House of Mirrors- Now You See it….
Emily Prentiss had no clue what diabolo was. She had no idea what skills were required for it, what it consisted of, or even the tools used to perform it. So when Benjamin came back into her sight with a piece of rope and a stick on either end of the rope, she was at a loss of what to do with it. Seeing her confusion he almost smirked. "I see you have no clue what diabolo is." The BAU agent kept quiet, though. She didn't want to feed whatever fantasy he was in or accidentally respond in a way that would trigger a reaction from him. "No worries- my dear friend Genevieve will be able to help you." The man waved a finger over toward the sideline, and almost immediately a petite girl in a black tutu and white ballet shoes gracefully slid her way across the room. Benjamin smiled at her and handed over the stick and rope.
Prentiss was about to slip into 'profiler mode' when Genevieve placed something else in her hand. It was a piece of semi-bendable plastic with a thin middle that dramatically got thicker as it reached the end. She immediately noticed that the grove in the middle of it was just the right size for the rope to slip through it. Then she realized what diabolo was- she had actually seen it before but had never known what it was called. They wanted her to place the plastic toy on the rope and do 'neat tricks' with it like throwing it up and down. 'Wonderful', she thought. The profiler recalled one of her distant cousins trying to master the art when they were younger, and she had failed miserably even then. If she couldn't do it now, much more than embarrassment was on the line; it could mean a far worse outcome for her team….
"I'll give you twenty minutes to practice with Genevieve. After that, well, let's just hope your practice goes well. Good luck, ladies." Without another word Benjamin removed himself from the room.
Once he was gone, Genevieve smiled at Prentiss and extended her hand. "I'm sorry to meet under these circumstances," she said. "I really do hope you're a quick study."
"Yeah, me too," Prentiss sighed.
The other woman smiled back sadly before taking the rope from Prentiss's hand. She then placed the rubber piece in the direct middle. "The first few times are always the hardest, but after a while I think you'll get the hang of it." She quickly started rolling it around the sticks' rope and said, "Now you see it…" Suddenly she threw it up in the air-high. "And now you don't." A few seconds later it fell neatly back into place. Genevieve did this a few times before she stopped and gave it back to Prentiss. "Your turn- you think you're ready?"
"Of course not," Prentiss laughed humorlessly. Although the younger woman was one of her captors, she couldn't help but feel compelled to be nice to her. After all, Genevieve seemed like she was being helpful to her. Maybe she wasn't at the circus by choice; maybe she was there by force.
"Give it a shot," Genevieve encouraged. Prentiss then mimicked the petite woman's actions, of course unsuccessfully. She had thrown it up, but it landed across the room. "Damn it," she cursed as Genevieve ran to retrieve it. Wordlessly Prentiss was given the object and prompted to try again. Yet still she screwed up, and when she tried the third time she also didn't make it. "You can do it," Genevieve smiled. "Just keep at it, all right?"
"Right," she grumbled back. Just as she went to toss the diabolo toy in the air, however, Benjamin made his way back in the room.
"How's it going ladies?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, though. "On with the show!" Genevieve frowned before nodding her head. She waved goodbye at Prentiss and made her way back to wherever she had been previous to the BAU's arrival. "Come on, Emily. Your audience is waiting."
The pair made their way to center stage, though only Benjamin was smiling. "Our friend, Emily Prentiss, is going to perform some diabolo for you today- or so, if she is able to." Benjamin's eyes darted off the stage, where Derrick was now waiting in his usual spot again. Opposite of him Genevieve appeared with a different diabolo set. She whispered something in Derrick's ear that made him smile. Quickly she wiped the smile off her face and made her way on stage. Then, he continued with, "Please enjoy the show."
Genevieve passed the set to Prentiss with a smile. "It's magnetic- a beginner's set," she whispered. "Just throw it lighter than you did before-but don't make it obvious. Benny and Cole don't know it's rigged." She patted Prentiss's arm reassuringly before stepping off to the side line. Now she could only hope that their 'little trick' would work.
"Go on now Emily- the stage is yours!" the man said cheerfully.
Prentiss knew that if she hesitated she wouldn't be able to bring herself to go through with the 'trick'. So without any hesitation the dark-haired woman placed the 'plastic' on the almost suspiciously black 'rope' and tossed it gently into the air. Miraculously it landed right in the middle, and only then did Prentiss allow herself to smile. She repeated the trick a few more times before she threw it just a bit higher and started doing some of the tricks she had seen Genevieve do. Finally she removed it from the rope and smiled nervously down at her team. Prentiss knew the forced smiles on their own faces were meant to be helpful and reassuring, but she couldn't help but feel that they were doing just the opposite.
And then something suddenly dawned on her. Benjamin came on the stage this time- not Cole. Silently she wondered where the ringmaster was, as he had introduced himself as the announcer of the events. Inside the profiler couldn't help but feel a bit more on edge. Something was wrong-but what was it?
"Good job, Emily. Take a bow!" Benjamin smiled. "Now, let's get ready for the next….act."
The hesitation before 'act' made Prentiss even more suspicious, and by the glances she could see of her team, they had noticed it too. As she was taken off-stage Cole appeared in her site again. The man smiled and waved at her before taking back the stage. She was unfortunately right; he was planning something. Before Benjamin took her off the stage where she could better study her colleagues, the red-headed man she had spotted earlier on came up to her.
"Are you all right?" he asked quietly. The man was obviously not finding the circus amusing like the other 'performers' were, so why was he here…?
"I'm fine, thank you," she smiled reassuringly.
"I'm glad," he smiled back. Before he could say anything else, however, Benjamin roughly threw himself in front of the other man, blocking him from saying anything else. He then lead her off the stage and sat her down next to Hotch. Without another word he vanished.
"Ladies and gentleman," Cole announced loudly, "I hope you've enjoyed the show so far, but now we're going to take a pause for a special event. I will be waiting for one volunteer- not a performer- to come assist me in the performance. So, any volunteers?" Immediately Hotch stood up, but Cole shook his head. "You've already performed, Dear Aaron. Any others?"
Reid's eyes narrowed around his team members. He saw Morgan about to stand, but he himself was about to as well. When he turned his head, however, he saw that JJ was already standing.
Cole smiled at her as Benjamin went to retrieve her from the audience. "Thank you, my dear. I promise you won't be sorry."
But as she approached the stage, Benjamin to her left side, she realized that she already was.