Rachel Henderson's Apartment

After collecting the search warrant, Sam and Vivien hurried over to Rachel's apartment. Local PD had been watching the building and they were fairly certain that no-one was there but neither woman wanted to put Molly in danger if she was; Sam knocked on the door.

'Ms Henderson, I'm here on behalf of your landlord, I need to speak with you please'; she listened carefully at the door and then knocked again, 'Ms Henderson?'

She walked back down the hall to where Viv and the other agents were waiting; 'I can't hear anything in there'

'OK, well just in case we'll go in fast'

They stood either side of the door, guns to the ready, as it opened they moved swiftly into the apartment;

'Clear'

Sam moved across the living area and into the bedroom, 'Clear'

Viv moved past her to the bathroom; 'Clear'

The two women holstered their guns; 'OK we are looking for anything that tells us the Rachel Henderson knows Rose Henry or that she is in anyway involved in the kidnap of Molly McCardle' Vivien briefed the other agents, she looked at Sam 'I hope to god we find something otherwise we're running out of suspects'

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Jack's Office – FBI Offices, New York

Danny looked up as he heard the door to Jack's office open. Martin walked in holding two mugs of coffee, he placed one of them in front of Danny and took the seat next to him without speaking.

The door opened again, this time it was Jack. Danny watched him warily as he sat down and for a long moment they stared at each other

'Look I can't begin to imagine what you're going through here so I'm sorry I have to be so blunt but I need you to tell us about your relationship with Rachel Henderson' Jack's words were blunt but the tone was kind, Danny stared at him for a moment longer

'Why?'

Jack's face tightened slightly but he kept his voice even, 'Danny, I'll explain everything, I promise but I need to know about you and Rachel'

Danny scowled at Jack but Jack didn't say anything; his jaw clenched,

'I met her in a bar about 3-4 months before I met Caitlin. She was good fun, claimed that she wasn't looking for anything serious……we went back to her place and…….' Danny shrugged looking uncomfortable.

Martin and Jack stayed silent, waiting for Danny to tell them more

'The sex was OK, nothing spectacular but, you know, OK and the next morning she was really cool. Gave me her number, told me no strings but if I felt like getting together again to give her a call. A couple of nights later I called…you know, lousy day at work, needed to relax and couldn't be bothered having to go to a bar and do the whole pick up routine again.' Danny's chin was on his chest and he was clearly not enjoying re-living this

'We had a good night, she was quite good company and so I asked her out that weekend. We went for dinner and then went back to hers again but on Sunday morning I got a call and had to go to work. It was a kidnapping and we worked 72 hours straight so it was Thursday before I got around to calling her. She was great, told me it was no problem and thanked me for dinner; I felt a bit guilty so I arranged to take her out on the Friday and that's when the wheels started to come off…

'How?'

'Well dinner was OK but the more personal questions were starting, you know 'Tell me about where you grew up', 'Do you want children', that sort of thing.' Danny shrugged, 'We went back to hers again but in the morning there was something not quite right, I couldn't put my finger on it so I made an excuse and left. She called a couple of days later and I made an excuse, dodged her next two calls and she seemed to get the message. The next time I saw her was in the diner the night I met Caitlin.'

Jack looked at him steadily 'OK, and did you see her again?' he could see that Danny was looking uncomfortable

'Danny?'

Danny groaned, 'We hooked up again a few months after Caitlin left to go to San Francisco'

Jack stared at him, 'How long did it last this time?'

'A couple of weeks at most, pretty much the same pattern as before really'

'So, if it hadn't worked the first time why did you end up with her again?'

'Just stupid I guess. I was in a club and I literally bumped into her and spilled her drink down her dress. I apologised, she laughed and I bought her a drink. She told me she had been stood up, we sat and chatted. She apologised for getting too serious too quickly when she and I had hooked up in 2001 and told me some story about a bad break up just before we met. I told her no hard feelings, that I understood, she said she was sorry things hadn't worked out with Caitlin…….I don't know, it was just too easy. She came back to mine and spent the night and like I said, same cycle as before'

'When was this'

Danny stared at Jack for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders 'How the hell am I supposed to remember….maybe 6 months after Caitlin left, I'm not absolutely sure.'

'Could it have been at the start of March?'

'It could have been…….it could have been February or it could have been April; I know the weather was cold so it wasn't much later in the year than that.'

'It was March' Martin spoke for the first time. He sounded confident….

'How do you know?' Martin and Jack both heard the aggression creeping into Danny's voice

'St Patrick's Day' despite the seriousness of the situation Martin was struggling to keep the smile off his face.

