The Haunted
(based upon the TV Series Criminal Minds)
(I do not own Criminal Minds, all characters are from Criminal Minds or based on character already created on Criminal Minds, I own only my imagination)
Will sat silently watching the little girl who cried out for her mommy with no hope of finding her. Temperance was unconscious, why Will did not know. He was worried about Henry, not knowing what had happened to him, and Jack looked scared which hurt Will to the heart; he didn't know how to help him. He couldn't move because he was bound to prevent movement. Just then the man entered. "Looks like they all going to have to face find an end." He was saying to himself. "I done told that piece of no good trash before he died that he can't go letting anyone get hold o' that tape, and now that father of yours 's gone and heard it." He says looking at Jack.
"Listen sir, whatever it was you did, we can work it out, just please don't hurt the kid. He's just a little tike." Will says with some hint of his southern drawl.
"You don't know nothing 'bout me, nor do you have any idea 'o what I is planning, so why don't you just keep that flappin' jaw 'o yours closed." He says and kicks Will in the head, leaving him in the darkness of unconsciousness.
Talbot sat slumped over her desk in her purple satin shirt and black suit pants completely oblivious to the day of the year, she figured her daughter was dead; it had been too long to expect her to still be alive. Exhaustion was claiming her; they knew nearly everything that needed to be known. They just didn't know where Bass was. He was like the Ghost he claims to be. Garcia was looking, and has been looking for weeks. Now it was Christmas Eve and Talbot feels more alone now than she ever has before. She had no idea that what her father was going to reveal to the world was that Colonel Richard Bass was actually working for the Vietnam and Russian Governments during the Vietnam War, and assisted, on many occasions, in killing American soldiers in bombings and assassinations. Talbot learned a lot about her father's former boss, including the man's real name, Colonel Richard Bass, and his identity as The Ghost. The tape brought light to many if not all the questions Talbot had including his reason for quoting Hamlet. After listening to the tape she found out her father's call sign was Hamlet, and two other men in the unit had the call signs, Horatio, and Polonius. This just told Talbot that there was more to the story than just a threat. So she dug deeper into the clues only to find herself buried in her work late in to the night.
Derek enters the bull pen on his way out and sees Talbot sleeping on her desk. He walks over to her and sees her work splayed before her and beneath her head. He sees for the first time in a long time a peaceful look upon her face, just then Aaron exits his office. He looks over at them, "Derek?" he asks softly as not to interrupt.
"She's a sleep," Derek says as he walks over to meet Aaron as he descends the stairs. "I can't leave her here." Derek says, "She may be burying herself in her work, but I won't let her work burry her."
"I know," Aaron says, looking Talbot knowing how she feels, and wishing he could take back all the wrongs things he did that have lead to this event. He didn't blame her for Jack being taken, that was his own fault, but they all knew that the chances their families had, and the chances were low. J.J. wasn't talking to anyone, and Rossi was mourning the death of his ex-wife. Aaron knew how it felt to feel like the world was against you, now Talbot was in that place. He just didn't know how to make her feel better, and he didn't know how to get her daughter back to her, or his son back to him.
"I don't think it is safe for her to be alone." Derek says as Emily walks in.
"And I don't think it is safe for you to be alone either Hotch." She says as she walks over to them. "We all need sleep, but you two and J.J. are getting the least."
"Derek take her home, stay with her and make sure she gets some sleep." Aaron says, and then looks at Emily.
"Oh, I'm with you, Rossi is with J.J. and Reid is with Garcia, we are doing the buddy system. You and I… are Buddy's." Emily says waiting for Aaron to respond.
"Then let's go and get some rest." Aaron says and head out with Emily as Derek wakes Talbot gently by shaking her shoulder lightly.
"Talli, come on wake up." He whispers to her soflty. "Talbot, get up please. It's time to get some sleep."
Talbot stirs, "I'm afraid that if I leave I will miss something, and he will kill them both." She finally reveals to Derek her true fear, "He wishes to kill us all, you, me, the team, anyone who knows anything. He will do all in his power to succeed. How can we be safe, when we both know he is ever where, we cannot hide from a Ghost. Bass is that ghost, and I can't hide from him, but I also can't find him to face him."
"Talli, for tonight don't worry about him, just gather all your things and lets go home and get some much needed sleep." Derek says as the elevator opens and the speakers turn on.
"Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder if thou ever thy dear father love," a man said over the intercom. "Now here be the way this day shall unfold, I will request one of you to come to the elevator, and when that one comes I will set one of my hostages free. I choose who to take, and I choose who to free. Answer me quickly or the one in elevator two will die."
