L'Exposition Grande [2/?]
Title L'Exposition Grande [1/?]
Fandom Criminal Minds
Rating R
Pairings: For This Chapter Implied JJ/Hotchner, Morgan/Garcia
Summary After the events of "Lauren" a distraught and depressed Spencer Reid attempts suicide. After a 6 month Hiatus to clear his head which included a 6 week mandatory stay in a mental hospital, he returns to the BAU. For his first assignment he along with Derek Morgan are sent to Paris for an international profiling seminar. However their trip is extended when a Murder takes place at the Louvre that sends the BAU searching for one Crafty Unsub. However during the investigation Spencer unknowingly uncovers a secret that will rip the team apart. (Pairings: JJ/Hotch, Morgan/Garcia and eventual Emily/Reid)
Warnings For This Chapter, Nudity
Disclaimer Unless I was god I do not sadly own the Franchise.
Notes: The Episode of Stargate Atlantis mentioned in this Chapter is called "Common Ground"
Previous Chapters
Six Months Earlier, Quantico Virginia
The fracture started long before, when it started? It was still a mystery. Perhaps the fracture started the day they watched their friend Emily Prentiss walk out the doors of the BAU that final time. Or it could have been the minute they found out she was missing. Maybe it was moment they found her in the warehouse, dying from a stab wound to the abdomen. Or maybe it was the moment Agent Jennifer Jareau said those seven awful words that spoke of Emily's fate.
She never made it off the table.
It didn't seem plausible, even then the team remained united in their grief. What was most likely the beginning crack was a puzzling message sent to members of the team , by the most brilliant yet most fragile member of the family….
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first message was sent to David Rossi.
At the time he was out to dinner with the newest member of the BAU family Ashley Seaver. Poor girl, she hadn't been on the team long and was subjected to such horrors unimaginable to an Average Joe. He thought a nice dinner with her at his favorite Italian restaurant would put them both in good cheer.
It did. They spent the dinner laughing and talking about the Plethora of things they had in common. They didn't know how much time had passed before the owner came to their table and told them the place was to close for the night.
"I'll walk you to your car," Rossi said.
It was in the middle of that short journey where his cell phone vibrated.
As a Senior SSA agent he knew he had to take every call, every message.
"Excuse me one moment," He said. With one arm still linked with Seaver's, his free hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his Blackberry. The screen flashed that it was a text message from Reid. Rossi raised an eyebrow.
He knew when Reid contacted him late at night, it had to be an emotional issue. And with the death of Emily he needed someone to bare his soul to. Rossi said he would be there for him though he as well was saddened by this loss. Usually he would be quick to take up the offer, but surprisingly he gotten no word about the emotional toll that this was taking on the young agent.
Rossi assumed he wasn't ready to talk about it so he did not push the situation. But the moment he read the text message he suddenly became alarmed.
Despair and depression,
together they grow.
Hope shall meet hopeless
when there's nowhere to go
Adieu, mes amis. Je vais la gloire.
-Reid
The veteran profiler's eyes widened as he unlinked his arm with his companion and ran a hand through his dark hair . He suddenly found himself using his sharp profiling skills. He knew Reid would occasionally send text messages of inspirational quotes but this was dark, like he had given up on life all together. Rossi knew Reid was depressed over losing Emily but was it enough to take his-
The Blackberry slipped out of hand.
"Dave?" Ashley asked with a concerned look on her face, "what's wrong?"
He didn't answer he just began sprinting to his car. Ashley in shock picked up his fallen Blackberry and began to sprint after him.
"DAVE WAIT!" She cried again.
As he got in the car Ashley found herself settling in on the other side. She didn't even buckle when Dave sped off out of the restaurant parking lot.
The next person to "receive" the strange message that something was off was Aaron Hotchner. He was spending time with his son Jack. In the dark days from the death of his wife Haley, whom he refused to acknowledge as his ex, to the loss of Emily, Jack had been his saving grace.
The sat on the floor with crayons, markers and paper and did an activity loosely based on game played by artists like Frida Khalo called Exquisite Corpse.
In the original game a group of artists would draw an image of a person. One artist would draw a body part and then pass the image to the artist sitting next to them. Then that artist would draw another part of the body and so on and so forth. With different styles the result would be a figure whose body structure was completely out of proportion.
