February 25^th, 2017. 3:12pm.

Alex stood just outside of her car, a couple bags in her hands and a few more in the trunk. She’d finished the shopping in an hour or so. Workbooks, clothes, food – anything and everything they might need. The key felt heavy in her hand. She wasn’t alone, she knew that much. There was an extra car in the driveway, and Katy had texted to say that Lucia was on the way as well.

The door opened before Alex got close, Eleanor’s head emerging from the doorway. “C’mon!” She waved to her.

Obediently Alex grabbed the bags, popped the trunk and fetched the rest of them, before heading towards the door. “I got what Katy asked me to,” she said, setting them on the coffee table when Eleanor pointed to it.

“She texted me the list.” Eleanor stood, propping her hands on her waist. She surveyed the house, twisted her lips as she thought.

Alex felt awkward. It was ridiculous. She was a grown up, she was an FBI agent, she was awesome. But it’d been a long time since she had met the family or friends of anyone she had genuinely liked.

Even if it wasn’t necessarily genuine affection, she reminded herself. Transference was a thing. Yet that didn’t explain why she stood there, looking apprehensively at the pile of things on the coffee table.

“I’ll tackle the kitchen,” Eleanor said decisively, picking up the bags that held the food. “Do you have a key to Tally’s room?”

Alex lifted her head and stared at Eleanor, startled. “What?”

“Katy said she gave you a key.” Eleanor just looked at her.

“Yeah.” Alex dug into her pocket, pulled it out. “It’s not her house key?”

Eleanor stepped closer and looked at it. There was a faint smile on her face. “No, it’s not.” She closed Alex’s hand around it, and met her eyes, like a serpent looked at a mouse it was about to eat.

Alex swallowed.

“Take care of her, will you?” Eleanor said. She didn’t let go of Alex’s hand, or stop pressing her fingers gently down on top of the key.

“I don’t know —”

“What I’m talking about, yes, yes. I’d get the same thing from Katy.” Eleanor seemed amused. “But I see the way she looks at you. Especially when she thinks you’re not watching.” She raised an eyebrow. “And the way you look back.”

Alex cleared her throat, pulling her hand back but not dropping the key. “I apologize if you feel I’ve overstepped my professional boundaries —”

Eleanor sighed. “You’re not that stupid.”

Alex’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. She knew where Eleanor was going, what she was saying. She let out a deep breath. “I’ll try,” she said, and that was the honest answer.

Eleanor seemed satisfied, nodding once to her and then turning towards the kitchen. She didn’t say anything else, leaving Alex standing there with the key in her hand.

Alex hesitated, then picked up the bags she knew contained the toys, books, and clothes that Katy had asked her to get. The magnitude of what Katy had asked weighed on her, the fact that she had given Alex a key that she had never entrusted to anyone else.

She made her way up the stairs, the key in her pocket. Stood at the top of the stairs, next to the door she knew led to Tally’s bedroom. She took the key out of her pocket and looked at it, seeing finally that it was slightly smaller than most house keys tended to be.

Alex held her breath as she slid it into the lock and twisted it, hearing the deadbolt draw back with a click. Eleanor was right. Not that Alex had particularly doubted her, but it wouldn’t have been the first time Alex had fallen victim to wishful thinking.

Oh God, there she was, internally monologuing when she should have been doing something useful instead. She bit back a cough when she entered the bedroom. It wasn’t dust, not quite, but the air felt stale.

Putting the bags on Tally’s bed, she went to the far window and opened it, leaving the screen in place but letting some air in. It was cool enough outside that it wouldn’t kill her electric bill. Winter. Alex snorted. There was no such thing as winter in Phoenix.

First things first was giving the room a good clean. From helping Katy out in the past, Alex knew where the vacuum and dusters were, and it was only a matter of an hour before she had the room looking less like a mausoleum and more like something a child would enjoy.

Turning back to the bags, she started with the bookshelf. Tally was older now. Not that Alex was going to get rid of anything, but she moved the young-child books to the bottom shelf and started adding the new books Katy had asked for to the top shelf, in the easiest place to reach. There were some school workbooks, some coloring books, some fun picture books.

The psychologist had seemed fairly surprised at Tally’s reading ability. She’d been educated while she was being held. Alex had seen a lot of weird things, working with child victims, but she hadn’t quite seen that one. Or at least not when there was a single kidnapping victim.

Maybe there were others. She considered that as she aired out the drapes, re-dusted a few spots just to have something to do with her hands. There were plenty of missing kids in Phoenix, a horrible reality of her job. There was the missing child Greg had mentioned, too. The timing and location was terribly convenient. Was it possible Tally had been released intentionally because her kidnapper had already gotten another child? It was a possibility they had to consider.

