mosley lane
"AIMEE LYNCH, EIGHT YEARS OLD," JJ holds the portrait of the young girl up, looking over the few gathered in the conference room. "Was taken an hour ago from a winter festival in Ashburn."
Emily grabs the picture as she sets it down, brows furrowed. "Any witnesses?"
"Her mom Barbara was right next to her when she vanished."
"There must have been hundreds of people there," Emily shakes her head confusedly. "No one saw anything?"
JJ shrugs.
"It's a temporary gathering with little to no security," Spencer says.
"Alright, Reid, you and I are gonna head to the family's house," Morgan says, earning a nod from the doctor. "You three need to work with Garcia. We need to look at every local abduction or attempted one in the past year, see if there's any overlap."
Jane, Emily, and JJ all nod. "Good news is that we're barely into the second hour,"
"Yeah, well, odds are we've only got 22 hours left to find Aimee alive so let's do this," Morgan turns to leave, gesturing for Spencer to follow, leaving the three women behind.
JJ turns to look at them, face shrouded in a dark cloud of gloom. She always had a tough time when their cases involved children, and Jane could understand. Even as someone who didn't have kids, the idea of a child being anywhere near the sort of things they dealt with was nauseating. She couldn't imagine what it was like when you had your own child to imagine in that situation.
"I'm going to call some media outlets and make sure they're getting her picture plastered everywhere. The best thing we can do right now is make sure that whoever took her knows we're coming."
She walks off, leaving Emily and Jane, and the older woman turns to look at Jane knowingly. "This is your first abduction case, yeah?"
Jane looks away from the photo of Aimee Lynch, nodding.
Emily hums sympathetically. "They're high stakes. The adrenaline never really stops," She shakes her head, as if recalling a memory. "But once it does, you'll really feel it."
"Great," Jane smiled wryly. "I can't wait."
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"Virginia has one of the lowest kidnapping rates in the country," Emily says, opening up another file from the boxes stacked between her and Jane.
Jane looks up from the file she'd started skimming, humming lowly. "I'm sure that makes it more of a spectacle when it does happen,"
Emily nods in agreement before gesturing to the TV hung up above the bullpen. Jane turns to look at it, standing beside Emily as the anchor starts to speak in that practiced solemn voice of theirs.
"Aimee Lynch of Ashburn was last seen at the Winter Festival this morning at 10:00. She's 4'8, has blonde hair and green eyes. With temperatures below freezing and a chance of snow, the pressure's on to find her. Anyone with information about Aimee, please contact the hotline,"
The number for their designated hotline flashes on the screen and Jane lets out a sigh.
"Uh, excuse me?"
The sudden voice startles Jane and she flinches, snapping her head towards the woman that had approached her and Emily.
"Uh, I'd like to talk to Agent Jareau,"
Emily glances at Jane, the two sharing a brief frown before Emily turns back to the woman, closing the file in her hands. "Can I help you?"
The woman hesitates, looking between Emily and Jane before breaking eye contact and speaking. "Whoever took Aimee Lynch took my son, too,"
Jane's eyes widen and she sees the way Emily has been startled into a brief silence. Emily turns to look at Jane, passing her the file in her hands. "Will you stay here while I go let JJ know?"
Jane nods and Emily ducks past her, hurrying to JJ's office. Turning back to look at the woman, Jane offers her an awkward smile and then silently berates herself for smiling at the woman who is clearly in some sort of distress. Stepping closer to her, Jane offers her a hand to shake.
"My name is Dr. Donovan, but you can just call me Jane," The woman hesitantly shakes her hand, and Jane can't help but notice that she looks scared. If her son has been kidnapped, it's nothing unexpected, but this woman looks afraid of her surroundings, and there's an air about her that screams tired. When Jane takes in a breath, she can smell the faint scent of bittersweet whiskey and she hides a wince as she drops the woman's hand.
"Sarah Hillridge."
"I'm, uh," Jane clears her throat. "I'm very sorry about your son. I can't imagine what you're going through."
Sarah eyes her closely, nodding as she clutches onto her purse strap like it's a lifeline. "Are you a mother?"
"No," Jane shakes her head. "No, I'm not. But I hope one day I am."
"It's the best thing in the world. Every day you get to wake up, knowing that this little person you created is growing and going out in the world, and there's no better feeling than knowing that you're doing a good job even though it's terrifying. You think that it can't possibly get better, even when it's been a long day and all you want to do is go to bed. And then," A watery smile grows on the woman's lips as her voice breaks.
