CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: MEG IS MISSING !

10x23

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      CASEY ACTUALLY HAVEN'T HAD PIZZA IN A LONG TIME NOW THAT SHE THOUGHT ABOUT IT. Once in a while, she did but it was rare. Usually, she was the one that cooked or her and Spencer had ordered take-out or ate leftovers. And the minute she had combination pizza, she was in heaven.

      Spencer stood next to her as she sat as she munched on her pizza and he was holding his as he spoke, talking to Morgan and JJ as Kate puked her guts out in the bathroom. "Although the observable universe is continually expanding, there's really no way of knowing if the whole thing is gonna ultimately collapse into one gargantuan black hole." He explained.

      "Wow, there's actually something our little genius doesn't know." Morgan comments. "Little?" Casey chuckled to herself, about to make a joke when all three of them looked at her, amused and she realized she may have spoken too loud. "I'm gonna shut up." She says.

       "I will tell you one thing for sure," Kate spoke, changing the subject as she walked back in the room. "My universe is expanding and it is pretty frickin' stormy." Casey sighed as she scrunched her face up. "Gotta love nausea and vertigo. The 'best' thing about pregnancy." She said, speaking sarcastically.

      "Which is why I got you these." JJ holds up a bottle of ginger ale and saltine crackers. "Yup, JJ always comes in clutch with that type of stuff." Casey nods, pointing to the woman. "You're the best." Kate smiled.

       Kate's phone beeped and she pulled her phone out to check and her eyebrows suddenly furrowed. "You okay, Kate?" Casey asked. "What's up?" JJ asked, noticing as well. "I'm not sure," Kate said. "It's Meg. We have a panic code, 'pepper', and... I just got a text from her saying 'pepp.'" She explained.

      Kate had decided to call her. "Maybe it's just an accident?" JJ assumes. Something in the pit of Casey's stomach told her this wasn't an accident. The line had rung and then Kate pulled her phone away from her face. "Damn it. Straight to voicemail."

      "Meg still acting out?" Morgan asks and Kate doesn't answer and she tries to call someone else instead. "Hi. Caroline, this is Kate. Can I talk to Meg?" There's a pause. "Science project at my house." She said. "I don't know, but they could be in trouble. Can you just conference in Markayla?" There's another long pause. "Okay, stay put. I'm gonna have agents there ASAP."

       Kate hangs up and begin to walk to Garcia's lair to talk to her. Casey, Morgan, JJ and Spencer give one another looks in confusion. Something told them that they would be staying here another few hours. Casey decides to go and tell Hotch about what just happened with Kate and heads upstairs to his office.

        Casey knocks before deciding to open the door and when she opens it, she finds Hotch and Vivian. Hotch is sitting in his chair near his desk and Vivian was sitting on his lap. They were making out by the looks of it. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God!" Casey shrieked as she slapped a hand over her eyes, almost closing the door but still needing to talk to Hotch.

        Vivian had immediately jumped off his lap and straightened herself and Hotch stood up from his seat. "Casey, I am so sorry you had to see that." Vivian apologized. "Easy for you to say, every time Spencer and I do it in the office, the door is locked!" Casey enunciates the last words of her sentence and Hotch clears his throat. "Although, there was that one time Garcia caught us, but that's not the point!"

        "Casey, what-what do you need?" Hotch asks, putting on his blazer. "What do I— oh right! Meg, Kate's niece, she may be in trouble." Vivian and Hotch look at one another. "What do you mean 'in trouble'?" Vivian asks. "I mean, she can't get ahold of her at all type of trouble and she sent part of their panic code to Kate and it was the last thing she sent. Can I open my eyes now?" Casey questioned.

         Erasing the image from her mind, Casey decided to forget about this for the time being as Kate had gathered everyone at the conference room. "Because of our work, I created very strict rules for Meg. That stress code, it was given for a reason." Another agent from a different division had decided to help along with this case because Kate called in for reinforcements. "Canning, I just sent you the GPS coordinates of their last known position. Set up neighborhood canvasses and roadblocks." Hotch ordered.

       "On it." Canning nodded and Garcia looked Kate's way, wanting to give her better news but she couldn't. "It's not good." Garcia shows footage on the screen. "I just got a shot of the girls, uh, from a video feed across the street from the library."

       Kate watches as a car comes up and stops in front of the girls. "Oh, my God." Kate muttered with teary-eyes and Casey stood next to her, rubbing her back soothingly. "Baby girl, capture that plate right there." Morgan tells, noticing the license plate. "I already did. Searching." Garcia nods.

     "And look at the time stamp. I got Meg's text two minutes later." Kate says. Garcia shakes her head, "Okay, plates are stolen and I've got no shot of the driver." Hotch looks over at Canning. "Issue the AMBER Alert with the girls' pictures and the description of the van." Canning makes a call as she walks out of the room.

