My Beautiful Doll

Warning: No warnings, just infuriation at everyone being sooooo close :)

A/N: Yoooo! You know I said that I'll start posting on Monday right? Well...I just hit 1.000 hits on AO3 so as celebration, I'll post both this AND chapter 27 today as a gift for every single person who still decided to stay on with me throughout this story (yep, that's totally why I posted this and it's NOT because I'm impatient. I'm kidding, I love you guys!). I didn't think I'd ever get here, but here I am. I can't wait for my future projects and I hope that everyone will be here for the ride! Thank you guys so much and have a nice day!


As soon as Billy had the phone call from Ian, he ran back to the office as fast as he possibly could. With a screech of his tires, he slammed the wheel and went back to where he came, abandoning his task of interviewing the family of the victim. Using the skills that got him on the forefront of car chases, he made his way through the traffic, sirens blaring loudly. Screeching to a halt in the middle of the FBI parking lot, he just got out and stormed his way inside, not caring about his car. Every single one of his thoughts were now focused on one thing.

They promised to protect Don and they failed.

Billy couldn't rinse the bitterness of that fact out of his mouth. Even if he decided to get trashed and drink an entire bar out of service, he wouldn't be able to forget that. Billy Cooper wasn't one who got defeated easily. But when it came to the one thing that counted the most in the world to him, he lost.

Don Eppes meant the world to him, and they let him back into the arms of a deranged serial killer.

A part of Billy knew that it wasn't really their fault. The man had proven to be time and time again, intelligent and highly unpredictable. They did as much as they could. Ran back as fast as they could, tried to solve the case as fast as they could, gave him protection. But none of that ended up being enough. In the end, the Artist still managed to get his slimy hands on Don and was now probably halfway across the country.

Anger welled up within him as he stormed his way into the FBI office, everyone getting out of his way as soon as he appeared. Going up to Don's floor, he grit his teeth as he tried to force down images of past victims, both alive and dead, out of his head. Don was going to be none of those. He's going to survive, he's going to be fine, and he's going to drive all of them up the wall by begging to be on a case in a week or two. Billy and everyone else will make sure of that.

"How the fuck did this happen?" He hissed as he burst through the war room.

Ian looked up, his stance tense as he gripped the file tightly. "I'm not sure," he said. "None of the officers have woken up and the techs got nothing." He threw the files against the wall in a rare burst of anger, "WE HAVE NOTHING!" he growled. Ian turned around to grip the table, his knuckles turning white. "Fuck…"

Billy could hear the worry in his voice. For once in his life, Billy could tell what Ian Edgerton was thinking and that wasn't a good sign. "You're not giving up, are you?" he asked.

Ian glared at him, his dark eyes narrowed so much they were almost like coal. "Of course not, what type of person do you think I am?" he hissed

"The kind who would get off their ass right now and search the entirety of LA from top to bottom," he replied.

Ian rolled his eyes. "That might be more of your style."

Billy relaxed a bit, "You're probably right. Going into things headfirst is more of my thing."

Ian let out a small snort before looking back at the files, his cool sniper mask firmly back in place. "There must be something here I missed…" he muttered under his breath.

"Have you checked the computers?" Billy asked, tilting his head to the side.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Billy shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not the most technological guy around Edge. Maybe there's some extra information on those things that aren't in the files."

Ian looked like he was about to strike back before he stopped, a thoughtful expression went over his face. Then he suddenly rushed to one of the laptops that was sitting on the desk and went to work, his hands flying across the keyboards.

"What? What is it?" Billy demanded.

"I think you might be onto something" Ian said, astonished. "I can't believe I didn't think of it."

Billy let out a snort. "What can I say, I'm a natural genius."

To his surprise, Ian didn't even roll his eyes at that. He just continued to work, looking at the screen intently. Realizing that he should probably leave the man alone, Billy took out his phone, walked outside, and started contacting the team one by one.

The first one he contacted was Megan who told him something interesting. "You're telling me that Baker spent a good five minutes in the car?"

"Yep" she replied. "He said he forgot something, but I don't think it'll take five minutes to search for it, especially if it was in Don's car". Billy couldn't help but agree with that. Don was a total control freak when it came to order, especially when it came to work related stuff like his gear and car. In a place that spotless, Baker should've found whatever it is he lost in no time. He noted that oddity for later and thanked her, telling her the news as well. Megan replied saying that she'll be in the office in no time and hung up.

Next was David who told him that the boyfriend didn't think anything was strange. Then again, this time Gary was the one who accompanied Don, not Baker, so it wasn't surprising to see that there was nothing odd that went on. Billy told David the news and then hung up, trusting that he would be in the office in no time.

