"There's still one thing bothering me," Emily admitted after shoving Mr. Sam into the police car for interrogation as the officer drove him away.
"What's that?" Reid asked.
"Why dump them by the street? I mean, that must be something huge for the profile, and we can't figure it out."
"Yeah, I've been wondering about that too," Rossi said.
"Well, it's probably unsub one. He's the leader, the strong one," Reid noted. "So it's probably his idea."
"Okay," Daniel said. "I'm unsub one. I just strangled my victim in broad daylight, and then risk carrying them off to the side of the street, where everyone can see? Something's not right. The street must have some huge significance, and we're missing it."
Everyone stared in shock.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" Daniel asked, searching the teams' faces.
"No," Hotch muttered. "That's something Morgan used to do—put himself in the unsub's shoes."
"Oh," Daniel nodded in understanding. "Sorry."
"No, don't be. Somebody has to do it."
"Right. Anyways, there's something important about the street."
Hotch looked at his watch. "It's six o'clock now; track team just left. Tomorrow, I want Rossi, Prentiss, and Daniel to stay here and make sure nobody gets hurt. Reid and I will work on the profile."
"What about--" JJ began.
"Right now, I want everyone to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be busy."
"Wait, what about me?" JJ asked.
"What?"
"You—you forgot about where I was supposed to go."
"Oh. Um, you can stay here with Rossi and Daniel, then I guess Emily will work on the profile with us. Any other interruptions?" Hotch asked rudely. JJ flinched slightly. "No? Okay, good night everyone."
Prentiss walked up to Daniel. "You need a ride to the hotel?"
"No, thanks, I'm actually going to be staying at my house. It's only about fifteen minutes from here." Emily laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just that this place is in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how you could live here."
Daniel chuckled as well. "Tell me about it. I guess it's just something you get used to. Well, I'm going now. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you," Emily waved, intrigued by the new agent. He got along so well with everyone, and he was just so likable. But there was something about him, something almost secretive, like he was only telling people what they wanted to see. Emily wondered what happened to make him so closed off.
* * *
Morgan was laughing with Priscilla about some story she had told him when Dr. Young walked in.
"What can I do for you, Doc?" Morgan asked.
"Honestly, I think you're working some magic here. The gorgeous Miss Priscilla here--" she blushed at the compliment-- "is doing so well, that I was wondering if you would want to talk to some of the other patients. You know, cheer them up."
"Sure thing, man. Who's the next lucky one?"
"There's a young Mr. Billy right across the hall if you wouldn't mind. He's been really down in the dumps since he arrived, but is definitely happier when somebody is there with him."
"You got it." Morgan turned to Priscilla. "See you tomorrow?"
"I'm not moving," she promised with a laugh. He smiled back and wheeled himself out of her room, following Dr. Young into Billy's room.
"There's one thing you should know about this one," Dr. Young warned. "He insists on being called Mister Billy. Nothing else is good enough."
"Okay, why is that a prob--" Morgan began, but stopped himself when Dr. Young opened the door to reveal a boy, no more than seven or eight years old, lying in bed. "Oh." He rolled over to the little boy, who was lying with his face looking defiantly at the ceiling.
"Well hello, Mr. Billy. How are you doing today?" Morgan asked, playing along with the kid's wishes.
"Hmph" was the only response he got. Morgan looked up questioningly at Dr. Young, who whispered, "He needs to have his tonsils removed tomorrow and refuses to let us touch him. Any way you could talk to him?"
"No problem," Morgan muttered before turning back to the little boy. "It's really nice here, don't you think? Dr. Young over here even let me get a piece of chocolate cake after lunch today. It was really yummy."
Billy looked over at Derek. "Mommy made me chocolate cake for my birthday last month."
"Really? My mommy used to make me cake on my birthday, too. Although I always liked vanilla better." Billy scrunched up his face. "What? You don't like vanilla?"
He shook his head. "Uh-uh. My sister likes vanilla, I don't."
"How old is your sister?"
"She is turning fifteen next week."
"So is your mommy going to make her vanilla cake for her birthday?" Billy shrugged. "I guess you really look up to your sister, huh?" Morgan asked. Billy nodded vigorously. "Has she ever gotten surgery before?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. That's why I don't want to. Lindsay tries everything before me so nothing happens to me."
Morgan smiled. "But this is something you get to do that Lindsay doesn't! You're a brave kid, I know you can do this. Show Lindsay how strong you are! I bet she'll be proud of you."
Billy smiled widely. "You think so?"
"Oh, I know so."
Dr. Young smiled and said, "Billy, I'm afraid Agent Morgan has to--"
"Agent?" Billy exclaimed.
"Yep, I work for the FBI."
"Whoa! Do you get to carry a gun? Have you ever killed anyone?"
"Yes and yes," Morgan said seriously, "but I'm not proud of either."
"Is that why you can't walk? Did something happen when you were working? What happened?"
Morgan looked up at Billy, who felt suddenly intimidated. He shied away, letting his pillow and bed nearly swallow him. "My friend got sick, so when I had to do her job, a bad guy hurt me. Don't worry about me, though; my friend is the one who's hurt."
"Did she die?" Billy pushed.
"No, thankfully not. But she is very sad now."
"Oh," Billy said, clearly bored by the end of the story.
"Agent Morgan has to leave now," Dr. Young muttered.
