White Rabbit - A Criminal Minds Fic

Twenty Nine

When Alice and Spencer dressed and left their bedroom, they were greeted in the kitchen of the main house by Rebecca and Lewis. Spencer could see Alice searching the room, presumably looking for Abby.

"Charlie has taken Abby with him on his morning chores" Lewis told her, obviously clocking her search. "I thought Spencer could join me on mine whilst Alice reconnects with Rebecca."

Alice felt uneasy about allowing Spencer to be alone with Lewis so early on, before remembering that he was an FBI agent and therefore trained to handle all sorts of situations,much better than she was.

"Okay, sure." Spencer leant over to Alice, giving her a peck on the cheek and a reassuring squeeze on her arm before he walked over to join Lewis.

"We'll see you two girls in the main hall for breakfast in about an hour."

The men left and Rebecca turned to Alice.

"So. You're back."

"I am."

"I hope you realise that you can't just slip back into the role of his favourite. I put time and effort in after you left him to get to where I am now. I'm not giving that up Alice, not for you."

Alice was taken aback by the hint of venom in her old friends voice, the steely glint in her eyes.

"And Abby doesn't even know who you are so don't for one second..... "

"Becca, I didn't come back her to claim Abby or Lewis. I came back because Spencer helped me realise that I'd made a mistake and that we needed to be here to help plan for the future. I'm not here to win my position of Lewis's match back and I'm certainly not here to be Abby's Mom."

"You were barely that before you left."

Ally tried not be hurt by the words. They were true after all.

"Becca. I don't want to take anything away from you. If I did, would I have really come back here with my husband?"

Rebecca's gaze softened and her tone became less harsh.

"True. So tell me about him, tell me how you met. He's pretty cute."

Alice saw a glimpse of her old friend as a girlish giggle left Becca's throat. She pulled up a chair around the old wooden kitchen table and told her the 'story' of how her and Spencer came to be. Becca relaxed more and more as Alice weaved her web of lies convincingly, not noticing Abby and Charlie slip back in until the young girl climbed onto Rebecca's lap.

"I'm hungry" the young girl told her. "Can we go for breakfast now?"

"We can. Have you and Charles finished your chores though first?"

The child nodded, Alice's eyes watching her every movement. She'd seen plenty of photos of herself when she was younger and Abby was the spitting image of her when she was seven. It was weird, seeing the seven year old version of herself sitting on someone else's lap. So very weird.

"Come on then. Let's go to the main hall. Breakfast should about be ready now anyway. Alice, there shouldn't be too much of a commotion when the rest of the camp see you. There was a meeting before the boys went to fetch you and Spencer, the camp were told you were returning but not to bombard you with questions."

What was strange was how Rebecca referred to Charlie and Eric as 'the boys'. Both were older than her, Charlie only by a few months. But it seemed she'd fully stepped into and embraced the role of Lewis's partner, his match. And that role included replacing Marnie as the mother figure of the family it appeared.

Abby slid off Becca's lap and started tugging her to the door, turning to look at Alice who hadn't moved from the table. She was hoping to wait a few moments, to be able to catch Charlie alone.

"Are you coming with us?" she asked her. Alice nodded and stood up, following them out of the kitchen and outside, Charlie falling into step beside her as the walked across the camp to the main hall which was used for camp meals.

In the harsh light of day Alice could see how many of the huts appeared to be in disrepair, windows boarded up indicating they were no longer being lived it. The camp looked nothing like it had when she was here, it wasn't bustling with life the way it should have been this time of day. She dropped to the floor, quickly tugging her shoelace loose so she could retie it, Charlie stopping with her as Abby and Becca walked on hand in hand.

"Ally...?"

"I know, I know. We need to talk. Me, you AND Spencer. We need your help."

Their voices were low, Alice knowing she didn't have much time.

"I'll... I'll think of something. I'm on gardening duty in the herb and vegetable garden later. I'll suggest you two join me."

Becca looked back, frowning slightly when she saw Alice knelt on the floor. Ally hauled herself to her feet, accepting Charlie's hand to help her up and giving it a squeeze, whispering "thank you".

They quickly caught up with the other two, entering the main hall just as Spencer and Lewis reappeared. She didn't know exactly where Lewis had taken him and she was having trouble reading the look on his face but when he saw her, he smiled and nodded, letting her know everything was okay.

They walked into the hall together, behind Lewis and Becca, and Alice stopped, a sharp intake of breath leaving her chest.

It was standard practice for everyone in the camp to have meals together, cooking duties shared on a rota. Occasionally, people where exempt and in the past when she'd been here before, they had sometimes eaten meals as a smaller group in the main house but it was very rare. As Alice looked around the room though, some familiar faces looking up and greeting her with a nod, she saw that it was only a third full.

"Is this..... Everyone?" she asked quietly.

Lewis answered her. "Yes my love. I was actually explaining to Spencer this morning about how the camp would seem very different from when you were last here and from what he was probably expecting. I thought Rebecca would have bought you up to speed on the events of the last five years?"

"We didn't get chance to talk about it, Lewis" Becca told him.

"Ah well. I'll let Spencer explain then over breakfast and Charlie can fill in the blanks. You can all sit on the end table over there, with Abby. Becca, we should go and catch up with Oliver."

Alice's eyes narrowed slightly at the name of the ex doctor who had resided over the clinic, her quickly straightening her face to a neutral expression as Charlie led them away to their table.

Perhaps now she'd get some answers, not that they could talk much with Abby being there.