A/N: Here's the final chapter for this story! If you enjoyed it, don't worry, there is a second one! Fair warning, this story gets a little unrealistic at the end but there really is no logical way to make it work so bear with me. Thank you to everyone favoriting, following, and reviewing this story. It's much appreciated!
The pair walked calmly into the interrogation room together. Morgan migrated to a corner behind Mr. Anderson and stood there like a statue, silently observing the goings-on. Riley approached the table, only glancing at the man a few times before pulling the chair out and sitting down. She folded her hands in front of her on the tabletop, waiting for this man to speak.
A grateful look crossed Mason's face as he saw his daughter. "I thought I'd never get to see you. I never thought I'd get to see my daughter in person." He split a wide, ecstatic grin.
"Why did you of it?" Riley asked briskly. His feelings unrequited. She didn't care about his feelings for her, she wanted to get down to the details. Why did her father kill her parents?
The smile was immediately wiped off his face and replaced with a look of disbelief, "Riley…I just want to talk to you."
"And I just want to know why you would do this." A warm tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away with the cast on her right arm. "Why would you do this to me?"
Tears pooled in Mason's eyes. "God has a great plan for you. He wants you to continue your work and succeed. He told me to do this for you and…and I couldn't resist."
"You…you're following Him? He…He had you do this? Why…Why…"
"He has a marvelous plan for you. He's told me," her father told her, but Riley didn't hear him. She was too busy with her own thoughts. He had my parents killed for one of his stupid jobs?!
More tears streamed down her face as she spoke forcefully, "I'm not following Him anymore. If…if this is what He does then I don't want to be a part of it."
"This was all for you, Riley! He planned all of this for you! Why can't you see that?"
"This isn't something I would want! I don't want this! Why would you think I"m better without my parents? I loved them and you killed them and now I have no one!
Mason held his hands out in desperation, "You'll always have God! He has His plans for you. I hope you understand them because I don't, but He needs you!"
"I don't care! I don't need God or anyone like Him…You know what, I'm done here. You've talked to me now give them what they want. I have nothing more to say to you."
"No. No, Riley don't leave. Talk to me, I don't know anything about you! I want to know you!"
Riley got up to leave the room. "Just leave me alone, please. You talked to me, now give them your confession or whatever. I just want this to be over."
She opened the door, but before she could leave, Mason spoke again, "He will get what He wants. One way or the other it will come to Him. He always gets what He wants. Be careful, Riley."
Riley turned to look her father in the eyes. His green emerald were like a window into his misery. Suddenly Riley understood how He had tricked Mason into going along with Him. Mason did all of His dirty work while He sat back and got information. That's how He worked, Riley saw it all now. Mason's eyes showed a man trapped forever in his past deals. This won't happen to me. This can't happen to me.
She gave her father a terse nod and left the room. Never to see her father again, Riley made a mental visual of him to inspire her to keep going ever day. An inspiration to not turn into him. Be stronger than he is. Don't let others control your life. Especially not Him.
Out in the hall, Riley spotted Reid coming out of the observation room. She let out a deep sigh, grateful that conversation was over with, but dreading this one with Reid.
"Who were you talking about?" Reid asked, not as subtle as he originally intended.
Knowing this question was coming, Riley answered smoothly, "What do you mean? It's just like God, you know. The God. Everyone's God."
Reid looked unconvinced, but Riley changed the subject before he could question her, "What…what's going to happen to me now?"
"Well we have to call child services and they will look for relatives for you to stay with."
"What if I don't have any relatives to be able to stay with?"
"None? No aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents?"
"I know what a relative is, man, and no. None that would be able to take care of me. They're all like old and in nursing homes." She looks at the interrogation room door. "When this all started I thought I would live with him but now it's not looking like that will happen…"
"Usually when child services can't find a relative, they place you in foster care and find you a new family."
A thought occurred to Riley. "But what..what if…um…" Just spit it out, Riley! "But I want to stay with you guys!" She burst aloud.
"What?" Reid sputtered, surprised by her exclamation.
Riley, avoiding direct eye contact as usual, explained herself, "Well..it's just that…I feel like I was useful here with your team. I thought..I thought I hoped here; what would stop me from helping on other cases?"
"You were helpful and we thank you for that, but what you're proposing would be totally unorthodox and against protocol. It takes years of training and schooling to become a cop let alone an FBI agent."
I just want to belong somewhere. I thought I could belong here, Riley thought to herself. her melancholy thoughts leaked to her outer emotions; Reid saw her dismay and had to think of something quick.
"Tell ya what, Riley. I will talk to the rest of the team and see what they think. Okay? How does that sound?"
"I guess that would be alright."
He let out his own sigh of relief, "Good. Let's get out of here then."
Riley murmured agreement, "I thought this day would never end."
Reid gave a small smile and they walked through the hall to the main lobby of the police station. Riley looked back toward the interrogation room just once. After that one glance her life took a turn for the better.
The agents did call child services but after much consideration, they found her a foster home in D.C so she would always be close. Riley visited the agents regularly and helped on cases when they allowed her discovered they liked having her and her uncanny abilities of profiling around. She befriended all of the agents on the team of course, but grew closest to Reid. Their high intellects made them great companions. They were always discussing or arguing over some matter both on and off the job and grew to trust each other like they've never trusted another before.
Everywhere Riley was sent with the team she understood everything thrown at her. "Why do you think he committed this murder so sloppily?" "How old do you think the unsub is?" "Where is he going go strike next?" All these questions answered as if she'd been doing this job for 20 years. And her answered were always spot-on; the agents began to trust and rely on her on occasion. While this ability was handy on cases, it wasn't always ideal. She not only learned information about criminals' behavior, but also about her new team, her new friends. Some good things, some bad. Some harmless little facts, some deadly. The most deadly were their weaknesses. She didn't want to know them; they just came to her. Riley was burdened by this until the day her loyalty was tested.
So concludes the first of the "Riley" series. The next story will be called "Loyalty" so be sure to look for it! I hope to put it up in the next day or so! And as always, feel free to share your thoughts on this story!