Eleven: What Unfortunately Lies In Our Anatomy.

warnings : mommy issues to the max, mentions of gruesome case involving children SA !

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Spencer Reid didn't expect to walk into the office this morning and see a coffee cup already on his desk right when he clocked in this morning. Or the donut right next to the cup. He smiled to himself as he looked around, trying to scope out the culprit, wondering who dropped off a coffee for him so early this morning.

Then as soon as he gave up, the culprit stood right next to him with a cheesy grin on her face. "I'm assuming you're the one who brought me coffee and a donut?" Reid guessed, grabbing his bag and removing the strap over his head  and putting the bag away.

        "If you mean the coffee cup that's more sugar than coffee and the chocolate donut with rainbow sprinkles on it — then, yes, I did." Julia smiled. "What's the occasion?" Reid wondered.

Julia shrugs, "Nothin'. Just somethin' sweet for my somethin' sweet!" She chuckles.
"Well, t-thanks." Reid gives her a small smile as she walks away.

        Reid watches her as she walk away — and his eyes graze down to her ass (for a second, because he is a gentleman, after all) — and hopes that she's doing better than she was a little over a month ago and a couple of weeks ago with the St. Louis case. He knows better, knowing the cheery attitude is often a facade but with Julia, it was harder to tell — due to the fact that she's often cheery.

As Reid looks at the coffee in content and Morgan strides towards his desk with a smirk on his face. He doesn't say a word but Reid can tell that whatever he's going to say, is just going to be more teasing. He simply shakes his head as he sits down in his seat. "Shut up."

        "Hey," Morgan holds his hands up in defense. "I'm just saying... she didn't bring any of us coffee or our favorite donuts." He teases.

        As Morgan walks away with a chuckle, Reid takes a bite into his donut with a small smile as he gets his desk set up for the day.

        The day went on and then Garcia had called the team up to the conference, announcing they had a case and that it was local.

        Learning they had no time to take a seat, they all stood around the table as Garcia introduced the case to the team. "This is Destiny Bertrand, 13 and Lily Broderick, 12. Fifteen years ago, they were both found in dumpsters near the Aldridge Mall and Beelard Park."

        Julia's eyebrows furrowed as the crime photos were shown inside the dumpsters. The brunette girls shown inside, both wearing white flowing dresses. "Evidence of sexual assault?" Morgan questioned and Garcia meekly nodded.

       "Wait, fifteen years ago?" JJ asked Garcia. "This is a cold case, we have been asked to look into it." Hotch informed the rest of the team.
       "So, it's not active." Morgan stated.
       "The sheriff there has reason to believe that he has a lead on the case. A blade was sent to the PD just this morning. Which is the signature for the unsub." Hotch informs as Garcia presses a button on her remote, showing a photo of the dagger.

        Reid points at the photo on the screen as he approaches the screen with furrowed brows. "Look at the way he posed them. Face down with their arms lateral from their bodies."

      "Could it be a sign of remorse?" Rossi asked and Julia then chimes in, "Face down like he doesn't want to look them in the face after he discards their bodies."

       JJ looks at the file. "The kills were just a few days apart."
      "They believed he was accelerating at the time." Hotch told.

       "What made them stop looking for the guy?" Julia wondered, especially since they're looking into a fifteen year-old case. "He went dormant. Most assumed he died, moved or eventually got arrested on a petty crime." Hotch told.

     "What gets me is the signature with the blade in the hands." Rossi speaks up. "And they're dressed in white." Morgan added.

      Julia furrows her brows as she then approaches the screen closer. "Huh. Modern day Romeo and Juliet." She finds herself mumbling.
      "Sorry?" Morgan asked.

       Reid turns to the man, going to explain for Julia, who's focused on the screen. "In the tragedy written by William Shakespeare, Romeo poisons himself and Juliet kills herself using Romeo's dagger. In some verisons, she could also be seen wearing white." He explains away.

      "So does this guy think he's a modern day Shakespeare?" Morgan questioned.
      Julia shrugs, "Explains why the victims are 12 and 13 and brunette. Juliet was 13 in the play and in most versions, she's a brunette."
      Reid looks at Julia as he nods in agreement, "It plays a part in his fantasy."

      JJ then crosses her arms and shakes her head. "Wait a minute. We're not seriously considering that this guy could be killing because of some love story." She tells.

     "Actually, Romeo and Juliet isn't a love story or necessarily a romance story. It's actually labeled as a tragedy since neither Romeo or Juliet have a happy ending." Reid told.

      "We should stick to that theory," Hotch stated. "We'll be coordinating with Virginia PD on this. Lewis is still away on assignment. So we will also have some bureau alumni that will be helping with this case." He explains.

       Garcia's phone chimes as he explains what's going on and she checks in, confirming — "And she's here, now, sir."

       Hotch nods at Garcia as he walks out and everyone exchanges a glance, wondering who this important bureau alumni is and JJ, Morgan, Garcia and Reid all follow behind, leaving Rossi and Julia behind in the room before they follow.

      "Prepare yourself for this one." Rossi advises and Julia furrows her brows as he walks out of the room before her. "What do you mean?" She questions.

       They all head down to the bullpen and towards the elevators and as Julia is the last one in the room, she watches as the elevator doors open and her jaw drops when she sees who exits them.

