Chapter 9: A Time to Fight

Nikki awoke to the feel of passing cement underneath her body. She was being dragged, and as she tried to shake off the tiredness, she wondered where she was. She remembered then and everything came back. Nikki couldn't even find the strength to fight him, she was just too weak. She figured she lost a good twenty pounds over the past six days. Finally, she was laid down on the cold, hard cement floor. She lifted up her head to look at her now too weak and frail body. She could see a lot of her bones now. She hadn't eaten in six days, maybe more, she couldn't remember. She could feel the shocks of pain go through her body and she cried out. She was being electrocuted, she could feel the throbs of pain and she tried to kick and she couldn't.

After the torture, she was dragged back and chained to the wall again, still jerking at the pain that convulsed through her body. " How does that feel now?", came a voice from just above her.

" You son of a bitch!", she screamed.

" Aww, now is that anyway to treat the man who loved you?", he asked, with a laugh.

" Loved me? Yeah sure you loved me! You couldn't care less about me!", she screamed in response.

" That's true now, but before. You were the sweetest little thing I ever laid my eyes on", he recalled.

" Yeah, that's why you raped me, right?", she added sarcastically.

" That was not rape and you know it!", he yelled, " You enjoyed it, too!"

" I do, do I? I'm not so sure about that", Nikki continued, " You're just the same cold-hearted bastard you were three months after we were together!"

" Oh, really? So, what does that make you, sweetheart? An angel? Ha!", he mocked.

" I may not be an angel, no! I've done my share of things that I'm not proud of, but you are way beneath me!", Nikki yelled.

" Oh save your breath, it does no good to yell at me. Especially, after all we've been through together," he stated as he turned around and walked away.

" Oh, sure. Just when you know that I've got you, you turn around and walk away. Coward!", she screamed. Just then, he stopped, spun around, and headed right for her. She put her legs up to defend herself, but it did no good once he was on her. He ripped at her clothes and yelled, " Oh, I'm a coward!? You'll be sorry you ever said that, bitch!." She thrashed her head from side to side, and screamed, but it did no good, there was no one around to help her.

" Alright, so what have we got?", Hotch asked.

" Well, there's no fingerprints, no murder weapon, although it is a knife. Double-edged. Probably a hunting knife. The penetration is deep, so, this guy is one seriously pissed off dude", Morgan answered, " And, I think he finally got to the root of his anger." They all knew what he meant. Detective Nicole Messer was his root of anger, but why, is the obvious question.

" Ok, so we know that Detective Messer is somehow connected to him. She is the root of his anger, my guess is that the women he killed before were substitutes for her. Now that he's got her, she'll be the last that he kills. He wants her to suffer. Why, though? Why her? What did she do to him?", Hotch asked. Those were the unanswered questions on everyone's minds, and they had yet to be answered.

" Well, it appears that her brother knew nothing. Five years ago, she left here for Chicago without a word of notice. She's apparently always dodged that question as to why she left. Her brother, Danny, said that he didn't hear from her for four months and then one day, he got a letter from her that explained where she was. He suspects something, but it's not likely he's going to tell anyone", Prentiss concluded.

" We have to get someone to tell us something that we don't already know. Nicole's life may depend upon it", Hotch stated, matter-of-factly.

Nikki woke up, not even realizing what happened. She felt a draft and she tried to lift her head up. She discovered the blouse she had worn to work those few days ago to be ripped open and her pants were unbuckled. She struggled to figure out why, and then it hit her. He had turned around and attacked her. Nikki tried to move her legs, but stopped as soon as that shot of pain tore through her. She winced and fell back to the floor. The other women were sleeping or at least pretending to be.

She managed to grab hold of the chain and pull herself to a sitting position against the cold, hard wall. The pain that shot through her was definitely a signal for what happened a few hours ago. A sob lodged in her throat and she wanted to cry, but she'd already given him the satisfaction of hearing her scream. She made up her mind about one thing, whatever happened from now on, was going to be by her decision, she would get out of that hellhole and get help or she would die trying.

