Bella arrived at school and met her friends at the entrance. Everyone knew why she had left that day so no one said a word. They just greeted her and walked inside. 
The day went great for the kids and at lunch time Bella told them what exactly happened.

"Guys, my mom said I should talk about these things so I just wanted to let you know why I left school like that the other day" Bella started and they just stared waiting for her to go on.
"I was so happy about the twins that I didn't really pay attention to other things and so I came to school and when I saw what day it was I started feeling really sick because it was the day my dad died" she said.

"We know" Chloe said and grabbed her hand. Bella looked at her and said "yesterday I just felt like staying home again so I stayed with Derek. Sorry I didn't answer any of your texts"

"It's okay B. We know you needed some time" Gavin said.

"You didn't miss anything important here" Michael smiled and Bella smiled back.

"But are you okay now?" Rose asked.

"Not really but I'll be okay" Bella said and they smiled at her.

Isabella felt good after talking to them. While she was talking she felt a bit sick but once she finished it soon went away and she felt good that she explained it to them.

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At the BAU, Prentiss and Morgan arrived into a busy day of profiling. The team sat at the round table to discuss cases around the country that needed help from them. JJ guided them through it and they did the profile of a few of them. It was a busy morning. Around 3, Derek went to pick Bella up.

"She can take the bus, Derek" Emily told him.

"Why would she do that if I can just go get her?" Morgan said with a grin and Emily smiled.

"He's running away from the papers" JJ laughed and Morgan fastened his pace.

"Bye" he said and everyone laughed.
He headed to the car and drove to the school. When he got there the kids weren't out yet so he sat on a bench close to the entrance to wait. Soon Bella walked outside with her friends. She smiled when she saw him waiting and said goodbye to her friends.

"See you tomorrow" Gavin said as Bella walked to Morgan.

Isabella hugged him and he smiled glad to be with the girl again.
"Happy we didn't have a case?" Derek asked.

"Yup" Bella smiled and took his hand. They started walking to the car.

"Everyone is busy at the office so how about we hang out and grab something to eat? We can take something for them too" Morgan suggested and Bella agreed so to McDonald's they went. They sat and ate together and Derek asked how school went, Bella told him it went okay and she said she explained to her friends why she missed school.

"I'm very proud of you for sharing that with them" Derek told her. "They are your friends. You can trust them, they just want to help"

"I know. I just... I've never really had friends like that before... just Cameron" Bella said. "I'm still learning" she added and Morgan laughed.

"And I'm very proud that you are" he told her and she smiled.

They finished eating and then bought a few things for the team. Soon they were walking inside the BAU with bags of food. They went to the conference room and everyone cheered that they had food.

"This is the best idea you've ever had" JJ told Morgan and everyone laughed. They were starving. Bella went and hugged Emily and then sat on the couch with Garcia.

"How are you my little pumpkin?" Penelope asked giving Bella a hug.

"I'm okay" Bella said with a small smile.

Penelope smiled back knowing she just didn't want to talk about it in front of everyone else so she just let it go. Everyone ate and then went back to work. As they started discussing a case Bella felt it was too much so she told Emily she was going to do her homework at the bullpen. Emily agreed so she headed out.

"As the fairy godmother is my duty to check on that pumpkin" Penelope told them. "Excuse me" she said and headed after Bella.

When she got to the bullpen Isabella was setting up her things at her mother's desk.
"Hello" Garcia said pulling a chair close to the girl. Bella looked at her and smiled.
"What have you got there?" Penelope asked.

"History homework" Bella said.

"Do you need some help?"

"Nop" Bella said and grabbed a pen.
Penelope grabbed her hand and said "you're not gonna talk to me? Your mom told me what happened"

"Well... so you know I kinda freaked out at school and then stayed home yesterday. There's nothing else to tell you" Bella said and looked at her book.

"Hey, I wanna know if you're okay" Garcia said softly still holding the child's hand.
Bella turned to face her and hugged her.

"I'm okay now" Bella said and let go of the hug. "I miss him but I'm okay I guess" Bella said and Penelope smiled, she could see the kid was telling the truth.

