Bedelia stands on the edge of the track, watching Penelope and Spencer slowly run up. She's holding Theodora, the baby's head resting on her mom's shoulder. Penelope gets there first, Spencer trailing behind a few moments later.
"Yay, daddy!" Bedelia cheers in a light voice, gently bouncing Theodora a bit as Spencer passes them. Theodora babbles.
"8:49." Penelope says. "Good God, that's not even close." She pants. "Why does it have to be such a fast mile? Have you ever even had to run a mile in the field?"
"No." Spencer says, breathing heavily, groaning. His hands are on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. Bedelia smiles in amusement at the lack of athleticism -- and lack of knowing they can waive the fit test.
"I'm not even in the field." Penelope says, stretching. "I sit at a computer on my perfect posterior, like, all day."
"Maybe we should ask Morgan for help." Spencer pants.
"No." Penelope immediately shoots down.
"But he has really good abs." Spencer says.
"Yes, he does." Penelope agrees. "But it's bad enough some bureaucrat is making us take this stupid test. The last thing we need is Mr. Universe talking smack the whole time."
"But he knows about all this stuff. He can probably, like." Spencer pants. "Teach us some tricks, help us train." He stretches, losing his balance after a moment.
"Yes, but he takes it way too seriously." Penelope says. "I worked out with him once."
"You work out? That's cool." Spencer says.
"Yeah." Penelope says.
"I don't." Spencer says and Bedelia quietly laughs.
"In a non-traditional manner and never again with him." Penelope says. "He was all, "There you go, baby girl. Move it or lose it. This ain't your high tech room. My grandmama can move better than that."" She mocks.
"He can be enthusiastic at times." Spencer says, still breathing heavily.
"That's a way of saying it." Penelope says. "But, no, me and you, we can do this." She starts to jog in place. "Me and you, we got it. A couple more laps."
"We got this. We got it." Spencer says, both jogging in place.
"Okay? Here we go." Penelope says. "1!"
"1."
"2!"
"2. Let's do it."
Penelope's phone beeps and she stops jogging to look at it. "Hallelujah." She shows Spencer the phone.
"What? We have a case?" He asks.
"Yep." She nods.
"Thank God." He breathes heavily.
"Race you to the bleachers." Penelope starts to run to the bleachers. "We don't need him!"
"Spence?" Bedelia asks, actually starting to get a little concerned.
"I'm just gonna have a heart attack really quick." Spencer pants.
"You okay, baby?" Bedelia asks.
"Okay." He wheezes. "All right."
"Come on." Penelope calls.
Theodora whines, reaching an arm out for her dad.
"Oh, baby, he's all sweaty." Bedelia says.
"I can't hold her." Spencer says, still panting. "I will most definitely drop her. Do not give her to me."
"Understood." Bedelia says, getting her phone out to call Eliza.
Spencer jogs off.
"Your daddy is not cut out for this kinda stuff, my little love." Bedelia tells her daughter.
+++
"I had an active evening with Sam." Bedelia hears Penelope tell Derek as the two walk into the room. "I'm ready, sir." She tells Hotch.
"All right, let's get started." Hotch says.
"Okay, great." Penelope sits down. Bedelia hides her smile when Penelope takes a deep breath now that she's sitting down. "Okay. So, this morning, a Wisconsin park ranger discovered 3 partially buried bodies in a forest preserve just outside Milwaukee."
"Two male and one female. Well, he doesn't appear to have a gender preference." Blake says.
"Decomposed. They weren't all killed at the same time." Rossi says.
"And that is why I call you Eagle Eye." Penelope tells him. "Preliminary M.E. reports they'd each been killed about a month apart. The most recent victim, Susan Clark, has been dead approximately two weeks."
"28 year old exotic dancer and prostitute." JJ says.
"High risk lifestyle. What about the other two?" Blake asks.
"I haven't ID'd them yet." Penelope says.
"Cause of death?" Blake asks.
"Still working on that, too." She says.
