Hello Readers! Here's the second installment! I'd love to hear from you guys, so please review!
"So what do you think Reid?" Derek asked his genius coworker. They had been at it for only an hour or so, but with Reid's mind-blowing reading capabilities, Derek was sure he had been through Jolene's entire facebook profile at least twice.
"Well, there are definitely some inconsistencies, especially regarding the last eight months or so."
"I noticed that too. She gets quiet around the time her family is murdered, but she never gets mean. She even offers her support to a few friends who seem to be going through some tough times while she's dealing with the death of her family. But then eight months ago she goes quiet for a few weeks and comes back meaner than she has ever been in her ten years of facebook usage." Penelope adds in.
"Can you look into that further Baby girl?" Derek questioned, getting up from his spot at a table in the corner with one of the BAU's laptops.
He had decided to start from the very beginning and had only made it a few years. So far he had gathered that she was a very genuine and caring person who loved dogs and music. She hadn't been your typical teenager. She started her facebook account on her 15th birthday, and in the beginning it had been full of pieces of songs she had written, her baby brother, and her dog. It went on with concerns about college, the joy of acceptance and the fears of moving away from her very close family. Nowhere did he find the usual catty posts of a teenage girl who rebelled against her parents and tried to impress her friends. Instead all the posts that she made were about loving her family and supporting her friends through any problems, including one who found out that she was pregnant and came to Jolene for advice. To his shock, she had actually given good advice that he would have expected from a 27 year old, not a 17 year old about to go away for college.
"What did you have in mind?" Garcia asked, looking up at Derek as he stood behind her. Reid walked over to join them as they stared over Jolene's life spread before them over Garcia's family of computers.
"Well if it's that different, what if it's not her? I started back in the teenage years and even then she was matured beyond her time. She doesn't have any of the typical highschool drama filled posts. Hell, from what I can tell the girl didn't even go to prom. She decided to spend the time with her family instead."
"I can check the IP address from the posts from a few months ago versus the posts from a few weeks ago. Even pick out a few addresses for you. There's bound to be a few different ones from the difference between her cell and her laptop, not to mention if she also had a desktop or used a school computer, but there should be some kind of consistency. If the IP address has changed I'll pull up the corresponding locations. Obviously if the past few months haven't been from Virginia we can assume that it wasn't her."
"Your abilities never cease to amaze me." Derek planted a kiss on the top of her head and squeezed her shoulder, causing Garcia to grin.
"If you think my technical abilities are amazing, you should see what else I can do." Garcia flirted back.
"Another time maybe. Right now I'm starving. What do you say Reid and I go pick up some Chinese from your favorite place while you crack down with your investigating?"
"That sounds fantastic Hot Stuff. See you in a bit."
Penelope began typing furiously while Derek and Reid stepped out of her office. They stopped by everyone's office to see if anyone else wanted any dinner, but most everyone had already gone home for the evening, and Emily and Hotch were on their way out. No one else had really had any luck with the case, and it was already 6:30; the team tried to be out by 7 when they could.
"Guess it's just us then Reid. Let's go."
They walked out to the parking garage and headed toward Reid's car. Once inside Reid turned to Derek.
"How is it so easy for you?" Reid asked, leaving Derek to arch a brow in his direction.
"How is what so easy for me?"
"Girls! You flirt with Penelope all the time and she's just a friend. They always surround you at the bars. You have no trouble getting dates. I don't understand."
"Oh Reid," Derek laughed at him for a few seconds and then shook his head, "It's not easy for me, especially with this job. It might seem easy, but it's not. I might be able to get a date just fine sure, but it's hard to have a girlfriend when you're away all the time." Derek left out the fact that he was constantly plagued by nightmares about Buford, often waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats. And after his last love-life disaster, he had sworn off women for awhile; he wanted to be able to be there for his partner like they deserved, not make them feel like they only got second hand scraps.
"The key to being flirtatious is just being smooth. They like a man with confidence." Derek patted his friend's arm. "You'll get it buddy. Maybe after this case I'll take you out and teach you a few things."
"Really?" A grin lit up Reid's face.
"Really. Now let's go get some food. I'm starving."
"Penelope, wake up." Derek shook her shoulder gently. "Come on sweetness it's time for you to go home."
"What time is it?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes beneath her glasses.
"It's 11:30. We must've fallen asleep. Go home. Go to bed. This will all be here in the morning. We did good tonight."
"Okay. Goodnight Derek." Penelope wrapped him in a hug and he kissed the side of her head. He watched her walk away fondly before turning back to the mess in her office.
