In case you all didn't already know this, you're awesome! Completely, absolutely awesome. When I first started writing this, I only intended for it to be a three part Christmas event, but then so many of you added this story to your favorites and alerts, that I became a little obsessed with wanting to continue this. You all are so encouraging, and I appreciate it so much! Then, the reviews came pouring in after the last chapter and around the same time that the lightbulb came on in my head and gave me an idea to continue this story with. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this one, so please bear with me. I hope you all enjoy it!
Also, danicalif80 brought up a very good point in the reviews. I know there was some confusion regarding how Reid got himself kidnapped. I implied a lot of things, but since I wasn't planning on continuing with the story and was more focused on the aftermath of the kidnapping, I left the how part out. I do, however, have a rough back story for that, so I shall explain it in case it comes up again.
Basically, the team was called out to Colorado on a serial killer case. With the last body, which turned up after the team arrived, came a taunt to the police. They feared someone else was in danger and set out without Reid to follow up on that. The reason they left Reid behind was mostly just to man the desks at the police station and make sure there was some sort of resource there in case another incident occurred that they didn't see coming, or they needed in-office back up. He was also left behind to be the mediator between Garcia back at the headquarters, and the rest of the team. They told him to lock up because there had been the threat, a little suspicious that they could be being led astray, but still having to follow the lead with all available hands on deck. Sure enough, the killer had planted the notion that another person was in trouble to try and get the police out of the office, hoping they would leave one behind, since they usually need someone to man the office. He saw kidnapping a police officer, or FBI agent as his leverage to negotiate.
Reid, unfortunately, opened the door believing that he was armed and had a handle on things, and also concerned because the person looked like they were in need of help, and with a serial killer on the loose, you never can tell. The fact is, he knew better, but he let his emotions and want to help people cloud his judgement. Morgan figured out their suspicions were confirmed when the lead turned up empty and he couldn't get Reid to pick up on his cell or at the station. Since the killer was a local, he also knew about the place that Melinda called her secret place, and took Reid there to hide him, not intending on killing him, but keeping him until he could plan out how he wanted to negotiate things. His mental state was dwindling quickly, and Reid was beginning to get on his nerves, so he had made the decision to kill him at the same time as Melinda found them. Enter the story. If there are any questions, feel free to ask. Like I said, it's just a rough back story.
lolyncut – Thanks for the review! Both of your reviews, actually. Your first review was actually the tipping point in making me decide to continue this story. I was thinking exactly what you were thinking as far as having Melinda meet the more secure Reid further down the line. I really wanted to play with that, and your review let me know that someone would be interested in reading it, so I am thankful to you for that. I hope this lives up to any expectations you may have. Thank your for reading! And can I say that you are way too cute for reviewing twice because you liked this story and wanted me to continue. I'm telling you, you are definitely the person who inspired me to continue with this. And you're so welcome, but thank you for reviewing and being so inspiring! It is truly people like you that challenge me and make me a better writer!
SSAjane – Thanks for the review! And may I say that I love your username. Thank you for liking Melinda and I hope you enjoy this as a full length story. It's reviews like yours that made me want to continue this.
harksara – Thanks for the review! This is random, but I'm one of those people who sings about everything, and your username makes me want to bust out in gleeful renditions of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. (I'm weird, I know.) I hope the continuation of this story makes you as happy as your username makes me.
story-untold15 – Thanks for the review! I try to think of my chapters as scenes in a movie, so I try to make them as visual as possible. Thank you for the feedback and letting me know that you could picture what was happening. It's reviews like yours that I'm so appreciative of as an aspiring writer. Thank you.
danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! Also, thank you for pointing out the little blunder about the confusion as to how Reid was kidnapped. Because I had a back story in my head for that, I didn't realize just how confusing I had let that get. I needed to either drop any further comments about it, or explain, and instead I landed somewhere in the middle. Thank you for pointing that out and I hope I clarified above. I'm sorry for any confusion. Also, I always check my reader's profiles because I like to get to know them better, and I just have to say that I am also a huge fan of the Gideon / Reid relationship. I'm still mourning Mandy leaving the show all these years later. I think there should be a support group for that, really. I am also writing a fiction regarding Gideon and Reid's relationship, and can't wait until I have some extra time so that I can read yours.
