And for an update. Woo!

Beth huffed quietly to herself, still stuffed in a closet with her legs aching and the back of her head throbbing. Not to mention her fists hurt from the senseless banging she had done. That bit was her own fault. She never would have guessed the girl would have been quick enough to shove her back into the closet and lock her in.

With her cell phone in her lap she waited to be rescued. At the very least it gave her time to work on her sob story.

It was about a half an hour after she'd placed her frantic call to Ezra and twenty since the woman and Cristof had left that there was noise again in the house. Moments later, her name was being called from the hall.

"Where are you Beth?" Ezra asked loudly as he moved through the house.

"Ezra." She banged on the door again, doing her best to look as hurt and pathetic. She'd milk her imprisonment to the best of her ability. "Ezra!"

"Where? Oh Jesus." He commented, clearly in realization of the actual situation. A few seconds later she could hear the dresser shifting followed by his voice again, "Sit tight, okay?"

"All I can do." she said weakly, leaning back against the back wall.

After the movement stopped the handle jiggled and he cursed, "Why does your closet have a lock on it? There's no key, I'm gonna take the hinges off."

She cursed softly. "They all have the same lock. There should be one in my room. On the door's ledge."

"Alright." he said. The door was opened in a matter of seconds to his relief more than hers. "Are you alright?"

"I'll know once I can see." she muttered, knowing her legs were probably bruised from being jammed in by the door. Shakily, she pulled herself up.

Ezra tentatively leaned in to help her, putting an arm around her to support her. "What happened exactly? You were talking too fast for me on the phone."

"I don't know." she muttered, leaning on him. "This chick just broke into the house and took Cris away. I dunno what she did to him."

"Chick? Did he know her?" Ezra sighed.

"Yeah. I don't remember what he said her name was but he knew her." She sat down on the bed and rolled up her jeans to look at her bruised shins. "I'm so sorry Ezra."

"Her name was Adia and it's not your fault. Might as well have broken into my house and nearly stole my cell from on me. I think that's how she found you, must be...I thought she was looking for my parents but I knew that didn't make sense. If she knew Cris as well as she'd have had to for him to say her name, she'd have to know he doesn't like them." he mused, crouching down to inspect her legs.

"Can't imagine why he likes her. After what she did." Beth said, holding her legs out for him to see.

"He doesn't like saints, just people who're good to him. Crazy as she is I guess she at least thinks she's looking out for him." Ezra muttered, "You'll be ok I think."

Beth pointed to the syringe left forgotten on the floor. "He was terrified. Yelling about needles."

Ezra stared at it for a long moment until she was afraid he'd gone into some odd shock, then finally he said, "He's terrified of them. They were torturing him with them because they knew he was terrified."

He leaned forward until his head was in her lap, "I promised him I'd keep him safe. What the hell am I going to do?"

She ran her hands down his shoulders, squeezing them softly. "I don't know, Ezra. I don't know where she would have taken him." she paused. "You know, my brother is a psychiatrist. Maybe I could call him."

"We don't need a psychiatrist. He's not crazy. We need a detective or a hit man." Ezra muttered.

"No, but if his hospital was treating him badly, then they should be reported." Beth said.

"And I shouldn't know that. Besides I have no proof other than the words of a man they see as crazy but I know Cris. They'll never know him and he's not crazy, too damn honest is what he is." Ezra sat back.

"I wish I could help you." Beth muttered, "Maybe they haven't gotten far."

"Maybe." Ezra nodded, "Don't feel bad alright, if that woman could move that dresser, I really hope you didn't try to fight her."

She blushed prettily. "I found that out the hard way."

"Are you hurt besides your legs?" he asked softly, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gotten you involved."

Beth shook her head. "I'm alright. More startled then anything else. Don't feel bad about it."

"I do." he sighed, "You're too sweet sometimes."

"You worry about Cristof, not me. Kay?" She smiled, leaning closer to kiss him lightly. "Poor thing is probably so scared."

"I think I'll manage both." he said, standing up long enough to take a seat next to her.

After a short silence, she turned to look at him again. "You think she'll take him back to that hospital?"

"I don't know…we'll find out soon I suppose." he said quietly.

"Should I be worried?" she asked. "I mean she did break into my house but I was keeping him."

"I don't think they'll admit to having taken him from someone." he shook his head, "Might say she found him somewhere or something. They don't want to be caught doing something illegal enough to get us in trouble."

"Good to know." Beth mused. "They were really looking for him. That's odd don't you think? No police or anything just a nurse."

"Yes, which is why if he is in that hospital I'm going to get him out." He muttered.

Beth gave him a surprised look. "How would you manage that?"

"Don't know, I'm a do as I go kind of guy." Ezra muttered, "Usually works though."

"I would say so." she tried to smile for his benefit. "I am sorry I couldn't watch him better. Who knows where she's taken him now. What she's doing."

"I don't even want to think about it. I have to find him." Ezra rubbed his face, "I promised him he'd be safe and I failed."

