"You," Jimmy said, looking at Max. "I want a list of anyplace they may go. Your family has more money then this entire town. Samantha and Nate traveled all over the world, get writing. Don't give me that crap about not working for me anymore.
Max bit her lip, as he all but threw a pad of paper at her in his office. "Jimmy."
"I don't want to hear it, Max!" he practically shouted. "Just do it."
She stepped back, clamping down on her own pain and loss. Where are they? Are they hungry? Cold? Hurt? No, do this, help find them. This is what I wanted, right? To work? Not like this. "Okay."
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"Wow," Nate said, as they walked down the hotel hallway. "Are we going to stay here?"
Samantha nodded, as Zach unlocked the hotel room door. "For now. We should keep moving for awhile…People are going to be looking for us."
"I should call my parents and let them know we're okay," Zach trailed off. "Tell them to let us go."
"Do you really think they'll do that?" Samantha asked. "They'll never stop looking for us. I don't want to go back…my Aunt and Uncle are cool, but I don't want to go back to my Dad."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We're not going back. I'm almost 18, you're 16...I have an idea. Sh, just listen."
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"They found his car at the Greenbay airport," Kenny said, feeling Jimmy's anger and frustration coming off him in waves. "But there is video of them hopping in a bus, into town, and not going into the airport."
"They wanted us to think," Jimmy started, as he watched the video play out on his computer. "Damn it, Zach."
Max is going to lose it, Kenny thought, I have to find them for her. Glancing toward Jimmy's office, he shouldn't of dragged her down here. This is our family, our life. God, I've known Zach since he was four. "The bus was into town, they could of picked up any transfer, to anywhere."
"Anywhere isn't good enough. Anyplace they mentioned?" Jimmy pressed. "Those kids traveled all over the world before they came here. Where would they go? Where did they talk about? What the hell is taking your wife so long?"
She shouldn't be here, Kenny thought, catching sight of her through the glass in a long sleeve green t-shirt, jeans, and her long hair pulled back. So far removed from all of this, no, she was instrumental in catching Ann…this is who she is. Damn it. "It's a long list. Her parents had a lot of properties."
"Max!" Jimmy called, pushing his office door open. "Where is it? Hurry up."
She looked up, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand and not the fact that Lindsay clung to her when she left with Kenny. "You know I don't work for you?"
"I never put your paperwork through. Technically you're still on leave."
"What?" she asked, staring at him like he lost his mind. Looking over at Kenny. "Did you know that?"
He shook his head, watching her for a long moment. "What?"
"I can't deal with that right now," she replied, her mind racing a mile a minute. "If. this helps, great…We need to find them, that's all the matters now. Kenny, I called Wambaugh…Michael's attorneys need to know."
He looked at the clock, before back to her. "Times up."
She gulped, fighting the urge to throw herself in Kenny's arms and not let go. Seeing the way Jimmy was looking at her, she decided against it. "Yeah."
"You should go," Kenny said, seeing the tension on her face. "In case she calls or something."
"You're not going anywhere. Consider yourself off leave," Jimmy stated. "Max, I am not kidding."
She gulped at that, as everything threatened to overwhelm her. "Jimmy, I…Damn it. What do you want from me?"
"I want to find my son."
No one has them, they're safe together, she thought, it isn't like with Josh. We'll find them, I can't…Focus.
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Samantha giggled, as she combed through her shorn and blue hair. "I love it."
"You look crazy," Zach laughed. "I wouldn't recognize you."
"I don't want people to recognize me," she stated, staring at her reflection. "What do you think, Nate?"
He yawned. "You look like smurf."
"You guys are next."
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"Ran off because they didn't want to go back to their Dad?" Skeeter said. "Damn. And he never officially put Max's paperwork through? Why is he screaming at her?"
Kenny looked back toward Jimmy's office, where he was still berating Max. My pregnant, emotionally fragile, wife, who I'm afraid might bolt again. She can handle it, she's stronger then I've given her credit for lately, I could punch him for treating her like this. "A lot of things. Come on, lets look at the tapes."
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"What do you want from me?" Max asked. "I want to find them too…Will you stop yelling at me?"
"They ran away, Max!" Jimmy shouted, his rage boiling over at her. "You're going to sit at home and do nothing? Where do you think they got the idea?"
She gulped, thinking of her own flight a month ago. Did they…damn it. I'm trying so hard to be a good mom, and…he needs to stop screaming at me. "I'm worried too, okay? I don't think I can do this again…and I know Kenny can't. Samantha thinks she knows everything, but in reality? She was sheltered, Caro protected her and Nate from everything. I'm terrified they're lying dead in a ditch somewhere."
"Zach wouldn't of done this before he met her! He had sex with her on your table!"
I'm surprised Kenny didn't kill him, she thought, I'm really worried for when our girls are older, he's going to be on the porch with a shotgun. "Oh, I know."
"And you're okay with that?"
"I'd prefer if they didn't use the table. Oh, come on, they're teenagers, what do you expect? Not this. Sex, yeah, runaway no…this shouldn't be happening."
"Go," Jimmy said finally. "You're on the clock."
Max gulped, her emotions rushing through her. Missing, I can't do this again…Josh, it happens in an instant. Kenny, he can't…this is…he can't do this. It'll destroy him if…he doesn't need me doing this to me too. No, I can…I hate this.
"Max?" he pushed, watching her for a long moment. "What?"
