By Any Other Name

Summary: Paige McCullers finds her world turned upside down when she discovers the people who raised her aren't her real parents. Ripped from her old life, she's thrown in to the dysfunctional Hastings family; where her only solace comes in the form of her sister's best friend.

Rating: M (Probably T for now)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the show.

A/N: So this sprang to mind after watching 'Finding Carter'. I'm already working on a million things right now, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to start writing it. I'll probably keep writing if people are interested in it.

"Nice work Kiddo. Your times are coming on great." Nick McCullers grinned at his teenage daughter as she climbed in to the front seat of his SUV. "You really impressed me out there tonight. I'm pretty sure there were scouts there too."
"My dive was short on that last relay. I could have done better." Paige shook her head. She shivered as drops of water ran down her back. Her hair was still wet from the pool, and she'd hastily tied it back.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. That's my job." Nick cracked, giving her a weathered smile. He was pushing forty, and Paige had started to notice the little lines around his eyes and mouth; the many cracks and wrinkles that told the story of his life.

It hadn't been a fairytale, by any stretch of the imagination. Paige caught him staring at the gold band on his wedding finger. Her mom had been dead for close to two years, but Paige's father had never once taken it off. The loss had hit them both pretty hard, but it had brought them closer than ever. Paige and her dad hadn't always been close. There'd been a time when they'd stopped talking for a while, only ever screaming at each other across the dining room table. Paige's mom had always been the buffer between them, the one who could calm both of their fiery tempers.

It was a hereditary thing. Paige got her dad's temper and her mom's love of the water. She'd been a swimmer too. That was why Paige had thrown herself in to her training after her mom's death. Swimming had been the only thing that could take Paige's mind off the pain of her passing. It had been sudden. Some stupid drunk driver had hit her car head on, instantly killing the most important person in Paige's life. She tried not to dwell on it it too much. She and her dad hardly every talked about the missing member of their family. It was too hard for either of them to deal with.

"I was talking to your coach. He's had a lot of top colleges interested in you. He said Penn State were pretty keen-"
"Dad, come on! We've been over this! I'm applying for Stanford. That's my first choice." Paige had lost count of the number of times they'd argued over where she would be going to college next year. She had not long turned seventeen and had just started her senior year of high school. Scouts and colleges were all she seemed to be thinking about.
"I know." Nick let out a heavy sigh as he pulled in to their driveway and killed the engine. "I just wish you'd consider a school a little closer to home. How am I supposed to be an overbearing father if you're on the other side of the country? Huh?"

"You're not." Paige laughed. She leant over to press a kiss to his clean shaven cheek and offered him a wry smile. "You're going to have to let me go sometime Papa-Bear."
"Never! You'll always be my little Paigey Penguin." Nick grinned as he took her kitbag from her.
"Dad! Quit calling me that. I'm not five!" Paige rolled her eyes at him, though she was biting back a smile as she followed him inside their house.

They lived in a modest three bedroom house in Mt. Lebanon, one of the more affluent suburbs near Pittsburgh. Paige's father worked as a banker in the city, so he faced a long commute on the weekdays. It was rare for him to be home for dinner during the week, though he always made an effort to get to all of Paige's swim meets; even the away ones.

"I'm going to call it a night. I've got that stupid field trip tomorrow." Paige stretched with a yawn. The meet had wiped her out, and she felt ready to fall right in to bed.
"Oh yeah, your trip to the FBI field office. Just you behave tomorrow, I'm not bailing you out of jail."
"I'll try my best not to pull any fire alarms, or send any bomb threats." Paige made a show of crossing her fingers as she headed for the stairs.
"That's all I can ask for." Nick called after her with a smirk, fully aware that his teenage daughter was not only a hothead, but a smart ass too; she couldn't be any more like him if she tried.

"McCullers! Move your ass! I saved you a seat." Shana Cruz patted the empty seat beside her on the school bus. She was sitting near the back, with the rest of the swimming jocks. Paige made her way down the bus, heading towards her friends.
"Who says I want to sit with you?" Paige grinned as she stopped in front of Shana, leaning casually against the back of the seat in front. Shana rolled her eyes as she tugged on the front of her shirt, pulling Paige down on top of her. She greeted her with a searing kiss that left Paige's toes curling in her sneakers. "Okay. You twisted my arm." She laughed as she dropped down beside her girlfriend.

