New Family

Adam and Eden

Jay was sat opposite Maddie in the small café by the waterfront that they often visited. Maddie had explained what happened on the bus and Jay made a mental note to ask Will about what happened to the guy. Maddie then told him about how all she could see was the blood on her hands.

"That's not everything is it?" Jay asked as he noticed Maddie spinning the bracelet around her wrist.

"Every time I close my eyes." Maddie started but had to stop so she could regain enough of her composure to continue without crying. "I see you unconscious in the car and I'm shouting for you but you don't answer and it doesn't look like you're breathing." Maddie recounted the vivid nightmare she had every night since the accident.

"Oh Mads." Jay said quietly, now realising why she had become more withdrawn since the crash, PTSD, something which he should've recognised. "You should've told me about it, I could've helped before it got this bad." He said, now knowing that Maddie's worst panic attacks followed a pattern, they happened whenever she was worried about someone, it used to be Antonio but now it was him.

"I thought I could deal with it." Maddie said simply, Jay sighed but a small smile crept onto his face as he realised that was something Mouse would've said. The two spoke for a little longer before they fell into a comfortable silence, Maddie's gaze always resting on the bracelet that sat on her wrist.

"What's the story behind that?" Jay asked causing Maddie's head to snap up so she was looking at him. "The bracelet, I don't think I've seen you take it off since you moved in with me." He elaborated, Maddie's expression turned from nervous and confused to a sad smile.

"He didn't like me wearing it, I kept it in that box." Maddie said, knowing Jay was trying to figure out of she had always worn it, referencing the tattered shoe box she had asked him to retrieve from the floorboards whilst she was in the hospital.

"Where did you get it from?" Jay asked, guessing it had sentimental value as she had smiled when he mentioned it.

"Have I ever told you about Adam?" Maddie asked. "He was my foster dad in New York, the CSI who taught me how to navigate a police database." Maddie elaborated, knowing she probably didn't tell Jay his name.

"You've mentioned him when Ruzek asked how you got so good at computers." Jay reminded her.

"I was on holiday with my foster parents from Chicago in New York and I was the only survivor of a bodega robbery, my parents had let me go to the corner shop to get some sweets on my own because I was an independent twelve year old." Maddie began the story.

"That I can believe." Jay said, knowing how fiercely independent Maddie could be.

"Yeah." Maddie said with a smile. "One of the responding officers was this CSI, Mac, he found me hiding in the corner. I later found out he was quite stern but when he found me he was so sweet. Anyway, I was only twelve, I forgot to explain to him that I was in foster care so when he asked where my parents were I rambled off the hotel room where I was staying with my foster parents and he took me there." Maddie said. "When we got to the room, no one was there so he thought I'd gotten the wrong room or the wrong hotel but he asked the receptionist and he said they'd checked out about half an hour ago."

"So they'd sent a twelve year old to the shops, alone, in New York City and then left?" Jay asked, hoping he had misunderstood.

"Yep, the robbery was just bad timing." Maddie said. "Anyway, Mac took me back to his office until CPS could come and pick me up, he stayed with me for a while, asked me questions about the robbery but eventually he had to go and do something so he told me to stay put. But from his office I could see this room which had loads of computers and I'd always been interested in computers so I got up and went to the room. There were these two guys in there and the screens were covered with maps and crime scene photos."

Twelve year old Eden Doe was stood in the doorway, mesmerised by all the computers for a while before the two guys realised she was there.

"Hi there." One of them said, rolling over to her on his chair, looking around for a parent to claim her. "What's your name?" He asked, Eden hesitated as she tried to remember the right name.

"Eden." She said confidently, the name rang bells with the two CSI's as they realised she was the witness in their case.

"Well it's nice to meet you Eden, I'm Danny, and that's Adam." Danny said as Adam gave the girl a small wave.

"Adam ended up adopting me and it was the best two years of my life, from what you've told me about my brother they sound quite similar." Maddie said.

"How did you end up back in Chicago then?" Jay asked, knowing the two CPS system's don't communicate.

"It took Chicago CPS two years to realise I was missing, my old parents that left me were still collecting my cheques so they assumed I still lived there. Once they realised they spoke to them and realised I was in New York. Once they found me they took me back. Adam, Mac and the rest of the guys fought to keep me but it was useless." Maddie said, wiping away the single tear that was rolling down her cheek. "Adam always wore one of these." She said nodding to the woven friendship bracelet that sat on her wrist. "So when he realised he was going to lose me he gave me one." She said, slipping it off so she could show Jay the message he had written in permanent marker on the inside.

A + E  followed by an infinity symbol.

"Adam and Eden." Maddie explained.

"Eden?" Jay asked whilst Maddie put it back on.

"One of my many names." She said with a smirk.

"Did you guys keep in contact?" Jay asked, receiving a small humourless laugh from Maddie.

"I was too young, he tried but I wasn't allowed a phone or anything in the group home they put me in." Maddie explained. "I tracked him down when I first found Mouse, I've got his number in my phone but I'm just too scared to call him."

Authors Note: A little bit of Maddie's backstory before we introduce her to a certain someone in the next chapter.

Also if anyone gets the reference's in this chapter, you are my new best friend