"Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven." – Tyron Edwards
Color drained from the faces of SSA Morgan and his superior, SSA Hotchner. Their colleague, SSA Rossi was the only one out of the three who managed to withstand the news they faced.
"Are you saying that the police have arrested Jason Gideon?"
Strauss didn't answer with words. She simply nodded and made no attempt to mask her agitation.
"Where? Where was he when they located him?" At last, Hotch managed to overcome his shock and speak of.
Growing weary of this pointless discussion, Strauss released a vulgar sound of impatience and said, "For your own protection, that will remain classified. Just know that we've apprehend the offender and an investigation is currently in process."
"Erin, please," as Hotch took a step closer to his superior, he knew he was crossing a boundary. Without breaking eye contact, the man lowered his voice and pleaded, "We have to be involved in this case. If Jason really is the man we're looking for, no one knows him better than the members of this team. Grant us permission to question him and we'll find out sooner than any other officer if he truly is behind what's happened."
There was a long silence that followed. Strauss held her own and refused to look away from the pair of determined, unblinking eyes that stared her down. Eventually she did break and her gaze fell to her shoes. "Prince William Police Department in Woodbridge."
With a gleam of hope in his eyes, Hotch swiftly turned back to his team and leaf them back towards their vehicle, "That's less than an hour's drive. Let's go."
"Agent Hotchner," Strauss's piercing voice called their attention back to her. "Three hours. That is all the time I am willing to give your team to prove you can handle this case. Do you understand?"
"Thank you," he replied and hurried towards the SUV, "Let's move." Rossi and Morgan complied without looking back. As the engine fired up once again and the tire rolled in the direction of the freeway, Hotch's cell began buzzing. He readily flipped it open and spoke, "JJ. The Woodbridge police have Gideon in custody; we're on our way now to-"
"Hotch, I'm inside Diana Reid's apartment and she isn't here."
Hearing those words caused Hotch to dreadfully close his eyes for a moment. If his focus wasn't needed on the road before him, he would have liked to just keep them shut. Forget any of this was happening. Even if that was possible, JJ's worried voice could still be heard and she went on.
"There are clear signs of a struggle, Hotch and… there's… I found a note on the table."
"What does the note say, JJ?"
Having already read it to herself a thousand times before and while she called, the woman hardly needed to glance at the paper in order to answer, "Just… 'It's not over.'"
The unease Hotch felt before magnified to a point he didn't think possible. With each moment that passed, things just seemed to grow worse. "Get it to Garcia, see if she can lift a print and find a match." He instructed.
Though she knew her boss couldn't tell, JJ nodded but along with that gesture, she included a question, "Hotch… what do I tell Reid?"
"Nothing," his answer came quick and sure. "The doctor's orders were that he sleeps. If he learns that his mother is possibly being held captive by our un-sub… the last thing he is going to do is rest."
As the news then passed along to Morgan and Rossi, their expression grew grim and darker than before. JJ answered that she understood and disconnected the call. While the three men knew the best thing to do at that moment was share ideas aloud of what could be happening, the impact was too much. They rode in silence the whole way to Woodbridge and before they knew it, they were walking in through the doors of the police department.
"FBI. I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, these men are SSA Derek Morgan and SSA David Rossi, we're here to interview a detained, Jason Gideon."
Obviously the officer in charge had been expecting the men. Strauss must have made a call. "This way." The officer led them into the small room before the interrogation room and stopped. "He hasn't sat once since we put him in there. Hasn't said a word either."
At the sight of his former teammate in the position of a suspect, Hotch managed to only inwardly flinch. "I'll go in." He said firmly.
"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Rossi stepped up and blocked Hotch's path to the door.
"We don't have much time and I know Gideon on a far more personal level than-"
"Exactly, Aaron, that's my point," Rossi took yet another step towards his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, "This isn't personal for me and right now we can't let conflicting emotions get in the way of our schedule. If we're going to make an indisputable verdict on Gideon's involvement, this interrogation has got to be strictly unbiased."
Unable to side with either of his teammates, as both had valid points, Morgan remained silent. He watched as a reluctant sigh escaped Hotch's lips before the man nodded and in a near whisper replied, "You're right. Go ahead."
Rossi lightly gave Hotch another reassuring pat on his shoulder before taking a breath and entering the room. The two remaining BAU members left standing in the room watched as the following events began to unfold. Before any dialogue began inside the interrogation room, Morgan crossed his arms and made somewhat of an amused sound.
Curious to what would prompt his teammate to react in such a way, Hotch turned to Morgan with a raised eyebrow, "What is it?"
Traces of fond nostalgia glinted against Morgan's dark eyes, "Just never realized how much I missed the old man 'till just now."
No such traces could be found in Agent Hotchner's gaze. But out of the corner of his eye, Morgan caught a glance of a subtle nod.
~ Author's Notes ~
This was written while listening to the orgasmic melodies of the extraordinary band, Explosions in the Sky. The tune, you ask? Time Stops.
I had to pull up some geographical references in order to write this chapter. All the locations mentioned are real. Is there some kind of copyright I need to include or something for using real places? I'm not sure.
Anywho… that Criminal Minds Marathon was UH-MAY-ZING. I finally caught episode 72, Memoriam. Good thing too. For reasons I cannot currently disclose, I will say that I took away a lot of vital knowledge from that episode. But here's a question to you all…
In the different variations of Spencer's nightmare… why in one of them was he covered in leeches?