Hey Everyone!
What a week! I've been enjoying some time off from writing, getting into my old shows, and I finally have access to Criminal Minds again! So exciting to catch up! It's been a driving force to help close out TTML, which Blue and I are in the final stages of! (So sad, I know!). But to all my loyal readers, this chapter is JUICY! JUICY! JUICY! I hope you sit back in your seat because you'll fall off the edge of it!
On a personal note, I do have to hold myself accountable for last chapter. I can understand how it may have thrown you through a loop that you had to read it a second time, but believe me when I say things will start to make sense.
If you haven't figured it out by now, you know that the most important information in the story has already been given to you. You may have to put the clues together, but all the pieces will fall into place.
Especially with this chapter! (OwO)
To my wonderful, spectacular reviewers: OneWhoReadsTooMuch, LisaPark fishtrek, sonnetStar, gossamermouse101, Momochan77, mercigirl01, Rubyia, and zikashigaku. How is it you all have stuck by my side through months and months of silence with no new chapters, only to always give your input when a new chapter comes out... it makes me a better writer, and it makes my heart sing when I see each one of you are so into my story. It gives me the reassurance that I am a writer, and an awesome one at that! It's all thanks to each one of you!
Without further ado, go on! Grab some popcorn! Go and read!
P.S. Disclaimer! I don't own CM
There were more officers around her home than she anticipated.
From her spot, squatting behind the large bush, Lou looked at the cars lined on her front driveway. She would be lying if she didn't think the amount of people milling about the Manor didn't royally upset her, but Lou knew to keep her emotions in check. She couldn't be distracted at all the investigators possibly wondering why a centuries old home did not crumble underneath the blast of not one, but two explosions.
Lou knew the structure of the home. She spied (which, no surprise there) on all of the people who were stationed at the front of the home. The back of the home however, where Spencer, Dexter, and herself were currently located, had no one there guarding the perimeter. There was police tape alongside the tower, sectioning off what was apparently a crime scene, but there was no one monitoring in front of the tower.
They had a clear window to enter the tower. A short one, if that.
The look of satisfaction on her face was far greater than the shock on Spencer's face.
When they pulled up to the tower in the car Spencer borrowed, the Doctor was quite shocked that the tower looked exactly the same, save for a new shade of ash speckled throughout the entire structure. Lou smiled in pride as Spencer parked on the other side of the lake, away from the people's purview. Her home should have been nothing but rubble, but the building stood tall and proud, as if an assassin hadn't made the Manor his playground.
After walking around the lake, they were hiding behind a set of bushes near the dock. Lou could almost recall the exact spot she knocked Judeau's kneecap. Focusing her attention on the Tower, she noticed the door handle had still not been replaced, causing a large problem from Elena Lucille.
"Do you think it's open?" Spencer asked.
Lou shrugged. "Possibly not. Especially if Noah's people are trying to stop people from entering."
"How do we get in then?"
That was just the long list of problems she was dealing with.
Lou summarized all of her speculations that she shared with Spencer in the file room of her Mind Manor.
Zion was being a double agent.
Malachi was ordinarily suspicious multiple times over.
Dave was underwhelmingly unconcerned.
Antoinette was quietly keeping secrets.
She knew her best friend's actions determined his double behaviour; the inconsistencies associated to it called for Zion to be playing a sleight of hand. Was he working for Charles to protect her? The bodyguards were supposed to be protecting her, and they weren't. But Zion was her best friend: he came to her need, he helped her with her plan, he went back for her because he felt she wasn't safe. Zion was definitely lying, and Lou felt like Zion admitting to his one lie of working for Lou's father was a way to absolve his guilt for the other lies he was holding.
But the fact that Zion was lying to Lou didn't sit right with her.
He always told the truth to her. He could lie to everyone else, but he couldn't lie to Lou. She couldn't lie to Zion.
There needed to be a reason.
Lou knew she was going to figure out everything soon, but the rate that she was learning information frustrated her. Was Zion and his father working together? Were they working against her mother? Did her mother figure out their plan but had no evidence to prove otherwise? How did Dave fit into all of this, and why wasn't he as suspicious as Lou believed he would be? The worst part was the one feeling she was avoiding.
Her father was missing.
The professor was doing everything she possibly could to keep everyone she loved safe, and her father up and vanished without a trace. Lou wanted to be angry, but she put her father in the same position. Lou knew exactly why he left: he was hunting down Noah through his own means, with his own plan he must have come up with before he left.
Caroline's words kept ringing through her ear, stating that Charles put Lou in danger again. Lou intuitively knew her father felt guilty allowing her to go off on her own to stop Bennett. Charles was one to often care for his family with his whole heart, and Lou knew that her father wanted to see Lou go off and stop Noah Bennett on her own, because that's what Charles did. He trained her to defend herself from the worst type of people, because Charles was a witness to those worse types of people.
Her father wanted to make sure his brilliant daughter wasn't destroyed by the world around her.
What a world it would be if Noah Bennett had never met Elena Lucille Richardson.
How no one would know the plan that Bennett was concocting. How there would be no trail, or no one to indicate what Noah planned. Lou felt it within her that Noah had his plan for years, waiting for the opportune moment to go forth with his plan. Lou would have been lying if she didn't speculate whether or not being with Spencer was the catalyst for Noah's actions.
Noah's actions dictated some knowledge only he had. A bit of information that was shared with the assassin alone, and Noah was making a grand show of asserting his dominance over Lou. Whatever it was, Lou knew that Noah took his time figuring out all the kinks, and Lou knew that Noah was intricate with his details.
She also knew she couldn't create a plan to stop Noah.
Not with Noah expecting her to do so.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, Lou looked at the old oak tree that was beside the Manor. She remembered all the memories that she shared in that backyard. Lou could still see the patch of grass that was slightly fluffier than the rest of the grass.
That's where she always asked her father to help with hand-to-hand combat. It was the comfiest spot to fall. The memory of the warm June day that constantly saved Lou's life washed over her once more. She was enveloped with warmth, remembering how her father's tough love was rewarded.
"One day, Lou-bear, you'll get into a fight, and they'll knock you to the ground. But that's the best place to be."
"It is?"
"Because it's easier for you to kick their kneecaps in."
Lou recalled the later part of that conversation, as she looked at the one spot she kept in her mind so often.
However, it wasn't often she remembered the rest of that specific conversation.
