Serena woke early on the Sunday after her mom's birthday with a smile on her face. Staying at JJ and Will's house was like a second home to her and it was fine waking up there the previous morning, but nothing beat waking up in her own bed, especially on a Sunday. On Saturday's, everyone woke early and went with her Dad to help at his latest house project, but Sundays were Serena's favorite day of the week. Her mom was an early riser while her dad and Caleb always slept in. On Sunday mornings, she had some time with Emily by herself.
The night before, Fran had been over for her mom's birthday dinner, and everyone had stayed up late. Serena couldn't be sure her mom was up, but when she opened her bedroom door, she heard the soft sound of the TV floating upstairs and grinned again. She quietly walked down the stairs and saw her mom curled up on one edge of the couch watching the television. Serena noticed the station flip to the cooking channel quickly, but didn't take much note of it. Though she was approaching thirteen, though she was taking PhD level courses at a college, though she looked much older than her years, she didn't imagine a time when she'd ever give up her Sunday morning hugs with her mom. Her mom understood everything without Serena having to say a word most of the time, and, while her dad's hugs made her feel the safest, her mom's hugs always made her feel the warmest.
Serena curled up on the couch and pressed her body into her mom's side and she felt the familiar arm go around her and the soft kiss on her head. "Good morning, my sweet girl," whispered Emily.
Serena wrapped her arm around Emily and said a quiet, "Good morning," back.
They sat in silence for several minutes, watching a rerun of a cooking show that Serena didn't pay any attention to. She was thinking about Jack, and about what she'd told him the Friday before, about being honest with his dad. Serena took a deep breath. "I leave the resource room early so I can change for PE before any of the other girls are there, and then I run back to the locker room after PE and try to get back into my regular clothes before they get back to the locker room. I'd think I'd be okay if Jacie wasn't there, but she is. And she's awful. I always said I wanted to at least finish eighth grade in a regular school, and it makes me so mad at myself that I'm letting one obnoxious girl make me feel so self-conscious."
Emily squeezed her arm around Serena and dropped another kiss on her head before responding, "And you wear baggy sweaters because you're not quite sure how to feel about your changing body. I understand, Serena. When I was about your age, I was similar to how you are now. And kids teased me. I didn't have much of an option because I was forced to wear a school uniform; I couldn't hide under baggy clothing. But Jacob..."
Serena interrupted and looked at her mom. "Your cousin who called you 'Scout'?"
Emily smiled, "Yes, that Jacob. He told me that I was spectacular and the people who teased me were the ones who couldn't comprehend that and felt badly about themselves. You have a bunch of friends, Serena, and one girl in your life who is difficult. There's always going to be that girl. What you have to decide is if you are behaving differently and dressing differently because it makes you feel the most comfortable within yourself at the moment, or if you're doing it because of Jacie Pritchard. If it's the latter, it's time to take back some control, my sweet, wonderful Serena."
Serena felt tears in her eyes, but she blinked them back. Ever since her dad came back four years ago after he was hurt, Serena hadn't really cried. Once her dad came home, she didn't feel like there was anything in the world to cry about anymore. She had everything. And her mom was right: If she felt like crying because of a girl like Jacie, she was giving that girl way too much control over her life. Serena's family had walked into the depths of hell with her dad and brought him back out of it, and one catty, socially-inept girl shouldn't be changing the happiness she felt about her life, regardless of her changing body.
Serena grinned and said, "Sounds good to me, Emily." This was something she'd said to Emily with regularity the first week she'd known Emily, before she started calling her 'Mommy,' and eventually just 'Mom.'
Emily laughed. "Every time you say that, I see a four-year-old Serena in my mind."
"Me, too. Hey, is the team coming over for dinner tonight?"
"It's Sunday, isn't it?"
Serena smiled. It was another reason she loved Sundays. Ever since her dad quit working for the FBI, the BAU team started coming for dinners at their house on most Sundays, unless they were traveling for a case. Jack hadn't been showing up recently though, which meant sometimes Hotch didn't either. Maybe she'd give Jack a call and directly ask him to show up tonight; it felt best when they were all together and she missed seeing him where they weren't talking in secret through a fence at her school.
On Tuesday, the BAU team sat in the briefing room trying to eat lunch, but only able to stare at the television. Derek was there; his latest house project was close to Quantico, and he frequently came for lunch on the days Emily was working at the BAU. What they were seeing on the TV defied anything they'd ever seen before.
