Kim and I dropped her off at the hotel about ten minutes later with the intention that if she needed us, she had our number. I doubted we would hear from her again. We rarely ever did unless they were in some kind of trouble.

"I think that is the most intense case we've had in a while and this case isn't even over yet." Kim blew out a deep breath as she laid her head against the seat, momentarily closing her eyes.

"Cases dealing with children are never easy or inevitable but we have to figure out a way to deal with them when they come." Turning the key to the ignition, we took off back to the office. When we came up the stairs, Jay was sitting at his desk and Voight had his door closed and was on the phone.

"Hey, how did it go with the mother of the little boy?" Jay asked both of us as he looked up from the file he had been studying. I didn't know how much Voight had filled him in, but he still looked curious to see how everything went.

"She gave us some information to go off of, but she didn't see who killed her son." Kim said, draping her coat back over her chair as she described what Felix''s mom had told us. "Latinos, young and in their twenties who were wearing ski masks and drove a dark car"

"I didn't get very much from the witnesses when I was talking to them. Many of the people who live in those apartments were too afraid to come out after they heard the gunshots. One said she peered out the door to see men in masks running down the hall, but she didn't get a good look at them."

"That's not a lot to go off."

"We've gone on less." Jay reminded her, his expression staying neutral and calm. "Voight is working on a few leads. I'm going through cases we've had similar to this one. Kevin and Adam are still at the crime scene going through what happened. We'll find something."

"Okay. I'm going to get some coffee. Anyone want some?"

"No, thanks," I responded, scooting my chair up to my desk. "But I will grab my lunch while we have a minute." I followed her to the break room as she walked behind me to get to the coffee. I peered into the fridge, momentarily feeling the cold air on my face. I could hear Kim stirring in some creamer as I grabbed my container off the top shelf. "Hey, so I know you asked me earlier if everything was good."

"Is it? Because you haven't seemed like yourself since you came back."

"Yeah." Smiling softly, I didn't agree or disagree with that. Ever since I had caught Booth, I was experiencing an array of emotions and trying to find myself again. Why couldn't I tell her? This team had become like my family, but whenever I tried it was hard to get the words out they didn't come out so well. "I guess you could say I have a lot of things to figure out. For so many years, finding Booth has been my main objective."

"I get it. I do. Just remember you're not alone in all this."

"I know, thanks." I walk out the door, letting out a big sigh as I return to my desk. Jay is still sitting there. No one else had seemed to come in, which was good. I didn't have to try and explain myself to anyone else..I knew without having to look up that he was reading the expression on my face. It's what we did as partners. One of us wasn't okay and the other knew without having to ask.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not here." I took a bite of my sandwich, looking at the big stack of files on his desk that had somehow appeared from the time I had walked to the breakroom. "Need some help looking through those files?"

"Sure." Handing a few files over the desk, I brushed the crumbs off my hands back into the container. Kim returned back to her desk a few minutes later with her coffee. Adam and Kevin returned half an hour later, just as Jay and I were going through the last few files. All of us took turns hanging up pictures on the board and writing down information relevant to the other robbery cases, as well as this one. Voight would come out from time to time to see where we were at with the case, but we weren't getting too far.

"Hailey." Jay caught my attention as he tapped on his watch as things were dying down. How had time flown by so quickly? I peered at the time on my computer and realized I only have about fifteen minutes to get down to the school.

"Taking off?" Adam questioned, stopping me in my tracks. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I spun back around.

"Yeah, I have a few personal things to take care of. So I'll see you all tomorrow." Not going into great detail, I descended the stairs as quickly as possible and made a beeline for the door. I could have sworn I heard my name, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to check.

As soon as I was out, I did my best to take in a few deep breaths. I had been one to keep secrets when my dad beat my mom over and over. When he laid a hand on us and screamed at the top of his lungs because we did something he didn't like. That's the easiest way I learned to survive. Much better than having to explain myself every time I had a bruise.

So the team is definitely getting suspicious. My phone chimed just as I climbed into my car. Of course, that text was from Jay who was giving me a heads up. It was definitely possible to hold them off a little longer, but I came to the realization that if I had to leave every day, the rest of the team would wonder where I was off to.

Thanks for the heads up. Tossing my phone into the cup holder so I wouldn't be distracted, I heard it chime again as I was driving down the street.

Don't worry about what they'll think. You've got this. I finally read the message as I parked in front of the school.