Chapter 129
AN: Please, please, please, let me know what you think of this chapter.
Two weeks have passed since Penelope and Emily decided that they want to become parents and, in that time,, they have been doing a lot of research between cases; and haven't told anyone in the team what they are planning on doing.
It's early evening and Penelope and Emily are in their kitchen, which is basically the only room that is unpacked, and while Penelope cooks Emily is sitting at the bench drinking wine.
"So, Stephen didn't question why we wanted just him and not Tara to come to dinner?" Emily asks, feeling bad about making it clear that Tara couldn't come to dinner, but knowing that at the moment she and Penelope don't want everyone to know.
"He was curious, but he understood," Penelope admits. "And he didn't question," Penelope admits.
"Probably because you two know each other well enough not to question," Emily admits. "Pen, do you think he'll be willing to help us considering his feelings about BAU children?" Emily asks her wife, and once she does Penelope pauses what she is doing and walks over.
"Gideon will always be willing to help," Penelope says, knowing that without a doubt. "He has a lot of complicated feelings, but Gideon also knows that because of what I went through, because of what we both went through, I will, we will, do everything in our power to make sure history doesn't repeat itself; to make sure we don't make the same mistakes," Penelope says.
"Yeah, we will," Emily says, as she leans over and kisses her wife, as she does the doorbell rings. "I'll get it," Emily says, getting up and heading to the door. "Hey Stephen, come in," Emily says, letting him into the house, closing the door behind him, greeting him with a brief hug.
"Emily," Stephen responds. "Oh Did Rossi cook one of Nonna Rossi's recipes?" Stephen asks, as he and Emily walk down the corridor to the kitchen.
"Yep," Emily confirms.
"Nice," Stephen says, sounding glad. "Hey Rossi," Stephen greats as he and Emily walk back into the kitchen.
"Gideon," Penelope responds. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes," Penelope explains.
"Sounds good," Stephen responds.
"Stephen? Wine?" Emily asks, as she sits back down on the stall she was sitting on.
"Come on, Emily, you know better than asking that," Stephen says amused, and Emily pours a drink and hands it to Stephen, who takes a drink. "So, what are you two up to that you don't want anyone else to know?" Stephen asks curious, and once he asks Penelope and Emily exchange looks, which tells Stephen that whatever the two of them are up to it is something big.
"Em and I want to look into fostering, and fostering to adopt," Penelope explains.
"We were hoping you'd be able to help us with the name of a LGBT focused adoption Lawyer that you trust," Emily explains as both she and Penelope know they will be facing issues, and potentially discrimination and prejudice, so they want to talk to someone who can help navigate through those issues.
"I know just the person," Stephen admits, as, a good friend, someone who he's known since Law School is an LGBT focused Adoption Lawyer. "So, you guys want to become parents?" Stephen asks.
"Yeah, we really do," Penelope confirms, as after their initial conversation she and Emily have had a lot of conversations, about what they want to do.
"You're going to be great parents," Stephen says, looking between his friends. "Better than what we had," Stephen admits, including all three of them in that. "I'll do whatever I can to help," Stephen promises.
"Thanks Gideon,"
"Thank you, Stephen,"
The next evening, as they don't have a case, but Emily has some paperwork to finish, she and Penelope are in Emily's office together. While Emily is completing paperwork, Penelope is on her laptop.
"So, as well as the name of the lawyer, and the promise to introduce her to us, Stephen gave me the information for this great online resource that breaks down every single step and requirement of the Foster to Adopt process in Virginia," Penelope explains, causing Emily to look up at her wife.
"How complicated is it?" Emily asks curious.
"I haven't completely figured that out," Penelope admits. "There's a lot of information, hopefully Gideon's friend can help break it down a bit," Penelope explains. "One thing I am sure off is that one of the first decisions we're going to have to make is what age children we're willing to foster and adopt," Penelope explains to her wife.
"I think we should say any age," Emily admits. "If someone needs a home, we shouldn't use age to restrict if we're willing to help them," Emily explains to her wife.
"I agree," Penelope says, and as she does Emily's phone rings.
While Penelope and Emily are up in Emily's office Reid and JJ are down in the bullpen. While JJ is sitting at her desk Reid walks over to her.
"You ready to go?" Reid asks, and he realizes that JJ seems like she didn't hear him. "You okay?" Reid asks concerned.
"Sorry," JJ says, confused.
