A/N: Thanks for all the reviews of last chapter, the muse is cooperating, but, unfortunately, real life isn't. So, this has taken a while to get up, and I apologize.

This was going to be a chapter about David and Terry collectively, but when I heard that Sabrina Lloyd was leaving Numb3rs, I rewrote it to honor this great character who really shouldn't be leaving the series.

Chapter Nine: Terry

"David!" Terry said, walking away from the patrol car that had brought her from the hospital back to the crime scene.

Cal Sci, she reminded herself. Cal Sci. This isn't just a crime scene, Lake, this is Charlie's world.

David looked up at the sound of her voice, nodding at her once, to show his attention before turning back to the forensic tech he was speaking with for one final word. When he was done, he met Terry on her walk towards him. "Dr. Guinyard say anything?"

"Unconscious the whole way."

"How's she doing?"

Terry shook her head. "Not good. Knife nicked an artery, collapsed her lung. She may have had a fractured skull, too. She was being rushed to surgery when I left." If anything happened to Dr. Guinyard ... to Alice ... Don and Charlie would be devastated. "Where's Don?" she asked, scanning once over the assembled group of police and techs.

"Merrick didn't call you?" David asked, hesitantly.

Terry shook her head, just the mention of Don's boss made her nervous. If Merrick had gotten involved, things weren't going well. There was no love lost between Don and Merrick, just an overabundance of competing egos, though in the end Terry knew where her cards lay. Still, there was a sinking feeling she was not going to like where this conversation was going to end.

"While you were at the hospital, Merrick called Don. He said this was an LAPD matter and to get back to the office."

"And I take it Don wasn't happy with that," Terry prompted.

"Yeah," David chuffed, nodding his head. "But he held it together. Don did managed to convince Merrick to let us stay on this, coordinate things, seeing as how the Schulte case is winding down."

"But?"

"But Don had to get off the case. Merrick said that his emotional attachment would cloud his judgment and put Derick in danger."

Terry nodded, for once agreeing with Merrick's call. Don may have been a professional, but he was too close. There were reasons why the Bureau had policies on agent involvement in investigations centered around family and friends. And as much as she respected Don's judgment, Terry would rather him off the case, if only for his own good. If something went wrong, she doubted Don would ever forgive himself for it.

"So I take it I'm in charge?" Terry asked, cocking an eyebrow.

David gave a less-than-helpful shrug and nodded once. "Looks that way. I, uh, was interviewing the witnesses. most of their stories are the same. They heard a kid scream, that'd be Derick by Charlie's statement, and came back to where you and Don found Dr. Guinyard. Charlie was at her side, trying to stop the bleeding. Some remember Professor Fleinhardt taking Derick, others don't. A few remember a man matching Michael Seed's description being seen around campus, but none saw where he went or if he has Derick with him."

"Okay, has Dr. Guinyard's family been notified? Derick's?"

"Don left messages at Dr. Guinyard's husband's cell, home, and work numbers. I contacted Derick's mother, an Emily Seed-Koepnick. She went to the hospital with her husband, Derick's stepfather, one Walter Koepnick; and her older son, Christopher Seed."

"Do we have guards on Christopher? Seed might go after him."

David nodded. "But from what Mrs. Seed-Koepnic said, her ex-husband was only interested in Derick, he'd basically written Christopher off because he wasn't of Derick's caliber. It doesn't seem like he'd go after Christopher, but I've put two uniformed officers on him, and Dr. Guinyard, just in case."

"Has an Amber Alert been issued?"

"Hit the air waves about twenty minutes ago. We've been getting calls but nothing's hit so far."

"Okay, let's get over to the hospital and interview the family."

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Terry and David found the surgical waiting area, a place made to appear both comfortable and comforting, but only served to increase the anxiousness of the families there. The Seed-Koepnicks were easy to spot, the ragged emotion poured off them in waves; Emily's heartbroken pacing, Christopher's withdrawn shock, and Walt's tired apprehension stood out even amid the other families muddling through their own crises.

When Walt noticed Terry and Don walking towards them he stood. "Hey," he said, capturing the attention of his family. Together they scurried over to the agents.

