Hi! It's time for some reading:) If you were wondering how Thomas and Juliet were doing, we're back with them. Enjoy!

Chapter 14

The next day started the same way like the previous one. Early in the morning, Thomas and Juliet were woken up by the door being opened. Again, the food team arrived – it was Nick with the gun and Tony with breakfast which surprisingly this time didn't comprise of two cheese sandwiches but only two bananas and of course only one bottle of water.

As soon as Thomas saw that, he reacted in a mocking way. "What? No sandwiches today? You've obviously lowered your standards. I'll make them take back one star from you."

Nick chuckled at his words. "That was really good. Have you ever considered changing your profession? Being a comedian would surely suit you better than working as a PI, stalking people and searching for their dirty secrets."

"You're wrong." Juliet suddenly spoke, making Nick look her way. "Being a PI often means helping people in need, people who are desperate because no one else offered them comfort, help and in many cases hope." She said that without even thinking what she was doing. She knew that probably this man wouldn't understand it but that didn't matter at that time.

Nick seemed surprised at her sudden outburst and he eyed her for a long time before he slowly started clapping his hands.

"Bravo! Wow, that was something. I'm really impressed, Juliet, how much you care for your partner here to defend him like this. Good for you. I hope you'll be happy together when all of this ends." The kidnapper said with a smile and then turned to look at Magnum.

"You must surely be proud of such a partner, huh?"

"Yes, I am. She means everything to me." Thomas replied bravely, staring at the man and not minding talking about that since he and Juliet had admitted their feelings.

Then something in the man's face caught Magnum's eye and he pondered for a second. Was it a glimpse of longing and misery he noticed? No, it can't be true. He thought but then he heard Nick's words which surprised him a lot.

"Yeah, you're really a lucky guy… For a moment there, I was that lucky too." He murmured, his eyes became dreamy and for a few seconds his face softened a little.

Silence fell over the room and when Magnum thought the man wouldn't reveal anything else form his past, he suddenly added. "And all my happiness ended just in a split of a second and there was nothing left… no one left." Nick met his eyes. "Don't let anyone take her away from you, Mr. Magnum." He told him probably having no idea how odd it sounded, considering their situation.

Thomas only nodded his head, still quite in a shock. This whole time Juliet was listening to their strange conversation. When she heard her partner talking about her, she felt a wave of pleasant warmth flooding her whole body from head to toes and her cheeks flushed deeply. Then what Nick said shook her to the core. What he went through evidently left some deep scars on his soul. She wondered what happened. Of course, that piece of information didn't excuse any of his actions in the past days, including their violent kidnapping.

Finally, Nick recovered from his memories and shook his head as if he wanted to shake off all those disturbing thoughts.

"Sorry about that. I didn't want to sound so depressing." He apologized. "Enough about me. I don't want to make you blue." He turned to Magnum. "You wanted to know why your breakfast changed – it turned out someone stock up on not enough food supplies."

"Or someone ate too much of them." Magnum butted in making Nick laugh.

"Fortunately, you don't need to worry about that. I've just told Burt to go and do the groceries." Nick said.

As soon as Thomas heard that, a sudden idea struck him. With Burt out of the picture for the time being, there were only two kidnappers left so if he played it right, there was a slight chance that by attacking one of them, he could get a gun. This could be their only occasion. He knew that he couldn't afford to just miss such opportunity. He wasn't thinking about himself, it was Juliet he was so worried about. They still didn't know anything about that mysterious man who had gone to great lengths in order to bring Higgy here and he had no idea what could happen to her when the boss arrived. Judging by everything that had happened so far, it wouldn't be anything pleasant. So he had to do everything he could to avoid that and make sure his partner got home safely… with or without him. Magnum swallowed hard. He was ready to sacrifice his life if that was necessary.

All these thoughts ran through the PI's mind like a flash. He was brought back to reality when the door closed and he noticed that the two men were gone.

"Thomas, are you all right?" He heard Juliet's voice and felt her gentle touch on his arm.

"Yeah…" He replied and met her eyes. She seemed quite worried and he knew that he had to try to convince her that everything was fine. "I'm okay. Let's eat that marvelous meal." He added.

She giggled. However, deep down she had a strong feeling that what her partner had just said wasn't entirely true. Something was terribly wrong, she could sense it somehow. She wondered why and what Magnum didn't tell her about.

They both sat down and started eating in silence, slowly chewing on every bite of the banana as they wanted to savor as much taste as possible. During this time Thomas managed to form a plan and for obvious reasons he didn't include Higgins in it. He was well aware of the fact that she would definitely want to kill him when she found out about it so he was risking his life either way. Time was running out so he had to act really fast. As soon as he ate, he stood up abruptly and turned to Juliet.

