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Slam! Slam! Slam! The noise of the car doors surprises Riley and she jumps a little. It's been so long since she heard such raucous noises. After her heart stops beating out of her chest, Riley looks around at the neighborhood. Flawless suburban houses line the faultless street. It's the place every American family dreams of living in, the modern day "white picket fence" lifestyle. Sidewalks line both sides of the street with trees in each yard beyond them.
If it weren't for the police cars along the side of the road, Riley would have lost herself in the atmosphere; sat down and just took in the peacefulness of the place. But that wasn't an option right now; there was work to be done; work that would set the simpletons living in this utopian district at peace.
Rossi and Hotch were talking to the local police chief. Riley walks up just as they are ending the conversation. "Go on in and have a look for yourselves. My men are completely stumped to what happened to the girl," the chief says.
Hotchner thanks him and the trio walks down the ideal sidewalk and enters the home. Only a few police are left canvassing the house. The agents walk upstairs and head into the master bedroom with Riley on their tail.
Bodies as still as rock. The two figures look like statues as Riley approaches the bed. Dark crimson blood is everywhere, creating a morbid effect on the scene. Sorrow washes over Riley as she thinks, if that little girl did see this happen, she must be a mess. I know I would be. A different kind of sadness seeps into Riley, the feeling of longing fills her. The longing to have her parents back. The longing to go back in time to before they died. The longing to have a normal life, something her and now Lila have in common.
"Riley? Riley!" Hotch says, trying to get to her.
"Hmm?" Riley mumbles. How long was I staring at them?
"Are you alright?" Rossi asks. "You haven't taken your eyes off of them since you walked in the room."
"Yeah I'm fine. I was just…thinking."
"Do you have any ideas?" Hotch inquires.
"Not complete ones."
The two men nod and venture around the room. Riley keeps her concentration on and around the bed. There has to be something about this that will give her a clue. But every time she looks at their throats she sees her own parents laying there. Shaking her head, Riley tries to put herself in the perspective of the killer. If he didn't have the little girl with him he could easily slip into the room, cut their throats, and leave. The cuts themselves described the man. Smooth and deep, the man knew what he was doing and didn't hesitate when doing it. He planned this out. Riley knew exactly what to say to Hotch and Rossi.
"Alright, I have some ideas," Riley starts. The men walk over to the bed and wait for her to continue. "The cuts themselves aren't shallow or jagged so he wasn't hesitant or distracted. Which means he wouldn't have had the girl with him when he killed them, if he had, he would have been concerned she would run or make some noise. No hesitation means that this was most likely planned, he knew he was going to do this."
Riley walks away from the bed for the first time and strolls toward the door as she carries on her explanation. "So, say I just killed the parents. I have been planning this so I know there is a daughter involved here. I leave the master bedroom," Riley goes into the hallway and the agents follow her. "and go toward the daughter's room." She does as she says and goes into the girl's room. Baby blue everywhere; the bed, the walls, the carpet, but Riley isn't concerned about the color scheme. She goes straight toward the bed and stands beside it.
"I walk up to the bed and look down at the little girl. But why don't I kill her? By the way the blankets are shifted on the bed I can see the girl got out of bed calmly, they aren't astray, just flipped over. How do I get her out of bed without a ruckus?" Riley turns and looks at the agents standing in the doorway.
Rossi steps forward as he rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I could use some kind of rouse. Pretend to be the father?"
"Or some other authority figure," Hotch joins in. "If I told a 6-year old her parents weren't well and we needed to go she would come along willingly, especially if I'm in her home already."
The group leaves the girl's room and heads downstairs as Rossi talks, "So I get her out of bed and she follows me out of the house." They leave the home and walk down the path until they reach the sidewalk beside the road. They all turn and look back at the house.
"I take her out of the house and then what? Put her in a car?" Hotch speaks.
"Definitely a car. Someone would notice two people walking down the street in the middle of the night. It would have to be a friendly car too, something that the girl wouldn't mind getting into," Riley adds.
Suddenly Riley feels something pulling on the back of her jacket. A small squeak of a voice follows, "Excuse me."
Riley turns to see a girl half her size and wearing the linen fabric clothes of pajamas, standing behind her. She crouches down to the girl's level, holds onto her shoulders, and gently looks at her. Her beautiful, curly brown hair cascades down her back.
"What are you doing here, sweetie?" Riley asks calmly. Then a thought comes to her mind. "What's your name?"
"Is your name Riley?" the young girl asks back, completely ignoring Riley's questions.
"Y-yes it is," she stammers. "Why do you ask?"
