My Life Had Stood
Chapter 51: Finding Jemma 2
Los Angeles:
"Thank you for coming." Sia Aderhold greeted the BAU agents, her carrot orange curls cropped to chin-length. Her cabbage-green eyes flitted from one agent to another, before settling back on Hotch. "I hoped we could get started right away. You've read the files I sent?"
"Of course. We went over them on the jet, and we agree we shouldn't waste any time. This unsub tortured, sexually assaulted and killed ten women between twenty and twenty-five years ago." Hotch replied, he and the rest of the BAU following agent Aderhold to a section set up for the case.
Three other agents were already there discussing things and waiting. When the youngest caught sight of the BAU agents, she approached half-excited though also wary over whether or not she should be.
"Your team already know agent Fitzgerald." Sia started introducing her team to the BAU. "The two agents behind her are Marcus Winters and Sean Crabtree."
The young agent that had approached smiled in greeting at Hotch and Morgan, but faltered a smidgeon when her eyes met Rossi. She seemed caught between being exuberant at seeing the senior agent and being anxious about his emotional state. Since James' arrest, the entire Bureau knew about the unfortunate switch and the doctor behind it. The entire country knew about it thanks to the media!
Cam waited as the BAU exchanged greetings with her team, her eyes shifting from Rossi, to JJ. Whom introduced herself to her as JJ had been always been absent when Cam helped out over the years.
After greeting the woman, Cam glanced towards Spencer, who had foregone introductions to look over the case board. She studied him for a few moments, wondering for the reason for this amount of social withdrawal. Not that she had time to mull it over, as their two teams sat down and started discussing the case.
"Unless the unsub was incarcerated or otherwise incapacitated twenty years ago and recently released, it's likely he continued killing. You just haven't found the bodies." Morgan started off.
"That's what we've figured, though with the ocean so close, it's likely we'll never recover them." Aderhold commented.
"Victim number seven was found floating in the ocean, while the first two victims were discovered in dumpsters. All the others were found along the highway at rest stops." Crabtree enunciated and indicated the map on the board with each disposal site marked. "Those who initially investigated, thought the unsub may be a truck driver."
"That may be less likely considering victims six and ten were found at rest stops without truck parking. And the latest victim was dumped in an alley." Rossi replied.
"...since so many of the victims were dumped along the highway, it's likely the unsub frequents it, even if he isn't a trucker." Spencer spoke up after noting all the disposal sites on the map. "He could travel a lot, maybe even out of state. We should see if there've been any similar victims outside of California."
"If he's traveling, it would explain the twenty year gap between the tenth victim and this latest one." Hotch agreed, about to say more when agent Aderhold's cell rang.
"Agent Aderhold, speaking..." Sia Aderhold greeted her caller, her eyes widening once the caller spoke. "When? Where? All right, we'll be right there."
"...what is it?" Hotch asked immediately, though he recognized through the look on Aderhold's face what it was.
"Another victim was just found abandoned at a rest stop not far from the state line. She's being brought to the nearest hospital."
"The unsub left her alive?"
"Just barely." Aderhold replied, sharing the other agent's incredulity. It didn't take much longer for their teams to be split into groups: one heading to the hospital to check on the newest victim, one to check out the latest crime scene, and one to check the victim that was in the morgue.
0
D.C:
Alsie stared around her, her weary and blurry eyes gazing around the obstetrics wing. Her lips trembled as she recalled being here three years ago, doing exactly the same thing as now. Only back then she had lamented what she had lost and could never again have. Now she regretted what she had missed out on.
She stared down the hall leading to the newborn nursery, trying to force her legs to continue their trek. Her thoughts ran rampant with everything she learned over the last few days: Shelly's anger towards her, the revelation that Jemma was possibly alive, and the fact that Spencer was her twin. Not to mention what she'd just learned from her - their father: that neither William nor Diana had ever told Spencer about her. That they had practically acted like she'd never existed...
"Can I help you?" A man dressed in an orderly's uniform asked, eyeing the brunette carefully. He seemed to be in his forties or fifties, complete with specks of gray in his dark umber hair. His eyes narrowed when Alsie shook her head without bothering to glance at him. "You're not supposed to be here, you should go back to your room."
Alsie grimaced and bit hard on her lips to keep them from trembling, her eyes continued to gaze forlornly down the corridor. Her heart thumped in her chest, loudly enough that it was the only thing she could comprehend. The orderly's voice was crushingly familiar and she felt paralyzed by it.
"I'm sorry, you need to go back..."
Alsie backed away as the orderly approached, her mind scanning through her memories to pinpoint who that voice belonged to. She drew in a breath when a memory from three years ago flashed in her head. 'He talked to James. Before James...injected me...'
She swallowed, but couldn't bring herself to budge or glance at the orderly. Her heart thumped louder in her chest, enough that she hadn't realized her breathing had quickened just as much.
"There you are. We've been looking for you." Tara Lewis, having been the agent chosen to watch over the brunette, quickly made her way to Alsie once she saw her. It took only a second for her to notice the freezing panic overwhelming the petite brunette. "What's wrong?"
"Elsie, what..." William Reid also approached, having not been far behind Lewis. He suddenly stopped, getting a clear view of the orderly before the man scurried off. The mix of surprise and enmity in William's eyes lingered even after the orderly vanished down another corridor.
