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JJ stifled a yawn as she removed the pictures and map from the white board. "None of us have gotten much sleep the last couple of days, have we?" Hotch remarked as Catherine Willows and Nick Stokes entered the room.
"I hear you got them," Nick said as Hotch continued to box up the files.
"Yes we did," Hotch replied, "a neat and tidy little kiddy porn enterprise nestled in a quiet little ghost town in the California desert."
"You can never underestimate the creativity and stealth of the criminal mind," JJ added.
"Ain't that the truth," Catherine agreed. "So, how did they figure out the link between William Reid and Lou Anne McDaniels?"
"The family court judge," Hotch told them. "We'd thought it might be Rachael's DCFS worker but Garcia found that she was indeed sick. She's in chemotherapy for cancer and she hadn't told anyone at work and no one knew she was at the clinic in Henderson. Menendez and the others gave up the judge on interrogation."
"A lawyer spilling his guts," Nick said. "That's a new one."
"Well," JJ said with a smirk. "You can never underestimate the creativity and stealth of Agent Rossi in the interrogation room. He, Prentiss and Morgan are out with Captain Brass, Detective Vartann and some officers rounding him and the Dinsdale's up."
"And Spencer?" Nick asked.
"He's at the hospital. He got a message last night that there'd been a change in his father's condition," Hotch informed them.
"Good change or bad?" Nick asked.
"We don't know," JJ replied.
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Reid thought he felt William Reid's fingers weakly squeeze his. "Dad," he said. "Dad, can you hear me?" He felt his fingers squeezed again. He watched his father's face as his eyelids fluttered and his eyes opened and then shut just as quickly. He could see his father fighting to try to keep them open as his heart rate sped up on the monitor. "It's okay dad," Reid assured him. "It'll come when it comes, you don't have to fight so hard." He felt his hand being squeezed again and he called for Shannon who came quickly.
Reid backed away as Shannon went about checking his father. The very petite middle aged redhead flashed a bright smile as her experienced green eyes took in his dad's situation. "Mr. Reid," she said pleasantly but rather sharply. Reid could see his dad trying to open his eyes. "There you are," she said brightly. "I've been waiting to see if your eyes were as beautiful as your son's." With each blink, it seemed William was able to hold his eyes open a few seconds longer. "Don't worry about it Mr. Reid. It'll come. You've been through quite the experience. Don't try to get going too fast. If you understand me, squeeze my hand." She felt slight pressure on her fingers as she placed them in her patient's. "We'll have you doing better than that in no time." She remarked with a giggle as she made notations on the clipboard at the end of his bed. "It's just like waking up from a very deep sleep; sometimes it takes you a while to get oriented."
Reid liked Shannon's jovial, firm but kind way with his father as he watched the man's eyes begin to stay open a little longer after each blink. He watched him try to obey Shannon's commands to follow her finger, to look up and down when she told him and squeeze both her hands with his. Eventually she waved him over. "Do you know this guy?" She asked.
Now it was her turn to watch as the older man's eyes met the younger's. She switched her glances back and forth between the two. She could see William wanted to talk but found it impossible with the tube down his throat so he nodded his head slightly. "You'll be able to talk again once we get that tube out. You need it for right now to inflate your lung which was injured in your…," she paused for a moment and looked at Reid…, "incident." She turned from the bed. "I'll notify Dr. Sutton of the change." She patted Reid on the shoulder as she walked by. "Let me know if you need anything."
Reid sat in the chair beside his father once again. "You okay dad?" he asked. That was a stupid question genius he told himself. The man's lying in an ICU bed hooked up to a ventilator and you ask if he's okay. Surprisingly, William nodded. "Do you remember what happened?"
William's eyes closed. Reid waited for them to reopen but they didn't. Since his father had drifted off again, he rested his head on the back of the chair. Perhaps he could catch a few winks. Suddenly, his hand that was resting on the bed was squeezed in a death grip, much stronger than previously. He looked over at his father to see his eyes now open, wide, and filled with terror.
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"They're all in custody," Prentiss said as the three profilers entered the conference room to find Hotch and JJ had it just about cleaned up.
"That judge was just so high and mighty until he saw we had a warrant for his computers. He knew it was over then," Morgan told them.
"If we thought Judge Crosley was reluctant to sign the warrant for Cima, he was even more reluctant to sign one for a fellow judge, but considering what our raid on Cima turned up and the judge's position in family court, he did it," Emily added.
"At least the kids are safe," Rossi said. "I gave them Hotch's line about how we'll be monitoring their progress and they better take good care of them. Somehow I didn't get the scowl down though."
"Or the stare," Prentiss added. "I see you two have been hard at work."
They all chuckled including Hotch. "Yeah, I think we're just about ready." JJ said. "Garcia's sending the viewers identities to Katie Cole and they're going to see about getting them in custody and hopefully talking. She also sent Katie Reid's algorithm. She thought maybe it could help with other decryptions."
"Has anyone heard from Reid?" Morgan asked. Everyone shook their heads and they glanced around at one another wondering what that might mean.
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Reid watched as his dad closed his eyes again. He could see tears sneaking beneath the closed lids. Why had he asked that damn question? Obviously he remembered what happened and it had all come back to him in a flash. Reid stood up and leaned over his father. "It's okay dad, you're safe. We caught him. You're in no danger now." William tried to raise his hands, only to find them restrained. More fear, if that was possible, filled his eyes. "It's okay dad," Reid said again. "The nurses said the first reaction of a patient is to pull the tube in your mouth out and they don't want you to do that, so they just restrained your hands so you can't do that."
William Reid lifted his torso from the mattress and then threw himself back against it again. He continued to do this his hands balled in fists as the heart and ventilator monitors began to squeal loudly. Shannon, another nurse and an orderly were there with lightning speed. "I suggest you go wait in the family room while we take care of this," she told him.
"I didn't mean…" Reid said.
"I know you didn't. This isn't uncommon. It's hard for you to watch but we see it all the time. It's not your fault," the nurse reassured him. "Go to the family room for few minutes okay."
Reid nodded and did as he was instructed. Tears burned his eyes. He had to hold them in, he told himself. He had to be strong. He entered the family room to find five others sitting there. They rose as he entered the room. "What are you doing here?"
JJ noticed his eyes almost brimming over and she stepped forward embracing him like she had the night she'd told him Emily had died. "Where else would we be?"