PHILADELPHIA ZOO

"They got rides and elephants and giraffes that I can feed! Oh and I want to see the penguins and the snakes and hippos!" Hunter had enough energy for three kids his age. He ran ahead and then realized they weren't right behind him. "Come on! You guys are slow!"

Elizabeth slipped her hand into Jack's and laughed. "Maybe you should go slower, sweetie."

He sighed dramatically and waited just before the gate. When they walked up behind him, he stepped up to the ticket lady. "Hi! I'm Hunter James Thornton and I'm six and this is my Mom, Elizabeth and my Dad, Jack."

Elizabeth smiled at his wealth of information that he just shared. "Nice to meet you Hunter James Thornton. And you, Jack and Elizabeth. Three tickets?"

"Yes, please!" Hunter said excitedly.

"You got it. Now, this is your bracelet. It lets you ride all the kid rides and you get one free drink and one free meal." He grabbed the bracelet and grinned.

"Thanks!"

She handed Jack and Elizabeth their tickets and a map and accepted their payment. "Now you three have a wonderful time!"

"We will! Come on guys!"

"Hunter, please wait a moment," Elizabeth told him in a serious tone.

"Yes, Mama." He looked into her eyes because she was kneeling right in front of him.

"This is a very busy place and it can be easy to get separated from each other."

"I won't."

"Hang on, I'm not done." She touched his shoulder to reign him in a bit.

"Sorry."

"I don't want you to get lost or hurt. I'm not saying you need to hold our hands but I don't want you to run ahead. Understand, love?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, buddy. Now where should we go first?"

"Mmm. There's the hippos! Let's go there."

"Hippos it is." He grabbed her hand and they all walked into the hippo exhibit.

"The hippopotamus or hippo, is a large, mostly herbivorous semi-aquatic mammal.." Jack read off the sign.

"What's herbi…vort..is?" Hunter asked.

"It means they eat plants. No meat. And semi-aquatic means they spend a large amount of their life in water."

As they moved into the building, they saw a couple of hippos getting very frisky in the water. Elizabeth chuckled and looked away, really wanting to know how Jack was going to explain what was happening.

"What are they doing?" Hunter asked.

"Um…making a baby hippo," Jack said simply.

"Oh. Gross." Hunter took Elizabeth's hand and they kept walking. Elizabeth laughed and kissed Jack's cheek.

"You got out of that one easy," she told him quietly.

"No kidding."

As they left the building, Hunter saw the bird exhibit. Apparently you could walk through the exhibit on a pathway and feed the birds that were sitting on perches. "I want to feed them, Dad."

"Ok, bud. Here, put a quarter in and get some food."

Elizabeth watched Hunter hold his hand up with a few pieces of food to the rainbow colored parrot that sat about a foot above his head. "Dad, can you lift me higher, please?" Jack lifted him and the bird gently pecked the food from his hand. "Good bird," Hunter said quietly.

Jack set him down and Hunter ran over to Elizabeth. "He ate it, Mom, did you see?"

"I did." Just then, another parrot, this time a white one with yellow feathers on its head flew down and perched itself on Elizabeth's shoulder. She froze, not knowing what to do.

"Hello," the bird said, bobbing his head up and down. "Hello."

"Hi!" Hunter said, amazed. "He talked, Mama!"

"Yes." Jack stuck his arm up, trying to coax the bird away from Elizabeth but it didn't seem to want to go.

"Pretty girl, pretty girl, hello," the bird said, making Jack laugh.

"Well, he has good taste."

"Jack, can you just get the bird off me, please?"

"Try food, Dad," Hunter suggested, handing him a few pieces.

"Good idea." It worked. The bird quickly moved to Jack's arm, ate the food, and flew off.

"You ok, honey?"

"Yeah."

They finished the bird exhibit and then Hunter wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. "Mama, will you go with me?"

"Sure. Let's go."

Jack watched his wife and son climb into the bucket seat and close the gate over their legs. He watched it go up slowly as they let other people on.

"Mama! That bird sure was funny!"

"Yeah."

"It talked really good."

"It did."

