When Walker returned in the morning he did not have Avery, Mackie and Zoe with him. He did come with messages from Stephen Spielberg and his wife Kate Cashew with him. Walker explained that when he had called Mr. Spielburg with the news, he and his wife had been relieved and excited that Taylor was safe. Kate Cashew Spielberg had insisted that she be allowed to care for the younger children to relive the family of the stress of keeping the younger children occupied in the hospital. She was between movies and the Spielberg’s had two nanny’s to assist with their own hectic schedules and their own seven children. Adding several more temporarily to their household was no problem. Walker had taken the children over to their estate early in the morning and Avery and Mackie were quite happy to play with the other children. Kate took one look at Zoe and she was instantly taken with the beautiful child. Jessica had chosen not to stay wanting to return to the hospital. Walker kissed his children and knowing they were in good hands and safe left to return to the hospital. The Spielbergs promised to bring them to the hospital later that evening so they could visit with their mother a short time before going home.

When Walker and Jessica entered the hospital they went in through the emergency entrance to avoid any hovering press people. Walker carried a suitcase full of clean clothing and personal items for his wife and sons.

Diana, Ike and Zac took turns showering and cleaning up for the day. It would be another long day of waiting and watching.

At one point Walker collared his sons, took them aside and demanded a full, detailed, ‘don’t leave out one detail’ explanation of their involvement in finding their brother. Ike took on most of the responsibility of relaying the story. Zac interrupted and added a few details here and there when he felt it was necessary. When they finished Walker gave them a lecture, but to Ike it sounded very much like what Captain Willis had said to him before. Half of their Dads concern was about putting themselves in danger and the other half was that he was proud of them for doing it.

Ike came back from a walk to stretch his legs to find Zac and Jes sitting in the hallway.

As far as Ike knew it was the first time Zac had left the room.

"What’s up?"

"Dentist," Zac said bluntly and shuttered.

Ike grinned. Zac’s aversion to dentists was legendary.

"They came in with two huge carts full of drills and stuff," Jessica elaborated.

Zac shuttered again.

"Why don’t you guys take a walk with me. I found something really cool," Ike suggested.

Zac and Jessica both looked up with interest. Ike popped his head through the door and informed his parents that his siblings were with him and then escorted them down the hall to the elevator.

"Did you find a video arcade or a Pizza Hut?" Zac asked.

"Neither," Ike said mysteriously until the elevator stopped on the eighth floor.

They stepped off on the maternity floor and Ike lead them to the nursery.

"Babies?" Zac exclaimed in disgust.

"Oh, Ike. Look they are so cute!" Jessica exclaimed peering through the window.

"Look at that one," Ike pointed. "Look at all that black hair."

Jessica and Zac both looked and grinned. Zac would protest out of habit, but he really liked babies. They spent a few minutes admiring the little miniature people. A nurse came out and asked them if there was a particular baby they wanted to see and when they admitted that they didn’t know any of the babies personally she asked them to leave.

Ike didn’t really care. His intention had been to keep his brother and sister busy and he had succeeded.

The dentist fixed Taylor’s tooth and left them with the advice to see their own personal dentist when he returned home. After the dentist left they settled in for the rest of the long day. The rehabilitation therapist came in and stretched Taylor’s arms and legs out, a procedure that the family repeated almost hourly to prevent his muscles from shortening. 

The third day of Taylor drug induced coma was the same as the first and second. No one could pry Diana or Zac from Taylor’s bedside. Walker, Ike and Jessica came and went repeatedly giving themselves a break from the vigil and running errands for food and drinks. Zac was so bored that at one point he was caught playing Avie’s electronic Potato Head, that she’d accidentally left behind. The family spent much of their time reading or writing and drawing. Zac had filled a notebook with his sketches. Jessica spent a lot of her time reading and writing in her journal.

The family had come to realize that the only way they could get Zac out of room was to bribe him with food. That evening Walker asked Ike to take his sibling down to the cafeteria for dinner. Left in the room alone, husband and wife spent a few private moments with their son together.

Taylor stirred and pulled his body into an almost fetal position. With his hands cupped together he started banging lightly on the metal bed rail. This was an unconscious motion that he repeated periodically.

Diana covered his hands with her own to prevent him from reinjuring his wrists that were just beginning to heal.

"Why does he keep doing this?" Diana cried. "He’s going to hurt himself."

