YIKES!!! It's almost been a year…again! I'm so sorry, everybody. I have not abandoned the story, and I will finish it!...Eventually…My muse has been annoyingly silent about this story arc for a while. Hopefully she'll find her way back to it soon. Anyway, here is another piece, enjoy.

Knoteach

P.S. Thanks to everyone that reviewed the story. It helps to know someone is still reading it and interested.

Part 3

The next three weeks were tense for the members of team 7 and their three charges. The judge had kept their work load light, but they still had cases to investigate as well as their self-imposed investigation of Maude Standish, or as she was known at the moment Margaret Harrison nee Simpson. What they had come up with was interesting, but nothing that tied the woman to Ezra. Right now all they could do was wait and see what she would do, and that was driving them all to distraction.

It was perhaps Chris's greatest fear that Maude would snatch Ezra from the school without him having a chance to stop her. It took all of Buck's not inconsiderable powers of persuasion, not to mention Josiah reminding him that Social Services might pull the boys out of his care altogether, to get him to allow Ezra to go to school the next week. In order to help allay his fears, Josiah and Nathan hunted up more pictures of Maude that had appeared in the paper in previous years and asked the principal to circulate them throughout the school. It wasn't a perfect fix, but until she surfaced it was the best they could do.

The waiting, though, was driving Chris to distraction.

On the fourth Wednesday afternoon after the incident, Chris was back in his office. The paperwork from the bust they had worked the day before was all done, and Chris was back to trying to trace down Maude and Ezra's past. One of the most infuriating things about the situation was that Ezra could not remember his father's name, first or last. The only things he could remember were the sound of his father's voice and that hey had been some place in Georgia. He hoped Ezra might eventually remember more, but he didn't want to upset the boy right now.

From what Ezra had said, it appeared that Maude had walked out on her husband and son when the man had been diagnosed with cancer just after Ezra's birth. When Ezra's father died just under three years later, she had suddenly shown up, all tears and sob story about how she hadn't known that her poor estranged husband had been sick. Ezra's memories were spotty at times, but it did fit with what they knew of her character.

Sighing Chris leaned back in his chair, his gaze landed on a letter that had arrive this morning. Why did this have to be happening now, he wondered. He had requested the paperwork to begin adoption proceedings last month and finally received it this morning. Chris had been going to talk to the boys about it when the paperwork arrived, but he hadn't told them yet. If this turned out wrong, he wasn't sure what he would do. In a way he was glad he hadn't told them, so they wouldn't have to be disappointed, but Ezra would not know how much he meant to Chris if he wasn't told.

What a mess!

Rubbing his hand over his eyes, Chris was about to start on the report again when his cellphone rang. Glaring at the innocent piece of plastic, Chris reached for it. He had been inordinately nervous about answering any phone ever since their rushed trip to school had started all of this, and he hated the feeling.

"Larabee," he bit out immediately.

"Mr. Larabee, you might want to get out here. One of the play ground monitors is fairly certain she saw your Mrs. Standish drive past the school a little while ago," came Mr. Ellis worried voice.

Again Chris hit the door of his office running. "I'll be there as soon as possible," Chris hurriedly assured the man before he hung up. Stepping into the bullpen, he didn't slow as he said, "Maude's been spotted around Mountainside!"

The rest of the team instantly dropped what they were doing to follow their team leader. This time instead of going up to tell Travis personally, Josiah grabbed his cell and called up to Travis office. The message he left was short and to the point, "She's at Mountainside."

Chris ignored the sense of déjà vu that cropped up as he tore out of his truck in front of the school. Storming in the front door, he hurried toward the principal's office to see what he could find out. Hearing voices inside, he threw up his hand to stop his men and listen to what was being said.

"Mr. Ellis, I told you, I didn't know where he was," a young female voice said. Chris could hear just a hint of wateriness in that voice and would be willing to bet the woman either was crying or had been in the recent past.

"I understand that, Ms Martinson, but I cannot allow you to take a child from the premises without speaking with the police and the boy's guardian. I've contacted the officers that originally found your son and his guardian, and they are on their way. Once they get here, we will be able to get everything straightened out," Ellis replied.

"Of course, I understand. But couldn't I at least see Ethan? I haven't seen him since he was kidnapped two years ago." There was a pleading note in the voice now, but Chris ignored that in favor of the obvious fact that this was Maude and she was trying to take his son away.

There was no way in hell he was going to let that happen!

From Ellis's words, it sounded like he was going to work it so that they could talk to the woman before revealing who Chris was to Ezra, so he decided to play along.

Turning to the rest of the team, Chris said, "We'll go in and try to find out what her game is, but she isn't taking Ezra anywhere, understood?" After receiving nods from all of the men, Chris turned and knocked on the office door.

