Quantico, VA:
This street was normally fairly quiet at almost eight-thirty on a Saturday morning. This day, the day before Halloween, was not normal on that account. The fire was out, but the fire fighters and their equipment were still on scene. A lone ambulance and its paramedics were there too, treating a couple of firefighters who had suffered minor injuries. Several cop cruisers were on the scene, their occupants busy keeping the crowd behind the crime scene tape that had been put up to cordon off the area. Curious onlookers were still hanging around in neighboring yards and on the sidewalks. Two news vans from local stations were still on the scene, as well as several reporters from newspapers.
The media's interest wasn't focused on the activity near what was left of the house, as firefighters made their way through the area, searching for hot spots. Nor the three FBI agents who were walking the area, looking for any clues that might have survived the nights activities. At this point, every reporter and camera on scene was focused on the one agent that was giving them an official statement. Finishing saying what he had to say, SSA Aaron Hotchner told them that he would take a few questions.
"You said no one was at home at the time of the fire, does that mean the FBI knew there was a threat against Agent Morgan?" one of the TV reporters asked.
Despite the fact that he had not mentioned whose house it was, the media had managed to already get a hold of the name of the home owner on their own. It never ceased to amaze him how fast the media seemed to figure out things you didn't want them to know.
"I'm sorry but I cannot answer that question at this time," Hotch said, and immediately acknowledged one of the other reporters, nodding in their direction.
"Was this fire set on purpose?"
"As I said before, the fire department will have to conduct its investigation to determine the cause of the fire. Until that time any speculation on that topic would be premature."
"Is this incident connected with the incident involving the federal agent that is currently in the hospital?"
"At this time we have no evidence linking the two incidents," Hotch replied calmly, neither admitting or denying that there was a connection. It wasn't a lie. There was no physical evidence just a lot of speculation at this point.
"What about the reported shooting at the airport last night?"
~These guys aren't missing a thing,~ Hotch thought as he quickly decided what if anything he should say about the incident at the airport. He decided to go with saying as little as possible and bringing this impromptu press conference to an end.
"I'm not in the position to talk about that incident at this time. That's all the questions I can take at this time. Thank-you," Hotch told them and then stepped away from the gathered news reporters even as they kept trying to throw out some more questions.
Tuning them out, Hotch walked back to the house, ducking under the crime scene tape. He made his way to where Garcia was standing, holding both the camera she had been taking pictures with and the one Prentiss' had brought.
"This is deliberate, wasn't it?" Garcia asked her boss as he came to a stop beside her. "This psycho is really targeting my babies? Why? What they ever do to them?"
"We're going to catch him, Garcia," Hotch told her. "Why don't you head to the BAU and start getting those photos ready for us. We'll join you there shortly," Hotch told her, wanting to get the technical analyst out of the field and back with her computers where she was more comfortable. He knew how much seeing things like this scene upset her, though she always came when he asked.
"Yes, sir," Garcia replied, taking one last look at what once was Morgan's house. She felt a chill creep up her spine as she started walking toward her car, more than happy to get be able to retreat to her lair.
Hotch watched Garcia until she was safely in her car and then looked around for his other two agents. He spotted them both, walking side by side across the front lawn toward him.
"Find anything?" Hotch asked, as the three met up.
Both agents shook their head but only Rossi spoke up. "There's been so much activity on the scene that if there was any clues left by the UnSub, they've probably been covered up or destroyed. Figuring out where and what started the fire is best left up to the fire company."
Hotch nodded. He had figured as much, but still they had to be sure.
"Well, we do have the photos of the onlookers from last night. He wanted to draw Morgan here so chances are he was among them," Hotch told them. Before he could say anything else his cell phone rang. Taking it out, he recognized Strauss' number, which was the last person he wanted to speak to right then but he knew he couldn't dodge her call. "Agent Hotchner," he said, answering the phone.
"So, one of my agent's houses is set on fire, an agent that you requested protection for, and I have to find out about it from a news broadcast," Strauss said, starting right in on her tirade without the pleasantries of a greeting. "When were you going to inform me of this incident?"
"I didn't think you would appreciate a phone call at four in the morning. I was just getting ready to call you to inform you of the situation."
"And did you bother to call Agent Jackson when calling in the rest of your team. He is suppose to be helping you with this investigation, Agent Hotchner."
"No ma'am I did not. In the midst of everything, calling Agent Jackson completely slipped my mind."
"Slipped your mind or you didn't want him at the scene?"
"With all due respect ma'am, I've got colleagues in danger. I welcome any help I can get to solve this case."
"Very well. Let me warn you Agent Hotchner, that if I so much as suspect you're deliberately leaving Agent Jackson out of the loop on this investigation there will be disciplinary action taken. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'll be in the office later this morning. I'll expect a full report from you on the progress made on this case then."
"I'll see you then ma'am," Hotch told her.
As soon as he had gotten the words out of his mouth he heard the distinct sound of the call being disconnected. If there was one thing he hated more than working on the weekend it was having to deal with Strauss on the weekend.
"Strauss?" Rossi asked, as Hotch put away his cell phone.
