𝒙𝒙𝒗𝒊𝒊𝒊. crossfire
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: CROSSFIRE !
━━━━━━
IT'D BEEN A WEEK SINCE WHAT HAPPENED TO LEAH. Today was the day of her funeral and to be honest, no one wanted to face the day. Casey, especially.
The young woman found herself, still in bed just an hour before they had to leave for the funeral. She hadn't even gotten dressed yet. This was a normal occurrence. Casey didn't bother getting out of bed for a couple of days after today. No one even heard her utter a single word.
But the team was here and they were Casey's biggest supporters in all of this. They helped arrange the funeral so no one in the family had to. The Willows-Ryleighs were too devastated to do anything. And no one blamed them for that. So, the team took matters into their own hands, like they would usually.
As Casey wallowed in bed, she heard a quiet knock on the door, paired with JJ's voice at the end of it. "Casey?" She called. "We're almost ready to go."
There had been no answer from Casey. Instead, the woman stood up in her bed and decided to slowly get ready like a sloth.
JJ sighs sadly. "Well, come down when you're ready. We'll be here for you. No matter what." As she headed towards the stairs, she noticed Will walking towards her. "Can I get you anything, honey?" He asks and JJ shakes her head, "Ah, no, I'm okay."
"Are you sure?" Will asks and JJ sighs, "I just... I know what Casey's going through. When I lost my sister, I didn't talk to anyone. And she's isolating herself just like I did and I don't know—" JJ knew what it was like to lose a sister like Casey had. And the fact that JJ found Leah brought her back to when she found her sister in the bathtub. She knew what Casey was going through and just wanted to be there for her as much as she could.
Will gives JJ a sympathetic hug and JJ tears up a bit. "Leah was so young. She was gonna get married and—" Will nods, "I know."
Erik comes up from downstairs and he finds JJ and Will. "She okay?" He asks. JJ shakes her head, "I have no clue." Erik nodded at the woman, "I'm gonna see if I can talk to her." With that, Erik walked towards her door and JJ nods, "Good luck."
Meanwhile, everyone downstairs had been preparing for the funeral. Spencer had dressed Christopher in a suit, Rossi and Emily were chatting as Garcia was busy taking care of everyone.
"Can I get anything for you, James?" Garcia asked as James somberly held his head down as he looked at a framed photo of all three of his children recently. "I'm okay, thank you." James told the woman.
"Isaac? Wes?" Penelope asks the men, Isaac is looking outside as Wes is sitting on the couch with a specific look on on his face. She swore she hasn't seen Isaac cry ever since they told him about Leah. "Nah, I'm okay." Isaac answers and Wes shakes his head.
Garcia hates seeing people look so sad and she hates funerals as much as the next gal. "Look who made it." Luke, Matt, Tara had appeared with Morgan.
Penelope immediately goes in for a hug. "Derek." She holds him like he's her lifeline. "I was worried you weren't gonna come for the funeral."
"No, I couldn't miss it," Morgan answers. "Savannah understood and Casey needs me right now. Hotch and Vivian are gonna meet us there." He nods over at Wes, who stood up from the couch.
Morgan turns towards Spencer. "Hey, man." He said, giving Spencer a hug. "Hey." Spencer greeted.
Morgan pulled away and looked at Spencer carefully. "You doing okay?" He asked. Spencer looks down. "Not really the one you need to be asking right now." He says and Morgan nods in understanding.
Erik, JJ and Will are walking downstairs. "Is she okay?" Tara asks and JJ sighs, "She hasn't come out of her room yet. I'd give her more time but we're gonna need to leave soon." Erik nodded, "She just needs more time to grieve."
Rossi and Emily exchange a look and Emily starts, "Well, I didn't want to say anything to her until after the funeral, but they are reassigning the case with Damion Brambilla to a different detective." She announces.
"What case?" Luke asks.
"What case?" Rossi repeats. "Leah was found murdered in a motel, Luke."
"I didn't think we need to keep going with this. It's already too much for Casey, especially since she's Unit Chief now, she has her hands full. She doesn't need this right now." Luke told.
Matt nodded, "Angel Romano's dead now but Casey isn't gonna stop until she finds Damion Brambilla." Spencer speaks up next. "Casey's stubborn, she's not gonna ask for our help." JJ sighs, "I don't know, Spence. I've never seen her this defeated before."
"I just wish there was something more we could do," Tara told. "She needs us now more than ever."
Erik speaks up next. "We have to figure out where Damion Brambilla went. If not, Casey is then a potential target and so is Christopher and all of us. We've already seen what they can do."
"Casey's not gonna stop until she finds Damion and even then, he's caught in the crossfire." Morgan told.
"Would you people mind?" Isaac speaks up finally and everyone turns their attention to the grieving man. "For God's sake, we're burying my sister today. Can't this wait?" With that, Garcia puts a comforting hand on Isaac's shoulder with a tear streaming down her eye.
Seeing that the tension grew thick, Matt broke the awkward silence and checked his watch. "We should go, the service starts in 30 minutes." He told. "She's not coming out of that room any time soon." JJ stated.
"Are you sure? Should we wait up?" Emily asks. "No, I'll go talk to her." Spencer volunteers and tells Chris to go with JJ and Will. "You guys go ahead."
"Are you sure?" JJ asks but Spencer doesn't answer, he just heads upstairs and everyone begins to head through the front door.
Tara looks towards everyone as they walk out. "Should we wait for them?" She asks. "No, Spence can drive her. If anyone can get through to her, it's him." Morgan told, sure of it.
So, Spencer headed upstairs and he knocked on the door and opened it to see Casey sitting in front of the vanity in her room, brushing her hair, dressed in black, her eyes red from crying so much.
"Casey," Spencer spoke. "We have to go." Casey didn't look at him as she shook her head. "I don't wanna go." She told. Spencer walks towards the woman and kneels in front of her. "Why?"
Casey takes a shaky breath. "Because if I go, that'll mean Leah's not really coming back and I don't think I can handle that." She looks down. "She was my baby sister. And I let him take her from me."
"Casey—" Spencer tries to grab her hand but Casey backs away from him. It's subtle but Spencer noticed it and looked at the woman sadly. "Why couldn't we save her?" Casey questioned. "We tried." Spencer says quietly.
"But we didn't," Casey stated. "Why did let him get away?"
Spencer wants to give Casey a rational explanation. But there was never a rational explanation for a death to be dealt with. "He just... he has a power that we don't—" Casey immediately raises from her seat. "Then, what the hell good is our job then?"
Casey looks away from him as she wipes her eyes, trying not to cry in front of Spencer. "It's okay to be angry." Spencer told but Casey shook her head, "I'm not angry. I'm pissed off!" The tears were starting to stream down her face.