Back in 2019, when Ebola was making its way through the United States, new laws and policies were written for quarantine procedures. They'd been able to stop the spread of Ebola before it reached anything close to catastrophic proportions, in large part because the science behind vaccines had come a long way, and there were now ways to both inoculate those not infected with Ebola, while also treating and curing those who already had it, all with a single injection.
But that was Ebola, and what was going on in Georgia at the moment was something else. What the spokesperson from the CDC was trying to say without actually saying it was that they didn't know what the fuck the viral strain was that they were seeing. Given the fact that they now had over a thousand reported cases of these suspicious flu-like symptoms in just under a week in Atlanta and the surrounding areas, with thousands more cases likely unreported, FEMA was stepping in.
In a joint effort between the CDC, FEMA and the US Army, they were putting the entire state of Georgia under quarantine. The borders were closed, all air travel halted. They were asking for the cooperation of the people of Georgia, along with the rest of the United States. Those who had traveled by plane in the past three days were asked to stay in their homes, and to call a specific number if they developed any systems such as a cough, headache or muscle aches combined with a low-grade fever. Those who had been in close contact with anyone who had traveled by plane in the past three days to any part of the United States were also asked to stay in their homes. Their best guess for the onset of symptoms was approximately 24 to 72 hours after exposure.
The state of Georgia was in an uproar, with riots and looting that the army was trying to control, according to the video footage that was flashing in the corner of the television screen.
The screen went back to the spokesperson from the CDC.
"How does it spread?" asked a reporter.
The spokesperson replied somberly, "It appears to be airborne."
"How does the virus progress?" asked another reporter.
"That seems dependent on the general health and age of the infected person. Some people are responding well to anti-viral medication and we're able to keep their symptoms under control at this time. We're not able to give a definite answer to your question yet as the cases are newly reported, but we will keep you informed as we learn more information."
"Have there been cases reported anywhere else?"
"We're currently investigating some isolated cases in other states, but we can't definitively say it's the same virus at this time."
"Has anyone died from the virus?"
The spokesperson cleared her throat. "Yes. Nine people who developed symptoms early last week."
"Were these people in contact with the three people who disappeared from Atlanta General Hospital on October seventh?"
"I'm sorry, I have no further comments."
The CDC spokesperson walked off the screen and the entire BAU team was surprised when the President of the United States appeared on screen alongside Senator Elliot Pritchard. The two men despised each other, but the more conservative states, including Georgia, despised the President. And they loved Elliot Pritchard. Surely this joint appearance, where the two men were looking serious but aligned, was to try and calm the nation, and especially the state of Georgia.
Before the President started speaking, JJ spoke aloud, "Aren't we fucking glad we didn't go to Georgia last week?"
It wasn't difficult for Serena to find out something frightening having to do with an unknown virus in Georgia was going on. Two teachers in the resource room were talking about it after lunch, and Serena quietly got on her laptop computer and read all about it. It sent her heart racing.
She sent an email to Dr. Lamont asking if he'd heard about the virus. She didn't know if he'd receive the email; he was on sabbatical this year and currently working in Nigeria, trying to set up a lab for more advanced vaccine production.
She'd taken her mother's advice and stopped rushing to change in the locker room. It was her second day not wearing a baggy sweater, too. If anything, it had made Jacie more tolerable, which surprised Serena. Perhaps seeing Serena less self-conscious had deflated Jacie's confidence. Or, perhaps, she'd actually learned a lesson last Friday when no one supported her harsh words towards Serena. That part of Serena's life, at least, was feeling better. But that entire PE period, her mind was on what she'd read about going on in Georgia.
What Serena really wanted was to get her hands on the molecular structure of that virus. The whole reason she was interested in field of microbiology and biochemistry was because she wanted to help save lives.
At the end of PE, her teacher passed out flyers to all of her students to bring home. It was an official statement from the CDC listing who should implement a self-imposed quarantine, and the symptoms to look for. While they were in the locker room changing, Kathryn, the director of the school, came over the loud speaker and announced that all after-school activities were cancelled for the day. Parents had been notified. All classrooms were to follow their teachers to the parking lot in an orderly fashion, and line up like they did for a fire drill. Parents would pick their students up there, and the teachers would remain until all students had left for the day.
Serena's heart was racing again and everyone in the locker room started talking over each other, both stunned and panicked. Caleb was already gone for the day. Fran had picked him up at lunch time because he had a dentist appointment that afternoon. With him safely out of school, Serena's focus became Henry. He was supposed to have a soccer game that day. Will was supposed to be there and he was supposed to bring Serena home after the game. She didn't know if he'd still be the one showing up to get her, or whether her mom or dad would come.
