"I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Jo and Derek lock eyes with each other from their places sprawled out on the couch. They nod to Penelope and say in unison,
"Good."
"I have a feeling the White Witch will be all wrapped up in this bad news," Jo slurs, sipping her beer to finish it off.
"White Witch?" Penelope questions.
"Strauss," Derek whispers like he's telling a ghost story.
Penelope's eyes widen, "Okay, this will not go that well. The good news is, we don't have to go into the office tonight. We aren't leaving until tomorrow morning."
"Thank fuck," Jo sighs with relief, head falling back onto the couch.
"And the bad news? Spit it out, baby girl."
"The bad news is...Strauss will be accompanying us on the case tomorrow since Hotch is on leave. We're going to Milwaukee."
As the words leave her lips, Penelope waits for the two drunken profilers sitting before her to lash out in pettiness.
The outburst comes a moment later, as expected.
"Garcia!" Jo groans and falls backward onto her couch, "That's literally the worst thing I've ever heard," She covers her ears dramatically, and the blonde panics.
"Don't shoot the messenger!" Penelope holds up her hands in defense.
"You need to give the girl a better warning for something like that, Penelope," Derek chides, "Don't you remember her two-hour-long rant about how Strauss is, quote, a frigid bitch?"
"How could I forget," Penelope mumbles as she catches sight of Jo reaching for another beer.
She springs up to intervene.
"Ooookay, my love," She intercepts her reach and grabs the beer first, "I think it's valid to cut you off after eight."
"Garcia. You're being more insmuffersble than Spencer Reid on a Monday morning," Jo whines again as if she were a toddler and the older woman had just grounded her.
"Insmuffersble?" Penelope is bewildered, "Will you back me up here?" she looks at Derek for some help.
"Uh uh," Derek shakes his head, "I don't want a black eye tomorrow."
With that Penelope looks at Jo and decides it's time to try and hoist her off the couch.
Jo and Penelope have become quite the pair in the month that Jo has been at the BAU, often bar hopping with Derek after cases before ending up back at one of their apartments.
Which is how they ended up together tonight, in Jo's apartment with the girl in question and Derek rather drunk.
Penelope only had a few drinks and involuntarily took on the responsibility of taking care of her two friends when they became too intoxicated to function.
"Jo, you ready for bed babe?" Penelope asks slowly.
"Yeah. Penny, will you take me there?" The younger agent stretches her arms out to Penelope, taking on her role of a toddler quite well.
"Come on, sweet girl," Penelope heaves Jo up with a bit of a struggle, Derek laughing at the sight before him.
Penelope comes back out a minute or so later, heaving for breath, "She's heavier than she looks."
"How's your head, sweetheart?"
"Just shut the fuck up and let me rest my eyes, kay?" Jo mutters from her position, forehead laying against the roundtable.
The fluorescents were far too much for her.
The headache from her hangover is pounding as she replays the events from the night before, regretting each and every one. Derek's taunting laughter only makes the pounding in Jo's head more visceral.
She wants to reach across the table and strangle him.
"Garcia tried to cut you off, remember? But no, you just needed to sneak out of your room for that last beer. And you drank no water, might I add," He chastises.
Jo mutters some incoherent curses at the man.
"Oh come on, Jet. Your favorite person is joining us on this case. Aren't you excited?" he sings.
She lifts her head from the table and scowls, "Don't call me Jet," her whining earns a laugh from Spencer who is sitting across the table next to Derek.
Jo flicks her gaze over to him.
"What's so funny, sweater-vest? I like to laugh, too."
The last thing she needs at this moment is another unsolicited jab from pinhead over there.
"Oh, I don't know. One person's agony is another's joy, I guess," Spencer shrugs before going back to his reading.
Better to spurn her before she has the chance to spurn him.
JJ walks into the round table room which makes Jo swallow the bitter words she has lined up for her pest of a coworker.
She forgets the string of insults completely when she notices how stressed and tired JJ looks. Jo's spine straightens tall as she wills her headache to subside.
