AN: Wow. Even after that line in the last chapter I only get 1 review? Well, then a huge thank you to abbstagirl, who is the only person who has reviewed so far. I love you. Let's just face it.

Anyways this is probably the longest chapter I will ever write. Hopefully there's something in here that will get you to review.

"I'm very sorry to see you go, Natara," Captain Yeong said. She gazed across her desk at the younger woman, taking in her appearance with concern. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her clothes were rumpled and wrinkled. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, indicating that she had been crying recently, and that concerned her the most.

"It's necessary, Captain," Natara replied, her voice thick. "Things have come up, and I just think it's in my best interests to go back to Miami." Captain Yeong nodded slowly.

"In that case, I wish you the best of luck," she said, rising to shake Natara's hand firmly. "It was a pleasure to have you work with my department, and if you ever decide you want to come back I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say that we would welcome you back with open arms." Natara nodded and left the office for the last time, thankful for the empty bullpen.

She crossed to her desk and began to listlessly pack her things away in a box. As she packed she came across an old newspaper clipping from when she and Mal caught the Maskmaker accompanied by a photo of the two of them, and she couldn't hold back the sob that escaped her lips.

"Natara?"

She spun, startled by the voice behind her. Amy's eyes landed on the box on the desk, filled with Natara's belongings.

"You're leaving?" Natara could only nod mutely, not trusting herself to talk. "Why? What happened? Is everything okay?"

Another sob escaped as Natara rested her hand on her still-flat stomach, tears pricking her eyes as she stared at Amy. Comprehension flickered across Amy's face, her eyes opening wide and her jaw dropping partway open.

"Natara..."

"No, Amy. Everything's not okay."

"You were pregnant?" Mal asked in a dazed voice.

"I'm sorry I never told you," Natara said, looking down guiltily. "I didn't want to keep her from you, or you from her. But I didn't want to ruin your career, and that was the only solution I could think of at the time. Looking back, I realize I could've done things differently, but I can't go back and undo what I did."

"You left because you thought it would ruin my career?" Mal demanded with a frown. Natara nodded. "But what about yours? I know you're not with the Bureau anymore. A kid wouldn't have ruined my career, but you let it ruin yours?" Natara scowled back darkly.

"I quit my job willingly," she said. "I left the Bureau because I didn't want something to happen that would leave my child to grow up without its mother. Everything I did was for Malia." At the sound of her name, Mal groaned and slammed his hand against the wheel.

"Ah, hell," he muttered darkly as they pulled into the lodge parking lot.

"What?"

"This means that two of my kids are missing in the woods."

Elsewhere:

"Well they couldn't have gotten far!" Malia jerked awake, barely stopping herself from screaming. Jared clapped a hand over her mouth, and she looked over at him, terror written clearly in her eyes. He raised a finger to his lips and she nodded. He lowered his hand and Malia crawled closer to the opening, peering out between the branches and leaves. The hunters were right by the burrow, and Malia almost squeaked in terror.

"With that current and those rocks? They were swept away and drowned. Their bodies will wash up eventually."

"You mean like Marvin? That will just lead them back here!" Schimmer bent closer to the ground, searching for tracks. "We keep looking. We'll head farther downstream and look for any sign of them there."

"And what then? If two cops just go missing, the department won't stop at anything until they figure out what happened. No doubt they've already started looking."

"Which is why we need to get to them first. We find them, we drown them if they're not already dead, and then we bring them back to the lodge saying that we found them in the river. They'll never suspect a thing." Schimmer stood and cocked his gun. "Let's go. We don't stop searching until there are two dead cops at my feet. They'll turn up eventually. Nobody just disappears."

Jared and Malia listened to the crunching of the hunters' boots as they left, letting out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding. Malia carefully pushed the brush and leaves aside, watching cautiously for any sign of the hunters. She pulled herself out of the burrow when she was sure they were gone and stretched her stiff limbs. Jared managed to pull himself out of the hole and stand up with Malia's help.

"How's your leg?" she asked quietly.

"It's alright, all things considered." He moved his leg slightly and couldn't hold back a hiss of pain. Malia's eyebrows knit together in concern, and she began to undo the makeshift bandage. The skin around the wound was bright red and inflamed, and Malia gritted her teeth.

"This is infected, Jared."

"No it's not," he insisted. But he knew it was infected; he'd known for hours. He could feel his temperature rising, a fever setting in, but he wouldn't tell her. He didn't want her to worry more about him.

