A/N: Ayo, listen, I'm sorry about being completely MIA. Two jobs and school are absolutely kicking my ass. Hopefully I start making enough money to quit one of my jobs. Just hang with me until then, okay?
"What an interesting sight," the redhead said, and Isabel opened her eyes just a sliver. She closed her eyes again until she heard a loud crack. Her eyes flew open and she immediately got to her feet, trying to find the source of the noise. When she spotted it, her jaw dropped and her breath caught in her throat. "Do you see it now? I can't tell if it's beautiful or horrifying."
"It's... it's both, I guess? Can it be both?" Isabel asked, getting as close as she could to her pole. It wouldn't keep her safe, but it was something solid. And if the storm coming her way was as nasty as it looked, she would need something solid to ground herself with. It was out by the boiling lake, so she had time to prepare. But even with the distance, she could feel the electricity crackling in the air. The rolling storm clouds were dark, and sprouting from them was what seemed like thousands of lightning bolts.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" the redhead asked, and Isabel shook her head. She had seen photos of lightning storms but had never seen one in real life. There had never been any storms there; she wasn't exactly sure what it meant that there was one now. Especially one that looked this severe.
She reached her hand out towards the storm, every hair on her arm standing on edge. Her ears were starting to ring with the continuous claps of thunder, but she couldn't quite look away. There was another sharp crack, and before Isabel even had time to pull her hand back, a lightning bolt shot by mere inches from her fingers. She looked behind her to see that a large boulder had been completely shattered. If the lightning could do that to a boulder, she'd hate to think of what it could do to her.
She turned towards the redhead, only to see her looking back with an evil grin. She pointed towards the storm, and Isabel turned towards the ever-growing natural monster. Before she could react, a lightning bolt shot straight out of the storm and struck Isabel straight through the heart.
****************
Reid slung his satchel over his shoulder as the jet came to land. He felt someone touch his shoulder, and he looked up to see Akilah beside him, already packed up and ready to go. She gave him a raised eyebrow, and he nodded, knowing exactly what she was asking. She wanted to know if he was okay, and for the moment, he was. He was okay now that he was about to go home to his apartment, his safe place. He was okay now that he was back in D.C. and away from that city that brought back memories he'd rather not remember.
Omaha, Nebraska. Population 408,958. Founded on July 4th, 1854, 12 years, 7 months, and 25 days before Nebraska was admitted as a state in 1867. Birthplace of Warren Buffett, Gerald Ford, Malcolm X, and Rainbow Rowell. Home to the Henry Doorly Zoo, the Joslyn Art Museum, and the Old Market District. It was also home to Ciara Isabel Marie Byrne and the city where I first met her.
Damn it. There he went again, thinking about her. He hadn't wanted to. When he had learned they were heading to Omaha, he had promised himself that under no circumstances would he think about her. They were going to solve the case, catch the murderer, and they would come home, and he'd just keep Ciara out of it.
At first, he did well. He managed to get through the entire ride on the jet without a single thought of Ciara. He even managed to get through landing at Eppley Airfield and getting assigned to set up shop at the Omaha Field Office. But it was when they drove past the University of Nebraska at Omaha that Reid had broken. When they had driven by, all Reid could think about was how nearly exactly four years ago, in an apartment on that campus, he had found a scared young woman that had escaped one cage just to be placed in another.
But that scared young woman he met on the UNO campus wasn't the same young woman that came back into his life two and a half years after. And it was that thought that had made him turn his head away. He couldn't look at it. Not when doing so reminded him of everything that had happened in the year he had with Ciara. And that was when he realized how foolish he had been to try and stop it.
How foolish he had been to forget that the heart didn't take orders from the head.
Some days he managed just fine. Other days it felt like it took all of his energy to keep his head above the water. Some days he didn't think about Ciara once, but other days, it was like she was all he could think about.
