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gryfflepuffinthetardis · 2 months ago

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Blood Hungry

Season One Masterlist

Popular Kids

What Fresh Hell?

Summary: The team go to Tennessee to find out who is butchering people and stealing their organs.

Warning: Violent deaths, Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Blood, Cain Noble, Hints of Abuse, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, References to a dishonorable discharge, Toxic Parenting, Mentions of Abusive Parenting, Suicide Attempt

"Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache."

December 13, 2005

The team was called into the round room and Hotch greeted them, standing next to the screen with a white suburban house on it while the table was scattered with brutal crime scene pictures. "I hope everyone had a restful weekend."

"That sounds ominous." Zoe deadpanned.

"Harringtonville, Tennessee. Population five-thousand." JJ said, clicking the screen. "Sixty-four years since they had a homicide. They've had two in the past forty-eight hours."

"First victim, fifty-seven-year-old widower and grandfather, Paul Thompson. Ambushed in his yard. Eighteen stab wounds to his chest and his neck. No forced entry into his house and the only item taken was a shotgun." Hotch said.

"Last night, Annie Stuart, thirty-nine, was also ambushed and, it appears, bludgeoned to death in her home with Thompson's stolen shotgun. In this case the UnSub apparently stole CDs, DVDs, and a little jewelry." JJ said.

"This is a little extreme for a burglary." Morgan commented.

"That's an understatement." Elle said as Gideon opened the door.

"And as you can see, Annie Stuart was eviscerated." Hotch said.

"Yet the first victim wasn't eviscerated, and the UnSub seems to have used a different weapon at each crime scene." Spencer observed.

"Two different MOs." Hotch said.

"Two different killers?" Elle suggested.

"Or one very psychotic individual." Gideon said and they looked at him to see he was on crutches.

"What happened to you?" Hotch asked.

"Oh, I got a list of things I want to try before it's too late."

"And orthopedic surgery's one of them?" Zoe deadpanned.

"Nope, skydiving. Apparently, it's all about the landing."

"What, are you nuts, you don't get enough danger on this job?" Alexander asked.

"How long on the crutches?"

"Oh, just a couple days."

"If you're willing to deal with them long enough." Zoe said, Zoe bet he'd discard them by the end of the fifteenth.

"So, you can't go out in the field?" Elle said.

"Nope." Zoe said.

Gideon looked through the photos, still standing with his crutches.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll find a way to be helpful here. Got a blitz attack. No effort to remove the body, clean up evidence.”

“With organized killers we see a pattern and we’re able to predict their behavior, but with psychotic killers they’re guided by a given delusion.” Hotch said.

"Okay. So, until we understand the nature of the delusion, we can't predict his next move." Morgan said.

"And that's nearly impossible to do." Hotch added.

"Actually, I think we might have a clue. These rings at the crime scene, they might be some kind of signature?" Spencer said, putting down the picture with three overlapping circles in the blood.

"I can work this angle." Gideon said, "I'll see if there's any significance to the patterns."

"Psychotic killers are normally not that difficult to catch because they don't try to hide." Hotch said.

"Well, does that make your job easier?" JJ asked.

"Oh, no. Because until we do locate him, he'll keep doing that." Alexander said.

———————————————————————————

When they arrived in Harringtonville, Zoe, Spencer, and Elle went to Annie Stuart's house. Elle went upstairs to search while Zoe and Spencer stayed downstairs where the body was found and blood was still splattered about.

"All of the items stolen were taken from the upstairs bedroom." Elle said as she walked back down the stairs, "Why didn't he take her purse? Or cell phone? Or the jewelry off her body? You know, just doesn't make any sense.

"Didn't make sense to us, either." An officer named Sheriff Hall said.

"This guy didn't come any closer to her than he had to." Spencer gestured.

"What do you mean?" Hall asked.

"Well, there's a discrepancy in the profile." Zoe said.

"Sheriff Hall, it's quite possible there were two people in the house." Spencer informed him.

"So, I have two monsters out there?" Hall asked.

"Someone went through the medicine cabinet looking for drugs. Excessive methamphetamine abuse can cause psychotic violent episodes." Spencer said

"So you think these guys were junkies?" Another officer named Jackie Long asked.

“I think we’re dealing with two different profiles. The killer, yeah, he was a psychotic. The other guy though, he was just a thief. I mean, the fact that he didn’t take the victim’s jewelry suggests that he identified with her.” Spencer said as Zoe walked over to the music stand and looked out the window, mentally creating the scene minutes before the murder in her Mind Palace.

"Meaning what?" Long asked.

"He probably knew her." Spencer said

"CSU found a soda can by the fence in the grass. It's marked by that cone." Zoe said.

"That's right. We figured the suspect, or suspects, was lying in wait there." Hall said.

"You spoke to the kid who was having a singing lesson? Uh, Wally Brisbane, right?" Zoe asked.

"That's right. Why?"

"Well, he most likely saw the suspect." Zoe said.

"What?"

"Well, CSU found four of Wally Brisbane's fingerprints right here on the music stand, in this position. Now, from where I'm standing and my height of five foot three, I've got tree branches blocking my way, but Wally is seven and assuming he's the average height for a seven-year-old boy at about four feet, that would put his eye line right about..." Zoe crouched down until she was at four feet tall, "here."

Spencer bent over to see her point of view and looked at her in astonishment.

———————————————————————————

Due to the "Reid Effect" as Morgan had dubbed it when Spencer joined the team, Zoe went to talk to Wally and the mom alone, as if her social skills were that much better than Spencer's.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Zoe Noble-Valdez from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI but everyone just calls me Zoe." She said.

Wally was sitting in a swing with his mother protectively hovering over him.

"I don't know what Sheriff Hall was thinking, asking me to bring him over here." Wally's mother said, speaking in a southern accent.

"I need to talk to your son." Zoe said.

"Listen, I think he's been through enough."

"Mrs. Brisbane, we're really just here to help. Look, I know, this has been traumatic for him but if we're going get justice, we need to speak to him. That's it." Zoe pushed.

"You can ask him whatever you want, but I'm staying right here." Mrs. Brisbane insisted.

Zoe smiled and nodded in agreement and she crouched down so she was eye-level with Wally.

"Wally, I hear that you're the only person in this whole town who might have seen the man who did this to your music teacher." Zoe said.

"He didn't see a thing. Now, did you, buddy?" Mrs. Brisbane insisted.

"With all due respect, I think he should tell me for himself." Zoe said and her eyes darted back to Wally's who looked hesitant, "Wally, it's okay. We will find this guy. Look, I was traumatized when I was young too, my dad's an FBI agent, so a lot of people wanted to hurt him, but I knew that it was because he helped people. He saved lives and solved murders. Please, help me solve her murder before he hurts anyone else. So, please, Wally? What did he look like?"

"Crazy. He was real tall and real skinny." Wally said, "And his lip was bleeding. And when I saw him through the window, he did this." Wally put his finger over his lip in a 'shush' gesture.