Malia paced in front of him, one hand over her mouth. She really didn't like the idea of leaving him alone in the burrow, especially with the hunters still running around. But she couldn't just sit here while Jared's leg got worse and worse while they waited for help to come, and it had proven a safe place to hide so far. Either way, Jared was trapped here until help arrived; her looking for help was his best bet. With Malia's help, Jared was lowered back into the burrow.

"Are you coming?" he asked when she lingered outside. She knelt down by the hole and met his eyes.

"I'm going to look for help," she said. Jared shook his head and reached out to grab her arm as she started to stand up.

"No, you're not," he said. "Those psychopaths are still out there looking for us. They will not hesitate to kill you and bury your body someplace no one will find it. It's way too dangerous. Someone will find us eventually, okay?"

"That could take days," she said, a pleading tone leaking into her voice. "Besides, it was your idea for me to find help without you in the first place."

"Forget what I said!" he said angrily. "I will not let you put your life on the line for me." Malia reached down and pried his fingers off of her wrist and took a few steps back so he couldn't reach her.

"I'll be back," she promised him, then took off running into the forest.

Elsewhere:

Mal and Natara seemed to be glued to each other's sides. The officers searching the area around the path of the scavenger hunt had come back and informed them that they had found no sign of them. Mal decided to split everyone up into small groups and fan out in all directions; even so, it could take days to find them.

"Jared! Malia!" they called, straining their ears for any response. They could hear water running somewhere nearby, but other than that the forest was silent.

"So, whose idea was this?" Natara asked bitterly.

"Mayor Seth Holland thought it would be a good idea to send all the detectives on a retreat as part of his re-election campaign," Mal snarled. "The only upside I can find is that there won't be another detectives retreat for a long time after this."

"I'm just really, really worried about them," Natara confessed. "I-" A gunshot fired from far away, making both of them jump. Before Mal had a chance to stop her, Natara had turned on her heel and was sprinting in the direction of the shot.

Meanwhile:

Malia didn't dare to stop to rest as she tore through the forest as quickly as she dared. She hadn't known which way to go, but she had remembered seeing a river run by the lodge; following it was her only hope of getting out. Besides, Jared was counting on her. If there was ever a time not to screw up, it was now.

She paused as she passed a familiar landmark; hadn't she seen that bent pine tree when she had been following Jared? She continued on, making sure to place her feet carefully so she would make as little sound as possible. Still, as she made her way through the forest, she couldn't seem to piece together everything. The DAs had been executing people for weeks. So how had they gotten the victims up to the lodge? And how hadn't the employees of the lodge noticed?

Malia froze as she heard the click of a rifle being loaded. "Freeze, Malia," a trembling but familiar voice said. She raised her hands above her head, a feeling of dread settling in her stomach. Of course.

The last puzzle piece fell into place.

"Lindsey," she said as she slowly turned to her left. The woman held the rifle with shaking hands, leveled directly at Malia's chest.

"I can't let you walk out of this forest, Malia."

"You don't have to do this," Malia said, backing away slowly. Lindsey cocked the gun and raised the rifle to her eye.

"Don't move," she growled dangerously. Malia halted where she was, her heart hammering in her throat.

"I get it," she said. "I understand it, now. Rachel was your best friend, and you cared about her." She watched as Lindsey's face grew dark, and she knew she'd hit the nail on the head.

"She was just crossing the street," Lindsey choked out. "We were both in San Francisco and decided to meet at Starbucks, and that... that bitch came out of nowhere and hit her. She didn't even stop, didn't even care that she'd just killed someone!"

Malia slowly lowered her arms, reaching out for the gun with one hand. "And so you decided to make Meryl Vacek pay with her own life."

"Not me," Lindsey said. "Them. The hunters. I met them at a bar. They'd worked on Rachel's case, and were almost as pissed off as I was about the fact that it was thrown out on a technicality. They said they were sick of it, and they had an idea of how to fix it."

"Give me the gun, Lindsey."

"They were bored of everything there was to hunt. And there were bad people who needed to be punished. As they said: two birds, one stone."

"Lindsey, there's still hope for you. You didn't kill anyone. You can still have a life, but only if you give me the gun." Lindsey's eyes snapped up to meet Malia's.

"You know, I never hated you," she said. "I wanted to be like you. You had everything I wanted."

"Lindsey..."

"I never hated you," she continued, "until now. If I let you go, you ruin everything we've worked for." The gun stopped shaking, and Lindsey took careful aim. Before Malia had time to react, the shot had been fired and the bullet lodged itself in her left shoulder.

She was knocked off her feet, and Lindsey cocked the gun again. She scrambled to her feet and ran blindly through the forest. There were shouts of more voices, and she remembered belatedly that the hunters had been looking for them further down the river.

