**I DON'T OWN THESE CHARACTERS*

It was Saturday morning, Danny was already at work. He had left before anyone else was awake and everyone knew why he was pouring himself into his work today. Sean and Jack sat at the table talking. The boys were quieter today, each deep in thought about their mom. Today marked two years since she had passed. It had changed all of their lives, even Maria's life had been affected. She had seen her best friend's life destroyed when the woman he loved killed.

"I'm going for a run." Maria stated coming down the stairs.

"Okay" Sean answered.

"I'll be back in like twenty minutes." Maria added putting her earbuds in her ears.

Jack and Sean turned back to their previous conversation when they heard the door shut.

"Thanks for not telling Dad about Emily, so I could tell him in my own time." Jack said sipping his coffee.

"No problem," Sean sighed, "I'm turning into a chamber of secrets and it's getting harder to keep closed."

"Who trusts you with their secrets besides me?" Jack questioned with a glimmer of laughter.

"Dad, Maria, Nicki, Aunt Erin, sometimes Uncle Jamie, and Grandpa." Sean named, counting on his fingers.

"Woah, I'm impressed." Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know all the problems of this family." Sean started with a sad laugh. He remembered what Maria had told him, and it was heavy on his heart. She cared for his Dad and Sean knew that it was more than just a crush. He had seen the way her eyes followed Danny, and how she always tried to help. The years around that table had taught him many things and one of those things was how to read people.

"Care to share any of those?" Jack inquired. Being at college has left him out of the loop about most of the family drama and he wondered what he could have missed.

"They're secrets," Sean reminded, "can't talk about them."

"Fair enough." Jack sighed.

They sat in silence for a few moments trying to keep their minds from straying to their mother, but it was difficult.

"How is our plan coming along?" Jack questioned.

"Fine, just fine." Sean lied. He didn't want to tell Jack that Maria knew what they had been trying to do.

"So...anything happening?" Jack pried.

"I don't want to talk about it." Sean snapped. He hadn't approved of the idea in the first place, and if he told Jack that Maria knew about what they had planned. He would have to divulge that Maria liked their dad, and he didn't want to betray her that way.

"What happened?" Jack inquired surprised by his brother's reaction.

"Nothing happened." Sean denied.

"Something happened… wait are they already dating?" Jack questioned.

"No, it's nothing like that." Sean protested.

"Then what is it?" Jack pressed.

"Maria knows that what we were doing." Sean disclosed.

"You told her!" Jack exclaimed."Was she pissed?

"Not too much." Sean answered.

"Why the hell would you tell her about it?" Jack wondered.

"It just happened." Sean defended.

"How does a secret like that just slip out?" Jack questioned.

"Because-" Sean tried to find a reasonable excuse, "it just matched the conversation."

"Fine, but you told her you were acting alone, right?" Jack prompted.

"No, I told her everything." Sean answered.

"Why?" Jack perplexed.

"Because she deserves to know the truth, she's been through more than you could even imagine. She has always been honest with me even when it hurt her to be so. I just did what she would have done for me." Sean exclaimed, his irritation evident. Why couldn't Jack just let this go?

Jack was taken aback by Sean's outburst. He saw a fire in Sean's eyes he had never seen before. Jack could tell that Sean cared for Maria very much and that he knew more about what was going on than the teenager was letting on.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Jack muttered.

Sean retreated back into his room, flopping onto his bed. He didn't want to fight with Jack on the day their Mom had died. He picked up his phone. He wanted a distraction from what was going on.

Sean soon lost track of time and he glanced at the clock. An hour had passed since he had escaped to his room. Maria should be back by now he thought. He got up from his bed and went to knock on the door. It was empty, so was the bathroom. He hurried down the stairs and she wasn't downstairs either.

"Hey, Jack!" Sean yelled.

"Yeah," Jack answered coming out of his room.

"Did you hear Maria come back?" Sean questioned.

"No, should I have?" He inquired.

"She said she would only be gone for about twenty minutes." Sean explained, "It's been over an hour."

"I'm sure she's fine." Jack shrugged. "She might have gone for a longer run than she intended."

"No, she would have messaged me and let me know she was going to be gone longer." Sean protested, his heart hammering.

"I'm going to call her." Sean dialed her phone number. It went to voicemail.

"Maybe she left her phone here." Jack suggested.

"No, she had it when she left. I saw it." Sean pointed out. "I'm calling Dad." Sean declared.

"Hey, what's up?" Danny inquired answering the phone.

"Dad, I can't find Maria. She said she was going for a run and she would be back in twenty minutes and it's been over an hour. She not picking up her phone either." Sean responded he tried to hide the worry in his voice.

"Wait. Say that again?" Danny questioned.

"I can't find Maria," Sean answered, "She went for a run over an hour ago and isn't back yet. She's not picking up her phone either."

"Are you sure?" Danny asked.

"I'm positive." Sean replied.

"Thank Sean, I'll look into it." Danny said.

Danny ran his hand over his short hair. He immediately tried Maria's cell.

"Pick up, pick up." He breathed.

"This is Detective Baez, I can't make it to the phone right-" Danny ended the call. He tried not to think about why she wasn't answering the phone, but his mind couldn't help it. They knew Angelo was after her, the break-in and the strange feeling at his house, everything was pointing to an unhappy answer.

He made his way to his sergeant's office.

"Sarge," He said coming in.

"Reagan, please tell me you have good news on the Fletcher case." Sarge demanded.

"Not yet," Danny stated, "but we have another problem." Danny added.

"What's that?" Sarge questioned.

"My son just called, Ma-Baez went for a run over an hour ago and hasn't come back. She's not picking up her phone either." Danny explained. He was surprised he had almost used her first name at work. "After the break-in, I'm just concerned."

"I'll send a car to look around your neighborhood and we can see if they find anything." Sarge stated, "And keep trying her on her cell, she may have just missed your first call."

"Will do sir." Danny answered.

Danny tried the phone again.

Somewhere in a ditch off the highway the phone rang, abandoned, all alone, no one around to answer it.

Hey guys,

Hope you guys liked that chapter...*Evil laugh* Sorry not sorry about the cliff hanger. I love you guys sooo much and I do it because I love you :P Thanks to dancinkowgirl for editing this chapter.

~Eliza

P.S So I planned to upload this chapter yesterday...but I ended up getting together with a few friends and singing phantom of the opera...for way too long(Yeah i don't really have a voice,) And when I got home it was just too late to finish the chapter.