Nine: There's A Man In The Woods.

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        It was the same nightmare Julia had been having for years on end. Her younger self was in the woods. Twigs and leaves crackling underneath her navy blue rain boots she always wore as a kid. And she'd come across a shed. And she'd see that kid, dead — every single time. The only thing she'd heard were her own screams and running through the woods.

        And that was around the time she always woke up in a cold sweat from the nightmare. And she struggled to go back to sleep after that.

       She got these nightmares every so often since she was six years old. And those damn woods always creeped her out. But she could never remember where she was. That was always the thing.

       And since it was a blazing 4am — Julia started her day right then and there. She got ready, drank coffee and looked up articles on what it meant to have nightmares about the woods. Stupid Reddit for never giving me straight answers!

        Julia had decided that she was gonna start heading to the office at six after that, taking the morning train and then walking the rest of the way to work.

        And now, here she was, standing in front of the coffee machine at the kitchenette ... for the fourth time this morning. (She couldn't help it, the coffee is just too damn good!)

        Julia sighs as she pours only a little in her cup this time and overdoing it with the creamer, like she always did. "Whoa, Cortez, you gonna save the rest of the coffee for the rest of us?"

         Morgan's dulcet tones spoke up and Julia jumped, startled because of the fact that she believed she was alone at the area. Julia hoped that her being on-edge was shown on her face but Morgan knew better.

        "Sorry," he apologizes. "Didn't mean to startle you, sunshine. You all good?" He wonders.

        Julia nods, realizing droplets of her coffee had fallen on the counter and she quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe it down. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just... nightmares." She shrugged it off, plastering on the smile she always had on at work.

       "What about?" Morgan raises a brow, knowing all too well about nightmares within the bureau. "I, uh... it's kind of hard to explain." Julia looks around and whispers at the man so as the others can't hear her talk about this with her colleague.

       "Try me." Morgan said and Julia looks at the man. She hopes that he can keep a secret so she doesn't have to worry about him talking to anyone else about her nightmares.

         But before Julia can even reply to the man and tell him about her nightmares, Garcia walks up to the group and Julia had luckily noticed her walking up before speaking and shut her mouth.

       "You guys alright?" Garcia asks, looking in between Morgan and Julia. Both of them nod, Jukia pretending like nothing's wrong and that this wasn't her fifth coffee cup of the day. "Well, sorry to interrupt but we have a case. It's urgent."

         "How urgent are we talking?" Morgan wondered as he and Julia followed behind the woman to the conference room. "Child murder and abduction urgent." Garcia revealed.

The rest of the team was gathered in the conference room and Morgan took a seat beside JJ and Julia took the seat next to Rossi as Garcia stood in front of the team to present the case.

"So, you guys are going down to Ann Arbor, Michigan where the body of an eleven year-old Kyle David was found in the woods. There is evidence of sexual assault and overkill." Garcia delivered and the photos appear on the screen and they look it all over in their files.

"Jesus." Tara comments, shutting the file almost instantly.
"Over 45 stab wounds on his body." Reid read out from the autopsy report.
"Who could do that to a child?" JJ asks, shaking her head.
"A very, sick bastard." Rossi comments with a sigh.

"The locals are worried because eight year old, Michael Parker, was just reported missing last night." Garcia told. "And the woods to where the body was found is very close to the children's school there." Hotch added.

"What school?" Julia asks. "Allen Elementary School." Garcia tells and Julia leans back in her seat with narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows. "Huh." Her tongue swipes the inside of her mouth as she stared up at the screen.

Morgan turns over to Julia. "You know it?" He asks. "Know it? I went there." Julia revealed. "Grew up in Ann Arbor before my family moved down here. Well, I only went there for two years, but... it was a good school."

Julia never thought children would wind up getting murdered near there.

"Is Kyle David the only body found?" Hotch asks Garcia. "As of right now, yes." Garcia nodded.

"Based on the overkill, I'd see why." Rossi stated. "Based on our knowledge in child abduction cases, we have no time to waste. Wheels up in 30." Hotch told, standing from his seat as he got ready.

Julia stands, looking up at the photos and she realized something. Allen Elementary had a woods near it. And by getting a closer look at the crime scene photos, all she could think about was her nightmares again. Could this have been connected somehow?

"Hey," Julia turns and sees Reid as he snaps her out of her daze. "You okay?" He asks and Julia smiles at the man. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, pretty boy." She says. "Save me a spot on the jet?"

