Bullpen - FBI, New York

Jack, Martin and Sam arrived back from searching 'Rita's' apartment and went to find Viv and Elena. They found them with Mac in the tech office, checking Danny's emails.

'Anything?'

Viv turned at Jack's question, 'Oh yes, he received an email from 'Rita' two hours ago, you want to see?'

'Yep'

A few rapid key strokes and an email appeared on the screen

My darling Danny

I know you will be worried but you don't need to be. Molly will be OK now she is being looked after by her real mother. I am taking her to see where she comes from; I know she will love it as much as we do.

I know you will want to join us but you need to wait for a while until all the fuss has died down but I will contact you again soon.

See you very soon my darling

Rita

'The woman is a certified fruit loop; how can she work in a hospital and no-one have noticed?' Martin sounded angry

'What's going on?'

Everyone turned; Danny and Caitlin were standing in the door; they both looked pale and Martin noticed that Danny had his arm loosely around Caitlin's shoulders and that Caitlin was staying close to him.

'You've received an email' Martin indicated toward the screen. Danny and Caitlin both read the words, confusion on their faces.'

'I'm sorry, I don't understand' Caitlin voice shook and Danny tightened his arm around her as he looked questioningly at Jack.

Jack indicated toward the bullpen 'why don't we all go through to the conference table and I'll explain everything'

'Do you know where she is?' Caitlin sounded frantic.

'No, not yet but we are hoping you can help us with that; let's go through'

Everyone settled around the table; Caitlin was clutching Danny's hand as she stared at Jack.

'OK, we have discovered that Rachel Henderson took Molly', Jack saw the shock in Danny and Caitlin's eyes

'But, you showed me a sketch of the woman who took Molly, it wasn't Rachel, I would have recognised her' Caitlin sounded shaken

'It turns out that it was Rachel but she was well disguised. She has been living a triple life for the last few months. She stole the medications from the pharmacy to pay for a new life with Molly; she used an alias, Rita Taylor, to sell the drugs to a dealer and then she became Rose Henry so that she could work at the crèche and get to know Molly' Jack watched the expressions on Danny's and Caitlin's faces; Caitlin looked as if she was having trouble taking it all in;

Danny leant forward, 'But Jack, she started stealing drugs in May. Are you saying she has been planning this since then?

Jack indicated toward Martin who placed the notebook on the table and pushed it toward Danny; 'we found a sort of journal. It shows that Caitlin coming back to NYU seems to have unbalanced her and triggered an obsession with you and Molly.'

Caitlin and Danny stared at each other for a moment then Danny turned back to Martin. He opened his mouth to ask a question but appeared to be struggling to find the words he wanted; Martin indicated the notebook, 'it shows that she persuaded herself that she was Molly's real mother,' he saw a look of agony on Caitlin's face; Danny pulled her to him.

He continued 'she started planning in May which is also when she started stealing the drugs and she had the whole plan nailed down by early June.'

'Caitlin' Martin spoke gently and he saw Jack throw him a warning look; she looked up at him, her face drawn. He indicated the note book on the table in front of her and Danny, and pushed a copy of the email toward them too.

'In the notebook she writes that she is going to take Molly to 'where it all started so that Molly knows where she came from' and in the email she writes I am taking her to see where she comes from; I know she will love it as much as we do'

Martin looked at Caitlin, 'we need your help to try and work out what this means. We know that when she called the news station she was four hours north of New York so we know she's heading north but we don't know where exactly. The email came from the same place so that's no help. Do you have any idea at all?'

Caitlin stared at him, her face blank, then she turned to Danny; ''I know she will love it as much as we do?'; that sound like she's referring to a place the two of you went to' there was no accusation in her tone just confusion

'We didn't go anywhere together; I mean we had dinner a couple of times and we met in a bar the first time and a club the second but really the only places we went together were our apartments and neither of those is 4 hours north of the city!' Danny sounded frustrated and Martin saw Caitlin's hand tighten in his as if she was trying to comfort him.

'OK, but how about 'I am taking her to see where she comes from' and that she is going to take Molly to 'where it all started so that Molly knows where she came from'?' Martin kept his voice calm, almost soothing, sensing that it wouldn't take much to push Caitlin over the edge at the moment.

''Where she comes from'; OK, well she was born in San Francisco but she's not heading there if she's going north' Martin could tell that Caitlin was struggling hard to come up with something and so stayed silent while she searched her memory for something, anything that would help………

He saw the expression on her face change, as if she was remembering something; she looked at him with a far away look in her eye; 'I am remembering this right aren't I; someone did say that Rachel overheard Ethan ask me out on Friday night?'