———————————————————————————

"The guy the kid described definitely sounds like a tweaker." Elle said as she, Zoe, Spencer, and the officers entered the police station.

"Wally." Zoe inputted sharply.

"Pull the files of all methamphetamine arrests in the past six months." Hall instructed.

"Will do." Long said, sitting down to do so,

"We should narrow the suspect list down according to the guy's residence." Spencer said, "Crimes like these are always crimes of opportunity."

"So the first guy on our suspect list will live in the closest proximity to the victim." Zoe said.

"Do you have a place where we can set up?" Spencer asked, wiggling his fingers.

"Yeah, you can use Simpson's desk. He's out. You got a phone there and a computer." Hall said, "Meantime, I'm going to narrow down that list."

———————————————————————————

Zoe, Spencer, and Elle set up at Simpson's desk. They were kind of squished behind it, Spencer sat in the main chair while Zoe sat in a chair next to him and she kept leaning over him when she needed to reach something which made him fidget each time. Elle had pulled up a chair and occasionally rolled her eyes.

"Hey, you guys find anything?" Morgan asked as he, Hotch, and Alexander entered.

"Yeah." Elle said.

"Zoe found an en eyewitness. Little boy saw someone in the driveway." Spencer said.

"That's more than we got at Thompson's." Hotch said.

"We got two suspects, Judd Franklin and Domino Thacker." Long said, coming up to them and handing them the files.

Hall came out of his office to say, "I know Domino. He's bad news. Serious tweaker. Cooks his own stuff."

"He live near the crime scenes?" Elle asked.

"Almost directly between them." Hall said.

"Robbery. Armed robbery. Possession. Possession with intent." Morgan read from the file. "This guy's been hospitalized for overdoses and attempted suicide."

"What do you think?"

"I think we need to find Domino." Elle siad.

———————————————————————————

Morgan and some officers went and apprehended Domino and provided him with a blanket because he had only been in his tidy-whities. He was in the cell, stuttering from both the nerves and his addiction, "I didn't do nothing. I got the flu. I'm sick is what I am."

He had kept saying that so Zoe as a medical doctor felt she should check on his health, even though she knew it was withdrawal. Drug dependence makes the body need drugs to function.

She went through it, she had been forced to take drugs for eight months to subdue her into further cooperation and when she escaped, she spent a week before the symptoms from withdrawal were over. Tremors, loss of appetite despite not having a healthy three meals a day in eight months, irritability, nausea and outright vomiting, insomnia, and at one point, a seizure.

She knew Domino's general type, got addicted and never kicked it. She could be lumped into the group that did, only she hadn't had the choice to take it ever and never had the urge to use again.

"We know you were there, boy." Hall said as Zoe tried to check Domino's pulse on his wrist as he continued to squirm and shake, he kept retreating back into his blanket.

"In the driveway. I was looking at that car, but I never stoled it." He admitted. "I was thinkin' about it. But I left. I seen that kid."

"The blood found on the bottom of your boot is Annie Stuart's. The tread from the bottom of your boot is the same as the tread found all over the crime scene. Inside!" Elle said as Zoe retracted her hand.

"I didn't do nothing to her." He whimpered.

"Come on now, Domino. How do you think that's going to hold up in court, huh? A tweaker with a record, the blood of the victim all over? Think about that." Morgan said.

"Domino, hey, Domino." Zoe spoke gently, "You're going through withdrawal right now and also major stress. You've been addicted for a while, huh? In your teens? Twenties? Felt it was easier when you were high despite the judging looks people gave you. Before every hit kicks in, you have a fleeting thought. 'This is my last' but it never is. You say the next one will but there's always a next after that next. You saw something, didn't you? You went inside that house, what shortly before she was killed and she was killed while you were inside or shortly after. If you don't tell us, what do you think those judging people will assume?"

"I-I-I-I came back. I came back to her house but he was leaving."

"Who was?" Zoe asked.

"Some dude, man!" He said, and Zoe blinked. "I don't know!"

"What was he wearing?" Zoe asked.

"He had a hood."

"What color was it?" Zoe asked.

"Black. Black hood." He recalled.

"Deputy. Coming out." Elle said and walked out.

Zoe leaned forwards, "Domino, I have a feeling you didn't do this, did you?"

"Mmm-mmm." Domino shook his head.

"If that's true, you've got to help us out here. Talk to me. You left, you saw him leave, and then what?" Zoe asked.

"I went in... and she's lying there. You know, I needed money real bad. So, she's already like that."

"Like what?" Hotch asked.

"You know," Domino whimpered, barely able to say it, "all cut up."

"She was all butchered up and you robbed her anyway." Morgan said from behind the bars.

Before Zoe could scold him, Domino suddenly shouted, "THAT AIN'T RIGHT! IT AIN'T RIGHT!" He got up, backing to the corner as he sobbed, "I'M SORRY! IT AIN'T RIGHT! OH, GOD, FORGIVE ME! OH GOD!"

Hall, Hotch, and Zoe left the cell but Zoe hung back as Domino continued to sob, "Domino, when was the last time you ate?"

"Wha-what?

"Food, Dominio. When was the last time you had an actual meal?"

"Wha-what day is it?"

"Okay. I'll get you something. I can't do anything to help your withdrawal without giving you more drugs and I'm not giving you more drugs but a nutritious well-balanced meal and drinking plenty of water should help." Zoe said.

They left the cell and Hotch told Hall as Domino continued to sob and apologize, "He didn't do it, Sheriff."

"What makes you so sure?" Hall asked as he gave them all back their guns including the whole container of Zoe's dozen guns

"He was pretty freaked out just thinking about what was done to Annie Stuart." Zoe said.

"People pretend." Hall said.

"Anybody delusional enough to eviscerate Annie Stuart would not be lucid enough to recount it the way he did." Hotch explained.

"All right, I'll have him taken to detox, then I'm going to arrest him for robbery.

"Do you mind if I get him a meal before that? I don't think he's eaten in a while that it'll help with the withdrawal symptoms." Zoe asked, "I'll just need to make a quick run."

"Well, in the meantime, I'd have your men canvass the neighborhood again, see if they saw a guy in a hooded sweatshirt." Morgan said as Zoe walked off.

———————————————————————————

The team stood in front of the station a couple hours later, "We are looking for a twenty to thirty-year-old male." Hotch said.

"The UnSub engages in anthropophagy. It's a psychotic conviction that he must drink human blood and possibly eat human flesh." Morgan said.

"For Richard Trenton Chase, the Vampire Killer, he drank his victim's blood because he believed that aliens had invaded his body and were slowly drinking his blood." Spencer explained.

"And if he didn't get the blood he needed, he'd die." Zoe added, "And like Richard Trention Chase, we believe this UnSub to most likely have a psychotic condition. Anthropophagy suggests such an extreme level of psychosis and disorganization that he couldn't have ventured very far from home to commit these crimes.”

"This guy lives or has lived in this town." Morgan said.

