Disclaimers: I do not own CM or the characters. I do own all OCs.
Spoilers: Chronicles, chapter 25
Rating: T

Notes: Thank you to those who reviewed on the last chapter. Here is the last part. A small part in Caleb's pov again at the beginning. Then an update on how the search is going. Finally, a happy ending for everyone!

Enjoy! :)

January 11th, 1979 7:15 a.m.
Hours missing: 14 hours, 18 minutes
Temperature: 13°

*Caleb's point of view*

"Caleb, are you ready to go?" Harvey asks me the next morning. I am looking out of their window in their living room. I'm wondering about Daddy.

Does he know that I am gone?

Wait… that's a dumb question; of course, he does. He would have to be stupid not to notice. And he is definitely not stupid.

But does he care?

Probably not.

"Caleb!"

Harvey yells my name, and it gets my attention. I tell him I am ready. I used my checklists this morning, and didn't even get distracted!

In fact, Calvin asked if he could have a checklist too. He said it looked cool, and he wanted one. I said I'll help him make one when we get home from school.

We are going to ride the bus to school since it is too cold to walk, so we get our bags and go to the Bus Stop.

On the bus, I find out that Harvey, Ben, and Calvin play games like I, Spy, and talk about what games they'll play at Recess. Me and Benson go to school with Calvin, but Harvey goes to the Middle School. He is 14 and in the eighth grade.

Finally, I will have friends to play with at Recess! We decide to play Cops & Robbers. It is Calvin's favorite, and apparently it is his turn to choose.

"I'll be the Cop, and you two can be the Robbers. You can try to rob a bank, and I'll have to chase you and catch you!"

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

*Later – Morning Recess*

"Come on, this way!"

Calvin shouts to me and Ben. We just go to school and we run to the playground. We start playing and running around.

This is more fun when I've had a good morning! And man is Calvin fast. No matter how fast I run, he always tackles me. I think he could be a real cop when he is older, if he wants.

"Dude!"

This is the fourth time.

"Are you sure you're actually 8 years old?"

"What do you mean?" He giggles.

"I mean, you really know how to tackle people. Are you sure you're not a real cop under disguise, or something?"

He laughs some more.

"You're funny, Caleb. No! I am only 8 years old…" Then he pauses for a moment, and looks like he is thinking. "I wanna be a cop when I grow. Do you really think I would be a good cop?"

The way he asks… He reminds me of Gabey. When I say that he super smart, he asks if I really think so. I hate when Emma tells him he is stupid or dumb. That is why he asks. Because he believes her so much.

It doesn't help that Mom thinks it too. She does not say it, but it isn't hard to figure out that she thinks he is stupid or dumb, when she looks at him that way.

I nod enthusiastically.

"Yeah! When you become a cop, if you keep practicing, then everyone will want you as their partner because they will feel protected and safe with you when they go to talk to the bad guys. You run fast. You can tackle. You even know how to say You have the right to remain silent, and that is an important part of being a cop."

I think I made him feel good when I said that. He gets a smile, like Gabe, on his face. His eyes do that twinkly thing. He believes me, I hope, because I was telling the truth. If he becomes a cop, everyone will want to be his partner! I just know it.

We continue running around, and playing the game. Morning Recess is short so soon it is time to go inside.

"Will you play with me at next recess, Caleb?!"

Calvin yells it across from where he is standing with is third grade class. I yell back yeah! And he cheers, jumping up and down until his teacher taps his shoulder and he has to stop.

*Meanwhile, lunchtime (12:00a.m.) – Jareau Residence*
Hours missing: approximately 19 hours

"Honey, please come sit. Just take a moment to rest." Karen requests of her son. It breaks her heart to see in him in such pain. God, how she hopes her grandbaby is found soon.

"I can't sit down, Mom! Not when we have no idea where my child is! Please, if you are going to be of no help, then just leave me alone!"

Karen sighs quietly and makes her way out of the living room. She finds her husband in the kitchen and he wraps an arm around her shoulders, reassuring her that this is the stress talking, and honestly, if it was Michael, or one of their other kids, missing, neither he nor she would appreciate being told to "take a moment to rest."

"Where could he have gone, Ken?" She breathes. "Where could our little boy have gone? It's too cold for him to travel far! And we have spoken to all of his friends!"

This is all too much!

It was below freezing last night. They have searched the woods and the roads, called friends and family. The police had their dogs out first thing this morning, but no trace has been found.

Sandra called her mother and siblings while Elias, Elizabeth's brother, got together with Michael to get ready for a Press Conference. All of Elizabeth and James's siblings, parents, and even some of the younger kids helped search.

"I don't know, honey. I honestly do not know." Kenneth spent every free second praying to a God he is beginning to have doubts in, pleading for the safe return of his grandson.

Karen's expression crumples. Her brown eyes fill with tears and his own heart aches because right now, his wife and children and grandchildren are hurting, and there is not a damned thing he can do about it.

"I can't go through this again, Kenneth," She sobs. "I can't lose another grandchild! I can't do it, I won't do it! Not again!"

He wraps his arms around her and rocks gently, trying to sooth her.

"We will not have to. We'll find him, we will. I promise. We will not let Caleb end up like Alexandria and Kevin. He will be brought back to us. He will."

The kids are all upstairs in their rooms. Karen and Kenneth brought them home. None of them were sent to school today. How can they be expected to focus when their brother is missing?

Elizabeth enters next. James is right behind her. She pulls her hat and jacket off, hanging them both up while James goes to make another pot of warm coffee.

"Hey, you two. We've decided to bring the kids to our house, if they want. We have a Game Room and Library. Maybe it can keep them occupied."

