ADITI ALL ALMEDA ANDRE AUTOMATED_PHONE_VOICE CENTER_CROWD CHILDREN DRYSDALE DRYSDALE_MICHAEL DR_WACHTER DR_WACHTER_KRISTINE ETHAN ETHAN_MICHAEL_NATALIA_WESLEY FEMALE_VICTIM_DEUX FEMALE_VICTIM_QUATRE FEMALE_VICTIM_TROIS FEMALE_VICTIM_UN JACOB JENNIFER JENNIFER_MICHAEL JT JUSTINE KRISTINE KRISTINE_MICHAEL LESLIE MALE_VICTIM MICHAEL MICHAEL_NATALIA NATALIA OFFICE_CROWD POLICE_STATION_CROWD SANDY SCHOOL_CROWD SHAWN STORE_CROWD TOM VALIKA WESLEY MICHAEL He first came to see me in the fall of 2019, and when he showed up, I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous. CHILDREN MICHAEL My wife and kids are inside, so it'll be quieter out here. Is this o-okay? DRYSDALE Perfect. MICHAEL Alright. DRYSDALE Mind if I... MICHAEL Oh, so, uh, we're doing that? DRYSDALE Uh, it won't bite. MICHAEL I mean, yeah. I-I guess it's, uh... It's fine. JENNIFER Thought you guys might like some pop. MICHAEL Uh, Detective Drysdale. This is my-my wife Jennifer. This is, uh, Wyatt. DRYSDALE Thank you. Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Barnett. JENNIFER Likewise. So I'll leave you to it. MICHAEL Yeah. JENNIFER MICHAEL Love you. JENNIFER Yeah. DRYSDALE She seems nice. MICHAEL The best. DRYSDALE How long have you two been married? MICHAEL A couple years, but, you know, we're still, uh, full-on honeymoon phase. DRYSDALE MICHAEL You know, she's, um... Well, she's a complete opposite of my first, so... DRYSDALE Right. Word is it was a mean divorce. MICHAEL Yeah, that's what I thought this might be. Um, listen, man. I-- Those things that Kristine says about me, that-- don't believe it, okay? It's not true. She's-- She's a liar. DRYSDALE No, man. Listen, believe me, you seem like a good guy. And I've heard plenty about how rough your ex is. MICHAEL DRYSDALE That's why I'm here; to get it from the horse himself. MICHAEL Yeah? DRYSDALE Yeah. MICHAEL Okay. I mean, if that's the case, then, uh, um, nay, I guess. DRYSDALE MICHAEL DRYSDALE Now I gather that your boys are with her. MICHAEL Uh-huh. DRYSDALE And you have a daughter too, Natalia, right? MICHAEL Mm-hmm. DRYSDALE She with your ex as well? MICHAEL No, God no. I mean, they don't even speak. I mean, you put those two together, it's like... Fricking World War III, man. DRYSDALE MICHAEL Yeah. DRYSDALE Huh. So how did things between your ex and Natalia turn ugly? MICHAEL I don't even know where to start. DRYSDALE The beginning's always good. MICHAEL Okay, so start at the beginning. DRYSDALE Mm-hmm. MICHAEL Uh, Kristine is-is insane. And she's also the-- basically the devil, but she's the worst kind of devil, you know, because she thinks... MICHAEL ...she's God's gift to the whole dang world. DRYSDALE How did you meet? MICHAEL You know what a savior complex is? DRYSDALE Sure. MICHAEL Yeah, well, that's-- that's Kristine. You know, she takes credit for all of Jacob's success. She does that with all the kids she works with. That's why we adopted Natalia in the first place, so she could save her, but when that didn't work out, I mean, that's when the proverbial crap hit the fan. KRISTINE What is this? When did you do this? POLICE STATION CROWD DRYSDALE Mr. Barnett and I spoke last week. That's why we can arrest you today. KRISTINE Well, let me tell you something. Don't believe anything that man says. I swear to God, he's the real devil here. KRISTINE KRISTINE This was 2010, almost two weeks after we brought Natalia home. KRISTINE Natalia. Natalia. NATALIA What are you doing, Mommy? KRISTINE I thought I heard you come in our room just now. Just wanna check and make sure you're okay. Did you just come in our room? NATALIA I don't think so. KRISTINE Nighttime isn't for wandering, sweet pea. It's for sleeping. NATALIA That's what I had been doing. KRISTINE Can I hold Hercules for a minute? NATALIA Why? KRISTINE Just wanna give her a checkup, like at the doctor. NATALIA We hate doctors. KRISTINE Okay. Not the doctor then. Just... NATALIA Mom. Mom, stop. KRISTINE Natalia, just-- NATALIA Mom, no. Mommy! No. KRISTINE Natalia. NATALIA Stop it! KRISTINE NATALIA No, no, stop it! MICHAEL Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey. What's going on? What's going on? NATALIA Daddy, please. No, Mommy wants to take Hercules. I wasn't out of bed, I promise. Please. MICHAEL Don't worry, baby. Why would Mommy want to take Hercules? KRISTINE It was a misunderstanding. I just wanted to make sure that Hercules had enough hugs. MICHAEL So you do, uh... KRISTINE Let's check. MICHAEL Um, okay. So honey-- NATALIA No. MICHAEL It's okay, sweetheart. Just-- Just real quick. Everything's gonna be fine. Mommy's just gonna... KRISTINE