"He knows the territory." Hotch said.

"You've all seen him. Maybe at the ballpark or riding his bike home from the grocery store." Morgan said, "He wasn't always a threat. He could've been your neighbor. Might've been your friend. We think something about his delusion is keeping him here in town."

"So we're going to start at Annie Stuart's house and we're going to spread out there in quadrants." Hotch said. "We're going to eliminate all of his hiding places."

"Paul Thompson's funeral is this afternoon. A lot of his neighbors are going to be there." Hall said.

———————————————————————————

They stood outside the funeral. Zoe and Spencer were writing down the license plates and joined them when JJ was saying

And the last one is Oley Maynor. Twenty-five. He was institutionalized for severe manic depression. He has violent mood swings. When he was eighteen, he got arrested for biting the heads off chickens."

"Like a circus geek?" Hotch asked.

"Mmm." She realized they were all looking at her and she turned to see Zoe suddenly next to her, staring at her blankly as she did when they were talking about something that unintentionally applied to her, which happened much more often than you think.

"You know they stopped calling it 'Manic Depression' in nineteen-eighty in order to reduce the stigma associated with the conditions such as the word manic could lead to those with it being called manic, say my dad and somewhat me. Also, it allowed clinicians to better diagnose the condition by distinguishing between different symptoms. Not that you'd know anything about that." She gave JJ a sarcastic smile.

———————————————————————————

Zoe was paired up with Spencer to ask people about Oley.

"You know people with bipolar disorder are at significantly greater risk to engage in violence than the general population and even more likely to be violent than people with schizophrenia."

"That's ten percent of schizophrenics." She deadpanned.

"Still."

Zoe turned to Spencer, she put her hands on her hips and looked up at him, even with him being ten full inches taller than her, he felt she was more intimidating than he could ever be and she spoke in Reid Language: Statistics.

“The statistics on Bipolar and their tendency for violence are inconsistent. First off, statistics can only tell you research of other people but that can’t always apply to everyone else it’s about. Bipolar people are more likely to misuse substances during manic episodes which can increase the risk of violence and may direct their aggression towards themselves or objects rather than at other people. Despite that, the research that amount of bipolar people who are violent is low. Most people with bipolar disorder are not violent and the risk of violence is low. A study found that 8.8 % of patients with bipolar disorder committed violent crimes between 1973 and 2004. However increased the risk is, it’s still low. Besides, most of the aggression during manic episodes may be verbal.”

This was a woman after his own heart.

"You don't know what it's like, Spencer. I barely know what it's like. I only have Cyclothymia which is quite less severe than my dad's. He used to have Bipolar one, my granddad... he wasn't a great guy, in fact, he's a real asshole. He's selfish, he doesn't care what his actions can do to others, he's greedy, and refuses to take responsibility for his own actions. My dad was barely fifteen when his mom and Aunt Isobel's mom died and because my dad kept having 'fits' and 'daft acts' and sent him away... to a corrupt military school that hurt him. Only when he got himself and Isobel away from him, did he get better. When people stopped judging him for something he had no control over. You don't know what it's like to have a manic episode, especially all that my dad's had to deal with. I've been held hostage at least five times in my lifetime and the first one ended with my mom's murder which remains unsolved. It's easy to judge when you have no idea what it's like."

"I know it is." Spencer's voice was soft and slightly raw.

They came upon a fancy-looked southern lady. Just by her clothes alone, Zoe could profile that she was a woman who valued appearances and reputation. The woman was wearing shiny white pearls, a real fur coat with a broach over a black dress that was probably more expensive than it should've been, and a fancy black veil. They asked her about Oley Maynor.

"I saw him just the other day." She said as they walked her to her shiny silver car that Spencer had informed her as a Cadillac.

"You saw him where?" Spencer asked.

"He was with his brother. And in fact, I think it looked like they didn't want to be seen. Because he took Oley out of the car and went straight into his house."

Zoe recalled her few memories of her grandfather, he had been a military man, albeit dishonorably discharged but he was clearly ashamed of his son and granddaughters' mental health and of course, she remembered his way of discipline. She remembered her dad describing how he acted in public when Alexander's episodes started to form and increasingly get worse because of Cain and how he would hurriedly rush Alexander into the house, to hide him from the neighbors, even though they didn't care, they just felt sorry for him, they didn't feel the judgement that Cain thought they did.

"And why do you think that could've been?" Zoe asked. "Is there any other reason that Jess would want to hide his brother?"

"Not one I can think of." She lied. But Zoe caught a hint of judgement in her tone. Judgment for Oley's disorder.

"When did you see them, Mrs. Mays?" Spencer asked.

"Three days ago."

Zoe gave the fancy southern lady a sour look, something about her rubbed her the wrong way. From what she had profiled already, she reminded Zoe of her grandfather but she couldn't quite figure out why. Sometimes it took her a while to catch onto what her subconscious had picked up. So far all she had to go on was a (correctly) perceived hint of judgement.

———————————————————————————

Hall, Morgan, Alexander, Elle, and some other officers came to Jess' butchery, coming into the backroom.

"Jess?" Hall asked as they entered.

"What's going on, Don?" Jess asked, he had been cutting up raw meat with a cleaver.

"Do me a favor, Jess, put that cleaver down, will you?" Hall asked.

Elle held up her badge, "FBI. We're looking for your brother, Oley."

"What for?" Jess asked.

"Where is he, Jess?" Hall asked.

"You know damn well. Where he's been for the past eight years." Jess lied.

"Well, we talked to the hospital. We know he's been released." Hall told him.

There was a sudden clattering behind them in the place where the meat would hang from the ceiling.

"What was that?" Morgan asked.

"Stay out of there." Jess told him sharply.

"Is that him back there?" Alexander tried ask calmly as Hall got out his gun.

"Hang on there, Jessie." Hall said.

Jess treated for the cleaver and Elle said, with her gun pointed at him, "Uh-uh. Don't do it."

"Jess, don't even think about it." Hall warned him.

"Listen to him." Alexander said, "We don't want to hurt him. Just want to ask a few questions."

"Oley Maynor?" Morgan called and he entered the freezer.

"Elle." Morgan called and she joined him and even though Alexander wasn't, he joined them, knowing he could get to Oley better than either of them could, least of all Morgan.

Oley was hidden behind the meats with a black hoodie on, carrying a crowbar. Morgan already had his gun out and Elle was quick to take hers out too. Alexander shot a side-glare at them and took his out but did not point it at Oley.

"Put that down," Elle warned.

"Jess? Jessie?" Oley cried.

"Don't you touch him!" Jess called and he whispered the Hall, "Please, Don."

"I said, put it down. Now."

"Oley, think. I've got a bullet that travels fifteen-hundred feet a second. How fast you think you can get to us with that thing? Let's go. Put it down."

"Morgan." Alexander said, "Oley, we just want to ask you a few questions. That's it. So why don't you put down the crowbar and we can talk away from the bloody meat."

