"Sonja," Declan asked, sitting up a little straighter and turning to look at her.
"Yeah?" She answered quickly.
"I was wondering about something," Declan said, biting the inside of his cheek. He looked the girl up and down, reaching over to lay his hand atop of hers.
"What is it?" She asked, noting the serious mood that seemed to encircle them.
"It's about your dad…." Declan trailed off, waiting for any sort of reaction.
"What about him?" Sonja snapped, her bright green eyes suddenly blazing as she pulled her hand out from under his. Normally Declan would have just dropped it but he just had to know. It had been bugging him ever since Mom had asked. He didn't know any more than she did, really. Just that Sonja hated her father and was never in the mood to talk about why.
"Why do you hate him so much?" Declan finally just spit the words out, immediately regretting them as Sonja stood up from the couch.
"Why does it matter?" She retorted with her arms crossed across her chest. Declan took a breath before he stood up as well.
"Okay, how about a trade?" Declan proposed, watching her eyes flick up towards him. "I tell you something about my father if you tell me something about yours." Declan continued to coax, reaching out to grab her hand, urging her to sit back down with him. She scoffed and sat back down, keeping a bit of distance between them. He didn't talk about his father much, not even to Emily who was the only person who would really understand.
"Go on," Sonja urged as he'd fallen silent. He realized he was staring down at his feet before he looked over at her. She gave him a closed mouth smile, which was something at least. He nodded at her, taking a breath.
"Well, I didn't know a lot about my father for a long time. When I was little he was just my dad. There wasn't any reason to question that. He was away sometimes, but I had a nanny. Her name was Louise." He stopped, thinking about his surrogate mother and what had happened to her. He shook the memories off. "It was just the three of us until Emily came along." Declan smiled. "I was only small when her and my dad were together. We were happy." He noted. Little did he know back then, right? "Then we had to leave and come to the states."
"You lived overseas?" Sonja asked curiously, inching a bit closer to him.
"Yeah, Italy, I think." Declan answered. "See, I was kept in the dark for a long time about my dad. I didn't know what he was until I was already being raised by someone else."
"What was he?"
"My dad was a terrorist." Declan said flatly, glancing over at Sonja for her reaction. She stayed still and quiet for a moment before she leaned over to kiss him gently.
"Are you afraid you're like him?" Sonja whispered between them, glancing up at his blue eyes before she had her answer. "Oh, Dec," She said, pulling away a bit. "Maybe you are like him." Declan furrowed his eyebrows, glancing over at her. "But not in a bad way. Maybe you have his sense of humour or something. Maybe he had those same beautiful eyes as you do." She smiled at him. He was quick to smile back before she kissed his nose, making him laugh.
"I love you." He said, still laughing a bit. An unreadable expression crossed Sonja's face. "What is it?" He asked, reaching for her before she was already standing up, not meeting his eyes.
"Sonja-"He started, realizing he'd said something wrong.
"Um, I should get going." She mumbled out before she grabbed her bag and headed out before he could say another word.
After that Declan sat down at piano but didn't play anything. Emily got from work just a little while later.
"I thought Sonja was staying for dinner?" Emily asked as she pulled off her coat to hang it up.
"She left." Declan said standing up. Already knowing what she was about to ask he told her he wasn't hungry and headed upstairs to stare at the ceiling. Emily let out a sigh before the phone rang.
"Hello?" She answered, leaning on the counter.
"Hello, Emily." The voice replied, making Emily stop short.
"Mother?" She asked, suddenly very confused.
"How have you been?"
"I'm alright." Emily answered; she didn't even think that her mother knew about Declan. Why would she? She only called once every few years. Emily was hoping she wouldn't ask to go out to lunch. She just wasn't up to it.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go to lunch with me." Apparently she expected too much from her mother. Emily wondered if she should take Declan with her. No, she wanted him to have some time to himself. Maybe then he'd tell her what happened with him and Sonja.
"Sure, when?" Her mother asked and Emily thought about it for a second before saying tomorrow afternoon. Her mother insisted on treating her to a fancy restaurant downtown. She took a few breaths once she'd hung up. She was confused about the invite; she didn't think her mother would call without a reason. She heated up a microwavable diner and went upstairs to finish up some work. Declan's door was closed and she didn't want to bother him.
Before she went to bed she did knock on the door to say goodnight.
"Come in," Declan said after a few minutes of silence. He was lying down on his bed, phone in hand.
"Hey," She greeted, sitting down on his desk chair. "Do you want to talk about it?" He glanced over at her before he put his phone down on the night stand.
"She's not messaging me back." Declan mumbled.
"What happened?"
"Nothing, she just took off."
"She would've had to have a reason for leaving." Emily pressed.
"I told her I loved her." He said, smiling a bit.
"And then she took off?" Sounded like something a younger Emily would do.
"You know, maybe we can talk about it after you tell me what really happened to your hand." Declan suddenly snapped, sitting up to face her. She froze, glancing down at her since bandaged hand. She'd told him that it was an accident and that the mirror in her bedroom fell and that she'd cut her hand while picking up the glass.
"What do you mean?" Her hand was nearly healed now but she still remembered that night as clear as day. She hadn't even told Hotch about it although he knew it wasn't an accident either.
"It wasn't an accident." Declan said, reaching out to grab her good hand. "I know I'm sixteen and don't know much but you don't have to lie to me." She met his eyes, the piercing blue demanding the truth. She reached out to hug him.
"I know, I know." She whispered to him as she held him tight. The boy was smart for his age and all she wanted was for him to be happy. She'd just had a moment the other night, the trigger was clear to her and she didn't know how to get around it. She just needed to let her walls down, but she didn't know if she was strong enough to break them down before Hotch left her for good. Maybe that was something and she and Sonja had in common, they were both just trying to protect their hearts.
