"Why don't we take a break here?" said Linda. "It's been rough and I think we could all use one."

"We can't stop now," said JB. Why couldn't Linda understand how important this was? "I can't help Sam if I don't know what happens to her."

"I'm not suggesting we stop altogether," she said. "We can come back once we've all had some time to process everything."

"No." How could she expect him to sit around and stew in everything he'd just witnessed? "You can leave if you want, Linda, but we're—"

"Kevin needs a break too," she interrupted.

"What?" said Kevin. "No, I'm—" Linda cleared her throat and gave Kevin a pointed look. He blinked, shot a glance at JB, then said, "Now that you mention it a break would be nice."

Hadley nodded emphatically. "I agree."

Unbelievable. They were doing this because they all thought JB needed a break. "I'm fine," JB said, but even he knew this was a lie. Of course he wasn't fine. But that was why he needed to keep watching. "The sooner we see what happens, the sooner we can help Sam," he said.

"But isn't this a time hollow?" Linda pointed out. "So what does 'soon' even mean?"

Okay, so maybe Linda understood things better than he'd thought. Still, "We'd have to leave the time hollow if we want a break. There's no such thing as 'rest' here."

"All the more reason to step out," said Hadley. "Take a minute to breathe."

JB tried to argue again, but it proved futile. He was outnumbered. "Okay, fine. Five minutes tops," he said begrudgingly.

"An hour," Linda countered. JB gritted his teeth and scowled at her. Who did she think she was, dictating things like she owned the place?

Hadley must have sensed the tension rising again because he quickly stepped in and declared, "Thirty minutes. We'll go back to the Skidmores' for thirty minutes and then we'll come back to watch the rest."

...

Kevin wouldn't admit it, but he was glad for the break. He definitely didn't need one as badly as JB, but it felt nice to be back home where time moved at a regular pace.

When they arrived in the living room, the house was nearly empty. Katherine was at Chip's with Alex, Jordan, Gavin, and Daniella. Angela, the Correro kids, and Virginia were back at Hadley's, and Dad had left to pick up groceries. It was just Jonah, Andrea, Emily, and Ming sitting on the living room sofa in front of the TV. They'd left Andrea's parents' house because of a power outage.

"We were in the middle of watching Star Trek and then, poof. No power!" Emily complained.

"Yes, tragic indeed," Ming said sarcastically. "You've only seen that episode a hundred times already."

Jonah paused their show and asked JB, "So what did you learn?"

"Nothing helpful yet," JB lamented. "I suggested we watch until we get some answers, but I've been outvoted."

"We're just taking a break," Mom said. "We saw some pretty heavy stuff." She went straight into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. "Tea, anyone? There's lemon ginger, chamomile, rose blossom, peppermint…" She gave JB a knowing look, but he didn't bite.

"Rose blossom, thanks," he said flatly. Mom shrugged and opened the tea cupboard. "Anyone else?"

"Chamomile, please," said Andrea, and she joined Mom behind the counter to lend a hand. "Jonah, you want chamomile too?"

"With two sugars," Jonah said. "Thanks." Then he turned to JB again and asked, "Want to catch me up on what you saw in there?"

Kevin recognized this trick. Jonah did it all the time whenever he sensed someone was unhappy. He'd make it sound like he was just curious, when his main goal was to give people the opportunity to talk things out without having to admit anything was wrong. Probably something he'd learned in his psych classes.

"It's not pleasant," JB warned.

"That's okay," said Jonah. "Why don't you tell me in the basement so the others don't have to hear if it's too much for them."

JB seemed to consider him for a moment, then rubbed his brow and said, "Yeah, okay."

When their tea was ready, they took their mugs and headed downstairs while the others migrated to the kitchen island.

Once JB and Jonah were out of earshot, Andrea said, "Secondary location." She took a sip of tea. "That's how he always gets them."

"Jonah does this a lot?" Emily asked. "Therapy kidnapping?"

"I don't think you can legally call it therapy until he's fully licensed," said Andrea, "but he's good at getting people to open up."

"Well, let's hope it works on JB," said Mom. "That man is going to have a stroke if he doesn't learn some self-care."

"That's JB," said Hadley with a shrug. "The agency has resources normally, but seeing as he's currently in hiding…"

Ming raised an eyebrow. "Did he even use the resources when he was on good terms with them?"

"There's a mandatory mental health assessment after each mission," Hadley said with a slight smirk. "He didn't have a choice."

"Well, thank goodness for that," said Mom. "Let's hope that once this whole mess is cleaned up, he and Sam both get the help they need."

Kevin shuffled over to the fridge to grab some milk, but stopped when he noticed a new picture on the door. It was right between the ones of Katherine and Chip at prom and the twins at graduation. Kevin removed the magnet and held it for a closer look. The photo was of a big group of kids about Kevin's age, all wearing big sweaters or Santa hats. He recognized most of the faces, including his entire family. "Is this me as a baby?" he asked, pointing to the infant in teenage Jordan's arms.

Mom clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Oh, yes! I forgot to tell you I asked Dad to dig it out of the attic last night. I figured since you know everything now, you might like to see it."

"When was it taken?" asked Kevin.

"The night we first got you! We decided to throw a big Christmas party to celebrate the rescue of all the kids taken by Gary and Hodge, then before we knew it Jordan walked in with you in his arms and…Well, you know the rest."

Ming reached out her hand. "Can I see?" Kevin handed her the picture, then squeezed between her and Andrea so he could still look.

Emily leaned in and pointed at a shy-looking girl sitting on the edge of the couch. "There you are, Ming," she said. Kevin squinted and tried to imagine Ming shorter and with much longer hair. If Emily hadn't pointed her out, he probably wouldn't have realized they were the same person. The Ming he'd gotten to know over the past three days was snarky and confident. She wore mostly black and probably didn't own a single dress. The little girl in the picture wore a bright pink sweater and a white skirt over sparkly silver tights, and her smile was timid.

Grown-up Ming grimaced at the picture and handed it back to Kevin saying, "Ugh, never mind. I forgot those were my heterosexual cosplay days."

Andrea snorted and pointed at her teenage self. "At least you look good in your picture. I apparently decided to close my eyes right as Hadley pressed the button."

"Well, sucks for you two," said Emily. "Little Emily looks great."

Kevin laughed for the first time in what felt like nineteen years, and only then did he fully realize how much the screening had affected him. Mom was right. They all needed a break.