Coffee cake balanced in one hand, Alex knocked on the door of Killian's apartment. Again.

She'd been knocking for the last several minutes and had yet to hear any movement inside which was strange, considering the fact that it was the middle of the day. She'd deliberately waited until the next morning so that Killian would be at work, but Maggie and Finley should have been there.

"Maggie?" Alex called out. "Maggie! Hello?"

From the floor below, a voice called out, "Who are you looking for?" A beat followed, during which Alex moved to lean over the balcony to get a better look at the neighbour shouting from the floor below. "You the girl's mother?" the woman asked.

Alex gave a nervous little laugh. "No. I'm..." She paused, heaved a little sigh as she struggled for the words to explain. "Maggie was married to my son," she finished. Then, seeming to sense some kind of judgment from the other woman, she quickly added, "The little boy is my grandson."

"Well..." the woman said, pausing to inhale from her cigarette, then slowly exhale, "You missed 'em. Gone now."

Cocking her head, Alex frowned, brain seemingly refusing to comprehend those words. "Gone?" she repeated, a touch incredulously.

The woman nodded. "Gone to his family," she added. "Took off in the middle of the night." And, with that, she turned on her heel and began shuffling back inside.

"Wait, wait, wait," Alex called after her, coming down the stairs towards her, desperate for any further information as to the whereabouts of her grandson. "His family? Killian's?" When the woman nodded, she spent a few moments gaping in surprise. "Well, did they say when they'd be back?"

"Not any time soon, be my guess," the woman said with a shrug. "Took all they had."

Alex's jaw hung open for what felt like hours, the stunned silence stretching on so long it felt that she'd forgotten how to speak.

The woman dropped her cigarette in a coffee can filled with ash and cigarette butts sitting outside her door, then shut the door behind her.

Still, Alex stood frozen to the spot, heart seemingly having stopped completely, as every last ounce of hope she held onto died inside her.

Alex sat at the kitchen table, hands wrapped around a mug of tea to stop them from trembling as her nerves slowly frayed as she waited for Emily. She'd heard her truck pulling up, the slow crunch of gravel under her boots. She knew Emily would see the half packed trunk of her car and draw conclusions. She counted on it.

The door off the kitchen open, closed. Emily didn't speak. She didn't say anything as she took off her coat and hung it up, kicked off her boots. She didn't say anything as she crossed the kitchen, moved to wash her hands.

Finally, in a low voice, "Going anywhere in particular?"

"Sit down, Em," Alex said quietly. She nodded to the chair across from her in silent indication that she wanted to have a serious conversation.

She eyed the meal Alex had prepared and set out for her, let out a little laugh. "That my last meal?" she asked teasingly, but with a hint of trepidation.

Rather than reply in kind, Alex said with grave seriousness, "I'm going to get Finley. I'm bringing him home to live with us."

A beat.

Emily didn't seem to know how to respond to that, possibly because she was hoping Alex was kidding... "Well, you sure packed for a trip into town..."

"Sit down, Em," Alex repeated, gaze locked on hers so she could see exactly how serious she was.

For whatever reason, Emily didn't question any further, taking the requested seat and digging into the waiting meal. She didn't speak as Alex shared the scene she'd witnessed the day before, what she'd found that morning... In fact, she was gravely silent, barely even reacting, to the point that Alex almost wasn't certain she was listening.

Finally, "You didn't see fit to share this with me?"

Alex looked guilty for a moment, saying nothing. Then, she stood, grabbed Emily's dishes and took them to the sink. "I'm sharing it now." She turned on the water, rinsing the dishes – mostly so she wouldn't have to look in Emily's eyes and see what the condemnation that was surely waiting there.

"Did anyone else see it happen?" Emily asked.

"You mean, other than me?" she shot back.

Emily sighed – more out of anger over the situation than any frustration with Alex. "I'm asking if you're sure what you saw..."

Alex dropped the dishes in the sink (hard enough that Emily was surprised they didn't break). She turned to fix Emily with an intense stare. "I saw exactly what I've always felt about Killian Doyle." A beat. "What you feel too, whether anyone will ever get you to admit it or not." She shook her head. "And I saw that girl can't protect her child."

And that brought them to the crux of the matter. "And on that account, you expect she's going to just hand him over to you?" Emily asked. "Is that what you see happening?" Alex ignored that, not that Emily had expected otherwise. "And when Maggie says no?"

Alex didn't respond to that either, but she stalled in her movements, leaning over the edge of the sink and staring out the window.

"Finley's her son," Emily said quietly.

Again, Alex rounded on her. "And he's your grandson, Emily Prentiss."

Silence fell, but for the crickets outside. Neither woman spoke for a long time, both stewing in their silent frustration.

Then, "What's your plan for finding them?" Emily asked.

"Killian's from somewhere in North Dakota. I'll find him. You know me well enough by now..."

Emily laughed a little, though it was small and humourless.

"I won't be coming back here without him," Alex added, crossing her arms over her chest and staring intently into the back of Emily's head.

"Am I going with you or...?" Emily asked, deliberately trailing off because she wanted to hear Alex say the words for herself.

Softer than her previous words, Alex said, "That's your choice."