COMMON SENSE . jennifer jareau

1.4

Maggie Cameron-Jacobs would have chosen to live with her father, there was no question in that. It had been her mother who had chosen to break up their family, as such it should have been her mother who ended up alone. Of course, Maggie didn't understand that her father wasn't alone in New York. He was with the woman he had chosen over her mother countless times, but Anna would never speak ill of him in front of her daughter. So, Maggie was living blissfully unaware of the adultery that had torn her parents' relationship apart.

Another thing that Anna would never tell her daughter, is the fact that her father didn't fight for her. There was no divorce - they had never been married - and so there were no court proceedings surrounding the separation. Anna loved the idea of keeping her daughter near her, but also knew that Maggie loved New York and she had been offered the position in DC. Had Andrew have given any indication he wanted sole guardianship - despite her own feelings - Anna would have given Maggie the choice. However, he had made it clear to Anna that he wanted her to take Maggie and never so much as mentioned this to their daughter.

This was why Maggie had been so hostile towards her mother after the move. The teenager didn't care that she was going to a good school or that she had many more opportunities available after the move, all she knew was that her mother had pulled her away from her father. To a child, that is unforgivable.

The young girl was a smart child, but since moving to DC she had begun to act out. In truth, it had started long before they had moved and back when Anna had begun to pull away from her husband. However, it wasn't until they had moved to DC that Maggie had begun to act out away from the house. Once again, Anna had received a phone call from the school to say that she had done something to warrant her early dismissal. When she was away with work, she would have called the neighbour to keep an eye on the teenager until she could return. Yet, this time, the BAU were in Quantico as they hadn't been called away on a case, so Maggie was restricted to spending the day in the office.

Anna was trying her hardest to ignore Maggie as she completed her paperwork, but the teenager was also trying her hardest to distract her mother. Not moving her eyes from the report her had before her, Anna declared, "You can mess around as much as you like over there, it's not going to change the fact that you're staying here for the rest of the day."

"But surely sending me home - where I am all alone with nothing to entertain me - would be a more fitting punishment?" Maggie offered, her voice stretching out each of the words. "And that way I won't show you up at work."

"Oh no, Margret, you have showed me up at work countless times already." The mother finally looked towards her daughter, leaning over the desk with a sweet smile filtering onto her face. "Do you know how many times your school have called while we are in the middle of an important element of a case? Maybe it is my fault, maybe I shouldn't have dived straight into working away from home so much, but maybe you should stop acting like I ruined your life.

"So, you will sit there, and you will read that book because you are already countless chapters behind the rest of your class." Anna gestured the copy of the Lord of the Flies on the desk. "Then, if you have caught up and can demonstrate the understanding that I know you are capable of, I will give you your phone back and you can sit on that until I am done."

The ginger haired girl glared at her mother for a moment before giving in and picking up the book. She wouldn't tell Anna that she had read the book before; she had been told that she had to ask before borrowing anything from the bookshelf in her mother's office, but a few years previous she had wanted more than anything to be Anna. At the time in question, Anna had been reading it as a prisoner she interviewed had mentioned it and the doctor wanted to refresh her memory of the book. Maggie had then read it herself under the cover of her duvet and the light of her father's flashlight. She hadn't told her mother that it was likely that book that had caused the months of nightmares following.

After half an hour, Anna looked over at her daughter, noticing that she had made a fair amount of progress in the book. Letting out a sigh, the woman announced, "How about some coffee? I'm sure there's something edible in the fridge too if we look hard enough."

"You have never done anything but complain about FBI coffee."

"I know," Anna couldn't argue, Maggie was correct she hated the FBI coffee, "but I had to take my lunch early today to collect my daughter from school. So, I can't go and get the good coffee from the bakery across the street."

Maggie looked away from her mother, "Couldn't you just ask Uncle Aaron-"

"No, I can't." Her voice was harsher than she had intended it to be. "When I am at work, he isn't your Uncle Aaron, he is my boss. Just because we are friends and have been for over a decade doesn't mean that I can ask for special treatment."

"Right." Maggie muttered. "I'm okay with FBI coffee."

Anna knew that her daughter was probably just excited about the idea of being outside of the Bureau walls, "Look, I'm sure if I spoke to one of the other's they'd go down with you on your break."

"Jennifer?" Maggie asked hopefully.

Letting out a breath, Anna nodded, "But you have to ask her."

"Thanks Mom!" The teenager placed her lips to her mom's cheek as she bound towards Jennifer's desk, not taking any notice to anything that was going on around her and almost running into Anderson on her way.

Anna had missed seeing her daughter that way and she hated that she felt that she was always having to be a disciplinary figure in her life. However, from the moment she had met Jennifer she had taken a liking to the woman and begun to confide in the blonde. While Anna wished her daughter would speak to her, she was glad that she was talking to someone. Her parents hadn't divorced when she was a child and that had caused her almost as much confusion as she was sure the separation was giving Maggie. So, she would never stop her from talking to Jennifer, as long as her colleague was happy to listen.

Jennifer placed her hand on Anna's shoulder, shaking her from her thought, "Usual?"

"Please." Anna grinned, meeting her friend's eyes. "And, Jennifer, can you try and find out what happened today? She's never so much as looked at someone violently before."

"I'll try." The woman whispered, before heading towards the teenager who had begun to fight to get her coat on. Turning back to Anna, she added, "Henry had requested that you come and help us eat the packets of dino nuggets that are in our freezer, so if you are free dinner at mine?"

Letting a small chuckle pass across her lips, Anna replied, "How can I say no to that?"