Disclaimer: I own nothing – the characters are property of their creator and the large companies that employ said creators...The concept for this story is taken from real archaeological data in the historical Five Points District of New York (as was documented in Thomas A. Crist's paper Babies in the Privy).
A/N: I read Crist's paper for my Archaeology of Death class and it made a pretty big impact on me. I had an urge to write a fictional story involving some of the archaeological data from this survey so here it is...
(PS it's fairly JJ-centric 'cause she's adorable and her character is fairly undeveloped so I have lots of free-reign with her personality and whatnot).
11:08am
Quantico. Virginia
Briefing Room
The room fell silent as Jason Gideon entered, his face somber but his eyes betraying the anger that was boiling inside him.
"Six babies, three dumped in separate trash cans, three in separate septic tanks over the last two months in New York. Analysis of the remains has shown that each of the children was at least eight months in-utero and was likely viable at the time of birth. COD on all the infants is dehydration and starvation."
The team sat silently, trying to digest the facts that had just been given to them, sensing the horrors weren't quite over. Gideon spoke again,
"The babies are of different cultural backgrounds; two African-American, one Hispanic and three white. There are four girls and two boys. The NYPD has been unable to determine anything about the killer and has asked us to step in, in order to aid in capturing the perp. Here're the files," he tossed a thick stack of manilla folders on the table, "Get me a profile. We leave in six hours." He headed for the door only to turn back and say, "Oh yeah, all of these babies were dumped within hours of their birth. Five of them had an umbilical cord and afterbirth in close proximity."
The team of elite profilers glanced at one another before each grabbing for a folder an retreating to their respective corners to glean what information they could from the evidence.
5:32pm
In-flight to New York
Jennifer Jareau shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to find a position that would let her sleep for the short flight to New York. She was exhausted, it was only Wednesday and she'd worked forty seven hours in the last three days, and it seemed like the rest of the week was going to follow suit. Her eyes closed but she couldn't stop seeing the autopsy photos of the babies and her mind wouldn't stop racing.
As a woman, albeit not a mother, she couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like to lose a child. The pain they must have gone through, must be going through, would have been tremendous.
JJ's eyes snapped open, "How come there aren't any missing child reports?" she asked.
The rest of the team turned to look at her. "What, JJ?" Hotch asked.
"Missing child reports...usually when a child disappears there are reports about it...how come there aren't any in our files?"
"Maybe they just haven't had time to track them all down?" Spencer Reid offered.
"But the first baby was found two months ago, they must have something," Derek Morgan picked up JJ's line of thought.
"The first child was a white baby girl, approximately 39 weeks gestation. No physical abnormalities, evidence suggests she was alive at her birth. She was found in a dumpster behind some low-income housing on Avenue A. The area was canvassed but nothing came up, the police never received a missing person's report, no hospital records exist for a child displaying the characteristics of this baby exist." Reid read from the report. Quickly reading the rest of the reports he found no evidence that any of the babies had been reported missing.
"So why aren't these babies being reported? I mean I can't even begin to imagine the pain a mother must feel when their child goes missing. To not report it goes against every natural instinct a mother would have!" JJ was wide awake now, her mouth moving to keep up with her brain. "Something is definitely wrong here."
"What if the perp is a woman who lost a child of her own and so she's taking them away from other women?" Morgan asked to no one in particular.
"But if a woman were to lose a child, it is far more likely, were she to resort to stealing other women's infants, that she would feel the need to care for them. A sort of displaced maternal instinct I suppose." Reid countered.
"Maybe she's taking these babies from women who she thinks don't deserve them." Aaron Hotchner offered.
"But why dump them I such terrible places? If she thought the children were better off without their birth mothers, you'd think that she'd have a plan as to how to give them a better life, not kill them." JJ timidly challenged her supervisor.
"We need to find the birth mothers of these babies. It's the only way we're going to be able to narrow down our profile." Gideon confirmed; pleased his team had made progress, frustrated it wasn't more.
11:46pm
New York City, New York
Hilton Hotel - Room 1121
JJ sank wearily into a near scalding bubble bath, shutting her eyes and trying to wash away some of the tension that had been building all day. A sharp rap at her door startled her from her reverie.
"Yeah?" she called without moving from the comfort of the bubbles.
"JJ? It's Emily. Can I come in?" JJ let out a quiet groan before extricating herself from the tub.
"Just a sec," she yanked the stopper from the tub, assuming that by the time she got back to her bath the water would have cooled. She grabbed a towel and dried off quickly before throwing on a pair of flannel pants and a tank top. She checked the peephole and undid the locks, pulling the door open to allow the team's newest member to enter.
"Sorry... were you busy?" Emily noticed the bright pink flush on JJ's skin.
"Just a bath, trying to relax. What's up?" JJ asked, sitting on the edge of her bed and motioning for Emily to take a seat. Emily perched daintily on the edge of an upholstered chair by the window.
"I just...this case makes no sense! The babies have nothing in common except for the way they were killed." Emily stood from the chair and began pacing. A dull ache started forming behind JJ's eyes and she looked away from Emily. "The killer doesn't fit any profile I've ever seen before. Killers target specific groups, but these babies have nothing in common!"
"Yeah, except that they're babies." JJ replied offhandedly. Emily stopped dead in her tracks.
"What if that's it?"
"Huh?" JJ scrunched her nose and tried to figure out what Emily meant.
"What if that's the link?! It's not the race or gender it's the age!" Emily was getting excited, her voice rising as she linked ideas together, increasing the dull ache in behind JJ's eyes to a quiet roar. "Thanks JJ, I'll see you in the morning!" Emily swiftly exited the room and JJ flopped backwards to the bed, wincing as the migraine made itself known. She moaned and put a hand across her eyes to block out the harsh lighting of the room.
A cool hand touched her elbow and she jumped away, letting out a scream of terror.
"JJ it's just me!" Reid held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
"Jesus Reid! Ever heard of knocking?" the quiet roar had morphed into a vicious pounding and she stumbled slightly as she made her way to the bathroom.
"Sorry! I caught Emily coming out and she said you were still awake. I just wanted to say that you did a good job today, you're the only one who was suspicious about the lack of missing child reports." JJ fumbled through her bag, only half listening to Reid. She finally found the bottle she was looking for, her hands trembled as she tried to focus through the pain. She growled in frustration and threw the bottle into the bedroom, hoping Reid would get the hint.
A hand snaked through a crack in the door seconds later, two pills on the palm. JJ swiped the pills from Reid's hand and downed them with a glass of water. When she exited the bathroom the main lights in her room were off, only the bedside lamp remained lit. She padded softly to the door, turning the deadbolt and sliding the security chain into place before heading for bed. JJ curled into the fetal position in the centre of the bed and cried herself to sleep.