        No one other than her mother, Eve Cortez.

       "Eve, wonderful to see you again." Hotch smiles at the woman, going to shake her hand. "Likewise, Aaron." Eve smiles at the man.

       "You remember Agent Rossi." Eve gives a hug to the man. So this was what Rossi meant. Julia is still standing there, in shock of her mother making an appearance. "These are agents, Morgan, Garcia, Jareau, Dr. Reid and—"

       Eve's eyes trail over to the girl and she stands frozen at the shock of her daughter. "Julia." She speaks.

       Julia closes her eyes, wanting to be anywhere but here right now. She hopes that if she thinks really hard, she'll wake up in Timbuktu.

      "You know Julia?" JJ wonders and Eve nods, looking right at the girl who doesn't say a thing. "Well, I should. I'm her mother." She drops the bomb and Julia closes her eyes, avoiding Morgan's shocked gaze, JJ and Garcia's open mouths, Reid's raised brows and tight-lipped smile (that she often liked seeing), Rossi's knowing glance and Hotch's confused face.

      Julia finally lets out a breath and sighs out, "Hi, Mom." And looks down at the ground in defeat.

      At least she didn't need to keep it a secret anymore.

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The team watched as Julia and her mother were in a screaming match in the bullpen. This would've been even more juicier if they understood what they were saying — since they were both speaking Spanish, Spencer detected.

"Anyone translate?" JJ asked as Julia and Eve argued. "Where's Emily when you need her?" Garcia mutters to which JJ nods in agreement.

"Am I the only one hopped on why Julia wouldn't tell us about her mother being Eve Cortez?" Morgan questioned, seeming peeved.

Reid shrugs in response, "I don't know, maybe she was embarrassed. Her mother, according to Rossi, was difficult to work with."
"Eve Cortez does not work well with others," Rossi chimes in, walking over to the group. "She didn't want you guys to know because she didn't want you to think that she was the reason she got hired."

"It wasn't?" Morgan questioned. Of course, the (hypocritical) judgmental part was expected of from Derek Morgan himself. The man was always skeptical of stuff like this.

"You saw how shocked Eve looked to see Julia here. I don't think she knew." Reid replied, agreeing with Rossi. Just because of who her mother was, didn't change anything with Julia. Although, he wished that maybe she would've mentioned it, but then again, what would that have done?

      "How do you think it's going?" JJ wondered and Garcia shrugged, watching as they continued to argue. "I think it's going well."

Eve looks at her daughter and sighs at the crowd they've lured. "I just don't understand why you didn't tell me you weren't working for the Bureau?" She questions and Julia sighs with hands on her hips. "Mom, can we not talk about this in my place of work?"

"It was my place of work before it was yours." Eve told. Sometimes, Julia hated that her and her mother had the same tone of voice when they were mad.

"Mother, there was a reason why I didn't tell you. I didn't think you'd be interested." Julia explained, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"Interested?" Eve questions. "I've wanted you to work in the Bureau ever since you were a little girl. Why wouldn't I have been interested?"

"Mom..." Julia looks at her mother, grabbing her shoulders. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But you also didn't tell me you were in town until now." From what Julia believed, her mother was currently residing in Rome on business.
Eve scoffs at her daughter. "Believe it or not, Rome gets boring after a while. Besides, there are hefty ties to this case that I need to clean up. And when I found out they had a lead, they called me."

Julia furrows her brows. She knew her mom's cases well, almost every one of them. But this was a case she wasn't familiar with. And she wondered why her mom needed to tie up loose ends with this one. "What do you mean?" She questioned.

Julia didn't get a straight answer because shortly after that, Hotch walked out of the bullpen doors with JJ and Morgan. "We're heading to the Virginia PD now. Julia, will you be riding with your mother?" Hotch asked.

"No, actually, I won't." Julia told as she walked away from her mother to grab her things from her desk. She'd be riding with Rossi and Reid in the other SUV while her mother tagged along with Hotch, JJ and Morgan — good luck to them.

They arrived altogether at Virginia PD, Hotch leading the way with Eve Cortez trailing behind him like a puppy dog. "Detective Mitchell?" Hotch found the lead detective on the case. "Agent Hotchner, we spoke on the phone." He shook the man's hand.

"Hello, thanks for coming. This is Sheriff Lowell. He was a deputy at the time of the case years ago." Hotch shakes the other man's hand next to Detective Mitchell.

"We wish we didn't have to be here under these circumstances." Rossi tells.
"Detective Mitchell, these are agents Rossi, Morgan and Jareau and doctors Reid and Cortez. And also—"

Eve takes it upon herself to stand in front of Hotch as she shakes the man's hand. "Agent Cortez." She then looks over at Sheriff Lowell. "Sheriff Lowell, it's so good to see you again." She smiles the fake smile she always seems to plaster on and Julia rolls her eyes at that. "Likewise, Eve."

      "Two Cortezes?" Detective Mitchell asks, looking in between Julia and her mother.

      "Well, I'm—" Before Julia can even attempt to explain, Eve cuts her off. "Dr. Cortez is my daughter, as unfortunate as she thinks it is." Eve looks at Julia, who narrows her eyes at her mother and everyone can sense the tension between mother and daughter. Who knows how long it will take before someone breaks?

