"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
- William Congreve
After the paramedics arrive at the precinct and check on Israel's condition, they confirm that his nose is in fact broken. After being cleaned up a little bit, Puck escorts Israel outside to the ambulance so that they could take him to the hospital to have his nose reset. Afterwards, Puckerman would take Israel to the jail to have him officially charged and processed.
After previously being told by Schue about the situation that happened earlier between Shannon and Freeman, Noah decided to invite the detective with him after he ran into him outside of the station. Needing to get away from the precinct – and his partner – for a while, Detective Shannon readily agrees.
Meanwhile, back inside of the police station, the rest of the BAU and Sergeant Freeman gather around the conference table to pour over all of the information they had on Kitty Wilde.
As Hudson and Schue review all of Wilde's credit card transactions from the past two months – trying to retrace her steps – Dr. Abrams examines the transcripts from the interviews with her friends and family. Meanwhile, Santana and Kyler go through Wilde's social media pages while Brittany searches through all of the text messages and photographs on her phone.
"Miss Wilde posts a lot of pictures on all of her social media, but on the specific dates that her roommate said that she was with her mysterious boyfriend... there's practically nothing," Santana says aloud.
"Yeah, like if she posted anything at all, it was just something brief like 'at the beach' or 'look at this view'," Kyler adds on.
"Hmm... I found the texts going back and forth from Wilde to this Howie person, but Quinn said it was a dead end," Brittany says dejectedly. "The number traces back to a burner phone."
Thoughtfully, Santana leans back in her chair as she taps her pen on the table in front of her. From all of the evidence and information that her team and the police department had collected in reference to Kitty Wilde, it seemed pretty certain that her mysterious boyfriend was somehow involved, if not the actual copycat.
Now... all they needed was proof; a connection of some type.
"If I'm a hot blonde in my early 20s... I'm gonna attract a lot of attention," the Latina starts off.
The statement immediately garners the interesting facial expressions and raised eyebrows of Santana's girlfriend and the brunette sergeant: Kyler's expression being one of perplexity while Brittany's reflected one of pure amusement.
"Under the assumption that I'm knowingly having an affair with a married man, what all does that entail, besides the obvious fact that my boyfriend is going through a midlife crisis," Santana continues on, adding in the sarcastic aside for good measure.
"Okay... I'll play along," Brittany says, joining in on the scenario. "I'm an older dude, who's obviously very good-looking and wealthy, based on the places I take my mistress."
Santana playfully rolls her eyes at the apparent smugness in the blonde's tone.
"So, Howie is probably in his mid to late 40s and has a good job," Kyler assesses. "He probably drives a fancy and hella expensive car and has other chicks on the side, but there was something special about Miss Wilde."
"Maybe she stroked his ego... in more ways than one," Santana says offhandedly.
"Lopez..." Schue says sternly after overhearing her witty comment.
"Sorry Boss..." Santana sincerely replies. "In all seriousness, we have to figure out where these two met. Once we establish that, we can work on identifying who this Howie guy is and what exactly his connection is to this case; to this department."
As she's listening to her girlfriend's logic, Brittany continues to look through Miss Wilde's phone, hoping to find some clue to identify the mystery boyfriend. As she glances at the list of dates when Kitty was supposedly with said boyfriend, she scrolls through the photos that were taken and stored on her phone during that time.
"Hey guys... did you see any of these pics on Wilde's Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages?" Brittany asks as she transfers the photos from Kitty's iPhone to the projection screen in the room.
Santana takes a moment to study each of the photographs, looking for any signs of familiarity from the photos she had already seen on Wilde's social media pages.
"No... none of these look familiar," the Latina states. "What about you, Kyler?"
After a few seconds pass by in complete silence, Santana looks over at the brunette sergeant, waiting for a response. However, Kyler seems to be transfixed on one of the images on the screen.
Slowly, Kyler rises from her seat and moves to stand in front of the projection screen. Shortly thereafter, Santana and Brittany join her, standing on opposite sides of Sgt. Freeman.
"What is it?" Santana asks, carefully studying Kyler's face. As she sees the brunette scrunching up her eyebrows and tilting her head, Santana follows her line of sight and lands on the particular picture that has captured the sergeant's attention.
In the picture, Miss Wilde is taking a selfie of her kissing the cheek of an unknown man with dark-colored hair and olive skin. A clear shot of the man's face can't be viewed due to the fact that he is covering it with his hand.
Kyler touches the photo on the screen to enlarge it, making the item that had immediately grabbed her attention more present. On the man's right pinky finger, there was a gaudy, oversized ring encrusted in diamonds. In the finer details, you could see the mane of a lion and an almost fierceness in its eyes.
"I've seen that ring before," Kyler finally says after a beat.
"Well, as loud as it is, I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to forget," Santana retorts.
As Kyler studies the ring a moment longer, racking her brain to make the connection as to where she had seen it before, it finally clicks. Quickly, she pulls out her personal cell phone and opens up her Facebook app. Meanwhile, Brittany and Santana watch her intently.
After pulling up one of her Facebook friend's pages, Kyler begins to scroll through the hundreds of uploaded photographs and posted albums until she finds what she's looking for.
Still watching for afar, the two female agents observe Sergeant Freeman as she appears to select a picture and then uses her index finger and thumb to expand a certain area of it.
"Holy shit..." Kyler says in disbelief. "I know who the copycat is."
The bold statement immediately sparks the interest of Brittany, Santana, and the rest of the agents in the room. Schue, Hudson, and Abrams instantly stop what they were doing to join the rest of the group.
Kyler then turns her iPhone away from herself so that the others could view it. Gently, Brittany takes it from her hands.
"Looks like the same ring," Santana says, standing next to her girlfriend.
Using her fingers to zoom out of the photo so that everyone can see the name listed on the profile, Brittany's eyes widen.
"Holy shit indeed."
