Criminal Minds: Danika

Flight Risk

"I know he saw you like a daughter, I could tell he cared about you a lot. He had a soft side when it came to you." I admit and she just listens.

"I know that I'm not him, and aren't as patient with you as he was. But I see you as a vital member of this team. Which makes it hard when you disobey orders and get yourself into dangerous hostage situations."

"I thought you said this wasn't about something I did." She counters.

"It's not. What I'm trying to say is, it's important to me that you're safe. It's important to me that you have someone you can talk to. Like I said, I know I'm not Gideon, but I am here if you ever need to talk." I assure her and she nods.

"That it?" She asks and I nod.

"That's it." I say and she seems to pause.

"I killed someone in Florida." She confesses and I furrow my brows at the change of topic.

"It was when I was supposed to be on vacation and right before Derek called me." She continues.

"It didn't make the news, just thought you should know." She says.

"Why did you kill them?" I question, trying my best to stay calm.

"They were supposed to protect some kids and instead...left them home alone with a loaded gun after telling the older one that they would be safer dead than in foster care." She confesses and I take it in.

"I remember that case. Everyone thought it was an accidental shooting done by the kid. The aunt had the gun for protection and she said the older one figured out the code." I say, remembering how I never thought it was that simple.

"No, she told him do it and then left for the store."

"So you killed her even after you promised you were done with that?" I ask.

"She got away with killing two kids! I couldn't just sit back and let her claim all the victimhood and cushy new life!" She says passionately.

"Danika, you are an officer of the law. You can no longer take it into your own hands just because someone slipped through the cracks." I scold.

"I knew this was a mistake." She huffs and gets up.

"Wait." I sigh, calming back down and she stops.

"I'm not going to do anything about it. Trust me, I understand why you did it. It's the same reason I became an FBI agent. When I was lawyer I would get the cases on my desk and it felt like it was already too late. I wanted to stop it before they got to my desk." I start explaining and she seems to be listening.

"And yeah, there have been times when a killer has escaped and all I wanted to do was hunt them down and make sure they couldn't do it again. But then I would remember that I don't have that right, just as they don't have the right to kill. So instead, I would make detailed profiles of them, so if they struck again I could tie them to both crimes." I say and hand her a file.

"What is this?" She asks.

"A man killed his girlfriend but wasn't charged because his mother alibied him. I know he's the one who did it and I know he'll do it again. Help me create a profile so we know what to look for." I offer and she scoffs.

"What? So we just wait for him to kill someone else?" She asks.

"I didn't think you cared all that much about the victims. I thought you were in it for the hunt." I counter and she narrows her eyes, knowing I'm mostly right.

She sits back down and opens the case file. She sifts through it and writes down some notes. She goes on her computer and looks some stuff up while I work on my paper work.

I know this is what she needs, a distraction, something to do. Prey to research, a puzzle to solve.

"What do you see?" I ask after a half hour.

"He's killed more." She says with certainty and I furrow my brows.

"How do you know?" I question.

"The crime, at the beginning it looks like a crime of passion, spur of the moment. But I looked at his social media and the days before the murder. He went to the gym every day the week before the murder. Three months after that, he went to the gym every day, the following week a woman was found dumped in an alleyway beaten to death. 6 months after that, same thing, another murder victim was found, a prostitute, beaten to death." She explains and I look at her findings.

"The day after the murders he goes out and boxes other guys for cash." She adds and I see the pattern.

"The mother can't cover for him on the first one because she was in the hospital, from a fall down the stairs." I state and look at Danika.

"Good work. I'll let them know the pattern, see if they can make anything stick."

"They need to hurry. His next victim is a week away according to the acceleration rate." She says and I nod my head.

"You up for a drink?" I ask and she narrows her eyes.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Celebrating finding a serial killer in less than an hour." I shrug and she thinks about it.

"Yeah, sure I could use a drink." She agrees and I get my jacket and we head out.

We head to a restaurant and order some food and a drink.

"I know what you're doing." She says and I quirk a brow.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Distracting me, getting me to let down my guard so I'll open up." She says deadpan.

"I thought I was having dinner and a drink as a celebration." I counter.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid? Come on Hotch." She scoffs and I sigh.

"Actually I just didn't want to cook tonight." I state and she chuckles.

"But seriously, that was really good work." I compliment.

"Yeah, I know. Getting you to ask me to dinner worked like a charm. Especially since you let me pick the place, which just so happens to be the same place the unsub works at." She says and I furrow my brows and look over and see the face of the man.

"Played you like a violin." She mutters and I just shake my head, a bit ticked off she actually was able to trick me like that.

After dinner we go to question the guy and he ends up running. Danika tackles him to the ground and they start fighting. I get my gun out and point, but before I can even shout at him to stop, Danika has him back on his stomach and is getting the cuffs on his wrists.

"I was really hoping he was gonna put up more of a fight-were you going to shoot him? Come on Hotch, you know you can't take the law into your own hands like that." She mocks and marches him to the car.