Don tried to wrap his head around it. Danny had said that Nikki had left without a word five years ago, and he didn't hear from her until four months after she left New York. Then, she comes back and acts like nothing happened. She comes back, and dodges questions about why she left.

He felt like crap after they basically interrogated him about her. All he knew was that he was her best friend's sister, she's a CSI, and that he cared for her, a lot. He had a lot of questions about her, but that didn't stop his heart from skipping a beat every time he heard her voice or laugh; or when he would see her and lose all concentration. The facts were, he didn't know enough about her to care about her, and he did care about her, deeply, but he shouldn't. He would just keep telling himself that, and if he got lucky, he would forget about her someday.

Danny tossed and turned, Lindsay could feel him beside her. She knew that he was wrestling it, and taking it really hard. He wanted to say sorry for everything that he had done, she knew that. Lindsay tried to do everything to comfort him, but she knew that he wouldn't calm down until they found Nikki. Lindsay prayed silently that when they did find her, and she swore that they would find her, that Nikki would be alive. Tears silently rolled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes, turned onto her other side and put her arms around Danny, hoping that it might help calm him down some.

The BAU team had settled into separate hotel rooms for the night. Everyone was working on the profile. They all knew that the key to finding the unsub(unknown subject) was in the profile. No one slept that night, they all had work to do.

The next morning, everyone was back at the lab, the BAU still working on plotting the places where the women were kidnapped and dumped. They were trying to find a pattern in the locations. As for the CSI's, they all walked around looking very tired and weary. None of them had slept good, and the BAU team hadn't slept at all. Coffee was becoming a necessity to stay awake during those past, horrifying nights.

Nikki awoke with a start, the pain still shot through her as she tried to move. She felt as if ten anvils had been dropped on her whole body. As one of the other women groaned, Nikki tried to turn her head, and got as far as two centimetres.

Then, she heard a soft voice, " Detective Palmer?"

" Yes", she replied warily.

" It's me, Julie", she whispered.

" Yeah? What's wrong?", Nikki asked.

" Nothing, I just need someone to talk to", she stated.

" Ok, is he around?", Nikki asked cautiously, her eyes darting to every single corner in the room.

" No, he's not. It's alright. You guys seem to know each other, may I ask how?", she added quickly, " It's ok if you don't."

" No, it's alright. He's from my past, someone I knew about six or seven years ago", Nikki explained.

" Oh, so, really, he's after you?", Julie asked softly.

" Yes, I suppose so. Do you hate me now? Because I'm the reason we're stuck here?", Nikki asked desperately.

" No, I don't hate you", Julie stated calmly.

" Why?", Nikki couldn't help but ask.

" You're the kind of person that is kind and soft-hearted", she added, " You didn't do this on purpose, it's not your fault." Nikki couldn't help but wonder if she really was that kind of person, or was it just a lie that she was living. Nikki suddenly felt hopeless, and felt responsible for getting every single one of those victims into this. She knew that if she ever got out of there, that she would not forgive herself. She just wanted to see Flack's face one more time.

Flack sat at his desk, with everyone buzzing around with stuff to do. He felt empty, like a shell. He couldn't get her face out of his mind, it just kept haunting him, no matter how hard he tried. The soft, graceful tilt of her head when she was wondering something, the laugh that tantalized him to no end, her eyes, her piercing brown eyes that held every range of emotions there is. He jumped to his feet, he had to get out of there. He grabbed his coat and decided to go and get some coffee.

Hotch tried to get a grip on what was happening, but he couldn't seem to get his mind around it. Nicole Palmer is a loving, caring woman who suddenly leaves the city for no apparent reason and doesn't tell anyone. Then, five years later, she waltz's back in and acts like nothing happened. What happened to her that would make her leave like that and act that way when she came back? There was an answer to those questions and Hotch was going to get to the bottom of it.