Reid had gone home around 9, leaving he and Penelope to continue searching. While Derek continued to search through Jolene's facebook page, Garcia tracked her movements through IP addresses and locations. Derek picked up the empty take out boxes and through them in the trash, his brain still processing the information that they collected. He grabbed the bag of trash and threw it out on his way to his truck.
When he got in he leaned forward and put his head on the steering wheel. He wanted to go anywhere but home. His two-bedroom house just seemed cold and empty since Michelle left. It was now just a reminder of how alone he was. He wasn't ready to face that yet. He wasn't ready for the nightmare he knew was going to be waiting for him in bed. He just didn't want to be alone. Suddenly he knew where he was going to go.
"I'm sorry sir but visiting hours have been over for a long time now." The nurse at the front desk said. Derek could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
"I'm Derek Morgan, FBI agent." He placed his badge on the table. "We brought in a victim earlier, her name is Jolene Abigail. I'd like to know if I could see her."
"Ms. Abigail is in a coma Mr. Morgan. She's not going to be doing much talking."
"I know, I know. It's just… she's alone. And I just want to sit with her a bit."
The nurse looked him up and down. Derek could see the weariness on her face, but her eyes were bright and sharp. He was fairly certain that she was looking into his soul.
"She's in room 327." The nurse finally said, returning her gaze to the paperwork in front of her.
"Thank you." He put his badge in his pocket and walked down the hall.
Her room was filled with the sounds of monitors. They had washed her, and he could now see how painfully thin she was. Her cheekbones were sharp on her face and she had many different stages of bruises. His heart ached with pity for her. Anger burned in pit of his stomach for the man that did this to her. It burned even stronger as Derek realized that he had probably done the same thing to every other one of his victims, they just hadn't been able to tell.
He pulled up a chair next to her bed and studied her. One eye was swollen shut. Her right arm was in a cast. Her left leg was in an immobilizer. She had more bandages than exposed skin. But still, he could see that she was beautiful.
Her hair was deep red. Her skin was fair and soft, despite what she had been through. Her body was curvy, though malnourished. Her features were very fine, and Derek wondered to himself what her blue eyes looked like in person. He reached over and held her hand in his. It was significantly warmer than the first time he had held her, when he though that she was dead.
The door to her room opened and a doctor walked in.
"The nurse told me that you were in here. Would you like an update on her condition?"
"Has there been one?"
"Well, her vitals have stablized but they're not strong. Honestly, I don't give her much of a chance. Usually when they don't have anyone to live for, they don't."
The doctor's words cut through Derek like a knife. He knew her situation, but hearing it out loud from someone else was different. It made it real. The doctor turned and left Derek alone with the girl and his thoughts once more.
"I'm sorry." The sound of his voice almost startled him, but once he started talking he just couldn't stop. He had been holding in his pain and hiding it for so long, now it demanded to be released. He knew a fraction of the pain this girl lived through, he could only imagine how she felt. Now she was laying here dying and it seemed like no one even cared.
"I'm sorry that this world is a cruel place. I'm sorry that your family was murdered. I'm sorry that your boyfriend abused you and pushed away all your friends. I'm sorry that you don't have anyone. I'm sorry that this bastard took you, and beat you, and raped you. I'm sorry that we couldn't find you sooner. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there like you needed me to be."
Derek laid his head on the edge of her bed and let the tears that had been burning their way up his throat and slowly seeping out his eyes fall freely. The last sentence had been directed more towards his ex girlfriend than the girl lying before him. He had loved her, but he couldn't be there for her like she had wanted. She left him, and he didn't blame her. He was still sorry, but he hoped that she found someone that made her happy. He had come to terms that while he had this job, he was signing up for a life of loneliness. For him though, it was better than a lifetime of letting down someone who loved him.
When he picked his head back up and checked the time it was already 6 am. He had fallen asleep and slept almost the entire night away. Despite the ache in his muscles from sleeping hunched over in a chair, it had been one of the best nights of sleep he had gotten in a while; he hadn't had a nightmare. He rubbed his face and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Jolene, I promise you we are going to find the man that did this to you. I personally will see that he never sees the light of day again once we do. And I have to leave now, but I will be back to see you every single day. You have someone now; so don't give up on me. I know you're a fighter. I know that you're tired and you want to give up, but you can't. If you do and we loose this chance we have, he will kill again." Derek picked up her hand and squeezed it. "I know you can make it. I'll see you after work."
Derek left and headed to his house to shower and get ready for work. He didn't plan on telling anyone about the past night, not even Garcia. He needed to focus on the case so he could get Jolene some of the revenge she rightfully deserved.