Fighting Wars

Chapter 5

"Darren Christianson. Escaped from his local mental institution and has kidnapped two girls and they both were found dead. Alexia Fabray was found three weeks ago and Avery was found two days after that." Emilie says handing out the cases. "What were their cause of death?" Aaron asks, "Autopsy reports say blood loss." Emilie answers Jennifer opens the case file and shudders the girls look exactly like her. She closes the file and says "I'm guessing that he chooses white blonde haired women to possibly represent someone important who left him." Derek nods and says "Like maybe a wife?" Emilie shakes her head "He was never married. So maybe like a girlfriend who left him." Aaron looks at the picture of Darren on the screen and says "If we know who he is why haven't local police caught him?" Emilie clicks a button and it pulls up a map of the US. "Darren lives in California, he took Alexia from Nevada and Avery from Utah. They were both found in Colorado. "So it's a matter of we can't find him and jurisdictions?" Kyrsten asks opening her laptop. Emilie nods and her phone rings she answers it and her face pales. she says thank you and hangs up. "They found another two bodies in Illinois." They start to pack up their bags and Kyrsten stops them. "If he's following his pattern he'll be here in Virginia." they stop and then Aaron says "Then we have to prep every station here in Virginia he is armed and dangerous." Emilie nods and says "I'll get a press conference set up." Jennifer shakes her head and says "What if I did the press conference? He's looking for people like me, he sees me on TV it gives him a reason to hold off on killing the girls so he can get me." Aaron shakes his head and says "No we don't take unnecessary risks." Derek shakes his head and says "Jennifer does have a point, and besides we would just follow her around to make sure she doesn't get hurt." Aaron sighs and says "Fine, Emilie get her prepped, the rest of us will divide and conquer all the stations." They nod and spilt up.
    Emilie finishes prepping Jennifer and says "Okay the press is outside. Are you sure you want to do this." Jennifer nods and Emilie. brushes her raven colored bangs out of her eyes and sighs "Let's go then." Jennifer nods and they walk outside to where the press is standing. "Today we are looking for Darren Christianson. He is more than likely armed and dangerous. We warn everyone to stay in groups wherever you go. He isn't very confident so he won't attack groups of people." A press member interrupts and asks "How do you know him?" Jennifer finds the man and says "I don't know him personally but the FBI has birth records and I analyze behavior. Now if you have seen this man." Jennifer picks up the picture provided and shows it to the cameras continuing "Call the FBI tip line that would be appearing on your screen. Thank you." and with that the press and media burst into an outrage of questions comments but Jennifer ignores it all while Emilie takes her arm and gives Jennifer a side hug leading her back inside the office.
    Later they all regroup in the roundtable room. "The press conference went well." Emilie says walking in with a cup of coffee. "Emilie it's 6:00 at night should you really be having a third coffee? You're already too hyperactive." Emilie nods and says "Yes I have to keep the press back and I have to make sure that Jennifer stays safe." Aaron looks at Emilie and then back to Jennifer "You get to choose who stays with you." Jennifer nods and turns to Emilie "Emilie thank you for your concern but you have too much on your plate! Kyrsten is going to stay with me but feel free to stop my my house whenever." Emilie nods and says "Okay I'll be at your place the moment I get a glimpse of free time." Jennifer chuckles "Okay Emilie." She smiles and takes another sip of her coffee. "We all have our phones with us so call if you have anything." Jennifer nods and Kyrsten walks up to Jennifer and says "We are going to have a great night! Popcorn with M&M's, Fuzzy blankets, it's going to be great!" Jennifer smiles as a very excited Kyrsten leads her out the door. Jennifer turns around to face Aaron and mouths "See you later, love you." He smiles and Kyrsten adjusts her grip on Jennifers arm and firmly leads her out the office door.
    "Alright you grab the M&M's I'll pop the popcorn!" Kyrsten says pulling at least three bags of popcorn out of her bag. "Okay then..." Jennifer whispers walking over to the kitchen to get the M&M's from the pantry, no one knows why Jennifer was surprised Kyrsten grabbed three popcorn bags from her bag including Jennifer. Kyrsten usually had a high amount of food in her snack bag, one time she even had toaster waffles. She grabs the two party sized M&M's from her pantry. "Peanut butter or Regular Chocolate?" Jennifer calls over the sound of the microwave. "Who says we can't have both." Kyrsten calls back. Jennifer laughs and walks into the living room. She sits down on the couch and hears little paws running out of Jennifer's room. "Sierra come here!" Jennifer calls to her little white lab puppy. Kyrsten sits down next to Jennifer right as the little white puppy jumps on Jennifer "Awe!" Kyrsten exclaims the puppy grabs it's little toy in its mouth and Jennifer laughs grabbing the you and tossing it across the apartment. Sierra leaps off of the couch and chases the toy down the hall. "I never asked. What do you do with her while your gone?" Kyrsten asks Jennifer smiles when Sierra jumps back onto the couch. "My next block neighbour checks in every three hours to take her outside and I leave a tub of water for her in my room and feed her before I leave in the morning and feed her when I come back." Kyrsten smiles and Sierra rolls over on the couch and falls off. "Awe come here." Kyrsten says picking up Sierra off of the floor. Jennifer laughs and starts to pour the M&M's in the bowl of popcorn. "She's super energetic but can only run around the apartment three times before crashing on the couch for a bit." Kyrsten smiles and holds Sierra, she growls but stops when Jennifer pulls out a little bit of dog food. "Alright! What movie?"
