"𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝙰𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘
"BYE, EM," Noah beams and hugs Emily over the car's console.
The teen gets out of Emily's car and steps onto the sidewalk outside of Levine Prep Academy. Emily waves to Noah and drives down the carpool lane. Noah walks towards the school but goes around the building.
The teen is out of sight, meaning she is free to walk towards town.
Noah strolls down the sidewalk next to the busy street. She walks a few blocks and finds the bus stop she and Jess always pass on their walks after school. The teen waits for a couple of minutes, fiddling with her phone and eyeing the traffic.
Once the bus rolls up to the curb, she steps on, handing the driver a five-dollar bill. The man lets her on, making Noah find an empty seat. She watches the town go by until her stop comes. She gets off and walks down the intersecting street.
The teen puts her headphones in as she walks. She is not afraid to walk around the town. Now knowing what is out there, thanks to Emily's job, anyone would think the teen would be on edge. Nonetheless, she walks down the street until she arrives back home.
Noah opens the front door with her key and goes straight to her room, reminding herself not to put anything down or take her shoes off. If for some reason Emily comes home, there needs to be no trace of the teen.
"Serg?!" Noah calls out as she walks into her bedroom. The cat jumps down from Noah's bed and scurries over to rub his body on her legs.
"It's me and you today, buddy!" The teen sighs as she picks him up and puts him back on the bed. Noah lays down and thinks about going back to sleep; anything to get the day over with.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
Hotch called the team in as early as he could. They are not investigating the case, but they are willing to do everything they can to help Emily.
"Prentiss," Hotch says as he walks into the bullpen, "His parents were hostile when we mentioned we were helping you."
"I—I told you not to mention me," Emily sighs as she stands, a file in hand.
"You didn't say it would get us kicked out," JJ argues with a sympathetic face.
"Is there something we should know?" Hotch asks.
"Matthew and I met in Rome when we were fifteen. My Mom was posted there," Emily shrugs, "His parents didn't like us hanging out."
"And they still hold a grudge?" JJ grills her friend.
"They were extremely religious," Emily notes, "They thought I was a bad influence."
"You?" JJ tuts with a smile.
"Yeah," Emily shrugs again.
"And that's it?" Hotch asks.
"That's it," Emily states and walks past the two. Aaron and JJ watch her walk away, feeling sure there was more to the story.
Hotch gathers the team to discuss their findings. He had sent Emily and Morgan to identify Matthew's body, seeing as it would be the most fitting task to send Emily on. Rossi and Reid went to the other victim's house to find any connections between the two deaths. Hotch and JJ went to Matthew's parents' home and got some information before getting kicked out.
So the team discusses. Penelope found a small traveling connection between Matthew and the other victim. They were both in Galicia, Spain at the same time. There were also similar scratch marks underneath the legs of both victims' beds. With the religious ties to Galicia and scuff marks underneath the beds, the team puts together a theory of exorcism.
"Guys, look," Morgan says, "I'm willing to say that we might have an unsub who ritualizes killings as if they were exorcisms, maybe. But, right now, we don't even know if we have a crime yet."
"Morgan's right," Rossi agrees, "We need to step back. Let me talk to someone before I have us all telling ghost stories." He offers and sees Hotch nod in approval.
Emily stays sitting straight in her chair, looking past everyone. She is angry, not at her team, but at the circumstances. She has lost her friend and she cannot even investigate what happened to him. But she promised herself she would find a way to figure it out; she owes it to Matthew.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
"Serg, you're such a good boy!" Noah giggles as she takes another small piece of turkey from her sandwich. She throws it in the air and sees Sergio catch it in his mouth without even jumping.
Noah's phone dings for the millionth time today. She checks the message, seeing it is from Jess.
𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬 :)
where are you
𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬 :)
i'm worried
𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬 :)
if it's about last night, we can
forget about it
𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬 :)
just plz tell me ur not mad
Noah texts Jess back, lying that she does not feel well. She throws her phone on the kitchen counter and goes back to entertaining herself with Sergio.
Truthfully, Noah did not want to show her face at school. With Parker not on her good side and the awkward interaction with Jess, Noah knew she would have to skip out on lunch again. Eating lunch with Mr. Holden again did not sound so bad, but she preferred to have a day off and lounge at home.
