Ten: Brainwashed.

11x14 | Hostage.

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Julia felt the blood pumping to her veins as she ran through the path. She'd felt the familiar footsteps behind her, trying to catch up with her. But she was too fast.

Julia never thought she'd love to see the day that she'd beat her older brother in a jog.

As they neared the end of the path, Julia finally caught her breath and her brother stopped behind her, hands on his knees and panting like a dog. "You've lost your compassion for running I see." Julia chuckles as she takes a breath.

      "Jesus, when did you get fast?" Manny questioned, heaving. "Around the same time I slimmed down." Julia stated.

       Back in the day, Julia would've never been able to go on runs with her brother, let alone beat him. Seeing as being the bigger child in the family (and constantly being reminded of it by her mother), Manny, her older brother, could see she often struggled with it. He, of course, always assured to her that she was beautiful to her no matter what. But when Julia asked if they could start working out together and he could be her trainer of sorts, he accepted it.

"Remember the days where I could outrun you? Those were good times, I miss those times." Manny sighed. "Can't say I'm not surprised, I'm sure they always have you booking it when you're chasing criminals on a daily basis." Julia chuckles to herself, "You have no idea."

"Race you back to the car for coffee? Last one there has to buy!" Julia said, running ahead already. "Hey, cheater!" Manny called as he quickly followed behind her.

Of course, Julia won this round.

And as planned, Manny bought coffee for himself and Julia, paying the cashier and joining his sister at a nearby bench.

"How are things at the station?" Julia wonders as she takes a small sip of her coffee.

Manny had worked at the fire station, being a firefighter. He'd also lived in Virginia, which was a plus for Julia when she moved down here for the job. It'd given her more of an opportunity to see him.

"Same ol', same ol'," Manny shrugs in response to his sister's question. "The kids like the time they get to spend with their old man."
"And how are my niece and nephew, and my favorite sister-in-law?" Julia asks with a small on her face at the mention of her niece and nephew.

"Ava is studying for the spelling bee, chrysanthemum is the winning word and Gabe is doing really good, already made a friend in school. Clara's business is also taking off. Things are real good."

Ava was a smart eight year-old — possibly giving Julia a run for her money, maybe even Reid — and Gabe was five years-old, starting kindergarten already. She loved those kids like they were her own. And Manny's wife, Clara, was a saint — she was a stay-at-home mom until Gabe got into school and now, she owned a little flower shop ways away.

      "That's great." Julia smiled. "It's a good thing you get to see them more now with your job being close by." Manny told. Julia nods at that, mentally making a note so she can see her niece and nephew soon. "Yeah, I should definitely stop by one of these days."

       Manny looks at the lid on his coffee cup as he takes a sip from his coffee. "Speaking of which, Mom know you're in the BAU now?"
        Julia sighs, "No and I prefer to keep it that way." Manny chuckles to himself, his sister was always stubborn. "You know she's gonna find out one day."

"Well, that one day is not today." Julia stated. "Are you afraid she's gonna dictate your life if you do?" Manny wondered and Julia shrugs at that, "That and I'm worried about what my team is gonna think of me. I don't want them thinking I got in because of her. They don't even know who she is to me."

Manny looks at his sister, reassuringly. "If they know better, they won't think you got in because of her. You got yourself there. And besides, you didn't want the job in the first place, right?"
"That is true." Julia says.
"I'm sure they won't think a certain way." Manny assured.

"Yeah, but in the few months I've been working with them, they're pretty nosy." Julia told. Of course, she herself was also nosy but Garcia? Probably worse than her. Especially with keeping secrets.

Manny shakes his head, "I'm sure they're not that bad."
"Well—" Before Julia can go into detail about her team, her phone buzzes in her pocket and she quickly grabs it and checks it and sees a missed call from Garcia and a text telling her about their new case.

"Duty calls?" Manny guesses and Julia nods, "Yeah. I gotta get to the office. This was a nice run. We gotta do this more often."

Manny nodded, "I'll let you know." Before they can go their separate ways, Manny stops his sister in her tracks. "Hey." He opens his arms and Julia smiles as she gives the man a hug. "It's good to have you around more, sis." He tells.

"Thanks, big brother." Julia smiles. "Make sure to text me when you get to the office." Julia nodded at her brother in response and headed to her car she'd parked nearby and grabbed her clothes that she'd put into her go-bag to change into.

