Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.
An Unconventional Family-Chapter 50
Saturday was similar to Friday for everyone; Abby spent most of the day sleeping, waking only for meals and to use the bathroom and her parents stayed near her in case she woke up and needed help with anything. While Abby slept, JJ and Dave used the time to talk and JJ knew by the end of the day that she was ready to give Dave another chance, but she also knew that Abby had to be on board with it as well. They were a package deal and if Abby wasn't ready to give him another chance, then the relationship wouldn't move any farther.
On Sunday morning, Abby awoke with much less of a headache than she'd had in days. The almost blinding pain was gone and while there was still a dull throbbing in her head, it was bearable. Her muscles still ached and she was could tell that her dizziness hadn't abated, but she felt a lot better with less of a headache.
JJ had been awake for a few minutes and she saw that Abby was awake as well. "How are you feeling?" She asked in a whisper. She could see that Dave was still asleep on the sofa and she wanted to let him sleep for as long as possible.
"Better; the pain in my head is much better today."
"That's great honey," JJ responded, relieved that her daughter seemed to be getting better.
Abby sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the bed and waited for the inevitable dizziness to subside.
"Where are you going?" JJ asked, also sitting up in the luxurious bed.
"I have to use the bathroom," Abby told her as she stood up. She took two steps before she faltered and sat down hard on the floor.
The thud of his daughter hitting the ground and JJ's panicked, "Are you okay Abby?!" woke Dave from his slumber.
"What the hell?" He said as he saw his daughter on the ground.
"I'm okay; I didn't hit my head or anything. Wow, Dr. Shipley was right, my dizziness has definitely gotten worse," Abby said from her seated position on the floor. JJ helped her to her feet and Dave bent down to scoop her up, but Abby protested.
"I'm fine, I'm just walking to the bathroom, you don't need to carry me," she said. As a compromise, she let her mother help her into the bathroom and then JJ waited outside of the room until Abby finished. While Abby was using the bathroom, Dave went downstairs to fix breakfast for all of them. Once Abby was finished in the bathroom, JJ helped her get back into bed and they both waited for Dave to bring the food.
Ten minutes later, he brought up a tray filled with fruit and granola bars. He knew the girls didn't like to eat a heavy breakfast, so he decided to fix them what he knew they would eat, and he was right, between the three of them they had the tray emptied in no time.
After breakfast, Dave went into the bathroom and came out with Abby's pills. He was surprised when she swallowed her antibiotic but left the painkiller on the tray.
"You forgot a pill Abby," he said.
Forgetting her dizziness, Abby shook her blonde head, "No, I'm not going to take that one today."
Dave was confused; he could tell she was still in a considerable amount of pain, "Did your pain suddenly go away?" He asked.
"No, but most of the pain in my head did, so I don't want to take the pill."
"But you're still having pain in your muscles, right?" Abby nodded. "So take the damn pill, that's what it's there for!" Dave was frustrated; he hated seeing either of his girls in any kind of pain.
"No! I don't like the way the pain pill makes me feel! I'm already sleepy and dizzy without it, the pill makes it worse!" Abby argued.
"I don't care, you need-" Dave was cut off by JJ who had a compromise to offer.
"How about if Abby takes ibuprofen for her muscle pain and also a long, hot soak in the Jacuzzi? Then tonight, before bed, she can take the prescription pain pill?" Both Dave and Abby thought for a minute and then nodded.
"Good," JJ said and then started giving directions. "Dave, you go downstairs and get the ibuprofen and Abby, you change into your swimsuit. I'll start running your bath in the bathroom so you can have some privacy." Everyone went their separate ways.
While he was downstairs getting the ibuprofen, Dave also checked his voicemail messages in order to give Abby a little more time to change. After clearing out the numerous messages from his family wondering about Abby's well-being, he headed back up the stairs. He got to the door of the master bedroom and knocked.
"Come in," he heard Abby call out.
He opened the door, got a glimpse of his daughter who was still in her underwear and immediately backed out of the room while looking at the ceiling.
"Sorry Abby," he called through the now closed door. "I thought I heard you tell me to come in."
"I did dad," Abby called.
Confused, Dave opened the bedroom door again and saw his daughter standing there in what appeared to be her bra and panties. Looking at the ceiling again, he asked, "Do you need some help changing into your swimsuit, honey? I can get your mom from the bathroom."
"This is my swimsuit," Abby told him.
