Author's Note: Back again with a new original chapter! This picks up a week after the previous chapter and as such Danny has only been with the BAU for a week. This chapter is going to explore Danny's background a little: the bad memory I mentioned in Chapter 1 and the fact he grew up without his mom.

Well, this is my longest chapter so far. I think it works. I hope it works.

As always read and review, as your opinion makes a difference. Enjoy!

June 19th, 2013

Danny trudged into the Bullpen at 6:30 in the morning. Something he knew he was going to have to get used to. He had only been with the BAU for a week and, so far, it was a great experience. He had been called in early this morning because of a new case. Danny was psyched for his first case with the BAU.

At least until he heard what the case was.

"Okay, my friends," Garcia started. "D.C. has had serial killer on its hands for a long time now. Apparently, he's struck again. Two more victims dead. Both of them stabbed, cut open, and gutted. Disgusting, right?" She pulled up four photos of previous victims. As soon as they appeared, Danny shrunk in his chair.

"The last four known victims of this guy, dubbed "The Washington Gutter", were a family. James and Megan Parker, both aged 40, and two of their children, Joseph, aged 30, and Elizabeth, aged 26. The parents were killed twelve years before the children."

"Garcia," JJ said. "You said two of the children. How many did they have?"

"Three, however, the youngest one, Daniel Parker, completely vanished from the world. No photos of him available. No way of finding him. My guess is that he died at some point."

"There's no record of him since the death of his siblings?" Spencer asked.

"None. He had just graduated when the siblings were killed. He might have been taken by the Gutter and killed and his body might have been hidden."

"Or maybe he just doesn't want to be found," Danny said. Everyone turned to look at him. "What?"

"We've got to find out the UnSub before he strikes again. Morgan: you, Rossi, Blake, and I will check out the first scene. JJ: you, Reid, and Danny check out the other murder scene," Hotch said. As everyone walked out, JJ stayed behind to talk to Danny.

"What's wrong, Danny? Your first case; you should be excited," she said.

"Should be. Doesn't mean I will be," he quipped.

JJ gave him a look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just fine," he said quickly. "Come on, we should meet up with the others." JJ was still concerned, but agreed with him and the two left the conference room.

The murders were gruesome. They were sliced open, sternum to groin and their insides were certainly not inside, where they belonged. The others wanted to throw up on sight. Danny stood still and straight. This UnSub certainly showed no mercy in his murders. He had no regrets in tearing open a person and ripping out the insides. He doesn't care who sees it either, Danny thought to himself. Focus, Danny. This can all be over once we find him.


Two days later...

"We need to find out if any witnesses were present at the murders," Spencer said to Garcia over the speaker phone.

"I'm on it," Gercia replied. "Let's see. There was one witness at murder of the parents." She paused for a moment. "Oh my, God."

"What is it Garcia?" JJ asked.

"The third child, Daniel, witnessed both of his parents being murdered. He was only five."

JJ swallowed. She couldn't imagine a child seeing their parents die in front of them. Danny shrunk in his chair again. JJ noticed this behavior recently. She also noticed the dark circles around his eyes. They had been working on this case for two days. Danny wasn't sleeping much, if at all.

"I'll go look for anything else that can help else," Reid said. "Thanks Garcia." He walked out of the room.

"Danny," JJ said. Danny looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine JJ. Don't worry about," he snapped.

"You're not sleeping. You shrink in your chair a lot now. What's going on?"

Danny sighed. "Personal connection."

"Wait," she said, now realizing what was wrong. "You knew these people?"

"I knew them, alright."

"You knew this boy, didn't you?" JJ asked Danny.

"Oh, I knew him alright," he replied.

"You can help us find him."

"Like I said before, what if he doesn't want to be found, JJ?"

"Just tell where he is, Danny. We can bring his family justice."

"Get the point. He doesn't want to found."

"Danny, just tell me. You're not leaving until you tell me."

Danny sighed, knowing he would never get away from JJ. "He's here."

"Where?"

"Right in front of you."

JJ was confused. "What do you mean?"

Danny turned and looked at her. "That boy is me. I'm Daniel Parker. I stopped going by that name after my brother and sister were murdered. The media frenzy was insane and I didn't want to be a part of it."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was so hard. I watched as that sick bastard ripped open my parents. Then he did it to my siblings. 23 years, I've been searching for this son of a bitch. 23 years, I found nothing. I want to see him dead."

"I understand what you're going through."

"No, you don't!" Danny yelled. "You have no idea what I'm going through right now! I have been searching for this son of a bitch for over 20 years and now I can find him and can get justice!"

"Justice?"

