"𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚃𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘫𝘰𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘳
EMILY rolls up to a local bar where her friend is waiting. She would be more delighted to see him if his message was not so urgent — something has to be wrong.
Emily walks towards her friend as she sees him sitting at the bar. She pulls the hood off her head, watching the raindrops on her coat fall to the floor. She places a soft hand on his back.
"Hey," Emily murmurs.
"Oh, look at you," He greets her with a small smile and stands to hug her.
"Oh, sorry I'm wet," Emily says into the embrace.
"I'm—I'm sorry to make you drive in this,"
"It sounded urgent,"
"It's really good to see you, it's been forever." The man says with a sad expression.
"Johnny, what's—what's going on?" Emily asks, wanting to cut to the chase.
"It's about Matthew," Johnny says.
"Benton?" Emily questions.
"He's dead, Emily," Johnny flatly informs her and watches her face fall, "I—I didn't wanna tell you over the phone." He adds and sits down on the barstool.
"How?" Emily asks as she sits, feeling as though she is frozen in time. It feels like just yesterday when she and Matthew were the best of friends, traveling the world together.
"His parents said that he had a heart attack," Johnny answers, "I'm, uh, I'm sorry."
"Had you seen him?" Emily asks as her voice cracks from the evolving tears.
"Yeah, a couple of times."
"And? How was he?"
"He was Matthew," Johnny insists, "He was rambling, a little chaotic."
"He was using," Emily says with a small nod. She had known Matthew used in the past, so him still being chaotic would mean he is still at it.
"I don't know," Johnny says, "Probably," He adds and looks away from Emily's intense eye contact. He slightly shakes his drink in his glass, feeling fidgety.
"There's something you're not telling me," Emily states as she notices the signs of someone holding back.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
The elevator doors roll open on the sixth floor. Emily stands with a somber look on her face. Her hair is wet from the rain, having no energy in her body to use her umbrella.
Penelope sees Emily and makes a comment about the rain. Usually, her boisterous analogies would make Emily smile, but it feels wrong to. Emily had called Penelope in the car to find information on a man that Johnny told her was murdered. It could be a possible connection, but Emily knows she cannot jump the gun.
Emily takes the file from Penelope with few words. She walks to Hotch's office, leaving Penelope wondering what could be wrong.
Emily explains the situation to Hotch. He has never heard her voice so frail. She asks for leeway on the possible case, to which he automatically agrees.
—
Emily pulls out her phone as she goes to the bathroom for a breather. She has been gathering as much information, not even thinking about reaching for her phone. Emily needs all the information she can get if she wants the team to take it as an actual case.
𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐡
𝟰 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀
"Damn it," Emily says under her breath and presses Noah's contact.
The phone barely rings once until Emily hears her daughter's voice.
"Emily!" Noah exclaims.
"What's up?" Emily asks casually.
"I texted you, like, five times," Noah huffs out of frustration.
"I'm sorry, I, uh—" Emily stutters.
"What's going on?" Noah asks forwardly.
"Nothing, sweetheart, just get some sleep."
"No, something's wrong!" Noah exclaims as her quick temper kicks in.
"Everything's fine, I promise," Emily says softly.
"When will you be home?"
"Uh, I'm not sure,"
"Emily—"
"I'll text you when I'm on my way, but don't stay up too late." Emily cuts her off, "I love you,"
"Yeah, sure," Noah snaps and hangs up the phone.
Emily holds her phone out and sees her home screen. She sighs as she tries to clear her head. One part of her is telling her to work on the case and the other is telling her to go home to her frustrated daughter.
—
Emily sits at her desk, gathering research between her knowledge of the past and Garcia's deep search into Matthew's life.
The woman can feel herself practically nodding away. She has hit a wall in the case and cannot seem to get her head straight. Losing Matthew is the worst news she has gotten in a long time.
"Can I talk to you?" A voice behind her asks.
"Noah, what're you doing here?" Emily questions the teen as she sees her completely dressed and fully awake.
"I was worried about you, so I told Derek to bring me here. What's going on?" Noah pleads for an answer.
"It's nothing—"
"Don't lie to me again," Noah puts her foot down, "Don't keep me out of the dark, you know how much I hate that."
Emily stands and leads Noah to the round table. She sits the teen down and slowly takes a seat next to her.
