𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒆 ~ 𝒂 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒄

Chapter XXIII: Almed

"So I noticed that there is no information about him past 1983."

"Nothing?" Morgan repeated.

"Nada, zilchy zilch. So, I dug further and found out his name is actually Marcus Jones and I ran a background check on him," Garcia slowly started getting quieter as she spoke, "as you know, this case is sadly connected to my Flower, Eden, and I found out that it's more connected than we thought."

"Garcia, what did you find?" Spencer asked getting agitated with the technical analyst at sugarcoating her search.

"Marcus Jones is Eden's father."

the room fell silent, the only sounds heard being are the ringing of the phones outside the room or the ineligible chatter of officers. Eden has never felt so numb, never has she thought their only viable suspect was one of the victims, and worst of all, her piece of shit dad.

"Eden?" Rossi asks in concern.

"Reid, Prentiss, take Ellis to the hotel," Hotch orders.

"What? Hotch, I thought it'd be fine for me to work on this case as long as I stay put of the field, " Eden argued.

"Eden, whether this was on purpose or not, you're closer to this case than before. Your father was murdered by this unsub. I don't want to argue, I want you to go to the hotel and process this, " Hotch responded sternly.

"Can I at least go to my grandma's?" Eden asked with pleading eyes.

The team exchanged questioning looks with furrowed brows.

"Prentiss and Reid can stay with me, ok? Just let me visit her so I could process this with her, " Eden begged.

Hotch nodded and let the three agents go. Eden opened her hand for the car keys in front of Emily.

"Eden, are you sure?" she asked.

"Do I look like I'm not?" Eden retorted.

Emily looked towards Reid who just had a concerned gaze toward Eden, she looked back at Eden, and hesitantly nodded before dropping the keys in her hands. Eden headed to the driver's seat, Spencer going to the passengers, leaving Emily in the back. Eden turned on the car and started making way to her Nain's house.

Fun family reunion, right?

~

Through the drive, Spencer kept his hand on Eden's thigh, with every now and then her grabbing it a red light.

Now arriving at her grandma's home, Spencer felt a huge weight land on his shoulders. It's not exactly like he can 'meet the parents' but he knows Eden's grandmother is her last family. And soon enough she'll have no one left.

Eden got out of the car heading straight to the door, opening the wall-mount mailbox, and grabbing the last of the mail her grandma couldn't reach. Quite a tradition. Her grandma constantly telling her she needs her tallness, considering her 5'3 stature, she can't quite reach all the way.

Emily and Spencer watched amusingly as Eden bends down and picks up an empty food bowl and grabbing the spare key taped under it, silently cheering when she found it on the same spot. She opened the door and found her living room the same as she left it. Emily closed the door and stayed by to make sure no one can come in as Eden grabbed Spencer's hand and led her to her grandma.

"I know you're not my nurse, so if you're a murderer, just know I'm not worth it, " A voice shouted.

Eden giggled and opened the door to her grandmother's room, thanking the gods, her nurse told her it was a good day.