Someone To Stay

2

"Brooklyn's Police Department has asked for our help on a serial rapist in the area." JJ explained, handing out a file for everyone. I opened the file and read it slowly, dread filling my chest. "Except he's not just a rapist...he cuts out his victims appendix and then throws them on the side of the street to be found by a random civilian."

"So he doesn't kill them?" Morgan asked. JJ shook her head. "So then he wears a mask of some sort to keep his victims from telling people who he is." Everyone nodded.

"How many victims have come forward?" I asked.

"10." JJ said.

"So...if less than 20% of rapes go reported we can guess that he has at least five times that amount of victims." I told everyone.

"It seems like he's a sadist." Reid said from across the table.

"The only kind of person who would do something like this is someone who loves to see their victims suffer. The fact that he leaves them alive means that he probably knows them personally and wants to see them suffer from the trauma." I saw JJ look at me out of the corner of my eye after I said that.

"Ok. Wheels up in 30." Hotch said, dismissing everyone from the room.

30 minutes later we were all in the jet. I had the case file open but I just stared at the paper. "You've been staring at that for five minutes...what are you thinking about?" JJ slid in next to me and I closed the case file.

"Nothing." I lied, turning to her.

"This is a pretty dark first case...it's ok if you're scared-"

"I'm not scared." I cut her off and looked out the window.

"It's ok if you're a little nervous-"

"I'm not nervous JJ. I just really want to catch this dipshit. What kind of sicko would do this kind of thing?"

"You're gonna be saying that a lot." She said with a soft laugh. I shrugged and started playing with my fingers. I saw her looking at my hands out of the corner of my eye. "Where are you from?"

"Brooklyn." I told her, finally looking at her.

"Oh." I nodded and opened he file again.

"All of these victims are aged 16 to 22. They all live somewhere in Brooklyn, but not one of them were ever in the same apartment complex or anything." JJ nodded. "So he somehow knows all of these women...can Garcia see if any of these women were ever involved in the same thing?" I asked her, rubbing my head. JJ nodded and pulled out her cell phone.

A few minutes later JJ put down her cell phone and opened the file again. "She said she'll get back to me." I nodded and laid my head down on the table. The sun had set and I was getting tired. "Do you want me to leave?" JJ asked.

"You can stay if you want." I shrugged and turned to face her. "If you find out anything wake me up." She nodded and let me close my eyes to sleep.

I jolted up four hours later. It was almost pitch black in the jet and everyone was sleeping. I checked my watch. It was 3 in the morning. The plane had landed and I couldn't make it to the bathroom without waking up JJ. My heart was beating out of my chest and my face was drenched in sweat. I put my head in my hands and let out a long breath. "Hey." I heard a raspy voice right next to me. "Why are you up?"

"Bad dream." I told her, my voice shaking. She lifted her head up and looked at me.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She put her hand on my back and rubbed it slowly.

"I don't know." I wiped the sweat off of my face and looked out the window. "Do you have any melatonin? I forgot to bring mine." She shook her head.

"Does this happen often?" I nodded and started playing with my fingers.

"Every night." I took a deep breath then turned to face her.

"Ok...if you ever need to talk...I'm here."