CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN: TOWN PARIAHS !

11x06

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"AFTER YOU, WIFE." Spencer opened the glass doors to the bullpen for his new wife to enter first. Casey nods and smiles as she enters through the doors. "Why, thank you, husband." Casey chuckled as the two headed over to their desks.

"Oh, look, who's back from their honeymoon!" Morgan stated, motioning towards Casey and Spencer as he stood with Tara. The couple had taken a few weeks off so they could take a honeymoon to the Bahamas. "Thought you'd guys be out a few more weeks." Tara told.

"Oh, and leave you guys defenseless against the bad guys? Come on. You can't solve half of our cases without us and Garcia." Casey told.

The two got settled in until they were called in for a case. Of course, on the day they return to work. Casey had currently been showing photos of herself and Spencer at the Bahamas to Vivian. "Oh, that's my dream vacation. How on earth did you guys get to go to the Bahamas? Not on our salaries, certainly." Vivian asks.

"Well, it was actually Rossi's wedding present to us," Casey told, motioning towards Rossi. "Thank you, again, by the way." Rossi smiles a bit, "Don't mention it, Mrs. Reid."

"It is Mrs. Reid now, isn't it?" Morgan asks curiously. Casey takes a seat next to Spencer. "Actually, I'm keeping my last name. Can't afford for us to get confused when you ask for 'Reid'." Spencer shrugs in agreement with Casey as she grabs hold of his hand.

         Garcia comes in and has a scared look on her face. Casey reads into her look and sighs: "How bad?" Garcia looks at them. "Florida."

         "Why is it always Florida?" Casey asked.

         Tara and Hotch are the final ones to walk in as Garcia introduces the case to them. Apparently, there had been a neighborhood or a planned community filled with sex offenders in the state. It disgusted Casey, but she was able to stomach it for the sake of the case.

       "Glenport Village, Florida, houses a wide spectrum of non-violent offenders, crimes ranging from statutory rape to public urination in front of children. No rapists or murderers until now." Spencer explained. "Well, that's a shock." Casey comments.

      "Well, I can tell you one thing. Reverend Santos and his community are dedicated to reform." Tara told. "It says here he went to jail at 18 for impregnating his 15-year-old girlfriend." Rossi read in the file. "Hm, Reverend Santos seems like a saint." Casey comments, sarcastically with a hint of disgust lingering in her voice.

      "Yes, but no offenses since and 40 years and two children later, they're still happily married." Tara stated, coming to the reverend's defense. Vivian and Casey exchange a look and both raise their eyebrows.

       Morgan speaks up next after looking through the file himself. "Am I reading this right? Families with kids live there?"

       "The law requires sexual offenders to live certain distances from bus stops, playgrounds, and schools, but it says nothing about being their neighbors. In most cities that's a legal oversight, but in this one, it was part of the design plan." Spencer explained. "Look, here's some context. In 2009, Reverend Santos was able to buy up a few homes in Barclay Bay using church funds. Now, the real estate was already inexpensive in this area, but when surrounding residents found out that he planned to house sex offenders, there was a mass exodus, so eventually he was able to buy up the rest of the homes and then rename the town." Tara explained.

     "Will he cooperate with us?" Vivian asks. "He's already sending us files on all the residents, past and present." Hotch tells. "This community is a fascinating experiment.
Typically when sex offenders try to reintegrate into society, they're rejected, they're isolated. But this community, sick of the harassment, decided to self-isolate." Tara told.

     "Well, that experiment just backfired." Morgan comments. "Yeah, in a massive way. Two nights ago, authorities found the body of Paige Lincoln in her bathroom. She was stabbed in the chest and the stomach." Garcia explained as Casey's attention was drawn to the screen and to the cheerleader outfit Paige Lincoln was dressed in while her dead body laid in the tub.

      "Yeah, I'm just shocked that the reverend didn't call me immediately." Tara stated. "Well, they had a suspect right away-- her husband, Kyle Lincoln. He was covered in her blood, but his alibi checked out this morning, and the blood was because he was trying to resuscitate her." Garcia explained.

      "And now we have a two-day-old crime scene and a town full of suspects," Hotch said as he grabbed the file. "Wheels up in 30."

