I hope you liked the last chapter. I want to thank Barbara for the very nice message, Barbara thank you very much. I hope you like the next chapter. Let me know what you think below.
Kate couldn't help but have flashbacks and nightmare during the days after she told her team about her past. She'd undergone the psych eval again on the request of Hotch and her team.
apparently, the trust they had put in her during the last few months was leaning on the edge of a knife. She hated that she had lost their trust, she hated not getting along with people. Maybe it was a part still with her from when she had been bullied, she hated knowing there was tension between her and her person.
for the first time since starting work at DC, she went to work with some dislike. She knew it would take time for them to trust her and to not start freaking out on a case. Yes her previous team had worried about it as well, but she had proven to them that she had been capable of working at the same capacity as them.
that's what she had tried to gain before she told them. she wanted them to get to know her as Agent Gainsborough, not the victim of a traumatic experience or rather two and she hadn't told them the second even.
Maybe moving here to DC had been a bad move on her part, her team in London had trusted her, they knew her and what she was capable of.
She thought she had proved them that she was capable of doing her job. they had trusted her before she told them, they hadn't been scared of her freaking out. they had trusted her input and being her partner in the field.
They'd worked three cases since she had told them and things had changed quite a bit. she'd consulted on cases across the country from Quantico as they used to do. Addy had started moving into her place this week and she wasn't in a very good mood with her friend. It was because of her pushing and slip she had told them and now everything was different.
This was what she had wanted to avoid, to be perceived as a ticking time bomb.
It was the first day of Abby, three weeks after Kate's disclosure and she had gotten enough of the watchful stares. She wanted things to go back to where they had been, she didn't want to head home with a tail between her legs every night.
The team was like a family and in the beginning, she had felt a part of that family. But now she was starting to feel like the family member people always wanted to get away from.
"Still angry?" Addy asked as they were running through the streets of DC. They had picked up their ritual of trying to out do each other whilst running and doing sports.
"Yep," Kate told her as they kept on running through the streets, the sun hadn't completely risen but they wanted to have the run out of their system before heading towards the office.
"why?" Addy asked, stopping all of a sudden, making Kate stop as well and turn to face her best friend. "are you actually asking me that?" Kate questioned with squinted eyes and a tilt of her head.
"yes," Abby confirmed with a nod of her head as she put her hands on her hips, panting from their run already.
"you meet my team for the first time and you decide to go and tell them about Africa." Kate started yelling as she took a step closer towards her best friend.
"They deserved to know." Abby pointed out, throwing her hands up in the air. "That wasn't your choice to make." Kate bellowed, forgetting that they were in a street lined up with houses and buildings. At this point she didn't care any longer, she was fed up with everything. She was frustrated beyond anything.
"your team at Mi5 knew." Abby pointed out with a pointed look. "Yes they knew and for the first six months, they were waiting for me to panic, to discover something that would have taken me from the team. I didn't want the same thing happening here. I had a great thing going on here, for the first time since my touring days I actually felt like I was doing something I loved doing again. Like I was accepted by my peers, but you had to go and throw root into it." Kate bellowed, her voice echoing through the streets.
"I just wanted to help. I thought they would have known." Abby retaliated at the same level of Kate. When an angry men opened his window and screamed at them, they made their way to their home.
"for once since Africa, I felt normal again, In London, they were always waiting for me to explode. here they weren't, all they knew was SSA Gainsborough, past tour guide, turned agent." Kate told her through gritted teeth as they made their way home.
"Fine, it's all my fault and I can't change it okay," Abby yelled above a whisper as she moved past Kate and started walking faster. Yes, Kate and Abby were best friends, sisters almost, it was rare for them to fight and be angry at each other. But when it did happen it was a fight of epic proportions and mostly it came out of the concern for the other.
"Maybe I should just go back to London, it seems my team doesn't want me here any longer. At least back in London, they had come to accept what had happened." Kate screamed at her and turned around going in the other direction.
"What do you mean?" Abby asked as they stood about ten meters apart, looking at the houses she didn't see another angry man about to tear them apart so she faced her friend again.
"I mean that when I came to work at the BAU, I was Kate, I started feeling like I did before Africa. I felt great and I was loving every moment of it. my colleagues respected and liked me, I was feeling like myself again for the first time in almost 4 years. back in school, you were the only one not bullying me, I was never accepted but I was here just like when I was guiding. I'm good at my job and that was all that mattered, nothing else did. and you came here on the first day and you opened your mouth about Africa. They kept giving me these looks wanting me to tell and I did, Look where it got me." Kate said rather loudly, she didn't even realise where she was.
"So?" Abby asked, tilting her head forward and to the side. "If I'm not accepted here and respected here. I came here to start a new page in my life, I didn't want to be Kate the surviving guide of the hostage situation. I became Kate the FBI agent and member of the BAU. Now it's back to when I was in London, I might as well go back at least I won't be judged by my grandparents. I don't have to work having received that settlement, but I love working, but not like this. Maybe I should go home, buy a cabin somewhere in Scotland and disappear." Kate told her best friend who she was royally pissed at right now.
"So you're running away, again." Abby retorted. "again? I wasn't planning on running away again, I tried to let them trust me again, I did the psych eval to put their mind at ease, I've gone out of my way to show that I'm not a ticking time bomb. I can't work with people who can't trust me not in this line of work." Kate screamed, turning around and starting to walk away.
