A/N: A new Forever oneshot I've been working on for a while. Haven is six, and Henry is thirteen.
Also, please check out my blog! Beautiful-wanderlust . blogspot . com . au (just type it in and remove the spaces)
Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: Haven is my character, but everything else is property of Criminal Minds.
She was climbing higher and higher. She would almost be able to touch the sky if she just climbed that little bit further. The clouds looked even more heavenly from the top of the tree, like giant white candy floss bundles just waiting for her little hands to reach them. The sky was a brilliant blue, the summer sun shining down on her lily white skin as she enjoyed herself in the warmth of the beautiful day.
Hoisting herself up onto the topmost branch, she clung on as it shook below her; it wasn't as strong as the others, but she was only little, so she knew it would be ok.
Looking up through the canopy of leaves, she took in the pretty blue sky above. The leaves were so green, and the sky so blue, that if she imagined hard enough, she could almost convince herself she was somewhere beautiful, like the Maldives, or Hawaii.
Shuffling her foot along the branch to get a better view of the sky, she looked up, settling her weight down. It bowed dangerously below her, making her change her mind and begin to scamper back towards the safety of the main trunk.
A loud crack resounded through the air and before she could register what had happened, she was falling. Fear radiated through her; she'd climbed a long way up, and it was going to hurt when she landed on the ground.
She cried out as her back hit a branch and she bounced off. She shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly closed as she hit another branch, this time hearing a loud snap, followed by the sensation of agonising pain in her right arm.
Crying out as she hit the ground, she felt broken and battered. Her injured arm was trapped beneath her, and she was too afraid to try and get up. It was stuck at such an awkward angle, and it didn't feel quite right.
As soon as she recovered from the shock of the fall, the pain set in. It was the worst she'd ever felt in her whole life, like she was going to die.
So she screamed. Big fat crocodile tears rolled from her eyes as she cried out for her daddy, calling out for him over and over as she lay on the ground sobbing in pain.
"Daddy! I hurt my arm. Daddy!" she cried out. Suddenly the sky above her felt too open, and she felt too alone. She wanted her mommy to hold her and tell her everything was going to be ok. To kiss away her tears and give her a cuddle.
She heard the back door swing open, and turned her head to see her dad coming out into the yard.
"Haven, sweetheart, what happened?" Will exclaimed, rushing over to his daughter and kneeling beside her.
"I fell out of the tree and I hurt my arm," Haven sobbed, relieved that her dad was with her now. "It hurts real bad"
"Let me have a look princess," Will said gently, going to move Haven's arm from beneath her. From the angle that he was looking at, it looked like her arm was potentially broken.
As soon as he touched her, Haven screamed, pushing his hand away with her good hand. Fat tears poured down her pale cheeks.
"No, no, it hurts Daddy, don't touch it!" she bawled. "Don't touch it!"
"Oh princess, I think I need to take you to the doctor," Will said softly, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "But I need to pick you up, so can you be a very brave girl and let it hurt for one minute while I lift you up?"
Haven sucked in a big breath, nodding as more tears rolled down her face.
Will was careful. Moving around to her other side, he picked her up as she whimpered and sobbed. He held her tightly, being careful not to jostle her as he carried her back inside. He managed to nudge the door open wider with his foot before climbing up the step and into the house.
"Henry, can you get me a newspaper, and two belts please?" he called out as he stepped over the threshold.
"Why?" Henry yelled back from somewhere at the front of the house.
"Because I asked you to!" Will yelled in response, carrying Haven into the kitchen. "Here we go sweetheart," he said gently, setting Haven down on the kitchen bench.
"Oww," Haven said tearfully as she clutched her injured arm, which was now resting across her lap. "It hurts a lot," she told her father, the tears ramping up again as her arm throbbed and ached terribly.
"I know baby girl, you hurt it real bad didn't you?" Will sympathised, opening the freezer and taking out an icepack. "Here we are"
With a gentle touch, he held the icepack to Haven's forearm, which he could now see was visibly broken, and broken badly.
"Ow!" Haven cried out, flinching away as more crocodile tears made an appearance.
"This will help princess, it'll stop it from swelling and make it numb," Will said soothingly, holding the icepack to Haven's arm.
Henry walked into the room, carrying the newspaper and belts that his father had asked for. "Here Dad. What happened to Haven?"
"She's had a nasty fall and broken her arm," Will replied.