"Mama, those hippos…were they really making a baby hippo?"

"Um…yes, Hunter, they were." She braced herself for more questions.

"Is that how birds make babies too?"

"More or less. Same idea. It takes a boy hippo and a girl hippo and a boy bird and a girl bird."

"And a girl person and a boy person?"

Elizabeth blushed and nodded. "Yep."

"Ok." Hunter looked down at the crowd below. "Look, there's Dad!"

Hunter waved and smiled. Elizabeth sighed and waved.

Hunter dropped his hand and became serious. "Hunter? What's wrong?"

"I don't know."

"Does your tummy feel funny?"

"No. I thought I saw…." His voice trailed off and he scooted closer to Elizabeth.

"What did you see?"

"That Mr. Tolliver, Mama. I think that he's here." She looked over the crowd for the man she had seen only in pictures.

"Where, baby?"

"He was behind Dad. He's not there anymore. I'm scared."

Elizabeth wrapped her arm around Hunter and continued to look as they made one last revolution on the ride. "I'll keep you safe, Hunter. I promise you."

When they stopped and finally stepped on the ground again, Hunter begged to be picked up. She agreed and he wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms around her neck.

"What's going on?" Jack wanted to know. "Is he sick?"

"No." Elizabeth looked around them and then whispered into his ear. "He saw Nate Tolliver."

"Where?"

"He was behind you." Jack felt his pocket, grateful his wallet was still there. He took it and put it in his front pocket instead.

"Should we go?"

"Hunter, this is your day. Do you want to stay here? Maybe eat some lunch?"

"I want to see the giraffes and penguins and snakes."

"Ok, then. Can I put you down?"

"Yes." She set him on the ground and he immediately grabbed both of their hands.

"You ok, bud?"

"Yes. Mama promised she was gonna keep me safe."

"We both will."

For lunch they had cheesy fries and burgers and shakes.

"I'm going to need to work out a lot to make up for this meal," Elizabeth told Jack. "Holy moly."

To round out the day, they visited the peacocks, the monkeys, and the lions. Both parents keeping their eyes peeled for the man Hunter had seen earlier, but he wasn't seen again. Allowing for them to enjoy the day.

Jack carried Hunter back to the car when it was time to head home. He fell asleep as soon as he was buckled in his booster seat, his stuffed parrot, Robin, in his arms.

"This was a fun day, minus you know who," Jack said as he took her hand while they drove.

"Yeah, it was."

"Do you really think it was him, Beth?"

"Hunter knows him more than we do. He's been around him before. I just don't understand what he wants."

"Maybe Jamie is asking him to keep an eye on Hunter?"

"Maybe. I don't know, but I don't have a good feeling about this. I'll talk to Lee and the Chief tomorrow."

"Ok." Jack pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. He was worried too but he knew that Hunter was lucky his Mom was a cop.

The rest of the drive was quiet. Elizabeth's imagination was running wild trying to figure out just how Nate could have found them at the city zoo. Lee had told them about seeing him at the courthouse back at the adoption a few months back as well. It wasn't as if the man had ever expressed any interest in Hunter or ever tried to stake any sort of claim on him. This must have something to do with Jamie, she thought. Or, and she hated this thought, did he somehow find out that his biological son had been adopted by the daughter of a wealthy city judge? That made Elizabeth cringe. Her family had always done their best to keep a low profile. Especially Elizabeth and her sisters. Her parents did everything in their power to help with that.

"Hey, babe?" Jack tried to get his wife's attention. His hand was started to hurt from how hard she was squeezing as he drove. Finally she looked up. "He's ok. We'll figure this out."

"You seem pretty confidant."

"I'm trying to be. Besides, look at him. He's knows he's safe."

"How can you tell?"

"When I first got him, he was a mess. He wouldn't make eye contact, he'd barely make a noise unless it was to start crying."

Elizabeth started to cry at the thought of her happy little boy like that. "He wouldn't even sleep through the night at first. In time we adjusted and he learned he was safe and could trust me. Then he just got so clingy he'd never let go of me." Jack laughed as he remembered trying to drop Hunter off for daycare with him latched to his leg. "I really thought it would be easier just to amputate my leg. But now, look at him, look at today. We talked him down, we had a great rest of the day because he trusted us. He knows we will make sure he is safe."

"We will."

"Yes. I know us. We won't give up. Whatever this guy is after, he won't get it."

As they pulled into the driveway, they noticed Lee's car parked in the drive next door. It wasn't a surprise. He visited most evenings now. Jack had a feeling Elizabeth wouldn't wait to talk to Lee about what happened and wasn't so sure he wanted her to either.

He carefully removed their sleeping boy from the car and carried him into the house without waking him. Poor Hunter was out for sure.

"I'm gonna go take Bruce out for a walk." Elizabeth said grabbing the leash. "I want to take a look around the house for a bit."

Jack gave his wife a confused stare. She looked so serious. "You expecting to find something out there unusual?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You're almost in full cop mode, babe."

She smiled. He knew her all too well. She stepped closer and whispered to make sure their sleeping boy wouldn't hear a word but there was one other reason too. "I don't trust that Nate guy one bit and I promised our son he would be safe and I meant it." Jack nodded. "I saw Lee's car next door, I'm going to see if he'll do a perimeter sweep with me real quick."

Jack looked at her nervously. "Why? Do you think he's here?"

"No, but a trace of him might be." She grabbed a couple flashlights from the hall closet. "We'll be fine, love. We're just taking a look around. That's all."

"Alright. I'll let you do your thing and I'll take care of this guy." Jack leaned in kissing her deeply. "I love you. You know, you're pretty sexy when you go into fierce protective mode."

She blushed. "Good. Save those thoughts for later. I'll cash them in after I'm come back inside." With one more kiss, she left.

Jack looked down at Hunter sleeping in his arms. He smiled as he listened to the soft snore and watch as the air from his mouth pushed his curls around each time. They'd do whatever they needed to do to keep him safe. No matter what.

The sun was mostly set now as Elizabeth crossed the yard like a woman on a mission. Rosie and Lee were sitting on the back deck enjoying dessert and some wine when she reached the fence.

"Elizabeth!" Rosie smiled. "How was the zoo?"

"Good mostly." She smiled, but it faded into worry fast. "We may have had another run in with our little friend again." No more explanation was needed.

"Did you call the police?"

"We didn't want to ruin the day. Hunter recovered and we didn't see anything. Right now I'm concerned how he know to look for us there in the first place."

"Let's call the police now!" Rosie grabbed her phone.

"We ARE the police." Lee reminded her standing from his seat. "What do you want to do?"

She handed him one of the department issued flashlights. "Let's take a look around."

…..

Jack sat at the base of the dimly lit stairs, his head in his hands. He felt helpless all of a sudden.

Snow, his once nemesis came up to him, rubbing her sleek black fur against his leg.

"Hey girl. We friends now?" He smiled, petting her. He didn't know when but at some point in the past couple months she has grown to like him. She loved Hunter. Even if he came with Bruce who she still wasn't sure about.

Just then the back door flew open caused him to jump nearly out of his skin and sending Snow straight up the stairs to hide.

"Jack?"

"Rosie, what on earth? Has the concept of knocking completely escaped you?"

"Sorry, did I frighten you?"

"What do you think? There's an ex-con out there stalking my son and you barged into my home. Yeah, you might have surprised me."

"Oh dear, I'm sorry." She hurried over and hugged him tightly, feeling his heart racing in his chest. "Lee and Elizabeth are out looking for Lord only knows what and I can't sit still long enough to stay out of the way so I thought I'd come check on you. You alright?" Jack nodded sadly and sat back down on the stairs. "No you're not. You've always been a terrible liar."

"Gee thanks."

"Well, being a terrible liar isn't a bad thing. So tell me what's really wrong. Other than the obvious."

Jack looked up the stairs toward Hunter's room. "You really want to know?"

"Would I have asked if I didn't?"

"I guess not." He sighed. "I guess I feel…. useless." Rosie snorted. "That's a helpful response."

"Sorry, Jack, but the very thought of you, of all people, being useless is just absurd."