"Don't follow me," Kate yelled having heard that Abby was starting to walk in the same direction. Starting to run, she pushed herself, she didn't care anymore, maybe that cabin seemed like a lovely place to go.
What Kate had forgotten was where she had their screaming match, to her defence she only been there once. But she'd been so riled up about everything she hadn't thought about it at all.
They had been fighting in front of JJ's house and she had heard everything. yes, she had lost some trust in their new colleague, was normal right after she had kept something from them like that. They had given her the cold shoulder for about three weeks now. They were profilers and hadn't seen the effect it had had on the young women.
She always seemed so certain and confident in everything she had done. But what JJ had heard outside her bedroom windows was anything but the certain and confident women she met. She had reread the case file of the hostage situation in Mosquito village, it must have broken Kate, it would have broken any person.
But she had gotten out on top of it, stronger and with a new sense of purpose. This was their team, they supported their put together family, they didn't cast anyone out. This was going to stop today, and it would start with her.
Kate dragged her feet out of the elevator on the sixth floor, was she willing to do this for much longer. Having to drag her feet towards work, she had always promised herself that the day she had to push herself towards work, she'd quit. Would she actually do it? She had liked this team, loved these people for who they were, was she willing to step away from that.
signing deeply she opened the door towards the bullpen and headed towards her desk. Seemed she had a lot to think about in the next few hours, maybe by tomorrow she would ask for her resignation, maybe it was for the best.
Putting her briefcase down she couldn't see her team anywhere, checking her phone to make sure she was starting to think something had happened and she didn't know. When she saw she hadn't missed anything she took a deep breath and headed to the kitchen and filled a cup of coffee. Seemed like it would be a repetition of the last three weeks.
yes giving her resignation seemed like the best idea, to Kate it almost felt like she was back in secondary school.
she had been so focused on her work she hadn't noticed her team walking in. smiling at JJ sitting opposite of her, she looked back down until she heard JJ clear her throat.
"I was thinking maybe we could go out to lunch, I heard a new deli has opened in Quantico," she asked her colleague, she felt horrible that they had treated Kate like that. she had done nothing to earn that, yes she had kept something from them, but it had been for the right reasons. She could understand wanting to have a fresh start.
"Me?" Kate asked, more surprised than anything, looking back up at her. "yes" she chuckled."
"Yea, sure." Kate agreed with an uncertain nod of her head. "great." she heard JJ say and with a nod in her direction Kate continued working on her consultation report.
Kate wasn't sure what had brought this on, and she wasn't putting to much hope in all of it. But maybe JJ at least had forgiven her. It wasn't like she wanted to leave, she had finally discovered a place where she felt at home. But Kate couldn't work with people that didn't want her there. But maybe there was some hope of her being able to stay, she wanted that more than anything.
By the time lunch came around Kate wasn't sure if JJ would still want to go to lunch together. "You ready to go?" Kate heard JJ's voice ask beside her as she leant against the side of her desk. "yea, just need to save this report." she replied, doing exactly that and getting up to follow JJ out the BAU.
Kate was surprised when Penelope was also walking up to them at the elevator. "Garcia." Kate smiled at her, not sure what kind of reply she was about to get. In the last few weeks, she'd either get a tight-lipped smile or a glare.
"Kate." Garcia smiled at her as they got onto the elevator. The entire situation felt awkward to Kate, she didn't know what to say anymore. She had apologised for keeping this from them. She had tried to prove herself that she was still the same person as before she had told them. Nothing had seemed to work, not even the new psych eval she had undergone.
Sitting down at the round table in the new deli after ordering their food, she tried to hide her nerves. "we want to apologise." JJ started, Kate tried not to but her eyebrows raised nearly past her hairline.
"This team had always been unique in the agency, we're like a family. Henry calls everyone uncle or aunt. But the way we've treated you is anything but how a family should treat each other. it's just that everyone within this team trusted you and we hadn't expected for you to keep something like that for us. Despite that, we understand why you did it. I too was taken hostage two years ago and I hated being treated the same way we've treated you. I hope you can forgive us?" JJ and Garcia fell in for each other.
"I know it wasn't right of me to keep this from you guys, but like you said." she started, turning towards JJ. "I didn't want to be treated like a ticking time bomb. I'd finally discovered a place where I was accepted for my strength and my knowledge, I've been searching for this since it happened." Kate admitted, her throat growing tight with emotion and a little bit of apprehension.
"We understand." Garcia said. "we really wanted to apologise and make things right between us. I hate the way I, We've treated you. Can you forgive us? Can we go back to how it was?" Garcia asked her with a tilted head and uncertain look on her face.
"Sure, I'd love nothing more." Kate agreed after a moment of thought. How could she not? these people were amazing and kind. Like they said, their team was more of a family than a bunch of colleagues. That's what she had loved about working with them. She took a relaxing breath and realised that things might get better right now.
"Great, what do you say we have a ladies night tonight, to celebrate. We have a day off tomorrow, you can invite Abby and your sister, we haven't met her yet." JJ suggested.
"My sister is in Illinois and I can ask Abby but I'm not sure she'll want to come, we kind of fighting," Kate admitted with a sheepish look on her face.
"What for?" Garcia asked, she hadn't seen the two of the interact, and they had had the chance after their fall out. But from how Kate talked about her best friend she couldn't imagine them fighting much. But Garcia had heard about JJ that likely her entire street had heard the fight.