"Kick in their kneecaps?" Lou remembered questioning.
"Yes, Lou," she could envision her father walking to where she was laying on the patch of grass, waiting for her father's instructions.
"Like this," she was recalling the memory as if she was watching a film, remembering how her father grabbed her ankle to mimic kicking his kneecap.
"You have to generate enough momentum for them to fall off their own equilibrium."
"Won't that hurt them, Dad?"
"That's the point, Lou. You have to hurt them."
"I have to?"
Lou could remember the confusion from that day, how her father showed her the first example of standing her ground, protecting herself with all her might.
"Yes. If I am lucky, or if your Grandmother would have it her way, you would never have to deal with these types of people. But if you do, I need to teach you how to fight. When someone is out to hurt you, you do everything to protect yourself."
"I have to hurt someone to protect myself?"
"Only if they try to hurt you. Then you do everything you can to stop them from hurting you, or anyone you love, ever again."
"Ever again? As in… permanently?"
"Permanently, Lou-bear."
"Elena?"
Lou snapped back to Spencer, who was watching her with a concerned expression.
"You stopped listening. Did your mind recall a memory?"
Smiling half-heartedly, Lou continued. "A bit. I'm also taking into consideration everything that's occurring."
Focusing on the task at hand, she was pulling out gloves in the backpack she carried. At the same time, Lou noticed her dog was whining at her digging through her bag. She made the connection instantly, as her dog was whining every time her hands weren't visible to Dexter.
Dexter was whining a lot more than usual.
"Spencer," Lou drawled out sweetly.
"Yes dear?"
"Have you been giving him more than two treats a day?"
The look on Spencer's face tipped her off.
"No," he answered truthfully. "I have not been giving him more than two treats a day."
Lou could tell her was being honest, but she also knew he was choosing his words in a particular manner.
Her eyes slanted in an accusing manner.
"Let me rephrase: has Dexter been consuming more than two treats a day?"
When Spencer chose not to respond, Lou rolled her eyes.
"Oh, sweetheart. You know he's not going to unlearn this? He'll remember that he can get more than two treats and he will be asking for them constantly?"
"He deserves it," Spencer said, giving the dog a good scratch. Dexter's tongue lolled out; enjoying the scratches he was getting from his owner. "He's the best boy ever. He brought me back to you. He gets as many treats as he wants. Aren't you a good boy?" The doctor spoke to the dog, having him give a good long scratch under his furry chin.
Lou couldn't help but have her heart melt.
Her two favourite boys in the entire world were right beside her.
She counted her blessings.
Thank you Universe for making sure they were safe.
"It's your responsibility now, Spencer. Just as long as those treats aren't sugar cookies." Lou tried burying her smile as she put on her gloves. She knew Spencer was watching her the entire time.
"Now," she announced, giving her hands a good clap to ensure the gloves worked, "time to get into this ol' bad boy."
"Is there another entrance?" Spencer whispered.
Lou shook her head. "No, not on this side."
"How would you have gotten in normally?" He asked, looking around the entire home.
"Normally? Like if I was locked out?"
Spencer nodded.
"Well, not through the tower. I would have called James to call my father to have him unlock one of the side doors electronically, but right now, no one knows where my father is, and James would never leave my father's side unless he was told to. So, that's out of the picture."
"Do you have an alternative?"
"Yes," Lou said plainly. "The only other alternative. Had it been any other time where I was physically intact, I would have been happy to do so, but this is how the Universe works."
"What is the only other alternative to get into the tower?" Spencer prompted.
Lou raised her eyebrows and indicated with her chin to what she was referencing.
She watched Spencer look at the giant oak tree that was beside the Manor.
Although the Manor looked structurally intact, there were clear signs that the tower had faced an attack. But it was odd to see that the oak tree that was beside the Manor didn't get any damage, except for several branches being blown clean off.
Spencer figured it out quickly.
"You're climbing the tree?" Spencer's eyes almost rolled out of his head.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Lou said as she tied back her hair into a ponytail as best as she could. "Zion and I used to climb that tree all the time. I remember the path perfectly, Zion always had to follow me."
Lou's hands froze while wrapping her hair up.
The thought of Zion's smile made Lou's heart twang with pain.
Even through the agony, his memory made her happy.
Zee, whatever you're mixed up in, I hope it's for the right reasons.
She stopped wrapping her hair into a ponytail after several pieces refused to stay behind her head.
"Dammit," she whispered. "This haircut… I don't know how to style my damn hair. I feel like I'm a teenager again trying to figure out what to do with this damn mane."
"Why don't you use two?" Spencer asked.
Lou was confused. "I'm sorry?"
"Two hair ties," Spencer said, pointing to either side of his head, mimicking the placement of pigtails.
"I saw that your hair was styled differently that last time I saw you. I've never seen you with your hair up. I really liked it when you had the two hair ties in your hair."
"My pigtails?" Lou asked, joy blossoming throughout her chest.
"You like my pigtails?"
"That's what they're called? Now what you said to your father makes so much more sense." Spencer smiled in delight, happy to have learn something new about his Elena.
"Yes, I do. I love your pigtails. It reminds me of your personality. Not that it's any of my business to decide what you should do with your hair, but your pigtails as you so call them brought forth a brighter light from you."
"You don't think…"
Lou was almost ashamed to admit it, but Spencer wouldn't let it go.
"I don't think what?"
"You don't… think… people would look at my scar rather than my hair?"
The realization on Spencer's face made Lou aware that he had forgotten about the scar on her face. Oddly, his realization gave Lou satisfaction. Spencer didn't remember the scar on her face because he didn't see it as a handicap. He knew it was there, he knew the pain it brought Lou, and now he knew the severity of why the scar was such a large secret to keep. But it was a matter of understanding, not altering how he perceived her.
"Elena, if they are staring at your scar, then they are not looking at you. You are wonderful. Pigtails make you feel wonderful. What's stopping you?"
For Lou to see that Spencer didn't even consider the scar as a problem gave Lou a sense of security.
And a reminder she needed to tell herself more often.
With a large smile on her face, Lou managed to find a second hair tie deep within her backpack (which, to Lou, was clearly the Universe's way of making sure she got what she wanted, again). Her hair cooperated much better with the hair being separated into two. Giving a quick pose to her beloved, Lou tied her shoelaces as best as she could. She noticed Spencer was checking all her wounds, making sure that none of her stitches opened. His hand went to her back, softly tracing the bandages on her back.
