This is my first Without A Trace fan fic, so please be kind. I know nothing about the dealings of the FBI Missing Persons division beyond what I see on the show, so please don't read this looking for real to life situations!

I own none of the FBI characters, but Stacie, Maggie and their friends are all my creation.

This fic is actually based on the Crossing Jordan episode called "Murder in the Rue Morgue", but I am revamping it to make it into a missing persons case. I hope I do it justice!

Chapter One - Maggie

The group of giggling teenage girls walked down the hallway of their high school like they owned the place. And for all intents and purposes, they did. They were some of the best and brightest that Manhattan had to offer...smart, funny, dedicated, beautiful girls. The world was full of open possibilities...all they had to do was reach out and grab whatever it was they wanted. And they knew it.

"So, then, what was the answer to number 18? I thought that was..." One of the girls, a petite blond with big green eyes and an easy smile, began asking before being interrupted by her friend, Kasie.

"Maggie, chill out girl! The test is over and we are free!"

"Yeah, Mags, leave it alone! We all know you aced it. I don't even know why old man D'Angelo made you take that test. You're pulling a perfect score in his class." A second one of her girlfriends put her arm around Maggie's shoulder and pulled her close, forcing a reluctant smile to come to Maggie's lips.

"I don't know, Jen. I practically fell asleep studying last night and you know logic is not my strongest..." Maggie began, only to be cut off again.

"Don't stress, Mags. You did great. You know it. We know it. Mr. D'Angelo knows it." Kasie's blue eyes twinkled as she turned around to walk backwards so she could see Maggie and Jen walking behind her. "And now we celebrate with a few mocha javas and some homemade pie from The Coffee Connection."

"Before the next round of studying begins." Tricia, walking next to Kasie, mumbled. "God, I hate mid-term exams."

They pushed open the doors of the school's main entrance and walked out into the brilliance of the New York City afternoon. "Seriously," Jen remarked, digging through her bag for her sunglasses, "it's October in New York City! The leaves are turning, the air is crisp and cool, and the Yankees are kicking butt in the playoffs. How can we possibly be expected to spend our every waking moment studying?"

"It's a government conspiracy." Kasie remarked, finally turning around and walking forward again. She looked back over her shoulder at Maggie and Jen and said, "Hurry up, slow pokes! We're going to miss the bus and I don't feel like walking the thirty or so blocks up to Coffee Connection."

"There are other coffee shops that are closer, you know." Sarah remarked wryly, finally joining the conversation after hanging up her cell phone.

"Yeah, but Jimmy doesn't work at any of those places." Tricia teased and the group burst out into laughter. Kasie's secret crush on Jimmy Hughes was not really a secret...especially to Jimmy.

The city transit bus pulled up to the bus stop and the girls ran to catch up with it. As the five friends climbed aboard the bus, they noticed that Maggie was still standing on the sidewalk. "Come on, Maggie. Let's go." Sarah called back at her.

"You know what guys, I just forgot that I told Stacie I would pick up her dry cleaning." Maggie suddenly looked distracted, her eyes darting around the street.

"Now?" Kasie and Tricia asked in unison, causing Jen to giggle. Kasie continued, "Get it on the way home, Mags."

"No, I'd better get it now. I'm finally working my way back into her good graces and I don't want to screw up again." Maggie peered down the busy city street and then looked back at her friends. "I'll just get the next bus and meet you there in, like, fifteen minutes."

"OK, girl, but don't even think about dissing us! If you aren't there in twenty, I'm calling out the national guard!" Jen called out to her just before the bus doors closed and Maggie was left waving to her friends from the sidewalk.

Three Hours Missing

FBI agent Danny Taylor pushed open the doors of the little mid-town coffee shop and the aroma of fresh brewed coffee, baked goods, and teen-age girls' perfume almost knocked him out. A little smile came to his face as he saw senior agent Jack Malone surrounded by a group of teen-age girls at a back corner table.

"What have we got, Sam?" He asked, walking up to agent Samantha Spade for a run down of the case.

"Maggie James, 15 year old freshman at Stuyvesant High School. Lives with her sister, a doctor at Cornell Medical Center, in the West Village. Maggie was last seen by her friends at the bus stop right outside the school. Her friends were headed up here to hang out and she pulled out at the last minute. Had to pick up some dry cleaning or something. Said she would meet them here but never showed up." Sam checked her notes and then glanced over at the table where Jack and the girls sat. "About an hour later, her friends got worried and called her cell phone. They said they called about ten times and she never picked up, which is apparently out of character for this girl. She's always where she's supposed to be when she's supposed to be there."