The blonde sets down her bag and sighs, "As you guys know, Hotch is on leave so Strauss will be joining us on the case. We're going to Milwaukee-"
"Where's Gideon?" Jo interrupts her, "And Prentiss? Neither of them is on leave. They're both supposed to still be here," She points out.
As expected by JJ, Jo is starting this day by firing off questions as soon as she notices Gideon and Prentiss are gone along with Hotch. The girl is observant and a bit too nosy for her own good JJ notes.
The blonde clears her throat, "Uh, they are-"
"Also on leave."
The temperature in the room drops by at least 30 degrees as Satan herself strolls into the conference room.
"I'll be enough help to replace the three of them altogether," Strauss boasts, and Jo suppresses a groan.
Or at least she thinks she does, but when Derek kicks her under the table and gives her the infamous cut it out look, she is certain she's made her disgust for the woman audible.
Strauss ignores Jo, turning to JJ, "Agent Jareau, is the rest of the team briefed?"
JJ politely nods, "We were just getting there, ma'am."
"Before we were interrupted," Jo adds, trying to be quiet.
She isn't, and Strauss cranes her neck over to her.
Spencer is, again, appalled by her bluntness toward their boss, and gives her an incredulous look. She catches it and sends him an ugly scowl in return.
Derek kicks her under the table once more, which makes Jo roll her chair slightly away from him and just out of his reach.
Jo feels Strauss' cold eyes on her and Derek, "If kickboxing 101 is through, we'll finish the briefing on the plane. We're leaving in 20 minutes."
Nose in the air, she walks out of the conference room leaving them all behind.
"It's wheels up in 20," Jo looks to Derek, "It's always wheels up in 20. What's so hard about that? If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Derek sighs, gathering his coffee cup and bag from the table, "Well she thinks it's broke. We just have to stick this out for a little while longer. Once she sees we're capable of solving this case by the books, all three of them will back."
"Where is Prentiss, anyway? What does she have to do with what happened with Gideon?" Jo questions, gathering her personal belongings as well.
"I'm not sure, but at least you're still here" Derek shrugs, "Let's just get through this smoothly. You need to lose the attitude."
Jo opens her mouth.
Derek cuts her off, "If we just do our job without letting personal feelings get in the way, everything will be back to normal. I promise. Trust me, Jet."
As they walk side-by-side to the elevators, Jo scoffs, "We'll see. This place is a breeding ground for broken promises."
The elevator dings and the pair silently steps on before hearing-
"Hold it, please?"
They peer out and see Spencer speed-walking toward the elevator, freakishly long legs bringing him to his destination impressively fast.
Jo, who is standing closest to the buttons, makes no move to hold the doors but instead stares at Spencer, smirking, through them as they slowly close on him.
Derek reaches around her torso and presses the door open button, giving Jo a stern look.
"Stop with the attitude, remember? You two need to learn to get along better anyway. If you wanna kiss each other, just do it already," He shrugs.
"Ew, gross, don't say that."
"Just try and be nicefor once," Derek guides her.
Spencer exhales, relieved, as he joins them on the elevator, wiping some sweat from his forehead.
For Jo, coming up with something nice to say or do is proving to be difficult, and when she looks up at Spencer he is already looking at her.
"What? Is there something on my face?" She asks sardonically.
Spencer pauses for a moment, "Yeah, there is actually. It goes from here," He points at her forehead, then motions all around her face, "to about here."
"Wow," Jo looks at him in amazement, "For the eight Ph.D.'s you boast I figured you could come up with a better comeback than that."
"It's actually nine PHDs," He fires back, not paying her much attention as he fixes the cuffs on his buttondown shirt.
"Asshole," She mutters.
"Depends on who you ask," He shrugs, and Derek is taken aback by his lethargy.
"I feel like I've been asking the wrong people," She gives Derek a side-eye.
Derek's eyebrows crease at Spencer.
