"... I don't know how to do this without you." Isobel heard OA say to Maggie, who was unconscious currently. Isobel's emotions were all over the place. When she saw Maggie pleading for OA to get her out of the room and then go down minutes later, her heart sank. She feared for Maggie. She was worried that Maggie isn't going to pull through. On top of everything that happened, Isobel realized something that she knows is wrong, but she can't help it.
Isobel saw OA holding Maggie's hand, and then she knew. She pieced everything together. OA likes Maggie as more than a friend/colleague. It all makes sense, now, to Isobel. "Hey, I know we should be here for Maggie, but can I talk to you somewhere in private?" Isobel asked Jubal.
"Yeah, of course. Is everything okay?" Jubal asked.
"Uh, depends on how you look at it." Isobel said. As they walked down the hallway, Isobel looked for a place where no one was. Eventually, they came across the chapel. They walked in, and Isobel stood as Jubal sat down.
"What's going on?" Jubal asked.
"I, uh, I-I..." Isobel couldn't say it. Tears welled up in her eyes and began falling.
"This isn't your fault." Jubal said.
"That's not it. But, I shouldn't have let them go in there without protection. So it is my fault. But there's something else." Isobel said.
"If it's not that, then what is it? You can trust me." Jubal said.
"I know. I, just, you're going to judge me. Everyone is if word gets out, and I could lose my job." Isobel said, panicking.
"I'm not going to judge you," Jubal said. Isobel took a deep breath but froze. "Look, if you've been drinking, or you happened to do-"
"I think I'm falling in love with Maggie." Isobel blurted out.
"What?" Jubal asked, making sure he heard her correctly.
"I think I'm falling in love with Maggie. I know it's wrong of me considering I'm her boss, but I can't help it. I didn't even realize it until I overheard OA talking to her in her hospital room. Truth be told, I have no idea when it even started happening. But it doesn't matter because OA likes her, and she's most likely going to end up with him anyway. So it really doesn't matter." Isobel said.
"Have you ever watched 'Criminal Minds'?" Jubal asked.
"A few times. Why?" Isobel asked, really confused.
"Emily tells someone in the earlier seasons that you don't choose who you fall in love with. So your heart just happens to have chosen Maggie. It may be frowned upon within the bureau, but they can't say anything if they don't know anything about it. If you decide to tell her, and she feels the same, then go for it. Finding love is so much more important than a job. Just remember that you can always find a job, but finding love is like a blue moon; it rarely happens." Jubal said. Isobel started crying, so he pulled her in for a hug. Even though he was her assistant, she always thought of him as a big brother.
"There you are. Maggie is starting to wake up." Scola said. They pulled apart from their hug and rushed over to Maggie's room. Isobel allowed everyone to go before her to allow them to get home and get some rest. Then it was Isobel's turn. When Isobel walked in, her heart began to race, and she was getting very nervous.
"There you are. I was beginning to think you forgot about me." Maggie croaked.
"I could never forget about you." Isobel said. She started tearing up, and so she looked at the floor.
"Hey, don't do that. None of this is your fault." Maggie said.
"If I would've just told you guys to stand down and wait for the proper gear-"
"Then I still would've went in. I mean, have you met me?" Maggie asked, which made Isobel chuckle.
"You really scared me. I was so worried you weren't going to pull through." Isobel said. Tears started falling down her face. Maggie grabbed Isobel's hand which made Isobel look Maggie in the eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere. I will never leave without a fight." Maggie said. They stared into each others eyes, maybe a few seconds too long before a nurse walked in to check on Maggie. Isobel said her goodbyes to Maggie before stepping out of her room. Once the nurse was done, Isobel walked back in and pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Shouldn't you be going home and getting some sleep?" Maggie asked.
"What's sleep? Never heard of it." Isobel said making Maggie chuckle.
"Well I appreciate you keeping me company." Maggie said.
"Of course. I figured this place would be less gloomy with someone here with you." Isobel said.
"Well, I really appreciate you." Maggie said and grabbed Isobel's hand.
"Thank you. I don't say this enough, but I'm so grateful for you and everyone that's on the team." Isobel said, very much aware that they were still holding hands. She couldn't help but notice how soft Maggie's hands were.
"I'm glad you were chosen to be our boss." Maggie said, causing Isobel to smile. Isobel and Maggie talked for another hour and a half before Maggie decided to call it a night.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Isobel said.
"What about work?" Maggie asked.
"Jubal will handle it for the day. Though I did tell him if they needed anything, then I will be on call." Isobel answered. Isobel said goodbye to Maggie before walking out. Maggie laid there thinking back on their conversation. She realized that she never really knew much about Isobel until their conversation. It was nice to Maggie that they were able to talk to each other outside of work and get to know one another a little bit. She realized that Isobel was actually kind of an amazing person.
