A/H: Hello again, everyone!
I'd like to give a shout-out to ahowell1993, Beachgirl25, the two Guests Susan and Amy, Cece12, and Arminia for reviewing Chapter 5, favoring, and/or following (For)Ever After! I do appreciate it!
Finals are almost near!
Please enjoy and please do review, too; constructive criticism and ideas are always appreciated.
And...I want to give credit to ahowell1993 for helping me.
"Thank you all for meeting here this early," Prentiss announced to the team. "Now, as you've all know…" Prentiss stopped for a moment when Reid came in, causing everyone to stare at him as he sat down between Rossi and JJ.
"My apologies for being late. I had to drop Anastasia off."
"Fair enough." Prentiss continued as she sat down. Rossi and JJ stared at each other and Reid for a moment before they continued to listen to Prentiss about Élise's mysterious disappearance. "…Now, what do we know saw far?"
"Gina just gave me the results on the lab about the blood found at Élise's place from the hairs and toothbrush."
"And?"
Reid took a deep breath before speaking, "It's Élise's. And according to her, based on the blood color…between…at least 24-to-48 hours ago; Gina guessed 36 hours ago at best." He was mentally shaking his head inside his head.
"Oh god." Garcia felt sick and chills running through her body. "She's been missing for nearly two days." Rossi took notice at Reid rubbing his temples and JJ noticed he was clenching his fists and tapping underneath the roundtable.
Prentiss started to ask questions,
"When you got there, were there any signs of forced entry?"
"No."
"So how the hell did he get in her apartment?" Alvez asked.
"Does she have a security system?"
Reid started to get impatient. "Yeah, but it was not armed when I got there."
"Well does she at least have security cameras?"
"Honestly, I don't know."
"Did anything look out of place with you before we got there?"
"What the hell does that have to do with finding Élise?" Everyone was shocked to see—and hear—Reid yell like that. Or use language like that. The last time anyone—Rossi, JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia principally—seen like this was when…best not for the team to go there at the moment. Calmed down, Reid noticed the looks on everyone's faces when "Oh. I'm sorry. I…sorry. Excuse me." Rossi and JJ looked at each other with worry when Reid got up and left the room.
"I'll…go and try to…cool him down." Rossi got up and went after him.
"Anyone else needs to take a moment?" Prentiss asked before continuing. "Okay, then. Garcia, you got any surveillance footage from where Élise went?"
Rossi found Reid by the snack machine, munching on a Rice Kristy treat. "Reid…"
"I should have checked on her."
"You didn't know…"
"I could have at least checked on her for the past two days. I was the one who gave her time off."
Sitting down next to him, "Spencer…what…is going on?" Reid was silent; Rossi knows more than what he was feeling about Élise's disappearance. He hasn't seen him like this since…
"You can tell me."
Reid was still silent with his hand on his head and elbow on the table. "Look, I know you want to help find Élise but we need your head in this. You don't have to tell me everything…but if you do, I'm all ears and I'll here for you."
Reid turned his head, looking dubiety at him, "I don't have to tell you everything?"
"Not unless you're ready to tell."
Reid was wondering if he should tell him everything. It was better than not telling him anything. "Everything" as in, what he found when he went inside Élise's place and is not sharing with the team? "Everything" as in, kissing the nanny of his child? More than once, if he may add to himself? Come to think of, he always thought…Never mind that. For now, at least.
Which to start with first?
"Okay. During your holiday dinner party, when you all were playing in the snow…Élise and I…we kissed under the mistletoe."
"I know."
"And to be honest with you, I…" Reid stopped him when he swore he heard Rossi say, "You know?"
"It's my mansion so I know everything. And I most definitely saw you two; from what I saw…you two were pretty into it."
Reid's facial expressions were neutral but smiled to himself on the inside. Sometimes, he still felt the feelings from their first kiss. There was just something about it that felt…magical. Not since…The touch of her lips, her skin. He kept telling himself it was the mistletoe when really…it wasn't. And the other time on Valentine's Day.
Rossi thought about asking him if that was the only time he and Élise kissed, but he did tell him that Reid did not have to tell him everything. As Rossi got up from the table, "I won't tell anyone. And like I say, you don't have to tell me everything, but if you do..."
"Wait." He said to stop Rossi from leaving. "There's something I found when I went inside."