"Yeah," Hotch replied. "She's not too happy but I really don't think that waking her up to tell her what happened would have made her any happier."
"I take it she's coming in for a report?" Rossi guessed, having heard Hotch's part of the conversation. The BAU unit chief nodded. "Want me to handle it?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I think it'll be best if I do it. No point in giving her anymore ammunition. What I do need you to do for me thought is go to the hospital and see if you can get any information from Reid. He's still our only solid source of information at this point. Don't push
him though."
"Got it," Rossi said, a he turned to head to his car.
As Rossi walked away, Hotch turned to Prentiss. "I want you to stop by the hotel and pick up Gideon on your way in. Until we get something else to work with, those files are our best chance of finding something to go off of. With any luck, either Morgan or Gideon will remember something significant from a case that isn't in the files. I'll meet you at the office. I have a feeling I'm going to have one unhappy IA Agent waiting for me when I get there."
"Definitely like my task better than yours," Prentiss told him.
"I'm sure you do."
As Prentiss headed for her car, Hotch turned and looked for the fire chief. He wanted to touch base with him before heading for the BAU.
Georgetown University Hospital:
The sound of the room door opening caused Morgan to look up. He was expecting to see either a nurse or a doctor, but instead he saw a familiar blonde stride into the room. From the look on her face, Morgan knew he was in for a scolding before she even opened her mouth.
"You should have just stayed in Chicago. You were safe there. Not instead you come back and give this guy the opportunity to shoot at you. What if . . ." JJ trailed off, as she noticed Morgan gesturing to Reid who was sleeping. The blonde lowered her voice but continued, even as Morgan took some steps toward her. "Don't think you can use Spence to avoid my lecture Derek Morgan. What if that guy had hit you when he took a shot at you at the airport. You shouldn't be putting yourself in unnecessary danger. Hotch warned you to stay in Chicago until this situation was taken care of but you just couldn't listen, could you? No, you have to rush into things, without thinking, just like you always do. Who do you think you're trying to impress with your reckless heroic antics anyway?"
JJ stopped speaking, her eyes still full of fire as she stared unwaveringly at him.
"Are you done?" Morgan asked, not sure if she had finished or was just taking a breath.
"Don't patronize me."
"I'm not but I also know better than to try to explain something to you while you're trying to get your side across."
JJ folded her arms in front of her and stared at him.
Taking that as a sign she was waiting for him to speak, Morgan started talking. "I know you and the others are concerned for my safety but I had to come back. I couldn't stay in Chicago and hide."
"Because you have a death wish? That's the only logical reason I can come up with for you to come back to a city when there is evidence that someone is out to kill you!"
"No, I don't have a death wish. I don't plan on letting this guy get the best of me, but I also couldn't stay out of town and put my friends in the line of fire. He already hurt Reid," Morgan said, gesturing to the pale form of the injured agent in the bed, which was now beside him, "to get to me. I'm not going to let him hurt anyone else."
"And what if you had been at your house last night when he set it on fire?"
"He probably wouldn't have set it on fire then," Morgan replied. "Rossi thought the fire was a method to draw me to the house. If I had been there he probably would have tried to break in and try a more direct method."
JJ gave an exasperated sigh. "And that's suppose to make it better."
"No, I was just answering your question," Morgan answered calmly.
"Why can't you just once follow orders when someone is only trying to. . ."
"What orders have I not followed. I was never ordered to stay in Chicago. Hotch said he thought it would be in my best interests to remain in Chicago but he never ordered me too," Morgan interuppted her, pointing out the flaw in her latest argument. Over JJ's shoulder, he noticed the door crack open.
Franklin, who had apparently returned from his overnight break and relieved the agent who had been in the hallway during the night, stuck his head into the room. "Is there a problem here?" the burly agent asked, looking first at JJ and then at Morgan. Seeing him, both JJ and Morgan realized they had left their voices raise higher than they intended to.
"No!" JJ snapped, whirling toward the door.
With a quick nod, and a 'you're on your own,' look at Morgan, Franklin quickly disappeared back into the hallway. The door made a soft click in the now silent room.
"And if Hotch had ordered you to stay in Chicago, would you have?" JJ demanded, lowering her voice once again to an angry whisper.
Morgan didn't get a chance to answer the question with the answer he knew that JJ wouldn't have liked. Instead, another voice interjected themself into the conversation.
"I thought my headache was fading away but listening to the two of you is making it come back," Reid told them. JJ and Morgan both turned to see that Reid now had his eyes opened. Both agents looked guiltily at each other as Reid continued. "No one on this team would voluntarily stay someplace safe if they thought any of the rest of us were in danger. You should know that JJ, you're still one of us in spirit."
Reid's words both smothered the fire in her and calmed her. Morgan, relieved to be spared more of JJ's lecture, motivated by concern for his safety or not, walked back over to the bed.
"I'm going to leave you in the care of JJ's very capable hands and go help the others catch this creep," Morgan told him, resting a hand on Reid's shoulder.
"We'll be fine," Reid assured him.
"Someone will be by to ask you questions later if you're feeling up to it. Don't feel pressured to answer though. If you're not ready, just let us know. We'll understand."