"He told me to give this to you and only you." The little girl hands Riley a piece of paper that's been in her hand the whole time.
Riley takes it and looks up at Hotch and Rossi. They aren't concerned with Riley and the girl anymore; as soon as she said "He" the agents turned their attention toward the street, looking for the man who dropped this child off. Nothing in their line of sight moves. Either the man is long gone or he's still hanging around.
Rossi and Hotch give up looking for something that's not there. They walk up behind Riley as she opens the piece of paper. The message is barely legible but once she reads it, the message repeats itself over and over in Riley's mind.
Lincoln Park. Tonight, 8:00 p.m sharp.
Meet under the streetlight beside the water fountain.
~G.O.D
Riley looks up at the agents with determination in her eyes. She wants to end this, and if He wants to meet tonight, so be it. Folding the paper and handing it to the stunned men behind her, Riley turns her attention back to the little girl in front of her.
"Do you remember anything else about this man, sweetie?"
The girl sways back forth cheerfully, clearly oblivious to what's going on around her. "Ummm he wore all black clothing," she starts, even though she's clearly distracted by almost anything that moves. "He had a black mask on too. I couldn't see his face or his hair."
"That's good, do you remember what kind of car he drove? The color? Was it a truck? A van?" Riley digs deeper.
"Ummm it was black and…was a car. Not a van or truck, a car." She replies, still interested by everything but Riley.
As her gaze flicks around, something catches her attention. Her eyes stop on her house as two gurneys with large black bags on top of them are pushed out of the house. Questions from the previous night return and Lila is suddenly overwhelmed with confusion and her thoughts and she begins to cry. Tears well in the girl's eyes and she blubbers out questions.
"Where are my mommy and daddy? Why are people in my house? Why am I here?" she shouts, demanding answers from the people around her.
"Lila," Rossi kneels down beside Riley and speaks softly to the child. "Lila, we need you to stay calm…"
"Mommy! Daddy!" Lila screams and runs away from Riley and Rossi.
The journey down the walkway, through the front door, and up the stairs seems like forever to Lila as tears drip from her cheeks. She races into her parents' room expecting answers but only finding despair. Pools of blood fill the space where her parents should be. She understands immediately what has happened here. She walks toward the bed feeling hypnotized and dazed.
Riley runs into the room to see Lila crouching at the side of her parents' bed. Silent step after silent step, Riley finds herself standing behind the innocent child. She crouches down and puts her hand on the girl's shoulder. Lila turns and throws her arms around the newcomer's neck and buries her head in the stranger's neck. Riley, bemused but sympathetic, puts her arms around the girl, returning the gesture.
Hotchner and Rossi come up the stairs slower than the children. They stand in the doorway as Riley speaks to the weeping child.
She strokes the back of Lila's head for a while before saying what's on her mind.
"I know how you feel, I've been there. You feel so lost and confused and you're just not sure what you need to do next. Just remember that bad things happen; they happen to the best of us and, and they can't keep you down forever. You just have to keep moving on…keep moving on. It might not seem like it now, but things will get better."
Lila lifts her head, sniffles, and looks up at her supporter. "Really?" is all that she can choke out between sobs.
Riley brushes the stray hairs out of Lila's eyes and replies with sincerity, "I promise."
The little girl rests her head on Riley's shoulder and closes her eyes from exhaustion. Riley thinks back on what she just said. Keep moving on… I guess Lila isn't the only one who needs to take this advice. I'm too caught up in my past…I need to look forward. A resolute look crosses her face. I will look forward…after tonight.
Reid, dragging his weary eyes away old case files, notices Rossi, Hotch, Riley, and a younger girl come in through the double doors of the police station. He stands up and walks toward them; the group intersects at the opposite side of the table.
"Where's J.J?" Hotch asks Reid as he is the first one to approach him.
"She's in the conference room trying to keep the press out of this," Reid answers without even looking at Hotch. His attention is directed at the girl clinging desperately to Riley's arm.
Riley notices Reid's gaze and steps forward to answer his unspoken question. "This is Lila." At the mention of her name, Lila stepped forward and looked up at Reid with a look of pure innocence.
As J.J joins the party, Reid looks back to Riley, giving her a questioning glare. Riley notices and gives him a shy smile, promising to explain everything to him soon.
Agent Rossi kneels down beside Lila and says slowly and convincingly, "Lila, why don't you go with J.J here so she can ask you a few questions. Would that be alright with you?"
Lila looks up at Riley, as if asking permission. Riley smiles kindly and tells her, "Go ahead Lila, I'll come in when she's done."
