AN: I'm not always super proud of my chapters, but I am super proud of this one. I hope you guys love it as much as I do lol

Gil turned to the clock for what must have been at least the fifteenth time in the last several hours. The afternoon was about to become the evening, and Malcolm still hadn't checked in. His flight should have landed several hours prior, and getting off the jet and to the hotel wouldn't have taken that long since they were landing at a private airstrip. There was no reason for Malcolm to not have let Gil know that he and JT arrived okay. Gil glanced down at his phone again. He hadn't missed any calls or texts, and his own that he sent to Malcolm had gone unanswered. That just wasn't like Malcolm to ignore him for so long, especially when the kid wasn't in the city.

Back when Malcolm was still in the FBI, he rarely had let a text or call from Gil go ignored for more than fifteen minutes if he wasn't actively solving a murder. The distance between them had kept Gil eager to make sure that his kid was always okay, and made Malcolm eager to tell Gil all about the latest crazed axe murderer as soon as he could. Having Malcolm so far away hadn't been ideal, but the speed at which he always replied had been a godsend. It had been the same way when Malcolm was growing up. Whenever the kid went out of the city for anything longer than a few hours, he would always let Gil know that he was okay. It was habit for them both, and there was no reason for that not to continue now that the kid was once again living in the city.

Taking deep breath, Gil relaxed back into his chair. Malcolm was a fully grown man now. He could take care of himself. He didn't need Gil checking in on him every couple of hours when he was out of town. And yet, Gil still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something always seem to be wrong when it came to his kid.

Besides, JT wasn't responding either, and that certainly wasn't like the man. Having been in the military, he took chain of command and those in authority very seriously. He would never ignore Gil like Malcolm might if he were feeling particularly moody.

Gil pushed himself up from his desk and made the short trip to Dani's desk. She was packing her things, preparing to leave for the day. The day had been spent doing paperwork, with no new cases coming in that required the major crimes unit instead of any other detective. Despite how boring paperwork was, it was nice to be able to leave at a decent time every once in a while. Gil hoped that he wasn't about to ruin that.

"Have you heard from Bright or JT today?" he asked her, crossing his arms and leaning back against an unoccupied desk. Perhaps there was just something wrong with his phone, and they had reached out to Dani when he hadn't responded.

Dani shook her head, shattering Gil's hopes. "Nope, last I heard from either one of them was last night. Doesn't Bright always tell you when he lands?" she asked him.

"Usually, yeah," Gil muttered in response.

"But not this time?" she confirmed. Gil shook his head. "You didn't get into a fight with him or anything like that? And JT hasn't responded either?" Gil shook his head again.

"Neither one of them are answering. Bright always texts me when he lands, lets me know that he's safe." He sighed. He knew that it was a bit over the top, perhaps even unhealthy as a father figure to be so wrapped up in all the things that could wrong with Malcolm, but that kid just had a penchant for getting himself into trouble. It wasn't as if Gil's concerns were unfounded. There hadn't been a single time that Gil was so sure that something was wrong and it had turned out to be fine. Of course, there was always a first time, but Gil had a lot of intuition, both as a detective and as a parent, when it came to Malcolm - and in all ways that mattered, Gil was that kid's parent.

"You think something's wrong," Dani stated, lowering her bag back to the ground and relaxing into her chair once more. Regretfully, Gil nodded. "Okay, I'll call their hotel and see if they checked in," she said.

"It could be nothing, you don't have to stay," Gil assured her, feeling guilty about keeping her in on one of the rare nights they finished early.

"It's Bright and JT, of course I have to stay." She turned away from him and towards her phone, pulling up their hotel information.

"I'll call the landing strip," Gil said. He was going to owe Dani big time, no matter what turned out to be going on. Whatever happened, Gil was never going to take her for granted.

He moved back to his office, but left the door open this time. He scrolled back through his earlier text messages with Malcolm from the night the kid had first brought up the idea of going to the conference during one of his sleepless nights, and found exactly where the kid said he would be flying into and out of, and where he would be staying. Gil could hear Dani on the phone with the hotel already, so he didn't need to tell her where they were supposed to stay. The phone rang for a few moments before a female voice answered it and gave him a polite greeting.

