Chapter Twenty-Two: For Whom the Bell Tolls
WARNING: MINOR MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE
"Life may lead you where you least expect, but have faith, and you'll know exactly where you were meant to be." -Talon
Appointment Number One:
Will and Tate walked into the office and headed over to the front desk to check-in.
"Tate Jacobs, here to see Dr. Monroe at 4 o'clock," Will told the receptionist.
"She'll be with you shortly if you want to have a seat in the waiting area," the woman told them, and Will thanked her.
Tate plopped down in a chair, and Will sat down beside her. The girl had been fairly quiet today, but Will supposed that was to be expected.
"Look, kiddo, I know you don't exactly wanna be here, but just promise me you'll try, okay?" he asked Tate. "It's not gonna help if you don't try".
"Alright," Tate said quietly as a woman stepped into the waiting area.
"Tate Jacobs?" she asked. Tate nodded, and she and Will stood up.
"I'm Dr. Monroe, but you can call me Abby if you'd like," she said, sticking out her hand.
"Nice to meet you," Tate said politely as she shook the woman's hand.
"And you must be Mr. LaMontange," the doctor said, introducing herself to Will.
"Yeah, thanks for getting Tate in so quickly," he said,
"Anything for Amelia's family,".
Abigail Monroe and Amelia had both gotten their PhDs at Columbia together and had been friends ever since. Amelia had assured him Abby would be great for Tate, and that it wouldn't be a conflict of interest.
"Alright, why don't we head on in?" Abby asked Tate.
Tate nodded in response and went to follow the woman into her office.
"Do you want Will to come in with us, or stay out here?".
"He can stay out here," Tate said, glancing at Will.
Will nodded and went to sit back down in the waiting room. As Tate and Abby disappeared into the woman's office, he could only hope he was doing the right thing for her.
As Abby closed her office door, Tate sat down on the couch in the middle of the room. The office was medium-size, and large windows took up one wall, bathing the room in sunlight. It was a cozier room than the last therapist's office she'd gone to, which had been a dark, cold room that was very sterile looking. This office made Tate less nervous, she could imagine she was in someone's living room rather than a doctor's office.
Abby sat down in a chair across from her and picked up a notepad that rested on the coffee table between them.
"So, do you know why you're here?" she asked Tate.
"Cause JJ's team and Amelia convinced Will and JJ that I need to see a psychologist".
"Did Will and JJ tell you that?".
"No, but if they were gonna think of it themselves they would've way before now," Tate explained.
"Okay, that's a fair point. But why do you think the team and Amelia wanted you to come?".
"They think I'm traumatized".
"By what?" Abby asked.
Tae huffed slightly. "Everything, I guess,".
"And you don't agree with them?".
Tate considered Abby's question for a moment as she fiddled with her necklace. She knew she wasn't fine, that something was wrong with her and had been for a while. But she was dealing with it just fine, and whatever Abby thought she could fix, well, it was too late for that. She didn't exactly know how to answer Abby's question. On one hand, she didn't want to say she agreed with them, because she wasn't ready to admit that. But if she said she didn't, then she'd be lying, and that seemed to go against her promise to Will that she'd try.
"I don't know," was the answer she settled on.
Not wanting to overwhelm the girl during her first session, Abby decided to let her talk about something easy.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself, hm? Friends, family, school, sports, whatever you want," she told Tate.
Tate told her about JJ and Will, and Kit and Henry, and then moved on to school. Abby would ask a question every few minutes: how well she was doing in school, what her favorite classes were. Tate then moved on to talking about soccer for a few minutes, before telling Abby about her friend group.
"Who would you say you're closest to? Out of Noah, Ben, Carter, Ellie, and Lucy?" Abby interrupted.
"Carter and Ellie,".
Abby wrote something down on her notepad at that. In the half-hour she'd spent with Abby, that was the thing Tate hated the most. She couldn't know what Abby was writing down, and the woman's face didn't give any clues away as to what she was thinking, so Tate was left in the dark.
"Not Ellie and Lucy?".
"No," Tate replied.
