The team sped towards Yates' house, sirens blaring with local police as back-up. Emily was sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV Derek was driving, she was trying her best to remain calm, even though she felt nauseous at the thought of JJ being in trouble. She had to stay focused, she couldn't think about the worst case scenarios.
"Hey, you good?" Derek questioned, he glanced over to her quickly before training his eyes back in front of him.
"Yeah, yeah - I'm fine," Emily lied.
Derek rolled his eyes, "Emily, you're allowed to be worried about her. We're all worried about her, but right now we don't even know what's going on. For all we know...maybe her phone died or something."
"Maybe," Emily muttered. She knew Derek was trying to make her feel better, but they both knew it was extremely unlikely that JJ's phone was off simply because it ran out of battery.
Yates' house was less than half an hour drive from the station, less time with sirens. The convoy killed their sirens before flanking the house, Emily's stomach dropped when she saw JJ's SUV parked at the end of the driveway. Maybe her phone just died, she repeated futilely.
She and Derek checked the SUV, the doors were unlocked and there were no signs of JJ. The team made their entrance into the house, clearing it room by room, again, no signs of JJ.
Reid noticed the same photos JJ did as he called out to everyone, "Guys! Here, look!"
"That's Heather Lowry," Emily noted with an uneasy tone. "What about all these other women? All of them match the victimology."
"Reid, send photos of all of these to Garcia, see if she can get IDs on any of the other students," Hotch directed.
"Hotch, there's nothing here..." Derek sighed, running his hand over the back of his head.
"If he's taken her into the woods, there's no way for us to track him," Emily added.
Hotch frowned, "I know, but we won't give up. Let's talk to Garcia see if she can give us anything to go on. We're not stopping until we find JJ and take Yates into custody."
They returned to the station and stared pouring over maps while cross-referencing everything they had on Howard Yates. Garcia was able to confirm most of the women in the photos from Yates' house had, in fact, been reported as missing persons dating back years before the oldest victim they knew of.
"Why would he hold on to such damning evidence?" Rossi wondered while looking over the information Garcia sent through. "He had these photos on proud display."
"He's not ashamed of what he's done," Reid added. "We know he buries his victims with care, he takes the time to do their hair and make up, meaning he spends a lot of time with them before he..."
Emily glanced up at him as he trailed off, they all knew they were racing against the clock, there was no telling what Yates' was doing with JJ right now.
"There were no signs of the victims' at his house. Prentiss, you ever dyed your hair?" Hotch asked.
Emily scoffed, "Not really, why?"
"It takes a while though, right?"
"I mean, I guess..." Emily replied before realising, "Wait, if he's bleaching their hair, manicuring their nails, and doing their makeup... he's going to need somewhere with utilities."
She quickly went back to the map they'd sprawled across the table, she chewed the inside of her cheek while thinking, there was something here that they could use, she just needed to figure it out.
"There are tons of hunting cabins in those woods," Derek thought out loud, "But - if he needs to have utilities to do his whole salon routine...We need to have Garcia look up the water and electricity providers in the more secluded areas, it can help us rule out certain properties."
"On it," Emily confirmed while calling Garcia back, the call connected and she set her phone on the table on speaker. "Garcia, we need to try and filter out cabins in the area that have utilities linked to them, see if Yates' has any other properties linked to his name."
The furious clacking of Garcia's keyboard came through the phone, "Okay, there's nothing under his name. What else ya got?"
"He'd have to be close by to where he was burying them, it's too far off the road for him to carry them from a vehicle. Baby Girl, try to narrow it down to any properties within a half-mile radius of the dump site," Derek added.
"Okay, I can do that," Garcia relied as she worked, "I have 12 locations in the radius that have utilities linked to them. I'm compiling a list of names on the utility bills and property records."
Everyone's tablets pinged as the list came through, Reid skimmed through the list of names quickly and recognised one of them, he grabbed the list of women int he photos with Yates' to confirm his suspicions.
"There! In one of the photos there was a woman named Riley Tegan, look how young Yates was, this was taken a long time ago," he showed the utility list to Emily and Derek, "And there's a property owned by someone with the same last name, Lauren Tegan. Garcia, we need everything you can find on Lauren Tegan."
"While she works, I want Derek, Emily, and Rossi to head to that property with local PD," Hotch advised. "It goes without saying, be careful and try not to spook him - no telling how he'll react. We need to get JJ out of there. The rest of us will try and follow up with Lauren Tegan, see if she can give us anything about Yates..."
"Uh, Sir?" Garcia interrupted through the phone. "Lauren Tegan...is Riley's mother, was her mother. Lauren went missing in 1996, and get this - she was a reporter at the Denver Post, she started in 1994...she would have worked with Yates' when he was interning during the Jonbenet case."
"Lauren was his first victim, then he moved on to her daughter," Emily realised with a grimace.
"Thanks Garcia, let us know if you find anything else," Hotch hung up the call and looked to the lead detective, "We need eyes in the sky so we can get a better idea of the area, can you arrange that?"
