Chapter 147
AN: I really hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think.
Eleven days have passed since Noah called Emily Mom, and Penelope Mama for the first time. Since Then he has continued to do so, as has Connor, and any time they do so Penelope and Emily both feel disbelief and overwhelming joy. Unlike their brothers neither Kenzie or Maddie have called Penelope or Emily mom, a decision which they both understand.
Thanks to parent teacher interviews at the girls school, Penelope and Emily have learnt that both girls are adjusting well considering their circumstances and that Kenzie is really good at math's and with computers; but she doesn't answer questions unless specifically called upon, even when she clearly knows the answer.
It is extremely early on a Friday morning and Emily as been at work with Reid. Because Penelope is worried about her wife, and what happened, she is sitting on the main couch when Emily walks in, having come in from the garage.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Penelope asks hurrying over to her wife.
"I'm okay," Emily says as she hugs her wife.
"Is Reid?" Penelope asks concerned as they break apart.
"Yeah," Emily confirms. "How are the kids?" Emily asks concerned.
"They're fine," Penelope assures her. "Apart from Casey no one woke up, so they didn't realize you were gone," Penelope explains.
"Good, that's good," Emily says, sounding relieved.
"Do we need to head in?" Penelope asks, knowing that they will have to wake up the kids if they do.
"No. there isn't much we can do to morning," Emily admits, knowing that it is likely going to be a very long day.
"Then let's get a couple of hours sleep," Penelope says, taking her wife's hand and the two of them head upstairs.
A couple of hours later, after less sleep than Emily and Penelope would like, the two of them got the kids up and are in the kitchen having breakfast.
"Girls, I've got to get going soon so you can either get to school a little early, or go with Penelope," Emily explains, knowing it won't matter as it will be within the time where you're allowed to drop students off at school.
"I'll come with you, Emily," Kenzie says.
"Me too, Mom," Maddie says, calling Emily Mom for the first time.
"Then we got to leave in ten minutes," Emily explains, not being able to help but smile at what Maddie called her.
"What about me, Mommy?" Noah asks.
"You're going to go with Mama," Emily tells him. "So are Casey and Connor," Emily explains, looking at Connor as she speaks.
"Mama, have you seen my sketch book?" Maddie asks, calling Penelope Mama for the first time. "I thought it was in my room, but I couldn't find it," Maddie explains.
"It's over there, you left it down here last night," Penelope says, gesturing to where it is, and like Emily she can't help but smile.
"Ohh, thanks," Maddie says relieved.
"Are you going to pick us up tonight or will we go to after school care?" Kenzie asks curious.
"At this stage after school care, but that could change," Emily explains.
"Okay," Kenzie says. "I'll finished breakfast, so I'll go get ready," Kenzie says. "It was really good, Penelope," Kenzie says before heading upstairs.
A little while after Maddie called Penelope and Emily mom for the first time they are at the BAU, in the roundtable room with the entire team. While Penelope is sitting at the table on her laptop everyone else is standing around.
"Who remembers this agent?" Emily asks, as Penelope puts an image on the screen.
"I do not," Matt comments.
"That's agent Owen Quinn. He worked here until he quit a year ago," Penelope explains.
"He worked violent crimes apprehension program on the fifth floor, but he aspired to be a profiler," Tara explains.
"So, why'd he quit?" Matt asks curious.
"He was convinced there was an unsub we missed working up and down the northeast corridor. He named him, 'The Strangler,'" Luke explains.
"Naming the unsub. That's exactly what we don't do," Matt says.
"That wasn't his only mistake," Rossi says.
"Yeah, we reviewed his report. He started with a single victim… a woman in Maryland who'd been strangled and had the hyoid bone at the front of her throat removed, but she was his only confirmed victim," Tara explains.
"Oh, one murder doesn't make you a serial killer," Matt says.
"Yeah, we told him that," Tara reveals. "So, he started forcing missing persons into his victimology to fit his profile," Tara explains. "In the end, five of his seven victims showed up alive and unharmed, two were inconclusive," Tara explains.
