September 2013
Hotch took a few weeks off to help Emily adjust to watching and caring for 5 children, 4 of them under the age of 3. Harper had offered to take time off and watch Amelia and Daniel but Emily told her it would be alright. Luckily Jack went to school most of the day, so it was just the twins, Daniel and Amelia.
Meanwhile, Harper had asked Penelope look into preschools and elementary schools for Amelia as her godmother. Harper fibbed a little by telling her it was her own personal research project and she hadn't wanted to concern Spencer with it, since Amelia was his 'little girl'. Penelope was more than willing to keep it on the hush hush for her.
She quickly generated two lists and Harper went through them when she had time. She'd picked from both elementary and preschools, public and private, before she began filling out applications. Though homeschooling had briefly crossed Harper's mind, neither she or Spencer would be able to and with Emily just having the twins, they'd only become more of a handful for her as they got into their crawling and walking stages, just around the time Amelia would have to start lessons.
So ruling those out, Harper had pick 3 public schools and 2 private ones from the list based on their programs for gifted children, closeness to both Emily and Aaron's home and their own, as well as a few other details like cost and extracurricular activities.
As September came to an end, the team headed to Dallas, Texas after a sniper attack, nearing the anniversary of when JFK had been assassinated. The UNSUB had already struck a second time when the team finally narrowing down who the intended victims could have been.
"We know the UNSUB had a specific target, but who was it?" Alex says, standing and looking at the pictures of the crime scene and victims on the board.
"Well, we checked out Ricardo Hernandez. He was going through a divorce. Melanie Chen, who's appealing a custody decision. But nothing seems out of line. Beside the assistant D.A., no one seems to have any clear enemies" JJ says.
"All right, let's look at this a different way. The Plaza was an open space. The UNSUB would want to make sure that his target couldn't get away. How would he ensure that?" Morgan asks glancing at the photos.
"Kill his real target first" the detective states.
"Too obvious. He would know law enforcement would focus more on his first victim than the others, which your office definitely did" JJ says speaking to the detective.
"You know, the fact is, this is an experienced sniper who can account for timing. After the first shot, no one moves. People are puzzled. Everyone's reaction is to look for a source of the sound. After the second shot, it takes the average person one and a half seconds to cognitively process that they're in a potentially life-threatening situation. It takes another 0.7 seconds for a physical response to kick in. By which time the third shot has already been fired" Spencer explains in detail.
"So the UNSUB wanted victim number 3" Jay says.
"Well, anyone after number 3 had a chance of getting away, and the UNSUB wouldn't have taken that risk" Alex says.
They go to the victim's home and work to speak with the people closest to her. JJ and Spencer go to her work to speak with her boss. After speaking with Alice's boss, Spencer notices something wrong about JJ.
"Living with that type of secrecy is a nightmare for everyone involved. But I get why they have to do it" Spencer says before noticing something wrong with JJ.
"You ok? For a moment there you looked kind of worried" Spencer says.
"Yeah, I'm all good" JJ says brushing off the comment.
"If you were worried about something, you'd tell me, right?" Spencer asks.
"Spence, I'm not worried about anything except maybe solving this case" JJ says.
"It's too bad all those emails and texts are gone forever" Spencer says.
JJ looks at him in disbelief, "Um, I'm sorry, have you ever met Penelope Garcia?" JJ asks chuckling.
After Garcia looks into their victim's erased emails and text messaged and located a name off of one of her deleted text messages, discovering that it was another victim at a separate shooting. They eventually locate the woman who may be their intended target for the UNSUB and go to interview her abusive husband, who has tried to cover up the fact that he'd planned to have her killed.
JJ and Morgan arrived and spoke with a young brunet at the front desk who calls to see if her boss is available. After unable to reach him she hangs up the phone, "Sorry he must still be on the chopper" she says looking at JJ and Morgan.
"Do you know where he's coming from?" JJ asks.
"Houston" the woman says.
"How long has he been there?" Morgan asks, curious.
"Since yesterday morning. Is Mr. Carcani in some sort of trouble?" the woman asks concerned.
"No. No. We just want to talk to him about some potential business for his firm" Morgan lies, not wanting to tip their only lead off.
When the woman looks past them at a man exiting the elevator, JJ and Morgan turn to look and try to make out who it is.
