CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS !

10x15

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       THE UNSUB WAS A MAN BURDENED WITH HIS OWN TRAUMA FROM HIS CHILDHOOD. He was going after woman who never stood up for themselves in their abusive relationships. He saw his own mother in the victims. When he was seven years old, his father killed his mother and then killed himself. And he was told to record the interactions between his parents with a cassette player, but when he lost the tapes in a fire, he was trying to recreate what he lost — thus killing the woman he had taken, like how his mother was killed by his father.

       Garcia sent the work and home address to the team. Casey, JJ and Kate had decided to go to the home to figure out what they could find. With the police right behind them, they had made their way into the house.

Kate went to check around the house with the police as Casey checked around the kitchen while JJ checked the basement. Casey had been scoping around the area, with her gun held up and suddenly heard a yell. JJ's yell.

Casey immediately went downstairs and had seen that their unsub had swung a bat at JJ, but she luckily had tried to take him down. "JJ!" Casey yelled. Knowing she didn't have a clear shot and didn't want to risk shooting JJ, she dropped her gun and tackled him once he shoved JJ into a wall. She hopped right on his back as JJ punched him down into the ground and knocking Casey down with him. Casey hit her head on the floorboard and groaned in pain as the man flipped over to try and get Casey down next.

But Casey had punched him square in the face and tried to reach for her gun. He had a hold on her neck and gripped tightly and Casey then kneed him where the sun didn't shine and JJ pulled him off of Casey, who was in a fit of coughs. The man then shoved JJ down along with Casey.

He then took notice as both Casey and JJ try to catch their breaths. He holds a bat up and looks down at the two women. "Scream for me." He ordered as Casey eyed her gun and began to try and reach for it.

Casey successfully grabbed her gun and held it up and shot the man square in the chest. At the same time, another gunshot fired and the man landed down on the ground. As he did, Casey saw that Kate had shot him the exact same time that Casey had. Casey took a breath as JJ helped pull her up.

"You wish."
"Like hell."
Both the women commented as Kate and the police had begun to investigate.

"Do not... tell Spencer about that." Casey told as she stroked her red neck. JJ looked at the woman and sighed, "As long as you don't tell Will." She said. But the women both knew by their marks — on Casey's neck and JJ's head — eventually, they were going to find out.

"We need a medic down here ASAP." The detective told as Casey and JJ then their attention to their victim that had gone missing, Greta. She was taken in front of her son and suffered from an abusive marriage.

JJ knelt to the woman's level in the closet as Casey stood and looked down at the scene. "Greta. Greta, are you okay?" JJ questioned. "Conner?" Greta asked hoarsely about her son. "He's okay," JJ assured. "He's safe. He's safe. I promise. You're gonna be okay. An ambulance is on the way."

Once the team got on the jet, almost everyone was sleeping. Casey had been sitting with Kate and JJ had soon joined them with a cup of tea in her hand. Kate looked like she had something on her mind, Casey had been reading and looked over her sleeping fiancé once in a while.

"How's the head?" Kate asked and Casey looked up to see JJ coming over and sitting next to her. "Oh, I'll survive. Casey, the neck?" JJ asked. "It'll heal in a day's time." Casey shrugged it off.

JJ then looked towards Kate. "What about you?" Kate gave JJ a confused look. "I know that look. Face of a worried mom. What's going on?" Casey had noticed the look as well, but only clearly now that JJ had mentioned it.

Kate sighed and decided to talk to JJ and Casey about it. I mean, after all, they were mothers, they understood. "Meg is going on her first date tonight." She revealed and both JJ and Casey's faces lit up. "Really?" JJ asked. "At thirteen?" Casey followed.

"It's not really-- it's not really a date," Kate shook her head. "It's with boys. But when I was thirteen and I went to the mall to meet boys, it was a date."

"Yeah. Times are a-changin', my friend." JJ comments. "Oh, yes, indeed." Casey adds. Kate closes her eyes. "I just keep reminding myself, it is just the mall."

JJ shakes her head. "I don't think parents are ever ready for their kids to grow up." Kate sighed, "It feels like yesterday she was in diapers."

"Teenagers," JJ shuddered at the thought. "I don't know how my mom survived." Kate shakes her head as she chuckles, "Ooh. Mine either."

"Well, mine was dead," Casey told, hoping the mood doesn't change as she says this. "But I definitely couldn't have been easy on Gideon."

"Well, right now Henry still thinks girls have cooties. So..." JJ tells. "And I'm honestly really glad Christopher came out to be a boy. I don't know how I'd survive with a girl." Casey comments.

"It's only a matter of times before they start crushing, so treasure it." Kate tells the women.