     "Anything in the girls' email accounts?" Rossi asks. Garcia shakes her head again. "This is really discombobulated. I've got no text data or calls from the cell phone company servers for either of the girls."

      "Okay, so whoever took them planned this and got rid of their texts." Casey says. "We're still up in the air about MO." Morgan says. "Most likely scenario, she was lured via social networking." Spencer spoke. "And they obviously trusted somebody that was in that car." Vivian added. "I'll have Facebook push the AMBER Alert." JJ nods.

     "All right, JJ, you and Dave go to the Davises' and check out Markayla's computer," Hotch told and then looked over at Vivian, Spencer and Morgan. "You three talk to friends." He then looked over at Kate. "And Casey, Garcia and I will come to your house, Kate."

      Casey looks over Spencer's way and nods as he leaves. Kate chokes back a sob and Casey rubs her back again. "Hey, we're gonna find her, okay? We're gonna find them both. And they're gonna be fine, okay? They're gonna be okay." Casey assures. In all truth, she hoped she was telling it but she knew the statistics of abduction cases like these. She wanted so badly to hope for Kate but she was terrified of the outcome.

       The drive to Kate's house wasn't long but it wasn't short either. Hotch had decided to drive there and as soon as they got there, Kate's Chris was informed of the news.  Garcia had set up in Meg's room and Casey pulled up a chair next to the woman as Hotch was making calls.

       "Garcia, can you check Meg and Markayla's class list for boys named Bobby and Tyler?" Kate asks as she and Chris walk in the room. "Yeah." Garcia checks the records and signs, "There's no Robert, Bob, or a Ty either."

       "See? It was a setup." Kate turns over to Chris. "So someone's been stalking our kid?" Chris questioned. "Your being there that night saved them." Kate told and Chris sighed in disbelief. "This can't be happening."

      Kate looks at Chris. "Help the agents with the missing flyers and I'm gonna go through her things." Casey stands up. "I'll help with that." She says as she follows Chris out of the room. "This really can't be happening." The man said, running a hand over his forehead. "We'll find her, Chris." Casey assured.

      As soon as they were getting ready to put up some flyers, Kate walked into the kitchen. "Chris?" Casey turned around as Kate stood behind the two. "What is it?" Chris asks. "I need you to go to the mall and buy another jean jacket." Kate tells and Casey furrows her brows. Chris is just as confused. "Why?" He asks.

     "We're going to use it for the missing flyers to show what Meg was last seen in." Kate told. Casey noticed how out of breath she seemed. "You really think that'll make a difference?" Casey asks.

     "Yes. We use it to reconstruct the--" Casey notices the dizzy look in Kate's eyes. It was the same look she had when she was pregnant with Chris and had dizzy spells. "Kate?" She asks, leaning towards her. "The-the victim..."

     Kate falls forward, ready to pass out but Casey had luckily caught her in time. "Kate— whoa!" Casey held the woman in her arms. "Kate! Kate!" Chris helps Casey prop Kate up. "I got ya." Chris assures. "We gotta get her to a bed." Casey says. "You need to lay down." Chris says and Casey grabs her phone. "I'll call her doctor."

     After Kate had been settled in her room and had talked to her doctor, Casey explained what happened to Hotch and Garcia. The three stood in front of her. "She's okay," Chris assures. "The doctors want her on bed rest for now."

     "Kate, you have to be very careful." Garcia speaks softly. Kate shakes her head. "I need to find Meg." Hotch speaks up next, "You're no good to anyone if you pass out. Garcia will set up video conferencing."

      "Yeah, you and that baby need bed rest and you need to stay off your feet. This has happened to me before. When I was pregnant with Christopher. I had a condition called toxemia." Kate looks down. "Is that he was two weeks early?" She asks. "Probably, I think it's actually what induced my labor with him." Casey tries to joke. She knew that both her and Kate were good at that when something traumatic happened.

      Hotch gets a message on his phone and both Kate and Casey notice the look on his face. "What? What is it?" Kate asks. "Morgan confirmed that the boy that Meg and Markayla went to meet was named Bobby." Hotch told.

      "Do they have his number?" Kate asks and Hotch shakes his head and holds his phone up. "No, just a picture." Kate takes a look at the photo and she has shock written on her face. "What's wrong?" Chris asks. "Do you know that kid?"

      "No," Kate spoke. "But I know who took them."

After explaining to them about what she knew, they decided to bring the team back at the BAU and conferenced in Kate from home so she'd be able to tell them as well. "After we closed the Riverside torso case, I couldn't let it go, so I revisited the crime scenes and starting asking questions." Kate explained.

     "Aaron, you looked at that case, too, and the evidence indicated the torso killer was working alone." Rossi told, looking towards the man as he spoke. "Kate's working a different tangent."