Afterwards, she sped-walked to the conference room and rushed in there. "Sorry, I'm late. I was on a run." She looks up at the screen as she takes a seat next to Hotch and Rossi. "Abduction case?" She asks. "Unfortunately, yes." Garcia nods.

"Last night, this girl, Gina Bryant, flagged down a police car in St. Louis. She was wearing nothing but a dirty nightgown and she was barefoot. And she told them that she had been kidnapped when she was eight." Garcia explained and Julia looks down at the file.

Morgan points at the screen. "That girl's gotta be nineteen or twenty years old."
"Eighteen," Garcia corrects as she sits down. "And they confirmed her identity. She was a foster kid who disappeared ten years ago."

      "She's been in captivity this whole time?" JJ questions. "Long-term hostage, that's a rare occurrence." Julia comments. "We got another Ariel Castro here?" Rossi wonders.

        "Funny you should say that. Not funny ha-ha, funny weird. She told the police that she was held captive with this girl, Sheila Woods, 15 years old, who disappeared from Nashville seven years ago. Also she said there was another girl, too, but all she knows about her is that her name is Violet and she was older." Garcia explains.

      "I'm assuming you've checked the missing children's database." Rossi asks and Garcia nods, "Affirmative. There's no Violet anywhere."

"Did Gina say anything about her captor?" Reid wonders. "Just that his name is Tom and he was an older white dude." Garcia stated. "They are, usually." Julia comments, sitting back in her seat with her file in hand.

"And where were they being held?" JJ wondered. "This house," Garcia shows them on the screen. "Gina took the cops there. They found Sheila. Sheila's at the hospital, very ill with something yet to be determined. Violet nowhere to be found."

"It's probably safe to assume that she's with the unsub." Hotch told and Garcia nods faintly.

"Who owns the house?" Reid questions. "Oh, that's where it gets even weirder. This woman, Clara Riggins. She's MIA, but her checking account is active, she pays her bills on time, and if my math is correct, she's 108 years old." Garcia told.

"I might be going out on a limb here, but I'm gonna bet she had nothing to do with the kidnapping." Rossi stated. "No takers on that bet." Julia nods.

"The real question's where is the unsub and this other girl, Violet?" Morgan asks what everyone else is thinking.

"That's what we're gonna find out," Hotch shuts the file in front of him. "Lewis is on a research assignment. Wheels up in 30."

With that, the team gets ready and they head to the jet. The last time Julia dealt with an abduction case, it nearly almost ended with her death and inevitably— another man's death, one she caused. Although, everyone reminded her that this was bound to happen. That eventually, you get to that point of no return. Julia dealt with it on her own. If she couldn't kill someone in defense, she had no business being out on the field. So, she took a breather for a week before heading back to work. And she started jogging more with her brother and it helped, honestly.

Julia had taken a spot on the couch before they gathered, JJ starting as they began to debrief. "Both Gina and Sheila were grabbed when they were eight." Morgan adds, "And both just blocks away from their homes."

"And made a clean getaway each time. No witnesses." Rossi told.
"There's an excellent chance he stalked them. Clean getaways usually mean they know daily routines and are familiar with the area." Reid stated. "So, our guy's patient and makes a plan. Also mean he has patterns, too." Julia tells.

"This guy's more than just a preferential pedophile. His victims are children, but that's probably more about establishing control. Long-term captivity is what matters to him." Rossi explained.

"We've seen profiles like this before. There's always a sexual assault component to their M.O.s." JJ told.

Suddenly, Garcia appears on the monitor in front of them to deliver news. "Hello, all. I just sent you the 411 on the statements from police reports. Turns out the neighbors haven't seen Clara Riggins in twenty years. Most of them didn't even know that she existed. But they all know who this Tom guy is. According to this one lady, Tom told her that he was Clara's grandson. But I triple-checked. Clara doesn't have any relatives anywhere."

"He got lucky nobody knew her in the neighborhood." Julia commented.

"Did we get a description from any of the neighbors?" Hotch wondered.
"Affirmative. And they also gave me the make and model of Tom's blue van. It's a pretty common vehicle. I got a long list of registered owners. So far the three Toms and Thomases on that list all check out." Garcia informed.
"All right, stay on it." Hotch orders.
"You know I will, sir." Garcia nods before dismissing herself from the call.

Hotch looks around at the team now. "When we land, Dave, you, JJ and Morgan go to the house. Cortez, you and Reid are with me at the hospital." Julia nods over at Reid seeing as they're paired together. "We need to talk to the girls and find out everything they remember."

