp.

"He'll be fine," Lucas replied, maintaining his hold on her wrist as Elizabeth attempted to pull free. He then wrapped his other arm around her, pinning her right arm against her side as he pulled her away from the spot.

Seeing Jack slowly trying to get to his feet caused a surge of energy in Elizabeth. Her little boy was hurt! She needed to get to him.

Without thought of her husband's reaction, Elizabeth stomped on Lucas' foot. His surprise and pain at the action caused him to loosen his grip enough that Elizabeth could pull herself out of his grasp. Elizabeth started to her son who was on his feet and rubbing his head where it had hit the spindle.

Before she reached him though, Elizabeth felt Lucas' arms wrap around her. "No, no, no, no, no," Elizabeth cried out, fighting to break free again.

"If you keep fighting, I will take Jack downstairs and lock him in the cellar before I deal with you," Lucas hissed in her ear.

Elizabeth felt deflated. She did not want Jack locked in the dark cellar alone. Going limp in Lucas's arm she called out to her son. "Just go to your room and wait, Jack," Elizabeth called soothingly to her son, trying to keep the desperation she felt inside from being heard. Her calm words were the only way she had to soothe her son right then.

"Leave Mama, alone," Jack said again, even as Lucas drug Elizabeth to their bedroom.

Elizabeth's last view of her son before Lucas slammed the bedroom door shut, was of Jack hurrying toward the door, eyes glistening with tears. Keeping one arm wrapped around her, he reached out to lock the door. With Jack on the other side of the door and out of immediate reach, Elizabeth managed to turn in Lucas' grasp so that she could bang her fists on his chest.

"How could you do that to a child?" Elizabeth cried at him.

In response, Lucas grabbed both of her wrists in his to keep her from hitting him. "Teach your son better manners," he said calmly, just as if he was discussing nothing more trivial than a sunny day.

With her wrists grasped in his hands, Lucas maneuvered them both toward the dresser. Standing beside the dresser, he released her one hand and opened the top drawer. As Lucas looked in the drawer, Elizabeth used her free hand to try to push herself free of her husband's grasp. Outside the door she could now hear Jack's tearful calls of "Mama" as he pounded on the door. She wanted to go to her son. She wanted to comfort him and tell him that everything would be alright even if it was a lie she did not believe herself.

Pulling out a couple of Elizabeth's scarves, Lucas commented, "I am growing weary of being hit," he said casually.

Elizabeth let out a sob. This was not love but perhaps it was what she deserved giving how she had hurt Ally. She still remembered the girl ripping up the invitation she had made and running from the school house. Nathan's expression when she told him she had simply been looking for Jack in him was etched in her mind. She had hurt them both. Perhaps this life that she ended up with was penitence for that.

A punishment that she had brought her son along with her for.

With that realization, Elizabeth let the sobs come freely and gave up putting up any resistence. She could still hear her son's scared pleas and they tore at her heart as Lucas maneuvered her over to the bed. As he forced her down, she thought perhaps now that she was not resisting, Lucas would just have his way with her as he usually did. However, as he straddled her thighs as she lay on the bed, her sobs the only movement, Lucas wrapped a scarf around her wrists and bound them tightly. Using another scarf, he looped it through the one binding her hands and then lifted her arms above her head, securing the second scarf to a spindle on the headboard.

As her husband moved her skirt out of the way and removed her undergarments, the only thing that registered for Elizabeth was the silence. Jack was no longer pounding on the door. He was no longer calling out to her.

Even as Lucas began to roughly touch her, Elizabeth hoped Jack had gone to his room. She hoped that he would be safe there even as she accepted her own fate. Perhaps she even deserved this. Perhaps this was punishment for how she had treated others lately. Her punishment for being a terrible mother.

Elizabeth cried out as Lucas forcefully entered her though the physical pain was nothing compared to the pain in her heart as she remembered Jack falling and hitting his head. It may have been Lucas that had pushed the child but it was still her fault. It was her choice that had put Jack into this position in the first place.

Perhaps her son would be better off without her.

Nathan held the lantern as he and Ally walked from the Weise's row home to their new home. Ellen had asked him and Ally to stay for dinner when they had walked Opal home. Ally had accepted for them before Nathan could even formulate an answer, though he did not mind. Not having to cook that evening was appealing to him. He was more unsettled about the memories suddenly coming back than he cared to admit. It wasn't so much recalling what happened, but knowing that his memories would set Lucas free. The man might not have shot him but he was far from innocent, Nathan had no doubt of that.

What he couldn't figure out was why Spurlock would want to shoot him? He had no doubt that Bill and Gabriel would figure that out and let him know when they did though.

"Dad!"

Ally's concerned call, accompanied with a tug on his arm brought Nathan out of his thoughts. Looking over at Ally, he saw that his daughter was pointing at a point ahead of them. Letting his gaze go in the direction she was pointing, Nathan saw a small figure walking along the edge of the path. The soft sniffles told Nathan that the child was crying.

"Stay here," Nathan instructed Ally, not wanting both of them approaching to spook the clearly upset and possibly scared child. Turning back toward the figure, Nathan took slow steps forward. "Hey, there. Are you lost?" Nathan asked in a soft voice.

The child stopped walking and looked up. As the lantern light reached the child, Nathan saw that it was Jack. The fact that he was out here alone sent an icy feeling of fear take hold. Where was Elizabeth? Was she hurt? It wasn't like her to let Jack wander too far on his own.

Jack took a step back from him, fear clear on his face. What was also clear to Nathan was the discoloration on the boy's left cheek and his forehead.

