Ben

Chapter Twenty

Her dad folded his arms over his chest and opened his mouth to interrupt, but she continued.

"After that, I asked him to search specifically for missing boys as far back as sixteen years, and he called me yesterday saying that he didn't find anything. So we came up with the idea to run his picture through an age simulator and try to get a younger picture of him so we could see if anyone recognized him."

She cringed at the disapproving look on her father's face, although it was probably well-deserved.

"I don't want you doing this kind of stuff without my approval, Faith," he said sternly, although she detected an underlying tone of understanding. "We don't have any idea what kind of trouble we could run into by digging up too much. Raising flags...that's something we really don't want to do until we really know what kind of case we're dealing with."

"Sorry; I know you're right. I just really want to know." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes. "Will you let me do this? I'm a part of this case, too, remember? You brought me in the day you decided I would be a more convincing student teacher than your other agents."

Her dad mimicked her sigh and nodded. "Go ahead," he answered, and Faith let out the breath she had been holding. "Don't contact anyone about it yet, though. We should figure this out together before we go snooping in the past."

Faith smiled and hugged her dad from behind. "I love you, daddy," she cooed as she rocked his shoulders from side to side.

He snorted and patted her arm. "I love you too, baby."

"Faith?" Ben's voice suddenly called from behind her.

She turned around to face him and smiled, noting all the new clothes he was wearing. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

He nodded and smiled. "Like this, right?" he joked.

She giggled and nodded. "Exactly. I'll talk to you later, dad. We have to go. Love you." She kissed her father's cheek and grabbed her keys. "By the way, Ben, your outfit is on point today."

"I assume that means something good?" Ben laughed, raking his hair away from his eyes.

"Indeed! It means you look amazing." She wrapped an arm around his waist in an awkward side-hug, too short to reach his shoulder.

"Well, thanks," he said, beaming. "You look great, too."

"Thank you, Ben." She put her other arm around him and buried her face in his chest comically.

He laughed in response as she nearly knocked him over and rested his chin on top of her hair, his body vibrating from laughter.

"Okay, okay," Faith said, disentangling herself from him. "We actually have to go now." She grabbed her purse, checked again to make sure she had keys, and headed out the door, towing Ben behind her.

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Dr. Frethers smiled when he saw Ben and Faith enter his office and set down a stack of papers he'd been examining. "Welcome back, guys. Faith, did you bring a camera for the picture?"

She nodded, holding it up, and the doctor motioned the two of them over to a blank projector screen.

"Okay, Benjamin, just stand in front of the screen, and Faith will take a picture of you."

Ben nodded and did as he was told, his hands shaking from what Faith thought to be nerves.

"Alright, smile," she said as she held up the camera. She grinned as she snapped the photo, trying to make Ben feel more at ease so she could capture his natural smile. "Beautiful, Ben."