This story is a slightly altered universe. There are 3 things that are different.
1) JJ never cared what the team thought, she and Will became an item and he moved up to DC for her.
2) They never had kids
3) Everything else did happen
4) This takes place in the middle of S16/CME 1. The difference is there is no Voit or Bailey. (If that doesn't make sense to you, that is okay and also you should either buy the Season on DVD and watch it, or get yourself some heavy binge time with Paramount + to watch it, because it's FABULOUS!)
Here are the important parts you need to know for this story:
1) I am obsessed with the people who use various sexual kinks for healing purposes. I don't understand it at all and yet I am absolutely fascinated by it, because usually those people were abused by that same kink in the past.
2) I have MASSIVE amounts of respect for the writers and creators of this show, and I do not mean them any disrespect by writing this. If for some very odd reason one of them stumbles across this, know that I am just enjoying the world you created and I thank you for doing so.
3) I'm not good at writing, so my grammar and spelling are sometimes VERY off. I've edited this story a gazillion times so far, changed the plot at least 3 times and I am still finding mistakes. Please just roll with it as best you can.
4) This is still a work in progress and I have several key life events coming up. There will be delays in updating.
5) Thank you for reading
After they had breakfast, Will took them out to the pool and Victoria and Mackenzie were already sitting on some chairs and sunning themselves. "I see Mackenzie and Victoria," he said and Hazel looked around, finally spotting them and nodding. He also saw what looked like an officer, lurking off near the pool bathrooms, but decided to say nothing about that. He did have his phone. He'd text Penelope and JJ to let them know. He carefully approached Victoria and kindly called for her attention. "Mrs. Lansing," he smiled.
"Will, nice to see you again," Victoria smiled reaching out to shake his hand. "Please, Victoria is fine," she assured him. "Kenz, did you want to say hi?" she pressed gently knowing sometimes Mackenzie was nervous even around people she did know.
"Hi Mis-ser Wi'," she said. "Hi Hay-za," she said and Hazel smiled, waved and let Will set her down on an empty chair. He pulled out the sunscreen and then began to take off Hazel's cover up, which revealed her suit, and also her badly scared and bandaged leg. "Cuze me," Mackenzie said softly. "I didn' has dat," Mackenzie said softly pointing to Hazel's leg.
"That's Hazel's waterproof wrap. It stays on, so she can go in the pool and the area that is still healing from surgery won't get wet," Will said.
Hazel smiled at Mackenzie and then carefully spoke. "Kezzie," she said and Mackenzie smiled, nodding, letting her take the moment to continue. "Ow," she said softly touching her own face.
"Now?" Mackenzie asked with worry. Hazel shook her head and pointed at Mackenzie. "Oh, no, no now," Mackenzie said softly. "For, I has it" she said waving her hand behind her trying to indicate the past. "No now," she said and Hazel looked at Will. She needed her boards to talk. She carefully tapped his lips and then looked at the backpack.
Will followed Hazel's gaze and he handed her the backpack. She looked in and pulled out the communication boards. "I see you had a visit from Doctor Page and she left you communication boards," Victoria grinned. "Those are great, because in the beginning, it was very painful for Mackenzie to talk, so I feel you might be having the same issues," she said and Hazel nodded yes. "We also talked to someone about sign language. If your arms and hands don't hurt, sometimes sign language can help you," Victoria offered.
"I he'p you?" Mackenzie offered softly and Hazel nodded. "Now, we ow-ide," she said and moved her hands to sign outside which Hazel copied and Mackenzie nodded happily and clapped for her. "Dat is wah-ta," she said and made the sign for water. Hazel had a little trouble figuring out the positioning of her fingers, but with Mackenzie's help, got it sorted out. Hazel made the sign for water, then outside, and Mackenzie nodded. "If it no ow, den pell," she said and wiggled her fingers.
"Yes," Victoria smiled. "If it doesn't hurt your hands to move them, you can spell out the word pool. You can also tap your board if you want to spell it out," she offered and Hazel twisted her face in thought before taking Mackenzie's hand kindly and then tapping out on her boards.
"P-O-O-L. T-H-I-S. E-A-S-Y." she spelled and Mackenzie nodded.
"Pool now?" Mackenzie smiled at her and she nodded, happily getting into the pool with her protector and new friends. Hazel quickly decided that not having JJ all day might not be as terrible as she originally feared.
Everyone was carefully watching monitors and asking the under covers to go look at various booths and Emily glanced at her watch. She had a little brochure next to her indicating that lectures were to start in fifteen minutes. Even though they were well organized, the surveillance mission was about to become a logistical nightmare. She took a moment to think about what all her options were and then quickly moved next to Garcia. "Garcia," she said, so everyone know they could listen, but didn't really have to.
"I can read your mind," Penelope smiled handing her a list. "Twelve people named Kylie, only five have green eyes, but no one with the last name of Danvers and of the three I managed to get photos of, they do not match the facial recognition. Beyond that, none of the men in this conference who are in wheel chairs are named Hollis," she said. "I do still need photos of some of them though. I also hacked the registry system, the lady at the booth is Kylie Reeves."
"Prentiss, we have an issue," she heard in her ear and she turned her attention to Penelope's master screen.
"Talk to me Kessler," she said.
"They are splitting up. The lectures are all divided by screens, and we are outnumbered," he told her quietly, turning so his camera could show her a giant twelve on the curtain and she grabbed her brochure.
"They all appear to be running at the same time, as well" Penelope told her, gulping slightly, because she knew that would not go over well. When she had hacked things earlier, with Emily's blessing, they only had details for ten lectures at a time.
"There were only ten!" Penelope grumbled. "How do you add two lectures in less than two hours?"
"There's ten on my brochure," Emily grumbled and Penelope shut her mouth. Emily didn't like it when plans changed so rapidly, but the entire team was good at adapting. She growled softy to herself and then recalibrated. "What are the lectures?" she asked.
Penelope typed a few things and the screen indicated there were now indeed twelve lectures and approximately how long they would last. "Impact Play, Water Play, Restriction, Food, Aftercare, Infantilism, Shibari, Anal Exploration, Praise and Worship, which I don't think is religious in any way at all, Breath Play, Dental Care, and something called Lotions and Potions," Penelope answered.
"Locations please," she said and Penelope pulled up another screen, indicating which little curtained off room contained what lecture. "Thank you. Marshal, Prentiss to all," she sighed and after the verbal copy, she began. "Unders, we are rearranging,' she said. "Cotton and Wolf curtain three, Riggs and Sanders curtain seven, Burke and Thompson curtain eleven. I need you close to the lecturer. Marshal, pair Alvez to Cotton and Wolf, Lewis is with Riggs and Sanders, and place Jareau with Burke and Thompson. Rossi and Prentiss will be jumping in and out where necessary. All Unders outside the lectures patch to Garcia. Make sure we have everyone's face. Marshal Prentiss out," she said and after the copy, she spoke again. "Marshal, Prentiss to Garcia."