She grabbed her backpack and lined up with her class, then carefully wove her way over to the eighth grade lines until she spotted Henry's blonde hair. When she stepped in line next to him, she whispered, "It's bad, Henry. The entire state of Georgia is quarantined. People are dying. Thousands have this virus."
Henry turned to stare at her with wide eyes. "Any cases in Virginia or DC?"
"Not as of two hours ago, at least not that I saw online, but I'm thinking given what's going on right now that that could have changed."
"More when we get home. Let's not talk about this here and get people panicked," whispered Henry, and Serena nodded.
The parking lot was jammed with parents in their cars, but the teachers and staff were doing a good job of keeping everyone calm and moving the traffic along, getting kids in cars and getting them out of the parking lot. Over half the school was gone before Henry and Serena saw the black suburban with flashing lights pull into the parking lot.
Dread and worry immediately filled Serena. She pulled out her cell phone to see if there was a message from her parents, but there wasn't one. She tried calling her mom, but the call wouldn't go through. She tugged on Henry's arm and he turned his head away from those flashing lights and looked at Serena.
"My calls won't go through. It's just a busy signal when I dial," said Serena.
"That's probably my mom coming to get us, and people are probably panicked, flooding the cell towers or something with all of their calls. Let's stay calm," said Henry, and he sounded exactly like his father when he said it, the same soothing voice and relaxed demeanor.
The Suburban pulled past the pick up line and into the fire zone. Two men in suits stepped out of the vehicle and walked up to Kathryn, where she was standing with a loud speaker. Serena watched the men she and Henry didn't recognize show Kathryn their badges. They spoke for a few seconds and then Kathryn nodded. She placed the speaker near her mouth. "Serena Morgan, Henry LaMontagne and Jacie Pritchard," she called out.
Henry and Serena shared a confused look and made their way towards Kathryn and the two men, Jacie joining them on their walk.
One of the men stepped forward. "I'm Agent Jackson. Your parents sent us to get you and bring you to Quantico."
Serena raised her eyebrows,"What about Caleb?"
Agent Jackson smiled, "He's already on his way, with your grandmother. Fran, I believe?"
"Why Quantico instead of home?" asked Henry.
"Because your mothers have been ordered to remain there in case their assistance is needed. And, Serena, I was told to let you know that your dad is already there."
Serena nodded, relieved. "Why Jacie?"
"Senator Pritchard called Emily and asked for a favor. He's extremely busy now and Jacie's mother is in France. He wants Jacie safe."
Serena looked at Henry and saw his eyes narrow. "Why didn't my dad come to get us?"
"Your dad was on duty and DC is in a bit of a gridlock right now. He was having a hard time getting here."
Henry reached forward and took Agent Jackson's badge from his hand. Serena looked with him. It looked authentic. For once, Jacie Pritchard seemed beyond words; she looked scared out of her mind.
"OK," Henry finally said with a nod. "Let's go."
The agents nodded and got into the front seat. Jacie, Serena and Henry climbed into the back.
When they were two blocks away from the school, in a well-rehearsed motion that took only seconds, Agent Jackson and the agent in the passenger seat pulled on gas masks. Before Serena, Henry or Jacie could comprehend what was going on, a noxious smell filled the inside of the car. She felt Henry's hand clasp hers and her last thought before she passed out was, "We are in trouble."
Will LaMontagne wanted JJ out of FBI headquarters quickly. The plan was for him to get Henry and Serena and meet everyone at Rossi's. They'd chosen Rossi's house because it was well-equipped to keep them sustained for quite awhile if they needed that. The team wanted to get out of headquarters before someone told them they weren't allowed to leave. It wasn't that they didn't want to help; it's just that they had no way of doing so at the moment. The military was calling the shots now. Everyone was wandering around waiting for orders that weren't coming, at least not orders directed towards the BAU at the moment. Staying in a large building with people who traveled all over seemed a surefire way for one of them to get sick. Army medics had already taken a handful of people with mild colds into a locked-down area of the building just in case.
Will pulled up to Walden Country School in a squad car ten minutes later. He noticed most of the kids at the school were gone, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of Henry or Serena. He parked the car and went to speak with Kathryn, who looked confused.