8393 – Thank you for the review! I'm glad you loved this story and Melinda. I had a lot of fun with Melinda. I love writing off color characters, and off color characters are just too fun with a buttoned up, stick in the mud, but ever so lovable Reid. I'm glad she translated well. I was a bit worried about her character.
LuciansLycanNightShade – Thanks for the review...both of them! Thank you for taking the time to review not just the whole story, but to take the time to review two chapters! I am so glad you like the character! I was worried of how she would come off / if she'd be too much for Reid and no one would like their connection. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
Chapter 4
Swiftly Gone
A Year and a Half Later
The team sat in the bullpen of the BAU, fiddling with some paperwork at their desks. Reid kept staring at his phone and tapping his pen on his desk in a one-two motion, barely able to concentrate. His annoying pen tapping drew the attention of the other team members.
"Hey, Kid! Give the pen a break. What did it ever do to you?" Reid looked up at Morgan briefly, just long enough to answer him.
"Nothing." As soon as his head went back down, his pen was back at work. Prentiss was trying to pretend it didn't bother her, but she was giving him the look of death out of the corner of her eye. Morgan snapped, having had enough of having his concentration broken.
"Reid!" He didn't yell, just spoke strongly enough to catch Reid's permanent attention, while getting up and reaching across the desk, removing the pen from his hand. Reid's eyes were fully on him. " What's eating you?"
"Have you heard from Melinda?" The question wasn't just directed at Morgan. Reid took the time to glance at Prentiss and Rossi, too. Rossi shouldn't even had been out in the bullpen, but his office was being repainted for the second time since he moved to the BAU, and he was temporarily using an extra, lonely desk that was just waiting to be filled.
"Who?" Morgan was the first to question it. Rossi sat at his desk, quietly observing the scene, intrigued by the way Reid was acting. Prentiss, however, picked up on what this was about right away. A woman never forgot the way a guy looked at another woman when he really meant it. It's what kept women believing that love was still out there.
"I think he means the girl from Colorado that saved his life." She smiled, her tone insinuating a love connection had been made, and she wasn't about to let it go.
"Just Melinda, Melinda? Ooh, now that's what I'm talking about, Reid." Instead of being embarrassed by the heckling, Reid was less than amused and clearly on edge, which his jagged voice reflected when he responded to Morgan.
"It's not like that, and I'm worried about her." He was short, uncomfortable with the conversation, yet he had to ask what he did, even though he knew it would land him in a place where he was open to be picked on, but only by people with the best intentions.
"Why would you be worried about her. You haven't seen her since Colorado, have you?" Rossi finally decided to throw in his two cents, obviously prodding Reid for the pending info everyone was looking for.
"When would I have time to do that?" Reid was offended, feeling as if they were implying he was leading a secretive double life outside of the BAU. He told his team more about himself than even they realized. He wouldn't have been able to hide something as big as they were insinuating.
"We have breaks, Kid, and vacation time. If we were here twenty four seven, we'd burn out." He almost added 'like Gideon,' to the end of that, but quickly thought the better of it. That would be the opposite of helping the situation.
"I go and see my mom then. You guys know that." Reid barked a little, making it clear to them that he was uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed.
"Have you talked to her since the case?" Rossi tried once more, rewording his question to get a entirely different, but just as important, answer from Reid.
"She calls me once or twice a month to make sure I haven't been kidnapped again. I don't see where that's relevant. All I did was ask a question. If I knew I was going to be interrogated, I wouldn't have bothered. I mean, doesn't she call you guys, too?" Reid rarely got angry or agitated, and notably only when he was using, but the team knew Reid well enough to know that some things were too personal for him to want to talk about. He had become more careful over the years in trying to have something for himself. It took a lot of convincing for him to know he needed that.
