CHAPTER 106
THIS WOMAN IS READY TO KILL FOR YOU
Monday morning started early, for Emily. She woke up at six, with a smile on her face, seeing a new message from Ben on her phone.
The smile disappeared quickly when she read what the message said.
"He's in Philly for the rest of the week. Can't do much now. Just wanted to update you."
Emily groaned. This was not how she wanted her week to start. It was already going to suck, without Angela around, but she refused to let a guy contribute to that, too.
Plus, she now had the dinner party to host and she was quite excited about that.
"Good morning, team!" Emily greeted cheerfully, walking in the meeting room at 9:30.
"Good morning to you, too, you ray of sunshine!" Luke smiled at her, he liked seeing her happy. Also, he was sucking up to her after a certain inappropriate comment he had made about her lately.
Emily looked around and sensed tension after Luke's words. The only one unbothered seemed Rossi, but that was his usual demeanor.
"Someone, please, tell me what I do not know…" Emily pleaded, rolling her eyes at her colleague's absolute inability to keep a secret.
Their faces were screaming at her now, yelling that they had a secret and they were waiting for her to ask what it was.
"Luke cat-called you at the airport, the other day." Reid would always jump at a chance to embarrass Luke. It served him well, after all the times he had teased Reid.
Emily's jaw dropped. How dare he? And why would he? This was both a compliment and an insult to her.
"Reid, you're a dead man!" Luke said angrily.
"And, in my defense, I had no idea it was you!" Luke then added, looking at Emily shyly.
"Okay…" Emily took a moment to steady herself, so that she would go back to pretending like it never happened. "Let's never mention that again, alright?"
JJ was enjoying this a little more than she should. She sat there, eyeing Luke, who was now as pale as a canvass, and then Emily, who looked confused and embarrassed, like she didn't know how to handle this.
"I kind of wish he would have cat-called Angela." Tara's words came out of the blue.
"Oh, come on, guys. Don't tell me you wouldn't have enjoyed her, making a scene at the airport, putting this guy in his place?" Tara elaborated after feeling everyone's eyes on her.
"I have this theory that she'd be like a wild coyote, attacking her prey. Luke would be on the ground in two seconds and she'd be scratching the Hell out of his face and body. I, for one, would love to see that happen." Reid smirked, pushing Luke's buttons even further.
"Fun fact, which is why I picture Angela as this animal - but coyotes are small and only weigh about 20 to 50 pounds. They do, however, hunt with deadly precision. They carefully stalk their prey and run at the speed of 40 miles-per-hour, nipping at the legs of the victims that attempt to escape. When they attack, they immediately aim to kill, biting the neck and compressing the windpipe. Now, I bet you are all wondering: can a wild coyote be tamed? Technically, it would be tough to domesticate a coyote, as they are wild animals after all. The natural instinct they have developed since birth is to function wildly and to hunt aggressively and mercilessly. In the very few cases in which humans have somewhat successfully tamed a wild coyote, the process had started when the animal was still too young, hence not giving them the time to fully develop their true nature, reflexes and impulse to act on their wild desires." Reid then offered some theoretical rant on those species, in case someone else would like to close their eyes and imagine this sweet young girl as such a predator.
It was now Emily's turn to enjoy it. She suppressed a smirk, knowing perfectly well that Angela would, indeed, be a wild coyote if she had to fight. She seemed to have it in her.
"Guys? Work…" Emily reminded them and the topic changed to serial killers once again.
The team then spent the day doing all sorts of useful things, starting with optimizing their field tactics and all the way up to contemplating which color socks Garcia should buy, to go with those cute new shoes she had just ordered online.
Seeing as there weren't too many pressing issues to tend to, Emily had excused herself early, under the pretense that she had a meeting outside.
She ran a quick errand before going back home and unloading everything she had stuffed in the trunk of her car after her visit to two different supermarkets.
The next step was to close herself in the kitchen for hours.
At around six o'clock she drove back to Quantico and headed straight to the Academy.
After shooting a quick text to Dan, he informed her that Angela was still in her afternoon class, so Emily walked in the Auditorium, to wait for the class to finish.
She found Angela sitting front row and center and she smirked. Why, of course she'd chose that spot, being the nerd that she was.
Angie, in turn, was so into the lecture that she failed to even notice Emily walking in and taking a seat, on the far right side of the first row.
Bryan, however, saw that.
"Hey, your Goddess is here." He nudged Angie, but she wasn't going to take her eyes off that sweet presentation their teacher was showing on the screen.
The man spoke about different interviewing and interrogation techniques. That was one of her favorite classes. He would sometimes stop and take a breath, but Emily saw Angie's lips move, as if she was continuing his sentences, impatient for him to do so himself.
"Now, forget about the offenders. Can anyone tell me the interviewing errors to avoid when dealing with multiple eyewitnesses of the same crime?" The man asked, eyeing the class.
"Anyone but Trainee Hunter. Please?" He added, a second later, right before Angie's hand darted up in the air.
Emily chuckled and put her hand up instead.
"Oh?" The man raised an eyebrow and allowed Emily to take the podium.