"We don't fight a lot but when we do is mostly cause we intervened in one another lives and out of love for each other. But when we fight it's rare and of epic proportions." Kate admitted with a guilty look. She still wasn't happy with how her best friend had intervened once again and blown the trust the team had in her away.
"sisters fight." Garcia pointed out with a small chuckle. "they do." Kate agreed with her own chuckle as they started eating their lunch. "I know it might be childish to say but I love that you're willing to forgive me," Kate admitted a bit sheepishly.
"We understand hun." the both of them grinned up at her.
"How long do you think it will take the others?" Kate asked, she really wanted things to go back to how they were. "Give them a bit longer. If they still have their head up their ass next week, I'll talk to them." JJ reassured her with a smile in her direction.
"You don't have to do that," Kate told them with a small shake of her head.
"So when are we meeting up?" JJ questioned as they headed towards the elevator. they had finished their day and the three women of the team were meeting up for a Friday girls night out.
"Seven at the commissary near the Dupont Circle," Garcia suggested as the doors of the elevator were about to close but Dave's hand stuck between it and he entered the elevator.
"sounds great. I send a text to Abby, she can't join us apparently there was an emergency at her division." Kate informed them, leaning against the side of the elevator.
Dave had heard JJ talk about Kate's screaming match at 5.30 in the morning. He too felt bad about how he had treated the young women. she'd gotten close to him and he respected and liked her a lot. A great addition to their team, but he couldn't for the life of him understand why they had treated her like that.
he too wanted to apologise but it seemed that Garcia and JJ had done that already. but he could also hear about that the girls had apparently made plans for a ladies night.
He only hoped they wouldn't come back looking like they had last time with Prentiss then.
"Enjoy your night out ladies." Rossi chuckled as he stepped out of the elevator followed by the women.
"What happened?" Kate grunted, it felt like a gnome was knocking on the inside of her head. Her eyelids felt like led as she tries to open them to locate the source of noise somewhere around her.
her mouth felt incredibly dry and it felt like she had swallowed the Sahara dessert. reaching towards the noise with her hand she located a buzzing phone and lifted it to her ear.
"Gainsborough," she answered in a voice that sounded very unlike her at the moment. "Are JJ and Garcia with you?" Asked the voice.
"Huh," Kate grunted, lifting her incredibly heavy head to look at her, noticing that nothing seemed familiar. She really wanted to know where she was.
"Kate?" came the voice she now realised was Hotch. Seeing blond hair over the edge of the couch she recognised as JJ's, she answered. "JJ's here," Kate told him. "Good, we got a case," Hotch muttered, not sure if his two profilers would be able to work.
"we had the day off?" Kate half asked, half stated. They had gotten the day off right now, not?
"Yes, but the chief of Intelligence needs our help," Hotch told them. "We'll be there soon," Kate told him, running a hand over her very hangover head.
"see you soon." Hotch's voice sounded through the phone. 'Oh boy.' she thought to herself, even thinking hurt about now and they needed to go in and consult with the Intelligence division.
she didn't know how she did it but somehow she got up and made her way to a still sleeping JJ and looking towards the bed with colourful decorations she realised they must have come to Penelope's place.
"JJ," Kate whispered in a soft tone, even her own voice was annoying to herself.
"JJ," Kate repeated, shaking her softly with grunting noises JJ swatted in her direction. "JJ, Hotch called, we're being called in for an intelligence case," Kate told her, her one hand holding her head as if there was a possibility of it falling off.
"no," JJ grunted, twisting her neck and looking the other way. "Yes, we are," Kate told her. "God, why is there a gnome hitting my head with a hammer," Kate muttered to herself, what did she have to drink the previous day.
"JJ wake up," Kate said a bit louder giving her a small shove and she nearly fell of the couch. "I'm up," she grunted, throwing a glare at Kate, but she didn't take offence, she probably would have done the same.
"Penelope, get up we have to head to Quantico," Kate called from her place next to the couch. god they were like the fleet of zombies and they were supposed to go in, that would not go well today.
"no," Penelope grunted from her spot on the bed. yes, today would not go well at all.
an hour later, Kate, JJ and Penelope had arrived at Quantico with a huge hangover and they had still to get over it. It was a wonder they had gotten to Quantico at all. JJ and Kate were still wearing their outfits of last night, knowing they had a change of clothing at the office.
"Oh boy." they heard four voices say at once. lifting their heads the office seemed pretty empty if they had to consult with another division. the beta team was out on a case apparently and only there were present.
seeing their boss, and three male colleagues barely able to contain their amusement, Kate walked over to her desk and let herself fall on her chair.
"God, what did you three drink last night?" Morgan chuckled, leaning on the railing beside Kate and JJ's desk. "It's blurry after the first two daiquiri's," Kate replied, looking up at the four smirking men as she rubbed the side of her head.
"I'm never drinking again," Kate muttered, hanging her head, supported by both her hands. "That's what you said last time." she heard a very familiar voice behind her say. looking over her shoulder she noticed her best friend. "oh kill me now." Kate muttered under her breath as she saw the smirking face of Abby.
"Not about to tell your grandparents a second time that you're possibly death." she heard Abby mutter behind her. "Glad I wasn't there for that," Kate replied with her own mutter and a small shake of her head. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Abby to go and tell them about their possible kidnapping. She'd only been able to make one call to Luke her boss back then before they had discovered it and given her a beating for it.
shaking her head trying to get away from those thoughts, she couldn't go there. Next week was the fourth year anniversary and it was going to be a tough enough time. "you should." Abby noted, squeezing her shoulder.
