Addison and Luke were huddled together, while Charlie stood with a defensive stance. Addison and Luke held onto each other's hands. Charlie didn't hold anyone's hand, but he did have one hand behind his back. He eyed the two agents suspiciously.
While they were glad to have found the three children, Hotch and Emily were heartbroken that their daughter wasn't there. They thought they had heard her voice, but apparently they were wrong.
"We know you're scared, but we promise that we're here to help," Hotch told the children in a gentle voice. They look at him skeptically and backed away.
"We know what that man did to you, and we're going to make sure that he can never lay a hand on you again," Emily said softly.
"See! I told you they were good!" a small but familiar voice called out.
Charlie glanced behind him and made a shushing noise.
Hotch and Emily peeked over Charlie's head and spotted a tiny girl standing behind him. The girl was clutching a stuffed bunny in one hand. Hotch and Emily recognized it immediately. It was the bunny that Hotch bought for their daughter on the day she was born. She loved it. She never let it go. She had even been holding it when she was taken.
The filthy stuffed bunny was in a total state of disrepair. There were holes with stuffing poking out and holes that had been clumsily stitched closed. It was falling apart, but Hotch and Emily recognized a familiar blue paint stain on its left ear and the yellow ribbon that Emily had tied around its neck.
They couldn't believe that their daughter was alive and standing in front of them. She looked slightly different. She was thinner and, she looked a year older than she was when she was abducted, but it was definitely her. Emily couldn't contain the small gasp that escaped her lips when she saw her. She and Hotch had to hold back tears when they saw their child, who was gripping Charlie's hand as he protectively shielded her with his rail-thin body.
"My name is Emily, and this is Agent Hotchner," Emily told the children, gesturing to herself then to Hotch. She bent down so she was eye-level with the kids.
The tiny girl looked up at her parents and there seemed to be a brief moment of recognition. It lasted only a few short seconds, before she quickly cowered behind Charlie and gripped his hand tighter. Charlie shifted his body, so she was blocked from Hotch and Emily's view.
"He calls you 'Byrd', doesn't he?" Emily asked. Charlie responded with a stiff nod. Emily knew what the UnSub in his disgusting videos. "And he calls those two 'Lark' and 'Wren'?" Emily continued, gesturing to Addison and Luke, who were still clinging onto each other for dear life. Charlie responded with another stiff nod. "And he calls her 'Phoenix'?" Emily asked, peeking behind Charlie again. Charlie moved again and blocked the tiny girl from her mother's view. He gave Emily a stiff nod.
"But those aren't your real names, are they?" Hotch asked softly, bending down to be eye-level with the kids.
The kids shook their heads.
"Your name is Charlie, right? And those are your friends, Addison and Luke? And that little girl whose hand you're holding...her name is Fallon?" Emily asked, looking at the curly-haired boy. Of course, she knew her own daughter's name, but Charlie didn't know that she was Fallon's mother.
Charlie nodded stiffly, still looking at Hotch and Emily with wary eyes.
"You all look very hungry. If you come with me and Agent Hotchner, we can get you whatever you want to eat," Emily said, trying to coax the kids out of the closet. She knew that if they removed the kids by force, all hope of gaining their trust would be lost. She gave them a friendly smile to show that she wasn't a threat.
Addison, Luke, and Fallon looked at Charlie, unsure of what to do.
Emily could see the tension slowly being released from Charlie's body as he realized that he had the upper hand as the group's leader and protector. The kids would listen to him before they'd listen to an FBI agent. He had been leading and protecting them since Addison was brought to the house four years ago. The kids trusted him.
Charlie made some sort of subtle hand signal, and the kids immediately turned their backs to the two agents and formed a huddle. Hotch and Emily realized that the children had developed their own way to communicate with each other.
"They seem nice!" Fallon said in the huddle. It broken Hotch and Emily's hearts to hear their daughter talking about them like they were strangers.
"I think they're legit," Luke said.
"Ask to see their badges," Addison said to Charlie. Charlie looked at her, considering the suggestion for a moment, then he broke the huddle and returned his gaze to the two agents in front of him.
"Can I please see your badges?" Charlie finally asked after staring down Hotch and Emily. He knew what the consequences were if he asked for something without saying "please." All of the kids knew the consequences, and Charlie wasn't taking any chances with the two agents.
Hotch and Emily took out their badges and showed them to the boy. "Thank you," Charlie said. He and the kids knew what punishments would be in store if they didn't say "thank you", so once again, he wasn't taking any chances.
Little Fallon peeked out from behind Charlie and read her parents' FBI credentials. She stared at their pictures for a long time then looked at them. Another brief moment of recognition flashed in her eyes but ultimately, she chose to put her trust in Charlie instead of the two agents in front of her. She moved closer to him and hid behind his legs. Charlie put his arm around her and patted her on the back.
Addison and Luke peered over Charlie's shoulders as he studied the two agents' badges very carefully. He looked like he was trying to determine their authenticity. He felt his stomach rumble. He, Addison, Luke, and Fallon hadn't eaten in two days. Their captor sometimes disappeared for days at time. Whenever he did that, he would replenish their stash of granola bars and water. Sometimes he left them with more than enough food and water. Sometimes he left them with so little food and water it wouldn't last them nearly as long as he would be gone. The kids never knew how long they'd be left alone, and they had to learn how to ration food accordingly. The dwindling supply of granola bars and water that had been left for them almost a week ago was running dangerously low. The kids would sometimes go days at a time without eating in order to conserve what little food and water that had been left for them.