"First sin of profiling. Trying to fit the evidence to match a theory," Rossi says.
"Quinn took the criticism personally and quit, and he'd pursue the investigation on his own," Luke explains.
"That's a little impulsive," Luke notes. "So, how did we find him in the storage unit?" Matt asks curious.
"I got an e-mail," Reid reveals.
"Got an email?" JJ asks surprised. "You hate email," JJ say, knowing that all too well, as it is something that she and Penelope give him a hard time about.
"I do," Reid confirms. "I was even more surprised when I saw that it was an anonymous sender," Reid explains. "Garcia, can you put the message on the board," Reid requests, and Penelope does just that.
"That's Quinn's FBI ID badge," Luke realizes. "That's a big piece of bait. I mean the unsub knows we have to take it," Luke realizes.
"Someone left us breadcrumbs to a former federal agent, who sure as hell looked dead," Matt comments. "So did the unsub think he was dead when he left him there for us, or was he leaving us some kind of witness?" Matt asks.
"Or to put it another way, is this guy trying to help or taunt us?" Rossi asks.
"Right now, Quinn has all the answers," Emily says. "Reid will interview him, Luke, Tara, go to the storage unit, see what you can uncover. Matt, JJ, I need you to reach out to his wife and son," Emily instructs.
A little while later the team have talked to Quinn, and his family, and there are a lot of things that do not add up. As Reid has realized something about the son of the Unsubs who heled Quinn Reid, with Emily right behind him, is running into the roundtable room where Penelope is sitting at the table.
"Theo was in my class at Marbury university," Reid explains. "That's how he got my e-mail. I included it in my syllabus," Reid explains as Emily walks over to her wife and stands behind her.
"Okay, there are nine Theo and Theodores enrolled at Marbury," Penelope explains. "None of them are enrolled in your class," Penelope explains.
"Too much of a paper trail. He was most likely just auditing," Reid explains, and as he does, he thinks back on one of the classes he taught as he stares at the pictures. "Him," Reid says, pointing to the student.
"Theo Holston," Penelope says. "On it," Penelope says as she starts to type to find the answers they need.
"Okay, guys, let's talk this through. We need to make this make sense," Emily says, as there are a lot of things that do not make sense.
"Well, one theory is that Quinn has been the killer all along," Reid says. "Theo somehow trapped him, left him in the storage unit for me to find, and Quinn's post-traumatic decompression act is just like that… It's an act," Reid theorizes. "His behavior doesn't match someone who's been traumatized for a year," Reid explains.
"Or Quinn's telling the truth. Theo put him in there to frame him, probably under his parents' orders," Emily suggests.
"Okay, Theo Holston's parents are Jerry and Donna Holston," Penelope explains. "Jerry is an insurance salesmen, just got 'employee of the month' Donna's a housewife, no criminal record," Penelope explains.
"Not exactly the psychopathic team that Quinn painted," Reid realizes, and Emily sighs.
"Alexandria's a short drive," Emily says. "Reid, I want you to stand down. Alvez and Simmons will lead on this," Emily instructs.
A little while later while Emily is talking to Meadows, a woman from the VICAP team, JJ is arriving back in the bullpen. As she looks towards the roundtable room she sees Reid standing in the room alone and so she heads straight up there.
"Well, Rossi's one of his 'doesn't add up' tears," JJ says, as she walks into the room.
"Uh-oh," Reid says, knowing that that likely won't end well.
"Yeah, I'm guessing he's not the only one," JJ says, clearly concerned about her friend.
"Can't see it. In this case. I mean, is he a suspect, or is he a victim?" Reid asks. "The worst part is, I can't see why I can't see it," Reid admits.
"I don't remember Quinn quitting," JJ admits. "One day he was here, the next he wasn't," JJ says. "So, I went back to see when that was, and I found out it was two weeks after you were arrested for murder," JJ says. "You knew that, didn't you?" JJ asks, as that's what she assumes.
"It's not connected," Reid comments.
