Clearwater Beach- Two Days Later
Reid glanced between his watch and the views of the beach, expecting to see Prentiss. They were on the beach and had just rescued an 8 year old girl from the clutches of a twisted unsub- a 53 year old, who lured his victims in by pretending to need help. The beach was clear of beach-goers and police officers; only Prentiss, Reid, and JJ and Morgan, who were by the SUV, were left.
A minute passed before the young agent started trotting into the sand towards the sea. During the past few days, the deal that he had made with JJ stayed on his mind; he had not spoken to Prentiss yet because Camen had spent the past few days trying to work the A squad to death.
He soon found her standing at the shore line with her gaze towards the ocean horizon.
Reid walked over to her and said, " Prentiss, it's time to go."
Prentiss glanced up to him and said, "Sorry, yeah I'm coming. I was just lost in a thought."
"About what?"
"Nothing in particular. "
"Does it involve me?" Reid stood in line next to her and watched her smile. " Yeah, but not just you; the team in general. I know we say we want our personal lives, but we truly are a family."
"I know and I also know that sometimes a family member can make a mistake. It took me awhile, but I know that you and I…we'll be ok. Come on, the jet doesn't go up until tomorrow morning- let's get a beer." He reached his hand out to hers."Spence, you don't have to-"
"I want you to. Please?" Prentiss glanced between the horizon and Reid. "Ok, Spence, I'm in. "
"Great. I promise I'll try not to hit you with too many statistics." Prentiss wrapped her arm around his and said, " No, to tell you the truth, I actually miss your rants. I never truly heard what you did on your medical leave…." She watched Reid's eyes light up in excitement."Well, I was a guest lecturer at Georgetown researching the neuron's relation to psychotic impulses….."
By the SUV, JJ watched Prentiss and Reid talk while slowly heading back to the vehicle. I guess it's my turn, she thought. Morgan was glancing through paperwork while leaning on the hood of the car. She quickly thought of something to say and finally stated, " Promise me that you'll never do something so stupid like you had done in San Francisco and I'll forgive you."
Morgan blinked in confusion, but smiled once JJ held a hand out to him. "Aright, deal." He shook her hand, feeling a huge feel of relief. JJ's expression of happiness and caution made his smile fade away.
"Derek, you trust me right?" she asked. He nodded, " With my life. You?"
"My trust in you is shaky, but if I need someone to watch my back in a gunfight, I know that you'll have my back. Plus, I miss my friend."
"I missed you too, Jay."
Reid and Prentiss stopped once they came up to the vehicle. The four agents exchanged exhaustive looks, all realizing that half the battle was over. The team was together again; all they needed to do know was help Hotch…
5 Weeks Later
FBI Office-5:30am
"What's that?" Reid asked as he sat down at the conference room table. Garcia pulled up a photo of thirty women, all buried in shallow graves in a park.
Rossi pulled up another crime scene photo on his tablet. "It's what the news called the Black Widow Killer back in the early 1990s in Knoxville, Tennessee." He glanced up to see an exhausted Prentiss, Morgan, and a barely conscious JJ enter the room.
"Why are we here so early?" Prentiss said with a loud yawn. Morgan chuckled and Prentiss returned it with a glare.
"We need to review before Camen gets here and it gets ugly," Rossi responded. He switched to another crime scene photo as Morgan asked, "What do you mean before it gets ugly?"
"These killings are starting up for the first time in about twenty years. What does a team usually do in such situation?"
"Go to the scene , see if you can talk to the detectives who worked the case back in the 1990s, if possible-see if they can accompany and serve as an aid."
"Right," Rossi stood up and walked over to Garcia and the flat screen, "The BAU was called in after the graves of the first ten women were found. Jason Gideon, who left the team many years ago, and Ian Hanes, who died last year, worked with a new agent to the BAU on that case."
"Who was the agent?" asked JJ. I don't like where this is going….
Rossi clicked to another crime scene photo and heard a gasp come from the other agents in the room. "The agent was Hotch."
"Oh, this is going to get ugly," Prentiss muttered. "Does Hotch know about this?"
"No, not yet. We technically aren't supposed to be here until 9:30. If you counter in Camen disciplining us for no reason, the discussion of the case, and time to prepare the jet-we have five hours to figure this out."
Morgan glanced over to the nearly empty bullpen. Only Strauss was there, sitting at a table going over what he could only assume where notes on the Black Widow case. "Have you talked to her about it?"
"I've mentioned it. I'm going to go see if I can bring Aaron in on this." Five nervous pairs of eyes stared at him. Reid was the first to speak for the group as he asked, "Are you sure, Rossi? He just got off of suicide watch…."
"We treat this like this is a normal case. Regardless of what's going on with Hotch right now, we need to focus on the case and to that we need to bring in someone who knows the previous killings. I also think that it would be good for him to step out of the place and see what's out here that's worth fighting for."
Morgan raised an eyebrow. " And you want to start him off with a serial killer in Knoxville?"
