TThe rest of the day slipped by ever so slowly as I busied myself around the house. I expected Jay to call or come by again, but I knew how the job went. It was easy to get caught up in a case and everything else shoved to the back of your mind. That was the price of being a police officer. Where we often put our friendships and relationships on hold in order to catch the bad guys. Worked long hours because we knew our families included those in the city and they all deserved to be safe.

It was just as well that he was doing his job and I was doing mine. Sitting back wasn't easy when I knew someone out there needed my help, but I couldn't make the mistake of putting anyone in danger again. Also, having the time to be home, brought me to a solution: Eva deserved to know who her real mom was.

No, it didn't erase the fact I was afraid to reveal who I was. I wasn't going to be talking to a child who had witnessed a drug deal, or one shielded from her mother who had been found dead in their home. I was going to be revealing who I was and why I had given my own kid up for adoption.

The struggle was real while trying to come up with how to explain everything to her. I wondered what questions she would ask, or if she would have any at all. Or if she would understand anything I was saying. Kids were smart, don't get me wrong. I could see Eva was smart. It was just that she had been through so much it was hard to imagine processing everything.

Heck, I was having a hard time processing that Booth was finally in jail after having a massive fight in the parking garage stairwell. How could I expect Eva to do the same with her own thoughts?

Picking up my phone from where it sat on the couch, I lingered upon calling Eliza. Instead, I opted to text her a message about meeting her at the park and went about getting ready for bed.

I was just turning off the lights in the house when my phone buzzed with a message from Eliza.

Looking forward to seeing you again. What time is good for you?

Thinking about it, I turned off the last light in the house, which happened to be hanging over the kitchen counter.

Should we plan on about nine?

Carefully walking through the darkened house, I walked into my bedroom and slipped underneath the covers just as my phone buzzed again.

Nine is perfect.

Settling in for what I figured would be a long night, I let out a deep breath as I took one last look at my phone and came up with enough of a response my tired brain could manage before my closing my tired eyes.

Great! I'll see you tomorrow.

As soon as my head hit the people, I swear I was asleep. I didn't wake up until the sun was lighting the bedroom again, filling it with warm rays as I yawned and looked at the clock. It was nearly eight o'clock. I had to blink a few times before I realized the night hadn't been as bad as I thought it would be.

Still, I needed to get a move on if I was going to make it to the park on time. As if I were trying to make it to work on time, I took a quick shower, dried my hair just enough to pull it into a ponytail, got dressed in a red and blue flannel shirt and grabbed the picture of Eva and me from its place in the drawer before heading out the door.

When I arrived at the park, I was still miraculously five minutes early. It took a minute to spot her, but Eliza was sitting on the bench nearest the playground, watching as Eva played around on the monkey bars with another little girl about her age. Eliza was so focused on watching them, she didn't see me until I had nearly approached the bench.

"Hailey." She greeted me as I sat next to her. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, thanks." I turned my attention to Eva, who was now crossing the monkey bars at the same pace the other little girl was. "You know, I used to love playing on the monkey bars."

"Then no wonder she's so good at it. We've been here maybe fifteen minutes and she's spent the majority of that time on the monkey bars."

"Yeah. Give me time and I would have found any way to climb or hang from them." We watched both girls climb to the other side with victorious shouts of escaping the evil two-eyed monster. "They really are something."

"Five-year-olds have quite the imagination." Eliza smiled quite proudly, which made me wonder if she knew my daughter more than I did. Of course she did, I reprimanded in my head. She was Eva's social worker; the one who took and placed her in a home where she could be protected. "Hailey, you okay?"

"Yeah." Nodding, I sucked in a deep breath and focused on a mother watching her daughter on the playground. Following her line of sight, I wondered if she was the mother of the little girl Eva was playing with. "I guess I'm not used to everyone knowing so much more than me."

"You mean about Eva? She questioned, knowing all too well who I was referring to.

I have no idea if she's in kindergarten or first grade. Who her friends are. What she likes to do."

"I don't know all the answers to the questions you have." She stated honestly, "What are your instincts telling you?"

"About what grade she's in?"

"We'll start with that for now." She said gently, glancing over at the girls who were now running around the playground—not after each other but the invisible monster they had imagined in their heads.

"From what little I know about her, I've noticed she's quite mature for her age. She's a wonderful artist and by the looks of it, a good imagination. Instinct tells me she's in first grade."

"You're correct. She just started first grade this past Fall. That I do know. I finally know where she got that beautiful personality."

"You mean stubborn?" I teased, trying to hold back a little laugh. "Or insistent."

"Okay. She has a beautiful, insistent personality. I'll give you that one."