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BITTERSWEET
:: liv. | i see red

"And what do you suggest we do, Erin?!" Jj yelled in her office as Hotch stood next to her.

"Nothing has happened in two months. We just wait." Erin spoke calmly.

"I agree with her, jj." Hotch began, "We have nothing and until something happens or a slip up, there's nothing we can do."

"Yeah." Jj scoffed, "And watch someone get killed because of this mistake."

Jennifer stormed out the office and just as she did, Hotch left as well, catching up with her.

He spoke on the quieter side, "You think she bought it?" The two were heading to the conference room.

"Definitely." Jj replied, "We have to stop this before it could get worse."

Once the two reached the room, Hotch opened the door, "Couldn't agree more, agent jareau."

The two walked in and Hotch closed the door behind him. Jj went and sat next to Emily as Hotch went to the front of the room, he was going to fill everyone in on what to do.

A deep sigh escaped his lips as he began, "We will continue to do cases but on our own time, jj's going to debrief us on her away mission."

"We'll meet at my place tonight." She chimed in.

Soon Hotch sat down and Penelope took over, debriefing the team on a new case. Today was definitely going to be a very long day.

• • •

On the other hand, Vanessa was just making her way into the police station. She was going to see Will to inform him of what's going on. After finding a parking spot, she got out her car and headed her way into the police station.

After talking to the front desk, she walked around and scanned the room for Will. She finally set her eyes on him but he was talking to someone —— someone that Vanessa definitely recognized.

Her boss, Florence Hugh.

Vanessa continued to stand near the entryway as she stared at the two, waiting for their conversation to come to an end. As it did, she watched them give each other a light smile before florence turned on her heels and it was no exception that she didn't see Vanessa.

Before Vanessa began making her way to Will, florence instead approached her.

She had a bright smile on her face, "Oh, hey V!"

"Morning." Vanessa returned the smile, "I won't be able to come into work today. Personal matter."

"No worries." Florence nodded, "Is that why you're here?"

Vanessa just stared at her and her tone completely shifted in only seconds, "Sure."

And with that, Vanessa walked around her and proceeded her way to Will who was then sitting at his desk looking through papers. Just when she reached him, she glanced behind her, seeing florence heading to the exit. Because of that, she felt more relaxed. So she turned back around and tapped will's shoulder.

He looked behind him and stood up with a smile, seeing it was Vanessa and what a surprise it was. She's never gone to his work before, so even though it was a surprise to him, it was also a bit concerning.

After pulling out the embrace, he cleared his throat, "So what are you doing here?"

Vanessa then told him about what was going on and how he needs to keep safe, until all of this was resolved. Besides him being in those pictures, he's also Henry's dad and it would be unfair if he was just left in the dark without knowing of his child's wellbeing or his.

After that brief moment, Vanessa exited the station and headed back to her car to proceed home.

• • •

After parking her car, she had got on the elevator to head to her floor. Once it dinged, she got off the elevator and began her way down the hall. As she was making her way, she passed another hall and down that hall, a man stood there. He was staring at her and soon began walking her way. He was in a black hoodie, average height and as he was getting closer, Vanessa began to run. He kept walking faster and faster as her running sped up to her door.

In a panic, someone usually struggles to getting out the keys and opening the door, which was Vanessa in that moment. However, she managed. Before he could get to her, those keys were in her hand and she opened that door —— quickly closing it before locking it.

She placed her things down and went to go find the nanny that was looking after Henry. She walked out the bathroom when Vanessa came down the hall.

"Ms. Reigns, is everything ok?"

Vanessa spoke quietly, "Go get Henry, hide in the closet and be quiet."

The nanny did as she was told, with Vanessa following. Once they were in the closet, Vanessa shut the door to the nursery and locked it with a key that was on her keychain. Just as she was walking back to the kitchen, there was banging at the door. Someone was trying to break in.

Next thing she knew, a giant hole was punched through the door and hand was reaching through.

Vanessa ran to the door, grabbing one of the kitchen chairs. She propped it up under the knob before running to her bedroom and locking herself in there. Quickly realizing she forgot a phone, she began to get a bit nervous. She knew that man was going to get through and something bad was going to happen.

Not only a few second later a loud crash was heard. He got through the door and Vanessa was sat on the edge of her bed, leg shaking. She was ready to bring a fight, she was not going down without a fight. She be damned if she didn't try to defend her home.

Next thing she knew, the door was kicked down and everything went black.

Blood was everywhere.

Smeared on the white walls in the hall, a message towards the end.

Then hours later . . . cole came home.

to be continued . . .

a/n:
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