"Woman of Wonder," Garcia answered and Emily smiled. Penelope was great at doing her tech thing and bringing levity to any situation with a simple greeting.
"Where are we on facial recognition?" she asked.
"No where you're going to like," Penelope answered honestly and Emily sighed. "I'm sorry boss, I'm running everything I can, from every place possible, while still being here with you. I am also running everyone I get a photo of, because there's a chance they are here without registration or being a vendor or any of it. I am doing the best my machines will let me, I promise," she said honestly.
"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated," she said. "Marshal, Prentiss over," she said and as soon as it was cut off, she went over to Penelope and gave her a hug. She released the hug and scribbled her a note. "You are very appreciated, always," she assured her and then she moved herself to her own little station, looking for any type of alias she could to make out of the names Kylie Danvers or Hollis Matten.
Luke was behind his screen, watching his under covers watch the lecture. They were in the Shibari room. On the little round stage set in the middle of the room, there was a man sitting in a chair. Circling around him was a woman, who was in a tight purple vinyl corset, with black tights, black heels, and her long red hair was tied back into a low pony tail. She grinned at the audience, turned her mic pack on and spoke kindly. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to have you here. I am Miss Daphne and this is Case Twelve." While she spoke, she continued to circle her pet, which allowed her to view the entire audience. There were only two circles of chairs around the stage, forming a small bullseye shape, but it was large enough that Luke had the two agents sit opposite each other, to try and cover as much of the room as possible. "Case Twelve and I have been partners for twenty five years now and the thing we like the most is to play with Shibari ropes," she explained as she gently petted the man in the chair, running her hands lovingly over him, to keep him warm and excited. "Now, before we begin, we need to go over some very important points of safety," she said. "First and foremost and I cannot stress this enough. Safety!" she said. "If you are with your partner and you are playing with rope, you need to have established a warning system. Twelve, please tell them what we use darling," she requested.
"Bubblegum," he said.
"That is correct. If at any point in time I hear my beloved say the word bubblegum, absolutely everything stops. I'm going to further this by adding a caveat. When we explore with ropes, things are done slowly and carefully. If we are in a more intense moment and things are rolling along and they get too intense, there is a different word uttered. That word," she said as she wrapped her fingers into his hair, gripped, and tugged back gently, giving him a silent order to say the word.
"Red," he supplied and she nodded.
"It is always a good idea to practice and review code words, frequently. Before play, after play, maybe even during play, just as a reminder to both of you. The last thing anyone wants is for a code word to be called and to have it be ignored. That negates every safety rule that exists. Second, and probably just as important, are scissors! These scissors are made specifically for this rope. When you decide to purchase this rope and these scissors, there is a code to apply to your order and you will receive a discount. Anyone out there brave enough to tell me they played without scissors and things went wrong?" she asked and a few hands were shyly raised.
Luke kept moving his eyes between the two screens in front of him. He had agents Cotton and Wolf seated across from each other in the outermost circle, giving him the best vantage point. At the mention of mishaps and shy hands being raised, Luke focused in on one particular man in a wheel chair with woman by his side, who seemed to take a great interest in the story being told and Miss Daphne's response to it. This man in the wheel chair was taking notes and then looking up again when Daphne demonstrated something on Twelve. It went on for several minutes and then Luke noticed, the woman next to the man. She very sweetly rested her head on his shoulder, studied the stage intently, and laced her fingers through his, gripping tightly. They were an obvious couple, but they seemed too sweet and wholesome to be the unsubs that the BAU was searching for. "Cotton, we need photos, there's a couple to your four. The man is in the wheel chair." he instructed. He wanted to air on the side of caution, but behaviorally, this did not look like Kylie and Hollis.
JJ was watching the team in the Restriction room and both of her under covers were standing right up front. It was a similar circular forum, so just by twisting their bodies slightly, they would be able to see everyone in the crowd. "We're going to do this one at a time please. Burke twist your body, slowly, side to side, like you're on a swivel chair," she said and Agent Burke did as asked. It was very slow and deliberate and when the lecturer noticed her, he took a chance.
"I'm sorry love, would you like to try the restraints?" he asked and he was very kind about it.
"Up to you," JJ said kindly, going on high alert.
"No Sir, I was just looking to get a better angle," she answered and he nodded.
"That is fair, but I promise you, you'll have a perfect angle from here," he offered.
"Turn him down, he's being too pushy," JJ said protectively.
"No thank you Sir," she answered politely and then she stilled her body, hoping he would move on to someone else. Thankfully he did.
Agent Thompson on the other hand, had a perfect view of someone taking furious notes as the lecture went on. He very carefully shifted his glasses and heard JJ in his ear, telling him she was watching. It was slightly difficult to see what was being scribbled, so he adjusted his positioning. He moved slightly behind the person and looked over their shoulder, standing precariously on tip toes to see what was being written. From what he and JJ could tell, these notes seemed to be about making restriction more difficult to escape. "Thompson, see if you can get this woman to talk, and Burke get her on your glasses," JJ said. "Marshal, Jareau to Garcia. Garcia, I potentially have Danvers in my room," she said.
"Burke, lift your chin a moment," Garcia instructed. "Photo captured. Top of the list," Penelope answered. "Garcia out," she added quickly, once the photo was captured and sent to her computer.
Thompson quickly raised his hand and the man on stage smiled. "Yes Sir," the lecturer grinned.
"Sir, I'm confused. You're doing locks one at a time," he said.
"Yes, we move slowly for comfort and communication," the master said and immediately the woman in front of Thompson, raised her hand and began speaking simultaneously.
"How do you prevent them from undoing the thing you just did though?" the woman asked and JJ felt like she was on the edge of her seat, because these sounded like questions she'd have to ask in order to make a successful capture and drugging. It was a small sliver of hope that they'd found at least half the partnership. "Marshal, Thompson to Jareau, Prentiss and Rossi," he said quickly. He was biased in the moment and he knew it, so he wanted to be sure there were at least two other sets of ears listening to this.
"I need a for instance," the Master said.
"Let's say you have a person you're playing with and you restrain their left ankle so they can't go anywhere. Now usually that restraint stays, because they are too in shock with what's going on around them to bolt. But once you get another strap on the right ankle and go to retrieve your wrist restraints, they can just start working to untie their ankles and a struggle can occur where everyone can get hurt," she said.
"Well, first off, if someone is in shock or trying to bolt, then you all need to slow down. Restraining should be done with everyone's utmost safety in mind. Shock and bolting indicate panic, and that can lead to injury. That is not safe play. Second, this sounds like a past example. How did the situation finally resolve?"
"I'm no longer with them. They left," the woman answered.
"Marshal, Rossi to Kessler and Rivers," Dave said.
"Copy."
"Kessler and Rivers, I need you in room seven with JJ's team. Do not do anything to bring awareness to yourself and I want you both to start tailing this woman," she said. "We're running her through facial recognition now. I'll tell you when to move in," he said.
