CHAPTER 39
HAVE NO MERCY ON HER
"Miss Hunter, you cannot go home just yet. I've already informed you that it might possibly be an option tonight…but not right now." The doctor argued with her, right before lunch.
"I've been here for hours! The damned system is done dripping into me and I'm feeling just fine!" She informed him.
"You're feeling just fine because you are on bed rest. If you were up, your legs would cave in under your body weight and you'd end up collapsing again." The man was hellbound on keeping her there until the evening. And, at this point, he wanted to check her in for the night, just because she was being a brat.
"Did you just call me fat!?" She gasped dramatically. If she wasn't getting her way, she'd always try to play the victim, so she'd eventually get her way.
"Ha-ha." He said sarcastically. "I have two daughters, just about your age." He added. "It's not going to work."
"Fine then! Keep me a prisoner. Watch me file a complaint once I get out of here!" Angie groaned unhappily.
He rolled his eyes and quickly finished writing on her chart, so he could get the Hell out of there.
A nurse then let Bryan know he could go see her before lunch.
Poor Bryan had spent the whole morning, pacing up and down the hallway. Since he and Dan spoke to her earlier, he had been all alone out there, as Dan needed to go back for the morning class.
"Hey. What did you do to the doctor? He darted out of your room like he had seen the Devil." He laughed, pointing towards the door.
"Let's just say that he hasn't seen it yet…" She smirked. "But he will, if I don't get to leave right after lunch."
"Why right after lunch?" He raised an eyebrow.
The same nurse who had invited him in, was now walking in the room as well, holding a tray of food and placing it on the little table next to Angie's bed.
"Because…" Angie's hand hovered over the tray, as if she was showcasing it. "Free food. Duh!" She added and it made him laugh.
"May I stay?" Bryan asked politely and the nurse nodded before she left the room.
"Want some?" Angie said while splitting a loaf of bread in two.
"You're in a hospital, pale as a ghost, hooked to systems…" He pointed out. "And you're still offering half of your food to me?"
"Well, duh. You're my friend. From what I could gather – my only friend." She said while spreading peanut butter on one half of the bread loaf.
"This is desert!" He pointed out and saw her smirk. Clearly, she wanted to eat that first.
"Angela Hunter, you are such a child!" He rolled his eyes and laughed, but he let her do as she pleased.
He pretended not to be hungry, so she would have enough food to heal. He then watched her eat the dessert and then continue with a can of peas and a soup that was as transparent as the water in Bali. It was so hard not to cringe, but she seemed to enjoy the food anyway.
"Okay." She put the empty tray aside, once she was done with everything, not leaving a crumb in there.
"If we leave right now, we might be able to squeeze a coffee and a cake in before class." She added.
"No, Angie-…" He tried, but she cut him off.
"I didn't join the FBI Academy to just lay on a bed and pretend like I'm sick. I'm fine! I need to go to class and so do you. I have a reason to cut class, but you don't. And there is no way I'm getting you into trouble." She smiled.
Bryan raised his eyebrows at her last statement and it made her chuckle. This girl had 'Trouble' written all over her.
After the BAU meeting, Emily asked everyone to go back to their stations and to try and figure out what was missing. It proved to be harder, now that they had just re-ordered their desks. But it wasn't impossible.
By lunch time, they all gathered up and left the FBI headquarters. It took them a 40-minute drive, to get to a place where they were sure nobody would listen in.
"Alright guys, what do you have." Emily asked.
"Well, I know I'm messy, but this morning my office was just…off. I mean, there is a strategy to my mess. And while I was tidying up, I noticed a few things. Firstly, an old file was sitting on my desk and I am so damn sure I had already closed and finalized it, before putting it in my locked up storage unit, by the door." JJ commented.
"It was easier for me to spot the differences. Someone had dared to underline my journal. In blue! Like, why would they do that? This is just mean! Blue is never to be used when underlining, unless it is a title, and this wasn't. Ugh!" Rossi's OCD came in handy this time.
"Secondly…" JJ continued after that. "This is not my gun!" She held a plastic bag with a gun inside of it.
"Someone planted a gun in your office?" Emily gasped. "It's one thing to investigate a whole Unit, but it's just unacceptable to plant fake and incriminating evidence on our property!"
"Oh, no. Here's where it gets messy." JJ smirked. "I found this gun, inside of my gun holder. You know, the secure one, with a lock on it, the key for which is in my panty drawer back home."
