What Maisy Knew - A Criminal Minds Fiction

Chapter 8: Trust

Maisy let go and turned to JJ.
"Can I wear my dress?" Maisy asked.

"Of course you can..." JJ smiled. Since the girl looked so happy JJ decided to try to get her to take a shower by herself.
"...but you need to do something first" JJ said.

"What?" Maisy asked.

"Since you want to wear your new clothes I thought that maybe you could take a quick bath. So you're all fresh and clean" JJ said hoping the girl wouldn't hate her.

Maisy looked down and said "I don't like bath"

"Maisy, your dad is not here. He can't hurt you like that anymore, and Emily and I will never ever do that to you" JJ explained. Maisy walked to her and JJ wrapped the girl in a hug. "You can do it all by yourself if you want. You're a big girl." JJ said.

"I can?" Maisy looked up at JJ's eyes and asked.

"Yeah" JJ smiled. "Do you want to try?"

Maisy took some time to think and then nodded.

"Let's go" JJ said and they walked to the bathroom.

"I'll be right here if you need me" Emily told JJ, sitting on the table again. Jennifer smiled and closed the bathroom door.

"I'll start running the water. Go ahead and take the pjs off" JJ said nicely before turning around and starting the water. She checked the temperature and turned to face Maisy. The girl was still standing there, she had not moved a muscle.

"Maisy you can't go in wearing clothes, honey" JJ said.

Maisy walked backwards until she was in the corner, she slid down the wall so she was sitting and brought her knees up to her chest.
JJ kneed down in from of her and said "it's just so you can take a bath. I swear I won't even touch you"

Maisy just stared at JJ unsure of what to do. She was so scared, she didn't like baths.

JJ thought for a while and said "How about I close my eyes, and you tell me when you're in the tub?"

Maisy thought a little and began to stand up so Jennifer closed her eyes with her hands.
Maisy took her clothes off and got inside the tub, she sat down and said "I'm in"

"Can I look?" JJ asked just to make sure.

"Yes" Maisy whispered.

JJ stood up and turned around to find Maisy sitting down with her knees to her chest.
"I'm gonna sit on the toilet and close my eyes. When you're done or if you any help just tell me" she said and Maisy gave her a little nod. So JJ sat on the toilet and covered her eyes with her hands. Maisy slowly stood up and started to clean herself. JJ picked, from time to time, to make sure the girl was doing everything right.

"I'm done" Maisy said.

JJ opened her eyes to find Maisy sitting down again.

"What about your hair?" JJ asked and Maisy shook her head scared.
"You don't like to wash it?" JJ asked and Maisy nodded. "Did your mom do that for you?" She asked and got another nod. This time Maisy looked down. She didn't like to remember.

"But you can do it yourself here. I don't have to do it" JJ said.

"I don't know how" Maisy whispered and JJ didn't understand.

"What, honey?" JJ asked.

"I don't know how" Maisy said.

JJ smiled and walked closer to the tub. "I can teach you" she said and Maisy looked up.

"Okay" Maisy said.

JJ slowly got a bucket full of water and explained what Maisy had to do. Maisy put the water on her hair and then shampooed it.

"My eyes" she said closing it tight as she felt it sting.

"Put your head back" JJ said and the girl did that.  "Can I help?" JJ asked and Maisy nodded yes. So JJ finished washing Maisy's hair. The girl was tense and scared the entire time. But she let Jennifer do it.

"All done" JJ said. "You can open your eyes and come out now"

Maisy opened her eyes and JJ was smiling at her.

"Was it so bad?" JJ asked and Maisy shook her head no. "So come out so you can go put on that pretty dress" JJ smiled.
Maisy got off the tub with JJ's help and then JJ wrapped her in a towel. JJ felt a lump in her throat as she stared at the girl's bruises.

"Go on" JJ said so Maisy would dry herself but Maisy looked at her and said "can you help me?"

JJ let out a little smile and helped Maisy dry herself. Once done JJ wrapped her in the towel, opened the door and took her to the bedroom.

Emily smiled to see that the little girl was calm and didn't have tear stains on her face.

JJ put Maisy down close to where the clothes were. "Which dress?" JJ asked.

Maisy pointed and JJ smiled. JJ helped her put the dress on, then the underwear and then the leggings because it was cold.

"Can I do your hair now?" JJ asked. Maisy tensed up. "I'll do it very slowly. I promise" JJ said.

"Okay" Maisy said.

JJ picked Maisy up and sat her on the bed. She got the hair brush and sat behind Maisy. She brushed the girl's blonde hair and she could see the kid was tense the whole time. Maisy's hair was tangled so it took a while to brush the knots out. Once JJ finished she got a little hair clip on her go bag and secured some hair away from the girl's face.
"All done" she said.

Emily was watching with a big smile on her face. Maisy looked adorable, and JJ and Maisy's interacting was just so sweet to see.

"Do you wanna look?" JJ asked and Maisy nodded. JJ picked her up and took her to the mirror in the bathroom.
Maisy smiled when she saw herself in the mirror.

"You look so pretty" JJ smiled. Maisy got embarrassed and wrapped her little arms around JJ's neck and hid her face. JJ laughed and walked back to the room.

"Do you want to draw some more, Maisy?" Emily asked. The girl looked at her and nodded yes. So JJ took her to the table.
They sat there for a long time, Maisy drew while Prentiss and JJ worked on the laptop trying to help their team.

Around 3, JJ noticed Maisy was looking tired so she asked if she wanted to take a nap.

The girl shook her head no.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked. They could see she was almost falling asleep sitting there.

"Naps are for babies" Maisy whispered.
Her dad used to tell her that all the time.

JJ looked at Emily and they just knew.

"What if I take a nap with you? I'm a little tired too" JJ suggested and Maisy looked at her.
"Please?" JJ said with a small smile.

"Okay" Maisy gave up. She was trying so hard not to sleep because she didn't want them to get mad at her for wanting to sleep in the middle of the day.

JJ picked Maisy up and carried her to bed and they laid down. JJ stroke the girl's hair and Maisy fell asleep really quickly.
JJ smiled as she saw the cute and now very soft curls on end of the girl's long blonde hair.
She kept running her fingers through them and ended up falling asleep too.