Lead the Way - Chapter 027 - 4x06 - The Instincts
Good Morning everyone! I know, two episode chapters in a row are kind of blah, because you might think that there isn't enough femslash. Well I don't know if you remember my YouTube video or if you just never saw it, but in that video I promised you an answer as to why Prentiss has a hangover at the beginning of 4x07 - Memoriam. Allow me to build up a little. No more detours, I swear. sort of.
The Instincts, episode 6 of season 4 was written by Chris Mundy. The Unsub, the plot, the dialogue belong to them.
Lead the Way - 027 - 4x06 - The Instincts
“We’re running out of time.” The words still sounded in her ears. We’re running out of time. She knew JJ hadn’t directed them at her. We’re running out of time. But there was no denying the deep impact they had on Emily. We’re running out of time. She knew it was true. They were running out of time. Not long now and JJ would give birth. After that…
Their days were numbered and Emily wanted to get as much out of it as possible. Or maybe not. If she didn’t see too much maybe it would hurt less afterwards. ‘Oh, who am I kidding?’ she asked herself. She had already fallen so deeply for the blonde that she was beyond saving.
And if she really had such a short time-frame she should make the best of it, she decided. With that she picked up her cell and called JJ before she could think twice about it.
“Jareau?” Tonight! Or she would never dare again.
“Hi JJ.”
“Oh, hi Emily.” JJ’s voice had dropped an octave.
“Ehm… I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get together… for drinks?”
“Tonight?”
“If you don’t want to, that’s ok.” Emily quickly reassured her.
“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” JJ whispered the next words “I’m still at the office with Agent Todd.”
”Oh, okay. That’s okay.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“I can’t. I’m at some stupid fundraiser in New York this weekend. I skipped the last three, so I have to go.”
“When will you be back?”
“Monday.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Even through the telephone Emily heard JJ smile.
“Have a nice weekend JJ, and don’t work too hard.”
“You too, Emily. Take care.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonight she would take the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on out to dinner. She had found this cute little restaurant with just a couple of tables run by a gay couple. As soon as she had stepped in several weeks ago, she had known that JJ would love this place. And now was the perfect time to take her.
If all went well… Emily was prepared. She had dreamt about this night for months if not years, and the only downside was that they had to share the bed with her past. But Emily was ready to look beyond that. Or so she told herself. She wanted to make the blonde scream in her ears and never forget what it sounded like. And tonight she would finally get her wish.
As expected, JJ loved the restaurant. The couple and their daughter were the only employees and it was a very cozy atmosphere that would put anyone at ease immediately. Every guest was attended to personally, without any rushing and with the sole intent of making them as comfortable as possible.
Halfway through their meal, JJ’s phone rang.
“Jareau?” Emily knew instantly from the stern look on the media liaison’s face that this call was work related.
“How long has he been missing?” Emily asked for the bill.
“The team will be there in the morning, Sir.” She hung up and looked at her date.
“I’m so sorry, Emily.”
“You don’t have to apologize for your work with me, JJ.” Emily said smiling. She added:
“I’ll call Rossi and Reid, you take Morgan and Hotch.”
“Thank you. Make sure they come to the airstrip straight away.”
“No briefing?”
“We’ll do that on the plane. I’ll have Garcia prepare the files for us.” Emily started dialing. Skipping a briefing was only done in cases of immanent danger. She felt a touch on her hand and looked up.
“It’s only a pleasure deferred.” JJ squeezed her lover’s hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently the late night call had caught Spencer at a particularly bad time as he fell asleep on the plane.
“JJ’s baby can’t be on a crime scene. JJ…”
“Reid!” Rossi called him and he woke up.
“Sorry, I was dreaming.”
Emily laughed. She could understand how someone would dream of JJ; she had done it herself many times. Some of them had even been nightmares, but so far she had never had them on the plane.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“We found a six year old boy. He’d been abused and stabbed. Your baby was at the crime scene. I was trying to get him out of there.” This was definitely not the dream she had had in mind. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” JJ reassured him, uncertain of what it was that she reassured him.
“You know Reid, simple dream analysis says when you dream of a baby, that baby is actually you.” Morgan stated.
“I don’t believe in dream analysis.”
“I don’t know, it makes sense. The case we’re working on and your dream both involve children. Maybe your subconscious is telling you you want to sit this one out.” Hotch offered him a way out.
