Author's Note: First I want to start off this chapter with an apology. I am so incredibly sorry that it has taken me this long to update this story. I never intended for it to get so far off course, but real life has been kicking me in the behind. However, along with some down time (finally) my muse has graciously decided to come back for a while and I hope to take full advantage while she's here. I have the next few chapters written/planned out and hopefully I'll be able to start updating more regularly.

Second I would like to acknowledge those who have been sending me reviews and reminders that there were people who still cared about this story. It means more to me than you will ever know.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy the continuing saga of our CarJack family and friends!
~JP

Family Imperfect
by Jaclyn Parker

"All these lives that you've been taking, deep inside, my heart is breaking. Broken homes from separation, don't you know it's violation?"
~Chris Daughtry

Carly put the last of her colored pencils away and stood up from the table, arching her back in a deep stretch. Glancing at the clock on the mantle she raised her eyebrows in surprise, noting that she had finished her sketches far earlier than she had anticipated.

The sound of thundering footsteps drew her eyes to the stairs and sure enough, her oldest son appeared at the bottom of them not more than two seconds later.

"And where are you off to in such a hurry?" Carly asked, startling Parker who was already halfway to the doorway, pulling his coat on at the same time.

"Geez, Mom, you scared the sh…heck out of me," Parker said, turning around and giving her an exasperated look.

"Hmm, well, I get scared too when it sounds like my house is about to fall down around my ears," Carly said, crossing her arms across her chest pointedly.

"Oh, sorry, but I was going to talk to you anyway," Parker said, shrugging while trying to look apologetic at the same time. "I wanted to know if I could borrow the car for a bit. I'm meeting Mattie at Java and I'm already gonna be late. Oh and I figured that way I can just bring Emmy home in our car seat rather than Mattie having to drive all the way here."

"Oh well, yeah that's fine. Sage is at Mandy's house and J.J.'s at play practice for another couple of hours so I don't need it." Carly said, gathering up her sketches as she spoke and putting them into the large design folder.

"Cool," Parker said and then shuffled a moment before pressing on. "Hey, you think maybe Mattie could have dinner with us?"

"Parker…" Carly said, blowing out a soft sigh.

"I mean, we're just having spaghetti so it's not like it's a huge inconvenience to put more pasta on to boil, right?" Parker hurriedly said, trying not to sound too eager.

Carly smiled at him and gave a small laugh. "Honey, it's not an inconvenience and Mattie is always welcome…"

"Great, so I can …" Parker said, his eyes lighting up.

"But," Carly interrupted him quickly, "I happen to know that Molly is preparing a special dinner for them at home since Lee finally has a night off."

"Oh, right. Hmmm, I think she said something about that actually." Parker said frowning, thinking back to an earlier conversation at school.

"So maybe tomorrow night or sometime over the weekend, okay?" Carly said and tried to suppress a smile at her son's noticeable disappointment. "But for now, I think maybe this quick coffee date will have to hold you over for the next 16 agonizing hours until you see her in school."

"Mom…" Parker whined at her obvious teasing and fought a blush. She just finally laughed at him and winked, before heading towards the kitchen. "Wait, Mom, um, car keys?"

"They're in my purse, on the couch." She said, disappearing through the doorway.

He dug around in the large black handbag for a few moments before shouting over his shoulder, "Where are they, Mom? I can't find them."

"Look harder, Parker. They're in there somewhere," came Carly's exasperated voice from the kitchen.

Parker rolled his eyes before diving back into the oversized purse one more time. Tossing things about inside, he muttered under his breath about his mom walking around with a suitcase instead of a purse.

"Got 'em!" He yelled out triumphantly when his fingers closed over the metal keys and jingling them quickly, he headed for the door.

"Knew you could do it! Dinner's at six, don't be late!"

"Yeah, Mom, don't worry. I don't think it's going to take two hours to drink coffee," He said and laughed at the "smartass" that drifted to his ears from the kitchen.

He was yelling out a goodbye as he opened the front door only to stop short at the sight of Lily with her hand poised to knock on the other side.

"Oh, hi, Parker." She said, smiling at him. "Is your mom around?"

"Uh, yeah. She's…" Parker started to say but didn't have to finish as the woman in question came out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Lily, what are you doing here?" Carly asked, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"Hey, Carly. Actually, Jack called me and asked me to come over." Lily said, coming inside as Parker shut the door behind her, his own plans momentarily forgotten at Lily's words.