"Don't you understand? Leah was out there, scared and alone and she was taken because of me because I-I-I let my guard down and-and Damion is still out there and I-I-I can't... I can't breathe, I can't—" Casey hyperventilated as she cried and felt a panic attack coming on.
Spencer watched Casey sadly as he approached her and sat down on the edge of the bed with her and held her hand to calm her down. Once she got her breathing regulated, the tears didn't stop falling as she laid her head on Spencer's shoulder and continued crying. And they sat there for a minute.
They finally had headed into the funeral and to the chapel before bringing Leah's casket out to the cemetery. James, Isaac, Wes, Morgan, Spencer and Hotch had carried the casket together towards Leah's designated spot and they put it down.
Casey had been the person going to deliver the speech. It seemed right for her to do it. Isaac and Wes had been too heartbroken for it and James never had a way with words.
Spencer held his son close to him and stood next to Casey once she started delivering her speech. Vivian held onto her son as he grieved. Garcia leaned her head on Luke's shoulder and held Morgan's hand.
"Growing up, I always wanted siblings and I am glad to have gotten that time spent with Leah. Leah had a good heart. She was kind, beautiful inside and out. She was a great sister, a great friend, a great aunt. She deserved to have a longer life. I will admit that I am the reason that she is gone. I'm not looking for sympathy, I'll telling the truth. Leah always said that things happened for a reason."
"And yet, I'm still looking for the reason why she is gone and I have yet to find that reason. I loved her. And she loved the world, and people and she was depended on until the end. With her, it was like the world spun a little faster. The prettiest flowers are always picked and Leah was one of those flowers. Leah, you had a kind and beautiful soul and I will forever be grateful to have known you for as long as I did." Casey began to get choked up a bit towards the middle of the speech and Spencer grabbed her hand to remind her that if she needed a breather, no one would blame her.
"Someone once said, 'The world changes from year to year, our lives from day to day but the love and memory of you shall never pass away.'. I love you, Leah. May you Rest In Peace." With that, everyone threw white roses into the casket and began to head towards the reception back at Casey's house. Not a lot of people were going, but people that knew and loved Leah were going.
━━━━━━
Casey had headed upstairs once the reception started and came back down eventually but no one had noticed she had. She had walked into her teammate's conversation about The Demon and how they were going to take him down. That's when Casey spoke up when she heard Tara say, "We're gonna find him. We will."
"And then what are we gonna do?" Casey questioned and got everyone's attention. "It's gonna take a whole army to take down Damion Brambilla. Someone strong to take him down."
"Casey, you're strong." Matt told. "Leah was stronger. Stronger than me and look what happened." Casey stated. "Maybe, but Casey, we have to stop Damion before he kills anyone else." Tara stated.
"Why should we? Why do we have to?" Casey questions. "Casey." Erik tries. "What? Do they really expect us to keep doing this stuff after what happened? To keep risking our lives? Do they?" Casey genuinely questions and she's beginning to get everyone's attention. "Casey—"
"I don't wanna do this anymore, okay? It's over. You can tell them we buried their precious BAU team when we buried my sister." Casey snaps and with that, heads upstairs for a breather.
"Casey—" Spencer tries to stop Casey but she shakes her head to him. "Don't. Just—" She stops him and rushes up the stairs.
"I think we should just... give her some space." Luke told but Spencer wasn't going to let Casey push herself away from everyone. Especially from him, of all people.
Spencer finds Casey in the hallway, sitting in the sitting area with her head in her hands. "It should've been me." She admits. "Don't say that. Hey." Spencer sits next to her but Casey immediately stands up, facing him.
"Just stop." She practically pleads. "Just— stop trying to make me feel better. Because there is absolutely nothing in the world that could make me feel better about this. My sister is dead. She is gone forever. And I— I didn't stop it. I didn't stop it."
Casey faces away from him and Spencer looks at Casey and stands. "There's nothing you could've done." He tells and it's the truth. There was nothing Casey could've done.
"Yeah? Well, there should've been something. If I had never gotten involved, if I hadn't let Damion go or have Antonio go with him, I—" Casey breaks down once more but stops once she hears a familiar voice down the hall.
"Mom?" Casey immediately wiped her eyes once she heard her son's voice. She was trying hard to be strong, but the one person she wanted to be strong for was her son. "Hey, buddy. What's up?" Casey clears her throat so it's not as shaky as when she speaks to Chris.
"I just wanted to see if I could go get ice cream with Uncle Dave." Appearing behind Chris is the man himself, Rossi. Casey looks at Rossi for confirmation and he nods and that's when Casey answers, "Uh, yeah, sure."
Casey looks at Rossi. "I figured I could take him out, get his mind off things. I'll keep a close eye on him." He assures and he knows that the most important thing for Casey right now. That she's assured that Chris is in safe hands. "Okay, yeah, yeah, that's fine." Casey tells.
Rossi takes Chris and they head back downstairs and Casey looks at Spencer before gathering herself together and heads back downstairs to see her guests.
Throughout the thirty minutes she'd been down there, Casey had been dealing with condolences from everyone as they spoke to her. Everyone was supportive and loving. But when she went to go check on her brother in the dining room, isolated from everyone else, he was anything but supportive or loving.
Casey had gone to check on him and he had a mean mug on his face and a bottle in his hands. He was drunk. At his sister's funeral. The mean mug on his face was the kind you want to shy away from. It made her sad that he was sad about this and that he was trying to numb his pain by drinking. She doesn't even know what to say to him or even if she should say anything to him at all. Part of the team had been nearby and watched as Casey tried to speak to him.
"I—" Casey began but Isaac interrupted her, "Stop." He looked at the woman. "Stop, I don't want to hear another stupid apology. Especially from you of all people." Isaac said with venom filling his voice.
"Isaac—" Casey says hoarsely and Isaac doesn't stop there. "She's gone. And there's no fixing it. No matter what you say. She's dead because of you." Casey stares at him with a blank look on her face and that's when Luke and Matt step up.
"Hey, man. Come on, you don't wanna do this. Time and place." Luke told.
Isaac wasn't even focusing on Luke or Matt, he stared right into Casey's soul as he continued. "You know, why are you even here? You're the person who got her killed."
Casey was taken aback. She knew Isaac blamed her but hearing these words coming from his mouth really broke her. "I'm... I'm sorry—" She sputters out.
"You're sorry? That's all you have to say, you're sorry?!" Isaac questions, getting in Casey's face now. But Casey doesn't do anything about it. She just lets Isaac talk to her this way. "Sorry isn't gonna bring her back. You know, it should've been you that died. It'd make everyone's life just a little easier."
Then, all of a sudden, something flies past Casey and she suddenly realizes that Spencer has thrown a punch at Isaac's face and threw him back against the wall.