Upon discovering the true identity of the copycat, Agent Schuester requested for them to come down to the precinct as soon as possible. Seeing that the copycat worked very closely with the department, as predicted, the team decided to have their meeting with them in the conference room of the Criminal Investigation Division to give off the impression that they were just having an informal interview with another employee of the county.
While the team discussed how to approach the copycat to best fit their plan of attack, Agent Puckerman and Detective Shannon – whom were still out in the field, on their way back from the jail – kept eyes on their target to make sure they did not deviate from their route to the precinct and try to make a run for it.
"Thank you for getting here so fast," Agent Schuester says as he and Dr. Abrams greet their guest, closing the main door of the conference room behind them. "This shouldn't take long; just some loose ends we wanted to tie up."
"Oh, that's no problem at all. I'm happy to help," their guest, the medical examiner, replies none the wiser to her summons. "By the way, congratulations on catching the Sandy Ridge Killer. I'm sure the citizens of Henry County can rest a lot easier knowing that sicko is off the streets."
"We appreciate that. It was a team effort though," Will responds. "We just had a few questions for you."
"Sure, go for it."
"I was going back over Kitty Wilde's autopsy report and I noticed some discrepancies from the other victims," Dr. Abrams begins to explain.
"Oh?" The red-headed doctor says shakily as she begins to rub her hands together. "W-what kind of discrepancies?"
"When I took a closer look as Miss Wilde's injuries, I noticed that they appeared to be more precise and neater than those on the other victims," Artie explains.
"Neater?" The doctor says in confusion.
"Yes... if you look right here," Dr. Abrams says as he places a photo of some of the lacerations on Miss Wilde's body in front of the redhead, "and then look at these," he continues on as he places photos of the other victims next to the first photo for comparison, "you can see the difference. Victims 1-3 share similar, ragged lacerations while Miss Wilde's are clean and deliberate, as if she were paralyzed while she was being stabbed."
"That's an interesting observation," the medical examiner states as she peruses over the pictures in front of her.
"I thought so too," Abrams comments as Schue remains silent, watching the doctor very closely. "And then, I found this..."
Dr. Abrams proceeds to place two additional photographs of Miss Wilde down on the table: one displaying her upper body from the shoulders up; the other being a zoomed in portrait of the two distinctive red marks on her neck, presumably from a taser.
"At first glance, it's really difficult to see... unless you knew what to look for," Artie says plainly.
"And what is it that you're looking for?"
"An injection site," Dr. Abrams bluntly states. "It would be easy enough to shoot Miss Wilde up with succinylcholine or some other paralyzing agent that doesn't stay in the system long; just long enough for it to subdue a person and keep them from squirming around."
The boy genius pauses for a moment, giving the good doctor a chance to refute his deduction.
She remains silent.
"Do you see it?" Dr. Abrams questions. Once he receives a befuddled look from the ME, he clarifies himself. "The mark, I mean. Do you see it?"
Carefully, the coroner slides the enlarged photo of Miss Wilde's neck closer to her before picking it up. And sure enough, underneath one of the red marks on her neck, you can see an injection mark
"I don't know how I missed that," the doctor says, her voice void of emotion.
"We might have some ideas," Santana says as she and Brittany enter the room.
The medical examiner looks at the two women before looking back at Artie and Will, wondering why two more agents were being brought into the discussion.
"Dr. Pillsbury... this is Agent Lopez and Agent Pierce," Schue says, introducing the two ladies.
"O-okay?"
"We had our technical analyst do a little more digging and she found some interesting internet purchases that you've made over the past couple of months," Brittany says. "Binoculars..."
"I like to bird watch," the redhead instantly responds.
"Heavy duty rope..."
"I own horses."
"A taser..."
"Personal protection."
The doctor seemed to have a logical explanation for everything. Separately, these items seemed harmless, but combined... they made up the classic "kill kit" for any local serial killer in training.
"Night vision goggles?" Santana interrupts, in hopes of stumping the doctor.
Dr. Pillsbury opens her mouth as if she had her reply locked and loaded, but then stumbles when she plays back the question in her head. Slowly, she closes her mouth and subconsciously begins rubbing her hands together again.
"You have a really impressive resume, Dr. Pillsbury," Brittany states, redirecting the conversation, but not forgetting about the look of uneasiness on the doctor's face. "You graduated at the top of your class at Mercer University, completed your residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Florida, did your fellowship for Forensic Pathology at Emory, and then worked your way up to become the Chief Medical Examiner of Henry County after the old chief retired 10 years ago."
"I like to stay busy," the coroner simply responded, trying her best to quell the mass of nerves flowing throughout her body.
"We can see that," Brittany comments. "At least you made time for yourself to have a love life. Lord knows how difficult it can be to maintain a relationship with the type of schedule you probably have."
"It's tough, but we make it work," Dr. Pillsbury happily replies; the smile in her voice not meeting her eyes.
"You've been married for about 3 years now, right?" The blonde agent implores.
"Uh, yes..." the doctor states skeptically. "I'm sorry, why are we talking about my husband?"
"Because he is at the pinnacle of all of this," Santana answers, taking over.
"I don't understand."
Santana internally sighs in exasperation. Why can't perps ever just be honest?
"Your husband, Dr. Carl Howell, is a very well-known orthodontist with several offices around the Metro Atlanta area," Santana begins. "Kitty Wilde was a patient of his, and 3 months ago... she had an appointment with him."
As the Latina lays down copies of Dr. Howell's appointment book and the sign-in sheet for the day of Miss Wilde's appointment – speedy delivery courtesy of Quinn – Dr. Pillsbury carefully looks over the items.
"Oh wow... I had no idea that he knew her," the doctor says in response. "He never said anything."
Santana then places down a couple of photos of surveillance footage obtained from Dr. Howell's office. In the pictures, you can see Dr. Howell presumably escorting Miss Wilde back to his exam room, with his hand resting on her lower back. The other picture is of the two them in the exam room, talking very closely; Dr. Howell practically whispering into the younger woman's ear.
