Hey guys, I'm so so so so sorry I haven't updated sooner. It took me forever to write and plan this chapter and following chapters, and a lot of personal stuff has gone on and I haven't been in the right mindset to write. Anyway thank you so so much for follows, favourites and reviews this story, it means the world. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and a lot more will be revealed in the next chapter so bare with me. Thank you and enjoy.
6 weeks later.
Henry and I were finally free. Free from High School. We'd graduated two days ago and were now left to decided our futures. We were both bored as hell at the BAU. There had been no progression over the 'Moriarty' case and it had gone cold. The team were even working cases again. But that didn't mean that we were aloud out. Henry and I were to spend the majority of our summer at the BAU, which sucked. Spending so much time with dad meant that we argued a lot more and for some reason he'd been acting weird lately. No one knew what was wrong with him, but he just seemed constantly down and like he was distancing himself from us. I tried to talk to him at home, but he always changed the subject so I stopped trying.
"I'm so bored." Henry moaned.
"Same." I replied.
"Everyone's out. Sophie and Adam are at the cinema. Jake and Grace are at Harry's." Henry groaned. Sophie and Adam had been going strong for a whole month, and everyone was over the moon that Adam had finally asked her out. Harry and Adam had finally made up, after a week of arguing Harry finally told everyone what was going on. Harry's dad had been in hospital for the third time with pneumonia and that was the reason he'd lashed out. Grace and Jake were keeping Harry company whilst he watched over his dad at home.
"I wish we could go out. They can't just expect us to stay at the BAU all summer." I said, it wasn't fair that they were doing this to us.
"Exactly, and they can't just expect you to stay at the BAU for your birthday." Henry smirked. It was my 15th birthday in three days. I wasn't to bothered about my birthday, especially this year. For starters I wasn't at home in Alaska, and mum wouldn't be there. Just the thought of my birthday reminded me of another year where mum wouldn't be there.
"I honestly couldn't care less." I murmured. However, Henry somehow managed to hear. The boy had remarkable hearing.
"That's a horrible thing to say. You should get excited over your birthday no matter how old you are. Now I'm going to make sure it will be extra special." Henry smiled.
"Please don't." I begged. "I'd rather everyone just forgot about it. Besides by the looks of things the team will be on a case."
"They'll be back in time." Henry tried to say. But we both knew that wasn't going to happen. The team were usually away for at least two or three days on an a good case, this one looked pretty bad.
"Well I guess it's Garcia's house for me." I sighed. It wasn't that I didn't like staying at Garcia's, I just hated constantly going where dad went. I also felt bad for Garcia, she had her own family to cater for, let alone me on top of that.
"Come on, it won't be that bad. At least Garcia will help me make a big fuss over your birthday." Henry smiled. I groaned. Just then the team came out of the conference room and headed to their desks.
"Bad case?" I asked.
"Tell me about it. The unsub is killing whole families." Emily sighed. It sounded like it was going to be a long one.
"Let me guess, I'm staying at Garcia's?" I asked dad.
"Actually no, she's coming with us for this one. Your going to stay with Will and Henry if that's alright." Dad said.
"It's fine." I replied with a fake smile. I was happy to stay at Henry's but a part of me didn't want the whole team gone.
"Stella, I'm really sorry but I don't know if we will be back for your birthday. I can stay behind if you really want though." Dad suggested.
"It's fine. Don't worry. You're needed on the case." I replied. I secretly wanted dad there on my birthday, seeing as I couldn't have mum.
"Are you sure? I will ring you okay." Dad said. I could tell he really needed to go so I just nodded. He hugged and kissed me goodbye, before grabbing his go-bag and leaving. For some reason I felt more alone than ever.
THREE DAYS LATER.
I woke up feeling overly happy. Dad was coming home today. The unsub made a mistake in his rage and left behind a crucial bit of evidence. They caught him last night so they'd be home today. I sat up so I could get ready to go to the BAU, when I knocked something off the bed. Looking around I saw that it was a small pink box with white ribbon wrapped around it. I felt bad enough that I knocked it off the bed, so I gently picked it up. I was about to open it when the door opened and Henry walked in. He was carrying a tray with pancakes on.
"Morning birthday girl." He smiled.
"Henry this really isn't necessary." I blushed. I honestly couldn't care less about today. The only thing I was going to wish for when I blew out the candles was for my mum to come back, and even I knew that was impossible. I turned away from Henry to try and blink away the tears that were forming in my eyes.
"What's wrong?" Henry asked, he put down the tray and sat down next to me on the bed.
