Iliana laid in bed facing the wall. She was formulating all types of plans in her head to get away from the man yet the situation seemed so surreal. She was kidnapped by a man who she thought was dead and he had an unhealthy obsession with her mother. “My own mother… Man is old enough to be my father and thinks I’m my mother?” She asked herself out loud as she slowly sat up as she said that out loud and it just made her hate him even more

She flopped back on her pillow, now laying on her back, she brought hands to her face and let out a groan. “He killed her though, it makes no sense.” She muttered into her hands and slapped her hands to her sides. She was so baffled. “When I was in Europe, he used to come around just to taunt how easy it was to kill me. That’s crazy.”

Outside, gravel crunched under the weight of the tires and that made the woman grow silent. He was back. She stood up and walked to the window just to listen. She could hear his annoyed muttering as he stepped out the car, slamming doors. “Stupid, insufferable child. Just wouldn’t shut up-” He mumbled as he walked to the door, grabbing his keys.

Iliana raised a brow out of concern. Her first thought was that he harmed a child. Quite honestly, she didn’t put it past him. She had vague memories of her and his son, whose name she couldn’t remember for the life of her, used to be terrified of Caractacus. Hell he even killed her twin brothers and tried to murder her.

She heard him locking the multiple locks on the front door and then the His keys rattled outside her door and she moved to sit back on the bed and kept her eyes trained on the door. He opened the door and looked at her with clenched jaws and in his arms seemed to be something bundled in blankets. Her eyes traveled to it and she side eyed him. “What’s in the blankets?” She asked.

“Why don’t you come over and see.” He responded, not moving an inch. She slowly crawled off the bed and stood up, walking towards the man. She was met with a familiar smell. It was a certain type of cologne that Anton used. One that she bought him for his birthday and then the smell of baby powder. She stood up on her tiptoes to see what he was holding and he lowered himself a bit and she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

She felt dizzy as she stumbled back a bit, but she quickly regained her composure and quickly took the baby out of his arms and held him close to her. He seemed to be sleeping, his little cheeks and eyes looked puffy from crying. She teared up and looked at the man. “Wh-why would you do this?” She asked softly as she stepped away from him and towards the bed to look him over to see if he was hurt.
“You said that you wanted your baby, so I brought him to you. Aren’t you happy?” He asked with that same weird smile that sent a chill up her spine. She didn’t respond. She just checked her baby over and stroked his little cheek. “Evangeline? I asked aren’t you happy?” He reached over to tuck her hair behind her ear and stroked her cheek.

He definitely wasn’t himself at the moment. Iliana knew that one wrong answer meant harm to her or her baby. As much as she wanted to slap and fight back at the moment, she couldn’t. She took a deep breath and looked at him, plastering a smile on her face and nodded. “Thank you so much, Cas. I’m very happy. I get to be with my baby again.” She grinned and looked down at Zach who snored softly.

Caractacus smiled and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad. Maybe he’ll be a better son than Liam.” He nodded and reached over to touch the baby but he scrunched up his nose in his sleep and whined a bit which made the man pull his hand back and glare at him slightly. 

“Liam?” She asked as she looked up at him and she was hit with a wave of nostalgia. “Liam is the name of your son?” She asked and Cas raised a brow with an amused smile.

“Yes, don’t tell me you forgot about him. You two were inseparable. Napped together, stole snacks together. Hell that locket around your neck is a symbol of you guy’s bond.” He pointed to it. She looked at the locket that had “I+L” engraved with swirly writing on the front of it. It was a simple heart shaped locket made of silver and more of the same swirl like designs covered the piece of jewelry.

She opened it. One side was empty and the other was of two toddlers. Their backs were to the camera but the girl, presumably her, had her head resting on his shoulder. The boy had one arm around her and in his other was an ice cream cone.

~*~

“Now where did they go?” Eva muttered as she waddled around the house looking for the two toddlers. She could hear their giggles but she didn’t know where they were coming from.

“Eva, you should be off your feet and let the men find them.” A woman smiled. She had platinum blonde hair and pretty green eyes and a sweet smile. She placed a hand on Evangeline’s arm and rubbed it.

