FRATERNIZATION | DEREK MORGAN (ON HOLD)

FIFTEEN

"Karen. I do this for Karen." The voice recording spoke, Garcia had forwarded them a call from the hotline and sure enough, it was their unsub.

"Play it again." Gideon requested as he listened carefully to the recording, noticing something not quite right about it.

"The call came from the office right next to Wallace's, five minutes before the fire was started." Derek informed the group, his arm snaking around Theresa's waist and pulling her closer to him, so now she was sat on the arm of his chair.

Theresa didn't mind, instead she allowed the man to pull her backwards closer to him. She found comfort in being near to him. His fingers began to tap a random pattern on her hip, making a smile etch its way onto her face.

"Play it again." Gideon repeated.

"Karen. I do this for Karen." Derek played the recording again.

"Again, but louder." Gideon looked up to Theresa, wondering if she heard it too.

"Karen. I do this for Karen."

"What is it, Parker?" Hotch spoke up, noticing the way that the girl seemed to have caught onto something they didn't.

The girl pondered for a moment, wondering if she would be right. She had listened to the recording more times than she could count with Gideon constantly asking Derek to repeat it and every time, it felt like she wasn't saying 'Karen'.

"I don't think they're saying Karen." Theresa looked around at the group, who all seemed confused by the statement. "Get Garcia to run it through some audio filters." She tapped Derek's shoulder.

Derek nodded understandingly, he trusted Theresa's instincts. If she thought that something was off with the recording, then he trusted her and was willing to help her get to the bottom of it.

The brunette abruptly stood up, she grabbed Elle's wrist and pulled her towards Ellen's office, wondering how many students were named Karen, on the chance that she was wrong.

"How can I help?" Ellen questioned the second that the two girls walked in. They both turned to face Theresa, who instead of saying anything looked down at her feet anxiously, now wishing she had brought Derek or Reid.

"We need everyone in the college with the first name Karen." Elle gave Theresa a confused look, wondering why she ignored the question from the Dean, when all she was trying to do was help.

Ellen nodded and quickly got to work to print out a list of all the girls at the college with the first name Karen.

"There's are all the women on campus with the first name Karen." Ellen spoke as she piled the papers together before tossing them towards Elle and Theresa.

Theresa turned around once she heard the faint creek of the door, a smile forming on her face as Derek walked in and placed his hand on the small of her back.

"A lot of Karen's." Elle pointed out as she picked up the papers and handed half of them to Derek.

"Well, let's get them all here to interview." Derek ran his hand over his face, getting ready for the long process ahead of them.

Hours had passed and they were now finishing up with Karen number 7. Theresa knew they should've used their full names instead of 'number 7' but the amount of names they would've had to learn would have been extensive.

Theresa rubbed her eyes, the exhaustion beginning to take over. They had been at this case hours with seemingly no breaks. She knew it was a part of the job, so she couldn't exactly complain, but she still felt like her body was beginning to go numb.

"You know, there's got to be a faster way to do this." Derek looked up from his seat towards Theresa, who sat on the edge of the desk. "How about we just change the first question to, 'have you recently dated a homicidal pyromaniac?'"

Theresa let go of a smile, looking down at Derek and taking the coffee from his hands, she shot him a glare for taking her coffee, only for him to wink at her in return.

"Speaking of questions, you figured out why the footpath killer stuttered?" Elle questioned, her eyes narrowing onto the pair.

"Nope, you?" Derek shrugged.

"I know that embarrassment makes a stutter worse and that when you're flustered it's more difficult to control the articulating musculature of the face." Elle explained, she had done her research into why someone would stutter but so far she hadn't come up with anything.

"You sound like Reid, doesn't she, Tess?" Derek placed his hand on the girls thigh.

His fingers began to trace patterns on her inner thigh, causing the girl to shift in her seat. She had to lower her head so that he didn't see the blush rising to her cheeks.

Derek bit back a smirk once he saw the affects that he was having on the girl. He liked knowing that with a simple touch she was able to fall apart at his finger tips.

"Just a little." Theresa grinned.

Elle let go of a laugh, a smile making its way onto her face. She shook her head at the pair before saying,

"You did not just say that."

"Obviously somebody's been doing their homework." Derek teased as Elle stood up to go and let Karen number 8 in.

"I still have no idea what causes a stutter." Elle opened the door and looked towards the woman with a smile. "Karen, number 8."