Unfortunately, it seems I am moving through this story at a pace that is positively glacial. As I am studying journalism, I seem to have no urge to write outside of school lately, as I do a fair bit of it in my classes. I'll do my best to update again as soon as possible, but I have yet to start the next chapter, so it may be a while. I'll update my profile though, so you can keep track on how far along the chapter is, when I get started.

I'm still planning on finishing this, it'll likely just take a while.

Enjoy!

Beta: Nemi Nightingale


Ashland arrived back in Wolf Trap to complete and utter chaos.

"Ashland Vodall! You get in here right now!" a concerned voice howled out of one of the living room windows, just seconds after she had pulled up to the house. Ashland hadn't even managed to lock the car door before she was startled by her mother's loud voice and dropped the keys in surprise, hastily turning around.

"Mom?" Ashland asked hesitantly. She squinted her eyes at the woman who was leaning so far out the window, she was close to tipping over and end up sprawled on the porch.

"Don't you 'mom' me; you get in here, and you do it right now," her mother roared threateningly. Ashland swiftly complied. Her mom could get all kinds of riled up when in one of her moods, and Ashland was not up for tempting fate.

Scuttling up the steps to the porch and the door opened and she was immediately met with a threatening finger pointing at her, two inches from her nose.

"You, missy, have a lot of explaining to do," Linda spoke, her voice low and serious.

"Look, mom, I just neede–".

"You just needed to come and pick up your dear parents from the airport, that's what you needed to do," Linda chided. But her mood didn't last long. When she saw the startled, guilty look spread on Ashland's face, her hand dropped in exasperation.

She sighed and all the anger fizzed from her like air from a punctured balloon.

"What were you doing, honey? We couldn't get a hold of you," Linda said, stepping closer to Ashland and bringing her hand up to cradle her daughter's cheek.

Not in the mood to ponder further over her visit with Hannibal Lecter, Ashland diverted the conversation.

"I thought you were going to call me when you had everything arranged. How did you find me?"

"We looked your friend up in the phone book. I hope we don't run into any other Wills in this area, because we have called them all, apparently at terribly bad times," Linda chuckled.

Ashland hesitantly joined in, but her smile dropped as she heard the creaking of the floorboards inside the house. Will stepped quietly around her mom and onto the porch with Winston trailing behind him. Linda nodded towards him with a small smile.

"I almost hung up on this one when I heard his accent. He doesn't sound European at all," Linda quipped lightly.

Ashland's brows scrunched together as she nervously surveyed Will. His stubble was as untouched as it was this morning when it had scratched against her cheek. His eyes were as light as ever but like this morning, they were darkened with an unknown emotion, as he examined her, like she did him.

To Ashland this morning felt like days ago. Like a wall had been erected right between them in the span of a few hours. She couldn't help but feel it was her own fault.

Saving what was bound to be a terrible conversation for later, she turned back towards her mother, with a frown etched onto her face. Wait… What did she just say?

"Why would Will sound European?"

Will followed Ashland's example and turned towards Linda Vodall at the question. Why she would assume he was European was beyond him.

"Well, from Elizabeth, of course!" she said with a matter-of-factness that portrayed her absolute faith in their knowledge of the situation.

At their blank looks she sighed and elaborated.

"Back when Elizabeth called me to tell me she was going to Washington, she told me a man named Will had called her to tell her you were in trouble. Remember? I distinctively remember telling you this, you never listen do you? Anyway, I didn't recognize the name, so I asked about it, and she said he sounded European," Linda replied with a shrug.

"Poor girl mustn't have heard you right. Perhaps the reception failed her… She does live in an awfully shady area," Linda added, as Ashland found herself completely dumbstruck for the few seconds it took for her mom to continue her monologue.

"Uh, mom… Will never called Bess."

Linda looked towards her daughter, miffed at the unspoken accusation. Linda Vodall was no liar!

"He most certainly did. She called herself and told us before she left for Virginia," she stated self-assuredly. She remembered the odd phone call as if it were yesterday.

Though she was absolutely certain about what Elizabeth had said, the tense silence that stretched between Will and her daughter told her the situation might not be as it seemed.

Ashland turned slowly towards Will.

"But if you didn't call…" Ashland trailed off.

"From your phone…" Will added.

"Then someone else must have," Ashland concluded.

The only sound that was heard through their grim silence was the strong wind rushing through the branches surrounding Will's house. No one dared utter a sound. The thought was almost too alarming to entertain, but nevertheless they had to.

