Chapter Text
Emily’s pov
“I can’t believe I’ve been your wife for a week already,” JJ said as she curled around me.
It was Saturday morning and I just woke her up with my tongue between her legs.
“Mmmm, I love you so much Jen,” I said as she raked her fingernails across my bare chest.
Just then my phone started ringing and JJ groaned. “You gotta be kidding me!” I said as I picked it up, “Prentiss.”
“Hey sugar, we got a case. Little kids, it's bad.”
I sighed as Penelope told me to get to the jet within the hour. I hung up after saying bye and started getting dressed.
“Where at?” JJ mumbled as she watched me get ready.
“LA, she said it was bad.” JJ got up to go make me coffee but I kissed her and told her to lay back down.
“I love you Em, be careful please.” She sat up in bed with the sheets pooling around her waist.
“I will, I love you too.” I gave her one last kiss before grabbing my go bag.
I peeked into Katie’s room and she was still asleep. I kissed her forehead and grabbed the sticky notes and a pen from her dresser and wrote out:
Case in LA, Love you baby, take care of mom and the babies for me, Mama.
I added a little heart at the end and stuck it on her phone case. I made coffee and grabbed a snack from the pantry before heading out to the jet.
“Three women and their two year old sons are dead.” Hotch said as he handed us each a case file on the jet. “All single mothers, working multiple jobs to be able to support their kids.”
I opened up the case file and saw the crime scene photos. Each woman was shot in the stomach and left to bleed out while their kids were killed. It made me sick, everyone always hated cases with kids directly involved but it's gotten a lot worse for me now that I have Katie and the babies on the way.
“None of them had any known relatives and the only connection is that they live within a two block radius. The local cops are knocking on doors to get more information from their neighbors. Prentiss and Morgan meet up with them and figure out if they knew each other, or frequented the same areas. Reid and Lewis head over to the ME. Rossi and I will set up at the police station.”
We stepped off the jet into the LA heat. It was finally starting to cool off in Virginia and of course we end up here. I shrugged off my blazer so I was wearing black pants and a red tank top. My bangs have grown out long enough that they stay hidden in my curled hair.
Hotch shook hands with the local detectives. “Hi, I’m Agent Hotchner, we spoke on the phone.”
“Detectives Angela Lopez and Nyla Harper, thank you for coming.” The first detective said.
“Of course, this is my team, Agents Rossi, Morgan, Lewis, and Prentiss, and Dr. Reid. We’d like to get a jump on things right away.”
“Of course,” Lopez said and handed Hotch the keys to the SUVs waiting for us.
Morgan and I hopped in one and I plugged in to the GPS where we were going while he cranked the AC. We pulled up a few minutes later to a more poor area of the town. There was a couple apartment buildings where the victims lived. We found the cops we were supposed to be meeting. Derek held up his badge to the first one and I recognized him immediately. He was the son of Arnold Karter, the one I came to see right before JJ told me she was pregnant.
I think he recognized me, “Agent Prentiss,” I said while shaking his hand, “I believe we’ve met before.”
“Wait you have?” Derek said and I rolled my eyes because Derek was literally with me.
“Ohhh wait you're-”
“Officer Bradford,” He said, cutting Derek off a little bit.
“Right, right, nice to see you again man.” I wasn’t that nice the first time I saw him.
“Found anything so far?” Derek asked.
“Nothing. We’ve asked neighbors but not everyone is home right now.” I nodded as a younger looking officer walked over.
“Nothing on the first floor, sir.” He said to Bradford and he nodded.
“This is my boot, Officer Penn, this is Agents Morgan and Prentiss with the FBI.”
“Oh right, cool.” The young officer seemed impressed.
“Officers Chen and Juarez are checking through the second victim's apartment building.” Bradford said while gesturing to another building.
I nodded, "I’ll go check in with them." I really just wanted to get out of the awkwardness of meeting that guy before.
I walked into the apartment building and went down the first floor hallway. Suddenly a soccer ball hit my thigh. I smiled, soccer reminded me of JJ.
