CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN !

(idc what y'all say he is FINE)

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CASEY WILLOWS WAS CURRENTLY AT WORK, GOING OVER A STACK OF PAPERWORK SHE NEEDED TO GET DONE. After about two hours of writing and signing things, she received a phone call on her office phone.

        Casey picked it up to answer it as she continued to work. "Willows." She spoke as she signed another paper. "Hey, Casey, it's Marco." She heard the man speak into the phone. "Hey, Marco. What's up?" Casey asks.

       "Uh, I'm actually on my way to you right now. I need you to look into a case for me." Marco said and Casey looks down below and sees that Marco has just entered the bullpen with a box in his hands. "Uh, okay?"

         Casey opens her office door and Marco comes upstairs and hangs up on Casey on the phone as soon as he sees her. "Sorry, it's just... you may want to look at this."

          Casey lets him into her office and Marco explains the case she's just been received. She sitting in her chair as Marco stands, rehashing it down for her.

          "So, they lure the girls at the nail salon. And they follow them, pick them up and they end up missing." He picks up a phone of a young woman. "Ruth Wendell, 17, she's been missing for four months, now." He picks up another one. "Paige Hollinger, 15, missing for seven months." And finally, another one. "And Fiona Berry? She's 13 and she's been missing for over a year now. Her mother... she knows she's out there, she hasn't stopped looking for her. That's why I came to you. You'll help, right?"

           Casey sighs and looks at the photos. "Marco, it's not that easy. For one thing, we haven't been invited in yet. And another, we don't deal with things like this, I'd have to get everyone else on board." Casey knows that his PD in Birmingham may not like the fact that Marco voluntarily came up on his own when maybe he wasn't supposed to. She didn't want him losing his job.

         "Well, then let's get them on board and I've talked to my superiors, they said you've been invited in." Marco told. Casey furrows her brows. "And they sent you down here to do that?" She asks and Marco nods, "Yeah."

          Casey doesn't know if she should fall for that and furrows her brows and Marco speaks again. "Casey, please. There is something wrong. And there's something else." Marco looks down. "My partner went in to investigate. I haven't heard from her in days since she did. There's something wrong. She wouldn't just leave, she has a son at home, he's Christopher's age. I need your help on this."

           Casey can tell that Marco really needs help on this. She can see it in his eyes. And with his partner's life at stake, Casey knows that she can't just sit on the sidelines for this one. Casey takes a deep breath. "I'll see what everyone else thinks." He nods at her and says thanks.

Casey gathers the team up after she informs Garcia to set up the projector in the conference room. When everyone arrived, Casey walked into the room with Marco and everyone in the room furrowed their brows when they saw him walk in.

         "Marco! What's up, man?" Luke greeted. "Hey, guys. Good to see you again." Marco tells after shaking Luke's hand and giving Rossi a hug. "What's going on?" Rossi asks and everyone turn to Casey to see why he was here.

         "Marco came to me with a case. He thinks it's important to share with everyone here," Casey tells. "Marco, present the case." Everyone, except for Garcia, stands around the roundtable as Marco stands in front of everybody. He nods at Garcia to press down at the remote at the flashing images on the screen.

"Alrighty. There have recently been three women I believe have been pulled into human trafficking rings." Marco starts. "My partner and I have been investigating them for a while now. The victims are Ruth Wendell, 17, she's been missing for four months, now. Paige Hollinger, 15, missing for seven months. Fiona Berry, 13 and she's been missing for over a year now. And another thing... my partner, Allie Sanders, suspected this nail salon place to be trafficking these girls and next thing I know, her calls are going to voicemail. I haven't heard from her in days. We were investigating a ton of roads before she had." He explains.

"Is there a possibility that she became a target for investigating this salon?" Emily wonders. "I believe so. I know Allie, she wouldn't just vanish." Marco nods.

"Garcia, can you see if Allie made some recent purchases or went anywhere recently? We have to see if maybe she knows something." Casey figures that could help and Garcia immediately looks down at her laptop and nods at her boss, "On it."

"Do you have information on the nail salon?" Matt asks. "They say they're an underground place but it's more suspicious than that. Girls get their nails done and then two weeks later, they're being followed and hunted. And their faces end up on milk cartons." Marco explains.

