The Beauty and the Geek
A/N: I want to thank everyone again for reading, leaving me reviews and following this story. As I have mentioned before this is a slooow burn, so don't hate me for how long its taking, it will all be worth it. Enjoy my pretties!
Me, JJ and Spencer were waiting upstairs of an apartment waiting for the others, it had been a few months since Spencer recovered from the antherax, when he was laying in the hospital I almost wanted to tell him how I felt, I really really want to but I can't bring myself to open up again.
"Oh, you guys are already here. You guys remember Detective Walker?" I heard JJ say snapping me out of my thoughts and I see Rossi, Morgan and Emily enter.
"Thanks for being here. I understand none of you are working on much rest." Walker said
"Who's the victim?" Rossi asked
"His name is Nelson Martinez. From what we can figure, he answered his door, Was forced into the apartment at gunpoint and then shot in the chest. It was all pretty sloppy."
"No disrespect, but I don't understand why you need us here." Morgan said
"2 days ago, a local doctor named Tom Barton found a note addressed to him at the hospital. It said the person was planning to kill his son. If Dr. Barton tried to keep his boy hidden, One person would die every day in his place."
"And you think this is connected?" I asked
"The note is signed L. C." Spencer said
"Yesterday we had another victim. Multiple gunshots outside the apartment. The shooter wrote L. C. In white chalk next to the body."
"Now, unless Dr. Barton puts his son in harm's way, We're gonna keep having a victim a day." Spencer said
"Where's Barton now?" Rossi asked
"He's at home. He doesn't know about this victim yet." JJ said
"Where's Aaron?" I asked
"He's not answering his cell. I assume it's on vibrate. He'll get the message when he wakes up." JJ told me
"Try him again. He can meet us at barton's house." Rossi tells her
We all start to leave the apartment and head outside, I was walking behind JJ who was calling Aaron again, "Hotch, jj again. Listen, we're gonna need you to meet us at an address In McLean, Virginia... 120 kensington road. Call me when you get this."
"Dr. Barton, where is your son right now?" Emily asked him
"Um, I asked him to stay up in his room." Barton said
"And what did you tell him?" JJ asked
"I told him that there was a threat against me at the hospital. I told him the police didn't take it seriously But that they wanted me to stay here for a few days And that I wanted to have him with me."
"And Jeffrey's mother?" Rossi asked
"She died when he was 10. Breast cancer. Would someone really hurt Jeffrey?" Barton asked
"2 people are dead already. Whoever sent that note is obviously serious." Rossi said
"And if I don't let Jeffrey out of the house, then another person's gonna die?"
"Right now we have to assume that he will keep killing." Morgan said
"My son is 15 years old."
"I understand." Morgan said
"I cannot put him in danger."
"We are not asking you to. And even if you were willing, We couldn't send him to school Knowing he would endanger every student in the building." I said
"What we need to do now Is go over everything we know, Piece together how this person fits into your life." Rossi said
"Well, I...I... I can't think of anyone who would want to kill Jeffrey." Barton said
"Whoever wrote that note was putting you on notice...This is personal. He wants you to remember who he is, and until that happens, he hasn't accomplished what he set out to do." Emily said
"I know you've been asked this before, but, please, think again... do you know anyone with the initials L.C." Morgan asked
Barton sighed, "I've looked everywhere...Day planner, emails, Patient lists. There's no one."
"Have you noticed anyone who might have been watching you, either at the hospital or here in the neighborhood?" I asked
"I...i'm sorry."
"Both the victims he's killed have been Hispanic men in their 40s. Have you had a patient recently that fits the description?" Walker asked him
"I'm a trauma surgeon in D.C I have endless patients, all demographics."
"We're gonna need records of all your recent surgeries." Rossi said
"Of course."
"I'll call Garcia." JJ said walking away and I followed her
"JJ. Is there any word from Aaron?" I asked her
"No, nothing.
"Huh. That's not like him." I said, I was getting worried now
"Yeah, I know." She said and I headed back into the living room
"It's mine." Barton said when his phone rang, "Hello? Jeffrey? What...what's happening? Are you ok?" Barton asked and Morgan ran out of the living room and headed upstairs, "Jeffrey, what's going on? Talk to me."