"And then it gets ripped away from you. All of a sudden you don't know what to do with yourself. Every time you ever plead for a break, every time you dropped them off with a babysitter, or wished that Christmas break was over so they could go back to school becomes your biggest regret. You start to rethink everything you've ever done for them, and if you– if you have other kids, you start to project it onto them. You think they'd be better off without you since you couldn't keep one kid safe, you know? And one day, eight years in the future, you see a little girl the same age as your son was, and you think what if? What if it's the same thing? What if I could help save someone from experiencing the worst feeling in the world? Even if it's not... even if it's not the people who took Charlie, I have to at least try. Right?"
Silence falls after Sarah finishes, and Jane clenches her hands around the manilla envelopes in her hands until her knuckles turn white before letting out a shaky breath. "You're right. You– I am so, so sorry you have to go through this again, Mrs. Hillridge. But you're right. I don't know what it's like losing a child, but I know what grief can do to you, and it will make you question everything you've ever done. The what-ifs paralyze you,"
Sarah nods, eyes wide like she's shocked Jane has agreed with her, or listened to her at all.
"You– you're very brave for coming in here and helping us. And I think– I think no matter what, you're the best mother for never giving up on him. That is what a mother is supposed to be, and no matter what other people think of you, or what happened to Charlie, you're a fantastic mother."
"Sarah?" Emily's voice comes from behind Jane, and the woman's attention shifts from Jane.
"You can go on into Agent Jareau's office now if you'd like."
The woman nods and offers Jane a small smile that Jane belatedly mirrors before it falls and she bites the tip of her tongue to hold back the tears that burn behind her eyes.
"Jane?" Emily clears her throat, making the woman turn around to face her with a hopefully intact poker face. "Everything alright?"
Jane nods and holds up the files, not trusting her voice as she gestures to her desk. Emily lingers before her like she can see all of the emotions Jane is suddenly feeling, but seems to understand now isn't the time to push her about it.
Jane feels repulsed by how grateful she is that there's an urgent case to focus on if only because it takes the attention off of her.
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"Look, we all think that Aimee could be alive. No one's given up on her," Hotch starts, shaking his head as he looks up to meet Emily's gaze where she stands between Jane and JJ. "That's why there's hundreds of volunteers and officers combing every inch of the county."
"But they're dragging the rivers and digging up the woods," Emily tilts her head. "That's not gonna help us if Aimee is still with the unsub if she's still alive out there."
Derek eyes Emily. "What about Charlie? Is he still alive?"
"Sarah believes it," JJ says, confidence in her voice.
"8 years she's been saying the same thing, JJ," Derek says, earning a conceding nod from the woman. "Have you thought about why you suddenly believe her? Do you think it might be because you're a mother?"
JJ's eyes widen in offense and she crosses her arms over her chest, shoulders straightening out defensively. "It's– it's because another woman just walked in here with the same exact ruse used eight years ago. I can't deny that. Can you?"
"All I'm saying is, if we go from a single abduction to multiple abductions over ten years, that changes everything. We all have to be convinced that's what it is based on an unbiased profile."
"Okay," Emily scoffs lightly, looking at the men sitting at the table. "Distraction of a lost child. 8-year-old victims taken from public places with little to no security. That's not just the same ruse, that's a signature. And I'm not a mother. Neither is Jane,"
"Charlie would be 16 now. We all know that preferential offenders typically dispose of their victims before they reach puberty."
"Maybe he serves another purpose," JJ muses.
"Aimee's mom said the unsub was slight," Rossi recalls, chin propped on his hand. "It wouldn't be easy to keep a teenager under her thumb."
Emily nods in agreement but voices her counter. "Except that she's had him since he was 8 years old. By now, he's completely submissive to her."
"Keeping him could explain why Charlie's body was never found," Spencer says, looking away from Jane to Hotch, shrugging a shoulder as he voices his subtle agreement with the girls.
A moment of silence passes over them and Jane leans forward, wrapping her hands around the back of a chair. "Hotch, I've gone through almost two hundred of the past abductions this year alone, and none of them line up the way Charlie Hillridge does with Aimee Lynch. We wouldn't be bringing this to you if it was a waste of time, we know how much is at stake here."
Hotch heaves a sigh, looking from Jane to Garcia sits at the table near him. "Garcia,"
"Sir?"
"Go back ten years nationwide," Hotch's words make the three women let out quiet sighs of relief, and Emily rubs a hand on Jane's back reassuringly as her shoulders sag with it. "Start with abductions and target-rich environments. Rule out any with bodily recovery, dead or alive."
