Tuesday however happened to roll around too quickly.

"Can I have a ponytail like yours?" Charlee asked that morning as they were getting ready for the day. Although Megan had decided on scrunching her own hair today and putting it up in a regular ponytail. It was something new, in addition to the slight glow in her expression.

"You sure can. Come take a seat." As Charlee sat down, Megan grabbed an extra hair tie from off the dresser and began gathering her dark brown into hand. There was silence between both; absently Megan ran her fingers through the young girl's hair. It was so soft and made Megan think back to when she was a child with her own mother. With her legs folded indian style, Megan sat on the bed; almost similiar to the way Charlee was sitting now. Megan smiled briefly and wrapped her hair into a high ponytail, pulling tight at the end.

"How do I look?" Charlee asked moments after she had finished. When Megan didn't answer, Charlee turned around and stood on the bed and wrapped her arms around her neck, gazing up. "We look pretty."

Megan smiled brightly, wrapping her arms around Charlee's small waist. "We sure do. Now what do you say we go out and have some breakfast before we go out and greet the world?" Charlee nodded enthusiastically, unwrapping her hands from her neck and hopped off the bed.

--

Don looked at his watch, it was already a quarter to ten. Somebody from DCSF would be here in about an hour, and yet he was unsure why he had called. It was the law? The person who had been holding the will had clearly told him that besides her parents, that was all Charlee had, and what she had lost. There was no other family, and it seemed like going into the foster system was the only way that Charlee would survive now, but even Don could understand how scared this little girl had been when she had come in. But from the moment she had laid eyes on Megan it was like even though she was scared, there was a strong connection that built around her and kept her strong when Megan was around.

It usually took longer to get close to someone, even if you know on the first day that there's something there. Okay, so they weren't actually suppose to get close to their victims, and basically Charlee was a victim of seeing her mother being shot while seeing her father do the dirty deed, but how much did Charlee deserve to be shifted to place after place, after it had been all said and done? It might be what the team does ninety-nine percent of the time after a child had been involved in the middle and doesn't have any family to support them, but for some reason Charlee was different. He couldn't put his finger on it--but it like there was a purpose for her being here for a reason that nobody else knew until it was revealed.

Sitting up in his chair, he groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face. In all the years that he had been in the FBI he would never think that he would be thinking about this. Charlee was dealing in her own way, not yet realizing that this was life-changing in it's own terms. She had no family, there would be nobody that she could wrap her arms around, but could Megan be the one to fulfill the hole? As much as he felt the sense of everything was rolling in her way at this time, he also knew that Megan had a maternal instinct in her. Although he didn't know exactly how she would take on bringing up somebody else's child as hers, this was the closest that he had seen of the maternal instinct, yet.

And Larry...he sounded like he was taking things pretty well so far. At least what you could see on the surface--although there was no knowing how much Megan had discussed about this. A new house, engagement, marriage, and a kid all at once was already a lot to take in. Don didn't need much to see how much it took to go down hill, in fact he knew the feeling even if half the time he didn't impress on the same feeling that his father and brother always tended to express to him. Like he already knew by the mirrored look that he should take the time to slow down. Although he knew by what was being thrown to Megan and Larry, you can't dodge what is already there. That was the motto he stood by--and then some.

"Everything good in wonderland?" David asked out loud, upon seeing Don sitting there; the screen black, his boss' fingers curled on the keyboard, one hand laying beside the keyboard. Blinking, Don exhaled deeply, almost in thought. David shook his head as he read the response in his eyes. " We haven't found anything that we didn't know already." Perched on the side of Don's desk, he waited for any reaction. There wasn't any. "You thinking about changing your mind on social services?"

That got a reaction. Don sat up in his chair, leaning forward. "I'm not sure how much longer we can stall them. If Anthony was thinking he could get away with not comitting murder, it sure looks like he was. Besides him forgetting one key witness."

"Charlee. So what stops him from going after her if we give her up?" David inquired--knowing they had already gone through the information--with a grim expression on the edge of his pressed lips.

"That's the problem, we don't." David could see the wheel's turning in his boss' mind, each part clicking over the word 'if'--the possibilities--his earlier thoughts were sounding better every minute; even if there was no initial threat, he couldn't ignore the heat rolling through his veins in warning.

"And all Colby and I could get from Anthony's next door neighbors was that when Andrea and Charlee disappeared, Anthony got less social, wasn't around as much thanks to the key-off of the almost full mailbox. The box would be almost full, then one day out of the blue he would return and take all of his mail inside. They also said that an unidentified female that they had never seen around--except once or twice--would come around to take the mail inside, same as him--through the front door. Although there was no mail when we searched through the house earlier."

