Thanks to all who have read, reviewed or added alerts/favorites throughout this story. You guys are fab!

I'm sorry this update has taken a while, I've had a whole lot going on and unfortunately writing kinda got put on the backseat. Anyway, hope you like.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 11

Jo had no idea where Samuel was taking her to but the city was far behind them now and Jo was seeing more and more trees and less and less houses. Her phone was still on in her pocket. She was trying to let Mac know where she was heading even though she wasn't even one hundred percent he was still listening and it wasn't like she could check.

Truth was she was beginning to think maybe he wasn't. She was sure he could have arranged help for her by now if he knew the danger she and Kaya were in.

"I want you to take the next right!" he told her.

"The one there by that fallen tree?" she pretended to ask, really just offering Mac another clue.

"Take it!" Samuel growled at her.

Jo did as she was told, casting a quick glance in the rearview mirror to check to see if help was following and to check on Kaya.

The road they had turned onto was a little bumpy and the car bounced over rocks and tree roots no matter how careful Jo tried to be. The rough movements shook Kaya awake and she immediately let both Samuel and her mother know she wasn't happy about being woken up. Jo was terrified as she feared her crying would anger Samuel.

She was right. "Shut her up before I throw her out of the god-damn window!" Samuel yelled.

Jo tried calling to Kaya, hoping her voice would be enough to soothe her but it wasn't. She reached behind her and gently stroked her head but that didn't seem to work either. Jo knew she sensed something wasn't right. "I need to be able to hold her!" she told Samuel.

"Just keep driving!" he yelled above Kaya's cries.

Jo tried to focus on driving but she couldn't pull her eyes away from the rearview mirror, she didn't trust Samuel and with good reason. She saw him move the gun away from her and point it at Kaya.

"Shut-it!" he yelled at Kaya, only making her worse. He placed the gun right by Kaya's face.

"Samuel, don't!" she yelled as she turned to face him and tried to grab the gun from his hand.

He fought against her for a second before he yelled, "Watch out!"

Jo didn't have time to 'watch out'. She just felt the smack, heard the sound of crushing metal all around her, then she felt or heard nothing…

~0~0~0~0~

Mac heard the sound of the metal as loud as if he had been in the car with them. It made him feel sick. He knew from the direction Jo had called out that he wasn't that far behind her and Flack and Danny were not far behind him. He'd put Jo's call on hold whilst he'd rang Flack and filled him in on the situation. Flack had then arranged the backup.

"Jo!" he yelled. "Jo!" he yelled louder. He got no reply, all he could hear was the car horn blaring loud and constant.

~0~0~0~0~

Jo came to with a feeling of severe pain in her shoulder, it hurt to turn her head to look at it but when she did she saw why it hurt so badly. Her shoulder was clearly dislocated. The taste of blood filled her mouth and when she glanced into the rearview mirror she saw that her nose, top and bottom lip were bleeding badly.

She struggled to unclip her belt but finally it popped out. It was caught tight so she practically had to peel it away from her body. She turned to look into the back seat, doing so made every inch of her body hurt even more than it already did.

She first cast a glance at Samuel, who lay with his head propped against the window, a trickle of blood seeping down his face. He was out cold, thank God. She turned to look at Kaya, who sat silently looking out of the window.

"Hey, baby!" Jo whispered to her, it didn't get her attention. Kaya continued to look out of the window at nothing in particular. "Kaya, baby, look at Momma." Jo said to her. "Kaya!" she said again, a little louder.

This time Kaya seemed to look. Jo sighed, thankful that she didn't appear to have a mark on her. She turned her attention back to getting out of the car. The driver's side door was just a crumpled pile of metal that was pressed up against her body. She looked down and could barely see her legs under the crushed bonnet of the car. She tried to pull herself out of the seat but she could feel jagged metal biting at her legs.

She tried to ignore the pain it caused and used the door on the passenger's side to try to heave herself out. The metal of the car seemed adamant to keep its grip on her. The pain in her legs was excruciating and she had to wonder what state her legs would be in if she could free herself.

For her daughters sake she continued trying to pull herself out, one leg at a time, that seemed easier and even though it felt like she was dragging it through a ring of razor blades she finally managed to free her right leg. The pain actually felt worse than the damage looked. That couldn't be said for her left leg when she was finally able to free it. It was completely covered in blood; she couldn't see even an inch of skin. She decided it was best not to look and just prayed she would be able to walk on them.

She opened the passenger's side door and dragged herself from the car, trying not to cry out in pain. Her one arm was useless and just hung loosely at her side so it was her right arm doing all the work and that too was badly cut.

She tried to stand but her left immediately leg gave out on her, she landed hard on her knee and had to cry out in agony. She pulled herself up and hobbled to the back door. She pulled it open and reached in and gently pulled Kaya from her car seat, keeping a wary eye on Samuel the entire time.

Finally holding her baby safe in her arm made her feel a little less hysterical.

"JO!" she heard a faint voice say.

Remembering her phone she reached into her pocket, managing to balance Kaya in the crook of her arm. She couldn't put the phone to her ear but she was able to switch it onto speaker as she began moving away from the car.

"Jo? Talk to me!" she heard Mac say.

