She came home to a stand-off. Allison glanced from Valerie to Tim with a curious look in her eyes, but didn't ask questions. Valerie was rarely mad, but now she seemed livid. It was both amusing and concerning. Especially since Tim didn't look like he cared.

"What does it matter?" Tim said with a bored expression on his face, "school's stupid anyway."

Valerie had her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "I don't care if you think it's stupid. Education is important. You can't keep skipping school, Tim. This is the third time this month the school's called. Next time you'll be expelled!"

"Good!" Tim shouted, suddenly angry, "they have no business calling you anyway! You're not my mother!"

"No," Valerie agreed, "but I am your legal guardian. You're going to school if I have to personally drag you to each class myself. And don't raise your voice like that! Mind Jamie, will you?"

Tim gritted his teeth. "Of course! Mind Jamie! Mind Lola! Be nice to Andrew! Well, what about me?! You don't give a shit about me!"

"That's not true, Tim," Valerie said sadly, "I care about all of you."

"Bullshit!" Tim shouted and he stormed towards his room. When he noticed Allison, he glared at her. "What are you looking at?!" he spat at her before stomping to his room. The door slammed loudly.

Valerie sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Then she turned and smiled at Allison. "Hello honey, how was school?"

"Not as interesting as coming home," Allison answered.

"Tim's school called," Valerie said, "he keeps skipping classes. I just can't seem to get through to him." She tilted her head. "You won't happen to know anything, would you?"

Allison knew plenty of things, but none she was going to tell Valerie. She scrunched her nose. "We don't share, Val. We ain't that close. Maybe you shouldn't be on his case all the time. He lost his parents. Let him deal with it."

Valerie pursed her lips. "I have a responsibility for you kids, Allison. One day you will understand that I want what's best for you, and he's dealing with things the wrong way. If you know something, Allison..."

"I don't!" Allison shouted, "leave me alone!" She turned to leave for her room. This place was so annoying!

"Trevor called!" Valerie called after her, "he's picking you up from school tomorrow. There are things he needs to discuss with you."

"Whatever!" Allison shouted and slammed the door to her room.

It didn't take long for the door to be opened again. Thinking it was Valerie, Allison opened her mouth to protest, but it wasn't Valerie. It was Tim.

He glared at her with clenched fists. "Give it back! My music! I know you took it!"

Allison raised an eyebrow. "You only notice now? I took it weeks ago." She reached for the disc and flung it at him.

He caught it and gritted his teeth. "Don't touch my things! How did you even get in my room? I keep it locked.."

Allison rolled her eyes, not even bothering to lie. "I know how to pick a lock. It ain't that complicated."

"You took my things!" Tim shouted.

"I just borrowed it," Allison said, "chill out."

"You're nothing but a thief," Tim hissed.

"At least I don't sell drugs," Allison retorted.

Tim stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you and those friends of yours you're skippin' school with. I saw you at the station."

"You don't know anything," Tim growled.

"Don't worry," Allison said casually, "I didn't tell Val."

Tim scoffed. "Don't touch my stuff again." He walked out of the room

Allison sighed and turned to her desk. Midterms were a killer. She still didn't understand half the things she was learning, though studying with Eric was helping, if only a little.

Staring at her textbook, her thoughts drifted off. She wondered what Trevor wanted to discuss with her. Probably the fact that she still didn't find a physical therapist. She wasn't sure what the big deal was, but she knew she wasn't going to win this discussion. There would be consequences if she didn't comply. And she knew she wasn't going to like those consequences.

Allison sighed again and pushed her book away. She couldn't concentrate. Tim's actions bothered her more than she was willing to admit. She wasn't that far away from where she used to live and she didn't need her past catching up with her.

This time it would surely kill her.

...

It was dark when Allison opened the door to her room and peeked outside. The children had already gone to bed and there was no Valerie in sight.

Quietly Allison made her way down the hall towards Valerie's office. It was the only phone she had access too since she didn't have her own.

Valerie kept her office under lock and key, but it only took Allison a few seconds to gain entrance. She flipped through Valerie's old fashioned rolodex until she found the number she needed and made the call.

It took a while before the call was answered by a drowsy sounding Trevor. "Hello?"

"You need to get me out of here," Allison said.

A groan and a yawn sounded on the other end. "Who is this?"

"Trevor I'm serious."

"What time is it?" Trevor asked groggily. There was some rustling in the background. "It's two in the morning. Can't this wait?"

"Wake up, Trevor. You need to find me somewhere else to live."

"Ally? Is that you?"

"Don't call me that!" Allison hissed. She was losing her patience fast.

"Trev?" a voice sounded in the background, "what's going on?"

Trevor sighed. "Nothing, honey. Go back to sleep. It's just work." There was more rustling and Allison could hear a door open and close. "Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" Trevor asked, still half asleep, "what's going on?"

"I need to go live somewhere else," Allison said again.

Trevor sighed. "We've talked about this, Allison. Dandelion is an excellent home and it has the facilities you need."

"It ain't about that," Allison cut him off, "this... it's just... there's people butting in my life. People ask questions. They'll figure things out. And one of the kids livin' here... I think he's a drug runner. I think it best we pack up and leave now. There gotta be another place. There's always been another place."

