The Visitation

(based upon the TV Series Criminal Minds)

(I do not own Criminal Minds, all characters are from Criminal Minds or based on character already created on Criminal Minds, I own only my imagination)

October 31, 2011

"You make a great witch Lilly," Talbot says to her daughter as they finish trick-or-treating. "Loading her into the can Talbot turns on her little Mini Cooper. Are you ready for some Hocus Pocus?" Talbot asks her daughter as she backs out of the parking spot and sees that Lilly is already asleep. "Looks like you are," she says to her daughter and heads to her house just five miles north of Grand Rapids Minnesota. She left Grand Rapids and quickly made her way home. As she pulled into her driveway, writing on the garage caught her eyes, it was him, red letters, sprayed on the door, "Taint not the mind nor let thy soul continue" panic chased though her, she put the car in reverse when a shot rang out, the windshield shattered, pain radiated though Talbot, but she sped away ignoring the pain, and fearing to look in the back seat. She drove, fast, she had to get away. He found her again. This couldn't be happening. She didn't call anyone; she just drove, until she could drive no more. Minuets seemed like hours, and then when she feared she could no longer drive, she pulled off the road. She reached for her phone, and called.

"Hotchner" Aaron says on the other end of the phone.

"Aaron, he found me," she says, breathy and exhausted. She knew the bullet had hit her, but she didn't know how bad it was. She could hardly turn to see if Lilly was still okay. She was unharmed, she was quiet, and this was not a good place to pull off for the night.

"Talbot, where are you?" he asks, as she can hear a door close.

"Near Wisconsin, I can't drive anymore, Aaron." She says as she feels sleep pulling at her. "Aaron, he shot me." She says matter-of-factly.

"Can you get to Chicago?" he asks.

"I don't know, Aaron, I can't keep my eyes open, and I can't get away from him, he wrote on the door, that's how I knew her was there, then the shot broke the windshield, and I just drove."

"What did it say?" Aaron asks.

"Taint not the mind nor let thy soul continue." She says and hunches over the steering wheel.

"Is Lilly okay?" he asks.

"Yes she's in the car, but she is not hurt from where I can see."

"Talbot, you start driving, and talk to me, I will send the plane to Chicago, and I will give you the address to safe house, they will help you until I can get there." Aaron says as David knocks on the door. "Talbot talk to me." He says, there is silence, "Talbot…Parker!" he hollers into the phone. He gets no answer, and rushes out of his office; nearly running into David, then makes a strait dart to Garcia's tech room.

"Garcia," he says, "trace this call, tell me where she is." He says, then turns back to his phone, "Talbot, talk to me, Parker, say something," he says into the phone, this merits a response.

"Hotch," it is a whisper, nothing more. "Talbot, get to a well covered spot, and we will come get you, stay hidden, stay safe. Take you phone and go hide in the woods, leave the car, but take your phone. If he found you he knows your car. Get to a safe hiding place, and I will come find you…"

"Hotch, Cloquet Minnesota, she is about six miles north of Cloquet Minnesota, on 33."

"Parker," Hotch says softly into the phone, "I want you to drive south for six miles, I want you to go to the police station there, and stay put. I will put in a call momentarily. Just get there. I will see you in two hours. Okay, two hours. Just get to the Cloquet Police Station. Talbot?"

"Okay Aaron, Cloquet Police Station. On it," She says. "Two hours. I'll be there. I can do that." Talbot says and drives to the Cloquet Police Station.

"Garcia, get everything you can on the police department in Cloquet, I want to make sure she is safe there." Aaron says then leaves Garcia's room. He nearly runs into David on the way out.

"Aaron, what's going on?" he asks, "we were going to gather in the conference room."

"Change of plans, we leave in 20 min, I will explain on the plane." Aaron says and leaves David standing on the causeway so he can gather the case files, and all else that is needed. He knew he would have a crime scene to view and a killer to find. Words on her house always meant murder. It was just not always cut and dry. He called the others and they were in the air in twenty.

Nobody is as powerful as we make them out to be. -Alice Walker

Derek was out of his seat before Aaron spoke a word, "Hotch what's the case?" He asks standing beside Spencer.

"It is not a simple case." He says handing out files. "These are the files for six cases that remain unsolved. I explained some of the story back in August, but the whole of the story was not explained. We are going to Cloquet Minnesota. Then heading to Grand Rapids, these are the crime scene photos for each case, all the cases have one thing in common. The UNSUB leaves bloody quotes of on the property. He always quotes The Ghost from Shakespeare's Hamlet. We have six quotes so far, the first was, 'A serpent stung me, with witchcraft of his wit,' This was the scene, and yes it involves Talbot Parker. This was in Duluth Minnesota in 2003. There were three killed in the house, and two left for dead. Both survived, the girls were twins, Temperance Rose Parker, and Talbot Trinity Parker. They were 19, Temperance is in a mental facility in Las Vegas Nevada. She has no memory of any of the events, and has long term memory problems, thus she could not testify as to the identity of the killer. Talbot Parker who was also left for dead has become the fixation of this UNSUB's dilution.