On those days, all he could think about was how the last time they'd seen her, she'd been bruised and beaten and violated. All he could think about was how, after three months, they still didn't know where Ciara was. What had happened to her since then? On those days, all he could think about was how they couldn't search for her since they'd been taken off the case, and how they didn't know if she was alive, and three months, three months, three months.
Even on the good days, though, he went through the entire day with this small, pervasive feeling that something wasn't right. It would sit in his stomach and gnaw at his insides all day, reminding him that something was missing. Sometimes he would let himself think about it, but when he couldn't immediately identify the source of his monachopsis, he'd let it go. But later, when he'd be just on the edge of sleep, he'd shoot awake as the answer came to him. Ciara. Ciara was always the something missing.
But even sleep was no refuge for him. How could it be, when his very dreams were about her? He didn't dream about her every night. Some nights he managed to escape that fate. But the nights he did dream about her, they always felt so very real. And when he woke up, the fact that they were only dreams would crash down on him without mercy. And he'd lay there, staring up at the ceiling, missing her so much it physically hurt.
Akilah patted him on the shoulder as everyone crammed into the elevator to head back up to the bullpen to get things done before they went home. He smiled slightly at her, wordlessly thanking her for her concern. She'd been affected by Ciara's disappearance as much as he had; in a way, probably even more. After every case, she went home to that empty apartment. Every time she was home, she faced the fact that she was there and Ciara wasn't.
But yet, when Reid needed someone to vent to, she was always there for him. Whenever he needed to talk, she'd always open the door to him, and when he got there, there'd always be a cup of tea waiting for him. And if he couldn't stand to be in that apartment, she'd come to him and bring her tea with her. Reid only wondered who Akilah vented to.
"There you guys are! They'd told me you'd landed, and I-" Garcia didn't even give them a moment to get off the elevator before she was talking. Something must have happened. Something urgent.
"Baby Girl, what's going on? Don't tell me we have another case," Morgan wondered, and Garcia shook her head.
"You, Hot Stuff, have your own problem. Ellie's mom is here and it is not going well between them. Ellie wants nothing to do with her," Garcia explained, and Morgan nodded. Reid could understand where Ellie was coming from. She probably felt abandoned by her mother, especially when she wasn't there when her father had died.
"I'll go talk to her," Morgan said. Once he was out of sight, Garcia turned to the rest of them. She took a deep breath as her fingers started drumming against the tablet she held.
"As for the rest of you, we have a completely different problem. Well, it's not really a problem, except it kind of is a problem. Can it be a problem and not a problem at the same time?" Garcia rambled. She was about to keep going, but Hotch stopped her, bringing her back on track. She nodded, taking another deep breath. "Ciara's back."
Reid's heart seemed to skip a beat as Garcia offered the tablet to them, a thousand thoughts going through his head in a fraction of a second. It had been three months. How much pain had she gone through? How much had she been forced to change and adapt to keep herself alive? Did he even want to look? Could he afford not to? No. He had to look. He had to see. He had to know.
Before anyone else had a chance, Reid snatched the tablet from Garcia's hands. He was so focused on what he saw on the screen that he didn't even care that the rest of the team was hovering around him, trying to get a glance as well. And there she was, barely dressed and strapped down to a table, the camera angled to give a clear image of her. For the moment, she was asleep, but even in sleep, her face still had a slight grimace of pain.
Ciara. Oh, Ciara, how much suffering has he put you through? He didn't vocalize the question. The little "muted" icon in the corner of the screen told him that it wouldn't do any good. Instead, he put his energy into taking in every detail he could see to try and answer his own question. And from what he was seeing, the answer was "all of it". His hands began to shake, but he wasn't sure if that was because of his sadness at seeing Ciara in such a state or anger at the Unsub for putting her there.
"How long has she been back?" Prentiss asked, and Reid looked up for just a second to see Garcia looking down at the ground. She looked back up at them, fidgeting with her fingers, her mouth set into a grim line. Well, that was an unusual expression for Garcia. It was an expression only reserved for when things were really bad.
"Since yesterday."