And you didn't just come in our room? NATALIA Is Mommy okay? MICHAEL Yea-- Yes. She's just tired. She's just tired. You know what? We have a big day tomorrow. Mommy always puts ice cream in our cereal on the first day of school. NATALIA Will you tuck me in again, Daddy? MICHAEL Of course I will, sweetie. Of course I will. Here's your Hercules, honey. NATALIA Thank you, Daddy. MICHAEL There you go. Okay. NATALIA MICHAEL You're welcome, sweetie pie. KRISTINE MICHAEL Kris, what the-- what the heck's going on? KRISTINE She came in our room earlier and it looked like she had a knife, but they're all here, so I guess I must be crazy. KRISTINE Dang it! MICHAEL Oh, baby, I'm sorry. You okay? Hey. Let me see. Let me see. Hey, look, you're just-- Honey, you're just tired. You j-- You're stressed and you had a bad dream. Come on, let's go to bed. KRISTINE No. It wasn't a bad dream. I know what that feels like. This wasn't that. MICHAEL Hey. What's going on? Huh? Come on, talk to me. KRISTINE I thought I saw something and then no, it w-- it wasn't. MICHAEL Don't go there. I know what you're doing. Stress dreams feel really real. That's all this was, okay? You are not your dad. You're not. KRISTINE Okay, so say it was a stress dream. That's almost worse. I'm not myself with her. I get frustrated so easy. We're not connecting. And Michael, how am I supposed to be a mother if I can't talk to her? MICHAEL Do you hear yourself right now? Do you remember this conversation that we had about another one of our kids? And look what you did there. That kid's being recruited by Princeton. KRISTINE Jake is special. MICHAEL So are you. Heck, y-you're gonna be in the papers because of what you can do. This is a tough nut. Natalia is a tough nut to crack. But you will, you are Kristine Barnett. KRISTINE Maybe I've lost my touch. MICHAEL Bold ink. Okay? You've been doing this for 15 years, honey. Nobody cares for kids like you do. Nobody understands them better. That's all Natalia is, she's just another kid. Another kid who needs you, honey. You're exhausted. You've been taking care of all of us. Honey, you've been taking care of me. And that's my fault. Okay? I got-- I got knocked out flat by the Blanca thing. I did. Okay? But I-- Hey. Hey, I'm back. I'm back, baby. And I wanna take care of you, okay? What if you let me-- What if you let me take care of you for a little bit, huh? KRISTINE MICHAEL What if we made this my turn? Would that be nice? Hmm, there she is. That's my girl. Mm. KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL Yeah. Could be nice. KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL Yeah. ETHAN I need my cow! KRISTINE I know, baby. But if we can't find her, we're gonna have to come up with another option. What about we talk about something? ETHAN No! KRISTINE What about our trip to Omaha? I mean, it is called Show and Tell, right? WESLEY No one does Tell, Mom. KRISTINE Well, maybe it needs a rebranding then. ETHAN I wanna bring Bessie Cow, Mom. WESLEY W-When is the ice cream? KRISTINE It's your sister's first day, not yours. So when she comes down. WESLEY Right, I'm gonna go get her. MICHAEL Morning, zoo crew. KRISTINE Hey, am I in the paper? MICHAEL Not yet, hot stuff. ETHAN Mom, Bessie. KRISTINE Did you check the laundry room? ETHAN No. KRISTINE Pulled out a suit for you. JACOB Yeah, I saw that. I'm not sure why. It's just a meet and greet. Hey, who's driving me? KRISTINE Me. We're gonna get your sister set up at school and then run over to Jacob's Place for my session, and then head out to IUPUI for your interview with Princeton. JACOB It's a meet and greet. KRISTINE With Princeton! MICHAEL Princeton! JACOB You guys are just embarrassing yourselves. MICHAEL Enough. WESLEY Natalia won't come up. She says she's too tired because Mom woke her up in the middle of the night. ETHAN Mommy! Bessie Cow's not in here either. MICHAEL Okay. Hey, you stay on cow patrol. I'll go check on Natalia, okay? MICHAEL Knock, knock, rise and shine. NATALIA Come in. Ta-da. MICHAEL Are those Ethan's? NATALIA I didn't like what Mommy picked. MICHAEL Well, she just wants you to look nice for your first day photos, honey. NATALIA That dress is for a five-year-old. MICHAEL Did you at least ask Ethan before you took his clothes? NATALIA I just... I don't want everyone to think I'm a dumb baby. MICHAEL Honey, no one's gonna think that, okay? Look, w-when I first met you, I thought you were at least 45. May-Maybe 50 even. NATALIA I wish you were taking me, Daddy. MICHAEL Me too, kiddo. But I got the boss's bosses coming into the store tomorrow, you know? NATALIA