The young, naïve girl nods sweetly and walks over to J.J who takes her hand and leads her into the conference room. Hotch and Rossi leave the main room to do paperwork, leaving Reid and Riley alone. They stare at each other before Reid ignites the brewing argument.
"What happened? I know you're keeping something from me."
"Well we got there and looked at the crime scene. Blah, blah, blah, we left the house with pretty much no gains. We were all standing on the sidewalk and Lila comes up to me and stuff… So we brought her back here and that is basically it…" Riley explains without meeting Reid's eye.
Reid moves closer to Riley and asks more intensely, "What really happened?"
"That is what happened!"
"Riley. I know you're not telling me something. What is it?"
She finally meets Reid's gaze and he begs her one more time. Riley knows she should tell him, she needs to tell him.
"Fine. When we were done looking at the crime scene we stood on the sidewalk and I felt someone behind me. I looked back and Lila was there. She asked me if my name was Riley. When I told her that I was, she gave me a note. Then she noticed people around her house, she started to cry and she ran into the house and I followed her…"
"Woah! Woah! What note?" Reid interrupts the end of her story.
Riley gives him a little frown and pulls the note out of her back pocket. Giving the note to Reid was like hitting the detonation trigger on a bomb to Riley. She knew he would explode when he found out what He wanted.
Reid read through the note once and immediately started repeating, "No, no, no." He looked at Riley and said it once more, "No. You are not going."
"Reid I have to! If I don't go he will kill another family and more innocent people will be at risk!"
"And if you do then you will be at risk! Riley we are not going through this again. You are staying out of the line of fire on this one!"
"I have to go! No one else! This has to be me!"
"I'm not losing you again!" Reid screams and slams the paper on the table behind him, rubbing his face with his other hand. "I'm not losing you again. I…I just can't."
Riley steps closer and sets her hand on his shoulder. "There are no other options here; I have to go. I'm sorry. You won't lose me. I promise."
Reid moves his hand away from his face and looks at her, shaking his head. "I don't care if there are no other options. You're not going. That's final. We'll find another option."
Riley pushes her hand through her hair in exasperation and sighs. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," she says as she sets her phone down on the table. "I'm going to the bathroom. We will talk to the rest of the team about this later."
She walks away, leaving Reid distraught and lonely. How could he stop her if all she wanted to do was go? What's up with her anyway? She's been so….forceful lately.
A buzzing noise distracts Reid's thoughts for a moment. He looks down at Riley's phone as a small yellow box appears on the screen, a new message from someone named "Dear Old God." It doesn't take long for realization to hit Reid. He opens the message not caring how Riley would feel about him invading her stuff.
So here you are 2 steps ahead and staying on guard. Every lesson forms a new scar, they never thought you'd make it this far, but turn around, oh they surrounded you, it's a showdown and nobody comes to save you now. But you got something they don't, yeah, you got something they don't you just gotta keep your eyes open. "Eyes Open," Taylor Swift.
Reid is numb from the ideas that run through his mind like a whirlwind. What does it mean? He wants her to watch her back? From what? From us? She doesn't trust us? Maybe if I look back through her old messages I will get the whole story... The sound of footsteps coming down the hallway changes his mind. He sets the phone down on the table, exactly where he found it, and sits back down to read old case files.
Riley returns, her anger from before replaced with understanding, they will decide whether she goes or not when the rest of the team gets back; nothing to do now. She sits down beside Reid and goes through old files with him as she waits for JJ to finish up with Lila.
Reid looks over slightly at Riley from time to time, thinking about that message. It's like his view of her has changed simply because she is in contact with Him. She's not the same girl he has come to know; she's just like Him; a monster. Rage builds up inside him as he thinks more and more about it. The feeling doesn't go away, it increases and he can't stop looking over at her, thinking she will transform into a clone of Him at any moment.
A moment of clarity comes and his agitation subsides. Reid thinks about what he's been doing; this is wrong. I don't know the whole story here. I shouldn't judge; I shouldn't feel this way about her. He clenches his teeth slightly; the clarity is gone. Then why do I?
Reid silences his thoughts and collects himself. Relaxing his jaw, he glances over at Riley to see if she noticed his inner turmoil. She is still reading through old files like the girl she originally was. Reid tries to push the message out of his head, forget about it, and feel the same as he always does toward Riley. All of his efforts are futile, the message kept coming back, taunting him that she may be treacherous to him and the team. There was nothing to do; the thought was like a caged animal in his mind, never getting out, forced to spend forever in there.
As always, feel free to review and tell me what you think!