AN: So, one last story for Beauty and the Techie. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Chapter One: Clue in Cairo

Three Years Ago

Riley's POV

"Emma, Emma, okay I get it. Big discovery, clue, boat load of treasure if the clue leads somewhere. What do you want us to do about it?" I asked her. I hadn't heard from her in years. Apparently she and her team had found something in Cairo and that her team had been slowly disappearing.

"Come down here and look for the treasure." She retorted, "This is your line of work, is it not?"

"My line of work is in criminology, this is a side business."

"That makes more money than your actual job does."

"You're not convincing me to help you."

"We're family, Riley." Emma replied, "Full-blood siblings. You should help me because I'm your sister and the only time I ask for help is when I need it."

"Alright. We'll be in Cairo as soon as we can."

"Why are we going to Cairo?" Bianca asked as she headed into the study with a case file.

"My sister and her team found something and the team keeps disappearing." I replied.

"We're gonna need a team of our own then." Bianca replied.

"You're right." I agreed, "The kids, they stay here though. People have been going missing. It's safer if they stay behind."

Bianca nodded, "So we're probably thinking Ben, Abigail, Aaron, Alyssa, John, and Tess?"

"Can you stand to be around your sister for that long?"

"We're getting better."

I scoffed.

"Okay, we're not, but she's handy to have on the team."

I nodded in agreement, "Know a fast way to get to Cairo?"

"I have a friend who owes me a favor and he's a licensed pilot."

"That'll work."

Jeanette's POV

"See you in two weeks." I hugged my parents' goodbye. They were going on some type of treasure hunt or something.

Zach's POV

"Are you sure I can't go with you?" I asked, "I could help."

"I'm sure you could, but not this one." Mom replied, "This one's a little too dangerous. We're not even letting Carissa near this one."

"You're better off here." Dad added, "There's not a lot to do technologically with this one anyway."

Carissa's POV

"Do you really have to go?" I asked them. This was my first time watching the two of them by myself. The last time they were left alone they had Aaron. This time it's just me staying behind. I haven't talked to either of them in years.

"You'll be fine, Carissa." Dad replied and they left.

Two Weeks Later

Third Person POV

The day was just like any other, a normal day in January. The three Poole children were in school. Zach and Carissa were almost done with their day. Jeanette had a couple more hours to go. Zach was stuck in Geometry, the poor thirteen year old wanted to hit his head against the wall out of boredom as his teacher droned on and on about sign and cosign, a topic which Zach had no idea why it was important in life and where it was using it, it was, to him, a waste of time. Carissa, on the other hand, was in English 12, the eighteen year old was watching the clock until the class released, she had a new routine she wanted to try with the other cheerleaders, she was cheer captain this year and she was going to make sure that they won state championships this year.

Little did they know, Carissa and Zach were going to dismissed from classes sooner than they thought that day, not for the a happy occasion, and they would be going home to an empty house with only Jeanette coming home that evening.

"What did you do this time, geek?" Carissa snapped as she ran across her brother, Zach.

"I put a virus in all of the computers which affected every technological system and database in the school just to ruin your whole day and first spring semester practice with your goon squad." Zach retorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Carissa glared annoyed, "What did you and the moron brigade do? Put Mrs. Leaderman's car on the roof? No, no. you girls decided to a flash mob in the cafeteria and steal forks." Zach guessed with false excitement, talking to her as if she were a little girl, and then rolled his eyes, shaking his head out of annoyance and doubt. He didn't think she was intelligent enough to even think of those things. Carissa was the type to get by on her looks, and her life was perfect because of it.

"So if you didn't do anything and I, obviously,-"

She was cut off by Zach mockingly, "Obviously"

She ignored him and restarted that part of the sentence, "I, obviously, didn't do anything. Why were called to Mrs. Leaderman's office?"

"If I had known, I would have told you. I honestly have no idea." Zach replied as they walked into the principal's office. They went over to Mrs. Square's desk.

"Hi Mrs. Square, we got each got a note to see Mrs. Leaderman. Should we sit and wait for her to call us in, or do we just go in?"

