okay but. imagine cowboy!reader is actually very educated. pro-LGBTQ, pro-choice, BLM, acab. very big speaker and doesn't take shit. BUT everyone thinks he isn't gonna educated and such until they're on a case dealing with like a trans kid and he's the first one to step up and comfort the kid and such. man im in the rabbit hole.
Allergies (Not Really)
No no no no no but the way I've started one where something of this theme happens (I don't want to give too much away aha)
Word count: 3.6k
Warnings: transphobia, sad reader :( (i teared up a little ngl - it's not sad, he's just sad), guns, bullet wound, fighting, briefly mentions some murders to set the scene a bit, someone calls reader a redneck
Also I just want to say that the relationship between Mia and (Y/N) is completely platonic, maybe familial (a bit older brother-y or fatherly) not anything else. Just because I'm panicking because they spend a lot of time joking about and I wanna make that clear.
Taglist: @xweirdo101x @xdark-acadamiax
Your blood boils when you hear the case, an unsub has been targeting young families (parents and three kids all under the age of sixteen). The last family had a survivor, a twelve-year-old transgender girl named Mia, who was currently in the hospital being treated for a variety of injuries.
Your jaw clenches as you read the hospital report, whilst it wasn't too long (thankfully), you knew she would still have a lot to work through mentally.
"You alright over there, Eastwood?" Morgan asks.
"Just angers me, is all," You answer, not feeling the need to elaborate, feeling the source of your anger being fairly self-explanatory. You miss the concerned look Rossi and Hotch share.
A few hours later, the jet landed, once everyone was situated at the police station, you turned to the team.
"I'm gonna head to the hospital, make sure Mia's okay," You said.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rossi’s the one that says it, but you can see everyone's thinking the same thing.
"Wha- Why wouldn't it be?... Oh I see," You say as the penny finally drops and it clicks, "Y'all think 'cause I'm from the South I'm against her bein' herself?" You sigh softly, rubbing the back of your neck, "Have I not proved myself yet?"
No one says anything for a moment, shocked by the hurt that flashes in your eyes, before they can, you pick your hat back up, settling it on your head, "I'm headin' to the hospital,” You mumble, leaving the room before anyone can say anything.
When you leave the room, you rub your eyes with the back of your hand. 'Not crying,' You try and convince yourself, 'allergies.' You trying to ignore the fact you know, 100%, that you don't have any allergies.
You get into one of the SUV's and begin making your way to the hospital, ignoring your phone as it lit up with various concerned messages.
The receptionist was a nice woman and was quick to show you to Mia's room (after staring at you hungrily for a few minutes). You gave a small knock before walking in.
"Are you here to tell me I'm too young to know myself as well?"
You furrow your eyebrows, "No, who told you that?"
"One of the nurses," She answers with a shrug.
"You know which one?"
"The guy with brown hair," She shrugs as she answers, "It's fine though, happens all the time."
"I personally don't think y'all are too young to realise who you are," You said with a shrug, "I think anyone who thinks that is trynna hide their bias by invalidatin' your identity."
Mia looks at you for a moment, "I like you." She states, "I thought you were going to be against it."
"I've been gettin' that a lot today, it would seem," You mumble before your head snaps to the door, relaxing when it's just JJ. "Anyway, I'm (Y/N), this is my colleague, Agent Jareau. Mia, you a'right if we ask you a few questions?"
"Sure,"
"Could you run us through what happened that night?"
"Mum and dad were cooking. We were all sitting at the table doing our homework, and someone knocked on the door." Mia began, "They asked me to open the door, and he grabbed me and put a gun to my head. He shot my dad, then-"
You gave her a small, encouraging smile, "You're doin' great,"
"Did you get a look at the person that did this?" JJ asked, when Mia nodded, she continued, "What did they look like?"
Your eyes widen in worry as the heart machine next to Mia picks up, as does her breathing. You pull yourself together and turn your attention to her, "Mia? Mia, hey," Your voice is soft as you kneel next to her, "You need to take some deep breaths for me sweetheart,"
"Can't-"
You nod at her, "Yes, yes you can," You encourage, "Deep breaths, in, one, two, three, four, five, and out. That was good, keep going,"
It takes a moment, but her breathing evens out and she appeared to be less anxious, "There we go," You grin, "Told ya,"
"Okay, Texas," Your jaw drops slightly, the joke catching you off guard.
"That's not fair, I can't even say anythin' back without bullin' a child,"
"Ha ha." She responds, you throw your hands up in the air, smiling when she laughs at you.
JJ rolls her eyes slightly at you with a small smile as the doctor walks in with a few nurses for a routine checkup. Your eyebrows furrow when you see a male nurse with brown hair. Your eyes flick to the name badge, 'Darren', assuming this is the same nurse, you make a mental note of his name.
