The latest case was sending them to Denver and after the initial briefing, the team had quickly climbed aboard the plane, leaving their technical analyst back at home.
"Baby girl, what have we got?"
"You were right, hot stuff, and it's not pretty. I found another fifteen - at least - which are similar enough we can probably link them to the three disappearances the Police told us about. Another eight are possible victims I'm still trying to figure out if they didn't just run away to another city or even return home."
Morgan winced. Sometimes he hated being right.
Rossi clapped him on the shoulder in silent support and Morgan righted himself, knowing he could work through the guilt at a later date.
"What can you tell us about the victims, Garcia?" Prentiss jumped in, giving Morgan a concerned once-over. Derek shook his head at her and she gave a barely-there nod, focusing back on the screen.
"The eighteen confirmed victims are all homeless, between the ages of twelve to twenty, brown-haired. Height varied, eye colour varied. Some of them were white, others latino. Both male and female victims were taken. Backgrounds vary – physically abusive families, sexually abusive, foster homes, real homes. Some were reported missing only by their families, about half of them were reported missing to the Police station that called us in by a member of the homeless community. The last three were reported by the new librarian – still trying to get a name on this end but I don't think the library has changed their website since the turn of the century and the Police officer taking the report couldn't be bothered. And, well… the signature is a little bit illegible. Like a Doctor's handwriting."
"Garcia, any idea why the Police didn't contact us until now? This is a lot of missing people to go unnoticed and unlinked to these three," Reid pointed out, brows furrowed.
The blonde technical analyst grimaced, the motion visible even on screen.
"Yeah, from what I can gather, Detective Douchebag doesn't care for the homeless. It's the Head of the Police Department, actually, who sent an email to the Detective requisitioning the files and investigation and then forwarded it onto us. Not very tech-savvy, that one. Forwarded the entire email trail with it. If you have a look at your information packet, Cherie, you'll see the investigation basically amounted to, well, doing nothing. The Detective said it was low-priority but luckily, my fellow crime-fighters, Captain Harris wasn't so easily dissuaded and called us in. Not sure they would have put enough effort in to link the other victims."
The team exchange glances and Rossi heaves a sigh; they're all-too used to this. The dismissal of the fringes of society – the mentally ill, the poor, the homeless, the prostitutes. Crimes against them, in the minds of too-many police officers, amount to doing the larger community a service.
This case is not going to go easy, especially once the department becomes aware of how many victims they disregarded; there will be blame-shifting and reluctance to engage with the BAU because it will mean they didn't do their job right in the first place and no one wants to deal with the repercussions of that.
"Any bodies so far?" Rossi asked, flipping through the file.
"There's an unidentified Jane Doe from a year ago who had similar hair and age-range, but you will have to find out more on-site. From what I can tell from here, the woman was tortured by electrocution over several weeks until their heart gave out but were otherwise well-fed and hydrated."
"What we do have, however," JJ jumps in, "is the abductions. No one saw anything which is suspect because these people were living in the middle of others. The community tends to be more protective of the younger victims and the last one taken had a baby who was left behind. Yet no one heard or saw anything."
Morgan looks up at that, surprised. "Organised, then, and methodical. He must have observed for a long time and picked a time when he knew they were alone."
"And he blends in," Prentiss adds, "otherwise someone would have noticed him watching in the area and the victims are naturally cautious and suspicious given the environments they're from, he would have never gotten close enough to take them without fuss if he didn't blend in with them."
"But," Reid jumps in, "he must be financially well enough off to both own a car and buy enough food for at least two people. The last victim would have likely not left without the baby willingly, not even for a short time, so he must be able to come close enough, as Prentiss said, to attack them before they can retaliate, but also strong enough to carry them away. It can't be long-distance – too many chances of being noticed. Therefore, the unsub must own a car he can transport his victims in, especially as the last ones disappeared during the day. Even living close-by, he would have likely been noticed unless he used a car. His house is likely connected to the garage rather than having it separate, so he can move victims during daytime. And if the Jane Doe was connected, he was able to keep her well-fed for weeks."