Reid nods at her and immediately can tell that something's off. But he knows better than to pry about it. He hates it when the rest of the team does that, he's sure she's not gonna enjoy it either. So, he nods along and hopes that maybe Julia will tell him when she's ready.

        Julia had headed to the jet without another thought. She'd taken the window seat next to Reid, staring out into the air until they were ready to debrief. "Let's go over victimology." Hotch started. Tara kicks Julia under the table, realizing she hasn't heard Hotch because she's still staring outside.

       Julia clears her throat as she sits up in her seat as Garcia appears on the monitor of the jet. "Kyle David, 11. Far as I'm concerned, he was a happy kid. He went to school everyday, gold star student, did jiu-jit-su on the weekends." She explains.

      "What about his parents, Garcia?" Morgan wondered. "Victor and Elizabeth David. Victor is a lawyer at a firm, Elizabeth's a stay-at-home mom. Nothing negative about them. They seem like the perfect, happy family." Garcia stated.

      "And what about Michael's parents?" JJ asked. "Uh, Michael's mother died about three years ago — cancer — and his father works at an Auto Shop in town. And there is a long hasty list of charges against him, police visits among police visits." Garcia stated.

       Reid looks up. "What for?" He asks.
      "Uh, assault and battery, kicked out of more bars than I could count." Garcia tells.

      "We should check him out, see if he's good for it." Rossi comments and Hotch nods at the man in agreement.

      "Did Michael also go to Allen Elementary?" Tara wondered. "Affirmative." Garcia nods as she checks. "That's what connects the boys." Reid confirms.

      "Morgan, Tara, go to the ME's office, they're expecting us. JJ and I will go to the PD. Rossi, Reid, you'll go to Allen Elementary to investigate the crime scene." Hotch tells and looks at the woman still staring through the window. "Cortez, I know it's been a long time but do you think you would know the whereabouts of the school well?" He wondered.

        Julia shrugged, "Uh, maybe, yeah." She tells. "Then, you'll join them." Hotch looks back at the files and Julia nods at Rossi and Reid, seeing as she's paired with them. But not before turning back through the window and thinking about Allen Elementary.

         Julia was only in first and second grade there. She highly doubted she'd remember the school. It'd been nearly twenty years since she set foot in it. She remembered that it was a good school until her and her family abruptly moved away after that. She couldn't remember why.

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As soon as they'd landed and took an SUV to the school, Julia's heart pounded in her chest like it was the first day of school again. Suddenly, upon walking through the halls, she felt like that chubby six year-old girl with the Lisa Frank backpack — and lunchbox to go with it, thank you very much — small and innocent.

Perhaps it had that effect on her being surrounded by children that she once related to. They'd headed toward the main office to speak with the principal of the school.

The man walked over to the three agents and Julia's eyes widened when she recognized the man with brown hair and shorter than her but a few inches. "Mr. Waters?" She exclaimed. The man looked at her, confused.

"Julia Cortez," She motions to herself. "I highly doubt you remember me, I went here almost twenty years ago. You were one of my favorite teachers."

The man then opens his mouth and smiles. "Julia Cortez. Of course, I remember you. I keep tabs on all of my students, especially those as brilliant as you. You've grown up. How are you?" He asks the woman, giving her a respectful handshake.

"I'm well, thank you, Mr. Waters." Julia chuckles, astonished the man has been here nearly twenty years now. "Please, call me Larry, now." Mr. Waters tells the woman.

Julia nods at him, "Sir, these are my colleagues. Agent Rossi and Dr. Reid."
"Thank you for coming." Mr. Waters tells, shaking Rossi's hand. "Sorry it had to be under these circumstances." Rossi apologizes.

"Oh, yeah." The man sighs sadly and then puts his hands in his pockets as he shakes his head. Julia could tell he was genuinely upset about what happened. No indicators of suspicion with him. "It's a tragic thing, what happened to Michael and Kyle. I've even started a buddy system for the students. My vice principal is with the students now in the gym." The man explains, walking out of the office with the agents down the hall.

"It's my job, looking after these kids. The parents are concerned, some have even kept their children home during all of this. Can't say I blame 'em." The man explains.

"Mr. Waters, did you know Kyle well?" Reid wondered, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked along with the man. "Yes. He was one of my best students here at the school. Treated everyone with respect, there were no issues with him."

"And Michael?" Julia asks. The man takes a sharp sigh. "Michael is a different story. Troubled. I think it just has something to do with his father, Noah."

"Is he active with the school?" Rossi wondered out of curiosity. "Not really, no." Mr. Waters told.