"My head." Kate heard JJ mutter from opposite of her and the accompanied snickers of the men. "I need water," Kate muttered, getting up and starting to walk towards the kitchenette and pulled two bottles of water out. Water was the only cure, for her at least. She knew that if she drunk three bottles of water soon, the hangover would be over in about half an hour. That's something that had always worked for her, most of the time she avoided it all together by drinking water before going to bed. Apparently, that hadn't been on her mind last night, she didn't even remember last night.
Gulping the two bottles, she pulled out three others and handed each of them to JJ and Garcia, she hoped that it would work for them as well.
"You hoping it will work?" Abby smirked, sitting down on her desk. "It's always worked before," Kate told her with a tilted head, looking up at her she realised that they had to come in for a case of intelligence. "So what's this case?" Kate asked looking at the men and Abby.
"I'm not sure you three are capable of working it." Hotch pointed out, looking between the three of them with an amused slash not impressed expression.
"In our defence, we weren't supposed to come in today." JJ pointed out, looking up at Hotch, rubbing the side of her head. "I know." Hotch chuckled, which was a very rare occurrence. "Anyway, last night as I told you." Abby started, pausing to take a look at her best friend. "there was an emergency, we got a tip that there might be terrorists, so far we haven't found prove, but we figured with the BAU's input there might be something uncovered." Abby explained, turning into business mode as she eyed every person on Kate's team.
"We can start looking at the case, I don't think these three will be of much use," Rossi noted with a grin as the men started walking towards the conference room. "Then why did they call us in?" JJ questioned her hands held up in the air in a frustrated manner, before lying her head down on her crossed arms. It's not like Hotch could punish them, they had three days off, supposedly. It wasn't their fault they had been called in after a night of drinking and god knows what else?
"the water helping?" Kate asked her, getting up to finish her third bottle. She felt like her headache was lessening. she'd only had a hangover three times, this one time included. And the previous ones had gone by fast by drinking water. "Not as quick as with you apparently." JJ pointed out, impressed that Kate seemed to be over her hangover.
"add salt and a bit of sugar to the water if it doesn't help soon," Kate told them with a small smile as she headed towards the conference room. But on her way there she prepared two bottles with the hangover cure, her friends had always made up. She walked back towards JJ and Garcia and handed the bottles to them.
"cured?" Abby chuckled, looking up not even surprised to see Kate barely hungover anymore. "how did you do that?" Morgan asked an impressed look on his face.
"I know what works for me," she told him with a small smile, accepting the folder Abby handed her. looking over the summary of the tip and the work intelligence had done last night, she knew the tip had some credit to it.
"What do you want us to do?" Hotch asked, looking at Abby, he too had seen the treat and credit to the tip wasn't sure why his team had been called in.
"We'd like you to come in and interview the suspects we caught because of the tip. There is some credit to this tip and we want to know if we have the right ones. Take a look at the evidence we discovered, we do not want these guys on the street. " Abby explained, looking at the five people in front of her.
"Alright, Rossi, Kate you two start with interviewing the suspects. Morgan and Reid you two take a look at the evidence." Hotch told them, before turning back to Abby. "I'm suspecting they are at the Hoover building?" he asked her. "Yes, but we can bring them here if that's easier," Abby told him with a small tilt of her head.
"that won't be necessary, we'll go over there." Rossi reassured her as he got up. "would it be alright if I change first?" Kate asked, looking down at the jumpsuit she had been wearing last night and was still wearing. "Of course." Rossi chuckled as Kate got up in a rush and headed towards the locker room. She managed to take a shower and get changed withing ten minutes before joining Rossi.
"Ready?" he asked her as they started walking towards the elevator. "Yep." she chuckled, pushing the button. It seemed that the team would have to to do without JJ and Garcia for now, she'd seen JJ asleep on the bench in the female locker. She'd left some painkillers and water bottles beside her before joining Rossi.
"You get over them quickly." Rossi chuckled. "I always have, normally I can avoid them if I drink water before going to bed. Let's just say I don't really have a recollection of what I did last night all together." Kate explained in amusement.
"Yea those two seem to get that reaction out of everyone." Rossi pointed out with a chuckle. "Apparently." Kate agreed as they stepped out of the elevator and towards the SUV.
"So how are you doing?" Rossi asked once they were in the car and on their way to the Hoover building downtown DC. "Been better," she admitted but didn't elaborate or explain that their behaviour was putting her in this mood. The last thing she wanted was for them to start acting differently out of guilt or pity.
Rossi knew that they had been acting unfairly towards her, he wanted to apologise but he knew Kate would eventually figure it out. So he promised himself and realised that he was already trusting her again. They could only move on from here and he would go back to seeing her as the Agent Gainsborough they had been introduced to.
"the anniversary?" he asked, looking at her for split second before turning his attention back to the road. "Amongst other things. It's hard around this time of year," she admitted, the anniversary definitely played a part in how she was feeling at the moment. she really hated being like this.
"Well if you need to talk, you where to find me." he told her with a small smile on his face "thanks, I appreciate it." Kate smiled softly, as her elbow rubbing against the glass as she rubbed the side of her temples.
