James was walking through the wilderness, on his way to returning to his home in Parker from the Cullen residence; a sight he hoped to not see for a very long, long time. Such a horrible feeling that just the memories of it could cause.
The sniper rifle's strap holding the weapon on his back, as he walked home,
Emily was far from his mind, the prospects of fatherhood were even more far from his mind. All that his mind could focus on was; how could this have happened? Was this preventable? How did it come to this?
It was like the day he learned his parents were divorcing all over again or the day that Emily asked for them to spend some time apart. The anguish of it all ate at him like a Parana.
He did not know why he felt this way, Joseph, the man in the wheel chair had him tortured, cut up, and then drugged for information on his dad, or maybe it was just to spite his grandfather from beyond the grave, either way he had every reason to hate the man, but whenever he tried to hate him the memory of how he found him came back and he was sad again.
It was all so consuming that he was no longer paying any attention to where he was going. Even after he was back in Parker, his attention was still back in his own thoughts as he walked down the streets of his once peaceful; and soon to be former home.
Finally he arrived at his home and started to put his things away in the bed of his truck.
All that he did after that was sit at the edge of the truck's bed and try to relax. It was then as he forced his mind to remember Emily and the baby that he was finally able to find some inner peace of mind. She was now the one thing he had left, his father was dead, his mother he has spoken you in years, one of his brothers were dead and the other he could never reconcile with, his nephew and niece he was never going to be allowed to see any more, and his best friend was dead along with all his other friends.
That left him with just Emily, lovely Raven as family.
Suddenly he heard the cell phone ringing in his pocket and he answers it.
Back at the Police Station
Back at the police station Emily and J.J. were helping some of the HRT's unload the last of the evidence from the Cullen residence to evidence lock up.
Emily could still see the expression on James faces as she was waiting to hear from Hotchner and Morgan on what was going to happen next. She soon found Riley arguing with Harris earlier, there was no way for her to tell what it was about, seeing as how they were in another room with glass showing them, she was a terrible lip reader, but as far as she could tell it had something to do with Riley wanting something from James.
J.J. joins her in watching the argument and asks "What do you think their arguing about?"
"Not sure." Emily replied to her friend, still trying to make sense of what they were saying. Then she speaks again saying "Well Riley wants something to do with James, and it looks like Harris is against it."
Reid eventually joins them carrying a small book he took from the evidence that was going to be returned to James later. J.J. notices him walk up and she asks "Hey Spence, you can read lips right?"
"Yeah," Read said, focusing his sight on the conversation going on between Riley and Harris. Then he says "Harris is saying that Greaves is a Criminal and he should be arrested for assaulting him, not getting a job offer. And Riley is saying he brought that on himself and that he is in need of a new sniper for his team back in Quantico."
"So wait, their arguing because Riley wants to give James a job?" Emily asked, feeling a little happy at this chance of him being close to her. Then Reid confirms this saying "Yes, I'm fairly certain that's what he's saying to him while at the same time insulting his mother and manhood."
Finally it seems that Harris was relenting to Riley and Spencer says "Harris just agreed to leave Greaves alone."
Emily could not help but smile at this news as she saw Riley leaving.
Hotchner finally appeared out of nowhere as Riley was walking up and asks "What happening?"
"You and your team are free to return to Quantico Hotchner. A FBI team will be down here in the tomorrow to work on the area for an investigation into the case." Riley said, looking to the other team member's moments later and Morgan asks "What about those tracks Greaves mentioned seeing?"
Riley ripostes back at the question "My men followed them back to a small grave yard, and based on what they told me, it looks like that was where the Cullen in the Wheel chair died; they found a lot of blood drops everywhere as well as a second body."
"Who was the second dead guy?" J.J, asked, Riley then replied "We eventually got a hit with his DNA and finger prints, looks like Greaves was right about the bomber who set up the mines. It was identified as a one Bill Gunther, a former US Army Special forces explosives expert, dishonorably discharged after Desert Storm."
"What about all those pictures and files we found in the box; where did they come from?" Emily asks, seeing a foible in the idea that one disgraced soldier could have gathered all of this on his own without help.
Then Riley says "Well I thought about it and I contacted the owners of those files, reached out to some my friends in NCIS and the Military Police, they claim these we're all copied months ago from their personnel files. As for whom I'm not sure. Some of these pictures were more than likely taken by the Cullen's family while they were watching him in his earlier years."