It is funny to the teen how quickly Emily's apartment became home. She had never thought anywhere would feel like home. Finding a safe place to run to was hard in Seattle, she never felt comfortable anywhere. Home was dangerous, school was hell, the skatepark smelled like weed, Nick's dorm room was too far away. Noah has found herself in a new life with more places to run away from her problems than she could have ever imagined.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
Another body; Patrick Cavanaugh. An aneurism. Emily knows in her gut that it is connected to Matthew.
The elevator doors slide open on the sixth floor, revealing Emily, Derek, and Spencer just getting back from the victim's home.
"There has to be a connection," Emily tells herself.
"What happened?" Hotch asks as he stands in front of the glass doors of the bullpen.
"I think there might be a third victim," Reid speaks up first.
"Is that what you think?" Hotch asks, looking directly at Morgan.
Derek's eyes shift to Emily.
"I don't know," He replies.
"Uh, we have ligature marks, the Spain connection, and scuff marks under the bed." Emily backs herself.
"Hotch, it's weird," Derek admits, "Definitely. But there's no way to physically connect dehydration, a heart attack, and an aneurism."
"What's going on?" Reid asks, catching Hotch's off body language.
"Well, we've had a complaint," Hotch says, "JJ's trying to smooth it over with the D.C. police, but we haven't been invited in on the case." He explains and turns to walk away.
"Hey, that's how you have my back?" Emily questions Derek before he can walk away.
"Prentiss, I'm trying to protect you,"
Morgan has been hesitant to follow along with Emily and the team's theory. He wants to help her, but jumping the gun on a connection could do more harm than good. Emily knows he is trying to give an outsider's view, but the frustration of him blocking her from finding out what happened to Matthew cannot help but be shown.
"I don't need protection," Emily argues.
"Hotch just said he got a complaint and he didn't come down on you." Derek huffs, "You realize that? You just dodged a bullet. We have to approach this just like we do any other case."
"Meaning what?" Emily snaps.
"Grief can make us wanna believe there's a reason for things when there's not," Derek explains.
"The fiancée couldn't even use Patrick's name," Emily snarls, "She could only say, 'my fiancée' because she's convinced something else died in that room that night." She makes her point and walks away, pissed off.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
Noah wakes up, finding herself in bed, music playing from her radio. She sees Sergio laying on the pillow beside hers. She passed out while listening to music after lunch and woke up to a still silent home.
She grabs her phone from the table, deciding to text Emily.
—
how are you? any news
on your friend?
I'm okay. Some, but still
working on it.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
"Emily?" A voice from behind the woman calls.
"John?" Emily asks as she turns around to find her old friend.
"You said the police are not investigating," John huffs.
"Exorcism is a tough theory to sell," Emily says, "The police don't think the deaths are connected."
"But you do," John argues.
"You're gonna have to give me some time here," She huffs, not wanting to give John any false hope.
Just as John goes to argue, Rossi walks up to the two. He had just come from Hotch's office, where he successfully convinced Aaron to let them investigate the case quietly.
"Uh, David Rossi, this is John Cooley," Emily introduces the two, "He was also a friend of Matthews."
Dave asks John a few questions about John but does not get anything useful.
"You look like you need a break," Rossi says to Emily, "A coffee?" He suggests.
"Uh..." Emily trails off, looking over at John, "Yeah," She agrees, catching Rossi's excuse to talk privately.
"I—I will call you if I hear anything," Emily apologetically says to John before grabbing her coat and following Rossi out of the bullpen.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
Noah is lounging on the couch watching a random cartoon, passing time before she has to head to the BAU. If she wants Emily to believe she was at school, she needs to walk up to the BAU at the same time she normally does.
"Wanna tell me why you drove me here?"
Noah sits up at the voice heard outside. She grabs her phone and darts upstairs. She could recognize Emily's voice from a mile away.
The teen goes behind the wall at the top of the steps as she hears the front door open. She crouches down, curious to know why Emily came home early and who she is talking to.
"What better place to have a coffee than in the comfort of your own home?" Rossi says and closes the door behind him.
"Okay, now what's the real reason?" Emily asks as she starts a pot of coffee.
"Did you ever see The Exorcist?" Dave asks.
