Ineffable - S.REID

15

・゜゜・．A MONTH LATER .・゜゜・

tw; death, mentions drug use

Clara ran a hand through her hair for what had to be the hundredth time that afternoon, her eyes aching from reading over all the words in front of her. The second that they had arrived back from a case, at around 11am, Garcia had brought the news that they had to submit all of the case assessment for a meeting that had been moved from three weeks in the future to Monday morning. To Clara, who quite liked paperwork, this sounded like an ideal way to spend the afternoon. She had grossly overestimated how much there was to go through. She sighed softly as yet another pen decided to stop working despite the fact that it had a ton of ink left in it and chose instead to use the more trustworthy pencil that had lived on her desk for months.

"After we've finished this, do you want to go to see that movie I was telling you about?" Spencer suggested as they had both looked up at nearly the same time, deciding to take a small break from the mind numbing paperwork process. Given that they had desks directly opposite each other, the impromptu breaks and discussions were relatively often - though she did feel the need to tell him that he did not take breaks often enough.

"Sounds like a plan," she smiled softly, having liked the idea of that movie when he went into great detail about the trailer. "As long as we can stop at a bakery or something, I'm starving."

He seemed oddly interested in the idea of heading to a bakery before the movie but Clara decided not to read too much into it, thinking that he was just hungry too. It would never cross her mind, until much later in their lives, that perhaps he was just glad he would get to spend even more time with her. They both glanced down to their paperwork the second that Clara's cell phone began to trill on her desk. She glanced at the name displayed on the small screen, then hastened to pick it up upon recognising the number.

"Nonno?" she called down the phone. Incomplete and identifiable sounds of him talking and sobbing at the same time echoed back down the phone, making it impossible to even infer a word. She frowned, brow furrowing deeply. "Nonno take a breath, I can't understand you," she spoke softly, attempting to minimize the people that overheard the conversation. Luckily her and Spencer's desk were a little bit out of the main circle of the bullpen, giving a small amount of privacy away from the people she wouldn't want to overhear her conversation.

"Clara," her Ma responded and Clara instantly figured the previous shuffling and shutting of a door to be her Ma picking up the phone and moving to a more remote location.

"Ma? What's going on?" At the tone of her voice, Spencer's concern skyrocketed and he found himself completely disregarding the paperwork at his desk. He looked up and for a second caught her gaze, seeing the panic that burnt behind her eyes at an instant.

"It's your Nonna Clara," her Ma explained softly, a great sigh filling her pause. "She had a heart attack. Died in the ambulance." Clara took an involuntary deep intake of breath, her hand going to rub the sudden pain in her temple. She bit her lip, trying her best to rapidly compose herself and hold back the tears.

She cleared her throat of its thickness, making the conscious effort to remove the tear-fueled frown from her face, "I'll come to Nonna's straight after work, I have to finish some paperwork."

Her Mother sobbed so intensely that she could hardly make out what she was saying, it took two repetitions before Clara was able to catch a word. "Vinnie, I can't get a hold of him."

"I'll find him Ma," she paused, wondering if Garcia would be of any help if he didn't pick up his phone when she attempted to ring him. Her brother didn't tend to pick up the phone for anyone but her from their family, not wanting to receive the lecture that he so hated. "Look I got to go. Ti amo."