Elena leant forward; 'Ethan thinks she did, from the way she was behaving and something she said to him; why?'

'Because the only way she could have overheard us is if she was in the store cupboard in Trauma 1. The only way out is through the room and so if she was in the store cupboard when Ethan was talking to me then she would have still been there when Rachel and I were talking………….'

Flashback to Friday night, 11:35pm – NYU ER Dept

'…..so I was wondering if you fancied coming with me? The band is excellent and there's this very nice hotel not far from there…………' Ethan Robinson was working a well practised routine; one that invariably got him what he wanted. He knew women just loved the arrogance of his 'assuming' they would sleep with him on the first date. Most immediately claimed that they were 'not that sort of girl' and he would then look horrified and apologise, then assure them that he should have made it clear that he meant separate hotel rooms. That usually did it; they felt guilty for 'misjudging' him, agreed to go out with him and by the time they got to the hotel they had usually dropped any inhibitions about sleeping with him on the first date.

Caitlin looked up from the case file she was reviewing and sighed; did he really think that was going to work, and come to think of it, wasn't he supposed to be dating Rachel?

'Oh that sounds great' she saw the glint in his eye as he completely missed the sarcasm in her voice, 'and I assume that Rachel won't mind, or were you thinking of bringing her along as well so we could have a threesome after, or perhaps you prefer to watch a little 'girl on girl' action?'

She kept a straight face as she looked enquiringly at him, seeing the first hint of doubt begin to cross his face; 'er……….well' he looked confused, not sure if she was serious or not; 'well, I won't lie, the thought of two lovely ladies fighting over me is always a turn on…….'

His voice trailed away at the end as he registered the utter contempt showing on her face

'Listen you self important bag of shit; the fact that you cheat on your girlfriend comes as no great surprise; however, the fact that you think that I would help you cheat on her just shows me that you have the intelligence of the slug you so closely resemble, and you are absolutely no judge of character;' she saw him open his mouth but continued before he could say anything, 'and in case that doesn't make it crystal clear to you, that means that you can take your offer of a date and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.'

With that Caitlin turned back to her reports; after a moment she heard the door open and then close and breathed a sigh of relief. Picking up the next file she heard the door open again and swung around………..;'Can't you take a hint you…….' she stopped and started to laugh as she saw Lisa Randall stood in the doorway looking very confused.

Lisa advanced into the room a bemused look on her face 'A hint about what?' she was grinning at Caitlin. Caitlin did a mock theatrical groan;

'I thought you were Ethan back to try again'

The smile in Lisa's face turned into a Cheshire cat grin 'Oh don't tell me he asked you out?'

The look Caitlin shot her supplied the answer to that question

'and you told him to………………?'

'Yes, I told him to……………..' Caitlin was grinning now, seeing the funny side of it. 'Anyway, what are you doing down here, no-one's called for a paediatric consult have they?'

'Ah no, I need to ask you a question'

'And you didn't want to use the phone; you wanted to come down 10 stories and run the risk of being grabbed by an anxious med student who can't recognise tonsillitis when it presents itself to them?

Lisa just grinned; 'Hmm, yes, when you put it like that…..but as I'm here is it OK if I just ask you face to face?'

Caitlin waved her hand at the seat next to her and Lisa sat down, the laughter on her face being replaced with a cautious look that had Caitlin wondering what on earth this was about…….

'Do you remember the hotel you and Danny stayed at when you went away that time?'

Caitlin felt a shock run through her at the mention of his name and she sat perfectly still looking at Lisa who was watching her carefully. Caitlin forced herself to breathe slowly and felt the tension in her limbs ease;

'Sure, the Northwood Lodges Hotel. What about it?'

She saw Lisa breathe again and send her a weak smile, 'Well that was it really, the name, I couldn't remember it and Wes has asked me to go away for a week with him and I remembered how you said it was absolutely wonderful, so I thought I'd ask you…………' she stopped aware she was rambling in her relief that Caitlin hadn't reacted too badly to hearing Danny's name.

Caitlin smiled. She hadn't missed the slight blush on Lisa's cheeks when she had told her that Wes wanted them to go away for a week; Caitlin knew that Lisa was falling hard this time; 'Am I always so fierce when his name comes up?'

'Well you know, it depends upon your definition of fierce really………….' Lisa shot her friend a grin

Caitlin nodded then smiled again and then, in a mock 'motherly' tone; 'now make sure that you are careful unless you want to be blessed with a 'Molly' too!'

