Disclaimer: I don't own criminal minds or anything to do with it.
Thank you to ArwenLalaith for being my beta reader and fixing my grammar and spelling mistakes, and improving my story.
"You can never give complete authority and overall power to anyone until trust can be proven. - Bill Cosby
*****
"Liv," called Emily, coming into the wrecked house to find her sister.
"Emily," she said shakily, as her big sister pulled her into a hug. "I just don't feel safe here anymore," she said, tears coming to her eyes.
"Then you'll stay with me," Emily said, placing her hands on Olivia's cheeks.
"Olivia!" shrieked her mother, running into the house, pushing past the police officers. "Are you alright?" she cried, gripping her shoulders.
"I'm fine, I wasn't here when my house was broken into," she said, pulling out of her grasp.
"You can't stay here," her mother ordered.
"She's going to stay with me for awhile," said Emily, trying to calm their mother.
"Good," said Elizabeth, visibly relaxing slightly.
"Ma'am, it's hard to tell, but does anything appear to have been stolen?" asked an officer.
"Nothing valuable, just some pictures. Ironic…" said Olivia with a pithy laugh, which caused the officer to give her an odd look.
"Olivia why don't you gather your things and I'll take you and Emily to her house," said Hotch, finally speaking up.
"If I can find my stuff," said Olivia. Going up the stairs, she found an old duffel bag in her closet and managed to find some clothes on her floor and some toiletries strewn about her bathroom. "Ready," she said, returning to the main landing, "I just need a toothbrush… mine was thrown in the toilet."
"I have an extra at my house," said Emily.
"I think you're in good hands," said her mother, hugging her. "If you need extra agents, call me" she said seriously to Hotch before leaving.
"Where would she get extra agents?" Spencer asked Olivia under his breath.
"Probably by black-mailing the president's bodyguards," she answered quietly, not at all joking.
Hotch gave a small smile. "Let's go," he said, "Reid, can you keep an eye on things until they're done here?"
"Of course," said Spencer. He watched as they started to leave before Olivia turned around "Spencer, you know for earlier" she said referring to the hug.
"Anytime," he said, praying he wasn't blushing.
******
"Welcome to your home away from home," Emily said as she unlocked the door to her apartment. "Again, sorry that we had to board Quincy, the condo doesn't allow dogs over twenty pounds."
"I'd rather be at home," grumbled Olivia.
"You could be at Mom's…" Emily pointed out.
"Good point," said Olivia as her stomach rumbled loudly.
"When is the last time you ate?" asked Emily
"Around noon," said Olivia shrugging, thinking back.
"It's almost eight," said Emily, glancing at the clock. "How about I make your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs?" she added.
"Em, that was favorite when I was nine," Olivia started, but was interrupted by her stomach again, "But it sounds good."
Suddenly Hotch's phone rang. "It's Strauss," he noted, checking the caller ID, his jaw visibly clenching. "Excuse me," he said as he left the room.
"Your boss's boss, right?" asked Olivia as she helped pull things out for dinner.
"Yes and she's probably not happy," said Emily, rolling her eyes.
As they started dinner Hotch came back into the kitchen. "Strauss wants a suspect now and the case closed ASAP."
"I'm sorry, this all my fault," said Olivia, trying not to cry again.
"It's not," Emily reassured, "With this type of unsub if he hadn't been fixating on you, it would have been someone else."
Olivia couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Morgan said the same thing almost word for word," she said breathlessly as her laughing dyed down.
"Great minds think alike. We'll find him and stop him," said Emily.
"That's good, but can we please have dinner now," Olivia asked. Emily just laughed.
******
"You awake?" asked Olivia, as she stared up at the dark ceiling from her sleeping bag on the floor of Emily's room.
"What do you think?" asked Emily, sounding wide awake.
"Your cute boss downstairs distracting you?" joked Olivia. To which Emily's response was a single fake laugh and Olivia knew she was rolling her eyes.
"You know what my favorite time was?" asked Olivia suddenly.
"What?"
"When I was ten and had the chicken pox," she said, smiling at the memory.
"Why on earth is that your favorite memory?" asked Emily, curious.
"Mom was in Egypt, I think, and Dad's plane was grounded. You took a week off from college and stayed with me, you remember? We sat in our pajamas all week, ate junk food, and watched old black and white movies. I was kind of disappointed when I got better…" said Olivia before bursting into loud sobs.
"It's okay," Emily said, pulling her onto the bed and hugging her. "We can do a movie and junk food marathon soon."
"It's not that… I just want this to end," she hiccuped.
"I know, it must be taking a physical and mental toll on you, but I promise you we will find this guy and you'll get your life back," said Emily, patting her back.
"I don't know if it'll ever be the same again…" said Olivia, taking several deep breaths.
"I'll help you get back, I promise."
"Prentiss, everything okay?" asked Hotch from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, everything just finally hit her," said Emily. Hotch didn't have to ask anymore, knowing exactly what she meant.
******
"Are you sure you're okay to go to work today?" asked Emily the next morning, concerned about her little sister.
"I think so," Olivia said, "It sounds weird, but work calms me."
"Morgan should be here any moment to take you to work," said Hotch.
"Morning Prentiss-es," called Morgan from the other side of the door.
"Finally," said Olivia as Hotch let him into the condo.
"Ready to go?" he asked Olivia.
"Yeah," she said quickly before turning back to Emily, "Will I see you tonight?"
