Psychopathy

Chapter 69- Discharge

Isabel stood by the door, gripping the knob tightly. Last night, she had broken another of the devil's chains, leaving only the one around her chest and head. So she decided to try something else. He was coming over that day, and she would leave the apartment with him. She was going to see the outside world, completely and truly. She'd seen glimpses of it when she went out on the balcony and talked to the neighbor girl, but this would be something else entirely.

She took a deep breath and turned the knob. She could do this. Isabel would do this. It was time. Before she could lose her nerve, she ran down the stairs and into the small lobby. There she waited for him, twisting her hands in nervousness. She knew she wanted to do this, but she was still nervous. What would people say when they saw her scars? Would they say anything, or would they simply look at her with pity? She wasn't sure which one would be worse.

"Isabel?" he asked. In her anxious thoughts, she hadn't even noticed her confidant coming into the building. She hugged him swiftly, and he was already whispering affirmations in her ear. Telling her that she was safe, that he would be there the whole time. That they could come back at any time. That she didn't have to go if she didn't want to. She waved the last one off but took the rest to heart.

And so she took his hand, and together, they left the building, and Isabel got her first real look at the outside world.

*********************

November 3rd, 2012. It was a day that Reid knew would live on in his memory forever. Because it was on that day, on that brisk Saturday morning, that Ciara finally got to leave the hospital.

Dr. Rivera had chosen to discharge her on a Saturday so that, if luck was on their side, Ciara would have the entire weekend to spend with Akilah and get settled back into her home. She'd have two days to do nothing but reacquaint herself with her surroundings before Akilah had to go back to work. And if she would have him, Reid would be there as much as he could.

Ciara didn't know it, but most of the BAU was at the apartment, planning a surprise "welcome home" party. Reid hadn't been too sure about that- wouldn't it be overwhelming for her? But they had assured him that if it was too overwhelming, they would leave with no hard feelings and no questions asked. That helped soothe some of Reid's anxiety, and he was dispatched as part of the delegation that would bring Ciara home.

And so Reid, Akilah, Teresa, and Ria were all at the nurses' station, learning everything they would need for the transition. They went over Ciara's at-home plan and learned the dos and don'ts of her at-home recovery. Elizabeth had gone over some documents that Ciara would have to sign with Teresa, seeing as she was the next of kin. And during all of that, Akilah and Reid had taken turns distracting Ria.

"We seriously recommend she goes to see a therapist. What she went through was a major trauma, and that doesn't go away just because she leaves the hospital. She's come a long way, true, but she has a long way to go yet. We tried to convince her to spend some time in the in-patient psych unit, but she absolutely refused," Elizabeth told them, and Akilah and Reid laughed a little.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Akilah mentioned.

"May I ask, what does she have against mental health services? She refused the inpatient psych unit and the whole time she was here, she refused to talk to a psychiatrist or psychologist," Elizabeth wondered, and the three adults all looked at each other. There wasn't much left to hide from the nurse, so why shouldn't they tell her? Reid cleared his throat before he spoke.

"Have you heard of North Omaha Psychiatric Hospital?" he asked, and Elizabeth nodded.

"Oh, yeah. That was a huge scandal. Well, a scandal within the medical community anyway. It got shut down... what, five years ago?" Elizabeth asked, and the three adults all opened their mouths to correct her. But then they realized that she was right. The hospital had shut down in 2007, and that was, indeed, only five years ago. Ciara had checked herself out only three years before, which meant she had been at that hospital not even a full decade before.