"Baby girl, that Jane Doe they found – any evidence of sexual contact?"
Garcia pulled the M.E. report up on the shared screen.
"They couldn't tell, the body was in too advanced a stage of decomposition. It was found by a dog in Lowry Park and the ME said it had been in the water for several months by then already."
"Alright, Reid, you and I will go to the Police station. We need you to work on a geographical profile and I will try and get the Police to scour the water for more bodies and find out more about the lack of investigation. Prentiss and Rossi will take the crime scene where the body was found. Morgan, you and JJ interview the librarian who reported the last three missing persons. We need to work fast if we want to save the baby's mother. Given how young her baby is, she may not be as healthy or last as long as the previous victims."
Hotch glanced at his team but everyone seemed content with their assignment. He checked his watch – thirty minutes to landing. Plenty of time to get a bit more familiar with the case and, more specifically for him, the investigative work of, as Garcia so aptly put it, Detective Douchebag. His lips twitched into a small smile at the nickname she'd assigned; their technical analyst really did brighten their otherwise rather abysmally dark days.
"Why does this always happen to me?" Harriet whined loudly, clutching her head, dizzy still.
Moody had tried to ingrain into her a habit of remaining quiet after capture, of listening to the sounds around her, trying to figure out if she was alone. It made sense and was sensible. Unfortunately for herself and others, Harriet, having grown up under the strict hand of the Dursleys and their intense need for being normal and sensible, tended to buck against anything and everything deemed 'sensible' whenever she could.
Besides, Harriet always figured she had the much better view of things, being kidnapped as often as she was, and as far as she was concerned: if she had to suffer, the very least she could do was make sure her captors suffered with her. So, no, she had no intention of shutting up.
But, Harriet reflected, gasping through the pain as electricity surged through her body and she sank back onto the floor, maybe Moody did have a point.
Just occasionally. No need to let him know that, though. He'd just be insufferably smug if she told him that. Not that she could anymore, anyway.
"Shut up, wench," the man she'd paid to paint portraits of her missing friends told her, jabbing her again with the electric stick. No wonder his portraits had been so spot on – she really ought to have been far more suspicious.
Fuck, Harriet cursed once the electricity disappeared. This was like trying to gather your mental faculties whilst held under the cruciatus. Not quite impossible but pretty damn close. Before she could gather her wits enough to use magic, he jabbed her again and this time she fell unconscious under the onslaught, when her head hit the floor – hard – as she jolted from the shock.
"Thank you for inviting us," Hotch says, shaking the hand of Captain Harris, staying polite and stoic, before taking the time to introduce himself and his team.
"Thanks for coming so quickly. I'm Captain Harris. I talked to your media liaison and we set up this area here for you," the grey-haired man led them to a large conference room with white boards all set up. "Just let me know if you need anything."
Hotch nods but stops him before he can leave.
"If we could have the address of the librarian, Agents Jareau and Morgan will be going to interview her and if Detective Brooks, who was assigned to the Jane Doe from eleven months ago, could please take Agents Rossi and Prentiss to the crime scene and the M.E.'s office. We will also need all reports of missing people over the last five years brought to us," Hotch requests and Captain Harris, in the middle of waving over two of the Police Officers, hesitates.
"Hold on, are you saying you think there's more people who've gone missing?" The captain's brow is furrowed, brown eyes dark and body language tense – upset; hopefully, Hotch thinks, at the idea that his precinct didn't investigate or notice all the missing people rather than at them for looking into it.
"We have found fifteen probable victims in addition to the three you initially reported to us. These are all from the past three years. We would like to ascertain if there are more victims out there we have yet to identify."
"Eighteen," the Captain whispers under his breath, ashen. At least it looks like it's not a precinct-wide corruption. Before Hotch can intervene, the man gathers himself, shoulders back, straightens and barks out orders.
His team disperses with their assigned officers until only Reid and himself are left behind. Two plainclothes are sent to the archives to gather files and the Captain's secretary is deputised to gathering all electronic files on the investigation and forwarding them to the BAU.
