Do you want to play? - A Criminal Minds fanfic

Chapter 15

The sight of their little girl, lying lifeless on the ground made Emily's blood freeze. Before she reached their daughter she was praying that she was still breathing. She threw herself to the ground next to Grace, two fingers quickly going to her neck, searching for a pulse. When Emily felt that familiar beat against her fingertips she sighed in relief.

"Derek, call an ambulance. I don't wanna move her in case we'd damage anything," Emily told her husband who ran back inside to get his cell phone. "You're gonna be okay, sweetie."

Emily brushed her raven hair away from the face. She looked so peaceful and still.
Hearing a noise from above her, she looked up, her tear filled eyes meeting the ones of her oldest daughter. She had a blank expression on her face. Not sad. Not scared. Her face told Emily nothing. With shaky hands, Emily wiped away her tears.

"Esther, honey, what happened?" she asked, hating how much her voice cracked.

"Nothing. We were playing and when she was climbing down, she fell," Esther said, adding an innocent smile at the end of the sentence.

Emily's eyes remained on her daughter for a while longer before she shook her head and looked down to the limp body in front of her. Something just didn't seem right. Of course accidents like this did happen, but after everything else that had been going on it just seemed like something more. She hated herself for thinking this way about the girl they had taken in. A child could never do all this, cause so much trouble. Though, if Emily thought about it, she knew that a kid could definitely take another person's life.

Morgan returned to her side, his hand clutching his cell phone as he sat down and stroked his daughter's cheek.

"They'll be here soon," he told her, using his free arm to comfort Emily. "Esther, why don't you come down here?"

Emily's eyes followed Esther's movements as she climbed down the ladder. Her heart was beating faster as the girl stepped to the ground and walked close to Grace. It was silly to be this scared of an 8-year old, but she was just sure that the youngest hadn't fallen by accident. No, something told her that Esther had pushed her. Emily was good at compartmentalizing which she knew Esther was too, but the way she looked now... After her sister had fallen and might've died... That blank look on her face made Emily worried. She had briefly mentioned how everything seemed to happen around Esther, but Morgan had gotten upset so she hadn't continued to play with the thought. She needed someone other than Morgan who could tell her if what she was thinking was either spot on or outrageous. Maybe JJ could help her with that. Making a mental note to get JJ to the hospital, her eyes returned to her daughter.

A couple minutes had passed when a pair of paramedics burst through the front door, startling Emily, and ran to the backyard.

"Step away, ma'am," they told Emily who obliged and stood in Derek's arms as the medics tended to their daughter.

They started with stabilizing her neck and then carefully lifted her onto a stretcher which they then carried away.

"I'm going with her," Emily told them and gave her husband a kiss before following the medics, resisting the urge to glare at Esther.

Morgan clearly noticed the way his wife was treating their oldest daughter, though, so as to make the girl feel better he approached her and picked her up.

"Let's go inside and put on a movie or something. I will make some popcorn while you pick out a movie. Sound good?"

"I'd love that, daddy," Esther said, showing her most beautiful smile as she rested her head on her father's shoulder.

Morgan stepped inside the house and put Esther down by their bookcase where all the DVDs were. Esther immediately started to look through the movies while Morgan went to the kitchen. He was worried sick about his youngest daughter, but he was not about to scare Esther with it. She needed some peace and he was going to give that to her. Then after the movie they could go see Grace.

After placing the bag with popcorn in the microwave he grabbed his phone. He doubted Emily would've called the team yet so he sent a group text to them all, explaining the situation. Before clicking send he closed his eyes hard, sighing deeply, as he realized that he had almost sent the text to Garcia. To his baby girl. Shaking his head, he deleted her number and pressed send. He didn't need that constant reminder.

The beep of the microwave let him know that the popcorn was ready so he pocketed his phone and took out the popcorn, careful not to burn himself. He took out a bowl and poured the popcorn in it. Holding the popcorn in one hand, he took out two cans of coke before walking back into the living room.

"Have you picked out a movie?" Morgan asked as he placed everything on the table. Esther held the movie up, earning a chuckle from her father. "Nice try, princess, but you are not old enough to watch Omen."

"Why not, daddy? I can handle it," she tried to persuade him.

"Because I don't want you to have any nightmares," he told her. "Pick something PG rated. Like Monster's Inc.?"

Esther nodded, putting a smile back on her face as she switched the movie. She wouldn't continue to argue with her dad so she put the movie in the DVD player and sat down next to him. When Morgan hit play, Esther snuggled closer to him, draping one arm over his stomach, deadly close to his crotch. Esther was the only one who knew the significance in where she had placed her arm.

Morgan smiled down to his daughter as she snuggled closer. He was happy that they had gotten so close and that maybe she would start sharing things about her past. He was making progress, unlike Emily who now seemed to push the girl further away. That dirty and accusing look Emily had given her daughter had infuriated Morgan, which is why he now sat cuddled up with said daughter. She needed to know that she was loved at least by one parent. Though, he hoped that Emily still loved Esther too. Morgan knew it wasn't Esther's fault Grace had fallen. Emily was only looking for someone to blame.

Morgan ran his hand up and down Esther's arm as they watched Mike and Sully arrive to their job. Esther didn't laugh as much as Grace used to do, but he could tell that this alone time made the dark-haired girl happy. Esther snuggled closer to her father and Morgan couldn't stop his smile. That disappeared, though, when his phone started ringing. Groaning, he retrieved it from his pocket and saw his wife smiling at him.

"Esther, princess, I need to take this," Morgan said, lifting the girl of him and walking into the kitchen before he answered. "Hey, how is she?"

"Very lucky," Emily sighed. "She got away with a broken arm and a few bruises."

Morgan sighed in relief, "That's great. She's a tough one."

"Yeah, she really is," Emily agreed.

An awkward silence was set between them, neither one of them wanting to hang up quite yet. They had something to talk about, a big disagreement, but they didn't know how to bring it up.

"So..." Emily finally begun. "Will you come down here later? She isn't allowed visitors yet, but I can call you when she is."

"Yes, please do so. Me and Esther will be there," Morgan said and that statement was followed by yet another silence.

Finally Emily remembered to speak, "Alright... See you later," she said shortly and hung up.

Morgan could've strangled his wife at that moment. He knew what that silence meant. She didn't want Esther anywhere near Grace. He didn't get to yell at her now though and decided to save that for later. Walking back to Esther and sitting down on the couch, he let himself calm down. The smaller brunette draped her arm around him again and snuggled into his side. Morgan let himself smile again and put a very protective arm around his baby girl. No one could hurt her if Morgan had anything to say about it, not when she hadn't done anything.