Danny stared at him for a minute then his face relaxed and he nodded a ghost of a smile appeared; 'Ah yes, St Patrick's Day'

Jack looked from one to the other, there was clearly a shared memory that they both found amusing but neither said anything

'Would someone care to explain?' he tried to keep his voice calm but there was a definite undertone.

The two men exchanged looks then Danny sat back slightly indicating he would leave the explanation to Martin. Martin hesitated then 'Look lets just say it was a memorable evening and I just happen to remember a conversation that we had about ex-girlfriends and the perils of not learning from past mistakes. Danny told me that he had just ended a fling he had been having wit an ex'

Martin turned to Danny; 'From what you've been saying I'm betting it was Rachel you were talking about'

Danny nodded 'It was'

'OK, so you said you went back to your place the first night, did you go to your's again?'

'Yeh, on one other occasion, why?'

'Because the post office sent a copy of the signature that signed for the letter Caitlin sent you after Molly was born. Lisa Randall took it to the post office on 4th March and it arrived on the 5th March. This is the signature…………...' Jack pushed a piece of paper across the desk toward Danny, who stared down at it, 'and this is a copy of Rachel's signature'

Jack pushed another piece of paper toward Danny; they were a perfect match.

Danny stared speechlessly at Jack, the thoughts in his head were racing ….she had tried to tell him about Molly….she had wanted him involved in their daughter's life….he'd missed over three years of his daughter's life because of that bitch, Rachel…..he heard Jack say something to him

'Sorry?'

'When you broke it off with Rachel the second time, how did she take it'

Danny forced himself to remember; 'OK I guess and in my defence I did at least explain why I didn't want to see her this time'

'Uh huh and what reason did you give?' Jack had a feeling he knew what Danny was about to say

'Told her that I wasn't ready for any sort of relationship as I wasn't really over Caitlin yet'

Danny looked at Jack to see his reaction. He appeared to be deep in thought

'Jack?'

'Did you know that Rachel had a fling with Nick Hollander after he and Caitlin broke up?'

Danny stared in amazement 'No, no I didn't'

'Well apart from the fact that the two of you have very similar taste in women, you also spin a similar line when you are breaking up with someone' Jack glanced at the confused expression on Danny's face before continuing 'You both told her you didn't want a relationship as you weren't over Caitlin……..'

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Rachel Henderson's Apartment

'Anything?'

'No, you?'

'Yes, apparently I'm allergic to dust' and Sam sneezed again

Viv nodded sympathetically and handed Sam a tissue as she stared around the apartment; 'When did you say Rachel went on holiday?'

Sam consulted her notebook 'Helen Atkins said she worked the early shift yesterday and then left. She's due back next week.'

The two women regarded each other thoughtfully 'OK, so she worked yesterday, presumably came home to pack or whatever and then left either yesterday or this morning to go away' Viv spoke slowly, 'so why does this apartment look as if it hasn't been lived in for a week or more?'

Sam took another quick look around, her gaze taking in the layer of dust, the pile of unopened post and the dead and dying plants; 'I think we should get back to the office, this is getting weird'

They turned to go as Sam's cell phone rang; 'Spade'

'Hi Agent Spade, this is Helen Atkin's from the NYU ER'

'Yes, hello'

'Agent Spade I thought you should know, we have just discovered that a considerable number of prescription medications have been stolen from our Pharmacy'

A confused expression crossed Sam's face as she slowly replied; 'OK, I'm just not too sure why this is relevant?'

'Well I don't know if it is but you asked me to tell you about anything unusual that happened and losing over $200,000 worth of prescription medications is pretty unusual'

'Yeh I'm sure it is, when was this discovered'

'Within the last hour, it's part of a regular audit that happens every three months or so, usually there is a slight difference but this is huge, we've never had anything like this happen before, well not since I started at the hospital'

'OK, look sorry to be a bit dumb but how is Caitlin connected to this?'

Sam heard Helen Atkin's draw breath at the other end of the phone 'Caitlin isn't connected at all but you were asking about Rachel earlier so I thought…….maybe I shouldn't have called'

No, no, I'm glad you did' Sam sounded excited 'What does Rachel have to do with the drugs?'

'Rachel is responsible for the ordering and the stock control. Rachel is the only person who could have stolen this amount of medication without it being picked up before now'

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Bullpen – FBI Offices, New York

Elena looked up as Jack walked across to the conference table followed by Martin and Danny. Jack and Martin each took a seat but Danny paused staring at the notice board covered with pictures of Molly, Caitlin, the park playground, the artists sketches of Rose Henry and the skateboarder and finally a picture of Danny.

