"Thank you for coming in, Jess. I understand it's been…difficult for you, given everything that happened."

"Yeah. I'm…working on…a lot." Jess shifted uncomfortably and looked around the interview room that Mandy had shown her into. The woman had been asking for a few days to talk to her, so Scott brought her to the base after they'd stopped in at a reputable breeding kennel to look at some dogs. She was trying to decide what kind of dog she wanted or if she would get a puppy or a rescue, or both. As of yet, she was undecided and there were more pressing issues.

Scott was just outside now even though he'd wanted to be there when she talked to Mandy. The CIA agent wouldn't allow it though, which he obviously didn't like. Jess wasn't sure what to expect, knee bouncing under the table as she tried to keep calm.

"Let's get down to business then, since I get the feeling you don't want to be here any longer than necessary." Mandy seated herself and pushed a file across the table to her. "Do you recognize any of these people?"

Jess's first instinct was to push the file away and ask for Scott. She curbed. Only just.

Taking a marginally calming breath and bracing herself, Jess opened the file, expecting to see faces of the men who took her. Instead, she was faced with old friends of Harold.

"Uh…these are people my step-dad used to spend time with."

"Do you know who was closest with him? Can you tell me anything about them?"

"Not really. This guy, Steve? I think? He was less slimy than the others. I mostly tried to keep out of the way and make myself scarce if Harold had friends over, and they spent most of their time in his study. I never spoke to any of them past 'hello' and only if forced."

"Do you have any idea if any of them would be able to offer your step-father somewhere to lay low, even out of the country?"

"Why?"

"Because we can't find him."

Jess went cold inside at that grim admission.

"We can't find him. Jeremey can't locate him. Neither him nor your mother are answering his calls anymore. Your sister denies any connection to them, so she's a dead end. They've fallen off the grid and we need to find them if we're going to get Santino. Based on records we pulled from his villa, Harold and him were close partners and still worked together, after a fashion. The re-estate business that Harold built, Santino used it to his advantage. I'm hoping if I find Harold and put him under enough pressure, I'll find a lead to Santino."

Fighting back flashes of a smarmy, pleasant man sitting across from her in a sunlight room, Jess clasped her hands until the nails bit into her skin and said softly, "Mom called me yesterday from a number I didn't recognize. She left a message. She called me once before, three days ago, on Christmas Day. I didn't answer and deleted that message. I listened to the second though."

Mandy perked up like a cat ready to catch its dinner.

"What did she say?"

"Here." Jess pulled her phone out. "I…I didn't tell anyone else yet…just…cause. I was just going to delete it, but…then I thought it could be helpful, maybe?"

"Yes! It could be very helpful, Jess! Play it!"

Finding the message, Jess played it with that same, sick, angry feeling in her gut that she'd experienced the first time she listened to it.

Jessica, honey, I know you're confused and angry. I know you're probably so scared, but you need to call me, sweetheart! You need me, darling, whether you think you do or not. Call this number back. Please. I just want you safe, baby girl. Please, call me back. You need to come home.

That same dull knowledge from before, the reality that Jess had always known, settled in like a heavy blanket. Ellen was never going to stop coming after her. Ever. Not unless Jess made her.

"Can I see the number?" Mandy asked eagerly, reaching for the phone. "Maybe we can-"

"What if I call her back?" Jess blurted, her own voice sounding weird in her own ears. "What if I help you catch them?"

The woman across from her slowed her reaching hand to a stand still and she looked up quickly at Jess, obviously surprised and searching Jess's face with that piercing stare.

"You'd be willing to do that?" Mandy asked, eyes gleaming with triumph and guilt all at once.

Swallowing the burning tightness in her chest, Jess nodded.

"It doesn't end unless I make it end," She whispered. "It needs to end. I want to help."

"Are you sure? This won't be easy for you-"

"I am."

"Let's get to work then," Mandy got up and headed for the door, obviously ready to get to work immediately.

"No. Absolutely not!" Jason said firmly, folding his arms and setting his jaw. "This is not happening."

"We have exhausted every other avenue we have without risking sending him further into the wind, and if we do that we will lose Santino for good!" Mandy argued. "If Jess can draw out her mom, and then in turn draw out Harold, then we can take them both in and get the answers we-"

"Find another way." Jason told her stubbornly.

The team gathered in the briefing room shifted uncomfortably and Jess stayed against the back wall, out of the way as she watched the scene unfold.