Dr. Pillsbury stares at the photos idly, while the muscles in her face involuntarily twitch.
"She was a patient of his... so what?" The redhead says casually as she pushes the pictures away from her. "Running five different offices, I'm sure it would be hard for anyone to remember every single person they've come into contact with at any given time."
She's got a fucking answer for everything, Santana thought to herself.
Knowing her girlfriend so well, Brittany could just tell that Santana was annoyed by this petite redhead in front of them.
"While that may be true, you don't find it odd that your husband wouldn't remember Miss Wilde at all? I mean, her face has been plastered all over the news all week," Brittany interjects, giving the Latina a chance to regroup. "Just looking at these pictures, they seem to be pretty close."
"Just what are you trying to imply, Agent Pierce?" Dr. Pillsbury says with a little more bite than before.
Calmly, Brittany responds. "I'm not implying anything; just simply making an observation."
The medical examiner just sits there, analyzing the blonde's words.
"I'm on a first name basis with all of my doctors, but I've never let them get that close to me... not even my gyno," Brittany adds in.
Brittany's light-hearted humor in this type of situation warms Santana's heart. With all of the terrors they face on a daily basis, Brittany still managed to be that ray of sunshine everyone needed to stay grounded.
"Do you know why we asked you to come down here, Dr. Pillsbury?" Agent Schuester asks after a while.
Schue and Artie had taken over the role of spectators once Brittany and Santana entered the room. As they began to lay out the evidence piece by piece in front of the doctor, they were hoping that it would be enough for her to confess. However... they weren't counting on the redhead being so stubborn.
Again, the team didn't need an actual confession; they had more than enough evidence to charge and easily convict the good doctor in front of a jury of her peers. But... just because they didn't need it, they still wanted to give this highly trained and well-respected member of the community an opportunity to explain herself and her actions.
"I'd say it's pretty obvious... you think that Carl killed Kitty Wilde," Dr. Pillsbury said quite confidently, before narrowing her eyes. "And you think I helped him cover it up?"
Deciding to play along, Santana asks, "Did you?"
"How dare you!" The ginger doctor says with a little bite to her tone. "I have spent my entire adult life studying and practicing medicine, so for all of you to stand here and accuse me of something so heinous..."
Dr. Pillsbury trails off as she looks away from the agents in the room, shaking her head in disbelief and disgust.
"Technically, we haven't accused you of anything," Brittany corrects the doctor, voicing what everyone else in the room was thinking.
Yet, Santana says to herself.
The redhead scoffs in return. "It was implied."
As she begins to wring her hands together again, a nervous habit that all of the agents had since picked up on, the good doctor begins a long-winded rant.
"Y'know, you Feds are all the same. You swoop in here with your arrogance and big, shiny badges to rescue us simple folk. Then once you save the day, you just leave... you leave us to pick up the pieces," Dr. Pillsbury states with a little bitterness. "You have your guy, locked up in a cell. But instead of being satisfied with that, you question my work; my ethics? And then you wanna harass me and blame my husband for this!"
As the coroner turns a shade of red that was a close comparison to the hair on her head, the door to the conference room opens and Kyler appears.
"Thank God!" Dr. Pillsbury says in relief as she sees the familiar face. "Sergeant Freeman, could you please talk some sense into these Federal pricks."
Kyler quietly closes the door behind her and walks over towards the redhead, perching herself on the edge of the table while placing down a Manila folder. The brunette sergeant then digs into her pocket and produces a travel size bottle of Purell, passing it over to the doctor. Dr. Pillsbury nods is appreciation, feeling her old OCD tendencies starting to resurface.
After practically bathing her hands and arms in the sanitizing liquid, she looks back at her colleague with a questionable look on her face. "What?"
"Emma... we know," Kyler finally speaks.
Dr. Pillsbury narrows her eyes at the brunette, feigning ignorance. "Know what?"
Kyler looks down and sighs heavily as she closes her eyes and regroups. She slowly opens her eyes after a few seconds and locks them back onto the good doctor.
"Emma... we know," Kyler repeats, placing specific emphasis on the last word. "Just tell me what happened. No matter how you feel about Kitty, her family deserves peace; they deserve closure."
Hearing the pleading in her friend's voice struck a chord in the redhead. As much as she wanted to keep up the charade, she knew that she had been caught and the best chance she had at helping herself was to avoid a trial and pray for a deal from the District Attorney.
"It happened a few weeks ago," Dr. Pillsbury starts out.
The doctor then goes into a detail account of what led her to taking another human life.
One Sunday morning after her husband had returned home from one of his many 'business trips', Emma went about collecting his dirty clothes from his traveling bag since she was about to do a load of laundry. As she removed his clothes and separated which items could be washed and which ones would need to be dropped off at the dry cleaners, Carl's wallet fell to the ground from the pocket of one of his blazers.
As Emma bent down to pick up her husband's wallet, she noticed a few items had spilled out onto the floor.
A credit card.
Some cash.
A square piece of gold foil?
Honing in on the foil package, Emma flips it over and reads the words 'Trojan' in bold letters on the shiny gold front.
Immediately, Emma goes back to the suitcase and begins tearing it apart. Upon searching the luggage, she finds an open box of Trojan condoms: 3 out of 12 still remaining inside.
"That bastard!"
Emma felt sick to her stomach. Because she was on birth control, she and Carl never used any other form of contraception. Therefore, Carl would have no reason to have an almost empty box of condoms in his travel suitcase... unless he was sleeping with someone other than her.
"Magnum... yeah right, Carl!"
Emma had never really experienced the feeling of anger before, and so far... she did not like it.
All of her life, Emma considered herself to be a fairly happy and good person. She always followed the rules and worked extremely hard to achieve everything in her possession.
Since she was a child, Emma had struggled with severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and became a little bit of a germaphobe. Combating these two issues is what led her to pursue medicine; however, it also left her alienated from her peers.
