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JJ walked into Garcia's office and set down a cup of coffee while digging through the files in her hand.
"Hey!" Garcia yelled. "No coffee near my babies." She quickly moved JJ's mug away as JJ just shrugged apologetically at her.
"Garcia, look at this map, he's going across the country. Its like he takes a vacation in Gloconda. There has to be something of significance for him there." Frusturated, JJ sat down and took a sip of her coffee. This case was nothing short of stressful and unpleasant and JJ just wanted it to be over. To top it off, all she could think about was Emily. Emily in that red shirt with a goofy grin on her face, talking about nerdy things with Reid. Despite the horrors this killer brought on, JJ found herself thinking of Emily and smiling.
"You're doing it again Kitten." Garcia said without looking up from her computer.
"Doing what?" JJ asked.
"Thinking about a certain raven haired profiler?"
"What?" JJ scoffed, trying to appear confused about the accusation. "No I'm not, I'm thinking that maybe we should call Hotch and tell him about the pattern."
"We already did." Garcia answered her with a smirk.
"Right."
"Sweetie, there is nothing wrong with liking Prentiss, why won't you just admit it?"
"Because Penelope we work together and I have no idea if she even likes women."
"Please, that swagger? She's at least bisexual."
"Regardless, we still work together, it's unprofessional."
"Oh god who cares? True love wins out."
"Woah, true love? Hell no! I don't buy into that stuff, is she hot? Yes, no true love involved anywhere."
"Yeah, but hot, hot sex could lead to true love."
"No. Garcia, we have possibly one of the worst serial killers in the history of serial killers right now, lets maybe focus on that okay?"
"Fine, but if you think I'm letting you off the hook, you've got anther thing coming."
Emily couldn't help but show her horror slightly as she, Hotch and Reid discovered Frank's trailer.
"I thought I'd seen everything." Hotch said, clearly distressed. Emily had to stop herself from covering her mouth.
"There's a body." Hotch bent down, "she's dead."
"Hotch!" Reid called. They lifted the metal case and found George. Thank God. Emily thought. She's alive.
They got out as quickly as possible and made their way back to the diner. Emily just wanted this case to be over. She wanted to go home and take a bath and read a book. Nothing about letting Jane go with Frank and Gideon made her feel comfortable. Jane was mentally ill, it wasn't fair to let her make this decision. As they pulled out Emily got the feeling that nothing about this case was going to end well. She and Reid sat quietly together as they waited for Gideon to call. Neither was sure of what to say, she didn't know if she started it or Reid did but next thing Emily knew, they were resuming a conversation on Doctor Who.
"I don't have anything against Martha, she's fine, I even like her, I just liked Rose much better." Emily stated.
"I agree, I found Rose a more engaging character, though Martha is highly intelligent, and I like the fact that she is an actual doctor."
"Guys, Gideon called." Morgan said approaching them. Emily and Reid stood up and followed him quickly to the car as they drove where Gideon found the children. Emily couldn't believe that the footprints simply stopped. She just wanted to get on the jet and go home, put this case away in her head and stop thinking about it. As they flew home, Emily found herself unable to get Jane out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. As they walked back into the bullpen, Emily saw JJ walking toward them. Even clearly exhausted, she looked beautiful and Emily couldn't help but smile.
"Hey guys, Hotch wanted me to tell you that you don't have to come in until noon tomorrow."
"Seriously?" Morgan asked, excitedly. JJ nodded to him with a grin on her face.
"Thank god." Emily said. She caught JJ's eye as she turned to leave the bureau, they smiled – somewhat awkwardly – at each other and headed out to the parking lot. Emily drove home slightly faster than she should have, dropped her go bag down in her living room, and headed straight for the bathtub. Not bothering to eat – she couldn't really cook anyway – she poured herself a glass of wine, found the book she had been reading, and slipped into the steaming hot water. Her muscles screamed at her, and then eventually she began to relax. After she had read over five chapters, the water began to grow cold, and her head began dropping down; she figured falling asleep and drowning in the bathtub was a very undignified way to go. Her mother would have a shit fit. Not wanting to cause an international scandal and disappoint Elizabeth Prentiss more than she already did, she climbed out. Digging around in her dresser, she found some underwear and a large t-shirt and crawled into bed. The second she shut the lights out, her stomach began growing. She tried to ignore it and just fall asleep, but it would not be ignored, she hadn't eaten for hours. Groaning, she found her cell phone and ordered some lo mein and egg rolls from the chinese place down the street and plopped down onto the couch to wait. All that was on tv were late night talk shows and reruns of every version of CSI imaginable. Annoyed, she settled on a talk show that was semi entertaining and tried to stay awake.
