Criminal Minds Fanfic. – Going Under.

Spencer Reid sat at his desk in BAU headquarters in Quantico Virginia, it was 8.30 in the morning, he'd been there for about forty minutes, trying to wrap his head around the paper work on his desk. The write up following an interview by Rossi and himself of a serial killer on death row in Georgia, who had held six women hostage, raping and torturing them for three months before finally hanging them.

But he was finding it difficult to concentrate, not because of the hideousness of the crimes, he was used to that, but he had other things on his mind.

He looked up from his desk in the ball pen, he could see JJ in her office, thumbing through paperwork and holding a protective hand over her ever increasing bump. He smiled at the sight of his friend, the soon-to-be mother, and remembered a time when he'd had funny feeling for her, back when he still felt like the dorky kid in the playground around his BAU colleagues. They had all grown so much over the last couple of years, and now it seemed as though everybody had a special somebody. JJ had Will, Garcia had Kevin, Morgan, well Morgan has a different special someone every week! Spencer didn't know if Emily Prentiss had anyone in her life, she tended to be fairly private about her personal life, but he could see it. He was starting to feel like he was the only single guy left, but even though he did finally feel ready to open himself up to another person, where, he thought, would he ever find anyone? And when would he have the time to pursue a relationship? For the time being, he thought, his loneliness would have to be put in the file marked 'allow work to distract from' and filed away, deep in the back of his mind.

Just at that moment, JJ appeared beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed her leave her office.

"Hey Spence, conference room" she said grimly.

Spencer frowned "Are the rest of the team here? I thought I was early."

"Morgan is on his way, the rest of the team is in the conference room already."

"Is it a bad one?" Asked Reid, as they walked together toward the conference room.

JJ bit her bottom lip "not sure yet…"

Once all seven of them were assembled around the table, files in hand, Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner stood to address the group.

"O.k. guys, listen up, we have four kids, all gone missing within the last five weeks, first one five weeks ago, then another two weeks later, then another two last Monday.

The team looked shocked "what the hell?" Began Morgan "Child abduction cases are meant to be called in right away! Why are we only being brought in on this now?"

"Because" Replied Hotchner, "all the kids that have gone missing are juveniles, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, with juvenile records. The police didn't think that they were abductions, they thought that they just runaways or up to no good!"

"And" added JJ "There was no physical similarities between the victims, boys and girls, different ethnicities, so the police didn't put them together."

"So what changed?" Asked Prentiss "why are we being called in now?"

"A witness came forward three days ago, 16 year old Rachel Riehm; apparently she saw the two who went missing last week getting into a van together early Monday morning." David Rossi answered.

JJ nodded, "apparently there's a social worker who reported the first kid missing, she kept on at the police, she was convinced that they hadn't just run away. Apparently she was the one who took the witness into the police station.

"So where are we going?" Emily asked "where did they go missing from?"

"Arlington." JJ answered

"Arlington?" Morgan said stunned, "That's like 30 miles away! It'll take forty minutes; we won't even have to take the plane!"

"Actually its 34.4 miles, we should allow up to an hour for traffic." Reid corrected him. The group sat in silence for a moment, looking puzzlingly at Spencer, who glanced, embarrassed, down into his lap. He realized that once again something that had seemed so important to say at the time, had turned out to be so trivial after he's said it out loud!

"Anyway" David Rossi broke the silence "We'll take two SUV's, we'll go over victimology in the car. Garcia I want you to find out everything you can on this social worker and the witness, they could be suspects.

"Right! I shall delve forthwith!" Said Penelope, raising her hand in a salute before marching out the door.

****

Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves. ~Virginia Satir.

Twenty minutes later two identical large black SUV's sped along the I-95 towards Arlington Virginia. One carrying SSA David Rossi, Dr Spencer Reid and Agent Emily Prentiss. The other carrying SSA Aaron Hotchner and Agents Derek Morgan and Jennifer Jareau. Their separate conversations were practically parallel.

"So, victimology, what do we know about these four kids?"