She and Shana had been dating for the better part of six months. The other girl had transferred in from Georgia during the previous year; and Paige had instantly hated her. Their fierce rivalry had grown over months, with Paige doing everything in her power to try and best the other swimmer. It had ended when Shana had pushed her up against her locker and kissed her senseless; though even that had ended up turning in to a competition between them.

"Looking forward to our super fun field trip?" Shana smirked as she made herself comfortable, leaning across to rest her head in Paige's lap.
"So much." Paige rolled her eyes, and started running her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. "I'm mostly looking forward to tonight. Are your parents still going out?"
"They sure are. We'll have the place to ourselves all night...unless you want to invite the rest of the team over?" Paige responded with a less than pleasant hand gesture. Shana's parents were going out for the night, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Paige and Shana had been planning their own night in for weeks; they just had to make it through the school day first.

The trip was about as fun as Paige expected. Their guide, an agent so old he'd probably known J. Edgar Hoover personally, led them around the federal building, showing them cubicles and notice boards. He had a dry, nasally kind of voice. It was grating on Paige's last nerve by the time lunch rolled around. The most exciting thing he showed them was the finger printing computer. A lab technician demonstrated the way prints could be digitally scanned in from a portable tablet. The technician looked barely older than the teens he was lecturing; if he hadn't been wearing an ID badge, he'd probably be assigned a buddy by the teacher leading the field trip.

"Who wants a try? How about you?" He nodded towards Shana, but she hastily pushed Paige in front of her. She wasn't exactly the volunteering type, so she offered her girlfriend up instead. The technician didn't seem to care. He just ushered Paige over and placed the thumb of her left hand down on the scanner, followed by her palm. "So the prints get processed through the computer. If they were associated with a crime the computer would- Oh." The technician frowned down at the monitor as the computer started beeping. The agent acting as their tour guide peered over his shoulder, wearing the same puzzled expression.
"What did you do?" Shana teased Paige as the rest of the group started murmuring behind her.

"You got me; I stole the Lindbergh baby." Paige answered with her usual sarcasm, trying to hide her anxiety. She'd never broken the law before. There was no reason for her prints to be on file; no reason for the computer to be beeping like crazy.
"Uh, folks, let's call that lunch. I'll show you down to the cafeteria." Agent Malone, their ancient guide, started shepherding the teenagers out of the room. Paige caught him whispering something to the computer guy on his way out. He looked up and gave her a smile that was obviously meant to be reassuring; it was anything but.

She was still thinking about it an hour later. She was sitting with Shana and a few of the other girls from the swim team. The others were happily eating lunch, chatting amongst themselves, but Paige had barely ate a thing. She was too preoccupied. There was a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, and it was only growing bigger. The air around her felt charged and tangible, she could almost taste it. "Paige?" She jumped as Shana tried to get her attention. She'd obviously been trying for some time. Her expression was filled with concern. "Is everything okay?" Paige stared past her, her eyes fixed on Agent Malone and the younger agent accompanying him. They were headed right towards her.
"No." Paige swallowed hard. "I don't think it is."

"Miss McCullers?" It was the younger agent who addressed her first. She was a woman in her early forties, with curly auburn hair and a motherly face. Her almond shaped eyes were warm and soft, and her smile was patient. Paige stared blankly up at her. "Can you come with us please?" She held out her hand, indicating for Paige to stand up.
"What's this about?" The teenager's fingers dug in to the plastic seat she was sitting on. "That crack about the Lindbergh baby was just a joke-"
"Please, just come with us."

Paige felt like her legs had turned to jelly as she got to her feet like the woman asked. She could hear the other kids starting to talk about her as the two federal agents escorted her out of the cafeteria. They led her down a long corridor that never seemed to end. It looked just like every other hallway in the building, with its plain whitewash walls and dull grey carpet. "Just in here." The female agent opened the door to what looked like a conference room and ushered Paige to take a seat inside. Agent Malone hung back, standing by the door as he closed it over. She suddenly felt trapped, like the walls were about to start closing in on her.