It wasn't until she moved to Henry County and began forming a working relationship with the local officers and other employees that Emma finally felt like she belonged. Working closely with the same people over the past 10 years and building close-knit bonds with a few of them – Kyler included – gave the doctor a sense of security and allowed her to slowly take control over the disorders that had made her socially inept previously.
And then... she met Carl.
Carl had said and did all of the right things to worm his way into Emma's heart. He charmed and pursued her like no one ever had before. Emma was flattered beyond comprehension that a handsome, intelligent, well-rounded man seemed to be so interested in her. It's not that she had a low opinion of herself; however... with all of the quirks that she had worked really hard over the years to manage, Emma figured that she would just be one of those people that lived a life of celibacy while remaining totally focused on her work.
Emma had been perfectly content on living that life until she discovered how much happier she was with Carl around. The warmth and joy she felt from being in another person's presence was almost overwhelming to her, but she welcomed it with open arms.
And on that day when she and Carl exchanged their vows in front of their closest friends and family, for the first time in her life, Emma experienced what it meant to be truly and completely intimate with someone else.
Looking back down at the box of condoms in her hand, Emma became even more furious. She stood there for a moment, taking in several deep breaths to gather herself and her thoughts. Once she settled down, she carefully put the box of condoms back into Carl's suitcase and went about doing the laundry as if nothing had happened.
When Carl came out of the shower a few minutes later, he was none the wiser as he kissed Emma on the cheek and proceeded to get dressed.
"Later on that night after he had gone to sleep, I did a little more snooping," Dr. Pillsbury continues on. "I found one of those Cricket phones hidden in one of the drawers in his office. You would think he would've chosen a passcode other than his own name since he went through all of the trouble to hide it in the first place."
"So, what happened after you unlocked the phone?" Kyler implores.
"I opened up his text messages, and that's when I saw her. Kitty Wilde... in all of her naked glory," Emma says with disgust. "Apparently it had been going on for months. I couldn't believe it!"
"What did you do?"
"I followed Carl when he went on his last 'business trip'. He told me he was going to Savannah for a convention, but instead, he ended up at some swanky hotel in Atlanta," Dr. Pillsbury explains. "When I finally saw him with that girl in person, I just couldn't take it anymore."
The redhead then goes on to tell how she remembered the unsolved homicides from months ago involving blonde women with blue eyes, and so... she devised a plan.
Emma ordered the suspicious items online and started following Kitty to learn her schedule. During one particular week, one of Emma's neighbors a few houses down asked her to house sit for them while they were out of town. This became the best opportunity for the redhead to put her plan into motion. A few nights later when Kitty was leaving the gym and about to head back to her apartment, Emma decided to strike.
As Kitty threw her gym bag in the trunk of her car, she never heard or saw the doctor sneaking up behind her, wearing all black. Swiftly, the redhead reached up and pressed the taser against Kitty's neck, rendering her unconscious. Taking a quick glance around to ensure that there were no witnesses around, Emma used all 110 pounds of her tiny frame to drag Kitty the short distance to her vehicle before putting her inside of her trunk, ironically.
Since Kitty's gym was a good 45 minutes away from her home, Emma administered a small dose of succinylcholine, right where the marks from the taser had been formed, to ensure that Kitty would be unable to escape if she happened to wake up before arriving at their destination. Although Emma knew that she would be the doctor handling the autopsy, she wanted to make sure that she covered her tracks and made it damn near impossible for anyone to see the injection site she left behind... unless you knew it was there to begin with.
Satisfied that the young girl wasn't going anywhere, the redhead made the drive from Atlanta to McDonough, backing up her car in the driveway of her neighbor's house. She had called Carl earlier to tell him she would be working late again and would check on their neighbor's house before coming home. Carl, of course, did not suspect a thing.
Emma then opened the garage, just enough to give her room to remove Kitty's body from her trunk and then roll her body inside. She then closed her trunk and stepped fully inside of the garage, closing it behind her from any nosy neighbors that may have still been up.
Using the work bench already located in the garage, Emma went about setting Kitty atop of the table and secured her hands and feet. She then injected the young woman with another dose of succinylcholine as she was starting to come to. The redhead wanted Kitty to be wide awake and to feel it, every single time the blade of her knife plunged into her skin.
Before she had made the drive to Atlanta, Emma had covered the entire garage in heavy duty tarps to make sure her work space was easy to clean afterwards and her neighbor would have no idea what had taken place in his garage while he was away.
"Where am I?" Kitty quietly moans as she attempts to move her arms, but fails. "What is this? Why can't I move anything?"
"Do you know who I am?" Emma asks the young blonde as she hovered over her. Kitty tries to shake her head 'no', but can't. The redhead gets the gist of it. "I'm the wife whose husband you've been fucking."
Kitty's eyes widen in recognition at the redhead above her, paralyzed in fear.
"And I'm the last face you'll ever see..." Emma said definitively as she stuck the blade of her knife deep into Kitty's abdomen.
Kitty tried to scream at the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would hear her and help her, but all that came out was a shallow whimper. The drugs in her system had completely numbed all of the muscles in her jaw by this point, making it impossible for her to make a louder sound.
"Tell me, Miss Wilde... does it hurt? Does it burn like they say in the movies?" Emma asks condescendingly as she sees the blonde's eyes watering and blood trickling down from her stomach to her back. "Good. Maybe that's something you should've thought about before spreading your legs like a common whore."
After hearing Dr. Pillsbury's bone chilling account of events, Agent Schuster handcuffs the ginger doctor as he and Dr. Abrams begin to escort her out of the room. Before they make it completely out, Dr. Pillsbury pauses and turns to Sgt. Freeman.
"How did you know?"
Looking briefly at Agent Schuester, he firmly nods, giving her the okay to answer the doctor's question. As the brunette nods back, she opens up the Manila folder she had previously placed onto the table when first entering the room.
Inside of the folder were three photographs.
