CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: CHAMELEON'S BACK !

15x09

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IT WASN'T OFTEN CASEY AND SPENCER HAD COMPANY OVER. But since Lennox had gone to a sleepover and Isaac had offered to take Chris for the night, they figured that maybe they could use a little bit of company.

         As Casey settled down on the couch and listened to the story of why Luke and Lisa broke up, Spencer was on the phone with JJ, wondering when she and Emily would make an appearance.

"The truth is, I don't think Lisa ever got over what happened to Phil. I mean, how could she, really?" Luke stated sadly. "I'm so sorry, Luke." Garcia apologizes.

"Lisa and I'll still be friends, I mean, you know. We were always honest with each other." Luke tells and Casey notices the eye contact he and Garcia make and she turns to Tara, who noticed it as well, eyebrows raised.

Suddenly, Spencer walked into the room. "So, unfortunately, Rossi can't make it tonight, but JJ just texted to say that she and Emily are on their way over right now." He said.

"Great, and thank you guys for hosting, by the way." Tara says, noting to both Spencer and Casey. "Well, thank you for coming. I'm embarrassed that it's taken us this long to have you guys over to our house to hang out." Spencer told as he goes back to his takeout.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the last time we all hung out like this was before we had Chris. It's nice to get a little something in before I pop this one out any day now." Casey notes to her nine-month old belly, coming up on the due date in just a few more weeks here.

"Baby number two, locked and loaded." Erik jokes as Casey chuckles and playfully hits the man.

"Guys, I have something to say." Garcia announces. "Not that talking about my second godchild is boring in any way shape or form, you know this, fair maiden but an opportunity has presented itself to me, and it is in the Silicon Valley."

Casey furrows her brows towards the technical analyst and everyone else does the same. "Global Stratagem Development. They're a private research group that's expanding their stratagem to include combating global environmental change." Garcia explained.

"Wow, that sounds perfect for you." Luke comments. "You get to do all the good work you do at the BAU - without the gore." He said.

"Yeah, ok, but—" Garcia interrupts herself and narrows her eyes at Luke. "Are you trying to get rid of me?" Luke shakes his head, "No. I don't want anybody going anywhere."

"Right, and I don't want to go anywhere. I love... I mean, this is my home. Not this room, but, you know, the BAU is and... come on. We're family." Casey and Spencer smile at Garcia.

"Yeah, we're family, and our relationship to each other is not bound by wherever we show up to go to work." Luke said. "We're always gonna be close, work or not, of course." Casey nodded in agreement.

"If you have the opportunity to do something you love, Penelope, you should absolutely explore it." Tara encourages.

Garcia smiles and Casey smiles back at her. She's not ready to let go of her technical analyst just yet, but she knew that eventually everyone's going to leave and she has to accept that. Especially with her own decisions she's making.

"I guess since we're mentioning changes around here..." Casey and Spencer interlock eyes as Casey begins to share an announcement of her own. "I've decided that once the baby comes, I'm resigning as Unit Chief and I'm also resigning from the BAU."

Everyone looks at one another, almost as if in shock. Casey Reid, really wanting to leave the BAU?

"Really?" Erik asks.
Casey nods, "Yeah. I saw what this is job is doing to Christopher. And Lennox, she's dealt with enough in her life. And after what happened at Chris' school, I've been thinking about it for a while now. And I don't want the same thing happening to this one." Casey motions to her stomach. "And trust me, he already tried talking me out of it." She then points to Spencer.

"What?" Spencer defends. "No, I didn't!" Casey nods, "Yes, you did."

Casey turns back to the team. "And just know that I love this team and even though we're all going our separate ways, it doesn't mean we're never going to see each other again. When a bigger opportunity presents itself, you take it. No regrets."

The very next morning, after the hangout at the Reids, they had entered the building, it was quiet. Very quiet, actually. Spencer had decided to do some investigating of his own as his wife waddled up to her office, refusing to take any breaks until she was ready to give birth.

Spencer had gone down to the basement where he knew Rossi would be lurking. Rossi was still on the hunt for the chameleon and he knew that he wasn't going to give up on this one. Spencer was reminded of Casey in a way. If there was anyone else he knew that held grudges when it came to cases, it was also her.

He knocked on the door and answered it himself, finding Rossi sitting at the desk. Spencer closed the door behind him and stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking towards the front of the desk.

"I don't know why it didn't occur to me yesterday that you'd come down here to recharge." Spencer noticed the board, filled with photos of the Lynch family. Of course, he knew what he was walking into. "It's been a year since we first encountered Lynch."

