I Think I'm Alone Now (Criminal Minds/ Umbrella Academy Crossover)

Chapter 5: The Missing Number

The Doctor left us after delivering the news on Ben and we took a moment to ourselves in the hallway, to process the information with each other. "I'll go to the kids room and tell them, while you stay here with Allison. I know you haven't had much time with her yet." Morgan said hugging Spencer, he let the younger man's head rest on his shoulder without a word and they took a few more seconds to just be together. Spencer walked into Allison's room and Morgan watched him take the chair that he had been sitting in and take the young girls hand. She looked so peaceful sleeping soundly, if you could look past the bandage on her neck. Morgan let out a heavy sigh before walking down the hall to the kids room.

-Luther's Pov-

I was helping the FBI agent, JJ, put the last pieces of the broken glass that Vanya had accidentally broken into the trash bin. "You are so helpful Luther! Do you enjoy helping people?" JJ asked. I nodded yes, not feeling quite comfortable to talk a lot with her, or anyone in this hospital, just yet. JJ thanked me again before walking over to check on the others, and I stood up walking closely behind her. I didn't know who these people were, but why were they acting like it was their job to watch over us? That's my job. It's always been my job as number one to make sure that all my siblings are okay. Klaus noticed me walking over and he ran into my chest with an 'oof'. "Why the long face number one?" He asked. "I'm just...worried." I said, letting him stand under my arm. "About that?" Vanya asked. "What isn't there to be worried about?" Five asked sliding off of the bed he had been sitting on. "We have no parents, no home, and two of our siblings are hurt. We haven't even seen Ben yet!" He said folding his arms. Klaus shrugged. "It's okay. Morgan and Spencer will take care of us." He said with an easy going grin that somehow calmed my nerves a tiny bit. "H-how do you know? It's just their job to save people. They are j-just doing their jobs. They don't care about us like mom did." Diego said with a frown. "Mom - didn't care about us. She just did whatever dad told her to do..." Five said looking away from the group. I could tell that if they kept going a fight was going to start, so I stepped up between Diego and Five. Klaus ducked under my arm, probably not wanting to be in the middle of the two siblings. "There isn't anything we can do about mom and dad or our situation...all we can do right now is wait for Allison and Ben to join us. You two don't want to be fighting when they come back do you?" I asked. Both of the guys seemed annoyed with me, but dropped it and sulked in different corners of the room. "How about we go out for a walk around the hospital after Morgan and Spencer get back? You guys have been in here for a really long time. You're probably getting a bit stir crazy." JJ said with a smile, trying to lighten the dark mood in the room. "We spent our whole lives trapped inside a house, we're past 'stir crazy' I don't wanna walk around." Five said facing away from us. "I - uh would like to walk around. I think it would be fun." Vanya said from her spot beside Klaus. "Yea! Now that were out of the house we should explore!" Klaus said holding Vanya's hand. Before anyone could give their opinion the door opened and we turned to see Morgan walking into the room. He could tell that the mood wasn't light as he shut the door and sat down on the floor beside Diego. "What's going on here?" He asked, an eyebrow quirked up. "Nothing." Both Diego and Five said at the same time, and I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling if I tried. "Yea - sure. Well I have an update on Ben." Morgan said, getting everyone's attention.

