Finally it's up! Sorry if this took too long; I was up late, I have a small headache, and I had a slight run-in with writer's block for a few hours. But it's done! Any italicized lines that are underlined are a flashback Aislinn is having, and bold is the UnSub.
I also take this time to send a really big thank you to cloudgirl9 and dothepepperminttwist, my star reviewers. And big hugs to everyone who's put this story on their favorites, and alerts, as well as looking at my other stories. You are AMAZING!
Nothing is mine; it's all CBS. I just watch the show, and stalk the characters (And follow the actors on Twitter; Thomas, Paget and Joe are so sweet and talkative, Kristin is awesome to hear from, and MGG posts the greatest pictures and links).
~~~***~~~***
Aislinn dozed slightly in front of her computer; she couldn't figure out how she would word her latest Geography essay, and it was due Wednesday.
But she wasn't thinking of the essay, or the Math class she was falling behind in, or the English book she needed to read, or the violin she needed to practice. She was thinking of another time, another place. A sunny summer day, back when she'd felt complete… content….
Robert Soules sat in the seat next to her, laughing as the older houses passed by.
"This is pretty cool!" he said; Aislinn nodded, smiling as the car drove by another house, her mother telling Jon Soules about the neighborhood. Jake, sitting between Aislinn and Connor, made a noise between a laugh and a snort. Aislinn ignored him; she loved her little brother, but he could be a pain in the butt sometimes. Not that she minded now.
They were laughing, smiling and not really thinking about anything except for the scenery of green trees and old houses, when her mother's cell phone rang.
"Jakob," Her mother asked, clearly surprised that her husband was calling now. Suddenly, Aislinn saw her mother's face grow pale.
"What?!" She asked. "Well, why are you calling me? Call 911, and we'll be home as soon as possible. Even if I have to take you there myself, Jakob. Just take deep breaths, and we'll come right home."
Aislinn felt as though the bottom of her stomach had fallen out; she didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.
"What is it?" she asked; she could feel Connor's and Jake's eyes on her.
"It's your father, Aislinn," her mother said. "He… he can't breathe."
Aislinn didn't say anything; she didn't have to. She felt her mother straining to go faster, but they were in the middle of Historic Downtown; Aislinn saw a cop car parked out in front of the Hard Rock café next to the Mississippi Belle. As soon as they cleared the hill that led from downtown to the middle part of town, her mother sped up. Past the Medical Center and nursing home, and past the YMCA building. It was slow going up Featherstone Hill, but as soon as they passed the high school, her mother went even faster, only slowing down to make the turn onto Jacob Avenue, where they crossed the highway and flew down the road to the small yellow house where Aislinn lived.
The whole way there, Aislinn looked behind her to see if there was an ambulance.
Aislinn jerked awake to the sound of her phone ringing. She rubbed her eyes, and stared at the computer screen for a moment before turning to her phone. She picked it up, glancing at the screen that announced that she had a text from Colleen, her best friend living over at Morrison. It was just a reminder, hoping that Aislinn would come to her dorm to play Dungeons and Dragons on Sunday, like they had last week. Aislinn texted back, saying that yes she would be there, ready to battle whatever creatures that Emma, Coleen's other friend, could think of.
Aislinn curled her arms round her midsection, glaring at the computer screen, waiting for the inspiration for the right wording to come. She sighed.
And jumped when her phone rang, signaling that she had a call. She checked.
Spencer Reid FBI
Aislinn, answered, feeling elated for the moment; even a few minutes away would be great.
"Spencer?"
"Aislinn, where are you?" She noticed that he sounded worried, anxious.
"I'm in my dorm room. Why, is something wrong?" She couldn't help the slight touch of fear that crept into her voice.
"Umm… It's about our case." He said. "Can I talk to you at the Public Safety office?"
~~~***~~~***
They met at the library instead, in one of the small group study rooms scattered throughout the library. Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss on one side of the table, Reid and Aislinn on the other side.
Reid could see that Aislinn was… well, not terrified. That wasn't the word he was looking for. Anxious, maybe. Confused, definitely. But not terrified. But that was only because she didn't know what was happening, why it was that they wanted to meet with her.
Suddenly, Reid felt pressure on his shoulder. He almost jumped, but relaxed when he realized that it was only Aislinn's head resting against his shoulder. He heard her sigh, her eyes fluttering shut.
