And Carried Me Away
Chapter 11:

Prison:

"I want to see my daughter. I want to see Jemma."

Hotch watched James, as the younger man repeated the demand. He eyed him wordlessly, not surprised by the request since it'd been in the back of his mind as a possible power-play James might use. There'd also been the slight hope that the thirty-six year old would request to see Jemma out of paternal feelings. Studying James' expression, Hotch was unsure which was the reason for his demand.

"Jemma's not coming to visit you in prison." William Reid replied before Hotch could, his eyes searching James'. His professional lawyer face slipped, changing swiftly to a protective father and grandfather one. "I won't allow it. Elsie wouldn't either."

"...Jemma's too young for normal visitation, James." Hotch concurred, his thoughts concerned by how being brought to the prison to visit her father would affect Jemma.

"Then arrange a visit outside of here. At the FBI headquarters, keep me chained or whatever." James said, his jaw tightening as he noted Hotch already shaking his head. "I want to see her. I'm her father. I deserve to..."

"Perhaps you should've thought of that before you attacked those women. Or before you gave up your right to a trial and pled guilty on all accounts while refusing any plea deal or parole just to hurt your father." Hotch replied, the coldness of his words coming from a mix of anger at what James had done and at how James kept trying to hurt Rossi. As well as a need to not accept the geniunity of James' demand blindly just because he wanted it to be so.

"I didn..." James scowled, tensing. "I thought she was dead. If I had any idea Jemma was alive, I..."

Hotch cocked an eyebrow, pausing long enough to study James' expression. He wanted to believe what he read in the younger man's body language. In his tone of voice. He glanced toward William Reid. One glance at the man's face and it was obvious he was reluctant to allow James any benefit of the doubt. Though he did note an empathetic grimace in the lawyer's expression when James mentioned thinking Jemma was dead.

It was, Hotch realized with a jolt, the one thing that William Reid and James Rossi had in common. Both fathers had at one point been convinced their daughters were dead.

"No." William shook his head, not even making an attempt to pretend to advocate for James. He didn't care if he angered the younger man or ruined the FBI's chance for questioning James. His granddaughter was not going to be brought to the prison to visit her father. Nor was he willing to allow James to visit Jemma off prison grounds. It didn't matter how much their circumstances were alike. It didn't matter that James had thought Jemma was dead, like William had with Alsie.

He understood the anger, the helplessness James may have felt, but that did not excuse the younger man's actions. Nothing could condone the rapes and mutilations James was responsible for, nothing could excuse any man - especially one who was a father to a daughter - for raping women.

And as he considered the possibility that James may have attempted the same with Alsie, William couldn't help feeling particularly unsympathetic. Whether James raped Alsie directly or maybe had taken advantage of his daughter's illness to do as he wished, William couldn't help his anger. He felt it, despite that Alsie seemed to still trust James, to care about the man enough that she asked William to show him Jemma's photograph.

-"Please...could you show James..."-

Alsie's request echoed suddenly in William's thoughts, reminding him not only why he'd visited earlier but also what his daughter had given him. After James' unexpected answers had flustered him, he'd forgotten about the photo.

"I deserve to see my..." James repeated, scowling. His chestnut eyes glaring at one man then the other.

"Here." William said, unconsciously deciding on a compromise by holding out Jemma's photo for the younger man to take. More to keep his promise to his daughter, than actually caring what James' felt. "Elsie asked that I show you that. I forgot to earlier."

James took the photo, his hand shaking as he did so. He stared at the three-year-old's smile. It was wide and exuberant. Innocent. He lingered on the smile, not noticing the look Hotch flashed William, nor the curiosity in either man's face as he held the photograph.

"James...?"

"...She has my eyes." James mumbled. "Her hair too...the same shade as mine. She's..." He took in a breath and handed the photo back. The word innocent repeating in his thoughts. Jemma...his daughter was so innocent, pure. Young. While he...and so many in the prison were not. "You're right, she shouldn't visit me in here. Who knows how many of these bastards in here would get off on..." James growled, his eyes narrowing as he thought. It was true anger, not at all like the sneering sort he did to upset his father or the rest of the BAU. It was more piercing than even the anger he felt when he'd revealed months back why he didn't kill his victims. "I...can I talk to Alsie instead? If I can't meet with Jemma, I want to meet with Alsie."

