Chapter Eleven: It's How We Survive,
1x22/23 The Fisher King

*Trigger warning*

Ever since they had their fight. Eden had been trying to distance herself from Derek Morgan, and she was succeeding beautifully until Elle begged her to go with them on their trip to Jamaica. She explained how she didnt want to go to  a beautiful Island alone with Morgan. That she was nervous that she might do something she would regret. Of course after whining and giving her best puppy dog face and also promising to do her case work for the next two cases. She reluctantly agreed. She was excited that the team got to have two weeks of paid vacation time. She was not so happy to be trapped on an Island with Derek Morgan for those two weeks, but who knows maybe she will meet some Island hottie and fall head over heels in love.

Either that or she will get drunk beyond belief and eat really good food for two weeks straight, either one sounds like a good option.

"Morgan, your friend's resort better be as nice as you say it is." Elle says pouring a cup of coffee they  all were in the bullpen.

"Hey, I never said it was his.He just manages the place. But trust me when I tell you it is off the hook.Hot sunny days, cool breezes at night, never-ending tropical drinks with the little umbrellas, and nothing but young, beautiful adults looking to make vacation memories." He explains an arm around Elle's neck.

"Male and female, right?" Elle quips as Eden rolls her eyes. She takes her  coffee mug from her.

"Elle, two  weeks of pure heaven."

"I can't imagine what two weeks away from this place is gonna feel like." Eden smiles daydreaming.

"I'm surprised you wanted to go with us on this trip. You haven't been my biggest fan lately."

"Don't flatter yourself. I was told there would be hot men and tequila. Who could resist that?" Eden sassed earning a chuckle from Elle.

"You better thank your man upstairs for making it the whole team, otherwise you know they'd find a reason to bring us back up here."  Derek says, wrapping an arm around Elle's neck.

"Why? They got other teams."

"You can go on believing that if you want to, but I am not answering my cell phone." Eden explained looking down at her nails.

"Okay."

"Oh, there he is. Pretty boy. Last chance. I can get my man to swing you a hotel room for practically nothing. Even you might get a little lovin 'out there." Derek teases as Eden rolls her eyes.

"Thanks anyway." Reid says, grabbing some tapes off his desk. He smiles at Eden and  she hands him a present wrapped in sunflower wrapping paper.

"Come on, reid. Live a little?" Elle says as Eden rolls her eyes bringing him in for a hug. He smiles again and she kisses his cheek.

"Tell your mom I said hi and I look forward to that rematch in chess." She says as his face twitches into a smile.

"I have to go. I'm going home. Have a good one, guys. Bye." He says, stepping back from the hug and collecting his messenger bag before walking out the door. 

"Does he look okay to you?"

"He looks about the way I would if I was gonna spend two weeks with my family." Elle comments as she bump shoulders with Eden playfully

"Hey, don't knock on family. I'm gonna get nothing but for the next 336 hours." Hotch says with a shit eating grin, Eden can't help but  giggle at his happiness.

"Good for you."

" Haley's got a list of chores a mile long. I can't wait.The biggest decision I gotta make is what I'm gonna do first." Hotch beams as Eden smiles, placing a hand over her heart dramatically.

"How cute?"

" I bet you she has a thought or two about that as well." Elle sassed.

" Bring it on."

"I'll be lost in a cabin in the woods for the next Two weeks.Do not call me for anything. Have a great time. You all deserve a break. Seriously, don't call."  Gideon yells behind him as he practically runs out the door.

"Don't Worry. We won't." Elle yells as everyone laughs.

Elbert Hubbard said, "no man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one."

The water was so clear and beautiful. This place was gorgeous. Eden laid in a lounge chair next to Elle, another margarita in her hand.  

"Come on. Did I lie to ya?" Derek says as Eden nods her head. While  She may have disliked the man he did have great taste in vacation spots.

" You did not lie." Elle replies sunbathing in her green bikini

"Oh, yes! Thank you."  Eden said, slurping on her margarita.

"Cheers. Welcome to paradise" he says as she reaches over Elle, both of them clinking their glasses together.

"Easy with the Margaritas. I don't want another clothing mishap." Elle teased as Eden looked down at her through her sunglasses. She just laughs at  the strawberry blonde's actions.