"This isn't your call to make." Blackburn reminded Jason quietly. "This authorization comes from higher up, which is why even if they're still on US soil, we have the green light to grab them. Whatever Santino was after, it's got some important people rattled and they want this put to bed."

"Nuh uh. No." Jason was shaking his head again, anger boiling up in his words now and he pointed at the wall where Jes stood. "We are not putting her through this! Find another way."

"It was my idea." Jess spoke up suddenly, silencing the room.

"Well, it's a terrible idea." Jason snapped, forgetting himself as he turned a glare on her.

The rest of Bravo shifted with a silent warning and incredulous looks despite how much they agreed with him. The man softened with regret.

To her own surprise, Jess wasn't cowed. Instead her jaw set too with equal stubbornness and she lifted her head higher.

"It's a good idea and you know it is, you just don't like it. But, Jason, I want to do this. I'm done hiding. I'm done being a victim. I'm done letting them control my life. I want to end this, or I'll always be looking over my shoulder, and I can't live like that. I have since I was nineteen. I can't do it anymore. I'm done. Something has to give."

Jason was pacing now, hands on his hips as he peered at Jess from under dark brows, torn emotion clear in his eyes.

"Ellen knows us all by sight." Jason countered in that short, clipped tone. "She knows Jess has us looking out for her! She'll see a trap coming a mile away."

"I hate it!" Sonny announced with agitation, riding in to back up his leader. "I say we find a way to pretend Jess is there and get the son of bitches without makin her do this."

"I'm not thrilled with this either," Ray said slowly, "It could turn into a trap for Jess."

Mandy took a wider stance and folded her arms. "Which is why you're all going in with her."

"Yeah, but her mom knows us all on sight…" Brock chimed in.

"The meeting place would be a spot easy to cover without being out in the open," Lisa told them. "Jess already had a few ideas that would work, depending on if Ellen falls for the bait when we call her."

"Yeah? And when is that happening?" Scott asked, speaking for the first time since Mandy and Jess emerged from the interview room and Mandy told him Jess was staying longer and there would be a briefing later.

Jess couldn't tell if he was pissed off or not.

"The sooner we call her, the more likely it is to get the woman, and her husband too."

"So, today." Clay spoke flatly and he was clenching his jaw just as tight as the rest of them.

The energy that was building started to stress Jess out more than she already was and she carefully shoved her mind out of her body for a bit, present, but numb.

"Yes." Mandy wasn't intimidated at all. "As I said, the sooner we can start laying the trap, the better our chances. The number that came in was still in the country and we think we got it narrowed to South Carolina. Wherever she called from, she's staying closer than I ever expected. Play our cards right and we could have at least Ellen by the end of the week."

"Can we talk to Jess alone for a minute?" Trent asked, leaning forward in his chair against the big table and not even trying to hide the grim worry as he kept flicking his gaze over her.

"Why?" Mandy challenged. "We need to get moving on this-"

"So we can talk her out of it!" Sonny exploded.

"You won't talk me out of it." Jess murmured quietly, not expecting them all to catch it.

Mandy leveled the group with a stare and headed for the door, beckoning to Jess while Blackburn stated evenly, "It's done, gentleman. Either be ok with it and do your jobs, or we'll stand down Bravo team from this mission. Understood?"

Guilt started to trickle in and Jess fought back a torrent of emotions. Her family wasn't happy. She didn't even consult them before doing this. It was pure impulse on her part, a gut reaction.

Behind her Bravo filed out and followed her to the room where a team was set up, ready to trace the call she was about to make to her mom.

None of this felt real now. She moved without feeling, sitting where Mandy indicated and waiting quietly. Out of the corner of her eye she sensed Scott watching her and she couldn't bear to turn. Jason drifted behind her, hovering as if trying to protect her from the others in the room and what was about to happen. All the while there was a suffocating undercurrent happening between him and Mandy. Like a wordless, scathing battle of wills.

"Ok. We're on. Jess? Just make the call, when she answers the phone, make it convincing just like we talked about. Give her what she wants. Can you do that?"

"Yup." Jess's hands were shaking, and she hid them in her lap.

Mandy held up three fingers and counted down, then Jess made the call.

It rang six times before the call picked up.

Swallowing a lump in her throat and ignoring the room full of people, Jess managed, "Mom?"

"Jessica! Oh thank goodness. It's about time you called! I've been worried sick and haven't slept in days. Sweetheart, are you alright?!"