Karen nods in agreement. Giving free range of toys and games and books would be better than them just sitting upstairs. At the very least, the Prentiss Household would give each child a different room to go to, for privacy and just to be alone for a moment.

Once the kids are loaded up, they head over to their house. Penelope and Alden are there along with Lynn, who is taking care of the babies. Emilia has not been told anything, and she and Jennifer are kept away from everyone else. Ethan, Elizabeth's brother, is keeping the two entertained.

But Elizabeth knows… It will not be long before Emilia figures out something is very, very wrong. Thankfully, it is not uncommon, since the Jareaus met the Prentisses, to have random days where the kids all stay home from school…

"Any news, any at all?" Lynn asks, entering the big kitchen. Elizabeth signs and shakes her head. Lynn's heart drops. She has four kids of her own, grown and married, and seven grandkids…

She cannot even begin to imagine– no that is not right. Because these children, every single one of them she and her husband see as their own. So she can imagine. Lynn and her husband, Isaac, felt a sharp pain in their stomachs the moments they received the news that Caleb went missing.

They are all on pins and needles, waiting, hoping, praying for his safe return.

*Later – 20 hours, 13 minutes missing*

"Please, if you have any information at all, if you saw anything at all, please do not hesitate to call the Tip Line. The number is on the screen below…" Michael pleads for the cameras.

Sandra stands beside him, eyes closed, trying to distance herself… She has been through this once, and cannot stand it a second time. Their parents stand on either side of them.

"Please, if you have our son, just bring him home. Caleb, if you are listening, if you can hear us, we love you, sweetheart. We love you so, so much… Please come back to us."

When Caleb first went missing, they checked his closet. The clothes which were no longer there… it was classified as a "runaway". However, the temperatures, the circumstances, the fact that Caleb attempted suicide in the past and was not actually cleared as no longer being in that headspace by his therapist…

He was listed as "Missing, Endangered".

And so, despite the fact that clothes, his toothbrush, some of his toys, his backpack, and his bicycle were gone, Elias Benson treated this as a very serious, very important Missing Child case.

Sandy and Michael have gone on-air and pleaded for his safe return…

And oh, how they don't know.

You see, you may be wondering, why they have not contacted the Knight Household. Why no one has called Kathryn or Billy, or been to their house to see Benson, Harvey, and Calvin.

Well, the Prentisses do not actually know Kathryn and Billy-Joe Knight. Nor do they know their children, Calvin, Benson, or Harvey.

Kathryn and Billy are Ethan's in-laws. Kathryn is Mary-Anne's — Ethan's wife — sister. However, they lived across the United States and just recently moved here, after years of no contact. Basically, the last time Kathryn and Mary-Anne had contact was 1969… when their oldest son, Harvey, was only 5 years old.

So, they do not know Kathryn and Billy are in town.

No one has any clue that Caleb was just a few miles away last night.

Not a single person has an inkling that Caleb is literally at school.

Lot of fat good the school does at their job, huh?

When Michael looks back on this, he will sue the school for their poor job at knowing which child is or is not in attendance. He will pull his children from that district and make sure everyone knows it: My son was missing, and was at school, and the teachers has NO CLUE he was there, nor did they even know he was a missing person.

Oh, how they wished they knew…

*5 hours later – 15 minutes before recovery*

It was when the boys arrived home from school. Benson decided he wanted to go to his grandparents' house. So, he called them and asked his grandmother to pick them up.

"Sure," She had said. "Of course, I will!"

Linda Knight had no idea she would be picking up more than her three grandsons. That little boy, whose picture had been on the news all fucking day. Whom she and her good-friend-Marion-who-is-a-female-and-who-s-h-a-r-e-s-her-bed, said a prayer for. The little boy whose parents went on the news and pleaded for his safe return…

That little boy was standing in the front yard of her son's house.

That little boy had a bag with him, and raced her youngest grandchild to the car.

Don't say anything obvious, Linda She told herself. Just smile and drive, smile… And drive.

"Hey, Grandma!" Harvey greets, kissing her cheek. "This is our friend, Caleb. Cal, this is our grandma, Linda."

He waves at her. His forest green eyes meet her own hazel-brown, and she can see that he resembles that young man on the news, his father. The man who thinks some lowlife criminal took his little boy…

"Hello, Darling." Linda gets out. "It's nice to meet you… Caleb. How was school?"

Her youngest, Calvin, pipes up next.

"It was great! We played Cops & Robbers with Caleb, Granny! He said that I would make a great cop when I grow up. Everyone is gonna wanna be my partner, cause I'll make them feel safe, isn't that great, Granny?"

"Yeah, it is." She gets out. Linda swallows. "It is fantastic, baby. Caleb is right. You would make a great cop."

She waited until they were safely inside the house. Until the boys had run off to find Marion, in the kitchen, baking cookies…

Linda picked up the phone, dialed the Tip-Line number, and said…

"I have the missing Jareau boy, Caleb. He is safe. He looks unharmed. I just picked up my grandchildren from their house, and he was standing there talking to them. He looks unharmed. We are here at my house. Caleb is ok. You can send police and his parents, I think it would be best not to spook him by me bringing him in.

And there is the conclusion on this 3-aprt saga that took me a million and 1 years to do. I showed a little bit of everything here. Caleb going to school and everyone else working to find Caleb, including Sandy and Michael in a Press Conference.

That ending was short, and it seems abrupt, but hey, when a child goes missing and is plain sight all day, something as simple as going to grandparent's house can be the answer to everything!

Please review and let me know what you thought! Come shout at me at how screwed up the School District is. What do you think? Teachers should really be more aware of which students are in attendance…