Diana knew something was very wrong. Her maternal instincts were being set off like a huge bomb. She reached beneath her pajama top to the little gold heart-shaped locket that she never took off and pulled it into her hand. She opened it to look at a picture of her son, taken when he was just a little boy of ten. She clutched it close to her heart and prayed that her instincts were wrong and that it was just the Schizophrenia talking. She went out for her morning medications and to eat breakfast. Usually chatty, she didn't speak a word.

She wrung her hands anxiously as she waited outside her psychiatrist's office. Normally, she detested her appointments with Dr. Cohen, but today was different. Her baby needed her. She couldn't bring herself to let go of the locket. She feared that if she should do so then Spencer would be in even more danger. As if she could still protect him from the world from within the confines of the sanitarium.

When Dr. Cohen arrived, he was genuinely surprised to find Diana waiting for him. She typically resented her sessions with him. Curiosity sufficiently piqued, he opened the door and let her in. He flicked on the light and set down his suitcase before going through a file cabinet and pulling out Diana's file.

"So Diana, how can I help you today?"

"Dr. Cohen, I know I'm not the easiest or most rational person you've ever worked with, but you have to believe me when I tell you that something is wrong with my son. He's hurting, he's cold, he's hungry. I know it doesn't make sense, but a mother knows when her child needs her. Please. Please help me."

By the time she was midway through her speech she was sobbing. He handed her a tissue. Although Diana was one of his more eccentric patients, he could tell that this was no schizophrenia-induced hallucination. She was very much lucid, although he thought this would be the time when she would want to be hallucinating in order to escape this knowledge.

"What would you like me to do to help you?"

"Let me call him. I need to hear his voice. I need to know he's okay."

"Alright, but I'd like you to do it in here please."

She nodded. Anything to save her baby.

He handed her the phone. While she dialed the only number she knew by heart, Dr. Cohen paged a nurse in case Diana needed a sedative.

Diana listened to the phone ring and ring and ring. With each ring, her hope lessened. When it got to voicemail, she likened her hope to a candle that had been snuffed out.

"Hello, sweetheart. Call me when you get this message." She hung up and sighed. She couldn't afford to lose her cool. She had to maintain her awareness. Her son needed her.

"Thank you, doctor." She said quietly. Dr. Cohen couldn't help but feel bad for her.

"Before you go, Diana, how are your medications working for you?"

"Fine, thank you." It was a robotic response. He gave her a nod and let her go.

Diana went into her room and refused to come out. She sat on her bed, clutching her locket and a picture of Spencer she had framed at her desk. She sobbed, praying forlornly that she was the one in pain and not her precious baby. Nurses opened the door to check on her, but never saw a different picture. She wouldn't eat, and was crying too hard to keep her medication down. All the while, she kept murmuring to herself.

"My baby... My poor, poor baby... I'm so sorry... I wish I could take the pain away..."

Her heart was completely broken.

The next day, Spencer arrived at Bennington Sanitarium. At the sight of him, Diana hugged him tightly, holding herself together by a thread. Spencer, having been bloodied and beaten the day before, found comfort in his mother's arms. Her scent was like being home again.

"You're sleeping here tonight, Spencer. Don't argue with me because you will lose." Her tone was completely serious. He knew better than to argue with her.

"Yes ma'am."

She made sure he ate well, made sure he cleaned up, and tucked him into her bed, just like she'd done when he was little. Although he didn't want to admit it, it made him feel safer. He fell asleep quickly and easily, while Diana hovered over him protectively, afraid to let him out of her sight. Wrapped in her pink robe she sat on the couch, waiting until she was completely sure that he was asleep. She could always tell when he was faking it. Finally satisfied, she fell asleep, but made a promise to herself that she would wake up before him so that she could examine him properly.

She got up at 5 in the morning to see that Spencer, still ever the tosser and turner in bed, was left uncovered by the blanket. She spotted something by his wrist. Carefully, she rolled up his sleeve to see red marks and indentations deep in his skin. She controlled her urge to gasp.

