All Things Happen For A Reason

I don't own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 4

Aaron and Derek walk into the Sheridan Police Department. The very small group of department staff all stop what their doing and stare at the two VERY out of place men that walked through there door. One middle aged man came toward them. They were lead to believe he was the sheriff.

"Hello there. May I help you with something?"

"Hello. Yes sir. I'm FBI Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner and this is Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan. We're not really here for an on the record case. See, one of my agents, Emily Prentiss, has gone missing. We're here because the locator on her cell phone was showing that she was in this vicinity. Plus, she was able to get the phone working for just moments at a time. She gave me a few words to go on. I was hoping you could maybe help me pin point where she could be. I have a list of names and addresses. Would you take a look and see if maybe you know these people." Aaron holds out the revised list of names and addresses.

"Sure fella. Let's take a look." This man takes the paper. "Hmm. No. No. No. No, that's a little old lady. I can honestly say that there are two possibilities. This Craig fella, I don't know. Miles has been in and out of jail his whole adult life. He's my cousin. But I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. I believe this Craig fella is new in town. He bought the Feldman land and built a nice log cabin. Never met him personally, but what a house." The officer says, big smile spread across his face.

"What about these other four?" Derek points to the rest.

"M. Vansuckle is Mary Ann Vansuckle. She's seventy-four years old. She still works her land, but she's a sweet old lady. Ray and Jin are forest rangers and are 'special' friends. If they're not working, they're together. I can't see them doing anything of the sort. John's one of us. He should be coming back soon. He went home to check on his dog, Meghan." The officer says.

"Would it be all right if we go talk to Craig Clifton and Miles Heartman? May we have a couple officers go with us. I'll take one and Derek can take the other." Aaron politely asks, knowing that he could turn them down. Then they'd be in a bind.

"Sure. Take officers Oliver and Sexton. Oliver, go to the Clifton's and Sexton, go to Heartman's. Agents, you pick which one you want to go with. Radio back with updates. Be careful and good luck." The officer says.

"Thank you sir." Aaron shakes his hand.

"I just hope you find your agent alive and unharmed. See you later." The officer heads back to his office. The two agents and to LEOs head out of the building. Hotch goes with Oliver and Derek with Sexton.

Master comes at Meg first. She backs away the closer he gets. Emily can see the fear in Meg's eyes. So Emily steps in between Meg and Master.

"Leave her alone!" Emily acts fearless, but she's praying Aaron's on his way.

"Don't YOU tell ME what to do!" He slaps Emily, hard. He grabs her by her hair and drags her into the bedroom. Meg's too scared to stop him. She can hear fighting going on in the bedroom through the door. Every now and then she could hear Emily squeak from a blow. Meg just goes back to cleaning.

Aaron and Officer Oliver pull up to Craig Clifton's log cabin. Aaron thought that it looked like something Jason Gideon would love. He had to admit it was big and beautiful. Officer Oliver parks the squad car. They both exit and head to the closest door. Aaron takes the lead by knocking. The wait a few seconds before a beautiful young pregnant lady answers the door.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She asks, a little nervous.

"Hello Miss. I'm Agent Hotchner and this is Officer Oliver. May we have a few minutes of your time?"

"Is it Craig?" She panics.

"No ma'am. We just have a few questions to ask and thought you might be more comfortable sitting. How far along are you, six months?" Aaron tries to put her at ease.

"Actually five months, twins. I seem to be a twin carrier," She lets them in and walks through the house to the kitchen table." I was pregnant with twins three years ago." She stops for a moment.

"Are they boys or girls?" Hotch asks.

"They were girls, but they were still born. These ones," she puts her hand on her stomach, "are one of each. Thomas and Tonya."

"I'm so sorry." Aaron says, taking her hand in sympathy.

"It was hard, but I'm happy with these two. The doctor watches them carefully. Do you have any children?"

"Yes, a son. Jack. He's four now. He lives most of the time with his mother. My job takes most of my time. But he looks at me as a Superman. Thank God his mother's nice enough to not talk bad about me. At least not in front of him. She's a real good mother. So what does your husband do?"

