Chapter 125
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.
AN IMPORTANT: I know, I know, it's been a while. (two years) I really hope you like this chapter. As well as updating again I have gone back and edited the first 8 chapters to fix mistakes. I was going to do all but I really wanted to get to new chapters instead. I have added a few things, but if you don't want to re-read you don't have to. It was just adding things to get rid of contradictions and adding foreshadowing in for things I didn't think about earlier. Let me know what you think. Enjoy. I may go back and do the rest of the chapters eventually, just not sure when that will be as i really want to write new chapters.
A little while has passed since Penelope and Emily had dinner with Luke and honestly it amuses Emily that Penelope and Luke are getting along better. While she is sure that Penelope will always hold some resentment towards Luke because he's not Morgan Emily also knows her wife well enough to know that the day may come where they are able to be friends.
It's early in the morning and Penelope and Emily are in their apartment, which has a few boxes scatted throughout, eating breakfast, and drinking coffee. As the two of them enjoy breakfast both their phones go off at the same time with a notification. Checking her phone Emily feels her heatsink and as she looks towards her wife she feels her concern increase.
"Pen?" Emily asks, having no idea what else to say, but knowing it will depend on what Penelope says next.
"I'll call the team," Penelope says, standing up and clearly not wanting to talk about it.
"Okay," Emily says, not pushing her wife to talk as she makes an internal promise to keep an eye on her girl, and make sure that she is okay; something which she very much doubts.
A little while later Emily, Penelope and the rest of the team are in the roundtable room at the BAU. For Emily she knows this is going to be one of the harder case presentations and is very much one she wishes they didn't have to present.
"We got a call from Bridgewater, Florida, PD," Penelope explains, as Emily carefully watches her wife. "The body of Rebecca Strong was found last night in a rest stop women's room with and without things," Penelope says, looking disturbed not just because of the case but because of the memories the case causes to surface.
"Whoa," Luke says shocked.
"Yeah," Emily says, still looking at Emily, not really succeeding at not giving away how concerned she is.
"And it gets worse," Penelope reveals, putting images on the screen.
"All the tell-tale signs are here," JJ realises.
"Pentagrams, legs and fingers gone," Rossi says, looking through the file and glancing at his daughter, knowing that this could be an extremely difficult reminder for her.
"there's even one neat aspect," Emily says as she and Rossi exchange looks, both knowing that they are thinking about the same thing. "Her earring and jewellery are laid out equidistant on the floor," Emily says, as she points to the image on the screen.
"Sure, as hell looks like him," Rossi realises.
"Looks like who?" Matt asks confused.
"Floyd Feylinn Ferell," JJ explains.
"A psychotic cannibal who'd been killing under the radar for years," Reid explains.
"He killed ten prostitutes then moved up to low-risk victims," Emily explains.
"he kept slipping through the cracks and avoiding justice, so people referred to him as lucky," JJ explains.
"The worst of it was he owned a barbecue joint, and he fed one of the victims to the search party," Rossi explains, as Emily continues to watch Penelope.
"This is very…" Tara starts to say, but she is cut off by Penelope basically slamming down the clicker.
"I… I have a computer…" Penelope says, as she hurries out of the room. As her wife hurries away, Emily watches her go a look of concern, and love, all too clear on her face.
"Was it something I said?" Tara says, feeling confused as she looks between Emily and Rossi as she assumes both of them know what is gong on.
"No, that's not you," Emily says, pain in her voice, as she knows she has to explain. "Um, we were working Ferell's case when Pen was shot," Emily explains as she walks over and sits down at the table.
"Garcia was shot?" Luke asks shocked, as Tara looks just as shocked as everyone else doesn't as the others all know about the shooting.
"Ten years ago. Happened right outside of her apartment building," JJ explains.
"Was it a random act of violence?" Tara asks curious.
"No," JJ answers. "He lured her into dating him before she I'd him," JJ explains. "Turns out, he was a dirty cop named Colby Baylor and she was getting close to exposing him," JJ explains for those who don't know the details.
"So, he shot her," Luke says, sounding angry.
"Where is he now?" Tara asks interested, feeling horrified because of everything Penelope has been through.
"He's dead," JJ answers.
