RUNAWAY
CHAPTER TWENTY...!
❝ SPRING BREAK , SEASON
SIX ❞
I BELIEVE it was safe to say Jennie Hotchner's spring break hadn't gotten off at a great start.
Spring break— a vacation period for students within the middle of March or April, that usually lasts one or two weeks. However, after the death of Emily Prentiss, Jennie's vacation didn't seem much like a vacation.
"I think about death a lot."
Jennie broke the silence in the room, as Aaron sat next to her at the dining table. It was two days after the funeral of Emily Prentiss, and the man had wanted the two to talk to her about the whole situation.
Now, if he were to tell that to Jennie a year or two ago, she would've immediately declined. The thought of looking her father into the eye, and telling him all of the conflicting emotions she felt would make her grimace.
However, after Haley's death, she came to accept the fact that there were times where she could deal with stuff on her own, and times when she couldn't.
And this, this was one of those times.
Not to mention, he did make the offer a bit more appealing, offering to play a card game, Slap Ace, as they talked. Well, it's traditionally called Slap Jack, but after Jennie's baby brother was born, the name seemed slightly inappropriate.
"Not my own, obviously." Jennie continued, dealing the playing cards, after she saw him furrow his eyebrows, "I mean, seriously, if the world wanted me dead, it would've done something a long time ago. I mean— there were so many chances."
Jennie was about to go on, listing the times she could've died, like the ambulance incident, or Foyet, or even the time last month she almost fell off a ladder (long story). However, she looked at him again, to see his slightly tensed state.
She then remembered how it probably wasn't the best idea to list off ways she could've died in her lifetime to her very loving, protective father.
"I don't think about my own death a lot. But I think about other people's." Jennie told her father, her tone a bit more careful, "Emily's, Grandpa's, Haley's. I think about how putting the bad guys away will never change the suffering in ache and affliction they caused. How— although they've been caught, they won. They won the battle."
"How so?"
Jennie looked at him, pausing for a moment, placing down a card.
"Because Emily is dead." She finally answered him, "Which means Doyle wins. No matter how much I try to cover it with the fact that he's in prison now— he still won."
The room went silent for a moment, Jennie only sighing quietly. The two went on, placing cards down on the table. After a moment of no progress within the game, the teen spoke, "Seriously? Still no jacks or aces?"
He shook his head, indicating he didn't have any. After placing some more cards down, he paused, looking up at his daughter, "What do you need?"
With him evidently referring to what she needed in order to grieve in a healthy way, Jennie couldn't help but chuckle.
"A jack or an ace."
"Jennie."
"Sorry, I know that's not what you mean. I do still need one though." She told him, placing one more card down, before signing once more, "I need— something good to happen. I need the world to be good. For once, I want to wake up, and not feel tired. I don't want to open my eyes and think about how I have to keep doing this all over again. I want the world to be— decent."
If 14-year-old Jennie saw what 18-year-old Jennie was saying right now, she would probably be shocked at the fact that she said all of that in front of her father.
The room filled with a silence, as Aaron placed one more card down, before looking back up at her again, "I'm proud of you, Jennie. You've made real progress with opening up."
Jennie gave her dad a small smile, "Thanks."
Again, another silence occurred. However, this time, Jennie was the one to break it.
"Dad?"
"Hm?"
"Sorry if this seems like I'm being nosy, but—" She paused for a second, "Me and the team, you're taking the time to help us during our grief. Which— on everyone's behalf, we appreciate deeply. But..."
When the girl trailed off, Aaron furrowed his eyebrows, "What is it?"
She hesitated to continue, "Do you have someone? To talk to? I mean— Are you okay?"
Aaron stared at his daughter for an extended moment after she spoke, looking down, before back up at her. It took him a moment, but eventually he spoke up.
"I will be."
And with those words, Aaron placed another card down, it happening to be a jack.
The girl's eyes brightened, immediately slapping the deck. A small smile formed on her lips, before the pain from her hand for slapping the deck rolled in.
"Dude." The teen groaned in pain, holding her hand close to her, "This has to be like— my 50th near death experience."
Again, she forgot it's probably not the best idea to talk about how she could've died in front of her very loving father.
"Jennie."
"Right, sorry. Not a good joke. Hand still hurts though."
—
"I'M JUST SAYING, it's not necessary. There's too much blood, and gore, and ugh."
"Garcia, it's a slasher film. How do you do a slasher film without violence?"
Jennie walked out of the movie theater with the group, which contained Derek, Penelope, Spencer, and Ashley Seaver. The girl had a few more days of Spring Break before having to fly back for college, and the group spent the night of one of them watching a horror film.
"You imply it." Garcia replied to Spencer.
"Don't you guys make a living off of seeing blood and gore?" Jennie questioned.
"Yes, which is why we have off-days like these to try and cancel it out!" The blonde huffed, before Derek looked at her, his hands stuffed in his pockets as they walked.
"Baby, the movie is called Slice Six. What were you expecting?"
"Uh— refreshing beverage with a twist of comedy. I'm going to have nightmares for a week!"
