As Doctor Elizabeth Carlisle made her way through the winding corridors of GD towards Doctor Blake's office, she couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't moved to Eureka sooner. It would have been the ideal place to raise her exceptionally bright son. A sigh escaped her lips and she nodded as she passed one of her new co-workers, a man by the name of Henry Deacon. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder, sure that he had been staring at her but he rounded a corner before she could be sure. Her and her son had been in Eureka for two days now and she had learned, rather quickly, that the town was more of a close knit family than an actual community. It was also a little disconcerting having everybody know everybody elses business. She was an extremely private person and this towns openness was going to take a lot of getting used to. Before she could think further, she found herself standing outside her new bosses office door. She raised her hand to knock but was waved in before she got the chance.

Doctor Allison Blake waved GD's newest employee in and motioned for her to have a seat until she finished her phone call. "So you're going to pick Kevin up after school?" She needed to be sure since she had a meeting with Eva later that was sure to last into the night; meetings with her always did. "I can't thank you enough, Jack." She lowered her voice. Since Nathan's passing a number of months ago, Jack had kept true to his word about being there for her. And recently he had taken a interest in spending time with her genius level, autistic, son, Kevin. The two of them shared a bond that she couldn't even begin to explain. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she held up a finger signaling that she was almost through. "Baseball? He's interesting in learning how to play baseball?" When had that happened? She wondered. "As long as he wears the safety gear I don't see why you can't teach him. Yes, I'm serious. No, I haven't inhaled toxic mind altering fumes. I trust you with my son, Jack. Pizza for his dinner is fine and I'll be by at nine to pick him up." She tapped her ear piece once the conversation ended. "So what can I do for you, Doctor Carlisle?" She switched from parent mode to professional mode without a pause or second thought. "Are you and your son settling in okay?"

"We are, thank you for asking, Doctor Blake." Elizabeth believed in formality until told otherwise. "I have a question.."

"No one calls me Doctor Blake around here, except maybe Fargo. Please, call me Allison." Allison told then folded her hands in front of her on the desk. "A question?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Allison, then you'll have to call me Elizabeth." She insisted. "I was going over my class list for the semester and I came across a name that I wasn't familiar with. What can you tell me about a student by the name of Zoe Carter? I asked the school but they said I should make my inquires here?"

Allison sat back in her chair and narrowed her eyes, slightly. "Zoe Carter?" She was well aware that Elizabeth and her son were both teaching a class at the high school along with performing their duties at GD.

"So you know of her?" Elizabeth sat forward in her chair, eager for any information Allison was willing to provide her. "I don't recall meeting any Carter's during my orientation here at Global Dynamics so I'm going to hazard a guess that her parents don't work here?"

"Zoe wasn't raised here. She moved here from LA when her father was recommended for and accepted the position of Sheriff. I met her mother once, she came for a visit, Abby was her name, she's a psychologist in LA." Allison spun around in her chair and removed a framed picture off the table behind her, spinning back around she handed it to the red head. "That was taken a couple weeks ago at the annual GD picnic. Her father is the man wearing the ridiculous I Replaced the Previous Cook When He Blew Up apron."

She took the offered picture and couldn't help but gasp. The man was a spitting image of her ex-husband, minus the curly hair, back when she first met him. Elizabeth took in his features and knew right away who he was. "What's his name?"

Allison didn't understand what was going on but she had a feeling that it was significant. "Jack, Jack Carter. Do you know him?" She would be surprised if she did.

Elizabeth, carefully, sat the picture onto the glass top of Allison's desk. She cleared her throat. "My ex-husband is a Carter. I came here trying to find out if she could be related to him." She paused. "Jay came from a big family, he had four older brothers and four younger sisters, and it wouldn't have surprised me in the least if some of their offspring ended up here in Eureka."

"And is she?" Allison motioned to the picture. "You recognize someone in that picture and I'm guessing it's Jack, am I right?" Suddenly all the pieces fit together, including Jack's refusal to have anything to do with Elizabeth and Carson Carlisle. "You're related to him." It wasn't a question but rather a statement of fact.

"I am." Elizabeth confirmed. "I don't know how detailed my personnel file is but Carson isn't my only child. He's not even my youngest."