       Eve turns towards Detective Mitchell and the sheriff. "Do you have a board room we can set up in?"

"Just right down here." The sheriff tells, practically walking arm and arm with Eve.

Julia sighs as she follows behind the team, just wanting the case to be over already so her mother can just go back to Rome so she doesn't have to see for the next six months.

       As Hotch, Eve and Rossi all discuss their new lead, the team goes over the old cases from the past to help thaw the cold case. Julia can't bring herself to pay attention, all due to the fact that she can't stop stress-eating about her mother being here.

        Unfortunately, Eve being here just brought out the worst for Julia. It had been like this damn near her entire life. Parent-teacher conferences, her graduation — high school and college — birthday parties, her own job. Julia just kept eating and eating.

"That's like the fourth donut you've had." JJ pointed out, noticing the wide-eyed look of fear written on Julia's face.
       Julia looks at the woman as she scarfs down the rest of her donut. "This is what my mother does to me. I stress eat."

       "I'm assuming that's one of the reasons why you didn't tell us she was your mother?" Morgan wonders. Not judgmental, but more so curious.

       Julia shakes her head, "Even talking about her makes me break out in hives. And guys, please know that I meant to tell you, I really did, but... well, as you can see... I can't do that without stress eating." Julia says.

      "What is about your mom that you're freaking out about?" Reid wondered as he sat down next to Julia. "Moms are tough." JJ comments as she sits down as well. Like she knows from experience.

"What isn't about my mom?" Julia questions, swallowing the rest of her donut. "She's always been intimidating and hard to impress. Even as a child, I had to grovel and earn for her affection. When my dad left, it got worse. So, I strived to be a good person and a good forensic specialist. She always hated that I didn't go to Quantico. And now she looks at me as if she's saying 'I told you so'. I swear, it's like she's out to get me."

        Julia stands, going to grab another donut. This time, a glazed one and out of nowhere, Eve appears, pointing a finger at the woman before she puts the donut in her mouth. "Whoa. Not so fast. You're gonna need to find a way to burn all those calories off later, honey. You don't wanna bulk up again, do you?" Eve asks and Julia closes her mouth, putting the donut back down, everyone in the room, watching the scene with horrified looks.

Suddenly, before anyone can comment on it, Morgan's cell phone rings and he answers it, knowing who it is on the other line. "Go ahead, mama. What have you got?" He asks.

"Okay, so, I did the digging on the thing Hotch told me to dig in on and I discovered something. So fifteen years ago, there was a building fire right near where the body of Destiny Bertrand was found." Garcia told.

Reid furrows his brows. "A building fire?" He asks. "That's completely opposite from what we came here for." Morgan tells.

"Are we sure it's the same unsub?" Rossi asks, walking into the room with Hotch, hearing the conversation.

"I'm getting there. They found a blade buried under the remnants of the gravel. Which was the same blade that was sent to the PD." Garcia explains.

"Now, that I recall, there was a building fire but we never correlated it with the case." Eve told.

"Huh? How good am I?" Garcia asks, Julia just seeing the smirk appear on her face. "Very good." Morgan says.

They'd talked to Sheriff Lowell about the building fire and he said information about the fire, like files and photos were given to the captain of the fire station. The captain had retired but the files were still at the station.

        So, the team had headed there, in hopes of receiving those files. As soon as they walked up to the station, they were met with a man at the front and before they could ask him for help, a voice interrupted Hotch's question. — "Jul?"

        Julia turned around, spotting her brother, Manny, approaching the group. "Hey, Manny." She greeted. "What's the FBI doing here?" Manny questions and Julia begins — "Well—"

      "Manny?" The siblings turn toward their mother, walking over to them. Manny looks at the woman with furrowed brows. "Mom?" He asks.

Julia nods at Manny with a sheepish look on her face, "Yeah, that." Eve walks up to Manny and kisses each of his cheeks and hugs him. "Oh, my sweet baby boy." Julia and Manny exchange confused glances as Manny and his mother hug.

"Your only baby boy?" Manny chuckles nervously. "What are you doing here?" He asks, pulling away from the hug.

Eve chuckles, "Helping out with a case, of course. Don't tell me you knew about your sister being in the BAU and didn't tell me."

Manny and Julia both exchange a glance as Eve's smile falters at the fact that her son was aware of Julia being in the BAU and she wasn't. God, Julia wishes she was a turtle right now so she can hide in her shell and never come out. "Told you you should've told her." Manny sighs, scratching the back of his neck.

"Of course you knew." Eve sighs, not surprised in the slightest.
"Mother—" Julia tries but Eve holds a hand up towards her. "We'll discuss later. We have a case to do. What do we have?"

This is when Hotch finally speaks up. "Uh, Agent Cortez, I believe I should take point in this." He offers and for once, Julia sees her mother look... intimidated? Eve sighs and nods, "Right, of course, Agent Hotchner. Sorry, force of habit, I guess."

"It's alright," Hotch nods and goes to shake hands with Manny. "I'm Agent Hotchner."