"Nothing." I replied, trying to sound as light as possible.
"Why don't I believe you." Henry smiled. I tried to smile back but it was hard.
"I'm fine." I said again.
"Which in girl world means I'm not fine and I'm secretly dying inside." Henry said. I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Where the hell did that just come from?" I asked.
"The amount of depressing pictures girls put up is unreal." Henry smiled back. "Now do you want to open your present or not."
"Of course. It's not breakable is it?" I asked.
"Why? What did you do?"
"Nothing, it may of fallen off the bed though." I smirked.
"Just open it." Henry laughed. I put my hands up in surrender. I grabbed the box and pulled the ribbon off. When it came to presents I never took time to unwrap them elegantly. I took the lid off the box and looked at the contents. My heart melted when I saw a silver charm bracelet with seven charms on it. I gently took the bracelet out of the box and examined it. Each charm was silver and had a meaning. The charms on the bracelet were, a lightening bolt, a mickey mouse, a guitar, a paintbrush, a converse, a book and a heart.
"It's beautiful." I whispered completely speechless.
"I'm glad you like it. The lightening bolt was supposed to be for Harry Potter, the Mickey Mouse was to represent your love of Disney films, the guitar and paintbrush are your two favourite hobbies, the converse is your favourite shoe, the book was to represent your dad and the heart was supposed to represent your mum." Henry said blushing. Just the amount of thought that went into it made my heart warm. He'd even included a bit of mum and dad into it.
"Thank-you, thank-you so much. I love it." I smiled. I went towards him and hugged him tightly. For some reason my eyes started stinging again, I tried to blink the tears away again, but it didn't work. Instead I just buried my face further into Henry's chest.
"I know I'm fabulous but there's no need to cry about it." Henry said gently.
"I'm not crying." I tried to say, but my voice was shaking.
"I get it Stella. You miss your mum. You say you're not bothered about your birthday when secretly you just want your mum back." He spoke softly. It was scary how right he was. I just nodded. Not caring any-more, I sobbed into Henry's arms. He was right I was missing mum.
"Do you want to ring your dad?" Henry asked. I nodded. Dad was one of the only people I wanted right now. I peaked my head out of Henry's arms, he got out his phone and dialled Dads number. Sitting up, I dried my eyes and held the phone to my ear. Dad picked up after the first ring.
"Hello." He said.
"Hey Dad." I sniffled.
"Stella, what's wrong?" Dad asked straight away.
"I just wanted to say that I love you and I can't wait for you to come home." I replied, not quite knowing what to say.
"I know, I love you too. I'll be home soon anyway. Please enjoy your birthday though. I know that it was one of the best days of my life. I know that you are probably missing your mum, but you and I both know that she wouldn't want you being sad, she'd want you to enjoy yourself." Dad said gently. He was right, but it was difficult.
"I know dad, I just really miss her." I said weakly. Tears began to fall down my cheeks again.
"I miss her too Stel. The team will be back soon and trust me when I say that they've got lots of surprises for you, so be prepared." Dad replied.
"Thanks." I smiled a little. "I better go, Henry's got plans."
"Well have fun Stella. I love you more than anything in the world and everything I do is for you. Please don't ever forget that." Dad said, he sounded slightly odd.
"I know, I love you dad, bye." I said.
"Bye Stella, I love you, and happy birthday." Dad said quickly before he hung up. I dried my damp face before turning to Henry.
"You okay?" He asked. I nodded with a small smile.
"Pancakes?" I asked.
"Pancakes." Henry smiled.
For the next half an hour Henry and I sat on top of his bed talking. Just being with him made me feel better. After realizing we should probably get ready, I walked into the guest room. I didn't bother putting too much of an effort into what I was wearing, so I just put on a light denim skater skirt with my loose white top and a pair of low pink converse to finish. My cast had come off a few days ago so I was now free to do whatever I liked. I shoved my hair back into a messy ponytail and put on a little bit of make-up. When I was done getting ready I went into Henry's room. To my surprise he was only half dressed. He had a pair of jeans on, but no top on. I didn't mind though, Henry's body was pretty dam good.
"You look beautiful." Henry commented, causing me to blush.
"Well you don't look to bad yourself." I smiled back.
"Let me get my shirt on and I'll give you another present." Henry said. He picked up a white polo top and slipped it on. He then walked towards me and kissed me. I was slightly confused at first, but I didn't hold back. We would of gone on for a while if there hadn't been a knock at the door.