Dave brought his eyes back to his daughter and nearly had a heart attack. In his wildest dreams, he never thought JJ would allow her to wear a bikini. Apparently he had been wrong. He was about to say something to his daughter that would have probably pissed her off further at him, but fortunately for him, JJ opened the bathroom door and stepped into the room.
"All set?" She asked her daughter.
Abby nodded, "I need to use the bathroom again before I take my bath," she said, walking a bit unsteadily towards the bathroom.
"Okay, but don't get into the tub until I'm in there," her mother told her.
Abby agreed and then shut the bathroom door. As soon as the door was closed, Dave asked, "What in the hell is she wearing?"
JJ looked surprised, "A bikini."
"I could see that Jennifer. What the hell is she doing wearing a bikini?"
JJ narrowed her eyes at him a little, "That's what she wears for a bathing suit when she's not at practice. Is there a problem with it?"
"Other than the fact that it leaves little to the imagination?" Dave practically snarled.
"It really isn't that bad Dave. Compared to the bikinis her other friends wear, hers is pretty modest."
"Do you remember a month ago when I accidentally walked in while Abby was changing? I got a split second glimpse of her in her bra and panties before she slammed the door in my face, and afterwards I got a tag team reaming out from both of you about remembering to knock and about respecting the boundaries of teenage girls, and now I find out she parades around in that thing all summer?" Dave was speaking in a low, but forceful voice as he didn't want Abby to overhear their conversation.
"Look Dave, she doesn't wear it all that much, and it's not that big of a deal, so drop it," JJ ordered as she went into the bathroom to help her daughter into the bathtub. Dave didn't want to, but he reluctantly followed her order and dropped the subject. He did, however, file it away for further conversation at a later time.
Once in the Jacuzzi, Abby felt her body totally relax. The warm, bubbling water and jets felt good against her aching muscles and she could feel them loosening. Her mother was sitting on the floor next to the tub with her back propped up against the opposite wall so she was facing her. She let Abby have a couple of minutes to relax before she started to speak.
"So, about Dave…" JJ trailed off.
"Yeah, about dad…" Abby said. There were another couple of minutes of silence before Abby spoke again. "Can you forgive him?" She asked her mom.
JJ thought for a second and then nodded, "I can. After seeing the way he stepped up when you were hurt and after talking to him during the past couple of days, I think I can give him another chance. He forgave me for many unforgivable things honey, and I think I need to extend some of that forgiveness his way."
Abby sighed, wishing it was that easy for her, she still had mixed feelings about her dad. "So I guess that means we'll be living with him again, that he'll be in our lives."
JJ shook her head, "Not unless you can forgive him too," she told her daughter. "I'm not going to force a relationship with your father on you, I know he hurt you much more than he did me and if you can't get past it, then it's not happening. We're a package deal."
Abby thought for a minute, "I still have to think about it mom, he hurt both of us badly and I don't know if I can open myself up to something like that again."
Her mother nodded, "I get it Abby, really I do and I would never ask you to open yourself up to that kind of rejection again unless I was completely sure your dad had changed. I'm not trying to pressure you honey, but keep in mind that the last time your father did this, it took him fifteen years to come to his senses. This time it took him less than two weeks."
"You really think he's changed?" Abby asked, timidly.
"I really do. I also think your grandmother made some valid points about why he left us. I'm not saying it excuses anything, but it gave me some things to think about."
Abby sighed, "Can we not talk about this now? I just want to relax and think about nothing."
JJ nodded and watched as her daughter enjoyed her Jacuzzi bath.
While his girls were in the bathroom, Dave stayed in the master bedroom and straightened it up a little. He really wanted to hear what they were talking about in there, but the noise from the jets in the whirlpool made eavesdropping impossible. He busied himself by changing the sheets on the bed, cleaning his own bedding off of the couch and then finally by watching TV. Half an hour after they entered the bathroom, JJ opened the door.
"Abby's too dizzy to get out of the tub by herself, can you lift her out of it?" She asked.
Dave jumped up from the sofa, "Of course," he said, following JJ into the large bathroom.
He looked at his daughter lying in the tub, looking more relaxed than he had seen her in a while, and mentally sighed. He prayed to whatever God was listening that his girls would give him another chance to be in their lives.
Inwardly wincing at her bikini, Dave bent down, scooped Abby into his arms and carried her into the master bedroom. On their way into the room, he heard her say softly, "I'm getting you all wet."
Giving her a gentle smile, Dave said, "It's just water Pumpkin, it'll dry." He felt her stiffen in his arms when he used her nickname, but she didn't yell at him, which surprised him. As he carried her, he noted that he could feel her individual vertebrae and ribs and he felt bad, knowing that he had caused her to lose the weight.
