Psychosis

Chapter 46- 525,600 Minutes

Isabel looked around the bright, colorful room. She was in the middle of a celebration of some sort, something that she didn't quite understand the need for. But, there she was, and she couldn't find a way to get out of it. Especially considering that she didn't have a vehicle. For now, she was stuck. But, unlike every other time in her life she had been stuck, she didn't really mind it. She simply didn't see the need for the celebration. But while she was stuck there, she might as well try and enjoy herself.

She grabbed something to drink, and she turned around to see one of her teammates standing there, holding out some sort of peace offering. But what he had to offer peace for, she wasn't sure.

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Ciara leaned back, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She had no clue what was happening, what they were being called in for on a Saturday, especially when they were told they could (and should) dress casually. Morgan had texted Akilah with the message, and Reid had texted Ciara with the exact same message. So, while they had been in the middle of Lilo & Stitch, they left the apartment and started the trek to Quantico. But, while Akilah drove, Ciara was, of course, overthinking the entire situation. Her head was running rampant with all the things that could be going on, every worst-case scenario.

Then again, she was an author, and authors typically came equipped with overactive imaginations. What else was to be expected?

Which was why Ciara knew that whatever they were being called for was either supposed to be a surprise or perhaps it was extremely classified. Reid knew that, without many details, Ciara would overthink things, so he would never send such a brief and vague message unless it was one of the two scenarios. Akilah broke Ciara out of her thoughts by asking for her water bottle that had fallen to the floor a few miles outside of D.C. The edges of Ciara's mouth pricked up in a smile as she reached down to the car's floor and picked up the brown bottle and handed it to Akilah.

It had been a few weeks since the incident with the date-rape drugs, and Akilah was doing a decent job of quitting her drinking, and had started with throwing the purple water bottle into the Potomac River where she could never get it back. She was attempting to quit cold-turkey, and in two and a half weeks, she had only relapsed once. Akilah always had an incredibly strong will and was able to resist temptation better than anyone Ciara knew. The only reason she had relapsed at all was that she had had something that Ciara was incredibly familiar with. She had a nightmare dealing with the things that she had been through, things she thought she had dealt with and buried.

But Akilah, after drinking to try and forget, had realized that while they were buried, they weren't dealt with and they weren't going to stay buried. So she had talked to the other members of the team to get ideas on what she should do, and JJ was the first of many to suggest therapy. At first, Akilah hadn't wanted to go to therapy, as her foster mother hadn't allowed her to go, seeing the need for therapy as a sign of weakness. But after a few good arguments from the team, she had agreed to go to one session. After that, they would see.

But she had enjoyed the therapy session. When she had come back, she had told Ciara that she had felt much lighter, like a weight had been lifted off of her. She had really liked her therapist, Dr. Whitman, and planned on going back. She had tried to convince Ciara to give therapy a try, but Ciara knew she couldn't do such a thing. That would require her telling someone about the things she saw when she closed her eyes, and she couldn't do that. Those things were hers and hers alone, and she had to deal with them alone. Even if doing so was destroying her.

But another person was benefiting from therapy, as well. Reid had spent seven days in the psych unit, and once he had gotten out, he had gone to see a grief counselor and was doing much better. Like Akilah, he had also kicked his substance habit. A lot had happened in two and a half weeks, but life was going on. And now Akilah and Ciara were being called in for something that neither of them knew about. But, hopefully, they would know something soon. After all, they were only about ten miles out of Quantico, and then they would have some answers.