Disclaimer on chapter one.
AN: Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Chapter Nine

Mac woke with a start when he felt a hand grip his shoulder. It was gentle but it was enough to jump start him into the land of the living. He looked around quickly and noticed he was in his office. He looked up and saw Stella standing over him with a worried look on her face.

"Stella," Mac said as he blinked the sleep from his eyes.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, must have fallen asleep reading these transcripts."

"You really should go home and rest, Mac."

"No, we need to run down some of these leads. We need to find those children."

"You're going to wear yourself out and then you'll be useless."

"I'm fine, Stella. Anything new develop in the case?"

"Aiden is tracking down a brother that was identified in one of the interviews. There may be a connection for the property or maybe a hideout."

"Good. I marked some points to follow up on in the interviews," Mac began grabbing the stack.

"Relax, Mac, we're already running down what we can from those. It's all taken care of. You really should go home. Get some sleep."

"Stella," Mac said sternly.

"Fine, stay here, but just remember we're already doing our job," Stella said over her shoulder as she walked out of his office. He slumped back into his chair and noticed his back was stiff again. He stretched a bit to loosen his back then got up and went to the lab.

When he got there he got more from Aiden that he had gotten from Stella. He decided they were teaming against him. He sighed and nodded. He told them he would go home but instead he went to the hospital.

Robbie pulled into the city early in the morning. He drove himself to Queen of Mercy hospital and waited in the parking lot. He couldn't go up in the middle of the night, they wouldn't let him in. He would wait until visiting hours. Then he would go up and confront her. He would make her leave with him. She was supposed to be with him. He took another drink from the flask and tossed it into the passenger seat.

The time passed slowly for him and he grew more agitated. He hated having to wait. This was her fault too, he thought. He had drunk everything that was in the flask and was angry he didn't have more. Finally daylight broke over the city and the morning passed. He left the truck and made his way into the hospital. He walked the hallway of the third floor looking for the room number they had given him over the phone. As he rounded a corner expecting to find the room, he stutter stepped as he saw the cop sitting in the hallway outside the door.

He calmed himself and continued walking around the far corner of the hallway. Once out of sight he stopped and gritted his teeth. How dare she have a cop waiting for him? He would wait then. He would catch her when she left the hospital. Then he would show her where she belonged. And if she knew what was good for her, and the children, she would come with him.

Mac got to the hospital and made his way up to the room. The cop was still sitting outside the door and they greeted each other briefly. He came in silently when he saw Mady asleep in the chair. Kolby James was staring at the ceiling.

"How you feeling today?" Mac asked the boy quietly. Kolby looked at him a moment before answering. Mac thought he wouldn't say anything and was turning when the boy finally spoke.

"Better. Don't see why they are keeping me here," he said softly. Mac smiled and nodded. Still acting tough Mac thought. The doctor came in shortly and preformed a few tests on Kolby James. The commotion woke Mady up and she saw Mac standing there.

"How long have you been here? Or did you leave at all?"

"I left. I went to the lab. Then came back here. I've only been here a few minutes."

"You didn't go home last night?"

"Too much to do," Mac said quietly. He looked at the floor.

The doctor finished up on the exam and turned to Mady. He explained that the boy could be released today and he would start on the paper work. Mady nodded and the doctor left the room. She turned to Mac.

"Where do we go now? I don't have enough for another hotel, I can't go back to the house, I don't know what to do."

"I have a place set up for you and him. If you don't mind. I can have some cops around to protect the both of you."

"Why are you putting so much into this?" Mady asked. Mac felt himself flush and he wasn't entirely sure why he was. He didn't know what to tell her.

"It's my job," he said, the best he could think of under the circumstances. She seemed to accept that as an answer for the moment. She turned her attention back to the boy.

"You think Robbie will come back?"

"I don't know but I don't want to take any chances. I also wanted to ask you if you know Robbie's brother."

"Brother? He doesn't have a brother…anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"When they were younger Robbie and his brother Ryan were in an accident. Ryan was driving. He hit the steering wheel and it crushed his chest. He was DOA."

"Ok. It was just something we were looking into."

