I've liked this idea for a long time. It is going to be mostly a casefic with a little bit of JJ/Reid, and possibly Hotch/Prentiss.
"Let's go over this one more time" Hotch said as he paced around the room. The stress of the case was beginning to wear on all of them. It had been 4 months of family killings, in each case a teenager and at least one parent figure. They had no leads. The profile led them to suspect a person who was lashing out at his or her former self and the parents who were too weak to help them. The problem was that the killing team was perfecting their methods, evolving, and learning new ways to kill, and leaving no evidence behind. Garcia was able to easily anticipate the next location of the victims by finding a correlation to a "troubled teens" week-long family seminar in affluent small towns around the country. They had watched as families went to the seminar, and days later were murdered in their own home.
"This just doesn't make sense" Morgan complained, throwing pictures of victims back to the center of the table. "One unsub is meticulous, calculated, and cold. He has a high level of education, but no job, as he is obsessed with the ritual and is able to follow the seminar to and from different locations."
"He doesn't work directly with the seminar, or travel with them, since we've had tails on everybody involved with the seminar and none of them have panned out." Prentiss continued. "Unsub number two is the subservient. He cleans up afterwards, probably doesn't participate in the kills, but definitely cleans up after."
Reid was standing at the board with pictures of the victims. "Our unsubs are likely too disturbed to hold down a regular job. They would stand out, if not for unsub 3 that protects them, and provides for them. Helping them to move around the country, he feels sympathetic to the cause—enough to stay loyal, not enough likely to participate in the kills or in the cleanup."
JJ interrupted by walking quickly into the room. "The Oregon field office has just confirmed the next family of victims, right where we thought just outside Portland."
The faces of each member of the team tried to stay impassive, but the devastation was evident to everyone. JJ continued "Garcia's looking for other connections to the victims, and the only thing that she's finding is what we found before. Troubled teens with one or more parents—kids that have been caught up in everything from sex to drugs to bad grades to gangs. There just isn't much"
"What we need is to get into those seminars undetected, as participants." Rossi mused "Every time we've had people at the seminar, it hasn't mattered. We need to draw them to us. With this killing team, they aren't likely to contact the media or inject themselves in the investigation, so we need to find them."
Everyone's head jerked at the seemingly absurd idea. Rossi looked around "What? No one that we've interviewed is connected to the seminar that's going to be held in Des Moines. It's all new people…just like every time. We need to get on the inside. Profile every person that's there. We could get a couple of people to go as staff, and others to go as participants."
"Rossi, that's all well and good, but participants are selected state-wide by their local police departments and schools. Kids have to get a certain GPA, and have approval from the school. They're escorted in person with their parents to the seminar." Morgan pointed out
"And I don't think the company is going to give us any more slack. They made that perfectly clear to me last time. Not that they'd know if we were there, since the seminar management doesn't show up." JJ added "But they're not going to let us in to another seminar."
"Garcia," Hotch said towards the speaker phone. The rest of the group smiled as Garcia replied, "Computer goddess at your service."
"How could you get us into the next seminar?" He asked poignantly.
"Well you come to the right place. I can come up with new identities for y'all faster than you can say peaches. The problem is getting you in. I'm assuming you want to go in as guests, but I can get a couple of people in as staff. As for guests, it's a little harder—all of their documents are hard copies, they don't put any of their admissions on the computer since a lot of these little punks are budding geniuses themselves and could hack their way into Fort Knox. The only way you're getting in is getting invited by the police or a guidance counselor. This seminar has all of the guidance counselors' names and info so that well meaning parents can't sneak their punk kids in."
"Getting invited into the seminar shouldn't be a problem; all we need is some punk kid to get in trouble with the police or at school." Rossi pointed out as JJ left the room to answer a call from yet another distraught police officer.
"Thanks mama" Morgan said as he ended the call. "Are we really thinking about doing this? I mean, could any of us pass for being under 18? It'd be a little difficult to find some perfect kid to use as bait"
"JJ can" Emily said quietly to not let JJ hear. "She gets carded all the time for everything." Seeing the disbelief of her colleagues she continued "It really is true, one time we went to a bar and they carded her because they thought she was 15." She laughed as she remembered the scene from a few months earlier.
