When Liv faced a loss that would rewrite her entire life, she stepped away from her work. A year and a half later, she returns to the BAU in search of normalcy; so she can finally move on. On a new team, Liv is immediately thrown into the game of ca...
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"His clothing matches a missing persons report. His name is Tyler Stolts and he was abducted 23 months ago." Morgan explained what the medical examiner had told the pair as they walked back into the station, through the door frame of their separate room to work.
"He went missing in October of 2008." Liv added. The majority of the team present was seated around a table, littered with papers and case files, except for Reid, who watched the white board intently until their entrance.
Liv found a seat next to Prentiss, her eyes flickering to the seat across the table, occupied by a focused Hotch. His eyes kept on a report in front of him from the police station as she lowered into her chair, minding no interest to Liv's hands as they shuffled for a certain file on the table.
Liv felt the presence of Morgan next to her, leaning over her shoulder to place down her cup of coffee, just like they always seemed to do for each other. He gave her a comforting look, probably paying too much attention to any glancing between her and the man across the table. Yet it wasn't until then, after Morgan retreated to where Reid stood, that when Liv looked at Hotch, his eyes were no longer on his paper. Instead, they were following Morgan as he traveled across the room with a look of intention, only to snap back to gaze at Liv with a look of displeasure. When he saw that she was already looking, his gaze didn't break. Instead he continued to watch her with a look that if she didn't know better, she would think meant he had something to say to her.
Something about Hotch's trailing glare on Morgan made Liv shift in her seat uncomfortably, staring at him across the table with a look of boredom. She didn't speak either, only wrapped her hand around the disposable cup of coffee that had been given to her, swiftly lifting it to take a sip all while she watched. He didn't like that very much.
They settled into quiet chatter, throwing out possibilities and forgotten facts of the case, trying to connect the newest body found to what they already had. The only issue was, they had only stumbled on the second grave by accident. There was no way to know how many victims he had claimed, not until Reid stood up suddenly, catching everyone's attention. "I went back ten years matching reports of missing children with Daniel and Tyler's victimology, and this unsub may have taken twelve victims." He announced to the room.
"How do you know it's the same guy?" Morgan questioned with suspicion.
"The dates an locations of the abductions create an unmistakable pattern." Reid said simply, and they all knew better than to challenge him.
"If he's been abducting children for 10 years, why weren't we called in before now?" Prentiss asked, still sitting beside Liv.
Reid nodded quickly, anticipating that the question would eventually come. "The thing is, he walks the entire trail end to end, and each way takes approximately six months."