"I'm here, Mac." she said. "I have Kaya." she told him.

"Jo, I'm on my way to you." he said.

"Samuel…" she began, however she cried out in pain as she fell to her knees.

Mac heard her blood curdling cry and it made him sad but also angry. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I crashed the car. My arm is dislocated and I think my leg may be broken. Samuel is still in the car, he's unconscious." she told him. "Mac, where are you?" she asked.

"I'm gonna be there in a minute Jo and I have backup. You and Kaya will be in my arms in less than two minutes." he said as he turned onto the same bumpy road that Jo had crashed on.

Jo was about to tell him how much she wanted that when a bullet skimmed right past her and buried itself into the tree she was leaning against. She somehow hadn't heard the bang but she wasted no time in moving as far and as fast away from it as she could get, but not before she caught a quick glimpse of Samuel running towards her and Kaya.

She knew in her condition she wouldn't be able to go far or keep the distance between them but she made her way deeper into the dense woods. Samuel was hot on her heels.

Mac saw the wreckage ahead and brought his car to an abrupt stop. Flack, who had caught up, barely managed to stop his car without ramming it into the back of Mac's.

"Jo!" Mac bellowed as he climbed out of his car. Flack was by his side a second later.

"Do you see them?" Flack asked. He couldn't see them anywhere.

Mac shook his head and shouted again, Flack quickly copied. They both flinched when they heard a gunshot. "JO! Mac yelled as he and Flack took off running towards the sound of the gun shot.

Jo's leg gave in on her again and she fell to her knees, once more unable to hold in her cries of pain. Before she had chance to push herself up she felt herself being shoved to the floor. Kaya was ripped out of her arms and pushed away from her. Jo couldn't stop Samuel as he flipped her onto her back and fell down on top of her.

There was little Jo could do to fight back against him. He had the gun shoved right up under her chin and with the other hand was unbuttoning his trousers. He pushed Jo's robe aside and she knew what was coming next.

She tried to wriggle free from under him but her body was just too weak from the crash. "I'm gonna make you feel the worst pain you've ever felt, right until your last breath. Then I'm gunna leave you and you baby out here. She'll be left alive for the critters to eat!" he told her as he put the gun down next to her, only so he could grab at her body, and position his own, ready to abuse her for his own pleasure.

The sound of another gunshot startled Jo, but it was Samuel who had been hit. He fell sideways off her clutching his shoulder in pain. Jo went to push herself up but Samuel kicked out at her. She watched as he reached towards the gun. Another shot echoed through the trees and Samuel slumped backwards, dead.

Jo looked up just as Mac fell to her side. She watched as Flack scooped up a crying Kaya and began to soothe her. She turned back to face Mac and threw her arm around him. A part of her thought she was dreaming this but as soon as she heard his voice she knew it was real.

"I'm here." he said to her. "Thank God you're both okay."

~0~0~0~0~0

One month later

Jo woke up in bed, her heart pounding because of the nightmare she'd just had, the one that had woke her. Awake and with her eyes open she saw Mac's spot in the bed was empty. She pushed herself up in bed, as best as she could. She got up out of bed, grabbing her crutch from where it was propped up. She refused to use the two.

She made her way out of the bedroom and that was when she noticed the light on in the nursery. She walked over to it and gave the door a push open. When she saw Mac in there she had to smile. He was sat in the rocking chair, cradling Kaya in his arms. She was awake, even though it was 4 in the morning, but she seemed perfectly content just staring up at her father with her big sparkly brown eyes and long dark eyelashes.

"I swear she thinks she's nocturnal." Jo said.

Mac just smiled, "She's just making sure she doesn't miss out on anything." he said looking up at Jo who smiled back at him.

She made her way over to them and reached down and stroked Kaya's hair. It was getting long and had a slight curl to it now. It was softer than anything Jo had ever touched. "You should be sleeping little one." Jo said to her with a smile.

Kaya looked up at her, her eyes smiling the way they always did when she looked at her. Mac went to stand up, to allow Jo to have his seat but she put her hand on his shoulder. "You can stay there. She's comfy."

"Then we'll make room." he said as he moved Kaya onto his one knee. He pulled Jo down onto his other and wrapped his arm around her. She immediately snuggled up to him and continued stroking Kaya's hair.

They sat in silence for a moment before Mac said, "Another bad dream.

"Darn it Mac Taylor, you know me so well." Jo said, continuing to look at her daughter who was beginning to fall back to sleep.

"I know you by heart." he corrected her.

Jo smiled and stopped stroking Kaya's face so she could reach up and hold Mac's face as she kissed him. "I know." she said. "but it's kinda pathetic that I'm having bad dreams at my age."

"Jo, after what you and Kaya went through, it's not pathetic. It's perfectly normal."

"I just wish all this was over." she thought out loud.

"It is. John, Samuel and their father are all dead. None of them are a threat to you, Kaya, Ellie, Tyler, myself or anyone else anymore. We get to move on now, Jo. We get to just be a happy family now." Mac said.

Jo looked at him and had to kiss him again. "You're right." she said as she snuggled up to him again.

They both sat there, holding one another and watching their daughter sleep peacefully in the safety of her parent arms.

The End

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked the story and I would love to hear what you think. Many thanks again.