A Blessing in Disguise

Protect Her

Emily sat there, powerless, as she watched Derek take Juliet away from her. JJ walked over and sat down next to her friend, and Garcia joined them. Rossi left with Hotch and Morgan. On the way out, Morgan handed Juliet to Reid and said,
"Remember what Preniss said."
Reid nodded and took the girl in his arms.

After they left, Reid got in the car with Juliet's foster dad and the male social service person. Kathy Cooper got in the car with Allison Peterson, and drove away to meet the others at the hospital. Mr. Peterson and Paul, the social service person, sat in the front, and Juliet and Reid sat in the back. He was going to keep Emily's wishes and keep Juliet as far away from the Petersons as possible. Once they arrived, Juliet walked in with Reid on one side of her, Morgan on the other, and Hotch and Rossi right behind her, so there was no way the Petersons would be able to get to her. When they entered the hospital they were met by a nurse who handed Kathy a clipboard to fill out on Juliet's medical condition. Once she finished she handed it back and the nurse said she would take Juliet and her family back for a check up. Juliet didn't move when the nurse said that. The Petersons got up and walked over to the nurse.
"What's wrong Juliet? Do you want me to carry you?" Mr. Petersons offered with a fake smile. The nurse didn't know their situation, and she thought the Petersons were a fine couple.
"Yes cmon Juliet the doctor said he can see you and your parents now."
When she didn't move again, Reid got up and said,
"How about I take her?"
"I'm sorry, we only allow family," the nurse started to protest.
"Yeah, they only accept family, so Juliet is going to have to come with us," Mr. Peterson said with a ridiculous smirk. "No, you lost the privilege to call Juliet family, when you inflicted these wounds on her. You're the reason she is at the hospital," Reid said back.
Kathy and Paul looked surprise.
"Wait, I though you said she injured herself. You said she cut herself and jumped out the window trying to run away," Kathy said looking over at the Petersons.
"Yes that is what happened," Mr. Peterson said firmly.
"Liar!" Juliet cried. All eyes were on her, and everyone could see how upset she was.
"You know what Nurse Kelly, I think you should let Dr. Spencer Reid go with her. These are just her foster parents anyways," Kathy said. The Petersons were mad and scared that Juliet would rat them out. Nurse Kelly held her hand for Juliet to take and Reid followed behind. They made their way to a private room and the nurse had Juliet get changed into a gown while she spoke to Reid. When she was done, the doctor entered.
"Hi Juliet," the doctor said in a friendly voice.
"Hi," she replied. The doctor was a women about mid to late forties and she had blonde hair and blue eyes. "You must be Dr. Spencer Reid. I'm Doctor Cassidy Goodman," she said shaking Reid's hand.
"Okay, I guess we should get started then," she said. Juliet nodded nervously. Cassidy could tell the child was scared and probably didn't want to be there.
"Can you tell me what happened?" the doctor asked Juliet.
The brunette looked up and said, "Which time?"
"How about this?" Cassidy asked running her fingers over Juliet's bruised face.
"Someone at my foster home pushed me down the stairs, and I accidentally knocked Mrs. Peterson over. Mr. Peterson got mad, so he hit me in the face really hard," Juliet explained, avoiding eye contact. Cassidy took a deep breath and nodded her head slowly. She knew this was going to be a hard one. Abused children always are. "What about your hand and leg. I see someone wrapped them? Did you do it yourself?" the doctor wondered.
"No, Emily did," Juliet replied.
"Who's Emily?"
This time, Reid answered,
"She's a friend that took care of Juliet for a while."
"Oh," the doctor replied.
The doctor re bandaged the child and re cleaned her cuts. Then she made sure all the glass was out. She did find two pieces of glass still stuck in Juliet's arm, but other than that she was fine. Cassidy took X rays of Juliet and found no broken bones. Her bruises were just really bad.
"So, how have you been eating?" the doctor asked.
"I haven't really. My foster family barely fed me, but then last night when I was with Emily I ate a big dinner because I was starving, and then I threw it up," Juliet explained.
"Oh your body just wasn't used to eating all that food." Cassidy prescribed some medicine for Juliet to help help her eat better and be well nourished, and gave her different two creams, one for cuts and one for bruises. Then she had one final thing to do.
"Doctor Spencer Reid. Would you mind stepping out for this portion of the exam?" Cassidy asked.
"Sure," Reid said and got up and left the room. He took a walk down the hall and got some food actually. After Cassidy shut the door she turned to face a scared Juliet.
"Why did he have to go?" Juliet asked full of worry.
"Because I now need to ask you some very personal questions that I don't think you'll want him hearing." Cassidy said. Juliet grew more and more anxious as she continued.

After fifteen minutes, Reid returned, and the doctor left Juliet to get changed and went to speak to Reid.
"Is she okay?" Reid asked.
"Physically, yes. Mentally, I'm not sure. The good news is there was no sign of sexual assault, it was just physical. But she's had some major blows to her head and body. To me, I think it's going to take a while for her to recover. It would be best if she went back to live with someone she trusts like maybe Emily, and I'd advise them not to give her back to the Petersons, for they abused her a lot. They shouldn't have any children in their home, if they're going to act that way. Juliet told me a lot about Emily, and I think that is who should be taking care of her for a while. At least until she recovers. Anyways, I wrote the prescriptions and gave her to paper to bring to the front desk." "Thank you Doctor Cassidy," Reid said and shook her hand.
"Just promise me you'll help her get better," the doctor said. Reid smiled and Juliet poked her head from around the corner of the door and walked out. She thanked the doctor and left with Reid.
Once they returned to the waiting room, Morgan, Rossi and Dave were there waiting.
"Where are the Petersons and Kathy and Paul?" Reid asked.
"Well after you accused the Petersons of abusing Juliet, Kathy had to look into it and now they're being interviewed." Reid smiled and brought Juliet to the front desk to fill out her prescriptions. After that, they all got back into one car and headed straight to the BAU. Juliet fell asleep during the ride back and everyone else stayed quiet so they wouldn't wake her. In the car, Hotch got a call from Emily, "Hotch," He answered. His phone was hooked up to the car, so it was on speaker and everyone could hear the other person.
"Hey, it's Emily. How's she doing?" Hotch looked back at Reid who answered,
"Juliet is good. There were no signs of sexual assault, only mental and physical. Plus, the doctor prescribed her to some medicine for eating and some cream for her cuts and bruises. She's going to be okay, Em."
Prentiss sighed.
"Thank you guys, for everything. I called, because I wanted to let you know I just spoke with Kathy Cooper and she just got back from the Petersons. They found evidence that Juliet had be beaten there multiple times. The glass found in Juliet matched the kind found in the garbage, and even one of the kids ratted out the parents. It was the youngest one, so when asked the questions she simply told the truth. The Petersons are being charged with child abuse and neglect. Social Services decided to let me see her now. Kathy called to see if I wanted to step in a adopt Juliet myself. Of course I said yes. So she said I needed to show up at the trial on Monday and testify against the Petersons and then file a motion for full custody. Social services said they would support me and so would the foster care system. " When Prentiss stopped talking Hotch asked,
"You know what happens if the judge approves, right?" Emily responded,
"Of course. I would get Juliet back and be able to protect her from the Smiths." Then Hotch took a deep breath and asked, "Well, are you sure you're ready to be a mom?"
Without hesitating, Emily replied,
"More than ever."