"To come over here? What on earth for?" Carly asked, before smiling at her. "Not that I don't love your company."

Lily laughed and shrugged. "I have no idea. Didn't he call you?"

"I don't know. I, mean, I didn't hear my phone…" Carly trailed off as she pat down her pockets. Frowning she went to her purse and dug out her cell phone from where she had forgotten it earlier. Sure enough there was one voicemail showing on the display. "Well, that's weird. Why didn't he just call the house?"

Entering her password, she activated her voicemail feature.

"You know, I bet he didn't call the house in case Emmy was napping. She's been a bear to get down lately; thinks she'll miss everything." Carly said while she waited to listen to the voicemail, sharing a mother's only smile with Lily.

But Carly's smile quickly faded as Jack's voice filled her ear and Parker took a step closer to her.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"I don't know," Carly said, ending the phone call and holding the phone to her for a moment. "He didn't say over the phone, just that he wants me to come down to the station right away."

"Is it about Aunt Rosanna? Did they find her?" Parker asked and she shook her head.

"Honey, I don't know. Like I said, he didn't say anything more than just to come down to the station."

"Okay, well, let's go." Parker said and she looked at him in surprise.

"What? No, it's fine. I can drop you off at Java. You don't have to go with me."

"Mom, stop. I'll text Mattie and let her know what's going on. Trust me, she'll understand." Parker said, shaking his head. His eyes met hers and she could see the anxiety in them. "I'm worried about Aunt Rosanna too."

"I know you are," Carly reached up a hand and placed it on Parker's cheek gently before turning to Lily.

"You sure you don't mind staying even though Emmy's not here? I mean, Sage is due home in about a half hour from her friend's place but she could always go to the neighbor's house. And J.J. is getting dropped off after play practice around five-thirty but…" Carly started to ramble even as Parker was helping her into her coat and she reached for her purse.

"Carly, it's fine. Holden has things under control at home with our kids and, if worst comes to worst, you need to stay there for a while then Sage and J.J. can come with me and eat dinner with us." Lily said, holding up a hand to ward off any further worries. "Just go."

"Thank you!" Carly said and Lily came over to hug her friend.

"Don't mention it. I hope it's good news," Lily said and Carly smiled nervously.

"Me too."

"Mom, come on." Parker said, shifting impatiently as he put his cell phone back into his pocket after texting Mattie the latest development.

Within twenty minutes the two of them were walking through the glass doors of the Oakdale Police Station and into what seemed to be pure chaos. Officers were rushing around, some shouting and other merely trying to get where they were going with purpose.

However, the instant Carly and Parker walked in it seemed as though everything stood still, like they were all frozen for a nanosecond in time, before resuming its bustling activity.

Carly started scanning the room for Jack, but wound up noticing how every so often an officer's eyes would flick to her and then away again immediately. Her stomach rolled with a sense of unease that she couldn't pin down but the sound of her name being called by her husband had her refocusing again.

"Dad, what's going on? Parker said, answering for Carly. He looked around while frowning. "What's wrong?"

Parker had also caught the strange vibe that was in the room, as well as the inconspicuous glances their way ever since they had walked in. Jack's eyes met his son's and what Parker saw there made his blood ran cold.

"Dad?" Parker whispered and Jack shook his head.

"Come on," Jack said and without another word led them into the interview room directly behind his desk. As he drew the curtains, Jack forced himself to take a deep breath and steady his nerves.

"Jack, please. You're scaring me," Carly's soft voice drifted to him and it was very nearly his undoing as he forced himself to turn around to face them.

"Something happened today…about an hour ago actually." Jack said, running a hand through his hair as he tried to figure out how to tell them what was going on. He hadn't counted on his oldest son coming with Carly and could barely meet Parker's worried gaze as he spit out what he needed to. "A couple of joggers found Mattie, unconscious, in the park by the playground."

"Oh, God, no." Carly said, placing a hand out to touch Parker's arm and the other to cover her mouth.

"An ambulance was called and from what I could find out, it was a few minutes before they could even determine a pulse. Apparently they did find a very weak one and she was taken to Memorial straight away. The last I heard she was still in the ER, alive but unresponsive." Jack said, stating all the information he had before his son could hurl questions at him.

