𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟒𝟖

"𝙸'𝚖 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦

     "HI, THIS IS GIA COLLINS, I adopted my daughter through your agency and I was wondering if I could get ahold of our information," Noah asks in a calm tone.  If she wants to sound convincing, she needs to sound calm within her lie.

"Of course," The woman replies, "Can I have your agency number?"

"4-6-7-3-2-8," Noah replies confidently.  She had memorized it by the number of times Gia gave it to the social worker.

"And the child's name?"

"Noah Collins.  We adopted in 1993."

"One moment, please." The woman says and puts Noah on hold for a minute, "I have the file for Noah Collins — adopted by Andrew Wallace and Gia Collins."

"Is there any information about Noah's biological parents?"

"The closest thing we have is that Noah's adoption was approved by a Matthew Benton."

"Matthew Benton?" Noah asks for clarification.

"Yes, Matthew Benton — B-E-N-T-O-N." The woman reads from the file as Noah scribbles the name on a post-it note.

"Thank you for your help," Noah chimes.

"Absolutely, please call back if there is anything else we can do for you."

"Thank you," Noah says again and hangs up the phone, "That was easy," She talks to herself and rips the sticky note off the stack.  She walks out of the office, feeling determined to discover more.

Noah walks down the hallway towards the bullpen, running into Hotch on the way.

"What're you still doing here?" Noah asks as she stuffs the post-it in her pocket and checks the time on her phone, "It's late,"

"I'm the boss," Hotch replies.

"Well, I'm assuming you all have a long day tomorrow," Noah says sadly, "The G-Man has to be well-rested," She adds with a small smile as she punches Hotch's arm.  She continues walking down the hallway, finding it difficult lying to Aaron.

"Em," Noah says as she walks up to the woman's desk, "Let's go home,"

"Yeah, just a sec—"

"No, now," Noah cuts her off, "You need to rest.  You're just gonna stress yourself out,"

Emily looks up at the teen and sees how serious she is.  She slowly pushes the files to one side of her desk and turns her computer off.  Noah watches as the woman collects her things.  She has never seen Emily move with such little energy; so worn down.

Noah puts her hand in Emily's as they walk to the elevator.

They stand in silence after the doors close.  Noah's free hand is in her pocket, playing with the post-it note.  One simple piece of paper could hold her entire past.  She has no idea who Matthew Benton is, but she feels like he is so much more than a name on a piece of paper.

—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵

Noah hears her phone ring from her bed.  She slips on her pajama shorts and picks her phone up.

"Hello?" She answers.

"Where the hell have you been?" Parker snaps down the phone.

"Busy,"