"Does Noah's mom interview a lot of kids in this room?" Colton's eyes flicked around at the cozy decor surrounding them. Colton was in that weird age. The one where a kid isn't really a child anymore, but not yet a teenager. They may have given up some babyish things, but still clung to others. It was a weird phase. One that complicated an adult's ability to find connections with a child who wasn't quite a child, but not quite grown up.

"Yeah, it's a little more comfortable than the other interview rooms." Elliot leaned back in the chair he sat in.

"Probably better than the interrogation rooms," Colton joked lightly.

Elliot rewarded him with a warm smile. Colton seemed hesitant, but maybe he could make him feel safe enough to talk about what he witnessed in the woods. "Yeah the interrogation rooms are no fun. It's always cold there, and the chairs suck."

"These don't suck," Colton bounced a little on the chair before leaning back, mimicking Elliot's position.

"Nah, we put the good stuff in the kids' interview room."

Colton looked around at the different toys, puzzles, and art items. "Does it help?" Colton's wide eyes fell on Elliot. "You know," he gestured towards the toys. "Does it help kids talk about the hard stuff?"

Elliot looked around, "Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes it helps distract from the scary stuff kids experience."

"Have you talked to a lot of kids?" Colton asked.

"Lots. I worked with Noah's mom for a long time," Elliot answered.

Colton continued to look around the room, and eventually he spotted the puzzles. "Wanna do a puzzle?" He asked shyly.

"Sure. I'm warning you. I'm pretty bad at them," Elliot chuckled, and followed Colton over to the shelves that housed the puzzles.

Colton ran his fingers over the different boxes, "It's okay. I'm great at them." He finally pulled one carefully from the shelf, and handed it to Elliot. Elliot placed it on the table, and they sat next to each other before dumping the contents of the box.

Colton immediately started picking through. Elliot followed suit, poking around at the pieces, not certain what he was looking for. Colton seemed to sense Elliot's uncertainty and gave him instructions. "Help me find all the edge pieces first, and then we can sort out the others." It has been years since he'd done puzzles with the kids, and they were never really into them. That was an obvious first step, but his ineptitude gave Colton more confidence.

"Got it," Elliot responded. "I never really did puzzles with my kids."

"You have kids?" Colton asked as he picked up another edge piece.

"Yeah. Five," Elliot said with nonchalance.

Colton did a double take. "Five? I thought our family was big with three kids!"

"Haha yeah five. I had a set of twins too, but they were boy/girl twins." Elliot picked up a couple pieces and separated them from the main pile.

"That's cool. Sometimes I think a sister would be cool, but I think my mom is really okay with our 'boy family'." Colton linked a couple pieces together.

"Girls are great. I had some of both." Elliot kept the conversation light, but started moving it along. "How did you and your brother get interested in science?"

"Mom and Dad. They made sure we started STEM early. They are both scientists, well kinda. My dad says psychology is a "soft science"" he shrugged his shoulders, "whatever that means."

Elliot chuckled, and handed him a piece to fit into the ones he already pieces together. "What's been your favorite science subject to study?" Elliot added another edge into his pile.

"Well," Colton hesitated, and kept his eyes focused on the puzzle. "I really like biology. I kinda want to be a doctor or a vet or something like that. Jace likes to figure out how tech works, but I like knowing how living things work I guess."

"That's really cool," you two are some pretty smart kids.

Colton shrugged. "It's fun to learn stuff like that." He pieced another section together.

Elliot could feel Colton pulling away. This was a delicate dance, and pushing too hard would make him shut down, but not pushing hard enough would lead them nowhere. Elliot pulled back a little. "Do you have a favorite animal? Like one you'd like to study more?"

The light returned to Colton's eyes. "I like sea animals. The foreign ecosystems are really interesting." Elliot smiled to himself. It was like he was talking to a little scientist. "It's hard to pick a favorite animal, but I really like orcas."

"Oh yeah? Any reason why?" Elliot asked.

"Well they look really cool," Colton started, "and they're really smart. Some scientists think they are as emotionally intelligent as humans." He smiled shyly, "that's why my mom likes them too. She says their emotions are just as complex as ours, and they have families and stuff."

"I didn't know that. It's pretty amazing."

"Yeah," Colton's eyes drifted back to the puzzle on the table as he reached aimlessly for a piece. "That's why I really wanted to do this whole camp out thing. I wanted to learn more about the plants and animals and stuff."

"That didn't turn out the way any of us wanted, did it?" Elliot knew he would need to give up a piece of himself in favor of gaining a little more trust. "I wanted to go up and spend some time getting to know Noah better."

"Yeah," Colton agreed but smiled wryly. "Are you dating Noah's mom?"

Elliot couldn't help but chuckle at the mischief in the boy's voice. "Did Noah tell you to ask that?"

"No. We were all kinda wondering, you know, me, Jace, and.." he stammered…"and Clem."

Elliot dropped a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. They were inching closer and closer to what the team needed to know. Elliot knew he needed to build a little more trust. "I don't actually know."