"There is a possibility we may find further bodies in the water the Jane Doe was found in. Two of my agents are currently investigating that possibility, and if they think it's probable that she fits into the victim pattern we have found so far, and that the lake was the likely dumpsite, we may need to ask you to scour the lake."
To his credit, the man doesn't hesitate at the immense manpower and equipment needed should the search efforts be needed.
"Anything you need," the Captain emphasises. "I'm sorry we didn't connect these earlier," he adds after a small pause.
Hotch nods – it's not acceptable, but at least they are working on remedying the problem.
"We will let you know."
The Captain nods and leaves them to it; he leaves Reid to the geographical profile while he starts setting up the crime board.
"She's just a busybody," the aptly-named Detective Douchebag – or Johnson, according to his nametag, tells Morgan and JJ. Both exchange a quick glance, but make no other overt signs of their disapproval.
"What else can you tell us about her?" JJ asks politely, face professional even though Morgan can tell they both already dislike the man.
"New to the area and very naïve," he tells them easily, giving Morgan a scoff, like he expects either of them agree. "Doesn't understand how things work. Dunno how she got the Captain to call you guys in, but I'm tellin' you, you're wasting your time."
Interesting; so it wasn't Captain Harris coming across the pattern and bringing it to them but this librarian did. How, though? The Captain isn't just available for anyone fielding a complaint or wanting their case to take priority. Morgan wonders how she achieved it so easily, by all accounts.
"What's her name?" JJ asks curiously and the Detective looks surprised.
"I don't know but that's in the report," he tells them and looks genuinely surprised when they tell him it isn't, but it's clear he doesn't recall her name even before he responds.
"Well," he blusters, "it's the new librarian. Harry or something or 'nother; had one of those married-hyphenated names. Everyone knows she replaced Greta who was there for last fifty years or so. Now, that woman's always been our librarian, she's practically part of the institution."
Morgan raises an eyebrow at that; Denver is large enough to not normally have this kind of resentment or familiarity with the individuals peppering their community, but the BAU has seen this often enough in smaller towns.
They pull up in front of a small house with a tiny, overgrown front garden.
"Any idea why she was so interested in this?" Morgan asks, although it is unlikely that Detective Johnson will offer actual insight, but knowing they need to keep an amicable relationship with the man until the end of the investigation given that he may have been involved in a cover-up or have further information due to the missing people being reported to him. Keeping him open and talking, making it seem like they're interested in his views and perspectives, is an easier method than trying to convince him they empathise when they really don't.
Another scoff from the Detective, as they all exit the patrol car.
"She's always hanging out with them, isn't she. Taking an interest in the younger kids."
Morgan and JJ exchange glances again; this could be something if it's true. Did the homeless children just trade one predator for another?
After a quick glance around to ascertain no dogs are visible, they open the front gate and enter to knock on the front door. Morgan grabs for his gun automatically when the door falls open under his knocking, JJ but a moment behind him, her own gun in hand, covering his back.
After a quick, but thorough search of the house, both holster their gun and return to the living room, the clear abduction site. Most things have fallen into disarray, been thrown in a scuffle and there's traces of blood in several places.
"Hotch," Morgan says the moment his boss answers the phone, "our witness has been abducted."
He hears the man curse quietly on the other end.
"Do you think she got too close?"
He hums quietly, looking over the scene again.
"Possibly. But Hotch, she invited him into her living room, the fight only broke out afterwards. It had to be someone she was familiar with and probably not suspicious of. I would hazard that she talked to our unsub about the missing kids and that's why she got taken but she didn't suspect them."
They all know that this means the man has two victims now; it's possible he'll get rid of one to keep easier control.
"The unsub is sadistic," JJ adds after a moment of quiet thought, "it's likely he'll keep them both but may escalate the torture on one of them and their death with it."
Morgan relays what JJ said to Hotch and their Unit Chief agrees.
"Have we got a name yet?" JJ asks and Morgan checks his text messages – the moment it became clear that the Detective couldn't recall, he texted the address they were headed to, to Garcia and asked her to find out who lived her.
He curses when he sees the message.
"Harriet Potter-Black," he repeats out loud, still shocked.
