- Five and a half years ago -

It had been two days since three year old Diana Palino disappeared. Seven year old Desmond Palino was playing with some trucks trying not to think about the fact that his sister - his Ladybug - is missing. He misses her very much.

His Uncle Neil was on the phone. Desmond was completely oblivious to the conversation. It was an adult conversation. It didn't interest him, so he wasn't listening. He thought adults were boring, but suddenly he heard something that got his attention.

"We had a deal." Neil yelled into the phone, "I can't believe you would do this to me!"

Desmond looked up from his trucks, staring at his uncle.

Neil was quiet, like he was listening to the person on the other line. He gave an angry grunt and then he hung up.

Desmond was curious about what that was about, but didn't ask any questions. He was too sad, too focused on his sister.

"Go get dressed." Neil told his nephew, who was still in his pajamas.

"Why?"

Neil turned to look at Desmond, "We're going somewhere. Now go."

"Okay." Desmond replied, standing and running down the hall to his room.

- Present Day -

Neil was in his small apartment in the Bronx, New York. It was in a bad neighborhood, but it was exactly where he needed to be to do his work. He needed to be amongst the criminals to catch a criminal. To find the people to who have his niece. He's aware that his nephew got adopted. He's actually happy about it. He knows the people can keep his nephew safe.

Neil's brother Xavier didn't just die. He was killed. Neil had concealed that fact from his niece and nephew. They had been six and two when they lost their father. They didn't need to know that he had been murdered.

The thing was that Xavier had made many mistakes. He was a good person, but he had always been impressionable. He fell in with the wrong crowd and when he tried to get out, they killed him. Neil ended up caught in the middle of his brother's mistakes. He had been trying to get out, but he didn't realise how dangerous the people were until they kidnapped Diana. That was what made Neil take Desmond to the orphanage. He knew he could be into what his brother was and still play family man. It was much too dangerous.

Now Neil wasn't a day-time uncle with a night-time secret. He was a man willing to stop at nothing to find his niece and bring her home safely. He just had to find her first, but it was hard when the people kept moving around. It seemed like no matter what he did, they were always one step ahead. He tracked them to Washington. Then they moved. He tracked them to New York, but isn't able to find their base of operations. He can't seem to find the warehouse they are operating out of. It's almost like they had what they wanted and now they were hiding. The thing is, over the last six years, Neil has never been able to find out what the people who killed his brother and took his niece want.

That was until this afternoon when his phone rang. It was from a restricted number, but he answered the phone anyway.

"We have the vessel." The voice said

Neil breathed calmly. He didn't understand why he was getting a phone call from them now. They hadn't called him in five years.

"What is the vessel." Neil wondered

"We have the vessel." The voice repeated, "We have her."

Neil was silent. He knew they had Diana, and they knew that he knew. They obviously weren't talking about Diana.

"Her who?"

"We have your daughter."

Neil felt like the wind had been knocked out of him as he thought, 'Eileen.'

"What do you want?" Neil asked, "Please, I'll do whatever you want. Just please, let Eileen and Diana go."

"But Eileen is the vessel." The voice counteracted. Then there was a click.

Neil sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wondered what they could possibly want Eileen for. All the ideas that ran through his head, none of them were good.

Meanwhile at Harold's loft, with Charlie's help Sameen and John had identified the man with the glasses who had taken Eileen, Marielle and Charlie. The man's name is Fredrick Daniel Dobson. He's most well-known as Freddie. He has a brother named Thomas Paul, better known as Tommy.

John took this information to Lionel and then he took it to the FBI team that he's working with. They're putting together a list of all the places that the Dobson brothers have been known to hangout at and any properties that they, their family, or any of their known associates own. So far they are coming up with squat. Aside from their association with Pasquale Omar Gonzales - the half brother of Coraline Miller - and most of that family is dead, but there was a warehouse in a rural area that Jarvis Miller had bought for Pasquale. It wasn't much. The place had been condemned ten years ago, but that warehouse was all they had. It was something.

Henri Aucoin sent his team to check it out, while he stayed back at the FBI headquarters with John. Now all they had to do was wait to hear from the team, wait for the news on where their lead would actually amount to something.

Hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated. In fact, they keep me going.

What would you like to see happen next?