"There you are."

"Yes, sir!"

"My man mister Gerald Dupree. How are you doing?" Derek said talking to some African American guy in a floral shirt.

"I'm wonderful. Look at you. You're holding it together."

"I'm trying, baby. These right here are my partners from the FBI Miss Elle Greenaway, and Miss Eden Hunters."

"You didn't tell me they were so beautiful." he grabs onto their hands kissing them.

"Would that have gotten me a better deal on the room?" Derek jokes

"You want me to show you a brochure with the real rates?"

"I'm done. I'm done. I'm done."

"Your resort is beautiful." Eden commented, smiling under my sunglasses.

"Thank you."

"Always wondered what it would be like to work in paradise. Turns out it's not half bad. Anything else you need?" He asked as Eden shook her head no. 

"Yeah, I think... Wait a minute. Look at that right there. Lord have mercy. I think I need to handle something." Derek comments about a group of nearly naked women.

"Do you need any backup?"

"You better watch your mouth. Elle, Eden,  you two  gonna be alright?"

"No, All good here.You go."  Elle murmurs as Eden laughs

"That's such a good answer." Derek practically drools  making his way over to the ladies.

"Get outta here." Gerald says he turns his attention back to the two women. "So how about you? Anything I can get you?"

"No, thank you. I'll let you know if there's anything. Thank you, Gerald."

"I'll be around. All right." He explains as they both nod.

A few minutes go by and Elle says she wants to go to the bar to refill her drink leaving Eden to tan in the beach chair.  A frisbee hits the end of the chair causing her to remove her sunglasses. She looks down at the plastic disk as a shirtless man in blue trunks comes running up.

"Sorry about that."  He says picking the frisbee

"No problem."

"Hey... you alone?"  He asks as Eden looks back at the bar seeing Elle chatting it up with some guy.

"Completely."

"Do you wanna play?"

"Absolutely," she replied, extending out a hand.

Night time had fallen quickly and the trio were all dancing, bodies slowly swaying to the music. Back and forth. Mystery guy who Eden was calling Jim, had his hands on her hips and he told her  his name but she had been too drunk to care. She felt good like a balloon, floating, drifting  through the beautiful beach breeze. She hasn't felt this good since her  intern days. Drinking so much that you forget what day it is when you wake up. That was the life she liked. But now she had a job that took everything she had.

"You alright there Hunters, Greenway?" Derek ask

"Go away" Elle says as Eden sways to the music with Jim. Elle was  dancing with her friend from the bar.

"See you tomorrow?" Derek quipped as Eden  looked into Jim's eyes which were full of lust. 

"Afternoon." Eden mutters, earning a smirk from Jim. They kissed for a while, their bodies feeling like  one together. Before he decides that they should go back to his room.

Eden decided to call it night after her and Jim had a good night. She crawled into her bed immediately, already too tired to even put pants on.

"It was an anonymous call.A man.He said there had been a murder in room 19. And I called security to check it out, but when they saw... I thought it would be best if I called you right away."  Gerald says to the officers. Who followed the line of blood.  Down the hall to the room.

"You have a key?" An Officer asked.

"Yeah." He replies shakily, handing the man a key. The officer opens the door  and points his flashlight to see blood covering the room like a coat. Thick pools on the bed with entangled limbs. He winced before shutting the door and following another line of smeared blood down the hall gun drawn.  This room door was also decorated in blood unbeknownst to the person inside.  The officers storm the room pulling the strawberry blonde up out of her bed. She began kicking and screaming. Trying to break free from the officers as one of them forcefully pushed her on the ground.

"No! Stop it! Stop it!

"Stand up! Hold still!"

"No! Who are you? Who are you?!"  She screamed as handcuffs gripped her wrists. It was becoming clear she was getting arrested but for what she didn't know. 

Eden finds herself  in an interrogation room, she was hazy at first. Seeing as she was highly intoxicated and half awake but she soon woke up, when she realized what was happening. She was in a tshirt and panties sitting on a cold ass metal chair and handcuffed by one wrist to her chair.