"Yeah, I'll probably forget my wedding anniversary, but I'll never forget that day." Rossi points. "And this is where the BAU began. It's the one place I can still hear Gideon's voice prodding me to, um, 'think outside the box.'"

"Something like, uh, 'I am the unsub.'" Spencer masks his voice to sound like Gideon and Rossi plays along, "'Who's my daddy?'" He points to Spencer. "That's what we've been missing."

"Roberta gave us the name—" Spencer furrows his brows. "Roberta lied." Rossi retorts. "She just wants to appear to be helpful to everybody. She's got her own agenda."

"What are you thinking — get paroled, find her son, and get revenge for the death of her granddaughter, Grace?" Spencer questions.
"The trifecta." Rossi nods.
"Killing her own child is far more common than most people think, and in filicide cases, mothers are just as likely as fathers to be killers." Spencer sits on the desk in front of Rossi.

"Which is why Roberta doesn't want us to get in the way of her taking care of family business." Rossi clarified. "Still, filicide not only requires that she harbor deep resentment, but also that she disassociates from her relationship to her only child." Spencer explains.

"Which she did when I showed her the photo of Grace's dead body." Rossi said and Spencer turns to the board. "Were you gonna share all this with the rest of the team?" Rossi shrugs, knowing how that went last time they went through all of that. "It's just theories."

Spencer looks at the man, knowing that digging deep for a needle in a haystack doesn't work that easily, almost wanting to subtly remind Rossi about Casey's situation and what happened with her sister.

"Dave, I completely understand your personal stake in this, but you and Gideon started something pretty good down here, and I think it's time that you let that legacy do what it's always done best — work together as a team." Spencer explained.

"Look at you, Dr. Spencer Reid. All grown up." Rossi comments and Spencer smiles a bit. "Started here working with Gideon and now here you are, married to his niece with two kids and one on the way."

Spencer looks down and nods, "And I wouldn't want it any other way." What he was saying was true. If he could talk to 24 year-old Spencer again and tell him about what he go through and how he would marry Gideon's teenage niece, that Spencer would probably laugh in his face in disbelief. But Spencer wouldn't have changed any of it if it meant spending the rest of his impending life with the woman he loved and now getting to ask her about this new case pertaining to the Chameleon? That would probably be a challenge.

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After Spencer and Rossi confidently went to Casey, Garcia and Emily, they knew they had to share what they had to the rest of the team. "So, Rossi gave me the heads-up, and I was able to find stuff that confirms our very own silver fox's theory that Everett Lynch is on the lookout for his long-lost father. You see, in all of the cities that Lynch has committed a heinous crime, I have uncovered an alias linked to a wired payment to a PI who was retained to conduct searches for men we know were associated in a naked way with Lynch's mother, Roberta." Garcia explained.

"Including Douglas Moore, the man she claims is Lynch's real dad." Luke added. "But all these searches are recent, like within the last 8 weeks." Rossi said. "Yeah, it looks as though they began a week after we found Grace's body." Matt explained.

"It's fascinating," Spencer comments. "He might not be a complete sociopath after all. It could also explain his dormancy."

"Wait a second, Spence." JJ speaks up. "You don't think he feels guilty, do you?"
"Not guilt," Spencer chimed in. "I think it's more like fear, as if maybe something in the act of taking his child triggered some deeply buried memory of his own father's violence towards himself."

"If Lynch never really knew who his father was, or if he had reason to doubt what Roberta told him, then that would motivate him to search for the truth." Tara said. "Well, there's only one person we know that knows the whole truth, and that's Roberta, and so she's been manipulating everything in order to get out of jail." Erik adds.

Emily and Casey then walked into the room to speak with the team and what they had. "It worked, at least as far as the Louisiana state parole board goes." Emily stated. "Casey and I have just been notified that, despite our objections, Roberta is being granted parole, however, her lawyer is telling me he's willing to let us speak with her one last time."

"Emily, I'd like to talk to Roberta." Spencer stated and the older woman then turns to Casey for that response. "I would prefer you observe, actually. For two reasons, one to take her out of her comfort zone and two, I'd rather not see my husband get flirted with, thank you. So, that means, JJ, Tara and I, we'll be doing the honors."

Luke and Matt exchange a look at the flirting comment, knowing how Roberta was with them and how Casey definitely didn't want that happening as long as she was married to Spencer Reid. Spencer understood, knowing his wife was doing this for a good reason, at least.

            When Roberta arrived with her lawyer, Casey, Tara and JJ marched down to the interrogation rooms to question them while Spencer watched from outside the room.

