Psychopathy

Chapter 78- Changing Households

Isabel watched as the apartment changed around her. Once she had decided she was going to have her child, she knew she needed somewhere to house it. Whatever force drove the happenings of the universe had been listening to her. And now, the apartment was changing, adding space for a baby. When it was done, Isabel looked around the new space. It was perfect.

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Boxes were in each room, cluttering the living space. Ciara walked around the living room, running her hands over each box, thinking about what was in each one. Ciara wasn't sure if moving in the middle of January was a good idea, but Akilah had been insistent. In the best way possible, she wanted to get the move over with as quickly as she could. She wanted Ciara to have plenty of time to get used to living on her own before the baby came.

As the baby grew, so did Ciara's love for them. She thought it would take more time to truly come to terms with the fact that she was having a baby, but it was the exact opposite. As soon as she had decided, that was it. She'd spent so many days since then daydreaming. Picturing what the baby would look like, what their first cry would sound like. Designing the nursery in her head. Looking through the notebook where she kept possible names for her characters, trying to pick out a name. She had a few possibilities, and when the time came closer, she would narrow those down to one for each gender.

Since Akilah had decided on moving quickly, Ciara had gone to work ordering furniture for the nursery. She had every piece picked out and had the design in her head. Some of those pieces she and Akilah had already picked up. Mostly only art, toys, books, and small pieces of furniture that had yet to be put together. Only the things that could fit in Akilah's car. All of those things were waiting in Ciara's room, waiting for when Akilah's was cleared out.

Ciara could hear Akilah packing up the last of her things in her room. Any minute now, Morgan would show up with his pickup so they could start moving things. Every member of the BAU was coming to help get everything done. It hadn't been decided yet who would be doing what, but Ciara felt that Morgan, Hotch, and Akilah would do most of the heavy lifting. Both Akilah and Garcia had told Ciara that she wasn't allowed to do much of anything. She was growing a baby and that was work enough, according to them.

She sighed and walked to her room, looking over everything she already had. Once everything of Akilah's was at Morgan's, they would come back with all of the furniture that wouldn't fit in Akilah's car. The crib, the changing table, the dresser, the toybox, and the bookshelf were all that was left. She ran her left hand along one of the pieces of art, before grabbing the stuffed elephant on her bed.

She'd been devastated when she'd woken up the day after she learned of her pregnancy to find she'd destroyed Cuddles in her sleep. She'd tried to sew him back together, but the fabric had been so worn and frayed after 22 years that there was no fixing him. Garcia, upon learning of Cuddles's untimely death, had gotten her a new stuffie. A tie-dye elephant Ciara had promptly named Evie. But having Evie with her just didn't feel right. Besides, she was probably too old for a cuddly toy anyway. So instead, Evie was going to go into the nursery. Hopefully her baby would love Evie as much as she had loved Cuddles.

"Alright, who's ready to get this moving day started?" Akilah called from her bedroom. Ciara put Evie back down on the bed and exited her own bedroom. Morgan was already there, along with JJ and Garcia. She hadn't even heard them come in. Now that Akilah's wrist was completely healed, she was ready to jump right in and do everything she couldn't do when it was broken.

"I hope you know, I'm not here to help you move. I'm just here for wine and decorating a nursery!" Garcia exclaimed, and Ciara smiled to herself. Leave it to Garcia to bring a bottle of wine when three people on the team couldn't have it. But she hoped that Garcia and JJ would enjoy it. She didn't know if anyone else would drink it. Garcia caught sight of Ciara, and immediately held the bottle close to her chest. "Oh, but no wine for you!"