"Hey, Kim…look at me," Tommy said as she struggled against him and he desperately tried to keep her hands from pulling out some tube that she needed. He recognized the fear in the body language and knew that the adrenaline from the hit was dumping into her, the fight that she hadn't been able to have was here now. "Beautiful, I'm here. You're okay. You're safe."
"Did you…did you get him? Is he back?" Kim forced out as the nurses crashed into the room and started to prepare various sedatives to knock her back out. She tried to focus on Tommy, but jerked against what felt like restraints, desperately trying to get to him. She knew that Tommy would be able to get their boy back. "Tommy- is he okay?"
"Baby, you're pulling on a lot of stuff that you still need," Tommy tried to get through to her as she just shook her head and locked eyes with him. She needed to hear that Ollie was safe. She needed to know that her baby was okay. "Can you not? This is the fourth time you've drugged her and she comes up like this every time. Just give me a little bit longer to try to calm her down."
"If she pulls out any of those drains we'll have to," Tabitha stated and Tommy nodded that he understood as he doubled his grip on her wrists and they watched as she locked eyes with him.
"Where is my baby?" Kim asked as Tommy let out a sigh and she then let out a scream. Tommy hadn't gone after their son. He was here, with her, instead of searching for Ollie. "Why are you here? Why aren't you trying to find him? Where is he?"
"I know where he is, it's going to take some time," Tommy whispered as she just shook her head as the tears streamed down her face. "I can't explain right now, but I will as soon as I can."
"Save him, Tommy. Save him," Kim forced out as she closed her eyes and passed back out. Tommy looked across the room at Adam and he quickly walked out of the room. This was the fourth day she had woken with a scream, begging for Tommy to save their child. He had told her the same thing every day and he hated the choice that he was now being forced to make. Stay with his wife or respect her wishes and try to get their son back.
"Zach's on his way. I know you want to stay with her, but…" Adam trailed off as Tommy just nodded. It was time that he concentrated on figuring out if he could get to Ollie and break him out of what Hayley had done to him. He just wanted to be able to tell her that he was trying. "They'll be glad to have you home at night."
"Who said anything about me going home tonight? That's when this place is the most vulnerable. No, I'll still sleep here, but I am going to go home in the morning and start taking a look at the surveillance that's been done," Tommy said as Adam stared at him and he let out a long sigh. "I need to be here, but I also need to be there. If I could split myself in two right now, I would, but I can't. So nights are going to be here and days are going to be there. They haven't gone after the littles and I don't think that they will."
"It would hurt the both of you," Adam said as Tommy stared at him and he gulped. He physically was not able to protect everyone he loved adequately and it was killing him. Protecting his wife meant that he was leaving the rest of their family vulnerable and she would kill him if anything happened to their children. "Tommy, what do you need?"
"Nothing that any of you can give me," Tommy said as there was a knock at the door and he looked up to see Billy standing there. "Unless you have some sort of good news- it is going to have to wait until tomorrow."
"Ollie ran into Jason and was perfectly friendly with him. Honestly acted like nothing had happened. It's targeted Tommy, that means that maybe we can get to him," Billy said as Tommy gave him a look. "Jason tried to ask him to come have dinner with them, but he mentioned he needed to get back home…to his mom."
"I'm going to kill her," Tommy muttered as Adam and Billy exchanged a glance. Tommy had taken out thousands of monsters in his lifetime, but this was the first time he had seriously talked about hurting another human. "Give me another option that keeps them all safe and I'll consider it."
"I don't have one," Billy admitted as Tommy stood up and started preparing his cot for the night. Adam and Billy exchanged a glance as they both stepped out of the room. The entire Oliver family was suffering right now and the patriarch was taking it the hardest.
"You look like steam rolled shit," Janice said as she met Tommy on the front porch and then gave her son a hug. "How is she?"
