Danielle woke with a start. The bed next to her was empty. She looked around the room, trying to catch her bearings, before rolling out of bed and racing from the room. She skidded to a halt when she saw Spencer and Hope at the table, eating pancakes.

"You ok?" he asked, his fork midway to his mouth.

Danielle sighed and instantly let herself relax. Hope stared back at her with questioning eyes.

"Yes, sorry. I'm still a little on edge, I suppose," she said smiling.

"I was going to wake you, but I thought you needed the rest," he said getting up from his chair. "Sit down, I'll make you some pancakes."

"No, no," she said waving her hands at him in protest. "Finish eating, please. I'm not quite ready to eat yet anyway."

Spencer hesitated, but ultimately decided to sit back down and eat. Danielle took a seat across from them and smiled at Hope.

"Good morning, Hope. Did you sleep well?"

Hope looked at her as she chewed, not offering up any words.

"I was thinking if you'd like to, Spencer and I would love to take you shopping for some clothes and some things for your room. Would you like to do that?"

Hope looked to Spencer who nodded and smiled at her. She looked back to Danielle, her fingers fidgeting together nervously. Slowly she lifted her finger to tap her nose. Danielle's head tilted in confusion. She looked at Spencer who let out a little chuckle.

"That means yes," he said. "Saw it in a movie once. When I mentioned it to her this morning, she seemed to like that. So, a nose tap means yes."

Danielle smiled at Hope.

"Alright, yes it is," she said tapping her own nose in response.

(xxxxx)

The door to the apartment swung open as Spencer barreled through with his arms full of bags. Danielle followed behind with more bags, while Hope pushed a mini stroller with a baby doll in it.

"You start unloading and I'll get the rest," Spencer said, a little out of breath.

"Ok," Danielle said as she dropped her bags by the laundry bin.

She turned around to see what Hope was doing and couldn't find her. She walked toward the little girl's bedroom and peered inside. Sitting in the closet, holding her baby in her arms, sat Hope and so soft it was almost inaudible, she was humming. Tears filled Danielle's eyes as she recognized the song that her Mom used to sing to her and Sam when they were little.

"Babe, did you –"

Danielle waved her hand behind her back to shush Spencer, who'd returned from his final trip to the car. He walked up behind her and curiously peered over her to see what was going on. After a moment, she slipped away, wiping at her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Spencer said gently as he came up behind her.

She turned to face him. Tears dripping down her cheeks, but a smile on her face.

"My Mom used to sing that song to us when we were kids," she sniffled as she wiped away a tear.

"It makes sense that Samantha would do the same for her daughter," Spencer replied.

"I have a lot of emotions running through me at the moment," she said hiccupping through a laugh and a sob.

"I'm sure there is," he said as he reached out to wrap his arms around her. "Tell you what. All these bags can wait to be unpacked. Let's go take a nap with Hope. She's going to need some rest for her first playdate."

"Always the smart one," Danielle giggled as she pulled back to give him a kiss. "I love you, Spencer Reid."

"I love you Danielle Goren."

(xxxxx)

Spencer sat on the couch reading Hope one of her new books she picked out. He pointed out words and pictures as they read together. Danielle sat nearby listening and enjoying Spencer's attempt at character voices.

A knock at the door, had Hope scrambling off the couch ready to run to her room. Danielle leaped in front of her and squatted down to her level.

"It's ok, Hope. It's ok," she soothed the terrified child. "It's Ms. J.J. Do you remember her? She brought a friend over to meet you."

Hope stopped shivering, but she still clutched Danielle tightly in her arms. She lifted the girl up but stayed in place. She let Spencer get the door, allowing Hope to see her visitors at a safe distance away.

The door opened and J.J. walked in carrying a few bags of food, while Henry entered with a bag that clearly held a gift for Hope.

"Thanks for coming," Spencer said as he let them in.

"Hi, Uncle Spencer," Henry said with a wave.

"Henry, how are you?"

He scooped the boy up into a bear hug before placing him back on his feet.

"I'm good," Henry giggled.

He led them further into the room toward Hope, who was still clinging to Danielle's neck, watching them cautiously. J.J. smiled and gave a tiny wave.

"Hi, Hope. Do you remember me?" J.J. said with a soft, inviting tone.

Hope watched her for a moment before slowly pulling a hand away from Danielle and tapping her nose. J.J. looked to Spencer.

"That means yes," he said.

"Hope, this is Henry. Henry came over to play with you. He wants to be your friend," Spencer explained.

The little girl looked down at Henry, who was smiling at her. He held the present up higher so she could see the pink sparkly bag.

"We brought you a gift. Do you want to see what's inside?" Henry asked her.

Hope tapped her nose, so Danielle lowered her to the floor. She walked over to Henry, who placed the bag down so she could get to it, and nervously peeked over top of the bag, afraid to touch it.

"Do you want me to help you?" Henry offered.

