January 24^th, 2017. 6pm.

Katy sighed. Home sounded good, even if it did mean letting go of Alex.

“Do you need to get anything from your locker?”

“Keys and stuff.” Katy glanced towards the far hall where the staff lockers were.

“Do you want to leave your car here?” Alex glanced outside. “Or drive it home?”

“I’ll take it home,” Katy said after a moment. Alex nodded, waiting for Katy to start moving.

“I’ll get there first, and keep the reporters off you.”

Katy looked at Alex, grateful. She needed the reporters on her side, needed them helping her find Tally, instead of the opposite. But they were so quick to find every little thing that the investigators tried to hide, or that had happened to Katy in the past, and blow it up everywhere.

And besides, Katy never would have hurt Tally. Ever. She fought back tears that threatened to swamp her. That was part of the trauma, her therapist had assured her. Everyone grieved differently, everyone processed it differently. Just Katy’s luck that hers involved crying, or wanting to work.

Some people pounced on that, considered it a weakness. A sign of remorse.

After a final nod to Alex, Katy headed towards the locker room. She often wore her scrubs home, but she also kept plain clothes in there in case she had to go somewhere straight after work.

It was always nice to get out of the scrubs and into regular clothes, to feel human again.

Her eyes fluttered closed. When Tally had been home, before she had disappeared, Katy had always changed so that Tally could hug her first thing in the morning when she got home without worrying about hospital germs.

It didn’t matter now. Now she worked days, sometimes nights, and there was no one at home waiting for her.

Shoving the thought out of her mind, she packed up her bag and headed out of the hospital towards the employee parking lot. The downside of being a nurse was that their parking was further away than the doctor’s. The advantage of being a nurse was that they were never called in in the middle of the night to do surgery or something equally crazy.

Well. Not without something huge happening in the community.

Out of habit she checked her car to ensure the doors were locked and that it was just like she had left it in terms of belongings. It was paranoia that had steadily gotten worse after Tally’s disappearance.

Katy’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as she thought about the depression episode that the media was clinging onto. It had been one of the hardest times of her life, something even Lucia and Eleanor only knew vague details about.

It wasn’t just that society had finicky views about mental health, it was that her parents did too. As much as she loved Tally, her pregnancy had not been easy - medically or socially. Her parents had moved back to Oregon, left her sleeping on Lucia’s couch until she could afford her own place. Katy had never really forgiven them. She didn’t plan to.

She forced the thought out of her mind as she headed towards her house. She lived farther from this hospital than she had the last one, but it was worth it. While it was more rural, she saw fewer sick children since they were able to go to the larger children’s hospital that was only ten or so minutes away.

Some days, even the healthy sniffles-and-cough kids that came in infrequently were too much. It was like a reminder of all of the things she would never experience with Tally, the future that had been plucked from her hands. But her supervisor worked with her. And Katy was good at her job.

When she came into viewing distance of her house, she saw Alex’s parked SUV and Alex standing beside it, leaning against it while the press very wisely kept their distance. Still, there were microphones and cameras pointed in Alex’s direction, as if they were ready to go off at any moment.

Katy got closer, but she noticed the moment when Alex caught sight of her car. Alex gestured for her to park ahead of the SUV, in the garage. It was a bit tighter than Katy expected, but it worked.

Then she got out of the car, listening to the shouts of the reporters and journalists who were out on her lawn.

“Go inside,” Alex murmured into Katy’s ear, gently pushing her in the direction of the door.

Her breath on Katy’s ear made her shiver in a way that was entirely inappropriate for the situation, but she listened. As she walked, probably too slowly, she could hear Alex addressing the people on her property.

“No new discoveries have been made in the Tally Sommers case,” Alex said, her voice projecting. “Katy Sommers is not, and has never been, a person of interest in this case.”

“Who are you?” One overly-eager reporter stuck her microphone in Alex’s face.

“I am Special Agent Mitchell with the FBI,” Alex said patiently. “If you have any questions, Detective Rydell will be holding a press conference sometime later tomorrow afternoon and will look forward to addressing your questions then.” With that, Alex turned on her heels and headed after Katy.

Katy, who had stopped and was staring at her. Whoops. She moved forward faster, getting inside and letting Alex in beside her. The door closed behind them with a satisfying click, and then Katy turned the deadbolt. She wanted to sink into the floor, almost weep in release, but she was too tired, too bone-dry.

