February Night

Chapter 91

At the BAU, everyone was incredibly nice. Penelope brought Lucy some chamomile tea and promised, to keep her company. Luke had driven home to get Roxy so the dog could be there with Lucy too. And Spencer and JJ had prepared the most comfortable couch in the whole bureau so Lucy could still lay down and get some sleep. "Thank you", Lucy said with a smile while she stroked Roxy's head. The dog had placed its head on Lucy's leg and looked as if she wouldn't leave her side anymore.

"We'll try to finish this case as fast as we can", Rossi said and then followed Emily out of the room. They would try to collect some more information that would bring them forward.

Spencer leaned down and kissed Lucy. "I love you." He put a hand on Lucy's baby bump. She smiled up at him, putting her hand on top of his.

"I love you, too. Please take care. I'm safe here, Spence. I'll be okay. I've got Penelope to entertain me." She smirked at her friend and Penelope nodded.

"Of course, I will! I'm gonna take good care of your wife and the babies, genius boy. And now go! Go! You have to catch this monster." Penelope shooed the rest of the team out of the now comfortable looking room. When everyone had left, Penelope opened her laptop. She had insisted to work here, where she could be with Lucy. But Lucy was just tired right now. She snuggled up on the improvised bed while Roxy coiled up next to it. Penelope glanced at her friend for a moment and gave her a smile before she concentrated on the work on her laptop again. Lucy closed her eyes and since she was so tired, she fell asleep almost immediately.

A scream woke Lucy up some hours ago and it took her a moment to realize that it had been her own scream that awoken her. Penelope, who had left the room to get herself a steamy cup of coffee, looked at her with raised eyebrows and a bit confused. "Lucy, what's the matter?" She sat down next to her friend, gently rubbing her back.

Heavily breathing, Lucy tried her best to calm down again. "I...I just had a dream...a bad one...I was being haunted by...by some...I don't know, but...I was so scared that something could happen to my babies...", Lucy explained with a slightly shaking voice.

"Wow, this case seems to hit you although you know you're safe here", Penelope murmured. Lucy just nodded and grabbed the blanket to wrap herself up in it. Roxy had reacted as well and placed her head on Lucy's leg once again. "Alright, I'll get you some tea, okay? Do you want something else?"

"Ice cream?", Lucy quietly said and now Penelope couldn't hold back a laugh. Lucy giggled as well. It felt good to have a friend like her after waking up from such a dream. Penelope returned only minutes later with a cup of deliciously smelling tea and a can of ice cream and passed the cup to Lucy. The ice cream was placed on the round table. After some sips, Lucy let out a sigh. Then she grabbed the ice cream. Banana chocolate. Her favorite. She grinned and started to eat. Penelope, who had taken her laptop to the couch, looked at her friend.

"May I join?" She conjured another spoon and both women laughed. Lucy held the can into Penelope's direction. They had fun in the middle of the night and Lucy almost forgot why she was spending it at the BAU. But then Penelope almost jumped from the couch.

"What? What is it?", Lucy asked and drooped her spoon.

"Oh, I just...I found something", Penelope excitedly said and sank down on the chair – the laptop in front of her. For a moment, Lucy thought about getting up and glancing over her friend's shoulder. But then she decided not to do so. She didn't want to see any pictures or similar things about the unsub, about this case. But she was curious, so curious.

"What did you find?", Lucy asked, but Penelope didn't answer. Instead, she called the team to give them the news.

"Alright, guys. I just found out there's a woman who escaped the psychiatry two weeks ago."

"Why was she there?", Lucy could hear Matt's voice through the loudspeaker.

"She...oh man, she lost a baby and then freaked out. Her ex-partner arranged that she was brought to mental hospital. She started to think every baby or toddler was her own baby. She even attacked a young mother because she thought she was kidnapping her child." Penelope stopped and took a deep breath.

"I...I'm afraid it's her. She's gone even madder. She wants a baby, no matter what. She's lost her mind." Penelope's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. She couldn't believe herself what was happening.

"Okay, Garcia. Can you give us a name?", Emily said.

"Oh dear, do you know me? Of course, I can! Her name's Amanda Burke." She gave the last address the woman had been living at and then hung up again to dig deeper into Amanda Burke's life. Lucy had come over, now too curious to not take a look at the screen. She could see a picture of Amanda. The woman had brown, long hair, pale skin and ice blue eyes. She wasn't a beauty, she was just...average. And possibly the crazy woman that was walking around cutting babies out of their mother's wombs.

Lucy swallowed and went back to the couch, sinking into the pillows. "Why does anybody such terrible things?", she murmured – more to herself than to Penelope. But her friend looked up from the laptop.

"I don't know, sweetheart. I really don't know", Penelope quietly said and then rushed over to embrace Lucy. "I'm sorry you have to sit here and see all of this." But Lucy shook her head and gave her friend a smile.

"It's okay. It's good I'm here. Spencer and Luke both would freak out if I'd be home alone. You know how protective they can get."

Penelope chuckled. "Oh, I know indeed." She got up again to return to her computer. And while Penelope worked on catching this woman as soon as possible, Lucy went to make her a coffee and herself another cup of tea. It would be a long night and she doubted she'd be able to get nearly enough sleep on that couch and with the babies moving around in her belly.

When she returned with the two cups, Penelope was talking on the phone again. She had gotten pale and her facial expression was serious. Lucy swallowed and impatiently waited for her friend to hang up so she could ask what was going on.

"There's another dead body. A pregnant woman. Just that...she's not pregnant anymore", Penelope quietly said and Lucy had to sit down again.