I was finally back at work. Thankfully, there were no cases yet. If there were, I'd probably be the slacker of the group.
I noticed that ever since I came back, some of my coworkers tended to avoid me. The other lower level agents were always talking in hushed tones around me. They gave me sly and dirty looks and walked out of rooms whenever I entered. I knew that they thought I was a bad agent. They probably wondered how I could associate myself with a rogue agent.
I guess they don't realize that my allegiance to the FBI wasn't as strong as my allegiance to my own husband.
Today I was going to go visit Spencer. I had some paperwork to finish up and then I was off. Well, until Emily and Penelope walked in with the news of a case. She approached me when everyone headed towards the conference room. "You are going to visit him today. He is your top priority, not the case. You can come back and help Penelope from here."
"Thanks, Em." I was out the door, mentally preparing myself for whatever I was about to see. The prison looked cold and miserable. The guards were aggressive and had no respect for anyone. Before I went in, I made sure to keep my badge and gun in the car. If anyone knew that I was an agent, that could make his time here even worse. Lord knows I didn't want to make his life any more difficult than it is.
I was sat in this little booth, waiting for him and the rest of his inmates to walk through that door. Then, there he was. He was dressed in blue, but he looked slightly dirty and miserable. But his eyes lit up the second they landed on mine. He sped his way over to me and tried to extend his arms over the divider to give me a hug. "No touching!" the guard shouted at us. We both sat down, smiles coming to our faces. "Hi Spence."
"Hey, baby. What's going on? How's my mom and Delilah?"
"Your mom is doing well. She loves my dad's place."
"Where does she think I am?"
"She asked if you were at the beach. It made her happy and I couldn't say no. Delilah is doing okay. She's a little jealous that she didn't get to come, but she's hard at work on her next letter to you." He nodded, a smile coming to his face as he thought of his daughter. "What about you?"
"Spencer, don't worry about me. I'm getting by. I'm more worried about you. Are you okay?"
"I'm trying to be." I so desperately wanted to hold his hand. He looked so weak and there wasn't a way I could bring him comfort. "But we've got to talk business, I have some bad news. The tox report showed no scopolamine in your system."
I didn't want to tell him, but Emily wanted me to break him the news once we found out. She figured hearing it from me wouldn't be as hard of a blow. I thought it would just make him more anxious, but an order is an order.
The worried look on his face was already making me regret saying it. "But that's how we were gonna get him!"
"We'll find another way. Trust me, Spencer. We will catch that psychopath and clear your name. I am going to get you out of here, I promise." He seemed apprehensive, but hopeful.
A whistle was heard throughout the room and a few comments of 'wanting a piece of that' drifted through the atmosphere. It made me slightly uncomfortable, but Spencer seemed almost livid. "Hey, I don't care."
"I don't want them looking at you."
"Neither do I. But if that's the price I have to pay to see you, I don't care."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the piece of paper I wanted to show him. Well, the piece of paper a certain young girl wanted me to show him. It was a little drawing of two people outside. "What's that?"
"It's a present from Delilah."
At the mention of that, he started to choke up. He dropped his head and I could see the tears in his eyes. He was desperately trying to keep it in, which I've known is never good for him.
"So that is you and that is her. It was from the day we had that picnic at the park. She was gonna send it with her next letter, but she really wanted you to see it now."
"Tell her it's beautiful. Tell her I love her so much."
"Visiting hours are over. Inmates, in line!"
As he stood up, he mouthed a quick 'I love you' to me.
"You stay strong. Love you." He sent me a smile and then was out the door. Once I knew he was gone, I let a few tears fall. It was rough to see him like that. Seeing him made me even more motivated to fix this whole situation.
I made my way back to Quantico and slowly walked into Penelope's office. She was doing some research when she turned around to notice my presence.
"Hey, you." I was frozen for a moment before I let go. I dropped my bag on the floor and started to sob. Penelope was at my side in an instant, wrapping her arms around me and running her hand up and down my back. "Oh no, sweetheart. Let it out, it's okay."
"He can't stay there," I hiccuped out.
"He won't. We're gonna fix this. It's okay, I've got you."
She held me for a little while longer until I had calmed down. "Sorry for distracting you from your work."
"Oh don't you dare apologize. C'mon, help me catch some bad guys." I sat down next to her and helped her work the rest of the case. I could tell through the phone that the team was giving each other looks of pity when they heard me speak.
We had eventually solved it and I was getting ready to go home. Delilah's picture found a new home on Spencer's desk. I figured it would bring him some joy if he ever came back.
When he came back. I need to be more optimistic.
Before I left, I heard some banging in Rossi's office and headed up there to investigate.
"What's going on?" He stepped back to show me the frame he just put up.
"The Cub's W?"
"Ah, a fellow fan."
"Nope, definitely more of a White Sox fan. But you're not from Chicago, why'd you put it up?"
He sat on his desk and I joined him, ready for whatever wisdom he was about to share.
"I had a friend of mine that was. Since he didn't live to see them win the World Series, I figured I'd commemorate it for him. I understand seeing the kid must have been hard today."
I nodded as Rossi reached over and patted my hand. "Do you know how long it was until the Cubs won another world series?"
"108 years. My cousins were Cubs fans, didn't let me forget it."
"Well, that means that generations lived and died without ever seeing a championship. But you know what your lovely city had? Hope. That's how we're get the kid out of there."
We stood up to look at the frame, Rossi putting his arm around me. "We're gonna get him back, no matter what."
"Thanks Rossi." We stayed like that for a little longer before going our separate ways.
I was on my way to my dad's house, ready to pick up my daughter and make an attempt at sleeping. When he opened the door, he had a sad look on his face.
"She had a rough day at school. She won't tell me what's wrong, but she's been pretty upset about something."
"Thanks, dad. C'mon Dee, let's get you home." She grabbed her things and held a vice grip on my hand as we walked out the door. She was quiet. On a normal day, she'd be so excited to tell us what she did and learned at school. She didn't have the passion or excitement to learn much these days.
Once we got home, we got on our pajamas and cuddled up on the couch with some warm drinks. "Grandpa said you had a bad day at school. Spill, what's going on?"
She nuzzled into my embrace a little more before talking. "Darcy and I can't be friends anymore."
"Honey, why is that?"
"Her mom said she shouldn't be around me anymore."
This was another scenario that I had worried about. Other parents were finding out. Delilah was so sweet and innocent, but people didn't want their kids associating with her because word got out that her dad is a criminal.
I could see a few tears falling from her eyes and I pulled her into a tighter grip. "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry. Did Darcy say why her mother said that?"
"No, but I know it has to do with dad. I wish I could yell at everyone for what they're doing to him, to us. He's a good person, why don't people get that?"
She started to hiccup as more sobs left her body. "I don't know why people think the way they do. But you know that your dad is a good person and he loves you so much. If Darcy or anyone at school is a true friend, they'd stick by you and continue being your friend. It's times like this that friends are for. I'll talk to the school about this too, okay?"
She nodded. We continued to sip our drinks and talk about our day. She was excited to hear about her dad and how much he loved her picture. She got sleepy and I brought her up to her bed.
She was out like a light and slept through the whole night. Even I got a good bit of sleep. Dreams of a happier time played through my head, giving me some of that hope Rossi was talking about. Hope for a better outcome than this. Hope that pretty soon, I would be able to bring my Spencer home.
Spencer :( Another chapter down! If you couldn't tell, I made Ariel fron Chicago because that's where I'm from. Always gotta throw that into my stories. But I hope you guys are loving the story so far!