Well hello again, I apologize for the wait, but I'm having to balance writing between two jobs and full time college life. This chapter has some dark hints, but it's not too bad. Enjoy.
The next time I woke up, the room was light and a doctor in dark purple scrubs was standing next to me.
"Ah, Agent Dare, glad you finally joined us. I'm Dr. Roberts, it seems that your concussion was much worse than we immediately thought. I'm aware that you flight was delayed an hour for this consult, and I've assured your supervisor that you can go home. I want you to take it easy on the plane, and take these pain killers. When you get home go straight to the ER. I'll have your case forwarded to the Nuero Attending there, he will be expecting you."
I let out a groan. MORE hospitals?!
Hotch walked in, and nodded at the doctor respectfully. They shook hands, and a nurse stepped forward to usher me into a wheel chair. I glared at her, then up at Hotch as he took it and wheeled me out to the SUV. The whole team was waiting, and again Morgan practically picked me up and put me in the SUV, sitting close to me for the ride to the airport.
Soon enough we were on the jet, and I was ushered again to the couch, and sat down. I glared at my team, oh if looks could kill…..
I leaned back against the couch and grudgingly accepted the bottle of water and the pills that Hotch handed me. Swallowing the bitter capsules, I rested my head against the arm rest, and waited for the plane to take off.
I wasn't waiting long, about fifteen minutes later the engines roared to life and another fifteen and we were gaining altitude. When the pilot announced that we were cruising, the team unbuckled and moved around. I watched them with glare as I was forced to lay on the couch. Every time I tried to get up someone would ask me what I wanted, and get it for me. Finally I just gave up and let out a loud, and obnoxious annoyed sigh. I turned my head away from them and closed my eyes.
The Team's POV
The ride home on the jet was usually one of the few times that the team was all together, and we were relaxing. This ride however was different, the team was milling around the table that he was sitting at beside Prentiss. Every few minutes or so one of the team would look over at their newest Agent, and he could tell everyone was worried. Hotch let out a sigh, as he shut the folder he had been reviewing.
"So you think that he's in DC?" Morgan asked quietly.
"He knew about her dog…" Hotch said.
"We've worked with her for over a week now and we didn't know about her…." Reid said quietly.
"None of us have bothered to ask…. " Prentiss mused.
A guilty look flashed between his team, at their lack of open friendliness to their newest teammate.
A whine echoed around the plane and everyone turned back to Asren who was thrashing in her sleep. "no…" She muttered. As she jerked her head from the foe that only she could see. "Stop. Not them." She muttered. She rolled over, and Hotch glanced around his team, feeling proud of their new-found family sense with Asren. Everyone was staring at her worriedly
"Not…No… Jullian…. Please…" She muttered then slowly got quiet.
The team watched her for another moment before turning back to me, "Who is Jullian?" Reid asked the question that we were all thinking about.
Hotch looked blankly at his team, he had no clue who that was. Suddenly the laptop sitting on the table lit up as the bubbly face of Penelope Garcia lit up the screen.
"Who's the most wonderful and amazing person in the world?" She asked with a smile.
"That'd be you baby girl, hands down. What you got us?" Morgan replied with an easy smile.
"Well, like you asked, Morgan, I looked up "Logan Brooks" for you, and the hit that I had told me that he was a CIA agent. He has a file with our lovely Agent Dare, but it's sealed. Of course I could easily break the seal if that's needed…"
"That's fine baby girl, I just wanted to be sure he was safe." Moragn cut her off.
"Anything else I need to run?" Garcia asked, and when she was met with no immediate answer, she asked, "How's our lovely Asren doing?"
"She's sleeping right now, Garcia." Emily answered.
"Oh good, after that horrible ordeal she probably needs her rest, and you know that sleep is the best medicine, and oh when she's back do you think she'll want to go eat? I'm starving…"
"Baby girl, calm down. We won't be back for another five hours, go eat! Anyway Dare's gotta go to the ER when she gets back…" Morgan said.
"ER? Why?! I thought she was okay?!" Garcia said frantically.
"She's okay, the doctor just requested it. Calm down." JJ said in a soothing voice, as if she was talking to Henry.
"Okay, I'm going to go eat. You, my darlings, take care of my other darling. Toodles!" Garcia said as the screen went black.
"You had Garcia check Brooks out?" Hotch asked Morgan with a raised eye-brow.