"Isn't that—" JJ asks before Morgan calls out, "Eric Carcani? FBI" Morgan says and suddenly he books it out of the building, causing Morgan and JJ to chase him.
Both, with guns drawn, split up when they get outside, hoping to cut him off, "Stop or I'll shoot!" Morgan says before their potential UNSUB, jumps over the railing and onto a garbage can before jumping to the ground.
Morgan continues following while exchanging fire with Eric but before they can apprehend him, he's struck by a bus out of no where and run over.
JJ and Morgan rush over as the bus driver stops and comes off the bus, "Eric? Eric? Eric. Where's your wife? Where's Maya?" Eric smirks, laughing at Morgan, "Tell me where she is, Eric. No. No, no, no, hey! Eric, talk to me. Tell me where she is! Eric, where is she?!" Morgan says trying desperately to get an answer out of him before JJ stops him.
"Morgan. He's dead" JJ says.
Morgan leans back, "Son of bitch" he says before calling to have the scene secured. The team then gets back together going over the potential leads to his wife, when they come to the conclusion that someone was hired by the husband to kill Maya. They manage to find the sniper, someone who Eric hired and located Maya saving her before she was killed.
Once the team returned from Dallas, they began to hear about possible replacements for their vacant section chief position. They knew, Hotch could be offered the job but he had requested that it be opened to outside applicants. Though of course that didn't stop the team from wondering who would take over the position. Especially since they knew, even with the twins, Hotch wouldn't be willing to go to a normal 9-5 job.
As mid-October neared, Harper had heard back from a few of the potential schools for Amelia, setting up interviews when she could but the life of a profiler was never dull.
As Harper leaned on Spencer's desk watching as he timed Alex to see how fast she could solve the crossword puzzle which she had finished in 7 minutes. Harper couldn't help but laugh as Spencer brought up the fact that he'd done a crossword in 5 and ½ minutes before, taking about pattern recognition. Harper started to tune her husband out when Rossi walks over.
"Happy Wednesday my nerds" Rossi says carrying his brief case.
"Hey you're here early" Harper says smiling at her father figure.
"Apparently not early enough, since I missed all the excitement" Rossi says pausing, "Do you do that in pen?" he asks baffled.
"Is there any other way?" Blake asks smirking.
Rossi sighs, "Where's Hotch?" he asks.
"In there with Garcia" Alex says looking towards the round room, "Everything ok?" she asks.
"We'll see" Rossi says taking off to join the tech queen and his friend.
"Ten letters, starts with C" Alex says as the three of them exchange looks.
"Cabalistic" Spencer says with ease.
"Indeed" Alex says as Penelope sticks her head out.
"Oi! Let's do this" PG says. The four joined the others in the round room.
"Hi. Good morning. No real time to get comfortable" Penelope says standing at the front of the room with Hotch, tablet in hand.
Standing next to her, Hotch spoke as everyone else took their usual seats, "An hour ago, the man on your tablets was found wandering the streets of Baltimore before he collapsed" Hotch says.
"He is unconscious, he has no ID on him, so we don't know his name. He's got ligature marks on his wrists, and it's impossible to tell how long he's been missing" Penelope says as every flips through the photos on their own tablets or case files.
"Are those puncture wounds in the corner of his eyes?" Rossi asks studying the photo of their victim.
"Yes, and an MRI confirmed that fibers in his brain had been severed" Hotch says.
"He had a lobotomy?" Rossi asks shocked.
"There was hemorrhaging and foreign object splinters imbedded behind his right eye" Hotch says.
"Most likely from whatever tool the UNSUB used" Spencer says speaking up.
"My guess would be an icepick" Rossi says shuttering at the thought.
"The guy's still alive, can we talk to him?" Morgan asks looking up from his tablet.
"You should try" Hotch advises.
"Someone with such a specific MO has probably done this before" Alex adds.
"We just don't know about it yet. It's all being run through VICAP" Hotch says glancing over at Penelope for confirmation.
"Yes, it is" Garcia says, understanding the look from Hotch.
"The entry points in his eyes are from an outpatient-style traditional lobotomy. Less mess than drilling holes like Dahmer did" Harper says.
"And Dahmer's method killed. This didn't" Morgan adds.