Penelope had a small flurry of activity at her station and quickly joined the multi agent conversation. "She's a match to Kylie Danvers, but the registered name is Sylvie Kander," she said and then typed furiously for a moment, to cross check a few systems. "That is definitely her," she said and JJ felt her pace quicken. That woman had part in hurting Hazel and JJ felt all of her senses go on alert. She was desperate to protect Hazel and everyone else from the monster on her screen.
"Kessler and Rivers, in a very covert manner, take her into custody and bring her back to headquarters for questioning," Dave said and with two very soft ten fours, things went underway. "Marshal, Rossi out," he said and once he received a verbal copy he walked over to Penelope and turned in his comms unit. She put it in the proper case and he took a breath. "Kessler and Rivers are taking her now. I'm going to grab Prentiss and so we can conduct an interview at headquarters," he told her. She gave him a thumbs up, and then he left her to head over and get Emily. She saw him coming and asked Marshal to turn her off.
"Plan?" she asked him simply.
"Kessler and Rivers are taking her to headquarters. I'll grab the car and meet you out front. They have instructions to bring her to interrogation and you and I can take it from there."
"Is JJ aware?" she asked.
"We need her head in the game, but it was her agents. I think we tell her what we're doing, and then let her focus here," he said.
"Agreed. I'll meet you out front," he said and then Emily went over to Penelope's desk. "Marshall, Prentiss to Jareau," she said.
"Copy."
"JJ, Rossi and I are headed to interview. We have Danvers. We are sure. Will is also with Hazel. Do you need to tap out?" she asked, checking in on her staff as best she could. This was a very difficult situation and she knew it. JJ's focus was split between two very important tasks; getting the job done and protecting Hazel.
"I'm good," JJ said, knowing full well Emily could hear the lie in her voice.
"I'm with Garcia, what do you need to know?" Emily asked.
"Eyes on Hazel," she said honestly and quickly Emily had Penelope do her thing.
"She's at the pool with Will, Victoria, and Mackenzie. Garcia is sending you surveillance photo now," she said and Penelope grabbed a scene shot, from a security camera and sent it to JJ.
"Copy," JJ said once she got it. "And Emily," she added quickly. "Thank you."
"Copy. Prentiss out," she said and put away her comms unit. "She's is the definition of a Mama Bear," Emily told Penelope and with that, headed off to meet Dave and go back to headquarters to start interrogation.
The rest of the morning progressed without incident or any hint that Matten was at the conference. Ninety eight percent of the facial recognition submissions had been run and it was just about lunch time. It was going to be a good moment for everyone to get a proper break. The command center was hidden from the rest of the conference goers and so all the agents were able to have lunch together, in peace and decompress as each one needed. Tara grabbed her plate of food and looked around the room, smiling to herself. Each little grouping of agents, sat in their own little grouping at lunch tables. "High school never ends, does it?" she smiled, taking a seat at the small square table. They all sat quietly for a few minutes, each in their own thoughts, before Tara noticed JJ looked at her phone ten times in the last forty seconds. "What are you willing it to do?" she asked kindly.
"What?" JJ asked with genuine curiosity.
"You have looked at your phone ten times, in forty seconds. What do you want it to do?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm just worried. I don't know if I want Dave to tell me Danvers confessed and she's been arrested, or if I want Will to text me how he and Hazel are doing," she sighed.
"Both are fair things. Also, eat please," Tara offered and JJ looked at her. "Yeah, I know, terrible friend for worrying about your health," she said and JJ rolled her eyes and over dramatically took a bite of her pizza, which made Tara laugh. "Brat," she teased.
"You know she's safe, she's with Will," Penelope offered and JJ sighed, before taking her hand.
"I know, I just want an update and I'm so mad at myself for not being able to let that go," she said honestly.
"You could text him to check in if you wanted. Maybe he doesn't know we actually get a lunch break on this case," Tara offered.
"Well some of us do," Luke said. "Some of us are back at headquarters doing interrogation," he smiled.
"Why do you look so happy about that?" Tara asked, amused at the expression on Luke's face and then she studied him a little more closely. "Actually, that's the same smile you had when you and Bailey watched Prentiss interrogate the senator's son. You look like the cat that ate the canary," she told him.
"First of all, no I don't," he said, not liking that he looked happy about an interrogation.
"Yes you do," the ladies all told him and he rolled his eyes.
"Second of all, Prentiss and Rossi will get everything they need out of her. They are legendary when it comes to interrogation. We will have everything we need to find Matten, make the arrest and save the day. I smile because I know all of that and I know that it means JJ can get back to Hazel," he said.
"Good. I need top level interrogators, because the eight victims need us to nail their tormentors' asses to the wall. Justice for those that passed and peace for those still living," JJ said protectively.
"It's Rossi and Prentiss, they will get everything they need, we know they will," Penelope said, hoping to bolster JJ's spirit a little bit. JJ smiled at Penelope and then her phone went off. She quickly pulled it out and looked at a sweet little picture of Mackenzie and Hazel, hanging on to the ladder of the pool, and actually smiling at each other. "There, that's perfect. A happy photo of two happy girls, here at this hotel, having fun, in a very safe space," Penelope encouraged.
The phone beeped again and JJ read the text out loud. "Hungry and tired girls are about to have lunch and a rest. Victoria is with us. Call if you can," she read aloud and she felt a pang of nervousness, which translated immediately to her face.
"The girls are fine, that picture proves it, just call him," Luke said kindly.
She dialed and he answered quickly. "Hey babe," she said.
"Hey," he smiled and that one simple word, sent her blood pressure back to normal. Will was her safe person, her safe space, and just talking to him made her feel better.
"How's everyone?" she asked.
"Good, good, we're all together," he said. "Do we have an update on anything?" he asked her kindly.
"Prentiss and Rossi are interrogating Kylie Danvers back at headquarters.
"That's positive right?" he asked. "About Prentiss and Rossi?"
"I'm not sure how to read that right now," she said honestly. "I can't see it for myself, so we're just waiting," she explained.
"What about the rest of the team?"
"We're continuing to canvas, but everyone is on break. Our next challenge is figuring out which of the many men here in wheel chairs, is the one we need. If any at all. There is a chance, he isn't here yet and so tomorrow will be back to more chaos," she sighed.
"Your team will do their thing. It's what you all do best. I also know you and I know you are worried. She's still awake, do you want reassurance?" he asked.
"Please," she smiled.
"Hold on," she said. "You're on speaker JJ," he said.
"Hi Miss Day-day," Mackenzie called.
"Hi Mackenzie, Hi Hazel," JJ smiled. "Are you girls having a good time?" she asked.
"We s'immed," Mackenzie offered and JJ shook her head but smiled. Mackenzie was innocent and very much embodied her six year old persona, with her butchered speech. It really was very adorable and she understood why Wyatt and Victoria were so intent on protecting and 'keeping' Mackenzie for as long as she would let them.
"That's good. Was the water nice Hazel?" JJ asked.
"Wait, hers tappin'," Mackenzie offered.