The principal shows them the wooded area where the bodies were found. "Have you locked it down with the security?" Rossi asked the man. "Yes, sir." Mr. Waters nodded. "Now, I have a couple of errands to take care of, parents to talk to and such. There will be officers down at the woods to help you."

"Thank you, Mr. Waters." Julia smiles at the man. "Good to see you again, Julia." Larry nods at the woman and headed back to the building. "You as well, sir."

Rossi, Reid and Julia had met with Deputy Covey and the lead detective on the case, Detective Patricks.
"Kyle's body was found over here. It's deep within the woods." Covey leads the group, Julia trying to be careful where she walks.

Julia almost falls over, slipping on a pot hole down the hill. "Whoa!" She's quick to catch her feet and Reid grabs her arm so she can regain her balance.

"You alright?" Rossi asks, turning to the woman. Julia nods at the man. "Pretty steep."
The detective nods, "Yeah. Watch your step. You're gonna be coming across a lot of those." He warns. "It's just up ahead here."

       The deputy, detective, Rossi and Reid head ahead as Julia takes a moment to recuperate. When she finally decides to follow, she hears a twig snapping in a different direction and stops in her tracks as she looks around.

It's so quiet, it's almost peaceful.

Julia looks around and sees no one is around, not even Reid and Rossi are. She swears she hears something but wants to chalk it up to it being paranoid and maybe she stepped on the twig herself. She knew these woods. But it couldn't have been from her nightmares. There's absolutely no way.

She hears the bird chirping in the silence and the sound of nature continues to fill her ears. And she sighs, trying to regain her calm. She's so on-edge, she can't even focus.

As she begins to walk again, she hears the twig following the flapping of bird's wings and begins to walk a little faster now.

Then, SWOOP!

        Something flies over Julia's head and she shrieks and falls to the ground and hitting her head o something hard. "Ow."

Within a minute, she hears leaves crunching underneath heavy footsteps and squints her eyes up to see Reid beside her. "Julia?" He asks, kneeling down and looking at her. "You alright?"

Julia groans as she replies, "Yeah." Reid looks at the woman and then at her forehead, pulling a strand of loose hair behind her ear to get a better look at the nick on her eyebrow. "You're bleeding." He says.

Julia puts her fingertip to her temple. "Oh," Her eyebrows cinch together as she groans, "Ow."
"You sure you're alright?" Rossi asks from behind Reid as he helps Julia to her feet. "You seem distracted." Reid points out.

Julia nods, assuringly. "Yeah. It's just..." She looks around. "I'm getting a serious sense of déjà vú."

"These woods exist when you went here, Cortez?" Rossi asks and Julia shrugs, "Yeah. But... I'm drawing blanks on how... I've been here before." She turns around, looking everywhere.

Rossi and Reid exchange a small glance. "You've been here before?" Reid wonders.
Julia sighs and shakes her head. "I... I don't know." She admits.

After that, they went to investigate the crime scenes and made a quick visit to the school nurse before they left to examine Julia's cut on her head. When they got to the PD, Tara, JJ, Morgan and Hotch were already there in the conference room they were set up in.

"So, Kyle David's crime scene was a mile away from Michael Parker's." Julia started as soon as they walked into the room.

Everyone noticed the band-aid on Julia's forehead. "What happened to your head?" Tara wonders. "Oh, I tripped. Hit my head on a rock. It's all good." Julia stated.

"A My Little Pony band-aid?" JJ asks, getting a closer look at the bandage on the girl's forehead. "They were the only ones the school nurse had." Julia shrugged.

"She had regular ones right next to—" Reid tries to expose the woman but Julia turns around to him and simply says — "Shush." Reid shuts his mouth and Morgan chuckles to himself at that.

"The crime scenes are only a mile from each other." Julia rehashes and Rossi nods, "Which puts the unsub somewhere in the dab-smack middle of the woods." He tells. "I'll send some officers out there to search." The sheriff in the room nodded.

"Caution your men. He may have a kid with him. Take it as lightly as you can." Hotch reminds the sheriff and he nods, "Of course."

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         Julia was having the nightmare again. She was in those woods again. And then, the shed. And the little boy. And then running as fast as her feet could take her. She yells for help, not realizing that in real life, Morgan has rushed into the room, quickly shaking her awake.

"Cortez! Julia!" Morgan shook her awake and Julia thrashed in his hold but quickly relaxed when Morgan assured her. "It's Morgan! It's Morgan, it's just me." Julia pants and looks around as she steadies her breathing and runs a hand through her hair.

