Disclaimer: Sadly I own nothing relating to Criminal Minds. CBS does though, but the OCs in this story are mine =p.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has either read, alerted, fav, or even reviewed! It means a lot to hear from my readers! Here's the new and improved chapter 1.

All grammatical errors are mine…sorry about that…..


Chapter 1: Something Special


-Flashback-

November 10, 2006

Morgan walked into the interrogation room, a rather thick folder grasped tightly in this right hand. Within the small and rather intimidating room sat their only chance at finally breaking a week long case: Zach Ceels, a teenage boy, about 17 or so, with short, messy hair and dark eyes in the middle of the room. The only problem- he refused to talk to anyone about what had happened.

The built FBI agent threw the large folder down on the table, the pictures of the victims spilling out for the teen to see. However, this didn't seem to faze him; he sat there slumped in the chair, expressionless.

"Look kid," started Morgan in a low voice, face hardened, "You were there when Sydney Kage was murdered," Morgan pushed the picture of the young woman's mangled and bloodied body towards his field of vision. "You were THERE. You know who did this; you saw the car this bastard drove. You can help us catch this guy. Just tell us what happened that night."

Zach looked at the picture of the girl and then looked away. He then turned his gaze to the built agent, leaning forward to meet his eyes. "I'm not telling you anything. Miranda rights, remember? I have the right to remain silent. The officer read them to me when he arrested me for some bogus charge. All cops are the same- they use extra-legal factors just to get people like me behind bars. That includes FBI, too."

Morgan's hard shell broke for a moment. "What do you mean by 'bogus charge'? They caught you trying to steal a car."

"Bunch of bullshit," Zach sneered. He continued, silent anger in his eyes, "My car alarm is faulty and the remote on the keychain doesn't work anymore. So sometimes when I open my car manually, the alarm goes off. I turn it off by hand- I put my key in the ignition and press the red button on the dash. Check if you want. Oh, and while you're at it, check whose name the car is under. It's mine. My boss, Charles Logan, co-signed and paid for the used car . Call him up, he'll tell you brought it for me as a birthday present." The teen slumped back into the chair, glaring daggers at the FBI agent.

"Kid…I believe you- I've been there. I know what's it's like to be on top of the cops' hate list," Morgan knew he had to get to the teen, not only for the sake of the case, but just to let him know that he wasn't the only one. "Look, Zach. I promise I'll get you free from that charge. We just need you to talk to-."

"Oh stop it," the teen seemed irriated and she stood from his chair and walked around the small room. He turned to Morgan. "Don't go and start making empty promises that you can't keep Agent Morgan. You can catch them on this one, but they'll just pull out another fake charge just to make sure I get jail time," the teen scoffed. "You've never been in my position; I can tell. You weren't raised a passenger."

"A what?"

"A passenger, Agent. If you don't know what that is then you don't know jack-shit about all the hell I'm involved in."

Morgan slammed his hands down on the steel table, the photos flying around them. He'd had enough, he had handled stubborn people before in the interrogation room, but for some reason, this kid was pushing the envelope. The clock was ticking and they needed Zach to break this case for them before their Unsub was set free and on the killing path once again. "Listen you little punk. A sick son-of a-bitch is about to go free in less than three hours unless we place him at the scene. I'm trying to help you in the process." Morgan's voice was low, but he spoke slowly despite his sudden, unknown burst of anger. He looked Ceels straight in the eyes, silently pleading with his own; this kid was damaged, he could see that, but this kid also had a few bad run ins with the law, thus his distrust in any law enforcement figure. Morgan was trying to make the teen see differently. "I can help you. But in order for me to do so, we need your account of that night. We need what we call a walkthrough to help you remember. Now are you going tell us or not?" Morgan said through clenched teeth, clearly running out of patience.

The teen leaned forward, bracing his hands against the metal table, meeting the agent's eyes; there was no fear, no worry. "All cops are the same. So , no." Morgan had caught something in the teen's eyes, almost like the slightest apology showing in his eyes.

Let out an aggravated breath through his nose, he stormed out of the interrogation room, leaving the kid there. He slammed the door behind him while running a hand over his head in irritation. He walked towards the Hotch and Prentiss who were watching the whole interrogation, along with the Police Chief of Waynesboro, Chief Robert Gates, who looked rather solemn.

"He's not going to talk Hotch, he's dead set on that. He's one stubborn kid."