"This is Lieutenant Arroyo of the NYPD. I need to inquire as to the status of flight..." he trailed off for a moment as he glanced down at where he had written the flight number, then rattled it back to her. "I have two men on board that flight, and they've missed their check ins." That was close enough to the truth, and Gil figured the woman wasn't going to question him on it.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have that flight listed as arriving today. It was cancelled last night by the pilot," she said.

Gil held in his shock and apprehension. "Could you give me that pilot's contact information please?" he asked her.

"Of course. That would be Captain Reynolds." She rattled off the man's phone number. Gil thanked her and hung up.

"Damn it," Gil muttered as he leaned back in his chair. Dani rushed into the office, concern written all over her face. "Let me guess," Gil said. "They never checked in." Dani shook her head. "Their flight was cancelled last night by the pilot, but I know Bright and JT left this morning. The pilot is our next stop."

A few minutes later, Gil had an address and he and Dani were on their way to surprise him. If he was involved with something nefarious, they didn't want to tip him off with a phone call. The man, Captain Reynolds, lived near the Jersey border, in a nice suburban area. The hedges were trimmed, the lawns were immaculate, and the houses were modest but well kept. It looked like the perfect place to raise a family.

The sun was setting. Most families would be eating dinner at that time, but Gil was about to interrupt whatever was going on in the Reynolds household. He went straight up to the front door, Dani right on his heels, and gave the door several firm knocks. Gil refrained from announcing that they were police. If something bad was going on in the house, he would rather wait to tell them who he was until the door was already open. There was movement inside the house, but not raised voices or screaming of any kind.

A man opened the door with a smile on his face. Captain Reynolds looked to be both in good health and spirits.

"Hi, can I help you?" the pilot asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Arroyo with the NYPD. This is Detective Powell. We need to speak with you about the flight you were supposed to take this morning," Gil answered as he and Dani flashed their badges. The man blanched, his eyes widening slightly and mouth falling open. "May we come in?" Gil asked, but his tone left no room for negotiation.

"Can you guarantee protection for my family?" Reynolds asked in a whisper. The man glanced around outside, as if he were afraid of being watched.

"Of course," Dani immediately replied, but the pit in Gil's stomach was growing. He knew something was wrong, but with every bit of information he gleaned, it all just kept getting worse.

Reynolds motioned towards the house interior with a quick jerk of his head. Gil and Dani stepped inside, then Reynolds closed the door and its three locks, one of which was a door chain that looked to be newly installed.

"Honey, who is it?" a female voice called from the other side of the house. When Reynolds didn't respond, the woman entered the living room, a toddler in tow.

"Darla, this is Lieutenant Arroyo and Detective Powell. They're with the NYPD," Reynolds answered. He took a deep breath before continuing. "There's some things we need to talk about." Darla's eyes went wide with fury.

"What did you do?" she asked him with faux politeness, glancing down at the small child still holding on to her. The little girl was silent, looking between Gil and Dani.

"Do you want me to take her in the other room?" Dani asked. After a moment, Darla nodded. Dani crouched down to be level with the girl. "Hey, my name's Dani. What's your name?"

"Janie," the toddler replied before sticking her thumb back in her mouth.

"You have a beautiful name, Janie. Do you wanna go play with me?" The girl nodded. "Great! Let's go." Dani took a gentle hold on Janie's hand and led her into the other room, sending Gil a serious look over her shoulder. Once they were out of sight, Darla turned her attention back to her husband.

"What the hell did you do?" she seethed.

"How about you just start from the beginning, Captain Reynolds," Gil suggested. The man nodded, and took another deep breath.

"I was supposed to fly Mr. Bright down to DC today-."

"You said that he canceled," Darla interjected.

"Well..." he trailed off for a moment before continuing. "I got an email yesterday, from an address I didn't recognize. It told me to tell Mr. Bright I couldn't fly him but to recommend Captain Stover in my place, of else they would kill my family." Darla gasped, but Reynolds continued. "They sent pictures of Darla at work, of her picking Janie up from daycare. They told me that if I ever contacted the police, they would know, that's why you have to protect us, you can't let them hurt my family," he insisted.