There was a pause and Jess's hands flew up toward the phone as if she wanted to throw it, clenching into fists and she visibly bit her tongue for a second. Mandy held up a warning, placating hand and Jason's hand fell to rest on her shoulder as he stayed hovered behind her.

"Jessica?"

"I'm not ok." Jess said, managing to turn angry tears into something that could work for her. Her mother taught her one thing. How to manipulate another person by telling them what they wanted to hear. "I'm…I'm really not, mom."

"Oh, honey…I tried to tell you that you weren't ready to stand on your own feet yet! "

"I know. Mom…" Jess closed her eyes and grimaced as a whole torrent of uncomfortable, complicated emotions rose up. They made her voice thicker, more convincing and she leaned into the desperate truth of the next words. Words her heart had said her whole life and she was let down on time and time again. "Mommy…I need you."

Ellen made a cooing noise and Jess could feel the blatant triumph of the woman through the phone as she rushed to take the bait. " Oh, darling…I know you do. It took so long to realize that, didn't it?"

"I want to come home." Jess said, choking on the words. "You were right. I can't do it on my own. It's dangerous, and lonely, and I can't do it anymore, mom. I want to come home. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. Please, just let me come home."

Mandy held up a hand signal that indicated Jess was perfect and then mouthed, "Keep it going."

"Jessica, I don't know if that's possible right now- "

"Please! Mom, I understand now. I know you were just trying to protect me all this time. I want to come home."

There was a long pause, and then Ellen took the full bait.

"Alright. Alright, Jessica. You can come home, but you'll need to follow my instructions to the letter because we're staying somewhere else for a little while. Can you do that, pumpkin?"

"Yes. Please, mom. I just want to come home. I'm done fighting and running. I'm so tired."

"I can't speak for long, dear, but, I'll come to get you in two days. Be packed and ready to go. I love you! It'll all be ok. I promise. Why don't we meet at that little cafe on Bricker? You like that one. I'll buy and we'll be one happy family again, put this whole miserable mess behind us."

Feeling nauseous, Jess forced a genuine, "That sounds really lovely. Thank you, mom. I-I'm so sorry. I really don't deserve you."

"Oh, pet. I know you are. And I'm your mother. I'm supposed to be forgiving. We'll be together again soon, and we can put this whole, nasty mess behind us. I have to go darling. Talk soon! Be ready at six pm on Thursday at that Cafe."

The phone call ended and Jess stared at the table, breathing hard and not exactly noticing just how convincing and worked up she'd let herself get.

"That was a masterpiece, Jess." Mandy told her with admiration. "You did amazing."

All she could manage was a nod and the only thing that kept her from breaking down was the steady pressure of Jason's hand on her shoulder.

That sank in slowly until Jess couldn't stay in her seat any longer and she got up, overstimulated by the talking around her as Mandy's team got to work on details already.

The second she was on her feet she felt horribly dizzy and she thumped into Jason's waiting arms with a ghosting, whispered plea of "Dad, I need you."

"Jess what cafe was-"

"No. It can wait. Give her some fucking time, Mandy." Jason's arms came around her and Jess was enveloped as her knees started to give way. "Just-hey-hold up- Jess? Jess! Damn it-"

A hot flush spread over Jess's whole body until she was cold and clammy with sweat and her ears started to ring. Everything felt like shit. Her stomach hurt. Her head hurt. Her body wouldn't move and if it wasn't for Jason holding her up, she would have dropped to the floor.

"Let's get her down," Trent ordered, taking charge before anyone else could. "Feet up- Jess? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah-" Jess breathed, "I think…I'm…I don't feel good…"

"Keep talking to me," Trent's voice grounded her in consciousness. "Stay awake. You're ok."

"I think I'm passing out."

"Yeah, it kinda seems that way. That's ok. Just keep breathing."

"It's too loud." Jess whispered.

"Too loud?" Jason asked sharply.

Jess managed a weak nod, mumbling an addition of, "'nd bright."

Almost as soon as she said it, the room quieted and she thought somehow everyone had left because the lights dimmed considerably.

Cool fingers palpated her wrist, finding the pulse and Jess knew without looking that it was Trent, so she allowed it.

"Jess, when did you eat last?"

"She ate three hours ago," Scott's dark growl answered from close by. "Not blood sugar related. I made sure she ate enough."

Gradually, her senses had been returning and Jess mumbled as she tried to sit up weakly, "Brain just glitched, stood up too fast. I'm fine-"

"Uh huh. You stay down for a little longer. This isn't your usual 'I have low blood pressure' episode. You nearly lost consciousness on us."