"It's all right, Jack. It is, Nathan," he told the boy, stopping his forward momentum. Instead of walking to the boy, Nathan knelt down, the motion awkward with his right arm still in the sling. He placed the lantern on the path as he reached out toward Jack. "Can you come to me?"

As if realizing who he was, Jack suddenly said, "Nathan" and rushed toward him. The boy threw his arms around him, crying harder as Nathan wrapped his arm around the boy.

"It is all right, Jack," Nathan told the boy. "You are safe."

Nathan simply held the boy close for a few minutes. When Jack's sobs seemed to calm down a little, he loosened his hold and looked down at the boy. At this distance Nathan could see that the mark on the boy's cheek had the shape of a hand.

"Who hit you, Jack?" Nathan asked, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. He did not want to chance the boy thinking that he was angry with him.

"Lucas hit me," Jack said, the boy looking up at him. "He is hurting Mama again."

Nathan felt his heart clench at the term again. It was the confirmation to his suspicions. The suspicions that he had hoped were wrong.

The boy's admission was all Nathan needed to know he had to act. Even if Elizabeth would not speak against her husband that was no longer needed. The marks on Jack and the boy's admission were enough to charge Lucas with child abuse. That was all that he and Bill had been waiting for - evidence against Lucas. It just saddened Nathan to think that Jack had to go through this for them to get their proof.

Nathan met the boy's gaze. "I will help your Mama," he promised the boy, before looking back at Ally.

"Ally," Nathan began, the girl movie closer at the sound of her name. "I want you to take Jack to the Coulter's. They will make sure he gets whatever attention he needs. I also want you to get a hold of Gabe and Judge Avery. Tell them about us finding Jack and tell them that I am going over to the Bouchard residence. I want them to meet me there."

"But Dad, your arm . . ." Ally began.

Nathan shook his head, cutting her off. "It is almost healed. I will be fine. Do what I asked, all right?"

Ally nodded. "Yes, sir," she said.

Nathan looked down at the boy still holding on to him. "Jack, I want you to go with, Ally. She will take you some place safe."

"You help, Mama?" Jack asked, looking up at Nathan with glistening eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"I will help your, Mama," Nathan promised again.

Jack nodded and let go of Nathan. The boy then took a hold of the hand that Ally was holding out to him.

"Take the lantern, Ally," Nathan instructed.

Ally followed the instruction, picking up the lantern before leaning in and placing a kiss on Nathan's cheek. "Be careful," she instructed before leading the child away. As they had passed the road leading to the Coulter's new home, Ally started walking back the way they had come.

Nathan watched the kids go for a moment before getting to his feet. He then headed in the direction Jack had been walking from. Though he did not quite run, not wanting to trip over something in the dark, Nathan covered the distance with quick long strides. Reaching the fork in the road, Nathan took the branch that would lead him out to the Bouchard home instead of to his own home.

By the time the big house came into view, Nathan was breathing hard. He didn't pause however as he crossed the yard. There was a light on in a downstairs window as well as one of the upstairs windows. The fact that he had not seen or heard anyone looking for Jack told him that Elizabeth either did not know he was missing or was not able to look for her son. Neither scenario sat well with Nathan.

Reaching the front door, Nathan did not bother knocking. Grasping the door knob, he found in unlocked.

"Who's there?" Lucas called out as Nathan entered the front hall.

"Where is Elizabeth, Lucas?" Nathan asked as Lucas stepped into the hallway, a glass with an amber liquid in it in his hand. Lucas looked a bit ruffled in appearance rather than his usual tidy appearance. Though still around his neck, his cravat had been loosened.

"I do not see how that is any of your business," Lucas replied tersely as he set his glass on the table next to the phone.

"It is my business because I just found Jack wandering along the road. His cheek bore a mark that was created by a hand, Lucas and Jack said you hit him."

"Kids say all kinds of things," Lucas said, trying to sound indifferent but Nathan could see he was becoming uneasy.

"I think the marks on Jack and the kid's testimony would be enough to convince the judge it was the truth. Both Constable Kinslow and Bill should be on their way. You are going back to jail, Lucas."

"Get out of my house," Lucas demanded.

"You will have to make me," Nathan told him, as he stood in front of the front door, blocking Lucas' exit through that door.

"My pleasure," Lucas said, stepping forward.

Nathan slipped his arm out of the sling as Lucas came toward him. With both arms free, he easily blocked the punch that Lucas threw in his direction. Though he knew he could detain the main without hitting him, Nathan's anger fueled his actions and he threw his own punch. He would not deny the sense of satisfaction as his knuckles made contact with Lucas' chin, snapping the man's head back. Given the marks he had seen on Jack, Nathan felt no remorse even as he advanced on Lucas. While the man was dazed from the punch, Nathan grabbed Lucas' one arm, twisted it behind him and then pinned the man against the banister of the stairs.

Though his shoulder was aching from the sudden activity, Nathan pushed the feeling aside as he reached out for Lucas' cravat. In the absence of his hand cuffs, Nathan planned on using the cloth item to detain Lucas.

"Lucas Bouchard, you are under arrest for child abuse," Nathan told him, tying Lucas hands behind his back. He heard Lucas give a hiss of pain as he cinched the knot tightly.

The fact that Elizabeth still had not made an appearance worried him. Looking around, Nathan tried to figure out what he could do with Lucas to make sure the man did not try running before back up arrived. Eyeing the spindles of the stairs, Nathan slipped the dangling sling over his head. Using it, he slipped it through the loops formed with the cravat and then tied the sling securely around a wooden spindle.

"You will pay for this, Nathan," Lucas spat out at him, his face red with anger now.

Nathan did not bother with a reply as he headed up the staircase in search of Elizabeth.