"Anything you need I'll be right upstairs. Just run and get me" Garcia said and Bella laughed. "I love you" Penelope said as she hugged the girl.

"I love you too, aunt Penny" Bella smiled.

"Alright now go on and do your homework before your mama goes all mama bear on me for spoiling your education" Penelope said putting the chair back where it belonged.

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At the conference room, Penelope walked in and Emily asked if Bella was alright.
"She seems okay but you know how she is" Garcia said.

"Do you really think group therapy will help her?" JJ asked. Emily had mention earlier that morning that she was thinking about it.

"I don't know but I think we should try" Emily said looking at Morgan.

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The next morning, Penelope gave Emily a list of child psychologists that offered group therapy and helped Emily choose one. So Prentiss called and signed Bella up. The first session was that afternoon at 5:30. Prentiss was nervous about how Bella would react so she decided to pick her up from school and tell her at the BAU. So at 3:30 she was waiting for Bella outside the school. The girl was surprised and happy to see her mother there.

"No case again?" Bella smiled and hugged her mom.

"Nop" Emily smiled back and they headed to the car.

At the BAU, Emily told Bella to go to Derek's office so the girl did as told. When she got there Morgan was waiting on the couch. He smiled and signed for her to sit. Bella froze just knowing something was up.

"Come on, we need to talk" Emily said giving her a little push. Bella walked to the couch and took a spot next to Morgan.

"Am I in trouble?" Bella asked looking down.

"No, honey. Not at all" Emily smiled. Bella looked at her and Emily could see she was nervous and confused. "Look, I've been thinking a lot lately about a few things and Derek and I talked and we think that you need to try something different" Emily said.

"Something different?" Bella asked even more confused.

"Do you know what group therapy is?" Emily asked.

Bella's eyes widened. "Yes, and I am not doing that" she said standing up ready to walk out but Morgan pulled her to his lap.

"Wait" he said. Bella made him let go of her but stayed seated on his lap.
Emily walked to them and sat next to Morgan.

"Honey, I know you don't like this kind of things but you've never tried group therapy before and maybe it will help" Emily said.

"I don't wanna go. I'm not gonna talk to people I don't even know, mom" Bella said sounding upset.

"You don't have to talk. You can just listen" Emily said.

"You know it doesn't work like that" Bella said.

"Yes it does. They won't make you talk. You'll do that whenever you are ready" Emily said.

"You'll just go and listen to other people's stories. That's all. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to" Derek said and Bella looked down thinking about it.

"Could you try that for me?" Emily asked. "Just one month. If after one month you don't like it you can stop"

Bella took some time to think then looked up at her mom. "You promise they won't make me talk? Or talk about me all the time" Bella said.

"I promise" Emily said hopeful. She didn't really like therapy herself but she wanted the girl to at least give it a try.

"Okay. I'll go" Bella gave in.

Emily smiled and pulled Bella to her lap. "Thank you" she said.

"Just one month. After that never again" Bella said and Emily and Derek let out a little laugh.
Bella got up and sat on the other small couch. "I have a bunch of homework today. Can I do it here?" She said.

"Sure, but we leave at 5. You're starting that today" Emily said.

"What?!" Bella said a little upset. "You didn't say it was today"

"Today or tomorrow it won't make a difference" Emily said. "I promise" she said and stood up. "Work on you homework and We'll come get you at 5" she said and headed to the conference room to work with the team. Bella just stared at Morgan.

"Dad" Bella said really low. Morgan could see in her face that she really didn't want to go that day. He opened his arms and said "come here", she walked to him and sat next to him, he wrapped her in his arms.

"You know I don't like these things. I don't wanna go today" Bella said trying not to cry. "You know what it's like. Why didn't you say something?" Bella said.

"Look at me" Derek said and she did. "I'll be right outside the entire time. If you need you can just walk out."

"Mom won't let me" Bella said.

"Yes she will. I'll make her" he smiled and wiped a tear on her left cheek. "It won't be so bad, I promise. It's very different from what you did last time" he said.