"You've come for me, so just be done, I come freely, and just let the others go." Talbot says, getting up from her chair.
"Do not try to alter the parameters of this agreement. They have been set forth and I merely ask for your commitment to adhere to the rules of this agreement."
"I will," Derek says.
"I'm in" Emily adds.
"I will agree." Hotch says as he and Emily take a step back.
"I agree." Talbot says reluctantly.
"Good, then the game begins." The Ghost says, "Aaron Hotchener, step into the elevator. Alone."
Aaron assures Emily all is okay and steps into the elevator. He swallows deeply and the doors close. Emily, Derek and Talbot look to their right and see the door to the other elevator open. Spencer steps out. "Good," the Ghost says, I like to know you can follow directions. Now, Derek Morgan step into the elevator." The Ghost says, and Derek gets in the elevator. He is skeptical and unsure of everything, the doors close and the elevator starts to descend.
Emily, Talbot, and Spencer look over at the other Elevator as it dings and the door opens. To all of their surprise it is Jack that steps out. He moves slowly to stand beside Emily. He says nothing and the Ghost speaks again. "Spencer Reid step into the elevator." Spencer complies. The door closes and the elevator moves down.
Emily and Talbot look over to see the other elevator ding and Penelope steps out, she is shaken and worried, but she steps over to the group. She is about to speak when the Ghost speaks again, "Emily Prentice step into the elevator." Emily looks at the others then does as the Ghost asks. "I will find you, you…" she trails off as the doors close.
"Now we have a new group of three, Talbot Parker, it is time for you to face the truth, this is all you will ever have, people will come and people will go, but you will always stay. You will never be part of the loop." The Ghost says, then the door rings and Will steps out. He is battered and beaten but walking, "It is time for you to see the truth Talbot Parker, and you will see it, "Penelope Garcia step into the elevator."
"Don't worry, Pen, it'll be okay, just do as he says, please," Talbot says.
Penelope gets in the elevator and the doors close as she does. Moments later the other doors open to reveal David standing there, he is quiet and exits with a calmness that alarms the Ghost, though he speaks as if unmoved by the calm David carries. "Will LaMontagne step into the elevator," The ghost says, and Will does just that. He looks more determined to get answers as the door closes before him.
The other elevator opens and it is J.J. she exits and is very confused at what the story behind this all is, she sees Jack and rushes to him. "Talbot Parker step into the elevator." The Ghost says. Talbot does as the Ghost says. She enters and waits, the doors close and then she hears the voice of the Ghost say softly, "But this Eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood." Then the air in the elevator changes and she finds herself being pulled into the dark black of oblivion.
Rossi and J.J. look over to the other elevator, it dings and out steps Penelope, Spencer, Aaron, and Derek all slightly out of it and confused. Will and Talbot are both gone. Aaron goes to Jack and takes him in his arms with a big hug. "But this Eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood." The Ghost says over the intercom to the group, "I have taken one hostage, and given you one, this game was but a taste of what is to come if you continue to chase me. I am the Ghost and that shall not be changed by you. Seek the woman on the second floor, she needs your help, she interfered, thus I did what had to be done." The Ghost says but fails to turn off the intercom. Silence is heard, then Will's voice follows.
"Why?" he asks, "Why did you do that, she would have just come willingly."
"Silence! it is The thin and wholesome blood, The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen, that is she…" the ghost added and the intercom went silent.
"Will?" J.J. says and tries to move to an elevator. Just then the elevator opens and a quote is written in blood, Talbot's blood Aaron guesses, the quote reads, 'But this Eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood.' Moments later the second elevator dings, and upon its wall is scrawled another quote also in blood, this one reads, 'The thin and wholesome blood, The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen,'.
"Morgan, Rossi, you two go with me and check the girl on the second floor, Garcia Reid figure out what you can about how he got in and where he is going, Prentice, J.J. look after Jack, and keep these elevators on this floor, this is a crime scene, and we need to find out what we can fast. He has Talbot, and none of us want him to finish his game." Aaron says as the three of them move to the stairs to see to the lady on the third floor.
Talbot wakes up to a throbbing head and numbness through her whole left arm. She tries to sit up, "Don't," a voice says to her, she forces her eyes open to see J.J.'s husband Will, a little worse for wear, but alive and sitting next to her. His hands like hers were tied together.
"Where are we?" Talbot asks.
"Don't rightly know, but he keeps saying that this place is his prison house, and claiming he now has his Ophelia, and also claims that Temperance is Gertrude. I really don't think he even really knows, but he is smart and he is crazy. I did what I could after he cut your arm, but I'm no doctor, so I don't know how good of a job I did."