    They fall asleep after two movies Sierra jumped off of the couch and stumbled into Jennifer's room to sleep on Jennifer's bed. Sierra slides her little body under the blankets and falls asleep leaving Jennifer and Kyrsten in the living room. After a bit the white lab senses that something is wrong. She gets up and slides out of the bed and walks to the door. But instead of being able to walk through the door she runs into the door. She sits back and barks, Jennifer never shuts the door. She barks again and Kyrsten wakes up. Kyrsten rubs her eyes and scans the room. "Jennifer!" Kyrsten calls, she stands up and runs to the bedroom "Sierra what are you doing here?" Sierra barks again and Kyrsten looks around the apartment "Jennifer!" She calls, Sierra whines and Kyrsten picks her up. She turns around and realizes that the window is open. "That wasn't open before." Kyrsten realizes. She looks out the window and it's the stairway to get out in emergencies. "Shoot." Kyrsten says, she sets Sierra down and runs to her purse she left on the counter she opens it and pulls out her phone. "Sir Jennifer's gone."
    Jennifer's head pounds as she lays on the cool hard ground. "Finally you're up." the voice says, Jennifer slowly wills herself to sit up and face the voice but he is nowhere to be seen "You know Agent Aaron Gideon right." The voice asks, Jennifer doesn't respond. Words from her training back to her if you ever find yourself in those kinds of situations close yourself off don't let them know what makes you break. "Answer me!" The voice yells "No." Jennifer says her throat stings. A door opens and he emerges again "Answer me now!" She shakes her head and he picks her up off of the ground and throws her against the wall, she's strong but her petite frame allows her to be thrown around. "Tell me." Jennifer winces as he kicks her in the ribs. "Yes I know him!" Jennifer exclaims after ten more brutal kicks and the sound of cracking ribs. "That wasn't so hard." he says he picks her up again and throws her on the cot. She groans and he handcuffs her to the bed. She tilts her head to face him he sets up a laptop and starts doing some things but the edges of her eyes start to go black and soon she is overcome in the darkness.
    Aaron paces around the roundtable room. "How could I have let her go do the press conference!" He exclaims, Emilie takes another sip of her tenth coffee of the night "Sir it's my fault. Don't blame yourself!" Kyrsten says frantically typing on the computer, He shakes his head and Derek says "Aaron calm down we're looking for her!" "Guys! Someone hacked in... Jennifer!" Kyrsten exclaims They rush to the screen and see Jennifer cut, bruised, and bloody knocked out on the cot.
    Jennifer's eyes flutter open and the computer screen lights up and Jennifer squints at the sudden light in contrast to the darkness. Her vision focuses and she sees the team in the screen. "Aaron!" she exclaims trying to sit up in the cot. "Jennifer!" He says getting closer to the screen. Jennifer forces a smile to maybe reassure him that she's alright, even though she knows she's not. Darren emerges from the door that he came into in the first place. "So you do know him." He says Aaron looks to Jennifer "Is there something more?" Jennifer shakes her head hoping that Aaron gets the message, he does so he goes along with it "Darren we are just co-workers, nothing more." Jennifer nods and then a sickly grin grows on Darren's face "Get up." He commands Jennifer "That's kind of hard to do when you're cuffed to the cot." Jennifer commented. Darren rolls his eyes and uncuffs Jennifer. She stands at an angle so it's somewhat comfortable. "So if you are nothing more than coworkers you wouldn't mind if I did this?" he picks up a bat and slams it against Jennifer's back. She cries out and falls to the floor. She looks up to the computer screen and sees Aaron biting his lip with tears in his eyes. Darren kicks Jennifer square in the ribs again and Jennifer coughs. "Okay! What will you have me do!" Aaron exclaims. Jennifer puts her hand to her head that's throbbing. "Admit it." Darren says Jennifer looks up to the computer screen "Admit what?" Aaron says Jennifer shifts her gaze to Darren "Admit that she's something more than a co-worker." Jennifer looks back at Aaron and shakes her head he looks pained as he shakes his head. Darren kicks Jennifer again and again until Aaron says "Alright! I love her! Is that what you wanted me to say?" Jennifer gets one last look at Aaron before Darren picks Jennifer up and says "I got him to break, now how long will it take you to break." Jennifer spits at him and says "If you think that this is my first time in this situation you are wrong so I promise you this. I will not break." Darren rolls his eyes and throws her at the wall.
