A/N: I am so sorry for the short hiatus. I can only promise one chapter today but hopefully I'll get two up in honor of the CM finale. Unfortunately I can only type with one hand right now because I burned my thumb making dinner: Do you know how damn hard it is to type with only one hand and four fingers while balancing an ice pack on your thumb? Yeah…that's me.
Here we go. Short, but necessary:
Chapter 8: Truce
"Professor Plum, you were once a professor of psychiatry specializing in helping paranoid and homicidal lunatics suffering from delusions of grandeur."
"Yes, but now I work for the United Nations."
"So your work has not changed."
- Clue
They'd given up trying to plan for the next day about an hour before. By now, everyone was exhausted and beginning to snap at each other, so it was better to just disperse, have people alternate alertness, and try to get some shuteye.
Shawn and Gus settled against the back of one of the two couches. "Is it really a maze?" Gus finally asked. Shawn nodded mutely. Gus groaned. "I hate mazes."
"Tell me about it."
"What's up?" Gus eyed Shawn suspiciously.
Shawn raised his eyebrows. "Seriously, dude? We're stuck in a weird-ass house with some crazy psycho and you're asking me what's wrong?"
Gus sighed. "I didn't know if there was something else bothering you."
Shawn echoed Gus' sigh and rested his head on the couch. "We don't even know if they've realized Dad and I are missing."
"Shawn, where would you be if Lassiter, Juliet and I were all missing? Like, constantly?"
"The station. Good point."
"Look. I'm sure they're –"
"Still looking for us in California, without even knowing that the feds are missing."
"Vick's not stupid."
"I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about jurisdiction."
"I'm sure the entire country is on alert, Shawn." Gus didn't like this random turnover. Usually it was Shawn saying stuff like this to him. This sucked. Majorly.
"Hey guys." Juliet sank down next to Shawn. "Can I –"
"Yeah, sure."
"Absolutely." Gus watched as Shawn's demeanor instantly changed.
"So, Jules," Shawn said. "How is everything?"
"Pretty good. Except for, well, this whole thing." She waved her hand around, indicating their current predicament. "How close do you think they are?"
Shawn shrugged. "Chief Vick is, like, John McClane when she gets mad. You know how mama bears are with their cubs? Yeah, that's Vick. Right, Gus?"
"Yeah."
Juliet giggled. "You have a point."
#
"Hey, Agent Rossi. Can I talk to you for a second?"
Rossi looked up from where he was talking to Hotchner. "Sure, Mr. Spencer. One second." He looked sternly back down at Hotchner. "You try and sleep."
Hotchner glared at him with a look that was half-irritated, half-pain-dazed.
Henry and Rossi walked out of the room, passing Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, and Lassiter still trying to plan out the next day's battle with the maze. Just outside the arches Henry stopped him.
"Look, Agent Rossi. About earlier –"
Rossi shook his head. "Mr. Spencer, if you're apologizing, there's no need. We're all –"
"That's the thing. We are all stuck here, and we need to work together if we're planning on getting out anytime soon."
"Truce then?"
"Yeah."
Rossi and Henry firmly shook hands before starting back into the room.
#
Something beeped. In the quiet station, Garcia jumped to her feet. "Jayje!"
JJ, currently finding more coffee, hurried over. Strauss and Vick appeared from Vick's office.
"What's going on?" JJ leaned over Garcia's chair.
"I got a hit on the face from Reid's video." She pointed as Vick and Strauss appeared behind her. "Marcia Bohn."
"She shouldn't have jumped to abductions like this," JJ said. "Just petty robbery charges?"
"That's all I can see. Looks like her husband, however . . ." Garcia entered the name Curtis Bohn into the computer. "We've got lots of nasty stuff. Assaults, attempted murders, er . . . looks like several murder charges that didn't stick . . ." Something red flashed on her screen. "Oh, God."
"What?" Vick leaned in as Strauss took a step back.
"The file's been flagged by the organized crime task force."
"Former hitman?" JJ asked, looking at the flashing red banner.
"Looks like it," Garcia said, her face twisting with panic. "You don't think he –"
"I'm sure they're fine, Garcia." JJ straightened up.
Strauss proceeded to pull JJ to the side. "I hate them, Agent Jareau, but we should start thinking about –"
"Holding a conference." JJ sighed. "I'll make some calls and get something organized for tomorrow morning."
"See that you do."
#
A/N Again: Thanks and cookies or cupcakes to:
PlumCrazy: YOU'RE NEW! Hi! Thanks for reviewing! There will be Morgan/Garcia moments. No 80s yet, but we're getting there. Unfortunately my 80s lore is not as impressive as Shawn/Gus's …
sfulton: Rossi and Henry are going to have some great moments shortly…I have great plans to them.
Wraith: It's gonna be fun. And no, it's not. Normally I'd be happy to walk on the moving floor too, but, well, not in pitch blackness. And you're welcome. Braces suck. And thanks.
Vampire-act: You're alive! Hahahaha.
Seafrost: Well, welcome back anyway.