All of a sudden, it's taking Luke and Matt to try and pull Spencer off of Isaac and even Casey's dad steps in. And surprisingly, James is the one to get Spencer to let go of Isaac. "Spencer, Spencer, come on, let go of him."
"Hey, hey, hey, Isaac. You can't just talk to your sister like that." James tries and Isaac shakes his head as he throws his dad off of him now. "She's not my sister." He glares her way. "She never was."
With that, Isaac pushes past everyone. "Isaac... Is—" Casey tries but she knows it's no use as Isaac leaves and slams the door behind him.
Casey stands there frozen after all of that until she carries on. It wasn't normal for her to react like that and everyone began to worry for her by the way she had been acting. But how were you supposed to act when your sibling dies all because of a decision you made a decade ago?
━━━━━━
After everyone had left, Casey had been cleaning up after until Matt volunteered to clean the rest of everything up. Then, all of a sudden, Luke walked in. "Uh, Casey? There's some people to see and talk to you."
Casey took a deep breath and went to go see who it was that walked in and standing there had been Matt Cruz with another man beside him. Spencer and Emily had also been standing right there as both Casey and Luke walk in the room.
Casey crossed her arms as she approaches the men. "Can I ask what you're doing here?" She questions. "Agent Casey Willows, Detective Reagan here would like to have a moment with you regarding the Damion Brambilla case." Cruz told Casey.
Luke speaks up as he looks at Cruz. "Listen, all due respect, now really isn't a good time to—"
"It's fine, Luke, really." Casey assures as she nods at Cruz and the detective to continue.
Detective Reagan looks at Casey. "I'd like to start off with my greatest condolences towards your sister." Casey nods at the man, "Thank you." Reagan nods at the woman, "We're gonna find that monster that did this to your sister."
Casey looks at the ground at the mention of Damion Brambilla. The way he was referred as 'monster'. Because that's all he was now. A monster. And that would never change.
Everyone senses the tension and Reagan looks around at the agents in the room. "Something I said?" He asks. Casey shakes her head, "No, it's just... the word... monster." Reagan nods at the woman, "Well, that's what this vicious bastard is. A monster. We gotta stop him before he strikes again."
"I couldn't agree more," Casey stated. "If you'll excuse me..." As Casey goes to show him the door, Reagan stops her and speaks to her. "I know what a difficult time this is for you and your family, Agent. But we really need to talk."
"But not now." James walks over to the group and speaks on behalf of his daughter.
Reagan realizes that Casey is still reeling from her sister's death and of course, this is the day of her funeral and he nods in respect, "Of course. Sorry. But I'd like to leave these with you, if that's possible." He holds up a file for Casey to look at and she furrows her brows, "And what's this?"
"Your sister's autopsy," The man tells as Casey takes it from him. "There really are some things you need to look into here."
With that, the two men leave and Casey looks at the autopsy file in her hands. She takes a deep breath and decides to set it aside. She'd look at it later.
The time eventually came hours after everyone left. I mean, everyone except for Spencer. The man refused to leave her side. It eventually took Rossi offering to stay with Casey that eventually made Spencer leave. Rossi told Spencer to take Chris for the night and to get some rest because he needed it just as much as Casey did.
Casey had been cleaning a few things and had just finished up a call with the club since they were most likely going to sell it since the owner was now dead. After finishing the call, she noticed the mail piled on her desk and then the autopsy record.
Casey took a breath and decided that she'd check it out later until the papers inside of the file had fallen to the floor. Casey sighs exasperatedly and wonders what else can go wrong today. As she picks the papers up, she sees the autopsy records now.
As she examines the photos, a sentence catches her eye. 'Victim had three lines tattooed on body postmortem'. Casey furrowed her brows and then immediately thought about the cases with the Multiplier. He tattooed three lines on the bodies when he was done.
That meant that the Multiplier was in that room that day she died. He was there. He was connected to this. Casey dropped the files and it was at that moment where her fists clenched and her breathing slowed and all she could see was red.
Suddenly, Rossi walked into the room and he furrowed his brows as he noticed Casey's face as she turned around to face him. "Casey, what's wrong?" He asked.
Casey sharpened her breath and looked at Rossi with that devilish look in her eye. "He was in there... the night she died." Casey said carefully, like it served as a warning to a frail child. Rossi furrowed his brows and wondered what Casey meant by that. "The Multiplier." She hands the autopsy file to Rossi.
"He tattooed three lines on her." Casey spat. "That son of a bitch branded her." The autopsy record confirmed that that monster was working with that bastard. And when she would find them... there would be hell to pay.
━━━━━━
A few days later and Casey was back at work, determined as ever. She didn't remember the last time she had a whole eight hours of sleep. Two or three at the most but she was more looking forward to catching the Multiplier with her bare hands.
Rossi informed everyone of the autopsy records so they knew Casey was working that all out. But everyone wondered if she was gonna break sooner or later.
Right now, Casey had been heading to Garcia's office to see if maybe she had any new news since she told her what to look for. "Hey." Casey greeted. "Hey." Garcia spoke and before she could ask Casey how she was doing, Casey leaned over to look at her monitors. "Any word on him?" She asks.
Garcia decides to wait a second before asking how she's doing and gives her the info she wants. "No, but a credit card under Ted Homen dinged under a prescription of drugs by the nearest pharmacy."
"Anagram for 'The Demon'," Casey told with a Scott in her voice. "It's like he wants me to find him."
"Well, maybe he does." Garcia assumes, trying to remind Casey that if she tries to spend all this time looking for him, she's gonna go crazy if she doesn't.
"And then it's my responsibility to find him." Casey stated. "I'll send Tara and Erik to that pharmacy to look into it. Keep me posted."
With that, Casey walks out and doesn't hear as Garcia speaks to her. "Casey, don't you think you should—?" Garcia pauses as she sees Casey walking out of the room. "Lay low?" She finishes quietly.
After about an hour, Garcia had entered the bullpen and looked as everyone had their focus upstairs on Casey in her office, pacing and on the phone and looking things up on her laptop. They could've sworn she hadn't sat down since she got in.
"I take it I'm not the only one that's worried about her?" Garcia asks as she approaches the few that are watching her — which are Luke, Emily, JJ and Spencer.
"Nope," JJ tells. "She didn't call or text me for four days. I just wanted to see how she's been." JJ told. "Then, when I get in, this is the first thing I see." She points to Casey and her pacing.
"Was she like this when I was gone?" Emily wonders. "I mean, she almost lost her job then but I think this is even worse than when you were gone. She was upset and blamed herself, this time she sees red." Rossi tells, walking over to the group with a cup of coffee in his hands.
JJ looks over at Spencer, who has his brows furrowed in thought. "Spence?" She asks, wanting to know what he was thinking.