"Good," Luke says, relieved.
"Let's give Pen a few minutes," Emily suggests, even though she would very much like to go check on her wife. "What were you saying Tara?" Emily asks, as she really doesn't want to talk about Penelope's shooting anymore.
"Projected cannibalism. The act of inducing others to consume human flesh unknowingly. You do not see that very often," Tara admits.
"Well, projection seems to be a thing for Ferell. He fed the fingers of ten previous victims to a later one," Emily explains.
"Hi sway of telling us he was ten victims deep before we even knew he existed," Rossi explains.
"You think he's back?" Luke asks curious.
"Not unless he really lives up to his nickname. He's been locked up in the Hazelwood psychiatric hospital for the past ten years," Emily explains, it being more than clear to the others that her mind is on her wife.
"Well, then it's a copycat wanting to ride the wave of horror left in Ferell's wake," Matt says.
"Statistically, copycat killers tell to be vulnerable narcissists. Thought overtly boastful, they harbor deep-seated feelings of inadequacy. Emulating notorious crimes makes them feel powerful," Reid explains.
"Ferell was found to be mentally incapable of assisting in his own defence, so, he skated without a trial," Rossi explains.
"If this unsub is anything like Ferell he's got a taste for it and copycats typically don't stop after one victim," Emily says. "Wheels up in twenty," Emily says, as everyone starts to get up. "Dave, can I talk to you for a second?" Emily asks and the two of them head out of the roundtable room and to Dave's office.
"This is going to be a difficult one," Rossi says as they walk into his office and Emily closes the door behind them.
"I know," Emily says. "Dave, I'm not going with you," Emily reveals.
"Emily…" Rossi starts to say.
"Dave you saw Pen back there, she's not okay," Emily says, pain in her voice. "I can't leave her when she's like this," Emily admits, and as Penelope's father Rossi is extremely grateful for those words, but he also knows there is a potential issue.
"Devils advocate," Rossi says, and Emily just gives a nod, knowing she isn't going to like what Dave has to say. "The brass isn't going to like this, you choosing to stay with your wife rather than leading the team on a case," Rossi points out.
"I don't care, my wife means more to me than FBI politics," Emily tells Rossi, who can't help but smile.
"Okay. I'll handle the case," Rossi tells his daughter-in-law. "If I can do anything…" Rossi starts to say.
"I'll let you know," Emily finishes before heading out of Dave's office.
A little while later the team, except for Emily, are on the plane, and Penelope who really doesn't want to be working this, is calling in. The first thing Penelope realises when she calls in is that her wife is not on the plane and she can assume the reason for why that is.
"The rest stop victim, Rebecca Strong, was a sex trade worker," Penelope explains.
"High risk, like the early victims Ferell preyed on back in 2007," JJ explains.
"After that, he graduated to low-risk victims like Sheryl Timmons, who's also the only known survivor," Rossi explains.
"Garcia, track down Sheryl," JJ requests.
"On it," Penelope says.
"What was Rebecca like as a person?" Luke asks.
"She's described as strong-willed, determined, working to support her two kids," Tara explains.
"When was Rebecca last seen?" Matt asks.
"Well, her boyfriend, and by boyfriend I mean pimp, Jason Carlsbad, reported her missing when she didn't show up and donate to his collage fund. I'm sending you deets right now," Penelope says, pretending to be okay.
"Normally, I would want to look at him. Pimps hurt women they exploit to gain control, but an MO this complex doesn't add up," Rossi admits.
"Yeah, the cannibalism angle wouldn't make sense either," Luke realises.
"Eroticizing the consumption of human flesh is pretty specific fetish. Are we sure that he's copying that from Ferell?" Reid asks, looking around at the others.
"We need to nail that down," JJ realises.
"Tara, you and I will go to the ME's office. Matt and Spencer, head to Hazelwood State. Notorious criminals have fans who might want to copy their work. JJ and Luke head to the PD and set up a base of operations with Detective Russ," Rossi instructs.
At the BAU Penelope is in the bathroom splashing water on her face as she remembers what happened the night she was shot. For a few minutes Penelope freaks out as she becomes overwhelmed by the memories.
"Get it together, kid, get it together," Penelope says to herself, before pulling herself together the best she can and heading out of the bathroom.
