Lead the Way - Chapter 026 - 4x05 - Catching Out
What a weekend! The costume party on Saturday was a blast. I'm still a little worn out. But like every year it was worth it. I read this fic once where JJ was dressed as a pirate and Emily was a vampire or Zorro or something. The fic itself started out good enough, but turned into... well this isn't a rec post, so let's skip this part. The point was the image of JJ as a pirate... And then on Saturday my best friend dressed as a pirate... too bad he's a man :D
But today is Monday (Whatever happened to Sunday?) and that means it's time for a new chapter. When I first saw this episode I didn't like it. I didn't get the Unsub, I found the Goldilocks joke lame and I didn't understand why Prentiss looked so sad at the end. And then I watched it again. And again. And again. And I understood everything. Suddenly this episode gained a whole new side. I'm not saying it's one of my favorites, but it did make for an interesting insight into Emily's heart. If you know where to look.
The episode Catching Out was the fifth of the fourth season and written by Oanh Ly. I didn't write any of the dialogue you remember from the show, I didn't come up with the Unsub aso. You know the drill.
Lead the Way - 026 - 4x05 - Catching Out
Three days had gone by but Emily had decided not to call just yet. Three days since their wonderful date in Washington. Three days since a wonderful goodnight kiss had left her awake until dawn. It was hard not to call. But it was the right thing to do. She shouldn’t appear too eager, or she might push her away.
Morgan was just telling them about a beautiful woman he had met in the coffee shop this morning.
“So, wait, she knew your name?” Reid asked.
“I don’t know how I could forget a face like hers.”
“You’ve been with so many girls you can’t remember all their names?” Reid sounded baffled. Emily had to admit she couldn’t name all of her conquests, but she doubted she would be so unsuspecting when facing one of them.
“Oh come on, are you surprised?” It was times like this when Prentiss really appreciated that the team had no idea who she spent her nights with.
“This has never happened to me before.”
“Hasn’t happened to me before either.” Behind Spencer’s back Emily rolled her eyes. As if the comparison of Morgan and Reid would serve any purpose.
“It can’t happen to you, you have an eidetic memory.”
“Besides, you only have one name to remember.” Emily laughed hard at that. ‘Touché.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they were going over the new case, Emily couldn’t help but make the connection to an old fairy tale. The Unsub was burglarizing homes and killing the owners. After the kill he would take the time to shower, eat and sleep in the houses. He had crossed jurisdictional lines so often that there were more detectives on the case than Hotch liked. Furthermore, the head of the task force had named the Unsub “The Highway 99 Killer”.
JJ was distant during the briefing. She didn’t look at her, not even when she made that joke about Goldilocks. Emily wondered if that was because she was a little overzealous at not letting their co-workers know what had transpired between them this past weekend or if she was angry that Emily hadn’t called for three days now.
Unfortunately, Hotch had decided that JJ should go with him to the Headquarters in Sacramento while Emily herself had to go to Modesto, the latest crime scene. This way she couldn’t talk to JJ and explain or ask her out on a second date. But maybe that wasn’t all too bad since she didn’t know if she should ask her out. Was JJ expecting to be taken out again, or would she rather take initiative?
How did heterosexual couples do this? Was the man always taking out the woman? Or did the woman call him from time to time? Maybe it was time to rent a couple of romance movies to get a better feel for this. After all, she didn’t want to scare JJ away by doing the wrong thing or being too aggressive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After finding a vulnerable house - that had neither dog, nor lights, nor alarm system- and killing the owners, the Unsub symbolically dressed the male victim in his own clothes. He huffed household cleaners or nail polish remover.
A substance abuser with filthy clothes who spends the night in his victims’ house and eats their food. It didn’t sound like someone who would drive a car. A homeless person would need a different form of transportation. The Unsub wasn’t following highway 99. He was hopping trains.
Morgan and Rossi decided to stay in Modesto for now and interview local law enforcement and homeless men. They had their own way of communicating via painted signs near the tracks.
