"...no permanent damage..."

"...didn't hit the femoral artery. Once he wakes up, we'll check if his head injury did any..."

"...be on crutches up to two to four weeks. I know the police want him in protective custody with them, so once he wakes up, we'll see how he's doing then. If his head injury did anything with his memory or he's dizzy or has any symptoms of something we didn't see in the MRI and CT scans, then we'll keep him here for a little while longer. We'll just have to wait and see until he wakes up," I hear a soft, feminine voice say. My ears had been going in-and-out for awhile and I've heard many voices, but this one felt much more professional than the rest.

Along with my hearing coming back, so were all the feelings in my body. There was a mask covering my nose and mouth that made breathing much easier, but it was starting to become annoying because I could breathe just fine without it. My left thigh felt numb and like it wasn't even attached to my body anymore. But besides that, I felt no pain. I was just tired and annoyed because I could feel a bunch of wires and other things sticking to my body. My chest was practically covered in things that made my anxiety start to get higher.

After a few tries, I was able to get my eyes open. The light in the room wasn't as bright as I thought it would be. In front of the hospital bed I was currently laying in was a woman wearing a white lab coat and scrubs while talking to my family. My parents were listening intently to what the woman was saying while Kadri and Ximena sat in chairs right behind them, holding each other. They looked very nervous while they also listened to what the doctor was saying. Next to Ximena stood Aria, whose face was red and puffy with a worried expression.

I let my eyes drift down to look at me. My lower half was covered in a thin blanket, but I could see that my left thigh was wrapped with something that made it look bulky underneath the blanket. I could see a bunch of machines to the left of me, all with wires that connected with my body. I noticed that there were square things sticking to my chest with different colored wires attached to them. There was something in my arm, which I assumed was an IV because that was basically the only thing I knew about hospitals. They love poking you with needles. On my finger was this thing encasing it that made it feel heavy.

And once I look at all these things attached to me, I look around the room for a specific little boy that I just want to hold right now. But he was nowhere to be found. He wasn't with Kadri or my parents or even with Aria. He was nowhere to be found... "I know the police want him in protective custody with them" is brought back to me. Does that mean I'm in danger? Does that mean Beckett wasn't caught? ...Did that mean Kai was with him?

Before I could even think on that thought anymore, my right hand reaches over to my left one and I pull the thing off my finger. It hits the ground with a loud noise that gains the attention of everyone in the room. I don't pay any attention to them as I reach up and pull the mask off of my face. When the band brushes against the back of my head, it makes me wince slightly, but it wasn't too much pain that I couldn't handle.

"Levi," my mom says, rushing over to me along with everyone else. She reaches down to grab one of my hands, but I just pull it away before reaching my hand to my chest to start pulling the sticky things off my chest. I scratch at my skin, letting my nails bite against my chest as I try to scrape these sticky things off of me.

"No, Levi, no," the doctor says, rushing to my other side to stop me from removing any of the other equipment stuck to my body. I don't even look at her as I push her hands away and continue to try and pull these annoying, horrid things off of my chest. They were making me feel constricted and were continuing to send panic through my body.

"He doesn't like things on his chest. Take them off," Kadri supplies to the doctor that was continuing to try and stop me from taking the things off of my body. As soon as the doctor hears that, she starts to carefully peel the sticky things off my chest. Once they were all off, I felt immensely better. I look around the room again, trying to find that little boy with slightly curly, brunette hair. When I see that was definitely not here, I start to panic even more.

"Kai," I choke out before trying to pull the blanket off of my body to get up. The doctor continues to stop me and she was saying things to me, but I completely ignore her as I glance at my mom to get an explanation about where the fuck my son was at. I was going to hurt someone if they told me that they left him with someone after all that's just happened with us.

"It's okay, we're going to find him," my mom says to me in a soft voice while she reaches forward to grab my hand that was still focused on getting out of this bed. But when her words penetrate my mind, I freeze.

"You don't know where the fuck he is?" I ask in a loud voice that shocks everyone in the room. My chest immediately starts to feel heavy again and my breathing was getting stuck in my throat. I reach forward and grip the side of the bed since that's where my hand lands first. My eyes flutter closed after a few seconds of my vision becoming blurry. My left hand tries to find something to hold onto to bring myself back to reality, but after a few moments of not finding any stability, I felt like I was dying.

