My Life Had Stood
Chapter 44: A Father's Revelation Pt 2
"Mr. Reid, you really should have told your son about his sister sooner." Hotch said instead of answering William's question. Or even allowing himself to say what he hoped - that he was wrong about Alsie, if only for Spencer's sake.
"...what is it?" William eyed the man before him, trying to discern what it was that first Spencer, and now Hotch were reluctant to tell him. "Is Elsie...is my daughter..."
"Adrienne Leigh is all right." Hotch replied, heading into the hospital with the other man. Instead of heading straight to the brunette woman's room, he led the older Reid to an empty hall on the same floor. "I think it'd be best to wait for a DNA test before anyone outside of you, myself, and Spencer finds out about this." Hotch briefly considered mentioning Garcia too, but didn't. Unless they found proof, it was likely the tech analyst wouldn't believe let alone mention it to the rest of the team.
"Why? Is there a reason to doubt..."
"It's...complicated. Adrienne Leigh and Spencer, they..." Hotch faltered, hesitant to tell the other man the truth. "They met a while ago. About two months, I believe. Neither knew anything about, possibly, being related."
William Reid's eyes ran over Hotch's face and body language, gleaning quite a bit from each. He took a step back, his brain fathoming the reason behind why the agent's explanation sounded like an excuse. His eyes widened and his lips parted slightly in shock. The explanation dawning on him through a fog.
"Are you...are you trying to say that...that Spencer and...Elsie...they were..."
"Dating. Yeah." A new voice chirped, before giving a slight giggle. Its owner approached the two men, running her tongue over her lips.
"Adrienne? You should be resting..." Hotch said, his surprise at seeing the brunette sauntering towards them made him forget that the elder Reid was there.
Hearing that name, William spun around, not at all sure what he would see. Or should expect. His eyes widened further once he saw Alsie, quickly noting how similar she was to Spencer. Though her short stature hindered his view of her, especially as she got closer, the fact that her hair was pulled back allowed him a clear view of her face.
"No." Alsie chirped, smiling in such a way at the two men that Hotch grew concerned. His eyes narrowed, noticing how prominent the brunette's face was displayed, despite the scar. Though he'd only met her the other day, he felt that that scar was something Alsie always hid. He started to repeat his question, when Alsie interrupted. "Ana. Alsie's taking a...respite."
The brunette licked her lip, actually 'tracing her lips with her tongue' was a more apt description. Her brown eyes flowed over the two men, observing them from top to bottom. She giggled.
Hotch froze, surprised. Though not from Alsie being Ana, since Spencer had mentioned that alter, but rather from how the alter acted. The younger agent hadn't mention how flirtatious Alsie's alter Ana was. It felt extremely unnerving, watching Ana eye them so licentiously. And with abandon.
"Ana..."
"What? What..." William muttered, completely discombobulated. He stared at her, recognizing her through the similarities with Spencer as well as his fatherly instincts. Yet he also noticed how wantonly she gazed at him as well as Hotch.
Ana giggled again and started to approach. Her lips set in a seductive smile and her eyes voracious.
"Mr. Reid, we should probably wait to finish our talk." Hotch said, stepping forward as though to stop Ana's approach towards the other man. His mind blaring at him that if Ana seemed shocking to him, then William must be beyond shock. This woman was the man's daughter!
"No...this...does she..." William shook his head, terrified for Alsie more than disturbed by her flirtatious behavior. He actually barely noted the latter. His thoughts instead immediately shifted to his wife and all her behavior, symptoms through the years. Only when he realized that the behavior he saw in Alsie was different than any Diana had ever showed, did he feel a modicum better. "Elsie...?"
"I said Ana." The brunette rolled her eyes, and gave a small pout, her gaze shifting to Hotch. She had stepped close enough to lean into the agent's chest, which she attempted to do. "...you know, you're quite..."
"No." Hotch shook his head and pushed the woman away firmly, though at the same time gently. His height allowed him to easily see over the brunette's head, and he motioned for a nurse to come over. "Could you make sure she gets back to her room?" He asked the nurse quietly, while William gaped behind him.
"I will." The nurse said, taking hold of Alsie-Ana's shoulders and guiding her away. "Come along, dear."
"Hotchner, what...what does she have?" William asked, bracing himself. He continued to stare after Alsie - or Ana, or whatever she called herself, resigning himself to hearing the answer.
"Adrienne has dissociative personality disorder." Hotch replied, drawing the other man's attention back to him. Even if only for a brief moment. Until this moment the agent had been ambivalent about whether to believe that Alsie had D.I.D, since they hadn't managed to get records confirming the diagnosis. Which was more due to the fact that 'Allison Schmidt' had a private psychiatrist who didn't keep any electronic records on her patients, than any active deception.
"You're sure?" William asked, simply for confirmation rather than because he doubted the other man. His first thought was relief, since one of the things he'd learned over the years of dealing with Diana's diagnosis, was that schizophrenia and D.I.D were seldom, if ever, co-morbid. So Alsie's having the latter meant she couldn't have the former.
"Mr. Reid, we should discuss this privately. About the DNA..."