-Morgan Pov-

The kids all circled around me and sat down, Klaus climbed into my lap and Vanya leaned into my side while the other three sat in a small half circle in front of me. I pulled Klaus closer to me and hoped that he didn't feel my heart beating anxiously in my chest. "Ben is out of surgery...and he is really hurt. When he was getting hurt he-" Five interrupted me, "When he was in his special training getting stabbed with a knife by dad." He said, correcting me. I sighed. "Yea, when that was happening Ben got stabbed in the stomach. The doctors had to work really hard to seal that hole up so it wouldn't hurt him. But it's going to be a long time before he is back to normal. He will have a special diet for probably the rest of his life. But he is okay. And you guys can visit him tomorrow. He is sleeping right now or we would let you see him, but he needs sleep right now." The kids all absorbed that news differently. Vanya, Five, and Klaus just seemed happy that he was alive. Diego looked angry, but that was probably towards the dad. Luther on the other hand seemed sad, and when I looked closer I could see that he was trying to stop himself from crying. After the kids asked a few more questions I checked the time and was surprised. JJ smirked at me as she opened the window curtains to show that it was dark outside. "I'll help you get them ready for bed before I head back to the hotel. I'll check up with Rossi, Prentiss and Hotch and see what they have found so far in the house." She whispered to me as I grabbed some PJ's from the bag of clothes the nurses had loaned us. Getting the kids ready for bed hadn't been hard the past few nights. They were well behaved, too much so for kids their age. And I knew that it was from the fear that they experienced from breaking rules in the house. I was determined to give these kids some of the youth they had lost living with that evil man. While getting everyone ready I noticed that Luther's hands kept twitching and he couldn't seem to stay still. He was nervous, or emotional about something. And sense he was fine before I told the group about Ben I figured that I needed to talk to him about it. I grabbed Luther after he had finished brushing his teeth, before he changed into his PJ's and told JJ that we would be back. She understood what I was doing and said she would get the others into bed. I took Luther's hand as we left and he looked over his shoulder at the room his siblings were in until we turned the corner of the hallway. I could tell he was nervous. "Where are we going sir?" He asked. "I thought you might wanna go on a walk, you're the only one who hasn't left that room except to visit Allison. I want you to stretch your legs." I said. Luther didn't reply, but held onto my hand as we walked outside and found ourselves sitting on a bench beside the hospital. "So, tell me how your feeling about all this." I said leaning back casually. Luther looked at me with confusion. "Why? Feeling about what?" he asked. "I just want to know. I care about you Luther. I want to make sure your okay." His face changed to a thoughtful one after that and he subconsciously rubbed at the bruising around his neck. "I feel...bad." He finally said, clearly nervous. "That's okay. Elaborate?" I asked. He started to twiddle his thumbs. "I'm the reason that Number Three and - Allison and Ben - are hurt." He said, his eyes watering. "Why do you think that?" I asked, my heart breaking. The boy clenched his fists over his legs trying to hold it all in. "It's my job to protect everyone. I failed. If I did my job right as Number One Allison and Ben wouldn't be hurt." He said, his voice getting weaker as the tears got bigger in his eyes. I got off of the bench and knelled in front of Luther on the bench, making him look me in the eyes. "Luther. This is not your fault. You have to believe me.  You are so much more than a number. You are Luther. You are a good person, and that person who made you do all those things is not your dad." He blinked and a tear fell from his eye down his cheek. "He did terrible things to you. And yet you are still such a good person you-" NO!" Luther shouted covering his ears. "I'm not good. I'm dirty! I can't be a good boy anymore because he is g-gone." I frowned. "Luther. What you did for that man doesn't make you a good boy, no matter what he said. He - I know what it's like to want to please a man who you look up to. But what he did - what he made you do was so wrong. But it doesn't make you a dirty person." He uncovered his ears and looked up at me. "Y-you don't know what he did..." He said, looking away from me. "I do. I know that he touched you where no one should touch you at your age. And I know what that's like because the same thing happened to me." He looked shocked at me. "R-really?" He asked. "Yea, and I let it happen because I thought that I had to...but you don't have to anymore. You can still be a good big brother without doing that stuff ever again." He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I -hic- I didn't protect Allison and Ben. They are hurt because -sob- I wasn't good enough." He said, struggling to say the words through his tears. "Hey. That's not true either. No matter how strong, brave, and heroic you are you can't stop bad things from happening to good people sometimes. You are a good person. Even after your dad told you to shoot me...you didn't. Because you have a good heart." I said tapping my finger on his chest where his heart was beating. And that seemed to break the dam that Luther was holding because he started sobbing, and he cried out as he tried to dry his face. But the tears kept falling, and to my surprise he leaning into me and let me wrap my arms around him. He shook against me as he cried, and cried. It was heartbreaking and relieving all at once as he let it all out. I wasn't keeping up with the time, but eventually he calmed, and he was resting against me as I stood up, holding him in my arms. I could still hear him sniffling as he wrapped his arms around my neck, burying his face in my shoulder. He had used the last of his energy crying, and I wasn't surprised that he was now so tired. Seeing as he didn't sleep much sense getting here. Always watching over the other siblings and waiting for news on Allison and Ben. I held him as close as I could, a type of protectiveness that I had never felt before  bubbling in my chest as I rubbed his back with one hand while the other supported his lower half. I walked back into the hospital and as we got back to the hall the kids room was in Luther's body relaxed against mine. By the time I was struggling to open the door the kid was sound asleep, and as JJ walked over to open the door for me I saw that the other kids were all in the beds asleep as well. I couldn't help but chuckle at the positions they were in. Five and Klaus were sharing one bed, and Klaus had been moving in his sleep. His legs laying over Five's torso but neither of them looked like they were about to fall from the bed or showed any signs of being uncomfortable so I didn't try to move them. While Diego and Vanya were cuddled up together, Vanya's cheek resting against Diego's chest as they slept. "Looks like he wore himself out." JJ whispered looking at Luther with a bit of sympathy. I nodded and took a seat on the couch, refusing to let the boy out of my arms. I looked down at him as he slept, looking more relaxed then I had seen him sense getting him out of that terrible house. JJ smirked before quietly leaving the room to return to the hospital. I leaned back and carefully laid sideways on the couch without disturbing Luther. And I let the steady rise and fall of Luther's chest against mine and the soft sounds of the other children's breathing (and Klaus's soft snoring) across the room lull me to sleep as well.