chapter twelve

Shots fired in the shooting range where Nina and Erin went for a round. As soon as Nina finished hers, she peered over quite impressed with her friend's results. The woman dropped her gun and exhausted a huff while removing the noise canceling headphones. "Federal task isn't like Intelligence. They're slick." She mentioned out of the sheer of nerves radiating.

Nina supported the idea of taking the opportunity into the federal task force when Erin first brought it up. To be recruited is a dream for anyone in this field. Let alone be recognized for the hard work paid off, especially for the brunette who has strived through obstacles that is her life.

"True. You're just anxious stepping into this new job, Erin." The raven-haired woman noted the weary expression on the brunette's face. "Everyone is nervous going into a new job or place. Take myself for example, remember when I was a nervous wreck before my first case with the BAU unit? I threw up prior to entering the private jet."

She narrowed, "I've known you for many years, and you've gone beyond anyone's expectations. Just keep your head down and work hard as usual."

Erin formed a small smile by the woman's assurance, "This is the right move for me, right?"

"Of course!" Nina exclaimed. "They wouldn't have gone through the lengths to recruit you. Now, let's finish this last round because I'm starving." She swiftly turned into her lane and placed her noise canceling headphones on.

Meanwhile, the brunette shook her head and pressed her lips together before doing the same. Both women raised their guns and began shooting towards their targets.

"Guess who I ran into the other day?" Nina enthused as the duo were settled in a booth at a diner after finishing up at the shooting range. "Darren Townes." She curved her lips into a smirk to see any reaction spark from her friend sitting across the table. 

Back in high school, as Nina's name flown with the popular crowd. She crossed paths with Darren Townes an all-around athlete at the school and good friend of hers. He wasn't a typical asshole type of jock. He actually had a heart of gold. One of the reasons many girls were head over heels for him, pretty cliché. Erin wasn't entertained about the jock and the parade that trailed after him. Until a day in History class the two were partnered for a small activity. After exchanging banter with the boy, she became one of those girls falling for him. While baffled over this crush, Nina found it adorable being her friend's first one. 

However, Erin completely swept it under the rug. She believed Darren wouldn't like her along with her baggage. More to the fact she had been bullied due to her background story unveiled. Despite Darren remaining friendly with Erin, she intended to keep her feelings tucked away.

Unfortunately, it became more difficult when they ended up at the police academy. Nina may have called it fate, yet Erin argued against it. Fantasizing about romance deemed to be something that never plagued her mind considering she didn't have healthy relationships to witness growing up. Bunny dated around, bringing these low life guys home like her abusive stepdad at the time.

Throughout the academy, Darren and Erin were quite competitive and fond of each other. Once graduating and working patrol, he received an offer across the country to work for a Narcotics unit. The night in celebrating this major milestone at a bar with friends, the latter hooked up ending the anticipation of their secretive and lingering feelings for one another.

"He's back in town?" Erin held a priceless expression at the mention of her high school crush.

Nina hummed in response, "I ran into him at the market yesterday. Still hot by the way." She winked.

Erin ignored the last comment, "I bet he's in town just to visit his parents or something." She leaned back and stirred her drink.

"Oh no, he told me that he's here for good." She saw her friend share a confused look. "Uncle Hank called him with an offer to replace you in the Intelligence Unit. He's still leaving a spot for Kim as well. I thought you would be a bit happy, Erin. This is a big deal and I think it's-"

"Don't say it."

Her friend leaned forward, "Fate!" She lightly tapped the tip of the brunette's nose out in delight. "Come on. You two finally hooked up before he left, now he's back for good. Plus, you don't have to deal with breaking uncle Hank's rules in the Intelligence Unit too. Everything seems to lay out for you, huh? He even asked about you."

Erin shook her head, fighting off a grin. "Darren Townes was just a one-time thing to get over my crush from high school." She dipped her fry into her ketchup. "Besides, I can't deal with any distractions while starting my new job. And, speaking of distractions...what's going on with you and my former partner Jay Halstead?" She intrigued.

"You mean a great distraction?" Nina challenged with a smirk. "We're friends with benefits, so it's been fun. Nothing much to add on."

