safe inside, criminal minds [ 1 ]

008. changes

tw: domestic abuse

Danielle and Brady have been dating for a few months. The two are currently fighting over something that Danielle doesn't even remember what started it.

Brady throws a plate across the room, it crashing into the wall and shattering to pieces. Danielle flinches, covering her head before looking over at the plate in shock.

"Oh, baby." She turns at Brady's voice. "Baby, I-I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to get so angry. Please, forgive me." He hugs her, Danielle tensing up a bit.

"It-- it's fine." She quietly says, harshly swallowing to control her reaction. "Um... you-- you go and-- and take a breather. I-I can clean it up."

"Are you sure?" Brady asks.

"Mm-hmm." Danielle weakly smiles.

"Okay. I love you so much, I'm sorry." Brady kisses her.

"I know. Love you, too." She says, watching him go to the bathroom. She lets out a shaky breath, staring at the broken pieces.

+++

Danielle rushes into the small restaurant, speed walking to the table that Spencer's at.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late." She says.

"Hm? No, that-- it's fine." Spencer says.

"Hey, what happened to your boyband hair?" Danielle frowns, noticing her brother's short hair.

"Oh, uh... just got a small change." He shrugs.

"Okay. Still looks nice." She says.

"Thanks." Spencer mutters. "You okay?"

"What? Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine." Danielle says.

"You just... you seem kind of spooked." Spencer says.

"Oh, no, it-- it's nothing. Just... horror movie marathon." Danielle says.

"Okay." Spencer mumbles. "Sorry this is the first time we've been able to hang out in a few weeks."

"No, no, it-- it's okay. We're both super busy." Danielle says.

"Yeah." Spencer nods. He tries to hide his wince as he feels his head throb. He glances up at Danielle, seeing her studying the menu, sighing in relief knowing she didn't see anything.

After deciding what to get and ordering, the two are left in silence.

"So, um... how-- how are things with Brady?" Spencer asks.

"They..." Danielle plays with her straw. "They're good. They-- yeah, no, everything's good."

"You sure?" Spencer asks.

"We agreed no profiling on our hangouts." Danielle frowns.

"Fine." Spencer mumbles. "But you can tell me if something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong." Danielle says.

Spencer just nods, not wanting to pick a fight with her, deciding to just study her a bit while they eat -- even if it does break the "no profiling" promise.

"How's work?" Danielle asks.

"It's fine. We, uh, we have a new agent, Ashley Seaver. She, um, she's Charles Beauchamp's daughter. You know, The Redmond Ripper."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Their food soon gets there and the two start to eat. Danielle reaches for her fork, her sleeve sliding up a bit revealing her wrist.

"What's that?" Spencer asks.

"What?" Danielle asks, looking around for something.

Spencer grabs her arm and pushes the sleeve up, revealing the bruise. Danielle freezes, staring at the bruise. It's faded enough that you can't tell it's from a handprint.

"How'd you get that?" Spencer asks.

"I-- Brady and I were... well, you know, um..." She trails off.

"What?" Spencer asks.

"Sex." She blurts out.

"Oh." Spencer mumbles before grimacing a little and letting go of her. "I, uh..."

"Sorry." She mutters.

"No. No, it, um... okay." Spencer shoves a forkful of food into his mouth.

Danielle quietly sighs, biting the inside of her cheek, guilt gnawing at her for lying. But she's also thankful he doesn't seem to be focusing on her enough to notice the lie.

+++

"I'm not the fucking maid! You can wash your own dishes!" Danielle screams. Right when Brady got home, he had started yelling and usually Danielle would be quiet and just go along with whatever he says, but she just couldn't handle it today.

"You get out of work earlier, it only makes sense that you do the fucking dishes!" Brady screams.

"Cleaning house is not just a woman's job! Stop being a lazy piece of shit!" The moment the words leave her mouth, Danielle regrets them. She opens her mouth to apologize, only crying out when Brady punches her hard enough to send her to the floor.

Danielle groans, yelling out in pain when Brady kicks her in the stomach. She whines as he continues to kick her. Brady hauls her up to her feet and punches her again before repeating.

Danielle cries out as Brady slams her against the wall. She whines, trying to pull away from him as he leans closer to her, his nose brushing against her cheek.

"You should really listen to me, you little bitch." He sneers as Danielle chokes on a sob. Brady harshly backhands her, the woman crashing to the floor.

Brady goes to the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Danielle does her best to keep her sobs quiet as she curls up on the floor.

~ ~ ~

Danielle peeks into the bedroom, seeing Brady asleep, hearing the loud snores. She quietly goes back to the living room and grabs her cell phone.

She goes through the contacts until she finds Spencer. Her thumb hovers over the call button, but before she can hit it, her phone vibrates. She looks at the caller ID and reads her brother's name.

Danielle frowns in confusion, knowing he rarely calls this late. She answers the phone, putting it to her ear.

"Spen?" She mumbles.

"Dani." Spencer sniffles. "I, uh... I have to tell you something."

"Be-before you do, I--"

"Emily's dead." Danielle's heart drops at the information, her eyes immediately stinging with tears.

"What?" She croaks out.

"She-- she got killed. Somebody we were trying to find got to her before we could." Spencer sniffles. "The doctors couldn't save her."

"Oh, my God." Danielle whispers, tears falling down her cheeks. "Spence, I am so sorry."

"Yeah. I just-- you needed to know. You were her friend, too." Spencer says. "I can call you tomorrow with all the funeral stuff."

"Okay." Danielle mumbles.

"I love you." Spencer says. Danielle weakly smiles, swallowing her sob down.

"I love you, too." She quietly says. "I-I'm really tired. I should go." She doesn't wait for a response as she hangs up.