"Since yesterday?" Reid asked, astonished. The livestream had been on for a whole day, and she hadn't told them? "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I-"
"This is Ciara we're talking about. How could you not tell us?"
"She asked me not to!" Garcia exclaimed, and Reid sighed in frustration. Akilah put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged her off.
"Don't you think we deserved to know?" he asked.
"Of course you did, but she explicitly asked me not to, and I thought, considering the circumstances, she deserved to be listened to and-"
"Don't give me any of those excuses," Reid interrupted, and Garcia looked up at him, mouth open with the words she was about to say. His friends were telling him to back off of her, but he couldn't. She should have told them. There was no reason not to. "It's your job to tell us important things! Is Ciara not an important enough thing for you?"
"Alright, Reid, let's go." Akilah snatched the tablet from his hands and handed it back to Garcia, before gripping his arm and trying to lead him away. He dug in his heels and gave her a questioning look.
"What?" She gave him a stern "mom" look, a look she had somehow perfected despite not having any kids, and Reid instinctually felt his reins loosening a little bit. But he dug his heels back in, and Akilah gripped his arm harder.
"Now, Spencer." Finally and reluctantly, Reid gave in and followed Akilah as she led him away. She rarely called him Spencer, and when she did, she was extremely serious. They walked in silence, leaving him to stew in his frustrated thoughts. Soon, Akilah found an empty office, opened the door, and gestured for him to enter. She followed, closing the door behind her. "What the hell was that about?"
"What?!"
"Look, I get that you're stressed. I get that you've missed Ciara terribly and not knowing where she is or what's happening to her is driving you absolutely batshit crazy. It's driving me up a wall too! I also understand that having a case in Omaha, the city where you met her, does not help. I get all of that. But that is no reason to attack Garcia!" Akilah scolded him, pointing her finger in his face. If she didn't quit that, he was going to take that finger and shove it up her... Well, alright. Maybe that was a little dramatic.
"She should have told us!"
"Yeah, maybe she should have. But I think it's perfectly understandable why she didn't, don't you think?"
"No, I don't! We could have had an entire day to profile and to try and comfort Ciara, but she stole that day from us!"
"Reid-"
"It's her job, in a way, to be one of our fountains of knowledge. This seems like pretty important knowledge to me! Did she even care that Ciara was back? How could she shove her to the side? Does she just not care about Ciara like we do?"
"Spencer!" That tone of voice ended his rant rather quickly. Akilah ran her fingers through her hair to calm herself, but even that couldn't wipe the exasperation from her face. "You know as well as I do that Garcia wanted to tell us. You know that she's probably been stressed out of her mind holding herself back every time someone called her. And you know she probably spent all day yesterday crying over whatever horrible things Ciara's told her!"
"She could have just-"
"No, she couldn't! You know Garcia would have told us if it wasn't for the fact that Ciara asked her not to. And don't you dare say Ciara wouldn't do that, because that's exactly the kind of thing she would do," Akilah ranted, before taking a deep breath. "She probably heard that we were on a case, and she didn't want to distract us. She probably figured she'd gone this long without us, she could last a couple more days."
"You're right," Reid finally admitted. Now that the shock of seeing Ciara again had worn off, the rational side of his brain was quickly taking back over, making him realize how much of an asshole he was being. Akilah was right, he was stressed, and he did miss Ciara terribly, and he just wanted her home, and that going to Omaha didn't make things better. But none of those were good reasons to attack Garcia. When their conversation was done, he'd go apologize. "That is exactly the kind of thing Ciara would do."
"Yes, it is," Akilah agreed, sighing with relief. "I'm glad you finally saw reason. We can't focus on what was. We can only go forward and focus on what we need to do next."
"And what do we do next?"
"We profile."
"I don't even know where to begin. When I was looking at her, I-I couldn't... I didn't think about..." Reid stammered, and Akilah shushed him.
"Your conscious mind may not have, but your subconscious did. Think back. Ask it," she instructed, and Reid shut his eyes, conjuring the image on the tablet. "Now, what did you notice first?"
