Carly Stokes sat in class late Monday morning, after a quite boring weekend, after the fiasco of her softball game. She'd decided to give up softball at the end of the season, which was only a couple weeks away. Surprisingly, her friends hadn't been mad at her at all for wanting to give it up. They'd come over to play Sunday afternoon and had a grand old time doing girly things like braiding each other's hair, playing Barbies, and playing tag outside. They hadn't once suggested playing softball at the local field, and Carly knew it didn't really matter if they didn't share every activity they did. Her friends liked to play softball, and she didn't, and that was okay.

However, not all of her teammates were being as nice about it as her best friends. All day, Angela and another girl had been making mean comments to her, telling her it was about time she'd quit, and that they'd win so much more next season without her. It hurt, but Carly just ignored them like her mom and dad had told her to. After a while, they'd given up, but when Angela made another mean comment as they were lining up for lunch, it was the last straw for Carly. She glared at her teammate and decided it was time she stuck up for herself, but this time she wasn't going to get in trouble for it because no adults would see.

Carly ate lunch with her friends, and when they were finished, they were supposed to go outside for recess. She asked permission to use the restroom, and the teacher on duty said yes. The second grader scurried down the hallway towards the girls' restroom, but instead of going inside, she snuck down further and went to her classroom. Peeking inside, she could see her teacher, Miss Lawson, was not inside. Her heart was beating so fast, afraid that she was going to get caught, but was fairly sure her teacher ate lunch in the teacher's lounge. Carly quickly went to her desk, opened the top, and retrieved a black marker. Their science projects had been due today, so all their poster boards were in the back of the classroom, ready to be put on display. She picked out Angela's poster board, which didn't look that good anyway, looked around to make sure no one could see, and began scribbling all over it. Karma was really something else. Angela was a mean girl, a real bully, and Carly told herself she deserved this. She deserved any bad thing that happened to her.

Once the poster board was adequately ruined, Carly put the top back on the marker and scurried over to her desk to put it away. As she closed her desk, she could see that she'd gotten a little marker on her hands, but shrugged it off. Everyone had a black marker in their desk. Carly then walked out of the room and joined her friends at recess, trying to act as if nothing had gone on. She was a little ashamed of herself, but Angela deserved it. Of all the mean things she had done to Carly over the past year, this one little thing was nothing.

Except, later, when Angela saw her project, the look on her face was completely heartbreaking. She'd started crying and yelling for Miss Lawson to come look. Carly's face turned red and she just concentrated on the math paper she was doing. Miss Lawson comforted her, and assured Angela she would still get full credit for her project, but anyone knew that having your project ruined was a huge bummer. They'd been working on those things for weeks. Carly did feel a little bad, but she just thought back to all the mean things Angela had said.

Later that day, after she'd gotten home from school, Carly knew she was home free because her teacher had never even asked her about Angela's project. Carly knew she would never be suspected, because she was usually very well-behaved, besides a few slip-ups now and then. There was still black marker on her hands, which she'd tried to wash off, but it was permanent. Her show was just finishing on the television, and she knew it would soon be time to start her homework. Nolan was at his friend's house doing their stupid little boy things, and Riley had gone straight to her room, still upset from what had happened over the weekend. Today, she actually buried herself in her SAT study books. The theme song played on the TV set, and Nick glanced over from putting clean dishes away in the kitchen.

"Alright, Carly, time to hit the books." He reminded her.

Carly sighed and turned the TV, and obediently walked to the dining room table to begin her homework. The telephone rang as she was getting out her assignment notebook.

"Stokes residence." Her father answered, and listened to whoever was on the other end. "Yes, this is Nick. How are things going?"

He didn't say anything for quite some time, as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. Carly began to do her math worksheet, when her father's next statement caught her attention.

"Someone had scribbled all over her project?" He checked. Carly's face turned bright red, and she stopped writing the answer to the problem she was working on. Had her teacher somehow found out?

"Well, we've been having some problems between Angela and Carly. I know Carly's been hurt a lot by her, but I would never think she'd go that far. Are you sure?"

Carly gulped and put her pencil down. If her father knew what she had done, she'd been in the worst trouble she'd ever been in. He would be so disappointed in her, that he'd never want to look at her again and kick her out of the house. As silently as she could, she stood up from her chair and decided to go into the bathroom, where maybe she could hide, but her father saw her.

"Carly, get back in the dining room." He instructed her, raising his eyebrows, not looking very happy, but he didn't look ticked like he sometimes got with Riley. She could never so bravely tick her father off like Riley did. Carly winced and very slowly walked back to the table as he wrapped up his conversation with Miss Lawson. Carly looked down at her hands as he hung up the phone, seeing the black marker that solidified her guilt. She was such an awful person. But wouldn't he understand that Angela had been mean to her like at the game and stick up for her? "I'll have a little talk with her. Thanks, Miss Lawson."

Nick sighed as he walked to the dining room. He wasn't angry just yet, because he didn't believe that his sweet Carly could scribble over someone's project, which she'd worked so hard on. Nick pulled out the chair next to his daughter's and sat down.

