Authors note: IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ!!!
Hey guys, I know it's been absolutely the longest time since I've updated and I've felt so bad so let me briefly explain myself:
1) School has gotten so crazy and I'm trying to keep my grades up.
2) My health has been all over the place. I've been battling really bad colds and a concussion (which makes doing everything really hard and writing my story was out of the question).
3) I haven't fully excepted that my story is coming to an end. :( I know, I'm sorry!!!
With that being said, I have some GREAT NEWS!!! If you liked this book there will soon be a BOOK TWO!!! It's called Morgan's Girl and I can't tell you how excited I am to be working on it. It will come out as soon as I can get it in motion.
Now, without further ado, here is chapter 17 of Reid's girl!
~Carmen's POV~
I wake up early and tiptoe down the stairs quietly. The rain is still falling relentlessly and I hope that it will drown out some of the sound of what I'm about to do. As I reach the entry hall my breath catches in my throat.
There, standing magnificently in the entry hall is my grandmother's grand piano, refurnished and looking better than ever. It arrived some time between when I stormed out of the house and when Morgan came back with me, but Spence had started the project when we got married.
I sit on the piano bench and rest my fingers on the keys, taking a moment to enjoy the peace before I play.
My fingers find the right keys, and before I know which song I'm playing, the sound of Waterfall by Jon Schmidt rises to my ears and I smile. After my fingers play the last note I hear fast footsteps on the stairs.
"Carmen! Carmen!" Cries a disheveled Spencer. "That was beautiful!" I blush and stand up to meet him halfway, he kisses me fast and when he pulls back I frown.
"What do you want for breakfast?" He asks to cheer me up and I remember something.
"Wait! I'll cook, it's kind of a special occasion anyway. I have a surprise." I confess and his eyes glisten.
~•~•~•~•~
As Spencer and I are clearing the dishes off the table I decide to spill the news. "So. I've decided that with all the cancer and military duty and crap that our relationship has already gone through, I've decided to do something crazy as kind of a 'celebrate life' thing." Spencer looks at me with curiosity and motions for me to explain. "Well... don't freak, okay?"
"Okay." He promises and I smile.
"I've decided to make a bucket list and just enjoy life more." Spencer smiles at me, but I can see the loving 'you're crazy' behind his eyes. Before I know it I'm laughing hysterically.
"Don't look at me like that! It's not like I'm going to do stupid things, just... Crazy things." I say seriously, and then burst into laughter again. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Spencer dissolves into laughter too.
"What's the first thing on your bucket list?" He asks and my grin gets wider.
"Well, I haven't really thought it all out, just some of the things, like I eventually want to start a family, and I definitely want to travel to all of the continents before I die, and..." I pause, taking a deep breath," I really want to come back to the BAU..." I say, trying to make it sound like I've just commented on the weather. It takes a second for him to respond.
"You sure?" He finally says after a beat.
"Yeah." I nod, enthusiastic.
"Carmen this is great!" He yells, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug that lifts me off the floor.
~•~•~•~•~
It takes me two weeks to get my papers in and everything in order for my return, and every second is torture. I want my team back. I want my family back.
On my first day back I dress in dark jeans, a blue 3/4 length sleeve shirt, and my favorite black combat boots. My hair is in a perfect french braid, but I still keep redoing it, making sure every strand is in place.
"You ready?" Spencer asks as he comes into the bathroom.
"Yeah." I sigh. "Do I look okay?" I run my hands along my jeans, smoothing the wrinkles.
"You look beautiful." He states like it's one of the most obvious facts, one that he's read in an Oxford textbook.
"You sure?" I ask and he chuckles.
"It's just work, are you nervous?" He asks, stroking my face.
"A bit, I mean, we're in the FBI for crying out loud." This makes him laugh a bit harder.
"You look like you're ready to kick butt, let's go."
"Thanks Spence." I say and kiss him gratefully.
On our drive to the BAU through the pouring rain which still hasn't stopped, all I can think about is my first case I worked and the look on the little girl's face - Gracie - when I pulled her out of the attic and placed her in Morgan's arms. She was so grateful to be on her way home. I decide that's why I need this job, I need to know that I'm helping people.
~•~•~•~•~
We had agreed to keep my coming back a secret, so as I walk in I take cautious steps and wait to be attacked by everyone.
Morgan sees me first, and immediately sprays coffee all over the ground. "Brooks!" He yells, sprinting to me, Garcia hot on his trail. JJ comes around the corner just in time to join the group hug.
"Aww... You guys are the best." I say as a wipe a tear. "It's so great to be back."
JJ pulls back from the group and stared at me, bewildered. "Back? For good?!" She squeals as I nod. We hug some more until Hotch comes out of his office and tells us to meet in the bullpen.
