A/N: As it will be a couple more days before I finish the interview scene, I thought I would post the lead up now.
Once the pancakes that Angela had made from scratch had been devoured and after Maura had cleaned the sticky pancake toppings from Alessandra's cheeks and hands, they made their way out of the meeting room and towards the interview room where Doctor Kingston would be waiting for them.
Alessandra was safely on Jane's hip as the Detective had instantly lifted her from the floor as they left the meeting room, knowing that the hallways between the two locations would be rather hectic at that moment due to a large case going on. Jane wanted to be involved in the case as it involved multiple departments including homicide but she wanted to be home with her daughter more as she knew that she needed to be there for her to help her to adjust.
Both women had been granted parental leave on the basis of the adoption and so they did not need to use up any of their holiday time yet but Maura had already decided that she would use some of the time up so that it would not be both of them going back to work at the same time. The idea of one of them going back to work at a time would be more of a gradual change, like stepping stones rather than a full jump.
The little girl leaned her head on Jane's shoulder and watched the movement of people in the hallways as they travelled through the station to the other side so that she could, yet again, be interviewed about her time with 'Santa'.
Alessandra did not always like the questioning but she knew that it was helping the adults somehow so she was fine with it. She did not fully understand how important what she was telling them was as not only had the information saved a life and brought closure to some of the victims' families but the information would also be used for reference for further cases and studies.
The information would be incredibly useful in the study of criminal behaviour and suspect profiling as they were getting a look into what happened from a perspective that they did not often get. It was not often that they had the chance to have such interviews with a child and it was definitely rare to have a child victim who had such an amazing memory due to her IQ level. Each of the interviews were being recorded both with audio and visual in order to preserve the interviews and keep them natural so that Melody would not have to take notes and also so that future agents could watch the interviews and study them.
For a Psychologist within the FBI to be able to study actual interviews it was extremely beneficial as it helped with future investigations as well. When each of the interviews were over then Doctor Melody Kingston would go to her office and type up her reports each time as well as notes from the recordings. She would spend the time studying the tapes to ensure that she had not missed any behavioural cues from the child.
The FBI agents that were observing the interviews would also have to write up their individual reports of what they had observed. They hated paperwork but it gave them the time to reflect on what they had listened to and witnessed in the interview room so that they could work through the information in their minds which in turn helped them cope with any of the more difficult information that the child came out with. The child often came out with information that she did not realise was important or she did not realise implied something much more negative than what she thought it did.
Alessandra knew that she was helping but the scope of how much she was helping was unknown as value of the information that they were obtaining was unable to be measured.
"Good Morning, Alessandra", Melody said cheerfully as they approached the interview room.
The agents were inside the observation room already as they prepared for the next interview and went over some of the details of the case as well as some of the information that Melody had already been briefed on. They had gone over the case beforehand and chosen which photos needed to be shown to Alessandra during the interview and what type of questions needed to be asked although they ensured to leave a lot of space for Melody to improvise questions so that they could fit the interview around the child who was not always that predictable but then again no child truly was.
Alessandra mumbled a 'good morning' and smiled softly at the psychologist.
"Would you like to play for a while in the room?", the blonde woman asked with an encouraging smile.
The child nodded, "Yes, please", she replied politely, "Can I play with dolly?".
"Of course you can", Melody answered happily as she leads them into the interview room that was set up to interview minors like Alessandra.
Jane put Alessandra down and then bent down to her level, "Go into the room and find dolly then we'll be in soon".
Alessandra's eyes went wide and she looked over at the door to the room before looking back at Jane and shook her head, "I don't want to go", she whispered.
"Why not Tesoro?", she asked her patiently.
"You'll go away", the child replied simply.
Jane shook her head, "No, we won't", she responded softly as she ran a hand through the little girl's dark locks, "We would never leave you behind".
It was clear in the child's body language and facial expressions that she was unsure whether or not to believe the Detective yet so Jane scooped her back up into her safe embrace and looked to Maura, "I'll meet you in there", she said softly.
