[b]Jessalyn, Ben - Baton Rouge - Tremblay, Kerry[/b]

Jess was silent the rest of the ride, not speaking to her captor the rest of the way no matter what he said. Nothing he had to say could change how angry she felt towards him. She spent the time focusing on Ben, trying to soothe him and get him to smile. The baby, although only a month old, could sense his mother's upset and that made him upset. The little one frowned a frown that would make Floyd proud.

Floyd... Jess rubbed Ben's head soothingly, pressing gentle kisses to him and murmuring softly as she saw Floyd's face in her mind's eye.
"He will come for us one day," she murmured to her baby. "He will come, and he will love us, and keep us safe. I swear. He will come."
--
Once the van finally stopped she could hear the sound of people talking and moving about. It reminded her of Haywood a bit. She said a quick prayer that the leader of this place was not like Bruce or Robert had been.
Her kidnapper got out and started talking to another man, leaving her and Ben alone in the van. Ben started to fuss, working his way up to crying. Jess rocked him and tried to quiet him. They needed to draw as little attention to themselves as possible.

The door was suddenly opened and Jess immediately braced herself to be grabbed and yanked out of the van, unconsciously hugging Ben more tightly against her.
The man was good-looking, but Bruce had been good-looking too...
She stared at him, trying to decide what game he was playing. He acted... civil... like she was there for a visit instead of having been forced here against her will.
"Jessalyn," she finally answered quietly, tensing when she saw one of the men standing behind him was the one that had tried to take her baby from her. Ben let out a wail, not loud but enough to affect anyone standing around the van that didn't have a heart of stone. It was a pitiful cry.
"Shh," Jess murmured, kissing his forehead. "Ben... shh... I'm here... Mommy's here... shh..." she tried to soothe him as she looked at the man with a mixture of bravado and fear, daring him to take her baby but terrified that he would actually try to do so. "What do you want with us? Take us back. Please. All of my supplies for him are back at the house."

As she waited for him to either answer her or pull her out of the van, Jess thought about her group. Had Turisa and Leah noticed her capture? Had Abram and Samantha returned? Would they look for her? Or would they just continue on their way?