the girl who lost things

part sixty

" Sorry, sir, I didn't know you were...." The lady looks at me, puzzled. Like, she didn't expect to see a fifteen-year-old in a building. Her reaction was priceless.

" I thought I told you to enjoy your weekend." I let out a half-smile and look at the girl again. a woman of color. Nice move. " but I know why your here."
He stands up and introduces me.

" This is tara lewis, our new ssa, and tara; this is Jessie." I put out my hand, and she shakes it eagerly.

" Nice to meet you," we say at the same time. We both let out a small laugh.

" could you show her around? then bring her to the center so we can brief her?"

" yea, totally."

hotch walks out slowly, followed by me and tara. " I know, you probably like, why is this kid showing me around the bau." she stares at me while I point to the bathrooms and essential offices.

"I was kinda wondering that," she says, laughing as we enter Penelope's room.

" Hello, beautiful." she comes to kiss my cheeks. I introduce tara, and they exchange names. " this is where I and sometimes Jessie do background checks, hack and code to solve cases." she says, smiling.

" you forgot gossip," Derek says from behind us.

" and that's, Derek," I say

" my name is tara. Tara, lewis." he nods and escorts her to the main room. Ok, now time to focus on Clara's alleged parents.

I walk towards interrogation room one and open the door. Everybody was trying to solve the anthrax case. So I guess that I was going to be the only one talking to them.

I see a male and a female, white in their early to mid-'40s. I smile and sit down. " we've been sitting here for almost an hour!" the lady says.

" Sorry, ma'am." I bring out some chips and water that I got on my way here. " just in case, you guys were hungry." I put them on the table, she was reluctant at first, but then she and her husband took some.

" Why are we here?" the man says. " and who are you?"

" I work with the fbi. Mr. and Mrs. Miller, where have you been for four years?" they both look at each other with angst.

" Why are you asking?" the lady says. She looks at me dead in the eyes like I provoked her in some way.

" Please, it would be easier if you answer the question."

her husband taps her shoulder, and they talk quietly among themselves for a couple of minutes. I couldn't imagine the pain and sorrow they're probably feeling, thinking that they lost Clara.

" w-we went into hiding," he says. I could already tell they faced a lot of paranoia.

" why? why did you go into hiding." I look at them like I didn't already know the answer.

" because of our daughter? that's why we're here. She's dead, right?" she says that so bluntly. Like she finally came to terms with the fact that she might never find Clara, or if she did, she would probably be dead.

" Actually, no." they both looked at each other, and Mrs. Miller started crying. Bawling actually. " your daughter is alive and well." those words caused Mr. Miller to start crying.

I decided that I couldn't even go on with asking questions. I pull out my phone and go to a picture me,  Clara, and her kids took at the park and show them.

I could feel Mrs. Miller's hands shaking over my phone. It was devastating to watch her catch her breath, seeing her happy daughter. Her husband was quiet. I felt that quiet. He was soaking everything in.

" w-what happened to her." he manages to say.

" she was kidnapped and brutalized for three years." I stop for them to let that sink in. it made them cry even more. " she became pregnant-"

" those are her kids?" Mrs. Miller lets out a soft smile.

" yea, that's jade and eshiram." they both look at each other. Now, the husband had a smile.

" jade is my middle name and my husband's favorite stone," she says, laughing. She was holding the picture to her chest.

I smile and continue. " later on, I became a victim of the same perpetrator as Clara, and we escaped and made it out together; my family and I have been helping her off her feet."

I slowly take my phone back and go to my album of her. I pass it back then and allow them to continue to swipe. They were taking in her pictures; crying and laughing at some.

" I must ask- why did you decide to defrost your bank account? or reopen it?"

" w-we wanted to try again." The woman says. I was confused.

" what do you mean? Try again." I look at both of them.

" We decided to start over at life." the husband jumps in, holding his wife's stomach. No way. No way. She wasn't too old, but she definitely wasn't young.

"I'm pregnant. we reopened our accounts to provide for this baby." Mrs. Miller says. I was left speechless. " when can we see Clara?"

"Umm- soon. soon." I get up and walk out. Taking a huge inhale. What the heck.
—
Savannah was dropping off Clara and the kids. At least they didn't know why. That's good. I guess.

But how would she even react to something like this? Her life is going so well; something like this- information like this could steer her off track. I walk back inside the room.

I could see the parents' eyes light up, thinking that it was their daughter. " you can't tell her your pregnant." I didn't know; I just said it.

" why? wouldn't it be even more good news?" the husband says.

" not to her, you guys gave up hope and decided to replace her with this baby. She's doing really well! She's happy, compassionate, daring. But news like that, news that you guys were going to replace her, would break her and send her back into this hole that was hard enough to dig her out of the first time." I forget that I raised my voice. I clear my throat and walk back out towards the elevator.

I needed some fresh air. The elevator opens and reveals Clara and her kids. great-

" Savannah, said you needed us? is everything ok?"

" umm, yea, let's take a seat." I guide her towards the bench.

" what's wrong? Why are you going all fbi professional on me?" she sounded scared. She had jade in one hand and eshiram in the other. I take eshiram from her.

" everything's ok, follow me." I take her towards the interrogation room.

" what's this?" I take jade out of her hands too. she was just standing there

" I need you to walk inside that room." she looks so confused. she touches the doorknob but hesitates.

" what's behind the door," She slowly laughs. but I could tell her heart was racing. " you're scaring me."

" Please, just o-open the door! I'll take the kids." she opens the door and closes it behind her.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller were facing their backs towards Clara. Then, as the door closes, they face forward. Immediately, Mrs. Miller falls to the floor. Clara looked like she'd seen a ghost. She wasn't moving. I make sure the audio is turned on.
" oh, my baby." Mr. Miller touches her face. I could see tears erupting from her eyes.

" m-mom?" I decided that this was the time to bring in the kids. my arm was also getting tired. I open the door. Clara was still standing there. But now, at least she had us to comfort her.