Sergeant Abigail (Abby) Laurens transfers to the BAU after an operation in Iraq goes horribly wrong and she loses the one man she's ever truly loved. Desperate to escape her guilt she throws herself into her new position but when someone comes back...
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Abby turned her engine off and sat in her car just to the right of a street light. She looked through her rearview mirror, waiting for a car to park alongside her. She hadn't chosen a dodgy place; it was the parking lot of her local supermarket, which was, of course, now closed as the night began to seep into the very early hours of the morning.
She had been sat there for just a couple of minutes when a car pulled up next to her. She turned her head and saw Lawrence's eyes staring back at her. Once they had parked she got out of her car and stood at the boot end of both vehicles. Two successive bangs echoed through the empty parking lot, even now, many months later, her hands still instinctively reached for the gun on her belt and her eyes searched the dark surrounding her, looking for the source of the noise. Of course, this time, it was not the sound of gunshots or an IED but instead the sound of car doors. And instead of terrorists, Morgan and Lawrence appeared from behind the noises.
Morgan had a tight grip on Lawrence's forearm, much to the latter's amusement. Abby and Lawrence made eye contact and in that look, aside from noticing the obvious terror in his eyes at the sight of the woman who just a few hours ago tried to kill him. Abby told him everything he needed to know about what was going to happen in the next few minutes. He was going to stand there and keep his mouth shut.
"Abby, what the hell is going on?" Morgan said, his voice deep and authoritative.
"There really isn't time to explain, Morgan. Let go of Lawrence." She said, only her authoritative tone was more impressive as there was actually a position of power behind it.
"Why?" Morgan asked softly. He had those eyes, Abby noticed. Those eyes that screamed 'trust me, tell me everything'.
"I spoke to Hall."
Even Lawrence raised his eyebrows in interest. Morgan, however...
"What? When? Where?" He started nervously, suddenly increasing his awareness for his surroundings.
"Oh what is this, an eighth grade English lesson? You don't need to ask me the five W's, Morgan. We spoke, he left, that's it."
"You let him go?"
"What was I going to do? Take him down myself?"
"Abby, I - I don't understand. Why would you just let him go?"
"It's fine. He's like a cat. He'll come back when he wants feeding. And he'll get hungry eventually." Lawrence nodded slightly at her surprisingly accurate metaphor.
Morgan let go of Lawrence's arm and walked over to Abby, placing a friendly hand on her forearm. He studied her face.
"Abby, we can help you. Please."
"I told you all to stay out of this. For you own sakes."
"Stop doing that. Stop pushing us away when you need us -"
"No Morgan, I don't need you, none of you should be involved in this! I have put all of your lives in danger and it stops now. Hall knows that none of you have any idea what it is that he's looking for and he knows that none of you have it and it's not at the BAU so you're safe from him."
"He wants whatever's in that notebook doesn't he?"
Abby got close enough to Morgan that he could see her breath collide with the cold night air as she spoke.
"Never, ever, say that aloud again. All Hall knows is that you know there was a notebook, but you have no idea what's in it."
"Well, that's not exactly a lie, Abby, we don't know what's in it because you won't tell us anything!"
"And I can't! I'm sorry okay, I am."
"Abby, it's okay, you can still tell us, just come back to the BAU and we'll sort it out-"
"No, Morgan, I'm not sorry about that. I'm sorry about using you."
"What?" Morgan asked gently, hesitantly. Lawrence looked like he was watching the greatest tennis match you could imagine, the way his head was flicking and turning between the two.
"I should've left. I should've resigned, packed up my shit and gone the second I heard Hall was out of prison but I knew that if Hall was out, then...then Lawrence would be too. One way or another. To be honest, I didn't expect he'd do it in such a formal way but then people always have a way of surprising you. I needed to stay with the BAU to get to Lawrence. To get to Hall." Abby studied her friends face as he tried to process all the information she'd just shared. "I'm so sorry."
"What does he have on you, Abby?" Morgan asked kindly. Even now, he was still trying to save his friend.
"Nothing, Morgan. Okay? Please, you have to believe me. I can't tell you what's in that book or why Hall wants it so badly because I don't know. Not for sure anyway. But I cannot risk any of you finding out what is in it because as soon as you do, a call for your head's goes out. I can't be responsible for that." Abby felt a lump stop in her throat and her vision begin to grow cloudy. "Please just go back to the BAU and tell them I'm sorry."
"What? Is this it? You're not even going to say goodbye?" Morgan's voice broke. "Abby, the safest place for you to be right now is the BAU, we can protect you." He glanced at the eerily silent man next to her. "Even Lawrence. That is the safest place for you both."
"But it's not the safest place for you all if I'm there." She smiled sadly.
Morgan took a tight hold of her hands. "Abby, please." He begged. "For Spencer."
A strangled sob escaped her throat. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Morgan gently on the cheek.
"Goodbye, Morgan."
She turned on her heel and walked the few steps to her car, Lawrence following, getting into the passengers side. As she knelt to get into her car she heard Morgan's desperate final calls:
"You know where we are, Abby. You can always come home!"
She smiled through the tears rolling down her cheeks as she slammed the car door and drove into the darkness.
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don't forget to vote and comment, it really does mean a lot. i hope you're enjoying 'silence'.
oh we're nearing the end now, bbys we got it all planned out and all ima say is, im sorry ahahah
