My Life Had Stood:
Chapter 53: Finding Jemma 4
Morgan glowered, feeling terrible seeing Alicia Summer's husband breakdown upon learning what had happened to her. At first they had been about to tell him she was still alive, only to receive a call from the hospital. The poor woman had suddenly fallen into a coma due to a blood clot caused by the unsub beating her. The doctors had tried their hardest to save her, but Alicia Summers had started bleeding into her brain. Not long after she was pronounced braindead at the hospital.
'Damn…this bastard's going to pay.' Morgan seethed in his thoughts as he noticed the photographs of Alicia's children. The unsub had robbed the three children of their mother, and ripped apart the happy family.
"Morgan." Hotch said as he left the room where Alicia's husband was talking with Sia Aderhold. "Agent Aderhold is bringing Mr. Summers to the hospital."
"We need to catch this bastard…."
"I agree." Hotch replied. "Reid and Fitzgerald are on their way. Based on the other victims Garcia uncovered, the unsub's comfort zone appears to be centered in Nevada and not California. A majority of his victims were from Nevada or visiting the area when they were abducted. Centered around Las Vegas."
Morgan scowled, shaking his head. "I can't believe there were seventeen other victims. That makes twenty-seven women this bastard raped and tortured. And who knows how many there are that weren't found."
Hotch simply sighed.
0
Spencer slipped quietly into the driver side of the black SUV while Cam took the passenger side. Neither spoke a word, but simply buckled up and started driving.
"….um…." Cam mumbled, glancing at the older agent. Her heterochromatic eyes took in Spencer's furrowed brow and how he gripped the steering wheel. Though she enjoyed silence normally, the stillness between them felt suffocating. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but…."
She faltered, biting her lip. Her nature wasn't a prying one and she preferred to let people tell her things on their own without prompting. But it just felt too quiet. Like something was really bothering Spencer.
"…I never knew you had a sister…."
"I don…." Spencer began, but stopped. He grimaced and sighed, his stomach twisting. It took a few moments before he decided to continue. "…I only found out yesterday. That I have….a twin sister."
Cam's eyes widened a bit, her attention fully on the few years older agent. She listened as Spencer grumbled about his father never telling him, and about Alsie not mentioning anything either. Cam was about to ask who Alsie was, but swallowed back the question at the raw pain in Spencer's eyes.
"Did…did something happen to your sister?" Cam asked instead. It was a simple question but it caused Spencer to flinch and press the breaks suddenly. The younger agent's heart thumped rapidly in her chest at the sudden stop, and she almost shouted at Spencer for breaking unexpectedly. The look in the genius agent's eyes killed her anger though.
"No….yes…." Spencer swallowed, recalling all that he knew about Alsie. Remembering the bruises she had as a child, and then how upset she'd been when she spoke about her daughter. His stomach clenched. '….why am I angry at her? Alsie….she's been through so much….and it wasn't her fault that I didn't realize sooner….or that she was taken….'
"Reid…?"
Spencer turned toward Cam after pulling over to the side of the road, his habitual reluctance to talk about his emotions lessened. Here was someone who wasn't a stranger and who wouldn't coddle him. Or tell the rest of the team what he said.
"We were dating." Spencer blurted out, then swallowed. "Alsie and I. She wants to continue dating, despite….despite being related. I…." He pulled his lips into a frown, his eyes filled with uncertainty. "She…she also suspected the truth before…before we started dating and never mentioned anything about it."
Cam listened quietly, mulling over what Spencer said. Her first thought was 'that's f'cked up.' She refrained from saying that aloud though, and simply shook her head as she considered what to say.
Spencer, however, continued before she could, mumbling that they should meet up with the others. He started driving again, suddenly not wanting to hear Cam's response.
0
Jemma ran through the living room, her arms stretched out as though she was a plane. She'd seen pictures of many different ones in a book and it was fun pretending to be one. Flying through the bright blue sky, perhaps even touching the clouds sounded fun, and she loved imagining it.
She wondered if the fluffy clouds would taste like cotton candy. They looked a lot like the delicious confection, so maybe….but then again she'd thought the same thing of cream cheese and butter, and she'd been wrong. The clouds likely didn't taste like cotton candy then.
Jemma scrunched her nose as she thought, still running through the living room. She suddenly stopped, and stared at the window above one of the couches. Her rich brown eyes gazed at the sky, considering how clear and bright it was. She wanted to go outside.
Papa was still in the cellar though with the woman who helped her with her bath. There wasn't anyone to go outside with her, and papa said she wasn't allowed out without him. 'I want outside….'
