Don came in around six. We were eating pizzas at that point and he sat in one of the big chairs and helped himself to a piece of pepperoni. He was well over six feet tall, and gave off such a safe vibe it was almost as though he had a device emitting it. I noticed the way Reed and the others looked at him expectantly, and most of all, trustingly. And these were some people who had every reason to fear and mistrust grown ups, especially those in positions of power. "You're not like other adults," I said without thinking, then put my hand over my mouth. What did that even mean.

But he smiled. "I believe there are plenty of adults like myself out there. It just seems like we mostly cross paths with the ones who are doing it wrong."

"That, or it's about a million of them to one of you," I said, more realistically. I got a second piece of pizza. I noticed Arianna putting it away with pleasure. She was a few inches taller than me and probably forty pounds heavier, which filled her out in all the right places. I was too thin, even though I could eat pretty regularly now. She bit into her fourth piece and I envied her across the board. Such an ugly emotion. Not the warrior way.

"Unfortunately, it does feel like that some days," he agreed. "Oh, here." He pulled out a new cell phone and handed it to Reed to give to me. "Stay off social media for now. You can catch up on celebrities and cat videos in a few days." He winked at me but I knew he was serious.

I nodded, taking it from Reed. "Thank you."

"Nothing is happening at your little house." He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, a half eaten slice of pizza in his hand. "Of course, we don't know what this means yet. Do they know about it? Do they care? Are they trying to avoid a trap laid by us? There's no way of telling. So we'll have to proceed with utmost caution, whatever we do. They are now expecting anything."

His voice was in no way reprimanding or indicative of disappointment but Reed slumped into himself next to me. "I'm so sorry, everyone," he said unhappily. "I still don't know how I didn't hear him. I allowed myself to become too absorbed. Careless."

Don spoke. "Everyone makes mistakes, son. You've been untouchable, as they say, for all these years. One slip up is not the end of the world."

Ari slammed her hand down on the table. "No, because, actually, it could have been, for him," she said angrily, first do Don, but then turned to Reed. "They could have killed you! After what they did to Mikey and Siobhan? They sent us her fucking finger! You should be dead right now." She stood up, throwing the crust she held down. She was yelling now. "We thought you were dead for three fucking days!" She put her hands up, palms out. Her gaze settled on me and she said bitterly, "And then you bring her here. No, fuck this." She left the room and we heard the front door slam.

I was stunned. Somehow her words made what had happened real, though my mind skimmed right over the finger comment. "She's right," I said, my body reacting with tremors. "Also, you better go deal with that." I looked at him expectantly, although it was the last thing in the world I wanted to say.

He was beyond distressed. He stood, hesitated, began to go, turned back to kiss me on the top of my head, and then went after her. It felt like someone was jumping up and down on my soul, but I dealt with it. Not so many options.

"So how long has this--" I gestured at where they'd disappeared, "--Been going on?" MINE I wanted to tattoo on him.

Dane smiled sympathetically at me. "It's not like that, so don't you fret about it." He drank half a Pepsi and burped. "'Scuse me. She's all riled up about us sitting for free days not knowin', ain't she? It's the not knowin' as gets to you."

"No shit," I said with so much salt I could taste it. "Sorry, but really? No shit."

His grin expanded, sympathy still strong. "Sorry, Addy. O'course you know, then." He aimed his next question at Don. "So back to Canada, you're finkin'?"

I took a moment to appreciate how cute it was when he used f for th.

Don sighed heavily. "I hate to do it. I'm tempted to wait for awhile so his guard goes down a bit."

Dane snorted. "You don't really expect that."

Don was sober. "No, I don't. So yes, you'll be going back. Rudy can take you tomorrow." He focused on me. "You can remain here, which I know you'll refuse, or go too. But," he said, holding up a finger. "But. These guys have received the training needed for this, and they have the necessary experience. You can go, but go knowing you must stay behind at a safe place when they go do what they have to do."

My gut reaction to this was to argue but he knew it and leaned forward, clasping his hands. His deep voice went on, and I reminded myself that if Reed trusted him, so did I. "Obviously, it would compromise their safety to have to look out for you, and I know you don't want that."

He was pointing out the only thing that he knew would matter; how to keep Reed safe.

