❛ 𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑫 𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑪𝑬 ❜
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•☽.⭒✻❙ 𝐏𝟗𝟏𝟏 ❙✻⭒.☾•
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆
❝ 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭. ❞
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𝑰𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑬
𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏
❛ imagine there's no heaven ❜
𝐹𝑂𝑅 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐴𝑆𝑇 𝐹𝑂𝑈𝑅 months, Spencer and Valentina had been going strong and loving their relationship. They were the happiest they had ever been, they were spending a lot of time together, and they had the same job, so what would be the biggest issue in their relationship was only making it stronger.
Garcia had told everyone that they were dating, which wasn't shocking. They didn't think she'd be able to keep it a secret. It was alright after some time. Morgan still teases them quite relentlessly, it never seems to get old for him, but everyone else adapted to it. Valentina and Spencer don't make people uncomfortable with them being a couple, they're still professional. But outside of work, they were so deeply infatuated with each other.
Valentina had slept over at his place last night, something that had been happening more often. Spencer had given her one of his cozy sweaters, which was what she woke up in. Well, she was barely awake.
Valentina had the covers over part of her legs, her hair was tousled, and her eyes weren't strong enough to open yet. Spencer wasn't next to her, he usually wasn't when she woke up, although, it was for a sweet reason. Spencer had just walked back into the room and put a mug filled with tea down on the bedside table next to Valentina before he opened up the curtains, allowing for the sun to shine down on Valentina's already radiant self. That actually got her up. "God, why would you do that?"
"Thought it would help." Spencer shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to the girl and put her glasses on her face. Valentina scrunched her nose as she sat up on her elbow, retorting, "Well, it obviously didn't."
Spencer took the tea off the table and handed it to Valentina, whose heart warmed at the action. "I want to be mad at you, stop being sweet."
"Sorry."
"No, don't apologize." Valentina was only joking before, but Spencer's innocence was so endearing, she simply kissed the top of his head since he was kneeling down in front of her and ruffled his hair. As she took a sip of her tea, Spencer had his hand on her arm and was drawing small stars along her skin as he offered, "You should stay over more often."
"Wow, you must really like me."
"I do, but why do you say that?" Spencer wondered with a small laugh before Valentina elaborated, "'Cause I do not look cute right now, so you clearly mean it."
"I think you look beautiful." Spencer complimented as he moved some of her messy hair out of her face.
"Thank you for lying to me." Spencer only smiled before he pushed his glasses up further on his nose. Usually he wears his contacts and only has his glasses when he's at home later at night, but Valentina kept complimenting him for them over and over again, so he was wearing them regularly. Valentina acknowledged, "I really like your glasses."
"Thanks. I didn't feel like wearing my contacts today. You should get changed by the way, we have to go to work in an hour." Spencer informed, but it was only met with a complaint, "Why? I just want to stay here."
"In my bed?" Spencer laughed seeing as how Valentina had gotten quite comfortable in his home. He actually quite liked it.
"With you in it." Valentina smile matched Spencer's, who was running his finger along hers that rested on the mug. He always used the one he bought for Valentina with snakes on it upon realizing that his girlfriend had a lot of sympathy for those animals. Valentina and Spencer's eyes met again when she pointed out, "You know, you don't have to make me tea every morning I'm here...I kinda like waking up with you next to me."
"What, you don't like the tea?"
"No, I do. I just mean that...I don't know. You don't have to try hard for me to like you more. I mean, I get butterflies just when you're reading 'cause you always fiddle with the edges of the book since you flip the pages so fast. And sometimes, when I'm with you, and you're working or you're reading, you draw stars with your finger on my legs or arms. And sometimes you-"
"Okay, Val. I get it, you like me." Spencer laughed as Valentina put her mug back down on the table. She grabbed Spencer's tie and pulled him towards her as she whispered, "I'd like you more if you got back in bed and took your clothes off."
"Work in an hour, Val." Spencer kissed the tip of her nose before taking his tie back and standing up. He moved to leave as Valentina complained, "You're so boring."
"Not what you said last night." Spencer called back as he walked out the door, but since she was not expecting Spencer, sweet, passive, timid, shy Spencer to say something so bold, so she could only blurt out, "What?!"
"Oh, sorry." Spencer began as moved back into the room. "I mean, it's not what you screamed."
That was when Spencer actually left the room, but since that comment broke Valentina's brain, the only thing she could do was cover her mouth and squeal into her hands, which her boyfriend heard and called back, "You okay, Val?"
"No!"
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Upon arriving at the BAU, the team, minus Elle, who had been healing from being shot, were immediately piled into the conference room. They had a case that had to do with an abducted child being recorded and put on the internet as he struggled. So it included one of the most disgusting unsubs they had ever dealt with.
This case was only going to make Valentina far more tense, but Hotch had stopped worrying about her so much since she seemed to be able to hold her own and keep her anger in tact. It wasn't too helpful, however, when Spencer had to give a statistic about the topic at hand. "Forty thousand images of child porn are posted every week on the internet, along with the appearance of twenty new children. The appetite for babies as young as four months old has soared. Many of these children have been kidnapped and sold into paedophile rings."