"Do you remember when she spoke to Leah in the car?" Spencer reminds. "She told Casey not to blame herself. This may be her new way of grieving."
Garcia sighs sadly, "She's never isolated herself like this before."
"Right now, she's determined. I think we gotta be the same way. The men that are responsible for killing her sister are still out there. She's not gonna stop until she finds them." Luke explained.
Spencer takes a breath and then decides, "I'm gonna go and talk to her." With that, he heads upstairs to her office and finds that she's stopped pacing and instead, she sitting in front of her desk with her laptop in front of her.
Spencer knocks on her door and Casey doesn't bother to look up or say anything as Spencer greets, "Hey." With that, Casey starts with: "Hey."
Spencer walks towards Casey's desk. "What are you doing?" He asks.
"Uh, looking into the Baltimore motels," Casey answers. "The Multiplier was last spotted there, I'm having Christensen send me over some CCTV footage from the city."
Seeing that she's taking measures to high extremes, Spencer takes a deep breath. "Casey." He tries but Casey continues, "I'm still wondering why Damion would need prescription medicine. He's using it for back pain but sometimes unsubs like the high they get off of medicine, so I don't know." She shrugs at that.
"Case—" Spencer tries again.
"And why three lines tattooed on Leah's body? And how fast was The Multiplier in and out? I mean, Hotch and I were there not ten minutes later and you guys were ahead of us so how the hell did he get away that fast?" Casey wonders, walking towards the board she set up in her office.
"Casey." Spencer speaks sternly, this time, which causes Casey to stop in her tracks and look at Spencer. "Stop. You're burning the candle at both ends."
Casey sighs as she walks back to her desk and tucks a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "Spencer, I get that it's dangerous and you don't want me to get hurt but I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself." She assures to him.
"It isn't just because it's dangerous," Spencer then motions to the board she set up. "Look at this. Boards, photos." He holds up a photo of Leah in there bathtub towards Casey, waving it. "I mean, how can you sit here and just stare at these for hours on end and not feel anything?"
But Spencer notices as he does, there's no sign of pain on her face. Instead, she speaks calmly. "Spencer, just because I'm doing things a little bit differently doesn't mean that there's a problem." She tells.
Spencer furrows his brows and looks at Casey carefully as he crossed his arms. "Are you drinking again?" He questions.
Casey looks at the man in disbelief. "What?"
"You didn't answer the question." Spencer stated.
Casey sighs, "I'm not drinking again, Spencer." She stated and from the look in her eyes, Spencer could tell Casey was telling the truth. "I don't even have time to drink. So, just get out if you're just gonna talk."
Spencer takes a breath and looks at the woman as she leans towards her desk and looks at what's in front of her. "Casey, I can't help you unless you talk to me." Spencer tells and with that, Casey looks up for a moment.
"It hurts to talk, Spencer. It hurt to breathe. So unless you can find some way to bring Leah back from the dead, I don't wanna talk." Casey tells sternly.
As she continues to try and go back to work, Spencer realizes what this might be about. "You still blame me for not saving her, don't you?" He wonders but that was far from the truth. Casey doesn't blame Spencer for not getting there in time. She doesn't blame anyone, only the people responsible.
"No, Spencer, I don't blame you. I blame the Angel and The Demon and the Multiplier. Why... why do you think I'm doing all of this? For kicks?" Casey questions, raising her voice a bit.
"Honestly, I think you're doing it because it's easier than confronting what you're really feeling." Spencer tells and that's when Casey stands up fully. "Get out."
Spencer furrows his brows. "What?" He then registers Casey pushing him out of her office forcefully. "Get out of my office, Spencer. I have work I need to do." With that, she slams the door and locks it behind Spencer and Casey goes back to work and Spencer looks below at the team and shakes his head.
If he couldn't get through to her, then there was no use trying to get through to her at all.
━━━━━━
After a few days once more, Casey had gone back home and tried to get some sleep but her head ended up being clouded with a nightmare. It was when she had found Leah. In that bathtub. That image of her was engraved in her mind, it seemed.
This time, the nightmare consisted of the dead Leah sitting up in the bathtub, covered in blood and whispering in a ghostly voice: Save me.
That was when Casey jumped up from the nightmare and leaned back into the cold, sweaty mattress and covers and knew she couldn't get back into bed after that. She checked the alarm clock and it read 3:37am. And with that, she started the day and made herself a batch of coffee.
Casey realized that she was running out of creamer and sugar sooner than later because of how frequently she was drinking this entire week. She was drinking at least three cups a day.
By the time the clock hit 6am, she called her dad to see if he could watch Chris for the day since he had no school today. Unfortunately, James couldn't due to him going to visit his parole officer. Isaac? Not an option. She didn't know who else who was available to do so.
And honestly, she didn't know who to trust anymore so... she decided that today was bring your kid to work day.
So, Casey got Chris up, dressed, fed and ready to go. Chris walked into the office with her and before anyone else got in, she had decided to keep him in her office with his coloring books, laying on the floor and drawing as she did he own research regarding the Multiplier and the Demon.
Finally, everyone began to show up and Emily had knocked and walked into Casey's office. "Hey— You're here early." Emily then noticed Christopher on the ground with his coloring book. "And you brought Chris. Hey, kiddo." She greeted.
Chris looked up at Emily. "Hi, Auntie Emily." He greeted with a smile on his face.
Emily looks at Casey, wondering what he's doing here. "My dad couldn't watch him today. And my brother still isn't talking to me and my sister's dead so..." Casey shrugs. "I kinda had to bring him here."
"I'm sure no one minds." Emily tells and then before she can walk out, she decides to ask, "Why don't I take him to go and see Garcia? I'm sure she'd like to see him."
Unfocused, Casey nods, "Uh, yeah, sure, that's fine." Emily nods at Chris and holds a hand out. "Come on." Emily puts a hand on Chris's shoulder as she walks him out the door. "Bye, Mom." He tells.
"Bye, kiddo." Casey says as she keeps her eyes on her screen.
As Emily closes her door, she looks down at Chris, who shrugs. "Trust me, I don't know what's up with her either." He tells.
Back in her office, Casey's doing info searching on any article regarding the Multiplier and Damion Brambilla when she suddenly feels a gush on wind. From the corner of her eye, she swears she can see Leah on the couch and when she looks over, she's sitting on it and that's when Casey rubs her eyes and Leah disappears.
She blinks a few times before continuing her work and sighs, trying to focus on the task at hand.
━━━━━━
Garcia spent hours trying to look at the CCTV footage and Tara and Erik had found out days prior that the man the pharmacists described was indeed Damion Brambilla based on the description and now Casey was on more high alert than usual.
Casey eventually moved her boards into the conference room when she realized she no longer had any more room in her office for more boards. As she continued searching and everyone else had been searching high and low, she stayed in the conference room.