MICHAEL So I gotta get it all ready for them. I know. But do you know what I do when I have something really scary at work like this? I jump the jitters out. NATALIA What? MICHAEL NATALIA You do that at work? MICHAEL Yes. It helps get me outta my head. MICHAEL " Jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out I jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out" NATALIA NATALIA Try it. Here I go. MICHAEL " Jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out Jump, jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out" MICHAEL No, watch out. Here comes the worm. Here it comes. Whoa, whoa. Natalia. What happened here? Where's the head? NATALIA I was just playing with it. MICHAEL You were-- You know, Ethan's been looking all over for this. NATALIA Please, please don't tell Mommy I broke it. Please don't tell. KRISTINE Mike, we gotta motor. MICHAEL What-- KRISTINE Can you get an Natalia's registration folder? MICHAEL Yeah, we'll be right there, honey. NATALIA Daddy, no. Daddy, please. MICHAEL Whoa. NATALIA Daddy, please, Daddy, please don't tell Mommy I broke it. Please don't tell Mommy. Please don't, please don't. MICHAEL Okay. Hey, hey, hold on. NATALIA Please don't tell, please. MICHAEL Hey. Hey, look. You're okay. Take a breath. You're okay. Look at me. I shouldn't do this, but I promise I won't tell. But you have to work on being brave enough to tell Mommy yourself, okay? KRISTINE What took you slowpokes so long? And what happened to her dress? MICHAEL Game time switcheroo, Mom. Alright. KRISTINE Well, hop in or we're not gonna get there in time to take a picture. ETHAN MICHAEL NATALIA WESLEY MICHAEL Oh my goodness, so much... WESLEY I might get a new one. MICHAEL You guys have a best day ever! All right, bye. KRISTINE I need that folder. MICHAEL Oh, folder, yes. Look here. It's gonna cost you a kiss. KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL Bye, guys. SCHOOL CROWD KRISTINE Smile, Natalia. WESLEY Show the pearly whites. KRISTINE As soon as we saw the photo, we fell in love. We flew right down. It was an emergency situation. A child in need. We had to act. KRISTINE But in this kind of adoption, all personal information is strictly confidential. It's called redacted. LESLIE Mm-hmm. Well, maybe. I just-- I'm not seeing much that I can go on here. I mean, this one's not even in English. KRISTINE That's her birth certificate. LESLIE Yeah, it just kind of looks fake to me. KRISTINE Oh, because it's a photocopy. LESLIE Okay. Um, do you have her school records? KRISTINE It's withheld, too, because it's all confidential. LESLIE So where am I supposed to put her? NATALIA Does this mean I don't have to go to school? KRISTINE No, sweet pea. We're gonna get it straightened out. DR WACHTER All right, so we're gonna leave the swords at home next time, foam or otherwise? DR WACHTER All right, buddy, back to class. KRISTINE DR WACHTER, Kristine Barnett. Wes and Ethan are in third and first grade. DR WACHTER Of course. Such great kids. KRISTINE So we've just adopted Natalia here, trying to get her enrolled. LESLIE Without any paperwork. DR WACHTER What grade are you, sweetheart? NATALIA A-plus. DR WACHTER I bet. KRISTINE Uh, she's seven. But we don't have records from her previous school. It was a closed adoption. DR WACHTER No problem. I dealt with that before. We can, uh, put her in first until we can do some testing. Do you ever her vax records? KRISTINE Uh, everything's there. DR WACHTER Ah, thank you. Ah, you adopted her in New Jersey? KRISTINE No, South Carolina. Why? DR WACHTER The fax number here. My mother-in-law's from Montclair. I, uh, block every call with a 201 area code. DR WACHTER KRISTINE DR WACHTER KRISTINE Hmm. Why did they redact the dates of the shots? That-- That I've never seen. KRISTINE Oh, just being thorough, I guess. Privacy. DR WACHTER Mm. KRISTINE Natalia, do you remember when the last time you had some shots was, sweetheart? NATALIA I don't like shots. DR WACHTER Who does? KRISTINE Well, is it okay for her to start? It's getting late. DR WACHTER Well, I'm not sure these will fly long term, but the state gives us a 20-day grace period on vaccinations. So if you can get us the full list over the next few weeks, we'll be cruising. KRISTINE Great. DR WACHTER So you want Mommy to walk us to class? KRISTINE Let's go. NATALIA No, thank you. I'm a big girl, I can just go with you. DR WACHTER Mm. Okay, well, look at you. NATALIA MICHAEL So we gotta get in their heads, you know? MICHAEL If I'm corporate, one thing I am definitely checking is that our top selling SKUs are well stocked on the floor. STORE