Cecilia Lies
JJ didn't say much as she and her husband entered the apartment. No one noticed though, since her youngest child, Hannah, was telling Will about her day at school. "Miss Lyren had us paint a copy of a famous painting and I got the Mona Lisa," the twelve year old stated happily as she took the items that Will gave her to put away.
"We had to do that to, I forget who I got," Henry said as he helped his sister put away the food.
"How far are you on it?" Will asked her as he handed her two yogurts.
"Not far, we only had two hours of art today," Hannah told him as she put the yogurts into the fridge. Hannah opened her mouth to continue when the phone rang. "I'll get it!" she yelled as she ran to the phone. "LaMontage residence, Hannah speaking." Hannah smiled as a familiar voice greeted her on the other end of the phone. "Mama, Uncle Aaron is on the other end." JJ smiled at her daughter as she took the phone.
"Hotch, what's up?"
"Hey JJ, I was wondering if Jack could stay with you tonight. Haley and I are going to see her mother."
"No problem, I'll just drop him off with Henry at the High school in the morning." Haley's mom was sick and in the hospital and Haley didn't want Jack to see his grandmother like that.
"You're a life saver."
"Yeah yeah, just call me St. Jennifer," JJ said with a smile before she hung up the phone. "Well, we're having a guest for the night."
"Who?" Hannah asked as she exited the small kitchen and into the hallway.
"Jack." Hannah smiled as she heard the name of her secret boyfriend. Unknown to JJ or Will, but their daughter and Jack were the official school couple, despite the age gap with Jack at the age of 16 and Hannah being 12.
"Sweet, he's bunking with me, right?" Henry asked as he looked at his mother.
"Well, he usually bunks with Hannah," JJ pointed out as she went to collect the mail. Henry started at his sister only to see her shrug as she turned back to finish putting away the food. When Hannah had been born, Jack was always holding her. The two grew up sleeping in the same bed when they had a sleepover and it seemed his mother didn't see the danger in that. Henry may be 14, but he knew what was on the 16 year olds mind, and he didn't like it.
Jack arrived later that night.
"Hey Aunt JJ," Jack greeted as he hugged the blonde.
"Hey Jack," she said as she kissed his forehead. "Do you ever brush that hair?" she asked as she ruffled his brown locks. "I swear, I don't know how, but you got Uncle Reid's hair." Jack only smiled at her as he stepped into the apartment to greet the rest of the gang.
"Thanks JJ," Hotch said as he kissed JJ's temple.
"Welcome, see you later," JJ said with a smile as she closed the door. When she turned back to her family, she saw that the boys were already playing video games with Hannah being the cheerleader for whoever was winning.
"Come be my cheerleader Jen," Will called without even looking at her. JJ smiled as she ran over to them.
After they played video games, Will put on 10th Kingdom, Hannah's favorite movie. As the movie went on, Jack's arm had somehow snaked its way across her daughter's shoulder as the two ate popcorn. She brushed it off as them just being good friends.
The next morning JJ gave each kid five bucks before grabbing the two boy's backpacks and leading them to her car while Will took Hannah to her own school.
Hannah had only been in her classroom for two minutes when Mrs. Anderson walked over to her. "Mrs. Anderson, I know I get in trouble a lot, but I haven't done anything yet," Hannah told her as she put her bag on her desk. Mrs. Anderson smiled at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Yet?" Hannah only smiled. "Well, you're not in trouble Hannah... yet.... I'm going to put you in charge of the new girl her name is Cecilia Markins and she's from France so she's not used to American customs."
"Alright Mrs. Anderson," Hannah stated as she walked over to Cecilia. "Hi, I'm Hannah LaMontage."
"Cecilia," the girl said nervously as she clutched the green textbook that had Grade 7: History written across it in yellow lettering.
"Come on, we have PE first so you won't be needing this," Hannah said as she took the textbook from Cecilia's hand. Hannah took the slightly frightened girl by the hand and pulled her down the hall.
"Good Morning Hannah, you're not in trouble yet?" Mr. Tate asked as she walked over to him. Hannah rolled her eyes as she smiled at him.
"Mornin' Mr. Tate, this is Cecilia, our new student." Mr. Tate smiled at her as he shuck her hand.
"Good to meet you Cecilia." The two girls smiled at him before Hannah dragged Cecilia into the Girls Locker Room. As Hannah and Cecilia changed into their gym uniforms, Cecilia heard Hannah gasp.