“I don’t.”
“Maybe you’re just stressed out about going home to Las Vegas. Have you called your mother yet?” The way the name of their destination rolled over Emily’s tongue made JJ very aware of her own body.
“Why aren’t we reviewing the case file?” Emily laughed again.
“I don’t know. Maybe because someone fell asleep on the jet?”
Even a tease could sound so enticing, when Emily said it. ‘Focus!’ JJ scolded herself.
The case that had called them to Spencer’s home town in the middle of the night was indeed a good reason for cutting a date with the woman of her dreams short. A five year old boy had been abducted and found dead seven days later. He had shown no signs of abuse and the Unsub might have considered smothering him to be a merciful kill. The boy had been groomed and all signs pointed to great remorse on the Unsub’s side.
The day before, another boy had been taken and local authorities connected the cases after the Unsub had called and taunted both sets of parents, telling them it was their fault. The team had six days to rescue Michael Bridges.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael’s parents each reacted very differently to the situation. While Craig seemed to be eager to help the investigation and fully understood what was going on, Amy had withdrawn and shut down completely. She barely acknowledged JJ and Hotch as they were talking to her and her husband.
While Reid and Morgan discovered at the ME’s that Ethan Hayes, the first victim had been starved, yet somehow been fed nutriments, Prentiss and Rossi went to the crime scene. They deduced that the Unsub was driving a 4x4 and groomed the boy on site so he could watch him again from the road.
Back at the house, JJ went looking for Amy. She couldn’t help but feel differently now that she was pregnant herself. Who would guarantee her that she would get to see her son grow up? Would she be able to protect him, shield him from the Unsubs? Would Emily help her? She found Amy lying on her son’s bed, staring at his picture. JJ tried to comfort the mother as best she could when the phone rang.
The Unsub called and Garcia was in line to triangulate the call. The media liaison suggested that Amy should take the call as she was least emotional. Hotch agreed and quickly briefed her with the most important things to consider.
“Hello?”
“Are you alone?” The voice was altered, it was impossible to determine age or gender from it.
“My husband is with me.” So far Amy’s voice was strong.
“Why are you just sitting at home, when you should be looking for your boy?” Hotch showed her his note pad and she said:
“You are right. We need to do that.”
“He’s better off with me.” After another glance at the note pad, Amy said:
“Thank you for calling us to let us know Michael’s alright.”
“I didn’t say he was alright.”
“I know… I’m just trusting that he’s okay.” Amy’s voice was still strong and JJ was impressed. Hopefully she would maintain her strength until the end of the call.
“He’s in a better place now.” Did that mean he was already dead? Fear crept up in all of them and Amy needed reassurance. Now!
“May I speak with Michael?” Her voice did not betray her.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you. He knows what a bad mother you are. Your three minutes are up.” The call was disconnected before Garcia could pin point an exact location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day was Ethan Hayes’ funeral and the team was confident that the Unsub would be there. They gave the profile to the Bridges family and local law enforcement. The parents joined the agents while JJ would stay behind in case the Unsub chose to call again during the service.
Emily noticed a man videotaping the ceremony with his cell phone and alerted Rossi to it. Causing as little disturbance as possible the profilers walked over to him and brought the man in for questioning.
“Where were you on the days Michael Bridges and Ethan Hayes were abducted?” She started with something easy, or so she thought.
“I was home.”
“Don’t you need to ask what days those were?” Rossi inquired.
“Am I under arrest?” This creep was dumb enough to be caught video taping a funeral and he clearly lacked the mental capacity to see through the most blatantly obvious interrogation traps.
“No. You love kids; you’re just helping us with an investigation.”
“So… you have no right to search me?” This was too easy.
“Why? What would we find?”
“Oh… do you like videotaping other things, besides funerals?” She walked around to face him.
“Where can we find Michael Bridges?” Rossi asked.
“You are trying to frame me.” This was just about enough! Not only was he criminally stupid but he was starting to get fresh too!
“You killed Ethan Hayes and you’re holding Michael Bridges.”
Somehow Emily doubted Rossi’s theory. This man wasn’t confident enough to taunt the victim’s families like that.
“No.”
Enough was enough!
“Well, then why were you videotaping a funeral? Does death excite you, or…?” The suspect shook his head and Prentiss understood she had hit a nerve.
