Rusty woke up due to the annoying beeping of his alarm. He pressed the snooze button one more time before he finally found the strength to leave the comfort of his bed. He walked towards the kitchen drowsily, expecting the lovely smell of coffee. Rusty suspected that Sharon must have gotten up already, since it was already past seven. But there was no coffee and no Sharon. Rusty groaned when he started the coffee machine himself and after the first cup he slowly woke up and started to wonder where his mother was. He checked his phone for messages or a missed call – Sharon always informed him when she was going to be late at night or when she left so early that they missed each other. But the last message he got was from last night saying: "Don't wait up for me, might get a little late. Will be there for breakfast though". Rusty tiptoed to Sharon's bedroom and carefully knocked on the door. Maybe she overslept, which was something that very, very rarely happened to the Captain.
"Mom?" Rusty asked and carefully opened the door to his mother's room. The bed was empty though, the curtains weren't closed and the bedsheets looked untouched. For a split second Rusty told himself that work probably got in the way and Sharon was still at work. But he knew exactly that his mom would always, ALWAYS at least send him a text message. That's why Rusty was suddenly wide awake and a knot started to slowly form in his stomach. He tried to reach Sharon on her cell but she didn't pick up. Then he tried her work number but only reached the answering machine. Hesitating for a moment but knowing that it was his best chance to reach his mom, Rusty dialed Andy's number.
"Flynn?" Andy answered his phone only seconds later.
"Andy, hi, it's me."
"Rusty, what's up? Everything all right?" Andy asked, recognizing the boy's voice instantly. He was still lying in his bed; they had been working late last night but were able to close a case so that the team had the morning off to catch up with the hours of sleep they had missed the last couple of days.
"Uhm", Rusty cleared his throat, "is Mom with you?" He felt a little uncomfortable asking, he was still getting used to the idea of Andy and Sharon being together, even though he was not only happy for Sharon but also for Andy, whom he had gotten quiet attached to the last couple of years.
"No, no she's not", Andy answered the question and sat up, "why?"
"I don't think she came home last night and, I don't know, I just feel like something is off. She wrote me last night that she would be here for breakfast but that would be now and, well, she's not here and I wondered if she might still be working or is with you or", Rusty rambled.
"No, she's not with me. Last time I saw her was around 10:30 pm, we were at a bar with the entire team, finishing up with a case. We confronted the suspect in there and were able to arrest him. We told Sharon to go home since we could close the case without her and she accepted. I assumed that she went straight home and to bed", Andy recapitulated last night's events. He was starting to get nervous as well.
"Are you sure she didn't come home?" Andy asked.
"I'm sure. She's not answering her phone, she's not picking up at work", Rusty started to panic.
"Rusty, I'm sure that there's a good explanation for everything", Andy tried to calm the boy down while getting out of bed, "I'm gonna hang up for a minute now and will try to call her myself and check in with the department if she has been seen there. In the meantime, why don't you call Provenza and the others. Maybe they know where she is. Don't worry Rusty, it's going to be fine", Andy tried to convince Rusty but also himself. It did sound like something was terribly wrong and they both knew it. Sharon always keeps her word. If she says she's going to be there for breakfast, then she was going to be there. And if not, she would always find a way to inform the other person.
"'kay", Rusty murmured. They hung up and both made one call after the other for the next few minutes. After they had called everyone that might know about her whereabouts Andy called Rusty back.
"And?"
"No luck", Rusty sighted, "you?"
"No. She wasn't in her office since last night and she's not picking up."
"Andy, I'm really starting to worry."
"I know. Me too", Andy murmured, more to himself than to Rusty.
"What are we going to do now?"
Good question, Andy thought.
"Andy?" Rusty pressed for an answer.
"I'm going to get the team together. We'll check if the bar secured the parking lot last with a security camera. We might find out more if they do. In the meanwhile – ", Andy couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
"In the meantime what?!"
"Do you know who Sharon's emergency contact is?" Andy rephrased his sentence.
"No… no, I don't. I guess her kids maybe", Rusty guessed. In fact, he had never talked to Sharon about what would happen if something ever happened to her. They always talked about Rusty's safety but not once have they talked about her's.
"Then in the meantime I'd like you to call Emily and Ricky and asked them if they know more. If not then you might get started, uhm," Andy cleared his throat, "on calling the hospitals in the area."
"Andy", Rusty whispered. Things were starting to get way too real.
"Just as a precaution", Andy said firmly.
"Whatever. I'll call them", Rusty sighted and then started the calls while the team gathered in the police department where they decided to locate Sharon's phone first.
Neither Emily nor Ricky knew anything about their mother's whereabouts and so far, no hospital could confirm the admittance of a brunette in her fifty's.

Rusty tried to reach his mother for the seventh time and when she still didn't pick up he got dressed and drove to the police department.
"Any news?" Rusty asked the team that was gathered around Michael's computer.
"We are trying to locate her phone but the last signal we get was last night at 9:45. She must have turned it off when we arrested that idiot and didn't turn it on since", Provenza stated.
"That's not good, is it?" Rusty asked a little desperate. Neither of the team answered for seconds. Then Amy said: "We don't know anything yet. We'll have the material from the security camera any second. Until then she could be anywhere and safe for that matter." Nobody seemed to be convinced by Amy's words.

The recording of the bar's parking lot was pretty much useless for finding out where Sharon was. It showed her walking towards her car, stumbling over something before she got inside her car and started it. Seconds later she drove away and was out of the picture.

"Call her again", Andy stony-facedly ordered Michael who was the one sitting closest to the phone. His lips were pressed together and Rusty could see the muscles of his jaw clench and unclench steadily. Seeing Sharon's team worry about her petrified Rusty. He had hoped that they could calm him down, give him good reasons why they shouldn't worry about her – but no one seemed to think that the situation was harmless.

Michael dialed Sharon's number and turned the phone on speaker. It was deadly silent in the room, the beeping of the phone being the only sound that echoed through the room.