"I'm gonna let Sarah know," JJ says, a grateful smile pulling at her lips as she turns to leave, Hotch dismissing her simply before he looks back at the team.
"We need to check out Aimee's abduction site with new eyes," Hotch says, earning a collective nod from the team as they begin to disperse, a different tune to their search as they change the parameters.
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"Hotch, this is Sarah Hillridge,"
"Oh, we met when Charlie was taken," Sarah shakes his hand with a smile that's much steadier than the one she offered Jane earlier that morning. "I mean, you know, you saw a lot of us. I'm sure we all look the same."
"Thank you for coming in," Hotch said, his voice carefully warm. "Have a seat."
Sarah does so, sitting at the round table across from Jane and Emily.
"Alright," JJ starts, pointing at the map with several arrows stuck onto it. "These represent kids taken from public places. Locations are never hit more than once, but there is a similarity in each. Different malls, toy stores, carnivals, theme parks, parades."
Emily tilts her head understandingly. "Places where families should feel safe."
"And where there isn't much security," Hotch says, eyes squinted as he looks at the map. "That's 12 children over 10 years?"
JJ nods silently.
"We should interview all the families."
"I know a few of them,"
The four FBI agents look at Sarah in shock, and she's quick to elaborate. "We had a support group. I mean, most of them have moved on."
"But you're here," Emily says, looking at the woman.
Sarah's teeth clutch at her bottom lip before she releases it, looking at the agents. "I saw Charlie three years ago,"
JJ steps forward, her eyes wide as her words settle in with the rest of them. "You didn't tell me that."
Sarah shrugged tiredly. "Well, my husband didn't believe me. Why would you?"
JJ's face fills with a mix of pity and sympathy, her blue eyes wide as Hotch steps forward, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tell us what happened,"
"At first I saw him all the time," She says, that tone of desperation seemingly second nature in her voice no matter what she's saying. Jane can't imagine how much it would drive you crazy begging everyone to believe you when you say your son is alive, and you've seen him. "I thought I did. And from what I understand, that– that's normal."
Jane nods quietly.
"But you can't survive that way," Sarah sighs, eyes going distant with that tired, guilt-ridden haze. "So, Jake and I promised we would move on. But a few years later, I saw him. I mean, it was different! In my mind, he had never aged, but this was a teenage Charlie crossing the street, and as quickly as he was there, he was gone again. But I know I saw him!"
Sarah quieted, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "Jake didn't believe me. That was the day he left me,"
Emily leaned forward, her tone one of urgency and determination. Trying to say she believes the woman without saying it. "What did you do when you saw Charlie?"
"I called for him,"
"How did you know it was him?" Jane asked softly, her bright eyes wide.
"Well, I didn't– not for sure. So I called for him again,"
"Did he hear you?"
"He looked back," Sarah breathed out, a glint of hope in her eyes that made Jane's chest ache.
Hotch's frown deepened. "And your husband didn't see him?"
Sarah shook her head, emotion thickening in her throat again. "It was crowded, he disappeared. I lost him all over again,"
JJ frowns sympathetically, watching the woman. "We'll be asking those parents to sign up for all that pain again. If they've moved on,"
Sarah shakes her head. "They'd take the chance if it meant their kids were alive."
The four agents share a look of agreement, knowing she was right. Even in the depths of her grief and guilt, Sarah Hillridge had been right about her son, and right about the unsubs. There was no doubt she was right about this, too.
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"11 families have confirmed the same woman, 40 to 50 years old, calling for children. In some cases, she even had a child with her,"
Mrs. Hillridge's face scrunches up in horror at JJ's words. "She actually used the kids for the abductions? Were they her own, or the ones kidnapped?"
Emily is quick to offer a placating answer where JJ struggles. "We don't believe she's a mother. Most predisposed female offenders are not,"
"But they are the most violent," Spencer says unthinkingly, wincing apologetically when everyone's eyes shift to him in a light scolding.
"You said that she's working with someone?"
"It's likely a subservient male," Hotch answers her, nodding. "But the woman separates herself from her partners. She chooses the victim while they do the riskiest part– they grab the child and manage the getaway."
JJ shifts, grabbing the sketch of Charlie as Sarah had described him to hold it up for the team to see. "This is what he looks like as a teenager,"
"Um–" Sarah stutters slightly, pointing at the sketch as Derek takes it to examine it. "He's tall and thin. His hair is, um, darker than it was. But that– that's him. That's– that's Charlie."
