Thank you to Sue1313 for reviewing!
I'm terribly sorry it's been so long since I've updated! This last semester has been crazy busy with school and family and various other things. On the bright side, it is now summer vacation, so I might actually have time to sit and write things out now. Look forward to more chapters, though I can't promise when they will come out.
"Why I have to go find the love birds?" Morgan grumbled under his breath as the team broke apart. It seemed like everyone on the team saw the slowly kindling relationship developing between the two doctors except for the two involved. While they all knew Reid would probably never get over his first love in Maeve, Morgan couldn't help but root for the bit of happiness his best friend could have. Morgan was a little thankful that he found the two easily since they were sitting on a swinging metal bench just off the main path through campus. Reid looked a bit worried, though Eglantine looked much calmer as she swung her legs to make them move.
"Mind explaining what that was about?" Morgan asked gently as he slipped onto the bench and caused Eglantine to look at him. "You caused a pretty big scene back there Doc."
"I'm sorry," Eglantine replied in a small voice as she looked down at her lap. "This is why I didn't want to come here."
"You expected to fight with a teenage brat?" Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow. He normally liked kids, but Avery had given him nothing but reasons to dislike her.
"She's not a brat," Eglantine said softly, sniffling. "Avery has never been a brat. She's smart and sweet and the perfect child."
Morgan looked at her curiously, remembering how Avery had called her the precious one. It was strange to see that the sisters had such similar views of each other when it was normally clear in families which child was the preferred one.
"Whatever you say Doc," Morgan sighed before he paused and looked around. "So how did you know to go to that restaurant?"
"This is my alma mater," Eglantine explained with a small smile. "This is where I got my bachelors in Psychology."
"And your sister followed your footsteps?" Reid asked curiously.
"This school is top in med school acceptance rates," Eglantine replied as she stood and stretched. "She would have come here whether I was an alum or not."
"E?" someone called, drawing the three's attention over to a red haired woman and a brunette man that had a red haired little girl with them. Eglantine looked surprised at the sight of the family before she smiled brightly.
"Vi! Connor!" she called as she hurried over to the family. The little girl immediately let go of the man's hand and tottled forward to meet Eglantine.
"Eglantine, we need to get back," Morgan called as he and Reid moved to join the happy group while Eglantine held the little girl to her.
"Let me hold my daughter Morgan," Eglantine snapped at the buff agent before she turned to coo at the girl. "It's been so long since I last saw you honey. Have your Mama and Daddy been treating you well?"
The little girl nodded before giggling at Reid and Morgan's dumbfounded expressions. Eglantine look at them with a slight smile.
"I was the surrogate for my friends," she explained before letting the little girl slip from her grasp. Eglantine waved good bye to the family before leading Reid and Morgan away from them. "Vi would struggle to have a child properly, so I promised long ago that I would have her child for her when the time came that she wanted one of her own."
"Th-That's kind of you," Morgan murmured, unsure of how to properly address the situation. Thankfully, he was saved by his phone going off, though the reasoning behind it was all but pleasant. "There's been another victim. He was found at a place called Ida?"
"It's not too far," Eglantine said with a nod as she began heading across a large field. Several nearby students glanced at the three as they walked passed them, but seemed only mildly curious as to why the three were there. Once they reached a tall glass building, they could see the team standing together in the lobby.
"What happened?" Morgan asked once they met up with the team, who had been talking in hushed voices.
"The victim had been found on the stage," Rossi told them quietly, motioning towards a pair of double doors that must have led to the auditorium. "There had been a class in here this morning and the body hadn't been here then, but a student came across the scene a few minutes ago."
"I need you to go talk to the girl who found the victim," Hotch said, surprising the team by addressing Eglantine. Eglantine nodded and turned away to look for the poor girl. Eglantine was a tad surprised that Reid came along after her as she searched for the girl among the students who were being questioned. The two finally found the girl wrapped in a blanket by the front doors with a faraway look on her face.
"Excuse me," Eglantine murmured as she knelt in front of the girl. "My name is Eglantine. May I know your name?"
"Lily," the girl murmured, not looking at Eglantine as she answered.
"Will you tell me about yourself Lily?" Eglantine asked softly, not wanting to startle the girl. Lily gave a shallow nod before she began to speak in a soft tone.
"I'm a freshman," she said before stopping. Eglantine frowned for a second before she smiled at Lily.
"I remember being a freshman here and being scared of everything. The school was so big in comparison to where I came from and all of the students seemed so confident in themselves," Eglantine said before shaking her head. "But this is also where I met some of my oldest and best friends."
"Really?" Lily asked, finally looking at Eglantine with eyes that clearly showed how scared the poor girl was and how eager she was to be accepted.
"Really," Eglantine nodded, slowly reaching out to put a hand on the girl's arm. "The friends you make here will stay with you for a very long time."
"But I haven't made any friends," Lily said sadly, looking back down at her lap and shifting away from Eglantine.
"You'll find your real friends. It took me to the end of my sophomore year to find my best friends," Eglantine told her confidently. "Making friends takes time and you are just now starting your time here. Be patient and everything will work out."
Lily looked at Eglantine in wonder for a moment before she looked over at the rest of the crime scene. "I thought Taylor was my friend."
"Taylor?" Eglantine repeated, glancing up at Reid for any insight on who that might be. Reid pointed towards where the victim had been found to indicate that Taylor was the name of the victim. Eglantine nodded before turning her attention back on Lily. "It must have been hard to have found Taylor like that then."
"He looked so pretty," Lily murmured, tears coming to her eyes but not falling over. "He didn't even look dead."
"I'm terribly sorry that you had to find him," Eglantine murmured, shifting to sit next to the girl. Lily turned and began to cry into Eglantine's shoulder, giving the young doctor a chance to look up at Reid with worry. They needed to finish this case and quickly.