CROWD MICHAEL Right? So right away, on the way back, I noticed we're a little low on the LG 65 LED80HNA and the SAM70LCD72FHA. ANDRE Every dang time. It's scary. JENNIFER You know, we don't speak SKU, Mike. You've got that in English? MICHAEL Sorry, humans. Translating... The LG 65 inch and the Sam 70. JENNIFER Oh. Oh, copy you. ANDRE For real though, man. Shit like that's why you're getting a promotion. MICHAEL You're gonna jinx me. Where-- Now, where's the wood? Where's the wood? Ah! JENNIFER ANDRE Uh... Mike. JENNIFER Wow. MICHAEL Oh God. So, so embarrassing. Uh, Kristine made this her ringtone a while back. I forgot to change it. JENNIFER I hear that's how he won her heart by knowing the SKU to the Samsung 60-inch. MICHAEL I'm never gonna live this down, am I? Hey babe, how'd it go at school? KRISTINE Not great. They almost didn't let her enroll. MICHAEL What? Why? KRISTINE Because all her vax records were redacted. Dr. Walker said he's never even seen that before. MICHAEL Okay. But they let her in, right? KRISTINE For now. But also, Mike, all the records were faxed from New Jersey. Don't you think that's weird? MICHAEL Uh, I don't know. Why is that weird? KRISTINE Because we adopted her from South Carolina. MICHAEL So? KRISTINE So why would a family from New Jersey go to South Carolina to put a kid up for adoption? MICHAEL Uh, I don't know. Why would a family from Indiana adopt a kid from South Carolina? KRISTINE Well, because that's where the kid was, Mike, it's different. MICHAEL Why is this bothering you? I-It's gonna be fine. They let her in, right? KRISTINE For now. We have to get the actual vax records though. MICHAEL Okay, so you'll call First Path, right? KRISTINE Yeah, yeah. Fine. I'll handle it. I gotta go. KRISTINE Wait till you see what I got you at the junk store this time, Shawny! CENTER CROWD KRISTINE Okay, sweetie. I have to run, but I'll get that screwdriver and we'll open up the rest of it another time. Okay? SHAWN Thank you. KRISTINE Okay. KRISTINE Shawny did great today. VALIKA Oh, well, this is her Nirvana. Oh, hey. They called me for a quote about the Jake's Place article. KRISTINE VALIKA I told them that your Indiana's own miracle worker. Cute, right? KRISTINE I just wish it would come out already. I want people to see what we're doing here. VALIKA I know, I totally get it. I mean, that's exactly how I feel whenever I have a listing that's ripe for a bidding war, it's torture. Trust me, this place is gonna be huge. You're gonna have more enrollments than you know what to do with KRISTINE Mm. From your lips. VALIKA KRISTINE All right, enough belly gazing. Gotta skedaddle. Today is Jake's Princeton interview. VALIKA How exciting. Good luck. Go get 'em. KRISTINE Call First Path Adoptions, Myrtle Beach. Wheels up in 10, bud. AUTOMATED PHONE VOICE We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. KRISTINE JACOB You okay, Mom? KRISTINE Yeah, bud. Peachy. Get packing up though. We gotta scoot. SANDY Hi, it's Sandy. You know the drill. KRISTINE Hi Sandy. Kristine Barnett here. You helped us adopt Natalia Grace. It's all going great. Except today when we went to enroll her in school, we were missing some key paperwork. So call me back, would you? Also, what in the blue blazes is up with the First Path? Did they close? Okay. Princeton, here we come. JACOB I'm primarily focused on particle physics, but right now I'm also taking a class in philosophy and physics. The direct nature of time, probability of statistical mechanics, that sort of thing. ADITI I was a French major, so you'll have to give me a little more-- JACOB Contexte? ADITI S il te pla t. KRISTINE He speaks Arabic too. JACOB Cool. So basically, well, one thing we like to talk about is how humans perceive something like this. What do you think this is? ADITI Well, I know what that is. It's a pen. JACOB Good guess. But you're ignoring the millions of molecules that go into this. You're simplifying to see what you need out of a pen instead of what it actually is. I-It's what we do as humans. You know, we assign meaning to objects. It's efficient, but that doesn't mean it's the actual truth of the object. ADITI So you're telling me that's not a pen? So then what about me, am I me? JACOB You're definitely you. You just may not be who you think you are. ADITI Oh, see, now that is tr s French. ALL KRISTINE Oh, real quick. Hello. Hi, Sandy. Thanks for returning my call. SANDY Listen, your daughter is gonna be fine. She's one of the lucky ones. Best to leave it at that. KRISTINE Wait, what? What do you mean? SANDY If you just stop asking questions, you probably