"The next crime scene was in West Pensacola Florida, 2005, the Ghost, as the UNSUB became named after this crime, attacked Talbot Parker in her home, stabbed her 36 times, and wrote 'holds such an enmity with blood of man' with her blood upon the living room wall. She was still conscious when he did this, and her witness statement reported that he, 'spoke as if she was to answer for some crime she had committed, yet there was no expectation of response.' This was terrible, and this caused Talbot to get more protection. She joined the FBI's BAU in the spring of 2006, and in November of 2006 Agent Parker was abducted by The Ghost, from her Myrtle Beech, South Carolina home, she was missing for three days, then found in her back yard. She was stabbed 23 times, all shallow wounds intended to hurt yet not kill. Upon her garage door the words, 'I find thee apt, and duller should thou be,'. Agent Parker's husband was in Paris on business, he arrived in Florida upon our request, he knew nothing of the events, and was never a suspect.

"2007 brought the deaths of Courtney Jones and her family, who were killed by the UNSUB in June of 2007 in Boston Massachusetts. Her tie to this case was not like the others, she was not even near the place, rather she was in the hospital in Virginia, where her daughter Kate was admitted with the flu. She was called upon because her blood was used to write on the wall of the living room, 'pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing to what I shall unfold so art though to revenge what thou shall hear' This was hard for the BAU to work, and no connection other than Agent Parkers blood and the writing on the walls was ever found, however the case was left open and remains unsolved.

"2009 brought the worst the Ghost has ever done, the violence is almost unimaginable, and completely unexplainable. These are photos of Parker's Point Hope Alaska home after the crime, Parker and her family were put into Witness Protection and relocated to Alaska, they show all the violence and the words 'I am forbid to tell the secret of my prison house,' again written in Parker's blood, was scrawled over the wall of the bedroom. Parker had been stabbed 57 times; she was the only one to survive the crime. Her husband Mark, daughter's Kate and Rose, died at the scene, she was three months pregnant. The child survived. This crime and the strange connections, along with the lengthiness of her healing process caused the Burrow to retire Agent Parker in December of 2009. She was treated for all her injuries and moved to an undisclosed location, where she continued to be treated for internal bleeding.

"March of this Year, the Stevens family was killed with the same techniques as The Ghost. The same as Talbot's husband and children had died, down to the number of stabs. It was an exact duplicate with the exception of the words. The phrase 'I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a certain term to walk the night, till foul crimes done in my day are burnt and purged away,' This is what we have, now when we land we will meet with Agent Parker, who was reinstated to the Burrow not two months ago. The Ghost is in Minnesota, Agent Parker is running from him. I got a call from her not a half hour ago. He had written on her garage 'Taint not the mind nor let thy soul continue'; when this is added to the one found two months ago on her garage, 'Do not forget this visitation is but to whet thy almost blurred purpose'. We have to assume that The Ghost is now following Agent Parker, and she is the focal point of his entire delusion." Aaron says as they look though the photos.

"What do we know about the word he writes?" Emily asks.

"They are from Hamlet, but they are not in order, it is as though he is using the Ghost to tell his own story. Put it together and it is a statement, 'A serpent stung me, with witchcraft of his wit, holds such an enmity with blood of man. I find thee apt, and duller should thou be, pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing to what I shall unfold

so art though to revenge what thou shall hear I am forbid to tell the secret of my prison house, I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a certain term to walk the night, till foul crimes done in my day are burnt and purged away, Do not forget this visitation is but to whet thy almost blurred purpose Taint not the mind nor let thy soul continue.' It seems he is trying to tell us something, all these words must have some other meaning. I didn't put it all together back in August, but I think Parker will know; the 'I am my father's spirit' looks to be cursive while the rest is just in plain words. Why would someone writing in blood do cursive unless it means something?" Spencer asks, "I'll look at the text more, and see what he could be meaning. Do we know for sure this is a male Unsub?"

"Yes," Aaron says though specifies no more, as Emily sees the papers that explain why she was so cold on the subject.

"So how old is the daughter?" Emily asks, "Is she safe, with her mother?"

"Yes, she is safe with her mother," Derek says, "She will be two in May."

"I want you all to go over everything in these files, we need to get as much information from them as we can. We need to catch this man once and for all." Aaron says, "Agent Parker was shot today. I don't know how badly, but The Ghost is getting more involved, and he is taking more risk. We don't know yet the motives behind these crimes, we only know the subject of them."

"Was Lilly hurt?" Derek asks, concern on his face, "Aaron, is Lilly okay?"

"Yes, she was in the back seat of the car and was not hurt, Parker was going to the Cloquet Police Station, we will meet her there if she can move, otherwise we will go see her at the hospital, then we will head for Grand Rapids to see the scene. Emily I want you and JJ to sit with Lilly while Derek and I talk to Parker, Reid and Rossi I want you to look over her car and see what you can find on it. We need to get as much information as we can. I'm tired of this guy. I would prefer this ending soon. JJ once we land get in touch with Grand Rapids police and make sure that the scene is photographed and a forensic team goes over it. If there is anything there I want information. I do know from what Garcia found that a young jogger was found dead on the porch. We need to get a handle on this, he doesn't seem to have a comfort zone, and this is one UNSUB I can't predict. I have a feeling he is finding Agent Parker through other channels. He seems to be getting much angrier, and if this escalates it could bring all out panic with Agent Parker at the center. Get whatever info you can from these files, we land in an hour."