Eventually, Casey felt her head dropping as she did work and her eyelids growing heavy and she decided to rest her head on her arms on the roundtable and decided to give herself at least a five minute break.
Five minutes turned into a thirty minute and she suddenly began to have those nightmares regarding her sister in the bathtub again. This time, her sister stands out of the bathtub and she's saying: Save me!
"Leah! Leah!" Casey tries to run towards her but she stays in place. "Leah!"
Suddenly, Casey jumps awake and she swears Leah's standing in the corner and she jumps out of her seat and falls off of it. "Leah!" She stands up and Spencer, JJ, Emily and Rossi rush into the room.
"Casey, what happened? What's going on?" Spencer asks as Casey looks at him in panic. "It's Leah. It's Leah, she's here! She's right..." She looks back towards the corner and Leah had disappeared. "She was right here, I swear."
Casey looks at Spencer and she recognizes the look on his face. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy." She repeats as she digs her hands into her scalp.
"I never said you were." Spencer told.
"No, but you were looking at me like I am." Casey told. "Because you give that exact same look to your mother. I'm not crazy."
JJ steps forward to Casey now. "Okay, maybe you need to rest—" She tries and Casey glares at her. "Back off." JJ immediately does. "What do you think? I can't function now?"
"We're just trying to help." Emily steps forwards now. "Help me." Casey scoffs. "You don't let anybody help you. Remember Ian Doyle?" All of a sudden, Casey is snapping at everyone and it's like she's not even realizing what she's doing.
"I think we all just need to keep on our toes before—" Rossi tries now as he notices Casey's hostile tone. "Oh, save it. Do you always have to be in charge, Rossi? I'm in charge, remember?" Casey reminds.
"Casey, you need to calm down." JJ told and Casey repeats her. "Calm down?" She scoffs, "You don't wanna be here, you just wanna go home to your precious little family with your precious kids and precious husband, acting like you're not in love with mine."
Realizing the woman isn't in her right mind, Spencer speaks now. "I'm not your husband, Casey. We divorced." He reminds her and that's when Casey steps out of that negative space that pushed her to say those awful things.
Casey looks at everyone in regret and rubs her eyes with the inside of her palm. "Uh... I need to..." She stumbles a bit and before she falls over, Spencer catches her before she does so.
JJ pulls out a chair for Casey to sit in and Casey takes a breather for a minute or so as JJ and Spencer sit next to her and Rossi goes to grab a cup of water for her as Emily rushes to Garcia's lair out of the bullpen to get Casey a snack into her system.
Emily comes back with a granola bar and Rossi comes back with that cup of water. Casey can't believe the things she's said to her teammates. "Oh, what is going on with me?" She wonders and looks at the people in the room. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."
No one in the room took her comments personally. They had assumed that Casey was just out of it. "When was the last time you slept?" Emily wondered.
"Uh... before Leah went missing." Casey admits, drinking the cup of water. "You haven't gotten sleep in a week and a half?" Spencer asks with concern in his eyes.
"Not proper sleep," Casey told. "I think I should go home."
"You don't seriously think you're gonna be driving home, do you?" JJ asks. "I'll stay here for a minute or two when I've regained enough energy to drive. I promise. And I was just gonna hit the hay at a hotel room a few blocks down. I figure both Chris and I could use the rest."
So, Casey stayed in Garcia's lair until she was awake enough to take her and Chris to a hotel room down the road. When she walked down to the bullpen with Chris holding her hand, she looked at Emily standing near the door. "I'm awake enough to drive, trust me." Casey assured for about the millionth time.
Emily hands Casey her keys. "As soon as you get to the hotel, call me and I'll have agents posted at your hotel room." Casey nods, "Okay. Again, I'm really really sorry."
"It's okay, Casey. You just need some rest." Emily tells with sympathy in her voice and Casey nods as she heads into the elevator with her son.
Soon enough, Casey had made it to her car in the parking garage and buckled her son in his carseat and headed into the drivers' seat and buckled her seat in as began to drive out of the parking garage.
They'd hit the first street — red light, green light. Casey makes a turn and at the stop sign turns right. She makes another right and another left and they're close to the hotel.
All of a sudden, Casey's cell phone buzzes and she goes to check to see who it is and keeps a steady eye on the road. When she glances for just a second, she only registers Christopher yelling, "Mom!" a second too late as the car is T-boned and jerked aside, throwing Casey around. The glass cuts at her face and they are jerked back at the impact.
It's only seconds later when help comes and her ears are ringing and the only thing she can taste is metal. She blinks a few times before closing her eyes and that's when everything goes black for Casey.
━━━━━━
Spencer almost didn't hear his cell phone ringing. He had been helping JJ, Erik and Tara with searching and looks over Casey's clues and boards. They had so far found nothing. That's when he heard it and felt his phone buzzing in his pocket.
He turns his back towards his teammates as he answers. "Hi, Dr. Spencer Reid." He answers. Then, he receives the news. Your wife and son have just been in a car accident. You're her emergency contact. Car accident. Wife. Son. Emergency. Those are the only words he can register.
"What?" Spencer manages to breathe out and listens as the doctors speak to him. "Are you- are you sure—? Are they... are they okay?" With that, Spencer's mind goes blank and he tells, "I'm on my way."
Spencer hangs up the phone and takes a moment to decide what to do. "What happened?" Tara asks, noticing his frozen state and then Spencer starts heading towards the bullpen door as he says one simple word, "Casey."
"What happened to Casey?" Erik questions. "Hey! Spencer!" JJ calls but Spencer doesn't even hear her as he rushes to elevator.
He rapidly presses the elevator button, urging for it to open faster and he heads to one of the SUVs and hops into it and quickly fidgets and puts the keys in the engine and as he crazily drives (like his ex-wife) to the hospital.
Not even caring, he parks right in front of the hospital entrance and runs inside — the only things on his mind, Casey and his son. He blames himself, he should've offered to drive Casey to the hotel but the woman is just too damn stubborn.
Spencer stops in front of the receptionist's desk and speaks quickly. "Uh, Casey Willows and Christopher Reid, where are they?" He asks.
"Dr. Reid." A doctor behind him appears and he ushers Spencer towards the hall. "Where are they?" He asks.
The doctor shows Spencer towards the trauma room and he sees Casey on gurney, unconscious, a bandage on her forehead, nose bleeding and a cut on her fair cheek and he wants to go in there, to hold her hand, to tell that he was here for her. But he can't, the doctor is explaining what happened.
"Your wife has a mild concussion from the accident. She also had a dislocation in her left arm. Overall, she's gonna made a recovery. She's going to need rest and lots of it." The doctor assures. "Your son needed stitches in his forehead but overall, he's okay. He's currently recovering and resting." Spencer can barely register his words over the relief filling his head.