         "Hello, Roberta. I'm SSA Casey Reid, this is SSA Jennifer Jareau and Dr. Tara Lewis." Casey introduced as she sat herself down next to Tara since JJ offered the seat and to stand instead.

          Tara had placed a photo in front of Roberta and pushed it towards her. "Remember him?"

        "Uh, Dr. Lewis, let me remind you that Ms. Lynch is here of her own volition. I don't understand why you are taking a tone with her." Her lawyer started and with his one sentence, Casey raised her eyebrows and looked towards Tara to take care of that.

       "Tone?" Tara questioned.

       "Your adversarial tone, when she has done nothing but try to help you apprehend her very unstable son." Her lawyer said.

        Roberta looks towards Casey and Casey noticed that the woman can't help but stare at her belly. "How far long are you?" Roberta questioned and Casey gave her a small smile as she rubbed her belly. "About ready to pop any day now."

        "Do you have any other children?" Roberta asked curiously but JJ had then cut in. "We're not here to talk about our families, Roberta. We're here because, while the state of Louisiana believes you've been very helpful in this investigation, we know the truth."

        Roberta looks down in her lap and then with tears in her eyes looks at Casey. "The truth is that I'm profoundly sorry for what my granddaughter, Grace did to you, Agent Reid. But it is my sincere belief that it was my son who really pulled that trigger."

          Casey nods at her, "And I accept your apology, but with all due respect, ma'am, your granddaughter was the one that pulled that trigger. He didn't force her to do so or tell her to, she did it out of her own volition. Born from a psychopath, you create another one. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Casey told.

          Tara then speaks up, "Look, we know you think you're gonna get out of here and go punish your son for what he did to Grace."
         JJ then adds in, "And, I got to be honest with you, there is a real side of me that's sayin', 'You go, girl. You're the one that brought him into this world, yeah, you should be the one to take him out of it.' But I'm an officer of the law, and it's my duty to see that justice is served here, not revenge."

         Roberta looks at the three women. "Ladies, as far as I'm concerned, my son is already dead to me."

        Tara snickers a bit and shakes her head, "Damn, lady. You are good." Casey shrugs in agreement, "I'd say very good."

        Roberta's lawyer then chirps up, "Okay, I would say we are done here."

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          While Emily, Erik and Tara decided to stay behind with Garcia, the rest headed down to Reno where Garcia had sent them. "Fret not, my intrepid crime fighters. You're no longer flying blind into the silver state. I have matched our mysterious searcher's IP  address to a business in Reno that touts itself as a 'private security firm,' and it's christened Castle Security." Garcia explained.

        "Says here the company is owned and operated by Orlando Gaines." Matt told as he looked through his tablet. "What a piece of work," Luke comments. "He's a former Concord Bay narcotics cop who spent 5 years in prison for selling police-confiscated drugs."

         "It looks like 8 months ago, his company received a wire transfer for $25,000 from an offshore account connected to our old friend, Arthur Terrell." Tara explained. "Terrell was still alive back then." JJ pieces together. "He was, but that account has since transferred into the hands of an Edward Myles, and Mr. Myles is turning out to be very elusive." Emily explains. "It's a transparent guess here of his true identity." Erik added.

        "Yeah, 'cause although that could be a very likely alias for Mr. Lynch, that name isn't popping up anywhere in Reno." Garcia said.

        "JJ, Luke, Matt, check in with Reno PD, also our FBI field office. Dave and Spence, see if you can get a sit-down with Orlando Gaines. Tara, Emily, Erik, help Garcia dig. Let us know if you find anything." Casey orders.
         "Aye-aye, Captain." Garcia says as she hangs up.

         A little while later, Garcia informed the team of a missing persons report of a Marilyn Irwin and her daughter, Olivia. Turns out, Marilyn got into a fight with her abusive boyfriend, then she called her mom and told her she's moving out and moving in with a guy named Edward Myles, aka Everett Lynch.

         They had later found Everett Lynch's biological father, Delvin Weaver, dead in his own home, with over fourteen gunshot wounds found on his body as well as 47 stab wounds. And of course, it was all Roberta.

          But outside of the crime scene, Rossi received a call from Everett Lynch himself, wanting to have a conversation with him, face to face in the next thirty minutes. Of course, the group regathered to discuss what to do.

         "I can't believe we're even considering this. We can't negotiate with a sociopath." JJ argues. "I'm with JJ. It'll only embolden his sense of power." Luke added.