"Everything okay?" Reid asks concerned.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's just, um… you know Linda Barnes, the Bureau's assistant director of National Security," JJ says, and Reid gives a look which says, 'yes, continue,". "Well, she says she needs to set up a meeting with me, preferably the day after tomorrow," JJ explains.
"Think she wants to talk to you about the covert work you did in the defense department?" Reid asks curious.
"Yeah, that's what she says," JJ admits.
"And?" Reid asks, not understanding why JJ seems so concerned.
"The last time I got an email like that from a person like Barnes, I was taken off the team," JJ explains.
"That's not gonna happen again," Reid assures JJ. "I honestly don't think that's even possible," Reid admits.
"Well, I do," JJ admits.
"Well, was Emily coped on the email?" Reid asks, and JJ checks.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, she is," JJ confirms.
"There you have it," Reid says. "Emily's not gonna let you get caught up in some crazy bureaucratic undertow," Reid says, believing that.
"Well, that's what Hotch thought, too. He couldn't protect me either," JJ remembers, and as she does Emily walks up to the pair.
"Hey, guys. I know you were inches from a clean gateway tonight, but I just got a call from DC Metro police," Emily explains. "They need our advice on an active homicide scene," Emily says, and once she explains Reid and JJ head out to the crime scene.
The next morning, as the ME found a code on a piece of paper inside the victims' mouth, Penelope, Emily, Rossi and Reid are in the roundtable room trying to figure it out.
"This looks an awful lot like the cryptograms the Zodiac killer sent," Rossi realizes.
"And the Zodiac's four coded messages certainly display the same blocking of text symbols and there are twenty lines with thirty symbols in each line, but when the Zodiac used symbols from seven different sources the unsub appears to be using letters from four pure alphabets, Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and Korean," Reid explains.
"Okay, the first thing I can tell you is that Kyle Reeves did not write that because a series of inappropriate emails landed him in Juvie last week," Penelope explains.
"So, Spence, how long will it take you to crack it?" Emily asks.
"Ohh, ohh, with my help, consider it already cracked," Penelope tells her wife. "I'm crazy for cryptograms," Penelope says, saying what Emily should know. "Five will get you twenty that's a homophonic cipher, like your classic Creaser cipher," Penelope explains.
"Yeah, but where one letter of uncoded text can be transposed into one letter of coded text. Here, one letter of uncoded text can be replaced by a code letter from each of the four pure alphabets," Reid explains.
"Brainiac you're making it seem way more confusing than it is," Penelope says, and it is clear that Penelope understands everything that Reid is saying.
"I didn't tell them about the key number we're going to need in order to determine the actual shift value," Reid explains.
"Yeah," Penelope says, knowing it makes things slightly more difficult, as Emily and Rossi just look on with shocked looks on their faces.
"Maybe we'll just leave you to it," Emily suggests.
"No, no, Amore, we've got this," Emily assures her wife. "It's all in the frequency analysis," Penelope explains.
"Exactly," Reid confirms. "So, let's start with the most common letter in the English language, 'E'," Reid suggests.
"Are you flirting with me? Cause 'E' happened to be my favorite vowel," Penelope says, and she starts to type. "Okay, if we hypothesize that that is true then that could mean that our transpositional shift value equals three, and if that's true, then our decryption looks like… this," Penelope says, putting the decrypted message on the screen.
"We Asclepius, declare this manifesto. Our society is beset by the cancer of today's institutions led by impotent men in our houses of law, capital and worship, whose infidelities to those they claim to safeguard have poisoned us," Emily reads.
"These men are essential cause of our social ills, and it is the reasons they are today, tomorrow, and forever the disease and we are the cure," Rossi reads.
"They sure as hell ain't talking about the band," Penelope realizes.
"But they are talking about a pattern of victimology," Reid realizes. "This Asclepius intends to target men from the fields of law, finance and religion," Reid realizes.
"Now look at this part right here," Emily says, pointing to a specific part of the message. "Terms of surrender are offered if we let the news media broadcast this manifesto tonight," Emily explains.
"So, if we put that out there. Then this will all stop?" Penelope asks.
"No, it's likely a narcissistic power play, if we indulge it, might cause more harm than good," Rossi explains.
"But this expression of narcissism does tell us that we're dealing with a single unsub," Reid explains. "This provocative posturing suggests a personality type that needs to feel superior to others," Reid explains.
"Why make us think it's a group?" Penelope asks curious.
"He's trying to install fear by creating strength in numbers," Reid realizes.