She didn’t know what to say, whether about what Alex had done for her or what the media had been saying in the first place. So instead she headed towards her kitchen and flipped on the coffee maker. It was late, she probably needed to sleep, but she wanted coffee anyway. Sometimes she just needed that reassurance.

“I don’t miss that at all,” Katy murmured mostly to herself as the coffee started brewing.

Alex let out a sigh. “Me neither.”

Katy looked at her, curious. While she had worked with the home liaison when Tally had first been taken, she had never really had a chance to talk to the other FBI agents involved. Despite what TV shows showed, the majority of cases were ‘hurry up and wait’ for the family involved.

Katy hated it.

“Do you deal with that a lot?” Katy asked, pouring a cup of coffee for both of them and handing one to Alex.

Alex nodded, taking the coffee and taking a sip. “We usually have a media liaison on the CARD teams, but we all have to be prepared to speak with the media if something happens.”

“Do you like your team?” Katy couldn’t help curiosity getting the better of her. She’d never met someone like Alex before. Not just a CARD agent, but someone who was so quietly competent. So present that she filled up a room just by being in it.

“I do,” Alex said, smiling at her. “We mostly work together, but on occasion we do go to different locations on our own, depending on a special skill set.” There was a sadness, some sort of storm lurking in her eyes, but Katy didn’t press.

Katy nodded thoughtfully, waiting for her coffee to hit the temperature and creaminess she liked. Milk and sugar were a nice contrast to the bitterness of the coffee beans. Why Katy continued drinking the stuff when she didn’t actually like the taste of plain coffee, she didn’t know.

She took some time, the silence comfortable, to skim the room around them. They were in the dining room, sitting near the bar that separated it from the kitchen. What was she going to do? When Tally had originally disappeared, Katy had taken up crochet. Six blankets later, she’d taken a break.

Maybe it was time to go back to the blanket she had recently started. Maybe she could donate them to charity, or to the hospital. They always needed blankets, especially in pediatrics. The blanket wasn’t for Tally. Nope.

“What are you thinking about?” Alex asked softly, looking at Katy over the side of her coffee mug.

“What to do for the next few hours,” Katy admitted. Eventually she was going to need to go in front of the press (something she was dreading), but for now she had some downtime.

It felt so selfish, thinking that. She had downtime while her daughter was missing. But there was nothing Katy could do that she wasn’t already doing.

“What do you do for hobbies?” Alex asked, her voice almost nonchalant.

Katy drained her coffee and stood, feeling some of the caffeine surge through her veins. “Besides sleep?” She tried to smile, but it came out more crooked than she expected. That was the depression. She slept a lot, even when she didn’t mean to.

“Yes.” Alex smiled, though, and didn’t comment on it.

Katy was grateful. “I crochet.” She headed towards the living room, pointing to a couple of the blankets on the couch and armchairs. “I made these a couple years ago.”

The timing wasn’t lost on Alex, and Katy saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes.

“Could you teach me?” Alex looked at the blankets, curious.

The thought warmed Katy. It wasn’t exactly what she had planned to do, but it was certainly something to pass the time.

Then Alex’s phone rang, drawing both of their attention. Alex held up a finger and then headed out of the room, leaving Katy by herself with her crochet blankets.

She looked at the blanket she had started the night before. Tally would be bigger now, having outgrown her smaller blankets. That was what she was working on. That was what she was going to finish.

Katy swallowed thickly. Was she delusional or just hopeful?

Alex came back in, an odd expression on her face. “That was Greg,” she said, and Katy studied her warily. Was it bad? There was something off, something she didn’t understand. “I’m to be your in-home liaison until the media has shifted its coverage.”

There it was. Alex was going to be — well, babysitter wasn’t the right term. But someone who was in charge of keeping up with the investigation and translating all of it to Katy.

Which wasn’t as necessary as it had been three years ago, back when she wasn’t familiar with the terminology and everything that had happened.

“Okay,” Katy said, not sure what else to say. She handed Alex a crochet hook and gestured for her to take a spot on the couch.

“Is there anything in particular you think the media will go after you about?” Alex’s voice was carefully neutral as she settled down next to Katy with a crochet hook in hand.

Katy kept her gaze on the yarn as she unraveled some for Alex to use as practice. While she waited, there was nothing else to do. Not even sleep.