The elevator dings again, the screen denoting the elevator is unexpectedly stopping on floor three.
The doors slowly open, this time to reveal the Deputy Director of the FBI. He walks in slowly, holding a briefcase and not looking up from his phone.
"2, please." He says in a low voice.
Jo looks at the top of his head, waiting to see if her father is really going to be this vapid and not look up at them at all.
She wants to laugh at the actions of her father because they're all too predictable. The man is so carelessly selfish.
She wants to knock the phone out of his hand, shattering it onto a million pieces like she's imagined doing so many times. That way the man would be forced to have some human interaction instead of burying himself in his work like he always had.
Derek watches the detest grow on Jo's face as she stares at her father, baffled that Colin's seemingly unaware that his own flesh and blood is on the elevator with him.
Or maybe he is aware, and just doesn't care enough to look her in the eyes.
Derek takes a tiny step forward, attempting to ease the tension that Colin is oblivious to.
"Deputy Director Banks. Good to see you," Derek smiles warmly which irritates Jo.
She tries not to let it show.
Colin looks up then, nodding at the three of them, "Agent Morgan, Dr. Reid," He pauses, "Jolene."
"Good to see you, sir," Spencer chirps from the corner and Jo rolls her eyes at his attempt to impress her father.
And then it really hits her; Spencer is right there and watching this interaction go down.
She doesn't want him to see this, to see her being blatantly ignored by her own father. It's flat-out embarrassing. As a kid, it used to hurt badly when Colin would skip her dance recitals while all the other dads brought flowers for their little girls.
But that sadness made her tough, it made her strong enough to withstand moments like this.
Until Spencer entered the equation.
She knows he will use this moment of weakness against her as some sort of indignant rebuttal and somehow, that stings almost as much as her father's indifference toward her.
Colin and Derek continue to exchange pleasantries that are a bit too polite for Jo's liking. Her features contort into a hollow sadness while she watches them.
Spencer's never seen a look quite like the one that paints the slopes of Jo's face at that moment. Not even when she was crying in the break room or staring daggers at him from across their desks. This is a fractured kind of sadness.
It's a look that Spencer hopes she never looks at him with directly, as her eyes are glued to the back of her father's head now.
"Where are you all headed today?" Colin finally addresses all three of them again, his voice languid as he looks over his shoulder at Jo.
Seeing the look of resentment on his daughter's face almost makes him smirk.
"Milwaukee, local PD says they have quite the job for us," Derek replies formally.
Jo keeps her lips sewn shut and averts her gaze to the ground after Colin locks eyes with her.
The elevator is silent for a beat, Spencer's eyes almost bulging out of his head in anticipation of what's gonna happen next.
He thinks it will be Jo blowing up on her father, disrespecting him in a way she seemed to love to do with all of the other people in charge at the FBI. He expects a fiery rant and flamboyant hand gestures as she cusses out her father in less-than intelligible language. But she's silent.
She is never silent, never holds her tongue the way she is now. She always has something to say and the dogged confidence to say it with. It freaks Spencer out a bit.
His eyes flick back and forth between Colin and Jo.
"Ah," Colin nods at Derek, finally breaking the overwhelming silence, "Well, tell Detective Brewer down there I say hello. Jason and I worked a few cases with him years ago."
"Will do, sir." Derek nods swiftly.
The elevator dings at floor 2, and Colin begins to step off, but not before turning slightly toward his daughter.
His face breaks out into a slightly curious, yet pointed, expression. It's like he's challenging her.
This challenge is one he knows he will always win, though.
"Be careful with that gun of yours, Jolene. We all know how reckless you can be," Colin warns with a blank face.
"Agent Morgan, Dr. Reid," he steps right off the elevator, rounding the corner and disappearing from sight.
She knows he's done it on purpose. The malevolent treatment she receives from him is by design. It isn't anything new, he's used manipulative tricks like this on her even before the passing of her mother.
Colin wants to make her feel dependent on him. He wants to make Jo feel helpless without him.