"Spencer, I'll be okay." She comforted him, resting a hand on his cheek when he turned to her.
"I don't want you exhausting yourself," he warned. "Your body went through significant damage."
"The same as yours," she retorted. "You forget you were also in the explosion?"
"I'm not attempting to climb sixty feet up a tree."
"Sixty?" Lou questioned. The not-so fear of heights had slowly started making its presence.
"Are you… sure?"
"It's calculating sixty-seven feet in the air, but I'm underestimating."
"Under…" Lou stuttered, swallowing her nervousness. "That's… nice."
Spencer picked up on her unease.
"Elena, are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yes, yes I am. I just realized that even though I have climb the tree, I never knew how high up I was exactly, so… yeah, wow. Sixty-seven feet, give or take? See, when you're a child, you don't take into consideration the risk factor. But even as a child I could do this. Emily was helping me train to climb the side of the barn, and even she said I should take up parkour as a side hobby as a joke, but it does make sense. The tower is a little shorter than the tree, and I've jumped from the tree to the tower, and from the tower to the tree… Yeah, no, I got this."
Lou noticed she did a horrible job at convincing her fiancée otherwise.
"El, if you don't want to do this, we can find another way."
Lou exhaled harshly. She knew that she was nervous.
She also knew they didn't have a lot of time to spare.
"No. I can do this. I know I can."
Her confidence reassured Spencer only slightly, using Spencer's nod as the confirmation she needed.
"Alright." Lou said to herself, looking down at Dexter before giving him a pat.
"Stay with your father, young man." Lou pointed her index finger at the dog as she spoke.
The good boy himself sat down right beside Spencer.
Lou's smile was on her face every time Dexter was there. She gave another scratch to the back of his ear before looking at Spencer.
"Be careful," he told her, concern all over his face.
Lou smiled in delight with his words.
"I love you too," she said, reading between the lines.
Letting Spencer kiss her longer, she turned back to the Manor, and the large oak tree that was waiting to be climbed. The moment the coast was clear, Lou sprung to the tree as fast as she could. She remembered each branch, and Lou found that each branch was a lot closer than she remembered. Realizing she must have grown significantly since the last time she went up the tree, Lou found it easier to make her way up to the top.
However, her wounds had other plans.
Lou went to reach of a tree branch a bit higher than she anticipated. Right away, she felt a string tug on her shoulder, and warmth began to seep around the bandaged area.
I pulled a stitch out.
I'm bleeding.
Lou kept going, knowing that she wasn't in the best position to stop and check on her wounds. She got higher and higher, and Lou was constantly reminding herself to not look down, to not look down at all, to not look down for whatever reason, even if that reason was an extensive amount of literary works that was a once in a lifetime sight (One, two, three, One, two, three). She trapezed on, bouncing up and sideways with each branch in her path, pushing higher and higher.
It was muscle memory for Lou. She felt exhilarated as she found the old path she used to take, climbing up the tree further and further. She focused on the branches, still taking the time to look to where she was climbing.
Her right hand reached out on instinct to grab the branch overhead, remembering the path of the tree.
Lou realized too late the branch previously there was no longer.
The explosion destroyed the tree.
There are branches missing.
The path isn't here anymore.
Her foot slipped, not having the proper surface to land on. She dropped several feet, each branch flying by her as she began falling. Her left arm instinctively wrapped around a tree-branch that she whooshed right by. She felt her arm be yanked hard by the wood, but she locked herself as securely as possible around the did her best to hold her yelp in, but the noise escaped her lips before she could stop it.
"Elena!" Spencer hissed. She could tell her didn't want to raise his voice, but he must have seen what happened to her.
"I'm— Fine—" Lou bit out.
That definitely hurts worse than a wooden spoon.
"I… slipped," she whispered. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
She swung her other arm over the branch she was holding, wiggling her feet around the find a branch close to her to push off of. After being successful and getting back up to straddle the branch she grabbed, Lou reminded herself to pay attention to the branches more. Lou locked her ankles as best as she could, her knee protesting. Ignoring her pain, Lou took a moment to regather herself. Her memory of her old path between the branches could only help her so far, but half of the branches were gone. Lou looked up through the maze of the tree, taking a much-needed deep breath.
The sun was setting, causing the gray skies to grow darker, covering Lou in shade. Lou still had the outline of the tree, the broken branches stark against the sky. Grabbing the closest blown branch, Lou allowed her fingers to feel the splinter of the wood, the jagged lines following their own new pattern.
Lou could feel the blood drip down her back. She placed a thumb on her knee, and blood seeped through the fabric slowly. Lou knew all of her cuts were from the storage room, from not seeing which chair was out of the way, which table was broken, what sharp edge Lou to scrape herself with next. She knew that storage room, but she didn't know how Bennett ravaged it, especially being in the dark.
She recalled how often paths can change, both physical and metaphorical.
Lou couldn't rely on her memories.
They were valuable, yes, but they would only help her go so far.
There was no relying on the memory of the branches.
Or relying on the memory of her pain.
She had to create a new path.
Time to start teaching yourself something new.
With each move being triple calculated, Lou moved from branch to branch. Still with swiftness, Lou's movement was more certain, more calibrated to account for her weight and how it shifted. Approaching the broken part of the path without fear, the professor took a moment to look around. She knew she had to get to the other side of the tree trunk if there was any chance she was getting into the tower.
Moving around the trunk, she heard Spencer's voice.
"Ellie."
Sorry, sweetheart. You'll have to wait.
I'm a little preoccupied.
She ignored him, knowing if she deviated focus, she would slip. As she was on the side of the trunk that wasn't as damaged, Lou found a way to pull herself up. What she found, however, were a sleuth of branches, a lot closer than she thought they would be. Not using as much energy, Lou weaved her way up the branches until she was almost level with the window of the tower.
"Elena."
Ignoring him again, she maneuvered herself to the other side of the trunk, making herself much closer to the tree.
"Ellie!" Spencer said, this time louder than she would have liked.
"What?" Lou questioned; rather frustrated Spencer wouldn't let her focus.
"The door's open."
The look of sheer disappointment within herself erupted.
"I'm sorry?" Her confusion was hard to hide.
"Look, if you can."
Lou did her damn hardest to look, attempting to hang off one of the tree branches as she caught eye contact with Spencer. Watching as he stuck his fingers into the frame of the door, he wiggled the blown and bent metal around to have the door slowly pry open.