When they'd gotten to the hospital, Julia, Reid and Hotch all waited outside of Sheila's room. Her mother lingered beside her and Julia crossed her arms, hoping that Sheila was going to be okay.

Her doctor exited the room and approached the three agents. "Agents, thank you for waiting." He started. "Of course. How is she?" Hotch asks.

"Looks like she had complications from a miscarriage. Her infection turned septic. We had to perform an emergency hysterectomy." Julia nods sadly at the man. "And she has several old scars on her back. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were from a whip."

"Any idea when she might wake up?" Julia wondered and the doctor sighed sadly, "There's no way to tell."

"What about Gina Bryant?" Reid wondered. "She's doing much better, all things considered. Malnourished, dehydrated, a couple nasty cuts and bruises. But she should be okay. Physically, anyway." The doctor explained. "Invisible scars take the longest to heal, unfortunately." Julia said.

"Do you think she's able to answer a few questions?" Hotch asked.
"She was pretty agitated when she came in, so we gave her a mild sedative. But she has the same scars on her back, and she's got a bunch of old injuries that didn't heal properly. Broken ribs, tibia, a couple of fingers. I hope you catch the guy who did this." The doctor told and Julia nods in agreement.

What these girls went through was torture, to say the least. There wasn't a word to describe the awful things they endured being held captive for years, on end.

Hotch had instructed Julia and Reid to stay with Gina Bryant until she woke up to ask her questions and see if she'd be up to answer them. Gina Bryant was tough, she was the one that got her and Shelia out of there. The poor girls were timid and were joining a new world they didn't quite know yet.

Gina Bryant eventually woke and Julia stood from her seat as she looked at the girl. "Hi, Gina. My name's Julia. This is my friend, Spencer." Julia introduces and Spencer gives her a warm smile as he speaks softly to her, "Hi."

Julia notices as Gina keeps her eyes on Reid, intimidated and seemingly frightened of the man in the room. "Don't worry, he's harmless. Unless you want a random fact about... pretty much everything." Julia assured.

"We're with the FBI. Do you know what that is?" Julia asks the woman and Gina furrows her brows. "The police?" Julia shrugged, "Yeah. Something like that."

"I already talked to the police." Gina stated. "Well, we're--we're a little bit different. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"

Gina nodded slightly and Julia tries to assure to her that everything is okay, that her and Reid are the good guys and that this is only to help catch the man that kidnapped her, Sheila and that girl, Violet.

"Can you tell me a little bit about the day that you were kidnapped?" Julia starts. Gina thinks back on the day. "I went to the park. I forgot my sweatshirt. But I didn't want to go home."

"Why not?" Julia asks. "That lady, Trisha was mean." Gina answers. "Your foster mother, Trisha? Trisha Gilmore?" Reid asks.
Gina nods, "Her kids, too. They said I wasn't worth the money they made off me."

The poor girl had already been through enough, Julia thought in her head. "So you went to the playground to get away from them." Julia gathers.

"I went all kinds of places. Mostly there." Gina answers, thinking back. "What happened that day?" Reid questions.

"I saw Violet." Gina told.
"Violet," Julia starts. "She was the other girl you were held hostage with?"
Gina nodded, "She was waiting for her dad to pick her up. And that's when he came." Julia could tell by the way her posture stiffened that the thought of the man made her uncomfortable — she did not blame her for that.

"Who, Tom?" Julia asks. Gina nods at her, "He had this little puppy. He asked me if I wanted to give him treats. He said he went crazy for treats. They were in his car. But it wasn't a car. It was a van. And he opened the door and pushed me in and he hit me. I tasted my blood, and my eyes were watery." Gina began to hyperventilate.

"He said I'd better listen or he was gonna hit me again. We drove... we drove for a long time. But I never saw the puppy again, though. Never saw it. He was so little. I don't know where he went, though. I'm sorry." Gina cried and Julia looked at the woman with a pained expression and began to calm her down, trying to soothe her from panicking. "It's okay. It's okay."

"Gina," Julia started. "You made it out of there. Okay? You never have to deal with that again. And you saved Sheila and you got out of there. That's the important part. And you're not a victim... you're a survivor." She assured, trying to calm her to the best of her ability.

Reid watched Julia in awe as she calmed Gina down. She sympathized well with the victims or the families of the victims. She did it well and a frown never fell on her face while she did it, although he could tell in her eyes that it desperately wanted to. Reid was always impressed when she did that. It was something he was envious of. He wished he could communicate well with victims like Julia was. But Julia was more outgoing and more of the people-person.

