Van Doren's Office - FBI Offices, New York

Caitlin was still shaking when she reached Van Doren's office. Before Jack had bought her to the FBI Offices for the press conference she had changed into old battered jeans, a blue long sleeved T shirt and wrapped a Mets sweatshirt around her waist; as she curled up on Van Doran's couch Jack saw her take the sweatshirt from around her waist and clutch it to her chest like a child with a teddy bear.

An assistant arrived with some mugs of coffee; Jack waited until she had left the room before he handed Caitlin a mug and sat down next to her on the couch.

She sat and sipped the scalding hot coffee, seemingly impervious to its heat;

'How can you drink it so hot?'

She blinked as if waking from a dream and looked at Jack blankly for a moment then he saw a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth;

'When I was pregnant with Molly I read every pregnancy magazine I could lay my hands on. I remember in one it was talking about how things change once you have a baby and it gave you a set of 'exercises' to do so that you would cope once the baby arrived…..one of them was about drinking hot drinks. It said that once you have a baby you will either have to gulp it down scalding hot or stone cold, nothing in between……I hate cold coffee so I got good at drinking it hot.'

'Yeh, my wife was really into all the magazines and books with our girls'

She smiled at him 'Girls? How may?'

'Two, Hannah and Kate. They live in Chicago with their mother'

She stared at him for a long time then nodded her head slightly 'You must miss them, do you see them often?'

'I try to get out there or have them here every two to three weeks and my phone bills are sky high'

She turned her head and stared into space, he could see she was biting her bottom lip and her grip on the sweatshirt tightened. Jack sat by her side saying nothing, aware that some conflict was going on inside her head

'You see that's what I've never understood', her voice was low, hesitant, 'I understand that finding out that I was pregnant would have been a shock for him, I would even have understood if he had wanted me to have a termination but I don't understand why he just walked away.' She turned and looked at him and he could see the hurt in her eyes, 'The Danny I knew…….that I loved wouldn't have done that.'

Jack put a comforting hand on her arm 'Caitlin, the Danny I know wouldn't do that either,' he paused and then speaking carefully 'Martin is with Danny now and I expect he will be back in the office soon.' He felt her arm jerk slightly under his hand and he continued quickly 'We will keep him downstairs, you don't have to see him unless you want to but we need to speak to him if we are going to understand why this has happened and we need to understand why this has happened if we are going to find Molly'

She nodded, continuing to clutch the sweatshirt to her.

Jack stood up, 'Nick and Jayne are downstairs and apparently Lisa has arrived as well, would you like me to bring them up to you'

She looked up and smiled briefly 'Yes please'

He walked to the door

'Jack', he turned to look at her, 'How did the press know about Danny?'

He frowned 'I have no idea, tell me, who knew that Danny was the father and that he was a federal agent?'

She thought for a moment, 'The only people I told were Lisa, Nick and Jayne, other people would be able to guess that Danny was the father but they wouldn't have known his surname or that he worked for the FBI' She looked at him, a fierce look in her eyes 'Jack, there is no way that Lisa, Nick or Jayne would have spoken to the press.'

He nodded 'I agree' he hesitated then smiled 'I'll go and get your friends'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bullpen – FBI Offices, New York

Jack entered the bullpen and walked over to the conference table where Viv, Sam and Elena were working. They looked up

'How is she?' Viv looked concerned

'About as well as you would expect after that circus' Jack sounded as pissed as he looked, 'where are we?'

Sam picked up some papers and checked the information on it 'I've been looking more closely at Lucas Tremaine. Much as I hate the bastard I don't think he's responsible for Molly's kidnap'

Jack nodded 'Well that one always was a long shot' he stood with his hands thrust into his pockets as he stared at the boards showing the timeline and pictures of all the key people; his gaze lingered on the picture of Danny, 'Have we heard anything from Martin?'

'No, haven't you spoken to him?'

'Only to tell him that the press know that Danny is Molly's father', Jack continued to stare at the photo of Danny on the board, then turned to Sam; 'You said that the only person who knew that Danny worked for us in missing persons was Lisa Randall, right?'

'Yes, from the information we have no-one else even knew his surname'

'Nick Hollander and Jayne Ellsworth probably knew', Elena interjected

'Hmm, yes, but all of these people are Caitlin's friends, why would any of them give that information to the press when they would know how much it would upset her?' Viv was frowning, 'or are you saying that one of them isn't as much of a friend as Caitlin thinks

Jack shook his head, 'No, I spoke to Caitlin about it before I came down. She confirms that Lisa, Nick and Jayne all knew but she is adamant that none of them would speak to the press and my gut is that she is right so that means that someone else knew…'

'Rachel Henderson knew' Sam sounded excited as she grabbed a file in front of her 'she and Danny dated before he dated Caitlin, he would have told her what he does and from the dates she would have been able to work out that Danny is Molly's father'

Jack stared at her for a moment, thinking back to their discussion before the press conference. He spoke slowly, 'Hmm, you're right Sam, her name is coming up a lot in connection with Caitlin's, where have we got in a background check on her?'

