JJ sat on top of Emily's desk swinging her legs back and forth enjoying the look of sexual frustration she saw on her wife's face. A skirt had definitely been the right choice this morning.
"Emily?" Reid asked again. "Emily?"
JJ smiled and lightly kicked her wife to get her attention. "What was that for?" The brunette asked. JJ simply nodded towards Reid and turned her attention back to Garcia.
"Huh, Reid?" Emily asked the scrawny young profiler.
"What did you think of last episode of Doctor Who?"
"I loved it. Craig is awesome, it was great to see him back. If Amy and Rory quit, he would make a fantastic companion."
JJ and Garcia rolled their eyes at their friends enthusiasm. Emily had tried to get her to watch that show so many times JJ had lost count. The blonde looked up as Morgan sauntered into the bullpen with a grin on his face. Motioning for JJ to keep quiet, he snuck up behind Garcia and covered her eyes. JJ laughed as her friend squealed and smacked Morgan.
"What's the verdict?" She asked him, nodding towards Hotch's office.
"We've got a case." Morgan said with a sigh. "From Hotch's face, a real bad one."
"Poop." Garcia said with a pout.
"Where is it?" Reid asked.
"New York I think." Morgan answered him, sipping his coffee. "Hotch told me to come get you guys. Anyone know where Rossi is?"
"Right behind you." Rossi said as he passed everyone and continued walking up to the conference room. JJ and the others followed behind him somewhat begrudgingly. They had just gotten back from a rather unpleasant case at a young boys military school and everyone was still on edge. Morgan especially. JJ knew that he was aware of the reasons for Strauss' leave of absence, but she – and no one else – had pried him for any information. The team settled down in their seemingly designated seats. JJ slid in next to Emily and Garcia and began flipping through the file in front of her.
"We've got six murders so far that we know of..." Hotch began.
"That we know of?" Emily asked.
"Yes." Hotch answered. "Garcia, I need you to begin looking immediately for these connections with these parameters, I've got a feeling there are more. Check within the last ten years." Hotch said handing Garcia a file.
"Yes sir." Garcia said taking the files and heading straight down to her office. JJ looked to Hotch, this didn't sound good at all.
"He guts them?" Morgan asked looking up from his file.
"He changes his MO, he's removed intestines, stabbed, raped, and cut their throats."
"Why do we think this is the same unsub?" Emily asked.
"Because he has a signature."
"Which is?' JJ asked.
"He always cuts this symbol into a part of their bodies." Hotch explained as he showed the photographs of the symbol on the screen. JJ watched as Reid leaned forward and studied it intently. A frown grew on his face.
"Do you recognize it?" She asked him.
"No!" He stated, clearly annoyed at the fact.
"I'm having Garcia search it, but there have already been multiple tries by new york detectives, it appears to be of his own making." Hotch told the team.
"So what's with this guy? Why weren't we called in sooner? Six murders?" Rossi asked.
"The murders were all found in different boroughs of the city, one was in Long Island, one in the Upper East side, in Queens, one almost in Jersey, one near Times Square, and one in Harlem. They only made the connections a week ago, and then the most recent murder happened this morning. In an old nightclub in Harlem. Maria Walker, 32, she was apparently a frequent amateur singer there at open mike nights. She was raped, her throat was cut, his symbol carved into her arm and she was left out by a dumpster behind the club. No fingerprints have been found so far, the crime scene is still enact, wheels up in fifteen minutes."
The team dispersed to gather their things and meet on the jet. JJ entwined her hand in Emily's as they walked out together. "So much for our weekend." She said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I have a feeling about this case. I don't know yet, but its not good."
JJ didn't say anything, knowing Emily wasn't looking for comfort, and there was none to give. JJ had a bit of an ominous feeling about this one as well. Rubbing her wife's arm, she gave her a tight smile and followed the team onto the jet.
The girl sat waiting quietly, her hands folded into her lap. She had learned the hard way to be silent and still while the man was away. He often came back tired and angry, and she knew to stay out of his way. The first time, when he had come back to the hotel with blood all over his hands and clothes, she had asked him what had happened. He stared at her for a moment, then slapped her across the face. He had hit her so hard that she had fallen down. "Go to bed." He had said, before going into the bathroom to take a shower. The girl didn't like the man. He was mad all the time and it hurt when he hit her. Sometimes, she missed the woman. She had been with the man for almost a whole year now. The woman had cried all the time, and she hardly ever got out of bed. At least with the man, the girl was fed, and she got to go different places besides the big house. The girl had hated the house. The woman had hated the house too, it made her sad. She was always sad, no matter how much the girl tried to cheer her up.
Emily followed Morgan and Hotch immediately to the most current crime scene almost the second the jet landed. Rossi, JJ and Reid meet with the lead detective at the 12th precinct. A junior detective walked them through the scene and relayed bits and pieces of witness statements they had already taken. Three of the witnesses had been taken to the station to speak with the rest of the team. The club owner was inside and Emily went with Morgan to talk to him.
"How well did you know Maria?" Morgan asked.
"Not all that well, I mean she was a nice girl, great voice, she played here like...I wanna say thirty times or so. We don't really keep that great of records for who plays, but I've got some information written down from her first audition." He said, handing over some papers to Emily.
"Do you have information on everyone that had played here?" Emily asked.
"Everyone we audition."
"Some people you don't?"
"Some of the bartenders have a band, and their friends play here every once in a while, but I know all those guys."
"We'll need all the information you have on all of the performers and workers here." Emily told him.
He nodded. "Yeah sure, whatever you need."
