It was now seven in the morning. The information of Taylor having no family came as a shock to them. When those words left Garcia's mouth nobody knew what to do for a second. All they could think about was the seven year old girl in the other room who had just lost the last of her family.
They shared a moment of silence before Hotch broke it, focusing everybody back in. "We'll have to call social services, but first we need to question her."
Rossi wasn't too fond of calling in social services to take her away just yet, but he knew it was protocol. He shuffled his feet and nodded. "She's asleep right now." He commented quietly.
Hotch nodded. "When she wakes up, JJ, you'll come with me and we'll ask her the questions we prepared for the girls. Rossi, I want you and Prentiss to talk to Juliana and her grandmother. Reid and Morgan, you'll take Alexis and her aunt. Now I have no idea when any of them will arrive so in about an hour, whoever is still around will deliver the profile."
Everybody nodded, agreeing with their assigned roles.
"Alright, grab something quick to eat and then we'll get to work."
Everybody went their separate ways at first, but Rossi and Hotch ended up meeting at the coffee bar on accident. They both poured themselves a fresh cup before heading back to the conference room.
They settled down across from each other. Neither of them bothered grabbing food. On cases, especially ones like these, it was hard to rest knowing that people were at risk while they were sitting and doing nothing. Sure every so often they got onto each other about it, but today they decided to leave it alone.
They sat in silence, enjoying their coffee and glancing at the board every so often, trying to see what connected the families.
"You were really good with Taylor this morning." Hotch said quietly, breaking the silence as he sipped his drink.
Rossi chuckled quietly. "I've learned from some of the best parents I know." He returned, sending a smile in Aaron's general direction.
Hotch laughed quietly and returned the smile. He rolled his eyes at the cheesy comment. "I'm being serious, Dave! You'd make such a great dad."
Rossi rolled his eyes, smiling like a child. "After three failed marriages, I'm not sure thats in the equation anymore."
They were both giggling like school girls by the time everyone came back into the conference room around eight o'clock.
"What is going on in here?" Morgan's hands were on his hips as he looked down at the pair. They both shook their heads.
"It's nothing." Hotch cracked another small smile at Rossi and stood up, focusing back in onto the topic at hand. "It's time to deliver the profile."
None of the children had arrived yet, except Taylor of course, but she wasn't awake either. This left the entire team to deliver the profile.
They gathered the officers in the bullpen. Hotch started everything off. "The man we're looking for is in his late twenties, early thirties. He had, or has a daughter between the ages five to seven."
"He's suffered from a tragedy recently, most likely centered around his daughter." Rossi continued.
"Somebody knows him." Morgan picked it up. "He's your everyday male, taking out your everyday couples. He blends in to the background. We're having a couple of the girls meet with a sketch artist today to see if we can get a face out there."
"There's a chance that he frequently arrives at work late, along with major paranoia in the office." JJ's eyes danced along the crowd. "Right now our analyst is cross referencing many of these possibilities and we plan on having a list out to everyone in a couple of hours."
An old lady walked into the station, a small blonde child attached at her hip. She quietly coaxed the child further.
The girl had her arms wrapped around the lady's waist as they walked together.
Officer Kohl caught sight of her first and headed in their general direction, glancing back at Hotch and mouthing "Juliana" before focusing his attention back on them.
Hotch nodded and looked at Rossi. He understood and nudged Prentiss before following Kohl into one of the back rooms.
Kohl left them alone in a small, unused office.
Rossi motioned towards the couch in the corner where the grandmother and her granddaughter would be comfortable. They took a seat, the grandmother focusing on him, but the little girl buried her face into her side instead.
He and Prentiss both pulled up a chair and sat across from them. Rossi held his hand out to the grandmother. "Agent Rossi, but please, call me Dave. This is Agent Prentiss."
Emily held out her hand. "Emily, please."
The grandmother nodded, "Lisa." She forced a small smile before looking down at the child holding onto her. "And this little nugget is Juliana." She lightly shook Juliana's shoulder.
Dave nodded. He looked to Juliana. It would never be an easy task, interviewing these traumatized kids, but it was important to figure out exactly what they saw. "Hi Juliana. Is it okay if we ask you a couple questions?" He asked softly.
Juliana peeked an eye out. She saw the agents in front of her and buried her face back into Lisa's side.