"I'm coming in so you two better not be at it." Came Wills voice. Henry and I quickly pulled apart and tried to look at casual as possible when Will came in.
"Hey Dad." Henry said causally.
"Ah, so you two were at it." Will smirked, causing Henry and I to blush. "Young love. Anyway I just came in to say that we better get going."
"Okay dad, we'll just go get our stuff together." Henry replied, still a bit red in the face.
"I'll leave you too it." Will winked, before he left the room.
"Sorry about that, dad has a tendency to make people feel as awkward as possible." Henry blushed.
"It's fine, it's quite funny actually. Anyway lets get ready, I want to get to the BAU as soon as possible." I replied.
"I can't believe that you'd actually say that." Henry smiled.
"Me either actually, now hurry up." I ordered. Henry and I got our stuff together and headed downstairs to Henry's car where Will was waiting.
I sat swinging on the chair anxious for the team to come home. They'd called to say that they'd gotten off the jet, so they should be back any minute. I just couldn't wait to see dad. The elevator door dinged and a smile spread across my face as I saw the team load out. However it instantly fell when I saw that dad wasn't among them. The whole team were there except for him.
"Hey birthday girl." Morgan called, coming towards me.
"Where's dad?" I asked.
"He just had to get something from the SUV, but he told me to give you this." Hotch answered. He handed me an envelope with dad's handwriting sprawled across it. I instantly opened it to find a birthday card. Inside it read:
Dear Stella,
Happy 15th birthday. 15 years have gone by so fast. I'm sorry that I haven't been there as much as possible, but I'm proud of you. I'm proud about how brave you've been lately and all of your achievements. I know you'll do great things some day, but when you do get rich and famous please remember me. Your mother would have been so proud of you and I know that your missing her today, but know that she loved you more than anything in the world. Carry on being great. Lots of love Dad x
p.s- gave lass.
I read it a couple of times over. It was such a sweet card, but I was slightly confused why dad hadn't given it to me himself.
"What does gave lass mean?" I asked.
"God knows, the mind of Reid is a very confusing thing." Morgan smiled.
"Anyway, on with the presents." Emily chimed. She brought out a large bag filled with colourful wrapping.
"You really didn't need to." I tried to say, slightly embarrassed that they had gone to so much effort.
"Nonsense, it's not just from me anyway. It's from all of us." Emily smiled. I rolled my eyes playfully and went to pick up the first one. It was medium sized box from Rossi. I was about to unwrap it when Anderson came running in.
"Guys, Reid's on the roof with some woman. He's barricaded the door so no one can get up, come quick." He cried. My heart instantly sank and I sprinted to the elevator.
Reid's POV.
I sat on the jet nervous as hell. My heart was beating out of my chest. Today was the day. The day I was going to die. Two weeks a go I'd gotten my first letter from her, by her I mean Moriarty. I remembered it word for word.
Dear Spencer,
Did you miss me? I missed you dearly. But don't frown, I have arranged a little date for us. Meet me on the roof of the FBI headquaters on your dearest daughters birthday. Fail to show up and not only you will suffer the consequences. Bring back-up or SWAT and there will be consequences. See you soon sweetie. M x
P.s- I'll text you when
Just re-reading the letter in my mind sent shivers down my back. Hotch knew something was up, just five days ago he asked me to come to his office. I couldn't help but tell him. She hadn't said anything about telling anyone, she just didn't want any interference. Hotch agreed not to get involved on the day, but he said that we needed to think of a plan. So this is what we came too. The only logical way for me to get out of this was to die. Well not die literally, if all went well everyone would believe I was dead, including Stella. It killed me to do this to Stella but with me dead Moriarty would lose the one thing that mattered most in her sick and twisted world, me. If I was lucky she'd kill herself to, putting an end to the torment she was causing Stella and the team. The plan was for me to go to the roof, barricade the door and create as big as crowd as possible. Anderson was going to help, he was the only other person who knew. But I trusted Anderson and no-one ever suspected him. The more people who saw the quicker the word would get round her associates. Of course I did have my own little plans which only Hotch knew about, but even I wasn't overly convinced that they would work. The plan was too throw myself of the FBI building. I'd researched many ways to try and lower the impact of the force and the most sensible ways to land, but whether or not they'd work, I wasn't sure. Hotch was going to be the one to call my death. He'd arranged with the ambulance service to take me to the nearest hospital to assess any actual damage, or if it didn't work, put me in the morgue. If all went well then we'd tell the team as soon as possible. I couldn't leave it as long as Emily did, god knows what it would do to Stella. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by my cell phone. I glanced at the caller ID to see that it was Henry, he was properly just ringing with Stella.
