Garcia sees Morgan storming towards the stairs, gym bag in hand. She knew he would come to her later to get her help bandaging his hands. They wouldn't tease each other, they wouldn't flirt. She would simply help bandage him and he would leave.
She turns and heads back to her lair. She pulls up all the information she has on "The Reaper" cases. She starts to read it again. Searching for more data. Looking for more connections. Begging the Fates to let her find the one piece of the puzzle she missed.
And she knows she missed something.
Her computers have access to every database in the world. She even has access to databases she's not supposed to. If it can be hacked, she can get into it. And no system is perfect so she can hack it. Somewhere, buried in cyberspace, in circuitry, in a file somewhere is the thread she didn't get to pull.
She had wept alone when the gun went off. They all knew it wasn't a taunt or a trick. They knew that shot meant Hailey was dead. They had waited for Foyet to call again. To tell Hotch it was time for Jack to die. Instead her next call had been from JJ, telling her that Jack was okay.
But how okay was he? His father, his hero, was broken. Yes, he was putting on a brave face for Jack but kids know. Jack knows his mother is gone, taken by a maniac for no reason other than sport. Jack knows his father stopped the bad man. And for now that was enough. But what about later? When Jack is older and wants to know why Hotch hadn't saved Hailey.
Garcia wants to be able to show Jack, explain to him, map it all out for him why things happened the way they did. She wants Jack to understand it was her fault not Hotch's. She had missed something and as a result Jack's life was thrust into chaos. If she can do nothing else for Hotch, she would do this.
If only she can find that thread.