Forever After [Lily]

[Claire Burton]

Claire had never been so scared in her life. Not even when she was raped, or when Lily was sick. So much had happened to the little girl in such a little time. When she had called home that day and no one answered the phone she had felt sick. She knew that something was wrong the moment that Krys didn't answer. She had promised to call Lily every hour that day while she was gone. And when no one answered she knew that something was wrong, she just did. She had raced home to find the front door open and no one there. She called the police and moments later they had declared it a abduction. It wasn't until the BAU team came to talk to her that she learned Krys and Lily weren't the only ones taken, that Jack Hotchner was also missing. Claire tried to keep it together, but she couldn't. She didn't know what she was going to do if she lost her daughter also. And only after a few weeks of her last near death experience. How could so much happen to a family?

But Lily got away. She had been founded by a stranger on the street who recognized her from the amber alert. Claire had been so happy when she had seen her daughter. So relived that she was okay. The only bad part was that Krys and Jack were still out there. Claire cared a lot for Krys and hated to know she was still in the hands of a monster, yet she couldn't help but be happy for her daughter. The day Lily was found had been several days ago. For those days the mother and daughter had spent their time in a safe house the FBI provided for them, afraid that the case might have something to do with the FBI statues of both kidnapped kids and Krys. (There was also a lot of pressure coming from the hysterical mother to keep the four year old safe). The monster was dead now, and Krys and Jack had been founded. That meant they were able to go back home.

As Claire opened the door to the two story house she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She was glade to be home, and knew it would be good for Lily, whom Claire only wanted to make feel safe, but she felt so scared that the same thing might happen. No where seemed safe, not even her own home.... She knew that the monster was dead, but that didn't mean that there were other monsters out there that could harm the small family again. How could Claire ever let her daughter leave her sight now?

It was just past noon now and Claire knew Lily would be wanting Lunch, and knew more than anything that she herself needed to eat. She was a little over six months pregnant now, and hadn't eaten enough in the past seven days. Walking into the kitchen, trying not to look around to much with wide eyes looking for the monsters that weren't there. "You hungry?" She asked walking to the fridge, wondering if the actually had anything that wasn't expired now. "What would you like for lunch, Honey?"

[lily]

Lily held on tight to her mother's hand as they walked through the front door of their house. Last time she was here a man had snuck up behind her and kidnapped her.
A shiver went through Lily's body at the thought and she squeezed her mother's hand a little tighter. Since the kidnapping she hadn't been able to sleep properly. The nightmares were always there as fast as she closed her eyes and the fear of being kidnapped again didn't seem to want to go away. Lily believed that no matter what no one could do her any harm as long as she was with her mother, and therefore she hadn't wanted to leave her mother's side.

The house looked exactly the same as before. Only, the flowers all brown and dead. The ball Lily had played with only moments before the kidnapping, wasn't on the lawn anylonger. She had been told that the police had brought it to one of their forensic labs to examine it, but she would get a new one.
Following Claire into the kitchen, Lily nodded at her mother's question. The truth was that she was starving but she didn't know what she wanted to eat. Still holding onto her mother's hand, Lily frowned as she was thinking. "I want..." She started. "I want...I want...I want ice-cream" She said a small smile appearing on her lips. Probably the first one in days.
Lily looseded the grip of her mother's hand and climbed up on one of the kitchen chairs as her mother walked over to the fridge. On the fridge door hang a picture Lily had painted a few months ago. It was of Clarie, Charley and Lily standing outside their house. A family picture. The flowers in the garden were half as big as Lily and the house only a few inches taller than her father. "Mommy?" Lily asked a little insecure as she turned her gaze back to her mother. Her hands resting gently on the ktichen table. "Is it over now? No more bad guy?"

[Claire Burton]

Claire smiled at Lily's lunch request. If it had been any other day she would have flat out refused to let her eat ice cream for lunch. But it wasn't any normal day. Not to mention the small smile that formed on the four year old's lips. How was the mother supposed to refuse the child the first thing that brought a her daughter her first true smile in a week? So Claire pulled the ice cream out. The only problem was it was frozen solid. She tried for several minutes to try and get a few scoops out, but failed. So she set it aside to let it melt a little before she tried again. Smiling at her daughter she said, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get the ice cream out of the box." She let a light laugh fill her voice, trying to let everything go back to normal. That would be the best way to help Lily get through this.