       Everyone stood up, getting ready to leave. Hotch, Vivian and Rossi were the first ones to exit. Morgan's attention drew to the bottom of the stairs through the window. And something — or someone, caught his eye.

      "Um, Reid, Casey... you guys might wanna take a look at this." Casey furrows her brows as she makes her way over to the window with her husband beside her. They both look down and see Lennox of all people in the bullpen, near their desks. She's currently arguing with Anderson and certainly drawing in everyone's attention.

       The last time Casey talked to Lennox was a few weeks ago before the wedding. She had assumed that maybe Lennox was moving on since she wasn't responding to her text messages. So it was little strange to see her here.

      "Lennox?" Spencer furrows his brows in confusion. "What is she doing here?" Casey asks and the two decide to exit the conference room to see what's going on.

      "Look, I know Dr. Reid and Agent Willows. Just go find them and tell them. They know me!" Lennox pleaded, trying to stir an argument with Anderson. "You can't be in here." Anderson told. "Listen, you busy-bodied freak, I wanna see Spencer and Casey and I wanna see them now."

     "Anderson, it's okay. She's with us. She's telling the truth." Casey stated and Lennox yanked her arm away from Anderson since he was holding it. "Yeah. Told ya!" Lennox straightens her jacket as Anderson rolls his eyes and walks away. Lennox sighs as she tosses her head towards the man walking away. "Is your security always beefy like that?"

      "Lennox, what are you doing here?" Spencer asks as both him and Casey cross their arms and look at the girl. Lennox pauses as she looks at both of the authority figures in front of her. "Wanted to spend a day with my favorite people." Lennox sheepishly smiles.

      They had taken Lennox into a small office room and Lennox told them them that she had skipped school to go and see them. She figured she hadn't seen or heard from them in a while and she figured that maybe it was time to do. And to tell them what's been going on with her. And hoping that maybe they can help.

     "Lennox, you can't just skip a school day to go and see us." Casey tells. "Do your foster parents even know you're here right now?" Spencer asks.

     "No," Lennox shakes her head. "But they wouldn't care anyways."

    "What do you mean by that?" Casey asks.

     Lennox stands up and paces the room. "I mean, they're horrible. They're rude. They treat me and the other foster kids like crap and make us do chores. I'm practically Cinderella," She continues to pace as she explains her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Struthers practically collects kids and they take it literally anybody and no one has suspected anything of them yet because they act totally normal in front of everyone else.

     As Lennox explained, Casey felt like there was more than what she was letting on. She could tell by her body language and the fact that she kept rubbing her shoulder. She thought it was from when Anderson grabbed her but she had seen it — he didn't grab her that hard. "There's more, isn't there?" Casey asks.

     Lennox looks at Casey and Spencer and she almost regrets coming here. But she's aware of their job and they specialize in reading the movements of people when anxious or happy or sad or afraid. Her shoulder was beginning to hurt again. But she knew that's why she came here. She had to tell them what was going on.

     Lennox had moved her jacket off of her right shoulder and showed the greenish-yellow bruise on her arm. It was a big bruise, big enough that Casey wanted to throw a brick at whoever did this to her. And Spencer's reaction wasn't any better. He looked angry and upset at the same time. They had saved her from her previous lifestyle only to release her into another broken one? "Oh, Lennox." Casey muttered as she examined the bruise.

     The girl immediately pulls her jacket up over her shoulder again. "Uh, the dad gets drunk sometimes. And he hits his wife and I stepped up and he... shoved me into the wall. Thought I dislocated my shoulder. Luckily, I didn't."

     "Why didn't you tell us?" Spencer asks in a whisper, visibly upset at the news he'd just heard. The newlyweds were confused, these new fosters seemed to be so good for her. And it was all a lie?

     "I was going to, I really was. But... they took my phone. Which is total bull because you bought that phone for me and it was my property." Lennox explained. "So that's why you haven't been texting." Casey concludes and Lennox nods. "I remembered you said that you guys worked here. So I looked up the address using the school computer..." Lennox looks down as fiddles with her nails and she sits down. "I didn't know where else to go."

