A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to AHowell1993, Astrahan, Martha, and zazz15 for either reviewing Chapter 58, favoring, and/or following the story. The occasional scenes from episodes of Criminal Minds in this story belong to CBS and Criminal Minds writers. No copyright infringement is intended.
My apologies if I had made any mistakes, but please do enjoy the chapter!
Also, I would like to credit AHowell1993 for helping me with this chapter.
"Good morning, my sexy wife," Reid whispered.
Élise moaned as she began waking up and flicked her eyes a few times. When her vision finally began clearer, she noticed Reid standing over her with a tray in his hands. Smiling,
"Oh, good morning, my wonderful love." Élise noticed a lid over the tray as Reid gently set it down on her lap in the bed. "Oh. What's for breakfast?"
Reid removes the lid, "Scrambled eggs, a whole grain blueberry muffin, mixed berries, and a green smoothie drink made with almond milk, Greek yogurt, kiwis, spinach, and chia seeds."
"Mmm." Élise seemed intrigued as she took a look at the smoothie before taking a sip. Licking her lips before taking another sip. "Taste good."
Reid smiled, "Why, thank you, honey." Kissing her lips. "And Happy Valentine's Day to you."
Élise blushed before rubbing her belly. "And to our little girl who's coming in a few more weeks."
Reid talked to Élise's belly, "Hi, my little honeydew melon."
"I feel as if I ate a bushel of mini honeydew melons, and they mutated into a giant one growing inside me," Élise replied before eating some scrambled eggs. Swallowing after forty chews, "Do we have anything we'll need?"
"Yes." Reid confidently said.
"Want to review the birth plan after I eat? And before we review it with Dr. Patterson the next time we see her?" Élise asked before drinking some of her green smoothie.
"Mm-mmm."
Gulping before licking her lips again, "I'm a nervous wreck."
"I know." Reid took Élise's hand. "But she has us as her parents. And she is going to be so loved by all the good surrounding her and will protect her from the bad."
"Yeah-yeah." Élise cheered as she raised her smoothie in the air and took another gulp. "This is a nice smoothie."
"Only the best for you and our honeydew melon." Reid smoothly replied before kissing Élise's lips again.
Reid and Élise—and Opal—spent all of Valentine's Day in their home. They ate breakfast together, watched movies such as the 1995 and 2005 versions of Pride and Prejudice, the 1968 and 1996 versions of Romeo and Juliet. Now, Élise was relaxing on the couch, watching another classic movie, Titanic, with Opal as Reid was preparing Valentine's Day dinner and dessert.
"Oh, god," Élise wiped her nose and tears away with a folded tissue before discarding it in the nearby trash can. Opal purred as she snuggled her head on Élise's belly. Élise strokes Opal's fur,
"Aw, Opie." Élise baby talked. "Yes, I know you're excited about our new addition coming soon. I already know you love her so much. But when she comes, I don't want you to get jealous or anything. But just because we're adding a new addition doesn't mean we won't love you any less. I hope you already know that we love you so much."
Opal responds by purring and licking Élise, causing her to giggle. Snuggling her face, "Oh, daddy, and I love you so much, baby."
"Why, yes, we do."
Élise looked up when she heard Reid's voice and was handsomely dressed in a red sweater, black pants, and dress shoes.
And had red roses in his hands.
"My-my-my," Élise grinned. "You look so…sexy."
"As do you."
Reid noted Élise's claret red knot front maternity dress that complimented her figure and comfortable flats. Giving her the flowers,
"They're lovely." Élise smiled after sniffing the flowers, "So, what's for dinner?" Élise coyly asked as Reid took Élise by her hand and had her follow him into the kitchen, where he stuns her with a candlelit dinner; the candles were the only source for light.
"Oh." Élise tittered as she sat down. "Me likey." Noticing the plates being covered by a silver lid. "So, what are we having?"
Reid removed their lids, "Chicken parmesan with freshly homemade spaghetti—thanks to the pasta maker Rossi gave us—with garlic and oil. To the side, we have garlic bread, a salad of asparagus, arugula, cucumber, kale, spinach. And dessert…chocolate covered cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and a sweet red velvet cupcake with whipped cream."
"We're having a feast tonight, aren't we?"
"Hmm-mmm" Reid raises his eyebrows three times, causing Élise to full on grin again.