"Miss Wilde's roommate only ever heard Kitty refer to her boyfriend as Howie," Kyler explains, revealing the selfie of Kitty and her mysterious beau that Brittany had discovered earlier on her iPhone. "Naturally, we assumed that his real name was Howard. That was, until I saw this..."
Sgt. Freeman then removes the other two photos remaining in the Manila folder: one of Emma and her husband sharing their first dance on their wedding day; the other, an enhanced picture off Carl's right hand.
The brunette then places the first and last photo side by side.
"It's a pretty hard ring to forget," Kyler says solemnly. "Carl is Howie."
"What was I supposed to do?" Dr. Pillsbury yells erratically. "She was sleeping with my husband!"
"I don't know; be a freakin' adult?! Blame your husband? Get a divorce?" Kyler fires back. "Jesus, Emma... she was just a kid!"
"She was old enough to know what she was doing was wrong!"
Standing there in complete and utter disbelief, Kyler can only stare at this stranger who she once considered as not only a colleague, but a trusted friend.
"First, do no harm..." Sergeant Freeman says, reminding the doctor of the oath that she took so long ago. "What the hell happened to you?"
As Kyler tries to look deep into Emma's eyes in hopes of finding some type of remorse or regret... she comes up empty handed.
"Get her outta here."
With those last spoken words, Agent Schuester and Dr. Abrams remove Dr. Pillsbury from the room and prepare for her to be transported to the jail.
After a few moments pass by in ample silence, the two profilers begin to worry about their new friend.
"Hey Kyler... are you okay?" Brittany softly asks while placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. She knew that Kyler was probably far from okay, but she wanted to let her know that she and Santana were there for her.
"I'm just at a loss for words at the moment," Kyler earnestly replies. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Emma Pillsbury – the same lady that used to wear latex gloves 24/7 and used wet wipes religiously to clean her grapes before eating them – is a cold-blooded, heartless killer."
"I wish there was something we could say or do to make this all make sense, but sometimes the reason is simple," Santana says, attempting to console the brunette. "In Dr. Pillsbury's case, instead of confronting her husband about his infidelity and then deciding what to do in regards to their relationship, she chose to blame the woman she felt was responsible for tarnishing her seemingly perfect life and marriage."
"I guess you'll never really know what some people are capable of," Kyler says solemnly. "How do you guys do it? I mean, how are you able to still have faith in humanity when you guys see such horrific things all of the time?"
Brittany looks over at Santana and smiles to herself before responding.
"I just try to focus on the positive things in my life, like my friends... my family," the blonde answers. "The reason we do this job is so that everyone else can sleep soundly at night. Despite the evil in the world, I refuse to let it diminish my hope that we're making a difference in the grand scheme of things."
"This job can make you cold... bitter... distant..." Santana chimes in on the subject. "But, if you have a strong support system... you can make it through anything."
"Wow... that's deep guys," Kyler replies back, cracking a brief smile. "I think I need a stiff drink."
Brittany and Santana share a laugh with the sergeant, knowing that she'll be okay.
"That's not a bad idea," Santana states. "I think we could all use one after this case."
"Well, let's go finish up this paperwork so we can see about those drinks."
After completing the necessary paperwork and checking out of their rooms, the BAU had a couple of hours to kill before their jet would be refilled and ready to take them back home. In the meantime, they met up with Sergeant Freeman and Detective Shannon at the local watering hole to relax a little and celebrate a good day's work.
While Puck and Finn were out on the dance floor chatting up a few ladies, Artie and Schue were sitting at a table talking to Pete.
While Santana went to get the ladies another drink, Kyler kept Brittany company.
"So... how long have you and Santana been together?"
Brittany internally panics, but maintains her composure. "What do you mean?"
Kyler gives the blonde an unimpressed look. She had suspected that the two female agents may be a little more than friends and colleagues, but while working the case, she chose not to comment on it. Now that the case was closed and she had a couple of drinks in her, being professional and maintaining her tact seemed less important at the moment.
"C'mon Pierce... I have eyes, y'know."
After studying Kyler for a minute, Brittany is unsure of what to do. She considered Kyler a friend now, but since she and Santana hadn't discussed whether they were telling people about their relationship yet, she didn't want to make a rash decision without the Latina.
Luckily for the blonde, Santana chooses that exact moment to rejoin them.
"Alright... I have a strawberry margarita," Santana says, handing the fruity drink to Brittany, "and a Jameson with ginger ale."
"Thanks San," Brittany says while taking a big sip of her drink.
"Yeah, thanks Santana."
Looking back and forth between her girlfriend and new friend, Santana senses a slight tension in the air.
"Okay... what did I miss?" She asks, addressing both women.
"Kyler here seems to think that we're more than friends," Brittany enlightens.
"Oh yeah? How come?" Santana queries, not missing a beat as she takes a sip of her beer.
Feeling reminiscent of their earlier conversation at the diner that morning, Kyler decides to indulge her.
"Well... even though I already know how tight your team is, you two are especially close," Kyler commences. "The rest of your team is probably used to this so they wouldn't think anything of it if there was a slight shift in your relationship. However, over the past two days, I've noticed how your eyes always seem to find each other, even if you're on opposite ends of the room."
Seeing no change in Santana's facial expression and hearing no comments that would give her any kind of hint if she was accurate in her assumption, Kyler continues.
"The thing that really got my spidey senses flowing is how protective you are over Brittany, especially whenever we talked about the physical descriptions of the victims."
"I'm protective of everyone in my unit; they're my family."
"I can see that; it's inspiring really," Kyler compliments. "But the thing that stood out to me the most is when Agent Schuester asked Brittany to enter the interrogation room with Israel. I could tell that you really wanted to object, but you didn't."
Again, Kyler stalls briefly to get a read on either of the ladies. Unfortunately... their poker face game was strong.
"When Agent Puckerman finally said something, for a moment, I thought I had been mistaken in my original assessment of who was possibly romantically involved with Brittany," Kyler further explains. "But then it registered to me why he did it. Like you said before... you guys are a family. Schue is like the dad and all of you are like his kids; Puck being the older brother, I suppose."