"But it's unusual for a narcissist to provoke fear in this way," Emily realizes. "You'd expect he'd just want to make himself look more dangerous," Emily says.
"It's also unusual that this guy would bother to write a manifesto these days and not post it online," Rossi explains. "Instead, he folds it up into a puzzle and jams it down the victims throat," Rossi realizes.
"Which means this message was really just meant for our eyes only, that is, if we were able to decipher it," Emily explains.
"the game is afoot. His game, with us," Rossi realizes. "He may profile as a hybrid of the zodiac killer and the Unabomber, but something tells me his real motive lies somewhere else. And until we know what it is, the unsub will remain in the shadow of the night," Rossi says.
The next morning there has been a new victim, and so Penelope, Reid, Rossi, and Emily are in the roundtable room as Tara and Luke walk in with the new cipher.
"Doctor Cook just pulled another cryptogram from Douglas Carmichael's throat," Lewis explains as she hands the evidence bag to Penelope who takes a picture of the cipher. "It looks just like the last one," Tara explains.
"Okay, give me one second while I apply our key shift decryption," Penelope says as she types that in. "And voila," Penelope says, but the cipher still makes no sense. "That's not what I was expecting to happen," Penelope admits.
"Try all possible shift values," Reid suggests, and Penelope attempts that.
"No, nothing," Penelope says.
"It's the same four pure alphabets, only this one's not a Caesar cipher," Reid explains.
"This is gonna be a lot harder to crack," Penelope admits.
"You know, I was skeptical that someone driven purely by ideology would bury his manifesto inside of a puzzle. But now, he's doubling down," Rossi says, finding something strange about this.
"It speaks more to his need to assert his power, particularly over law enforcement, like the Zodiac killer, who also produced four cryptograms, only one of which has been completely solved," Reid says.
"What if asserting his power over law enforcement is this guy's real motivation? I mean, it's like you said, David, it could be all about his crazy game," Luke realizes.
"So, you're thinking that these murders are his coded messages are his way of taunting and then humiliating the DC Metro Police," Tara realizes.
"Or even the FBI," Luke says.
"Our surviving witness, Abigail Fuller, she described her assailant as looking like a riot cop. His choice of weapon and tactical skills do suggest that there's a possibility he has a background in either the military or law enforcement," Emily realizes.
"So, we might be dealing with a guy who's harboring real or imagined grievances against the cops or us," Rossi realizes.
"If this guy's goal is retribution against the police, then why does his pattern of victimology actually mean to him?" Tara asks.
"Well, I've been thinking about some of the language he chooses to use in the first cipher with us. He says, 'we're being led by impotent men,' and yet it's their 'infidelities' that made them the disease he's going to cure," Rossi explains.
"His words do seem emotionally confused and usually sexualized for a political manifesto," Tara realizes.
"Yeah, it sounds like he's pissed off at an unfaithful significant other," Penelope realizes.
"Maybe our unsub's male victims aren't just prawns in a crazy game. Maybe they're actually surrogates," Luke suggests.
"I think subconsciously through these cryptograms, he's trying to tell us his real target," Reid realizes.
"Good, you and Pen get on that," Emily instructs. "Tara, Luke, work with Lieutenant Wilson on a list of potential suspects that are connected to DC Metro," Emily instructs. "Dave and I will do the same from here on the Bureau's end," Emily explains.
A little while later Penelope and Reid are in Penelope's office together discussing the cipher.
"I don't know, Spence, if this guy is messing with us. What makes you think these cryptograms aren't totally meaningless?" Penelope asks curious.
"Because these ciphers are his way to demonstrate his superior intellect, and it's honestly that arrogant streak that makes me think he wouldn't completely re-conceive his encryption strategy," Reid admits.
"So you still think we're dealing with a substitution cipher?" Penelope asks.
"I do," Reid confirms. "Except now instead of using just one shift value for each word in his plane text message, he's utilizing multiple shift values across all four of these alphabets," Reid realizes.
"Okay, I'll by that. I swear I've seen this kind of cipher somewhere before," Penelope realizes.
"I'm sure you have. It's called a Vigenere cipher," Reid explains. "And it uses one key word to determine all shift values," Reid says.
"Okay, so even if this guy's key word is in English, there's like thousands of possibilities," Penelope says.
"one hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and seventy six according to the Oxford English dictionary, but we know this guy's ego-driver, right? So.. try the world, 'cure' since he sees himself as the cure," Reid suggests.