Walking back into the room with Rossi, Reid reaches into his bag and tosses a file on the roundtable. Prentiss questioned it, "What's this?"
Rossi looked at Reid, giving him the confidence to say what truly happened to Élise. Taking a deep breath,
"Élise was being stalked." Everyone's mouths dropped; JJ looked at Rossi with worry although it was not really noticed by most of the team other than Garcia. Prentiss immediately opened the folder and there were a bunch of photographs of Élise; some with Reid, Anastasia, the team. Reid started to shake his head and his voice lowered into a whisper, "And I think I know who might be behind this."
"Who?"
"Cat Adams."
"Oh, god." JJ put her hands on her head, groaned. She did not want to be remained of her for as long as she lived. Simmons was already filled in about her when the team finally exonerate Reid after he was framed for murder and the hell-and-back in prison with the help of her two-person crew.
"It's possible." Tara thought. "You saw the great lengths she went to get back at Reid."
"Maybe we should talk to her…"
"No." Reid flat-out said. "Hell. No. I don't want to see her. I don't want to talk to her. Hell, I don't even want to look at her. Because I promise you all this: if she played her part in Élise's disappearance, even in the slightest measurement, I'm going to get her."
"Hold on there, Reid," Rossi said. "Look. I know you hate her; I hate her as much as everyone else in this room…"
"But we just can't walk in there and start slapping her around." Alvez continued for Rossi.
"I want to slap her around," JJ whispered to Garcia, who nodded in agreement and Garcia is not much of a violent person.
"It's our only way."
Reid scoffed. "It's our only way, my…"
"Reid." Rossi didn't let him finish that sentence; knowing he wasn't prone to keep on using inappropriate language.
"Reid…we have to."
"Fine," Reid relentlessly and reluctantly agreed. "Somebody better come with me because the second I find out she was involved, I promise you this, it won't be pleasant. And that's me putting it in the nicest way right now." Reid walked out and headed for the elevators. Everybody looked at each other.
"I'll go with him." Tara volunteered as she got up and left to be with Reid.
"Anyone else?" Prentiss asked.
"I'll go with them, too." Alvez also volunteered and left to be with Tara and Reid.
"Thank god for those two," Rossi said. "Honestly, had I gone with them, I…probably would not want to be in the same room with her if Reid found out she played her part." Rossi reached into his pocket and dials a number on his cell phone. "And I think I'll call a special someone to meet them over there with the little pussycat."
"Hotch?" Reid was puzzled by his former BAU Chief here with Tara and Alvez. "What are you doing here?"
"Rossi called, told me what happened, and I offered to help; I still have my connections from being a prosecutor and I'm still licensed. Also, if it's alright with you. I even asked Cece Hillenbrand for her assistance, but she's on another case. You remember her, right, Reid?"
"From Brian Matloff's trial? Yeah."
As they were walking down the hall, they finally got to the room where Cat Adams was at and they saw her sitting down; looking bored and uninterested in just about everything, picking her fingernails. Tara and Alvez were the first ones to enter the room.
"Yeah…do I know you people?"
Finally, she had a huge grin on her face and crossed her fingers when,
"Dr. Spencie Reidie." Came into the interrogation room with Hotch. "What a pleasant surprise. Never had I thought you, of all people in this world, would be back to visit me." Chuckling to herself. "I will admit this, I've actually dreamed on this: getting another visit from you again. Especially after your last visit."
"Wow," Reid was not in the mood for her false crap. "I'm so flattered that you dream of me. I haven't given you a thought since that last time I came."
"How's Mommy Reidie?" Cat began to taunt him. "Has she lost her memory yet?"
"Look, you bitch," Tara got right to the point when Reid was seconds away from doing something that would not be the most gentleman-like thing to do, only to be stopped by Alvez and Hotch. "We don't have to be here."
"Then…why, you bitch, are you here?"
Reid grabbed the file and tosses it on the table. Cat takes a quick peek at them,
"Yeah. Are these supposed to be something to me?" Crossing her arms.
"Where is she?"
"Who?"
"You know who."
"No, I don't know who. Be more specific before I get bored. You know I'm prone to get bored very easily."
Reid tosses another photograph of her. "Her name's Dr. Élise Bastien."