      When Gina calmed down, Julia and Reid figured that maybe some fresh air outside of her room might do her some good instead of being cooped up in the hospital bed the entire time. She was in a wheelchair while Reid pushed her and Julia walked alongside them as she continued to talk to her.

       "Gina, do you have any idea where Tom might be right now?" She asks curiously. "Maybe his disappearing place?" Gina guessed. Julia and Reid exchange a look. "His disappearing place?" Reid asked.

        "He'd always leave," Gina nodded. "I liked it when he was gone, even though he never left much food."

        "Do you know where the disappearing place is, by any chance?" Julia wondered. "I didn't get to go. He only took Violet and Sheila once. They were more special." Gina stated.

       "Why were they more special?" Julia asked as they stopped the wheelchair in front of the bench where both Julia and Reid took a seat. "Because they were good. They never fought." Gina told.

      "But you did." Julia tells. "I hated to call him 'daddy', and I wouldn't say my name." Gina said.
      "What do you mean, you wouldn't say your name?"
      "Rose," Julia said. "He tried to call me that."

      "Did Sheila or Violet ever talk about the disappearing place?" Reid wondered. "It's a secret," Gina responded. "It would make Tom mad if they did."

      "Well, did Tom ever talk about it?" Julia asked. "One time. When he was nice. He brought pizza." Gina remembered. "Do you remember what he said?" Reid asked.

      "That maybe one day I could go. Then... then he wanted to go behind the curtain." Gina said, shivers uncomfortably in the wheelchair as she told the two. "Sometimes I didn't fight as much after Sheila got there."

       "Why not?" Julia asked. "Because we had to take care of her. So I tried to make him happy. But I made sure she remembered her real name no matter what." Gina told.
         "And you did a good job doing that." Julia assured as Gina nodded.

        "What about Violet? Do you know her real name?" Reid wondered. Gina thought about it hard and her fingers twitched as she tried to think about it. "Mm... just--just Violet. Sometimes he called her Vi." She answered.

       "Did Tom ever mention anyone named Clara?" Julia asked and a small smile appeared on her face at the name. "She liked flowers. That's where we got our names. He called Sheila Daisy."

       "Did you ever see Clara?" Julia asked.
       "No," Gina answered. "But sometimes I was good and he let me go outside at nighttime, and we planted flowers. He said they were for Clara."

         Julia and Reid exchange a look at that and Reid excused himself to go and call Rossi, JJ and Morgan about what Gina just told them.

Reid and Julia had taken Gina back to her room and while Julia trying to show her how the remote worked to the TV, Reid whispered her name and she excused herself and left the room to chat with Reid privately.

"What's up?" Julia asked, approaching Reid. "Composite sketch of the unsub," Reid hands Julia the file. "Garcia's running facial recognition against her list of blue van owners." He then turns to Gina in the room. "How's she doing?"

"It's a lot," Julia sighs. "So much she needs to adjust to. No money, no family, a second-grade education, not to mention a lifetime of PTSD to deal with. It's gonna be a struggle for her."

"Clear the door, clear the door, please." A doctor rushed past into Sheila's room and her mother and Hotch stood outside of the door as more doctors urgently headed to the room.

"Oh, that is not good." Julia comments. "Given the amount of hospital staff and the level of urgency, it looks to me like Sheila might be coding." Reid stated.

        "What's coding?" Julia and Reid turn around and see Gina standing behind them. "Gina, you should get back in bed." Julia advises, knowing she shouldn't see her friend like this.   

       "Is that Sheila's room?" Gina questioned, peeking out into the hallway and rushing out of her room but Julia stands in front of her. "No, Gina. Gina, the best thing you can do is wait here while they work, okay?"

       "No!" Sheila's mother yells in the hall at her doctor. "You don't stop working on her! You keep working on her!"

      "Is she okay?" Gina tries to fight through Julia's grasp as she tries to rush to the room. "Sheila! Sheila! What's wrong?! What's wrong with her?! I have to help her! I have to help her!" Gina yells, cries and begs as Julia holds her back, trying to calm her down and Julia looks over at Reid and they can both tell that Sheila didn't make it.

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         Garcia had fortunately gotten a hit on their unsub. His name was Michael Clark Thompson and Gina positively identified him. Morgan, JJ and Rossi had the pleasure of arresting the dirt at and luckily retrieving Violet in the back of the van.

