Hi! ForevermoreNevermore here saying yola to everyone! This, my friends is what you get when I get bored when I'm trying to go to bed. I hope you like it! :P
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
"We've got a case…" those three words, spoken from Hotch's mouth, reverberated around the office, catching the ears of many an officer, but only JJ, Emily, and Reid stood to meet him. Hotch and Morgan stopped as the three came to intercept them. The look on Hotch's face told them all the profilers really wanted to know about the case, and probably more.
"Brittany Kalahan was abducted from her home last night," immediately, everyone in the group began to buzz out questions like some sort of automatic quiz. Hotch silenced them with a look. "But it's different."
"Why?" Emily asked, and immediately they noticed that the two who already knew had a deep, almost sorrowful look on their face.
"Brittany Kalahan was… young…" Morgan hesitated slightly.
"How young?" JJ probed further, immediately thinking of her baby.
"Born last week," he answered. The three almost wished they'd stayed home.
"That's… terrible…" JJ whispered. Hotch grunted, knowing she'd feel attached to this case but deciding not to speak out on the topic.
"Her parents called us immediately this morning, knowing that a baby that could hardly crawl wouldn't be able to run away from home. There was no sign of forced entry," he said it, though they figured there wouldn't be. Nothing was ever easy for them. "And no signs of a struggle," and how much would a baby struggle, exactly?
"What do we have, exactly?" Reid asked, feeling the long haul of a tough case looming ahead like a tsunami. The four turned to look at Hotch, expectantly waiting for an answer. He sighed.
"Not much," And that's just what they were used to.
"Hey hot-stuff, you feeling anything with that video?" Morgan asked the Blue Tooth that was connected to Garcia. The 'video' being a surveillance video from the neighborhood light poles. She made a slight clicking sound with her tongue.
"Not much baby. But you might want to check the Hide Away Key for fingerprints," she sighed, a steady stream of keyboard tapping interrupting her sentence.
"Did he know where it was?" Morgan hid his slightly shocked tone, but not well enough. JJ, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside him, cast him a curious look.
"Apparently, but don't get your hopes up. If he knew where it was, I doubt he was dumb enough to leave any fingerprints," she began typing once again.
"You'd be surprised. Give me a buzz later?"
"Oh, I'll give you a buzz."
"Hey, Emily?" Reid never even turned away from the map. "Nothing's happened around this area lately, has it?" Swooshing papers.
"Nope. It's as quiet as a street can be," she answered, prompting a frown from the young doctor.
"I hate these cases," he muttered, marking on the dry-erase map. Emily came and stood at her post beside him.
"Because she's so young?" Emily said, sympathy showing through for the poor parents. Reid grunted.
"N- I mean, yeah. But that's not what I meant. There's nothing to work with!" Angrily, he marked a big red 'x' over the hit house and capped the marker. "I hope JJ and Morgan are having better luck…"
JJ once again pulled a tissue out of her seemingly endless tissue-pockets and handed it to the crying mother. She wiped her eyes and blew her already red nose, wiping it for almost the 100th time in only the 15 minutes the two had been there. They had gathered nothing but buckets of tears, making their time feel completely wasted.
"Are you sure that there's no one against you?" JJ asked, though already feeling the answer in her gut. James Kalahan was a very highly thought of doctor, and his wife, Janet Kalahan was a vet. Who would hate someone who could save your life, and then turn around and save your pet poodle?
"Yes, we're positive. We haven't had anyone get mad at us lately, or even complain! No threatening phone calls or e-mails or texts or letters or anything!" James practically yelled it, causing the two to flinch back as he said each different form of communication.
"You said lately, was there someone mad at you before?" Morgan asked, trying to get the littlest bit of information. James took a couple moments before answering, using that time to pat Janet on the back and whisper comforting words in her ear. After a few moments, Janet answered.
"A couple of months ago, we had a man who had come in to get surgery done by my husband. For some reason, he wasn't happy when he was done. Then, he sent his pet in to me, and 'claims' I made him worse! He was mad at us for about a month, but then he disappeared," she sniffed loudly and blew once again into her tissue. JJ got out a notepad and a pen.