"Then how did the blood get outside your door?"  The officer asked as she  rolled her eyes. Does he really think asking the same question is going to result in a different answer? 

She was pissed to say the least. Not only did they arrest her. They didn't even let her  put on pants or a bra.

"I have no idea. There wasn't any blood inside, was there?" she snapped as the officer just smirked. He was enjoying the fact that  she was barely clothed and handcuffed to a chair.

"Who was the victim?"

" For the hundredth time, I didn't even know that there was a victim until you dragged me out of bed! Which by the way your officers could've let me put pants on." she sassed. He just leaned back in his seat finger pressed the side of his face.

"Where's the victim's head?"

"Well, I must have dropped it on my way in here. Come on.You know that I have nothing to do with this .I'm an American FBI agent. I'm here on vacation, man! I'm the police, just like you.'' She  explained clearly that the officer wasn't believing her. She was getting annoyed. And she was praying that Derek and Elle had been woken up from all the commotion and were on the way with pants.

"Are you the''her"? The detective asked as she furrowed her brows. He slides a picture across the table to her and she looks at it  seeing save her written in blood above her hotel room bed.

Back at the hotel Morgan was talking with the Detectives, they were in Eden's room. And Eden was back at the police station, he was worried about her. His mind was racing with possibilities as to what could be Happening to her.

"I don't care where the blood led, detective, you made a mistake. We are FBI agents. BAU profilers here on vacation."

" Profilers?" the detective asks.

Derek nods " Yes. We handle serial criminals. We consult police departments all over the world."

" So if I called you to consult on this, would it be your advice to let the woman who we found at the end of the blood trail go?"

" Agent Hunters is not a killer." Derek clenches his jaw. Eden was a lot of things, stubborn, annoying, Pretty. But a killer was not something she would be or do.

"Can you explain why the blood went right to her door?"

"Obviously somebody would like you to think she is. Look, my supervisor is flying down here from Virginia. He'll be here anytime. When he gets here, we will figure this out."

Gerald comes back into the room. " His name's Marty Harris. At least that's who rented this room."

" Why are you telling him?" The detective looks at Gerald

" Sorry. I'm just... My mistake. I'm sorry, ma'am."

"When did this Harris check in?"

" A couple of days ago with another man. Giles. Frank Giles. He has the adjoining room. We tried calling him, but he didn't answer." Derek walks over to the door and Kicks it down surprising the detective and the officer a bit as he walks into the room seeing it untouched.

" Looks like Frank Giles is in the wind. You might have yourself a real suspect now."

" I'll get crime scene men in here." The detective says Derek pulls out his phone.

"What?"

"Garcia. I need a rundown on a guy."

" No.The information superhighway is closed."

"What are you talking about?'"

"Someone had the nerve to run a blackhat op into my computers, Morgan. They hacked me, okay? But you can bet your sweet ass I will find them. I've got honey pot farms hidden behind UML kernel data packets and a first generation honeynet I personally programmed. My snort logs list every visitor, every server request, every keystroke on this entire network. If I have to back-hack his I. P. All the way to the frickin'stone age, I will find this son of a bitch, okay?! So bye." Morgan just looks at his phone in disbelief and hangs up.

"What time did you go to bed?" He asked as she closed my eyes trying to think. Everything was such a blur after the dancing and the kissing

"Around midnight... I think. I don't really know. It was late."

"Were you alone?"

"By the time I got back to my room, yeah." she replied as the door opened revealing Derek and Hotch. She sighed in relief. As he looked at her  with a reassuring nod.

"Detective St. Pierre, I'm SSA Hotchner. I'm Agent Hunter's superior."

"We're not finished here."  Detective says as Eden rolls her eyes.

"Agent  Hunters only arrived in your country yesterday afternoon."  Hotch says, handing her his suit jacket.  She smiled, covering her body with it.

"Thank you."

" So?"

"I brought a forensic expert and he's examined the body at your morgue, and he died less than 24 hours ago.Now this is based on advanced rigor mortis and the contents of the stomach which contained a mea that he ordered from room service two days ago.Your coroner concurs with the findings. This means that Agent Hunter wasn't even here when this man was killed. Now, I appreciate that you have a difficult situation, and agents Morgan and Hunters are happy to cooperate in any way that they can, but they'll do it from our offices in Quantico, Virginia." He orders as Eden just smirks at the detective.

