Nothing to Everything

9: Stomp On My Heart

I walk into the bullpen and everyone is already moving around.
"Did I miss the briefing? Why is everyone already moving?" I asked to no one in particular. "It's an unsub we know, who is now in Virginia. Go talk to Hotch, he'll catch you up." Derek says when he's heading out the door. I head to Hotch's office and knock. I can hear him and my dad stop talking right before Hotch tells me to enter. "I was told to come see what my assignment is." I see Hotch look at my outfit then back to my face. "Emily is getting Jane, the unsub's first infatuation. I know you don't know the backstory, but we don't have time to take you step by step, help her talk to Jane and get the information you can that way." I nod then head to find Emily. I find her gathering her stuff by her desk."Hey, Emily. Hotch told me to talk to Jane and figure out the backstory with that since we don't have time to fill me in step by step." "Ok, let's go. Penelope just sent me Jane's address to pick her up. We are bringing her back here to keep her in protective custody too." Emily replied picking up her bag. "I can explain the important parts while we drive." We get on the road and Emily starts explaining the background. "We tracked a serial killer, Frank, to Nevada. Your dad and Frank went head to head talking in a diner. Frank kidnapped a bus filled with the local children to negotiate his freedom. He was infatuated with Jane, said he loved her. She was one of his first victims. A few years after Jane escaped since Frank got worst again. Then he just went silent for pretty much your whole life time, but now he is back." She explained. I got an unsettling feeling in my gut that I am going to be related to this case somehow. Before I could say anything we pulled into the driveway of a suburban house. The porch was decorated with wind chimes that seemed different, but I couldn't figure out what made them that way. As we stepped onto the porch I saw what made them different, "are those chimes made from ribs?" Emily just nods her head as she knocks on the door. "Who is it?" An older lady asks through the door. Her voice sounds a little familiar, but I can't place why. "It's Agent Prentiss, with the FBI." Emily calls back. We hear multiple locks unlock and then the door crack open. I recognize the lady, but don't know from where. She looks at Prentiss and then her eyes lock onto me. I see panic in her eyes for a second, but then they go back to how they were before. She turns her attention back to Emily."He's back, isn't he?" She asks Emily. "He's not after you, not that we know of. But yes, his signature is popping up around the area again. We are going to bring you to the station to talk and then put you in protective custody." Emily replied while guiding Jane to the car. The drive back to the station was quiet. I felt Jane staring at me multiple times. It was as if she knew me and was waiting for me to recognize her. When we got to the station Emily took her to a meeting room while I went to go tell Hotch we were back. Before Jane turned from me, she leaned in and whispered to me, "this doesn't discredit how he feels about you." Before I processed what she said Emily lead her into a room. I shook it off and then went to find Hotch. I walked into the round room and found Hotch, Spencer and Morgan. They were looking at new photos of crime scenes. "Emily and I are back, Jane is in the meeting room with Emily." I said while walking closer to the photos. Hotch nodded in acknowledgment and grunted in response. The MO felt familiar, but I didn't recognize it. I shrugged the odd feeling and went to help Emily with Jane. "Has he contacted since you left him?" Emily was asking Jane when I entered the room. "I haven't heard or seen Frank in 22 years, I thought he was done with me." Jane replied, purposefully not looking at me. "What happened 22 years ago? The last time you saw him." Emily prodded. "He showed up on my doorstep... with a 6 year old girl." Jane paused. "He told me he had to do some business and he had no one to look over the little girl. He told me if I looked after her until he came back he would never come see me again. I could be fully done with him. I looked after that little girl for three days then Frank came back." Jane's voice was breaking, she was starting to cry, almost exactly in line with when she looked at me and mentioned the girl. "I told Frank I wouldn't mind babysitting when he needed it, but that he had to text me in advance and leave the girl on the doorstep. He did that a couple times, but then he stopped. He never bothered me again. I still think about that girl, hope she ended up ok and I think she did." For some reason I was feeling emotional hearing Jane talk about the girl. I looked over at Emily and