"I think they're telling the truth," he told the three younger kids. He knew that they couldn't go much longer without food, and with only two granola bars left and no signs that their captor would be returning anytime soon, he worried that they would die of starvation or dehydration if they didn't take Emily up on her offer. He hoped that he had made the right choice. He looked at Hotch and Emily. "Alright. We'll go with you," he told them.
Hotch and Emily smiled at the kids. They offered their hands to the kids, but Charlie brushed them off, and the other three followed suit. Charlie held little Fallon's hand as he led the kids out of the closet. Hotch and Emily followed behind them.
"We have the kids, they're coming up now," Hotch whispered into his walkie-talkie.
Once the kids reached the top of the stairs, Hotch and Emily guided them towards the front door. The kids had exited the house and were nearing the end of the driveway, when they saw something that made them stop dead in their tracks.
It was their captor, Michael Bregoli.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?" Bregoli screeched, trying to fight his way past several LAPD officers to get to the house.
"It's him!" Addison cried out, letting go of Luke's hand to point at Bregoli.
"He's gonna kill us!" Luke exclaimed fearfully. He looked at Charlie.
"Go back before he sees us!" Charlie ordered frantically. He scooped Fallon up in his arms, and he and the kids quickly turned around to go back into the house. They started sprinting, but they nearly collided with Hotch and Emily, who had been trailing behind them.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay! We won't let him hurt you!" Emily told the panicked children as she and Hotch tried to block them from running back into the house.
"Move, bitch!" Charlie exclaimed, trying shove Emily out of his way. He was trying to be strong and tough, but Emily could see the fear in his eyes.
"Charlie! He can't hurt you anymore!" Emily exclaimed. She looked at Hotch, who was struggling to prevent Addison and Luke from running back into the house. "He will never lay a hand on any of you again! Look at Agent Morgan!" Emily said, pointing to Morgan. Morgan was handcuffing Bregoli and putting him in one of the SUVs. Once Charlie watched Morgan slam the SUV's door shut, he relaxed slightly. Addison and Luke stopped trying to run into the house once they saw that Bregoli was handcuffed in the back of an FBI SUV.
"I want to say something to him," Charlie said to no one in particular. He started walking towards the SUV that Bregoli was in. Addison and Luke followed him.
Emily was about to protest when Charlie walked away with Fallon still in his arms, but Hotch held her back. He shook his head. Emily sighed and settled on observing the kids from afar.
"Excuse me, Sir? Are you Agent Morgan?" Charlie asked, approaching Morgan. Addison and Luke stood behind him.
The kids had been conditioned to address all adults by the name they were told or as "Sir" or "Ma'am" if they didn't know the adult's name.
"Yes, I am. Are you Charlie, Addison, and Luke?" Morgan replied, looking at the skinny boy and the tiny girl in his arms.
"Yes, Sir," Charlie answered. Addison and Luke just nodded
It took Morgan a second to realize that Charlie was holding Hotch and Emily's daughter. He almost gasped, but he managed to contain himself. Fallon seemed to recognize Morgan for a moment too, but it quickly passed, just as it did when she saw Hotch and Emily.
"And this little one must be-" Morgan said before being cut off.
"Fallon," Fallon finished for the agent.
"We would like talk to the man you just handcuffed," Charlie said. A look of panic flashed in his eyes. "Please," he added quickly, shying away in case he was about to get hit. Morgan looked at Charlie unsurely. He looked at Hotch. Hotch nodded, and Morgan looked at Charlie again.
"I'll roll down the window for you," Morgan told the kids. He opened the door on the driver's side of the SUV and rolled the backseat window on the same side of the vehicle. The kids walked up to the window. Bregoli saw them and scooted closer to the window, making the kids back up a few steps.
"Oh, Byrd! Lark! Wren! And little Phoenix! Tell this nice man who I am so he can let me go!" Bregoli pleaded. He smiled hopefully at the children. His smile was met with a scathing glare from each of the children.
"Agent Morgan, he wants us to tell you that he is our daddy. He wants us to tell you that we love him and don't want him to be taken away from us. What he doesn't want us to tell you is how he abused us. How he starved us. How he tortured us, and how he filmed himself torturing us," Fallon told the agent. She saw Bregoli's indignant expression and gave him a little smirk. Morgan was taken aback by the small girl's extensive vocabulary, and he had forgotten how sassy she could be.
"We hope you burn in hell, you despicable sack of shit!" Charlie exclaimed at Bregoli. The rest of the kids voiced their agreement and began hurling more insults at the deplorable man. They were finally releasing the words that they had been biting back for years. Hotch and Emily ran over when they heard the commotion and saw the kids giving Bregoli a piece of their mind.
"Okay! That's enough!" Morgan interjected, closing the window, which separated Bregoli and the kids.
"Hey, kids! Why don't we go down to the police station? We can get something to eat there," Emily suggested, trying to redirect the children's attention.
Charlie look at Emily reluctantly. Then, he looked at Addison, Luke, and Fallon. They looked back at him with hopeful eyes. He knew they were just as hungry as he was. "I think it's safe to go, and besides, we can't go much longer without food," he told the kids. He turned to Emily and Hotch. "We'll go, but we want to stay together please," he told them, remembering to say "please."
"We promise not to separate you," Hotch told the children.
"Thank you," Charlie said gratefully, and with that, Hotch and Emily led the kids to their SUV.