My mouth opens, trying to desperately get a gasp of breath in my lungs. My chest burns like crazy as flashes of my little boy scared run through my mind. The look of his eyes starting to water. How he would try to scream, but nothing would come out if he's terrified enough. How he would try to find me and end up collapsing onto the floor when he couldn't.

I felt like I was going crazy and I felt like none of this was normal. I couldn't open my eyes without the burning in my chest intensifying. Suddenly, the mask is pulled onto my face again to cover my mouth and nose while my hearing comes in as waves.

"...panic attack. You need to leave," a worried voice says while the bed I was laying in is moved back until I'm in a laying position. My hand comes up to press against the mask on my face because it was helping me breathe much easier than a second ago. My head is lifted up before the band connected to the oxygen mask is wrapped around my head to naturally push it onto my face without anyone having to hold it.

My hands slide down to grip the sides of the bed again as my hearing comes back. This time, a deep, manly voice speaks. "Administering the benzo."

My eyes shoot open and I quickly shake my head at the man that stood next to my bed, holding a needle in one hand and a little piece that connected to my IV in the other. My hand shoots out to grip his arm while the other one comes up to pull the mask off of me so I could talk. "No!"

The man looks up at the female doctor that now stood on my right side. She glances down at me with confusion before nodding her head when she sees the clear worry on my face. She reaches down to push the oxygen mask onto my face before looking up at the nurse. "Don't administer it."

"Yes, Doctor," the nurse says before walking away with the needle in his hand. I look up at the doctor, who was now smiling down at me with a soft expression. She starts to coach me through the panic with ease like she's done this a lot. After a while, I realize that she was definitely good with patients and I let my mind focus on that instead of my son because I didn't need my panic attack to continue further. With the doctor's help, it only takes a few minutes for my breathing to go back to normal.

"Do you want me to get your family back in here?" The doctor asks me after a few minutes, taking off the oxygen mask before setting it somewhere behind me. I just nod my head since I didn't feel like talking just yet. I need to figure out what the fuck is going on with my son before I do anything else.

The doctor leaves before coming back a few minutes later with my family. My mom gets back in her spot next to me and brushes some hair out of my face with a worried expression on my face. My dad gets into the spot next to her, staring down at me. Kadri and Ximena take up my right side, immediately reaching down to grip my arm in a worried gesture. And Aria stands at the foot of the bed, reaching out to lightly pat my foot with his hand since that was all he could do.

"Where's Kai?" I ask my mom, my voice sounding raspy now. My chest still burned, but I push that out of my head along with the exhaustion that was creeping up on me. I need to focus right now and figure out what's going on.

"We don't know," my mother says, sounding close to crying. "we got a phone call from the hospital that you were hurt. Right now, all we know is that he's missing."

"Beckett," I choke out, the tears lining my eyes as soon as she tells me the worst news of my life. I thought he would be okay. I thought by making him run while I distracted Beckett, he would be okay. What did I do wrong? Did I not distract him long enough? Was he hurt? Was he... dead? I didn't know where my son was and that was the worst possible thing I have ever heard. That thought alone was making my chest burn again and I take my arm away from my parents to set it against my bare skin.

Kadri seems to notice the panic getting bad again, so she leans over and pushes the blanket down a bit. I feel a rush of air hit my entire body and the sweat that was coating my skin was slowly disappearing. I give my best friend a grateful look and she just nods, looking up at my mom.

"What, baby?" Mom asks, continuing to brush her fingers through my hair.

"Beckett has him. He's the one... he's..." I try to say, but the tears now leaking down my face were putting a lump in my throat that was stopping me from speaking. I blindly reach out and Kadri wraps her hands around mine, leaning down to press a kiss to my knuckles.

"They know that. They're going to find him," my dad informs me since my mom was now sobbing into his chest, unable to speak. I grip Kadri's hand tightly before using her to pull me up. She's surprised by what I was doing, but helps me anyway, reaching around to push on my back to help me up.