"Looks like they were all covered in bite marks." Derek says.
"From the unsub?" JJ asks.
"Probably from critters out in the woods." Rossi says.
"He murdered them months apart but buried them all in the exact same spot." Spencer says. "The disposal site's obviously important to him."
"Susan Clark was reported missing six weeks ago." Hotch says. "There were long term ligature marks on her wrists and ankles."
"He holds them captive before he kills them." Rossi says.
"But what exactly is he holding them for?" Blake asks.
"That's what we need to find out. Wheels up in 30." Hotch says.
+++
"My friends in an airplane, don't say I'm not a giver." Penelope says. "I have ID'd the first two victims. Coming to your tablets now. First up, Milwaukee resident Melvin Lewis, 50 year old divorce and truck driver. Next we have Rudy Hightower, a 32 year old homeless Iraq war veteran."
"Two Caucasians and an African-American. This guy doesn't have a racial preference either." Derek says.
"There's still no connection between the victims." Bedelia says.
"Maybe there is no connection. They could be targets of opportunity." Rossi says.
"And that means it's not about who he kills, it's about how he kills them." Spencer says.
"Or what he does before or after he kills them." Blake says.
"Garcia, they determine a cause of death yet?" Hotch asks.
"Negative." She says.
"Each one of them was single and lived alone. Maybe he keyed in on that knowing that they wouldn't be reported missing." Derek says.
"Well, he'd have to stalk them long enough to know that." JJ says.
"Dave, you and Reid go to the coroner's office, Blake and I will coordinate with local P.D., and, JJ, I want you, Davis, and Morgan at the disposal site."
+++
"It took us almost two hours to get out here." Derek says.
"That's with you driving, too." JJ teases making the other two laugh.
"We passed another forest preserve and a whole lot of space on the way." Derek says.
"There's plenty of spots to dispose of bodies, so why put all 3 right here?" JJ questions.
"Well, it's isolated." Bedelia comments. "That's good for him."
"Yeah, he may come out here to relieve his handiwork." JJ says.
"Well, there's no evidence to suggest that he killed the victims here." Derek says.
"So he does his thing someplace else and this is just the disposal site?" JJ asks.
"Well, he obviously has a vehicle, most likely a truck or a van." Derek says.
"That's risky for him. Transporting the bodies all that distance." Bedelia says. "More chances for him to get caught."
"And it's a lot of work, too. You can't drive to this spot. It's gotta be, what, 300 yards from here to the road." Derek says.
"You know, we could be close to where he's keeping them hostage." JJ says.
"Either that or it's something about this place. But what?" Derek questions.
"Well, if it is about the location, at least maybe we disrupted him." JJ says. "Now he can't come back here."
"Well, hopefully we can get to him before he tries to." Derek says.
+++
Spencer glances around, making sure nobody -- especially Derek -- is around before he starts stretching. He's only doing it for a few moments before he hears giggling. He startles, whipping around to find Bedelia.
"You good?" She asks with an amused grin.
"What? Yeah. I'm fine." He says.
"What hurts?" She asks.
"Everything." He groans and she quietly laughs. He continues to stretch.
"Oh, my poor baby." She pouts.
"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated." Spencer says.
"I'm sorry, honey. We can get some ice from the hotel tonight. That should help a bit." Bedelia says. "I'll give you a massage, too."
"Oh, I love you." Spencer whispers.
"I know." Bedelia grins.
"What's with you?" Derek asks making Spencer quickly stop stretching. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm great. I'm just doing some stretching because it helps me keep my brain limber." Spencer says. Bedelia hides her amused smirk. "I've also been doing some geo-profiling. The red markers indicate where the victims lived, except, of course, Rudy Hightower, who was homeless. The blue markers indicate where they were last seen alive. And this is the disposal site."
"So that's his hunting zone." Derek says.
"Which means he probably lives close by." Hotch says.
"Okay, so something's not adding up for me here." JJ says, walking over, her hands full of four coffees. "Here you go." She lets Derek take one of the coffees.