"Why do you think that is?" Abby wondered.
"Lucy's just…a lot sometimes, you know? I guess Ellie and Carter, our personalities just work better together,".
Abby glanced at the clock, noticing the hour session was almost up.
"Alright, well, we're done for the day. C'mon, I'll walk you out so I can talk to Will for a minute," Abby said, getting up and leaving her notepad on her desk.
"You um…you won't tell him anything we talked about right?" Tate asked hesitantly.
"I can never tell Will or JJ, or anyone else, anything we talk about if you don't give me permission unless you tell me you're going to hurt yourself or others. It's against the law," Abby explained, although she knew the girl probably already knew that and just needed reassurance.
Tate nodded, and they stepped out into the hallway. Will was sitting in the waiting room, looking through a case file he'd brought to keep him occupied, especially since he'd had to leave work early.
"Hey, kiddo, everything go okay?" he asked when he noticed them.
"It was fine," Tate replied.
Noticing Abby standing there, Will handed the car keys to Tate.
"Why don't you go wait in the car, alright? I'll be out in a minute,".
Tate nodded and took the keys, and once she was out of the office Will turned back to Abby.
"So, it went okay?" Will asked the doctor.
"She was cooperative, which was good. We mostly just talked about school and her friends, we won't talk about anything serious until she's more comfortable," Abby explained.
"But you think she needs to see you?".
"I'd like to see Tate twice a week if that works for you,".
"Uh yeah, that'll be fine," Will said.
He knew that wasn't a good thing. He was expecting Abby to say twice a month, maybe, but certainly not twice a week.
"Look, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just better to meet more often in the early days. Once she's been seeing me for a while, we can meet less often," Abby assured him.
"I just feel like I'm messing her up. Like I'm failing, you know?" Will said.
"You care, and that's the most important thing, Will. Now, I have another appointment, but I'll see you two later this week,".
Will said goodbye to Abby and headed out to his truck. Tate was already sitting in the passenger seat, texting somebody on her phone.
"So, what'd you think?" Will asked.
Tate shrugged slightly as she turned her phone off.
"She was nice,".
It hadn't been as bad as Tate thought it would be. Abby was certainly better than the last psychologist she saw. She wasn't looking forward to seeing Abby again per se, but it wasn't bad enough to put up a fight about it.
"That's good. Abby wants to see you on Mondays and Thursdays after school if that's okay with you?" he asked Tate.
"I guess," she replied quietly.
Appointment Number Four:
Tate sat in her usual spot in Abby's office, doodling in one of her school notebooks. After her second appointment, Abby had decided she needed something to do while they talked, so drawing it was.
"I've been wondering about that watch," Abby said, indicating the watch on Tate's left wrist.
"What about it?".
"Whose is it?" Abby inquired.
"It can't be mine?" Tate asked.
Tate had developed a habit of asking Abby questions during their appointments. As Abby had pointed out several times, that was her job, but Tate kept doing it anyway. It told her how much Abby was really noticing when they talked.
"It's a men's watch," Abby pointed out.
"It was Theo's, a family heirloom,".
"You refer to it as Theo's, not your father's,".
"I guess," Tate said.
Truth be told, she'd never really realized that. It'd always just been Theo's watch. She couldn't ever really remember a time her brother hadn't worn it strapped to his right wrist, except for the few memories she had of her father.
"Why?" Abby asked.
"I mean, I wear it because it was Theo's. I don't wear it because it was my dad's,".
"What was your relationship like with your dad?".
Tate had been two days from turning seven when a police officer knocked on their door and told her and Theo their mother and father were dead. She had several vague memories of the man, but nothing really concrete. If she thought hard about it, she could pull memories to the surface. Her father playing soccer with her and Theo on a bright summer day in the backyard. Watching him and Theo play chess in the study while she read a book on the carpet. Him heading off to work in the mornings dressed in a suit and carrying a leather briefcase, kissing her on the cheek as he walked through the kitchen.