         Now, Thompson was in the same hospital as the girls for a broken wrist and Violet was in a separate hospital room, panicking and refusing treatment.

        "She won't even tell us her last name." The doctor informed Julia, Reid and Hotch as they walked towards her room. "Well, that's because she might not even remember it herself." Reid told.

      "Violet probably isn't even her real name. It's most likely the name he gave her, liking trying to call Gina 'Rose' and Sheila 'Daisy'." Julia explained.

       "We do need to talk to her." Hotch told.
       "Well, you can try. You might have better luck than I did." The doctor responded.

       "It may take some time to get through to her." Julia said, trying to remain hopeful. "All right, see what you can find out. I'm gonna go question Thompson." Hotch said, walking away from the three as he goes to do so.

        Reid turns to Julia. "She's probably childlike and unsocialized, exactly like Gina. And if she was held captive the longest, she almost certainly fell victim to intense trauma bonding." He informed as Reid opened the door, letting Julia through first as soon as he opened it.

        "Hi. Violet?" Julia started as soon as she entered the room and Violet stood, looking anywhere but at the agents. "My name's Julia."
        "And I'm Spencer." Reid spoke as he closed the door.

      "Uh, can we go now? Me and my daddy, we gotta go." Violet stated. "When you say 'daddy', do you mean Tom?" Julia wondered.

       "I don't call him that." Violet answers.
       "You know, that's-- that's not actually his real name. His name is Michael Clark Thompson. Tom's just a name he made up." Julia informed and Violet stepped further back.

        Reid chimes in, "Kind of like your name-- Violet. Do you remember your real name?"

       It seems like Violet's dodging the questions or doesn't want to answer them. She shakes her head as she picks at her cardigan. "I need my daddy. We need to go." It's then that Julia gets a good look at the bruise on her face, one she probably endured from Thompson.

      "Where is it that you need to go? Maybe we can help you." Reid offers but Violet looks at the agents carefully. "He said you would do that."
      "Do what?" Julia asks.
      "Ask questions and lie. Especially about him." She was going long ways to defend him. Julia feels bad.

       "We know what he did to you, Violet. Gina told us everything." Julia stated.
        Violet's head peeks up at that. "You found her?" She asks as she steps forward. "Did you find Daisy, too?"

       "Her real name is Sheila. Sheila Woods. And, yes, we did." Reid informs. "She was super sick. Is she okay?" Violet asks.

Julia and Reid look at each other. "Violet, I'm sorry, but... the doctors did everything they could, but she didn't make it. She died." She tells.

Violet turns around and Julia continues to speak, "You don't have to be afraid of him anymore. We can help you."
"He said you would say that, too." Violet spins back around. "You don't know anything, okay? I would be dead without him. He's the only one who loves me."

"Violet—"
"I--I gotta go. Please. I've been good. I haven't done anything bad. Can I go now? Please." She begs.

It seems like she's a lost cause but Julia knows it's because she's been held captive for so long, she's lost the sense of herself.

After that, Hotch talked with Thompson and he claimed he had nothing to hide about Clara Riggins and that he didn't kill her. The team rejoined in the waiting room and Julia grabbed a cup of coffee to settle her nerves — or to keep herself awake, one of the two.

"Nothing to hide, my ass. He's full of it." Rossi told. "The preliminary M.E. report does suggest that Clara Riggins died of natural causes." Reid stated as Julia took a seat beside him.

"I think he's telling the truth about that. He didn't kill her." Hotch said, sure enough that Thompson was guilty of everything else but the murder of Clara Riggins.

JJ then chimes in, "I'm sorry, guys. I can't stop thinking about Violet. You guys said she could not wait to get out of here, like it was urgent." Julia nods, "It's all she could talk about."

"Well, she'd been held captive most of her life. All this has to be a tremendous shock." Rossi said.
"No question about that, but that wasn't it. It sounds like she had somewhere specific in mind and she needed Thompson to go with her." JJ voiced.

"Well, he's conditioned her to depend on him for everything." Hotch said. "Exactly," JJ nodded. "You condition someone by doing something over and over again. Now, we know he repeatedly abused them. I don't think she was itching to get out of here to go do that."

"Maybe he did something to reward her somehow." Rossi thinks.

Then, Julia thinks about it and then stands up as she sees where JJ is going with this. "You think she has a child?" She asks.
JJ shrugs at the possibility, "Where else would you want to go so badly?"