"Thanks." He says.
Bedelia quickly takes two, giving one to Spencer.
"If we are dealing with a cannibal, why does he dispose of the bodies? Why not keep them?" JJ asks.
"It's not easy to keep a body fresh." Derek says. "Maybe he doesn't have the resources."
"Maybe he doesn't require large portions of flesh to satiate his urges." Spencer says. "Most ritual cannibalism involves the consumption of particular organs as a means to commune with the deceased."
"But none of the victims were missing any organs." JJ says.
"Which means it's probably not about the ritual but about the compulsion." Hotch says.
"I don't know. He grabs them, he holds them captive, and then he buries them all in the exact same spot." Derek says.
"And how do we explain the first victim, Melvin Lewis?" Spencer asks. "He didn't have any human bite marks."
+++
"What you got, sweetness?" Derek asks.
"Mama's hands are dirty 'cause she's been digging." Penelope says. "I got the 411 on our first victim, Melvin Lewis. Originally from the Malibu of the Midwest, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Melvin moved to Milwaukee 12 years ago when wifey ran away with his best friend."
"Ouch." Rossi comments.
"Yeah. Luckily they had no kids. No criminal record. Like super squeaky clean." Penelope says. "Not even a parking ticket. He joined Facebook a year ago. He has a whopping 6 friends, all from work."
"He drives a truck, right?" Derek asks.
"Yeah. A milk truck, to be exact." Penelope says. "But only did that for a month. Before, he worked for 10 years at an animal control center, but he was laid off due to budget cuts."
"What exactly did he do, Garcia?" Spencer asks.
"He was a dogcatcher. But like a SWAT team of dogcatchers. He specialized in dangerous and trapped animals, including but not limited to skunks, a raccoon, and one time a giant python."
"All right, thanks, babe." Derek hangs up.
"That could be it." Spencer says.
"What, the python?" Rossi asks.
"No, bite marks. Of course." Spencer says. "That could be how he was doing it. That's why it was undetectable. Brain tissue, we need to look at brain tissue--"
"Okay, Reid." Derek says.
"Sorry. I don't think this is a biting fetish or cannibalism. I think it's a virus, and the biting is merely a means of transmission." Spencer says.
"What kind of virus?" Derek asks.
"There are several possibilities. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, tick-bourne encephalitis, but the most likely culprit is rabies, and that wouldn't show up in an autopsy except in brain tissue." Spencer says.
"So since Lewis was the only victim not bitten by a human, the unsub must have used an animal to infect him first." Rossi says.
"And after that, he somehow facilitated human to human transmission." Spencer says.
"That would explain the random victimology." Derek says. "It doesn't matter who he infects. All he needs is a host."
"Which also means the holding period isn't about torture, it's about incubation." Spencer says.
"I was attacked by a rabid fox once." Rossi says. Bedelia's eyebrows raise. Rossi sees Spencer making the same expression as her. "Shot the thing 3 times before it went down. Fucking terrifying. It was like a horror movie."
"Yikes." Spencer says. "We need to have the M.E. test for rabies vectors in the brain samples."
"And then we need to deliver the profile." Derek says.
+++
"Chris Blythewood, 21 year old college student, and Liz Foley, 42 year old stay at home mom." Derek says. "The only two people reported missing for the last month within a 10 mile radius of the hunting zone."
"Pretty good chance the unsub's holding at least one of them." Rossi says. Bedelia looks up when JJ walks up.
"So I went through the list of vet offices and animal control employees, and nada. Everybody's clean." JJ says, sitting down.
"Guys, I've been doing some math. Based on the estimated time of death and when the victims were last seen alive, it appears as though the first victim, Melvin Lewis, was held for a couple of months. The second victim, Rudy Hightower, for one month, the third victim, Susan Clark, for only a couple of weeks."
"So why is he taking progressively less time with these victims?" Derek asks.
"He's getting more efficient?" Hotch guesses.
"He may have found a way to shorten the incubation period." Spencer says.
