Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER SEVEN ( i tried to be good )
☆ content warning ☆ details of past and present abuse, blood & gore, internalized homophobia, panic attacks, graphic violence
introducing alisha boe as ANNA PARKER
SHE KNEW IT WAS BAD.
If the hour drive into the Virginia woods wasn't enough of an indication, the open valley crawling with uniformed officers and crime scene units was.
Natalie sat in the back seat beside Emily, staring at Hotch's neck through the hole in the headrest. Derek sat in the passenger seat, quietly providing directions throughout the trip.
Her stomach churned from the bumps in the gravel, the vehicle bouncing up and down over each divot on the dirt road. Trees towered over the clearing, caving in and almost creating a sort of canopy above them; through the thick bristles, she was able to make out a body of water in the distance.
Slowly, the air thinned as they pulled to a stop.
The other three agents exited the SUV, but Natalie remained, her cold fingers gripping the door handle yet refusing to pull.
It was bad.
Even if the newly discovered body had been minced to pieces, there wouldn't be this many people walking around the crime scene. Even if two bodies were found, it wouldn't amount to this volume of agents and officers and medical examiners and everyone in between. The thought of what would gave Natalie pause.
A part of her wished Spencer was here.
Another part, a bigger part, was glad he wasn't.
Natalie checked her watch, seeing that it was 7 a.m. on the dot. Any minute, Spencer, Rossi, and JJ would be interviewing Liam Marlowe back in Maine.
He was only an hour-and-a-half-long flight away, but with her here and him there, they'd never felt further apart. Perhaps, it was for the better. He would be safer, if kept at a distance; something she often had to force herself to remember.
There was a knock at the window, and Natalie jolted from the noise. She blinked, curious to how long she'd been sitting there, as stiff as a tree.
Emily opened the car door when the blonde refused to, a nearly imperceptible frown gracing her maroon-tinted lips.