We walk together and as I sit down I sigh as memories come back, some of us just talking, some of us bracing each other as the horror filled the screens around us, and that's when I realize just how much of a family we are, and just how much I've missed them.
JJ briefs us about the latest case, and not to anyone's surprise, it's a pretty bad one.
"Okay, this is Jennet Clearwater, she was found last night near a dumpster in Chicago, Illinois with bruises and lacerations on her neck, wrists, and ankles." JJ says, clicking through pictures. "She's the third to have died in the past month in the same way from the same place. All of the girls that have died fit into the same category: between the ages of 20-35; middle class; brown hair, blue eyes; and they have all went missing during the hours of 8:00 pm and midnight. We have three days until our killer is scheduled to kidnap again so let's move."
~•~•~•~•~ (2 days later)
I'm getting more and more frustrated at how little we've found when Morgan yells "Wait, guys, I think I might have found something, but I don't really understand it. "We all crowd around him and look over his shoulder at a piece of paper clutched in his fingers.
"What's that?" I ask, gesturing to his paper.
"It's a map... But I don't understand, if this is where he dumped the first two girls..." He says, circling a big section of forest on the map. "Then why did he dump Jennet's body over here... In a big city, next to a dumpster. It doesn't add up."
"Maybe he's getting more confident." I suggest. Morgan looks like a light goes off in his head. I start to get a little suspicious, it wasn't that hard...
"Which would explain the lacerations and bruising." He exclaims with a big grin. Okay, that's definitely overdoing it.
"Come on Morgan." I say, rolling my eyes. "You got that perfectly fine, you didn't need help."
"What do you mean?" He asks innocently.
I laugh and smack him over the shoulder playfully. "It doesn't take a profiler to tell that you're trying to make it seem like I never stopped working in the BAU."
"Is it working?" He asks and I laugh again.
"Get back to work."
~•~•~•~•~ (3 days later)
We've found a lot more with all of us working for 18 hours straight, pouring over the case files, newspaper clippings, crime scene photos, and brainstorming what we think might be going on inside the criminal's mind, but not enough. It's been 5 days since our killer was scheduled to kidnap a girl, and two days since her life was scheduled to end. The only thing that's keeping us going is the fact that no one's reported a body.
"Guys." I say after a bit of looking at the case files. "It says that three days ago the killer was supposed to leave a taunting note for us with lots of pictures of the victim... Why haven't we gotten it yet?" Everyone starts to look around like it will magically show up. "Someone get me the pictures from the other victims, I'm running them to Garcia." Spencer brings me a stack of Polaroid pictures and I run to Penelope's office to see if she can get something from them, were already way past out of time, and everyone is banking on the idea that he hasn't killed her yet.
"Hey beautiful." Garcia says when I burst through her door. "Whatcha got for me?"
"Okay, I have a theory." I state, leaning against her desk. "These are Polaroid pictures, and there's a lot of them." I say in between deep breaths.
"And...?" Garcia says, waiting not so patiently for me to finish.
"Well our killer follows a schedule, right?"
"Yes,Carmen, get to the point."
"He had to go buy them somewhere, and judging by how much he takes of each victim, I'd guess it's a lot that he has to get each time he goes. Don't you think someone would remember that?"
"I don't know, I mean, lots of people are photographers."
"Yeah, but Polaroid's have special film, that can't just be normal to have lots in stock, especially with how vintage Polaroid cameras are nowadays."
"Okay, I think I see where you're going with this." She says, her fingers already a blur over the keyboard. After less than a minute she's already pulled up multiple stores with reports of large shipments of Polaroid film. After a few more seconds she's narrowed it down to five stores with the largest shipments. "The first one's close to the sites of where our killer dumped the first girls, the fourth one is like, two blocks from where Jennet was dumped."
"Wow." Is all I can say as she pulls up the record for the first one.
"Damien Crane ordered the first one... And..." She pauses, and I can see her face fall. "Adam Crimson ordered the fourth one." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Oh." I sigh quietly, trying not to let her know how disappointed I am. "It's okay, it was just a theory, it was probably nothing anyway." I say after a moment.
"It's gotten us the farthest so far. I'll keep working on it, you go back to the team, they need you."
"Thanks Garcia, you're fabulous." I say, gathering the pictures and trudging back to my desk. I put my head down and breathe deeply for a second.
"Hey, Carmen." Morgan says from behind me, resting a hand on my back. "The weather bumming you out?" He asks, gesturing out the window to the rain. It's been two weeks since it started and it hasn't showed signs of stopping anytime soon.
