Everybody has that one victim they save, the one they can't let go of. For Morgan, Reid and Garcia, it was the same person. Sophia's father died in the line of duty, like Morgan's, her mother was plagued with mental illness, like Reid's, and when her mother took her own life she became an orphan, like Garcia. She connected with them all and they all wanted to make sure that this one stayed safe.

Agents know how it works, you save someone and they became attached to you because of it. Eventually, it wears off and things go back to normal for the victim. But Sophia was different. Morgan rescued her from the same people that killed her father, they said it was unfinished business. When he handed her over to Reid, they both felt that connection.

They had no one to give her to, no relatives or guardians, and they couldn't bare the thought of leaving her alone in foster care after all she went through. No one could understand what she went through better than they could. Morgan tried to stay strong and professional but Garcia couldn't. She saw too much of the little girl in herself and it didn't take long for Reid to break protocol and bring her back to D.C. with them.

That was seven years ago.

Nobody knew how it all worked out, it just did. Morgan took one of his properties and made a home for her with room for them all. They didn't all stay there all the time, they still had their own places, but someone was always there with Sophia. Typically, Garcia watched her most of the time because she didn't travel as often but Morgan and Reid were very involved in her life when they were home. And as the time passed, they quickly became a family.

Sophia was now fifteen and starting her sophomore year in high school. Despite her past, she felt incredibly lucky to have the family she did. She lost two parents and ended up with three more. She always felt safe with Morgan around, Garcia was nurturing but fun and Reid could solve just about any problem she had.

"Sophia," Morgan knocked on her bedroom door before opening it slightly. "Come on, baby girl, time to get up."

"I'm tired." She whined as she sat up slowly.

"You'll be fine once you get up and get going." He said as he opened her blind and let the natural light spill into her dark room.

"Dad," She groaned. "Please let me sleep."

"No, Sophia. You have to go to school." He said. "Mama's making breakfast for us all."

"She only does that when you and Daddy are traveling for work." She said as she got out of bed.

"We still have time to drop you off at school." It was a tradition they had. On days when they were traveling they'd both bring her to school and it was a tradition Sophia had yet to let go of. She liked that she had an untraditional family and all the quirky traditions they developed. "Thirty minutes."

"Yeah, yeah." She mumbled and disappeared into the bathroom. She was never good at being on time. It always took her an extra ten minutes longer than she said she'd be. She had showered the night before, if she showered in the morning it would take her too long to get ready and she'd have to sacrifice sleep that she needed.

Sophia curled her hair, she had gotten pretty good at doing it quickly. She added soft waves because she felt the ringlets made her look like a little girl. She would wrap her hair around the iron instead of in it and then once she was done, she'd turn her head upside down and run her fingers through it to create messy waves with volume. Her hair was a rich brown and it made her green eyes really pop. She never wore much makeup beyond the bases of concealer, bronzer and mascara.

She changed into a pair of dark wash skinny jeans with black Birkenstock sandals and an loose fitting purple V-neck t-shirt and grabbed an oversized grey cardigan. Her style was pretty basic and typical for a teenage girl. She followed the trends and wore things that were comfortable.

"There's my girl, just in time." Garcia said as she placed the pancakes in the middle of the table.

"Our girl," Reid corrected her before smiling at Sophia. "Ready for school?"

"I'm too tired for school." She said. "Dad wouldn't let me sleep in."

"Maybe next time you will listen when I tell you to go to bed." Morgan said and fixed her with a look. "What does Mama let you do when we aren't here?"

Sophia grinned at Garcia. "You will never know."

"Nor will you ever find out." Garcia said as she sat down at the table. "Let me remind you that there is no work talk at family meals."

"Where are you going?" Sophia asked. She knew by now that asking them when they'd be back was out of the question; they never really knew, it was always different.

"New York City," Reid said. "We won't be far."

"So, behave." Morgan said and gave her his classic look.

"Don't I always?" She grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile back at her. "Daddy, will you read my History paper if I send it to you?"