"You know what I mean." Rossi took a second to profile all the members of the team's opinions on the matter: all seemed nervous about bringing Hotch in; Prentiss and Reid showed a more nervous excitement, JJ only showed pure nervousness, and Morgan seemed content with bringing Hotch in, but worried about crossing paths with him. Rossi knew that Morgan hadn't said a word to Hotch since January, not counting the incident where Hotch went into cardiac arrest.
Rossi handed the television remote over to Garcia. " Go over the case and see if you can get any ideas on this. If we can get a preliminary profile before Camen comes, that would be excellent. I'm going to go talk with Strauss about Hotch."
Within a minute, Rossi approached the Section Chief. "Erin, we need to-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Strauss cut him off, barking, "Agent Rossi, I am not bringing in an ex-agent who had a mental health breakdown four and a half months ago onto a case!"
Rossi put his hands on the desk and glared into his superior's eyes, "What do you suggest we do then?" he growled.
"Treat this the best you can."
"Ok- I'll call you when the killer or his copycat reaches fifty kills. That usually is a milestone for killers, especially one that the BAU wasn't able to catch the first time!"
"I can't just sign off on this, Dave!"
"Erin, is this a ego thing? Because we've brought in much worse than an agent who crashed! The case in North Dakota from last summer; two of our witnesses were druggies!" Rossi smiled at the growing defeat that was spreading across Strauss' face. She took another quick glance at the file and sighed.
"If Aaron agrees to come, he is your responsibility. He functions only as an aide and is a civilian- do you understand that, Agent Rossi?"
"Yes, ma am." He pulled out his keys, ready to drive down to the hospital. "Dave?"
He turned to Strauss, half expecting her to change her mind.
"Please watch him carefully, not only for his well being and to keep the integrity of the FBI, but also…..I need to know if he can come back from this. What I just said stays between you and I, by the way."
"Of course."She wants to know if he's gone for good or as Jack was told- he went on a break….
6:00am- Quantico Medical Center
Hotch was covered under a thick blanket in his room in a deep sleep. He had spent the last few weeks getting better at sleeping- his record, as Jack kept count, was sleeping six hours straight. The little boy did not know that his father was still only sleeping four or five nights like this, while the rest was filled with nightmares. The nightmares about the team were for the most part gone; Haley didn't hunt his dreams as much as well as Foyet, who usually accompanied Haley. Now, he was lost in nightmares of being lost and facing the worst serial killers that he had encountered during his career.
He usually lost.
Eating habits has also improved; he was nearly eating three small meals a day. His lungs and heart had completely recovered from the bad case of flu he had caught in February. The problem that plagued him the most was dealing with his talk with Ames about Haley. His psychiatrist had been out during the past month for various medical reasons, leaving Hotch stuck with so many questions and thoughts for his ex wife. It felt as if the man had given him a season finale; Hotch had no choice but to wait for his return.
He didn't have many distractions- he had a few books that he could read and the daily journals that he was required to write. As a level 3 patient, he was allowed to do the group activities offered such as art, free time in the rec room, or even group therapy. Because none of them appealed to him at all, he spent most of his days talking with any visitors he had and battling it out with Allison over his lack of enthusiasm in the group activities. As he told her the previous day, he would rather spend all of his visitor hours with his son than paint.
Now, the slightly stronger ex-agent was dreaming of himself on a beach alone before a tap on the shoulder woke him up. He rolled over and saw six people standing in his room- Allison, Ames, Miles, Rossi, Jessica, and a sleeping Jack.
"Dave?" Hotch mumbled. He wouldn't expect Dave to visit him at six in the morning unless something was wrong.
"Aaron! I have something very important to ask of you."
"What's wrong? I thought you guys had a case."
"We do, but-Aaron, the," Rossi noticed that it was 6:05, hinting that he needed to pick things up, "the Black Widow killer is back."
Thought I'd never see the day where he'd return, Hotch rubbed his eyes and asked, "Same place?"
"Yeah, Knoxville. I don't know how, but after a long cooling period like that, he just randomly escalated."
As if it were six months ago, Hotch immediately went into profiler mode. "Does he have any cooling period between the recent," he spotted that Jack was still asleep, "victims?"
"Yeah, Reid had just texted me saying that he's down now to two days before he strikes again. Victimology is the same, but you had profiled him to be 30s at the age of the first killings- he'd have to be pushing 60."
"Well, we'd-" Hotch stopped talking once he realized, I'm not a profiler anymore…
"Told you that he'd like it," Allison said. "I can go with him to keep watch."
Keep watch? Keep watch on what? "What's going on? Keep watch on what?"
Rossi replied, "We need you to work the case with us, Aaron. We need you to help us catch this guy- just like old times."
Oh, wow….I don't..I don't know…" Can I," he swallowed, " Can I think for a minute? I-"
"Of course, of course. We'll give you a minute."The group of six stepped out, leaving Hotch alone in the room. Allison peered through the window and saw Hotch nervously rub his shoulders. "Think he'll do it?"
If he's truly back to his old self, yes, but if not…."I don't know," Rossi answered. I pray that he does….