"We also need to know about regulars. Anybody you seen paying a little too much attention to Maria?" Morgan asked him.
"Not that I can think of, sorry."
"If you think of anything..." Morgan said holding out his card. The owner nodded and Emily and Morgan headed back outside to meet Hotch.
"Let's go back to the station, see what the others got out of the witnesses." Hotch said as they approached him. Emily nodded and followed the two men into the SUV.
JJ pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She had just finished questioning Maria's band mate, he had found her body that morning on his way into rehearsal. Going over every detail she could get out of him had been exhausting and hadn't really gotten her anywhere. Maria was single, an only child, had done well in high school and college, well liked, friendly, and had no enemies that he could think of. Nothing to link her to any of the other woman, except she was a brunette and around the same age.
"Any luck?" Rossi asked as she made her way out of the interview room.
"No, you?"
"Nothing we didn't already know."
JJ looked up as Emily, Hotch and Morgan arrived back at the station, from the looks on their faces, they hadn't had much luck either. JJ's phone buzzed and she silently prayed Garcia had something. "Hey Garcia, you're on speaker." JJ warned her best friend.
"Hello crime fighters, Boss Man, you're hunch was right; there have been six other murders baring that very same pesky little symbol. Which btw I have had zero luck identifying, pretty sure our crazy made it up himself. I've still got some searches running to see if I can identify it and will let you know if and when I do. All the other information, as long as everything you may ever need to know about our recent six women has been sent to your phones, anything new for me?"
"Run background checks on the club owner, all the workers and Morgan is sending you the information we have on the performers as well, see if you find any connections." Hotch told her.
"Will do, be safe, Garcia out!"
JJ shook her head in amusement and shared a look with Morgan. The team sat down and dug into the information Garcia had given them so far. It was going to be a very long day.
One day, the girl's tummy had been so angry that she went over to the woman's room. She had stopped doing that most mornings, because the woman hardly ever even seemed to notice her presence anymore. The girl was confused when she saw the woman wasn't in her bed as usual. Frightened, she called out. "Mommy?" The girl looked in every room before finding the woman in the kitchen. It was so shocking to see her out of bed that the girl dropped her teddy bear. "Mommy?" She asked hesitantly. The woman turned around and smiled at the girl, but the smile scared her. She backed away slightly and whimpered.
"Come here baby." The woman said.
"I'm hungry." The girl whined.
"Okay, come here."
The girl hesitated, but her hunger forced her to move forward. Perhaps the woman wasn't sad anymore? Maybe now she would play with the girl and stay out of her bed. The woman lifted the girl up to the table and put on a coat. The girl was confused, they never needed coats, they never went outside. Only the old lady from next door ever came over and gave the girl food to eat. She wore a coat sometimes. The woman tucked a piece of paper to a pin and placed it onto the girls coat. She smiled the scary smile again and gave the girl a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The girl hungrily grabbed it and began taking the biggest bites she could manage. She didn't notice the woman leave the room. After the girl finished eating, she climbed down from the table and retrieved her teddy bear. She went to look for the woman, hoping they could play. "Mommy?" She called. The girl went from room to room, calling out and looking everywhere she could. The woman wasn't back in her bed, but as the girl turned to leave, she saw the bathroom door open. "Mommy?" She called out again. When she received no answer, the girl gently pushed the door open.
There was red all over the floor. It was coming out of the woman's arms. The girl held her teddy bear in front of her so she didn't have to look at the scary smile still on the woman's face. "Mommy?" She whispered. "I don't like this game." The woman didn't move. "Mommy, please stop now." The girl begged. She bravely moved the teddy bear and looked back down at the woman. "Mommy?" Her voice was barely audible as she stepped forward and crouched down next to the woman. "Mommy, can you wake up now?" The girl sat patiently, legs crossed, on top of the red liquid, beside the woman, holding the teddy bear. She would wait for the woman to wake up. She always woke up eventually.
Emily sighed as she followed her wife up the never ending stairs to their hotel room. "Historical buildings are bullshit. I'm all for history, but an elevator isn't going to hurt anything." She whined. Emily heard the blonde laugh ahead of her.
"You getting old Prentiss?" JJ asked with a laugh. Emily glared at her wife, but JJ didn't bother turning around. They had – finally – reached their room for the night and JJ was busy digging around for the keys. It was well after three am and they had been working since about nine that morning. The day hadn't proven to bring anything worthwhile to the case and they were practically at zero. Emily couldn't shake the ominous feeling she had about this case and it pissed her off. JJ opened the door and Emily happily dropped her bag and flopped down onto the queen sized bed. "Seriously? At least change your clothes, I'm not sharing a bed with that smell. You were at a crime scene for half of the day. A crime scene by a dumpster in an alley behind a music club in the bad part of Harlem. I will make you sleep on the floor."
"You're a horrible wife." Emily mumbled into the bed.
"I'm a wonderful wife, but even I have my limits."
Emily shoved herself off of the bed and yanked her shirt off. JJ just shook her head and threw an oversized t-shirt at Emily. She pulled it on, shucked her pants, crawled back into the bed and snuggled deep under the covers. "Get in here." She said. JJ smiled at her as she pulled on some sweats and turned off the light. Emily lifted up the blanket for JJ to crawl into. "Much more comfortable." She said placing a kiss on JJ's forehead and wrapping her arms tightly around the blonde.
"You okay?" JJ whispered after a moment or two.
"Yeah fine, just tired."
"You still have a feeling?"
"Yeah," Emily said with a sigh.
"I've got one too." JJ admitted.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'll be happy when this case is over."
"Me too." Emily said snuggling further into her wife. "Me too."