Alan sat on the edge of the bed, flipping carefully through a photo album. Most police men had disappeared from the crime scene, besides the few who were now officially assigned to the case. Yet, even these men seemed to have disappeared, taking statements from anyone who might know anything, verifying documents, etc. He glanced at the clock without reading it, but knew his family would be showing up soon enough.

"Kathryn's going to freak out when she sees you've been looking through her albums." Alan looked up to see a worn, but healthier looking Benjamin at the door. "She hates when people look through them without her to explain every single picture." He went to sit down next to Alan, careful to not step on the broken glass scattered around the carpet. That was going to be a pain to clean up later. Ben figured, once they found her and she was safe, he'd head home with her for a while, till they got things to settle down. He wondered if Princeton would allow them off campus housing in light of the situation, at least for the rest of this year. It never occurred to Ben that Alan was thinking about taking her home too.

"I needed something to do," Alan told him, closing the book. The pictures were high school ones, a mixture of what looked to be class assignments and just daily life. He'd never actually seen the boarding school Kathryn had called her home for four years. It was actually very pretty and what looked to be a wide campus.

"And it's always great to get a blast from the past." Ben added "Does it help, looking at the pictures. Does it ease the worry?" Alan shook his head. "Thought so. But you should keeping looking at it, it'll help you catch up."

"What do you mean?"

"I always felt that one of the reasons Kathryn got so into photography, was because it was a way to make a visual record of everything and keep it in one place. Like a journal, or diary. I've always thought you were meant to see them, so that you knew what you missed. All she's ever wanted was to be a part of the family." Alan looked away, knowing the significance of those words. Ben would know best, and that killed Alan.

"Sophomore year, good times." Ben had taken the album and was looking through it. "I remember this. It's the first day back picnic. Same day the swim team dumped her into the pool. She was so mad I hadn't told her before hand, but she'd been the one to refuse jumping in to begin with. She refused to develop the pictures I took of her. Or talk to me." Ben chuckled at the high school memory. Kathryn had been mad at him, since he was on the swim team and therefore in on it, but since he'd kept her camera safe from the water, she wasn't as mad. He turned the pages and pointed out another picture to Alan.

"Homecoming," he explained "That's the idiot your sis said yes to." Alan gave him a questioning look. The dark hair guy in the picture looked rather harmless, even if his hand was a little too low for his liking. "Jock, hard headed, can't take no for an answer. I got detention for a month, but it was worth it. Broke his nose too." Alan inferred what had happened. And though he got angry at the idea of some guy trying a move on his baby sister, he was more upset by the fact that he hadn't known. Hadn't been able to do something about it. Rationally though, even if she had stayed a Tracy, Alan still would have been in college and she still would have been in boarding school. Alan still would have been unable to do anything. Alan looked at Ben, jealous that in some way, he had taken their place as a brother.

"Thanks" Ben looked up from the pictures, confused. He hadn't noticed that Alan had been looking at him for awhile as he walked down memory lane. "For being there for her. For doing what I couldn't, watching out for her. It's obvious she trusts you a lot." Ben nodded.

"She's my best friend," Ben told him. "Don't worry though, I've never replaced you. The five of you'll always be her big brothers." The two guys sat in silence, because there was nothing more to be said.

"Alan" They both turned their heads towards the door.

"Scott?" Alan called out, unsure if he had his oldest brother. Scott Tracy peered into the room they were in before turning towards the hall.

"In here!"

Scott stood in the doorway, looking into the dorm room, the mess it was in. He grimaced, because seeing the reality was worse than imagining it. Alan stood up from the bed and made his way towards his brother. Ben stayed put, observing the new comer. So this was the oldest of the Tracy siblings. He was definitely taller in person, not as bulky looking than the pictures he had seen. He had a stern look to him, and his brown hair was short in what Ben considered a business-like cut, but Ben could see the worry in his brown eyes.

"You're alright?" Scott asked Alan, looking at his younger brother. Alan nodded. "Good. We came as fast as we could, but Dad didn't want to fry Tracy One's engines by pushing her more."

