"Where is Emily?" Derek asked as the team reconfigured after Derek had caught up to the unsub and took him into custody.
"She went to the hospital with the young girl, Rachel. Her parents were killed and once Emily found her, she didn't let Emily out of her sight." Reid replied, recalling the events from the previous hour.
Derek nodded and turned to Hotch, who was approaching the team, his face indicating that he needed to talk to them.
"Oh come on, Hotch. Another case already? Do we not allow breaks between cases anymore" Morgan asked with a slight chuckle. His smile faded when he saw his leader's face even more stern that normal.
"There is another unsub." He said flatly and the profilers' eyes went wide in surprise and disbelief.
"Wait? How do you know..." Reid began before Hotch cut him off. "Reconvene in the conference room in 20. Someone contact Prentiss. JJ and Garcia are already at the office and are aware." He said as he turned to walk back tot he other officers that were still at the scene.
Rossi sighed as he rubbled his temples with his fingers. "Ok. I'm going to get coffee before we start. Anyone want some?" Both profilers nodded in response.
"I'll call Emily." Reid said as Derek and Rossi nodded and made their way towards one the SUV. They knew they didn't need to ask Reid what he wanted; they knew him. Black coffee. That's it. 'What kid drinks black coffee?' Derek had said once. He immediately regretted opening his mouth when Reid responded with a 5 minute explanation on the pros of drinking black coffee in comparison to any other coffee.
"Prentiss" Emily quickly answered her phone. She had been in the waiting room for about 45 minutes now. It had taken some major convincing on Emily's part so Rachel would go with the doctors while Emily stayed in the waiting room. Emily didn't have children and she had never really thought about having them. She adored JJ and Aaron's little boys, but the thought of giving birth never really appealed to Emily.
However, seeing the young girl cling to Emily as if she were the only thing keeping her safe invoked a pang in her heart. She didn't know what it was about Rachel- Emily had dealt with numerous child victims- but the girl had somehow made a lasting impression. It didn't bother Emily that she was stuck in a waiting room. Something in her wanted to stay and wait for the girl until she was confident that she was properly taken care of.
"Hey, Reid." Emily replied at his voice. "What? How is that possible?" She asked as Reid disclosed the recent information. "Uhh yeah. I can be..." She began when a doctor emerged calling out Rachel's name. "I gotta go, Spens." She said quickly. "I'll call back in a bit."
As she finished her conversation, Emily stood up and made eye contact with the doctor- indicating that she was there for Rachel.
"Hello, Agent Prentiss, right?" The doctor asked, remembering the information given to him when she arrived and the struggle it had been for the girl to let go of Emily.
"Yes. How is she?" She asked.
"She has a mild concussion, which should last only a few days. Other than some cuts and bruises, she is alright." He began before looking down at his chart. "However, we haven't yet had a psych evaluation, so I'm not sure where she is with that." He said, shaking his head.
"Does she know?" Emily began, referring to the death of the girl's parents. A shake of the head from the doctor indicated that it would most likely be her telling Rachel the worst news in her short life.
"Welcome, my wonderful blossoms." Garcia said as the team filed into the conference room. She and JJ had gotten news of the second unsub quickly and were already working on a profile. "Recent information on the apprehended unsub is on your tablets along with several other men who have close connections to him." She said as they all took a seat and began to flip through the information on their tablets in front of them.
"How did this guy slide under our radar?" Derek asked as he looked through the 5 profiles of possible unsubs.
"This guy is the brains behind this. The other guy just did the dirty work. We're gonna have a harder time with this unsub" Rossi announced, not looking up from his tablet.
Before anyone else could verbalize their thoughts, Hotch entered the room, capturing the attention of his profilers. "Timothy Sanders is who we already have in custody and he will not disclose anything." He stated flatly before turning to Garcia. "Garcia, have you narrowed down a pool of suspects?"
Garcia nodded and handed him one of the free tablets. "Yup. These 5 have had strong connections with Timothy and have all contacted him numerous times within the last month."
Their leader looked through the information gathered by his technical analyst and nodded. "Ok. Did we get in contact with Prentiss?" He asked to the room.
"I did." Reid stated. "She is still at the hospital with Rachel. But I only got to talk for a minute before she was pulled away by Rachel's doctor."
"Alright. Morgan, I want you in interrogation with Timothy. I need something from him; anything." He stated, looking at the man sitting at the end of the table.
"Got it" He responded as he pushed himself out of his chair and headed out the door.
"Rossi and Reid I need you guys to look deeper into this profile. Garcia, any links you can find between these two is imperative. And JJ come with me. We need to determine how we are going to address the media."
The four remaining members of the team nodded in understanding of their job and JJ stood up. Hotch watched as the other three began to work and walked out the door, JJ behind him, to meet up with several other team leaders to discuss the best way to go about the new information of the case.
At the ok of the doctor, Emily made her way to Rachel's hospital room. She took a deep breath and tried to prepare herself for what could happen once she explained to the young girl what happened to her parents.
She slowly opened the door and peered in. Rachel was sleeping in the hospital bed that was way too big for such a little girl. She quietly made her way to one of the chairs and eased herself down. She looked sadly at the young girl, even while asleep her face still look pained.
Emily sat back in her chair and took out her phone to update the team on the situation, but only seconds after she pulled her phone out, Rachel began to stir in the bed. Emily remained still, just in case she was just repositioning herself and would go back to sleep. However, it was soon clear that she wasn't just getting comfy in the bed.
Emily watched as the girl began to toss and turn, thrashing her head back and forth on the pillow. Emily immediately got up and made her way to the bed; knowing that the constant movement of her head could worsen her concussion. "Hey, love." Emily cooed as she sat on the edge of the bed. When the girl began to mumble in a panic, Emily tried physical contact to calm the girl. She rested a cool hand on the girl's forehead and pushed back the hair that had fallen over her eyes. "Rachel, sweetie." Emily whispered softly. "You're ok."
Emily, having very little experience with comforting a child, hoped that what she was doing was effective. The woman was pulled out of her thoughts when the mumbling turned into words and tears began to leak from the girl's small eyes. "No. Please! Please don't. Stop!" Her dirty blonde hair beginning to stick to her face as she began to sweat.
Emily sighed and realized that she was going to have to do something else if she wanted the girl to be able to relax. Not even thinking, Emily moved her body so she was parallel to Rachel. She picked up the small girl, carefully avoiding any injuries and making sure not to move her head much, and gathered her into arms. Rachel's head found its was to Emily's shoulder and Emily pushed herself further down in the bed so the girl's body would be in a lying position on top of her. "Shhh. You're ok. You're ok." Emily soothed as she ran a hand up and down her back.
As Emily continued to sooth the girl and rub circles on her back, she felt her begin to relax. She had stopped mumbling quickly, and her breathing slowly became more regulated. Finally, when her body stopped moving, Emily took a breath and stopped moving her hand, but kept it on the girl's back. She could feel the girl's steady heartbeat and even breathing and knew she had fallen asleep once again.
Not wanting to take the chance of waking Rachel up, she remained in the bed with her. As the girl's breathing became deeper, Emily decided to take this time to get some rest as well. She knew she would wake up at any sudden movements or sounds, and having Rachel in her arms made her more comfortable that the girl was safe.
Emily closed her eyes, the thought of this little girl flooding her mind. Emily still didn't know what was so different about her, but she felt so comfortable with the girl sleeping in her arms. She smiled as she stroked the girl's head a few times before drifting off asleep as well.