But she also remembered the times he would head off with Theo to New Orleans, leaving her at home with her mother. The way he always introduced Theo to his colleagues first, and then Tate almost as an afterthought. How he showed up to every one of Theo's soccer games, but never took the time to teach her how to ride a bike.
"I…I don't think he loved me," Tate said quietly.
Abby looked up, and for the first time since meeting Abby, Tate could finally see an expression on the woman's face. She seemed surprised.
"Why do you say that?" Abby questioned.
"I guess I should probably rephrase. It's not that I don't think he loved me, I just don't think he loved me like he loved Theo. Like the way you love your child,".
"How did he love you then?".
"It was limited. Like there was something holding him back. He acted more like an uncle or a godfather than he did a dad," Tate explained.
"Do you think of Will as a father?" Abby asked.
"No. Yes. I don't know,".
"That's okay, feelings can be confusing," Abby reminded.
Tate hated when she used that phrase. It felt patronizing in some way, although she knew Abby didn't mean it like that. And she supposed it was the truth because these sessions were nothing but confusing for Tate. She'd sit on this couch for 55 minutes in complete and utter confusion and get 5 minutes of clarity. Definitely not a fair trade-off in her opinion.
"He acts like a dad, but I don't necessarily think he wants to be one. Not to me at least," Tate said slowly.
"Why do you think he doesn't want to be a dad to you?".
"Dads are supposed to always be there for you. They're supposed to be permanent. And Will's not, fostering is temporary. If he wanted to be my dad then he would have…" Tate trailed off.
"He would have adopted you," Abby finished.
Tate could only nod in response. If there was one thing she'd learned during these sessions, it was that the truth hurt. Will could say whatever he wanted to say about how Tate was always going to be with him and JJ, but it was just talk. He couldn't promise anything, not while she was in foster care. And if he was okay with that, with the possibility that Tate could get taken away at some point, then he clearly didn't want to be her father.
"Does that upset you? That he hasn't adopted you?" Abby asked.
"He's the first person that's ever been like a dad to me. That's ever loved me like a father should love his daughter. So, yeah, I guess it does. But, it's not like I can blame him. It's not his responsibility, he didn't have to do anything for him but he did,".
"Everyone has a responsibility to the people they love. That doesn't make you a burden. It's just the way life works," Abby explained.
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, my life doesn't exactly work. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's been the definition of broken," Tate retorted.
"Broken just implies that something can be fixed," Abby told her.
Appointment Number Eight:
"Do you get along well with JJ?" Abby asked as Tate worked on a drawing for her art class.
"Yeah, I mean I guess. We sorta just…coexist,".
"What do you mean by that?".
"Well, I'm not her kid, and she's not my mother. And she's barely home half the time anyway, so I'm never really alone with her. We live in a world of mutual respect where we acknowledge each other and that's about it," Tate explained.
"Why do you think that is?" Abby asked.
"JJ's fundamentally opposed to change. And commitment. Being anything resembling a mother figure to me would require her to do both. Come to think of it, she could probably do with a visit or two to a shrink,".
"Oh, I'm a shrink now, am I?" Abby quipped.
Tate laughed slightly. She'd grown to like Abby. Unlike the last psychologist Tate had been forced to see, Abby actually had a sense of humor.
"I'd use the word quack but I'd feel bad undervaluing the time you spent getting a Ph.D.," Tate told her.
"Well, thank you for being so considerate,".
"All in a day's work," Tate said as she put the finishing touches on her sketch.
"Look, I like JJ, I do. And she's done a lot for me but…she just doesn't want to get overly involved," Tate continued.
Abby just hummed in response and wrote something on her notepad.
"You know, I'm convinced sometimes you just scribble random things down to mess with me," Tate told the doctor.
"Oh yeah, I'm just playing head games,".
Appointment Number Ten:
"Did you like any of your foster homes?" Abby asked her.
"No," Tate answered immediately, scribbling harder.
"Six homes and you didn't like a single one?".
"Nope, not one,".
"What about the…," Abby paused for a minute, and looked through a folder, which Tate assumed was her CPS file. "What about the McClaren's,".
