"Do you know if Amanda is teaching today?" Elliot glanced at the rearview mirror. Olivia opted to sit in the back with an emotionally shot Noah. His head was in hee lap and Elliot knew he was still crying. He hadn't stopped since they told him what was happening ten minutes ago.

"Today's Thursday?" Their days had become scrambled since this ordeal began. "Yes. Sonny is in court. Fin's holding down things at work. God El, why do we only know cops!?" They'd decided Noah would be safer if he wasn't following them around. They had no idea what was going on. They don't know if he ran away or if he was taken. Wherever the investigation took them, they didn't want Noah to be in harm's way.

"It's fine. I'll call one of my kids. He mentally ran through each of his kids' locations on a Thursday. Dickie work. Eli Colorado. Maureen home with the boys. Liz teacher prep day. Kathleen… he couldn't remember for sure, but he thought it was her day off. She usually spent the day with her nephews or with the women and children's crisis center. He hit the call button beneath her contact info.

After one ring she answered. "Hey Dad."

"Hey baby," he greeted quickly. "Are you off today?" He rushed the words out.

"No," she answered cautiously, "you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I need a huge favor." He thanked God she was available today.

"Of course, what do you need?" He knew she could sense his urgency. She sounded nervous.

"I'm sure Liz told you guys everything in your not so secret group chat." His kids lacked the ability to keep secrets from each other. It was annoyingly charming.

"I mean we talked a little…"

Which meant she knew everything. "Olivia and I need someone to take Noah. We ran into a crisis that requires both of us."

Noah had remained silent most of the ride, but he suddenly popped up, "I'm staying with you and mom," he insisted.

Elliot didn't have time to argue this. "I'll explain later. Liv's gonna send you an address. Meet us there as soon as you can."

"Alright," she sounded unsure, but she trusted him.

"Call when you get there. I'm sure there will be a police line or some sort of security to get through."

"Okay." She sounded a little more confident.

"Love you Katie."

"Love you Dad. See you in a minute."

They were about two minutes away when he disconnected the call. Noah immediately began his protests.

"I'm not leaving with someone I don't know! I'm staying with you." His eyes were pleading with Olivia, begging her not to make him go.

"Noah," Olivia's voice was soft but firm. "We don't know what's going on. We have no idea if you will be safe with us." Elliot suspected this wasn't the first time he had to leave his mom for his own safety. Problem was, this time he was already an emotional mess. This would be difficult.

He shook his head stubbornly. "I don't care mom," those blue eyes caught Elliot 's in the rearview. "I'm safest with you guys." His eyes began to water. "Please."

Elliot knew he was terrified. His emotional capacity had been tested astronomically in the last few days. But right now his safety was more important than his sense of security. They didn't know what was happening, and he refused to risk his life. "No." Elliot's eyes flicked to Olivia's and back to the road. She was on the same page. She'd back his play. "Kathleen is the safest option for you right now."

Elliot watched as a combination of fear and anger washed over Noah. His arms crossed, and his voice came out with stubborn defiance. "I'm not going, and you can't make me!" He wasn't loud. His voice sounded like a low pressure boil waiting to explode.

Up to now Elliot had only had positive interactions with this normally passively happy kid. Turned out he could be just as stubbornly defiant as someone else he knew…

Elliot found a place to park and turned so he now faced the back seat. "You are going with Kathleen." He made eye contact with Liv, hoping he wasn't completely overstepping. She gave him an encouraging nod, and he swore he read a sense of relief on her face. For once she wasn't handling this shit on her own.

Elliot was mentally prepared for the I hate you. He had heard it so many times when he had to assert his will over that of his children's for their safety. Elliot didn't even flinch when the words left Noah's lips. "I hate you." The words came with a flood of tears.

"That's fine. You can hate me Noah, but you will be safe, and that's all that matters to me." He kept his eyes on Noah so he understood he was not backing down.

Noah broke eye contact, and opened his mouth to convince his mother, but she shut him down just as hard. "Elliot's right. You're going to be safer with Kathleen, and I know you're scared, and I know you don't want to be with someone you don't know, but I need you to be safe." She brushed some curls from his face. "Please baby."

He was full on crying at this point. "I don't want to leave you." He leaned into Olivia, and she wrapped her arms around her terrified boy.

"I know. I know." Her eyes flicked to Elliot's, and he knew her heart was breaking.

-000-

Kathleen made it to the apartment five minutes after they arrived. When they got to the apartment, Noah immediately found Jace and Mason in the living room sitting on the floor. All three boys leaned against the base of the couch, and looked all around terrified.

"We are still figuring out the details about what happened. I'll fill you in when I know more…and about the case Liv has been working. I'm sorry I can't get into it now." Kathleen was being a good sport, taking a child she barely knew, with almost no information about the seemingly unending crisis.

"I got him Dad," her eyes darted to Olivia and she reached for her forearm. "I'll keep him safe until you can come get him. I already told work I may not make it in tomorrow. So do what you need to do."

Olivia took Kathleen into a quick hug. "Thank you." Her eyes teared up. She felt like her emotions were all over the place. She pulled back, slightly embarrassed by her emotion. "He really doesn't want to leave us. He might be more of a handful than normal," Olivia warned.