She must've dozed off when the rest of the team left back to the hotel. Her and Morgan were on first watch before they traded shifts with Reid and JJ.

"You alright?" Morgan asks, looking at Julia, worried. "Yeah." Julia nods. "Just a— Just a nightmare." She sighs.

Now, Morgan was concerned. It wasn't the first time he'd dealt with a team member dealing with nightmares. "Again with the nightmares?" He asks.

Julia nods, "Yeah."
"Well, what's got you thrashing awake?" He wonders, getting Julia a cup of water.

Julia looks at the man and knows that opening up to Morgan would be helpful. And since he was the only one that seemed to notice. Maybe it would do some good to just talk about it. "It's those woods." She admits.

Morgan raises a brow in confusion. "The woods?" He asks.

"I..." Julia takes a sip of her cup. "I've been in them. Before the case. And I don't remember how and I don't remember why. There was a kid. That's all I... That's all I remember." She sighs.

      "What's happening in your nightmares?" Morgan leans forward, intently listening as Julia explains away. "Uh... I'm in those woods. And... and there's a shed right in the middle of the woods. And in the shed... there's a boy. And he's... he's already..." She can't find it to say it. "I've had this nightmare since I was a kid. That's all it is. A nightmare."

        Before Morgan could respond, there's a knock and the two look over to see the deputy. "You might wanna call the rest of your team in. Michael Parker's body has just been found."

        When the sun rises, Morgan and Julia head to the crime scene in the woods and join the rest of the team there. "Coroner's report indicates the body's been here for over 36 hours." Detective Patricks tells the agents as he leads them through the woods.

       "That was right when we got here." Reid confirms and they see as Michael Parker's body is covered by a white sheet.

       "Evidence of sexual assault and overkill. 53 wounds this time." Deputy Covey admits.

        Julia looks down at the sheet, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she feels like she's gonna hurl. "Cortez..." Hotch notices. "You okay?" He asks and Julia looks at the man and then towards the team before looking back down at Michael Parker.

      "Excuse me." Julia mutters, walking away for a second to regain her composure. She holds her chest, clutching at her necklace for some kind of solace.

"JJ, do you mind checking on her?" Hotch asks and JJ shakes her head, "No, not at all." She walks over to Julia, whose hands are on her knees and JJ puts a comforting hand on her back.

Julia looks at the woman and breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. "It's just... uh... I guess it's different seeing the body up close, I guess." Julia tells.

"Are you sure you're okay? We can go back to the PD if you're not feeling well." JJ suggests but Julia shakes her head, "No, I'm... I'm okay."

"Michael! Michael!" The women turn once they see Noah Parker approaching the scene. "Mr. Parker." Morgan mutters.

"Don't let him come over here." Hotch orders as Noah Parker approaches the scene quickly, fighting through officers. Julia, JJ and Morgan rush over to stop the man from coming to the scene any further.

"Mr. Parker!" Morgan is the first to rush up to him and to stop him. "Where's my son? Let me see my son!" Noah shouts.

"Mr. Parker, trust me when I say you do not want to see your son like this right now." Morgan tells. Noah shakes his head as he begins to sob for his boy. "Oh, my God."

Julia sighs. The last thing the team wanted was to discover Michael Parker too late. Rossi had decided to talk with the man about his son and see what other info would be useful.

After that, the team sat in the conference room as Morgan walks in, looking at Julia with careful eyes. "Find anything from the crime scene?" Julia asks, looking up from the file.

"Nothing yet," Morgan told. "But I found one thing." He hands Julia a file. "The name Billy Summers mean anything to you?"

Julia furrows her brows as she thinks back on the past and suddenly, it comes to her. She recognized the name. "Uh, he was a kid in my grade. I went to school with him. Why?"

The rest of the team looks at Morgan, wondering where he's going with this. "You remember anything about him?" Morgan follows and Julia thinks back to the past. "He was one of those kids that got in trouble, he always kinda kept to himself."

"Garcia ran up missing persons reports in the past and one stuck out back in '95. You both would've been about six at the time." Julia opens the file in front of her. Billy Summers went missing and was reported found dead within a day or two.

The person that found him?

Julia Cortez-Ibarra, age 6.

"You found him in those woods, Julia." Morgan stated. "Those nightmares you keep having? How much you wanna bet they're linked to Billy Summers?"

Julia heaves and tries to swallow down the lump in her throat but it's starting to feel like so much. "I feel like I'm gonna be sick, excuse me." She puts the file down and rushes to the restroom.

