"I think the girls are up." Frank stated the obvious. "Maybe we’ll think better on a full stomach."

The two left the office and entered the house, walking back to the kitchen where they found Callie and Vanessa preparing a delicious breakfast.

Joe grinned as he looked at Vanessa, who was wearing one of his old college football jerseys, and let out a wolf whistle as he approached his fiancée.

"That jersey looks a whole lot better on you than it ever did on me!" He said wickedly, scooping Vanessa up in his arms. "Morning, Babe." He murmured, indulging in quite a lengthy kiss.

Shaking his head at the two, Frank stood next to Callie who was clad in one of his old sweatshirts. Eyeing her appreciatively, Frank leaned in for a kiss almost lifting his petite wife off the floor.

"Did you find anything?" Callie asked once Frank had released her.

"No, not yet." Frank glanced at his brother and rolled his eyes. Joe was still enthusiastically entwined with his fiancée and completely oblivious to Frank and Calle’s presence.

"Leave them alone, they’ll be done in a minute." Callie laughed, handing Frank a mug of coffee. She led him to the table where platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and toast awaited them.

"At least I get first dibs on the food." Frank cracked, beginning to fill his plate.

Moments later they were joined by a smiling Joe and slightly flushed Vanessa. Frank simply shook his head and passed his brother the platter of bacon.

As they ate, Frank and Joe filled the girls in on what they had found, or more precisely what they hadn’t found, during the course of the night, concluding just as Frank’s cell phone rang.

Listening to his brother’s end of the conversation, Joe deduced it was Federal Prosecutor James Vance, who was the lead attorney on a case in which he and Frank were currently testifying.

The previous year, at the request of the Federal government, Frank and Joe had gone deep undercover and infiltrated a terrorist organization. Authorities were sure someone high up in the military had been leaking information to the terrorist group. Once inside the organization, the brothers were virtually cut off from outside help and had no one to rely on but each other. They’d had a few close calls and more than one harrowing experience but, in the end, they were able to uncover the leak and bring down the U.S. branch of the organization.

While Joe had already testified, Frank, having insinuated himself as a personal assistant to Johann Jarrell, the leader of the organization, was being touted as the "star witness" and was scheduled to testify last. While Frank felt he was more than prepared for the upcoming day in court, having spent hours being "prepped" by Vance and his assistants, they wanted to review his testimony one more time to be sure they hadn’t missed anything. Frank agreed to stop by their offices later that morning and hung up the phone.

Lost in thought, Frank was unaware of the conversation going on around him until Joe lobbed a piece of bacon in his direction. Startled as the wayward piece of food landed in his coffee mug with an audible ‘plop’, Frank looked up and glared at his younger brother.

"You could just say ‘Excuse me’, you know!" Frank said harshly, fishing the bacon out of his coffee.

"I did." Joe retorted. "Several times. You were apparently on another planet and couldn’t hear me."

"Oh, sorry."

"No problem, but I heard the wheels turning and saw the smoke coming out of your ears…" Joe trailed off arching an eyebrow.

"I was just wondering if Mom and Dad’s disappearance has anything to do with the trial." Frank mused aloud.

"Anything’s possible." Joe shrugged, snagging another piece of bacon and popping it into his mouth.

"You know it’s a wonder Mom and Dad didn’t go bankrupt feeding you." Frank marveled as Joe filled his plate for the third time.

"I’m a growing boy and I didn’t eat any dinner last night." Joe said with a mock pout before returning to Frank’s theory. "If Jarrell and his buddies wanted to grab Mom and Dad to prevent us from testifying, they’re a little late. I’m already done. If they wanted to stop us, wouldn’t they have grabbed ‘em before I testified?" Joe asked digging into his scrambled eggs.

"I guess so." Frank sighed as he got up to rinse out his mug and pour himself a fresh cup of coffee.