E: Going out tonight don't know how long, if parents ask I'm with you.

J: Dont wanna stay wit lover boy?

E: I will be with Al…

J: Ur following up with that lead aren't u?

E: …

J: fine. ur not leaving me out of the next one then.

E: promise

J: :)

J: 1 of those magical deal things perhaps?

E: no deals, you have my word, you're coming the next one.

J: Damn straight

Ellen laughed, tucking her phone into her pocket. Alastor may have kept his discovery secret, but his shadow was terrible at keeping them. A funny thought considering it couldn't speak. It told her exactly where he had followed Dolion and Xander to…after a bit of persuading. So after wishing her parents a quick goodbye, she was on the road headed a bit north, somewhere out in the boonies.

By the time she got close, the sun was starting to set and she slowed down thinking it was best she not drive too close. It wouldn't be very sneaky if she drove right up the driveway so she stopped at the closest mall, leaving her car and proceeded to walk the rest of the way.

She may have gotten a bit lost in her wanderings, but it turned out in her favour. It was just after dark when she found the large building in a clearing near the lake. It was a beautiful property, if the building wasn't so ugly. The nicest part was the back half, the part closest to the water. It steepled to a point almost looking like a chalet, wooden deck from the third floor with a view over the lake.

She knew she should have waited for Alastor, but looking at the size of this building she knew it would take a long time to scout. Of course Alastor's shadow would make easy work of it, but she thought she might as well get started. He said they'd start at 3, but sneaking in an hour early shouldn't hurt. He'd find her, he always did.

She had never broken into a house or building before so all of her eggs were in one basket. Her hope was to find an open door or window and that seemed unlikely, but she could hope.

So equipped with nothing but her phone, a knife (that Alastor would probably roll his eyes at if he saw) and a flashlight, she made her way toward the building. It wasn't until she got to the first doors on the ground level that she realized having gloves would have been really smart. She gave herself a small scolding for not having planned this out better before she pulled her hand into her sleeve using it to pull at the door handle. Locked. No surprise, though she wouldn't lie, she was kinda hoping it would have been that easy.

Her eyes spent a lot of time looking up, hoping to find security cameras before they found her. She hadn't found any but she refused to believe there wasn't any. A place this big being built so far away from everything meant they were hiding something. It would be foolish to think they didn't have some sort of security. It only added to the idea that she should wait for Alastor. She only held off for a few minutes before deciding she'd be fine. She was good at getting out of trouble if it came to it.

Her gaze paused at a balcony three stories up. It was less likely to be locked because it would be so difficult to get up there. She took a few minutes staring at it. If she got up there and it was locked it was going to be a hassle getting back down. All that time and effort for nothing, but if it was open? Her eyes moved to her surrounding area to see if there was anything she could use to help her.

After a few minutes of looking she went back to the balcony three stories above her. It was supported by four beams running from the ground up. She had climbed trees lots when she was a kid, she even climbed the side of her parents house once, though she never went too far up, afraid of falling off. This was much taller than both. She chewed on her bottom lip wondering if she had finally lost her mind. She wasn't actually considering this was she? Julie was right. Who the hell was she? This wasn't her. She didn't lie to her parents about where she was going, she didn't consider breaking into places she wasn't supposed to, so why now? Was it her time in Hell? Alastor?

She pulled the shirt off her back, passing it around one of the round beams supporting the deck above her. She saw this in a few movies, did it actually work? She was going to find out.

It took a bit of trial and error and a lot more strength then she originally thought, but she managed to slowly work her way up the pole, pulling the shirt to counter her pushing against it with her legs.

She looked at the edge of the deck realizing she hadn't thought about how she was going to reach the ledge if her hands were keeping her from plummeting down three stories. She should have thought this through first, now stuck having to figure out a plan while her arms and legs were holding her in place. With her noodly arms, she wouldn't have much time before they gave out.

She could jump for it. That seemed like the most obvious option, though was it the best? Ellen's gaze locked on to the edge of the deck a good meter from where her hands were currently holding the shirt tight to the beam. She couldn't really reach it could she? If she did go for it she would need to commit to it, no hesitation and no second chance.

She took a few more minutes weighing her options before deciding jumping for it was probably the best.

"Here goes everything I guess," she muttered to herself.

She prepared herself ready to give herself the best shot. She would use her legs to push off helping her get the distance she would need. With a steading breath she- didn't move. Her hands seemed to have refused to let go. She was afraid? No, she had done so many other crazier stupider things. How was this a problem? Just nerves, that's all, she just needed to get out of her own head.

The longer she was wrapped in her thoughts the less strength she had in her arms and she still needed them to pull herself up. If she was going to jump for it, it needed to be done sooner than later. It needed to be done now. Pushing through the jumble of her thoughts she pushed off, letting go of the only thing keeping her from falling to what would likely be death depending on how she landed.