"It's fine. You haven't missed much. They have no leads or anything. We've just been waiting." Ben saw Scott's eye look at him and figured he might as well introduce himself. His ma' would throttle him for not having good manners. And she always found when he wasn't on his best behavior. It scared him, but fascinated Kathryn who was never on the receiving end of the glare. Ben didn't think it was fair, since Kathryn had spent three years at an English finishing school and had her manners in line like no other person. One of the reasons his mom liked her so much.

"Ben," he said, extending a hand, trying to not smile from his thoughts. Scott took it, and they shook. Each side noticed the firmness of the other's grip.

"Scott Tracy."

"Come on Scott, move out of the door," John Tracy spoke behind his brother. Ben let go and stepped aside so Scott could step aside. He could tell who the other brothers were almost immediately. The red head was Gordon, the calm blond was John. Ben looked at the two blond brothers, noticing they both had blue eyes. But that's about where the similarities ended, since John was lean where as Alan had some muscle. He noticed as both newly arrived brothers looked at the havoc around the room. While Gordon's fists tightened at his side, John's jaw clenched.

"When I get my hands on that bastard," Gordon's voice was low and threatening.

"Get in line," Ben told him, drawing the attention of the two brothers.

"Guys, this is Ben," Alan introduced. "He's gone to school with Kathryn since high school. Johnson hit him behind the head when he tried to go warn her." Alan was attempting to calm his brothers' thoughts about Ben. He wanted them to know that Ben was absolutely not the issue in this problem. He could already sense Scott's dislike for him.

"Your sister is my best friend," Ben said. Part of him wanted to say girlfriend, but despite wanting to bother these guys, he didn't really know where his relationship with her stood, officially. Ben also held back a grin when he saw the other 3 brothers stiffen slightly at his words. They obviously didn't know who he was as well as they should have.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Scott said stiffly.

Alan sighed. "Scott, he knows." All brothers looked at Alan then at Ben who stood confidently as he was being scrutinized.

"What do you know," John asked in a thoughtful manner.

"I know everything about Kathryn, sometimes too much honestly." He could see Scott relax slightly and grinned. "Unless you're asking about the 'family business '. You know the project your dad started about 3 years ago? Or is it four?" Even Alan got a surprised look on his face.

"Good," John finally said, and moved towards Ben. John was slightly taller, but there were far enough apart to see eye to eye.

"What do you mean John?" Alan asked. "Isn't it not good? Doesn't it defeat the purpose of a family secret if non-family knows?"

"Non-family does know," John reminded him. "Our agents know, Lady Penelope knows and so do Parker and Tin-Tin and Kyrano. They're all non-family by a legal viewpoint. What I mean was that it's good Kathryn found someone she could trust. That even with everything that has happened, to her, she's happy. That there was someone who could to what we've failed to do." There was an evident pain in his voice as he stuck out his hand for Ben to shake. Ben took it, but he couldn't help feeling angry at these people.

"You Tracys are all the same," He told them. "Just because you aren't around, it doesn't mean you've stopped being family. She'd never replace you with me, just as how you'd never replace her with someone else. Kat loves you guys too much to do that. All she's wanted was to be one of you, a Tracy. Yeah, I've been with her since high school, sat with her through the nightmares, the panic, and the worry. I've seen her work so hard, trying to prove something to someone." His voice had risen slightly. "She talks about you like heroes, but you can't even manage a call once in a while? She's watched every mission, seen disaster after disaster and heard nothing from you. I don't know how or why she keeps worshipping you though." Ben realized his rant might not be a coherent on, but years of resentment were start to spill over. And it was causing his head to hurt. Maybe it hadn't been so smart to come straight here after having his skull hit. "So stop being sorry about it and do something!" With that, he grabbed his jacket and walked out of the dorm, needing some time to cool off.

"He's right," Gordon finally said. "First thing we're doing is getting her back. Then to hell with your rules, I'm done with them," he said pointedly to Scott and John, who nodded absently in agreement.

