Reconciling the Hotchners | 2

14. A new day, a new case

After spending a few hours talking to the kids, Aaron and Y/N talked; without arguments, without any snide comments. They had an honest conversation and agreed that to prevent their marriage from falling any further, they'd go to couples therapy. They decided that both past and present issues needed to be aired out if they were to try and fix their relationship. They figured that therapy would also help them become better parents to their kids. Although they were going to try and figure things out, Y/N was still angry at Aaron for his lack of communication and Aaron was still upset with Y/N for not caring that her life is always at risk with her job at the BAU.

When Y/N was discharged from the hospital, she had a plan. She wanted a few hours to herself, away from her angry husband, away from her worried kids and away from the team. She planned to spend a few hours at a bar, or somewhere similar, before heading back home so she could make sure the kids knew she was okay.

She told Penelope that she'd be home around 10 PM, which Penelope accepted and she told Aaron that she'd stop by around 8-8:15 PM, which he was okay with.

———

It was currently 7:45 and Y/N sat in a bar, a drink in her hand. Was it wise for Y/N to be drinking after being discharged from the hospital only hours prior? No. But she needed to let loose and forget for a few hours.

Finishing off her drink, Y/N noticed a man around her age glancing at her. He'd look her way before taking sips of his drink. She didn't do anything until he moved closer to her.

"Now what is a gorgeous woman like yourself doing in a bar like this, alone?" He asked, curious. Y/N moved her left hand so it held up her head. Maybe the man would notice the wedding ring and go away. After a few moments, he didn't leave.

"Sorry to burst your bubble of confidence, but I'm married." Y/N exhaled, showing off her ring.

"Really? You don't seem like the type to let a man...or woman tie you down." He smirked.

"Well, you don't know me, so that's not really a fair assessment." Y/N tried to remain calm.

"No need for hostility. How about this, as an apology, I'll buy your next drink." He suggested.

"No thank you. I'm good." Y/N smiled, knowing that one wrong move would send him spiralling. He seemed like a man who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer until someone made it clear to him that they weren't interested.

"C'mon. One drink." He insisted.

"I said no." Y/N stood up and put some money down on the bench before walking off, not in the mood to deal with a jackass like him.

The cold air hit Y/N as soon as she stepped out of the bar, and the 2 drinks she had really didn't do much to distort her vision. Making her way to her car, she grabbed her keys from her pocket and unlocked it. The closer she got to her car, the more she started to feel uneasy. She went to reach for her gun which was concealed in her purse, but before she had the chance, a large blunt object made contact with the back of her head, knocking Y/N off balance. Feeling dizzy and unable to move, Y/N suddenly felt her vision blur as a white cloth was shoved against her face, stopping her from screaming, or doing anything to retaliate.

———

It was 6:45 the next morning when Penelope and Emily got a notification for a new case. At 10:45 the previous night, Penelope had received a message from Y/N, letting her know that she had decided to stay over at the house so she could be with the kids before work, apologising if she ended up being a little late.

"Where's Y/N?" Matt asked as everyone sat down.

"Oh, she messaged and apologised for the fact that she might be a bit late. I'll message her now and let her know that we've begun our briefing." Penelope smiled. She quickly messaged Y/N before putting her phone away.

"So, Arlington. What's the case?" JJ asked.

"Yes. Arlington P.D. has called us in because 4 women have gone missing and showed up dead over the past 3 weeks. Each woman was taken from public areas at night. Most of the abduction sites either don't have working cameras, or have cameras that really should have been left in the 1980s. As for dump sites, each women was...dismembered. Teresa Stuart was found in a park 2 weeks ago, Miriam Smith was found near the local pool last Monday, Samantha Jones was found in the bushes near the movie theatre last Friday and Barbara Kelton was found in the bushes near a bar right here in Quantico 2 days ago." Penelope explained, trying not to look at the images.

"M.O. seems straight forward; blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but cause of death is strangulation. Clearly someone doesn't like women. Ligature marks indicate that they've been restrained, held down or hung from something." Rossi exhaled.

"The women, Teresa - 35, Miriam - 32, Samantha - 34 and Barbara - 34 seemed to have lived totally different lives. Teresa was a bank teller, married with 2 children. Miriam was a high-school teacher, married. Samantha was a construction worker, married with a child. Barbara was a librarian, married with 3 children." Their images were placed up on the screen behind Penelope.

"The only connections I'm seeing are that all of the women had Y/H/C, Y/E/C, and they were married." Luke noted.

"Okay, it seems like we're dealing with an unsub who is abducting married women in their 30s in dimly lit public areas with either no cameras or old cameras that aren't clear enough to I.D. our unsub, and they're being dismembered and dumped at local community places." Tara told.

"It's also strange how Teresa, Miriam and Samantha were dumped in Arlington, yet Barbara was dumped here, in Quantico. Do we know if the women were held somewhere before being killed?" Emily questioned.

"The M.E. estimates that each woman was held for 24 to 48 hours before being killed. Each woman was clearly malnourished and hadn't eaten since they were taken." Penelope nodded.

"The report says that the first 3 women were seemingly strangled with a rope or some other strong material, whereas Barbara was strangled manually. This suggests that something about Barbara angered our unsub enough that he wanted to make her kill personal. The M.E. also has noted an extensive list of injuries sustained by each woman, including - but not limited to - cuts with a knife, two small holes scattered around the body from a taser, multiple large bruises." Spencer spoke up, having read through the entire case file.

"Oh, I just got the security footage from 2 of the abduction sites. Warning, the footage is incredibly grainy and all that can be identified are two figures." Penelope warned as she put the videos up on the screen. Both videos played through.

"The footage just confirms what we think. Both of those women were walking in a certain direction, the unsub comes up behind them and knocks them off balance before using - what I presume to be - chloroform to knock them unconscious." Rossi nodded.

"Where were their cars found, Penelope?" Matt asked.

"Here's the thing. The cars can't be seen on the camera footage, although it seems like the women were walking to their cars. Each car was found outside their place of residence, 3 houses and an apartment building." Penelope put up a map with each red dot showing where their cars were found.

"So the unsub knocks them out, drives their cars back to their homes, and leaves their cars but takes the women to a unknown location where he holds them captive?" JJ suggested.

"If our unsub is sticking to his schedule, he could either be looking for his next victim, or have already taken her. We leave in 20." Emily exhaled. Everyone stood up and grabbed their belongings.

"Penelope, please either call or send a message to Y/N, letting her know that she can meet us at Arlington P.D." Emily smiled before leaving the conference room.

With Penelope's attempt to call Y/N ending in getting sent to voicemail, Penelope clicked on her name and started typing.

Penelope: Morning Y/N. The team is heading to Arlington P.D. for our newest case. All of the information we've gotten has been sent to your tablet and Emily wants you to meet them there.