    Aaron's face pales when the screen shuts off. "Kyrsten please tell me you were able to figure out where that call came from." She nods and tells him the address. "Let's go." He says grabbing his jacket and running out to the SUV's "Aaron slow down!" Derek says watching Aarons speed go up as he flips on the lights "He's going to kill her and it's my fault I'm not slowing down." Derek nods and flips on the sirens.
    Jennifer wakes up and Darren is sitting by the computer yelling at it. "Yelling at the computer isn't going to do anything." Jennifer calls over his yelling. "How are you awake?" he asks walking over to her "You didn't knock me out hard enough." She says rolling her eyes. "You're going to pay for that." he says, Jennifer notices the brief flash of light and sits up challengingly "Actually it's you who is going to pay." She says he looks at her confused and right there Aaron bursts through the door with the rest of the team. Derek wrestles Darren to the ground and the rest of the team goes to back him up except for Aaron, he runs up to Jennifer and pulls her into a deathly tight hug. "I love you." He whispers Jennifer hugs him back and whispers "I know."
    After a few hours Jennifer gets released from the EMTs care and they get back to the office. Everyone says goodnight and leaves the office. Jennifer starts to walk with Emilie and Kyrsten but stops at the glass doors. "You know what, you guys go ahead. I'm going to stay with Aaron for a bit." She says they nod and continue to walk out. Jennifer looks through Aarons office window and sees him bent over the desk. She drops her bag at the glass door and walks up the steps to his office. She taps on the door and he looks up at her "Jenn you're supposed to be out." She nods and says "I know, but I'm not leaving until you do. We stay in pairs." He smiles and drops the file on his desk and walks up to Jennifer "Jennifer, it's going to take a bit for me to go." he motions to his desk full of files and Jennifer says "I know, but you need the company." He smiles and wraps his arm around her waist. She looks up to him and smiles. He looks at her cut face and brushes her hair out of it. She steps closer and wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. His fingers run through Jennifer's hair as the kiss grows more passionate. They break away gasping for air, air that they have neglected. Jennifer smiles and Aaron tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and whispers "Work can wait till later. Let's go home." Jennifer nods and he wraps his arm around her shoulders and they walk to the door.
    Jennifer opens her apartment door and Sierra runs up to her and lets out a series of barks towards Aaron. "Sierra it's alright Aaron's nice! See?" Jennifer says picking up the little puppy Aaron steps a little bit away and Jennifer says "Is the big Aaron Gideon who takes down Unsubs everyday scared of a little puppy?" Aaron rubs the back of his neck and says "No?" Jennifer laughs and hands him Sierra. "Hold her while I get her food." Jennifer says smiling. "Wait can't I trade you?" Aaron says Jennifer laughs and pulls out Sierra's bowl of food and walks into her bedroom. She sets the bowl down next to Sierra's bed. "Alright Aaron you can bring her in." Jennifer calls, immediately Sierra runs in and starts to eat her food. Jennifer pulls on some sweatpants and a T-Shirt and walks into the living room. Aaron's on the phone and Jennifer sits down on the bench. Aaron puts the phone down and he puts on a smile. Jennifer grabs his hand and says "Come on, I'm tired." He smiles and grabs some sweatpants and a T-Shirt from his bag and goes into the bathroom to change while Jennifer goes to lay down on her bed
    Aaron gets dressed in his sweats and looks at himself in the mirror. "How?" He whispers he turns on the sink and splashes his face with water. "I could go off the grid for a bit." He says, he nods and walks out of the bathroom. He walks into Jennifer's room and lays down next to her. He takes his arm and holds Jennifer close listening to her heartbeat before falling asleep.
    Aaron wakes up before Jennifer and gets changes into his clothes and writes a note to Jennifer "I'll be back sometime, I don't know when. But I'll be back. I love you Jennifer, never forget that." He sets it down on the counter and picks up his bag. He turns off the lights and walks out of the apartment. "I'm going to find him, and when I do I'm going to kill him." He whispers. Darren Christianson better watch his back, his escape will be short lived.
    When you love someone you protect them from the pain, you don't become the cause of it. - Unknown