Cat observed the picture. She noticed that Élise had a slim face with short chin-length black-brown hair, dark brown almond-round-shape eyes behind black designer rectangular eyeglasses, medium-to-dark brown skin tone, Cupid's bow lips and semi-high cheekbones. Raising her eyebrows, smugly smirking,
"Ohh. The Dr. Spencie's got a case of jungle fever." Cat said in a sing tune tone. "You know the old saying, 'once you go black, you never go back.' I must admit, she has some exoticness to her. Maybe it's because of her name. É…lise…Bas…tien. And I will say this, too, she seems a bit prettier than…" Putting her finger to her chin and mouth. "What's her name? Oh, yeah. Maeve Donovan."
Reid refused to let anyone, especially her, sees his emotions affect him, especially when she mentioned Maeve Donovan's name.
"Again, what about her?"
"Where the hell is she?"
"Watch your language, Reidie," Wagging her finger. "Didn't you mommy tell you not to use such language?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Hmm," Putting her finger to her hand and chin again. "Let me think long and hard about it, no."
"Why not," Alvez had his turn to talk now. "You went through great length to get back at him for putting you here; using Lindsay and the guard to get what you want. Framing him for murder."
"As much as I would love to take credit for this, I just simply can't. I'm actually starting to enjoy this. Someone else is willing to give you this much miserable other than me. It's almost a dream come true." She conceitedly smirked.
"Well, this dream will turn into a nightmare. For you at least."
"Wow," Cat blandly said. "You can talk. For a second, I almost mistook you for an action figure in a suit."
"And you can hear, so I suggest you listen, especially to this."
"And you are…?"
"Let me introduce myself to you since it seems rude of me to introduce myself without giving you a warning. And you seemed to be lacking some manners; that's not unusual for someone like you. Aaron Hotchner: former Supervisory Special Agent and BAU Chief."
"And I should care why?"
"Because you are not the only ones with connections; I can use my federal prosecutor connections and I can have every attorney I know who would be willing to help me with anything and I mean anything. And if we find out you played a part in Dr. Élise Bastien's disappearance, even the smallest measurement, I will make damn sure you spend the rest of what's left of your own miserable life in solitary; making sure you have no contact with the outside world. And when I say, 'the rest of what's left of your own miserable life,' I mean it: no visitors, no mail, no phone calls, no human contact for the rest of your life. Or worse. I can make miracles in my work and at times, they can be masterpieces."
"Wow. I'm so scared." Cat sarcastically said. "I'm shivering in my shoes."
Tara had just about enough of her. "Let's go."
"Please." Reid agreed.
"Come back and visit me anytime."
As everyone else was ready to leave, "Remember what I said, Spencie: once you cross that line, there's no going back. And one more thing: would ever consider adopting and raising someone else's baby when you could have raised mine?"
Reid simply ignored her and left, fuming on the inside. But now, he started to have a nagging question about…he decided to put that to the side because he just wanted to do very bad things to her at the moment.
As the team left the prison, "Oh, thank you, God!" Tara was relieved to finally have her out of her sight. "I'm not going to lie. I want to smack her." She said as she grabbed her cell phone, hearing it ring.
"You and me both."
"I meant every word I said, Reid."
"I know you did. And thanks."
"Uh, guys?" Tara stopped, looked worried. "You might want to take a look at this."
Élise felt that she had the whole world on her shoulders just trying to open her eyes. Her entire body ached and pained so much, she felt weak when moving her body. Yet at the same time, she felt drowsy. And even sleepier than usual. She even felt thirsty; her throat was dry. She felt sick to her stomach and nauseous like she wanted to vomit.
She kept trying to fight for her body's control to get herself to open her eyes.
None of this looked good at all.
She found herself to be in an unknown size room, vacant to light. Her wrists and ankles were tightly cuffed and restrained in front and not behind her back.
Lucky for her.
She had to be honest with herself; she doesn't remember what was happening to her or how she even got here. The last time she could really remember was walking to her bedroom when…
"Oh, goodie," A mysterious voice said to her. "You're awake." It tosses her a bunch of photographs.
Despite her vision being hazy, Élise looks at them and saw that they were photographs…of her. Some with Reid, some with the team. Some with Anastasia. And some that were…
"How long have you been watching me?" She hazily asked.
It sadistically smiled and chuckled at her as it held a syringe in its gloved hand. "I guess that's for you to know and find out, huh, Élise?"