Mady nodded. Soon the doctor came back in with papers for her to sign and she did. They were then free to leave. Mac made some phone calls and had the place for them to stay made ready. He also set up to have a couple cars watch the house. Once everything was in place he took Kolby James in a wheel chair down to his car. Mady walked beside them.

Kolby James grumbled that he could walk and Mac explained the hospital policy about wheel chairs. The boy continued to complain and Mac said he would be forced to chain the boy to the chair if he didn't comply. Mac got a slight smile out of the boy. Mady was a little bit impressed.

Once Mac had them in the car he drove to the safe house and unloaded. He got them settled in the house. He had a guard sit in the room with them while the others stayed in cars outside. He told her it was just a precaution in case Robbie did show up.

Robbie saw Mady coming down the hall. He went to get out of the truck until he saw a man pushing the wheel chair the little bastard was sitting in. The man was defiantly not an orderly from the hospital. Robbie sank into the seat and tried to look invisible. He studied the man and then he saw it. The man had a gun. Cop, Robbie thought immediately. How dare she hide behind the cops, this was their dispute.

The cop put them both in the car and drove off. Robbie stayed a good distance behind, not wanting to be seen. They finally stopped at a house and unloaded. Another cop came into the house and stayed while the cop that drove them left. Robbie also noticed at least two cop cars with two cops each parked on the street.

They were waiting for him. They were going to pick him up. Let them he thought bitterly. It would serve her right. If he got picked up those kids would die. He didn't really care anymore now that she was trying to leave him. They could either live with him or not live at all, she was his. Why didn't she understand that?

He would wait. He knew where she was. He would go up to the house and make a plan. He would come back another time. He would get her. She would be his again. For now he would go back to the cabin and make sure the little ones were still locked in. He would come up with a plan and then come back ready to take what is rightfully his.

Mac went back to the lab and tried to look refreshed. He doubted he could fool his team but he was not going to go home. No matter what anybody said. He found Stella first and told her about the brother.

"Mady said that Robbie's brother's name was Ryan."

"Yeah, I found a Ryan Beale. Died ten years ago."

"Car crash, had a conflict with the steering wheel, wheel won."

"So that rules the brother out then."

"Unless the property is in his name."

"I'll run it. It's a chance. If he left it to his brother but Robbie never changed the deed over."

"It's possible."

"I'm on it."

Mac nodded and went to find Aiden. She was busy with more of the names, and getting no where fast. She was just as frustrated as Mac. He told her to keep at it and she said she had two more people coming in for interviews. Mac left her and went back to his office for a while. He really did need to rest. But he knew he couldn't. He had taken a few names from Aiden and decided to work on those.

He fed them into the computer one by one and waited for the information to come back. He spent much of the afternoon working on names and not getting anywhere. He made a few phone calls to the out of state ones but it yielded little. Finally Stella came and found him.

He rubbed his face as she sat down. She waited a moment for him to cast his attention to her. She looked him over carefully and Mac felt her studying him. He squirmed a little under her scrutiny.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just look exhausted. How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Not much, tell me what you got."

"The brother did own property, but it's not in New York. And it was not left to his brother. The property was left to a cousin from their mother's side. It's in New Jersey. But I also found something odd. Robbie was adopted. Ryan was the older brother. Biological to the parents that adopted Robbie."

"We have anything on biological family?"

"I'm digging into it, but haven't had much luck yet. I guess he came through a couple foster homes before landing in an orphanage where the Beale's found him."

"Keep digging."

"Always. Get some rest, Mac, I'm serious."

"I will, Stella, I will."

Stella left him then and he stared at the information he had collected the afternoon. Worthless he thought. The man had "friends" but no one stood out. Most of them didn't really know the guy. Something was off. Everyone agreed he had a quick temper. Most claimed they didn't associate with him for very long, they were afraid of him after a while.

Mac felt defeated. The kids were depending on him and he couldn't find them. He was seriously debating calling in the FBI to help. He decided to give his team another twenty four hours first. He had faith in them and they were working hard. They had uncovered a new lead in Robbie's biological background. He just hoped they found something there.

TBC…