"The clock will never strike the right time," the skull said. "Haggard scrambled the works long ago, one day when he was trying to grab hold of time as it swung by. But the important thing is for you to understand that it doesn't matter whether the clock strikes ten next, or seven, or fifteen o'clock. You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that - then any time at all will be the right time for you."
At three AM is chaos.
The police station starts up a sweep for Alex and contacts the Andersons, Kahales, Willises, and the Hudson-Hummels. Squad cars take shifts at the four houses; friends and family make sure not to leave Blaine and Kurt alone.
Wes and David are put under extra watch, thanks to their infamous "keep looking for Blaine after everyone said to go home" stunt.
"But we found Blaine, didn't we?" David points out.
The officer attempts not to grin. "You still have a sprained wrist," he says, but David smirks.
At six AM comes the radio and police alerts about a jailbreak: Inmate is possibly armed and dangerous. Lock your doors and windows, keep in contact with family members, and call the police if you see or hear any sign of the escapee.
The BAU arrives with a ridiculously bad feeling.
"How the hell did he get out?" Morgan wonders.
"He had outside help." The sheriff points to the cameras: They're motionless. "You can't get to the cameras without a computer. The lock was picked from outside, and they probably got out while the guards were changing shifts. We informed the kidnapping victims and posted guards at their houses, and now we're just scouting this side of Westerville in case he left on foot."
At seven PM, Nick arrives at his dad's house. "Hey, Dad?"
"Oh. Nick, can you talk to me later? I'm busy." Tori presses Nick's shoulder. He moves, but not far.
"Who's in there?" Nick squints through the door.
"Someone important. Nick, leave -"
Nick catches a flash of blond and freezes. "Blaine's stalker?! You're supposed to be in jail!"
"Looks like I'm not the only one with something to hide, Spyke," Alex jabs.
"Dad, what the fuck are you doing with the guy who kidnapped my best friends?!" Is Spyke a nickname or… "And your name isn't Spyke -"
"LEAVE!" Tori orders with a desperate push.
There's nothing else Nick can do then, not with the knowledge that his father's on first-name terms with his friend's stalker.
Tori grabs a duffel bag and yanks Alex out the back door. "Thanks for fucking up my family even more. He was going to let up on the restraining order."
"How was I supposed to know your kid's friends with Blaine?"
"Do you have any self-preservation?!" He cuffs Alex's shoulder. "If that was a cop coming to warn me about the jailbreak, we'd both be shipped to jail! And Nick's still going to tell the cops, so we have ten to twenty minutes before they start coming for us!"
They have to wait until Jeff's car is past the corner, but once it is, Tori stuffs him in the passenger's seat and goes at the speed limit to their backup house on the other side of town. (Because blazing off would draw too much attention.)
When they're inside, Tori gives Alex a box of brown hair dye from the duffel bag. He makes a call while he's waiting his turn: "Hey, Baelish?"
"Did he try to strangle someone again?"
"No, but he had us move to House B because he wouldn't keep his mouth shut while I was trying to get Nick out." Tori huffs. "Why are we even bothering with him?"
"He might lose his temper too much, but he does have a knack for going unnoticed when he stays calm."
"And?" There's never just one reason.
"You wouldn't want Nick to get caught in this, would you?"
"Don't bother. He's probably at the police station by now," Tori tells him. "And?"
"I need Alex to get to Sansa."
"Sansa the English therapist?!" Tori bangs his head on the wall, because his dad instincts are flaring up again at the most ironic time ever. "Look Baelish, you're not too bad with looks, but if you're old enough to be her dad, I don't think -"
Petyr hangs up.
"She's married!" Alex calls through the door.
Tori almost drops his phone. "When did that happen?!"
"Thanks for telling us, Nick." Hotchner looks long at the boy across the table - he hasn't moved since he sat down. "And whatever reason your dad's hiding Alex, I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
"Do you guys need a ride home?"
"No." From Nick.
Jeff sighs. "You can follow us if you want."
Back in Jeff's car, Nick needs to take a few careful breaths. Everything's still jumbled and tilting, so he doesn't quite process it until right before they reach the park. "Can we stop for a minute? I need to get out."
"Nick, what's wrong?" Jeff asks.
He fumbles with the door handle, and Jeff almost gets rear-ended by Hotch's car making sure Nick doesn't fall out. It's a good thing that most of the curb is empty, because he barely manages to park before Nick's stumbling out. "NICK!"
Oh god, Nick in an open area and running around in whatever blind emotion he's feeling? This can't be good.
"Does he do this a lot?" Hotchner squints in the direction Nick went.
"No, but I'm not too surprised." With the streetlights too far away, Jeff has to strain to see through the dark. Luckily, Nick turns left - all Jeff has to do is make one good sprint from where he is to tackle him.
Nick's crying as he blunders down, and he's wringing at his temples. "He's there! Blaine's stalker is in my dad's house!"
"Nick, calm down." Jeff holds him, and he's not sure if Nick's still trying to get away or if he just doesn't know he's still moving. "Please. Calm down, we already went to the police station -"
"I was going to let up on the restraining order!"
"What?"
"I was going to let up on Dad's restraining order and I was talking to him two goddamn days ago, but then I saw Blaine's stalker and it's just - fuck!"
"It's okay. You're okay -"
Nick screams a muddled cluster of sounds, and Jeff wonders if he should cover his mouth, but he doesn't want to get bitten or punched with Nick so damn angry -
Jeff can feel Nick's pulse hammering under his hands. "Dude -"
More screaming.
"Shh." Jeff gives up talking and presses his mouth to Nick's temple - unlike the thicker pulse at his neck, this one's small and fluttering, like a bird. He knows that Nick's just seen one of the ten worst people you could run into at your dad's house, but a soft thing in the core of Jeff's ribs echoes the beat.
And Nick's attempting to stop crying, so he does it again. But he misses Nick's temple and ends up near the soft part of his cheek.
Nick's cologne and the pine needles twist together, and they cut through the smell of the dirt with a strange gentleness - but Jeff stuffs this into the back of his head so he can make sure Nick doesn't start screaming or flailing.
He turns on his phone's flashlight and shines it on a tree to let Hotchner know where they are, and in a few moments the agent finds them.
"Nick, are you all right?"
Jeff shakes his head.
"That bastard." Nick crowds into Jeff's shoulder, like they're not half-blind in a park.
"Hey." Hotchner catches his breath and sits down on Nick's other side, rocking him with one hand on his shoulder. "Nick, you'll be fine. I promise."
"That goddamn -" Nick latches onto Hotchner in a desperate hug. "My dad's a serial killer. I'm not gonna be fine!"
They don't bother correcting him right now - he's too angry to care about the specific kind of criminal his dad is.
It takes four minutes for Nick to stop calling his dad names, and twelve minutes and forty-one seconds for him to stop crying.
Jeff wonders whether it's the lack of light, the shared black hair, or the way Hotchner tucks Nick under his chin that makes them look like each other.