Undercover Family

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I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter 30.

The next week has been difficult for our agents who continue to attend school and are trying to find those missing children and solve this case and go home. Aaron especially is so tired of having no control over his own life. Although, momma and he are getting along fine, he is tired of taking naps, wearing diapers and drinking bottles. Sometimes he wonders if he will ever be able to do anything for himself. He can't drive, he has difficulty climbing up stairs, he can't get out of his bed by himself and there is always someone around. He has no privacy, people like to pat his head or his behind and he always seems to be hungry or gets tired easily. He tries to read the reports and the files throughout the day, but discovers that he gets tired easier and quicker than he used to. He doesn't like doing this anymore.

Spencer, however, has been enjoying his time as a four-year-old and last week when momma celebrated his birthday and took him and the children to Chuck E Cheese in Crystal Lake for a party. He had fun playing games and eating the great food that momma bought. They celebrated his birthday well. He really enjoyed celebrating as a child with a bunch of other children. He is learning how to socialize and loves going to school. This experience has been great for our little genius. He has been working on a geographic profile of where the children are being taken and if there is a location that has been off-limits for our unsub. He has not yet seen anything in the pattern but he is looking outside the box, as many have been trying to teach him to do. The experience that he has been having in the school room has actually helped him to understand what outside the box means. He is trying to create a geographic profile using tools outside of the box. He almost has it done and is close to a breakthrough to where the children may be.

Emily is not thrilled about school but is doing okay. She has been talking and meeting many of the children. Many of the kids she goes to class with have older siblings that have been taken and several have gotten scared that they will be next. Emily does her best to reassure them and helps them to remember not to go with someone they don't know. She is good at talking with the other children and does her best in that aspect. She has been looking at what if anything makes the unsub chose one child over another. She has not found anything particular, but does have a few leads.

Derek is our expert on obsessions and has been looking at what makes out unsub tick. What would make a person want to take children? He continues to think on this subject, there are so many reasons, but he looks at the children and the ages that are being taken to discover what the reasoning may be. Some are very young, while others are prepubescent. He continues to think on this.

David and JJ are attending the middle school. David has found the returning to school after forty years to be a big challenge. So much of what is being taught today, he learned at a later age, the methods are different and he is actually struggling sometimes in getting his homework done. He is learning certain things he doesn't ever remember learning. He is trying to just maintain the big brother caring of the other agents and making sure that they are doing well and being a good listener to the others to bounce ideas off of.

JJ is finding seventh grade as hard as the first time, the cliques between the groups, and the difficulties of making friends with people who have known each other for years. It is not easy, but she is a good communicator and can liaise well. She is working at keeping communications open.

Penelope is going crazy trying to get a handle on the unsub. She has gone through so many different databases and ids that she is not sure where to look anymore, what is missing? That is what she keeps asking herself, what is the missing piece?

Emily and Derek spend their days at school and then wait for JJ and David to pick them up and they walk home from school with some of the other kids from the neighborhood. One day, Emily and Derek are waiting just inside the door and he tells her that he has to go the bathroom.

"Don't leave the area, I will be right back. Let David and JJ know where I am when they get here."

"I am not going anywhere; stop treating like I can't think."

"I am just talking to my baby sister." She sticks his tongue out at him and he walks down the hall to the boys' room."

About five minutes later, David and JJ arrive.

"Where's Derek?"

"He had to go to the bathroom. He's been gone about five minutes."

"I'll go check on him." David goes to the bathroom and finds it empty. He goes back to the girls and sees Derek still not back. "Is there another bathroom, than the one down here? He wasn't in it."

"No, that is the only one on this floor for use by kids. He wouldn't go to another one."

"He wasn't there." David goes into the office. "Excuse me, but my brother seems to be missing. Have you seen him? My sister said he went to the bathroom, but he hasn't come back." The office worker looks at the boy and goes to talk to the principal and repeats what he said. Missing children right now is a big deal. The principal comes out and talks with David about if he knows if Derek would leave to go home by himself. "No, this is what we do every day, momma won't let us go anywhere alone and Derek is only eight. He does know better than to leave the school by himself."

"We've called your mother and will be doing a complete search of the school. We will find your brother. Don't worry."

David, JJ and Emily are sitting on chairs in the office when momma comes in with Aaron and Spencer. She goes over to where they are.

"Tell me what has happened."

"JJ and I arrived to pick up Derek and Emily and she tells us that Derek went to the bathroom about five minutes earlier. I went to check the bathroom and he wasn't there. I figured I might have just missed him and came back to the girls, but he wasn't here. That's when I went to the officials. They said they would search the building. Do you think he's been taken?" Momma and David look at each other in the eye with great concern.

"Mrs. Anderson, thank you for coming in. I am so sorry that this has happened. We have searched the entire school and the school yard and there is no trace of Derek. We have called in the police, they should be here soon."

"Thank you, I hope you don't mind if I call in my brother, Bob Carlyle, he is with the FBI and there are looking into the missing children case. I would like him and his team here."

"Of course, the more help the better."

"Thank you." She gets out her cell phone and calls the agency. "Bob, Derek is missing from school. The plan has possibly worked. The police have been called; you just need to meet them here. I am going to take the other children home. Keep me informed of what you find here." She hangs up. To the principal, "I am going home with my children, please inform the law officials of where we are for when they need to talk to me or the children."

"Ok."

"Children, go and get into the car." She is looking at five incredulous faces; they can't believe that she would just be this calm about Derek missing. Aaron notices her hands wringing and forming fists and he gets up and encourages his big brothers and sisters to go to the car. He then reaches up to her to pick him up and she smiles wanly at him and lifts him. It seems he knows that holding her baby will calm her down enough to not lose it and hit something. Our profiler has learned a lot about mommas' tells and when she gets upset or angry. He knows what to do to calm her down. The boss man is right now the one making the decisions. He might not be able to drive the car, but he can get the people into it.

Momma travels home on autopilot and gets there safely. She brings Aaron and the children into the house.

"Penelope!!!" She comes running in.

"Derek is missing. Find him."

She goes running to the computer room.