Casey and Chris could've died. He could've lost both of them. Thank God he didn't. "Your wife and son are alright, Dr. Reid." The doctor tells.
"Uh, she's not my— wife." Spencer tells, almost sadly but it's true. "She's my... ex-wife. I must still be her emergency contact. Her father, James Willows, should be notified." He takes a look at Casey and he can see her chest rising at a normal rate and he's glad he can see it.
"Um, can I see my son?" Spencer decides and the doctor nods and leads Christopher into the children's wing where his stitches had been finished and a simple Spider-Man bandage in placed on his head.
Another doctor is talking to Chris carefully when Chris spots his dad at the hospital door. "Dad!" He says with a smile on his face. Like nothing bad had just happened to him. That he was in one piece. "Hey." Spencer says quietly as he rushes over to his son and holds him and just wants want to hold him for a long, long time.
Spencer is just so grateful that his son is alright and so is Casey. He wonders how this could've happened. The doctor pulls Spencer aside and that's when he explains that the source of the crash hadn't been Casey falling asleep behind the wheel, someone crashed into them. When help arrived, the other driver had gotten away. That's when Spencer knew that it had to have been the Multiplier or the Demon. And he knew Casey was gonna make whoever it was that hit her and her son pay.
Spencer eventually called the rest of the team and told them about the accident and the news about Casey and Christopher. He assured that Casey would still want them to search and he'd be there for the time being until she woke.
And then she did about an hour later. Spencer had been by her side, head down as he looked at his hands. Casey squeezed her eyes and adjusted to the bright light above her. She furrowed her brows and noticed the mop of brown hair next to her. What was she doing in a hospital? What was Spencer doing here?
Then, it came back in flashes. The crash, Chris. Chris. "Hey." Casey spoke and Spencer quickly whipped his head up and Casey noted to the relief written on his face as soon as he realized Casey was awake. "Hi." Spencer exhaled with a small smile on his face.
Casey lifted up a bit and questioned: "Where's Chris? Is he okay?" Spencer nods, "He's okay. He needed a few stitches, but he's okay. He's actually bragging about his stitches to the doctor as we speak." He chuckled a bit as he scratched the back of his neck. "Are you okay?" He asks.
Casey nods, "Yeah. My head hurts. But yeah." Spencer looks at her and leans closer. "Do you remember what happened?" He asked.
"I, um, I was getting a call," She remembered. "And Christopher saw the car and... that's when everything got a bit fuzzy."
"You have a mild concussion. A few stitches here and there. But you're gonna be fine. We're gonna find out who did this." Spencer told. Casey leaned back and she sighed, "It's obvious who did this. It's Damion. And the Multiplier. Maybe both, maybe one of them, but they did this."
Suddenly, with glossy eyes, Casey sat up and began to pull off all of the wires she was attached to. "I have to get out of here." She tells but Spencer immediately stops her before she can pull her IV out.
"No, Casey. You need rest. And the team, they're all over this right now. They're digging into your files, trying to find them. I promise." Spencer told. "Spence, it is a miracle that they didn't kill me or Chris but somebody else is gonna get hurt if I don't get out of this hospital and keep looking for this son of a bitch." Casey told.
Spencer puts a hand on top of Casey's. "Please," he's begging now. "Stay." He looks her in the eyes deeply. "For me?" He then realizes what he's asking and Casey's eyes jot to their hands connected and Spencer immediately pulls his hand away. "If not for me, then for Chris?"
Casey leans back into the bed, not wanting to argue further and now that she thought about it, she needed the rest after everything that's happened. "They tried to kill our son." She realizes and Spencer nods at the realization as well. He was pissed about the fact that he almost lost Chris and Casey and that there was nothing he could do to stop it. "I know." He said sadly.
━━━━━━
Since Casey thought that the Multiplier or Damion had been the one that hit Casey and her car, Luke decided to go down to the hospital to give the woman a cognitive interview.
When he arrived, she was reunited with her son, who didn't seem fazed by the accident but stayed closely by his mother. He'd been doing it a lot recently, sticking by her side. When Luke explained what he was here for, Spencer had decided to take Chris back to his room and Luke pulled the chair Spencer was sitting in so he could sit in it.
Casey laid in the bed and of course, Luke told her to close her eyes so she could focus on what she needed to focus on. A few minutes into the cognitive interview and Luke got to the point.
"So, you got in the car and you were driving. Do you remember why you checked your phone?" Luke questioned. Casey's eyeballs moved as she tried to focus on the moments before the accident. "There was a call," Casey stated. "Coming from my phone. I didn't get to see who it was."
Casey heard Chris now. "I hear Chris yelling. And then..." She feels the crash all over again. She remembered everything she felt. The car flying, her airbag hitting her right at her chest, the glass cutting her cheek.
Luke could tell Casey was getting uneasy and grabbed her hand for support. "I'm right here, Casey. It's alright." Luke told her. Casey calmed herself down and knew that she wasn't there but she had to find out who hit her. "Then, he hit me."
"Who hit you? Who is in that other car?" Luke questioned.
"I don't—" Casey squeezed her eyes.
Right before she passed out, she saw someone in that car. She knew who it was. She squinted her eyes and she spotted someone near her car. Through her rearview mirror, she spotted a blonde man.
A blonde man, built fair.
If she was a fool, she wouldn't have thought it to be...
Chandler.
Casey's eyes shot open but kept herself composed in front of Luke. The man didn't seem to notice her change in demeanor. Casey shook her head. "It's not coming to me. I'm sorry, I thought you could help but nothing's working."
"You don't think it was Damion?" Luke asked. "No, I don't think it was." Casey answered. "I'm sorry, again."
"It's okay," Luke stood up from his seat. "I'll come back when you're more ready. Okay?" She nods at him and Luke walks out of the room.
When she knew Luke was gone, Casey laid back in the bed and replayed the moment in her mind. She knew that the person she saw was Chandler. And she couldn't have felt more betrayed by him now. She thought he was complicated guy but this was just more than him being complicated. He attempted to kill her and her son. She trusted him, cared for him. Felt bad for him. She teared up at the betrayal. Damion and Chandler working together? How could she have felt so stupid? She was fooled by him. She only shed a few tears out before deciding to wipe them and to take a breather.
Casey looked at the bright ceiling and knew what she had to do next. Until she found them, they weren't going to stop. Chandler wasn't going to stop. The man killed her sister and lied about his identity. She felt double-crossed. And now, she knew she had to get out of here and that she needed to find that son of a bitch and to kill him with her bare hands.
So, Casey had unhooked herself from her IVs and looked out the door and found a nearby storage room without being spotted and found a pair of nurse scrubs that she quickly changed into and then got out of the storage room and headed out of the hospital, she knew she wasn't far from her house, so she decided to walk the few blocks she needed to.