In there, she retches and pukes up her lunch in the toilet. When her nerves get the best of her, this always happens. Normally, Tums calmed her stomach down. When she's done and her ears stop ringing, she wipes her mouth with the toilet paper and hears the door open.

"Hey," Tara's voice is heard outside of the stall. "It's just me. You're feeling alright, in there?" She wonders.

"I've been better." Julia answers and she sniffles flushing the remnants of her stomach down and standing up and opening the stall to only reveal Tara.

She goes towards the mirror and takes a breath, looking at her tired features in front of her as she washes her hands and then splashes her face with water.

"Do you really not remember Billy Summers?" Tara wondered as she crossed her arms. Julia turns around, leaning against the counter of the sink. "I mean, I remember him. I just don't remember finding him. How does that happen?"

Julia wonders how she could've missed this. Someone as smart as her, and with a good long term memory, might she add — not being able to remember something like this.

"You could've repressed those memories when you were younger. You said you were six, at the time?" Tara asked.
Julia nodded, "Yeah."
"There's a possibility that your mind just doesn't want you to remember. I mean, it would be a traumatic thing for a six year-old to find a body in the woods. Add onto that, it's been almost twenty years. It's hard to remember things in that time frame." Tara explains.

"I just want to know why I keep having those nightmares. Especially when all of a sudden, we have a case here, of all places." Julia shakes her head as she thinks as hard as she can.

"That's a sign of PTSD. And maybe even dream analysis." Tara tells. "I don't believe in that." Julia told. And that was true. She never believed in hidden meanings in dreams. Especially when she kept having dreams that just made absolutely no sense. She sighs, wiping her face. "I just need to screw my head on right."

"I'm suggesting maybe even a cognitive interview. It could help you remember what you can't think of right now." Tara told and Julia snaps her head up, knowing Tara was right. Maybe a cognitive interview could help.

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        Julia had requested for Rossi to do the cognitive interview for her. She had no problem speaking to him about what happened back then. So, they find a secluded room and Rossi tells her to close her eyes and to think about that day, relive it in a sense.

        Of course, Julia was skeptical but Rossi assured that he'd be there with her the entire time. "Do you remember anything that day? It doesn't have to be at the school. Like what you did in the morning before school or even on the way to." He starts simply.

        Okay, Julia can surely think back to that. Good long term memory should do something with that, right? "Uh... I... I had eggs and bacon. Mom cooked. And uh... I went to school, took the bus. It was a normal morning."

         Julia began to rehash that day in her head. She remembered what she wore, going to meet with her friends, going to art class, trading lunches and what she learned in school that day.

"Now, skip to the end of the day," Rossi continued. "It was the last time you saw Billy Summers. Do you remember hearing or seeing anything out of the usual?"

Julia thinks back hard. "No, no, it was a normal day. We... we usually hung out... as a group of kids. It was me, Billy, a couple of other students."

"Billy was with you?" Rossi asks.

Then, Julia tilts her head. "No. He, uh, he was alone. Like he usually was." There's a small pause. "We were picking flowers, making flower crowns and necklaces. We did that a lot."

"And Billy was never a part of this." Rossi assumes and Julia shakes her head, "No. He was always in the woods."

Rossi furrowed his brows. "In the woods?"
"Yeah. We never questioned or asked why he was in the woods. Not with what we knew was out there." Julia stated.

"What was out there?" Rossi asked.

Then, Julia opened her eyes and then remembered the story Billy used to tell to the students, scaring them away from the woods. "There was this ghost story, urban legend. Billy told everyone about this... hooked-hand man. He had these, uh, razor sharp teeth and had talons for fingers and blood on his clothes. He killed children. Of course, a lot of us were scared and we never bothered to go out into those woods. Never."

Now, Julia remembered why she was so afraid of those woods. All because of a ghost story.

"What else do you remember from that day?" Rossi asks.

Julia closes her eyes once more to think back. "Uh... that day was like any other day. But it was the one day my parents forgot to pick me up from school. So, I waited." She remembers sitting on that curb, head in hands as she looked around for her friend, not wanting to be alone any longer. "And I didn't want to be alone so I went to find Billy. He was in the woods."

"So, you went to find him." Rossi assumes and Julia nods, remembering hesitating before going into those woods to find Billy. "Yeah."

"Billy? Billy!" She remembered calling for his name.

And somehow, she'd gotten lost in those woods. And then, Julia was reliving the nightmare. Her feet crunching on the leaves, the shed. Everything pinned together.

"Julia?" Rossi asks, seeing that she's lost in thought. She clears her throat and shakes her head as she lets out — "I don't... I don't want to be here."