Walking out of the bathroom Penelope isn't at all surprised to find her wife waiting.
"I can have someone else work this case," Emily says, walking up to her wife.
"No, there's no reason to do that," Penelope assures her.
"Pen…" Emily starts to say.
"You didn't have to stay behind because of me," Penelope says, as they walk side by side.
"Yeah, I did," Emily says, as the two of them walk into Penelope's office.
"Ooh, I guess, I guess, I thought, I don't know, I thought I'd gotten over it by now," Penelope admits.
"Pen, we were working this case when you got shot," Emily reminds her. "It was one of the biggest physical traumas you've ever had. It's only natural that dredging up one would trigger memories of the other," Emily explains to her wife, halting that it isn't the only huge physical trauma that her wife has gone through.
"Okay, like I put in a box, I let it go. You know that," Penelope reminds her.
"Pen, it doesn't work that way, Babe," Emily says, in a gentle voice.
"You know what? It's been ten years, so enough time for the wounds to heal," Penelope says as she sits down in her chair. "And although no amount of kitten videos is going to make this better, let's get to work," Penelope says, and Emily walks over and kisses her cheek.
"Okay," Emily says, against her better instincts, as she recognizes her wife's stubbornness, as she sits down next to her.
A little while later the team have arrived in Florida and Rossi, JJ, Tara, and Luke are all at the PD together, talking about the case.
"All of the fingers found in Rebecca's stomach are from the same person, but they aren't hers," Rossi explains. "So, we have one other unknown victim," Rossi explains.
"Well, Emily and Penelope are searching for other missing women who fit his victimology," Tara explains.
"You know, the fact that the killer forced Rebecca to swallow the fingers of a prior victim means that he must had inside knowledge of the old cases," Luke realises.
"Ferell's been out on weekend home visits, so It is possible he's killing again," Reid says as he and Matt walk into the room.
"I can't believe they'd be that reckless. How did this happen?" JJ asks.
"Well, it happened with Hinkley and Vince Li, the cannibal who killed and beheaded a guy on a bus," Rossi explains.
"And what's worse, 'cause this is a mental health issue not a criminal case, they had no duty to tell us or the public," Matt explains as the local detective who is working the case walks in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Ferell's lawyer, Billie Williams, is here. You're gonna want to hear what she has to say," Detective Russ says and once he does Rossi and JJ leave the room to go talk to the Lawyer.
"It's fortunate that you're here, Agents," Billie says as JJ and Rossi approach her. "I was just telling Detective Russ about our lawsuit against the FBI," she explains.
"We have no time for threats, we've got work to do," Rossi says, sounding annoyed.
"As a courtesy, I wanted to let you know that I just filed a motion to drop all charges against my client. I'm petitioning for his unconditional release," Billie explains.
"On what grounds?" JJ asks.
"It's clear from the current murder that Ferell is actually innocent. He was set up by the real killer, ten years ago, and that guy's killing again," Billie explains.
"The murders stopped as soon as Ferell was locked up, and they've started again now that he's on home release," JJ says.
"Supervised home release, and it's further proof that the killer is setting my client up. He only kills when he can blame it on Ferell," Billie explains.
"They caught him red-handed with one of the victims," Russ points out.
"All that proves is that my client was under the influence of the real killer. He was clearly suffering from mental illness at the time," Billie explains.
"I'll say. he had human recipes, said he ate the victims and had a satanic shrine," Rossi explains.
"He was manipulated by the real killer to say those things. There was never any actual evidence tying him to the murders," Billie explains.
"Okay, well, we're confident that the facts speak for themselves. Now, if you'll excuse us," JJ says and once she says she and Rossi head back to where the others are.
"Well, we've got our work cut out for us now," Rossi says, as he and JJ walk back into the room where the others are. "We need to attack this on two fronts. One, find out if Ferell is killing, two, look into his lawyer's he was set up theory," Rossi explains.
"Are we really buying that Ferell had an accomplice and the team missed it before?" Matt asks.
"No matter how confidence we are in our past work, we need to look at all possibilities. Let the profile decide," JJ says.
"And let's find out if some phantom manipulative killer exists," Rossi says, and everyone leaves.