That time going home, she had that to come up with a plan. She wanted revenge and she was going to get it.
And of course, when Luke went to go check on Casey because he offered, he immediately found the room empty and called the rest of the team over. Luke had called Spencer from Chris's hospital room to tell him about Casey and Spencer had gotten there by the time everyone else was there.
"What's going on?" Spencer questioned. "She's gone." Matt stated. "What do you mean she's gone?" Tara questioned.
JJ and Rossi had come back from looking at the cameras. "She got out of bed, grabbed her clothes, took her car and left." JJ answered.
"How'd she even get past security and the cameras?" Erik questioned. "Stole a nurse's scrubs." JJ stated.
"Why would she leave?" Spencer wondered. Things seemed fine. She was gonna stay. What happened in that time he was spending with Chris?
Rossi looks towards Luke in the room. "Luke, you had a cognitive before we found out she left, didn't you?" He asked and Luke nods, "Yeah, but she said she couldn't remember anything."
"Yeah, but knowing Casey, what if she did? And she's not telling us?" Rossi guessed. Of course, he's known the woman since she was born. There had to have been a chance that he was telling the truth.
"Why wouldn't she tell us?" JJ wondered.
"Think about it, someone goes after your family, what do you do? You seek revenge. Well, someone comes and purposely hits Casey and her son in their car and knowing her motherly instinct, she'd go after them."
Emily then nods, "Which means she found The Multiplier and she knows who he is. Let's get back to the BAU, we need to find out if she knows who it is and where Casey's at."
━━━━━━
Before Casey had gone home, she had stopped by a nearby payphone booth and knew that she had to make a call. Hesitantly, she tapped the numbers she memorized and held the phone to her ear and stood straight.
"Hello?" That British accent was to be recognized anywhere.
"I know it was you," Casey started, venom filled her voice as she remembered everything. "You tried to kill me. And you tried to make it look like an accident." No voice was heard on the other line. "I wanna talk. My house. You know the address. Thirty minutes."
With that, Casey slammed the phone into the receiver and headed back home. She needed to be ready. If he was gonna show up, she had to be ready for anything. He could show up with Damion for all she knew.
So, she changed out of the nurse scrubs when she arrived home and kept her front door unlocked, grabbed the gun she kept in the safe and sat in her house in the dark. She was ready and she'd be ready for anything.
Meanwhile, Garcia had been doing a lot of digging back at the BAU. Especially with no news on Casey, she was more worried than ever. Emily had ordered Garcia to look at the CCTV footage of Casey getting hit to see if maybe they could get a good look on the man that hit Casey.
"Come on, Casey. What did you find out?" Garcia muttered to herself.
As soon as she had access to the footage, Garcia carefully and hesitantly watched it and her jaw dropped when she saw who it was that crashed into Casey. That son of a bitch Chandler Arwen had gotten out of the car and took a photo of the crash as a souvenir. He eventually ran off like a coward and that's when Garcia jumped up and grabbed her laptop.
"Guys! Guys!" Garcia yelled as she ran into the conference room. "You need to watch this! Now!" She clicked play and everyone in the room watched as Casey crashed and Chandler was the one to get out of the car.
Everything made sense. Why he barely said anything while they were investigated the Multiplier, why the coffee was knocked over onto Garcia's monitors, why he left Casey for dead. Chandler Arwen was the betrayal of all betrayals.
"Chandler?" Emily questioned. She'd known him longer than anyone. How could this have happened? How could she not have seen this? That he was the Multiplier?
But it wasn't just Emily, he had everyone else fooled. Especially Casey.
"That son of a bitch played us." Tara commented. "But Chandler? Of all people? The Multiplier? Why didn't we see this?" Matt questioned. "He was one of us. He thought he could get away with it." Luke said.
"But... but what about Casey? She—?" Garcia was suggesting that Casey might not have known about Chandler being the Multiplier but Rossi started, "Casey knows. She has to know."
"Do you think she has a plan?" Erik wondered. "She's hellbent on getting these guys down. If it were me, I'd have a plan." JJ stated.
"Where do you think she'd go?"
━━━━━━
So, Chandler showed up alone and arrived at the dark house on the lane. He opened the door hesitantly, worried that Casey may have booby trapped it but he carefully stepped inside and saw that that wasn't the case.
He walked into the dark house. It seemed like she couldn't have been here yet. Until he heard the clicking of a gun.
"You move, you die." Casey's voice was heard in the dark living room but Chandler could make out her silhouette. She clicked the light on and Chandler had seen Casey, a bandage covering her forehead. He thought he'd gotten the job done. But when that pedestrian had come to help, he fled the scene.
Chandler laughed to himself, acting as if he wasn't scared. He stood bravely as he spoke. "So you figured it out."
Casey took a deep breath and held her gun up. "We should talk."
Chandler walked into the living room as Casey stood up from the chair she was sitting in. "You know, if my friend with benefits was the unit chief of the FBI... I'd do a better job to hide my tracks."
"Tell me..." Chandler started. "How'd you find out?"
"It was simple once I pieced it together in that hospital bed." Casey stated. "But I should've known when she met you." She paused, mentioning her sister. "Right under my nose. I couldn't see it." Casey looked back at how Leah and Spencer continuously warned Casey about Chandler but she didn't listen. She wished that she just listened. "She knew what you were. And your plan was to come after us."
"It was originally to come after you—"
"All of us... as a team." Casey cleared up, knowing that if someone was after her, they were after the entire team as well. "But I was your main target, you're right. And the night you met her and she saw you... you knew she couldn't screw your plan up so you got rid of her."
Chandler chuckles evilly as he sways back and forth. "Am I really that easy of a tell?"
"Cut the crap." Casey told. "Why? Why me? Why my team?" She wondered.
"You're a threat," Chandler said as he approached closer to Casey. "You know that. You're a threat to everyone.
And what better way to get your guard down than to create the undying chemistry you know you have with me."
Chandler sighed, "God, I thought... I thought you'd be smarter. You're just like the rest of them."
"What are you talking about?" Casey questioned.
"I thought you were different."
"That's what everyone says about me."
"You don't feel a thing? You don't? At all?" Casey knows Chandler's trying to get her off guard. "Not even a smidge of—?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Casey told. "I'm so stupid." She thought.
"I care about you, Casey. I mean that." Chandler told, standing closer to her. "And to me... we can run this world. We can do it together. Me and you. We can run off into the sunset, with your profiling ways, you can hide our tracks. Just... just do this with me."
Chandler holds his hands out to Casey and the woman looks at him like he's a total psycho — which he was. How could he sit here and ask Casey to run away with him after all of the pain he put her through? After lying about who he was and what he was. After everything. Why in the hell would she do that to herself?