won't be implicated. KRISTINE I-I'm sorry. Implicated for what? W-What are you talking about? SANDY That's all I can say. Don't call me again. ADITI Looks nice, right? JACOB Yeah, it's beautiful. KRISTINE Sorry about that. Work stuff. ADITI Oh, no worries. We were just talking about housing. So since Jacob would be transferring in as a sophomore, he would be assigned residential-- KRISTINE Jake is 12. He can't live on his own. JACOB Mom, seriously? KRISTINE This is your brother's school. DR WACHTER The problem is, uh, it wasn't just one kid. She rammed several students with her walker. KRISTINE But all the kids are okay. DR WACHTER Well, they're just shaken up a little bit. But Mrs. Barnett, uh, I had to leave Running Club for this. A-And I will admit that I feel a bit betrayed. KRISTINE Betrayed. How so? DR WACHTER Well, when we agreed to take Natalia this morning, you neglected to mention her severe behavioral issues. KRISTINE Well, because there hasn't been any. DR WACHTER No troubling behavior at home, or-- KRISTINE No, just the usual temper tantrum or some cranky kid stuff. And I have to ask you-- Well, you may not know because you were at Running Club. What was going on before this happened? Were the kids teasing her? DR WACHTER Are you saying the children deserved to be hurt? KRISTINE No, but I find it hard to believe that Natalia just started randomly ramming her walker into kids unprovoked. As I'm sure you're aware, children with disabilities are often the victims of bullying. DR WACHTER Although from what I understand, it was Natalia who was doing the bullying. What about her previous family, her past schools? Are you aware of issues there? KRISTINE Well, as we established this morning, I don't have her school records. I'm working on getting them. DR WACHTER Okay. Well, perhaps it'd be better if we wait until we have some more information on Natalia for her to come back to school. KRISTINE You're suspending her on her first day? Do you know how destabilizing that'll be for her while she's in the middle of this massive transition? I'm sorry, but I'm an advocate for kids in need. And if Natalia is having behavioral issues, this is why. Because of all that's been done to her. If it's helpful to you, I'd be happy to come in and have a workshop for your faculty on working with kids with disabilities. DR WACHTER Thank you. That's so kind. But, uh, you know, we don't have to consider this a-a suspension per se. This is an opportunity for us to get some more information and reassess. It might just be that we have her in the wrong grade. NATALIA KRISTINE Can we talk about what happened at school today, sweet pea? KRISTINE I know you would never hurt anybody on purpose, Natalia. A kid must have done something to you. Did someone do something? KRISTINE I'm trying to talk to you, sweetie. NATALIA I should've worn something else. KRISTINE Did someone say something mean? You know, you can tell me anything. And that goes for whatever, stuff now or stuff that happened before you came to us with your other family. Where was that anyway? Were you in South Carolina or did you maybe take a trip from New Jersey? NATALIA I thought you weren't allowed to ask questions because it's closed. KRISTINE We're family. I'm allowed to ask you anything and you're allowed to tell me. Okay? Anything you want. NATALIA I don't remember. KRISTINE Natalia, stop that. It's dangerous. Were you happy with your other family? Did something happen there that made you sad? NATALIA I was just sad to leave them. KRISTINE Natalia! KRISTINE Natalia Grace. Don't you ever do that again! Do you know how dangerous that was? NATALIA KRISTINE First Path falsifying adoptions. FEMALE VICTIM UN We had two beautiful weeks with Miguel before they told us there was a custodial issue and they took him back. FEMALE VICTIM DEUX They promised our baby to two other families. FEMALE VICTIM TROIS We never got the baby they promised us. Now we might lose our house. MALE VICTIM Ever since that second adoption fell through, my wife is a wreck. Cries all the time, can't get off the sofa. They destroyed her. FEMALE VICTIM QUATRE Then two weeks before the due date, they said our birth mother was shot and killed, my baby-- JUSTINE My name is Justine, I live outside Indianapolis, and First Path hurt my life too. KRISTINE JACOB Mom, what's up? KRISTINE Tough crossword tonight. KRISTINE Sorry for the rando DM. I adopted a child with First Path too. I live near you and was wondering... MICHAEL What's up, fam jam? KRISTINE Hi. MICHAEL How's everybody doing? Hi. KRISTINE Mm! KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL Mm. How was Princeton? KRISTINE Kid's a shoe in. MICHAEL And Natalia? Everything go smoothly once you got her settled? KRISTINE She did great. MICHAEL Awesome. She sleeping? KRISTINE Yeah, they went down about an hour ago. Just us chickens now. MICHAEL Mm. I might just go take a little peek in on her. KRISTINE Okay. MICHAEL Oh, so, uh, Jen had a little shower at work and she refused the leftovers. Guys, red velvet. KRISTINE Oh. MICHAEL Just saying, don't stay up too late. KRISTINE Okay. MICHAEL Maniacs. JACOB Red velvet. Oh, no. KRISTINE Oh. JACOB Looks like someone murdered it. KRISTINE Not even Wes would eat that. Have a cookie. JACOB So how come you didn't tell Dad that Natalia got kicked out of school? KRISTINE Did you see how happy your dad was just now? I just believe he deserves to stay that way. JACOB What about you though? You don't seem happy. KRISTINE What makes you say that? JACOB Well, you basically ate all the cookies yourself. Now it looks like you're gonna eat the cake too? Also, you almost screwed up my interview after trying to make me wear a suit to it. KRISTINE Sorry that I had to keep running out like that. I just... JACOB It's okay. I actually had fun. I hope I get in, don't you? KRISTINE You deserve to be happy too. I'm just not sure I'm ready to give you up to dorm life yet. JACOB KRISTINE I'm going in. JACOB Oh God. JUSTINE Hi there. Happy to tell you about my experience with First Path. The headline is, because of those criminals, I had to give my daughter back. KRISTINE I'm so sorry. What happened? JUSTINE I'll tell you but not online. I'm not at liberty to speak freely. MICHAEL I just feel like she's the missing puzzle piece in our family, you know? MICHAEL Just-- Just fits right in. Do you remember when Wes used to sleep sideways? Like with his head on her bellies like this? Natalia does the same thing with me and it is so cute, it kills me. KRISTINE Ha-- Can you take her to work with you tomorrow? MICHAEL Doesn't she have school? KRISTINE Well, turns out they need the full vax chart before she can go back. So it's just a-a red tape thing. MICHAEL Aw, that sucks. Did you call First Path? Are they gonna send? KRISTINE Yeah, yeah, it'll be fine. I just, uh... I have a lot of students tomorrow, so I can't take her. MICHAEL Oh, tomorrow's tough for me too. I have corporate coming, so I don't-- KRISTINE I could bring her to my mom's. MICHAEL Uh, you know, no. I-I will get one of the guys at work to watch her, and we'll just say it's take your daughter to work day, it'll be fun. KRISTINE Perfect. MICHAEL There she is. NATALIA Hi, Daddy, it's me. MICHAEL It's you. NATALIA MICHAEL Well, there's, there's a lot of yous. NATALIA There's one, two, three, four-- I can't even count that much. MICHAEL I love it. So many Natalias. NATALIA MICHAEL There's one, that's my favorite one right there. NATALIA I like this one. MICHAEL Wait, what about her? NATALIA JENNIFER Wow, Mike, you didn't tell me Taylor Swift is coming into the store today. Can I get a picture? Snap, snap, snap, snap. NATALIA MICHAEL So Natalia, this is my friend Jenn. NATALIA Hi. MICHAEL And you are gonna hang out with her while I go meet with my bosses, cool? NATALIA Can't I just stay with you, Daddy? JENNIFER Oh, I get it. Your dad's the coolest. Do you want to hear a secret? I've got a baby in here. NATALIA That's kind of obvious. JENNIFER Well, that's not the secret. Have you ever heard of cravings? NATALIA Mm-mm. JENNIFER So cravings mean I'm always hungry for sweet treats. So why don't we let your dad go get his big fancy promotion and you and me, we can go pig out. How do donuts sound? NATALIA Donuts sound like, "Eat me. Eat me now." JENNIFER MICHAEL JENNIFER That is an incredible impression. NATALIA JENNIFER We should probably find out what cocoa sounds like too, right? MICHAEL NATALIA Yeah. NATALIA Bye, Daddy. MICHAEL Have fun sweetie. Daddy's gonna miss you. JUSTINE We really thought we had found our daughter, but then-- Okay, the story they gave us was that her mom died and her dad and stepmom neglected her. It was like Cinderella, only I got to be the fairy godmother. KRISTINE And how'd you find out that wasn't true? JUSTINE Molly started to learn English. She started saying stuff like, "You're not my mom." Like, "I miss my real mom." In general, she was harder on me than she was on Dale, my husband. Her mom died when she was so young, we thought. But her English got better, her stories got more specific, like details about her mom's cooking. And one day her mom told her she got picked to go to boarding school. But instead of taking her to