Hi lovely readers! I know this chapter is short, but the next one will be longer to make up for it! Thanks to everyone who follows and reviews, and a special thanks to my favorite reviewer who likes to use an anonymous account to tell me how much they dislike my writing ;) (?). To those of you who don't mind that my story is "predictable" and "tedious," I hope you enjoy and I will get the next chapter up soon!
A gentle jostling woke Joey sometime later. She opened her eyes as the blankets slipped from her shoulders.
Prentiss looked up at her stirring. "Hi." She smiled warmly. "We just landed. How are you feeling?"
"Better." Joey replied truthfully. She had stopped sweating and shivering, and though she still felt a little lightheaded, her vision was clear.
When the jet finally rolled to a stop, Joey unbuckled and stood. She waved Reid and JJ away. "I'm fine." She insisted. On steady feet, she grabbed her go-bag and descended to the tarmac. Hotch and Morgan approached her, both looking serious.
"I'm staying with you tonight." Morgan didn't phrase it as a question.
"No, Morgan—." Joey began to protest, but Hotch held up a hand.
"Either he stays with you or we take you to a hospital. Tonight." He added with emphasis as Joey opened her mouth again to argue.
"I'm feeling better, really." Joey said firmly. But at Morgan's raised eyebrow and Hotch's crossed arms, she sighed. She was too tired to argue anyway. "Fine, but you're taking the couch." She grumbled and headed toward Morgan's car.
Once inside Joey's apartment, she began pulling out extra pillows and blankets. "You're welcome to anything in the fridge." She began making a bed on the couch. "But please try not to eat your way through my home. I just went grocery shopping." She firmly tucked the edges of the sheet under the cushions. "There are extra blankets in the basket by the armchair. You can watch TV if you want, or I can give you my wifi password, it's up to you—."
"Hey." Morgan cut her off. Joey looked up to see him peering down at her, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yah, of course." Joey said with false cheer as she fluffed the pillows a bit.
"No," Morgan gently grabbed her wrist, but Joey swiftly pulled back. He stared at her. "Are you okay?" He asked with emphasis this time.
Joey absent-mindedly picked at her sleeve for a moment. "Yes." She finally answered. "No." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know. I just…" she gave a rueful chuckle and shook her head. "I never should have gotten involved."
Morgan looked like he was about to ask something, but Joey continued, the word practically spilling out of her. "I never should have agreed to anything with Pearce. I knew what was happening wasn't legal and I should have said something to you guys sooner, but now I've been involved for so long and I let hime get away with it, and now I went and got you guys involved and you have to deal with my problem now, and it's gonna be this whole big scandal, and the BAU is gonna have its name dragged through it, and it's all my fault and I'm so sorry, okay, I'm so so sorry about everything—."
"Hey, hey." Morgan stopped her. Joey had started to panic, her breath coming erratically, so she took a deep breath.
Morgan reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders. Joey tensed. Morgan knitted his eyebrows together, but let go. "Hey, listen to me. You have nothing to be sorry for." He raised his eyebrows. "Okay? This is not your fault. You were just doing what you had to to protect your father."
Joey nodded and rubbed her brow, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to hide from Morgan the fact that her headache was back and her legs felt shaky. However, her efforts proved meaningless as she was suddenly overcome by a fit of coughs.
"Okay, that's it." Morgan shook his head and grabbed his jacket off the back of the armchair.
Joey waved him down. "No, no, no. Morgan, I'm not going to the hospital. Please I just…I just need to sleep it off."
Morgan eyed her for a moment before consenting. "Fine. But you're going to bed now." Joey considered arguing, as she didn't like being told what to do, but she could tell her body was tired and she didn't think she'd be able to stay awake for much longer.
Morgan opened Joey's bedroom door for her. "And tomorrow morning, if you're not better, you're staying home."
Joey rolled her eyes as she walked past him into her room. "Sure thing. But I will be better in the morning. You'll see." She folded her arms defiantly.
Morgan's expression softened as he looked down at her. "Goodnight Ryan."
Joey gave a small half-smile. "Goodnight Morgan." She gently closed the door behind him and promptly fell into bed.