While Luke and Reid are on a stakeout Penelope and Emily are back home in their apartment, and just like Luke and Reid neither one of them are sleeping they are just lying in bed together.
"Pen, I'm here, you can talk to me. You can always talk to me," Emily tells her wife, feeling concerned and rather useless, like there is nothing she can help, which is a feeling she absolutely hates.
"I don't want to talk," Penelope says, rolling over so that she is facing away from Emily. Realising that pushing Penelope right now isn't going to get her anything Emily sighs, and just snuggles in next to her wife. As she lays next to Penelope Emily knows, without a doubt, that she would give anything to take Penelope's pain and trauma away from her.
The next morning Emily and Penelope are arriving at the BAU and Emily is feeling even more concerned about her wife who is drinking a coffee that is even stronger than the one she usually drinks.
"I'll see you later," Penelope tells Emily, as they walk out of the elevator and unlike every other time they arrive at work these days Penelope walks away before she and Emily kiss. Watching her wife walk away Emily racks her brain as she tries to think of something that could help the love of her life, and as she thinks Emily realises that the answer isn't something; it's someone.
Quickly pulling her phone Emily debates for a second as to which of two of her contacts to call, but after a few seconds she knows who the better choice is and so she presses call and after a few seconds the person picks up.
"Morgan, it's Emily. I need your help," Emily says, before Morgan has a chance to say something, as she walks towards her office.
A little while later Emily, who is still feeling extremely concerned about her wife, is in the roundtable room with Penelope; the two of them on video call with Rossi.
"Any lead on the manipulator killer theory?" Rossi asks curious.
"Well, I found a bunch of references to Satan in Ferell's writing, and I'm sending a video from the archive to your monitor now," Emily explains, as she does so and the three of them watch a video of when Morgan was interrogating Ferell. "So, it's possible he did have a partner," Emily realises.
"Just enough in the interview to make it seem plausible but no definitive proof either way," Rossi says, and as he speaks Penelope once more remembers back to what happened to her ten years ago. "Anything on that victim who got away in 2007?" Rossi asks.
"No. um, but… what happened to Sheryl Timmons, anybody who knew how to take care of themselves would have receded into the vapors like she did, so…" Penelope explains.
"Okay, well, she may be good at hiding, but she's no match for you," Rossi says to his daughter a level of pride to his voice, but like Emily he is also concerned. "Let us know when you find her," Rossi request.
"Okay. I'll let you know when I find her, because there's just me and I'm supposed to get all of the answers for all of you all the time, and it's not… it's not fair," Penelope says, and she glances at her wife, before closing the laptop and standing up. "It's… I…" Penelope starts to say, before leaving, Emily watching her go in concern.
"I guess I should have seen that coming," Rossi realises, with a sigh.
"She's really not doing well, Dave," Emily admits.
"I was just trying to encourage her," Rossi admits.
"I know," Emily assures her. "I'm trying to take care of her, but she is keeping me at arm's length," Emily admits.
"She hasn't done that in a while," Rossi says, his concern growing.
"I know," Emily confirms. "I'm not going to give up though," Emily says.
"I know," Rossi says, with a comforting look, knowing that there is no way that Emily would give up.
"I'll let you know when we find Sheryl Timmons," Emily says to Rossi.
"Okay, thanks," Rossi says, before ending the video call, both him and Emily being extremely concerned about Penelope.
After hanging up with Rossi Emily goes straight to Penelope's office. Walking into Penelope's office Emily finds her wife at her computer working.
"Pen…" Emily says, walking over to her.
"I'm working, Em," Penelope says, an edge to her voice.
"You don't have to. We can talk about what's going on," Emily says to her wife.
"What use is that? How's that going to stop someone else from being hurt," Penelope says, her voice sounding annoyed.
"It's going to help you, and that matters," Emily says, walking towards her wife.
"I don't need help," Penelope says, standing up and walking past her wife, watching her go Emily once more feels her concern rise, and becomes surer that calling Morgan was the right thing to do as if Penelope is pushing her away then Morgan and Stephen are the only people who have a chance at getting though to her; and considering what's bothering Penelope Morgan is the better choice.
