AN: Hi there! I know, I know. It's been a long time since I last updated this story. But I've been busy with university stuff and I've been in a very bad writer's block. The ideas would come to my mind but I just couldn't put them in the computer! Secondly, I was surprised to find out that there is an actress with exactly the same name I've chosen to my character Nina. I swear, I don't watch The Vampire Diaries. I was scrolling tumblr's dashboard and I saw her. It was kinda funny though. LOL

I wanna thank everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed and alerted this story. I need your feedback, guys. It's very important to me. And last, but not least, I wanna thank liv . einziger because she's much more than a wonderful beta, she's one of my best friends. Thank you Liv! Btw, you should try reading her stories, you won't regret it!

Disclaimer: Not my characters. I'm not even sure if I own Nina anymore. LOL

CHAPTER 3 - Disappointment

Taking a look at the clock once in every five minutes wasn't a Teresa Lisbon characteristic. However, she didn't have anything else to do, and in most days she wouldn't be anxious about anything as she was to pick Nina from the hospital today. She had asked Van Pelt to try to locate the closest relative in Nina's family, so the girl wouldn't be in foster care. But, until that time, only a distant aunt was found. Lisbon had been pondering if they should call her anyway.

When the clock hit 4pm, Lisbon put her jacket on and got out of her office. Van Pelt immediately raised her hand.

"Boss!" She called. "Nobody else was found. It's like none of her parents had any siblings."

"Okay, so call that relative you found. I bet she'll be a bit surprised with a niece she didn't even know that existed, but if it's the best we can find, that'll have to do. "

"Meh, surprises can be good. And I bet she'll be even happy… She might live in an old house full of cats." Jane said from the couch, with eyes closed. "Not that there's anything wrong about living with cats…"

Lisbon sighed. "Cho and Rigsby, what've you guys found?"

"Anthony had been working on a case involving petroleum and very rich people. Apparently some important information leaked during the process…"

"There was a death threat on him." Cho dropped a file on the table. "Ravi Salazar: The big boss of the Palestine oil. Anthony's defense, against him on the court, was so good that got him a little angry."

"But he's not the only one." Rigsby continued. "Arieanna Lecter made several calls to the Dobrev's residence and I have the feeling that they weren't to talk about good things."

"So call those two people and bring them in. Maybe we won't be able to keep them but an interview won't hurt." She shrugged. "Let's have a little surprise ourselves." Lisbon smiled and made her way to the elevator. Jane raised his head to see which way she was going and got up to follow her.

"Wait!" She heard Jane's plead. "What about me?" He was coming on her direction and could see that she was thinking. "You are going to the hospital, right? Can I come with you? I'd really like to talk to Nina… See if I can get anything form her…"

"Actually, I'd like you to tidy up the attic. Otherwise, Nina won't have a comfortable place to stay here while waiting for her aunt."

"Oh, okay… Ahm…" The elevator arrived. "Nevermind." Lisbon looked at him with a curious face, but he would soon be with Nina, he could make his observations later.

"Okay… Bye. Oh, and Jane!" She held the door and pressed the elevator's button. "Help Rigsby and Cho with the interviews, if I'm not back in time." He nodded at her, while the door closed slowly.

Nina stared at the door, waiting for someone to come. She'd been alone for a long time already as not even doctors were coming to pay her a visit. Because of that, she was extremely bored and sad. Her parents would always come to her mind, only to remember her that she would never be with them anymore. She remembered always hearing about a place called hell in the mass and wondered if she was in this place right now. Everything seemed to be gloomier than before. Her sense of loss was intense and pain washed over her, not only because of her parents, but also because she couldn't remember anything and she knew that there was something important.

Instead, Nina remembered about times when she went to hospitals only to drink hot chocolate that came from a few machines and tried to remember if hospitals were always quiet and melancholic like this. She wondered when she would ever be able to think of hospitals as hot chocolate sellers again. But actually, she just wanted to get out. She had had enough of the depressive smell, blunt food and lack of colors. Maybe that was the main thing that made this place so sad. Everywhere she looked was white or gray and she craved for an ice cream.

The door suddenly opened, revealing Dr. Adams and his comforting smile for the first time that day. "Nina? Hi, glad you're awake! I have good news."

"Will I get outta here?" She asked, enthusiastically.

"Yes, you will." He opened the door wider, with a smile, revealing the agent.

"Hey Nina, are you ready?" Teresa entered the room and smiled encouragingly to the little girl.

"Yeah, sure!" She got out of the bed quickly and stood right beside the dark-haired woman, taking her hand. Lisbon frowned with the unexpected contact, but soon relaxed.

"Is it okay, can she really go?" Lisbon asked the doctor.

"Well, yeah. Her body's health is fine and I'm sure that she'll recover her full memory in no time. I'll just ask you to motivate her on this process, if you know what I mean." She nodded and he gave her a few papers inside of an envelope. "Here are her documents, analyses and prescriptions. Her clothes are on the chair, but I think that it'd be better if she could get new ones, or access to her own. I'm afraid that these are kind of ruined, even though our nurses tried to wash them twice."

"That won't be a problem doctor. Thank you." She took Nina in her arms and nodded to him.

"You're welcome agent Lisbon. Bye Nina!"

