So originally I wasn't going to include this chapter, but then I felt like it was necessary, just to settle a few things (like where Alex is going to go when Emily travels with the team).
I really want to get Emily back to work full-time, as it is necessary for what I have planned, so expect a small time jump in the next chapter.
Thanks to everyone who has offered various suggestions. One of you actually suggested something that I really loved and have every intention of using in the next chapter so thank you!
Hope you enjoy this chapter! -J
Chapter 10
The next morning Emily made her way to the Hastings' house just after 10am, planning to drop Alex off at home before going into the office to work with Garcia while the team traveled to Iowa. The team had left first thing that morning, and had already arrived, so Emily was anxious to get to work, knowing they would need as much help as possible.
The unsub was targeting brunette, females in their thirties, and it seemed like he was escalating rather quickly, having raped and murdered 3 women already; another still missing. JJ had sent Emily everything they had about the murders and it was decided that Emily would help Reid with the geographic profile from Quantico, while the others interviewed victim's families.
Emily arrived at the Hastings', ringing the doorbell and waiting for someone to answer. She needn't wait long, as Veronica Hastings soon opened up the door, a big smile on her face.
"Emily, hi," she greeted, opening up the door to let Emily in.
"Hi, sorry about having to come so early, I actually have to head into work," Emily explained.
"Oh it's no problem. Alex told us a bit about your job," Veronica replied. "It must be difficult."
"It can be," Emily agreed. "Alex hasn't actually been living with me very long, so we're just trying to figure out how to make everything work."
"Spencer told me about that," Veronica replied. "Do you have to travel a lot for work?"
"Yes normally," Emily explained. "I haven't been travelling with the team for the last month though. I'm still trying to figure out a solution to leaving Alex. I don't exactly have family for her to stay with."
"You know Emily, we have plenty of space here," Veronica said. "Alex is more than welcome to stay here when you have to travel."
"Oh no, Veronica, thank you, but I couldn't ask that of you," Emily replied.
"You're not asking, I'm offering," Veronica said. "The girls get along great, and we can make sure she gets to school and what not. It wouldn't be a problem at all."
"Wow thank you. Let…let me think about it, and talk to Alex," Emily replied, wanting to make sure the teen would be okay with this arrangement before agreeing. "Is she ready to go, do you know?"
"I think she is, but you know if you need to go to work, Alex can stay the night again," Veronica offered. "I know what it's like, working late, working weekends. At least this way you won't have to worry about getting home early today. You can come get her tomorrow whenever you're ready."
"Are- are you sure?" Emily asked, not wanting to impose.
"Of course," Veronica replied with a smile.
"Hey," Alex greeted, coming down the stairs with the other three teens. "Sorry I didn't realize you were here already. I'll go get my bag."
"Actually, Sweetie, Veronica was wondering if you wanted to stay here again tonight since I have to go into work," Emily replied.
"Really?" Spencer asked excitedly, looking to her mother who nodded. "Awesome."
"Does that sound okay?" Emily asked a little quieter when Alex was standing in front of her.
"Yeah sure," Alex replied. "Are you coming to get me tomorrow though? Because I have an appointment Monday morning," Alex said, reminding Emily of the teen's appointment with Dr. Sullivan.
"Yes of course," Emily replied. "I will come get you tomorrow as soon as I can."
"Okay," Alex smiled. "Well say hi to everyone for me."
"I will," Emily replied with a smile. "And you be good okay?"
"I will," Alex said, giving Emily a hug before the profiler turned to head out the front door.
"Thanks again, Veronica," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow kid."
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Emily arrived at work less than an hour later, heading straight to Garcia's lair to find out what was going on with the team before getting to work. Knocking briefly, the profiler entered the office to find Garcia typing away furiously at one of her computers.
"Well it looks like your computers are doing well," Emily said, walking up behind the analyst.
"What?" Garcia asked confused, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Why wouldn't my babies be doing well?"
"Computer virus?" Emily replied. "You know the reason you bailed on me and JJ last night."
"Oh right of course," Garcia replied. "Well I fixed that."
"Sure you did," Emily replied. "I'm going to figure out what you're hiding Garcia, but for right now, what's going on with the team?" She asked.