Maura nodded, "I won't be long", she answered as Alessandra buried her face in to Jane's neck and the woman started to walk into the interview room.
"How is she doing at home?", Melody asked the Chief Medical Examiner once the other two had left the vicinity.
"Mostly she's doing well", the honey-blonde woman replied, "She seems to be becoming much more confident with her surroundings and around our family and friends". "She is still having nightmares though", Maura said quietly.
Melody nodded, "That's normal for a child who has been through so much", she admitted, "It is likely that, at least for a while, they will continue but as time goes on then they will lessen".
"Last night she woke up crying for her mother", Maura revealed, "But when we spoke to her she couldn't remember the dream so she couldn't tell us what it was that was wrong".
"For now, I think her not remembering the dream could be a good thing", Doctor Kingston stated as she glanced over to where door to the room was, it was far enough away that the child would not hear them if they remained speaking quietly.
Maura nodded as she thought about what the Doctor had said and sighed softly, "I just wish I could take it all away and for everything to be okay for her", she revealed quietly with an emotion-laced voice.
Melody nodded and briefly touched Maura's arm in a reassuring manner, "Everything will be okay", she said softly, "I won't lie and say that it will be easy but it will get better and she will be okay". "I know it", she stated confidently, "She has you and Jane so keep up what you're doing because you are both doing amazingly well with her and I have seen so much improvement in her over the time that she has been with you both".
Meanwhile, in the interview room, Jane was sat on the floor with a doll in front of her as she changed its clothing for Alessandra as the child had some difficulties in changing the onesie that the doll had been wearing. The onesie was a soft baby pink material with a white collar, cuff, and bow on it. The back was only secured with velcro but it was awkward to get off of the doll considering it did not have the ability to bend its arms.
As the woman changed the baby doll she wondered what it would have been like to have been able to change her son's clothing. She smiled sadly as she looked down at the doll, Maura would have dressed him up like a doll, she thought to herself, trying not to chuckle at the thought as that was exactly what the woman was currently doing with their adopted daughter.
"Thank you", Alessandra said softly as she was handed the baby doll that had been fully changed into the new outfit which was a frilly blue dress with white butterflies scattered all over it.
"Is dolly ready for her breakfast now?", Jane questioned with a smile.
Alessandra nodded as she picked up the baby bottle which had a pink top to it with the fake milk inside. As you tipped the bottle up then the milk vanished inside the top of the bottle making it appear as if the baby had actually consumed the liquid inside of it. The little girl climbed into Jane's lap and leaned back against her as she fed the baby with the toy baby bottle, smiling happily.
Jane wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close to her as she pressed a soft kiss to the little girl's head, watching her 'feed' the baby girl which Alessandra had named 'Rose'.
She had named it that because of the scribble that was on the back of her head in red marker which was a circular squiggle which gave it the appearance of a poorly drawn rose.
It was only a few minutes before Maura and Melody stepped into the room after having their discussion about the little girl's wellbeing. Alessandra spotted them straight away and dropped the baby and the bottle to the floor before running towards her adoptive mother and launching herself at her, "You came back", she gasped in a whisper that was barely audible.
"Of course I did", Maura said softly as she scooped the child up into her arms and held her tightly, "I would never leave you".
"I was worried", she admitted in a quiet voice.
Jane had attempted to distract her with the dolly and the feeding but that had not stopped the child glancing over at the door every now and then as her reluctance to be separated from her parents showed. She had agreed to go into the room with Jane and that made her a little less nervous about Maura not being in her line of sight but it did not fully solve the anxiety that she felt at that separation.
Maura swayed where she stood and held her hand in the child's mass of dark curls as she pressed kisses to her cheek, "I love you", she whispered softly.
"I love you too, Mommy", the little girl whispered back as she snuggled up against her and buried her face in the woman's neck.
Melody excused herself and gave them a few moments to get Alessandra a little more relaxed and comfortable before the interview began.
