Crossing Boundaries
Chapter 14: Guardian
My tears are hot and blinding as I run through the streets. Carelessly I push past the people who are out for their evening walks. A few of them growl and yell at me, but I do not care. With each step I take, my heart breaks more and more as I realize the truth.
As the last rays of light glisten on windows then fade away, I find myself facing the FBI building. My body shakes uncontrollably with emotion and by breath comes in hitching sobs. Still, some of my emotion is held back because I refuse to succumb to it out in public. I dash through the front doors of the FBI building, heedless of the security guards.
"Stop right there!" one of them calls after me.
I do not care. Adrenaline courses through my body, pushing me forward. I vault over the security checkpoint and begin towards the stairs. Guards at my heels, I take the stairs two at a time. I have only one goal in my mind.
On their radios, the guards mutter something about a lockdown and a madwoman loose inside the building. I could care less. Once inside the safety of the BAU they cannot do anything to me. I emerge from the stairwell on the BAU floor and I race towards the bullpen, guards still snapping at my heels.
"Spencer!" My voice cries out, harsh with emotion.
The entire team stands in the bullpen, watching me hurtle towards them with shocked expressions on their faces. My long dark waves flow behind me, creating the effect of a bird of prey. Inside the safety of the bullpen, I fling myself at Spencer, burying my head into his chest as all of my emotions come pouring out.
"Ani, what's wrong?"
Between sobs I choke out, "Supak ubiti Nadya! Dakle mnogi krv! Ona je mrtav! Zavu'sio zauvijek! Ja bilo takodjer pokojni!" My voice is pitched at a wail, my words expressing the loss my heart cannot endure. I beat a fist on Spencer's chest in frustration. More tears pour from my eyes, soaking his shirt.
Slowly, Spencer backs up and lowers himself onto a couch, taking me with him. He cradles me gently, like a child. "Ani, dear Ani, shhh…" His voice is soothing and slowly my sobs turn to quiet hiccups.
"What happened?" He wipes my tears from my cheeks with his thumb and strokes my hair. The gesture is so simple, but filled with so much sweetness it nearly undoes me.
"Nadya's been killed," I whisper, burying my head in his neck.
The team shifts uncomfortably. This outcome was apparently not part of their plan or profile. "Fuck" Morgan says before checking his emotions.
Gideon, who has since been taming my hound like security guards with Hotchner, walks over to my side. In the most fatherly of tones he says, "Tell us the story."
I cling to Reid as though he is the only solid thing on the face of the earth. My voice hitches as I speak and my tone is laced with regret. "She was supposed to be home by 1 o'clock. She never came home. I called the hotel after supper, but they told me that she had left hours ago. When I got off the phone, I went looking for her. I should have left sooner. I found her body, mangled and nearly unrecognizable, in the alley across from the hotel."
"Why didn't you call the police?" Elle snaps.
I can feel the cold icy glares that her team members cast her way. My response is calm, for I do not want to start an argument. "In Croatia, you never call the police because they will do nothing," I say simply in a deadpan tone.
Before there can be any voiced protests at my statement, Gideon rises and begins handing out assignments.
"Morgan, Elle, take a CSI team to the scene and find what you can. JJ, make sure the media doesn't get a whiff of this. Garcia, work some magic. Hotch, you and I have a profile to make." Gideon looks down at Reid and me. "Take care of Anika; she needs you more than we do."
The team scrambles about, heading off to their assignments. Exhausted and petrified, I stay huddled in Spencer's lap. I am in absolute shock as to what has just happened. Random images flash in my mind, making my body tremble with fear.
"I can't believe she's gone," I murmur. "My only family in America - gone."
"Shhh…don't think about that." His long arm reaches behind the couch, fishing for something. "Aha! I knew it was here." I give him a questioning look. "I keep a blanket hidden here for when I work late and don't want to go home." He pauses for a moment before adding, "Yes, I realize that I have no life outside the BAU." Spencer shifts me around so that I am lying across the couch, my head pillowed in his lap. Covering me with the blanket he says, "Try and sleep. You've had a rough day."
Sleep is easily found at this point. However, a question that begs to be answered keeps me up a little longer. "Spence, are you angry with me? For not speaking sooner?"
He lowers the thick tome of physics that he had picked up. "Not at all." He soothingly strokes my hair with a hand. "Now sleep…"
The last thing that I remember before slipping off into a deep healing slumber is Spence placing a light, caste kiss on my forehead.
A/N: Translation:
"Supak ubiti Nadya! Dakle mnogi krv! Ona je mrtav! Zavu'sio zauvijek! Ja bilo takodjer pokojni!" means "The bastard killed Nadya! So much blood! She's dead! Gone forever!"