Chaos, Loyalty And Everything In Between
A/N: Hello again! Here's another chapter! Please don't be shy as I hope to improve and feedback would be greatly appreciated, no flames please, review or PM me and happy reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, Criminal Minds or any of their copyrights as they belong to their respective owners, this story is purely for fun, not gain of any kind. I do however own the OCs and the idea of the story.
To LeeMarieJack: I can't express how truly thankful I am for all the advice you have given and for help on editing. You are truly a wonderful person.
To X Blue Eyed Demon X: Thank you for the kind review and for the follow!
To Cow-Lover2214: Thanks for the favorite!
Chapter 6: Should We Tell Them?
Gideon surveyed the scene with a bit of sadness. The call had come in just before 7, progress may have been made, but now, they were two steps back from the one step forward. Nothing had escaped being spattered with blood.
"I'm getting sick of this, Jason." Lewis said. He was tired and furious, two more people had fallen victim during the night. The nagging feeling of being mocked rang through him while evidence was being collected.
"It's getting worse." Gideon agreed grimly. The wounds were deeper this time, the increased level of violence was plain to see.
"They fit the profile." Morgan said, carefully walking around the crime scene markers. "Clean records, no known enemies. Just good people." He wanted to find the bastard responsible and make him pay for the crimes.
Hotch excused himself, answering his ringing phone after stepping out. "Are you sure?" He asked the caller. He nodded, after listening to what was being said. "We're on our way right now." He snapped his phone shut. A few minutes later, two SUVs sped from the scene to the crime lab.
Zeke had a bad feeling. It was the kind of feeling that some said was a sixth sense, a sense for disaster. He hope the feeling in his gut was wrong.
"OK, Garcia. What did you find?" JJ said, getting off the phone. She was still holding the press and media at bay. It was only a matter of time before hell broke loose.
"Skylar and I went through the files again and discovered something." Garcia said, "They had recovered from misfortune." She waited, the words hanging in the air. The effect was immediate.
"What kind?" Nelson asked. His tone, for once, held no scorn. The weariness was showing on everybody, the trail was getting colder.
"Any kind." Skylar said. "The first victim, Hicks, had financial trouble. Santos and Hunt both lost family members. And Anderson was recovering from a skiing accident." He wished that the next part could be kept secret, unfortunately that couldn't happen.
"How do the recent two fit in?" Hotch asked. It was a bit odd for a serial killer to choose victims based on their misfortune. But, it was a valid method.
"They managed to not lose their farm." Garcia said, "They were having problems a year ago, soon though, the problems vanished." She bit her lip as the next part would be hard.
"What's wrong, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked. He knew Garcia had found something else and she was nervous about it. The room was paying close attention now.
"The first connection is all the victims had been struggling for a year. This year, things improved after the year mark." She said, "We looked closely and everything, but there's only one other connection." The words rushed out of her as she felt her anxiety rise.
"Garcia, what is it?" Gideon asked, his gaze was intent. "It could be the missing piece." He didn't need to add how important any detail was, no matter how small it was.
"It's Leo." Skylar said, wincing at the look on Lewis' face. He hated the smug look on Nelson's face even more.
"Not possible." Zeke said, without a moment's hesitation. "No way in hell would Leo be involved in this." He glared at Nelson, daring him to start something.
"Hotch is going to kill me." Reid moaned, they had woken up late. There had been an accident on the way to the crime lab, holding traffic back a good 30 minutes. Now they were at least 2 hours late.
"Oh man, Lewis is going to have my ass." Leo said, rushing down the hall. She had woken up to Gabriel pouncing on her and discovering Stella curled up next to her. The result to the sudden wake-up call had been waking up the guys and rushing to get ready. She had been forced to leave her daughter with the Winchesters as Mrs. Hanson was an hour late. After leaving instructions and kissing Stella on the head, she and Reid knew they were in trouble as soon as they found the others.
"What, kid can't eat peanut butter?" Dean asked, his face was scrunched up in thought. He had woken up to barely see the door stop mere inches from his face as it had been slammed open earlier. Now, he was left with a kid who wouldn't talk, instructions and a warning.
"One that's allergic to peanuts." Sam plucked the list out of Dean's hand and examined it. "So no peanut butter, she's supposed to take a nap at noon after lunch and when she wakes up, we can take her outside." He looked at the little girl, who was eating her bowl of Cheerios quietly.
"Is this woman a health fanatic?" Dean shut the door to the fridge and rummaged through the cabinets, in hope of finding some junk food.
"I don't know, and you shouldn't be going through other people's cabinets." He nudged Dean with his foot, which earned him a growl.
