Disclaimer: Everything familiar belongs to JE.

Warning: Adult Situations, adult language, Rape described

****Last chapter's description of Julie's rape was nothing in comparison to what Stephanie remembers. If reading what happened to Julie wasn't your cup of tea, skip the italicized section. I will give a one-two sentence summary in the author's note at the end of this chapter. Consider yourself warned.****

Chapter 28: Tuesday, August 23rd, 1130-1300

MDPD

Stephanie's POV

The video starts playing, and I watch as the men drag Julie to her bed. They are holding her down, working hard to tie her arms to the headrest. I am proud of Julie when I see her fighting them. Once they have her hands restrained, I watch as they open her legs, securing them to the bed as well. The bastards are putting their hands all over Julie, pinching her and squeezing her. I watch her eyes, seeing her pain, confusion, and hurt. I listen as they threaten Ron with hurting Julie and see the moment that she realized that Ron is going to let them hurt her. Poor Julie.

As I'm watching the scene unfold on the TV screen, I'm brought back to my night of Hell some fourteen years earlier.

****Graphic rape scene described below. Skip to the end of italics****

Flashback

It's Homecoming weekend. My boyfriend Brian and I are going to his fraternity's party. Brian and I have been dating for a few months, but I know he is not husband material. I'm having fun with him, but I know he wants to take our relationship to the next level. We haven't had sex yet; I'm not ready to give myself to someone. After Morelli stole my virginity from me four years ago, I'm hesitant to be intimate with another man. I know he's frustrated, but I still haven't dealt with Morelli screwing me on the floor of Tasty Pastry.

My roommate, Casey, and I arrive at the frat house at 9:30. I'm wearing a short denim skirt, black stiletto boots, and a red tube top with a black leather bomber style jacket over it. I see Brian, and he hands me my first beer of the evening. The night starts great, with us dancing, talking, and drinking. As the night progresses, we start kissing and making out. His hands are wandering, as I remind him that I'm not ready for sex yet. He asks me if I want to go to the basement to play pool. I agree, and we head down the stairs.

Once we get to the basement, my spidey sense is going off the charts. Something is wrong, and I'm not sure what it is. Before I can say anything or walk back up the stairs, Brian has me up against the wall, sticking his tongue down my throat. I hear laughter and see two of his frat brothers there in the shadows. Brian picks me up, placing me down on the pool table, which has a cover on it. His friends grab my arms, tying me to the legs of the pool table with my waist hanging off the end. In this position, I can't fight back. Brian pulls my skirt off me as I start to cry, not wanting this to happen to me again. He roughly pulls my top down, along with the strapless bra I'm wearing. His friend, Chris, climbs on top of the table, with his pants off, shoving his limp dick in my mouth, ordering me to suck it, to make it hard. Brian is laughing at Chris, telling him I give good head. In the meantime, Brian starts to stick his fingers inside me while Kyle, their other friend, starts squeezing and pinching my breasts. Once the guys get hard enough, they take turns fucking me in the butt. I'm in a lot of pain, but they continue taking turns. Then, Brian enters my vagina while Chris goes in my butt. Kyle shoves his dick in my mouth. They are fucking me together, and after a few minutes, rotate until they have all been in my three entrances. Then, they cum all over me. By this point, I'm hysterical. Brian shoves something in my mouth, and then the next thing I remember is waking up in Brian's bed, next to him. He's waiting for me to wake up, to show me a video they took. He threatens that if I tell anyone, he will make sure my parents get a copy of the video and he will show the dean of schools, getting me kicked out of college. I go back to my dorm, shower, and forget it ever happened.

****End of Flashback. Safe to continue reading from here.****

"Babe?" I hear Ranger's voice in the distance, but I can't focus on the present.

"Babe, Stephanie, are you okay?" He asks, concern filling his voice.

I feel someone grab my arm, and I'm afraid that they are going to hurt me again. "Cupcake, what are you doing? Why are here if you can't handle it. You should be home right now raising a family."

"Don't touch me. Leave me alone." I yell, trying to get away from the threat.

"Babe, Stephanie, look at me. It's Carlos. You're safe. No one is hurting you. Come on, Babe, talk to me, please." I start to focus, listening to Ranger's voice. Ranger, my Carlos, he's here, I'm safe. I blink and shake my head, looking into Ranger's chocolate eyes filled with concern.

"I felt it again. I felt their hands on me, them inside me, hurting me, taking from me. I felt helpless again. I don't want to feel that way ever again."