"So, how are you feeling since I left the house?" Reid asked as he was talking on his phone with Élise answering,
"I still feel as if I'm ready to give birth with my head slightly pounding me and I'm too tired actually to give birth. But don't worry; I'll be fine."
Reid worryingly sighs but replied, "Okay. Call me for anything, and I do mean anything, okay, bunny?"
Élise giggled, "Okay, hubby. I love you."
Reid hung up just as he entered the roundtable room and sat next to Prentiss when,
"…Lauren Reynolds is dead…"
Reid noticed how Prentiss got a bit startled when she noticed him next to her. In the four years Reid's known Prentiss, he hasn't seen her so…so…
Spooked, no matter how still she kept her composure.
"Ok. Just be careful. And give Jeremy my love. Bye." After Prentiss hung up.
"Who's Lauren Reynolds?" Reid asked with concern.
Prentiss answered, "She was a friend of mine."
"How did she die?"
"A car accident."
Reid offers his condolences, "I'm really sorry."
Rossi greeted as he and Seaver walked in, "Good morning."
Following them was Hotch with case files; Morgan behind him.
Hotch wanted to get right down to work, "Let's get started."
Garcia walks into the other room as Hotch passes out the case files as she pulls up a brunette woman, "Hey. Thank you all for coming. And time is of the essence. Ok. Molly Grandin, 25 years old, she's been missing approximately 24 hours. Her car was found abandoned in a strip mall parking lot."
"Syracuse police chief just called me to tell me that four months ago another woman, Gail Langston, also 25, went missing," Hotch explained as Garcia continued,
"Gail's body washed up three days later in Onondaga Lake. She'd been held captive, her hands and feet smashed, and then she was stabbed to death." Garcia pulls Gail's photos on the screen.
Hotch responded, "Her car was found in the same parking lot as Molly Grandin's."
"Other than abandoned cars, what makes them think it's the same offender?" Prentiss asked.
Garcia answered, "Both women packed a bag with enough clothes and toiletries to last them for the weekend, and in both cases, the bags were found in the car along with their purses and cell phones."
"If the unsub is sticking to the same M.O., then Molly only has 36 hours left," Reid notes.
"Let's go." Hotch wheels up the team.
Garcia comments, "The plane awaits."
Reid and Morgan visited the dumpsites, where Gail Langston's body was found to feel what happened as Reid had the autopsy reports. Noting that there was no postmortem damage from being tied to the weights, Gail's capture was carefully planned, and how it prioritizes control. Just from observing the autopsy photos, Gail's body was beaten in a particular way- a mallet to the hands and feet. The stab wounds are parallel to each other. They look more like puncture wounds.
Meaning the unsub uses tools instead of traditional weapons.
And the wounds definitely have a purpose.
And notes how the body was sunken in water sound mirrors classic water burial.
Which are done exclusively done by females.
"That explains why there was no sign of sexual assault." Prentiss figured. "With an unsub this obsessed with control and power, it's usually part of the territory. It looks like there was a female living in the other bedroom in Molly's apartment."
"We'd have been told if she had a roommate." Reid includes.
"Yeah, so Molly must have wanted to keep it a secret for a reason. Whoever she was, she left recently and in a hurry. I'll put a canvass out now. Thanks, Reid."
"I'm so lonely without you," Élise commented to Reid over the phone.
"I know you are, and I'm so sorry I'm not there with you." Reid replied before asking her, "So, how was your day?"
"Opal and I hung out today, watched movies, and read together."
Reid smirked, "Sounds like a good day to me."
"Yeah." Élise strokes her belly. "Catch this unsub."
"I will," Reid assured her. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
By the next morning, Reid, Rossi, and Prentiss were in a separate room. Reid began writing something on the whiteboard,
Today I Do, Tomorrow I Will.
"You know, this phrase doesn't seem to have a particular source or author. It's found in pretty much every self-help book-I read 22 of them today—all touting the same basic three-part plan."
"Let me guess-phase one is positive thinking, visualizing goals." Rossi correctly guessed.
Prentiss continued, "That's to work up the courage to get to phase 2- taking real steps to achieve said goal."
"Gail committed to school, got grades like never before," Rossi replied.
Prentiss commented, "Molly gave up her obsessive food journal and started eating better."
"It's hard to believe motivational sayings alone would allow her to make these type of strides." Reid responded.
"Maybe that's why the unsub moved in with them." Prentiss figured. "She could offer support and encouragement day and night."