It was Aaron's favorite activity when he minored in art in college. A fact he had hidden from his team along with the fact he was an artist. Well until Garcia found him in his office one day with sketchbook.
From the time he was a child, art had always been a catharsis to him. And with the many things Jack's young eyes had seen it was more imperative ever as a father to introduce his son to this healthy catharsis.
Jack smiled when he finished drawing his contribution to the picture, a tennis racket for an arm.
"Your turn daddy," He said with glee as he passed the piece of paper to his father.
Aaron took a quick scan wondering what he should add to the picture. Maybe a robotic arm would be a nice touch with the tennis racket.
"Daddy?" Jack asked. Aaron responded with his eyes remaining fixated on the paper and a humph noise. "Do you think Emily is having a playdate with mommy up in Heaven?"
Aaron took a sharp breath. He almost ruined his intricate robotic arm he was crafting. It was like a splash of water hit him in the face at full force. Two painful memories, two painful losses intermingled into one. The loss of Hayley was a stab in the heart. The loss of Emily twisted the knife a little deeper. But with Emily's loss came a secret that would cause destruction.
"Don't cry daddy," Jack said placing his little hand on his father's arm, "I didn't mean to make you sad."
"Come here Jack," Aaron said and as if it were an impulse his son crawled into his lap, "I know you didn't mean to make me sad. But you know how I miss mommy and I miss Emily just as much. We have every right to be sad about loss. But what makes me have a little peace is that I know Emily is taking care of Mommy."
Jack hugged his father tighter. The love this child had for him had such healing powers. After a few moments of silence Jack finally spoke again.
"When's JJ coming home?" Jack asked looking up at his father with a smile.
Aaron couldn't help but smile. His relationship with Jennifer Jaraeu was quick and unexpected. She had just broken off her engagement with William. Having divorcing Hayley prior to her death, Aaron thought he'd give her some advice. Well one thing led to another and the next thing they knew they figured out they had feelings for each other.
Of course Aaron was a bit hesitant since it was almost year since Hayley was murdered. He felt it was in bad taste, especially for Jack if he were to suddenly start seeing someone else. However after some soul searching he realized Hayley would have wanted him to be happy and for Jack to have a mother figure.
When he first brought JJ home for the first time he did not think Jack would react very well to a new mother figure, but Aaron's fears were worthless. Jack took a shine to his father's new girlfriend. Aaron believed that it was because he knew JJ his whole life. He could trust her to take care of his father, weakened by the horrors he had seen in these past few years.
And she did that job well. JJ was different from the other love interests he had in the past. She was kind, she was different, and overall she understood him.
"She'll be home tomorrow night," He then said with a smile, "just in time for dinner."
"Daddy, is JJ gonna be my new mommy?" Jack inquired.
Aaron's smile faded as his cheeks turned bright red. He didn't know how to answer such a question, especially since it was too soon to figure out which direction this relationship was heading. Though once again he was satisfied that Jack was comfortable with the possible outcome.
"Uhhhh," Aaron uttered trying to come up with the appropriate answer.
The vibration of his cell phone in his pocket saved him from answering such a tough question. It must have been JJ calling to inform him that she was about to board the flight home from France. Without even bothering to look at the number he pressed the accept button.
"Hey Sweetheart," He said
"It's Dave Aaron," The voice on the other line growled. Dave sounded rather agitated about something, he was panting and heaving on the other line, "In other circumstances I would get a laugh out of this, but it's not…..we've got a big problem."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To capture an extraordinary soldier takes extraordinary measures," The actor who played the villain said the screen.
"Playing nice," Derek Morgan said, tilting his head to the side as he so typically did when he profiled an unsub, "this is not a good sign, especially since….he sounds as though he is taunting his victim."
His girlfriend Penelope Garcia, who laid beside him nude as he was, giggled in response.
"Oh I love it when you profile the villains on my favorite Sci Fi TV shows," She replied huskily as she ran her hand over his naked chest.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa easy there baby girl" Derek teased with a smile on his face, "I need a little down time before round 2….besides this episode is getting exciting."
"What till the middle it gets interesting," Penelope replied.