The girl waved back and started to observe everything as they walked through the corridor. Lisbon didn't know whether to start a conversation or not, as she wasn't very good at this. They proceeded to the parking lot and the agent fastened the seat belt around Nina. She wasn't very talkative. Even though her mood would suggest that, her everyday self was actually imaginative and a bit of an introverted instead of outgoing like most of the kids.

"Where are we going?" The girl asked, after Teresa started the car.

"To the CBI. But don't worry, we're gonna find you a place to stay." She glanced at Nina through the mirror. She looked concerned and seemed to be trying very hard not to cry. The sight made Lisbon's heart tight inside her chest. She knew what it was like to lose people you loved and she knew it wasn't good, not even a bit. The memories, the sadness, the loneliness… She could imagine what Nina was going through. "We won't pick anybody stranger though. Or, at least we'll try not to." She tried to comfort Nina, but the girl knew better.

She knew she didn't have any aunts or uncles. She knew her only grandfather lived miles across the country and she hadn't seen him for ages. She knew that anybody that this CBI would find would be completely strange to her. But she kept quiet for she also knew that this agent was only trying to comfort her and she was thankful for it. So "Okay" was all that she managed to say while she kept looking at the window.

Aretha stormed into the bullpen, startling the three agents who worked silently. "I wanna talk to the girl who called me!"

"And you are?" Cho asked, bluntly.

"Aretha. Someone called me saying that I should come and pick a child up."

The woman was loud. She didn't care much about her appearance or politeness. Aretha was wearing some old clothes, ripped a little in some places. She didn't seem to have a lot of money, but they assumed she could look after Nina if she tried, even though she didn't look like an ideal foster mother. The team exchanged looks and looked at Jane later. He was observing Aretha attentively, probably trying to read her.

"It was me." Van Pelt finally said, getting up and stretching her hand towards the woman. "I'm Agent Grace Van Pelt, pleased to meet you."

"Well I'm not." Van Pelt jerked and recoiled her hand. "There's a reason for me to have gone away from the Dobrev family and I don't want to take care of their little brat!"

They all stood in silence. Not only because Aretha was being extremely rude and disrespectful, but also because Lisbon had just entered the bullpen along with Nina, who had heard most of Aretha's speech.

"First of all, Ma'am, I'd like to warn you about your attitude towards a state agent. Secondly, I'm sure that Rigsby and Cho would love to hear your reasons, as the Dobrev family has just been murdered and you, like you said, might have your reason for doing such a thing." The agent felt Nina pressing her hands tightly. Jane felt the necessity to make his point, but waited for the woman to correspond to Lisbon's authority.

"You can't arrest me!" Aretha turned around to face Lisbon and spotted a little girl, with a frightened expression, in some baggy clothes. Jane could tell that Nina was feeling uncomfortable with the situation, and everyone else could say that too, if they were paying attention to her. Her skin was turning in an intense shade of red not in a cute, but in a worrisome way. He knew she'd been holding up for way too long. "Look, I know that life is not being good for that girl lately, but their death is none of my business. I had trouble with them and walked away, plain and simple. I have nothing to do with their deaths, just like I have nothing to do with this girl. I don't wanna take care of anybody's kid. I'm not a nanny, for God's sake!" She got closer to Nina and talked directly to her. Lisbon resisted the urge to push her away, but waited, still hoping for this situation to turn out good. "Girl, I gotta tell you, this life's not easy. Maybe it's time for you to learn…"

"That's it." Jane got up from his couch abruptly. "That's enough. Come with me Nina. This… Woman doesn't deserve you." He took the girl's little hand and nodded to Lisbon, who sadly nodded back. He wanted to take the kid to her former house, get a few clothes, toys and maybe even catch up with her memory.

He took her in his arms and she tightened her grip around his shoulders. He could just feel the wet tears rolling from her face to his suit. He knew she wanted to cry but was ashamed of doing in front of everyone, after all she had just witnessed a horrible thing: rejection. More than that, that rejection was based on nothing but selfishness.

Back to the bullpen, the team was still staring at Aretha, especially Lisbon, whose looks could kill if she wanted to. "Well, I'm sorry that we contacted you." Lisbon said gently, putting her hand on her front pockets, careful to cover all of her disgust.

"Excuse me?"

"We thought that you were going to be a nice person for Nina, and help her face this sad and difficult moment, I mean, based on our past experiences. We thought you'd be glad to know about this distant niece. But we were wrong. You're just plain selfish. I'm sorry that me and my team, and moreover Nina, had to go through this ridiculous disappointment." She stood in silence one more time, leaving Aretha speechless.

"This is the moment when you walk away." Cho clarified and the woman immediately got out, swearing and hissing to herself.

"That was close." Grace said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah… But we must keep an eye on this one. After all, she did say that she had some reason to move away from the Dobrev's." Lisbon Said and looked around. "Does anybody know where Jane took Nina?"

"No, but any place was better than here." Rigsby sighed. "I was looking forward to meeting her though… She looks a lot like you, Lisbon."

She looked at him with a frowning expression. "Okay, I guess… Anyway, I guess we'll just have to trust Jane on this one."

"Yeah, like in every other one…" Grace muttered.

Lisbon walked towards Jane's couch and took his cellphone in her hands. "Weird," Cho noticed. "He never forgets anything."

"I don't quite think he forgot… We all know that Jane always has a plan…" Lisbon said.

"And never lets us in it." Rigsby finished, rolling his eyes.

AN: please, please, please, let me get what I want this time... Just a little review... *-*