𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧, 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 (𝟭)

𝙁𝙄𝙑𝙀

"Let the waves carry you where the light can not"
-Mohit Kaushik-

Maya arrived at the scene in Jacksonville. Workers on a ship just off the coast were draining sea water through a pipe when the flow started to sputter. Turns out the pipe was clogged with bodies. Multiple. Hotch and Rossi arrived at the scene before everyone else and ordered them to turn the pipe back since there could be more bodies. And there were... at least 12 more.

"Hey," Maya greets as she removes her sunglass and places them in her back pocket before looking over at Derek. "Hey, pretty lady" Derek greets making Maya shake her head while her cheeks begin to heat up, but she hides it pretty well.

"Just tell me what we know so far" Maya states, changing the subject before she takes a case file from Derek's hands. "This site is known for record of yellow mouth" Derek explains, pointing to the area on the paper. "So, the unsub was smart enough to dump during the off season and avoid fishermen" Derek states as one of the detectives on the case walk over to join the conversation.

"He could be a local" Maya suggests before the detective wonders if the unsub could possibly be one of his guys. "We run interdiction exercises around that spot" Detective explains but based on what Maya has heard she shakes her head to his statement. "It's probably another fisherman" Maya states and the detective wonders why.

"I'll show you" Derek intervenes and starts walking away with Maya and the detective following behind him. Derek goes onto show that the unsub is a fisherman due to the precise manner in which the bones have been cut. "That's a skill that only an experienced butcher or fisherman would have," Derek explains. He then notices that info on one of the victims notes an African American female in her 20s. This gives Derek pause which Maya notices.

Maya walks up next to him and spots what he's looking at and wonders how that could be a significance to him. "Something wrong?" Maya asks as Derek clears his throat, shaking his head. "Yeah, just in cases like these where there's only pieces, it's tough. The best we can do is catalog them and wait for the unsub to screw up somewhere else" Derek states trying to change the conversation.

Maya crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at Derek. "Why are you changing the subject? You ranted to throw me off track because something is really wrong with you" Maya noticed and Derek sighs as he shakes his head. "I don't know what you're talking about" Derek mumbles, resting his hands in his front pockets before he walks away.

Maya then looks down at the note right next to some bones that says African American female in her 20's. Who could she possibly be to Derek Morgan?

Moments later, Maya was looking through the bones with her surgical gloves when she saw Derek taking a phone call. Ever since he saw those bones, she's noticed him being distance and more on edge than usual and she just didn't know why. She wanted to ask but she was afraid Derek would turn her away and not admit his feelings because that's exactly what she would do.