Jemma pouted, her brow furrowed. It was boring inside, all her toys and crayons were upstairs and the child gate was still on the stairs. Her books too were out of reach. She abruptly sat down on the floor, tears in her eyes from boredom. Papa had taken her bunny plush away earlier, after she'd given the woman a hug to cheer her up. So she had no one to play with.
"Hmmmm…." Jemma hummed, staring at her hands. She smiled, turning her hands so that her fingers were downwards. She crossed her legs and started pretending her hands were sentient creatures; her fingers were their legs and her thumbs their heads. And they loved talking to each other and going on adventures.
'Let's go up the mountain.' The first creature said, pointing to the beige couch. The second considered then nodded, and soon Jemma was next to the couch. Her hand creatures looked up at the 'mountain', then at each other, then back.
'It's too high.' The second pouted, but the first simply said that if they climbed on top of each other they'd make it. Soon the two were on top of the couch-mountain plateau, satisfied with themselves and wondering if they should try reaching the tip of the mountain.
Jemma giggled, climbing onto the couch. Her hand creatures attempted to climb the rest of the 'mountain', but even teamwork couldn't get them past halfway. The two lamented the fact, until the second noticed the arm rest and pointed to it.
'That way. That way.' The second told the first, beaming as they ran to the smaller 'cliff.' The two soon made it up to the top, beaming with a sense of accomplishment.
Jemma laughed joyously at her imaginary friends success, and stood up on the couch. The peak of the mountain aka the backboard of the couch was tall enough that she had to stand on tip toe to reach. She giggled and her hand-creatures stared up at the window above the couch, contemplating if it was possible to reach even higher.
The next second Jemma stumbled, falling off the couch.
Hitting the floor harshly, her eyes teared up and she started bawling. Her elbow hurt as did her wrist, having instinctively thrown out her arm to break her fall.
She cried loudly, and kept crying, copious amounts of tears drenching her cheeks. She didn't notice the angry footsteps ascending the cellar stairs nor the cellar door swinging violently open.
"Shut the hell up!" Linnet growled, grabbing Jemma up from the floor. His eyes were livid and he squeezed the three year old's arms, neither noticing nor caring that he'd simply hurt the girl more. Shouting as Jemma cried louder, he threw her onto the couch. "Quit your fuckin blubbering!"
Jemma curled into a ball, terrified and in pain. She knew papa hated crying, but she couldn't help it. Her wrist hurt! Her elbow was okay, but her wrist continued to pulse with pain. It was excruciating. Why couldn't papa just hold her and make the pain go away? Why had he thrown her on the couch?
Linnet cursed, glaring down at the child. His rage stemming from frustration - first the woman he'd gotten the other day had proved too weak. Then he realized that torturing Leah Crawford wasn't arousing him as before, and he desperately needed a new plaything.
"Pah…pahpa….pa…." Jemma hiccupped, having managed to curtail at least part of her crying. "W'ist 'urt….'urt….w'ist."
"I don't fuckin care." Linnet snarled, not at all in the mood to play daddy. He glared at Jemma, ready to smack her if she didn't shut up.
The chime of the front door bell stopped him. He quickly turned toward it, ignoring Jemma who had no reaction to the new sound. She simply curled into a tighter ball.
"Yes?" Linnet opened the door and narrowed his eyes at the person who'd rung the doorbell. His lips twitched at the man who greeted him.
0
D.C
"Garcia, I think I might have something." Lewis spoke into her cell phone, glancing briefly back at Alsie's room. Dr. Freeman was inside talking to the brunette who had once again switched to an alter: Ana. "I was keeping watch on Alsie, and she had a flashback. I think it was of the incident three years ago."
-"…all right." Garcia said, her voice a bit strained as she thought about Alsie. Something Lewis noticed, forcing the tech analyst into explaining what she'd discovered earlier: that Alsie had suspected she and Spencer were siblings before the two met as adults.-
"That's…." Lewis mulled over the information, her eyes widened. She wasn't as surprised however as Garcia had been. "Considering all that Alsie went through since childhood, it's likely she has difficulty trusting others, and maybe even herself because of her D.I.D. It's possible that her not mentioning her suspicion is because she couldn't allow herself to believe it. I spoke with Dr. Freeman a little bit, and it seems Alsie hasn't accepted her D.I.D diagnosis yet. Despite it being over fourteen years since she was diagnosed."
