Annnd we're back, folks! Sorry about the delay, got busy with Thanksgiving/Christmas merriment and mayhem. Speaking of which, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Thank you for all of the lovely reviews/favs/follows, you all are awesome. =)

Also, updates will probably be a little more sporadic just 'cause Christmastime always gets a little crazy around my place.

Thanks so much!

I thought you said forever,

Over and over.

~ Paperthin Hymn

The stunned look didn't leave Jamie's face as Vinny swept him up from his chair and gave him a hug. The teen's arms didn't move from his sides to return the hug, but he seemed moderately more relaxed now that he had a friend here.

Vinny pulled back, holding his friend by the shoulders. "Why don't you answer your phone, man? We went by the apartment, we went to your favorite coffee shop, I called you, like, six billion times, and I couldn't find a trace of you! And now I see you've been giving the police a run for their money when you should've just called me!"

"I was...I didn't..." Jamie's brow crinkled in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

The social worker stepped forward, offering her hand to Danny. "What you should have done in the first place. I'm Amanda Brockhurst, Jamie's social worker."

Danny shook her hand, still trying to puzzle out the connection between the three of them and the reticent, angry teen. "Danny Reagan. If you're his social worker, then you gotta know why he was with Joe instead of Jack. He won't make a peep."

Any tension that Jamie lost at the sight of his friend came back three-fold when the detective brought up the sore subject. He pulled away from Vinny, switching his glare from Danny to Amanda.

She was not impressed. "What have I told you about authority, Mr. Riordan? Things will go much better for you in the long run if you simply cooperate. Why don't we all have a seat?"

Danny grabbed some chairs from nearby workstations and dragged them over to his desk. As he did so, Amanda gestured to the woman and the boy. "This is Margarite and her foster son, Vinny. They've known the Riordans for a while now."

"Nice to meet you," Danny murmured as they all sat down in the cramped space. As he stared at all the faces looking back at him, he hardly knew where to begin. Jamie looked ready to bolt at the slightest movement, while Vinny had a hand on his arm as if to prevent him from doing just that. Margarite fiddled with her purse, trying and failing to reassure both boys with a couple of awkward smiles.

The only one who seemed perfectly at ease was Amanda. She met Danny's gaze with cool, gray eyes. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Detective Reagan. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability, but you must know up front that Jamie's case is a rather unorthodox one."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" Danny said.

Jamie's jaw flexed.

"Where would you like me to start?" The woman continued.

"The beginning is always a good place."

Amanda nodded and took a few moments to collect her thoughts. She clasped her hands together as she decided on a starting point and spoke, "Both Joe and Jamie have been in the legal custody of their father since their mother passed away about four years ago. Joe was nearly eighteen at the time, Jamie twelve."

Danny shot a glance at the kid and wasn't surprised to find him clenching onto the sides of his chair. Jamie seemed to be a very private person., one not liable to take kindly to being talked about instead of talked to.

"As soon as Joe turned eighteen, he left his father's place, left New York. None of us are certain where he went for the next couple of years." Her head tilt in Jamie's direction assured Danny that at least one person knew what had happened in the interim, but wasn't willing to say what it was. "Jamie remained with his father until Joe came back two years later. Joe then joined the police force, but an...incident on the home front convinced him to come to me with a deal."

Danny quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't know you could make deals with social workers."

Amanda cleared her throat. "Not...typically. But, I was willing to consider one for the Riordans. Joe wasn't in a financial state to support Jamie at the time and he knew it, but the situation with his father was getting out of hand. Joe didn't want Jamie to go into foster care, so we agreed that he would remain under Jack's custody in name only while he lived with Joe."

"What about the whole "Joe couldn't support Jamie" thing?" Danny pressed.

"I can work too!" Jamie finally spoke up. His cheeks were pink, either from embarrassment or anger. "I wasn't about to let my brother try to make ends meet on his own. We're going to -"

His voice trailed off as he realized that he was speaking about Joe in the present tense. Vinny squeezed his arm. Jamie offered him a watery smile, but he didn't say anything else.

Danny scrubbed a hand over his face. "And what is your plan now? Does Jack get the boy back?"

Amanda's cool exterior broke a bit, a hint of anger seeping through. "We haven't been able to get a hold of him."

Jamie snorted

Margarite leaned forward. "I'll take the boy. My house is all in order. It may be cramped for a time, but we're willing to make it work."

Danny had almost forgotten about her, she'd been so quiet. "And you're Vinny's foster mom?"

"That's right, man," Vinny said with a wide smile. He slung an arm around Jamie's shoulders. "Jamie and I are old friends, we go to the same school, we were practically in diapers together, yada, yada, yada."

"Vinny!" Margarite scolded.

Amanda didn't seem to mind the interlude. "We do believe this is the best situation for Jamie right now. He'll be in an environment that's comfortable for him and with people who care about him as he copes with his loss."

"He is right here too," Jamie grumbled, looking every bit a petulant teenager.

Danny sat back in his chair. "Okay then, what do you think of this arrangement?"

The boy looked mildly surprised at being addressed so directly. But the surprise faded into a grim expression. "It doesn't matter what I think. It hasn't mattered for a long time."

"That ain't true, man!" Vinny gave him a good-natured punch.

Jamie didn't respond.

Danny sighed. "Well, I guess since he won't make a decision, I will. He can stay with you until I am able to get in contact with Jack Nielsen. Once that happens, I have no guarantee what we will do next."

