AN: Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds nor do I own Yeats' poem The Stolen Child.

I am not a problem to be fixed, but a work in progress.

- Kat, Higher Ground

June 21st, 2005:

12:00 am

I am lying in bed, looking out the window when I hear footsteps in the hallway. It's Jen. She knocks softly on my bedroom doorframe to get my attention, "Happy Birthday Kitty Cat."

I roll over and look at my sister with a smile on my face, "Thanks Jen."

"You ready?" She asks me.

I nod twice, "Yes."

She waves me over to her, "Come on then."

I climb out of bed slowly; I don't want Jen to think that I'm overly excited, or that I was worried she wouldn't continue our tradition. I shouldn't have worried; Jen is the best big sister ever.

I follow her into the living room; she's got my present set out on the table. I look around for the candles and I don't see them. I am momentarily puzzled but Jen sees my confusion, "Don't worry about the candles, they're over by the window."

My relief must be evident on my face because Jen moves closer to me and opens her arms. I step into her waiting arms and hug my sister tightly. "Love you Jenny."

She kisses the top of my head, "I love you too silly."

"Jen?" I ask quietly.

"Yes?" she responds.

I fidget nervously, "Can I wait to open your present until tonight?"

"Of course, if that's what you want to do. It is your birthday." She smiles down at me, "What would you like to do instead?"
"Can we just light the candles and-" I stop myself.
"And what?" She prompts.

"Will you read to me after? When we go to bed?" I can feel myself blushing. I hate sounding childish, but I really miss listening to Jen read. Her voice has this amazing calming effect.

Her arms tighten around me, "Sure. You know you can ask me to read to you more often Catherine. I like reading aloud."

I smile up at her, "You'll make a great mom one day Jen."

We light the candles by the window, two red for mama and daddy and three white, one for Jessie, one for Jenny and one for me. We stand at the window, wrapped in each other's arms for a long while. Saying good night to our family silently. Then we blow out the candles and walk towards Jen's bedroom.

"What would you like to hear tonight?" She asks me.

I look up at her, "Yeats' The Stolen Child first please Jen, it is tradition after all. Then you can read whatever you want to read. Is that okay?"

"You're right, it is tradition and it's perfect."

We climb into Jen's bed and I fall asleep to the sound of my sister's voice as she recites the poem from memory:

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

8:00 am

This year, my birthday falls on a Tuesday. I am very lucky that the team doesn't have a case right now. Derek has decided that the entire team should celebrate my birthday by going to Six Flags. Jason isn't coming but he sent me his apologies and a beautiful black cat charm for my bracelet. Aaron is driving his car, with Haley sitting up front in the passenger seat. Haley is nice enough I suppose, I don't know her very well and seeing her pregnant belly reminds me that my parents are gone. I wonder if looking at her reminds Jen of what we have lost. Derek is driving Jen's SUV, Penelope is sitting up front with him. I am sitting in the back with Jen and Spencer flanking me. Derek told me that he wants this day to be perfect, so he banned Spencer from spouting off any facts about amusement park injuries or deaths. Poor Spencer is going to have such a hard time keeping his mouth shut.

The nausea comes in waves, rolling over me. My head hurts so much; it is hard to think about anything other than the panic welling up inside me. Spencer sitting with me in the back of the van helps a lot. I know that I am crushing his hand in mine but he doesn't seem to mind, his chatter keeps my mind off of the road. All in all, the car ride was bad but not as bad as it could have been. I didn't have a panic attack but it took a good fifteen minutes for me to calm down once I got out of the vehicle.

Even though I am panicking, my hyper-vigilance lets me know that Haley and Aaron have gone to buy tickets. I can hear Penelope and Derek flirting, they are standing about five feet away, at the end of the van, blocking my shaking form from view. Jen is sitting next to me on the edge of the van floor; not touching me. Spencer is standing just out of arms' reach, wringing his hands. If I weren't so stressed, I would probably be laughing at him.

9:00 am

Jen has insisted that we bring my wheelchair. I am not impressed. I know that my broken bones are not perfectly healed yet but I want to walk. Derek interrupts us before we can have another mini argument about the wheelchair and scoops me up in his arms, carrying me away. Problem solved. I laugh at the look on Jen's face. I can see everyone else is smiling. The line for the park is long but it moves quickly and within thirty minutes we are past security and have a map of the park. Spencer has already memorized it completely but Jen wont let him throw out the map.

10:00 am

We've been in line for what seems like forever but in reality is only 33 minutes. Derek finally put me down, on Jen's insistence, but I'm not standing in line, I'm sitting on the dividing railing. I have never been to a real amusement park before, just the harvest fair that comes by Valencia every year so I have every intention of my legs lasting all day. Haley is too pregnant to go on the rides safely but Aaron has agreed to ride a few with us so that we will be an even six. Roar from Skull Island is his favorite so we're going to have to ride that one a few times.

1:00 pm

We've been on 3 different rides now, and I'm hungry. I haven't said anything because I know Derek is also hungry; he's been eyeing the food for the past half hour, when Haley and Aaron leave to eat lunch. Derek finally gives in, and asks is anyone else is hungry; this is what I've been waiting for, "I want ice cream."