"Well it's how I feel right now. That man was right behind me and I had no idea. Now there's nothing I can do about it but sit here and…."

"Protect your son."

"I was going to say and do nothing."

"No. You are sitting here at the base of the stairs, protecting your son."

"I'm just a teacher, Rosie. Beth and Lee are the cops."

"Let's be real here, you are one big strong wall of a man. You've played hockey, football and other sports since you were 5 years old. You work out a lot. You think that man would stand a chance? And if you're worried about Hunter looking up to Lee more than you because he's a cop, let me tell you this… 2 weeks ago at the park Hunter told me he was glad Lee had Elizabeth as a partner to look out for him."

"Seriously?" Jack laughed.

"Yes!" Rosie a laughed. "Something about Lee not being able to ice skate and how he tripped several times trying to catch a frisbee, made Hunter think Lee needed Elizabeth to keep him safe on the job." Jack covered his mouth to quiet his laugh. "So see, you have nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried. I know I get to be the cool sports dad and all that. But that is pretty hilarious. I guess I just want to do more right now. That's all."

"I understand." Rosie sat down on the stair below Jack. "You're the right parents for the boy Jack. You and Elizabeth. Whatever happens you'll get him through it."

…..

Elizabeth and Lee were coming around the south side of Elizabeth's home when Lee brushed some sort of bug off his shoulder.

"You know Gowan's not going to like us investigating this on our own." Lee teased. "There's procedures and protocols in places for these sort of things. Perhaps you've heard of them."

"Who says we're investigating this? We're just taking a stroll around my property and the part of your soon to be property that faces mine looking for anything suspicious."

"AKA, investigating." Lee laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Elizabeth turned back, smacking his arm hard. "That man is stalking my son, Lee. What would you do in my place?"

He realized the severity of the situation. "Ok, Beth. I'm sorry. But if we do see anything let's just make a note of it and call it in. No sense in letting this guy get away because we've mucked with the evidence alright?" She nodded and they continued to walk the fence line. "What do you think Rosie and Jack are doing in there right now?"

"Rosie's probably in there trying to get Jack to get me to pick a color scheme for the wedding. Did you know weddings had color schemes? Apparently it's important."

"It kind of is, Lee." She laughed. "Did she call Julie?"

"Yeah. They're getting together this week. Which is apparently why I have to pick a color now."

"What are the options?"

"Something green, something blue and something… pink."

"Oh," she laughed.

"The green was nice. Kind of like being in a garden or in the woods."

"Well, tell her that."

"Alright." Lee shined his light around a little more. "What does your gut tell you, Beth? How smart is this guy? You think he's just doing drive-bys or could you be bugged?"

Elizabeth sighed. "I don't know, Lee. I just need to protect my son."

"And you will. I promise. You're like family to me Beth and that family includes Jack and Hunter. Nothing is going to happen to any of you. They'll have to get through me first." He meant it. He'd watched her suffer enough. No more.

After another 20 minutes of turning up nothing they went inside to Rosie and Jack. Elizabeth felt defeated. Jack wrapped her in his arms and held on tight.

"What do you want to do next?" Lee asked.

"I'll talk to Gowan tomorrow," she said without even lifting her head off Jack's chest. She was a tough cop, but right now she needed the man she loved. He ran his hand up and down her back, as he held her, showing his love.

"May we interject for a moment?" Rosie said.

"When do you ever ask?" Jack lovingly teased.

"True. I'll just say it then. If you weren't a cop, and couldn't have done your little walk about yourselves, you would have called the police right away. In fact, you might have even done it at the zoo… why wait till tomorrow? Just call the Chief!"

Elizabeth picked up her head now. "I could. I mean, the only reason we didn't call earlier was because we had no proof he was there. Problem is I still don't. I trust Hunter but without proof there's nothing the department can do!" She buried her head back in Jack's chest.

Lee picked up his phone. "Chief Gowan, it Sergeant Coulter. We have a potential sensitive situation at the Thornton's we could use the department's help with regarding a Nate Tolliver… Yes, sir. He's their son's biological father and may be stalking the family." Lee listened. "With all due respect, I'd like to stay close to the case."