"And the probability that I shoot these perverts in the head has also soared." Valentina muttered as she opened up the case file in front of her, but she did get scolded by Hotch. "You're not shooting anyone."
"I'm not responsible for my actions." Valentina defended herself before Gideon actually got started with the relevant information. "One year ago, the same boy appeared on several websites used by paedophiles. He was a new face then. After a massive hunt led by our Crimes Against Children Unit, the boy disappeared. Until tonight when SSA Cole called us."
"Katie Cole? She was in the BAU, right?" Morgan wondered, having heard of this woman and her incredible work in the FBI. Gideon nodded his head as he elaborated, "One of the first profilers. Clinical psychologist. Brilliant. She runs the Crimes Against Children Unit in Maryland."
"I always wanted to meet her." Morgan informed just as the woman in question had walked into the conference room. "Really? I heard she's a bitch."
"Nobody ever called you that, Katie." Gideon reassured, to which she argued, "Well, not to my face."
Katie is part of the foundation of the BAU, she was an early agent. At that time, being a woman in the FBI was incredibly difficult, and unfortunately, it still is. Only because of her success and dedication, people have constantly insulted and ridiculed her. Men are threatened by a powerful woman.
"The first time I ever saw him, he appeared in a series of photos. I named him Peter. Now, he's being auctioned off when that clock runs to zero." Katie explained as she pulled up the live video feed of Peter sitting in a dark room by himself. There was a clock in the corner of the screen, the one Katie had referenced. Valentina had noticed something odd. "The unsub must be pretty confident that we won't be able to identify him in time since Peter's face isn't pixelated."
"What about the site itself? Can't we just track its origin?" JJ suggested, but Katie shook her head. "It's routed through a proxy server in Belarus. Even if that government was friendly, Peter'd be gone by the time we finished the paperwork."
"We don't need to worry about the paperwork, we have Garcia." JJ retorted, thankful they had someone so skilled with them. JJ had left the conference room so she could relay the information to Garcia as Hotch got them back on track, "So, what happened a year ago, Katie?"
"We cross-referenced the images of the boy, talked to known offenders nationwide. We narrowed down the location to the eastern United States. We had some suspects in, but the trail went cold. Until today." Katie explained before Morgan had to bring something unfortunate to light, "With all due respect, Ms. Cole, how is this time going to be any different?"
"We have a starting point. The location where the image was first discovered. A chat room hosted by an independent web company in Cleveland, Ohio. And this time, I'm bringing you all in with me."
Since Spencer and Valentina were going to go to the other part of the FBI, the Crimes Against Children Unit, they needed to get the car keys for the SUVs so they could actually get over there. On their way to the weapons room where the keys were also there, they had run into Elle, who had just walked out of the elevator. "If it isn't the two doctors."
"Hey, Elle. I like your hair." Valentina greeted, seeing as how Elle's hair was significantly shorter and she had bangs. She smiled. "Thanks. Reid, you got a haircut too? Looks good."
"Thanks. Val did it." Spencer motioned to his girlfriend, who smiled and shrugged her shoulders, quite proud of her work. Elle nodded her head, remembering a certain phone call she had received from Garcia. "Right, you two are dating."
"Yeah, four months now and he still won't let me read any of his books." Valentina complained, which earned a small laugh from Elle before Spencer reiterated this argument they've had multiple times. "I have a system in place that I don't want ruined. You will read my books over my dead body."
"Well, go lay down and die then so I can read your books."
"You guys are weird. Adorable, but weird." Elle complimented. Spencer has never really had anyone to share his intelligence with. Either no one could match his expertise, which Valentina really can't unless it has to do with biology and psychology, but she's an academic and constantly willing to learn. People always stopped listening to Spencer when he started talking, but Valentina always listened all the way through.
Spencer's books were a representation of his mind, of his feelings. He always talked about stories and statistics he'd read, so she wanted to understand them better, Valentina wanted to understand him. Spencer was constantly wary of her reading them since he'd have to trust her with the books, with his heart, but Valentina would take such good care and look after anything of his.
"Well, it's good that you two are finally together. I'm happy for you guys." Before Valentina or Spencer could actually thank her, Hotch, the drill sergeant had found Elle and immediately became concerned for her well-being. It's why a lot of them refer to him as the dad of the BAU. "I didn't think you were back until next week."
"Oh, I got a text message so-" Elle began, but Hotch cut her off instantly. "Then it was a mistake."
"Is there a case?"
"Not until you're healthy." Elle only sighed at Hotch's protective nature and sent him a deadpanned glare as she dramatised, "Yesterday I found myself looking forward to watching a soap opera."
"Which one?" Both Spencer and Valentina simultaneously and excitedly asked, hoping that they could start up a new conversation. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure, but they both really enjoyed soap operas and reality television.
"Please, can you put me back to work, Hotch?" Elle pleaded, desperate to do the job she's paid for and the one she loves, her passion. Hotch shook his head, still looking out for her best interests. "The doctor hasn't cleared you for the field, you need more time."
"I've been out for four months. What I need is to go back to work." Elle argued, still wanting to help people rather than rest. It made her feel useless. Hotch could see how determined and stubborn Elle was, so he wasn't going to win this fight. Although, he could still keep her safe. "We're going to Cleveland. Reid and Valentina are going to the Crimes Against Children Division. Go with them."