"And how would he do that?" JJ asks.
"Rabies attacks the nervous system. It travels a few millimeters a day until it reaches the brain. But if you were to infect the area around the head or the neck, the distance would be shortened. He may be some kind of symphoraphiliac."
"And instead of setting a fire or causing an accident and watching the ensuing mayhem, he just wants to watch them die." Hotch says.
"A rabies death is apparently quite the spectacle. There are convulsions, spasms, then the madness sets in, along with uncontrollable salvation, which accounts for the foaming at the mouth we all associate with the disease."
"That sounds terrible." JJ says.
"It is." Spencer says. "And one of the cruelest ironies of all is the extreme dehydration caused by hydrophobia. Victims have a visceral fear response to liquid of any sort. Add to that confusion, hallucinations, and you can probably imagine the horror."
+++
"Give it to me, dollface." Derek says.
"Do you know that over 50,000 people die of rabies every year in third-world countries?" Penelope asks. "Thank God for monsieur Pasteur, otherwise we'd all be dead. Okay, so I looked into every known case of rabies exposure in the country over the last 20 years."
"Did you find anything?" Derek asks.
"Cool your jets, hot chocolate. I will let you know if I've got something." Penelope says. "So I've got something. 15 years ago, in a town called Two Rivers, Wisconsin, a 9 year old, Hunter Cunningham, was admitted to the hospital with severe flu like symptoms. Symptoms get worse, he develops hydrophobia. Turns out that 3 weeks prior, he was bitten by a bat when he was out camping with his family."
"Two Rivers is less than a 2 hour drive from here, and it's even closer to the disposal site." Spencer says.
"A bat? That's odd." JJ says.
"Actually, bats make up 12% of Wisconsin's mammalian population, and they're responsible for the majority of the infections in the U.S." Spencer informs.
"Baby girl, what's so special about this Hunter Cunningham kid?" Derek asks.
"Here's what's special. A week after he was admitted to the hospital, he checked out of the hospital. But I can't find a death certificate. It's like he disappeared." Penelope says.
"What about his family?" Derek asks.
"Uh, his father, Patrick, died 6 years ago of a massive heart attack. And mom, Wanda, works as a bartender at the Tropicana Hotel in Vegas."
"Any siblings?" Bedelia asks.
"Yes, affirmative. One older brother, David Wade Cunningham, 28 year old resident of Milwaukee."
"And what's his deal?" Derek asks.
"His deal is... ay, chihuahua. He works at Nassee Pest Control, which specialized in dangerous animal removal, and you don't even have to ask me, home and work address sent -- bam!"
+++
The four get to David's apartment and go in, searching it.
"It's clear here." Derek says.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear."
"He's not here." Spencer says as he and the two women walk back into the first room.
"I think it's safe to say this guy's single and not in a relationship." JJ says.
"Guys, look at this." Spencer says. He grabs a book and shows it to them, it being a book about rabies.
"I don't know, you think we got the right guy?" Derek remarks.
+++
It's day time and they're still at David's place, going through everything with some cops also there.
"Hey, look what we found." JJ says as she and Bedelia walk over to Derek and Spencer. JJ opens the box in her hands. "It was hidden really well in his closet. He did not want anyone finding it and I think I know why."
JJ grabs the tape recorder and plays it.
"Please! Let me go!" A boy cries out. "I feel sick. I really gotta go to the bathroom! I gotta go!" Bedelia frowns as she listens, her heart breaking for the kid.
"Hunter, look at me. Buddy, it's gonna be okay." A man in the recording says. "David, what are you doing here? Get out of here! Turn that damn thing off."
"1999 -- that was the year his brother, Hunter, got rabies." Derek says.
"By the time they got him to the hospital, there was nothing the doctors could do." Spencer says. "It's possible the parents brought him home to die instead."
"And then his big brother David recorded the whole thing." JJ says.
"He was 12 at the time. That's an impressionable age for a single event imprint." Derek says.