"And they all went missing in conspicuous places, as well." Tara nods. "Ruth was deemed missing when she didn't come home from track practice, Paige went missing when she didn't come home from school and Fiona was over at a friend's house and never came back." JJ explains.

"How come your PD isn't working on this case?" Spencer wonders. "We first got this case seven months ago when Paige Hollister went missing," Marco sighs. "Our superiors kept telling us to stop looking into because we were getting nowhere. Then, Ruth Wendell went missing and we found out about Fiona Berry. And we couldn't stop. I made a promise to Fiona's mother that we'd find her. She hasn't stopped for a year. And I can feel it in my bones. These girls aren't dead. They can't be. And Allie... I would be failing her if I didn't try to look for her. I need your help."

Casey looks around at everyone to see if they're all on board with this case and by the looks on their faces, they were ready. So, she takes a sharp breath and starts, "Dave, Matt, look into that nail salon with Garcia." Rossi and Matt nod at each other.

"Spencer, create a geographical profile to where the victims have gone missing." Spencer nods at Casey. "Tara, JJ, Luke, get in contact with the families who have ever visited that salon. I'll have Garcia compile a list for you guys to look into. The rest of us will work with what we got."

Casey begins to walk out of the office until she gets Erik's attention and nudged her head towards her office. Erik saw this sign and dropped the file he had on the desk and walked towards Casey to see what she wanted.

The two stopped right in Casey's office and she closed the door behind her. When they were alone, Casey asked: "Do you mind contacting to the Birmingham PD to make sure Marco's telling the truth?"

Erik furrows his brows, "Telling the truth?" Casey sighs, "He told his superiors said it was fine that we investigated. I'm suspecting that's not true. I just want a second opinion." Erik nods at Casey in understanding, "Yeah, yeah, I don't mind." Casey nods at him, "Thank you."

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Matt and Rossi were in Penelope's office, looking into whatever they could about that nail salon they found out was called Twinkle Nails. Spencer had been working on that geographical profile downstairs. Tara, Luke and JJ had contacted the families and questioned them about their daughters and their last whereabouts and who they were as people. Emily was in her office, trying to look into whatever she could and Erik would be helping her, but he was busy contacting the PD where Marco worked at.

Casey had grabbed that extra box she had in her office and into the conference room where Marco was currently sitting in front of his work, on the phone on what looked like to be an important call. "I should be home soon, I promise." Marco smiles. "Ti amo, Principessa. Bye."

Casey smiles when she realizes who it might just be. "Was that Giulia?" She asks. Marco nods as he puts his cell away. "Yeah. I've been gone a couple of nights so..."

The Willows woman furrows her brows. "What do you mean?" Marco takes a breath, "I've been working on this case nonstop. It's like, once I've started, I can't stop. You know, you understand."

         It then occurs to Casey that Marco had been working on a few hours of sleep and that definitely could not have been good. Casey couldn't help but suddenly worry at the extent of which he was working.

         But before she could confront him on it, Erik walked in with a certain look on his face. Casey, honest to God, hadn't seen this look since high school. And it was the look he had when he was defending his friends.

         Erik stands next to Casey, crossing his arms. "I think you owe us an explanation." He tells and Marco looks up at Erik, confused, as well as Casey. "What's wrong?" Casey asked.

         "He lied about his superiors knowing. They dropped the case and so he went to you without their knowledge. They didn't even know he was here." Erik explained and Casey gave Marco a look only she gave to her son, but it was look of her leadership, not her mothership.

"Marco, you told me they knew." Casey told and Marco looks at the woman. "I—"
Marco stands and Casey looks up at him with the utmost disbelief in her tone. "You lied to me. And now we've taken this case without their knowledge? Do you have any idea how that makes me look?"

"Casey—" Marco tries to explain and Casey scoffs, not wanting to hear it. "Unbelievable." She begins to head back to her office.

Marco sighs as he begins to follow Casey back to her office. "Casey!" He calls but Casey isn't listening. He follows her in her office and stops her. "Let me just ask you something. Would you have taken the case if I told you otherwise?"

"I wouldn't have taken it, period." Casey admitted and she sighed, "Why didn't you tell me, Marco?"
"I was worried you weren't going to take the case," Marco reveals. "But come on. You can't turn your back on this now. Not when Allie's missing and when those girls are missing. Please."

