Hey guys thank you so much for all the views and reviews, they are all so nice. This chapters quite long so I hope you enjoy:)
chapter 4:home
"Come on Stel, it's time to go home." Dad said ruffling my hair. Usually I hate it when people do that, but this was an exception.
"I just need to get my bag." I said before I turned around to JJ's office. I was in such a rush to get here before CPS made me go to a foster home, that I'd only had time to pack the basics. Once I walked back to the ball pen Hotch had come out of his office.
"I've just got off the phone with CPS. At first they weren't to happy about your little stunt but I managed to pull a few strings. A social worker will come over in a couple of days to just finalize a few things but apart from that you can stay with your dad. I've also arranged for your stuff to be flown over, I understand that you didn't have time to bring it all." Hotch spoke. I was so grateful for him talking to CPS, all I wanted was to stay with my dad.
"Thank you so much Hotch." I said so relieved.
"It's no problem." He said giving a slight smile.
"Right you ready to go?" Dad asked.
"Yep, bye everyone." I smiled. After we all said our goodbyes I followed dad out to his car. It was only a little run about but it was big another for four people. Something about it though made me think that I'd seen it before.
"I've had this car ever since you were born, your mum finally got me to get rid of the piece of junk I had before." Dad said answering my question.
"Thought I recognized it." I said sliding into the front seat. Dad started the car and began to reverse out of the car park.
"So how have you been?" He asked.
"Alright I guess. Technically I'm in my last year of high school because I've skipped so many grades." I said with a small smile. I was clever, just not as clever as my dad. I can read around 5,000 words a minute which isn't nearly as fast as my dad, but it's still pretty quick. My memory is very good but just not eidetic.
"I'm proud of you stel. You've really tried hard at school." Dad smiled.
"Still I'm not as clever as you." I said quietly, I didn't really think there was much to be proud of.
"Stel don't put yourself down, you have know idea how much I hate some of the things I know. It isn't always a blessing." Dad said seriously.
"Still." I said pouting.
"Your so stubborn sometimes." Dad joked.
"I'm really not." I moaned.
"Yeah you are." He replied. "Anyway you've got to prep yourself for a busy week. Morgan says he wants to spend some quality time with you and the girls are planning to take you shopping. Also Rossi's holding a big BAU dinner so you can meet the whole family."
Surprisingly I didn't mind spending time with Morgan, especially now. He'd lost his dad when he was younger so he'd probably understand how I was feeling. I didn't really mind shopping with the girls either, if I was going to live with dad in Quantico I needed a new wardrobe.
"I thought I already knew the whole team." I said trying to hide the worry in my voice. Dinner at Rossi's was thing I was most worried about. At the moment I only wanted to be around a few people and dinner at Rossi's meant lots of people I hardly know giving me pity.
"Well you haven't met Garcia's husband Kevin or their son Edward and there's Hotch's wife Beth and his son Jack and their daughter Lola." Dad said trying to convince me.
"Ohh yeah. Sounds great then, I mean it's Rossi, he's like a legend." I said with a fake smile.
"Stella, you don't have to go if you don't want to." Dad said sympathetically, he knew I was feeling uncomfortable.
"No it's fine I'll go." I said half heartedly.
"What's wrong Stella?"
"It's just I don't um want any pity." I said glumly. Dad pulled up to a rather large apartment complex. He stopped the car but didn't get out.
"Stella, they won't pity you." He said gently.
"Who wouldn't pity me. I'm just a freakish child who's lost her mum and I was to much of a coward to call you or wait for you to come pick me up. I'm weak." I said quietly, my head down.
"Stella Scarlett Diana Reid, don't you dare say your weak ever, okay. If I hear you say that one more time your grounded. I don't want you thinking like that. What you have done over the last couple of days was so brave, I don't think many other people would be able to do it." Dad said sternly, for some reason he reminded me of Hotch. It was kind of funny dad trying to act stern, just the thought of him trying to ground me, made me laugh a little.
"I'm weak." I joked.
"Do you want to get grounded?" Dad said a little less serious.
"I'd like to see you try." I smiled. Dad just gave me a smile back. We both slid out the car and I entered the lobby. We ended up walking to the fourth floor until we got to dads apartment. Dads always had a fear of elevators, I don't really get why, but I didn't mind walking. We finally got to his door. When I stepped inside I wasn't overly surprised by what I saw. In front of me was a good sized living room, with its walls covered in bookcases stacked with hundreds of books. There was then a big hallway to my right.
"Would you like the tour, I don't suppose you remember it, you were only two the last time you were here." Dad said pointing down the hallway. I followed him down it.
"Here's the kitchen, feel free to help yourself to anything at anytime. You lucky I haven't been on a case otherwise the cupboards would be empty." He joked. The kitchen was cream and had the basics along with a small dining table in the middle.
"I see you don't cook much." I said, noticing that all the appliances looked new.
"How did you know?" Dad asked intrigued.
"Profiling isn't that hard." I joked.
"Well I hope you can cook otherwise it's takeaways for us." Dad said.
"Don't worry mum taught me the basics." I said with a sad smile. Just mentioning mum made my chest hurt.
"That's not a surprise, man kazia could cook." Dad said a bit glum.
"Yeah." I said sadly.
"Come Stella, I'll show you your room." Dad said trying to break the tension. I followed him out of the kitchen and round the hallway to the right.
"This is your bathroom." He said showing me the door to the left."This is your room." He said opening the door to the right. It was quite a big room with purple and white walls. It had a white double bed with a matching wardrobe, chest of drawers and a desk. It was exactly like my room at home.
"B-but y-you didn't know I was coming." I said shocked.