"No, she doesn't. And calm down, Kid. We're just trying to figure out why you're worried about her. If we don't know that, we can't help. Besides, you were the one who brought it up, which means you want our help. That's all we're trying to do." Morgan slowly reached over and put Reid's pen back on his desk. He'd rather have Reid take out his frustration on it than them. The pen was inanimate. It wouldn't get offended.
"She hasn't called me at all this month and it's already the 29th. That's not like her." Sure enough, Reid picked the pen back up and started going at it again. Morgan wasn't sure what was getting the worst of the beating, the pen or the desk. It was possible he was, because the look that Prentiss gave him for giving the pen back was close to causing him near immediate cardiac arrest.
"Reid, have you ever called her?" Prentiss was fully involved in this conversation now, a little amused even, and went as far as to close the folder she was doing paperwork inside of to focus on it.
"I never had to. She always called me. I don't even know how she got my number." Morgan laughed. It was surprising to him that someone with a mind like Reid's would take so long to bother to question that.
"I added it to the letter you left for her. Reid, if you're not calling her, that may be why she stopped calling you." This would have been common sense to anyone else, but to Reid it was counterintuitive.
"What do you mean?" To Reid, if things in his life were going along fine and swift, he just left it alone and didn't rock the boat. By doing that, sometimes he tipped the boat clear over.
"You do realize she's not just calling to make sure you haven't been kidnapped again. That's just an excuse to talk to you. If she's the one always doing the calling, after a year and a half she may have taken that as a hint." Rossi decided now would be the superb time to cut in. All eyes were on him. Even Reid took the liberty of swiveling around in his chair to hear Rossi out.
"You think? Because she always said she just wanted to make sure I hadn't been kidnapped again, because I had told her I'd been kidnapped before." Rossi sat behind Reid, shaking his head back and forth. Reid still amazed him at times. He had made so much progress in the last few years, going to a boy who missed everything, to a man who was slowly becoming socially trained, but he still had his moments. He took people for their word and forgot that it was necessarily to read between the lines, especially when it came to women.
"I know. As a woman, I know how hard it is to like someone and not be able to tell them. She's lying about why she's calling because she's afraid of being rejected. You should call her, Reid." Prentiss had spent far less time calling a guy in college. He was always friendly and sweet to her on the phone, and always seemed interested, but he never called her on his own. Eventually, she took the hint and realized he was just a nice guy who didn't have the guts to say he wasn't interested in her in any way, but was still willing to listen to her gripe.
"If what you're saying is correct, how do I know she's not just mad at me for not calling her before?" Reid tensed up, wanting to keep any issues to an absolute minimum. Who was he to call her if she was mad? That would be rude.
"You don't, but all you can do is call her and find out. If you like her, even a little bit, you need to call her. If that's why she's mad, I'm sure she'll forgive you. She wouldn't have called you for a year and a half just to turn around and decide she suddenly wants nothing to do with you. She's invested too much time into trying. She just needs to know you're trying too." Prentiss didn't know if Reid's mind would comprehend all of that, but she thought she'd throw it out there and let it try. There were a lot of things he understood, more now than ever, but women were still a mystery to him. They were to most guys, but Reid's lack of understanding was a little more intense.
"Why did you give her my number, anyway?" It took Reid long enough to process that part, his mind and maybe a few other body parts he didn't want to consider thinking only about Melinda.
"You really don't know?" Morgan lifted his head up to look at Reid, trying to hold back the disbelief and amusement from the conversation between he and Prentiss that he was trying to sit back and listen to. He thought she was getting through. She wasn't.
"You should have seen the way you two danced. You'd have to be blind to not see something was happening." Prentiss spoke up, hoping that it might be better coming from a woman, the same one who had been trying to make progress with him.
"I guess I'm blind then." He shrugged, a little offended again. Everyone knew better. He was just protecting himself. He didn't like when people saw through him, which was a big downfall for him being as he worked with profilers. It was beneficial to him, though. He needed people who weren't afraid to keep him in place and weren't afraid of his intellect, but only wanted to see him grow as a person.
"You're not blind, Reid. A little dense when it comes to certain things, and a liar when you're trying to protect your feelings, but you see more than you think you do." Morgan had seen the way he had taken to Lila, and the way he let his guard down and hit on Austin. He had it in him when he stopped thinking and just let himself feel, which was rare.
