Waiting for her mother was torture. Kara knew Derek was filling the whole team in on her story, and her lies, and her behavior. She wasn't proud of any of it, but she was an adult and didn't think she should have to listen to the reprimands of anyone, least of all, her mother. Tired of crying, she tossed a tissue and walked to the window of Dave's office in hopes of determining her next move. The first thing that had to be done was locating Rachel. Her phone still not in her possession, she went to Dave's desk and picked up his landline. An outside line was obtained after dialing 9, and then she quickly entered Rachel's cell number. When the results of that were again fruitless, she tried the dorms. A brief conversation with the person who answered, told her that Rachel's presence was unknown there as well. It was when she decided to try Rachel's house, on the off chance that she had returned home and notified no one, that her mother entered the room.

"Let's go," her mother said. The scowl on her face and stiffness of her body were all Kara needed to know that she was not pleased.

"What? Where? Did they find Rachel yet?" she asked.

"No, but they're on it. We are going home and Dave will call when he knows something. Now let's go."

"NO, I'm not leaving until they find Rachel. I am staying right here. You can go if you want." She was not used to outward dissent, always having been the good girl, but if there was ever a time when it was necessary, this was it.

Her mother's voice lowered, clearly in an attempt not to be heard by the team, "Lower your voice right now! You are coming with me and you will not make a scene in front of everyone."

Obediently, Kara lowered her voice but, defiantly, she insisted, "No!"

"Go home with your mother," Dave's voice was soft and patient as he entered the room, "there is nothing more you can do here."

Kara took his lead and changed her tone as well, "I don't want to leave without Rachel. What do you know?"

"We are following up on some leads and will hopefully find her soon. Go home and try to rest. I will be there as soon as I learn something." She didn't know when she had started taking more comfort from Dave than from her mother, but if she were to allow herself to think about it, she didn't frequently take comfort from anyone. His calm, yet strong, manner was appreciated when compared against her mother's abrasiveness. Always, he made her feel safe.

"OK," she said, but he stopped her as she was leaving.

"Give me your hand," her confused expression met his cocked eyebrow, and she held it out to him. In it he placed her phone, but managed to catch her wrist in the process. Her gaze moved from the device back to him when it became apparent that he wasn't letting go. "Try that wrong number again," he said, and when her eyes flicked understanding, he released her and she left.

As Erin stormed after her middle child, Dave caught her arm as well, "Erin,'' the soothing tone of his voice when he spoke to her had always left her captivated, "you need to ease up on her. She's going through a lot right now."

"Dave, she lied to us."

"I know, but we have plenty of time to deal with that later. Look, I know you are her parent -"

"Please don't start that," she said, "I need your help and she clearly responds to you. We are both her parents."

"Ok, then just be there for her tonight. I don't know where Rachel is but she is not with a good guy. We are so lucky to have Kara here lying to us. It very easily could have been her."

The harsh, candid words struck at Erin's core and she immediately softened. "Oh, my God, you are so right. I feel terrible."

"Don't. Just go now and be a solace to your daughter, our daughter. We will work everything else out later." He kissed her lips and they parted.

Kara woke with a jolt and confusion instantly set in. She remained frozen and listened to the silence of the house as she tried to orient herself. The moment the confusion was gone she wished for its return, as her memories of the evening's events rushed back at her. Her heart was racing and she tried breathing deeply to slow it and settle herself. With that task accomplished, she set about determining what had woken her. Looking at the clock informed her that only a couple of hours of sleep had been awarded since she and her mother arrived at home. They had gone right to bed as both exhaustion and a discomfort with talking to each other took hold. Content that there was no outside reason for Kara to be awake, and now feeling restless, she decided to get up and go to the kitchen for some water.

The silence and darkness of the house was a bit unsettling, but the moonlight crept across the hardwoods on the staircase, lighting her way. She paused at Dave's study and stood in the doorway. Wishing he was home with news, she entered the room and walked towards his bookcase. Criminology books lined the shelves, and she glanced at the titles. When she came to his own, she put her hand out and ran it across the spines. He didn't know that she had read all of them. That when he was out of town and her mother was working late, she frequently found herself in her taking in the content of many of the books, not just his. No one knew that she had snuck criminal justice into this semester's coursework, or that she had already looked into getting into the academy starting next year. She twisted her lips at the realization that this was another secret she had been keeping from them. Eventually they would have to be told, but not before she was so invested in the process that turning around would seem foolish. Her mother would not like the idea of her child entering the family profession, but Kara could not keep going through life making the decisions her mother wanted her to make. She had to stand up for herself and create her own life. Frequently, she thought choosing a college so close to home was a bad idea, even if she did, technically, live at the dorms. But two years ago, when her decision was made, her mother was very unsettled, and it always seemed to fall on Kara's shoulders to smooth over the problems caused by the alcohol. It really was no surprise to anyone that Kara had chosen to stay so close to home while her older brother and younger sister moved away.

