A/N Sorry it's been so long! Hope you guys like this chapter.
After explaining the situation to Hotch, Emily and JJ followed Raina to her apartment. Raina had explained to JJ how she found Leah in the bathroom after she'd taken however many antidepressants were in her prescription bottle. Thinking fast, Raina had forced a toothbrush down Leah's throat to gag her until she threw up. Leah had freaked out, begging Raina not to tell anyone what she'd done. They planned for Leah to stay for a few days to get herself back to normal and then she'd go home and apologize to her parents, claiming she just wanted to go off and do something crazy like a road trip with friends. Emily didn't see how it would have worked, but JJ explained to her that it was actually a pretty common thing for these type-A athletes to do something completely irrational to blow off steam.
When they reached Raina's apartment, they quietly followed her inside. She pointed them to the room, but stayed out of the way. Emily opened the bedroom door slowly, not sure what to expect. The young blonde girl was asleep, wrapped up in heavy blankets on the bed. She looked so fragile. One arm was draped across a pillow and thick white gauze was wrapped around the tiny wrist. Emily was unsure what to do and glanced to JJ for help. JJ approached the bed slowly and knelt on the ground beside the sleeping girl.
"Leah," JJ said softly, grasping the girl's hand into her own.
Dull eyes flickered open and panic streaked across them. JJ sensed it immediately.
"Leah, it's okay. We're here to help you. My name is Jennifer and this is my friend Emily. We work for the FBI," JJ explained.
"You told the FBI!?" Leah screamed at Raina, who stood nervously in the doorway.
"Your parents are worried about you, Leah," Emily said. "They think that you're dead."
"I wish I was," Leah grumbled and closed her eyes tightly.
"Leah, listen to me," JJ pleaded. "I know that things are bad right now. I know what it's like to feel that things will always be this way and that you'll never feel good again, but this is such a small part of your life. You have so much more ahead of you and you have got to be alive to see it. You've got to stay long enough to see how good life can get. You have college ahead of you and much better friends and tons of guys who will want to date you. People love you and care about you, Leah, and I know that scares you, but it doesn't have to. You don't have to live this way."
"There's something wrong with me," Leah whispered. "I think I'm crazy."
"You're not crazy," Emily spoke up. "You just think differently than most people. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. We can get you help to deal with it. We all need help with something."
Leah sat up, a little life coming back to her eyes. She put her hair up and got off of the bed, standing to reveal a baggy T-shirt and sweat pants. Raina pushed past Emily and embraced her friend, tears running down her face.
"Let's do this," Leah's voice was shaky. "Before I lose my mind again."
JJ knew that calling Leah's parents should have been the first thing she did, but she didn't want to jolt anything in Leah's mind with that much pressure. She had Emily drive them to the nearest hospital.
They got Leah situated and made sure a psych consult was set up before JJ finally called her parents and asked them to come to the hospital. They were overjoyed to hear that Leah was alive and JJ let them have the moment before she talked to them about how serious things were.
JJ met the parents outside the door to Leah's hospital room. They begged to see their daughter, but JJ knew she needed to prepare them first. She started from the beginning, telling them how Leah had lied about some things concerning Calvin and Raina, but the details were Leah's to tell. She did tell them about Leah going to see them both on the night she disappeared, her suicide attempt, and her making Raina promise not to tell anyone what happened.
"So she's just been hiding from us this whole time?" Leah's mother asked through her tears.
"What are you trying to cover up?" Leah's father demanded.
"I assure you that I'm telling the truth. You'll be able to talk with Leah about it yourselves, I just wanted to prepare you because she's in a really fragile state. I've done a lot of research on teen suicide and it's crucial that you don't approach Leah in anger, sadness, or frustration," JJ said calmly. "She needs to know that while her thoughts are valid, the way she is thinking isn't right. She needs to know that she can be treated and that things can get better, even if they aren't okay right now."
"What kind of treatment are you talking about?" Mrs. Collins asked softly.
"Leah is currently undergoing a psych evaluation," Emily jumped in from behind JJ. "We haven't heard back from the doctor yet, but it seems that Leah has borderline personality disorder. The doctor may recommend a residential treatment facility or he may just want to treat her with medication and counseling. He will know better what is best for Leah at this time."
The psychiatrist came up behind them then, asking to speak to Leah's parents alone. JJ and Emily headed to say goodbye to Leah before they had to get back to the case with the others.
