Present day...
Monica had parked the car and picked up Anna before she even noticed her in-laws waiting for her at the front door. She didn't know why but she had the overwhelming compulsion to ask them to give her some space. She had begun to wonder if it was the fact she had been constantly surrounded by people that she was having difficulties in being with Anna. If she didn't try and make Anna feel secure and happy now then she would always have a guilty conscience and know that she had been a terrible mother.
Anna was her whole world, she was the only piece of John that she had left, and Anna had seen this as a bad thing. Well it was up to Monica to change it, she had to make Anna see that she was relieved she had her in her life, that she was glad whenever she looked into her eyes she would see John. It was the closest she would ever get to having his big blue eyes look at her again.
Monica opened the door without saying anything and Rosey and Frank Doggett followed her inside. They all went into the kitchen and Monica sat down on a chair with Anna on her lap. Anna looked from each of the grown ups to the other. She was waiting for her mom to send her outside or to her room, but she didn't. In fact she was holding onto her pretty tightly and Anna couldn't help but hold onto her mom that little bit tighter in return.
When Monica felt Anna's grip on her tighten she knew that she wanted to spend as much time with her little girl as possible, but she also knew that for the rest of the day that meant spending time with John's parents too. If that's what she had to do then so be it.
"Monica sweetheart, how are you?"
"I'm doin' ok Rosey. Did you get to your hotel ok last night?"
"Yes no problems, it was nice wasn't it Frank?"
Frank nodded his head slightly but didn't say anything. Monica still wanted to know what was wrong with him and why he was so determined to not talk to her or even look at her.
"Listen, we'd love to take Anna for the day if it's ok with you? I'm sure you'd appreciate some time to yourself."
Anna looked up at Monica pleading with her in a look to not let her be alone again. Because no matter who was around Anna and showing her affection, if her mom wasn't there it didn't matter anymore, not now her dad was gone. Monica knew exactly what Anna was thinking; it was her job to.
"Actually I'd hoped to spend some time with Anna myself, so if you'd like to spend the day with the both of us that'd be great."
Rosey smiled and looked delighted that Monica would be joining them. She took Anna's hand and they went up stairs to get some things to take out with them. Monica looked at Frank as he sat and stared out of the window again.
"Frank, is everything ok?"
He looked at her and she was sure that he almost had a look of hate in his eyes as he began to speak.
"It breaks my heart to see that little girl so upset. John loved her so much, and you... He
adored you, he'd have walked on water for you."
"I know."
"He died for you."
Monica looked at Frank and was surprised by his comment. His expression hadn't changed and it startled her. She stood up and walked to the window.
"I'm fully aware of why John died. I don't need you to remind me, and if you're trying to say in a not so subtle way that you think I should have taken the bullet in stead of him, then consider yourself heard, loud and clear."
Monica walked out of the room and went up to see what was keeping Anna. Frank watched her go and was angry with himself for letting things get so out of hand. He didn't wish Monica dead anymore than his son. That was one of the things he was struggling to deal with.
June 25th, Silver Spring Maryland...
Monica stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. Suddenly rushing off to Maryland didn't seem like it had been such a good idea. She looked around at the houses in the area, she could see the children's home and wondered if Mia Dukes would ever be there, she didn't know if she would have been moved to another family or if she was out anywhere. Well, there was only one way to find out and it wasn't by standing around doing nothing.
She knocked softly on the door, almost as if she was hoping she had knocked quiet enough to not be heard so she could sneak off, but someone did hear her, and it didn't take long for a young boy to let her in.
"Hi, my names Monica Reyes, I'm from the FBI, is there somebody in charge that I can talk to?"
"Are you here about Mr and Mrs Gooding?"
"Yes, did you know the family?"
"I'm Michael Dyson. I was living with them until..."
"It's ok."
Monica watched as the small ten year old shuffled uncomfortably around before he
spoke again.
"I'd lived with them since I was seven. And now they wont let any of us see Casey or Daniel... Are you here to talk to Mia?"
"Yes, how did you..."
"Another agent came yesterday, she's causing trouble for another FBI agent, it's you isn't it?"
Monica smiled at the boy's smart intuition about people.
"Yeah."
"Will you catch whoever killed the Gooding's?"
"I hope so."
Michael smiled at Monica and led her into the office that John had been in the day before. He said he'd get Mia for her so she looked around and picked up a file she noticed on the desk. It was about Casey and Daniel Gooding, the authorities were having trouble tracking down a relative for them to stay with and there was no room for them to stay much longer in the children's home. Monica was about to read further into it when Mia Dukes walked into the room.
Monica couldn't believe how much she looked exactly how she had eight years ago. The same six-year-old girl looked at her with pure hatred in her eyes.
"Mia Dukes?"
"Yeah. And you're Agent Monica Reyes of the FBI."
Monica tried to smile but thought that the girl would find it insulting so she did nothing.
"I'm sorry about the Gooding's. Had you been with them for long?"
"About eight months. Seven homes in eight years, I guess the next one will make it eight for eight."
"I was sorry to hear that you blamed me for your circumstances."
"My circumstances? Tell me, have you ever had to visit your mother in a mental institution? Have you ever lived with anyone but your parents? Have you ever been in somebody's arms as they had a bullet fired into them?"
Monica didn't know what to say. This was not how she had wanted things to go, but then maybe it was naïve of her to think that she would be able to reason with Mia.
"No."
"No. So don't patronize me with your apologies. I'll see to it that you pay for what you did. But I gotta say, I'm impressed you came. Your partner said you'd be told to stay away from me. Are you breaking rules to be here?"
"I'm disobeying an order. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was rule breaking."
"I see. So what can I do for you Agent Reyes? Why are you here?"
"I wanted to see you. I wanted to try and understand how you were feeling. I wanted to
eliminate you as a suspect in the murder of your foster parents."
"I'm a suspect?"
"You could be. My partner and a friend of ours think that someone in the house was behind the murders."
"They got evidence of that?"
"Some."
"Well I didn't kill anyone. I'm sure you'd recognise the signs of a killer, you see one
whenever you look in a mirror. But enough about me how'd life work out for you Agent Reyes? You got any kids to screw up? You married?"
"I have a daughter. Anna"
"And how old is Anna?"
"Four. She'll be five in August."
"Sweet. I remember being five. I remember being at home with my mom and my uncle. Lets hope that Anna has a better life after age five than I did. What about marriage?"
Monica didn't want to tell Mia anymore about herself. Especially not about John, if she found out they were married she could cause a lot of problems.
"Look, I don't think that this is any of your business. I came here to talk to you and to
apologise. I don't want to fight."
"Well that's too bad, because I don't want to be friends."
Monica was about to talk again when her cell phone rang. She took it out and answered it whilst watching Mia.
"Reyes."
"Monica it's me."
"John?"
"You gotta get back here, Skinner knows where you are and he's covering your ass but he's pissed at you."
"I'm on my way." Monica hung up the phone and Mia smiled.
"Busted. Oh well, it was great seeing you Monica, I'm sure I'll be seeing you again in the not so distant future."