Elena walked up to him and placed her hand on his arm, 'Hey, how are you doing?'

He looked at her blankly then turned back to look at the board 'Never thought I'd see my picture up there'

Jack opened his mouth to say something as his cell phone rang

'Malone'

'Hey Sam', a pause whilst he listened, then 'you're kidding' another longer pause and then 'OK, well you and Viv get back here as quickly as you can, we need another case conference.'

Martin, Elena and Danny all looked at him as he put the phone down and shook his head 'this is getting stranger by the minute; it now appears as if Rachel Henderson hasn't lived in her apartment for over a week and has been systematically stealing drugs from the ER pharmacy'

'When you say stealing drugs, what are we talking about here, a couple of packs of codine?' Martin sounded unimpressed

'Try $200,000 worth of just about anything and everything that sells easily on the street'

'$200,000 worth…….. how did no one notice?' Elena looked astonished

Jack shrugged, 'Guess we'll find that out in due course but you realise that this probably means that her disappearance has nothing to do with Molly and is more than likely just about the drugs.'

They all looked at each other as a gloom settled over them; no-one wanted to say it, but they all knew they were running out of suspects. The silence remained unbroken for a minute or so, just the hum of the computers and the quiet talking of other agents in other teams.

'Do we know who told the press I was Molly's father'

Jack jerked his head up and looked at Danny, but Danny was staring over at the pictures being shown on one of the news stations. The sound had been muted but in rapid succession they showed a picture of Molly, the playground, the artists sketches of Rose Henry and the skateboarder, Caitlin and finally Danny……….

Jack saw Danny suddenly lean forward and stare intently at the picture they were using of him in the news report 'Jack, that picture of me, that's not an official FBI shot, that picture was taken in the street last week'

Jack stared at the picture on the screen until the shot changed to one of the reporter. He looked at Danny 'How do you know when it was taken?'

'The suit and tie I'm wearing, they're new and I've only worn them once, and that was last Thursday.'

Jack saw Martin and Elena exchange looks, then Martin stood up; his face set in a grim expression, and moved across to his phone. He dialled a number;

'Hi, it's Martin, is he there?' there was a pause then, 'Hi look, I do need that information…'

Danny, Jack and Elena all exchanged looks as Martin sat listening to someone speaking at the other end of the phone. They saw his face relax and then change to one of surprise as he wrote down the information that was being passed to him.

'Thanks, I really appreciate this', he listened again, glancing at first Danny and then Jack then 'OK, yes, I'll tell them' and put the phone down.

Jack looked at him, his eyes narrowing slightly 'You gonna tell us what that was about'

Martin was staring at his notebook but at Jack's question he looked up 'The phone call telling the news station that Danny was the father was made at 4:45pm this afternoon from a cell phone registered to a Rita Taylor. The call bounced off a tower 4 hours north of New York. The photo was received 30 minutes ago by special messenger. It was sent by Rita Taylor, and get this, it was given to the messenger service this morning at 10am with specific instructions about what time it was to be delivered.'

'Who the hell is Rita Taylor?' Jack sounded stunned but then, 'and who the hell did you get all of that information from?'

Martin had a slightly sheepish look on his face, 'My father'

'Your father?' Danny was stunned, he knew very well how much Martin hated asking his father for anything, the fact that he had done so to help him……Danny swallowed hard……..

'So how come Victor is helping us out?' the cynicism in Jacks voice was unmistakable

Martin shrugged 'He and the news station owner go back a long way. When it all kicked off earlier on I asked him to try and find out who had made the call; he wasn't keen but I convinced him to help us and I guess for once he's come through' he paused a minute then turned to Danny 'he sent his best, hopes that everything turns out OK,' and then to Jack 'he said he knows that if anyone can solve this it's you'

Jack stared at Martin for a moment then nodding his head slightly and turning back to look at Danny, 'do you know a Rita Taylor?'

Danny ran his hand through his hair in frustration as he shook his head.

'Right Elena, I need you to find out everything you can about Rita Taylor. Martin, you and Danny wait for me in my office, I need to speak to Caitlin to see if she knows who Rita Taylor is'

Danny looked up 'Jack, I need to see her'

Jack paused, then looking Danny in the eye; 'Look, I'll explain what's happened, that you never got the second letter and that you want to see her but if she says no then you have to leave it' Danny couldn't miss the warning in his voice.

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Jack's Office

Martin watched as Danny paced up and down and searched frantically for a safe topic of conversation that would take their minds off things just for a few minutes……problem was he couldn't think of one. He sighed and decided to plunge straight in and see what happened.

