Author's Note: So I've only just realized that I completely changed tenses after the first chapter…oops. I usually write in the first person but I had planned on using this as practice writing in second. Except I seemed to have forgotten that as I wrote chapter two. Again…oops… Well, I hope it didn't bother any of you too much! (No one mentioned it so I guess not!) Thank you all again so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them and I hope that my writing will continue to improve for all of you lovely readers! This chapter is safely back in the 'K' rated zone so no worries for anyone! Hope you all enjoy it and I plan on updating again soon!

XOXO - E

ALSO...VERY IMPORTANT! It has been brought to my attention that there was some issues with notifications being sent out by fanfiction net about updates so be sure you've read chapter 3! (Phryne's point of view!)

"Go home, Jack." Officer Johnson held my gaze, even as I turned to him with fire and anger in my eyes.

"What?!" I spat the words out, the blank scrap of paper in my hand crumbling as my fingers curled themselves into a fist. "She's out there, missing, in danger. For all we know she could be-" my voice cracked, as if it refused to admit that possibility aloud.

"I know. And right now there is nothing you can do."

"Nothing I can do?" I laughed without a hint of humor. "So because all our leads have gone cold I should just shrug my shoulders, trudge home and give up? I'm not going home until I find her and bring her safe and sound back to her family, Officer."

"I didn't mean to give up, sir. I only meant that your family planned on seeing you this evening. You should at the very least go and explain to them why you won't be perfectly lovely company during their stay here." Officer Johnson fiddled absentmindedly with the buttons on his coat. "Be with them while the lot of us do our jobs, sir. Or if you refuse to do that, take this poor girl home so she can sleep in her own bed." I glanced at Jane, fitfully sleeping in my desk chair. She had refused to leave my side the entire day and when Collins had gone to stay with Miss Williams as he left work for the evening, planning on watching over the house to protect its current inhabitants, he had attempted to bring her along. She had screamed and clung to me, giving my constable a rather remarkable scratch down his cheek as he got closer to the girl. I had looked into her eyes and seen it. The very thing that haunted me. As much as I knew she should have gone back under the watchful eye of Dorothy Williams or at the very least Mrs. Stanley, I had wanted her close to me as well. I had wanted her in my view at all times, the forlorn hope that perhaps I could at least protect her from the thing that went bump in the night if she stayed with me. In the same way that I needed my family nearby when part of it was in danger, she had wanted to be near me. Her family. It was selfish, but I had given in instantly and sent Collins off, keeping my little girl at my side. I should return her now. It was almost midnight. I weighed my options and sighed. None of them were good. How could they be? She was gone. Someone had taken her. She was in danger-maybe worse.

"Give me the copies Miss Williams made of everyone's notes." I gestured to the file to my Officer's right. "I'll take them with me. It isn't as though I'll get any sleep tonight, anyhow." Pleased at this compromise, Johnson nodded and handed me the notes. The moment Miss Williams had heard what was being done to recover her friend, she had insisted on helping. Hugh, however, hadn't wanted his girl anywhere near anyone who could be considered remotely suspicious. They too had come up with a compromise and Dorothy had taken on the job of typing up all of my constables' notes in duplicate so that we could have every bit of information we currently possessed all together. I walked over to Jane and gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Janie, it's time to go home." Even stumbling out of sleep she was adamantly against this.

"No, Jack, please. Don't make me go back."

"Hugh is there and I've got two other constables who will be driving by now and then to check on the place."

"It's not that." She whispered softly.

"Then what is it?" I asked, kneeling down beside her and holding her hand in mine.

"Dot is trying so hard to make me feel safe and I understand why and I appreciate it," She assured me adamantly. "But she treats me like a child and refuses to talk to me about what may be going on. And Mr. Butler just keeps cooking so much food because he doesn't know what else to do and keeps saying that we need to keep our strength up but they're both acting as thought she's dead and I don't want to think that way. I know she isn't dead. I know she's fighting and trying to get back to us. It's Miss Phryne!" She was reflecting my thoughts exactly. When we'd gone over to interview the family earlier today after Jane had burst into the station I had noticed the exact same thing and had hurried to get out of there myself. "And I don't want to be too far away from you." She added softly. "I know I'm just some kid off the street and that you don't have to care about me at all, but you're like a papa to me and I love you and I am so afraid that I will lose my family and with Miss Phryne missing…" She trailed off. My heart swelled and broke all at once. I knew precisely how she was feeling, I was feeling the same way. But her papa? I couldn't be more proud.

"Janie. Don't ever think that you are just some kid off the street to me. I love you so much and I would be prouder than anything to be your papa." She smiled shyly and threw her arms around my neck.

"Can I come home with you tonight?" She begged desperately. "Please? I can't bear anything else." Melodramatic or not, how could I refuse?

"I was planning on staying with my parents at their suite Windsor tonight. I had promised to stop by and my father had said he wouldn't turn in for the night until he saw me and knew I was fine. Would you mind horribly staying with me there?"

A/N: Yay potential Jane/Jack/Jack's family Bonding time! I hope you all enjoy this fic and please, please, pretty please with cherries on top review! Do you love it? Hate it? What do you like, what needs improvement, and where do you want this story to go? I love you all! Hope you are managing this seemingly endless MFMM Hiatus as well as possible! XOXO E