"No way, you're going to have a real lunch first," says Jen.

At the same time Penny says, "That is a great idea Kitty Cat."

They both look at each other, eyebrows raised, and Derek laughs. Spencer doesn't say anything about lunch; he is too busy eyeing the magician set up on the next corner. I poke him with my cane, "Spence, are you hungry?"

"What?" He looks confused for a moment before it passes, "Oh. Yes, I am hungry."

We walk over to the picnic grounds where Aaron and Haley are sitting on a picnic blanket; they have saved enough space for everyone in the shade of a large oak tree. Haley pulls out water, lemonade, sandwiches and apples. After lunch, Spencer tries out some of the tricks the magician was doing earlier. They seemed to work, my favorites are the card tricks.

Penelope and I wander off in search of ice cream, Jen follows behind us like a mother duck watching her ducklings. Penny and I find an ice cream vendor and order: Chocolate for Penelope and Vanilla with Maple candy for me. "Jen!" I turn around to face my sister, "my ice cream tastes like marshmallow fluff!"

"Gross!" she exclaims.

"No," I correct her, "Yummy!" I try to get Jen to try a mouthful by shoving the spoon in her face. She keeps her mouth closed and dodges my attempts, Penelope laughs at our antics.

2:00 pm

My legs are sore but I refuse to use my wheelchair, so Spencer is carrying me. I feel so very tall sitting on his back. We ride the ROAR twice with Aaron. Haley says something to him about bringing the baby here when he or she is old enough. Aaron has a dopey look on his face. Seeing Aaron kiss Haley is like watching my parents kiss, weird and uncomfortable. Oh there it is again, that stabbing pain I feel whenever I think about my mama and daddy. I miss them so much.

Everyone brought bathing suits so we're going to spend a few hours at the waterpark. I love swimming and it will be fun to tease Spence, he doesn't like getting wet.

6:00 pm

Derek and Spence take turns carrying me around because my legs are too tired to hold me up. We are all tired out from the water park when we stop for dinner. Haley and Aaron are going to leave after supper. Haley has been riding around in my wheelchair since the waterpark. She looks worn out. She didn't do much at the waterpark, just stuck her feet in the pool. I feel a little guilty that she's been stuck here all day, she can't go on any of the rides, and it must be rather boring.

After dinner, before we go back to the rides, Jen pulls me aside and presents me with a tiny red velvet cupcake. It has an even tinier black cat, made out of icing, laying on it. I can hardly wait for Jen's birthday; I know just what to put on her cupcake, a butterfly.

9:00 pm

There will be fireworks at ten tonight. I want to stay. Jen doesn't want to because the team has to go back to work tomorrow.

"Catherine!" she says, the warning clear in her voice.

"Jennifer!" I reply teasingly.

She scowls at me and I laugh unrepentantly from my place on Derek's back. Smart boy, he doesn't take sides. It was Derek's idea to have my birthday at Six Flags and it was also his idea for me to have more sugar. Penelope is laughing quietly into her hand and Spencer is off stalking that magician again. Jen gives in, partly because she wants to see the fireworks and partly because we can't find Spence. We can't leave without him, Spence would be stranded here and Aaron would not be impressed.

10:00 pm

Spence finally shows up right before the fireworks with no explanation as to where he has been for the past fifty-five minutes. Jen is not impressed but I can see how excited he is so I don't push, but I do require a piggyback ride while we wait for the fireworks. Derek and Penelope picked out a good spot for us, by a railing so that I don't have to stand or sit in the horrible wheelchair, not that I would. The fireworks are gorgeous. I love watching them; even flinching at every single loud pop doesn't diminish my adoration.

11:00 pm

We drop Penelope off first, then Derek. Spence is coming home with Jen and me. I fell asleep in the SUV: I blame exhaustion. I am too tired to care or be panicked when Spencer carries me into the apartment. Jen holds the front door open for us and then she opens my bedroom door. There is something small, black and furry sleeping on my pillow. It takes my sleep-addled brain a moment to connect the dots. It is a kitten with a little red bow around its neck. I hug Spencer tightly; I know the kitten is from him without him having to say anything.

"A kitten! Thank you Spence" I whisper into his shoulder.

He kisses the top of my head, "You are most welcome Kitty Cat."

"What are you going to name her?" asks Jen.

I look at Spencer, "what kind of cat is she?"

"She's a Kellas cat, native to Scotland." He takes a deep breath, and is about to continue but I stop him by kissing his cheek. He's blushing again.

"Thank you Spence." I turn to Jen "Her name is Una."

"Spanish?" she questions me.

"No," I smile, "Celtic."

"What does it mean?" she asks.

"Spencer do you know what it means?" I tease.

He chortles, "It means lamb."

Jen raises one eyebrow and laughs.

I defend my choice of name, "What? I think it fits perfectly."

"For the first time in so long, I feel like I can breathe."

- Scott, Higher Ground