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A/N: ok...as we've already said...we had lost some chapters...but found them...upon closer inspection we realized that we were missing just one little part...or so we think...and it was the second part to chapter 19...not much really...so heres the basis of it so you can get the next chapter...lol...nick pulls away from brain and realizes that the door is open a crack...realizes that bri won't be able to help him and decides he wants to find his wife....walks to the door and into hallway...ok...thats it...lol...now...for what you've been waiting for....and please remember to review! thanks...Jenn and Sara....

Chapter 20

"Jenn!" Nick called out, his voice full of fear. Fear of where his wife was. Fear of getting caught.

The only response to his call was the resounding of his own voice, echoing back to him.

His face twisted with anxiety and fatigue as the man looked at all the possibilities before him. he was standing at one end of the hallway, casting his eyes in every direction, trying to decide where to go first. Nick's paranoid mind created the sound of footsteps behind him and set him into action before he began to panic.

Turning to the left, the man found himself swallowing a lump in his throat as he now faced a hallway with several different doors lined on each wall. He was loosing time quickly and, opening his eyes, he breathed deep and began shaking the handles, and calling Jenn's name quietly.

Tears stung Nick's eyes as he realized that no matter how much he yelled for Jenn, she wouldn't respond. She couldn't. Those sons of bitches had already taken that from her.

From him.

There was no telling what else they were planning to steal. Their passion, their friends, their lives? The thoughts made Nick's stomach curdle. "Jenn!" The name left from his lips once more, this time with such desperation that he could almost feel the slits forming on his heart.

Nick reached the last door with every ounce of hope gone from his body. His wife could've been anywhere, even behind the doors he had already checked. She could be knocked out. She could be...

Tears spilled down his cheeks as his fingertips landed on the last knob. His heart was breathing loudly into his ears. Surely God wasn't going to take Jenn from him again. Nick couldn't make it this time. He couldn't raise their family by himself. "C'mon Jenn...you gotta be there." Hope was seeping back in.

But it left again when he found the door to be locked.

****

Jenn could do nothing about the hot burst of emotion pouring down her face. She had heard Nick jiggling the doorknob moments ago, calling her name. She had tried so hard to answer, give him any sign that she was there, but it burned so bad. The sting in her throat was slowly strangling her voice and her hands were becoming numb in the restraints that were tight around her wrists.

"Nick..." She whispered, with rasp taking the majority of the word. She couldn't take it anymore. She needed him to save her, to hold her. She was so damn scared of this place.

Jenn began to kick her feet at the end of the mattress and let out a breath as she realized that it was beginning to make quite a racket. "Please baby..."

****

Nick was taking his time walking back down the hallway. If they were going to get him, they might as well do it now. His emotions were tired, his heart was gone, he felt like a failure in every sense of the word. Returning to his place of doom, he felt for the walls to regain balance.

That's when he heard it. A sound he hadn't heart the first time he had come down. It was a creaking noise, a bed perhaps. Nick swallowed the sinking feeling that was rising to his throat and used his fingers to push himself away from the cold wall.

As soon as his body had left the wall, it hit the floor. His face twisted with pain that shot through his head. He was becoming so weak.

Slowly, Nick crawled towards the doors and decided which one that the sounds had been coming from. They were beginning to fade away and could only hope thatt Jenn wasn't fading with them. He grabbed the door knob and pulled himself up with it. "Jenn?" He yelled through the door. he no longer cared if he was caught. He didn't care about anything but finding his wife.

The sound stopped completely. Nick found his mind beginning to race as he banged on the door. "No." He cried. "Damn it! No!"

His fists hit the door faster than his mind could think. It was nothing short of a blessing when the lock popped open. Suddenly though, Nick felt his heart shaking in fear of what lie hidden behind that door.

****

Lori leaned her head back to rest on the back of the chair. This couldn't be how it was all going to end. Not like this. Five of her best friends, including her husband, had been taken from her. Now, the only security she had left in Kevin and Howie had been taken away from her in less than a half hour.

