heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

3. thirteen

AN: hey guys! happy monday!

todays update is about 4600 words so bit of a big one to make up for the fact it's single updates :)

i don't think there's any major trigger warnings except for the katie jacobs case from last chapter? please do correct me if i'm wrong so i can add the appropriate warnings <3

i hope you guys enjoy! see you next monday <3

•

"i've never been good at emotional stuff. except anger. anger, i'm good at." - hannah harrington

•

Delilah stood off to the side of where Jeremy sat at a table, his parents on a table a few ahead of him. Her phone was pressed to her ear, though her eyes didn't leave Jeremy.

"What did they find?" Delilah asked Hotch quietly.

"She's showing signs of being molested," Hotch said. "And it's not the father."

"No, it isn't," Delilah said. "It's Jeremy's parents. His dad is hurting her, and the mom took her. Jeremy said they're separated, that his mom's never home and his dad has Katie stay over to keep up appearances. He said that his mom is always angry at her dad, fitting the rage on the necklace. His mom used to work at this mall, and she was getting a lighter engraved when Katie went missing, but his dad quit smoking over a month ago."

Hotch sighed heavily.

"I'm not done," Delilah said, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "When Jeremy was in the arcade, before Katie went missing, he heard his mom call Katie's name."

"I'm sending Prentiss and JJ down to assist. Bring them up for questioning. Separately. Morgan and Reid are on their way back. I'll call Garcia and find out what store the aunt worked in, and you'll take a team there to search it," Hotch said.

"Got it," Delilah said, ending the call.

She walked over to Jeremy and sat down opposite him, rubbing her face as she watched him drag his eyes up to meet her.

"We're gonna take your mom and dad to answer some questions in a few minutes," Delilah said quietly. "And I'm gonna go and check somewhere for Katie."

"My mom's old store," Jeremy mumbled.

"Yeah," Delilah sighed. "You got it."

"Why would she hurt Katie?" Jeremy whispered. "She's just a little kid. She didn't do anything."

Delilah stared at him for a few seconds.

"Sometimes, people do bad things because of what's going on in their head, because of things they find out," Delilah said quietly. "And I will explain it all to you when we've found Katie. But I can't tell you until then, in case I've got it wrong."

"You'll explain it to me?" Jeremy asked.

"I will. I promise," Delilah said, holding out her pinkie.

Jeremy linked his pinkie with hers, the two of them locking it with small smiles.

"Katie might not be okay. She has asthma," Jeremy said.

Delilah nodded.

"It was a department store. The big one, with the green bird on the logo," Jeremy mumbled.

Delilahs stared at him for a few seconds, knowing that he was confirming what store his mother worked in. Delilah stood up, squeezing his shoulder and walking over to meet JJ and Emily as they hurried towards her.