A/N: I've decided to change some of the earlier chapter titles. Also I edited ch16 a little to make the glimpse of Alsie's memory easier to differentiate from the other paragraphs.

My Life Had Stood

Chapter 17: My Only Sunshine Pt1

Pastel walls and a plush carpet, with toddler toys strewn about - alphabet blocks, stuffed bears and a large plush dinosaur snug against the dresser. The room was quiet and cozy. With a soft glowing night-light and curtains over the shut windows, the cloth featuring a toy car pattern. A perfectly normal child's room.

"There, there." A woman cooed, patting the top of the sleeping two year old's head.

The sleeping wonder was dressed in pajamas with tiny images of baseballs and mitts and bats. His hair was a pale brown, his cheeks soft and light.

The woman cooed again. Her eyes were soft, as she beheld the peaceful toddler's face. Her own wore a mix of love, sadness, and relief. Her terracotta hued curls tickled the young boy's cheeks as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Mommy's found you."

The sound of the bedroom door opening, and the terrified gasp that accompanied it caused the woman to spin around. Her soft eyes quickly filled with indignation at sight of the person who had entered.

It was another woman, wearing a faux silk night gown.

"What are you doing in my son's room?" The new woman demanded, looking from the stranger to the sleeping toddler then back. Her eyes terrified as they took in the stranger's disheveled appearance. The first woman wore an oversized knitted sweater and gruff jeans. As well as scuffed up sneakers with velco straps instead of laces.

"He's not yours." The first woman growled, and glared at the woman in the night gown. The latter's eyes widened after recognizing the voice.

"M...Ms. Kaurich, I...you're not supposed to be here. Please, please move away from Ben. He's not your son." The boy's mother took a few steps closer, her eyes continuously darting at the sleeping toddler. Her breath caught and her stomach twisted when she noticed the other woman held a gun.

"Don't lie! He is my son. He is!" Ms. Kaurich's hand holding the gun twitched as she spoke, the loudness of her voice stirring the toddler.

It also stirred the other occupant of the house whose footsteps were soon heard hurrying to the nursery.

"What is it? Nicole? Is Benny all right..." He froze after entering the room and seeing the other woman. He was about to yell that the woman needed to leave before he called the police, when the disheveled woman raised the gun.

She pointed it at the two of them. The next second pulling the trigger.

0

"I don't care what they're offering, I'm not doing an interview. You tell them to back off and find something else to write about." Rossi seethed into his phone before hanging up, his expression livid. He took in a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.

"...Is this a bad time?" JJ asked, having entered Rossi's office through its opened door just moments before he hung up. Her concerned eyes studied the senior agent.

"It's all over the news." Rossi said, gesturing to the magazines on his desk. Their cover stories were all about James, and how he was switched at birth, as well as his being responsible for numerous rapes. "Every news show and magazine has been calling me up, hoping to get an interview..."

"I'm sorry." JJ replied, entering further into the room. "We tried to keep the media from finding out as long as we could. But..."

"It isn't yours or any of the others' fault. The media was bound to find out at some point." Rossi reassured JJ, who gave him an unsure smile.

"I'm still sorry. I...if it was me in your situation, I don't..." JJ faltered, thinking about her sons. She swallowed and took a steadying breath before continuing. "We will find why James was taken and everyone who knew about it."

"Yeah." Rossi nodded, and leaned forward. He hesitated a few seconds before replying further. "What I don't understand is why James? Why was it my son who was targeted? Dr. Connell started telling Dr. Richards those lies about me months before Carolyn went into labor..." Rossi rubbed his head, his jaw taut.

"It's likely you were the target. Someone connected to a case you were investigating at the time probably thought your grief would distract you." JJ offered. "Garcia's been looking into all your old cases for that time period."

"That's the thing, I only had a few cases I was working on at that time. And I solved each of them. None of those unsubs had a connection to Dr. Connell. And if anything, I devoted more time to my job after losing James." Rossi replied.

"Then maybe it was someone with a grudge against you."

Before Rossi could respond, Hotch entered the room.

"Rossi, JJ. Everyone's heading to the jet, we have a case."

0

"Shhh, it's all right. It's all right." Isabel Kaurich held the wailing two year old Ben in her arms. The two of them were in a trailer, located somewhere in midst of a forest.

The two year old continued to scream for his mother and struggled to escape Isabel's hold. He screamed and cried.

"No, no. That bad woman and man won't take you again. I'm here. I'm your mommy." Isabel whispered to him, her eyes teary seeing him crying. She kissed his forehead.

0

BAU Jet:

-"All right, my dears." Garcia began over video chat. "Early this morning, around four am, the unsub broke into the Fletcher's' house in Wheeling, West Virginia. Shot Nicole and Marcus Fletcher and took their two year old son, Benjamin Fletcher."-

"Do the local police have any leads?" Morgan asked, flipping through the case files on his tablet.