Jay opened his door revealing Nina who pushed through with her luggage and into the apartment. The second he closed the door; a pair of hands cupped his face and soft lips smashed into his roughly. He soon kissed back until she pulled away, "Hey, I don't have to be at the airport yet. Let's make this count, yeah?" She heaved before connecting their lips once again.

Their feet shuffled on the wooden floor as Jay made his hands useful to roam around Nina's body. He pressed his lips harder upon hearing the slight moans eliciting from her mouth. The two moved in sync guiding themselves into his bedroom, leading Nina to fall back on his bed. She watched the man sporting a smirk whisking his shirt off causing her to bite down her lip.

He chuckled and tugged her legs closer to the edge of his bed where he walked in between. In the midst of the sexual tension growing between them. Nina propped herself by her elbows enveloping a playful grin then reached the hem of her shirt to throw onto the floor. Her challenging expression merely aroused the brunette. He dove in for a sloppy yet passionate kiss to which led them entangled underneath the sheets.

"You sure you don't want me to drop you off?" Jay stood in the open doorway with a cold beer bottle he grabbed out of his fridge. He lowered his gaze at the woman slipping into her boots for her departure to the airport. 

She lifted her eyes to meet his piercing blue ones. "I already planned on taking a cab. I'll be fine."

"I understand we're friends with benefits, but I don't seem to benefit when I rarely get to see you." He commented in a casual tone, taking a swig from his beer. 

"Okay then? What about me?" She quirked her brow at him as she continued to slide her foot into her boot. "Who's the one putting in all the effort by taking flights here? You haven't paid your dues besides keeping me warm in bed."

"Your family lives here." He shrugged. "But you're right, we could use a different scenery. Maybe show me around and meet more members of your team." He mused at the idea as each encounter with her has been compelled him to learn more about her. 

Nina lightly nodded, rising to her feet and meeting Jay halfway in the room. "Of course, introduce you as my friend. They don't need to know anything further." She bit her bottom lip while sliding her hands onto his bare arms, scanning at his shirtless body. 

A chuckle erupted from Jay's lips when Nina's phone rang in her pocket. Her eyes remained intact with the man's while picking up her phone. "My ride is here. Just in time." She stepped away to grab her luggage. "Thanks for killing time with me. I'll talk to you soon." She went up to him and pressed a blissful kiss onto his lips. 

"What are friends for?" He licked his lips, staring down at the woman before she swiftly pivoted towards the exit of his apartment. His eyes never left her body until she disappeared through his front door. 

"Someone is glowing." Derek sang out with a smirk spreading his mouth as he leaned onto the counter in the break room. He noticed this newfound light in Nina's aura for the past month or so. Nothing you could get passed by working with profilers. 

Nina rolled her eyes in the middle of pouring a cup of coffee. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She nonchalantly spoke and stirred the cream and sugar in her mug. 

"Give it a rest, Shi. Since you've been going on your little visits to Chicago, you come back with this glow." He amused. "I believe it has to do with what's his name...Jay Halstead?" 

A giggle slipped from his friend's lips at the intriguing expression he sported. "Oh Morgan, I don't think it's quite appropriate to talk about our personal, well, sex lives in a work environment." She winked and took a sip from her drink. 

"So, I'm not wrong?" He retorted. 

Nina patted his shoulder, "I think we should prioritize ourselves with work, specifically the new case in the briefing room." She stalked away to meet the team there with Derek not too far behind.

"Where are we flying to this time, mama?" Derek immediately questioned when he and Nina entered into the briefing room. 

Nina took her seat and flipped the case file open while Penelope began presenting the case. "Boulder City, Nevada, my vision, home of the Hoover Dam, because police there found the body of a woman, wrapped and weighed down in the water. He apparently likes to freeze." She clicked the remote for the crime scene photos of the Jane Doe to appear. 

"I.D. yet?" Rossi asked. 

She frowned in response, "No, unfortunately." 

"How long was she in the water?" Kate inquired, flipping through the pages. 

"Unclear. Her popsicleness made it hard to determine an M.O." Penelope cued the visual of the victim from the coroner's office. 

Derek squinted, "Are we sure this is the unsub and not just exposure?"

