The next morning, Chris' father woke her up early to get ready for work. He was already dressed and making breakfast. When she asked him why he'd woken her up so early he said it was because he wanted her to drop him at the hospital. He didn't want her to be late so he woke her up early. She didn't argue with what he wanted. She'd do whatever it took to make sure that he was in a good mood. She got dressed and sat down to breakfast with him. Twenty minutes later they were out the door. She dropped him at Saint Catherine's and told him to call her if he needed anything. On her way to the precinct, she called her brother to make sure he was up getting ready for work and that he'd woken Jeza to get ready for school. She really hoped that her mom being sick would push Jeza to get her act together instead of backfiring into her acting out even more than before. She walked into the precinct, surprising everyone with her presence. She went right to her desk ignoring the stares she was getting from her fellow officers. Olivia saw her through her office window when she walked over to get coffee. She got off her phone call and came out of her office to talk to her.
"Reyes, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I work here" she said. Her voice was low and laced with exhaustion.
"Go home" she directed. "Rollins told me what's going on with your mother. We can handle things here. You should go be with your family".
"No, I'm fine" she said declining the time off. "My brother's at work, my sister's at school, and my father's at the hospital with my mother. I want to be here". Benson could tell there was no sense in arguing with her. She understood how she felt. After her mother died, she just wanted to get back to work. It was better than sitting at home alone. Sometimes you just have to work through the pain.
"Ok". She turned and went back to her office and Chris went over to her desk with her coffee. They were working quietly for the most part. None of them knew if they should say anything or what they should say if they did. Nick's desk phone rang and he answered, writing down the information being given to him by whoever was on the other end. It was a call about a school reporting suspicion of child abuse. They were taking the child to the emergency room and wanted them to meet them at the hospital. Amanda volunteered to go with him but Chris said no.
"I got it" she said getting up from her desk. She put on her jacket and grabbed her coffee. She could tell that Amanda wasn't sure about her working right now. "I'm fine" she said quietly before walking out of the squad room towards the elevators. Nick let out a hard sigh then followed her out to go check out the complaint. They were silent on the drive over. Chris just stared out the window and Nick focused on the road. He took a few glances in her direction and she seemed to be in her own world. He thought the Sergeant should've sent her home. There was no way she could be focused on the job if she was worrying about her sick mother. He put that thought in the back of his mind to talk to Benson about later. He pulled up outside the hospital and found a place to park. They went in and went to the front desk, showed their badges and were escorted to the exam room with the child. The doctor had already completed his exam and the girl's parents, Karin and Steven Manning, were already in the room. Nick took it upon himself to separate the parents from their child to ask them questions, giving Chris some privacy to talk with the little girl. She grabbed the doctor's chair and rolled it over next to the bed and sat down.
"Hi" she said nicely. The girl was six years old and she looked terrified. Her knees were pulled into her chest and she'd pulled the blanket up to cover her body and half of her face. "My name is Christina. Can you tell me your name?"
"Abigail" she whispered.
"Abigail" she repeated, "That's a beautiful name".
"Thank you" she said still whispering. Chris smiled at her politeness.
"You're welcome". She paused for a moment to think about how to ask her about what happened. She didn't want to rush into things. She wanted to make her feel safe. "Hey, can I show you something?" she asked. Abigail nodded her head but kept the blanket up. Chris unclipped her badge from her hip and held it up for her to see. "This is my badge. Go on, you can take it". Abigail let the blanket fall down and reached out to take the badge from Chris. "I wear that every day to work. You know what it means?"
"You're a policewoman" Abigail said, her voice a louder this time.
"That's right. And do you know what police do?" Abigail nodded her head.
"They help people" she said.
"Yeah. And that's why I'm here right now. I'm here to help you. Ok?" She asked partly because she wanted to make sure they were on the same page and partly to ask Abigail permission to stay in the room with her.
"Ok" she said softly. She held onto her badge, caressing the bumps and grooves in the design with her fingers.
"Ok, good" Chris said with a smile. "So you went to school today, huh?" Abigail nodded her head as she continued to play with Chris' badge. "You like school?" She nodded her head again. "What's your favorite class?"
"Recess" she said confidently. Christina laughed.
"Recess isn't a class" she teased. Abigail giggled and nodded her head.
"Uh huh" she argued. "Ms. Shannon uses it to teach us lessons but they're games so it's still fun".
