ENTANGLED | CRIMINAL MINDS

The Return

An hour later, the entire team was seated around the round table in deafening silence.

    "What we're dealing with here is an extremely skilled assassin on the loose. I was recently alerted by the warden at Mount Pleasants Women's Correctional Facility that Cat Adams has escaped from prison with the help of a guard on the inside by the name of Lionel Wilkins".

    Jean sat as her heart beat against her ribcage, worried for what the team was to face in this cat and mouse game against this villain.

She had thought that they were done dealing with this scumbag of a woman once and for all, but Cat never really leaves does she?

    Even when she was locked deep in solitary in a prison several states over, she still captivated Reid's mind daily. This woman had put him through hell and back.

The young and boyish Reid she had met when she first started at the BAU ceased to exist anymore. All the trauma he had been put through on this job plus going to prison turned him into someone else.

He was still her Spencer, but a little darker, a little meaner, and a whole lot more dangerous.

    The naïve boy who would dress up to work for Halloween and explain physics jokes was no longer, in his place stood a worn down man who stabbed himself to protect himself in prison.

    Jean instinctively reached out to grab Spencer's hand under the table to console him, gently rubbing circles on his thumb to bring him any sense of calmness now that his whole world was coming crashing down around him.

    "We'll get through this, Spence. We did it once, we can do it again" Jean whispered to him as they began pouring over Cat's personal file that the prison had sent over and previous information they had on her that Garcia had gathered up for the team.

    "Jean, when that woman put me in prison, I lost myself in there. Being with you, I feel myself coming alive again. I'm scared whatever she has up her sleeve will be the death of me" he muttered under his breath, making sure the rest of the team didn't hear him.

    Jean felt her heart drop for Spencer at the thought of what he had been through and worried about what the future held for them.

    She was interrupted from her worrying thoughts by Prentiss.

    "Jean, can you come help Hotch and I dig through these visitor logs from the prison. We're hoping we can connect someone that entered the prison to whoever on the outside helped Cat escape with the help of the guard" she said, Hotch looking up to meet her eyes only to quickly get back to work.

    She squeezed Spencer's hand and headed over to join them in Hotch's office. They worked in silence, only talking if something came up that they thought could be of use.

Jean subconsciously found herself thinking of the time not even a week ago, that she was getting railed right on this very desk.

She shook her head and got back to work, but not before meeting Hotch's eyes as he sent her a smirk, knowing very well what had run through her mind.

    She cleared her throat, causing Hotch and Prentiss to look up from their work. "If you all will excuse me, I have to go and catch some fresh air" Jean said with a slight blush, embarrassed that she needed time to straighten her mind out and focus on the case.

She knows damn well she can't afford to have a clouded mind right now, not when they're working such a high stakes case, not when Spencer needs her.

    She quickly left her seat and headed outside the large Quantico headquarters, leaning against the wall, the only light being the streetlight above her.

"Get it together, Sanders!" she thought as she fished out a cigarette. She stared at it hard, leaning back into her purse when she decided to toss it back into her purse.

    Instead, Jean pulled out a piece of gum. It'll never hit in the sweet sweet way that nicotine would, but it would do.

    "Jeanette, I didn't know you smoked" came a gruff voice from the entry of Quantico. Jean turned her head and found the one man who never called her anything but her full name.

    "There's a lot of things you don't know about me, sir" she called out with a smirk as he came closer, until they were standing under the streetlight together.

    To the ordinary eye, they were just two co-workers enjoying a well-earned break. It was more than that though, it was always more than that.  The question that lingered between them though was will it always be more than that.

    "Jeanette, I know that lately I haven't been quite the man you deserve. It's embarrassing to admit but I have a hard time talking about my feelings and opening up" he admitted, looking up from his shoes to meet her doe eyes.

    "Aaron, you think I don't know that?" Jean replied with a small smile, leaning her head against his shoulder.

    "Before we go back and return to our work where we put our lives on the line every day, I need to tell you that I love you. Damn it,  I love you, Jeanette Sanders. I know I haven't always been the best man for you and I may still not be the best man for you. I'm not forcing you to make any decisions but just know, if you'll have me, I would want nothing more than to be the man lucky enough to be at your side" he spoke out to the sky, this time refusing to meet her gaze.

    "Aaron...." she breathed out, her mind exploding at Hotch's revelation.

    "I'm going to head back inside to give you some more time on your own but I had to get that off my chest" he remarked, departing from the wall they were both leaning against, but not before stopping to give her a feathery kiss on top of her head.

    The door closed with a loud rattle and Jean's mind began to wander. What is she going to do? Who does her heart belong to? How the hell are we going to catch Cat Adams?

    Against her better instinct, she grabbed the lone cigarette that sat in her purse and lit it up as she pondered these questions.

    However, the cigarette soon fell from her mouth as she was roughly shoved into the back of a black suburban. She let out a scream but was soon shut up as her captor shoved a rag with chloroform into her face.

As Jean began to feel herself fade away, a solitary tear slid down her face. 

It turned out the question wasn't how they were going to catch Cat Adams, as Cat Adams had already caught her.