"What?" Trevor asked confused and sleepily. "What are you even talking about? It's the middle of the night, Ally. Don't you have midterms? Go to sleep. I'm picking you up from school later. Did Valerie not tell you?"

"Are you even listening?!" Allison hissed annoyed, "do you want people to find me?"

Trevor sighed. "He won't find you, Ally. He's behind bars. Will you please go to sleep? If not, will you please let me sleep? I have enough on my plate right now."

Allison gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry I'm such a nuisance to you."

"That is not what I said. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"I though you said I could call you anytime," Alison said dryly, "even in the middle of the night."

Trevor groaned. "If I had known you'd take that literally, I would have rephrased."

"Come on," Allison insisted, "I never asked you for anything. You told me to learn to ask."

Trevor sighed again. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but Allison was a mess. She was still getting to terms with everything that had happened before. He had searched long and hard for the right place. He had consulted many experts, did tons of research, inquired with counselors, lawyers, schools. He really did believe this place would be good for her. She had already made progress even if she did not see it herself. The school kept him updated. So did Valerie. "We'll talk when I pick you up from school," he stated in a final tone, "I'm too tired to discuss anything right now."

Allison gritted her teeth. "Thanks for nothin'," she hissed and hung up the phone.

She didn't even bother locking the office behind her as she left. Let Valerie know someone'd been in there. Perhaps the woman would get angry enough to kick her out. Trevor would have no choice but to find her another place. Preferably far away from here.

Still fuming with anger, she failed to notice the movement beside her, so when he spoke, his voice startled her.

"You're not supposed to go in Val's office. She'll be mad."

Allison turned her head and squinted to distinguish Jamie on his window seat bed. He was sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. She had forgotten he slept there.

"I had to use the phone," she said.

"We're not allowed to use the phone," Jamie stated, "she'll get angry."

Allison wheeled closer to Jamie and shook her head. "Val doesn't get angry."

"She was angry with Tim today," the boy pointed out. His lip trembled. "When people get angry, they hurt each other."

Allison sighed and ran hand across her face. "Tim didn't get hurt, did he? Valerie too." She sighed again. "B'sides, people don' have to be mad to hurt each other."

"I don't like it when they yell," Jamie said in a trembling voice.

Allison shook her head. "Sometimes people feel better when they yell."

"It makes me scared," Jamie whispered.

"I know," Allison said. She wasn't sure what to tell the boy. She had been surrounded by screaming and yelling her entire life. There had been hitting and drinking and cursing, but it still wasn't the same as it had been for Jamie. She had been able to stand up for herself. But even before when she couldn't, she'd had someone to do it for her. "Hey," she said, "next time someone yells, you just have to yell harder. Stand up and scream. I bet it'll make 'em stop arguing."

Jamie stared at her wide-eyed and vividly shook his head.

Allison sighed. "Listen kid, people are gonna yell sometimes. It ain't always a bad thing. You just have to figure it out as you go like the rest of us."

Jamie ducked his head and pulled up his legs, hugging himself tightly.

Allison withheld a sigh. If Valerie wasn't going to be angry at her for breaking into her office, she surely would be if she found out Allison had upset Jamie. "Just go to sleep, alright? No one is gonna yell." She watched Jamie settle under the blankets and then headed back to her room. She had enough to worry about.

...

It was to his advantage that the building was old school, with crappy security that was easily disabled. The facility still used paper files instead of digitalizing everything. He had done his research. He knew where they were stored.

He had forced himself to wait a few days, just to be sure the cops were not looking for him, but now he couldn't wait any longer. He needed to know she was okay.

Slowly but surely he made his way towards the filing cabinet. From what he had overheard, they didn't know Alyssa's last name, so first he searched under A. There were two Alyssa's, but none that matched his sister's description.

Next, he searched for Jane Doe, but apparently no one was registered like that.

Frustrated, he closed the drawer again and moved to the next. Just to be sure, he searched under 'Scott' too, but there was nothing.

Ray narrowed his eyes. Why? Why couldn't he find his sister's file?

He looked around the office. Perhaps there was another filing cabinet somewhere.

His eyes fell on the desk nearest to him. A large stack of files was positioned on the edge of the desk.

Quietly he moved over and searched the pile. They were all recent cases. Perhaps whoever had worked on them, hadn't come around to filing them yet.

Alyssa's file was one of the last ones. He opened it and squinted to be able to read it. He didn't want to make any light in fear someone would notice from the outside.

Frowning, Ray tried to make sense of the scribbling. He wasn't very good at reading and the handwriting was small.

The file read that the a girl approximately five was extracted from the home of one Miranda Simmons. After some research, the child was identified as one Alyssa Scott. Alyssa was taken back to her parents' home, only for Social Services to discover the environment unsuitable for a child. Upon being asked why the child was not reported missing, the father had answered that his good for nothing son had come to take his sister on a trip.

Whoever had written the report had not felt comfortable leaving he child there. A foster home would be arranged and actions would be taken against the parents. Said son was unaccounted for, but now assumed to be the 'Ray' the girl kept crying for. The case remained under investigation.

Ray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Under investigation. Unaccounted for. Did that mean the cops were looking for him?

He shook off the thought. He'd deal with that later. Frantically he searched for Alyssa's foster family and found the address.

Next stop, Fairbanks family.