Ashland felt a shiver run all the way up her back, and it wasn't from the cold. The phone she thought she lost, was now, most likely, in the hands of a murderer; in the hands of someone very much capable of killing them all.

"We need to tell Jack," Will prompted after a moment of deliberation. Ashland nodded swiftly and took her mom's arm in her hand and started dragging them both towards Will's car.

"What are you two going on about?" Linda asked sharply, trying to free her arm from her daughter's firm grasp that was pulling her towards the gravel track to the left of the house.

Ashland shot a look back at Will who was in the process of pushing Winston inside. Their eyes met for a second and he shortly flashed the car keys to let her know he was joining them in a minute. Ashland nodded and let go of her mom, but she continued on towards Will's car with confident steps.

"Come on, mum, we need to go on a little road trip."


It didn't take more than three minutes within their departure from the Graham household for Linda Vodall to fall asleep in the backseat of the car. It seemed she had kept herself awake after the long flight just so she could scold Ashland for not showing up to pick them up at the airport.

Anything for a good scolding, Ashland found herself thinking fondly. It was strange how her mom's mere presence in the car brought back memories. The sight of her snoring gently against the window made Ashland think back to when they would drive up to Lewis and Clark National Forest and spend nights in a rented cabin and days on hiking trails. Ashland would always fall asleep on the drive and awake just as they arrived, dissatisfied by being jolted awake by the bumps of the uneven roads of the forest.

Oh how the roles had been reversed.

She almost let out a snicker at the sight, until she noticed the less than subtle looks Will was sending her from his position in the driver's seat. She slowly turned her gaze back towards the road, waiting for when he was going to address the elephant in the room.

He cleared his throat awkwardly as he stared resolutely at the road, not willing to spare her another glance as he prepared himself for what he was about to say.

"So," he spoke quietly.

Called it.

Ashland held in a sigh. She wished she had had the time to prepare for this conversation, and that it wasn't happening in the car with her mom in the backseat. It was doubtlessly going to be slow and painful; like peeling off a band aid stuck to the wound, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. She had just been hoping it would have been later.

It seemed they did nothing lately but try and settle their differences. And what many differences they had. I bet no normal couple have these sort of problems, Ashland thought to herself, and shot Will an apologetic look.

"Look, I'm sorry about this morning, I had something I needed to figure out," she whispered, glancing back at her mom to ensure their privacy. Linda was still sleeping.

Will hesitated.

"About me," he stated. There was no question in his voice.

She almost wished there had been, but his certainty told her, she needed to come clean. They would never be able to move past this if they didn't talk about it. Now, whether she wanted them to move past it, was still a question yet to be answered for her.

"Yes."

Will was silent. Ashland fidgeted in her seat as he set his sharp stare on her, before turning his stony gaze back towards the road. The look seemed both full and empty and she found that she couldn't read a single emotion. It was a scary realization.

She was startled when he broke the silence.

"You were terrified of me this morning," Will started and paused.

He'd noticed. Urgh, fuck. He seemed to be mulling over his words, uncertain on how to proceed. You and me both, Ashland thought, but decided to put him out of his misery. "Yeah… About that…" Ashland hesitated, just as lost as Will was.

"What happened?"

With a hesitant sigh, Ashland gave up and delved into her encounter with the obnoxious journalist, Freddie Lounds. All the while, something in the back of her mind was nagging at her. Something she had said…

What could it possibly b–…

Crap. She had called them a couple.


The rest of the 45 minutes were tense. While Will couldn't begrudge her for her suspicion—someone seemed to be out to frame him—he would have hoped she was less susceptible to the nonsensical ramblings of a woman who had nothing better to do than chase her next victim.

They had barely pulled up to the B.A.U. before Ashland had rocketed out of her seat in an eager attempt to vacate the strained silence permeating the car.

"I'll go ahead and find Jack," she mumbled before swiftly shutting the door, cutting off any and all chances for Will to argue.

She almost felt bad for leaving him in the car to deal with her mother. Almost.


"Jack!"

A familiar voice echoed down the hallway; one he was fairly certain he didn't want to be hearing right now. Or ever, for that matter.

'That woman's like a black cat,' he thought to himself. 'Whenever she crosses my road, bad shit starts happening.'

