Blurred Horizons

Scarlett couldn't believe that she'd cheated death a second time. For a few moments, she was just laughing nervously, to the point that Ben seemed concerned that maybe she wasn't okay after all. She stumbled a bit and had a difficult time walking in a straight line, almost as if she was drunk, but it was mostly due to the pain coming from the wound on her back. While the poison was healed, the wound itself wasn't. But Scarlett didn't care. The only thing she could think about was getting home to her baby, who was going to be aging at a perfectly normal speed now.

"I want my baby," Scarlett sighed as she lost her footing, wincing softly in pain.

Ben caught her around the waist and helped her back on her feet, staying close to her now in case she fell over again.

"Careful, love, you don't want to hurt yourself more," he said.

"I want my baby," she repeated, whining now.

"We both do," he chuckled, kissing her cheek. "Soon enough. We'll have her back soon enough."

Thomas and Doc trailed behind them, Thomas with a slight smile on his face as he watched the two of them. Doc drifted a little further behind, seemingly taking mental notes of his surroundings and the things he saw on the island. He's been in a dream-like state since they got there, and it wasn't until they were leaving that it finally occurred to him that all of it was real. Now that it was all over, the island seemed to want them to leave, making clear paths for them. It was absolutely sick of Scarlett and her indecisiveness, and since it couldn't kill her, it just wanted her gone.

They stopped for a moment on the journey back for Doc to tend to Scarlett's wounds. He paused for a few moments, just looking from Ben to the wound and back to Ben. Ben raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of what that meant.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"I need to... erm..."

Scarlett understood before Ben did, waving her hand to give him permission. Ben still seemed confused until Doc started to unlace the back of her dress and corset.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

"I can't get to the wound with her clothes in the way," Doc sighed. "The scratches go down her entire back. I've barely been able to touch them."

"Ben, just let him do it," Scarlett said, rolling her eyes.

Ben hovered over them, making sure to cover up Scarlett's front side as Doc unlaced the back, leaving it totally bare. She could tell he was tense while Doc bandaged her, but Doc knew better than to linger in any way. He liked having his head attached to his shoulders.

When they finally made it back to the ship, they could see the crew lazily wandering about the deck, bored out of their minds. It had been a day and a half, and with no real authorities around, all they intended on doing was drinking and gambling until they passed out. They all scrambled to look busy as Scarlett and Ben returned, though Scarlett couldn't have cared less about them. It had been almost two days since she'd seen Gigi, but it felt like two years.

"I hope she isn't walking without us," Scarlett said, hopping up and looking around at her crew for the one holding Gigi.

When she realized no one was holding her, her smile disappeared. Ben seemed to notice as well, though he didn't seem to have the same bad feeling in his gut that Scarlett had.

"Where's Gigi?" he asked.

The crew looked around at each other, but Stephen was the one to speak up.

"Eric has her," he said.

"Actually, Elliot does," Eric piped up from the back. "Elliot has changed diapers before."

Everyone turned to Elliot, who frowned and shook his head. "Stephen was watching her."

"I was not," Stephen protested. "I watched her last night."

Scarlett watched as her crew began to argue over who was responsible for the baby, but she didn't care about them. The only thought that occurred in her mind was that no one knew where Gigi was. She frantically looked to Ben, who had a sort of look on his face that she didn't see often. It almost frightened her, the way he was grinding his teeth in frustration.

"So you idiots mean to tell me that you don't know where the baby is?" Ben said quietly.

The entire crew went dead silent, never having seen Ben this way.

"Someone give me a damned answer!" he yelled, making everyone jump.

Once again, no one spoke. Scarlett couldn't breathe. She felt Thomas come up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, staying close as if to catch her in case she collapsed. She didn't even do that. She was paralyzed once again, this time with fear.

"If Gemma isn't here in front of me within the next ten seconds, someone is going to get shot," Ben snapped.

Right away, the crew scrambled to search the ship out of fear that Ben would kill someone. In that state, Scarlett wouldn't have been surprised if he did. He didn't seem like she was bluffing. Like everyone else, Scarlett also hurried to look for the baby, despite the pain coming from her wounds. She ran into her own quarters, finding that Gigi's crib looked untouched since the last time she was there. She ran to the crib, hoping to find Gigi giggling and smiling up at her, but she had no such luck. Instead, she found a piece of parchment, with a note scrawled out in messy handwriting.

The first time we took a child, a little over ten years ago, it didn't go the way we wanted.
She turned far too soft.

This time, we know not to make those kinds of mistakes.

Scarlett held the note in her hand, horrified by what she was seeing. Someone had stolen Gigi, and whoever it was couldn't have been happy about Scarlett settling down. She tried calling out, but choked on her own words, falling weakly to her knees. Then she let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream she could possible conjure.