Psychopathy

Chapter 11- Correspondence

Isabel sat against her pillar, resting her eyes. When she had first come here, the heat had threatened to sear her from the inside out. Every second she was there, she was afraid of boiling. But by now, she was rather used to it. She had no way of knowing how long she had been there, but it felt like an eternity, especially when she realized she was able to tune out the heat and the screams.

Just as she was actually about to get some sleep, she felt something cold settle on her nose. She furrowed her brows as her nose twitched, and she opened her eyes. Since the mystery object was right in her blind spot, she couldn't exactly see what it was. She put her finger up to her nose, and what felt like six little legs crawled onto it. She pulled her finger away, and gasped slightly when she saw a light blue crystalline butterfly on her finger.

The butterfly fluttered its wings as she stared at it, completely enthralled. It was the most beautiful thing she had seen since she had been here. It fluttered its wings again before taking off from her finger, hovering in front of her. She went to touch it, but as soon as she did, the butterfly burst into a glittery cloud. At first, her eyes started to water at the loss of her butterfly. But as the cloud started to settle, she heard a voice come out of it.

"We miss you." Isabel felt tears fall down her cheeks at the same time a smile crossed her lips. The voice was her teammate's, the one she missed the most. And to hear him say that both him and the rest of the team missed her? It was the very thing she needed to keep going. She didn't know if they'd be able to hear her if she spoke back, but she had to try.

"I miss ye, too."

*************

Garcia rubbed her eyes as she looked at the screen in front of her. She didn't like looking into missing children or children in the system, and the numbers she was finding were staggering. Honestly, it was kind of depressing. Speaking of children, she looked back into the corner of the wrong, checking to see if Ellie was still sleeping. Poor girl. Hopefully by the time she woke up, Garcia would have some very good news for her. She'd been through a lot in the last couple weeks.

Then again, they all had. The last few months had been rough for everyone in the BAU. First Ciara was kidnapped. Then they were forced to give up on the case. And then, if those two things weren't bad enough, the Pentagon had just gone and stolen JJ from them. JJ had been the mom of the group, the glue that kept everyone together. She'd been the one that most of them went to when they needed to vent, especially in the aftermath of Ciara's case. Who were they supposed to go to without JJ? How could the BAU lose two bright, intelligent, caring women, just like that, within months of each other?

So yes, it had been a rough few months. But Garcia wasn't about to tell Ellie that. She was just going to compile her list, see what could be done about getting that little girl to Virginia custody, and hope that nothing else went wrong. Just as she finished compiling her list of missing children, her phone started to ring. Without even looking to see who it was, she took her pen and hit the answer button.

"Give me the news, sugar."

"Garcia, have you gotten that list of children that fit the profile?" Reid asked. Garcia frowned slightly at the uncomfortable sound in his voice, but she supposed she understood. He had seemed uncomfortable ever since she had presented the case to the team. She hadn't wanted to overstep her boundaries, and she knew that Reid wasn't one to talk about his emotions, so she hadn't checked up on him thus far. Maybe now was a good opportunity to do so.

"I just finished compiling it. It's on its way to you now," she answered, and Reid thanked her. Just before he could hang up, Garcia took her shot. "Hey, how are you doing?"