Rachel banged open the door to the Spy Information Center and stormed toward the office in the back, ignoring all the stares being directed at her. Kendle was alive. After all this time she…

Rachel should have known! She should have known and she should have found her. Kendle had lived through hell and Rachel thought she was dead and Rachel had promised that she would save her but she didn’t she should have known she should have known she should have known.

She threw open the door and stalked into the office, glaring at Nick. “Kendle Brooks, where was she taken?” Rachel demanded, slamming her hands down on his desk. Nick gave a startled yelp and jumped back.

“Uh, who?”

“My sister! Where is she!”

“Hey,” came a soft voice from behind her and a gentle hand rested on her arm. Rachel turned and looked at Gloria, Michael and Henry behind her. Gloria’s hand was on her arm and there was a calming look on Michael’s face. “We’ll find her, okay? It’ll just take some time.” Gloria soothed. Rachel took a deep breath and closed her eyes, locking away her rage and fear before turning back to a terrified-looking Nick and smiling at him.

“Hello Nick. Could you please see if you have any information on the location of Kendle Brooks? She was taken from one of our camps during a raid,” Rachel paused, turning to look at Gloria in question.

“A week ago.” She said. Rachel’s anger threatened to break free at that admission. Kendle had been taken a week ago and no one could do anything about it because no one here knew and-

Rachel took a deep breath and cut off that train of thought before she got carried away and flew into a rage.

Nick tapped on his screen and scrolled a few times, his eyes flicking around as he scanned for Kendle’s name. He looked over at Rachel and shook his head. “There’s no information on a ‘Kendle Brooks’ in the database.” He said. Rachel barely restrained a growl.

“Then get someone on it.” She ordered and Nick scrambled to comply. She turned and stalked out of the room, Gloria, Michael, and Henry following quickly behind her. “They had better get information fast.” She snarled once they were out in the empty hallway, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall.

“I hope they do.” Gloria agreed, placing a hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

“In the meantime,” Rachel lifted her head and opened her eyes, smiling at Michael. “Why don’t we get caught up, little brother?” Michael grinned and nodded. “Come one, let’s go to my room.” Rachel grabbed Michael’s hand, who then grabbed Henry’s, who then latched onto Gloria, and started leading them down the twisting halls to her room.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kendle puttered around the house, doing chores and menial tasks simply because she was not ready to think about last night. At all.

Not about the butterflies that filled her stomach or the way her cheeks heated up just thinking about Tyler. Not about how kind he was and how he was the first person to be nice to her in such a long time. Not about how he gave her hope for the future because what if there were others like him out there? Not about how maybe he could get her to the Rebellion and her friends and her sister.

She definitely didn’t think about how she really wanted those arms wrapped around her again.

“Kendle?” She heard Tyler call her name as the front door opened.

“Yes?” She said, popping her head around the corner into the living room.

“Do you want to go to the movies with me?”

Kendle stared, frozen in shock. “Wh-what?” She stammered, silver eyes blown wide as saucers.

“Well, I, uh,” Tyler blushed and ducked his head, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “Well, there’s a movie theatre nearby and they’re showing Once in a Lifetime in an hour and I was wondering if you would want to come see it with me?” He looked up at her carefully and smiled sheepishly.

Kendle herself was still in shock; he was asking her to go to the movies with him? She’d never been the movies before!

Wait, a thought suddenly struck her and she felt herself immediately flush crimson. Is he asking me on a date? She continued to stare at him, mouth now gaping.

“It’s, uh, it’s okay, you don’t have to,” he stammered, clearly taking her silence the wrong way. “Don’t worry about it; forget I ever asked.”

Kendle broke from her stupor and quickly walked toward him placing her hands carefully on his shoulders. “I would love to, Tyler.” She smiled at him when he looked up. “I’m just a little shocked, I guess.” She admitted, pulling away now and blushing deeper as she ducked her head. “I’ve never been to the movies before, and certainly no one’s ever asked me, so,” she shrugged.

Tyler reached out and gently cupped her chin, lifting her head so that she was looking at him.

“Well, I am honored to be the one who gets to change that for you.” He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. Kendle was sure that if she could blush any harder, she would.

Tyler smiled gently at her and Kendle smiled shyly in response.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Maria woke in a cold sweat, panting.

“Maria? Maria, honey, it’s okay, it was just a dream,” Mike said from beside her, propping himself up on an elbow to look at her. “Maria, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, Mike!” She cried, rolling over and burying her head in his chest.

“Maria, sweetie, you’re scaring me.”

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I-I saw him! He-he came and he threatened me again. He said, he said he would have everyone I loved killed if I didn’t-if I didn’t-” she couldn’t finish, she couldn’t say it. Mike rubbed soothing circles into her back.

“Oh, Mar,” he whispered.

“I shouldn’t have ever listened to him! I should have taken everyone and left! I should have taken everyone to the Rebellion! Why did I let him get to me?” She wailed. “I became a horrible person and a despicable mother! Oh, Mike, why did I do it!”

Mike just made comforting sounds on her ear.

“I had them killed! My babies! And I tried to murder our daughter a few weeks ago, and-and I’ve driven away the rest of our children and they all hate me! How could I ever do such a thing, Mike?” She sobbed.

“Hey, at least you regret it. I was so worried for years that I had completely lost you. You became emotionless and it scared me because you weren’t coming back. I’m just glad that you care again.” He nuzzled into her hair, breathing the scent of her shampoo. Maria laughed sadly.