Jo bites her lip, swallowing the anger down as the two men she's sharing the elevator with watch her steadily.
Derek clears his throat, and Spencer's mouth hangs open like a codfish.
"Really gunning for that promotion, huh?" Jo crosses her arms
"Don't be like that," He looks at her, pleading.
He was worried his kiss-ass behavior was too much for his friend, and now he knows it was.
"I'm not being like anything. Just observing," She shrugs, but her tone is anything but casual. It's tight, pained.
"Look, He's still my boss," She doesn't say anything, "Jet-"
"Don't call me that," She snaps and he is stunned into silence himself.
"Uh, guys-" Spencer starts.
They both don't notice that the elevator doors have opened into the lobby.
"Shut up, books-for-brains," Jo orders, and her boots clang on the linoleum as she steps into the lobby.
"You guys ready?" JJ greets them, surprise coating her features at how standoff-ish the three of them look.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Jo brushes past her and keeps walking out the door.
Touching down in Milwaukee a few hours later, the team, or what's left of it rather, packs into their signature black SUVs at the airstrip.
They only have two black cars waiting for them at the airport, and the team comes to a halt after seeing half of their vehicles missing.
Strauss tells them it's due to what she calls the "downsizing of their team".
Jo would call it the Section Chief's "blind-folded hack-job".
Derek, Strauss, and JJ quickly file into one of the cars, the Section Chief alerting Jo and Spencer that they will need to take the second SUV by themselves because the woman needs "leg room".
Which is how Jo finds herself seated in a passenger seat, being driven to the precinct by Spencer Reid of all people.
After they argued about who would be driving, they entered the car, each slamming the doors loudly once they sat down.
Spencer drives much too slow for Jo's liking, taking cautious turns and never, ever speeding through a yellow light as she would have.
Jo reaches for the AC knob and turns it down a touch when goosebumps prickle her skin.
Spencer glances away from the road quickly to the AC knob before flicking his eyes straight ahead again.
He turns the AC back up.
Jo sucks her teeth, the feeling of the cold air on her skin uncomfortable.
She, pointedly, reaches for the knob again.
She turns the AC back down, but this time she turns it all the way off.
"Will you stop it?!"
"It's too cold in here," Jo answers immediately, her eyes never looking away from the windshield ahead.
Spencer sighs sharply and turns the AC back up to the halfway point.
"Compromise," He gestures to the knob with his free hand.
"I forgot your head's full of hot air, that's why you need the AC. I get it," Jo reaches to all four air vents in the dashboard and shifts them toward Spencer dramatically.
"Ah," Jo clutched her forehead after a savory moment of silence passed between the two.
"What?" Spencer taunts, "Still hungover from your nightly binge?"
"No," she snaps defensively, "Your lame-ness is just finally starting to seep into my brain."
"And I may or may not be hungover," She grumbles quietly.
Spencer smirks, and Jo rubs her temples in circular motions.
"Rerouting: In 4.5 miles, turn left onto East Langdon Road."
The mechanical voice sounds from Spencer's phone. He grabs the device from the cup holder and groans.
"You made me miss the turn," He complains, holding the phone out to her.
"That's on you. Was it worth it? Poking fun at my expense all to be exposed for being a horrible driver?" She questions in a faux-serious manner.
"If I say it was worth it, I'm worried you'll grab the wheel and try to bring us over the guardrail," Spencer huffs.
Just to freak him out a little, Jo brings her hands up in an attempt to grab the wheel.
"Not funny," He shields the wheel with his elbow after he jumps a bit, "I'm not in the business of dying today."
"Get a new job, then," She murmurs, turning her attention back out the window.
Her words send a chill up Spencer's spine, but he shakes it off as he brings both hands to the steering wheel. They remain silent for the rest of the drive.
They arrive at the precinct 16 extra minutes later, the two rushing in to meet their team quickly.
"Sorry," Jo tries to catch her breath, "The doctor's IQ apparently dropped on the way here."