“Oh, wait, this is it. Death gets you off.”
“I told you, I don’t touch.”
“No, you just kill them and find new ways to watch them afterwards.” Rossi taunted him.
“I am not sick.”
“I think you are. And I think you desperately want to tell us exactly how sick you really are, Walter, don’t you? You want us to search your computer and your home, because this is eating you up inside. And you know you need to be stopped.”
“I never would have molested that boy.” There it was. Proof that he wasn’t the Unsub they were looking for.
“Which boy?”
“The one from the funeral.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile Morgan had found an old case that matched Reid’s recurring nightmares. Riley Jenkins had been abused and found stabbed to death. He had been about Reid’s age at the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the funeral the Unsub called again. This time Amy couldn’t hold her cool anymore and she tore the phone from Hotchner. She begged the Unsub to return her son, costing them valuable time.
The Unsub was upset that the FBI had gotten involved and in his rage had given them and important clue. The team concluded that the suspect was a woman who had been institutionalized before.
Reid talked to his mother’s doctor and asked him if he could give the profile to the heads of different hospitals. While there, he talked to his mother and asked her if he ever knew a boy by the name of Riley Jenkins. She denied it but she mentioned going off her medication when she was pregnant.
Reid had an epiphany and quickly confirmed his suspicions when talking to the doctor again. He believed the Unsub went off her medication and projected the loss of her newborn onto every child she could get access to. She wasn’t starving the boys, she was breastfeeding them.
Meanwhile Amy Bridges managed to identify the woman she believed was holding her son. Garcia found her through VICAP and told the team her name - Claire Bates - and how she had been institutionalized three years ago, after assaulting a secretary in a law firm. Three weeks ago she had given birth to a son, but social services removed the baby after a seven day evaluation period.
During her pregnancy she had stayed off anti-psychotic medication, but social services weren’t convinced that she would be fit to be a good mother to her child. The report contained an address and the team rushed over there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the very last minute a tragedy was adverted and Claire had been taken into custody without the loss of life. Michael was returned to his family and the team was relieved. While everyone had noticed how the case had affected Reid, only Emily had seen how much it had gotten under JJ’s skin.
Reid had asked Hotch if the team could stay one more night so he could spend some time with his mother and Aaron was happy to grant his wish. The rest of the team went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It felt good that the agents could enjoy an evening together without the threat of a new crime scene hanging over their heads.
The Instincts, episode 6 of season 4 was written by Chris Mundy. The Unsub, the plot, the dialogue belong to them.
Lead the Way - 027 - 4x06 - The Instincts
“We’re running out of time.” The words still sounded in her ears. We’re running out of time. She knew JJ hadn’t directed them at her. We’re running out of time. But there was no denying the deep impact they had on Emily. We’re running out of time. She knew it was true. They were running out of time. Not long now and JJ would give birth. After that…
Their days were numbered and Emily wanted to get as much out of it as possible. Or maybe not. If she didn’t see too much maybe it would hurt less afterwards. ‘Oh, who am I kidding?’ she asked herself. She had already fallen so deeply for the blonde that she was beyond saving.
And if she really had such a short time-frame she should make the best of it, she decided. With that she picked up her cell and called JJ before she could think twice about it.
“Jareau?” Tonight! Or she would never dare again.
“Hi JJ.”
“Oh, hi Emily.” JJ’s voice had dropped an octave.
“Ehm… I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get together… for drinks?”
“Tonight?”
“If you don’t want to, that’s ok.” Emily quickly reassured her.
“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” JJ whispered the next words “I’m still at the office with Agent Todd.”
”Oh, okay. That’s okay.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“I can’t. I’m at some stupid fundraiser in New York this weekend. I skipped the last three, so I have to go.”
“When will you be back?”
“Monday.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Even through the telephone Emily heard JJ smile.
“Have a nice weekend JJ, and don’t work too hard.”
“You too, Emily. Take care.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonight she would take the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on out to dinner. She had found this cute little restaurant with just a couple of tables run by a gay couple. As soon as she had stepped in several weeks ago, she had known that JJ would love this place. And now was the perfect time to take her.
If all went well… Emily was prepared. She had dreamt about this night for months if not years, and the only downside was that they had to share the bed with her past. But Emily was ready to look beyond that. Or so she told herself. She wanted to make the blonde scream in her ears and never forget what it sounded like. And tonight she would finally get her wish.