"...all right. If she's willing, we'll arrange it." Hotch replied, surprised enough by the request being a request not a demand, that he agreed to it. He paused while James nodded and sat back in his seat.

"Ask what you want to ask."

"First, I need to you to tell me the names of all your victims prior to those in western New York." Hotch said, noting James' pause and how the younger man's eyes grew suddenly wary. An action that suggested to Hotch that, though James had previously nearly reveled in being convicted just to spite his father, he was reluctant to risk being charged further.

"I..." James threw a quick glance at William, but averted it just as quick.

"There's a man hunting down your previous victims, torturing and assaulting them before murdering them." Hotch continued, not missing the glance though it seemed William had. "We need all of your victims' names."

"Aside from those in New York?" James mumbled and rubbed his lip, thinking. "There are only three..."

"Only three? James..."

"...That were still alive last I knew." James amended, further mumbling that he hadn't checked in on any of them for around thirteen years.

"...Did you kill them?" William asked before Hotch could, scowling at James.

"No...not deliberately. One...bled out. The other developed an infection." The thirty-six year old stared at his hands as he spoke, his brain mulling over something silently even as he answered. He unconsciously massaged his pinky. "I started using bleach after the latter one."

"What were their names?" Hotch asked, his stomach tensed. Though there always been lingering in the back of his thoughts, the possibility that James had had more victims than they'd found, hearing the younger man confirm it disturbed him. More due to how nonchalantly James spoke of the victims after mentioning they died.

"...the one who bled out, I don't know. I believe she was a prostitute, I didn't bother asking her name." James mumbled, further mentioning the name of the city he'd been in at that time. Hotch pulled slightly back at the city name, his eyes staring at James.

"...Somerfield owned property in that area. On the outskirts of the city." Hotch revealed slowly, curious. James only response was to dryly say 'yeah.' "James..."

"The other one was Tanya. She was a tutor Somerfield hired to teach the younger children at the institute. Hm..." James paused, and rubbed his pinky. "The others were...Amanda Richardson, Tiffany Dixon, and um, Sarah um...never quite got that one's last name. Her accent was difficult to understand."

Hotch listened quietly as James gave the names of his other victims, confirming the identities of the three victims the BAU had already suspected of being James'. "Are those all your victims?"

"Aside from those in New York? Yeah." James' chestnut eyes shifted from Hotch's face, and darted briefly at William before returning to staring at his hands.

"You're sure? These women were the only ones you attacked? There weren't any others...? Ones you wanted to attack, that perhaps you attempted to assault but...didn't go through with it?"

James glowered at Hotch, but said nothing.

A brief silence filled the room as the unit chief observed James and analyzed his micro-expressions. Understanding came to Hotch as he realized what James' glances and fidgeting had actually meant. The thirty-three year old wasn't worried about being charged further, but about William Reid's presence. Especially as Hotch kept questioning about James' victims. His concern focused on the younger man's potential victims.

'Alsie...' Hotch let the unspoken admittance sink in. It hadn't been the petite brunette that he'd had in mind when he prompted James. He had simply been seeking a possible connection between James and Olivia Sutters, the one victim of their copycat unsub that wasn't previously James' victim.

William Reid, finally catching James' glances towards him and connecting them to the way Hotch kept asking the younger man divulge his victims' names, stiffened in anger. His eyes narrowed, his brain coming to the same conclusion Hotch's had. Alsie may not have met the same fate as James' other victims, but the thirty-six year old had sought her out to be a victim.

"You...you..." William growled, nearly ready to lunge at James before Hotch stopped him.

"Mr. Reid..." Hotch spoke, his tone warning enough. He was about to tell the other man to leave the room before he remembered William was, as far as the prison was concerned, James' lawyer. If William was kicked out by him it would clearly alert the prison staff to the lie. Though if James kicked William out, that would be a different story.