"Still a headache?" he asked her with a smirk. "a little bit, doesn't mean I've drunk a lot of water that it's completely gone. I'm still paying for whatever I drunk last night." Kate told him, her voice filled with amusement.
By the time they arrived at the Hoover building, Kate felt a bit more certain about the relationship between her and Rossi. It seemed that he was starting to trust her again and she was happy for that as they made their way towards the interrogation rooms.
"Agent Rossi, You must Agent Gainsborough." the chief of Intelligence said as he greeted them out of an interrogation room. "that would be right," Kate confirmed shaking his hand with a small smile on his face.
"This one is a real treat, Daud Basim. He's the suspected leader of this gang. he hates women who do not adhere to his standard image, that is the only thing we have established so far." he informed them with a nod towards the door.
"This should be fun," Kate muttered under her breath. "We could have used JJ by now," Rossi noted under his breath.
"We'll make do." she reassured him accepting the file from the chief. "you go in first or I?" Kate questioned, turning to Dave beside her. "Let's surprise him send in women first. Apparently, he hasn't been quite about those ideals of his. Can you handle it?" he asked her with the nod to the door.
"It's not the first women hater I've encounter, last I was tied to a tree and beaten to near death. I'm sure it won't get that bad this time," she told him with a snort. "I'll be fine," she reassured him and he gave a small nod before walking to the room, able to watch the interrogation room.
Taking a deep breath, she put her strategy in her head and pushed the lever down and entered the room. "Mr Basim, I'm SSA Gainsborough with the behavioural analysis unit of the FBI. I've been informed that you're right to have been read." Kate noted, letting her file drop on the table before dropping herself in the chair opposite of him in a nonchalant manner.
"What are you doing here?" He sneered at her as he put his hand on the table in what seemed to be a wanting to be imposing manner.
"this morning I woke up I was an agent with the FBI, it seems like I'm doing my job," she told him in a way she would explain to a child. She knew that cause he hated women in a position or not living up to his standards, it would only piss him off to have women disrespecting him.
"You're not a real woman." he sneered, but she interrupted him before he could continue. "I was last time I checked," she told him, opening her file in an ignoring manner as she started reading the paper. She could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves by her actions. She realised that she was getting to him and this is what she loved. Men not respecting a woman, those she hated, she loved antagonising them.
"So do you want to tell me why you're here?" she asked him in an 'I have better things to do tone' when she heard the ticking of his fingers against the table increase as his impatience and anger grew.
"What are you doing here, a woman should be home, listening to men and doing whatever they want." he told her in a menacing tone. "then it's a good thing I don't have a man at home." she muttered under her breath making sure he heard.
on the other side of the room, Dave couldn't help but smile at her actions. they may have distrusted her, but she was a damn fine agent and he realised even more what mistake they had made distrusting her.
"She's good." Marcus, the chief of intelligence said beside him. "she is." David confirmed with a nod of his head and a smile on his face. "She's getting him more and angrier." David added, tucking his hands in the back pockets of his pants.
"If she hates one thing, its men disrespecting woman because of a gender." Rossi pointed out, curious to see how this would turn out.
"Well maybe you shouldn't be working for the FBI, maybe I could teach you a lesson, teach you how a real woman should behave." he sneered at her with a smile as he looked her over.
"I'm satisfied with who I am, thanks for the offer anyway," she told him, not even bothering to look up at him as she turned another page in her file. "It wasn't an offer." he half screamed banging his fists on the table.
"You women think that you have the right to stand above or on equal footing as us. You're just a tool made to fulfil the needs of men, raise a family and nothing more." he continued his voice getting louder and louder.
"All you women disrespecting men by dressing like whores, that's what you are, after all, a bunch of whores with holes to be filled." he sneered at her. Kate told herself to remain calm and not jump up and punch him in the face.
"And what are you? You think you're a real man?" she chuckled in amusement as she shook her head. "let me tell you something before I became an agent I was a tour guide, travelled the world and studied history. I have a newsflash for you, the time for women to bend down to the wishes to the likes of you are over." she told him, lacing her fingers as she to leant forward on the table.
"YOU BITCH!" he screamed trying to get to her as he jumped up. Kate's reflexes, however, were fast and she made her way out of his line before he could reach her.
"You whores should be punished for every disrespecting act you have ever done towards men. You should bend down and live according to the laws that have been set out for you." He screamed at her from where he was towering on the table.
"Thank you." Kate whispered, walking out of the room and into the room where Rossi and now JJ and Abby were standing. "better?" Kate asked JJ in a concerned tone.
"Yes, thanks to your small cure," JJ admitted with a smile in her direction. "It's Abby's recipe." Kate nodded towards Abby with a chuckle.
"I think the target is a place where women come together. His hatred towards the modern women runs deep, I have a feeling that he will want to act on said re-education of women." Kate theorised, looking between JJ and Dave.
"Yea, I think Kate might be right," JJ muttered, turning his attention on Dave as well, cause he hadn't said anything yet. "Still, that is too wide of a target group, we need to know the targets," Marcus noted with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I agree," Dave noted, looking between JJ and Kate. "I'm surprised he hasn't got a new addition to his face yet." Abby snickered beside her. When Kate threw her a small glare, Abby raised her hand in surrender. "Just stating the fact that I'm surprised you haven't given him a new shiner," Abby noted and Kate shook her head.
"Want to give it a try?" Kate asked, nodding towards the room whilst looking at JJ.
