A/N: Hello again, everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. No copyright infringement is intended.
My apologies if I had made any mistakes but enjoy the chapter!
"Pretty boy!" Morgan greeted Reid with a smile. "And pretty girls!" He soon greeted Élise as she carried Anastasia in her arms.
"Nice to see you, too, Morgan." Reid greeted him back as they stepped into his house. Soon came rapid footsteps.
"Uncle Spence!" Reid is soon greeted by his godson, Hank.
"Hey, Hank!" Reid soon greets him with a hug. "How are you doing, buddy?"
"Hey! What about me?" Savannah soon greeted them.
"Hey, Savannah." Élise greeted her. "And thanks for taking care of Anastasia while I head off to help out the team today."
"Anything to help the pretty daddy with his PYT," Savannah said as she observed Anastasia. Savannah couldn't help the fact that Anastasia looked so adorable in her long-sleeve polo dress, cotton cardigan sweater, mismatch socks, and Velcro Converse sneakers.
"Let me help you set up."
"Of course." As soon as Élise, Hank and Savannah were out of ear-sight,
"So…how have you been?"
"I'm okay, Élise's okay. Anastasia's okay, despite her autistic meltdowns; let me know as soon as possible…."
"I know that, but are you okay-okay? I know what happened; I heard from Prentiss and everyone else. I know this wasn't the first time you were kidnapped and almost killed, but still, are you…."
"I'm alive," Reid said, politely cutting him off. "That's all that matters, right?"
"You can talk to me anytime, right? I'm always a phone call away."
"I know."
"Make sure you do everything you can to make sure Anastasia's routine goes smoothly," Élise said to Savannah. "And make sure you use the essential oils to scent you the room, but don't forget to dilute them before you do if you use them on her."
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Savannah assured her. "We'll let you know if anything."
"Again, thanks a million," Élise said. "Reid and I own you and Morgan a dinner and we'll babysit Hank if anything."
"Thank you for that." Savannah soon changed the topic. "So…how is it with you and Reid?"
"We're cool."
"You can still have him for free." Savannah teased her. Élise chuckled.
But Savannah was right.
Reid is intelligent, gentle, kind, and he is just such a gentleman. And a good father, too. Sometimes, Élise wonders…
"Hey." Reid came into the room, forcing Élise to cut that thought short. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, let's go. And thanks."
"No problem. Go out there and save the world."
"Okay." He gives Anastasia another kiss, Élise blew a kiss at her. "Be good for Savannah and Morgan, okay? Love you. Let's go."
"Hey, Élise."
"Hey, Prentiss."
Élise greeted Prentiss back when she said her goodbyes to the team, especially Reid, as she was on her way back to Garcia's office.
"Do you think Garcia's okay? Especially after...?"
"We all have different ways of coping, but I'm sure she'll be okay."
As they walked back to Garcia's office, they noticed her favorite mug was in the trash before looking at each other.
She and Prentiss knew Garcia was so far from okay.
"Hey, Morgan," Reid called Derek when he had a free moment.
"Pretty boy. How are you?"
"Well, I'm fine. I just called to see how Anastasia's doing."
"Don't worry. She's fine. We just placed her down for a nap."
"Has she...you know...have any meltdowns?"
"No meltdowns."
"Are you sure," Reid wanted to be sure. "If she did, I'm willing to come home."
"Nothing has happened." Reid needed to take a deep breath. "Don't worry, okay? Just focus on the case."
"Okay. And thanks."
"See you when you get back."
Tara and Reid watched as Alvez and Simmons were in the integration room with Danny.
"That was smart of Simmons. He's building trust."
A Chief Burrows came into the room. "I got a Pastor Hollis here. Won't talk to anybody but you two."
Reid saw Hollis on the couch sitting before getting up, "Chief Burrows said you wanted to talk to us."
"I do. I know how it looks, and I want to tell you the truth."
Tara said, "That's what we want as well."
"Melissa came to me privately for ministry and counseling, but she had so much shame she couldn't bring herself to tell me what was burdening her." Hollis recalls his story,
"All right let me get this straight. Melissa rebuffed your advances?" Tara raised her eyebrow.
"I took advantage of Melissa's trust. I was weak. But she didn't want to betray her husband, her vows."
"Did she threaten to tell Danny or your wife? Was she going to expose you?" Reid asked.
"No, she didn't. But after that, she stopped coming to church. She came to me for spiritual help."
"And instead, you took advantage of her," Tara noted.
"I wanted to save her, I wanted to comfort her, and I slipped. I drove her away. I can't prove to you that I didn't kill her, but I didn't. Are you going to arrest me?"
