Two updates in one weekend. I'm proud of myself considering I wrote them both within 48 hours and finished all of my homework too. Haha well I don't have a useless rant today, so lets just get into the chapter!
(I don't own anything blah blah blah you know the drill with the disclaimers)
Have fun!
Morgan walked into the room where Reid and Makaia currently resided. He smiled when he saw them both eating Jell-O; well, Reid was nibbling on it and Makaia was more poking it, but the dessert reminded him of Reid's anthrax scare.
Morgan scraped the last bit of Reid's cherry Jell-O from the container. A voice startled him as he put the spoon in his mouth. "Are you eating Jell-O?"
Morgan swallowed and smiled, relieved to see his best friend awake. "Hey kid." He turned to the open door and called, "Hey, Doc. He's awake."
Morgan heard Reid's voice again, and almost laughed out loud at his question. "Is there any MORE Jell-O?"
"Hey, pretty boy." Morgan greeted, choosing to ignore the scratch marks on his face for now. "Nice to see you awake." He walked further into the room, placing the backpack he was carrying at the foot of Makaia's bed. "How're you feeling?" he asked her gently.
"Better." Makaia seemed to forget she was in a room full of profilers, but nobody mentioned that they could see right through her lie. They couldn't make her talk. Not yet at least.
"Well I grabbed some clothes for you." Morgan gestured to the bag before walking over to Blake and handing her the coffee he'd gone to pick up in the first place. He hadn't minded stopping by the Charston's house, he hated seeing the blood all over Makaia. She was too innocent for that.
"Thanks." She nodded and put her uneaten Jell-O back on the tray before getting up off the bed, grabbing the bag and going into the bathroom to change. Once inside, she locked the door and leaned back against it for a moment, letting her arm drop form the IV rack and letting her purple plaid backpack fall to the floor. She slid to the ground and buried her head in her knees.
She wasn't scared. She wasn't angry. She wasn't even sad. She just felt completely and utterly empty. Alone. She didn't even want to cry, which was good because no tears came. She just sat on the tile floor, oblivious to time passing, numb to everything.
Reid placed his half empty Jell-O container back on his tray along with his spoon, he didn't really feel like eating. Morgan sat on the edge of Reid's bed, smirking at him. The kid was more resilient than a rubber band… if you stretched those too far they snapped. But not Reid. Nothing broke him. Although, Morgan wasn't so sure that Reid would be in such a neutral state of mind in a few days. He knew Reid well enough to know that his walls were up and super reinforced at the moment. He was being strong and not telling anyone he was struggling. The team had seen this after Hankel. And after Gideon. Morgan just prayed Reid would let them in eventually.
Blake wanted-needed-to break the silence. It was too heavy. And it let her mind wander to unpleasant places, thinking about the warehouse they found Reid and Makaia in; thinking about what Reid looked like when she and JJ first found him.
"Reid." he looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with curiosity. "Did you tell Morgan your plan?"
"Plan?" Morgan asked, slightly confused. "What plan?"
"Well…" he started sheepishly. "Garcia is helping me out with something. She's getting paperwork faxed here and contacting people-"
"Spit it out, kid." Morgan chuckled. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed Reid's rambling.
"I'm going to foster Makaia." His voice was hesitant, as if he couldn't believe what he'd said. "I mean, if she wants to, of course."
"Really?" Morgan was surprised at the statement. He hadn't known Reid was open to the idea of having kids. He thought it was an amazing idea though; Reid would be an amazing father, especially to a fellow child genius.
"Yeah." Morgan saw an almost-smile creep onto Reid's lips, but the expression didn't reach his blank eyes. "When we have nonlocal cases she can stay with Garcia. I have a spare room in my apartment that used to be an office but I hardly ever use it since I moved my desk into my bedroom. And FAFSA pays for her classes so she can go back to George Mason. Plus, she already has a social worker in Virginia." Reid took a breath. Boy, did Morgan miss the rants. "I just can't let her go back into the system. Twelve neglectful, abusive houses before she got lucky. Then the only people who cared about her in five years were murdered in front of her. I can't let her do that again." Reid paused, breathing. When he started talking again, his voice was quieter. "I also promised her I'd take her to see her mother in Vegas. They haven't seen each other in five years."
"Reid, I think it's a great idea." Morgan smiled.
"Really?" Reid seemed genuinely surprised at the reaction, as if he expected Morgan to tell him that his idea was ridiculous.
"Yeah." Blake piped up. "Any kid in your custody would be the luckiest kid in the world in my books." That made Reid smirk but, again, the happiness didn't reach his eyes.
Nobody was sure why, but the conversation died there. The room was silent, with each agent thinking of the future, until Makaia came back into the room.
