Escape || Criminal Minds Story

You're Not Dying

"You're not dying, not on my watch." JJ says sternly.

Penelope calls Hotch. Hotch answers the phone.
"Steve just made a purchase at a gas station near his ex wife's house. I think he's going to her next." Penelope explains.
"Ok, send us her address and we will go there."
"I sent it to your tablets."

The rest of the team, not including Emily and Morgan, start to get ready to go.
"JJ, stay here with Lorelei. Emily and Morgan are gonna come back here with you guys." Hotch demands.
"Ok." JJ nods and the team leaves the room.

A few minutes later, Emily and Morgan came into the room with JJ and Lorelei. Lorelei looks over at Emily and Morgan and smiles. They smile back. Lorelei turns back to JJ.
"Can I go with Emily?" Lorelei asks.
"Sure." JJ smiles and lets Lorelei out of her grip.

Lorelei walks over to Emily.
"Can you hold me?" Lorelei asks.
"Sure sweetheart." Emily smiles and picks up the kid.
Lorelei rests her head on Emily's shoulder.
Emily, JJ, and Derek all smile at Lorelei.

"You're such a strong kid." Derek smiles.
"Is that a good thing?" Lorelei mutters.
"Yes." He smiles even more.
"Thanks." Lorelei smiles.
"Your welcome, kid." Derek goes to talk to JJ.

Lorelei and Derek start talking together.
"Derek's nice." Lorelei tells Emily.
"I know he is, isn't he?" Emily smiles.
"Are you good friends?" Lorelei asks.
"Yeah we are. He always messes with me."
"He seems like a player." Lorelei looks over at him.

"Derek, she just called you a player." Emily laughs.
"I'm not a player, kid." Derek crosses his arms.
"No, I think Lorelei's correct." JJ chimes in.
"Ok, now everyone's picking on me. You got me this time kid." Derek smiles.
Lorelei giggles.

Lorelei turns back towards Emily.
"I'm tired." Lorelei tells Emily.
"You can go to sleep, I don't mind."
"Ok."
Lorelei wraps her arms around Emily's neck, and she falls asleep.

Derek goes back to talk to JJ.
"She's such a cute girl." Derek smiles.
"I know, it's going to be so hard to let her go after the case is finished." JJ looks over at Lorelei sadly.
"I know it's gonna be rough." Derek looks at JJ.

Emily walks towards Derek and JJ to join in on their conversation.
"She fell asleep, so I wanted to come and talk too." Emily says.
"Oh, yeah, we were just talking about letting Lorelei go, once the case ends. I was saying how it would be hard for me because I really like Lorelei, she's a sweet girl." JJ explains to Emily.

"I agree, she's so sweet and playful, even after all she went through." Emily smiles.
"It's still upsetting thinking about all that happened to her." JJ gets emotional.
"I know, JJ." Derek shakes his head.
"I mean she isn't my kid, but I'm just scared for her future." JJ wipes a tear that escaped her eye.

"But, she probably will always remember how comforted she felt when you helped her at her lowest." Emily smiles.
"I agree with Emily. You impacted that girls life." Derek smiles too.
"I hope I did." JJ smiles to herself.

Little did they know, Lorelei heard every word they said about her.

Lorelei smiles as a tear drops from her eye, before she falls asleep.

~~~

The rest of the team gets to Steve's ex wife, Diana's, house. They saw that there was a car outside of her house. Rossi goes to the back and Hotch and Reid go through the front door.

"FBI!" They yell while busting through the door.
They look around the living room and see Steve's ex wife and her kids sitting together watching tv.

"What happened?" Diana asks concerned.
"Your ex husband might becoming for your kids and you." Hotch explains.
"What makes you say that?" Diana asks another question.
"He kidnapped two girls as surrogates for your guy's kids right after you got full custody."
"Are the girls ok?" Diana asks with concern in her voice.
"One didn't make it, but the other is at the police department." Rossi says.

Outside the House

Steve pulls up to Diana's house. He sees the police car so he drives past and makes his way back to the police station.

Inside

"Ok, we are gonna take you and the kids to the police station, so you can't get hurt by Steve." Hotch informs the family.
"Ok, we'll do whatever we need to stay out of trouble." Diana nods.

They all go out to the cars. Diana, and her daughters sat in the back of the police car. Rossi, Reid, and Hotch go into their separate van. They drive back to the station.

~~~

The six of them walk into the station. Rossi, Reid, and Hotch bring Diana and the kids to the room where Lorelei was with the rest of the team.

"Did you find him?" Derek asks Hotch.
"No, but we brought them into protective custody." Hotch nods towards Diana, Giana and Kylee.

The team shakes Diana's hand and tells her it's nice to meet her. Diana gets to Emily last. She sees Lorelei sleeping on Emily. A tear escapes her eye.

"Is that the girl?" She asks as she looks towards Hotchner.
"Yes, ma'am." Hotch nods slowly.
"I'm so sorry for her. Did you find her parents?" Diana asks.
"Her parents are deceased." Emily says quietly.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. What's her name?" Diana asks.
"Lorelei Martin." Emily says.
"And how old is she?"
"12."
"Oh my god, she's so tiny."
"Yeah, the doctors said that she probably won't grow much more because of the trauma she's been through during the last six years." Emily explains.
"Is that when he took her? Six years ago?"
"Yes."

Lorelei suddenly wakes up. She starts bawling. She also tightens her grip on Emily.
"Shhh. It's ok." Emily says as she rocks Lorelei and pats her back.

Lorelei starts to calm down. JJ walks up behind Emily and moves Lorelei's face to make her look at her.
"What happened?" JJ asks.
"I want Jennifer." Lorelei tells Emily.
"Sure honey." Emily hands Lorelei off to JJ.

"What happened?" JJ asks again as she pushes Lorelei's hair behind her ear.
"I had a bad dream." Lorelei sniffles.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" JJ asks.
"No." Lorelei whimpers.
"Ok." JJ puts her hand on the back of Lorelei's neck and she relaxes it onto JJ's shoulder.

Soon after that, Lorelei falls back asleep. The team starts to work on the case. Emily talks to Diana, Giana, and Kylee.

Lorelei wakes up and looks around the room. She then makes eye contact with JJ.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Lorelei mutters.
"Ok." JJ goes to bring Lorelei to the bathroom, but the police woman standing by the door stops JJ.

"I can do that for you miss." The woman says.
"Are you sure?" JJ asks.
"Yeah just help your team catch that man." The woman nods.
"Ok just wait for her outside the bathroom." JJ puts Lorelei down and the policewoman takes her.

Lorelei goes in the bathroom and when she comes out, the policewoman is holding a gun to her head.
"If you scream, Jennifer Jareau gets killed." The woman warns Lorelei.
"Ok." Lorelei mutters in schock.

The woman takes Lorelei out the back door of the station and puts her in a van. They start to drive away from the police department.

10 Minutes Later

"I'm gonna go check on Lorelei and the police officer, they've been gone for 10 minutes." JJ informs Hotch.
"Ok, you do that." Hotch nods.

JJ goes out to the bathroom. She goes in and all the stalls are empty. She rushes out of the bathroom and back to Hotch.

"They're not here." JJ mutters.