A solemn moment passes over the team as they recognize the gleam in her eyes as she stares at the sketch before she forces herself out of it and looks at them. "Why would they take the risk of letting him out in the world?"
"They've had him in their control for eight years. He's either got Stockholm, or he's being threatened," Rossi pauses, hesitating before he elaborates. "Get us another kid, and we won't kill you."
Sarah looks horrified at the thought, and JJ is quick to snap her out of it.
"Sarah, let's take a break, okay?"
"Okay," The woman nods, letting JJ lead her out of the room as she looks at the team. "Thank you."
Once she's out of the room, Derek turns towards the bulletin board full of pictures of the other confirmed children and the map they're using to pinpoint abduction sites. "So, living and working in northern Virginia. It's most likely in isolation. I mean, there's no way to explain a houseful of kids at the neighborhood block party."
"Managing this many children isn't easy," Hotch says, eyes narrowed as he looks at the board. "There have to be incidents where things didn't go as planned. We should start with domestic calls and disturbances. Concentrate of families who were visited by social services."
Reid nods, grabbing the pile of sketches. "I'll get Garcia."
"It's likely these unsubs were questioned before. Once we narrow down Garcia's list, we should revisit them."
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"Okay, there are 107 families visited by social services in the last 10 years," Garcia announces to the room at large as she walks in with her laptop in hand, Hotch following behind her.
"That's too many to go door to door," Emily shakes her head. "We're gonna have to narrow that down."
Hotch sits down beside her at the table, nodding in agreement as he looks at Garcia. "We need to figure out why they're staying in northern Virginia."
Jane pulls the tip of her pen out of her mouth, tapping it against her leg silently. "Could be work-related. It's not exactly cheap to move around every few years, so they have to have a steady income. Especially if they're getting social service visits and not having parental rights taken away. Moving that frequently is one of the biggest red flags for those visits,"
"They could have a childcare facility on the premises as a cover," Prentiss agrees, nodding.
"You know, it's most likely a single-income family," Spencer starts, dragging his fingers over the tip of his pen. "Someone has to be home to stay with the kids."
"Okay," Garcia nods, fingers furiously typing away. "All this helps."
Hotch stares at the conference table covered in various files, his face furrowed in thought. "They've been questioned before, so we can expect a rehearsed response."
Derek turns to look at Garcia. "How many are on that list of single-income?"
"23,"
Morgan shakes his head disappointedly, and Rossi looks at him curiously. "What's the problem?"
"We're gonna be knocking on the doors of 23 families and all of them have done something bad to a kid," The man stresses, voice shaking somewhat. "We don't have a warrant. Just our profile. If we get it wrong and leave that house, they'll destroy any evidence they have, including the children."
The team shares a collective, defeated sigh, and Hotch shifts in his chair. "JJ, get an article of Aimee's clothing,"
JJ moves to follow suit as Hotch gets up, and Garcia stands, looking at the team as they file out of the room. "What for?"
Morgan sighs, giving her a sympathetic look. "It's for the dogs."
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Jane looked up from the table at the third sigh Garcia let out. She met the woman's eyes and the redhead's look turned sheepish and she offered Reid and Jane an apologetic look. "I– I don't know how you guys can handle the waiting."
"Paperwork, usually," Reid says, offering her an awkward smile.
Jane props her cheek on her hand, smiling tiredly. "I'm still new to the waiting part of it. Kinda drives me nuts, if I'm being honest. At least in the field, you're always moving, so there isn't really time to overthink anything."
Garcia turns towards her fully, eyes widening. "You know, this– this might not be the right time, but I've been meaning to ask how you're adjusting. Do you like it here?"
Jane smiles at her urgency. "It's great, really. I like it more than I thought I would. Working this close with Hotch has had its moments, but other than that, it really is great."
"How much different is he outside of work? How is he as a dad– I mean, we've all met Jack obviously, but what's it been like for you?" Garcia lays her palms on the table, giving Jane a serious look. "I need to know– does he cook?"
The doctor huffs out a laugh, seeing Spencer hide an amused smile behind his hand at her interrogation. "He does cook, yes. He's gotten a lot better over the years, but he's managed to keep us alive this long, so,"
Garcia looks like Jane's just handed her the key to the city, and she stifles a laugh at her awed face.
"He's a great dad," Jane continues, voice softening. "Since day one. I didn't meet him until I was 18, obviously, but I still consider myself lucky."