"What are you talking about, Babe? When did it happen?"

"Oh, please, stop being so dramatic, Cupcake. Why must you always be the center of attention?" Morelli responds.

I want to punch Joe in the face. I want to knee him so hard that he'll never be able to reproduce.

"Detective, I suggest you keep quiet, or you can leave. Ms. Plum doesn't need your negativity right now." Agent Lewis replies.

"What would you know?" He asks her accusingly.

"I am a forensic psychologist. Trust me; I know how trauma affects people, especially when they may never have dealt with it."

"Babe tell me where you went. What happened to you?"

"I can't, not in front of everybody."

"There's an interview room that is for our use only. You can take Stephanie in there to talk to her." Emily tells us.

"Okay," I respond, sounding more like a child than a thirty-four-year-old woman.

"Stephanie, do you mind if I join you? I may be able to help you stay focused." Tara asks me. I nod my head. Tara, Carlos, and I walk to the small room, with Carlos grabbing a bottle of water for me along the way. Joe tries to follow, but I shake my head. I don't need him in that room with me.

I tell the story of that night to Ranger and Tara. I watch Carlos getting angrier as I share the abuse I endured.

"I'm sorry, Babe. I'm sorry someone put you through that hell." Carlos tells me, holding me in his arms, comforting me after sharing my story. Somehow, I managed to wind up in Carlos' lap as I was sharing my dark secret.

"You never reported the rape?" Tara asks.

"No, I didn't. I had met my ex-husband, Dickie Orr about two weeks before the incident. My mother introduced us to each other at one of the Sunday family dinners. She didn't like Brian because he wasn't the Burg. He was Irish Catholic, but that wasn't good enough. Dickie is Italian, he was from the Burg and studying to be a lawyer. He had status. I knew that if I pressed charges, he would want nothing to do with me and my mother would harp on me even more. Though, looking back on our relationship, he probably would have been more attracted to me, thinking that I was more sexually adventurous. Besides, I didn't feel that anyone would believe me, especially with my reputation. Even though it couldn't be further from the truth, most of the Burg thought I was a slut because the first guy I slept with was kind enough to write poetry in the bathrooms around Trenton after our five minutes together. My mother punished me for three months after the incident. I'm glad she never found out about the baby."

"What baby?" Carlos asks, confused.

"I got pregnant from that night. I miscarried at thirteen weeks. I went to a hospital in Newark when I started bleeding. Mary Lou's cousin took me. I didn't even know I was pregnant until I miscarried. I thank God that I lost the baby."

Ranger knows my history with Joe, and I see the moment that he understands a lot of why I am the way I am. I know that we need to talk but now is not the time.

"Stephanie, if you never faced your rape before, you need to do so now. I suggest that you see a therapist who can help you come to terms with what happened to you. You have a lot of suppressed fear and emotions from that encounter. You may have difficulty sleeping, and you may have flashbacks. Don't fight them. Face them head-on, it will help you to cope with the situation and will help you to move on." Tara informs me.

We then get up and move back to the main room. I see my Rangemen brothers accessing whether or not I'm okay, and I nod my head. I notice them glancing at Ranger for confirmation.

"I'm sorry I had a meltdown. I know we have a lot of work to do. I don't want to shift our focus." I apologize to everyone.

"There's no reason to apologize. You didn't know that you would react that way. We still have plenty of time to go over what we've learned." Tara assures me.

With that, Ranger looks at his watch. "Agent Prentiss, I need to take Julie to the wake in ninety minutes. I want to listen to the conversation between the unsub and Ron."

"Yes, you're right. Did you pick up on the language at all?" Agent Prentiss asks Ranger.

"I think they are shifting between Arabic and Spanish. I know Ron spoke Arabic. His maternal grandmother was Coptic. He grew up speaking both Arabic and Spanish."

Garcia runs the audio from the video only, and I watch as Agent Prentiss, Agent Alvez, Hector, Manny, Woody, and Ranger listen to the conversation between Ron and the unsub. At one point, Ranger asks for paper and a pen.

"My Arabic is rusty, but it sounds as though they are selling girls and women," Ranger says to Agent Prentiss.

"You're right, it does sound like that, but I don't understand why they involved civilians. Too many mouths, too little loyalty." She responds.

"Maybe someone found out who wasn't supposed to know and decided to try and get rich off the unsubs. Once the unsubs realized that others picked up on their plan, they needed to start eliminating those who could out them. Ron had to know a lot for them to single him out, to execute him." Ranger states.