"No," Casey stepped away from him. "This is my life. And you don't get to take it from me."
Casey held her gun up, ready to shoot but Chandler had other plans. He knocked the gun out of her hand, using his wrist and pushed her. Casey fell to the ground and Chandler pulled a syringe out of his pocket and held it to Casey.
Luckily, Casey had dodged it and kicked him where the sun didn't shine and kicked the syringe away from him. She got on top of him, punching him in the face multiple times. Chandler looked over to his side and grabbed one of the frame portraits Casey had up and knocked it against her head.
Casey rolled off of Chandler and got her gun off the ground and ran through the house, to the kitchen and then the basement connected to it.
The basement already terrified Casey enough since she moved in here, why did she choose to go here? The basement was a good hiding space and Casey guessed that maybe she could trap him down here if she could.
She hid towards one of the thick pillars of the room and held her gun, ready to shoot when needed. She cocked it and awaited for Chandler's footsteps. Which she heard staggering downstairs along with his sickening voice.
"Casey?" She heard his evil chuckle. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." Since Chandler had hit Casey's head with a piece of glass and she's already suffering through a mild concussion, Casey tried to aim and shoot at Chandler but ended up hitting the ceiling.
Chandler found where Casey was trying to shoot from but Casey was no longer found there. Casey had made a beeline to upstairs and moved quickly.
But Chandler grabbed at her leg as she almost made her way out and he started pulling her towards him. Casey held onto the wooden stair for so long, she was sure she'd have splinters in her callouses.
Casey had decided to lift her leg up and to kick it towards Chandler's face, she was sure she'd broken his nose. She grunted as she lifted herself to the stairs and ran towards the living room since she had had no time to trap him down in the basement.
Chandler was behind her, angry as ever. He'd grabbed her and attempted to throw a punch her way but failed and she spun him around and threw him into the glass table, shattering it.
Casey placed her foot on Chandler's chest and held him there but Chandler grabbed his blade he left off the floor and stuck it in Casey's leg, making her yell out in pain. She quickly pulled it out.
"You know, I really did think you were smarter. You're simply not." Chandler told. "And if you were good enough, maybe Leah would still be alive." He hit where it hurt and that was when Casey had enough.
Casey looked over and saw the syringe full of the substance still on the ground. So, Casey stood up with the syringe in hand and stuck it right into Chandler's back when it was facing her. Chandler landed on the ground and everything went black.
When Chandler woke up, he was tied to a chair. Ropes around his wrists, clove hitch knots on each side of his arms and legs. He struggled against the ropes as he tasted the metal in his mouth.
He adjusted his eyes to the light and Casey stood in front of him with a glare on her face. She had a bottle of vodka and a blade in her hand, like the one she was tabbed in the leg with earlier. "What's this?" She began to walk around him in a circle as she drank from the vodka bottle. "Where've you got me? How did you—?"
"Shut up," Casey spat. "You see I was gonna kill you, but I'd rather see you suffer. You're drugged. And the police are gonna find you here and I'm gonna tell them what happened. I'm gonna tell them you tried to drug me but luckily, you missed and hit yourself. I drugged you, though. The police should be here any second and you won't be able to put up a fight. Kinda like my sister didn't, right?"
Chandler scoffed at the woman. "You're bluffing. You're not gonna do anything to me." He began to cough and blink a few times.
"See that's where you're wrong," Casey told. "I already have."
With that, Casey left him to his coughing fits and headed upstairs.
The BAU team didn't know why they didn't just check Casey's house in the first place. They would've assumed that maybe that wouldn't have been the first place she'd go to, so they didn't focus on it. And they realized too late.
Luke, Tara, JJ, Matt and Spencer had all arrived to Casey's house with FBI vests on and that's when they had seen Casey walking down the steps of the porch, holding a blade and having a traumatized, shocked look on her face.
"Casey?" JJ asked.
"Casey!" Spencer immediately rushed over to her.
"What happened?" Tara asked, putting her hands on Casey's shoulders. "He's in the house, he's alive, he's tied up." Casey stated, her voice neutral and her face still remained stiff with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?" JJ asked. "I think she's in shock." Spencer stated, reading by the expressions on her face. "Luke, Tara, Matt, you get him out of there." JJ told as the three headed inside. "On it."
JJ looked at Casey's disheveled appearance and the blood and cuts all over her. Her eyes then trailed to Casey's bleeding leg. "Casey, your leg." She points out.
Spencer then ushers Casey to sit down on the steps. "Here, sit down, sit down." After that, Casey ended up puking on the sidewalk after everything that happened. Spencer didn't have any trouble holding her hair back as she did.
━━━━━━
After getting her leg bandaged and the ambulance coming to treat Chandler for his injuries, the two were both brought to the hospital. Two officers were posted outside of Chandler's hospital room in the wing when Casey had decided to see him one last time. She held her badge up and told the officers that she was here for business matters.
When she walked in, she looked at Chandler on the bed and was brought back to the mornings where she'd wake up at his place and watch him sleep. Those mornings were long behind her, long gone.
Chandler opened his eyes as he sensed the presence and chuckled once he'd seen who it was standing there. "I knew you couldn't get enough of me. I'm just that handsome of a chap, yeah?" He stated. "Nothing compared to that stupid pipe-cleaner of a man you call your ex?"
Casey didn't say anything, she just glared at him. "Are you gonna say something or you just gonna stand there looking stupid?"
Casey then pulled her gun out and aimed it towards Chandler. "If you're gonna get on with it, you may as well look me in the eye and do it." He told and Casey cocked the gun and held it steady. "Well, go on then. Do it." She could tell that Chandler was growing unsteady and wanted Casey to just get on with it.
So, Casey pulled the trigger.
But the only thing that came out was air.
Casey watched Chandler's reaction and seen he'd closed his eyes as soon as she pulled it. Coward. She got close to his face and whispered: "You aren't even worth a bullet."
She stuffed her gun back in her bag she had with her and before she walked out, she looked at Chandler and stated: "I win. And you lose."
With that, she walked out of that hospital room. Of course, she felt relieved that she'd caught the Multiplier but her main focus was now easily on Damion Brambilla. He was still out there and Casey had to be ready in case he'd make an appearance and she knew that eventually he would. She would have to be ready for it.
Two down... one to go.
ahhhhh guys i'm sorry i've been MIA black friday kicked my ass at work fr,,, two 8 hour shifts back to back😭
casey leaving the hospital like:
anywayssss
sorry for the lack of updates but i gotta spend time making my originals look pretty hehehe
what do you think is gonna happen with damion?
how do you think the next chapter's gonna go?
what do you see in the future happening???
anywaysssss
thank you so much for reading!
i love you
-mya </333
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top