Haven's eyes widened. "I broke it?" she wailed. "Can't you fix it?"
Will chuckled. "It's alright sweetheart, we'll take you to the hospital and they'll fix it for you"
Haven began to sob again. "I don't want to go to the hospital, hospitals are yucky! They'll give me a shot, I don't want to go Daddy, please, I'm not going! I want Mommy, she won't make me go, I want Mommy!"
Will dropped a quick kiss to the top of Haven's head, giving her a careful hug and rubbing her back. "Mommy's away for work, but she'll be back tonight. The hospital will make you feel better, Haven, come on"
"No, you fix it, not the hospital!"
"I can't fix it Haven, I don't know how. Come on," Will replied, taking the newspaper from Henry's hands, and placing it underneath Haven's arm. Haven wailed, trying to fight her father off with her good hand, but he eventually managed to strap her arm into the newspaper with the two belts, preventing the bones from moving any further.
Haven relented, collapsing onto her father's shoulder and soaking his shirt with tears as he carried her out to the car. Henry followed behind, carrying Haven's beloved blanket and a jacket for each of them, jumping into the car beside his sister.
After wrapping his distraught daughter in her blanket, Will climbed into the driver's seat, started the ignition and pulled away towards the children's hospital.
They had sat in a bed for nearly an hour, with Haven swinging between crying and sleeping, before a doctor finally came to see them.
"Hi, so sorry about the long wait. I'm Dr Ashfield, I'll be looking after Haven today," he said, shaking Will's hand before turning his attention to the miserable six year old on the gurney. "I hear you broke your arm?"
"Yeah," Haven sniffled, cuddling into Will's side. "I fell out of a tree"
"Looks like you broke it real good kiddo. Must've been a big tree," Ashfield said warmly, trying to lift Haven's spirits.
"I nearly touched the sky," Haven said quietly.
"Wow," Ashfield said enthusiastically. "You're very brave to climb a tree that big! Now, can you wiggle your fingers at all?"
Haven shook her head, tears welling in her eyes again. "It hurts too much"
"That's alright. Well, we'll get Haven up to x-ray and get a good picture of her arm, and then we'll go from there," he said to Will. Will nodded, running his hand through Haven's hair as she sobbed beside him.
She was scared and sore. She just wanted her mommy, and Will felt awful that he couldn't fix that for her.
"Can Mommy come home now?" Haven asked tearfully, looking up at her dad with pleading eyes. "My arm hurts"
"I'm sorry peanut. I don't know when she's coming home. But hopefully she'll be home tonight when you go to bed," Will said apologetically.
Haven's tears automatically ramped up again, exacerbated by pain and the fact that she was missing her mom.
Will felt terrible. First, Haven had broken her arm on his watch, and now she only wanted her mommy.
That reminded him that he needed to call JJ, but the last time he had tried, they had been in a no service area. Hopefully she would see he had tried to call, and would return the call when they were back in service.
The x-ray had revealed two complete breaks in Haven's forearm; one in her ulna, and one in her radius. The result was a required short surgery to thread wires through the bones and hold them in the correct place.
While Henry waited in the family room with one of the nurses who had just gone off duty, Will walked down the hall beside the bed on which Haven was being taken to surgery.
"You'll stay until I go to sleep?" Haven asked tearfully.
Will nodded, smiling reassuringly at her. "I promise I'll be there when you wake up too"
Haven squeezed his hand tightly. She was white as a ghost, and Will felt bad for the little girl. She just wanted her mommy, she was scared, and in pain. Dads were good at chasing away pain and tears, but not as good as mommys.
They wheeled Haven into the operating room, where Will was directed to the head of the bed. Taking the stool that was offered to him, he sat just beside Haven, cupping her cheek in his hand as he gave her a gentle smile.
"You'll be fine princess," he said as the room bustled around him, prepping for the surgery.
"I'm scared," Haven said tearfully.
"I know, it's alright," Will whispered. "They're gonna put you to sleep with a special mask, and then when you wake up, your arm will be in a cast and it'll feel a lot better"
"Promise?"
Chuckling, Will nodded. "Promise"
"Ok sweetheart, I'm gonna put this mask on you and you're gonna start feeling really sleepy, ok?" the kind anaesthesiologist said as she approached Haven with a pink rimmed mask.
"It's pink!" Haven said, her fear forgotten momentarily.