“I am so sorry,” a lady coming out of her apartment said as she struggled carrying a bag of trash out and an empty pizza box.
A little boy ran around her legs to get to the soccer ball by my feet. He was giggling and I lightly kicked the ball back towards him.
“Here, let me help you,” I said while grabbing the bag of trash.
“Oh, thank you so much, we were just on our way down to the dumpster and then Cameron wanted to go play.” I smiled at the little boy running around. He had light brown skin and brown loosely curled hair.
“Its no problem at all. Do you live here alone?” I showed her my badge as Cameron kicked the ball ahead of us.
“Oh um, yeah I do.” I nodded my head as we walked outside. She introduced herself and said she worked as a waitress/bartender at night. I threw out the garbage when she lifted the lid.
“Are you here because of what happened to Maggie and Sarah?” she asked me nervously. Those were the first and third victims.
“Did you know them?” I asked.
“Not really, but their boys would play with Cameron and a couple other little kids. I heard that they died, is that true?” Well there's a connection.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. Do you know what other kids played with them?” We watched the little boy kick the ball against the dumpster.
“Umm no not really, there were always some new ones, so many people live around here.” I nodded as we walked over to the playground. I looked around for anything or anyone suspicious.
“Have you ever noticed anything out of the ordinary, or anyone watching you or the kids?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
I handed her my card, “Here take this, if you think of anything else or see anything please call me, even if it seems small.”
“Agent Prentiss, are me and my son going to be ok?” I nodded. There was nothing else I could do. There were a bunch of kids and moms living in this area. We couldn’t put them all in witness protection. I wish we could.
I found the cops that I was supposed to be looking for and introduced myself before meeting up with Morgan and the other two officers.
I got Hotch on the phone, “I talked to one mom, Lacy Stenson, she has a little boy and said that she knew Maggie and Sarah. The kids would play at the park together sometimes. She couldn’t think of anyone else by name but said there were always a bunch of kids there. I gave her my card and said to call if anything seems off.”
We kept asking around for a little bit but didn’t find much else. We headed back to the police station and Rossi had gone out and brought back a large amount of tacos from a food truck outside. I called JJ while we ate and told her a bit about the case.
Then I had a call from an unknown number come in. “Hold on Jen, I’ve gotta call you back.”
I hung up and answered the other number. “Prentiss”
“Agent Prentiss? This is Lacy Stenson calling, you told me to call if anything seemed weird.”
Her voice sounded shaky. “Yes Lacy, what's going on?” I asked as I grabbed the keys and nodded to the team.
“I took Cameron back to the park after we ate dinner. We are on our way back to the apartment now but some guy was watching us and I think he’s following us now.” I nodded at Hotch and we ran out to the car.
“Lacy, listen to me, get inside your apartment and lock the door.” I heard her open her apartment door as Hotch and I raced to her apartment. She must have dropped her phone but I could hear a large commotion and then a gunshot. I tried calling for her through the phone but she wasn’t answering.
I pulled my vest on and jumped out of the SUV as soon as we pulled up to the building. I rounded the corner of the hallway and found her apartment door open. I entered slowly with my gun raised.
“FBI, put down your weapon!” I shouted to the unsub who had a gun pointed at Cameron. Lacy was laying on the floor with blood pouring out of her stomach. I heard Hotch run up behind me.
“It's over, put it down.” He said firmly.
The unsub looked panicked and I knew this was going to end in at least one person being dead. And it wasn’t going to be that little boy.
“I need to kill him!” He shouted while moving his gun slightly. “You don't understand!”
I didn’t wait for him to finish, the second his gun pointed slightly away from the boy’s head, Hotch and I both fired. The unsub’s body crumpled to the ground as the little boy started crying.
I grabbed him and held him close. He was so small, only two or three years old.
The detectives and the rest of the team showed up as I was kneeling next to Lacy.
She wasn’t going to make it. I held her hand in mine with Cameron’s between ours. So she could hold her baby one last time.
“Please- please take care of my baby.” She said to me right before she looked back at her boy and closed her eyes.