Lastly came Colby. As a fellow southern man, Billy struck some sort of kinship with the younger agent, one that even Don didn't understand all too well. Then again, Donnie was always a Californian boy through and through, even when he was far away from home. Thinking about Don made Billy worry even more. He knew what his former partner was capable of and knew that Don was as stubborn as they come by, but this wasn't any ordinary threat or fugitive. This was someone entirely different. A kind of evil that they rarely face. They were all woefully unprepared and it shows.

Billy tapped the railing impatiently as he waited for the call to come through. After a few rings, Colby picked up. "You'll never guess what I found" he said before Billy even got a word in.

"What?" he asked.

"They told me that no one came to interview them at all."

That caused Billy to raise his eyebrow. "You serious?"

"Positive" Colby replied. "They said that they waited for days for someone to come and talk to them but no one did."

"So you're saying that Baker was lying?"

"Seems like it, but why?"

Billy sighed, "ain't that the question" he muttered. They both stood in silence for a moment before he told Colby the news and then hung up once Colby said that he would be rushing back to the office. Looking at his watch, Billy reasoned that a lot of time has flown by so surely Ian would be finished by now. Stepping inside, he saw that the man was still fast at work, typing more intensely than the two academics.

"You finished?" he asked.

Ian shook his head, "close enough though". He narrowed his eyes as he looked over the entire thing. "The same number keeps popping up now…" he muttered.

Billy was lost. "Alright, will you tell me what you're doing?" he said.

"We've been assuming that the killer got this information on case locations from the database which means that they must have a high enough clearance, right?"

Billy nodded, unsure where this was going.

"What if the killer had a more standard clearance and instead found information through things like the news?" Then he pointed towards a few news sites that he had opened up. "See? All of these locations are aligned with public available information."

Realization washed over the two academic's faces. "That must be why we haven't gotten anything yet," Amita said.

"We've fallen into the age-old trap of mistaking our assumptions for concrete facts" Larry lamented, putting his head in his hands like he had just done one of science's greatest sins.

Billy almost smacked himself in the face. "Holy shit…you're right" he said, astonished.

Ian didn't even gloat at that. He just continued to look and scroll through. "I decided to open up Don's cases that aligned with the messages that we got from the killer, ones that were about their crush, and check to see who has been looking through them. So far, the same number has been popping up in all of these."

Billy let out a whistle as he looked at the unfamiliar badge number. There was zero doubt in his mind that this person was the killer. But who is he? But before Billy could contemplate any further, a revelation struck him like a truck.

"THAT'S WHERE I'VE SEEN HIM" he shouted, surprising the two academics and causing Ian to raise one eyebrow.

"What?"

"Baker, I remember where I've seen him."

"And…?"

"We had a case a while back where we had to hang around a park for a few days to wait for a fugitive to show up and I remembered that every time we went somewhere, I always got a glance at the same guy with a camera. I didn't think much of it back then because it could just be some guy or a curious bystander, but now that I think about it, he was definitely there for Don."

"How can you be so sure?" Amita asked, looking up from her computer.

"Because when we separated, I didn't see him at all. But when we got back together, he was almost always there, hanging around us."

Ian leaned back, his expression contemplative. "Are you saying that he's been following Don?"

Billy shrugged. "I can't say for sure if he's always been following Don, but he sure as hell was that time."

Ian was about to reply when his phone rang. He picked it up, annoyance written clearly on his face. "Edgerton," he snapped. But then his expression morphed into something else, something filled with worry. "Professor?! Where the hell are you?"

All three of them jumped at that. Billy motioned for Ian to put it on speaker and he did, setting the phone down at the table.

"Look guys, we don't have much time" Charlie's voice was frantic. "The Artist ambushed us and now he has Don."

"We know that, we were just at your house a few hours ago," Billy said.

"Did you see the bombs?"

"Bombs? What bombs?" Ian asked incredulously. "There wasn't anything there."

"Are…are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Damnit Don…" Charlie muttered under his breath. Judging by the broken and worried voice, they had a solid idea on what happened in the house. "I knew you shouldn't have done that."

"Where are you, we'll come and get you," Billy said, looking over at his watch.

"No, me and dad are already on our way. But there's something you should know."

"What is it?" Both of them replied in unison.

"The one who ambushed us was Agent Rick Baker."


A/N: OOOOOOH! NOW THEY KNOW! Although that'll mean jack if they don't know where Don and Baker are but hey! A start is better than nothing, right?