"She was shivering. Wherever she is, it must be cold. And that... well, it feels like a crime to call it an 'outfit', but for lack of a better word, that outfit doesn't help," Reid told her, opening his eyes.
"Alright, good. Keep going. What does the outfit tell you?"
"Ciara would never wear that. That bastard must have forced her to wear it."
"Why? Why would he do that?"
"To demean and humiliate her. To strip her down and expose her, to force her out of her comfort zone. Ciara was never comfortable being the center of attention, and now he's putting her and everything he's done to her on display. He's given her no place to hide and no way to conceal the pain from us. It's psychological torture," he answered, and Akilah nodded.
"Alright. What else?"
"She's got bruises all over her body, but they are mostly concentrated on her inner thighs and her neck, which tells me that..." Reid couldn't continue. A shudder ran down his spine as he thought of what the Unsub must have been doing to put those bruises there.
"It's okay. I don't want to finish that thought, either. Let's move on. What's next?" Akilah wondered. Reid thought for a moment, before one big detail he hadn't realized until that moment came barreling in.
"There was a splint on her arm."
"There you go! That's what I was wanting to hear. Now, was the splint well done?"
"I mean, it wasn't a professional splint and was clearly made with whatever the Unsub had lying around. But despite that... well, yeah. It was a well-done splint. It looked like he properly set the bone back in place," Reid answered.
"Now, how much medical training would someone need to do something like that?" Akilah asked. So that was what she was going for. Well, he'd have to disappoint her. They were not going to find this Unsub through his splinting skills.
"From the looks of it, it was a simple closed fracture to the forearm. He could have learned how to splint that from any first aid or basic survival course," Reid said, and Akilah sighed. If he had properly fixed up a compound fracture, that would be one thing. That would indicate medical training, and they could use that to aid their search. But that wasn't the case here.
"Well, it was worth a shot," she responded with a shrug. With a nod of her head, she gestured to the door. "Are you ready to go face the beast?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," he answered, and Akilah nodded.
"Alright, then. Yallah." Reid paused for a moment, unsure what that last word had meant.
Yallah? Before he could ask her what 'yallah' meant, she was already walking down the hallway. Well then. Maybe the word meant something like 'let's go'. He'd ask her later. He quickly caught up to her and they walked the rest of the way in silence. They both needed the quiet to contemplate what the last few days had brought, and what the following days were sure to bring.
When they got back to the elevators, the team was no longer there. Akilah spotted them first, pointing to the round table room. Well, that made sense. It'd be better to watch the livestream with a little bit of privacy. As they walked through the bullpen, Reid looked over to where Morgan was still with Ellie and her mom. It seemed to be going a little better now. Luckily, they managed to catch Garcia just as she was exiting the round table room to go back to her office.
"Hey, Garcia, listen." At his voice, Garcia looked away from Morgan and towards him, a smile forming on her face. He could tell he'd already been forgiven, but that didn't mean he needn't apologize. Akilah went right into the round table room to give the two of them some privacy. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. That was out of line."
"Aw, that's alright. I imagine you were pretty stressed being in Omaha and me dropping this bombshell didn't help," she responded. "But, you know, you were wrong. I do care about Ciara. And I do find her very important."
"I know that. And I understand why you didn't tell us about Ciara. You were right, after all. After everything she's been through, the least we can do is listen to her and honor her requests," he said, and she nodded in agreement. "So, we good?"
"Oh, Boy Wonder, we are always good," she said with a smile, before looking nervously back at the round table room. What was that look about? "Hey, Reid, I'm supposed to go search up some things, and I was hoping you'd come with me. You know, help me look with the eyes of a profiler."
"I'd love to, but right now, I really need to see Ciara," he answered, walking past Garcia and towards the round table room.
"No, Reid, wait-!" But Reid didn't stop to hear what she had to say. Instead, he breezed right on into the round table room. Upon his entry, everyone turned to look at him. Immediately, Hotch fixed him with a look, and Reid started thinking of everything he might have done wrong in the last week.