"But your rational brain is telling you that, and that part's right," JJ says. "I also know there is a part of you that you don't show anyone. And that part of you is trying to figure out why did Spencer Reid get out of his prison, you know, when Quinn didn't," JJ says. "The answer is family... this family," JJ says. "We fought to get you out of there, the same way we fought to save Prentiss from Mr Scratch. We fought to save this team from getting shut down. we fought for Penelope and Emily so they could become moms. And now, family will help us figure out what we're missing," JJ says.
"How?" Reid asks.
"Quinn's family is downstairs. How he responds to them could really tell us who he is," JJ suggests.
Not long after Reid and JJ talked the entire team are back in the roundtable room as bringing Quinn's wife, and son Shane, to see him gave them more insight. Once again while Penelope is sitting at the table everyone else is standing.
"Okay, we all want a profile that explains everything, wraps everything up neatly, but we don't have that here," Emily says. "So, instead, I'd like to hear everyone's best theory and we're gonna rebuild this case from the ground up," Emily says.
"Well, Quinn as The Strangler still gets my vote," Matt admits. "I mean, start with how he treated his wife. It's textbook precursor behavior," Matt says.
"Okay, then when he worked here, he did his best to throw us off," Tara theorizes. "And when he felt confident he could get away with it, he quit to kill with impunity," Tara says.
"Until Theo caught him for us," Luke says.
"That's where I tap out," Rossi admits. "A nineteen-year-old kid gets the drop on an experienced FBI agent? The agent's also a serial killer who just killed the kids parents? No," Rossi says, not believing that.
"So what's your theory Rossi?" Emily asks curious.
"I don't have one," Rossi admits.
"Let's consider this. Quinn just called his own son, 'Theo', Classic examples of parapraxis," Reid says.
"A Freudian slip," Tara realizes.
"Literally defined as an unconscious wish or subdued desire," Reid says. "So, why, in the middle of an emotional reconnection with his own flesh and blood would he call out someone else's name?" Reid asks.
"He built a bond with Theo," JJ says. "That may be born from Stockholm syndrome?" JJ suggests.
"Can you all follow me, please," Emily says, and she leads everyone down to the bullpen where they talk about Quinn with the VICAP team who all value Quinn and are sure he's not a killer.
A little while later the team, except for Reid, are in the roundtable room. Thanks to Reid, who is with Quinn and Theo, on their way back to Quantico, they have realized that Theo's parents weren't just serial killers but apart of a cult of serial killers.
"The believers were a small group obsessed with the end times, similar to Heaven's gate," Tara explains.
"Violent?" Rossi asks.
"Just the opposite," Tara answers. "They prepared themselves by fasting, mediation, giving away their earthly possessions," Tara explains.
"That doesn't make sense," Luke comments. "The Holstons joining up with a group that are basically a bunch of pacifists," Luke comments.
"Maybe they stopped being pacifists after their prediction about the end of the worl didn't come true," Matt comments. "I mean, that's when a cult would tend to destabilize, and it's easier for a violent or charismatic personality to take over," Matt explains.
"The Messiah needs to be our focus," Emily says. "What do we know about him?" JJ asks.
"He has no criminal or online record," Penelope says. "I'm searching for locations tied to him now," Penelope explains.
"If he killed seven people, he's probably keeping a low profile," Luke admits.
"Yeah, but he's still attracting followers somehow, most likely mean who get turned on by watching him kill in front of an audience," Matt comments.
"So, it's not a cult. It's a cult of potential serial killers," Emily realizes.
"Exactly the kind of crowd Theo's parents would want to hang out with," Rossi realizes.
"Pen, can you point us in a direction where Marva would be now?" Emily asks, knowing if anyone can it's her wife.
"Yeah. He brought a warehouse on the edge of the district," Penelope reveals. "Not the kind of place I'd go to church, but ideal if human sacrifice is your thing," Penelope says, looking at her wife.
"if we can arrest the cult leader, we can stop the cult. Let's go," Emily instructs, and everyone but Penelope head out of the roundtable room.