      Both Spencer and Casey look at one another. Spencer approaches the girl, putting a hand on top of hers. "Lennox, we are gonna have to tell your case worker about this—"

     "No, you can't send me back there! You can't." Lennox panics but Casey immediately calms her down. "We won't," She assures. "Okay, that's the last thing we want right now. But we need to tell somebody about this. Before anybody else gets hurt. Do you have your case worker's number?"

      "She's on vacation right now, there's no way you're gonna reach her. Believe me, I've tried." Casey looks at Spencer and then looks back at Lennox. "Well, then you're gonna stay here for the time being until we work things out."

      Before the conversation continues, Garcia walks into the room, knocking and making her presence known. "Uh, fair maiden, boy genius, your flight's leaving in fifteen."

       "Uh, Lennox," The couple and Lennox stand up. "This is our good friend, Penelope. Penelope, you remember us mentioning Lennox." Garcia smiles, "Of course, I do. Hi, honey." Lennox points to Garcia as she turns to Casey. "She's the colorful, wonderful technical analyst I'm assuming." Garcia shakes her head, "Ah, colorful, wonderful. Stop it, you'll make me blush." Garcia jokes, causing a laugh to come out of Lennox.

         "Garcia, why don't you take her to your lair while Casey and I talk for a minute?" Spencer asks and Garcia nods, leading Lennox out of the room. "What other wonderful things have they said about me?"

         Spencer and Casey are left in the room. "What do we do?" Casey asks. "I don't know, but I think calling the case worker might be the best bet." Spencer tells. Casey sighs as she watches Garcia take Lennox across the hall. "That poor girl's been through enough. Now she's getting shoved into walls?" Casey questions. "Yeah, it makes me sick." Spencer stated as he looked down at the ground, not even hiding his disgust from how Lennox was being treated.

        "I think we should reconsider what we thought about with her." Casey told, making Spencer snap his head up to his wife. "Taking her in?" Spencer asks and Casey nods softly. This topic had come up before a few months ago when Lennox started exchanging texts with both of them. And Spencer even suggested that they should go through with it but Casey had figured since they had gotten so busy with Christopher, two kids just seemed like a lot. "But-but you said—"

        Casey interrupts Spencer. "I know," Casey sighs and she thinks to herself. "But this girl has been failed... by so many people in her life. She needs us. She needs guidance. And something is telling me that we'd be the only ones that are capable of giving her that guidance." She explained.

       "I'll talk to her about it, I'll see if maybe she'll consider it." Casey told. Spencer furrows his brows. "You aren't coming on the case?" He asks. "I think she needs someone in her corner right now. And besides, I'm not in the mood to deal with sex offenders in Florida." Casey stated.

       "Okay, I'll let Hotch know." Spencer said as he pulled his wife in for a kiss before leaving the room to get ready to go. Casey had headed towards Garcia's lair, where Lennox settled herself in on her couch.

         Lennox looked around. "You've got some awesome gooey here." She said. "Why, thank you. It's my lair and you're just living in it, babe." Garcia said as she set her computers up. "What do you do here?" Lennox asks, looking over her shoulder.

       "Well, I set up what is needed for the case and when the team needs it, it's at my fingertips." Garcia smirked. "Neat, so you practically the whole team on your back?" Lennox questioned. "For ten, almost eleven years, kiddo."

        Casey walked in with three sodas in her hands and Garcia is confused when she sees Casey enter the room. "Um, aren't you supposed to be on your way to the jet right now?" Garcia questions. "I decided I'm gonna help you from here. We got enough people down there anyways." Casey hands Lennox a soda and then Garcia.

      "Okay, just please tell me you're not gonna be like Spencer when he got shot in the knee and breathe down my neck?" Garcia asks. "Spencer got shot in the knee?" Lennox questions. "I promise." Casey told. "And yes, he did. Like, almost six years ago."

       "Yeah, back when you and him were 'just friends' and not super duper in love with each other just yet." Garcia reminisced on the memories of the blind love Spencer and Casey shared with one another years ago. "We were just friends years ago."

        "And now you're married." Garcia told. "Congratulations, by the way." Lennox tells and Casey smiles, "Thank you."