"Do you remember his name?" JJ asked softly, pen merely a centimeter from the blank paper.
Janet gave a wry, raspy laugh, "how could I forget? It was Nathen Parkson, and if you need to know where he lives, it should be on file where I work, or even where my husband works." And it was documented.
"Thanks for your time and I'm sorry for you loss," Morgan ran off the solemn line as he stood, and JJ nodded her condolences. He turned towards the door, before snapping his fingers and turning around. "Would you mind if we took in your Hide Away Key?" The couple exchanged glances before complying.
"Sure. Whatever helps. It's under the left swan on the front steps," James said. JJ turned to look at the couple as Morgan walked out in search of it. Quickly, she swept in behind them and gave them a swift hug.
"I'm really sorry, and I want you to know that we're doing EVERYTHING to find your daughter."
Three minutes of staring… then a sip of Starbucks… then three more minutes of pushing papers… then a gulp of Starbucks.
"Oh, Dear Lord!" Emily groaned, reading over the same page for the 5th time in a row. Reid glanced over his paper, but never lowered it. "This isn't working! We need more information!" Emily pulled out her phone and pressed the speed dial button. "Garcia?"
"No Emily, nothing new," Penelope Garcia sighed, clacking hard, but gently on her 'babies'. Prentiss gave a tired sigh.
"Sorry, just getting restless without any information…" Garcia cut in with a laugh.
"Aren't we all? Don't worry, hun, Penelope is on the case!" and then she was gone, working on her computers again. For a moment she hung the phone by her ear, then she gave out a little laugh.
This time Reid lowered his paper, "what's up?"
"This is ridiculous! It's like the baby just got up and left!" she quickly snapped up the papers and counted them.
"You know, most babies…"
"Reid!" Emily snapped, making him shut up immediately and flinch softly. She slowly sat down and "I've read these and reread these about 100 times!"
The doctor nodded, "Yeah, but studies show that the more times you reread something, the more details you catch."
"That's obvious," Emily sniffed, crossing her legs regally and drumming her nails on the wood.
"Then why'd I have to say it?" and then he smirked. Emily felt something in her gut at seeing his usual goofy grin slightly twinged. I never knew he could be cute. Not the little-lost-puppy cute, but just… cute…
The door to their room suddenly opened and Morgan and JJ blew in like tumbleweeds. Prentiss practically toppled her chair over in her haste to stand up.
"Anything new?"
Morgan sighed, "nothing. Someone to question, but nothing other than that. We even tried the Hide Away Key, but we got nothing." He slowly walked over to the coffee machine, pulled down a mug, and made himself a cup
"Wait," Morgan froze with the cup to his lips, "the un-sub knew where the extra key was?"
"Yeah, Garcia saw him pick it up, use it, then hide it again." Reid immediately looked down at his papers.
"Something?" Emily asked hopefully. The flying papers froze and Reid sighed irritably.
"Nothing," he leaned back in his chair and swept his gaze around the room. "If there's no information from that guy, this case will be unsolvable!"
Next Day
The next day, the whole office was in a complete state of depression. They had questioned the only lead and got nothing from him besides deep and hateful looks. Even Garcia, their all around technical savior, was short of information. Hotch had shut himself in his office, and Rossi was resorted to stalking around the office like a caged lion. Reid was reading the same papers over and over again, like a robot with a glitch. Morgan drummed his fingers on his desk an almost feral growl rumbling through his mind, a mind that was running through the facts. JJ and Prentiss sat looking at a map of the area and scanned through every possible option. All was moderately uneventful until the phone in Hotch's office rang out, even reaching Garcia's slightly bat-like ears. The office was muted as Aaron Hotchner went through the habit of answering, asking, and then hanging up. As soon as he opened the door, he seemed slightly taken aback as all eyes looked at him hungrily, waiting for information.
"Eight year old Charlise Bremen was kidnapped this morning."
Bwa-ha-ha! Cliffhanger! Please tell me what you thought, but please remember... (cowers behind chair) I bruise easily (but not easier than a friend of mine's ego).