"How did you learn how to play poker so well, you're barely legal," Garcia huffed, falling back in her chair. Cassie grinned as she pushed her winnings of M&Ms towards her.
For the past hour, the new found friends spent playing poker, using the goodies in Cassie's basket as betting pieces.
"I've been playing Poker since the fourth grade when Danny Miller taught me during recess," the younger woman laughed, popping candy into her mouth.
"So that's the trouble with today's youth? They spend more time playing poker than spending time in the fresh air," Garcia asked, placing more candy on the table.
Cassie pursed her lips into a smirk and shook her head, "trust me I spent many hours running around the neighborhood playing kickball, riding bikes, playing cops and robbers."
Garcia chuckled, "so you wanted to be in law enforcement even as a kid, I mean cops and robbers and all."
Cassie nodded, "while other girls wanted to be actresses or teachers, I was the one flashing my plastic badge my mom got me."
The sadness in Cassie's voice was evident, and familiar to Garcia all at the same time.
"My mom was like that with me about my love of computers. When the first Apple came out, she pawn some of her jewelry to buy me one," Garcia shared.
"She sounds like a lovely woman," Cassie said.
Garcia looked down at her feet and kicked a piece of stray paper on the floor. "She was, so was my father. I lost them when I was 19 years old, and miss them everyday," Garcia admitted, slowly forcing her gaze to return to Cassie.
The girl in the bed was shocked to hear that the upbeat, perky woman had such a sad past so similar to hers. "I'm sorry to hear that," Cassie finally said after a few seconds of silence.
"I didn't mean to damper the mood kiddo, I just wanted to let you know that it's okay to remember. It's been almost 20 years since I lost them, but not a day goes by without me thinking about them," Garcia said.
It was the first time since losing her mother that Cassie had spoken to someone that she felt had some idea of what she was going through. So many people had said they were there for her, and that they were sorry for her lost. But they went home to their families, their mother and fathers—thanking their lucky stars they weren't Cassie Prentiss.
"How did you manage to move on, and care again," Cassie asked the older woman finally.
"It wasn't easy, the first two years after their death I went off the deep end. I'm an only child, so for me it felt like my entire family was wiped out, gone," Garcia said, struggling to keep her voice steady.
"But then I looked at my life and realized this wasn't the girl my parents spent 19 years raising. They would have been so upset if I wasted my potential just because they weren't physically in my life anymore."
Cassie nodded, appreciating the sincere tone in Garcia's voice. "All I want to do is kill the bastard who took her away from me, but then what do I do. I have no plan. I dropped out of college, and now I'm battered goods, I'll never get to be an agent," Cassie blurted out.
"My dear you're only 21, you haven't even begun to live yet. And trust me, if the FBI took me after my seedy history in hacking and other non-pg things you'll be a fine fit. Besides, you have a good character, risking your own life to bring justice to light," Garcia said, reaching for the girl's hand.
"And you have Emily now, and she can help you through the red tape of going back to school, and getting into the agency," the blonde pointed out.
Cassie sighed, her mind going back to her aunt who was cross examining the man whom she once considered her surrogate father. The man who apparently killed her mother.
"I don't want to be Emily's charity case, she's stopped her life to help me," Cassie said expressing her fears. Garcia shook her head quickly,
"Emily Prentiss does not do anything she doesn't want to do. And she loves you Cassie and wants to be there, even after we catch the killer."
The girl smiled at the kind words Garcia said about her aunt, and knew that there was truth behind it, the only problem was to get herself to believe it. Suddenly the door swung open and the woman of the hour was standing in front of them.
"Speak of the she-devil," Garcia smiled as the older Prentiss entered the room.
"I leave you with my niece for two hours and you set up a casino in her hospital room," Emily joked, taking note at the cards laying on the table.
"Oh little miss over here isn't so innocent, she cleaned me out of peanut M&Ms," Garcia playfully pouted.
"You had a good round a bit ago where you took all my skittles," Cassie pointed out.
"Enough with candies ladies. I actually have the rest of the team in hallway. They're going to Sherman Oakes in two hours to follow up on some of Montle's men who are willing to talk to us if we give them a deal," Emily said, now gaining the full attention of the former poker players.
"So you think Montle definitely did this to mom," Cassie asked, even though she already had the answer.
Emily nodded sadly, "yes, but we need more proof, and we need more information so we can press his buttons. That's why the team wants to speak with you, to get to know you and Lisa's life with Montle better."
Cassie crossed her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was to speak about this bastard, how she actually trusted him, and the crumbling of her security.
"I already told you and Aaron about him," Cassie said, her voice growing childlike out of fear.
"I know Cassie and that was great, but we need more detail. I know that you don't want to talk to a room full of people about painful things, especially knowing that there was a time that you cared about him. But it will help us put him away. You've come so far Cassie, I have so much faith in your strength right now," Emily comforted her niece, looking her dead in the eye.
Cassie looked back into the brown eyes that looked so much like her mothers, it almost was too much to bare.