"Manny. Cortez." Manny introduces himself, shaking the man's hand. "I'm Julia's older brother, as you could gather. She's told me all about you guys." He then notes to Morgan. "Uh, muscle guy's Agent Morgan, blonde hair is JJ," He motions to JJ, who has a small smile on her face. "Italian dude is Rossi and smart, uh, handsome guy — as my sister put it — is Reid."

Reid looks at Julia at the mention of his nickname as he gives her a small smile at the mention of himself.

"Then, the distinguished doctor is Tara Lewis — who I notice isn't here and— Oh! And then you, the guy that never smiles, Hotch." Manny finishes.

Morgan looks towards Julia. "You talk about us?" He asks and Julia shrugs, "Eh."

"What do you got for us?" Hotch asks, moving to the task at hand, but seeing where Julia got her open personality from.

"Ah. Okay. If you guys could follow me." The team follows behind Manny as he leads them to a separate room. He grabs a box and places it in front of them on a table. "My old boss, Captain Serrano retired a couple of years ago. I got on the phone with him, he told me where to get the records. He's got every record of every fire that's happened here. At least every fire we've taken care of."

Morgan is the first to open the box and they scrounge through it. "Apparently, there were nine victims. Two dead, seven injured. Everyone who was in the vicinity, at least." Manny explains.

"Was it only one area that was affected?" Rossi asked and Manny nods, "It looks like it."

Julia picks up a photo and sees who the two victims were. "Father and daughter, Charles Beckett, 47 and Emily Beckett, 19." Manny informed. "According to my captain, they were burnt to a crisp. Almost quit the station that day after that. He was the one that had to tell Elise Beckett, Charles' wife and Emily's mother."

"Jesus." Julia says under her breath, seeing their scorched skin up close on the photo.

"The dagger was never found. Until now, that is." Manny stated and Julia looks at the photos and furrows her brows. The only thing she can connect this to is another Shakespeare play and she then mutters under her breath:

"Pericles?" Reid's ears perk up at this, considering he'd read a lot of literature from the past due to his mother introducing a lot of it to himself in the past.

"Sorry?" Manny asks.

"Pericles," Reid said. "It's a Shakespeare play." Julia furrows a brow. "Any one else catching a theme here?" She questions.

"What happens in Pericles?" Rossi asks. "Antiochus and his daughter are struck by a fire from heaven in scene 8 of the play." Reid told and Julia nods, "And then in scene 22, Cleon and Dionzya are burned in their palace."

Reid then looks at Julia in surprise. "Surprised you know Pericles." Julia shrugged, "There's a lot of things about me that are surprising, pretty boy." She tells.

"Julia Marie—" Eve gives a shocked eye at her daughter at her forwardness.

"So what are you guys saying here?" Morgan questions. "We think it's the same unsub because he's basing his kills on other Shakespeare plays." Reid informed.

"But it makes no sense. He was sticking to the Romeo and Juliet combo for a while now and now he's doing Pericles?" JJ questions.

"So, why did he stray from one play to the other?" Rossi questions.

It's then that Hotch concludes — "I think we're ready to give the profile."

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Their profile had consisted of a white male in his early 50s, late forties. He had an education well into literature and most likely had a trigger in his life that caused him to snap. And since literature — specifically, Shakespeare — was more of his expertise, he used it in his killings. And the fact that he'd gone dormant was either one of two reasons. One being the possibility that he'd gone into hiding or the second being that he was waiting for a moment to strike.

The change in M.O. was that he was trying something different before moving onto the Romeo and Juliet aspect. He'd tried the fire from Pericles before moving onto the Romeo and Juliet combo, seeing that his first few victims were killed more sloppily than the more recent victims back then were.

Another thing was that they weren't going to be informing the public of this, considering there wasn't any real crime in the present that was connected to their lead. Nothing reported, anyways. Hotch would be giving the all-clear to the press if they found anything remotely related.

The BAU team was going to be looking into Shakespeare's works, hoping that maybe they could connect the dots and see if maybe he'd committed any crimes from the past or present to help catch once and for all.

Julia sighs as she carries in a box, JJ beside her carrying another box. Reid and Morgan were already going through one box. "Okay, Garcia has gathered every last Shakespeare play and/or tragedy for us to go through." Julia explains.

"This should be fun." Morgan says sarcastically. "It is!" Reid chimes in, skimming through his stories and Morgan rolls his eyes at his friend, who was always excited about paper trails and such.

"And just when you think he can't get more adorable, he does." Julia teased as she ruffles his hair. "Oh, speaking of that— I'm assuming your mother doesn't know of your flirty nature?" JJ guesses.

"Oh, of course not. You saw how she reacted earlier. No, she worries too much. I get her flirty nature from her, you know. That's how she bagged my dad." Julia explains and JJ raises a brow. "That's actually really hard to picture." She chuckles.

Back then, Eve Cortez was actually fun to be around. Hard to believe, I know. Back then, Eve Cortez was a woman with stars in her eyes and she didn't care about image or quantity. It was when Eve cared about doing a job rather than looking good for it.

Way back when, Eve flirted with every man at the Behavioral Science Unit. Jason Gideon and David Rossi were a collected few — but Sam Ibarra was her Spencer Reid. They both flirted with one another and eventually wound up together with three children in a cul-de-sac. And one of the collect few reasons why Julia made herself rules as to not get involved with Reid.