"What's going on?" Paige demanded again, her voice trembling as the older woman took a seat opposite her. For all she was the younger of the two agents, she seemed to be the more superior of the two. She quietly opened the file she was holding and started sorting through a stack of papers. When she was ready, she looked back up at Paige, still wearing that patient smile of hers. "I understand this is probably a little scary, but I want you to know straight off the bat, you're not in trouble. You've already met Agent Malone here, and I'm Special Agent Tanner-"
"What am I doing in here? What's going on? Did something happen to my dad? Oh god, is he okay?" Paige was starting to pass fear. She was going in to a full blown panic as she considered that something might have happened to her father. He was all the family she had left.

"Your father's fine. It's Nicholas McCullers, right?" Tanner's eyes had lost their softness. For all her expression was still warm and open, her gaze had hardened. She looked like a bloodhound on the trail of a scent. "And he works for First National Bank on East Carson Street, doesn't he? That's just down the block. I've asked someone to get in touch with him."
"Why?" Paige croaked. "What did I do wrong?"
"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetheart...but I think your dad did." Tanner pulled a photo out of the file and placed it down on the table in front of them. It was of a smiling toddler, with short dark hair and chubby little cheeks. Tanner let Paige study the image for a moment, before she started again.

"This is Kathryn Hastings. She went missing from a department store here in Pittsburgh. Fifteen years ago."
"What does any of that have to do with my dad? Or me?" Paige was starting to lose her patience. A quick temper ran in the family.
"This is you." Tanner watched the teenager closely, gauging her reaction. Malone had come to tell her that some kid's prints had flagged up on AFIS as a missing child, and Tanner had recognised the name immediately. The Hastings case had been the first missing persons she'd worked on after joining the bureau. It had haunted her for fifteen long years.

"What? Is this a joke?" Paige sneered in disbelief. She looked between Tanner and Malone, waiting to see which one of them would crack a smile first. It had to be a joke. They had to be teasing her. It was probably some field trip prank they pulled on some poor unsuspecting kid. The rest of the class were probably standing on the other side of the glass mirror, laughing their asses off at her.

"It's not a joke. Your prints match the ones we have on file for Kathryn Hastings. We took them from your toys after you went missing. We can run a DNA test, but I'm pretty confident it's just going to confirm what we already know. You are Kathyrn Hastings. The man you know as your father is actually your abductor-"
"No!" Paige stood up so fast that she knocked her chair back. "You're lying! This is nuts! It's crazy, my dad...my dad is my dad!" Paige was aware of her voice growing louder as she began to shout, but she couldn't help herself.
"Paige, please, sit back down. Family Services are on there way-" Tanner got to her feet and tried to take a step towards her.

"Stay the hell away from me!" Paige pushed her away, hard, and turned to bolt for the door.
Malone grabbed hold of her before she could reach it. She bucked back against him, trying to shake him off as Tanner recovered from her shove. The older agent twisted Paige's arm up behind her back as he pulled her away from door. He shoved her face first down against the conference table, just as the door opened.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" A dark haired woman in an expensive looking suit, demanded as she stormed inside. Malone jumped away from the teenager like he'd been burned. The woman reached out for Paige, pulling her in to a protective embrace. Paige went with it. She was freaked out of her mind, and in desperate need of the comfort. She just wanted to go home to her dad.

"I was trying to stop her from hurting herself." Malone huffed as he adjusted the lapels of his jacket.
"Veronica." Tanner addressed the woman with a sense of familiarity as she stepped towards her. Paige tensed, not wanting either agent anywhere near her. She felt safe with the woman she presumed was from Family Services; that was until she started to speak.
"Kathryn, it's okay-" Paige wrenched away from her, backing herself in to a corner.
"My name is Paige! I'm Paige McCullers, and I want to see my dad! I want to go home!"
"I'm afraid that can't happen." Tanner spoke in the same kind of patient tone that a kindergarten teacher would use on her kids. "Paige, this is Veronica Hastings. She's your mother."