Disclaimers: I do not own CM or its characters.
Spoilers: None.
Rating: T to be safe.

How about some happiness, yeah? I think we could all use it. I promise this is coming to an end. Only a one more chapter!

Kids in this chapter:

Nellie: 7 years old (going on 8).
DJ: 12 years old.
Kiera: 2 years old.

2 years later
June 20th, 1985

*East Allegheny park*

It's a beautiful sunny day at the park. That is, to everyone but 7-year-old Nellie.

Her family is at the park, celebrating Nellie's little sister, Kiera's second birthday.

There are balloons, cake, ice cream, Sesame Street party decorations, and a whole lot of presents for the giggly, happy toddler.

Everyone is having. Everybody is happy. There's not one reason why she should not be as happy and carefree as her family and little sister.

At least, according to her parents, that is.

You see, not only is this her little sister's second birthday, but it is also one month shy of the anniversary of her best friend, 7-year-old Jennifer Jareau's death.

The entire town of East Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania mourned the loss of this beautiful 5-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl.

Emily was absolutely broken. She lost her little sister, the little girl that was her whole entire world.

JJ's teachers at school had no idea what to think. Two months before, they did their annual "end of school" party. JJ brought cupcakes. She was extra happy due to being able to go home with Emily at the end of the day.

She had the best day ever, her smiles and laughter really lightened her teachers' day.

Rosalyn and Elijah couldn't believe it either. Just a few days before, they were playing hopscotch and trying to teach JJ to balance on one foot with their older cousins. They laughed and ran and giggled and had fun.

Then, poof, one moment, one mistake, and she was gone.

Now, two years later, and Emily is no longer living in the States, instead living over in Spain with her parents and siblings.

She is going through a serious rebellious stage. Breaks her curfew, skips class, hangs out with a crowd her parents do not approve of, and, worst of all, she has taken up a nasty habit of smoking.

Elijah doesn't smile. He hasn't laughed. He is no longer in soccer.

He simply goes through his routine – he gets up, eats breakfast, gets dressed, goes to school, pretends to pay attention, comes home, does his homework, eats dinner, and goes to sleep. Then he wakes up the next morning, and hits repeat.

Rosalyn is the same. Her grades have slipped. She has anxiety. She can't believe what happened. She has no idea how to cope with her sister not being here.

She can't teach JJ how to kick a soccer ball or lay under a fort of pillows and blankets as she and Elijah read a bedtime story to her.

And Nellie, well, she doesn't believe it. Not at all.

She's told her parents that she can feel that JJ is alive. That she is out there somewhere, alone, scared, being hurt, and needing to be rescued.

Her parents don't believe her. After all, why would they? They didn't know of the Jareaus' family history. Nellie's mom and dad have no reason to believe that the Jareaus would pretend their daughter was dead.

So, they dismiss her thoughts. They tell her it's ok to think that, that in her mind, JJ can be alive still if she wants.

But, at the end of the day, the truth is, JJ is dead. She's not lost. She's not somewhere being hurt. She doesn't need to be searched for.

And sooner or later, when Nellie is entering the third grade, and then the fourth, and the fifth, and going into high school at 13 years old, she will have to accept that JJ is gone.

So now, on this bright and sunny and beautiful day in June, her family is celebrating Kiera's second birthday.

Everyone is happy and excited and in good spirits.

And that is why 7-year-old Nellie is sitting in the shade of a big oak tree watching everyone do games and play and laugh and be happy.

She's thinking about Jennifer right now. How she can feel that she is not dead. God, how she wishes someone would believe her. She wants someone to look at her, say "okay," and then start looking for her best friend.

She is knocked out of her thoughts by a boy, who's several years older than her, coming over and sitting next to her.

"Hi!" He cheerfully greets. Nellie has never seen him before so she thinks he must be new to town.

"Hi." She answers back, smiling a little.

"My name is DJ and those are my sisters, –– and ––, and our cousin, ––. What's your name?"

"My name is –––, but you can call me Nellie."

"Okay, Nellie. It's nice to meet you." DJ holds his hand out which she shakes. "Do you want to play hide-'n-seek with us? We need another player to make the teams even."

Nell looks back to her family. They are playing Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey and do not seem to have noticed that she is not with them. She figures, why not.