"He's an architect. He designed this house. Would you like his work address?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you." Hotch and Oliver wait patiently for her to return with one of his cards. Seconds later, Mrs. Clifton comes back into the kitchen and hands a card to Aaron.

"Here. It has everything you need to know to get there. Would you like to call him and make sure he's in the office and not at a site?"

"No ma'am. Thank you for the offer. Thank you for your time. Good luck with your babies. Enjoy the little things. They grow up so fast. Have a nice day. Take care." Aaron and Officer Oliver stand up and head out. Aaron knew this wasn't his guy. He hoped Derek and Officer Sexton were having better luck.

Derek and Officer Sexton pull up to a small quiet cabin. The yard had an old car with the hood up. Grass had begun to grow tall around the tires. This was a sign to Derek that Miles had other things on his mind other than his car. He decided that they needed to approach the cabin carefully and guns drawn.

"Hey man, I'm thinking we need to approach with caution and guns drawn. The signs are telling me that he's preoccupied with something else. Any objections?" Derek waits.

"No sir. I'm ready." Officer Sexton unbuckles his holster and takes out his gun.

"Okay, let's go then." Derek and Sexton exit the squad car and slowly approach the cabin. Derek knocks on the door. "Miles Heartman, this is the police and FBI." They wait. There's no answer. Derek repeats the previous statement and waited for a response. Still nothing. So Derek tried the door knob and it was open. So he opens the door. "Miles, This is Derek Morgan and Officer Sexton! We're coming in. Are you here? Are you ok?" Derek gets no answer. They make a sweep of the house to see if Miles or Emily where there. They find nothing. No sign of a woman being there. So Derek and Sexton leave a hand written note for Miles to contact the police for questioning. Maybe he knew of someone that wasn't registered. Like the Ted Kazinski who lived in the woods and had left no paper trail of an existence. Derek and Sexton head back to the station.

Master comes out of the bedroom straightening his cloths and fixing his hair. He had a few trickles of blood running down his lip. Meg figured Emily must have gotten a few good hits in. That makes her smile.

"What are you smiling at? You want a piece of what she just got?" Master asks.

"No sir." Her smile fades.

"Good. I have to get back to work. I want dinner on the table before six. That is when I'll be home. I might be home a little earlier."

"Would you like me to keep it warm in the stove? Then when you get home I can put it on the table."

"Yeah, I guess that will work. No dinner for Emily. She's to stay in the bedroom. You may see to her injuries, but that's it. No water or food. If I find out that you disobeyed, and I'll do the same thing to you." Master walks out of the cabin. Meg's worried and heads to the bedroom. She finds Emily on the floor unconscious.

"Emily? Emily, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Will you help me to the shower?" Emily speaks so softly, it makes Meg start to cry.

"Sure. I'm sorry that he did this to you. It should have been me." Meg's supporting Emily as they walk into the bathroom. They grabbed Emily's day bag on their way there.

"I took that for you sweetie. I didn't want him to hurt you again. I'm trained to take the beatings. The last time I was beaten this bad was when I went inside a cult. The leader found out I was FBI and beat me something fierce. I actually think this ones worse." Emily says, undressing to climb in the shower.

"Would you like something to eat and drink? Master said you weren't supposed to have either one, but if you eat and drink it now I can have everything washed and there will be no sign on your breath by the time he gets home."

"Sure. How about a glass of milk and a peanut butter and butter sandwich."

"Ewwww. What on Gods green earth made you want something like that?"

"My dad and I used to meet in the kitchen at night on Wednesdays and have our sandwich club. Just him and I. It was a special time. I thought it might give me some comfort." Emily starts to cry. Meg Hugs her and can feel her sobs.

"I'm so sorry Emily. Can I try your cell phone to see if I can get a hold of that man again?"