"Sure honey," He said. "When is it due?"

"Not until Friday."

"What's it on?"

"Well, I haven't really decided yet."

"Sophia, it's Monday." Morgan scolded. "You better get started on that."

"I want a topic and an outline from you by tonight." Reid said. "You should have done that and research on the weekend."

"But Daddy, I've been busy with other classes." She whined.

"You can manage, Sophia." Reid said. "This is what happens when you leave things to the last minute."

"Just because you're a genius doesn't mean everyone is." She mumbled.

Morgan raised his eyebrows. "Sophia, you should be thankful that Daddy takes the time to help you with school work and create schedules for you so that you don't become overwhelmed with the workload."

"I know," She sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just kind of stressed out."

Reid frowned but nodded. "I'll call you tonight and we can figure it out."

"Come on, you'll be late." Garcia said as she began to clear the table. "Be safe my loves, have a good day Sophia."

"Bye Mama," Sophia called as they left the house. Garcia was the first person Sophia started calling something other than her name. She had picked up on Morgan calling Garcia 'Mama' and she like it, so it stuck. It took her a little longer to figure out what she'd call Morgan and Reid but she finally settled on Dad for Morgan and Daddy for Reid. She wasn't sure why she did, but they let her chose and they seemed to like it.

Sophia was a bit quiet on the way to school. She always got like that when they were leaving. She knew firsthand how dangerous their job was. Both Morgan and Reid could sense her anxiety, they knew her better than herself, it was their job and they could read her like a book. As they pulled up in front of the school, Morgan put the car in park and turned to look at her in the back.

"We'll be fine, baby." Morgan reassured.

She smiled slightly. "I know but I'll still miss you."

"We'll miss you too." Reid said. "We love you."

"Very much." Morgan added.

Sophia leaned forward from the back seat and hugged them both, one at a time. They each kissed her head before letting her go. She jumped out of the black SUV and headed towards a group of her friends. They both watched her until they saw her smiling again and then Morgan drove away.

OOOOO

Morgan, Reid and the team were on scene of the case the second day when Morgan got a phone call from Garcia. He excused himself, walking a few feet away before answering the phone. "What do you got for me Garcia?"

"Oh, I have plenty for you Derek." Garcia snapped. "But this is not about the case."

Morgan frowned. "What happened?"

"I just got a very interesting phone call from the school." She said. "It would appear that our Sophia skipped class today. She just didn't come back after lunch for her classes."

"Why would she do that?"

"That's not all." She said. "When I called her to talk about it she told me to stop overreacting and then she hung up on me. I told her she better get here before I call you."

"Did she come?" Morgan raised his eyebrows. He was very aware that he was the firm parent in their situation.

"She did, but she's been giving me nothing but attitude. I don't know what has gotten into her, but Derek, you better talk to her."

Morgan sighed. "Where is she now?"

"She's in the conference room and she better be doing her homework."

"Put me through to her."

Garcia connected to the conference room, keeping Morgan on the line with her. "Sophia?"

"What?" Morgan raised his eyebrows, he was surprised at her snarky tone.

"Dad is on the line and wants to talk to you."

"You said you weren't going to call him if I came here!" She yelled. "If I knew you'd do it anyway I would have stayed with my friends and had some fun."

"You better check that attitude, Sophia." Morgan interrupted. She wasn't aware that he could hear her yet.

"But Dad, she's being unfair!" She whined. "She probably didn't even tell you the whole story. She always does that."

"I do not, Sophia." Garcia said. "Don't make me the bad guy here."

"Garcia, let me speak with her alone." Morgan said, trying to avoid a fight.

"Fine, but I expect an apology."

"You aren't getting one." Sophia said just before Garcia hung up.

"That's enough, Sophia." Morgan said. "Did you skip school?"

"Dad, it's not simple."

"Yes it is." He said. "Yes or no, Sophia."

She sighed. "Yeah, I did."

"Why?"

Sophia hesitated, she knew this conversation wasn't going to go her way. "I want to talk to Daddy."

