(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)
Hi, I'm back. I did mention on my profile why I took some time in case anyone was confused.
I'm still not entirely with it but I decided to put some of what I'm feeling into writing and what better way to do that than with angst.
Updating may continue to be a bit out of sync but I'll get there.
Thanks for understanding.
This chapter will be shorter. Also, yay, 200 followers, fingers crossed it won't go down again :)
Also (sorry, last thing,) I'm in London today... and a few days after that. We've come to see Waitress which I listened to throughout writing this chapter. The musics great ;)
Right, I'm getting sidetracked.
Enjoy.
Previously:
Erin looked down searchingly, her mind trying to fix their predicament.
"I ran plates... nothing, there's nothing... A-and... I don't know what to do..."
"I don't understand," hissed Caroline, typing faster and faster before she stopped and pushed the keyboard away, slamming it against the table in her frustration. Her fingernails drew back into her palms and shook when she let out a growl.
"What?" Scott stepped forward and narrowed his eyes at the screen. Caroline glanced back and shook her head. She eased her fingers straight again and laid them down as calmly as she could. She wet her lips and met Scott's eyes.
"I can't find anything in the results. There is nothing out of the ordinary, it all matches to a infant," she said slowly in a calculating voice, her eyes fixed on Scott. She clenched her teeth shut again.
Spencer let his head fall back to the table and breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Aaron quickly who was glaring at the floor before Spencer closed his eyes with a faint smile.
Scott pushed Caroline back from the desk so he could lean over and stare at the screen.
"I don't understand," he muttered. He pulled the keyboard toward him and pressed a key. Then he tried another, his eyebrows crumpling with each new key. Beside him Caroline found her calm and she edged nearer, jolting her mouth open to speak.
"Maybe he is just a... a child, Scott. Are you sure-"
"Of course I am!" Scott snapped, flipping the keyboard and shutting the sharp tongued Caroline right up.
Scott turned and glared at Spencer from where the child was strapped to the table. Spencer was looking down his lashes at Scott, his face neutral.
"Maybe... Maybe..."
"Look Scott, Whatever harebrained scheme you have now just stop. Figure out where we go from here and when you've done that come find me," Caroline said in a sharp voice. Scott didn't look at her but he rolled his eyes at the returning venom in her voice. Caroline pressed her lips so tightly upon one another that the blood drained from them, leaving them white. "We're risking our necks here," she hissed.
Aaron smirked as Caroline stormed out of her chair and through the door. He shifted back against the wall before looking over at Scott with satisfaction while the young man stood facing Spencer his face a miriage of emotions.
Kieran, stood close by, looked as if he were to open his mouth but he stopped himself and kept quiet.
Scott closed his eyes before letting out a deep breath. He opened them and Spencer felt goosebumps hatch over his body at the glint in Scott's eyes.
"We dig deeper," he muttered, his eyes catching Kieran's fearful ones. "I want more samples. Cells, I don't care where from. Find them and test them."
Kieran nodded and bustled over to a cupboard.
Scott turned to leave when he saw Aaron's smug grin. He paused in front of the agent and managed to conjure up his own smile.
"Don't think you've won, Aaron. If we find nothing in the cells it leaves us with just one option..."
The corners of Aaron's mouth drooped a little and his eyes grew darker with realsiation.
"Let's hope we find something, Hey?"
"Gone?" JJ's voice trembled as she stared at a chip in the wooden desk. Garcia nodded on the video chat and bit down on the inside of her gum.
"Please, watch the footage. I can't explain... I just can't."
Rossi stepped forward turning the laptop toward himself and alway from JJ who's hands were shaking in her lap.
"What link first?"
"The top one and then the two below it. They show you the... the situation s-so far."
Garcia's face minimised in the screen and Dave hit play on the first videos.
JJ glanced over at the screen and shook her head in denial as she watched her fiancé's car in the nursery car park.
They watched in horror as the scene played out. Dave went to the next videos and JJ had tears trickling to dripping point on her jawline by the time the final one cut off.
