Author's Note: Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter: 1xadzy3dgftw1xLSNx3dg1xMGG; Zolidify; SignedSealedWritten; and Love-B .xo. They literally spur me forward in posting, so thank you.
Special thanks to brynnifer who is pretty much the reason I finished this story. I hope this chapter is everything you dreamed it would be.
I hope this lived up to everyone's expectations.
"Zoey, why don't you leave Bubbly Bear here at home?" Lisa smiled at her daughter as she grabbed her purse, running through the list in her mind to check and make sure they weren't forgetting something.
"Mommy I need him." Zoey rolled her eyes exasperatedly, in a near perfect mimicry of her father.
Lisa looked down at her daughter, chuckling. "I'm so sorry Sweetheart." She ruffled her daughter's hair jovially.
"Can we go yet?" Zoey asked impatiently.
"The nice lady on the phone said she'd have some people pick us up. We're going to meet Daddy there."
"And my Angel?" Zoey asked expectantly.
Lisa hesitated, hoping that this elaborate plan wouldn't simply turn out to be the over-excited imagination of a seven year old. "Honey are you sure you know the lady from the TV?"
Zoey leveled a glare at her mother and Lisa nearly snorted, easily recognizing that glare from looking in the mirror.
"Sorry I asked." She held up her hands defensively.
"But how will he know how to get there?" Zoey asked after a moment, confused.
"Because we're going to the hospital where you talk to Dr. Elliot." Lisa explained patiently, wondering if she should have warned Rob that they were going to be meeting Agent Jareau.
No, why would it matter?
Besides, it would be a nice surprise to meet someone so famous.
Zoey rubbed the corner of Bubbly Bear's ear as she contemplated what that meant. "Do I hafta talk to Dr. Elliot?"
"Not today Pumpkin." Lisa smiled.
"Can I say Hi to her?" Zoey asked innocently. "Because she said when I come talk to her I get a candy bar. Can I get a candy bar?"
Lisa snorted at her daughter's one track mind. "If Dr. Elliot doesn't give you a candy bar, I'm sure your daddy will."
Zoey pulled a face. "He'll make me eat an apple too." She frowned in disgust at the thought. "Or a carrot."
Lisa chuckled at her daughter's accurate deduction. As much as her daughter had Rob (and Lisa, to some extent) wrapped around her finger, Rob was a stickler for the daily servings of vegetables.
Seconds later, a knock sounded at the door. Lisa answered the door, instinctively placing herself in between her precious daughter and the horrors that existed in the outside world. A lanky pasty man and a physically imposing black man stood on the other side, "Mrs. Nielsen, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan and this is SSA Dr. Spencer Reid." The black man held forward his credentials as if he knew that Lisa was incredibly wary of strangers near her daughter.
Lisa checked the credentials, matching them against their picture and the names of the agents she had received from some lady at the FBI.
It was crazy to think her daughter could have contact with Agent Jareau.
She quickly gestured to Zoey while she enabled the alarm system and checked her phone to make sure all the live feeds for the security cameras were streaming correctly.
She knew that she and Rob had gone a little overboard.
But she couldn't help it.
This was her daughter.
"Daddy!" Zoey cried as she jumped out of the still moving, but nearly stopped, SUV at the sight of her waiting father.
"Zoey!" Both her parents cried, Lisa nearly tripping out of the car behind her and Robert rushing toward her to scoop her up and scold her quickly. "You never do that." He nearly shouted at her, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Zoey Lynn Nielsen." Lisa ground out angrily, "If you ever do that again, I'm going to make sure Dr. Eliot only gives you apples, carrots, and peas when you come and visit here. Do I make myself clear?"
Zoey's eyes widened with terror at the thought, "I'm sorry mommy." She promised, cuddling her bear closer to her as if horrified at the very suggestion that she might be forced to eat fruit and vegetables instead of candy. "Mommy, I'm sorry." She bit her lip, tears starting to well in her eyes.
Robert shot Lisa a look, and the tired, overworked mother sighed, relenting. "It's okay baby." She closed her eyes as she tried to regain control. "I just—I love you so much. I worry about you."
"Can we see Dr. Eliot and say Hi first?" Zoey asked innocently, not noticing the two FBI Agents who came to stand beside the small family.
