𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 - criminal minds

three

(This is only for my UK men, if you are not a man from that area you can skip this part.)

Hit me up bbg🥰😘

moving on. 

My phone rang once again, and Derek's voice was heard from the other side.

"Hey V," his worried voice spoke loudly through my speakers. I smiled at the nickname as if we were friends.

"Mm," I hummed, examining the video on my laptop for the millionth time, her brown knotted hair hung in front of her eyes, and she shook, maybe from the cold or her crying as you could hear sniffles coming from the shaken-up girl. They cut the video short, closing the site yet again, we could only hope she was there or else we would lose yet another lead. 

"Where specifically in the tunnels is she?" Derek asked, the sound of cars driving was in the background.

"We narrowed it down to the left-east wing," I voiced back, switching my screen to a map of the tubes, the area being circled. 

"Okay thank you," He replied.

"Stay safe you guys," I hung up, leaning back in my chair, crossing my arms above my head. I stared at Reid who seemed to be very focused on his reading.

"You think this was really that easy?" I asked, still looking at his face.

"Huh?" Reid looked up, confusion spread on his features. 

"We were trying to find at least one kid for the past five years, and then pow, here's a hidden site that posted a video of exactly what we need?" I said becoming more worried with each word that swept from my mouth. "I'm asking was it really that easy?" I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Maybe, you were so connected to the case you think it would be something deeper, more hidden than it actually was" He replied quietly, putting his pen down from his hand and taking a sip of the cold coffee from his mug. 

"No no it can't be," I stood up from my chair and walked to the board that was scattered in facts and information.

"They know," I mumbled as I held my hand on my mouth.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you," Reid walked up behind me, staring at the same thing I was.

"We kept everything on the down low this whole time, the first time the BAU came here was after her kidnapping, they would have noticed. Each one of those people stalk the police like hawks,"  I said slowly.

"They posted the video to confirm we were on to them, and we launched on immediately, which explains why they took it down mere seconds after we all saw it," Reid continued my thoughts, rushing to dial any of the team members on the field. Emily listened to the conversation silently and got up just as fast as we did, running to tell Garcia. 

"Pick up, come on," Reid closed his eyes in defeat as no one picked up.

"Damn it," I dialed Lena, receiving a beep in return. "They must be okay," I said out loud, trying to calm both myself and Reid. "They wouldn't throw away a whole system to harm a few agents," I pleaded with my thoughts, biting my lip til the taste of metal flowed to my tongue.

"Hotch!" Spencer yelled out as the call finally went through. 

"There is nothing here," He replied tiredly.

"We know, they played us," He sympathized. 

"Is everyone okay?" Garcia ran in with Emily, both looking scared at the thought of someone being harmed. 

"Yes they are, there was nothing there," I replied, rubbing Garcia's shoulder as the girl wiped her tears.

"What do we do now?" I asked Hotch, who sat quietly on the other line.

"I had to tell Strauss it was a bust yet again, she's making us permanently pause the case," My jaw dropped at his words, and the anger rose to my face, coating each part in a pink tint.

"What does that mean? why?" I questioned, walking closer to the phone that Reid put down in the middle of the table.

"She said this was gaining media attraction, and no one needs to know we failed to solve the same case this many times," Hotch replied, guilty to say these words out loud. 

"Oh, so the lives don't matter?" Anger was evident in my voice as Reid came closer, forcing me into a hug. I tensed, knowing very well how non-physical he was, or at least from the week of knowing him, but relaxed as he held on, putting my head on his shoulder, breathing in and out in hopes of calming down.

"I'm sorry Vera," Hotch said before hanging up the phone, leaving the room in a panicked yet silent state. 

"What does this mean now?" Garcia was first to speak, as we and Reid stepped out of the embrace.

"Do what you usually do," I said, this type of thing happened a lot, and each time it was as hard yet this one took me off my feet.

"I never do this type of thing," She replied, waving her hands in front of her, "I help of course, but I never had to come out, talk to the family, get involved in their lives outside of the screens to just leave it,"  Her voice broke, as we watched her struggle to get her thoughts out.

I spoke again after a moment of silence "I will come back to this case, even if not now, or in the next five years but I will come back to it," I wanted to get it out, to let someone know even if it was the people I barely knew and had met a little under a week ago. 

"And when you do," Emily finally spoke, "We will be there helping you," I smiled at her words, and a new feeling spread through my body, like warm needles attacking my skin, I got my sister back. 

Authors note:

Was heavily debating if I even like Criminal Minds anymore to be honest, but I promised to finish this book so I will.

This is my own personal hell tbh 😀

like no one fr is forcing me to write especially every day cause I literally have an actual book I'm working on but I'm forcing myself for no reason lmao.