Julia had opened that door to the shed and saw Billy's body and she shrieked. And ran and ran and ran. And she heard footsteps behind her. They were so close. They were chasing her but Julia ran for her life and out of those woods. The monster was so close to chasing her and she could've sworn she got a glimpse of his face—

      "Julia. Julia." Rossi gets the woman's attention and her eyes snap open and Julia takes a sharp breath of relief that she's out of that. Rossi grabs Julia's hands and looks at her. "It's okay. You did good, kid. You did good."

        Julia nods at this.

        Rossi had given Julia some time to take a breather as he exited the room, meeting with Hotch. "You get anything?" Hotch wonders.

       "Julia remembered seeing a shed. She found Billy Summers' body there." Rossi stated. "You think she remembers the route there?" Reid asks. Rossi shakes his head, "I doubt it. She was shaken up."

      "It's a traumatic thing for any kid to go through." JJ told.

       Suddenly, Julia walks into the room with a map in her hand. "You—?" Morgan doesn't even finish his sentence as Julia interrupts him, "Yeah, I'm fine. Reid, I need your help with something."

       Reid joins Julia as she places the map flat on the table as Morgan and Tara exchange a glance. "Do you think you could figure out the exact coordinates for this?" Julia asks.

       Reid looks down at the map and studies it for a minute. "If my estimates are correct, the whereabouts of the shed should be around right here." He points deep into the woods.

      "We should send extras out there in case the whereabouts could be anywhere." Hotch ordered.

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       Tara had joined Deputy Covey as Julia joined Detective Patricks, looking into the woods for the shed. The rest of the team had been near the school, coordinating with the sheriff.

      Julia had walked through the path and wondered if she was walking in circles because of how similar the woods looked. "So you know these woods like the back of your hand." Julia sparks conversation with Detective Patricks.

      "Lived in Ann Arbor my whole life. I know when it's open season and the deer come home and I know the best spot for a hideout for any kid. It's easy for a kid to get lost out here." Patricks explained.

      "Yeah, and something tells me the kids are too scared to make their way back home. These woods give me the creeps." Julia says, shivering a bit at the mention. Patricks shrugs, "They're not so bad."

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        At the entrance, Morgan's cell began to ring and he sees it's Garcia calling. "Okay baby girl, tell me you got something."

        "You bet your sweet chocolate tush I do. Okay, so I did some digging on the missing persons' and I found something extremely skeevy." Garcia began. "The one person who has been first on the scenes of each abduction and murder works as a detective in each disappearance. Someone who knows those woods like the back of his hand."

       "Who is it?" Hotch asks.
       "Edward Patricks." Garcia revealed.

       "Wait a minute," Morgan spoke. "He's been helping us with the case."

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       "From my understanding, you went to Allen Elementary?" Patricks got the attention of Julia as turned around with furrowed brows. "How'd you know that?" She wondered.

        "I, uh, used to be principal at Allen back in the '90s. Edward Patricks, I'm not sure if maybe you'd remember me. You were very little." The man reveals.

        Julia nods, vaguely remembering the principal of her old school. He used to be so involved with the kids and the school, wanting to be a good principal. "Right. Yeah, I remember you." Julia nodded with a small smile.

       "Small town." Patricks shrugged.

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        "Edward Patricks," Garcia sends the files to their devices. "He's been in and out of jail for files redacted. I re-indacted them, if that's a word, and saw the major points are for DUIs and battery. And locked files indicate child pornography and he used to be the school principal at Allen."

       "That's probably why he knows those woods." Rossi stated. "And became a detective?" JJ asks.
       "Anything else, Garcia?" Morgan asks.

       "Yeah, he was fired around '96 at Allen for his lack of concern about the "monster in the woods" as the kids put it." Garcia explained.

        "Since he wasn't doing his job at protecting the kids, he was let go." Reid told.

       "And his detective practice, looking into that now and— oh, no. His practice is, uh, nonexistent."
       "What do you mean?" Morgan asks.
       "I mean, there's nothing."

      "Son of a bitch slipped through the cracks." The sheriff said as he grabbed his cell and called for backup at the school.

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       "Yeah, I was the principal," Patricks continued and Julia continued walking ahead but keeping a fair distance. "Gave 20 years of my life to that place. Until they fired me."

       Julia furrowed her brows. "Why was that?" She wonders.

      "After the whole thing with that monster/man in the woods, they believed I wasn't capable of being principal anymore. I was fired based on a rumor. It's hilarious, really."