Dave sucked in a deep, contemplative breath before he nodded and pulled Garcia's image back to full size. "Morgan, Emily, you finish this case," he said, motioning to the board full of their evidence. Emily glared at him doubtfully.
"Garcia, you, JJ, and I will start searching for Aaron and Spencer. The case is at a close now. Just do the essential and come back to us."
Morgan nodded while Emily continued to scowl.
"Explain the situation to the officers."
"Alright," huffed Morgan and he nudged Emily before exiting. Emily paused staring at Rossi for a good few seconds before leaving without a word.
Dave sighed and turned back to the screen.
"Okay. Penelope, go through all security cameras. I want to find this van."
"We also have Strauss."
Garcia rolled her chair back a little and Strauss' face came into view. Her lips were purses tightly and she nodded at Rossi.
"Do what you have to, David. You have my backing."
Dave smiled tensely and turned back to JJ who had her head in her hands.
"We'll get them back, Jenifer."
"I can't do this without them," she whispered. Her head shook in her hands and Dave put a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, you can. We can do this."
Aaron never looked away, or surrendered to his tired mind as they tested on Spencer. His eyes grew moist when they took a scalpel to Spencer's skin to lift skin cells. He didn't even think Spencer was playing his role as scared two-year-old anymore, he simply was just that and all Aaron heard were the wails of his son.
He watched in a concentrated manner, searching for something, anything to help them out.
Debra was in and out, a bewitched grin on her face at Spencer's cries. Aaron glowered at her but after several hours his anger ebbed away when something perked his interest. He gazed at the woman's patchy hair.
Debra's hair was fastened up. Hotch stared at the hair pins that were pushing out of the clumpy hair which had been unsuccessfully positioned to hide her unsightly bald spots. He thought for a moment before deciding.
If this could get them out he'd try it; he couldn't listen to Spencer's sobs for much longer without being able to comfort him.
Debra passed close on her way out and she puckered her lips at Aaron.
"Why the long face?" she asked in a mocking tone. Aaron looked past her at Spencer who was breathing heavily and looking up at the ceiling.
Debra followed his gaze and looked at the tiny boy for a moment before turning back with a sickly grin. Aaron finally looked at her and his nose crinkled in disgust.
"You know what happens when we don't find anything this way?" Debra asked in a low voice. Aaron just glared back into her molten eyes.
"He's not getting out of here," Debra added. She straightened while Aaron seethed under his mask of semi-calm.
He listened to her footsteps in the corridor as he watched his son and then when he heard her coming back he got ready.
The next time Debra wandered past, Aaron jutted his leg out, catching the older woman and sending her to the ground. Her hair flopped out of the pins grasp and several spewed across the floor. Aaron would have proudly admired the bald patches in Debra's hair- courtesy of his son- but instead he lunged forward as far as he could and managed to pull one of the loose hair pins under his thigh.
Kieran and Jeremy spun around at the sound and Kieran hurried over to help Debra up.
"What happened?"
"I'll tell you what happened," Debra growled, shoving him away from her when she was on her feet. She spat at Aaron, making sure to gather all the saliva in her mouth to do so. "He tripped me!"
Jeremy looked over and cocked an eyebrow at Aaron.
"Are you alright?" Kieran asked, again trying to reach out and touch her.
Debra slapped his hand from her shoulder. "Get off me," she snapped. She continued to glare at Aaron.
"You think we'll spare him any pain?" she asked. Aaron shifted, moving the pin closer to his outer thigh.
"You're just making this harder on him," added Kieran, though his face was pinched with sympathy.
Aaron kept his face deadpan still. "And how proud are you to know that you're torturing a child? Does it give you a sense of achievement? To know that your success stems from a toddler's suffering?"
He glared back at Debra and she narrowed her eyes.
"When they find you- and they will find you- you'll die in prison. You should see what they do to child killers in-"
Debra slapped him and Aaron's words were lost in his mouth. He tasted blood from a split in his lip but he lifted his head and smiled. His message had most definitely been received.
(A day has elapsed since we last saw the team, the timelines nearly match now.)
The whole team were on the case now. Safely back in Virginia with Strauss at their side. They were sat around the round table, string between their board and the paperwork.