Viv pulled out a file, 'Rachel Henderson, she's been working as a nurse in the ER at NYU for 8 years now. She was born in Portland, Oregon, moved to New York when she was 14 with her parents, both deceased. No brothers or sisters. It's obviously tight managing on a nurses salary but she is making ends meet, no unusual lump sum's of money being paid into her accounts or being withdrawn, her phone and credit card records show no unusual patterns of use,' Viv paused and looked at Jack, 'in fact the only thing that is unusual is that there is no change in her spending patterns or cash withdrawal yet she appears to have gone on holiday'

For a moment Jack, Sam and Elena looked blankly at Viv then Sam nodded; 'You mean if she has gone on holiday there would be a hotel booking, a plane ticket, cash withdrawn or something but there isn't'

Elena didn't want to be the one to rain on the parade but she knew that they had to consider all possibilities; 'Unless she hasn't gone on holiday, maybe she has just gone to stay with a friend somewhere not too far away, she's driven in her car and so she hasn't needed to buy a plane ticket, book a hotel room or take a lot of cash out' she looked apologetically at them, 'I mean we know the time off was very last minute and the there are problems in her relationship with Ethan Robinson, maybe she just decided to go and stay with a friend.'

The flicker of excitement died as they all acknowledged the possibility of this being the case. Sam propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands

'I know you all think I'm mad going on about Rachel so much but we know that Rachel has been dating Ethan Robinson and we know he asked Caitlin out last Friday; what if she did overhear like he suspected, what if that triggered a reaction, you know her boyfriend cheating on her.'

'Except Caitlin turned him down, in fact to quote Ethan Robinson when I spoke to him he was 'shot down in flames'' Elena groaned.

'Yes but it could just be the fact that he asked her'

'This kidnap appears to have been well planned. Rose Henry has been working in the crèche for 4 weeks. Are we saying that Rachel happens to bump into Rose over the weekend, discovers that she knows Molly and realises she is psychotic enough to kidnap her? Jack looked frustrated

Sam shrugged her shoulders 'Well I think we should investigate Rachel a little further if only because we don't have much else to go on and we should concentrate on whether she knew Rose Henry, you know, did they bump into each other in thh hospital canteen, that sort of thing'

Jack nodded 'Yeh, I agree, lets dig a deep as we can and see what what we get'

'You know Jack, we have assumed that this is personal, but maybe it isn't about Caitlin maybe it's about Molly and someone who desperately wants a child. Maybe Rose Henry just fell in love with Molly…..' Viv let her voice tail off. She knew as well as the rest of them that if that was the case then they were in trouble…..

A phone rang

'Johnson'

Viv listened intently to the person at the other end, thanked them and put the phone down 'The post office is sending over that signature' she worked rapidly on her keyboard before pushing the print button.

Jack, Sam and Elena all crowded around to see the signature; they all stared at it for a moment then Jack looked at Viv

'Get it to tech, I want it confirmed that it is a match'

Viv exchanged looks with Sam as she handed him another piece of paper 'It's a match Jack'

Jack looked grimly at the paper in his hand and looked up again at the board and the photo of Danny, he picked up his cell phone and dialled a number

'Martin, it's Jack, I need you and Danny back here NOW'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

US Courthouse

Danny sat and stared at Martin as the words echoed around his head

'No, no it's you. You're Molly's father'

Danny felt as if everything was happening in slow motion; instead of his thoughts racing, they seemed to slow to a crawl and the sensation in the pit of his stomach….it was the feeling he got if he inadvertently missed the bottom step of the stairs, only Danny felt as if he had missed the bottom 10….

Martin said nothing; the shock on Danny's face told him everything he needed to know; Danny hadn't known anything about Molly……..Martin could feel a cold anger seeping over him. If Danny hadn't known about Molly then Caitlin had been lying to them…….

'Women are better liars………'

Danny tried to speak but it was taking a huge effort to get the words out of his mouth 'I don't….I don't understand…..' he looked helplessly at Martin.

'Do you want me to tell you what has happened so far?' Danny's nod gave Martin the permission he needed and he started to explain what had happened. Danny tried to listen carefully but the whole thing was surreal; he forced himself to concentrate on Martin's words……….