"Well you must be really smart to figure that out. Ms. Shannon didn't trick you with her fun games, huh?" Abigail giggled again and shook her head from side to side. Chris' smile faded and she knew she had to get to the serious part of the conversation. "Abigail, did you get hurt today at recess?" she asked nicely. The little girl shook her head. "Ms. Shannon said she saw bruises on your legs. Can you tell me how you got those bruises?"
"I fell down" she said. Her smile was gone and her voice was timid again.
"When did you fall down?"
"I don't remember" she said softly.
"Ok. Do you remember where you fell?" she asked. The girl shook her head from side to side, her eyes fixated on the badge in her hands. Chris didn't want to upset her but she knew she'd have to push a little harder to get the truth from the girl. "Abigail, you remember what my badge means, right?" She nodded.
"You're here to help me" she whispered.
"That's right" Chris said bringing her hands up to cover the little girl's. "I'm here to help you, but I can't help you unless you tell me the truth". She paused and waited for her to say something. "Honey, can you tell me what happened?"
"The man was mean to me" she whined. Chris could see the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"The man; what man?"
"He cleans things at school" she said. Chris understood that she meant a janitor.
"This man that cleans things at your school, can you tell me how he was mean to you?" Her voice was soft and caring, just like she'd seen from Sergeant Benson and Rollins when they talked to child victims.
"He pushed me down and…." She paused and looked down at her hands.
"It's okay. Go on" Chris encouraged her.
"He touched me" she said, her tears finally spilling over. "He said if I told he'd hurt my mommy and daddy. Please don't let him hurt my mommy and daddy" she begged. Chris got up from the chair and sat on the bed next to the little girl and pulled her into a hug.
"I won't let him hurt anyone else" she said as she soothed her. "I promise". Abigail cried for a few minutes longer before asking for her mother. Chris went out of the exam and found her parents with Amaro. "She's asking for you" she said looking at her mother. She rushed away from them to go be with her daughter. Chris stared after her, remembering what it was like to be a little girl crying for her mother. She remembered her mother's warm embrace and how it could fix almost anything. She was in such a trance that she didn't realize that Abigail's father had asked her a question. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked turning back to look at him.
"Did my daughter tell you what happened to her?" he asked, obviously frustrated. He'd been standing in the hallway with Amaro arguing about why he couldn't be in the room with his daughter. He was tired of waiting for answers.
"Yes, she did" she said. "Has your daughter ever come home complaining about…..ummm…being bothered by anyone at school?"
"What do you mean? Like is she bullied?" he asked confused.
"Does she come home with any complaints?" she asked, not making her question any more specific.
"No. She loved school. She has friends there and she loves her teacher. She looked forward to going everyday" he answered.
"Loved?" Chris asked.
"What?"
"You said she "loved" school and she "looked" forward to it" she said quoting him. "You used the past tense" she pointed out. "When did she stop wanting to go to school?"
"I guess, ummm, two days ago" he said. "She asked if she could stay home because she felt sick. My wife checked her temperature and she was fine so we made her go" he explained. "We always ask her how her day was at school and she didn't complain about anything. Then yesterday at bath time, Karin saw the bruise on her leg. She asked her what happened and Abby said she fell down on the playground at recess. She's a kid. Kids fall down, they get bruises all of the time".
"You didn't see how bad it'd gotten?" Amaro said. The doctor had shown him photos of the girl's bruises and they looked pretty severe to him to have happened on the playground.
"No. Abby, she's going through this independent stage. She wants to do everything on her own. My wife thought it was time to let her start picking her own clothes and dressing herself" he explained. "When she came down to breakfast this morning, she already had her clothes on. She didn't say anything about it hurting. I honestly….I'd forgotten about it" he said sounding a bit ashamed. "Did someone hurt her?" he asked. "Did someone at school hurt my baby?"
"Abigail told me that a man at school, a janitor, pushed her down…and touched her" Chris said hesitantly. Mr. Manning covered his mouth with his hand and tears sprang to his eyes. "I know this is hard to hear but you need to keep it together for your daughter. She'll only be afraid if you show her that you are".
"What are you saying? That I don't have a right to be upset?" he asked angrily. He took a forceful step forward toward Chris that made both her and Amaro uncomfortable.
"That's not what she's saying at all, Mr. Manning" Nick said stepping forward to stop his advance. "You can take all the time you need. Let out your anger and frustration where your daughter can't see you. She's gonna need to see both her parents strong. She's gonna need all your support. This is about her, not you" he said sternly. He took deep breaths to calm himself and wiped the tears from his eyes. Chris explained that he'd need to come down to the precinct with his daughter once the doctor released her. He nodded his understanding. Once he'd gained his composure, he went into the exam room to be with his wife and daughter.
