The ERT team members came online, and we could hear them getting into position. They peeked through windows and identified the location of the beaten man, picked the front and back doors, and entered the house. Staff started clearing the rooms and searching through the house for Roscoe and Eli. They captured two women who had spent the night at Roscoe's house, and the police officers that were on the scene questioned them according to Brett's and Eli's whereabouts. They, however, were too high to answer.

By the time the ERT had finished, they reported that Roscoe was not in the house but Eli and the beaten man were. Flynn woke the man up and asked him for his name as the paramedics arrived. The man said his name was Armano Bitonelli. Flynn asked him if he knew where Brett was. Armano looked confused, and minutes later the paramedics were stabilizing him and putting him on a stretcher.

The paramedics looked at Flynn. "He is going to need surgery on that leg. If you want to talk to him more, it will be some time before you'll be able to get access to him when he won't be on happy juice."

Flynn thanked him and told him that he should let the police outside know before they took him away. Eli was hiding in the corner of the basement as the paramedics did their jobs. When they moved the stretcher out of the basement, Flynn walked over to the little boy and crouched down to his level. "You must be Eli", he said with a smile. "I've been looking for you."

Eli looked at him in surprise. "Why?" he said.

"A little birdie told me that you weren't being treated very well. I have a friend that wants to talk to you." Flynn took Eli's hand and, as he did, he could feel Eli shake. "Can I lift you up?" he said.

Eli looked at him and thought about that, and nodded in agreement that he could be lifted off the ground. Flynn cuddled him as he carried the little boy out of the house and over to Joe. "Eli", said Flynn, "this is a friend of mine. His name is Joe. I have more work to do in the house, but Joe will take care of you. Are you hungry?"

Eli nodded uncertainly. I could hear Joe say with a smile, "I know just the place to go. There are a few other kids to play with, and my wife is there and would love to give you hugs and make you food. That would be better than having me make you food, since the only things that I can make that are edible are things made with eggs, or spaghetti."

"I like eggs", said Eli.

"Then you are in luck. My wife knows how to make eggs too."

I heard Joe put Eli's seatbelt on and shut the door, and him start up the car and drive back to the Rangeman building.

"Do I have to go back?" said Eli in a little voice.

"Not if I have anything to do with it. Did you know a man named Brett?" Eli nodded. "Do you know where he is?"

Eli thought about that for a moment. He shook his head, but he was breathing so hard out of fear that we could hear him over the comms. I personally didn't think he was telling the truth.

"Okay", said Joe. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Good job, everyone", said Ranger. "ERT, now that the house has been cleared, turn the scene over to the police and come on home and power down for a few hours. It is nine in the morning right now. Debrief at the homestead will be at three. The Research Gurus and the Investigative team need some sleep before they can debrief and take another stab at things. In the meantime, Joe and Tracy can work with Eli and perhaps after he relaxes he'll be more willing to answer questions. I'll get one of the staff to buy a set of sweats for Eli. From what has been said, he needs some clothes that fit. When you get in, Joe, get Tracy to figure out what size Eli is and let us know. I'm ending the transmission, everyone. See you at three." He turned off the command center and turned to Dirk and Miguel. "You're welcome to stay in the guest apartment again if you want, or if you want to go home and power down you can do that as well. It's up to you."

Dirk smiled. "I am going to take you up on the bed. I'm getting too old for this shit, and the thought of going to bed and trying to sleep while the baby is trying to convince me to play doesn't seem so attractive."

Ranger laughed. "I know. We'll be facing that as well. Miguel?"

"I'll stay in your apartment too. Although I don't have little kids wanting to play, my neighbor is building a house next door right now, and I don't think that hearing hammers and drills and saws will be conducive to sleep. Even Dirk's snoring isn't as loud as that."

Ranger laughed and pulled out the keys again from his pocket. "Enjoy the space."

We all got tiredly to our feet and walked out of central command. Miguel and Dirk went to the stairs to climb the two flights to the guest apartment. Ranger and Nick and I waited for the elevator. While Nick and Ranger might have been up for taking the stairs, they knew that I wouldn't be. We luckily didn't have to wait long before the elevator came, and five minutes later we had made it to our apartment. Ranger guided me out of the elevator and the six kids swarmed us. I smiled as Nick's kids all grabbed hold of him and gave him hugs and kisses. Nick's face lit up, and I once again thought that it was a miracle for all members of his family to be restored to each other. At one time, Nick had thought that he would never see his kids again, and his kids had resigned themselves to a life of abuse and fear. They were now happy, and it warmed my heart every time I saw it.

