Chapter 103
*a few weeks later*
Alex woke up with her cheek pressed to her husband's chest. She didn't want to move, because she was comfortable in his embrace but she also knew the moment she did he would wake up. He'd been amazing through these last couple of weeks, being her comfort and soothing her whenever she had recurring nightmares time and time again. He even went with her to her psychologist for two weeks, until she was given the green light. After the nightmares Alex's mind was set on holding her baby in her arms for most of the night watching her sleep, Ryan cuddling both of them, until his wife drifted off to sleep laying Phoebe down in the middle of the bed between them. Cuddling both of them it took him some tie to fall asleep himself, just wanting to protect them. Throwing an arm protectively over the two of them.
Alex suspected that she was crushing his arm as she laid in his embrace for most of the night and he didn't shift his position much during the night. It wasn't long until he started stirring and his blue eyes scanned the room looking down at her, a small smile appearing on his lips when he caught sight of her eyes on his face. She scooted up slightly kissing his mouth quickly before settling her head back on his chest listening to his heart beat.
"Good morning." She greeted softly barely audible, feeling his arms wrapping around her and pulling her closer into him.
"Good morning, beautiful." He murmured into her neck, the two of them resting in each other's embrace, neither wanting to move, although the pins and needles in Ryan's arm telling him he needs to get the blood flow back into his arm as soon as possible. Their silence was soon disturbed by a ten month old, walking along the inside of her crib talking away in her own language. Alex was just about to get up and pick her up, but Phoebe found her bottle that still consisted of some milk, crawling back to where it was, sitting down and drinking the contents of the last milk. Once it was finished she started hitting the bottle on the white painted wood of the crib, making a statement that she was also in the room and wanted some attention from the two grown-ups who was watching her from their bed.
Ryan got up and walked over to his daughter's crib, picking her up and walking her over to the bed. "Good morning, Pheebs." He greeted and got a big smile in return. The moment she got into bed with her parents and her father tried to sit her down she refused to sit. Acting like she can stand on her own and kept bending her knees while her father supported her, acting like she's jumping.
"Okay, that's enough now." Ryan laughed when he felt like the game can end now and handed her over to Alex.
"No, no, no Phoebe Grace." Alex laughed trying to end the game her daughter was continuing that the stunt she pulled with her father seconds earlier.
"Come let's get you clean." Alex suggested getting out of bed with the ten month old walking over to the bathroom to get her dressed.
Once the two of them were done and dressed they walked downstairs meeting up with Ryan who just finished the last coffee he had left in his cup. Kissing both of them in a hurry, heading upstairs to take a shower himself.
Alex and her daughter sat down on the couch once she got Phoebe's baby cereal prepped, ready to feed her. Hoping it will all go smooth since she was full of moods the past couple of mornings. One morning she would eat without the two of them fighting but other mornings it became a fight when she refused to open her mouth, and this morning it seemed like she wasn't in the mood for her cereal again.
Closing her mouth whenever she saw the spoonful coming towards her mouth. Her two bottom teeth pressed firmly against her open gums on the top. "Phoebe. It's nice. You didn't even try it yet." Alex tried enthusiastically to get her daughter to eat it. Seeing her mother's face light up in smiles she smiled also, laughing loudly, and Alex took the opportunity to get the spoon into her mouth. Hoping she'd swallow it but Phoebe spat it back out.
"Phoebe. Please there's still a whole box left and you're going to eat it all up. Even if we have to battle every morning like we are now." Alex reprimanded the ten month old who was oblivious and slapped the spoon away whenever it came into sight. Alex gave up and set her down on the floor. Crawling around looking for something mischievous to do.
"Didn't she eat yet?" Ryan asked when he came down the stairs spotting her baby bowl on the coffee table.
"One of those mornings." Alex shook her head.
"Do you know what's coming up?" Ryan asked and Alex looked at him with a blank expression. "Okay fine. Since it's our anniversary soon I was thinking of some ideas…" Ryan said waiting for feedback from his wife but she looked at him waiting for him to continue.
"We can't stay here?" Alex asked more than she actually confirmed her thoughts on trying to figure out what was going on in his head. "Why don't we just do dinner?" Alex offered.