She greeted everyone and after the man nodded at her, she took over the class, answering his question in a more hands-on way, by presenting a video of a mock crime scene, shot for educational purposes.
"Now, I need someone to come over here and help me out with a little experiment." Emily said, shooting a disapproving glance at Angela who was already on the edge of her seat, ready to volunteer.
Emily simply shook her head and Angie stood still, with a frown.
When nobody dared sacrifice themselves, since each time one had ever dared volunteer for an activity, the teachers had made complete fools out of them, publicly; Angie put her hand up in the air contently.
"Trainee Hunter, you've been benched." Emily grinned.
"No, no. I'm not doing it." Angie smirked right back at her.
"He is!" She stated after tickling Bryan and making him fidget in his seat, almost standing up, making it seem like he was way too eager to volunteer for Emily's experiment.
"No, I'm not!" Bryan hissed at Angie.
"You know how good Agent Hotness smells? Mmm, don't you want to get closer?" Angie teased him.
If Bryan had to be honest with himself, he didn't even like Emily like that. He had only been a dick, saying those vastly inappropriate things, just for the sake of saying something when he had first seen her. And then Angela had blown it way out of proportion, so now he had no way of escaping her little innuendos.
"Well, come on up, Bryan." Emily felt a little weird to be calling him by his first name, but she had no idea what his last name was.
He groaned unhappily and walked towards Emily, painfully slowly.
"Now, I need you to watch a short video and then answer some questions." Emily connected her phone to the screen and played something that she clearly always had on her phone, which was weird, considering it was a video of a stabbing. Well, it was one of those acted out videos, for learning purposes, so it was not a real crime, but still, weird for someone to keep it on their phone.
While Bryan watched, so did the rest of the class.
"What did you see?" Emily asked at the end.
"Uh, a guy was in a house. He grabbed a knife and he attacked a woman." Bryan shrugged.
The video was only a minute long, he didn't think there was too much to it.
Being SWAT-oriented, he could tell Emily what the door was made of and exactly how he was going to kick it down, or which window he'd use to breach the house quietly, if needed. However, the more psychological side of the crime was not his forte.
"Was the knife with a black or white handle?" Emily asked.
"Uh…black. As far as I could remember."
"Did the victim know the perpetrator?"
"I have no idea. I guess not…"
"How do you think the perpetrator got to the house? Did he drive? Was he on foot?"
"I saw him walking in and that's all."
"What time of the day did the attack happen?"
"It was light outside, so I guess it was during the day, maybe early afternoon…"
Emily shook her head. She hadn't expected Bryan to do so badly.
"Now, can someone, please, give me the answers I need?" She challenged, looking at the other Trainees.
There was something intimidating about her presence, so nobody volunteered, even if quite a few people felt confident that they knew the right answers.
"Trainee Angela Hunter?" Emily sighed and, in the end, was forced to call Angela on the podium.
"Oh, thank God!" Angie muttered to herself, thankful that this time it didn't look like she was being a nerd, but she rather got called in by the teacher.
"What did you see?" Emily mirrored her first question to Bryan.
"The façade of a house, situated in an extra urban area, with the newspaper still outside, so it must have been way before noon. Not too early in the morning, though, as it was bright and sunny outside already and this was around Easter time, as there were decorations around the house, so during these months of the year this kind of a bright sun does not rise too early in the morning. Then there was the UnSub - a white male in his late 30's, tall, well-built, with short dark hair and a scar on his right hand. He walked to the porch and opened the door, which was already unlocked. So, the victim might have previously left the door open for someone, indicating that she might know her perpetrator and she might have expected him to come over." Angie spoke confidently.
"Scar?" Emily raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, once he walks in, he goes by a small table in the hallway and he lets his car keys drop on it and that's when the scar is visible. It looks like a bad attempt to get rid of a tattoo of a circle, with two triangles on top, like Mickey Mouse ears, but triangle shaped. Also, he most definitely drove there, otherwise he wouldn't have his car keys in his hand." Angie then shut her eyes for a second, recalling other important details.
"He must have known which way the kitchen was, because he went there first and he also knew where the knives were. At this point we could draw the conclusion that the victim must have had young children in the house because there were no knives, scissors or any sharp objects just laying around on the counter, but they were tucked away in a drawer above the sink. The murder weapon was a sharp knife, about fifteen centimeters long, pointy tip and a slightly curved handle. All metal, light grey. I'm sure of it because during that scene, the light fell on the knife and I remember it shining for a second, so I noticed the color."
"Did the victim-…" Emily started off, but Angela was too fast to answer.
"Yes, she must have known the perpetrator. When he went to her room, she could hear the door opening, but it took her a couple of seconds to turn around and see who it was. So, she must have been expecting someone, if she wasn't scared by the noise. And when she turned around, she didn't seem freaked out, until she saw the knife. She fell back, on the bed, which indicates she was comfortable with this man, seeing her on the bed, also since she was only wearing her underwear under the robe. So, this points to a possible sexual connection between the victim and the perpetrator. But not a current relationship. It all felt shush-shush. Maybe ex-lovers?"
"Maybe one of them was married and the other one was the lover?" Emily suggested.
