Chapter one
"Dani come on now. You don't want to be late for your first day."
"Just give me a sec."
"You have been telling me that a while ago," says Emily in a slightly annoyed tone while taking a sip of orange juice.
Emily has always been a very punctual person ever since she can remember. Even as a little girl, Prentiss would always be running on a schedule that was placed by her mother.
With Ambassador Prentiss as her mother, she would always put her in a lot of extracurricular activities, whether it be early in the morning or late after school.
Mostly as an excuse to keep Emily busy while her mother focused all her attention on her work. Emily had always something to do.
She had to admit, some activities she did find enjoyable like an art club that she was in while her mother was stationed in France.
Well, it wasn't the club that got her attention, it was the hot French boys who were in it. For the most part, she hated how much her mother put on her plate as a child but it did come with a few perks such as time management.
A very valuable life asset that is useful for her job.
But things have been different for her now with a teenager. It has been almost two years since Emily has fostered a young teen named Daniela. Two years full of growth and new experiences for Emily.
Having a kid wasn't exactly on her bucket list of things to do but she stumbled upon Daniela in a rather particular way.
A case.
As an agent and as a Unit Chief, Emily has always had to be objective to successfully solve a case. After all, she was the successor of Aaron Hotchner, the king of objectivity, and firmness. But she doesn't like him completely.
Emily isn't just an agent but also a human. She doesn't know exactly why but Daniela caught her attention unlike any other victim of a case.
Maybe it was because Emily was the one who rescued her personally or maybe the fact that Emily knew that the girl had nowhere to go is why Emily felt emotionally attached to the girl.
She knew she had to take her in.
Emily lifts her cup of orange with a small smile across her face. Taking in Dani was the best decision she had ever made.
The girl has taught her so much and given her the chance to be a mother. Something that she would never trade, even if it meant pushing through traffic because a certain "someone" wouldn't hurry up.
Dani descends the stairs and enters the kitchen where Emily is at.
The teen is around 5,7 in height, with a rather athletic-toned body shape. Only a few inches shorter than Emily.
The girl has dark brownish short hair, reaching down to her collarbone. Her soft tan skin combined well with her hazel eyes.
"About time. What exactly were you doing up there?" Emily asked her.
"Hey come on, you can't blame me. I need to look good for the first day," Dani tells Emily, giving her a wink.
She is wearing a simple yet nice white T-shirt, along with a pair of jeans and a nice black bomber jacket that combines well with her Nike sneakers.
Emily chuckles. "You look very lovely," she says while giving Dani a breakfast sandwich.
" Here, with this, you will feel very energized."
"You know, I would feel pretty good with an iced coffee."
"We talked about this, you are way too young to let your body run on caffeine," Emily says.
" An orange juice should do the trick."
"Fine," Dani responds slightly rolling her eyes, "But you can't stop me once they finish building that McDonald's down the street."
"Watch me," says Emily in a determined tone. She grabs her car keys and signals Dani to the door.
"Let's go."
They head out and enter the car. The drive was smooth with expected traffic in DC morning.
"You have your schedule ready?" Asked Emily, staring at the road.
"Yep. It's on my phone. The classes look interesting but I'm not looking forward to Algebra."
"I remember those days. I wasn't fond of math either, but don't worry, you will get the hang of it." Emily tells her smiling.
They arrive at the school. A tall building with four floors that stretches out. There are 3 visible tennis courts at the front. The grass is cut and the bushes are trimmed nicely.
Crowds of students surrounding the building chattering. At the front, there is a banner that says "Welcome Freshmen to Benjamin Academy HS. Home of the Wildcats!"
Dani looks at the building amused. She knew what the school looked like from pictures but seeing it up close and in person made it look even more amazing.
"This is a high school? My God."
"It is pretty impressive." Emily nods. "Well, you better get going before the bell rings."
Dani gets her bookbag and quickly checks that she has everything she needs. Once she is done, she zips up her bag and looks at Emily.
"Alright, I think I'm good."
Emily smiles and runs a palm over Dani's cheek. She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.
