AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the break in writing. I wound up having surgery and with all of that coming back to this story has been more difficult than I'd hoped.
"What I still don't understand," Rossi stated interrupting the silence of the conference room, "is the UNSUB's deviation in targets."
Tensions ran high since the earlier morning briefing. As expected, the team was not happy with the secrets the supervisory special agent and resident tech guru had been keeping. Not that Penelope had expected anything else.
Boxes of photographs, letters, and countless dictations now filled the room. They each were labeled by case numbers and a single female name. It was difficult to stomach the reduction of a person to the contents of her box, especially knowing she, too, now had a box. Up until today, only Hotch and herself knew what was inside. She shuddered to think about opening that box and letting her team see the truth of the last six months.
Reid agreeing with Rossi's assessment added, "Penelope, though fitting the physical and age desires, does not meet any other of the implied criteria our UNSUB requires."
"All the prior victims were in long term bad relationships. The UNSUB romanticizes himself as the hero rescuing his victims from their fate.. Penelope is in no such relationship." Rossi continued.
Hotch cleared his throat, looking up from the documents in front of him, "it is my belief that the UNSUB has targeted Ms. Garcia based on her last relationship and subsequent breakup. Victim three Hayden Price, too, was targeted between her on and off relationship."
"Yes, though in Ms. Price's instance she'd been in said relationship on and off for six years while Penelope had only dated Sam for a few months."
"It could be a misconstruction on the part of the UNSUB or perhaps a sign of devolvement," Hotch replied slightly dismissively.
Reid nodded and pacified Rossi went back to reading over the case files.
Penelope blinked at Hotch surprised but otherwise said nothing chewing the inside of her cheek. He'd just lied to the team.
Unpinning a few golden locks, Penelope watched as her hair fell over her eyes. It was a silly ritual, but for those few seconds she was hidden from the world. She could breathe out her anxieties and no one would be the wiser.
Your pain calls to me, begs to be quelled.
Shuddering she pushed her curls behind her ear. Those were his first words to her. And while her heart had been a chasm of endless anguish, her carefree mask had fooled even her friends at the BAU. He saw her….and it was terrifying.
Staring at her box for a moment, her eyes drifted to the unusually quiet Derek Morgan. Would he know the truth? The photographs the UNSUB sent detailed her quiet descent to despair. The nights of watching the DC skyline while nursing a glass of wine; the moments she'd crumpled to the ground trying to box a single momento; the evaporating hope that came with empty inboxes and nonexistent text messages.
Could she handle them delving deeper?
"I don't understand," she whispered tears pooling in her eyes. She was sitting on the couch of her apartment with Hotch trying to regain her composure.
The second note she'd received was wadded in her hand.
-It was never the leaving that broke us. No it was in the silent mornings that followed, the vulnerabilities of moments forgotten, that caused the most damage. In this pain, we are the same, we share that same sorrow. What that I could comfort you and ease your burdened heart.-
"Aaron, I don't understand how he knows…so much," her voice broke then as a sob escaped.
Taking her hand Hotch said, "I know how terrifying this is."
"It's not that...its just that the things he says...he knows..."
"How he knows about your feelings for Morgan."
Closing her eyes she cursed the instincts of the profiler sitting across from her. "Until today I could pretend he meant Sam...I just never thought a stranger could see, what I...what I didn't even know until it was too late."
He pulled her into a hug unable to bear seeing her so pained. "Let me call off the investigation. We can catch him another way."
"No!" she cried pushing back from him shaking her head fervently. "This was my idea and it's our best chance. This letter...it just caught me off guard."
"Okay," he agreed knowing he wouldn't change her mind. "But you have to know this will only get more personal."
She nodded wordlessly, but determined.