"Enter," Mr. Ellis called calmly.

Chris walked, talking in the teary eyed young woman sitting across from the Principal. It was difficult, but he managed to keep the disgust he felt off of his face. She looked exactly as Ezra had drawn her last spring. "Mr. Ellis, you said you had some information on the boys we found?"

"Ms. Martinson, this is Mr. Larabee and his team. They're the one that found the boy. Mr. Larabee, this is Ms Michelle Martinson. She says that her son was kidnapped two years ago and she hasn't seen him since then." Ellis quickly filled Chris is on what the woman was claiming. "She says saw him in the play yard this afternoon, and the description she gave does match the boy Ezra that you found last year."

"I'm sure he's my boy," the still tearful blonde woman insisted. Turning to Chris, she gave him the full effect of quivering lip and tears.

"How can you be so sure?" Chris said gruffly, it was taking everything he had not to take this woman's head off, never mind being civil to her. "You said it has been two years. Children change quickly."

"My Ethan has the most beautiful chestnut hair and green eyes. He looked exactly like his father did at that age. Peyton and I grew up together, and I remember when he was ten he was already a heart breaker," she smiled in fond remembrance.

"Where is you husband, ma'am?" Josiah suddenly asked quietly. Maybe they could get some more information about Ezra's father from her.

The blonde woman looked away in seeming distress and sniffled delicately. "My husband died when Ethan was three. Ethan is all I have left of him. Please, let me see my son. When his guardian gets here, I'm sure he'll understand."

Chris swallowed the retort that immediately sprang to his lips, and settled for a more subdued, "Maybe, but we need to make sure everything is official and legal in cases like this."

When Chris broke off, Buck picked up the conversation. "Chris is real particular about protecting those boys of his, so he'll want to meet you first." It was interesting to be able to tell her exactly the truth, and yet she didn't know who or what he was referring to. If the circumstances had been different, he might have laughed.

"Oh, do you know him?" she asked, innocent curiosity on her face, but if one looked closely, you could almost see the gears turning in her eyes.

All four of the ATF men nodded. Mr. Ellis was glad she was no longer looking at him as he was having a hard time quelling the laughter that was wanting to bubble up at the game they were playing with this woman. He wanted to see the expression on her face when she found out who "Chris" was.

"Quite well," Josiah commented.

"He was with us when we found the boys a year ago last January, and decided to take them in," Nathan spoke for the first time since they had entered the principal's office.

"How was he when you found him?" she asked breathlessly, motherly concerning oozing from every word.

They had to admit, she was good at this, but after witnessing Ezra's nightmares for the last nineteen months, they weren't about to get taken in by her act.

"Ezra was badly malnourished and had a bad case of bronchitis," Chris said flatly.

"Oh, no!" she gasped, a hand coming up to flutter at her mouth. "Is he all right? I mean, he recovered, didn't he?"

"He's fine now," Josiah gently her, though his voice still held elements of aloofness. She was pretty enough for him to want to be polite, but he wasn't about to forget the condition Ezra had been in when they found him, not to mention the abuse that the scars on his body spoke of.

"I must see him," she declared, standing and stepping toward the door. "I need to make sure he's all right."

"Not until his guardian says you can see Ezra," Chris contradicted her as he stepped between her and the door.

She turned angry blue eyes on the tall blond man and demanded, "His name is Ethan not Ezra! And why not?!"

Chris's eyes narrowed, wondering if she was about to give away her own cover. He felt Josiah's hand clamp down on his left arm when he shift as if to step toward the infuriating woman. Silently acknowledging the much needed restraint, Chris said, "He says his name is Ezra. And because the boy was on the streets when he was found. He spent the better part of the next week in the hospital recovering." It wasn't time to tip his hand yet.

"But I'm his mother! I told you he was kidnapped two years ago. I didn't know where he was!" she all but shouted at the black-clad man that was still blocking her way.

"Maybe," Chris drawled, cocking his head to the side. "But that doesn't explain the scars on the boy's back."

The ATF officers watched all the color drain from her face. "You mean they beat him?!" she screamed. Oh, she was really good. She continued ranting; blaming the 'kidnappers', Chris and the ATF, the Department of Children's Services, the doctors, and anyone else she could think of for what had happened to her son.

After she finally wound down, she slumped back into her chair. "When do you think this Chris is going to get here? I want to see my son."

Mr. Ellis looked up at Chris Larabee questioningly. Chris nodded; it was time to quit the act.

"Actually he's here already," Mr. Ellis said.

Maude looked at him in confusion. "What? Oh, you mean he's coming in right now? Wonderful!"

Chris cut her off, "No, he means he is in the room right now. Allow me to re-introduce myself. Special Agent in Charge Christopher Larabee of the United States Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms."

The look of astonishment on her face was priceless.