Shades of Red

Chapter 2

Our twenty four hours were almost up, and we still hadn't found Katie. We now knew that the girls were surrogates for the unsub's wife. What we didn't know was what he was doing to her. We knew the make and model of his van, and had a partial plate. "Hey baby girl, any luck with that partial?" Derek was on the phone with Penelope Garcia, the teams technical analyst. "The list is too long. I need something to narrow it down." "Start with men whose wives have died. He craves power and recognition, so he probably has a job that reflects that," said Hotch. "Okay, okay down to four. Brad Johnson; 34 his wife died of cancer 2 years ago. Jerry O'Connell; which is probably not our unsub, because he's 92 and his wife died thirty years ago." "He'd have a job in security, or law enforcement. Something that gives him a sense of power," said Derek. "Wait, maybe this is him? Jason Brewer; he's 31 and his wife died four months ago in an armed robbery. He's a correctional officer." "Send us an address," Hotch said grabbing the keys to an suv. "Already done, sir." Penelope clicked of the line, and we all loaded up. Emily and I rode together in one of the SUV's. I was struggling to put my vest on. "Let me help," she said untwisting one of the straps and securing it to my vest. "Are you nervous?" She asked. No doubt picking up on my racing heartbeat and sweaty palms. "A little. I've only ever talked to these people, safe in a prison. But I'm ready, I've worked my whole career for this." "You'll do great," she said as we approached the unsub's house. There were train tracks running along side of the house, just like Katharine said. We climbed out of the SVU and Hotch started giving out directions. "Morgan, Prentiss; you guys take the back. Reid and Rossi, wait out here in case he tries to run. Meredith, you and I will take the front." We all took our positions and waiting for Hotch to give the go-ahead. My heart was pounding out of my chest. The adrenaline I felt was unreal. "On my count," started Hotch. "3,2,1," Hotch kicked the front door in and we went inside. The gun I was carrying felt cold in my hands. We made our way quietly from room to room. There was a door in the kitchen with a lock on it. Morgan kicked the door open, and we raced down the stairs leading to a basement. Then, there she was. She was chained to a bed. She was covered in bruises. "Katie? We're the police, we're here to take you home," Emily said helping Katie to her feet after the chains were cut. "He's gonna come back," said Katie. The fear in her voice was unnerving. "He can't hurt you anymore," I said helping Emily get her upstairs. Just as we got to the front door, a white van pulled into the drive. A small man, maybe five six, stepped out of the van. He took one look at us, dropped what was in his hands, and took off running. I let go of Katie's hand and took off after him. Six years of track was finally paying off. We ran a few blocks before he trapped himself in and ally. He was trying to climb the fence blocking his path, but he was unsuccessful. "You've got nowhere to go," I said aiming my gun right at him. "It's over." He pulled out a gun and aimed it at me. "She loves me," he said. His hand shaking on the trigger. "She'll never leave me." "She's already gone Jason. Your wife died. Katie isn't your wife." I slowly started walking towards him. "Put the gun down Jason. We can both walk away from this." The look on his face was stone cold. He was definitely in a psychotic break. "Jason—," he lunged at me and I quickly kicked the gun out of his hand. I tackled him to the hard, cold ground. His face was smashed into the concrete. I cuffed him quickly, waiting for back up. "Jason brewer, you're under arrest." Just then Emily, Hotch, and Morgan ran around the corner into the ally. Morgan slapped Hotch on the back. "Damn Hotch, she is good." Hotch didn't look pleased.
When we boarded the jet Hotch pulled me to the side. "Agent, what you did today was very reckless. You could have been killed. We are a team here. We do things together." I was a little taken a back. I caught him, didn't I? "I'm sorry, sir. But everyone had they're hands full. I couldn't let him get away." "I understand. However reckless your actions were, you did excellent work today, agent Wilson." A wide smile crossed my face as Hotch left me standing there. I took a seat where I could be alone to decompress. My pulse was still racing. I got so lost in thought that I didn't even notice when Emily came to sit next to me. "You did great out there today. You didn't even blink." For a second I forgot Emily was even talking. I just sat there starting at her. She was so agonizingly astonishing. She snapped her fingers in front of my face to get my attention. "Hello in there. Are you alright?" "Sorry, I'm okay, just still a little wired. Is it always like that?" EmilyLooked at me perplexed. "Like what," she asked tilting her head to the side. "Exhilarating." "We should just be thankful we found Katie alive. Most cases don't go that way. They end much more tragically. Not so exciting. Listen, I'm gonna try and round up the troops when we land, to go for drinks. Would you  care to join us?" I actually had to tell myself in my head not to get too excited. "Yeah, sure. That sounds great Emily." "Perfect," she said as she got up to go see how Reid and Rossi's chess game was going. I laid my head back, and fell asleep for the rest of the trip.