"So you think I should call her?" If the answer was not so obvious, everyone would have groaned. Instead, the team answered in unison, the surprise of it all nearly knocking Reid out of his chair.
"YES!" Somehow, when no one was paying attention to anything but Reid, and Reid to nobody but himself, Hotch and Garcia had crept their way into the conversation, careful to stay back, as not to disturb it. It was rare the team could gang up on Reid, and since he could outdo them in his sleep, they took the opportunity to get a charge out of him.
"Right now?" He didn't have to wait for that answer either. The team was ready.
"YES!" At this, a few other agents in the same bullpen looked up to see what the commotion was. When they saw everyone was surrounding Reid, no one thought much of it.
"But I'm at work!" Reid answered with the same enthusiasm as the team had, and almost as loud as the five of them. He even scared himself a little.
"Consider it a late follow up call to one of our cases." Reid looked at Hotch, surprised this was coming out of him. There had to be some rules being broken somewhere, and Hotch was a stickler for them. "Reid, she wasn't a victim. You can call her without crossing any boundaries, and I can explain the call to Chief Strauss if she questions your phone records. Call her."
"Are you all going to stand here and listen in, or can I have a little privacy?" This is where Hotch drew the line at bending the rules. It was bad enough he was already trying to think of ways to explain Reid's call log on a government issued phone. That alone told him he wasn't following bureau policy, but he could explain it, so he was willing to stick his neck out for a little bit of sunshine in Reid's life. He worked hard for it.
"This is a federal office. I said you could call her and we would consider it a work call. I didn't say we were going to give you special parameters to make the phone call." Plus, he really wanted to listen in, but Hotch being Hotch, he would never admit that. He couldn't be seen as that kind of person. He also knew the rest of the team wanted the same. He wouldn't take that little bit of joy from them.
"All of you just want to know how this is going to turn out, don't you?" Indicative to a newer, more socially wise Reid, he caught on to this. Of course, everyone was coming closer and closer to him, so it wasn't hard.
"Oh yes. Start dialing, my little wonder, or I'm going to do it for you." And Garcia would, with no second thought. In fact, if he didn't do it soon, she was going to run over there, take his phone, and do it for him. She couldn't stand the suspense, and she wanted to see her little genius attempt to talk to a girl. She had only heard about such myths.
Begrudgingly, Reid opened his cell phone in front of all of his team members, finding her number in his phone, hitting send, and waiting. He didn't have to wait long, though, before a quizzical look crossed his face. The whole team was right in his business to find out what the look was all about. "That's weird. The number has been disconnected."
"Call the bar." Morgan offered up what he thought to be a logical suggestion. Reid hadn't even thought of it because Melinda had been calling him from her personal phone. He had a one track mind sometimes.
"I don't have the number." Morgan opened his desk, pulling something out and throwing it on Reid's desk in front of him.
"Here. I swiped it from the bar when we were there." Reid looked down, his face scanning over the menu to Melinda's bar.
"And you kept it all this time?" Reid looked at Morgan like he was crazy. Who keeps menus to a restaurant thousands of miles away in their desk drawer for a year and a half? How do they live with that kind of disheveled clutter?
"I thought you might need it someday, and I was right, so don't be giving me that look." Noting the look, Morgan brushed him off, not putting up with him being an internal smart ass.
Reid was going to roll his eyes, but he stopped himself and started to dial the number on menu, fully expecting to get someone to pick up. If not her, someone who worked for her and could tell him what's been going on. What he got was much more shocking.
"That number has been disconnected, too." Garcia moved in on Reid's desk, reaching down and swiping the menu from it before Reid had time to close his phone.
"Give me that menu. If she still has that bar I will find that number so fast that you won't even realize I was gone." She was starting to hastily take off, a woman on a mission, before realizing she couldn't just go and do what she wanted, as it wasn't an official case. She turned to Hotch for some leeway on this, since he was so willing to give Reid leeway on making the phone call. "I mean, Sir, can I take a break now instead of later so I can look this up for our favorite boy genius?"
