Juliet was exactly seven minutes late to work on the day her world imploded.

The morning had started off badly, with Shawn taking far too long in the shower and leaving her absolutely no hot water and Will and Mattie bickering over breakfast and Will spilling the Corn Puffs all over the table and floor…

It hadn't gotten any better once she finally managed to clean the milk out of her hair and find her badge under the pile of unfinished homework on the kitchen table and get out the door.

Fortunately, she kissed everyone before she left.

After what happened later that day, she wouldn't have forgiven herself if she hadn't.

She had slid into her desk at seven minutes past eight, just hoping Carlton wasn't standing at his office door, watching the bullpen like a hawk, just waiting for her to show up late.

Of course, this was Carlton.

He was totally standing in the office door, watching the bullpen, just waiting for her to show up late.

"O'Hara," he growled, his arms folded sternly across his chest as he marched resolutely across the room towards her desk. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She whirled around in her chair, her eyes narrowing sharply at him.

After the morning from hell, she wasn't about to put up with a lecture.

"Carlton," she snapped, her hands flinging up in the air. "Don't start with me. Not today. Will and Mattie are both currently covered in milk and cereal and walking to school without their homework because Shawn used all the hot water. Do you think I'm in the mood for this right now?"

He blinked in surprise, backing away slightly. "Uh…" he cleared his throat, his demeanor visibly shifting.

"Well?" she demanded again.

That was pushing it a bit far, as it turned out.

His eyes narrowed again as he quickly found his angry place once more. "You're supposed to call me Chief Lassiter," he reminded her. "I outrank you, O'Hara."

"Carlton, please," she rolled her eyes, turning back to her work. "I'm too tired for games today."

He sputtered and muttered angrily under his breath as he stalked back to his office, but he didn't bring it up again.

That suited them both just fine.

They both went about their day, working on cases as if nothing had happened. Indeed, nothing had. In their over fifteen years on the force together, they had developed a solid rapport that could withstand an occasional spat.

They didn't actually speak again, however, until Juliet got the note.

She left her desk for five minutes to refill her coffee mug for the fifth time that day. When she returned, still stirring the cream and sugar into the black, steaming liquid, there was an envelope on her desk.

An envelope that hadn't been there before.

She stared down at it for a long, silent moment, her pulse already starting to rise.

Across the front was a bold black and white ying-yang symbol and the words HEAD DETECTIVE JULIET O'HARA.

It wasn't even her name anymore, of course. She had changed it to Spencer ten years ago, when she had gotten married.

Somehow, that made the address even more ominous.

A sharp chill ran up her spine as she reached for the envelope, her fingers actually trembling as she tore it open.

There was only one person who could have sent it.

She already knew that.

What she didn't know was why.

Why…or what.

What the hell did it mean?

After everything they had gone through before, what seemed like a lifetime ago, Yang had only ended up serving a twelve year term for kidnapping and attempted murder. None of the actual homicide charges stuck due to insufficient evidence. She had been out for a few years now, and no one had ever heard anything again.

For all intents and purposes, she was gone.

Until now.

Inside the envelope, once she finally managed to calm her nerves enough to actually work it open, Juliet found a single photograph.

Her heart stopped when she pulled it out.

It was a picture of Will and Mattie, walking to school, covered in milk and cereal and laughing. Will's eyes were focused intrepidly on the street ahead of them, unaware they were being photographed, and Mattie was skipping along, her pigtails bobbing behind her.

The time and date stamp at the bottom declared it had been taken that morning.

She dropped it on the desk, some kind of high pitched noise emanating from her mouth as she looked around the precinct.

Someone there had put that on her desk.

She knew it.

Someone there….

Someone she worked with…

No!

It just wasn't—

Her eyes locked with Carlton's across the room. He immediately saw the desperation, the sheer terror, in her expression. He strolled across the bullpen briskly, trying not to look like he was rushing when they both knew he was.

"O'Hara," he grunted, stopping a few feet from her desk. "What the--?"

He stopped when Juliet held up the envelope.

As soon as he saw the ying-yang, he knew.

"Oh, God," he groaned. "What--?"

She shook her head slowly, holding up the picture of Will and Mattie next.

She could actually see his body tensing as he snatched it from her, checking the time and date stamp at the bottom. He glanced up, his unasked question in his eyes.

She nodded. "It's what they were wearing this morning," she whispered, fighting to get the words out.

Her mind was going a million directions at once, her training trying to kick in over her mother's instincts to protect her children no matter what.

There was so much to do.

There was so much to think.

But one thought superseded all the others in her mind, even as she tried to cling to the feeble hope that maybe it was all just some, sick twisted prank.