"But I can-"
"Or go home." Elle was trying to argue since she knew she could do more, but this was really the best she was going to get from Hotch. He always looked out for the team. Hotch knows that they all work far too much for their own good, whether it be JJ's stacks of paperwork, Morgan's constant physical work, Garcia handling the tech aspect completely alone, Gideon being far too invested in each case to the point where he takes them personally, Spencer's mental load, or Valentina being the psychological expert they can lean on. The entire BAU is filled with incredibly talented individuals who all bring their own positive characteristics to the table, but they far far too overworked and underappreciated in the criminal justice system. After all, many believe that profiling doesn't work.
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Spencer may not be a fan of driving, but he was anyway. On their way to the Crimes Against Children Unit, Valentina was in the passenger seat with the case file on her lap while Elle was in the back. Valentina was going over some new information they hadn't discussed in the conference room. "The image of Peter was uploaded to one of the CAC under-covers fishing in a chat room. I know that they basically monitor as many as possible so they can find more kids. The agents pretend to be children, paedophiles, whatever works on the site."
"Have they run forensic linguistics on the chat log? There might be something to Hugz's speech patterns." Elle suggested, she too having the case file in front of her, but she wasn't in the briefing, so wasn't as much up to speed with everything happening, which was why Valentina explained it to her. "No, it doesn't really work like that on the internet. Most of the talking is abbreviated text. So, LOL is laughing out loud. IMHO is in my humble opinion. FTF is face to face. Stuff like that."
"Right." Elle nodded her head, starting to get the hang of where this seemed to be headed and how this case worked.
Spencer proceeded to change the topic to something more practical, "Paedophiles can be divided into two categories. Situation and preferential. Situational offenders rarely seek out children, but they'll take advantage of a situation when presented with it. Where as preferential offenders actively target children by age group, hair colour. They'll seek out jobs which give them as much access to children as possible."
Valentina added on to his definition, "They often trawl around residential neighbourhoods. Hijacking home wireless systems, then communicating with children often outside of the very house the child is in. Or they'll simply use a coffee shop with wireless access to find, locate, and arrange a meeting. And it's growing. Growing as fast as the internet. These assholes are getting smarter and all the security in the world can't stop them from walking through our doors. Even with the internet, they're basically already in our homes."
"So if he's had this kid a year, it makes him preferential." Elle deducted from their definition, earning a nod from Valentina. "Definitely."
"So, then why is he selling Peter?" Elle wondered, but with Valentina's personal expertise in topics like this, she could guess why, "Maybe he's losing interest. Peter could be getting too old, too tall. Preferential offenders are incredibly specific about their preferences."
"And if he can't sell him?" Elle asked with caution and concern.
"He isn't going to just let him go..."
Upon the trio arriving at the Crimes Against Children Unit, they were met with one of the lower agents, who Katie had assigned to show them around and help them with this case since they were the expert in this field specifically. They all introduced each other, said their hellos, made their greetings, their warrants were approved, everything was hopefully going to be smooth sailing. They just needed to find this boy.
Amanda, the woman showing them around and helping out, had brought up the live video feed of Peter so that they could get a good look at the boy's surroundings once again. They wanted to see what kind of space Peter was being kept in, which might give them clues as to his specific location.
"It looks like the walls are padded." Elle had noticed, seeing the boy with almost nothing. The walls were padded, he had a food, bed, blanket, a toy. Seemingly everything he needed. Although, there was something odd that Valentina had noticed rather than something more simplistic. "And the dimensions are kind weird too. It looks like a hall, but smaller."
"A basement?" Spencer suggested, unsure of what his girlfriend meant. Apparently, she was too. Valentina shrugged her shoulders, unbeknown to where this boy could possibly be.
Amanda had just gotten off the phone with her supervisor, Katie, as she spoke up to the three agents. "Katie just got us access to the original chat room's database. It's coming through now."
The BAU team watched as multiple chat rooms showed up and one list of everyone who had made an action or spoken within it. It continued to scroll, seemingly forever, which made Spencer sigh out of disappointment and losing a bit of faith simultaneously, "There must be thousands of screen names there."
"And they're all encrypted." Amanda responded. However, Elle chose to see the positive side. "Yeah, but we're only concerned about one. Hugz."
Luckily enough, the other half of the BAU team was already on that. They had tracked Hugz's IP until they found an address. When they raided the house, they found just a teenage boy alone in the house on one of these sights. They believed that a parent or some other adult was forcing him to do this, but Hugz had set up his own live broadcast so he could make extra money. It was just a kid doing something incredibly stupid.
Spencer, Valentina, Elle, and Amanda were all still looking at this live video feed of Peter. They were so desperately trying to find one sliver of information, one tiny misplaced thing that could announce the location and they could save Peter. It was proving to be must more difficult than one might anticipate. "He's got food and water, a toilet and some toys. He never has to leave the room."
Thankfully, Elle's mindless observations that were more of a complaint she was bringing out to the group had sparked something in Spencer, which after set Valentina off. "That's it. It's not a room. A room has a door. Even a prison cell has a door."