Allison was stunned since Elizabeth's personnel file only had one child listed. "You're Jack's mother?" She blurted out. "Why didn't he tell me?" She wondered, aloud.

Elizabeth looked down at her hands which were now folded, tightly, in her lap. "I may have given birth to them but I doubt that either my son or daughter look to me as their mother. I haven't seen either of them in thirty-two years." She looked up. "Do you have children, Allison?" She looked at the picture again. "Of course you do." She answered her own question as her eyes rested on the dark skinned youth in the photo. "Have you ever done something to your child that you've regretted for every...single...day of your life?"

"Can't say that I have." Allison answered, honestly. She would never do anything that would purposely cause her son distress. "You said that you haven't seen your children in thirty-two years, why is that?" She had the feeling that this woman needed to talk and at the moment she was the one listening.

"Simply put, I was a self-centered bitch. I thought I knew what was best for my family and when Jay...eh...Jackson disagreed I packed up Carson and moved in with my parents. I only meant to stay away long enough to scare him but days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months until one day I came home from work to find divorce and custody papers waiting for me. I was so angry that he wanted a divorce that I signed those papers out of spite. As for the custody papers...he wanted full custody of Jack and Lexus but there was no mention of Carson...he didn't even want visitation rights, not that I would have given him any back then. It wasn't really a surprise since I never really gave him a choice when it came to Carson but I hurt for my son. By then I wasn't thinking about what was best for my children, I just wanted to hurt Jackson. So I filed my own custody papers and we ended up in court. If I would have stopped for a moment and actually thought about it, I would have realized that I hadn't had a pray when it came to awarding custody of my oldest and youngest child. I was the one that walked out. I was the one that abandoned them. I was the reason why my son was lashing out at those around him. I was the one that hadn't attempted any form of communication with them for four months. And in the end I was the one that lost. Carson was six before I got over my anger and resentment and by that time it was too late to even think about trying to restore my relationship with my children."

Allison listened without judgement. "Now I understand why Jack..." She shook her head. "I guess I should apologize to him and take him off suspension." She said quietly, more to herself than Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled, slightly. "So much like his father." She remembered, fondly. "I don't suppose you could arrange a meeting between him and I?" She asked, quietly, beggingly.

"I don't know." Allison hesitated. Jack had been clear about wanting absolutely no contact with either Carlisle. He even threatened to quit if she pushed the subject. The thought of losing him so close to Nathan made her physically sick to her stomach. And she couldn't even begin to imagine how Kevin would react to the loss of both Jack and Zoe because she had no doubt that Zoe wouldn't try to stop her father from moving them out of Eureka once she knew the whole story. "I can't promise anything, Elizabeth. Jack loves it here in Eureka and so does Zoe but if I push him into something he doesn't want to do...I won't be the cause of them leaving." She said, firmly.

"All I ask is that you think about it." Elizabeth told her and stood.. Baring ones soul to ones boss on the second day of work had left her emotionally exhausted.

Allison nodded. "I can do that."She picked up the picture and placed it back on the table. "But I must ask you to remember that they aren't kids anymore. Both of them are grown up and from what I've seen, both Jack and Lexi were raised right, regardless of what you may have thought back then. And I know for a fact that they are both fiercely loyal to their father and I think if you speak badly of him, you'll lose them for good." She paused then continued. "Does Carson know what you suspected?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Carson was two when we left. He has vague memories of his big brother and little sister. And even vaguer memories of his father. I think when he saw his own class list, he put two and two together came to the same assumption I did; that he's possibly related to people in this town through his father. I'm sure he never assumed that the relation would be so close but..." She shrugged and pushed the door open to make her exit. "I'm sure he'll take the news well, he was always a mild mannered, understanding, boy." With that said she departed and headed back towards her lab. Half way there she stopped and replayed the last part of the conversation in her head. "She said Jack and Lexi were raised right. And that they both were fiercely loyal to Jackson." She quickly understood what this meant. "My daughter is here as well." She whispered then started walking again when several passerbys gave her strange looks. As she entered her lab she couldn't help but wonder if Jackson was here too?