"In that case, I would have already told you about a ring on someone's finger. And there was none." Angie smiled, because otherwise her confidence would come off way too cocky and arrogant.
"How many times was the victim stabbed?"
"Three. The first stab was in the lower abdomen and it was quite shallow, like he was just testing to see what would happen. This indicates that he is not skilled with the blades and he might not have previous victims, at least not human ones. He then moved up to her stomach and this time it seemed more violent, he applied more pressure. But she was still alive, so he swung a third time, this time opting straight for the heart. Clearly, this was a lust-driven crime."
"Okay, now…you can never jump to a conclusion so easily." Emily put her hand on her gun, reminding Angela who the superior one was. The girl needed to calm down a bit and realize that there is always space for a mistake.
"Everything you just said is true…" Emily continued. "Except the conclusion. Now, a rushed conclusion like this might throw the entire investigation off."
Angie bit her bottom lip, trying to figure out what her mistake was.
"Now, Bryan's mistake was that he never took a moment to recall what he had seen. This cannot happen! As an Agent, you should have your eyes open and scanning everything, everywhere, remembering every little detail. You must always stay vigilant, otherwise it wouldn't even matter if you caught the criminal, if your sloppy investigative work gets your case thrown, in court afterwards. You need that strong evidence. You need to be sure. You need to make the jury believe you and you cannot do that without details. Lots of them." Emily pointed out.
"And, as an investigator, you should know the protocol. You must be highly skilled, when questioning a witness. People believe you should only ever be careful while interrogating a suspect, but that you can be somewhat lenient with the witnesses. Wrong. Very wrong!" Emily smiled and saw the other teacher smirking at her, with a knowing look on his face.
She was most definitely saying all those things to trigger a response and the fact that she looked around the room, scanning for faces who had something to say, confirmed that theory.
Angie was now looking at Emily, clearly something was bothering her. Everyone else just looked either unbothered, hence they didn't understand a thing of what Emily was trying to achieve; or unprepared to stand up to an authority figure if they did, indeed, figure out Emily's 'mistake'.
"If I may…?" Angie spoke up. "All due respect, but your interviewing technique was not up to the Bureau standards!"
Some Trainees gasped at the nerve Angie had, to call Emily out like that.
Emily remained calm and collected, just glaring at Angie, as if she was daring her to continue speaking.
"Now, first of all, you started with an open question that was a bit too open. A normal person wouldn't know how to start telling you everything that they saw. Even a Trainee failed to do so." Angie said.
"You didn't." Emily pointed out.
Her first question to both of them had been the same. Angela had replied perfectly.
"But he did." Angie pointed at Bryan, knowing that she'd have to make it up to him afterwards, for throwing him under the bus, in front of everyone.
"And he's not stupid. He's just intimidated by you, as an authority figure, so you should have known that and adjusted your interviewing technique, so that he would feel more comfortable talking to you. You had your hand on your gun the entire time you spoke to him, but you were smiling and understanding when you spoke to me." Angie took a step forward, closing the distance between them, showing that she was not afraid of Emily's higher standing status.
"Then you gave him a misleading question, when he was already feeling vulnerable and confused. One should always be careful with option-imposed questions. How could you be sure the knife was either black or white? Hence, how can you be sure the witness' reply would be correct, if you don't believe in your options? Maybe he saw a red knife? Maybe the first knife he touched, was not the murder weapon after all?"
Emily tried to remain calm, she tried so damn hard not to show how proud she was of Angela for stepping up and speaking her mind. Yes, it was bold, but if an Agent was in the wrong, like Emily had intentionally pretended to be, it was always a good idea for another Agent to knock some sense into them. God knows Emily had been corrected a million times, by her colleagues, and there were no hard feelings afterwards, as long as the job ended up being done well.
"I appreciate the feedback, Trainee Hunter. Now let's discuss where you went wrong, shall we?" Emily tried to intimidate Angela.
"Yes, please." Angie said calmly, genuinely wanting to hear her feedback, even if it was negative.
Emily sighed. Could anything really get to that girl? How was she so cool with the fact that she had done something wrong? She seemed confident in herself, yet she had no problem hearing she had failed.
"Your mistake was to let yourself believe in the sexual component. Yes, she was in her underwear and yes, her instincts made her seek comfort in her own bed. However…" Emily started, but Angie wanted to come up with it, on her own.
"However, their non-verbal interaction does not suggest a sexual relationship. It was more…pure, the way she looked at him, like she knew him. Like she had known him her whole life…" Angie shut her eyes for a second, mentally replaying the ending of the video once again.
"Lower abdomen, stomach and heart. This was not lust-driven. This was personal, on a different level. Lust would have made him attack her reproductive organs only, as a part of his statement, his reason for killing her. But he didn't. He stabbed low, but not in that area. Why wouldn't he?" Angie thought out loud.
"Also, why not go for the heart first, if killing her was the primary aim?" Angie continued. "No. This was about revenge. He wanted her to suffer. He wanted her to be alive, to watch him inflict pain on her, before he finished her off."
Bryan just stood there, shooting glances between Emily and Angela. It looked heated, between them, the way they'd throw words at each other, challenge each other and then try to work things out in perfect collaboration.