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        "Oh, boy." Garcia said. "What is it?" Hotch asked. "Um... he was also the person that found Billy Summers."

        Everyone's heads peaked at this. "Billy Summers?" Morgan asks. "That's the boy Cortez found when she was a little girl." JJ said.

       "Oh, creep alert! He's been looking into Julia's history. Every blog on her." Garcia grimaces. "He probably knew Julia found Billy." Rossi stated.
       "And may have found him out." JJ added.

       Reid then furrows his brows. "But Julia doesn't fit his victimology." They'd profiled their unsub was after boys and they were underage. Julia was a woman and almost twenty-six years old. It was off.

      "No, but she's the one person who could pinpoint him as the unsub." Hotch said.
      "Well, Julia's out there in the woods right now." JJ spoke.
      "Who was she partnered with?" Hotch asks, turning to the sheriff.

     The sheriff's face turns white as he reveals — "Patricks."

      Suddenly, the team begins to head into those woods. "Garcia, ping her phone. Now." Hotch ordered.

      "Got it," Garcia said. "Go get my sweet angel home and unharmed."

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

      "Then, you remember Billy Summers." Julia said, continuing to walk slowly. "Oh, that goddamn kid." Patricks groaned. "He was the reason I was fired. Created that rumor and ruined my life. Hate to say it but... the kid got what was coming to him."

       The way he talked about him. So full of hate. Julia heard it in his voice. "I... uh... heard you were the one that found him. I don't know if you remember but I was there. He was found in that shed."

       Julia's back stayed faced towards Patricks — and she didn't see him pull out the blade he had in his pocket, ready to strike at his prey.

      "Overkill, I heard. He was stabbed 75 times. He definitely must've pissed someone off."

       Julia spun around quickly, pointing her gun at Patricks threateningly. She knew who he was. What he was. The minute she stepped into the woods with him.

      "It was you," She glared at him. "You killed Billy Summers."

       Patricks held his hands up in surrender but he had that look of being a psycho still written all over his face.

He stepped forward and Julia outstretched her arm and prayed to God the team made a connection.

"Don't move a damn muscle," she loaded her gun and glared at him with a look of disgust on her face. "Why? Why did you kill him?"

"That rat bastard was a troubled kid. He had it coming!" Patricks told "And I thought I got away with it. Then, you found him. And me. You ran. You were scared."

Julia saw his face.

She remembered.

He almost caught her.

She would've been next.

"Luckily, you never recalled the fact that it was me in that shed. And you moved right out of town shortly after that whole thing." He held his blade to his head as if he was thinking. "You know, they label it as trauma. We repress memories simply 'cause we don't want to remember them. But you're older now. And when I heard the big, bad BAU along with the one person that could identify me of killing those boys was still around... I knew I was finally gonna get my chance."

Julia narrowed her eyes as he tried to step closer. "Chance for what?" She questioned.

"To kill you, of course," He confirmed, nonchalantly. "You know who I am and I can't risk you telling anyone else about what I did. It's been 20 years. And I'm not going to prison now."

Julia stepped forward switching places with him as she was now closer to the entrance of the woods. "You wanna know the last thing I said to him before I killed him?" The man continued. "I said, 'You hear that, Billy? There's a man in the woods.'"

A moment of silence is heard and a bird chirps, getting the attention of Patricks and Julia takes her chance to run — just like she did all those years ago. And this time, she was faster than before.

It takes a moment before Julia hears Patricks chasing and following her. "Julia!" He yells.

"Help!" Julia screamed and as she turns back to see how close he was, she tripped over a log and landed on the ground, her gun just inches away from her.

Patricks hovers over Julia and the woman begins to fight him off. "Get off me!" She yells. "Help! Help me!" She yelled.

"I finally get to gut you like a fish!" Patricks grinned and he held the blade to her face. "You hear that, Julia? There's a man in the woods." He growled and stood up, twirling his blade in his hands.

Julia's arms outstretched for her gun within reach of her.

"I'm gonna have so much fun with this!"

Then, a gun fires.

"Cortez!"
"Julia!"
"Julia!"

And the team hears this and they lunge forward to those woods, running to where they heard the sound, their own weapons in hands and they finally reach to the deeper part of the woods — as do Deputy Covey and Tara.

When they got there, they found Julia on the ground with her gun in her hand and Patricks on the ground, a single bullet in between his eyes.

       It was Julia's first kill on the field.

      "Julia, you okay?" Julia's ears are ringing as she stares at Patricks' body. Tara had approached him, kicking the blade away and checking his pulse and confirming he was dead.