"I just don't want to talk about it with anyone like that" Bella said.

"I know. And what did your mom tell you? You don't have to talk if you don't want to" Derek said.

"They will try to make me talk, I just know it" Bella said.

"I'll walk in and tell them not to" Derek said. "I'm telling you kid you don't have to worry. You will talk when you want to talk. Do you understand?" He said serious now.

Bella nodded and hid her face on him. He hugged her tighter.

"I promise it will be okay" Morgan said. There was a few minutes of silence while they just hugged and then Derek said he had to go back to work so Bella let go and he left her in his office doing her homework. He headed to the conference room and told Emily everything was okay and the girl was going that day but she should be prepared for some tears. Emily knew how Isabella was and knew he was exactly right. So at 5, when they went to get Bella to go, Emily put on a brave face.
As they expected, Isabella didn't look very happy to go but she said goodbye to the team and followed her parents to the car. She stayed quiet the whole way there. When they arrived, both grownups went out and Bella stayed seated. Emily opened her door and said "come on out" with a serious face. Bella looked at her and she could see her mother was serious so she walked out and went straight for Morgan's hand.

"I'll be right outside" Derek whispered to her. Emily heard and smiled.

They walked in and Bella went to sit with Morgan while Emily talked to the front desk lady. She got everything checked out and told Derek and Bella that the kids were inside and it should start in about 5 minutes so Bella should go in now. The girl kept a straight face and didn't let go of Derek's hand. Isabella just felt like throwing up. She just wanted to go home.
Emily could see on the girl's face that she was really nervous so she kneed down in front of the girl.

"I know you're scared but you'll never know how it's like until you go in. Maybe you'll like it" Emily said softly.

Bella looked down with tears in her eyes.

"We'll be right here waiting and if you need you can just come out" Derek said.

Bella took a deep breath and stood up. She desperately wanted to go home but she knew that if she cried and went home it would just make everything worse. So she took a deep breath and said "if I'm too sick I can come out?"

"Yes and we'll be right here" Emily reassured her.

Bella gave her a little nod and followed the front desk lady inside.
Derek held Emily's right hand and she looked at him to find him smiling. She smiled back, both proud the girl went in.

Isabella walked inside the room and her eyes wondered around. It was a big yellow room that looked like a playroom with a bunch of bins full of toys and painting on the walls, it had a fuzzy grey rug in the middle and 10 chairs in a circle right in the middle. There were kids taking their seats.

"You can pick whichever you want" the front desk lady said. Bella nodded and took a seat. She played with the ends of her shirt trying hard to take deeps breaths.

Suddenly a woman walked in and said "please everybody seated so we can start"

Bella kept looking down scared to make eye contact with anybody.

"Good afternoon everyone. I'm glad we're able to gather again today." The woman said. "As always I'll go first... my name is Jessica Garner, I'm 26 years old, I love movies, France and pizza. I'm a psychologist and I'm feeling a little nervous right now but just a little" she said. She was about 5'5", had a wavy light brown hair, hazel eyes and pale skin.

"Who's next?" She asked.

"We have someone new" a boy said.

Bella froze.

"Oh yeah. Everyone this is Isabella" Jessica Garner said. "Isabella, would you like to introduce yourself?" She asked.

Bella kept looking down.

"Alright. We can go around first" Jessica said. "Thomas? Would you like to start?"

"Yup" Thomas said. "I'm Thomas and I'm 12 and I like soccer and..."

Thomas started and the other kids went after him. There were Thomas, who was 12 and had been kidnapped when he was 10; Ellie who was 14 and had been in a car crash with her mother; Samuel who was 13 and had lost his brother to cancer; Ginnifer who was 10 and had been in a car crash with her brother and father; Carrie,10, Ember, 14, and Jackson, 12, who were victims of child abuse; the last person to speak made Bella freeze again.

"Well, last but not least... " the girl said and Bella just froze. She was certain she knew that voice, so she looked up, for the first time, to see who was speaking.

"I'm Vanessa" the girl said.