"TMI, JJ." Morgan laughed, because no matter the shitty situation everyone was in, he was relieved to be back, sitting next to them, even if he was just an observer this time.
"Wait. Your storage unit is under key as well." Matt added.
"Yes, like I said. Both are under key. So, why would someone unlock them. And why would someone take my gun and leave me an identical one?" JJ shrugged.
"Did you touch it?" Emily said, having an idea.
"Of course not. I picked it up with gloves and put it in an evidence bag." JJ said while looking around for the waitress. "But, it doesn't really matter. I now have a gun, without my fingerprints on it. And they have my gun, with a whole bunch of my DNA all over it. God knows what they could set me up for, if they used it."
They had chosen to go to a weird little diner for lunch. It was one of those highway, quick and easy places to grab a bite on the go. It was also safe to say no other FBI agent would be found there. And it was also going to become their favorite hangout spot for the rest of the week.
"Good girl." Emily said contently. "I'm sending this straight for DNA analysis. If we can prove your DNA is not on it, we can prove it is not your gun. Apart from the fact that its serial number already proves it anyway."
"Sadly, we cannot prove who put it there." Rossi had to crush her enthusiasm.
"Yeah. Or why." Tara backed Rossi up.
Emily sighed. They were right.
"I could have played double-agent and given you some insider information. But she already saw me with you this morning. Plus, nobody would believe it if I suddenly turned my back on you." Morgan thought out loud.
"Huh." Emily thought she would be able to express her ironical sigh in a much less obvious way. But he heard it. And he knew exactly how much she was blaming him for having left. Although, she was hardly one who had the right to hold a grudge about it.
"I don't think it's realistic of us to want to come up with the best solution right away." Reid chimed in, as always – bringing a valid point to the table.
"But it's also Monday noon and we are going to be skinned alive on Friday morning. So, we can't really waste any time either." It was the first thing Luke said about their situation.
They kept on discussing possible ways of handling this and, at some point, JJ smiled.
"It's been an hour and she hasn't blamed herself for any of it, not even once!" JJ thought to herself, while keeping the smile on her lips as she casually shot a glance at Emily.
Once they realized they were taking twice as long to have their lunch break, they jumped back in their cars and drove back.
The afternoon was spent in search of new evidence of foul play.
Emily then received a text from Ben, letting her know she had never showed up for their noon meeting by the fountain. She excused herself and suggested grabbing an afternoon coffee and going for a walk instead.
At 4 pm, she was by the fountain, with two cups of coffee in her hand. When he joined her, she offered him one of those.
"Oh, you shouldn't have." He said shyly.
"Oh, yes I should." She took a sip of her own cup.
"I wanted to show you what good coffee tastes like. Maybe give you some pointers for that Executive Lounge up there." She added, pointing to the windows of the second floor, where they had met early this morning.
"I'm not sure of its exclusivity anymore." Ben laughed, taking a sip of his coffee and, once again, reminding himself that he had to do something about the coffee situation. Everyone had been nagging him about how nasty it was.
"Why is that?" Emily asked as they casually started walking towards a more secluded area.
"Apparently Trainees now roam around freely." He rolled his eyes.
This was a recent thing, but after a little bit of renovation, the second floor lounge had become the Executive Lounge – a place for Unit Chiefs and Superiors to hang out and discuss work with each other. It was part of the Bureau's new plan on breaking the walls between Units and Sections, so that everyone would be able to have connections in both higher and lower sections of the FBI. The Exec Lounge was the place for them to mix and mingle, casually getting to know each other and making future collaborations between Units possible.
"No way. How did you let that happen?" Emily laughed so hard. She knew exactly how upset Ben would be about it.
"I have no idea. I just keep seeing her face around there." He shrugged, hating having to admit defeat over a Trainee.
"Her?" Emily raised an eyebrow. She had figured it had been a group of Trainees who were trespassing.
"Yeah, one of the newbies. She had the nerve to tell me all the things she found to be wrong with the Academy. And the FBI, in general." He sighed.
"She did?" Emily was enjoying this more than she would like to admit.
"She sure did." He looked down to the ground, feeling a bit overpowered.
"So, I take it she has no idea who you are?" Emily did her best at concealing another chuckle.
"She sure as Hell does not." Ben let himself enjoy another sip of coffee. "She thinks I'm in HR or something."