Noah can feel the air soften. Suddenly, her anger is pushed aside as she analyzes Emily. She is moving slowly, practically dragging her feet along. Her body language is tight but almost drowning. Her eyes are dark and she had not bothered to fix her hair after walking in the rain.
"Something happened," Noah says in a quiet tone.
"I lost an old friend," Emily admits.
"Oh," Noah softly replies, "I'm sorry,"
Emily sits quietly, having nothing to add. Matthew is gone.
"Em," Noah mumbles and pulls Emily into a hug. She holds the woman tightly, never seeing her so defenseless before.
Noah's heart sinks for Emily. If anyone knows how it feels to lose a friend, it is Noah. She watched her friend die right before her. She does not have to imagine how Emily feels, she has witnessed it within herself.
"When was the last time you saw them?" Noah asks as she pulls away from the embrace.
"Too long ago," Emily sighs, "But he was...very messed up. I didn't have time to make room in my life for someone like that. But..."
"It doesn't mean you stopped caring about him," Noah finishes the woman's sentence.
The teen knows the feeling well. There comes a point in someone's life when they lose the ones they love. They are still alive, but the person you knew before is gone. It is hard watching someone grow away from you; even harder watching someone decay.
But that care for someone never fully diminishes. It may be faint, but it peeks through the shadows when it needs to.
"You think he was murdered?" Noah questions.
"Maybe; something is definitely wrong," Emily frets.
Noah has never seen Emily worry like this. She knows that Emily is trying not to show it to her team, putting on a brave face. But there is still something so desperate about the worry. Something that Emily is not saying.
"I hope you figure it out," Noah says, "You have the team."
"Yeah," Emily sighs and Noah can see she needs a pick-me-up.
"I love you," Noah murmurs and hugs Emily again. It takes the woman by surprise; the vulnerability of the teen.
"Thank you, Noah," Emily whispers.
—
𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦
Emily sent Noah to Penelope's office to get some rest. She promised they would go home soon, but she needed to do a few more things.
Noah lazily lays on Penelope's couch, trying to entertain herself. She checks her phone, finding multiple texts.
𝐥𝐢𝐯
hey, u haven't been answering my texts, u good?
𝟑 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 🤪
𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲
skatepark after school tmrw?
𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫
wya? we need to talk
𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬 :)
plz answer me!!
𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦
hey loser you okay? haven't heard from you,
kinda worried 😔
—
𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦
hey loser you okay? haven't heard
from you, kinda worried 😔
i'm okay, thanks 😌
just checking! u never told me
if you liked that song i sent you
it's good!! learn it on the
guitar for me?
ofc, already working on it
ur the best
only if you do my paper for me
ur the worst
🤷🏻
—
Noah throws her phone on the couch and rubs her face. She has not felt this stressed in a while. Everything was going so well, but suddenly it is all coming back.
The teen gets an idea and picks up her phone. She picks the contact and clicks call.
"Hello?"
"Elizabeth? It's Noah,"
"Oh, Noah, it's so good to hear from you, darling."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to call," Noah says as she gets comfortable on the couch.
"You sound a mess, is something wrong?" Elizabeth immediately notices the unstable tone.
"Uhm, Emily lose one of her old friends. They met when you guys were in Rome?"
"I remember those friends. Tell her I send my condolences." Elizabeth replies.
"Of course,"
"Once things are settled, why don't you come over for dinner?" She offers politely.
"Really?"
"Well, you're my granddaughter, I'd like to get to know you more."
"Uh, yeah, that sounds good." Noah beams.
"Just tell me a time and I'll make it happen,"
"Yeah, 'course,"
"Alright, well, I've got much work to do,"
"I'm sure," Noah chuckles, "I'll talk to you soon,"
"Bye, darling."
"Bye,"
Noah smiles to herself as she puts her phone down. Emily always complains about her mother, but Noah sees nothing bad about Elizabeth. Maybe it is because she is too naive or maybe it is because Elizabeth has taken a certain liking to her. Either way, it is nice to have a grandmother that was caring and willing to make time for her.
As a child, she would have given anything to have a grandmother like Elizabeth.
Noah stares at Penelope's computers. She feels a temptation as she notices they are unlocked. Slowly, she makes her way to the computers and sits on the desk chair.
The teen types something into a Google search. She finds what she is looking for quicker than she thought she would. She pulls out her phone and dials a number.
"Hi, this is the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families. How can I help you today?"