" Take care, have fun, and don't forget to call me when you arrive back home, okay? I need to be sure you are safe." Emily told her. "And stay out of trouble."
"Yes, mam. Don't worry about me. I know to stay out of trouble but it keeps calling me every five minutes," Dani tells her smirking.
"Well, just hang up their call and block the number," Emily replies with a smug.
"Will do," the girl said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.
Emily looks at the girl with a warm smile. "I love you," she said as Dani was about to close the door
Dani paused for a few seconds as she heard those three words come out of Emily's mouth.
She has been hearing those words for the last two years and she still wasn't completely used to hearing it. For a long time, those words were foreign to her.
It was for her good. She couldn't afford to hear and say those words because she knows that the word love goes alongside pain.
That small phrase or sentence was something out of her vocabulary for a long time but Emily seemed to change that.
"Yo Tambien," Dani responds with a smile as she closes the door and leaves.
Emily watches as she sees Dani walk up to the entrance. Dani stops and heads towards a group of friends. They all greet each other and walk inside the building. Emily smiles and starts to drive.
This has been Emily's schedule for the last two years. Taking her kid to school and heading straight to work. She remembers exactly how she met Dani. She has mixed emotions when thinking about it.
2 Years Ago
A serial killer was on the loose in the suburbs of Maryland. Brutal stabbings of people for the last three weeks. All 6 victims were family members of addicts. The BAU were all searching for the identity of the unsub before he found his next victim.
"The unsub can be an addict himself. He might be using a drug that can cause this erratic behavior." States Alvez.
"That can be a possibility. The killing themselves is very violent, which can explain the usage of drugs" Rossi adds.
"But everything else is organized. He doesn't leave a single trace of evidence behind. If he were on something he wouldn't be able to keep his tracks clean."
"Maybe he isn't on drugs. The erratic behavior behind the killings can just be his pure emotions taking over," JJ says.
"We know it is unlikely that the unsub knew these people personally due to them never coming across in their lives. What if they are just surrogates for his hatred?"
"Well, the only thing that connects these victims is them being a close family with an addict. The victims had their family members who were struggling with their addiction outcast from their social circle," Emily said as she was staring at the crime board.
"What if he is an outcast of his own family or maybe a close relative?"
"With the amount of violence in these killings we can conclude that this abandonment from his family happened in his childhood," Reid chimed in.
"The anger was being built for so long until something caused him to snap."
"That could explain the targeting of people who disowned their family members," Rossi told the team.
"He isn't using but someone close to him is or was."
"The unsub most likely had a family member that was an addict. Most likely a head of household, so either a mother or father," JJ said.
"This is why the killings are so personal to him even though he didn't know his victims at a personal level."
"The reason why he may be striking the family members is because of a feeling of abandonment because of them," Tara explains.
"Family members are supposed to lend a helping hand. He must've felt a lot of hatred towards the people that left him and his guardian alone."
"And if he was left to fend for himself as a kid, most likely child services caught up with him," Luke added.
"They must have sent him to a foster placement or another type of child placement."
Emily nods in agreement and dials Penelope.
"What can I do for you, my badass boss lady?" Garcia chirped at the other end of the line.
"Hey Garcia, check any addiction cases that happened 20 years back. Cross-reference to addicts who were the head of the family and whose children were sent to a foster home instead of living with a family member," Emily directs.
"Yes, mam. I'm on it," Garcia responds. She quickly types down the information on her computer.
"Okay. I have 5 results, but two of them passed away because of addiction. Another person currently lives in Florida while the other lives in North Carolina, which leaves us with...oh."
"What happened Garcia?" Questioned JJ.
"His name is William Jones. He is 28. His mother was an addict and his father is unknown. According to this, his uncle and aunt wanted nothing to do with him so they sent him to an orphanage." Garcia told the team who were attentively listening.
"Unfortunately, his mother Grace passed away four weeks ago from a fentanyl overdose."
"That must be his stressor," Reid murmured.
"He fits our profile," Rosi says. "Garcia, any last known location?"
"On it. It is going to take a few minutes. There haven't been any records reporting an exact location but I will work my way in," She types in search of a response.