A little while after she snaped at her incredible wife, Penelope who has been doing her best to avoid her love, is in the kitchen getting tea. As she pours her cup Penelope's phone starts to ring, and she sighs, as she really doesn't want to answer, but she knows she has to.
"Call me back at my desk in two minutes," Penelope requests.
"Whatever you need, Baby Girl," Morgan's voice says and Penelope says, looking at her phone in shock as she cannot believe it.
"This is you. You're on the phone," Penelope says amazed.
"Yeah, it's me. I heard what's going on," Morgan explains.
"Did Em tell you I'm being hideous?" Penelope asks, their being no doubt in her mind as to who called Morgan. "Listen to me. I've lost my voice because I've been crying so much. I have like… Major PTSD with an emphasis on the S and the T and definitely some of the D and the P because it's been a while since all of this happened," Penelope says, and as she turns towards the doors out of the bullpen Penelope sees Morgan standing there. "You're right there, it's really you," Penelope says amazed.
"It's me," Morgan confirms, and Penelope walks over to him, as soon as Penelope is close enough Morgan hugs her. "It's okay, I got you," Morgan says as he hugs Penelope, and Emily watches from above, feeling glad that her suspicion was right and it seems like Morgan can help.
After spending a little while hugging Morgan and Penelope break apart and the two of them start to walk towards Morgan's old office.
"So, because I'm not in good form and acting so unwieldly Em brought in a secret weapon," Penelope realises as they walk.
"She was worried. She loves you so much and hated that she couldn't help," Morgan explains.
"By calling you she has," Penelope admits, as they get to Morgan's old office. "Hey look at this, huh," Penelope says, as they walk in.
"Oh wow, check this out. Same furniture?" Morgan asks.
"Wat, you really think I'm gonna let them move it?" Penelope says, as she sits down. "I need it. I come in here when I miss you," Penelope explains.
"Oh yeah?" Morgan asks as he sits down too.
"Yeah. I feel bashful telling you that, but.. it makes everything feel better; even imaginary you," Penelope explains. "Now you're really here. Thank you," Penelope says, as she squeezes Morgan's arm.
"Thank Emily," Morgan tells Penelope, who intends to do just that. "So, that's all it took? Me showing up? No words of wisdom needed?" Morgan asks curious.
"Uh-huh. Basking in our connectively. I feel healed," Penelope admits.
"We could always do that, couldn't we? No words," Morgan comments.
"Oh yeah. Although I do enjoy our delicious banter. Speaking of which, I know you didn't come all this way just to look at me," Penelope comments.
"Sure, I did," Morgan jokes.
"Okay," Penelope says, with a laugh.
"But, I'm really sorry that this is triggering the trauma of that night," Morgan admits.
"Oh, I... I am moving on," Penelope says.
"All right, that's good," Morgan says, though he isn't sure he believes it that Penelope is moving on. "Did you know that I prayed that night? Me. First time in a long time. I wanted to take your place, I still wish it was me who took that bullet," Morgan admits.
"No, no, I'm mean, yeah, it was scary, but I'm glad it was me," Penelope admits. "I know it really weirdly made me stronger," Penelope admits, as Morgan takes her hand.
"It did," Morgan confirms.
"Do you want to go into the Batcave and hang like old times?" Penelope asks.
"You know I want to, but I'd have to bargain with my boss, and my boss is no joke," Morgan admits. "He's real tough on me," Morgan jokes. "Did you not get my text?" Morgan asks.
"While you were lovingly mansplaining to me? No, that would be rude," Penelope comments.
"Women, look at your phone," Morgan says, and Penelope checks her phone, and plays a video Morgan sent her of Hank where he says 'Hey Auntie'.
"Oh, my gosh. How is my godson continuing to get cuter and smarter? This is everything!" Penelope exclaims. "This is the greatest. You're the greatest. Thank you," Penelope says amazed.
"You're welcome," Morgan responds.
A few minutes later Morgan has left and as soon as Morgan leaves Penelope heads straight to Emily's office.
"Pen," Emily says, turning around, and Penelope walks straight to her and kisses her.
"You're incredible, thank you, thank you," Penelope tells her, feeling amazed, and grateful.
