School Report –
Kate walked slowly out of school, dragging her school bag along the path until she got into the car with Garcia, throwing her bag onto the back seat.
"Hi pumpkin good day at school?"
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"
Garcia looked over at Kate and immediately saw how upset the young girl was.
"Kate...what's the matter sweetheart?"
Kate turned angrily away and stared out of the window, Garcia puffed out her cheeks before she decided to give Kate some time so she started up Esther and drove back to her apartment.
Kate kept silent as she and Garcia walked up to the apartment, once inside Kate dropped her school bag and shut herself in the bathroom, Garcia sighed as she got out her phone.
"Prentiss."
"Hi Em, I hate to do this to you, I know you don't need this right not but it's Kate."
"What...is she ok?"
"Calm down Em she's fine...well she's upset about something, she's shut herself in the bathroom and won't speak to me."
"Oh."
"It's ok I'll handle it, I just wanted to let you know and if you can think of anything that could have upset her?"
"Ummm...I can't think of anything...she seems to be getting on ok at school, well you know that she is struggling to catch up. Hey look Garcia I've got to go Hotch needs me to do an interview."
"Ok sweetie, I'll find out what's bothering Kate and give you a ring later, take care."
"Thanks Garcia and good luck."
Garcia sat on the sofa and waited, she knew eventually Kate's resolve would break and she would venture out of the bathroom. Garcia's foot accidentally kicked the girl's school bag and an envelope fell out, Garcia bent over and picked it up. It was a large A4 envelope that had already been torn opened despite the fact that it was addressed to the Parent/Guardian of Katherine Stanley Prentiss. Garcia had a hold of the envelope as the bathroom door opened and Kate sheepishly walked out and over to the sofa where she slumped down next to Garcia.
"I'm sorry Aunt Pen."
"It's ok sweetie, do you want to tell me what's got you all upset?"
Kate scooted closer to Garcia and reached over to grab the envelope from Garcia's hands.
"Mom is going to be so disappointed in me, I'm such a failure."
Kate reached inside the envelope and pulled out the contents and placed it on Garcia's lap, Garcia picked it up and read the front cover.
"Oh it's your school report!"
"Mom is going to be mad, it's terrible Aunt Pen!"
"Oh sweetie it can't be 'that' bad and you should know by now that your mom could never be mad at you."
Garcia wrapped her arms around Kate and pulled her tightly into a hug letting the young girl cry onto her shoulder. Eventually Kate lifted her head up and looked at Garcia through her tear-stained eyes.
"Can I ring mom?"
"Of course sweetie, she was busy earlier but I'm sure she'd love to hear from you."
Garcia passed over her cell phone and watched as Kate quickly scrolled through and found the number she was looking for.
Emily picked up and answered her cell so quickly that she didn't look at who was calling.
"Prentiss."
"Mom."
"Oh hey munchkin, are you ok? I spoke to Garcia earlier and she said you were a little upset."
"Yeah just some stuff at school...when are you coming back?"
"Well good news there, we've just finished so we'll be flying back first thing tomorrow so I get to spend the weekend with you!"
"Ok well take care and I'll see you tomorrow. I love you mom."
"I love you too Kate."
Kate passed the phone back across to Garcia and blinked the tears away from her eyes.
"Well Kate what do you want to do tonight?"
"Burn this so mom doesn't find out how dumb I really am?"
Garcia laughed as she took the school report from Kate and put it back in the envelope.
"So not going to happen Kate, you are not going to wriggle out of this one young lady. Now we are going to order in some Chinese, choose a DVD and relax and forget all about this ok?"
Kate nodded and wandered over to look through the DVDs, knowing that once Garcia had made her mind up there was no changing it and she had no chance of avoiding giving her mother the school report the next day.
Kate wanted to stay asleep all day, hoping that way she could avoid giving her mom the school report but as she was hiding under the covers pretending to sleep she heard a familiar voice.
"Kate, come on I know that you're not asleep!"
Kate groaned at the sound of her mom's cheerful voice. Emily lifted up the covers and poked her head underneath and looked at Kate.
"Hey munchkin are you going to come out of there or am I going to have to come in and join you?"
Kate squiggled and gradually moved up the bed so that her head was poking out of the covers as she looked at her mom.
"So are you going to tell me why you are hiding in the bed at 10am on a Saturday morning?"
Emily looked seriously at her adopted daughter, she knew that something was bothering her, Garcia hadn't said much to her when she arrived at the apartment and she wanted some answers from Kate.
"I've got something to show you, but if I do can you promise me you are not going to be mad at me?"
Emily smiled and hugged her daughter, it had been eight days since she had seen her and it broke her heart to think that she had been away when Kate was upset and she hadn't been there to comfort her.
"Come on Kate you know me better than that, you know I would never be mad at you."
Kate got up from the bed and walked out into the living area of Garcia's apartment where the colourful analyst was waiting with the envelope.
"Gee thanks Aunt Pen, do you think next time you could be a little bit more subtle?"
"I do my best sweetie! I'm going to go and catch up with my online friends so I'll leave you guys to it!"
Garcia grabbed her laptop and walked through to her bedroom leaving Emily and Kate sitting next to each other on the sofa.
Kate sat down next to her mom and passed the envelope over to her, Emily gratefully took it and laughed when she saw that it had already been opened.
"So you're opening the mail now?"
"Well I wanted to be prepared."
Emily took deep breath and took out what was in the envelope.
"Oh it's your school report...oh honey is this why you were so upset yesterday?"
Kate felt the tears well up in her eyes again as Emily put her arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards her.
"I know how hard it was for you and Grandma to convince them to let me go to that school, after all the school that I have missed and how far behind I am, I don't want to let you down..."
"Sweetie, trust me I know how hard school is for you and I also know how hard you are working...I don't need to read this."
"But..."
Emily put her finger over her daughter's mouth to stop any words from leaving her mouth and pulled her tightly into a hug once again.
"Ah, see I knew everything would be ok Kate!"
Kate and Emily turned and looked at a grinning Garcia and finally Kate broke into a smile that was as wide as Emily's.