He's ok, Penelope
You know he's alive, Penelope
Stop worrying; that wasn't Hotch in the hole; that was someone else
Garcia sat on the hood of her car, biting her severely chipped nail. The evidence bag that she was given was in her other hand; the DVD felt like Colmanshire had sent her worst nightmare-seeing her family in pain. In front of her, the body was lifted into the coroner's vehicle, ready to be identified and autopsied back in Manchester.
What do I do? Do I watch it or leave it to someone else...What would the team do? She remembered all the times that the team had been in trouble; Reid's kidnapping, Hotch's confrontations with Foyet, Morgan being attacked by Foyet- every time that they had seen the others get hurt, they were able to pull through and still get the job done.
Which is exactly what she needed to do.
She immediately sent a text to Douglas stating, On way back to station with evidence found on victim. She slid off the hood of the car and thought, I need to be brave and get the job done. Regardless of what I learn about what had happened to them. Be brave…..
Manchester Police Department Conference Room
Within 30 minutes, Garcia stood next to Douglas in front of a whiteboard in the conference room.
"Alright, so let's write down everything we know." Douglas picked up a sharpie and wrote on the white board:
Benzodiazepine- form of incapacitation-escaped on the 25th or 26th?
Limestone- Greenhouses? 6 nearby checked- none panned out
New Victim- appearance similar to Agent Hotchner- had DVD and vial of blood
Team started from at least 9 miles east of the interstate; found two miles from interstate- Agent Reid- on interstate
Sexual Assault- Prentiss and Jareau
Clothes and blood left by team as a sign- found on 27th
Douglas dropped the sharpie on the table. "What are we missing?"
"Should we look at the profile? See if there's anything missing?"
"Like what?"
"Well, he likes to keep prizes; he did that with his other victims. What did he take from the team besides keeping them hostage for a year?"
"That's…wait a minute..." Douglas pulled out the file on Colmanshire's previous murders. "He never held any of the victims for a very long time. We need to figure out why he jumped from college girls to FBI Agents and why he kept them for so long. We also need to figure out where he is and why he left us another body."
I know a way that we can check, but I'm not going to like it. "He's obsessed sir. He found some random guy that looks like Hotch and killed him. Is he screwing with me or screwing with the team?"
"Both." His eyes traveled over to the DVD. "Was it tested for prints?"
"Yes, sir." Here it comes.
"We need to watch it."
Back at the hospital, Will lifted his feet from off the adjacent chair and placed them quietly down on the floor. Henry was sitting below his feet, coloring pictures of landscapes with green and red crayons. Will stood to grab some food from his bag for Henry, but froze at the sound coming from the bed.
JJ let out a moan and lifted her hand a few inches above the bed. She turned her head away from Will before attempting to open her heavy eyes. Will immediately lifted up his son into his arms and approached the bed.
"Jenn, can you hear me? Jennifer?" Will called. JJ groaned and muttered, "Will?"
"Yeah, it's me. You're home and you're safe!" After opening her eyes, she turned her head weakly and saw Henry in his father's arms. He waved slowly and whispered, "Hi, mommy."
"My….baby boy," she whimpered. Henry laid his head on his father's shoulders. "I missed you, Mommy."
"So…big."
"Teacher at school says I's the tallest four year old she's ever seen!"
"Four?" she whimpered. She looked to her son before starting to cry. Will quickly placed Henry down and placed a hand on JJ's forehead. "Don't cry. Please, don't cry. I know it's a lot."
"When?"
"He turned four a few weeks ago. You've been gone for a long time, Jenn."
"How...long?"
"A year."
JJ began sobbing as she stammered, "A year...haven't…can't be!"
"It's alright, Jenn," Will repeated as she continued to sob, "It's alright.
2 Hours Later- Manchester Police Station
"That's amazing! Thank you, doc," Douglas said into the phone before hanging up. He looked to Garcia, who was sitting in a chair in front of her laptop, the DVD sitting in the open CD drive.
"Agent Hotchner, Agent Reid, Agent Prentiss, and Agent Jareau have all woken up within the last few hours," he told her softly. Garcia did not show response so he continued, "It's like they coordinated them all waking up at the same…time. That's an amazing team of yours….."he trailed off. He touched Garcia's shoulder, snapping her out of the daze.
"When I decided that I would keep looking for them," she replied, her eyes locked onto the computer screen, "I thought it'd be the hardest thing I'd ever try to do in my life. I just realized that the waiting and hoping to see if they were ok…..was the easy part."
Douglas reached over her and pushed the CD drive closed. He clicked the play down and stepped back while the DVD loaded onto the screen.
As soon as the DVD started to play, Garcia wished that it hadn't….
The screen opened in a dark room; the same dark room that had appeared in the photo that had been delivered to the local news station. The cameraman appeared to standing in a hallway. The camera suddenly turned to the left, showing a hooded figure dragging a blindfolded Reid into a room next door. The youngest agent was begging, "Don't-don't! NO, DON'T!"
His hostage turned around and delivered a shock to the agent's abdomen with what appeared to be a tazer or a shock prod. Reid let out a piercing scream and the cameraman turned the view back to the room.
Taking a few steps forward, the camera view focused on Hotch, who was shirtless and on his knees splitting up blood. A man was standing behind him with a whip in his hand and was masked like the other man working on Reid. The cameraman focused on Hotch's bloodied face and sneered, "Come on, Aaron. Scream for me!"
The Unit Chief focused on a spot on the floor in response before another 'Crack' of the whip echoed through the room. The camera view allowed the viewer to see Hotch wince, a single tear running down his face. The man with whip chuckled, "The rest of the G-man squad all fell apart when we took you away, Aaron. Now follow suit!"