         "It might, but Lynch is clearly in a very vulnerable emotional state of mind, and that provides us with an opportunity to manipulate him." Spencer explains.
         "How so?" Emily asks over the phone.
        "We can give him hope, basically hope for redemption. Lynch knows that his impulses are wrong and that they make him just like his father, and he hates that, so he's looking to a surrogate father in this case, Rossi, to tell him that he can overcome his past and become a better man." Spencer explains.

         "Spence, you give him way too much credit for being able to feel human emotion." JJ said. "Well, I'm not sure about his emotional vulnerability, but I do think we should try to take advantage of what's going to be his physical vulnerability on Jasper's Ridge." Matt suggests.

         "If he senses Dave's got back-up, the psychological games are over." Luke shakes his head. "He'll do what he tried to do in the first place and he'll kill Dave. I'm sorry, but I'm with JJ on this one as well." Erik chimes in.

        "And we still don't have one clue as to where he's holding Olivia Irwin." Tara said.

         "I just think there's a way that we can get the best of both worlds here." Matt said and Rossi then turns the attention over to the boss, who decides the decisions for them. "Casey, what do you want?" He asks.

          Casey thinks on it for a moment before she decides, "I want you to talk to him. But you have to have backup, close enough within shooting range in case something happens."

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          Rossi had had his conversation with Lynch, presumably getting nowhere with him. Rossi gave Lynch the opportunity to give up but Lynch wouldn't take it. When Rossi had gotten back, Casey received a call from Garcia.

          "Garcia find something?" Rossi questions. Garcia chimes in on speaker, "Yeah, I did. It looks like Roberta Lynch spent a significant part of her teenage years bouncing from family members to family friends, including the Duggans of Reno. Now, they made all their money in the gaming industry, most of them moved away except for one Alexandria Duggan."

        "JJ, Reid, sending you guys the address now." Casey said. "All right, we got it." Spencer said. "Also, FBI SWAT officers are on their way to meet you." Emily adds. "You may not make it there in time to save Lynch from Roberta."  Tara told.

        "I'm only concerned with saving Olivia Irwin's life right now." JJ chimes in. "Me and you both, Jayje." Casey told.

         "I know Roberta thinks she can kill her son, but when it comes down to it, she won't pull the trigger." Spencer tells.
         "I think she will." Rossi retorts. "You didn't see her react to that photo of Grace."
         "What makes you think so, Spencer?" Erik questions.
        "I saw her sentimental side, and it's hard to see how she'd be able to completely disassociate from her relationship to her only child." Spencer explained.

        "But if Lynch figures that out, he'll have the advantage, and I'm sure he won't hesitate to kill her." Matt told.

         Spencer and JJ had arrived at the scene, the area secured with SWAT vans around and officers piled up. As soon as they got out of the SUV, JJ found the commander in charge. "Commander Montero. We need to surround and secure the perimeter." The man nodded at her, "Yes, ma'am."

          Spencer had then gotten access to Everett Lynch's cell and Roberta had been the one to answer on the other line. "Is this Agent Rossi?" Roberta questioned. "No, Roberta, my name is Dr. Spencer Reid, and it's important that you listen to me right now. Even though you have the gun, the moment your son realizes you're not gonna shoot him, he's gonna get the upper hand." Spencer explained to the woman, in hopes to talk her away from the ledge.

        "You're wrong 'cause my son is going to pay for what he did to Grace." Roberta told. "Yes, but first you need to let Olivia walk out of there, okay?" Spencer speaks calmly and he hears clattering on the other line. "Yeah."

         Spencer then hears a gunshot and he's suddenly worried. "Roberta?" He asks but Roberta is quick to respond. "Don't you worry. She's on her way out to you."

         In the distance, Olivia runs out with a SWAT member, running towards JJ to get her somewhere safe. "Roberta, that warning shot is what's about to give you away, but we can help. Are you ready for us to come in? We can save you both." Roberta laughs on the other line at that.

         Back at Delvin Weaver's crime scene, Luke and Matt walk towards Casey and Rossi with an officer behind them holding a bag. "Dave, Case, they found this bag discarded on the side of the road." Luke tells as the officer hands it to Rossi. "Looks like it's Roberta's." Matt adds.

           Casey looks inside the bag and Rossi finds an old photo album of Roberta with baby Everett and this is when Casey realizes that something's wrong. And she quickly decides to call JJ.

          Back at the house, Roberta had just told Spencer she was ready for them to come in so Spencer hung up and gathered the six officers together to get inside the house. "Captain Montero, breach."

            JJ answered the phone a second too late. "Casey?" Casey is quick to talk. "JJ, revise the plan now. Roberta isn't there to kill Lynch. She's there to die with him."