Meanwhile Emily drove back along highway 99 and noticed that she saw lots and lots of crop fields. Given that the train tracks followed the highway for most of the way, she figured it might be relevant to the case and alerted Reid to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hotch had decided not to release the profile to the media yet as there was no way of predicting where the Unsub would hit next. It was far too vague to alert a whole state to it. JJ gave out a statement retracting the name. She had to sit down for a moment before sending pictures of the families stolen jewelery to pawn shops all over California. Her son was kicking a lot today and she was getting tired. As she sat down however, she wished she hadn’t because her thoughts returned immediately to Emily.
After having shared what was to her the most perfect date she had ever been on, she had been sure that finally their relationship was evolving. Emily had returned the kiss and just thinking about that made her dizzy. But she had not called since. Three days can be excruciatingly long.
Sure guys sometimes waited three days before calling again but Emily was a woman. And weren’t they too old for this kind of game anyway? But what if the silence meant that Emily had changed her mind? Was she really gay? They hadn’t had a chance to discuss it. At dinner they had talked about general things like favorite dishes and restaurants and movies and the like.
Nothing important or serious had come up like her pregnancy, sexual orientation, work or all the other things that kept her mind busy. And if all this wasn’t enough to make her head explode the little baby boy in her belly had been kicking her all day long.
“He’s kicking a lot today.” It was meant as a diversion for Reid. He had looked at her thinking about Emily and she wanted to make sure he didn’t guess as much. Obviously she couldn’t hide the fact that she had been pondering something, but it was easy to make him believe it was the unborn child.
“In the third trimester there is an average of 30 fetal movements per hour. Babies kick to explore movement and strength and muscle.” What a response! Spencer really was something else. JJ smiled at him.
“Have you ever actually felt a baby kick?” She took his hand and placed it on her stomach.
“You feel that?” She asked, still smiling.
“Does that freak you out?” He asked.
“No. Not at all. Why? Does it freak you out?” She gave him a warning look but as usual Dr. Reid was completely oblivious to it.
“Very much so.” He retracted his hand and fell into silence.
“Okay.” Wondering whether she should be offended by this confession or love him more for his honesty, JJ giggled. At least she had been thinking about something else for a couple of seconds. Her phone rang and she had her hand on it immediately, hoping it would be Emily. But it was Garcia. ‘Damn’
Garcia had bad news and Spencer made the other team members come in. There she was! Looking as gorgeous as ever. JJ sat up straight, trying hard not to look as exhausted as she felt.
Garcia had found the Unsub’s DNA in three more crime scenes. His first kill had been in Tehachapi and Morgan and Rossi made their way there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily had seen a lot of women with child. Most of them had put on weight in record time. But JJ was still thin and beautiful. Not the unhealthy kind of thin either. Emily had shuddered at the images of Ellen Pompeij. How was the child supposed to be healthy when the mother weighed less with it inside of her than before?
But JJ was perfect. Graceful. She never let on how it affected her work. Emily knew she had to be in pain at some point. Swollen ankles, back pain, heat waves; it wasn’t exactly a secret what women went through. But JJ never once complained to the team.
Right now she was clearly going through a heat wave and Emily wished nothing more than to be the one cooling her down. It bothered her that her past with Will was still so strikingly evident and every time she looked at the blonde, Emily thought of the man she hated the most. She knew her hate came from jealousy that was no longer necessary but she couldn’t help herself.
Even if she had a future with this woman, he would always be there. Always be a part of her life, and once the baby was born… Well Emily was no idealist.
Reid caught her looking at JJ. Quickly the profiler asked:
“You considering it?”
“Considering what?”