Her buzzer rang about twenty minutes later and she got up to pay the man, ignoring the fact that she didn't have any pants on. She dug in quickly, eating so fast it made her stomach hurt. Emily put the rest in the fridge – breakfast tomorrow – and exhausted, climbed back into bed and finally fell asleep.
The prospect of not having to go into work until noon made JJ giddy with excitement. She wanted nothing more than to forget this case ever happened. JJ went home, made a quick turkey sandwich, and changed into one of her more sluttier dresses. She grabbed her car keys and headed out. When she arrived at the club, she made her way straight to the bar – feeling the need to get properly intoxicated. JJ was a regular and the bartender smiled as she passed over her drink. Downing it, JJ headed out to the dance floor determined to erase this case from her mind. The music beat steadily and JJ moved her body to it quickly, closing her eyes. A few moments later, she felt hands wrap around her waist.
"Hey JJ." A sultry voice said from behind. JJ turned and smiled at the brunette woman.
"Megan." JJ greeted her. Without another word, JJ wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck and pulled her in closer, pressing their bodies together. They danced for about four more songs before the need to get somewhere much more private grew too great. JJ grabbed Megan's hand and pulled her outside and into her car. The two women stumbled into JJ's apartment, hands groping, clothes dropping, as they made their way to her bedroom. As JJ kissed her way up Megan's stomach, she found herself imagining that she was kissing Emily. It shook her a little and she opened her eyes and stared at Megan.
"What?" She laughed.
"Nothing." JJ answered as she hovered over the woman. "Nothing."
An hour later, JJ was very unsatisfied and grumpy as she plastered on a smile and kicked Megan out. She never let anyone stay over, not even Megan, who she slept with on a semi regular basis. JJ was frusturated. She was good in bed, so was Megan, she had never had any problems before, but now, all she could think about was Emily. Her raven hair, her pale skin, dark eyes, the way she wore her belt slightly off to the side, and her watch backwards, and how completely kissable her lips must be. Groaning, JJ flopped down into her bed and tried to will herself to sleep.
Emily woke up late.
Cursing, she ripped her clothes off and took the fastest shower of her life. It would look completely unprofessional to be given the morning off and still come waltzing in late. She didn't need to give Hotch and the team another reason to think she didn't belong there. Throwing on a suit, she grabbed the bag of egg rolls and ran to her car. Shit. She thought as she drove – above the speed limit - I forgot coffee. Taking a huge bite of a cold egg roll at a stop sign she realized this day was not going to bode well, she could feel it now. Emily parked her car, locked it, grabbed her bag, stuffed the last of an egg roll in her mouth and sprinted into the bureau.
"Right on time Princess." Morgan greeted her with a smile. Shucking her coat and setting down her bag, Emily glared at him. She pulled her chair out only to whack it against her knee.
"Fuck!" Emily cursed under her breath as she tried not to wince.
"Are you okay?" JJ's concerned voice asked from behind her. Morgan was trying to contain his laughter as JJ reached over with her free hand and smacked him on the head. The coffee in her other hand she passed over to Emily with a small smile. "Black, one packet of splenda right?"
"Oh my God JJ, I could kiss you!" Emily moaned as she took a sip. Realizing what she just said, Emily felt her face grow red. "I mean, thank you."
"No problem" JJ said with a laugh. She walked back up to her office as Emily, Morgan and Reid began to work through their files. Embarrassed, Emily glanced up towards JJ's office. The fact that she knew exactly how Emily liked her coffee, that she bothered to pay attention, and do something as simple as bring it to her, touched Emily more than she wanted to admit.
JJ burst into her office and leaned against the door with a sigh. She could not believe the effect Emily telling her she wanted to kiss her caused. It was embarrassing to say the least. She sat down at her desk and began the overwhelming task of going through case files.
Emily carried three beers in her hands with a grin on her face. Laughing at Morgan smack dab in the middle of three women on the dance floor, she warned him that the one in the back could take his wallet. Handing the beers over to Haley and Hotch, she sat down next to Garcia. While clubs were not really her thing, she had a good time days before and seeing Hotch come along with his wife was intriguing. Garcia completely ignored her – her attention was focused solely on Morgan – Emily politely answered Haley when she asked how everyone was treating her.
"Everyone is very nice." She said. Haley pulled Hotch onto the dance floor and Emily couldn't help but smile. Hotch may not be her favorite person, but seeing how happy he was with his wife was a nice change. It made her feel happy and lonely at the same time. Scanning the room, her eyes landed on JJ over in the corner playing darts. She was creaming the men who were attempting to play against her. Emily watched as JJ's phone rang and she stepped outside to take the call. Groaning, she figured they must have a case.