"You' didn't fail Ezra." she said softly. "You couldn't have prevented this."

"Yeah." Ezra muttered, looking out the window and thinking how he should be able to.

"Not like you can foresee this stuff Ezra. It just happened. Cris will be fine. Boy seems like he's the surviving type no matter the situation." She said, rubbing his shoulder.

"He is, but sooner or later, I'm just afraid he's going to snap and really go crazy." Ezra muttered.

Beth nodded understandingly. "Why don't you stay here tonight. Relax a bit."

He hesitated for moment and even he wasn't sure why. He nodded finally, commenting "I feel like I should be looking for him though."

"How?" she asked. "Knock on doors? Drive around aimlessly? Go to the hospital and see if he's there?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm not doing it." Ezra smiled weakly.

She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to remain supportive. "Hungry then?"

"Hm? No, not really" He muttered before a thought even entered his mind, "A beer would be great if you have any."

"Yep." She said, rubbing his shoulder again and getting up a little wobbly. "C'mon, you don't need to sit in here."

Ezra stood, wrapping his arm around her to support her as they walked.

"Thanks." she muttered softly, knowing her legs didn't nearly as bad as she was going to milk it.

"No thanks necessary." He pressed a kiss to her hairline.

"I'll be the judge of that." she smiled up at him. "I'll get your beer okay? And we'll think of a way to help Cris."

"Thank you." He said softly. He couldn't manage a smile or swallow the restless feeling in his bones, but he leaned down to kiss her and hoped that would suffice.

She returned the kiss happily for a moment before shifting to lean on the kitchen table. "He'll be fine."

"My lord, I hope so." Ezra said softly.

"Don't stress, hon." Beth said softly, moving over to fridge. "Don't think your bro would like you stressing."

"Course he wouldn't. We argued over that all the time." Ezra smiled weakly.

"He's older then you right?" She asked, getting his beer and opening it before handing it to him. "Was that hard growing up?"

"Surprisingly no, would have been hell growing up in my house without him." Ezra mused.

Beth raised an eye, probably not understanding why. "Oh." she sad simply. "Wouldn't have guessed."

"Our parents...never really wanted children. They liked the idea of children and then it was— oooh, they move? They cry? Damn...where can we put them? Cris stayed little forever though, they loved him until they realized it wasn't normal and then they were horrified."

Beth made a face. "Yeah he's childlike but it's cute. Nothing weird about it. Just kinda innocent."

"It's not normal for a 13 year old to be like that. Absolutely unacceptable. He can actually act normal sometimes but the fact that that was his usual personality started to scare them." Ezra elaborated.

"It should only have scared them if he was moody or violent or something." Beth muttered. "Even when he confronted with the needle earlier it's like being violent didn't even occur to him."

"He was never violent. They're just uptight and conservative. Having a son with something wrong with him made them lock us up instead of sending us away and honestly, I was happier that way. Me and Cris together instead of stuck with strangers."

She sat down at the table. "When did that change? Just get older and decide to move? Or after they sent him to the hospital."

"I grew up and moved and then they decided they were tired of taking care of him I guess." he sighed.

Beth made a noise. "All he needs is someone to help him cook. He might not be seriously independent but he's not a baby."

"I know." Ezra sipped his beer finally, "Shoulda taken him with me."

"You couldn't have moved out and supported both of you that fast. Would be too much for you." Beth said, trying to comfort him.

"Yeah...but we wouldn't be in this mess." he muttered.

"Yeah, but can you see yourself happy that way? Don't you think you'd have resented him a little bit?" she asked softly, aware of the sensitive topic.

"No. It probably sounds stupid but I really don't think I would." he shrugged.

"Okay." Beth said softly, letting that particular subject drop. "Hope they're at least in doors."

"That I can't think about or I'll be in my car driving around until I can't see straight." Ezra commented.

"I'm sure he's fine." she said quickly. "They wanted him back bad enough to break into my house. They wouldn't hurt him."

Ezra nodded "I just have a bad feeling that's all."

"Well, unless you know someone at his hospital that would give you some info, I don't think you'll find any comfort tonight." Beth muttered.

"I know." he nodded.

"You look like you could use a nap." she muttered.

"Or just an early night." He offered her a smile, "Don't think I'll be up for much tonight but what do you say?"

She nodded. "You need the rest, hon. Sides, you like sharing my room."

"I can't argue with that and I wouldn't try." he chuckled, holding his arm out to her "Come on."

She kissed his forehead and smiled. "Okay. Good sleep is what you need now."

"And company." he agreed, leading her back to her room.

"Mhm." Beth mumbled. "Everything will be better tomorrow."

Thanks for reading!

6kimiko6- I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I like giving character's interesting names. It's a trait that follows most of my stories. Cris is an odd one, but most enjoy him ^_^

SeasonsReasons- YES you finally know what Cris can do, now if only Ezra knew…

Silverbolts- right? Isn't he adorable. He's my favorite.