The two of them had this rather strange ritual after they made love. They would just lay there in the nude on the bed they shared and Penelope would introduce her boyfriend to her favorite Science Fiction shows and movies. Within the year they began dating she had introduced Derek to classic and modern shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Battlestar Glactica, Primeval and the Stargate Franchise. It was a rather odd way to show their love but then again it was the odd nature of their relationship that made it so beautiful. Especially since it was not everyday a geeky girl won the heart of a macho ladies' man like Derek Morgan.
They decided to watch another episode of Stargate: Atlantis since it seemed to be Derek's favorite. He seemed to be drawn to the character Ronon Dex, definitely because like Derek, Ronon broke down any wall that got in his way. The episode they were watching was about the main character Colonel John Sheppard getting kidnapped byhis nemesis going by the name of Kolya.
Derek was focused on Kolya's character. One he thought it was halirious that the actor who plays him was Jake Fratelli in the Goonies. Two ever since becoming a profiler had a natural need to profile any bad guy that graced his television screen.
"It's not a question of what I want" The villain Kolya said as he walked cautiously towards his captive "it's a question of who."
"Who?" Derek replied raising an eyebrow at Kolya's response for Sheppard, "who else could he possibly want, he has Sheppard who he hates with every breath in his body. I thought he would want you know…Atlantis or something."
"Why does it matter?" Penelope replied teasingly.
"Cause it throws off my profile," The agent retorted.
"You already have your profile on Kolya," The technical analyst said continuing to rub his naked chest, "you called him an antisocial narcissist who has a psychopathic need for attention."
"It throws off the important piece to a crime," Derek said waving his free hand in the air, "the motivation."
And just when the good part came on the screen where it was revealed to the Atlantis team that Kolya kidnapped Sheppard his cell rang.
"Always at the exciting part," Derek groaned picking up the phone, Penelope went to pause the DVD not paying the attention to the conversation….
"WHAT!" He roared Penelope turned her head as she watched Morgan sit up abruptly, "When..." His face had tensed as the conversation continued. "Do you know why…Oh god." He went to squeeze the bridge of his nose, "alright Garcia and I will be there as soon as we can….call me if anything changes."
She looked on in concern as Derek growled and threw his phone across the room.
"What happened?" She asked.
"
That was Hotch, Reid tried to kill himself….over Prentiss."
Fandom Criminal Minds
Rating R
Pairings: For This Chapter Implied JJ/Hotchner, Morgan/Garcia
Summary After the events of "Lauren" a distraught and depressed Spencer Reid attempts suicide. After a 6 month Hiatus to clear his head which included a 6 week mandatory stay in a mental hospital, he returns to the BAU. For his first assignment he along with Derek Morgan are sent to Paris for an international profiling seminar. However their trip is extended when a Murder takes place at the Louvre that sends the BAU searching for one Crafty Unsub. However during the investigation Spencer unknowingly uncovers a secret that will rip the team apart. (Pairings: JJ/Hotch, Morgan/Garcia and eventual Emily/Reid)
Warnings For This Chapter, Nudity
Disclaimer Unless I was god I do not sadly own the Franchise.
Notes: The Episode of Stargate Atlantis mentioned in this Chapter is called "Common Ground"
Previous Chapters
Six Months Earlier, Quantico Virginia
The fracture started long before, when it started? It was still a mystery. Perhaps the fracture started the day they watched their friend Emily Prentiss walk out the doors of the BAU that final time. Or it could have been the minute they found out she was missing. Maybe it was moment they found her in the warehouse, dying from a stab wound to the abdomen. Or maybe it was the moment Agent Jennifer Jareau said those seven awful words that spoke of Emily's fate.
She never made it off the table.
It didn't seem plausible, even then the team remained united in their grief. What was most likely the beginning crack was a puzzling message sent to members of the team , by the most brilliant yet most fragile member of the family….
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first message was sent to David Rossi.
At the time he was out to dinner with the newest member of the BAU family Ashley Seaver. Poor girl, she hadn't been on the team long and was subjected to such horrors unimaginable to an Average Joe. He thought a nice dinner with her at his favorite Italian restaurant would put them both in good cheer.
It did. They spent the dinner laughing and talking about the Plethora of things they had in common. They didn't know how much time had passed before the owner came to their table and told them the place was to close for the night.
"I'll walk you to your car," Rossi said.
It was in the middle of that short journey where his cell phone vibrated.
