AN : thank you for the reviews and continuing to read even this long once the last chapter, I promise to update soon, enjoy the following chapter

Beginning of forever

Chapter 12

"So this mom has it out for me and this silly bake sale, Leo could care less he didn't even want to be part of it, I'm just stuck in this thing with 'Mandy's mom' it's ridiculous" Tracy complained to Andy as they drove down a street patrolling the otherwise quiet neighbourhood with people minding their own business wrapped up in their own worlds.

Before Andy could respond she was distracted by a small gathering of people around a car parked at a supermarket multiple people talking quietly tto each other with phones in their hands frantically trying to make calls.

Pulling over a few feet away the two women got out of the car and made their way over to the group that was slowly attracting more and more people

"What's going on here?" Tracy asked a woman standing close by as Andy walked around the car to get information from other bystanders and some people who seemed to work in the supermarket, judging by the their uniforms

"Thank God you guys are here" the woman said "some lady left her baby in the car and nobody can find her" weaving her way through the crowd towards the car, Tracy noticed a window had been smashed in the back seat opposite to a baby car seat that was empty, looking around she caught sight of Andy taking the baby from a woman on the other side of the car she hurriedly checked her as best as she could for any scratches or otherwise, the baby was crying wildly clearly uncomfortable by being suddenly snatched up

"Andy what happened?" Tracy said going to the other woman

"Its Marlo, they found her bag in the car with her ID she's nowhere to be found, Emilia has been in the car for almost an hour, I sent the store manager to get the security footage, they called an ambulance" Andy said fear evident on her face although she was trying to mask it as not to alarm any of the people around, Tracy wrote down a few statements before they went into the supermarket to take a look at the security tape: it showed Marlo almost 2 hours earlier parking the car and jumping out quickly before rushing into the supermarket insidevtge store she collected a few items before reaching a till searching her pockets frantically before abandoning the trolley and leaving the store, outside Marlo walked to the car seemingly at the side with the baby she banged the roof of the car before taking off in the opposite direction "I've got to get her to the hospital and call Sam"

"Yeah of course, go ahead I'll take care of this" Tracy said, pulling out her cellphone to call for some back up. Andy went back outside reaching into Marlo's car she took the baby bag just as the ambulance arrived, she told the paramedics what had occured, noting that no one else was hurt they keft with Andy and the baby

Parking outside of the apartment Sam cursed himself; for the better part of the day he had denied that he would need the paper work he left on the kitchen counter that morning, finally he admitted he needed it and made his way home.

Getting out of the car he didn't notice anyone until he reached the door to find Marlo standing there: her hair was a mess pieces of it sticking out at angles, she had no make up on but her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes were bloodshot, she was carrying her cardigan in one hand, dressed only in a white tank top, blue jeans and sneakers

"Marlo, are you okay? What are oyou doing here? Where's the baby?" Sam said in a panic seeing her state

"Sam...she hates me, I know she does" Marlo mumbled as the tears began forming again in her eyes, she was slowly wringing the cardigan in her hands as she mumbled more incoherent words Sam open up the door to the apartment and lead her in, he walked with her into the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, he opened it, then pried the cardigan from from Marlo's hands and replaced it with the bottle, encouraging her to take a sip

"You need to tell me what's going on Marlo" he said quietly "where is Emilia?" At the sound of her daughter's name Marlo's head shot up eyes wide and suddenly void of the cloudy dazed look they had possessed earlier

"Oh...oh my god..." she said sudden realisation creeping up on her "oh my God Sam, we have to go, we have to go, we have go go back" woth that she hurriedly dropped the bottle of water on the kitchen counter before trying to rush past Sam towards the door

"Hey, wait talk to me, what happened?" He asked grabbing her by the shoulders

"I... I don't know, I just remember she was crying, she was crying so much... I couldn't take it...do I took her for a drive" Marlo began with a pained and frustrated tone "but she still wouldn't stop, we need to go back...shes all alone" realisation started to dawn on Sam as Marlo continued to mumble still trying to escape his grip and head fur the door, he heard her say something about a supermarket before he sprung into action, fear rising in his gut at the thought of any harm coming to his child, he pulled Marlo with him back out of the apartment and into his truck. Checking his phone he saw that he had 5 missed calls from Andy, dialing her number as he started up the engine driving out of the driveway not really knowing where he was heading but he knew he had to keep moving...