"Garcia, you don't get breaks." This deterred her not. You could not waylay Penelope Garcia. She got what she wanted one way or another, and always with a smile on her face.
"Then an early lunch?" It was two in the afternoon, but she thought she would try and outsmart him for one hot second, just long enough to get what she wanted. She should have known better with a profiler.
"You already had lunch." Seeing Garcia's face go from happy to glum, and Reid's follow, Hotch did something he rarely did and caved. "Go ahead. Just do it quickly and discreetly." Garcia became excited again, scurrying off before he had a chance to change his mind.
"Ill expect an update when Garcia comes back." Hotch's eyes fixated on all the team members for just a second, before turning to go to his office and tend to business. He had wasted enough time allowing the team to delve into a little bit of personal time. He couldn't waste any more.
"Wow, I wonder what I have to do to get Hotch to allow me to call a sexy woman during work hours." Morgan was surprised at how easy Hotch was letting this fly.
"Meet less sexy women." Reid pretended to go back to work, looking down at his paperwork and writing a few things he would never be able to read again.
"Hey! What are you saying?" Prentiss and Rossi both found themselves unable to keep their composure. What Reid missed with his own love life, he sure caught from everyone else's.
"Nothing bad. I'm just saying you meet a lot of women. You'd always be on the phone." It was Morgan who was now unable to do paperwork, and, out of nothing but the prophecy of monkey see monkey do, he began tapping his pen violently on his desk.
"He speaks the truth." Prentiss outstretched her hands, having them do the shrugging for her.
"That's not fair." Morgan tapped his pen harder, not liking being the one who was now being ganged up on, even though he knew it was done in jest. He didn't like it because he knew they were right, and he knew what it made him sound like, though he was far from it.
"I agree. How many dates did you have last weekend?" Reid looked up from his paperwork, already knowing the answer to this. He just wanted Morgan to tell the rest of the team.
"Three, but they were casual dates. I'm not exclusive with anyone and it doesn't go there."He wanted to make that last part very clear. He wasn't, and never would be, the love them and leave them kind.
"Right, but I had none. In fact, my weekends have been free most of my life. I think Hotch just feels bad for me." It even struck Reid in the gut to say that. He felt bad for himself. He just didn't want to admit that, because he was never able to feel sorry for himself. Not in his life or the job he had. It was about others, which left no time for himself.
"We all do, Reid. We all do." Reid began to open his mouth to say something back to Prentiss, not liking where this was going, when Garcia, who was again previously unnoticed, butted in.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news and some worse news. The bar burned down a few weeks ago." She stopped between Reid and Morgan's desks, mostly addressing them.
"What's the worse news?" Reid didn't like when Garcia didn't give it all up in one go. It usually meant something unthinkable was about to come out of her mouth.
"No one has seen the owner, Melinda Jolene, since. The fire was ruled an accident. One of the stoves malfunctioned, but the place was burnt to a crisp, so there's no way to tell if she perished in the fire or not. I hope this isn't the girl you were trying to call." She knew it was. She wasn't a profiler, but she had picked up on it being her bar.
"When did you say this fire was?" Reid began to panic inside, but he wasn't going to show it. He kept his head just the way he was taught to at Quantico.
"May 23rd." Reid racked his brain for a second, thinking back through dates and times to the last time he had talked to her. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"The last time I heard from her was on the last Tuesday of May, which would have been after the fire. She's still alive." He wanted to take this as good news, but there were so many variables wandering through the back of his head that it made it difficult to do.
"If she's still alive, then why is her phone disconnected? Reid, did she say anything to you that would indicate anything was wrong?" Morgan could feel it in his gut that something had gone terribly awry. He wanted to make Reid aware of it without startling him.
"I don't think so." Reid remembered pictures first, dates second, and conversations third. Even still, he could usually repeat one back to you word for word if you just gave him a few minutes to sort through the first two until he got to the third.