"And Artie is like our nerdy younger brother," Santana adds in.
"Yeah... we kinda are one big, dysfunctional family," Brittany comments lightheartedly, sharing a laugh with the other two ladies.
"Anyways... it would be far less obvious for Puck to say something, being a guy just trying to protect one of his sisters," Kyler pauses for emphasis, "but... it would raise more questions if you were to interject. Like, are you showing concern for your best friend, a fellow female colleague, or... perhaps your girlfriend?"
Santana looks intently at Kyler, trying to decipher her sudden interest and possible motives for wanting to know if there was something more to her relationship with Brittany.
Growing up an ambassador's daughter, the Latina learned at an early age to be relatively guarded and to not trust easily. For the majority of her life, this method worked without fail. Moving every few years to different countries afforded Santana with a rich, cultural background and made it fairly simple for her to detach and move on since she never really formed any close relationships. However, all of that changed when she became a member of the BAU. No matter how much she wanted to resort back to what she's known her entire life, that task seemed just about impossible when she met one Miss Brittany Pierce and got lost in those impenetrable azure eyes.
So now, looking back at Kyler, she realizes that the brunette wasn't trying to fish for information to possibly hold over her head and tell her boss; she was simply just interested and asking as a friend. Besides, with all of the events that had unfolded earlier in the day, it would be a nice gesture to show Kyler to still have faith in humanity; to still have faith in people despite being let down by someone who you trusted dearly.
Santana then looks at Brittany and they appear to have one of their silent conversations, making sure that they were on the same page. When she sees nothing but the smile shining in the blonde's eyes, Santana knows that she has her girlfriend's approval.
"Damn... she's good," Santana finally replies back with a grin.
"Seriously? I'm right?" Kyler inquires, surprised by the response even though it's not definitive.
"Yeah, you're right..." Brittany says as she loosely wraps her arm around the Latina's waist and rests her head on her shoulder, happy to be able to say that out loud to someone other than Quinn or Noah. "Santana and I are together."
Santana lightly squeezes Brittany's hand as she leans her head against the blonde. Not wanting to attract any further attention from prying eyes, the two separate, instantly missing the warmth.
"That's awesome! I'm really happy for you guys," Kyler states genuinely. "I imagine it's difficult maintaining a relationship, doing the job that you do."
"Yeah, it's definitely not easy but I think it helps when you're with someone who understands the job and all that it entails."
Although Brittany and Santana were just at the beginning of their journey together, they had seen the toll their job could take on a relationship; on a family.
With Brittany, being a late bloomer with a lack of self-confidence afforded her the opportunity to solely focus on her career. She was the face of the BAU and never saw the need to dabble in a romantic endeavor... well, until Santana, that is.
With Santana, she played the role of Puck's wingman beautifully and went on dates every once in a while. However, first dates never turned into second dates because no matter how much she tried, Brittany was always at the forefront of her mind. No other woman could compare to her.
With Quinn, it was hard for her to find anyone that could match her intellect, charm, and wit. But dammit... she loved watching men – and women equally – try.
With Finn, he had a few girlfriends over the years, but none that stuck around for too long.
With Artie, he was way too smart and socially awkward for his own good. Enough said.
With Noah, he was the resident ladies' man. He wasn't against settling down one day if he met the right woman, but until then, he was going to enjoy his freedom and youth.
And with Will, their fearless leader... it ended his marriage.
Will tried to compromise and transferred to White Collar Crimes, a desk job that made his then wife ecstatic. But after only a few months, he knew that he just couldn't do it. Will felt that his skills were being wasted and he was severely unhappy. Although he loved being able to go home and see his wife and son every night, he felt his heart break whenever he watched the news and saw a story about another serial killer on the loose. In the end, his wife was tired of trying to understand why he felt that the job was more important than his family; Will was tired of trying to make his wife see the importance of the work the BAU did.
Once he was served with divorce papers, Will transferred back to the BAU and was glad to be back with his other family.
"What about you, Kyler?" Brittany curiously asks. "Anyone special in your life?"
"Me? No... 'fraid I'm married to the job," Kyler replies with a shrug. "But, I'm guessing that not everyone knows about your relationship?"
"What makes you say that?" Santana implores, taking another swing of her beer.
"Honestly... if I had a girlfriend that looked like either of you two, I'd be all over her All. Of. The. Time. I'm talking a disgusting amount of time," Kyler says with absolutely no shame, making the other two women laugh out loud. "Plus, you both are hella smart so that just makes you even sexier."
"Just how many drinks have you had?" Brittany inquires humorously.
"Not enough to impair me from driving, but enough to let loose a little bit," Kyler responds with a wink. "If you guys were both single, I was gonna ask for your numbers. I figured a little harmless flirting wouldn't hurt anybody."
"Good to know I have options," Brittany says jokingly.
"Hey!" Santana says, feigning being hurt.
"Just kidding, San."
"To be fair, I was gonna ask for Dr. Abrams' number too. I do love me some nerds."
"Equal opportunist... I like it," Santana replies approvingly. "Although, you might cause Artie to go into cardiac arrest if you start flirting with him."
"Ooh, can I be there to watch when you do it?" Brittany asks giddily as she claps her hands together. "That boy is the definition of clueless when it comes to anything girl related."
"I figured as much."
As the ladies continue to share a good laugh amongst each other and swap stories for another hour or so, the BAU's time in Georgia was just about up.
"Is Shannon still upset at you?" Brittany casually asks.
"Hard to tell. He hasn't spoken to me since this afternoon," Kyler sadly replies. "I think more than anything, he's disappointed."
"You want us to talk to him for you?" Santana offers.
"No. I think it's best if I do it myself," Kyler states. "I appreciate the offer though. Maybe a cold beer will break the ice," she adds on while looking towards the bar.
"That's not a bad idea. Let us know if we can do anything to help."