Amanda nodded. "We can't expect anything more from you. Thank you for your time and cooperation...and for taking care of Jamie for a while. I understand he was a bit troublesome?"

Danny looked at the boy for a long moment, trying to get a read on him. Jamie seemed to be done with any further displays though. Everything about him was closed off. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Amanda stood up, followed by Margarite and Vinny, then Jamie, who practically dragged himself out of his chair. "I guess we'll be going then...until we learn from you about any new developments?"

"Yeah."

"Here's my card." She handed him a crisp card, then turned to her charges. "Let's go."

Jamie trailed after the little group, tugged along by Vinny. He paused before he could get too far from Danny's desk and glanced back. "Could you let me know if you find my dad?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?" Jamie stiffened.

"Depends on if you're going to talk to him or punch his face in. After today's display, I'm not too sure it's a good idea to let you near him."

The kid looked down, a muscle jumping in his jaw. "My dad and I aren't particularly close, but...we're family. And we both loved Joe...in our own way."

"Is that why you were screaming at him for, and I quote, 'What you did to Joe'?" asked Danny.

"He probably didn't mean it." Jamie shrugged. "He never really means to get us in trouble, but he does."

"What did he not mean this time?"

The teen shook his head. "Doesn't matter. But...could you please let me know if you find him?"

"Okay," Danny agreed, if only for the chance it would give him to crack the puzzle that was the Riordan/Nielsen clan.

"Thanks." Jamie turned and followed his companions out the door.

Jamie scooted into the backseat of Amanda's car. Vinny scrambled in after and he could feel the weight of those warm brown eyes rest heavy on his shoulders. He didn't acknowledge their concern, keeping his gaze fixed out the window on the comings and goings of the police officers and detectives.

If he just didn't think, if he kept his focus on the people around him, he wouldn't notice the grief tightening his throat. There was no way he could simply keep on doing his normal routine. Detective or not, Danny didn't know Joe like he did and he might miss something that could help him solve the case. And if Jamie could find out what happened to his brother, maybe the emptiness wouldn't be so complete. Maybe he'd have a chance to live again...or at least breathe without feeling like his lungs were about to collapse.

Amanda pulled out of the station, chatting about something or another.

"Can we go to my apartment?" Jamie blurted.

They all feel silent and he could practically feel their disapproval.

"I'm not going to cause any more problems, I promise. I just...I want to grab my stuff," he explained.

"Jamie," Amanda sighed. "We can always send someone else over to collect your things. I really don't think it's wise at this -"

"Please. They won't know what I want or they'll forget something." Or, rather, they won't bother to look through Joe's stuff for clues for me. "I'll be quick, I promise."

"C'mon, Mandi," Vinny charmed. "Give the kid a break. I t won't take long. We'll be in and out in twenty minutes tops."

"And how did he turn into a we?" Amanda asked, quirking a wry eyebrow in the boy's direction. Jamie could tell she was softening though.

Vinny slung an arm over his shoulders, which was really uncomfortable given that they had a seat in between them and his efforts to draw Jamie close caused the seatbelt to cut into his neck. "We're a complete set, you wouldn't want to break up the collection now, would you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you only have twenty minutes and Margarite and I are going to be with you every step of the way."

"Fine," Jamie agreed, since it was the best offer he was going to get. He didn't speak another word until they reached the apartment.

He couldn't get past the threshold of Joe's room.

Just staring at the empty bed was enough to make his stomach turn and keep his feet immobile. Memories pressed down on him, curling at the edge of his thoughts and he swallowed hard, trying not to remember the last time he'd seen Joe. He didn't want to think of all the things he could have said and didn't because he thought he'd see Joe again. If he went down that path, he'd never come back again.

A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his reverie. Vinny's concerned eyes darted from him to the living room, where Margarite and Amanda waited."I got most of your stuff, man, but if you want to grab something from Joe's room, you'd better do it now. They're not going to wait much longer."

Jamie gave a jerky nod. "Yeah, I know. I just..."

"I can come with you if you want?"

"Thanks, but it's something I need to do myself." And just like that, he had the strength to walk into the room.

He wasn't sure what he was looking for, so he picked up a couple of items that reminded him of his brother: an old sweatshirt, the worn copy of The Brothers Karamazov that Joe always kept on his nightstand, a picture of the two of them at a baseball game. All three items were tucked carefully into the duffle bag Jamie had slung over his shoulder.

He scanned the rest of the room, looking for anything else he could take with him. Joe's desk was stacked with important-looking papers and a small moleskin notebook. He wandered over and rifled through the stack, but they were all bills or police guidelines and handbooks. He gave up halfway through and picked up the notebook instead.

The pages were filled with dozens of notes in Joe's neat handwriting - tips and tricks of what to do on the beat or in a certain situation and even, Jamie noted with a smirk, the location of the best restaurants. Some were underlined with a small "Jamie" written next to them.

His heart ached and he closed the journal without reading further, tucking it in next to the other items.

"Time to go, Jamie!" Vinny rapped on the doorframe, startling him into knocking the papers off of the desk. A soft thunk caught his attention amidst the flutter of paper.

"Just a second." He turned to gather the papers, stacking them haphazardly on the desk once more. As he gathered up the last few bills, he saw a small ring on the floor.

He picked it up.

It was gold and kind of boxy, like a college ring. The center of the ring had a compass or something similar carved into it that was hard to make out in the dim light. The symbol rested on a blue background and around the edge, he could make out a few words if he squinted hard enough: The Blue Templar.

"Jamie!" Vinny called again.

"Coming!" He slipped the ring into his pocket and left the room.