Lisa sighed. "Please sweetie, they just want to talk to you." She grabbed onto Juliana's arms and trying to peel them off of her. The child had no motivation to move. "I'm sorry." She shook her head, looking to the agents.
Rossi shook his head. "It's fine. We can wait until she's ready."
Meanwhile, Reid and Morgan were in Kohl's office with Alexis and her aunt.
The seven year old wasn't as attached to her guardian as Juliana, but she still wasn't talking much.
"Alexis," Morgan started, his voice quiet. "Is there anything you remember about that night?"
The girl bit her trembling lip and looked down at her shoes. She shoved her hands in her lap as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "Um..." she started before shaking her head. "I remember a man. He wasn't scary at first."
Morgan nodded, the agents remaining quiet as she continued. Her aunt rubbed her back. At first she didn't agree to putting Alexis through this turmoil again.
"He never yelled at me, even when I didn't do what he wanted." She sniffled, leaning back into the couch. She rubbed her eyes. "I um...I got out of bed and let him tie me up. I was...I was scared." She breathed, shaking her head.
"Isn't this enough?" Her aunt butted in.
Reid held up his hand. "We aren't going to push her ma'am. We just need to know what happened that night."
Hotch wasn't getting anywhere with Taylor. She woke up about thirty minutes ago. An officer had grabbed her a meal, but she hadn't touched it either.
They sat in the interrogation room she had slept in. Hotch sat across from her. JJ had to leave to start the press conference. They needed to get their profile out as soon as possible.
He laced his fingers together and looked down at her. "Hi Taylor, my names Aaron." He spoke to her as if he were speaking to his own son. "I know that last night was something you don't want to remember, but if you can, I'm going to need you to answer some questions okay?"
She didn't meet his eyes. She looked down at her lap, playing with her fingers. Her parents had always described her as an outgoing girl, but now everything was flipped on its head.
Hotch sighed quietly, looking down at her with pity. He decided it best to wait on the first question for awhile. "Do you remember anything about the man?"
She blinked and only shrugged, the movement subtle.
"What about the last thing you did that day?"
She bit her lip as tears welled in her eyes as she remembered everything that happened back at the grocery store that day. How her dad reacted. The last true memory of her dad was him being upset at her for dropping a jar of pickles in the grocery store.
Hotch frowned. "I'm sorry Taylor, I am, but we need to know these things so we can catch the man who hurt your parents."
She sniffled and again became unresponsive. He tapped his fingers on the table, figuring that there was hopefully one person she would talk to.
He quietly stepped out, telling the nearest officer to keep on an eye on her while he grabbed Rossi.
He knocked on the door of the office and stepped in. He looked at the little girl on the couch. It didn't seem like they were getting much information either. Hopefully Reid and Morgan had better luck.
Rossi looked over his shoulder and quietly excused himself once he saw Hotch. He stood up and walked out of the office, meeting with his friend in the hallway. "What's up?"
"I'm not having any luck with Taylor. I don't think she's going to talk to anyone."
"But you think she's going to talk to me?" Rossi inferred, setting his hands on his hips.
"I think it's likely, yes. She trusts you, Dave."
He nodded, agreeing with his friend. "Where is she?"
"Interrogation."
Rossi stepped into Interrogation. He nodded to the officer who had tried to coax her to eat, but had no luck. "I've got it from here." The officer nodded and headed out the door.
Rossi's eyes swept the room. He shook his head and grabbed her meal and set it on the futon. He then took a seat in front of it, hoping that she would get the idea to sit next to him. He lightly tapped the futon, watching as she slid off her chair and sat in front of him.
Many people never realized how scary or intimidating it can be behind all of the lights in the interrogation room. For a child, that feeling multiplied.
When she was on the ground, her shoulders visibly relaxed. She took a deep breath and looked down at the food in front of her.
"Eat kiddo, it's all for you. I won't ask you anything until you're finished."
She bit her lip and slowly nodded. She picked at her food for about twenty minutes before she pushed it away. She looked up at him.
He nodded, assuming that she would tell him if she wasn't ready. "What's your name?" His plan was to start off easier. Have her open up a little and then there was a chance she would talk to him.
"Taylor Wilson." She replied quietly.
Rossi smiled to himself. "Hi Taylor, I'm Dave, it's nice to meet you." He held out his hand to her, but instead of a shake, he took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly, more as a sign of reassurance than formality.
