"Gio," Teo calls out.
Gio looks up from where he sits.
"It's been 12 hours," Teo reminds him.
Gio looks at his watch and then folds the newspaper and picks up the disposable cell phone he's been using.
He walks over to the door and unlocks it.
Inside, Violet is shackled in the chains attached to the ceiling and the floor. He hasn't pulled the chains to force her to dangle from her wrists yet, but Teo hit her hard enough to cause the left side of her face to swell up, bulbous and purple.
He walks up to her. Violet quickly moves from lying down to a sitting position.
"Listen," he says in heavily accented English. "You want to talk to your mother?"
Weary, Violet looks up at him.
"Obviously," she replies stonily.
Gio scoffs, amused, and dials.
Emily's phone starts to ring on the table. The entire team snaps to attention.
"It's him," Hotch says, knowing. "Garcia?"
"I'm ready," she replies, preparing to trace the call.
Emily's hands shake slightly as she reaches out to answer the call, putting it on speaker phone.
"Hello Lauren," Gio's smooth voice slides into her ear. "How are you?"
"Let me talk to my daughter," Emily demands, keeping her voice steady.
"Actually, that's why I've called," Gio replies conversationally.
A moment passes.
"Mom," comes Violet's voice.
Emily's eyes close, she feels tears fill her eyes but she refuses to let them fall.
"Baby, are you okay?" Emily asks.
"Yes," Violet replies. "I'm okay."
"Did they touch you?" Emily asks sternly.
Violet, on the other end, glances at Gio. She licks her lips nervously.
"I'm in a warehouse, kind of like a hangar," she replies in rapid Greek.
Gio yanks the phone from her ear.
"That's enough," he says into the phone in his native tongue. "Emily."
He uses her real name, but speaks only in Italian.
"Take me off speaker phone," Gio says.
Emily presses mute.
"He wants me to take him off speaker phone," she says.
Hotch looks like he's about to disagree, but without another word Emily reaches out and presses the button to switch it.
She presses her phone to her ear.
"Don't you dare touch her," she tells Gio, fury in her eyes.
"Oh, Emily," Gio purrs. "This was never about your daughter. This is about you."
"Then let her go," Emily orders.
"How about a swap?" Gio offers, still only speaking in Italian. "You…for her."
Emily glances at her team.
"You can have me, but do not lay a finger on my daughter," she says sternly in perfect Italian.
"Ah, there it is," Gio laughs lightly. "Once I figured out who you were, what you were…I longed to hear that voice speak perfect Italian. You faked it very well, pretending you were just learning."
"Yeah, well I faked a lot of things," Emily replies easily, still in Italian.
Gio laughs again, but it's slightly bitter.
"The creek near Ross Trail," Gio tells her. "One hour."
He hangs up before Emily can say another word.
"What was that?" Derek demands, staring at Emily.
Emily stares at the phone in her hands.
"What language was that?" Derek asks.
"Greek," Emily replies, pride mixing with the fear in her chest, exacerbating the storm in it. "She's in a warehouse."
"That kid is a freaking genius," JJ says, as she and Reid get out a new map of the city.
"What did he say?" Hotch asks, his brow furrowed.
"He won't hurt her," Emily says, knowing what she has to do. "He wouldn't say anything else, just ridiculous memories about us, in Italy."
"What was the purpose of his call?" Hotch asks, feeling the edges of Emily's lie.
"To prove that Violet's unharmed," Emily replies. "In the end, it's me he wants. Not her."
"Most warehouses are located in the industrial district," Spencer says, circling an area on a map.
Emily swallows, planning her exit from the building.
"She said it was like a hangar," she tells them.
She rubs her forehead and starts for the door.
"Hey," Derek touches her arm, looking at her carefully.
"Bathroom," Emily lies, but the emotion on her face can't be hidden.
Derek nods, releasing her, and she walks out.
"That was clever," Gio says, looking down at Violet as he stands up. "What was that?"
Violet just stares back.
"Croatian? Ukrainian?" Gio guesses. "I was never one for languages. English and French was as far as I travelled outside of my comfort zone."
Violet exhales, feigning boredom.
"Neat," she replies, again looking up at him.
"I should have known," Gio replies thoughtfully. "Once I learned who your mother really was, what she was, what she knew…I should have known she'd speak a train of languages. And I'm betting…that you do, too."
Violet just stares at him.
"Francais?" he tilts his head.
"Oui," Violet replies.
"Espanol?" he goes again.
"Si," Violet replies, raising her brow.
"Italiano?" he says, kneeling down to her eye level.
Violet feigns a look of embarrassment, looking away.
"Tua madre non ti ha insegnato?" he asks.
Your mother never taught you?
Violet plays it clueless, chewing her lip.
"I know you said 'mother'," she tells him.
He smirks.
"Any person with average intelligence can tell what 'madre' or 'padre' means," he replies, heading for the door.
He looks back at her before slamming the door shut again.
"He's using a disposable," Garcia tells the team over speaker. "I couldn't get the exact location, but it did bounce off of three different cell towers in the lower east side of the city."
"That's the industrial area," Derek says, looking annoyed that there's no new information.
"We can work with this," Hotch assures him. "There can only be so many places. Garcia, check for warehouses rented within the last six months. We need to narrow this search. Where's Emily?"
"She went to the bathroom," Derek replies, pacing. He freezes, and stops to stare at Hotch.
Realization blankets them. Emily's been gone for 15 minutes.
"She went on her own," Derek mutters, already reaching for his jacket.
Emily drives fast towards the outskirts of the city. Ross Trail isn't that far, and she knows where it is. They found a body out here a month ago, and she'd been forced to get a lay of the land.
It's 4:00 in the morning. She hasn't slept in 24 hours but her entire body is wired, on high alert and refusing to slow down.
She gets to the turn off to head towards Ross Trail.
She reminds herself that she just heard Violet's voice; that her daughter wasn't crying; that she didn't sound hurt. But Violet is her mother's daughter. She can maintain her composure better than almost anyone Emily's ever seen. It's Emily who breaks that composure, and it's the same for her.
Seeing Emily is what will let Violet cry with relief, obliterating the fear that's been building in her chest for 12 hours.
And Violet is what will release the pain in Emily's.
Even if it means trading herself for Violet.