While the team was waiting for the tech girl to do her magic, the sheriff of the county entered the office.
"Sorry to disturb but I was just informed that a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped on her way to school. Her mother was an addict who recently died."
"Garcia?" Emily asks with more urgency.
"Got it. I sent it to you guys."
"Come on guys. We need to get there before it's too late," Emily states. She wasn't going to let another person die under her watch.
The SUVs pull up at full speed as they arrive at the location Garcia sent them. They arrive at a small house that looks abandoned with paint being chipped off the walls while having the windows boarded up.
Emily, Tara, and Alvez took the front of the house while Rossi took the back. Reid and JJ took the side door.
The team enters the house and clears off the first floor. Emily, Tara, and Alvez head upstairs while the rest search the basement.
As Emily approaches one of the rooms, she notices a silhouette of a man inside. She slowly creeps in with the other two agents right behind her.
"FBI, don't move!" she yells.
The jumps, startled by the agent. He steps back against the wall, pulling the girl in front of her.
One hand is holding her with his arm across her neck. His other hand had a knife. He points at the girl who is standing completely still, hands and feet tied.
"William, you don't want to do this," Emily says looking at him. "It's not her fault."
"You don't know that. She left her mother, not giving a damn what would happen to her! Only the worst type of people would do that!" He yells, starting to shake.
"I know what happened to you and your mom. It wasn't fair. Neither of you deserved that. But listen to me when I tell you that this girl has done nothing wrong. You doing this will not help anyone," Emily tries to reason with him.
She quickly glances at the girl who had her eyes closed and her jaw clenched as she felt the cold blade barely touching her skin.
"Then what will? What will help people like my mother?" He questions, sounding like he is on the verge of tears.
"We will help you, William. If you drop the knife and let her go, we can help you."
"But- but she deserves this. Her mother died because she left her alone instead of caring for her!" William practically screamed. "They all did!"
"She didn't leave her mother, William. I am sure she also tried her best to take care of her just like you tried," Emily told him.
She slowly lowered her gun while Alvez and Lewis were still pointing directly at him, hands holding their guns firmly.
"Don't you see, William? She is just like you. Both of you tried your best to protect the people you love. It's just that there are some things we can't prevent like your mother's death but we can determine how we handle things," Emily told him calmly.
"Please, let her go so we can help you. Both of you."
William looks at the girl. She is visibly shaking and has her head down. He looks back at Emily and closes his eyes, dropping the knife.
Alvez quickly apprehends him while Tara searches for any more possible weapons. Emily walks towards the girl. She kneels and starts to untie her. The girl instantly flinches and backs away.
Emily looks at her and says. "Hey, it's okay. I won't let anyone hurt you."
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They arrive back at the station. The girl is treated for minor injuries while the team is interrogating William before leaving him in the county's custody.
Emily talked to Garcia to learn more about this girl.
"Her name is Daniela Sofia Hernandez. She is 13. She lived with her mom in Riverdale, right outside of DC. Her mother Sofia was an addict. She passed away 5 days ago. Her father Marco is in jail for drug distribution. Her only sibling was her older brother Lucas. He was shot when Dani was 7." By the end of her sentence, Garcia lumped in her throat.
"Does she have any other relatives?" Emily asked in a worried tone.
"No. Ever since CPS knew about her mother's addiction, they would take her to foster homes. She would just run away and go back to her mother."
Emily thanked Garcia and ended the call. She thought about what would be Daniela's future. Dani had no family members for her to stay with. Her future would be in a group home.
Emily knows that a group home wouldn't be fit for a child who has suffered so much trauma. What scared Emily the most was the thought of Dani having the same future as her mother.
Emily has dealt with so many hard cases before, but each time she looks at Dani, she sees a fragile girl who needs someone in her life to heal her wounds.
The sheriff enters the room where Emily is at.
"I want to thank you and your team for all your help. We couldn't have done it without you guys. The case is closed. Daniela will be sent back to foster care. Again, thank you."
"No problem sir, but I need a favor from you."
"Sure thing agent, what do you need?"
"I want to be the person who fosters Dani."