"Which, you kind of are." Emily pointed out.
"Yes, in a way. But, come on, you know who I am." Ben said proudly.
He was very well known around there. Some people's knees trembled at the mere mention of his name. He had friends, those were the lucky ones. Emily was one of them. But he also had enemies. And when Ben pinpointed someone as an enemy, it never turned out good for them.
"She also likes the same cookies that you always take." He commented, although he wasn't sure why he would even share this piece of information.
"Well, if that girl is anything like me…" She smirked. "Boy, you better watch out for her!"
"Well, I kind of have to now." His mood had just started to get better, until it got worse when he added new information to the table. "She's Dan's new project this year."
"The Wild Card?" Emily raised an eyebrow.
Ben nodded.
"She must be all sorts of special then." She said, curiosity crawling into her bones. "Tell me about her."
"Well, she's really young. Like, you would look at her and think she was still in high-school. Especially with that silly bow she wears in her hair." Ben hated the damned bow. It got on his nerves. "She's smart, okay, yeah, I give it to her. I endorsed her application documents and I signed her permission for the Academy. But that's because my boss forced me to. And you know how he is…"
"Oh, pff…Tell me about it!" Emily rolled her eyes.
Ben's boss was not a man whose word could be crossed or doubted. Ever.
"So, I was already familiar with her educational background and stuff. But then I saw her here and she's just this huge ray of sunshine. Honestly, I don't even think she fits in here."
"Why?" Emily questioned. "Penelope Garcia printed her application form on pink paper and sprayed it with perfume before she handed it in. She wears, well, all the colors in the world. She is the furthest from the image of an FBI agent. But hey, she's one of the best Analysts I've ever seen and I wouldn't have anyone else on my team!" Emily said proudly.
After a moment of deep thought, Ben shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He admitted. "Well, this girl is working really hard to be here. Dan recently started pushing her buttons and she hasn't caved, at all. I mean, she is only 23, she looks like she is fifteen and she acts like she is twelve at times…"
"But?" Emily knew that appraisal was coming.
"But she is so damn smart and there is something so addictive about her. She can insult you and make you feel good about it. Like, she knows her way with words. She knows how to read people, she knows what to say and when to say it. I don't think she's as superficial as her bow makes her look. I don't think this façade of bubbliness and cheerful appearances is anything else but just that – a façade."
"Why would you say that?" She asked, pointing at a little path that lead to the forest nearby. She really wanted to have a good afternoon walk.
"I honestly don't know. I feel like she is not the person she makes believe. Ever since Dan pinned her and her friend as his targets, all the training officers were instructed to start giving them harsh criticism and each time she has ended up thanking the person for their feedback and letting them know she would be working on bettering herself in the said aspect. I mean, come on Emily, what 23 year old acts that way?"
"A 23 year old who has a good head on her shoulders, comes from good education and has the discipline, will and courage to turn bad feedback into precious advice on how to be a better Agent, one day." Emily said calmly.
"Damn it, I hate it when you're right." Ben laughed as they were now walking towards the trees.
"Can I give you some advice? You know, as a profiler, if not as a friend or a colleague." Emily suggested.
He was happy to have it.
"Push her even harder. If she stood out to Dan, she must be special. Dan's been the Academy mentor for years, he knows what he's doing. He's cut Trainees left and right, but he's also helped build the best Agents we have now. Give him the green light. Let him play with her. Let him push her around, push her buttons, watch her handle herself in such situations. Put her under pressure, put her on the spot. Work her up, try to break her down. Give her all the best reasons why she should prove her worth to you, guys. And if she does – then she deserves you to bow in her feet. Because any 23 year old who could handle herself and survive your vicious mind games, and I know what you guys are capable of; is a girl who deserves nothing but pure praise and respect." Emily smiled before she added one more thing. "And also, have no mercy on her."
"You are the Devil, woman." Ben nudged her playfully, but it made her frown Just the other day, another man had told her the same exact words.
"I sure am." She forced a smile.
They were now at a safe distance from anyone else, so he finally felt at ease to speak about what was going on.
"Now, Emily…I trust that this would stay between you and I…" He started off and she knew the topic had changed.
"Of course." She nodded.
"Good. Because I could lose my job for telling you this." He invited her to sit down on the grass, covered with leaves.
It was a beautiful scenery – so peaceful, so quiet.