"I need to talk about it. I might remember something that could be important to the case and this guy needs to be caught, before he hurts anyone else. It's the only way I can help right now."
Morgan gave Reid's shoulder a slight squeeze. He knew exactly how Reid was feeling and new that when Hotch or whoever he sent to do the interview showed up, the team's youngest agent would do his best to answer all the questions.
Morgan turned from the bed to find himself face to face with JJ. She held out a packaging envelope to him. Morgan took it from her, noticing there was no writing on the outside of it as he did so. From the shape and weight of it, Morgan was guessing there was a tape inside.
"Give this to Hotch, for me. It's the footage channel six news' camera man captured at the fire last night. It's my contribution to the case."
"Got it," Morgan said, and was starting to walk by her when JJ put her arms around him and gave him a hug.
"Be careful," she told him, taking a step back.
"I will be," he replied, and with a quick wave with the hand holding the envelope he turned, and left the room.
As expected, Franklin was waiting across the hall from the door way. The taller agent fell in step beside Morgan as he headed for the elevator.
"I thought you were suppose to be protecting me," Morgan said lightly. "You sure made a quick exit back there."
"I was told to protect you from the UnSub," Franklin replied. "Not blonde tornados. Those, you get to handle on your own."
"Sometimes, I think I'd rather deal with the UnSub than JJ," Morgan replied, as he stepped onto the elevator.
En route to the BAU:
Prentiss kept her eyes focused on the road in front of her, paying attention to the other cars on the road and not the man that was sitting next to her in the passenger sheet. Other than to tell him that Hotch had sent her to pick him up, the dark-haired agent hadn't said anything to Jason Gideon. She hadn't even volunteered to bring him up to speed on the case, as she assumed that giving the events at the time of the former agent's arrival, Rossi hadn't had a chance to give him all the details.
For his part, Gideon hadn't offered many words himself. But then again, he never had been a man of many words, Prentiss reasoned with herself. That wasn't something she should have expected to change over the past three years.
She remembered the first case she had helped Gideon with. He had reluctantly taken her to Guantanamo Bay with him, showing very little faith in her abilities at the beginning. She had tried hard to show him that she knew what she was doing. That she could contribute to the team. By the time they had left Cuba, she had felt she had gained some support from the older profiler. Support that she had felt had changed to respect just before Gideon's impromptu retirement.
Prentiss had looked up to Gideon in a way. Had learned a lot from him in the short-time she had worked with him and had looked forward to continuing to work under him. She felt that there was a lot she could learn from the seasoned agent and profiler. She had been disappointed when he had left. Disappointed and hurt. Through all the various postings and agents she had worked with during her years in the FBI, she had never let herself get close to any of them. They were colleagues. She respected their abilities. Trusted them to have her back in the field but that was as far as it went. It hadn't taken her long to realize that being part of this BAU team was something different altogether and for the first time, Prentiss found herself wanting to be not only respected professionally but accepted. She knew that was why Gideon's departure had hit her so hard.
Prentiss thought she understood why Gideon had left and at one time had often wondered if he had found what he had been searching for. It had been awhile since she had those thoughts and now that he was back, there was a part of her that didn't want him back in her life. They had all moved on without him, and had done fairly well. Still, she wondered?
"Why Oklahoma?" Prentiss asked, eyes still on the road in front of her.
"Pardon me?" Gideon said, taken by surprised by the sudden break in the silence.
"Why did you end up staying in Oklahoma? What was there for you?"
"At the beginning, nothing. Maybe that's why I stayed. I left searching for a part of myself that doing this job had taken away. Left searching for some kind of spark of a hope in humanity. When I got to Gracemont, here was this small, nothing going for it town, in the middle of nowhere who were more than willing to accept a absolute stranger into their midst. They didn't ask questions about my past only wanted to know me as I was then. I figured I'd stay a couple of days, and then that turned into a week, then two weeks until eventually I just decided to stay."
"Did you find what you left searching for?"
Gideon paused, thinking over her question. "Yes and No. I never did find the part of me that I had lost but I did find myself again, if you can understand what I mean by that."
Prentiss nodded. "I think I can." They rode in silence for awhile, and then she spoke again. "Were you ever going to bother to contact the rest of us? Did you even care what had become of us?"
"I thought of all of you over the years. Even followed some of the team's accomplishments in the news. Didn't take me long to realize you were all doing just fine without me. I eventually felt that I had no right to come back into your lives even if you all wanted me."
"But you contacted, Reid."
"I guess deep down part of me couldn't let go," Gideon responded.
It wasn't the answer Prentiss had expected. She wasn't even sure that she knew what it meant exactly. Turning onto the marine base where the BAU was located, she decided to let the question session go for now. They had a case to solve right then. Figuring out her feelings surrounding Gideon and his sudden re-emergence in their lives could be put off until later. For all she knew, the older gentleman might plan on disappearing right back out of their lives following this case.
For now, she'd keep her distance. Concentrate on the case. If Gideon planned on waltzing back out just like he had before, she wanted to keep enough emotional distance so that she wouldn't get hurt again.