“Having baby-geniuses one day?” Before Spencer could answer the phone rang. Garcia again. Emily tore her eyes off her favorite view and focused again on the case at hand. According to the new information the Unsub could be a migrant farm worker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, the new morning came with a new crime scene. The Unsub was quickly devolving if he killed just one day after Modesto. JJ had good news, too, one of the pawn shop owners had recognized some stolen jewelery and provided them with a photo of the Unsub. She decided not to give in and call Emily, even if it was work related, so she dialed Reid’s number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garcia found out that migrant farm workers often stayed in housing camps where they were required to sign in, giving the government a way to track migrants. Armed with the list of crime scenes, she quickly found a group of farm workers - called a quadrille - that had travelled the same route as the Unsub.
Before the first kill however, the quadrille listed one more name. The Unsub. Armando Salinas. Now the quadrille was staying in Lockport not far from where Hotch, Prentiss and Reid were.
At the housing camp the profilers found Armando’s brother and brought him in for questioning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spanish. JJ knew Emily was interviewing the Unsub’s brother in Spanish but unfortunately she couldn’t listen in. It was always so enticing to hear Emily speak in one of the many languages she knew. There was just no excuse to get close to her. JJ bit her lip. Maybe one day she would speak to her. Whisper in her ear. JJ really didn’t care whether it was Spanish, Italian or Arabic as long as it would be meant just for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the team tried to arrest Salinas, he fled and jumped onto a moving train. Morgan followed closely behind, but Armando had the upper hand. Hotch had no choice but to shoot him before he could harm his colleague.
Emily had brought his brother the grim news. Empathizing with the victims or their families was something she had grown used to, but she rarely empathized with the Unsub.
Maybe it was because she understood so well the wish to have a home of your own, a place to live in that did not move around all the time, the longing for stability. Nonetheless, the Unsub had murdered couple after couple to live out his fantasy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Quantico, Reid asked if anyone had plans and just as Emily was jumping at Morgan’s suggestion they would eat, JJ walked up to them. Next to her was a beautiful black woman, an FBI ID on her belt.
“Hey guys. I wanted to introduce you to someone. This is Agent Jordan Todd. She’ll be taking over for me while I’m on maternity leave.”
“Agent Jareau told me so much about you. You must be Agent Prentiss…” She shook Emily’s hand who briefly wondered just how much Agent Jareau had told her about her.
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“Hello, Dr. Reid.”
“Hi.”
“And Agent Morgan.” The last word was said in a very flirty tone, as Emily noticed.
‘Straight.’ It was a habit of hers to ascertain the sexual orientation of the women around her. It wasn’t until she thought it, that the profiler knew she didn’t even care. All she wanted was the blonde Agent Todd was supposed to replace. There was no doubt she would fail.
“Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too. So this must be the good news.”
“This would be my brownie.”
“Ah you two have met?” Emily knew already that this had to be the woman from the other morning but she also knew that Morgan wouldn’t want this Agent Todd to know he had told his friends about her. At least she knew she wouldn’t.
“Briefly,” was Derek’s response.
Emily noticed that JJ had observed the situation just as curiously as she had. JJ was grinning at the two of them.
“Ah… Well, Agent Todd comes to us from seven years out of counter-terrorism.”
“I’m really looking forward to working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit.”
“We’re starting her training now.”
“Training her right now?” Reid questioned.
“Well, we’re kinda running out of time, so…” JJ pointed to her stomach. “Let me introduce you to the rest of the team.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you all in the field, team.”
“Well, we’re looking forward to it,” Emily yelled after the two. She certainly wouldn’t mind looking at Agent Todd. As soon as they were out of earshot Emily teased Morgan:
“Ahem. So is there anything you want to tell us?” He was almost running away from them.
“No.”
“Your forehead’s sweating.” This was so much fun!
“No it’s not.” Morgan tried to diffuse the situation with a toneless comeback.
“Oh and he’s avoiding eye contact.” Prentiss said over his shoulder to Reid.
“His blink rate just sped up.” The doctor stated.