"So this is where she moved to?" JJ asks in surprise, taking a second look around even as Hotch exhales sharply and tells Reid what they just found out.
"Rossi and Prentiss think the lake is likely the dumping ground for the unsub and the Captain's already agreed to mobilise enough people to scour it. But the disruption in routine may be a stressor which causes the unsub to devolve."
They all know it makes them more prone to making mistakes – but also harder to predict and sadistic unsubs are more likely to take their stress out on their victims.
Morgan breathes out, forcibly controlled, trying to reign in his anger.
"Think she can do it again?" He asks and Reid jumps in quickly before Hotch can respond.
"The victims were restrained and, possibly, caged, judging from the M.E.'s report. While always possible, it is unlikely. But as I mentioned before, there are no statistics on repeat-kidnapping victims."
JJ laughs slightly at that and even Morgan feels his lips twitch.
"Repeat kidnapping victim?" Detective Johnson asks behind them and Morgan's smile falls away.
"Alright, thanks for the update, Hotch. Send CSU here, maybe some of the blood belongs to the kidnapper."
They hang up and Morgan turns to find JJ already briefing the Detective about their last encounter with the librarian.
The next time Harriet wakes it's to a gentle but insistent prod against her shoulder. It takes a few moments to gather her wits enough to blink her eyes open.
Rather than the artist / abductor, it's her fellow kidnapping victim, Nikki.
"Hey," she says softly, giving the hatch door a few feet away a scared glance before turning back to her. "You need to eat."
Rising up slightly, Harriet realises she's inside an iron cage, much like the one she freed the child from, large metal chains holding her to it.
Pulling the cardboard plate to herself to eat, she inspects the young girl beside herself. There's burns all over, presumably similar to her own ones, from that cattle prod or whatever it was their abductor used to shock them, but she is looking better fed than before her abduction, if rather worn, tired and dirty.
"Thanks for waking me up," she says gently, making her facial expressions soft and her hand movements small but clear. Her short time working with the Aurors and handling victims after the war was rather beneficial for teaching her skills such as this one.
"How are you holding up?" Harriet asks between bites, and Nikki shoots another nervous glance at the hatch door, hunching over slightly.
"He paints me," she finally gasps out, hands shaking, quickly taking another bite of her food.
Harriet's eyebrows rise involuntarily in surprise.
"What do you mean, he paints you?" She questions, confused.
"The electricity," she gestures to Harriet's own burn marks, "he says-" Nikki stops half-way, a choked sob forced out of her before she can gather herself. "He says it makes us look beautiful."
Taking another look around, this time less for another person or escape route but for anything else, Harriet finally notes the large canvas and paints set out in the corner, the video camera directed at the bed in the corner, the multitude of photos covering the wall – hundreds of pictures of Nikki in various stages of contortion and face twisted in obvious pain. There's two canvases hanging amongst the pictures, clearly depicting the same scene.
Harriet didn't realise when she went from angry into incandescent rage, but she doesn't remember the last time she'd been so furious with someone. This had happened to Sammy, to Rosa, to the other three victims she'd found – Becca, John and Crystal, and Merlin only knew how many others. In their youthful naivety Harriet had thought Voldemort insane; and while the man definitely lacked rationality, it was nothing like this.
"Says he's trying to find the perfect muse," Nikki spits out, and Harriet isn't sure if it's her own anger leaking over or if Nikki genuinely switched moods that quickly. "for the perfect painting."
Well, that's it then.
Harriet is many things, but willing to let others suffer is not one of them. The iron cages they're manacled to and inside of, are pure, large iron bars – the only access the front door lock.
And while she could try to escape manually, maybe, using muggle methods to escape the lock, it would take time and given how covered Nikki is in burns, Harriet doesn't think their captor will give them that time. Nikki had only been gone for a day and a half, maybe two, depending on how long Harriet was unconscious for, but the burns on her speak of almost incessant torture.
The Elder Wand was in her hand before she could consciously think about summoning it; the wand always loved to fight and in her hands, to defend. Their manacles clattered open noisily, hitting the iron bars as they released them.