"Your Unit is under investigation." He said quietly.
"I know. We were told our hearing is this Friday at 10." She told him while sitting down gracefully enough to spill some coffee on her pants.
"Well, here's where it gets dark." He kept on whispering. "That last case you had a month ago, it opened up some suspicions and while you guys were away, people have been snooping around your offices like hound dogs. Old case files have been re-opened and your every word, every command, every decision on the field is now being questioned."
"So, this is about me?" She asked.
"No. This is about them, wanting to shut down the BAU for good. And it's been going on for a while. It started with a few shush-shush meetings between the Superiors. It even got sent to my Boss' office, as a proposal…" He didn't seem happy to be telling her that.
"Oh…" Emily suddenly felt a wave of worry.
"He didn't sign it." Ben was quick to let her know, as he knew that the mention of his boss was always a huge stress factor for people.
"So now they are trying everything, to get rid of you. They tried pushing you against the wall by cutting your budget down to the impossible. And you guys found a way around that. So, they are now desperate for something to hold onto. And I'm afraid that-…"
"That they are going to plant fake evidence in order to incriminate us? Well, check." She sighed.
"Wow! I mean, I had my suspicions, but I never thought she'd stoop to that level."
"She?" Emily had assumed that more people were involved in this.
"It all started with her. She poisoned the brains of a few of the other ones, but it is mainly her who wants to bring you down."
"Let me guess. My Section Chief?" She rolled her eyes and he nodded as response.
"Ugh, I wish I could have punched her out this morning. I needed to give myself this satisfaction." She muttered quietly.
"It would have made you feel better. Yes. But it would have been really bad for you and your team, in trial." He said while taking the last sip of his now cold coffee.
"Don't call it trial, please. It sounds so official." She felt shivers. "It's just a hearing. For now."
"Emily, you do know this is going to be messy and that it might turn out badly for all of you, right?" He could have tried to be supportive, but what she needed right now was someone to be real with her.
"Yeah." She played with her coffee cup in her hands. "Thank you for letting me know all that. I really appreciate it."
"Hey, after what you did for me out there…" He trailed off. He didn't need to mention it, Emily knew exactly what he was referring to. Years might have passed, but they both remembered one very specific moment. "I'll owe you for a lifetime!"
Emily then yawned. The caffeine had the opposite effect on her. It only brought her body to experience more jet-lag and she felt exhausted.
They both got back to the main building and Emily went upstairs, joining her team.
She found Morgan, in the corner, talking to JJ and Garcia. It didn't take a genius to know exactly what the topic of their conversation was. Or rather – who.
"Emily." JJ said sweetly, it also being a sign for Morgan and Garcia to shut up, as Emily was now walking towards them, from behind.
"It's worse than we thought." Emily whispered to the three of them.
And then she remembered the surveillance cameras in the offices. Plus, if Agents had been messing with them, she wouldn't exclude the possibility of hidden microphones all around them.
She quickly scribbled a few words on a piece of paper before she crumbled it and tossed it to JJ first.
"We must act normal. Can't discuss anything here. We're being set up!"
JJ read it and tossed it to Luke next.
The paper made its turn around the bullpen and the last one to read it, Matt, made a quick trip to the bathroom where he destroyed the paper and flushed the toilet three times, just in case.
Two hours of painful undercover work and pretending like they were just cleaning up and chatting about the weather, they all clocked out.
"This was fun." JJ said sarcastically.
"Breakfast at the diner tomorrow?" Tara suggested, so they could talk about everything.
Morgan felt a little weird. He didn't fit in with the group anymore. All day long he just felt like he was an outsider, like his presence there was a bit too much.
"Guest room is all made up." JJ suggested to him, since she had prepared everything for Garcia the night before. She could easily change the sheets and have Morgan sleep over now.
"Thanks." He winked at her and got in his car, following her to her house.
"Hey man, I wanted to talk to you."
"Victor, I'm done working for the day. We can discuss this tomorrow morning." Richard replied to the same man, the only one who didn't seem to be scared of him.
"Good." Victor said, walking along with Richard, towards his car.
"Because I'm not here to talk to my Boss. I'm here to talk to my friend." He added calmly.
Richard sighed and let him get in his car. He drove off to a quiet bar that he knew he would find empty, at this hour.
They got something to drink and Richard just waited for it.