A few minutes later, Maggie ended up falling asleep. Isobel contemplated on going back and confess to Maggie her feelings. However, she didn't know if she was ready for that. She did just realize her feelings a few hours ago. It would be too soon if she did decide to tell her. "Hey! You're Maggie's girlfriend, right?" Maggie's nurse asked.
"I'm sorry?" Isobel asked, making sure she heard the nurse right.
"Maggie in room 3845. You're her girlfriend, right? I'm her nurse and saw you two talking before I checked on her." the nurse said.
"Oh. I'm not her girlfriend. Just her boss." Isobel said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. I just figured you two were together because of the way you guys looked at each other." she said.
"Oh. Well, I'm afraid that it may just be one sided." Isobel said, looking at the floor.
"What do you mean? I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that. I'm just nosey and now invested in this." she said.
"No, it's okay. I just realized today, well, yesterday now, that I think I have feelings for her. I don't know when it happened. But I don't think she has feelings for me. If anything, she would have feelings for her partner, who I do know likes her. I mean, I don't even think she likes women. But it can't happen anyway. I'm her boss, and there's rules against dating within the bureau. One of us, or even both, would lose our job if we dated." Isobel explained to this complete stranger. It felt good to Isobel to get that out to someone who isn't Jubal.
"Well, based on the way I saw her look at you, I think she feels the same. I don't know about her partner, but I know how she looked at you. Look, I know you just figured out your feelings and don't want to tell her too soon. But don't wait too long to tell her. I know what it's like to like someone and not tell them, and then they end up in a relationship. And then they end up marrying that person, and you regret not telling them. So don't be like me. Let her know when the time is right." the nurse said.
"I will. Thank you." Isobel said and walked out to her car. The next day, Isobel went straight to the hospital after getting ready. Considering she planned on being at the hospital all day, she wasn't in her normal form fitting dress. She had on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater. Just in case, she brought a go bag with a dress, heels, and anything she may need.
"Hey you!" Isobel said to Maggie as she walked in.
"Hey! I'll be honest, I didn't recognize you for a second. I'm not used to seeing you in, well, regular clothes." Maggie said with a chuckle.
"What, did you think I wore dresses all the time?" Isobel asked with smile.
"I mean, kind of," Maggie said, making Isobel laugh. Maggie has never really heard Isobel laugh or even witnessed her smile a lot. "You should smile more often. You have a beautiful smile." Maggie said.
"Thank you." Isobel said, looking down at the floor. She hoped that Maggie didn't see her blush, but she did.
Isobel walked over to the chair that was beside Maggie and sat down. "I'm not fond of my smile, but I think you should smile more because your smile is gorgeous and can light up a room." Isobel said without even thinking. Then she realized what she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to be weird." Isobel said.
"No, it's okay. It wasn't weird. Thank you." Maggie said. Isobel thought she saw Maggie blush, but she wasn't sure.
"Of course. Now, I brought board games because sitting here is no fun. As much as I love talking to you, I'd rather battle you in a game of Monopoly or Battleship. And then we can play Go Fish after." Isobel said.
"Oh, I'm so gonna dominate you in Monopoly." Maggie said with a smirk.
"Unlikely. I'm the Monopoly champion, and I'm undefeated." Isobel said.
"Bring it on, Castille." Maggie said. They both may be slightly competitive. After a record time of two hours, Maggie ended up winning.
"I always win! You must have cheated!" Isobel said.
"There was no cheating there. Just strategy. I guess Isobel Castille just got dethroned." Maggie smirked.
"Oh we are so gonna play again sometime, and I'm gonna win." Isobel said.
"Okay, but don't get upset when I win again." Maggie said. The nurse knocked on the door and checked on Maggie. Afterwards, she left and allowed Maggie to order her lunch.
"I'm going to head down to the cafeteria to get something to eat." Isobel said.
"You know you can get food from an actual restaurant, right? It won't bother me at all." Maggie said.
"I know, but I just feel it's be a bit rude. I'm actually kind of used to it since I used to work in a hospital." Isobel said.
"Wait, you did?" Maggie asked.
"I did. My senior year of high school, I only had one class since I took a lot of AP classes junior year and college credit classes online my senior year that counted towards graduation. So I only had to be at school my senior year for one class, which was in the morning. So I became an STNA and worked in the hospital for two years before going to college for criminal justice." Isobel said.
"Wow. I'm learning so much about you. You're quite an interesting person." Maggie said, which made Isobel chuckle.
