counting stars | criminal minds [discontinued]

1 5 | S N O O P I N G

[4.19]

"this is why you have a teenage girl on your team"

Florence didn't know if it was considered incredibly late or incredibly early when she got called to come in for a case. She was half asleep as she skated to the building. She ended up being one of the first to arrive, so she made her way to the break room and fixed a ziplock bag full of ice. Once back in the briefing room, she leaned back and put it on her nose, which had been hurting since she woke up.

"How's the nose, kiddo?" Rossi asked, sipping on his coffee.

"I got to take the gauze out of my nostrils," she mumbled tiredly. "And my friend Julie drew little hearts on the bandage, so at least it's cute."

None of them made a comment about her mentioning a friend — something she had never done before. They were a bit too tired to care, but they'd think about it later. Eventually, everyone mosied into the briefing room with their coffee and wearing their comfy clothes. However, Florence was the only one in her pajamas, which had little pink cows on them. JJ quickly started their briefing by playing footage of a theater burning down.

"This is news footage from a movie theater in Royal, Indiana. Population two thousand. Earlier tonight nineteen people were killed."

"And they're sure it's arson?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. Two days ago the same thing happened at the local recreation center," JJ said. "Twelve victims, no survivors."

"I heard about that," Prentiss said.

"Yeah, it was all over the news," Morgan added.

"There were some details that didn't make the news," JJ told them. "A week and a half earlier there were some fires at a convenience store, a local restaurant. Luckily, it was after hours and no one was hurt."

"So whoever set these went from no victims to thirty-one in two weeks. That's a hell of an escalation," Rossi noted.

"Why didn't they call us in sooner?" Prentiss asked.

"The local police and fire department knew they were dealing with an arsonist, but they had no idea he'd become a killer."

"Most arsonists don't," Reid said. "They just like setting fires. Any deaths that occur are almost always accidental."

"Thirty-one victims is not an accident," Morgan said.

"The Police Chief knows he made a mistake," Hotch said. "And he learned the hard way that even though not all arsonists are killers, they do have one thing in common — once they start, they can't stop."

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Once the team was in the air, they video-called Garcia and Florence to go over the case some more. Florence was wrapped up in her blanket from Hotch and curled up in her chair. For a brief moment, she considered drinking coffee instead of her Capri Sun, but she quickly shook the thought away.