Strauss opens her mouth to no doubt scold them when Derek cuts her off politely.
"We're just getting started," He nods to them as Spencer gives Jo the side-eye.
"What do we know?" The local working the case, Detective Brewer, asks as he breaks out of the bustling chaos of the room and joins the group huddled together off to the side.
"Woman's name is Claire Thompson," as JJ speaks, Brewer leads the team to the back of the precinct, "Husband tried to reach her on the cell phone. When she didn't pick up, he drove to the department store. The car's in the parking lot, but she's not inside."
After weaving in and out of police officers who walk around with no consideration for other people's space, they come to a stop before a conference room at the back of the precinct.
JJ, Spencer, Jo, and Derek all pause, looking at each other precariously.
They know that this is the point at which Hotch usually divvies out assignments to each of them. But he isn't here now and they have to figure it out on their own.
Jo looks at Derek, "Where do we start, boss?"
He holds Jo's gaze for a moment and nods slightly at her.
Glancing at Strauss quickly, Derek looks out at his team.
"Alright. JJ, take Strauss with you to talk to Claire's husband. Reid, Banks, you're here with me."
"Yayyy," Jo says quietly, and Spencer's neck is getting sore from the number of annoyed glances he's been sparing Jo today.
JJ and Strauss haul off to find Claire's husband, while Jo and Spencer follow behind Derek who leads them further through the precinct.
Derek hops on the phone, presumably talking to Garcia by the amount of 'babygirl's flying around.
Silence engulfs the two younger agents as they trudge behind their boss for the day.
Being alone with Spencer again, and this time not having an AC unit to distract them both, Jo feels some emotion flood her cheeks. She recognizes it as humiliation, the interaction on the elevator with her father coming back to the forefront of her mind.
She feels like the seven-year-old girl waiting expectantly for her father after the ballet recital, arms outstretched to receive her flowers, or at the very least a hug.
"What did I do now?" His irksome voice brings her back to the present.
"What?" She hisses, keeping her gaze straight ahead of her.
"The little mopey thing you're doing. You're all like," Spencer dramatically sighs, his lips forming a deep frown.
"Not everything is about you, okay? I know that's probably hard to believe with the eight-sorry, nine Ph.D.'s you have. I may only have one, but at least it didn't come with an overinflated ego," she adjusts the bag hanging from her shoulder.
"You have a Ph.D.?" The look of pure bewilderment painting his features makes Jo scoff.
"You have a Ph.D.?! " She mocks in the most child-like way possible, "Yes I have a Ph.D. Is it that difficult to fathom, Spencer?"
God, when did I get so defensive?
"No, it's not actually that hard to believe. I can totally see you getting a doctorate in whining and complaining with flying colors," He shoves his hands into his back pockets, proud of his dig. But only proud for a moment.
God, when did I get so mean?
He looks over at Jo, expecting the look on her face to be priceless. Her angry expression might make him feel better.
But she seemingly isn't mad, she's actually kind of smiling. And it pisses Spencer off.
"Well, when you get that tenth Ph.D. in finally getting laid, maybe I'll get my second one in whining and complaining. Sound like a deal?"
He is so stunned he has to pause his gait.
Why do I let this girl get under my skin?
Jo continues walking, unbothered that she's leaving Spencer behind and, hopefully, humbler than before.
Derek is still on the phone with Garcia when Jo catches back up to him, noticing the worried glint in his eye.
They make eye contact for a moment and Derek clears his throat to wipe the anxious expression from his face.
Uh-oh.
"Okay, baby girl. Please tell me something I actually wanna hear. Now, did you locate the missing woman in the security footage from the department store?" Derek all but begs.
A moment later, after Spencer returns to the pair in slight shame, a video starts playing on the desktop screen in front of them.
Jo is already watching the clip, leaning forward on her elbows for a closer look, "She doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar."
"That must be her child," Spencer takes a step closer to the desktop screen.
Derek leans in, squinting his eyes, "Does Claire Thompson have a son?" He asks over his shoulder.
