Bullpen – FBI, New York

Jack and Martin approached the conference table; they could see Sam writing on a whiteboard, with Viv and Elena stood by her side both staring intently at what was written there. Sam looked up as they approached 'Hey, where's Danny?'

Jack and Martin exchanged glances; 'He's gone to his apartment……..with Caitlin.' Martin's tone suggested that he thought it a very bad idea and Jack shot him a half annoyed, half bemused look.

'He's gone to his apartment with Caitlin?...Why?' Viv couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice

Martin shrugged his shoulders and gestured toward Jack to indicate that Viv would be better asking him and sat down, staring at the white board, now covered in writing with circles and arrows linking information.

Jack saw the question on Viv's face and Elena and Sam's too; 'Well as much as I understood it, there appears to have been a broken floorboard at some point and it is possible that the letter slipped down under it when it was pushed under the door.', he shrugged his shoulders at the cynical expression on Martin's face.

'Will they be OK? I mean, are they talking to each other?' Viv sounded sceptical. Jack pulled a face

'They're both adults, let them deal with it in their own way, none of us knows first hand what they are going through so it's not our place to judge' Martin got the distinct impression that Jack was aiming this at him. He ignored the comment and pointed at the white board

'So where are we with this?'

Sam sighed 'Not much further really', she paused and stared at the board 'OK, we know Rachel and Rose worked in the same hospital but we don't know if they ever met, we certainly can't find any evidence that they did. Rachel hasn't been in her apartment for more than a week and we don't know where she has been staying, BUT, we do know that she knew Danny's identity so there is a possibility that she supplied this information to Rita Taylor.'

Jack interrupted, 'We had a call from the NYPD just before we came down; they have a suspect in custody that matches the description of the skateboarder; apparently he is the man who Rachel has been selling the meds through'

Sam looked excited 'So we can link Rachel to Molly's kidnapping'

'Yes it appears so, he'll be here in about 10 minutes; Martin and I are going to interview him.'

Sam nodded distractedly as she added this information to the board and then stood back;

'You know this looks as if all three women are linked; Rachel knew Caitlin and has a possible motive for wanting to hurt her, she knows Danny's identity so could have given this info to Rita Taylor to give to the press and she would have known about Caitlin's change in shift so would have known when it was likely that they would go to the park. Rose Henry kidnapped Molly after getting to know her by working in the crèche and it is possible that she and Rachel could have met whilst she worked at the hospital. Rita Taylor we know nothing about other than the fact that she sent a photo of Danny to a news station an hour and a half before Molly was kidnapped which proves she knew about the kidnapping and that the exposure of Danny's identity was planned before Molly was taken, and wasn't just a random act of someone who wanted to make a quick buck by selling an interesting piece of news.'

Sam paused and looked at Jack. She saw him nod his head thoughtfully then stand up. 'Good work, we still don't have a clear motive but at least we know who we are looking at for this. Keep digging on Rachel, something has to pop'

He saw another agent wave to him; 'Martin, he's here, let's go' his voice was grim.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FBI Offices – New York

Danny pressed the 'B' to send the elevator to the basement where Martin's car was parked. The doors closed and Danny was suddenly very aware that they were on their own; he could feel the knot in his stomach tighten, and his tongue appeared to have glued itself to the roof of his mouth. He wanted to speak but he didn't know what to say.

He forced his eyes to move and glanced sideways at Caitlin. She was staring at the numbers as they steadily changed showing that the elevator was dropping lower and lower; he could see her hands were clenched and she was biting her lip; he knew she was aware he was looking at her because she swallowed nervously and then, as the elevator approached their destination, she suddenly turned her head and stared at him………..

The elevator stopped and the doors opened to reveal the underground parking lot; Danny indicated with his hand for Caitlin to lead the way. She jerked her head around seemingly surprised that they had reached the basement then walked through the doors and stood waiting for Danny to show the way to the car.

Danny stepped out of the elevator and walked to where she was waiting. He stood next to her, knowing that he was standing closer than he needed to, but feeling a growing desperation to bridge the emotional distance between them…….

For a moment they stood; Caitlin staring at the ground and Danny staring at her…..the moment stretched until she slowly raised her head. She was staring sightlessly across the garage and he could see the tears glistening in her eyes were starting to spill down her cheeks; it was instinct that caused him to reach for her and pull her to him; as soon as he realised what he had done he expected to feel her resist, pull away, what he didn't expect was to feel her cling to him as the tears came in earnest.

He stood stroking her hair and rocking her slightly, murmuring to her and slowly he felt the crying stop but she didn't pull away, instead she stayed in his embrace………….