"Just got overwhelmed, that's all," Jess tried and failed to lift her shoulders off the floor again and was met with the gentle resistance of Trent's palms pressing down into her arms.

"Just for a minute, ok?"

There was part of Jess that got the sudden urge to kick and scream, while the other part of her blinked wearily up at Trent, knowing she could trust his judgment.

"Fine. Can I go home after?"

"We still need-" Mandy started to say urgently but was interrupted.

"Yes." Jason answered, which was echoed by Blackburn at the same time.

"I'm sure Ms. Ellis can write up a list of pressing questions that she would like answered and you can get her that information once you feel up to answering them." Eric said with a firm calm that Jess was starting to adore the man. How he managed to keep so many people with massive egos and opinions in check was beyond her. "Why don't you let Carter take you home, and we can revisit this tomorrow when you've rested up. By then we should have a fairly solid idea of how we're going to pull this off."

Jess wasn't about to argue with that and she was grateful when Trent eased her up, then guided her to her feet.

All she wanted now was to go home and she felt like she'd just run a marathon with how weak she was.

Despite the fact she'd sprung something on Bravo that none of the team liked, they all hugged her before she left. All except Scott. He just walked her out after the last member of their little family finished holding her tight, wordless and stone faced.

By the time they got home, Jess was cold from the ice that was washing in waves off the brooding, silent man and she knew this day wasn't over yet.

She could handle one more thing. It was fine. Just rip it off like a band aid and face it. How bad could it be, right?

"You haven't spoken at all," Jess commented with painfully clear uncertainty as she watched Scott stalk into the house like a dark cloud.

"What do you want me to say?" Scott asked her, tone low and clipped as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer. That made Jess uneasy for reasons she couldn't put to words.

"I don't know…that you aren't mad at me?"

"Pips, I can't say that."

"Oh." Leaving it for a minute before she couldn't stop herself, Jess tried to justify herself. "I needed to do this. It's the easiest way to get-"

"I was there for the briefing, kid. I know why you are doing this. I'm gonna support the best I can, watch your back, but it doesn't mean I have to be ok with it and it doesn't mean I'm not more than a little pissed that you just decided this without talking to at least one of us first. Came completely out of left field!"

"I didn't mean to spring it on you. It just…sorta happened. And what was I supposed to do!?" Jess asked with frustration leaking in now as she waved her hands helplessly. "Nothing?!"

"YES!" Scott rounded on her suddenly, his own emotion cracking through that dead expression as he slammed the beer down on the counter. "You leave it to us . You let us do our jobs and get the bastards and you stay safe ! Out of the way. Away from-from all of it! "

"I'm never going to feel safe until it's over!" Jess protested desperately, hating the way his steel gaze was burning with fury now.

"Well you are safe, and if you give it more time instead of trying to force yourself to be 'normal' again, you'll start to believe it! Going off like this and getting roped into this reckless move-"

"It's not reckless and you keep saying that all of this…how I handle this mess …it's my choice! You said that I need to take back my life!"

"Yeah, Jess, I did."

"Then why are you mad at me!?"

"BECAUSE I WANT YOU SAFE!"

Scott rarely raised his voice around her for any reason. She knew he could and he did with the others if it was warranted, but never with her. The fact he'd just yelled and rammed his fist into the counter top at the same time sent her back a few steps.

If he noticed, he didn't show it. Instead he continued on in a louder voice than he usually used.

"I should never have let you go in there to talk to Mandy alone. She's so fuckin manipulative and you-well you're just so easily lead and so damn easy to manipulate, especially when you're vulnerable and tired- fuckin scares me sometimes how naïve you are-"

"She didn't manipulate me!" Jess insisted, her own anger igniting now because she was confused, he was pretty much yelling at her and her emotional tank was already depleted from talking her mother into a trap. "I literally was the one to suggest that I be the bait. That I make the call and draw her out!"

Lips thinning as he shut his mouth tight, Scott gave a half head shake, his breathing coming quicker then longer she spoke.

"This isn't a fuckin game ," He snarled bitterly. "This isn't guaranteed to go off without a hick, and you're- you're taking risks you don't need to! Leave this to us and let us do our jobs. Don't be any more involved than you have been."

A harsh, disbelieving huff erupted from Jess and she dropped her arms, no longer holding them over her chest protectively.

"A game?!" Jess could hardly believe him or how badly that cut her. "You think I'm playing a game with all this? That trying to take back my life is a game for me?"