"What could this guy possibly be expecting in the mail that none would be left behind?" Don scrutinized, brow furrowing.

"Mail that he had no intention on anybody else finding." Colby chimed in, joining them.

--

Looking around the place, Charlee gazed at the pictures lining the wall of the cafe with fascination. Her hand was holding Megan's as a waitress with a peach dress shirt greeted them with a slight twange. "Just two?" Megan nodded, the waitress gathered up two menus; one big, the other a smaller menu with a coloring page, and a small pack of crayons. They followed her to a back table and then sat down promptly as the waitress laid out their menus in front of them.

"Thank you." Megan thanked her for both of them, while catching her silver name tag--Landa. Charlee kicked her legs in an occupying manner, grabbing the box of crayons, then looked up. This was the first time she had caught how pretty Landa really was. Short brown hair with streaks of gray, cut to her neck. Black rimmed glasses, accenting her dark brown eyes.

"Can I get you ladies something to drink?" Landa asked kindly. Charlee exchanged a glance with Megan.

"What's your favorite thing to drink?"

"Mmm...water, please." Charlee answered quietly and went back to coloring.

Turning back to Landa, Megan gave her drink order. "I'll also have a water." Half of her focus was on Charlee, who had her arm resting on the table, chin resting against it as she focused on filling the picture with color.

"Alright I'll be back in just a few minutes with your drinks."

"Thank you." And with that Landa retreated back behind the counter, exchanging a chuckle with the man at the cash register, her hand brushing across his shoulder. Megan turned back to Charlee who stared at the paper, the crayon waving back and forth as she colored; her lips pressed tightly together in a concentrated matter.

"Mmm..." The tip of the crayon was touching Charlee's chin when Megan gazed back at her. "What color should I do her hair?"

Looking over the colors spread on table were green, blue, red and orange. It was either going to be red..or red, it was. "How about red?"

"Will she look pretty too?"

Both of them looked back down at the almost colorless picture, except for the bike with the basket that had already been colored. "She sure will."

"Red hair...like Ariel." Charlee put the two facts together, smiling. "Good." And with that she went back to coloring until Landa brought back the drinks and set them down on the table. Remembering, Charlee looked over the kid's menu on the paper. She realized that she still couldn't really read and there were no pictures to back up something that she could point to, so she turned to Megan for help.

"What do you think you're up for?" Megan inquired, to which Charlee shrugged. "Ever tried crepes before?"

Charlee shook her head silently, dropping her crayon on the table. "What's that?"

"It's almost like a pancake, but these have strawberries, or some kind of fruit in them." At that moment Megan's stomach grumbled.

"Can't forget the whip cream." Landa threw in. Most times kids would go for the whip cream.

Charlee giggled at Megan, eyes lighting up. "You're hungry."

"I sure am. What do you think?" She looked up at Landa who was waiting patiently holding a pen up to her notebook.

"Okay." Charlee nodded, watching Landa as she wrote down the order.

"Alright...two crepes, coming right up." Landa spoke up in a cheerful tone. "Anything else I can get you?"

Megan and Charlee exchanged a glance to which Charlee gladly piped up. "Nope."

All three of them smiled as Megan handed her menu back to Landa. "Then I guess I will be back with your crepes in just a few minutes."

--

"Something tells me that it's not just the mail that's missing. Did anybody else notice how clean the place looked?" David inquired, sitting down in his own chair.

"No single mom that I've known with a child or even two had that clean of a house." Colby added in, leaning against his desk.

"Or that much furniture." Don placed into perspective. "Andrea sure couldn't have counted on Antonio for money support if she was playing, keep away."

Both David and Colby nodded. "Then the question we ask here is, where is she getting all the money?"

--

"What do you think?" Charlee asked a few minutes later after her picture was finished.

"Very good." Commenting, she smiled at the pretty red haired person. "I really like her."

"I really like her too."

At that moment of their conversation, Landa returned with their food. It smelled heavenly.

"Mmm..." Charlee said, mouth watering as the waitress set her plate in front of her first and then Megan's. "Thanks."

"You're welcome darling. Enjoy your food." Landa smiled, turning the invitation to both of them and then left them with their food.

"One..." Happily Charlee picked up her fork. "Two..." cutting a piece off she tentatively forked it. "Three." And stuck the piece in her mouth, chewing carefully placing the texture and taste into memory. Once she was finished she spoke. "Delicious."