"Sure. His name's Aaron Hotchner. So call him Aaron or Hotch. I'll be out in a minute." Emily climbs into the shower stall. Meg leaves the bathroom and gets the cell phone. She opens it and hit's the redial. It rings and Meg's heart races. It's been a while since she's talked to someone else other then Emily and Master. Someone answers.

"Hotchner."

"Emily!" The phone call drops. Meg hangs up and does it again.

"Emily?"

"Hideaway!" The call drops again. So Meg hangs up and tries one more time.

"Hello?"

"Lane!" The call drops and the phone's battery light 's blinking. So Meg lets it go back to charging. She hoped that was enough to get them rescued. Also hoping that Aaron was able to hear the clues.

"I think I just got more information." Aaron writes down what he believed was the words. 'Emily, hideaway, cane'. Aaron's trying to figure this out.

"Maybe it's 'hideaway lane'. That's a road. John lives on hideaway land. Maybe we can ask him if he knows of any shacks or abandoned building on that road." Officer Oliver states.

"That's a good start." So Aaron calls Derek.

"Morgan."

"Derek, we got another call. Well, three calls. It didn't sound like Emily though. She said Emily. Then hideaway and then we think lane. Meet me back at the station. I'd like to ask John a few questions about hideaway lane. Anything with Miles?"

"No. He wasn't home. No sign of Emily."

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Aaron hangs up and just thinks of what these new clues could mean.

"Emily, I got through. I told him the name of the road." Meg sees Emily on the floor of the bathroom. This time, Meg thinks something's seriously wrong. She runs back to the cell phone. She leaves the phone plugged in and hits redial.

"Hotchner."

"Emily's Hurt!" Meg screams. This time the phone doesn't drop the call. Aaron still can hear her and clearly.

"Who is this?"

"My name's Meghan Holliwall! Emily's hurt badly! I think she's dying! Help us before Master comes back at six! He beat Emily and he rapes me! I don't want to be here any more!" Meg can hear Emily scream in pain. "Hold on!" Meg puts the phone down and rushes to Emily's side. "Emily, the phone's working fine. I'm talking to a man. Can you make it into the bedroom?"

"I'll try. Go tell him as much as you can. I'll be there in a second." Emily moves slow, but she's moving. The thought of talking to Aaron makes her move through the pain. Meg rushes back to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Meghan. Where's Emily? What's wrong with her?" Aaron's full of concern.

"Master beat her really bad. She was just showering and when I went in, she was on the floor. I panicked and thought I would try one more time. But with the last three calls I did, the phone was running low on battery. So I left it plugged in. Now I can hear you just fine."

"Meghan, how long have you and Emily been there?"

"I've been here for nearly two months. Emily's been here for about a week I think. I don't have a calendar or TV. I do know that way to the cabin though. It's on Hideaway Lane. The number is…wait a second." Meg sets the phone down again. She runs out to the front door and opens the door to look for the house number. Once she has it, she runs back. "Mr. Aaron, the house number's 1410. Is there anything else that might help you find us?" Aaron know the address sound familiar. The he looks at the list that he set on the dashboard.

"Meghan, does Master wear a uniform?"

"Yes. Only if he's coming home at lunch. He did today. That's when he beat Emily. He was coming after me and she stepped in for me. I heard her taking each blow, but I was afraid he would do the same to me. I'm sorry I'm such a chicken." Meg starts to cry.

"Meghan, it's okay. Emily knows that if you could have helped you would have. You're a brave young lady for surviving as long as you have. I'm sure your parents are going to be so proud of you. How old are you?"

"I'll be eighteen on the fifteenth of this month."

"That's in two days. Wow, you're going to be with your parents on your birthday. I bet you didn't expect that." Emily gets to the bed. She's only in a towel. But she gets there. She holds her hand out. Meg hands her the phone.

"Aaron? I need a hospital pretty bad. Come and get us." Emily sounds gruff.

"Emily!

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've been trying to juggle all the stories I have and home life. I'll try to keep up. Just bare with me. Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry I was so cranky about the reviews in the last chapter. I'll try to chill. Thanks to all that reviews.