Lisa looked at her in surprise, 'seriously, you reckon that's were she was conceived?'

'Yeh, I mean I can't be 100 percent certain but the dates all fit and I'd like to think that she got her start in life somewhere that Danny and I loved as much as we loved that hotel'; she grinned, 'and I'd far rather show her The Northwood Lodges Hotel and tell her 'that's were you come from' rather than have to point out a tatty bed sit or a run down apartment block!'

They were both laughing as Helen Atkins put her head around the door 'Hi, we've got a RTA 2 minutes out, two adults one who appears to have suffered an MI, both with cuts and bruises, and a child aged approximately 2 years old. The child was in the car seat and doesn't appear to have suffered any injuries.' She shot back out of the door

'Well, as you're here, do you fancy looking over the child for me Dr Randall?'

Lisa smiled 'my pleasure Dr McCardle……..'

End of flashback

Martin swung excitedly to look at Danny, 'OK, so we know where the phone call was made from, does that tie in with the location of the hotel?'

Danny stared at him for a moment as he struggled to get his head around what he had just heard; Martin's question filtered slowly through and he looked over at the map on one of the white boards; 'the hotel is about 30 minutes further north'

'Do you think that's where she is?' Danny turned to look at Caitlin, hardly recognising her voice. Before he could answer Jack started issuing orders;

'Right we need to find out if she is at the hotel. Viv get on to the local PD and get them to go and speak to the hotel staff,' he held his hand up before Danny could speak, 'I don't want to fax through pictures or have the hotel staff try and check this out and potentially spook Rachel/ Rita,…………...whatever she's calling herself. It's late so we can assume that they have probably gone to bed for the night which means that they aren't going anywhere before tomorrow morning and we'll be there before then.'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Van Doren's Office

Caitlin pushed the door open and walked into the office; Lisa, Nick and Jayne all looked up and then jumped to their feet when they saw her.

Lisa put her arms around her; 'Have they found her?'

'They might have……….,' Caitlin hugged Lisa and then stepped back, 'it was Rachel…..Rachel snatched her'

The room was silent for a moment as they all took in what Caitlin was saying.

'Rachel, Rachel?...why, why would she snatch Molly?'

'Apparently she hated me, was obsessed with Danny and convinced herself that she is Molly's real mother…' Caitlin shook her head still struggling to believe what was happening, 'she wrote something about taking Molly to 'where she comes from' and 'where it started' they are just checking to see if it's a reference to the Northwood Lodges Hotel'

Lisa jerked her head up 'Why would she take Molly there?'

'It looks as if she overheard Ethan ask me out on Friday; if she did them she heard us taking as well…………….' Caitlin looked helplessly at Lisa who looked horrified.

Nick was scowling 'So she's obsessed with that jerk and that's why she took Molly…' before he could continue Caitlin cut across him

'No, she took Molly because she's sick, she hates me and because she's obsessed with Danny. It's no more his fault than it is mine, or yours, and just so you know, he didn't get the first letter, it was under the floorboards so try and understand how he must be feeling at the moment..' she was furious and it showed in the anger flashing in her eyes and the raised voice. Before she could continue she saw Nick's stunned gaze slide past to look behind her. She turned around.

Danny stood in the door, a strange look in his eye. She forgot all about Nick and stared at him, unable to speak

'Rachel's at the hotel, Molly's with her' he reached for Caitlin and she threw her arms around him; out of the corner of his eye he saw Nick's face tighten in anger and Jayne lay a warning hand on his arm.

Caitlin stepped back 'What happens now?'

'We will take the helicopter up, check out the lie of the land and once we know where Molly is we can work out the safest way to get her out,' he looked at Caitlin, 'look usually the family doesn't come along with us, they travel separately and wait away from the scene, BUT,' he cut across Caitlin, Lisa and Nick all of whom were about to protest, 'I've persuaded Jack to let us both go along but only on the understanding that we both do exactly as we are told'

Caitlin nodded, the emotion starting to overwhelm her. Danny steered her toward the door; before they reached the door Nick stepped forward and blocked their path;

'Thanks for taking care of Caitlin' he held out his hand toward Danny, his expression wary, as if he was expecting him to throw a punch.

Danny paused for a moment then took his hand and nodded, too choked with everything that was happening to be able to speak.

Nick handed him a DVD box 'you might like to see this' and then he stepped back so that Danny and Caitlin could leave

Caitlin smiled at them all through the tears in her eyes 'We'll call as soon as we know anything……………'