"No, a two-year-old daughter," Detective Brewer confirms.
"Wait, wait wait," Spencer adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose, "It looks like the kid's lost," He concludes.
The agents watch the rest of the clip, where Claire and the boy then disappear down a hallway. After that, they're gone for good.
Something about that doesn't sit right with Jo. Something about this little boy causes a feeling of unrest deep within her. Then, it occurs to her.
"Detective Brewer?" Jo looks up at the tall man, "Is there any way you could get me a list of missing kids in the area, see if we can identify the boy from the clip?"
"Anything for you, Agent Banks," He smiles a little too warmly before continuing, "Hey, how's your daddy doin? Still a hard ass?"
She cringes at his choice of words but puts on a bright, yet plastic, smile that could fool just about anyone.
"Like you wouldn't believe," She laughs with him for a moment too long, and he simply stares at her.
When her cheeks start to burn her gaze involuntarily falls to her feet. She's just standing there as the older man's eyes rake over her.
"Detective Brewer? We also need the names of the friends of Claire Thompson's son," Spencer voices from the desk.
When Brewer doesn't move away from Jo at all, he adds, "As soon as possible, if you could."
Brewer looks over at Spencer unimpressed, like he should have the words, 'I could kick your ass, string bean,' written on his forehead.
Spencer doesn't budge though, and Jo can't tell if it is admirable or extremely stupid.
She decides it's admirable and wants to give Spencer some sort of signifier of appreciation, but she can't bring herself to do it.
She looks back to the desktop screen.
Brewer is gone now, and there's some unease between Jo, Derek, and Spencer.
Jo wishes Hotch were here to lead them.
They think over the footage, trying to mull over how the little boy fits into the case when Derek gasps, "Oh, damn."
"What?" Jo turns to face him.
"Something Hotch said to me on the phone. All of the abductions and disposals have been timed around school. He thought the unsub might work in the system. What if this guy's actually using his own son to lure his victims?" Derek asks.
The three think for a moment, understanding this theory is more than plausible, and probably completely dead-on.
Jo nods, "We have to deliver the profile. Now."
"We know the unsub abducts the women in Wauwatosa and dumps their bodies somewhere in the third ward. Most unsubs keep their area of control—where they kill their victims—triangulated between the two points," Spencer gives the geo-profile to the room of police officers seated before them.
"Which means that the unsub probably lives in Wauwatosa or the third ward. Somewhere in the area. The people who live there will know this unsub," Jo finishes, crossing her hands in front of her body.
"There's no sexual component to these crimes, which means it's more about the unsub making a point. He's...cutting their hearts out," Spencer chokes out.
"The two most important questions to ask ourselves are: What is this guy doing with these women for 48 hours?" Derek looks to Jo to finish his thought.
"And why is he willing to use his own son to abduct them?" She says.
The officers scribble in their notebooks. A few stand up to go.
"One last thing," Derek's voice commands, "It's not easy to cut clean through the breast bone. You're dealing with a guy who works with his hands. He's not afraid to get dirty."
They're back in the conference room moments later, the case flying by in passing colors and splintered moments.
"It used to be a running joke that when you told people you were from Milwaukee all they wanted to talk about were Happy Days reruns. Then Dahmer happens and they ask you about it as if it's the same thing. As if it's entertainment. But I was in that apartment," Detective Brewer tells.
Jo is chewing on her pen and re-reading the case file when Brewer's statement catches her attention.
He was in Dahmer's apartment? Her eyes rise to meet the detective's across the table in disbelief.
Spencer is sitting next to Jo, reading the same file she is, but at a much faster pace. Her gnawing on the pen still abhors him, and he glares at her passively.
She grinds her teeth and looks at Spencer boldly, but her voice is below a whisper, "I told you, It helps me with being nervous-"
"I know what pacifying behaviors are. Doesn't make it any less revolting," He snaps, looking back down.
Jesus, this guy really needs to get laid.