school, they took her to us. KRISTINE Do you think First Path was doing this a lot? JUSTINE Not always this. Sometimes they'd make fake birth certificates or health records. Anything to make kids more appealing to adopted families. It's pure evil. We're part of a class action suit. That's why I couldn't talk to you online. So you think your daughter might be-- KRISTINE Maybe, I don't know. JUSTINE You should get a lawyer. KRISTINE We gave all our savings to the First Path. JUSTINE Well, reputable agencies hate places like First Path. Did you ever work with another agency? They might be able to help you. STORE CROWD MICHAEL You're okay. You're okay. Jump, jump, jump. MICHAEL " Jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out, jump Jump the jitters Jump, jump the jitters out, jump" MICHAEL Hey. Uh, yeah, come on. Nice to see ya. KRISTINE The whole reason we did this was to help Natalia, to save a child. KRISTINE So the thought that I would somehow be complicit in taking her from her family, I'd be devastated. OFFICE CROWD TOM I can only imagine the pain you must have been in thinking you might be losing her. TOM But here's what makes me feel better, Mrs. Barnett. First, from what I can see in our database, Natalia came to the US through New Hope Christian Services. They're a good reputable agency. No history of trafficking. KRISTINE Really? TOM Mm-hmm. And second, this is good news for your family and, uh, sad news for, I don't know, the world, I guess. Um, it would be unusual in a country like Ukraine for a child like your daughter to be trafficked for adoption. Kids with disabilities aren't usually targeted. They aren't considered, um... attractive. What is more common is for hospitals to pressure moms into giving up these kids into state orphanages. They don't live happy lives. KRISTINE And you think that's what happened with Natalia? TOM That would be my suspicion. KRISTINE Okay. My poor girl. TOM We're called upon to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. KRISTINE Amen. And thank you for squeezing me in so quick. TOM Oh, of course. Anything I can do. KRISTINE Actually, there is one more thing. TOM Hmm? KRISTINE We need to get her school records to get her back in class. Do you see those? TOM I can print these and I can redact the personal info. KRISTINE Or you could just leave it. We are dying to know more about our girl. TOM I wish I could. KRISTINE You could go get a pop or go to the bathroom. Forget to put your computer to sleep. TOM You're fun. Uh, but maybe I just print it and I-I redact the secret stuff. KRISTINE That works too. TOM Mm-hmm. MICHAEL All I've ever wanted was a family and a job that I love. KRISTINE MICHAEL And with my Circuit crew, I get both. JT Well, your fam's conversion and sales per square foot are super strong. MICHAEL Yes, we have a-a going gag. Any associate that gets their average up to two for the quarter, I'll do a back flip up at the register. JT MICHAEL JT I'm not sure that jives with corporate policy, but I'd love to see it. MICHAEL Man, that was not a smart bet on my part. I got some strivers on, uh, this team. JT The numbers sure show it. MICHAEL You know, I'm not sure if you're finding this at other stores, but, um, we just cannot keep the new L-- Um, the L-- Uh... JT You okay? MICHAEL Yes, sorry. I-I just remembered, I forgot to send a PO out on some Samsungs. JT Hey, hey. Don't sweat the tiny stuff. Your numbers are really great. MICHAEL Okay. JT Let me tell you, to be increasing in sales right now when everyone else is plummeting, that's meaningful. MICHAEL Okay, okay. JT Which is why it sucks so hard to let you know that we're gonna need to close the store. I know, I know. It's a tough thing to hear. It's a tough thing to say too. Though, I, uh, I have the routine down these days. So here's what happens next. Hold off telling your team until HR reaches out. Then you're gonna do a fire sale, try to liquidate. MICHAEL What? MICHAEL You mind the music? This is Daddy's mad music, so it's gonna get a little loud, okay? NATALIA I don't mind. MICHAEL You sure it's okay? Thank you. MICHAEL It's gonna be okay 'cause I'm gonna get another job. It's gonna be okay; I'll get another job. MICHAEL Hey sweetheart. Um, is it okay if we don't tell Mommy what happened? Because I just need to, um... it needs to be the right moment, okay? NATALIA I'll wait till you're brave enough to tell her yourself. MICHAEL Thank you. I'm gonna turn the music up again, okay? Okay. I'm gonna get a little loud, is that okay? MICHAEL All right sweetie, here we go. NATALIA KRISTINE Hi. MICHAEL KRISTINE How was