"Hey, if anyone knows how hard this must have been for you, it's me. Come on, man…" Victor finally spoke up.
It wasn't like Richard, at all, but at that moment he felt tense. His lips formed a line and he did not seem happy to be discussing the thing that this man was hinting about.
"We agreed – we're never talking about this." He reminded him.
"I know, but I never thought this would come back and hit you in the face. Not like this. Richard, I'm not saying this to my Boss, but I'm worried about my friend. You can't allow yourself to go down that road again. Not now. Not with everything you have become…and you've worked your ass off to be where you are."
"I know." Richard nearly whispered. His eyes closed for a long moment, as he replayed scenes from his past, events that had helped him get to where he was now. It wasn't all shiny and pink. And yet, he was proud of everything he had accomplished. He was proud of the person he was.
"If you need any help at work, I'm happy to clock in a few more hours. And no, I don't care if I get paid or not. I just want to help you out, okay? And I hope you won't be that stubborn asshole that I know, the one who would try to do everything himself. The overachiever. The tough guy. The one who would, ultimately, crash and burn. I just want to help. Please, promise me that if you feel like you need help, you'll come to me?"
"Victor…" He sighed. This guy had been in his life for years. They had been through so much together, that they were now convinced they were brothers. They had to be. They grew up together, they suffered together, they laughed together.
"You're not just my right hand. You know I don't see you as an assistant, but as an equal, right? And don't make me remind you how much I hate it that only one of us had to get the promotion…" Richard continued.
"Stop blaming yourself for it. You deserve everything you have right now, and more. That promotion had your name written all over it. I don't mind being your right hand, as long as I'm also your best friend."
"God, I am so lucky to have you in my life." Richard sighed.
He could not help but draw a parallel between Victor and Lauren. Both meant a lot to him. He wanted both of them in his life, by his side, challenging him. Because, one of the things he liked the most about Lauren was that she never backed down. She had stood up for herself, she had challenged him, she had made him smile. She had made him want to think of a future for himself, one with another woman, a woman different than his late wife whom he had been madly in love with, for years. Lauren was the first woman to have touched his heart, in a way no one else ever could.
And then he also realized one more thing – Lauren and Victor had nothing in common, if not the fact that he needed both, in his life. He quickly came to the conclusion that it had been over twenty-four hours now, that he had been drawing parallels between Lauren and everything.
Eating his lunch earlier, he couldn't help but notice how his chopsticks worked in perfect sync. They had to be pushed just the same, they had to press against each other, in order to work. And they had to do so, continuously. And that was when he had thought of Lauren, pressing her small frame against him, letting him hold her. They felt like equals, like the identical chopsticks, working perfectly together. A pair that needed their partner, in order to function.
Then, in his office, he had spent ten minutes, gazing at the screensaver on his computer. It was of a rough sea, at night. It was dark blue, overly photoshopped, with the stars in the sky almost sparkling, their reflection visible in the water, in between the waves that were crashing against the shore. Richard liked the darkness. He kind of had to. It was his whole life and he had learned to cope with it in ways that normal people would not understand. And then, there was the horizon…above everything else and despite every dark detail of this photo, the horizon rose. He had smiled, because there was only one reflection he could see clearly, in the horizon of his life – Lauren. Her face. Her voice was still echoing in his mind and he still knew exactly how her laughter sounded. He then wondered how long those memories would last for? How far was that horizon? Would he ever be able to reach it? Was she really going to be there, in the end, or would she turn up to be just a mirage? What scared him the most was the fact that, having had to break her heart, it was now up to her to take the first step towards that horizon. And he wasn't sure she'd do so. From what she had told him about herself, she was good at leaving, but really bad at forgiving. Would she ever want to walk towards his horizon, alongside him? Or was there a different image on her screensaver, maybe one with a horizon that did not have a trace of Richard's reflection in it?
He gulped, taking a big sip of his wine, realizing how Victor was just sitting there, quietly, letting Richard soak into his thoughts, as he had done many times before. He hadn't tried to stop him. He hadn't pushed him to talk. He just sat there, with his mouth shut, making sure that he'd be there for Richard, whenever Richard was ready to ask for help. And that was what made him his brother. In his whole life, Richard hadn't trusted many people. He had been burned a lot and now he considered Victor as his only real friend, along with someone else who was no longer around, but whom Richard would always be protective of, proud of, happy to have known.
And then, yes, there was also Lauren…
