Chapter Seven

'First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.' ~Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

"Morning, Lauren." Hotch's voice boomed inside Lauren's head making it pound even harder. She placed her hand over her eyes, shielding them from the piercing morning light.

"Not so loud, Hotch." She replied, sitting down in a chair, slumping forwards with a groan.

"Busy night?" He asked with a concealed smirk. "You know drinking too much can be very dangerous. And your condition won't help at all with the case." He chided.

"Please," Lauren said, waving a hand at him dismissively. "Spare me the lecture."

"Ah, to be young again." Rossi said breezily as he entered, noticing Lauren's hung over state. "I guess it was a successful night then?" Lauren nodded gently. She could hear him chuckle but ignored it as Hotch placed a cup of water in front of her.

"Thanks." She mumbled and sipped the cold, clear liquid. It was refreshing to her system, almost jolting her awake. "Am I the only one in so far?" She asked, glancing around the all but empty room.

"Judging from your condition, I don't expect the rest of them feel like an early morning." Rossi said, sitting opposite Lauren and opening a file. But his words were followed by footsteps.

"Morning." Spencer's voice rang clearly. Lauren turned to him.

"You're not…" She trailed.

"Hung over?" He finished. "No." He answered and sat down two seats away from her.

There was a sudden heavy silence in the room before Spencer filled it.

"Where's Morgan?" He asked as though he could no longer contain the question. "Didn't he go home with you?"

"He what?" Hotch questioned loudly, letting the file he held slam onto the desk. The noise vibrated in Lauren's head and the pounding returned.

"No, no." Lauren said squinting, trying to calm Hotch. "He took me home but then got a taxi back to the hotel." She glanced up at Spencer, his expression more relaxed than it had been. She hazarded a guess as to the reason for his relief and smiled. He was sweet.

"Did he try anything?" Hotch asked quietly, retrieving the file he had let go. Lauren stared at him disbelievingly.

"No!" She returned sharply. "Really, did you just ask that?" She said, embarrassment making her cheeks redden.

"Morning everyone." Morgan's cheerful greeting was met by a somewhat icy glare from Hotch.

"Hello." Lauren said quietly. Morgan kept his gaze away from Hotch and shrugged confusingly at Lauren. She rolled her eyes and Morgan thankfully took this as a sign not to ask.

Emily and JJ followed not long after Morgan had entered. Once the team were assembled they once again began on their tasks. Lauren's head was slowly returning to normal, but Morgan's high pitched ring on his cell phone felt like it sent a spike of pain through her brain.

"Hey, Garcia. Any news?" He asked, answering it calmly. "Seriously?" He asked, sitting forwards from his casual position. Lauren looked up to him, trying to follow as much of the one sided conversation as she could hear. "That's great, thanks baby girl." He smiled and hung up. Lauren couldn't help but wonder if he flirted with everyone so outrageously. Without permission, images of the previous night's flirting flashed across her mind which answered her question. "Garcia has found about five different cell numbers for Tina Mayson. But all are on untraceable cell phones."

"How did she find so many?" Emily asked, confused.

"She has advertised on a couple of wedding forums." Morgan answered. "If we could get hold of her on one of the numbers, we could set up a meeting."

"Couldn't we just bring her in?" Lauren asked. "It would be much easier just to interrogate her wouldn't it?" She reasoned.

"With this kind of unsub, it may be easier to do the undercover as planned." Rossi said. "We can judge her reactions whilst talking to you. It will give us an idea if she really is our murderer."

Lauren sighed. "Ok." She agreed reluctantly.

"Morgan, see if you can make contact with her. Book an appointment for tomorrow if possible." Hotch ordered. "I don't want Lauren to be in contact with her until it's completely necessary." Morgan nodded and headed out of the room. "JJ, try and see what the media have on the case. I don't want it to be too big a spectacle, it will just add to the unsub's delusion. Emily, see if you can't set up a link between the NYPD's system and Garcia's. She might have more to work from with their database in finding Tina Mayson's real identity." Lauren watched as Hotch continued giving commands. He was very capable, and she could easily see him becoming head of the FBI someday.

"You're very lucky." Spencer said and Lauren glanced to him with a dumbstruck expression. "To have Hotch looking over you." He explained. She smiled and looked at Hotch again. It was then she realised how thankful she really should be for his protective gaze. He was the closest thing she had to a father and that brought some comfort to Lauren.

"I am lucky." She said. "But if we don't do as he asks, I don't want to be the one being reprimanded by him." She gave a smile.


Spencer watched as Lauren stood and smiled at him. She was right though, Hotch's discipline methods were not something Spencer wanted to become too familiar with. He stood up and both he and Lauren headed out of the office. As Hotch had tasked them with finding Lauren and Morgan an identity to use, they headed towards and unused office, which happened to be Sergeant Fortrye's. Lauren wafted in and gingerly sat down at his desk, Spencer was a little more hesitant to just wander in to an authoritative figure's room without permission.

"He's not on duty today." Lauren said with a soft laugh, obviously noticing Spencer's nerves. He relaxed at her words and went to stand behind her as she looked at the computer. The machine was extremely old and outdated, it even had a floppy disk drive. He half expected to be able to hear clogs clonking inside to get the thing working.

"You shouldn't need a full identity with background if it's just a casual appointment." Spencer said.

"No, luckily." Lauren said in relief. "But we still have to fill out these forms." Lauren typed fast and the words on screen blurred as they tried to catch up to her speed. "They will tell the authorities of our plans, and of the names we will be using. It's for future reference if things should go wrong, or if we manage to catch the killer and take her to trial."

"We will catch her." Spencer said. Lauren glanced up at him with a smile that made him think she didn't believe him.

"I don't understand how she could not have any records." Lauren said as she turned back to face the monitor. "Even people using false names can usually be found quite quickly. But this woman…" Lauren trailed and stopped typing. "It's like she doesn't exist." Lauren turned to Spencer. "How can we catch someone who doesn't exist?" She looked sad, her brown eyes wide with doubt

"Everyone leaves a trail." He began. "We just have to find the right path." He was grateful to see his words gave Lauren some comfort as the smile that graced her lips reached her eyes.

"Now then, what names shall we have?"