i.e. Season 10 Episode 19
chapter summery: Jack Garrett is back, the team heads outside of the US, and last names are changed when they get back home.
TW: Typical criminal minds case jargon.
You walk into the round table room, brows furring when you see the man standing next to your fiancé, "What are you doing here?"
"That's how you greet me? You haven't seen me in 3 months." The man jokes.
You shake your head, making your way over to him and giving him a big hug, "It's nice to see you Jack."
"You too, sunshine." He returns the hug.
Jack Garrett. The man you've known for almost 10 years now. The man who convinced you to take a job in this field again, immediately after leaving the last one. The man who tricked you into joining a triathlon with him, only to be abandoned in your training weeks later. Technically speaking, you owe a lot to Jack Garrett, even if he always seems to be a pain in your ass.
He helped you through some of your hardest moments, him and his wife. He brought you to the BAU, to your team, your friends, your family. He brought you to Aaron. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have your fiancé, or Jack and Charlotte. You wouldn't have everything around you. Yeah, you owe a lot to Jack Garrett.
"How's my goddaughter doing?" He releases you from the hug.
You roll your eyes, "You can't make yourself godfather, that's not how it works."
He shakes his head at you, frowning, "Well you weren't doing it."
"She's doing fine," You roll your eyes again, "Has a few more teeth since you last saw her, and loves the word mama." You smile at your friend.
"Once this case is over, we'll have to have you guys back over for dinner."
Aaron nods, "It is you're turn to host."
The rest of the team starts to gather into the room, greeting Jack as they do. Cruz makes his way inside, starting the briefing, "Our unsub's eluded both domestic and international teams, and we're not about to let him get away with it again."
He brings up some pictures of the last two families onto the screen. You remember reading about the domestic family, your heart going out to what they must have experienced.
"Each family member had been strangled and their bodies were dumped in a remote area 24 hours after they were taken." Aaron informs the room.
Garrett takes the lead, speaking to the team, "Now that he's moved internationally again, it's time to rethink the motive. It's clear he gets off on hunting american families when they're on vacation."
"Just over 8 hours ago he abducted the Sullivans from Barbados." Cruz pulls up the security footage from the airport.
"Seems he's establishing a clear pattern here." Morgan states, "He started overseas, came back to domestic, and now he's gone to another country again."
"The month of April has some sort of significance to him." Reid says.
"Maybe it's easy hunting season." You theorize. "All the kills were during spring break vacations."
Kate hums, "It takes guts and skill to snatch a whole family, but you wouldn't know it by watching him."
"The higher the risk, the lower his heart rate." Rossi adds. "True sociopath."
"The families too tired from a long day of travel to see the ruse." JJ says, watching the footage play.
"And the unsub's probably too charismatic to set off any instinctual alarms." Morgan adds.
Cruz looks to the teams in the room, "I need both domestic and international teams working together on this. If our unsub sticks to his pattern, he'll kill the Sullivans by sunrise."
Aaron turns to his team, "Kate, you and Reid go to the Sullivans' house in Fairfax County. Look for links between them and the other victims. We need to establish whether he's stalking them at their homes before they take their trips. The rest of us will head to Barbados."
Everyone starts to leave the room, gathering their things for the flight. You head out with Aaron towards his office, where both of your bags are. You pull the strap over your shoulder, looking to Aaron as he does the same with his, "Add 'no spring break vacations,' onto the list."
Aaron reaches for your hand, interlacing his fingers with yours, leaving the room, heading towards the elevators, "Good luck with that when the kids get older."
You are talking to JJ and Morgan at the stairs of the jet, when you see the other team arrive. You smile at Matt as he makes his way over, "Hey, hey, haven't seen you guys in a while."
Morgan puts his hand out, "Matt Simmons. Passing ships man, how you doing?"
Matt answers him, "Good." pulling you and JJ into small hugs, "Morgan, you married yet?"
"Working on it." He jokes.
"So, uh, hows old's the baby now?" JJ asks Matt.
Lilly laughs, "Which one? He's quite a breeder."
"I have 4 under 3." Matt says, making you and JJ's eyes widen, sharing a look.
Bless his wife.
"Last round was twins."
"Oh, my god." JJ whistles, "Your wife is a saint."
"That she is." Matt nods.
You all head up onto the plane, putting your bags away and finding seats. You sit next to Aaron, across from you is Jack and Rossi. Morgan and Lilly sit across from one another near the front of the plane, while JJ and Matt stand by the coffee, everyone discussing different theories and ideas about the cases.