The huff of frustration coming from the tree made Spencer laugh a bit.
"Be careful if there are traps," Lou said down to him.
"Be careful getting into the tower," he said to her. Lou could hear Dexter trotting alongside him.
Fighting the feeling of rolling her eyes, Lou managed to get to the one single branch that was sturdy enough to hold her weight. It hung just over the stone window, and Lou could see the window frame being shattered: only bits of glass were now embedded into the frame. Carefully dodging her way into the room, Lou was mentally preparing to see the bits of ash and debris of her belongings scattered all over the floor. She wouldn't tell Spencer, but she was happy she had a few moments to herself. She was afraid of what she was going to find in the tower, and Lou didn't know what her reaction would be. She hoped there were still fragments of old toys, garbled plastic shriveled up in a corner… anything that held any semblance of her childhood.
When Lou entered the top floor… shocked wasn't the appropriate word to describe what she saw.
She knew the tower was indestructible. Her father raved about it constantly to her mother and Lou as it was being remodeled way back when. Charles promised his little daughter that when she got home after staying with Caroline, the tower would look the same: all her toys and trinkets and all the books her Grandmama gave her would all be there, but it would be much safer for her. She made her father triple pinky promise that he would never harm any of her treasured belongings. She did get home that day, and she did see her toys there, and Lou bloomed with delight when she saw her precious items all accounted for. Her father protected her precious items.
For Lou to look now, all along the walls of the tower, and see nothing appalled her.
There was absolutely no way the explosion was powerful enough to obliterate everything. There was evidence markers sketched outside of the tower doors, indicating debris that came from the Manor. There was evidence of forensic work being done onto the tower floor: she saw the fingerprint dust that laid on top of the staircase, the perfectly rectangular clean spot in the floor where there was an apparent footprint being taken… There were signs that people had investigated this spot, but even Lou could tell, by the undisturbed ash that laid almost everywhere…
If my belongings were up here, I would have found something by now.
It confused Lou.
Did Noah take her belongings?
Did he try to keep them safe?
Lou shook her head.
No.
He destroyed the Wizard of Oz book.
Noah would have destroyed anything if he had the chance.
Lou was reminded of how perfectly intact her Grandmama's red chair was.
It made her question.
Why would Noah want to show her this in the tower?
He destroyed the book so easily. He toyed with me. He tried to kill me.
There is no way Noah would show me mercy.
No way he would keep my items safe.
No way he would take that kind of care.
Only someone who cared about me would know how important those items were to me.
It was an ice-cold fear that rang through Lou.
It seemed as if the gray skies darkened faster than she anticipated.
Her whole body felt fear unlike anything she ever had before.
Noah was trying to show me he was working with someone.
Someone who I would know.
Someone I would figure out instantly…
Lou knew that if she had climbed up the stairs of the tower before the explosion, she would see the same thing she saw now.
Her personal possessions weren't where they were supposed to be, items that were personal to Lou.
They were taken from the tower.
Because someone knew how important the tower was to Lou.
And Noah tried exploiting that fact.
There's only one person who would go out of their way to protect me, to the extent of compromising themselves.
They would think exactly like me.
They would do exactly what I did.
They would do something highly irrational...
…For a rational reason.
Lou felt her Mind Manor shake uncontrollably.
The minions in her head were also frozen in terror, not knowing which way to go, or which way was up. It was as if she unlocked a block within her mind. With that, it unlocked a wave of emotion that wiped out all the minions working hard in her brain. Somehow, with that one thought, Lou felt a wave of knowledge hit her at once. It wasn't new information, rather it was Lou remembering information in a new light.
It was the Universe letting her know what she needed to know.
The signs were there.
The signs were always there.
Leading straight to him.
How could she not know it?
Everyone said that Lou was a copy of him.
Meaning she would have been the only one with the insight to figure out his plan.
Noah used his planes to get from place to place undetected; no one would look for Noah travelling in a private plane regarded for important international figures. Penelope wouldn't think to search for any international government planes under her search filters.
Noah was able to move through the secret tunnels with his blueprints: Lou knew that she was the one who knew the passageways the best, but she wasn't the only one who knew them well. If Noah was in the Manor long enough, he would have been shown how to use the tunnels, which is why he was able to get from place to place.
Noah had full access to the Manor with his permission: there was no way, in any type of Hell, that he didn't know what Noah was doing in the Manor, not when he boasted of how he had to power to know everything.
But it was now the same knowledge Lou had.
How he found Lou in the barn when she ran off to hunt Noah.
How he found Lou when she was working at the university, helping the team for the first time.
How he found Lou when she was having tea with her mother…
Each time, Lou didn't say where she was.
She was just found.
Because someone was always watching her.
Lou knew what Noah was trying to show her.
The exasperated gasp finally left Lou as she tried to handle her thoughts swirling in.
Her hands shook, her fingers incapable of tapping her repetitive pattern to soothe her ease.
Noah didn't have to tell her who Sir Bennett was working with.
Noah knew she would figure it out.
That's why he was looking at the window.
He wanted to see Lou's face when she found the truth.
That's how Noah got into the tower.
It wasn't Mother's key Noah used.
It wasn't my key, either.
The signs were there.
A wave of knowledge hit Lou again, and she had to brace herself against the wall.
When he shouted at her to not go back into the Manor to rescue Zion.
When he insisted that the bodyguards stay beside her, even after noticing she was suspicious.
When Caroline mentioned what he said after rescuing her.
'I put her in danger again.'
Lou couldn't bear the emotion pouring out of her as the tears rolled down her face.
Again…
He said the words 'again'.
That meant he knew exactly what Noah was doing.
Knew exactly what was planned.
Knew exactly who was involved.
And he didn't try to stop me.
She didn't understand why, but the Universe chose to have her recall the conversation she shared with him, when he was in Argentina, and Lou was terrified that Noah had done something horrible to him. It was during their conversation, when Lou was frightened that he was dead, when she let her plan slip, causing him to be informed of what she was doing.
"Do you have some devilish plan up your sleeve?"
There was more to that conversation that Lou should have taken into consideration.
She wasn't the only one who let their plan slip.
"Don't meddle into something that can have you killed!"
"Ellie?!"
Spencer's concerned form grabbed Lou as he came up the stairs, noticing the blood instantly.