"It clearly unlocked some sort of psychopathic fascination that he's still trying to satisfy." Spencer says as he looks through the photos of a sick Hunter.
"I can't imagine watching my own son die, let alone from rabies." JJ says.
"Just thinking of it makes me wanna vomit." Bedelia mutters.
"It almost makes you consider euthanasia." Spencer says. The three look at him. Bedelia frowns at him. "I'm not saying I would advocate euthanizing Henry or anything. And I'm definitely not advocating it for Theodora. I'm just--"
"No, Spence, that's it." JJ says. "That's why Garcia couldn't find a death certificate for Hunter Cunningham."
"Because his parents must have done it. They couldn't bear to watch, so they put him out of his misery." Derek says.
+++
"I'm gonna circle around the block." Derek says.
"Wait. There." JJ says.
"I think that's Liz Foley from the missing persons report." Spencer says.
Derek turns the sirens on and quickly parks next to the park. They get out and chase after her as people at the park scream and try to get away.
"There's too many people." JJ says.
"Move everybody out while I get her attention." Derek says.
"FBI! Come on. We need to clear everyone out. Let's go! Let's go." JJ calls. She and Bedelia stay near the entrance to the park while making sure everybody runs out.
"Liz Foley! I need you to stop right there." Derek calls out. She starts to walk over to them. "Ma'am, I need you to stay back." He says taking his gun out.
"You don't tell me what to do, I tell you what to do!" She screams.
The last people get out of the park, Bedelia and JJ staying where they are.
"Ma'am, I said stop now! You need to listen to me. Stop right now!"
"I tell you--" She grunts as Derek shoots her in the leg and she falls to the ground. She grunts and wails in pain.
~ ~ ~
"Her family's been notified." Spencer says. "They're gonna meet her at the hospital."
"There's nothing they can do for her, huh?" Derek asks.
"Comfort measures, but that's about it." Spencer says. Bedelia winces before following the two over to where the rest of the team is.
"We can't be far from where he's holding them hostage. She was on foot." Rossi says.
"But in her state, how in God's name did she escape?" Blake asks.
"Reid, where are we in relation to his hunting ground?" Hotch asks.
"Right in the middle of it." He says.
"At your service, sir." Penelope says.
"Garcia, we're trying to figure out what kind of building or property the unsub might be using. What do you see in a 5 mile radius of our current position?" Hotch asks.
"A lot of stuff. What am I looking for?" She asks.
"Anything relatively isolated or industrial." Rossi says.
"Uh, it's mostly residential, single family homes, apartment buildings, stuff like that." Penelope says.
"What about abandoned properties?" Hotch asks.
"Not per se, but people don't usually give notice when they do that." Penelope says. "Let me see if there's any condemned. No, nothing."
"What about properties for sale?" Derek asks.
"Let's see. 1, 2, 6 homes for sale." Penelope says. "All of them occupied. An apartment building for sale, also occupied. It looks like the city is selling some land."
"What's there?" Rossi asks.
"Uh, hold yourself. It is a... hello. It's an animal shelter, but it's shut down due to budget cuts." Penelope says.
"That could be it, Garcia. Send the address." Derek tells her.
"Done and done. Please be careful." She tells them.
+++
They're outside of the shut down shelter.
"All right." Derek hangs his phone up. "SWAT's still five minutes out."
"All right, we can't wait. We'll go in in two groups." Hotch says. "We'll go in this door, you guys take the west door down the alley. Let's go."
Derek, Spencer, Bedelia, and JJ go into the alley and get in through the door there. They walk through the place, getting to a room where there's a few cages, a man standing outside of them, and there's a man in one of them.
"David Wade Cunningham, FBI!" Derek shouts. David takes off running. Derek takes a couple shots, but doesn't get him. "JJ, B, you got him?" He asks as he runs after David, Spencer following.
"Go!" Both women yell.
"Wait, okay. Please help me, please, please." The guy begs as the two step into the cage.