"He's not up here." Morgan said from the upstairs balcony
"Jeffrey, where are you? Jeffrey..."
"Dr. Barton, please." I said walking out the front door going after him.
"You need to go back inside." Rossi said turning around
"I'm coming with you. I'm gonna get my son." Barton said
"Sir, right now nobody is getting your son." Morgan said
"Agent Hotchner will explain it." JJ said
"I don't need an explanation. I'm getting Jeffrey."
"You need to listen right now. Once your son left this house, The safest place for him to be is at that school." Rossi said stepping in front of him
"We can control access in and out. Detective Walker will organize an evacuation as soon as the school day is done. But if we incite a panic now And the unsub is outside, a lot of kids are gonna die." Morgan said
"What if the killer is already at the school?"
"Then we'll be there, too." JJ said
"Let us do our job." Rossi told him
"Jeffrey knows better than this. He doesn't put himself in danger."
"I think he's just trying to do the right thing. He sees what his father does for a living. This is his way of trying to save lives, too." Morgan said
"You'll be there?"
"Yes." Rossi said
"Tell him I'm not mad at him. Tell him I love him, and, uh...I'm proud of him."
"We will." Morgan said
"Let's concentrate on the note. For starters, we know that he's male." Spencer said
"How can you be sure?" Barton asked
"Women tend to add adjectives and very specific details to their notes. This has none of those." I said
"Males are also more direct. First sentence..."I plan to kill your son." " Spencer said
"And their notes tend to be more about themselves than the person they're writing to. "I watched you every day." "I will watch you lose everything." " I said
"We know he surveilled you and your son, which means he either has enough money to be away from a regular job Or he's currently unemployed." Spencer said
"He's most likely a father. He's clearly grieving. He's taken great measures to make sure you feel his pain." I said
"Let's start with cases involving teenagers killed, but also anyone with a strong family presence. Just because your son is 15, that doesn't necessarily mean that his child is the same age."
"Have you had a lot of cases like this, where someone taunts you with what they're gonna do?" Barton asked
"A few." I said
"And how did they end?" He asked, me and Spencer shared a look then looked back down at our papers, "Please."
"Suicide by cop seems to be an effective way for them to make their point, while ending their suffering all at once." Reid said
"Jeffrey is leaving school in 5 hours. There's no way we can get through all these patients in this time."
"Oh trust me with him we can." I said and pointed at Spencer who gave me a small smile, "Plus we've narrowed it down already."
"And we still have 100 left. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be callous, but when you work in the E.R. you don't remember names. You operate and you move on." Barton said
"He's right there are too many files here for us to profile in such a short period of time. Um, I can get to Aaron's and get back here in half an hour." I said standing up
"Who's that?" Barton asked
"He's our supervisor. We weren't supposed to work today. We're having trouble getting ahold of him." Spencer said
"But we need more eyes." I said and headed out.
I pulled up to Aaron's apartment complex, got out locking the car and headed inside. I arrive at his door and knocked, "Aaron? It's me...Elizabeth." I said, no answer, so I pulled out my phone and called him. I hear a cell phone ringing inside the apartment. I grab my copy of his key to open the door but I find that it's already unlocked. I reach for my gun and ready it entering the apartment, I take a look around and see his keys on the table by the door, his breifcase on the chair, a bullet hole in his wall, broken glass on the floor and a blood pool.
"Oh god" I said and pulled out my phone again.
"Overtime shift. Penelope speaking."
"Garcia, it's Elizabeth. I need you to listen really carefully. Something's happened to Aaron." I said
"What do you mean, something?"
"I don't know. I'm in his place. He's not here, but there's blood." I said
"Oh, my god."
"I need you to send police and FBI techs here right away. Everyone available."
"Uh, do we need an APB?" she asked
"Only on Aaron. I checked out front. His car's still here."
"Someone took him?"
"I don't know, there's blood, but I can't be sure whose it is. Just get people here." I said
"Ok, I'm sending an army."