"I was just taking a precaution…." Morgan muttered.
Prentiss let out a sigh and leaned back. "So what's our game plan? Obviously she can't stay alone…"
"I'd volunteer my house, but Henry… and Will and a dog…" JJ said.
"Sergio doesn't exactly do dogs…" Emily said with a frown.
"Jack and a dog…." Hotch began, with a thoughtful expression.
"She'll stay with me. Mudgie will get along well with any dog." Rossi said firmly, before the debate went any further.
"Okay, I'll have Strauss put us on stand-down until we find this guy. I don't want her alone for a moment. "
Everyone nodded, satisfied with the debate, and slowly spread back out to catch a nap.
"You sure about this Rossi?" Hotch asked.
"Yup. We'll be fine." Rossi said easily.
Less than thirty minutes later, a sharp ring from Hotch's phone pierced the jet. Asren sat up slowly, as if she knew it involved her. The number was one that Hotch didn't recognize and as the team woke up, and watched him he answerd.
"Hotchner."
"Hello, Agent Hotchner."
"Licoln."
"How is your flight going? I see you have about an hour until you land."
At that point Asren walked slowly towards Hotch and Prentiss stood up allowing her to sit next to him. She looked at him, and let out a small sigh when he nodded.
"What do you want, Licoln?"
"Ah, Asren, your awake, lovely. I just wanted to remind you about something."
"What's that?" Asren asked dryly.
"Our secrets tend to have a bigger impact than we expect them too, and I must say I'm amused at how little of our endeavor you seem to remember. It's like our time together was an injection into your life, eh?"
To her credit, Asren didn't take his bait.
"If you have nothing useful to say to me, Goodbye." She said as she pressed the end button.
Hotch looked at her, his dark eyes studying her.
"What did he mean, Dare?" Hotch asked quietly.
She didn't answer him, directly, but reached for his phone and dialed another number, leaving it on speaker.
It rang three times and then a tired voice answered it.
"Brooks."
"Logan? It's me."
"Hello me, why are you calling so damn early?" Logan asked, and the team could detect a smile in his voice.
"I need your help. Moreso, Darius's." Asren said slowly.
"What's going on?"
"I believe I have a tracking chip somewhere in me. While working a case, I was, well, just get Darius. We land in an hour. I want this thing out of me the moment I land."
"Asren.." Logan began.
'"Logan, If you refuse, I'll cut it out myself…"
"We all know how well that worked out the last time, fine, I'll call Darius. We'll meet you there." He said quietly.
"Thanks."
"Always."
Asren pressed the END button and pushed Hotch's phone back at him, and looked at the team.
"I was once injected with a tracker. I knew it was endangering us so I tried to cut it out myself, didn't end that well." Asren said showing the team a nasty scar on her arm.
"A what?" Morgan asked peering at her.
"A tracking chip. It's like your cars GPS." Prentiss and Asren said at the same time. They exchanged a look, before Asren spoke again.
"Anyway, some of my friends, are meeting us at the airport. Darius will take it out then." Asren said simply.
"Why can't you wait till you get to the hospital?" Hotch asked quietly.
"No. I refuse to let him have one more piece of information on me to manipulate me." Asren said bitterly. She extended her forearm and looked at it, studying her skin quietly. She could see several bruises and cuts all over her arm, but she wasn't sure exactly what they were from. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the team.
"I want a cognitive interview." She said simply.
A dark look passed between the team, no one really wanted to make Asren relive every moment of that, but they also knew that it was a good chance to get more information on it.
"Are you sure?" Hotch asked.
"Positive." Dare replied.
"Who do you want to do it?" Hotch spoke quietly,
"I don't care." Asren spoke quietly.
Hotch looked around at his team, measuring their expressions. In less than a minute he knew he'd only let Prentiss, Rossi, or himself do it.
"Prentiss?" Hotch prompted.
The dark haired woman looked up at Hotch, a silent communication passing between them before she nodded slowly.
Asren looked at her, and watched as Prentiss stood slowly, and then followed her as she moved to the back of the plane and the majority of the team moved to the front respectfully. Hotch and Rossi followed slowly. They had to hear this, too, not that anyone actually looked forward too it.
Well there you have it, the next chapter will have the cognitive interview and it will be rated, M. It may be triggering so if you need to skip it, no hard feelings. As always I welcome your reviews.
