Dov was leading Chloe out of the hospital waiting room when Wes came up to meet them before they left.
"Hey, Chloe. Wait a minute. I just wanted to say thank you for today."
Chloe nodded and tried to smile a little. "Yeah, sure. But anybody would have done it."
"Yeah, of course. But it was you and she's my partner. She's like a little sister to me and when I needed somebody, when she really needed somebody, you were there. If not … we probably wouldn't be here right now. So, thank you."
"You're welcome, Wes. Oh, a bit of advice. When she's cleared, if she's like me at all, she'll be ready and rearing to go. So, don't try to overprotect her."
"Right. Hey, I learned my lesson on overprotection when I lost you. Speaking of, did I hear correctly that you're getting married tomorrow?"
Dov wrapped his arm around Chloe a little tighter and she lit up for the first time in a while. "We are," Chloe confirmed.
"Good, I'm happy for you guys. I'm sure you'll take care of her Epstein."
"I will."
"Alright," Wes said, "I'll let you guys go, you two have a big day tomorrow, I'm assuming."
They said goodbye and wished Luck their best again and finally left to go home for the night.
Dov woke up that morning in the living room. Chloe, being not one for traditions, surprised Dov when she insisted that they not see each other before the ceremony. So, she took the bed and bedroom, and Dov crashed on the couch. Chris was already up and fixing up some breakfast in the kitchen.
Dov staggered in sat down at the table. "You're up awful early."
Chris set some coffee down in front of Dov and poured himself a cup. "Chloe," he pointed towards her and Dov's room, "she's been up longer than I have. But it's my job to get you to the church on time and in one piece so I figured I should be ready."
"True. And you're off to a great start," Dov said indicating the coffee in front of him and the breakfast being prepared.
Chris scooped some eggs and bacon on to a plate for Dov and said, "Eat up. We have just enough time to get ready and out of here before the girls show up.
Dov didn't need to be told twice.
Meanwhile at the Swarek household, Andy was putting the finishing touches on her look when Sam returned from dropping Boo off at the sitters. It didn't take him long to put his suit on and get ready to go.
The plan was Andy would drive over to Chloe's and he'd get a ride from Oliver and Celery to the church where he'd meet back up with Andy. But, as luck, or the lack there of, would have it, there was a glitch.
Sam's phone rang and it was a number he didn't recognize immediately. "Hello?"
"Is this Detective Sam Swarek?"
"Yeah, who is this?"
"This is Officer Reeves, Hamilton P.D. We've got a bit of a situation down here."
Sam walked into the spare room that doubled as an office, shut the door, and walked over to look out the window.
"What kind of situation are we talking about?"
"It's about your daughter, and her mother."
"What happened?"
"We went to Ms. Cruz's house on a call from her. She said her child was missing."
"Mia! Is she all right?" Sam's heart leaped into his throat.
"She's fine, sir. She was at her daycare. Apparently, MS. Cruz had forgotten that she dropped her off already."
"Okay, so what's wrong?"
"Well, I'm one of the officers that responded, and her house is a complete mess. Junk everywhere. Not garbage, but just stuff. Lots of pictures, paper, files, like that."
"She's bipolar. But she's fine with her medicine."
"Right, about that. When we were looking around the place for your daughter, I saw some medicine bottles on the counter and drew the conclusion that she suffered from Bipolar disorder based on the Prozac and the state of the place. It wasn't a safe place for such a young child and we had to call in Family Services."
"So, Mia's with them and you're giving me a heads up as a professional courtesy?"
"They're on their way. Right now, Your child is still at the day care. According to Ms. Cruz you are a legal guardian of Mia so Family Services will be calling you soon hoping you can take custody of her."
"I appreciate it, officer. How's Marlo?"
"The big problem is we are pretty sure she's off her meds. The prescription was dated two months ago. She had a lot of anxiety, of course, but she didn't show enough signs of a mental break to put her on a 72-hour hold. She understands Family Services is coming in but we haven't told her yet that your daughter can't stay here."
"I understand. I'll start heading down there, then. And I'll expect a call from Family Services."
"I'll let them know you're on your way, Detective."
"Yeah, Thanks again, Officer."
