Ok, this is both my first Criminal Minds fic and my first story on FF. So it's a double whammy! :) Constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated.
This is set between seasons 1 and 2, during that 4 month-ish time when Elle is gone and will move on from there. I'll be doing episodes and original cases, I'm hoping to keep it fairly balanced but we'll see. This is suppose to be eventual Reid/OC, the journey there is somewhat mapped out in my head but again we'll see how it goes. Names are fictional and I really know nothing about the real families of Texan politicians or the politicians themselves. Also, I am in LOVE with Reid's hair this season. Boy looks good, am I right? Anywhozzles, enough of my ramblings. :)
It was about 3:00 am and Rebecca Dennison was fast asleep in the bedroom of her apartment. She was sprawled across the expanse of her queen mattress; her face buried into one of her many pillows. Oblivious to the world around her as she snored away in a deep sleep. Her father always used to tell her she slept like she was dead. Apparently she had been impossible to wake up as a child. That was different now. Now she had a job that made this deep, blissful sleep hard to come by.
Suddenly, the cell phone on the nightstand lit up as it began to ring and vibrate. For a moment there was no reaction from the sleeping figure on the bed, but then with a groan the young woman picked her head up and fumbled for the offending device.
It took a few moments to locate it, causing her to let out a frustrated sigh. Who the hell was calling her? And why was the damn volume on the phone so loud?
After knocking a tube of lip balm and a picture frame off the nightstand, she grabbed the phone and brought it to her ear.
"Dennison," she answered groggily.
"Agent Dennison," The voice on the other end greeted."Agent Hotchner wants your team to report back to the BAU for an emergency briefing on a case."
Rebecca blinked towards the clock on her bedside table, only to realize she wasn't wearing her contact lenses.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"Uh, it's 3:09 ma'am."
"Fabulous," she grumbled in response. "I'll be right in."
And with that she hung up the phone, tossing it back on the nightstand before she threw the covers off her body with a heavy sigh. She sat up, pulling her long, brown hair into a sloppy bun and secured it with an elastic tie that had been around her wrist.
With a sigh she then padded off to the bathroom to get ready to go back into the office.
"Good Morning Sunshine!"
Rebecca rolled her eyes as she walked past Morgan's desk and plopped her bag down by her own.
"You had better have some coffee ready for me if you plan to get away with being so perky, Morgan." The brunette muttered as she peeled of her coat.
The man just laughed as he walked over and placed a mug in her waiting hands. "Already on it," he replied with a smirk. "Wouldn't want you to get into one of your moods, now would we?"
Rebecca made a face, but gratefully took a sip out of the steaming mug. "Don't tease a sleep deprived woman with a gun before she's had her caffeine."
"Oh ho ho, someones feisty this morning."
"Why are you so chipper anyway?" The brunette asked curiously. "Did you have a hot date that ended with you getting lucky or something?"
Morgan broke into a wide grin, looking a little too much like a cat that had gotten into the cream. "Something like that. Something a lot like that."
Rebecca grimaced, "Yeah, I so don't want to know the details of your late night shenanigans."
"Hey, you asked."
Reid appeared in the room then and quickly made his way to his desk.
"Morning," He said as he passed his two colleagues.
"Hey," Rebecca greeted. "You're just the man I was looking for Reid."
The young genius looked over to her in confusion. "I am? For what?"
The brunette smiled, turning to grab something off her desk.
"For this," she said as she approached Reid's desk and plopped a stack of files down on it. "Like I wouldn't notice that you slipped me five of your files Reid?"
He broke into a small grin, "It was worth a shot."
Just as Rebecca was about to reply Agent Hotchner approached. "Briefing Room, five minutes," he instructed before he was off again.
"Either of you know what's going on?" Rebecca asked, looking between the boys.
"It's almost 4:30 in the morning, nothing good," Morgan offered before he began to make his way to the briefing room.
"No kidding." Rebecca agreed. She then turned to Reid. "Shall we?"
The boy genius replied with a nod and followed the brunette towards the briefing room.
Rebecca took a seat next to Morgan when she made it into the room and within moments of getting settled in her chair Hotch rushed in room closely followed by JJ.
"Evelynn Wynn, the daughter of Everett Wynn, a Congressman from Texas, was abducted early this evening." Hotch announced. "The local police have reason to believe she may have been abducted by a possible serial killer in the Fort Worth area."
JJ began passing out files to Morgan, Rebecca, Gideon, and Reid. "Evelynn Wynn was abducted from her home, access was gained by breaking in through the back door, alarm system was deactivated."
"How are the police connecting this to their serial killer?" Morgan asked.
"The first three victims were all abducted from their homes, their alarm systems had been overridden, and the left behind at the scene is the victim's hair," JJ explained. "It seems the unsub takes the time to cut the victim's hair before taking her."
She brought up photographs on the screen of the three prior victims. "All of the woman are in their mid twenties and have similar body types."
Rebecca cocked her head slightly, looking at the photos. "The victim's are all wearing the same outfit." She commented. "Their hair colors and styles look exactly the same too." Each woman had short, fiery red hair.
"Modeling them after someone?" Reid asked.
JJ nodded. "That's the theory the local PD is running with. They also found Evelynn Wynn's hair at her home."
The blonde brought up another set of photos, "All three bodies were left near high traffic areas. Two of the women, Jessica Lewis and Tanya Williams, were found in the same city park on the side of jogging paths. The third victim, Allison Saunders was found on the Wesleyan University campus."
"Autopsy places the victim's time of death at approximately 72 hours after they were abducted," Gideon read from the file.
"Which is why we are heading to Fort Worth immediately," Hotch said. "I want everyone ready to leave in 15 minutes; we'll cover the rest of the case details on the jet."
Reid, Morgan, and Rebecca had returned to the bullpen to get make sure they would have everything they needed for the trip to Texas. They hurried in silence for the most part, until Rebecca looked up from stuffing a Sudoku book in her bag to find Morgan looking at Elle's vacant desk. Her absence was something the whole team still worried about.
He glanced at her when he noticed her eyes were on him. "You talk to her lately?" he asked.
Rebecca nodded, "Yeah, the day before yesterday actually. She sounded like she was doing good, ready to get back to work I think."
"It's only been a month since she was in the hospital," Reid piped in.
Rebecca shrugged, "Sometimes working is better than sitting at home thinking about it."
"Not like she's the kind of woman that lets a thing like that slow her down," Morgan said with a grin.
"No kidding," Rebecca agreed.
JJ appeared then, "Hey guys, Hotch says we're leaving for the plane in five minutes."
Rebecca downed the rest of her coffee, "I've already got the feeling that this is going to be a really long day."