"He could have kept hunting in Florida. It's a target environment for his type." Jack states.
"Right." Rossi agrees. "But he didn't." He says skeptically.
"Instead he chose Barbados, of all places." Jack sighs, "Theres more couples than families on vacation there. He's making it harder on himself."
"Maybe the hunt is as important as the kill to him?" You question.
Rossi shakes the file in his hand, "Not much going on here evidence wise."
"Except the ball caps." Jack agrees, "The first two times he wore orange, now he's switched to blue."
You and Aaron make eye contact, before going back to the files in your hands.
This is going to be a long 16 hours.
"What about the van?" Matt asks the head diplomatic agent at the embassy. The team had landed and headed straight to work, only having 14 hours now to save the family. You were in the room given to you by the embassy to work on the case.
"Tags were stolen. Registered to a rotting VW bus."
"Of course." Matt sighs.
The agent gives the rest of the information he has, "And the make, model, and color all match a popular service van on the island. They're a dime a dozen."
"What about the driver? Are there a lot of americans driving shuttles around here?" JJ questions.
"Half the service industry are expats who work here all winter." Garrett answers her, "Problem is, most people don't repeat their presence to the embassy, so we have no record of knowing who's even here."
Aaron crosses his arms, "Well, he's been here long enough to know his way around the back roads. This kind of ruse isn't easy to pull off at night."
"Our technical analysts are tracking passport activity over the past 6 months." Rossi tells the embassy agent.
"That's a good start." He nods.
"Morgan, you and JJ should head to the abduction site." Aaron hands out orders.
"Simmons, go ahead and join them." Jack gestures his head at Matt.
Aaron looks to you, "We'll run leads in town." Before looking to Lilly, "You want to come?"
"Sounds good."
Aaron has started pairing you up on cases with him again, deciding after the last incident, it's a bigger distraction not having you by his side then it is having you there. You enjoy getting to work closer with Aaron on cases again. It's one of the things you missed when your relationship started taking off. You work well together, balancing each other out, keeping each other calm. Plus, your fiancé can't complain if disaster strikes, because he's with you.
Aaron shows his phone to one of the local cab fair owners, a picture of the van on the scree, "I have 15 vans like that." He tells you, "And lots of drivers from the states, but I don't know him."
The three of you thank him, walking away down the street. "Have you traveled much with your kids?" Lilly asks the two of you.
"Not a lot, no." Aaron answers her, putting his phone away.
"You ever want to just lock them away until the world's a safe place?" she questions.
You shrug, "Tempted. But then they'd never get out."
Aaron looks up at the sound of a van rev-ing it's engine. He starts to follow it throw the crowd, you and Lilly going after him. When you reach the van it's empty, You turn to the same business owner you had just interviewed, "Is this your van?"
"No," He tells you, "Not one of mine."
You and Lilly look in the van through the rolled down windows to see if there were any clues while Aaron looks around the crowded street. He taps you on your back, drawing your attention to a man in a baseball cap that spots the three of you. He makes a run for it, Aaron following after him.
"Go left!" Aaron yells to Lilly, as you go right and Aaron stays on the same path as the unsub.
The chase ends with the man falling to the ground, Aaron reaching him before he can get back up. He searches his pockets, "No weapon." He announces.
Opening up the bag the unsub was carrying, you state the contents of it, "Cash and cocaine."
"Any ID?" Lilly asks.
Aaron pulls out his passport from his back pocket, "He just got here." Throwing the passport back down, "It's not him." He gets back up, looking at the local cops that had surrounded you all, "He's all yours."
"We're hitting a dead end with unsolved cases involving water." Reid's voice comes through the phone. The three of you are back at the embassy with Jack and Rossi.
"I've been thinking we should look at solved cases." Jack tells the room, "This unsub isn't old enough to be a hardened criminal. But his countermeasures and his confidence feels like he's had a lot of practice."
"So what if he were a budding psychopath?" Aaron theorizes. "We should check homicides going back to his teens."
Jack agrees with him, "Lilly, cross with juvenile custody worldwide. And check which countries have blue and orange in their flags. Or sports teams. There's a reason he chose those colors. We just haven't found it yet."
"You don't think he's american?" You ask him.
"He has some sort of connection to the states." He reaffirms his thought, "That's why he's attacking american families. Now that we feel he may have committed murder, it's doubtful that state would grant him a passport."