"Family…" Angie whispered to herself.
"Speak up, Trainee." Emily urged her, as she overheard something valid.
"Family. This is about family. After the first stab, the girl tilted her head sideways and her eyes laid on a photo, on the bedside table. It was of her and another man, a blonde man, and two kids with dark hair, like hers. They didn't look like they were the biological kids of the man in the photo…" Angie remembered more.
"Scratch lust. I would like to completely discard my absurd initial statement. This is about family." Angie stated.
"In what way?" Emily knew the answers, but she wanted Angela to come to the conclusion herself.
"I don't know…" Angie shrugged, once again completely unbothered by the fact that she was, in a way, nearly admitting defeat against Emily Prentiss.
"Is something missing?" Emily raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I don't think we can draw any more conclusions from this video until and unless we know more." Angie said softly.
"Like what?" Emily kept on asking, indirectly urging Angela to realize something.
"Victimology! Oh my God, I'm an idiot! Every crime starts with the victim!" Angie stated, wanting to be able to facepalm herself and not make it look weird. She then decided to not do that at all.
"We need background on the victim, so we can continue looking at the crime and have a better understanding of it." Angie said.
"That is correct. Now, how would our understanding of this crime change, if I told you that the photo was, indeed, of the victim and her long-term co-living boyfriend, none of whom were cheating, and their two children." Emily only gave her a little piece of the puzzle.
"Makes no sense, honestly. The photo already speaks for itself. And those kids don't look like the blonde man at all." Angie shook her head.
"Wait. The perpetrator was dark-haired, like the victim…" Angie added.
"Okay…continue?" Emily leaned back against a desk, waiting for Angela to fully blossom.
"May I, please, have information on the victim's family? I mean, her background – parents, siblings, cousins?" Angie requested in the most formal and absurd way possible.
Sometimes she'd come out with this formal way of speaking, even if she was saying something to a friend. It usually left Bryan a bit confused when she did that to him, right after calling him 'bro' just minutes before she went full on formal on him.
Emily, however, found that endearing.
"Yes. Now, the parents are retired, they still live in Florida. Both parents are only children, so no aunts, uncles or cousins and not much extended family. Victim has a brother, who was-…" Emily got cut off once again.
"In prison!" Angie continued Emily's sentence. "That tattoo. It's a prison gang thing, the circle and two triangles. It's the Chicharreros!"
"The what?" Bryan whispered.
"Chicharreros is a name given to the inhabitants of the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Originally, it was the name given to the inhabitants of the city Santa Cruz de Tenerife by inhabitants of neighboring San Cristóbal de La Laguna in reference to the former eating the cheap fish chicharro." Angie had another Reid moment, but Bryan had basically asked for it.
"What's the connection?" Emily asked.
"The Chicharreros are against the Mexican Mafia. They have their own thing going, with drugs, and they try to screw the Mexicans up, each chance they get. That tattoo is their symbol. When one first joins them, they only get the ring. Then, they have to move up levels and with each level, they get a new triangle, added to the ink. The perpetrator only had two, so he must not have spent more than three, maybe four years in jail. It's hard to move up in the chain, when locked up. The dares are sometimes brutal and request time and premeditation, so the jail is a bit of a problem for that gang." Angie continued.
"Focus on the kids…" Emily suggested, giving her a little hint.
"They looked about…three…four years old. Twin boys." Angie pointed out. "Hey, that fits the timeline. Wait a minute…"
Emily was going to wait a minute. An hour. A lifetime even. For Angela… She would only ever wait for her and nobody else.
She sat there quietly, just looking at Angie's facial expressions as she drew her conclusions.
"I know we already threw lust out the window, but…incest?" Angie suggested.
Emily shook her head. "Think harder."
"Well, if she is the mother, but the blonde man is not the father…and the kids look like the perpetrator as well…" Angie trailed off for a second. "Is it possible that she is not the mother, either? Yes, they look like her, but…"
"Mhm?" Emily smirked, throwing her favorite 'mhm' line at Angie, just to rattle her up.
"The killer was the victim's brother! That's why she felt so comfortable around him, even if she wasn't dressed properly. You said their parents are 'still' in Miami, so if that is where they grew up, they would have been around each other, in bathing suits, all the time. She didn't feel the need to hide her body from him, as she was covered by the robe in all the right places."
Emily smiled, just a tiny little bit.
"Kids, Angela…" Emily reminded her.
"Yes, the kids. The victim is not the mother. The perpetrator is the father, that's why they look like both of them. Victim and perpetrator might be twins themselves, as the so called 'twin gene' is hereditary. And given the kids' age, they must have been born right about the time the perpetrator went to jail. Something may have happened to their biological mother, or she didn't want the kids, so the sister - our victim, took full custody and it must not have been hard to obtain that, given that the father was in jail. Now, about the stab wounds, this explains a lot. He went for the lower abdomen first, then for the stomach, figuratively killing both children that she was raising, children that belong to him instead. He wanted to teach her a lesson, to show her that it is wrong to steal someone else's children. And then, driven by his rage, and only after his victim had suffered the two metaphorical losses, he killed her, inflicting the biggest form of revenge he was capable of." Angie exhaled at the end of it, realizing her forehead was now sweating and her heart was beating fast.