Part of Julia wondered if the reason her mother got on her for flirting with Reid was because of how it ended with her father. And how that nearly ruined her image of being with him and maybe she developed the same fears for her daughter. Of course, she'd never talk about that to the team, though. It was just a theory, after all.

"This feels like high school again." JJ drove Julia out of her daze. "Reading A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet."

Reid turned toward the TV. "Uh, guys?" He asks, nudging his head towards the screen and Morgan turns the volume up. "Oh, no." JJ says.

"We're getting word that the dagger has been sent to the station and that the BAU of Quantico, Virginia is currently on the case. Other than the lead, they have nothing else at the moment but—"

Julia steps out of the room and sees Rossi and Hotch standing there with Sheriff Lowell. "Hotch, did you give the all-clear on telling the public about the dagger?" Julia wonders.
"No, I haven't." Hotch told.
"Well, it's all over the news now." Julia ushers them into the room to show them what she's talking about.

"The public wasn't supposed to know about that detail in the crimes. Hell, the public wasn't supposed to know about this at all." Morgan told, turning to Rossi and Hotch.

Hotch turns towards Lowell, wondering if maybe he had anything to do with this. "Sheriff—"
"My guys wouldn't put their jobs in jeopardy," Lowell confirms. "They know I'd have their heads on a stick if they did that."

"Who would've given that info out?" Rossi questions.

Then, Julia thinks about it and suddenly groans out of frustration. She should've expected this and seen this coming a mile away. She'd had so much time to warn the other agents but of course, she doubted her intentions and let her guard down.

"Mother!" Julia calls with an angry tone developing in her throat as she turns towards the door to find the woman responsible.

When Julia finds her mother, she sees her in the copy room and as soon as she does, she walks into the room and shuts the door behind her in anger. "Mother! You released info to the press? How could you?" She questions.

"Oh, I was only doing a favor." Eve excuses, as if it's no big deal that she's creating a big spectacle.
"A favor? To who?" Julia questions, arms crossed, awaiting an answer. "The public should know what we're dealing with." Eve argued.

"Mom, everything is critical when we're dealing with a cold case. You're giving the public something to worry about when the danger could be gone for all we know!" Julia argued.

Julia expected more from her mother, annoyed at the fact that she was still the same old Eve Cortez. The same woman she'd always been, unfortunately.

"I've been in the game longer than you, Julia Marie. I know what I'm doing." Eve told and Julia rolls her eyes as she scoffs, "Yeah, you know what you're doing. You care more about the image than the victims. These were real people, Mother! Real people who deserve more than just simply being the victims of a horrendous crime."

Seeing no point in continuing the battle, Julia takes a breath — like she finds herself doing when she finds her mother to be unreasonable. "Mother, you used to work here. You don't anymore. Let the real agents work. I will not ask again."

With that, Julia leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind her as she exits the copy room. She balls her hands into fists and shakes them at the world before digging her nails into the back of her neck and shakes her head. She just couldn't have a normal mother? She had to get stuck with the woman that was so insufferable, so judgmental, so condescending?

After calming down a bit, Julia found herself calling the one person that knew her mother just as well as her and told him to come to the PD with all the donut holes in the world.

Manny had come to his sister's aid, like he did often when she dealt with their mother. She'd call, he'd bring sweets, she'd ramble about how insufferable their mother was — it was routine, at this point. They'd sat outside the PD and Julia explained to him what their mother had done now.

"She's so damn stubborn." Julia rolls her eyes, scarfing down another donut hole. "That's our mother," Manny told. "You know that, I know that."

"It just sucks," Julia shakes her head. "Things were so much easier when she didn't know I worked for the BAU. Now, she totally discredits the hard work we've put into cases because she cares about the image of the bureaucracy instead of the real work. It's ridiculous."

"Well, that's where you differentiate from her." Manny comments. "You care about saving people. Mom... well, she cares... just... not about things that matter." He sighs, knowing it's the truth.

Julia shrugs, "Yeah. That's how it's been our entire lives. Not like we can choose who our parents our, unfortunately."
"Welcome to the family Cortez, we are as insane as we are mentally unstable." Manny joked, a chuckle escaping from Julia at that.

And then, suddenly, the door of the PD opened and Julia spun around, seeing Reid standing there with a look of concern on his face.

"What's up?" Julia asked.

It was then that Reid explained that they were now being asked not to look into the case anymore. And they were ordered to do so by another bureaucratic rat.

Julia marched into the PD, Reid and Manny behind her as she walked towards the conference room. "We've been asked to stop looking into the case?" She questions, looking at Hotch.

"We've been told it's under a new jurisdiction now. A bunch of crap, if you ask me." Rossi told.
"They can't just do that, can they?" Manny asks. "Unfortunately, if it's under a new jurisdiction, our hands are tied." Hotch told.

Morgan chimes in, "Hotch is hoping maybe we can make a deal with them and they can work with us halfway. But apparently, the guy's a real hard ass."

"Who?"

"Agent Ibarra. I wanna speak to the highest authority of the BAU, please." They hard a loud and clear voice outside of the room. A voice Julia and Manny recognized and knew inside and out.

The Cortez siblings exchange a look towards one another at this. Manny's face read confusion and Julia's read fear.
"Is that—?"
"It couldn't."