"You'll be placed in protective custody, I promise," Gil said, trying to force down his fear that was threatening to come out as fury. It wasn't this man's fault that this had happened. Anyone would do the same to save their family. If someone had come to Gil one day with pictures of Malcolm at home or at school or at Quantico, Gil would do anything they said to keep him safe. He couldn't fault another father for doing the same thing. He was just furious that that meant that Malcolm had to be the one to pay the price. "I'll need to see those emails," he said, getting himself back on track. No matter what, he would save Malcolm, and JT. That wasn't even a question.

"Yes, of course," Reynolds replied, immediately pulling out his phone. "They told me to delete the email, but on TV they always say that nothing is ever really deleted." He gave a slight smile and handed his phone over.

"That's one thing the shows get right," Gil responded, attempting to mirror the man's grin. He wondered if it looked as forced as it felt. "You realize you won't be getting this back for a few days?" he confirmed. Reynolds nodded. "Thank you."

Dani walked back in with Janie, whose smile was so bright and pure that Gil couldn't help but give a real smile in return.

"You should get some bags together," Dani said. "We'll take you to the precinct, then you'll be taken to a safehouse."

Both Dani and Gil were assuming a lot, and really shouldn't have been promising anything, since there was no actual case opened into Malcolm and JT's disappearance. But they were the chief major crimes unit, and thus could almost always get anything they needed.

The drive back to the precinct was filled with questions from the Reynolds family that Gil wasn't sure he could even answer. Everything was up in the air, still. He had no way of knowing how long they would have to stay in the safe house, who had contacted the pilot, or what they wanted with Malcolm. It was all Gil could do to stay calm and professional. Luckily for him, Dani was one of the greatest human beings he'd ever met, and excellently steered conversation back to Janie and how adorable she was every time that Gil almost snapped. It was truly amazing how easy it was to put everyone back at ease when talking about the precious little girl.

After handing the family off to some other officers to deal with, and giving the cell phone to TARU, Gil and Dani retreated back to Gil's office for a breather.

"It's always something with him, isn't it?" Dani asked, referring to Malcolm, with a smile on her face that spoke much more of fear and stress than happiness.

"Oh yeah," Gil responded, taking a swig of a bottle of water. He tossed a second one to Dani. "Even when JT's with him it seems that kid still draws trouble like a magnet." He shook his head. "It could take TARU a little while to get those emails back. You should head home, get some rest while you can," he suggested.

"Will you be doing the same?" Dani asked him with a pointed look. "If you're staying, I'm staying. Bright and JT are just as much my family as they are yours. I'm not going home until we find them." She shrugged her shoulders and took of sip of her own water, in a move that very clearly communicated that she would not be swayed from her decision.

"I should tell his mother," Gil muttered. "And Tally, she should know too."

Dani nodded. "I'll call Tally if you call Mrs. Whitly," she said. That seemed fair enough. With a heavy sigh, Gil sat down at his desk. If it was anyone else, these types of notifications would be made in person, but Gil knew that both Jessica and Tally would rather have them stay at the precinct and keep working than spend the time driving to them to let them know in person. Dani excused herself to her own desk to make her call.

Missing persons notifications certainly weren't as bad as death notifications, but they definitely weren't easy either. And with Jessica, nothing was ever easy.

Gil picked up his phone and tapped on Jessica's contact. She answered after only a few rings.

"Gil, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked him, her voice full of life and laughter. Jessica was clearly in a very good mood. Gil hated to be the one to ruin it, but he didn't have a choice. She needed to know that Malcolm was missing once again.

"Hey, Jess," he greeted, his own voice grave. "I thought it best that you heard it from me. Malcolm's missing again."

"What? But he was going to that conference in DC. He was so excited about it, and Detective Tarmel was going with him, and-."

"I know, I know, but he never checked into his hotel, and his jet never even landed in DC. Captain Reynolds was blackmailed into recommending another pilot for the trip, and that's all we've got right now. TARU is getting us more information on the blackmailers as we speak. I promise you, Jess, I am going to find him. I swear to you." Gil was swearing it to himself just as much. He couldn't let anything happen to that kid. Malcolm was his whole world, the son he'd never had.

