Can't Save Me

The Epilogue

Grant

"Where's your mama, huh?" I asked the little, wrinkly mound of dog dozing in my lap. Freya was supposed to be Maddie's, but somehow, two weeks after we brought her home, the little thing wouldn't leave my side. Which, I guess was alright, considering Odin had all but completely abandoned me for my girlfriend.

The traitor.

I thought back over the last month as I scratched the little French bulldog's head. It'd been just over five weeks since I got to bring Maddie home, and exactly a month since she'd officially moved into my place.  She'd been very apprehensive about it to begin with, but when her mother started mentioning moving back to her childhood home in Maine, Maddie was adamant that she didn't want to join her. Truth be told, I thought Lydia moving in with her sister was her way of making sure Maddie could focus on healing, and that we could really move forward in our relationship. She'd all but told me so on numerous occasions, along with the fact that she missed Maine and missed her family. Maddie and I had already been to visit a couple of times. Lydia was in good spirits and liked the fact that she was able to help at the small-town grocery store her family had always run. It seemed to give her a purpose. The elder Baker was brighter, more excited about life and that seemed to help improve her MS, to at least some degree.  That right there was enough to make Madeline happy with the transition. At thirty, she'd never NOT lived with her mother, she'd never NOT taken care of her, so she struggled giving up the reigns a bit. She was nervous about not being there for every little thing, but both Lydia and her aunt assured her that they would be fine, that she didn't need to carry every responsibility, every time and now it seemed that she had settled into living her own life, our life, like any thirty-year-old would. She quit dancing at the club, and took a more permanent position at the restaurant, stepping up as our Front of House manager. She and Mike got along great and worked well together, and let's be honest: it gave me more of a reason to be present, which meant Mike was no longer handling everything himself. Everyone was definitely happier.

Madeline was gradually returning to the girl she was before the kidnapping. She was happy, bubbly, and sassy as all get out, but the dark veil of what had happened seemed to be growing lighter by the day. She'd started therapy the week after Thanksgiving, and even in only three weeks, I could tell that it was helping. I could see it in the way she carried herself. She was slowly but surely going back at the girl that knocked me straight on my ass that first night at the Garnet Lounge. She was happier, brighter, more perfect than ever, and I fell more in love with her every single day.

We'd talked to every detective and FBI agent within New Jersey at this point and attended Eva's arraignment. Of course, the wench decided to take things to trial instead of owning up to her actions, but we were ready. Eva was denied bail and would remain behind bars. Madeline was nervous, but prepared to testify, along with four of the other women that were saved that day. With any luck, the Ice Queen would never see the light of day again, and I knew Chuck, Agent Simmons and I would do everything in our power to make sure of it.

I grumbled a bit as I checked my watch. It was five-fifteen. Which wouldn't be a huge deal, except for the fact that it was Christmas Eve, and we were due to arrive at Danica's by six thirty. Maddie had bounced out of the house a few hours before, stating that she had some final Christmas errands to run, though what she had left to do was beyond me. My truck was already packed with gifts, over half of them for my two-week-old granddaughter who wouldn't even remember a second of this night, but who was I to say no? Not to Maddie, and surely not to my granddaughter.

Gwendolyn Rose Archer was already the apple of her grandad's eye, even if I wasn't quite used to anyone referring to me as "Grandpa" yet and my partner was way more of an aunt age than a step-grandma. Mama and baby had both aced her arrival and weren't even in the hospital a full two days. Maddie had absolutely thrown herself into helping Danica. She went back into full-on caretaker mode the second Dani and the baby got home. She'd cook meals, she'd clean, do laundry, take over tiny Gwennie when Dani needed a rest. She practically became their live-in nanny, which Dani didn't mind, but left me feeling a little left out. I'd have to drag her back home every night, just to take her back the next morning. In rare moments, it irked me, but mostly it just made me feel whole. Watching Madeline just fit into our family like a puzzle piece that had always been missing, just made me more certain that we were both right where we belonged.