"You both may go in. They're waiting for you." She replied not really looking up at them, which was odd, she always was very good with eye contact when talking to people. They both thanked her and went into Mrs. Leadermen's office.

"Sit down Mr. Poole, Miss. Poole." Mrs. Leadermen instructed. They both sat.

"Did we do something wrong, mam?" Zach asked confused. Mrs. Leadermen shook her head and sighed, before starting to unfold the tragedy that has happened upon them.

In that half hour session, Zach and Carissa's worlds came crashing down and their lives as they had known them were gone forever. Their family had gone missing near Bermuda Triangle, while they were looking for their most recent treasure. Their family was presumed to be dead, leaving them with insurance and their financial needs, not wants or impulses, but needs for the most covered, however though they died with only one of them having a will and the person that was left to take care of them was presumed to be dead with them.

I will not lie and say Carissa's first thought was about what would happen to Jeanette or Zach, they were an afterthought. An eighteen year old could not take care of a thirteen year old and an eleven year old. That just didn't happen. And the social worker that would come straight after the funeral to talk to Carissa about taking them away would try to explain that.

Jeanette sat, dressed in a black velvet dress, black tights, and black mary-janes, in front of the television watching home movies. The funeral went by slow to the small procession that had attended. No one had wanted to say goodbye to the beloved couple. The gathering after the funeral held few guests, just Jeanette, Zach, Carissa, a few friends of their mother's and father's. The last guest was uninvited and came after the gathering had dispersed. The last guest, Agent Sadusky, was walking out the door as she came to ring the doorbell.

In the beloved Disney movie, Lilo and Stitch, there is a quote that sticks with you till the end, 'Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.' Family is one of the most precious things in the world.

When the social worker, Dr. Stephanie Carson, walked through the door of the Walsh household she was determined that Jeanette Elizabeth Poole and Zachary Sherlock Poole was to be put in the care of social services. There was absolutely no way eighteen year old Carissa Marie Poole could take care of both an eleven year old and a thirteen year old. She didn't care where thirteen year old Zachary Sherlock Poole ended up; he was a troubled teen who could take care of himself as far as she was concerned. Her goal was to put young Jeanette into foster care.

When Carissa was presented with the question of who was to take was care of Jeanette, was short, blunt, and to the point, "There is no question of who's going to take care of Jenna and I thank you for your time, but I will take care of Zach and Jenna. I have the financial ability and needs to take care of her. Jenna and Zach are not going to a foster family, they won't understand them. They need to be with people who understand how they think; they need to be with people who love her. If they're put with another family, they won't have a life. They'll move from family to family."

"Did you know that the child victim rate of children under eighteen is per thousand children of each state population? So, Washington D.C's would be around 630,000. Only 20 percent of the 630,000 are ever adopted, 60 percent of the children are actually reunited with their families. The numbers vary with each state, but why do it?" Jeanette contemplated aloud, after overhearing their conversation as she was trying to get into the cookies that had been put up, when she had gotten a couple she came out of the kitchen.

"Why do what?" Dr. Carson stuttered lightly, surprised from tone coming from such a young girl.

"Why try to take me away? I know Carissa's not the best caretaker ever, she can't take care of a goldfish for more than a couple of days, but that's okay because humans aren't fish and she's got us. Zach and I will be there to remember what she forgets. We're going to stick together because that's what people do during tragic events, they don't fall apart. 'A house divided cannot stand.' Taking one of us would hurt all of us, it wouldn't help and there wouldn't be a reason for it."

"It's the-"

Carissa cut off Dr. Carson, knowing full well what she was going to say, "law, but we have the money we need to take care of all of us, we have insurance money, and you have better things to do with your time than to take children from their homes and a family who can properly take care of them. Right now you could be helping a child in an unfortunate situation to a better home. Now if you don't mind-"

Zach cut her off abruptly, going over to the door and opening it, "Leave"

With a humph, Dr. Carson went out the door. She was never to be heard from again after that. The small little broken family after that became one step closer to becoming an actual family that day.