There was no aspect, in any one of their lives, that would ever be secure and safe again.
And Lori hated that. She hated it for AJ. She hated it for their child and Jenn and Sara's children as well. For all of them.

AJ's wife took his hand as a few teardrops fell onto his fingers and ran off of his fingernails, still painted black from weeks ago. Maybe it was better that he wasn't here for all of this. What would she tell him when he finally opened his eyes?

What scared her worse, was what he had to tell her.

****

"Shh, baby, I'm here now..." Nick soothed, finally being able to free Jenn's last tied up limb.

He had opened the door to find Jenn locked up in handcuffs to a table-like bed. The keys to each lock were hanging from the ceiling, dangling above her body, just out of reach. Nick had gotten them all down but, due to lack of nutrition and focus, it took him a while to match the keys with the locks. His heart was crumbling with every cry Jenn sobbed after his failed attempts.

Now, though, now things could be a little bit better. Surely, they had to be. He could protect her now, when she was in his arms, wrapped tightly. "You're going to be okay, Jenn."

"I love you Nick." Her voice was uncharacteristically low and shallow.

"I love you too, baby." Nick's lips pressed against Jenn's forehead as his fingers ran through her sweaty strands of hair. "I'm so sorry I couldn't find you sooner."

Once again, a familiar quivering finger quieted his blubbering lips. The silence that fluttered into the room after that shot him with a bit of reality and he knew he had to get Jenn away from this room. Somewhere safe...wherever that was. Nick was going to find it and he was going to put his wife there, his heart and soul safe with hers.

Standing on wobbly legs, Nick Carter gathered Jenn into his hungry arms and headed for the door, fearing that precious time was creeping up on him. Sneaking around the corner to take his whole world away.

The world that he held so close to him now. The world that's breath was beginning to become more and more shallow. Nick began to pick up his pace down the hallway. It wasn't until he was halfway down the one way that he realized he might be going the wrong way. Both ways were identical...and his mind wouldn't work quick enough to reveal if he was right or wrong.

Looking down into the eyes of his wife, Nick found that he was her only hope. His lip quivered. All of this, and Jenn still held on to that unending hope that things were going to be okay. Nick's mind began to swirl with too many thoughts at once, his body responding tot he overload. He fell hopelessly against the wall once more, feeling his back scrape against the concrete. "Damn it." He cursed. Nick now realized how shaky his body was becoming, how dizzy his head felt. It was over for him.
Not for Jenn though, he was going to make sure that she was kept safe. "Baby," He whispered, smoothing her hair back and bringing her face closer to his. "I'm going to keep you safe, alright? But you have to be strong for me."

He could feel Jenn's tears soaking the skin of his shoulder. "No...don't cry, Jenn. We're going to fight it. Don't cry..." His voice cracked. She wasn't going to let him out of this game as much as he wasn't going to let her.

"I love you, Nickolas," Jenn caressed his cheek with a cool hand, her eyes seeming to take a photograph of his face, taking in everything about it. Nick knew what she was doing and after a few seconds, he shrugged her hand away.

"Don't you do that, Jennifer. Don't act like this is the end. You're not going to die here...you're going to go home after this...with our kids...and you're going to live a happy life..." He shook her gently to emphasize the meaning of his words. Maybe even to try and convince her that it was the truth.

"With you..." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, seemingly to convince him of her words as well. "I need you, Carter."

His tears fell onto her shirt. "I need you too." He sniffed and looked up. "Don't worry, we'll make it." Closing his eyes, Nick mentally tried to gather enough strength to bring himself up off of the floor.

And he might had made it...if he hadn't heard that familiar voice just a little ways down from where they were.

"PLEASE STOP...please..." The voice was weak. Broken. Tired. Not at all like Nick was used to hearing it.

The voice belonged to Kevin Richardson.