Sam hung up and turned around to see Andy standing in the now open door.
"Sam?"
"How much of that did you hear?"
"Most of it. Sam, what happened?"
Sam sat her down on the bed and took a seat next to her to explain.
Sam dropped Andy off at Chloe's and called Oliver and told him he wouldn't need that ride before heading out of town. Normally he'd turn some music on but instead he made the drive in silence. Just him and his thoughts. His worries.
This was at least Marlo's second break if it was as bad as Reeves made it sound. Her odds of being allowed to keep Mia were not good, right now. But equally important was figuring out some way that she would stay on her meds and avoid these things from happening before she could begin worrying about getting custody of Mia back.
All of that ran laps around Sam's mind the way down to Hamilton, which was dragged out by heavier-than-usual traffic.
Just outside of Hamilton he took another call from a number he didn't know. The caller identified herself as Lisa Brown from Family services and they arranged to meet at Mia's daycare.
Sam got there about 10 minutes later and pulled in next to a woman in business dress leaning against her car.
Sam got out and shook her hand. "Sam Swarek, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." She appraised his suit. "That's a bit facy for duty. Even for a detective."
"Actually, I was planning on going to my partner's wedding today.
"Oh, I'mso sorry, I wasn't trying to make light of this."
"Nah, it's fine. Don't worry."
"Right. Well, as I'm sure you know, this isn't Ms. Cruz's first break. Her file show one a couple years ago, while on the job in Toronto."
"Yeah, that's when we were dating. It was the beginning of the end but she'd already gotten pregnant with Mia."
"AS I understand it, you share custody and have joint guardianship."
"Yah, but Mia spends most of the time with Marlo. She had a steady job and schedule. It was a better environment for her."
"Sure, sure, I get it. But that isn't the case anymore. Officer Reeves told me he gave you a pretty good picture of Ms. Cruz's residence."
"Yeah, I've seen that before. But she was doing so good for so long after that break. And she had Mia to stick on track for."
"Apparently one of her investigations got out of hand."
Sam sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. When she got a gut feeling she wouldn't let it go. It's helped out before."
"But, not today. Forgive me for saying this if it sounds insensitive, I don't mean it to be," Ms. Brown said. "If she hadn't had the break today and called in the report that Mia was missing, if the police didn't enter her apartment and see everything, it was probably only a matter of time until Mia got hurt in one way or another living there."
It hurt to hear, but Sam knew she was only trying to be honest. And that was more important then trying to protect feelings right now. "So about Mia, what's going to happen?"
"Well, we'll check her out of here today. And then she'll go home with you and stay with you and your wife for a while."
Sam realized he had been rubbing his wedding ring ever since he shook the social worker's hand.
"In time, and after many checks," Ms. Brown continued," we'll make a determination if Ms. Cruz is able to have any custody over Mia. Until then, any contact between mother and daughter needs to be under your supervision. I know this must be a hard, uncomfortable time for you-"
"But Mia's needs come first."
"Good. Then we're all on the same page with everything."
Sam nodded.
"Okay, let's get you your daughter."
Gail knocked on the door to the Diaz/Epstein/Price apartment and Andy opened up the door.
"Gail, you're a lifesaver for driving today."
"Well, I was on-the-fence, but she convinced me," Gail pointed to her right and Holly stepped out from behind the wall into the door way.
Andy didn't remember her name immediately, but Holly supplied it.
"Holly. That's right. I'm so sorry," Andy said.
"Don't worry about it, I don't think we ever officially met, just in passing."
"So are you back in the City for good?"
"Kind of. Orillia for now."
"Orillia? Are you with the OPP now?"
"Nailed it. Yeah, I'm up there in their forensics division. Just hired actually. Haven't started yet but I'm excited."
"She's not the only one excited," Gail said.
"I bet."
"Where's Traci?", Gail asked.
"I don't know," Andy said. "She called me this morning and said she'd meet us at the church. Something about having to make a stop first."
"Huh, okay then. Should we see if the bride is ready yet?"
"I think she's getting close."
Gail looked at her phone. "Well, I guess we have a little time. And based off the last division wedding, we have plenty of time before it gets too late."