JJ reentered the room, curious as to why the team was now staring at her. Emily turned to JJ and continued "Or remember last week when we went to that club and you got carded? It was hilarious!" JJ shot a dirty look at Prentiss.
"Maybe to you, but I get it all the time." JJ retorted.
"With the right makeup and clothes, I bet she can pass for as young as 16." Emily said with finality.
"Hey, Reid's always getting asked how old he is…why not use him too?" Morgan teased "I mean, we need to get as many of us as we can in. Somebody could go as Reid's parent, somebody else as JJ's. I can go as staff, since I think it's fairly obvious that I couldn't be one of their parents."
"Umm, I don't think it's likely--" Reid started
"Ok, how are we going to do this?" Rossi interrupted asking the team, now seated around the table. "Whatever we do, we've got to spend a little time getting integrated in the community. No cop is going to send off these kids if they've been there for a day." Everyone sat in silence, not sure of what to do next.
"JJ, get the acquisition forms for places for us to stay. Rossi and Reid will be together, Prentiss, JJ, and I will be together. Morgan will stay at a hotel down the street for surveillance and backup. Prentiss, Rossi, and I will need cars. You and Reid will need clothes and school supplies, so do all your form stuff. We're flying to Iowa tomorrow morning, so Emily, you take JJ shopping, and Morgan, you take Reid. Takeoff is tomorrow morning at 8:00. I'll get the clearance and the covers taken care of. Also, I'll expedite a reimbursement for all the clothes," Hotch said as he walked out of the door on his cell phone, calling the director.
"Are you ready to go Em?" JJ asked, a little bewildered. She had done a little undercover work, and they had all been trained at the academy, but that was several years ago.
Emily and JJ talked as they walked to the mall. It was only a couple of blocks from the precinct. Apparently Morgan had an idea of a great place to take Reid, so he had declined the invite to join the girls at the mall.
"How am I supposed to look like a 16 year old? I mean, I've spent my whole life trying to make myself look older, but I don't know how to look like a teenager!" JJ said after their first hour of shopping left her exasperated.
"I've got an idea" Emily almost shouted as she ran to find a sales person. "Hi, I'll give you 100 to help me." She told the girl. "It's a long story, but I need my friend over there to look a lot younger. Can you help me find the stuff that'll make her look 16?"
"Ma'am, for another 100 I'll show you how she should do her hair and makeup too!" The girl squealed as she came from behind the counter.
2 hours later Prentiss & JJ had completed their new wardrobe adventure. Since JJ & Reid would be going to a private school with uniforms, her clothes could be a little more extreme, which did not excite JJ. Their sales girl, Jami, had just been ending her shift and had been more than happy to drag the two women around the mall, chatting loudly about boys, music, pop culture, and pretty much everything else. JJ tried not to be obvious as she mentally took notes of all the things that Jami talked about. Not that she had to know everything, but a couple of group names here and there wouldn't hurt. Neither would popular TV shows and stars. Jami had even recruited girls from the hair place to give JJ a make-over. By the time they were finished and JJ changed into her clothes, it was well after 7.
"C'mon, let's go get something to eat" Prentiss practically begged. Carrying bags of clothing in both arms they walked and chatted as they made their way to the food court. Stopping by the Chinese Express place, JJ picked her food and proceeded to pay. She pulled out her debit card, handed it to the cashier, who was a tall pimpled boy no older than 18.
"Who do you think I am?" He asked sharply. "Look, even if this is your mom, I can't run her credit card without her here." He said condescendingly and handed the card back to her. "You're what? 17? Tops! I'll get fired if I run this through and you're mom calls."
Prentiss laughed as she handed her card to the cashier. "These are together." She said pointing to JJ's food as JJ glowered towards the cashier. "Looks like Jami knew what she was doing." JJ snorted.
Truth be told, Prentiss thought, JJ did look like she was 17. With low-rider jeans and a black camisole with pink sequins in a lip shape, she just looked…..young. "Why don't you go find us a place to sit, and I'll grab the drinks?" Prentiss offered as JJ just grumbled and walked away.
