𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓭 ➵ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

Chapter 28: You Can't Leave Me

AS SOON AS Cora's screams were recognised, you had muted the call so your father couldn't head your discussion.

"Y/n, who is Cora?" Derek inquires.

You run a hand through your dishevelled hair, "She was my best friend for my entire childhood, she was there right until I left this place."

"So he took her because you're close with her?"

You hesitate, "I haven't talked to Cora in years - not since I was 16, well unless..."

You furrow your brows. If anyone had been looking at the situation, wanting to kidnap someone who is close to you, they would've gone with Annie or a team member. But he hadn't, he had chosen Cora, a person you haven't talked to in a very long time with the exception of tonight.

You think back to the moment you arrived back at the motel, and how you had heard rustling and footsteps.

Quietly, you mutter, "He was watching me..."

"Is that why you were so jumpy when I found you?" Spencer asks, looking up from the file he is easily breezing through.

You nod and ignore the suggestive glances shared throughout the team - you should've known you can't hide things from a group of profilers.

"So he's been watching you the entire time you were here? If you haven't spoken with Cora in over a decade then why'd he take her?" Emily chimes.

"I talked to her tonight."

Spencer looks up again and narrows his eyes at you, he had been unable to place your whereabouts from the moment you left him at the barn to the moment he had found you outside the motel. Now he knows where you were.

"Y/n...I'm getting bored..." your father calls out.

Hotch shakes his head, signalling for you to not answer him.

"I can't wait much longer, Y/n, I've got a gun in my hand and my finger might just slip-"

You rush forward and grab the phone, unmuting it and taking it off speaker as you bring it to your ear.

"What do you want?"

"There you are! I've been waiting to hear that voice."

You continue talking despite Hotch's efforts to get you to put the phone down, "Answer my question."

"Hmm...I want you back. I know you're tracing the call, and trust me, I don't care. I want you to. And when you find my location, I'll be waiting. Goodbye, Y/n."

He hangs up the phone as you place it back down on the table, and even though they are all silent, you know the team are itching to find out what was said.

"He wants us to find his location." You utter.

"Then we can't rule out being led into a trap."

You shake your head, "He doesn't want you guys. No offence."

"None taken," Rossi adds, "I am a-okay with not being wanted by a serial killer."

You eye him before letting a small smile break your lips.

"I have his location." Garcia pipes up, making you take a deep breath, "He's at 6445 Pindsy Street."

You close your eyes and sigh, "That's where I grew up."

"It makes sense he would go there then, let's get going." Hotch says, making everybody file out of the room but you.

Spender lingers in the doorway as you turn around and rake your eyes over the investigation. All of the effort put into this case, just for it to be him. He returned home just to terrorise the town and with it, you.

You feel a hand intertwine with your own, feeling Spencer's presence at your side. You lean your head against his chest, his other hand holding you close.

"Can you promise me one thing?" You whisper, hearing a hum in response, "When this is over, make sure that one of us is dead."

He pulls away, "What are you talking about?"

"It's me or him. As long as he's alive, I'll never be able to stop looking over my shoulder. As long as I'm alive, he'll never stop taunting you guys."

He shakes his head and scrunches up his nose, "You want to die?"

You lean forward and grab his hand, pulling it to your chest and looking him in the eyes, "No, I don't. But I'm not afraid of death - I've seen it too much to be afraid."

"But I am, I'm afraid Y/n," he mumbles, "You can't leave me..."

You feel the tears stinging your eyes as you remove the bracelet he had given to you on your birthday and place it on his wrist, "And I never will."

He glances down at his wrist before furrowing his brows, "It's yours."

"And you can return it to me when this is all over. Promise?"

He nods, "I promise."

You stand in silence for a few moments as you hug each other, holding on as if you would die if you let go.

You know you need to, for the sake of Cora, so you pull away and give him a sad smile before leaving the room and meeting Hotch.

He hands you a bulletproof vest and as you finish putting it on, leads you outside to the SUV's. You sit in the passenger seat and it's only the pair of you in the car as Hotch begins to drive.

It is silent as you stare out the window, looking at everything you remember from so long ago. A lot of it has changed, but mainly only been modernised. The basic structure of the entire town is still exactly the same, meaning your childhood home still stands.

"With a serial killer as prolific as your father, I would've thought more people would talk about him still."

You turn your head to look at Hotch, "I kept it from them. With the help of JJ I managed to keep it off the news here. Graysville didn't need bad press - it's a nice place if you forget him. So that's what I made them do."

He nods in acknowledgment before swallowing, "You gave Reid a possession of yours. Most people do that when they know death is near or when they plan to self-inflict death."

"I'm not suicidal Hotch," you scoff, "I just ran the probabilities of if I make it out of this alive, and I just wanted him to have something."

He nods and doesn't speak again as you pull up to your childhood home that already has police cars surrounding it, officers with guns positioned on the car roofs aimed at the front door. You share a look with Hotch as you exit the vehicle, an officer heading over to where you stand.

"This is an ongoing crime-"

Hotch holds up his badge and the officer quickly shuts up.

"Was the big 'FBI' printed on our bulletproof vests not enough to tell you that?" You ask sarcastically as the rest of the group approach where you and Hotch are stood.

"So what's the plan?" Derek asks.

All eyes turn to you, including Hotch's. You are silent for a moment as you look at the ground, remembering Cora's family that she has to return to and take care of.

"We end this."

Word Count
1204