Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. Also, there's a bit of friction between Prentiss and Hotch in this chapter. For the record, I dislike both Prentiss and JJ, ever since the whole fake death nonsense. However, though I wanted to turn Prentiss into a major pain, I decided against it, because this story is about other things. Maybe, in the future someday.
Enjoy!
Rossi returned to the others after finishing his conversation with Hotch and calling for a negotiator.
"Any changes?" he asked, looking at Prentiss.
"Nothing. Did you find someone to come and negotiate?"
Rossi nodded.
"Yes, they'll be here soon."
"You look like you have something up your sleeve," Simmons said, eyeing Rossi with suspicion. "What else did you do?"
"I did a little next of kin notifying," Rossi said.
JJ frowned.
"What do you mean? You didn't call Diana Reid, did you?"
"Of course not. I called Kitten's fiancé."
Everyone gaped. Rossi wanted to laugh at their shocked looks. Any other time this would have been fun. This wasn't the time though, and he kept his serious look. Tara was the first to recover.
"Her fiancé? Are you sure? Garcia can't be engaged. She'd never be able to keep such a secret."
"And why would she keep it secret?" Prentiss asked. "We're her family. Why wouldn't she tell us?"
"I can't speak for her," Rossi said. "I believe they wanted to tell you all at once and wanted to have Morgan and Savannah here as well. That doesn't matter now. The only important thing at this minute is to figure out how to get our people out safely."
"Do we know if Reid still has his gun?" Alvez asked.
"I'm sure he doesn't," Prentiss said. "Wouldn't they have searched him first?"
"I don't know," JJ said. "Maybe they think the threat to Garcia is enough to keep him behaving. If I know Spence, he'll be coming up with a plan."
The group stood around discussing the cult, its leaders and trying to work up a profile of Meadows. Why would she be a part of the cult and why betray the oaths she swore when joining the Bureau?
"We know how cults work," JJ said. "There must have been something in her life that would cause Meadows to be drawn to it."
The sound of screeching brakes interrupted their discussion.
"I hope that's the negotiator," Prentiss said, turning toward the sound.
"Driving like that? I don't think so." A small smile flashed across Rossi's face and was gone again. JJ noticed and narrowed her eyes as she turned to see who had arrived.
"Hotch?" Prentiss said. "And Morgan? What are they doing here? Rossi, why did you call them?"
They all watched as both front doors of the car flew open and two men leaped out. As they raced toward the BAU team, Prentiss turned an angry look on Rossi.
"They are civilians," she said in a hard whisper. "You had no right to call them."
"I told you I was notifying next of kin. Aaron is Penelope's next of kin. Derek happened to be visiting with Savannah and Hank."
"What the hell do you mean, Aaron is Penelope's next of kin?" Prentiss asked.
"Are Hotch and Garcia engaged?" Tara asked.
Nodding, Rossi turned away from Prentiss and rushed to meet his friends. Prentiss glared after him.
"Dave, any news?" Aaron asked.
"I'm sorry, Aaron, no news. No change."
As they spoke, the others surrounded them. JJ hugged Hotch and then Morgan. Alvez and Simmons shook hands. Lewis shook hands as well. Prentiss was still glaring and Rossi, waiting for an explanation.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you both," Prentiss said, turning at last to the newcomers, "but, why are you here? Dave shouldn't have called you. You don't work for the bureau anymore and you can't be a part of this. It doesn't concern you."
"What the hell do you mean, Emily?" Morgan crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "Penelope is my best friend and Reid is my little brother. I have every right to be here. And Hotch, well, he has more right to be here for her than anyone."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Penelope and I are engaged," Hotch said. "We were going to tell you all soon. That's one of the reasons Derek and savannah are here. To celebrate all of us together again."
On any other day, Hotch would have enjoyed the looks on the faces of the BAU. Mouths dropped open; eyes were wide with shock. He could have laughed if not for the dire circumstances of this meeting.