“You know what, guys? I don’t think I want that burger too much any more.” And with that he got into the elevator, making sure to block the others from joining him
“Oh come on! You can’t run from us.” Emily laughed at him.
“Watch me.”
The metallic doors closed behind him. Reid and Prentiss were left behind still giggling about their friend’s behavior.
But today is Monday (Whatever happened to Sunday?) and that means it's time for a new chapter. When I first saw this episode I didn't like it. I didn't get the Unsub, I found the Goldilocks joke lame and I didn't understand why Prentiss looked so sad at the end. And then I watched it again. And again. And again. And I understood everything. Suddenly this episode gained a whole new side. I'm not saying it's one of my favorites, but it did make for an interesting insight into Emily's heart. If you know where to look.
The episode Catching Out was the fifth of the fourth season and written by Oanh Ly. I didn't write any of the dialogue you remember from the show, I didn't come up with the Unsub aso. You know the drill.
Lead the Way - 026 - 4x05 - Catching Out
Three days had gone by but Emily had decided not to call just yet. Three days since their wonderful date in Washington. Three days since a wonderful goodnight kiss had left her awake until dawn. It was hard not to call. But it was the right thing to do. She shouldn’t appear too eager, or she might push her away.
Morgan was just telling them about a beautiful woman he had met in the coffee shop this morning.
“So, wait, she knew your name?” Reid asked.
“I don’t know how I could forget a face like hers.”
“You’ve been with so many girls you can’t remember all their names?” Reid sounded baffled. Emily had to admit she couldn’t name all of her conquests, but she doubted she would be so unsuspecting when facing one of them.
“Oh come on, are you surprised?” It was times like this when Prentiss really appreciated that the team had no idea who she spent her nights with.
“This has never happened to me before.”
“Hasn’t happened to me before either.” Behind Spencer’s back Emily rolled her eyes. As if the comparison of Morgan and Reid would serve any purpose.
“It can’t happen to you, you have an eidetic memory.”
“Besides, you only have one name to remember.” Emily laughed hard at that. ‘Touché.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they were going over the new case, Emily couldn’t help but make the connection to an old fairy tale. The Unsub was burglarizing homes and killing the owners. After the kill he would take the time to shower, eat and sleep in the houses. He had crossed jurisdictional lines so often that there were more detectives on the case than Hotch liked. Furthermore, the head of the task force had named the Unsub “The Highway 99 Killer”.
JJ was distant during the briefing. She didn’t look at her, not even when she made that joke about Goldilocks. Emily wondered if that was because she was a little overzealous at not letting their co-workers know what had transpired between them this past weekend or if she was angry that Emily hadn’t called for three days now.
Unfortunately, Hotch had decided that JJ should go with him to the Headquarters in Sacramento while Emily herself had to go to Modesto, the latest crime scene. This way she couldn’t talk to JJ and explain or ask her out on a second date. But maybe that wasn’t all too bad since she didn’t know if she should ask her out. Was JJ expecting to be taken out again, or would she rather take initiative?
How did heterosexual couples do this? Was the man always taking out the woman? Or did the woman call him from time to time? Maybe it was time to rent a couple of romance movies to get a better feel for this. After all, she didn’t want to scare JJ away by doing the wrong thing or being too aggressive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After finding a vulnerable house - that had neither dog, nor lights, nor alarm system- and killing the owners, the Unsub symbolically dressed the male victim in his own clothes. He huffed household cleaners or nail polish remover.
A substance abuser with filthy clothes who spends the night in his victims’ house and eats their food. It didn’t sound like someone who would drive a car. A homeless person would need a different form of transportation. The Unsub wasn’t following highway 99. He was hopping trains.
Morgan and Rossi decided to stay in Modesto for now and interview local law enforcement and homeless men. They had their own way of communicating via painted signs near the tracks.