     "I also kept tabs on missing women," Kate said. "There was a female jogger in Modesto, Eileen Banks, categorized as voluntary missing, but oddly killed in a car accident a few weeks later all the way in Maryland. She was never autopsied."

    "How is that related to this?" Canning questioned. "She had been flirting on line with a young new boyfriend before she ran off, but it was the same Bobby in that picture from Sam. It must have been the same group that took the girls." Kate explained.

     "If this is related to that case, then these abductors are mobile." Morgan says. "We'll get an emergency warrant, we'll exhume the jogger's body and do an autopsy." Hotch told. "I'll expedite it with Judge Lynch." Canning told.

      "They were taken because of me," Kate said. "I was getting close." She blamed herself and Rossi shook his head, "You were doing your job, Kate." He said. "It's not your fault." Casey added. "You couldn't have known what would've happened." Vivian also added.

      "The unsub knew that grabbing an FBI agent's daughter would bring a firestorm down upon him." Spencer spoke. "He's an extreme risk-taker." JJ comments.

      "Okay, I got the 411 on this Bobby photo. It originated 6 years ago. Guy's name is Sven Sorensen, from Sweden. He's now 25. He still lives in Europe." Garcia informed. "They used the picture to lure the girls." Kate said as she paced.

       "Whoever did this is most likely not a pedophile, but rather a preferential adult offender and long-term child abductor." Spencer said. "But he targeted the girls." Vivian said. "Yeah, because I was targeting him." Kate stated. Casey had looked at the hopeless woman through the screen. She was worried about her health but she was also worried about Meg. She hopelessly prayed that the girls would be okay.

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        Meg and Markayla didn't know what they were getting themselves into. They just thought that they were meeting a cute guy online. This wasn't what they were expecting. Meg was lucky that Kate taught her everything she needed to know in case of an emergency. Which was why she had a plan. To get Markayla out of there. She knew that the FBI wouldn't stop looking for her in the end due to how her aunt Kate was. Meg knew that their best bet was to get Markayla to get help.

        The other girl heard this. She heard of their plan. She had been in the backseat with the man that drugged them into unconsciousness. The girl looked around their age, like she hadn't been taken care of properly. She was timid but she held her ground. Meg had heard of things like this from Kate. About girls that were abducted and subdued by their abductor to do anything they wanted so they weren't hurt. A form of Stockholm Syndrome. But she also knew that she couldn't be so trusting. That was until the girl said that she would be distracting the people that took them so they could both run off for help.

          Meg didn't know what to do. Could she trust this girl? But it was like the girl read her mind. The girl knew she'd be punished but assured them that they wouldn't do anything she couldn't handle if they were to run off and get help. The plan was simple. The girl, who Meg didn't even know, would help them get out of here.

        The car pulled up beside ten feet away from another car. Paige and Kyle would be talking to Him and she would give a signal for the girls to be ready. The trunk opened and he looked at them. That hunger in his eyes. It disgusted her.

      "They're perfect," He gave a look to Kyle. "And no visible bruising." Kyle threw a dastardly smirk at the man. "You're learning." Kyle spoke next, "I know what I'm doing."

      Kyle pulled the two girls out and the girl gave a slight nod to both of them. Silently cursing at herself, the girl jerked her knee towards the man and sat right on top of him. "Run! Run!" She screamed at the two girls.

       Kyle threw the girl off of him in a haste and smacked her across the face as he ordered him to go and chase after the two girls. He kicked her across the stomach and questioned her. Why he kept her. Why he shouldn't just feed her to the wolves like the rest of them. Paige stepped in, trying to get him to stop until he pushed her down, as well and ran after Kyle to go and help catch the girls. Paige was crying but the girl smiled, she knew that she got two girls out of this situation. The feeling in the pit of her stomach went away.

        But it came back once he had come back with the girl that she heard her friend call Meg. She tried to fight against him but it was no use. Kyle never returned either.

         So much for trying to do the right thing. The girl thought as she made her back into the car somberly.

         Praying didn't do her much good. Her entire life was filled with wasted promises, no shelter, men using her at every turn. It was like the monsters would never go away. She didn't want to subject these girls to that. They probably couldn't handle it as well as she did. And that's saying a lot since they were both definitely the same age. The girl pulled her knees up to her chest and Meg looked her as she sat in the back of the trunk with her. "Thank you," Meg told and the girl looked up. "For trying to save us. Markayla's gonna find help. I know she will."

         The girl took a deep breath and she looked outside as the car was drawing away from the road. "I'm Meg," The girl in front of her introduced herself. "What's your name?"

         The girl gulped. She was never asked this question. Usually, they were the ones telling her what she was called. But she knew deep down who she was. It said so in the locket that was around her neck. Inside the unclasped heart, the girl looked up as she uttered six letters: "Lennox."

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       Markayla found help and was reunited with her mother. When she was ready, JJ and Casey were already at the hospital, ready to ask questions. Markayla hyperventilated as she held onto her mother's hand tightly. "He killed them. He killed them right in front of me."

