Preponderance

A Criminal Minds Story

"I want a deal." Captain Doug Johns stated as soon as they sat him down.

"You don't get a deal," Rossi explained furiously, "Not after what you did."

"That's fine. You don't have anything on me anyways. After all, I didn't kill them."

"No. You didn't but you were the mind behind it all weren't you? Sheridan couldn't pull something like that off alone. He needed direction, guidance," Rossi added leaning across the table, "He needed someone with power."

"Sheridan is an incompetent, bungling idiot," Johns agreed leaning back on his chair as his hands rested on his belly.

"Tell me about the case from September," Hotch interrupted as he stood with his arms crossed.

"Which one? That was a very busy month."

"A six year old girl was murdered. It's under review, pending an investigation," Hotch sternly reminded him.

"Give me a deal and you get what you need. Don't then I stay silent and take my chances with a jury. I am a sweet, old, retiring police captain with an excellent service record."

Rossi looked over at Hotch with a look of reluctance. It wasn't ideal, but they really didn't have anything to tie Johns or Turner to the crime. They could get Sheridan thanks to JJ's confession, but that wouldn't be enough.

"Fine. You got a deal. Now what happened in that case?"

"We found the girl in an alleyway. She was brutally murdered; she was severely beaten with a baseball bat. Her father is a great man, upstanding member of the community, he often donates to the precinct, and he is very generous. About two days after her body was found he comes to me for help. He said he had a proposition to make, so I listened. Turns out he murdered his own daughter, never gave me a reason, but he offered me money. Lots of money…"

Hotch visibly sighed angrily as he continued to listen to his story.

Rossi shook his head.

"As you know. I am headed for retirement and with the money he offered I could get out of here and move to Europe with my wife and still have enough left over to be content the rest of my life. So I agreed. I called in Sheridan and Turner whose moral compasses were pretty out of whack and offered to share some of the money with them. They readily agreed and we came up with our plan. It was Turner's idea to arrest the teenage boy. A social outcast, already a little too friendly with the neighbor girls, even his own mother wasn't surprised when we came knocking. It was all too easy really. And we would have gotten away with it," Johns paused taking an indifferent breath.

"But Detective LaMontagne Jr. found out," Rossi added incredulously.

"More like he suspected. William came to me and expressed his concerns. I brushed them off and told him that it didn't matter because he wasn't the lead detective on the case anyway. He didn't like that very much. So he went over my head and reported us and we knew if there was an investigation then we would all go down. I wasn't going to let that weasel to ruin everything, so we came up with a plan to kill him."

"After all, if he was dead then they would have no choice, but to drop the investigation…," Rossi closed his eyes for a moment as he absorbed all of it in.

"So what happened?" Hotch urged him to continue.

"Well the plan was to kill him in his sleep and then leave no trace, but they were awake. Who in the world is awake at 1:00 am on a week night? So Sheridan panicked and knocked on the door. William let him in. The wife tried to save them, but by the time she pulled a gun and started shooting it was too late for William and his wretched child. When Sheridan checked in… he was so upset, crying over a shot arm," Johns chuckled out loud.

"But it you left a witness, so now you had to change your plan…," Hotch growled.

"Yes, but that was a mistake. A fixable one, but one nonetheless. She was in such a state of shock that I knew it wouldn't be too hard to frame her for the crime. A jury could believe that she just snapped, I mean that isn't too uncommon in your line work is it, Agent Hotchner?"

"So you killed one of your own and a six year old boy just so you could retire in Europe? You're sick."

"Greed is a powerful thing Agent. And really…I didn't have a choice."

"You did have a choice. You could have done your job… We stop evil, we don't protect it," Hotch yelled. He hasn't felt so angry in such a long time. Hatred for the man standing in front of him was becoming so overwhelming that Hotch was afraid he might kill him. He had to stand back as Rossi stood Johns up and led him out the door where he would join his two partners on their journey to prison.

Where he would make sure they stayed for a very, very long time.

The team watched as the three men were led out of the station in cuffs. A beautiful feeling of relief washed over all of them. The station erupted in applause because the officers too were glad to see them get what they deserved. Their small joyous moment of victory didn't last long as they each looked towards their young blond colleague. She was standing at the end of the line by Emily, now wrapped up in Morgan's very large sweatshirt. Her face blank and emotionless, her eyes empty. A single tear fell slowly down her cheek. JJ quickly brought her finger up to her eye in order to stop more from falling.

The strong mother was shivering slightly as she rubbed her hands. Finally she crumpled into the seat closest to her and buried her head in her hands. Emily quickly rushed to her side, kneeling in front of her exhausted friend.

"Where am I going to go now Em? What am I going to do?"

"Well right now, you're going to stay with me and after that… I don't know, but you'll figure it out," Emily told her, as the blonde's cerulean blue eyes looked as if they might drown in tears, and she clutched her friend's hand.

"And we will be with you every step of the way," Morgan added.

"Emily…" JJ whispered her voice weak and tired, "Before we go can we stop at my house for a moment? I need to get something."

"Of course."

As the team left the precinct their hearts were still heavy, each of them heading a separate way. Though today they had won, the battle had left an irreplaceable hole in each of their lives. There was a long road ahead, but they had hope.

Hope that every tomorrow will be better.

And maybe that will be enough.

Okay! How was it? It's not finished yet, there is still a couple things that need to be written for this story to really be complete. So stick with me. Thank you for all of the reviews! You are the best! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or criticisms!

Thanks!

-HCB