A new beginning ?

One more case (chapitre 2)

EMILY's POV

I stoop up from my couch to pick up the phone :

- Hello?

- Hi beauty, it's Garcia, we have a case. I need you right here lovely, meet me in 20 minutes in the debrief room.

- Ok, I'm on my way"

I hang up my phone, put the frame that I've been holding back warily, put on black pants and a red jumper, take a coat, my handbag and my keys. I left my apartment going straight to the BAU.

The elevator's door opens on the sixth floor, and I get out of it, walking toward the open space. Nobody's here except Morgan, sitting alone at his desk. Rossi and Hotch must be in their owns, while JJ and Reid are probably going to arrive soon.

I reached my desk, just next to Morgan's. He is reading a file, skiming it quickly and pausing at each photos stapled. Just curious as I am I'd like to know what he's looking at but not wanting to bother him I put my bag on my desk before spinning around to face Morgan again. All of a sudden I see a picture. Doyle's picture. Some that have been picked while I was still undercover with him. I then realize that Morgan is reading Doyle's file completed with Declan's case solved recently.
 I keep looking at him, unable to do anything but tears filling in my eyes as I remember that period and the pain I caused them. I try my best not to cry and stop that feeling before he can see my face. Derek has been so affected by all that story that it is totally gut-wrenching for myself. During seven months he got involved, put his soul into finding that son of a bitch that "killed" me : Doyle. I can't ignore how much he did suffer from this situation, his facial features making it even more real now that I'm watching him sadly. I know him though, and it's Derek, I mean he's who he is and nobody can change him, no doubt about that. Anyway, I'm stilll very upset and concerned because he is my friend, hurting and suffering by my fault and this is exactly why I'm feeling so bad about them all, especially him.

JJ takes me out of my thoughts when she adresses us a cheerful 'hello' before running upstairs, going straight to Hotch's office. Meanwhile, I decide to step forward Morgan and sit in front of him, leaving my desk in the same time.

" - What are you doing ?

- Ugh, nothing, I .... just reading an old file, nothing to be worried about"

He lifts his head up, staring at me, which I also do, diving my eyes in his. I am shaken, shattered, lost and all I can say to him is : "I am so sorry Derek".

As I pronounce those words, he puts his head down, looking now at the ground and closes carefully the file without glancing at it getting I know what this case and this file is about. Then, he picks up his look until he meets my eyes still looking at him.

" Emily, you don't have to be sorry. You can't just keep asking forgiveness to anyone. What is done is done. And even if I would get wrong saying nobody has suffered from this situation, that I haven't been suffering; you are here and that is what matters isn't it ?

His words were very touching to me. I am so thankful for everything he did for me and the rest of the team.

Smiling, he gets up and walk towards the stairs to go to the conference room. I let out a sigh of relieve before getting up myself and following him to meet with the others.
 As I enter the room, everyone is already sitting down, looking at their tablet computer and the victim's pictures pass before our eyes on the screen.
 Without any transition, Garcia takes the remote and starts the briefing :

" - Well my loves, today's gonna be harsh. We had three victims : Lola Foucks, Kati Graham and Ashley Brown. They all have been discovered with 3 days interval in Central Park. Their bodies were thrown into the water after being wrapped in a plastic bag. Legist said they had not been abused, only a small quantity of drugs in their bodies : sedative we use on horses. Cause of death : multiple stabs in the abdomen.  And there's something else : all the three women were pregnant...

- Ugh... this doggedness must be the result of a frustration. Maybe the unsub couldn't be able to have children with a woman he had loved. (Rossi)

- Yead or an aversion to babies, or his own mother that he is trying to kill again and again. Basic reaction for a psycopath that had suffered bad treatments since he was young. (Reid)

- Reid's right, we can't dismiss this lead (mother and both parents violent to their child) (Hotch)

- But if the women were substitutes to the unsub's mother, the victims should be alike but they are all different : a red hair and two blonds one with brown eyes and the second one with blue ones (Emily)

- We must find the link between these victims. Garcia check if the victims were used to go to a same place, an activity or anything else. We have to figure out where and how he is choosing his victims before he kills them. (Hotch)

- Okay sir ! (Garcia)

- Wheels up in thirty. (Hotch)"

Hotch left the room, the file still in his hands followed by Rossi. Like the others I start to pack up my things, getting ready to exit the meeting place but suddendly I hear JJ saying "Reid .. please".
I barely have time to raise my eyes that Reid storms out of the room, JJ running after him.

I am about to catch them up when Morgan comes and stands on the doorway preventing me from leaving the conference room. I stare at him with disbelief, not knowing what he is trying to do by stopping me, my face turning pale when he says unkindly and coldly "This is none of YOUR business/ Stay out of the way Emily".