She had dealt with insomnia last time, and she was certain it was back with a vengeance. At least there was a guest bedroom for Alex to sleep in. “You heard what they said on the media, I take it?”

Alex nodded, watching Katy intently. “But I want to hear it from you.”

Katy both appreciated and respected that. Alex was taking the time to get the full story, not just the media spin on files they didn’t understand. But now she had to try and figure out how much to share. The whole truth? A little bit of the truth? Or some muddled version of the above?

“I’m gay,” Katy said finally, starting with the hardest bit. It wasn’t the hardest bit to the media, but it was to her.

But Alex didn’t seem to flinch. She didn’t even bat an eye.

Katy narrowed her eyes, suspicion flooding through her. Something was wrong, something was off—

“My Dad – Kiernan – told me,” Alex said, an apology in her voice. “Once he heard I got the case.”

Huh. Katy didn’t expect that. “How much do you know?”

“Mostly what I read in the files,” Alex answered promptly. “Talked to a few of the other investigators about anything weird that had popped up.”

Katy wasn’t certain if it was weird to ask what Alex knew about her. But Tally’s investigation had taught her not to be a wallflower. If she wanted an answer, she had to go for it. “What did he tell you about me?”

Alex’s face colored red. That wasn’t what Katy had expected, not in the least. “Just that you were gay. And a good mother.”

Katy’s eyebrows shifted towards her hairline. “Excuse me?” She wasn’t appalled, just shocked. It wasn’t the definition she would have given herself.

Alex sighed and looked away, although there was wry amusement in her face. “I’m a lesbian,” she said finally.

It dawned on Katy. “Your father’s a matchmaker?”

Alex nodded regretfully. “It’s just me and him, so.”

Briefly Katy wondered about the ethics of the whole thing. “Isn’t that against the rules or something?”

Alex tilted her head down, let out a laugh. “Dad’s always been one for ignoring the rules when there was something to be gained.”

“A risk taker?” Katy arched an eyebrow.

“Not quite,” Alex answered, sounding honest. She met Katy’s eyes now. “One thing you never realize until you’re in the Bureau is how much paperwork and bureaucracy is involved with even the day-to-day tasks.”

“Huh.” Katy considered this. “So it’s more like a bonus, the matchmaking thing?”

Alex’s lips twitched, as if she was hiding her grin. “Something like that.”

Katy cared a whole lot less about the whole thing than she thought she would. There was a part of her that had shivered in glee when she had heard Alex call herself a lesbian.

It meant Alex was, well, eligible and on her side of court. So to speak. Not that Katy had really gotten crushes on people, or even wanted to date anyone. She’d had too much on her plate, the last seven years. Dating was the last thing on her mind. Sex was a different story, but dating was off limits. Especially dating the FBI agent on her missing daughter’s case.

It took her longer than she appreciated to drag her mind back to the original topic of conversation, which was the dirt the media was going to drag up. “I was hospitalized with depression before Tally was born,” Katy admitted. It wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed talking about, but it was a fact of life.

“Can I ask why?” Alex’s voice was compassionate. Katy smiled a small smile.

There was another question underneath that. Who was Tally’s father? Not that Alex was going to come outright and ask, but the whole gay thing did make it an interesting point. “I had a one-night stand with a man that got me pregnant.” She looked away, looking at the heavy blind-covered window and at the media outside, even though she couldn't see them.

It was strange, thinking about how different her life would have been if she hadn’t had sex with Chris.

Alex nodded, not speaking.

“My parents threw me out,” Katy said simply. It was the short version of things. There was a longer, more complicated variation, involving Catholicism and uptight parents who refused to accept her decision, instead choosing to move two thousand miles away. Especially when Katy wouldn’t tell them who the father was. But Katy had taken care of both herself and Tally, and done a damn good job of it, no matter what anyone said.

Alex looked at her, sympathy in her face. Katy took one look at her and then glanced away. She didn’t need pity. She had done quite well, until… until someone had taken her daughter away from her.

Maybe her parents had been right. Maybe she shouldn’t have kept her.

“Depression can completely overwhelm your life.” Alex’s voice was thoughtful, and had the ring of someone who had been there and knew what Katy was talking about.

Katy studied her now, curiosity lighting up her eyes. She wasn’t going to ask, either. It wasn’t her business. If Alex wanted to tell her, she would.

“Right. Are you going to teach me to crochet or not?” Alex brought a teasing tone back into her voice.

Katy smiled, and started with the basics.