"With everyday we see and do on a daily basis, that got to you?" Seaver joined in, as Jennie nodded, in agreement to her statement.
"Listen, newb, you may be all Sigourney Weaver ass-kicking tough, which is awesome, but the mystical mavens of innocence like myself jump at things that go bump in the night."
"That's what I love about you, Pen." Jennie grinned at the women.
"Garcia, why are you so worried? I'm sure that Morgan will protect you." Spencer spoke, as Ashley laughed, "As long as he's not jumping out of his chair like a prepubescent schoolgirl."
"I saw that happen!" Jennie laughed, the group joining in. Morgan rolled his eyes at their jokes.
"The only reason I jumped is because you guys woke me up."
"How could you sleep during that?"
"Easy. You drag me out after a 12-hour-workday. For what?" The man shrugged, "You're telling me that girl didn't know that the unsub was waiting for her upstairs? Come on now."
"Villain." Jennie corrected him.
"What?"
"Yeah, us normal people who aren't kicking down doors everyday call the bad guys villains." Jennie had a playful expression on her face, evidently trying to annoy the man.
"You know, you talk a lot about me kicking down doors for someone who can't kick down a door."
"That's because I don't need to. I have a key." Jennie grinned at the man, as the group laughed. They all continued walking, as Spencer shifted to a new topic.
"You want to know why horror movies are so successful?"
"Why is that, genius?"
"They prey on our instinctual need to survive. In tribal days, a woman's scream would signal danger, and the men would return from hunting to protect their pack." The man explained, "That's why it's always the women and not the men who fall victim to the Bogeyman."
"Count on you, Reid, to break a movie down to science." Seaver chuckled, before Penelope added her thoughts.
"My favorite thing about horror movies is the suspense factor. The helpless victim walks through the dark, shadows reaching out to get her."
"The sudden noise draws her attention. Is someone there, or is it just in her head?"
"Ew, ew, ew— stop." Jennie covered her ears, being creeped out by their words, "C'mon guys, we just finished the movie, and you want to add on to the nightmares I'll be having?"
"Oh so that 'i doubt this movie will even be that scary' thing you said earlier was just all talk then, huh?" Morgan turned to the girl. That made her shoot him a glare, which made him shoot back a smile.
"You know, it's totally unrealistic." Penelope spoke, "No one should be walking through a dark alley by themselves at night."
Derek furrowed his eyebrows, before clearing his throat, "Hello?"
"Oh, no one should be walking through a dark alley without a Derek Morgan by their side." Penelope corrected herself.
"Eh, I could get by without one." Jennie shrugged, causing Morgan to let out a tsk, gently shoving her.
So far their night had been filled with a sibling-like rivalry.
And every moment she made the others laugh as she annoyed Morgan was a moment well spent.
—
"The director has some concerns." Strauss told Aaron, after they got back from their case, as she placed folders in her briefcase.
"What kind of concerns?"
"There's a chance that I might need your help, and I want you to be in a position to assist."
"What's going on?"
"I'm just dealing with a few things right now." She told him.
"What is it?"
"I might have to be away for a few months. I'm not asking you to step away from your duties, but I might need you to supervise some other departments."
"Whatever you need. Of course."
—
HER LAST full day of spring break, Jennie spent it at Jack's soccer game.
As she watched her little brother play, she remembered the days when she taught him soccer. It was only days before Haley had left her father and Jennie. They had ran around the backyard, practicing and playing. Jennie had kept trying to find ways to make their game go longer until their parents would stop arguing, so Jack wouldn't have to hear their yelling.
Before the memories could flood in, Jack had kicked the soccer ball into the goal. Jennie cupped her hands over her mouth, cheering Jack on, "Go Jack!"
Rossi and Aaron, the new coach's for the little boy's team, cheer while high giving each other. Jack had the biggest smile on his face, as he immediately ran up to Jennie, who pulled him into a big hug, rocking him side to side.
"Okay, everyone lets huddle up. C'mon, huddle, huddle, huddle!" Aaron told the team. As he looked around, his eyes landed on Jennie, who had the biggest smile on her face, as she let go of Jack.
With not only being a profiler, but also a father, Aaron saw that Jennie's smile was different than what it was at the beginning of her spring break.
This smile— it was genuine.
He smiled at his daughter, a thought roaming in his mind, before putting his focus back on Jack's soccer team.
"I need— something good to happen. I need the world to be good."
Jennie Hotchner didn't need to find the good in life because— really, she was the good.
—
"You said we needed to talk. But at— 2am?" Rossi sat at the edge of his desk.
"Saw the lights were on."
"And you couldn't sleep— which tells me you've given some thought to what we discussed."
"I haven't stopped thinking about it."
"So?"
Jennifer Jareau, who sat in the office chair in front of him, nodded her head.
"I'm coming back."
—
AUTHOR'S NOTE |
grief has got to be one of the hardest things for me to write and ironically enough it's something jennie goes through almost every chapter LMAO
word count.
2053.