Lights! Camera! Action!
Thank you guys for all the reviews and alerts! Here's another chapter.
Chapter 5
*Present day* "It's hard to profile a suspect who's using evidences to its own advantage. No one would suspect the guy behind the mirror.''
"Where is she?" The brunette almost yelled out, half-angry half-concerned. She faced Richardson, giving the man a black look. Her body tensed when she felt Derek's hand on her shoulder, as though he wanted to hold her back from hitting the detective. She backed away a little but kept on staring harshly the detective.
...
Eight hours had passed since Emily had received Paige's call. Right after their Pizza, she and Morgan had headed back to the local law enforcement center. When they had arrived, JJ was waiting her, sat in a room with Paige. Emily cast a glance to JJ who reached her to the threshold. "I think you should reconsider the fact that maybe Paige is involved in this." The blond had advised her before looking at the teenage girl.
"I know she's involved!" Prentiss argued. "As a victim." Her arms were crossed as though she wanted to reject any other theory that was different from hers.
"Maybe not just as a victim." Her voice didn't sound reproaching, but worried. "I, as you, believe that Paige is innocent. But someone's doing a lot to put all the blame on her." She laid a hand on the brunette's arm. "She has somehow a connection with the UnSub. She will lead us to the killer." At that moment, JJ had no idea that what she'd just say was the key to solve this case. Then the blonde went out the room, leaving Emily alone on the threshold.
Emily and Paige had spoken a good fifteen minutes before the blonde finally showed the reason of her call. She had showed to Emily four written books. Each telling the stories of the crime scenes in all the smallest details. Emily's breath seemed to race up while her eyes were reading the stories. Even the things that the press hadn't specified on the news were written. Things that only the law enforcement knew. "Paige, why didn't you show me this before?" She had exclaimed on her worried tone.
Paige looked her with tears in her eyes. "I don't know! I'm sorry." Emily set the books down on the table and stared the blonde as if she wanted her to explain why she hadn't showed them before. "I didn't thought it was important. I'm really sorry." She paused few seconds and bit the inside of her inferior lip. "Am I in trouble?"
"Does anyone else have read those stories before today? Emily was convinced that Paige was innocent, yet someone really wanted to put all the blame on that girl.
Paige lifted an eyebrow a little surprised. "You think someone has used my stories to commit these murders?" She stopped, a bit scared about her own question. "Why someone would want to do this? Why my stories?"
"I don't know, Paige. Is there anyone you can think of that would want to harm you?" The teenage girl had taken few moments to ponder Emily's question.
"I don't really have a lot of friends at school but I've been hanging out with a guy... Older." Paige saw the brunette's eyes widened as if she'd just gave her the answer. "That's not what you think! We're just friend. He already has someone and besides, I've never showed them to him." She laid her hand on her books. "But I did talk about it with him." Emily had asked about her older friend's relationship, but apparently she didn't know much. She knew she was a college girl, but that was it. Paige had also explained that they had more like a brother/sister relationship. ''I know he wouldn't hurt me.''
An hour later, a twenty-ish chestnut haired man was sitting in an interrogation room, wondering his presence in the police station. Hotch had led the interview and then came back twenty minutes later with an unexpected new. "Jackson Myers is the detective Richardson's son." All the profilers had a dumbfounded look on their face. "Richardson lost Jackson's full custody when he was twelve." Hotch had rushed to specify.
"Wait, how did we miss this? You think Richardson his our guy?" JJ had popped out still surprised by the new.
"The crimes have been committed by someone who is not sophisticated. A novice." Rossi had added to the conversation.
"Jackson?" Reid had asked with an eyebrow-raise. Emily had watched the whole discussion without a word. She was thinking about Jackson and the fact that he was now the prime suspect of the investigation. She knew the detective would be very angry when he find out. She was also thinking about Paige and what she had showed her just before leaving the room.
"There's something else." The brunette had added, interrupting her partner, Derek. "Paige hasn't finished to write her last story." Everyone's eyes were on her.
"But we have Jackson. What's so important with the end of her story?" Derek had answered her with a voice that had made her back away a little.
"In her last story, there's supposed to have two kidnapping. But so far, we only have one. If Jackson isn't the killer, we might have another kidnapping soon." Her colleagues seemed to consider her words.
Five hours later, they weren't even close to have a suspect. Jackson had a strong alibi for every murder. They were back at square one. They had let Paige leave the police station to get some rest at her house, under surveillance of a patrol car. A young officer had drove her back. Hotch had proposed to his team to get some rest as well. It was past two in the morning and Emily couldn't seem to find any sleep. She rolled over and over in her bed. She finally gave up the idea of a good night sleep and decided to review the case instead. An half hour had passed before the buzz of her phone broke the silence. "Prentiss." She had answered then listened to the male voice on the other end. Her eyes widened as the voice seemed to distort.
(Present day - Hotch's office)
Morgan was sitting opposite his boss, frowning in disbelief. After all they've gone through, the good and the bad moments. How could he dare doing this to him? The new almost felt as if he had been punched hard in the face. He felt betrayed, above all. He trusted the man with his life for god's sake! His fists clenched so tight that his arms started to shake.
''You can't do that, Hotch! You can't send me away, just like that!'' It came out as though a bomb had been dropped. His breathing was fast and loud, to show how angry he felt. The knot had started to form when Hotch started speaking about that night in Folkston two weeks ago. Derek said that he regretted what happened which was true, partially. He did regret Emily's tragic accident but he surely didn't regret what he'd done after. He did it for Emily, maybe a little bit for him as well.