"The body of the missing woman was found just before they arrived, in a dumpster behind some bar. JJ and my Chocolate God are there now. Hotch and Rossi are at the morgue, going over the bodies. The families of the victims are all scheduled to meet the team this afternoon at the precinct. Oh and our Boy Wonder is doing his map thing as we speak. He wanted you to call him after you had a chance to look everything over."
"Will do, thanks Garcia," Emily replied, turning to leave, but being pulled back when Garcia grabbed her arm.
"Wait how was girls' night?" She asked.
"It was fun," Emily replied, not looking her friend in the eye, something that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. "That restaurant was really good. A little fancier than your usual choices though."
"Well I just thought we deserved to treat ourselves," Garcia explained, trying to sound casual. "Did you guys go out after?"
"No we just went back to my place and drank some wine," Emily said. "Until Hotch called that is."
"Boss man does have a way of ruining a good night doesn't he?" Garcia said, disappointed that Emily and JJ's night had been cut short.
"Well unfortunately it is a part of the job," Emily replied. "I better get to work though. I'll check in with you a little later Pen."
"I'll be here," Garcia replied, waving as Emily made her way out to her desk.
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As soon as the team landed in Iowa, everyone headed their separate ways with plans to meet up at the police station by lunch to interview victim's families. Hotch asked JJ to go with Morgan to the newest crime scene, which was about 20 minutes from the airport. The drive was enjoyed in relative silence, Morgan focused on where they were going, while JJ browsed the case file, once again going over the details to make sure she had it all down.
JJ couldn't help but be bothered by this case. Looking through the photos of the 4 victims she couldn't help but see Emily's face staring back at her, as all four shared similarities with her best friend. It was because of this detail that the media liaison was grateful that Emily was working from Quantico, happy that she didn't have to worry about Emily being out in the field.
The crime scene was surrounded by cops when they finally arrived, both JJ and Morgan flashing their badges to get beyond the police tape, immediately making their way over to the dumpster where they knew the latest victim had been found.
"Valarie Monroe, 33," a cop standing by the dumpster told the Agents as they peered into the dumpster. "Went missing Thursday night. I'm Officer Holbrook. My captain told me to expect you."
"Agent Jareau," JJ greeted. "This is Agent Morgan. You'll meet the rest of our team this afternoon."
"Were all the dump sites like this?" Morgan asked as he looked around.
"Yep pretty much," Officer Holbrook replied. "All dumpsters behind various buildings.
"He's putting them places he knows they'll be found," Morgan points out. "I mean he must know that someone's bound to take the garbage out and find these women."
"And there's no signs of a struggle anywhere around, so he must be killing them somewhere else," JJ added.
"He has an obvious hatred towards women," Morgan continued. "I mean between the rape, signs of torture, brutal kill and then literally throwing them out like trash, this guy has a lot of anger."
"Doesn't seem to be any sign of remorse either," JJ pointed out, knowing from previous cases that unsubs who feel remorse about their kills tend to take care of the bodies. "I mean the clothes are torn and filthy, the body is covered in grime and then he dumps them in with the trash."
"You've got that right," Morgan agreed, walking around to see if he could get anything else from the scene.
As Morgan looked around JJ looked into the dumpster once again. Valarie Monroe had dark brown hair, dark like Emily's and her lifeless eyes were also brown, another feature she shared with Emily. As her thoughts strayed to her best friend, JJ's eyes began to sting with tears, and she turned away quickly, afraid that she might be sick.
Morgan, who was just coming back around the dumpster, saw JJ turn away quickly, holding on to the edge of the dumpster as she attempted to control her breathing.
"Hey you okay?" Morgan asked.
"What?" JJ replied turning around to face Morgan, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yeah I'm fine," she finished, turning so she couldn't see Valarie's body.
"Are you sure? Because you look kind of sick," Morgan said.
"I…she just looks so much like…" JJ replied, unable to finish.
"…like Prentiss?" Morgan said, completing JJ's thought. "I thought the same thing when I saw her photo in the file," he admitted. "But it's not Prentiss JJ. She's fine."
"I know," JJ replied, looking embarrassed. "I just hate when one of us fits victomology."
"We all do," Morgan said, giving JJ a sad smile. "But unfortunately it's going to happen from time to time. We just need to remember that Emily is safe, and we have to do everything we can to stop this bastard from hurting any more women."
"You're right," JJ said with a small smile. "Thanks Derek."
"Anytime blondie," Morgan grinned. "Come on, I'll let you buy me lunch before we get back to the station."