"Me too," Elizabeth jumped back in, cop mode taking over once again.

"You know better," Lee whispered. "See you soon." He hung up and turned to face Elizabeth and Jack. "You know Gowan won't let you work the case directly, but if he lets me, I'll pull you in where I can."

"You're awesome, Lee!" Elizabeth hugged him.

"Don't thank me yet. Tomorrow is going to be complicated. Gowan, bless his weird heart, is looking up everything he can find on Tolliver now."

Lee paced the floor as he tried to come up with a quick plan.

"Okay, how about this… After church, Hunter has lunch with your parents, Jack, at Abigail's?"

"I bet that will work. They're supposed to meet Tom there anyway. Julie too."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked, surprised her sister was a part of the mix.

"Yeah, I was surprised too." Jack shrugged.

"Okay, great." Lee refocused. "Tomorrow while he's safe, you both need to come in to the station and tell Gowan everything you can." They nodded. "A small unit will come here to do what Beth and I just did then, but more thorough. Maybe they'll find something we didn't in the light of day. They'll ask the neighbors if they recognize him, things like that."

"Gowan's really doing this with no proof?" Elizabeth asked.

"He doesn't mess around. Especially with you and your family, Beth. You're one of us."

…..

The next day Nate sat in an overly air conditioned room in the Pennsylvania State prison. When there was a loud alarm "beep" he looked up as a group of prisoners was escorted into the room. One to each table. He smiled as his high school girlfriend, Jamie, was brought towards him.

"Looking good, sweetheart."

"Always a comedian." She grinned sitting down. "I guess it's not so bad. I'm safe, clean. No one's tried to beat me up for a while."

"Oh yeah? You the top cat in there?" He grinned. "That's my girl."

Jamie grew serious. "How is he? You check in on him like I asked?"

"I did." Now Nate was serious. "I have some photos and stuff but I don't know if you want them. I mean, he's happy but he'd got a new life. You may not want to see it."

"I need to know he's okay."

"Suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you." He placed the folder on the table and slid it towards her.

She opened it right away. "His curls are so long. Like yours when they aren't cut… So he's still playing hockey?"

"Yeah. He's pretty good. I don't know much about the sport but his parents seemed proud." The words 'parents' made her wince a bit.

"This from the adoption?"

"Yeah. All those people were there for him. Looks like he's got a nice big family. I think those are cousins or something. No siblings."

She nodded and kept looking through the photos.

"Wait… who's this?" She pointed to Elizabeth.

"That's his mom. Pretty hot, huh?" He teased. By Jamie's glare, he could tell she didn't think it was funny. "Okay, sorry. Bad joke.

"You have no idea. She's a cop."

"Seriously?"

"And not just any cop. That's the cop that put me in here! Why does she have my son?!"

Nate took the picture from her. "You have to be mistaken."

"Have you forgotten the face of the ones that took you down?"

"No… point taken."

"2 minutes!" The warden called out.

"Keep checking in on him?"

"What? No, Jamie. I could get in trouble for this."

"She stole our son!"

"Your son. And she and that guy adopted him. I doubt her being a cop had much to do with it."

"I'm getting him back when this is over and you're going to help figure it out," she whispered.

"Are you out of your mind? No I'm not." He leaned in close, hoping to keep them both out of trouble.

"I'll give you part of the business."

"You're in jail, sweetheart. You have no business. They took you all down."

"That's what you think. They took down who I let them take. Me going down was a stupid misfortune. Look, I'll partner up with you. I know you're out there still running some of the Eastside of Philly and part of New York City. You've been looking to break into the North, you need me."

"I've been trying for months to get the name of the guy running the show there and no one knows or they just wont tell me. I doubt you do, babe." He leaned back in his chair, frustrated.

"How do you think I know you've been trying? You certainly didn't say it. Try me."

Nate looked at her shocked. She had a point. "You expand my territory here and I keep tabs on the kid for you?"

"Yes."

"Time's up!" The warden yelled.

"I need the name."

"Arrow." She whispered with a grin, just as she was pulled away, clutching the folder in her hands.