"...Mr. Reid?" Lewis repeated, confused by the expression on William's face as well as how the man hadn't noticed her asking him to get a nurse. Though more strange was how the orderly that'd been speaking to Alsie moments ago had hurried off.
William's eyes widened as he remembered his daughter's panicked state. He quickly knelt down before her and grabbed her hands. Gazing up at her, he squeezed her hands reassuringly, his mind blank on what else to do. "Elsie, it's all right. It's all right."
He repeated the sentence over and over, holding onto his daughter's hands until her breathing slowed. And continued to reassure her as they led her back to her room. The entire time grateful that Alsie remained herself and didn't switch to an alter. Not that he wouldn't have treated her alters any differently than he treated her.
Once Alsie was calm and lying down in bed, Lewis gestured William to talk in the hall. The expression she'd seen on the man's face piquing her curiosity and profiler instincts.
"What is it, Mr. Reid? That man - the orderly - do you know him?" Lewis asked.
William paused and looked the agent in the eye before shaking his head. "No. I don't."
The next moment he headed back into Alsie's room and sat quietly by her bed, not giving Lewis the chance to call him out on his lie.
"What..." Lewis considered William Reid, quickly realizing that the man had no intention of answering honestly. He had recognized the orderly. It was just a matter of figuring out who the stranger was and how the elder Reid had recognized him.
0
Los Angeles:
The hospital machines beeped stably, their wires leading to the woman lying semi-conscious on the bed. Her face had a large violet bruise across her cheek and nose, while her neck had bruising ranging in color from deep purple to ochre yellow. As did her wrists and ankles.
The rest of her injuries were hidden by her hospital gown, thankfully hiding the worst of the downright savagery she'd experienced. At least the physical savagery.
"...try not to be too long."
Cam heard the physician in charge of this new victim tell Spencer before leaving the room. Her heterochromic eyes studied the unconscious woman. Before they had entered to this room Spencer had made sure to speak to the doctor in charge. To find out what injuries this as yet unidentified woman had.
Noticing that the woman had opened her eyes, Cam approached along with Spencer. She was hestitant however, this sort of thing wasn't something she was used to. Dealing with such horrendous acts done by unsubs to their victims, and then forcing the victim to relive the whole thing through questioning them. It was one of the reasons she never considered officially joining the BAU. Or other departments that dealt with similar crimes.
The only reason she or her team were on this case now, was because Cam's previous team had been assigned the case. After they died and she managed to stop blaming herself, she had gone through her team leader's case files. Most were solved and made for good study in profiling, but this one hadn't been. Cam had obsessed over it after realizing that it had been one her teamleader had returned to over and over.
"Hello." Spencer spoke softly to the woman after noting Cam's hesitance. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid and this is agent Camille Fitzgerald. Do you think you'll be able to answer some questions?"
"...ye...s." The woman answered, her voice very hoarse, and her eyes kept blinking and shying away from the bright overhead lights.
"Good. What is your name?" Spencer asked first, his eyes kind. He waited carefully as the woman said her name, though it took a few tries to make herself understood.
"A...Alic...Alici...a Sum...Summer..." The woman gasped, her voice trailing off.
"All right, Alicia, do you know the man who hurt you? Have you met him before?"
"Sh...shop...he...wa..s...nice...offered...a ride...I didn't think..." Alicia started to trembled. Her eyes teared up, and her voice seemed to have grown more hoarse. "His...his girl...she...he showed photos...he..."
"Shh. It's okay." Spencer said after noticing the woman's elevating heartrate on the monitor attached to her. If he wasn't careful, she would likely code.
"What do you mean, his girl?" Cam piped up, her thoughts immediately on the trace DNA they'd found with the other latest victim. The DNA that apparently came from James' daughter.
"...his girl, she is...so young...'mon cher' he called her..." Alicia took a steadying breath, thinking about the girl allowing her to avoid thoughts on what the man had done. "...and...she...there was another...another woman...or two...I'm not...not sure...her tongue...he cut it..."
Spencer's eyes widened, his cheeks paling a shade. "Who...whose tongue did he cut?"
"...the woman's...she wouldn't be quiet, he said...he said he'd...cut mine...too..." Alicia faltered, starting to panic as flashes of what Linnet had done to her overwhelmed her thoughts. She quickly stopped noticing Spencer or Cam, and started pleading with the man in her memory. Mumbling about her family and children, that she needed to go home to them.
Before either agent could question the woman further, perhaps get an address, the head physician and a nurse ushered them out. The woman's heartrate having approached danger levels.
Once out in the hall, Spencer felt sickened - unnerved. His thoughts, since the moment Alicia had mentioned about the young girl, had focused on Jemma. On the possibility that she was the girl with the unsub - it was likely, considering the DNA recovered.
"Reid?" Cam gazed over Spencer, highly concerned. She had never seen him like this, distraught and fearful. It was unusual, especially while on a case, unless...Her eyes widened as her suspicion returned. "You didn't answer before, but...Jemma's mother...is she...?"
Spencer swallowed, reluctant to answer. He ended up simply nodding, before hurrying down the hall the next second, mumbling about calling the others.
Cam, though confused by Spencer's reluctance to verbally answer - that Jemma was his sister's kid or even that he had a sister, just followed after the older agent.
A/N: End of chapter.
I have a question for you readers regarding part of the plot I'll use for part two of this fic. (Which is still around 5 chapters away.) Should I include some sort of romance for Spencer Reid in the part two?