       "Markayla, take a deep breath, okay?" The girl nodded and a sigh escaped from her lips. "You're safe." JJ paused before continuing. "But we need to know, who were you meeting at the library?" She asks and Casey notices Kate's on speaker, listening into the conversation.

       "It was supposed to be Bobby," Markayla told. "We were talking to him for a few months online. He seemed so cool. He said he had tickets to the 4for1 concert tonight, but he got stuck at work, so his mom picked us up instead."

      "And she was driving the van?" Casey asks.

      "Yes," Markayla said. "And she seemed nice, too, until we started asking about Bobby."
       "And what did she do?" JJ said.
       "She locked the doors. Suddenly, this guy popped up from the back and stabbed us in the neck."

        "Can you describe either of them?" Canning asked. "They were white with brown hair. The creepy guy they gave us to had a wide face."

        "I'll get a sketch artist." Canning said but Markayla spoke up again. "And there was another girl there. Our age." Everyone grew silent in the room. There was another girl involved? Casey furrowed her brows as she looked over at JJ. "What do you mean another girl?" Casey asks.

        Markayla shook her head as she spoke. "She tried to help get me and Meg out of there. But the guy with the wide face... he caught her and—" The girl took another deep breath. "We had a plan." She called herself.

       "What was the plan?" JJ asks. "The girl would distract them while Meg and I ran off." Casey furrowed her brows. "Did the older man say anything about where he was taking you?"

       Markayla shook her head. "No, he just said he had plans for us. And then we ran. And that's when he shot the younger guy for losing me. And Meg popped out from the bushes and he took her. I didn't want her to leave, but she said you guys would never stop looking for her. That's what she said. That's what she said." The girl sobbed into her mother's arm and JJ looked over at Casey.

        JJ walked out of the room and soon after Casey talked to Markayla's mom, she told JJ that she'd be calling the team back at the BAU. "Hotch, there was another girl with Meg and Markayla." Casey informed. "What do you mean?" He asks. "I mean, Meg and Markayla came across this girl that they had never met before and she was helping our unsubs but she was also helping Meg and Markayla get away."

       "She's with our unsubs?" Morgan asks. "A twelve year old accomplice? That's a stretch." Rossi commented. "Maybe not an accomplice but someone who's just trying to survive? Markayla mentioned that she was distracting the unsubs all while helping Meg and Markayla get out of there." Casey explained.

        "She was trying to protect them." Vivian pointed out. "She could've been born into this life." Hotch spoke up next, "Well, here's our goal: find Meg, we find the girl." Before Casey thought Hotch hung up, it was evident that he took his phone to his ear and it was just the two of them now "Casey, I want you to go over to Kate's. Ease her mind. I think she may need someone right now." Hotch told and Casey nodded and answered: "Of course. Got it, boss."

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       The sun was just now rising as Casey had gone to Kate's house. She was greeted by Chris at the door and Casey had walked into their bedroom, seeing as Kate had shut off the TV in front of her. The news was blaring the story everywhere. Casey knocked, getting the attention of Kate. Casey held up a bag of powdered donuts for Kate. "I come bearing gifts." She spoke.

       Kate sighed as Casey placed the bag of donuts at the bedside table, knowing that Kate couldn't eat at a time like this. Casey knew she wouldn't. "Chris said there have been no ransom calls at all. We've got flyers all the way up to Massachusetts." Casey told.

       "I just got off the phone with Garcia. She's checked every sex trafficking website and nothing." Kate sighed and tears sprung at her eyelids. "This is all my fault. I promised Liz that I would protect Meg and look what happened."

       "Kate, don't do that," Casey spoke. "Don't do that. That's just gonna make everything worse, blaming yourself." Kate shook her head, "She never even told me that she liked a boy."

        "Kate, she's thirteen. It's easy to fall for something like that when you're young." Casey noticed Kate's face fall and she covered her mouth and swallowed. "You okay?" She asked. "My stomach." Kate groaned.

        Casey grabbed Kate by the shoulders. "Hey, I need you to listen to me right now." She spoke softly. "Meg is smart. She's gonna get out of this because of what you taught her. You taught her how to be a fighter. How to handle something like this. She's gonna get out of it. And so help me God I will kill the son of a bitch that lays a hand on her. I promise, we are gonna find her." Kate pulled Casey into a hug and Casey held as tight as Kate's baby bump would let her. Casey made a promise that she find the girl. And she knew she had to live up to it.

        Helping Kate on the sidelines, the team informed them of what they were finding along the way. Garcia was looking through sex trafficking websites and came up with zilch. Casey had been making some coffee after offering to when Vivian had called Casey. "Yeah?" She asked as soon as she answered.

