Chapter Ten
Ashe watched as JJ and Reed returned from their honeymoons. She was happy that Emmett and JJ hit it off so quickly.
"Thank you for introducing me to Emmett, Ashelia. He is great." JJ stated.
"You're welcome, JJ. I'm glad to help. Just please keep the secrets of the family." Ashe answered.
JJ nodded. She knew that it was something that needed to be kept on the down low.
"Don't worry, Ashelia. I'll keep the family secrets. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." JJ responded.
Garcia stood in front of the team. She looked at Reed and JJ and saw how happy they were. She felt left out.
"Hey, Garcia. Are you okay?" Morgan asked.
Morgan had been keeping a close eye on Garcia. He knew she was going through a tough time for the shear fact that her, now ex, boyfriend Kevin had broken up with her to be with Ziba David of the NCIS team that they were going to be working with on this case.
"I just feel out of place with them, Derrick." Garcia answered.
Garcia looked at Morgan. She had fallen in love with him years before they changed team leaders. She had told him as well.
"Then will you marry me, Penelope Garcia?" Morgan asked on bended knee.
Morgan watched Garcia's face. He heard Prentice and JJ gasp and smiled. He loved Garcia more than anything.
"Oh my god. Yes I will marry you, Derrick." Garcia answered.
Garcia smiled at Morgan and then looked at Prentice, JJ, and Reed. She understood why they were so shocked at the fact that Morgan proposed to her. Ashe, Seth and Gideon walked into the confrence room. Seth and Gideon sat in their normal spots at the table as they both looked at Morgan and Garcia.
"What's going on, guys? The atmosphere in here seems so happy." Seth wondered.
Prentice pointed to Garcia and Morgan. She had a smile on her face. She was happy for Garcia and Morgan.
"Derrick just asked me to marry him." Garcia answered.
Ashe looked at Garcia and Morgan. She was happy that everyone was with someone. Then she looked at Gideon and shook her head. She had forgotten that Gideon was single.
"Don't even think about it, Ashelia. I'll find someone on my own time. But let's get to the case." Gideon stated.
Garcia pulled up the case file pictures to show the team. Each picture was of a different man.
"Four males were murdered in Clovis, New Mexico. Michael Smithson, Aidan Andrews, David Michaels, and Daniel Rush. Each man was brutally murdered. There were all found in the same sand pit." Garcia stated.
Seth looked at the case pictures. He saw how each one of the men had the same cut below their right eye.
"Our unsub's signature is the cut below the right eye. The cut seems to be to delicate to be male." Seth stated.
Ashe and Gideon looked at the cut Seth was talking about and understood. Ashe knew that Seth was keen about spotting things that no one else would have spotted so quickly.
Ashe and Gideon were sitting in the confrence room of the Clovis Police Station. They were talking to the families of the four dead men. They were currently talking to the parents of Michael Smithson.
"I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs. Smithson. I know you didn't want to have to hear the fact that your son was murdered. Do you happen to know who would want to kill your son?" Gideon asked apologetically.
Mr. Smithson looked at his wife and then at Gideon. He couldn't think of anyone that would have wanted Michael dead. He was still in shock of the fact that his son was dead.
"As far as I know the only person I know that would want to kill Michael is a young man named Jesse Dwayne Bartlette. Any other people I wouldn't know cuz he didn't tell me any of the other people that he hung out with." Mr. Smithson answered.
Ashe looked at Mr and Mrs. Smithson and then she looked at Gideon. She knew that it was hard to have to find some idiot who would want to kill these four men.
"Do you know what this Jesse Bartlette has against your son?" Gideon asked.
Seth watched as JJ walked around the crime seen trying to find anything that the unsub had left behind that would give them a clue as to who he or she was.
"Have you found anything, JJ?" Seth asked.
JJ looked at Seth and nodded. She had just spotted something that would help them figure out if the unsub was male or female due to the fact that it was a multicolored Zippo. She could tell that the person who owned it had never really cleaned it off from the fingerprints that he or she had left on it.
"Yeah. A Zippo. Seems like our unsub possibly smokes. He or she is going to be missing this when they go to look for it when they want to light a cigarette. Unless they have a spare lighter and it would have to be with them." JJ answered.
Seth walked over to JJ and looked at the lighter. He saw the fact that she was right about the fact that there were fingerprints all over it.
"Let's get it to Ashe. She should have her portable scanner and laptop. She always does. She always keeps those on hand in case she needs to do a quick fingerprint scan or look something up that she prefers to find herself." Seth explained.
JJ understood why Seth was able to know Ashe so well because of the fact that he had been around her for so long and then imprinted on her. She knew that she couldn't talk to Gideon, Morgan, Prentice, or Garcia about the family secrets but she knew that she could talk to Ashe, Seth, and Reed about the secrets because they were apart of the secrets.
Seth pulled out his cell phone as it rang. He looked at the front screen and noticed that it said Reed. He answered it and put it on speaker.