"We'll be just outside, a'right?"
Her hand shoots out, clinging onto your sleeve, "No! Don't leave!" She looks at you slightly hesitantly, "Please?"
"Hey, hey, it's a'right, I'll stay here," You answer, eyes flicking down to her for a moment before turning to JJ.
"Hotch wants me to go with Morgan to the scene," JJ said, "You good here? I'll let him know,"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good here and thanks," You give a small smile.
When the doctor and nurses left, you turned to Mia, "That nurse you mentioned earlier? The brown-haired one? Was he in the room just now?"
Mia nodded, "Yeah,"
"Had a name badge on, name Darren?" Mia nodded once more. "Alright, I'll be back in a moment,"
"Where are you going?"
"I just want a quick word with this Darren fella," You shrug, seeing the look on Mia's face you roll your eyes slightly, "Don't you worry your little head about it, I'm not gonna hurt him or anythin'."
"Okay..." She said.
"Is that a'right?"
Mia shrugged, "Sure." You nodded before exiting the room.
Furrowing your eyes when you came face to face with Rossi, "Howdy, I'm just popping out for a few," You said.
Rossi nodded, walking into the room after you had left. "I'm Agent Rossi," He said, "I work with (Y/N),"
"The cowboy?"
"Yeah, the cowboy," Rossi huffs a small laugh as he sits in his seat. "Have the staff here been treating you okay?"
Mia shrugs, "Yeah," She answers, "There was one nurse but I think Texas has gone to sort him out or something. He might beat him up."
Rossi smiles slightly, "Texas?"
"Yeah, the cowboy," She said, "I think he's frustrated that everyone keeps assuming he's going to be against me being trans... I'd be frustrated too, I think," She added after a moment's thought.
You leave Mia, now feeling slightly better that Rossi will be there whilst you're gone. Spotting your target, you speed up.
"Excuse me! Nurse?" The man turns towards you, Darren. "I just wanted to have a word with you about Mia?"
You watch as Darren shifts uncomfortably. "Yes?"
"I just wanted to say that perhaps telling someone they're too young to understand 'emselves probably doesn't make 'em feel a whole lotta good about 'emselves."
Darren looks you up and down slightly as he takes a few steps towards you. "And what exactly do you know?" He scoffs, "I'm surprised a redneck such as yourself can read and write."
"That's some nice deflection there," You said sarcastically, trying not to let it show how much the stereotypes flung into your face hurt. "Just... don't be a dick. If you don't understand somethin', look it up. I'm sure you can read. So perhaps do your research before you project onto a twelve year old girl." With that, you give a forced smile before turning on your heels and head back to Mia's room.
"Welp, that outta have done it," You give a lopsided grin, "A'right Rossi?"
"I'm fine Kid, you okay?"
"Yes sir," You answered, "I might grab myself a drink, y'all want anything?"
Mia laughs, "Y'all?"
"Rossi, Imma need your assistance, I'm getting bullied by a twelve year old,"
"Sorry, Kiddo, can't help you there." He chuckled, "I will ask that you grab me a coffee though."
"Coming right up!"
Hours later, she's sat up on the bed whilst you're sat on a chair (a rather uncomfortable one) next to the bed, Rossi having left an hour ago, both of your gazes focused on a small, empty glass bottle that stood on the overbed tables. Each armed with a small piece of string as a makeshift lasso.
"You're not a very good cowboy, are you?" Mia observes as you miss once more.
"Hey, I haven't done this in a while,"
"How longs a while? Never?" She asked, throwing the lasso perfectly once more.
"I'll have you know its been, okay so it's been like ten years, a'right? You were two last time I had to lasso something,"
"Wow, you're old."
"I had no idea twelve year olds were so mean, you're about to make a grown man cry,"
Mia gave a laugh, you quickly joining in. You flung the lasso half-heartedly, eyes widening as it hit its target perfectly. "Yeehaw!"
"Yeehaw? Seriously? You're so lame." You jaw dropped once more. You both jumped as gunshots echoed throughout the hospital, you sat up straight, immediately turning to Mia.
"Mia, I need you to take this," You handed your phone over to her, "The pass code is 1999, okay? You need to phone Hotch. Lock the door behind me, go into the bathroom and lock that door too, okay?"
Mia looked up at you with wide, scared eyes, "Are you gonna be okay?"
"I'm gonna be absolutely fine, a'right?" When she nodded, you gave her a smile, "Don't open this door until I tell you to, or Hotch phones and says to okay?"
You shut the door, not moving until you heard it lock in place. When you heard the soft click, you nodded to yourself as you began to make your way towards sound.
Seeing a nurse, you jogged up to her, "Ma'am, try and get everyone into their rooms, tell them not to come out, okay?" The nurse nods and runs off. You continue cautiously towards the sound of gunshots, revolver clutched in your hands.
