Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Kudos and BBC. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Found Hope's offices were located about ten minutes from Thames House, in a small nondescript office building located just behind the main thoroughfare. As Alexa entered the office, two women looked up and waved at her. She made her way through the row of shelves that contained brochures and pamphlets detailing resources available to victims of human trafficking, as well as a box of donated clothing that overflowed with thick coats and hand knitted scarves.

She slipped into her office and closed the door behind her. Except for the requisite office furniture that included a table, some chairs and a shelf of books, her office was bare. Since establishing the foundation a year before and obtaining funding through her father's contacts as well as the good samaritans she attracted through her interviews and talks, Alexa had shifted to a less visible role, preferring to be a non-voting board member thus distancing herself from the machinations of running and maintaining a foundation.

She was proud of Found Hope. Though it was small and so unlike the large foundations that dominated the charity circles, Found Hope was more rooted to something much simpler. Much of the foundation's funds went to the workers, usually former victims themselves, who visited the shelters and institutions, performing outreach and awareness. They provided referrals to traditional and alternative healing professionals who donated their services for free one day a month at a local gymnasium owned by a local private school, as well as psychological counseling.

It had grown into something Alexa herself could no longer keep up with, and she was grateful to be able to simply work behind the scenes, talking to individuals about the foundation and quietly raising money for her cause.

She usually spent a few hours at the office making and returning phone calls that involved fundraising, awareness and the usual small talk that organization and institutional leaders often made when it came to making sure that their organizations or businesses got ample return on their investments when they partnered with Found Hope. Like them, Alexa had perfected the art of negotiation.

Alexa was returning the last of the phone calls listed on her message book when someone tapped on the door and Nadia poked her head in.

"It's almost six, Miss George," she said in her heavily accented English. "We're leaving. Do you want us to lock the door for you?"

Alexa nodded. "Yes, Nadia. Please do."

Nadia had begun working at Found Hope two months earlier. She came from the small town of Kashin, located five hours from Moscow. She'd been offered a job in England as a singer but found out too late that there had been no such job available for her other than that of a prostitute who serviced clients in a five-bedroom house in a South London neighborhood she had never been able to explore on her own.

The traffickers had confiscated her passport, forcing her to work for eight months as a prostitute, before the the police raided the club four months earlier. Since then, she'd gone through rehab for drug dependency as a result of her imprisonment and two months ago, after meeting her at a women's shelter, Alexa had hired her and helped her get her immigration issues settled by sponsoring her as an employee.

As much as Alexa detested her father's influence, she was not above using it for her own ends. It had taken a quick luncheon with one of her father's old friends, and within two weeks, Nadia Ravin's paperwork was underway. In less than six weeks, she was a legal resident.

Alexa looked at her message book and sighed. One more call, she thought, and then she was done. Besides, she had no desire to come home to an empty house just yet. As she punched in the numbers on the phone, Alexa wondered what Liam would be doing now. Probably finishing up the last of his homework before dinner would be served at the dining hall, she thought.

She remembered how Liam had been so scared when he learned that he had to live at St. Barnabas and not be able to come home to her every day. At first, whenever he was around Harry, Liam seemed excited, running ahead of them as the three of them toured the school. But by the time the realization had hit him the Sunday before school started, Liam cried, begging Alexa that he would be good from now on and do as he was told. He would clean his room and do his chores.

Alexa had told him that he was just like the little boy who had to go Hogwarts, where he would learn all there was to learn about magic. Only at St. Barnabas, he'd learn much more than magic. He would learn about the world, the countries that lay outside England, and so much more. And he would get to play with other boys his age, and together they'd tell each other stories and play their video games and when the weather was good, he'd learn how to play rugby, his favorite sport.

Alexa closed the spreadsheet window on her computer screen and pulled up her personal folder. She clicked it and the screen lit up to reveal Liam's smiling face, two teeth missing as he smiled broadly, holding up a few bills that the tooth fairy had left under his pillow. The picture faded to be replaced by another one of Liam, and this time Alexa was in the picture with him and together they were sitting by the Christmas tree, opening presents.

Alexa found herself smiling, the photos fading in and out of the screen as she begun the screensaver program. Suddenly, she was no longer in any mood to talk to anyone. Alexa hung up the phone and leaned back against the backrest. She swiveled the chair to face the window which had a fantastic view of the alley with all its trash barrels all lined up against the wall. So much for cheap rent, she thought to herself as she got up and closed the blinds.

Outside, night had fallen over London and still, Alexa did not want to go home to her empty house without Liam.

After returning to London nine years earlier, Alexa had been subjected to a battery of tests including a forensic medical exam to determine any sexual assault, something Alexa thought was so ironic considering where she'd been for the last six months. But it was protocol and so she endured the physical and psychological testing required of her and three weeks later, when she found herself throwing up her breakfast, she knew the one thing that all the tests had somehow missed.

She was six weeks pregnant.

"Do you know who the father is?" Nathaniel had demanded. But before she could answer, he added, "of course, you don't know it is. You were just some damn whore, a Russian plaything."