Walker gave his wife a hug and shifted so he was at the end of the bed.

"He thinks he’s still tied up," Walker said pulling his sons' legs out and stretching them as they had been taught.

"Walker what have we done?" Diana cried. "We’ve put our children in danger. We’ve allowed them to become targets."

"Honey, we had no idea what was going to happen. Remember Mercury’s early warnings. ‘Don’t get your hopes too high. This is not the sort of music that’s selling right now,’ " he quoted. "We were hoping a half a million sales at most. We couldn’t have held them back once it started. The boys have loved every minute of it."

"I am not going to put my children lives in jeopardy. I’m taking them home, to Tulsa, where it’s safe."

"Diana calm down please," Walker said soothingly. "Tulsa may be home, but it’s no safer from wacko’s than Los Angeles. When Tay recuperates we’ll talk to him. See how he feels about it. See how they all feel about it, now that this has happened. I know your instinct is to protect them, but our boys aren’t so little anymore and we have to let them make their own decisions. Well, at least some of them anyway."

There was a light knock on the door and Taylor’s doctor came in. He took his patients' vitals signs and read the chart statistics. Then he started to remove one of the IV’s.

"I’m removing the medicine that is causing the coma. He’ll have a good night’s sleep and he should wake up sometime tomorrow."

"When tomorrow?" Zac asked from the doorway.

The doctor looked around to see the three siblings enter the room. "When, Taylor wakes up is more up to him than me," he explained. "As soon as he starts rousing, talk to him. Try to get his attention."

Zac lined up three Dr. Peppers up on the window ledge, setting them on the air conditioning vent. This was his liquid reinforcements for the night. The nurses were real cool about supplying him with cups of ice and coffee for Ike and his Mom.

Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow Taylor would wake up. After the minimal argument from his parents to talk him into going home, Zac settled into his lounge chair. The nurses found another lounge chair for Ike. Diana spent most of her nights sitting beside Taylor until the very early hours of morning. Then he or Ike would wake up and insist on her lying down for some rest.

The first night, he and Ike had been scared. Ike had reassured him though, saying that at least Taylor in a hospital bed was an improvement over a missing Taylor. It was an improvement. Still scary, but better.

Ike finished his turn of physical therapy; and set the alarm on his watch. He put an extra blanket over his brother because the hospital room was freezing cold and wrapped one around his mother. They were all wearing winter clothing but it didn’t seem to help at all against the air conditioning. Then he stretched out himself to get some rest.

The next sound he heard was his watch beeping. It was four a.m. He got up and shook his mother slightly. "Mom, go lie down," Ike suggested gently and he took his place as she took his chair.

Taking his mother’s chair and leaning against the side of the bed, Ike put his head down on the mattress and drifted off to sleep again. He woke up with a start as he felt fingers in his hair. Expecting the fingers to belong to his mother, Ike leaned back and realized that his mother was still in the chair asleep. His eyes jerked back to the bed to find Taylor with his eyes open.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Drink," Taylor mouthed.

Ike poured him a glass of water and tilted a straw in his direction and let him drink.

Taylor pulled away when he’d had enough.

Ike stepped away from the bed quickly and touched his mother. "Mom,"

Diana’s eyes flew open.

"Tay’s awake," Ike explained but she was already on her way to his bedside.

Zac’s eyes jerked open and he fought his way out of the blankets and stumbled over to the bed.

"Honey, you are okay," Diana said gently.

Taylor nodded his head voiced some words but no sound came out. He tried against and frustrated he lifted his hand and she caught it in her own and squeezed it.

Ike had buzzed the nurse’s station and the night nurse hustled into the room. 

The nurse stepped in close and the two brothers had to back off to give her room. Quickly scanning the monitors she checked his eyes and pulse.

"Nice to see you’ve decided to rejoin us. Don’t try to talk yet. Your throat will be sore but that’s perfectly normal. By tomorrow you’ll be speaking fairly normal. I know you just woke up but don’t fight the sleep. Okay?"

Taylor nodded slightly and began to take notice of his surrounding.

"Hey, bro!" Zac said, slipping back to the edge of the bed.

Taylor’s eyes moved over to his brothers and he almost smiled and then he blinked several times and closed his eyes again to sleep.

Diana leaned over and kissed her son’s forehead. 

"He’s gone back to sleep, why don’t you two try getting a couple more hours. I’m going to call your father."