"Hazel's mouth has been a little more sore than usual this morning, so she's using her communication boards to help her talk to us," Will supplied.
"Kenzie, come on, let Hazel talk to her Mommy by herself," Victoria said in the background and JJ practically froze, grabbing Tara's arm tightly. Had she done it? Did Hazel connect JJ as her mother figure permanently? Did she miss it? The questions and the guilt flooded her brain and Tara gently took the phone and quickly tapped it to speaker so they could all listen. Clearly JJ wanted some type of assistance.
"Mommy, dey not side dat!" Mackenzie scolded.
"You're right, I'm sorry, force of habit, but Will is right there with her, so let the three of them talk and you come sit with me. You and I can pick out our lunches. Hazel and Will have already decided," she said. "We will make our decisions and order for everyone," Victoria told her.
"You kay?" Mackenzie asked Hazel with worry and Hazel nodded that she was fine and Mackenzie went off to choose a lunch with Victoria's help.
"What's for lunch?" JJ asked.
"From the hotel cafe. Hazel wants a veggie wrap and I decided on a turkey club. Room service will be bringing it once Victoria and Mackenzie decide," he said.
"Hazel, is there anything special you want to know?" JJ asked once she was sure Mackenzie was gone.
"We need a minute babe," Will smiled and Hazel began to tap, using a combination of pictures and letters. When. J. J. Home. ? she tapped out. "When is JJ coming home?" Will said out loud for her.
"I will be back, with the rest of my team as soon as the conference is over," JJ told her. "I cannot wait to have dinner with you and Will tonight. I miss you," she said honestly and Tara wrapped JJ in a hug. She was not an overly touchy feely person, but she could tell JJ needed some extra reassurance, so she used that moment to try and give it to her. JJ melted into the hug and smiled.
Will's voice came back a minute later and JJ could hear the smile. "Miss you JJ, be safe, dinner with you," he smiled.
"Yes Hazel, dinner together," she smiled. "I need you to do me a favor though. I need you to take your pain medication if you need it and let Will redress your stitches. You need antibiotic cream and new gauze pads covering them, especially if you went swimming," she said.
"We took care of that as soon as we got back and Victoria and Mackenzie helped us," Will said and Hazel nodded along.
"Er. Nigh," Hazel pushed out softly.
"Yes, they are both very nice and you were very good to let them help as much as they did. Do you want to tell JJ what we did?" he asked.
"Ow-ah," she said tapping the photo labeled clean, "den iz," she said tapping her chest lightly.
"Yes, you and Mackenzie took a shower with Victoria's help and then Victoria and I wrapped your ribs again," Will smiled, knowing she was trying to talk, but it was hurting her mouth a lot.
"Well then be sure to thank Victoria for me," JJ said and Hazel nodded and yawned. Will would be lucky if she stayed awake long enough to eat lunch at all at this point.
"We will do that," Will smiled. "Right now, I think we're going to wish you a successful afternoon and go get ready to have our lunch," he said and Hazel nodded, and sleepily waved at the cell phone. "Say, bye JJ," Will prompted softly and JJ heard the softest babble, that did not make sense, but she knew what it was supposed to be.
"Love you," JJ said and with that, they hung up. JJ turned and looked at Tara. "I really hope Prentiss and Rossi are getting somewhere, because I want to finish this already," she said.
"We all do," Tara said kindly and with that the four of them, finished their lunch to return to their posts.
"If you think any harder, smoke is going to come out of your ears," Dave teased her. "What are you thinking?"
"We need to know more about her feelings toward Matten. Based on Garcia's digging, he seems to be the one who wanted to start all of this. When Lewis and I talked to Mackenzie, she very clearly said there was a lady there, so she's been involved from the beginning. The question is, was it her idea to start it, or his," Emily reasoned and Dave nodded along waiting for Emily to continue, but she did not.
"So, let's go see what she's been gaining out of this," he said. They walked in and Emily stayed quiet. She wanted to see how far Kylie leaned into the Submissive role with a man and the only way to do that was to let Dave lead. "Ms. Danvers," Dave announced as he shut the door behind him and then moved to sit down next to Emily. "I'm supervisory special agent Rossi, this is supervisory special agent Prentiss," he said.
"And you're holding me for what reason?" she asked in annoyance.
He simply pulled out the photos of all the deceased victims and laid them out for her. "These five people have turned up dead, and they all seem to have a connection to you," he said.
She calmly looked at the photos and shook her head. "I've never seen them before, so I don't know how I'm connected to five dead people," she said simply and Emily sat back and folded her hands on the table, choosing to stay quiet.
"Are you sure? You barely looked at them. Why don't you take a closer look," he offered and she made a show of picking up each photo and moving her eyes slowly across it, as if she were really studying it. Dave and Emily were both sure she was reliving the torture she'd put the people through as she did it. Her face didn't change too much, but enough to give them an inkling that she was at least slightly excited by the photos.
"Nope, none of them," she said confidently as she put the photos down and looked at Dave expectantly.
"Well, okay, maybe you can help us another way. We know you have a background in medical care," he said.
"I'm a home health aide," she said.
"That's perfect, so maybe you would know what could cause this type of bruising along someone's jaw line," he said pulling out Sean Miller's photo and Kylie simply glanced at it.
"No," she said.
"That was a very fast response, are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sure, because in the middle there are holes. Those tiny holes are pin pricks, and if a person has an allergy, anything could cause that welting. I don't know why anyone would be jabbed in the face from the outside. Maybe try a dermatologist," she said.
"Dermatologist, that's a good idea. Will you look into that when we finish here please?" Dave said kindly to Emily and she simply nodded and stayed quiet, which only seemed to further annoy Kylie.
"So Ms. Danvers, I just need to know, if you're not the Kylie Danvers with the medical background tied to these five individuals, who was supposed to be at this convention, what exactly brought you to it?" he asked.
"To the convention?" she asked and he nodded. "That's really none of your business," she said defiantly.
"So you're telling me that our technical analyst got all her information incorrect?" Dave asked.
"My name and occupation is about all that you have right," she said with such an air of confidence that Emily and Dave figured maybe she was the one who'd been calling all the shots. They were certain Matten was violent, but Kylie seemed very forceful all on her own. Maybe they were both the dominants.
"Well then, enlighten me," he said. "You answer my questions and I'll verify it all. If everything goes the way you think it will, we'll offer an apology and send you on your way, back to the convention down town. We'll even cover the cost of your ride," he told her.
"Good, I have to meet someone there tomorrow and there's a lecture I am signed up for," she said.
"Oh," he said fumbling for a moment. "Please forgive me Ms. Danvers, I forgot my notes," he said and he stood up to leave. He placed a very gentle hand on Emily's shoulder and she smiled at him.
"Sir," Emily said and with that he left. Once the door clicked and Kylie was sure Dave was gone, she finally spoke.
"You call him Sir?" Kylie asked.
"Of course," Emily said simply and Kylie leaned in, full of questions of her own and intrigue.
