Lorelai was awoken the next morning by her phone ringing. It was Morgan. She answered and was told to be at the police station as soon as she could they had more work to do. Lorelai stretched and got up. She got ready quickly and headed out she grabbed a coffee and a breakfast sandwich before heading to the police station. She knew she needed to eat. She hadn't eaten much the day before.
When she got to the station there was still a lot of commotion. She figured they solved the case why were the police still acting like there was a case going on? She went to the conference room with her team. "What's going on?" She asked sitting down
Prentiss looked up at her. "Melissa woke up. She started talking about how she was with several other girls while she was there. They were alive. But we couldn't find any evidence in the house of other children. Not even the other victims whose bodies were found." She said
"Did. You check the storm shelter?" She asked
Morgan looked at her. "It was empty." He said
Lorelai nodded. "Was Melissa kept in just the one location or did she get moved around?"
"She got moved around a few times, but she was blind folded and in an out of consciousness. She doesn't know where she was at any given time." Reid said
Lorelai nodded. "What are we thinking?"
"Child trafficking." Hotch told her. "There are no other active missing children's cases in this or the surrounding areas currently. These kids had to come from elsewhere." He continued
"Wow. What are we doing next?" She asked.
"We will be going back to the crime scene. You will be going to the hospital with Agent Morgan to talk to Melissa again. She asked for you so we think maybe she will open up more to you." Hotch told her
Lorelai nodded. "Okay."
They all headed out to where they were supposed to go. On the way to the hospital Morgan was quiet at first. Lorelai wondered what was up. "Everything okay Morgan?" She asked
Morgan started to tap his fingers on the steering wheel. "I don't know Agent Davies. Last night you disobeyed my direct order." He said
Lorelai bit her lip. "Oh, Your angry with me." She said
Morgan nodded. "Yes. I am." He said
"I just didn't understand. The danger was gone." She said
Morgan shook his head. "If there is a child trafficking ring than no. The danger is not gone. Last I checked you are technically considered prime target for child trafficker." He told her
"We didn't know…" She started
"That's the point Agent Davies. We didn't know. There could have still been a threat there. And even if there wasn't. Last I checked a direct order from a superior agent is obeyed without question." He said.
Lorelai could tell he was getting angrier. Hotch might not get louder when he is angry, but Morgan did.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I should have listened. It wont happen again." She said
"Really? Because its not the first time you disobeyed my direct order to go somewhere." He said
Lorelai took a breathe. "Your correct. It's not. I'm sorry."
Morgan nodded. "This is your second strike. Third one and we will be having a conversation you wont like." He warned her
Lorelai nodded. "Yes Sir."
Morgan pulled up into the hospital parking lot and they went inside. Lorelai gave the girl a hug when she got to the room.
"How are you feeling Melissa?" She asked.
"I'm okay." She said softly looking up at Morgan
"This is Derek. He works with me at the FBI. We just came to check on you. And see if you remember anything else about what you went through." Lorelai told the girl softly
The girl said hello to Derek and shook her head. "I don't remember anything else." She said
Lorelai nodded. "Okay. I understand. I know it can be hard to remember things that happen to us that hurt us or made us sad or scared. You don't need to be afraid to tell me anything." She told her.
Melissa nodded. "I really don't remember anything else." She said
Lorelai nodded. "Okay. All you need to worry about now is getting better." She smiled
Melissa nodded. "You have to go though don't you." She said
Morgan spoke up. "Yes. We have to go see if we can find the other girls who were with you. But she can come back and visit later." He told her
Melissa smiled and nodded. "I would like that."
Lorelai agreed giving her another hug before the two got up and headed out to the car.
"She seems to really like you." Morgan said
Lorelai nodded. "I wouldn't leave her side last night. Even when the doctors and nurses tried to make me." She said
Morgan shook his head. "You gave them a hard time too didn't you?" He said with a small smile
Lorelai shrugged. "I was following an order and I wanted to protect the little girl" She said
Morgan nodded. "You have a passion for protecting children. We have all seen it. It's a good thing."
"I want to be for other kids what no one was for me for most of my life." She said softly
"I completely understand that." He said as they pulled up to the crime scene. "Hotch says you can look around. You didn't see anything yet and he wants to know if you can see something we missed." He continued.
Lorelai nodded. "Okay." She got out of the car and headed inside the house. It was torn apart from the investigation. She put on a pair of gloves and looked around. The others were there too as well as other investigators. She didn't see anything that hadn't already been marked by a crime scene marker. She went to the basement to the room that Melissa had been found in.
Morgan was following close behind. "No DNA outside of Melissa's and the perpetrator has been found anywhere in the house." He said
"What about in the storm shelter?" She asked
"Nope. Same. Melissa's was found in there. She was obviously in there at one point too." He told her
After she was done inside the house Lorelai went to the storm shelter. It was completely empty. "Was there anything in here at all that has been removed?" She asked
"Just some hair and blood and semen. Which has been found to be Melissa's and the perp's" He told her
Lorelai nodded and looked around. "Was it a lot of blood and hair?"