Oley came out of the freezer and stood next to his brother while they asked him questions

"Oley, these people will do whatever it takes to solve this thing. They need a confession and they're going to pin it on you." Jess said, bitterly.

"No. That's not what we want. We need to prevent another killing." Alexander reassured them.

"And we know that Oley was released from an institution in Richmond three weeks ago." Morgan said.

"We should've just told everyone I was home." Oley sighed.

"Just shut up, Oley." Jess said and he leaned towards the others, "Let me tell you something. People have poked fun of my brother his whole life. Our dad. Kids. Even teachers at school. Well, they aren't going to do it anymore."

"You don't believe I'm better?" Oley frowned.

"Yes, I do." Jess told him.

"That's why I didn't wanna come back home anyway."

"Why did you come back, Oley?" Alexander asked.

"To say good-bye." Oley said.

"You're living with me. I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Jess told him.

"It's always the same old thing. Good old Oley. He's a hell of a ball player, but he's crazy as a loon." Oley said. Alexander could relate.

"No." Jess shook his head.

"There are special homes I can go to. I don't need to stay here." Oley said.

"I don't want you to go. I want to help you." Jess insisted.

"I'm tired of hiding."

“Oley, when I was fifteen my mother died, leaving me and my sister with our father, if you can call him that, and I started having episodes of periods of mania, I was soon diagnosed with manic depression—bipolar one. Let me guess, the incident with the chickens was after a few drinks.” Alexander said and Oley nodded, “I know what it’s like to be surrounded by people who think you’re crazy. The only support I had was my little sister. My dad was ashamed of me, tried to lock me in the house, and send me away, like I was a loon. But when you take your meds, it’s manageable, right? Maybe a few side effects from the medication. Your mania is less intense, and the periods of depression aren’t as existential. They don’t quite hit the lows and highs that send you spiraling. Maybe, some migraines or insomnia, right?” Oley nodded, “So, you’ve been making your meds?”

"Every day." Oley said and he pulled out a strand of hair, "Test me."

———————————————————————————

"So, I've checked out the other possible UnSubs JJ found. Farrell Belvedere, he took a little too much LSF and tore up a cheese counter but he has an alibi. Mark Ward, attempted suicide, but he's living with his parents." Zoe sighed and sunk into the chair.

"What is it?" Spencer asked.

"This town... they're a little... that woman we talked too, she obviously judged Oley for being bipolar. My dad's hometown was the same. Anyone who's not considered normal is an outcast. I was the same at my high school, in Mexico..." She sighed.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Spencer said.

Jackie Long then came out and said, "We just got a call that there was a scream coming from their neighbor's house and a car sped away."

———————————————————————————

The victim was Lynette Giles, Wally's grandmother who had been watching Wally... who was now missing.

Zoe walked up to Elle and Hall when they arrived.

"What happened?" Elle asked.

"The neighbor across the street heard a car screech out of the driveway about twenty-five minutes ago just soon after they heard the scream." Zoe said.

"Well, whose car was it?" Hall asked.

"The grandmother's. Lynnette Giles." Zoe said. "It's a gold '72 Buick. Long already put the APB on it. The parents just got home from work."

Wally's mother then spotted Zoe and stormed over to her.

“I WISH TO GOD HE’D NEVER SPOKEN TO YOU!” Wally’s mother screamed in Zoe’s face and her professional look turned into a deadpan one, “I TOLD YOU I DIDN’T WANT HIM INVOLVED!”

“I ASSURE YOU WE’RE EVERYTHING WE CAN..." Zoe shouted, just to be heard.

"I WANT MY BABY BACK! I WANT HIM BACK!” She screamed and started to hit at Zoe’s sternum who barely moved until Wally’s mother's stance changed to give some harder punches as Hotch and Morgan started to go over to intervene and Zoe’s hand shot up without her looking away from the mother’s face, grabbing the woman loosely but firmly around the wrist so she couldn’t pull away. Wally’s mother raised her other hand to hit Zoe but once again without looking directly at it, she caught it in her other hand. “I WANT HIM BACK! I WANT MY BABY!”

“MA’AM!” Zoe shouted, her voice suddenly getting deep and louder than she looked capable off, quieting her. Zoe spoke in a rational yet empathetic voice, “The man Wally saw likely didn’t do it. It is not related to the man who robbed Annie Stuart. What could be related is that Wally may have been the target in the first place so, first stop screaming and answer some questions if you want your son found alive. Do you understand?"

She started sobbing and couldn't answer so Hall escorted her away, promising not to sleep until they found Wally.

Zoe and Long walked towards Hotch, Spencer, and Morgan.

"Are you okay?" Long asked.

"Of course, I've gotten worse blows than that besides I always wear body armor when there's an UnSub like ours around." Zoe smacked her stomach, making a distinct slapping sound against Kevlar-like material.

"The little boy was at both crime scenes. The UnSub might've been after him all along." Zoe told the others.

"I want you to talk to Mrs. Brisbane when she calms down." Hotch told her. "See if she can come up with any leads."

"What? She's not going to want to talk to me. She just hit me." Zoe asked.

"Persuade her." Was he reply.

"How?"

"I don't know. Aren't you good at persuading people, isn't that why you always came on cases since you were a kid." Hotch deadpanned. Zoe glared.

"Who found the body?"

"Your girl here. She was here first on that motorcycle of hers." Long nodded to Zoe. "If, you don't mind, I'll wait out here."

"That's fine."

"Yeah, it's gruesome but I think you'll want to see this, Hotch." Zoe said and she walked where she found the body with Hotch and Spencer.

"I put her time of death at around 9:30, I must've arrived just minutes after the UnSub left with Wally. See, she's beginning to pale, that's called pallor mortis, it's when the body begins to pale because the blood has stopped moving through the capillaries, the body's smallest blood vessels, that means it's been about fifteen to twenty minutes since her death." Zoe explained as she stepped expertly around the body so she could get on the other side of the room and have a good view of the body and let Spencer get a good look without feeling crowded.

"How can you tell that's not just from the blood loss?" Hotch asked.

"I've seen people lose this much blood before and die. When I was in that prison, they'd use psychological torture by gutting and eviscerating people in front of me. So, I know what it looks like." Zoe said, simply. "Spencer, stop looking at me like that."

Spencer swallowed and looked back down at the body, "Another evisceration." He observed, "Her throat was slashed."

"That's why only one scream was heard." Hotch said.

"He split her rib cage open?" Spencer said, questioningly.

"I'm assuming with those." Zoe pointed to a pair of blood-covered bolt cutters.

"Why was her ribcage opened? What's in the ribcage."

"The respiratory system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, the immune system, and the esophagus." Zoe said.

"What?" Hotch asked.

"It looks like, this time, his target was the heart." Zoe got to the point, she subconsciously clawed at her heart as she had some heart issues. She had had to have an atrial switch procedure when she was a week old and had a heart failure when she was four... Cain's fault. But no issues since then, weren't estimated to be any problems until her late twenties to thirties unless there were any complications until then.