"Carly, that was your teacher." He began calmly, noticing that she was now sitting on her hands nervously, and avoiding eye contact with him. "Do you wanna tell me anything?"

She bit her lip and debated whether she should just come clean, but also how she could maybe lie her way out of being caught. Not that that ever worked, but it was worth a shot every time to a little girl who was facing someone as scary-looking as her dad when she misbehaved.

"Anything to do with the science projects?" He prompted her when she didn't answer him. Nick hoped she had enough sense not to lie to him.

"I think I got an A." She told him truthfully.

Nick cleared his throat and crossed his arms, just staring at her silently for a few moments. "What do you think Angela got?"

Carly shrugged. "I don't know. You could ask her, I guess."

Nick decided to cut past all the indirectness. "That was Miss Lawson on the phone. She says Angela's project was all scribbled over with a black marker. Do you know anything about that?"

Carly crinkled her eyebrows and stole a quick glance at him. She hated lying to him. "Whoever did it was probably someone who got picked on by her." Carly told him honestly. It wasn't a lie, but it didn't make her feel any better. He obviously knew the truth. Why didn't he just come out and say it? Carly knew that sometimes adults made you explain what you did wrong just to make you seem even more ashamed.

"Show me your hands." Nick prompted her, wanting to see for himself why Miss Lawson suspected his daughter of the crime. She said Carly had been acting guilty all day, which didn't surprise him. She was very bad about acting innocent when she'd done something wrong. They could always tell when she was up to something.

Carly shook her head, knowing it would only further affirm the fact she'd been bad.

"Carly." He warned her a little more sternly.

"I don't wanna." She almost whined, getting a bit teary eyed.

"And why's that?"

"Because."

"Carly, I'm losing my patience with you."

Carly got teary eyed and decided to break down and tell the truth, knowing there was no way her father would just let this go. "She was bein' mean to me again, so I stuck up for myself!"

Nick was a little relieved, but also very disturbed that Carly had indeed done such an awful deed. "Ruining someone's project is not sticking up for yourself. That's just mean."

"But she was making fun of me!" It had all seemed so logical at the time, but obviously her father didn't agree. She thought he understood!

"That's no excuse for what you did." Nick told her firmly. "If you wanna stand up for yourself, you tell the teacher, or you use words to tell Angela how you feel. I thought I'd raised you better than to ruin someone's hard work."

"But you didn't care on Saturday!" She pointed out what had happened at the ball game.

"That was different. You were deliberately mean to her, and she was very upset about her project. Being cruel isn't sticking up for yourself, and it's not gonna be tolerated in this house."

Carly cried a little bit because she hated disappointing her parents. She knew her dad would tell her mother also, and she'd have to face another lecture later on all over again. Nick stood up and tore a piece of paper from her notebook, then set down firmly in front of her.

"You're gonna write an apology letter to Angela and give it to her tomorrow morning." He decided, setting her pencil down on top of the blank sheet.

A rare moment of defiance flared up. "No!" She yelled, and pushed the paper off the table angrily in one distinct swoop. Nick didn't respond for several long, awkward moments, just staring at his daughter.

"Go pick that up." He ordered her calmly, but Carly didn't budge, and was crying softly. She didn't understand why her father was actually sticking up for Angela, and not her. Angela never seemed to get in trouble with her parents for being mean, and she does one thing, and she has to write an apology letter?

Nick stood up straight and cleared his throat. "Alright. You have one hour to write that note, and it better be finished, or you're gonna be in even more trouble. You're grounded for the rest of the week, no television, and your teacher's taking away your recess."

With that, Nick left his daughter there in the dining room, refusing to give her more power by defying him. She had her stubborn side also, and was too proud to pick the paper up when he told her to. He disappeared into the laundry room to finish up a load before he began dinner. It was very out of the ordinary for Carly to be downright mean to someone else, and though Angela was probably the meanest kid he'd ever met, that didn't mean Carly needed to stoop to her level for revenge. Nick thought his punishment of writing Angela a letter would set Carly straight and make her realize that being mean wasn't the answer to her problems.

Meanwhile, in the living, room, Carly was staring a hole into the still blank paper. What she really wanted to write would probably get her into even more trouble, and Carly knew it wasn't wise for her to keep pushing the limits. Still, she couldn't bring herself to write an apology to that monster of a little girl. It was so unfair! She was always such a good kid, who hardly ever acted up, and the one time in the past year she had, she was being punished big time. Her dad just didn't get it! Riley had been right in her ranting – he didn't understand kids at all. Carly felt herself becoming very angry, and she realized she'd had enough of this. She needed to show her dad that she wasn't going to sit back and take this. It wasn't fair she was in so much trouble, and no one cared that Angela was such a horrible kid. Quietly, Carly stood up from her seat, walked to the back door, and opened it with barely a noise. Taking one look back, she stepped outside and began walking away from her home and the dad that didn't understand.

CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI

Sara Stokes let her bag drop to the floor next to the bar as she tossed off her sunglasses and let the keys skid across the top about ten minutes later. She sighed, glad she was back at home after a long shift. Glancing at the kitchen table, she could see that Carly had started her homework as always, but must be taking a break or in the bathroom. Riley was likely in her bedroom wallowing in self-pity, and she knew Nolan was at the Fosters' house. She heard the washing machine running in the other room, so she followed the sound, hoping to find her sexy husband nearby. Sara found him in front of the dryer, scooping the dried clothes out into the basket to fold in a minute. She smirked to herself, feeling a little frisky, and walked up behind him. As he was standing up she ran her hands from his sides around to his tight stomach. Nick smiled and put one of his hands over his wife's.

"Hey, baby." He greeted her, his voice displaying that he hadn't had the best day ever. Sara breathed in the scent of his t-shirt, a mix of laundry detergent and that distinct Nick Stokes smell she never got tired of sniffing. A single kiss was placed between his shoulder blades before he turned in her arms. Nick didn't say anything, just pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

"There's nothing sexier than coming home to find your husband doing household chores." She smiled at him and ran her hand up and down his chest.

"Sexy, huh?" He smirked, forgetting momentarily about all the drama with Carly and Riley lately, letting his strong hands circle her waist. Nick leaned back slightly to look at her smiling before sneaking in again for a more passionate kiss. Sara let her arms drape over his shoulders as he teased the skin just above her jeans, getting lost in his always amazing kisses. They still made out like a couple teenagers on a regular basis, and Sara knew she would never tire of it. He was such a talented kisser, always knowing just how much pressure to use, how to nip and suck at just the right time, and that tongue of his. He could still take her breath away and knock her off her feet. As his tongue swept inside her own warm mouth, dueling deliciously with his, she let out a tiny whimper of pleasure. Her hand traveled down his side, skimming over his soft t-shirt, and then sneakily gave his package a firm squeeze. Nick immediately broke away in surprise. Pleasant surprise, but surprise nonetheless.

"Don't start what you can't finish, missy." He warned her. She'd gone right for the grand prize, and she knew it. Nick nibbled on her ear for a few moments before he began kissing the delicate skin on her neck, and his hands worked their way under her jeans at the back.

Sara grinned and squeezed him again, hearing him breathe in through his teeth quickly, struggling to keep himself under control. "What makes you think I don't intend on finishing?"

Nick's lips clashed with hers again, devouring each other, both their desires further being fueled. "Carly's in the dining room. We can't."

Sara pulled away from his lips and began to kiss along his strong jaw line, loving just how masculine he was. "She wasn't when I walked in." She continued to kiss him and popped the button of his jeans. Nick's hand stilled hers and he pulled away.

"She's not there?" He checked in confusion, checking Sara's face for seriousness. "She's supposed to be writing an apology letter."

Nick sighed and gave Sara another kiss, but the passion was gone for now. He buttoned up his jeans and then walked out of the laundry room to find Carly.

"Who's she writing to?" Sara asked, following behind him.

"Angela. Her teacher called and said she thought Carly was responsible for ruining Angela's science project, and she pretty much admitted to it."

"Carly? Why would she do that?" Sara asked as they walked to the dining room.

"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out." Nick admitted, and found the dining room table, a still blank piece of paper sitting out on the table. "Where is she?"

Sara shrugged, but wasn't alarmed, figuring she must be up in her room, or perhaps had gone into the backyard. "Carly!" Nick yelled, and waited for an answer, but was only met with silence.

The two parents proceeded to check all around the house – in her bedroom, in her siblings' bedrooms, the bathroom, the basement – she was nowhere. They called her friends' houses, and they hadn't heard from her. Needless to say, Nick and Sara were getting very worried.

"Where would she go?" Sara asked frantically, thinking of all the horrible crimes she'd seen the results of over the years. Carly was only seven, and she didn't know about all the evils of the world yet.

"I don't know." Nick ran a hand through his short hair in worry, wondering why on earth Carly would leave the house without telling them. He walked back to Riley's room and opened the door. She glared at him from where she was studying definitions at her desk. "Have you seen Carly?"

"Not since we got home. Why?"

"She left without telling anyone." Riley could tell he was really worried about her sister, but she didn't see how she could help him out right now. She hadn't seen Carly since three o'clock when they'd arrived at the house. "Do you have any idea where she'd go?"

Riley shook her head. "Sorry. I bet she just went to a friend's house."

Nick sighed and turned around to find Sara. Riley felt really bad for her parents, but didn't think her sister was the type of kid to run away like she had. Nick snatched up his cell phone and car keys, looking thoroughly worried, as he walked to where Sara was talking on the house phone to one of Carly's friend's moms. She hung up after saying goodbye, and sighed worriedly.

"They haven't seen her." Sara informed him. Both were worried sick, because they knew their young, innocent daughter wasn't equipped to handle what she might encounter alone on the streets of Las Vegas. And while it was likely she was just hiding out at someone's house, or at some park, their minds couldn't help but worry about the what ifs. What if someone had kidnapped her? What if she was hurt? What if she was lost?

"Riley!" Nick called to his oldest, and she appeared in front of him quickly. "Stay here and call the Fosters to tell Nolan to come home. Don't leave the house, and call us if you hear anything from Carly, okay?"

Riley nodded obediently. Nick turned to Sara and took her hand. "Come on, let's go. We'll find her."