"Elisa!" Her dad's voice raised in his surprise.

"Yeah, it's me," Elisa said, wiping at the tears that had welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry that I didn't call sooner."

"We will take up that conversation later," He said. "How are you? We got a call from Dr. James that you had been hurt, but we didn't know how to get a hold of you."

"The cell phone towers must have cleared up," Elisa said. "I had been trying to call you since late yesterday afternoon, but my phone couldn't connect."

"That's alright," He hurried to assure her. "I am just relieved to hear that you are alright. Are you at home?"

"No, I'm at the castle right now." Elisa admitted.

She could practically hear her father frowning. "Why? Did they want you close to the doctor? Are you that hurt? I hate that you're in a tall building right now."

"All flights are still grounded," Elisa reminded him. "I am actually safer here, with all of the castle defenses than I would be at home."

"If you say so," Peter Maza reluctantly agreed.

"Where's mom?" Elisa asked.

"She's at a friend's house," He said. "You remember the Gutierrez family down the street from us?"

"Yeah."

"Their son was working in the South Tower."

"Oh, God." Elisa replied. "Have they heard anything?"

"Not yet," Peter said sadly. "They are hoping that he got out and had to cross into Brooklyn, or staying with a friend and he hasn't had a chance to call yet."

Elisa bowed her head. It was possible, but…

"It was bad, dad," Elisa admitted.

"I know, baby," He said soothingly. "Would you like us to come down there?"

Elisa's parents had moved North to Riverdale after Peter had retired from the force. They bought a small, two bedroom house with a fence and a yard. They claimed that it was for their grandchildren to play in… even though none of the Maza kids had thought about having children at the time. It was a bit of a drive to go visiting, but close enough to justify visiting often. Liam loved it up there, close to the water and open areas to ride his bike.

"No, dad," Elisa shook her head, even though her father couldn't see it. "Stay up there with mom."

"Well," He said, "To be honest, I was about to come down anyway. See if you could put your old man up for a few nights."

"Why?"

"They are going to need volunteers, Elisa." Peter said softly. "Not just the heavy lifting and digging, but things like helping with first aid, food and water distribution."

Elisa perked up a little. "That's something that I could do, too. Not the heavy lifting, but I could be doing something."

"Elisa," Peter growled.

"No, dad," Elisa stopped him. "I need to be doing something. I can't just sit here and watch the new reports. I'll go insane."

Peter sighed. He shouldn't have opened his mouth, knowing his daughter like he did. She was raised by a cop, had been exposed to the NYPD family. She practically bled blue. Of course, she would want to help.

"Alright," Peter said reluctantly. "If you absolutely need to come with me…"

"I do," Elisa stated firmly.

"Then I will give you a call when I am heading out. I am going to call Maria and see what needs to be done, and where I can go to help."

"Thanks, dad."

"Don't thank me yet," Peter said. "Wait until your mother hears about this. I may be sleeping on the sofa for a week if she finds out."

"I won't tell her if you don't," Elisa promised.

"That's a deal." Peter agreed quickly.

Elisa smiled. After all these years, her big, tough, policeman father was still afraid of her mother's temper. Diane Maza was a real mama bear when it came to her kids, and Elisa was mildly surprised that she hadn't been here beating down the door trying to find her daughter.

"Have you heard from Derek or Beth yet?"

"Yes," Peter said. "The labyrinth got shaken up pretty good, some minor cracks and damage to the walls. They are having a flood of people coming in because of fear and the debris strewn around."

"I bet," Elisa said softly. "Dad, can you let them know I'm o.k.?"

"Already done," Peter assured her. "Derek was threatening to go down there himself to look for you, and we talked him into waiting. We called him the moment that we had heard from the doctor about your condition. I believe his words were 'I'm going to kick her butt when I see her'."

Elisa rolled her eyes. "He did not say that."

"Well, I may have left out a few choice phrases and swear words, but you get the idea."

"I got it," Elisa promised. "When are you coming down?"

"Just let me make those calls and go let your mom know where I'm going, then I will pack a bag with a couple of days worth of clothes and be on my way."

"See you soon," Elisa said.

