Title: On this Day…Disclaimer: I don't own any real characters affiliated with Criminal Minds.
Summary: 20 year old Cassandra Walker doesn't like this day. Penelope finds out why, against requested.
A/N: I had to mess around with the ages, so sorry about any discrepancies with that. :/
"Yeah, no, Mom, I'm fine." Cassandra Walker stood in front of the coffee maker in the kitchenette area of the BAU at the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. "I know what happened today but I'm more worried about you." Penelope Garcia almost walked into the kitchenette but stopped as she heard her 20 year-old co-worker. "I'm fine with today, Mom. I know Charlie died today but honestly, it's been a while. I think, since you've got Milo and Shiloh, you'll be fine. Yes, I will. Alright, I promise. No, I'm sure he wants to hear about it. Jack won't mind either, he likes stories. Yes, I'll tone it down. Alright, love you Mom. Buh-bye. Muah."
Cassandra Walker turned around, holding her mug of hot chocolate. She, being the youngest, was not allowed to drink coffee so every time she would run out of the powder, a different person of the team bought her a pack of hot cocoa mix. She saw Garcia standing in the doorway, a confused look on her face. "Uh- Casey, who's Charlie?" A flash of emotion went up on her face before leaving quickly.
"Charlie? Oh- nobody. Don't worry about it Garcia, trust me." Casey held a smile as she walked past Garcia, "I like your perfume, Pen. Very…you." Casey slipped past, to her desk. The desk was across from Prentiss, diagonal to Reid, in Morgan's old spot. She took a look at her stack of paperwork and sighed, from Garcia's view. She would look up who this Charlie was.
"Cassandra Walker." Garcia typed into her database. Casey's birth certificate, family records, medical/dental records, and all of her paperwork popped onto the screen. She saw something by the birth certificate and clicked on it. Cassandra Riley Walker; twin sister of Charles Rufus Walker. "I didn't know she had a twin brother."
Clicking on the brothers name, another piece of paper popped to the surface. A death certificate. That was for today. Charlie died today- why didn't she tell me? Garcia walked out of her 'lair', ready to talk to Casey. "Ah, Garcia, we've got a case. Conference room in 5." Considering Garcia was going to need more coffee, she backtracked to the kitchenette before barely making it.
After minutes into the debriefing and a few comments of siblings as this was case where an older brother and younger sister were killed, two different sets, Garcia couldn't handle it. "I am so sorry about Charlie." She blurted it out, she couldn't help it. Tears were in her eyes as she looked to Casey. Casey blanched at the suddenness.
Her black pants, black camisole under a thin, see through, white cotton shirt, black Converse with her black double breasted pea-coat with a tie over her office chair made her look like a typical teenage girl. Her feet were even on the desk until Hotch knocked them off so she sent him a grin, at the beginning of the brief.
"Charlie? Who's Charlie?" Morgan looked to and from Casey and Garcia quickly.
"Charlie? Oh, he was a Labrador retriever I had, growing up. He ran across the road and got hit by a car, exactly three years ago. My brothers, Milo and Shiloh were playing with me when we all saw it. I told Garcia about it before the briefing but it must've stayed with her. Sorry for telling you, Garcia, I probably should've spared the details." Casey shrugged off the concern, giving Garcia a look.
"Alright, well, wheels up in 30." So Casey had 20 minutes to spend with Garcia until her and Hotch would leave for the plane. Casey always had a go bag under her desk.
"Garcia, walk with me, please?" Casey had Garcia follow her out to the bathroom. "How do you know about Charlie?" Casey had her hands on her hips, and for a cute 20 year old, looked threatening.
"I looked him up, I'm sorry." Garcia looked down at her hands. She hadn't meant to pry but she was curious.
"Penelope! I told you not to worry about it! Don't you trust me enough to tell you if something's wrong? I can't believe you would look him up." Casey looked close to tears at this point. "You're curious so here's the scoop, Charlie was brilliant. We were only 10 at the time when we were in a car crash with Milo, 17 at the time. I wanted to get ice cream on our way home and we crashed on the way there."
"Casey, I am so sor-" Garcia made to reach out but Casey stepped back.
"No, Garcia, let me finish. I was behind the drivers seat, with Charlie in the passenger. That's the side the car was hit with. If I had fought for 'shot gun' then he might be here. I know you'll ask for forgiveness but I can't. Not today. I'm going to go to Austin and we'll see about tomorrow. Don't tell the others, I don't want their sympathy."
Cassandra walked around Penelope, heading to her desk, buttoning up the three buttons, tying the sash before hoisting her backpack over her shoulder and following Hotch, as she can't drive.
Let's see about tomorrow.