         "Willows, Garcia ran Markayla's sketch of the girl and came up with nothing. It's like this girl never even existed. But we found something else." Vivian told. "Hit me." Casey said. "The girl that Markayla described just landed in the hospital as a Jane Doe. She's alive and breathing." Casey's eyes widen and she nearly dropped her phone.

         "Which hospital?" Casey asks. "St. Margo's. Hotch is sending Reid over there. You should go with, too. She may respond better to both of you." Casey hangs up and tells Kate she'll be coming back later but she had other business to attend to.

          To her luck, Casey had arrived at the hospital at the same time as Spencer. They had come across a doctor, both flashing their badges and ask for a Jane Doe that had come in. The doctor explained her conditions she had undergone and once they arrived at the room, Casey and Spencer were met with darkness. One light shone in the room away from the girl.

          The doctor excused himself and Casey and Spencer walked into the room. The girl had bruises on her face and arms. Scratches and scars on her legs and her long hair was matted and wavy. As soon as she saw the agents in the room, she tucked her head to her knees. "Hey, sweetie." Spencer started, keeping a distance between himself and the girl. "I'm Spencer... this is Casey." He introduced and Casey threw a wave at the girl. "Hi, honey." Casey smiled a bit. "We're, uh, we're with the FBI."

       "FBI?" The girl's head peeked up. "Like the police?" She asks. "Yeah, kinda." Deciding to test the waters, Spencer tried to step closer but the girl flinched away towards the edge of the hospital bed.

       Spencer backed away and Casey inserted herself in between the two. Perhaps a woman would be more trusting to handle in her situation. And Casey hopes her situation wasn't as bad as she was predicting right now.

      "Hey, it's okay. It's okay." Casey assures. "You can trust us. We're not to hurt you. We stop the bad guys. Like the ones that had you and did this to you."

      Casey sits at the edge of the bed, waiting to stand up at any minute if the girl told her to. "And if one of them were to come through that door, they'd have through us first. We're not letting anything bad happen to you."

      The girl took a deep breath and looked at the couple. "You promise?" She asks. Casey nods as she whispers, "Yeah." The girl closes her eyes. "Can you say it?" Tears are flowing through her eyes. Casey looks down and nods, "I promise." She then turns around towards Spencer, who decides to kneel on the floor next to Casey on the bed.
     "We promise." Spencer clarified.

     Silence coveted the room and Spencer spoke up again. "Can you tell us your name?" He asks. The girl pulls a necklace from out of her hospital gown and pulls it off from around her neck and originally held it out to Spencer before deciding to hand it off to Casey. Spencer knew that this girl was gonna take her time and he was willing to wait.

      Casey had looked at the golden locket and unclasped the heart shaped away from each other. Inside, six letters fit tinily. "Lennox?" The girl throws a small timid smile her way and nods slightly. "That's a beautiful name." Casey smiled, causing Lennox to smile a bit more.

      "You know, the meaning of the name Lennox is associated with peace, calm, and serenity. It's a name that suggests stability and comfort. The name Lennox is of Scottish origin and is derived from the place name Levenach, which means "place of calm or place of elms". The name was originally used as a surname and became popular as a first name in the late 20th century." Spencer explained.

       Lennox turns towards Spencer with a furrowed brow.  "How'd you know all that?" She asks, amazed at the knowledge she had just learned from her name. "He just kinda knows stuff." Casey smiles down at her fiancé.

       Silence filled the room again and the only thing that was heard was the growling stomach of the girl in front of them.
"You hungry?" Casey asks, looking at the girl holding her stomach. "A-A little." The girl sheepishly admits quietly.

     Casey thought for a moment. "Lennox, do you have a favorite food by any chance?" She asks. Lennox pauses, thinking about the last time she even ate. "Uh, sometimes, they'd give me leftover fries from the bottom of the bag."

     Spencer and Casey's hearts both break at this discovery and they look at one another sadly. What had this girl been through? Keeping their composure together, Casey spoke up again and put on her cool mom voice. "Can I tell you something?" Casey asks and leans a bit forward. "I love French fries, too. So how about we get a whole tray of French fries and a burger to fill you up?"

     Lennox's eyes widen and her mouth waters at the thought of actual food. "A burger?" Lennox questions, almost in disbelief. Casey nods, "A burger." Lennox hesitates before deciding that she was in control now. He wasn't there to put her through harm again and even if he was, she was gonna take advantage of this moment while she still could. "That's sounds really good." Lennox admits.

     Casey looks down at Spencer, who's already standing up. "Spencer, do you mind—?" The man holds his phone up to his ear and smiles: "Not at all." He leaves Lennox and Casey along in the room but not before calling a nearby burger place so Casey and Lennox could eat and also texting Garcia to look up any info on a missing girl named Lennox. It shouldn't be too hard, her name is rare, he told Garcia. He peeked back in the room and saw how Casey was attempting to get the girl to open up. And luckily enough, she was opening up.