"For my family! This son of a bitch killed both of my parents when I was 5! I watched as he murdered them and gutted them! My brother and my sister gave up their lives to help me! And then, what happens 12 years later? That bastard comes back and kills them both too! The exact same way he murdered my parents! I have spent over 20 years looking for him and now I can get my family justice! But you wouldn't understand that, would you little Miss "My-Life-is-So-Damn-Perfect"? You have no idea how much emotional pain I've been through! Or Hotch or Morgan or Rossi or Reid, for that matter! Everything has gone right for you! Yeah, I know how much it must have hurt when you lost your sister and I sympathize with you on that, but the only real hurt you have had is that you had to watch Reid get tortured, drugged, and killed, you being forced to leave the BAU, and having to save Henry from an international criminal! You haven't suffered half as much as me or Morgan or Hotch or Rossi or Reid or even Garcia! Ever since you met Will and had Henry, your life has been nothing but perfect! You have the perfect marriage; the perfect family! You have a parental figure, I don't! You have your siblings, I don't! You have a family, I freaking don't because I lost them to a psychopath years ago! So don't you ever say you understand what I'm going through, because you don't and you never freaking will!"

JJ now had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" He checked to make sure he still had his gun and turned to walk out.

"Where are you going?"

"To find this son of a bitch and stop him once and for all. And there is nothing you can say or do that is going to stop me!" He stormed out of the station, hell-bent on using the profile they had to find this monster and stop him once and for all.


JJ was left in tears. He was right. He was alone. He had no family to take care of him after his siblings died. Compared to the rest of the team, she had a pretty damn good life. It was just now she realized that it didn't help her empathizing with the boy who lost his family to a serial killer.

Spencer was walking by and noticed JJ in tears. He ran over to her.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"I found Daniel Parker," she answered. "Well, actually, we all found him. He was here the whole time."

"What do you mean?"

"Danny. He was the little boy. He saw his parents get murdered. I tried to empathize and it didn't work."

"Where is he? Maybe we can talk to him."

"He stormed out a few minutes ago. We have to find him. I think he's going to do whatever it takes to kill the UnSub. He saw the guy, he has the profile. He has everything he needs to find him."

"Well, let's get to work. We'll have to find the UnSub ASAP or we might have another agent killing in cold blood."


Danny arrived at the house he was looking for. It had been three hours since he stormed out of the station. This house fit the profile. And worse yet, it was only a few houses away from where his parents were killed. He pulled out his phone.

"I, Penelope, the almighty tech goddess am at your service," came Garcia's voice from the other end of the line.

"Garcia, it's Danny," he said quickly. I need you to look up an address and get the information on who owns it." He relayed off the address to Garcia.

"Got it," Garcia exclaimed. "It belongs to one Harold Floyd, a door-to-door flower salesman."

Danny flashed back. He remembered seeing a bearded man showing at his house to deliver flowers to his mom from his dad. The man said his name was Harold. He was kind. But, it was a similar face that he saw when his parents died at the hands of a murderer. There was no doubt.

Harold Floyd was the Washington Gutter.

"Thanks Garcia," Danny said, hanging up before she started asking questions. He ran to the door, kicked it down, and started searching for evidence of the man's guilt.


"Guys," Garcia's voice said over the speaker phone. "I just got a call from Danny. He asked for information about an address. I think he thinks he found the UnSub."

"Who owned the address he was searching? And what was the address?" Hotch asked.

"The address is 4304 Michigan Street. The home belongs to a door-to-door flower salesman named Harold Floyd."

"Let's get over to that address immediately," Hotch said to the present members of the team. "Garcia, give us any information you can get on Floyd."


Danny searched through the house. He looked everywhere, but he knew that Floyd wasn't home. He would just search for evidence to prove that Floyd was the UnSub.

He came across Floyd's bedroom and found a binder sitting inside. Danny went over to the binder and opened it. What he found inside were pictures of the Gutter's previous victims. He came across the section of his parents and siblings.

At that moment, Danny started flashing back through his memories. His fifth birthday, the last one they celebrated together as a family; Christmas that year; his siblings all agreeing to apply to Georgetown together when he was about to go into his senior year before his siblings were killed; all of them celebrating when they were all accepted; then he remembered that faithful night.

23 years ago…

"Mommy," said a young and scared Daniel Parker. "What's happening?"

"It's okay, sweetie," Megan Parker said in an attempt to calm down her son. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Where's Daddy? Is he okay?" Daniel asked.

"Daddy's gone. The bad man took him away from us."

Tears started welling in Daniel's eyes. "Mommy…"

Megan held her son close, holding back tears of her own. She wouldn't tell her son that the bad man had murdered his father. He witnessed his daddy being stabbed and gutted by the bad man.

Then she heard a banging on the door of the bedroom.

"Daniel, get in the closet and stay there," she said to her little boy. "Mommy loves you." She had a feeling this would be the last time she would be able to say that.

