Callie spent the next few days on edge after the strange encounter with the strange voice in the alley. Ari didn't notice the change in Callie, but Holden picked up on it the moment he returned to town.

"What's gotten into you, love?" He asked one morning. He had stopped by after Callie dropped Ari at school. She had a rare day off and she was looking forward to relaxing a little.

"I'm just creeped out by that thing from the other day," she said.

"What thing?"

Callie paused, realizing she hadn't ever told him what happened.

"There was this…I don't know, voice from someone when Ari and I got food the other day. We were heading back to the car, but it was nearby. It just sounded really creepy so we walked home instead. I didn't want to go near it."

"A voice?"

"Yeah, it said something about us being a couple of pretty ladies, but it sounded so…weird."

Holden's eye flashed and she saw his jaw tighten slightly.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Callie paused again, giving him an odd look.

"I mean, I'm telling you about it now…it's not like I report to you, Holden."

"If you don't tell me these things, how can I KEEP YOU SAFE!" he shouted suddenly, and she stepped back, bumping into the kitchen counter.

"No one asked you to keep me safe! I'm pretty sure I'm doing an okay job myself, and I definitely don't need you showing up whenever you feel like it and yelling at me!"

Holden's demeanor changed immediately, and he held up his hands in resignation.

"I'm sorry, my Queen. You're right. I worry about you both when I can't be here."

Callie still felt wary of the sudden changes to and from anger, so she stared at him silently.

"I know you and Lady Arella can look after yourselves just fine. I care deeply for you both and only want to help."

"I…can understand that," she replied carefully, studying the floor. "But I am pretty capable on my own, you know."

"That I do, my love, that I do."

Callie looked at him sharply, but he didn't seem to notice his reveal as he took a seat at the table.

Maybe he didn't mean to say it like that. But he always says "love," never "my love." Does he love me? Is that what that means?

Holden dropped his mug on the ground, muttering a curse. Callie snapped out of her thoughts and grabbed a towel.

"It's fine, here, let me help," she said, wiping the coffee from the floor.

Holden was crouched down with her, picking up pieces of the mug.

"I'm sorry, Calypso. I try to do what's right, but I only seem to make a mess of things," he said softly, sounding defeated. Callie placed a hand on his wrist, gently squeezing it.

"Holden, you don't make a mess of things. You've helped me out so much, me and Ari. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us."

He stared back at her, his hazel eyes making her breath catch in her throat. Callie realized her hand was still lingering on his wrist and she pulled it away, immediately looking down at the floor and resuming wiping up the coffee. Holden waited a moment before tossing out the pieces of the broken mug.

"Callie," he said softly, and she stood up, biting her lip with worry about what he would say.

Instead of speaking, he enveloped her in a hug. It wasn't what she was expecting, but Callie allowed herself to enjoy the comfort and security of his arms around her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of his cologne soothing her. Life was confusing and a little chaotic, but he had always been here to help her, and had always been a great friend. He was incredible with Ari, and that meant more to her than she could ever verbalize. She hummed a small sigh against him as he stroked her head gently. Suddenly he stiffened, muttering another curse before pulling away.

"What? What is it?" she asked, worried about yet another quick change in his behavior.

Holden was looking to the side of her briefly before he met her eyes again.

"Nothing, love, sorry. Just got distracted thinking about work things. Speaking of, I should probably get going. If anything else happens, anything strange, you call me immediately. I know you can handle yourself," he placated as she prepared to protest. "But I want to know, right away, and I won't take no for an answer. I'll be in touch soon," he said, moving to hug her before stopping himself, shaking his head, and leaving.

Well, that was really, really weird.

Callie made her way to the couch and turned on the TV, hoping to enjoy a short nap. Before she could lay down, her phone was ringing with the school's number flashing.

"Hello?"

"Miss Richards? We need you to come to the school immediately. There's been another incident involving Arella," she heard Mrs. Brown say.

Dread filled her immediately, her stomach feeling like it dropped out.

"What sort of incident?"

"Just…please just come down, the principal will speak with you when you get here."

Callie made record time getting to the school. She tried to steady her nerves and convince herself that it would be okay, whatever had happened Ari was okay. There was no mention of injury or a hospital, so everything would be fine.

Mrs. Brown led her to the principal's office right away. Ari was sitting just outside the door, and much to Callie's relief, seemed to be perfectly fine.

"Hi, Mommy," Ari said glumly, her head hanging low and body sunken down in her seat.

"Hey there, sweet girl. I'm just going to talk with the principal real quick, okay? Are you okay?"

Ari gave a silent nod.

"Miss Richards," Principal Jones began. "We need to discuss the situation with Arella."

"Yeah, Mrs. Brown said there was an incident, but I don't really understand what that means."

Principal Jones sighed and shook his head.

"To be honest, I'm not sure myself exactly what happened. Unfortunately, it is the second time we've had a situation of this nature with her. She should have been expelled the last time this happened, but we made an exception. Unfortunately, we cannot overlook her behavior and the destruction of property. I don't know how she did what she did, but I'm sorry to say that she is no longer a student at Hamilton Community Elementary School."

"What?! That doesn't make any sense! What happened? What property destruction?"