The team assembled back at the BAU and Emily took a sip of her coffee as Gideon arrived in the conference room. JJ began briefing them on the case; a couple, Dennis and Lacy Kyle were murdered in their home in an Atlanta suburb an hour ago. One of the unsubs called from the home telling the police he was going to kill the victims.
"You're kidding?" Morgan asked.
"Nope." JJ answered. "The dispatcher said the first male sounded terrified and begged them to get there quickly because the other male, a Raphael, was going to kill the sinners. 911, said they would send a tape of the recording to Garcia."
"What was the response time?" Reid asked.
"Uh..." JJ looked at her file. "Four minutes and twenty-two seconds." JJ clicked the remote and showed the crime scene photos. To her side, Emily heard Garcia gasp and cover her eyes with a folder. Emily studied the photos while JJ continued on. "Mr. Kyle was one of those dot-com millionaires, when the police arrived on scene they found a page from Revelations." She glanced down at her file again. "Chapter six, verse eight, laying on the bed."
"These unsubs are mission based killers. They're not going to stop until they've completed whatever it is they've set out to do." Reid stated.
"Wheels up in twenty." Hotch announced as he stepped out of the room, Gideon following close behind.
On the plane Garcia conversed with the team via video feed. She played the 911 call for them. Emily noticed that the first unsub sounded frightened.
"He might be doing this against his will." She mentioned.
"No." Gideon said, shaking his head. "I doubt it." Emily nodded and quieted down. She needed to get herself together and work harder. The more mistakes she made, the longer it was going to take for everyone to respect her. If they ever did. Glancing up, she caught JJ's eye, who smiled at her. She returned it half-heartily, but glanced back down, willing herself to focus on the case.
"The first unsub could have just called out to save them, rather than call 911." Morgan stated.
"The second unsub said that Raphael was going to kill them, could there be a third?" JJ asked.
"Probably not, its not uncommon for an unsub to refer to himself in the third person." Reid explained to JJ.
"I'll run the name through the Georgia database and ours and see what I come up with. Garcia out, crime fighters, stay safe!" Emily couldn't help but smile at Garcia, her perkiness really helped during these cases sometimes.
"These unsubs are not going to stop until their mission is complete. We need to hit the ground running as soon as we arrive. JJ, I want you to go get pictures of the victims, Prentiss, head to the morgue to examine the wounds on the bodies. We need to know how the unsub managed to kill two victims in four and a half minutes. There may have been other murders, I'll set up at the field office in Atlanta, to review some other files."
"Morgan, Reid, you're with me at the crime scene." Gideon added as the plane began to land.
Emily hated morgues. No matter how many times she saw a dead body, it never really got any easier, more bearable perhaps – she somewhat knew what to expect – but never easier. She greeted the medical examiner with a tight smile and they got down to business. He explained that the murders had been extremely efficient; each wound was similar, both victims had their throats cut and a gash up on one arm from the wrist to the elbow, along with a gash down from the crotch to the upper thigh.
"How much knowledge of anatomy would the unsub need to know to do this?"
"Its basic knowledge, these victims were killed as if one would slaughter an animal. It could be a hunter or a farmer, basically anyone in Georgia."
"Thanks." Emily said, shaking his hand. Anyone in Georgia, extremely helpful. She thought as she left the morgue.
"Hotch!" JJ called out as she made her way over to him. "The Gentrys were the last to leave the Kyles Super bowl party. According to them, the Kyles didn't have any enemies, good people, more generous than they needed to be."
"Why were they picked?" Hotch asked. JJ shrugged. "Their house is nice, but you can't see that from the street, so this wasn't random."
JJ glanced up as Agent Franks walked up and told them he couldn't find any case files that matched the unsub's MO. Hotch shared a look with her and she plastered on a smile, turning to Agent Franks. "Would it be alright if I go through some of the files?" She asked. "I flew all the way out here, and I've got nothing to do."
"Sure darling, follow me." He said with a smirk. JJ did everything she could not to roll her eyes as she followed him. Turning over her shoulder she smiled at Hotch, who just grinned and shook his head as he went back to his file.
As Gideon, Morgan and Reid arrived back at the police station JJ headed out to meet them. Emily walked in a moment later and JJ made sure to sit down on the opposite side of her next to Gideon as they watched the video file from Garcia. She needed to focus on the case, not how great Emily's suit hugged her body. The video was dark and hard to see, Reid noticed that the camera was on in the station and that the unsub was watching them through the wireless internet. JJ couldn't help but be completely creeped out by that fact. Catching Emily's eye, she could see the same could be said for her. Garcia began checking to see if the Kyles had gotten some sort of tech support in recent weeks.