"You never have to thank me, Babe," Emily assures her wife as she pushes Penelope's hair out of her face. "I can't stand it when you're in pain, and I knew he was the only one who could help," Emily admits.
"You know me so well," Penelope says amazed.
"How are you really doing?" Emily asks, hoping that Penelope is honest with her.
"I don't know," Penelope admits. "It was ten years ago, I didn't think it would still affect me," Penelope admits.
"It was a trauma Pen, a horrific one," Emily says. "We weren't together then and I still remember every detail of that night, so it's completely understandable that it still affects you," Emily explains.
"I never thought of how that night was for you," Penelope admits.
"I felt useless, and I hated that. I tried to help Dave, but even that didn't feel like I was doing anything," Emily explains to her wife. "Pen, it's okay not to be okay, and it's okay that this still affects you," Emily explains. "But you're not alone you don't have to deal with the effects alone,"
"I know," Penelope says, before once more hugging Emily, loving her wife more than anything.
The next morning Rossi, Luke and Matt are at the Local PD in the room they are working out off. As they are working Russ walks into the room.
"We identified the body from the warehouse. Evonne Westfield. She went missing six weeks ago on a weekday when Ferell was still locked up," Russ explains, as he gives them the photos.
"So, there is definitely another killer out there," Rossi realises.
"I find it hard to believe that there's a master manipulator killer pulling Ferell's strings," Luke explains.
"But everything seems to be pointing that way," Matt comments.
"Okay, let's get Evonne's next of kin in here. Find out everything we can about her," Dave instructs, feeling better about working the case as he heard from Emily the night before that Penelope is doing better.
A little while later Rossi is still in the room they work out of when JJ, who is at the morgue with Tara, calls in.
"Go ahead, JJ," Rossi says.
"It looks like Evonne Westfield is this unsub's first kill. He's new at it, experimenting with the taste of human flesh. And behaviourally we know that's not Ferell," JJ explains.
"Okay, let's play this out. if this killer's responsible for all the kills attributed to Ferell, he'd be experienced. He wouldn't be starting from scratch," Rossi realises.
"Yeah, and they'd be no reason for tentative bite or hesitation marks," Tara explains.
"He always wouldn't have done such a poor job hiding Evonne's body. I mean, that feels like a newbie mistake," Rossi admits.
"You know, I agree. All of that rules out the theory that the current unsub was opening ten years ago," JJ explains.
"Let's look at this from the other way around. What if Ferell isn't the patsy? What if Ferell has a patsy? "meaning he's had a plan all along to get out of Hazelwood state," Rossi explains.
"So he trains a new unsub to kill using his exact same signature so we think that this new guy was killing ten years ago," JJ explains.
"Then it stands to reason this new unsub is gonna make more boneheaded mistaks," Tara explains.
"First-timers hunt where they live, work and play. He probably knew the first victim. I'll have Detective Russ bring in her family," Rossi explains.
A little while later, while Rossi is talking to fiancé of the latest victim, getting key information, Penelope and Emily are in Penelope's office.
"You slept better last night," Emily notes.
"Yeah," Penelope confirms. "Seeing Morgan helped, talking to you helped. I think sleep probably helped too," Penelope admits.
"Probably," Emily admits. "I'm just glad you're doing better," Emily admits, as she leans over and kisses Penelope's cheek, and as she does Penelope's phone rings.
"Oh, Phone. let's get it," Penelope says, and Emily smiles amused. "Dad, what do you need?" Penelope asks her father.
"I just sent you a name… Marcus Manning I need everything," Rossi explains, as Penelope hurriedly types.
"Hot on his trail. Okay, let's see. Marcus. He's in his thirties. He is a lifelong area resident. He's had a long history of therapy. Yikes! He scores very high on the NEO suggestibility scale," Penelope explains.
"That would make him easy to manipulate," Rossi realises.
"Looks like he was bullied a lot in high school he's got a sealed juvie record. That's gonna take some time," Penelope explains.
"We need addresses, home, work," Rossi explains.
"The only address that comes up is a temporary one at an SRO," Emily says as she reads over Penelope's shoulder.
"He wouldn't be keeping them on there," Reid realises.
"Nevertheless, I'm sending you his DL and address," Penelope explains.
