Jess knew that look on Nicole's face. She wasn't going to back down from this case without a fight. Sometimes you just get a personal connection to certain cases and can no longer control your emotions. Nicole pulled it together long enough to look around the crime scene. There were millions of cops running around the library, but she noticed something that no one else did. Under one of the many tables she noticed something sliver laying on the ground. She walked up to the object and saw that it was a ring. Nicole wondered if it belonged to one of the many people that comes to the library, the victim, or the murderer. She called one of the evidence men to pick it up then walked back over to Jess.

"Jess I found a ring laying under one of those tables over there."

Something clicked in Jess's head.

"What did it look like?" She asked. Nicole looked at her strangely, but walked her over to the evidence bag anyways. Jess flashed back to one of her visions and gasped.

"It was in my vision. Nicole he finally left a piece of evidence!" Nicole smiled one of her biggest smiles since they started this and remembered how they got caught up in this case in the first place and how it almost broke them.

Flashback

Nicole, Jess, and Antonio went out clubbing that night. Jess was still depressed about Colin leaving and they wanted to make her feel better. Jess was stumbling the whole night because her and Nicole made a bet and Jess lost. She had to wear 6'' heels all night and she was hating every minute of it. Jess had on a short sleeveless black dress with purple 6'' heels, Nicole had on a tight short one shoulder fiery red dress with black 6'' heels, and Antonio had on some jeans and a red button down long sleeve shirt. They were going to The Salsa Room in Arlington, VA. They had never been there before and all loved salsa dancing so it was the perfect place to go.

"Nicole seriously I don't see how you go more then two seconds walking in these shoes!" Jess yelled frustrated at how her feet were already hurting and they haven't even made it to the club yet. Nicole and Antonio laughed at her as if it were a joke and soon shut up when Jess turned around and glared at them.

"Jess I told you we were going to have to park then walk to the club. You should have brought some flats then put the heels on once we made it into the club." Once again Jess stopped and glared at Nicole.

"You told me I had to wear the shoes all night!" Jess had a headache and really didn't appreciate her friend's laughter.

"No, Jess I said you had to wear them the whole time in the club I never said anything about leading up to the club." Nicole laughed because by this time Jess was sitting on the curb rubbing her feet no longer being able to take the pain. Jess screamed out loud and threw her shoes into the street. While Antonio was telling the people around them everything was ok Nicole bent down and handed Jess some purple flats just her size. Jess was so grateful that she couldn't do anything but smile.

"You owe me 50 bucks for not going through with the deal."

"No problem." Jess rushed out her mouth. Nicole laughed once again while helping Jess off the ground.

"Are you ladies done now? I would really like to get into the club before we have to head back to work." Antonio gave them an annoyed look because he was ready to dance the night away. The girls looked at each other and just walked off in front of Antonio as if he wasn't even there.

"Every time." He whispered under his breath. The first thing they did once they got into the club was go straight to the bar and took a couple of shots. When one of Jess favorite songs came on she grabbed Nicole's hand and ran to the wooden dance floor. Antonio wasn't far behind them and wasn't surprised they left him. Every time all three of them get together and go clubbing they are always off by themselves and leave Antonio to whatever.

The night was winding down and everyone was getting tired.

It was 3:30 in the morning and Jess was completely wasted. Her and Nicole had the same amount of drinks, but Nicole could hold her liquor better. Jess couldn't walk straight and had to have the assistance of Antonio and Nicole. They weren't doing a very good job of making it to the car because Jess had just passed out and Nicole wasn't far behind from doing so herself.

"Nic you got your glock?" Antonio asked even though he already knew the answer. Nicole reached under her dress and pulled it out with a smile. Antonio laughed because she always had the weirdest places to put her gun.

"OK sit on the curb until I get back. I'm going to carry Jess to the car.

She just nodded her head and sat on the curb until Antonio pulled up. Once they were all safely in the car and on there way Jess suddenly woke up and had to throw up, so Antonio pulled over in front of this small library. Jess stumbled out the car and barely made it to the trashcan when all her vomit came out. While she was throwing up she noticed this horrible smell that made her want to vomit even more. At first she couldn't think clearly because of all the alcohol and thought that maybe it was just the garbage that smelled bad. But the more she concentrated the more familiar the smell became.

"Antonio!"

He came running out the car.

"What's wrong Jess?" He asked before he caught a whiff of that smell.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I don't know that's why I called you."