He did not stop speaking after that, he still had one last thing left to say "But then I remembered that name in the Journal Reid here said."
"Jacob Sylvane?" Reid said; a little confused as to why this was helpful.
"Right, I asked them if that name sounded familiar to them along with the rest result from some of the bullets you recovered and both of my friends instantly gave me the same answer. Jacob Sylvane is an alias for a former Navy Seal named Clay Wintergreen, he's a seriously wanted bad guy." Riley said; a little hesitant to speak about it.
The last name Wintergreen sounded familiar to Emily, recognizing it as the name James mentioned to her as the man who killed his best friend years before. Then she asks "Are you sure He's a Navy Seal?"
Riley took a look at Emily, surprised to hear someone question him. Then he says "Yes I'm sure. I read the report twice, a Major in the Navy Seals of Seal Team six during Desert Storm, vanished years later in 2001 and reappeared years later on various occasions when a sniper kill occurred."
"Why would this guy help the Cullen family lure James out into the wilderness and trap him?" Emily asked. Riley was flabbergasted as to any solid answers him and simply replies "I have no idea, the only connection I could find between the two of them was a mention that he had a brother that was killed during a mission conducted by a Navy Seal team that Greaves served in, besides that nothing."
Emily became curious to where this was leading, and then she wondered where he was now and asks "Do you have any idea or leads where he could be now?"
"Sorry, I think Greaves was right when he said this guy ran after he realized what he got himself into, but not before he killed the only two people left who could implicate him in the crime before leaving for good." Riley said, taking the time to answer the last few questions before asking one of his own "Do any of you happen to know where Greaves is now?"
The team members all gave a no except for Emily, giving her best guess "I would imagine he's back at his home, he could probably be there now."
Riley then hands her a small envelope and says "When you see him, be sure to give this to him."
"What is it?" Emily said, as she took hold of the envelop, grasping it in her hand. Then Riley says "I was impressed by his attitude today, follows orders, no trouble making. Just what I've been looking for to join my team."
"I'll be sure to give it to him." Emily said and with that Riley left; Hotchner telling the team to pack up for the trip back home to Quantico.
Emily watched one by one as the team was reading to leave and Reid gives her the journal before leaving himself. J.J. was the only one left and she asks "What you think?"
"About what, all I have to do now is go see James." Emily said.
"James, do you think he'll be okay after all this?" J.J. asked.
Emily was not sure on the answer to that question, she knew that was more than likely never going to be as okay like was before they came to Parker, or even like he was before he moved to Parker. With everything else that was happening that she had no real control over, hoping for the best was one of her more appealing options.
She trusted that James would try to do the right thing; it was what she had known him to do.
Emily just barely had a response to the question "I don't know J.J., he was very adamant about wanting to make this work."
Then J.J. says as she starts to walk out herself "I hope it works out Emily. I'll see you back at Quantico." Before finally leaving, following behind the other members of the team.
Emily then pulls out her phone to try and call him.
Meanwhile Somewhere Else
James took the bodies of his dead cousins with great care, not counting Tyler whom he treated with the worst care, as he brought to a spot in the wilderness. Leaving his phone behind, not hearing it ring when Emily called as his leather jacket over it was muffling the noise it made.
After the local corner finished his thorough examination of the bodies, James was given custody of the bodies for burial, something that he took on reluctantly.
He killed these people; their blood was on his hands, both literally and figuratively speaking. But as much as he detested it, they were still his family, his kin, his blood and he owed them what little respect he had to offer for that.
Digging a hole big enough for the bodies he places them all inside one by one. Tyler was the last one to be rolled in, just a quick push of his foot, Caleb he was the most careful with, placing his body next to his father and daughter. Steve and Lee were side by side next to Tyler. Between the two were the men who helped Maggie attack his house, they told him their names were Bo and Vincent Cullen.
James wiped his hands of the blood and threw it in the whole with them. He knew that burying them would be bad, no matter what he thought of them, the family of their victims will always despise and hate them to know end. People would defile their graves and never let them truly be just another grave.
His family, his child and his nephew and niece would always have to go through their lives with this stain on their names.
He was not going to let this happen to them so he threw everything he hand onto the bodies, sticks, leafs, grass, lighter fluid, gasoline, even a bottle of vodka to each body—just for good measure. Not wanting to leave anything to chance even if it would always haunt him until the day he finally died.