"So you boys are all here," the family patriarch stepped into the scene, followed closely by an officer. "Meet Sg. Lukeson, he's in charge of the case. He's aware of the situation and has agreed to keep it confidential." The men nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry boys, we have everything under control. Cameras showed us the car and plates your siblings were put in and I've already put out an alert. If they're still in New Jersey, we'll find them." No one asked the underlying situation, because no one wanted to know the truth. What if they were in New Jersey?

Kathryn stumbled back into the cellar, the door slamming behind her. She let out a shaky breath before Virgil was at her side. "Kathryn," he said to grab her attention as he looked her over. She looked okay, besides the way she clutched the arm of her hurt shoulder. "What happened? Did they hurt you?"

Slowly, Kathryn shook her head, but Virgil could see something was off. He led her away from the door and towards the little light they had. She sat down, wrapping her jacket closer to her. Virgil noticed the inscription B. Benedict over the Princeton logo.

"I'm never wearing shoes," she said so softly he almost missed it. Virgil sat next to her, their knees touching like they once had as kids. "I'm never wearing shoes," she repeated and looked at him. He could see how scared she was. "In the nightmares, I'm never wearing shoes. But I'm not dreaming anymore, right Virgil?" she asked before breaking down. Virgil was stunned, mostly because this was the second time tonight he'd seen her cry. Kathryn never cried.

"It's going to be okay," Virgil tried to reassure her as he hugged his little sister. He tried to comfort her, remembering the old days and wishing this was just a bad dream.

"No it's not Virgil. He's crazy. All he wants is revenge. He's already h-hurt Ben. He'll st-stop at n-nothing to get what he wants." She had calmed down since the tears had stopped.

"How do you know about Ben?" Virgil asked.

"Johnson told me. He hit Ben with the butt of his gun. Left him lying on the floor unconscious." Kathryn had started to tremble. Virgil didn't try to tell her he was lying. While she was gone, he remembered hearing about this guy on the news. Wanted in 17 states for rape, murder, grand theft, assault and battery. On the FBI's most wanted in America list, if caught, he was going to see about seven life term arrests. Assuming he wasn't prosecuted in a death sentence state.

"What else did they tell you?" Virgil asked. Kathryn didn't respond which worried him. "Kathryn, what else did he say?" he pressed harder.

Kathryn leaned her head on her brother's shoulder. "Nothing," she quietly told him.

Virgil looked down at her. "Kathryn…" he started, seeing how tired she looked.

"What isn't new Virgil?" she told him before he could go on. "I remember everything about the night 11 years ago." This surprised Virgil. As far as he was aware, Kathryn hard woken up in the hospital without recollection of the past 8 hours. All she remembered was the beginning of the kidnapping, being shoved into the box that had meant to be her coffin. He wondered if being put into the similar situation had been the trigger. She buried her face in his shoulder and Virgil felt her tremble as he wrapped an arm around her.

He held her, offering the comfort he knew she needed. Virgil started humming the song their mom used to sing when they were sad or hurt. Even though Kathryn didn't have the memories of her song like he did, Virgil had made it his mission to sing it to his siblings after their mother's death. To keep her alive in a small way. Virgil looked down at Kathryn to see if she'd fallen asleep, but found her looking out into nothing with an odd expression on her face.

"Did I push you away?" Kathryn finally asked quietly. The question surprised Virgil as he looked down at his little sister.

"What? No, of course not Kat," he said as she sat up to look at him. "As a kid you always wanted to be hang out with one of us, even if we didn't want you too," he said a smiled a little. "In no way did you ever push us away. You might have been a little distant the last time we saw each other, and I have no idea how you didn't lose it with Gordon, but that's our fault. Us being estranged, it's not your fault. Understand?" Kathryn nodded slowly, processing her brother's words.

"It's going to be okay," Virgil told her. "You're going to be okay. I'll make sure of it," he promised.

"I know you'll try," Kathryn told him.

The unsaid words hung in the air. Trying wasn't the same as succeeding.

A/N: The Clash of Kathryn's Men. It's probably what I would have called the chapter if I named them. Or something along those lines.