"Garcia, I'm gonna have to tell Spencer because he's expecting me back, but you can't tell the others. They cannot be distracted." I tell her
"Ok. Ok." She said and hung up, I quickly dialed Spencer.
"Hey." Spencer said answering the phone.
"Spence something happened to Aaron."
"What? What...what are you talking about? No, no, it's unrelated. I'm really sorry, I have to take this phone call, ok? I assure you, this will take one second. Please, I promise." I hear him say, he must have been talking to Barton
"There's a huge hole in the wall. Probably a .44, but there's no blood or tissue spray around it." I said
"Any idea how he got out?" Spencer asked
"If he was shot, there are no drag marks, but a body could have been wrapped in something."
"And bureau techs are on the way?"
"Any second." I said
"All right, um, write down everything you see and we'll profile from your notes when you get back." Spencer said
"How's dr. Barton?" I asked
"It's a huge list of cases to go through with him."
"Ok, don't worry about here. I've got this. Just stay focused."
"All right. You, too." He said and hung up, Why do I have to love you so much Spencer?
I put on some gloves and start looking through his apartment writing down details of everything I see, I open up his day planner that I got him for his birthday and went to the address book, the first thing I see is a picture of me and him smiling at the camera the day we celebrated Henry's birth, I noticed the B page was missing.
After the FBI techs arrived and started working my phone rang, "Talk to me, Garcia."
"Ok, i...i called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted to an emergency room." she said
"And?"
"He's not listed as a patient, But someone dropped a john doe off at St. Sebastian hospital, and that someone's name was FBI agent Derek Morgan." She said
"It doesn't make sense."
"I know. Do you think they got their credentials mixed up?"
Suddenly it hit me, "The Reaper. Foyet took Morgan's creds." I said
"Why would he drop him off at the E.R.?"
"What hospital did you say again?" I asked
"St. Sebastian hospital."
"I'll call you with an update when I get there." I said and hung up the phone heading out to my car.
"He was stabbed 9 times, but no major arteries were hit. It's a miracle he's alive." The doctor told me and I looked at my big brother laying in a hospital bed.
"When will he wake up?" I asked
"The anesthesia should wear off within the hour. But he's bound to be out of it."
"Ok. May I stay here?" I asked
"Of course." She said
"Thank you." I said and pulled a chair up to his bed and put my hand on his, "You promised you were gonna stop scaring me like this Aaron." I said and leaned back.
At one point I got up and looked at his chart, I noticed under his name the initials L.C were written, I made my way out of the room and walked up to the doctor.
"This abbreviation right here, L. C., What does that stand for?" I asked.
I dialed Spencer and waited for him to answer, "Yeah."
"L. C. from the unsub's note. It stands for "living children." " I said to him
"Are you sure?"
"It's administrative. It's when they're afraid a patient's gonna go on life support and they don't have a DNR order." I said and there was a pause, "Spencer?"
"What if the unsub was trying to tell Dr. Barton that he is actually the target and that he's gonna leave his son without a father?" Spencer said and there was another pause, "Barton!" I hear him yell then suddenly there's a gunshot.
"Spencer? Answer me. Spencer?" I said but there wasn't an answer, I hung up and called 911, "This is special agent Elizabeth Hotchner from the FBI. I need police and an ambulance to 120 kensington road, McLean, Virginia. Shots fired, federal agent possibly down." I said and hung up.
Later the other's arrive and tell me Spencer was rushed to surgery after being shot in the leg, "He's still isn't conscious yet." I said to them
"You sure it was Foyet?" Rossi asked
"He had Morgan's credentials." I said
"Did they catch him on the security cam?" Morgan asked me
"You could see him dropping Aaron off, but the camera's only on the entrance, so I have no idea what direction he went once he left the hospital."
"It doesn't make sense for him to have brought Hotch to the E.R." JJ said
"We know Foyet gets off on power and control. Maybe what he wants is for Hotch to know his life was in his hands." Rossi said
"He could do that without risking the hospital." Morgan said
"Agents, he's waking up." The doctor said to us and we looked at her, "Remember, he's weak. Don't push him." she said and I headed in with the others following me.
