Agnes 3
Author's Note: I have decided to continue with this one for a bit—not sure how long, but we'll see.
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"Well, this is a sight I never thought I'd see," Aram said as he watched Ressler walking into the Post Office holding Agnes' hand as she skipped and giggled next to him. He could see Don was speaking with her, but couldn't make out what he was saying, Agnes obviously liked it. Agnes' glitter backpack firmly gripped in Don's other hand.
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed," Don said as they got closer.
He looked up and saw Aram and Park staring at him.
"You don't know the rhyme?" Don asked them as he handed Agnes her backpack.
"I think we are surprised you do," Park said.
"I was a child, once," Don said. "Chuck here yet?"
"In your office reading a Kafka novel, in German," Aram said. "As if that wasn't intimidating enough."
"Good morning Agnes," Park said. "Nice shirt!"
"Uncle Donnie bought it for me," Agnes said as she looked down at the Wonder Woman shirt she was wearing.
"We had to go shopping for some clothes yesterday because Agnes grew out of the ones from last spring/summer," Don explained.
"You shopping in a girl's store?" Aram asked.
"Target, Don offered.
"Still," Aram said.
Don looked toward his office and saw the man reading at Liz's old desk.
"I'm going to introduce you to Chuck," Don said to Agnes. "I'm going to be right here, but I have to work, and Chuck is going to do some school work with you and crafts and games, okay?"
Agnes nodded and giggled. "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"
"Right, sweetheart," Don said as he patted her on the head and then guided her toward his office.
"Chuck," he said as she eyed the man. "This is Agnes."
"Hello Miss Agnes," Chuck said with a smile.
Don looked down at Agnes, she quite liked the title with her name.
"I was thinking we could start with some games to get to know each other better, and then do some reading, some math, and…skipping?"
Agnes, shook her head in the negative.
"You don't like skipping?" Chuck asked.
"I don't know how to," Agnes said.
"Well, you will learn today!" Chuck said as she stood and pulled out a chair for her to have a seat.
He turned to Don. "I'm going to start with some diagnostic testing in the form of games to see her levels in reading, and letter recognition, fine motor skills, and …"
"Sounds pretty thorough," Don said as he eyed the man who Agnes immediately seemed to be comfortable with and who had an easy nature with kids, for a contract killer.
"It's the modified Woodcock Johnson test that I developed," Chuck explained. "For pre or early readers."
Don nodded, not really sure what the man was talking about and surprised he had developed an assessment tool for kids.
"If you need anything, let me know," Don said.
He looked down at Agnes, Don wasn't sure the Post Office was the best space for her, but it was what he had.
"It's pretty dull in here," Don said as he looked around his office space. "Do you think you could make some pictures and hang them on the walls, brighten this place up a bit?"
Agnes nodded.
"Great," Don said. "I'll be back at lunch to take you out, okay?"
Don looked at Chuck. "I put an orange in her bag and filled up a water bottle for her."
Chuck nodded.
"I'll bake us some cookies for tomorrow," Chuck said. "Unless you and Don want to?"
"I don't know how to…" Don started.
"Please!" Agnes said, her face lighting up.
Don looked at Chuck, knowing he had been set up.
"I can give you a simple recipe," Chuck said. "I'm sure you already have everything you need."
Don sighed.
"Okay, cookies tonight," Don said as he watched Agnes launch herself up in her chair and hug him around the neck.
"Cookies got you that happy?" Don asked as he hugged her back gently and awkwardly.
"I love cookies," Agnes said. And Don's mind immediately went to the list Liz sent him—there wasn't one cookie on it.
"Have a good morning," Don said as Agnes released him.
Agnes nodded and sat back down. Don nodded toward Chuck and walked out of his office.
He approached Aram and Park who were still staring at him.
"You seem to be getting this caregiver thing better," Park said.
"She seems really comfortable with you Agent Ressler," Aram said with a smile.
"Don't jump the gun," Don said as he looked at them. "We're only on day 2."
They both chuckled.
"So where are we on the case?" Don asked as he got down to business.
Throughout the morning he looked over at Agnes and Chuck, they seemed to be having a good time, so Don didn't interrupt them. But when it got to be one o'clock he saw Chuck standing at the door beckoning him,
"You need to take her to lunch, she's starving," Chuck told him as Don looked in at Agnes colouring. "Kids usually eat lunch around 11:30-12."
"Shit," Don said. Yesterday they had eaten lunch later in the afternoon as well, from a McDonalds drive thru when Agnes finally told him she was hungry. "Sorry about that."
Don looked back at the task force and then in at Agnes. They were at a critical point of research, but a little girl needed to eat.
"Come on Agnes," Don said with a gesture of his arm. "Let's go get lunch and get you some play time."
Agnes smiled up at him and jumped up out of her seat.
Don grabbed her light jacket and pulled out her baseball cap and put it on her head. He walked toward the task force and looked down at Agnes.
"We're going for lunch and to a park," Don said, being clear they were leaving now.
"Oh, okay, I'll hold off on…" Aram started to stammer.
"I'm sure you are hungry by now," Cooper said as he looked at the little girl.
She nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, I'm going to need lunch at noon everyday," Don said as he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck.
"Whatever you need," Cooper said. "Enjoy!"
As they walked to the elevator Don did a google map search on his phone for the nearest playground, he'd never noticed one in the area before.
There was, apparently, one two blocks west of the Post Office.
The only restaurants or take out places he knew in the area were probably not child friendly, but he remembered a hot dog stand on a corner, a block east of them where they could, at least, get her some food.
"You like hot dogs?" Don asked her.
Agnes nodded.
"Good," Don said as they exited the post office and started to walk one block east. "I think I need to start to make you lunches. What do you take in your lunch to school?"
