AU: Hey guys!! sorry it's taken me so long.
I have a whole list of excuses on why it's taken me so long to up this, but mainly my idea for the next chapter threw me off.
Fortunately, SingnedSealedWritten has agreed to look over it and see if she can see if it's just me being paranoid or if it really is off. As always, reviews are welcomed!!
They hadn't really needed to buy much of anything. Maple had been surprised when Reid had brought up buying some paints for her room. She was glad that he seemed to know that she didn't like bright colors all that much. Maybe it was a profiler thing, she would have to ask.
When Reid finally did have to go back to work, Maple was more than happy to go down to Garcia, Panda right on her heal. After a while though, it became a little dull as she couldn't think if anymore questions to ask her. "Pen, can I go walk around a little? I promise I won't bother anyone."
"I don't know Maple. You can't leave any of the floors that we're on, ok? Maybe you could go visit Kevin."
"Who's he?" she asked, getting interested.
"My boyfriend. He's a tech too."
"Cool, another computer nerd. Does he do any RPGs?"
"He's on a couple. I'll PM him, see if he's busy."
After a minute, she shook her head. "Nah, can't go there. He's on a massive search."
"That's alright. I'll find something to do." She said, opening the door and waiting for Panda to do her stretch before following her out.
"Be careful. Don't bother anyone and call me if you get lost."
"Ok Pen." And she was gone.
She found herself in the profilers' kitchenette, eyeing the coffee pot. Her mom had always been against her having a cup, but she couldn't help but wonder what would be so bad about it if everyone drank it.
She got a paper cup and pored almost to the very top of the cup, trying not to spill any. After making sure again that no one was watching her, she poured some sugar in, like she saw Spencer do, and when it was still to biter, she added more.
Once she got it right, it was actually pretty good. She couldn't see what was so wrong with her drinking a cup of coffee. After walking around for a while though, she began to… feel funny. She kinda felt like bouncing, something that she hadn't felt like doing since she was seven. And was her hand shaking? Ah, probably nothing.
She found herself going an hour a minute, and she was feeling giddy now. She also REALLY wanted to start running, but something was holding her back.
She found herself at Morgan's desk; he looked up at her and put his feet down. "Hay Maple, you looking for Reid?"
"No, I was just walking around." Morgan raised an eyebrow at her and spotted the cup in her hand. "What's that kiddo?"
"Coffee, it's really, really good. I like it a lot. I had to put a lot of sugar in it, but once I did that it tasted fine and did you know that coffee is grown in over 70 countries and is said to have originated from Ethiopia, somewhere in Africa and that it is now one of the most common drinks worldwide and boy this stuff is good also did you know that they used to grow coffee in the shade instead of in the sun? It was more earth friendly back then actually but it's still good."
"How many cups have you had?" Morgan asked with a smile. In all reality, he had caught maybe every third word. He wondered if she even breathed during any of that. Probably not.
"Just one."
"Are you sure? How much sugar did you put in?"
"I don't know, enough so that it's pretty sweet now but it's not bitter anymore and that's a good thing right?"
He was trying very hard not to laugh, but shrugged anyway. "I'm not sure. Maybe you should ask Reid."
"Nah, I'm just going to walk around. I feel like walking do you think anyone else feels like walking with me?"
He bit his tongue for a second, and shook his head. "I really don't know Maple. Why don't you ask around?"
"Ok." She said, and hopped to it.
Once she was out of earshot, he snickered into his fist, doubling over, and wondered if he should call Garcia.
Maple went up to Hotch's office first. Since he wasn't doing anything, Maple stuck her head in and waited for him to notice her. "Maple, hey, what are you doing up here?" He asked, somewhat surprised.
"Nothing I just wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk with me because I kind of feel like going for a walk but if you don't feel like it then that's ok to."
She took another drink, walking in a little more so that he could see her better. A slow smile began to creep up on him. "Maple, is that coffee?"
"Yup and it's really good I like it a lot do you want me to go get you some it's really good once you put sugar into it."
"No thanks, I like mine black."
"Mine is black." She said, looking a little confused.
"It means plain coffee. Nothing in it?"
"What about the beans? If you don't have the beans than its just water."
"I mean coffee straight from the pot. Have you talked with Reid yet?"
"Spencer? Nope. So do you want to go for a walk with me Aaron?"
"Well… not at the moment Maple. I'm waiting for a call. Maybe later?"
"Sure, ok." She seemed a little disappointed, and while this made Hotch feel bad, he got an idea.
"Maybe Rossi would like to go with you?"
"Cool! I'll go ask him. Bye Aaron!"
"No running!" He yelled after her, and she complied, Panda slowing to keep in step with her.
Hotch smiled wide before the call finally came thru.
She went and asked Rossi if he wanted to go for a walk with her, and wanting to get away from the paperwork, he quickly agreed.
