He couldn't remember why he thought it was a good idea to join his wife on this case. So he was worried about her getting hurt and it did involve him or really someone coming after him, but that was all before he realized he would be stuck in the room. At least he wasn't alone, nope he was stuck in here with the eleven year old. He loved his youngest daughter and spending time with her, but there was only so much the two could do in a hotel room. Needless to say the two were bored out of their minds.

"I want to go home Dad." she whined for the hundredth time that day.

"Yeah me too, but we can't always get what we want." he said back.

"But I usually do. I don't get why this time is any different."

"Because your mom and I are trying to stop you before you turn into a spoiled 09er."

"What's an 09er?"

"Ask your brother."

"I would but he's not here with us cause Mom said he was old enough to stay home alone. Which is so unfair."

"He's 17 and has things to do for school, you're still 11. Plus do you remember what happened the last time the two of you were left alone together?"

"We cleaned up the kitchen after and said we were sorry. Plus Mom made us file for like a month after." she mumbled looking down at the carpet.

"Still to ease your mother's mind you are with me."

She slide off the couch and flopped onto the floor, "But I'm bored!"

"Yeah well I am too, what can you do about it?"

"Easy we can just go home."

"And how would we do that? Mom has the car."

"We can call James and he can come pick us up."

"He's preparing for school, he can't drive to L.A. to get us."

She lifted her head up to meet his eyes and gave him the are you serious look. Yeah he knew that one was a long shot. He remembered being a 17 year old boy, though a very different one from his son, especially the summer before his senior year of high school. Still the basics were the same, which involved lots of parties.

They set the ground rules pretty well for the kids about drinking and partying. Mostly it was no major parties in the house, and so far the oldest two had been good about that. He was almost positive that his son was spending most of his free time at his friends' houses, which was another reason why they decided to take their youngest with them.

"Did I ever tell you I used to live in a hotel?" he asked changing the subject.

Her head perked up interested in hearing a story about his past, "No."

"My house burnt down so I moved in with a friend who was at the Grand."

"Why didn't you get your own house or apartment?"

"Cause I was young and stupid and didn't care how much money I spent."

"How old were you?"

"Not much older than James."

His daughter looked at him in shock, "You were living by yourself at 17?"

He shrugged, "I had a very different life than you and your siblings do. And be thankful for that too."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah I know."

They hadn't gone into that much detail about their pasts with the kids, especially the youngest. The chose to release information in short bursts when it was appropriate and they felt their kids needed to know it.

"So what did you do to entertain yourself when you lived in the hotel?" she asked, at least he still had her attention on the main topic.

"Played a lot of video games and lucky for you I might have brought along a system." he got up from the couch and headed into the bedroom where the bag was.

"Why didn't you bring that out earlier?" he heard her shout.

"Because I was saving it till the very final desperate moment."

It was a parent trick the two had learned early on. Spread out all the toys over time to keep things exciting. If they gave them everything at once the kids were bound to get bored early. If they waited until they were at the final breaking point with one toy all they had to do was give them a new one and they were occupied again with no break down.

"We hit that moment like seven hours ago. Set it up!"

"Wow that's a pretty exact amount."

"That's how many hours we've been awake for today. See how bored you and Mom made me, I'm literally counting the hours."

"Good we're keeping that brain sharp. We can't have it slacking off before you start middle school."

"Says the man whose about to let me play video games."