“Estella is right, love. You’re carrying twins. You need to be a bit more careful. Leave it to Caractacus and I, right Caca?” He nudged the man playfully who shot him a small glare. There was still great tension between the two but Alexander constantly brushed it off. More like the man resented Alexander but hid it well enough so Eva wouldn’t condemn him. He was still in love with her and Alexander knew that and chose every waking moment to subtly antagonize him because of it.

Caractacus stepped away from him slightly and nodded. “Yea.” Was his simple response. Eva turned to face them and the man’s eyes looked at her with longing and she made brief eye contact with him and smiled softly and he smiled back. Alexander took this as his chance to flaunt that Eva was his and only his and kissed her cheek then rubbed her belly which made Caractacus look away.

“We’ll find the babies and we’ll be ready for lunch.” Alexander smiled at his wife and she merely nodded and looked away. He sighed not liking her response and pulled away from her and walked to the kitchen. “Now where are you two?” He called out to them which made Iliana giggle and Liam shushed her quite loudly.

Cas stood in the kitchen entryway with a small smile. He always enjoyed the children’s antics. To him they were quite adorable. “I hope you’re not hiding in the cupboard.” Alexander opened it but the tots weren’t there. “No? Are you guys getting better at hiding?” He asked as he opened another cupboard and closed it.

He walked towards the sink where he heard their giggling the most. He heard Liam trying to shush her. He slowly knelt down and grabbed the knobs on the cabinet under the kitchen sink and opened it. “BOO!”

They both squealed and he grabbed them by the middle and gently pulled them out. Liam was a small boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes like his father and a cute round face and chubby cheeks. Iliana was a beautiful little toddler who looked like a little doll with the same eyes as her mother, she had unruly wavy light brown hair and a round chubby face. She wiggled herself from her dad’s grip and tried to make a run for it but Caractacus had scooped her up.

“Now where are you going young lady?” He asked as he held her up under her arms and she wore a little pout on her face as she tried to kick her legs to get free. “Let me go, Untle Tas!” She shouted. “Not until you say my name right.” He smiled as he held her in his arms. Her jaw dropped and she gave him her most offended look ever. “I did say your name wight!” She exclaimed.

“No, you said my name with a ‘t’ not a ‘c’.” He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and puffed out her cheeks. “I’m thwee. What you esspect?” She held up two fingers to show that she was three which made the man stare at her then laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll cut you some slack.” He chuckled as he held her in his arms.

She giggled and Caractacus looked over to see Alexander roughhousing with the small boy. Liam had Alex in a playful chokehold and Alex was pretending that he was losing. “Get ‘im, LiLi!” Iliana cheered for him. Alex eventually stopped playfully fighting back and then he played dead.

“Oh no! You killed him!” Caractacus gasped. Liam stepped back and looked at him and then he pouted. “Oh no.” He looked at his dad then at Alex and sniffled. Iliana wriggled to the ground and toddled over to her father and started to cry. “Dada wate up!” She shook him. Alex was trying not to laugh and Caractacus looked away to hold in his laugh but the longer Alex played dead, the more the babies cried and he hopped up. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Stop crying. I’m okay.” He chuckled as he hugged them both but they weren’t having it.

Caractacus walked to the freezer and grabbed two ice cream bars. “Who wants ice cream?” He asked as he held it out to them. The two toddlers instantly stopped crying and ran over to snatch up their treats and ran from them and out the back door to the garden.

“Were those the babies with ice cream?!” Eva shouted as she stood in the kitchen entrance with her hands on her waist with a peeved look.

“He did it!” Caractacus pointed at Alex and Alex pointed at Caractacus. Eva rolled her eyes. “You both are so irritating I swear-” She grumbled, muttering a few curses in Spanish as she waddled away.

Alex chuckled and looked out the kitchen window at the tots. “Aren’t they adorable?” He asked with a small smile as he watched Liam help Iliana sit down on the grass then sat next to her.