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It was just after 8pm by the time Emily returned home that night, having been ordered by Hotch to call it a night. After helping Reid with the geographic profile, Emily had helped Garcia delve into the victim's pasts, looking for any overlap between the 4 women besides their appearances.
Walking into the condo and placing her briefcase on the kitchen island, Emily found a note on the counter, recognizing Alex's messy scrawl instantly.
Emily,
Spencer's sister brought me to pick up my homework. Hope you had a good day. See you tomorrow
Alex
xoxo
Emily smiled, leaving the note on the counter, while she moved to the fridge to look for something to eat. Not feeling much like cooking Emily instead opted for a bowl of cereal, moving to eat it in the family room; hoping that some mindless television would help her take her mind off the case for the night. Landing on some terrible reality show, Emily sat and watched, slowly eating her cereal, feeling kind of lonely without Alex there with her.
Just as she was considering calling the teen just to check in, her cell phone started to ring from where it was sitting on the cushion beside her. Checking the caller I.D, Emily saw that it was JJ calling. Since she hadn't really talked to the blonde much since her revelation the night before, Emily felt slightly nervous, lingering a moment before answering the phone.
"Jen, hey," Emily greeted. "Did someone else go missing?" She asked, thinking that perhaps the unsub had struck again.
"Hey Em," JJ replied. "No, nothing else has happened with the case. At least not that we know of yet. I'm at the hotel. I just thought I'd call and check in."
"Check in?" Emily asked sounding a little confused.
"Yeah, I just wanted to see how you were doing." JJ replied awkwardly.
"Ummm I'm okay," Emily answered. "How are you doing?"
"Good…I'm good," JJ said.
"Jen is everything okay?" Emily asked, unsure of why her friend was acting so strangely. Maybe it's about last night Emily thought to herself, maybe she realized what almost happened before Hotch called.
"Yeah…yeah everything's fine…I was just…I mean, I just thought I'd call you," JJ replied, stumbling over her words.
"Jennifer, I don't need to be able to see you to know there's something wrong with you, you know," Emily said, recognizing the blonde's worried tone, imagining her on the other end of the phone, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What's going on?"
"It's just….they just look so much like you," JJ said quietly.
"Who? The victims?" Emily asked, realizing her friend's strange behaviour had nothing to do with the previous night's events.
"I went to the latest dump site today, and I just couldn't stop picturing you every time I looked at the victim and it was just making me sick," JJ replied honestly. "I guess I just needed to talk to you to settle myself. I'm sorry…I'm being stupid."
"Hey, hey none of that. It's fine," Emily assured her. "You remember that case a few months back in Boston? When the unsub was targeting blondes with blue eyes?"
"Yeah," JJ replied.
"I spent that whole week watching you like a hawk whenever you weren't looking. I felt uneasy every time we left the station," Emily explained. "But Jen you realize I'm not even in the same state as you right? I'm safer than any of you right now."
"I know," JJ said. "I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Nothing's wrong with you," Emily laughed. "Don't worry Jen, I completely understand."
"Thanks," JJ replied, smiling even though Emily couldn't see her. "So what are you and that teen of yours up to?" She then asked, feeling better, but not entirely anxious to end the conversation with her friend.
"Alex is actually still at Spencer's," Emily replied. "Her mom offered to keep her another night so I didn't have to worry about rushing home. Seems so empty here without her."
"You know I was just thinking that the hotel room felt empty," JJ said. "It's pretty booked up so we had to double up, but I'm all by my lonesome without you here with us."
"Well I will just have to get back to work full-time then won't I?" Emily said with a laugh. "We wouldn't want you to be lonely."
"I would appreciate that very much," JJ laughed. "Although while I am glad you're not on this particular case, we do miss having you with us. Have you thought anymore about what you're going to do about that?"
"Actually Spencer's mom offered up her house," Emily replied. "I just need to talk to Alex about it. Although I think I do want to take a little more time. I just want to be sure that she's okay with me leaving for extended periods of time."
"Of course," JJ agreed, smiling at how much Emily cared for the young girl. "Well I should probably get going. We're getting a pretty early start tomorrow, and I still want to shower. Sorry again for calling."
"You have nothing to apologize for Jen," Emily said, her smile evident in her voice. "Call anytime."
"Thanks Em," JJ replied with a smile. "I will talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night"
"You too," Emily replied. "Stay safe."