But he needn't have worried since Carly's question eliminated anything else Parker might have thought to ask about Mattie at the moment.

"Jack…where's Emmy?"

The soft words echoed in the closed interview room as if a shot had been fired.

A myriad of emotions flickered across Jack's face as he struggled to pull in a breath to answer. He gently but firmly led Carly to one of the chairs at the table and made her sit.

"We don't…" Jack's voice cracked and he tried again. "We don't know, Carly. The stroller was empty and the diaper bag was gone…and so was Emmy."

"Gone? What do you mean gone, Jack?" Carly asked. A buzzing noise started softly in her ears and her vision feathered in around the edges slightly. "Where's our daughter? Jack, answer me! Where is my baby?"

"Carly, the EMTs said that by the amount of degrees that Mattie's body temperature had dropped she was only lying there for about twenty minutes before the joggers found her. When the police got there they had the park sectioned off and then combed the nearby areas." Jack spoke fast as if trying to get it all out before losing it himself. "There was no sign of Emmy or the person who took her. We've set up roadblocks all over Oakdale and notified the neighboring counties with Amber Alerts."

"Jack…" Carly's words caught in her throat as she thought about what he had just said. The image of her beautiful eight month old daughter smiling at her flashed before her eyes and then rapidly changed into one of Emmy screaming and crying out for Carly to hold her; to rescue her. "Oh, God, I can't…I can't breathe, Jack. Why would he take her? She just a baby! She's just…she our baby! She means nothing to him!"

"I don't know, Baby. I don't know." Jack ran his hands through Carly's sleek golden hair and fought the rising anger towards James Stenbeck. There was no solid proof that he was behind this but there wasn't a doubt in Jack's mind that he was. However, now was not the time for thoughts of hate. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

"No, it's not. It's not okay, Jack. He took her. That monster took our little girl." Carly protested, shaking her head vehemently.

As she did, Jack's fingers got tangled in her hair and pulled slightly. She ignored it since that twinge of momentary pain was nothing compared to the gaping hole that was starting to tear in her soul. With a tired and heartbreaking sigh, Jack placed his head in her lap and began muttering an apology. At his unfounded request for forgiveness Carly looked down at him for a moment before taking his face in her hands and making him look up at her.

"This is not your fault, G-man. This is no one's fault except that madman's. Do you understand me?" Carly said, her voice powerful and crystal clear. Her blue eyes blazed with a fire that Jack hadn't seen in a long time and he wished that it hadn't been put there by this situation. "But you swear…you swear to God, that you'll find our baby."

"I swear to you, Carly, that I will bring our daughter home safe." Jack said and it was as if that was all Carly needed to hear before she let herself fall apart.

Clawing at his shoulders to pull him towards her, she leaned down so that her forehead touched his. Her shoulders began shaking and he stood, pulling her to her feet but only until he could settle onto the chair and lower her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his neck. Hot tears flowed into his maroon shirt's collar making the material dark enough to look black. Jack held her to him tightly and pressed his own face into her shoulder, letting the tears he had held back until now flow freely.

Parker had watched the scene unfold in front of him in silence, hesitant to intrude on his parent's grief. But now he walked over to where they sat together and knelt by their side. He leaned his forehead against his dad's strong forearm and was immediately granted reassurance by that same arm winding around his shoulder and hugging him close. Even as her own tears continued to stream down her face, Carly's fingers found their way to weave a comforting rhythm into Parker's hair. The teen closed his eyes to soak up the comfort that the two broken-hearted adults before him so selflessly attempted to give.

The sound of the interview room door opening softly caused all three of them to break from their family huddle and turn to see Margo in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," Margo said, the words obviously meaning more than just interrupting them. After another moment, she continued with the reason for her disruption. "Jack, I'm sending Dallas and Officer Tyler over to Memorial to check on Mattie Reynolds. We can't get any clear information over the phone."

Immediately, Parker sat up straight.

"I have to go…" Parker started to say but trailed off when words failed him. The obvious conflict of feeling like he should stay with his parents and wanting to be at the hospital painted all over his face.

"Go, Parker, it's okay. I've got your mom." Jack said, desperately trying to rein in his emotions as he held a now silent but shaking Carly in his arms.