'She's so small Danny, what if….' He felt her shudder

He placed his hands on either side of her face and raised it so that she was looking at him 'Jack's the best there is. If anyone can find her it will be him'. Her eyes searched his trying to see if these were just words or if he really believed what he was saying, their faces were inches apart and Danny felt an overwhelming need to kiss her, he felt himself close the distance slightly before he stopped, horrified at what he had been about to do.

He saw confusion in her eyes and then understanding as she realised what had nearly happened; he waited for the anger or revulsion but none came, instead she raised her hand and slowly traced his jaw line 'I've missed you so much'; she spoke so softly that Danny couldn't be sure he had heard right……..her hand was on the back of his neck now and she applied gentle pressure……..; their lips touched in a soft, gentle, comforting kiss before they broke apart again and stared at each other, he could see the confusion he felt mirrored in her eyes, and he felt her pull away slightly.

'We should probably go…………..' Danny heard himself speak and marvelled that his voice sounded so steady when his heart was racing and he could barely draw breath. He watched her carefully but she just nodded and turned to let him lead the way to the car……..

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Interview Room – FBI, New York

Martin and Jack stood looking through the window into the interview room, looking at the man sat at the table. Jack checked the file in his hand;

'Dwayne Robbins, local small time drug dealer, hit the drug squad's radar when he suddenly began to deal in high value prescription medications in May this year. He's done a stint in juvie for theft and minor drug offences plus one 3 year stint in county jail for drug offences.'

Martin nodded, 'and apparently has now moved onto assault and conspiracy to kidnap'

Jack stared at Dwayne Robbins a moment longer, 'Right let's get this scum bag to talk'

In the room Jack took the seat opposite Robbins, Martin lent against the wall off to one side and slightly behind him.

Robbins was leaning back in his seat, a sneer on his face. Jack stared at him for a while without saying anything. After a minute the sneer started to slip and he shifted slightly in his seat. Jack leaned forward 'Where's the girl?' his voice was low but there was no mistaking the menace in it.

Robbins tried to look tough but was failing, 'Don't know what you're talking about man'

Martin moved suddenly, grabbing Robbins arm and twisting it painfully behind his back, forcing his face down onto the table 'sure about that are you?' he made no attempt to hide the aggression.

Jack moved his face so that it was level with Robbins 'The little girl you helped kidnap? She's the daughter of an FBI officer; in fact she's the daughter of a good friend of ours. Now you start talking or I'll have to let him come in here and talk to you and you really don't want me to do that.'

'Get off me, I'll have you for brutality, I'll sue your ass…..arrgghh' Martin forced his arm higher cutting Robbins off. 'Start talking you piece of scum or I'll twist your damn arm off'

'OK, OK……' All trace of the sneer had left Robbins now

Jack looked at him for a moment longer, 'Right, I'll ask Agent Fitzgerald to let go of your arm but know this, you jerk us around and not only will I happily let him take hold of your arm again, I'll hold you down while he snaps it off at the shoulder.'

Martin let go and stood back, Robbins sat up, all trace of bravado gone, 'What do you want to know?'

'Where is the girl?'

Robbins looked scared now 'I don't know man, I really don't know. I gave Rita my car but she didn't say where she was going, all she said was that she was going to take the kid to 'where it all started' so she understood 'where she came from.''

'OK, how do you know Rita Taylor?'

Robbins stared at Jack, surprise showing on his face, 'She's been my supplier for the drugs, I thought you knew that.'

Jack and Martin exchanged looks; Martin stepped forward and put the photo of Rachel and the sketch of Rose on the table; 'tell me about these women'

Robbins pushed the photo of Rachel toward Jack 'Don't know her, but the other is Rita, well Rita once she's put the wig on and the contacts, she used the name Rose Henry, said that she had a job that got her close to the kid so that the kid would know her when she took her'

Jack pushed the photo of Rachel back toward him 'and you don't know her?'

'No, never seen her'

'Have you heard the name Rachel Henderson?'

'No'

'OK, well, where does Rita live?'

'I never went to her apartment,' his face changed as he saw Martin start to advance toward him menacingly, 'but I did follow her one time, I wanted to know where she lived. Can't tell you which apartment she lives in but I know the block'

'Let's have that then……'

Danny's Apartment

Caitlin stepped through the door into Danny's apartment. She looked around noticing that it looked pretty much as it had done four years ago. She took a deep breath and walked forward and turned to look at Danny; he was staring down at the floorboard, a strange look on his face.

'You OK?'

His head jerked up and he looked at her warily, not that she could blame him; it was the first time she had spoken since they had left the car park. She guessed he was worried about the kiss, thinking that she was angry with him. She wished she could find the words to try and explain that she wasn't upset about the kiss, that she just needed time to try and understand how, when she hadn't seen him for four years, it felt so natural to be stood here with him now, why all she wanted to do was to curl up in his arms because when his arms had gone around her she had realised it was the first time she had felt any comfort since Molly had disappeared this morning.