"There are no windows so he can't be seen, while the walls are padded so he isn't heard." Valentina added on, seeing what direction Spencer was taking this, and Elle had started to catch on as well. "The unsub's anticipating becoming a suspect. So, he's hidden the boy."
"If there are no doors, how did he get the boy in the room?" Amanda wondered, to which Valentina gave an obvious answer, Amanda had simply missed it. "It's like a ship in a bottle. He built the room around Peter."
As Spencer moved off to sit at a desk on his own so he could control the footage and let his mind wander on his own, Elle had to voice what their next form of action should be, but there was more information to add on with it. "You said that he first appeared a year ago, right?"
"But he was in a normal room. The pictures didn't look like that. Here." Amanda informed as she handed some of the pictures to Elle and Valentina, Elle continuing her thought, "So, something changed. A stressor for him to lock him away."
"Hey, guys." Spencer suddenly called the three girls. Elle, Valentina, and Amanda walked over to the screen that Spencer was seeing. Valentina, asking, "What is it?"
"I'm not sure." Spencer showed them the video feed of the boy, but was zoomed in on Peter specifically so there was nothing in the background or at the side that was distracting them at all. Luckily, Elle had noticed something with this new view. "Wait. Do you see how he's looking off camera? Someone's telling him to do what he's doing. A bidder. He must want to see him wearing..."
Peter was getting changed into a rough looking shirt, something that had been word quite a lot. This was when Valentina jumped in since she recognized one of the badges on it. "Oh my god. I know that shirt, it's a Tadpoles shirt. It's like a wilderness group. Knot-tying, compass-wielding, outdoor stuff so boys aren't idiots in the real world."
"Are you sure?" Spencer wanted to clarify and make sure that she was certain, but Valentina had no doubt in her mind that she was right. "I have three brothers, Spence, they all had that shirt."
"Alright, let's call Garcia." They had gotten Garcia and JJ on the job of figuring out what camp that shirt was from specifically while also figuring what the numbers on the arm was. The shirt seemed very old, so everything was faded, not to mention the video feed not being of the highest quality. But Garcia always finds a way.
While Garcia and JJ were working hard to find this new information, which might give them some background on the unsub, Valentina had gotten a call from Hotch. That part of the team was working fast in terms of following their paper trail all the way to a suspect. Once she was off the phone, she caught Elle and Spencer's attention, "The rest are heading to Alexandria. They want us to look up an address Hotch gave me and tell them what's there."
Valentina quickly wrote it down on a sticky note for Amanda, who quickly looked it up. "It's right outside of an elementary school."
Elle immediately set off, ready to get to that location and break down any doors they might need to, but considering her healing state, Valentina was a little concerned, "Elle, where are you going?"
"We could be there in thirty minutes." Elle responded, but Spencer shared the same worry as his girlfriend, "But you're not allowed to go anywhere-"
"Don't even try it."
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Even though Spencer and Valentina protested it, Elle was set in her ways and went down to the crime scene. The couple was sort of dragged along, but they wanted to stay with Elle so that they could make sure she wouldn't get herself hurt. She was rushing through the crime scene and all the way to Hotch, "Hotch, you already got him?"
"I told you to stay out of the field." Hotch immediately scolded, knowing that Elle shouldn't even be at this crime scene. Elle did move the blame somewhere else. "Yeah, I know, but Valentina said you wanted us here."
"So one minute we're watching the Real Housewives together and the next you're stabbing me in the back? Okay, Elle. I'm not hurt." Valentina expressed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, but Hotch did comfort, "I'm sure you didn't make her come down here, Valentina."
"Thank you, Hotch." Valentina emphasized his name as she sent a pointed glare to Elle. She only glared back since Valentina wasn't helping her situation. Hotch did have something they could do now that they were here. "The school district has given us permission to search Rawlings' office, so you three can handle that."
Elle nodded for the three of them before she, Valentina, and Spencer all went into the school. There were staff and other children around in the halls seeing the FBI walking the premises and were understandably confused, but they couldn't say anything.
Elle, Spencer, and Valentina went into Mr. Rawlings' office, where they immediately started looking around. Valentina knew the specific places to look since she lived with two disgusting human beings such as this for four years. She checked under the desk at first as Spencer acknowledged, "Principal of a school. That's as much access to children as possible."
"Is it morally and professionally wrong to say I wanna poison this guy?" Valentina wondered as she moved to the other end of the room to check all the cabinets and drawers. Elle nodded her head as she took a book off the shelf. "It definitely is, but I think you've earned the right to feel that way. Huh. Growing Up Guide for Parents. He's got a library of child psychology."
"He's got a doctorate in it." Spencer pointed out a degree he saw on the wall, but that fact of this principal being so obsessive around kids only made her angry and sarcastic, "Isn't that great? A well-prepared paedophile. God, where the hell is it?"
Valentina had a complaint that trailed off near the end. Spencer looked over to her with furrowed eyebrows and a concerned expression. "What is it?"
"Can't find his computer." While Valentina had responded to her boyfriend, Elle found a picture of Mr. Rawlings with his wife and children. Although, the small comments he made did no one any good. "If this guy does have Peter, he's not keeping him at home. He's a family man."