      Thirty minutes later, Spencer showed up with two burgers and a large tray of fries for Lennox to eat. The girl had been practically vacuuming up her burger, eating and not leaving any room to breathe. She ate the burger like it was her last meal in the entire world.

      Realizing that the girl may subject herself to heartburn, Casey looked at the girl. "Hey, you can slow down," She assured. "It's not going away any time soon."

      "I know," Lennox spoke. "It's just been a really long time." She admitted.

      Lennox had then opened up after Spencer and Casey continued to ask questions, wondering why the man let her go. Lennox had explained that the man let her go after he beat her to a pulp and that Paige practically begged that the man take her to the hospital. So she was dropped off there and was threatened that if she said anything, Meg would be dead. But now Lennox knew that was a lie. She was safe, now that she had two agents right with her. She explained how she tried to get Meg and Markayla out of there and was blessed to hear that Markayla was alive and she feared for the safety of Meg. Seeing that it was getting to her, Spencer tried to change the subject and Lennox then changed the subject herself.

      There's a pause as Lennox takes notice of the ring on Casey's ring finger. "So, how long have you two been married?" She asks. Spencer and Casey look at one another, wondering how she may have figured out that they were together. "I noticed the ring on your finger." Lennox revealed.

      Casey looks down at her ring as she fiddles with it. "We're engaged, actually." Spencer corrects. "But we practically are." Casey added.
      "Then, how long have you been engaged for?" Lennox asks. "Almost two years, five months and eleven days." Spencer answers. "And you just know that?" Lennox asks. "What are you, a robot?"

       Before Casey can make a comment, Spencer's cell begins to ring and he checks the ID and tells Casey with his eyes that it's urgent. Casey looks back at Lennox and assures her that they will both be right back. "You're both coming back, right?" She asks and Casey nods, "We'll be right outside the door."

       As she does, Casey's heartstrings tug. This girl was what, twelve and practically had a soft spot for Casey and Spencer already. She would never have opened up for other people the way she did with them. And Casey couldn't help but feel attached to this girl from the first conversation. This girl had been through hell and back yet she remained strong and Casey respected that. She held her guard up at any given moment. Spencer had felt himself growing to like this girl, too. She was young and was practically afraid of everything and wondered about the world around her since she'd last seen it. Spencer wanted nothing more than to tell her the facts about the current world and how magical and good it could all be even with the bad she'd experienced.

       With that, Casey and Spencer leave the room and Spencer answered his cell. "What's up, Garcia?" Casey started.

      "Okay, I did what the boy wonder suggested and I dug through the name Lennox and unfortunately couldn't find anything but I did this; I received the photo that you, fair maiden, took of Lennox when she was showing you her bruises and ran her photo and cross referenced it with older 30 something year-olds and I found a 97% DNA match to an Olivia Vega. She was sixteen when she had fallen pregnant with Little Lennox. She had a sealed birth certificate which was why I couldn't find anything on her." Garcia explained. "Now, given the family history, oh, Casey, you might find yourself relating to this girl."

      Casey furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?" She asks.

      "Little Lennox's father was arrested when Olivia was pregnant and he is in federal state prison where he's carrying out a 25 year sentence for... oh." There's a disgusted pause from Garcia. "What is it?" Spencer asks.
      "He's serving his sentence for sexual assault against a minor. Three guesses on who the minor was."
      "Olivia." Casey answered.

      "Yeah, when Olivia was sixteen, mother and father died and then this creep came along and took advantage of her."  Garcia explained. "What happened to Olivia?" Spencer asks.

      "She died when Lennox turned two," Garcia said as she pulled up a death certificate. "Her body was found in an alleyway and she was in possession of heroin."
      "No family took Lennox in?" Casey asks. "I'm digging into that right now as we speak but at a hospital, Little Lennox was found until one day, she just vanished."

     "The unsub or his helpers probably took her." Spencer said and Casey turned back over to the girl, eating her fries, unaware that Casey and Spencer just found out about her past. "Poor Lennox. She never had a chance."

━━━━━━

       Hours had passed and more conversations brewed with the three. Spencer liked talking to Lennox about the interesting things about her name and she liked listening from what Casey had gathered. There were times Lennox talked to Casey, too, asking her what the world was like now. The real world. Casey happily explained it, discarding some bad things about it because Lennox had heard too much and had seen too many bad things.

Casey had gotten a call from her boss that they had found who had taken Meg, Markayla and Lennox. Meg was sold to a serial and the man had taken them was a man named Alex Zorgen. And the woman that Lennox knew, Paige, was also taken into custody with him. Casey told Hotch she was coming back and going to question them as much as she could. She told Spencer to stay with Lennox so that she wouldn't be left alone.