           JJ turns towards the house and sees that Spencer's about to enter the house and the one thought JJ had was the way Casey would never forgive her if she let Spencer walk in that house right now. "Spence! Stop!" She yells and suddenly, the house is engulfed in flames and Spencer hits the back of the SWAT van and lands on the ground hard.

           To Spencer, everything happened so fast. He didn't register the ringing in his ears until he reminded himself to breathe. He saw the SWAT officers dead on the ground, JJ next to him, talking to him but he couldn't hear a word she said.

         He didn't even know Casey was on the other line of JJ's phone and heard JJ call her husband's name and then heard the explosion and was yelling on the other line, wondering if everything was okay.

         They were quick to get there when Spencer was sitting in the back of an ambulance, beating himself up for making a bad call. Casey told him not to worry, that'd she'd take care of all of it.

           In the end, Roberta and Everett Lynch were dead. But the jet ride home was silent. It didn't really feel like a win for the team. As Casey sat with Spencer in silence, his hand and her hand resting on her belly, Casey felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She looked at Spencer, knowing it was an important phone call she had to take.

          Casey stepped towards the coffee machine and took the call privately. "Deputy Director Barbour. I was expecting your call." She greeted.

        "Yeah, I was wondering if you had at least a preliminary assessment of the losses at the Lynch scene." Barbour started. "Six FBI SWAT officers are confirmed dead. It appears, at some point, Lynch was able to detach a gas line. The explosion itself seemed to have been triggered by the gunshot." Casey explained.

        "BAU never profiled suicidal ideations in either Everett or Roberta Lynch. I mean, how could you miss that?" Casey heard the scold and held her tongue as she continued, "Yeah, based on the behavior, we were able to evaluate there was never any indication of that predisposition."

         "Who gave the order to breach?" Barbour questioned and Casey looked over at her sorrowful husband and knew that he definitely did not need this right now. "Deputy Barbour, I stand by my team and the actions that we take. The buck stops with me, always."

        "Well, as you can imagine, the idea that we would promote you or Agent Prentiss after—"
         Casey interrupts the man, knowing that she definitely didn't need this right now. "Deputy Barbour, am I still the unit chief of the BAU?"
        "Yes."
        "And is Agent Prentiss still the conditional chief, yes or no?"
         "Yes, but—"

         "Then sir, I am nine months pregnant and this is really the last thing my family and I need right now so if you'll excuse me, I have to go now. Goodbye, sir."

         With that, Casey hung up. She had then realized just how unprofessional the phone call seemed but hey, she was resigning soon anyways and plus, she could just blame her outburst on pregnancy brain.

          Casey looked back at Spencer, that sorrowful expression still lingered on his face and it stayed there even right when they had landed. They got back to the office where Casey had decided to do her paperwork before leaving for home.

           In the middle of her paperwork, Spencer had knocked and entered the room. "Hey." Casey said sweetly, music to Spencer's ears. "You ready to go home yet?" Spencer asked and Casey looked down at her pile of paperwork.

           "Uh, I still have to finish this up but why don't you go home first? I'll meet you there." Casey told and Spencer takes a peek at what's at Casey's desk. "They do realize you are pregnant, right?" Spencer asks jokingly and Casey shrugs, "Hey, nothing can stop me, not even this big belly." She looks at Spencer's sad eyes and encourages him once more. "You should go on without me and get some rest. You look like you need it."

             So, Spencer hesitantly agreed, bidding his wife a kiss on the lips as well as to her stomach and he headed on out. Casey figured that with Lennox and Chris spending the night at Isaac's, he could get the peace and quiet he so deserved. She'd be going home soon anyways.

            But what Casey didn't realize was just how late it was when she finally finished up the paperwork. It was already one in the morning and she knew she'd pass out the minute she got to her car. So, she sent a text over to Spencer, saying that she'd be sleeping on her couch in her office for the night and she'd need a change of clothes the following morning.

            And she passed out on her couch, not even knowing that her husband was actually unconscious in her living room, bleeding from his brain and succumbing to an injury neither of them knew he had...

DUN DUN DUN😈

can you guys believe it??
we're on the last episode of this series
but fret not, we have three more chapters🥲

i'm scared to finish but i know eventually it has to come to an end :( it's just so surreal

anywayssss
thank you for reading this
i love you all
can't wait for this next one hehe🤭
-mya </3

p.s. i'm going to do a questionnaire at the end of this book! please pm me privately or comment your burning questions here and after i finally finish all of this, i will post your questions and answer them!!

p.p.s. i'm doing a spin-off of this book
i can't tell y'all what it is yet but soon😈