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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Penelope Garcia knew that whatever the three Bureau employees were working on in Aaron's office was being kept a secret for a reason. The blinds had been pulled shut for the first time since Annie had arrive, and the only time any of them had left in the last few hours was when David crossed the bullpen with a look of discomfort on his face. However, when any member of the team had asked him, he had shaken it off and blamed it on the last case.
Yet, Penelope was aware that he was withholding information, her search into Officer Adrian Miles having revealed a few key points about the work being done by Aaron, Annie and David. The man in question had been at the centre of a heated internal investigation that had uncovered many other instances where the McGregor law enforcers had failed to uphold the integrity of their office. While everything had been solved – Adrian Miles having left the investigation in a higher position than he had entered in – Penelope had decided that she would not be visiting the town at any point in her life.
However, this was not what had caused the woman to become the most worried about the investigation. As she had delved into the man's past, going further than she had been asked, she had found the signs that this investigation was of a personal nature. In her search, she had found that the officer in question had been the centre of any all enquiries into the supposed death of Mary Martyr – which Penelope knew to be a cover for Annie's departure from the church. The man held her friend's existence in his hand, and the Technical Analyst didn't know whether to believe he could be trusted.
She had also learnt that he had led most investigations into the Church of The Patron Saint Rafael, and that each of his investigations had been ended by interviews with those people reported missing. Yet, his transcripts of those moments were not in any files, and the reports he had filed had been only as thorough as was needed to pass inspection. From what Penelope had gathered, the compound – where her friend had been emotionally, and potentially physically, tortured – was a blind spot for the McGregor sheriff's department. It was at this point that Penelope had decided that her search had in fact uncovered all of his skeletons, and took the information to the office.
Normally, she would have simply emailed the compiled lists of his shortcomings and achievements, but Penelope wanted to ensure that her friends were okay. So, she knocked gently on the door before she pushed it open. Penelope became slightly self-conscious as the three Bureau employee's turned silent their heads snapped in her direction.
Swallowing back the nerves, she held out the USB in her hand, "This is everything I could find on Adrian Miles of McGregor, from his German great-great-grandparents to his separated wife and kid."
"Wife and kid?" Annie breathed, her eyes becoming wide with shock. It was clear from the look on her face that she had learnt that information, "He never mentioned that, but-"
Aaron sent Annie a glare, the woman stopping herself from revealing anything new with the Technical Analyst in the room. Instead, she stood, crossing the room and taking the flash drive from her friend, a supportive smile on her features. However, before Annie could say anything, Aaron cleared his throat, the woman nodding towards him.
"I trust you understand that any of the information you have just given us needs to be kept confidential," Aaron stated, causing Penelope to nod timidly at him. "That means that you need to clear any evidence of this from the system, and the team cannot know anything you have discovered."
The woman tilted her weight into the balls of her feet, nodding quicker as her voice peaked in pitch, "Yes sir, of course, my lips are sealed."
Penelope met Annie's gaze, turning silent as she took hold of her hand squeezing slightly. The ginger nodded, understanding what the woman was telling her, the silent conversations being more than frequent between the two.
"Once we've finished this investigation, I will tell you everything," Annie whispered, having traded Penelope's hand for an embrace. "But for now this is need to know, we can't risk it getting out there."
The blonde nodded, smiling at Aaron and David, which they happily returned, both of the agents understanding that the woman was fuelled by her worry for them. None of them wanted to lie, not to Penelope or to the rest of the team, but they knew that it was what kept Annie and her family the safest in this situation. They each watched Penelope leave the room, each sharing a look of guilt as she hovered outside of the office. She glanced around for a moment, nodding her head before she left, ignoring the rest of the team and retreating to her own office and place of safety.
"Are we definitely doing the right thing?" Annie asked, causing the other agents to avert their gaze from her. "Couldn't the team help us, they've been working on cases worse than this for longer than I have."
David shook his head, "Our best bet is to keep this quite until we know for sure what is going on. We can't risk the FBI coming on too strong, if there is any kind of leak at the sheriff's station we can't risk them notifying Gabriel."
"Okay," She stated, shaking away the guilt and hurt form her face. "Can we get started in this information?"
Aaron nodded at her, realising that the woman had grown closer to his team than he could have ever anticipated. The woman had her reservations about keeping them in the dark, and he was having the same ones. However, he had known the team long enough to know that their bias would make them disregard their official guidelines. They were not in anyway incompetent, but were effected by their proximity to cases. And, over the last few months, Annie had become a member of their family, and that was the greatest bias of all.
a.n. sorry about the weight on this chapter, and there will be a major edit of this chapter as I'm not 100% happy with it, it took me far to long to get through to ignore it. Also, I already have half of the next chapter, so I needed to get this done.