"So either the UNSUB is lucky or he has medical training" Alex says.
"He wanted his victim to survive" JJ says.
"We need to canvass the area where he was found. He wouldn't have walked very far in this condition" Hotch says, preparing to map out their strategy.
"Well, lobotomies are considered to be the surgery of the soul. Doctors like Walter Freeman claimed they could cure a number of mental illnesses. He believed the procedure could relieve suffering" Spencer says as Harper nods, examining the victims face closer.
When an agent pokes their head into the room, "Excuse me, Agent Hotchner. Agent Cruz is here" the agent says as Hotch turns towards the door way.
"Oh, everyone this is our new Section Chief Mateo Cruz; these are agents Blake..." Hotch starts before Cruz picks up.
"Blake, Dr. Reid, Dr. Prentiss, Morgan, Jareau and Rossi" he says pointing to each of the members of the team. "Good to officially meet you" looking at everyone seated around the table.
"Oh, and Penelope Garcia. Erin Strauss always spoke very highly of you" Cruz says turning to face the tech queen.
"Oh. Thank you" Penelope says becoming flustered.
"I spoke to the Baltimore office. Seems like like they're at a loss" Cruz says.
"When the identity of the victim is unknown, it makes everything that much harder" Hotch says explaining the situation.
"I'd like to join you. It's not every day that these cases take you an hour away from home, so..." Cruz says leaving room for Hotch to turn down his request.
Which Hotch does not, "We leave in 20 minutes" Hotch says addressing the team.
Everyone packs up their case files and heads to gather their things, as JJ and Cruz linger only a brief moment longer, which goes unnoticed at the time.
The team loads up into the SUVs and heads out. Spencer, Cruz, Alex, and Hotch drive in one SUV and Morgan, Rossi, JJ and Harper in another. As Hotch and his group talk about the case and head to the police station, the others talk about Cruz.
Morgan and Harper arrive at the hospital while JJ and Rossi head out to the location in which the victim was first discovered to canvas the area.
The team tried to locate their victim's identity while also looking for like crimes across the pond. Garcia called Emily and had her ask her buddies at Interpol, which they did discover, a similar instance in Berlin, Germany.
Within the day, they discovered their victim, Sam, could communicate with them via a letter board that Morgan had found. They managed to locate their second victim, Dana, Sam's girlfriend, was being held by her brother. The young couple was reunited and the team dealt with their UNSUB accordingly by returning him to Quantico.
The team had accepted the fact the Cruz was now their section chief, but that didn't stop the team from wondering what he was truly after. Especially when Rossi caught Cruz and JJ talking by the elevator without pressing the button.
Harper had helped put the kids to bed after their nightly routine before going into her and Spencer's joint office to work on a few things for her friend Lily Cooper.
After hours of looking out of the screen, closer to midnight, Harper put everything away and headed to the bedroom to get ready for bed. She saw Spencer, looking annoyed.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Harper asks, almost positive she knew what was coming.
"Have you been looking into schools for Amelia?" Spencer asks.
"Yes, why?" Harper asks, not bothering to hide it.
"Why? She's not even 3 years old yet" Spencer asks.
"I told you before. She's a bright kid and she deserves to go to a good school, where they nurture her academic mind instead of being mocked for it like we were. And plus I'm only looking because each school has a minimum year long waiting list and with these schools she won't start until she's 5 anyway because of when her birthday falls" Harper says.
"Harper why are you so worried about her getting into a good school?" Spencer asks trying to ignore what's coming.
"Don't, don't you dare try to profile me right now Spencer Reid. You know exactly why. Remember those horror stories of you in school, or how about the ones I've only ever told you and not even my own mother? Like I said it's not like I'm saying put her in school tomorrow but its something we need to plan for and be prepared because I don't want her to go through what we did Spencer. Especially with our jobs taking us all over the place and we aren't going to be here all the time to watch over her and those little details" Harper says.
Spencer's about to reply when the door is pushed open, "Mommy? Daddy?" Amelia asks from the door.
Harper takes a deep breath before turning to their daughter. "Hi sweetie, did we wake you up?" Harper asks going over and scooping her daughter up.
Amelia nods, "I'm sorry honey. Let's get you back to bed. Say goodnight to daddy" Harper says setting Amelia down. She goes running over to Spencer as he bends down and hugs her and she gives him a kiss.