I struggled with it. I hated it. But it was a thousand times better than being at home with no clue. "Okay," I said. "I agree."

"Safest for all if you stay here," he informed me, but kindly. "But I understand."

"Thank you." I wanted suddenly to be away from people I didn't know.

We heard the front door and all looked as Ari came in, her eyes red and puffy, and ignored us as she went to her room. I waited till her door shut and then stood up. "Excuse me," I said, because I have manners, and went to open the front door. Reed sat on the porch, smoking. It was freezing, so I grabbed someone's jacket off the rack, hoping it wasn't hers, and slid into it as I shut the door behind me.

I sat by him so we were touching. "You okay?"

His look said he would rather be dealing with anything else. "The worst part of this duty is knowing someone you love is worried about you, when you have no contact, and being unable to do anything about it." He took the last drag and ground it out, tossing the butt into a can that had long ago lost its label. He pulled out the pack and lit another one. I raised my eyebrows but kept quiet about it.

"I would imagine," I did say. It was newly dark, no stars out, no other people. A dog down the block barked three times, stopped, barked three more times, and continued with the pattern. I reveled in being there with him.

"I came back on my own, you see. I had no way to return to where they were. I had no way to, to get word to them. I got away from Randall and it was all I could do to get back, through my own means." He rubbed his hand over his face, bruises be damned. "They waited far longer than they should have; their own safety was greatly compromised. She was out when I got back, and Dane and I left went to get you. She's pretty mad at me still."

I snorted. "Well, she can get the fuck over it, I guess." But I said it just low enough for only us to hear, had someone been trying to listen.

He looked at me and though it wasn't exactly reproachful, it clearly said he didn't need any shit from me.

"Oh, I'm just kidding; I understand." I tucked my arm through his.

"That helps," he admitted. "She will get over it. But I feel bad."

Gee, I wondered if she would take advantage of that at all.

"You did what you could. You got out alive, and seriously, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's the bottom line, t'sais?" I patted the arm my other arm was through. "I like Don."

He relaxed a little. "He's the best, à mon avis." In my opinion. "He's our coordinator for California. Also head of the board. I admire him very much, chérie." He patted my hand on his arm, leaving his hand on mine. "He saved our lives, yours and mine."

I was humbled. "I hadn't realized that."

He nodded, life coming into him. "He did. He's rescued over three thousand children from bad situations, ninety five percent of it sex trafficking. He's incredible. He's my hero." He said this last with a little smile, but I knew he meant it. Which only put Don on something of a pedestal for me, too.

"I want to help. I could paint someone to death," I mocked myself. What skills did I have? Not lingual skills. I could shoot, but big deal. So could anyone. I could climb without fear. Write a book about our adventures. Ha, ha. Awesome. No wonder they hadn't recruited me before now.

"You can do plenty. It's not a matter of that. Honestly? It's been purely a matter of me being selfish and not wanting to risk you." He shrugged, as if that were a bad thing instead of something that warmed my insides.

"I appreciate that, actually," I elbowed him. "And it worked, see? Here I am, all safe and in one piece. Also, I'm not part of some trafficking ring somewhere, which is pretty great." I wasn't making light of it, which he knew. I thought of something else. "Jesus, so like two days ago you were still there?" I tightened my arm through his and he flexed to make me realize it.

"I'm okay," he said, grinding out the rest of the cigarette. "I don't know how, but I am. And they're going to regret what they did. Everything they've done, for that matter."

"That's my guy," I said, like a dork. I just wanted him to be mad about it, which was better than wallowing. I looked closer at him in the light from the streetlamp. "You should be asleep, my friend." So much more.

"Probably," he agreed, yawning as if I'd reminded him.

His yawn made me yawn. "How rude would it be if we went to bed?" The thought was delicious, if just to get away from people.

He wanted to. "Let me see, okay? You can anytime, of course. I just, I don't want to make things worse here. I need to make everything right."

"As you wish," I said, only slightly smart. "C'mon, you may have noticed it's freezing out here and you have no jacket. Mon Dieu!"

It raised a corner of his mouth and I considered that victory. We went back in and sat for another half hour but Ari didn't come back out and he kept falling asleep so we went to bed.