"Well while he's getting his notes, I have questions for you," she grinned and Emily remained neutral. Kylie was after something.
"I'll do my best," Emily offered.
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Kylie said and her voice held such domination and arrogance, that Emily figured Kylie was more than likely trying to become the dominant of the partnership, she just wasn't very good at it. Nothing was adding up though so she had to remain patient. "Tell me agent, don't you ever wish you had more?" she asked.
"I don't follow," Emily said simply.
"You know, more. For example. Don't you wish you were the one running the show? Don't you wish you were top of the food chain? The puppeteer? I can see it in your eyes. You want to dominate and control and put that lousy man in his place, where he belongs, because all he's ever done is hold you back," she said and all her words were angry.
"You think he's holding me back?" Emily pressed carefully. If she was too direct or confrontational, Kylie would stop talking and they didn't need that. They needed her to sing like a canary and it felt very close.
"Every man holds every woman back. All of them. They say they don't. They pretend to be supportive, but the second a woman is able to take power, a man is right there to push her back down again," she complained. "Don't you see? You are ten times stronger than him. You would have come in here fully prepared. You would have had your notes. I bet you have them memorized. But no, you just give it away, you're so careful, so submissive, so meek that you can't correct him, you can't show him he made a mistake. I bet he points out every one of your flaws," she said getting more aggressive and so Emily stayed patient. Kylie was very close to spilling her guts it seemed. Something just needed to tip the scales.
"Has someone been accusing you of flaws Ms. Danvers?" Emily asked curiously.
"Hollis!" she snapped and then she sat back and glared at Emily.
"Who is Hollis?" Emily asked carefully.
"Hollis Matten!" she growled, folding her arms over her chest and pouting like a petulant child. Then she uncrossed her arms, shifted in her seat and glared at Emily. "I'm sorry he lost is wife because someone didn't do their job. It was probably a man. I didn't mess this up however. He called me! He needed me, because he shot himself so full of paralytics he is now paralyzed from the waist down. It is not my fault he lost his wife, so he needs to stop pointing out my flaws and let me do the job he hired me to do!" she yelled as she stood up and slammed her hands on the table and then it dawned on her that she'd said way too much. She'd given everything away. Emily still looked relaxed though, so Kylie tried to compose herself so she could get out of the room she was in.
"Something wrong Ms. Danvers?" Dave asked as he returned with his notes to see her panting slightly, trying to recover herself.
"Nothing," she said simply and Dave took a seat next to Emily and looked at her pointedly.
"Ms. Danvers here was telling me about Hollis Matten," Emily said looking at Dave. "You know the Hollis Matten who is one of the prime targets of our investigation, that ties him to the five deaths here and the three other victims, who were simply permanently injured," she said. "I mean, she told us before she's a home health aide, so we know she's got the equipment to help and we know she's at the convention trying to learn new tricks, and I know she wants to run the show," Emily said. "What I haven't figured out yet is why she stays. She wants to be in charge and clearly isn't," she said.
"Better than you," Kylie scoffed.
"I'd double check those facts Ms. Danvers. Agent Prentiss is the Chief of our Unit. She outranks me. So, why don't you sit down and start telling us more about what you know and what you've done, since we already have your confession on tape," Dave said.
Kylie looked at both of them with a bit of shock and then the look changed to disappointment, but not once did she invoke her right to an attorney and they gave her several minutes to do so. "I need a deal and then I'll tell you everything you want to know. I need a deal that says I cooperated to the fullest extent possible, and that everything I tell you is everything I knew, and that I'm not held responsible for his actions," she said.
Emily nodded and took the pen and paper that Dave had brought in with him. "I will hold you responsible for your actions, you will tell us everything you know, the judge will be told you cooperated fully, and if I find out you left out any detail on purpose, no matter how small it is, the deal is broken and you go straight to jail," Emily said.
"Deal!" Kylie said, agreeing quickly to Emily's terms.
"Settle in Ms. Danvers," Emily said gesturing to the chair that Kylie was still standing in front of. "We have work to do."
A text went out from Emily to the rest of the team informing them that not only had Kylie been taken into custody, she'd revealed everything and now they just had to find Hollis Matten. A follow up text from Penelope was sent out, confirming that the facial recognition software was still running, and that they only needed to grab photos of two men in wheel chairs. There had been multiple attempts by all the under covers so far, and at reception, but the gentlemen always managed to be just out of frame, or stay in frame and move too quickly out of it as pictures were being captured. "My system doesn't do blurry," was another text sent from Penelope and Tara smiled. She was going to do her best to help, now that most things were settled and the under covers were taking a well deserved break.
"Marshal, Lewis to Alvez and Jareau," she said.
"Lewis, Alvez and Jareau. Copy."
"Can you two watch everything without me? I've just about had it with these guys. Our crew is good, very good, so I am getting concerned the targets are avoiding things on purpose," Tara said.
"And I'm the only Mama Bear on this team?" JJ asked with a smirk.
"Lewis is just a bear," Alvez teased.
"You're Daddy had no complaints," Tara sassed. "I'm going to to pair solely with Garcia. Keep eyes on everyone else please," she said. "Marshal, Lewis to Garcia only," she said.
"Lewis to Garcia. Copy."
"You and me lady," Tara said as she walked over to Penelope's little station and Penelope smiled. She liked Tara's take charge attitude about the situation. "I've had just about enough of these fools. Fit me with the glasses," she said and Penelope handed her the frames. Tara slipped them on easily and Penelope was now looking at the back of her own head on her screen. "Okay, point me to the first one," she said and Penelope went searching.
"It's like Where's Waldo sometimes," she grumbled and then she smiled. "Got him. The booth next to curtain twelve," she said. "Be fast. Lectures start again in seven minutes," she said and Tara headed off.
Curtain twelve was a lecture on Lotions and Potions. Outside the curtain was a little table with multiple bottles on top, containing various creams lotions, gels and oils. Tara slowed her pace for a moment. "Garcia who runs the table?"
"Bill Duncan, he's running the lecture too. He's clean," she said.
Tara nodded and quickened her pace slightly. She made it up to the table and smiled at Bill. The man in the wheel chair, whose photo she was after, was still there, head down, and staring at two bottles in his hand. "I swear he's trying to bore a hole into those bottles with his eyes," Penelope grouched. She was all for investigating, but this guy seemed to be taking it to the extreme. Tara moved to stand next to the man, and tried to open up conversation. "Oooh, these look good," she said looking at several bottles with translucent colored gels in them.
"Those are the most popular potions we have," the man behind the table said proudly. "Bill Duncan, nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand.
"Tara" she nsmiled, introducing herself.
"Huh, that is my mother's name," the man in the wheel chair commented as he spun a greenish color bottle in his hand, trying to figure out if he wanted it.
"I'm sure she's a lovely woman then," Tara offered and the man nodded, but went back to the bottles he was fixated on, so Tara went for a different approach. "Well Mr. Bill, if you could explain to me the difference between this bottle with the blue gel and that green one, this man is holding, I'd appreciate that," she said.