Casey looks at the man and takes a breath. She'd been working on her temper a lot recently. "I'm sorry. It's just..." She runs a hand through her hair. "The last few times someone lied to me, my husband went to prison and my... friend-with-benefit killed my sister. I can't do lies. So don't lie to me, again." She advised.

"I won't. I promise. I'm sorry." Marco tells and Casey nods at him and tells herself that she's gonna need to talk to him about this kind of thing with him later.

         Garcia knocks on Casey's door and shouts, "You gotta see this! In the conference room, now!"

         Everyone else gathers in the conference room. "So, Garcia, Rossi and I were looking into that nail salon. We found something on the dark net. They start with planting something on them, if they pay with card, it's easy access to social security and purchases. When they find out the credit card info—" Matt explains. "They hack into it and find out where they live." Casey finishes.

       "They're getting watched." Emily tells. "And then that's when they're nabbed." Rossi added.

       "Allie went in there, posing as a customer. You think they hacked her?" Marco asks. "There's a possibility there." Garcia nodded.

        Casey looks at Marco. "To take precautions, I do want to send a few officers to your place. Do you mind?" Marco looks at Casey and nods, "No, not at all. Do whatever you can." She squeezes his hand in comfort.

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        Two days later and nothing. There had been a officers, staking out in front of the nail salon but they were precautious. Casey had walked into the office that morning, ready to find something new. She stopped by the kitchenette to grab a cup of coffee and noticed Emily, staring up at the conference room.

"What's up?" Casey asks as she stirs the creamer and milk into her coffee. "It's been two days. I haven't seen him from that spot in forever." Emily points up at a disheveled Marco Rossi, who was seated up at the roundtable. He had been bouncing from board to board in the last two days and he looked like he hadn't gone home. Sure, he'd changed his clothes to make it look like he was coming in super early but Casey was no fool. "You think something's up?" Emily wonders.

Casey sighs, "I know something's up. He hasn't been home in a few days because he's been so bent over this case. And it's really reminding me of when—" Casey pauses herself but Emily knows what she's talking about. She's referencing her sister and how she acted after she went missing and after her funeral when she was looking for Damion Brambilla. "Should I go talk to him?"

Emily nods, "You know, I think a little perspective will do him some good."

Casey heads up to her office to drop her things off and then to the conference room with her coffee in her hands. She notices that Marco hadn't looked up when she walked in. "Hey." Casey greets, knocking on the door to get his attention.

"Hey." Marco says, not looking at Casey. "You feeling okay?" Casey asks and Marco finally looks up. "Uh, yeah," He notices the cup in Casey's hand. "Coffee? Thank you." He grabbed Casey's coffee from her hand; but she didn't mind. There were times they shared a cup of coffee because they both liked their coffee just the same.

Casey watched as he took a gulp and put it back on the table, next to his other empty cups of coffee. "You okay?" She decides to ask as she quickly grabs her cup so it doesn't become victim like the other ones. "Yeah, fine." Marco nods.

"You sure?" Casey asks and Marco responds with, "Yeah."

Casey looks at the man carefully. "Listen, why don't you go home and get some rest? We can hold the fort and let you know if we find anything." Marco shakes his head at the idea. "No, I'm good. I don't need rest, I need answers."

"I really don't mind—"
Suddenly, an epiphany pops up in Marco's head. "Hey, I found this address. There could be a chance they're keeping Allie and the girls there? You mind if you send a few people down to check it out?" As he gives the paper of the address to Casey to look at, it's then that Casey sees the bags under Marco's eyes and wonders if he's even slept the last two days. She nods at him, "Yeah, yeah, we'll get right to it."

Casey decides to send Luke and JJ down to the address of a warehouse that he and Allie visited before she went missing. After thirty minutes of getting SWAT to meet them down there, about another thirty minutes passed until JJ and Luke called Casey with Emily in the room.

Emily had come in her office, ready to ask a question when Casey's cell rang. "Uh, Casey? There's nothing here." Luke informs and Casey furrows her brows. "What do you mean there's nothing there?" Emily asks.

"We found nothing in this warehouse. There's evidence they may have been here before but right now we're not seeing anything." JJ explains.

"But—" Casey furrows her brows and then she raises them when she makes her way around her desk. "Wait a minute. Marco?" She goes to the conference room and finds that Marco is nowhere to be found and suddenly, she feels stupid.

