Cara Ash appears to be just another profiler for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. She's intelligent, witty, and quickly became an asset to the unit. But Cara's motives for befriending the team are anything but pure, she's out for revenge and won't stop...
"He's getting out," Penelope tells me as she runs into my office.
"I'm so sorry, sir," I say into the phone, "but I'm going to have to call you back."
I hang up before the Director of the FBI can respond. My eyes well with tears as I get up from my desk and walk around to the front so I'm face to face with Garcia.
"Is this real?" I ask as she grasps my hands in hers, "is he really getting out?"
She nods, tears glisten in her eyes too as she speaks, "Cara, Spencer is getting out of prison. We have to go now so yours can be the first face he sees."
I let out the breath that I've been holding for the past two and a half months. I nod and grab my purse from the hook by the door. We practically sprint to the elevators and on our way down I shoot a quick text to my second in command that I'll be out for the rest of the day.
We get into her car, where Luke Alvez is waiting in the backseat, and she starts making the hour drive to the prison where Spencer has been incarcerated. As she drives, I nervously play with black onyx engagement ring that rests on my left hand
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When Spencer proposed a year ago, it was the happiest day of my life. We had worked through all of the problems of our past and we were going to start our new life together. He did it at the Smithsonian because that's where we had our first date. We were walking through the featured photographer, Ansel Adams, exhibit when he stopped me in the middle of the hallway.
He told me that this was the exact spot where he saw me for the first time after our year apart and the place where he realized that he couldn't imagine his life without me in it. He told me that he loved me, every aspect of me, and that he never wanted to risk us being apart again. When he got down on one knee, before he could even ask the question, I was already saying, 'yes'.
Our wedding was supposed to happen last month, but with this whole prison mess we had to postpone. I was getting nervous that it was never going to happen because the team wouldn't give me any insight on what was happening with the case. They said it was better if I didn't know.
So instead I went to visit Spencer every week, even when he asked me to stop. It was so difficult to see him, especially after he had taken a beating and his sweet face was covered in bruises. But I kept going because he needed to keep his hope alive and if I stopped, I was scared he'd fall into the darkness that was surrounding him.
Penelope is nervously chatting beside me and Luke is chiming in every once and a while with a snarky comeback which leads Penelope to go into another rant. I'm glad I have the two of them with me, the chemistry between them is so obvious to everyone other than them and I find it beyond entertaining and a great distraction. But I also know I can't point it out to them because the last time I did (granted I was drunk at our engagement party), they denied it and then didn't speak for almost two weeks.
I see the prison approaching and my hand instinctively goes to my new-ish necklace. I had gifted my original dagger to a young girl that I met through a case four years ago. She had been sexually abused for years by her stepfather and his friends. When we found her, she was badly beaten and hiding in the corner of the room. She trauma-bonded to me and when it was time for her to go live with her grandparents in California she was terrified. So, I gave her my silver dagger necklace, telling her that it kept me safe and gave me strength when I needed it and it would do the same for her. She still wears it to this day; I know this because I had just got an email from her grandmother with a photo attachment from her high school graduation and she was wearing it.
But after I had given mine away, Spencer gave me a new one. It was still a small, silver dagger pendant but this time it had tiny roses carved into the blade and on the back held a small 's'. He said it was because he was the protector of my heart and wanted me to always be reminded of that. He got himself a matching one in gold with a 'c' carved on the back, because I am the one who protects his heart. I run my fingers over the sharp edges of the pendant and keep my thumb pressed against the 's'.
We pull into the parking lot and Luke gives my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "he's going to be okay now, Cara. He's coming home."
I nod and place my hand on his holding it for a moment before releasing it. We get out of the car and walk up to the visitors entrance. Penelope waits there while Luke and I go through the security. Luke goes in a different direction than me, stating that he has some business to take care of while I'm led to the private room where Spencer think's he's waiting to meet with his lawyer. I see him through the glass and my heart skips a beat. I open the door and he turns around. The expression on his face instantly changes from paranoid and nervous to relief mixed with a bit of confusion.
"Cara?" he says, almost in disbelief that I'm here, "what's going on?"
The tears fill my eyes as a smile spreads across my face, "you're coming home, baby."
"What?" His voice is barely above a whisper.
"You're coming home," I tell him again and I walk over to him, wrapping my arms tightly around him.
I keep repeating, 'you're coming home', as we hug and let out tears of relief. He cups my face in his hands and kisses me so desperately that I melt into him. Kissing him always calms me and reminds me that he is truly the man who was hand-picked for me.
Even after all these years, the love I have for him grows more and more every day. I never knew I could be capable of loving someone so deeply and have them love me the same. Spencer Reid changed my entire life and I am so beyond grateful that he did. That I now have a partner to go through the ups and downs of life with. I know it's not always going to be easy, I mean if the last two and a half months have taught me anything it's that we can go through hell and back but as long as we have each other, we'll be okay.
I break our kiss and hold his wrists so his hands stay on my neck and face. "I love you so much, Spencer Reid."
He smiles and kisses my forehead, "I love you more, Cara Ash."
________________________________________
A.N
Thank you so much for reading A Father's Daughter!!! I hope you all enjoyed the story :) I absolutely adored writing Cara and giving Spencer the happy ending that we didn't get on the show lol.
BUT just in case you're like me and love reading not so happy endings, check out "A Father's Daughter - Alternate Ending"! Find out what would have happened if Cara had decided to go through with her final act of revenge....
