Mariana's POV

I walked into the mall, just as some girl walked out. I was meeting up with Lexi at the food court. The girl walked past me, bumping into my side.

"Can you look where you're going, please?" I said, shouting to her. She turned around and I saw her deep brown eyes, that matched her curly hair.

"Can you shut up and leave me alone?" The girl retorted, crossing her arms.

"What did I do?" I asked, throwing my hands in the air. "You were the one who ran into me!"

"Yeah well..." the girl started, but stopped when she heard a voice.

"Quinn, you ready to go?" I watched as the girl looked past me at a tall African-American man. "We didn't come here to chat."

"Yeah, let's go," The girl, Quinn, said, walking towards him. "I need to get back home soon. "

"Okay, but first, we need to meet with King," the guy said. I didn't realize that I was staring and hadn't moved until the guy said, " Did you need something, or are you just stalking my girl now?"

"S-sorry," I said, walking up to the door. "My bad."

"Spider, I don't like King," I heard Quinn say. "He almost killed me last time."

Spider? I thought, as I walked in the mall. Isn't that the guy my mom's looking for?

Stef's POV

"So, we have a bit of a problem,:" Johnson said, looking at me and two other detectives in the room. "Agent Rhodes has dissapeared. He didn't return to the station last night and he told me he thought someone might be onto him."

"So you're saying Rhodes is dead?" Peterson, an older detective, said.

"It's a very likely possibility," Johnson admitted. My phone started to ring and Johnson said," You should tske that Stef."

I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Mariana. "What's up, honey?" I said when I pressed the accept button. "I'm at work so make it quick please."

"Mom, I think I just saw that guy Spider I heard you talking about," Mari said. "He was with some girl. Her name started with like a Q... I think."

"Quinn," I said.

"Yeah, that's her name," Mariana said. "How did you know that?"

"I'm working on a case that involves her and Spider," I answered. "Where did you see them at?"

"At the Jefferson Mall," Mariana said. "Because I was meeting up with Lexi."

"Did they say anything to you?" I asked.

"The girl just kinda got into an argument with me because she bumped into me," Mariana answered. "And the guy just made like a side comment because I was staring at Quinn. He called her 'his girl'."

"Okay thank you, Mari," I said. "Love you, bye."

"Bye Mom." She said, and I hung up the phone.

When I returned to the room, Johnson asked," Everything okay, Foster?"

"Umm, my daughter just saw Quinn and Spider near the Jefferson Mall," I said, putting my phone in my pocket. "I'm working on finding out more about this Quinn girl. And I'm close to finding out her real identity. I've had a few leads."

"Okay, Foster," Johnson said. "You can go home now. Call me if you get anymore leads on the girl."

"Will do, Sir," I said, leaving the room and heading home.

-linebreak-

"Love, I'm home," I called, walking towards the kitchen.

"Hey, honey," Lena said, smiling at me. "So I need to talk to you. Bill called me and said that there were these two kids that got into some trouble with their foster father, and he needs to find them a new place. They're brother and sister, and if we don't take them in then they will be seperated. What do you think?"

"I think we should say yes," I said, kissing my wife. "It's just for a little bit, right?"

"Right," Lena said. "I'm going to call Bill and tell him to bring them over tonight."

"Okay," I said. "I got a few new leads on the case today. I'm getting closer to finding out who this Quinn girl us, and why she has decided to work with Spider. If it's who I think it might be, I think she does it to support her brother. I just don't understand why someone so young would be working with a guy like Spider. Speaking of, is Mari back yet?"

"No," Lena answered. "She called a few minutes ago, and said he would be here in about fifteen minutes."

"Okay, well, I'm going to go change," I said. "Then I will come back down and wait for Mariana."

"Why do you need to talk to Mariana?" Lena asked me curiously.

"It's part of the case," I said. "She had a little run-in with Spider and Quinn. I just need to ask her a few questions. "Don't forget to call Bill."

I walked upstairs, and went to my room to change. A few minutes later, I was back downstairs in more comfortable clothing, and I sat down next to Lena on the couch.

"So, Mariana had a nice chat with Quinn," I said. "Hopefully, it can help with the case. I've ran into her so many times, that I could've arrested her by now, but I would just hate to do that to the girl. I mean, she's only like fifteen or sixteen. I want her to help us catch Spider so she doesn't go down with him. She just trusts him so much."

"Well, maybe it would help if you talked to her some more," Lena said. "Like off-duty, no badge."

"That's a good idea," I said. "But how do I find her."

"Seems like you haven't had much trouble these past few times," Lena said. She was right, hopefully, I could confront Callie again and ask her about Quinn. "Other than that, how was your day?" Lena asked me.

"It was good," I said. "How was your day, love?"

"It was good," my wife answered. "I was kind of alone since Mariana was with Lexi, Brandon had piano, and Jesus was meeting up with some friends."

"Well now we can keep each other company," I said, giving Lena another kiss. "Did Bill say when he was going to bring the kids?"

"Actually, he said he would go ahead and bring them over," Lena said. "So they should be here soon." The door opened, and Lena said," Mari, is that you?"

"Yeah, Mama," Mariana answered. "Is Mom here?"

"I'm right here, Mari," I said, and she appeared in the living room.

"Oh hi, Mom, I-" Mariana started but was interrupted by Jesus, who walked in.

"Hey, what's Bill doing here?" Jesus asked, pointing towards outside. "I saw him pull up."

"Oh they're already here," Lena said. "We're going to be fostering two kids for a little while."

"That's cool," Jesus said. "I think they got out of the car. I'm gonna go put my stuff upstairs." I looked out the window and saw Bill walk up to the door with two kids, one girl who was looking down and wearing a baseball cap, and a little boy hiding behind her. They got to the door, and Lena opened it.

"Hey, Lena," Bill said. "This is Callie and Jude." I walked over, and saw the younger boy, who was still hiding behind his sister. Callie and Jude, where did those names sound familiar from? "Callie, could you please look up, and take the hat off?"

"I'd rather not," Callie mumbled.

"Okay, well I better take off," Bill said. "Callie, please behave. Bye Lena, bye Stef."

"Bye, Bill," Lena and I said. The door closed, and Mariana eyed the girl up and down.

"Wait A second," Mariana said. "I saw that exact outfit today, minus the baseball cap. Are you..."Mariana stopped when the girl looked up, revealing the face of Quinn. Except now, her eye was black, and her cheek was bruised. "Wait, so you're Quinn?"

"What are you talking about?" Callie spat. "I don't know who Quinn is, and I don't know what she told you," she said, gesturing to me. "But I'm not Quinn." Callie looked over at her brother, who was looking at his sister, clueless. He didn't have a scratch on him, and was gripping onto Callie's shirt like his life depended on it. There it was, that was my answer. In front of Jude, she was Callie. His sister and protector, and nothing more. She wasn't Quinn, and she wasn't a care-free fifteen year old girl. She was Jude's guardian.