saw her trying to hold back tears. We excused ourselves and went to go tell the rest of the team. We found them in the round room discussing theories. "Frank hasn't contacted Jane in twenty two years. However, the last time he did it was to ask Jane to babysit a six year old girl. I think if we find the girl we find Frank." Emily said after composing herself on the walk here. "So we are looking for a 28 year old female with ties to Frank." Spencer said doing the math. Hotch assigned everyone except me jobs and the rest of the team scattered to begin. Hotch turned his attention to me and it was as if every nerve in my body was firing at once. "I want you to look over the crime photos, you have fresh eyes to see things that Spencer and I haven't." I nodded and sat down by the crime photos. Hotch sat down on the other side of the table doing his work. I felt him looking up at me every once in a while. I tried hard to focus on the pictures, but Hotch's eyes felt like fire igniting my skin. The crime scene photos seemed familiar, like somewhere in my subconscious I knew the MO. There were symbols in the photos that looked familiar. I don't recognize the victims or locations. All of a sudden more photos were dumped on top of the ones I was already looking at. "What the hell?" I shouted at Emily who was the one who threw the photos who smirked in reply. I don't even know why we are using actual photos instead of digital for this case. I get the new photos out to look. I organize the photos according to the symbols since I felt like that was the clue I needed to break the case. Now I had Hotch and Emily intermittently looking at me. I got all the photos grouped by symbol and I started looking at them. It seemed each victim had one word cut into their chest antemortem and different symbols depending on the view of the camera. I started by figuring out the phrase order. It didn't take long to realize the phrase was "I taught you well." Next I put each set of photos in the same order with the symbols in a row. It felt like my heart dropped to my intestines when I realized where I knew the symbols from. The symbols were the same ones that direct me to my hideout on Frank's property. Big, bad Frank is the Frank who made sure I had everything I wanted as a child. "Ricci, are you ok? You look pale." Hotch sounded like he was miles away from the amount of blood rushing through my ears. I got up and ran to my car. I heard the team calling after me, but I had to get to Frank before they pieced it together. So many of them know where Frank lives. Pulling out of the parking lot I saw Hotch in my rearview mirror running after me. I pulled into the driveway and didn't bother trying to hide my car. I ran to the door and saw that the alarm was shut off so I barged in. I armed the system to slow down the team faster, Derek will not risk that alarm again. I found Frank out in the backyard. "How could you!" I screamed at him. "You killed so many people! You terrorized my dad!" Then the realization hit me. "Did you stalk me to get back at my dad?" I sounded like the broken five year old Frank metaphorically adopted twenty three years ago. "Originally, yes. I moved to that house to try and get back at your dad. I didn't expect you to be living the way you did, I thought he knew about you and was paying child support at least." At this point I couldn't keep the tears back. "Then once I got to know you, you were like the child I never had. You showed me that I was capable of emotions, even if just a little. I wanted to protect you, make you into the person you are now." He paused for a minute. "I wanted to teach you how to think differently so you could be an asset to the FBI, so you were a force to be reckoned with. You went through so much trauma, I wanted to make sure you had the mental tools to have it make you stronger and not break you. I exposed you to everything I did to make you tough, to make you la regina (the queen) one day. You don't need me anymore, you have the BAU, your mom and so many more people." I started crying harder when he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm always going to need you." I stutter in between sobs. "I raised you to be the FBI's greatest weapon and now you are. We both know how this ends. I'm not getting out of this alive. Mourn and process the emotions, but then pick yourself up and continue helping the ones that need you." He squeezed me when we heard sirens. I felt Frank pull out his phone and disarm the security system. I was still hugging him when I heard the team shuffle out of the back door. "Go to the panic room Little G, stay there until Enzo comes and gets you, I already texted him." Frank broke the hug and tried to wipe away my tears, but they were falling too fast. He kissed my forehead then nudged me