Hey all! I know it's been forever since I posted, but hopefully I'll be posting more now. Here's Chapter 19! I'll be posting more soon!
Emily's eyes flew open in surprise. "Nicole is Michaela?" she asked, a hand flying to her mouth in shock.
"Who's Michaela?" Nicole asked as she looked to Emily. "Emily what's going on, what's wrong?" She had seen Emily go white and then quickly recover. It had been so fast that it was barely noticeable.
"Who's Emily Prentiss?" Erikson asked, looking around, confused at the surprised looks the team had.
"It's okay Nicole, nothing's wrong." Emily ignored the new agent and turned to Nicole; she reached out and gently touched her arm as though to reassure Nicole that everything was going to be alright. "You don't need to be scared, everything will be alright," she promised.
"What's going on?" Nicole asked again, looking around, half the agents in the room looked confused, while others looked surprised. Agent Hotchner was now answering Agent Erikson's questions; the newer agent looked at Emily in surprise but then nodded in agreement to what Hotchner was saying. Although Emily looked happy, she also looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Why don't we go into the round table room and discuss this." Emily suggested. "I'm sure our team could use an explanation about the early parts of this case."
"I agree," Agent Erikson replied.
Emily guided Nicole into the room they'd been in before and the agents sat around the table, looking to Hotch and Erikson.
"This case actually starts in Alaska in 1986," Erikson began formally and talked quickly to explain how the police had found out about a kidnapping ring operating between southern Alaska and Northern Washington. "This group kidnapped and placed, on average, thee children per year."
"They usually kidnapped a child, took them across state lines and placed the child within three months, then they would usually stalk a new family and kidnap another child about a month after that. By the time we caught on, it was a serial kidnapping ring and 30 children had been kidnapped. 6 more kidnappings took place before we got their names: Paul and Sharon Kensington," Emily continued.
"In early 1997, Paul and Sharon tried to kidnap their 36th victim. They were successful but the child was recovered in Alaska. The witnesses to the kidnapping were a couple by the name of Steve and Valerie Waterton." Erikson paused. "They, along with their two year old daughter Michaela, were placed in WitSEC while the Kensingtons were being found. A few weeks into their first protection assignment, the Watertons were located. Michaela was abducted and taken over state lines - much like had the other children. However, when they were stopped by border patrol, they left Michaela unharmed but got away again."
The room was quiet as Erikson continued to tell his part in the story.
"After this, the Waterton's were placed in another protective assignment, they were taken from Alaska to Montana, but like your tech said, to protect the family; they were separated while they traveled to the same city."
"My first assignment outside the academy was in Wasilla Alaska," Emily picked up the story now. "I was placed in charge of Michaela along with a more experienced agent - Agent Yarmin. We were given everything we needed to drive down from Alaska to the North Dakota-Montana border to a small town where they were going to stay. I didn't have a whole lot of information about the case to be honest; all I knew was that I got to watch over a little girl for a couple of weeks."
"The Watertons were reunited and they were left on the Montana-North Dakota border in a small town, they were protected but about a year later, the Kensington's found them again, they killed Steve and Valerie and kidnapped Michaela again. The case closed after that, our prime witness was dead and the suspects went underground. However, Sharon Kensington just couldn't seem to get over the fact that she couldn't have children."
Emily paused to speak again. "After she and her husband changed their names and faked the adoption of Michaela…or rather Nicole." She glanced at the teen and then back out at the team of agents. "Helen Morris started stabbing women."
"Sharon Kensington used to be a nurse so she knows the human body well; she'd know where to stab so it wasn't fatal," Erikson supplied some information and then let Emily continue.
"We finally got the case when Annaleise Sinatra was stabbed and eventually died from her wounds."
"And then we had one hell of time realizing that the UNSUB was Helen, err Sharon," Morgan corrected himself. He looked around the room.
Nicole started to tune it out now, it was so confusing! Her parents had been kidnappers? They had kidnapped her? But she'd seen the adoption paperwork - there was paperwork! did that mean that the adoption had actually taken place? And she and Emily had met before? Why hadn't Emily recognized her? Why hadn't she recognized Emily?
A tap on the shoulder got her attention; she looked behind her to see the smart, young Agent. The one who looked like he could be a model. She couldn't remember his name. Well, whatever his name was, he was holding an I-Phone in her direction. He motioned that she could take it and play the game that was starting. Hesitantly, Nicole took the phone and looked at the screen, a Tetris board was there. She smiled. She liked the game. She glanced up at the young agent and smiled again. "Thank you" she mouthed before she went back to the game and began to play. Soon, she was so engrossed in the game she didn't even notice that Mia had come back in, or what the adults were talking about. She only looked up when she heard a commotion in the bull pen, someone was yelling and an Agent was talking loudly.
"Sir you can't go in there!" The commotion concerned the team that they all got up, several of them reaching for their guns in concern. Nicole got up as well and left the round table room with Emily and Rossi, wondering what was going on in the other room.
"Oh my gosh!" Nicole whispered. It was her dad. "Emily…." she began.
"It's okay," Emily whispered, she pulled Nicole to her, "I'll keep you safe."
The rest of the team leapt up when they saw that it was Jared. Morgan had his cuffs out in a matter of seconds and Hotch, Rossi, Reid and JJ had their guns trained on the man.
"Jared Morris," Morgan harshly cuffed the man, "you're under arrest for the murder of Steve and Valerie Waterton, and the sexual abuse of a minor."
"I was just trying to show my daughter how much I love her," Jared stated emphatically, trying to make excuses. He managed to break away from Morgan and he started forward. Morgan grabbed him again and Agent Rossi stepped in between Jared and Nicole.
"Nicole," Jared pleaded as Morgan started to drag him away, "I tried to be a good parent to you; you know how much I loved you. Remember the good times we had? Please remember and tell the judge. I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to die. Please."
Nicole looked at him with a dark, stoic expression. There were good memories, like the road trips, and the times he'd helped her with her homework, but all the good memories were contaminated by the bad ones. She'd gone to bed afraid every single night. Every night, she had prayed to a god she wasn't sure was there that Jared wouldn't come to her. Sometimes He'd answered and Jared had left her alone, but sometimes He had turned away and ignored her tears. Faintly, she could feel Emily's hand on her elbow.
"Nicole…" the agent began.
"The only thing I want to tell you is what you told me." Nicole gripped the railing tightly, hoping her voice wasn't as shaky as it sounded. "Do you remember?" she asked. Jared looked at her, helpless. "Be a good boy, this won't hurt at all." Then Nicole turned and walked back into the round table room as Hotch and Reid led Jared out of the room.
"No, Nicole!" His pleas echoed thru the hallway.
"Nicole?" Emily's soft voice broke through the loud noise in the BAU.
"Yeah?" Nicole asked. She glanced up at Emily, who was a good four inches taller than the teen.
"Let's go." Emily smiled and guided Nicole back to her desk where a small duffle bag of clothing was sitting.
"Where are we going?" Nicole asked.
"We're going to be going to the hospital; we need to have a rape kit done on you." The regret was clear in Emily's voice.
"Okay." Tears filled Nicole's frightened eyes. "What's going to happen during the kit?"
"The nurse will take pictures," Emily began "and she'll do a full physical exam on you. There will be a pap smear," she continued. "They might give you the morning after pill."
"Is there anything else?"
"Not that I can think of honey, but I'll let you know if I think of anything," Emily promised. She gently guided Nicole towards the door.
Nicole nodded quietly and followed her guardian out of the door.
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