A/N: You guys thought there was an unexpected twist in the previous chapter... wait until you read this...
The team sat in shocked silence. Only Sam's hard breathing broke it.
"Jack…" Vivian was the first to speak up, "This doesn't make sense. All these girls… it doesn't fit."
"Viv?" Jack shook his head, trying to understand her train of thought.
"Those girls; they're all thirteen. Lizzy doesn't fit the age bracket. She's too old. I'm not sure this is about her."
Jack looked at Jess, who was staring intently at the desk, "Martin, I want you to pull up everything you can on the…" Jack glanced at Sam, "… the Spade case, and any related cases. We need to find the common factors. Viv, if it comes to it, you and I may need to speak to the families of these girls."
Vivian nodded, rubbing Samantha's arm for comfort.
"Danny," he looked at the young agent, turning a blind eye to the fact he was holding Jess's hand, "You need to contact the NYPD. See if there have been any attempted kidnappings of teenage girls, between the ages of 11 and 13."
Danny tilted his head in response and squeezed Jess's hand gently before moving off to get on the phone.
"What can I do?" Jess stood up.
Jack looked at her in surprise. If he was in her position, he'd be broken; frantic with worry. But looking at her, he saw a strength that he'd only ever seen in three others; Sam, Viv and Maria. Three women, capable of more than any could imagine. Jess wasn't in the mindset of having lost a friend; she was in the role of an agent. But he still couldn't let her too far into the case.
His eyes flitted to Sam's despondent form. He looked back at Jess, "Take care of Sam for a while; just until we get some more information to go on."
Jess watched him walk away and rested a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "Sam, do you want a coffee?"
Sam nodded in response.
"Okay," Jess crouched down beside her and looked up into her tear-streaked face, "How about you get yourself cleaned up and I'll get us some coffee, and we can have a couple of minutes to ourselves."
Jess stood in the office coffee room, trying to catch her breath. Tears rolled softly down her cheeks as her quiet sobs subsided.
"Jess?" Danny stood in the doorway, "You okay?"
She kept her back to him and hastily wiped at her eyes. Plastering a smile on her face, she turned to look at him, "I'm fine, everything's good."
"Jess…" he knew she was lying. He knew the thoughts that were running through her head. That her charge was potentially in the hands of a rapist, a paedophile, a murderer. "We'll find her," he placed his hands on her shoulders, "I promise."
Jess looked up at him, her eyes welling up again, "You can't promise that, you can't promise anything. No-one can help her."
"We can, I can-"
"No, you can't!" she almost screamed at him, "You can't understand, no-one can ever understand."
Danny looked at her, his brow furrowed in confusion, "Jess, what… what can't I understand? Are we still talking about Lizzy here?"
"I…" Jess looked away from him. More tears fell. She took a deep breath and looked up into his eyes. She knew she could trust him, with her one of her darkest secret. "Danny, there's something you need to know."
He massaged her shoulders as he looked down at her, "Tell me."
"I don't-"
"Guys!" she was cut off by Martin's voice. He peeked his head around the doorframe, "I think you need to see this."
They followed him out to the bullpen and saw it. Another envelope, sitting in the middle of the table, with the same handwriting.
"I thought you said she was the first," Jack said to Sam as she came back from the bathroom.
Sam looked at him from where she was standing, "She was."
"Then how…" Jack started.
"I don't know…" Sam said, staring at the envelope and shaking her head in confusion.
"Jack," Vivian said warningly as he opened his mouth.
"Sam," Jess spoke so quietly they almost didn't hear her, "how long ago did you say it happened?"
"15 years."
Jess lifted a hand to her mouth and sank into a chair.
"Jess?" Danny reached for her, "What is it?"
She looked up at him, through watery eyes and whispered out, "It's what I was trying to tell you. I know now how this is about me."
"Jessica?" Jack moved into her line of vision, "What or who is in that envelope?"
"See for yourself."
Jack reached for the envelope and slid his finger into the gap, ripping it open. He tipped it up and let the photographs flutter onto the table. They landed upside down. He reached out slowly and turned them over. The images were of another young girl, no more than fourteen, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes that were unmistakably familiar.
"Me."