"You know, that's not a stretch. Sheila Woods had a miscarriage. Maybe Violet brought one to term." Rossi suggests.

"We did profile he might be trying to fill some kind of void since he didn't have a family." Reid told. "Yeah, but Gina Bryant never mentioned any baby." Rossi furrows his brows. "Well, Violet could have had the baby before Gina was abducted." JJ said.

Julia points at JJ. "Gina probably wouldn't even know about it."
"Well, if we're right about any of this, that means there's another kid somewhere out there." Rossi said.
"Then who's taking care of it?" JJ wonders.

The only way they'd be able to get an answer is if maybe they talk to Violet herself. Julia volunteers to do so herself, seeing as Violet's already seen her face and may adjust more to just her in the room.

After getting information from Garcia and sent to her, Julia did a little bit of her research and decided to go and talk with Violet.

She opens the door and finds Violet on the ground near the bed. "Hi, Violet. Just me this time. Are you okay?" Julia asks and Violet looks at the woman. "How is daddy? Can we go soon?" She asks.

Julia sits beside Violet with the tablet in her hand. "Uh, we're working on it." She tells, trying to divert the conversation from Thompson. "You know, I still have a few questions I need to ask you, okay?"

Violet looks at the tablet in Julia's hands. "What's that thing?" She asks.
"Um, well, it's a tablet. You can search for things, play games, you can also look at pictures on it. Like this one, see?" Julia holds up the tablet for Violet to see the photo of a young girl on it.

"Do you know this little girl?" Julia asks Violet and she shakes her head nonchalantly. "Her name is Amelia Hawthorne, and she is from a city called Indianapolis. I actually lived there for a little while. And these--" She swipes on the screen for Violet to see a photo of herself and her parents. "These are her parents. That's George and Maureen. Violet, that little girl is you. You're Amelia." Julia hopes that somehow this reminds Violet — or Amelia — somehow.

"Um... my name is Violet." Amelia denies this as she shakes her head. "No, honey. Tom took you away from your family when you were only eight. You've been gone for 15 years. Tom is not your daddy." She points to George on the screen. "This man is."

Amelia looks sorrowful, like she doesn't want to believe it. "Vi— Amelia, I--I can't even begin to understand what you're feeling right now, but you must be scared and confused. And it's okay to feel that way." Julia looks at the woman carefully. "I promise you, Amelia, I am your friend. Okay? And I'm here to help you. And you gotta trust me. I'm only here to help."

Amelia nods at the woman in understanding. And Julia's glad to have gotten through to her, somehow. "Can you do me a favor?" Julia asks and Amelia turns to her, timid. "I need you to think back and try really hard to remember."

"Did Tom..." Julia swallows the lump in her throat, trying to figure out a better way to ask what she's about to ask. "Did you have a baby, Amelia?"

Amelia looks towards the door as she leans forward in a whisper of fear. "I can't talk about that. He gets mad."
"He's not here." Julia assured.
"He gets mad if I even ask about about--"
"Amelia," Julia tries to calm her down before she panics. "Like I said, I'm here to help you. And that means, you will never ever have worry about him again. And you can tell me anything."

A smile sort of appears on Amelia's face and she looks towards the door for a split second before leaning more forward. "My sisters." She says.

"Your sisters?" Julia asks. Amelia nods at the woman, "I got super sick. And then my belly got really big both times." She informs.
"Both times?" Julia asked. "It happened twice?" She swallows the lump again at upon hearing this and Amelia nodded.

"And then one day, they just... came out, and it really hurt like crazy, but I got my sisters. Lily and Jasmine." Amelia tells, a smile of fondness appearing as she talked about them.

"Do you know where they are right now?" Julia asked. "Of course. They're in the disappearing place." Amelia answers.

"Do you know where that is? Because I can take you there." Julia tells and Amelia's interest peaks upon hearing this. "We have to drive. Can you drive?"
Julia nodded, "Yeah, but you need to tell me where to go. Can you do that?"

Amelia shakes her head, "No. I don't know-- I don't know where it is. I always sit in back. He drives."
"Well, you might remember more than you think." Julia tells.
"No. Daddy knows. He can drive. Just go and get him. Go get him and we can go." Amelia tells and Julia looks towards the door and sees that Reid is standing there.

Julia looks at him and then looks at Amelia, telling her that she'd need to talk to some people first and they would see what they could do. Amelia, seeming to like that answer, remains seated on the floor and Julia exits the room, closing the door behind her.