A Couple of Weeks Ago

The FBI looked for them for three years before they were presumed legally dead and there was nothing the three of them could do about it. The day they were declared legally dead, Carissa locked herself in her room.

"Carissa?" Jeanette knocked on Carissa's door, while Zach dealt with the guests who were paying their respects. "Please, I know you're in there. People are asking where you've been. They say "have courage"; and I'm trying to. I'm right out here for you, just let me in. The three of us, we only have each other. It's just you, me, and Zach. What are we gonna do? Do you want to build a snowman?" Jeanette sat outside the door.

A Week Ago

"You think what?" Jeanette asked confused.

"I think they're still alive." Carissa repeated.

"Think about it, Carissa, if you can. I know thinking is a very hard thing for you, but try." Zach replied, "If they were alive they would have found a way to let us know."

"What if they're alive and they can't?" Carissa pointed out, "They said themselves they were on a dangerous treasure hunt."

"Why bring this up now?" Jeanette asked.

"Because now all of us were old enough to do something about it." Carissa replied, "It's just like the beginning of that movie…Um…Move Over Darling."

"What?" Zach asked confused.

"It's a movie with Doris Day and Jack Lemmon – No James Garner, sorry. Anyway Doris Day gets stuck on an island for five years until the navy or the marines find her."

"And what does this have to do with us?" Jeanette asked.

"I think they found The Mysterious Island." Carissa stated.

"What's the mysterious island?" Jeanette asked.

"It's a fictional island from a book written by Jules Verne. It doesn't exist." Zach replied.

"But it's the only thing that makes sense!" Carissa argued.

"Unless they're dead." Zach commented.

"They would have found bodies." Carissa argued.

"Not unless they were destroyed." Jeanette retorted.

"They would have found traces of something, of anything that led to them and they didn't." Carissa argued, "It's like they disappeared into the Twilight Zone and since we have the means to try to find them and whatever they were searching for, I vote we do it. I'm looking for them whether you join me or not."

Jeanette and Zach looked at each other and sighed.

"We're in. What's your plan?" Zach asked.

"I don't have one yet." Carissa replied.

"You don't have a plan?" Jeanette asked annoyed.

"But I have a way of transportation." Carissa replied.

"That doesn't help if we don't know where we're going." Zach replied.

"Who says we don't know where we're going?" Carissa said, before taking out the maps from her back pocket.

"Where'd you get those?" Jeanette asked.

"Mom and Dad's study, I found it in one of their files." Carissa replied, "It was the only one that wasn't filled.

Zach looked at the papers, "Cairo?"

"Cairo." Carissa nodded, "That's where we start."

Present Day

Carissa's POV

"How are we getting to Cairo?" Zach asked as we put a plan together to go.

"A friend of mine is a pilot and with a little convincing he'd be willing to help." I replied.

"Which friend?"

"Will Socha." I replied simply.

"William Socha?" Zach asked exasperated, "Dad hated him."

"That's because Dad and Mom found out in a background check that his birth father is Ian Howe."

"Who?" Jeanette asked.

"Someone mom and dad knew a long time ago." Zach replied, "He's currently sitting in Belmarsh Prison in London, England for murder, attempted murder and rape, and organized crime, among other things."

"But that has no influence on Will." I argued, "He's not his father. He's his own person."

"You know what, if you can convince him, he can take us." Jeanette replied, "I have no problems with him.

"Awesome." I replied, "I'll talk to him about it."

Zach and Jeanette went to bed. I lied awake staring at the ceiling figuring out a plane for once we got to Cairo.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

"What the?" I looked in the direction where the soft noise was coming from.

Tap.

I got up and went to my balcony window. I opened the curtains to find Will with a handful of pebbles. I opened the window and called out to him, "Are you crazy? It's the middle of the night."

"Come down the trellis, we're gonna celebrate." He said with his british accent dripping out from every word, ignoring, or simply not caring what time it was.

"Celebrate what?"