She loved those sensations.
"Great job, Trainee Angela Hunter." Emily finally allowed herself to smirk, extending her hand and shaking Angie's hand for a second before she turned to do the same with Bryan, out of respect.
Angie was about to turn around and go take her place, when she heard Emily clear her throat, as if she was reminding her of something.
"Oh, yes." Angie looked at Bryan, all sweet and innocent, which should have given him the hint that she was plotting something. "What color was the knife handle, Bryan?"
"Light grey, all metal." He shot out instantly, much more convinced in his answer now, than he was when he had answered Emily earlier. His reply also changed completely, after hearing Angie say those words with so much confidence.
Angie smirked and looked at Emily, who rewound the tape to the moment when a knife with a black handle appeared for a good three seconds, leaving no space for doubt about its color.
"But…I don't understand…" Bryan said, confused.
"And this is an example of the co-witness syndrome, sometimes also called 'the false memory syndrome'. In order to retrieve unbiased information about a crime, one should never question more than one witness, at a time. They tend to merge memories together and to believe what the other person saw, thus later giving false information to us, investigators, without even realizing it. Bryan, you answered her question truthfully, the first time. And your memory did not fail you – the knife was black. But then you heard me, speaking about a metal knife, so sure of myself, that you let your memory play tricks on you and you decided to believe me, instead of your own instincts and memory." Angie said softly, so that it wouldn't sound too embarrassing for Bryan to hear it.
She had so planned this, from the moment she spoke about the knife's color earlier. Moreover, Emily had suspected this might have been Angie's plan all along, so she never corrected her about the color. Emily was somewhat guilty about Bryan being humiliated like this, for educational purposes, but she was content with how Angie's little trick had played out and what it had taught the other Trainees.
"Yes, in fact 86%, so the vast majority of eyewitnesses of the same crime, tend to discuss what they had seen, with the number one reason - to provide information, compare details of the event. Co-witness information is extremely influential! They can learn unreliable information either directly from another eyewitness, or indirectly through a third party – let's say, from a police officer who puts a question in the wrong way. They can also receive post event information through the media and different outlets." Emily decided to put Angie's words a bit more academically and then she kind of spun out of control by rambling about the topic.
"In the end, eyewitnesses reliably and consistently report information they have heard from other witness, or indirectly, which makes our job as investigators extremely difficult. That is why we need classes like this one, so we can learn and practice our technique, build our own way of figuring out which information is reliable and accurate and which parts of what we hear have been altered by someone else. And this right here is the tricky part, as most of the times eyewitnesses rely on each other's memories and they incorporate pieces of information into their own memories of the event in question, without knowing whether they are true or false. That is why those of us who are on the investigative or juridical side of the crime, insist that, when possible, the eyewitnesses would be separated and instructed not to discuss the event with one another. And yet, no matter what we do and how hard we try, it has proven to be an extremely difficult task to reduce memory bias when dealing with eyewitness testimony of two or more people, in connection to the same crime."
"Ugh…" Bryan groaned to himself, happy to see Emily motion for them to take their seats after she had basically ganged up with Angela, with the sole purpose of destroying him in front of everyone.
"I'm going to murder you!" He whispered to Angie, on their way to the first row.
"And you better believe I'm going to investigate the crap out of that, too." Emily replied to him, making his blood freeze.
How could she have heard? Yes, they were close, but he was whispering.
Something about the way she said it, made him believe he'd be in trouble, if anything should ever happen to Angela.
"Awwh, stop pouting." Angie nudged him, as soon as they sat down and he was practically giving her the cold shoulder.
"Can't help it that I'm adorable and people like me." She shrugged innocently.
"It's not about liking you." Bryan sighed. "This woman is ready to kill for you!"
"Like I said, I'm a very adorable person." Angie had this way of exaggerating, dramatizing, making things sound bigger and more colorful. Bryan found that to be stress-relieving, but only in cases in which he was not directly involved.
"Deep down, you are a monster, Angela Hunter." He laughed, sure that there was more to that innocent smile of hers.
If only he knew…
Emily tagged along with the teacher for the rest of the class. She explained that her little experiment served to show that there are many aspects of a crime and that witness questioning was not an easy task. It had to coordinate with an already ongoing victimology investigation and so many other things. The teacher then reminded everyone of the proper way to handle a questioning – how the questions should be formed, how to establish a connection with the witness first, how to make them feel comfortable, which is what Emily had intentionally not done with Bryan, so to prove her point later on.
Thirty minutes after Emily had joined the class, it was over. She was glad to see how many people were upset to find out the class was done. Have they been paying attention? Did they really like the class? Was she actually good at teaching? She never really thought of herself as a teacher. She was more of a mentor figure and of course – a Leader.
"We really need to change…and shower!" Angie pointed out as her and Bryan walked out of the Auditorium and saw Emily, leaning against the hallway wall, waiting for them.
"Not a problem. We can stop by your home first." Emily said, not really choosing her words well.
"It's not my home." Angie shot out quickly, sounding a bit defensive.
Bryan was completely oblivious to that, but Emily was not.
