Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season One

Won't Get Fooled Again: Part One

"Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble." - Samuel Johnson

Not a lot of things bothered you—or at least, that's what you liked to tell yourself. It's hard living your life with the things you could do. Not many people you knew would be able to keep up with you. In all your life, you've never met anyone else who could do the thing you could, and for some weird reason, you were grateful for that. It came off as no surprise, but you were already emotional as it is, so having this ability made it much worse. There wasn't a day that went by that you didn't cry, and you could remember growing up how your parents tried helping you with that.

Your mom was better at making you feel better than your dad, but there were times he outdid her. He liked to have weekly dates with you that involved shooting some cans in the woods behind your house, boxing in the garage as he taught you self-defense, or working on his beloved car that he claimed was going to be yours one day. He never sat down with you and talked about your feelings—that was reserved for your mother. He was more hard core, but there was one time he talked to you about your feelings—it was the only time he did that.

"But that kid is missing, daddy. We need to help his parents find him," you complained on your way back to the house.

You two had just gotten done shooting in the woods when you ran into law enforcement claiming there was a young boy who went missing. That alone brought tears to your eyes as you thought about where he might be and what he might be going through. Your dad knew you could see and feel things that most people couldn't, and it was in your nature to want to help out.

"Listen to me pumpkin," he said, crouching by your side to get to your eye level. "There's going to be times when you can't help people. I know you feel like you want to, but we can't. That boy was taken from his family and it's a terrible thing, but if you didn't see it happen, then there isn't anything you can do to help."

"The police are doing that and they didn't see anything."

"Honey, police are just there to make people feel better, not to save others. Sure, it may seem like it, but if a bad man doesn't leave anything behind, then the police won't catch him. Then what will they do? What will they tell the parents?"

"Maybe I can be a police officer. I have my gift," you whispered with a smile.

"Princess, you don't want to be a police officer. You could do so much more with your life than be in law enforcement. Promise me you won't. You don't want to make Daddy upset, do you?"

"No Daddy," you shook your head.

"Honey, I love you so very much. What happened to that boy was a tragedy, and whoever took him was a monster, but there isn't anything we can do."

"Okay."

"That's my girl," he grinned.

That was ever the only time he actually came close to talking about what you can do and how you felt. After that, he took you shooting and boxing to get your feelings out that way. It seemed fair at the time, but when you look at your life now, you can't help but feel like you betrayed him. He doesn't even know you are in the FBI much less law enforcement. As soon as you left home to be on your own, he hasn't kept in touch often. Sure, he'll call you on your birthday and around Christmas, but calls from him we're scarce.

He made you promise to call every week, but those calls thinned over time. Maybe you should tell him what you were doing. Maybe he had gotten over his ridiculous notion that you should stay away from law enforcement. Or maybe he would scream and yell at you. Or maybe he would cut off communication from you altogether. He could be harsh at times, and he was kind of overprotective, but he loved you very much and you knew that.