JJ looks over at Casey. "Don't you wish you could just... keep them innocent forever?" She asks. "All the time. It slips my mind just how much Christopher is growing day by day." Casey said, thinking to herself and then looking over at Spencer sleeping.

          Once they had gotten home, Casey and Spencer picked Christopher up from JJ and Will's and headed back to their apartment. While Casey was cleaning the apartment up, Spencer had been getting Christopher ready for bed. Casey had finished cleaning up the dishes finally and headed towards Christopher's bedroom where Spencer had just finished reading him 'Goodnight, Moon'.

         I swear, it's like Christopher will never ever get tired of that book and Spencer will never ever get tired of it being read to him. Casey thought as she leaned against the doorframe, watching Spencer finish the book and Christopher asleep against Spencer's chest.

Spencer had closed the book slowly and carefully and gently pulled Christopher into his arms as he stood up from the rocking chair, kissing his forehead as he carefully placed him inside of his crib. Casey and Spencer had yet to get him his 'big boy bed'.

Casey had come up behind Spencer as he watched his son sleeping, hands in his pockets and all. She wrapped her arms around his torso and looked over his shoulder to also watch their sleeping son. Spencer held onto Casey's arms once she wrapped them around him. She kissed and smiled into his shoulder as she felt him grab onto her.

"He's so lucky to have you." Casey whispered to him, looking down at the sleeping boy. "He's lucky to have you, too." Spencer whispered back to her.

He then turned to Casey and looks her in the eyes as he pulls a strand of hair behind her ear. "How's your head?" He asked. Casey shrugged at the pounding headache. "It's fine now."

"I'm sorry—" Spencer apologized, causing Casey to furrow her eyebrows, which Spencer read as 'what are you sorry for?' "I should've gone with you. Something told me that I should've and I didn't and then you and JJ got hurt and—" Casey interrupts him. "Spence," She cups his face and looks him in the eye. "It's okay," She assures. "Really, we didn't know what we were getting into. Things happen."

Spencer nodded softly and looked back at the boy in the crib. In ways, Christopher always seemed to reassure him and he couldn't speak in proper sentences yet. Casey leaned against Spencer's shoulder as his hand slid towards her waist, holding her there.

Casey sighed, looking down at the boy in the crib. "He was so small a minute ago. It's just like yesterday I was giving birth to him." She thought about the conversation her, Kate and JJ had on the jet. Was Christopher growing up really going to fly by that fast? She had understood her godson growing up fast but it was different now that it was her son.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Spencer began to rub on her soft skin under her shirt. Casey takes a deep breath. "Do you ever think about how his future's gonna turn out?" She turned over to Spencer, who thought for a second and nodded, "All the time."

"What do you think about?" Casey asked curiously. Spencer shrugged for a second and began to list what he thought about regarding Chris's future. "His first time riding a bike, his first day at school, his first time away from home, his first date, his graduation day, his prom, his first day at college, him getting married—" Casey waved a hand, "Okay, you're getting carried away." She chuckled.

The family stayed in that room for a couple of minutes until they decided to go to bed themselves. Once they changed into their pajamas and went under the covers, the couple looked at one another, holding each other's hands.

Spencer began to absentmindedly play with Casey's wedding band on her finger and then looked over to notice Casey smushed lips to the side, she was thinking about something. "Something's on your mind," Spencer spoke, breaking Casey's concentration. "What's wrong?"

Casey shrugged and sighed, "Do you ever feel like something's missing?" She asked and Spencer looked up at the ceiling and thought about it for a second. "Once in a while. Why?" He asked. Casey shrugged, "I don't know."

Casey had had this empty feeling for a while. She could have everything she could possibly want but yet something just felt missing. She'd felt that way for a little while now. And little did she know, Spencer felt that way too. They just didn't know what it was.

"Is this about your siblings?" Spencer figured as he furrowed his eyebrows at his fiancée. "I don't know, maybe." She said. "You should try and get to know them, spend more time with them. I think maybe you need it." Spencer suggested.

He knew that Casey being an only child really affected her as she grew up. She never had anyone besides her uncle and Hotch and Rossi growing up. And for a minute, she was alone. But now, here she was, with a family of her own that she created along with these new siblings she had wanted to get to know. Casey had really wanted to get to know them but it was just always hard to find time.

Casey nods, "Yeah, I think you're right." She tells. A yawn escapes from Spencer's lips and soon enough, a yawn escapes from Casey's lips next and the couple chuckle together. Casey smiles a bit, "I guess that's a sign that we should get some sleep." She says and Spencer nods in agreement.

         Spencer had turned to the side as Casey held onto him, her chest pressed against his back as she held him. A hand interlocked with hers and the two got some shut eye.

the empty is foreshadowing something that's all i'm gonna say on the matter👀

anywayssss
something short and sweet since the last chapter was super long lol

-mya </333