the girl who lost things

part fifty-eight

— jessie's pov
Garcia and I were working overtime trying to catch an unsub called 'Mr. Scratch' It's been taking days to track him down. " are we any closer to getting him?"
Penelope shakes her head.

then, all of a sudden, the lights go out. " what was that?"

" I don't know." she tries to run the generator to get back online, but it doesn't work. I leave her inside and go to the main room.

The team was lighting candles, Derek passes me one, and then Penelope calls from the round-table room.

" This is way worse than I imagined," we all look at each other, and she continues, " we've been breached."

" what are you talking about? We have layers of top-rate security." hotch adds.

" We totally do, and that's what scares me. Whoever did this is a literal genius." she pulls out an encryption code that she managed to salvage.

" he might work, in the nsa." is what I catch from Reid; I look at him and back through the case file.

Who is this guy?
—
Penelope managed to get online. After minutes of trying to override his code. Then, dereks phone rings, and he passes it to Penelope.

Reid and I were still looking through the hacking code; I didn't get much out of it. But, spencer was loving it. " this guy is a literal genius." he says, going through the papers. " some of this code is like einstein genius!" I smile, trying to get bits and pieces of the code.

" hotch found an address for Mr.scratch." Derek says, entering the round-table room. " let's go!" I look at them; of course, he means Reid should go, and I stay with Penelope. I nod, and they leave.

This code wasn't going to be easy, and it definitely wasn't going to be accessible without Reid. I decided to leave it and go to Penelope.

She was listening to some music, trying to drown out the whole serial killer hunting stuff. I sit next to her and dwell on the music too.

" so, Derek told me. you had a boyfriend!" I let out a sigh and look towards the computer screens. It was filled with kittens. She was nudging me.

" yea, yea, his name is James." she takes a sip out of her octopus mug.

" tell me more!" I smile and look at her.

I always thought they would be judgemental or something because I was raped, and now I'm dating. I thought they would think I was taking everything too fast that I wasn't ready. And in other cases, I wouldn't be prepared, but with him, it was different. I felt no pressure.

" he's cute and, umm, a great babysitter." I smile and look through some files Penelope had on the desk. I could sense Penelope was going into over-drive.

after she cold herself down, she started typing on her computer. " do you know anything about mom?" she looks at me with pitiful eyes. " it's just been four months, I'm really worried."

" well, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but; I got into Interpol's undercover database, and all I know is that she's still alive!" I look at her; was I supposed to be relieved. She lets out a queasy smile. Then, her phone rings.

I haven't talked to her, my own mother. I knew she was on a case, but at least she could send me a letter or something. I send her messages every day. Telling her how much I missed her and how my day has been. But, still no response.

This almost feels worse than when she faked her death because at least I thought she was dead... but now, it feels like she forgot about me.

" Penelope Garcia?!"

" yea, Peter Lewis has just been arrested." I could hear Rossi's voice behind the phone.

" is hotch ok?"

" yea, a couple of scratches, but he's gonna be ok." He takes a slight pause. " but, between you and I, Lewis did a number on him."
—
The team had finally arrived back; derek and I were going to stop by an all-night restaurant to meet up with Savannah.
we arrived and sat down. " how are you guys doing?"
she says, taking a bite out of her tacos. I smile and nudge my pasta.

" no work talk, out of work," Derek says, kissing her on the lips. I take a bite out of my pasta to distract me from the lip-locking.

" ok, Jessie, how schools?" she says, focusing her eyes on me.

" umm, it's ok. I have a friend." they both looked intrigued. " her name is Vanessa." I continue to nudge my vegetables.

" you ok?" I nod and take a bite of my pasta. I just missed Emily.