"You are a hypocrite," Reid declared. "But we believe you."
"You're free to go, Pastor," Tara told him.
After hearing from Prentiss and Rossi about what happened with Garcia, Élise decided to talk with her, and Prentiss joined her.
"Garcia, this is not your fault," Élise assured her. "It's not your fault."
"I should have double, triple, quadruple checked the metadata, and if I had, maybe Laura Nygard would be alive right now."
"You are not responsible for the unsub's behavior," Élise told her.
"I'm responsible for my behavior," Garcia said. "And don't tell me that this has to do with my abduction, because I already know that."
"Penelope, listen to me. I know how you're feeling. To be perfectly honest, I'm still not over from what happened with Griffin. I don't think I ever will be." Élise took a deep breath, "And I have another confession to make. After what those overzealous religious hypocritical freaks did to you and Reid…I…really wanted to kill them both. I mean, sometimes I do, but Meadows…oh! Hearing from Reid that Meadows could have gone after either his mother or Anastasia…." Taking another deep breath after confessing this to Garcia. "I…really wanted to kill her. And if I did… not have…so much self-control when I walked up to her, had I not decked her when I did…I would have killed her dead in the face…and I would have been perfectly fine. Hell, come to think of it, I think I would have slept like a baby."
"What happened to you was awful," Prentiss took over, and Élise stood to the side, "Traumatic, and yes, it impacted you, but the way you're feeling, it's about a lot of stuff."
"Like what?"
"Everything. A lifetime of accumulated trauma, your brother Carlos, the drunk driver who killed your parents." Prentiss said.
"No, no, no." Élise knew Garcia didn't want to talk about something so personal. "That accident was a long time ago, and I have forgiven the man who killed them, and I've gotten over my anger."
"And I'm glad you did, but it didn't fix everything. It didn't make the pain go away." Prentiss said.
"It cost me my brother. I forgave the man who killed our parents, and he can't forgive me because I betrayed him." Garcia confessed.
"Oh, Penelope, no, you didn't. You did the right thing. Carlos will come around."
"He won't. He really won't. He doesn't want anything to do with me." Garcia started to cry.
"Ohh." Élise joined in the hug Prentiss was giving Garcia. Even she knew what that felt like.
Both Reid and Élise felt like they had a long day. Élise admitted to Garcia about how she wanted to kill Meadows and Merva. And the fact she's still not over Griffin. But on a good note, before she left, she helped Prentiss glue her favorite unicorn mug back together again and watched her reunite with her brother. Even after leaving, Élise thought about…she saved those thoughts for another day. Reid wouldn't wait to get home and hug Anastasia like there was no tomorrow and hold on to her for dear life; he checked on her whenever he had a moment. Surprisingly enough, she didn't have any autistic meltdowns while she was with Morgan, Savannah, and Hank.
"I got the popcorn," Élise said, all clothed in her pajamas. "Fresh from the stove."
"I got Anastasia down to sleep," Reid said, also in his sleepwear, after tucking in his daughter.
"And now, some Dynasty before bed." As they sat down on the couch, "I talked to Garcia about…you know."
"Griffin?" Reid guessed correctly.
"I'm still not over Griffin," Élise admitted.
"I know."
"And I even told her about what I wanted to do with Meadows after killing Merva."
"Did Garcia tell you she ran over Meadows with a car?"
Élise's mouth dropped; she almost laughed and even almost choked on a couple of pieces of popcorn and looked completely surprised that the gentle Garcia ran over Meadows. "She did?"
Reid nodded as he smirked, taking some of the popcorn.
"Honestly, I would have done the same thing, only I kill her or at least beat her up soon after. Would you?"
"I'd do anything to protect my family. Even you."
Élise was touched and slightly blushed when he said that he would do anything to his family, including her.
"I'd do the same for you, too, even Anastasia."
Reid smiled back.
They had a moment of silence when,
"So...the unsub was a thirteen-year-old boy who was about to kill his own half-sister after learning he was the result of an affair his mother had?"
"Yes."
"And he killed his mother?"
"Yes."
"And…all because in the Bible, adultery was punishable by death?"
"Yup. I even had to deal with a hypocritical priest."
"This is pretty much why I strayed away from religion. Actually, the one thing my brother hates more than anything is a hypocrite."
"I'm surprised you're mentioning your brother." Reid noticed. "You rarely mention them. But if you don't want to talk about your family, that's okay. I respect your privacy."
"Thanks." Élise smiled back before focusing her attention on the television. "Oh! This is the episode where Dominique Deveraux is introduced."
"Interesting."
A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging!