𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟗𝟔

"Yes, ma'am," Noah answers.

"Do you understand what that means?"

"That I need to be as detailed as possible," Noah says and peers deep into Erin's eyes.

"That's correct," Erin says, "Let's start with how you ended up in the house in the first place."

"I skipped school," Noah says and takes a breath, "I got a message from a blocked number saying to meet them at Dominion Park in Montclair.  I got on a bike and went straight there."

"Why?  If the number was blocked — did that not alarm you?"

"I knew Haley and Jack were under witness protection, I assumed it would be them.  So, I went because I wanted to make sure they were okay."

"Do you really think that, of all people, Haley would reach out to you in an emergency?  Why not her ex-husband, Agent Hotchner?  Why not another agent under the BAU?  Or the police?"

Noah shakes her head and looks up at Strauss.

"We never fully understand why people do the things they do, ma'am.  But we don't need to understand when we love them.  We just go — and that's what I did."

"What happened once you arrived?"

"I walked to the house where the murder took place," Noah answers and finds her eyes fixating on the table, "We went inside and I played with Jack until a man arrived.  He said his name was Victor Collins, but I recognized him from the news as George Foyet."

"I knew the team was looking for him and I knew that he was specifically after Agent Hotchner," Noah continues, "I didn't alarm Haley and I didn't let him know that I knew who he was.  But when Agent Hotchner called Haley, I knew he would reveal himself. I assessed the situation and looked for exits, but I knew he would have a weapon on him. But my main priority at that point was figuring out how to protect Jack."

"And how did you do so?" Erin asks as the teen takes a pause.

"Agent Hotchner told Jack to "work the case" which was some code for them. So, I followed Jack upstairs and left Haley downstairs by herself. Jack took me to the home office and he hid in a cupboard. I didn't wanna hide in the same room because it would've been too close to Jack — I wanted him as far from everything as possible."

Noah pauses as she comes to the part that she dreads the most.  The most terrifying thirty minutes she has ever experienced in her life.  The thirty minutes that changed her.

"Noah," Erin gets the girl's attention, "What happened after the phone call?"

Noah's eyes are still on the table and have not moved.  Erin stares at the teen for a moment, waiting for her to move, say something — anything.

"Take it step by step," Strauss reminds the teen, "Try remembering your senses first, it will bring it back."

"I don't wanna bring it back," Noah mumbles as she folds her arms across her chest.  Erin can see that the girl is trying to protect herself from what happened that day.

Erin presses the pause button on the tape and lowers her voice, "Noah, if you're not ready for this then you shouldn't push yourself.  You're young and this was clearly traumatizing.  You don't owe it to anyone."

The words would shock Noah, but she is too distracted by trying to compose herself.  The teen shakes her head and holds in her tears.

"I do," Noah says as she lifts her head, "I owe it to Haley.  I didn't tell her, but she knows I promised to protect Jack.  And I did.  But I wasn't able to protect her."