Jack's ways of finding Jayden were not subtle. We walked into Mcdonalds, and cut the line. He practically dragged me with him. He seemed over this goose chase, figuring the faster we found him, the faster we found her and after sixteen years, he could get some fucking answers. At the register. He leaned on the counter, the boy behind the counter seemed intimidated.

"Where's Jayden? Jack asked, the boy turned to behind him.

"Hey Jayden? Someone's looking for you. A man, with scraggly brown hair and caramel eyes came to the counter.

"Can I help you?" He asked, a little condescending. Jack nodded.

"Yes you can, you can tell me where Kaitlyn Thomas is." The guy motioned us to wait, he came around the corner and walked outside with us. He leaned against the wall, fishing in his pocket for a cigarette.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Her husband, and daughter." Jack said, the first part being a bold faced lie. He was not in any way her husband, wasn't that the whole point of being divorced. I laughed.

"Right well, haven't seen her in about a year. But last I heard She was livin in the Western Inn With this guy, Will, with her son and daughters." He said, shrugging. My heart jumped into my throat. For someone who didn't know a lot, he sure did. Jack looked surprised this guy actually knew where he was.

"You close with her?" He asked. Jayden shrugged.

"Used to be, for a long time actually, almost got married." He said, raising an eyebrow. He lit his cigarette, and offered it to Jack, and Jack offered it to me. I took a long drag, I needed to calm the fuck down. Which felt increasingly hard.

"What happened?" Jack asked. Jayden rolled his eyes, he seemed very disinterested in this conversation.

"I dunno man, she went to jail, gave birth while she was in there. I got clean without her influence, and took the baby when she was born. When Kaitlyn got worse, she relapsed and the court told her she was only allowed supervised visits, soon after she just left." He said. Jack nodded. I'd thought I had siblings, but thinking, and knowing are two different things. I wondered, how many others there were.

"How do you still know her?" He asked Jayden. Jayden, shrugged.

"She'll text me for money sometimes, check in on our daughter sometimes. Ask how she's doing, sayin she's trying to get clean, never does though." He said. He spoke, like it this was the most casual conversation for him, which it probably was. To him, she was his baby mama, not his mother or wife, ex wife anyway.

"Alright man thanks, appreciate it." Jack said, then we left. Walking down the street. It was getting late, and as much as I was tired. Jack was too, we agreed. We would go tomorrow evening, because I had work.. He went back to his hotel room, and I went home. When I got home I picked up Mary and carried her to my room, hoping she would cuddle with me. I went over the days events, remembering everything they'd said about my mom. I sent Don a text, updating him. Apparently, Jack had been the best asset to this. I fished around in my blankets for my pen, deciding I needed to get high. I fell asleep promptly.

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My coworker Leanne told me I looked like I was tweaking. I really was, the day was taking forever. I was practically glued to the clock, watching the seconds tick by. On my break, I paced back and forth outside. I smoked two cigarettes and with the adrenaline flowing through me, mixed with the anxiety and three cups of coffee, I felt like I just did an eight ball. I sighed, trying to pull it together for the three more hours I had to work.

In those three hours, I spilled a woman's drink on her, poured hot coffee on my hands, and snapped at a middle school girl who snapped at me. I needed a fucking xanax is how I felt. I was like my mom in that respect I supposed. I asked my manager if she had any ativan, she did and I took one and drank some water. When my shift was finally over, I walked to the metro, and waited for Jack. I called him once, then twice. he didn't pick up, just when I was getting fearful he showed up. We had just missed the train, the next wouldn't be here for a minute, so we wait.

"Sorry honey, my bitch ass Parole Officer wants me to get a job, so I've been out looking." He said, sighing,

"Why's he a bitch?" I asked, laughing a little. Jack shrugged.

"He just is, he is like one thousand years old, has no hair, and looks like the gayest person I've ever seen, and I've been in prison." He laughed. Jack, was funny in a sense. Dry humour, my humour, and probably my mom's humour. We allowed silence to hang in the air, until he put a hand on my shoulder.

"I know, you're excited to see your mom, and I wanna see her too. But I want you to know, it might not be pretty, it might look pretty rough, she might anyway. She might not recognize you, or know who you are. Drugs destroy people, and it sounds like she's an example of that."

I nodded, he was trying to protect me, from what he thought was coming. I had told Don, thanked him for his help, and paid him even though he'd told me not too. I did feel bad, but we had found her. Or at least, the traces of her.

"I just want to see her." I muttered, he nodded. But he said nothing, there was an air of sadness hanging around us. We both knew, this wouldn't be happy, this would be us telling us who we were and her looking like death. I tried not to know it, but I did.

Just then. the train showed up, and we boarded. Hanging onto straps, realizing this was the moment I'd been waiting for all my life.