JJ was annoyed. It spoke volumes to their desperation that he had agreed to let the entire team go undercover. It wasn't like she hadn't ever gone undercover before, but this was different. She was supposed to be 16 again…and it all just seemed to point to her position as one of the youngest on the team. Did it mean they thought she was inferior? Or did they think she was a bad agent? No, it had to mean that Hotch trusted her enough to be convincing—but then he had positioned her with himself AND Emily as…well, she wasn't quite sure what the covers were going to be, but regardless she was being teamed up with her boss and her best friend. She felt conflicted and downright stupid, 'are people really going to believe that I am sixteen?' She thought. JJ continued to brood over her current situation when a male voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey there, I'm Mike, and this is Peter"
Prentiss chuckled as she filled up the drinks and signed the receipt. What was going to be so bad about all of this? She wasn't quite sure what JJ was making such a big deal of. It wasn't like rocket science or anything, it was just high school. She turned around and went to go find JJ she was surprised to find her sitting with 2 different pimple faced boys, who were trying to get her number.
Prentiss chuckled as she made her way through the maze of tables in the food court. These boys were obviously trying to impress JJ who was not in the mood to play along. 3 hours of shopping had taken their toll on the blonde who seemed grumpy. The indifference that she showed towards the teen boys only seemed to fuel their fire. The boys, looking up and seeing Prentiss approaching saw the signal for their departure and left their phone number on a napkin with JJ who politely, but firmly waved them away.
"MEN!" JJ loudly whispered while Prentiss struggled to keep her laughter under control. "It doesn't matter how old they are, they only want one thing."
"I think I would call them boys, though" Prentiss joked.
"You know," Prentiss mused "you should feel flattered that teenage boys still think you're hot." JJ snorted with disgust.
"Yeah, whatever, I've been dealing with people thinking I'm younger my whole life. It gets old really fast."
They finished their dinner while talking about superficial things that didn't really matter; finally Emily Prentiss could take it no longer. "JJ, are you sure you're up to this? I mean, you don't have to do this…you know that right?" JJ failed to look up as Emily's eyes seemed to pierce through her. She sighed, it really was no use trying to hide things from a bunch of profilers.
"I know, I just think this is the best way for us to catch a break in the case right now." JJ finally replied.
"Look, you're the genius profiler, you tell me. Why does a good kid suddenly go off the deep end?" Prentiss thoughtfully seemed to consider the younger agents question.
"Well, at the risk of sounding cliché, it usually is some form of teenage rebellion. Moving to a new area, or adapting to major life changes causes teenagers to act out in order to assert themselves in their lives." Prentiss rattled off as though she were reading a text book
"Wow! You are a genius profiler." Emily attempted not to beam at JJ's compliment.
"Why don't we just get back to the hotel, we've got a long couple of days coming up for us." Emily attempted to divert the praise away from her. JJ nodded in assent and they meandered out of the mall towards their hotel.
"You know, the one bright spot of this whole thing is that we'll get to see Spence tomorrow" JJ said softly.
Emily laughed heartily at JJ's surprising admission. "Why? Are you excited to spend more time with the young doctor?" She teased as JJ swatted her lightly on the shoulder, noticing that JJ's face had now turned a deep color of crimson.
"No, I just mean that I'd have paid somebody to let me give him a makeover…so I wonder how Morgan did." JJ countered, hoping that Emily bought her lame excuse.
"Right" Emily muttered sarcastically, secretly relieved that JJ was no longer in a terrible mood. JJ knew that she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, but was glad to finally be done shopping. It wasn't that she didn't like to shop, just that the combined stress of the case and worrying about the 'undercover situation'. Their hotel was fairly close to the mall and the precinct, so they had decided to walk. By the time they finally reached the hotel, it was still early, but both women were tired. They separated for the night without seeing any of their male colleagues.
Prentiss shut the door to her room and immediately began restudying the case files, combing them over one more time. There had to be something that they were missing!
Once JJ had finished the acquisition forms and other paperwork, sent it in to the bureau, and gotten whatever confirmation she needed, she changed and lay on the bed. Positive that she would be up all night, JJ turned on the TV only to nod into deep sleep moments later.
AN/ Let me know what you think? I couldn't get this idea out of my mind, and although I'm working on another story, I couldn't get this out of my head.