"Damn." Victoria cursed under her breath as she slammed her laptop shut, "I do NOT have time for this." She was on her feet in moments before noticing Johnny's wide eyes looking up at her in judgment.

"I know," she sighed, "Mommy shouldn't say bad words. She's just really frustrated right now because she doesn't have time for fire drills since she's really, really busy."

"At school they say you always have to act like it's the real thing," Johnny parroted, still looking up at his mother with slight condemnation.

Victoria smiled through gritted teeth as she tousled his hair while ushering him from the office. "Gotta love that school," she muttered. Her eyes scanned the lab area as she felt Johnny pull his hand from her grasp. "Where's your sister?" she yelled, opening the outside door and looking at the empty corridor. She turned back to face Johnny who stood with both hands clasped over his ears.

"Johnny," she said again, pulling one hand away from his ear. "Where's Katie?"

Johnny shrugged and jerked his hand back, placing it back over his ear and scrunching his face up in displeasure.

"Your Dad probably got her," Victoria sighed, pushing him towards the stairs. "We'll make sure when we get outside."

"Jack!" Billy's yelled his brother's name again, struggling to keep sight of his brother through the crowd of people that gathered outside the building. "Jack!" he called again, exhaling with relief as he saw the eldest Abbot turn to face the sound. He pushed through the dense congregation of people to reach him, breathing hard as he continued. "Have you seen Phyllis?"

"Already having trouble keeping up with her, huh?" Jack smirked, not able to resist a chance to get a quick dig in, "That doesn't bode well for a long and happy relationship."

"Come on, Jack…can you give it a rest for a second. I'm serious. Have you seen her? I know she was in her office earlier, but I can't find her out here and she's not answering her phone. I just want to make sure she's not still in there."

Jack shook his head. "I haven't seen her, but that alarm can be heard everywhere. She'd have to be crazy to ignore it and Phyllis isn't…." He stopped looking Billy up and down. "Well, I used to think Phyllis wasn't crazy…now…" He smirked again before walking away.

"Billy!"

He closed his eyes as he felt relief flood his body, turning gratefully towards the sound of his name.

"Vic," he said, his face falling. He smiled as he saw Johnny by her side. "Hey buddy. You come to work with Mom today?" He started to stoop down to his level but stopped as he saw the concern settling on her face. "Vic—something wrong?"

"Where's Katie?" Victoria could feel her heart racing inside her chest. "You've got her, right? You've got Katie?"

His heart dropped, suddenly understanding her look and matching it with a look of his own. "What do you mean…I haven't seen Katie today. Is she here? Is she with you?"

"She was in the lab. She was coloring and when the alarm went off she was gone. I figured you had come by and taken her out. I thought she was with you!" In an instant the tone of her voice changed from concerned to manic. "I thought she was with you!"

"I would never take her without telling you, Vic. You know that! So you just left…you just left without her?! God, Vic. She's probably scared to death." Billy glanced around, looking for the fire marshall. "God only know how's long we'll be out here. These things can take forever if they don't have the right counts."

The sound of sirens echoed through the distance and the crowd seemed to part as the flashing lights and fire engines surrounded the building.

Billy felt a hand on his shoulder and turned slowly to face her.

"Do they call the fire engines for drills, Billy?" She could answer her own question. She'd been a CEO of a major company before. She knew how these things worked, but she couldn't stand to say the words herself. She needed to live in the denial for as long as she could.

"No," he whispered, his throat instantly parched and thick. "No they don't."

Phyllis hissed as she braced her hand against the wall, gripping the flat surface as much as she could. She looked down at her foot, already beginning to swell, the bone in her ankle bent in a completely unnatural way. These weren't stair-climbing shoes, but she wasn't expecting to be climbing stairs today. Another surge of pain ripped through her as she attempted another step towards her office door. If she could make it to her office at least she could get to a chair. There she could wait it out until the drill was over. She'd have to endure the wrath of the fire marshall for ignoring the alarm, but that seemed a far easier burden than trying to cart herself down the stairs in her current state.

"They could at least kill the damn alarm," she yelled, as if someone might hear her and obey her command. Her shoulders heaved in frustration as the sound continued to echo throughout the otherwise silent building. Finally she reached her door and, bracing her weight on the handle she managed to haul herself inside. Shutting the door behind her, she sighed in relief, happy the thick barrier at least muffled the sound somewhat.

For a moment she leaned against the door, reveling in her small accomplishment. A strange sound caught her attention and she leaned further into the office in an attempt to locate it. Her laptop was closed and charging and she knew of nothing that would make such a sound. Her phone was within her sight line and the screen was black with no notifications that would cause such a noise. Phyllis braced her hand on the corner of the desk, managing a large step towards her desk. She tilted her head as the noise grew louder, and smiled slightly as she glanced underneath the desk. "Katie," she breathed, surprised, but not upset to see the child there. "What are you doing under there?"

Katie glanced up at her, a sly smile on her face. "Playing the elephant game," she said softly. "Am I in trouble?"

Phyllis glanced around the room before easing herself into her desk chair. "With who?" she grinned, "With me?"

Katie nodded, her eyes wide as she looked up at her.

"No," Phyllis sighed. "You're not in trouble, but I bet there are a lot of people that are really worried about you…and you might be in a little bit of trouble with them." She couldn't help but smile as she watched the little girl's nose scrunch up in displeasure. "Tell you what." She leaned down a bit, lowering her voice to a whisper, "I'll try to get them to forgive you…just this once, okay?"

She nodded happily, as she crawled out from under the desk.

"Can you do me a favor?" Phyllis pointed over to the corner of the desk. "Can you hand me that phone over there? I just want to call and let everybody know that you're okay. They're having a fire drill and I'm sure there are people looking for you out there…and probably for me too."

Billy grabbed his phone, putting it to his ear before checking the ID. "Hello? Hello?"

"Billy?"

"God, Phyllis." The relief lasted only for a moment as he realized his child was still missing. "Where are you? I haven't been able to find you out here? You're not with Katie by any chance are you?"

"Yeah, actually I am. She wanted to play the elephant game on my Ipad."

Tears of relief stung his eyes as he waved his hand wildly towards Victoria. "Vic!" he hissed. "Vic! It's okay. It's okay. Katie is with Phyllis. She's playing a game on her Ipad."

"Sorry," he said into the phone again. "We were going crazy thinking Katie might still be in there," he said softly. "So where are you two out here? Are you on the other side of the building?"

"No, Billy….we're still in the building. We're in my office, but we're fine…everything's okay. Just let them know that I really hurt my ankle and I can't get out there right now. If they need to redo the drill, that's fine, but I can't climb down those stairs." The sound of jagged breathing was the only response she heard. "Billy," she said again. "Billy did you hear me?" She could hear his voice, the sound of words being relayed frantically to someone. "Billy!"

"Phyllis." His voice was calm…too calm. "I need you to listen to me. Stay in the office. Keep the door closed. If there's anything you can use to block the space at the bottom of the door, do that. Do it now."

"What? Why? I mean it's a drill, right?" She glanced down at Katie who now sat in her lap, her tiny hands busied with the game.

"No," he said quietly. "Jabot's on fire."