A/N: Sorry for the lack of serious action thus far, but I'm getting there. I hope to get to the good stuff in the next chapter. As always, R&R!
"Bureau of easy answers, how may I help you?" Penelope Garcia's voice chirped out of Morgan's cell phone.
"Hey, Baby girl," he said, her voice enough to put a smile on his face. "You got anything for me?"
"You know I do, my vision," she said with a grin.
"Let me rephrase," Morgan said. "Anything about the case?" Teri choked on her coffee, and she and Trevor shared a look, but the rest of the team was used to filling in the blanks of Morgan's one-sided conversations. Really, there was never any question as to what was being said.
"Is that his girlfriend?" Teri asked innocently, and JJ and Prentiss burst out laughing. The young deputy looked at them funny, but no one answered her. How do you explain Morgan and Garcia to this country girl? They didn't even have it figured out for themselves. Before they could come up with a satisfactory answer, Morgan snapped the phone shut.
"We got something," he said. "Teri, when you examined the body today-"
"Jimmy. His name was Jimmy."
Reid spoke up. "It's usually best not to refer to the victims by name if you knew them. It can interfere with-"
She whirled around to face him. "I don't give a rat's ass what is best! That man was my friend and my colleague, and I will not refer to him as 'the body'! How would you feel, Dr. Reid, if you had to work the case of agent Morgan's murder?"
Reid visibly flinched, and Morgan and Prentiss took involuntary steps backward. Hotch and Gideon's heads snapped up from the folders they were studying to stare at Teri. "Sis," Trevor began, but Morgan cut him off.
"No, Junior, your sister had her say, now it's our turn. We may have never been asked to work a colleague's murder, but we had to go through everything Josh had to. Every one of us, plus the girl I was on the phone with, had to watch while one of us was beaten, drugged, tortured, put through psychological hell, even died and was brought back through CPR. Somehow, he made it through alive, and is right here in this room. Can you tell me which one it was?"
The others looked at Morgan, but still met Teri's eyes as she scanned each of them. Then her eyes met her brother's and they did that weird almost-telepathic communication. He nodded his head in a general direction, and she nodded. Set in their decision, she turned back outside the cell to the pissed-off profiler who issued the challenge. "Agent Hotchner?"
Gideon and Hotch exchanged a glance that bordered on amused. "Why would you think it was Hotch?"
Trevor shrugged, and Teri thought about it for a second before answering. It was clear she was addressing Gideon, even though she was studying Hotch. "He seems to be the strongest, or at least toughest. I think he would be the hardest to break. No offense to the rest of you guys, he just seems so…"
"Untouchable," Trevor supplied.
Now Gideon actually smiled. "You'd be wrong. Morgan?"
Morgan was still pissed. "The one we were forced to watch as he was tortured was Dr. Reid. He was beaten, drugged, and tortured physically and psychologically and we were powerless to save him. He had to kill his attacker to get free, and I think you owe him an apology!"
Reid and Teri turned nearly identical shades of red, and they both stared at the floor in embarrassment, Reid because they were talking about him like he was some kind of hero or something, Teri because she had so blatantly not only stuck her foot in her mouth but on such a painful subject. Finally she covertly studied Reid. For all the crap she had given him, he seemed to be a truly sweet man and she couldn't imagine having to see him in pain. "Reid, I'm sorry. The rest of you guys too. I had no idea."
Hotch nodded. "You didn't know. Now, Morgan, did Garcia give you something or not?"
Morgan nodded, and just like that it was all business again. "Teri when you examined th- Jimmy- did you use gloves?"
She was bewildered by the question. "Of course I did. I may be young but I AM a professional."
"Okay," he said. "Did you use paramedic gloves or cop gloves?"
"Cop gloves," she said. "I'd never contaminate the scene with the powder from the gloves for the ambulance!"
"The report said there was residue from powered latex gloves. I thought you used the right gloves, but I had to ask. That means the unsub used the gloves. Garcia traced the composition of the powder to the Med-Tec company."
"Med-Tec?" asked Trevor. "The ambulance service uses them."
"So does the hospital," Teri added.
"Is there someone we can talk to at the hospital?" Hotch asked. "Someone who would know most of the people and could help us when we have a profile?"
Teri nodded, jumping to her feet. "Yeah!" She looked at Trevor. "Doc could help them, don't you think? And he knows about everyone at the hospital and ambulance service. You don't really think it's one of the ambulance service? There's only a few of us and I don't think-"
Hotch could see this wouldn't end well, so he cut her off. "We don't have enough to go on to make that determination. Why don't you take Morgan and Reid and introduce them to this doctor? What's his name, by the way?"
"Doctor Bobby Newswanger. He's the head of the ER and the medical director for the ambulance service," Trevor said.
"Definitely a good place to start," Morgan said, leaning against the bars, his anger either forgotten or forgiven. "That okay with you, kid?"
Teri nodded. "Let's rock and roll."