Dexter whined in concern, coming straight to his mother.
"Are you in pain? Oh my God, you're bleeding. I shouldn't have let you go up the tree—"
"No, Spencer."
Lou let out an agonizing sob, putting her hands over her eyes as she walked away from Spencer.
He didn't let her leave, following her, holding her hands in his.
"What is it?" Spencer was frightened, not knowing how to comfort his Elena. "What just happened?"
"It's…"
Lou shook her head, in disbelief.
How can I say these words?
"It's my… father."
"What is your father?"
"My father," Lou's eyes brimmed with tears, gesturing to the empty tower.
"It's Charles who's working with Noah."
Even Spencer found absurd sounding.
"…Elena, your father?"
"I'm serious," she stated firmly.
"How did you come to this conclusion within the past three minutes?"
"Look! Look around you!" She erratically gestured to the room, her arms wide out in front of her. "When we captured Noah, when we were all sitting outside of the Manor, on the steps of the foyer, didn't I tell you I was coming up to the tower to grab my Grandmama's books?"
"You did," Spencer was concerned at Lou's hysterics.
"If they were up here, wouldn't there be a trace of them?"
The furrow in Spencer's eyebrows went flat, acknowledging the probable outcome that occurred.
He took a quick look around the area.
"All of your belongings were up here?" Spencer asked.
"All of them."
"Would your mother or someone else move—"
"No," Lou said with conviction. "Everyone knows no one is to touch anything in this tower, especially my father. Everything in here is mine. The only reason that my personal belongings weren't in the tower was because someone knew the significance of those items. There were only two other people, besides me, who can get into this tower. I can guarantee you my Mother's key is still with her, but my father's? I'm certain he gave it to Noah. Mine is back in Richmond, in my safe. I didn't bring it with me, because I know my father would always have his key on him."
"Would there be another way to unlock the door?"
"Dad showed me how the doors locked. He knew how anxious I was as a child, but he still showed me to appease my concern. There is no other way."
"El…" He still had his suspicions.
"Spencer, I'm certain of this… Noah was inside of the Manor, constructing his plan, and you mean to tell me my father had no idea of this? The same father who most likely manipulated his best friend slash Director of the FBI to insert himself into a local homicide case that his daughter was not only a consultant to, but also an assaulted victim?"
She could tell Spencer was remembering when they first met, when he was introduced to the Ambassador.
Spencer found it unnerving that a man of his stature could show up, protecting his daughter's well being. When he first met the Ambassador, he knew the man was powerful. However, it was still unexplained how Charles found his daughter in that police station when his daughter went out of her way to ensure she wouldn't be found.
Now, he understood the severity of the situation, and understood Lou's hysterics.
"You also don't think my father had his friend have Bennett's people infiltrate the Bureau?"
"It was your father who had the FBI infiltrated?"
"I told you how irate my father was when I started working for the Bureau, how he wanted me to not work for the FBI. He was so adamant, but he didn't interfere, not in the slightest. Not until my mother brought him down to the BAU, where I had the private conversation with my parents. I told my parents that Noah was wreaking such a riot, and my father was genuinely shocked that Noah was back in my life."
"That was the same day of our kiss in the bullpen. It was afterwards when we started getting trouble from the Bureau." She watched Spencer's eyes go back to hers.
"It's too coincidental for those two events to not connect."
"It wasn't Noah paying off people. It was my father getting Noah to have his people infiltrate, to find anything to document us crossing a line. Charles didn't want me working for the Bureau in the first place. He's always said my talents were suited elsewhere, and I could tell he wanted me to leave. Even back then, before my father approved of you, he despised you, and didn't want me anywhere near you. If I left the BAU on my terms, the door would always be open. If I was suspended, then any chance of working for the FBI in the future would no longer be there, or severely restricted."
"But your father…"
She could tell Spencer's speculation was something he was uncertain to state.
"My father?"
"I don't think you father asked Bennett to interfere with your job. Yes, your father definitely would have interfered. But I don't think he's intertwined with the investigation specifically. Your father approved of us," Spencer confirmed. "He was showing signs of honesty."
"Maybe something changed? Maybe my father had a plan, and something went wrong?"
Spencer couldn't trust Charles' motives, and only shrugged in confusion.
"Maybe. One thing's for certain: it makes more sense for Bennett to have you suspended. It would pull you away from the team, and it would also pull you off of government grounds. Something Bennett is trying to avoid."
"You don't believe my father had me suspended?"
"I think he may have initially, but then changed his mind."
Lou's hands went into her hair, her fingers tempted to pull at the roots, trying to remember all the factors her father was controlling.
The FBI. Noah. Her mother…
Clarity struck through Lou again.
"Zion."
Zion is working for Dad.
But he's being controlled by him.
"That's why he's lying," she whispered in relief.
He couldn't tell me what was going on.
He couldn't say anything.
Not without putting himself in danger.
Lou felt immediate guilt thinking about Zion.
"He was forced to lie to me. Zion would do anything for my father, and I think once I told my father that Zion was helping me, Zion was forced to be my father's spy, up until my father had his own eyes on me."
Lou realized a crucial point.
"That's why Zion was okay with Emily helping. Zion told Emily crucial points to my motives. He knew Emily needed motivation to stay and ultimately witness what my father was doing. He needed Emily there to keep me safe if my father had any ideas."
Lou laughed without humour, fitting more pieces. "It explains why Zion liked Dave: Dave showed that he was helping me, and Zion had evidence that Dave could be trusted. Zion was the one who mentioned that the team was on a plane to come rescue me, that meant he was monitoring your whereabouts. Zee was doing his best to keep an eye on everyone while following my father's orders."
Pacing slightly, Lou tried her hardest to not tap her fingers together.
She couldn't waste any energy.
She had to think.
"He needed Emily to leave clues to our location because Zion wasn't allowed to do so. He needed the team to find me, and he needed Emily to be the one to do so, to keep my father's suspicions off of him. That's why Zion was on Emily's side when Emily was trying to stop me from going to the Manor."
"Emily stopped you?" He asked.
"Tried to. She told my father about… the car accident with Noah. She thought it would trigger my father to keep me safe, but it did the complete opposite."
Lou's face dropped, realizing why her father was so adamant on killing Noah.
"My father wanted Noah dead, whether or not I had a say in it. Charles was absolutely mortified at the thought that Noah was still alive, that Zion hadn't killed him."