He sucks his teeth at  her throwing the keys on the table for the handcuffs and she lets herself out. They walked out of the precinct this time she was wearing Hotch's suit jacket.

"You okay?" He asks as she nods.

"They didn't hurt you or anything?" Morgan speaks up, he cups her face as she nods at the two men.

"I am fine, please take me home." she assures them and they walk up to the car.  They climb into it and leave

The elevator dings as Eden steps out, clipping her badge to her waist. Elle, Derek, and Hotch right behind her. Her  go bag is hanging from her arm.

"You guys are sure you don't want to go home and get some rest? Take a shower?"

"Like hell!" Elle snaps

"I'm good." Derek says

"I did a small wash up at my sink. Eden replied, earning a strange looks from the others. "What? I smelt like stale coffee and Booze"

"How much sleep have you gotten in the last 24 hours?" Hotch asks

"Hotch, I spent half of the night, half naked in an interrogation room."

"Me too and I am not sleeping until I find this Frank Giles." Elle replies

"Frank Giles left Jamaica last night on a red eye. He flew to Florida, then got onto another flight to Virginia." JJ intervenes

"Virginia? You mean that son of a bitch is from here?" Elle snips; she was very pissed.

"I don't know if he's from here, but this is where he flew to. Arlington. He's got a long criminal record. Manslaughter, robbery, rape." JJ explains.

"What about the victim, Marty Harris?" Derek and Eden both say at the same time. She  cleared her throat not trying to make eye contact.

"He's a two-time convicted fetish burglar, registered child sex offender."

"And we have his head. Csu just positively identified the one delivered to my cabin." Gideon walks up joining the conversation.

"Don't waste time on the first victims. They were unrepentant bad men. They only got what they deserved. " Hotch read off of a notepad.

"What is that?"

"I got a phone call last night before you called from Jamaica." Hotch explains.

"Any mention of a''her"?

"You must help him save her. " Hotch reads

"So there's him now, too?"

"I think he means Reid." Gideon says as everyone looks at him confused. "We need to regroup," he says as the team walks into the bullpen

"So, clearly we have a psychopath intent on drawing us into his game," Hotch

"Playing with us," Gideon adds ruefully.

"Then let's return the favor,"

"He kept telling us repeatedly to save 'her', Derek says, slowly looking up from the table,

"What 'her'"?

"Items he sent must be some kind of clues," Gideon ventures.

"Let's get them up on the board."

"I got a Nellie Fox baseball card from 1963," sighs Gideon, "and I got a head in a box."

"I got a rare butterfly in a shadow box,"

"And repeated messages to save 'her'?" Hotch replies.

"I got trauma, and the decapitated body and a nice visit to the Jamaican police headquarters," Eden chimes in dryly.

"Reid called from Nevada," Gideon says, "He's on the way back with a skeleton key and a note he got, too."

"And the guy who called me said the youngest one holds the key,"

Elle responds, "That's Reid."

"Ok, but wait a minute," Derek says, "Unsubs, they don't contact us this way.

I mean, they might taunt us, dare us to catch'em. But they don't drag us into their fantasy."

JJ spins around, brows furrowed, "Why not?"

"Because they're sexual fantasies. I mean, taunting us is a show of power, but making us the object is...I don't know what the hell that is."

"Something else about the baseball card. Nellie Fox was one of the stars of the 1959 White Sox," Gideon was thinking out loud, "I went to almost every game with my father that year.

Fox was my hero. So is it a coincidence that he sends this to me? Or does he know how I feel about him?"

"I collected butterflies when I was a little girl'" JJ admitted with a shrug, "That's how I knew what butterfly was in the box."

"So then he knows us," Hotch concluded, "I got an anonymous message."

"We got a police raid," Elle says coldly.

"But he knew exactly where we were," Derek says, "Hotel in Jamaica. Gideon at the cabin. Reid in vegas. You at your home."