The next morning, Joey emerged from her room, showered and dressed, to find that Morgan had made himself at home in her kitchen. He had several slices of toast and two travel-mugs full off coffee waiting.
"How are you feeling?" Morgan asked after he had wished her good morning.
"Better, really." Joey replied as she poured creamer into her coffee. Her head wasn't spinning anymore, and she really felt good save for the urge to cough every thirty seconds. "I think my lungs will take longer to recover, but otherwise, I feel really great, honestly."
Morgan watched her carefully as she stirred sugar into her mug, then nodded. "Alright, then lets head in."
Joey and Morgan had barely stepped into the bullpen when Hotch emerged from his office, followed by Prentiss. "Everyone in the conference room, please."
Morgan and Joey dropped their stuff off at their desks before following everyone else up to the round table.
Hotch closed the door once everyone had entered and turned to his expectant team. "We need to figure out our next steps going forward with Chief Pearce." Joey shifted uncomfortably in her seat as everyone nervously glanced between her and Hotch. "We need to get solid evidence." He continued. "Ryan, you said Pearce would leave you notes?"
Joey nodded. "But I destroyed most of them."
"Do you still have the one he left on your car?" Reid asked.
Joey nodded, ignoring the sharp looks from JJ and Morgan.
"And he sends you texts?" Prentiss asked.
Again, Joey nodded. "But he uses different burner phones each time."
"We'll still let Garcia take a look and see if she can pull anything from that." Hotch hesitated. Joey threw him a questioning look. He glanced down at Prentiss, who turned to Joey uncertainly.
"We're not sure that will be enough to incriminate him. We need something more." She paused. Joey didn't say anything, though she had a feeling she knew what was coming. Prentiss briefly glanced up at Hotch for reassurance before dropping the bomb. "We need you to wear a wire."
"What!?" Morgan cried.
"Hotch." JJ protested.
Reid looked up sharply, anxious.
Joey sighed, then nodded.
"What? No, no way." Morgan shook his head.
Hotch folded his arms. "We need something really solid that we know Pearce can't talk his way out of. There has to be absolute truth to the evidence when we hand it over."
"Hotch." JJ protested. "That's way too dangerous. We know Pearce has gotten physical. If he finds out she's wearing a wire…"
"It's okay." Joey said finally. "I'll do it. I think it's a good idea."
Reid and Morgan stared at her incredulously, but Joey determinedly stared at Hotch.
Hotch nodded. "Pearce got back from his business trip yesterday. Do you know yet when your next meeting with him will be?"
Joey looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes."
The entire team stared at her. "…Twenty minutes?" Prentiss asked tentatively.
Joey nodded. "If neither of us are away for work, I'm supposed to meet with him every Tuesday at 10."
Morgan desperately looked to Hotch, as if hoping his boss would protest to the meeting on such short notice. But Hotch merely gave Joey a calculated look before nodding. "Okay."
"This is insane." Morgan threw his hands into the air. "JJ, are you okay with this?"
"I know it's sudden," JJ said slowly. "But the sooner we can get this evidence, the sooner we can turn him in."
Morgan shook his head, but conceded to defeat.
Hotch reached for the door. "Okay. If we're going to get you ready in time, we need to go to Garcia now."
The rest of the team rose and walked past Hotch to head toward Garcia's bat cave. "Hotch, Prentiss." Joey called.
The two designated agents lingered behind.
"There's something else." Joey stood. She chewed her lip nervously. "Pearce needed…back up. He needed extra insurance in case I was able to prove that my father wasn't affiliated with any terrorists, so he has something else." Joey looked at her shoes, humiliated. But if she wanted them to trust her, she had to come out with everything.
"What do you mean?" Prentiss asked, sharing a concerned look with Hotch.
"Pearce has…pictures that he made me take." Joey said to the floor.
"Pictures…?" Hotch repeated.
Joey took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling above Prentiss. "Pictures of me…in his office…I don't know—."
Hotch raised a hand to cut her off. Prentiss was looking at her with a sympathetic gaze. "We'll make sure we find them and destroy them."
Joey sighed in relief and nodded gratefully. Hotch gave a curt nod to both Joey and Prentiss before exiting. Prentiss and Joey followed him out.