"Yes, of course. I can call in search and rescue," he responded.
"I want everyone in vests, we don't know Yates' frame of mind and I don't want any mistakes that could risk JJ's life, is that understood?" Hotch glanced around the room, meeting Emily's worried expression he added, "JJ's tough, she'll know we're on the way, she'll be okay."
I hope you're right, Emily thought.
"HOWARD YATES, FBI! DROP THE WEAPON!" Derek yelled as he and Emily entered the small cabin, where Yates had JJ's gun held to her head, using her as a shield.
"NO! I have to finish, I have to finish," Yates answered. "I have to finish, she has to be perfect, she's not done yet... I have to finish..."
JJ had an entire face of makeup on, done in a pageant style, blue eyeshadow, red lips, her tears streaking through the cheap foundation on her cheeks, her nails were hap-haphazardly painted with french tips. The team had obviously gotten there before Yates could do her hair, there was a curling iron nearby with brushes, hair pins, and photos of Jonbenet all laid out next to the chair JJ was tied to. She looked at Emily, her eyes full of fear.
"Put the gun down!" Derek growled.
"No! I have to finish, she's not ready yet, she's not ready..." Howard repeated again, slowly becoming more agitated.
Emily glanced to Derek to silently indicate she was going to try to calm him down, Derek nodded and tentatively lowered his gone, holding it in position but pointing it at the floor.
Emily holstered her gun slowly, "Howard, my name is Emily. Let's talk this out, okay? Look, I've put my gun away," she slowly raised her hands to show him she was unarmed, "You have so many beautiful pictures in here. Did you take them yourself?"
Yates glanced around the room at the photographs of his other victims, "They were all so beautiful, they needed to be preserved, they needed to be perfect."
"You dressed them up, did their hair and make up, then took photos so you could keep that moment forever," Emily said while very slowly stepping towards the wall of photos. "You're good at this, you've improved."
"It took a while," he said while following Emily's line of sight towards the oldest photo on the wall. "Lauren was so reluctant, but I had to help, she wasn't perfect, not until I helped her. I made her beautiful, but I couldn't make her perfect. I couldn't get it right, her hair was too dark. It wasn't right."
"That's why you took her daughter? You were trying to improve on what you couldn't get right with Lauren?" Emily continued, she could see Derek out of her peripherals, he was slowly making his way to Yates while Emily kept him distracted.
"Oh, Riley," Yates sighed. "She truly was so much like her mother, but Riley didn't fight me. She let me pamper her, let me make her beautiful, such a good girl. Just like Jennifer here, such a good girl for me."
JJ whimpered slightly as he ran his hand down her cheek.
Derek had made it to Yates but Yates realised it too late, and Derek was able to quickly disarm him before he tackled Yates to ground to cuff him. Emily immediately rushed to JJ and helped cut through the duct tape around her wrists, as soon as her arms were free, JJ swung them around Emily's neck as she started sobbing.
"It's okay, it's okay," Emily reassured. "I've got you, you're safe now. It's over. You're safe now."
JJ tightened her embrace, her entire body trembling as adrenaline coursed through her body. Emily just stood there, hugging JJ as tightly as she could.
"Can you walk okay?" Emily asked.
The look on JJ's face was contemplative for a moment as she tried to take a few steps, but her knees buckled simply because her body was beginning to crash from the stress. She shyly asked, "Do you think you can help me?"
Emily grinned, raising her eyebrows thoughtfully. "I can do more than help..."
Emily bent and scooped JJ's legs out from under her, so she was carrying her, JJ's arms stayed firmly around Emily's neck as she rolled her eyes. She pressed a kiss to Emily's lips, "My hero."
She took JJ outside, carrying her the first half of the trek back to where the SUV's had been parked before everyone had to go by foot to get to the cabin.
"We've got a bit of a walk," Emily admitted as she shifted JJ's weight in her arms.
JJ took the hint and moved to stand on her own with her arm still swung around Emily's shoulders for support. Emily snaked her arm around JJ's waist to make sure she could catch her if JJ lost her balance, "It's okay, I've got you."
They hiked back to the vehicles and Emily got JJ situated into one of the SUV's, she was doing her best to hide how terrified she had been when the team realised JJ was missing. Truthfully, it brought up memories of the night Emily went after Doyle on her own, that obviously hadn't ended well for her, and even the thought of JJ going through something similar made Emily nauseous.
As if JJ could read her mind, she squeezed Emily's hand to get her attention, "Hey, it's okay, Em. I'm fine."
Emily exhaled deeply and forced a cocked smile, "You sure? You're not hurt? We need to get you checked out."
JJ chuckled, "Seriously, I'm okay," she suddenly remembered where she'd been hit on the head and ran her fingers over the spot where dry blood had caked in her hair. The action drew Emily's attention to the injury and her eyes went wide with worry. "Okay, fine. I guess I should get checked out."
"God, get a room you two," Derek chuckled as he walked up.