"He got that from the bureau computers," Garcia says, entering the room in a near panic, "Your locations are always in there so they can find you if they need you. I checked the log. Hacker was definitely in the personnel folders. There were room numbers to the hotel in Jamaica, the address of Gideon's cabin. There's a lot of information in those databases."

Derek crosses his arms. He acts cool as always, but if you looked closely you could tell he was pissed.

Hotch furrows his brow, "Have you figured out how he was able to get into the bureau's computers?"

"I'm still working on that."

"Garcia,"Hotch speaks with his usual cool intensity, "if you know something..."

"No... It's..." she stammers, "I was playing a game yesterday. An online game."

"A game?" Gideon inquires with his usual frown.

"Not on the bureau computer, sir," she continues, imploring, "On my own personal laptop."

"Oh, Garcia!" Derek sighed, No, no, no, no."

"I don't understand," Hotch raises an eyebrow.

"Wireless internet," explains Derek, shaking his head.

"By wirelessly hooking into the net here to get online, the hacker could have gotten into my computer first, and I have far less protection on my own laptop," Garcia  explains

"And he could have gotten into the entire bureau computer system this way?" Hotch seems skeptical. He's an expert when it comes to people; technology seems beyond him.

"Yeah," Garcia says, as if it were an admission of guilt, "It's possible."

"Playing a game?" Gideon stands with a scowl, "How could you be that stupid? Information, files. You have a responsibility."

Garcia is in tears. Eden steps forward. Playing a game was irresponsible, true, but Gideon still shouldn't talk to her this way.

"Back of Gideon. Everyone makes mistakes."Gideon turns to leave in disgust behind her, Eden can hear Garcia speak up again.

"But I found him."

"You what?" Elle exclaims.

"I know who he is," she replies, "the hacker. His name is Giles, Frank Giles. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, 4 miles from here. I have his address."

"Garcia," Derek says, nodding, "you said Giles?"

The team finds themselves in an alley behind Frank's house. They pull up and leap from our cars, firearms at the ready. A group of armored officers go before them, followed next by Hotch and Derek. A muscular officer kicks in the door, immediately moving in to sweep the room.

"Clear!"

The group enters the apartment and it's empty, they quickly sweep the place and find nothing,  the only place left to check is a double-door bedroom.

Eden ran to the far side of the bedroom door, pressing her back against the adjacent wall and raising her weapon. Derek  follows, taking the near side. He has to be here.

"Frank Giles!" Derek yells, "FBI!"

"Come out, Giles!" Eden yelled angrily, "End of the line, scumbag!"

Derek nods to Eden, and she  nods back, and he swings about to kick in the door. They scan the room, ready to shoot. And then Eden looked down.

"You gotta be kidding me,"

"Hotch, Gideon, Elle," Derek says over his shoulder, "I think you're gonna want to see this."

A man lay dead in the boxers in a bed in the middle of the floor. Rising from his chest was a broadsword, and inscribe in blood on the wall behind him was a message:

"Here they quest doth truly begin."Derek says, leaning down to look under the bed, "He's definitely playing with us."

"His identification checks out," Elle says after opening the wallet on the dead man's nightstand, "That's Frank Giles."

"So I wasn't wrong about it being the end of the line?" Eden asks. It's a bad joke, and Eden gets a few annoyed glances from her colleagues, but no laughs.

"There's a big old bag of money sitting right here on the dresser," Derek says, snatching the blue duffel bag.

"So Giles took Harris to Jamaica to kill him" says Hotch, "and the unsub killed Giles."

"Yeah," Derek tilts his head quizzically, "but he paid him first?"

"Left the cash?" Elle asks, "He is apparently well-funded."

"He said these were unrepentant bad men," Hotch turns to Gideon, "Are we looking for some kind of vigilante?"

"No," Gideon shakes his head, "The bodies are nothing but a way to get us interested. They're game pieces. The killings are secondary."

"Well, this guy likes to write things in blood on the walls," Eden says, eyeing the message on the wall.

"All kinds of cult and demonic significance to that" Derek steps forward with a frown.

"Thy? Doth? Quest?" Eden offers skeptically, "Thy quest doth truly begin? Why start phrasing things like this now?"

Hotch nods,  "All the other messages were in modern english."