"But…" Parker said, his eyes raking over his mom in anguish. Jack only nodded and Parker sighed.

"Come on, Parker. You can go over with Dallas and Adam. But you have to leave now." Margo said calmly and he turned to her when she placed a hand on his shoulder. He nodded to her and then hurriedly walked over to kiss Carly's cheek.

"I love you, Mom," Parker said. "Emmy's gonna be okay, you'll see. Dad will find her. You know that he always keeps his promises."

Carly untangled herself from Jack's embrace in order to stand and wrap her arms around their son's shoulders. Even at this moment, one of the darkest in her life, her heart was still warmed to see the pure hero adoration for Jack that Parker never really grew out of.

"I know," Carly whispered, her voice rough from crying but strong. "I love you too, Sweetie. Call me when you know anything and tell Molly and Lee that I love them. I'll come over to the hospital as soon as I can."

"I will," Parker said and after another quick hug from Jack, he followed Margo out into the bullpen.

"Come on, we need to go home and…" Jack said softly but trailed off, knowing that she understood what was coming next.

Carly turned to face Jack, crossing her arms around her stomach to hug herself. Jack immediately stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She laid her cheek onto his chest and listened to his heartbeat for a moment, gathering the strength to go home and tell J.J. and Sage what was going on.

Their moment of asylum was broken by a loud crashing noise from the bullpen followed by the angry shout, "You son of a bitch!"

Recognizing Parker's voice, Jack and Carly broke apart and rushed into the main room only to stop short at the sight of Parker being restrained by two officers. Craig Montgomery stood a few feet away, holding a hand to his bleeding mouth and wearing a shocked and angry look on his face.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked incredulously.

Parker didn't even acknowledge his dad's presence and continued his rant.

"You seriously think the goddamn world revolves around you, don't you Craig? Did it ever occur to you that there might not be someone at their desk because they were doing something more important than listening to your stupid ass?" Parker struggled against Dallas Griffin and Adam Tyler, his frustration and panic for Mattie and Emmy boiling over at this new target. "Huh, Craig? I mean, what did you do this time? Run someone else off the road and put them in a coma like you did to Aunt Rosanna?"

"Parker, that's enough!" Carly jumped in front of Parker and placed her hands on either side of his face. Looking into her seething son's pain filled eyes, she repeated herself tenderly but firmly, "That's enough."

The fight suddenly seemed to drain out of Parker and his shoulders slumped. He nodded his head in resignation and Carly gave Dallas a pointed look. Nodding back to her, the young African American detective and family friend, clasped his hand on Parker's shoulder. Murmuring words of support to him under his breath, Dallas led him towards the Oakdale PD's main doors. Adam Tyler looked around at the charged bullpen and exchanged some brief words with Margo before following them out to head to Memorial.

"That kid of yours has lost his mind!" Craig said, his eyes swinging from Carly to Jack as he checked the back of his hand to see if the blood flow from his busted lip had stopped.

"Craig," Jack growled at him and closed his eyes when Carly placed a restraining hand on his arm. "Now is definitely not the time."

"Look, Jack, I didn't start this; Parker did! All I did was come in here for help!" Craig said and as if uttering those words had jogged his memory he paled. "Johnny…Johnny's missing."

At those words Jack's eyes flew open and he stared at Craig in shock. "What?"

"He and Erica, his nanny, were supposed to be back from a birthday party two hours ago. What I want to know is what do I do now? Do I file a missing person's report? I mean, you know what Johnny looks like but Erica is 28 with blonde hair and green eyes. She's about five and a half feet, weighs maybe 140 pounds but I'm bad at that kind of thing so I'm not really sure…" Craig started to ramble and Margo frowned.

"Whoa, Craig, slow down a second. What makes you think they're missing? Did you call her cell phone? Maybe she just…"

"Of course, I called her cell phone, Margo! It goes right to voicemail. I even called the mother of the little boy whose party they were at. Erica left with Johnny right after they had cake which is perfect because it was time for his nap!" Craig said, the panic he felt earlier starting to seep into his voice. "Johnny has a very consistent schedule and Erica has been his nanny for months now. She has never made a mistake or missed a check-in with me. Never. Plus I'm his father! I know that something is wrong!"

Craig paused to run a frustrated hand through his hair and motioned outward at the bullpen desks.