"The school gives us lunch," Agnes said.
"Oh," Don sighed. "I used to bring a sandwich, some fruit and some peanuts."
"No nuts are allowed in school, so no one dies," Agnes said with wide eyes. Her face looked like Don had proposed she bring a gun to school.
"Oh, okay, no PB&J sandwiches either, I guess?" Don asked.
Agnes shook her head in the negative.
"But at my work you could bring them? No one there has a nut allergy," Don offered. Not that he knew.
Agnes looked at him funny.
"What?" Don asked.
"Mummy says that peanut butter is only for at home because you don't know if another person at the park or dance class or anywhere is allergic," Agnes offered.
"Mummy makes a good point," Don said.
Agnes continued to look at him funny for a few moments.
"Anything else sweetheart?" Don asked.
"You made me toast with peanut butter one morning," Agnes said, as if the memory just came to her.
Don cleared his throat. He had stayed over with Liz quite a few nights over the last year, but most of the time he had left before Agnes got up. It was never a discussion he and Liz had, just something that they separately agreed to. But that morning, Agnes was standing in the hallway when he came out of Liz's bedroom at 6am in his jeans and sweater with bare feet. He had been surprised to see her, and she looked perplexed to see him. He had asked her why she was up, and she said her stomach woke her. Don had considered waking Liz, but figured he could handle basic hunger. He and Agnes had gone to the kitchen and he'd made her toast with peanut butter and turned on some cartoons for her to watch. Then he'd woken up Liz so he could leave to get home and change before work.
"I did," Don smiled at her.
"Why were you in mummy's room?" Agnes asked.
Don wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't sure what Liz would want him to say. But, if he knew one thing about Liz, it was that the truth was incredibly important to her.
"I slept over," Don said as he met her eyes, knowing in a child's mind all he and Liz did was sleep.
Agnes nodded.
"My friend Hannah has an uncle that sleeps over too," Agnes offered.
Don didn't know what to say about that, so he didn't say anything, and he was grateful to see the hotdog stand before them.
"Agnes, what do you want on your hotdog?" Don asked.
They sat on a bench and ate their hotdogs before they walked in the other direction to the nearby park. Don looked at the equipment and noted that it was all fairly new, which he liked.
He looked around and saw a couple of toddlers playing on the smaller equipment with their moms but no one Agnes' age. He nodded to the play structure and Agnes ran toward it.
"Have you checked the area?" A woman with her toddler on a bouncy dinosaur yelled to him.
"What?" Don called back.
"The area, you haven't checked it!" She yelled back, seemingly annoyed.
"What am I checking for?" Don asked as he approached her, keeping one eye on Agnes as she climbed a ladder to get to a slide.
"You dads are all the same," she said as she shook her head. "For needles and…"
"What?!" Don asked as he turned to look at Agnes. "Agnes! Stop! Stay right there!"
Don ran in his suit toward the structure and quickly lifted her off the platform. She wasn't sure what was happening. Don looked around at his feet and saw no needles. He carried her around the structure, looking in the mulch and saw some butts, possibly pot, and then his eyes caught the tip of a needle.
"Jesus Christ," she said as he looked back toward the woman with the toddlers. One of them was holding out a pair of gloves.
Don walked toward them and took the gloves. "Is this at every park?"
"No," the one woman sighed. "They gave us a new play structure but didn't do anything about the people who come here to shoot up every night."
Don sighed and looked around. The Post Office was in an industrial and poorer area of town, he hadn't really thought about that until now when he needed to have a child safely play there.
"Thanks, I'll bring them back," Don said as he walked toward a bench with Agnes and looked around it before he put her down. "Stay right here until I make sure it's safe."
She nodded obediently.
Don put on the needle-proof gloves and started his search around the play structure and surrounding area. He found four needles and placed them in the collection box located on a pole in the park. He found almost a dozen beer or liquor bottles, some broken, and one bong. He had never experienced this before, when he grew up the most that you'd find at a park was a broken bottle or a cigarette butt.
Finally confident it was safe for Agnes, Don allowed her to go to the structure and play. He kept a close eye on her as he walked back to the woman who had loaned him the gloves.
"You're new to the area?" She asked as she looked at him in his suit.
"I work in the area," he said. "She's with me at work for a few days and I thought…"
"Next time get the gloves off your wife, I'm sure she's got a pair," the woman said.
"Yeah, I will, thanks," Don said. "They aren't doing anything about the users in this park at night?"
"No, after dark…you don't want to be in this park," she said.
Don's brain started to scroll through the people he knew on DC Metro who could help. It was unacceptable that any of these kids were in danger. Unacceptable that these parents needed to buy and use special gloves to clear up all the drug paraphernalia so their kids could play. The city had installed a safe and new play structure but had not guaranteed the safety of kids in any other way.
"Thanks again," Don said.
"Your daughter is sweet," the woman said as they turned to see Agnes laughing as she went down the slide. "What's her name?"
"Agnes," Don smiled at her.
"Old fashioned name, I like it," she smiled as she continued to bounce her toddler on the dinosaur.
"It's after her great grandmother," Don said.
They nodded and Don walked toward Agnes. It was none of their business that he wasn't her father, so he didn't correct their assumption.
"You want to try the monkey bars?" Don asked, looking at the rings, instead of a bar.
Agnes nodded and he picked her up and held her up so she could reach them. He walked behind her as she went from one to another. She got halfway across before she was starting to let go and yelped. Don caught her as she let go and she smiled up at him.
"Again?" He asked her.
She nodded and they tried the rings again.
When they got back to the post office an hour later, Agnes and Don were in better spirits. He hadn't realized how much a little fresh air and a happy child perked up his mood halfway through the day. She went back to work on her colouring with Chuck and Don placed a call to DC Metro about the park.
To be continued….