"Where am I?" Aaron asked and I put my hand on his.
"In the hospital." Rossi told him
"How did I get here?"
"Foyet drove you." Morgan said
"Can you remember what happened?" I asked him
"What did he take?" Aaron asked
"What do you mean?" Rossi asked
"The Reaper always takes something from his victims. Do we know what he took?"
"There was a page missing from your day planner in the address section, the B's." I told him
"What did he leave?"
"I don't know." I said
"He also leaves something with his victims."
"I looked over your whole apartment. Nothing felt out of place." I told him
"Where are my clothes?" He asked and I grabbed the bag with his belongings in it and started handing things to him, he grabbed his badge and held up a picture, "Haley's maiden name is Brooks. I always listed her in the B's in my personal information in case it fell into the wrong hands. He knows where they live." Aaron said and my heart twisted.
JJ, Rossi, Morgan and Emily left, I stayed behind with Aaron, as much as I wanted to go get my nephew I needed to be here for my brother. Aaron was looking at the picture of Haley and Jack when he closed his eyes, suddenly the monitor started beeping rapidly.
"What happened?" The doctor asked walking into the room.
"I don't know" I said.
"Agent Hotchner. Can you hear me? Agent Hotchner?" the doctor said
"I'm ok." Aaron said
"I'm gonna need you to step out of the room." the doctor told me
I nodded my head and walked into the hall, I turned and looked back at Aaron, I started biting my nail whe my phone rang.
"They're safe." I told Aaron from the door.
"You were at my place, right?" Aaron asked and I nodded, "Could you tell how he got in?"
"I'm not sure." I said, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"I don't know. After he stabbed me the first time, it all goes blank." He said and I see Haley walking into the room, I walked past her and put my hand on her arm.
I headed down the hall and saw Jack sitting there with the others, "Auntie Lizbeth!" Jack said getting up and running over to me.
"Hey buddy." I said and pulled him into a hug, "How are you?"
"Is daddy okay?" He asked me
"Oh yeah, your dad is so tough nothing can take him down." I said and he smiled at me, I gave him a sad smile, I wasn't going to be able to see him for god knows how long and it broke my heart. I love my nephew and Haley, and I would die to protect them. Haley came and got Jack bringing him to Aaron's room.
"I know Aaron's worried. Tell him I'll protect them like they're my own." The marshal told us and I thanked him, Haley and Jack come out of the room, the others walk away but I kneel down in front of Jack.
"Hey buddy, can I have a hug?" I asked him and he wrapped his little arms around me, I stayed like that holding back tears, "I love you so much handsome." I said.
"I love you too Auntie Lizbeth." Jack said and I closed my eyes, I let go of Jack and stood up.
"Be safe Haley." I said and gave her a hug, even though her and Aaron have divorced me and her were still as close as we were when I met her, she will always be my sister.
I watched as the marshal walked away with them and I wiped the tears from my eyes and headed to check on Spencer. When I arrived at his room JJ was just leaving.
"You know if you keep ending up in the hospital their gonna name a wing after you." I said and he looked up.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked me and I shook my head.
"No, not really. Haley and Jack just left with the marshal." I said and hung my head trying to fight back the tears again.
"Come here." Spencer said and I looked at him, he patted the open spot on the bed and I sat down, "It'll be okay, once we catch Foyet they can return home and everything will be fine." He said and put his hand on mine.
"I hope your right." I said and he lifted up his other arm, I moved forward and gave him a hug, "Thank you Spence." I said
"For what." He asked
"You always find a way to cheer me up when I feel like I'm gonna break at any moment."
"You'll never break, you're strong, stronger then you think." He said and I looked at him, Just kiss him damn it.
After I left Spencer's room I headed back to Aaron's he was looking up at the ceiling, I walked over, kicked off my shoes and carefully crawled next to him in the bed like I used to do when I was a kid every time there was a storm, he put his arm around me and I laid my head on his chest.
"It'll be okay big brother." I said and Aaron kissed the top of my head, we both hoped so, we would catch Foyet and bring them home, even if we die trying.