"I'd love to." she snickered as the two women headed out of the surveillance room. "Want to bring up last night and our just cured hangovers," JJ suggested with a snicker, Kate couldn't help but smile, she was slowly being accepted in this family again and she couldn't help but feel better because of it.
"Oh, he's going to love that." Kate snickered as she nodded her head and pushed the lever down. "I'm just saying I'm glad that cure of Abby worked against out hangovers." Kate started saying as they entered the room, JJ on her heels as they walked over to the table and sat down, totally ignoring the guy.
"yes, thank God. It was bad enough our boss had to see us like that. Glad I slept over at P's, so Will and the kids didn't have to see me like that." JJ noted with a snicker of her own.
"what are you doing?" he half screamed. "Shush." Kate told him, turning to JJ with a smile. "he was just telling me that women should learn their role in society. I guess he hasn't learned that when two people are talking you shouldn't bud in." she added with a roll of her eyes and shake of her head.
"See this is what I mean," he screamed, looking between the two women opposite of him. JJ and Kate could feel the hatred towards them as they sat opposite of her.
"Drinking and going out all whilst you have a husband and kids at home. You should be home taking care of those. You whores should be punished for and retaught what's right." he added, the anger on his face clear, his head was about to blow off.
"Women acting like whores, acting like them and drinking should be killed. Maybe then other women would think twice," he added with a proud look on his face.
looking over her shoulder she nodded her head. apparently, a night club of some sorts was about to be hit before they caught this group.
"So you want to target a nightclub?" Kate asked, growing serious as she eyed the sneering man opposite of her. "Who said anything about a nightclub?" he questioned with an uncertain but still proud look on his face.
"You just did," JJ told him with a smile of her own. "So you and your buddies wanted to punish women having a good time?" JJ asked him, tilting her head to the side.
"having a good time, that's what you call it?" he spat, sneering at both JJ and Kate. "acting like a whore." he added as he knocked his fist on the table.
"And you want to punish those?" Kate asked, tilting her head and clasping her hands together in front of her. "Yes, those who live in sin, should be punished for their acts," he told them with a proud smile on his face, both Kate and JJ could see that he was believing every word he was saying.
"and in what cases are they living in sin?" JJ asked her, reflecting Kate's clasped hands.
"Aren't you listening?" he yelled, each word louder than the last. "We are, we just want to understand what we're doing wrong," Kate told him, tilting her head to the side, acting as if she was interested. Yes, she was interested in the information he possessed but not in the crap he was selling.
"Women should be thought that acting like whores is wrong. They are brought on this earth to fulfil the needs of men and they aren't supposed to insubordinate men. They need to be punished for their sins and yes acting like whores in clubs is one of them." he confirmed with a nod of his head and proud smug look on his face.
"so you and your gang wanted to inflict that punishment?" JJ asked him, tilting her head to the side. "Yes, we haven't even started," he told them with a smug look as if he knew something Kate and JJ didn't.
"So?" Kate started, leaning one side of her face towards him. "are there more to inflict this punishment?" JJ added, coming to the same conclusion Kate was reaching. They didn't have the entire cell caught.
"You don't even know half of it. Something is coming no one can even begin to estimate," he told them with a chuckle and amusement before Kate and JJ got up and walked out of the room.
"Where's Marcus?" JJ asked as they entered observation room to only see Dave standing there. "He went to contact Homeland Security and NSA, they're about to launch a national search for these guys. We do not need a new Orlando case at this point." David pointed out and neither of them could fight that statement.
"So what now?" Kate asked, looking at the not so smug looking guy anymore. "Now we have 12 others to interview, each one of them might now something about this. Reid, Hotch, Morgan and Garcia are on their way here." Rossi informed them with a nod of his head and sigh.
"And DOJ is sending two people as well, it's not like deals will be lenient but we might have to make some sacrifices if we want more information." he added, looking back at the person behind the glass as JJ and Kate sat down on the table in the room.
"What do you think will happen?" Kate asked, swinging her legs dangling off the table she was sitting on. "Nationwide manhunt, anyone with a connection to those 12 for a start," Rossi explained, leaning back against the wall with the window in it.
"Agents Jarreau, Rossi and Gainsborough. These two have been sent over from the DOJ: Mr Loyd and Ms Gainsborough." Marcus introduced them and Kate wanted to throw her head back and groan as she noticed her sister as one of the two Lawyers.
"related." Mr Lyod asked, looking between the two Gainsborough's. "sisters." Kate and Elizabeth noted at once as the raised an eyebrow at one another.
"David, JJ, meet my sister Elizabeth Gainsborough. Liz these are two of my colleagues, David Rossi and Jennifer Jarreau." Kate noted, jumping off the table and motioning between them. "Kate this is my supervisor Blaze Loyd, Blaze meet my sister Catherine Gainsborough." her sister returned the favour with a smirk.
Oh this was going to be fun, her and her sister working together, two hard heads in the same room;
"Nice to meet you;" All of them said, shaking each other's hands. "So what do we have so far?" Lyod asked, watching Mr Basim.
"Well, we've established that he hates women." David replied with a chuckle. "that bad?" Loyd chuckled, apparently those two knew each other if Kate was reading their body language the correct way.
"he basically told both of us that we're a sin in this world cause we're not abhorring his standard vision of what a woman should be," Kate explained with a not impressed look on her face. "So far we think he wants to target a nightclub to punish said women," JJ added, eying the lawyer of the DOJ.