'It was Caitlin you were talking about when we were in that diner in San Diego wasn't it?'

Danny stopped pacing and frowned at him 'Huh?'

'You know, during the Patrick Kent case, after we found out about wife number two'

Danny grinned faintly 'Yes it was…….., and come to think about it Marty I never did get to hear the story about you dating two women at the same time'

Martin was relieved that Danny was sounding like Danny again so decide to go with this

'Believe me, 'disaster' is an understatement…'

'Hmmm,' Danny was happy to have his mind taken off things for the moment, 'and what about you and ADA Hannah Standish?'

Martin groaned 'you don't want to go there believe me'

Danny's eyebrows shot up 'Meaning that you have 'gone there'…..come on, details'

Martin cast him a filthy look 'All I'll say is 'baby talk''

'Danny looked confused 'Baby talk?'

'Hmm, baby talk,' Martin could see Danny was still confused, 'you know, just when you're about to…..' he pulled a face.

Danny gaped at him 'No, you mean…..when you ….ugh', he pulled a face 'Christ, what did you do, that would have put me completely off my stride'

'It did, I had to imagine…..well never mind what I imagined but it was a close run thing'

'Hmmm, now who could you be imagining I wonder' Danny smirked, 'couldn't possibly be a blonde special agent of our acquaintance could it?'

Martin grinned 'My lips are sealed'

Danny grinned 'How come you went there at all, you're not the type to go for the one night stand?'

'Well, you remember when the Goldstein case went to trial?' Danny nodded 'Well, everyone went for a drink after to celebrate when we put that bastard away for life. I had a couple then decided to head home, she left at the same time and, as I now know, lives 10 blocks from me. She asked to share a cab, I said yes, she made a move and I guess I had drunk a bit more than I thought because all of a sudden it seemed like a really good idea to go in for a 'coffee' when we got to her place'

Danny smiled 'Yeh, cabs and 'coffee' can get you into all sorts of trouble…'

Flashback – February 11th 2002 - 1:30am

They were sat in the back of the cab heading to Caitlin's bed-sit.

They had spent the night dancing in a small club Danny knew, dancing to the Latin rhythms, their bodies getting closer and closer until they were melded together, dancing to the slower more sensuous rhythms played at the end of the evening.

They hadn't said a word since they had got into the cab but Danny could feel the electricity between them. He turned his head to look at her; he could see that her face was still slightly flushed from the dancing. He knew that every man in that club had envied him tonight……

He reached out and took her hand. She turned to look at him and he kept his eyes locked on hers as he slowly raised her hand to his lips and then gently kissed her fingers; he felt her shiver and saw the heat flare in her eyes. Still keeping his eyes locked on hers, he turned her hand over so its palm was uppermost and pressed his lips to it again. This time her mouth opened slightly and he heard a soft gasp.

He allowed her hand to fall back to the seat but kept the eye contact as he leaned toward her, his arm slipping between her back and the seat and the other arm reaching up to trace the line of her jaw.

He saw her smile as she allowed him to pull her closer, her hand slid around his neck, moving upward to tangle in his hair as their lips moved to within millimetres of each other, all the time their eyes remained locked.

Their lips met; the kiss was light, sensuous. He was gently exploring her mouth and feeling her explore his; for a moment they pulled apart, then with a sudden movement Danny pulled her to him so that there was no distance between them on the seat, his mouth crushing hers and feeling her arms tighten around his neck as she kissed him passionately…..

They arrived outside Caitlin's bed-sit. Danny told himself that he didn't expect her to invite him up, after all they had only known each other for two days, and this was different, special, and he didn't want to ruin it by pushing too hard too soon…….but Christ she had him so hot….. He knew if they said goodnight here he was going to be stood under a cold shower for most of the night putting this fire out.

She was still in his arms, their faces close. She smiled slowly as if enjoying a private joke; 'Coffee?' He knew it wasn't coffee that she was offering him…….

They reached her bed-sit eventually after several lengthy stops on the stairs for more hot, sexy, dangerous kissing. She slid the deadlocks in place and Danny turned her to face him, pressing her against the door, their mouths locked together, his hands undoing her coat and sliding it off to reveal that dress…….

He had been speechless when he had first seen the dress at the club that night. It was red, a halter neck line showed enough cleavage to be sexy but not enough to be too obvious, it was cut close over the hips and then the skirt flared gently to just above her knees but it was the back that had sent Danny's pulse racing. It was cut low to a point just above the cleft of her buttocks…….

His hands slid around her waist and then roamed slowly over the exposed silky soft skin on her back. He felt her arch against him and heard her moan softly. His hand moved up to tangle in her hair and he could feel the two buttons on the halter neck of the dress….he knew that if he undid those buttons that nothing else was keeping the dress on…..

