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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Emily Prentiss has been trekking through the Appalachian Trail for what felt like hours; every step she took she become less optimistic about the outcome of their search. With everything she had seen during her time in the BAU, it wasn't a surprise that the positivism she had once was fading. The job took a toll on her in a small way that she rarely noticed. However, it was cases like that which made the change apparent to her. She hoped that they would find the children alive, but she wouldn't let herself rely too much on that. Optimism only made the pain worse when the outcome turned sour.
However, before her, she could see the uncorrupted, and possibly misguided, optimism of the newest team member. She had decided to stay at the front of the group, standing close to ranger and dog teamed with locating the missing children. Emily knew that this case resonated with Annie more than any other that she had worked on previously, the involvement of children making the women more than typically invested in reaching a desirable outcome. Yet, as much as Emily knew that Annie would never let her own feelings overtake the integrity of the case, she knew that emotional investment was not good for the woman's development.
Before setting out, she had seen Annie reassuring Aaron that she was competent enough to join the rangers, and other agents, without risking harm to herself or anyone else. Had Aaron have asked, Emily would have happily corroborated this statement, having witnessed the woman's quick thinking in unique situations on the few cases she had been in the field with her. However, Emily also knew that the Unit Chief's reaction was only natural. The man had been cautious about the idea of her being in the field after her reaction to the case; yet, he couldn't deny that having her in on hand almost instantly to speak with Ana or Robert could be invaluable. The children would undoubtedly by in shock when they were found, so to have them interacting with the woman from the beginning would mean that they built a rapport.
However, Aaron had wanted the woman to remain at the campsite, purely for her own safety. While they had previously been separated for days at a time, specifically during cases that didn't seem pertinent for Annie to join them, Aaron had never felt helpless over her safety. Yet, for the first time, she would be alone without a quick means of communication with him. That worried the man, but Annie had assured him that, no matter where she was, she would always come back to him.
Their interaction had been quick, a small argument in hushed voices that had been cured almost as soon as it had begun. As well as Emily, David had noticed, and was ready to intervene should the discretion of the minor altercation falter. Though, they were not necessary, as - when the woman placed her hand on the Unit Chief's upper arm smiling at him slightly - he nodded with his face still as stern as it had been moments before. He had said something to her, Annie pulling her hand away as her body language changed and she mimicked his last nod of confirmation.
Following that movement, she had informed Emily that she was to stay with her and under no circumstances split from the group. The brunette had followed with a joke about Aaron being worse than a protective father, to which Annie agreed with a humoured hum crossing her lips as she collected a supply rucksack and adding two additional bottles of water in case she, Emily and the rangers were lucky enough to find the two children.
Emily was well aware that this optimism had not faltered since they had begun searching. Despite the ever-thickening surroundings, she continued to walk beside the leading ranger remaining the most vocal out of the group. However, there was a moment where she stopped dead in her tracks, gesturing for the group to imitate that action.
The brunette grew confused for a moment, but her eyes widened slightly with shock as she heard what she presumed had made Annie stop in her tracks. There was a sound of sobbing coming from an area of greenery to the side of them. While Annie was trying to signal for everyone to hold back, all of her training telling her that, if this were one of the children, they should not be overwhelmed with foreign faces if they wanted to connect to the them and ensure that they were as comfortable in the groups presence as was possible in the given situation. However, before she could make it apparent to the ranger before her, the dogs had picked up on a sent that caused them to go bounding at the shrubbery.
Within seconds, there was a light, startled scream that left the area that had been surrounded. At this, Annie made the decision to join them, pushing back the greenery that was stopping her from being able to see the young girl. Letting out a break, Annie opened up her arms of the girl whispering, "Ana, it's all okay. My name is Annie, and we've been looking for you for a long time."
The girl stepped back for a moment, putting distance between her and the ginger woman. The rangers looked to Emily – who had been joined by Derek as he heard the girl's scream – unsure how they were going to go about this situation. However, Emily simply shook her head, telling them not to intervene with the woman as she attempted to Ana out of her hiding place.
"Your parents sent us to look for you, Ana." Annie explained, turning to go into her rucksack and pulling out both the picture she had been given by the family moments before she had asked to join the search party and one of the extra bottles of water. "Look, your dad gave me this, you're safe with me Ana."
Slowly the girl inched towards Annie, the woman remaining in the exact same place as she had been for the entire conversation. In order to reduce the likelihood of startling the girl, Annie remain in the same place she had been for the entire interaction, letting Ana make the move to close the distance. What surprised Annie the most about the situation was the way that Ana threw her arms round her, holding as tightly as she could before she began sobbing again.
Lifting the girl from the floor, Annie turned to the agents signalling for them to ask their questions, Emily stood at a distance from them as she asked, "Ana, do you know where your brother is?"
The blonde child shook her head, "I thought he had run after me, but when I looked back her wasn't there. He told me to run, he made me promise."
"It's okay," Annie whispered, rebalancing the girl on her hip, readying herself to carry the girl back to the campsite. Before they could leave, she asked, "Do you know which direction you ran in?"
She shook her head once more, Annie seeing a guilt on her face that caused hers to become pained. No child should blame themselves for anything out of their control, yet, as Ana buried her head in her shoulder, Annie knew that she had been stripped of any childhood innocence she had once had. For this girl, the illusion that the world was good place and people were in nature kind had been removed prematurely. She would never be able to listen to fairy-tales in the same way. Everyone else around her as she grew up would have nightmares about the monster under the bed, but Ana would have to live with the memory of a real monster. Ana would know that the real monsters are people, and that would inform every decision she made for the rest of her life.