''I'm sorry, Morgan.'' Hotch lowered his head. This was definitely something hard to do, probably one of the hardest decision he'd taken in his career. But Derek didn't care about his boss' feelings right now. The man was sending him miles away goddammit. Sending him miles away from her.
If the situation had been different. If Emily wasn't... He closed his eyes and shook his head. The tension between he and Emily hadn't been missed by their colleagues yet they'd let it go. But they shouldn't have. They should have listen to her from the beginning. He should have. Anger, but mostly desperation, just kept growing inside him, ready to explode at any moment. He couldn't leave. Not now. Not without saying goodbye to Emily. The thought that he would never have the chance to tell her made it all worse. That was too much to hold in. He clenched his fist tightly and smashed it violently onto Hotch's desk. ''No!'' He snapped with a threatened look. His supervisor didn't flinch. He turned his heels and stormed out of the office. He made sure to slam the door after leaving.
JJ, Spencer and Penelope, who were talking about Emily's condition, immediately turned their head to the sudden loud noise. Rossi, who had remained in his office, didn't miss the thundered sound that came from Hotch's office. He knew what that was about and he understood this sudden outburst from Morgan. After everything Derek had been through lately, Rossi couldn't help but think that maybe Hotch had made a mistake.
The profilers' eyes narrowed in concern when seeing Derek running down the stairs. Reid made an attempt to stop him but Morgan shook his hand off his shoulder and pursued his walk. The three exchanged worried look as they watched him headed out of the bullpen. Penelope was the only one to react. She rushed herself to the chocolate skinned agent, leaving JJ and Spencer behind, not caring if they were following her.
''Derek!'' She called out as she reached him before he got into the elevator. ''Hey sugar, what's the matter? What was that outburst for?'' She genuinely cared for him and that seemed to appease him for a moment. But that feeling quickly faded as the conversation with Hotch emerged not so far from the back of his mind. How could he do this to him? He still wasn't getting over it and probably never will. He couldn't leave. No, he wouldn't leave. His decision was taken. He would stay. That means that he would have either to quit, otherwise be fired. He didn't want to stand against Hotch decision but he didn't want to leave either. They had already offered him the job in New York that he'd turned down. He wasn't interested. His place was here, nowhere else.
Morgan didn't want to complain, nor blame his boss for how he'd reacted. He understood though the concern of his blonde friend. But it was between Hotch and him. ''Nothing. It's all good, Penelope.'' He didn't mean to be rude but the look the blonde had on her face told him the contrary. ''I'm sorry, baby girl. I'm just having rough days.''
A wan smile escaped her lips. ''It's okay. Apologies accepted.'' Morgan pulled her into a friendly embrace. ''We're all having rough days lately.'' She paused and considered her words. ''Emily will be fine.'' She said, but Derek could sense her nervosity and knew that she wasn't as convinced as she tried to sound like.
'Right.'' He nodded, though he didn't really believe it. ''I think I'll go visit her.''
''Do you want me to come with you?''
''I think I'd need some time alone. I want to talk to her.'' He said as he couldn't help the tremor in his voice.
''I understand.'' She patted her arm. ''Call me if you need to talk. Okay?'' He nodded. Garcia watched him getting into the elevator as a genuine look of concern appeared on her face.
(Emily's place)
She watched him, as he slowly dropped in the couch next to her. He exhaled one long breath and seemed to ponder his words. "Oh Emily, what have we done?" She wasn't sure if he was talking about what happened to her or Paige. She hadn't heard from her since the incident. It was understandable, though. Paige was probably trying to forget or rather moving on from this tragic night. She couldn't blame her. Since her accident, her nights were filled with nightmares. She could only imagine how hard it was for Paige.
She felt a hand taking hold of hers. "What have we done, Emily? What have we done wrong that you find yourself in this state?" Emily narrowed her eyes, all ears. She wanted to speak, but something was telling her that Rossi needed to get it off his chest, so she listened. "It was right in our face from the very beginning. This was a terrible mistake that we followed. If you're here right now, it's not your fault. It's ours. We've let you down. I don't expect you to forgive us, but I hope you'll find the strength to forgive yourself. You deserve it, more than anyone else. And I know you're probably blaming yourself for this, but it's not your fault. You've done a wonderful job. Don't ever doubt that." A subtle smile played on his lips as his eyes were lost in hers.
Emily furrowed her brow. Unsure how to deal with what he just said. "But Rossi, I'm right here!" She let out in a questioning tone.
Rossi removed his hand and stood up. "Take good care of you Emily." He said before starting to walk away from her.
"Rossi! I'm here! I'm right here!" She almost yelled this time, but the man didn't flinch. Didn't turn back.
*Present day* "Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes the truth isn't what you see but what you do not see."
It was a short chapter but hopefully the next one will be much more longer. You'll finally get to know what happened to Emily. About her, what do you think is going on with Emily? Anyone's confused? Don't worry, questions will be answered in the next chapter, at least a great part.
Next chapter will be mostly Demily. There will be a little of team interaction and also a Garcia/Emily moment. They will finally find out who their UnSub really is!
Sorry for the mistakes!
Any comment, opinion on this chapter? On the story so far?