Taking one last look at Caleb and Steve, he puts his hand in his pocket and it digs around as he looks sadly at the bodies. Finally the hand comes back out holding an old Zippo lighter, an item he often used for starting camp fires on hunting trips.
He did not bother to look at the light, he just open it with his thumb and pulls down bringing out a small fire, and then he throws the light near Tyler's body, wanting him to be the first to burn, and watches as they all soon catch fire.
He watched the body's burn in the flames, tears starting to fall down his face once more. He hated them; he hated everything they had done to the people of Parker and to Danny, and most of all what they did to him. But at the same time he was sad because they were still his family.
Wiping the tears away with a single hand stroke down, he continued to watch the bodies' burn for several more hours until the remains were gone, right down to the ashes and charred skeletons. Bury only what remained of the skeletal remains.
It took what was left of the day for him to get back home, to his house at the scrap yard where much to his surprise, Emily was waiting for him.
He was surprised at first to find her there waiting for him; then again he figured she was probably worried about him, even he knew he was acting strange when she last saw him.
As he walks closer to her he says, greeting her "Hey Raven, you waiting for me."
Emily looked a little peeved with him about something, and then she says "James, where have you been? I tried calling you three times."
James was in disbelief saying "I didn't hear my phone." Before he pulls out his cell phone from his pocket, finding that she was right, three missed call by the same number. Realizing she was mad that he did not return any of her calls.
"Oh, I'm sorry Raven; I was just taking care of something that came up suddenly." James said, feeling the sting of guilt and she stared back at him and she asks "What was so important that you were gone so long?"
James was reluctant to answer the question at first, Emily worried at the sight of this, she could see it in his eyes, the shame of something he had done and asks "James what did you do?"
"Nothing…the coroner gave the bodies of the Cullen family. I was to make sure no one would ever find where I put them." James said, trying to keep what he did to himself; viewing what he has done as the most evil thing a person could do.
Emily let go a little, imagining that it was not something easy for him to do. She then asks "If all you did was bury them, then why did it take you so long to get back and why do you smell like you've around a fire?"
It was then that Emily seemed to have an image in her mind as to what he did, James could see this. Knowing that it would be better for her to hear it from him now, than find out later, he fesses up to her "I took the bodies out into the woods and I cremated them, sort of. I had to be sure that there nothing left that come back to haunt my family."
Emily looked at James, her eyes were just staring at him, but her facial expression showed she was trying to understand what he meant. Then she asks "What are you talking about?"
"I know that if I left those bodies in graves then fanatics, the ones obsessed with death and killers, they would flock to this place for a sample of their grave. For all I know one of them could try to steal their bodies." James said, not justifying his actions or make any excuses for what he did, only his reason.
He then continued on saying "Now I make no excuses for what I did, or what they did, but once this get's out people will start looking for answers. I was not going to let my nephew and niece have to live that—to grow up in a world where people always ask them about their monster cousins who murdered and ate innocent people."
Emily could not really say that she did not sympathize with him; family was something that James took seriously. Then she says "It's okay James, it's not my place to judge you. I was just worried something happened to you."
Soon James took notice to what she was holding in her hand and asks "What's that?"
Looking down at her hand Emily remembered the envelope that Riley gave her, and told her to give him, and then says "Agent Riley told me to give you this, just before he left town along with the rest of my team."
Handing the envelope over to him, Emily watched as he slowly opens it and reads it silently in his head. The look on his face was ecstatic to say the least.
A possible job in Quantico for a sniper position in a HRT squad, just the kind of job he needed right now.
Emily also had the journal that Reid gave her before he left and she remembered how she had been reading through most of it, back when she was waiting for him to get back. She then says with a smug look on her face "As interesting as I found that, this was way more enticing."
James looks up from the letter that came from inside the envelope and sees the journal, recognizing it by the wolf head that he drew on it years before when he was still fifteen, and then says as he reaches to take it from her "Is that my old journal?"
Emily backed away from him, still holding the journal in her hand, and she says "Touchy, what's in here that you don't want me to see?"
James then replied as he again tried to take his journal from her "Not funny Raven, give that back. Besides, I'm pretty sure you've read it already."