"Think harder, Reid. You know her past and what she does. If she's homeless again, but has made an effort to shut off her phone and virtually disappear, there has to be a reason for it. I could tell when I was talking to her that she would do anything to not go back to that life, so she wouldn't shut herself off to the world unless she had to, and especially not from you." Morgan had talked to her long enough on that cold December night to have gotten a good enough feel for her to know she needed stability since she hadn't had it before. He had watched her dance with Reid long enough to know she felt it in him, even if she didn't consciously realize it. Her calling him so often confirmed this.
"How do you know that?" Reid thought the same, but Morgan seemed more sure of it than even he did. He wouldn't admit it, but it made him a little jealous.
"She told me that she doesn't get close to people, so much so that she doesn't call them by their real names when they're not around, and if she does, she shuts herself down inside so she can't connect with them. She asked me if she could change that. I told her she could. That's why I left her your number. I was trying to bait her and see if she would try to change, and she did. She wouldn't just walk away from something like that if she could help it. It would be too painful for her to even try to make a connection. I'm sure she's gone through a lot emotionally just trying. She wouldn't be capable of walking away from that." Reid knew Morgan was right, although he hadn't known about that conversation between the two. This made him more worried, but also made him rack his brain harder to remember the exact conversation until it uploaded into the front and center of his mind.
"She sounded like she normally did, calm, scatter-brained, but like she had it all figured out and would be fine. Now that you mention it, though, when I asked her how she was doing in natural conversation, she said if she needed anything, she would I'm ask me in person. Usually she says, 'Sugar, I am making due just fine. And don't worry, I'm not calling because I need a thing.' I guess it was always implied that I wasn't asking that as casually as I wanted to." He asked because he secretly wanted her to need something from him. He felt as if he was in her debt for what she had done for him. There was so much more to it than just her saving his life. She cared for him as well. He just wanted to show her the same kind of compassion. He didn't know how else to make her feel less empty. He knew it would help him, too.
"Garcia, can you go and see if anyone with her name has boarded any public transportation of any kind since the fire, anywhere in Colorado or the surrounding area? Actually, don't just check under Melinda Jolene, look for anyone with the first name Melinda." With Reid on the same page as him, Morgan shot out an order. Hotch wasn't around to not approve, and this was important, not only to Reid, but to someone who was a hero in the team's eyes.
"On it." Garcia turned from the team and went back to her little haven. She didn't get too far before Morgan was out of his chair.
"Where are you going?" Subconsciously Reid was holding on to Morgan as an emotional crutch. He didn't realize it until Morgan started to depart from his position across from Reid.
"To talk to Hotch. I read that girl six ways from Sunday when we were at that bar, trying to make sure she didn't have an ulterior motive when it came to helping a Federal Agent, considering her past. A lot about her is a mystery to me, but I'm sure she wouldn't just disappear like this. She helped you, now we have to help her. She could be in trouble, alone, unarmed, and homeless on the streets." Before Morgan could push in his chair, as not to trip any other agents walking past, Rossi was out of his chair, too.
"I'll go with you. Reid, why don't you and Prentiss go with Garcia in case she finds a Melinda, just a Melinda, and is able to pull up video footage of her. You're going to need to help identify her to make sure it's the right person." Prentiss rose and Reid followed right after. Everyone had a mission now, a purpose. Morgan and Rossi were halfway to Hotch's office when the spotted a hold up through the blinds.
"Uh oh. It looks like someone is in trouble." Rossi's sarcasm passed through Morgan, and he looked up too, spotting what Rossi had seen first, Chief Strauss.
"I didn't do it." Nor did Morgan want to be in the middle of her and whomever did whatever it was that had given her a more darkened scowl than the normal one she carried.
"If you use that tone of voice, I'm not sure she'll be convinced." Morgan would laugh, but they were already at Hotch's office. Rossi took the liberty of knocking on the door, less afraid of Chief Strauss due to more years of working with her.
"Hotch, can we talk to you for a minute?" Rossi moved inside the room, while Morgan stayed in the doorway, almost barricading it so they could say their piece without anyone trying to stop them.
