- Laf -

The morning after our day at the corn maze, we get a call from the police station on Hercules' phone. Barely awake, I sat at the kitchen table, praying that the news being relayed to Herc was good news. I heard him sigh from the other room where he was talking but couldn't make out what he was saying.

Eventually, he hung up and came back into the kitchen and sat down with me. He took a deep breath and grabbed my hand.

"Listen, please don't freak out when I tell you this, okay? You're safe, first of all." He began. I felt my heart jump in my chest.

"What is it?" I asked him. He met my eyes and explained what was going on.

"The cops went to King's house up in New York and tried to get in but nobody answered the door. They had a search warrant so they were able to get inside and they searched the entire house but he wasn't there. They found out his car was gone too and asked around the neighborhood about him. All his neighbors said that they hadn't seen him come back to the house in a while."

"So he's on the loose now?" I asked breathlessly, looking around me even though I knew he wasn't near me.

"Laf, don't worry about him, okay? I'm here to protect you and if anyone lays so much as a finger on you, it's over for them." He said, moving his thumb back and forth across my hand.

"But what if he hurts you? Or takes both of us? Or breaks in here?" I asked, a million different bad possibilities coming to me all at once.

"I won't let any of that happen. I promise you, okay? Don't worry." He said, squeezing my hand. I nodded and put my head in my free hand, pulling at my hair a little bit. I couldn't believe this.

"And even though he isn't home," Hercules continued. I looked up as he spoke, "they're all still out looking for him. They've got a ton of people on him, so they'll get him in no time." He said. I nodded and sighed deeply, wishing so badly that none of this had ever happened.

"I'm so sorry, Herc. I hate to be putting you through all of this." I said. He shook his head and waved my apology off.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Laf. You're not putting me through anything, I'm more than willing to help you with this as much as I possibly can." He said. I smiled a little and leaned forward, planting a kiss on his lips. He smiled into it and kissed back before we were interrupted by his phone buzzing.

"One sec. We'll come back to this." He laughed, grabbing for his phone. His face fell when he saw the notifications he had received.

"What is it?" I asked. He scrolled through something and opened his mouth, pausing for a second before answering.

"Uh, just some weird messages. Probably like a wrong number or something." He said, turning his phone off and shoving it in his pocket again.

"Oh, okay. You just seemed a little concerned when you got them, so I didn't know if it was bad news or something." I said unsurely. He still looked a little worried and preoccupied with the messages, but I didn't push.

"No, it's all good. Hey, what do you say we make some food and watch a movie for a while? Get our minds off everything." He asked.

"Sure. A little time in your arms couldn't hurt." I said, smiling at him. He pulled me into a hug and we stood there for a moment, taking in the moment.

Before we knew it, we were sitting on the couch with plates on our laps and a bowl of popcorn sitting on the coffee table in front of us, watching who knows what movie. I was tucked under his arm, half asleep while I paid little attention to the TV.

I was nearly off in dreamland when I was jerked awake by Herc's phone buzzing again. He jumped a little, not expecting the buzz and reached to grab it from next to him in the couch.

From where I was laying, I could see that he had received text messages but couldn't make them out. I moved a little and looked up at him.

"Who is it?" I asked. He shifted a little, his expression from earlier resurfacing.

"Just that wrong number again..." He said hesitantly. This was when I started putting two and two together, started realizing.

"That isn't a wrong number, is it? Please be honest." I asked. He took a deep breath and began to speak again.

"Please don't freak out, okay? It's... it's King. He got my number somehow and has been messaging me and I haven't answered or anything. But it's okay, you're fine, alright? There's no need to worry." He said. I sat up straight.

"What is he saying?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. What if he knew where I was? What if he knew everything? The escape, where we were, how we got home. If he has Herc's number, I'm sure he has every other puzzle piece he needs to get back to me.

"Laf, I don't know if it's best for you to..." He began. I shook my head.

"No, no, I need to know. Please?" I asked. He finally surrendered and handed me his phone. I scrolled to the top of the conversation, dated from a few days ago.

Threats, awful messages from King met my eyes as I moved through every message. Every day, multiple times a day, there were spans of him saying he would do all kinds of different things, hurt people, find ways to get me again.

"No." I whispered, continuing to scroll through what felt like an abyss of messages.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't panic, okay?" Herc said, gently taking the phone from me and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Hercules, how can I not panic? These are threats! He can find us and get me and do what he did again! I can't take any more of that, I can't handle anything else!" I said, feeling my voice spill out in a rush. I was barely holding myself together, trying so hard not to go into a full fledged panic attack in front of Hercules.

"I can protect you this time if he tries anything, Laf. I'll stay by your side constantly so he can't hurt you." He said. I shook my head.

"We can't leave. We have to just... stay here, until they get him. Please? Please, can we just stay? I'm afraid he'll get me once we leave." I tell him. He let out a breath.

"Not leave at all? What about groceries, what if we visit Alex and John?" He asked. I shook my head again, feeling my panic grow. What if he made me leave to go with him? Or this became a fight and he kicked me out?

"No, I can't go anywhere and you could get hurt if you do. Can we just wait until they get him, please? Alex and John can come here, someone can deliver groceries, we just can't risk this. Please." I begged, tears pricking my eyes. I tried to hold them back as best as I could, but a few escaped anyway.

"Hey, hey, don't cry! We can stay here, okay? Don't worry, we can stay in." He said, wiping my tears off my face and opening his arms, allowing me to fall into him. His arms engulfed me, wrapping around my body which was thinner now than it was before King had me because he limited my food so much.

"I'm gonna keep you safe. No matter what." He told me, kissing my head. I nodded, ignoring the pit of anxiety in my stomach that was telling me otherwise.

a/n: sorry for the wait on the update, going through a rough patch atm :(