MISSING LINK》t. briggs & v. stirling

Chapter 《05》

"So how did you get caught up in this mess?"

Several moments later, Felicity and Judd were making their way back up to the hotel room. He had his arm on her shoulder in a way that was both partially steering her in the right direction and partially just for comfort. After her breakdown in the hallway, it appeared as though he wasn't too keen on the idea of letting her out of his grasp just yet. Not that Felicity minded. In a way, it almost made her feel like that little kid again who'd once jumped off the swings and scraped her knee only for Judd to be the one who'd picked her up and carried her home.

In a way, it almost made her feel like her old self again, or at least, the closest thing to her old self that she'd felt like in a long time

Felicity shuffled on her feet, her eyes trained on the carpet, not quite sure how to answer her pseudo-grandfather's question. All she could think about was the way her parents had responded to what was essentially the same question back in her principal's office.

You're the one that discovered the body?

What happened?

Who did this?

After the way Judd had reacted to seeing her again back in the hallway, after the comforting words he'd said to her, a part of her was almost afraid to tell him. Afraid that this would be the thing to push him over the edge. Maybe he didn't blame her for Scarlett's death, but what would he think when he realized that she'd failed again? That someone else had died because she still wasn't good enough? Despite the kindness he'd shown her so far she couldn't help but fear that the loving demeanor he'd donned had a limit and knowing this would breach it. Having felt the hint of kindness he'd just shown her, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle him suddenly turning on her.

Judd seemed to sense her hesitancy, he paused, turning to look at her. "You know you don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with, right?"

Again he surprised her.

Her whole childhood had been overwhelmed by memories of questions and interviews that had always pushed her too far. First from her parents, shaking and frantic mere moments after everything had gone down in the lab, and later from the agents who'd taken over the case after her parents had been kicked off of it. She remembered standing outside the lab, hours after her aunt had died as CSI's took thousands upon thousands of photos of her—her hands, her body, her clothes—of her aunt's blood that drenched every part of her. Gods there was so much blood. Her life had been defined by people pushing her past her comfort zone.

Looking back on it, maybe that's why she had always given herself the same treatment. She still wasn't sure when her desperation to identify the poison that had killed her aunt had turned into something more. She still wasn't sure when she'd crossed that line of no return.

The line that made her the way she was today.

But here was Judd, once again responding completely different from how she'd expected him too. He didn't want to push her. He didn't want her to say anything she wasn't comfortable with. Maybe that was why she gave him an answer.

"Jamie, the girl who died this morning?" Felicity paused, fidgeting with the pleats in her skirt. "I'm the one who found her body."

For some reason, her words hit him hard. His shoulders sagged and he looked away, shaking his head before turning back to her, his eyes full of pity.

"What?" Felicity asked, trying and failing to understand the meaning behind the change in his demeanor.

Judd stared at her for several moments, his eyes searching hers. "I'm sorry," He finally said, "that you had to see something like that again."