They went to the dorms and Emily sat down on the couch, to wait for them to get ready. She had insisted on driving them to her house, for dinner.
Angie took a shower first, as she was feeling gross after the lunch break work out with the boys. Lately, they had formed their little group of six, who worked out any chance they had. The boys were giving Angie a run for her money, as they all came from athletic backgrounds and two of them had been in the Marine Corps. But she loved it. She did not see them as competition. They were nothing but an inspiration, a motivation for her to do better, jump higher, do more pull ups, run faster, punch harder.
"So…" Emily broke the silence, noticing how Bryan felt extremely uncomfortable in her presence, now that he was in a minuscule room, with her, alone, as Angie was taking her damn time in the shower.
"Agent Prentiss, I need to clear this up. I really don't like you like that. Angela is known to embellish things and I can't seem to make her stop doing that. I swear, I respect you, I like you as a person and I like the way you are treating my closest friend here. But it does not go beyond that!" Bryan said, barely even looking at her.
Emily's only reaction was to laugh.
"Well, this was not what I wanted to talk to you about, but okay…" She had to bite her lips, in order to stop laughing. "I appreciate what you just said, for the record."
"Then, what were you going to say? Just say it. I'm not a profiler, I have no idea…" He forced a smile, now glad that Emily had taken his awkward little confession so well.
"How is she doing?" She asked.
"She's great. Well, at most disciplines, really. She suffers with calculations and tactical driving. She's sure she'd flank those exams. Statistical analysis is also something she's not good at, but she tries her best-…" Bryan was then shushed by Emily's blank stare.
"Wait, am I missing out on something?" He asked.
Was that not what Emily had just asked him about?
"Please don't waste an application field, writing down the name of any profiling Unit." She chuckled lightly.
He was so clueless as to what Emily really wanted to know.
"Wouldn't even dream of it! Angela would skin me alive and probably at my bones like a pitbull." He laughed.
Emily raised an eyebrow, playing him.
"For her, there's only one Unit in the whole Bureau. She wouldn't let me speak about options. She wants one thing and that thing only. I'd be damned if I ever applied for the only spot she wants." He cleared up.
"Oh, what's that?" Emily pushed it.
"You're the profiler. You tell me." Bryan was, clearly, good at games as well.
Emily rolled her eyes and decided to let him think he had this victory. He had no idea who he was trying to play.
"Bryan…" Emily stood up and took two steps towards him, lowering her voice.
"How is she really doing?"
This time, he understood the question behind her words.
"She's strong. She never lets anyone mess with her. She's always prepared and she always jokes. She makes people around her feel comfortable. Makes them trust her…" He started.
"Mhm?" Emily's favorite line urged him to continue.
"But…" Bryan was now torn between the truth and his loyalty to Angie.
But since Angie never wanted to speak to him about that stuff, he figured it wouldn't really be 'betrayal' if he let Emily know about his suspicions. After all, wasn't Emily someone who cared about Angela?
"She's sad. I can see her smiling and I know at times she's forcing that smile, as if she wants to fool people that she's okay. Something is going on with her and I've tried asking, but she'd always turn that into one of her little jokes and then she'd change the topic and pretend like I never asked the question. I know I can't push her to speak to me, I have no right to do so. I have enough skeletons in my closet to know what the burden of holding secrets can do to someone. But she's only twenty three…"
"She's not like any other twenty three year old, Bryan." Emily reminded him.
"I know. But I feel like she's been through something traumatizing and she's now overcompensating by trying to make everyone around her feel good. If that makes any sense…"
"It makes perfect sense. It's a coping mechanism. It's hard to keep up with it. At first, it makes you feel good. Then, at some point, it stops working, but you keep going. And then, no matter what you do, you keep dragging yourself down, you keep feeling alone and you lose all desire to connect to someone, to share your troubles with them, to speak openly about your trauma. And then, if you are strong enough, you become a different person. A weak one, but still strong enough to keep up appearances. And she's strong… You and I both know she's strong…" Emily sounded like she spoke from experience.
"So, that means she's even more torn apart on the inside, than what I thought?" Bryan pouted.
He knew Angela had her daemons, but Emily's words were making it sound like a much bigger and deeper issue.
"I have no idea what is going on inside Angela Hunter, but I can only imagine it's something dark that consumes her. Now, if I had to give you a piece of advice – stop pushing it. Just…be there for her. Sooner or later, she'd crack under the pressure. She'd break down and then she's going to need someone to hold her, to pretend like they could help push that pain away. That could only be you, for Angela. Be strong, for her. Be her friend. Smile, let her entertain you. Let her smile and pretend. And then, when she breaks down, let her cry on your shoulder, Bryan. She is really going to need that."
"Wow, you really are good at this!" Bryan let out a sigh.
"Seriously? I'm Unit Chief. You best believe I'm great at this!" Emily laughed at the way he just randomly realized just how good profilers were at reading people.
A moment later, Angie nearly kicked the bathroom door down, on her way out of the bathroom.
Emily looked at her, a bit scandalized. That towel around her waist barely covered…anything.
"What? He's seen me naked plenty of times." Angie smirked, walking over to her side of the wardrobe, which was 90% of the wardrobe in the dorm anyway.