"You must keep this escape a secret," she tells Nikki, when, upon hearing a rattle of a hook against the hatch door, she uses the colloportus spell to ensure the door remains firmly shut, before even opening their cage door.
"Don't worry, he can't come in here," she tells Nikki, throwing a silencio at the hatch door when she realises Nikki is hyperventilating. Her next spell opens both their cage doors and while Harriet easily escapes her own, Nikki is cowering in the corner of her own.
For a moment, Harriet hesitates. She's tempted to sit beside the entrance and let Nikki come to her but is all-too aware that it would also block her friend's only exit from the cage. Sitting beside her on the outside of the cage would force Nikki to let Harriet come close even if she didn't want to.
So, instead, Harriet sends a spell at the ceiling and walls so it becomes see-through and instead of being confronted with canvas and paintings, there is only the beautiful sky visible outside, dark clouds gathering, looking ready to unleash a rainstorm.
Nikki has grown quiet, staring at the sky, awed and surprised, but finally climbs out of her cage, the change enough to jar her out of her fugue state.
"How did you do that?" She asks quietly.
"Magic," Harriet offers with a cheesy grin and for the first time, Nikki laughs, eyes sparkling as she, too, stares at the gathering clouds.
"It's beautiful," she whispers and Harriet nods quietly.
"We have a few ways of getting out of here," she offers after another pause.
"I can teleport us out. Or we can go down here and confront this asshole. Or we can wait for the Police; I raised quite a stink about the disappearances, so the precinct should be kicking their ass into gear sometime soon."
There's a moment where Nikki looks unsure, before she visibly gathers herself.
"You can protect us?" She asks and Harriet nods, not a moment's hesitation. Nikki eyes her for a second before nodding sharply. "Then I want to kick that bastard's ass."
Harriet laughs, nodding quickly.
"Fair. Just give me a second."
Patting herself down, Harriet finds one of the blue glass stones she had used to decorate her front entrance and smiles slightly.
"Protego Maxima" she swishes the Elder wand and feels the magic pull out and adhere to the stone, "Fianto Duri," Harriet continues. "Repello Inimicum." She follows up with a quick sticking charm to make sure the stone sticks to Nikki even if she falls.
"This will stay with you and will deter even bullets from hitting you. You literally don't need to worry about anything hurting you in the next week or so."
Nikki stares at the stone with wide eyes, trembling slightly.
"I still can't believe this," she says quietly, before wiping away the tears, and giving Harriet a quick nod.
"I'm ready," she tells her.
The colloportus and silencio are lifted easily enough and with a quick spell the ladder is transformed into a slide. When they hear cursing, scrabbling and the door opening up with a loud creak, Harriet is amused to hear the man's confusion when, instead of the expected ladder, a slide opens up.
Not allowing herself any hesitation, Harriet slides down, a protego weaved closely to her skin and an immobulus charm hovering at the tip of her wand, ready to be cast. Luckily, she manages to hit him first try and then proceeds to float Nikki down, who looks delighted at the momentary power of flight before her eyes land on her torturer.
The cringe back is automatic but aborted when Nikki's hands clench around the blue stone that protects her.
"I- This will protect me?" She asks again and Harriet gives her a firm nod. "I- I need to see. Let him go."
This time Harriet does hesitate but after Nikki glares at her, she gives in and releases her spellwork. The man doesn't even question any of it, just grabs the stick at his waist and goes after Nikki. Her friend looks nervous but for once, Harriet has no qualms. These spells held up under the onslaught during the war; this will not even register. Sure enough, the man is launched back with equal velocity, hitting the wall.
"Satisfied?" Harriet asks with a slight smile, enjoying the laughter spilling out of Nikki, the relief pouring off of her at having the protection prove itself.
"Now we'll see how you like it," Nikki tells him, grabbing the stick which fell on the floor, shuddering slightly when, at the press of a button, the crackling sound of electricity is heard. Not a moment later she jabs it at the man who jolts and screams, body bending.
"DO YOU LIKE IT NOW? STILL ENJOYING IT? DOESN'T IT JUST INSPIRE YOU?"
