Ghost of You

chapter 3

~
 rubberband - Tate McRae
01:43 ━━━━●───── 02:28
⇆ㅤ ㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ↻
ılıılıılıılıılıılı
ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮

you broke me first - Tate McRae [E]

01:43 ━━━━●───── 02:49⇆ㅤ ㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ↻
ılıılıılıılıılıılı
ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮

ִֶָ𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind.
Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities."
_______________________________________

The case goes by relatively well. I manage to spend the few days the team is away at the office and at home without any major incidents, and I am more than relieved. I attend church on Sunday, bringing Ethan with me. I sit through the sermon, suddenly feeling out of place. I snap at the rubberband on my wrist throughout the entire thing, earning some dirty glares from the people sitting next to me at my anxious fidgeting.

The sermon hit too close to home, the priest choosing to talk about sins and temptations. I force myself through the entire service, despite everything within me screaming at me to get up and leave. The church is no longer a safe place for me. When the sermon is over, I pick up Ethan from the children's Sunday school, and leave immediately, to never return again.

I drop Ethan off at home with Blake, and then head into work. I work with Garcia to help the team as much as we can. JJ and Spencer call several times, seeking information. I try to speak as little as possible on these phone calls, snapping at the rubberband every time I hear Emily's voice in the background, interjecting her thoughts and ideas. She sounds just as smart and intelligent as she did in college.

One time, Emily herself calls Garcia, and I quickly excuse myself from her office, lamely saying that I need to go to the bathroom. I don't, I simply pace outside of Garcia's office for several long minutes, until I feel like it's safe to re-enter the lair of Penelope Garcia, where Emily's voice no longer rings out through the space, reverberating right into my soul.

Garcia looks at me sympathetically, as if she understands what I'm going through. All I had told her was that we had a falling out years ago, and poor Penelope has been trying her best to get me to patch things up with Emily. If only she knew the truth. I sigh as I settle back onto the couch, snapping at my rubberband once again as Garcia tells me why Emily had called. Apparently the unsub managed to abduct another victim, and the family already reported the person missing.

I sigh, and get up again. "I'm going to make another pot of coffee," I tell Garcia, gently tapping her shoulder. She smiles up at me. "Can you bring me another cup of tea?" she requests sweetly. "Of course," I grin and take her mug, then head to the break room. While the coffee is brewing, I call Blake, to tell him that I won't be home tonight because of the case. He just sighs in disappointment, and ends the call. I stare at my phone for a moment, then call him back, wanting to hear my son's voice. Blake doesn't answer, the call going straight to voicemail.

I fight back tears, and focus on the case, and the coffee. Once I've secured my caffeine, and Garcia's tea, I head back to the lair. We work through the night with the team on conference call almost the entire time. My wrist goes raw by the time the unsub is finally caught from the constant snapping of the rubberband against it.

I finally leave Garcia's office to work on my case report, while the team makes their way back to DC. I feel slightly shaky from the amount of caffeine I had consumed, and definitely extremely overtired, and it makes it hard for me to focus on the report. It takes me several hours to get through it, and I find myself getting annoyed and irritated. At noon, the doors of the elevators ding, and the team troops through the doors, happy and rested.