“Hm?” Cas asked as he walked over to look at him. “The little ones. They’re adorable together.” Alexander said softly. Caractacus looked out the window as well to see Iliana wipe the ice cream off of Liam’s face then rest her head on his shoulder then he wrapped an arm around her. The two tots seemed to be having a conversation of their own and it made him smile. “Yea, it’s adorable. I bet Estella is taking pictures now.” He chuckled. Liam looked down at Iliana and kissed the top of her head and then looked ahead. “Very adorable.”

~*~

“How is Liam?” Iliana asked softly as she looked up at him. Then the man looked at her with a raised brow and a look of slight annoyance. “Why do you want to know?” He asked.

“You said we were friends once upon a time. Wouldn’t it be natural to ask about him?” She asked as she looked at Zach who started to stir a bit and she stroked his cheek. She then looked up at him and then the man looked back at her.

“He’s fine. Doing his own thing.” He said dismissively and then sat on the bed and looked at the baby. “Still think of him as a disappointment.” He said casually.

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. She didn’t want to press the situation more and she watched how he stared at the baby. She was curious about Liam now. She wondered how he was doing, if he was happy or not. Caractacus reached out to touch the baby but she instinctively turned away from him and he aggressively shoved her.

“Let me see my son-” He glared at her. She slowly turned her head to look at him and she glared back. “He’s not your son.” She said in a low voice. This was one line that he was not allowed to cross. He could go as far as changing her name and he could go as far as coming up with some twisted fantasy but one thing she wouldn’t tolerate is him involving her child into this madness. She thought he would be safe but the man had snatched him up.

The man stood up and she held her arm protectively over her baby. “What did you just say to me, you ungrateful bitch?” He slapped her. She held her cheek and the baby woke up and started to cry.

She stood up and slapped him back and he looked at her with a look of disbelief. “I SAID HE’S NOT YOUR SON!” She shouted back while breathing heavily. “This is the one line that you will not cross! He’s not your son! He will never be your son!” She pointed at him and the baby was crying at the top of his lungs.

He lunged for her and she ducked out of the way and moved around him and headed towards the door. “ILIANA!” He bellowed, chasing after her. She heard his thunderous footsteps behind her.
Iliana She ran into the adjacent room and slammed the door instantly, causing the man to run into it with a loud thud and she locked the door.
“OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR!” He shouted as he jiggled the handle, banging on the door.
It was a small office area, unkempt by the looks of it. A thin layer of dust covered every inch of it. It was dimly lit. She tried to remain calm as the man tried to burst his way in. She dragged the chair to the door and jammed the top of it under the knob and then started to push the desk towards the door. It was a small thing, not too heavy for her. “ILIANA! OPEN THIS DOOR!” He started to kick it.

The woman kissed her baby on the head and hurried to the window and tore back the curtains to find the window unboarded. She turned the latch on the middle of it to the left. She used her free hand to try and lift the window, but it seemed jammed. She had to use her other hand, but she was holding her baby. She looked around and looked at the linen curtain that lay on the ground beside her and picked it up, shaking it from the rod and held the baby close to herself and made a makeshift sling.

“ILIANA!” He shouted and kicked the door again, causing the door to splinter. She knew she had to hurry, she felt her heart race and her breathing quickened as she put both hands at the base of the window and tried to push it up, wiggling it a bit, causing the window to slide up slightly.

“Come on, come on!” She whispered frantically as she tried again, her feet were slipping on the hardwood floor and her face turned red because of how much effort she was putting into it. She stood upright to rebalance herself and did one more good push and the window slid up with a large groan against the frame.

She looked down, there was a bush at the bottom and behind the house was a heavily wooded area. She held Zach’s head and looked back at the door as the handle fell to the ground with a loud clatter and the man had half his body through the door. He looked beyond livid. His face was red and his hair and clothes were disheveled. Beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead and his breathing was heavy. “Iliana. Don’t you dare…” He pointed at her.

She looked back down at the ground and at the man and started to climb out the window. He quickly flung the chair out of the way and pushed the table and lunged for her to grab her before she threw her leg over, but she had already jumped. “SHIT!” He slapped his hands on the window sill.