"Thank you Will, we've never really had the chance to meet, I'm Agent Talbot Parker."
"Will LaMontagne, it is good to finally meet you." Will says as Colonel Bass enters the room with Lilly asleep in his one arm while he is dragging an unconscious Temperance.
"It is your turn." Bass says, "Time for you to face the truth." He says, " 'O, step between her and her fighting soul Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.' He knew how to spin the words, Ophelia, Gertrude was unable to speak the truth, but you, I will see you meet your end, if poison takes her, water will be you demise, but you die first dear, you die first." He says and grabs Talbot by the hair and starts to drag her through his house. "I shall in another way get thee to the nunnery." Bass says and laughs deeply.
Penelope rushed into her tech room and started to type away, she had an idea of how to find him. She just had to find the information, and she had to do it quickly. Spencer walks in with a book of Shakespeare's Complete Works opened to the play Hamlet and sees Penelope going to work. She brings up article after article that all pertain to the case, and she plugs them all into the database. Just as she was about out of ideas, Spencer pipes in, "Garcia there," he points to the location of a house, "what is the address?"
"5883 8th Street. Why?" Garcia asks.
"Look, if you plot the lines to their locations, and take the last numbers, that gives you that address, and if you take the first ones it gives you different addresses. I think he was telling us all along where he lives. These other lines correspond with other streets. I think these are the locations of his safe houses." Spencer says. He is at one of these locations. Either he is a 5883 8th street, or he is at 3380 39th…"
"Avenue." Penelope says punching up the number. "They are both in remote locations." She adds as Spencer leaves the room. "Oh God, please let them be alive." She adds to herself as she brings up more information to help narrow the search.
Spencer emerges into the bull pen, "We have two addresses," he says, "5883 8th street, or 3389 39th street."
"Do we know for sure he is there?" Derek asks as he exits the stair well with Aaron and David.
"Yes," Penelope says as she enters from her tech room, "I have confirmed that he is the owner of both places. 3389 39th is currently being used in a sting operation.
"8th street it is first then." Aaron says, "Penelope find everything you can about this place and send it to my phone. Let's go." Aaron says then walks over to Jack, "Will you stay here with Penelope?" he asks.
"Yes, we can wait for Santa together." He says and runs up the stairs to take her hand. Aaron look up at Garcia, and smiles as she takes his hand and leads him into her tech room. Praying they are all going to be okay.
The SUV's pull up silently to the house at 5883 8th street and the place is as silent as the night. Snow blows in the very cold air making hard to see and even harder to breath. The group prepares to go in when a scream draws their attention to the house. A door bursts open somewhere in the darkness, and a much worse silence follows for what seems like an eternity, ending with a horrifying crack of ice and another silence. The team moves quickly to the house, each taking different ways in to clear the house.
J.J. and Spencer enter through the front door, sweeping the house as David and Emily enter behind them and start up the stairs. Aaron and Derek start around to the back of the house.
"J.J." a voice in the shadows says. J.J. stops and turns to see a locked door leading to the basement. "Jen!" the voice cries again.
"Will," she adds and breaks down the door with one harsh kick. Then Spencer and her start down the stairs. She sees before her in the cold shadowy basement, three people, "Will," she says and rushes to his side. Lilly is lying next to him. The third figure a woman is silent and covered in blood.
"Where's mommy?" Lilly asks Will softly.
Spencer checks the woman for a pulse. "You won't find it." Will says, "He poisoned her, I tried to help her, but there was nothing I could do."
"She's gone." Spencer says and rolls her over. "This must be Temperance, his Gertrude."
"But if this is Temperance where is Talbot?" J.J. asks.
"He drug her up stairs, said 'O, step between her and her fighting soul Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. Speak to her, From me, whose love was of that dignity That it went hand in hand even with the vow Murder most foul, as in the best it is.' He kept calling her his Ophelia." Will says softly as J.J. started to untie him. Then from somewhere beyond the walls of the cold house shots ring out.
Talbot is drug through the kitchen. She tries not to scream, her shoulder hits a box and kitchen utensils spill across the floor. Her eye catches a knife. Her tied hands grab the knife and stab at Bass's hand that holds her hair. He curses and grabs the knife as she drives it into his leg. She jumps to her feet and pushes him back against the counter he screams. Then takes off after her into the back yard, he catches her by the shoulder and brings her head down against her knee then throws her toward the river. She slides across the frozen surface. Her hands before her trying to stop herself from going further than the edge, looking up she hears the cracks of the thin ice blow her and feels the ice give as the icy water swallows her. She grasps for the ice, but it breaks away as she tries to hold it. She tries to shout and cry, when great hands grab her head and push her under. Talbot thrashes and tries to free herself to get air. But the water is too cold, the hand too strong, the ice too hard…
Derek and Aaron see the foot prints leading away from the house and follow them down to the river. "Let her go!" Derek shouts.