"Two FBI agents came and picked them up, along with Senator Pritchard's daughter, about fifteen minutes ago," said Kathryn in a worried voice.
Will ran back to his car. He tried his cell phone but couldn't get through to JJ. He got on the phone connected to his police radio and dialed JJ's office number at the BAU.
"We're just getting ready to leave here, and we'll meet you and the kids at Rossi's," said JJ when she answered.
"Two FBI agents picked up Henry and Serena fifteen minutes ago. They said you sent them."
"WHAT? No! Where are they?"
Will's heart was racing. What the fuck was going on? He turned his lights and sirens on and pulled out of the parking lot. "I'm on my way. The parking lot at the school has surveillance. Have Garcia pull that footage."
Will avoided the freeway, which was a mess. Everyone was in a panic. Somehow the media got wind of several cases of ill people in the Virginia and DC area calling into the number the CDC instructed them to call. DC was under military control now and no one was allowed in or out. He'd barely gotten out in time, and then had to fight massive traffic to get to the school. He'd ignored orders and left DC and was probably out of a job, and he didn't care. The world was going to shit and all he wanted to do was get to his family. And now the kids were gone, along with Jacie Pritchard. He couldn't figure out in his head why her or how she fit into this. He did have one thought as to why the kids had been taken, though, and it had to do with Serena, and what she knew and was capable of.
He scanned the area as he sped towards Quantico on side roads, like somehow the car that held Henry and Serena was just going to appear. When he arrived at FBI headquarters, he wasn't surprised to see Army personnel with guns and in riot gear guarding the entrance. He was pretty sure this was the protocol that was occurring at every government facility in the area at the moment, perhaps at every government facility throughout the United States. However, headquarters were eerily quiet at the moment. There was no one in the parking lot.
When he got to the entrance, he saw Rossi wearing a paper face mask on the other side, having a conversation with a man in uniform. The man nodded and opened the door, handed Will and mask and let him inside.
Rossi wasted no time. He started walking into the building and talking. "It's bad. Jack was supposed to drive to my house and meet us there, but Garcia's hacked into the video cameras on my security system, and he hasn't shown up yet. He should have been there by now. And Fran was supposed to drive there with Caleb, but..." Rossi paused and shook his head.
"What?" asked Will, trying very hard not to give into the fear and emotion that was threatening to spill over and cloud the objectivity he was going to need if he was going to find his son.
"Garcia got street footage outside the dentist office where Fran was with Caleb. They come out in a rush and a van pulls up and pulls both of them inside before speeding off."
Will took a shaky breath. "The footage at the school?"
"Two men. Authentic bureau vehicle, but we can't see their faces well. They knew where the cameras were and avoided looking directly at them. Garcia's trying to clean up the footage so we can zoom in the badges, but we think they were probably fake. The vehicle is on GPS, stopped about ten blocks from the school. We think they switched cars there, but it's residential. No cameras."
"And Morgan?"
"Derek's here. He was here for lunch and didn't leave."
"Your theories?" Will asked as they stepped into the elevator.
"Reid's theory, which I agree with: They took Serena because of this virus. If they wanted her to prevent her from helping to find a vaccine, they would have only needed to take her, or take her out. They took her because they want her to find a cure. Reid thinks this is likely a man-made virus, a chimera, a biological weapon that got out and then got out of control. Whoever created it wants to clean up their mess."
Will looked at Rossi in horror. "And they took the most vulnerable members of her family for motivation, to make sure she worked quickly?"
Rossi nodded his head sadly.
"Why Jacie Pritchard?"
"Leverage, opportunity and money is all we can think of. Or someone that's behind this hates Elliot Pritchard, which is entirely possible. Half the nation does. That's still the big unknown to us, though. But Senator Pritchard is beyond angry and worried, and he's in a helicopter on his way here."
Will walked into the BAU briefing room, and JJ rushed at him, tears in her eyes. He wrapped her in a hug and glanced to see Emily sitting at the table, her face buried in her hands, Derek leaning over the back of her, whispering in her ear. Hotch looked equally as devastated. Garcia was frantically typing on her laptop. Reid was focused on the monitors on the wall, one showing Rossi's empty driveway, the other showing the footage of the parking lot at Walden Country School. Will let go of JJ and walked towards that screen. He saw Serena and Henry standing there, talking to the agents. Henry was his son, but Serena was family, too. He placed his finger gently on both of their faces on the screen.
Then he did something he hadn't done in years, since that dreadful night when JJ went missing almost eight years before. He prayed.