She latched onto the side of the deck, her grip not as great as one hand was still clinging to the shirt she refused to let go of. She slowly worked her way up the railing, arms burning with fatigue. With one more grunt and what she thought was the last of her strength in her noodly arms, she practically threw herself onto the safety of the balcony. She didn't care if it stirred attention from how hard she hit it, slight pain radiating into her shoulder. Right now she needed a few seconds to get her head straight.

It took her a little longer than she hoped before she was able to calm her heart and breathing, let alone the thoughts whizzing through her head. She needed to get her shit together if she was going to do this. She turned her head to the side taking in the door inside. It looked like it led into a kitchen. Hopefully no one in there was an early riser like Alastor.

She got to her feet and let out a grateful breath as the door slid open. At least all that effort wasn't wasted. Small wins. She stepped in waiting a few seconds listening for any sort of beeping or noise that might have been linked to the door being armed. Nothing but silence. Good. She pulled her shirt back on and pulled out the flashlight, flicking it on.

There was only one way to go, so with soft and careful footing she made her way down the hallway keeping her ears strained for anything that may be of concern. It seemed the place was shut down for the night and she still couldn't see any cameras as she crept down endless hallways. She shined the light along the walls taking in the signs pointing to different parts of the building. The one that caught her eye was the test rooms. As she made her way she noticed a few old paper signage with bold black lettering reading 'adult section'. Why would there be a section labeled 'adult only'? Wouldn't it have been easier to just limit those areas with key cards like every other building out there? If anything it sparked her interest even more as she pressed on.

It didn't take her long to find the red door labeled 'test room 1'. It stood out like a sore thumb being the only thing of colour in the hallways. Why did it need to be such an obvious door? Curiosity piqued, she approached her ears tuned for any sound that might signal someone on the other side of the door. When she was convinced it was empty she tried the handle.

She wished she hadn't been curious.

The door was unlocked and the smell alone was enough to make her gag. She understood now the 'adult section' signage, this was something even adults probably wouldn't want to stumble across.

She dropped her flashlight, the need to cover her mouth from the smell and risk of vomit far greater than seeing. If only it went out when it hit the floor.

The walls of the room were probably white once, but were now stained a coppery red, splattered on basically every surface. The room was devoid of furniture; only a set of chains hooked to the far wall could be seen. It seemed there was a body of some sort still chained down, though they were not moving and they didn't really look human.

The legs looked human but there were black nodules and lumps that seemed to coat the rest of the body giving it the horrific image of a puffy black cloud. She was glad she couldn't see the face, it would have been something she likely wouldn't be able to forget.

Ellen swallowed the bile rising in the back of her throat with some effort. She slowly picked up her flashlight, with trembling hands. Scanning the rest of the room wasn't much better for her nerves, finding more lumps of black blobs that resembled the consistency of mashed potatoes, one that may have had a bone in it, but she didn't look long enough to be certain.

The room smelled like death, something she didn't think she would ever recognize, but she couldn't find another word for what she had walked into. She took a careful step in, not enough to close the door behind her. This was worse than cannibal town, at least there, the breeze tended to whisk the smell away, here it lingered.

There was a soft wheeze and she quickly shone the light to the body in the center of the room, her stomach twisting again threatening to upchuck whatever she had eaten the past day. It turns out this person (if you could call it that) wasn't dead yet. She quickly turned slamming the door closed behind her, body still trembling.

Bleach. She needed to bleach her eyeballs, maybe her nose too. There was nothing that could have prepared her for that. She gagged again from just the thought of it. This was- She stayed pressed with her back against the door for who knows how long, trying to figure out what the heck she had just stumbled across. She didn't want to look any further into this. She had seen too much already. With a shaky breath and shaky legs she managed to shuffle down the hall away from the testing room. She passed two others but there was nothing in the universe that would make her open those doors.

She numbly shuffled past doors no longer caring where her feet were taking her, she just needed to move away from that room. She had moved to a part of the building that seemed to have offices, only one name plaque had her stop. 'Dolion Tucker'.

She blinked a few times getting her thoughts back before she realized the opportunity that had arisen. She reached for the handle before stopping. There was no way she would find anything messed up in here right? Some paperwork maybe, and if she was lucky, maybe information on Xander. God she hoped so.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the handle down, opening the door into the room. After a few seconds she opened one eye, then the second. Just a normal looking office. Right well, that was probably to be expected. She slipped in closing the door lightly behind her. She quickly made her way over to the large mahogany desk that was big enough he probably could have shared it with two others. Behind the desk bookshelves lined the walls, something to look at later if she had time.

She quickly shuffled through the paperwork on the desk, eyes scanning for anything that might be useful. After sorting through a few of the desk drawers she found an old key. She only took a second to look at it before she placed it on the desk and continued her search. It may have been cliché but she wanted to believe the key would lead to something important.

As she continued her search she found a false bottom in one of the drawers with a folder hidden at the back. She was going to ignore it until she found the name scrawled across it. Xander.