"No way! I've put up with you for an entire year. I'm getting a fancy hotel room and lots of really hot sex for my anniversary." He argued.
"Oh really? Well if that's the case I want a spa bath and room service." Alex put in her request smiling as she looked at him, thinking of the time she can take out being away from him and having time to herself.
"Pfffttt, you're so easy." He shrugged walking over to where she was sitting on the couch watching her daughter carefully as she walked around the furniture.
"Ooohh! So if I'm easy what does that make you?" She asked challenging her husband as her eyes sparkled.
"I love you. So so much." He concluded kissing her continuously, until she stated laughing and he stopped.
When Phoebe heard her father speak her head turned to where the voice came from and Ryan picked her up and walked over to the couch. Settling her on his lap, trying to continue the feeding process his wife abandoned before he arrived. And without any objections Phoebe started eating the same cereal she and her mother battled with.
"Phoebe you have two parents. You should be liking both of us, but it's clear that you favor your father." Alex told her, as she packed her daughter's bag for day care.
"Thank you, daddy!" Ryan smiled wiping her mouth after she was done eating, giving her a kiss. "Mommy's being jealous again." He laughed when he saw his wife's face where she stood at the door, waiting for the two of them to finish up so they can get their day started.
At work everyone still treated Alex like a newborn baby. Constantly checking up on her and asking her if she's okay. As much as it irritates her at times, she has to remind herself that they're doing all of this because the care. Remembering how her house looked with all the flowers she received after she got back from the hospital.
"Parrish, my office please." Maranda said when they got in and she set her handbag down at her desk before walking back with her superior who waited for upstairs. "Is everything okay?" Alex asked when she took a seat in Maranda's office. The older woman nodded and leaned on the front of the desk.
"Are you okay, and ready to get back into the field?" Maranda asks looking her dead in the eyes and she nodded.
"I've been given the green light by my psychologist to get back into the swing of things. So I'm ready to get back to work." Alex nodded.
"Good. Because we have to head out to a case soon and I need you to be there. All of you, Parrish." Maranda warned as if to give her an option that she can still change her mind if she's not comfortable with but Alex promised her superior that she's good to go.
"All right people. Shooting down South, by the looks of it a mother and son was involved. The mother doesn't want to confess on who the shooter was so we need to find out who pulled that trigger. One male died on the scene." Maranda started looking through her crowd of agents.
"Booth, Parrish, Wyatt and Matthew. I need the four of you on this case. Amin, Asher, Haas you three are on standby in case backup is needed." The selected few nodded their heads in understanding as the rest was assigned to do research on the case and on the parties involved.
"Wait, is this all the information we have on this? Like no names, no links to anyone? Just a location?" Matthew asked before they headed out and Maranda nodded her head. Pointing towards the door indicating that they should get a move on.
Close to a small shop, in a run down neighborhood the incident took place. Opposite the shop was an open field and at the end of the field a block of flats was situated with pretty nice murals painted on the walls
They got to their location in about ten minutes and it wasn't hard to spot the crime scene. Since there were people standing around and some hysterical cries. "I guess this is it then." Matthew said softly but yet loud enough for the others to hear also. The four of them got out and walked towards the action where the crowd of people had gathered.
They got out of the car and walked closer. A young mother sat down in the middle of the crowd crying, blood soaking her shirt as she held a toddler in her arms swinging back and forth. An older man standing there with a gun in his hand pointed at the two of them, swearing back at the bystanders who's telling him to put the gun down.
Instinctively Shelby and Alex both rushed to the mother in the middle of the commotion. They knelt down in front of her but it seemed as if she's looking past them. "Hey, sweetie can you tell me your name?" Alex asked touching her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the child she's been rocking back and forth for who knows how long.
"I'm Alex. And this is my friend, Shelby. We're here to help you, okay?" Alex tried again when the woman didn't respond.
" …my…my name." She sniffed.
"Okay, nice to meet you, Amber. How old are you?" Shelby asked
"Twenty one." Came her whispered response and the two women nodded.
"Can you tell us what happened? How old is your son?" Shelby prompted and the woman started crying even more.
"Troy…..he's…. he…he….he was four." She sobbed and Shelby and Alex both looked at each other, eyes wide in shock.