With that, Elisa hit the "end call" button on her phone and turned off the television. She'd heard enough, seen enough.

Elisa walked to the elevators and went down to the Medical Wing. She met with a startled Dr. James, and asked him for help with the bandages.

Dr. James listened in frustration to Elisa and what she was planning to do. He had known that nothing short of being put into a coma was going to keep her down for long, but he had hoped for at least a day or two of her taking it easy.

He said as much to Elisa, and gained what he had dubbed the "death stare" years ago.

Knowing that further argument was pointless, he unwrapped her arms. Checking for any signs of infection, he was relieved to find none… so far. He badgered her into taking her second dose of antibiotics for the day, and placed fresh dressings over the wounds. He pulled out all of the stops, determined to keep as much of the dust and debris out as he could and wrapped a water resistant bandage over the top of it all. Elisa could barely bend her arms once it was all on, but he flat out told her that she either wore the wrappings or he would personally tell the Aerie security team to not let her out of the building.

He didn't know if it would actually work, as he was certain that he didn't have that kind of pull. However, threat alone was enough to have Elisa agree with his terms.

He hoped she remembered once she was outside of the castle walls.

Elisa, freshly wrapped, went back up to say goodbye to Liam. He was instantly upset, and Elisa sat with him on her lap for a good half an hour before he calmed down. Once he was feeling more secure, and once more playing happily with Victoria, Alex and Christopher, Elisa slipped out.

She called her father, and he was still about fifteen minutes out. He had the location of the volunteer coordinator and had already spoken to Maria about their involvement. Elisa was restless, eager to get there. She decided to wait in front of the building for her father to pick her up. It was irritating not being able to drive herself, but even if she could bend her arms enough to drive and work the necessary controls, her car was still parked at the station house.

Soon, her father's huge black monster of a buick came rumbling down the road. He pulled up to a stop at the curb, and Elisa got in.

Peter Maza leaned over in his seat and hugged his daughter, tightly.

The two of them sat like that for a time, parent and child, and simply held each other. Finally, they pulled apart, and Peter maneuvered into traffic.

The traffic thinned out the closer to the towers that they got. Fewer and fewer businesses were open that direction as well. Some of the businesses had been boarded up windows due to damage from the collapsing buildings. Others must have simply chosen not to open. There were a few of the restaurants open, however, that had been damaged, but were open in spite of it.

"Hey, dad," Elisa burst out. "Can you go down Fulton Street? There's a pizza place that I need to go check on, a few blocks away from the Trade Center."

Peter turned down Church Street, and started looking for street signs to let him know where they were.

Finally, a Fulton street sign came into view, and Peter wound his way down the street. "What was the place called?"

"I don't know," Elisa admitted. "I ducked in there with some other people when the first tower fell. I just need to see if the place is still there. Make sure that the family that runs the place is okay."

Peter nodded, and slowed down so the Elisa could look closely at the signs and buildings.

"There," Elisa announced, pointing to a small pizzeria that had wood covering the broken window and doors. The name of the restaurant, Matty's Pizza, had been spray painted on the inside of the wood on the door, and had been propped open. The wood on the window also had a spray painted message: "Police, Fire, EMS and Volunteers eat free."

Peter pulled up to the empty curb and put the car in park.

Elisa let out a sigh. They were still there, still open for business.

"So," Peter said softly, "Do we go in, or do we just sit here?"

"Let's go in," Elisa said, opening her door.

Peter turned off the car, and followed his daughter in. There were workmen inside, some were plastering the walls and some were working on repairing the booths and tables. Elisa wandered between them, and walked up to the counter. Curiously, she peeked into the kitchen. If the dining room was a mess because of the construction, the kitchen was sparkling clean.

"We need another four large with everything," a familiar voice called out. "This one's going to the firehouse."

Elisa felt a smile come over her face… the first true smile in days.

The manager, the one who had given her the bags of bottled water and helped to take care of the little sick girl, was coming out of the large walk-in refrigerator.

"Know him?" Peter asked, relieved to see his daughter smile.

"Yeah," Elisa said. "He's the guy I wanted to see."