Lou's comment made Spencer pause, something she picked up on quickly.
"Your father said something interesting to me."
"Oh?"
"He said I was the one who 'kept him out of jail'."
Lou's confusion riddled through her.
"Out of jail?"
"For murder," Spencer finished. "Which confirms your theory that your father wanted Bennett dead."
Lou held her head, feeling as if it were to explode.
"You're right about my father changing his mind. Something must have happened between my father and Noah," Lou speculated. "Whatever my father got into, for whatever reason, something must have happened over the course of the past few months that caused my father to change, which caused Noah to snap and kidnap my mother. I didn't understand why Noah kept her alive, but if Noah had killed my mother—"
"Your father would have put himself into a further compromised position to ensure Bennett was stopped. In essence, going to jail for Bennett's murder."
"Noah knew this. Noah wasn't just toying with me. Noah was toying with my father. That's why he took my mother! Taking my mother was him saying to Charles: 'you may have all the resources, but I still hold dominance'. It would hurt both my father and I. Whatever was going on between the two of them, my mother knew about it, which is why she was so passive in her explaining the past events to me."
"She didn't say anything to you?"
"A few things about my hair, and a few comments about my father being there to bring me to the hotel. But… I think she was quiet on purpose, due to her not leading any suspicion. Especially when Uncle Kai senses blood in the water, any trail of a lie is found."
She looked at Spencer, who kept looking over her injuries. He kept speaking, helping her with her deductions.
"You believe your uncle isn't working with my father?"
"No. Remember, both Zion and Malachi were in the same room. They're only in the same room for a really good reason, and they both agree on that reason. If Zion is being forced to spy on me, he needed someone as powerful as his dad to help him. Plus, Malachi is a walking lie detector. He was the one who instilled the fear of the Spirit within me worse than my mother could."
"You think Zion told him?"
"I think Zion told his father to get his Goddamn ass out of the Middle East to see first-hand what his fellow Ambassador was doing, especially if my father put a gag on Zion. That makes more sense than any other theory we've come up with."
Lou felt her legs give out as she sat on the ground. Dexter found this to be the appropriate time to comfort his mother.
"That's why Mother was angry with Uncle Kai. My uncle wasn't trying to stop my mother; he was antagonizing her, putting her in a position where she was forced to show her hand, and Mother went on the defensive. That's why she's not the one prying for information. She knew that both men were the ones who were prying."
"Elena," Spencer's downright concerned voice came over her. "You're bleeding still."
"Not a lot," Lou comforted. "I'm good. Zion taught me a lot about cuts and scrapes and when to seek medical attention. He's an EMT, you know? He's wonderful to be around if you get hurt. I mean, he's wonderful to be around no matter what. He… has a way to make you forget that you're in pain. He's amazing at fixing things. Doesn't really think whether or not something should be fixed, Zion always does his best to make sure things are patched up as best as he can."
Spencer was going to stop her, but he knew that she was going off on a tangent. He allowed her to; she had to get out her emotions.
"Did you know he wanted to be a doctor?" Lou smiled through the tears. "He knew it was a dream, because his father was grooming him to be a secret agent, but Zion still did everything he could to be close to a doctor as possible. He thought they were the coolest people on the planet, still does. He told me that they were people who had real magic, who could cure the sick and help the weak. That's how Zee is. He always wants to help people… even the people who may not deserve it."
She sniffled, smiling as Dexter licked away her tears.
"That's what Zion knew. He knew that my father couldn't be trusted. But he still wanted to help because he cares." She looked as Spencer sat down beside her, crossing his legs as he faced her.
"He wanted to help, not thinking about the consequences," Spencer confirmed.
"There were so many webs being weaved, and Zion probably didn't know his way around the webs. But he knew they were there, and he was trying to avoid them. It's his job, for Christ's sake. Uncle Malachi was there because Zion asked him to be. Zion knew my father was doing something, he knew that my father was risking my life somehow, and he asked Malachi to come help. His father, the person Zee can barely stand to be in the same room."
"How much knowledge do you think Zion has?"
"Enough to know the danger of it. Zion had no idea what was happening, but he knew that whatever was happening, it was going to happen to me…"
Lou laughed to herself in disbelief. "That's why he came back to the Manor. That's why he knew to go to the tower. Whether or not my father told him to come, he was coming back no matter what. Spencer… He was lying, but he was lying to protect as many people as he could. Because he didn't know what the truth meant, or what the truth really is."
She sighed deeply, continuing. "He knew that he couldn't figure it out and did everything he could to give me the advantage to try. He knew I could do it. He also knew the consequences of the truth would have resulted in my death, and he didn't know who to trust with that information, so he kept…"
"Lying," Spencer finished for her. "He kept lying to tip you off. Because even though he lies, Zion always tells you the truth. He would know you'd figure out he was hiding something, and you'd go digging to uncover the truth, which is exactly what you're doing now."
Lou nodded; her face scrunched in pain.
"God, I feel absolutely guilty."
"Don't."
"I do. He's my best friend, and I didn't trust him. All he's been doing is working to make sure I was safe."
"You had a reason to: he was lying to you."
"Spence—"
"No, Elena. Listen to me. You were at odds with yourself, not able to put your trust into anyone. Zion was lying to you, but that was his plan. His initial lie brought forth you to question his actions. You were conflicted, because you knew who Zion was, and his actions weren't matching with his normal behaviour. It's rational to be skeptical, especially with someone as suspicious as Zion. You, of all people, should see the importance of lies for a good reason. And you did."
Lou was quiet then, processing what Spencer was telling her.
"Rossi would have figured out Zion wasn't causing harm, which is why Dave wasn't alarmed by him. You said Rossi was awake during that timeframe. Rossi would have spoken to Malachi, and as you said, they know each other. Rossi's got his profile by now and would have figured out Zion's intent. If anything, Rossi would have gotten the truth from Zion by now."
"You think Zion would lie to Dave?"
"You think Zion is capable of lying to Rossi?"
No chance, Lou thought to herself. I couldn't even lie to David.
Spencer took her silence as confirmation.
"It would explain why Rossi's behaviour was favoured towards the Tikvahs. Rossi would have seen how the two were behaving versus your mother's behaviour. He'd know instantly something was awry."
Walking away from Lou in that moment, she watched as Spencer looked along the walls, inspecting how the stone lay. He ran his hand over the stone, his features scrunching in confusion.