Manny and Julia exit the room, followed by the rest of the team. "I don't give a good goddamn, I need to speak with the head unit chief in charge."

Eve had recognized the voice as well, walking up the man at the entrance.
"Sam?" She questions and that confirms it.

After fifteen years, Sam Ibarra was back into the broken family frame.

"Evie?" A nickname Julia hear her father call her mother often. (He was the only one that ever called her that). "Figured you'd be here."

Eve looked around and said in a low voice — "Why are you here?" She questions.
"You know why I'm here." Sam told.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I think I should."

Sam looks up and he sees his son and daughter standing there. Manny stands in front of his sister and Julia furrows her brows, wondering if her mind is playing tricks on her. She hasn't seen her father and mother in the same room in years.

Sam's eyes soften as he sees his two children. "Manny? Juli?" He asks and the two stand frozen, as if they're statues. Or at least, Julia does.

"Dad?" Julia asks.

Sam smiles at his children and Julia finds herself gulping and her breath heaving.

Without another word, she rushes out of the room and exits the PD, rushing near the alley way, trying to take a deep breath and calm down.

Give her a break, this was the first time she was seeing her dad in years.

Julia holds her chest and she feels her heart beating 100 mph. It almost feels like she's having a heart attack and she closes her eyes, trying to focus on her breathing.

Julia kneels down, back to the brick wall as she holds her hands to her ears, clasping them closed and trying to block out the noise to focus on her breathing but nothing is working.

"Julia?" The woman opens her eyes and knelt in front of her at the most beautiful hazel eyes she'd ever stared into. She finds herself trying to focus on his eyes but knows she needs to focus on her breathing more. "Julia."

Reid knows what a panic attack looks like. He's seen them and has dealt with them too many times. He looks at the woman, trying to get her to breathe with him and he tries to calm her down. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. Breathe, breathe." He tells, breathing in and out and hoping she could follow him.

And soon after, she does. Eventually, she does. It takes her a little over fifteen minutes to calm down. But Reid doesn't mind waiting. He'd sit there forever for her. He sat down next to her on the gravel, not caring in the slightest that this alley way is the dirtiest place he'd ever seen in his life. He waited until Julia spoke, wanting to give her time to process.

"I'm sorry... I..." Julia runs a hand through her hair. "It's been fifteen years since I've seen—" She cuts herself off, like she's trying to figure out what to call him herself. "I guess it's just not easy on me."

Reid knew this all too well. He knew what it was like after not seeing your father in a long time. He was better at shielding what he felt though — not that Julia wasn't, she just felt things more deeply than Reid. And there was nothing wrong with that. It just made her more humane.

"That's not easy for anyone," He tells. "I speak from experience. My dad's not really in the picture either. He, uh, he left when I was ten. All he left was a letter."

Julia gives the man a sympathetic smile, wondering who the hell could leave someone as amazing as him behind like that. "I guess we're on the same boat." She responds with a sniffle. "My dad also left when I was ten. Guess he didn't wanna be around for the pre-teen stage." She attempts to joke.

She looks back towards building and takes a sharp breath, like she's trying to hold back from crying again. "I don't think I can go back in there." Julia finally speaks, barely in a whisper.

Reid looks in between the building and then back at Julia and knows that he's never good in these situations but with Julia — he seemed to find his footing well. "Then, we'll stay out here." Julia looks at the man, almost in shock and disbelief that he's choosing to give her time to stay out here with her.

Eventually, Julia stands up and she's willing to help on the case, if that means she never has to face her father again after this. She walks back into the PD with her head held high and Reid is right behind her, every step of the way.

They walk into the conference room, everyone staring in between Julia and her father. They're in silence, the tension is thick.

"Julia—" Sam tries.
"Don't." Julia spat.

Sam looks at Eve, giving him a look to fix it himself. Like she often relied on him to do. But what they both didn't realize was just how damn stubborn Julia was — a trait she inherited from both of them.

"I... I'm sorry I haven't called in a while—" Sam tries again. "Yeah, try fifteen years." Julia scoffs and she crossed her arms, keeping her guard up. "Why are you here?" She questions.

      "Your father has information pertaining to the case." Hotch informed. "He's willing to work with us."

       Sam pulls a photo from the pocket of his jacket. "Your supposed guy, Walter Bruno." He places the photo on the table. "Charged by all accounts of rape, assault and battery, theft, even tax evasion. There's nothing this guy hasn't done."

        Julia inspects the photo and she looks at the man with a sarcastic smile on her face. "So, you decided to come back with a profile in a hand for a cold case that didn't really require you — or you —" She motions towards her mother at this. "But you couldn't come back for your family after abandoning them for years?"

        Sam sighs, "Juli—"
       "Don't call me that." Julia interrupted.
       Her father ruined that nickname for her a long time ago.

       "I had to leave. I had no choice." Sam told. This time, Manny speaks up. "Why? You didn't have to, you could've stayed."

        "Guys," Morgan starts now. "I get that this is not easy for any one of you. But we're this close to figuring out this cold case. Now, Julia, you got the right to be mad at your father, but you need to get your head into this. And Eve, Sam, please push aside your feelings for a moment so we can help you with this." Everyone applauds Morgan in that moment. As much as they all understood Julia, everyone had to get their heads into this.

