heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

4. nine

AN: hi guys! happy monday!

so quick one: there will be no paper rings or take me to church updates next week because...

the next chapter is the baby moon! and i cba writing filler chapters! when i could just keep going through the eps! so! yay!

also??

thank you so much for 405K reads! i'm so grateful to all of you and i hope you're enjoying everything! 

just a few tws this week:
mentions of abductions
mentions of panic attacks and psychotic breaks
grief
slight breakdown
mentions of molestation
mentions of torture
it's basically mommy issues
delilah is the mommy
she has issues
a lot of them

anywayyyyy, i hope you guys enjoy! see you next week! <333

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"memory taps a gun to your inner skull and demands you bring back the dead." - donte collins

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Delilah didn't remember any of her first days of school past the age of eleven, considering she didn't actually get to go to school the year she was twelve because her dad had abducted her before school started the next week.

She could remember her first days of school with Dylan.

Every year, Liv would get them all up and ready for school in outfits she'd spent hours picking out the night before with Delilah. She would do Delilah's hair in a cute hairstyle, making sure she had everything she needed and was all clean and presentable.

She would usher her brother and sister over to Nora and Colin's house after Elliot would give them all hugs and wish them well before heading off to work. Nora and Colin would have breakfast waiting, and the four kids would sit around the table eating and talking about what this year might be like.

Nora and Colin would insist on a photo shoot with all the kids in the front yard on the porch, and then the four of them would set off down the hill to walk to school with Nora and Colin not far behind on their way to work.

Eli was the first to stop the rituals, when he moved away for college when Delilah was eight. Liv was next, when she was ten. Delilah could get herself ready by then, but Liv would always call in the morning and talk her through her routine like she was right there with her.

She and Dylan would walk to school, hands intertwined and bright smiles on their faces, and they'd walk home the same way.

And then everything happened, and Delilah never went back to in person school. She never stepped foot into high school. She did homeschool with Dave, who hired a tutor to come in and cover any areas he wasn't as strong in to give Delilah the best chance, but she only needed a tutor once because she could figure it out herself after a while.

She got back from the basement when she was thirteen. She was already three grades ahead at school, thanks to the placement tests she did when she got back. So, Delilah finished school within two years and was in college by the time she was fifteen. She graduated at eighteen. She was in the FBI academy two weeks later.

Her first day of Harvard, Liv and Dave had both been there. Eli hadn't. Dylan hadn't. Nora and Colin flew in to Boston for her. So did Gideon. So did Haley and Hotch.

Delilah had felt terrified. She was younger than anyone there and everybody seemed to notice because she'd always been short and skinny, but the basement had stunted her growth permanently and she was still reaping the effects of nine months of isolation in college.