"I can't go through this again," Jessica replied. Gil could hear the sob she was holding back. "After Watkins, what that man did to him, I can't go through that again. I still hear how he screamed that night in the hospital every night when I sleep. I still see him shaking and terrified and Gil, I can't- I can't take any more of that. You have to get him back," she said, her voice breaking near the end.

Gil took a deep breath. He remembered that night in the hospital just as well as Jessica did. He hadn't left once Malcolm had been admitted. The kid had tried to say he was fine and didn't need anyone there, but his actions betrayed him. Whenever Gil so much as looked towards the door - usually to assess the hallway and whoever was coming and going to be sure there wasn't any possible threat - Malcolm tensed up, the fear that Gil was going to leave him written all over his face. The kid could say that he was fine and didn't need anyone to stay with him all he wanted, but Gil was always going to know the truth when it came to his own child.

But that also meant that Gil was subjected to the most horrific night terrors he'd ever seen, right along with the kid's mother. At first, Malcolm had vehemently resisted the restraints that he normally slept with even when he had to spend the night in the hospital for whatever reason. Of course, he'd said it was because he was much too exhausted to have any sort of dangerous night terror, but Gil knew the real reason. After being chained to the floor for an entire day, that cold metal tight on his wrists keeping him vulnerable, in a submissive position, Malcolm didn't want anything of the sort as long as he could get away with it, and Gil didn't blame him. So of course he didn't fight the kid on it.

Maybe he should have.

That night, Malcolm slept restlessly in the hospital bed while Jessica dozed in the recliner that had been brought in for her. She would move every hour or so to go back and forth between Malcolm in the ICU and Ainsley who was staying in a regular room. Ainsley would be discharged in the morning, but the hospital had wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Jessica spent a little bit more time with Ainsley, but only because Gil was always with Malcolm, so he would never be left alone, while Ainsley was alone when Jessica was with Malcolm. However, Jessica tried to only leave her daughter while Ainsley was being permitted to sleep.

Gil was the only one not getting any rest whatsoever. Jessica dozed - although Gil knew she would soon wake and go back to Ainsley's room to doze a little more - Ainsley was asleep in her own room, and even Malcolm slept fitfully. But Gil couldn't rest while it was so clear that Malcolm was already fighting demons in his own sleep. Gil needed to be ready the moment the kid woke up in a panic, as Gil knew he was going to do.

Sure enough, only a few minutes later, Malcolm's occasional soft whimpers turned into distinguishable words, chiefly "no", and "stop", along with a softly muttered "please". That was all Gil could take. He stood from his seat only a foot from the bed, and hovered over his kid.

"Malcolm, you're okay," he softly said, not wanting to wake Jessica if he didn't have to. She hadn't woken yet, her doze having fallen into a true sleep that she desperately needed. The woman was just as exhausted as the rest of them. "You're safe now," he said. Gil put a hand on the kid's shoulder, hoping to calm him down in his sleep, but it wasn't enough. Malcolm began to thrash in the bed. If he didn't stop, he would pull his fresh stitches, and banging his newly casted hand repeatedly on the bed railing couldn't be good for it either. "Malcolm," Gil repeated, a little louder, but to no avail.

"No! Stop!" Malcolm shouted in his sleep. His eyes darted open as he began to scream, a bloodcurdling sound filled with abject terror. Gil quickly grabbed onto the kid's forearms as tightly as he dared to keep Malcolm from hurting himself or anyone else as he continued to cry out.

"It's okay, you're alright, I'm right here," Gil said over his cries, but the kid didn't seem to recognize him. He continued to fight against Gil's grip as his eyes filled tears and his screams turned to sobs.

"Malcolm, darling," Jessica cried out, rushing over from her recliner. She put a hand on his shaking shoulder. At first, Malcolm flinched away, ducking his head and hiding his face from the two of them as he continued to weakly pull against Gil.

"It's me," Gil repeated, ducking his own head in an attempt to regain eye contact with his terrified kid. "It's Gil. I've got you, you're safe now. Your mother and I are here," he said, trying to keep the tears out of his own voice. Jessica had lost that battle, and was silently crying. Slowly, Malcolm's weak struggles stopped entirely.