"He's in a meeting right now." Cheif Strauss' voice was cold, cutting through the air like a knife. This didn't deter Morgan, though. It only made him angry. He was one hundred percent protective of Reid and anyone else who tried to protect him, too. He wouldn't take this lying down, so to speak.
"Fine, you should probably hear this, too. Hotch, Melinda's bar burned down. Reid said he talked to her after that, but she didn't sound like herself. We know she got out of the fire, but her phone is disconnected and we're worried she's in trouble. Prentiss and Reid are helping Garcia check video footage and public transportation records. We think she may have been trying to come to Reid, but that was over a month ago, and she hasn't been heard from since." He repeated the little that Hotch knew just to catch Chief Strauss up on the entire story. Because she was involved by default, he was sure she'd want to make the final decision on this, and he wanted her to know the severity of the situation, and that he wouldn't stand passive and let whatever happened just be.
"If you'll excuse for a moment, Chief Strauss." Hotch looked from her to Morgan, focusing his attention on him, and making it obvious to Chief Strauss that this was more important than what she had to say. "Why don't you file your paperwork away for the day. Once we get word from Garcia, we should have a better idea of where to start looking for her. As soon as we know that, we'll take off."
"Now, just wait a minute. I make the final decisions around here, not you, and I say what cases you can and can not take. It doesn't sound like there even is a case for you to be invited in on." Chief Strauss was firm, angry that Hotch never consulted her about this.
"There's not. This one is strictly personal." He didn't feel he needed to. He was in charge of his team and he did a good job. He didn't need anyone micromanaging it. It was not her job to do so, as much as she liked to think. They chose cases just fine without her input.
"Oh, well why didn't you just say that in the first place? I'm always glad to use government money to send my agents galavanting around the country for personal reasons." This solidified her suspicions and constant worry that she had over Hotch running the team. They were the best at what they did, but she always felt they would benefit from being out from under a few of the members, such as Gideon and Hotch. There was one down, but the other one stood tall and he wasn't intimidated by her.
"Erin, back off. This girl saved Reid's life a year and a half ago. This may not be an official case, but we owe it to her, and to Reid, to make sure she's okay." Rossi had no respect for Chief Strauss' and her decisions most of the time. He had practically built this unit of the FBI, and he didn't appreciate someone who didn't understand it running it. He never had.
"Is this the girl that tackled a gunman herself, unarmed, to keep a serial killer from murdering Reid?" As with all FBI cases, the report had been filed stating such. The team was almost surprised she even remembered this. She had so much paperwork come across her desk, and she never questioned them about it, so they figured it was water under the bridge; out of sight and out of mind.
"That's the one." Rossi stared her down, but she was the one to break first. That was one thing Rossi had up on her; the ability to profile her and realize that under it all, she puffed herself up and gave more than she could take. If you challenged her hard enough, and silently, you found her true being. Her only weapons were words.
"Guys, we came back with nothing. No one with the first name Melinda boarded a plane, train, or bus anywhere in Colorado or the surrounding areas, as far as we could tell. We don't have enough time to go through the footage from all of the airports, bus stations, and train stations. There's literally hundreds, and with a month's worth of footage we would need a lifetime's supply of Adderall just to get through the the eastern part of the state. It would probably be a waste of time, too, because it's unlikely she'd be using a different name. She said Melinda was the name given to her by the nurses in the hospital where she was born, and she was still referring to herself as such now, which means, no matter what she did, she didn't feel the need to lie about her name. When I was working on getting her last name officiated, I ran her social and she checked out. She was Melinda. Just Melinda." Reid didn't bother to look at Chief Strauss. He knew he'd get no reaction out of her that would sooth his nerves. He didn't want to upset himself more.
"She could have driven somewhere." Chief Strauss didn't have time for this. Her tone came across rude and ruthless.
"No, she couldn't have. She doesn't drive. She doesn't know how. She doesn't even have a license. If she didn't take public transportation, she walked or was taken." Reid knew this was still a fact, so much so that he took the time to look directly at Chief Strauss this time. He wanted her to know she was wrong without a fraction of doubt. She sighed heavily and did something that no one had ever seen her do. She decided to work with the team, instead of against them.
