No-one had seen Annabel Bradey in a decade, that was until she resurfaced in SSA Aaron Hotchner's office in Quantico. She was carrying scars both physical and mental, but wouldn't share her story. Or at least not until everyone she loved was in dang...
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Jennifer Jareau was the first person to cross the bullpen that morning. At an attempt to tackle the ever-growing pile of paperwork, before they were called away to another case, she had traded the family breakfast for a coffee and muffin to go. Though, that didn't mean she had missed vital time with her boys. After the sudden appearance of his old friend, Aaron had sent each member home early, ordering them to spend the time wisely. Each agent knew that he wasn't referring to paperwork, but to spending the time with whatever family and friends when they could given their often-hectic work patterns. Jennifer has done just that; by the end of the night, she was sure her boys must be bored of her.
She had barely touched her stack when Penelope pushed open the door to her office, taking the seat opposite her own and tapping her nails on the desk. Jennifer knew the woman well enough to tell that she had a secret she wanted to share; she also knew that the analyst was fighting with her conscience. Deciding to continue with her paperwork, Jennifer didn't make eye contact with Penelope.
The eccentric blonde's fingers stopped tapping after a while, an auditable exhale filling the office as she gave into her desire to gossip with her friend. Pushing her glasses back up her nose, she muttered, "I did a thing."
"What thing?" Jennifer asked, not looking up from the paperwork. While she, under any other circumstance, would have given her friend her undying attention, she had sacrificed her family breakfast to work at on the pile of files so she would be dammed if she didn't make a mark.
Penelope leaned forwards, tapping her fingers once more, "I may have gone back over everything I knew about Annabel Bradey."
In that moment, Jennifer's attention snapped, the paperwork no longer being her priority. The woman before her had promised the team that she wouldn't go back into their boss' personal life, each of them agreeing it was overstepping the boundaries that had been in place since they had all begun to work together. From a simple glance at Penelope's face it was clear that she felt guilty, but that didn't stop Jennifer's face from forming that of a disappointed mother.
"I know, I know, you don't have to give me that look," rambled the woman who was now fidgeting in her seat. "But I have confirmed that that is her, different hair colour but that is Annabel Bradey."
"A decade's a long time to be missing and remain alive." Jennifer announced running her fingers through her hair as she pushed her file to the side. "Was there any more information about the disappearance?"
Penelope shook her head, all that she had found had been the same as every other time she had looked. It was Aaron who had last seen her before his and Haley's wedding, and then nothing for ten years. Living off the grid was almost impossible, but somehow this woman had. That caused Penelope's mind to travel to the worst picture she had seen, most of the victims they saw were kept in horrendous conditions for small lengths of time before they were rescued or killed, but Annabel had been gone for a decade. To have been a captive prisoner for that long, she wondered how she was holding her relative sanity.