        "Now, what makes you so sure it's Walter Bruno?" Morgan asks.

       "We've been watching him," Sam told,
looking at his daughter for a split second. "His preference is younger girls, he has some odd obsession with blades..."

        "But it doesn't explain our father and daughter..." Rossi speaks up now. "Always the doubter, Dave? Seriously? Some things never change. I'm getting there. He also has a degree in all things literature. His specialty?"

        Reid then chimes in with the answer, "William Shakespeare."

       "He fits our profile." JJ concludes. "And the age-range. We said he'd be older since it's a cold case." Rossi added as Hotch pulls out his cell and calls Garcia.

       "Yes, my liege?" Garcia's angelic voice speaks up. "Garcia, find Walter Bruno's address. We believe he might be the unsub." Hotch told.

        With some clacking on her keyboard, she quickly finds it. "And... bingo! Sending to your devices now!"

        Hotch then nods, "Cortez, Morgan, JJ." He orders and as JJ and Morgan exit the room, Julia goes to follow them but not before turning to her father and glaring at him as she tells him — "Don't think this changes anything."

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪

        Julia, Morgan and JJ had brought Walter Bruno into custody. As Julia walked in behind Morgan and JJ bringing him in, Sam and Eve stood there with Rossi and Hotch.

         Julia looks in between her colleagues and her parents before pushing past them towards the conference room. "I appreciate you bringing him
in—" Sam attempts to tell but Julia is having none of it, ignoring him.

       With that, Sam then goes to follow after his daughter. "Look, I know you hate me and I know you can never forgive me for what happened when—"
      "You're right about one thing," Julia comments, taking off her FBI vest as she turns towards him. "I can't and I won't forgive you."

      "You have to understand—" Sam speaks.
      "Understand what? You left your family." Julia told, getting in his face.

        Morgan then tries to insert himself between Julia and her father. "Julia—"
       "Stay out of this, Derek. We caught our guy, so my head is officially out of this." Julia spat, Morgan backing off.

        Julia turns her attention back to her father. "You left the minute things got rough. There's nothing to understand about that."
       "I know, I know. After Susannah, I—"
       "Don't even say her name." Julia shakes her head.
       Now, Eve begins to plead with Julia as she mutters out — "Julia, please."

      And then, the tension in the room is even thicker. Hotch and Rossi look down in silence, Manny stands in the corner, swallowing down the lump in his throat as JJ, Reid and Morgan are all sharing confused faces. "Who's Susannah?" Reid decides to ask, wondering what on Earth they could be talking about.

       Julia stares at her father and Eve shakes her head, not wanting Julia to utter a single word out. She whispers her name, like that will do anything.

      "Susannah was my sister," Julia revealed. "And she died."
      "Julia." Eve tries, once more, trying to stop her daughter and Manny stops her from doing so.
      "Might as well talk about it, right?" Julia throws up her arms in the air. "Or try and sweep it under the rug like you seem to do best?"

       Sam stands in between Julia and Eve now. "Don't talk to your mother that way." He points a warning finger at her. "You lost your right to control me years ago." Julia told.

       Seeing as this is getting tense, Morgan once more inserts himself in between Sam and Julia and Julia yanks her arms off and walks off to get a breather.

       During this, Rossi had seemed to notice something. See, he knew Eve and Sam well. Better than well, actually, knowing their tells. And rather than pointing fingers and arguing, they seemed to be more connected. More so hiding a secret, as if they were hiding something together.

        Rossi had told his theory to Hotch and he had decided to put it to the test and Reid and Rossi had decided to question Sam as Hotch had Morgan and JJ question Eve and Hotch himself questioned Walter Bruno. And after discovering that he had a solid alibi on all of the nights of the murders — thanks to Garcia — Hotch had told Sam that he might as well come clean about his secrecy and ordered that if he was withholding information, he could be held liable.

So, Sam had decided he wanted to come clean, but he'd rather his children find out as well. Because he'd been keeping this a secret for fifteen years and he didn't want them to live with this lie anymore.

Julia and Manny had walked into the conference room and Sam and Eve sat with one another, both of the siblings being skeptical of the whole situation as a whole — since they didn't know what the hell was going on.

"All I need is five minutes," Sam spoke. "Five minutes to explain to you. Because I need to tell you and your brother the truth."

With that, Manny sat in front his parents, Julia following behind, wondering why the team was standing there with watchful eyes. A pit in Julia's stomach aching as she faced the two.

"There's something we've been keeping from you. And it's time to come clean." Sam looks at Eve, like he wants to offer her to put a word in so Eve looks at her children with tearful eyes.

"Susannah didn't die in a car accident," She rips off the bandage. "That was something we told you because you were both young." Manny and Julia sit there with furrowed brows of confusion.

Sam looks at Eve again, seeing that if she gets another word in, she may just start weeping. So, he takes over. "She was murdered."

"Murdered?" Julia asks, her voice coming out in a whisper.

The story was always that Manny and Julia's older sister, Susannah had died in a car accident when she was nineteen. And for years, that was all they knew. They never pushed for details, but Sam had shortly left the family after the accident. They figured they maybe he just couldn't handle it anymore.