"At fifteen?" Danny raised his eyebrow at her.

"Fifteen and on full scholarship to Stuyvesant High School." Sam shot back. "This is a smart girl, Danny. Anyway, they kept calling and finally someone picked up the phone...just not Maggie. The guy who answered said he picked up the phone on the street. He said it was just lying on the sidewalk near the bus stop, like she had dropped it. Martin and Viv are downtown talking to the guy now."

"OK, thanks." Danny walked over to where Jack was talking to the girls. He noticed that Sam was right, these girls did look worried.

"...and so that's when you called the police?" Jack was asking and the four girls nodded in unison. "Has Maggie been acting strange lately? Distracted?"

"We're in the middle of mid-terms right now, so she's a little stressed out." Kasie noted, raking her fingers through her hair.

"Stressed about freshman mid-terms?" Danny asked, joining the group.

"Maggie is all about her school work." Jen added, taking a sip of her water. "She's really hard on herself when it comes to her grades. She's on scholarship to Stuyvesant and worries all the time about losing that."

"Is she in any danger of losing her scholarship?" Jack asked, writing something down on his notebook.

"Not even close. She's smarter than all of us combined." Jen said, gesturing to her friends. "But that's just Maggie. She has a plan and she's focused. She wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and go to Columbia and then Harvard Medical School. That plan is what guides everything she does."

"Has she been seeing anyone special lately? A boyfriend?" Jack tried to guide the girls back to his series of questions.

Both Jack and Danny noticed the girls look guiltily at each other and then look down at the floor. Finally, Tricia looked back up at them and said. "She was seeing this guy, Bobby. But it's nothing serious. I don't think she's talked to him in weeks."

"Girls, listen to me." Jack tried to reason with the girls. "My job is to find Maggie and in order to do that, I need your help. I need you to be straight with me and not worry about getting her in trouble. Tell me about Bobby."

Kasie, Jen, Tricia, and Sarah all looked at each other before Kasie spoke up. "He goes to NYU. They met through some kind of tutoring program Maggie was involved in for local elementary kids. They would meet up at the library or go have lunch sometimes. She didn't talk about it too much, so we figured she wasn't really that into him."

"Maggie didn't run away." Sarah suddenly stated flatly. Danny and Jack turned to look at her. "She didn't run away. Not with Bobby. Not with anybody. She wouldn't do that. Not without telling us first."

Jack glanced up at Danny, and then asked, "How is Maggie's home life?"

"Her mom and dad died on 9/11. They both worked in the north tower." Tricia said quietly, looking down at her hands. "She came to Manhattan to live with her sister after that."

"How did Maggie and her sister get along?" Jack looked down at his notes for some info about Maggie's sister.

Again the girls looked at each other, not sure how to answer. Finally, Jen said, "Maggie and Stacie had a tough relationship most of the time. It wasn't easy for Maggie."

"Why not?" Danny wanted to know.

Kasie smirked, "Obviously you haven't met Dr. Stacie Callahan yet."

"No, we haven't. So why don't you fill us in." Danny was not charmed by these young girls. They were just wasting time.

"Stacie Callahan is the ultimate. She perfect. Gorgeous. Funny. Smart. Successful at a young age. Married to a hunky New York City firefighter until he died on 9/11, too." Jen explained. "Maggie worships Stacie. She's everything Maggie wants to be." Jen looked up at Danny and finished, "And isn't."

"Stacie loves Maggie. Maggie knows that and she loves her, too. It's just that it was hard for Maggie sometimes to live in Stacie's shadow all the time..." Tricia's voice trailed off, not sure how to explain the complex relationship shared by the James sisters.

"Have they had any problems recently?" Danny asked.

"Stacie found drugs in Maggie's bag a few weeks back." Sarah said slowly. "Uppers. She was using them to help her study.Maggie took too many one night on an empty stomach and passed out. Stacie flipped. She took her to the hospital and had her stomach pumped and then grounded her. Maggie was really upset."

"She was more upset about letting Stacie down than being grounded." Kasie remarked. "Maggie couldn't stand disappointing Stacie."

"Wait, where does her sister work?" Danny took Jack's notebook and looked at his notes. He flipped back a few pages and then looked up at the girls. "Is Maggie's sister Stacie James Callahan?" he asked and the girls nodded.

"What's up, Danny? Do you know her?" Jack asked.

"Know her?" Danny said, closing his eyes for a moment. "I almost married her."