+++
They caught David and are at the hospital since both Derek and Spencer needed to be checked up on, the medics having come and gotten the guy.
"Thanks, man." Derek tells the nurse behind the desk. "Pretty boy. I hope they didn't mess up that face too bad. You know that's your best asset." Bedelia giggles.
"Well, that the public has access to." Bedelia whispers, winking at Spencer. His cheeks heat up, Bedelia grinning as he becomes the same shade of a tomato.
"Luckily just some superficial nicks and bruises." Spencer says, ignoring how his cheeks warm up at Madelyn's words. Derek doesn't ignore it, smirking at the genius. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, I just got a couple burns, but I'll be all right." Derek says.
"Found another body at the disposal site." JJ says, walking over.
"Hunter Cunningham?" Spencer asks.
"Well, we're still awaiting DNA confirmation, but they're the skeletal remains of a 9 year old boy, so..." JJ says.
"It's gotta be him." Derek says.
"You guys ready to get out of here?" JJ asks.
"Yes, please. I can't stand hospitals. It's something about the lighting." Spencer says.
"Who's Rossi talking to?" Derek asks.
"The Foley family." JJ says. They watch the father hug his and Liz's two daughters. "She slipped into a coma."
"It won't be long now." Spencer says.
"Excuse me, agents?" They turn to a nurse pushing a wheelchair that the guy they saved is sitting in. "Um, the doctors, they said that I'm gonna be okay. And I... I just-- I don't know how to thank you guys."
"No, there's no need." Derek shakes his head.
"Just get better." JJ tells him.
"Okay." He says. He shakes JJ, Derek, and Bedelia's hands and waves at Spencer who waves back. The nurse pushes him away.
JJ and Derek walk away.
"I'm joking about your best asset... kind of." Bedelia says. "Your best is your entire personality... and your eyes. Your smile, your hands, your hair, your--"
"My everything?" Spencer sums up for her.
"Yeah." Bedelia nods and smiles.
"I don't think anything can be the best, then, if everything's great." Spencer says.
"You get what I mean." Bedelia says, rolling her eyes, and Spencer smiles.
"Thank you." Spencer says, kissing her forehead. "Your best asset is your everything, too." Bedelia smiles.
+++
Bedelia sits on the bench while Spencer and Penelope stretch. Theodora is sleeping in her car seat, the hood covering her from the sun.
"You think they'll really terminate us if we can't run fast enough?" Spencer asks.
"Probably something worse. They'll probably make us take another fit test." Penelope says.
"I think I'd rather be terminated." Spencer says making Bedelia softly laugh.
"I just hope the P.T. instructor isn't a jerk." Penelope says. "Those jock guys are always such jerks."
"Yeah. Total jerks." Spencer agrees. "That's probably him right now." Bedelia looks over at the guy wearing dark clothes with the hood up and head down. She smirks, knowing it's Derek.
"Oh, loo. He's totally walking like a jerk." Penelope loudly whispers.
"Yeah, it's a total jerk walk." Spencer agrees.
"Total jerk walk."
"Wait a minute. Wait, I think that's Morgan." Derek walks up to them. "Yeah."
"Oh, my God, it is." Penelope says.
"What's up, jerk?" Bedelia greets.
"Davis!" Penelope hisses.
"What?" Bedelia innocently asks.
"Why are you here?" Penelope asks Derek.
"It looks like I'm your new P.T. instructor. Watkins got sick, so today's your lucky day. I'm your guy." Derek grins, letting out a small chuckle.
"Awesome. That's awesome." Penelope says, not seeming very enthused. Derek takes the hood of his jacket off.
"Guys, guys, come on. Seriously, you should have just said something. This whole fit test ting is just a formality. I could've got the whole thing waived." Derek says.
Spencer gives Penelope a look of disbelief.
"Yeah, you-- wh-- wait, you guys didn't know that?" Bedelia asks.
"You--" Spencer gives her a look of utter betrayal.
Bedelia sweetly smiles, blowing him a kiss.
"But since you didn't, you ready to do this?" Derek asks.