Valentina had closed one of the drawers a little too harshly. Elle flinched at the loud noise, but Valentina's back was still to her. She looked to Spencer since she assumed he would know what was wrong. Spencer only motioned for her to leave it alone. Everyone on the team was aware of what Valentina had gone through, but she hadn't even been the most open about it with Spencer. Hotch was the one who knew most of what happened to her. Spencer was undoubtedly next in line. Spencer had seen first hand what Valentina was like when she had to relive this. The man who took her too was a family man; he had a wife, but no child. That's why he took Valentina.
"You sneaky douchebag." They suddenly heard Valentina mutter. They looked to the girl, who had crouched down on the ground and grabbed a knife out of her boot. She found a drawer that was locked shut, so she used her knife to pick the lock. Spencer was slightly concerned that she had this skill. "Did they teach you how to do that in FBI school?"
"No, um...a friend taught me." Valentina was lying, it wasn't a friend that taught her to pick locks.
Valentina got the drawer open and inside was his computer. She pulled it out and brought it over to his desk, which she sat at before she asked, "Can you guys find his most used book?"
"Why?" Elle asked as Spencer moved to do as he was asked. Valentina got the computer running, waiting for it to turn on as she explained, "That's where his flash drive will be."
"I seriously doubt that he'd put it somewhere so obvious, I mean-" Elle was cut off when she saw Spencer take a flash drive out of a hidden hole in the book. Valentina knew by her silence that Spencer found it, so she had to tease, "First you doubt my love for the Real Housewives and then you doubt my expertise on paedophiles. Did you forget I was a genius during your time off?"
"No, but I forgot how arrogant you are." Elle retorted, only earned a smile from Valentina. Just as Spencer put the flash drive down on the desk next to her, Morgan had come storming into the room. He had been sent in to help the three of them since he was getting far too angry with Mr. Rawlings, who was now just outside in the office. "Tell me we've got something we can nail this son of a bitch on."
"Not unless we can break the password on his computer." Spencer pointed out, to which Morgan figured there was an easy solution, "Call Garcia."
"That'll take too long." Elle argued as Valentina had stood up from the table and moved to the window to see Mr. Rawlings. Morgan's anger was what was driving him, so he looked to the person who always had the answers; Spencer. "Come on, genius. Do something genius-like."
"If this guy does have child pornography on his computer and we type in the wrong password, it could trigger a virus that wipes the entire hard drive." Spencer pointed out as Valentina had pulled the attention to the principal, who was talking to Hotch. "What's he saying out there?"
"He's a preferential paedophile who claims he's trying to save them." Morgan explained, knowing the answer since he had been out there, speaking with Mr. Rawlings. Valentina averted her gaze for a moment, her mind running and making connections. "Save them? Save them...So, Methevas backwards?"
Valentina quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen on the shelf next to her and wrote down the name backwards. She then tapped the window to get Mr. Rawlings' attention, which it did, so Valentina held the paper up. His face contorted to a look of panic immediately.
With this new information, Hotch, Katie, and Gideon forced Mr. Rawlings to go into his office where Valentina was now standing by his desk. Elle, Morgan, and Spencer all moved slightly away, letting Valentina handle this. With her anger and distaste towards cases like this, Valentina simply had to let her emotions take over.
As the principal walked in, Valentina pointed to the chair and ordered. "Sit down."
Very intimidated by being in a room filled with FBI agents, Mr. Rawlings, sat down immediately. Valentina then motioned to the computer, not even needing to say anything for the principal to put in his password. Valentina clicked her tongue as she put the flash drive into the computer. It took a few seconds, but files of child pornography showed up. Mr. Rawlings looked up at Valentina, who raised an eyebrow and had a pointed stare. That stare was as terrifying as a disappointed mother. He felt the need to defend himself immediately, "This is research. I'm writing a book."
Valentina crossed her arms in front of her chest, making him far more nervous, as Derek stepped out of the room to take a call from Garcia. Mr. Rawlings was still trembling with fear out of this woman hurting him or exposing him. "I-I swear to you, this is all just research."
"Alright, since you're lying to us, would you like to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Valentina gave him a choice, but she wasn't really. He did, however, ask the wrong question. "What's the hard way?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked." Valentina leaned her hand on the desk as the other was on the back of his chair, towering over to intimidate him; it was working like a charm. "The hard way is me digging so far into your past that i will know you better than you know yourself. I will charge you with every possible little crime from kidnapping to j-walking and put you in a prison cell. Now, do you know what happens to people like you in jail? They die. They die very painfully. Now, I will do you the courtesy of having my personal friends, friends who are serving multiple life sentences, protect you from anyone who may want to harm you just so that they can later kill you as painfully and slowly as possible because that's the fate you deserve. And if you think for a second that I, an FBI agent, is not willing to use her contacts in prison, think again. I want nothing more than for you to suffer for what you've done to these kids. Now...easy way or hard way?"
Mr. Rawlings' lip started quivering and his eyes were watering. Valentina scoffed at him. "Are you crying?"
Mr. Rawlings couldn't look her in the eye since he was completely terrified of Valentina, who was sick of his emotions. "If one more tear falls down your face..."
Mr. Rawlings quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes and took a deep breath as Valentina stood straighter once more, putting her hands on her hips. Mr. Rawlings offered, "I'd like to make a deal."