"Will do," Kyler says as she begins to make her way to the bar in hopes of mending her relationship with her partner. "Make sure you guys come find me before you take off."
"We will," both agents reply in unison as the brunette sergeant disappears into the crowd.
"She's a cool chick," Santana says in passing. "Too bad she doesn't live closer; she'd fit right in with our little family."
"Quinn would love her," Brittany agrees.
"Quinn would eat her alive."
Brittany and Santana laugh hysterically, knowing that their eccentric friend was an acquired taste. As their giddiness settles, a thought crossed the Latina's mind.
"I can't wait 'til we get back home."
"Oh yeah? How come?" Brittany ponders.
"So that I can take you out on a proper first date," Santana says bashfully while looking down at her shoes.
"Hey..." Brittany says gently as she lifts her girlfriend's chin up. "If I'm not allowed to hide anymore, neither are you."
"Okay..." Santana replies a little breathlessly, trying her best to maintain her composure in this close proximity to the blonde.
Looking over Santana's shoulder, she catches a glimpse of their male team members and Detective Shannon all sitting at the table now, entranced by the basketball game currently playing on the television.
"While the boys are distracted, why don't we go find a dark, secluded corner to make out in?"
"I like the way you think, Agent Pierce."
As Brittany and Santana make their way towards the back of the bar and further away from their team, Kyler approaches her partner with his favorite beer in hand, hoping that the peace offering would be well received.
Upon seeing his partner, Pete accepts the proffered beer and nods his head towards the door, signaling that they have their conversation outside where it was less noisy. Once arriving at their destination, the two snag an empty bench and sit in silence for a few minutes.
"Look Pete... I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the copycat theory," Kyler starts out. "I di—"
"Stop. Just stop, please..." Pete gently commands as he heavily sighs. "I had no right to get upset with you. I overreacted."
"You had every right to be mad," Kyler counters. "We're partners and I purposely kept you out of the loop."
"Even so... whether it was your call or the FBI's, I should've handle myself better," Pete explains. "At the end of the day, you out rank me, Kid. No matter how I felt about the decision that was made, I should've respected it instead of just walking out on you."
Kyler just stares at her partner for a moment. Even before Kyler was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, she considered Pete Shannon to be a mentor, a friend, and like the older brother she never had.
"What's your play here, Shannon?" Kyler questions in mock suspicion. "I had this whole apology planned out and ready to deliver, and now you're ruining it."
"Sorry..." Pete replies with a smirk. Kyler just shakes her head and bumps his shoulder.
After they sit in a more comfortable silence for a little while, the brunette can't help but to think of her partner's words. Something wasn't adding up.
"So... what was this really all about then?" Kyler treads lightly. "Clearly there's something that's been weighing heavy on your mind."
"You profiling me, Freeman?"
"Course not; just making a general observation," Kyler says softly. "So..."
Again, Detective Shannon heavily sighs before saying anything further.
"You remember when you applied to the FBI?"
Kyler was a little surprised by the question, but answered it nonetheless. "Yeah... that was like a year ago, right before I got promoted. Didn't think I'd get it, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
"Why do you always do that to yourself?" Pete asks knowingly.
"Do what?"
"Sell yourself short. You know damn well that you earned that promotion," Pete says sincerely. "And you damn sure deserve this job with the FBI."
"What are you talking about?" Kyler asks, genuinely confused by the comment.
"Do you remember earlier this week when you asked me to grab the Melendez file out of your office?" Pete implores. The brunette nods her head in affirmation. "Well, when I was grabbing it, a new email popped up in your inbox. It was from the FBI recruiter you've been corresponding with and the subject line was 'Employment Opportunity'. You don't have to be a genius to figure out what that means."
Kyler immediately knows what email Pete was referring to. Over the past year, through every step of the hiring process, Kyler always spoke to the same agent in regards to her application progress. After she had her final interview three months ago, Kyler was met with radio silence. As much as she wanted to reach out to her contact and see if there was anything new to report, she also didn't want to be one of those pesky prospects begging for a job.
And so, she waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
After so much time had passed with no updates, Kyler began to slowly forget about the amazing opportunity. Instead, she focused solely on her current job and worked her hardest to find a resolution to the open cases currently piling up on her desk from multiple detectives.
Needless to say, she was taken aback when she received said email.
"I guess after seeing that email and then seeing how well you worked with the BAU, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I was gonna lose you," Pete candidly reveals. "The thing with the copycat just sent my emotions over the edge."
"You were right; they did offer me the job," Kyler says after a beat, "but... I haven't accepted it yet."
"Why not?"
"Honestly... I haven't thought about it in a while. I just put it in the back of my mind so that I could focus on helping the people of Henry County," Kyler responds. "Oddly enough, right before I was gonna call the recruiter back, we found Kitty Wilde's body."
"You were positive that she was a part of the Sandy Ridge murders."
"Chief wasn't as convinced. When I first went to talk to him about calling in the FBI, he shot me down pretty quickly," Kyler recalls. "It wasn't until Mrs. Grisby was found that he finally agreed."
"So, what did you tell the recruiter?"
"I told them that I appreciated the opportunity; however, I didn't feel right about leaving here until these homicides were solved," Kyler answers simply. "I wasn't just gonna drop this caseload onto someone else's lap. I had to see this one through; I had to give these families some semblance of peace."
"So you essentially told the FBI to fuck off," Pete chuckles out. "You got some balls, Kid."
Kyler playfully slaps her partner's arm.
"I essentially told them yes... just not right now," Kyler says evasively. "But, I'm pretty sure they took it as a 'no' since nobody likes being told to wait, especially not the FBI."
"They still want you," her partner says after a beat.
Kyler looks over at Pete with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
"I had a nice chat with Puckerman earlier. He gave me some pretty good advice and enlisted the help of their technical analyst, on my behalf, to look into your application status," Pete clarifies. "So, if you were wondering... that FBI spot is still yours, if you want it."