your day? NATALIA Why are you in my room? KRISTINE I went shopping. MICHAEL You went shopping, with-with what money? KRISTINE I was excited. I got all the paperwork sorted out. So we're ready to go back to school. And I thought these would be perfect for Natalia's second first day. NATALIA I don't wanna go to school. KRISTINE I know the first day was hard, honey. But we can start all over. We can even retake your pictures. NATALIA I don't wanna go to school! I wanna go to work with Daddy! MICHAEL It's okay. It's okay. KRISTINE Sweetie, I'm sure you were very helpful. Daddy's been at that job a long time. He knows how to get by. NATALIA But now he has an even busier job. He got a big fancy promotion. KRISTINE Oh wow. Guess I should have shopped even harder then, huh? MICHAEL KRISTINE Congrats, babe. MICHAEL Eh, you know. KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL It's-- It's not a-- not a big thing. KRISTINE Hey Val, you okay? VALIKA Oh no. Did I wake you? I'm so sorry. I thought for sure you'd have seen the article. KRISTINE About First Path? VALIKA What? No, what's First Path? Here, listen, this is on the front page by the way. Headline: "Genius at work." VALIKA And then a very honking picture of Jacob. KRISTINE Michael! Michael, wake up! MICHAEL What, what, what? KRISTINE We're on the front page! MICHAEL What, what? KRISTINE Go ahead, Val. VALIKA Okay, here we go. "Jacob Barnett has memorized pi to 200 digits. He taught himself algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus in two weeks. He's 12." MICHAEL Yes! That's our boy! KRISTINE Yes! And what does it say at about Jacob's Place? VALIKA Um... Okay, let me see. Let me see. Here we go. "His mom even named her daycare after him." MICHAEL Okay. Not bad. KRISTINE So much for enrollment numbers. MICHAEL Well, come on. VALIKA No, no way. Jake's the best PR you could get. After this, people are gonna be lining up for your advice, I swear. KRISTINE Yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. Thanks, Val. Call you back. MICHAEL I am proud of you. Come on. You're in the paper. Yeah, you are. KRISTINE ETHAN What's going on? KRISTINE Your brother's in the paper, bud. You wanna run down to get it? ETHAN Cool. KRISTINE Got some great news, bud. ETHAN Ow! Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom! KRISTINE What is it? What? ETHAN Ow, Mom. KRISTINE Oh, what in the-- ETHAN Mom, Mom. KRISTINE What did she do? ETHAN Ow, what? KRISTINE Nothing. Never mind. ETHAN Ow, ow, ow. KRISTINE Okay, let's just-- MICHAEL What's going on here? KRISTINE No, no, no, no, no. MICHAEL What? What? KRISTINE Don't come out here with bare feet. MICHAEL Okay, hold on. KRISTINE Natalia put tacks. MICHAEL Wait, what? Why do you think she did it? How would she even have done this? KRISTINE Cause she's the one with the corkboard in her room. Go ask her. ETHAN Why would you do that? MICHAEL Okay. KRISTINE Okay. You two go get dressed for school please. Okay. ETHAN Ow! Ow. KRISTINE Okay, okay. Look at me. Don't look down. ETHAN KRISTINE Ready? One, two, three. ETHAN Ow! ALMEDA Knock, knock. KRISTINE Okay. ALMEDA Hello. KRISTINE Okay, Mom, did we have a date? ALMEDA Uh, no. I just bought some Kringle to celebrate Jake's making the big time. What's happening here? KRISTINE Ethan stepped on a tack. ETHAN That Natalia put there. ALMEDA KRISTINE What about that is funny, Mom? ALMEDA Well, Ethan was always a bit soft. Maybe God saw a chance to give him some calluses. KRISTINE Mom. MICHAEL Well, she said she didn't do it. KRISTINE Go get dressed. Of course she says she didn't do it. MICHAEL Even if she did, who cares. It's just a goofy kid prank. KRISTINE For Pete's sake, Mike, will you stop being so defensive. How are we supposed to help her if you don't admit there's an issue? She's troubled. ALMEDA Michael is right. MICHAEL Wh-- I am? What? Now, that should be in the paper. ALMEDA It's no big whoop. She's just a kid. You're blowing the thing up all out of proportion like you always do. You see problems that don't exist. ALMEDA I see problems that you refuse to admit exist. ALMEDA Could you please calm down and find me something to cut this with? MICHAEL Who invited the mother? KRISTINE MICHAEL Wait. What's going on? What is it? KRISTINE Natalia. KRISTINE Natalia! KRISTINE Natalia! KRISTINE Have you seen Natalia? MICHAEL She's not in her room? KRISTINE No. ALMEDA Will you relax? She's just a little girl. NATALIA Close the door! KRISTINE Michael. MICHAEL What happened? KRISTINE She has hair. MICHAEL What? What hair? KRISTINE Down there! I don't think she's a little girl. ALMEDA Who wants Kringle?