"Tired?" Spencer heard himself ask. She nodded.
Spencer suddenly felt his hand reach up, and start patting Aislinn on the head. It was an awkward gesture on Reid's part, but for some reason, to him it felt… right. Comforting, at least.
"Aislinn," Hotch asked. Reid watched her for a moment; she had dozed off for a moment, closing her eyes as she leaned against Reid's shoulder. Her brown eyes opened, staring at Hotch for a moment with confusion.
"Whuzzup?" She slurred, slightly tired from sleep.
"There's something we need to tell you."
~~~***~~~***
She couldn't believe it. Aislinn couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. A potential victim. She didn't understand it. She'd been falling asleep on Spencer's shoulder one second before they had told her, but once the words were out of Agent Hotchner's mouth, she'd woken up faster than if her clock radio back home had been turned up all the way, and been playing songs from KDWB (the pop culture music station that played hiphop, pop and R&B, which she would NEVER listen to under any circumstances. Aislinn had always liked anything but that noise).
"You fit the victimology of the UnS- of the killer, Aislinn," Agent Morgan said. "You're over the age of 16, and you've recently experienced the loss of a significant person in your life."
"But the only counselor I've seen is the one I have here on campus," she whispered. "I-I haven't gone to any support groups, I haven't seen anyone off-campus. I swear."
"But what about your mother and brother?" Hotchner asked. "Did they go see anyone?"
"They go to a support group for parents and teens; I don't know where it is, but Mom talks about it sometimes." She said. "Please, Agent Hotchner, I haven't done anything wrong, and I know my mom and brother haven't done anything wrong."
"First off, Aislinn, I want you to call me 'Hotch." Hotchner replied gently. "Secondly, I understand you haven't done anything, and I also understand that what you're going through isn't easy. You've recently lost someone that you love dearly; no one wants to go through that, especially at a young age and at a very young age at that."
"But, Agent Hot- I mean, Hotch," Aislinn began. "All that happened was that my father died. I feel guilty about it, and wish that I could've done something differently, but I didn't cause him to… to die. I did nothing wrong; I know that to be true."
Hotch looked at her sadly. "Aislinn," he said, after pausing for a moment. "Our job is to get into the minds of people like this guy. We do everything we can to guess his motives. But sometimes, there is no method behind the madness, no reasoning behind his motives. Sometimes they just… do things like this. To feel the thrill, to relive something, or to fulfill a purpose… And, no matter how many times we do this, there are always the ones whom we will never fully understand. That is what this guy is doing."
Aislinn nodded. "Okay." She muttered, glancing at Hotch for a moment before staring at her fingers again; there was a hangnail on her left middle finger, and she began picking at it while trying to mull things over.
~~~***~~~***
Spencer Reid watched Aislinn for a moment. She looked so… lost. He knew that she was confused by the whole turn of events in her life; she had started out the day as a normal teenager, going to class, talking with friends, worrying about homework and everything else teenage girls worried about. Now, she was a possible victim in a murder investigation conducted by the FBI. She had a target on her back, and would have to always keep looking over her shoulder, watching her back until they caught this guy, whenever that happened.
Aislinn was picking at her fingers; Reid noticed that it seemed to be a nervous habit of hers, like when he adjusted a stray strand of hair behind his head, or licked the edge of his mouth. He empathized with her; he knew what it was like to be caught up in the crosshairs of the UnSub; he still had flashbacks and nightmares of his time in the shack with Tobias, now and then mixed with memories of Cyrus, Dowd, Bryar and even the Turner's pig farm. His leg would still twinge in pain when it was going to rain, and he sometimes found it hard to catch his breath, a reminder of Chad Brown's Anthrax strain. Even worse were the sounds of George Foyet's voice, and the three gunshots that had killed Hailey, a sound none of the team was likely to forget.
"Reid," Hotch said, jolting Spencer from his train of thought. He looked up to see his supervisor standing over him.
"I want you and Prentiss to walk Aislinn back to her dorm; we'll figure out a protection detail tomorrow; right now, I want you and Emily to stay with her. If anyone asks or protests, tell them that our suspect may take another student here, and that you and Emily are staying there until further notice."
"But they don't allow men on campus after 2 AM," Reid pointed out.