"Yeah, let's do this!" Penelope says, getting up and Spencer gets up, too. "Whoo!"
"Whoo!" Spencer yells out, the two jogging onto the track.
"Uh, hey, hey, hey." Derek calls making them turn to him. "Happy-go-luckys, where are you going?"
"To run the mile." Penelope says.
"No, no, no You didn't hear? The fit test is more than just a mile." Derek says. "Get your little butts back over here." Derek laughs.
Bedelia smirks at Derek, the two sharing an amused look at the physical torture the two nerds will have to unnecessarily endure.
~ ~ ~
They're doing push ups -- or at least attempting to -- and Derek is on his hands and knees in front of Penelope.
"Come on, let's go. All the way down, all the way up." He encourages.
~ ~ ~
"Come on, Reid! My grandmama can do way better than that." Derek says. Bedelia giggles.
~ ~ ~
"This is not your high tech room." Derek says as Penelope does pull ups. She barely gets her chin above the bar.
When Spencer goes, he can't even get the top of his head above the bar.
~ ~ ~
The two are now jump roping.
"On your toes, right on your toes! There you go, baby girl, that's sweet."
~ ~ ~
The two are running up and down the bleachers. Bedelia quietly laughs at Spencer's run, finding it slightly adorable. She's holding Theodora, the girl watching.
"Go, girl, you know it." Derek tells Penelope. "Turn around, right back down."
"Yay! Go, daddy!" Bedelia waves Theodora's arm around, the girl giggling. "Go, daddy! Go, Aunt Penny!"
~ ~ ~
Spencer and Penelope fall onto the grass, practically gasping for air.
"Hey, hey, hey." Derek walks over. Bedelia gets up and stands next to him. "What are we doin'? What's all this huffin' and puffin'? Come on, we still got a 2 mile run to go. Let's go!"
"Two miles?" Penelope asks.
"It's supposed to be one mile." Spencer says.
"No, no, no. Not on my watch." Derek says. "This whole fit test is altogether different. Now suck it up."
"Oh, my God." Penelope groans, falling onto her back.
"Let's go!" Derek calls. Derek and Bedelia share a look, laughing. "All right, all right, all right." Derek laughs. "Enough is enough. I guess I gotta let the cat out of the bag. I kind of already had your fit test waived."
"What?" Spencer asks as Bedelia quietly laughs.
"Yeah. Baby girl, think about it." Derek says. Penelope slowly sits up, Bedelia able to feel the blonde's glare behind her sunglasses. "You're not even in the field. And Pretty Ricky, you already got enough case hours to qualify. This was just a good time for me and B."
Bedelia laughs, high fiving Derek.
"Bedelia." Spencer glares back at her. "You knew?"
"I... maybe." She shrugs. "Don't worry, if you actually did go into cardiac arrest, I woulda stopped it. But you didn't, so..." She grins.
"I'm gonna kill them." Penelope states, still breathing heavily.
"If I can manage to lift my arms, I'll hold them down." Spencer says.
"I'm regaining my strength." Penelope says, slowly starting to get up.
"I told you you should have said something." Derek grins. "I said-- hey-- uh, hey--" he stammers as Penelope gets up, charging in his direction as Spencer starts to get up.
"You're gettin' it now!" Penelope threatens.
"Oh, oh!" Derek runs away from her, dodging her.
Spencer slowly gets to his feet, reaching out for Bedelia.
"I'm so sorry, baby." Bedelia says.
"No, you're not." Spencer argues. "It's good Theo's asleep. She won't witness daddy attacking mommy." He reaches out for her, Bedelia dodging his grasp. She laughs as she easily outruns him.
Spencer soon manages to grab her making her shriek, wrapping his arms around her abdomen.
"No, Spence!"
Derek rolls on the ground and Penelope gets on top of him. Spencer drags Bedelia over, dragging her down with him on top of Derek, keeping her pinned under him as the brunette laughs.
"I am going to kill you both!" Penelope growls.