"He told us that you guys met way back when, when you were just an intern still. It's so crazy how things worked out, like– you were just barely 18 and already in the field with Quantico and you met Hotch, and he adopted you. I mean, how did it even happen?"
"Garica," Spencer glances at the redhead, who turns to look at him with wide eyes.
"Oh, no, did I–" She turns back to Jane. "Am I being too much? I have a tendency to do that, I swear you don't have to answer anything–"
Jane waved her off, shaking her head. "No, it's fine, I understand. I understand that there's a lot you all still don't know about Hotch and me, it's natural to be curious. To answer your question– I lost my parents at a really young age during a break-in and was put in the system. I got lucky and just stayed in one place, but I never really got close to them. Not like I did with Hotch and Hayley, at least. My placement family could never formally adopt me, so by the time I was in college and interning here, I cut contact and, well... you know the rest, for the most part."
Jane sat back in her chair, eyes drifting to Spencer, who was looking at her with his face furrowed in confusion. She's sure he has a million questions just based on statistics and his natural curiosity, but he doesn't voice them.
Garcia lays a hand atop Jane's where it rests on the table, squeezing it sympathetically. "I lost my parents when I was young, too. It rocks your entire world– but we both ended up in the same place, right?"
Jane huffs a laugh. "Yeah, we did. It's a small world, after all,"
Garcia grins and nods in agreement, tongue sticking out between her teeth. She tilts her head curiously at Jane, one last question popping into her head. "Did you have any siblings?"
Jane nods slowly. "I had a sister. A younger sister."
Garcia's face lights up. "Really? Do you talk to her?"
The doctor's smile falters somewhat and she shakes her head. "No, uh– I haven't seen her since we got placed into the system. We were separated, and unfortunately, we were too young to figure out ways to keep in contact with each other."
Penelope's face falls and guilt floods her expression. "Oh, I am so, so sorry for bringing it up–"
"No, it's fine, really," Jane waves her off, trying to assuage her guilt. "I barely remember her, it's not– it's fine, Garcia. I promise. It was so long ago that I couldn't even tell you what she looked like."
"Do you remember her name?"
"Yeah, actually," Jane nods. "Her name was Maeve."
Garcia starts to ask another question, but she's interrupted by Jane's phone lighting up, vibrating on the table between them. Jane reaches for it quickly, eyes wide as she looks at the other two, putting the call on speaker. "Do you have something?"
Hotch's voice rings out through the phone for all of them to hear. "2150 Mosley Lane. Get here now, and bring the dogs– and SWAT."
Garcia's breath hitches at his urgency and Jane pushes her chair away from the table, already standing. "Got it. I'll be there soon."
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Walking into the basement of the large, old farmhouse with JJ and Rossi, Jane feels that feeling of impending doom that she's beginning to associate with this job. She hopes it's one of those things that Derek keeps telling her she'll get used to.
"Security camera on the front door," Rossi notes, making Jane turn to look at the small monitor displaying the view.
"So, they saw Morgan and Emily coming," She muses, earning a nod from the older man. "Which means they had plenty of time to hide somewhere or get away."
They turn to look at JJ for any additional input, but find her a few feet away, running her hand along the side of a shelf pushed up against one of the unfinished cinder block walls.
"What?"
JJ glances at them, face furrowed. "It's a hinge,"
Jane's eyes widen and Rossi is quick to draw his gun. Jane shifts back behind the both of them as JJ tugs on the shelf to pull the secret door open.
It reveals a hallway, dimly lit and smelling vaguely of mildew and dust. There's a ladder at the very end of it, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the woman undoubtedly escaped with the kids through here.
Lowering their guns at the lack of threat, JJ and Rossi turn to face her.
"Let's get the dogs down here,"
Rossi turns to head for the stairs, leaving the two women to slowly walk into the extended hall.
Multiple doors become visible in the small divots on the walls, and JJ gestures for her to stand back as she opens the first one, raising her gun again.
When the door swings open, they're quick to realize there's no one in the room and move into it. The trample of footsteps and the whining dogs follow soon after, and there's a brief chaos while the dogs are scenting all of the extra rooms before the three agents are left alone again, looking at the dilapidated rooms that obviously housed children for at least a decade.
JJ moves over to a shelf, grabbing a stack of Polaroids. She shuffles through them, distaste squirming in her stomach with every passing photo.
"Is that Aimee Lynch?" Rossi asks over her shoulder, stopping on the picture that was on the top of the pile when JJ grabbed it.