"Mom, it’s four in the morning," Ike reminded his mother.

Zac picked up the hand his mother had been holding. "Why don’t you take my chair," he offered to Ike. "I’ll sit up with him now."

Ike nodded but stood holding his brothers hand until his Mom returned. Then he relinquished his place for her.

In the next several hours Taylor aroused several times. He’d try to whisper a few words, take a drink and then drift off again. When the sun came up, the strong beams of light crossed his face and he jerked awake. He opened his eyes and squinted in the bright light and his eyes teared up.

Ike moved to shift the blinds but when he closed them, Taylor protested. "No!" the words rasped out hoarsely in panic. "I want to see."

"Honey the light is too strong for your eyes," Diana explained soothingly as she wiped the tears from his face.

"I don’t care," Taylor whispered looking directly out the window. "I didn’t think I’d see light again,"

Zac rummaged in his book bag and bought out a pair of aviator sunglasses and slipped them on his brothers face. "There you go. Problem solved."

Everyone smiled at Zac’s solution but they didn’t try to close the blinds again. Within an hour the sun had risen enough that the light was more defused and Taylor was able to remove them glasses.

Walker arrived with the younger children and the family assembled around the bed and had a private prayer. This time Taylor was aware of it, lightly gripping one of each of his parents hands. One by one the younger children greeted their brother. Avery was the only one to burst into tears.

"Sweetie, don’t cry," Walker exclaimed hugging his daughter.

"Avie," Taylor rasped out and his little sister leaned over the bed. Taylor shifted in the bed, a major movement that startled everyone but he didn’t seem to notice."

"Let her sit up here," Taylor raised his arm, still attached to his IV and indicated the space he’d vacated. 

Walker lifted his little sister up and Avie snuggled into the space at his side. Taylor closed his arm around her in a hug.

"It’s okay, baby," Taylor whispered. "Tears are okay, just don’t drown me."

Avie hiccuped and giggled and was quite happy to remain by her bother’s side.

The more time Taylor was awake the more alert he became. He’d shut his eyes occasionally but those moments weren’t for very long.

When the doctor came in at ten he was pleased to see his patient awake. He stepped over to the bed and pressed his stethoscope to Avie’s chest.

"I’m not sick!" the little girl protested.

"Oh, I thought you were my new patient," the doctor teased. Seriously he turned to adults. "Could the family leave for a few minutes. I need to examine your son. The cafeteria is open."

"Bring me some food," Taylor rasped.

"No," the doctor objected. "If you’re hungry that’s good, but you’ve not ready for solids yet. Sorry."

"Why is my voice and throat so sore?" Taylor asked. "Are my vocal cords damaged?"

"They shouldn’t be, we had to put a tube down your throat to feed you for two days. The raspy feeling will probably be gone by tomorrow if you keep drinking a lot of fluids. I wouldn’t suggest singing for a week or so. You’ll be on liquids today. Protein drinks, Jell-O maybe some soup later. If you sneak a hamburger, you’ll regret it. Your stomach is not ready." The doctor checked him over and read the medical charts.

"I’m going to have a nurse come in and take some blood and fluid levels. When we get the labs back maybe we can remove some of this hardware," the doctor conditionally promised.

"When can I go home?" Taylor asked.

"Not for a couple of days, so don’t pester me," The doctor warned sternly. "Taylor you’ve made a remarkable recovery so far, don’t push. Your body needs time to rebuild. For someone to go as long as you did without food and water without kidney or renal shutdown is amazing."

"I did have water," Taylor said with his whispery rasp. "I busted through a pipe with my shoulder to get at a drip of water. It took a long time, but it was worth it."

"That explains the broken collar bone and the bruises on your shoulder," the doctor said thoughtfully. "You’re right, it was worth it. That drip probably saved your life."

"So, I’m not in as bad a shape as you thought?" Taylor questioned hopefully.

"You need a couple more days of our care. When it’s time I’ll personally throw you out," the doctor promised. "Agreed?"

Taylor nodded and the doctor left. A few minutes later a nurse came in and began the process of taking blood samples. Taylor submitted without complaint and found that he was having a hard time staying awake.

"Did you give me something to make me sleepy?" he accused.

The nurse patted his arm. "No, that’s just your body telling you that you need some rest. Don’t fight it. Sleep is going to be your best friend for the next several days. It’s one of the best healers."

