the girl who i love(d)

contemplations

|chapter tws: mentions of abduction, kidnapping, SA/rape (mentioned once), death|

"Thanks, babygirl, you're my savior." He said with a smirk.

"Nuh-uh, you are mine." She replied, a smirk of her own filling her face.

Morgan and Garcia's flirtatious banter filled the room as their phone conversation ended. The group was still inside of a room at the Virginia Police Department, separated from all of the other cops also actively working the case. They were each in their own worlds as they dove into the piles of information they had and started piecing things together. So far, nothing'd come up. So, Morgan took the time to call up their tech analyst, Penelope Garcia, and now they had one more thing.

"The unsub recently began getting a new victim every one-and-a-half weeks, two at most." Derek told the team.

"And Ivy Sawyer went missing 16 days ago, was found 15." Elle stated.

Her response brought up a realization; "There's a new victim in custody. She's either already dead, or she will be within the next 12 hours." Gideon spoke up, no emotion lining his words, but a feeling of worry within him. "Somebody go get Hotch."

----

Just within the next 10 to 20 minutes, they had a goal set. They needed to find out who was abducted, and by who, before the clock hit 2 am. Could they?

The first step was to bring everybody up to speed. They brought Jennifer Jareau into the room, their communications liaison, and together shared the things they had since JJ's board with the laid out information was basically complete. Then, Aaron Hotchner, the head of the team, also joined them in the office. When those two were filled in on every detail that the others knew, it would only be a matter of time before the local PD did, too. Hotch gave the order to give the (current) profile, and so they did.

Second step, getting specific pieces of information. Otherwise known as breaking the profile down, piece by piece. 

They know that the unsub was local, and all of the victims' homes combined created a 47-minute radius in Virginia. Two of which lived in the same area, Fairfax, so that had to have some kind of meaning or the unsub resided closer to there than anywhere else. But which city would the unsub be located in?

They know that each victim's pre-frontal cortex wasn't fully developed yet. That had to be purposeful. But what was the reason?

And they know that the unsub can't care about being seen since they don't show that when they sexually assault the women. This unsub can't be above average-sized seeing as they cannot be taken over by the women for it to work, and they either don't pay attention to social status or pay very close attention to it; that's why the pattern doesn't make sense. But--

"Wait."

All eyes moved to the man who said that, Spencer Reid. He was stood nearby the other main cops, and they were all inside of the same room as the rest of the regular police officers, so everybody heard. The attention was instantly grabbed. People wondered what new information they'd be given right then; and questioned if it was good, or not-so-good.

"What's up, Spence?" JJ replied so that he would announce his statement to the group.

He looked up at everyone, but mainly his bosses, and explained. "None of the victims' stories repeat." 

"Charity, the smart and educated one. Least likely to be murdered or have a threat on her back. Then Grace, the troublemaker. The one who has problems with everybody. Polar opposites. Summer-- creative, artsy. Juliette, giving, caring. Kassidy was hard-working, Ruth was the spoiled brat, and Ivy was the girl who saved everyone."

"So?" Morgan asked.

"So the unsub actually does have a specific type. One from each stereotype."

The room started to only contain of understanding nods, pondering thoughts, and more questions.

Hotch gave his own physical nod of approval and followed up by saying, "What stereotype would be next?" That question was important. They had a limit of time to figure out who was missing, so that clues would start popping up, and they would at least have something to assist in saving the next victim.

Reid thought for a second. "Invisible person or the loner, athlete, or someone foreign that's been living here awhile."

"Well, we can cross off the athlete, it wouldn't fit the profile." Derek explained.

Jason Gideon began speaking louder, giving an authorative order. "Everyone think about potential stereotypes or groups the unsub might be looking at. Schools, jobs that locals tend to get; food buildings, retail, anything that young women might have as a career. Someone have Garcia cross-reference with neighbors of the other victims, or former exchange students in the United States."

Once the jobs were well-understood by everyone, people started moving around to have an area where they could work. Every police officer in the building was prepared to work, doing everything they possibly could to save a girl, even if they personally had doubts. 

With the time being around 3:00 pm, they would have just about 11 hours before the girl would be assumed as dead. Not only that, but the only way to really get more information from here would be to wait until another victim is dropped. See if their 'unsub' makes a mistake, and in the meantime, sit and hope that they do.

Due to the frantic movement and minds being at work, Elle took that as an opportunity to leave the area. Everyone was looking down as they focused, surely nobody would pay any mind to a woman simply exiting the room. 

Except someone did.

Reid, being the only one not yet lost in thought, noticed the woman making her way out the door. He pushed past as many people as he could, following her, hanging a few steps back to be sure that she wouldn't feel his presence. Luckily, his footsteps were quite light. She paced towards the bathroom, so his suspicions were almost dropped.

That is, until she took a right, leading her to an empty office. 

Elle's arm brushed the door so that the small gust of natural air pushed it closed, almost fully. There was a large enough crack left that the light from the main hall was able to enter, but it was closed enough so that if anybody were walking by, they wouldn't think that the door was open at all. Spencer peered around the corner and set himself up so he could perfectly see inside of the room.

Leaning against a side of the table in the center of the room, she let out a large exhale that lasted a few seconds longer than your average sigh would. It couldn't have been a sigh of exhaustion.

Instead, it was a way of metaphorically letting out something. Stress, anxiety, drowsiness, or simply just a strong negative thought.

Whatever it was, her mind was purposefully letting it all out. Now that she was 'alone', she felt like she could have a few moments of privacy. Her eyes became positioned as she began lookign slightly down and she zoned out completely. The world surrounding her vanished; her thoughts were the only things she could hear, and she couldn't see a thing despite her eyes remaining open. 

There was so much to contemplate. The case, her case. Time was limited, but right now, it felt like it had all stopped. She had a minute.

Now that she had the time, what would she think of first?