"It really does depend on what you are looking for. Half of these are used for aftercare and half are for foreplay," he said. "Sir, may I have that bottle for a moment? It's my last display," he said kindly and the man sighed, but handed it over.
"Tara you gotta get in front of this guy some how. He has to be face to face or it won't scan," Penelope said in her ear and Tara gave a slight nod, noting she understood her directions.
Bill was explaining the sensations that each of the different colors caused and Tara very slowly and discreetly shifted her body, so that she was facing the man in the wheel chair but still looking at Bill. "I need him to look up from that bottle and at your beautiful face for three lousy seconds," Penelope said in her ear.
"So as I said, it really depends on what you're looking for," Bill said finishing his little lecture and Tara smiled.
Then she turned to the man in the wheel chair and spoke to him directly. "Sir, may I ask your opinion?" she questioned and he looked up and nodded at her. "Mr. Bill here says that the green and blue would probably work best for my situation, what makes you debate them?" she asked, hoping to engage the guy in some sort of conversation.
"Well you see," he said and he started to say something about his own personal situation and why he was so intently staring at the bottles, but his face was still too low and Penelope let out a little frustrated noise.
"He needs to pick up his head," she said, so Tara raised the bottles a little bit closer to her own eyes, as if she were inspecting the bottles herself and it made the man copy her actions.
"Whereas based on those ingredients the green should tingle more, which is what we both want. I just can't figure out if we should start with more intense and back off or less intense and build up to it," he said.
"Got it, thank you," Penelope said.
"Well, I know what I like, but maybe Mr. Bill here has a better plan than I do. He is the seller of these things," she said and kindly handed one bottle back to Bill, the other to the confused gentleman. "Thank you for your time Mr. Bill. I know which one I want, but I do need to talk to my partner first," she said and then she headed off, running into one of the unders and smiling at them. "Find me number two please," she said softly and the under gave her a curious look. Once she tapped her ear, the under smiled, nodded, and the two parted ways.
"No need, he swung by reception and Buxton stalled him long enough for me. Come back."
Tara returned to Penelope and handed back the glasses. "Please tell me he's either the one we want, or he's squeaky clean," she said.
"I'll know in a few minutes. I have all my systems working as fast as I can, and I pulled three analysts from other departments to help process everything. There are a lot of people here," she said.
"Do we have an ETA for Prentiss and Rossi?" Tara asked curiously.
"How about now?" Dave grinned from behind her.
"Hey! How'd it go?"
"Canaries are usually very helpful," Dave said happily. "We still need to check everyone, but he won't be here till tomorrow. She said he sent her in to do the grunt work. Once she opened up, she couldn't stop going on about how she was the one running the show, and doing all the work. She's really not happy with him."
"Anger?" Tara asked.
"More like subdued rage," Dave said. "Mostly towards men, but also women who appear submissive," he smiled looking at Emily, who blushed very faintly for a moment.
Tara laughed and shook her head. "You aren't even a little bit submissive," Tara said looking at Emily.
"Oh, but I can pretend," Emily smiled.
"She can," Penelope grinned, "and she can drag you in too. You should ask her about the time we met Brad at the bar. Brad, the "real FBI agent", who was just looking to pick up chics."
"That was not submissive," Emily defended.
"It was extra flirtatious and after listening to all these people for hours, it very well could be considered submissive, until the part where we confronted him in his lie, which I still think about. It was fun," Penlelope said with a fond smile as she recounted the memory.
"Back to present day," Emily told her, pulling her out of her happy memories. "How's the rest of the team?" Emily asked.
"We had two guys evading our cameras. Tara got one, Buxton managed to catch the other," Penelope said. "JJ and Luke are just monitoring things now, while I wait for the systems to finish their thing."
"Any word from our tiny friends?" Dave asked curiously.
"Last I heard, they were trying for lunch. JJ had the phone on speaker. Hazel was exhausted and Mackenzie sounded very hyper," Penelope answered and Tara nodded along.
"Well let's get back to today, finish it out and then set up a plan for tomorrow," Emily said and then looked at Penelope. "Do you need me to sit here while you take a break and stretch your legs?" she offered.
"Still the best boss ever," Penelope smiled.
By four o'clock the convention was winding down and a majority of the people had left. There were only a few, mainly dominant people in the room, sharing two submissives between them and comparing notes with their bodies. Emily watched for a moment; intrigued by the casualness of the entire situation, before she realized that none of this was even remotely helpful to their investigation. It was essentially free live porn and while that might be fun, it was not the time and place for such things. "Marshal, Prentiss to all," she said.
"Copy, Prentiss to all," they heard.
"We're calling it for the day guys. Great work, everyone. Tomorrow we start back at it again, but for today we're done," she said. "Everyone get a good dinner, a good night's sleep, and report to command center at seven am," she said and was met with a lot of people saying copy.
The BAU team set to cleaning up their areas and about an hour later returned to their rooms. "Family dinner around six?" Penelope asked.
"We can order in. The last thing I feel like doing is going down to the lobby again," Rossi answered and everyone agreed, before going into their rooms.
JJ entered her door and smiled when she saw Hazel sleeping on the bed and Will sitting up and watching some movie on television. "Well hello," she grinned at him as she walked over and perched herself on his lap.
"How was today?" he asked, giving her a kiss hello.
"Well we're one down and one to go and there haven't been any reports of abductions of any kind. How was your day?"
"It was good. When she first woke up, it was a little dicey, but I slowed down and we communicated and now she's asleep."
"Since lunch?" JJ asked curiously.
"No, after lunch we went back to the pool. We also had a brief meeting with Doctor Page. She called Victoria and then met us at the pool. We discussed the importance of communication, and muscle movements. After several hours of jumping in and out of the water, it was communicated that she was exhausted. Although when she or Mackenzie say it, it comes out tie. Tie for Hazel and tie-da for Mackenzie. Mackenzie has been recovering for around a year or so and she has permanent nerve damage. My main concern is Hazel has the same. Doctor Page is impressed she's talking at all."
"Well, we're having family dinner around six, and she's still sleeping, so maybe you and I can sneak off for a bit together," JJ smiled.
"Wicked lady," Will teased her and kissed her sweetly at first, before deepening the kiss to be more passionate. It was quickly interrupted by a scream of terror coming from the bed. "Mia, don't rush, Doctor Page and Victoria both said this might happen and when it does we have to go slow," Will said as he got on the bed with Hazel and put JJ on the other side of her. They had her surrounded and very carefully JJ lowered her face toward Hazel's and spoke in her ear.
"Hazel my friend. Wake up Hazel. You are stuck in a dream," she told her gently, hoping the change in tone would cut through her dream. Hazel jolted awake and stared at Will, since she was facing him. She was covered in a fine sheen of sweat from her dream, and tears rolled down her cheeks as the pain took over her body. When he was sure she was focused enough to hear him, he spoke.