"No. I just was really hoping that my theory would come through for us so we could find the girl, I can't imagine what she's going through."
"I know, Brooks, you're doing great though." Just then JJ comes running in from her office, making papers fly everywhere.
"Okay team, listen up!" She yells and we all turn to her. "We just got a missing persons report that fits the description of our victim. Her name is Grace Taylor and she went missing the day our killer kidnapped the latest victim. She was last seen exiting her house in the middle of the night after a fight with her father. I don't need to tell you how bad we need to find her and fast. Hotch?" Hotch stands up and addresses the team.
"Morgan and JJ go to her house, Reid and Brooks, we need you here going through the files and helping Garcia." We split up immediately and I try to help out as much as I can while still staying out of the way.
~•~•~•~•~
Just as I'm about to take a break to clear my mind my phone rings and I see Morgan's called ID on the screen.
"Hey Morgan, what's up?"
"Okay, so I'm in Grace's room and it looks normal, right? But something's wrong. I can't figure it out."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"It just seems... Off. Like something's missing."
"Okay... Like furniture or like it doesn't feel lived in...? What are you getting at?"
"No, it feels lived in, but something's missing. I don't know, that's why I called you."
"Okay. Let's see... She's a woman who still lives at home. Does she have a vanity?"
"What's that?" Morgan asks and I smile.
"It's a mirror attached to a desk looking thing."
"Okay, she has one of those, but the mirror is completely filled with pictures, there isn't an inch of mirror that I can see. Actually, she has pictures all over her walls too, but not nearly as crowded together as her mirror."
"Okay, so what does that tell us about Grace?" I ask, knowing that he knows this, he just has to figure it out.
"That... She's self conscious?"
"It could be. What are the pictures of?"
"It looks like they're of her friends and family. Some of scenery and things like that... I don't see any of her though."
"There you go, Morgan. You figured out a piece of her that you didn't know before." And then something hits me. "Wait! Morgan, what type of pictures are they?"
"They're square with a little strip at the bottom, and she's written on it. But they don't make any sense..."
"You mean they're Polaroid pictures?"
"I think so."
"I'll have to call you back. Take them off the mirror and walls and send them to Reid ASAP, he'll figure out what it's supposed to say. Then figure out what's missing, sorry I couldn't be more help."
"It's okay, thanks Brooks."
"No problem. Bye." As soon as I hang up I run to Garcia's office.
"What did you find?" She asks and I lean against the table, trying to catch my breath.
"Grace Taylor has Polaroid pictures all over her room." I can hear Garcia gasp, but my thoughts are running around my head so fast it's hard to think straight. "Do you think that our killer might have seen her in one of the stores? Morgan's sending the pictures over to Reid. I think that there might be something deeper to them than we're realizing."
"Calm down, Carmen. You're going to explode if you don't."
"Okay, I just think that we might be close to solving it, but I'm worried. What if we don't make it in time? And why hasn't he killed her yet? What makes her different?"
"I don't know, Carmen. But I did find out more about the Polaroid picture shipments."
"What did you find?"
"Only three of the people that bought big shipments had criminal records."
"Okay...?"
"So our killer had to be one of them."
"Oh my gosh. Which one?!"
"Well, Adam Crimson was sent to juvie at the age of 17 for getting into a fight with a teacher and pulled a knife on him, but when he came back he cleaned himself up and never caused problems again. Jake Smith has been to jail 5 times for random petty crimes, but he doesn't have a stressor. That's the same for a couple others, but Damien Crane... This is where it gets weird. He's never been sent to jail, but has had multiple run-ins with the law, all that he's gotten away with, but two months ago his mom died."
"And you think that's the stressor?"
"It could be." She replies. "I have to look into it more, and I'm going to have to go back and look into Grace's shopping history, thanks for the idea by the way. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Thanks Garcia, I'm going to see if Reid's gotten the pictures yet."
~•~•~•~•~ (13 hours later)
"I've got it!" Spencer calls from the other end of the table. We all crowd around him and look at the pictures he's arranged on the table in front of him. It looks like he's layered the pictures so that only what Grace has written on the bottom strip will show, and it looks like lines from a diary.
I can't handle the endless pain in this house anymore. It's bad enough since Logan left and I'm alone to take the punishments of his wrath. I don't know how to cover up the marks anymore and with each day there's more questions. I just wish that I wasn't alone to take care of the house. I know it's bad, but sometimes I wish that I could just leave. I would if it weren't for Mom.
As I read I feel her hurt. I don't understand what Grace is saying, but I know that life for her isn't easy.
"Who's Logan?" Morgan asks and Garcia raises her hand.
"Yes, Garcia?" Hotch calls and I smile. I love that girl.