He looked down at the floor again and prodded the floorboard with his foot; 'I'll get a screwdriver.' He was still looking down at the floorboard and missed the stunned look that appeared on her face; Danny, using a screwdriver? As many talents and skills as the guy had Caitlin had never counted DIY amongst them. She tried to wipe the surprise off her face but obviously hadn't been as successful as she would have liked because when he glanced up she saw a slightly defensive look creep into his eyes

'Something to say?' he sounded as if he was expecting her to laugh and she had to admit she was struggling not to.

'No, no, not at all, erm………,' she couldn't wipe the grin off her face and could see a wry smile forming on his lips, 'it's just the thought that you even own a screwdriver is a pretty big leap..'; she bit her lip to stop the laughter

He scowled but she could tell he wasn't serious 'Well I do' and he walked over to the cupboard, reached inside and took out a small tool box. Refusing to look at her he crossed to the floorboard and unscrewed it. For a second he hesitated……

'Go on, let's see what we find' her voice sounded calm but her heart was racing……..

He pulled the floorboard up and using the torch in the toolkit shone the light down into the cavity below, she heard his breath catch and he reached down……………..he sat back up and she could see he was holding an envelope.

He silently handed it to her and she looked at the message she had written on the front of the envelope;

'Danny, please, please read this'

He finished screwing the board back in place and stood up, brushing the dust off his suit. He stood staring at her for a moment then sat down next to her on the couch.

'Do you want to rip it up or do you want me to read it?

She looked at him quickly, unsure what to think. She searched his eyes for a clue about how he was feeling but they were guarded; she dropped her eyes back down to stare at the envelope then looked back up at him

'It's up to you; if you want to read it go ahead, if you don't then that's fine too'

She held it toward him and she saw him hesitate then take it. He turned it over in his hand and looked at what she had written on the envelope. She saw him swallow hard and then quickly rip it open; she knew what he was reading, she still remembered every word…

Danny

I don't know how to start this letter...this the fifth attempt; the others are all in the trash because when I read them back it sounds as if I am trying to write a crappy romance novel…..

So let me start by saying you are a total bastard. How dare you think that I would EVER cheat on you? I don't care what you think you saw or what you think you heard, the person you should trust is ME and I'm telling you that since we met, the only man I've been with, the only man I want, is you; you, and no-one but you.

I've never loved anyone like I love you and I never will. If you can't see that, if some pathetic insecurities from your past are more real than my telling you that I love you over and over again then I don't know what else I can do to convince you. But we can try this one on for size if you like…..

I'm pregnant….yes, read that again, I'm pregnant. By my reckoning the baby will be due at the beginning of March and yes, I am keeping it. We talked about termination once, do you remember? You asked me what I thought and I told you I thought it was an individual decision but I didn't think I could ever kill a child growing inside of me; turns out I was right, because I can't kill our child.

Danny, I love you, please, please, call me so that we can work this out.

If I haven't heard from you within a week then I'll take it that you are happy to throw away what we have and that you don't want to be a part of your child's life, which would be a shame because I think we could be terrific parents….

I love you

Caitlin

She jumped up and walked over to the window and stood staring out at nothing in particular while he read the letter, thoughts racing through her mind……………he hadn't known about Molly. She run away, moved across the country because she had thought he didn't care, hadn't wanted to know his child and now………………the anger that she had clung to for four years was gone leaving her with an almost unbearable sense of sadness…………..

'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry'; she turned to look at him, the raw agony in his voice shocked her as much as the pain showing on his face; 'I should have listened to you, I should………….

She crossed the floor, falling to her knees in front of him, grabbing his hands; 'no, no; Danny, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left you like that, I ran away like a child and I shouldn't have done that.'

They both stared at each other; she gripped his hands tightly for a moment then moved back and gave him a half smile;

'You know I think we should leave this competition we have going about who is the sorrier until after we have Molly back, don't you? She tried to keep her voice light but she heard the tremble at the end and knew he did too.

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Rita Taylor's Apartment

Sam stared around the apartment. It was a bed sit really, one room that had a kitchenette, a sofa come bed, a desk, a bookcase and a TV in it. There were two doors, one led to a cupboard that housed Rita's clothes and the other led to a minute bathroom.

'Right, we need to go through everything, Sam you start with the closet, Martin you look in the desk, I'll start with the bookcase' Jack sounded grim and Sam hurried to the cupboard and began to look through it.

There weren't many clothes to look through, it appeared as if Rita had packed most of them judging by the number of empty hangers she could see, but at the back…….' Jack,………Jack'

Jack appeared next to her 'What you got?'