"The stones," Spencer muttered. "It's not the only thing reinforcing the tower. Should be rebar or something else embedded. The stones are sturdy, but for the blast to have not even caused the structure to be unsteady tells me your father truly prepared for the worst."
Lou sighed heavily, crossing her arms.
She was doing everything she could to not fall apart.
Dad…
What did you do?
"Did your father know about Judeau?"
She shook her head, not trusting her voice in that moment.
Spencer's spine straightened, and Lou looked to see he was scanning her entire body.
"Elena don't close yourself off. Please. Whatever is going through your brain, I want you to share with me."
The small smile was involuntary on her face.
What a wonderful man.
"Is it Zion? Do you still feel guilty?"
"No," her voice wasn't as strong as it was prior, but she was gaining her momentum again. "I'm thinking of my father's behaviour. He… was so adamant about me not working for the FBI. The switch of him accepting my new occupation was disconcerting at first, but he seemed to warm up to the idea. But now, with what I know about him…"
She continued on, pushing past her anger. "When I was up in the tower, my father knew where I was at all times. How sickening for Noah to try to kill me in the one place my father would know I'm the safest. Bennett made a huge emphasis on not working alone. He's indulging in his negative behaviours on purpose, to show the stark contrast between the two people operating whatever plan is set into motion."
Lou had a moment of clarity.
"That's why Noah's so erratic, and unkempt. He's trying to show that there are facts that don't match up to his behaviour, highlighting that there's more than one individual calling the shots, and he's drawing a dramatic arrow to point out the obvious."
She was expecting his reaction to be on par with hers, but when Lou considered how Spencer was acting, she was confused. Spencer seemed to be running calculations through his head, making as many deductions as he could with the information he was provided.
However, he looked as if his mind was elsewhere, deciphering a different code.
"What's on your mind?" Lou prompted.
Spencer clamped his lips together as his eyes squinted. Lou knew that to be one of his thinking faces.
"I need… clarity."
"On?"
He sighed deeply.
"I have… evidence, and I need to understand how this evidence fits into play."
Lou's eyebrow raised involuntarily, curious of Spencer's word choice.
"Please, ask away."
"Do you believe that the Universe can give you something if you ask it?"
That was a question Lou never though Spencer was ask.
He was entertaining the thought of the Universe having a driving force in this situation?
"When you ask the Universe for something, if you ask your question with your whole heart, without ill intentions, your answer comes to you in the exact way you need it to. Not necessarily in the way you intended, but in the way that will help you the most."
Her words meant more than she realized, as she watched Spencer settle into his spot in the tower.
"What is it?"
"Your scarf…"
"My scarf?"
"What Caroline said… The conversation with JJ and I?"
"The ominous comments Caroline made about Fate, I recall."
"We were discussing ways to find you. I shared my anxieties, telling JJ that I wish I could hold something in my hands that would lead me straight to you. The plane hit turbulence, and the scarf rolled out. That's when Caroline found it, and reminded me that Dexter was trained in scent detection. She helped us with having Dexter locate your position. She also mentioned the timing between my asking and us finding the scarf was apparently too short for it to not connect, and the correlation between the two would dictate Fate apparently likes me."
"How far long between asking the question to JJ and finding the scarf?"
"Less than five minutes."
"Oh."
That's record timing.
"Which is why I'm inclined to believe your theory of asking the Universe for questions and giving you answers. Do you honestly believe that the Universe is telling you something else?"
"Not just the Universe. This is what I believe. Spencer, my father may be cold sometimes, but I felt the love he gave me. Could he most likely be a sociopath that's putting on a façade? Absolutely. But I've seen the way he loves his family, Spencer. He would only dig himself deep into a hole if that meant his family wasn't in the hole with him."
The emotion on Spencer's face was wiped.
"You think your father got in too deep with working with Bennett?"
"I think so. I think my father tried to stop him from the inside. Noah had a plan to assassinate many important figures within the United Nations, this was his plan years ago. I figured it out, and after I tried to stop him the first time with the car accident, I think my father started doing some digging on his own."
Lou's hands ran over the stone. "He must have uncovered something recently, or Noah figured out that my father wasn't being truthful and came into my life to show me everything my father had done."
"That's a very possible theory."
"That's why Noah kept staring at the window," Lou walked straight to the open hole in the wall where the window was.
"He wanted me to look out after realizing what my father had done, to show that Noah actually learned to work with people. He wanted me to see the look on his face, and he wanted to see the look on mine."
"That's why he hummed the song to me," Spencer whispered softly, confirming.
"It's the ringtone I have when my father calls." Lou reminded herself.
"You set a specific ringtone for everyone who calls your phone," he commented.
Lou nodded in agreement. "Noah made such a big deal out of knowing your name is 'Tinman', showing he went through my phone; he must have figured out what I used as my father's ringtone, and he knew that you also knew what his ringtone was."
Spencer crossed his arms. "He wanted your father's actions to be exposed, but just to you, and to have me speculate until I had driven myself to be unstable."
"Noah wasn't expecting me to live and figure out his plan, which is why he hoped I never had the opportunity to share what I knew about him with you."
"Which is why he was so grateful for your secretive nature."
Well, clearly I learned how to keep my secrets from the best secret keeper…
Lou had a flash of knowledge surge through her.
"Wait…"
"What is it?" Spencer encouraged.
"The door at the base of the tower. Noah blocked it."
"Yes?" He was leading Lou to get to her point.
"Noah had Sydney put his knife into the doorframe to wedge it shut. Noah is heavy on symbolism, he unfortunately learned that from me, so he's quite well-versed. He wouldn't have let his knife leave his possession if it didn't have meaning."
"He had the silver blade blocking the door. Meaning the knife is the message, but if you were to be dead, who is the message for?"
"My father for sure."
"How?"
"My father installed the door as one of the first tasks of his renovations. He told my mother it was to entice me to play outside, but he would use it to either listen to my imaginary stories, or to smoke cigarettes, or from what I'm realizing, most likely to sneak out of the Manor. The tower was mine, but the door? It was his spot; Mother and I knew that."
Spencer recalled the conversation that was in front of the Manor after they captured Bennett. His voice was automatic when he repeated the exact words Lou said to her father.
"You can't just stand at the bottom of the tower anymore and listen to me play," Spencer whispered in agreement.
Lou nodded. "If we're right to assume my father was the one who told Noah about the secret passageways—"
"Then he would have told him about the door at the base of the tower," he added.