Finally, everything was put away, and she stood, surveying her work. It probably wasn’t perfect, or what Katy would have done, but Alex had set it up the way she would have for any other kid coming home after a trauma. Twice Alex had stayed behind after a child had been found, helping the parents adjust to the kids coming home. It hadn’t been long, no longer than four or five days, but it was enough for Alex to have an idea of how it worked.

“Done this before?”

The voice at the door startled Alex, whose hand went to her gun out of pure instinct.

The woman standing at the door had her hands raised, and looked alarmed. “I’m Lucia. Eleanor sent me up here to check on you.”

“Oh.” Alex forced herself to relax, to slow the pounding of her heart in her chest. “I’m Special Agent Mitchell.” She paused. “Or Alex.”

God, she was going to be in so much trouble. It was bad enough that she didn’t seem to care that she was trying to throw away the work she’d done the past several years.

It was hard to explain, the toll it took. All she’d wanted was to be an FBI agent, but reality was different and distinct.

“Eleanor’s got some snacks and coffee out downstairs if you want to come sit with us,” Lucia said, her smile friendly. “I brought some of the good stuff from a picnic I helped coordinate.”

Alex gave her a look-over. She’d recognized her from the photos she’d seen of Tally, once she’d calmed down. Lucia was short and willowy, with short black hair and sharp brown eyes. She was wearing a dress, strapless but shaped, all the way down to her knees. “I’d love that,” Alex said, a smile on her face in return.

“We’ll be in the kitchen.” Lucia nodded to her, then turned and left.

Alex stood there for a few more seconds, listening to the sound of Lucia’s feet on the steps. Then she surveyed Tally’s room one more time, gathering the bags that had carried the items upstairs and tucking them into her pocket to dispose of downstairs. It looked good.

Satisfied, she headed downstairs, stopping and locking Tally’s door behind her and tucking the key into the depths of her pocket. If Katy kept it locked, there was probably a reason behind it, and she was going to stick to that.

Lucia and Eleanor were sitting at the kitchen table when Alex entered. Alex took the plastic bags out of her pocket and tossed them on the counter with the others.

“Sit, sit!” Eleanor smiled at her, nudged the chair closer to Alex with her foot so it slid out from underneath the table.

Alex pulled it the rest of the way out and sat down, looking at the meat and cheese platter on the table. She was hungry; when was the last time she’d eaten? Eleanor had a beer, Lucia a Diet Coke.

“There’s more soda in the fridge if you want some,” Lucia said, nodding in the right direction.

“Or more beer, if you’re not a snob.” Eleanor raised the beer in her direction. “Brought my own and everything.”

“Katy doesn’t drink beer?” Alex stood, heading towards the fridge. She didn’t drink when there was even a hint she was on duty. At least her supervisor knew where she was, knew that she was now overseeing the transition of Tally back home.

Her psychologist was going to kill her, when she got back to her home office. But Alex resolutely shoved that out of her mind.

“Nah,” Lucia said, waving her hand in Alex’s direction. “She likes wine every so often, though, but she’s not really a drinker.” There was a pause. “Especially the past three years.”

Alex looked at Eleanor, who was looking back at her, something pointed in her eyes.

“I heard your father led the prior investigation?” Lucia asked, pushing Alex’s chair out so she could settle back in once she had the soda in her hand.

Alex considered, then nodded. That wasn’t something held back from the press, which was probably how they knew about it. Or Katy could have mentioned it.

“Having any luck?” Eleanor asked, worry in her eyes as she leaned closer.

Alex pulled her phone out of her pocket, studied it, then shook her head. There weren’t any updates from Greg. They’d talked that morning, Greg promising to keep her updated. There were several detectives working on the case now, and Alex had comfortably fallen into her role as liaison, even though she itched to be out there, sorting through information and figuring out the next steps. Not that she was entirely offended — sometimes it was nice to have a break.

But she would have bet that Greg had noticed her and Katy getting close, had capitalized on that by putting Alex in the position where she could do the best help in supporting Katy through this fragile time. Tally would have the best care she could, but the mothers, the parents, were often forgotten.

“Hello?” Lucia’s voice brought her head up and out of her thoughts. Lucia waggled red-tipped fingers at her. “You there?”

“Sorry.” Alex smiled ruefully. “Long couple weeks.”

Lucia and Eleanor exchanged a look. “Long three years,” Eleanor drawled, and Alex conceded the point.

“Katy was always the short one,” Lucia said mournfully. “And then in high school, she grew legs like a stork.”

Eleanor laughed, and even Alex smiled. Lucia was short, Eleanor a bit taller. “They’re nice legs, though.” Eleanor grinned in Alex’s direction, and Alex looked down at her soda as if it was suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world.

When she looked back up, Lucia and Eleanor were exchanging looks, each with an eyebrow quirked. There was something amused at the corner of their lips, in their eyes. Alex wanted to scowl, her gaze flicking between them, but she kept her mouth shut.

She had a fair idea that she didn’t want to know what they were thinking or quite what they were assuming with those expressions.