"Ooh, I like that," Penelope admits. "C-u-r-e and the alphabet will give us our shift values," Penelope says as she types. "Voila. There it is. Look hammer, you nailed it," Penelope says, sounding impressed.
"We, Asclepius, declare that our final warning to those complicit with the totting flesh…" Reid starts to read.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Down here," Penelope says, pointing to further down in the message. "This third corpse marks the beginning of the end,'" Penelope reads. "We don't have three corpses we have Andrew Hirota and Douglas Carmichael," Penelope remembers.
"This unsub has no reason to take credit for something he didn't do," Reid knows. "This victim must be a homicide that DC Metro doesn't realize is connected with the others," Reid realizes.
"How the planets could they miss that?" Penelope asks shocked. "Even if he wasn't using the same MO he would have left a bloody symbol or a cipher or something equally creeptastic," Penelope explains.
"Let's review all open cases in DC metro over the last month," Reid suggests.
"Okay," Penelope says, and that's exactly what they do.
The next day there has been another victim who has survived, and because that has lead to a lot more questions Emily is walking into Rossi's office where she puts a photo down on his desk.
"Here. Look at those two photos from Scott Taveras crime scene and tell me what you see," Emily says to her boss.
"I'll tell you what I don't see. I don't see a ninja-like unsub who so skillfully and savagely blitzed his first two victims," Rossi realizes.
"Yes. This act feels more impulsive," Penelope admits.
"The psychologist Sam Keen has a theory about human behavior that I tend to subscribe to," Rossi admits. "He believes it's impossible for a person to kill another without first being able to objectify them," Rossi explains.
"That theory would explain our unsub's behavior. Maybe he's struggling to dehumanize his victims," Emily admits.
"Maybe because of some personal connection with Scott Taveras," Rossi says, and as he does Penelope and Reid walk into the room.
"About as personal as you can get," Reid reveals. "Penelope and I were able to crack the unsub's last cipher. In it, he bragged about a victim that we missed," Reid explains.
"His name is Marcus Powell and in Missing Mr Powell, DC metro also missed our unsubs debut cipher, which basically reads like a first draft of his manifesto," Penelope explains, as she hands files over to her father and wife.
"But a first draft that reveals too much real emotional pain," Reid reveals. "Word choices are steeped in a sense of betrayal, so his cure feels more like a teenager's revenge fantasy," Reid explains. "More than that, the unsub sincerely believes that he can outsmart law enforcement by misleading them," Reid admits. "So, this Asclepius isn't some sort of alter ego, it's pure charade," Reid explains. "And the victims weren't just selected as surrogates, they were chosen so that his one true target would simply get lost in the body count," Reid explains.
"So you're thinking not only is Scott Taveras the one true target, but that one or both his children are responsible for the murders," Emily realizes.
"His son Rafael fits the profile," Reid explains.
"Disciplinary problems led to him being enrolled in a military boarding school. After that there was a brief stint in the army, followed by an other than honorable discharge," Penelope explains.
"And while there he received training to become an electronic warfare officer, which is how he acquired his skill set," Reid explains.
"So maybe Scott's son wasn't as comfortable with his father's new relationship as everyone thinks," Rossi realizes.
"Not at all, and I think his notions of disease and cure very likely stem from his own mother's battle with cancer," Reid explains.
"Okay, I'll coordinate with Lieutenant Wilson. We'll bring Rafael in right now," Emily explains, and as she does she walks pulls her phone and walks out of the room, kissing Penelope's cheek as she goes.
A while later the case is over and unfortunately the girlfriend of Rafael's father was killed before he could be stopped. As it was such an intense case JJ is standing on the catwalk above the bullpen staring out of the windows.
"It never gets any easier. Outcomes like this one," Emily says, as she walks up to her friend.
"No, it doesn't," JJ confirms.
"And it also has a way of dredging up the past you thought you had locked away," Emily says. "The 'what ifs' and 'if only's'," Emily says. "I know there are parts of this job that you really can't take home. So, if you ever want someone to talk to, know that I'm always here for you," Emily assures her friend.
"Thanks," JJ says, and once she Emily heads to her office and collects her bag, just as she is walking down the stairs towards JJ's desk, where JJ is just finishing packing up her stuff, Penelope walks into the bullpen from the side door.
"Hey you," Emily says to her wife.
"Hey you," Penelope responds, as the trio start to walk towards the elevators.
When the trio get to the elevator it lights up going down and both Penelope and Emily walk in.
"You're not going down?" Penelope asks surprised.