"Hey, Seth. Bella just called and said to let you know that Adrian is learning to walk from Jesikah and that he said his first word today. And she said that she is gonna have the kids at her and I's apartment for the shear fact that your house is getting sprayed for bugs. And Ashe wants to know if you guys found anything over at the dump site." Reed explained.
"Yeah. JJ found a multicolored Zippo. It has multiple fingerprints on it." Seth answered.
JJ could hear Ashe breathing in the background. She could tell that Ashe was slightly agitated just by the way she was breathing.
"What's wrong with Ashe, Reed?" JJ asked.
"We have a suspect, JJ. His name is Jesse Bartlette. He says he was trying to get some information from Smithson about his ex-common law wife Lindsay Washburn. And let's just put it this way Ashe isn't breathing too good right now. She got punched pretty hard by Jesse. We think that she may have a broken rib or two. We are at the Clovis Hospital right now. The doc is looking at Ashe's x-ray's right now." Reed answered.
Seth let out a ferral growl that shocked JJ. He looked at her and gave an apologetic shrug. He knew that she wasn't used to the fact that he growled like the wolf that was his counterpart. He knew that it would take some adjusting to for her and Reed.
"We are coming by. I want to be by her side when she finds out if she has any broken bones or not, Spence." Seth stated.
Ashe looked at Seth as he walked down the hallway to her and Reed. She could see that he was pissed off at their only suspect of the case. She could see that his wolf counterpart was fighting to get out to rip Jesse to pieces. She knew if the wolf won there would be an oversized wolf in the corridor of the Clovis Hospital and she knew he didn't want to freak out the people of Clovis New Mexico.
"Seth. Honey. It's okay. Don't worry. The doc should be coming to tell me what is wrong with my x-ray's. I am hoping it's nothing." Ashe stated.
Seth sat down next to Ashe and smiled at her. He knew he had to keep his cool or he would phase. And he didn't want the Quileute secret to get out and have everyone freak out because the Quileutes were giant regimented wolves.
"I'm gonna worry about you, Ashelia, because you are my wife and the mother of my son and daughter. I don't want to have to raise them both by myself because of the fact that one of the suspects of one of our cases decided to get a little cocky with my wife." Seth stated.
Ashe looked at JJ and noticed that she still had an evidence bag in her hands. She seemed to be shocked that Ashe was in the hospital for something that didn't go with her scars that pained her. Ashe could understand why JJ was concerened about her. She knew that there was something that was bothering JJ.
"What's bothering you, JJ? I can tell it is something that has to do with my painful scars or something else. You can tell me. I may be your team leader but I am also your friend." Ashe wondered.
Seth looked at Jesse and growled. He couldn't understand why Jesse was being such a dick to his wife. He knew that Jesse was looking for his ex-common law wife but he didn't have to murder four people to find out where she was.
"What the fuck is your problem, dude? Why did you have to break three of my wife's ribs? Did you think that you would get your way and go find your ex-wife and possibly kill her for what she had supposedly done to you? She may be your ex-wife but she hasn't done anything that deserves her dying by your hand. Yes, she got remarried well so what. She is happy that should be all that matters to you for the shear fact that she is happy and that you two are at least friends. That should make you happy for the shear fact that she is at least willing to put the past behind her and let you be apart of your daughter's life. Doesn't that make you happy? Or do you think that she is an unfit mother? And if that is the case you should have gone to the court system to find out where she is so you can get custody of your daughter not go out and kill four people because you can't find your god damn ex-wife. Do you want to end up not only killing Lindsay but killing your daughter as well because Lindsay will protect your daughter with all her being. She isn't an idiot, Jesse. Don't you get it." Seth retorted.
Jesse growled at Seth. He never thought that he would meet someone so controlled of his anger like Seth. Jesse thought about the fact that Seth was telling the truth about how he should have gone to the court house to find out where his ex-wife was for the shear that he knew that his ex-wife was an unfit mother and shouldn't have his daughter with her because he thought about how she was never kept a clean house.
"She is an unfit mother. She can never keep a clean house. She doesn't think about Amberleigh's safety. Lindsay was never fit to be the mother of my daughter." Jesse growled back.
"She may not have been fit of the mother of your daughter but she is and you can't change that factor because of the fact that she is the mother of you daughter. You are just going to have to deal with the fact that she is the mother of your daughter. Now did you kill the four men when you didn't get the information that you were looking for, Jesse? Or were they still alive when you left them?" Seth wondered.
Seth watched Jesse's face as he asked what he did. He was shocked to see regret and remorse for what he had done to the four men and for what he did to Ashe. Seth could tell that everything that Jesse has ever done was for his daughter, Amberleigh Marie Bartlette.
"Yes, I killed them. They said that she wasn't in Clovis and from what I had heard she was and when they didn't tell me where in Clovis she was so I killed them. In the beginning I thought it was what they deserved for the shear fact that they didn't tell me what I had wanted to know about Lindsay." Jesse answered.