"Probably, but if I'm not here one member of the team will be," she answered, giving her sister a quick hug.
******
"So, do I get to do surgery today?" asked Morgan.
Olivia let out a snort as she slipped on her doctor's coat. "Pretty much you hand me stuff and pretend you understand what I'm saying even when you don't," she said, leaving her office.
"I guess I can do that," he said with a mock disappointed sigh.
"Oh, you're in luck," said Olivia, looking at her first chart, "Mr. Carter is here to have a boil lanced on his backside." She laughed as a horrified look crossed Morgan's face.
******
"You have a sinus infection, Stacy" Olivia told her last patient of the day, "Drink plenty of fluids. Here is a prescription for an antibiotic," she said, handing her the prescription.
"Thanks so much, Dr. Prentiss. Hopefully this will work, I have finials coming up," said the girl, smiling.
"How's your junior year of college going?" asked Olivia as she escorted her out.
"Great, 4.0 so far," said Stacy.
"That's great. Hopefully I won't see you for awhile," said Olivia, smiling as she opened the clinic door for her. Turning back from the doorway, she saw Morgan smirking at her. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing, I just think it's great that you know so much about your patients and generally care for their well being," he answered genuinely.
"Yeah thanks. I find it great your whole team thinks that," she said, shaking her head as she walked back to her office, Morgan following right behind her.
******
The next week passed very slow for Olivia, she stayed with her sister, her mother called constantly to check on her. The only real bright spot was the time she got to spend with Spencer. She tried to stop it from happening, but she couldn't… she was falling head over heels for him.
"Hey Olivia," said Emily, coming into the living room.
Olivia looked up from the book she was reading on the couch, "What?" she asked suspiciously.
"I need to go into the office, we'll have to do our junk food/movie marathon another night," said Emily apologetically.
"Who's babysitting me?" asked Olivia wearily.
"Spencer."
"Really?" asked Olivia eagerly. Emily gave her a look. "I mean that will be fine," she said trying to cover it up. Emily made a noise of disbelief, not buying it. "Why do you have to go to work tonight?" asked Olivia, trying to change the subject.
"We think we have a suspect," answered Emily.
"What?" Olivia yelped, "Who?"
"Do you remember a Melanie Davidson?" asked Emily.
Olivia felt her stomach drop. "She was a patient, the first patient I lost when I started at the clinic." she answered, getting a far away look in her eyes.
"Your records said that she had a rare reaction to anesthesia when you recommended an elective surgery done by a Dr. Thomas Patrick" said Emily.
"Yes," said Olivia, "Her husband was upset, but not at me… or at least I didn't think so."
"A friend of his came forward, he said that Carl Davidson later thought it was your fault. The night of Jane Doe's murder, he asked his friend to be an alibi in case the police questioned him."
Olivia chewed on her bottom lip, upset. "So this could be all over?" she asked hopefully.
"It could be… I'm going to go to work, watch the interrogation, see what happens. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything," said Emily as the doorbell rang.
"Hey Reid," said Emily, opening the door.
"Hotch called, they're bringing in Davidson now," said Spencer, smiling slightly as he spotted Olivia
"I'll call you as soon as we know anything," Emily told the both of them as she left.
"So, this could really be over?" asked Olivia hopefully to Spencer.
"It could," he answered with a smile. "So, what would you like to do?" he asked.
"This guy, Davidson, is probably the unsub, right?" asked Olivia. He nodded. "Then I really want to get my things and my dog from the kennel and go home."
******
"Has he admitted anything yet?" asked Emily to Hotch and JJ, watching Rossi and Morgan interrogating Davidson.
"Not yet. They're talking about his wife now," answered Hotch. They all fell silent to listen.
"So you believe that Dr. Olivia Prentiss is responsible for the death of your wife?" asked Rossi.
"Yes," he answered simply, "She told me it was a routine surgery, she would be in the hospital overnight, then back at home with her family. Instead she died on the operating table, all alone without any loved ones," he said tears coming to his eyes.
"So you killed those people, right?" asked Morgan "The ones that had problems with Dr. Prentiss so they wouldn't have to deal with the kind of pain you do?" His voice rose as he spoke, his anger rising.
"No!" cried Davidson, slamming his fist on the table.
"Then where were you the night the prostitute was killed?" asked Rossi.
"With my friend Larry Carl," he answered quickly.
"No, you weren't," said Morgan angrily. "Where were you?" he asked again.
Davidson let out a shaky breath. "I told Larry to cover for me because I went out and got drunk, ran a red light, and hit a car and drove off," he said, tears in his eyes.
"Where and what time?" asked Rossi.
"I ran the light on the corner of Main Street and William Street around midnight. It was a red Honda. I know it was wrong, but I checked, the driver had injuries, but survived. I even sent them money anonymously for the damages," cried Davidson before breaking out in sobs.
"I'm going to check it out," said Morgan quietly to Rossi as he left the room.
"Jane Doe was killed around eleven or midnight," said JJ, "If he's telling the truth there's no way he can be the unsub."
After a few hours and several phone calls later, they found there was a hit and run to a red Honda at that intersection the night of Jane Doe's murder and a truck matching Davidson's trucks description was seen fleeing the scene.
"We should get Reid in here, I know where close, we're just over looking something," said Morgan as they all gathered in the briefing room after Davidson had been charged and arrested for drunk driving and fleeing the scene of a crime.
"I'll start the coffee" said Garcia with a sigh.