Emily shoved his arm, "Shut up, Morgan."
"Hey! I did just save your woman's life," Derek jested, raising his hands in innocence. "You'd think I'd get a thank you!"
JJ mockingly scoffed, "First off, I'm not her woman. Secondly, thanks for saving me."
Derek's expression softened into a smile, "All good. I'm just glad you're alright."
"Well, other than that head wound," Emily replied as she tried to get a better look. "You might need stitches."
"What is it with you two and getting hit in the head?" Derek pondered. He quickly jumped out of the way as Emily tried to punch him in the shoulder. "What?! It's true!"
Emily glared at him, throwing him a middle finger before looking back to JJ, "Let's get you back to town, I'll take you to the hospital myself."
"I'll let Hotch know," Derek replied before Emily could even ask. He handed Emily the keys and flashed her a toothy grin, "Hey who knows, maybe it's JJ's turn to dream about sharing a bed with me!"
"You wish," JJ retorted.
He shrugged, "A guy can dream."
"Sorry Derek, I'm taken," JJ reached out and laced her hand with Emily's, "Isn't that right, Mrs. Hartwell?"
Emily stammered, "Uh...right."
Emily drove slowly down the mountain as they headed back to Boulder. Her heart was racing both from the lingering fear of having to rescue JJ and from the idea that JJ considered herself 'taken'. They'd only been on one date, their second date cancelled since they'd still been in Colorado over the weekend, but the thought that JJ was already implying she and Emily were in a relationship filled Emily's stomach with butterflies.
She kept glancing over to JJ instinctively as she drove, half out of concern for her injuries and half because she was trying to work up the courage to ask JJ to clarify, just in case Emily was getting ahead of herself and JJ had meant the quip as nothing more than a joke.
"You're staring at me," JJ pointed out as she caught Emily's eye.
"Oh, sorry," Emily muttered, instantly refocusing ahead of her.
"I'm fine, Em," JJ repeated again. She reached to put her hand on Emily's thigh but hesitated slightly, worried it might be a bit forward of her.
It was Emily's turn to reassure JJ, she reached over and took JJ's hand and placed it on her thigh. "You're allowed to touch me, Jayje."
"I'm sorry," JJ sighed. "I'm still getting used to this whole, dating thing and the whole..." she stopped suddenly, realising she didn't want to sound flippant about the fact she was still learning to navigate Emily's sexuality.
"Asexual thing?" Emily offered without missing a beat. She saw JJ awkwardly shift in her seat. "It's okay, you can say it. I'm not offended, I'm honestly just grateful you're willing to learn."
Emily worried her lip as she thought about all the people who had come before JJ, all the people who weren't willing to learn. The hardest part about her sexuality was the fact it always felt like it was shifting and changing, which made it difficult for Emily to explain to other people, when sometimes she wasn't even sure she could explain it to herself. For the most part, she didn't really want to have sex with people, on the occasions in the past when she'd obliged her partners, it just wasn't that enjoyable for her, but when she and JJ kissed during their first date, Emily really had felt aroused. She wasn't fully ruling out wanting to have sex with JJ at some point, but she also wasn't completely sure yet, so she was keeping it to herself, lest she get JJ's hopes up, or worse, ruin everything entirely by saying she wants to sleep with JJ, only for her to change her mind if the opportunity presented itself.
"Of course, I'm willing to learn," JJ replied. "Em, I really like you and I appreciate how candid you've been with me. This is all still new to me, well I guess, this is new to both of us, so can we just agree to keep communicating with each other?"
I really like you. Emily stifled a chuckle as she played back the conversation with Reid earlier that day. Two different team members had confessed how much they liked her today, but it was obvious she was only mutually attracted to one of them. She still couldn't believe Reid's confession, she'd have to unpack that once they got back to DC. She briefly thought about telling JJ, but decided it wasn't really her secret to tell.
"I promise to communicate with you," Emily agreed with a smile. "I really like you too and it would seem, when we get back, I owe you a date."
JJ rubbed Emily's thigh absent mindedly as she thought for a moment, "I think after I was abducted and nearly turned into a beauty queen tribute, I deserve more than just one date..."
Emily kept her focus on the road as her whole face lit up, she felt her ears pink with warmth. "Let's start with one and see how we go," she lowered her voice, nearly humming the end of her sentence, "Mrs. Hartwell."
A soft gasp escaped JJ's mouth before she tried to cover it by clearing her throat, she was glad Emily wasn't looking because she knew she was blushing, even with her face covered in make up, she was sure her cheeks were pink enough still show. Honestly, JJ had liked Emily for so long, she already had an ongoing mental list of all the things she wanted to do with Emily, just hypothetical date ideas, something that seemed completely implausible until a few weeks ago. Even though they'd only been on one proper date, JJ already knew she wanted to ask Emily to be her girlfriend, she just needed to work up her courage enough to get to that point, yeah, maybe Emily was right. They should take things slowly, one date at a time, there was no reason to rush into anything.