"And you suspect there are more people at play than the twelve caught so far?" Loyd asked, looking between the three FBI agents. "Yes, he said that we had no idea in which capacity they to punish those living sin," Kate explained, leaning back against the table she had been sitting on earlier.
"and you want to consider cutting a deal?" he asked, looking between the three BAU Agents. "I want to put that off as long as we can. that in there is a psychopath, if we let him cut a deal and he gets out on the street, we'll be back here in a few years." Rossi noted, Kate and JJ nodding in confirmation
"So what's the idea?" he asked, uncertain of what he was doing there if they didn't plan on cutting deals. He understood their standing point, he didn't want to be responsible for cutting deals with terrorist.
"We start by interviewing the others, so far we've only interviewed the suspected leader. our three other agents and unit chief are on their way. We'll start interviewing them, see what they can tell us, see what we can discover." Rossi explained, taking on the leader role for now as they waited on Hotch.
"Okay, so what do you want us to do?" Loyd asked, looking at Liz beside him. "just stay and watch, it'll be good to have someone here from the DOJ already, we won't have to explain everything that way. It's become a joined task force right now between Homeland Security, NSA, FBI, DOJ and there is the talk of involving the CIA as well." Rossi explained with a small shake of his head. "alright, we'll get some more people down from upstairs to overlook the interviews." Loyd told them as he and her sister walked out of the room.
"we wait until the others get here and we go in with pairs of two," Rossi told them as they headed out to the kitchenette to fill a cup of coffee, it seemed that it would be a very long day ahead of them.
When Hotch, Reid and Morgan arrived, Hotch took the lead in the interviews. Teams of two were made; Rossi with Kate, Morgan with Abby and JJ with Reid.
It really was a collaboration of four agencies when more and more people arrived at the basement level and interrogation floor.
hours passed, the interview team moved on between the twelve caught suspects already. Between interviewing them and making their profiles and working with the other agencies to get the others of this cell.
taking a pause from interviewing the leader again, Rossi and Kate headed into the central room. screens of every interrogation room were on one side of the wall, people from the NSA listening in. Others had joined in with the interviewing from the NSA and Homeland security. They were barely giving the twelve a break. "How is it going in there?" Hotch questioned, meeting them at the bulletin board and table filled with files on the cell and twelve people. "He refuses to talk from now on," Kate informed him, running a hand over her face, she was exhausted. It was past midnight and all they had established was that they had mostly pawns in their custody. The one she and Rossi had been interviewing was one of the local leaders but the big fish had escaped.
"I'm going to get a bit of fresh air," Kate whispered, yawning for the fourth time since entering the central meeting room. "I'm going to join you," Rossi noted as both of them headed outside.
sitting down on a stone bench in the yard of the Hoover building, Kate leant back and cracked her neck. "You alright?" Rossi asked her, sitting down next to her on the stone bench.
"first we established it was because of hate of women. But this runs deeper, yes it isn't a secret that barely cloth women add to their rage instilled within them. But this goes above so much more. Sometimes I really question if humanity is worth saving. definitely after spending the day with those lunatics.
"I know what you mean, in our line of work we see the absolute worst in humanity, it's hard not to lose faith sometimes," Rossi noted in understanding from beside her.
"you have done this job for God knows how long. Is it worth it? is it worth losing faith in humanity because of it? these people downstairs simply want to kill because we don't abhor to their rules of living. We've seen the result of that everywhere in the world. London, Paris, Orlando, everywhere in the world. I haven't got anything against religions, yes I believe the world would be better off without them. But I travelled the world for seven years. I was exposed to religions and sub-religions. They were kind and lovely people the muslins I have met, but these." Kate paused with a shake of her head as rested on her hands and back, looking up into the sky.
"Like you said, I've done this job for so long and sometimes it makes you lose faith in humanity. I know that but what we do, it saves people, what we're doing now, interviewing them. It's going to save lives." Rossi said, trying to give her some faith back. Everyone reached this point sometimes, it was because of the support of the team that everyone got through it.
He could understand that she was reaching her hard moment now, a week from the anniversary and now having to deal with this.
"You're doing great Kate, I know this mustn't be easy to handle this right now." he started saying but was interrupted by Kate.
"It isn't, but thinking about it, never is. Yes, it's the anniversary but that doesn't mean it's a special reminder. Just thinking about it is a reminder." Kate explained with a small shake of her head and sigh.
"What's your handling technique?" she asked, sitting back up and looking back at Rossi. "Cooking," he said with a smile. "You cook?" she asked, surprised to hear that.
"I do." he chuckled, not taking any offence by her statement. "I'll invite you some time, prove it, I still haven't returned the favour for that dinner you gave me when you started working with this team." he pointed out and Kate couldn't help but chuckle.
"You don't have to do that," she told him with a small smile. "As an apology for the last few weeks." he told her with a tilted head. "and I do have to prove that I can cook," he added with a chuckle. "Of course, how else would I believe you?" she teased.
"Indeed, what's yours?" he asked her, sipping his cup of coffee.
"Shooting range or this." she paused, her eyes moving up to the sky. "Stargazing?" he asked with a tone of surprise. "Indeed," she confirmed with a chuckle.
"reading and learning does as well but nothing helps me as much as stargazing." she admitted, a small smile growing on her face as she looked up to the night sky.