"Yes." Dr. Nielsen smiled at his daughter. "Let's go see Dr. Eliot."
JJ fidgeted, nervously pulling at her eyebrow as Will and Henry walked into the large sitting room. She tried not to feel anxious, tried to remind herself that despite the growing number of people, all of them were her friends.
People she knew.
That cared about her.
"What—" Her fingers trembled and she nervously clasped her hands, not wanting any of her friends to see her like this, "What are you all doing here?" She shifted in the comfortable chair, "Why are they here?" She asked quickly disentangling her clasped hands as she began biting her fingernail in an attempt to calm herself.
"I think you'll like this." Garcia smiled excitedly, forcing away the pessimistic thought that reminded her that most things she ever tried to do with JJ ended in massive, utter failure.
This would be better.
This would be like the ipod, the songs, the bracelet.
All of the good things that hadn't failed.
This wouldn't be like the salad, the food, the time she accidentally gave JJ a stuffed animal—a fluffy puppy.
This would be good.
"A woman called me yesterday, she said her family needed to meet you." Penelope reminded, hating the fact that JJ could look so…broken…while still trying to be strong.
Emily, who was sitting in the chair next to JJ, rubbed the other woman's leg carefully. "It's going to be okay, JJ."
Hotch, seeing JJ's increasing distress gestured to Emily to follow him. They were going to find a doctor to help JJ.
He couldn't bear to see her in pain.
And though Garcia hadn't told him who this 'meeting' was supposed to be with, he didn't care if they had to scrap the whole thing.
Because he had vowed he would never let JJ suffer in pain again.
And he wasn't about to give up now.
"Dr. Eliot!" Zoey cried happily as they stopped by the familiar doctor's office. The FBI Agents who had been by their sides quietly excused themselves to join their former colleague down the hall.
"Hi Zoey." Dr. Eliot, a warm woman in her mid-forties smiled brightly, "How are you today?"
"I came to get a candy bar." Zoey informed her seriously. "Can I have a candy bar?"
"Well Zoey, we don't have an appointment for today." Dr. Miranda Eliot smirked at Zoey's parents over the top of the seven-year-old's head. The entire upper management of the facility was aware of Zoey Nielsen meeting Jennifer Jareau, but considering the way that Zoey's father—a doctor she had worked with many times and respected greatly—was nervously biting his lip, she quickly surmised that he still didn't know Zoey's Angel's identity.
This was going to make one Hallmark moment.
Zoey's face fell. "You're not going to make me eat peas are you?" She asked, obviously distressed as she looked back at her mother. "Mommy, tell her she doesn't have to give me peas!"
Lisa chuckled. "I don't know—"
"Please!" Zoey begged. "I'll be good! I promise."
Seeing her parents nod with amusement, Dr. Eliot pulled out a fun-sized candy bar out of her white coat pocket. "Here you go. Don't eat it all too quickly." Miranda winked at the child who had stopped paying attention to her therapist and was now fixated on the chocolate-y goodness.
Oh, to be a child again.
She breathed slowly, trying to force away the frightening thoughts she knew came only from things that weren't really there.
Everything was fine.
Emily was on one side of her, Penelope was on the other.
Hotch just left to get her new doctor.
Morgan, Reid, Rossi, Will and Henry were all standing outside the room, trying to give her space.
It was all going to be okay.
JJ forced herself not to flinch, not to completely shut down, as a woman ran into the room, "JJ, how are you doing, are you feeling okay?" JJ's new therapist, a blonde in her mid thirties, asked rushing toward her new patient with concern.
JJ bit her fingernail nervously, wondering—not for the first time—why this couldn't all be over, why she still had to feel this way. "Scared." JJ gulped, "I'm scared. And I—I can't—I don't—"
"JJ, it's okay for you to feel scared." Dr. Gale smiled at her patient who was remarkably calm despite the stress of the situation surrounding her. "You've been through a lot of stress lately, it's okay for you to feel nervous."
"They—" JJ looked around the room. "They're all here. Why are they here? They should—there are too many people." She muttered nervously.
"JJ, if you can calm down there is someone here who would like to meet you." Dr. Ruth Gale reminded JJ softly. "Can you calm down?"