Tate shoved down the burst of panic that came when Abby said the name. She could feel her heartbeat picking up, and she eyed Abby suspiciously. Judging by Abby's face, she seemed to think it was a perfectly innocent question, but it wasn't. There was nothing perfect or innocent about the McClaren's.
"No. Not even them," Tate told her firmly.
"What was wrong with them?".
What was wrong with Mrs. McClaren and Leah? Absolutely nothing. What was wrong with Mr. McClaren? Absolutely everything. But Abby couldn't know any of that. It wasn't that Tate was ashamed of people knowing, she just wanted to move on. She knew if Abby found out, then eventually Will and JJ would too. And if Will and JJ found out, then they'd dredge up the past. They would want to press charges that couldn't be pressed anymore, and nothing would come of it except making Tate go through everything all over again.
"Nothing,".
"Well, if you didn't like them, then something must have been wrong with them," Abby pointed out.
Tate knew this moment would come eventually. The moment Abby had her trapped in a corner, with no way out. She could lie, but Abby would know. She always knew, and she always called her out on it.
"I just don't want to talk about it," Tate replied.
Abby could see the girl's eyes silently begging her to move on. To ask a different question, to focus on another family. But she couldn't. She'd seen the same signs JJ's team had seen, and she couldn't ignore them anymore.
"Why?".
"I have to have a reason?" Tate asked.
"You told Will you'd try. If you don't have a reason why you don't want to talk about something, then you just don't want to talk period. Which isn't exactly trying," Abby reminded her.
"Don't tell me I'm not trying, that's bullshit," Tate snapped to the woman.
Tate just wasn't in the mood to deal with Abby today. All the bad things about her day had just been piling up; she hadn't slept well, first a nightmare and then the twins; her teachers had all assigned an astronomical amount of homework; Carter was sick and Ellie was out of town, so she had to listen to Lucy, Noah and Ben bicker all day; she'd had a migraine all day; and of course, Abby was pressing all the right buttons to annoy her even more.
"You're right, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry," Abby apologized.
Abby had realized she'd gone too far when Tate swore. She'd never heard the girl swear, or even raise her voice, so to do both meant Abby had clearly pushed too hard. Tate had been opening up these past few weeks and right now Abby didn't need anything that could cause the girl to regress in her progress.
"Why do you even think I'm here, Abby? Because Will and JJ asked me to come. If anyone ever actually cared about what I wanted, I'd be long gone," Tate reminded her.
"Why don't we just get back to what we were talking about?" Abby suggested.
"You mean the thing I don't want to talk about? For the past ten weeks, all you've been doing is reminding me that people care about me, about what I want, about my feelings. I told you I didn't want to talk about it, and you're ignoring me, just like everyone else,".
"Tate, I don't mean to be doing that, I just think it would really help if we talked about it-" Abby began.
"WHY!? So I can tell you what you already know? You're just waiting for me to say it, that's all you've been doing for two months. What do you want me to tell you, Abby, huh? That Oliver McClaren liked to touch little girls!? There, alright, I said what you wanted. What everyone's been wanting me to say. He fucking molested me, okay? Happy?" Tate told Abby, her voice slowly rising until she was yelling as tears streamed down her face.
There. She'd finally told someone. It was a secret she'd kept for four years, a secret she'd planned on taking to her grave, and now Abby knew. Tate hadn't even been able to bring herself to tell Theo, knowing he'd blame himself, knowing how upset he'd get. She just wanted to leave the past behind, but that wasn't an option anymore. And the look on Abby's face, the pity and sadness, only made Tatw more upset.
The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, and for once in her decade-long career as a psychologist, Abby didn't know what to say.
"I'm out of here," Tate said sniffling as she wiped a tear off her face before grabbing her backpack and heading for the door.
"Tate, wait," Abby pleaded.
By the time Abby made it to the door, Tate was already halfway down the hall, leaving a bewildered Will in her wake.
"What happened?" Will asked Abby.
"Just go after her, I'll call you later and fill you in," Abby told the man, who promptly dashed after Tate.