As expected, JJ loved the restaurant. The couple and their daughter were the only employees and it was a very cozy atmosphere that would put anyone at ease immediately. Every guest was attended to personally, without any rushing and with the sole intent of making them as comfortable as possible.
Halfway through their meal, JJ’s phone rang.
“Jareau?” Emily knew instantly from the stern look on the media liaison’s face that this call was work related.
“How long has he been missing?” Emily asked for the bill.
“The team will be there in the morning, Sir.” She hung up and looked at her date.
“I’m so sorry, Emily.”
“You don’t have to apologize for your work with me, JJ.” Emily said smiling. She added:
“I’ll call Rossi and Reid, you take Morgan and Hotch.”
“Thank you. Make sure they come to the airstrip straight away.”
“No briefing?”
“We’ll do that on the plane. I’ll have Garcia prepare the files for us.” Emily started dialing. Skipping a briefing was only done in cases of immanent danger. She felt a touch on her hand and looked up.
“It’s only a pleasure deferred.” JJ squeezed her lover’s hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently the late night call had caught Spencer at a particularly bad time as he fell asleep on the plane.
“JJ’s baby can’t be on a crime scene. JJ…”
“Reid!” Rossi called him and he woke up.
“Sorry, I was dreaming.”
Emily laughed. She could understand how someone would dream of JJ; she had done it herself many times. Some of them had even been nightmares, but so far she had never had them on the plane.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“We found a six year old boy. He’d been abused and stabbed. Your baby was at the crime scene. I was trying to get him out of there.” This was definitely not the dream she had had in mind. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” JJ reassured him, uncertain of what it was that she reassured him.
“You know Reid, simple dream analysis says when you dream of a baby, that baby is actually you.” Morgan stated.
“I don’t believe in dream analysis.”
“I don’t know, it makes sense. The case we’re working on and your dream both involve children. Maybe your subconscious is telling you you want to sit this one out.” Hotch offered him a way out.
“I don’t.”
“Maybe you’re just stressed out about going home to Las Vegas. Have you called your mother yet?” The way the name of their destination rolled over Emily’s tongue made JJ very aware of her own body.
“Why aren’t we reviewing the case file?” Emily laughed again.
“I don’t know. Maybe because someone fell asleep on the jet?”
Even a tease could sound so enticing, when Emily said it. ‘Focus!’ JJ scolded herself.
The case that had called them to Spencer’s home town in the middle of the night was indeed a good reason for cutting a date with the woman of her dreams short. A five year old boy had been abducted and found dead seven days later. He had shown no signs of abuse and the Unsub might have considered smothering him to be a merciful kill. The boy had been groomed and all signs pointed to great remorse on the Unsub’s side.
The day before, another boy had been taken and local authorities connected the cases after the Unsub had called and taunted both sets of parents, telling them it was their fault. The team had six days to rescue Michael Bridges.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael’s parents each reacted very differently to the situation. While Craig seemed to be eager to help the investigation and fully understood what was going on, Amy had withdrawn and shut down completely. She barely acknowledged JJ and Hotch as they were talking to her and her husband.
While Reid and Morgan discovered at the ME’s that Ethan Hayes, the first victim had been starved, yet somehow been fed nutriments, Prentiss and Rossi went to the crime scene. They deduced that the Unsub was driving a 4x4 and groomed the boy on site so he could watch him again from the road.
Back at the house, JJ went looking for Amy. She couldn’t help but feel differently now that she was pregnant herself. Who would guarantee her that she would get to see her son grow up? Would she be able to protect him, shield him from the Unsubs? Would Emily help her? She found Amy lying on her son’s bed, staring at his picture. JJ tried to comfort the mother as best she could when the phone rang.
The Unsub called and Garcia was in line to triangulate the call. The media liaison suggested that Amy should take the call as she was least emotional. Hotch agreed and quickly briefed her with the most important things to consider.
“Hello?”
“Are you alone?” The voice was altered, it was impossible to determine age or gender from it.
“My husband is with me.” So far Amy’s voice was strong.
“Why are you just sitting at home, when you should be looking for your boy?” Hotch showed her his note pad and she said:
“You are right. We need to do that.”
“He’s better off with me.” After another glance at the note pad, Amy said:
“Thank you for calling us to let us know Michael’s alright.”