"I'm an FBI agent!" He replied happily, "I completed my training and was accepted into the Quantico base. I can stay here with you. I'll be a few hours away, but I'll be able to see you."

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked him.

"It's almost one, golden dove." He answered, "Now are you gonna come down or do I hafta come up and get ya myself?"

"I'd like to see that." I said thinking he was joking.

" Alrigh' then." He replied. He went over to the trellis and started to climb up.

"I thought you were kidding." I told him, as I went on to the balcony, watching him climb up. Right as he was about to reach me, one of the vines broke and he lost his footing. I caught him before he fell off and pulled him up to the balcony as much as I could. He got up the rest of the way and climbed over the ledge. "Are you insane? You could have broken your neck, or your spine, or something."

"I wanted you to come with me, and if this is what it takes then, I'm willin' to do it." Will replied, "C'mon, I have somethin' I want ya ta see."

I smiled, "What is it?"

"It's a surprise. I know ya don't like ta be surprised, but you'll like this one. Trust me." He said, back up to the ledge.

"Don't you think I should go first, after what just happened?"

He shook his head. "Not a chance."

"Why?"

"So if ya slip and fall, I'll be able ta catch ya." He replied, as he went over the ledge. He climbed down the trellis. I climbed down afterward. We went over to his bike. He put on his helmet and got on. He handed me a helmet. I put it on and got on. We sped off into the night. Zach and Jeanette would be fine for a few hours.

He drove us down to Rock Creek Park and parked his bike. We walked around the park and stopped at the bridge.

"What did you want to show me?" I asked.

"Oh, right!" Will exclaimed in remembrance, pulling something from his back pocket, "I got this 'ackin' into the confidential files."

"First day on the job and you're already hacking into government files?" I laughed. This was so like him.

"Did it for ya, golden dove." He replied, "Somethin' never set right with me about your parent's death, so I went into the bleedin' computer's main base and looked through sum of the files and I found this."

"Oh my god!"

"Ya don't 'ave ta call me god, ya can just call me Will." He smiled.

I read the papers a few times smiling. I had the proof I needed. I kissed Will's cheek.

"What was that for, golden dove?"

"You're amazing." I told him, "Do you still have that pilot license?"

"Yeah I 'ave it. why?"

"I need you to take me to Cairo."

"Cairo? Why the bloody hell do ya wanna fly ta Cairo for?"

"That was the last place I know where my parents were. I need you to fly us to Cairo."

"Us? Who is us?"

"Me, my siblings, and possibly a team of six other people."

"Six? Six people, Carissa?"

"Yes, six." I replied, "Technically including me and my siblings it would be nine, throw you into the mix and it's a team of ten. It would be you, me, Zach, Jenna, and possibly my cousins Charlotte and Thomas, and maybe my cousins Tristan, Henry, and Elizabeth, and Seth Montgomery."

"I've never flown a plane that big, golden dove, not even in flight school. What makes ya think I can do this?" Will freaked out.

"Because you have a license."

"So ya wanna use me as transport..." He sighed, "I will always help ya in any way I can, golden dove. That's what ya do for the bleedin' people ya care for. I am a tool for ya ta do as ya will."

I hugged him, "Thank you, Will. You're a saint."

"That's questionable given my heritage." Will laughed, "Ya do know there may come a day where I can't help ya. I'll always try, but I never can give ya a guarantee."

"You're honest and you try. That's all that matters." I replied, "We're friends. You know I'd try to do the same for you."

"Right…Mates…" He agreed, "Let's take ya home, golden dove."

"I never got that nickname." I told him, "Is it because of my hair?"

"Nah, I'd call ya golden dove even if ya weren't blonde. It's just a nickname."

"What does it mean?"

"I'll tell ya another time."

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your accent?"

"Nah, I guess ya forgot ta mention it after six bleedin' years."

"Thank you for agreeing." I told him after we got back to my house. "I don't know how I can repay you for this one."

"How about a date?"

"Date?" I asked surprised.