"Scott Fitzgerald."
What was left of the team looked up at Garcia as she pinned up an image next to the others, with labels like Caroline Warren, Kieran Cristopher, Jeremy Cartwright and some others.
"He connects them all?" Morgan asked.
Garcia nodded. "He went to the university of Exeter to study chemistry but he dropped out on his third year."
Dave pulled over his file and scanned it with a tight face. "Tried to move forward to a PhD."
"What was his thesis?" added Emily, turning to Garcia who had a sad expression contorting her features.
"I can't give you the exact title because it was never finished but he was researching into the aging process and the abilility to reverse it in terms of appearance."
The team exchanged wary looks. JJ looked up at the ceiling and shook her head.
"How did they find out?"
Garcia paused and pulled another photo from her file. She pinned it to the board slowly. "They let her out on bail earlier this week. She hasn't been seen by her lawyer since then."
Morgan struggled to see past Garcia so he blurted "who?"
Garcia turned and stepped aside. "Debra Whinton."
Aaron got the pin into his hands and carefully, when backs were turned, he shimmied the pin into the locks on his cuffs.
After about an hour of stopping and starting each time someone passed he heard a quiet click. He didn't move his hands but he knew he was free.
Finally, the kidnappers all vacated, talking back and forth about lunch.
Aaron yanked off the cuffs. He took the pin to the ones holding his ankles together and had them free in seconds.
Spencer opened his eyes slowly and saw Aaron moving frantically in the corner of his eye.
"Da-dad-"
"Shhhh," Aaron whispered, getting to his feet and taking a step toward Spencer. He stumbled a little, his legs achy from being stuck on the floor.
Aaron practically ripped the leather cuffs off Spencer's arms and ankles before he grabbed him under the arms and lifted him off the table. Spencer wrapped his arms and legs around Aaron and sobbed in relief as Aaron held him.
"I got you," Aaron whispered. "I said we'd get out of here."
Spencer pressed his face into Aaron's neck and sucked in greedy breaths of relief.
He opened his eyes a little as he gripped Aaron and through his tears he saw someone in the doorway.
"What the hell are you doing?" Debra said when she saw the two holding onto each other. Spencer hid his face and his sobs turned desperate.
Kieran practically fell through the door behind her and he stared at Aaron with worry written all over his face.
"I said bringing him was a bad idea," he muttered.
Aaron pressed his lips close to Spencer's ear. "You're going to run, okay, I'm going to put you down and you run for the back door, I'll keep them back," he whispered.
Spencer pulled back a little and shook his head. "No," he said quietly.
Jeremy had walked in then and he stared Aaron down, his hand slowly reaching toward a metal tray and closing around a scalpel.
Aaron pressed Spencer close again as he watched Jeremy. "Please, I'll be okay, they want you remember, as long as you get out, bud..."
Before Spencer could protest further Aaron had released him onto the floor and shoved him in the direction of the backdoor.
"Oh no you don't," Debra growled.
"Go. Spencer, go!"
Aaron spun around and kicked Kieran (who was closest to him) in the knee. He shoved a metal table in Debra's direction, relishing in the crash it made when it slammed into the woman. Jeremy bolstered forward as Aaron struck Kieran.
Spencer took a step back as he gazed at the fighting. He trembled under Debra's venomous glare.
"Run, Spencer!"
"Stay there you little shit!"
Aaron was shoved into the wall and Spencer screamed when a scalpel was jammed into Aaron's side. Aaron gasped but continued to fight Jeremy as he retracted the scalpel and aimed it again.
Aaron threw a look Spencer's way as the scalpel went in again. "GO!"
Tears fell down Spencer's face as he turned and hurried to the backdoor.
"Get the kid!" Kieran yelled, trying to squeeze past Aaron and Jeremy and avoid the blood peppering the floor. Caroline had joined them now.
Spencer burst out into a dimly lit corridor. He glanced up and saw another door. He sobbed as he scrambled toward it, looking back the way he came to see someone stumble into the hall.
"Get the boy, now!"
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