The unit chief nodded in agreement. "He holds a lot of resentment towards law enforcement. Morgan call Garcia and check out his car story and his background ," the dark eyed agent turned to his left to face the police chief, "Have you been aware of Zach Ceels' record?"

The police chief, a man in his early 50s who sported slightly greying dark hair with a medium size build, answered the agent. "To be honest with you Agent Hotchner, not all that much. Before I became chief about 5 years ago, he already had a record according to a lot of the officers. Just causing trouble and mischief around town. I just never really thought about it. Personally, I've never seen the kid do anything bad. Yeah he doesn't hang out with the best of crowds, but my daughter tells me he's a good kid, good student, just has trouble with the law."

"Was there any similarities in the officers that brought him in? Or maybe those who did were from the same group?" questioned Prentiss to the chief.

The chief looked a bit thoughtful as he recalled all the times the teen had been in the station. "Now that you think about it, it was almost always either Jon Delyn or Dennis Rickman who was the arresting officer or who filed the report," he sighed to himself, "How come I never picked up on it…"

Morgan came back into the conversation, closing the phone with a 'Thanks Mama'. "His car story checks out, the co-signer for the car was Logan, but primary is Ceels, he got it on his 18th birthday.. But Garcia did find something interesting- He's a foster kid, been in and out of it since he was 3. The mother died of an overdose and his father was a former officer from here who turned bad-Roger Kimmit."

"Kimmit used to be part of Jon and Dennis' little gang. They were best friends before he went bad," added Chief Gates in a sad tone.

"Whatever happened to Kimmit?"

"When they found out that he was selling his badge, he panicked. When he was going to get arrested, he put the barrel to his head and shot, right in front of his wife and baby, so they say. His wife, afterwards, couldn't take the gossip and the looks. She overdosed on some pills and Jack."

Prentiss looked at the teen beyond the two-way glass, his head resting on his arms, "It makes sense on so many levels. Many believe that foster children are trouble-makers and unstable if they have had multiple families." The female agent turned to Chief Gates. "The officers had prejudice against him from the start just because he was the son of a bad cop. It all adds up to his distrust in any law enforcement. He won't talk because of it."

"So what do we do?" asked Morgan, leaning on his hands towards the two-way window. "The clock is ticking, even if he doesn't remember, he doesn't trust us enough to do a walkthrough." He turned towards Hotch, who currently looked deep in concentration, lines forming across his face.

"Is there anyone you'll think he'll willingly talk to?" Hotch's dark eyes found those of the Chief who looked thoughtful once again. A single name passed through his mind. It was worth a shot, he'd just had to ask Nora if-

"I have an idea, but you just have to trust me on this."

"And who might that be," as he followed the chief out of the viewing room to his office where he flipped through an old style rolodex, finding the card and pulling it free.

"Someone, you'll see. Now if you'll please excuse me, I have a call to make."

-x-X-x-

Nearly 20 minutes later, the BAU team was assembled in the conference room looking over any breakthroughs to put the spree killer, Daniel Mauro, behind federal bars. However, they couldn't find anything fully placing him at the last crime scene.

"Damn," sighed Morgan, tossing a file down, "This guy was good, he was nearly perfect, and he was neat about it, too."

"He was too neat," added Prentiss looking over a folder, "He was a perfectionist. His only drawback was the kid being there, but then again, if he doesn't remember, it goes in his favor."

Reid stood in front of the pinned up map, fingers following the trails marked by red and blue push pins. "It isn't common for witnesses to have selective memory about the event they witnessed. In fact, many believe that this is why many victims and witnesses fail to report crimes. That or they feel that the police are a threat."

"Both those reasons correspond with Zach Ceels," started JJ as she took a seat next to Prentiss, "I mean I wouldn't want to go to an officer if they had a vendetta against me for something my father did."

"Yes, that's true, but right now, we need his account of what he saw that night. He's not giving it up though." Hotch added as he hit a few keys on the laptop in front of him.

"Hate to say it, but its times like this we need Gideon to drop us some ideas," say Morgan, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, Gideon is going through a mandatory Psych Eval at the moment, meaning it's just up to us," said Hotch not looking up from the laptop screen. After a few seconds the familiar face of their vibrant tech analyst appeared on the screen. "Garcia."

"Your wish is my command, sir," she lifted up her fuzzy pink pen in a small salute.

"Has there been anything on the surveillance footage from the machine shop?"