"Okay, thanks Kiddo," Rossi says, glad that Penelope is doing better, which he can tell by Penelope's voice.
The next day, after a night where the team ended the case and Penelope once again actually slept, the team have finished the case, but due to a confession by the Accomplice no one is happy about how things have concluded.
"We know behaviourally that Marcus was lying," Tara says.
"Regardless, we have to turn over his dying declaration to Ferell's defence counsel," Rossi says, sounding less than happy.
"She'll use it to get him out," Luke realises.
"That's what Ferell wanted all along," Matt realises.
"Manipulated the mental health system to get out again by coercing Marcus into taking credit for his crimes," Reid explains.
"And I'm left with a cannibal about to be released back into my community," Russ says. "How do I protect them?" Russ asks, looking between the agents.
"None of us wants to risk waiting for Ferell to kill again, and we all believe he will, but there's simply nothing we can do legally at this time," JJ explains.
"Well, I can't leave here doing nothing. I'll try to get the hospital board to understand Ferell's hand in all this," Rossi explains.
"I appreciate that and everything you've done for us. Thank you," Russ says.
Back at the BAU Emily is in the roundtable room, going through the files, when Penelope walks in.
"Ohh, I come baring something totally irrelevant, Marcus Manning's ME report," Penelope explains, as she walks over to her wife.
"Thanks Pen," Emily says. "There has to be something in all of these files that prove Floyd committed those murders," Emily says.
"If he did do it, he hid it so well," Penelope admits.
"Yeah, he did. Turns out he was a hell of a lot smarter than what we thought, and there's no way that this was just all dumb luck," Emily admits, and as she does Penelope realises something.
"Wait a minute. The ME says that there were five of Rebecca's fingers in Marcus' stomach," Penelope explains.
"Yeah, which is gross," Emily comments.
"Em, Rebecca was missing all of her fingers," Penelope reminds her wife. "Dad's testifying at the state hospital board right now. Call JJ," Penelope says, and Emily does just that.
A while later Floyd has once more been arrested, and due to the fact that he was declared sane he will be going to jail this time. It is early evening and Penelope and Emily are walking up to the doors into the BAU bullpen where the rest of the team are.
"Here they are, it's the whole, everyone, okay, whole family, whole family is here," Penelope says, sounding excited. "Whole family, I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize. I am so…" Penelope starts to say.
"Pen, I told you, you don't have to apologise we all understand from experience," Emily assures her wife as she puts her hand on Penelope's shoulder.
"Really?" Penelope asks, looking around at everyone.
"Yeah," JJ confirms, in a gentle voice, feeling glad that her friend is doing better.
"All right. I'll shake that off. Uh, I am going to recommit to living life to the fullest. Right now, to that end, I'd like to invite everybody over to mine and Em's place for a celebration of life, liberty and the pursuit of responsible intoxication," Penelope explains.
"All right!" several members of the team say.
"To the home cave," Penelope says as they head to the elevators.
"I'll text Stephen," Tara says, causing Matt and Penelope to exchange amused looks.
A little while later the whole team, plus Stephen, are at Penelope's and Emily's apartment, having a good time. As Penelope is in the kitchen grabbing another drink Rossi walks in, wanting to check on his daughter.
"Hey Kitten," Rossi says.
"Dad," Penelope says. "Look Dad, I'm really sorry about…." Penelope starts to say.
"It's okay, Kiddo. You don't have to apologise," Rossi assures his daughter before hugging his little girl.
On the other side of the apartment Emily and Matt, both of whom are sitting on boxes, are taking.
"Penelope seems like she is doing better," Matt notes.
"Yeah, thankfully," Emily admits. "I was really worried," Emily says, as she looks to where Penelope is with Rossi.
"So was I," Matt admits, and the two of them drift into silence for a few moments. "They're not even trying to hide it anymore," Matt says amused, clearly talking about Tara and Stephen who are sitting extremely close to each other.
"They're really not," Emily says, sounding just as amused.
"So, there something you guys want to tell us?" JJ asks, walking up to Tara and Stephen, and the two of them exchange looks.
"Yeah," Stephen confirms.
"We're together," Stephen reveals, and everyone proceeds to congratulates the two of them, causing the night to become even more of a celebration.