Her chest feels as if someone is sitting on it and suddenly, acid builds within her throat as she runs a hand through her hair.

"You okay?" Reid asks, walking towards her.

Julia looks up at the man and tries to nod but suddenly, she feels a bubble bursting and rushes to the nearby trash can and throws up into the trash can, holding her hair back as she pukes up the coffee she had earlier.

Reid stands behind her, a hand resting on her back and holding her hair so she doesn't need to keep doing so. Julia finished hurling and wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her blazer and sniffles.

"Sorry." Julia apologizes as she wipes her forehead. "It's okay." Reid assured to her and Julia sighs, "This must be so attractive of me, right?" She stands up, trying to gather herself and blinks at Reid.

"He, uh, he got her pregnant. Twice." Julia stated. "I don't know, I just... he's a sick dude, I guess." Reid nods along with that. "Are you sure you're okay? I can tell Hotch if you need to take a breather." Reid offers but Julia waves a hand at him, shaking her head.

"No, no, it's okay, handsome. I'll be fine. Nerves just got the best of me, that's all." Julia assured and Reid nodded at her, hoping she was okay. He could tell that sometimes the cases got to her, especially the last one. He just seemed to worry.

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Julia had joined Hotch and JJ, speaking with the doctor about Thompson. "The X-ray machine was down. Thompson's going in now." Reid walked over, standing next to Julia as he announced, "Amelia Hawthorne's parents are here."

"She could barely look at their photo. I can't imagine how she'll react in person. Maybe we should give her more time." Julia suggested.

"Psych hasn't completed a full evaluation yet. I mean, she could become hostile or maybe even retreat into a catatonic state." The doctor recommended.

"We don't have time," Hotch told. "Amelia may have information about the missing children that her parents could help unlock."

Reid turns to Julia. "It's a calculated risk, but one I think we have to take." He tells. She's already been through enough, hasn't she? Julia thinks in her head as she crossed her arms.

"I'll go update them." JJ tells as she excuses herself to go and do so.

Julia and JJ had taken it upon themselves to take care of the situation. Julia would tell Amelia what was going on and assure her that everything was okay while JJ assessed her parents outside of the room.

       Julia entered the room first since Amelia was familiar with her. "Hi." Julia greeted. "Did you get daddy? Is he gonna take us?" Amelia questioned.

     "Uh, no, not yet." Julia said.
     "Why not?" Amelia asked.
     "They're still figuring out some things but in the meantime, uh, there's-- there's some people here that would like to see you."

       Julia smiled as JJ let the parents through first to see their daughter and stood behind them to let them, not wanting to interfere with the moment.

     "Amelia." Maureen said, looking at her scared daughter, who could barely look at them. Amelia then looks at Julia, like she betrayed her. "Who are they?" She questioned. "They're your real parents." JJ spoke.

     "Baby, it's me. It's Mama." Maureen reminded the girl but Amelia shook her head. "I don't know you." Maureen nods, "I know. I look different. So do you."

      Amelia's eyes filled with tears and she looked at Julia. "I don't know them." JJ then nods to the parents as Maureen gets a framed photo of the family out of her bag.

      "See?" Maureen approaches close to Amelia. "That's how I looked back then. And that's your dad. And that right there... is you."

       Julia exchanged a look with JJ as they tried to attempt to make her remember. "Do you remember?" Maureen asked, going to touch her face which Amelia immediately flinched against. "Don't touch me." She said.

     "Oh, Melly." George cried, making Amelia look at the man in confusion. "What did you say?" She questions. "M-Melly. It's what I used to call you. It's short for Amelia." Julia stared at Amelia and it looked like she remembered something and then she looked at the ground and a look of terror appeared on her face.

     "Get out." She spat.
     "Oh, baby--"
     "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!" Amelia screamed at them as JJ had ushered the parents out of the room and Julia stayed with her, trying to calm her down as she screamed that she wanted her daddy.

        Thompson wanted to make a deal. He'd help the team find Lily and Jasmine if he got put into a white collar prison and wanted minimum security and no life sentence. And that he also wanted to see Amelia. At first, the team wasn't sure if AUSA was going to approve the deal but they had. And Hotch had a plan to use Amelia's parents' presence to get through to Amelia.

          Thompson was able to see Amelia as long as Rossi and Hotch in the room. Hotch had given a signal to Julia and JJ to let her parents into the room and they'd walked in as Amelia was sharing a hug with Thompson.