"What country would?" Reid speaks through the phone again.
Lilly scoffs, "Plenty."
The others continue to theorize about the unsub while you see Jack look down at the airport security footage again, a contemplating look on his face, "What is it?" You ask him.
"Look at this." He turns the laptop towards you and Aaron, "The only sign of outward frustration. He nearly gets hit by a car. Right here." He plays the clip for you both, "Instead of yelling at the driver, he holds it in. Then he has a passive aggressive moment. He taps the center of his head like this." Mimicking the motion.
"What does it mean?" Lilly asks.
"I can't remember." He shakes his head, "But I know I've seen it before."
"It means stupid, or crazy, in Dutch culture." You tell him.
"Thats it!" He exclaims.
"Oranje. The Netherlands soccer team." You come to the conclusion, "That's why he's wearing a blue and orange hat."
"He's not american." Jack nods, "Lilly."
"Already on it." She tells him.
As she starts to widen her search, Jack turns to you, "I should have asked you to join my team instead."
"No." Aaron tells him, making you laugh.
The team rescues the family, all of them safe and alive. Everyone heads to the jet, making their way back to headquarters when it lands. The teams celebrate the successful ending to the case, just enjoying one another's company. Aaron is in his office with Jack, Rossi, and Lilly.
He takes a sip of his whisky, watching you through the open blinds, walk up the stairs from the bullpen where everyone else is, and head to Rossi's office, no doubt going to raid his scotch collection. A subconscious smile makes it's way onto his face. You, the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, the most caring person he knows, has chosen to spend the rest of your life, with him. He doesn't try to understand what you see in him, just grateful that his love for you is reciprocated.
Garrett follows his line of vision, "Set a date yet?"
Aaron takes another sip of his drink as you disappear into the office, "No. She says she doesn't want a wedding but she doesn't want the court house either. Plus with two kids and our demanding jobs, we don't really have time to plan something."
"Well, you aren't doing anything now." Garrett tells him.
Aaron looks over at him, raising an unimpressed brow, "Get married in the office?"
"I'm ordained." Garrett shrugs, "The teams are here, you called Ann to drop of the kids, so they'll be here soon. You just said she doesn't want a big wedding. You can get married, I'll take Jack and Charlie home, me and Karen can babysit, and you have the rest of the night off to spend with your new wife."
Aaron narrows his eyes, "Why are you ordained?" But he can't help but think his friend is right.
Why not start our forever, tonight?
"Let's elope. Tonight. Right now."
You look up at the voice by the door, not thinking you heard right, "What?"
Aaron makes his way over to you, a small smile on his face, his voice light, "Jack is ordained, for whatever reason, and Ann is dropping the kids off here soon." He grabs your hips, pulling you into him, "You said you didn't want a big wedding, but wanted it to still be more than the courthouse. Why not get married now?"
You laugh lightly, "Because the Headquarters building of the FBI is more meaningful than a courthouse?"
"It is where we met." He jokes, before turning serious, "Anywhere is meaningful when I'm with you. I don't care where we are, as long as it ends with you being my wife."
"Okay." You nod, your mind made up instantly. Aaron is a bit shocked you agreed to his idea so easily, (well Jacks idea really) making you cup his face with your hands and pull him down, bumping your nose with his, "Aaron, I would marry you anywhere."
He laughs, laying his lips on yours and kissing you breathless. Your pulled apart by the knock on the door, "Are we doing this?" You both turn to the door where Jack Garrett was holding your daughter.
Looking out the window, down to the bullpen, you see the team pushing the desks out of the middle and Garcia ordering Kate to lay some different colored, silk and lace scarves, no doubt from her office, over the railings and onto the floor. You nod your head, ready to become Aaron's wife.
Someone dims the lights. Fake candles (again, from Garcia's office) are placed all over. You are handed a bouquet of flower topped pens. Aaron is standing at the end of the make shift aisle holding Charlotte, Garrett next him, the teams watching from either side with big smiles on their faces. Jack is waiting for you at the bottom of the steps, a wide smile on his face, "Ready mama?" He asks you, making it harder to hold back the tears already threatening to fall.
He started calling you mama when Charlotte was born, and although you will never replace Haylee, you took on the mantle of being his bonus mom. Having him waiting to help walk you down the makeshift aisle, at your makeshift office wedding, is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.
You lean down a little, giving him kiss on his forehead, winking to him as you straighten up and link your arm with his, "Let's make me a Hotchner, buddy."