"Gil? Mom?" His broken voice was barely more than a whisper, his tear and terror filled eyes darting between them. It was almost Gil's undoing. The kid always called Jessica "mother" when addressing her directly. He hadn't called her "mom" since before he was a teenager.

"Yeah, kiddo, it's me," Gil responded as the first tear fell down his own face.

"I'm right here, my love," Jessica affirmed.

Malcolm, still in Gil's now loose grip, collapsed into Gil's arms, his head falling onto Gil's shoulder and his fingers coming up to grip the man's shirt like a lifeline. He continued to sob, and allowed himself to be held by his parents.

"I've got you," Gil said. "You're safe now. Everything is going to be okay." He brought one arm around the kid's shaking shoulders, and rest the other on his head, gently carding his fingers through Malcolm's hair. Jessica reached around to hug the kid as she continued to cry, muttering over and over again, "my baby."

That had been one of the top five worst nights of Gil's life. Malcolm had needed his stitches redone, having pulled out a few of them in the throes of his night terror. Jessica wasn't the only one who saw that in her sleep almost every night. It was certainly something that Gil would never forget.

"I'm going to get him back, I swear to you," Gil said to Jessica over the phone, forcing all memories of Malcolm's kidnapping and torture at the hands of Watkins from his mind. "He has JT with him this time, they're going to take care of each other. They'll be okay," he said, despite knowing that he could neither know that nor promise it. Regardless, it was all he could do. Dani rushed back into his office, her face stern with both determination and apprehension. She had a lead, and it scared her. "Jessica, I have to go-."

"I know, I know," she replied with a shuddering breath. "Find my baby."

"I will." Gil hung up before either one of them could say anything else. He wanted to ask Dani how Tally took the news, but a possible lead was more important. He looked at her expectantly.

"TARU got the emails back. It's the Albanian mafia," Dani said. "They're the ones who blackmailed Reynolds."

Gil sucked in a deep breath. It was a lead, but it wasn't good news. The Albanian mob was notorious for being exceedingly violent and wildly unpredictable. Not even the Polish mafia would work with them, and that mob would work with anyone. The Albanian mafia was clannish, secretive, hypersensitive to any kind of insult, and far too quick to use violence for the sake of vengeance. None of that bode well for Malcolm and JT, especially since Gil knew that Malcolm had dealt with them in his past with the FBI.

His face grew pale as he realized the implications of that. They were going to kill his kid. That's how this was going to end for the Albanians. They wanted Malcolm's death, and if they got the chance to torture the kid before they did it, Gil had every reason to believe they would. That's just how sadistic and cruel that mafia was. It wasn't as if they needed any type of intel from Malcolm. It would purely be for their own enjoyment. If Gil didn't find Malcolm quickly, his kid was going to suffer.

"We're gonna find them," Dani continued. "They're going to be fine. This isn't like last time. He's not alone, he has JT with him. No matter what happens, they're not alone," she said.

But she couldn't know that, not really. The Albanians wouldn't have any beef with JT, so at least his death would likely be quick and painless. There would be no such solace for Malcolm. They could have killed JT the moment they arrived at the airstrip. Maybe Malcolm was already dead too.

"Hey, stop it," Dani said, her voice sharp. "I know you're going through all of the possible worst case scenarios in your head, and you have to stop. We are going to find them. We're going to find out where the Albanians took them, and we're going to get them back."

Gil looked up at her. She was right. It was instinct to be panicked when Malcolm was in danger, but he could force that down. He needed to.

"Right," he muttered, taking another deep breath as he straightened up in his seat. "We'll start with getting any info from the undercovers in the city, then maybe set up a meet with a willing boss if we can find one. We'll go from there." He nodded as the panic fell away and a deadly calm replaced it. Gil's gaze fell on the framed picture of himself, Jackie, and Malcolm at the kid's graduation from Quantico. Malcolm beamed up at the photographer, his smile so wide and bright that Gil loved the kid and the name he picked even more. He was so proud of that kid. If anyone could survive being kidnapped by the Albanian mafia, it was Malcolm. And with JT at his side, Gil knew they were going to be okay.