Casey had gone back to the BAU and Vivian and JJ practically held her back from going to speak to Alex Zorgen. It was then that JJ had spoke to the girl once she calmed down and Rossi and Hotch exited the interrogation room. "Well, Garcia found something," JJ informed everyone around her. "Turns out Paige's real name was Donna Mangold. She was abducted 22 years ago."

"So we were right. She's trauma bonded." Rossi stated. "We just need to break that bond." Vivian told. JJ had decided to conference in Kate. "Hey, Kate, so we just found out the female partner was abducted by Alex, but she's not talking."

"Does she know that Alex killed her partner?" Kate asks. "No, but we should use that. They could have been close." JJ stated. "So what bond is stronger than all of this?" Kate asks and Casey looks at JJ, "Mother and child." She says.

"Exactly," Kate said. "You're gonna have to build a rapport with Paige and then use it. That's my little girl out there. Every second she's with this sick freak, she's just buying time."

"We're gonna find her, Kate." JJ assured. "Please don't hold back." Kate hung up and Casey and JJ looked at one another and it was then that Hotch had ordered for both Casey and JJ to talk to Paige. Two mothers could get into this mother's head, from what Hotch could gather.

The two women walked in and sat in front of Paige, JJ holding a file and settling in with Casey by her side. "Hi, Paige. I'm Casey Willows with the FBI. And I know what you're going through, Paige." Casey introduced and got right to the point. "You're scared. You feel hopeless. You don't even know who to trust. Alex took you a long time ago. He did horrible things to you. And to Lennox. He raped you, tortured you. Maybe even did worse things that that. Then all of a sudden, he'd be nice—"

"Shut up, you don't know him." Paige spat and that's when JJ spoke next. "Your life was literally dependent on him. So you eventually did whatever he asked you to do. Cleaned, cooked, helped with his abductions. In your mind, your past life was lost. But you had the one person you loved most with you."

JJ opened the file in front of her with teary eyes and showed her the photos of her son, who was killed at the hands of Alex. "No..." Paige sobbed. "Kyle."

"We checked hospital and dental records and couldn't find any info. Kyle was your son."
"He was our son." Paige corrected, mentioning Alex.

"That's what's so confusing about it, Paige," Casey told. "What father kills his own child? Hurts his own child?" JJ spoke up, "How could he-- how could he do that to a mother?"

Paige continued to cry. "Parents that kill their children are monsters." JJ added. "Now, you were under duress when you helped him, but my best friend's daughter is gonna die if you don't help us right now." Casey pushed.

"Who bought Meg, Paige? Where is she?" JJ questioned. And then, Paige gave in. "He's one of Alex's best clients. He does... unspeakable things. And then he spreads the body parts in the Potomac."

"Where does he live?" JJ asks as Casey grabs her phone and heads out to get in contact with Spencer. He immediately answers and Casey asks Spencer to ask if Lennox knew any of Zorgen's best clients. Lennox had one name come to mind once she was asked the question.

━━━━━━

In the end, Colin Dupley was taken down, Paige admitted all of Zorgen's best clients and what they had done and the team took them down one by one. But the most important news was that Meg was saved and was back in the safety of her own home. After this hectic and insane case, Casey had headed back to the hospital and revealed to Lennox that she was safe and so was Meg. Kate had Meg go to the hospital to get checked out and after she was, Meg was reunited with Lennox and they thanked each other.

Spencer had gone back to the BAU and Casey had stayed with Lennox for a couple of hours until a social worker had come by and offered to stay with her. Lennox had an aunt but she never answered her calls. They would try again. Casey knew the social worker so she trusted her and also posed a few agents to stay with Lennox for the night as well so she felt safe.

Casey had gone back to BAU and plopped down in her chair as she let out a breath of fresh air. The silence was replaced by footsteps walking towards her. "Hey, you're back." Her fiancé, Spencer. "Hey." Casey yawned.

"You okay?" Spencer asks. Casey nods, "Yeah. Uh, a social worker decided to stay with Lennox for the night. I have a couple of officers staying there too." Spencer raised his brows. "You gonna go and visit her tomorrow?" He asks and Casey nods, "Yeah, I might." Spencer shrugs, "If you don't mind, I'd like to come with." Casey smiles, "Of course."

Spencer was sitting on Casey's desk as she sat in her chair, he caressed her face with one hand and leaned down and they met in the middle to peck each other on the lips. Casey took a breath and Spencer removed his hand. "That poor girl," Casey thought. "She's only twelve. And she's been through a lot. When I was twelve, I made the decision to never speak to my father again. But she's twelve and her dad is locked up and her mother is dead." Casey looked up at Spencer. "She's got no one. I gotta be there for her. Something tells me I should." Spencer nodded in understanding.

The two then noticed JJ sitting at her desk and the saltine crackers she'd had for Kate were on her desk and she had bitten into one. Casey furrows her brows in confusion and the couple look at one another and Casey stood up as they both began to walk over to her desk. "Not you, too." Spencer spoke up as JJ turned her chair over to the couple.