"Yeah,"
"There's a house in D.C. where the story began," Rossi begins, "The fire department actually burned down the house themselves. The authorities referred to the boy as Robbie Doe. He's still in the D.C. area today."
"Why're you telling me this?" Emily asks.
"Whole lot of effort went into destroying the house of a kid who probably had onset schizophrenia or Tourette syndrome," Rossi sighs sadly.
"I'm not following you," Emily shakes her head as she pours them each a coffee.
"You're sure he was murdered," Dave says, "So what's the story?"
Noah listens to her mother sigh with a small groan.
"If you, uh, don't wanna explain, that's fine. But if you do, I'm all in."
"Matthew knew the Bible inside and out," Emily says, "And he started to question everything."
"Why?"
The long pause brings still air and a quiet atmosphere. If Noah were to move an inch, they would know she is there. She stays as still as possible, sitting with her legs crossed and her back against the wall.
"We moved around a lot when I was a kid because of my Mom's postings," Emily says, Noah hearing the tears in her voice, "It was hard to get accepted. And when you're fifteen, that's all you want. You'll do almost anything."
Emily pauses, looking down at her feet.
"You got pregnant," Rossi guesses.
"Yeah," Emily mumbles.
Noah furrows her brow at the confession. It proves to her how little she actually knows about Emily's past. A woman who knows so much about hers, but never shares her own. It does not anger Noah, but she realizes it is not her conversation to listen to.
The teen creeps back to her room, careful to avoid the creaky boards of the floor that she had memorized.
"Was Matthew the father?" Dave asks.
"No," Emily replies and looks down again, "I didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell my Mom. Matthew suggested I talk with our Priest."
"And what did he say?"
"Well, he said that if I had an abortion, I wasn't welcome in his congregation."
"So what'd you do?"
"Matthew found a doctor, he took me there. He stayed with me." Emily pauses to hold in her tears, "That Sunday when we got back to Rome, he held my hand and walked me into the church. Father Gamino actually stopped his sermon, but Matthew told me to hold my head up and we walked to the front pew."
"And what did the priest do?"
"He and Matthew just stared at each other. It was like a battle of wills, and—" Emily shrugs, "And then suddenly Father Gamino went back to his sermon."
"Matthew saved my life," Emily sighs, "He made me feel like I was worthy of love and friendship."
"But that's when his anger and questioning started?"
"Yeah," Emily says, "He started doing drugs and when that melded with his religious questioning, you could understand why his parents were afraid he was possessed by something evil."
"It's my fault..." Emily murmurs, "That Matthew's life unraveled."
"Garcia uncovered some new information. It's possible Matthew and the others killed someone in Spain."
"No," Emily sighs and scoffs, "I don't believe that."
"I'm just saying if we keep pushing, you have to be prepared for what we might discover."
"I need Matthew to rest in peace," Emily says, "I owe him that."
"Then let's go give a profile."
—
𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦
"Hey, P," Noah says as she walks into the blonde's office.
Penelope can hear the lack of inflection in the teen's voice. It breaks her heart to know that Noah is hurting alongside Emily.
"How was school?" Penelope asks.
Noah eyes the blonde, seeking to find out if she knows anything.
"Good," Noah beams.
"Better day than yesterday, I presume," Penelope happily replies, satisfied by the fake smile on Noah's face.
"Much better," Noah sighs, "A bit more relaxed too,"
"Well, I'm glad my fairy goddaughter got a break but this fairy is drowning in work," Penelope frowns as she looks back at her computer screen.
"Is it about Emily's friend?" Noah asks, intrigued. She sits atop Penelope's desk beside her keyboard.
"Yeah, but we're not supposed to be investigating it so make sure those lips stay zipped, capeesh?" Penelope questions the teen with a look.
"Caposh," Noah agrees as she pretends to zip her lips.
"We might be getting somewhere, too. Emily, Reid, and Rossi are getting more info now," Penelope says to show the teen that they may be getting close. Anything to make Noah and Emily's smiles reappear.
"And that's him?" Noah asks as she points to a picture on Penelope's monitor.
"Yeah,"
Noah looks at the picture with a small smile. She peers to the left of the picture, where Penelope has his information pulled up. Her smile drops as she reads the first line.
The hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Matthew Benton,"