"Why's that?" he asked, intrigued to know that their newest member loved watching the skies. "It takes me back to where we all come from. When I was 11 I met an astronaut and I was so sure I would become one myself." she chuckled with a small shake of her head.
"I put my mind on everything to do with astronomy and I learned that we are all made up of the same stuff. the remnants of exploded stars and planets. We all have the same building blocks and it reminds me that we all come from the same place." she admitted with an admiring tone, her eyes never leaving the night sky.
"That's beautiful," he noted, looking up at the night sky. She certainly put it in perspective like that. "like I said I travelled the world and one of the first things I've always done was look up at the night skies." she added with a smile as she dropped her head and took a sip of her own cup of coffee.
"Thanks for this." she noted, looking back at Rossi; "For what?" he asked in confusion.
"Listening." she added, pushing herself off the bench. "that's what a team is for." he told her as they started heading in the direction of the basement.
they picked up a sandwich from the buffet before going back to the room with their suspect. Kate was getting tired of getting no answers and she wasn't ready to leave the room without answers again.
entering the room with a bottle of water she sat down next to the door and eyes Mr Basim. She saw him eye the water bottle but didn't say anything else. "Shouldn't you go home?" he sneered at Kate. "I find this place much more interesting than my four walls at home," she told him with a smile on her face as she extended her legs out in front of her.
"So you buddies where are they hiding?" Rossi asked for probably the hundredth time that day. "I'm telling you, you'll never find them before they finish their task," he repeated and Kate couldn't help but lean her head back and groan out in annoyance.
"You don't have any business here whore." he spat at her, but he jumped up when Rossi slammed his hands on the table, towering over him from opposite of the table.
"Don't talk to my partner like that," Rossi said.
"she shouldn't be here." He called, getting into Rossi's face. Kate was losing as much of her patience as Rossi.
They remained in the room for another three hours, well over midnight when interrogators of the NSA took over from them so they could rest.
They kept the routine on for four days. Four days and the twelve suspects hadn't been allowed to get any sleep. And then when Rossi and Kate had been at it for five hours straight the break came and they put it down to the exhaustion lowering his filter.
"So what's the next target?" Kate asked from her place on the chair opposite of Basim.
"Where will you and your band of crooks strike next. Who will pay for their sins first? tell me Where Daud?" Kate kept hoarding the questions. She was becoming exhausted with this herself, but she also knew that they were trained to undergo this.
"I'm not telling you where," he said, shaking his head with a bowed head. the exhaustion was starting to seep in and both Rossi and Kate realised it, it was now or never.
"fa'iin 'akbar madinatan taqae." She heard him mutter under his breath, Kate realised that he didn't even realise it himself. but it was enough for Kate to hear and understand.
jumping up from her chair she motioned for David to follow her out. "what is it?" he asked, closing the door after him. "It's Baltimore," Kate muttered, looking Rossi in the eye.
"What makes you say that? What did that sentence mean?" he questioned with a small shake of his head. "that sentence he muttered, I think he even didn't realise he said it or the mic's picked it up. he said: the greatest city will fall. Baltimore is known as the greatest city in America." Kate explained as they rushed towards the central room for the last few days.
"It's Baltimore" Both of them announced getting the attention of the entire room. "what did he say? we saw his lips moving but couldn't hear it?" the men stationed at the screen of them said.
"he said: fa'iin 'akbar madinatan taqae. Which mean the greatest city will fall. Baltimore is known as the greatest city in America." Kate noted, looking at everyone in the room and everyone agreed that it was one of the nicknames of Baltimore.
"Let's warn FEMA, NSA, Homeland Security and SWAT, Baltimore is under threat." One of them men in the room ordered. the room nearly ran empty as every single person ran out of the room.
"Kate, Rossi, the two of you have build repor with him, try getting more out of him," Hotch said, Kate and Rossi, nodded and headed back towards the interrogation room.
"I know it's Baltimore," Kate stated in Arabic, so far she had pretended she didn't understand Arabic and it had led to this.
she couldn't help but smile when he realised she understood Arabic. "Yes I speak Arabic." she pointed out in Arabic, seeing his surprised face.
"You don't know anything." he spat out, before spitting at her. wiping her face in disgust she knew they were on the right path, he wouldn't react like this otherwise. Yes, he had been disgusted with her, hated her in the last few days but he'd never spat at her.
"So is that where your brothers are?" Rossi asked he couldn't understand what they were saying in Arabic, but he hadn't expected him to spat in Kate's face.
"You know there has been a nationwide manhunt, we rolled everyone you've ever had contact with. They are being interviewed just like you, the same has happened to the twelve buddies of yours." Kate informed him with a sneer on her face, resembling the one he had been using for the last couple of days.
It took them an hour, but they didn't get anything out of him anymore. He'd just kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything anymore. The team left for Baltimore had arrived and were checking each night club to start with.
three hours later they got confirmation that nine suspects had been caught. Four of the had been wearing a suicide bomb and the others had been hiding guns, some people had been injured during the scuffle. Five civilians had been killed, and nine law enforcement, four of those suspects had also been killed. But those weren't really innocents, 14 innocents in total had been killed. It was hard to accept that their efforts hadn't been able to spare all lives, but they had to accept that they had spared many other lives.
So that's the chapter, let me know what you think. I really hope you enjoyed it.
Love Kimberly