"No deals. You have absolutely no power here. The easy way is you stop crying like a goddamn child that you seem to be quite fond of and you tell us about Peter." Valentina ordered. Mr. Rawlings took a deep breath and looked up at Valentina, but immediately looked away out of fear. "I was contacted by the man who's holding him. I didn't search out this boy. I didn't go looking for this."
"Give me a name." Kate ordered, the woman seeming to be quite horrifyingly demanding. Mr. Rawlings responded, "Well, I only know the screen name. It's 'Manchild.'"
"Did you bid on Peter?" Gideon wondered. Mr. Rawlings' regretful look seemed even worse, clearly guilty. Valentina, who was doing everything in her power not to slap him, asked, "How much?"
"Eight thousand dollars. But it was only in order to save him?"
"Are you the highest bidder?" Katie asked, earning a nod from Mr. Rawlings. "I think so, yes. I was anyway. I'm supposed to go back online and contact him on his website and get the address."
"So you can inspect the merchandise?" Valentina spat bitterly, which made Mr. Rawlings nervously ramble, "Look, this child is being optioned off and I am trying to save him."
"This guy would have given you a code. What is it?" Valentina ordered. Mr. Rawlings only looked up at her with a desperate look in his eyes. "Please. I have a family. I have children of my own. I love children, I would never harm them."
"But you'll have sex with them?" Valentina challenged. Mr. Rawlings averted his gaze and looked to his computer, which Valentina moved closer to him as she demanded, "Code or death in prison. Your choice."
Mr. Rawlings let out a breath and closed his eyes. He knew that either way he was going to get arrested, but he hoped that there could be some sort of help that would be given to him. There wouldn't be, but he figured he'd try. "It's butterfly."
Valentina pushed the laptop to the other end of the desk where Katie took over since she was the expert here. Valentina very roughly forced Mr. Rawlings to stand up and wasn't gentle when she handcuffed him. Valentina had brought him out to the front of the school and into one of the police cars. There were dozens of reporters outside, news vans, broadcasting channels. This was a danger to the children in the school and Peter, so as she was trained, when all of the reporters tried to ask her questions as she walked back to the school, she only said 'no comment.'
When Valentina got back into the office, she found that something horrible had happened in the span of only a few moments since everyone seemed to be in a panic. "What's going on?"
"The feed went dark, the unsub knows we're onto him." Morgan informed, which Valentina had the answer to because of who she had seen. "He probably saw this on the news, there's like thirty reporters outside."
"Well, Garcia says that the shirt Val identified came from a unit in Mount Pleasant, which is only about sixty miles away, but there's only two hours left on the auction clock." Spencer informed, trying to find something positive in this situation so that they could at least hope to find Peter, but of course, with her experience, Valentina couldn't help but see the negatives. "The unsub could move the clock up if he knows we're onto him."
"You think this guy'll panic?" Gideon asked Katie, who knew this case better than anyone. "I don't know. Depends on his comfort level. It may be getting close to auction time, he can wait it out. I know one thing, I can't lose Peter again."
"Let's just hope JJ can buy us some time."
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
With hope of their new lead, Spencer, Valentina, Morgan, and Elle had all gone to the church that ran the Tadpole unit while Katie, Gideon, and Hotch went to the school Peter was likely to be registered to. The four younger agents had met with the Father, hoping he'd be able to recognize Peter. They had given him a picture, but they were really having no luck.
"I'm sorry, I really can't say that I recognize this boy." The Father informed as he sat down on a couch in his office, Elle sitting across from him, but the rest remained standing. The girl in question wanted to confirm, "But you're certain that this shirt came from this unit of the Tadpoles, right?"
"It disbanded six months ago. Before I took over the congregation." The Father informed, earning a confused glance from Derek, "Why?"
"I was told there wasn't enough interest. Only a few boys participated."
"Do you have the records of those who did participate?" Spencer wondered, to which the man shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't think so. But there may be a photo of the Tadpoles."
The Father got up from his seat and moved just into the hall, looking for the correct picture. It didn't take him long to come back with a framed picture that he handed to Valentina. "This may be what you're looking for."
Morgan, who peered over her back, recognized Peter immediately. "Yeah, that's him right there. Is there a name, address, anything?"
"As I said, there are no records left. The church was run pretty sloppily until I took over." The Father explained, but as he was, Valentina was making discoveries of her own. She had taken the back out of frame and took the picture. On the back of the actual photo were the names of the three boys in the picture, including Peter. "His real name's Charlie."
"I'll call Hotch."
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
The two halves of this team had found a meeting point in the middle where they could all speak freely and were in a neutral zone. Quite literally, they were standing in a neighbourhood on a random street, but it didn't matter to them. They were running out of time and in desperate need for information to exchange hands.
As soon as the BAU and Katie all stepped out of their cars, Hotch immediately gave the information he, Katie, and Gideon had found. "The name the school has for Peter is Charlie Sparks, but there's no Sparks in any of the phone directories."
"And Garcia can't even find a Sparks within a hundred miles for the last ten years." Gideon added on before Katie pointed out the obvious answer here, "It's probably not his real name anyway."