"It is," the anaesthesiologist said with a grin. "Is that the colour cast you want?"
Haven nodded. "A pink cast to fix my sore arm"
Smiling, the anaesthesiologist gently placed the mask over Haven's mouth and nose. "Say bye bye to your daddy and you'll see him when you wake up"
"Bye Daddy," Haven said, her voice muffled by the mask, her eyes already beginning to droop.
"Bye princess. I love you," Will said gently, leaning over and placing a kiss on her forehead as her heavy little eyes fell closed.
And that was that.
Closing the door behind her as she dropped her bag down on the hall table, JJ dragged a hand down her tired face. She was absolutely exhausted from the case, and had wanted nothing more than to come home and snuggle with her family. Unfortunately, they had left later than anticipated and she knew Henry and Haven would both be in bed, fast asleep by now.
As she grabbed her phone from her bag, she looked up to see Will carrying Haven into front entry, bundled up in her blanket as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"Hey," she said warmly, giving Will a quick peck before reaching up to brush Haven's hair out of her eyes. "You not feeling well babe? You look a little warm"
Will took a deep breath. "I tried to call you, I'm assuming you didn't have any service, but...," he trailed off, untucking the blanket Haven had wrapped herself in and pulling it down to reveal the bright pink cast on his daughter's arm.
JJ's eyes widened. "What happened? When?"
"This morning. She fell out of the tree in the back yard," Will explained gently. "She's ok, it's just been a bit of a rough day. They've set it back in place and she's to wear the cast for eight weeks"
"Oh sweetheart, did you have to go to the hospital?" JJ asked, reaching out and taking Haven into her arms.
"Yeah," Haven sniffed. "They gave me a shot. Daddy promised me they wouldn't give me a shot"
JJ chuckled. "Sometimes they have to give you shots to make you feel better. I bet your arm didn't hurt so bad afterwards, did it?"
Haven shook her head, the thumb on her good hand finding its way into her mouth as she snuggled up against her mom's shoulder.
"I wanted you to come home and make my arm better because Daddy wouldn't," she mumbled.
JJ grinned. "I don't know babe, I'm not much better than Daddy at fixing broken arms"
"Can I sleep in your bed?" Haven asked in a tiny voice, before letting out a big yawn.
Smiling, JJ kissed Haven's forehead. "Of course you can princess. But just for tonight, ok?"
Haven nodded, sucking on her thumb again as her parents turned and headed for the stairs.
"They put me to sleep and put funny silver things in my arm," she said softly as her mom carried her up the stairs.
"She had to have an operation?" JJ asked Will in surprise. Will nodded.
"Took them half an hour. She broke it real good," he explained. "She was very brave though, weren't you princess?"
Haven nodded as they reached the master bedroom. Setting Haven down on the bed, JJ moved to the dresser to change her clothes.
"The things in your arm babe, are they flat things or little round things?" she asked as she found one of Will's t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.
"Long skinny things. Like my shoelaces," Haven replied. JJ chuckled.
"Wires, baby girl, they put wires in your arm," she told her. "So who's going to sign your cast?"
Haven immediately perked up at the thought of having people write on her arm. "You and Daddy! And Henry! And Jack, and Uncle Hotch, and Uncle Morgan-"
"So all your aunts and uncles?" JJ asked, pulling off her work clothes and grabbing the comfy clothes from the top of the dresser.
"Yeah. Aunt Penelope can use her special fluffy pen!"
Will chuckled as he slid under the covers. "You really like the fluffy pen don't you milagro?"
Haven giggled, shuffling back awkwardly until she was laying beside her dad. "It's EXTRA fluffy!"
After she had changed her clothes, JJ climbed under the covers, wrapping her arms around Haven and kissing her nose.
"I love you milagro," she whispered as Haven burrowed her head into the curve of her neck.
"I love you too Mommy. And Daddy. Because Daddy took me to the hospital and got the doctor to fix my arm," Haven mumbled sleepily, the events of her long day beginning to catch up with her.
Chuckling, Will wrapped his arms around both of his girls, looking at JJ over the top of Haven's head.
"I'm glad you're home, cher," he whispered. "Haven wasn't the only one who missed you"
JJ smiled. "I'm glad to be home"
Giving her a gentle squeeze, Will stretched forward to kiss her lips.
"Love you," he murmured.
"Love you too"
