A/N: Thanks for your reviews :) This is just a short one to set up the case, but next chapter, Emily will talk to Derek about Lauren.
Emily reached the airstrip just in time and was the last to board the jet. She got a few strange looks that were not unexpected, as she was usually one of the first to arrive anywhere. No one said anything though, and she took a seat quietly as the jet took off for Los Angeles.
Emily thought back to what Lauren had said when she was leaving the apartment and she really hoped the girl had been bluffing. Her daughter had been on her mind all the time since the day she was born. She had never expected they would meet and certainly not like this. Losing her so soon after meeting her would devastate Emily. She needed the chance to get to know Lauren. She wanted nothing more than to get that second chance to be a mother to her daughter. She took a deep breath and allowed her thoughts to leave her as she lay down on the couch in the jet and drifted off to sleep.
"She looks exhausted," JJ's voice floated above Emily's head a while later. "I don't want to wake her."
"Hey, Princess," Derek's hand gripped Emily's arm. "Rise and shine."
Emily sat up too quickly, her head spinning. She pressed her fingers against her temple, trying to ease the pressure. JJ quickly handed her a water bottle and some aspirin.
"Late night, Prentiss?" she asked, her voice cool.
"Very," Emily nodded, tossing back the pills and missing JJ's tone.
They reconvened in an LAPD conference room, where JJ shared the details of the case she had gone over on their flight.
"Callum was taken from the park near the family's house on Thursday afternoon. He was in the care of the nanny, who also had two of the other children with her at the time. She said that one of the other kids fell down and she went to tend to his scraped knee. When she looked up a few minutes later, Callum was gone. Though we are way past the twenty-four hour mark, LAPD has every reason to believe that Callum is alive. The family received a ransom note taped to their front door presumably not long before or after the unsub took Callum. They have also received several phone calls from the unsub since the abduction, but the guy isn't demanding money. He is asking for fame. He claims that Luis Romero is an unfit father and husband, as well as a terrible actor. He is basically asking to take Romero's place in exchange for Callum being returned to Jazzlyn Gray."
"That's not exactly uncommon in Hollywood. Celebrity stalkers usually want fame or to be noticed by the object of their affection," Reid stated. "They will do anything to get into their lives. It's likely that the unsub only took Callum to get Jazzlyn's attention. He's probably been stalking her for years."
"Reid's right. JJ, start working on a press release. The unsub will be following the news closely and needs to know that Jazzlyn has noticed him and only wants her son back safely. Rossi and I will talk to the nanny. Morgan and Prentiss, there's a neutral location set up for you to talk with Jazzlyn, Luis, and the other children. Find out if they saw anything strange in the days leading up to Callum's abduction. Get a statement from Jazzlyn to give to JJ. We don't want her appearing in public just yet. Reid, contact Jazzlyn's people, her manager, agent, fan club president, assistant. Set up interviews, get with Garcia to do background checks, ask them about any stalkers Jazzlyn may have had in the past. We will check up on Luis too, but this stalker seems focused on her."
A/N: Let me know what you think!