The only other time she'd seen something like that was when he was twelve and had been tied to a goal post.

Then, she saw similar marks on his ankles.

He'd been tied up.

A few tears leaked from her eyes.

"My poor baby... Who did this to you?" It was the smallest whisper, easily blended in with a gust of wind. She didn't dare look further.

Spencer turned onto his side. "I'm sorry..." He murmured, turning his head. "Please stop..." Diana froze, not daring to move. "Mom... Forgive me..."

She was in shock. He had nothing to be forgiven for. It became too much, and she gently shook his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and he gasped as he bolted up in bed. Diana hushed him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"It was just a bad dream, baby." She soothed. He was quiet, and didn't meet her gaze. He shut his eyes.

"Mom, I'm really sorry." He said, voice cracking on the last word. Diana was baffled.

"What are you sorry for, honey?"

"That I put you in here even though I knew you didn't want to go."

"You did what you needed to do. I'm not angry with you. You were trying to look out for me." She planted a kiss on his forehead.

"You're not mad at me?" He was clearly astonished.

"Of course not, Spencer. You're my son. There is nothing you could ever do to make me not love you."

Spencer tried to smile but failed. Diana just held him a little tighter. She tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and sat in front of him.

"I want you to tell me what happened to you, Spencer. And I want you to be honest with me. I'll know if you're lying."

"Mom, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I have to know, Spencer. I don't think I could handle it if you kept this from me. No matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby, and every mother knows when her baby gets hurt. It's just a matter of finding out how."

Spencer began regaling the tale of his kidnapping to his mother, watching her frown grow deeper and deeper. When he finished, she was quiet for a long time. He grew anxious.

"Mom?" He asked, nervously. She didn't reply, and he worried that she was slipping into a hallucination. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Momma?" He saw tears welling up in her eyes. He became rapidly alarmed. The idea of someone torturing her baby was too much to handle. He shook her, terrified to see her in such pain. "Mommy!"

When she did speak, he was relieved.

"Where does it hurt, Spencer?"

He was afraid to tell her, but knew she had to know. "My head, left foot, and my wrists and ankles."

"Go explain to the nurse what happened. She'll help you." She said, quietly. He nodded. He wasn't looking to pick a fight with her. He knew he would lose.

After she took her medications and Spencer had taken a few of his own, they sat on the couch for a while, never talking. Spencer put his head in her lap, deciding to let his guard down for once. Diana, so used to being alone, relished in these moments when her grown son could just let his walls down, and stroked his hair calmly.

"Thank you for telling me that, Spencer. I know it wasn't easy."

"I tell you everything." He said, quietly. Diana laughed.

"I suppose so. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Do you have to get back to work?"

"Not until tomorrow."

"I don't want you staying just because you feel guilty- which you shouldn't. I know you have a job to do."

"I want to stay. It makes me feel better."

"Alright. I believe you." She held him tightly. "Do you want me to read to you?"

Spencer smiled. "Sure."

"Go pick out a book from the shelf."

He brought her the book of his choice and she smiled.

"Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table. Good choice."

She began to read to him, and it transported him back to a time without pain. For an instant, he was just a boy again, laying in his mother's bed as she held him close and helped him get lost in adventure. It was a break from constantly being bullied and tormented by his Peers.

Spencer was happy for the first time after his torment. He didn't have to put up a tough front or pretend not to be bothered by what he'd seen. He was loved for who he was. That's why he had come to his mother in the first place. She was a judgement-free zone. Diana was just happy that her baby was safe.

Mother and son, reunited at last, enjoyed one day of leisure together before it was time for Spencer to leave.

They shared one last hug before Spencer drove off to board his plane headed for virginia.

Diana watched him go with a surge of sadness that was as familiar to her as breathing. She hated when he left, but at the same time understood that the world was safer because of him, and for that, she was proud.