A little while later Maeve has been arrested and the entire team are in the bullpen, while Emily and Rossi are standing on the catwalk near the roundtable room.
"May I have everyone's attention?" Emily asks, and everyone looks at her. "Metro PD and the Bureau have been made aware of The Believers and possible activity following their leader's arrest, but taking Theo at his word…" Emily starts to explain.
"Well, we arrested three. There's probably more out there, but if they follow cult dynamics, they'll break down without the Messiah," Matt says.
"Typical cult. You think it's a cast of thousands, when really it's just four wackos sitting around in the dark," Tara comments.
"I think we deserve some decompression time, and Rossi is kind enough to host," Emily says.
"And I have some top-shelf whine picked just for the occasion," Rossi says.
"Yes!" Penelope says excited. "Okay, I have to do a systems check. Please do not have too much fun without me. I will meet you all there," Penelope says, before heading to her office.
A couple of minutes after Penelope headed to her office she at her computer working when Emily walks in.
"How long will your systems check take?" Emily asks her wife.
"At least ninety minutes, maybe longer," Penelope answers.
"I can stay," Emily offers as she leans against Penelope's desk.
"No, it's okay," Penelope assures her wife. "I love you, have fun, I'll see you and the kids soon," Penelope says, knowing that due to the requirements they have to follow for foster caring Emily will have to pick up the kids on her way; they'll have to come to Rossi's.
"Okay," Emily says, leaning down and kissing her wife. "I'll get a lift with your Dad," Emily says, once they break apart. "I love you," Emily says.
"Love you too," Penelope responds as Emily heads out of the office.
A little while after she walked out of her wife's office Emily, the team except for Penelope and Reid, who is with Quinn's son, Will, Kristy and all the kids are at Rossi's house. While the older kids are playing with Will, and Kristy on the lawn, Tara, Luke, and Matt are sitting together and Emily, who is holding Casey, Rossi and JJ are standing together.
"Okay," Luke says, with a laugh.
"It's true!" Tara exclaims.
"There are actual sexual positions that produce ugly babies?" Luke asks surprised.
"Yes. It's been proven," Tara explains.
"Well, by who?" Luke asks.
"Your mom," Tara teases.
"Oh ho! All right. You want a war? I will bring it," Luke says.
"It's on. Come at me, bro," Tara says.
"Where's Stephen tonight?" Luke asks curious, as he assumed Stephen would be with them, and both Tara and Matt exchange looks. "What's going on?"
"Since they went to San Francisco Penelope and Stephen have stopped talking," Matt explains.
"He refused to come," Tara explains, as she did ask.
A little way away from where Tara, Matt, and Stephen are Emily, who is holding Casey, JJ, and Rossi are standing together, talking the case.
"Emily, please. Let it go," Rossi says.
"I know. Maybe it's the curse of being team leader, but something is bugging me about this," Emily admits.
"Well, I'll tell you what bugs me. We found a cult leader but no cult," JJ comments.
"That's not it. I mean, that's it, but that's not it," Emily comments.
"Well, what is it, then?" Rossi asks his daughter in law.
"in the warehouse where we arrested the Messiah, there were these Petri dishes on the floor filled with Hydrochloric acid," Emily comments.
"Perfect for burning off fingerprints. I mean, that's what the drug lord El Chapo did in Mexico," JJ comments.
"And based on the two dead guys in the subway, maybe that was their intention. You want to join, you burn off your fingerprints," Emily explains.
"Where you going with this?" Rossi asks, having a bad feeling.
"It's just one nagging question. Why did they burn of Quinn's fingerprints?" Emily asks.
"Well, they tortured him," Rossi says, starting to realize where Emily is going with this.
"With their initiation, right?" Emily asks disbelieving. "I mean, maybe, but…" Emily says, sounding uncertain.
"Or maybe we somehow misread Quinn all this time. Maybe there was cult programming Theo didn't know about," JJ says, a feeling of dread rising up inside of her. "What if they did covert him?" JJ asks.
"And we left him in the building where The Messiah is being held in custody," Rossi says, sounding horrified.