Hotch opened his mouth to continue his questioning where he left off, but then closed it. A question whirled in his thoughts, a question raised by James' behavior, specifically how the man, though wary about William's presence, didn't demand the lawyer to leave. It was, since William had agreed to act as James' lawyer, James' right to demand. Yet...

Hotch knit his brow, confused and suspicious by the absence of James demanding William to leave. It was the sort of thing he expected of the thirty-six year old, a power-play to get under the other man's skin.

He eyed William Reid, then shifted to James, studying both men carefully. The former was fuming and leering at the latter, who simply refused to respond. It wasn't that James was just simply not saying things that could agitate William, but rather almost as though James was deliberately trying to avoid it. Seeing the thirty-six year old making an effort not to anger someone was strange. Enough that Hotch made a note to talk to William alone later, demanding to know what the two had talked about before Hotch arrived.

"You...you hurt her? After all that you blathered about earlier, you actually did..." William seethed, glaring at James.

"No." James tensed, his eyes narrowing. His own anger bubbling in response to the lawyer's. "No. I didn't."

"James, if you lie you won't get to talk to Alsie. Nor see Jemma." Hotch elucidated, in an effort to curtail the desire to attack the younger man he read in William's face.

"I...I'm telling the truth. I did not hurt Alsie." James growled, pausing a moment. "Yes, all right. I intended to. I saw her outside a bar and approached her intending to..." He took in a deep, angry breath. "But...you want to know what happened? Truthfully?"

"Yes, James." Hotch replied, keeping his face stoic. While William clenched his jaw and fist, readying himself to lunge at the younger man.

"Alsie drugged me. Well, Emmie did. Drugged and tied me up. Given, it was in self-defense. But I didn't hurt her. She..." James scowled, lips puckered in rage. "Now, aside from her breaking my finger at the time, I didn't mind at all what she...what Ana did while I was bound. It actually intrigued me. Such a petite thing and she could fight back. Pretty smartly too. Fearless even. That never happened before. I was intrigued." James made a shrugging gesture with his hands. "I found I liked being intrigued, grew fond of her even. Especially after discovering our childhoods were similar. Both of us raised and victimized by pedophiles, both abandoned mid-childhood by our 'families.' And, now, apparently..." He gave a derisive breathy laugh, glancing at William. "So I'm told, we both are victims of Connell-Somerfield's scheme. I honestly thought that was too much similarity - both of us raised by the wrong family? Hah. I even told her as much when she confided that she thought she was a changeling or whatever. That she was raised by the wrong family and that she thought she met her real brother. I told her that was just too - too wishful. Bizarre. It..." James took a breath, missing the shift in both of the older men's expressions. "It was unlikely. Impossible."

Hotch's shift was barely noticeable, but William's was clear. His anger shifted to surprise, then back to anger, and then to reluctant realization. Surprised by the revelation, he had almost snapped at James, ready to blame him for Alsie not revealing her suspicions to Spencer when they met as adults. However, James was right that both of them being switched, on top of what else they had in common, was improbable. It was reasonable to have doubted Alsie's suspicion.

"James..."

"...look, I'll go into detail if you like. Divulge everything. But I never hurt Alsie. I may have wanted to at first, but...I grew intrigued - fond even - of her."

"James, according to reports, Ana was the one conscious when..."

James made a dismissive hand gesture. "Like I mentioned to Wil...Mr. Reid here before you came." He paused briefly, William's name intriguing him. He shrugged it off though. "I simply lied back and let Ana do whatever she wanted. Whenever she wanted. I..."

"That's...I don't want to...hear any more..." William muttered, shaking his head. Not sure if he should believe James or not. His eyes flitted towards Hotch, hoping to see something in his expression to tell him what to believe.

"...I didn't hurt Alsie. Even if I hadn't grown fond of her. If I tried to, do anything, Emmie would've broken every bone in my body. Leigh would've been even worse. Probably would've castrated me, at least."

"James, that's all right." Hotch interrupted after silently glancing at William, reading the man's discomfort in his face and body language.