"𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙼𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
NOAH walks out of the interrogation room and puts her back to the door. She sinks down to the floor and brings her knees to her chin. The teen buries her face into her knees and cries to herself. She did not think she would become so emotional, but hearing Jenny talk about how she feels broken really spoke to her.
Emily and JJ come around the corner and both flee to the teen.
"Noah," Emily whispers as she strokes the teen's arm, "Look at me." She tells Noah and watches her slowly lift her head.
The teen is holding her hands over her mouth and nose. Emily notices the never-ending tears and JJ stands behind them, not knowing what to do.
"Hey," Emily coos and pulls at Noah's hands. When she removes them from the teen's face, she sees the blood dripping from Noah's nose.
"Okay, c'mere. Let's get you cleaned up." Emily says and holds the teen's hand as she helps her stand up. Morgan comes around the corner and sees the scene happening before him.
"Woah, are you okay?" He asks Noah, who nods with tears in her eyes, "Let me help." Morgan offers and picks Noah up.
Morgan, JJ, and Emily walk Noah to the bathroom, avoiding everyone's stares. Noah buries her face into Morgan's chest and holds her nose. As they enter the women's bathroom, Emily locks the door behind them and makes sure the bathroom is empty. JJ gets some paper towels for the teen and Morgan lets her stand on her own. Noah holds the paper towels to her nose and tilts her head up.
"Can I..." Emily trails off, wanting to be alone with Noah. Morgan and JJ nod and walk over to Noah.
"You did good, kid." Morgan says and ruffles the teen's hair. Noah lightly giggles and smiles at Morgan.
"We're all here for you." JJ adds and kindly places her hand on Noah's arm.
"Thanks, guys." Emily thanks her friends for the teen and closes the bathroom door behind them.
"Are you okay?" Emily questions the girl.
"Yeah,"
"I'm so proud of you. Thank you for trusting me." Emily sweetly says as she fixes the girl's hair.
"It's funny you say that." Noah chuckles dryly.
"Why?" Emily asks.
𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜
ɴᴏᴀʜ
I walk over to Emily's bag and unzip it. I search for the Advil, but a bunch of folders are in the way. I pull the folders out of Emily's bag and set them down on the bed. As I glance over at them, I cannot help but do a double take.
I read the name on the files and cannot believe what I am seeing.
"𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧"
I realize that all of the folders have my name on them. Penelope must have done some serious digging to find enough information for three full folders.
Suddenly, I can hear Emily stepping up to the door. I frantically put the folders back in the bag and rush to sit in front of the TV. Just as I sit down, Emily swings open the door.
"Hey," Emily says as she puts the ice bucket down.
"Hi," I reply with a smile.
"Did you get your Advil?" Emily asks.
"Uh, no, I got distracted with the TV." I say with a giggle and watch Emily go into her bag. She tosses me the bottle and I can see her covering the folders.
"Thanks," I thank her with a smile and take out two pills.
"You're welcome." Emily says and zips her bag closed, keeping the files away from me.
ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕥
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
"I saw the files in your bag." Noah tells the truth, "I'm assuming they're from Garcia."
"I was just—"
"I just need you to trust me. I need you to let me open up to you without you already knowing my whole story." Noah says and Emily understands.
"I know, I just..." Emily trails off, not really knowing what to say.
"Did you already read them?" Noah questions.
"No, I've been with you the whole time." Emily replies.
"Promise me you'll give them back to Garcia?" Noah requests as she looks the woman in the eye.
"I'll shred them if you want me to." Emily giggles and opens her arms. Noah falls into Emily's hold and takes a deep breath.
"We really gotta figure out this nosebleed business." Emily says and sees the teen lightly laugh.
"Ready to go?" Emily asks and sees the teen nod in response.
"Can you wait for me?" Emily asks as she points to her team that are standing around the door.
"Can I go with you?" Noah pleads.
"Hey, the jet leaves tomorrow at nine." Hotch says as he comes up behind the two.
"Thanks," Emily replies and turns back to Noah, "I need you to go wait for me," She repeats herself.
"But—"
"Noah," Hotch steps in, "You did really good today." He kindly mentions as he kneels down to be on her eye-level.
"Are you sure?" Noah asks, which surprises Emily.
"You did right by those women." Hotch reassures her, "I can tell you about what happens next." He offers and stands up.
"Okay," Noah nods and follows Hotch towards the rest of the team, "Thanks, Hotch."
"Noah," He says, "You can call me Aaron." He chuckles and Noah realizes that he is smiling.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭
Noah looks at the clock on the bedside table and rolls her eyes.
𝟛:𝟜𝟟 𝕒.𝕞.
Noah has been tossing and turning all night. Emily must be a deep sleeper because she has not even stirred once. Noah looks over at Emily and sees that she turned over and fast asleep.
The teen quietly gets out of bed and looks out the window. She grabs her tennis shoes and walks towards the door. Noah grabs the key card off the TV stand and heads to the door. She successfully sneaks out and silently closes the door.
Noah walks down the hallway and takes the stairs to an exit. She strolls down the street and makes her way through the familiar town. Even though she has been away, it feels like she never left. Noah inhales the familiar air and feels comfortable again. Noah feels as though she can finally let the weight slide off her shoulders.
Back at the hotel, Emily stirs awake. She feels her side of the bed to be weirdly heavy, so she turns over to check on Noah. Emily feels her heart drop as she sees the empty side of the bed. She gets out of bed and grabs her gun. Emily checks the bathroom and sees that one of the key cards are gone.