"Promise you won't leave me while I tell them," she said softly.
The older woman nodded, and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to sit right in the chair the entire time. Any time you need a breather, I'll kick them out," Emily assured her.
"I'm going to go to the cafeteria to get something to drink, would you like anything Cassie," Garcia asked, knowing that the room was about to get very full, and very tense.
"Um, a chocolate milk would be nice," Cassie asked.
"Coming up in a jiff, anything for you Em?"
Emily asked for a coffee,the only thing she had been able to keep down for most of the day.
"Can you tell the team they can come in when they're ready," Emily added while Garcia was walking out there door.
"Will do," Garcia said, walking out the room.
At the end of the hall Garcia laid eyes on the rest of the team, who were quietly discussing among themselves.
"Well look at this group of sexy people," Garcia quipped trying to lighten the move.
"Not much, you know hospitals are my favorite place to hang out now a days," JJ joked.
"How's Cassie doing today, is she up for talking," Hotch asked, clearly concerned about going into the room.
Garcia nodded, "she's awake and willing, but not looking forward to it. The girl's been through enough, and recounting all of this isn't making her feel better the night before major surgery."
"I didn't want to go in there Garcia but we're crammed for time, and she's the only person alive who can give us a better picture," Hotch defended himself.
"I'm not blaming you sir, just be careful you don't push her too hard," Garcia warned.
"And where are you off to baby girl," Morgan asked.
"Off to get some Chocolate Milk my chocolate teddy bear," the blonde grinned.
"Let's get this over with, the sooner we do this the better," Rossi said, starting to walk down the hall way.
Cassie bit her lip as she watched the agents enter her hospital room, some familiar, others brand new.
"Cassie, you know Aaron, JJ and Spence. You haven't met agent Dave Rossi and agent Derek Morgan, their not only great agents but great friends. They've also been working on your case," Emily broke the silence.
"Nice to meet you. Thank you for all of your help so far," Cassie said, trying to force a smile.
"No need to thank us Cassie, we should be thanking you for being so brave to help us," Rossi said in a fatherly tone that made Cassie instantly relax.
"I'm not brave, all I've been doing is sitting on a bed and talked," she muttered, feeling foolish.
"The past is a battle in itself, hell I can't even face certain parts of my past," Morgan admitted.
Cassie simply smiled, and returned her gaze to her fingers.
"Now Cassie we're going to California to speak to some witnesses about Montle, and other criminal acts he's participated in, but we need your help," Hotch began to explain. "We need to understand the connection between you, your mother and Montle. How intense it was, and how it unraveled," he said, his voice softer than usual.
Cassie looked up and stared at the faces looking up at her. She knew that they needed her past to help preserve her future.
"My mother met him when he came into the travel agency she worked at in 2008," Cassie began, letting her mind return to easier times, happier times.
For the next 45 minutes, Cassie told the love story between Montle and her mother. How she booked him a trip to Mexico, and he asked her out to a Mexican dinner to celebrate. The first year he realy seemed like a good man, celebrating holidays with the two Prentiss girls, taking them on vacation during the summer. He even paid for Cassie's prom dress, and bought Lisa a car when her run down Saturn bit the dust.
"For the first time mom was happy, happy in a way I could never make her," Cassie said at one point of the conversation.
Emily wore her poker voice the entire time, even though her stomach muscles were contracting. It was evident that Lisa had made being a mother her number one priority, and the thought that her sister had been so in love, then so betrayed physically hurt Emily.
The story continued on, going into details how Montle began to act like a different person. He would start becoming more hostile, and more overbearing over Lisa, questioning her every move. There would be more and more times where Lisa would come back from an evening at Montle's upset.
"She said there were always guys coming in and delivering messages, while his phone was going off," Casey shared, her eyes glazed over as if she was in a trance.
Although the details about the escalating fighting and the pain were painful, Cassie kept telling the story. She told them about when her mom finally broke things off with him, and how he would threatening them both if she didn't come back to him.
"Mom said she saw too much to ignore, that she couldn't be with someone who would do such things," Cassie said as if she was talking to herself.
Reid made sure he was taking notes during the entire conversation, keeping a timeline to see if certain crimes were inline with the timeframe of Lisa's threats. It was hard for all of the agents to hear Cassie's story, and even harder to watch their friend keep her composer as she learned about the horror her sister went through.
"Before she, you know, she told me that if anything happened to her that I had to go to Emily. I had heard her before yell at Montle saying that she had a sister in law enforcement who would ruin him if he, he hurt me," Cassie began to tear, wiping her eyes furiously.
"Do we have everything we need yet," Emily asked, just wanting the line of questioning to stop before she began crying.
"I think we have everything we need," Hotch said noting the tears welling up in Emily's eyes.
Just in the knick of time, the door swung open with Garcia on the other side.
"Sorry it took me so long, but I just ran into a hunk of a doctor who was pretty interesting," Garcia said out of breath.
