"Mama ! Mama !" Tabitha heard Ariel screaming and she woke up with a start. It took her a minute to realize that she was at Lance's house, and had been sleeping on the couch. She got up quickly, nearly knocking Lance into the floor in the process, and ran down the hall. Ariel was sitting up on the couch in the den, tears streaming down her cheeks, shaking uncontrollably.

"What's wrong, honey ?" Tabitha asked gently as she wrapped her arms around Ariel and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Adam is gone," Ariel explained simply and then began sobbing loudly

"What do you mean, Adam is gone ?" Tabitha questioned with urgency.

"He's not here with me. He's gone."

"Adam !" Tabitha shouted his name and looked around. Ariel was telling the truth, Adam was nowhere in the room. Now Tabitha was starting to panic. Adam had been on the couch with Ariel when they went to sleep. Now he was gone. She picked up Ariel and ran down the hall screaming Adam's name.

"What's going on ?" Lance questioned sleepily as he nearly collided with Tabitha and Ariel.

"Adam is gone," Ariel replied mournfully, answering the question for the third time in five minutes.

"Maybe he crawled into another room," Lance reasoned, trying to be the calm one.

"OK, you look down here and I'm going to look upstairs," Tabitha ordered. "Ariel, you stay here on the couch. Everything is going to be fine." Ariel merely nodded, still sobbing quietly. Tabitha rushed up the stairs and searched the bedrooms. She could hear Lance calling Adam's name as he searched the downstairs. Her heart raced as she frantically searched in all the corners and under all the furniture. Finally, she gave up. Maybe Lance had found him downstairs. She ran back down the stairs where Lance was waiting.

"Did you find him ?" she queried with teary eyes.

"No, honey, I can't find him."

"He's got to be here somewhere. It's not like he can leave on his own. Where could he be ?"

"I don't know, but I'm calling the police," Lance answered.

"Mama, is Adam in trouble ?" Ariel questioned as she ran into Tabitha's arms.

"I don't know, honey. I'm sure that he's fine," Tabitha assured Ariel although she wasn't certain of her own words.

"I'm scared, Mama."

"Me too, honey. Me too." The two of them looked up quickly as Lance reentered the room.

"The police are on their way. I'm going to go down to the front gate and question the security guards. Will you guys be OK staying here ?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine."

"All right, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Tabitha sat down on the couch and cradled Ariel on her lap. She couldn't believe this was happening. Ariel's sobs grew louder and louder and Tabitha held her closely, as if to keep her other child safe from harm. She wasn't going to let go of Ariel, no matter what. As the two of them sat huddled on the couch, weeping, the phone rang. Tabitha snatched it off the base and answered hastily.

"Lance ?"

"No, this isn't your precious loverboy," a familiar voice spat out.

"Darden ? Is that you ?"

"So you haven't forgotten all about me after all. I'm surprised."

"Darden, what do you want ?"

"I think the better question is what do I have that you want ?"

"You ? You have Adam ?" Tabitha was incredulous that her ex-husband could kidnap their child.

"Ah, you're smarter than I took you for. Yes, I have Adam."

"Why ? Why would you do something like this ?"

"Something like what ? Kidnapping my own child ? It's not really kidnapping Tabitha because he's mine too."

"Only biologically, not in any other sense of the word. You've never cared about him before, why now ?"

"I realized that Lance was on to something with the custody game, but he just didn't know how to play it. I've got it all figured out. You give me something I want and I'll give you something you want."

"I'll give you anything, just bring Adam back."

"Uh uh uh. Not so fast. You haven't even heard what I want."

"You want joint custody of Adam."

"Nope. In fact, I could care less about the little brat. I want something more valuable, like 20 million dollars."

"Twenty million dollars ?!? Are you insane ? I don't have that kind of money."

"Not from you, you bitch. I know your boyfriend is loaded. I'm sure that 20 mil is pocket change."

"He might be rich, but he doesn't have that much money. What have you done that you need that much money ?"

"That, my dear, is none of your damn business. The point here is, I want 20 million dollars and I want it by tomorrow. If I don't get it, the brat gets dumped somewhere, you got it ?"