When you find him, he's holding a person close to his chest, what with that and the people running past you, you don't have a clear shot. You meeting eyes with the wide yes of the hostage against his chest, you look at her, giving a small nod as you inch closer.
When the moment's right, she ducks her head, pulls her elbow back, before slamming it into the guy's ribs. As he curls over, she wiggles out of her grasp, joining the others in fleeing. With a sigh, you brace yourself before charging at the man, tackling him to the floor.
It takes a moment for the unsub to recover, in that time you've delivered a few blows to his face, both of your guns falling during the tackle. He's quick to flip you over, he aims for the torso first, delivering a handful of well-aimed punches. Next, he takes a fist of your hair, slamming your head into the floor. Once, twice, three times before you get the momentum needed to push him off you.
You staggered up, paying no mind to the pain in your head throbbing in beat with your pulse, the blood on the side of you head that's slowly dripping into your eye, or the ache that's spread through your abdomen. You had to either distract this guy until the team got here or knock him out. Either way, you weren't about to let yourself pass out and let this bastard hurt Mia.
As you're breathing deeply through the pain, the unsub has stood, he (however) is not as chivalrous, so he takes the moment make his way over to you. He grabs your shoulders as he pulls his knee to your groin, pushing you to the floor as you double over in pain. Happy with having the advantage, he continues to aim cheap blows to your sides.
Despite this, you stumble up once more, you keeping your left arm wrapped close to your ribs on your right. They were definitely bruised as a minimum. You duck the punch sent your way, wincing slightly as it pulls on your arm and ribs. Both of your eyes lock on the gun at the same time as the pair of you dive for it. He reaches it first, gripping it tightly in his hands as you immediately go for it, to loosen his grip, anything you can think of.
There's a bang and you grunt as a bullet enters the top of your left arm, adding insult to injury. Okay, so disarming him didn't really work.
"FBI!" You sigh in relief as the unsub is pulled away from you, letting your head fall against the cold floor with your eyes closed - trying to get a grip on the pain. You listen as they cuff the bastard before dragging him out of the hospital. You let your eyes flutter open as you begin to push yourself off of the floor.
"I'm fine," You mumbled, shrugging Hotch's hands off you, "I'm fine, check on Mia."
"Morgan, stay with (Y/N)."
When Hotch is gone, you turn to Morgan, "I'm fine, go help Hotch."
"Sorry, got my order," Morgan said with a shrug. You don't answer, as much as you don't want to admit it, the pain was really starting you affect your headspace. You felt like you couldn't think. "Come on, let's get you checked out."
You shook your head, "No, I need to check on Mia first," You mumbled, giving a low groan as you pushed yourself up.
"Alright, lead the way," Morgan said. You don't answer, simply forcing one foot in front of the other until you're back at Mia's room.
"Is he okay?!" You hear Mia's question through the door.
"He's okay," You hear Hotch reassuring her.
"Then where is he?! He said he'd be here as soon as he could!" Mia's panic causes your eyebrows to furrow, "Oh god, he's dead, isn't he?"
You push the door open, trying to look as put together as possible for Mia, not wanting her to panic. "I'm very much alive, thank you very much," You say.
"I thought he killed you!" She exclaims, rushing towards you. You groan when Mia flings her arms around you, burying her head in your chest and she immediately steps back, seeing the blood her eyes widen. "Holy shit he shot you?!"
"Hey, language,"
"Sorry Texas," She grins, and you roll your eyes.
"Texas?" Morgan grins, "Oh, that is so sticking around,"
You groan slightly, "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
You turn to Mia, "Thanks kid," You say sarcastically.
"No problem, old man." Your jaw drops once more.
"I don't know if my ego can take all these insults,"
"I don't know what y'all are talkin' about I would never do such a thing to y'all," She says, trying her best to do an impersonation, giggling slightly at the look of disbelief on your face.
"That- Now that was just a bridge too far-" You barely get the sentence out before you're huffing a laugh (and then wincing because of said laugh).
"Alright, come on, Texas," Derek smirks, placing a hand on your shoulder, "Let's go get you checked out."
You weren’t too injured (thankfully), minus the bullet wound, it was mostly just bruises. Eventually, you were all stitched up and laid in a hospital bed - which you hated, but Hotch had glared at you when you went to protest.
A soft knock echoed through the door before it opened, a blonde woman poking her head round. You frowned slightly, not recognising her.
"Hi, I'm Mia's aunt," The woman says and you straighten up (ignoring the discomfort).
"Ma'am," You said with a nod.
"I just wanted to say thank you,"
"What for?" You furrowed your eyebrows as she raised hers, motioning to your current state. "Ma'am I was just doing my job."
"Well, either way, thank you."
You give a small smile, "No worries, Ma'am."
