"Do you think you will need us today?" Sue asked as she watched her husband get ready for work the next morning. "You know, Barky and Sunny really enjoyed themselves yesterday."
Jack chuckled as he looked at the dogs, who were sitting next to Sue at the foot of the bed. "Yeah, that was fun, and Barky had a heck of a time literally barking the perp up the tree."
"So if you're ever in need of barking assistance," she suggested, her eyes hopeful.
"I wish. But I really don't think I'll need your help today, bud." He said, leaning down to scratch the dog's ears, Barky's eyes closing in enjoyment.
"You sure?" Sue prodded.
He nodded as he stood up straight again. "But I will make sure I try to include you guys in as soon as I can!"
"Like right now?" Mellody asked as she and Chris walked into the room.
Jack laughed. "Unfortunately, I don't have anything where I need kids or dogs, sadly."
"But then we wouldn't have to do schoolwork!" Chris complained loudly.
"Schoolwork isn't all that bad, is it?" Sue asked, seeing his complaint.
"No, I guess not." He mumbled. "But helping Daddy at work seems more fun."
"Actually, most of the time, what I do all day is very reminiscent of my school days." He replied.
"What's remicent?" Mellody asked.
"Reminiscent means that the person is thinking back in time." Sue clarified.
"So that means that what I did back when I was in school looks very similar to what I do now." Jack added.
"You do schoolwork all day?" Chris asked, wrinkling his nose.
"Sorta." He shrugged. I write up lots of papers, explaining in detail events that had happened, things that were used, and so on. I have to be extremely detailed, otherwise I get to do it again."
"Like when DeeDee had to rewrite her essay cause she had too many spelling mistakes." Mellody said, giggling as she elbowed her brother, who was also laughing.
"Similar." Sue replied, smiling at the kids. "Now, how about we go get to work so you can grow up and write papers just like Daddy?"
"OK!" The girl happily exclaimed, taking her brother's hand and skipping out of the room.
Now alone, the couple just smiled at each other.
"Alright, well, I better finish getting ready. "Hopefully we'll be able to find Dylan today." He said, turning to finish.
"You will. I just know it." Sue replied, kissing him on the cheek.
"Smiling, Jack nodded. "I think I just might believe you."
"You should!" She called as she walked out of the room and down the hallway.
Chuckling, he finished getting ready.
?-?
"I'm surprised you didn't fall asleep." Bobby joked when he walked in the bullpen to find Mya typing away.
"I have to find Dylan, rather Marshall Barnum, like yesterday."
"You found out who he really is?" He asked, his joking attitude disappearing.
"Mm-hmm." She replied, picking up a folder and holding it out to him with one hand, the other hand still typing, her eyes not taking a second off the screen. "And it gets worse."
"What gets worse?" Jack asked, walking in on the conversation.
"Mya found out who Dylan really is." Bobby explained as he took the folder and scanned through it.
"And that's bad news?" He asked as he took off his coat.
"No, but what I found out immediately after is." She replied.
"Immediately after what?" Myles asked, walking in, Sarah shortly after him.
"Bad news." Bobby said, handing Mya back her folder.
"The search didn't work?" Sarah worriedly asked as she set her things down at her desk.
"No, it did. His name's Marshall Barnum. It's what I found out after that's bad."
"He left the country." Myles concluded as he entered on the most recent portion of the conversation.
She shook her head. "Nope. Worse."
"What can be worse than that?" Sarah asked.
"He's dead." Bobby guessed. "Well, that would be bad for him, good for us." He clarified. "Not that I want anyone dead."
"Honestly, that would be much better news." She replied, then took a deep breath before continuing. "He's got another kid."