"Did he take it?" Hotch asked.

"Yes." Spencer and Zoe said.

———————————————————————————

They got on the phone with Gideon and Garcia, they heard Gideon's crutches, "He took the heart, Hotch?"

"Yeah."

"The heart has always had incredible symbolic significance, I mean, aside from just banal romantic associations. The Egyptians left the heart in mummies because they believed the organ ensured eternal life." Spencer said.

"Something I read..." Gideon said, "Over there, wait... Ow!" It sounded like Gideon had hit Garcia's chair.

"Sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Gimme the book. The big one. Right there." There was still mumbling as Gideon was eager to get the book he couldn't reach. "Where's the crime scene photos?"

"Crime scene photos are right here, sir."

"Does the body look like an angel?"

"Not to me. No."

"Scan this in. Send it to them." Gideon said and spoke, louder so they could all hear him clearly through the phone, "There was an article by a Cambridge professor, seems that all the organs the UnSub has taken, stomach, liver, now, the heart, they were thought to be the seat of the soul at one time or another."

"The guy drinks their blood." Spencer recalled.

"So when this man drinks his victim's blood..." Hotch said.

"He believes he's encountering the divine."

"Wait a minute, none of this explains why he took the kid." Morgan said.

"Well, the UnSub made the victim into an angel, maybe the kid is a messianic figure." Gideon suggested.

"Let's just hope he doesn't feel the need to sacrifice him." Hotch said.

———————————————————————————

They were called back to Annie Stuart's house when the husband was going in to get something and they found a container with something in it along with what seemed to be blood.

"He must've come by between patrols." Long fretted.

"Now, Jackie. It's not your fault." Hall reassured her.

"Well, what the hell is it?" Long asked as Zoe opened the container and peered inside with no change in her expression.

"It's a human stomach." She informed her.

"My God." Long said in horror and disgust, "You mean, Dave's wife?"

"We can only assume." Spencer said.

"Now, none of the neighbors saw anything?" Hall asked.

"Well, we talked to Miss Wade across the road, nothing and the Maynards aren't even home." Long said.

"All right. We need a twenty-four-hour watch here and at the other crime scenes, too. Go on." Hall said and Long left, wanting to be far away from the organ. Hall turned to the leader of the BAU, "Now, Agent Hotchner, I need to be very clear here, right now, all we got is some theory about a religious delusion. I mean, how the hell do you explain that?"

"Sometimes disorganized killers return body parts to the grave sites. It might be nothing. It might just be a way for them to manipulate the body even after death. But it may also be an act of remorse." Spencer explained.

"Even in the most extreme psychotic episodes, there are variations in lucidity, degrees of insightfulness. It is very possible; they can remember the episode." Zoe explained, "So, if I'm coming out of a delusion, just killed someone, drank their blood... I can't deny what I've done, if not from the memory, then from the physical evidence, the blood, the ownership of the organs, offensive wounds, the wounds caused from attacking people. And I'm starting to feel bad about it... Where do I go?"

"Sheriff, how many churches are there in this town?" Hotch asked.

"Gentlemen... and lady," Hall scoffed and Zoe gave him a deadpan look, "this is the Bible belt. Maybe fifteen.

"I would post an officer at every single one. Call in auxiliary cops, if you have them.

———————————————————————————

Zoe and Spencer sat in a car, Zoe kept fidgeting unable to get uncomfortable.

"I hate cars." She grumbled.

"Zoe, what makes you think there will be offensive wounds?" Spencer asked.

"I've seen a thirty-year-old woman beat the shit out of fully grown torturers, even she wasn't unscathed. If you punch someone, it still hurts your fist. I predict that the UnSub will have minor injuries, scratches, and bruises. Easily covered up. I've had my fair share of fights." She said.

"I'm sorry. UnSub or bully?" Spencer asked.

"I was kind of hard to bully. Zarah was a cheerleader who practically radiated sunshine and I was her antisocial outcast sister who actively described herself as an 'axe-baby' as an opening line. I was scary and traumatized. I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to try to use my trauma to scare people away." Her tone was laced with sarcasm. She had never tried to hide that coping mechanism.

"No, yeah, I've noticed." He said.

"But when Zarah went missing, they blamed me, said that I had killed her. I got into fights with girls and boys twice my size... in the five days I was back so I went to Harvard to stay with my friend as her roommate. I graduated high school quietly and with no celebration."

"I'm sorry. I was bullied in high school too."

"I figured."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spencer asked, not sure if she was purposely being mean.

"Nothing personal. It's just... you have an IQ of 187, you have no interest in sports which is what most high schoolers actually care about in others, you're a reader and you're socially awkward. You don't mix well with people just developing their hedonistic impulses of parties, drugs, sex, and alcohol because you curve those impulses out of selfless concern for others, focusing more on your promising academic future while theirs were severely not as optimistic as yours."

"I thought we all had a rule not to profile each other."

"What they don't tell you when you start training to be a profiler is that you kind of can't turn it off. It's just how your mind works. Especially if you're like me and have been the target of many UnSubs and were born and raised by the original BAU." Zoe told him.

"Someone like you... who prefers motorcycles to cars. Now motorcycle riders are a diverse group of people with a wide range of personalities, but some common traits include. Risk-taking, riders are more likely to make impulsive decisions and risks, especially when sensation-seeking or aggression are strong personality traits. Carefree, they're less concerned with their actions. Some female motorcycle riders tend to be confident, independent, and fearless. You have a high tolerance for uncertainty, it's one of things I admire about you the most, you are adventurous, rebellious, passionate, resilient, tough, and brave. You value your freedom because you know it can be taken away at any time. You find riding to be healthy for your mental health. Psychologists call it a 'flow state', where you're completely immersed in the present, energized and focused. You dislike restraint which could be why you don't like cars. And I've read that bikers have a code. They're loyal, they never leave a biker behind; you're immensely loyal despite that toughness."

Spencer said all of this, not quite as a profile but more as it was, the small things that she thought nobody else noticed. She had never felt so "seen" since with J.D. and that was for a completely different reason. Spencer could see her personality behind her aggression and violence, and he implied that he wasn't going to let her scare him away. Even the way, he was looking at her felt like he saw her more than any other of the profilers.

Then the phone rang. Spencer cleared his throat, as if realizing that he had said all this aloud and blushing and he fumbled with his old, old phone.

"Hello?" His voice broke, awkwardly.

"Whoa, what did I interrupt?" Morgan's teasing voice asked.

"Morgan!" Spencer blushed.

"Elle and I got him. We're taking him back to the station."

———————————————————————————

"His name's Eddy Mays, twenty-one years old." Hall said as Eddy screamed in his cell. Hall had a sympathetic tone to his voice.

"You know him?" Hotch asked

"Yeah. I just can't believe a boy like Eddy would do something like this. He was the nicest kid you ever saw." Hall said.