"Well I'm glad I'm not boring. I'll be back. Please don't do anything stupid while I'm gone like try to get up on your own." Isobel said.
"I make no promises." Maggie said with a grin. Isobel gave her that look before exiting her room. She went down to the cafeteria and decided to get her go-to chicken tenders and fries. As she ate, she checked in with Jubal to see how everything was going. Everything was good, so she sat and ate her food before returning to Maggie's room.
"Welcome back! And no, I didn't try to get up by myself." Maggie said as Isobel walked back in.
"Well that's good. So I was thinking that we could play another game if you'd like, or we could do something else if you'd like." Isobel said.
"We could just talk and get to know each other more. As I've said before, you're a very interesting person." Maggie said.
"Okay. Well what would you like to know?" Isobel asked.
"What was your childhood like?" Maggie asked.
"I don't really like to talk about my childhood. It wasn't terrible. Not at all. My dad was a surgeon, and my mom owns her own company. I grew up rich, but the school I went to was awful. My dad is Mexican, so I grew up speaking Spanish. The kids at my school made fun of me every single day after overhearing me talking to my dad, but my parents did nothing. I almost took my own life, but something told me to keep going. I did, and now I'm here." Isobel said.
"Is, I'm so sorry." Maggie said, feeling bad.
"No, it's okay. I'm a better person because of it." Isobel said.
"Well I'm very glad that you're still here. You're an amazing person. And you have a great guy." Maggie said.
"Um, well, Ethan and I broke up, so I'm a single Pringle." Isobel said.
"What?! What happened?" Maggie asked.
"Well after that one case with the senator, we ended up breaking up. Turns out he was also cheating on me." Isobel admitted.
"Oh hell no. As soon as I get out, I'm going over to his house and beating the shit out of him." Maggie said.
"He's not worth going to jail over." Isobel said.
"Maybe not, but it'll sure be fun to smack him." Maggie said.
"What about you?"
"I'm fortunate enough to have had a good childhood. There were moments where it wasn't so good, of course. But my parents were great. I played basketball, soccer, softball, cheer and dance, and I was also involved in band starting in fifth grade." Maggie answered.
"Wow. You were a busy bee. What did you play in band?" Isobel asked.
"I played trombone, but in high school I did color guard durning marching band season." Maggie answered.
"You? Maggie Bell?" Isobel said.
"Yep. I was actually kinda good. I did DCI and winter guard." Maggie said.
"Did you say you did cheer and dance as well?" Isobel asked. Maggie nodded her head. "Huh. I would have never guessed." Isobel said.
"I didn't last too long. I was more into contact sports." Maggie said.
"Oh okay." Isobel said.
"Yeah. It was more my mom's idea since my sister wouldn't do it. I did it an entire year before I was done with it." Maggie said.
"Yeah that makes sense now." Isobel said with a little chuckle. They talked for a few more hours before the nurse walked in to introduce the next nurse, which is just the same nurse from the previous night. Afterwards, they decided to watch a little bit of tv. There wasn't anything that interesting to watch, so they decided on Ghost Adventures. Of course, it was an episode where they were in an old hospital. After about 10 minutes of watching, Maggie decided to change it to a cooking show. She was going to ask Isobel if it was okay, but Isobel was fast asleep. Maggie stared at her a little too long thinking about how adorable she looked while sleeping. Since she was on the seat in the window, it didn't look too uncomfortable. Okay, Maggie admits that she has a huge crush on Isobel. Who couldn't? She's beautiful, very intelligent, and just an overall amazing person. Maggie never told anyone and doesn't plan on telling anyone. She's tried to be in a relationship, but it wasn't working out. He was moving way too fast for her, and he kept a huge detail (having two kids) from her. Plus, he wasn't Isobel. She tried getting over her, but it just wasn't working.
"How long have you liked her?" she heard someone ask, which scared her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Maggie looked over and saw her nurse.
"Um, about two years now. How did you know I liked her?" Maggie asked.
"I saw the way you two looked at each other. I actually thought you were already a couple, but I asked her last night how long you two were together. She told me you weren't together and that she's your boss." the nurse answered.
"Oh. Did you ask her if she likes me? I mean, I really doubt she does, but a girl can hope right?" I asked.
"I didn't, but based on the way she looked at you, I think she may like you." the nurse said. She checked Maggie's vital signs and help her to the bathroom. Afterwards, Maggie's laid back down and tried to sleep. But all she could think about was what the nurse said.
Could Isobel actually like me? Maggie thought as she drifted off into a nap.
A/N
Hey guys! This is my first non-Criminal Minds fanfiction I've started writing, so I hope you like it!