"Wait, are you— is she— are you—?" Casey questioned, pointing to JJ, then to Spencer, then back at JJ. "Are we getting another godson?"

JJ smiles a bit and shrugged, "Possibly." Both Casey and Spencer's jaws drop in happiness. "Maybe a goddaughter."

Spencer is the first to go in for a hug to give to JJ and then Casey jumps in for one next. It felt like it was just yesterday she was announcing her pregnancy with Henry to the team. And now, here she was, pregnant again and practically glowing. "I'm so happy for you!" She then points to JJ's stomach. "And you!"

━━━━━━

Two weeks had passed and Spencer and Casey were over visiting Lennox almost every single day. Even thought they both hated hospitals, Lennox wasn't ready to leave until her social worker said that she would be getting placed in a foster home. She was upset but Spencer and Casey assured her that they would be there for her every step of the way, even resorted to giving her their numbers with a new cell phone that was bought for her. Spencer insisted.

The team had all been taking time off since what happened with Meg — it was beneficial and very well needed. Casey felt like she hadn't had a good night's sleep all year. So much had happened from Christopher's first birthday to Gideon dying to her finding out she had half-siblings to finding out that Rossi had a daughter of his own and that Vivian and Hotch were in a relationship. So much has been gained and lost.

Casey had decided to come in for work, wanting to do a least a little bit of research about something before deciding to talk to Spencer about it. As soon as she walked through the elevator, she was met with Kate at the bullpen. "Kate?" Casey asked and Kate smiled towards the woman. "Hey."

"Hey," Casey greeted. "What are you doing here? You coming back to work?" She asks. "Not exactly," Kate told, remembering that she just put in her letter of resignation to Hotch just a few minutes ago. "How are you doing?" Kate decided to ask before Casey asked any more questions.

"Uh, good, good. How's Meg? And you and the baby?" Casey asks. Kate pats her stomach, "We're doing good. We're all doing good. How's that girl, Lennox? Meg won't stop asking about her."

"I actually just came from seeing her," Casey told. "She's being released from the hospital tomorrow. She's being placed into a foster home. Spencer and I have been visiting her a lot actually."

Kate nods, "That's good. She needs that." Kate then wondered what Casey was doing here. "But what are you doing here? Isn't this your week off with the rest of the team?"

Casey nods, "Yeah, but, uh, I need a little getaway every once in a while and with Lennox leaving, I hate saying goodbye."

Kate pauses and Casey reads the look on her face. It's a sad yet hopeful one and it's the look Emily had given Casey before she decided to leave the BAU a few years back. And the look Blake gave her when she talked about Ethan. Casey knew what that look was. She'd gotten it over a million times. "You're saying goodbye, aren't you?" Casey states and Kate's breath hitches in her throat.

"I was gonna call you and Spencer over for dinner to tell you guys." Kate reveals, knowing she couldn't leave without saying goodbye to them first. Casey smiles a bit. "When Meg was younger and her parents died, I took a year off before going back to the Sex Crimes Unit. I think I should do that for this one, too." Kate rubs her belly and Casey smiles again. "That's good. You're doing the one thing I could never ever see myself doing. I love this job and the people in it."

Kate nods, "I do too, which is why it's really hard to say goodbye right now."

With that, Casey pulled Kate in for a hug and held onto her. Since the first day at the academy, Casey had known that Kate Callahan was her platonic soulmate. Her best friend in every single universe. It was hard to say goodbye. And she hated it, but she knew Kate had her own life ahead and that she was doing something good. "I'm so gonna miss you," Casey said, trying not to cry. "Take care of yourself. And that baby. Seriously."

They finally pull away and Casey points to Kate. "And hey, shoot me a text as soon as you give birth to that thing. I want a play date."
Kate chuckles, "Will do."

Kate then holds her hands out and for old time's sake, they practice their memorized groovy handshake. It was amazing how they both still remembered it. Kate then made her way towards the elevator and Casey smiled and waved.

     "Bye, Callahan."
     "See ya, Willows."

BRO I FRICKING LOVED KATE SO MUCH AND WAS UPSET TO SEE HER GO :(

butttttt onto SEASON 11!!!
SO MUCH HAPPENS IN THIS SEASON AND IM SCARED FOR ITTTT

but it's weird to think that after season 11 and season 12, this book is done- and then we're onto the third book! kind of not excited for what's coming butttt y'all fasten your seatbelts it's about to be a bumpy ride

casey literally this entire season:

me when y'all think casey and kate's relationship was JUST platonic:

LMAOOOO IF THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS REAL DONT TELL ME Y'ALL WOULDNT THINK THAT😭😭

anywayssss
thank you for reading
and i cannot wait to share more memes with you
and i cannot wait for y'all to read more
i love you *mwah*
-mya </333