        After helping Garcia with parameters and leaving about a dozen messages for Lennox's case worker, Casey had immediately come in contact with her and the woman apologized profusely and said she could be at the BAU in the next few hours.

        Casey had even called the agency that placed Lennox with the Struthers to let them know about the situation with them and to get any and all kids out of there as soon as they could. This bastardized agency really could give a rat's ass because they said they'd call back in a few hours when they weren't busy. Casey had called Spencer about this when it happened and was keeping updated with everything.

         Lennox had gone to get a cup of coffee and to stop by the vending machine when Casey had walked in after calling Leah to see how Christopher was doing. "Casey," Garcia spoke and Casey's head snapped up. "There's a call from the agency for you. And apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Struthers want Lennox back."

        Garcia handed the phone to Casey and she immediately put it to her ear. "Who the hell is this?" Garcia watched as Casey had gotten a response. "Well, this is Agent Casey Willows from the FBI and I have reason to believe that Lennox Vega is being abused in that household. And who are you to make decisions for her when her case worker isn't present?"

       The person on the phone seemed to agitate Casey even more. "No, the Struthers practically collect kids, they will take anybody!" This person really seemed to be getting on Casey's nerves and Casey finally had enough. "Listen, listen, I- I want to adopt Lennox. Okay?" Garcia's jaw dropped as soon as she heard Casey say those words.

      "These people don't know her like me and my husband do. They don't know that her favorite food is French fires, they don't know that she has a birthmark in the shape of Texas on her left ankle and they sure as hell don't know how to take care of kids. I have a child, I'm married, very recently, actually. I have a spare bedroom for her in my apartment. She deserves better than anybody else can give her. Now, put on the phone with somebody that can actually care about her."

     Casey's jaw dropped. "Are you laughing at me?" She pulls the phone away from her ear and looks at Garcia. "He's laughing at me. You stupid jerk!" She slammed the phone down and hangs the phone up.

      "Uh, Casey?" Garcia speaks quietly and points towards the door and Casey turns over and realizes that Lennox has overheard the entire conversation. Her jaw had practically dropped to the floor and she's holding muffin bites in her hands along with a water. "I'll, uh, I—" Lennox doesn't continue and she walks away from the room.

       Casey is silent and she turns to Garcia and bows her head towards the desk as she falls to the seat next to Garcia. "How much did she hear?" Casey questions. "Not much, she heard the part where you said you wanted to adopt her."

      
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       Lennox hid herself in a random office in the bullpen. She had thought to herself, sitting on the couch with her headphones in her ears, practically blasting Coldplay after Casey introduced her to it. She couldn't believe she heard what Casey said and knew that Casey couldn't have meant it. She'd heard it from the fosters she had over and over again. But Casey and Spencer, they knew her better than anybody. She was just placed with a shitty agency that liked to place her with shitty people. But now that Lennox was old enough, she could decide where she wanted to go at her own expense. And she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to be placed with Spencer and Casey.

       Casey had searched high-and-low for Lennox. But luckily, skimming through the offices, she found Lennox in Rossi's office and decided to knock before entering. Lennox was shocked to see Casey carrying her son into the room.

       "Hey." Casey spoke quietly as she entered the room. Lennox yanked her headphones out of her ears. "Is that Christopher?" Lennox had never actually seen Christopher before but she knew that Casey and Spencer had a son long before they met her.

      "Yes, it is." Casey sat next to Lennox on the couch. "Lennox, this is Christopher. He's mine and Spencer's. My sister dropped him off about thirty minutes ago." The woman faces her son towards the girl. Christopher, this is Lennox. She's so freaking awesome and cool. Say hi." Christopher babbled out a 'hi' and gave Lennox a chuckle.

       There's a brief pause and Casey looks at Lennox. "I know you heard what I said in there." Lennox looks down. "And I want you to know I meant every word."

Lennox snaps her head up. "Please don't do that." Casey furrows her brows. "Do what?"

"Get my hopes up," Lennox spoke. "I know that you and Spencer are probably the right choice for me. But am I the right choice for you? I mean, why are you even doing this? Out of pity? Out of money? What?" Casey understood Lennox's trust issues had stemmed from trauma over the years. She knew eventually she'd react like this.