Jo's eyes flick back to Claire Thompson's photo in front of her on the table.
"Gideon," She sighs, "one of our bosses, says that there are things that attach to you that you can never wash off," she makes eye contact with Brewer across from her.
He's already looking at her and her cheeks burn again.
There's a beat of silence.
Strauss looks at Jo thoughtfully. The younger girl clears her throat when she sees she's being stared at by Strauss as well.
Is there a spotlight on me or do I just look really good today?
"Guys, if he really is using his son, wouldn't the trauma manifest more clearly on the boy?" JJ adds.
They all ponder it and realize it actually makes perfect sense, but they don't really know what to make of the information.
They are getting nowhere with this case and it's clear that they not only need Gideon and Hotch, but they need Prentiss too. And it's all Strauss' fault that none of them are here.
Strauss presses the intercom to call Garcia. It rings.
"Talk dirty to me," Penelope's seductive voice rings out, obviously thinking it's Morgan calling.
"This is Section Chief Erin Strauss."
"Oh, god," Jo is smiling wickedly.
"Ma'am, I think this goes without saying that I was expecting it to be someone else."
This is just too good, Jo has stifles a laugh. It feels nice to smile while on a case, it doesn't happen very often.
Jo wonders if she should start smiling on purpose to release neuropeptides to help with the stress instead of biting her pen.
At least it would get sweater-vest off her back.
Strauss cuts Garcia off, who is still rambling apologies, "I need a list of every grade school in the third ward and Wauwatosa. I also need a list of every guidance counselor who works directly with students in that area," She hangs up promptly.
"You need to present these counselors with a profile of a troubled kid," Strauss commands.
And just like that, she stands and leaves the room.
Good riddance, bitch.
They travel around and deliver the profile to different elementary school counselors, but there are way too many kids that fit the profile that it turned out to be useless.
They end up back at the station to sift through the large list of children they compiled.
The team is now on the brink of hopelessness, if they weren't already. But just when Jo thinks they are never going to solve this case, a miracle happens.
Prentiss and Hotch walk through the door of the conference room.
Prentiss and Hotch. Fuck yes.
"Oh thank god," Jo drops the case file when she sees them.
"Hey, where do we start?" Prentiss sits down next to Jo and opens up the case file within seconds, Hotch doing the same.
This feels right. They are complete, and they are gonna find this son of a bitch.
Strauss re-enters the room with a threatening glare upon seeing Emily and Hotch back with their team.
"We're only here to help," Emily assures cautiously.
If Strauss has any objections to this, Jo is sure she really will break her nose this time.
"We'll deal with this later," And with this permission, they go back to work.
The six of them fit together like a puzzle. They sift through information faster, follow up with theories, and work on the geo-profile. This is the way the team is supposed to be.
Better together.
"Thank you for giving Garcia that file to give to me," Hotch thanks JJ, who is seated next to him, under his breath.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't see Garcia before we Ieft," She denies.
He immediately looks at Jo across the table, knowing now that it was her doing.
Jo feels eyes on her and looks up from her work.
"What? You said no going to my dad, you never said anything about delivering case files," Jo shrugs innocently and looks back down at the file.
Aaron smiles when she looks away.
They find Claire's body. Another person they are too late to save.
The team concludes, with Hotch and Emily's added expertise, that the child they are looking for has to come from a single-parent, broken home.
This narrows their search.
Spencer and JJ go back to the elementary school they were at previously to give an updated profile of the child they were searching for.
Jo makes a cynical comment about the happy couple shuffling off to do work together, and Spencer almost cusses at her before JJ has to pull him away.
They return to the PD station with a child's name to give the others: David Smith.
The team races to the Smith household then and brainstorms how to get inside to make a legal arrest.
"Let me go in alone. He's looking for female authority figures, if he lets me in I can signal as soon as I find probable cause," Jo suggests to which Hotch shoots her a glance she is unable to read.
"Come on, this is what I do, Hotch," Jo levels.