Nikki has tears running down her face when Harriet immobilises the man again, putting him to sleep, gently taking the weapon off her friend. It doesn't take much to ensure her friend turns away from the captor-turned-victim and burrows herself in Harriets shoulder, sobs wracking her body.
"It's alright, it's all okay now. I've got you. You're safe," Harriet intends to repeat the litany as long as it takes Nikki to calm down, using magic to turn a stray piece of paper into a large chair, big enough for them both and summons a book which she promptly turns into a blanket, covering them both.
While she'd much rather be at home to calm her friend down, she still needs to call the cops; it will have to wait until Nikki is recovered enough to face them. They're huddled together for what Harriet thinks might be half an hour before they're interrupted.
"FBI, OPEN UP!" comes a shout from downstairs as well as a loud hammering on the front door. "WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!"
Harriet blinks, before her lips curve up.
"You ready?" She asks Nikki and the woman, to her credit, nods, wipes her face and stands up.
"The door is open," she shouts down, using the moment to whisper a "finite incatatem maxima," and forcing enough magic behind the spell that it spreads out from her in a wave, dismantling her spell work as it goes through the house, book and paper returned to their original state and the ceiling in the attic becoming visible again. Naturally, it also ends her spells on the unsub but that is easily remedied with another spell to bind him (trussed him up like a chicken, Ron would have sniggered, at the excessive amount of ropes covering him).
Her last spell opens the front door and her wand vanishes. In troops the now-familiar figures from the BAU.
"Hi again," she says with a cheeky wave from the bannister. "Please don't shoot. We got our kidnapper up here, if you're ready to take him into custody."
Morgan, at least, looks amused as he gamely follows her up the stairs, eyes still alert and gun at the ready, before his eyes fall on their kidnapper, practically drowning in ropes.
This time he does actually laugh, holstering his gun and clapping her gently on the shoulder.
"All clear," he shouts down and the atmosphere is more relaxed.
"Nice to see you again, Harriet," Hotch tells her and she finds herself smiling.
"Nice to see you all again as well," she tells him sincerely.
"How often have you been kidnapped?" Reid asks curiously, barely a step behind and Harriet laughs when Hotch barks out a reprimanding "Reid!", but he has already noted that she is amused, rather than offended, so she thinks Hotch will likely not pursue Reid's indiscretion further. While conceding that it's probably not the best thing to ask most kidnapping victims, Harriet learned, as she grew up, that she preferred humour and diversion over politeness.
"Another hospital visit and interrogation," she asks and Hotch nods. Morgan and one of the police officers are hauling the unsub downstairs while JJ and Rossi are talking gently to Nikki, a shock blanket placed around her shoulders already.
"We'll stay around, this time, for several days while we try to sort out victims and family notifications, interviewing and wrapping up the case," Hotch states calmly and Harriet smiles.
"That's nice; I don't think I'd enjoy talking to Detective Johnson again."
The brown eyes harden. "Now that we have the perpetrator, Detective Johnson will be suspended while there is an investigation into his misconduct. All missing persons cases were relegated to him as Captain Harris believed if there were any pattern it would more easily be identified if just one Detective reviewed all missing person cases. Unfortunately, there is evidence the Detective didn't take these reports seriously, which is how so many went missing without notice or oversight."
"Good," Harriet says assertively, feeling her own simmering anger come back. Whilst it had been satisfying going to the Captain over the Detective's back, it had done very little to assuage her own anger at his irreverence to young people – children – going missing. It was like the teachers and neighbours of the Dursleys, all over again. Or at Hogwarts, with Umbridge, come to think of it.
Finding their likely unsub is actually very simple but not for their profiling skills but simple investigative police work. Once they find Jamie, who is looking after Nikki's baby at the moment – not that she admits to it, but the spit stains are fairly obvious, she leads them right to the unsub. Harriet hadn't actually questioned or investigated herself, other than to find out who else went missing, which was not what they had expected. The question then was how she'd gotten on the unsub's radar if she hadn't been talking to everyone and sundry about the missing children. According to Jamie, Harriet had only talked to other homeless people, the Police and, oh, yes, that artist who rendered perfect sketches of people with minimal input.