"He's mentally ill, Sheriff. A boy like Eddy Mays could truly use an insanity plea in a court of law." Spencer explained.

"You know, the ironic thing about psychotic illness is generally, they're less violent than the rest of the population." Zoe explained "But by the nature of psychotic delusions, when they do get violent..." She trailed off.

"We're never going to get anywhere with him. Not like this. I mean, look at that." Morgan said. Eddy was still yet looked wild in the mind, he kept gasping sharply and quickly and muttering things under his breath all while staring at the ceiling. "You can't read him his rights. You can't even process him."

"I better call his mother. It's a damn shame, his daddy just died a couple years ago." Hall said, "This is gonna fall awful hard on her."

"What's the family like?" Alexander asked suddenly. He knew that environmental factors had a significant impact of mental health. His father's abuse was a large factor in his Bipolar one.

"Dad was a doctor, and Mary Gwathmey Mays comes from one of the oldest families in Tennessee."

"I'd like to meet her.

"We already have." Spencer said.

"You have to be fucking kidding me." Zoe scoffed, irritated.

——————————————————————————

Mary Mays was the fancy southern lady Zoe had disliked, still wearing those large, shiny, expensive pearls like she was at a fancy dress party in the eighties.

Zoe and Alexander stood behind Hotch as they had informed Mary Mays

"I can't believe it. It's just... It's so horrible. If there was anything I could have done to stop him... I didn't even know he was in town."

"Are you aware how sick your son is?" Zoe asked.

"He had some trouble adjusting to school. There was an incident last year. We got him some help." Mary Mays explained, Zoe could immediately tell she was skirting around the subject.

Alexander clenched his jaw, remembering how his dad referred to his episodes as "incidents".

"Mrs. Mays, actually there is a way that you can help us. " Hotch said.

"Anything." She said.

"We believe your son has kidnapped a seven-year-old boy, Wally Brisbane." JJ told him.

"Oh, Lord God!"

"And he doesn't remember what he did with him, but if we were able to give him some anti-psychotic medication, he may become more lucid." Zoe explained.

"That child's parents must be devastated." She said.

"Right now, Eddy is non compos mentis. But if you were to sign a medical consent form, we could give him the injection." Hotch said.

"Of course." She agreed and took the paper. "I just pray that child is all right."

———————————————————————————

Zoe set her laptop up to video call Garcia with Hotch sitting next to her.

"Hey, Garcia, talk to us." Hotch said.

"Okay, so I got a hold of Eddy's roommate in college, who describes Eddy as having an overprotective mom."

"How overprotective? Like my dad overprotective?" Zoe asked.

"Oh, way worse than your dad. Mary Mays called him like, three times a day." Garcia said, "And get this, one time, she went up to Boston to break him up with a girlfriend she didn't like."

"Wow." Zoe said. Her dad had been uncomfortable with her dating J.D. on and off with how little he knew about him, but he trusted her judgement.

"Yeah, yeah. It seems like Eddy's entire college experience was some sort of post-adolescent rebellion. He partied like an eighties clubber. He suffered a delusional break due to methamphetamine and rock cocaine consumption." Garcia said.

"Wow, that is partying like an eighties clubber." Hotch deadpanned.

"Right? So then, he was admitted to a mental health facility in Boston, checked himself out a week ago, and found his way home." Garcia said.

"What was his major?" Zoe asked.

"Comparative religion."

"Thanks. And how is it having Gideon around?" Hotch asked.

"You can have him back whenever you'd like." Garcia said.

Hotch chuckled, Zoe however rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed with Garcia's annoyance over Gideon's insistence to catch a killer.

———————————————————————————

The woman came to give Eddy the antipsychotics, Doctor Lindsay injected Eddy with the syringe, and he grunted, loudly and painfully as she did it. When she got through the doors to the cell she came up to Zoe and Hotch, "I've administered haloperidol to Mister Mays."

"And how long until it takes effect?" Hotch asked.

"It's coming on now. Full effect in about 15 minutes or so." Doctor Lindsay said.

"Good."

"You have to realize that while the drug will make him appear to be asymptomatic, it will not necessarily remove his delusional state.

"I know that." Zoe said, blankly

"Will it make him more lucid?" Hotch asked.

"Possibly. But let me make this clear, I gave him the shot because he needed to be medicated, not so you could agitate him by putting him through an interrogation. That boy needs to be hospitalized." She said.

"Well, a jury might agree with you. But right now, he needs to answer some questions because there's a little boy we need to find. Thank you." Hotch told her.

Zoe didn't like her tone. "Ma'am, we deal with people like this all the time, we have no intention on agitating him." Zoe said, mimicking her southern accent. "We are trained professionals and while Doctor Reid and I are young, we're rather bright or do you have an IQ of 187 or higher? Or are you from an FBI family and have some neurological disorders of your own?" Then she pushed past her towards the cell, holding Eddy.

Spencer and Hotch met Zoe in front of Eddy's cell, she hadn't entered yet. She was calming herself down as Eddy fidgeted and stared at her, not all there in reality. They entered the cell, towards Eddy. It was just as Zoe had predicted, he had gashes and cuts on his arms.

"Hey, Eddy." Zoe said, softly, crouching in front of him on the floor and then she asked, gently, "Do you know where you are?"

He shook his head before saying, "Jail." Before going back to biting his nail.

"Yeah. That's right." Hotch said, gently. "Do you know why?"

He shook his head but replied, "I was very bad. Before, I was very bad. But I'm-I'm much better now, much... much better."

"Eddy, do you remember hurting anyone?" Zoe asked, gingerly. He shook his head and looked dead at Zoe.

"Where'd you go to college, Eddy?"

"Mm. Boston."

"Did you like Boston?" Zoe asked as Eddy chewed on his thumbnail, obsessively.

"Mm-mmm." He shook his head, "No. I don't know.

“Yeah, I feel you. I’m not a fan of Boston. In fact, it’s my least favorite city in the world.” Zoe said, “I’d be happy to never go there again.”

"What was your favorite thing about Boston, Eddy?" Spencer asked. He looked at Spencer as if only noticing him.

"Harvard… I went to Harvard square. I had cappuccino."

"Cappuccino." Spencer repeated, softly.

"Eddy, do you remember Wally?" Zoe asked, showing him a photo of the seven-year-old child.

Eddy chuckled in recognition, "Yeah. I know the Brisbanes."

"You took this little boy." Hotch said.

Eddy frowned at the photo in confusion. "No." He pointed at the photo as if scolding it. "No. I did not... I did not do that."

"Eddy, I understand that you're uncomfortable. Your-your hands are cut up, your arms are bruised. Is..." Zoe asked, examining his injuries, "Do you know why?"

"Yeah." He cried.

"You killed three people, Eddy. I know you didn't mean to do it. You're just confused."

"You killed three people, Eddy." Eddy repeated. "You killed three people, Eddy."