"Hazel, it's just Will. You're safe," he assured her.
"Deh-fer," she cried and he noticed that her N was gone, but she was so upset, he didn't think it mattered too much.
"Jennifer is right behind you, let me help you," he said and he very carefully unfolded her body to then lift her gently and JJ was right there waiting for her.
"Hi sweetheart," she said and Hazel fell into her, and just cried, holding on as tightly as she could, and her body began to vibrate with the amount of energy she was expending, as she dug her fingers fiercely into JJ's back. She did not want JJ to let go of her, mostly because she didn't think anything was real at the moment. She was still stuck in an almost dream like state and was very slowly working her way out of it. "Shhh, you're safe Hazel, I have you," JJ said and she stood up, holding Hazel close and began swaying with her while rubbing her back, waiting for that to work.
It took some time, but eventually Hazel calmed down and simply rested her now fully exhausted and limp body against JJ. She was perfectly content to be held since it was reinforcing her safety. JJ wasn't about to put her down either, because somehow holding her was relieving a lot of the guilt that had built up all day. "Is there a plan for tonight?" Will asked with a smile, thinking his wife looked very sexy as she held the young lady in her arms, cooing sweetly to her, and kissing her temple every so often, in order to help her relax a little further.
"Well there was a small one, but why don't we go see if we can get a more developed one," she said and Hazel squeaked in shock. "Hey, hey, talk to me, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Guh," Hazel pushed out sadly.
"Go? Yes, you, Will and I, are going next door to talk to the rest of my team," she said and she felt Hazel's grip get tighter, unsure of how that was even possible. "Hazel, I'm not letting go of you. I will hold you for as long as you want. We are just going to do other things while I hold you," she assured her and very slowly she and Will walked into the other room, where Tara was on the bed reading a book, Penelope was at the desk with her laptop, looking through some websites and Emily wasn't around. "Hey," she said.
"Hazel!" Penelope and Tara grinned when they saw her and she gave them a weak smile while cuddling into Jennifer as best she could. Tara realized it was worse than they thought, when she saw Hazel shrink away as best she could and in response JJ whispered to her, and pet her face gently, to help her try and relax.
"Don't worry Hazel, we won't take you from Jennifer. She's missed you all day. She'd yell at us, if we even tried," Penelope assured her, having noticed the same behaviors Tara was seeing.
"She would," Tara agreed. "But she might let us come by for a hug hello, can we give you that?" Tara offered and Hazel agreed. Tara very gently hugged the clearly terrified young lady and rubbed her back.
"Oooh, can I have one of those?" Penelope smiled moving closer and Hazel nodded and let Penelope hug her too.
"Do we have a fully developed game plan for tonight?" JJ asked curiously. "Anything beside dinner?"
"Not yet," Penelope said. "I do know that Dave and Luke are next door and probably want some Hazel hugs too," Penelope offered, thinking it would be good for Hazel to see the whole team.
"Emmy," Hazel said softly.
"Emily is in the bathroom, we'll send her over when she's done," Tara said kindly and JJ nodded.
"Sound good Hazel? We'll go see Dave and Luke?" JJ asked and Hazel quietly nodded. "Knock knock," she said as she entered through the connection.
"Well miss Hazel! It's lovely to see you," Luke smiled at her and she shrunk back again, returning her tense grip to JJ's back. "Did you come to visit us too?" he smiled and JJ spoke for her. There was no way Hazel was going to do it on her own.
"We did. I know I missed Hazel all day, and Tara and Penelope missed her, and we thought you and Dave might have missed her too," she smiled.
"That would be correct," Luke said as JJ took a seat next to him, keeping Hazel in her lap. "Dave is actually in the hall, on the phone, he should be back soon. Why don't you two wait for him, and I'm going to use the bathroom," he said and JJ nodded while they watched Luke leave.
"Ba," Hazel said softly and JJ smiled, kissing the top of her head.
"He'll be back soon. So will Dave," JJ assured her. "While we wait though, why don't you tell me about your morning and lunch and your afternoon. I know we talked just before you ate. Did you have a good time at the pool this morning?" she asked her kindly.
"S'im," Hazel answered softly.
"Was it nice water," JJ pressed and Hazel simply nodded, perfectly content to sit in JJ's lap and be catered to for the time being. "I know your mouth hurts, so let's try this," JJ offered and she held her hand in front of Hazel's vision. "Did Will and Victoria swim with you and Mackenzie or were you two swimming without them?" she asked. She wiggled her thumb on the first part of the question and her pinky finger on the second part and Hazel paused. This was safe. This was familiar. This was something Will had done earlier, just before she fell asleep. She also saw Victoria do this with Mackenzie, and a flood of confusion came over her. Mackenzie called Victoria Mommy. Was she supposed to call JJ that? Was she supposed to call Will Daddy? Did she belong to them now? She had no idea what was going on at all anymore, and in her moment of overwhelming confusion and anxiety, she burst into tears. It was a sound that brought Will into the room and he knelt in front of her with concern.
"Hazel, what's wrong?" he asked gently and he rubbed her shoulders to try and help her calm down, but she screamed. It was the first crystal clear word she'd spoken since she woke up.
"MAMA!" she screamed and then she turned into JJ and held on as tight as she could. Her small frame vibrated with pain that she didn't even react to. All she knew was she had to hold on to Jennifer at all costs. JJ had panic flood her own eyes and Will stopped her.
"Mia, don't go there," Will warned her gently. "Breathe, with me, we will handle this," Will said and JJ nodded, letting tears fill her own eyes and she tried to blink them away. Feeling the young lady in her arms suffer from this much pain and anxiety, was now causing pain to JJ. Hazel's scream brought all the ladies to hover in the doorway of the connecting room, and the men were now just inside the door leading to the hallway, all looking very bewildered. JJ was heart broken and it was painful for the rest of the team to watch. They wanted to help and no one was really sure how to proceed.
When Emily let the moment sink in, she processed her feelings, composed herself, and spoke kindly, but with authority as the leader of the team. "Okay, here's the game plan. Where are we all having dinner from?" she asked. After a few minutes they all settled on a nearby Mexican place that delivered and Penelope put everyone's order into their site, announcing it would be delivered within the half hour. "Good, everyone can settle for the night then. Whatever that routine looks like for you, do it. We'll have dinner and then go over a game plan for the morning. JJ, the three of you head to your room and go through the day. Everything that happened, and how intense the reactions were. I think that will help us all move forward," she said and with some reluctance JJ agreed. She stood up to move and it completely set Hazel on edge.
"Mama!" Hazel cried again, but this time softer, and somehow more painful. Her voice seemed to indicate she didn't want JJ to go anywhere at all, much less without her.
"Shhh, you are okay Hazel," JJ said. "We however, are going to go into the other room and you are going to tell me all about your day. Emily is the boss and we have to listen to Emily," JJ said and very slowly everyone began to move into position and they all heard a very soft voice say Mama one last time as Jennifer and Will left the room with Hazel, taking her back to a much calmer space, where she had both of them with her.