"Too bad, you're talking to me right now."

"But you won't listen to me." She complained. "You always take Mama's side."

"I'm listening to you right now." He said. "So, you better start talking because I'm losing my patience."

"Okay, we have this class project for science that we're supposed to work on today because our teacher is away so we have a sub." She explained. "But Jessica has all our stuff and she was home sick today. So, Caitlin and I went to visit her at lunch to get the stuff but we didn't want to leave her out so we decided to work on the project instead of going to class."

"Without calling Mama?" He said. It was hard to profile her over the phone but he was pretty sure that wasn't the whole truth.

"I did call her!" She insisted. "The line was busy, it's always busy."

"Why did you miss both your classes?"

"We got caught up in it and we were late to last period but not by much!" She said. "We had to get a late slip but they knew we didn't show up to Science so they wouldn't let us go to last period until they talked to our parents."

"So, why did you hang up on Mama?"

"She called me when I was on my way back to school and flipped out. She wouldn't even let me explain and I didn't feel like being yelled at."

"You're grounded until we get home and can talk about this with you." He said. "And Sophia, I better never hear you talk to Mama like that again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Dad." She mumbled.

"I'll call you later, baby." He said, softer this time.

Morgan hung up and walked back over to the group. He was much better than Garcia at staying professional and separating his home life from his job. He waited until they all returned to the hotel room before telling Reid what happened. They had agreed to co-parent, but if it wasn't an emergency they didn't need to fill each other in right away.

"She's never been like that with any of us before." Reid frowned.

"Well, she wouldn't dare pull attitude like that with me." Morgan said.

"Something had to have happened." He said. "She said she was working on a science project?"

"With Caitlin and Jessica."

"Caitlin is her lab partner, but Jessica doesn't have Science with them." Reid said. "There's four in the group project, Caitlin is in the group but Jessica isn't. The other two group members are male."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," He nodded. "I read the course outline. Lab partners are the same sex, but the group project mixes one team of girls with one team of boys."

Morgan sighed and shook his head. "So, this is about a boy?"

"Maybe," Reid shrugged. "I'll call her."

"Yeah, you should do that." He nodded. "I'm going to the gym."

Reid waited until he left the room before calling Sophia. "Hi," She answered.

"Hi Sophia," Reid tried not to smile at how sad she sounded. "Do you want to tell me what happened today?"

She sighed. "I pretty sure you've already heard."

"I did, but I know that Jessica isn't in your science class." He nodded. "Why did you lie to Mama and Dad?"

"Because they'll get mad." She said.

"Where were you Sophia?"

She paused for a moment and when she spoke again, Reid could hear that she was crying as she sniffed. "Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Do you ever get scared that you'll end up like your Mom?"

Reid closed his eyes for a moment and sat down on the bed. "Sometimes, yeah I think about it. Did you go to see Caitlin's Aunt? Is that where you were?" Caitlin's aunt was a psychologist and Caitlin went to her for her ADHD.

"I took the test." She said. "It said I was likely to develop bipolar disorder if I wasn't already showing symptoms."

"I would have taken you if you wanted to know." He said. "It's a scary thing, but it doesn't mean it will happen to you and I promise you that if I notice anything, I will talk to you about it. But you have to promise me that if you notice something different, you'll talk to me too. This isn't something you go through alone, Sophia."

"Okay." She said. "Can you tell Mama and Dad?"

"I'll tell you what, I'll tell Dad." He said. "But I think you should tell Mama because you weren't very nice to her today and this was not her fault. You need to apologize to her, Sophia."

"Yeah, okay." She sighed.

"I'll have Dad call you when he gets back from the gym."

"The gym?" She asked. "So, he's mad?"

"Well, he thought your skipping class might have something to do with a boy."

"And that's why I never bring boys around the house." She said. "Dad would probably kill them and then no boy would ever like me again."

"What boy likes you now?" Reid frowned. "Sophia, was that hypothetical?"

"Maybe, and maybe not." Sophia laughed.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story line.