Halting, he waited for Ashland Vodall to catch up. He had nowhere to go, no leads to follow up on, but he refused to sit around twiddling thumbs as he waited for a lead to come to him. She would have to make this quick.

As he turned around to greet her, he noticed her worried face and felt the sudden urge to go practice his sharp shooting on a moving target. She was, undoubtedly, bringing more bad news. Great.

Like he hadn't gotten enough of that lately.

"Jack! We have something," Ashland called again, huffing and puffing as she stopped in front of him. It seemed he had been walking faster than he had thought.

"What?" he huffed, praying to God Ashland was here with valuable information. As of today, he had no tolerance for self-important women.

"It's kinda important, is there somewhere we can talk?" Ashland asked, as she took deep breaths, trying to regain her composure

Well. Maybe he didn't have to wait around for a lead after all.


"So you're saying your friend spoke to the killer before she was murdered?" Jack asked.

He had led them into his office, and had gotten straight to the point, telling her she had two minutes before he left her behind to show herself out.

A very real threat considering her troubles navigating the halls of the B.A.U. the last time she was in the building.

But as soon as she mentioned the killer, his ears almost visibly perked up.

"He called from my number, apparently," Ashland confirmed with a sigh.

Jack felt a rush of excitement pour through his body. This was a lead. A good, solid lead. He felt a slight stab of annoyance, that it had come from Ashland Vodall of all people. It was one he had been hoping to find himself.

After the complete and utter fiasco with the search warrant, Jack had been reluctant to take further action in order to find Ashland Vodall's old missing cell phone. Now it seemed he hadn't been completely wrong in his previous efforts to locate it. Finding the cell phone may just mean finding the killer.

"So we can safely assume he has your phone in his possession," Jack stated sternly but swiftly, with a hidden eagerness, waiting desperately for her to confirm.

"I'd assume so, yes," Ashland answered with a shrug. She couldn't possibly know whether the killer still had her phone in their possession, but it was worth a try. Anything was worth a try right now.

Jack locked a harsh stare onto her, judging, evaluating the legitimacy of her words. He needed to be absolutely certain. His career was hanging in a thin thread by now.

Ashland averted her eyes and shifted in the chair. Jack's dominating stare was unsettling to say the least.

Finding no reason for her to lie about this—unless she had planted the phone—he dug out his cellphone from his inner pocket and dialed. It didn't ring for long before it was picked up.

Jack wasted no time with formalities.

"Petersen, get me the tech department, we need to track a cellphone," he barked before immediately hanging up.

"When did you last have it?" he asked Ashland, pocketing his phone and preparing himself for the chaos that was surely about to ensue.

Ashland hesitated.

"I'm not sure... I think I left it at Will's house before I left for Montana," she answered thoughtfully. She couldn't recall having it after, and she wasn't certain she had it when she left for Hannibal's house.

Jack's stare hardened and his entire body stiffened. This was not good. Not good. At. All.

He let out an exasperated breath. This was just getting worse and worse. He was definitely getting fired if this turned out the way it was looking to turn out.

"I hope you realize how this looks," Jack said quietly.

It seemed Ashland had yet to realize the severity of what she was telling him. Her brows scrunched together in confusion.

"No… I mean… Mum said Bess said he sounded European," she elaborated, in the hopes Jack wasn't preparing to do something rash. Like arrest Will. Who was she kidding? Judging by the desperate look on his face, he'd probably arrest Winston if he thought he'd get something out of it.

"So all you have is a hearsay testimony," Jack commented with a sigh. This wasn't looking good for either of them.

"Well, it's pretty hard to mistake," she attempted weakly.

"Has she ever been to Europe?" he questioned, though it wouldn't have mattered much by now. He had all he needed to bring Will in for interrogation. It was a possibility they couldn't yet dismiss. Not with the way things were looking.

"No," Ashland muttered, sounding as defeated as she looked.

"Anyone can sound like a European if you've never been to Europe," Jack stated calmly. He took a deep breath. This would be hard. "We need to take him in."

"No! Isn't there anything we can d–" Ashland questioned, desperately, but was cut off.

"Right now there isn't, and even if there were, I wouldn't if I were you," Jack answered coldly. If Will were out to get her, they needed to act fast. "Where is he?"

Ashland hesitated, but a stern glare from Jack prompted her to speak.

She cleared her throat. "Out front, parking the car."

He stood from his chair and righted his suit before he left the room, muttering to himself.

"I hate it when Prurnell is right."