"I'll try to keep him distracted." Kathleen glanced at the other two boys. "I can take the other two too. I mean maybe their parents don't want to let them out of their sight."

Elliot glanced over to Olivia. She knew the couple better than he did. She thought about it. "I can ask. It would make things easier for Noah, but they might want the boys to stay with them. "

Olivia walked over to where the Kelly's stood. They had just finished giving a statement to the local precinct. She waved for Kathleen to come over. "Jack, Ellie, this is Kathleen, she's Elliot's daughter. She is taking Noah for us while we sort this out. She offered to take the other boys too if it would help. She plans on taking them back to my apartment so they can be safe and away from all of this…"

The Kelly's looked at each other, looking nervous. "I'm not sure," Jack started.

"We need to do a quick interview with both of them right now. Do you want to think about it for a little bit and talk it over? We can talk to them for a few minutes and you guys can talk it over," Olivia suggested.

"Yes, let's do that." Ellie added, "I need to see how they are feeling after you guys talk to them, and I want to talk to them to see what they will be most comfortable with." Her voice sounded heavy, and Olivia wanted to wrap the poor woman in a hug.

"We make the interviews with them quick and then we will need to get some information from you. I know you already talked to the local precinct, but…"

"Since this could be linked to the case, you want to run your own investigation," Jack finished.

"Exactly," Olivia confirmed.

-000-

Elliot and Olivia split up to interview the kids. Elliot had built a pretty good rapport with Jace so he talked to him while Olivia worked with Mason.

"Alright Jace, can you tell me everything that happened starting last night through this morning."

They chose to sit on the couch in the living room while Liv took Mason into the kitchen. Have leaned forward, putting his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands together. "Dad made me come home a little early yesterday because Mom was able to get Colt an appointment with one of her friends who is actually practicing and stuff."

Elliot mentally noted that. Therapy was good, needed in this case, but therapy is hard. People can leave therapy a little triggered from reliving traumas. It might be nothing but it could be something too. He tucked it away and listened as Jace detailed more of his evening.

"Dinner was fine. Really quiet, but that's kinda been normal for us since…everything happened." He stared at the floor, almost blankly. Elliot couldn't imagine how Jace was feeling. It seemed like nothing could go right.

"Did your Mom say anything about the appointment or afterwards? Did they have any weird interactions with anyone?"

Jace shook his head. "No. I wasn't exaggerating. No one said anything during dinner." Jace picked at the frayed section surrounding the hole in his jeans. "Colton went to bed after dinner. It was really early. Like 7."

"What time does he usually go to bed?" Elliot needed a baseline for how abnormal his behavior might have been.

"Mom is a little more relaxed about bedtime during the summer, but only if we sleep in a little in the morning. She made us read like a hundred different articles about sleep and mental health or whatever." Elliot suspected that it wasn't the first time their researcher mother made them read dry facts to make a point. "Anyway, we usually are in bed by like 9:30, but sometimes we stay up to read and talk and stuff."

"Okay, so he crashed a couple hours earlier than normal." Elliot clarified.

"Yeah, but he's been…" Jace sighed and leaned back on the couch. "I know what happened was really scary, and my mom said trauma or whatever makes people act different, but I just want my brother back." His voice cracked. "He sleeps in my parent's room now. I started sleeping on the floor in Mason's room because I feel weird sleeping by myself." Elliot remembered that from the conversation Jace had with Noah.

"After he went to bed I tried to do the normal stuff Colton and I would do. I played some games with Mason, and read a book. Mason and I went to bed at like 9 I think."

"We're your parents asleep by then?"

Jace shook his head. "They won't go to bed until we are in our rooms for the night."

"Okay, so everyone went to bed?" Elliot clarified.

"Yeah. I don't know what time my parents went to bed, but I heard them talking and brushing their teeth before I fell asleep."

"Did you hear or see anything out of the normal throughout the night or this morning?"

Jace thought for a moment. "I don't know. I've been just, I don't know, I guess out of it? It's like my brain won't stop thinking and worrying. It's hard for me to pay attention to other stuff."

Elliot patted the child's shoulder, "That's normal buddy. I've had the same problem lately."

Jace lifted his head, "yeah?"

"Yeah," Elliot confirmed. "I like running, and I've been so stuck in my head that I've almost gotten lost."

Jace nodded and Elliot could tell he felt a little better. "What happened this morning?"

"I don't really know. I slept on Mason's floor again. I should have dad move my mattress or make Mason take Colton's bed or something. I woke up and my parents were freaking out because Colton was gone."Jace almost looked sick.

"We can take a break if you want Jace." Elliot understood that losing his brother again was incomprehensible.

"No, I'm okay. There's not a lot else. He was just gone."

"Do you think he would have left the apartment on his own?" With no signs of forced entry, it seemed like he left on his own.

"No, but he's been acting so weird." Jace shrugged. "I usually know exactly what he would do with different things," he shook his head, "but since all this happened it's hard for me to know what he might do."

"I'm sorry this is happening," Elliot hated how much these kids had gone through in the past week.

"Just find him," Jace's eyes held a confidence Elliot wasn't sure he had in himself. "You found him last time. You'll find him again."

Elliot prayed to God that he was right.