"Malia!"

"This way! She's over here!"

More gunshots rang out, and splinters from trees rained down on her. Her arm felt like it was about to fall off, but she pushed herself forward. She veered to the left, remembering what Jared had told her the last time they had been chased by the hunters. Her lungs burned as she continued to run, and she glanced back over her shoulder. Lindsey was the only one there. As she turned back around, she ran straight into Schimmer's waiting fist.

She fell to the ground, landing on her injured shoulder. Her head cracked painfully against a rock, and she couldn't do anything but lay there on the ground as her head swam. Schimmer grabbed a fistful of her shirt and yanked her into a sitting position. Lindsey kept the rifle trained on her as the other two hunters joined them.

"Where is he?" Schimmer demanded. "Where's the other one?"

"Not telling," she rasped. Schimmer backhanded her, and she cried out in pain.

"Tell me where he is!" He shook her a few times. She stared defiantly at him and pressed her lips tighter together. Schimmer reared back to punch her again, and she braced herself for the blow.

There was a click as a gun safety was removed. "Don't you even dare," a familiar voice snarled. Malia grinned as she caught sight of her mother and Captain Fallon, pointing both of their guns straight at Schimmer.

"Drop the guns," Mal said. The hunters slowly lowered their rifles to the ground and placed their hands on their heads. Mal collected them quickly.

"Now drop my daughter," Natara ordered. Schimmer growled as he released the clump of Malia's shirt he was holding and straightened up. Malia fell back against the leaves, too drained to hold herself up. Mal grabbed his cuffs and slapped them forcefully on Schimmer and Lindsey.

"I'll be right back," Mal said. "You think you can handle them while I'm gone?"

"I've got it, Mal," Natara replied, never taking her eyes off of the remaining hunters.

"I'll bring more detectives." Mal paused. "And more cuffs." Mal marched off with Schimmer and Lindsey, and Natara moved to her daughter's side.

"Mom, Jared's still out there," Malia said, struggling to pull herself up into a sitting position.

"I know." Natara kept her gun trained on Desir and Stark.

"He was shot," Malia said desperately. Natara looked down at her in alarm. "It was just a graze, but I think it got infected."

"Blackwell, where the hell is my son?" Mal called tensely as he re-emerged with Ken and a few paramedics.

"He was shot," Natara called back.

Mal swore under his breath. "Go get one of those off-road jeeps," he barked. The medic nodded and retreated back towards the lodge. "Malia, can you lead us to him?" Ken cuffed the other hunters and led them off.

"Yeah, 'course I can." Natara helped Malia stand. She swayed slightly, and winced when her shoulder was jostled a little too hard.

"Follow the river," she murmured, and took off into the woods at with surprising speed to get Jared.

Later:

A steady beeping drew Jared out of his dreams; he didn't have to open his eyes to know he was in a hospital. He was safe, then. Malia had found help. He shot up in bed. Malia. He didn't know where Malia was.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy," Mal said, gently pushing Jared down back into the bed. "You're fine."

"Malia," he croaked. "Where is she?"

"She's fine," Mal assured him. "She's talking with her mother right now, but she said she'd stop by later." Jared relaxed, and laid back in the bed. Malia was safe too.

Mal cleared his throat. "There's... There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about," he began. "It's about Malia." Jared tensed again.

"What is it?"

"Years ago, back before I married you mother, when I was still a detective, I slept with my partner." Jared groaned.

"Dad, I didn't want to hear that," he complained. "Besides, you and mom and I had that talk when I was fifteen. I don't need to hear it again."

"Just listen. It's important. Anyway, weeks later she left, and I only recently found out that it was because she was pregnant. She said she hadn't wanted to ruin my career. But anyway, when you were missing, her mother flew out to help us find you two, and I found out that Malia's mother was my old partner, Natara."

"What are you saying, Dad?" Jared asked slowly. "Are you telling me that Malia is my half-sister?" Mal hesitated before nodding.

"I only found out a few days ago myself."

"Um, I'm not too sure what to say." The door to Jared's room opened, and Malia stepped in. Her face and arms were cut up more than the last time Jared had seen her, and her arm was in a sling. She took a seat next to her bed while Natara lingered in the doorway.

"Hi, Jared," she said quietly. "I'm assuming they told you, too?" Jared nodded, and Malia slipped her hand into his.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing. Besides, you should be focused more on getting better." She grinned evilly before adding, "Baby brother." Jared rolled his eyes.

"You'd better not start calling me that," he said. "You are quite literally the older sister I never had... and never wanted." Malia gave him a gentle shove.

"Jerk."