He broke the kiss but their bodies remained pressed together. He rested his forehead against hers and for a long moment they stared into each other's eyes.

'Look, if this is too soon, if you would rather wait…' he struggled to get the words out of his mouth

'Because 'people' would say we should have waited?' there was amusement in her eyes

'I guess so'

'Well rather than doing what 'people' would think is right, how about we do what we think is right for us' her lips curved into a smile and she dropped her eyes and stared at his lips for a moment before raising them and meeting his eyes again. Danny could feel the knot of anticipation in his stomach twist tighter as she continued…..

'Now, I think you should undo those buttons you've been playing with all night…' she paused for a moment and the look she gave him made Danny forget to breathe, then she continued 'but if you would rather stop now then you can always sleep on the couch………..'

Danny cradled her face with his hands and kissed her, his tongue lazily exploring her mouth. Without breaking the kiss he slowly moved his hands so they caressed the back of her neck and then slowly moved to the buttons...he undid the first button, paused for a moment, feeling her body arch against him and the shiver of anticipation run through her and then he slowly undid the second……..he broke the kiss, his eyes watching for her reaction, and moved his body slightly so they were no longer pressed together….her eyes were locked on his as she moved so that she was no longer leaning on the door….. and the dress fell to the ground.

Danny felt his mouth go dry and his heart start to race even faster as he looked at her. She placed her hands on his chest and gently pushed him away so she could step past him. He turned and watched her walk slowly toward the bedroom, dressed only in a pair of red lace briefs and a pair of red high heeled shoes. When she reached the door she turned to look at him,

'Are you coming?'

Danny didn't need to be asked twice……

End of Flashback

'I take it from the look on your face that your experience was a happier one than mine' Martin's words cut across Danny's memories.

Danny grinned wryly 'You take it right'.

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Van Doren's Office

Jack pushed open the door to Van Doren's office expecting to see Nick Hollander, Jayne Ellsworth and Lisa Randall with Caitlin; instead he saw that only Caitlin and Lisa were there.

Lisa looked up when he walked in but Caitlin didn't move; she appeared to be in the same position he had left her in, knees tucked up under her chin and the Met's sweatshirt still hugged to her like a safety blanket.

'Where are Dr Hollander and Ms Ellsworth?'

Lisa smiled at him 'Nick made a DVD for Caitlin before he came to New York with lots of clips of Molly on it. We thought that maybe it would be good for the press so Nick's gone back to Caitlin's apartment to find it and Jayne's gone to help him' she looked at Jack's face 'to be honest I think Nick just wanted to feel like he was doing something'

Jack nodded, 'Well that sort of thing can help' he looked at Caitlin and pulled up a chair and sat down. She looked at him, he could see her eyes were red and she looked as if she had been crying, but her face was composed

'I thought you might like an update'

She glanced at Lisa and then nodded quickly, a slightly fearful look showing in her eyes

'OK, well we know who tipped the press off about Danny being the father, her name is Rita Taylor'

The blank expressions on the faces of both Caitlin and Lisa told him that they too had never heard her name

'Do you have a photo?'

Jack shook his head 'No, but if we get a description I'll let you have it'

Caitlin roused herself slightly 'Anything else?' her voice broke slightly and Jack saw the clench of the jaw in an effort to stop the tears

'Yeh, we know that the letter you sent after Molly was born got to Danny's apartment but he didn't sign for it', he paused for a heartbeat, sure that what he was about to tell her was going to upset her, 'Rachel Henderson did'

He saw the amazed look on Lisa's face but Caitlin's face froze 'Rachel, what was…….oh, I see' she bit her lip and looked at Jack a question on her face.

Jack decided to jump in with both feet 'Caitlin, Martin broke the news about Molly to Danny and he is absolutely certain that he had no idea that Molly existed much less that he was her father and I have to say after seeing him I'm absolutely certain too; for whatever reason Rachel stole the letter you sent.'

'What about the letter she hand delivered?' Lisa was angry; 'he cant say that was stolen' she sounded scathing.

The cahir creaked as Jack sat back; she was right of course, there was still the first letter, but what if Martin had been right, what if Caitlin had lied about that? The chair creaked as he sat forward again and he jumped as Caitlin shot to her feet

'Where is he, is he here?' there was note of urgency in her voice

'In my office' Jack sounded cautious, not sure what to make of this

'Has he asked to see me?'

'Yes'

'Tell him to I want to see him, tell him I think I know what happened to that bloody letter…'