"I know that," Hotch said. "But JJ has to give a press release tomorrow morning, and the St. Paul Police Force needs all the officers they can spare; none of them can stay here. Besides, Campus security has cleared it with me. Aislinn will be fine with you two nearby."
~~~***~~~***
They are on to me. They know now why I go for them.
But I don't mean them harm; I only want to save them. It wasn't my fault that the last girl was with her friend. It was always so hard to get her alone…
"Please don't do this," my new patient whispered hoarsely. "Please… I-I won't tell, I'll do anything you want."
"But don't you miss her?" I asked. "You loved her so much, and she died. Don't you want to see her again?"
The boy closed his eyes. I could see he was still grieving, still in pain… I had to save him.
"It'll be over soon," I whispered. "You'll see her again shortly…"
He started crying as I began, but he soon stopped. I looked over his silent, still body, and I knew now that he was free, happy. Something I would never be.
"Rest now, child," I murmured, closing his eyes….
~~~***~~~***
Aislinn took the heavey wooded deck chair off the deck, setting it down on the grass to drag it across the lawn to the sidewalk. Mom had wanted them to move the patio furniture to make room for the EMTs that would arrive shortly after they had pulled into the driveway. Mom and Jon wouldn't let the three teens into the house; Aislinn thought it was because either she didn't want them underfoot, but it had only been so they could move the chairs.
Aislinn turned away from setting her chair aside on the sidewalk in time to see the brown Sheriff's car pull into the drive behind a red First Response ambulance. While the ambulance went all the way around the U-shaped driveway, the sheriff's car stopped infront of the sidewalk Aislinn was setting her chair.
Aislinn felt cold, despite the fact that the day was still warm. She couldn't believe this was real. She watched as the EMTs and into the house, while she retreated to the old swingset that was down the hill. A moment later, Jake and Robert joined her, both of them taking the swings; Aislinn climbed the rope ladder to sit on top of one of the two platforms on either side of the swings; the side she sat on hade a wooden bridge, while the other side was two platforms leading to a yellow slide, another ladder and a black rope used mainly for swinging.
Aislinn stared up at the house, watching as a white truck pulled up, and another man got out, running into the house. A moment later, another mad came out of the house, ran to the ambulance and pulled out the gurney before running back toward it. A moment later, she saw the EMTs transporting her father from the house into the open ambulance.
Aislinn slid down the side, running to confront her mother, who was getting into her dad's SUV.
"Can I go with you?" she asked.
"No," he mother replied. "You need to stay here until your aunt gets here."
With that, Aislinn went and sat on the porch, watching as the ambulance, the sheriff's car and the SUV follow each other out of the driveway. She watched the two bou=ys walk into the house, obviously looking as worried as Aislinn felt.
Aislinn already knew this wasn't going to end well….
….
Be-beep. Be-beep. Be-beep. Be-beep.
Aislinn sighed into her pillow as she opened her eyes, glaring at the alarm clock as it's infernal beeping continued.
"Oh, God," She heard Emily moan. "That thing is so annoying!"
"I know," Aislinn grumbled as she sat up stretching slightly like a cat before reaching for her glasses, forcefully jamming them on her nose. "I wanted a clock radio with an alarm, but they were all so expensive and big, and my mom didn't want me lugging the one I already had around between campus and home, so she went with the cheap alternative. It's annoying, but it does the trick. Plus it has a snooze button that keeps it off for four minutes."
"Lovely," Emily said, glancing around the room.
"Yeah…" Aislinn muttered. "It's kinda messy; I don't usually clean up as much as I should." But I'm not here that often; I just crash here, so usually there isn't much to do for it."
"Alright," Emily said. "I'll go get Reid; he told me he was staying out in the lounge, so I'll leave and give you a minute alone. I don't think the UnSub will be coming in this way, or breaking the window, so I think you'll be fine. What class do you have today?"
"Geography, Math and English," Aislinn said without hesitation.
"Good," Emily said. "I'll get Reid, you get ready, and we'll go to class."
~~***~~~***
A/N: Sorry this took so long; I was busy, and had some writer's block over the weekend; I also tried to work on a scene taking place later in the story, but it wouldn't come, even when I was sitting in the exact location that it would take place… Well, I tried on that.
Next chapter will be interesting; Reid, Prentiss and Aislinn in class; that should be fun.
Please Review; reviews mean I'll type faster knowing that people like reading this.
*~N_CBAU~*