        The man turned to the door. "What is--what is this? Who are these people?" He questioned. "These are her parents." Julia informed.

      "And that gentleman right there is her real daddy." Rossi pointed.

       Thompson shook his head, "Huh. She knows who her real daddy is. Daddy is the only one who loves you. Isn't that right, Violet?"

        Amelia thinks to herself for a moment and then something in her brain clicks. "No." She answers. And she looks up at the man, a look of hurt, anger and pain written all over it. "My name... is... Amelia." She told.

        Amelia repeats her name to herself as if she's remembering and then she shoves Thompson against the wall, shouting it and Julia and JJ are quick to pull her off of him as Rossi and Hotch grab Thompson as he yells out the door — "There's no deal. You hear me? There's no deal!"

        Julia and JJ stand with Amelia and a look of clarity washes over her face as she's calmed down. And it was a good thing Amelia had remembered herself, sure, but they still needed to get to Lily and Jasmine and that was hard to do when Thompson just took that deal off the table.

As everyone gathers in the waiting room, they begin to think about where Thompson had them hidden. "Okay, so, this is a little bit of a long shot, but you said Violet asked if Thompson had gotten the groceries yet?" JJ questioned.

"Yeah, she said the store was right by the disappearing place." Rossi nodded. "Well, we profiled he's a control freak. He likes order, which means there's a good chance he went to the same grocery store every time. If we can figure out which one, we can narrow the search." JJ stated.

"Well, he would need the same kind of space, and he would want it close." Julia said as she paced in the room.

Hotch quickly decided to call Garcia to see if she could help. "Sir, yes, sir." She started.
"Garcia, I need a list of clients of Michael Clark Thompson in the area."
"Methinks I can do that. Let's see." Garcia said. "Bank accounts, invoices... bam. 83 names. That is a scary long list."

"All right, Garcia, you can eliminate anyone under the age of 70." Morgan tells.
"And they wouldn't just need to be elderly clients. They could also be disabled in some way. Anyone he could take advantage of." Rossi informed.

"Oh. Twelve names, then." Garcia said. "How many of them live near a grocery store?" JJ asked.
"Define near."
"Start within a mile." Julia told.

"Well, there are 163 grocery stores in the greater St. Louis area. Two of them do. First up is 91-year-old, Herman Coker. He is a retired cop, World War II vet. No, I don't think it's him because he's got a very active Facebook account, thanks to his youngest daughter, Jan who lives with him."

"Okay, who else you got, mama?" Morgan asked. "Hold yourself. Fredna Nasee. Oh, not much on her. She's a retired nurse. 84 years old. She's got a daughter that lives in Boca Raton. Uh, they-- they don't communicate. No phone calls, no emails, nothing." Garcia informed.

Garcia sends over the address and Hotch orders JJ and Morgan to go and check it out. And luckily, they found Lily and Jasmine and brought them to Amelia and Julia smiled at the scene of their reunion.

Things seemed like they were going to be okay. Amelia could return her father's hug and bless her parents with two beautiful grandchildren and Julia knew. Things were gonna take time but it would be okay in the end.

Julia had joined Rossi and Hotch as they went to go and retrieve Thompson. They'd successfully arrested him. "Stand up. We found them both, alive." Hotch told. "Too bad you took that deal off the table. You'd be well on your way to Club Fed right about now." Rossi told.

"And you will most certainly have fun with the rest of the inmates in the courtyard. Maybe they'll give you a taste of your own medicine." Julia told as they turned a corner and in an instant —

POW!

Everything moved in slow motion as Sheila Woods' mother shot Thompson point-blank and dropped the gun and surrendered right after. Hotch had put her in cuffs. Julia checked Thompson for a pulse but he passed instantly from the blow.

The shot that Sheila Woods' mother took was justified and she didn't seem to regret it. Julia couldn't say that she blamed her, because she didn't. Julia looked down at the ground at Thompson and felt nothing as she walked away.

sorry for the lack of spulia in this chapter 😞
i promise there will be more in the next chapter

which reminds me:
our next chapter is another original!
this one is titled :
what unfortunately lies in our anatomy
i'm very excited for this one because this one is going to dig deep into julia's past and esote_rika knows my plans very well hehehe 😈

thank you for reading
i'm sorry if this was a little boring
but this is one of my favorite episodes in season 11 hehe

i love you all!
-mya <33