-"Really? That's…." Garcia frowned, the thought of Alsie being unable to trust someone even years after knowing them made her feel sorry for the petite woman. She felt horrible for becoming so angry at the brunette. "But…if she's so untrusting…how did she and James…?"-
"…." Lewis hestitated, thinking about what else Dr. Freeman had mentioned. The psychiatrist had gotten Alsie to sign an information release form around two hours ago, and so Lewis had been given the brunette's files to peruse. "…She didn't trust James. But was rather…according to Dr. Freeman's files, repeating patterns of abuse from her childhood."
-"…what?" Garcia gulped, her eyes widened. Her skin paled as Lewis confirmed what Hotch had suspected: that the brunette had been sexually abused as well as physically. "That's horrible…." She inhaled sharply as she thought about James and what this information meant for his and Alsie's relationship.-
As though reading Garcia's mind, Lewis replied. "Alsie didn't trust James fully until just two years before he left. Her alters made sure he never hurt her though."
Lewis refrained from elaborating that Dr. Freeman's session notes about Alsie indicated that 'Ana' had been the one conscious during almost all sexual occurrences between James and Alsie. That was until Alsie expressed a desire to get pregnant. Furthermore, the brunette had falsely believed that she and James hadn't been sexually involved until then.
Lewis had felt sickened when she'd read that bit, and wondered if James ever knew or cared about the implications. Though 'Ana' had consented, Alsie herself hadn't….
Lewis sighed. The next moment she remembered why she'd called the tech analyst.
"Garcia." Lewis spoke before the bubbly woman could ask any other question. "I think Alsie knows who took Jemma three years ago."
-"What?! How? Did she tell you that? Why didn't she say any…."-
"I don't think she remembered before. She had a flashback around thirteen or fifteen minutes before I called you. It frightened her enough that she switched to one of her alters." Lewis paused, recalling what she'd heard Alsie mumble. "Alsie begged me to find Jemma before 'he hurts her.' She must've gotten a glimpse or something of Jemma's kidnapper before passing out, and only now remembered it enough to realize who it was."
-"Oh! Did she say who? A name?"-
"She transitioned to her alter Ana before she could give me a full name. But she did manage a partial name: Lin or something beginning with that syllable." Lewis glanced through the small window in Alsie's hospital room door. "You should run it against your list of possible unsubs in this current case. Jemma's DNA was found with one of the victims' after all."
-"All right, I'll get right on tha…." Garcia replied, ready to say goodbye and get back to work.-
"There's something else I need you to look up." Lewis interrupted, holding the phone closer to her ear as she glanced around the hall. Her eyes were scanning for any sign of the orderly from earlier or William Reid. "Could you send me a photo of Vincent Crawford?"
-"….it won't be a recent photo. I haven't managed to track the Crawfords since they vanished twenty-three years ago." Garcia replied, to which Lewis said any photo would be fine. "All right then, I'm sending you his DMV photo from twenty-five years ago now. May I ask why you want that scumbag's photo?"-
"Well, I'm not sure, but…there was an orderly that was talking to Alsie earlier. And both Alsie and Mr. Reid recognized him. Neither admitted it though." Lewis grimaced, recalling William Reid's face when he saw the orderly. Surprise, anger, and hatred had marred it. She was about to elaborate further when her phone beeped indicating she'd received Garcia's message.
She quickly opened it up while keeping the call connected but on hold. Her eyes widened as she looked at the photo, picking out the similarities despite the age difference. Her profiler instincts had been dead-on. That orderly was Vincent Crawford, and William Reid had recognized him….
Lewis' eyes widened. Her profiler instincts screamed at her, reminding her what she'd read in William Reid's expression and body language.
The fact that William Reid had abruptly left his long believed to be dead daughter's bedside suddenly felt more ominous.
"Garcia, can you track Mr. Reid's phone and send me the coordinates?"
-"What? Why? Isn't he…."-
"William Reid left about twenty-five or so minutes ago. And I'm certain he recognized the orderly I mentioned as being Vincent Crawford."
-"What?! He….You don't think he's going to…." Garcia's eyes widened, her cheeks growing pale. Though her opinion on the Crawfords was abysmal, she couldn't fathom William Reid going after Vincent Crawford.-
"I don't know. But the look on Mr. Reid's face when he recognized that orderly as Mr. Crawford…I'm certain he's going to confront him."
-Garcia didn't say anything else, her stomach twisted in a knot. Her fingers deftly typing away to do as Lewis asked.-
A/N: I felt a bit self-conscious writing the Jemma play scene in this chapter, since I have her play exactly how I used to play as a child.