Meanwhile Emily drove back along highway 99 and noticed that she saw lots and lots of crop fields. Given that the train tracks followed the highway for most of the way, she figured it might be relevant to the case and alerted Reid to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hotch had decided not to release the profile to the media yet as there was no way of predicting where the Unsub would hit next. It was far too vague to alert a whole state to it. JJ gave out a statement retracting the name. She had to sit down for a moment before sending pictures of the families stolen jewelery to pawn shops all over California. Her son was kicking a lot today and she was getting tired. As she sat down however, she wished she hadn’t because her thoughts returned immediately to Emily.
After having shared what was to her the most perfect date she had ever been on, she had been sure that finally their relationship was evolving. Emily had returned the kiss and just thinking about that made her dizzy. But she had not called since. Three days can be excruciatingly long.
Sure guys sometimes waited three days before calling again but Emily was a woman. And weren’t they too old for this kind of game anyway? But what if the silence meant that Emily had changed her mind? Was she really gay? They hadn’t had a chance to discuss it. At dinner they had talked about general things like favorite dishes and restaurants and movies and the like.
Nothing important or serious had come up like her pregnancy, sexual orientation, work or all the other things that kept her mind busy. And if all this wasn’t enough to make her head explode the little baby boy in her belly had been kicking her all day long.
“He’s kicking a lot today.” It was meant as a diversion for Reid. He had looked at her thinking about Emily and she wanted to make sure he didn’t guess as much. Obviously she couldn’t hide the fact that she had been pondering something, but it was easy to make him believe it was the unborn child.
“In the third trimester there is an average of 30 fetal movements per hour. Babies kick to explore movement and strength and muscle.” What a response! Spencer really was something else. JJ smiled at him.
“Have you ever actually felt a baby kick?” She took his hand and placed it on her stomach.
“You feel that?” She asked, still smiling.
“Does that freak you out?” He asked.
“No. Not at all. Why? Does it freak you out?” She gave him a warning look but as usual Dr. Reid was completely oblivious to it.
“Very much so.” He retracted his hand and fell into silence.
“Okay.” Wondering whether she should be offended by this confession or love him more for his honesty, JJ giggled. At least she had been thinking about something else for a couple of seconds. Her phone rang and she had her hand on it immediately, hoping it would be Emily. But it was Garcia. ‘Damn’
Garcia had bad news and Spencer made the other team members come in. There she was! Looking as gorgeous as ever. JJ sat up straight, trying hard not to look as exhausted as she felt.
Garcia had found the Unsub’s DNA in three more crime scenes. His first kill had been in Tehachapi and Morgan and Rossi made their way there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily had seen a lot of women with child. Most of them had put on weight in record time. But JJ was still thin and beautiful. Not the unhealthy kind of thin either. Emily had shuddered at the images of Ellen Pompeij. How was the child supposed to be healthy when the mother weighed less with it inside of her than before?
But JJ was perfect. Graceful. She never let on how it affected her work. Emily knew she had to be in pain at some point. Swollen ankles, back pain, heat waves; it wasn’t exactly a secret what women went through. But JJ never once complained to the team.
Right now she was clearly going through a heat wave and Emily wished nothing more than to be the one cooling her down. It bothered her that her past with Will was still so strikingly evident and every time she looked at the blonde, Emily thought of the man she hated the most. She knew her hate came from jealousy that was no longer necessary but she couldn’t help herself.
Even if she had a future with this woman, he would always be there. Always be a part of her life, and once the baby was born… Well Emily was no idealist.
Reid caught her looking at JJ. Quickly the profiler asked:
“You considering it?”
“Considering what?”
“Having baby-geniuses one day?” Before Spencer could answer the phone rang. Garcia again. Emily tore her eyes off her favorite view and focused again on the case at hand. According to the new information the Unsub could be a migrant farm worker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, the new morning came with a new crime scene. The Unsub was quickly devolving if he killed just one day after Modesto. JJ had good news, too, one of the pawn shop owners had recognized some stolen jewelery and provided them with a photo of the Unsub. She decided not to give in and call Emily, even if it was work related, so she dialed Reid’s number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garcia found out that migrant farm workers often stayed in housing camps where they were required to sign in, giving the government a way to track migrants. Armed with the list of crime scenes, she quickly found a group of farm workers - called a quadrille - that had travelled the same route as the Unsub.
