"It's all right, it's just me, darlings," Holly announced softly when she entered the basement, startling the girls, "I brought food. Nothing special, just sandwiches."

"Is he gone?" eleven-year-old Anya asked timidly as she tentatively took the sandwich that Holly offered her.

"For now, yes," Holly told her, "does anybody feel like they're getting sick? Anybody need more water, or a band-aid, or cough meds?"

Holly spent the next half hour treating cuts, sore throats, headaches, and toothaches. She also emptied out the bucket in the corner. Then she went back upstairs to check on Jade. Holly did everything she could for her daughter, but in order to keep herself alive, her first duty was to Jack. Holly watched the child sleep for a few minutes, her heart aching with a love that only a mother could have for her child.

"For a dummy, that electronics store employee is pretty smart," Fin declared as he and Amanda Rollins strolled into the squad room, "for a change all of his receipts were where they were supposed to be. A guy named Jack Gallagher purchased six cameras from that store two weeks ago."

"According to the computer," Olivia scanned the page she was reading, "Jack Gallagher lives in an old mansion out in the woods somewhere off of Central Park…. And twenty three years ago, he was accused of kidnapping, twice, but in both cases the charges were dropped just a few days later." Olivia looked up meaningfully.

"Pull up our old files, and let's figure out who went missing twenty three years ago," Cragen ordered, "I'll be back later, I'm due in court. Try to behave yourselves."

"Not to worry, Captain, I always behave myself!" A grinning Calvin came strolling into the squad room, having overheard Cragen's last statement, "not too sure about my mom and the rest of 'em, though!" Cragen ruffled the boy's hair as he walked past him.

"You better behave, young man, or you'll be grounded for the rest of your natural life." Olivia teased as she stood to greet her son, "How was your day, buddy?"

"Great! I got an A- on my history test!" Calvin announced proudly, receiving a high five from a beaming Olivia. History was not an easy subject for Calvin. Olivia wasn't particularly strict about his grades, as long as he tried his best and was honest with her about whether he needed any extra help.

"Hey, Cal, do you think maybe you can help us out with something? Do you know a girl in your class named Leslie?" John Munch asked.

"Leslie Morrison? Yeah, I know her. Why?"

"When was the last time you saw her?" Amanda inquired.

"Uh… Monday, I think. She hasn't been in school, but I just assumed she was sick or something. Did something happen to her?" Calvin would never admit it out loud, but he had a secret crush on the pretty blonde girl.

"That's what we're trying to find out, honey," Olivia told him, "nobody has seen or heard from Leslie for a couple of days. Did she say anything to you the last time you saw her?"

"Uh, yeah. She said to get out of her way. I was blocking her locker."

Olivia almost burst out laughing, but she turned just in time to hide her smile from Calvin. She reached over and feigned pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Back at the mansion, all Hell broke loose. Jack came flying through the front door, dragging a young girl by her hair. Ten-year-old Sarah was supposed to be servicing a client, and had tried to run away. The client had busted Sarah's lip, and called Jack to report her behavior. Before Jack arrived to take Sarah back to the mansion, the client raped Sarah one more time, to teach her a lesson. Jack had zero concern for Sarah's well-being. He was irate that Sarah had lost him money. The client had refused to pay for an uncooperative companion.

Holly felt a flash of irrational anger toward Sarah. Or maybe it was fear for herself. She knew that she would be feeling Jack's whip on her back that night because of this. Every screw up came back down on her. She was the trainer, after all. She should have done more work with Sarah. If she had trained Sarah properly, Sarah wouldn't have tried to run away.

Holly was going to die in six months. That much she knew for a fact. Ever since Jack had first abducted her when she was eight years old, he'd made a point to tell her several times a day that her eighteenth birthday would be the day of her death also. When Holly was thirteen, Jade was born. Jack told Holly that she had five years to care for her daughter before Jade became his property. Five years had quickly become six months. It was now just a matter of making sure that Jack was pleased so he wouldn't get rid of her early.

Night came far too quickly. Jack looked at Holly with empty, soulless eyes.

"You know what to do."

It was a sentence that Holly had heard many, many times before. She got up and went to his bedroom. She took off her bra. She laid face-down on the bed and waited. She no longer needed to be restrained for a beating. Jack believed that restraints were like training wheels; with enough practice, you wouldn't need them anymore.

And Holly had endured ten years of practice.

She heard Jack come back into the room, There was a pause, and then the beating started with no warning. Jack went into the same tirade he always did when he was beating Holly. He started ranting about all of the horrible things he was going to do to Jade when he had finally disposed of Holly. As Holly screamed her way through the beating, she sensed that something was different, and tried to focus on it. Then she realized. Jack's speech was more emphatic than usual, as if he were actually speaking to someone, instead of just ranting like he always did. But why?

She was horrified to learn the answer. She turned her head, and there was Jade, standing in the doorway, watching quietly, with wide, terrified eyes. Jack had taken her out of her crib, and quietly told her to stand by the door and watch what was happening to Mama.

Something deep inside of Holly's psyche broke, and she knew that she had to get Jade out of that house, whether it meant an early death for her or not.