Chapter 4

Emily Prentiss came up the steps to the Round Table room and walked in. Hotch and Rossi were sitting at the table, discussing a case with Garcia. The rest of the team walked in from the bullpen balcony platform. "Shane Wyland?" Emily asked, sitting down and looking at Hotch and Rossi. "Really?"

Tara and JJ looked at them as the rest sat down. Dave smiled at them. "Tara, the case was obviously before you were here." He looked at JJ. "It was while you were at DoD," he added.

"We got called in by the NPS rangers when hikers found the remains of Daniel Landem," Reid said. "He had been missing along the Appalachian Trail for seven months. When Robert and Ana Brooks were kidnapped along the trail while we were investigating Daniel's death, we knew we had an unsub that was a preferential pedophile. Robert helped Ana escape. Wyland led us to Harrison, Pennsylvania where we arrested Brandon Stiles, Wyland's accomplice and recovered Robert. Wyland slipped away back onto the Appalachian Trail."

JJ looked at Reid and smiled. "Very concise report Spence."

"I'm trying to work better with two certain agents at this table," Reid answered, looking at Morgan and Prentiss.

"I'll give you the props Dr. Reid," Emily smiled.

Morgan shook his head. "I read the statements you two gave the deputies. You really think Wyland was looking for a way to get a Club Fed deal by trying to attack you?"

Aaron looked at him. "Morgan, it's textbook. He wanted us to take him out via suicide by cop." Morgan looked at Hotch. "I grabbed the barrel of the gun to stop it from rotating to fire the bullet. He never pulled the trigger. His medical condition is that bad. When that failed, thank you Jack for listening to a 911 operator, the deal was his next option. Honestly," Aaron said, "you have to give him some credit. His plot was well thought out, given his condition."

"Which is?" Emily asked.

"I just put it on your tablets," Garcia said. "He's got six months or less with liver cancer."

"Let me bottom line all of this for you," Rossi said. "Wyland was pedophile. They remember every one they have abused. His part of the deal was to give up every victim, including the area where he left the bodies before he could get medical treatment at a Club Fed." He looked at the team. "There were twenty-two."

"NPS rangers have already found nineteen remains given Prentiss and Morgan's discovery of how the bodies' burial were marked on the initial case," Hotch added. "There are nineteen families that will finally get closure. That is one of our core team objectives. Dave and I will take that intrusion in our lives to get that."

"And Jack?" JJ asked.

"He's fine," Hotch smiled. "And very grateful he listened to Deputy Javier Valdez, the 911 dispatcher." He shook his head. "He matured more in front of our eyes."

Dave smiled. "He got our official OK to occasionally say shit, damn and hell."

"My man," Morgan grinned.

"Why Aaron and I had Javy and his twin brother, Jorge, our lake game warden to the cabin to have a beer yesterday," Dave smiled.

Morgan smiled. "Javy got to meet you all on the lake yesterday being out with his brother."

Dave smiled at Derek with a index finger point. "Damn good Agent Morgan."

Morgan shook his head. "That wasn't a tough read Rossi," he smiled. "We've all heard your stories about Jorge."

JJ looked at Hotch. "Jack is really OK?"

Aaron smiled. "Yes JJ, he's OK. He's in total mode of taking his driver's test tomorrow. That is why I'll be leaving the office tomorrow afternoon at two." He looked at his team. "Now, let's do our jobs and get to our current cases."

"Time out," Emily said, looking at Hotch. He looked at her. "Come on. You know all of us, including the bullpen staff. We always have a betting pool going. On something and anything. Gina wanted to started a pool last week when we were riding out the hurricane how much rain we'd get in Quantico." She beaded a look at Hotch. "Who was Jack's driver's ed teacher?"

Aaron looked at her. "What's your profile?" He paused for a few seconds more and then smiled. "Who'd you put your money on Emily?" Prentiss looked at him, trying to gage things. Aaron shook his head. "And you are one of my team's senior profilers?" He headed out of the room. The team looked at Dave.

"I was a too nervous Nellie with Jack driving," Dave admitted. "And I drove, pardon the pun, my son crazy. I only went out with him once. All hail the calm, cool, and collected Unit Chief," Dave smiled, heading out the briefing room as well.

Emily smiled at the rest of the team. "Pay at this window folks."

-00CM00-

The next afternoon, just as everyone was getting ready to shut down for the day, the team heard Dave shout "Yeah baby!" from his office. Their computers pinged with an email from Garcia. Opening the email, they saw a picture of Jack holding up his paperwork making him a legal driver in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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A/N: I've said it before, I'll say it again. If I have to mature Jack, I'm going to do it the right way.

NPS is National Park Service.

Thank you everyone for the alerts and reviews. They are deeply appreciated. And thank you to everyone that just read along.

My usual shout-out to the OK Teach for doing the proofreading.

It's a little break for me. It's baseball playoffs and my Braves made it in.

No, there will be no story idea with that. LMAO