Bryan grabbed his towel and his clothes, intending on walking out of the bathroom fully clothed, unlike Angela. For Emily's sake, of course.
"Seen you naked…?" Emily raised an eyebrow once she was alone with Angela.
"Underwear. Bathing suit. Yeah, every day." Angie explained, placing the new blue dress on her bed.
"Are you two…?" Emily blushed a bit.
"I told you, there is never going to be anything between Bryan and me. Now stop pretending like you haven't profiled it out of me yet."
"Profiled what?" Emily sighed.
"That I haven't slept with Bryan and that I have no desire to do so, ever in my life."
With a shrug, Emily sat on the edge of Angela's bed, now watching her get ready.
When Angie had to put her clothes on, Emily turned around and pretended to be interested in the first object she found, just so that Angie would have her privacy. Not that she felt embarrassed to get dressed in front of her anyway.
And then, Emily actually took interest in that object.
It was a pink glittery box, sitting on the bedside table by Angie's bed. The top lid was cracked open and Emily slowly took the box in her hands and peeked inside.
Angie noticed that and she didn't care.
Emily's hand brushed against something, inside the box. She then took the little object out and smiled.
"We are not having another heated emotional conversation. Please?" Angie sighed, already sensing how this would end.
Emily's hand trailed down the object and she smiled, treating Angela with silence and treating her own self with memories.
Two minutes later, Angie was now fully dressed, sitting on the bed, brushing her hair and then extending her hand to grab her small make-up pouch and mirror.
Emily still held the object in her hands. In silence.
Complete silence…
"It changed my life forever…" Angie finally spoke, in regards to what that object symbolized.
She was now sitting, with her back at Emily, but she knew Emily wouldn't have let go of the thing. She was, after all, a future profiler herself.
"It's like…I was born again. Like…I was given a second chance in life. And then a third one, too." Angie licked her lips. Why did they suddenly feel so dry?
"I know the feeling…" Emily trailed off.
They would always trail off when they spoke. By now it almost felt like 'their thing' - all the trailing off, all the things left unexplained…unspoken even.
"Why did you say that it has to be Bryan?" Angie now completely changed the topic, taking Emily off-guard.
"You heard all that?" Emily gasped.
"I'm training for the FBI. It would be extremely unprofessional of me to not be alert at all times. Always vigilant, always looking for clues…isn't that what you said earlier, in class?" Angie smirked, even if Emily was not able to see her face.
"Do you have to take all of my words so literally?" Emily laughed.
"Not all. I mean, those innuendos I don't want to hear more of, nor analyze. And I'm never taking up French knitting!" Angie laughed as well.
"Are you going to be ready soon? Tara just texted, saying she's on her way. And she drives fast!" Emily changed topic, but Angie was smarter.
"I'll be done exactly two seconds after you answer my question." She said calmly, applying mascara and then finishing her look with some pink blush.
"Bryan is the only person who is close to you right now. And you need someone to be there for you-…" Emily got interrupted.
"When I break down? Ha…" Angie let out a dry laugh. "Give me some credit. I'm tougher than I look."
"No, you're not." Emily countered right away, finally making Angie turn around and face her, realizing she still had that object in her hands.
"You'll crack and when you do, it will be messy…difficult for you to understand. And so impossible to go through, without the support of someone who loves you and cares about you. Isn't Bryan the only such person?" Emily was harsh, but Angie needed to hear those words.
"No. As a matter of fact, he is not!" Angie decided to be harsh too. She told the truth.
Emily smiled weakly. Good. It was good that Angela considered the possibility of there being another person who loved her and cared about her.
Bryan then got out of the shower and saw Angie putting her shoes on.
On his way to grab his wallet, now fully clothed, he saw Emily holding an object, very dear to Angie's heart.
"Put that down." He whispered to Emily. "She's going to kill you if she saw you touching that. She guards it with her life!"
Emily chuckled.
Oh, Bryan was clueless.
Emily then obeyed and put the object on Angie's bedside table.
She let her finger once again go up and down the object, taking in the beauty of the tiny metal miniature of the Eiffel Tower.
"Oh, shoot!" Bryan muttered when they were finally outside, getting in Emily's car.
"What did you forget this time?" Angie rolled her eyes.
So typical of him to forget things. She had to constantly remind him to take things with him for training. He was even capable of forgetting to put shoes on his feet sometimes.
"Yeah. You know, you two should go. Give me the address and I'll drive there a little after you." He said, handing Emily his phone.
"What, you don't want the digits, too?" Angie smirked and Emily slapped her shoulder.
"Hey! You only said I should behave in front of your team!" Angie pouted and then waved at Bryan.
Emily drove off and five minutes later she could not hold it in anymore.
"Say it." She urged Angela.
"Fine. He's so adorable! He just wanted to give me more time with you and he also wanted to have his own car there, so he could drive us back home…so that you can have some wine with the dinner and not worry about accompanying us back to Quantico. That's just…awwh!" Angie formed a heart with her fingers and she smiled.
She loved how thoughtful Bryan was.
"Yeah, I thought the same thing." Emily laughed, rolling the window down a little, to get some fresh air.