"The school said he may have moved away." Hotch spoke optimistically, but Valentina, as usual with these cases, was stressing. Since she didn't have one of her own, she took Spencer's hand in hers and lifted it to see his watch before informing, "Then we have to start all over. We don't have a lot of time left."
"You guys, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way." Spencer theorised. "The behaviour, it's odd, right? The unsub apparently listed this kid in school and the Tadpoles until about a year ago. At that point, he had pictures of him online in a regular looking room, but now, he's in a prison-like room with no windows, no doors. Completely hidden."
"Preferential paedophiles don't just change overnight. They're too perverted and stupid." Valentina insulted as she grabbed Spencer's hand to check his watch again. This ticking time bomb situation was making her anxiety so much worse since it was practically a countdown to this child's death.
"So, what happened a year ago to make him change his behaviour so much?" Hotch asked the obvious question in order to get everyone's mind working. Luckily, Gideon's never seems to take a break. "Fear. Katie, you almost caught him. You probably talked to him. The unsubs in your records."
"Oh shit." Valentina muttered as her hand moved over her mouth in shock. She had still been watching Spencer's watch, but that meant she watched the time run out. The time to save Peter was over.
"Oh my god, oh my god." Valentina panicked as she ran a hand though her hair. Valentina swore to herself that the main reason she wanted to become a profiler was because she wanted to help kids that were in the same situation she was in. So far, every case she's had involving abducted children, she's helped them. Valentina has done everything in her power to ensure that these children can live another day, but seeing the time run out was like a punch to the stomach.
Valentina knew exactly what had been going through this kid's head the past year because she's lived it. That constant fear that he could die any second. Any word, breath, small movement could set the unsub off enough to kill right then and there. Valentina vowed to save children like that, to ensure their safety, but it hit hard knowing she couldn't save Charlie.
"Look, I never really had a good suspect. I only did some general interviews with child offenders on the east coast." Katie rushed, trying not to think about the fact Charlie may be dead and holding out hope that they may still have a chance.
"Well, one of them was the right guy." Hotch pointed out as Katie quickly dialled Amanda, who was still at the FBI building and could help from there. "Amanda?...Hey, I need you to pull all the original files on Peter's case."
Valentina leaned her back against one of the cars as she held the key hanging around her neck on a chain in her fist, almost like she was hoping it would save her from her despair. Spencer leaned next to her on the other side and took her hand in his, interlocking their fingers. No one thought much of it, they knew how stressed Valentina was.
Morgan, who had called Garcia when they reached some new conclusions, had just joined with the group again to give them some new leads. "Alright, we might have something. Twelve men were interviewed, eight are back in prison, one is dead, one lives in California, and two have last known addresses within ten minutes of us. A Patrick Forest and a Michael Earlson."
"Patrick Forest isn't smart enough to have put this all together." Katie contradicted, having remembered interviewing these men, but there was still one more. "What about Michael Earlson?"
"Definitely." With that confirmation, the FBI agents all piled back into the cars. They had the address for Earlson sent to them so they could get over there as quickly as possible. With only a ten minute journey and two SUVs filled with determined agents willing to do whatever it takes to bring this man to justice, Earlson didn't stand a chance.
Because their destination wasn't far at all and the BAU seemed to have impeccable timing, upon arriving at Earlson's home, he was just backing out of the driveway. Hearing the sirens and seeing the SUVs, Earlson tried his luck on foot. He emerged from his vehicle and tried to run, but he didn't know how angry and impatient Valentina was with men like him. As he tried to run past the SUV Valentina was in, she quickly got out, grabbed the man, and threw him up against the car. She quickly cuffed Earlson and Morgan helped her get him into the car.
The BAU team was always in luck when they worked with experts such as Katie. She may have called for their help, but she wasn't a small town sheriff that either thinks they're far better at their job than they are or refuse to believe the BAU could help them. This team effort always made cases easier, but what really helped get them done, was when the team unleashed their anger. Valentina had the frustration, trauma, and skills to become a horrific criminal that would never see the inside of a jail cell, but like her and everyone else on the team, they decided to help people and make the world a better place.
•☽.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☾•
With the BAU home safe and sound, they were unable to find peace since they all still had mountains of paperwork. This case along with many others always left a lot of extra work and detailing that they had to go through, so even after their incredibly long days, the team still had to work in the office.
Valentina was peacefully working at her desk with Spencer across from her, but Morgan felt the compulsive need to bug her; so it was business as usual. "So, Tina. We wanna address the elephant in the room?"
"Is this about your facial hair?" Valentina wondered, halting her writing to look over at Morgan, who wore a slightly offended expression. "...No...What's wrong with my facial hair?"
"...Nothing." Valentina lied through her teeth, earning a suspicious glare from Morgan. Spencer, who really had no choice because of his proximity and interest to be involved in this conversation, did catch on to what Morgan was referring to, so he elaborated fro Valentina, "He's talking about your prison connections."
"Yeah, you just know a prison gang?"
Valentina nodded her head. "I dated the leader for three years."
This was when Spencer's head shot up. He looked to his girlfriend, who seemed completely unbothered by the fact she just revealed this massive part of her life he had never heard of before, and that pertains to him. Spencer was genuinely quite shocked. "You dated a person who's doing life in prison?"