That's when she asked if it was over yet. Claire's heart froze for a moment as she thought about it. How was she going to tell her this? She didn't want to face Lily with more death, but she wanted to make the young girl feel safe. Trying to smile she answered, "Yes, dear, it's all over...." She paused trying to keep her voice even. "The guy that took you is gone, and he's never coming back, you don't have to worry about that. Daddy'll make sure he never hurts you again." Moving back to the ice cream Claire forced the spoon into it and was able to get a good couple of scoops out. She set the bowl in front of Lily then got herself a bowl, after all she needed to eat as well. "Maybe we could go and see Jack tomorrow. Or Krys, I'm sure both would love to see that your okay." She said knowing that Lily wanted to know both of them were okay as well. Claire had tried to explain to her that they were safe, but she knew that she wouldn't believe it until she saw it.

[lily]

Lily's smile faded as she watched her mother struggle to get the ice-cream out of the box. Would she even be able to get it out?
Right now Lily didn't want anything else than ice cream so she sat still on the chair and hoped her mother would be able to get out at least one scoop.

As Claire put the box aside to defrost, Lily climbed down from the chair she had been sitting on and moved around the counter to her mother's side. Nothing really felt the same. Ever since the kidnapping she had prefered to stay close to her mother. Almost like she was her mother's tail or something.
Lily hugged her mother by the leg, because that was what she reached, and waiting for Claire to lift her up into her arms.
Lily used to do this whenever she was scared, or shy as younger or when she didn't want her mother to go anywhere. Now she did it just to be closer to her mom. It was getting harder by the months as her mother's tummy grew bigger and bigger.

Lily tried to look up at her mother as she started to explain that Lily was safe and that the bad man was gone and would never come back. Did this mean he died like her father had done a while ago or did it mean he went to jail like every bad man the police caught did?
"What happened to him?" Lily asked, her big, blue, confused eyes darting back and forth between her mother and and the fridge behind her mother. She wasn't sure why but she found it difficult to make eye contact, but she tried. "Did the police put the bad man in jail?"

As her mother brought up Krys' and Jack's name Lily held her breath. Krys.... she thought. Were they okay?
"I want to see Krys, mommy, I want to see Krys."

___________
OOC: Sorry for my crappy post

[Claire Burton]

Claire watched her daughter come up to her. It pained the mother to see Lily so insecure. Holding on to her leg was one of the things she did when she was scared, which had to mean that on some level she was scare now. Claire knew he she felt. The mother herself was afraid that something else would happen. So much had happened to the family that Claire could only imagine what else might go wrong. She hated that feeling. Hated the feeling that the only thing worse that could happen was she lost either of her daughters. The worst would have been Lily because she was the oldest and of course the most important to her. But Claire had resolved a long time ago that she wasn't going to miss treat her new daughter because her father was a terrible person. There was no reason to blame the child for something like that. It wasn't her fault, and no matter how much of a reminder she was to the pain that she had gone through she wasn't going to let that effect her love toward the child.

Bending down Claire lifted the child, who was honestly getting a little to heavy to be cared into her arms. For a moment she held her on her hip, away from her growing belly. Then she moved to set her on the edge of the counter in front of her. Once there Claire fixed her hair by pushing it back behind her ears. When Lily asked more about what happened to the bad guy again Claire wasn't sure if she wanted to explain to the girl that he was dead or not. But then figured in the end it was the only way that the four years old was going to get what had happened, "Yes, honey, he's dead." she answered after a pause.

With that she went back to work on the ice cream, Finally getting it out she placed the bowl and spoon next to her daughter so she might eat it while sitting on the counter top. Then she got her own bowl of ice cream and ate standing up in front of Lily, so she might not fall off and hurt herself. She Lily's delight in hearing that they might go see Krys was nice. She smiled and said, "We can see her tomorrow, let her rest today." After a moment she added, "we could call her if you want to, later tonight before you go to bed?" She suggested hoping it might calm the child enough to go to sleep.