The World Is A Curse || Spencer Reid 's daughter || Vol. 1

six

COMING HOME

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"Max? Ely? We're home!", Reid called out as they entered the house. Max came out of the kitchen and Ely came down the stairs and then both of them froze at the sight of Maeve.

"Hey...", The girl said carefully, giving a nervous wave. He could see how tense every muscle in her body was.

"Maeve, let me formally introduce you to my wife, Max and my son Ely. ", Reid announced, trying to pull his family out of their shocked state.

Max was the first one to recover. She came up to the two of them, offering Maeve a smile and a handshake that Maeve accepted. "Hello Maeve, it's good to have you here. ", Max said and Maeve smirked at that.

"Are you sure about that?", She mumbled under her breath. Both Reid and Max exchanged a look, unsure what to reply to that. Luckily Ely was there to jump in to defuse the situation.

"That's my kinda humor, hey, it's Ely.", He said with a smile, pushing past his mother and holding up his fist until Maeve bumped hers against it.

"You came just in time for dinner. Come on in. ", Max went on, ushering them all to the dining room where she had already started to set the table.

Maeve stood by the table for a moment, looking a little lost. "Do you need help with anything? ", she then asked, looking to Max.

"No, it's alright, you can take a seat.", Max waved her off before going back to the kitchen. Reid followed her to the kitchen to help her get everything ready. Once they returned Ely and Maeve were sitting at the dinner table. Ely was pouring himself a juice and then he offered Maeve one as well. The girl needed a second to reply. She was kind of zoned out.

Max and Reid continued to hand out dinner. Max had made Mac n' Cheese since they didn't have the time to buy groceries, yet.

Once they were all seated they started to eat in silence. Reid noticed how Maeve watched them all closely, only starting to eat when they did. But once she started eating she wolfed it down like she was scared that they'd take it away.

Reid wondered if Nadia gave Maeve enough access to food. She was really meager but then again, so was he. Still, he'd rather have a doctor check her out in case she was malnourished.

Max was the first to break the silence. "So, Maeve, since you're going to be staying with us now, there is a couple of rules we should establish from the get go. Your probabtion comes with certain conditions. ", She explained.

Maeve froze before putting down her fork and swallowing the food she was currently chewing. "Yeah, I know. I gotta meet with a probation officer once a month, report each encounter with law enforcement, subject myself to random drug tests and a curfew, I know the drill.", She then rattled down. This was obviously all not new to her even though she hadn't been on probation before. Reid gave her a questioning look to which she replied:"I... got the probation talk two years ago when I was supposed to get released from juvie. I didn't actually experience it in practice, though, you know."