When Martin finished the two men sat in silence; Danny with his head resting on his hands, staring at the pillar in front of him, listening to the sound of distant footsteps echoing down rapidly emptying corridors……..

'Do you have a photo?'

Martin turned to look at Danny but Danny was still staring at the pillar. He silently reached into his pocket, pulled out a photo and handed placed it into Danny's hands

Danny sat and stared at the face of his daughter…...it was a formally posed picture; Molly was wearing a pink dress and she had a pink butterfly slide in her hair. She was smiling widely for the camera and her eyes were sparkling

'She looks just like Caitlin'

Martin looked quickly at Danny but his face was expressionless, then he looked at the photo, 'She's beautiful Danny,' he paused and looked again and smiled slightly 'she's got your eyes…………….'

Danny stood up, still staring at the photo of Molly and then carefully placed it into his jacket pocket. Without looking at Martin he spoke in a controlled voice,' Does Jack want me back at the office?'

'Yes'

'Where's Caitlin?'

Martin paused and stared at Danny until Danny turned and looked at him 'Jack doesn't want you anywhere near her until………..' Martin couldn't think of the words

'Until he's sure that I didn't kidnap Molly?' Danny couldn't be bothered to try and hide the anger he was feeling; he saw the expression in Martin's eyes change to one of frustration

'Look Danny, none of us think you had anything to do with this, no actually, we all KNOW you didn't have anything to do with this but for your sake we have to PROVE absolutely that you didn't. You know this' Martin grabbed Danny by the arm, 'Come on man, you've worked enough of these cases to know what we have to do. It sucks but we have to do it.'

Danny shook Martin's hand off his arm, trying to control the anger that was building inside of him. He took a deep breath, and another, and another ……………... He heard Martin's cell phone ring

'Fitzgerald'

Danny saw Martin's eyes widen slightly and then

'What's up?'

Danny saw Martin's face darken slightly at whatever was said to him and then, 'OK, we're on our way' and he angrily shut the phone.

Danny waited for Martin to say something but Martin was glaring at the phone as if it was somehow responsible for whatever had just been said to him

'Martin?'

'Martin took a deep breath and met Danny's eyes 'That was Jack. He wants us at the office straight away, he won't say why but it sounds major.'

Danny felt a cold hand grip his heart and tried not to think about what 'major' could mean…..

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FBI Offices – New York

Martin and Danny arrived back at Federal Plaza and made their way to Jack's office. Both were aware of the looks being thrown Danny's way and Martin was relieved that Danny was not reacting to them.

Jack's office was empty and Martin could see Jack and Elena sat at the conference table. He turned to Danny 'You wait here, I'll be back in a minute' he looked at Danny again; 'and I'll bring some coffee' He saw Danny's nod of acknowledgement as he walked out and headed for Jack

Martin saw Elena look up as she saw him walking toward them and saw her eyes slide past him to glance quickly at Danny then she said something to Jack who stood up as Martin reached his side

'How is he?'

'I don't know, about how anyone would be if they had just found out they were the father of a three year old daughter and that she's been kidnapped I guess'

Jack gave him a fierce look 'Are you certain that he didn't know about Molly?'

Martin was angry and it showed 'He didn't know Jack, I would stake my life on it. His reaction…Christ I've never seen him look like that…he's still trying to get his head around it.'

Martin saw a little of the tension leave Jack's shoulders as he nodded

'Jack, I think Caitlin was lying about the first letter'

Jack stared at him for a moment 'Why would she lie about it?'

'Maybe because she knew it was a shitty thing to do to him, moving clear across the country without telling him she was pregnant. If people knew she had left without telling him then it's her in the wrong but if she tells everyone that she sent a letter and that Danny didn't want to know then it makes her look like the abandoned girlfriend and Danny look like a bastard'

'Lisa Randall saw the letter the day Caitlin delivered it'

'She says she did but she's Caitlin's best friend, maybe she would lie to protect Caitlin or maybe there was a letter but Caitlin didn't deliver it'

Jack looked thoughtful 'I have to say that when she told me about the letter it struck me as the truth' he shook his head 'anyway we have more important things to talk about' he looked over to his office where he could see Danny slumped in a chair. He looked back at Martin 'you and I need to talk to Danny about Rachel Henderson.

Martin looked confused 'Why do we need to speak to Danny about Rachel Henderson?'

Jack and Elena glanced at each other and then Elena pushed two pieces of paper across the table toward Martin; 'Because Rachel Henderson seems to have been the person who signed for the recorded letter that Caitlin sent to Danny'