Blake glanced at her watch-it was nearly eight o'clock-and realized Makaia had been in the bathroom for twenty minutes. She decided not to mention it though, she probably just needed some alone time.
"The stuff I brought okay?" Morgan asked as Makaia got back into her own bed. She was now wearing grey plaid pyjama pants and a black tank top.
"Yeah, thanks." Makaia set the backpack containing a pair of black cut-offs, a blue t-shirt, a grey Caltech hoodie, two pairs of socks, a pair of black converse high tops, a hairbrush that had some elastics wrapped around the handle, a copy of The Catcher in the Rye and a small stuffed rabbit she had had since birth on the floor next to the bed. Her bloodied clothes wrapped in the plastic shopping bag she had found at the bottom of her backpack and her hair had been brushed and tied back. Morgan had certainly grabbed everything he thought would be useful. As soon as he saw the rabbit he knew he had to bring it. It was the only indicator that Makaia's room belonged to a person younger than twenty; and he fact that it sat directly in the middle of her pillow arrangement with its ears perfectly centered and its arms between it legs told Morgan it was special to her. It was placed on the made bed, not tossed there.
"Hello!" Dr. Rivers' perky voice startled everyone as she stepped into the room. The nurse that had brought the food earlier was with her, just to collect plates. The nurse did her job and let the room within thirty seconds, not saying a word to anyone. "How are you feeling Dr. Reid?" Dr. Rivers asked with a smile.
"Alright." Reid said, almost like he was bored. He was definitely distancing himself from the situation. "Just tired."
"Well I'll let you get some sleep in a moment, I've just got to check everything out first." She smiled again. God this woman was cheery. "And how about you Makaia?" How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay." Her voice was quiet and she didn't look up from the foot of her bed. "Just tired as well."
"Well I will let both of you sleep until tomorrow morning as soon as I finish up here." Another smile, bigger than the last two.
Dr. Rivers wasted no time as she fiddled with the machines and wrote notes in each genius' chart. She removed both of her patient's IVs under the condition that they had to eat breakfast the next morning. They both readily agreed, needles and tubes bringing back all too recent memories. Within five minutes, Dr. Rivers was heading to the door again and smiling over her shoulder.
"I'll see you two in the morning." She said on her way out. "Makaia, you should be able to go home tomorrow, as long as you eat." Before anything else could be said, Dr. Rivers shut the door and disappeared down the hallway.
When Makaia heard that she was going to be discharged tomorrow, she curled in on herself, feeling the empty pit in her stomach grow to the point where she felt as if she was floating in a sea of guilt and despair.
"Where am I going to go?" She wondered aloud, not even realising she'd spoken.
"Blake, Morgan." Reid said, quietly. They understood before he even asked. They both got up and left the room. Before Blake turned to go however, she handed Reid her cellphone. Once the door shut, Reid turned to Makaia, dialing Garcia's number and putting the phone on speaker before sitting up for the first time since he woke up tied to the bed.
"Blake? What's happening?" Garcia's voice came through the phone halfway through the first ring. "Is everything okay?"
"Relax Garcia." Reid said. "Everything's fine."
"Reid! Hi! How are you feeling?" Garcia's voice was so excited and oud that Makaia almost laughed. Almost.
"I'm fine." He said simply, knowing he wouldn't get long answers in with Garcia in her highly caffeinated state.
"How's Makaia doing? The poor girl. Please tell me she's okay." The tech analyst nearly whimpered as she thought about everything she'd read about the teenager.
"Makaia, meet Penelope Garcia, out tech analyst at Quantico." Reid said. "Garcia, meet Makaia."
"Hi." Makaia spoke loud enough for her voice to reach the phone.
"Oh my god, hi Makaia! How are you doing sweetheart?"
"I'm okay." Garcia could even tall that Makaia was lying and she wasn't even a profiler.
"Good, good. So to what do I owe this honor?" Garcia found it much easier to be her sparkly self again when Reid was safe and sound.
"I was just wondering about the status on my paperwork and the woman you were contacting for me?" Reid said. That piqued Makaia's interest; why would he have a conversation with Garcia about paperwork on speakerphone with Makaia in the room?
"I've faxed all the necessary documents to the hospital and I got in touch with Jillian Andrews who said she will contact Elena Reynolds and have her contact you regarding the situation ASAP."
"Elena Reynolds?" Makaia asked. "My social worker form Virgin…" She looked at Reid, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. "You mean…?"
"Makaia." Reid said, the happiness in his slight smile finally reaching his eyes. "Would you like to come live with me?"
What do you think? As always, please review! All the love! I hope to update by this upcoming Friday, but again, no promises. Goodbye, my lovelies.