[ continued from here ] @swellingxstorm
Although it was clear that the words came with good intention, Ronan couldn’t bring himself to appreciate her promise. How could she say it with suchcertainty? How could she be so sure that she could protect him? What if he didn’t even want protection? After a man that Ronan hadn’t ever seen before in his life broke into his house with one sole purpose: to hurt and kill Ronan’s mother. Ronan didn’t do anything to stop the man or protect his mother. All he did was hide in a closet, nearly holding his breath, terrified of making any sort of sound. He just hid as he heard his mother’s screams for help… And when everything fell silent, Ronan didn’t budge from his hiding spot. In fact, he hadn’t moved from the hiding spot until the FBI agents searched the crime scene and found him curled up in the closet.
The agent’s words, declaring that she’d make sure nothing bad would happen, cycled in Ronan’s head- repeating over and over. Each time the sentence repeated in his head, the more firmly Ronan told himself that a coward like him didn’t even deserve to be safe. Even so, Ronan responded after a few seconds with a slow and hesitant nod– Primarily just to let the agent know that he was able to understand her words.
Cases that involved kids seemed to always be particularly hard for JJ. It was always awful if someone got left behind, a spouse or a partner, but to be a child who loses their parents? Especially when the father didn´t seem to be in the picture. And there wasn´t just the trauma of losing a loved one, which was bad enough, but what if there were no relatives? The kid would end up in the system and, if he wasn´t lucky, he´d never find a family to stick with.
JJ pushed those thoughts aside as she waited for a response, which came in the form of a nod. They would have to call social services, who would go looking for any extended family, but he was going to stay in their care until they had caught whoever had done this. Unless they didn´.t...but she didn´t want to think about that. Of course they had unsolved cases, but you had to keep a positive outlook, as much as that was possible considering the field they worked in.
“I´m JJ. What´s your name?” She asked carefully, offering him a smile.