"Come on, Margo! I just told you that your nephew is missing and you are standing there like a damn statue! Do something!"

"Craig…" Margo straightened up and glared at her brother but a young woman's voice interrupted before she say anything more.

"Chief Hughes, I think…I think, I found the nanny."

All eyes turned to a young female of Hispanic ethnicity standing at attention a few feet away. Her dark brown eyes darted from person to person before settling on her boss.

"When Mr. Montgomery was talking earlier, something about his description sounded familiar. So I logged onto the computer and started searching through today's reports."

"For the love of God, spit it out!" Craig snarled at her and Margo whirled a death glare at him.

"Shut the hell up, Craig." Margo said and turned back to the now wide eyed officer. "Go ahead, Isabel."

Cadet Isabel Hernandez swallowed quickly before continuing. "We got a report around 3 o'clock today about a Jane Doe matching that description that was found near a local bar. She was found in the nearby alley and the preliminary toxicology report says she had no alcohol in her system. Which makes sense since the bar wasn't even open for business yet. The weird part that made me remember was that she had all her belongings on her except for her wallet and that...well, her fingerprints were burned off with some sort of chemical."

"That makes sense if he wanted to have enough time to get away before she was identified." Margo said, frowning in thought.

"What bar?" Carly asked and all eyes turned to her. She ignored them and repeated her question fervently. "What bar was she found near?"

Comprehension dawned on all of their faces at the same time before their eyes all swung back to Isabel for the answer.

"Um, I believe it was…Metro Club." Isabel said and then added in soft amazement, as if not being able to help herself. "Your bar, Mrs. Snyder."

Jack and Margo exchanged a glance which, unfortunately, did not go unnoticed by Craig.

"What? What the hell is going on? Why would that mean anything to you?" He asked angrily.

Jack sighed and instinctively reached out to draw Carly closer to him as he spoke. "Mattie Reynolds was attacked in the park today and left for dead. She was in the park watching Emmy and now…our daughter is missing."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Craig said, his voice becoming oddly quiet and sincere. "Is Mattie okay?"

"She's in the ER which is where Parker was going when you came in." Margo said and Craig nodded, pressing his fingers to his sore lip and understanding now.

"Your daughter was kidnapped and Johnny was taken…" Craig frowned and tilted his head in thought "You think that the same person took both kids?"

"So far it looks like they were taken within minutes of each other and both people in charge of them were left for dead. So while it obviously wasn't the same perp, it might have been the same mastermind." Jack said and despite the situation sent up a silent prayer than Mattie was luckier than poor Erica.

Craig was silent for another moment but then seemed to put the pieces together. "With everything going on right now; Cabot appearing out of nowhere, Rosanna being taken, and that explosion the other day, I've heard the rumors. Do you really think that James Stenbeck did this too? Kidnapped our kids?"

"We don't know Craig, but my gut…my gut is telling me yeah." Jack answered.

"But why? Why the hell would he want our kids? Or Rosanna, for that matter?" Craig asked, completely confused as to motive.

"I don't know, Craig! Maybe because Johnny is Paul's nephew and Barbara's grandson? Maybe because he knows that by taking our daughter and Carly's sister that it might paralyze us from finding him? Maybe because he's just plain crazy!" Jack said, his voice rising with each suggestion. "Who the hell ever knows why James Stenbeck does anything?"

Craig nodded, finding nothing else to say to that; certainly having no good answer to that last question. He looked at Carly and taking in her pale complexion and barely concealed distress, Craig gave her a small smile.

"If they are together like your brilliant detective husband has deduced than don't worry, Carly. Johnny will watch out for Emmy. He's really good with little kids, especially babies. You'll see; they'll be fine."

Carly just stared at Craig as he uttered those trite repetitive words that seemed to tumble out of everyone's mouth so far today. Finding herself unable to reply, she just sighed and turned her face into Jack's chest and inhaled deeply. She knew that she was barely holding on by a thread and her true north's strong presence was the only thing keeping her from going over the edge of insanity.

Holding Carly close to him and pressing a tender kiss to her hair, Jack sighed. Lifting his eyes Jack's gaze met Craig's eyes and the two silently exchanged a communication of mutual understanding; something that once upon a time they would have never thought possible. But at that moment in time the two men were no longer rivals; they were merely two terrified and angry fathers who wanted their children back in their arms.