Will had been sitting in the waiting room of Abby's office when he heard Tate yelling, and then he'd heard the words that made his blood run cold. He saw red as he thought about who could do that to a little girl, who could hurt his kid like that. Will had always prided himself on keeping his composure. He rarely loses his temper, and when he does, it's still somewhat controlled. But at this point, he just wanted to punch the wall behind him. He wanted to tear out the office, hunt down whoever dared hurt his kid and rip them to pieces.
When he finally came back to reality, and the haze of anger dimed slightly, Will realized that Tate had just left the office and ran past him.
After checking in with Abby, Will dashed after Tate, who had just started heading down the stairs.
"Tate, kiddo, hang on," Will called, following her down the steps.
Tate could hear Will's leather-soled shoes that he wore to work slapping the steps above her, but she didn't care. She kept going, kept running until she was out of the building and into the parking lot. She could hear Will's footsteps getting closer, but she didn't stop, didn't even glance back.
Will jogged faster to catch up to Tate and reached out to grab her arm, but she brushed him off.
"Kiddo, please, just talk to me," he pleaded with the girl.
"Go away," Tate cried.
She couldn't talk to Will right now, couldn't look at him. She knew what his face would look like, the sadness and pain that would be on it. The love that would be in his eyes, and he would look at her how he looked at Kit and Henry. But she couldn't see it right now, because then she'd fall apart. And this time, she didn't think she'd be able to put the pieces back together.
"I can't do that, chérie," he said, reaching out and grabbing her arm.
Tate tried to pull away from him, but Will wouldn't let go, so she resorted to smacking him away with her other hand.
"Stop, just leave me alone," she told him, but Will just wrapped his arms around her and held her in a hug.
"I can't. Christ, I'm sorry, kiddo," he said.
And that was it. The words that broke the dam. Everyone knew, and there was no going back. No undoing what she'd said. Tate let out a sob into Will's chest, and he just held her tighter.
"I hate him," she whispered.
"I know, me too," he assured Tate.
He had to fix it, he knew that. But he didn't know how to. Everything was messed up, and he didn't have a clue where to start. How do you stop a ship from sinking when there are so many holes? Which ones do you fix first? How do you stop it from slipping beneath the surface, falling into the cold, dark, abyss of the ocean, never to be seen again?
The next morning when Tate came down for breakfast, Will and JJ were already sitting at the counter. After Will and Tate had gotten home the previous night, Tate had dashed up to her room, locked the door, and refused to let anyone in. Which wasn't exactly surprising.
Tate sat down at the counter and started eating breakfast, completely aware of the two sets of eyes watching her every move. She figured they'd wait about three minutes before they started asking questions.
Shockingly, they made it a whole 280 seconds before Will finally broke the silence.
"Kiddo, I think we need to talk about what happened last night,".
"I don't think we need to do anything," Tate replied.
"Look, Tate, we have to talk about it eventually, wouldn't you rather get it out of the way now?" JJ asked her.
"Nope, I'm good".
JJ sighed and glanced over at Will. It wasn't like either of them wanted to talk about it, but they knew it needed to be done. It wasn't healthy for Tate to keep everything locked inside, just waiting until the pressure from all the secrets made her explode. Or maybe that had already happened.
"Ok, you can talk about it with Abby then, on Thursday," JJ told her.
Tate scoffed and glanced up from her breakfast to look at JJ.
"I'm pretty sure I'm done with Abby,".
"Abby was just trying to help," Will told Tate.
"Yeah, well, she didn't. And you told me I didn't have to go if I didn't like it, well, I don't like it. So I'm not going,".
Will hated that he was forcing her to do this. He had wanted it to be Tate's decision since she'd never really had any choices over her life. But he knew this was one of the decisions he had to make for her. It was for her own good, after all.
"You're still going to see Abby. What you talk about is up to you, but you're going," Will stated.
"Whatever," Tate mumbled.
"Okay, can we go back to our other discussion then?" JJ asked.
"Definitely not," Tate replied, glaring at her.
"Why not?".
"Because first of all, I don't wanna talk about it, and second of all, it's none of your business,".