"Whoa, no, you need to take it easy, Levi," the doctor says with a worried tone, rushing into the room. My parents move out of the way for her and she motions for me to lay back again while raising the bed up again so I could sit up. "you were stabbed in the outer thigh with a two-inch deep wound. We cleaned the injury and stitched you up, so you'll need to be on crutches for up to four weeks. So before you leave, we'll need to fit you for them along with making sure your head injury isn't affecting you in any way."

"Okay, then let's do that."

After having to deal with all of the things at the hospital, I was now sitting in a small room at the police station that I've been at once before. Detectives and other important people have talked to me multiple times and I've had to relay the information that I knew about 100 times at this point. Not that I minded because whatever I had to do to get my son back, I was going to do. All I know right now is that there's CCTV footage of Beckett taking Kai while my son was talking to a stranger. They looked through all of the footage of all the cameras in the area, but they didn't get far with that.

They checked his apartment and his work, but they think he's either on the road with Kai or he found refuge with a friend. Of course, the first thing I said to them was to find Amelia, but unfortunately, she was missing too so they were still searching for her as well.

Kadri and Ximena went to my apartment to pick up clothes for me and then went to get me food since I was rushing so much at the hospital that I didn't take a second to eat. My parents, Aria, and I were all sitting around the large table that was in the room that we were put in for our protection. For some reason, everyone was worried that Beckett was still looking for me, but I didn't think he was that stupid to do something like that.

We all sat in silence in the room, not knowing what to say right now. My parents sat across from me, looking exhausted since they probably haven't gotten much sleep since they found out that Kai was missing and I was hurt. Aria looked immensely worried about me and even though he's barely said anything, I know he wants to do something to help. But right now, the only thing that would make me feel better is to see my son and make sure he's okay.

I can't even imagine what Kai's thinking right now. I had repeatedly promised him that I would do whatever I could to keep him safe, so what if he thinks I failed him? What if he thinks I didn't fight for him? Even though I know I fought like hell to protect him, he probably doesn't. He's a kid, so he thinks of the worst possible things first, so as soon as I see him, I'm going to apologize a thousand times and never let him go.

He's going to be okay. That thought kept running through my head because he has to be okay. If he wasn't, my life was over. I wouldn't be able to move on without my kid. Without Kai waking me up early in the morning with requests for pancakes for breakfast. Without Kai being upset that he had to go to daycare and not be able to spend the day with me. Without Kai being so happy whenever the weekend came so we could spend time together. Without Kai clutching his monster stuffed animal whenever he was scared or needed comfort.

Speaking of that stuffed animal, it's currently clutched to my chest and I wasn't going to let go of it until it was back in Kai's arms. It still smelled like him. It still smelled like the fruity bubble bath I used on him a few nights ago. He accidentally dunked Alfie, the stuffed animal, into the water, so it smelled exactly like Kai did. It smelled just like my son. My beautiful son.

"Do you want more coffee?" Aria whispers to me, reaching over and running his hand up-and-down my back.

I don't even take in what he was asking me because I was so focused on thinking about things. But when it finally penetrates my mind about what he was asking me, I shake my head and look over at him. "No, I'm good. Thank you."

When I see his worried face, it sends a pang to my chest that makes my whole body ache. He was so worried, not only for me but for Kai. He was worried for my son just as much as my entire family was. Of course, no one was more worried than me because I've seen what Beckett can do. I've seen the damage he can do and I'm currently living in its consequences. At that thought, my thigh stings painfully and I switch up my position to put less pressure on my still fresh wound. I look back at Aria to see him giving me the tiniest, most supportive smile he could muster up.

"They'll find him," he reminds me, even though we didn't know if that was true. We didn't know if we would find him, ever. Ever since we showed up to the police station, we've overheard some terrifying facts about child kidnappings. Apparently, in all child kidnapping cases, about roughly 40% end with the death of the child. But at the same time, someone told me that 90% of children abducted by strangers make it home safe and sound, but at the same time, it's not a stranger. Technically, Kai was taken by his step-dad on his mother's side since Beckett's married to Amelia.