"Come on. That is definitely my daughter. She resembles Spencer so much...Diana was right, if I'd seen them when she had, I'd have known..." William mumbled, reminded of how insistent his wife had been twenty-five years ago. He sighed, his eyes narrowing in confusion, and his gut clenching as he recalled what 'Ana' had said. "How...how could...they were dating? How did none of you notice, that she looks...how...?"
Hotch grimaced, the question extremely awkward. Now that he'd seen Alsie's face unhampered by her hair, he saw the resemblance even more. "No one aside from Spencer, and our tech analyst Garcia, had met Adrienne until yesterday. Furthermore, I doubt if even Spencer ever saw her face fully, since she compulsively hides the scarred side with her hair. Besides..." Hotch paused, glowering at the other man who seemed to be judging them. "You never told Spencer about his sister, so he had no reason to suspect anything of the resemblance even if he had noticed."
William was about to respond, likely to protest, but stopped. Instead he cursed, feeling sickened by guilt. He should've told Spencer sooner and he should never have given up searching for his daughter. He cursed again, at himself and the Crawfords.
"Mr. Re..." Hotch started to speak, his attention on the other man, and it wasn't until he felt someone touch his arm that he realized that Alsie - or rather Ana - was back.
"C'mon you reeeally wanna send me away?" Ana pouted, pressing herself against Hotch's arm and holding tightly to his wrist.
"A...Ana, let go." Hotch demanded, surprised by how strong of a grip the woman had. It was so different than what he'd expect from someone so demure, almost meek, as Alsie.
"Don't wanna." Ana purred, gazing up at Hotch, her lips twisted between a smirk and a pout. The agent did manage to free his arm from her grip after a few moments, aided by William Reid grabbing Ana.
"Elsie, stop." William grabbed her by the shoulders, perplexed by her actions. The flirtation and mannerisms Ana exhibited, and how she seemed oblivious to the uneasiness they caused, dumbfounded him. "Els..."
"'Ana'." Ana pouted, though rather more petulantly than flirtatious. Her burnt umber eyes gazed over William and she tilted her head, showing off the non-scarred side. His eyes widened, deeply disconcerted at the way 'Ana' looked at him. The exact same one she'd given Hotch. She licked her lip and giggled.
William gaped, speechless. He wondered suddenly if prying her off of the agent's arm was worth the revulsion twirling in his stomach and brain in response to 'Ana's' shifting her flirtation to him. He glanced towards Hotch, his eyes widening as he noticed the agent head down the hall a few steps.
It didn't take long to realize why. The nurse that had originally started to escort Alsie-Ana back to her room, was hunched over clutching her nose. Blood flowed copiously from the nurse's nose, staining her hand, while some orderlies hurried to help staunch it.
William stared at the scene, still holding onto Alsie-Ana's shoulders. His faced paled as he realized what had happened. "El...Ana, you attacked the nurse. Why...?"
Ana blinked and glanced back at the ruckus, emotionally oblivious to it. She shrugged and turned back to William, mumbling after her eyes met his. "She was dragging me away. I didn't wanna leave."
"Ana, you have to go back to your room." Hotch said, glancing at William Reid and then toward the group tending to the injured nurse. His mouth twitched as he noticed a few stockier hospital employees approach, their intent easily discernible, even if he hadn't noticed the syringe in one of their hands.
Obviously they thought 'Ana' needed to be sedated, something Hotch couldn't fault them for after her attack on the nurse.
"Ana, no." William shook his head and held firmly to her arms when 'Ana' moved as though to press herself against him. Between his revulsion, shock, and the surreality of the situation, he didn't know what else to do. This sort of situation, even without Ana's sickening flirtation, was one he'd never been able to deal with. At least not comfortably.
"C'mon, why..." Ana sulked, trying again to lean into the man holding her, only to be cut off by a pinch on her arm. One of nurses or orderlies, or whatever, had poked the syringe into her and injected a sedative. She mumbled a little before passing out.
William Reid swallowed, shaken as he felt the petite woman - his daughter - collapse in his arms. He refused to allow the nurses and orderlies to take her from him, his gut and heart wrenched with emotion. He knew she was only sedated, but an intense dread overtook him, gnawing at his insides.
"Please, give us a second."
He heard Hotch tell the nurse and orderlies who insisted on bringing Alsie back to her room immediately. William Reid tensed when he heard one of them mention something about the psych ward.
"...he's her father." Hotch told the medical personnel, silencing their protests over why he was stopping them from taking Alsie. "As her next of kin, he's in charge of any medical decisions while she's unconscious."
"Be that as it may, we can't leave a sedated patient in the corridors. She has to be brought back to her room in this wing at the very least." The head nurse of the wing said, clicking her tongue as though to say she thought it foolish to leave her in this hospital wing.
"...understood." Hotch replied, turning back to William, who cradled the petite woman close to him. "Mr. Reid..."
"All right. But I'm staying with her until she wakes up." William Reid stood up, holding Alsie up with little effort. He grimaced when the medical personnel insisted in carrying her instead for liability concerns. He conceded though, and followed behind as Alsie was brought to her room.
Hotch remained in the hall, and took out his cell once he saw the door to Alsie's room shut. He quickly dialed a number. "Hello? Garcia..."