She pulled it from its hiding spot, mindlessly placing the false bottom back and closing the drawer, sprawling the file open on the desktop. There was a mountain of reports on aging status, mental capabilities and near the end was a report written in long cursive about some sort of training. There were also pictures to accompany some of the reports that showed the quick progression of Xander's appearance. Alastor was right, one look at him eliminated any doubt that this was their child. Her fingers stopped on the most recent, dated a few days ago. How could he already be so grown up? He looked so much like Alastor, only teenaged. She did notice there were no photos of him in his demon form. She flipped back through the paperwork only to find there wasn't even a mention of it.

Footsteps had her fumbling with the paperwork in her hands as she quickly started shoving them back into drawers, closing them as quickly as she could. She grabbed Xander's folder and the key and made a quick look around the room for somewhere to hide. Why did he have to be a minimalist?! Aside from the overly large desk and chair, there was nothing else in the room. Not even curtains to hide behind. Heck there wasn't even anything on the walls, just one picture of himself that looked, tilted?

She recognized Dolion's voice as he approached and despite all logic she sprinted over to the picture, away from the desk to find weird markings on the wall. Was that a hole? She shoved the key in and with a soft click a small part of the wall opened like a door. Without a second thought she slipped in pulling it closed just as the door to the office opened, the light flicking on.

She held her breath, an eye peering through the keyhole, hoping to see what was going on.

"Yes I am aware we haven't gotten it yet, but we must be close."

She couldn't see him, but she could hear his heavy footsteps across the room and the sound of him falling into his chair.

"Well then get another test subject." A short pause. "No no, we still need him. Who else do we have left?"

There were sounds of papers being sifted through. Ellen felt her heart start to race hoping he wasn't the kind of person that had things in particular order or it may be noticed that she hadn't exactly kept everything in the same place.

"She has become a liability, I agree, but there is no one else with the experience and skill she has. Not unless you can get me someone of similar caliber…No one likes Kyle but he's the scapegoat, only if there are no other options will I let him go." Another short pause this time his voice had risen, clearly annoyed with the person on the other end of the call. "Well you have the list of employees, I don't care how you pick, just make sure it isn't someone important."

There was a tired sigh and the room became quiet.

Ellen pressed her lips together taking a look around the room she had stepped into. For the second time that night she really wished she hadn't.

The room was about the same size of the test room, though it was much more furnished. There appeared to be some sort of altar in the center of the room and it had been stained heavily with blood. On the floor in front of it was what looked like a pentagram though she didn't really recognize it. Taking a few very slow and careful steps closer she found it was actually a sigil she didn't recognize.

She bit back a whimper as she looked past the altar to find five bassinets, all thankfully empty. Off to the left of the last one was a box stuffed full of old parchment. That was at least something she did recognize. They were contracts. Shaking off the shiver that slid up her spine she knelt down to the box slowly pulling contract after contract out, her eyes only scanning quickly, mostly focused on the bottoms, the names. After emptying about half the box she found the John Hancock she had grown familiar with in a cursive that was not as well practiced as she was used to.

She lazily stuffed the rest back in the box as her eyes drifted off the contract she never got to finish reading the first time she encountered Dolion. The more she read the more her stomach twisted. It seemed everything about this evening was a nightmare, only getting worse as it progressed.

The sound of a door clicking shut pulled her from the contract and to the door. She carefully folded up the contract and tucked it in the waistband of her pants, making sure it was hidden under her shirt at the back. When she met up with Alastor next, they were going to have a talk about it. Well, he wouldn't really be able to talk about it, he had been silenced on the matter as she found out, but she was definitely going to give him a piece of her mind.

The only reason she pushed out of the hidden room was because the office had been returned to darkness, meaning Dolion had left at some point. She had definitely seen enough, she couldn't stay any longer looking for Xander, but the file she had taken was enough to know he was safe here for now. When it wasn't just her on her own she could come back and she and Alastor could get Xander. For now, she needed to sneak back out.

Once back in the hallways she slowly followed the signage to the kitchen. She turned a corner only to find the lights in the kitchen were on. She froze, a small curse slipping from her lips as her mind tried to think if she had seen any other exits. There was no way she could leave this way. Who the heck was up this early? Maybe she had unintentionally followed Dolion. She was just about to slip back the way she came when someone cleared their throat behind her. She didn't bother trying to make a run for it, only sighing in defeat before turning slowly to find an angry Xander glaring at her. Oh?

"What are you doing here? Who are you?"

Ellen just stared blankly. The photos in his file did him no justice. He looked the splitting image of Alastor, or Alastor in his human form just a few years younger.

It was at this point she realized this was the first time she actually got to see her son. She hesitantly reached out her hand, stopping just before touching his arm. Maybe he was touch-adverse like Alastor. She pulled her hand back, a soft smile pulling to her face. Well wasn't this a pleasant surprise. Maybe she could save this evening after all.

"Hello Xander. It's nice to finally meet you…"

This wasn't the best time or place to drop the preverbal bomb, but she could see him pulling pieces together.

AN: Yes we're finally getting Xander reunited with the gang! XD