Birthday Gift

chapter 2

30 minutes later found Bella walking around the pet store looking through everything. the kit was curled up in her coat up against her.

Scorpius had sent her a text with a list of things that she needed to buy. the list was a long one. she stopped, seeing the dog tags, and stared at the machine in thought. she looked down at the fox kit. "that reminds me. you need a name" she said and walked over to the machine.

after paying for a ton of things Bella walked out with the fox kit and a full basket full of things. Bella put the fox kit in the front seat passengers side of the car and all the stuff she bought in the trunk of the car.

she got into the driver's seat and drove off out of the parking lot. she glanced overhearing her phone ringing. seeing that it was Derek calling she answered the phone setting it on speaker.

"got anything?" she asked with a tired yawn.

"maybe. we need you to get here. this is messy" Derek replied.

"what's the address?" she asked pulling over off the road and typed the address into her GPS as he read it off to her. "ill be there in a bit" she replied glancing down at the whining fox kit and hung up the phone.

"im sorry hun," she said reaching over and gently patting the kit on its head. the fox kit moved around the seat anxiously looking around. "Bee hold on im going to have you take over," she said getting out of the car and going back to the trunk. she pulled out some of the items she had bought. shutting the trunk of the car she walked back to the driver's side and slipped back into the car.

Bella mixed up some formula into a small bottle. making sure everything was sealed up Bella allowed Bee to drive in auto piolet. she picked up the kit and held it close to her as it fed on the bottle quiet hungrily as Bee sped off down the road.

They had just barely gotten to the house when the kit decided to stop eating and fall asleep. Bella set him down in the passenger's side. "Bee keeps the AC on its hot out I don't want him over heating," she said as she slipped out of the car and shut the door.

she rolled her eyes at the attention she was getting as she walked on up to the house. "I hate people" she muttered.

"well, then why do you drive a hot shot car as that" Derek asked.

"you're practically asking for it by throwing it out there" Reid nodded.

"it was a birthday present alright give me a break" Bella replied scowling.

"some birthday present" Derek muttered.

Bella walked on passed him ignoring they're talking about cars and looked around as she entered the house. she walked on in farther not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

"this doesn't look too much like a crime scene" she commented.

"look in the kitchen," Hotch said walking out from the kitchen.

Bella looked up at him giving him a curt nod she walked on into the kitchen. "now that's a crime scene" she said moving around the kitchen table where the bodies were at sitting in the chairs. there were two females and two males. all of them had dark hair except the older male whose hair was turning greyish. the females were in dresses and the males looked to be wearing fancy like outfits.

"well, the killer blow is an obvious" bella commented seeing the gash on the male's necks which had blood going from the wound all over the place. there was blood splattered all over the table and the food that had been sat out on the table.

Bella moved on over to the females and noticed Derek and Reid were now in the room with her.

"he killed this one quickly" she mumbled not giving the girl much thought. the second female drew her closer. Bella knelt down beside her and looked her over. seeing marks on her arms she carefully turned one of the girl's arms to the side showing that there were cuts all up and down her arms.

"something tells me not all of these were self inflicted," Bella said looking over at them.

"why would he kill off the one girl quickly as if she was nothing but all the others so brutally," Derek asked.

"Maybe he wasn't really after her. she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Reid suggested.

"or maybe he just hated the other three more" Bella suggested standing up. as she did so she felt a sudden wave of nausea hit her. with a light groan, she raised her hand up to her head and rubbed her eyes.

"are you ok?" Derek asked.

"yeah...got up to fast" bella replied as nausea left her just as quickly as if had come.

"why are they all dressed in Spanish clothing? none of them are Spanish" Reid said looking up.

"My guess?" Bella said looking up at them. "the unsub is probably after a Spanish family...or maybe he is Spanish and he's trying to tell us something. whatever it is we need to figure it out before he kills again. where is Hotch?" she asked walking out towards the kitchen door.

"Hey wait...What's that?" Reid asked.

Bella looked over and saw Reid pointing at something on the table. she sighed and walked back over looking down at where Reid was pointing. there was a Z on the table in blood. "its blood Reid. there is nothing else there" she said backing away from the table to leave again.

"yeah but..no this was written. or...Well drew" Reid said reaching out grabbing her wrist stopping her again. Bella looked down at her wrist where head hold of her.

"Reid," she said slowly taking a sharp breath. "what is my number one rule," she said slowly.

"what?" Reid asked looking over at her.

"remove...your hand," she said slowly letting out the breath she had taken in.

Reid looked down at her hand and realized that he had grabbed her wrist. he let go quickly. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to" he started to say, but she cut him off by leaving the room quickly and running out of the house.

Bella felt someone come up on the side of her. "are you ok?"

Bella looked up and saw JJ standing there looking down at her worriedly. "I'm fine...just needed some air" she lied.

"Are you sure? You are really pale" JJ replied.

"I'm fine" Bella replied sharply trying to ignore the feeling of dizziness. "just...I stood up to fast in there. I just got a little dizzy" she explained.

"Bella, JJ take what he has to the office go through and try to find anyone who may be a link to this family. check to see if there are any connections to this family and the family found last week. Also, see if Garcia can't find anything or anyone that may or may not be a potential target" Hotch explained.

"we don't know much about it as it is," JJ said.

"no, but we need to narrow things down. all of the victims were found wearing Spanish themed clothing but none of them were Spanish, he may be just practicing for his final kill" Hotch explained.

"those were not just Spanish themed clothing Hotch they were old-time dresses" Bella pointed out. "who can get access to those types of clothing. they don't make them any more" she added.

"that's what I want you two to find out" Hotch replied.