By the time the nurse allowed the family back in the room her patient was sound asleep.

"Is Tay sick again?" a worried Avery whined.

"No," the nurse assured the eight-year-old. "But, your brother needs to rest. He’ll be fine when he wakes up." Then she turned and addressed his parents. "If he sleeps through breakfast hold the tray. He needs to start eating today."

When Taylor woke up his whole family was crowded into his room. His Mom and Dad rose immediately to come to his side meaning they were watching him closely.

Walker filled up a glass of water and held the straw to his mouth and let him drink.

"How do you feel, son?"

"Actually pretty good," Taylor responded a little surprised. His headache was gone and his voice although a little raspy was stronger.

"Dad, I’m sorry," Taylor apologized.

Walker looked startled. "Whatever for?"

Taylor shrugged. "For all this. I didn’t see them coming Dad. I’ve put everyone through all this worry."

"Son, you didn’t do anything wrong," Walker emphasized. "We’re just thankful that you’re safe and well. The FBI wants to talk to you as soon as you feel up to it."

"Sure, but I’m not sure what I can tell them," Taylor admitted. "I don’t remember much."

"Tell them what you can," Walker said with a smile. He opened up a Jell-O pack and stuck a plastic spoon in it. "The sooner you start eating the sooner you’ll get out of here."

Taylor groped around for the bed remote and pushed the button to rise. He reached for the Jell-O.

Taylor spent some individual time with every member of his family. The nurse returned and disconnected all the monitors and the Decatur. He’d made his first shaky trip to the bathroom by leaning heavily on his father but it was a major accomplishment. He was still connected to an IV so he had to drag it along for the ride.

By late afternoon Taylor’s condition was very much improved. He was devouring Jell-O cups and seriously complaining about being hungry. The nurses allowed him some soup and milk and more Jell-O.

The doctor came by later that afternoon and he was pleased by his patient’s progress in eating and he personally filled out the breakfast menu for his patient promising him scrambled eggs and oatmeal.

Taylor was feeling much better. When his father came in said the FBI wanted to speak to him he agreed.

Captain Willis wanted the interview to be one-on-one. But, as usual the Hanson’s were not cooperating. Taylor wanted his mother and father present.

Captain Willis asked a lot of questions but Taylor wasn’t able to supply many answers. Since he’d been blindfolded from the beginning, all his answers were based on what he heard and there were large gaps in his memories.

"This third person that you heard. Can you give me anything on him?"

"Other than being male, no. I heard voices but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Sorry."

Captain Willis looked up from his notepad. "Basically, what you’re telling me is that once you were taken hostage and taken to the house, they never came back."

"That’s right," Taylor confirmed. "I heard voices for a couple of days, footsteps against the floor. That’s all, then nothing."

"Okay. I guess that’s it," Captain Willis exclaimed. "He held out his hand for a handshake. "I hope you continue to improve. Mr. Hanson I’ll be contacting you later."

Taylor watched the man leave with dismay.

"Dad, he didn’t tell me anything."

"That wasn’t his intention," Walker admitted. "The FBI really fouled up on this case. Captain Willis wasn’t in charge at first, an Agent Curtis was, and he didn’t believe you were really kidnapped."

"Then how did they find me?"

"Why don’t I let Ike and Zac explain all that to you. I think you need to know what really happened," Walker said with a grin. Walker and Diana left the room smiling.

Taylor was just confused.

"Hey bro, Dad says you’re a little confused," Ike said coming into the room.

"I think it’s his blond roots, showing again," Zac joked.

"Hey," Taylor protested. "Mess with me and I’ll get you thrown out of this swanky joint."

"Threats, I’m sooo... scared,"

"Zac," Ike said with a warning in his voice as he watched his brother climb up and plop down on the end of bed. He turned to Taylor. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything!" Taylor exclaimed. "It’s all a blank to me. I just remember bits and pieces."

"Okay. We’ll start at the beginning," Ike suggested. "When you were paged by the studio we thought you’d be right back but you didn’t come back. So, we thought you were filming a scene, but then they paged you again..." Ike took his brother step by step through the whole search process.

Taylor listened intently as the details of his own kidnapping and recovery were explained to him.

Zac interrupted his brother repeated when he thought that Ike wasn’t giving enough details or was skipping over his role in their investigation.

"Bulldozers!" Taylor exclaimed a wry smile. "I thought it was an earthquake."