Spencer held out a picture, "Paul Thompson." Eddy gasped and whined in horror at the photo of what he had done to him. "Annie Stuart." Eddie showed great remorse at these photos, it almost looked physically painful for him. "Lynette Giles." He started to get agitated now, "No! No! Stop it! You will... you will be punished. God is punishing you. No, no, no. I brought you an angel. See? No, I do not see. I do not see. Please! Please! Please! I brought you an angel. Take it." It seemed that he was having both sides of a conversation. They left the cell with Spencer's pulling Zoe out who was deep in thought. "I just want to know. WHEN WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!?"

When they left the cells, Hall got in Hotch's face as Zoe got her med kit to treat Eddy's minor wounds, "We need him to tell us where that boy is."

"Sheriff, we're not gonna get anything out of him until he gets this latest episode under control." Hotch told him.

"Agent Hotchner, it's getting cold and dark. If that Brisbane boy's anywhere outside, he won't stand a chance in hell." Hall said and Alexander's eyes drifted to Mary Mays and saw she was watching but he didn't have much time to dwell on it at the moment because then his daughter's voice shouted.

"HELP! HURRY UP DOWN HERE!" She screamed, urgently. "EDDY! EDDY!"

The team and Mary Mays followed Hall as he unlocked the doors to the cells.

“Oh, Jesus.” Hall said as they found Eddy above the toilet trying to hang himself as Zoe had a foot on the toilet, trying to lift Eddy to lessen the pull of the fabric around his neck as he choked.

"OH MY GOD, MY BABY!" Mary Mays screamed and JJ and Long had to hold her back as Hotch, Hall, and Alexander helped Zoe prevent Eddy's suicide.

She became more hysteric when Zoe pulled out a butterfly knife and brought it close to Eddy's neck.

"HOLD HIM STILL!" She shouted as she flipped the balisong open expertly but still Eddy thrashed but she managed to cut the fabric without cutting Eddy's skin and he fell, knocking her down to the floor, falling on top of her. She immediately pushed him on his back.

"Eddy!? Eddy!? Can you hear me?" She asked on her knees, by his side and she turned to Hall, "Call the hospital!" She turned back to him.

He was unresponsive having just passed out before she cut through the fabric. She started to do chest compressions—two compressions per second using the feel of the palm—fifteen seconds she pinched his nose and blew into his mouth. It only took two tries before Eddy coughed and was visibly breathing again in that manic, frantic way.

——————————————————————————

Zoe was furious with Mary Mays but not as much as Alexander who had been through what Eddy had. His father hadn't been overbearing like Mary Mays was but abusive in a more obvious way. Cain Noble claimed to be a proud veteran but what he did in the war was far from altruistic and to top it all off he was dishonorably discharged for desertion which led to several other men dying and yet he proudly told people he was a veteran when the act in being dishonorably discharged technically meant the U.S. government didn't legally consider him to be a veteran. So, he always used the war as an excuse for his actions and it got worse when Alexander's mother died.

Alexander was all for being protective of his children. (“She makes Dad look laid-back.” Zoe had joked earlier. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to protect your trouble-seeking child!” Alexander had defended.) But Mary Mays' could be considered abuse.]

Zoe, Spencer, Hotch, and Alexander stood int he office in front of the sitting Mary Mays.

"Why weren't you straight with us, Mrs. Mays?" Hotch demanded.

"Straight with you?" Mary Mays scoffed.

“You never told us your son was in a mental hospital. I spoke with a doctor at the facility in Boston. He said Eddy was released a week ago, and that he called you to pick him up and that you never came." Zoe said, sternly. Her eyes were steely.

"You asked me if I knew if he'd come home and I didn't. I thought he was in Boston." Mary Mays deflected.

"You thought he'd just stay in Boston? You weren't concerned what could happen to him when he left the hospital? There was an active serial killer there only seven years ago." Alxander asked.

"There was also blood on the floor of your utility room. Do you have any explanation for that?" Hotch asked.

"Well, sometimes I cut my legs when I prune the roses." Mary Mays said, very defensively for someone claiming they were innocent.

"It's December. You prune your roses in the winter?" Zoe asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. When do you prune yours?" Mary Mays spat, standing up to look Zoe in the eyes but Zoe showed no sign of intimidation, just steely disapproval and dislike.

"Mrs. Mays, I understand that you may want to do everything you can to protect your son, but that little boy may be dying right now." Hotch said.

"Well, I'd like to help you, I really would." Mary Mays said and picked up her coat. "But right now, I've got to see about my son."

"Actually, I think it's better if you stay here." Spencer suggested.

Then the Hotch and Zoe left the room, rejoining JJ, Elle, and Morgan.

"She's definitely lying. I don't know exactly what she's lying about, but she's lying." Hotch told them.

"You don't think she'd let that boy die to save her son, do you?" JJ asked.

"I don't know."

"I'm not so sure it's her son she's trying to protect." Zoe scoffed.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was treating Eddy's scrapes and cuts, I asked him about his mother. I told him I was told she was overprotective, and he said 'only when she wants to. Only then...'. Look at the way, she dresses. She's a widow in Harringtonville, Tennessee, not a socialite in the year 1910. She cares about reputation." Zoe explained.

"She drives a Cadillac, right?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah." Elle said.

"They got GPS's in them." Morgan said.

"So..." Elle asked.

"So, let's go see where she's been." Morgan said.

———————————————————————————

They went to Mary May's Cadillac, Elle and Morgan got inside when Hotch leaned on the window on the passenger side and Zoe leaned on the window on the driver's side as Morgan pulled up the map of the GPS.

"It's got every stop she's made and how long she spent there." Elle said.

"You know, these things could cause more divorces than Internet porn." Morgan said. Zoe scrunched up her nose, slightly. "Hey, look at that, that's interesting."

"She stopped at the same place on Route Three, like, six times." Elle said.

"Okay, let's get Mary and take her to her spot on Route Three. We can tell her that we're going to visit Eddy in the hospital." Hotch said.

———————————————————————————

Zoe was sitting in the back seat of the car next to Mary Mays as Hotch drove and Alexander sat in the passenger's seat. Zoe dug her nails into her palms to remind her to suppress the urge to fidget in the car as she mentally moaned how long it was taking.

"How long have you lived in Harringtonville, Mary?" Hotch asked her.

"All my life. My ancestors have been there since the late eighteenth century. Of course, I went to school in Virginia, but aside from that, right here." She said, "This is not the way to the hospital."

"Well, I've got to make a quick stop first." Hotch dismissed, "Where'd you go to school?"

"High school, Saint Catherine's Hall." An independent private girl's school in Richmond, Virginia. The oldest one there, in fact. "College, Sweet Briar." A private women's liberal arts college in Sweet Briar, Amherst County, Virginia. Slightly selective at seventy-five percent. Actually cheaper than the national average. Which could mean she married into the money she had now.

"You were a 'Sweet Briar Vixen'?" Hotch asked.

"You know Sweet Briar?" Mary Mays chuckled.

"My mother went to Mary Baldwin." Hotch said.

