What Happens Next

XIV. Shattered

Reid fiddled with the ring on his finger, deciding whether or not he should mention his observations to Max. He looked between her and his hand, biting the inside of his lips as he deliberated. His eyes found her hand and his lips spoke before his brain could stop them. 

"Your ring. You took it off."

Max stopped what she was doing, and looked over at him. She lifted her arm and examined her own hand, touching the band of paler skin on her finger. She pressed her lips together and sighed, relaxing into her heels, looking at him. 

"I did."

"Oh," was all he could muster. 

He stood up, using his hand to push himself away from the brown leather couch he called his bed. He walked quickly up the stairs, to his daughter's room, before knocking softly on her door. 

"Come in!"

He pushed open her white wooden door, entering the blue-walled room. Maeve sat on her bed, her fluffy pink blanket draped over her legs, and her laptop resting over that. Splayed out around her were notebooks, a folder, and a calculator. 

"Homework?" he asked traveling over to her desk, seating himself on her swivel chair.

"I'm making a PowerPoint," she stated, refusing to look away from her screen.

"A PowerPoint? What about?" 

"Endangered species."

"I see. What animal did you pick?"

"Vaquita. It's a really small dolphin."

"Phocoena sinus," Reid began, drawing Maeve's eyes away from her screen, "the world's rarest marine mammal. Less than half the size of the bottlenose dolphin the Vaquita are often caught in illegal gillnets, leaving their population hovering around only ten individuals."

"Yeah," she nodded, looking away from her dad to try and hide her impressed smile.

"What subject is it for?" he asked, hoping to pursue conversation.

"It's not for school. Me and Sklyer and her little sister have PowerPoint competitions."

"No way!" Reid laughed, scooting his chair closer to her bed, "did you know, when I was a kid I used to go to the library with my friend Ethan, and we would research different kinds of plants to write research papers about them? I would bring them home to my mom and she would read them and tell me which paper was better. I used to have to lie to Ethan and tell her she picked his sometimes so he would keep playing with me."

"Really?" Maeve asked, closing her computer, "do you want to judge ours when we're done?"

"Of course!"

"This is awesome. I have to text Skyler!"

Reid watched his daughter excitedly text her best friend with a smile on his face. She dropped her phone and looked back at him.

"Have you ever made a PowerPoint?"

"Yes. I have," he laughed. Before Maeve could respond, his demeanor shifted and it felt as if a blanket fallen over the room. 

"Maeve I- I wanted to apologize to you."

"For what?" She asked, unprepared for the conversation to come.

"For what happened. For what you saw. I never meant for that to happen, and I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay dad. You were sick. I know that you're trying to get better. It was an accident," the girl repeated the words her therapist had said to her many times in hopes of helping her cope.