Before the first kill however, the quadrille listed one more name. The Unsub. Armando Salinas. Now the quadrille was staying in Lockport not far from where Hotch, Prentiss and Reid were.
At the housing camp the profilers found Armando’s brother and brought him in for questioning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spanish. JJ knew Emily was interviewing the Unsub’s brother in Spanish but unfortunately she couldn’t listen in. It was always so enticing to hear Emily speak in one of the many languages she knew. There was just no excuse to get close to her. JJ bit her lip. Maybe one day she would speak to her. Whisper in her ear. JJ really didn’t care whether it was Spanish, Italian or Arabic as long as it would be meant just for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the team tried to arrest Salinas, he fled and jumped onto a moving train. Morgan followed closely behind, but Armando had the upper hand. Hotch had no choice but to shoot him before he could harm his colleague.
Emily had brought his brother the grim news. Empathizing with the victims or their families was something she had grown used to, but she rarely empathized with the Unsub.
Maybe it was because she understood so well the wish to have a home of your own, a place to live in that did not move around all the time, the longing for stability. Nonetheless, the Unsub had murdered couple after couple to live out his fantasy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Quantico, Reid asked if anyone had plans and just as Emily was jumping at Morgan’s suggestion they would eat, JJ walked up to them. Next to her was a beautiful black woman, an FBI ID on her belt.
“Hey guys. I wanted to introduce you to someone. This is Agent Jordan Todd. She’ll be taking over for me while I’m on maternity leave.”
“Agent Jareau told me so much about you. You must be Agent Prentiss…” She shook Emily’s hand who briefly wondered just how much Agent Jareau had told her about her.
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“Hello, Dr. Reid.”
“Hi.”
“And Agent Morgan.” The last word was said in a very flirty tone, as Emily noticed.
‘Straight.’ It was a habit of hers to ascertain the sexual orientation of the women around her. It wasn’t until she thought it, that the profiler knew she didn’t even care. All she wanted was the blonde Agent Todd was supposed to replace. There was no doubt she would fail.
“Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too. So this must be the good news.”
“This would be my brownie.”
“Ah you two have met?” Emily knew already that this had to be the woman from the other morning but she also knew that Morgan wouldn’t want this Agent Todd to know he had told his friends about her. At least she knew she wouldn’t.
“Briefly,” was Derek’s response.
Emily noticed that JJ had observed the situation just as curiously as she had. JJ was grinning at the two of them.
“Ah… Well, Agent Todd comes to us from seven years out of counter-terrorism.”
“I’m really looking forward to working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit.”
“We’re starting her training now.”
“Training her right now?” Reid questioned.
“Well, we’re kinda running out of time, so…” JJ pointed to her stomach. “Let me introduce you to the rest of the team.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you all in the field, team.”
“Well, we’re looking forward to it,” Emily yelled after the two. She certainly wouldn’t mind looking at Agent Todd. As soon as they were out of earshot Emily teased Morgan:
“Ahem. So is there anything you want to tell us?” He was almost running away from them.
“No.”
“Your forehead’s sweating.” This was so much fun!
“No it’s not.” Morgan tried to diffuse the situation with a toneless comeback.
“Oh and he’s avoiding eye contact.” Prentiss said over his shoulder to Reid.
“His blink rate just sped up.” The doctor stated.
“You know what, guys? I don’t think I want that burger too much any more.” And with that he got into the elevator, making sure to block the others from joining him
“Oh come on! You can’t run from us.” Emily laughed at him.
“Watch me.”
The metallic doors closed behind him. Reid and Prentiss were left behind still giggling about their friend’s behavior.