"Her blood was frozen in her veins. Temperatures in the area don't get cold enough for that." Hotch interjected after reading along the lines of the report. 

"Hoover Dam is not that far from Vegas. Could this be a hitman?" She theorized, noting the location of the site where the victim's body was discovered. 

Kate hummed out. "No marks on her, though. Hitmen usually leave evidence of an efficient kill." She pointed out to the raven-haired woman. 

"No, he did leave a mark." JJ remarked.

Both women scrunched their brows at the blonde, Kate asked. "Where?"

"Breastbone, above the heart." She simply answered. "It's not frostbite. That's an electrical burn." Nina's eyes peered at the blonde to the bandage wrapped around her knuckles on her right hand. She looked over to Spencer at the table already staring at the blonde. 

"Why introduce electroshock to the M.O.?" Derek wondered. 

Spencer chimed in, "Believe it or not, hypothermia is a rather pleasant way to die. The cold just kind of puts you to sleep." 

"He wants to prolong what he's doing, so he jolts her back awake." JJ added. 

Quite taken back by the blonde's sharp eye, Kate glanced at her. "How did you catch all that?"

"I've seen it before." 

The team swiftly moved to the private jet on their way to Boulder City, Nevada. They continued to run through the case file and brainstorm of any theories. While Rossi, Hotch, Spencer, and Kate took the four seats nearest to the window, Nina sat beside JJ and Derek on the leathered couch adjacent to the seats. Nina proceeded to take notes in profiling the behavior of the unsub from the documents. "Still no I.D. of the victim?" Rossi asked once again. 

Hotch shook his head then informed. "Garcia's running her markers through VICAP."

"This unsub went through a lot of trouble wrapping and weighing the body down. Usually, it's postmortem gas production that brings a body to the surface, but if you freeze it, it'll rise to the top like ice cubes in a drink." Spencer shared to the team from the immense knowledge embedded in his brain. 

"So, he's smart enough to consider the possibility, but not experienced enough to effectively execute the disposal. It's probably his first kill." Derek mused. 

"If he went through this much trouble to hide the body, he knows it can be tied back to him." JJ mentioned how the unsub precisely worked. 

Nina sighed, "Should be easy to find him once we learn who she is." 

"That'll be our first objective when we land." Hotch shortly nodded at Nina's remark. "We should also build a suspect pool based on boat ownership. How many boats are there on Lake Mead?" His eyes trailed over Spencer sitting next to him.

The boy genius quipped, "1,908."

Kate let out a gasp in spite of the others grown accustomed to Spencer's profound knowledge of everything like Google. "Come on. You just know that?"

"Yeah. There are 1,908 boats on Lake Mead." He replied. 

"Where did you get that number?" She interrogated. 

He shrugged his shoulders, "Based on the population density of the area, I... estimated." 

His answer didn't justify the brunette's pondering as she stared unimpressed. "You guessed. I mean, is this guy really a genius, or does he just say things with authority, and we all believe him?" She searched for an answer from her colleagues. 

Nina and JJ suppressed a laugh at the brunette's disbelief, meanwhile Derek exasperated. "Oh, wow. Thank you. 10 years." He went to fist bump the woman. "It took 10 years for someone to finally have my back." Nina waved him off, knowing his eyes darted at her when he said that. He averted his gaze to Spencer. "All right, Einstein, she just called you out. Bring it."

"Look it up." He chuckled out at the latter instigating his intelligence. 

Rossi chimed in, "I am..." He went on his phone to Google it in the midst of the anticipation in the room. "And the kid's right." He grinned. 

"Don't even understand why you keep betting against Spence, Derek." Nina muttered out with JJ nodding in agreement with a laugh. 

Spencer looked at Kate, sitting across from him. "I accept your apology." He turned to Derek and raised his fist to mock him. "Blow it up."

"Never." He glared. 

Meanwhile, Nina reached over to fist bump the man not without shooting a smirk at Derek. After the two first bump, Hotch subtly did the same as he hid his grin. 

The team landed to their destination. In the process of working the case, they've realized the Arizona-Nevada line runs right through Lake Mead. So, they suggested to search for any intel of the Jane Doe in the state of Arizona. It worked in their favor once identifying the victim, Sarah Rhodes from Kingman, Arizona. 