"Hotch, is Talbot okay?" Derek asks.

"She can still drive, so I would say she is, but I don't know what will happen once we get there." Aaron says, "He has been after her for nine years, this won't stop until he is stopped. I don't know how he got her cover name." Aaron says, and takes a deep breath to relieve some fears he has as to how capable Parker was of driving. She had driven for over an hour before she called him. He now feared the worst, but he was hopping for the best.

"How well do you know Agent Parker?" Emily asks Derek.

"Well enough to call her Talli," he says and sits down across from Emily.

"So I was gone long enough for you to meet this girl, and trust her." Emily says, "I was here for two years before you trusted me."

"Well she trusted me when we were in trouble, then took one of the worst beating I have ever seen so that I could get free. She trusted me to save her life if I could. She told me about all of this Ghost stuff, and she trusted me to take care of Lilly. I thought if she is giving me that much to care about, she is sacrificing a lot. But something JJ said let me let her in. JJ said 'If you never let anyone in, you will always be alone.' It was enough to let me trust someone who put that much trust in me."

"She must be some woman if she earned your trust so quickly." Emily says then looks down at the file in her hand, "how do you survive something like this," she breaths.

"She is a fighter." Derek says, "I have seen her take a beating without making a sound because she dared him to make her scream, it gave me the chance to get help."

"Then it is a good thing she is tough, this Unsub knows what he wants and whatever that is Agent Parker has it." Emily says, "I just hope we can find out what that is before he gets to her."

"We have to." Aaron says.

Talbot parks her car outside the police station in Cloquet, she leans back in her seat; it is still warm and allows her to turn off the engine while not getting out. Fear grips her, can she do this? She asks herself. Her vision fades in and out; she has to get Lilly into the police station. Suddenly ringing interrupts her thoughts, but darkness clouds in before she can answer it.

"You don't need to answer that," a man says, "I knew I got you, know this Tal, I will always be here. Now what would you do if I took dear Lilly?"

"Touch her and you die," Talbot says pulling a gun and pointing it at him. "I may be tired, and I may be shot, but you will never get Lilly."

"Mark me Tal, My hour is almost come, When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. And you Tal are my salvation, my survival, my solace, you will go with me, the serpent in the garden will sting, and that sting will drown thee dear Ophelia once and for all." He says then vanishes into the night leaving Talbot pointing the gun at the empty place where The Ghost once stood.

Talbot looks into the darkness, locks the door, then climbs into the back seat ignoring the pain in her arm. She puts a blanket over Lilly to keep her warm and locks the door. She tries to stay awake, but sleep pulls her in, and she knows he is still in the shadows waiting. She puts her arm around Lilly and lets sleep take her, praying that she will wake up and Lilly will still be safe.

"Talbot," Aaron says, "Talbot open the door." He says again knocking this time. "Talbot Parker."

She snaps awake, and looks at the man beyond the window, it is Aaron Hotchner, she sees Derek Morgan beside him, David Rossi stands at the other window, and she believes JJ and Emily Prentice stand in front of her car. Reid is near JJ. Talbot reaches and unlocks the car door. "Aaron," she starts to say, but falls short.

"Talbot you are safe here." Aaron says and gets Lilly out of her car seat, while Derek gets in the car to have a look at Talbot."

"No," she whispers, "He's watching, he said 'Mark me Tal, My hour is almost come, When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. And you Tal are my salvation, my survival, my solace, you will go with me, the serpent in the garden will sting, and that sting will drown thee dear Ophelia once and for all'." She breathes softly to Derek, "he's here, don't let him take Lilly." She adds.

"Don't worry, JJ and Prentice will keep her safe, you need a doctor before you bleed out." Derek says, "Talli why didn't you go inside?" Derek asks taking her gun from her hand.

"He was here," she whispers, "he was going to take Lilly from me, I couldn't leave her alone, not with him here, he would have gotten her. I can't lose her Derek, she is all I have…" she trails off as her eyes close.

"Talli, open your eyes. Hey don't give up now, you are too strong to let go now. Open those eyes, I want to see those green eyes."

Aaron had called for an ambulance once he saw that Talbot was still in the car. He knew she would be there, she would never leave Lilly unless she trusted those she left her with. "Aaron, he thinks I am Ophelia, he means to make me Ophelia, he plans to drown me." She says softly, her eyes closed, she tries to open them. "Lilly," she says, "Lilly,"

"She is safe with J.J. and I am going to the hospital with you. I will be by your side the whole way. Talbot we will find him, and we will protect Lilly." Derek says, "Derek, tell Garcia to look for the shadow outside my house. He was there, but he is always in the shadows, he is a ghost, but he haunts me…he haunts…I can't destroy a ghost…they are just…bad memories…Kate…where's Kate…no…Mark…where's…dead…" she says then looses consciousness as Derek moves to allow the EMT's access to her.