"Yeah. We only broke up 'cause he killed every man who ever spoke to me in a bar, a colleague of mine at university, basically anyone that flirted with me." Valentina explained. She had gotten over this guy quite a long time ago, so speaking about him was like nothing to her. He was but a mere memory in the back of her mind.
"Seems obsessive." Morgan pointed out, Valentina nodding in agreement. "Very."
"Just out of curiosity and not concern or fear, w-who is this guy?" Spencer asked, desperately needing more information. He knew that he was up against Lance, a tall, British, strong, and handsome FBI agent, who was a genuinely incredible and decent person, but Spencer was unaware he was up against a lunatic as well.
Instead of explaining the full backstory, Valentina quickly pulled up the police file on her computer and moved the screen so that the two boys could see the mug shot. "Gentlemen, meet Alessandro Giovanni. He's serving three life sentences for murder. How fun."
"Do you have any other exes I don't know about?" Spencer asked with deep concern laced in his tone, but luckily, she shook her head. "Nope. Just Alessandro and Lance."
Spencer nodded his head as his eyes remained focused on the desk in front of him. He was not hiding his concern and intimidated state very well in the slightest. Valentina could see how uncomfortable he was, which concerned her too. "Spence?"
"I feel fine. I feel great." Spencer lied to himself, but this was only met with a small laugh from Morgan. "Tina, I think you broke him."
Spencer has known since the moment Valentina stepped onto the jet for the first time that she was the most beautiful woman that has, does, and ever will exist. Every imperfection and lovely thing about her created the most intricate and unique human being that Spencer could spend a million lifetimes with. He wasn't shocked to find out an angel such as Valentina was dating someone as incredible as Lance, but he never expected a convict to be in the mix as well.
Spencer isn't the strongest, most fit, amazing man in the world, but Valentina still cared for him deeply. Spencer felt threatened by Lance and any other attractive guy that looks at Valentina a little too long or flirts with her while Spencer is right there. He would never blame her for the attention she gets, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt his heart. Spencer would always know in the back of his mind that Valentina was out of his league. It was what made him doubt this relationship at times.
Spencer and Valentina had been carpooling a lot since they live decently close and they spend a lot of time at each other's apartment. The two were walking to Spencer's car, but for the entirety of their return from the case and this walk, Valentina could see that there was something picking at Spencer's mind. "Spence, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Valentina speaks 'Spencer.' She knew that that wasn't true. "There's something on your mind."
"Val, seriously, I'm okay." Spencer insisted as they finally reached the car. The stopped next to it and Spencer never got in since Valentina rested her hands on his shoulder, using one of her thumbs to lightly stroke his neck as she insisted, "Spencer."
Spencer let out a breath and averted his gaze a moment before he looked to his girlfriend with pain in his eyes. "Three years, Val? You dated this guy for three years? How could you not tell me that?"
"I know, I know. I should've, I'm sorry. It's just...I'm not proud of a lot of things in my life and Alessandro is one of them. It was a rough time for me. I was still trying to cope with the abduction and I was getting into behavioural analysis more, which took over my whole life, while Alessandro had abusive parents. He got the French looks and accent from his father, but the Italian name and language from his mother, which created a lot of cultural friction and I just...I was the only one that treated him like a person and not a cultural trophy. I was all he had. Alessandro just got jealous easily and hurt people because of it. I didn't know that, obviously, but I was also in love with him."
"You were in love?" Spencer asked with disbelief. Valentina nodded her head, but this didn't help his insecurities. Spencer was hurt that someone so horrible that would be serving three life sentences could have such a hold on his girlfriend that he didn't yet have. "Do you...you know...do you ever...miss it?"
"No. Never. Not for a second because I have you." Spencer let out a breath and looked to the side, not quite believing her, but Valentina cupped his jaw so he'd glance back to her. "Spencer Reid, you are one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. You are so beautiful, and charming, and perfect, I wouldn't give you up for the world. I promise you when I say that this is the happiest I have been in such a long time. It's relieving, and you're the reason."
Spencer couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his lips. He planted a small kiss to her forehead to show his affection, affection he never believed anyone could feel for him, but Valentina was always one to defy odds and also taunt him at any given second. "I know you're not a sports guy, but your aim can't be that bad."
Spencer let out a small laugh before he lightly kissed her lips, Valentina now being the one to smile.
Just then, Spencer had opened his bag and pulled out something that meant quite a lot to him. He held out a 1912 edition of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas for her to take, but Valentina knew what this book was to him. This was one of his most prized books, nay, possessions. Spencer wouldn't even let her read his regular books let alone this one. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, Val."
"But that's your favourite book, you bring it with you everywhere." Valentina argued as if Spencer didn't know this. Never would he have shared something that meant too much to him, but he was willing to do anything for this girl. "I know, Val."
Very hesitantly, Valentina took the book from Spencer, who was only smiling down at her. "I trust you."
❝ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. ❞
- 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓
❘ ❙ ❚ ❚ ❙ ❘
NOW INTRODUCING...
•✿.⭒✻❙ 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐎 𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈 ❙✻⭒.✿•
❝ 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. ❞
timothée chalamet