"Sorry Super Friends. That's a negative. This sicko was very careful about how he placed his car. It looks like he must have studied the angles of the cameras were placed and where their blinds spots are."

"Mama," Morgan appeared in front of the screen, "Got anything new on our witness?"

"Why yes I do my glorious god of chocolate," she said with a smile, "He's been through over 40 families since the age of 5. Poor baby," she made a few keystrokes as she continued, "it says there that one of the main reasons he was moved so much was that a lot of the families say he wasn't all that social with other members of the family, as well as being unfit to be part of a family."

"Really?" asked Prentiss in shock, as she came up behind Morgan to see Garcia.

"Yeah, but usually, from this Goddess' experience knowing some foster kids from the underground; it's not the kid's fault. It takes a lot of time to adjust to something new, but they just never gave him the time. Besides, some foster families aren't all that great. I was snooping into a lot of the houses the System put him in and, my Wonder Friends, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, a big chuck of them score lower than three."

"I see," thought Hotch, "Thanks Garcia."

"No problem sir." Morgan then spoke to Garcia.

"Thanks Baby Girl. Call you later."

"Anytime Handsome," and with that the bubbly TA logged off. At that same moment, Chief Gates walked through into the room, giving a short greeting to the team.

"We looked for anymore possible witnesses, but that proved to turn up nothing. Looks like our hopes rest on Ceels." He gave a loud sigh and checked is watch. "We've got about a little more than two hour and a half to place Mauro at the scene."

"All we have to do is get him to talk and-," suddenly the door was thrown open by a deputy.

"Sir, they're here."

Gates perked up a bit, but then seemed to be a lot lighter, as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders. "Good, send them in," and with that the deputy left in a hurry back out the door. All eyes of the BAU were trained on the Chief. "If this doesn't work, then we don't have anything else," he said to the team, who looked at him with a bit of uncertainty.

The door opened to reveal a woman who appeared in her mid-thirties with her short black hair in a neat layered bob. She looked tired and worn out, possibly from a lack of sleep, but she seemed a bit relieved when she caught the chief's eyes.

"Robert," she sighed as she made her way to greet the chief with hug.

"Nora," he returned her hug, "Thank you for doing this, and I'm sorry about the urgency. I know you've got a better place to be."

"It's no problem, he fell asleep and Julia promised to text me if anything," she gave a small sigh. "But right now, I'm just hopeful that we can help out."

"Thank you Nora. All I can say that it's worth a shot," the chief then turned to the FBI profilers, "Agents, this is Miss Nora O'Neil," she nodded and gave a small wave to the agents.

Hotch stood up and shook the woman's hand, "Miss O'Neil. I'm Unit Chief SSA Aaron Hotchner," he then motioned to the other agents in the room, "This is my team- Agents Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Dr. Spencer Reid and our Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau. Thank you for coming to talking to our witness."

Nora smiled a bit. "Thank you Agent Hotchner but to be quite honest I'm not the person talking to your witness."

All eyes were on here and the room grew a bit tense. "Excuse me?"

"I'm here to maybe watch over the interview, if I'm permitted." All the agents looked shocked at the small confession and turned their attention to the chief.

"Then who's talking to Ceels?" asked Reid.

Nora smiled once again and answered for the chief, "My kids is going to be talking to your witness. They're both 18, but in this situation, they are still my kids and I just want to make sure nothing happens," she turned and address the chief, "Shall we begin Robert?" The chief nodded and with that, Nora left the room for a moment, leaving the agents staring at the police chief wanting some type of explanation.

"Just trust me agents."

Soon after, Nora returned with two older teens by her side, about the same age as their witness. The first was a boy, a bit taller than average height and was slightly built with a mess of light brown hair on his head and light brown, not yet hazel eyes finding the group of FBI agents. He seemed to have a slight air of confidence,that, given the chance could turn to arrogance in a heartbeat.

The girl that followed alongside the boy did not look timid, but curious in a sense. She nearly a head shorter than the boy; her hair fell gently in warm chocolate waves slightly passed her shoulders. There were two things that caught the team's attention when it came to the girl: her eyes, which were a brilliant shade of jade green, and secondly an air of familiarity for all of the agents. This feeling was especially strong for Reid. He felt something hit him, almost like an instinct, but he couldn't place it. It was almost as if he should know this girl for some unknown reason.

"Agents," started the Chief as he motioned to the teens, "this is Mark and Vanessa."