"Sure! Who's going to be It?" She stands up and follows DJ over to the playground equipment.

"We haven't decided yet. How are you?"

"I'm 7 but I turn 8 next month."

"Ok. Well, I'm twelve, my sisters are 14 and 9, and our cousin is 7 also, but she doesn't turn 8 until November. So, we'll do a game to see who goes first."

DJ leads her over to the other kids. He introduces her to his sisters and cousin, and then they stand in a circle.

They each put a hand out in front of them and DJ's older sister does "Inky, Binky, Bonky" to choose who will be It.

"Inky, binky, bonky. Daddy had a donkey. The donkey died, and daddy cried, inky, binky, bonky."

This goes on until only one person's hand is left – DJ's. They split up into groups. DJ's sisters on one team, and his cousin with Nellie.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

They play for a while. 25 minutes of running around and yelling and laughing and having a good time. Then, Nellie's mom calls her over. It's time for cake, ice cream, and for Kiera to open her birthday presents.

She leaves DJ and his siblings and cousin to play, and runs over to her own family.

"Okay birthday girl," Her mom sets the cake in front of the birthday girl.

Kiera is in her high chair. Her cake is a circle and has Big Bird, Elmo, and the Cookie Monster on it. It says, "Happy Birthday Kiera!" and has a purple sparkly #2 candle.

"Are you ready?" Barbara lights the candle and then they begin singing.

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, Dear Kiera.
Happy Birthday to you.

Kiera blows out the candle as best as she can. They've been practicing, having her blow on a bubble wand so she can actually blow the flame out on the candle instead of just spitting everywhere.

She does good this time. Her siblings, parents, and grandparents clap and cheer for her.

"Yay! Good job, Kier-bug!" Her oldest brother, 18-year-old Charlie says.

They eat cake with vanilla ice cream that has sprinkles and whip cream. Then, Kiera opens her presents. She gets puzzles, a baby doll, a few stuffed animals, some clothes, a couple of dress up outfits, play makeup, a rocking horse, and several other toys.

Everything is going great until Nellie makes the comment.

"I wish Jenny were here. I bet she would have liked to be able to pick out a present for Kier-bug." She makes the comment because, two years ago, before it happened, Emily took Nellie and Jen to the story to pick out a present for Lila's third birthday.

JJ has lots of fun doing that. And she picked out a toy all by herself, she was so proud. She thinks it is ok that she mentions JJ.

So now, Nellie doesn't understand why her brothers Greg and Charlie look away, or why Paul and Vince make an "uh-oh" face, or why her dad shakes his head and her mom looks at her like she has done something she shouldn't have.

"–– Josephine-Marie ––!" She winces at her full name. Her mom only calls her that when she is in really big trouble.

"What have your father and I told you about speaking of that name. It is about time you get over what happened. I know you miss your friend, but she is dead. She is not coming back. She is not lost. She does not need to be looked for. She is gone. There will be no more presents coming from her."

But Nellie is shaking her head. She's jumping up from the picnic table and she is putting her hands on her hips.

"Why won't you believe me? She is NOT dead! I told you, I can feel her. Why won't you believe me, Mommy? Why? She isn't dead. Jenny is alive. She's being hurt, someone needs to look for her, someone needs to call the police, that's what you are supposed to do when someone is lost. Why won't you believe me?"

Without waiting or an answer, she turns away and storms off. She goes back to the oak tree and sits down. She doesn't care that she is almost 8 and almost-8-year-olds don't cry like little babies.

She pulls her legs against her chest and she presses her face against her knees. She lets the tears fall. Nellie cries, and she cries, and then she cries some more.

She cries until she hears a familiar voice. It's DJ. He is asking her what happened, what's wrong, why is she crying?

Sniffling, Nell looks at up this boy, who was a stranger up until only 45 minutes ago.

"It's ok, Nellie," He tells her. He is so gentle, so caring. He doesn't make fun of her, telling her she is a baby for crying.

No, instead, he puts his arms around her, and uses his sleeve to wipe away her tears. He tells her it is ok.

"Nellie, what's wrong?"

The 7-year-old sniffles again. She looks over at her family, who act as if she is not over here, alone and crying with a stranger.

"My mom and dad are hateful buttfaces!" Nellie says, pointing to where the birthday party is going on. "They won't believe me."