"Are you the doctors?" Emily asked. "Did you treat Alice Guinyard? How is she doing?"

"No, ma'am, I'm Special Agent Terry Lake, with the FBI. This is my partner, Special Agent David Sinclair, I believe you spoke on the phone," Terry said, showing the family her badge.

"The FBI? Do you have Derick? Did you find him?" Christopher asked, the hope clear in his voice.

"No, not yet, unfortunately," Terry said. "We were wondering if we could ask you a few question."

"Of course," Walt said, placing a hand of the small of his wife's back, giving her what support her could. "What do you need to know?"

"Hey, Christopher, why don't you and I go get a soda?" David said to the boy. "That way we can let your parents and my partner talk?"

Christopher nodded. "Sure." And after a glance back at his nervous mother, let himself be led off.

Once they were out of earshot, Terry led the pair to a row of chairs and sat down. "Why we start with why Derick was at the Cal Sci campus this afternoon?"

It was a question Terry already knew the answer to, but it was a logical place to start and, in her experience, asking reasonable questions was usually the quickest way to gain a family's trust during the important first few hours. Let them ease into the relationship and then, later, if and when tougher questions had to be asked there would be some kind of camaraderie to fall back on.

"Uh, Dr. Guinyard, Derick's therapist, had taken him to meet Dr. Charles Eppes, he's a, uh, mathematician that my idolizes," Emily said, her voice hitching and cracking.

"Alice had known Dr. Eppes since they went to high school," Walt volunteered.

"We're aware of their history," Terry said. "Dr. Eppes's older brother is a fellow agent, and Dr. Eppes himself consults on cases from time to time."

"You know Alice?" Emily asked, her shock echoed in her husband's face.

"Not directly, but when Dr. Guinyard, Alice, went out to confront Mr. Seed, Dr. Eppes called his brother, Don, who took Agent Sinclair and I to the scene. When we arrived Derick and his father were already gone." Terry explained. "But the fact that we were involved so quickly bodes well, so I want you to remember that. We were able to get agents and LAPD involved early on. Okay?" Terry paused to let her statements sink in with the family, and then continued. "Do you have any idea where your ex-husband might go? Does he have a home in the area? Friends, family, coworkers?"

"Uh, no, no, I don't know," Emily said. "Michael didn't have family in California, that's why we were so eager to move out here. Put the whole goddamn country between us. Uh, I think the closest thing is an uncle's cabin in Arizona, outside of Phoenix, but Michael said he hadn't been there since he was a child."

"Alright, we'll have agents check it out, just in case that's where they're headed," Terry said, jotting down the facts. "Do you know the address?"

Emily shook her head, her face crumpling. "I didn't even know he was in California, until last night," Emily whimpered, turning to bury her face in Walt's shoulder, and started crying.

"What happened last night?" Terry asked Walt, softly.

"Yesterday Dr. Guinyard was confronted by Michael outside of Derick's school. He, uh, threatened Emily and Alice if they tried to keep him away from Derick."

Terry nodded again. "Well, let to my office with this location, and then we'll talk some more, okay?"

Terry stood and walked away, to give Emily a minute to compose herself. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed the FBI office.

"Agent Pettiway," the agent Terry called answered.

"Hey Bobby, it's Terry. I need some information, can you run something for me?"

"Sure thing. This in connection with the missing kid?"

"Yeah. His father, Michael Seed, used to go to a cabin in Arizona owned by his uncle. I need you to get the address."

"That all?"

"Yeah, let me know when you get it."

"Sure thing. Listen, did Don really lose it at the scene?"

Terry sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't know, I wasn't there."

"Yeah, but, I mean, this is Don. Mr. Calm and Collected. He lost it?"

"A woman Don knew since he was a kid was stabbed and lay bleeding to death. What'd you do? Just get back to me with the information." Terry said, hanging up, a headache threatening to grow. Was this how the agents back at the office were thinking? That Don had a meltdown? If they believed that, then how long would it take before someone made a move for Don's position? Interoffice politics had never been Don's forte, but now he would have a battle against him. There were enough people bucking for what few promotions came down, and Don had the best qualifications of anyone in the office.