"She woke up for a bit last night, screaming for Ollie and demanding to know why I was with her and not looking for him," Tommy said as he pulled away from her and just shook his head. He missed his wife, but he couldn't dwell on that anymore right now. He had to focus on their children just as much as he had been focusing on her now. "Mom- I don't know how much more I can stretch myself…"
"She's still not fully back when she wakes up, right?" Janice asked as Tommy nodded, but he didn't see how this was supposed to comfort him. He took a good look at her and realized that his mom was not going for comfort right now. She was giving him the pep talk that he needed to stay in this for his family. "You have four children and a wife to take care of right now. The littles are fine. Ollie, while what Hayley has done is horrible, also seems fine. Kim had brain surgery so that she didn't die. She'll understand once she really comes back to herself. Now go shower and shave. They're going to want to see you."
"Thanks, Mom. I don't know what I would…" Tommy trailed off as he scrubbed his face and she gave him another hug. He let himself lose it as she held him and the tears finally came. He had cried a bit on the first night, but had mostly held it together since then. He hadn't felt that he could afford to break down with anyone else until now.
"Oh Tommy. I know that you'll figure it out and I know this is hard," Janice whispered as the sobs tore out of him and he tried to hold them back, but now that the dam had burst he was going to cry until he was spent. "Let it out. I didn't realize that you'd held it in this long."
"I can't lose her," Tommy whispered as Janice nodded. She knew how much that fear had plagued Tommy over the years and this had to be up there on the worst ways that it could possibly happen.
"You're not going to. C'mon, let's get you a shower," Janice mumbled as Tommy released her, but she kept one arm around him. It had been a long time since Tommy had needed her like this and she now realized that she never wanted him to need her this way again because of what it meant he had lost. She thought Tommy had suffered for the years that they were apart, but this was worse. "I'm going to get them up and ready for school, do you think you can have breakfast with them?"
"I'll try," Tommy said as he stood at the door of his bedroom and he shook his head before heading for the basement shower. He couldn't bring himself to go into their room right now, this was the first time he'd really been home since this had happened and it was just too much.
"I'll bring down some clothes for you," Janice said as he barely nodded in acknowledgment. "Oh, please let me help him find a way to do this."
"Dad!" Landon yelled as Tommy emerged from the basement, towel drying his hair and wearing a pair of shorts. He didn't feel like he had enough energy to put in much more effort, but he knew his kids needed him. Landon threw his arms around him and he then felt two other pairs of arms clutching to him as well. "Is Mom better?"
"She's starting to wake up some, but it's going to be a long time before we're home," Tommy said as Landon looked at him and nodded. He then heard Opal's cries and he squatted down to where she could grip him around the neck and he used one of his arms to pull Sean in as well as he caught a glance of his tear stained face. "I'm going to try to come home more. Mom is giving me a hard time about that."
"I mith Ollie," Opal cried and Tommy squeezed his eyes shut. The littles might have had a consistent adult with them, but they were suffering in ways he hadn't thought about. Their mom and older brother had disappeared on the same day and they could not tell them what had really happened to Ollie. He wasn't even really sure what they had told him about Ollie.
"I know and I'm going to see what I can do to get Ollie back too," Tommy said as they just clung to him and he let out a long breath. He looked at the three of them and saw the stress in their little bodies as well. He needed to make things better for them. "How about everyone stays home today?"
"Really?" Sean piped up as Tommy nodded. He knew that the kids had been going to school and otherwise going on like life was normal, but he didn't want them to have to try to do that today. Today, he wanted to give them time with their dad. "We get to stay with you?"
"Yeah, unless you want to go to school," Tommy said as he looked up at Landon and he just shook his head as he wiggled into Tommy's arms as well. "Looks like Nana has made us all breakfast- why don't we eat and then we can have a movie day."
"Frozen!" Opal yelled as Landon and Sean groaned, but Tommy knew that they would humor her with watching that movie first and then they'd probably beg for Kung Fu Panda.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Janice asked as Tommy just nodded. He would have plenty of time to check on Ollie's surveillance while he was here and to start making a plan, at the very least he could spend the morning with the littles. It might spread him a bit thinner, but they desperately needed him and he was going to have to start showing up for them too.