REVIEW REPLIES:
"rmpcmfan" Hey :) Yes, Nora is little miss cutie pie, but with a very troubled little soul. Angie could relate, in a way, and she feels her pain, which is why Emily knew she should let her go calm Nora down when they saw her upset. Emily has a reason not to be able to adopt Nora, but she is going to do everything in her power to place her in a good home and to still be part of her life after that.
Lol sorrrrrry for the frustration :) It was intentional hehe. I like how convinced everyone is that Monkey is a woman...It could literally be anyone from the story. I will tease that you most definitely know the person already, so I WON'T pull a magic trick and have Monkey be someone you have never even seen or heard of (now that would be just mean!) I will also be sweet and confirm that yes Monkey is with the FBI and yes, there was extensive travel in their past and a very plausible reason for leaving young "Angela" behind, against their own will. However, people don't just know these things about Monkey, so again...it could be anyone.
Clara!? Hmm, well she is an anthropologist and the show spoke about her travel history around the world. And she does seem to have a weird bond with Angie, whom she "just met as a professor, at the Academy". So I dunno...maybe one of the next chapters will give you some more clarity, as it is all Angie-Clara oriented. Also Alana De La Garza (actress who plays Clara Seger) is a stunningly beautiful woman! Moreover, I love the fact that Emily has kept such an old friendship going, as it shows how much she cares about the people she loves. All in all, this show was goals when it came to female friendships and I wish real life was more like this and less like the catty mess that girls always create. End of rant. Lol :P
Actually, I'll add that Emily wants the entire BAU to be at the dinner, which is why she changed the date, as Matt was unable to attend. She'll drag JJ's ass to that dinner, or someone else will do so, but JJ better not skip that! Also, dinner will be in the next chapter. What do you think might happen? Will Emily order take-away? If a dinner is Emily's way of appreciating Angela after this week together, then what would be Angie's little gesture?
"Nichole" Hello again. If it helps I shall honestly say that I ADORE JJ! She is my second favorite character, after Emily and she plays a HUGE part in the story. I confirm JJ is going to crush goals at the BAU until the last day the Unit exists! And her friendship with Emily is GOALS, as it shows how two strong women can be there for each other without cattiness and quarrels. It's going to be a theme throughout the entire story, I ain't ruining that! However, JJ is in an extremely vulnerable place right now, so if she acts out or acts reserved, she has her reasons. I needed her to have some major problems going on right now and it all ties up with the outcome or a certain story arc later. Remember that "all is NOT as it seems", so maybe JJ does not "hate" Angela and vice versa. You will have an explanation for those interactions when the time is right :)! But to sum it up: I do NOT hate JJ and I am NEVER going to mess with Emily/JJ's amazing bond!
Like the disclaimer of this story says, it has a "MAJOR MYSTERY FACTOR THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE STORY". I'm not "playing" anyone :) I just enjoy reading mystery/crime genres, where I read a story and I come to my own conclusions and predictions and then it turns out something way bigger has been going on the entire time! So this is what I am creating in my own words here. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea hehe and that's okay. I want everyone to find stories/genres that make them happy and relax them, because we all read as a leisure activity and I'd hate for someone to waste their time reading something that does not make them happy :) Also practically everyone who has ever msged me wants Angie to turn out to be connected to Emily in some way and honestly...not confirming or denying anything, but that would make sense and I would be happy if that was to be the outcome of my story. Also, Angie is not a super human and she is definitely not going to get things for granted. She works her butt off and she is goal oriented and focused, which I personally admire. Yes, she is super tough on the outside, but there is a whooooooole side to her that is only about to come out, which kind of melts that "super tough Angie" idea. I don't want to spoil more :P. But if you don't like the story or where you think it might be going (I'm fairly certain you will despise where the story is going, judging by what I've learned that you like/dislike so far hehe, which is okay because everyone has different tastes), I hope you find something more fitted for what you personally enjoy reading. No harsh feelings :) I choose my books/stories with maximum precision and I don't like to commit to reading something that annoys me hehe, so I completely understand your point of view, girlie :) Be safe, wherever in the world you might be right now.
"sweetkid45" Hey, no worries. You probably got Bryan mixed up with Matt Simmons, as he has been mentioned more lately. JJ's personal issues at home are making her all sorts of snappy right now. She's actively ignoring Angela, which is exactly what Angela has done to her since they first met. They both have their reasons and you will learn about them later on. Things between them might shift, though. They might not end up hating each other, but rather becoming friends? Or not? Hehe, you'll see! JJ is stressed out because of what Will, her husband, did and because Henry got kicked out of school and Mickey has his arm in a cast from when he accidentally got pushed to the ground by his brother Henry. So, while working a very stressful job, JJ is also trying to restore the balance at home, but is finding it difficult. So, she doesn't want to put herself in more situations where she would feel bad and that's why she doesn't want to go to the dinner, as she thinks Angela does not like her, so she doesn't want to feel awkward and unwanted. Hope this explanation makes it a bit more clear :)! Point is - JJ will definitely be the kick ass strong JJ later on in the story, but right now she is having some drama. Also, thank you for the kind words :)!