As I start to think of the statistics and facts again, my eyes start to get watery and when Aria sees that, he wraps his arms around me. I could feel more eyes on me as I start to sob into my boyfriend's chest. He continuously kisses the top of my head while running his hands up-and-down my back to soothe me. But I couldn't help but have this detrimental feeling in my stomach that I wasn't going to get my son back. I wasn't optimistic that Beckett wouldn't hurt him. I know he's willing to hurt people, just like he did with me, so he could easily hurt... or even kill... my son.

My baby could be dead right now. He could be gone right now. I didn't know what was going on and those thoughts make me start to cry even harder. Aria kisses my head once more before starting to rock me back-and-forth. "I got you. I'm here and we're going to figure things out."

"What if he's gone?" I say in a soft voice before continuing to cry.

"No," my mother snaps, reaching across the table to set her hand on my shoulder. "we don't think about that, Levi. There's no reason to think about that."

I lift my head to look at her stern face. "But it's true. He could be gone right now and we wouldn't know."

"No, don't think about that," Aria says in a softer voice, leaning down to kiss my head again. "your mother's right. There's no point in thinking about that."

I go to say something, but I freeze when I look out the window of the room and into the police station where two police officers were escorting a very familiar young woman through the building. There was a bruise on her cheek that looked very nasty and painful along with the handcuffs that were surrounding her wrists. I must've been too obvious because everyone in the room with me looks out the window to see the woman that had been the main focus of so many nightmares in the past few years.

"Is that her?" My mother asks, turning back around to look at me with hesitation clear in her voice.

I wasn't able to speak. The lump in my throat was continuing to grow as I continue to watch Amelia being moved throughout the building until she's suddenly stopped in front of a door and forced to sit down at one of the desks. People were rushing around to get the room ready that looked like it was for interviews. Did this mean she knew where Kai was? Was she a suspect? Did she know something?

"Levi," Aria says, clearly worried that I was frozen in his arms while staring at the woman that to this day, was still able to affect me. Even three years after that dreadful night, she was still able to make my chest ache and my wrists and ankles burn from the rope she used that day. I could feel her nails digging into my skin, putting tiny bruises all over my body while she laughed at my pain. How she-

The next thing I know, Amelia locks eyes with me and her face pales. Instead of looking angry like she was a second before, she looks... guilty? Did she really feel guilty while looking at me? Was it because she sexually assaulted me in college or because her husband kidnapped my child? Before I could dwell on it anymore, Amelia shoots out of the seat she was in since no one was holding her or anything. She looks around for a second before rushing towards the room I was currently in.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Aria says, shooting out of his seat along with my parents. They all stand in front of me, in case she's actually able to make it to the room. But, thankfully, before she could even make it five steps, Kadri rushes through the front door of the police station before running towards the disgusting woman. I'm assuming my best friend was able to see her through all the windows in the police station. She held a brown paper bag, but she throws it onto a desk before getting in Amelia's face.

One of the officers rushes over to Kadri, who was now yelling things at the woman. The officer pushes Amelia into the chair she was previously sitting in before escorting Kadri back towards the room with Ximena following behind them. Kadri's face was bright red and her hands were in tight fists, telling me she was pissed off.

When Kadri gets into the room, her eyes immediately look at me. They soften a bit before she sighs, setting the stuff she was carrying on the table. "Are you okay?"

I nod my head, not knowing what else to do. I was silently freaking out and I didn't know how to say something about it because I felt like I couldn't speak. The lump in my throat got bigger and it was hard for me to even open my mouth without feeling the need to cry. The only person in the room that seems to notice that was Aria because just a few second later, he sits back in his chair and wraps his arm around my shoulder.

"We're here. She's not going to touch you," he whispers in my ear and that's all it takes for me to breakdown. I turn in my chair and hide my face in his shoulder and just let it all go. Sob after sob leaves my mouth, making Aria wrap both arms around me and continue to whisper soothing things into my ear. Not only was Amelia here and a part of the reason that all these bad things have been happening, but my son was gone. I didn't know where he was and I didn't know what he was feeling. I didn't care what happened in the next few days, but the one thing I did know is that if I didn't get Kai back soon, I was going to go crazy.