"NOOOO! I mean, yes, I got it. Please, don't hurt Adam !" Tabitha screamed as the line went dead. She threw the phone across the room where it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Tabitha, what's going on ? Who was on the phone ?" Lance demanded as he entered the living room.

"It's Darden. He has Adam. He wants 20 million dollars by tomorrow or he's going to kill Adam," Tabitha sobbed.

"Well that confirms what the security guards told me. They said that a tall man with dark hair and dark clothes snuck past them last night. They called the police, but no one responded and when they tried to fight off the man, he fired shots at them. Apparently he's not that great of a shot because only one shot even grazed Mike's arm."

"Yeah, Darden's never even shot a gun before. Why didn't the security guards call up here and warn us ?"

"I don't know. I think he cut the phone wires that connect us or something. I fired them on the spot because they should have warned us somehow. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I just don't know how we're going to get that much money."

"We'll figure out something. Why would he ask for that much anyway ?"

"I don't know. He must have been stealing from his clients and his investments must have gone wrong. I guess he's trying to cover his tracks." Tabitha realized that Ariel hadn't said a word since Darden's phone call. She was just sitting on the couch, pale as a ghost, expressionless.

"Ariel, sweetie ?" Tabitha waved her hand in front of Ariel's face, but she didn't blink. "Ariel, ARIEL !" she shouted as she shook her slightly. Ariel didn't say anything, but her gaze turned to her mother's face.

"Ariel, hon, say something," Lance begged her as he knelt in front of her. Ariel merely shook her head and returned to her expressionless staring. He picked her up and sat her on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, but still made no sound. Tabitha watched this scene with tears streaming down her face. Ariel obviously was so traumatized by her brother being kidnapped that she was unable to speak.

"Tabitha, don't cry. Everything is going to be OK. Ariel is just upset, she'll be fine," Lance reassured her.

Tabitha nodded and then said," We can't just sit here. We have to do something. I'm calling Justin to see if he can help us out." She kissed Ariel on the forehead and then left her in Lance's care. She went down the hall with the phone so that Ariel wouldn't hear her conversation.

"Yo, I'm out, but leave a message and I'll get back to you if you're cool," Justin's answering machine warbled.

"Justin, if you're there, please pick up !" Tabitha begged.

"He's not here, so get off the damn phone," Amber shouted into the phone.

"Wait, I need to talk to him. It's an emergency !" Tabitha retorted.

"Fine. Give me a minute. I'll have to get him out of the shower. Actually, it might be more than a minute. I'll have him call you as soon as he's out if you know what I mean," Amber informed Tabitha with a light laugh.

"Yeah, I got it. Thanks," Tabitha cringed. That was definitely more than she needed to know. She hung up the phone and found Lance standing in the doorway, still holding Ariel.

"She won't let me put her down," he explained. "Did you talk to Justin ?"

"No. Superwitch answered the phone and said it would be a few minutes because he's "in the shower". I won't go into details like she did. I hope that she'll actually remember to give him the message."

"I wouldn't count on it. I'll call him in a few minutes. I think Amber likes me better than she likes you."

"Well you are male, aren't you ?"

"Hey !"

"You know what I mean. Here, Ariel, come to Mommy for a minute," Tabitha said as she reached for Ariel. Ariel reluctantly left Lance's arms and crawled into Tabitha's lap. She held onto Tabitha's neck tightly and refused to loosen her grip. "Why don't I give you a bath and we'll put on your favorite outfit. Then we're going to visit Regina for a little while, OK ?"

Ariel shook her head "no" fiercely at that suggestion. She clung tighter to Tabitha and buried her head in her shoulder.

"Um, honey, you'd have to go home to do all that, remember ? I don't think she wants to leave here."

"Good point. I didn't even think of that. I just thought it would be something to take both of our minds off of this for a little while. I just don't know what to do."

"You two stay in here and get some rest. I'm going to call Justin and the other guys and see what we can work out."

"Thanks, hon." Tabitha stretched out on the couch with Ariel and tried to coax her into taking a nap, but Ariel refused to close her eyes. She kept mouthing Adam's name and pointing to the couch. Tabitha realized that Ariel was afraid that Adam might come back and they would be gone. She wasn't about to leave Lance's house as long as her little brother was missing.