“You always were good at finding silver linings,” she whispered.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Gloria woke with a start, arms tightening around Henry who was curled into her side, and quickly scanned the room. Nothing looked out of place; Rachel was asleep on the bed with a hand dangling over the edge as though reaching for Michael’s who was sleeping on a mat next to the bed. Gloria smiled when she remembered that they had fallen asleep holding hands. Michael looked calm as well; nothing out of place there. She looked down at Henry in her arms. He wasn’t having a nightmare; he was smiling a little, and he was still, only moving to cuddle closer to her.

Gloria eyed the walls, thinking maybe it had just been a bug, or some small rodent, a bat even, that had woken her. But there were no creatures of any kind on the walls. She turned her gaze to the door. It was open.

She could have sworn they had closed it before turning in for the night.

Carefully untangling her and Henry, she crept toward the door, eyes narrowed and muscles tense. Someone had opened the door and she intended to find out who and why. Gloria paused just behind the door, pressed close the wall, and listened for any sounds coming from the corridor outside their room. She heard faint breathing, like someone was trying to remain quite but didn’t quite know what they were doing.

Gloria placed the sound of breathing on the right side of the door and in one quick move, threw open the door, stepped out into the hall, and had the person pinned against the wall with an arm to their throat and a hand clenched in their shirt. She snarled.

“Wait! G, it’s just me! It’s just me!” The person pleaded quickly. Gloria took a moment to actually study the person in front of her and when it finally registered just who she had pinned to the wall, her eyes widened and she stepped back, dropping them quickly.

Her older brother smiled at her. “Hey, G. Long time no see,”

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kendle giggled as Tyler led her out of the theatre, laughing as well. “What an ending!” He said, twirling her around and making Kendle fall into another fit of giggles. “I never saw that coming!”

“Oh, I know!” Kendle laughed. “It was the cat all along!”

They had reached the car and Tyler let go of her hand only to open the door for her and usher her inside. “Milady,” he said, sweeping into a bow and making her giggle again.

“Thank you, oh kind sir,” she replied, slipping into the back seat. Tyler smiled at her and closed the door, walking around to slide in next to her. The driver looked at them in the rearview mirror.

“So, where do you two lovebirds want to go?” He said, smiling at them. Kendle froze. Tyler noticed her discomfort and rushed to the rescue.

“Oh! We’re not dating, just friends.” He said quickly, his cheeks turning crimson.

“Oh, well, my mistake them!” The driver said cheerily. “So, where to?”

Tyler turned to Kendle and placed a hand on her knee. “Kendle?” He said softly.

Lovebirds? Did they really come across as a couple? Oh no, Tyler was going to be so mad when they got back to the house! She wrapped her arms around herself and scooted toward the door, pressing herself against it to get as far away as possible, to hide herself in a corner. If she was small and appeared non-threatening and if she apologized a lot, maybe he wouldn’t hurt her too much.

“Kendle?” Tyler said again, but Kendle didn’t respond. If she kept quiet maybe he’d forgive her. If she said anything now, she’d just make him angrier; he wouldn’t want to deal with this in public. She heard Tyler tell the driver his address and brought her knees to her chest, moving her arms to wrap protectively around her head as she buried her face in her knees.

Lost in her fear of what would happen when they got back to the house, Kendle didn’t notice they had arrived until the door she was leaning against was opened slowly and Tyler was lifting her out of the car. She scrambled to get out of her curled position and stand on her own two feet, walking quickly toward the front door with her head bowed. She heard Tyler pay the driver and watch him drive off before coming to the front door and unlocking it.

Kendle hurried inside and straight to the living room, kneeling on the floor with her back to the door and Tyler behind her. She bowed her head. “I’m sorry, sir.” She said, hating the way her voice trembled. It was only going to get her in more trouble; Master didn’t like it when she cried.

A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder and she could only barely contain her flinch. Master knelt down in front of her and she made sure to keep her eyes averted. “I’m sorry, sir.” She said again, voice soft.

His hand moved to cup her cheek and lift her head so she was forced to look at him.
There were tears in his eyes. “S-sir?” She said hesitantly.

“I’m not mad, Kendle.” Master said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Kendle stared at him with wide, unbelieving eyes. They all said that, they always said that at first. But it never lasted. They always ended up hurting her. “Just get it over with already, please,” she begged, tearing up and damn the consequences, she couldn’t stop them.

“Kendle, I’m not going to hurt you.” Master reaffirmed, his hand moving from her cheek to wrap his arms around her shoulders and pull her close. Kendle tensed, waiting for kisses to start (because if he wasn’t going to beat her than he was going to take that driver’s assumption as grounds to show her just how much he could ‘love’ her).

But nothing happened. Master just sat there and hugged her, he didn’t move to do anything else and Kendle didn’t dare to try and pull away.

“I’ll never hurt you, Kendle,” Master whispered in her ear.

“T-Tyler,” she muttered. This is not Master, she remembered now. She was sold and Tyler Reynolds bought her and he had promised to never hurt her. Tyler pulled away and smiled at her gently keeping his hands on her shoulders.

“Hey, Kendle, do you remember me now?” He said carefully. Kendle nodded. “That’s good, how are you feeling?”

Kendle shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it.

“Okay, you don’t have to say anything. Can I get you anything?” He kept his voice soft, gentle.

Kendle shook her head again; she just wanted to go to sleep. She just wanted her friends and her brother. Oh gods, Gloria and Michael must be so worried about her-

She shook her head, she could feel herself spiraling and she definitely didn’t have enough energy for another panic attack after one as bad as she had just had.

“Do you want me to take you to your room?”

“Yes, please,” Kendle whispered, barely able to get her voice past her throat.

“Okay.” Tyler came over and carefully lifted Kendle off the floor, cradling her in his arms and carrying her to her room and gently depositing her on the bed. “Don’t be afraid to come get me if you need anything, Kendle.” He said and then ducked out the door, leaving her alone in the dark.

Word Count: 2442