SSA Scottley - A collection - S.R.

The Crimson King

Episode: 12x01

From the moment Tara realized her request to Officer Dewet of reviewing the list of names with Brian had rendered him dead, Lily noticed how absent she had become. It wasn't until Dewet's wife and son left the Station that the red haired woman finally found Tara with an untouched cup of coffee in hands, watching the family break down as she blamed herself.

"Hey." She said, as she knew all too well how Tara was actually feeling. "How can I help?"

"Brian's parents are gonna be here in a few minutes." She said. "Can you sit in on the interview and just... Make sure I don't miss anything?"

"I will." Lily nodded. "And you won't."

Not half an hour later, Lily received the Phillips and sat down with them in a small empty room, offering them a glass of water or a cup of coffee like she always did when it came to talk to the families of the victims – or this case, of the unsub. When they refused, Lily nodded.

"Okay, so, I'll just bring another Agent so we can all talk, is that okay?" She asked.

They nodded and Lily left the room. She glanced at Tara and the woman knew they needed to go back to work, so getting up from her place a few feet away from the family, she followed Lily back inside the room. After a bit of small talk to get the couple to trust them, the two Agents started to ask the questions that really mattered.

"Brian was always a sensitive child." Gail, Brian's mom said. "We did our best."

"Can you keep him from hurting himself? Or anyone else?" Bob asked, and he was almost desperate.

"Uh, we're going to try, but he's wanted for the murder of a police officer." Lily responded as gently as she could.

The couple flinched and Gail reached for her husband's hand.

"What do you need from us, Agents?" She asked.

"We need to ask you about Brian's D.I.D." Lily said.

"And where it started." Tara added.

"We adopted Brian, through our church." Gail said. "It was a closed adoption. When we received him, he had these... scars. The pediatrician told us that somebody in the foster care system had smashed bottles across him and then cut him with the jagged glass."

"Was he ever violent?" Tara asked.

"Only toward himself." Bob shook his head. "He would... Cut open his own scars. And then he would, uh, go into like a chant. Like a mantra."

"We thought he was self-soothing at first." The wife nodded. "And then we realized that he was talking like..."

"Girls, right?" Tara asked. "Who were they?"

"Well, we think that they were in the foster care with him, that they would help him, you know, feel better after he'd been hurt."

"Ok, this is very important." Lily said, as she leaned closer to them slightly. "What would he say when he talked like them?"

After thanking the Phillips and asking an Officer to take them back home, Lily reached for her phone, as she dialed Penelope's number.

"Pen? Where are Luke and Spencer?" She asked, as Tara went to warn Hotch where they were going.

"I just gave them Brian's location, why?" She asked.

"Okay, great." She nodded. "Send me that too, and tell them we're close behind them."

"Yeah, alright. You've got it."

"Thanks, Pen. You're the best."

Lily turned off her phone and waited for Tara by the SUV. As soon as she arrived, they put on their vests and hopped in. She gave Tara the address Garcia had sent and not twenty minutes later, they were leaving the car and entering the house, with their guns out.

"But if you let him go, he has to live the rest of his life as a failure. Isn't that what you really want?" They could hear Luke's voice from the door.

"No. That's not good enough." Brian cried, as Tara and Lily stepped inside.

When she noticed that Phillips had a knife pressed to Cullen's neck, she glanced at Tara and waited for her to nod, so they could act.

"No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again." Lily spoke up loud and clear as she stood a few steps behind Spencer.

"Back off! I mean it!" Brian cried. They got a reaction out of him. That was good.

"We can't do that. Ok?" Tara said, gently, as she stepped forward from behind the boys. "Someone told you to do this. But this isn't who you are, is it? We know that."

"No one is going to hurt you like that ever again." Lily repeated, as Spencer and Luke allowed them to do what they needed to, but never once letting their guards down.

"Nobody hurt me, I hurt them." Brian responded.

"Yes, they did hurt you." Tara spoke. "They cut you when you were little. And then right here on this very table, you saw your own blood and you didn't know what to do, so you became the Crimson King to protect yourself. No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again."

"No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again." Lily repeated.

"Do you remember Eliza?" Tara asked. "Angelica? What they used to say to you at the foster home to calm you down?"

"No one is going to hurt you like that ever again."

Brian looked up at Lily through teary eyes and then at Tara. As soon as the sirens rang from outside, he dropped the knife to the floor.

"Do you promise?" He asked, weakly.

"Yeah. I promise." Tara responded, as she walked to him and cuffed his hands behind his back. "Brian, this is for your own protection, ok? We're taking you into custody, for your safety."

"Tara?" Brian asked, as she pushed him out of the house.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, my God, what did I do?"

"I'm going to be with you every step of the way. All right? I'm not leaving your side."

The two of them walked him to the police's car as they tried to ignore the deadly stares Brian was receiving from the P.D. They couldn't blame them, though. Even if unintentionally, Brian did kill one of their own, after all. When Tara placed him inside, she turned to look at Lily.

"I'm gonna ride with him downtown." She said.

"Ok." The younger woman nodded. She was expecting that. Tara Lewis just wasn't about to let Brian ride a car alone with only a police officer there. "Hey. Good job."

At that, Tara smiled. Lily did the same. She watched her hop in the car and leave as she waited for Spencer and Luke to leave the house with Cullen so they could all drive back to the Station.