As a Senior SSA agent he knew he had to take every call, every message.
"Excuse me one moment," He said. With one arm still linked with Seaver's, his free hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his Blackberry. The screen flashed that it was a text message from Reid. Rossi raised an eyebrow.
He knew when Reid contacted him late at night, it had to be an emotional issue. And with the death of Emily he needed someone to bare his soul to. Rossi said he would be there for him though he as well was saddened by this loss. Usually he would be quick to take up the offer, but surprisingly he gotten no word about the emotional toll that this was taking on the young agent.
Rossi assumed he wasn't ready to talk about it so he did not push the situation. But the moment he read the text message he suddenly became alarmed.
Despair and depression,
together they grow.
Hope shall meet hopeless
when there's nowhere to go
Adieu, mes amis. Je vais la gloire.
-Reid
The veteran profiler's eyes widened as he unlinked his arm with his companion and ran a hand through his dark hair . He suddenly found himself using his sharp profiling skills. He knew Reid would occasionally send text messages of inspirational quotes but this was dark, like he had given up on life all together. Rossi knew Reid was depressed over losing Emily but was it enough to take his-
The Blackberry slipped out of hand.
"Dave?" Ashley asked with a concerned look on her face, "what's wrong?"
He didn't answer he just began sprinting to his car. Ashley in shock picked up his fallen Blackberry and began to sprint after him.
"DAVE WAIT!" She cried again.
As he got in the car Ashley found herself settling in on the other side. She didn't even buckle when Dave sped off out of the restaurant parking lot.
The next person to "receive" the strange message that something was off was Aaron Hotchner. He was spending time with his son Jack. In the dark days from the death of his wife Haley, whom he refused to acknowledge as his ex, to the loss of Emily, Jack had been his saving grace.
The sat on the floor with crayons, markers and paper and did an activity loosely based on game played by artists like Frida Khalo called Exquisite Corpse.
In the original game a group of artists would draw an image of a person. One artist would draw a body part and then pass the image to the artist sitting next to them. Then that artist would draw another part of the body and so on and so forth. With different styles the result would be a figure whose body structure was completely out of proportion.
It was Aaron's favorite activity when he minored in art in college. A fact he had hidden from his team along with the fact he was an artist. Well until Garcia found him in his office one day with sketchbook.
From the time he was a child, art had always been a catharsis to him. And with the many things Jack's young eyes had seen it was more imperative ever as a father to introduce his son to this healthy catharsis.
Jack smiled when he finished drawing his contribution to the picture, a tennis racket for an arm.
"Your turn daddy," He said with glee as he passed the piece of paper to his father.
Aaron took a quick scan wondering what he should add to the picture. Maybe a robotic arm would be a nice touch with the tennis racket.
"Daddy?" Jack asked. Aaron responded with his eyes remaining fixated on the paper and a humph noise. "Do you think Emily is having a playdate with mommy up in Heaven?"
Aaron took a sharp breath. He almost ruined his intricate robotic arm he was crafting. It was like a splash of water hit him in the face at full force. Two painful memories, two painful losses intermingled into one. The loss of Hayley was a stab in the heart. The loss of Emily twisted the knife a little deeper. But with Emily's loss came a secret that would cause destruction.
"Don't cry daddy," Jack said placing his little hand on his father's arm, "I didn't mean to make you sad."
"Come here Jack," Aaron said and as if it were an impulse his son crawled into his lap, "I know you didn't mean to make me sad. But you know how I miss mommy and I miss Emily just as much. We have every right to be sad about loss. But what makes me have a little peace is that I know Emily is taking care of Mommy."
Jack hugged his father tighter. The love this child had for him had such healing powers. After a few moments of silence Jack finally spoke again.
"When's JJ coming home?" Jack asked looking up at his father with a smile.
Aaron couldn't help but smile. His relationship with Jennifer Jaraeu was quick and unexpected. She had just broken off her engagement with William. Having divorcing Hayley prior to her death, Aaron thought he'd give her some advice. Well one thing led to another and the next thing they knew they figured out they had feelings for each other.
Of course Aaron was a bit hesitant since it was almost year since Hayley was murdered. He felt it was in bad taste, especially for Jack if he were to suddenly start seeing someone else. However after some soul searching he realized Hayley would have wanted him to be happy and for Jack to have a mother figure.