      "Jules. Jules," Julia turns around to see Reid knelt beside her. "You alright?"

        All Julia does is nod and Reid helps her to her feet and she stared down at his body and sees the team surrounding him as well.

      "I was..." Julia spoke softly. "I was aiming for his leg."

      The case was closed.
      Edward Patricks was dead.
      And it was all over.

      And suddenly? These woods felt a little more peaceful to be in.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

        The one thing Julia promised she wouldn't do on the field was to kill anyone. And here, just a few hours ago, she did that. It felt strange to her. She'd done it in self-defense, but it didn't make it any better.

        Julia sat near one of the windows on the jet, a blanket over her body as she stared out into the clouds and took a sharp breath. She'd let her hair out of her ponytail and closed her eyes, trying to feel some type of comfort but she couldn't feel it. (Not after she'd just killed a man).

"Hey." In front of her stood Reid, with two cups in his hands. "Hi." She softly smiles at him and he sits in front of her a cup in his hand and he hands the other to Julia. "I, uh, brought you tea. Coffee makes you feel more jittery and anxious, especially if you consume too much."

"Thanks." Julia says as she holds the cup in her hands, not having the heart to tell him she actually hates tea. But she wasn't gonna reject his offer, not when he was sitting in front of her.

"You feeling okay?" Reid wonders, taking a sip of what Julia assumed was coffee. "Could be better." Julia shrugged and thought to herself. "I guess I'm just a little confused."

"Why?" Reid wonders. "I wasn't a part of Patrick's' victimology." Julia tells.
"You were the only person that could pinpoint him at Billy Summers' crime scene. You were a threat to him." Reid told.

Julia thinks back and then looks up at Reid. "I saw him when I was going through my cognitive interview. I knew what he was the minute we got paired together. And it would've ended one of two ways. Either he was gonna die..."
"Or you were." Reid finished.
"Yeah." Julia muttered.

Julia tilts her head as she stares at the cup in her hands. "You know that's the first time I've... killed anyone?" She says the word like it's the worst thing she's ever said.

"It was self-defense." Reid tries to make her feel better but Julia shakes her head, "But it doesn't make it okay, Reid." Reid looks down and knows that it doesn't make it okay, but it would assure Julia's mind. He knows that the last thing she wanted was to kill Edward Patricks but she was left with no choice. And honestly, he would've rather her kill someone than her be dead right now.

"I've been getting these nightmares... about when I found Billy Summers... and now I'm afraid when I go to sleep tonight, all I'm gonna see is him." Julia says and she sounds like a child by the way she's talking and all Reid wants to do is tell her it's gonna be okay, that the nightmares will eventually go away since she got the closure she needed.

Reid thinks in his own head for a moment. Maybe she'd feel more assured if maybe she had someone with her in the company of her own home. "Would you like..." Then, Reid began to doubt himself as she soon as he opened his mouth. "No—" He mumbled to himself, shaking his head.

But Julia caught it. "What?" She asks but Reid dismissed the idea in his head. "It's stupid." He mutters with a small smile on his face.
Julia narrows her eyes at her colleague. "Nothing you say is stupid. That's physically impossible."

"Would you like... if I'd stayed with you while you slept? Just so you don't feel alone?" Reid's voice got smaller and smaller as he suggested what he did.

Julia smiles at the blush on his cheeks. "Wow, if this is your way in to getting into bed with me... gotta say, I like it, Reid." She smirked with crossed arms.

"No, no. I-I mean—" Reid stutters quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.
Julia shakes her head, "I know what you mean. And I would appreciate it... if it's really no trouble."
Reid shakes his head, "No, not at all."

Julia smiles at the man, totally pre-planning a sleepover in her head and she then suddenly gasps — "Ooh, then you finally get to meet Einstein and Newton!"

As she begins to discuss how her cats are timid around strangers, (but how they'll absolutely adore Reid because she does) the light reappears in Julia's eyes. And it's' less tense than before. Her gaze more soft as she spoke to him. Reid smiles to himself, knowing he was responsible for that. And he listens intently at her planning and hopes she never ever has to feel the way she did the last few days. He hopes maybe this will get her mind off of things for a few days.

Spoiler alert ; It does.

hey lovelies!
here is our very first original in this story!!
i hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it 🤗

we went into a lil about julia's past but we're digging deeper in the next original i have planned — which is in a couple of chapters 🤭
i am so exciteddd for that one hehe

and #spulia owns my heart forever and ever :)

i hope y'all liked this
love you all <3
-mya <33333