Chapter 3
Dani is walking through the park. It was a nice day with good weather.
She sits down at a nearby bench admiring the wonderful view. A boy, around Dani's age, sits next to her.
Dani doesn't pay attention to him. She is focused on the beauty of the park. The nice green grass with the tall trees radiated spring energy.
"What are you doing here?" The boy asked, having a similar voice that Dani had heard before.
"What do you mean? I-"
"I told you to take care of mom. What are you doing here?" The boy asked again looking at her.
Dani's heart skipped a beat when she turned around and faced this boy. His smooth, back hair was combed to the side. His tanned skin was the same color as Dani's own.
She knew it was him when she saw his eyes. Those dark brown eyes.
It was her brother, Lucas.
"Lucas? I thought you-"
Where is mom? You had to take care of her, what happened?" Lucas states in a cold, angry voice.
Dani nearly jumped from the bench when hearing his voice. She never heard him talk with so much anger.
It was intimidating.
"Mom is... she is dead," Dani responded in a low voice, looking down.
"Dani! I told you to do one thing and you failed me? What kind of person are you?" Lucas asked with a face of disgust.
"I'm sorry, Lucas. I swear I tried to help her," Dani tells him with full shame.
"You are lying and you know it!" He spat out.
"You left her alone! You abandoned her! You are a poor excuse for a daughter!"
Dani looks at the floor, tears falling. "I'm sorry. You are right, it's my fault."
He was right. Everything that he said was right.
She left her mother when she needed her the most. She didn't try hard enough to help her fight her addiction.
She wasn't there on time when her mom overdosed. It was all her fault that her mother was no longer alive.
The guilt that she has keeps on dragging her down to a bottomless pit.
Daniela has been carrying that guilt for the last two years. It was always a very strong feeling she had. The thought that she had failed two family members has been drowning her with pain.
She couldn't help because she wasn't strong enough.
She couldn't help because she wasn't good enough.
That is why she hated herself for it.
"Tu tienes la culpa y lo sabes! Como puedes vivir sabiendo esto?"
"Lo Siento. I'm very sorry." She says, her voice cracking.
"You failed me, Dani. You are an absolute failure"
"you are right. I failed. I'm sorry." Dani told him, not daring to look at him in his eyes.
"I failed as a daughter and sister."
"Dani."
"Dani."
"Dani."
Dani opens her eyes with a gasp.
There was a complete change of scenery. Daniela was no longer in the park and Lucas wasn't with her.
She was in her room and it was dark. She then sees Emily above her with a worried look. Emily is smoothing Dani's face while Dani is trying to understand what is happening.
It was just a dream. Dani looks at Emily, guilt in the girl's eyes.
"Shh, it's okay Dani. It was just a bad dream." Emily tells her in a soothing tone.
Dani sits up and looks at Emily.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up," she said with a raspy voice.
She quickly wipes the tears from her face. She couldn't believe it was a dream. It felt so real.
Emily looks at the girl with a sad frown. She turns on the lamp that is on the headstand and sits next to Dani.
"Don't worry, okay? Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah... it was just a dream. Not that big of a deal, " The girl mumbled.
Emily holds Dani's hands and looks at her.
"Honey, you are shaking."
Dani notices and tries to calm down. She didn't want to worry Emily. It was bad enough that she woke her from her sleep.
Emily reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind the girl's ear. She knows it was more than a dream. She wanted to know exactly what was tormenting her daughter.
"Was it about your brother, Lucas? You mentioned him in your sleep."
Dani nodded slowly without looking up.
Emily lifts Dani's chin, wanting to see her eyes. "What happened in your dream, Dan?"
Dani drifted her look away from Emily. She exhaled deeply and looked down at the floor. She curled her legs up and hugged them against her chest.
Part of her was scared of what Emily was going to think of her. She was scared that Emily would look at her as a terrible person.
Dani would understand why she would view her like that afterward. Who wouldn't?
"One day, Lucas and I went to the park," Dani began.
