AN: Okay, so this chapter has been the hardest one so far. I hope it's still believable and I hope it's well done, otherwise I haven't done my job. It took me so long because I kept having writer's block on it since the scene was so difficult to write and there were a lot of things I wanted out of this scene. I hope you readers get what you want too. Sorry for making you guys wait.
Jareau placed the manila folder on the table between her and Hotch. The leader of the team flipped it open and pulled out four large pictures that had smaller shots paper-clipped onto them. These photos of the victims already showed Hotch a lot of information. He placed them back on the table. Prentiss picked them back up and flipped through them.
"Wait, so, our unsub is a transvestite?" Prentiss asked, looking at a lipstick kiss on each of the victim's cheeks.
Morgan stood up and crossed the aisle to look over her shoulder while he corrected her, "Not necessarily. The unsub could be a female."
Reid watched as Morgan shoved his hands in his jean pockets. The way the fabric rippled across that steel ass caused Reid to have to shift in his seat. He was getting extremely uncomfortable sitting in a seat at the back of the plane, alone, just watching everyone else. It was his turn to say something- just to ignore Morgan.
"Actually, ninety percent of all serial killers are male," Reid stated.
Everyone looked at their young genius.
"But what about that other ten percent?" Morgan retorted using a question.
"We can't account for gender right now. Until we know more we have to assume he's male," Hotch said.
"Hotch, I really think that's a bad idea," Morgan said, shaking his head. He gripped the top of Prentiss' seat. "Usually I'm in tune with you, but man, what if we're wrong? That could change the whole investigation."
"Right now, Morgan, I think you're in tune with something else," Hotch stated.
The team leader raised his eyebrows and leaned to the side, eying Reid. Their youngest's color had immediately drained out of him. Now he was as white as a sheet, or freshly fallen snow. Morgan swallowed and looked back at Reid who could only give a sheepish smile. The rest of the team looked at Reid again as well.
"What's he mean?" Jareau inquired hastily, looking back at Hotch. When no one answered she asked again, "What's he mean?"
Prentiss furrowed her brow and glanced up at Morgan, "Your banging Reid?"
Morgan turned his head over his shoulder and watched as Reid's long legs quickly carried him into the small bathroom. Hotch could say nothing. Usually he thought about the repercussions of his actions, but he felt as if the news was a little boy screaming for help at the bottom of a well. He desperately needed to get the little boy out of that well. However, this word vomit had led him to be hasty and temperamental.
"Morgan, I'm-"
Morgan shook his head and made his way to the bathroom to talk to Reid.
Behind him he could hear Rossi say, "Don't say sorry. The team had a right to know. They shouldn't be together anyway."
Morgan knocked on the door to the bathroom, and then realized that Reid never locked the door when he saw the green light under the doorknob. So he pulled the door open and knelt in front of Reid who was leaning on the floor against the toilet in the fetal position, his head between his knees. Morgan placed a strong hand on Reid's knee, causing him to look up. There was a sweat coating Reid's face.
"Hey man, you all right?" Morgan asked, already knowing the answer.
But Reid just ignored Morgan's question, and instead said, "You said we had to be careful… We weren't careful."
"I know man, I know. It hasn't even been a day…"
"Can I join you?" said a sweet female voice.
Morgan looked up and saw Jareau, who was eying Reid with concern. The girl sat in the middle of the small hallway that connected the rest of the airplane with the back where the cargo was with a nice cross-legged position. Jareau sat and smiled at Reid like a little kid.
"Whatever Hotch decides to do, I support you two," Jareau stated through her smile.
"I do too," another voice, clearly Prentiss', said. She continued with, "Oh and, sorry about that comment back there… that was rude of me."
"It's all right, Emily," Reid said with a regained sense of voice. "Typically things like this get frowned on by people. It's times like these where people discover their true friends. At least that's what I've heard."
Prentiss looked at Jareau and then at Reid and Morgan and said, "We'd be those true friends."
There was a moment of silence. This was when all four of them staid in their positions and thought a second. Reid was wondering how long the relationship between he and Morgan would have lasted if Hotch had not found out. Morgan pondered on how to break up with Reid without letting it end nastily. Jareau contemplated whether Hotch would let Reid and Morgan go because they were a couple, or because they were not following the rules. And Prentiss wanted to know what the other three were thinking, plus what Hotch's thought process was on opening his mouth like that.
"We'll figure out what to do after this case is over," Hotch said from beside Prentiss. "Until then you two are allowed to do as you please. I need to tell you that you have put me in a very compromising situation. This is against the FBI and it's against the law, and you know it, and I'm not sure what to do yet. If anyone besides our team finds out I could be out a job, and so could you two. But I will do what I have to… to keep everyone happy."
"How's Rossi?" Morgan asked.
"Don't worry about him. Worry about yourselves," Hotch ordered. "And Morgan? If you want to contact Garcia I suggest you do that before we need the computer."
Jareau sat next to Rossi, who had not moved since everyone got up. Prentiss slid in to the window and Hotch sat down beside her, while Reid stood up behind Prentiss' seat. Morgan retrieved the laptop from Hotch's bag and carried it to the back of the airplane where he sat down in an armchair. He flipped open the laptop and opened the server.
In a moment everyone could hear Garcia say, "Hello sweet thing!"
"Hey darlin', I've got something to tell you," Morgan told her.
"If it has anything to do with you and Reid being a potential couple, then I'm all for it!"
Everyone could practically hear Garcia grinning.
"How did Garcia know?" Reid chirped in from surprise.
"Well, sweet pea, the day you went haywire was the day I knew Dr. Morgan would have to fix it. And then you come in all happy today and I was positively sure that you two were to soon become a couple. Ah, my boys are growing up!" Garcia gushed.
"Garcia, after your talk with Morgan, can you tell us about the victims?" Hotch called over from his seat.
"Oh, yes sir," Garcia's voice floated up from the laptop, which caused her voice to sound tinny. Morgan picked up the computer and carried it over to the table at which his fellow profilers were sitting at. Placing it towards the window, facing out towards the rest of the plane, the profilers all glanced at Garcia. Well, all except for Hotch, who was still looking at the photographs. "Well, the victims are as followed: Mitchell Oliver, Corey Thomson, and Tim Hart. The connections between them include that they were all football stars in high school and died by choking on Italian sausage links. From the pictures you can see that the unsub kissed them on the cheek either before or after they died in bright red lipstick. Other than that, sir, I really can't tell you much else."
"Can you tell us who found them?" Prentiss inquired.
"Their girlfriends, actually. They woke up with them there… a dead body… right next to them," Garcia said, clearly allowing the case to get to her.
"Thanks goddess, call you if we need anything," Morgan said with a grin and closed the top of the laptop with an okay from Hotch.
"There's not much else we can do till we land," Jareau said.
Hotch replied with, "No, but I can keep looking at what evidence we do have."
And so for the next two hours Hotch kept looking through the pictures and thinking about what Garcia had told him. The girls read through their respective magazines. And Morgan and Reid played a card game. However, Rossi said nothing and went straight to sleep.
AN: Yeah, about Rossi, I can't really see him being very simpathetic in this sort of scenario knowing his character... but he'll come around. So will Hotch, just wait and see. Also, sometimes when people are under a lot of stress or emotional harm their stomach gets upset, so if anyone has any question about that it seemed to me that the stomach upset would happen to Reid. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'll hope to get another up soon.