Kyler was speechless. She was so blessed to have a friend like Pete who always looked out for her best interests, even if he was upset with her. Although she wanted to jump at the chance to get out of this town and to use her knowledge and experience on a larger scale, there was still that doubt that played in the back of her mind.
For all of her accomplishments and accolades over the years, Sergeant Kyler Freeman was not exempt from the fact that she had fears of not being good enough; fears of becoming a failure.
She was human, after all.
"Selfishly, I want you to stay here. We make a great team and I really don't wanna be left here to try and wrangle these young bucks by myself," Pete says jokingly, causing his partner to laugh as well. "But in all seriousness, you deserve this job kiddo. For all of the great work you do for this county, I know you'll only continue to do bigger and better things out there."
Kyler leans into Pete's side, willing herself not to cry, as her partner wraps his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm gonna miss you."
"I don't blame you," Pete replies, not missing a beat.
Laughing, Kyler pushes the older man off of her. "Way to ruin the moment."
"Ah, c'mon... you know I don't do well with all that sentimental stuff," Pete explains. "Besides, it's not like you're leaving tomorrow."
"True," Kyler agrees. "Thanks for having my back, partner."
"Always."
After Santana and Brittany finished their impromptu make out session, they rejoined the rest of their team, happy to see that Kyler and Pete had made amends. After sharing one last shot with their new friends, the BAU said their goodbyes and headed to the airport.
During their 90 minute flight, Agent Schuester told his team that they were off of rotation for the weekend and would debrief first thing Monday morning.
Needless to say, he got no complaints.
Once arriving at Quantico, Quinn was excited to see her family back safe and sound. Knowing how exhausted everyone probably was, Quinn let them go their separate ways, but not before each of them promised to meet up the following night to celebrate Brittany's promotion.
"Since Q has kidnapped us for an undetermined amount of time tomorrow night, I was thinking that maybe we could have our date before then," Santana says softly as she walks Brittany to her car, which just happens to be parked next to hers. "There's a new French restaurant in the city that just opened up. I've been dying to try it, but I wanted to wait for a special occasion."
"Oh yeah? I must be pretty special then, if you've been holding off from indulging in some of your favorite type of food," Brittany says teasingly.
Looking around their current surroundings, the Latina gracefully maneuvers them towards the front of their vehicles where they would be just of range for the security cameras to see them.
Gently, Santana caresses her girlfriend's cheek. "Yes, you definitely are."
Before Brittany has a chance to respond, Santana captures her lips in soulful kiss, letting her actions put a punctuation on the words she had just spoken.
"You know what else I was thinking?" The Latina inquires once they slightly pull apart from each other to gather some air into their lungs.
"No…" Brittany says back, barely above a whisper.
"I'm not ready to say goodnight to you yet, so... I was thinking that we could drop your car off at your place so you can grab some clothes and whatever else you need, and then you could come home with me and spend the weekend," Santana cutely mumbles out.
"Really? You want me to spend the entire weekend with you at your condo with that incredible view of the Capitol?" Brittany asks. The Latina nods her head. "You never invite anyone over to your place."
"Well... you're not just anybody, Britt."
Sometimes Santana could be so swoon worthy.
"Seriously... how did I not see any of this before?" Brittany criticizes herself.
"Well… I am pretty good at compartmentalizing," Santana says, trying to ease the blonde's mind. "Especially when it came to you, I had to work twice as hard to make sure I never did or said anything too revealing around you."
"Even so... you're my best friend; I should've noticed," Brittany states, still unhappy about the fact that she was so blind to the Latina's feelings.
"I think you're underestimating the power of my compartmentalization skills," Santana replies cheekily, eliciting a hearty chuckle from the blonde.
Once Brittany settles down, she plants a soft kiss to her girlfriend's lips.
"Before I take you up on your offer, I have one question."
"Sure. What is it?" Santana replies, her curiosity piqued.
"Are you gonna make me wait until after our date before I can be with you again?" Brittany implores, leaning closer to the Latina's ear and dropping her voice an octave lower. "I really hope the answer's no cause I don't think I can wait another full day without being inside of you; without feeling your lips all over my body..."
And there go my ovaries, Santana thinks to herself.
"Okay... get in your car," the Latina gently demands as she guides Brittany to the driver side door. "Go on, get in."
"Wait, what about the plans?" Brittany asks comically.
"The plans are still intact, but..." Santana begins to explain while helping the blonde inside of her SUV, "the sooner we get back to your house, the sooner I can get you out of those clothes."
"God, you're smart," Brittany says as she kisses the Latina one last time. "See ya in 15 minutes."
And with that, Santana hopped into her car, excited to spend the entire weekend with her beautiful girlfriend with minimal interruptions… hopefully.
Author's Note:
Hello to all you beautiful people! Again, I apologize that I've been away for so long. I got so far with writing this chapter before writer's block and real life got in the way. I will try my hardest to do better. Please take this extra-long chapter as a peace offering. Also, I hope that you enjoyed getting a little more insight on the characters in this story other than our two lovely, leading ladies.
I know the Brittana fandom is dwindling since we're unable to see Brittany and Santana on TV every week, but... as long as there's fans still out there that want to read these stories, then I will continue to write them. It would be nice to hear back from you guys to let me and the other Brittana authors know that you guys are still out there.
On a separate note, I'm sure a lot of you have a lot of different opinions and feelings about the news that broke a few days ago. If any of you would like to talk about it, I would be more than happy to discuss it with you. But please, all I ask is that if you do want to talk about it, send me a PM as opposed to putting it as part of a review.
Again, thank you to everyone that's still reading, reviewing, and/or favorite/following my stories. If you have some time, please drop a line and let me know what you thought.
With that being said, I'm gonna take a break from this story for a while, at least until I can update 3rd & Lucky and The Girl Next Door. I still have a lot of ideas for this particular story so I don't want you guys to think that I'm abandoning it.
I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving!
- K
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own these characters; just the ideas in my head.