Eve continued when she gathered herself, "We got called in. You guys were in school. You were about 10," She nods to Julia and then at Manny. "And you were sixteen."

"A nineteen year-old girl was found in a dumpster," Sam started. "Figured it had something to do with our past cases. The age range confused us, though."

"Because in the past, the unsub was after preteens." Julia gathered.

Sam nodded at that, "So, your mother and I went. I checked the dumpster first and..." Sam began to get choked up, like he was going through it again. Julia always said that she'd never seen her father cry. And this was the first time she was seeing it, face to face. "And she was just there..."

"I told your mother." Sam tells. "After that... we... we couldn't deal with that bastard still being out there. I couldn't deal with it." He pauses. "Then, I found him."

Julia wondered what else she was about to find out. And she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Went to the local bar and I got him to come clean about Susannah and all the other murders. Drugged him. I took him to the lake house. And..." Sam trailed off and Julia then realized why he did. And what he did.

"You tortured him?" Julia asked.

The rest of the team, stands there, in shock, confusion, shame.

"I didn't know about any of this until later." Eve speaks up.

"Is he still alive?" Manny wonders and Eve and Sam exchange a look and that's when Sam responds without looking at his children — "Yeah."

Julia covers her mouth and turns away from her father, a tear escaping from her eye and she's quick to wipe it away. "Then what about Walter Bruno?" Julia asks, looking anywhere but her parents, disgusted with both of them right now.

Sam shakes his head at that. "He's just some sick creep. I figured if I bring him into custody, you'd finally back away from the case and leave it alone and—"

"So, we wouldn't discover if it was you." Rossi chimes in and Sam nods in shame.

There's a long pause and that's when Manny leans back in his seat and asks — "Is that why you left?"

And then, for some reason, it made sense. If that was the reason, he left...

"I didn't want to leave," Sam told. "But your mother... your mother—" Eve takes over, knowing she needs to speak up about it now. "I didn't want that weighing down on you. For this to be what defines you, for this to hold you back from doing good things for your futures."

Sam nods, taking Eve's hand. "And I agreed with that. And I understand what this means for me."

Julia and Manny sit there in utter silence. This was the last thing they both expected to deal with. The last thing that ever crossed their times. Their lives — changed within a millisecond. A secret revealed. And their lives altered forever.

"We're gonna need to know where the lake house is." Hotch speaks up, looking at Sam.
"And the name of the man you found." Reid added.

Sam looks at his children and sighs, knowing he's destroyed both of them. "Harold Geiss Taylor." He reveals.

Julia fought Hotch on it. She wanted to go down there herself and see and Hotch almost didn't let her. But Julia hopped in the car anyways. And when they arrived, Hotch told her to wait outside — that what she could find would not be easy. But Julia knew that if she could not handle this, this of all things, she had no right being in the damn field.

        When Morgan, Hotch and JJ had found Harold Geiss Taylor, he was in the shed of the lake house. The very same shed that Julia and Manny always put their bikes and outside toys in. Now, it was nothing but a shroud of nothing.

        Harold Geiss Taylor was on the brink of death. Slashed in every way imaginable. He was kept in a cage and smelt of human filth. The man blubbered, begging to be put out of his misery. They called an ambulance for the man and had got him out.

Julia was allowed to go in once Harold Geiss Taylor was taken out of the shed. She looked around. She once considered the lake house home. And now, now it was nothing.

When they found him, Rossi had gotten word from Hotch and he'd arrested Sam and put him into custody. Sheriff Lowell had also put Eve into handcuffs, considering she was a accessory to aiding and abetting a kidnapping.

Julia had also asked to go into the lake house, wanting one last look at it before it officially became a crime scene. She'd looked around. The lake house looked like it hadn't been used in years. She'd looked around at all the family photographs. Photos of her sister, her family before they all fell apart. Before it turned into this.

          Julia made it out of the lake house eventually and when she walked out, her knees hit the porch floor and she let herself just feel it all in that moment. She sobbed, hard and she felt herself wither away and fall apart. A family affair, something she'd never expected from her parents. A total lie. A betrayal. A crime.

          As she cried and cried, Reid knelt behind her, hesitantly placing a comforting hand on her back and exchanging a look with JJ, both broken-hearted for the woman. Everything she found out was a lie. They couldn't even imagine what she was feeling right now.

          The loss of her older sister, all over again. Her father, truly showing an evil side to him that Julia never even knew he was capable of holding. The companionship her mother held with her father, all the while knowing what he did. Her brother, dealing with the lies at the same time Julia had. This was no longer a family.

          And with that, a piece of Julia was chipped away. And she wasn't sure if she'd recover from this hard blow.

✨ angst ✨
ik ik crazy
and i lowkey based this off that one movie "secrets in our eyes" with julia roberts-
i hope this one intrigued you (me trying to find a better word than 'enjoyed' bc ain't no way y'all enjoyed THAT)

also this is the first chapter with the new title 🤗
figured this one is more fitting
a lil bit of drama will be coming in this next chapter and ofc we're reaching morgan's end on the team unfortunately :(

thank you all for reading
this was dedicated to the women with mommy issues ✊ i see you 😭
i love you all :)
-mya <33