"Bitch." Dean said, grumpily closing the cabinets. "I'm starving man!" He grinned and picked up a container, when opened, it revealed the apple pie from last night.
"Jerk. And you shouldn't be cussing in front of the kid." Sam crossed his arms, watching Dean heat the pie up in the microwave. "Or having pie for breakfast." He rolled his eyes, of course Dean ignored him.
"Look again, Einstein." Dean closed his eyes as he tasted the crisp apples and gooey filling. He could already feel the sugar hitting his system. "You think she'll make another one?"
"It's going to be a long day." Sam thought, he saw Stella leave the table and sat down beside the dog to pet him. He cleared the table off and reviewed the list.
"Are you kidding me?!" Zeke winced, hearing Leo's voice jump an octave in fury. It wasn't hard to provoke her, and Hotch had certainly pushed the right button. He sent a look that begged her to calm down.
"It's just standard procedure." JJ said. She couldn't help it, but could easily see the other woman as a wolf, fangs bared and fur bristled. "Where were you between 10 and 1 am?" The kind tone had a limited effect as the CSI didn't look quite as hostile.
"At home." Leo was eyeing Hotch warily, she was well aware of procedure. That didn't mean she had to like it. "I don't know if you're aware, but I have a daughter to take care of. And I sure as hell am not going to endanger my job." She didn't even flinch from the piercing gaze as the profiler was silent.
"You knew the victims though." Gideon said, his tone was soft, but held the firm tone a professor would use during lecture. He watched as some of the fight seemed to leave the young woman. "Mrs. Hanson watched my daughter and I helped Mr. Hanson with his horses. The others, we went to the same café." The older man nodded in understanding.
"Do you have an alibi?" Nelson asked, a cruel smile on his lips. He sounded almost giddy as if Christmas had come early.
"She never left home." Reid said, even Nelson seemed stunned, hearing the edge in his tone. He already didn't like how the man acted towards others. His constant attempts at bullying his cousin made him like him even less.
"How do you know?" Morgan asked. His coworker rarely got an attitude, and if he did, it was for good reason. He would trust what Reid told him as the other wouldn't lie.
"I stayed the night. Leo and I were talking on the porch after dinner, she went to sleep around 10." Reid knew she hadn't done it. She wouldn't risk losing Stella or her job. "I went to bed around 12."
"We need other proof, though. Otherwise, it's hearsay." Skylar said, he didn't like the way things were looking. They were already being closely watched, one of the other supervisors didn't go through proper channels to eliminate a teammate as a suspect, so now every CSI team was being monitored.
"The alarm system." Zeke piped up. He remembered that was the first thing Leo did when they transferred. It should clear this whole mess up.
Garcia instantly tapped a few keys, and pulled up the sheet that recorded dates and times. "Last night, 9:58 was the last recorded time and the system was locked. It wasn't activated till 8:30 this morning." She said, a smile came on her face as everyone else breathed in relief.
"You're the best, Baby Girl." Morgan said, a wry grin as he was glad that was over with. If anyone could clear someone, it was Garcia. Now, maybe, they'd find the guy and stop him.
"Music to my ears, Sweetness." Garcia said, clearly pleased at having removed a possible hurdle from the investigation. She managed not to laugh, both Zeke and Skylar were beyond confused.
"Leo, go home." Lewis said, preparing himself. In the past four months, he had learned enough to know that the 21 year old, never backed down from anything without a fight. While he was glad to have someone with that mentality, it was too close to home. He was surprised to get a nod.
"Fine, after this, I'm taking off." Leo said, flipping over the picture of the Hanson home. She couldn't bear to look at it anymore. She looked up to see Lewis frown. "I need time off, with Stella and dealing with last year, I just can't."
"Alright, take your time. But you stay your ass put till then, got it?" Lewis said, pointing a finger at her. He smiled slightly, in response to the sly grin he got. "And no raising hell!"
Zeke and Skylar chuckled, as Leo laughed. Both men knew, that not a day went by, without her finding mischief. She gave quick hugs before bounding into the hall.
"Reid?" Garcia was a bit worried about her Junior G-man, as she called him. She didn't like the sad look his eyes held. She wished there was something she could do.
"Go." Gideon said, holding up a hand, to stop the protests. "You've earned some time off, and it's for the best." He could tell there was something going on. Reid didn't talk about family much, but it didn't take a profiler to see the bond the two had.
"I'll see you guys off before you leave." Reid was greatly relieved, that he didn't have to come up with an excuse. He couldn't lie as he wasn't really good at it. He gathered a few things and accepted Garcia's hug.
"We'll hold you to that, Pretty Boy." Morgan grinned, he saw Reid as a brother. Which would explain, why he teased him, even when working cases. The team was like a family, and it was for that reason, they worked well together.