Daniel hid in the closet as the door was smashed open. The bad man took Daniel's mommy and hurt her the same way he had hurt his daddy. The bad man walked over to the closet and yanked it open.

Daniel scooted back in terror.

"Don't worry little one," the bad man said. "I won't hurt you. I don't hurt children." The bad man ran out of the room and out of the house.

Daniel walked over to his dead mother and tried to wake her up. "Mommy?" he asked repeatedly. "Mommy, please. Wake up." Tears started rolling down his face. "Wake up, Mommy! Please! Mommy, WAKE UP!" He finally realized that his mommy wasn't going to wake up. He sat there in tears next to his dead mother.

That was where his brother and sister found him later that night.

Danny swallowed as he recalled the horrifying memory. He started to remember the day they found his brother and sister dead.

12 years later...

Daniel was excited. In just a few months, his brother and sister and him would all be in college together. He couldn't believe it. His brother was planning on majoring in psychology while his sister was majoring in criminology. Since the two had influenced Danny with their work, Danny had decided to major in both.

He was walking home after going for a nice long run. It felt good to have something positive happen. Since his parents' deaths, he had been the recieving end of relentless teasing. It hurt him, but it didn't slow him down. He had finally moved on from the sadness. Of course, he hadn't moved on from hoping the bastard who killed them was in jail. The monster was still out there.

When he got home, he saw something very bad. His house was taped off by crime scene tape. What was worse: his siblings weren't outside asking what the hell was going on. He ran over to the house and got face to face with an officer.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked.

"Double homicide," the officer responded. At that moment, Danny saw the coroners removing the bodies from the scene. He saw something that had haunted him for 12 years. His brother and sister were being removed from the house; their bodies sliced open and gutted.

"Do you have any suspects?"

"One. The Washington Gutter. It's a shame. Those two's parents were murdered by that bastard years ago."

Danny's sorrow turned to rage. That bastard had struck again. This time he took his brother and sister. The only people left in his family.

Danny turned and left. He spoke to himself, "I swear to God. I swear upon my parents' graves. I swear upon my brother and sister's graves. I will find this son of a bitch and make him pay for what he's done. He will face justice."

Danny intended to keep that promise. He was going to find Floyd and make him pay.

He turned to the next page in the binder. He saw the most recent victims. He turned another page and what he saw shocked him. What he saw now were pictures of JJ and Spencer. No, he thought to himself.

"Like my scrapbook?" said a voice from behind Danny.

He quickly turned around to see the face of Harold Floyd looking down at him. "It's a nice little thing to help me remember."

Danny stood up, ready to finally take down the man that had ruined his life. "Your done for, Floyd. My team is going to be here soon. But you won't have to worry about that. They'll be lucky if there's anything left of you when I'm done."

"Such big talk from a young man." Floyd pulled out his knife. "I doubt that you will be able to do anything to stop me. You don't have the guts."

Floyd jabbed with the knife, but Danny sidestepped and landed a punch on Floyd's face. He kicked the knife out his hand and pulled Floyd up by his shirt.

"Remember me, you sick bastard?" he asked.

"No. Not at all," Floyd replied.

Danny was angry now. "Look me right in the eye and tell me you don't remember me. Don't you remember? 23 years ago? The little boy you orphaned."

Floyd's face grew into a shocked face. "You. You're that little boy."

Danny looked him right in his eyes. "You bet your sorry ass I am. You ruined my life. You killed my parents, you killed my brother and sister and now you threaten my best friends."

Danny punched him in the face once again, knocking Floyd to the floor. He kicked Floyd in the gut before pulling him up to punch him in the face five more times. He then threw Floyd to the wall and drew his gun.

Floyd's face grew into a grin when he saw the gun in Danny's hand.

"Well," he said. "What are you waiting for? Shoot me. I ruined your life. Why should you let me live? You want justice for your family? Now's your chance to get it."

Danny heard the sirens outside the house. He contemplated the situation for a moment. He flashed back to moment he saw his parents killed; then seeing his siblings' bodies; and he knew what to do.

"My name is Daniel Parker," he declared "You killed parents, my brother, and my sister, and threatened my best friends. Prepare to face justice, you son of a bitch."

Then a shot rang out.


Hotch and the others had just reached the house and gotten out of the SUVs when they heard the shot fire.

"Move in!" Hotch shouted to the others.

They searched the house until they found Danny standing in a room with the UnSub, his gun drawn. Then they heard Danny speak.

"You aren't worth a bullet, you sick son of a bitch," Danny declared. He turned around to Hotch. "He's all yours Hotch."

Hotch moved forward to cuff Harold Floyd. He then saw the bullet hole that was now in the wall. "Harold Floyd, you are under arrest on numerous charges of murder. Move it along." Hotch turned his gaze to Danny, and nodded in approval.