"Then why do you want it back if you think I've read it already?"Emily said holding onto the journal in front of him, and then he says as he finally get's it back "Because my grandfather gave it to me, it's one of the few things he gave me that I still have."
"I got to say James, you were definitely not the kind of kid I thought you were." Emily said.
"And what kind of kid was that?" James asked, curious as to what kind of person she thought he was before they met.
"To be honest, you never struck me as the kind who liked Hamlet." Emily said, remarking on his favorite play when he was in high school. Then she continues saying "You actually come off as a smart kid that was just a little withdrawn ad loved his family, though I never pictured you as a baseball player."
"What were you expecting me to be, some charming, rowdy, laid back slacker?" James said in regards to her expectations to who he was, and then says "As for the family part, it was never the way I made it out to be to you and Amanda; I was not always the best son or brother, but still I loved them, I wanted a family; they just didn't want me."
When Emily watched the emotions on James's face as he recounted the deal with family, she could see in those emotions hurt, anger, and sadness. But then he continued on "It was tough, but I still had Oliver back then; he stuck by me through it all. Unlike everyone else he never abandoned me."
After he said that, Emily could see a great deal of joy on his face.
Emily soon felt that he did not fully grasp what she expected and says "Not rowdy or lazy, when we met for the first time you kind of struck me as a womanizer, then I read your journal, you broke it off with the girl who accused you, because she wanted more from you, and you wanted to take things slow."
"By the time you met me Emily, I had a few bad things happen to me. I was never able to trust women; I could never get along with that many people, I always figured I'd be spending the rest of my life alone." James said.
Emily then replied back "I read that part, now I'm starting to regret it, you described me as an attractive raven head with a personality. You also said I was your first serious relationship."
James was smug for a second; the fact that Emily was the first girl he ever had a real relationship with was something he rarely spoke to anyone about. He then says "Well, what can I say Emily I found you to be a real stand out from most of the girls out there, you've got a mind of your own and a good sense of humor to boot."
Emily then finishes saying "Other than that there was not much in there I did not already know."
James was quiet for a second, pondering his future options and Emily asks "What are you thinking about?"
James then looks over to her and says looking back at the scrap yard around him "Just, all of this. This for the first real home I ever had after leaving to join the Navy, now I have to leave it behind. Not that I'll regret it."
He then tries to distract himself from the thought and asks "After I left, did you people ever find that Sylvane man?"
"We found someone, a dead body of the Billy Gunther you mentioned, he was killed where what we believe was the sight of Joseph Cullen's death. They think a man named Clay Wintergreen killed him, but we have no idea where to find him."
The second Emily said Wintergreen, James looked up at her horrified and asks "Are you sure it was him?"
Emily nods her head, saying "We're sure James; the bullets that killed Danny Banks and Cullen were a match."
"So he is alive." James replied, looking away before saying "I always figured he survived that fall."
"Fall?" Emily asked, unsure as to what he meant. And he clarifies "Oh yeah that's right, I never finished that story. After I started hunting the Comescu family, I learned that my former training officer was working for them, we hunted him down near this river in China and when he was about to kill Wilson I shot him in the chest and his body fell down into the river, but we never located the body."
"Do you think he could have helped the Cullen family find you?" Emily asked and then he replied "Possible, I killed his brother. It would make sense if he did this to get back at me. Though I doubt he'll come back."
"Why is that?" Emily asked. Then James replied "Because he got what he wanted, he made sure I would never have a moment of inner peace for a long time."
Looking to change the subject James looks to his scrap yard once more and says "I'm still trying to get rid of most of the stuff here I won't need. Danny's family agreed to take ownership of this place; I've found a few book stores to take my books. I just don't know what to do about my living arrangements; I have no idea how to get a home there."
Sitting down next to him, Emily watched as he pondered this and tried to forget about Wintergreen and says "You could live with me; I have plenty of space in my home. I'm sure there's enough room for you there."
James looked at her, believing she was making the offer on an impulse, and he asks "Are you sure about that Raven, you're absolutely sure that you want to do that?"
"I'm sure James; I'd like you to be there. Just do me a favor and don't always call me Raven." Emily said; making it clear she was serious about the matter and that it was not that it was made on an impulse. James smiled for a moment and says "Okay Emily, I'll start packing my things in the morning to leave."
As James remained sitting, Emily took her hand ad placed it in his hand as she laid her head down on his shoulder to rest.