"Reid," he said. "You need to leave. Now."
"What? No, I'm okay. I've talked through it with Akilah, and I apologized to Garcia," he said, joining the team around the screen. It was just the same as before, with Ciara sleeping on that table. As he came to stand, Akilah looked at him with what looked like fear in her eyes.
"Reid, no, you don't understand, you need to go," she said, and Reid looked at her. She was right. He didn't understand.
"What are you talking about? Why do I need to-?"
"Hey, man. He's here." Reid froze, before slowly turning towards the screen. His heart stopped as the Unsub idly walked into the frame, twirling a cattle prod around his fingers. He stopped twirling let the prod hang by his side as he looked at Ciara with... what was that look in his eyes? Hunger? Desire? Excitement?
"He said he wouldn't start until you arrived," Prentiss clarified, and Reid looked between her and the screen, taking a step back. Maybe if he just walked away, the Unsub wouldn't hurt Ciara. Maybe if he just left, she'd be safe.
"Woah, hey, where are you going?" the Partner asked, and the Unsub looked away from Ciara and up towards the camera, the muted icon suddenly clicking off.
"Aht, aht, aht! You can't walk away from this now, Dr. Reid," he said, and Reid took another step towards the door.
"Watch me," he challenged, taking another step.
"Oh, but you don't want to miss the show, do you?"
"This is one show I don't particularly feel like sticking around to see."
"If you walk away, then her blood will be on your hands!" the Unsub suddenly shouted, pointing at Ciara with the cattle prod. Reid stopped, all of the fight leaving him at once. He had hoped that if he had been confrontational, the Unsub's focus would stay on him and wouldn't stray towards Ciara and that she'd be kept safe for the moment. But it seemed that his plan had totally backfired. All he had done was piss the Unsub off.
"What... What do you mean?" he asked, and the Unsub pulled a knife out of his belt.
"In the beginning, I was particularly partial towards this knife. But I quickly grew bored of it. I've found plenty of new and more exciting games to play," he explained. Games? He thought torturing Ciara was a game? Just how depraved was this man? "But I wouldn't be averse to using it again."
"What does that have to do with Reid?" Rossi asked.
"Simple. If he walks away, I'll just have to use this knife to bring him back."
"How?" Reid quietly wondered. The Unsub laughed, holding the knife mere inches above Ciara's shoulder.
"Easy. You walk away, Dr. Reid, and I'll cut her. I'll make her scream for you to come back," he threatened. "I'll keep cutting her until you do. And if you don't, and she bleeds out... then it'll be your fault. Her death will be on your conscious."
"Reid. He's bluffing. He won't kill her. Back off," Hotch instructed. But Reid just stared at the screen, frozen, the weight of the Unsub's threat smothering him. Why was it getting harder to breathe?
"Maybe I'm bluffing. But what if I'm not? Are you willing to risk it, Dr. Reid?" he asked. "So, what will it be? Will you stay, or will you go?" What was he supposed to do? The choice was impossible. He could stay and have the Unsub begin torturing Ciara. Or he could walk away and risk losing her to him forever. Sure, there was a chance that he was bluffing. Maybe he was just saying that he'd hurt Ciara as a way to keep Reid in place. But what if he wasn't bluffing? What if Reid walked away, and the Unsub started cutting her? What if he didn't get back in time? What if... what if he actually killed her?
No. He couldn't risk it.
"I'll stay," Reid finally answered, walking back towards the screen. He knew that meant the Unsub would torture Ciara. But at least she'd be alive.
"Good choice," the Unsub responded, sheathing his knife. He picked up the cattle prod, looking at Ciara's sleeping form with a smile. He pressed and held the button on the prod, and after letting the tension build, touched the prod to Ciara's bare stomach. She jolted awake with a yelp, causing Reid to flinch as she looked at the Unsub with terror in her eyes. "Wake up, princess. It's showtime."
To be continued...