The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

XVI

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The next few months flew by. We had back to back cases, which seemed to continuously get weirder and creepier. Aaron, Garcia, and I all picked up some extra work, as JJ was on maternity leave with her second son, Michael. Then, after she returned, we were all thrown into a worst case scenario.

Derek had been kidnapped. By the time we got to him, he had been badly tortured. The doctor had told us he was lucky to be alive. We all hated that phrase. Luck has nothing to do with it, but we lacked a better word for it, so we accepted it. Derek had taken six months off, during that time he finally married Savannah. Penelope and I took turns visiting the two, as Derek was anxious to get back to work and Savannah was on limited work because of her pregnancy. I tried to visit once a week, but due to work load, I only made it every couple of weeks. Truthfully, I don't think either of them really minded, as I tended to invite myself over most of the time.

We had just gotten back from a case in Wichita, Kansas. A man had killed a mother and father and kidnapped their son, eventually killing him. After another family was attacked, we realized the unsub didn't mean to kill the first mother. The unsub glued the parents' eyes closed and covered them in sand. The mother was meant to survive and live in anguish as her child had been kidnapped. When we found the unsub, we realized his true motive. He had been kidnapped as a child, held for eleven hours as he was abused and assaulted. His motive was that the mothers of the kidnapped children would apologize to him, a delusion he held as his own mother didn't even know he had been kidnapped. The case ended in relatively good terms. We had rescued the kid, but the unsub died.

When the plane landed, we all headed our separate ways. JJ and Reid headed back to the office to get ahead on paperwork, Rossi went off to his poker game, Derek went to some class with Savannah, and Aaron and I headed home.

We barely got in the door when we got the call... Savannah had been shot.

We rushed to the hospital that Penelope told us they were at. The SUV wasn't even in park when I jumped out, rushing towards Rossi and the officers on scene.

Aaron started rattling off things for the officers to do while the rest of the team gathered around.

"Hey hey, where you going?"

"Hey, let me through, that's my team over there!" I heard Derek hollering at the officer standing by the police tape. The officer pushed him back, "Get your hands off me! I'm FBI!"

I rushed over, "Hey, hey, he's an agent. Let him through." Derek and I walked back over to the team.

We were all stood in a semi-circle. "What the hell's wrong with them? Don't they know we're on this case?" Derek snapped.

"Yes, he knows. He just didn't know who you are. It's okay." Penelope reassured.

"Tell me you got something."

"A casing and a rifle up on the roof."

"This guy isn't sloppy. He's sending us a message."

"Garcia, we need to access the surveillance footage. "

"Of course, I'm on it."

"Alright, what else we got?"

"That's it right now."

"Where were you and Savannah standing?"

"We were standing right over there on the side of my truck," He threw his arm to the side, towards the truck, "We were just talking. She was to the back and I was facing her. I was the one who was vulnerable. I was the easy shot."

"How's Savannah?"

"She's in surgery."

"Come on. Let's check in."

"You guys got this?" We all nodded to him as Rossi held his arm, forcing him to walk away. We all knew he couldn't work this with us, we just weren't going to tell him. Not yet, at least.

We all made our way inside and to the conference room Garcia managed to get for us. I looked to Aaron, "I'm going to go donate blood. Savannah and I are the same type. Keep me updated, okay?" He gave me a strange look, how do you know that? Then he nodded, watching as I walked out of the room.

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I made my way back to the waiting room where Derek was sitting. I sat silently, a small water bottle in one hand and a cookie in the other. I offered him the water bottle, but he declined.

"You can't be mad at them, D."

"And why the hell not?"

"They're trying to help. I know you don't want to be taken off the case, but in order for this case to hold up in court, you can't be on it. You know that."

He scoffed, looking over at me, "Of course I know that, but that's my wife. I should be in there helping the team. The only reason she got shot is because they're coming after me."

"At least it was in front of a hospital." I tried to lighten the mood, but this just seemed to upset him more.

"If the point was to kill her, why... Why would he shoot her in a place where she could be saved?"

"Maybe the point wasn't to kill her."

Aaron and Rossi walked in, "The shooter called Garcia from the hospital minutes after the attack."

"A homeless guy. He stood out because he was wearing a ring. I just wasn't focused enough at the time to flag it."

"Do we have any leads?"

"Giuseppe Montolo's father. Chazz Montolo. He wants me to feel how he feels. Now I do."

I watched as recognition and frustration crossed Aaron's face. Someone let something slip that they shouldn't have, apparently. I followed both older men back to the conference room as Derek went for a walk. I split off from them to go find Penelope, who was by the vending machines.

"Hey... That thing have hot cocoa?"

She nodded, "That's what I'm getting."

"Make it two?" She nodded again. She handed me the one that was ready as she put in a few more coins for another, "How're you holding up?"

"I've never seen him like this. I want to fix it, and I can't. It's too much for anyone. It's not fair and it needs to stop." Her voice cracked at the end, her eyes starting to water.

I turned to look out the glass separating the room we were in and the hallway, watching him walk by. I looked back to her, as she stared at the wall behind me as tears freely flowed. I stretched my arms out as she walked towards me, wrapping hers around my torso and mine wrapped around her shoulders. I understood the pain she was going through. I had felt it countless times before.

I hugged her tightly, rubbing her back with my free hand. I knew how much she cared for Derek and Savannah. Derek was the first person to welcome her and make her feel comfortable at the FBI. He was the one person who was always there for her. It hurt her when he was hurt. And since he was lashing out at everyone around him, the stress and anger and pain he felt was felt by everyone. All we could do was work to find the son of a bitch who dared to hurt our family.