"Goodnight pumpkin" Spencer says as Amelia walks back over to Harper, who picks her back up. Harper takes Amelia back to her room before getting her settled in bed. Harper lingers a while after Amelia falls asleep, watching her oldest sleep peacefully. Harper runs her hands over her face and gets up to go back to where Spencer was deep in thought.
He knew Harper was right but he didn't want to face it, this was fast approaching and she was only trying to give Amelia and Daniel the best for their futures. Spencer looks up when Harper walks back into their room, noticing the look on her face.
"I'm sorry" Spencer says.
"I only want what's best for them Spencer" Harper says tired.
"I know and so do I, so I understand why you're so dedicated to this. And I don't want either of them going through what either of us did" he says walking over to stand in front of her, "So I'm going to help with all this so you aren't doing it by yourself and we can stop fighting about it because I need to face the inevitable and be ready for it just like you are" Spencer says resting her forehead against hers.
"Ok, but just remember I don't want to just push her into school, I'm as scared as you are about it" Harper says closing her eyes as she hugs him.
"I know" Spencer says kissing her on the forehead.
The next day Harper gets up before Spencer, which isn't an everyday occurrence, and goes to get the kids up. "Mommy, what are we doing?" Amelia asks as she and Daniel come to the kitchen with Harper.
"Well, daddy and mommy had a disagreement so I'm going to have you two help me make him breakfast and then we're going to have a talk as a family" Harper says.
"About what?" Amelia asks as Daniel goes to get one of his dinosaurs.
"You know how Jack goes to school while you stay with grandma?" Harper asks. Amelia nods.
"Well here soon, you'll get to go to school too but since you and Danny have higher IQs, like mommy and daddy, we want to make sure you get into a school that can help you more" Harper says trying to explain the best she can to her daughter. Who just nods along.
Harper can't help but chuckle, she knew what she'd just said went over her head especially since she didn't really know what school was yet.
"So, pancakes or waffles?" Harper asks.
Daniel and Amelia's eyes both light up, "Waffles!" they both yell.
"I should have guessed" Harper says smiling as she gets everything ready for breakfast.
Amelia and Daniel play on the floor as Harper finishes up, and Spencer walks into the room.
"Daddy!" Amelia says getting off the floor and running over to Spencer. He leans down and picks her up as she gives him a kiss.
"What are you doing up so early?" he asks her as Harper gets the plates out.
"Mommy got us up to help make waffles" she says pointing over to Harper.
"I see" Spencer says setting Amelia down so she can continue to play as he walks over to Harper. "So is this because of last night?" he asks pulling her back against his chest.
"Some of it. I figured, we'll have breakfast together and then talk to the kids a little about all this. They won't understand but it may help since Amelia practically walked in on us fighting" Harper says.
"Ok" Spencer says and helps get everyone settled for breakfast.
Once they all finished and cleaned up most of the mess, Harper and Spencer sat Amelia and Daniel down to try and get them to understand. Though it took some time, Harper thought they did really well as the two went back to playing with their toys. Harper and Spencer watched from the couch.
"So I guess you and I need to start figuring out what we want to get them involved in" Harper says.
"What do you mean?" Spencer asks looking at her.
"The schools have extra curricular activities, like dancing or piano. I want to give the kids a chance to try new things and figure out what they like and dislike" Harper says.
"Ah, well I can already tell you Morgan will want us to get them both into sports as early as possible" Spencer says.
Harper couldn't help but laugh, "True but I want them to enjoy it, not feel like we're forcing them to be in something" Harper says.
"Well we can start a few things here, have Morgan come over and try to teach them soccer or t-ball and have Garcia come over and teach them painting and crafts" Spencer suggests.
"We'll ask your mom to teach them literature. I think Amelia would like that and maybe I can talk to Dave and see if he has any friends that are big musicians that might come and teach the kids to play something simple" Harper says.
"We'll figure this out Harper, don't worry" Spencer says kissing her cheek.
"I know. Thank you, for helping me with all this" Harper says as Danny comes over and tries to show them something and they start playing with the kids.
Thank you everyone who's been reading! I hope this can cheer you up for just a few moments during this crazy time. Please stay safe and healthy!
I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS!