"Where's Shawn?"

z88;

* * * *

He was moving.

That was all Will could be sure of when he came to in the complete dark.

He was moving…and he was hot.

There was something over his head or eyes, blocking his view of whatever was around him, but none of that seemed to matter since he was also starting to realize he couldn't move, anyway.

Were his hands tied….?

Why was he moving…?

He could hear something rustling next to him, and he was suddenly fairly certain even through his fuzzy mind that it was Mattie.

It had to be Mattie.

They had been walking home from school together, when….

When what?

He couldn't remember anything after that.

"Mattie," he whispered hoarsely when he heard a muffled sob next to him. "Mattie, are you okay?"

"Will?" a tiny, frightened voice answered. "Will, where are we?"

"I don't know," he answered, inching closer to her the best he could with his restricted movements. "I think it's a car."

"Yeah," Mattie agreed. "But…"

She stopped her question there, neither of them knowing what came next.

What was she supposed to ask?

How was he supposed to answer?

Will inched closer still until he could feel the top of her head under his chin. He rested his chin gently on top of her hair, feeling her shake beneath him.

"It's going to be okay," he told her, honestly hoping he wasn't lying. "Don't worry, Mattie. It's going to be okay."

* * * *

There wasn't a note attached to the picture.

There wasn't a single clue as to what Juliet was supposed to do next.

But her kids were gone.

In ten minutes, Carlton had called the school and confirmed they had both walked home, just like always. He also sent a patrol car to the Spencer house, where they should have been watching TV and working on homework until Shawn got home a little while later.

They weren't there.

The door was locked, the lights were off.

They never made it home.

Juliet was there herself in another ten minutes after the patrol officers radioed in their report, once she decided she couldn't ascertain anything else from the cryptic picture on her desk. She told Buzz to call her if there was any more word from Yang, anything to go on at all.

The first place she went upon entering her home, her sanctuary, was Will's room. She ran up the stairs, not stopping or breathing until she was standing in the doorway. She didn't even turn on the light.

She didn't want to touch anything.

She wanted everything to be the same when he came back.

Her eyes slowly wandered over the room, over every single artifact of her little boy.

He was nine years old now, and an absolute mimic of his father. He clung to Shawn like a lifeline, soaking in every joke, every shared grin, as if it was pure gold.

But he was still her little boy.

Her little hero.

He watched over his little sister, over her. Since the day he had been born, she had never been able to be sad or hurt or lonely without him somehow knowing. Like a cat, the second her mood fell, he would be by her side, holding onto the hem of her shirt and blinking up at her with wide, innocent eyes that mirrored her own until whatever was ailing her just melted away into his golden blonde hair. He was the same with Mattie. Ever since she was a baby, the second she cried, he was by her side, offering her the stuffed ducky that always made her feel better.

Oh, God.

The duckie.

Her heart in her throat, Juliet quietly closed Will's door and moved to Mattie's room.

Her little girl.

Her baby.

The most brilliant, devious mind she had ever encountered.

Mattie wasn't just a genius. Even if she hadn't been officially certified a genius by anyone in any authority, the entire family knew that didn't matter.

Mattie was a genius.

But she was also a little girl with a sharp wit and a drive unlike anything Juliet had ever seen.

Nothing was going to stop her baby girl from getting whatever she wanted.

The teen years, Juliet already knew, were going to be rough.

She had Shawn wrapped around her little finger, of course. She had from the moment she was born, when she looked up at her daddy with those bright eyes and that smile that always made his heart flutter.

She was completely different from Will in almost every conceivable way, and yet they clung to each other. Despite occasional attempts to sell her on e-bay, they got along the vast majority of the time.

They were there for each other.

And at that moment, they were all each other had.

Juliet's heart stopped again as the thought struck her like a truck.

Her babies were alone.

Shawn arrived at home a few minutes after her to find the patrolmen ransacking his house, looking for the kids. Juliet hadn't yet gotten a hold of them, though she'd been calling his cell phone every two minutes.

"Jules," he called two steps into the front hallway, pushing past the two uniformed officers without even pausing. "Jules! What's going on?"

Juliet heard him through her desperate thoughts. She quickly closed Mattie's door and ran down the stairs, not stopping until she threw her arms around his neck, burying her head in his shoulder.

For the first time since she'd gotten the note, she actually cried.

She could feel herself sinking to the floor, but his strong arms held her up, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.

He didn't ask anymore questions.

He just held her, not even flinching as her tears rolled down his neck.