"What?" Cecilia asked the brunette in front of her. Then she remembered the large black and blue bruise on her stomach.
"What happened?" Hannah asked as she started at the bruise.
"It's nothing; a couple guys roughed me up a bit yesterday and hit me in the stomach with a bat." Hannah didn't say anything as the two girls finished changing.
As the day went on, Hannah couldn't stop thinking about the bruise that she'd seen. The brunette was immediately shaken from her thoughts when Mrs. Anderson asked about a bruise around Cecilia's wrist. Cecilia gave her the same answer she'd given Hannah, but unlike Hannah, Mrs. Anderson bought it.
When the day finally came to an end, Hannah offered Cecilia a lift home. The red haired girl nodded gratefully and got in the back of the car with Jack and Henry.
"Where do you live Hannah?" Jack asked as he turned to face the pre-teen.
"5252 West Lexington," she said as she looked out the window.
The rest of the car ride was filled with laughter and crying as the girls listened to the boys tell stories of their most embarrassing moments, making the girls laugh so hard they had tears running down their faces. As the four kids pulled up to the house, everyone could immediately see Cecilia stiffen.
"Your house is huge," Henry stated as he stared at the houses that was probably just shy of being called a mansion.
"CECILIA!" a man yelled as he stormed out of the house. Tears welled in Cecilia's eyes as she started at him in pure fear. As she put her hand on the handle to open her door, Hannah put her hand on the girl's arm. Without looking away from the man, Hannah said:
"Don't go."
"I have to," Cecilia whispered as she got out of the car.
"Where have you been you little bitch?!" the man yelled as he grabbed a fistful of Cecilia's auburn locks. He threw her to the ground and started kicking her. Before anyone knew it, all three kids were out of the car. Jack and Henry tackled the man to the ground and Hannah ran to Cecilia. Fear flashed in Cecilia's eyes as she heard an alarm go off.
"Get out of here!" she yelled as she stared at Hannah.
"We're not leaving you here!" Hannah hissed as she tried to help the twelve year old up.
"Just go!" Cecilia screamed as she spotted eight men running onto the grass. "GO!" Hannah gave a tearful nod as she grabbed her boyfriend and brother, before running to the car.
When the three arrived at the apartment, they were all in tears.
"How was your day?" Will asked as he and JJ entered the living room.
"What's wrong?" JJ asked as worry crept through her body. Hannah didn't say anything as she ran to her father, weeping into his chest.
"Daddy, it was awful," Hannah cried. After they'd washed the kids up and sent the boys to bed, Will sat his daughter down on her bed.
"What was so awful Hannah?" Will asked his princess.
"Theirs a new girl at school. She's really sweet and kinda jumpy. When we were changing in the locker room, I saw a big bruise on her stomach, it looked horrible. When I asked about it, she lied and said she was roughed up by some boys. We offered her a ride home and her dad just kept hitting her when we got there... it was..." Hannah didn't finish as she burst into a new set of tears.
"Shhh," Will whispered as he wiped her hot tears with a cool rag. He lay his daughter down and tucked her in before exiting the room. He was just about to close her door the rest of the way when he heard his daughter whispering.
"God, I know we haven't spoken in a while, but I need you to protect Cecilia. She needs someone to protect her." Will watched as his beautiful daughter closed her eyes.
That night, Will slept horribly. The last time he'd slept that bad was when Hannah wasn't sleeping through the night yet. It was some time around midnight when he decided he'd talk to Hannah's teacher.
The next morning, Will took his daughter to school. He walked into her classroom with her and over to the teachers that were talking. He didn't have to ask to know that the news he'd hoped he wouldn't hear.
"Daddy, why does everyone look so sad?" Hannah asked as she walked up to him with those innocent eyes. "Why aren't the other kids here yet? Is school cancelled? Can we go see Cecilia then, to make sure she's ok?"
"Hannah, Cecilia's not coming to school today."
"Why?" for a minute, Will was sure he was talking to his four year old daughter again. "Daddy," panic was rising in her voice, "where's Cecilia? What's going on? What aren't you telling me?!"
"Darlin', Cecilia's gone," he told her as held her small hands in his. Tears glistened in her eyes as she started at him.
"She's dead?" she asked as tears started to slip down her face. Will knew he was crying to, but that didn't matter.
"Yes baby," he whispered as he engulfed her in a hug.
"Why daddy? Tell me why he did it?" she murmured into his chest with tears in her eyes.
"I don't know baby... I don't know."