in the direction of the house. I didn't look at the team when I passed them, I just kept my head down. The panic room is a soundproof room that only certain people have the password to open it. I got to the panic room and sealed the entrance then broke down on the floor. ~Frank's Perspective~I watched Little G go into the house and seal herself into the panic room. I know this hurts her more than it hurts me. I don't have to deal with the aftermath. I focused back on the agents and saw that Gideon was the only one with their gun pointed at me. "Don't let this destroy her. Understand that she won't be able to lean on any of you, let her come to you on her own. Enzo, Luca and Leo will look after her initially, but don't let her quit the job or on any of you because of this. Help her use this to make her a better agent, don't let herself resort to old habits. I gave her the tools to be the best profiler yet, make sure she lives up to her potential." I take a break and wipe a single tear away. "You all need to shoot, you can't know who shot the killing bullet. She's going to resent whoever kills me, but she won't resent all of you." I watched as they all turned to Hotch besides Gideon who had never lowered his gun. Hotch nodded and they all pointed their guns. "Tell her she is the closest I came to ever loving anyone else. Tell her she changed my life for the better. She's the reason I stopped killing all of those years." I took a breath to ground myself. I had started crying for the first time in my life even if it was only a few tears. I reached into my pocket to pull out my gun. Everything went black as soon as my hand entered my pocket. ~Izzy's Perspective~I don't know how long I sobbed in the panic room before Enzo punched in the code to open the door. "Oh... Bella..." I heard Enzo say before picking me up. I clung to him like my life depended on it because I felt like it did. If Enzo opened the door, it means Frank is dead. "Izzy!" I heard Hotch and Emily yell for me and then foot steps approaching. I just dug deeper into Enzo's chest and he got the message."She's not in the mood to talk to either of you right now." Enzo replied and then walked to the car that Luca and Leo were in waiting to drive away. As soon as the door closed Luca drove away. I didn't stop sobbing, couldn't stop sobbing. How could I? Pretty much the man who raised me just got shot and I learned he was a serial killer. Luca drove us to the main hangout of the Virginia mafia which is conveniently located above a bar. They must've known this was going to happen since when we walked in everyone was there and the mood wasn't the usual upbeat. I was still being carried by Enzo, I still didn't trust my legs. He sat on the couch and kept me in his lap. I didn't even realize I had stopped crying until Leo handed me a glass of water and told me to drink so I don't get dehydrated. I chugged the whole glass and then handed it back to Leo who filled it up again for me. I slipped off of Enzo's lap and sat next to him. I laid my head on his shoulder and slowly sipped at my water. I think I was in shock about what just happened. Not only did I learn Frank was a serial killer, he only entered my life because of my father, it wasn't luck at all. We all stayed in that room all night, no one wanted to leave the others. The mafia was kind of like wolves, we gained strength by being together, in our pack. Together, in that room, we could be vulnerable and lean on each other. ——————————————————————————————————————————This doesn't discredit how he feels about you. I get it now. Jane was talking about me, I am the six year old she babysat. I look to Enzo, "drive me somewhere?" He looks confused but nods. I directed Enzo to Jane's house, she should be back from Quantico by now. I start remembering bits and pieces of staying with Jane. The first time she babysat she spent most of it trying to make sure Frank wasn't abusing me, making sure I was well taken care of. We also baked, we baked quite a bit, brownies, cakes, cookies, everything I ever wanted to bake before. We pull up to Jane's house and I run to the door and knock. The door opens and Jane looks at me with tears in her eyes. "I'm the six year old you babysat, aren't I?" My voice breaks as I get a look at inside the house and the memories from the car become even more vivid. I remember being covered in flour in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate in the living room while watching movies and fighting off sleep on the last night so I didn't miss time with Jane. "You grew up to be exactly what you talked about being. When Frank first asked me to look after you, I was about to call child protective services, but then you started talking about how he saved you and your mom, I knew it wasn't the right choice." Jane