When he first brought JJ home for the first time he did not think Jack would react very well to a new mother figure, but Aaron's fears were worthless. Jack took a shine to his father's new girlfriend. Aaron believed that it was because he knew JJ his whole life. He could trust her to take care of his father, weakened by the horrors he had seen in these past few years.
And she did that job well. JJ was different from the other love interests he had in the past. She was kind, she was different, and overall she understood him.
"She'll be home tomorrow night," He then said with a smile, "just in time for dinner."
"Daddy, is JJ gonna be my new mommy?" Jack inquired.
Aaron's smile faded as his cheeks turned bright red. He didn't know how to answer such a question, especially since it was too soon to figure out which direction this relationship was heading. Though once again he was satisfied that Jack was comfortable with the possible outcome.
"Uhhhh," Aaron uttered trying to come up with the appropriate answer.
The vibration of his cell phone in his pocket saved him from answering such a tough question. It must have been JJ calling to inform him that she was about to board the flight home from France. Without even bothering to look at the number he pressed the accept button.
"Hey Sweetheart," He said
"It's Dave Aaron," The voice on the other line growled. Dave sounded rather agitated about something, he was panting and heaving on the other line, "In other circumstances I would get a laugh out of this, but it's not…..we've got a big problem."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To capture an extraordinary soldier takes extraordinary measures," The actor who played the villain said the screen.
"Playing nice," Derek Morgan said, tilting his head to the side as he so typically did when he profiled an unsub, "this is not a good sign, especially since….he sounds as though he is taunting his victim."
His girlfriend Penelope Garcia, who laid beside him nude as he was, giggled in response.
"Oh I love it when you profile the villains on my favorite Sci Fi TV shows," She replied huskily as she ran her hand over his naked chest.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa easy there baby girl" Derek teased with a smile on his face, "I need a little down time before round 2….besides this episode is getting exciting."
"What till the middle it gets interesting," Penelope replied.
The two of them had this rather strange ritual after they made love. They would just lay there in the nude on the bed they shared and Penelope would introduce her boyfriend to her favorite Science Fiction shows and movies. Within the year they began dating she had introduced Derek to classic and modern shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Battlestar Glactica, Primeval and the Stargate Franchise. It was a rather odd way to show their love but then again it was the odd nature of their relationship that made it so beautiful. Especially since it was not everyday a geeky girl won the heart of a macho ladies' man like Derek Morgan.
They decided to watch another episode of Stargate: Atlantis since it seemed to be Derek's favorite. He seemed to be drawn to the character Ronon Dex, definitely because like Derek, Ronon broke down any wall that got in his way. The episode they were watching was about the main character Colonel John Sheppard getting kidnapped byhis nemesis going by the name of Kolya.
Derek was focused on Kolya's character. One he thought it was halirious that the actor who plays him was Jake Fratelli in the Goonies. Two ever since becoming a profiler had a natural need to profile any bad guy that graced his television screen.
"It's not a question of what I want" The villain Kolya said as he walked cautiously towards his captive "it's a question of who."
"Who?" Derek replied raising an eyebrow at Kolya's response for Sheppard, "who else could he possibly want, he has Sheppard who he hates with every breath in his body. I thought he would want you know…Atlantis or something."
"Why does it matter?" Penelope replied teasingly.
"Cause it throws off my profile," The agent retorted.
"You already have your profile on Kolya," The technical analyst said continuing to rub his naked chest, "you called him an antisocial narcissist who has a psychopathic need for attention."
"It throws off the important piece to a crime," Derek said waving his free hand in the air, "the motivation."
And just when the good part came on the screen where it was revealed to the Atlantis team that Kolya kidnapped Sheppard his cell rang.
"Always at the exciting part," Derek groaned picking up the phone, Penelope went to pause the DVD not paying the attention to the conversation….
"WHAT!" He roared Penelope turned her head as she watched Morgan sit up abruptly, "When..." His face had tensed as the conversation continued. "Do you know why…Oh god." He went to squeeze the bridge of his nose, "alright Garcia and I will be there as soon as we can….call me if anything changes."
She looked on in concern as Derek growled and threw his phone across the room.
"What happened?" She asked.
"
That was Hotch, Reid tried to kill himself….over Prentiss."