"Hello." I answered.
"Hey Dad." Sniffled a weak voice, it was Stella.
"Stella, what's wrong?" I asked straight away. I knew that today would be hard enough for her, but I didn't realize she was this upset. It made the guilt in my stomach intensify even more, how could I hurt her even more.
"I just wanted to say that I love you and I can't wait for you to come home." She replied, I could tell she was stalling. Getting up I wondered over to the kitchen area so we could have more privacy. The team were already giving me looks.
"I know, I love you too. I'll be home soon anyway. Please enjoy your birthday though. I know that it was one of the best days of my life. I know that you are probably missing your mum, but you and I both know that she wouldn't want you being sad, she'd want you to enjoy yourself." I said gently. I was trying to act as normal as possible but it was hard. The more I talked to Stella the more I didn't want to go up to the roof. What if I didn't make it? It would just give Stella an even bigger reason to hate her birthday.
"I know dad, I just really miss her." She said weakly. It shattered my heart hearing her this upset. I couldn't do it. I couldn't just leave her all alone.
"I miss her too Stel. The team will be back soon and trust me when I say that they've got lots of surprises for you, so be prepared." I replied. It was kind of a hint, but she wouldn't of thought anything of it.
"Thanks." She said, sounding a little better. "I better go, Henry's got plans."
"Well have fun Stella. I love you more than anything in the world and everything I do is for you. Please don't ever forget that." I said. It may of sounded odd but she needed to know this. I was doing this for her. She needed to be able to live her life. Not live in fear of a woman who is after me.
"I know, I love you dad, bye." She said. I was glad she said it, I needed to hear it right now.
"Bye Stella, I love you, and happy birthday." I said finally. I hung up before I had the chance to breakdown. Those could of been the last words I ever said to my daughter. The thought made me feel nauseous. Luckily for me Hotch came over.
"Is everything alright?" He asked quietly.
"I-I can't do this Hotch. What if I don't make it? What if those were the last words I will ever say to Stella? I can't leave her all alone, she needs someone." I said quickly, I was panicking.
"She won't be alone Reid. She's got the whole team, she's got your father, she's got her friends and she's got Henry. Nothing will happen to you either, I'm going to make sure of that. You've got to go through with this, we both know that it's the only way." Hotch stated sternly. I was glad that he sounded so certain that this would work. I needed it, I couldn't back down now, for Stella's sake.
"Okay, you're right, lets just get this over with." I sighed. Hotch nodded and walked back to his seat. I poured myself a coffee, to calm my nerves and joined him.
"Is everything alright?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine. She's just a little bit upset. But Henry's looking after her." I replied with a smile. I also hated keeping this from the team, but it was too risky for them too know, she had eyes and ears everywhere.
"He better be." JJ said. As harsh as she always was on Henry she did love him. I hated doing this to Henry. He was my godson, but I thought of him as the son I never had.
"Well I just can't wait to see the look on her face when we give her all her presents." Emily smiled.
"Tell me about it." Rossi chuckled, mischievously.
"What did you get her?" Hotch asked.
"Reid don't kill me but I got her speakers, so she can play her interesting taste of music round the house." Rossi laughed. I faked a sigh, causing the team to laugh.
"Great." I said sarcastically. I wasn't even sure if I was going to live long enough to see Stella open all her presents. The rest of the plane ride I spent in deep thought, I'd already written Stella's birthday card. It was extremely tough, but I left her a little hint I hoped she'd understand at the end. Time flew by and it was time to get off the jet. I felt like the weight on my shoulders had increased and I just wanted to stay in the comfort of the jet. Forcing myself to get up, I made my way off the jet, to the BAU.
The ride to the BAU took longer than it should have. As I got out of the SUV my phone buzzed. The three words on the screen caused me to freeze slightly.
It's time Sweetie
Getting Stella's birthday card out of my bag, I ran towards Hotch. He saw me coming and instantly knew.
"Is it time?" He asked. I nodded.
"Just give this to her." I stated, he nodded and gave me a soft look I'd never seen before.
"I've just got to get something from the SUV, I'll be a few minutes, go up without me." I announced to the team, before turning towards the car. Once I was certain that everyone was already in the elevator, I made my way up to the roof. I had to physically will myself to go up the stairs. The only way up to the roof was by the stairwell and you needed a special code to enter anyway. I finally reached the door, and I wasn't overly surprised to see it open. Following the plan I stepped outside, barricaded the door, and went over to the woman with the gun.