"No, absolutely not, Lennox. That's not why we're doing this." Casey stated and Lennox sat back in her seat and didn't look Casey in the eyes. Casey had settled Christopher in her lap and sighed, knowing it time to come out with the truth. "You know, for the past few months, I've been telling Spencer that there's been something missing. And I thought that maybe it was my siblings or the fact that we hadn't gotten married yet. But once I got those things, that void didn't quite fill. And then we met you."

That got Lennox to look over at Casey then and Casey noticed her teary eyes. "And I wasn't quite sure about it, actually. But Spencer... he suggested it. And once it did, it was like some part felt relieved that he did." Casey pulled a Lennox's long dark brown hair behind her ear. "You're the missing puzzle piece we've been looking for, Lennox. And it's about time you get placed with some people that are gonna treat you the way you should be treated."

Lennox bursts into tears and for the first time ever, Casey has seen Lennox in a vulnerable state since she's been found. The last time she'd seen was when they first met. Lennox had leaned on Casey's shoulder and just sobbed. Casey leaned her head on Lennox's and held her for as long as she could.

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It wasn't long until Spencer had got back just in time as Lennox's case worker had gotten there. Currently, Casey and Spencer were talking to Junie Wells, the case worker while Lennox was in the conference room with Garcia and Christopher, along with Tara, Morgan and Vivian to accompany them.

"Now, she's going to be on temporary placement with you two for a few weeks and we're going to see how it goes from there. There will be surprise visits. And I understand with your line of work, you'll probably work something out with that?" Junie asks and both Spencer and Casey vehemently nod.

"Oh, absolutely." Spencer tells. "Anything if it means we get to keep her..." Casey paused. "Have her... take her? I'm trying to make it sound like she's not a dog."

Junie chuckles, "I assure you, Agent Willows, it's alright to feel a little frazzled with adoption. But there's going to processes among processes before you can formerly adopt her. I've notified lawyers about the agency we placed her in and they will definitely be firing some people."

"What about the other kids with the Struthers?" Spencer asks curiously. "Those kids are going to be placed in other foster homes. And Mr. and Mrs. Struthers will be kicked out of the agency, I can assure you that." Junie stated.

It isn't a second later that Casey pops the big question. "So, does this mean we get to take Lennox home tonight?" She asks.

Junie looks up at the conference room. "If she's alright with it." With that, she decided to make her way to conference for Casey and Spencer to chat.

As soon as she walks away, Spencer and Casey embrace each other in a big hug with big smiles on their faces. Spencer twirled her in the air and he put her back down and their foreheads bumped into each other's. "Our girl's coming home with us." Casey says excitedly as she smiles widely. "Our girl. It's a girl!" Spencer chuckles. "We have our boy and our girl." Casey smiles.

Spencer and Casey pull away from each other. "Okay, you and I gotta keep it together or else she won't go home with us." Casey chuckles at the end of her sentence and Spencer takes her hands into his. "I love you, wife." He says. "And I love you, husband." Casey says as she leans in to kiss him.

"Now, let me go give her the news that she's coming home with us." Casey says as she heads towards the stairs. "Hey, not if I do it first!" Spencer shouts as they meet in the middle and the couple rush to the conference room and Lennox snaps her head from Christopher to Casey and Spencer in confusion in why they seem so excited.

Spencer and Casey look at one another before saying it in unison. "We're taking you home." Lennox doesn't say anything, she smiles widely and rushes into a hug with both Spencer and Casey and tears filled her eyes as she held onto them and didn't let go.

Christopher had rushed over to his parents and Casey pulled away from the hug to pick him up and kiss him on the temple. "Our little family..." Casey muttered as they group hugged.

"They are aware they aren't a family quite yet, right?" Hotch mutters over to Vivian. "Oh, let them have their moment." Vivian shakes it off.

idk how adoption works don't judge me
so lennox is a part of the family... for now👀
y'all will see later on why i say that👀👀

y'all after reading that sentence:

one more episode
and then we're hitting four originals in a row!!!
yuppp y'all are being blessed since y'all like my originals lol

anywaysssss
thank you for reading!
i love you all!!
-mya </333