"Maybe this is the first one the unsub actually wrote," Derek ventures, eyes still scanning the room.

"So we're looking for Shakespeare?" Elle says, wrinkling her nose.

"Hey, guys?" Mindy, a medical examiner raises her voice. She's been examining the sword and the body.

"Yeah?" Derek asks.

"There's something etched on the blade."

Hotch moves over and kneels to read the message, "To learn of what should next be done, leave the blade till the hour be none."

"Hour be none?" Derek asks, confused.

"Leave the blade, " Hotch replies, "Eden, move for a second, move to your left," Eden complies, and Hotch continues, "The bed's in the middle of the room. Which isn't by chance. And maybe the light from here casts a shadow and points to something."

"Come on," Elle rolls her eyes, "Are we in the middle of an Indiana Jones movie?"

"The hour will be none?" Hotch repeats thoughtfully.

"Midnight is 00 :00 hours in 24-hour time," Derek responds, "Would that be none?"

Hotch shakes his head, "Midnight wouldn't cast a shadow."

"Hour be none," Derek says it again.

"3 P. M." a voice from the doorway answers. They  turn to see Reid, a travel bag slung over his shoulder. It's good to see him, I think, especially when we need his brain this much.

"Garcia, tell me where to find you," Reid explains, stepping into the room.

"3 P. M.?" Gideon asks.

"It's medieval," Reid answers, "The days used to be broken into hourly intervals.

The canonical hours of the breviary. Prime : 6 A. M. Terce : 9 A. M Sext : 12 noon. None : 3 P. M. And vespers 6 P. M."

"Spence, do not ever go away again," Eden says, pointing at Spencer intensely. She  gives the genius a quick hug before turning to listen to Gideon.

"Medieval. That's why the language changed."

"Everything this guy does is a clue," Hotch replies.

"Ok, but, guys, it's 4 :35," Derek interjects, "What do we do? Leave the blade until 3 P. M. Tomorrow?"

"Not if we can block that window out," Reid responds. He steps up towards the window, then turns to Mindy

"Do you have any spotlights in your car?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, Mindy." A few minutes later, the light from the window has been blocked off. Reid holds the spotlight and squats, shining the light on the sword protruding from the body.

"The sun is right here at 5 P. M." Reid thought out loud, "Morgan, follow the shadows and move the light higher."Derek did as Reid asked, then looked up at him.

"Okay. And do what?"

"Tap," was all Reid said in reply.

Derek knocked on the wall up and down the shadow cast by the sword.

"It's hollow," he said after a few taps.

"Definitely an Indiana Jones movie," Elle said, leaning on the dresser and raising her eyebrows.

"Feels like the wallpaper's been replaced," Derek continued.

"Tear it open," Hotch instructed. Derek nodded, and flipped open a small folding knife that he used to cut open the wall.

"It's a box" he said, looking into the hole he had cut.

"Take it out," Gideon responded quickly.

"We sure it's safe?" Reid cautioned.

"What, you think it's a bomb?" Derek shook his head, "You think he'd be playing this game just to blow us up? He'd have already done that as long as we've been standing here."  He retrieved a small box from the hole in the wall. It was wooden and dusty, decorated with bronze etchings.

The box contained clues; a portion of a poem that Reid would use to help crack the case, as well as a dvd containing a video from a man calling himself the Fisher King. The video contained a simple message: Get no one outside the team involved. A package containing a piece of the riddle was also delivered to Hotch's wife. Using a sketch artist, Gideon exposed the man who had delivered the package live on television. This broke the rule they had been given, and there were dire consequences. Eden and Elle, who had been sent home by Hotch after both being awake for over thirty hours, were ambushed by a burned man upon entering Elle's home. Both women were shot in the ensuing altercation. After being rushed to a hospital, they were able to survive their injuries, and Eden awakened to find that the Fisher King had been caught, blowing himself up in his home and nearly taking Reid with him rather than letting himself be captured. The kidnapped victim, Rebecca Bryant, had been saved, but Eden felt the need to put some distance between herself and this bloody business for now. Seeing Elle gunned down has made an impact on her, even more so than her own injuries, and she wanted to be far away from those, especially Gideon, who she partially blamed for the shooting.