"You're right. Garcia, I need your team to figure out if someone shared some information that they weren't supposed to share, even if it was in passing or unintentional." Prentiss orders.

"On it. I'll let you know if anything pops up in my run." Garcia responds.

"Maybe the adoption agency the Goodwins used is related to this operation. It would explain why they eliminated who they did, and it could explain why Ron was a target. Maybe he figured out that the kids were never legally adopted." I add.

"But the paperwork for the Goodwins adoption is legit. Garcia checked it out already. How could Ron find out?" Alvez asks.

"Ron legally adopted Julie when she was a toddler. So, if either Goodwin were questioned on adoption or gave wrong advice, Ron would know that something wasn't right. Ranger, was Ron ambitious at work?" I ask.

"Yes. I know Ron wanted to make partner. He wanted to be better than me. I think he resented that I was successful after leaving the Army. It bothered him that I could afford the tuition to send Julie to the private school she attends. It also bothered him that when he and Rachel couldn't afford to send RJ and Joselyn, I volunteered to pay their tuition as well. I helped them purchase their house. I believe he wanted to be more successful than me because he felt inadequate. From what I gathered from my cousin who works with Ron's sister, Rita, Rachel would often chastise Ron for not being as successful as me when they would argue, which only fueled his anger and resentment towards me. Once Julie and I started to become closer after Scrog, he was competing with Julie's idolization of me. But, now not only did she compare Ron to me, but she started to compare Rachel to you, Babe. We are both heroes in her eyes, and I know she told both Ron and Rachel that she wished she could live with me instead."

"Then it's possible that Ron could have tried to blackmail Winston with the knowledge that Emma and Thomas weren't his biological children, nor were they adopted legally," I reply. I glance at the BAU and see them all staring at me, dumbstruck, including Morelli. Ranger is smiling at me.

"That could be a possibility. Tara and David, head to Ron's workplace and talk to his coworkers. Try to find out if anyone else suspected that the Goodwins adopted their children. I know they tried to pass them off as their biological children, but let's see if anyone else suspects something. From our records, their birth certificates check out as being legit. Reid, contact the hospital and ask them to get a DNA sample from Thomas Goodwin. We can run him through the database in case his family reported him missing. Ranger, Stephanie, thank you for all your help. Be with Julie. If we hear anything, we'll contact you. I'll see you on Thursday."

"Thank you, Emily. I assume that you'll have members of your team at the wake and funeral."

"Yes. JJ and Matt will be there."

"I'll let my men know. We are running security. I don't want anyone there with weapons other than my men, but I'll let them know that your team is good. They won't make a big deal or let anyone know that you're there. The fewer outsiders know, the better."

"Stephanie, can I speak to you a moment before you leave?" Tara asks me.

I nod in compliance, and we walk to a quiet corner. "Steph, there are a couple of things I want to mention to you, but out of the earshot of the others. Due to your assault, you probably have trouble trusting men, especially considering how you lost your virginity, the rape you experienced, and your ex-husband cheating on you. You probably also have some insecurities about your sexuality. Are you open to trying different things in the bedroom?"

As much as Tara is asking very personal questions, I feel at ease in talking to her. She has this way about her, a soft, soothing voice, that makes me what to spill my guts. "I'm afraid I'm very traditional in the bedroom. Missionary or sex with me on top is the typical positions I'm comfortable with, though if it's in the proper entrance, I'm okay. I hate the butt stuff."

"I'm not surprised. Stephanie, it would benefit you greatly to meet with a counselor or therapist. Also, in the short time since I met Ranger, I can tell he's a good, honorable man who is crazy in love with you. I know you love him. Stephanie, if you want a future with Ranger, you need to face the demons of your past."

"I'll try. Thank you for your concern, and advice, Tara." I answer sincerely. We walk back to Ranger and the rest of the BAU team in time to hear Morelli talk about the wake.

"I'll be attending as well, Manoso," Morelli informed Ranger.

"Leave your weapons in your car, Detective. There is no reason for you to be carrying. You are out of your jurisdiction. If you come in with weapons, I will have you forcibly removed." Ranger tells him before taking my hand to lead me out the door. Morelli glares at Ranger. If looks could kill, we'd both be dead.

TNTCE

A/N: Now, for those who didn't read the scene, here's the reader's digest version. When Steph was in college, her boyfriend raped her with two of his friends during a frat party. He and his frat brothers taped the assault and threatened to send the tape to Steph's family, the dean of schools, and others so that Stephanie would never report what happened.