"Okay, look, you know I can't condone sending a team out on an unofficial case, or a case they haven't been invited into. It's against the rules. But there are a few loopholes, and considering this involves a woman who saved the life of a federal agent, I think it would be okay if we used them. I can send Reid to look for her under the circumstances, but I can't send him alone, and I can't spare another team member. As I was just in here telling Agent Hotchner, there was a high profile murder last night in Seattle and the case takes top priority. If you can find another government paid employee that knows your job to go with Reid, I'll be forced to sign off on it. The rest of you need to prepare to go to Seattle, Garcia included." She knew that she had lost any negotiating leverage she may have had with them by giving in, so she laid down the law and left the room. She would give them an hour to coordinate things before getting on their cases again about going to Seattle. She could find a way to bend the rules, within policy, concerning Reid going to look for Melinda, but she couldn't do it by keeping the team from going to Seattle at their utmost convenience.
"Hotch, where are you going?" Hotch got up from his desk just moments after Chief Strauss' departure, presumably to do what looked a lot like chasing after her, although no one could figure out why he would argue with a bull after she had conceded.
"To talk to J.J. She's speaking at an FBI training seminar on the third floor today." Prentiss stopped him before he could get out the door.
"Hotch, wait. I just had lunch with her last weekend. She's told me she's taking some personal time starting tomorrow." Hotch nodded.
"I know, but it's the only way we could get her. The Pentagon wouldn't let us borrow her if she were on duty there. I'm hoping her allegiance to Reid will allow her to consider joining him during that personal time. She's the only chance we have; the only one who knows the job and is qualified to go with him." Hotch raced out the door, not wanting to miss her. She was only there until three, or at least that's what she had said when she had talked to him last night, asking him to stop by and visit her if he had a chance. He wanted to catch her before he left.
"Wait, does everyone talk to JJ on a regular basis since she left but me?" Reid hadn't realized that she was such a part of everyone's life. He had only talked to her a few times since her departure. It was still hard on him.
"Yes!" This time when the team answered, it had a little less volume, but just the same gusto. Reid was getting tired of hearing them in stereo.
"Reid, don't be offended. J.J. cares for you just the same as she does us, but she knows you're not good with goodbyes. She's just trying to make it easier on you, that's all. She knows this was the hardest on you." Prentiss sensed Reid's frustration, as he always had a different, special kind of bond with her. She wanted to smooth it over.
"I just don't like feeling abandoned." She wasn't the first person who had done it to him. He knew she meant well, and she thought a clean break would be easiest since they were both busy, with nearly no time to see each other. She didn't want to keep reopening his old wounds, but it just made him feel like she couldn't put the effort into him.
"Reid, she's not Gideon. And neither is Melinda. We'll find her." Morgan tried to be reassuring. The poor kid had to feel like everyone left at some time or another, whether they meant to or not.
"How can you be so sure?" Nothing felt right about this, nor did anything make sense, even when he tried to profile it.
He thought of a million reasons why her phone would be off, or she wouldn't use public transportation, most revolving around money, but he remembered she said that the bar pulled in six figures, so that shouldn't have been the problem for her. And why run if the fire was an accident? There were too many variables that didn't add up. She wouldn't have willingly sent herself incognito and out on the streets.
"Because of the kind of person she is. If she was coming to you, nothing would stop her from getting there. She's a tough girl, and she's out there somewhere. She's out there looking for you." Morgan was convinced that's what she had meant when she said to him what he had, but it bothered him that she hadn't boarded any public transportation. He said it anyway because he didn't want Reid to know he was worried or doubtful.
"Well then I guess we better hope Hotch convinces J.J. to come with me, because if we don't find her first, I don't know that we're going to see her again." He couldn't divert from the nagging feeling. All he could do now was wait, so with that in mind, he sat himself down at the visitor's side of Hotch's desk, taking a pen out of his holder and tapping it on the desk. Just like that, the rest of the team split, unable to handle the annoying sound any longer, and leaving Reid in a metaphorical darkness of the unknown to wallow in reality that he had been smacked with his own feelings. And boy did it hurt.