We got back to quantico around 9:30 pm. Garcia greeted us at the elevators. "Hello fearless crime fighters. Happy to have you back safe and sound. New girl, let me show you your desk." Penelope led me to a desk, conveniently right next to Emily. I put my things down and sat down. I finished up my case notes. I checked my phone for the time, it was close to 11. I was heading out when Emily found me. "Hey, so everyone is passing on drinks," she said. The disappointment washed over me. I had been thinking of going out with Emily and the team since we landed. "Oh, okay. Well another time maybe?" She smiled at me and bit her bottom lip. "I was going to say, we can still go if you want." I tried my best not to seem too eager, casual. But the high pitch in my voice said otherwise. "Sure! Let's do it."
We found ourselves at the bar across from the BAU. A lot of agents come here. We sat at a high top table and a waitress came right over to take our drink orders. Emily ordered a vodka cranberry, my kind of girl. "I'll have the same," I said to the waitress. Emily and I sipped our drinks and had good conversation. She told me about some of the cases she's worked on during her time at the BAU. "So, how long have you been with the FBI?" She asked. "I actually joined right out of college. I was younger than everyone else, so that was a challenge. Took a while for people to take me seriously. But I very quickly proved myself." "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking." I had been hoping this question could have been avoided. A lot of times, people learn my age, and they automatically discredit me. "I'm 29." She looked me up and down and bit her lip again. She really needed to stop doing that. "You're young, but you've had such a remarkable career. You move quick Wilson." "I actually graduated high school at 16, college at 20. I don't like to waste time." She laughed a little and smiled. "No you don't."
The waitress came to check on us. "How about some shots? Let's get this party started. Two tequila's." I was taken aback. I didn't peg Emily as a "shots" kind of woman. Moments later the waitress brought our shots. "To you, Meredith. Welcome to the BAU." We clanked our glasses together and tossed back our shots. The heat from the tequila made my face flush red.
Several shots later, I was drunk. It didn't take much usually to get me there. I was having an amazing time with Emily. She was so easy to talk to, like we were old friends. Just then a song came on the jukebox that enticed Emily. "I love this song. C'mon, let's go dance!" She led me to the dance floor. We danced through the next three songs, and took two more tequila shots. "I have to pee," I shouted at Emily. The music was so loud you couldn't even hear yourself think. "I'll go with you," she said leading the way. I used the restroom and found Emily leaning against the sink when I was done. She was really drunk. She had to try hard to hold herself up. "What do you say we call it a night, party animal?" I led her out of the bar, and got us a taxi. Emily was barely awake in the cab, but I needed her address. I gently lifted her chin up and she opened her eyes. "Hey pretty girl, what's your address?" "456 W sycamore," she mumbled out through a drunken smile. The driver took us to her apartment. Emily went to get out of the cab and stumbled out. I quickly got out to help. I placed one hand on her back, the other in her hand. "Let's get you inside," I said leading her up the stairs of her building. We made it into her apartment. Emily went to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of red wine. "Would you like a glass?" She asked. I nodded my head. The room was starting to spin. I thought about passing, but she already had a glass poured. She held out the glass and I stepped closer to her to take it. "Tonight was fun. We should do this again." Emily's make up was smeared. Her hair was sticking up in weird places, and it seemed like her eyes weren't equal anymore; but she was still stunning.
We found ourselves on em's couch going through the bottle of wine she had opened. It was like neither of us wanted the night to end. I was in the middle of telling Emily about my time at Yale when she started nodding off. I grabbed the blanket off of the back of the couch and leaned over her to cover her with it. Just as I was about to turn around and leave, she grabbed my arm and pulled me back down to her, and kissed me. Her lips felt soft, like rose petals. She grazed my bottom lip with her tongue. I hadn't been with anyone in a long time. Parts of my body were lighting up that I didn't think worked anymore. As much as I wanted to keep going, I pulled back. Emily looked at me puzzled and dazed. "What's wrong?" I wiped Emily off of my lips. And sat back down next to her. "I have a history of moving too fast. Plus, we're both pretty drunk, Emily. I think it's time for me to go. You should get some sleep." I lifted myself off of the sofa. Just before I opened her door I turned to face her. "See you Monday, pretty girl."