“I’m going to be her guardian now that-” Mia’s aunt paused, taking a deep breath to compose herself before she continued, “After everything and I really appreciate what you did for her.”
You give her a small smile, “Of course, Ma’am.”
She gives you one last smile as she leaves the room, “Oh, agent?” You look at her, “Is it alright if I bring Mia in? We’re about to head off and she wanted to say goodbye.”
You nod, “Yeah, yeah, of course,”
When the door closes, you push yourself the best you can, the door opens a few minutes later and Mia walks in.
“How y’all healin’?”
“First, I wouldn’t say y’all if it’s just one person,” You said, rolling your eyes, “Second, I’m doin’ a’right,”
“You missed like seven letters in that sentence,” She laughs, you huff a small laugh, forcing a wince down.
“It’s an art form,” You reply. "Your aunt seems nice,"
“She is, I’m going to live with her,” Mia says, smiling, “She lives in California. I can’t wait, apparently my uncle’s been getting a room ready for me,”
“That’s great,” You smiled. "How are you feeling in yourself?"
"I'm okay," Mia said with a shrug, "I know it's going to be a while until I'm back to one hundred percent, but I'm willing to put in the work."
"Smart kid," You said, "You'll be okay."
"Oh, Aunty Meg you should have been there earlier! Texas was all like 'how are y'all doin'?' And he made lassos but he was absolutely useless with one and the last time he used one was when I was two and…"
Mia's voice faded as you looked at the hat on the table for a moment, lightly taking it in your own hands, brushing over the material lightly with the pad of your thumb. It was one of your favourite hats. You looked up, seeing the grin on Mia's face as she did her best cowboy impressions, you smiled. "Hey, I think you'll find, every southerner - impersonator or not - needs their very own hat," You said, reaching over to place it on her head. "Perfect, a true southerner!"
"Well I'll be damned!" Mia exclaimed, tilting the hat slightly.
"Come on, we need to make a move," Mia's aunt said. "I think Uncle Jack's getting restless waiting for us,"
Mia nodded, reaching up and taking the hat off before handing it over to you. You shook your head.
"Nah, you keep it kiddo, I've got hundreds." You give her a smile.
Mia walked forward, clinging onto you as she buried her head in your chest, you ignored the dull ache that flared up in your chest as you hugged her back, "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'll miss you too, kiddo," You say, lifting one hand to wipe at your eyes.
"Are you crying?" Mia asked softly.
"No." You answered, "I've got allergies."
You wait for Mia to let go before you do, you gave her a small smile, "See you later, a'right?" She nodded, quickly wiping her eyes.
"See you later Texas,"
The door shut quietly behind the two of them and you were enveloped once more in silence.
Whilst everyone was wrapping up the case, you were sitting in a hospital bed, bored out of your skull. With a sigh, you pushed yourself up, sneaking past the nurses and doctors as you made your way outside, wanting some fresh air.
You sat yourself down opposite the hospital in the grass, letting yourself pluck a blade of grass from the ground, running it through your fingers as you lost yourself in your thoughts.
You kept your eyes trained on the grass as Hotch sat down next to you. The pair of you sitting in silence for a moment. “Are you alright?”
“‘M fine, sir,” The answer rolls off your tongue. “Nothing to worry about,”
“If you want to get something off your chest, you can always talk to me,”
“I know, Hotch,” You said, “I just… struggle with the whole talkin’ about how you’re feelin’,”
Hotch nods in understanding, for someone who doesn’t talk about it, you sure do end up giving a lot away. You both sit in silence.
"I know people think I'm stupid," You mumble, staring intently at the blade of grass between your fingers as you spoke, "I know I have that Southern drawl," You exaggerate your accent slightly before continuing, "That I don't exactly talk like y'all. I know some just see me as some redneck, but I can hold my own. I ain't stupid. And I certainly ain't no bigot."
"I know, we all know that." Hotch replies.
"But you didn't." You pointed out before sighing, "Whatever, it doesn't matter..."
"We were concerned because there was no way could have known."
"You could've just trusted me," You said, “I have, in no way, given any of y’all a reason to believe that I am against anyone in that community. And I get it, I do, it just… stings, is all.”
Hotch doesn’t speak, unsure of what to actually say. Because he did jump to conclusions, they all did.
"I think if she didn't have any family I would have adopted her, or at least tried to, anway," Your eyebrows are furrowed, gaze deepening at the blade of grass as you tore it apart in your hands. "But, hey, she's happy, that's the main thing and her aunt seems like a lovely woman."
With that, you push yourself off of the grass, ignoring the ache that shoots through your body. Leaving Hotch sat on the curb with a frown as you limped back into the hospital for one final check-up before your flight.
You wipe your eyes with the back of your hand, “Fuckin’ allergies.”
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