Looking around at the stone face agents, and the teary eyes girl Garcia knew that they all had just been through the ringer of questioning.
"Thank you Penelope, I really appreciated it. It's my favorite drink," Casey said, snapping back to reality.
"Mine too, it's the best proportion of chocolate flavoring and milk out there," Reid quipped, wishing he had a bottle of his own.
"It was always in our fridge growing up," Cassie smiled.
"Me too," Reid said excitedly, causing the rest of them team to turn their heads towards him.
"You want to split it with me, I won't drink the whole thing," Cassie offered, reaching for the empty cup on her nightstand.
"Uh sure why not," Reid offered, walking over towards the bed.
Emily looked at her coworkers to see if they were as weirded out as she was.
"Why don't you and Cassie enjoy your cold beverage while we go over some of the trip plans in the hallway," Hotch said, motioning the rest of the team to follow.
Reid simply nodded and went back to telling Cassie about the history of the drink.
"Did anyone just see that in there, or am I just really sleep deprived," Emily asked once the team was out in the hallway.
The team began to smile at each other.
"I think baby Prentiss has a crush on baby genius," Garcia smiled, delighted at seeing Reid actually happy over a female.
"It is obvious that they have some sort of connection. Maybe it's because they're closer in age," JJ offered up, having a tough time wrapping her head around the situation.
"It has been a while since Cassie had been around people closer to her peer group, and same with Reid," Rossi added.
"Let's figure that out later, we have other things that need to be done before we try to make sense of that," Hotch said trying to refocus the conversation away from Spencer Reid's attraction to Prentiss junior.
"I've decided that half of the team will stay here, while the other half will go to Sherman Oakes. We can't have the entire team away because Montle may try something if he knows we're all out of base," he continued.
"Hotch I can hold the fort down here with Garcia," Emily said, upset that he didn't think she couldn't do her duty.
"Prentiss I have no doubt you will, but Garcia will be at the office and you'll be occupied with Cassie's surgery. JJ and Rossi will stay here with you, while Morgan Reid and I head out to California," he informed them.
"Hotch seriously I'll be okay," Emily huffed.
"This isn't up for debate Prentiss. It's logistics," he said, knowing that she was going to be fuming regardless.
"You guys better head back, wheels up in 60 minutes," JJ said checking her watch.
After exchanging goodbyes, the rest of the team minus JJ departed back to the office leaving the two agents and Cassie in the hospital room. After a while, Cassie fell asleep leaving just JJ and Emily left in the room.
"You were great today Em," JJ remarked to a tired looking Emily.
The brunette sighed and shook her head. "I didn't do anything but sat there and tried not to vomit," she said.
"You sitting there is what that girl needs. Someone that won't leave her side. You don't need to do anything," JJ assured.
"If I was in Lisa's life I would have been able to stop her from being hurt from this creep. I would of known she was a travel agent, that she liked Gilmore Girls and oh yea had a daughter," Emily said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
The woman felt so much guilt over the entire situation, and knew that there was nothing to turn back the hands of time.
"Emily you can't dwell on what you didn't do, or what Lisa didn't do," JJ rested her hand on Emily's hand.
"When my sister killed herself, I replayed the situation of how I could of saved her. If I was home that night, or if I picked up on her depression." Emily squeezed her friend's hand, knowing that even decades later the void of her sister still haunted JJ.
"But I finally came to peace that it would of happened no matter what, and that she wouldn't want me dwelling on that last moment. I honor her by living as a good person, and helping other people. People who still stand a chance," JJ said through the lump in her throat.
"I want to be able to do that Jae, but it's hard," Emily admitted.
"Oh damn straight it's hard, but it will get easier. And you have something that is a representation of Lisa, her daughter. You have a chance to help your sister live on in her daughter, who needs help being put back together," JJ smiled.
Emily knew that JJ was right, and that being there for Cassie would be what Lisa would have wanted.
"I don't know how I'm going to help her after we catch Montle. I mean we put the bad guy in jail, but then what? She's still motherless, and filled with scars," Emily asked, admitting her deepest fears outloud of once.
"You'll, We'll, help her get her life back on track. She expressed to me that she missed college, and wants to go into law enforcement. There's no way she'll be able to do it without someone supporting her emotionally, being her cheerleader. You both have a long future in front of you, much longer than the 21 missed years," said JJ.
Rubbing her face with her hands, Emily took in everything JJ was saying.
"For the last few days I've felt like my heart was living outside my body," Emily said, finally feeling the effects of her nerves.
JJ smiled and nodded, "that's what it feels like to love someone your protective of, a maternal feeling almost."
Emily just shrugged, "maybe, or else I've had way to much coffee and not enough food."
"Valid point. Why don't I run out and get some dinner for the three of us. Cassie is probably going to be starving when she wakes up," JJ offered.
"That would be great, this cafeteria food blows," Emily remarked.
A few moments later, it was just the two Prentiss women alone in the room. It was the first silence that fell to Emily's ears all day, and it seemed louder than anything she'd ever heard.