"Tate, we care about you, okay? We're just trying to help," JJ told her.
"That's crap, JJ, and you know it. You don't give a shit about me," Tate snapped.
"Watch the language please," Will said as he gave Henry a piece of fruit.
"That's not true, Tate," JJ assured her.
"It is true, otherwise you would've-".
A knock at the front door interrupted Tate, and she realized what she'd been about to say. She couldn't say that, she couldn't hate them for not adopting her. After all Will had done for her, she couldn't be mad about the one thing he didn't do.
"We would've what?" Will asked.
"Nothing, I gotta go," Tate said, grabbing her backpack.
"We're not done talking about this," JJ told her.
"Yeah, I think we are," Tate replied, heading for the door.
"Tate, we have to do something about this," JJ called as she hurried after the girl.
"Don't you get it, JJ? It's too late to do anything," Tate said quietly.
"Just give me his name," JJ pleaded.
"Lay off, JJ," Tate responded as she shoved her shoes on.
"Who was it? Moore? Anderson? Wilson? McClaren?" JJ asked, listing off some of the names of the many men that had been responsible for Tate over the years.
"JJ, let it go," Will called to her from the kitchen.
Tate couldn't stop herself from flinching at his name as she remembered. The cold, dark bedroom, his wandering hands, the smell of whiskey on his breath. After she'd left that house, she made a promise to herself to never think of it again, to never even speak of it. And she'd kept that promise for five years. But now, JJ just wanted to bring it all tumbling down.
Noticing the girl's flinch, JJ knew she had gotten the right one.
"It was McClaren, wasn't it?" she asked quietly.
Tate didn't respond; she didn't even look at JJ, just stepped out onto the porch and slammed the door behind her.
The house was left deadly silent in her wake, and JJ turned back around to face Will.
"You went too far," he told her.
"Sometimes people need a push,".
"Yeah, well, I think she's had enough of those in the past 24 hours," he said.
Two weeks passed and Tate still hadn't gone back to see Abby. Will and JJ had been planning on forcing her to go, but Abby suggested some time off might do her some good. It was almost the end of November, and the team had decided to spend Thanksgiving together.
Rossi had offered to host, and by noon on Thanksgiving day, the large home was filled with noise. Morgan, Reid, Emily, and Garcia had all come alone, but Hotch had brought Jack and Hayley's sister, Jessica. The whole LaMontagne family was there, including Beck, Amelia, Ezra, and Asher, who had flown in two days prior.
While Rossi and Emily squabbled about cooking in the kitchen, everyone else sat in the living room doing various activities. Ezra, Asher, and Jack were playing a board game on the floor, with Beck, Will, and Hotch talking nearby, and JJ, Garica, Amelia, and Jessica sat on the couch, chatting and cuddling the twins. Reid had been talking with Morgan for a while but had excused himself to go offer his opinion on Rossi and Emily's debate over the meal. Morgan figured he'd last about five minutes before they both took out their frustrations on him and kicked him out.
Glancing toward the foyer, Morgan noticed Tate sitting at one of Rossi's pianos. Why does a man need three pianos in his house? Morgan would never know. He walked down the hall toward Tate, and she glanced up from the keys when she heard his footsteps.
"You know how to play or are you just fooling around?" he asked the girl.
"I can play a little," Tate said, shrugging.
Morgan set his beer on the top of the piano and sat down next to Tate on the bench. JJ had told him about what had been going on the past few weeks with Tate, and he figured she might need someone to talk to that weren't her parents. Someone who understood.
"So how come it's Thanksgiving and you're sitting in here all by yourself?".
"I dunno," Tate replied.
"You're mad at JJ," Morgan stated.
It wasn't a question, you didn't have to be a profiler to notice the way the girl had been acting around JJ. Tate knew she'd been a brat to JJ the past few weeks, but she didn't care. JJ deserved it. She didn't care about Tate, or what she wanted. It was just like Will had said so many months ago. JJ felt a need to fix everything except her own problems. And that was exactly what she was doing with Tate.