Antonio ran back to his car to grab his flashlight and told Nicole what's going on. Nicole walked back with him to where Jess was standing.

"I might be drunk, but I can tell that smell from anything else. There's a dead body around here."

Antonio flashed his light and looked on the steps leading to the library. In red you could clearly see words that read:

"Follow the stairs and there you will find what I have left behind"

"What the hell?" Nicole was just as confused as the other two. Her curiosity got the better of her and she did exactly what the words said. Jess and Antonio carefully followed behind her. When they made it to the library doors you could see something else written in red:

"You have come this far and the doors are ajar walk on in my friends"

Nicole was about to reach for the door, but Antonio grabbed her hand.

"No Nic. This looks like a crime scene. Let me go get my gloves." Nicole nodded her head and Antonio soon returned with enough gloves for all three of them.

"Is this red paint?" Jess slurred out.

"Come on Jess I know your drunk, but I know you can see and smell that this is blood."

"And a lot of it." Antonio added to Nicole's statement.

When they walked into the library the smell was so unbearable that Jess ran out side just so she could breath, and to not throw up again.

Nicole and Antonio just covered their noses with their hands and continued further into the library. What Nicole saw knocked her off her feet, but luckily Antonio was there to catch her.

"Nic are you ok?"

"Antonio look." She pointed to where she was just looking at.

"Oh my gosh."

Soon Pollock and many other FBI agents arrived on the scene along with local police.

After Pollock got briefed by Antonio and Nicole he walked angrily up to the police chief with those two right behind him.

"The way your officers are acting I can tell that this has happened before." He said he first sentence calmly but you could hear his irritation.

"Sir I thought we-"

"You thought! That's the problem right there. You thought that if you could handle this on your own that would be good on your part. Well you were wrong! You have let this go on for too long with bodies racking up faster then you can say FIRED! You are nothing but a stupid police officer that should get trialed as a murderer for keeping this a secret!

"Sir." Nicole said calmly.

"I'm good." Was what he said when he looked back at her then walked away.

"He was right you know." The officer stated

"Oh I know. I wasn't defending you. We have to work with him and we can't have him stressed out because you made a foolish mistake." You could tell that Nicole was just as mad as Pollock was.

"John Pollock and Nicole Scott are not two people you want to piss off at the same time." Antonio walked off after he made his statement to the officer.

"I was only trying to help" The officer whispered brokenly.

Antonio, Nicole, and Jess followed Pollock's orders and got back in the car and headed home. Pollock didn't need three intoxicated agents working.

In the car Jess fell asleep while Nicole and Antonio were talking.

"I just can't believe that cop was stupid enough to hide this for three months! What the hell was he thinking?"

"I don't think he was thinking."

"We haven't even looked at the case file yet, there's no telling how many bodies have been found!" Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose. All the yelling she was doing and the alcohol was giving her a serious headache. Antonio looked over at her quickly and grabbed her hand and started to massaged it.

"Nic you can't worry about that right this second. You're going to let this case stress you out before we even officially get on it."

She looked over at him and knew he was right. She just sighed and followed in Jess's footsteps and went to sleep.

When Nicole had woke up later on that day she was confused and had a major headache. She woke up in her bed, but didn't remember how she got there. When she started remembering what happened earlier with the library everything else didn't matter. She rushed out her bed as fast as she could, but soon regretted it because her headache was worse standing up then laying down. She fell back onto her bed cursing along the way.

Antonio picked that time to walked in because he heard her profound words. He didn't say anything he just handed her a pack of bc powder so that headache could go away. Before they could say anything towards each other Antonio's phone rang

"Cortez"

"Get Scott sobered up I want to see you two in the office in less then an hour." Pollock abruptly hung up as usual.

"Come on Nic we gotta get into the office fast."

When they arrived at the office other agents were running around. It was so much going on that they couldn't even make out anybodies faces.

"Wow. I hope your prepared for this."

"Aren't I always?" Nicole asked.

Soon as Pollock walked out of his office he witnessed something he hope he would never see which was a Scott/Cortez kiss. He just stood there and stared. For once he was at lost for words.

Nicole could feel something was wrong and turned and looked straight into Pollock's eyes.

Pollock just turned and went into his office. The door slammed after him.

Nicole flinched.

"I have to talk to him." Nicole tried to walk off but Antonio grabbed her hand.

"Nic now is not the time we have to work on the case."