Ashe looked at Seth and then at Gideon. They were deep in conversation about the case that they just finished in Clovis. She didn't understand anything that they were saying but it didn't really bother her for the shear fact that she was trying not to strain herself.
"Ashelia, are you okay?" Gideon asked.
"I'm fine, Jason. Just trying not to strain myself because of my broken ribs. I don't want to rebreak them and have to go to the hospital when we get back to Quantico. Did Jesse even apologize for what he did to me, Seth?" Ashe wondered.
"No he didn't. He said he didn't need to apologize for what he did to you for the shear fact that you look like Lindsay but with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's a fucking moron for the shear fact that he doesn't think he needs to apologize for hurting someone that has no relation to him or his ex-wife." Seth answered.
Seth looked at Ashe and understood why she was trying not to strain so much. He knew that it was hard for her not to move because she didn't want to hurt herself anymore than Jesse had.
When Ashe and Seth walked up the sidewalk to their house which they were living after it was bombed for bugs. Ashe was happy to be back in her own home.
"Thank god we can come back to our own house. Don't you think, Seth?" Ashe wondered.
Seth nodded and looked at her. He knew that Ashe was glad that their house was bombed for bugs for the shear fact that Adrian was scared of them. He was happy to be home with Ashe and the kids.
"Yeah. I'm just happy to be home with you and the kids." Seth answered.
Jesikah looked at her parents and smiled at the fact that they were finally home and she could spend time with them and being able to play with her father. She knew that she couldn't really play with her mother because her mom had broken ribs.
Ashe walked into the office the next day. She wasn't accompanied by Seth because Jesikah was sick with a high fever. She was hoping that Jesikah would get over what she had so that Seth could come back to work.
"Ashe. Where's Seth?" Gideon asked.
"He's at home taking care of Jesikah. She's got a high fever and if it gets worse he is going to take her to the e.r and I am going to have to go so if I do have to leave I am going to leave you in charge until I get back." Ashe answered.
Gideon looked at Ashe and nodded. He knew that she was having a hard time with everything that had been going on as of late for the shear fact that everything was going crazy. But he also knew that he would need to know about the case in Wellston Oklahoma. And the fact that there was a serial arsonist there.
Ashe pulled out her cell as it began to ring and she looked at the caller id and noticed that it said Seth and she answered it.
"Ashe, I had to get to the ER ASAP because Jesikah's temp went from 99.8 to 104.7. Get here as soon as you can. You wanted me to tell you if I had to get to the hospital and what her temp was when I had to come to the hospital." Seth stated.
"Thank you, Seth. I'll be there as soon as I can I just have to do a couple things first." I responded.
"Okay, honey." Seth responded.
Ashe walked over to Gideon and hung up her phone as she walked up to him. She could tell that he was worried about something.
"Could you head the team until my daughter is out of the hospital. I know you will take care of the team while I am gone, Jason. At least you won't try to kill me because of the fact that I am Team Chief." Ashe wondered.
"Yeah I could do that. And I will inform you about anything that goes wrong while you are with Seth and your daughter. Tell your daugther that Uncle Jason said to get better soon." Gideon stated.
"I will and thank you, Jason." Ashe responded.
Ashe walked into Jesikah's hospital room. She could see that everything was good but she knew that something would happen to her daugther. She just didn't know what.
"Momma." Jesikah stated.
"Hey, Jesikah. How are you feeling?" Ashe asked.
"I'm fine now, Mommy. The doctor was mean though. He gave me a shot and it hurt." Jesikah responded.
"Shots are going to hurt, silly. Where's Aiden, Seth?" Ashe wondered.
"I left him with Bella. I knew that she would watch him while I brought Jesikah here. He isn't much for hospitals if you remember the last time he was here because his sister, here, broke his leg and he was crying the whole time the doctor was putting the cast on his leg." Seth answered.
"Yeah I remember that. It wasn't the greatest day of my life because I wanted to cry because Aiden was crying." Ashe responded.
"I thought it was funny." Jesikah exclaimed.
"JESIKAH RENAE CLEARWATER!" I growled.
Ashe watched as Jesikah moved away from her and then settled when the pain began to bug her. Ashe could see that her oldest daughter didn't want to be punished for something. Even if she thought it was funny that it happened to her little brother. Ashe could tell that something was up and that it was also bothering Seth. It was something that was significant to the pack.
"Nothing is wrong with the pack, Ashelia. They are fine. At least as far as I know. I could tell that something was bothering you and that you were wondering about the pack. Don't worry so much. They are fine just like your family is fine. It's hard to believe that just last year we met and you were working on a case that involved your brother, husband, and son. It's still hard to believe that they are all gone." Seth stated.
"Something is wrong, Seth. I can feel it. And it is hard to believe that I lost three people to one case. Three people that I loved." Ashe responded.