He'd tried everything in his power to convince her to get rid of the baby short of dragging her to the doctor, but nothing had worked. His insults had hurt her, but Alexa stood her ground, needing to clear her head and make a decision. Alexa would have an abortion, she told him, but not till she had thought it all out first and made some calculations of her own.

For three days, Alexa holed herself up in her room and wrote in a diary. She wrote everything she could remember of the seven months since disappearing in Paris, her memory still acute despite the drugs she had been forced to take. She wrote about Mikhael, the customers she had to service, the talks she'd overheard. She wrote about the things she had been forced to do, no matter how vile.

She wrote about her attempt to escape along with three other girls and how they had been so close to success only to be brought back by the police who turned out to be in Mikhael's pockets. Alexa wrote of the days of torture she had endured and what happened to the three girls - Nena, Alana, and Mora. Alexa had to commit their names on paper so she would never forget them. No matter how painful, Alexa wrote it all out till she ran out of paper. And tears. Always the tears.

She remembered everything, the memories spilling on paper, even after her fingers cramped from all the furious scribbling. And as she wrote on her diary, Alexa added and subtracted, multiplied and estimated in relation to the calendar she had tucked within its pages. She wanted to account for all the days as much as she could remember them.

And when she finally finished writing it all down, she made her decision.

"I'm keeping this baby," She told Nathaniel as he sat in his study. "There's nothing you can do or say that will make me change my mind."

But by then, it had not mattered to Nathaniel anymore. Her father had given up fighting Alexa. He had resigned to the fact that his daughter was damaged goods, something he had overheard his colleagues saying while having lunch with Harry that day. And there was nothing he or anyone could do about it for they were all right.

Alexa was damaged goods.

The sound of the door opening in the outer office jarred Alexa to her senses and she sprung up from the chair, almost tripping over the chair legs. She stood with her back to the wall, listening as the front door closed, the lock clicking.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall, horrified to see that it was past nine in the evening. She could have sworn that she had heard the girls lock the door behind them. She remembered hearing the faint sound of the key turning in the lock just after they had shut the door.

Yet somehow she knew that she could be wrong. She had been too distracted to pay attention to any of them today. With her back hugging the wall, Alexa made her way towards the door to her office, her hands searching for something to protect herself with. The only light in the room came from the laptop, the screensaver still running though it faced away from the door.

She heaved a sigh of relief when her hand touched something hard. Alexa's fingers curled around the handle of a cricket bat, remembering when Nadia had brought it in just two weeks earlier, declaring that it was necessary to ward off the "crazy people" who had come in unannounced that day. Alexa wished she could have told Nadia that those "crazy people" were simply reporters who had wanted to interview Alexa for something she had said at conference just to see the look on the girl's face, but she didn't.

At this moment, Alexa was just grateful for the bat being right where she needed it.

Alexa's heart pounded inside her chest. She heard the footsteps approaching her office and she held her breath, the bat poised above her head as she stood behind the door. The footsteps stopped and Alexa listened as the intruder began to turn the doorknob, opening the door slowly. The silence in those moments threatened to overcome Alexa, a deafening roar building up in her ears.

Alexa did not wait for the door to completely open. She swung the bat towards the dark shape that moved towards her and hit something hard. Yes! her mind cheered, and she raised the bat again.

The intruder shouted in pain as the bat struck him on the arm but before Alexa could hit him again, he lunged towards her, tackling Alexa to the floor. Suddenly, Alexa panicked. She wanted to scream but nothing emerged from her lips. Alexa kicked and punched, not caring what she was hitting as long as she was hitting something.

The fear grew till it took over her entire being, and Alexa barely heard anything else but the roaring sound in her ears, the feeling of coldness seeping into her bones. She was afraid she would pass out, all the while her arms and legs continued their assault on the man who towered over her.

The intruder yelled at her, calling out her name but Alexa didn't hear him. She continued hitting him with her fists, elbows, knees and legs - anything - till he pinned her onto the floor with his body, his hands gripping her wrists and slamming them down to the floor till tears sprung in her eyes.

"Alexa, stop!"

Alexa stared at him, her eyes slowly getting accustomed to the semi-darkness. She saw his eyes, gray-blue eyes that glared back at her, his breath coming out in gasps.

"It's me," Lucas said. "Alexa, it's me."

Suddenly the adrenaline that hit her those last few minutes dissipated and Alexa's body became limp beneath him. She didn't realize how scared she had been, how she had panicked, and how, in her fear Alexa had seen only one face coming at her again and again.

In the darkness, Alexa could have sworn that Mikhael Lubienko had come back for her. She burst into tears.

"Oh my god," she whispered again and again, her mind finally registering Lucas' face above her. "Oh my god, Lucas. I thought you were--"

"Shh," Lucas said softly, releasing her wrists and bringing his arms around her as her body racked with sobs beneath him. He held her in his arms, bringing her face to his chest, feeling the tears wet against his neck.

"It's just me."

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