Morgan nodded. "This is where she was tortured and raped."
Lorelai nodded. "I just cant understand how a human being can hurt anyone like this."
"They aren't human." He said. "They are monsters."
"Yes. But what turns a person into a monster?" She said
"That's part of our job to figure out." He pointed out
"Yes. Obviously for this guy his trigger was his father's death. But people lose a parent all the time and most don't turn into monsters." She said
"You know there is more to it than that." He said
Lorelai nodded. "I understand the science behind it." She assured him.
Morgan nodded. "You okay? If this is to much for you?"
Lorelai shook her head. "If the ten-year-old can handle what she went thought I can stand here and help her get the closure she needs." She assured him. She made a face.
"What do you see?" He asked.
"This seems very small for a storm shelter. I know they are different sizes. But that house is huge. It could house at least 8 people. This storm shelter can probably hold no more than 4 comfortably." She said
Morgan agreed. "It was built when the house was built it should have been made bigger." He said
Lorelai started knocking on walls trying to find a hollow space. Morgan stayed quiet till she knocked and found a hollow space.
"Stop." He told her before she went to try and break down the wall.
Lorelai listened. Morgan called the rest of the team to come.
"I need you to go outside and wait till we are sure its safe." Morgan told her
Lorelai sighed but did as she was instructed. Hotch and Morgan broke down the wall and found a room. With several children. No one was moving. There didn't seem to be anyone outside of the children in the room. The team all started to check on the children checking for pulses. Lorelai was told to call for help.
Lorelai called 911 and the police to let them know what was found. Before long every available ambulance and officer was at the scene. Lorelai was allowed into the room to help move any children who were alive and able to move on their own out of there and into ambulances.
The paramedics brought out others out on stretchers to keep them from moving in case their neck were injured. Lorelai had never seen so many bodies. She had seen dead bodies. Even dead children before but nothing like this. She knew there was no way this was one man's doing. This was a group of people who had done this and put them here. These children weren't from this area as there were no missing children in the area. Who were these girls? She wondered.
Morgan could see Lorelai wasn't okay. He took a breathe and told her to go take a break and get some water. Lorelai was going to argue but she knew better. She went to a table that had been set up by someone with some water and food for those who were there. She took a water bottle and drank some of it going and sitting in the car. She took twenty-minutes and in that time all the children who were alive had finished being removed from the storm shelter. Lorelai went back towards it but was stopped by Morgan. "You are not needed in there anymore." He told her.
Lorelai looked up at him. "Its my job." She said
Morgan shook his head. "No. It's the job of crime scene cleanup. Our job is to go talk to the children who can tell us what happened. And find out who else was involved in this."
Lorelai rolled her eyes and realized quickly that it was a bad idea when the look on Morgan's face changed.
"Car. Now." He told her.
Lorelai swallowed hard and quickly did as she was told. She knew she had stepped in it now. She watched as Morgan went to Hotch and talked to him before coming back to the car and starting to drive.
"We going to the hospital?" She asked but quickly shut up again when she was looked at with a glare. She looked out the window. Why was it so hard for her to just listen? She wondered. Lorelai let out the breathe she was holding when they did enter the hospital parking lot. Morgan looked at her. "I'm not going to begin to pretend that you didn't roll your eyes at me." He said. "Right now, there is to many children to talk to for me to handle it. But know that when this is over we will be discussing it." He said
Lorelai nodded. They both got out of the car. She would apologize but she knew there was no point to it right now. They went inside and met the rest of the team and the nurses told them what was going on. After they got the run down Hotch gave each of the agents a different child to talk to. Before she went Lorelai was stopped by Hotch who whispered in her ear. "You are on thin ice with me too Agent Davies. Do what you are told. Nothing else." He said. Lorelai nodded and than went to talk to the little boy she was assigned to.
Slowly the team and local police had gotten through talking to every child they could all getting a slightly different story. But was able to get all their names and Garcia was looking up their missing persons cases from all over the USA. This case crossed so many state line.
Eventually everyone was back at the police station comparing notes on all the children's stories. Lorelai was getting really overwhelmed. This was the worst case she had ever seen. It was worse than her own story. These children were tortured, raped, and left for dead in a section of a storm shelter that was hidden.
She was sitting at the table in the conference room. She was putting gentle pressure on her temple trying to ease the headache she had. She had already taken pain killers, but they weren't doing much.
Reid noticed and brought her a bottle of water. "You okay?" He asked
Lorelai shook her head. "No." She admitted softly
Reid nodded. "Go. Talk to Hotch." He said softly.
Lorelai shook her head. "These kids need me." She said
Reid turned her chair away from the table, so she was facing him. "It wasn't a suggestion." He said firmly. "You need a break. Go talk to Hotch before I do."
Lorelai was already in enough trouble for ignoring orders, so she did what Reid told her.
She went to Hotch and told him she needed a break. Hotch took one look at her and could tell she wasn't okay. "Go to the hotel. Get some food and sleep." He told her
Lorelai nodded and went and did as she was told. She ended up sobbing herself to sleep. Cases like this always made her question if this was the right career for her after all.