Garcia's technical skills quickly uncovered a treasure trove of information about said artist, and they had a search warrant within just a few short hours – one of their quickest investigations so far. Bodies were still being recovered from the depths of the lake, bodies going back years.
The BAU is amused when they enter the unsub's premises and find the victims free and the suspect already apprehended and waiting for them. After both victims are carted off to the hospital, though, and they investigate the house further, they are baffled to find the cages and manacles, all open without scratches or signs of how they were forced open.
When interviewed, both victims insist that their unsub simply must have left both manacles and both cage doors open, because really, how else could they have possibly gotten out? Magic? That last response from Nikki had always come with a secretive, amused smile.
On the question of how they overwhelmed their unsub, both insist it must have been surprise and that they just shocked him several times to ensure he stayed down (the BAU suspects vengeance is the more likely motive, but don't feel the inclination to investigate this particular instance of vigilantism or revenge).
"Why did you move?" Rossi asks, once the interrogations are over, looking curiously at the black-haired woman who freezes slightly, looking sheepish.
"I… got a new job?" she half-asks and Rossi rolls his eyes.
"But you could have gotten one in Quantico, if you had wanted to. Or lived of your inheritance, for that matter," he disputes and she acquiesces with a silent nod.
"I, well, I thought you might think I've been stalking you, 'cause we kept running into each other everywhere – but I swear, I haven't – I wasn't. I just – I met you guys in the park or at the bar, a party, at that marathon, the vet – I swear, I wasn't stalking, but it just seemed too often to be coincidental and I figured being FBI and all you would be either upset or have me up on charges, so I thought I'd better move."
Rossi snorts but it's Reid who speaks up first.
"Actually, given the lack of technology in your home, the periodic sweeps for bugs on our cars, phones and homes, the argument far more likely is that it was us stalking you rather than vice versa. We have access to far more and better resources and while a certain amount of 'running into each other' can be coincidental given the proximity of your prior residence to our workplace and where we live, it was a rather high number of meetings to be entirely attributed to coincidence."
Hotch pinches the bridge of his nose in the background while Morgan sniggers, wrapping an arm around Reid's shoulders.
"Way to go, pretty boy," he says, and Reid looks confused. Hotch sighs, stepping forward.
"I assure you, Lady Potter-Black, none of the members of the BAU were stalking you."
Reid looks surprised that this is what they take away from his rant.
"I wasn't saying that at all," he tells them and Prentiss laughs, along with most of the rest of the team.
"Yes, Reid, you actually kind of were."
Their boy genius looks flabbergasted and Harriet finally lets go of the laughter she's been trying to hold in.
"Alright, alright. So, I'm not stalking you, you're not stalking me, and I really should learn to talk to people upfront instead of running away. Is that the gist of it?" she asks teasingly and this team the entire team pauses, looking surprised that she's managed to decipher what Reid was insinuating without outright calling her on it.
"Welcome to the team," Rossi says quietly – but not quietly enough; Harriet clearly hears him and beams, green eyes sparkling with delight.
"Well, I was thinking of quitting the job, anyway. Not really my niche this place. I'll need to settle a few things and then I'm sure we'll bump into each other soon enough."
"Please do try not to get yourself kidnapped again," Hotch says dryly, lips twitching, "I'm sure we can arrange to meet outside of work."
Harriet looks surprised when she laughs, before descending into giggling.
"Careful, Hotch," Rossi warns, eyes laughing, "or we might start thinking you have a sense of humour buried inside of you somewhere."
"Well," he says dryly, smile broadening before his face falls into the usual stoic mask, "can't have that, can we?" he finishes innocently and his team is left stunned as he leaves, lips curving up in an unrepentant smile as soon as he's out of view.
So, turns out, one more chapter after this. I am wondering whether to make this a choose-your-own-adventure type ending with three chapters, one for Reid/Harriet, one for Morgan/harriet and one for Hotch/Harriet? What do you think? You could then just read the one(s) you were interested in. I got votes in for all of these, so struggling to decide :(