He gently set her down on the sofa and then stepped out of the room so she could change. When he came back into the room fifteen minutes later, he found both her and Jennifer asleep on the bed. He covered them up and watched as they slept, both of them looking angelic.
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Later that afternoon, Dave carried Abby down to the first floor and they all ate lunch together at the kitchen table. It was the first time in over a month that the three of them sat around a table and ate a meal together and it felt both normal and strange at the same time. After lunch, Abby took a nap in the great room and woke up two hours later, feeling even better than she had that morning. With little assistance from her mother, she fixed herself a light snack. When she was done eating it, she asked her mother where her father was.
"He needed to finish up some paper work and since it's such a nice day out, he decided to work out on the deck. Why?" JJ asked.
Abby took a deep breath, "I need to talk to him."
JJ understood what this meant, "Okay, do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I need to do this on my own," she told her mom. She stood up and walked to the patio door, her mother watching the entire time. Abby stepped through the door and shut it behind her. Like Dave, JJ wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation, but the air conditioning was on and it was impossible to listen through the closed doors and windows.
As she stepped out onto the deck, Abby took another deep breath and slowly walked toward her father. He was engrossed in his paperwork and didn't notice her until she was only a few feet away from him.
"Abby!" He said in surprise. He pulled out a cushioned chair for her and helped her sit at the table. "What are you doing out here?" He asked as he sat back down.
"I told you when we were in the ER that I would talk to you when I was feeling better. I'm feeling better now, so I figured we should talk." Abby still didn't know what she was going to say to her father; she decided she would listen to what he had to say and go from there.
Dave was surprised that his daughter had sought him out; he had assumed that he would have to corner her in order to talk with her. He took it as a good sign that she was initiating the conversation.
He took a deep breath, "I am so sorry for leaving you and your mom the way I did Abby. I thought that by leaving I was protecting you from getting hurt…from me hurting you later on in life, but I see now that all I did was hurt you by leaving. I was trying to protect your heart and mine." He paused, waiting for a reaction from his daughter. When none came, he continued, "I don't have the best track record with women honey, and I was afraid your mom would hurt me like my ex-wives had and I decided to preemptively end things in order to protect myself from that and in the process, you got hurt as well. That book tour also messed with my head; everyone kept telling me that I would be a shitty father and husband and in the end, I believed them. I thought it would be better for you and your mom if I left before I really fucked things up. That decision one of the worst I have ever made and I am SO sorry! I know that doesn't make up for anything, but you have to believe me Abby, I will NEVER do anything like this again to you or your mom."
He waited for her reaction and didn't get one. He wondered for a minute if she had heard any of his explanation. "Abby? What are you feeling right now?"
That got a reaction out of her, "What am I feeling right now? My feelings are in a jumble! I want to scream at you until I have no voice left and I want hug you ferociously at the same time! I want to cry and shout but I'm afraid that once I start, I won't be able to stop! I love you, but I remember the hurt you caused me and it makes me want to die a little." She hadn't wanted to cry, but the tears came of their own accord and she swiped them away as she spoke, "No one has ever made me feel as unloved and unwanted as you did when you left us. When you first became my dad, you told me you wanted to help me through the rough times, but you caused one of the worst times of my life! You told me you wanted to protect me from the bad things in life, but you became one of those bad things in my life. You said you wanted to be my dad if I would let you and I did! I let you be my dad and I trusted you and I loved you and you threw it all back at me when you walked out!"
Abby was really yelling by this time and it was hurting her head and making her dizzy. She took a deep breath and continued speaking to her dad, who by now had tears in his eyes. "I'm so confused right now. Part of me wants to fall into your arms, cry on your shoulder and forgive you, but the other part of me wants to hurt you as badly as you hurt mom and me, but I honestly don't think I could do something that horrible, even to you!" She saw that her dad was crying now, but she couldn't stop until she said all that she wanted to say. "You know what the worst part of this is?" She asked, barely holding on to her emotions. "You hurt me worse than anyone ever has. Will broke my arm, but that pain was mild compared to what you did. Will didn't know me, but you did! I'm your flesh and blood and yet you willingly walked away from the relationship we built, from the family we created and I don't know if I can ever forgive you for that." Sobbing, Abby got up from her chair and went back into the house, leaving her dad alone with his own thoughts and emotions.
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This is a monster chapter, but I figured after posting only one chapter in the past week, I wouldn't break this chapter up. Enjoy!