"So, you're a coffee fan now?" he asked, a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Yup. I don't know why Mom didn't want me to have this stuff it's really good."
They looked down at the bullpen to see Morgan talking with Reid and Emily, who had gone out to get some lunch. Reid looked up, and behind her back Rossi took out his cell phone while she waved down to them. They waved back and Reid nodded, glade that someone was watching her now.
As they went outside, Maple rambled on and on about one topic and then the next and next. Finally he thought that maybe it would be a good time to slow her down a little.
"So, are you going to paint your new room? Reid said that you two moved into a new house."
"Yeah, Spencer said that it was ok for me to paint pictures on my wall and I was thinking that maybe on one of the smaller walls I would make a scene of a forest from a bird's point of view when it's flying over head."
"Sounds nice. Are you going to do anything else?"
"Yeah, I was going to make a tree fort because we have a hug tree now though I haven't asked him about it yet because I want to paint my room a little first and also I was going to make a zip line from the fort to my room or maybe even a ladder because I think it would be fun what do you think?"
"Where did you come up with these ideas? Are you sure that you can figure out how to do it?"
"I don't know where my ideas come from, they just come. Sometimes I get so many ideas that I feel like my head's going to explode and I'm sure it will work, my stuff almost always work after the first few tries."
"What else have you made?"
"I put a motor on my bike so that I could move around faster, but dad made me take it off because I don't have a licenses. Another time… I don't know, I've made a lot. I'm getting tired."
She did seem to be losing her steam, and she wasn't nearly as smiley or bounce anymore. He gave a chuckle. "That's good, because I wasn't sure if I could make it around the block again."
"We only went around the city block?" She seemed confused, wondering why she was so tired.
"You were bouncing the whole time too. You ran forward and back a couple of times too, but you know that."
"Is this what crashing feels like?" Maple asked, being completely honest.
"Yup." There was a bright smile on his face, but she didn't seem to know how to respond to it.
"I don't like it." She said, letting the tiniest of a whine come into her voice.
"That's why we drink coffee all the time, so that we don't get the crash until later, when we want to. Do you know how much sugar you put in?"
"No." Maple muttered, not having the energy to wonder if she should try to change the subject.
"That's ok. Just means that you put in a lot. Come on, we're almost back at the building."
When they walked in, Panda seemed more energized then either of them. She was running back and forth, and Maple looked at her like one might look at her little brother or sister, with the question of why do you have so much energy, and the slightest hint of disgust that only exhaustion can bring.
When they finally got back onto the profilers floor, Panda had calmed down, and in turn Maple sat down on Emily's chair and put her head down. In a matter of seconds she was out cold.
JJ, Emily, and Reid all looked like they wanted to ask what the heck had been going on, but Morgan and Hotch had filled them in a little. It was Reid who spoke up first while they watched her sleep. "We can't just leave her there."
"We could put her on the couch in the briefing room." JJ put in, and with that Morgan picked her up, having her sit on one arm while with the other he had his hand on her back. "I got'cha kiddo."
She muttered something, moved her head and then sighed and went into a deeper sleep.
They all went up with them, and after Morgan laid her down, Emily got the one blanket that they kept in the room for cases like this and covered her up with it. She moved her hair out of her face, and then they all left, Reid turning out the light.
A little later, knowing that someone might want it, Hotch came in and took a picture of the sleeping child, much as JJ had done with Reid when he had first fallen asleep on the plane. It had been the first time in history that someone had actually looked relaxed after a case in their sleep. She had wanted something to remember the moment, thus a picture.
She woke up a couple of hours later to find someone talking outside the door where she was sleeping. She didn't even question being there since she knew she felt better from before she went to sleep, and remembered about the events beforehand as she wondered who was there. And then she heard Pen and JJ talking. "I'm serious; we shouldn't wake her up yet. She'll be grumpy." JJ said.
"She'll be grumpier still if she doesn't eat something."
Maple got up than and opened the door. "Food sounds really good, actually."
The two of them gasped and jumped, and Maple snickered.
"Did Spencer remember to ask if they had any steak bones or anything like that for Panda?"
"Yup. They had a ham bone. Reid gave it to her as soon as he could."
Maple looked around, but didn't see it, and so looked down at Panda. "Panda, go get your bone girl. Fetch!"
Panda got up, and went under the couch to bring up a chewed up bone. It was almost gone.
"Cool. Come on Panda. I left your dog food at Spencer's desk." She hopped down the steps, and got her chicken salad out of the frig and poured Panda's food into a bowl that always seemed to be in her bag.
She went back down with Garcia to her office to eat and Garcia smiled.
"Alright, I can't not ask any longer: why did you have coffee?"
"I wanted to see what was so great about it."
"I hope you remember to brush your teeth tonight."
She rolled her eyes. "You sound like an over-protective big sister or something."
"Get used to it short stuff, cause you're part of the family now."
Maple smiled and ate.