takes a long breath. "At one point, Frank told me he was helping you become a better person than him, helping you become the secret weapon of the FBI. He knew at some point you would have mixed feelings about him keeping his secret. He asked that I somehow be there for you at that time, but not to try to sway your opinions until he was gone." Jane steps to the side to let Enzo and me into the house. "He loved you as much as he could, he loved you more than he loved me." Jane's voice breaks with that sentence. Jane turns to Enzo who has been sitting in a chair that is in the corner. "Do you have her best interest in mind?" Jane asks with such aggression, anybody else might've cowered at her tone, but not Enzo. Enzo's eyes flare with anger as if he could have any interest in anything else for me. "I only have her best interest in mind ever since Frank told me what was going to happen yesterday. It took all of my effort not to take her away from the house before it all went down." Enzo's answer satisfied Jane as she turns back to me. "Do you want to bake cookies?" Jane asks and I smile as much as I can and nod my head. I am once again covered in flour like when I was a kid and surprisingly laughing with Jane while Enzo watches me with a smile on his face. The doorbell rings and it's as if my muscles seize up. Enzo is standing up and walking over to me while Jane heads towards the door. "Jane, maybe let Enzo open the door." I say with a worried tone."Oh, honey. Now that Frank is gone, I don't have to be afraid anymore when the doorbell rings." Jane says as she unlocks and opens the door. Enzo is blocking most of my body from the door, but I have a clear view of the door. Jane opens the door slightly,"Agent Prentiss, what are you doing here?" My body tenses even more than when the doorbell initially rang. "I just came to check on you, but I see that you have company." Emily says while looking past Jane to look at Enzo. You can see the recognition on Emily's face when she sees Enzo. "Is she here? Izzy?" Her tone is desperate and saturated with emotion. I step out from behind Enzo without realizing what I'm doing until I lock eyes with her. I turn to Enzo and softly say, "I'll be ok," before walking to the door. Jane has stepped to the side and looks back and forth between Emily and me. "Do you want to sit on the porch and talk?" I ask once I am in front of Emily. She nods her head then moves towards the rocking chairs on the porch. I follow and close the door giving Jane an apologetic smile. Emily sits on a single person rocker while I sit on a bench that is against the side of the porch. "We didn't know where Enzo took you... then you didn't show up for work which we figured, but you didn't call out or anything, you just didn't show." Emily says in close to a whisper. "I know, I didn't even realize fully that I had left until Enzo stopped driving. Even now I am the most numb I have ever been and it scares me." I look up towards the night sky urging the tears to go away. The moon and stars have always been a comfort to me. "My brain can't stop connecting the BAU to the death of Frank. Even though I didn't know all of Frank, he is still my Frank. I can't disregard all the good parts just because he kept secrets from me, even if they were as big as they were." I take a deep breath. "I don't expect you or any of the other BAU members to understand. I mean, to you Frank is just another unsub, another case. To me, he is a part of me, he helped raise me and make me who I am today. He raised me to be a badass FBI profiler, to be the FBI's secret weapon." I look at Emily hesitantly. I can't decipher the way she is looking at me. Without speaking she gets up and sits next to me on the bench. I avert my eyes and stare at the sky again. I feel Emily's soft hands on my cheek as she gently pulls my face back to looking at her. "Izzy, we are all worried about you. We got to think of you as a part of the BAU family in the short time you have worked with us. You are the first new member I've seen just fit so perfectly. I mean even Hotch is happier now that you are a part of the team. If you got hired as an agent, that means you passed all the background checks and everything, just like the rest of us. We don't care what the people in your life have done unless you are the best agent and person you can be." She kisses my cheek then stands up and starts walking to her car. "Let Jane know she can call me for anything, but I figure you got her covered now that you know who she is to you." With that Emily gets in her car and drives off. I walk back inside and Enzo is immediately enveloping me in a hug. Then we both walk back to the kitchen where Jane is waiting for me. Jane looks at me and then throws some flour onto my shirt, "let's finish these cookies now!"