"Well, the first one to go missing was Graham Crawley, Caucasian, Fourteen years old. He has a juvenile record for assault and was in the foster care for two years after his mother was convicted for possession of narcotics, but she got clean and won her case to get him back, that was just three months ago. Graham went missing Monday 12th May this year, five weeks ago yesterday. He was last seen by his mother when he left for school that morning, but he never arrived at school and he's been missing ever since."

"The second victim, another boy, Billy Marshall, African-American, Seventeen years old. He was put into foster care when he was eight, after it was discovered that he was being abused by his father. He's been bounced from one foster home to another for the past nine years; he also has severe behavioral and emotional problems and a number of charges for assault, shoplifting and even grand theft auto."

"Poor kid!"

"Yea! Anyway, he was last seen leaving work at 2am Sunday 25th May. He has a part time job in an all night convenience store near his house. He never made it home from work that night.

The next two Victims both went missing at the same time. Fifteen year old Kim Hattchet and her boyfriend Sixteen year old Carlos Jimenez were walking to school together when they were seen getting into the back of a van, by our witness Rachel Riehm, a week ago yesterday, Monday 9th June."

"What do we know about these two then?"

"Well Kim Hattchet is a sixteen year old Caucasian female, and she's pregnant."

"Is it the boyfriends?"

"Don't know, she has a record for prostitution so its not 100 percent."

"Prostitution? At fifteen?"

"Yea. And she was eight months pregnant when she went missing, so it's crucial that we find her as soon as possible!"

"Right! And the boyfriend?"

"Carlos Jimenez, Hispanic, Sixteen years old. He has a juvenile record for supplying class B drugs. He's been under the guardianship of his twenty-five year old brother since their mother died two years ago."

At that moment Morgan's phone rang, he looked down at the caller I.D; it was Garcia "Hey baby girl! Speak to me!"

"Hey hot stuff! Got the 411 on your witness and the social worker, you ready?"

"Okay, I'll put you on speaker"

"Argh not cool! Okay so, the witness. A sixteen year old girl named Rachel Riehm, nothing much to report I'm afraid. She's a strait A honour student, never been in trouble with the police, she volunteers for a local elderly care home in Arlington. She lives with her married parents, her mother is a nurse in the same care home Rachel volunteers at, and her father is a U S Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. She's just a good girl in general!"

"Okay, so what about the social worker?" Hotch Asked.

"Okay the social worker who reported the first Kid missing, an Ms Hollie Jackson, with the comprehensive services for at risk youth at Arlington Department of social services. She's a twenty six year old British Ex-pat living in Washington; she's been living there for just under three years. The weird thing is, she is the main social worker assigned to each of the four missing kid's cases! That's a pretty big coincidence!"

"Any criminal history?" Asked JJ

"Nope she's squeaky clean!"

"Did you check if she has a record back in Britain?" Hotch called over his shoulder from the driver's seat.

"Of course Sir! What do you take me for?" Smiled Garcia, proud to have pre-empted her superior.

Hotch smiled "Of course what was I thinking? So..."

"No, nothing there either, she's a completely up-standing citizen Governor'" Garcia answered, putting on a mock British accent.

Morgan laughed, "O.K thanks baby girl"

"Anytime sugar! Just call me!"

"O.K So we have a social worker with no priors, but that doesn't necessarily rule her out." JJ mused.

"That's right, she is the social worker on each of the missing kid's cases, she was the first to report any of them missing, and she's been following the investigation. If the last two kids to go missing were coaxed into a van by the unsub, it would be by someone they knew, trusted. The unsub wouldn't have to be all that strong to pull that off."

"It could have been a woman."

The two cars pulled into the parking lot of Arlington Police Dept. And all six agents stepped out.

"Right" Hotchner addressed his team "Reid and Prentiss, I want you to go to the social services dept, and talk to this social worker Hollie Jackson and get as much information about the victims as you can. She is a suspect so play close attention to her behaviour, watch how she reacts to your questions. JJ I want you to organise a press conference, there may be other witnesses out there. Or if it turns out these kids are just runaways, knowing someone is looking for them might make them call home! Morgan go to the school, talk to teachers, students, see if you can find out anything. Rossi and I will talk to the cops; see how far they've got. Everyone back here when you're done."

****