"That's not what I said-"

"It sure sounded like it!" Jess cried, her own decibel levels rising now.

"You know what? No. I'm done." Scott pushed off from the counter and stomped to the back door. "You're not listening, so I got nothin to say. Do what you want."

The door slammed and Jess stood staring at it for a full four beats before she spun, snatched up her wallet and keys, stuffed her phone in her jacket pocket again and stormed out the front door.

She sat in the car and hovered between shutting off her phone so no one could call her and being an adult by sending Scott a courtesy message to let him know she was going to Pauline's.

In the end she did text him a clipped message and then muted her phone.

She had a good cry while she drove, screaming out her frustration on the quiet, empty highway as her music blasted out the windows. By the time she got to the barn, she was past the angry stage and into the depressed phase of everything.

Pauline welcomed her with open arms.

"I'm not even going to ask," She said when she opened the door. "Get in here."

"Scott and I had a fight."

"Oh. Yeah, you don't do good with those."

"He yelled at me."

"For what?!"

"I'm helping the CIA catch my mom and Harold," Jess told her without thinking. Lucky for her Pauline was an excellent secret keeper and wouldn't breath a word to anyone.

"Fuckkkkk…that's awesome!"

"He's pissed off about it because I'm pretending I want to go home and she's meeting me at The White Rose Cafe in two days to pick me up."

"He can get over it! You're helping to catch bad guys, just like he does and hell, if I was you I would sleep way better knowing the people who keep haunting me were arrested!"

"I know but- he thinks I'm not taking it seriously, except that I'm taking it really fuckin seriously. Like…I passed out in front of a shit ton of people when the call ended, that's how seriously I'm taking all this!"

"Ohhh man, like…full pass out like that one time in Biology during the exam in grade eleven?"

"Not as bad. Someone caught me."

"Hmm. You know what you need?" Pauline marched across the room and reached into her fridge. "A drink."

"Pauline, that doesn't fix everything." Jess told her best friend tiredly, not in the mood to resist and grudgingly admitting that drinking did sound inviting.

"Nope, but you'll feel better for a bit." Pauline held out the drink. "Here. To life!"

Tossing aside caution, Jess took the drink anyway even though her rational brain said it was a bad idea. She downed it, saying, "Fuck it. Here's to life."

Four hours passed since Jess left the house and Metal still hadn't exactly calmed down.

"You gotta let it play out." Trent said, watching him pace the floor like a caged beast. "This is obviously something that Jess feels she has to do, and honestly…not that I love it…but, if it gets those SOB's behind bars sooner and helps her sleep at night-"

"Too much can go wrong." Metal snapped. "Using her for information is one thing, but we're talking about deliberately putting her in harm's way to achieve an outcome!"

"Scott…she'll have us, and a well seasoned team backing her up. We'll be able to get to her at a moment's notice. If you can't get a handle on this, you'll get benched."

Ignoring that pointed comment at the end, Metal pressed on, "You saw her collapse after just talking to the bitch."

"I did."

"That was just a fuckin phone call. What's it gonna do to her to see the woman in person?! And if Harold shows too?"

"Buddy, we gotta believe in her. We owe her that much. She's-"

Trent's phone lit up with a call coming in from 'Trevor Bailey' and they both paused.

Ordinarily they might have let it go to voicemail, but the man had never called Trent before so he answered it.

"Trevor?"

"Hey, Trent," Trevor's voice came through on the other end, grim, reserved and serious. "Couldn't get through to Brock, but, ah- I think you better come get Jess."

"Jess?"

Immediately putting the phone on speaker, Trent got up and headed for the door. Metal wasn't an idiot. He knew who it was about and followed, listening closely and praying that it wasn't what he feared. If Trevor was calling because of an accident-

"What's happened?" Trent asked. "Where is she? She ok?"

"She's not hurt. She's just pretty drunk and, ah, we got called out to the barn her friend Pauline works at by the neighbor who thought there was some teens messing around with the horses in the field. Turns out it was just them and no one else is at the place right now. They are pretty hammered, Trent. I don't want to have to arrest them, and right now they're on private property so I can let it slid for the most part, but I thought I should call because she seems pretty unpredictable right now and…well, I don't think Pauline is in any shape to take care of her and keep her out of trouble-"

"We're on our way." Metal growled. "Don't let her near a horse."

"Too late. When I got here they were both riding around the farm."

"I'm gonna fucking kill her." Metal muttered.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Trevor answered, tone lightening slightly. "See ya soon. I'll keep them out of trouble till you get here."