"C'mon Carissa, ya kna 'a I feel about ya, golden dove, and I know how ya feel about me. That hasn't changed in six years. We used ta before-" He started, but then caught himself. He looked down, "Before your parents disappeared..." He stopped and he caressed my cheek lightly, "Don't shut me out, golden dove. Don't shut out the bleedin' world again. This is the first bloomin' time I've seen ya since they were presumed dead. If ya don't wanna date, but know I love ya, golden dove. Your family comes first, I get that. If flyin' ya and everybody else ta Cairo is what it takes, then I'll do it. Date or no date."

I gave him a half smile, "Goodnight, Will."

I went inside.

Will's POV

"I pour me bleedin' soul out ter the bloody woman and all I get is a 'goodnight Will'... that's golden dove for ya." I put my helmet back on. 'Where the bloody hell am I gonna get a plane?'

I got on bike and drove away, unsure of really what to do.

Carissa's POV

"Is he gonna do it?"

I turned around to see Zach in his pajamas with his headphones around his neck.

"Go to bed Zach. You've got school in the morning."

"And you've got work, that didn't stop you from gallivanting off with Will."

"Would you shut up, you'll wake Jenna."

"Already past that point." Jeanette said coming out of the kitchen with piece of pie, "He woke me up after you left."

"Zachary!"

"What?" Zach asked, "It's not like either of us are going to school tomorrow."

"You are if I have anything to say about it." I replied.

Zach and Jeanette looked at each other and then looked at me, "You don't."

"Is he worthless or not?" Zach asked.

"Will is not worthless." I retorted, "He'll fly us. He just needs to figure out how to get a plane. And we, we need to get together our team."

"Team?" Zach asked.

"You guys, me, Will, Charlotte, Thomas, Seth, Henry, Elizabeth, and Tristan." I replied, "Which is why you have to go to school."

Charlotte and Thomas were Uncle Ben and Aunt Abigail's kids. They were fraternal twins and were a few months younger than Jeanette. They're parents went missing along with ours. They were living with our cousin Tristan Raleigh. He moved down there to take care of them.

Seth was Aaron and Alyssa Montgomery's son. He was almost a year older than Jeanette and was Zach's best friend. They were in the same grade His family has been friends with ours for years since before we were born. His family went missing with ours. He was the only one left, and was currently living with our cousin Henry Raleigh. He took pity on him and had him come and live with him.

Tristan, Henry, and Elizabeth were Uncle John and Aunt Tess' kids. Tristan was 40 years old and has been working as an environmental studies professor. He gave up working in the national parks when our parents went missing. He was kind of like Dr. Indiana Jones of the science department. Girls took his class just to see him. Henry was 30 years old. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a homicide detective in DC. Elizabeth was 28, against her mother's wishes, she ended up studying business, and opened up a bakery in Woodley Park called 'Baking Love', she wanted to call 'Burnin' Love', but I convinced her it wasn't such a hot idea, but she does use the Wynonna Judd version of the song quite a bit in her bakery and in advertising. I've been working with her in the bakery for the past three years. She comes in and checks in on us every once in a while as well. It's like each one of them took a special interest in us.

Zach sighed, "I'll talk to Seth tomorrow."

"I'll talk to Lottie and Tommy." Jeanette added.

"Great, go to bed." I told them. They rolled their eyes and went to bed.

I looked at the clock, it was quarter to two. I groaned, I had to get up in a couple of hours. What was the point in sleeping? I went to the kitchen and went to mother's tea cabinet. I always kept it stocked as an honor to her. I had all of her favorites. I had jasmine oolong tea, spiced mandarin, raspberry, hibiscus, peppermint, spearmint, chai (vanilla and ruby red), chamomile, earl grey, green tea, apple cider, mint medleys, different zingers, peach, English breakfast…We have all of the Tevanna and Tazo teas. Honestly when it came to tea, you name it, we've got it.

I looked at all of the different teas, pulled out a bag from the spiced mandarin and put it back, "I miss you…Both of you…"

I made myself a cup and then went to bed for a bit.