Heyyyy. Okay first off, I am loving the reviews. I'm so glad that y'all are liking the story so much. Seriously, I get the biggest smile whenever I see them! Sorry I'm not uploading consistently. I have college and work so I don't have a whole lot of time for writing but I promise I haven't abandoned the story. This chapter is a little on the short side but I hope you guys enjoy it! On with the story -

The smell of bleach and disinfectant was burning Henry's nose, which definitely wasn't helping his persistent nausea. Who knew a police station would be so clean?

And then there was the temperature. It was freezing. They hadn't been there long but goosebumps were already raising on his exposed arms. It took everything in him to not curl up like before. Henry closed his eyes, trying to calm his senses but he couldn't stop his leg from bouncing up and down.

"There's no reason to be nervous, Henry. They're just going to ask you what you know." Ray didn't look up from the pamphlet he was reading but his effort to reassure the kid wasn't lost on Henry. The teen nodded and tried to focus on something that wasn't where he was right now. His normally crowded mind was suddenly void of distractions.

They had been here for about ten minutes. After they explained the situation, the receptionist had told them to wait while she got someone to help. She seemed concerned when they told her, which was somehow reassuring to Henry. Like he wasn't crazy. And he knew Ray was right and he shouldn't be nervous but he couldn't help it. There weren't many other options beyond this. After all, they were heroes not detectives. They didn't have the resources to look for missing people. Great, now his leg was bouncing again.

"How much longer?" Henry whispered.

"Geez, Henry. I can't make them go any faster." Of course, Henry knew that. He didn't want to take his anxiety out on Ray but he didn't have a whole lot of options. His phone died on the drive over from the restaurant and he left his charger in his backpack in the car. He could run out and get it but what if he missed something important. Ten minutes passed by with this same thought and he realized he should have just gone before. Instead, he gave up and shoved his phone in his pocket. In an attempt to calm down, he closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. A few seconds of this proved useless to Henry and his frazzled senses. He needed a distraction from his thoughts, not meditation. Guess the only option was bothering Ray.

"What are you reading?" Henry looked over, though he wasn't paying much attention to any words of the page. Ray quickly stuffed it in his pocket and changed the subject.

"Nothing interesting." Henry didn't have the presence of mind to pick up on what Ray had done. Instead he took the opening to converse about what was actually on his mind.

"What do you think? Do we have a good chance? I mean, I just want everything to go back to normal. It wasn't the best but at least I was there to protect my mom, in case anything were to happen. What do you think?" His train of thought seemed to be bouncing everywhere, but it pointed in the same direction. He needed his mom to be okay.

The older man did his best to look optimistic but the best he could muster was an impassive face. "Ya know Henry, I don't think you need to worry about it. Everything's gonna work out."

Henry's face fell. He wasn't asking for much but that was cliche. "You know you suck at giving advice. That doesn't help me at all."

"Most people would consider that pretty sufficient."

"Yeah, It's the bare minimum."

"Doing my best here, kid. If you didn't notice, I'm a little out of my element."

"A little more effort would be appreciated." Henry muttered.

Before Ray could respond, the receptionist directed them to the desk of the police officer who would assist them. Looking around, Ray recognized quite a few of the officers there, which was expected. Though he thought they could be occasionally inefficient, they worked together so they were more or less friendly. It didn't matter right now however. They only knew Captain Man, not Ray Manchester. The officer assigned to help them called them over and the pair sat in one of the two chairs in front of him. This officer, Officer Benton, Ray didn't recognize. The state of his desk told him that this guy was new. His space was immaculate, way different than the cluttered disaster everyone else's looked like. If the new guy was handling this case then it definitely wasn't priority number one.

But Ray had to hand it to him, he was thorough. He asked every question known to man, which made him think maybe he could be helpful. For the most part, Ray was silent and only answered questions about the voicemail he had been left. Henry held it together as he answered question after question about his mother. There was a moment when Ray thought he had seen the teen's eyes sheen over but he recovered. The interview lasted about 20 minutes and by the end, the officer had a couple pages full of notes.

"Well," he began, "that's all the information I need. I promise we're going to do the best I can to find her and bring her back safely. I'm hopeful we'll get everything sorted out." He smiled at them hopefully. Henry seemed to brighten up at that but again Ray wasn't entirely sure.

"Thanks so much for your help." Henry said. He really didn't think he would be able to answer any of the questions about his mom but it seemed like the more the guy asked, the better he felt about their chances, which lifted his mood. The officer definitely seemed like he cared and Henry trusted that he would do his best.

"Since you don't have either parent here to look after you, you're going to have to talk to a social worker to get you in the proper hands. She already knows you're here, just head down this hallway and to the right. I'm going to talk to Ray for a second." Henry didn't look very sure but he did as he was told nonetheless. As the teenager left, Officer Benton turned to Ray once again.

"First off, I do think we have a good chance of finding her. It hasn't been very long so she couldn't have gotten very far. But, I'm getting the feeling you don't think we should be looking very hard." Ray was taken aback and looked at him in surprise. How could he have known that?

"You haven't shown much of any emotion this entire time. I may have just transferred here but I've been doing this for a little bit." That shouldn't have surprised Ray but he was off his game today. Everything was more draining than he thought. "What do you think about all this, ?"

Ray looked back to make sure Henry was out of earshot and leaned a little closer in. He reached into his pocket and showed the pamphlet he was reading from earlier.

"I was looking through this pamphlet earlier about childhood trauma and it scared me. I only work with the kid so I don't know everything he goes through but what I do know is … concerning. I don't want to accuse anyone of anything but I don't think Henry should be returning back to his mother's care. Honestly, I don't believe she was coerced. I think she decided to leave but in her last shred of decency, she decided to leave a note and call me."

"I can't say I don't agree, . I got the same feeling listening to the story. I have a feeling if we do find , we may have to do some more investigating. But until then, Henry can't stay on his own. What we typically do is look at the other parent and then any biological family. But if we can't find them, it falls to you. Are you still willing to take care of Henry, possibly long term?"

Ray is going to say yes, there was no denying that. But, boy did this officer put it into perspective. His two major thoughts never seemed to ever occur to him at the same time. He didn't really think they would find Henry's mom and yet he accepted that he would be watching Henry in her absence. It never occurred to him that he could be watching Henry forever, at least until he's 18. Ray was not a parent. He could barely take care of himself, let alone a child for a long period of time. He just wasn't the loving or caring type. Besides, he enjoyed being a bachelor. Being Swellview's superhero came with enough responsibilities. He didn't think he could handle anymore.

But at the same time, he had sworn to protect those in need and who else did he owe that to more than his own sidekick. It was clear that Henry needed him and he had to be there for the kid. However long it would take.

"Yeah, I think I am."

"You're a good person, . Go ahead and join Henry with the social worker." Ray shook his hand and thanked him for his help before getting up. As he walked down the hall, he couldn't shake the feeling that things would be changing for the both of them.