Almost immediately, Casey goes to call Marco. After three rings, Casey finally gets an answer and she doesn't even let him say anything because the first question she asks is: "Marco? Where the hell are you?"

"I'm marching down to that nail salon to get some real answers," Marco told. "Answers that will help us catch these guys."
"By yourself? You're gonna get yourself killed!" Casey exclaims.
"I'm not by myself." Marco tells.

Casey furrows her brows in confusion but her question is answered when she hears a familiar voice go — "Hey, Casey."

"Spencer Walter Reid, what the hell are you doing?"

Marco speaks again. "He caught me going, he volunteered to go with me. Look, if I—" Suddenly, Marco's words begin to sound garbled and Casey doesn't know what he's saying. "Wait, you're breaking up!" Casey tells. "Hello?"

"What is it?" Emily asks. "We gotta get down that nail salon now." Casey stated.

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Casey had no idea what the hell was going through Marco's mind when he left and she had no idea what the hell was going through Spencer's mind when he went with him. But their mini-trip to the nail salon was a success, surprisingly.

Marco and Spencer found Paige and Ruth in the basement of the place and they had ended up getting that nail salon shut down. Before the team arrived, Spencer and Marco ended up having a gunfire showdown with a man who had a skull tattoo on his neck and he'd gotten away far even after Spencer had gone to chase him down. He still had gotten away.

Of course, even though they had saved two of those girls, two of them were still out there as well as the person that had taken them. And Casey was furious at the men for the actions that were taken.

Spencer and Marco were sitting at the roundtable when Casey had been pacing in the room, ready to scold them. "Just how damn stupid are both of you?" She started with. "You going rogue," she points at Marco and then at Spencer. "And you following after him? Are you crazy?"

"It's better both of us were to have gone than for him to go by himself." Spencer stated. "Hey, I didn't need backup." Marco argues. "It sure looked like it." Spencer stated, unfazed by the entire situation as a whole.

"Spencer, can you leave us alone for a minute, please?" Casey asks calmly and Spencer nods, getting up from the table and leaving the room. It was obvious that he wasn't the real source of her irritation and part of him was glad he wasn't. Of course, she was still mad at Spencer but she was even more mad at Marco.

Casey looked at Marco. "Look, I gotta give both of you credit for saving Paige and Ruth. But you and Spencer going in there by yourselves with no backup? And Allie and Fiona are still out there. You've probably costed them their lives, you realize that, right? And directing us in a whole different direction, what the hell was that?" She questioned.

"That was an accident, okay?" Marco said. "I thought I was sending them at the right address. It wasn't until later where I looked over security cameras and realized they had a passageway to the back."

"And you were right. But if you had been wrong?" Marco stands from his seat, not wanting to listen to this from Casey and she follows him outside of the conference room. "Marco, if you had been wrong, your decision to go rogue should've costed you your entire career."

Marco stops in his tracks and turns to Casey. "Okay, if I had asked you to send the team to the shop, would you have granted it?"

"I would've asked a few questions," Casey answered. "But that doesn't matter. You saved Paige and Ruth. But if you had taken a second to tell me you found another place, things would've been different. Because at that time, you were not in the right state of mind to making decisions."

Marco looks at Casey like a crazy person. "Right decisions, life saving decisions, Casey."
"Marco, you're not sleeping, you're not eating. You're not acting like yourself. Trust me I know—"

"God, you are unbelievable." Marco raises his voice and it gets everyone's attention downstairs, even Rossi, in his office, who had happened to see the entire scene go down. "You're such a hypocrite! All of the rules apply to everybody else except for you, is that it?"

Rossi spoke to Marco in Italian and Marco shouted back at him in Italian and Casey was too into their argument to translate in her head.
"Okay, it's okay. We're fine." Casey assures to Rossi. "That's not what I'm saying here— I'm just saying you need to—"

"What? Take a break?" Marco questions. "Like you did when your sister died? Because as I recall from what you told me, you didn't rest until that bastard was put behind bars and dead. You understand that, right?"

Casey knows he doesn't mean what he says. All he needed was rest. What he said hurt but that was because the man wasn't in his right state of mind. "You're not acting like yourself. And you need rest."

Casey shook her head. "I can't even look at you. Go home." She walks past him as she heads towards her office.