"So," started Mark with humor in this voice, "Where's the pain in the ass we gotta get to?" Vanessa, the other teen, delivered a hard elbow to his side, "Ow," he winced as he rubbed the spot and muttered a quiet "bitch" under his breath.

"Sorry, he's special," apologized Vanessa as she gave the other a glaring look out of the corner of her eye.

"Come on you two," Nora gently scolded. "Now, what's his background if you please?"

"Right," started Prentiss, still a bit weary of sharing info with two teens, "Zach Ceels. 18. He's a foster kid."

"Hmm," thought Mark as he shifted his gaze to the girl at his side, "He just got dropped off."

"How long has he been in the system?"

JJ watched as she began to tap her fingers against her side at a rapid place, but filed it away for later and answered ,"About 15 years."

"So he's been on it for a while," Mark turned Vanessa, "What do you think Nessa?"

"About?"

The boy pulled the girl by the arm and whispered in her ear. She listen, then turned and said something back with a shrug. She turned her attention from Mark the team. "How many homes has he been through?"

"Roughly over 40 which is an abnormally high number for any foster child but not unlikely considering how long he was in the system," stated Reid. "Thirty-three percent of foster children actually spend 1 to 11 months in care, while 24% spend 12 to 23 months. Actually about 7% of children in foster care spend more than five years in the system. About 20,000 age out of the system each year."

Nora seemed a bit shocked at first she listen to him rattle out statics, but gave him a kind smile that seemed only to belong to a mother, while Mark simply lifted an eyebrow, looking at the other agents as a way to ask, 'Is that normal?'. When Reid finished, he solely noticed green eyes and a smile, Nessa's smile, which held a bit of sadness and bitterness. I wasn't the fact that he just recited statistics as if they were on a piece of paper, it was just the information he was reciting. "You make it sound like those are great numbers," she said softy. The team noticed the change in the tone of her voice and also noticed Mark's expression grow dark.

Reid was quick to explain himself to the girl, fearing he had offended their help. "I-I didn't mean it like that. I hold no bias regarding the foster system, I was just-."

"No, it's okay. I understand," she reassured him, "I don't like some of those facts," she continued, "They tend ignore how much emotional and psychological trauma are left on those kids." She played a bit with the hairband around her wrist. "Anyways, from the sound of it, you're an eidetic , huh?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You have an eidetic memory," clarified Nora, smiling at the doctor. "You must be a genius, and my guess, graduated very young."

"Well," he hesitated a bit, caught off at how the woman was able to assume as much as she did. "Yeah, you can say that."

"Cool," Mark, who had lightened up a bit, added, "One of our friends is the somewhat the same, instead, her brain is like the ultimate music library. She can play any song she's ever heard, all by ear." He shook himself out of his thoughts, and smacked Nessa's arm gently, "You started this. Stop getting us off topic."

"Sorry, sorry," she said rubbing her arm, "One more thing," added Vanessa as she looked at the chief, "Does your witness have messy black hair, a bit shorter than his?" motioning to Mark's head.

"How did you know?" asked the Chief Gates, looking at the girl suspiciously.

"When we were sitting outside the room just now, one of the officers was taking him back to the room, I'm guessing, after he when to the restroom," jade eyes then found Mark's. "He's got a collection."

"Really now?"

"Yeah," the girl paused for a moment, looking thoughtful as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "I'll do it."

"Are you sure, Nessa?"

"Yeah, he'll trust me to a point I hope," she faced the agents again, "Is there anything that you need me to do when I'm in there?"

"Are you sure you want to go in there, Kid?" asked Morgan, standing up, not really liking the idea of sending in a 18 year old girl to talk to their witness.

"Yeah, just give me a chance to talk to him. I think I can get him to open up a bit."

"If you can manage that," added Hotch, "We need him to go through a cognitive interview to help him try to remember what he saw."

"Okay. When can we start? I understand the clock is ticking for you guys."

"Yeah, will you come with me?" asked JJ as she stood and escorted the girl to another room for a moment.

"Are you sure you're alright with this Miss O'Neil?" asked Hotch as he came to her side while Mark was on the opposite. She gave a wordless nod, the profile could tell was somewhat on edge. The woman looked in the direction where the blonde liaison lead her daughter to a separate room.

"Nessa knows what she's doing Agent Hotchner."

-x-X-x-


The next chapter will be a continuation of the flashback and then all hell starts to breaks loose….

Reviews anyone?