magnetic ◊ criminal minds

xxxviii.

xxxviii. our darkest hour
( season five, episode twenty-three )

WHILE picking up coffee at the same coffee shop Lyra usually frequented, she did not expect to see David Rossi there. She did not have the impression he would shop somewhere so far from his usual path to work. This was a deviation. Despite her confusion, she settled for a curious look and otherwise ignoring him. It was late, so she hoped to get her caffeine intake before having to focus her mind on whatever case she had. She got her usual order (the barista had familiarized herself with the order, and even learned a little sign language for her) and went to leave to get to work, when she ran into two people she thought she had seen the last of.

"Hey, mutie bitch!" the guy growled, getting too close for Lyra's taste. His nose was broken, which was evident by the cast on it. "I'll fucking kill you for what you did to me!"

"I wouldn't do that, son," Rossi interrupted, putting a hand firmly on his shoulder.

"This is none of your business, old man," the other man sneered.

Rossi was unimpressed. "She's a federal agent. You sure you want to do this?" he asked, nodding at Lyra to pull out her badge. She did so.

"And who the hell are you?" demanded the man with the broken nose.

"Also FBI. Now, unless you want worse than a broken nose, I suggest you leave her alone and stay away," Rossi said.

One of them rolled his eyes. "Please, what could either of you possibly do?"

Lyra's eyes glowed blue. Both men caught sight of this and paled. They decided now to take Rossi's advice and left, hopefully for good. Rossi walked out with Lyra. "You don't have to defend me," she signed to him.

"I wasn't," Rossi responded. "I'm protecting you from suspension on suspected murder charges."

Lyra snorted. "They wouldn't connect it to me if I did kill them," she signed, only half joking.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, kid."

♢

When Lyra and Rossi arrived at work, they went straight to the briefing room. Being called in this late by Strauss was strange, so they knew something big had to have happened. "Hey, what did Strauss want?" Prentiss asked, walking in as well.

"She needs us in Los Angeles," Hotch stated.

"Home invasion homicide last night. Officers found Gregory Everson, fifty-six, beaten with a GSW to the head. His wife, Colleen, was equally beaten and raped repeatedly," JJ said, gesturing at the photos on the screen behind her.

"Repeatedly?" Prentiss repeated.

"That's what she reported," JJ said.

Lyra raised her eyebrows. "She survived?" she signed.

"He chose to keep her alive," Hotch confirmed.

"An intentional witness?" Prentiss said.

"Everything but that points to an organized offender," Rossi said. "An experienced one."

"Was she able to identify him?" Reid inquired.

"She said he was white, with mean eyes and repulsive breath," JJ said.

"Rotten inside and out. Did he rape her in front of the husband?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah," JJ said, nodding sadly.

"One home invasion rarely warrants Strauss personally sending us out," Morgan said.

"No, there's more. Ballistics match a double homicide downtown LA, forty-eight miles away," JJ said, putting up the pictures of that crime up on the screen.