Spotting the phone sitting on the front desk, Elizabeth rushed to grab the receiver.  Holding it up to her hear, the only thing she heard on the other end was silence.  “No,” she muttered, reaching out to repeatedly press the switchhook.  “Work.  Fucking work!”  With no dial tone, Elizabeth angrily slammed it down in frustration before she leaned back against the wall.  Warm tears left streaks down her cheeks as she slid down to the floor.  Bringing her knees to her chest, she sobbed as she buried her face in her hands.  The uncertainty of her son's fate mixed with recent events left her completely devastated; she stayed there like that for a while.

Kenjen eventually called a group meeting.  Everyone starting to gather in the front near where Elizabeth was, she had little choice but to pick herself up and join in.  Reunited with Erin, the girl ran to her and proudly held up a page from a coloring book to show her.  Her choice of color was unique and while she didn't remain in between the lines all the time, she did for the majority.  “It's for you,” she said shyly.  She looked nervous, almost afraid of Elizabeth's opinion.

“I love it,” she praised the girl, taking her into a one armed hug.  She lit up and hugged her back.  “I wish I had somewhere to put it where I could show it off.”

The smile on Erin's face briefly faltered and her voice wavered as she said, “Mommy used to hang them on the fridge.”  Glancing down, she could see the sadness etched on her features.  She wiped her eyes with a balled up fist before looking up at Elizabeth and forcing a smile on her face—something Elizabeth wished she wouldn't do.  She was just a little girl and she was sad.  They should have been the ones being strong for her, not the other way around.

Wanting to say something to make her feel better, Elizabeth didn't get the chance as the meeting started.  Erin instantly went quiet, paying close attention to what everyone was saying.  For the first half of it, Elizabeth paid more attention to the little girl before she finally tuned in to what everyone else was saying.

This place seemed more reasonable than the courthouse and, for anyone else, she could see the appeal of staying behind.  But Elizabeth had somewhere she needed to be—even if she didn't quite know where that was.  She hadn't spoken much to her ex since they moved away as every conversation she had with him seemed to turn into an argument.  If she had to, she would search the entire world.

As people started volunteering to help look for supplies, she could feel something tugging on the hem of her skirt.  She arched a curious brow at Erin.  “You should help,” she whispered.  

The woman scoffed in response which made Erin frown.  Seeing the disapproving look the little girl gave her made her shift uneasily before she finally asked, “Why me?”  Like Briggs had said, they only needed a small group and it looked like they had plenty of volunteers.  

Pleased that she was being listened to, Erin said, “'Cause.”  It wasn't the best defense, but it was all she needed.  “What if they need it?”  Feeling as if that was all the more reason why Elizabeth should elect to stay behind, she was almost frustrated that she couldn't bring herself to say no to that face.

“Well, what about you?” she countered.  “I can't just leave you here by yourself.”

“I can color with Pastor Book!”  Erin exclaimed.  Looking over at the people who had already volunteered, she added, “And Dallen looks really sad, too.  He needs someone with him.”

“Dallen?” Since when was she on a first name basis with the lawyer?  And what did he have anything to do with either of them?  Though the excuses were flimsy, Elizabeth had already seen that it meant a lot to Erin for her to offer her help for some reason.  That little girl had a lot of faith in her for some reason that she couldn't pinpoint.  While she may have managed to get them out of a handful of scenarios already, she truthfully had no idea what the hell she was doing.  Right now her main focus was to keep both of them alive and find her son.  Everything else was an inconvenience, but until she had a more stable plan to execute she needed to make herself useful somehow if she was going to stay there—though she'd would have rather been gutting fish or helping the security team.  Still, she joined the runner group.

With Kenjen giving them an hour to prepare, Elizabeth used that time to take a shower and change her clothes into something more suitable.  Glad to escape the skirt and high heels she'd been sporting since her court-date, she was relieved to be back in tennis shoes and blue jeans.  Once she was dressed she met with the others, Erin there with her new coloring book in order to see her off.  Leaning down to give her a hug, Erin said, “Keep 'em safe,” in her ear.  

“I'll do my best,” Elizabeth told her though if shit really hit the fan then there wouldn't be anything she could do.  Satisfied with that, Erin waved goodbye to the others before running over to Leroy until they returned.