"But—"
"Go home or I'll have someone escort you home!" Casey yells, as stern as she can put it.

Casey walks past Spencer and to her office and slams the door as she does. Casey sits on her couch with her head in her hands.

Suddenly, Casey's door opens and she hears Emily's voice. "Casey?"
"What?!" Casey yells, in the exact same tone she used with Marco and then she realizes who she's just yelled at and she takes a breath and doesn't wanna be hotheaded to Emily. "Sorry, what?"

"Uh, Ruth Wendell is ready for a cognitive if you want JJ to go in there." Emily said and Casey stands up, nodding. "Uh, yeah, send JJ to talk to Ruth. I'll talk to Paige."

"You sure?" Emily asks. "Yeah. Yeah, I don't mind." Casey nodded.

When JJ and Casey had given the cognitive interviews to the girls, they'd revealed that they both smelt the same thing before getting taken. They both smelt marijuana. And that they were both taken in a black van. And that they were taken by the man with the skull tattoo, they never heard a name. They were always told to call him 'Sir'.

After the cognitive interview, Casey headed back to her office and to her surprise, the lump of Marco Rossi had taken over the space of her couch. He was sleeping soundly on the couch and Casey took a breath. She was angry at him, still but of course, she still loved him. She wasn't sure if that was something she'd ever admit to him but she knew that part of her heart was in the relationship. She questioned if maybe that was enough.

Casey seated herself in front of him and held his hand with hers. She just watched him sleep, finally getting the rest he needed. She hadn't even noticed that someone else walked into the office.

When she turned her head, she noticed Spencer in the room, standing near the doorway. Casey looked back at Marco as she began to speak. "Thank you for going with him," Casey said. "He would've gotten himself hurt or killed if he went by himself."

"I didn't do it for him," Spencer admits and Casey turns back to Spencer. "I did it for you. If he had died, I know that would've broken you."

Casey bit her bottom lip from the inside as she looks back at the man standing. "Spencer, if you had died, I would've been just as broken."
"At least you admit it." Spencer said, with a bit of disbelief in his voice.

"You know, if you're gonna be like that then you should just go. I'm not in the mood for arguing today." Casey told. "I'm not trying to argue, Casey." Spencer said and Casey replies with, "That sounds like the start of all of our arguments."

Suddenly, JJ walks into the office and speaks quietly so as not to wake Marco. "Uh, Emily wants us in her office." She carefully watches the couple, wondering what they were just conversing about. Casey looks at Marco before she carefully stands up to walk out of her office.

When they all walk into Emily's office, everyone else is already there. "What's up?" Casey wonders. "I had Garcia do some research. We may have found who's behind this." Emily informs.

Garcia points towards her laptop. "Behold Wallace Ryder, former pimp out on the streets. He did time in prison for statutory rape and aggravated assault. Got on parole and graduated from being a pimp to being a human trafficker."

"And you're sure this is the guy?" Luke asks. "Reid said he saw a guy with a skull tattoo on his neck. It's an individual tattoo." Garcia nods.

"Gang affiliated?" Casey asks.
"We believe so." Emily nods.

"Okay, uh, do we know where he's going next?" Casey asks. "We're thinking somewhere far. Maybe to a different city to sell Allie or Fiona. Maybe both." Rossi tells. "Is there a place he may hide out at?" Erik asks.

"Garcia looked into warehouses and abandoned lands. The nearest one we think he's going to is Ballindine Road." Emily explains. "He has some abandoned land there."

"Wait, can I take a look at that?" Casey asks, holding her hand out for the file of the road and looks at Garcia's screen off the road and the map. "What is it?" Tara asks.

"Marco said he and Allie was investigating a ton of roads before she stopped communicating with him." Casey tells. "You think he'd know where to go?" JJ asks.

Casey shrugs, "Maybe." She heads back to her office to see if maybe she can get him to help them out. When she walks back in her office, she furrows her brows when she sees he's not there on the couch. She scans the conference room but she finds that he's not there and then, she panics. Because she remembers when she found out about Damion Brambilla and his whereabouts and what she did right afterwards. She and Marco were one in the same, they'd do the same thing. "Shit." She gasped.

Casey informed the team about Marco being gone and she tries to call him but after the last three times, she's tried she's gotten nowhere. "He's not answering his cell." Casey tells as Garcia tries to track him down down in her lair.