“I didn’t say he was alright.”
“I know… I’m just trusting that he’s okay.” Amy’s voice was still strong and JJ was impressed. Hopefully she would maintain her strength until the end of the call.
“He’s in a better place now.” Did that mean he was already dead? Fear crept up in all of them and Amy needed reassurance. Now!
“May I speak with Michael?” Her voice did not betray her.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you. He knows what a bad mother you are. Your three minutes are up.” The call was disconnected before Garcia could pin point an exact location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day was Ethan Hayes’ funeral and the team was confident that the Unsub would be there. They gave the profile to the Bridges family and local law enforcement. The parents joined the agents while JJ would stay behind in case the Unsub chose to call again during the service.
Emily noticed a man videotaping the ceremony with his cell phone and alerted Rossi to it. Causing as little disturbance as possible the profilers walked over to him and brought the man in for questioning.
“Where were you on the days Michael Bridges and Ethan Hayes were abducted?” She started with something easy, or so she thought.
“I was home.”
“Don’t you need to ask what days those were?” Rossi inquired.
“Am I under arrest?” This creep was dumb enough to be caught video taping a funeral and he clearly lacked the mental capacity to see through the most blatantly obvious interrogation traps.
“No. You love kids; you’re just helping us with an investigation.”
“So… you have no right to search me?” This was too easy.
“Why? What would we find?”
“Oh… do you like videotaping other things, besides funerals?” She walked around to face him.
“Where can we find Michael Bridges?” Rossi asked.
“You are trying to frame me.” This was just about enough! Not only was he criminally stupid but he was starting to get fresh too!
“You killed Ethan Hayes and you’re holding Michael Bridges.”
Somehow Emily doubted Rossi’s theory. This man wasn’t confident enough to taunt the victim’s families like that.
“No.”
Enough was enough!
“Well, then why were you videotaping a funeral? Does death excite you, or…?” The suspect shook his head and Prentiss understood she had hit a nerve.
“Oh, wait, this is it. Death gets you off.”
“I told you, I don’t touch.”
“No, you just kill them and find new ways to watch them afterwards.” Rossi taunted him.
“I am not sick.”
“I think you are. And I think you desperately want to tell us exactly how sick you really are, Walter, don’t you? You want us to search your computer and your home, because this is eating you up inside. And you know you need to be stopped.”
“I never would have molested that boy.” There it was. Proof that he wasn’t the Unsub they were looking for.
“Which boy?”
“The one from the funeral.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile Morgan had found an old case that matched Reid’s recurring nightmares. Riley Jenkins had been abused and found stabbed to death. He had been about Reid’s age at the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the funeral the Unsub called again. This time Amy couldn’t hold her cool anymore and she tore the phone from Hotchner. She begged the Unsub to return her son, costing them valuable time.
The Unsub was upset that the FBI had gotten involved and in his rage had given them and important clue. The team concluded that the suspect was a woman who had been institutionalized before.
Reid talked to his mother’s doctor and asked him if he could give the profile to the heads of different hospitals. While there, he talked to his mother and asked her if he ever knew a boy by the name of Riley Jenkins. She denied it but she mentioned going off her medication when she was pregnant.
Reid had an epiphany and quickly confirmed his suspicions when talking to the doctor again. He believed the Unsub went off her medication and projected the loss of her newborn onto every child she could get access to. She wasn’t starving the boys, she was breastfeeding them.
Meanwhile Amy Bridges managed to identify the woman she believed was holding her son. Garcia found her through VICAP and told the team her name - Claire Bates - and how she had been institutionalized three years ago, after assaulting a secretary in a law firm. Three weeks ago she had given birth to a son, but social services removed the baby after a seven day evaluation period.
During her pregnancy she had stayed off anti-psychotic medication, but social services weren’t convinced that she would be fit to be a good mother to her child. The report contained an address and the team rushed over there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the very last minute a tragedy was adverted and Claire had been taken into custody without the loss of life. Michael was returned to his family and the team was relieved. While everyone had noticed how the case had affected Reid, only Emily had seen how much it had gotten under JJ’s skin.
Reid had asked Hotch if the team could stay one more night so he could spend some time with his mother and Aaron was happy to grant his wish. The rest of the team went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It felt good that the agents could enjoy an evening together without the threat of a new crime scene hanging over their heads.