"Higgy, is it going to be all right if I leave you for a few minutes?" Magnum's question took her completely by surprise.

She raised herself from the mattress and approached her partner cautiously. "Magnum, are you sure you're okay? You don't seem to be." She squinted her eyes at him and her voice grew faintly suspicious.

Thomas anticipated Higgins acting like this so he went on with his intention to convince her that everything was as it should be. Thus he tried to act normal or as normal as possible considering their situation. He put on his cheery face and sent her a tiny grin.

"Hey, I told you there's nothing to worry about."

"Really?" She asked still full of doubt.

"Really." He murmured.

He came closer and looked deeply in her eyes. Then he placed his palm on her cheek and gently caressed her soft lips with his thumb. Immediately, this move made Juliet close her eyes and gladly lean into his delicate touch. Magnum was already feeling guilty but he knew that only this way he could lull her into thinking he was okay and thus not put her at risk. For a moment, their lips met in a loving kiss. He wished it lasted longer but time was of the essence and if he was to succeed, he had to act fast.

Reluctantly, he stepped away from her. "Now, just sit down and relax a bit. You can finally have a break from me." He joked, trying to appear loosen up.

A tiny grin flashed through Juliet's face but then she replied with a serious tone of voice. "Magnum, I can assure you that I don't need to have a break from you."

He chuckled at that. "Oh, it's good to hear that. I'll remind you of that when you get tired of me." He told her and guided her down to the mattress.

Then Thomas went to the door and banged quite loudly on it. "Hey! Is anyone there?!" He shouted.

He didn't know when Burt had left this place and how much time was left until he returned.

"Hey!" He tried again. There was no response.

"Where's a kidnapper when you need one?" He asked himself.

He did it once more and this time, after a few seconds, he heard someone's footsteps coming closer. When they stopped on the other side of the door, a young voice spoke. "What is it? Why are you making so much noise?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"I'm not your servant, you know? Why didn't you say so when we brought you breakfast a moment ago?" The voice sounded quite irritated now.

"I couldn't because I didn't feel the need at that time." Magnum replied.

Higgins giggled when she heard those words. That was probably children's most frequent reply and also so typical of her partner. Speaking of the devil, Thomas turned and sent her a condescending look. She could easily tell that he struggled to be serious. She found all of this so amusing but tried to have an innocent look on her face.

Magnum shook his head with a grin and turned back to the door.

"So, are you gonna open it or not?" He asked the man.

For a long moment there was silence on the other side, Tony was evidently considering what he should do and finally, although he didn't say a word, he turned the lock and the door slowly opened.

Magnum smiled to himself, he could check the first point on his plan's checklist. Although he could attack the man right away, he wasn't sure if Nick wasn't somewhere near with the gun so it would be much more wiser to wait until coming back from the bathroom when Tony would be alone and more at ease, not expecting the attack.

So Magnum went on with his plan. He cast one last glance at Juliet before putting on the black bag and leaving the room with Tony. They took the same way to the bathroom however Thomas was deliberately walking as slow as he could, trying to prick his ears to find out whether Nick was somewhere nearby or what's worse whether Burt came back from the shop.

"Hey, keep going!" The young man shouted angrily and roughly shoved the PI in order to make him move quickly.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Magnum responded.

"For someone who seemed to be in such a great need of using the bathroom, you definitely move too slowly." Tony stated, a total disbelief evident in his voice.

"I'm injured thanks to you, guys, remember? So forgive me that I can't walk fast enough." Magnum said sarcastically. He didn't have much time to come up with any idea to dispel the man's suspicion. Of course he didn't mention the fact that he tried to catch his partner and was knocked to the ground which didn't help his sore ribs.

Finally, they reached the place and Thomas came inside, quickly closing the door behind him. He went to the sink and placed his hands on the rim, leaning heavily on it. He looked into the slightly stained mirror and caught sight of his reflection. The man that was staring back at him didn't make a good impression – he was pale, there were dark circles under his eyes and his jaw was still quite swollen after yesterday's events. If he was having a meeting with a client right then, he was more than sure that after seeing the state he was in, that person would never hire him. Even if he offered to work for free. He dropped his gaze for a few moments. Fortunately, that was not the case here. He wasn't going to meet any clients, he was just going to get out and go home.

Home. He smiled at the thought. Yes, Robin's Nest really became his home – that very special place on Earth where he felt he belonged, right beside Juliet and among the Ohana he was now part of. Every day he was so glad he had listened to Nuzo that day and they came here, trying to get a new life on the island.