"Why would he go down there? Without us or any backup?" Rossi questions.
"He made this case personal. And he's angry. I know what that's like." Casey tells.

Suddenly, Casey's cell rings and she checks it quickly but she is let down when she sees that it's only Erik and Matt calling. "Did you find anything?" She immediately asks.

"No sign of Marco but his car is here. Casey, there's evidence he was drugged and taken with." Erik explains. "This is all my fault." Casey tells.

"Casey, you couldn't have known." Emily told. "I know what it's like to be in that headspace. I should've told him he was off the case." Casey shook her head.

"He is going to be fine. We have to hold onto hope."

It's only twenty minutes later when Erik and Matt come back and Casey's downstairs, as well as the rest of the team when Garcia shouts: "Guys! Guys! I need to show you something. This was just sent to my laptop."

Garcia shows them on the TV screen facing them and the video consisted of someone walking and the screams of: "Help! Help!" Casey immediately recognized the screams to be Marco's.

The camera faces him and Marco is all beaten up and he's zip-tied to a chair. Casey tears up as she sees him in pain and trying to get out of his prison. She's brought back to when Leah was taken and she just prayed to God this wasn't going to have the same outcome.

The screen suddenly went black and suddenly, a gun is fired and the video ends. Casey gasps, clasping a hand over her mouth in shock. Everyone else is also in shock to what they just witnessed. Even five minutes after the video, everyone is in shock of what they've just watched.

         Everyone is sure that Marco is dead but Casey is sure of the opposite. Casey marched up to the conference room and everyone followed behind her, not knowing how to start with Casey. But it seemed as if Casey walked in silence. And Rossi was the first to follow behind Casey, this seemed to have affected him as well, but he and Casey were both sure of one thing — Marco wasn't dead.

        "Casey. Rossi, I—" Emily volunteered to start first but she was almost immediately dismissed by Casey. "He's not dead." She said.

       "What?" Emily asked.

       "He's not dead. He can't be dead. He's not dead. We have to figure out that footage, it looked like they were in a basement?" Casey looked around to see what maybe Marco left out of all the boards and photographs and files.

       "Casey, we have to take a deep breath and—" JJ tries next but this just aggravated Casey.

       "He's not dead until we find a body. Okay?" Casey stated, eyes glistening to her coworkers in pleading. She didn't want to hear any crap about him being dead. In her heart, she knew that he wasn't. "He's not dead until I say he is. Can everyone just focus on getting him, Allie and Fiona home? Please?" She begs.

       It seemed as if anyone was hesitant to approach. But Rossi immediately started in because he had the same beliefs as Casey and he knew Marco was alive. "What do we start with?" He questions.

       "Well, he went to Ballindine for a reason. Marco was hunting them. He had to have known something we didn't." Emily followed.
        "How did he know about Ballindine Road? He wasn't even in the room when we were discussing it." Tara stated. "He overheard us." Luke figured.

        "Not just that. We had a hunch he was at Ballindine Road. He knew for sure to go there. Erik, Matt, did you guys find any residue on that cloth?" Casey questions.
        "It was trichloromethane." Matt nodded. "Chloroform?" Spencer asks. "It wasn't the real deal. It was more generic." Erik nodded.

       "Like home-brand." Emily wonders.
       "Exactly." Erik nods.

       "Rubbing alcohol and bleach could produce chloroform when mixed, if the alcohol is isopropyl-type rubbing alcohol and the bleach is hypochlorite-type bleach. Isopropyl alcohol is indeed a substrate for the haloform reaction." Spencer explains.

        "We also caught traces of meth there. A lot of the drugs were broken on the ground. We almost couldn't identify them." Erik told.

       "Wallace Ryder could have a meth lab in his own home." JJ figures. "Or a meth lab in a greenhouse. Garcia, can you play that footage again?" Luke asks and Garcia plays it on her laptop. In the corner of the screen, Luke spots it, "Look. See? The plants."

       "Marijuana plants." Casey stated. "Like what Paige and Ruth smelt when they were taken. But he's also a drug mule? We didn't fit that into Wallace's description."
       "Not unless he has a partner." Spencer told.

       "Look into someone Wallace may have been in contact with when he was in prison." Emily tells Garcia and there's a pause and Garcia works her magic. "Scoring down and... bingo was his name-o. Freddy Evergreen was his roomie in prison. Drug dealer. Was caught trying to sell to minors, it's what had him locked up. And guess who's mother owns at the nail salon?" There was the connection with the nail salon.