-"The local authorities thought it may have been Nicole's estranged first husband, but he was locked up for drunken and disorderly conduct since ten pm in a Pennsylvanian town." Garcia replied while the sound of her fingers typing could be heard. "Police have been looking into other suspects but it appears the Fletcher's had only moved to the area four months ago."-

"It says in the report that none of the doors or windows showed signs of being forced, and that all of the first floor windows were locked." Hotch read over the report. "It's possible the Fletcher's let the unsub into their house."

"What sort of parents would allow a stranger into their homes at four am?" JJ asked, shaking her head.

"It could've been someone the Fletcher's trusted. A neighbor or relative." Morgan postulated. "Maybe they invited the unsub to spend the night and he repaid them by taking the child and shooting the parents."

"Except the unsub would've had the whole night to kill the Fletcher's and take Benjamin. Or he could've taken their son without waking the parents. Why wait until four in the morning?" JJ chewed on her lips, thinking it over. "Why abduct Benjamin at home at all? It'd be safer and easier for the unsub to abduct him from a playground or a store."

-"The unsub may not have been able to. According to their neighbors, Nicole Fletcher was an extreme helicopter parent. She literally never left him anywhere alone. She wouldn't even answer her cell phone if she was the only one watching Benjamin."-

"That doesn't make sense." JJ replied, confused. "If Mrs. Fletcher's so protective of her son, why would she leave the door unlocked at night?"

"We don't know if it was unlocked. Someone may have had a key. Or was let in. Maybe by the father, if not the mother." Morgan added the last bit after JJ started to protest that a mother like Nicole wouldn't let someone in at that time of night.

"Garcia, is there any word on the conditions of the parents?"

-"Sir, Marcus Fletcher is currently in surgery. And the doctors think he'll make it. Nicole Fletcher, however, got shot in the left temple and suffered massive brain damage. She's being kept on life support until her next of kin can be found and notified." Garcia said, her sparkliness dampened by the information.-

"They haven't been able to contact any relatives?"

-"Aside from her ex-husband and their fifteen year old daughter who was sleeping over at a friend's, the police weren't able to reach any of Nicole's relatives. And police weren't able to find anything about Marcus' side of the family." Garcia twirled a glittery and feathered pen while she spoke.-

"Hm. That's odd." Rossi spoke, his attention only partly on the discussion. Instead he focused on a page of Nicole Fletcher's medical report.

"...Rossi? Did you noticed something?"

"Hm? No, sorry." Rossi caught himself and swiped to another page on the tablet. The rest of the team shared a look. "What?"

"You know, Rossi, if you need some more time off..."

Rossi quickly rebuffed the idea. "I'm fine. If I had more time off, I'd go crazy. No." He shook his head, catching the concerned glances thrown his way. "Seriously, I'm fine. I just recognized the name of Mrs. Fletcher's doctor."

"...Somerfield?" JJ mumbled as she swiped back to the page containing that tidbit of information. She, Morgan, and Garcia didn't react to the name. Hotch, however looked sharply up at Rossi.

"What is it?" Morgan asked, after he caught the look. JJ and Garcia noticed as well.

"..." Rossi remained silent for a few seconds before giving Hotch an acquiescing gesture.

"Hotch? Rossi?"

"James was sent a letter from someone named Somerfield shortly after he was placed in prison." Hotch replied. "The actual letter was seemly destroyed by the other inmates, but one of the officers in charge of monitoring the inmates mail remembered seeing the letter."

Morgan, JJ, and Garcia each gaped at Hotch and Rossi. Confused and surprised, as well as partly hurt.

"We've been investigating about James for weeks, why didn't either of you mention this?"

"Because I went to the address the prison guard wrote down, and it led to an eighty-three year old lady who lived in the same neighborhood as James. Apparently he used to take her grocery shopping." Rossi replied, his demeanor saying to drop the subject. The other members of his team seemed reluctant to let it drop. "Look, we should focus on finding Benjamin Fletcher before the unsub harms him."

"Rossi's right. Our priority should be our current case. Everything else can wait until we catch the unsub and find Benjamin." Hotch backed up the older agent, though he took note of the reluctance of the other agents to let the matter drop. "Garcia, look into anyone with grievances against the Fletcher's and cross check it against any known violent criminals in the area, particularly those whose victims include children."

-"All right, sir. I'll get right on that." Garcia said, and clicked off the video-call.-

"Morgan and JJ, see if there's anything at the Fletcher's' house that could link to the unsub or at least how he may have got in. Rossi and I will interview Nicole's daughter and ex-husband."

"Ok."