I crouched down and hugged and kissed all three of our girls. They were excited to see us. "You know what, Mama?" said Tia. She was just about bouncing. "Both Gracie and Lixi didn't wet their diapers last night. That means they won't have to wear diapers any longer, right?"

I smiled and looked at the two little girls. "It means that you soon won't have to wear diapers, but until you do it several times you will have to wear diapers. When you first start learning how to go all night without wetting your diaper, you might not wet your diaper two nights, then you might wet it five nights, then you might stay dry for another three nights, and so on. Over time, you stop going at night every night, but it isn't a straight line. It takes a while until you can do it consistently. However, you are well on your way to ditching your pull ups. You are getting to be such big girls."

Lixi and Gracie looked at me and smiled around their thumbs.

I turned to all the kids. "Uncle Joe is bringing a friend for you to play with. He has been through a tough time and the person who was looking after him wasn't very nice. He will need you to make him feel welcome. I know that he is hungry, so you might all want to help Auntie Tracy make him some food. I know that he likes eggs but I don't know what else he likes."

"Eggs are yucky", said Ethan.

I smiled. "Eggs aren't yucky", I said. "However, you are allergic to them and although they taste good, I wouldn't want to eat them either if they made me feel sick. I don't know if Eli is allergic to anything. I also don't know how tired Eli is. I know that Uncle Joe and Nick and Ranger and I need some sleep, and Eli might need sleep as well. We were up most of the night looking for a couple of people."

"Were you playing hide and seek?" said Tia.

"Sort of", I said. "We were looking for two people. Eli, who is the boy that is coming, and a police officer named Brett."

"Did you find them?" said Tracy.

"We found Eli but we didn't find Brett. After we have a sleep, we have a debrief at three in the office and, following the debrief, we'll create another plan of attack. We might be up all night again. Is that okay with you?"

Tracy grinned. "I'm having a ball. Don't worry about me. The kids are very good at helping me with everything that needs to be done, from cooking to cleaning up, and they are very patient for those times when I am helping someone else and can't get to them right away. We've been having a blast."

I smiled. "I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that." I turned to the kids and kissed them all goodnight. "I have to get to bed before I fall over. Be good for Auntie Tracy. Trace, can I talk to you for a moment?" She followed me a few feet away. "How much did Joe tell you about Eli?"

"Not much. He said there was a little boy who needed love and protection. He said that Eli might be the answer to the case in front of him and, if we can get him to talk, he might be the way that we identify where Brett is located."

"That's true. Eli is about six. We aren't exactly sure since he doesn't have a birth certificate or his birth registered anywhere. I would assume that it was a home birth. His mother was a prostitute from Alabama. She died of a drug overdose ten months ago. Her pimp has taken Eli in. We think he has been sexually assaulted on a regular basis by the pimp and maybe by the other members of the gang as well. We know that he verbally and physically abused, and one of the things he will need is a complete battery of STI tests. He has never been to school. The police officer who is missing said in his case notes that he is a very smart but very quiet kid who tries to stay in the shadows and is afraid to draw attention to himself. When I heard him on the feed, he was tentative and terrified. We think he knows where Brett is, but is too scared to tell us and it will only be by him feeling more comfortable with people and trusting others that he will open up. I hope you don't mind taking over care of him. We all decided that you and Joe would be the best people to look after him. You have a lot of love in you, and he needs a lot of love and deserves to have someone take care of him, have someone parent him. We're not sure if he has been truly parented before. We also thought that you and Joe would be the best because of you and your ability to connect with any child you see. We thought if anyone could get a child to trust them quickly, it would be you."

There was a silence for a moment. "Steph, do you think there is a chance that we'd be able to adopt him? If we are able to get him to trust us, I won't want him to go away again. It would wreck my heart and, just hearing his story, my heart is already melting and I just want to gather him up in a big hug."

I grinned. "I have to admit that you adopting Eli is my dream too. I don't know anything about that process. However, I have a very strong feeling that you will be good for each other."

Tracy sniffled. "I am so looking forward to meeting him."

"Ranger is asking you to figure out what size of clothing we should buy for him. Ranger is going to send out a staff member to buy some clothes and toiletries for him. In the meantime, there are extra toothbrushes and things in the guest bathroom."

Tracy grinned. "This will be awesome!"

Ranger came up to me. "I'm taking my wife to bed before she falls over", he said with a grin. "Dirk and Miguel haven't yet had a chance to place their bets and I think they would be ticked to lose out on the wager before they had a chance to play."

"Pardon?" said Tracy.

"I'll tell you later", I said with a grin as Ranger tugged me down the hall.

"Contact Tank with sizes", said Ranger over his shoulder. "I'm going to be busy."

Tracy grinned. "Sleeping?"

Ranger snorted. "What did you think I was talking about?"