Magnum raised his head, once again looking at himself in the mirror. This time, he noticed with satisfaction that despite his awful appearance, the look in his eyes indicated great determination and self-assurance. He swore he'd do everything to get out of there with Juliet. He smiled to his reflection and let out a deep breath.

"It's now or never." He whispered.

After a few seconds he reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open. Tony was standing there, waiting for him. He put the black bag on the PI's head immediately and as usual let him go first while he stayed behind him, holding a gun ready to be fired. Once again Thomas listened carefully and when he was sure that they were alone and about halfway through the way back to the room he and Juliet were being held in, he pretended that he stumbled and fell over. Tony had to stop and he wasn't happy about that.

He shouted irritated. "Hey! Get up! I'm not going to spend the whole day with you!"

Magnum stalled for a few seconds, faking his inability to stand up on his own.

"I told you to get up! And remember – no tricks." Tony warned him and since patience wasn't his virtue, he kicked the man lying on the floor, causing a sharp pain in his right leg.

Magnum gritted his teeth and for a moment closed his eyes, trying to block out a wave of pain hitting him with great force. When it subsided a few seconds later, he felt a sudden rush of adrenaline surging through his veins and he knew he had to go ahead with his extremely risky plan.

He sprang to his feet and jumped to Tony in no time. His fast action caught the man by surprise as this was the last thing he expected the injured prisoner would do. Since time was on Thomas' side, he quickly gained advantage. He eagerly seized the opportunity, swung his fist and it connected with the young man's jaw whose eyes grew wide as he let out a cry of pain and lost his grip on the gun, making it fall to the floor. However, it didn't took him long to recover from shock and when Magnum tried to hit him again, he ducked and the PI's fist passed him by in the air.

Tony acted at once and suddenly Thomas felt a powerful punch in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and when his attacker was obviously giving it another go and moving closer to him, he jumped at him, tackling him to the ground. For a long moment they were both struggling, each of them trying to reach the gun which lay near them.

They rolled over and Tony managed to get on top of Magnum, crushing his chest on purpose. And if that wasn't enough, he started to strangle Thomas, tightening his fingers around his neck. Tony gave him a triumphant smile. Magnum's heart almost stopped at the excruciating kind of pain he was experiencing then, he could barely breathe as his chest felt as if it was on fire. He was aware of the fact that if he didn't do anything in the next few seconds, he wouldn't last long. The worst thing for him was that if he was defeated, he wouldn't help Juliet in any way and just as it was almost over and his vision was slowly darkening, Magnum somehow managed to grab the gun and he used it to hit the back of Tony's head. The man got instantly knocked out and fell on Thomas.

The PI pushed the man off, heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He felt so exhausted, every fiber in his body screamed that it needed rest. It was so tempting to just close those heavy eyelids and give in. If it wasn't for his partner's well-being, Magnum may have stayed right there on that dusty floor. But she meant to him more than anything, including his own life. So, just as his eyes started to close, suddenly an image of Juliet came to his mind.

"Higgy." Thomas gasped.

Despite the soreness and total exhaustion, he managed to find the strength to slowly move himself up from the floor. His legs were extremely weak and he feared that they would give out any moment now so he leaned against the wall, placing his hands on the cold, rough surface, hoping he would last.

A few seconds passed and Magnum was aware that he couldn't wait any longer. He had to move now. First, he straightened up and glanced at the floor where Tony still lay unconscious. Then he looked around, checking the poorly lit corridor and hearing out if he didn't have any company. Luckily, the place seemed empty so the next thing he decided to do was to go back to the room and get Juliet out of there.

Of course in order to do that Thomas needed the key to that metal door and he knew that Tony had it somewhere on him so he approached the man and crouching right next to him, he started frantically looking for the thing in his pockets. Fortunately, soon he found the key, grabbed it and sprang to his feet, moving quickly through the corridor, trying to find the way back to his partner.

The route wasn't very complicated so the PI made it in quite a short time. He smiled when he spotted the door. In a minute, he was going to take Juliet out of there and they would leave this place. Suddenly, just as he was about to put the key in the lock, he received a hit on the head and managed to utter one word – "Higgy" – before everything went black and he lost consciousness.

I want to thank all of you for reading this story. I've just finished writing a chapter (not this one) which took me almost a month. Surely it's partly because of my 2 weeks holidays but I started feeling that I'm slowing down. To tell the truth, it's harder for me to write these days. I just hope I'll overcome it somehow. Maybe watching a couple of episodes will help and of course reading your reviews:) I always really appreciate all your thoughts.