Once they left the room Penelope looked at Luke and frowned. "This is bad isn't it?" she asked him.
"It's not great," he sighed. "Mama once, if she was still waking up, that I'll buy, but three times? Two of which sounded very much like a distressed little girl? No. We have a transference issue," Luke said.
"We've seen this before," Emily said. "It's a little different, but we have seen it before. Garcia, get me everything on Hazel's family tree please. Maybe we'll get lucky," she said and Penelope set to work.
"What happened last time?" Tara asked curiously.
"We worked a case where Morgan promised a parent he'd make sure the daughter was okay. She was ten. After being kidnapped, held hostage and made an orphan, Morgan made sure to stay in touch with her and got her into the system. The people abused the system, scared her, she ran away, made it all the way back to the BAU and stayed with Garcia while we finished a different case," Emily explained.
"I remember her. She was reunited with her mother wasn't she?" Dave asked.
"She was, so I'm hoping we find something in the family tree somewhere that helps us heal that relationship and she can get back to being her typical nineteen year old self; before all the trauma happened," Emily said.
"That's a lot of hope to hold on to for a nineteen year old," Tara offered and Emily raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I don't want her to be traumatized forever, I want her to heal. From what we know now though, the parental figures, or ones who might be parental figures, either do not care, because they never did in the first place, or are dead and were abusive anyway. I know it's not how we usually do things, but having her with Will and JJ seems like the best option for now," Tara offered.
"I know," Emily sighed. "We are walking a very fine line here."
"Seconds at a time ladies, that's all we have to handle right now," Dave announced. "And if you'll all kindly leave, I'm about to follow orders of settling in to my night time routine. I'll see you all at dinner," he said and with that he took his little travel bag into the bathroom, to shower and change for the night.
It took twenty five minutes to get Hazel and JJ showered and ready for bed, and then they left and let Will shower on his own. "Okay Hazel, let me comb out your hair please," JJ said softly and Hazel squealed softly as JJ tried to sit her down on the bed. The problem was that Hazel didn't want to let go. She didn't trust that JJ wouldn't leave her. She didn't trust that both Will and JJ wouldn't just walk away and completely abandon her.
In her panic, she did what she thought would work. "MAMA!" she cried as she gripped JJ tighter.
"Shhh, Hazel, look at me sweetheart, you are okay," JJ said gently and she shifted Hazel in her arms so they were face to face and JJ sat on the bed. "We need to talk please," she said gently and Hazel went rigid. "It's not bad my friend, it's just communication. We have to try," JJ said "and you can say it to me as soft and broken as you want and I will figure it out and if I can't, we can have Will help us when he's out of the shower," she said.
"Knock knock," a sweet voice at the door said.
"Or we can have Tara help us now," she smiled. "Come on in," she called and Hazel fell forward into JJ to rest and stay close. It was a sight that made Tara smile, because Hazel resembled a very young child and JJ looked like a very devoted mother, catering to said child.
"I'm helping?" Tara asked.
"If you could grab Hazel's communication boards please? They are on the desk over there," she said and Tara picked up both boards walked over to the bed and sat in front of both of them. JJ shifted a bit and settled Hazel in her lap, so that Hazel's back was against JJ's chest, and JJ had her arms wrapped securely around her middle.
"Penelope did a good job with your pajamas. You look very cozy," Tara smiled at her. She refrained from using any term that seemed too cutesy or belittling. No one wanted Hazel to feel self conscious about her height or language. She was biologically nineteen, but appeared much younger and in her panic stricken state, she was acting younger as well. "So, what am I helping with?" Tara asked.
"Well I wanted to hear all about Hazel's day and I also want to comb out her hair. Maybe you can read out what she points to for me, and I can fix her hair," JJ suggested. Hazel had beautiful strawberry blonde hair that stretched just past her shoulders and JJ didn't want that to get too tangled up in knots.
"I think we can handle that. Let me get a pen and paper Hazel, I'll be right back," she said and she moved over to the desk, got some scratch paper, a pen, and then took a seat back on the bed. "Ready," she smiled.
"Very good. Now, Hazel, let's start your day when you woke up, do you remember what time that was?" Hazel tapped the number eight and Tara wrote on her scratch paper that Hazel woke up at eight in the morning. "Did you take medicine right away?" she asked and Hazel thought for a moment as she slowly recounted her day.
"Hazel sometimes it helps to close your eyes and take a deep breath and try to really remember it as it happened," Tara offered and she watched Hazel do so, only to crack one eye open to make sure JJ was still with her. As they retraced the morning, Hazel explained that she took pain medicine, Will wrapped her ribs, put her leg in the protective waterproof sleeve so she could swim, and then went to the pool where Will and Hazel spent several hours with Mackenzie and Victoria.
JJ proceeded carefully, because this was probably where it would be revealed why Hazel was referring to JJ as Mama. "Did you and Mackenzie swim together?" she asked.
Hazel looked at Tara and when she nodded Hazel tapped the board. J-U-M-P. S-W-I-M. O-U-T. A-G-A-I-N.
"Jump, swim, out, again," Tara repeated for her. "That sounds like what my brother and I used to do when we were kids. If we were in a place with a fancy pool that was deep enough, we'd jump in the water, swim over to the stairs, get out of the pool, and then run back to our spot to do it all again," she said and Hazel tapped yes, multiple times. "I'm glad some things never change," Tara smiled.
"Was Will in the pool with you?"
"Yes. Daddy." she tapped out.
"Daddy. Mackenzie's Daddy?" Tara asked and Hazel tapped the no photo a few times, followed by the photo labeled ME several times. "Your Daddy?" Tara asked and Hazel simply nodded.
"Hazel, you can take as long as you want but this question is very important. Why is Will your Daddy?" JJ asked her, so Hazel set to thinking and while JJ quietly combed out and braided her hair, Tara sat poised with a pen.
"K-E-N-Z. S-A-Y. Daddy," she said tapping a combination of letters and photos.
"Mackenzie calls Wyatt Daddy," Tara spoke kindly.
JJ took a deep breath and spoke gently. "Okay Hazel, let's talk about that, because you are right, Mackenzie does call Wyatt Daddy, so let's discuss a few things. Are you ready for that?' she asked and Hazel went a little tense, but agreed to talk about things. So far, nothing truly horrible had happened from talking to JJ or any of her team. "Tara and I are going to help you understand. You stop us any time you want, by touching the stop picture on this board," JJ said and Hazel nodded. Hazel then leaned into JJ and closed her eyes to listen intently. Tara smiled and nodded for JJ to continue her explanation. "About a year or so ago, the same people who hurt you, they hurt Mackenzie," JJ said. "She was their first victim. Like you, she saw Doctor McCord at the hospital, and then Doctor Page for therapy. Understand so far?" she asked and Hazel nodded yes. With that, they continued their explanations.
AN ORDER OF BUSINESS.
Life events are here. I will return with more story when events have passed. I hope you are enjoying the story so far.