"You guys, this video has gone crazy viral, its the most downloaded video on the internet right now."
"People probably don't realize its real. They probably just think its a promo for a horror movie." JJ said. If they thought it was real, JJ didn't want to think about how wrong that would be.
"Well, the unsub is right about one thing." Morgan said. "The world is pretty screwed up." As Emily began explaining to the team about the nature of the wounds, JJ sat frusturated only half listening. Reid and Morgan began discussing the levels of organization the unsubs had.
"It's strange that the unsub who seems to be in more control made the call, and yet he can't seem to stop the other unsub from killing." Reid commented.
"Is this all we have?" Gideon asked, somewhat angrily. No one spoke, JJ found herself glancing up and catching Emily's eye. The brunette was just as frusturated as the rest of them. "Its not enough." Gideon stated.
"Franks was right, none of the other open cases fit the MO, but I looked at unsolved home invasions and there was a prowler call made from outside the Kyles home earlier. The witness' name was..." JJ glanced down at the file in her hands. "Tobias Hankel. He lives on hour outside of Atlanta."
"JJ, Reid, go there, see if you can find out anything else." Hotch ordered them. Reid gave her a small smile as they stood up to leave. Catching Emily's eye one more time, she turned and followed Reid out of the station. As they got into the car, JJ headed straight for the driver's seat. Reid was good at a lot of things, driving was not really one of them. They drove mostly in silence for the first fifteen minutes.
"JJ, do you like Emily?"
"What?" JJ asked shocked. If Reid noticed something, she must have been glaringly obvious.
"Do you?"
"Reid, I have no idea what you're..."
"I think you guys would be good together." He said as he turned to look out the window. JJ didn't know how to respond. So she just remained quiet, grateful that Reid did the same. As they approached the house JJ knocked on the door and got her credentials out. A timid man opened the door only a few inches.
"Hello Mr. Hankel, I'm SSA Jennifer Jareau, this is Dr. Spencer Reid, we're with the FBI, may we come in?" She asked politely.
"I don't let anyone into the house, my father doesn't like it." He answered. JJ narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion. Sharing a look with Reid, he spoke up quickly, pretending he needed to use the bathroom. Hankel still refused and Reid asked why a man in his thirties still obeys his dad. JJ couldn't help but wonder as well, this man was giving her the creeps, but she couldn't really explain why. "At what age does one start disrespecting one's parents wishes?" Hankel asked them. Rather than drag this out, JJ figured they weren't getting into the house, and she needed to get the answers they came for.
"Mr. Hankel, we're just here to ask you about the disturbance you witnessed. You saw someone going over the wall and you called the police?" JJ asked him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said as he shut the door in their faces. JJ was annoyed, frusturated and still creeped out.
"That's weird." She said to Reid as they walked down the steps. "Why would someone call the police and then deny it ever happened?" Reid was silent as they walked slowly towards the car. JJ knew that look, he was on to something. "Reid?"
"To gauge the response time..." He said slowly.
"What?" JJ asked, but Reid ran away from her and back to the house. "Reid!" She called after him. He crouched down and peered into the window. A second later he waved her over. "What are you..."
Reid cut her off. "Its him, he's got all the monitors, he saw me."
"Reid!" JJ said crouching down and leaning closer into the wall. They both pulled out their guns and ran back around the house to the barn. JJ wished they had some sort of backup. While she knew that she was a good shot, she had yet to fire her weapon in the field. As much as she trusted Reid, JJ had to admit, she would feel a lot more assured with Morgan or Emily. They knelt down outside the barn door.
"JJ, call Hotch."
"There's no service." JJ reminded him. Of course. She thought. Make this as difficult as possible.
"Okay, you go and I'll cover the back. They know where we are, we'll just have to wait for them to back us up." With that he ran off before JJ could protest about splitting up. This was not a good idea. JJ took a deep breath and headed into the barn, her gun and light steady in front of her. She was just thankful that her hands weren't shaking. It was pitch black, and even with the light, she could barley see a thing. Hearing a disgusting squish under her boot, JJ pointed her flashlight at the ground. She was standing in a pool of blood. Quickly she stepped back and tried to calm herself, but heard a noise. Turning around her light caught the sight of three huge black dogs snarling at her. Before she could react, one of them jumped at her. Screaming, JJ fired three shots.