"I've um always hoped that you and your mum would come back to me one day. Every year or so I would update this room to look like your room in case you ever came back." Dad said slightly embarrassed.
"I love it." I breathed, this was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me.
"Well I'll let you get you get settled, then if you want I could show you around, there's a little parade of shops down the street." Dad smiled.
"I'd like that." I said.
"What do you want for dinner? I was thinking we could get a takeaway." Dad suggested. I wasn't really hungry but I felt bad saying no.
"Chinese is alright." I said. Dad nodded and left me to get settled.
After I unpacked my very little belongings dad and I walked down to the parade of shops. I saw instantly why dad brought his apartment where he did. On the parade there was both a bookshop and a coffee shop. There was also an art shop, a small clothes shop, an old fashioned sweet shop, a drugstore, a video shop and a music shop. In my eyes this was my dream high street. It contained nearly everything I loved, in Alaska I loved to draw, along with singing and playing my guitar, I was a bit of a nerd as well. I constantly read and even though I'd finished the whole series by the time I was five Harry Potter was my all time favorite, along with Sherlock Holmes. My favorite things to watch were definitely Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Doctor Who and Lord of the rings. My other favorite films were Inception, the Descendants, Perks of Being a Wallflower and all Disney films. I had a huge collection of Disney films and whenever I'm sad it's just a habit of mine to put one on. I wasn't hugely physical but one thing I found did clear my thoughts was running, I'd run nearly everyday. I wasn't competitive or anything I just did it out of enjoyment.
"Anything that takes your fancy?" Dad asked.
"Yes." I said excitedly.
"Well here take my card and you can just meet me back at the apartment in an hour, I don't really need to get anything. You have your cell on you don't you?" Dad said handing me his card.
"Yeah I'll call you, but I have my own money I really can't take your card." I said handing it back.
"It's fine honestly." Dad said.
"Okay but quick question, what movies do you have?" I asked
"Star wars, Doctor who, lord of the rings and a few Sherlock Holmes. Apart from that they're all foreign. Sorry I'm a bit of a nerd." Dad said embarrassed.
"That's fine ,great actually. Um do you know what's being shipped from by old home?" I asked.
"Hotch asked them to just pack everything in your room except from furniture, but we can always go back and make another trip?" Dad said slightly confused.
"Yeah that be good, but tell hotch thanks." I smiled. My guitar, Harry Potter films and running stuff were in my room so they'd be getting here for tomorrow. However all the Disney films I owned were in my living room and my art supplies were kept in our front room so I probably wouldn't be getting them for a while.
"I will, I'll see you soon okay?" He said giving me a hug.
"Thanks dad." I said heading to the art shop first. When I entered I was surrounded by endless canvases and colors. Looking around I decided I'd only get the basics seeing how expensive it all was. After a tough decision I decided to get a drawing pad and a drawers set, which included many different paints and pencils. After I paid I left to go to the video shop. On entering I saw that it had nearly every movie possible to man. Slightly embarrassed I went to the kids section. I was happy to see that nearly everything was half price. I realized that I could only choose six dvds and even though that may seem a lot, I have basically every Disney film there is. In the end I opted for tangled, the lion king 1& 2, brother bear, aristocats and finding Nemo.
"Got a younger sister I see." The young man behind the cashier said.
"No actually there for me. There's nothing better than a good old Disney film." I didn't care what he thought of me.
"I can't argue with you on that one." The man laughed. I gave him a smile and left with my DVDs. I couldn't be bothered to look in the clothes shop. Dad said that the girls were planning on taking me shopping so I could just get what I wanted then. I headed to the drugstore next. I'd packed my toothbrush but I didn't have any other toiletries and I was a bit embarrassed to ask dad for facial wipes and other beauty products. I did a quick trip around the drugstore, then headed to the coffee shop. I got a strong coffee to take away and headed back to the apartment. I didn't feel the need to go to the bookshop seeing as dad basically had a whole library at home. Heading back to the apartment my phone starting ringing. At first I thought it was dad but looking at the number I saw it was Morgan.
"Hey mini Reid." Came Morgan's cheerful voice.
"Alright Derek." I said equally cheerful.
"This is just a quick question but how would you like to go to the shooting range tomorrow. Just don't tell your dad." Morgan asked. He always did things without dad knowing. For my birthday last year he took me to my first concert with my best friend Marley.
"I'd love to." I said excited. Usually I'm against guns but to be honest I was feeling so full of emotion that I knew shooting something would make me feel better.
"Great, I'll pick you up at 10.30." Morgan said happily.
"Thanks Morgan. I'll see you then." I replied cheerfully.
"Bye mini Reid." He said hanging up. Tomorrow I'd have to remind myself to tell him to stop calling me that.
"Hey dad." I said walking into the apartment.
"Hey stel, buy anything nice." Dad asked.
"Yeah just a few art bits and some DVDs." I replied, sitting on the grey sofa.
"Your always drawing something." He said with a smile."What DVDs did you get?"
"Let's see I got lion king 1&2, tangled, brother bear, finding nemo and aristocats." I said with a smile, loading them out of the bag.
"Um stel correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those kids films." Dad said confused.
"Yes, but they are some of the best films I've ever seen." I smirked.
"Okay then." Dad said with a confused look still on his face. The rest of the night mainly consisted of us talking about the last four months and watching a few doctor who episodes. When it got to around eleven I decided to go to bed seeing as Derek was picking me up fairly early. It was when I was going to bed it hurt the most. Usually it took a while for me to fall asleep and in this time I was left with my thoughts. Lying back on my bed the image of mum lying so pale on the bed raced through my mind. Silent tears fell slowly down my face and tried my hardest to let the blackness surround me.