After the examination of her body at the coroner's office and the standout footprints Sarah had left, the team concluded that she and her 10-year-old son Bobby joined a cult. One that is operating in the area, perhaps led to her death. 

Nina carried two coffee cups in her hand where she walked around the police station after briefing the department of their profile. She swerved towards where JJ sat in one of the chairs at the roundtable. JJ lifted her eyes from skimming through notes of the case to see a fresh cup of coffee landing in front of her. She sent a grateful smile to Nina, muttering out a 'thanks'. 

"Can we talk?" Nina spoke in a quiet voice, nodding over to the empty conference room. JJ raised her brow for a moment yet stood up to follow the woman. 

She shut the door behind then cleared her throat. "I would ask if you're okay, but I think that bandage speaks for itself." Nina nodded off to the bandage wrapped around the blonde's knuckles. "I understand the one year is coming up, which can trigger a lot of overwhelming emotions. More specifically, remembering our losses."

JJ squeezed her eyes, diverting from Nina's empathetic gaze. "All I wanted to say, if you want to talk about it or need anything. I'm here for you." Nina rested a hand upon JJ's shoulder as the pad of her thumb caresses it. "You're not alone, remember?"

"Hey, thanks for coming JJ." Nina threw the door open, letting the woman step inside the scattered apartment. JJ slowly entered the apartment as she watched her friend scrambling around to where files compiled on the coffee table and dining table. Weeks had surpassed since the woman and the rest of the Bureau buried Brandon. 

The blonde shut the door behind her, remaining in her stance. "No problem. Sorry it took time to answer, we were out working on a case. The team misses you." She clasped her hands and took a few steps forward. 

Nina braced a tight-lipped smile, nodding. "I figured. Ironically, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She declared before throwing down the papers onto the table. "Are you thirsty? Water or beer?" She mused. 

"Water? I'm driving back home." 

"Right, of course." The raven-haired woman drew in a sharp breath. 

JJ pursed her lips and took a seat on the armchair. "So, what did you want to talk about exactly?" 

"I need you to talk to Hotch about letting me back to work." She told in a firm tone, staring down at her friend after setting the glass of water on the table. "He trusts your judgement the most and I'm ready to come back." 

A remorseful sigh uttered from her lips, "Nina...we just buried Brandon-"

Nina clutched onto the glass, briefly shutting her eyes at the reminder. "I know, I was there, JJ." The thought of her late fiancé had been a hard pill to swallow.  

"You know there's a procedure before you can get back. Nina, you're still healing in physical therapy. Also, you aren't cleared with a psychiatrist yet. This isn't just Hotch's call; you need to know that."  JJ understood where Nina came from, however, it is transparent to her that her friend isn't ready to come back to the field. 

"Look, I'm tired of sitting in this apartment every day. The more I'm sidelined I will lose my fucking mind! I need to get back what's left of my old life." Nina cried out in aggravation. She grew sick of feeling suffocating by everyone's overbearing hospitality and sinking into this apartment. "I have to wake up to realize that Brandon is gone because of me. T-That our baby is dead because of me." She swallowed thickly, shutting her eyes once again. 

JJ's lips parted in shock. "Baby?"

Nina exhausted a sigh, wiping away a tear that unintentionally shed. "I found out after waking up the coma. But I instructed the doctors to not say anything. I already receive too many pitiful stares." She brushed it off. "Lost the love of my life and what could've been a great future for us. All gone. Let my job come first-"

"Nina-"

"It's true, JJ."  Nina cut her off, continuing on. "There are moments where I think how I would've been growing a life in my stomach. Fantasizing about that feeling whenever placing my hand, except it's just empty and a wave of sadness. I hope you don't have to endure that pain." 

JJ's eyes lowered to the floor. "I have." She never intended to tell anyone of the miscarriage, a loss that was swept under the rug. Although, that night admitting to Nina in relating of that loss helped her. Helped each other of that very same pain they've experienced. 

- I'm curious if anyone is still interested in this book at this point. Let me know in the comments because it helps a lot for writers on here in general. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think! Don't forget to vote and comment! Stay tuned!-

WRITTEN: 5/22/21

PUBLISHED: 5/23/21