"Antonio let go of me," she said in a warning tone, but then changed to a softer tone "I know him better then anybody else. Trust me now is the perfect time to say something." Antonio let her walk off. He knew there was no fighting her.

Antonio walked over to Jess's desk where she looked like crap.

"Jess?"

She groaned in response.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm never going out with you and Nicole again."

"Hey it's not my fault I tried to slow you two down, but once y'all get together it's like I don't even exist."

"Next time I will most definitely listen to you. I can not keep up with Nicole."

Antonio laughed

"I haven't meet anybody yet that could keep up with her."

Jess smiled. "Let me fill you in about the case. Before we had the case the locals had it for three months and in that time there was a total of 125 bodies found," That shocked Antonio. "Yeah I know that's a lot. Each time it was at an library with a bloody message outside of the library. The message always rhymed and he never leaves any trace of evidence. Basically we have nothing and I'm sure if the locals would have called in the FBI when this first started happening then we would have something. He must have made some mistakes, but have gotten better over time. The locals really messed this one up."

"Yeah, but why are we getting involved? This is not a missing persons case."

"Actually it is. During this whole time there has been a 9 year old girl missing. Her name is Baylaa Bell. She is mixed with Black and Hispanic and her skin is the same color as yours. She has hazel eyes with long honey brown hair. She was taken right before the first body turned up. She was taking from the park in her upscale neighborhood. She went to Sidwell Friends School. It's a private school here in D.C. She was wearing a light pick dress with a silver sweater and sparkly silver flats."

"Wait so the locals not only let a serial killer go, but they let a kidnapped girl stay kidnapped?"

"Where's Nic I know she's gonna flip when she hears this?"

"Scott get out."

"Sir please just-"

"I don't wanna hear it Scott! I have let this go on long enough and then you really bring it into the office! I mean you guys don't even try to hide it anymore! What the hell were you thinking!"

Before Nicole got a chance to say anything Pollock kept on going.

"I mean Scott of all people I had the most faith in you! You knew how I would react if I ever actually caught you guys together!"

"I'm sorry." Was all she said.

"At first I let it go and gave you guys and myself sometime to think, but since you want to flaunt your relationship I have no choice but to deal with it!"

"It wasn't on purpose and you know what I'm not sorry! I didn't wake up this morning and think I was gonna come in here and kiss Antonio in front of you! We are in a relationship and you are just going to have to deal with that for now. You make it seem like Me and Antonio let our personal life get in the way of our work! When we first started working together after five years I hated him and I still got the job done! And even before you found out about our relationship we kept it on the low and still got the job done! If you want one of us gone then fine I quit!" And with that Nicole ran out his office and straight to the elevator.

Things had got so heated that all of the office heard the whole argument including Jess and Antonio.

Jess ran after Nicole and Antonio stormed into Pollock's office.

"I'm so damn tired of you and all of your bullshit! You are just a bully in a suit and I'm so sick of it! I quit too. Have fun with your life." With that Antonio ran to catch up with the other two. He found them in the parking lot.

"Nicole please wait!"

Nicole stopped running and turned around.

"What Jess?"

"If you quit then I quit too."

"Excuse me?"

"We're partners and best friends. You got my back and I got yours."

Nicole eyes got watery as she hugged Jess tightly.

"You're the best Jess, but I don't want you to give up your career for me."

"Nicole honestly without you I don't think I would have made it this far in the bureau."

"Jess you're a good agent I think you can do anything with the help of no one."

Antonio finally caught up.

"I quit too." Antonio said when he got close enough to them

"Oh gosh you too." Nicole didn't think it was a good idea for all of them to quit.

"What?"

"I'm quitting too Antonio."

Nicole actually started feeling bad for Pollock. Even though he was a crude man they have been through a lot together and have grown to like and respect each other.

"We can't all quit. Then Pollock wouldn't have anybody."

"So. Come on Nic serves him right."

"I agree with Antonio. I have tried my best to like this man, but he just makes it so hard on everybody. Nobody should have to put up with him."

"I know. You are right. He has really put us through hell and we're finally free." Nicole said reluctantly.

"Come on let's all go out for lunch it's on me."

Even though Nicole was kind of happy to be free from Pollock she knew there was still a serial killer on the loose and she wanted to catch him with every bone in her body.

Jess and Antonio were thinking about the killer too. The worst part is they haven't even filled Nicole in with all the details. When she finds out they know she is going to run straight back to Pollock.