"Nice to meet you too." She squeezed back before taking her hand away. She pulled her knees up to her chest.
"How old are you Taylor?"
"Seven."
"What do you do for fun?"
A small smile played at her lips. "I love soccer. And drawing. And...I like playing with dogs."
He chuckled quietly. "That's awesome kiddo." He offered her a small smile, again holding his hands out for her. She dropped her hands into his and looked up at him. "We need to talk about last night, okay?"
She looked away. He squeezed her hands. "I promise I'll be here the whole time, okay?"
She took a deep breath and nodded.
"Can you remember anything about the man who came into your room?"
She bit her lip and nodded.
"Did he ever threaten you? Maybe yell at you if you didn't cooperate?"
She shook her head. "No." Her word coming out as a quiet squeak.
"What was the last thing you and your parents did yesterday?"
Her eyes started to water again. He squeezed her hands. "It's okay Taylor, it's okay, I'm here. What happened?"
She looked down at her lap, tears silently falling down her face. "We were at the grocery store...my dad was mad."
"Why?"
"I...I had a bad game. Then I broke a jar...in the store." More tears spilled from her eyes as her mind flashed back to last night as she watched this stranger take away both of her parents lives. She broke down, pulling her hands from Rossi's and instead wrapping them around herself.
As soon as she pulled away from Rossi, he scooted closer to her, his heart aching as he pulled the broke child into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck once again, her tears staining his shoulder. "Okay kiddo, okay." He soothed quietly, leaning back against the wall. "It's okay."
He sat with her for as long as she needed him. Before he knew it, Hotch was knocking on the door and saying that the rest of the team was heading to the hotel. They weren't going to catch a killer on no sleep.
Hotch looked down at his friend with the girl and nodded. He wasn't sure why, but Rossi just seemed to have the magic touch.
Rossi promised that he would be out in a minute. He looked down at Taylor, "Come on kiddo, you need to eat and then get some sleep."
She shifted and pulled herself away from him. "Will...will you be here tomorrow?"
He nodded and stood up once she did. "Of course kiddo." He lead her out of the room and into the bullpen where an officer waited with food for her. He quietly thanked them. "I'll see you tomorrow." He squeezed her hand before heading towards Hotch.
Before he was even at the front door, he felt two tiny arms wrap themselves around his waist. He smiled and turned around. He kneeled and pulled her into his arms. "Goodnight Taylor, I promise I'll be here in the morning."
She nodded and ran off to grab her meal.
He stood back up and matched his steps with Hotch as they headed out the door. Hotch didn't say anything. He just had a small smile on his face as he stepped into the SUV and drove them to the hotel.
They said their good nights and went their separate ways. It wasn't hard for Rossi to fall asleep, his mind and body exhausted from running on a couple hours of sleep for about two days.
He woke up around three in the morning to his cell phone. He sighed heavily and snatched it from his nightstand. "Agent Rossi." He answered, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Agent Rossi?" Officer Kohl was on the other line.
Panic and adrenaline mixed in his veins as he heard the familiar voice. "Yes? What happened?"
"Sir, it's Taylor. She had a nightmare. We've tried everything, but we can't get her to calm down."
He was already out of bed and getting dressed. Sure it was yesterday's clothes, but it was better than nothing. "I'll be right over." He promised. He called Hotch. He hated waking the team leader, but he needed the keys, plus there was a good chance that Aaron was already awake.
He answered immediately. "Dave?" He inquired quietly.
"I'm coming over to grab the keys. Taylor had a nightmare and she won't calm down. Kohl called me." He pulled on his shoes and headed out the door.
Hotch met him at the door. The team leader was still dressed in his suit. Rossi took the keys and shook his head. "Get some sleep, Aaron. Take your own advice."
Dave stepped into the station. At first everything was quiet, but as he approached the interrogation room he heard her quiet sniffling as everybody tried to help her. He stepped in and found Kohl. "I'll handle it, don't worry. You guys go get some sleep."
Everybody left, leaving the two of them alone.
"Hey Taylor...hey kiddo. What spooked you?" He asked quietly as he crouched in front of her. She shook her head, and rubber her eyes. "Okay, we don't have to talk about it." He held his arms out and pulled her in. "You're okay now."