"All right, I'll call Spence and Penelope," JJ says.
"Guys, we need to get back to Quantico right now!" Emily exclaims, loudly, as she hurries over to where Will, Kristy and the kids are, Rossi right behind her. "Will, Kristy…" Emily starts to say, in a rush tone.
"We get it, go," Kristy says, as she takes Casey from Emily.
"I've got the kids, don't worry," Will assures Emily.
"Thank you," Emily says, feeling incredible grateful.
"Feel free to stay here, there are plenty of rooms," Rossi says, speaking to both Kristy and Will.
"Mom? Is something wrong?" Maddie asks.
"We need to get back to work," Emily explains. "But Will is going to stay with you guys why we do," Emily explains. "I love you all," Emily says, giving each of her kids a hug.
"Emily, we've got to go," Rossi says, knowing that every second counts.
"I know," Emily says. "Thank you," Emily says, looking at Will and Kristy, before she and Rossi hurry off.
"Dad? Has something bad happened?" Henry asks.
"I don't know, Bud," Will answers as he, Kristy, and the kids watch the members of the BAU hurry off.
At the BAU Meadows, Owen and Penelope are all heading towards the elevator, both Meadows and Owens are a lot closer than Penelope.
"Right this way, Owen. Your son is waiting for you downstairs," Meadows says.
"Oh, wait!" Penelope calls as she hurries towards the elevator, and one of her phones start ringing. "This phone, this phone, this phone," Penelope says, trying to figure out which of her phones is ringing and she finally realizes the right one as she enters the elevator. "JJ? I am on my way," Penelope says, but the call cuts off. "Argh! Lost her. So I will text, JJ I am on my way," Penelope says.
"I knew you didn't do it. I just knew," Meadows says to Quinn. "And I can't tell you what a privilege it's been working with the A-team on this case," Meadows says to Penelope.
"A-team? Ohh.. a team," Penelope says, feeling very proud as her phone goes off with a message.
"And Owen, if we time this right, you might actually get out of here before midnight," Meadows says, as it's still a little while until then, as Penelope reads her message and feels horrified.
"Draw your gun," Penelope says to Meadows.
"What?" Meadows asks confused.
"Draw your gun!" Penelope exclaims.
In another part of the BAU Reid is with Quinn's son and Theo in a conference room when his phone rings.
"Hey JJ, what's up?" Reid asks, and as he does he hears a gunshot.
"What was that?" Shane asks confused.
"Stay here," Reid says, running out of the room, drawing his gun as he goes.
Having ran as fast as he could Reid, who has his gun drawn, has ran down to the garage, where the elevator lets out.
"Put your hands up, Quinn!" Reid says, and he finds Quinn bleeding out in the elevator. "What happened?"
"it's here," Quinn says as he walks toward Reid who bleeding out.
"What?" Reid asks confused.
"She's one of them," Quinn says, and Reid turns to see Meadows who is pointing her gun at him.
"Drop your gun, Agent Reid," Meadows says.
"It's been you the whole time," Reid realizes.
"Yes, it was," Meadows confirms. "Quinn somehow figured it out first. Pity having to shoot him, but he can't give me what you want, and you can," Meadows says.
"What's that?" Reid asks, as he and Meadows continue to point their guns at each other.
"You and I are gonna go upstirs and free my Messiah," Meadows reveals.
"You're in the heart of the FBI," Reid says. "As soon as the rest of my team figures out it's you, you'll be dead before you're out of the door," Reid tells Meadows.
"Then we need to work quickly," Meadows says.
"I'm not cooperating with you," Reid says, sounding determined. "Might as well shoot me," Reid says.
"I have a better idea," Meadows says and there is the sound of tires squealing and a car comes into view. In the back of the car Penelope is being heled with a gun pointed at her. "Now, what's it gonna be? Because you can either join us, or she dies," Meadows says, and Reid knows she is serious.
"Spencer, just shot her!" Penelope exclaims. "Shoot her!" Penelope exclaims, but Reid know she cannot do that. He is not going to put Penelope's life at risk.