With a final 'crack', Hotch let out a whimper and collapsed onto the ground.
The screen faded to black; Douglas let out a sigh of relief at its finish and nervously watched the technical analyst. He'd learned of her always having some form of positivity, something that this case had drained from her. She sat in front of him with her face almost pale white.
"Penelope?" he called.
"They- Colmanshire had-has partners," she blinked nervously as if she was trying to snap herself back into action, " He used ele-ele-electrocution and whipping to discipline-punish them. He also- that man-monster called Hotch by his first name and he-took them away. I-I don-don't know what he meant by tha-that. We-we need to double check any wounds for evidence, if…oh, god- what's the name of this town again?"
"Manchester." She's crashing…..
"If Manchester police hadn't already checked." Douglas' expression caused Garcia to say, "I'm alright, sir. I can contin-nue. It was just a lot to take in. I promise-I'm ok."
Alright, I'll let it go…for now, Douglas thought before continuing, "We need to interview them ASAP, regardless if they are incubated, drugged up or not."
"Sir is that-"
"It's been days- it should be still fresh in their minds. I want you to do it."
"Sir, I can't." Garcia thought, Ok, so he was right on the first few times, but this time-I really can't now! "Sir, they all know I'm not an agent. Plus, what they've gone through and remember this world to be, which includes how I am today, is going to freak them out. Rossi almost went nuts at the sight of the badge! I can't-"
"You will; a Detective and I will be in there, but you'll do the questioning."
Why does this keep getting harder and harder? Garcia reluctantly answered, "Yes, sir."
St. Francis Medical Center- Prentiss' Room
Prentiss laid back in her bed with her gaze locked on Garcia. She was confused and exhausted; the last thing she remembered was covering the hole near Hotch, Morgan, and JJ. Everything hurt- it hurt to breathe or move.
The hardest thing for her to deal with was the news that it had been a year; it felt like she had only been gone for a short time. Things were so different now- the biggest change was Garcia, standing in front of her wearing a business jacket, skirt, kitten heels, a stoic look on her faced- in general: professional. Garcia was supposed to be delightful and happy, not like this…
"I'm Agent Douglass, this is Detective Cava and I'm sure you know Agent Garcia," said the older agent, who stood next to Garcia and a thin, short Manchester detective.
Prentiss hesitated and turned her attention to Garcia. She scanned the technical analyst for a minute before responding quietly, "No."
"Well, I thought you two knew-"
"Get out." Prentiss narrowed her eyes at Garcia and yelled, "You aren't a profiler or an agent!" She began to hysterically scream, "What are you doing? What are you doing?"
Garcia stepped out of the room quickly and sat in a heap in the hallway. She whispered as if she expected the distressed profiler to hear her, "What happened to you, Emily?"
Detective Cava stayed in the room, but Douglas stepped out and asked Garcia, "Penelope, if Agent Prentiss is being uncooperative, what should you do next?"
Garcia sighed. "Try someone else. Reid, JJ, and Rossi are being interviewed by another Manchester Detective so I guess that leaves…Hotch." She stood up and walked into Hotch's room, next door, and found Hotch sitting up in bed, facing one of the doctors.
"Aaron," the doctor was saying, "I'm going to a neurological exam on you. You have a traumatic brain injury, so I just need you to first answer my questions. If you mess up, don't remember, or physically can't say anything, it's alright! Alright, here's my first question: what's your sister in law, son, and brother's names?"
Hotch coughed and focused all his energy on answering the question, "Jess-Je-Jessi-Jessica," he stammered, "Ja…Jack," he swallowed in frustration and finished, "….Sean."
"Excellent! Aaron. Alright, next question: I had told you the date earlier, do you remember what it was?"
"Au-Aug-gust-gust-August two-tho-ou-sand…..two-thousand….and eleven."
"Excellent. This may be hard and I can see that you're getting a little tense. Answer this the best that you can: what are the names of your team members?"
"Rei….ave…..D'rck," he paused as he began to tear up. Why can't I-what's wrong with me?
He started up again, this time his voice now shaky, "…..Em'ly…Jay….Penny."
The doctor smiled and jotted down a few notes, "You are doing so well, Aaron. The stammering and stuttering is because of the injury. I have one more question: what's the last thing that you remember?"
Hotch blinked nervously and balled a hand into a weak fist. "No."
"Well, that's alright. Do you-"
"No."
The doctor, now confused, exclaimed, "Excuse me?"
"No…..'member….. kid-kidnapping…rememb'…arson….Sav-van..vanah. "
Sean dropped his head while Jessica gasped in shock.
"Hotch, that was a year ago," Garcia told him. This isn't good; this isn't good at all-
"Agent Garcia?" she heard from the doorway. A Manchester officer stepped around Detective Cava and Douglas with a large manila envelope. He also had on disposable gloves immediately giving away that he was holding onto evidence. But that wasn't the envelope that had been found on the body…
"This came into the station forty minutes ago. We ran it for prints; they are trying to figure out a shipping address as well. I…I thought that you should see the contents in it first, since it was addressed to you."
Garcia nearly ripped the envelope out of the officer's hands and turned towards an empty chair near the doorway. She emptied the contents onto the chair and gasped at what she saw. Detective Cava stepped into the hallway in disgust, Sean Hotchner nervously asked, "What is it?", and Hotch's focus was on Garcia as he muttered, "Pen-Pen-Penelope….agent…"
Be brave for Hotch, be brave for the team, be brave…. The envelope contained four red painted fingernail- an entire ones that had to have been ripped out and a black and white fuzzy photo that contained a naked Prentiss lying to a naked Hotch, both unconscious and on their backs. Written on the bottom of the photo was;
She loves him, she loves him not
She cried out in pain, every time for Hotch