"We were better off outside than inside the house due to...well you know. We were out playing, having fun. Once it was starting to get dark, we were heading back home."
Emily looked at her, patiently listening.
"We stopped at the corner store and we bought ice cream. Our favorite flavor, chocolate chip," Dani says with a weary smile.
"Once we stepped out to the parking lot, there was a drive-by shooting. Lucas quickly pushed me behind a car, causing me to fall on the floor. When the shooting stopped, I got up and saw him lying on the floor," Dani felt a lump forming in her throat.
"I got close to him and saw that he got shot in the abdomen. There was lots of blood. I looked at him and he was barely conscious. He told me that he loved me and to take care of Mom for him."
Dani had tears in her eyes and tried to blink them away.
"After he said that he closed his eyes. I never saw them open again." She said the last sentence in a whisper.
Emily looked at Dani heartbroken.
"Oh baby, come here," Emily embraces Dani with her arms.
She is holding her tight, refusing to let go. "I'm sorry this happened to you."
"I promised him that I would take care of Mom and I failed. I failed at my brother's last wish," she tells Emily.
Dani can no longer contain her tears. The floodgates open.
Emily rests her head on top of Dani.
"Honey, this isn't your fault. Your mother passing away is not your fault. You did your best to take care of her. What happened was something that you couldn't control."
"Then why does it feel like it?" Dani asked, sounding heartbroken and defeated.
Emily presses a soft kiss on Dani's head, holding her. She cradles Dani like a mother would cradle a small child.
Emily knew what happened to Lucas because of police reports, but she was never told from Dani's perspective. Dani never touched the subject ever since she met Emily.
In part, Emily is glad that Dani has the confidence to tell her this.
On the other hand, it breaks Emily's heart to watch Dani suffer. Dani is the kind of person who would never show her emotions in front of others. It takes a lot to break her.
And this situation destroys her.
Emily just holds Dani, comforting her until Dani falls back asleep.
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The rest of the week passes by swiftly with no problems. Dani and her friends got adjusted to their school schedule and their new routine.
They were eagerly waiting for the dismissal bell to ring. Once it did, all of the students ran out the door.
After completing the first week of school, they were
desperately waiting for the weekend to roll in.
Dani and her friends were chatting in front of the school before they left.
"This first week went by so slow," James said. "I can't wait to go out and have some fun."
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do?" Asked Amelia.
"Well, I'm going out with my cousins. We plan to go to this cool arcade that just opened," He responded. "How about you girls?"
"The mall is a must," Amelia replied while flipping her hair. "I desperately need new clothes for the fall. I haven't swiped my card in ages."
"You poor deprived child," Dani said dramatically while patting her friend's shoulder.
"You have no idea the pain I feel right now," Amelia said, playing along with her. "What about you Em?"
"Oh, I plan on catching up on sleep and relaxing," Emma replied.
"I will explore wherever the wind takes me," Dani says while dramatically raising her hands in the air.
"Knowing you, that sounds like an adventure," James says.
"Oh, you know it," Dani replies with a wink. "I gotta go. Emily told me to stop by her workplace instead of going home today."
"That is so cool. Being with a bunch of FBI agents sounds interesting," James says looking at Dani.
"I always thought I would end up meeting the FBI. Except that it was going to be in an interrogation room not because I would live with one. What are the odds?" She tells them.
Dani says bye to her friends and starts walking to Quantico.
She would normally take the bus to go there, but the weather was pleasant. She puts on her headphones and starts to walk.
She arrives at the very large and dull FBI building. She enters and shows her visitor ID at the front.
It has been two years since she entered this place and to this day she can't quite believe that she gets to enter inside this federal building. A building full of federal agents and very important people.
Security at every corner you looked. Before, she wouldn't even think of entering such a place. The only other building that she has ever entered that had so much security was the state jail she entered when she was around seven.
Her mother took her to visit her father. Dani doesn't remember much about the visit. All she knows is that they went to see him for her mom to break the news to Marcos about the death of Lucas.