Sam pulled out a nurse's uniform; the cleaning label on the collar read 'R Henderson'.

'Rachel must have been here; maybe this is where she has been staying'

Jack glanced around the bed sit 'Hardly room for one, never mind two people here and the bed's really a slightly oversized single; where'd she sleep?'

'Maybe she had given up on men and decided to try something different' Martin straightened up from searching the desk.

'What, like women?' Jack stared at him for a moment and then looked at Sam

'What do you think?'

Sam shrugged her shoulders 'Well anything is possible but from everything we have heard about Rachel she was a serial dater, going from one boyfriend to the next. I mean she was still officially dating Ethan Robinson so it doesn't seem likely that she would suddenly take up with a woman.'

She looked at Martin to get his reaction but he had dropped to his knees and was feeling in the knee well of the desk 'Got something'. Sam heard a sudden ripping sound and Martin pulled out a notebook.

He sat back on his heels and stared at the front cover

'Rachel Henderson'

He glanced up at Jack and Sam both of whom were staring down at the notebook, 'What's in it?'

Martin opened the first page and read the words out loud

2nd May 2006

HA told us that she's coming back, that she's got an Attending's post with us. She starts next week apparently. I wonder if she has ever told him about Molly or if when he didn't get in touch after she sent those photos she thought he didn't want to know. It should have been him and me, I would never have left him to move across the country like that, I should have been Molly's mother, I should have been Danny's wife. If it hadn't have been for her Danny would have realised that he loves me; he came to the diner that night to see me and she stole him from me, and now shes coming back. Well she can't have him, she's had her chance.

Martin stood up. 'She sounds deranged' Sam sounded horrified; Martin started to flick through the pages 'Christ…….'

'What?' Jack's head had jerked around to look at Martin at the note in his voice

Martin was staring at the page, disbelief on his face. He finished reading and looked up at Jack and Sam 'Listen to this' he read aloud again

8th May 2006

I hate how everyone likes her, everyone thinks she is so wonderful, so bloody perfect. I heard her talking to HA. HA was asking if Danny was Molly's father and she said that Molly doesn't have a father….yes he does you bitch and she should have a proper mother too, and I'm going to make sure that she gets them. The drugs audit was done today, everyone saying how wonderful I am because in the two years I've looked after them we have never been close to the margin of error and it made me think; they won't do another audit until August at the earliest and a lot of those drugs would sell for a lot of money. I can sell them, I can use the money so that Molly and I can start over somewhere, she should be with her real mother, not that whore and then Danny can see his daughter, Danny and I can be together. I've got until August, I need to plan this carefully.

'Rachel planned it all' Sam sat down on the arm of the sofa shaking her head. She looked up at Jack 'do you think she really believes that she is Molly's mother'

'It looks that way,' Jack turned to Martin, 'does she say anywhere in there about how she involved Rita Taylor in this?' Jack stared at the expression on Martin's face, 'what?'

Martin swallowed and then looked up at Jack and Sam 'Yes it does, it seems that Rita Taylor and Rachel Henderson are the same person'

It was Jack's turn to sit down now as he stared speechlessly at Martin

'But that means that Rachel and Rose are the same person too' Sam sounded shocked 'how can that be, how can she have been working in the crèche and in the ER…….' Sam's voice trailed away and she groaned 'Of course, Helen Atkins said she had just worked a month of night shifts so she would have been able to work in the crèche during the day'

Jack shook his head 'Why didn't we see this? Why didn't we see that the sketch of Rose Henry and the photo of Rachel were the same person?'

'A good disguise; she changed her hair, the colour of her eyes and her skin tone, we only had a sketch of Rose so we couldn't do facial recognition' Sam sounded frustrated

Whilst she and Jack had been talking Martin had continued to flick rapidly through the notebook 'Look I've only skimmed this quickly but from what I can see she decided to use the name Rita Taylor because the first night she and Danny met he mis-heard her name and thought she had said Rita, and Taylor, well that's for obvious reasons' Martin turned a page and continued

'She is sounding seriously unstable toward the end of this 'journal'; she is convinced that Molly is her daughter and that Danny has asked her to get Molly back and to take her to 'where it all started so that Molly knows where she came from'' Martin looked up at Jack 'Isn't that what Robbins said she had told him too?'

'Yes it is but god alone knows what it means' Jack stood up, 'we need to get back to the office and see if it means anything to Danny or Caitlin' he turned to walk to the door but stopped as Sam called to him

'What?'

'We've been assuming that the kidnappers would get in touch with Caitlin but I don't think Rachel will want to speak to Caitlin, I think she will get in touch with Danny………….'