Noah sits on the curb and pulls her hood up. She tries to remember the last time she felt as though she was truly at ease. She sits on the curb for a while, soaking in her surroundings. Noah notices a light flashing towards her and feels someone walking close by.
Noah grabs something in her pocket and gets ready to stand up.
"Noah?" A voice calls out, which makes the teen calm down.
"You scared me." She sighs and sits back down.
"I knew you'd be here." Emily says and takes a seat next to the teen. The two look at Noah's childhood home, where they were collecting her things just last week.
"Did I scare you?" Noah asks.
"Uh, yeah, a little." Emily says with a dry laugh.
"Really?"
"You're my child. I'm responsible for you now." Emily replies and looks at Noah. She can see the sadness seeping from the teen's eyes.
"That's what Mom used to say." Noah sighs, "Shes 'responsible' for me. Almost as if it was a chore to do the bare minimum for me."
"That's not what I meant." Emily argues, "I was scared because I care about you. And I was worried that something happened to you."
Noah stays silent and stares at the lawn. She imagines herself at a young age, running around the yard with Nick, laughing with every step she took. But just before she can smile at the fond memory, she remembers Gia coming out and ruining all their fun. She would drunkenly yell at them to come inside and lecture them about something ridiculous.
"Do you miss them?" Emily asks as she looks up at the house.
"This is where I found my feet." Noah replies and stares at the window of the house that was in her room.
"Some of those cops at the station...I've known them my whole life." Noah says as she glances over at Emily, "They couldn't even look me in the eye. And not because of what I did, but because of what they did." She says, referring to the kids responsible for the murders.
"I don't miss them. But, I'll always miss what we could've been." Noah tells Emily and lets a silence fall over them once again.
"How long have you been carrying that around?" Emily asks.
"What?"
"In your pocket," Emily says and nods towards the pocket of Noah's sweatpants.
"A year or so." Noah says and pulls the switchblade out of her pocket.
"Give me that," Emily says and takes the knife from the teen, "You don't need this anymore. You're safe." She reassures her. Emily stands and holds out a hand to help Noah up as well.
"How did you even sneak out of the room?" Emily asks as they start walking towards the car.
"I just walked out." Noah giggles with a shrug.
"You're stealthy." Emily says and bumps her shoulder with Noah's.
"You were zonked." The teen chuckles.
"Zonked?"
"You slept like you had been at the bar all night." Noah jokes and looks up at Emily.
"I didn't get very much sleep last night."
"How come?" Noah asks.
"I was scared...and nervous." Emily confesses.
"For?"
"For you."
"Why?"
"Because I was asking you to do something I know isn't exactly comfortable."
"I can handle a lot more than you think." Noah tells Emily and smiles up at her.
"I know you can." Emily beams, "I'm really proud of you, you know that?" She asks as she puts an arm around the teen's shoulders.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you did really good."
"Maybe I can be a profiler like you one day!" Noah exclaims as she adds a little bounce to her step.
"Yeah, maybe one day." Emily giggles and pulls the teen closer. They make their way to the car and head back to the hotel for what little time they have left to get some rest.
—
𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘵
Noah sits down in one of the chairs of the jet. She fold her arms on the table and lays her head down. Emily walks up with a mug of tea for the teen and places it next to her. The teen looks over at Emily as the woman sits down. Emily opens her book to read and rubs the teen's back with her free hand. Noah does not realize, but she falls asleep from the soothing touch.
As Emily notices that the teen is asleep, she moves to sit next to JJ.
"Hey," The blonde says with a smile.
"Hey," Emily replies.
"I'm still in shock of how well she handled herself. You should be very proud of her." JJ mentions.
"I am," The brunette beams.
"Did you tell her?"
"Yeah," Emily says and looks over at the sleeping teen.
"She needs a lot of validation." JJ tells her.
"Do you think I'm in over my head?" Emily questions as doubts slip into her mind.
"With Noah?"
"Yeah, I mean, all of this will cool down and we'll just move on to another case."
"I think you'll find a schedule and when you get a case, you two will work out the details." JJ reassures Emily.
"What if I'm not enough for her?" Emily worries.
"You're more than her mother was. I think that's all she cares about for right now." JJ explains and rubs Emily's arm.
"I want her to be happy." Emily wishes.
"And with you and all of us, she will be. We won't let her down." JJ reassures Emily with a smile.
"Thank you." Emily beams and looks at the teen, who is now awake.
"Noah," Emily calls the teen's name, "C'mere, honey."
The teen sleepily stands to her feet and walks over to JJ and Emily. She sees Emily gesture towards the couch across from them. Noah sits down on the couch and looks at the two women who are staring back at her.
"Aren't you guys tired?" Noah asks as she lets out a yawn.
"You did all the work for us." JJ quietly laughs.
"Does Garcia ever come on the jet?" Noah asks, making Emily pout at the adorable question.
"Only when we need her in the field." Emily answers.
"I miss her," Noah mumbles as she lays out on the couch.
"I'm glad you like her. I may have a case come up any day." Emily tells the teen and sees how she reacts. Noah simply nods and looks up at Emily's eyes.
"You'll have to stay with her." Emily adds.
"That's okay. I like that she doesn't treat me like a victim. She just plays video games and laughs with me." Noah says and watches Emily smile sadly.
The smile of someone who feels bad for you — Noah has always hated it.