Colton made a face, "How can you not know? Seems like something you should know."

"You're right. I should know, huh?" Elliot chuckled at the kid's candor.

"I mean it's a simple you are or you aren't right?" Colton picked up a puzzle piece and hooked it onto another.

If it were only that simple…"Grown up relationships can be….hard, and sometimes a little complicated."

"Well. Noah likes you so you shouldn't worry about that." Colton provided some much needed reassurance on a relationship he was tenuously building.

"Yeah?" Elliot said hopefully.

"Oh yeah, no doubt." Colton motioned for Elliot to hand him another puzzle piece. "I think we found all the edges. Help me get the outside pieces together.

"'Kay," Elliot replied. "I'm glad you and Jace are his friends. Noah's mom said kids had given him a hard time in the past, and that it's gotten better since you all became friends."

"It's so dumb. Noah kept getting picked on because he likes to dance. I mean, it's not my thing, but why can't he like it? He works harder at it than a lot of the other boys do in their sports. It's dumb that they were so mean to him. He told me Lucas was the worst…" Colton's narrative tapered off.

Elliot tread carefully. "It was really brave of you to stay in that tent in order to keep Danny safe."

Colton shrugged and his eyes fell to the floor. He bit his lip, and Elliot knew he was trying not to cry. "Elliot," he said softly. His large dark eyes lifted to Elliot's, "I know you need to know what happened that night, and I think…I think I'm ready to talk about it now."

Elliot sent a silent prayer heavenward. They could finally find out what happened. And hopefully, in the course of the investigation, they could help Colton heal.

-000-

"Velasco!" Churlish called.

He quickly jumped up and hurried to her desk. "Whatcha got?" He asked anxiously.

"Go get the Captain, I got two potential NCMEC hits."

Without saying anything, Velasco hurried away to update his Captain.

-000-

"Damn," Olivia muttered as she compared the two profiles. Both looked so damn similar.

"I know," Churlish commiserated. "The profiles are so similar. I couldn't definitively rule one out."

Olivia leaned in closer, looking carefully at the stats, and abduction dates and locations. They were eerily similar, and both were taken within the time frame they anticipated.

"Find anything to tease out Moore's previous identity?" She directed the question towards Velasco.

"Not really. The federal programs are being laggy today. I'm tempted to contact their tech support because it's really cutting into our investigation." Velasco shook his head angrily.

Liv waved him off. "Be patient, and keep looking. He has to be in there somewhere." He had to be. No one changes their identity for no reason, and nobody runs around with a potentially kidnapped child with that alternate persona.

"I'll get back to it." He jogged back to his desk and trained his eyes on his computer screen.

"Think we could request a DNA sample from the two potential matches? Maybe we get lucky?" Churlish smartly suggested.

"Yes." Olivia agreed readily. "See if you can set something up. Looks like one is native to the city, but the other is out of state. I'll make some calls on the out of state one, and see what you can find with the one here in New York."

"Got it Captain." Churlish began searching for contact information for the precinct who took the initial report.

As she clicked through a few screens she asked, "Stabler, get anything from the kid yet?"

"Colton?" Liv clarified.

Churlish nodded.

"I have only been able to check in. I have had to rotate between him and Fin's interview with Marcus. Stabler's playing the long game and working slow."

"And how's Fin fairing?" Churlish hit the print button so she could have a physical copy of the police report and the contact information.

"They are in a lock jam right now. The lawyer won't let Moore talk until they consult so Fin is stuck babysitting outside the door while they chat out whatever the hell his excuse for all of this might be."

"So frustrating," Churlish muttered.

"Don't I know it," Olivia returned. "Email me the other profile, and I'll get started on that after I check in on Stabler."

"You got it," Churlish said, returning her focus to her computer screen.

She called over to Velasco, "Find me the second you find anything."

"On it boss." He ducked his head back down and Olivia made her way to the one way glass of the children's interview room.

She watched as Elliot worked on a puzzle with Colton. She flipped the audio on so she could hear if he was able to get Colton to talk to him.

She smiled when she realized they were talking about whales. Working with children was definitely an exercise in patience, and Elliot was surprisingly phenomenal at it. It really shouldn't surprise her. For at least two years he had been waiting (more or less patiently) in the wings for her to be ready for something more.

They had crossed a line in the woods, one they had been skirting around for far too long. They had been waiting for the right timing, but the right timing probably shouldn't have been on a tarped tent floor in the middle of a search for a missing child, but it happened. Problem was, now there hadn't been a good moment to talk about what it meant.

They had been on this edge for so long, and she finally felt ready to let them topple over that cliff together. Unfortunately, this case had driven them all down a dark chasm that required their unrequited attention.

Her focus shifted back to Elliot and Colton when someone said something about "Noah's mom".

Just as she tried to listen to what was being said, Velasco burst into the observation room. "I found him!" He blurted, a little breathless.

"Seriously!?" She yanked the paper from his hand, but her ears perked when she heard a piece of the conversation coming through the speakers.

"I know you need to know what happened that night, and I think…I think I'm ready to talk about it now."