"Bye-bye, FBI! Hey, that rhymes!" Billy giggled.
"Yeah, kid, it does," Morgan smiled at him before Dr. Young pulled him out of the room. "Nicely done, Derek."
Morgan shrugged. "It comes with the job. I just read people, and a kid his age wants to show up his big sis at any chance he gets, and he does that by being strong. If you just tell him what he want to hear, you can get him to do about anything."
* * *
JJ let out a sigh of relief when she finally arrived at her hotel room. After a whole day of endless bantering from the team, all she needed was some time to herself.
She was tired and couldn't wait to go to bed, so she took a quick shower and didn't even bother calling Will: she knew that if anything important came up, he would call her. She also knew that he would understand that she wanted some time to herself.
At first she planned on going straight to sleep but found that she couldn't stop thinking about poor Dani. Even though there were two serial killers at the same school, targeting the same sports team, she found herself feeling sorry for the girl. Maybe because while the others had died, she had to live through all of this? Maybe because she not only got molested by somebody she was close to, but she also had to deal with her friends dying right before her eyes?
JJ didn't know why her sympathy was drawn towards the living teenager instead of the five dead ones.
Dani was surrounded by tons of people she was close to, all of whom were focusing on the kids who had been murdered. She was always with her friends who were oblivious to her pain. She was suffering, but she couldn't let it show because then she would come off as selfish and childish. She couldn't let other people see how she hurt because the attention was meant to be somewhere else.
Suddenly, JJ knew why she felt for this girl: it was because she could relate. They were both lost, drowning in a sea of misery and sadness, while everyone around them was ignoring their hurt and concentrating on everybody else.
They were both invisible.
JJ let out an involuntary shiver. She decided that it was time to stop thinking like this and take a rest.
But as she lay in the hotel bed, sleep wouldn't come. She tried everything, from counting sheep to slow breathing, but no matter what she did and how tired she was, she could not sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all six team members came to mind.
No, seven.
Because every time she thought about the team, she thought about Daniel as well. That frightened her, because Daniel was definitely not part of the team. Even though he was friendly and nice, she couldn't believe that the team had taken a liking to him so fast. When Prentiss had joined, everybody seemed wary of her and tried to pretend like she wasn't there, interfering with everything they were doing. Hell, even Rossi, one of the creators of the BAU had a hard time fitting in!
But everybody seemed to like Daniel. He fit in perfectly—a little too well, JJ thought.
But JJ saw him differently. He was cocky and arrogant, and even though the team couldn't tell, he was trying way too hard to fit in. Even though they were the profilers and she was the media liaison, she was the one who was unintentionally profiling the new member.
Maybe because they were afraid of what they would find.
Because there was definitely something off with him. He was just too...it hurt her to think this, but he was too perfect. He got along with everybody, almost like he needed them to like him, to trust him. Now all she had to do was figure out why...
JJ sighed. This was not her job, to try and isolate the new member of the team. She should just give him a chance, she decided. Each and every person on the team had skeletons in their closet, and it was only a matter of time before they found his.
What she didn't know is how soon it would be.
* * *
As soon as Daniel arrived home, he went straight into his home office. Even though he knew he should be getting sleep for the next eventful day, there was something he needed to do first.
He picked up his phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Hey, how's it going at he BAU, dork?"
"Shut up," Daniel laughed at his best friend. "Besides, Tim, I'm not the one working with all that biology shit."
"Hey, you're friend working with the 'biology shit' is getting you the stuff you need."
"Hey man, you make it sound like I'm on drugs or something."
"Yeah, something. So did you do everything I told you so far?"
"Yep. What else should I do?" Daniel asked, sitting down at his desk. He rummaged through his pencil case until he found what he was looking for: a key. He unlocked a drawer in his desk and opened it to reveal a bag with a thin, white powder.
"Well, first you have to find something to put it in. Then you wait for me to send you the rest of the stuff, and then you just have to choose who gets it."
"Done and done," he said, fiddling with a tiny glass ball. All he would have to do was drill a small hole in the side, insert the powder, and put some sort of stopper in to keep the hole shut. "How long's the wait?"
"I'll have it there tonight if I can help it. Who is it? Tell me about them."
"She--"
"She? You're giving this to a girl? Man, I don't know. This isn't what I signed up for."
"You aren't doing anything; this is all me, remember? Besides, I didn't chose her; she chose me."
"You sound like a philosopher or something."
Daniel chuckled. "Yeah, well it's true. As soon as I saw her, I knew." He took a deep breath. "She actually works for the FBI. She's a real beauty, I tell ya."
Tim let out a low whistle. "Damn, a girl and FBI? You're hard core, dude."
"She's the one. She's got this amazing long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Plus, she just has something about her that makes everyone listen to what she says."
"So why her?"
"I just have this feeling...that she won't be missed."
There was a pause while Tim nodded to himself. "I'll drop the stuff off in an hour."
Daniel hung up. Tomorrow was the big day, the day he had been waiting for. The reason he signed up for the FBI.
He barely slept that night.
I hope that makes sense. Just to clarify, Daniel's friend works in some biology lab, and he is delivering a specific specimen to Daniel's house that night. Daniel is going to use this specimen for...well, keep reading!
Hope you liked it! Please tell me what you thought
I know I said faster updates, but...well, I lied. Sorry.