"Why didn't she tell us?" JJ asked nobody in particular. "I thought we were friends, like sisters. Why wouldn't she have told me? Or Emily?"
"She just wanted to enjoy the engagement for a while, just us," Hotch said, trying to explain. "I know she is a butterfly, joyful and full of color and happiness. I know she loves to bask in the happy things and you would think she'd have wanted to tell you all. But she wanted to keep it to herself for a while. The only ones who knew were Dave and spencer. And eventually Morgan. And of course, spencer figured it out on his own. So did Dave. But that's neither here nor there. We need to concentrate on getting them out of there."
Prentiss had pulled herself together while he was speaking. She fixed a stern look on Hotch and Morgan.
"Whatever the reason, you two can't be here. You're not part of this anymore. I need you both to leave. You know how this works, Hotch, and I expect you both to go home and wait for word from us. Just like any other family of a crime victim."
"The hell we will." Aaron glared at her, with the look that had made many unsubs fear for their safety. "We won't get in your way, but we're here and we have years of experience in this kind of thing. We can help. And neither of us are leaving until Penelope and spencer are safe."
"Damn straight," Morgan said. "c'mon, Prentiss, you know we can help. Here we are. Don't turn away any help. Pick our brains. Use us as decoys, distractions, bait, anything. You've got two of the people I love most in the world in serious trouble. There's no way either of us are turning our backs on them."
Prentiss stalked away. She was pissed. This was her team, her case. She didn't want outside help, especially not from those two. She had nothing against them, but she felt she was always living in the shadow of Aaron Hotchner. He was known and respected all around the bureau. She was a woman, leading a team that historically had always been led by men. If Hotch came in and helped save the day, would any of them remember that Prentiss had led the team? The other thing she couldn't wrap her head around was the engagement? Hotch and Garcia? How did that happen? How could it happen? She loved Penelope with all her heart, but really, Garcia just couldn't be the right woman for Hotch. She was too bright, too cheerful, too gentle, not dynamic and strong enough to be a good match. Hotch needed another alpha, like herself. She stopped her thoughts right there. Maybe all those things were exactly why Hotch loved Garcia. Penelope could always make him laugh, and he could always say the right thing just when Penelope was feeling discouraged or out of her element. Sighing, she turned back to the group. There was no time to quibble over who was engaged to whom and who could or could not help. Two of her team were in grave danger, and Emily should be grateful for any help she could get to save them.
"Look guys, I'm sorry," she started to say.
Hotch waved it off.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "We're all on edge. Tell me what you know. How did this happen?"
Prentiss threw up her hands in exasperation.
"We were working one of those cult cases," she said.
"We'd wrapped it up," Alvez continued the story. "We were all going to meet at Rossi's. We left their leader, the one they call the Messiah, and other agents were supposed to make sure he got locked up in jail."
"It turns out, from the little Reid was able to tell me," Rossi said, "That one of the agents who had seemed to help us with the case is actually a follower of this so-called Messiah. She is the one who took Reid, and another of her cohorts has Garcia in a car with a gun to her head."
Aaron's hands were shaking by the time Dave was finished with his explanation. Shoving them into his pockets to hide the shaking, he paced away trying to think this through. His mind was buzzing, a jumble of memories, disconnected thoughts swirling around, making no sense. He took a few deep breaths and pulled himself together. He could let himself panic when it was over. For now, Penelope and spencer needed him, and the others, to be at the top of their game. He turned back toward the team.
"Okay," he said, "what had you come up with when Derek and I arrived?"
"Well, we were just talking about digging into Meadows' past, and into the history of the cult," Simmons said.
"We need Lynch for that," JJ said. "He's almost as good as Garcia."
The sound of a gunshot crashed through the air. Everyone froze. Hotch dropped to his knees. He lowered his head into his hands.
"No, please no! Not Penelope! Not Spencer!"
Author note:
I am totally blind, so if anyone can answer one question for me about the season 13 finale. Where did they leave the cult leader when they finished the case? Feel free to PM me. I'm trying to finish this by October 3rd!