"She can't mind her own business," Tate told him.
"She's just trying to help. So is Will, and Abby,".
"So that's what this is, huh? Will, JJ, Amelia, Beck, they're all tired of trying to convince me to see Abby again so they sent you?" Tate asked.
"No, I just thought I'd jump in, say my piece," Morgan said.
"Yeah, well, I don't really wanna hear it,".
Tate was tired of everyone's opinion. They all liked to pretend they knew what was best for her, but none of them actually did. Everyone just told her what they thought, but didn't actually listen, and she was sick of it.
Morgan sighed. He knew the kid was in pain, and she was lashing out. But she had to go back to therapy, otherwise, things would just get worse. He could hear people getting up in the living room, and knew it was almost time to eat. If he wanted to say his piece, he had to hurry up.
"Well, too bad, cause you need to. You're a smart kid, alright? Hell, you're the only person I've seen beat Reid at chess, besides Gideon. Which is why I know you know you need to go and see Abby," Morgan told her.
"I don't need to do anything,".
"Kid, as someone who's been through the same thing, trust me. If you don't talk about this with someone, it's gonna eat you up inside,".
Tate froze. She looked up at Morgan, and she could see the pain in his eyes. Someone had hurt him, just like someone had hurt her. As she was about to reply, Ezra came rushing into the foyer.
"Auntie JJ wanted me to tell you dinner's ready," he called to the pair.
"Thanks, Ezra," Morgan told the boy, who then dashed back to the dining room.
"And for the record kid, everyone in this house gives a shit about you okay? So don't go saying otherwise, cause it's annoying," he told Tate as he stood up and headed towards the dining room.
After dinner, everyone sat in the living room, fully stuffed. The boys, with the exception of Reid, had all decided to play Monopoly. Reid had been banned from the game years ago after Morgan discovered he somehow figured out how to cheat the game.
Amelia and JJ were in the kitchen, washing the dishes. Rossi had told them they didn't have to, but since Amelia and JJ didn't exactly help with the cooking, they figured it was the least they could do. As they were finishing up, Tate came into the kitchen. She didn't say anything, but the way she was hovering told JJ she wanted to. Picking up on Tate's behavior, Amelia set down the rag she'd been using to dry the dishes.
"I'm gonna go check on the boys, I'll be back in a few minutes," Amelia said.
As Amelia walked out of the kitchen, JJ turned to look at Tate.
"What's up sweetie?" she asked the girl.
"I'm uh I'm sorry. I know I've kinda been a brat recently" she said.
"It's okay, I know you've been struggling," JJ assured her before pulling Tate into a hug. "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have pushed you,".
"I forgive you, you just wanted to help," Tate said, her voice slightly muffled since she was speaking into JJ's chest.
"I love you, you know that right?" JJ asked her, and Tate paused before nodding.
To be honest, Tate wasn't sure if she believed JJ. But she wanted to. Because standing right here, in the kitchen, Tate remembered what it felt like to have a mother. Sure, she missed her father, but it was her mother that she really longed for. The woman that had loved her for the first seven years of her life, the woman who had done everything for her. But here with JJ, Tate felt the same love and protectiveness radiating off of her, something Tate hadn't felt in seven years.
They stayed like that for a moment, before JJ pulled away.
"Why don't you go make sure Garcia and Emily haven't smothered the twins to death yet hm? I'll finish up here," she suggested.
Tate laughed slightly, as it was true; Garcia and Emily had barely let go of the twins all night, constantly holding them and hugging them.
"Okay," she replied, snagging a cookie from the cookie jar on her way out.
As JJ finished the dishes and headed back into the living room, she caught Morgan standing in the corner, talking to Amelia. He glanced at JJ for a second, and she mouthed "thank you" to him. She knew he had gone to talk to Tate earlier in the night, and whatever he'd said had clearly done some good.
Morgan simply nodded and smirked a little, before turning back to Amelia.
"You know the greatest lesson of history? It's that history is whatever the victors say it is. That's the lesson. Whoever wins, that's who decides the history." -Anthony Doerr