"She'd be around to watch Molly's diet or Gail's study habits." Rossi retorted.
"At first her methods worked. She gets to be the hero, the savior." Prentiss imagined.
"She's a pure narcissist, so helping her victims is only about gaining their appreciation and dependence," Reid added.
"The more her victims gain confidence, the less they need a full-time cheerleader." Rossi included.
"And that's when her motivational plan goes completely off the rails," Reid said. "Phase three is normally about maintaining the tenets of the program independently."
"But her program doesn't end," Rossi replied. "She holds them captive, destroys them physically."
By the next day, the team managed to find the potential unsub:
Jane Gould.
Reid, Prentiss, and Morgan were on her way to her late grandparents' house; Reid was sitting comfortably in the backseat just as he was finishing his conversation with Garcia,
"Ok, thanks, Garcia. So, Dr. Weingold opened Jane's files. She can't release details, but she said there honestly aren't many. Jane never admitted to being a cutter, let alone what triggered it."
"She started acting out after she lost her grandparents," Rossi said over the phone.
Hotch reviewed Jane's file, "Arrested for vandalism, removed from 2 foster homes for destruction of property. Desperate attempts to get attention."
"Is that why she started cutting, another cry for help?" Prentiss guessed.
"Cutting is about control, similar to anorexia," Seaver spoke up. "It's common in teenage girls who feel like they have no control over their lives."
Hotch replied, "Her grandparents' deaths were probably the trigger."
"The loss of parental figures at such a young age turns your world upside down. There's a lot of pain, but no outlet. No one's in charge." Seaver said.
"Both Molly and Gail can relate to that," Rossi responded.
Prentiss said, "Jane used them to convince herself she's important."
"More than that, she thinks she's a selfless savior," Reid added.
"Instead of an orphan that no one claimed," Seaver concluded.
Reid sighed heavenly as he got himself into bed, "I'm so glad to be home."
Élise cuddles up to him, "I'm so glad you're home as well. We all are."
Reid smiled at the sight of Élise's belly before placing his hand over it. Reid sighed again, causing Élise to ask,
"Are you okay, babe?"
Reid asked, "Did you have moments where you felt as if you had no control over your life?"
Élise sighs heavily before admitting, "Yes. Yeah, I have. I mean, I already told you about my weight problems before we got married and being unsatisfied with my body and eating. But yeah, there were times where I felt I had no control over my life." Shrugging her shoulders, "My parents didn't want my brother and I to work as hard as they did when they came from St. Lucia to New Jersey. I never understood just how hard my parents, especially my mom, worked, until I got older."
"Wow." Reid shook his head. "With all that has happened to me, I would have used Dilaudid again. But thank God I quit."
Élise strokes Reid's cheek, "I know. And I'll always be proud of you. I'll admit, everyone has different ways of coping. Sometimes when I was in college, I played video games, mainly Sims because I figure controlling people in a computer game was better than what was going on in my own life." Élise scoffed. "They even had better lives than I did. But at least it was better than cutting myself or drinking and even smoking."
"My mother used to smoke," Reid confesses. "Every time she'd light one, I'd say, "It's six minutes less that I get to spend with you."
"I could never smoke," Élise replied. "It's just so gross. You get bad breath, yellow fingernails, brown teeth, weak heart, and lungs, you smell like a dirty chimney, cancer, death, etcetera. You can even die from lung cancer via secondhand smoking; that's what happened to Dana Reeves, the wife of the original Superman, Christopher Reeves. And she never smoked a day in her life."
"I asked my teachers for extra-credit work and offered to clean the classrooms for them as a way to cope with my father's absence and my mother's mental instability. As I got older, my comforts became books and learning."
Élise replied, "You know what's another way of coping?"
"What?"
"Writing. When I was a kid, I've always wanted to be a writer, if not more so than a lawyer. I'd write to escape the reality of my problems and create a new world. I like to think still I will publish a book one of these days. And music. Music also relaxes me." Élise began massaging smoothing circles around her belly. "Promise me that when she comes, that we'll give her good music to listen to and not today's vulgar, dowdy, and tacky version of 'music'."
"Most definitely." Reid pecks Élise's lips. "Do you think talking is also a good way of coping?"
"It was always hard for me to talk to someone about my problems. Until I met you."
Reid chuckled, "Same here."
"I love you."
"And I love you."
Reid and Élise reengage in a loving kiss.