"They're all looking at me. They're all—they are here." JJ shuddered against the hand Penelope had placed around her shoulder. Sensing that this was all getting to be a little too much for her friend, Garcia pulled back to give JJ a little more space.
"What do you think would help you not feel scared?" Dr. Gale asked calmly, proud that her patient had already made such strides in managing her own anxiety.
JJ shook her head, "Don't know. They're all…everyone is looking at me. Everyone is looking..."
"Would you feel better sitting out in the TV room for a while? You can take a minute there." Dr. Gale suggested easily. "You don't have to come back until you are ready."
JJ practically bolted from her seat, darting out of the room to the small alcove hidden around the corner of the large fish tank that took up nearly an entire wall.
"Is she going to be okay?" Garcia asked in a pained whisper.
"She just needs a minute." Dr. Gale replied, thoughtfully rubbing her chin. "Agent Prentiss, can I speak with you and Agent Hotchner outside for a moment?"
"Absolutely." Emily agreed and without a word the two agents stepped just outside the back door, oblivious to the small family accompanied by Dr. Eliot who entered the room from another direction.
Fidgeting with curiosity at the boring adults, Zoey noticed the giant fish in the enormous fish tank that lined the big room of the hospital.
She loved fish.
Stepping away slowly, she watched the fish swim with awestruck wonder at the sight as one big blue fish with a yellow tail—Steve—wiggled his way behind a large rock.
Mystified, and wanting to get a better look at Steve, Zoey stepped around the fish tank not bothering to care that she had once again slipped out of her parents' sight. She watched for nearly a minute as the large fish swam in circles until she heard
"I can do this. It's okay." A woman murmured softly with her head buried in her hands.
She just looked so sad.
Easily forgetting Steve the fish, Zoey watched the woman curiously for a minute, pulling her teddy bear just a little closer.
She just look sad, she looked scared.
Without a second thought, Zoey walked over to the woman and snuggled up onto the chair next to her, content to just sit in silence for a minute.
"I was scared to be here once too." Zoey admitted, "But I liked the fish and my Mommy and Daddy kept bringing me back." She explained.
Zoey cocked her head as she watched the woman who kept her head buried in her hands.
Frowning, she watched the woman a little longer before she glanced down at the bear in her hands. Thrusting the bear toward the woman, her eyes grew wide as the woman looked up and took the bear into her own hands.
"Hi." Zoey waved, her eyes widening as she recognized the woman in the chair next to her.
JJ blinked, as if uncertain if the image before her was really there.
A young, healthy, bright seven year old with brown curly hair.
Zoey smiled and sat back in her chair as JJ stared at her in surprise.
"Zoey?" JJ asked uncertainly.
"I didn't go to the red truck." Zoey said, reaching her hand into her teddy bear and pulling out a worn, stained piece of paper. "And I made it home to mommy."
JJ opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Accepting the piece of paper, she gasped, pulling her hand up to cover her mouth in shock.
It was her note.
Her note.
"I kept it safe." Zoey informed sincerely, and at the seven year old's words, tears rolled down JJ's face.
Because that note, her note, had been calculated to help her be found.
And it was sitting inside a teddy bear of a seven year old.
Seeing the child looking at her expectantly, waiting for some sort of validation, JJ smiled despite the tears coursing down her face. "Thank you." She smiled.
Zoey was alive.
Which meant, Manuel had lied to her.
And Zoey was alive.
"Zoey Lynn Nielsen!" Robert yelled as he rounded the corner, petrified that his daughter could slip away so easily. "I have told you—" He stood rooted to the spot, utterly shocked at the sight in front of him.
His patient. His daughter. Sitting together like old friends.
"JJ?" Dr. Nielsen stopped and for a moment, he wondered if his own heart stopped. "Zoey."
"Hi Daddy." Zoey smiled, snuggling closer to JJ who had tears rushing down her face as she put her shaking arm around the child.
No.
Not JJ.
Because this meant….
No.
He felt tears burn at his eyes. Zoey's Angel and his scared, abused, tortured patient—they weren't just two victims put in similar situations.
They were the same.
And his patient, his patient that he had spent hours trying to help just to go home and thank God that his daughter hadn't suffered a similar fate.
His patient, had saved his daughter from the very hell she could have escaped.
His patient was the woman who he would never be able to thank enough.
No.