With Rachel still missing, a crime book as a bedtime story was a bad idea, so Kara curled up on the armchair by the bay window and looked out at the starry night to wait for information. As sleep snuck up on her once again, the phone in her hand beeped in a text message. The sound and vibration caused Kara to jump and she fumbled for a moment before reading the name of the sender: Rachel. On high alert, Kara clicked the message open and read the address of the house from last night. No other message was sent, but Kara wasted no time. She ran from the room, to the back door where a pair of sneakers and her keys were waiting. Her mother would argue if she knew what Kara was planning, and there was no time for that. There was no time for anything, so she turned the doorknob and slipped out into the night.

Her initial instinct was to phone Dave on her way to the house, knowing she was too far into her endeavor to be told to turn around, but even that would have taken too long. All of her energy and focus was on reaching Rachel. Arriving at the address, she threw the car into park and raced up the walk to the house. It was when she was at the top of the stairs that the moment of clarity came. The moment when she realized that she had no plan and this was, in fact, a very bad idea. Her suddenly shaky hands scrabbled with the phone as she attempted to forward Rachel's text to Dave. She almost had enough time. She almost managed to send it off before the door flew opened and one hand pulled her inside while another trained the gun on her head.

Time froze for Kara. The swirls of motion and muddled auditory confusion engulfed her. The entire universe shrunk to her and the gun, now pointing straight at her face. There were things, as a witness, as a victim, that she should be focusing on. Things that would be asked of her in the future. She had read enough to know attention needed to be paid to the facts, eye color, hair color, distinguishing characteristics, even if the gun holder was male or female. But she was not sure if there would be a future. She was not even sure if there was a past. Nothing was known outside of the fact that there was a gun staring into her face. The moment lasted an eternity as thoughts wandered to her family. Her father, who she never tried to call back, her siblings, she loved them so much. Time should be spent with them. More time was needed. Her mother, with whom her relationship was broken. Broken. Broken.

"What are you doing? Her father's a Fed! Her father's a Fed!" the disembodied voice was screaming in her head. Her father was a Fed. Her father was a Fed? Wait. Something was wrong. Was her father a Fed? No, he was not. Her father was a lawyer. Why was someone yelling this? Keeping still, she moved her eyes towards the direction of the voice which was no longer in her head. It was coming from the far end of the room, behind the form holding the gun. Concentrating, her mind allowed the voice to visually focus. A familiar face held a look of horror and the yelling continued. Kara knew that boy. He sat next to her in her criminology class. Piercing noises that she could not place were tearing through her head. They let criminals in criminology classes?

The gun moved from her face and she felt a mere moment when the fear subsided before it returned with a vengeance as a vice like grip was placed on her arm and a force pulled her back and slammed her into the body holding her. Quickly the gun was placed against her temple and she heard a clicking noise. Her eyes closed and she waited.

A snake's voice whispered in her ear, "A Fed, huh? This is just too perfect."

The sensation of the snake's breath on her ear annoyed her and she wanted to tell him that her father was a lawyer, but she could not rid herself of that creepy tickle.

A loud bang shook the house and a familiar voice yelled, "FBI! Drop your weapon!" David! The whole world came back into focus and Kara opened her eyes.

His whole team was there with guns drawn and, as she became more alert, she realized that there were several people pointing guns at the team. And her. She was frantically looking around in an attempt to make sense of the situation, but then heard her name being called. Her eyes found the source of the voice and locked on Dave.

"Good job, Kara. Keep our eyes on me."

There was so much shouting and commotion and her brain was still jumbled, so she reverted to glancing around the room.

"No, Kara," Dave shouted, "eyes here! That's it. Keep your eyes here and listen to my voice."

To say that Kara relaxed would of course be untrue in this situation, but she settled a little at Dave's command and was able to shift her focus to him.

"You're doing great, Kara. You trust me, now, right?" She was too afraid to nod, but he didn't need an affirmation. It was said more as a reminder.

The chaos of the room only increased as his team crept in and spoke to Kara's assailant. All of Kara's energy was spent on listening to Dave and trying to remain still while being dragged about.

"Do you know where you are supposed to be right now?" Dave asked. Really? He was going to scold her now? That was nonsensical to Kara so she worked harder at listening to him. "I think you need to go there." He couldn't possibly mean that. Kara managed to shake her head ever so slightly. "Yes, honey. You can do this. Are you ready?"

Dave watched Kara take in as much air as the arm around her would afford, and then he screamed, "Now!'