Army Brat

Chap 6 "Respect"

Morgan's POV
Scarlett has definitely earned my respect. Running into a burning building to save a life is brave. She's got courage. I walked into the station. "You guys see the news?" I asked.
"Yeah, my partner ran into a burning building to save a baby that isn't hers," Reid replied. "You should know that she isn't as bad as you think, Morgan."
"She's earned my respect now," I put my hands up. "I'm not going to argue with that."
"But she went against policy," Hotch replied, walking in. "She went into a building that could've collapsed as any time." Scarlett and JJ walked in smiling. "Scarlett, why did you run into the building?"
Their smiles faded. "Hotch, there was a baby in there," Scarlett replied. "I thought the decision was obvious."
"Are you feeling underappreciated?" Hotch asked.
"Underappreciated?" Scarlett repeated. "No, Hotch, I -"
"Feeling like you aren't being treated fairly?" Hotch asked.
"Right about now, yeah," Scarlett nodded. "I've been nothing but good to this team, Hotch." I crossed my arms. "Why don't you tell me this? If that was your son, Jack, you would have done the same."
"That doesn't per-"
"Tell me that I'm not wrong, Hotch," Scarlett stood her ground.
"If it was Jack, I would've," Hotch replied. Scarlett walked to the door. "Hey Scarlett." She looked at him and he sent her a small smile. "Good job." She was fairly pissed off. She nodded her head no, scoffed, and then walked out. "I had a feeling that was not going to end well."
"Hotch, you basically interrogated her in front of the squad," I replied. "I'm sure she does feel underappreciated and not part of the team right about now." I looked at Reid, JJ, and Hotch as Rossi walked in. "If you wanted to talk to her, you could've done it face to face, one on one, rather than in front of the rest of us."
"Can anyone explain why Scarlett walked to the hotel?" Rossi asked.
"I'll explain later," Hotch replied. "Right now, we have a serial killer to catch and he's on a killing spree." I looked at the case file, to see if I missed anything. "I can tell you that they're targeting us. More specifically, Scarlett."
"How do you know that?" I asked as I put the case file down.
"A burning building, a baby inside," Hotch replied. "Scarlett is attached to Dustin. There has to be something the unsub knows about Scarlett that we don't." I looked at Hotch. "Morgan, you got something?"
"Scarlett has a little brother," I replied. "Does that have anything to do with the case?"
"What's her brother's name?" Hotch asked.
"That I don't know," I replied.
"Guys, this is Four Star General Diamond," JJ walked in with a man. "Scarlett's father."
"Hello sir," Hotch replied as they shook hands. "I'm Scarlett's superior."
"I'm sure Agent Diamond hasn't given you a hard time," General Diamond replied.
"Why would you say that?" I asked.
"Scarlett hasn't told you guys about her younger brother?" General Diamond asked. "That's something new."
"Sir, we're actually trying to find information on him," JJ replied.
"If you would like to have a seat, I'll be more than happy to," General Diamond nodded. We sat down. "Scarlett loved her brother."
"Sir, we don't have a lot of time," I replied.
"They were inseparable," General Diamond sighed. "You thought twins had a bond, these two were to be bound by the waist." I smiled. "Until her brother did something Scarlett could never forgive him. He committed a crime their seventh grade year in school. So, with that being said, he was put in prison. I had to take Scarlett with me because she didn't want to stay with her mom." Hotch was listening very carefully. "She was afraid her brother would come home one day and kill her. She disowned her own brother. She sent me a picture of that boy you guys saved. He looked a lot like Kelson when they were about eight or nine years old."
"That's why Scarlett wanted to take care of him," I nodded. Scarlett turned the corner of the door and I saw she's crying. "Scarlett."
We all turned to look at you. "Sweetheart," General Diamond looked at her.
"Dad, how could you?" Scarlett asked.
"I believe your team has a right to know," General Diamond.
"No, Dad, you just don't understand," Scarlett ran off.
"General, did Scarlett ever go through psychological therapy or evaluation?" Hotch asked.
"No, she didn't need it," General Diamond nodded. "Or at least I thought she didn't need it. Why?"
"She learned to cope with it," I replied. "She learned by keeping it to herself."
"She thought if we knew, we would think she couldn't do her job," Hotch replied as he looked at me. "She's perfect for the job but once we dig up her history, we have to do a psych eval on her."
"I'll do that," I nodded.
"I can," Reid replied. "I don't know if you'd want her responses to be sarcasm." I looked at Reid. "Morgan, just face the facts and I'll do the eval."
"Hotch always does the eval," JJ replied. "Sir, is it alright if we do a search on Kelson?"
"Go ahead," General Diamond nodded. "Meanwhile, I'm going to check on my daughter."
"You know where she went?" I asked.
"To the closest park," General Diamond left.
We called Garcia. "Speak!" Garcia stated.
"Work your magic for me, doll face," I replied. "Get me everything you can on a Kelson Diamond."
"Alright," Garcia hung up.
"Derek, go and keep and eye on Scarlett and her dad," Hotch replied. "If she's being targeted, there's a chance that General Diamond is too."
"Alright," I sighed. I followed from a good distant. I saw General Diamond sit on a park bench next to Scarlett. "Why are you so ashamed about your brother?" My phone vibrated and then started ringing. I check it and picked up. "Tell me you got something good, sweetheart."
"Alright, well, I just sent you a picture to your cell of Scarlett and Kelson when they were in sixth grade together," Garcia replied. "Uhm, Kelson has been in prison since eighth grade for beating a pedophile to death with a socket wrench. Even though he was protecting his sister, he went sent to prison for life." I sighed. "It says here in the article, in Scarlett's words, I disown him as my brother for hurting another human being, knowing that something else could've been done instead of killing someone."
"I don't blame her for disowning him," I replied. "I honestly wouldn't want to be related to someone who committed a crime."
"Disowned or not, he's still her brother," Garcia replied.
"Is that it, Mama?" I asked.
"Not even," Garcia nodded. "Kelson was released a year and a half ago and he just recently moved to Seattle, Washington. Oh...Do you think he could be the one?"
"I don't know," I signed. "He could've done all this to get Scarlett's attention. He might have found out she works for the FBI."
"He couldn't have called like a normal person?" Garcia asked.
"Prison probably put a toll on him," I responded. "In General Diamond and Scarlett's mind, she the only child, until we decided to look in her past."
"You think?" Garcia asked.
"Most likely," I sighed. I checked the picture on my phone. "Hey Garcia, Scarlett is a brunette. In the picture, it's a blonde."
"She dyed her hair," Garcia replied. "It's normal to change an appearance after a tragedy."
"This is probably why Kelson could be the unsub," I sighed. "Thanks baby girl." I hung up. "Scarlett, sorry about this but we gotta do our job. She'll thank us in the long run."