Terry's momentary reverie was broken with the sound of Emily shouting.

"You bastard!"

Turning, Terry saw Emily running across the hallway towards Charlie, who was just exiting the elevator with Don and his father at his side. Walt was half a step behind his wife, and trying to placate the woman, but Emily wasn't listening. Her eyes were locked on Charlie, a face she recognized easily. Terry started moving towards the assembled group as Don caught the screaming woman as she tried to force her way past him to get to Charlie.

Charlie, who seemed to shrink back a little every time the woman spoke. Even from a distance Terry could see how small Charlie looked, lost and afraid, like a little boy trying desperately to be a grown up. She'd only seen him like this once before, after the bank robbery, when they'd pleaded for his help and Charlie had just walked away.

"You son of a bitch! He was supposed to be safe! You were supposed to watch him!" Emily's voice broke and she pulled back from Don, her eyes never leaving Charlie, but carrying none of the anger in them now. "Alice said it'd be okay. She said he'd be fine," she cried, sinking to the floor., Walt dropping down next to her.

"Don," Terry said softly, just loud enough to get her partner's attention. She nodded off to the side. Don nodded and said something softly to his father, who looked over to Terry, having haven't seen her. Charlie, for his part, never looked past the fallen woman, just letting his father lead him away.

"Hey Terry," Alan said. "Have you heard anything?"

"Just what I learned in the ambulance."

"How bad?" Charlie asked, his voice small and hollow.

"Not good," Terry said, simply. Seeing the look on Alan and Don's faces, she explained. "Uh, the paramedics said the knife hit an artery in her lung, and collapsed it. They also found that she might have a cracked skull."

"Oh God," Alan said, turning away, his head rubbing his forehead.

"He threw her against the wall, Don," Charlie said, breaking his gaze on Emily to look at his brother. "He threw her against the wall," a hitch in his voice as he clamped his eyes down tightly.

"It's okay, Charlie," he said, closing what little distance there was between them, and hugging him. "She'll be okay."

Terry recognized that voice, it was the one she'd heard Don use when his mother's battle with cancer was coming to an end. Before he'd admitted that his mother was dying, this was how his voice sounded, a mix of hope and awareness that no, she was not going to get better. And every part of Terry wanted to tell him that Alice would be fine, she'd get through this, help confirm what he was telling his brother, but she couldn't. Quite simply Terry didn't know.

"Uh, what about Derick?" Alan asked. "What do you know about him?"

This broke Charlie and Don apart, each looking to her with the same question in their eyes.

"Well, we know that Michael Seed's uncle has a cabin in Arizona which we're having checked out, but beyond that not much." Terry was interrupted by her phone ringing. "Excuse me," she said, walking just out of earshot. "Lake."

"Hey, Terry, it's Bobby, I got the address you wanted. 314 Pine Crest Lane, Templeton, Arizona. I've got local PD on their way there."

"Great, Bobby, thanks."

"And one more thing. Dispatch got a call about ten minutes ago from a kid on route 66 east claiming to be Derick. Gave the description of the car, his clothes, said his mother's maiden name was Emily Jean Irvine and she was born in Atlanta, Georgia. It all checks out."

"Derick made the call."

"Yeah, and according to the maps, that's the quickest route up to Templeton."

"Great work, Bobby. David and I are heading up there now." She said, hanging up. She placed a quick call to David's cell, and he and Christopher were on their way up from the cafeteria.

Walking back over to the trio of Eppes men, she simply said "You guys will want to hear this," and then led them over to where Emily and Walt were sitting.

"Mrs. Seed-Koepnick?" Terry asked, getting the woman's attention and trying not to flinch when the broken and red-eyed woman looked at her. "Is your maiden name Emily Jean Irvine?"

"Yes, why?"

"And you grew up in Atlanta, Georgia?"

"Yes."

Terry smiled and continued. "About ten minutes ago a call came into a 911 operator from a little boy claiming to be Derick. He also gave your maiden name and your hometown."

"Derick made the call?" Don asked, the shock in his voice real.

"He found us," she said, nodded.