Alright, I'm doing good, getting another chapter up before I head to the beach! This is a Carey chapter, so I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 9

Carey walked to the wooded area behind the hotel and saw a rather large group of people standing around Detective John Mason. Among them were a reporter with her cameraman, from the local news station. Carey guessed that this was the search party that the detective was talking about.

"Now, you all have a picture of Zack and Cody. We're looking for anything that might lead us to them; an article of clothing, broken branches, anything," Detective Mason was saying, as he turned his head slightly, spotting Carey. He stopped talking for a moment, a bit surprised to see her, but soon continued. The news reporter, a tall, dark haired woman with equally dark eyes that were rooted very far back in her head, noticed this and turned around, also spotting Carey. How the reporter knew who she was, Carey would never know.

"Miss Martin!" the reporter exclaimed, rushing over to Carey and startling her. John shot his head in Carey's direction with wide eyes. He excused himself from the crowd to go and aide her.

"Miss Martin, how are you dealing with this terrible tragedy?" The reporter asked, shoving her mic in Carey's face.

"Oh, uh...well..." Carey stammered.

"Could they have possibly run away? Were there any problems at home?" the reporter said, a little too cold for Carey's taste. Carey's forehead creased in anger as she opened her mouth to give the reporter a piece of her mind. But before she could speak, John took over.

"Miss Martin is a loving mother who wishes for the safe return of her sons," John said, shooting the reporter a nasty glare. He turned his attention back towards the crowd of people and addressed them once again.

"I want to thank you all for volunteering to help in the search. Good luck, and remember to contact myself, or someone from the department, whose numbers are located on the back of the twins' picture," he said. Then he turned back to the reporter and said, "Rebecca, don't you have something more constructive to do than to patronize a worried mother?"

Rebecca crossed her arms and smacked her tongue against her very straight, very white teeth. "I'm just trying to get people the news, John," she said with a dirty smile on her face, brushing a speck of dirt off her white blouse.

"Why don't you find someone else to sink your fangs into, then?" John said, steering Carey away from the now angry reporter and her overweight cameraman.

"Sorry about her, Carey, she's ruthless," John said, guiding Carey towards his squad car. "That's why I told you to stay at the hotel," he added, throwing a folder into his car, shutting and locking the door. He turned to Carey and folded his arms.

"Would you want to just sit around and do nothing if your sons were missing, Mr. Mason?" Carey asked sternly, her voice cracking slightly.

John's face fell a little and he shook his head. He seemed to be thinking of something and sighed. "Please, call me John, Carey," he said in his low, raspy voice.

"Fine, John. What do we do first?" Carey asked, noticing that most of the crowd had dispersed into the woods.

"Well, we look. Just stick with me," John said, gesturing Carey into the woods.

An hour later...

"They did what?" John said, tyring to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, they dressed up like girls to win money in a beauty pageant," Carey said, laughing. John joined in.

"They sound like great kids, Carey," John said with a smile. Carey looked at him, full of fear again.

"I need them back in my arms, John. I need them," she said, her arms wrapping around her body.

"I made a promise to you, and I will keep it. We'll find them," John said with a note of wild determination in his voice.

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, collecting their thoughts.

"Thank you..for everything. For all you're doing," Carey said quietly.

"I would want the same dedication if it were my family," John said, his face showing a hint of sadness that Carey noticed.

"Your wife must be proud of everything you do," Carey said, watching John as he checked to see if his cell phone had any messages.

"Huh?" John asked, somewhat confused. Carey nodded toward the ring on his hand, and he looked at it sadly.

"No, I'm not married. We divorced a few years ago," he said, twisting the ring around his finger.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed..." Carey said sheepishly.

"Oh, it's ok. I know I should take it off..." John said, more to himself than to Carey. Carey noticed his green eyes were full of grief.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, tipping her head slightly. John shook his head vigorously.

"We're not here to talk about my mistakes, Carey. Let's focus on getting you your boys back, ok?" he said, a slight edge in his voice. Carey took the hint.

"Ok," she said in a low whisper.

John, feeling bad about snapping, was about to apologize when his phone rang. "Hello?" he said, listening intently. "We'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up his cell, and looked at Carey.

"What? Did someone find them?" Carey asked, her heart leaping into her throat.

"They found a bloody sock, Carey. It says 'Cody' on the inside," John said slowly. Carey swooned.

"Carey!" John cried, reaching out to steady her. Carey put her hand on her forehead and let out a hollow laugh.

"Cody writes his name inside his socks so they don't get confused with Zack's," she said, beginning to cry. John wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her to a boulder, so she could sit.

"A bloody sock doesn't mean they're not still alive. It just means Cody might have scraped his foot on something. It might have slowed them down, making it easier to track them," John said, trying to comfort her. Carey sat for a moment, then nodded, wiping her tears.

"Ok, ok.." she said, nodding a little more.

"Let's go see what else they found, ok?" John said, helping Carey up, still supporting the grieving woman.

Ten minutes later, Carey and John were at the rocky ledge that Cody and Zack had slept on the night before.

"There's a little cave opening a bit further up. We found the sock, along with a bandage wrapper, and some bread crust," one of the officers explained.

"Thanks, George," John said, looking at the sock, which was in a plastic bag, lying on a rock.

"They must have stayed there during the storm," Carey guessed. She knew her boys were smart enough to find shelter in dangerous weather. She was secretly proud of them.

"The rain would have washed away any footprints from yesterday..." John said, looking around. He spotted the path that Cody and Zack had taken, just hours earlier, and saw some footprints. "But not their footprints from today!" he exclaimed, grabbing one of the officers next to him.

"What does the map say this path leads to?" he asked the officer.

The officer took out his map and started pointing to something on it.

"There's Rick's property up there, where his old cabin is? And if they followed the path, they would eventually hit the river," the officer explained.

"Great. Tell everyone to keep this way, and don't step directly on the path. I want to preserve the footprints so we can follow them," John said, looking up at the sky. "Before those clouds get to them first," he added to himself. He went back to Carey and the two started quickly down the path.

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I hope you liked the chapter! I did :D

And what the heck is John so upset about? I'll tell you sometime soon!

Cheers!