"Bass, we know who you are, we know what you did, and it would be best you let her up and step away from the river side." Aaron says.
"Never!" he shouts and jumps in grabbing the hands that suddenly leap from the water.
Derek slides to the opening in the water and grabs the purple sleeve of Talbots dress shirt. The river pulls at her. The ice starts to break under Derek. He gets Talbot above the water, when Bass come from the water, he raises the knife. Derek pulls back, and Aaron shoots. Bass falls beneath the ice sheet that skirts the river's edge. Derek and Aaron pull Talbot from the water.
Derek starts CPR and fears the worst when she starts to cough up water. "Let's get her warmed up, an ambulance is on its way." Aaron says as Derek lifts Talbot into his arms and carries her back up to the house.
"Lilly?" Talbot whispers so quietly it is almost missed.
"Shhh, you just stay alive, and I'll find Lilly, and bring her right to you." Derek says as they enter the house and find David, and Emily guarding the door as J.J. and Spencer emerge from the basement with Will and Lilly. Derek looks to see their faces, though they are happy to have found Will and Lilly they each hold a sorrow in their faces that tells Aaron and Derek that Temperance did not survive. Sirens sound in the distance, as Talbot starts to shiver uncontrollable. Derek removes her purple shirt and her black pants as Aaron returns with a blanket the ambulance arrives and Derek is already at the door to meet them with the hypothermic Talbot in his arms. He rides with her to the hospital. Will is accompanied by J.J. Lilly is accompanied by Aaron. Emily, Spencer and David give the local authorities their information then drive to the hospital to find out how their friends are doing. Emily get on the phone and calls Penelope.
"Tell me they aren't dead." Penelope says, "Please tell me they are alive."
"Garcia, we are heading to the hospital now, Morgan is with Parker, J.J. is with Will, and Aaron is with Lilly. They are all heading to Fredericksburg."
"Are they all going to be okay?"
"I don't know Garcia, I just don't know." Prentice says and hangs up the phone.
Spencer, David, and Emily enter the hospital before they can go to the desk they see Derek, and Aaron standing in the waiting room. Penelope enters only moments behind them with Jack. "Do we know anything?" Penelope asks to break the strange silence.
"Will and Lilly are going to be fine." Aaron says softly, "We are waiting on news of Talbot." J.J. is with Will, Lilly was sedated, they had to set her broken arm."
"Derek," Penelope says softly.
He just takes her into his arms for a hug. In that moment the doctor come out. "Are you all waiting to know about Talbot Parker?" he asks.
"Yes, how is she?" Derek asks and looks up at the doctor fear crashing into his heart.
"We have her stable, and she is awake, but she needs her rest. She is asking for Derek, Aaron, and Lilly. And wants to know where Temperance is."
"May I go see her?" Derek asks.
"And you are?" the doctor asks.
"Derek Morgan." Derek says.
"Yes, follow me." The doctor says and leads Derek to see Talbot.
Derek walks over to Talbot's side, "Hey there," he says softly.
"Derek," she whispers, "is she gone? Is Temperance gone, I feel like she is." She says, "Please tell me the truth." She pauses, "He killed her didn't he."
Derek takes Talbot's hand in his and holds it to his heart as he sits on the bed beside her, "I won't lie to you Talli, Temperance is in heaven with those up there who love her." He says as tears well in Talbot's eyes. "But you are still here with us. Lilly is upstairs in the children's ward, Jack is here and I'm here with you, the team is in the waiting room, and we just want you to get better, and Bass is dead, he will never haunt you again. Plus it's Christmas Eve."
"Too bad I'm out of mistletoe," Talbot says, "for I would love some right now." She smiles.
"I think we can make do without it." Derek says and kisses Talbot. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Talbot says and falls asleep peacefully for the first time in years.
Ghosts seem harder to please than we are; it is as though they haunted for haunting's sake - much as we relive, brood, and smoulder over our pasts. - Elizabeth Bowen
Talbot wakes up to the sound of Christmas Carols, she looks around the room to see, Lilly is lying on the sofa with J.J. and Will, Henry, Emily and Jack. Derek is sits in the chair his head on the bed by her hand and he is fast asleep. Penelope and Spencer are talking in the corner, and David enters the room with a tray of coffee followed by Aaron with a small fake Christmas tree. He looks over at Talbot. "Thought you could use one," He says.
"Thank you, Aaron, for everything." She says softly, "Thank you."