Ike and Zac laughed at his discovery.

"You should have seen Ike," Zac exclaimed. "He ran the Blazer right into the bulldozer. It was awesome."

Taylor looked over at his brother with respect. "You could have gotten hurt."

"I couldn’t think of anything else at the time," Ike said dismissing it. "Let me finish."

Ike picked up the story and continued giving credit to Nancy and Mason and Tony and all the whole construction crew for their part in the rescue.

"You should have heard him," Zac exclaimed jumping back in the conversation towards the end of the explanation with his eyes glowing with pride. "Ike told the FBI to shove it. That if they hadn’t been sitting on their hands with their thumbs up their asses we wouldn’t have had to find you. He was awesome!"

"Wow," Taylor breathed looking at his older brother and then at his younger brother with a new respect. "Wow. You guys saved my life."

"You would have done the same," Ike said and Zac nodded his head in agreement.

"I have some questions but I have to go in there first," Taylor said motioning his head towards the bathroom. The trouble with taking in so many liquids was that at least part of them had to come back out again. Ike helped him out of bed and when he was sure he was steady on his feet, Taylor made the trip on his own.

Once he was back in his hospital bed he started firing questions at his brothers.

"So how did you make the connection better Larry and his sister and her boyfriend."

"It was the only lead we had," Ike said shrugging. "We were lucky."

"Okay that was luck, but what about these ‘messages’ you think I sent you. No offense, but I don’t think I’m physic," Taylor exclaimed skeptically.

Ike shrugged again and looked to Zac to field that question.

"Ike didn’t believe either but you did send them," Zac declared with an unshakable conviction. "That’s how we knew you were still alive!"

"But, Zac I didn’t send them," Taylor protested.

"Maybe you did when you were asleep or something," Zac explained. "We can’t explain it either, but we both hard them."

Looking at his brother who seemed unshakable, Taylor just agreed because he knew he wasn’t going to shake his brother’s belief.

"So did you get in trouble for stealing the FBI files?"

Ike grinned. "It’s a little hard for them to charge us when they weren’t doing their job very well. The FBI doesn’t want this made public any more than we do, so they get the credit and we keep our mouths shut."

"Nobody knows," Taylor questioned with disbelief. "How did you manage that?"

"You’ve in the hospital for a ruptured appendix," Zac explained with a grin. "So that means you can’t ever have it out for real, cause we’d get caught in a lie."

Taylor leaned back against his pillow and looked amused and very tired.

"I need to thank so many people," Taylor declared.

"Tomorrow," Ike said. "No visitors outside the family were allowed today, and the way they kept looking at us I think they thought we were borrowing kids. Tomorrow you can start having visitors and there a long list of people waiting to see you." 

Ike signaled Zac to get off the bed. "I think you’re tired and probably could use some rest now."

"Don’t baby me, Ike," Taylor warned although his voice didn’t carry the force of his words.

"Wouldn’t think of it," Ike exclaimed. "The faster we get you out of here the faster we can put you back to work."

Taylor chuckled but then his eyes flew open.

"What happened to production and our schedule?" he wailed.

"We’re on hold," Zac explained. "Phil shutdown production on the movie indefinitely. Phil and Stephen will be probably visit tomorrow."

"Mr. Spielberg?" Taylor mumbled unable to hide his sudden lack of energy.

"Dad calls him Steven now," Zac informed his brother with a smirk. "And, Mackie and Avie call Kate Capshaw, Miss Katie. She’s been baby-sitting."

"Wow," Taylor whispered almost inaudible.

Ike and Zac were almost to the door when Taylor opened his eyes again.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Yeah?" Ike questioned pulling Zac back through the doorway.

"Thanks, I love you," Taylor mumbled and he drifted off to sleep.

Zac punched Ike in the shoulder "I wish I had that on tape. We could use it for blackmail later."

Ike gave his brother’s hair a rough yank and looked back over his shoulder. "I just don’t want to ever see him look like he did when they pulled him out. That haunts me."

Zac lost his cocky grin and turned serious for a second. "Ike, we got there in time. Isn’t it weird that he doesn’t remember much."

"Maybe that’s for the best," Ike said.

"Maybe," Zac mumbled. "Hey, Ike do you know you’re my hero/"

"Shut up, Zac!" Ike snarled and pushed his laughing brother out the door.