Dani can't remember what the adults were saying to each other. The only thing she can remember is seeing all the armed guards standing and patrolling the area.
Daniela would wonder from time to time how exactly did her father react when he heard the news about his son being murdered.
Daniela shakes off that idea and goes inside the elevator, arriving at the BAU. She enters and greets the security guard at the front.
The security knows who Dani is and therefore lets her pass. The first person who sees Dani is Garcia, who is preparing her third coffee cup. Designed as a Unicorn of course.
"Is that Daring Dani I see?" Garcia says excitedly.
"How are you sugar bear?" She walks towards Dani, opening her arms for a hug.
Dani smiles, receiving Garcia's embrace. She isn't much of a hugger but Penelope gets a pass. She just is that lovable.
"Hey, Penelope. I'm good," Dani responds, smiling.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Oh, they are at the lounge. Paperwork can make a person very hungry," Garcia says.
She guides Dani to the lounge, with her arm wrapped around Dani.
They arrive at the lounge. JJ, Spencer, and Tara are sitting down, and eating food. Matt and Alvez are both getting something to drink. JJ notices Garcia walking in with Dani.
"Hey, you," JJ says with a big smile.
"I'm glad you're here." She walks up and pats Dani on the shoulder.
She looks up at the rest of the team.
"Hey, guys," she greets with a smile. the rest of the team greeted her with a welcoming smile.
She walks towards an empty chair and sits down next to Garcia.
"I see everyone is here except for David and the boss lady. Where are they?"
"I think they are in Emily's office checking out some files," Tara told her as she took a bite of her food.
"They should be here soon."
"But before they do, want something to drink, kid?" Alvez asked.
"We have some Sprite," he says with a smile.
The team knows how much Dani loves the Soda brand.
Dani opens her eyes.
"I would love one," she says smiling.
Alvez opens the fridge and takes out a Sprite. He hands it to Dani and she thanks him.
"I don't think it's a good idea to hand Dani that soda, Luke. You know how Emily is when it comes to that," Tara says.
They all know Emily has Dani on a sugar limit. The girl has a very, very, sweet tooth.
"One can is not going to kill me," the girl said in defense while opening the can.
"While it might not kill you instantly, it can be very harmful in the long run," Spencer spoke up.
"There was a large European study that found out that people who have more than two sodas a day had a higher risk of dying over about 16 years than people who sipped the fizzy beverages less than once a month."
"Well, would you look at that? A short life well lived," Dani replied while pointing at her beverage.
"It is not my fault it tastes so good. Plus, I don't drink it every day. Emily makes sure of that."
"Might want to finish that before she comes out of her dome," Penelope told the girl while pointing at the Unit Chief's office.
"Or the newbie over here will be sentenced to death," she said while staring at him.
Luke raises his hands as if to prove that he did nothing wrong.
"Don't worry about it, Luke. I take full responsibility for this," Dani says, pointing at the soda can.
"I hope you're right. She can be pretty scary," Alvez says looking at Dani.
"Have you ever seen her authoritarian face?"
"Haven't we all?" the girl asked back.
"I have and that is when I knew I screwed up big time. I know because she calls me by my full name and makes a face like this," she said as she made her impersonation of an intimidating Emily.
She raises her head, crosses her arms on her chest, and clenches her jaw. She is frowning and cocks her head to the side, having a firm look.
The team all look at her and are very surprised at how well the girl's impression of their boss is.
They all start laughing, all knowing that they have seen that face at least once.
"You nailed it," Matt said with a smile.
"But it is good that Emily has such a serious face. That way, no boy with bad intentions can get near you."
"Tell me about it," Dani says, rolling her eyes.
"If a boy is ten feet near me, she stares at his soul until he runs away. It's like she makes them see their greatest fear or something," she tells them.
"At this rate, I will be single until I'm fifty."
The team starts laughing. They all picture Emily doing something like that. She was very protective of Dani.
"What are you guys laughing about?"