"As I've already stated, I'm not sure what happened, exactly. Arella was in class when she and a classmate got into an argument. Somehow, she broke the windows in the classroom and started a fire. No one was injured, thankfully, but this kind of behavior is unacceptable. I strongly encourage you to seek mental health treatment for whatever she is dealing with. I'm obligated to file this with the Department of Child Services as well. They'll investigate and make recommendations based on their findings. Given the prior incident, I'm confident they'll require counseling at the very least. It would be much better for you both if you started seeing someone now, though. Not to mention safer. Pyromania is a very serious warning sign."

Callie gaped at Principal Jones as she struggled to process the information.

"You…I mean, you're making her sound like some kind of monster. She's not a monster, she's my daughter!"

"I understand, Miss Richards. I know you've both been through a lot. Arella is crying out for help with these actions, and it is imperative that you listen and support her."

"You said they'd require therapy, at least. What else? You must've seen kids go through trouble like this before. What else happens in situations like this?"

Principal Jones sighed.

"Sometimes, DCS requires internment at a facility for a period of time to allow proper evaluation and therapy. In-patient therapy and rehabilitation, if the situation requires it."

"You're saying they might take her away from me and put her in an asylum?!"

"That's not what I'm saying at all, Miss Richards. I'm just letting you know that on some occasions, that is a course of action that would be taken. What's important is that Arella gets the help she needs, whatever form that comes in. Cooperate with the DCS investigator assigned to the case. Enroll her in therapy now. That's my best advice. I'm sorry that it's come to this," he told her, and Callie knew he meant it.

"Okay. I…okay." With nothing else to say, she left the office.

Ari jumped up and ran over to give Callie a hug, tears streaming down her face.

"It'll be okay, sweet girl. I promise. Let's just go home, okay?"

Callie and Ari spent the next few hours on the couch watching TV and eating all the junk food they could find. Callie had no idea what she was going to do about work. If Ari was home instead of at school, she couldn't go to work. She wasn't sure if it was safe to hire a babysitter without knowing what was going on with Ari. She had called the store and let them know she needed to take a week off for a personal emergency, but beyond that, she was lost. This didn't seem like a situation that would easily and quickly resolve.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, and Callie glanced over at Ari. Ari was out cold, snuggled under a blanket, one loose hand lightly clutching an empty Reese's wrapper. She gently extracted herself from the couch without jostling Ari and went to answer the door quickly.

"You two again?" she asked, confused.

In front of her stood Agents Crosby and Nash. Agent Crosby smirked in an unfriendly manner.

"Yeah, us again. Our office received a report about another incident with your daughter. May we speak with her?"

Callie gave a short laugh of disbelief.

"Uh, no, you most certainly cannot speak with her. I haven't even talked with her about it yet, and I'm certainly not allowing you two to question her. Especially you," she said pointedly at Agent Crosby. "You can't even handle talking to an adult without acting like a jerk. I'm not going to let you talk to my eight-year-old."

Agent Nash snickered at the comment but sobered immediately when Agent Crosby shot him a look.

"Well, this time we need to speak with her, and as much as we'd like to be polite about it, it's not a question."

"What Agent Crosby is trying and failing to say nicely is that our boss is requiring us to conduct an interview. He let it slide last time that we didn't speak with your daughter, but if we don't talk with her this time, we're going to be in trouble."

Callie frowned as she watched Agent Nash. He looked at her pleadingly, sympathetically.

"Not my problem," she replied, and his expression became even more pathetic.

"Please? I promise I'll do all the talking," he said, and Callie felt herself wavering.

"She's sleeping right now. It's been a hard day for her. The school kicked her out and she can't even see her friends to say goodbye. Plus, whatever happened has her really upset."

"Did the school give you any information?" Agent Nash asked.

"I mean, not exactly. They said she broke some windows and they said she started a fire, but…it just doesn't make any sense. That's not my daughter, you know? She's this wonderful, bright kid. So sweet. I've been indulging her since the coma situation, but…I mean, none of this makes any sense," Callie sighed, surprised to find herself opening up to Agent Nash.

"Is there anyone that she's been having a hard time dealing with lately, any particular teacher or student?" Agent Nash continued.

Callie shook her head, marveling at the way he was getting her to talk. He was much better at this sort of thing than Agent Crosby.

"Nothing really, I mean, just normal kid stuff. This person shoved me, that person said they didn't want to sit with me, you know, just…normal."

Agent Nash nodded sympathetically.

"I understand. Well, we'd really like to speak with her and get her side of the story."

"Is this going to affect the DCS investigation?"

The agents exchanged confused glances.

"Principal Jones told me that they had to report to DCS about what happened, especially since this is the second time. He said that sometimes they…have kids go to a facility for treatment, therapy and rehab…" Callie trailed off, her eyes filling with tears. "I can't lose her, I can't have them take her away from me. She's had it so hard since her dad died a few years ago. It isn't fair; she doesn't deserve this."

"We'll do our best to figure out what happened, Miss Richards," Agent Nash comforted. "Just take it one step at a time, okay? If we can speak with her, it would help our investigation tremendously. I don't know for sure, but I imagine that's something DCS would have to take into consideration during their investigation."

Callie nodded, wiping her eyes dry with her hands.

"Okay. You can come back tomorrow morning to talk with her. Around nine, probably."

Agent Nash offered her a brief, sad smile.

"Thank you, Miss Richards, that really helps us out a lot. Thank you for your time, and try to take it easy, okay? Remember, one step at a time."

Callie saw Agent Crosby shoot Agent Nash an exaggerated look, but she ignored it and nodded.

"See you tomorrow."