Ineffable - S.REID

11

・゜゜・．TWO WEEKS LATER .・゜゜・

Clara stood next to Rossi, leaning on the wall behind them, as he enthusiastically told a joke to her and Spencer. She didn't really find any aspect of the joke funny but found Rossi's delivery rather endearing. Spencer however looked as if he was trying too hard to impress Rossi or just to simply be interested in the joke itself. "So Yogi Berra arrives at spring training and the equipment manager says to him. What size cap do you wear? And Yogi says, 'I don't know. I'm not in shape yet!"

Spencer hesitated for a second, "Uh huh."

"That's it, that's the joke?" Clara asked, brows raised high on her head in disbelief that Rossi could find such a thing funny. She didn't know whether she just didn't understand the joke or it genuinely really wasn't funny at all.

Rossi frustratedly threw up both his hands in frustration as Hotch walked past them both, heading towards the briefing room. "You two have no humor," he grumbled in annoyance, frowning deeply.

"Maybe you're just telling outdated jokes," Clara responded snarkily, earning a deadly glare from Rossi and a rather enthusiastic laugh from Spencer. He did attempt to hide it though but Rossi instantly caught on.

"Stronza," Rossi swore under his breath, whilst making direct eye contact with Clara as if it would amplify the threatening nature of his voice.

Clara fake gasped dramatically, only adding insult to injury. Rossi gave a sigh of disapproval then began to walk off towards the briefing room, where Hotch was undoubtedly waiting for the three of them.

"What did he call you?" Spencer quickly asked as he dug through his bag, searching for something that looked important.

Clara laughed softly, flipping Rossi off the instant he turned his head towards them as he walked into the briefing room. "An asshole."

-

The Morpheus case unfolded rather interestingly as they all delved through the various pre prepared files and as Garcia dug through all available information rigorously. During the discussion, Clara remained silent even when she did possess information that could have added to the discussion but it was not completely necessary. She was far too busy focusing on the various signatures written all over various surfaces, having never heard of Morpheus beforehand.

"Oh no," Garcia's voice came from the computer as a buzzing sound echoed from her setup. The sound shook Clara out of her own thoughts and back to reality.

"Baby girl?" Morgan queried as Clara quickly scrawled down the notes she had created on the back of a piece of paper as they would be useful later but she didn't want to interrupt.

Garcia sighed softly, signaling to all those who knew how she acted on cases, that this was a particularly awful piece of news to deliver. "A child's been abducted in Detroit. Corrine Wallace, 8 month old daughter of Stuart and Katherine Wallace."

"Stuart Wallace is one of the developers behind the urban renovation project," Spencer added, not even giving Clara the chance to check where she had heard that name before. She envied Spencer's mind sometimes.

"And there was graffiti and Morpheus' signature on the walls of the baby's nursery," Garcia continued and finally the beeping through the computer stopped, casting the group in the eerie silence that always occurred when a case involved a child.

"All right, when we land, Dave, you and Davia go to the abduction site. Morgan, see if you can locate the rival artist who took down Morpheus' work. Reid and I will go to the P.D. And Garcia your sole job is finding out the identity of Morpheus."

-

Clara had been first through the doors of the building to arrest the kidnapper the second that Hotch gave the okay. She had wanted the joy of the arrest but upon entering the building, her attention was taken immediately. She drifted towards the little girl and picked her up from the playpen, instantly holding the girl close with refusal to let go until she handed her back to her mother. Upon being picked up, the baby giggled joyfully and Clara felt that telling tug for her own children that she had hidden away years ago. She couldn't show that sort of weakness undercover.

On the plane back to the BAU, Clara sat alone on one of the tables that seated two and just stared out of the window whilst thoughts circulated her mind violently. Her time undercover and all the terrors seen during that time came back with a vengeance, making her mind a rather awful place to be stuck in. Rossi appeared opposite her with two glasses of whisky, one of which was placed in front of her and the other infront of him.

"Grazie mille," she spoke softly, wary of the sleeping people around her, and instantly picked up the glass.

"Interesting look on your face when you held that baby kiddo," Rossi commented as she took a rather large swig from the glass, eyebrows raising at the taste and the comment. Clara wasn't one for whiskey and she was rather surprised she actually enjoyed whatever had been poured into the glass, in her eyes whisky was more a thing for her Nonno.

"Yeah?"

"Something you want to talk about?"

Clara sighed and looked around just to check that everyone was still asleep. She found that Morgan had woken but was too enveloped in one of his audiobooks to even notice the surroundings let alone their conversation. "There was this baby when I was undercover. Well there were a couple over the years really," she paused as she took another gulp, finding that the topic easily brought tears to her eyes. "But this baby, Enzo, I used to nanny for. That's how they got me into the world, nannies usually go unnoticed and they hear absolutely everything.I watched him walk for the first time, his first word was my name," she smiled distantly, relishing in the memory for just a second before it turned into something twisted once more. "And I watched him, at three years old, witness things that no adult should see, let alone a child. He didn't have that innocent look in his eyes anymore, you know? Corrine didn't have that look either and I hate that that man had the power to do such a thing to a baby... Eight months old..."

"She's likely not to remember it," Rossi attempted to comfort even though he knew it would likely have no effect. This sort of thing could not be consoled, it was one of those things the soul just had to live with for eternity.

"Yes but her soul will. As does Enzo's," she paused, draining the glass of its contents. She placed it back on the table with a satisfying clunk, already feeling her head and thoughts slightly glaze over. "The last day I saw him, he was just about to turn five and he was the spitting image of his father. He genuinely looked like he could kill and have no remorse, no five year old should ever look like that."

Rossi, unsure of what else to say, gestured to her glass, "Another?"

"I shouldn't have even had the first," she sighed softly, trailing her finger around the top of the glass. 

"I'll drive you home," he responded whilst sliding over his untouched glass, which contained a little more than hers had. She smiled gratefully and took the other one. She figured drowning her thoughts in alcohol wasn't the best idea yet she did it anyway, it was the only option at the time after all they were stuck on that plane for a couple hours.