"I have to go up, actually," JJ says.
"Oh right, you're meeting with Barnes," Emily realizes.
"Should I be worried?" JJ asks concerned as she has been worrying about it.
"Not as long as I'm in charge," Emily says, as she puts an arm around Penelope, while the elevator doors close
Not long after Penelope and Emily leave JJ heads straight up to Linda Barnes's office.
"Good evening, Agent Jareau," Barnes greats.
"Assistant Director Barnes," JJ responds.
"I'm sorry for the sudden urgency in having to meet tonight. However, effectively immediately SSA Emily Prentiss will be placed on Administrative leave pending an internal review and so you will be the acting unit chief of the BAU," Barnes explains.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," JJ says, feeling both beyond shocked and beyond confused.
"If you wouldn't mind leaving your cell phone out here, we can talk in my office," Barnes says, and feeling like she cannot believe this is happening JJ leaves her phone in the box on the desk outside the office, and heads into Barnes's office, where she sits down across from Barnes. "My apologies for the cloak-and-dagger routine with that email," Barnes says. "I needed a reason to bring you in that would ensure a certain confidentiality," Barnes explains.
"Wat do you mean Agent Prentiss has been placed on Administrative leave?" JJ asks, as that does not make sense to her.
"I've been looking over your work, and I think you're doing an excellent job," Barnes admits. "Why do you think the brass didn't give you a shot at Unit Chief when Agent Hotchner elected to leave?" Barnes asks.
"Prentiss was the natural choice. She had seniority," JJ explains.
"You're aware this month marks the one-year anniversary of Agent Reid's arrest in Mexico?" Barnes asks.
"I was aware that was coming up, yes," JJ admits.
"When something like this happens, it's standard operating procedure for the director to initiate an internal audit," Barnes explains. "I've been asked to go over the BAU's caseload to make sure that you're following protocol," Barnes explains.
"We work by the book, always," JJ says, stressing the words.
"Then this should be a fairly painless process," Barnes explains. "Of course, as team leader, Agent Prentiss will need to give a full account of the BAU's actions. That's why effective immediately, you will be the acting head of the Behavioral Analysis unit," Barnes explains.
"I…" JJ starts to say, but before she can say more Barnes cuts her off.
"Pending further review, you and your team will remain on activity duty," Barnes explains. "Agent Jareau, as a courtesy, I choose to inform you first. I'll be speaking with Agent Prentiss in the morning, so I'd appreciate it if you keep this between us until you hear from me," Barnes says.
A little while later, before JJ has even left the building, Penelope and Emily, who didn't get far, are back in Emily's office, and as her wife hangs up with JJ Penelope realizes that something is seriously wrong.
"Em, what's wrong Amore?" Penelope asks concerned.
"JJ's on her way up, something happened in her meeting with Barnes," Emily explains.
"Oh my god, don't tell me she being transferred again," Penelope says, sounding horrified.
"She's not," Emily says, honestly not sure what to feel.
"Em? What's going on?" Penelope asks concerned.
"I'm being placed on Administrative Leave, JJ's going to be leading the BAU for a little while," Emily explains.
"What? No!" Penelope says, her voice breaking. "Why? Why is she doing this?" Penelope asks, pain in her voice.
"Barnes says it's an internal review, that Emily will have to give full account of the BAU's actions," JJ explains, coming to the door of Emily's office.
"Neither of you believe that that's all it is," Penelope realizes, as she looks between Emily and JJ.
"I don't know," Emily admits.
"She seems like she is up to something to me," JJ admits. "I'll leave you alone," JJ says, closing the door and heading out of Emily's office, as she knows that Penelope and Emily need a chance to talk about this before the rest of the team arrive.
"No Barnes can't do this," Penelope says, standing up. "You earned this job, you're perfect in it, she can't take it away from you! She can't do this! I'm going to go talk to her," Penelope says, standing up, and Emily hurries over to her wife.
"Pen, no," Emily says, as she puts her hands on her wife's shoulders. "I love that you're so protective, but confronting Barnes right now won't do any good," Emily informs her wife.
"I can't just do nothing why Barnes tares apart my family," Penelope says, sounding upset, and Emily reaches over and pushes Penelope's hair out of her face.
"I'm not asking you too, Babe," Emily explains to Penelope. "I'm saying that for now we keep doing what we do, and we see what happens," Emily says, before just hugging her wife and while she is worried about what Barnes is going to do she is also concerned about making sure Penelope doesn't do something that will cost her her job too.
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