"Logan is Graces older brother, but two years ago he left the family and nobody's seen him since."
"Oh, speaking of, Garcia. Have you figured out which ones go to the same store as Grace?"
"I did. It seemed like Damien Crane and Grace actually met each other at the store where they bought Polaroids and he shared some with her. They started emailing about two months ago and then things ended badly between them right about the time the killings started. All of the victims looked like Grace."
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Hotch says urgently.
"I just found out right before Reid figured out the Polaroid puzzle."
"In that case wheels up in thirty."
~•~•~•~•~
As we board the plane and pack up the safety gear and bulletproof vests I can't help but worry about the weather being so gross while we fly, although I know I should be more focused on the case. Something about it just sets my nerves rattling a bit. I know Spencer can tell because as we sit down he grabs my hand and doesn't let go until we land.
"You ready to get this guy?" Morgan asks as we near the address.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I say as I pull on my vest over my BAU hoodie and double check my gun holster.
When we get there everyone piles out into the instantly drenching rain and start to split up in teams as Hotch directs us. I'm paired with Morgan and we go through the side door of a small apartment complex and up three flights of stairs before we reach Damien Crane's apartment.
We meet up with JJ and Reid right at the door. Morgan's about to kick it in but I push him away and try the doorknob first. No need to break a perfectly good door if you don't have to. It's locked and I take a step back and raise my right leg, then snap it forward and hear a satisfying crack as it slams open. We rush in and a series of "Clear"s are heard as we split up again, Morgan and I go downstairs while Reid and JJ search the back rooms.
"Clear." I call as I reach one of the dimly lit rooms. It's really cold down here and I shiver. I hear Morgan call that his room is clear too and go further down the hallway until I reach a big, open room with chains against a wall holding up a thin girl with tangled brown hair hanging limply in front of her face. She looks halfway dead and I see a small puddle of blood at her feet. Right beside her is an open window with the rain coming in and soaking the poor girl. She's wearing pajama shorts and a thin t-shirt, she must be freezing, but she doesn't register that she has company.
"Grace." I call softly and she weakly pulls her head up to look at me, her eyes are hollow and lifeless. "Grace, hi. My name is Carmen Brooks, I'm with the FBI. I'm here to —" I'm cut off when I hear a loud boom to my left and feel a sharp, burning pain in my left shoulder and look down to see a hole ripped in my BAU hoodie and dark red blood soaking the shirt sleeve. I snap my head up and see a Damien Crane with a gun pointed at me. My vision starts to blur and my shoulder feels like it's on fire. I feel weak and my knees buckle under me, leaving me to fall on my side.
"Morgan." I screech and before I know what's happening I hear a thud and look up to see a blurry Morgan standing above a heap of a man, I'm assuming he's unconscious.
"Hey, Carmen. Carmen talk to me." I can't see anything but I can feel Morgan close to me. My shoulder hurts really bad and it feels like it's on fire, but I know that Grace must feel much worse.
"I'm fine, help Grace. I'm okay." I say and clutch my shoulder, attempting to stop some of the blood. I know I'm loosing consciousness and try to maintain my breathing. Before I know it everything is black.
~•~•~•~•~
I wake up in a familiar bright room in an uncomfortable hospital gown and stiff bed. The entire team except for Morgan sit in the room and I'm glad they're the first thing I see when I wake up.
"Is Grace okay?" I ask and their heads snap up to me.
"You're up." Spencer says and gets up to hug me gently.
"Did we get her? Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. Morgan's in with her right now." Hotch replies. "You did great Brooks."
"Thanks, Hotch." I say. "It wasn't just me though. Garcia figured out who the killer was, Reid figured out the message, Morgan caught the killer and saved Grace... I think."
"Well, we still don't know for sure if the message had anything to do with the case." Spencer says with a smile.
"But she's okay, and everyone's safe." I say. "And hey, I'm back at the BAU, right? Things couldn't be better."
"Well, you're going to have to stay in Quantico for a bit while your shoulder heals, but yes, things couldn't be better." Hotch agrees.
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GUYS!!! I CANT BELIEVE ITS OVER!!! 😭 Again, so sorry for the long wait on the last chapter and I feel so bad about ending it without much notice. If you want to find out the back story of Grace Taylor and her blossoming relationship with Morgan 😏😉 head on over to Morgan's Girl (when it comes out) and find out!!! A few things are going to be different so that it fits the story a bit better and runs smoothly, but it's the same plot line.
I love you all so much and I'm going to miss you all!!! If you want you can follow me and I'll follow you back if you want to stay in touch!
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Check out Remembering Luke. It's my new story on Wattpad and I'd love it if you amazing loyal readers would read it.
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!