Finally, she could speak again. "Will and Mattie…" she whispered, pulling her head out of his shoulder. "They're gone, Shawn."

Somehow, she would never know how, she managed to sob the entire story to him. He didn't move or respond the entire three minutes it took her to relay everything she knew. He just stood there, silently absorbing everything.

But she could see it in his eyes.

He was slowly dying, just like she was.

He just wouldn't show it.

He couldn't.

His eyes finally closed as she finished, his breath coming in short gasps. She swore she saw a single tear struggling to fall from the corner of his eye, but it never fell.

He slowly opened them again, looking back down at her, his fingers slowly running through her hair. She could feel the tension running taut through his fingertips, and she knew he was straining to hang on.

He was hanging on for her, so she could breakdown if she needed to.

"We're going to find them, Jules," he promised. "I'm not going to let anything happen to my kids."

"Yang--" she choked, shaking her head slowly. "God, Shawn. You know what happened last time…what almost happened. She won't--"

She paused, her own words stabbing her through the heart as they fought to come out.

"She won't care they're just kids."

"I know," Shawn agreed quietly. "But we beat her once. We'll do it again. I promise."

It was a promise he couldn't possibly know he'd keep.

They both knew that.

But it wasn't hollow.

His voice was strong and determined, his eyes blazing and eager to get to work.

Juliet smiled palely, for the first time since that terrible morning feeling the twisted knot in her stomach starting to ease.

They were going to do this.

Together.

* * * *

The car finally came to a stop.

Will had no idea how long they'd been riding, or how long he'd been unconscious. He tried to mentally count the seconds, but his brain kept getting distracted.

Mattie was sobbing quietly beside him…

There was the sound of birds….

Was that a gunshot?

Would he get home in time to watch TurboMonkeys?

Would his dad tape it if he wasn't?

Did his dad even know how to use the Tivo?

When the car did finally come to a slow stop, Will's heart was racing so loudly he could actually hear the sound echoing off whatever was over his head, still obstructing his view.

Somewhere close by, a door opened, and he was suddenly being pulled to his feet. The seconds his shoes hit solid pavement, he dug his heels in, refusing as best as he could to budge.

Not until he knew Mattie was coming, too.

He wasn't going to leave his sister.

"Don't fight me, Boy," a sharp, gravely voice growled. He still couldn't see anything, and he couldn't tell from the rasping whether it was a man or woman, though the rough grip on his shoulder felt like a man.

"Where's Mattie?" Will fired back, not missing a beat. "I'm not going anywhere without my sister."

The voice grunted, pulling the obstruction off of his head. Will blinked into the surprisingly bright light, his eyes trying to adjust to the change.

The garage they were in was dark and sparse, but Will could see the door leading inside what appeared to be a normal house was open.

The captor was a large, burly man with tattooed arms and hair so short Will could see his scalp. In on hand, he was dragging Will by the shoulder. In his other, he was holding Mattie under her arm. She was kicking and writhing to get away, but was too scared to actually say anything. Will could now see both their hands were bound with rope.

"Satisfied?" the man grunted, shoving Will towards the door. "Get your ass in the house."

Will didn't protest this time.

Mattie was okay.

He was okay.

He needed more time to think…

Once they were in the house, the man shut and locked the garage door behind them. He dropped Mattie to her feet, pulling the sack off her head, as well, as he pushed them both through the small kitchen and towards a large, white door.

Will opened his mouth to ask where they were, but thought better of it when the man opened the door, revealing a dark, deep staircase.

"Get down there," the man ordered harshly.

Will stopped at the top of the stairs, peering down into the infinite black below him. "Uh…" he stammered, doing the best he could to stall for time. "I have a slight problem with spiders…I think it's called agoraphobia."

"It's arachnophobia," Mattie corrected him quietly, her hand grasping his as her wide eyes gazed up at him pleadingly. "And you're not an arachnophobia."

"Of course I'm not," Will hissed. "I'm lying! Do you have a better plan?"

"Yes," she shot back. "It involves a time machine."

Will rolled his eyes. "Like a time machine's going to help now."

"It would!" Mattie insisted.

"Shut up!" the man growled, pushing Will down the first step. He stumbled, but managed to keep himself from tumbling down the wooden plank steps.

"Mattie," Will whispered. "I think we'd better go."

"Okay," Mattie agreed, following her brother as he felt his way down the stairs. The walls in the cellar were cold, damp stone that froze his hand, but he couldn't let go.

The walls were all he had now.

As soon as they hit the last step, the door at the top of the stairs slammed shut, killing the only source of light they had.

In the dark, Mattie squeezed his hand.

"I think we're in trouble, Will."