Another Moment

-4-

"And he's sure about it?", Tara wanted to know.
"Yes, he said that the brakes of the car have been manipulated. So it's murder, no accident.", Luke sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
"What are they gonna do now? Are there any suspects yet? I mean, it's been a while since the crash. The one responsible for it could already be gone.", JJ exclaimed.
After Alvez had received the phone call of Detective Vertes from the McLean PD, the team minus Garcia and Sienna had all gathered around the agent.
"Detective Vertes told me that they are gonna look at the crime scene and car once more. There are no suspects yet, so they have to interrogate everyone who has been in contact with Megan the last few weeks and months. Sienna and I, as well as this Scott guy, have to be questioned too.", Luke explained before it hit him, "oh god, I still need to tell Sienna about it."
The team looked at him with a deep look of sympathy. "Where is she?", Rossi asked.
"She's with Garcia. God, how do I tell Sienna about it?", Luke wanted to know.
"Tell Sienna about what?", he suddenly heard a voice from behind him and he quickly turned around to face his daughter.
"Ehm..", the agent stammered, but got interrupted by Matt.
"Why don't we go up in the conference room, so you'll have some privacy?", he suggested, but the young girl wasn't having any of it.
"No, why can't you tell me here? It can't be that bad.", Sienna replied and looked confused, but also scared at her dad. Luke, on the other hand, took a deep breath to calm himself before he got up, walked towards his daughter and took her hands in his.
"You're right, you deserve to know...", he started, but got interrupted again; this time by hot tears which suddenly glazed his eyes and also the lump in his throat made it hard to speak.
"Dad? What's wrong? You're scaring me..", the girl whispered as a look of concern was laying on her face.
"Listen...it's about mom."
"What...what's there to..."
"Let me finish, please. I-I just got a call from a detective in McLean who worked on your accident." Luke paused to see if she was following his words before he continued, "Sienna, he thinks that the car crash wasn't an accident. It was on purpose."
Silence was engaging the both of them and suddenly, the noisy and busy bureau seemed too silent. It took Sienna a while to understand what her Dad was hinting at, but eventually she did.
"S-So you're t-telling me t-that M-Mom was killed? Someone did that to actually hurt her?", she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah...", Luke confirmed and kept looking at his daughter whose breathing started to quicken.
"B-But why-why w-would s-somebody...", Sienna muttered, but wasn't able to form any more words. Suddenly, she started to hyperventilate and clutched her chest. Luke stared helplessly at her before Spencer intervened.
"She's having a panic attack. Sit her down in your chair.", he instructed and Luke followed his orders. When Sienna was sat down in the chair, Luke put his arm around her and tried to soothe her, but it didn't work.
"Sienna...Sienna! I need you to look at me.", Spencer said a little louder to the panicking girl and gladly, she gathered the energy to look up to him.
"That's it. Good. You're having a panic attack. We need you to calm down, okay? You're all safe, nobody will hurt you. I need you to follow my breating, okay? Keep looking at me. 1-2-3 In, 1-2-3 Out. And again..", Reid told her and slowly, the girl started to match his rhythm and began to calm down. Once she calmed down completley, she turned to her left where her dad was sitting and started to cry into his chest. It was safe to say that everyone's heart in that room broke for the young girl.

"What's gonna happen now?", Sienna asked as she still clinged to her father for comfort. The both of them had indeed moved to the conference room to have some privacy. After Sienna's breakdown, Luke had started to explain what had happened.
"Well, first thing I'm going to do is drive over to McLean and talk to the detective. Later on, we'll both have to go back to get questioned about everything concerning your Mom and after that, we'll see what's gonna happen, but I promise you we'll get the one responsible for the accident.", Luke reassured his daughter who let out a sigh.
"I-I don't know if I'm ready to go back yet, Dad.", she confessed.
"I know. This is why I'll go over there first to sort everything out. Detective Vertes said that you should take your time. They have a lot of other people there who also need to be interrogated."
"Will Scott be there too?", Sienna whispered, not daring to look up to him.
"Yeah, he'll probably be there, why?"
"You know...I was just wondering.", the girl replied as she held onto her dad a little tighter. Luke though seemed concerned. What was up with this guy that his daughter was bothered by him so much?! He decided to let it go for today, sensing that she got quite exhausted as today's events took their toll on the teenager.
"How about that, Princess? While I'm off to McLean, you go and spend some time with Matt and JJ and get some rest.", he suggested and felt his daughter tense up.
"N-No, please, don't leave me. You promised.", the broken girl said.
"Hey, shhh, no, I won't leave you, ever. I just have to fix some things, but I'll be back as soon as I can. I promised to never leave you and I'll keep that.", he tried to reassure Sienna as he placed a light kiss on the girl's forehead.
After some time, the girl pushed away a bit and nodded. "O-okay..."
"Okay?", Luke asked again.
"Y-Yeah, I think I'm gonna be finde. Besides, Matt and JJ are here so nothing's gonna happen, right?"
"No, darling. You'll be safe here. Nothing's gonna happen to you or to me."
Sienna gave him one last approving look before she leaned in for another hug.
"I loveyou, Dad!", she whispered and held him tight, afraid that if she'll let him go, that he would disappear forever.
"I love you too, princess. So much."

About 40 minutes later, Luke, Prentiss and Rossi were on their way to McLean. As promised, JJ and Matt would stay with Sienna as they were the one the girl was the most comfortable with. Tara, Spencer and Garcia already started to do some digging into Megan Miller's life.
"How did she take everything?", Emily asked Luke as she turned around to him.
"Well, she's as okay as one can be in such a situation. After her panic attack, I told her everything Detective Vertes told me and the only things she was concerned of was me not returning home to her and this Scott guy.", Luke explained.
"Who is this man?", Rossi, who was driving, wanted to know.
"Remember that weird guy at the funeral? That's him. Something about him is off.", Luke said.
"Why do you think so?", Prentiss asked.
"Well, I haven't met him before, personally, but the way Sienna talk about him makes me uncomfortable.", the agent confessed, "I think there's something about him that she hasn't told me yet, but I don't want to push her."
"Give her some time, Luke. She just lost her mom. She doesn't know how to handle all of this. She trusts you and she'll open up to you. Just, one step at a time.", Rossi adviced him at which Luke nodded in agreement. It got quiet for some minutes before Emily spoked up again:
"But you also shouldn't forget that you too lost somebody special. So, how are you holding up?"
Luke sighed and turned to watch out of th window.
"I guess, I'll be fine. I wasn't as close to Megan as Sienna was. I'm dealing with it okay. I'm just glad when it's all over and that son of a bitch will rot in prison. I want my daughter to be safe again.", and with that, the ex-ranger effectively ended the conversation. The three of them continued their trip to McLean in silence, secretley hoping that this cruel nightmare would be over soon.