"She's from Virginia?"

"Manassas." He said. A town in northern Virginia.

"I've visited both Staunton and Manassas, and I know where your mother is from." She said.

"My dad's family lived in Virginia for generations. I've been all over Virginia. My dad and aunt grew up in southern Virginia, but I've lived in Quantico my whole life." Zoe conversed.

"I don't think I've ever been to Quantico... Are we driving out of town?" Mary Mays asked.

"Mary Gwathmey Mays. Gwathmey's an old Tidewater family, isn't it?" Hotch ignored her question.

"Where are we going?" Mary Mays asked.

"Old South. Old money. Lot of tradition there. A lot of reputation to protect." Alexander said.

"Excuse me?" Mary Mays asked.

"I know the type. My dad was the type. Always boasting but ignoring me when it came to details like my mental health or his discharge or my mother's illness. When I started having episodes, he hid me away and when that didn't work, he sent me to a military school." Alexander said.

"What's your point?"

"Mary, I don't think you were protecting your son; I think you were protecting yourself. From the shame and humiliation of people finding out that he was mentally ill." Alexander said as Hotch pulled up to the destination, "You didn't visit him in the hospital in six months. Not once."

"What are we doing here?"

"We checked the GPS device in your car. You stopped here six times in less than two hours." Zoe explained as she got out of the car.

"There are a dozen officers on their way over here with a pack of dogs, and we will find that little boy." Hotch interrupted whatever Mary Mays was going to say. "It would be in your best interest to help us."

The team soon arrived with the officers, bloodhounds, and Wally's parents. The bloodhounds barked as they led them to a shed.

"We're coming for you, Wally." Zoe called. "Hang on, Wally."

Hall opened the shed, opened the door, and shined his light inside, showing Wally wrapped in a blanket, shivering from both the low temperature and fear.

"Come here. Come here, it's okay." Zoe reassured him.

"Come on, boy. Come on."

Wally got up and ran to Zoe, hugging her in relief. Zoe turned him and he ran to his parents' arms.

"My baby!" Mrs. Brisbane exclaimed and hugged him, kissing his head.

Alexander and Hotch went to turn away.

"Mister Hotchner, Mister Noble, do either of you have children?" Mary Mays asked.

"Yes, I do." Hotch said.

"Twins. One of them is that strong girl right there." Alexander pointed to Zoe as she tended to Wally, explaining what the parents should do next by taking him to the hospital to check for frostbite or any other kind of damage.

"Is there anything you wouldn't do for them?"

"I wouldn't clean the blood of the victims off the floor." Hotchner said while Alexander just remained quiet, staring at her.

"I didn't know my son was killing anyone until he brought home that boy."

"You know, Mary, sometimes what we don't do is every bit as powerful as what we do." Alexander said.

"You don't understand."

"Oh, no. I understand so much more than you think. “Because I grew up with a father just as prideful as you.” Alexander said, “He was ashamed that his son was Bipolar, he was ashamed that neither of his children shared his views. He was ashamed as his daughter refused to accept her role in the kitchen. He was ashamed that she became a detective, outranking him as a dishonorably discharged chemical corp veteran/prison guard. He was ashamed that his son fell in love with a Hispanic woman and opened up a FBI department that studied criminal behavior and criminal minds. He was ashamed of his granddaughters’ mental health. He shouldn’t have been ashamed of any of this. He should be ashamed of himself as you should. Your son was drowning, and you made no effort to save him."

"You don't know what I did." Mary Mays insisted.

"I know what you didn't do. You didn't call the police. And every day of your life, you're going to have to ask yourself, what would have happened if you'd gone to Boston to help him?" Hotch said.

"Eddy told me he was bringing me an angel. I wanted to protect my son."

"You were protecting yourself." Alexander said, bluntly.

"What else was I supposed to do?"

"Almost anything would have been better."

———————————————————————————

Harriet Beecher Stowe once said, "The bitterest tear shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

The team arrived back at the BAU.

"Nice work, everybody, by the way." Hotch told the team.

"Thank you. Now I get to go back to the fifteen folders on my desk." Elle said.

"Wait a minute. Fifteen? I have twenty-four." Spencer frowned.

"That's because I slipped you four of mine on Friday. " Elle told him.

"What?" Spencer gasped.

"Yep."

Garcia approached them.

"Hey, sweetheart." Morgan said,

"Do not sweetheart me." She seethed.

"What's with you?" Zoe asked as she and Hotch followed her.

"I may not be a Supervisory Special Agent but that doesn't make me a maid."

“What do you mean?

"This is the third box of crap that Gideon left in my office. And there's at least two more, and everything smells like soy sauce." She complained.

"Crap? You mean the files for the case? He gets focused on the cases. You should talk to his ex-wife." Zoe said. "He's always been like this."

Hotch took the box from her hands, "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you." She said and stormed off, muttering, "God, you people."

Zoe knocked on the door and opened it.

"Hey. I believe these are yours." Hotch said, placing in on the floor.

"I knew the crutches wouldn't last long." Zoe said.

"Oh, I'd rather limp. I'll be fine." Gideon waved it off.

"Well, you managed to get on Garcia's nerves pretty thoroughly." Hotch said.

"Who's Garcia?" Gideon asked.

"Penelope? The tech with the glasses?" Hotch reminded him.

"In the room with the screens?

"Yeah. Like a year and a half ago, she was a hacker. You guys called me to track her down and Hotch offered her a job or to go to prison? Remember?" Zoe asked. "'The Black Queen'? I sent you the profile? She flirts with Morgan all the time?"

"She's great." Gideon said.

"You might want to send her a basket or something. " Hotch said.

"She's sounding a little like Jill and Caroline in your and Rossi's early BAU days." Zoe said, referring to Gideon's ex-wife.

"Yeah." Gideon agreed.

"That your list that almost killed you?" Zoe asked, nodding to the small yellow paper in Gideon's hands.

"Yeah. Twenty-five things I want to do before I die." Gideon said.

"Where are you?"

"Seeing the White Sox win the Series, and skydiving, that's twenty-three and twenty-four. So, I guess I need a new list."

"Not until you do them all." Zoe told him.

"He doesn't want to hear from me." Gideon said.

"You don't know until you try." Hotch said and he left the office but Zoe stayed.

“Should I remind you as he and I grew up together, he’s only a year older than me.” Zoe said, “There’s a reason why you named him after your best friend. Coincidentally, he also got his trust issues and stubbornness.”

“He’s not the only one.” Gideon said to her.

“I’m just saying this job is dangerous. We hunt serial killers and spree killers, and my mom died half a day before I was fully born because of one the killers she was hunting. A cold case, just because he liked the irony. Whether on this job or not, we make a lot of enemies; I think when you die, Stephen will want to have more memories of you than you leaving in the middle of things to fly off to some other state. There were issues with my dad insisting that I come along, you know them, but there were also issues with leaving your son behind, even if it's to protect him."

———————————————————————————

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