"No, you look too young. He needs to see someone who looks to be his mother's age," Hotch looks over to Prentiss.
"Suit me up," Prentiss nods and begins to put on the bullet-proof vest that Derek hands her.
Strauss steps into the group, "Technically, you're not even in the FBI anymore."
"All the better," Hotch says and the team moves into position as Prentiss approaches the house.
She makes it inside and the rest of the agents wait from the street. Jo bites her fingernails anxiously.
After several minutes of anxious waiting, they spot Emily's signal from inside the house, and Derek shouts, "GO!"
Jo draws her gun and follows behind Spencer who is already running toward the front door.
Hotch busts the door down and floods the seemingly-normal family home.
They make their way down to the basement, every agent with a gun cocked in front of them.
Hotch, followed by Spencer and Jo, and lastly Derek.
"Drop the weapon son," Hotch says.
That's when Jo pans her gaze down to see a three-foot-tall little blonde boy pointing a gun at Hotch.
A child wielding a gun at a federal agent? There's a first time for everything.
The boy trembles, clearly confused and extremely scared.
Jo has an idea. If she isn't old enough to be David's mother, she's certainly young enough to gain his trust.
She slips her gun into the holster on her hip and smiles warmly at the little boy.
"Hey, bud," She crouches in front of him.
Morgan makes a movement forward as if he's gonna pull Jo away from the loaded gun, but Hotch holds out his hand to stop him silently.
He knows what Jo's plan is. She probably looks like a teenager to the young boy, she's a small woman who can put on a bright smile when she needs to. She can get David's trust.
"Do you mind giving me that?" She points to the gun, "it's really dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt," she says softly.
David looks at his dad as if asking for permission.
In the meantime, Morgan pulls a bloody Emily off the floor and away from the unsub.
"David, it's okay. Listen to her," his dad finally throws in the towel.
David's small hand holding the gun looks so wrong to Jo.
He hands the gun over to her and is immediately scooped up by Hotch.
Jo stands, brushes her hands on her pants, and looks about the torture chamber.
It's over.
The team returns to Quantico that evening and shakes the weight of the case off quickly in the way they have become accustomed to.
Jo has gotten better with the quick turnaround, finding that turning to a routine drink alone in her apartment after each case usually does the trick.
Mostly everyone has left the building by now, the only people left on the sixth floor being Hotch tucked rightfully back into his office, much to Jo's relief, Spencer getting a headstart on his paperwork, and Jo staring intently up to Gideon's office.
She's sitting across from Spencer, and he feels the nervous energy radiating from her.
He glances up from his paperwork, watching her watch Gideon's office with an intense stare.
"You know where he is?" Spencer asks, picking up on her train of thought.
Her eyes stay glued to the door and she shakes her head, "I have an idea where he may be, but he never disappears like this. I thought for sure he'd be here when we got back. Something is wrong."
Spencer nods in agreement, his own worry for Gideon coming to the forefront of his mind.
"I'm sure everything's fine. I'm supposed to meet him for a midnight chess match tonight. I'm sure he'll be here by then," Spencer says, really only trying to convince himself with this statement.
Jo ignores him and continues to bite the nails of her left hand. Spencer wonders if he should've even engaged in this conversation at all.
"How can you be so sure?" She finally turns to face him, surprised that his expression looks to be one of concern and not annoyance.
"I just...have a feeling," He shrugs, locking his eyes with her.
This is the first time they have made true eye contact without starting at each other in a hostile manor. Jo's jet-black eyes suck Spencer in until all oxygen has left his lungs.
I will never look her in the eyes again after this moment. What's happening to me?
Jo searches Spencer's eyes for a minute, the fear she sees making her spring into action.
He's just as scared for Gideon as she is.
She quickly picks up her bag and shrugs her jacket on, "I gotta go."
She's rushing to the elevator before Spencer can even respond.
a/n I hope everyone's having a good day :)
my direct contact is unenthusedprofiler12 if you ever want to get in contact with me about anything in CM fandom!