She lifted her bleeding arm that was wrapped around him protectively and turned his lifeless body towards the two women. The bullet seemed to have hit the area close to his heart. Alex felt his neck trying to locate a pulse but she couldn't find anything. Catching a glimpse of her friend it looked as if the blood was drained from Shelby's body. The ambulance soon came to the scene, rushing to their side but the young mother refused to hand her child over to the paramedics and they bandaged her wound as he was still in her embrace.
Meanwhile the three men were still fighting with the shooter. He had the gun pointed in the air and shot up once, until they managed to get the gun out of his hold and on the ground, where Matthew grabbed a hold of it quickly. The shooter breathing heavy while Ryan had him in affirm hold with his hands behind his back.
"I….I didn't mean to shoot my son!" He yelled and Ryan was stunned at what he heard. "I wanted to kill Amber. I don't know how I ended up killing Troy!" The father yelled trying to get to the ambulance where the paramedics were working on resuscitating his son, but was pulled away by both Ryan and Matthew, who managed to get him into handcuffs and put him in the back of the police car that showed up after the ambulance did.
Shelby and Alex stood at the ambulance with the young mother when an older woman walked towards them and tapped on Alex's shoulder.
"Excuse me ma'am. Can I please talk to you?" The older woman asked and Alex walked around to the front of the ambulance where the two of them can have a conversation without being disturbed for the time being.
"I'm Hannah. I live in the flat next to Kevin and Amber." The woman introduced herself and Alex nodded for her to continue.
"This whole week I've heard them argue and yesterday, Troy and Amber slept here by me. This afternoon when Amber went to get Troy at preschool, Kevin walked out of the flat and rushed over here with the gun in his hand. He shot Amber first and got her arm. Troy instinctively ran towards his mother who knelt down holding his arm and Kevin ended up shooting his son." Hannah explained the story to Alex.
"Thank you for telling me. I would need your statement, do you think you can come down to the FBI headquarters later today and re-tell the events of what happened?" Alex asked and Hannah nodded.
"All right thank you. Ask for Alex Booth, and I'll get you there." Alex said touching Hannah's shoulder lightly before walking back to the chaos, she and Ryan locked eyes for a moment waking past each other but neither of them said anything or asked if the one was doing fine. That's a conversation they can have at home.
Once the scene was cleared and Amber was on her way to hospital and Kevin to the police station, the four of them got into the car and drove back in silence neither of them saying a word. Shelby walked to the bathroom to call Caleb and ask how CJ was doing, while Alex took a seat in the lobby calling Marci to hear how Phoebe's doing.
Ryan walked to his office not closing the door behind him because he had a feeling that his wife would soon enter and only when he heard the door close did he turn around and she walked towards him, throwing her hands around his waist. Ryan holding her as tight as he possibly can neither of them saying anything for some time.
"I called Marci." Alex admitted and Ryan laughed slightly.
"I asked her to send me some pictures of what Phoebe's doing." He confessed showing it to his wife. Both of them knowing she'll ask what today all was about when they go fetch her.
"How can someone do that? Just take a life so easily? Did you go talk to him yet?" Alex bombarded her husband with questions.
"I'm not planning on talking to him. I'll end up doing something I might regret or even end up losing my job, so Matthew will have to handle it. I'll just sign the papers when he's done." Ryan shrugged thinking back to the scene and how he would've hurt that guy if the two of them were alone.
"Speaking of papers, let me go finish mine. Then we can go home." Alex smiled and Ryan kissed her forehead, hugging her one last time before he got back to his load of papers.
Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait to update. I'm at home this week on break and I will try my best to update regularly. I cannot promise anything though.
I have no set times for when I'm updating. The reason for that is because my schedule is unpredictable and I don't want to say I'll update daily or weekly because then you guys get your hopes up and check the website and there's no update. So I don't want to get your expectations up and then you're disappointed in the end. One reviewer asked for some more drama on the kidnapping scene (that's in the pipeline). Also sorry for skipping ahead once again but I wanted to get away from all the drama and write some family stuff and get back to FBI work. I've also felt out of touch with the characters for a while now and I hope it's not affecting my writing.
Thank you for reading and I really appreciate the feedback and input you guys give me.
Lovies-S