She looked up, forcing herself to focus. Missing. I've lived it. I want to hold Lindsay and Emily and never let them go. God, what has happened to me? Find them. That's all that matters…everything else we can deal with later. "What do you want me to do?"
The mom, Jimmy thought, looking at her. Kenny's wife. "Go home, Max."
"What?"
"Go home," he said again. "I mean it. Go be with your kids."
"What?" she repeated. "You drag me down here, yell at me…They're missing, they ran, can we focus on that please?"
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"How is she holding up?" Skeeter asked. "How are you?"
"Max is…she shouldn't have to go through this again. She's pregnant."
"What? Really?" Skeeter asked. "Congratulations. She looks good."
She bailed on me, us, when she found out, now this? I don't know what's going on with her. I love her, I need to do this for her. "She always looks good."
"Hey," Skeeter said, giving her a grin. "I hear congratulations are in order."
"What?" Max asked. "For what?"
"I hear you're having a baby," Skeeter said. "Congrats, Mom. You're putting ideas in Linda's head."
She glanced over at Kenny. "Oh, yeah. That. Thanks."
Which she doesn't really want, Kenny thought, watching her stroke her stomach softly. If she ever really wanted any of it. "You done getting yelled at in there?"
"I'm going to get out of here," she said, her mind going a mile minute. "Don't worry about me. Kenny, go find them okay? I'm okay."
You're not okay, he thought, I'm not okay. She's up to something, I see it in her eyes. Find them, bring them home…and then fix whatever this is with us. I don't want to lose her. "Max, we'll find them."
She nodded, wanting to burst into tears. Ignoring all the people around, she wrapped her arms around him. "I know. Call me later? I love you."
He squeezed her back, a little taken back by her burst of affection. She hasn't, we haven't…I love her. "Every hour if you want. I love you too, Honey."
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"You kept your phone?" Zach asked. "We have to get rid of those."
Samantha looked up, running her fingers through her blue hair. "It's off."
"You really don't think my parents and your Aunt and Uncle don't know about phone GPS?"
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"No videos at the bus or train station in Greenbay," Kenny stated.
"What if…What if they bought a car?" Skeeter asked. "They stole a bunch of money from you guys. Not from a dealer, but…someone looking for cash?"
Kids, he thought, dumb kids. I swear they're never leaving the house after this. If they're still in our house…No, find them first.
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"Mommy?" Emily said, running into Samantha's room after her. "Mommy? Can we go outside?"
Max chewed on her lip, looking at the torn apart room in front of her. Nothing. Pushing her tangled hair back, she sighed, turning her attention to her oldest daughter. "Not tonight, Em. I have to…I'm looking for something."
"I want to help."
She is perfect, Max thought, running her hand over her stomach again. Even with the broken arm. We can't tear apart this family again. "Yeah. See that box? You want to dump it out, Monkey Girl?"
She nodded, running over to it. Giggling, she dumped the whole thing out. "Shiny!"
Max sat cross-legged on the floor next to her. Tugging on her pigtail, Max had to smile. "Your big cousin ever tell you where her favorite place is?"
Emily nodded, examining a bottle of nail polish. "With Zach."
On the table, she thought…my happiest place was always with Kenny. God, I'm interrogating my four year old. "They have place they like to go?"
She turned it over in her small hands. "Samantha told Nate they were going to Cali….Cali…flower."
"California, Em?" Max said softly, smoothing back her dark hair.
She nodded again, climbing into Max's lap. "Uh, huh."
Max kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Monkey. You are the best kid."
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"Jimmy," Kenny said nervously, hours later. "We finished with their friends."
"Let me guess. Nothing."
"Samantha…she kept to herself a lot," Kenny trailed off. "She didn't have a lot of close friends."
"She's a cheerleader."
"And private," Kenny said. Like Max. What the hell did Jimmy send her off to do? "We're putting taps on those kid's cell phones. Nothing on the GPS…they either ditched them or they turned them off."
"Go home," Jimmy said finally, feeling exhausted. "I contacted authorities at port authorities in California. I don't put much stock in four year olds ramblings."
"She's pretty sharp. Reminds me a lot of Max."
"Everyone wants to believe their kids are brilliant."
"And incapable of doing this?"
"Yeah. Go home."
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"I'm not an idiot," Samantha stated. "I don't want them to find me. I'm never going back there. Nate is never going to have to live with our Dad again…I wanted to stay with my Aunt and Uncle."
"I was terrified to go back over there. Kenny was pissed."
"He's really overprotective, especially because she's pregnant. And ran off…I didn't think she was coming back. Now we're not going back."
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"You should be in bed," Kenny said, dropping down on the couch next to his wife. "It's after midnight."
She shot him a look, as she looked up from the laptop. "I'm never sleeping again. Don't tell me I'm pregnant either, I'm the one vomiting every morning, I know. What happened? Did you find anything out?"
He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and kissed her cheek. "They're off the grid, Honey. Skeeter is looking into cars bought with cash, port authorities were contacted, they're pictures are out there…Max, I know. I'm dying inside too."
Max turned to look at him. Not since I came back, we haven't…I need him, I really need him right now. "What if they're…Kenny, I can't…I think about Caro and…Damn it."
He wiped away her tears, and leaned in so their foreheads touched. "I know you're hormonal. Cry. I won't hold it against you."
She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him. "I love you. I'm so sorry I left…I love you."
He squeezed her tighter. "I know why you did. Honey, I get it…and I don't want you ever to leave again. You and me, we're a team, nothing is going to change that."