"So that's all you got?" Amaro asked. "He touched her?" Chris nodded her head. "You didn't get any more detail? A name, description of the perp, anything?"
"No" she said simply. "It was hard to get that much out of her. She broke down and started asking for her mother". She could tell that Amaro thought she hadn't gotten enough information from the girl but she'd done the best she could. She thought it was best to give her some time and try getting more information from her later. They left the hospital and returned to the precinct. It was just about lunch time and Amanda and Fin were ordering in. Amanda came over to Chris' desk and asked her what she wanted. "I'm not hungry" she said declining her offer to get something for her.
"Come on, you need to eat" she argued.
"I'm really, I'm just not hungry" she said again. She picked up her desk phone and called the hospital to talk to her father. "¿Cómo está que ella?" She ignored Amanda standing there and talked to her father on the phone. Amanda went back to her desk and Nick took this time to go talk to the Sergeant about his concerns about Reyes working. He knocked on the door and she told him to come in. He shut the door behind him and got right to the point.
"I don't think Reyes should be working right now" he said bluntly.
"I see" Olivia said seated behind her desk.
"I know you okayed her to stay but I…."
"Did she screw something up on the complaint you went out on" she asked interrupting him.
"She didn't question the victim thoroughly. I mean, all she got was that a janitor pushed the girl and I guess touched her inappropriately. Nothing to really move forward on" he explained. "She said the girl shut down, which usually I'd get, but she barely said anything. I just….she's not all there. Her mind is with her mom. I get that. If my mother was in the hospital, I'd want to be with her too. It's obvious that she's got other thing going on. She's not focused" he criticized. "I just don't want her personal issues to jeopardize the case, that's all".
"Okay" Olivia said, completely understanding of what Nick was saying. "I'll talk to her". He nodded his head and went back out to the squad room. Chris had finished her phone call and was gone from her desk. Benson came to her office doorway and asked where Reyes had gone.
"Bathroom" Fin said. She told them to send her in her office when she came back. Fin looked accusing at Amaro, knowing that Benson wanting to talk to Reyes had something to do with what he'd just said in there. He shook his head then turned back to his desk. When Chris came back from the bathroom she didn't even have a chance to sit down.
"The Sarg wants to see you" Nick said pointing over his shoulder to Benson's office. She went to her office and knocked on the open door. Olivia told her to come in and shut the door behind her.
"I'm sending you home" she said not wasting any time.
"Why?" Chris asked angrily.
"I just want you to focus on your family" she said.
"Did Amaro say something to you?" she asked. She knew he had a problem with her being there. She wasn't an idiot. She got that he was being critical of the job she did with the victim when he questioned her about the amount of information she was able to get out of her. "Did he tell you I shouldn't be here?" Olivia paused for a bit longer than she should have. "He did, didn't he?"
"Yes, but that's not the only reason I'm sending you home" she said quickly. "I was hesitant to let you stay in the first place. Your mom is sick. You should go be with her".
"She's in the hospital with people that can help her. I can't do anything there but sit and watch her die" she said slightly yelling. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I can't sit at the hospital all day. I can't sit at home at all day. I want to be here. I need to be here" she said. "This little girl, Abigail, her parents are bringing her here as soon as she's released by her doctor. She trusts me. I can talk to her". She looked her in the eye hoping she'd see how badly she wanted to stay. "Don't send me home".
"Fine" Benson said giving in, "But I want you focused". Chris nodded her head in agreement then left the office and went back to her desk. Nick seemed surprised that she wasn't packing her stuff up to go home. She could've gloated but she didn't. The delivery man came in with their food and Amanda and Fin split the cost. Amanda came over to Chris' desk and sat down a small box and a fork.
"You need to eat" she said before going over to her desk and sitting down with her own food. Chris opened the box and smiled when she that Amanda ordered her Chinese just the way she liked it: vegetable lo mien with no egg and extra onion. She looked up and saw her looking over at her. She smiled and mouthed her thanks. When she turned back to her food, she felt Amaro's eyes on her and when she looked up at him she could swear she saw jealousy. It wouldn't surprise her if he had a thing for Amanda. He'd been much too interested in what was going on in her life lately for it to be anything else. She wasn't in any position to stake her claim or mark her territory or any of the other things men seemed to do when they felt something belonged to them. She had a lot to deal with before she was in any position to be in a relationship but she'd already made up her mind that she'd win Amanda back, no matter how long it took. She definitely wasn't going to let some little crush Amaro had stop her.
Spanish-English Translations
¿Cómo está que ella?- How is she doing?