The blonde nods. "They dyed her hair,"
"There's none of Charlie," Jane notes, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice as CSI moves around them.
"He– he probably took these," JJ says, a note of pride in her tone that has the other two look at her confusedly.
"For what?"
"Proof." JJ scoffs lightly, clutching onto the photos. They all share a briefly incredulous look before leaving the room, stepping back into the regular part of the basement so CSI can have full access to the space.
"He's the one they've had the longest," JJ shakes her head, looking at the pictures still in her hand. "He knows what will happen by now. He's done what he needs to in order to survive, and he knew that even if he died, there would be something left to prove they did it."
She looks at the other two agents somewhat helplessly. "How do you ever recover from living like this for so long?"
"Lots of therapy," Rossi says, earning an agreeing nod from Jane.
"And his family," Jane continues. "He's going to have to relearn how to live his entire life, but... if he has his family– his mother, then he'll be fine. She didn't give up on him after all this time, there's no way she will if he makes it back to her."
JJ nods, giving them grateful looks for the reassurance. She shifts when her phone rings in her pocket, and Rossi steps away as Hotch enters the basement, leaving the two women.
"It's Morgan," JJ says as she answers. "What's up?"
Whatever Morgan says has JJ immediately letting out a huge sigh of relief, and Jane feels a bit of that burrowing pit of dread release itself from the twisting hold it had on her. "That's– that's great. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Alright, thanks."
She hangs up, giving them a firm look. "They found the kids. It's time to arrest Roger Roycewood."
"Who gets the honors?"
Hotch turns to look at the police officer standing behind them. "Where is he?"
"He's in the bathroom," The officer says nonchalantly, his words making the agents startle and immediately push past him to head up the stairs.
Their footsteps echo like thunder on the stairs as they hurry to the bathroom, and Hotch busts the door down with a shove, immediately revealing the man hanging from the ceiling.
Jane flinches at the sight but lets out a disappointed sigh, turning away to follow after them. Immediately, she gets that difficult feeling of disappointment that he won't face any real consequences for such horrible crimes, but the dark satisfaction at knowing he died scared of being caught. Relief that he's dead at all.
She keeps these feelings to herself. Has long since learned that it's best to because the FBI can't employ people with complex feelings like that. It leaves too much room for emotion on the job, and that makes you hesitate.
That's one thing Jane has yet to learn working with the BAU. When she was safely in her lab, it was all so sterile that she could be surrounded by dead bodies and still have a craving for a steak. She was used to that side of death. She didn't mind it, really. She liked to think she gave these people's families a sense of closure when she finished an autopsy. But working in the field like this, being present for every moment of the case except for afterward was harder than she realized.
She supposed she either had to get better at containing such emotions or hope that Strauss would let her go back to her lab full-time before it got too dangerous.
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A knock on the open door made the girls pause in their cleaning up, and they all turned to find Sarah Hillridge walking into the room.
"I have been trying to think of something to say, and thank you just doesn't even come close," She shakes her head, cheeks stained with tears of joy for the first time in eight years.
JJ shakes her head, waving the woman off. "You don't have to thank us,"
"Yes, I do. Do you know how long it's been since someone believed in me?" The woman's words made them all soften with sympathy. Even the brief frustration earlier to try and get the rest of the team to believe Sarah's claims about the case was enough to put them on edge for a moment.
"You are just surrounded by darkness," Sarah looks at them in a mixture of awe and disbelief. "Why do you do it?"
Emily turns, looking out the windows into the bullpen at the two little girls laughing with their parents. Thinks of Sarah's tearful reunion with her son, who is ultimately the reason why the two other girls got to come home to their parents today. "Because of days like this," Even with all of the darkness, it's a little bit of light, and it's enough to keep them going.
Sarah nods and the grateful smile on her face grows, warming them all. Before she turns to leave, she looks at Jane, offering the woman her own smile. "You're going to be a great mom one day, Dr. Donovan."
Jane's eyes widen and she feels the other girls look at her curiously, but all she can do is offer a smile to the woman, trying to ignore the way her lip is suddenly quivering. "Thank you, Mrs. Hillridge."
The woman turns and leaves with another nod in their direction, and they watch as she reaches for her son, letting him tuck her under his arm as they walk down the hall and back into the bullpen.
Jane thinks Emily was right. Moments like this make it worth it. But she wonders if there will always be a light like this to make the dark a little less scary.
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author's note; this episode... peak television.
edited and published; 12.12.23.
- liz