dead to me| 2- s. r

TWENTY

SURPRISE! i had this chapter sitting in my drafts since this morning when I posted the other one and was supposed to post it tomorrow, but I had a free period and finished editing it early!

Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him.

You repeat it in your head like a mantra as you go about twenty kilometres over the limit to get to the BAU quickly. It's frankly a miracle that you haven't been pulled over for speeding yet, but the universe seems to be on your side today. 

You don't even bother to check and make sure you're parked in between the lines before you're jumping out of your car, dashing into the office right past the security guards and sprinting toward the elevator. You push the button repeatedly, hoping that it'll somehow magically make the lift move quicker, but it doesn't help much. As soon as the doors open enough for you to squeeze yourself in, you slam the button for the sixth floor and tap your foot anxiously on the floor, biting your nails as you watch the numbers slowly get higher and higher.

You groan when the lift makes a stop on the fourth floor and in walks an older man with gray here, shooting you a small grin as he stands on the other side of the lift, pressing a button for a higher floor.

When the elevator finally stops on the sixth floor, you're running off quickly, earning a few confused stares from other people are you hurriedly run through the bullpen, being able to make out your team members and friends in the conference room, all of them gathered around a table.

As soon as the door swings open, they're all turning their heads to look at you apologetically, making your stomach drop. "Y/N, maybe you should sit down-" JJ tries to reason but you shake your head, cutting her off.

"It's him isn't it?" You ask, glancing around the room, waiting for someone to answer you, "It's Nathanial, am I wrong?"

"Yes, it was him," Hotch answers stoically. "But we're doing our best to locate him and the two other prisoners. We have the borders locked down and officer's stationed everywhere. They won't be getting very far."

"He's not going to leave DC," you say, shaking your head. You reach into your back pocket and pull out the folded photo from your office, handing it to Spencer first. He unfolds the photo, eyes widening as he looks at it and gulps, glancing back up at you apologetically.

"What is it?" Emily asks, glancing between you and Spencer, picking up on the fact that the colour has been drained from both of your faces. Spencer slides the photo into the middle of the table and everyone gathers around it, looking between you and Spencer.

"Where did you find this?" Morgan asks, holding up the photo for you to see. You snatch the photo from his hand and place it face down on the table, not wanting to look at it anymore. "It was in my office," you answer. "He also had flowers sent to my apartment."

"And did those have a note as well?" Morgan asks, and already one step ahead of him, you pull the note from your purse and hand it to him. He reads the note once before handing it around, Spencer snatching the card from Rossi and reading it over in a matter of seconds.

"The use of 'can't wait to see you' indicates that he may be planning to get in contact with Y/N," Rossi says carefully. "Has Nathanial tried to contact you from prison in the last four years, Y/N?"

You nod your head slowly, "Basically every day for the last few years," you answer. This seems to surprise them as they look at you in both confusion and shock. "I'd never answered them until a few months ago. The phone calls became more frequent around Halloween and one day I answered once, but never again after that."