       "Does he have a greenhouse in his name?" Rossi asks. Garcia nods, "Yes, he does. Sending you the address of it now."

         Casey called a SWAT team in so they could investigate the greenhouse with her team following behind. Above ground, Erik, JJ and Emily found Allie and Fiona. And below, Spencer and Casey were looking for Marco.

         During this, Wallace and Freddy tried to get away but Tara, Luke and Matt successfully caught the two before they could escape.

          Casey and Spencer had opened up a door and went down the stairs and found Marco, struggling against his binds. "Marco! Oh, thank God!" She lifts the bag off of his head and gets his zip-ties cut off.

          Casey holds him and hugs him. "You're okay. You're okay." She assures with a smile on her face. She inhaled his scent and swore that she'd never let him go. As this went on, Spencer watched them sadly but this beat the alternative. With Marco dead and Casey losing another person she cared about. He'd rather her be happy with another man than her be grieving another person she lost.

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        Marco was taken to the hospital due to the beating injuries to his face. When Casey was allowed to see him, she had entered the room by herself and she had a look on her face. It was one of those looks that she has when she's about to scold someone.

       "You know what you did was stupid, right?" Casey starts as she walks towards his bed. Marco takes a breath. "I'm sorry."

       "You could've gotten yourself killed. Not to mention Allie and not to mention Fiona. You are lucky I didn't lose you. Because I would've been furious at you for leaving."
        "Casey—"
       "Zip it. I'm the one talking now. I didn't sign on for your dying. I have lost too much recently, I have lost so many people. And if you were next? I don't know how I would've gone on. And your daughter! If you had died— she would've had no one and you know that. And I of all people understand that pain and I would never wish that on anyone else. Especially to your little girl. God, I am so mad at you right now. You are so damn lucky I love you."

       Marco pauses. It's the first time he's hearing this from Casey. Back then when they dated, he'd say it to her but she'd never say it back. She would always say 'you, too'. This would be the first time she'd said it. Marco looks at the woman in disbelief. "You love me?"

       "Well, that's what girlfriends are supposed to say to their boyfriends, right?" Casey asked. "Is it too soon? Did I push you? Are you feeling okay?" Marco questions as he grabs Casey's hand, wanting to be sure she's ready for this and not rushing into.

       "Life's too short to not do anything soon." Casey told. With that, she pecks him on the lips. "But if you do anything that reckless again, we are for sure breaking up."

       "I really am sorry." Marco tells. "Yeah, you better be." Casey said. "I never ever wanna see you like that again, okay?" Marco nods at her.

       Casey sniffles and suddenly, she looks outside and then looks back at Marco. "Also, um, there's someone here to see you." She smiles.

       Suddenly, the door opens and in walks Rossi with Marco's daughter, Giulia. The girl immediately sees her father and her eyes light up. "Hi, Daddy!" She smiles.

       "Giuls. Principessa." The girl hops on the bed to greet her dad with a hug. "Not too tight, you might break daddy." He tells and he looks up at Rossi standing over him.

       "No scolding, Zio Dave?" Marco asks and Rossi looks at Casey and points to her. "I trust that this one took care of it."

       "And you're right about that." Casey nodded.

       Casey had watched as Marco interacted with his daughter. She smiled and was happy that he was still here so he could have these moments with her. Of course, she was still mad at him but she still did love him.

        At least she thinks she does.

hey lovelies
i haven't been in the best mood to update because it feels like every single time i update, it gets draining when i see negative comments about casey's character. 1) she's fiction 2) i make processes because i don't want my oc to just fall head over heels for a guy and make it her whole personality.
i wrote casey to make decisions for herself and for her to grow so sorry spasey is still not together right now but this isn't gonna be another fanfiction where they break up one chapter and get together in another.

casey is meant to be confusing, y'all would be too if you had two hot guys falling for you literally WHAT

(i'm sorry if this sounds so bitchy, i'm super tired and drained from this week)
y'all don't even have to read this

anywayssss
four more chapters until this act is over

anyways
thank you for reading
i love you all endlessly
-mya </333

p.s. i'm sorry if the author's note seems so rushed, i'm just really tired