"Yes, and assuming we're following Bennett's plan, if I were dead, that meant Bennett left the message for the only person who used the door. I think Noah intended on double crossing my father and used his blade as a message."
"Maybe your father double-crossed him in Argentina? Which is why he took your mother?"
Lou didn't think of it in that light.
"Noah was in Argentina! Zion confirmed! Maybe my father double crossed him after I told him that Noah was starting to cause havoc again? It was after that specific conversation I had with my parents that everything started to happen."
Lou started listing events off on her fingers. "Judeau showing up, my suspension, Noah showing up on the hill… My father must have been pissed having the information I gave him and went straight to seek revenge on Noah."
"That does connect," Spencer agreed.
"Especially if the blade was intended to send a message to my father. I assumed Noah took my mother to draw me into the tower, but now I'm thinking my mother was kidnapped to draw my father into the home."
"Yet Noah was expecting you." Spencer cut in, continuing. "Noah made it clear he wanted you in the home. Noah knows your father won't get his hands dirty, not when Charles is trying to avoid jail time. From what you told me about the machine, it was intended to be used on you."
"Yes, but again, Noah wasn't expecting Zion. If Noah was, he would have planned for the door to be shut with something much sturdier than a knife. Plus, Noah didn't kill Zion. That meant Noah knew Zion was important, but too important to have dead."
Her own comments made Lou think.
If Noah had planned for her father to be at the door of the tower…
How long had he planned it for?
"Lou?"
"I told you my father would do anything to make sure he knew everything?"
"Yes…"
"What if that meant working with the enemy? What if…"
"What?"
"What if… my father and Noah were working together, for years? Not just recently, but what if they were working together before my father introduced us?"
The baffled look on Spencer's face almost gave Lou whiplash.
"Your father introduced you two?"
"Yes. At a party I didn't want to go to. My father insisted I meet Noah."
The look on Spencer's face indicated her thought process as well.
They didn't know how long Charles and Noah were working together.
But they both knew the Ambassador couldn't be trusted.
Not until proven otherwise.
"Noah and your father have ties to one another, long before you and Noah were together?"
"Yes, I have to assume so. Father works in counterterrorism: his job has him going across international borders. Before then, he was with the CIA. Noah was with MI6 before he was with Interpol. It's highly likely their paths crossed over."
"Is there anyone you know that would know more about their relationship?"
Lou shook her head. "Not anyone who would tell the entire truth."
"Malachi, perhaps? Would he tell you the truth if he was working with Zion?"
"Possibly. But he would keep secrets for his country. There would be information missing."
She watched as Spencer's head peered over the edge of the stone railing, looking down the tower as the stairs looped around the walls of the structure. Lou's own eyes trailed over his features, watching his deductions whiz by through his brain. She felt her heart twang with glee as she got to witness his brain at work again. The guilt of leaving him seeped through, and Lou did her best to shake away the lingering feeling.
"Do you…" Spencer asked, before he cut himself off.
"Do I what?"
She watched his next words were spoken with hesitance.
"I know you don't want to talk about the car accident."
Lou did her best to stop the gasp of air escaping her (she failed).
"And I'm not asking you to, if you don't want to," he continued. "But do you know if there is someone who was there before the car accident? Was there someone who you told all the information to that could help? Or someone after the accident who would have some insight?"
"Wha—and tell the truth?" Lou was confounded. "Spencer, there isn't a lot of people who would be completely honest about this whole situation, not with Noah running amuck. There are only a handful of people who know about what my plans were back then. You'd have to be under oath and have a good sense of morals to want to give up the truth—"
It was the Universe giving her another push in the right direction.
Just as she asked.
She knew exactly who would have more information.
"Doctor Schmaltz," Lou whispered in disbelief.
Spencer patiently waited for Lou to fill the gaps.
"It's the doctor who assisted Henry when I brought him to the hospital, after the sledding accident."
"She'd know more information?" He questioned, concerned.
"She was the same doctor that took care of me after my car accident, on my father's orders."
The small piece of information left Spencer uneasy.
"Don't you believe she's also working for your father?"
"Aviva was recommended based off of Malachi's suggestion. She was at the centre of the secrets, keeping oddly quiet about the events leading up to the accident. I told her everything, Spencer. I asked her why she never told anyone, especially my father, what I had done and why I was in the hospital, and she told me the most important job she had was making sure I was better. Anything else in between didn't matter."
"Translating to she knew what was happening, but she wasn't going to tell anyone," Spencer completed.
"She had taken an oath of her own. She kept my secret safe. It might have saved my life in the process."
She felt a push of fur in her palm, and Lou saw her wonderful dog try and soothe his parent with as much affection as he could. With a soft smile, Lou scratched Dexter's ears, watching as her dog enjoyed the attention he was getting.
"Elena."
Spencer pulled her focus back to him.
"We can't stay here." He went to touch her cut on her back. Lou winced when he did.
"And you're still bleeding. We need to leave, but not until you have all the information you need."
"I do," Lou nodded. "But we're still missing information."
Petting Dexter, she made her way towards the stairs.
"And we need to talk to Aviva. Soon."
"Ellie, we're in no position to be getting onto a plane right now," Spencer was referencing their current missing status.
"I wasn't mentioning getting on a plane," Lou said, walking down the steps slowly. "I said we need to talk to Aviva. We can find a secure line."
"Do you believe she has information?"
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look. She's an observant woman, and she likes me."
"How can you contact her without compromising your location?" He threw out as he followed Lou down the stairs.
"Well, I'm not contacting her directly."
She could tell Spencer was frustrated with her elusiveness.
"Elena, do you have another secret you're not sharing?"
Lou tried her best not to smile.
"I'm sharing it now, sweetheart."
She felt his warm huff of air past by her shoulders.
"Let me guess, you have a secure line to Zion where you can get a hold of him, and he can get a hold of this doctor, yes?"
This time, Lou didn't hide her smile.
"Why do you expect that I go to Zion for everything?" She challenged, taking the steps one at a time.
She was watching the tower door inside the home in case any intruders decided to stop by.
Lou heard him stop walking.
"We're not getting help from Zion? Why?"
Turning to face him, she prepared herself for what was about to come next.
"Zion wasn't the only one who helped with the car accident."
Review?
xoxo N.
Next Time: "Broken knee-cap, you said?"