At the BAU, Danny had finally returned to the happiness of the team. They were all so worried after he left to search for Floyd alone. There were hugs all around and congratulations thrown around to Danny. All he could think about was the team member he had left in tears.

The team finally broke off to head home for the night. Danny stayed behind. He walked over to JJ.

"Hey," he said to JJ.

"Hi," JJ responded.

"Look I wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry about what I said about you having a perfect life. I was angry and I wasn't thinking straight. I shouldn't have said what I did. I regret every bit of what I said."

JJ looked at him and said, "There's nothing to be sorry for. You were right. I do have too perfect a life. I shouldn't have tried to empathize with you. I had no idea how much finding him meant to you and how much it meant for your family. To be honest, I should be apologizing to you."

"You don't need to apologize. You were trying to help and I flipped out. I was a jackass and I hope that nothing affects our friendship."

JJ hugged him. "It's okay, your forgiven. I'm glad you did the right thing today and not kill Floyd. I know that he's made your life a nightmare, but you proved you were the stronger man."

Danny smiled a little bit. "Thanks."

"Though I do have a question. Why didn't you shoot him?"

Danny took a deep breath. "If I killed him, he wouldn't have to pay for what he did to my family and countless others. If I killed him, I would be no better than him. 23 years I thought I wanted justice. I really wanted revenge. How does revenge make me any better than him? There's a great difference betwen justice and revenge. Justice is about letting the victims be the winners. Revenge is letting the UnSub win." He laughed a little bit. "You know, I kind of feel like Inigo Montoya right now. I've been out for revenge for so long, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life."

"Have you considered piracy?" JJ asked jokingly.

"I'm serious," Danny said. "I don't know."

"Well, you saved lives in your first two cases working with the BAU. You're good at it. We need people like you."

"I know," Danny said. "I'm not leaving. I'm just saying it feels weird not having a motive now."

"What about the families? They suffer from the murders. Get justice for them."

Danny thought for moment and then smiled. "Thanks JJ," he said as he hugged her. "You know, I said before that I didn't have a family. I realized that I was completely wrong. Yeah, my biological family is dead, but you guys are here. I've only been here a week and you guys treat me like I've always been here. I do have a family: you guys. Thank you for that."

JJ smiled. "You're welcome."

Danny started walking towards the elevator. "You want a ride home? I know Will dropped you off here this morning."

"Thanks, Danny." They walked out of the building to Danny's Bureau-issued SUV and climbed in. Danny started towards JJ's house.

"Can I ask you a question?" Danny asked.

"Sure," JJ replied.

"What is going on with you and Will? I don't see you calling him much."

JJ sighed a little. "We're kind of on the rocks right now."

Danny frowned a little. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm beginning to wonder if marrying him was actually a good idea."

"Why did you get married to him?" This question threw JJ off-guard.

"What?"

"The others told me that you didn't marry Will until Henry was almost three and a half. Why so long?"

"I'd rather not answer that question right now."

Danny understood. "Sorry. Crossing a personal boundary. Just know I'm here if you anyone to talk to." He paused. "One other thing: Why did you name your son Henry? I would've thought he would be William LaMontagne III."

JJ laughed. "Will wanted to name him that, but I convinced him not to. Henry would be born a Jareau, not a LaMontagne. He will stay Henry Jareau until I say so."

"Why?"

JJ paused for a moment. She didn't want to say why for sure.

"No reason," she lied. Danny raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the matter.

They crossed an intersection when JJ saw a car flying at top speed towards them.

"Danny!" she yelled. "Look out!"

Danny turned his head to see the car. "Oh, shi-!" He didn't finish his sentence.

The car smashed head-on into the SUV, sending it rolling off the side of the road.

JJ was knocked unconscious by the collision. Danny stared out the window a little bit before falling unconscious in his seat.

Okay, I'll be honest. I got the idea for the car crash after watching the season 9 trailer. It just sparked an idea in my mind. So thank you season preivew trailers! And that rant Danny throws at JJ... yeah that's kind of me speaking through a character. It's my honest opinion (don't get me wrong, I love JJ; her life just seems to be way too perfect for her to truly empathize with the others). Not to mention all the questions Danny asked JJ. So what did you think? A good chapter? A nice way for Danny to have closure on his family's murder without it being revenge? Did the anger rant fit in at all? Leave your thoughts in a review and let me know!

(Anyone catch the Princess Bride reference in the story?)

And here's your preview at the next chapter:

Danny and JJ recover from the crash while JJ starts flashing back in the aftermath of the car crash.

You didn't think I was going to kill them off did you? So what is JJ flashing back to? Check in next time to find out! See you then!

-D.C. al Coda