Hope tapped her nose. Henry got on his knees and began pulling the paper out of the bag, dropping it carelessly on to the floor. He pulled out a bag of multicolored blocks, two pony toys, a couple of books, and a stuffed puppy dog with pink and purple fur.

"Do you want to play with me? I can show you how to build with the blocks?" Henry said, using a gentle voice.

Hope bent down slightly and scooped the dog into her arms, snuggling it close to her chest. Henry grabbed the big bag of blocks and dragged it toward the living room.

"Come here. I'll show you how to make a tower," he said as he unzipped the bag and began pulling the blocks out.

Hope moved slightly around the couch to get a better view of what he was doing. She watched him for a moment before looking over her shoulder at Spencer.

"It's ok, Hope. You can go play, if you want," he assured her.

She looked at Danielle who smiled and nodded her agreement. With that, Hope made her way over to Henry where she stared at him before slowly sitting down next to him.

"How's she doing?" J.J. asked.

"She's making small strides," Spencer said. "Considering she's only been with us two days. She still gets skittish at loud sounds and she seems to find the closet comforting. I suppose that has to do with being in the darkness most of her life."

"How could anyone treat a child like that?" J.J. said sadly as her hand laid across her heart.

"It's beyond me," Spencer agreed.

"We took her shopping today. She did really well picking out things she liked. She chose a Minnie Mouse comforter, so tomorrow I'm going to decorate her room with some wall stickers and hang some things we bought that matched."

"I know this is a horrendous situation, but I have to say, I'm really excited for you both. I think Hope is going to love living with you guys," J.J. said.

"Well, we love having her," Spencer replied.

Suddenly a loud crash sounded in the living room. Before they had time to react, Hope took off running toward her bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I thought she'd laugh," Henry said with concern, the blocks littered around him.

"It's ok, Henry, you didn't know," Spencer assured him as he followed Danielle down the hall.

In the bedroom, Hope was curled up in the closet. Her knees tucked to her chest and her head buried into her knees. Her body shaking from fear.

"Hope, sweetheart, it's ok. It was just the blocks falling down. It's ok. You're safe," Danielle said, fighting the urge to touch her in this state.

"Hope, it's ok. It's just us. It's Spencer and Danielle. Look up honey. I promise it's ok," Spencer assured her. "You're not in any danger."

Slowly, through her hair, Hope peeked up. When she saw, Spencer and Danielle kneeling before her, she lifted her head more.

"That sound was just the blocks falling over. Henry was trying to make you laugh. He was playing silly with you," Spencer explained. "Those sounds can't hurt you."

Hope blinked at him, with worry still etched all over her face.

"Can I show you something?" Spencer asked her.

She hesitated but tapped her nose. Spencer held his arms open and Hope slowly moved to him, allowing him to pick her up. He held her close as he carried her back into the room where Henry stood sheepishly with J.J.

"Henry, it's ok, bud. You didn't do anything wrong. These are all experiences that Hope has to get used to. It's a good learning opportunity for her."

Henry nodded, but still looked like he felt guilty.

"Can you do me a favor? Can you build another small tower?" Spencer asked Henry.

Henry seemed hesitant but bent down and stacked the blocks before stepping away.

"Watch what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna knock the tower over with my foot," he told Hope.

Hope looked down at the tower of blocks as Spencer took his foot and shoved the tower over. It hit the ground, with a smaller sound, and two bricks popped off.

"Do you want to try and kick it over?" he asked Hope.

She didn't tap her nose.

"Could I try?" Danielle said excitedly.

"Sure!" Henry said as he quickly built the tower back up.

"Watch me, Hope. Here I go," she said as she lifted her foot and let out a "weeeeeee".

The tower toppled over, three blocks rolling off. Hope's hand lifted and she tapped her nose. Spencer put her on the ground as Henry built a quick tower.

"Ok, go get it, Hope. Knock it down," Danielle said with a big smile.

"Kick it over, Hope. You can do it," Henry said with the same enthusiasm.

Hope looked at each person in the room before stepping forward, lifting her little foot and tapping the tower over. It hit the ground with a tiny crash. Everyone clapped softly and gave gentle cheers of encouragement. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"See, those blocks aren't scary. It's fun to make a mess and make noise with them," Spencer said as he squatted down next to her. "Do you want to keep playing with them?"

Hope tapped her nose.

"Ok, you keep playing, while we set up for dinner. If you need us, you can come get us, ok?" Spencer said.

Hope tapped her nose as she picked up a block and began trying to build another tower. Spencer stood up and followed Danielle and J.J. to the kitchen.

"Yeah, I have no doubt in my mind that girl is going to be playing like normal before you know it," she said smiling. "God sent her to the right people."

(xxxxx)

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long-awaited update. I've been horribly depressed lately with no desire to write at all. Hopefully, I'm finding my way out of the dark hole and more will be written. Hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. xoxo