"Believe you about what?" DJ asks, as he takes a bottle of water from his sweatshirt pocket. It is unopened one, nice and cool, and he twists the top off, handing it over.

Nellie takes a few sips, before looking up at this boy. She peers into his dark brown eyes, and makes a split-second decision.

"My friend. Her name is Jennifer Jareau. She is only one year younger than me." DJ nods encouragingly. "She… She was taken one, coming back from the park. And the police, they found her-her body just a few weeks later!"

DJ nods. "And you're crying because you miss her?" He guesses but Nellie just shakes her head.

"No!" She then realizes how that sounds. No, she doesn't miss her supposedly dead friend? "I mean, I-I…" She huffs out a breath, getting frustrated. "I do miss. I just…" Nellie trails off, unsure if she can tell this boy what she believes.

DJ seems to sense this. He places a hand on her arm and speaks gently, "It's ok, Nellie. You can tell me."

Nellie decides to go for it. What harm could it do?

"I don't think JJ is dead," She whispers and DJ's eyes widen. "I think she is somewhere else."

"Some-somewhere like… like where?" DJ asks.

Nellie shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. But she is somewhere. I don't think she is dead. She is somewhere still, with that bad person that took her, maybe being hurt, and she is probably scared, and waiting for us to find her, but we can't! We can't because no one believes me when I tell them she is not dead."

DJ is quiet for a moment, and he thinks over what this little girl has said. He has no idea who she is, but she speaks as if she knows what she is saying, like she fully believes that this other girl, her friend, did not actually die in this supposed car accident.

He thinks long and hard, and for whatever reason, he feels compelled to believe her. To believe that this Jennifer Jareau is alive, out there somewhere, possibly being hurt, and waiting to be rescued.

So, he takes a deep breath, and…

"I believe you."

At first, Nellie does not know how to react. She blinks, pauses, and…

Wonders, did he just say…?

"W-What?"

DJ shrugs like it isn't a big deal that he believes this little girl who was a complete stranger to him up until only a half hour ago.

"Yeah, I–I… I believe you. You seem pretty sure, and why would you keep saying it, if it weren't true?"

"W-Wow, I–… Thank you, DJ! You are the only person who said that. Everyone keeps tellin' me that JJ is gone, but I just know she isn't. Thank you for believing me."

DJ nods and he smiles, and he places an arm around Nellie's shoulders.

"You know," He says suddenly, after several minutes of the two sitting in silence. "I'm going to find her for you!"

"What? How?"

"Well, my dad was a police officer, and I want to be just like him. And what better way to be like him, then to find your missing friend? If I find her and tell the police where to get her, then maybe, we will be able to save her in time. And she won't be being hurt anymore, or anything like that."

DJ makes his mind up. When he goes back to Chicago, he will work hard to get someone to look for Nellie's friend, Jennifer Jareau. He will find her, or make the police look for her, and when they do, he can call Nellie with the good news!

And that is exactly what he tells her. Then, he asks for her phone number, so he will be able to reach her when or if they can find Jennifer Jareau.

"Okay," Nellie's mom calls for her, so she has to rush to say, "But how will I know if it is really you on the phone?"

She narrows her eyes in the way 7-year-olds do, placing her hands on her hips, because if her mom and dad found out she gave her phone number to a complete stranger, she would be in big trouble.

"Well, what if we use special codewords?"

"Codewords?"

Hm… maybe this can work, after all.

"Yeah!" DJ smiles so big that Nellie can't help but return it. "Ya'know, like I can call you a name, not Nellie or anything, but a special name that will make you know it is me…"

They think about, and Nellie's mom shouts for her again, and she calls back coming, Mommy! And then…

DJ says, "I got it!"

"Well, what is it?!"

"Babygirl… I will call you babygirl, and you will know it really is me. Okay, Nellie? I am going to find your friend, and I am going to help you prove she really is alive, and then, I'll call you, to tell you about it. And remember, only believe the person if they call you babygirl."

And she thinks…

Maybe this will work.

Maybe this will help prove to her parents and siblings that Jennifer Jareau was not killed only a few weeks after being kidnapped, but taken somewhere, and is still at that place.

And there it is! Can you figure out what the true identity of Nellie is? And also, who do you think this DJ person?

Please review and let me know what you thought! Only ONE MORE chapter to go! :)