Twenty-One: Freudian Slip.

12x03 | Taboo.

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        The elevator doors open and Julia looks up to see Luke walking in. "Cortez," The man greets. "Good morning."

"Oh, hey, Alvez." Julia smiles at the man politely. "How are you?" She puts her cell in her pocket, dividing her attention to him. "Pretty good, pretty good. And yourself?" Luke asks and Julia shrugs, "Ah, it's always an eventful morning."

"Tell me about it," Luke tells, looking up. "Went on a run, showered, fed the dog and headed here." Julia nods at the man and thinks about his sentence for a moment. "You have a dog?" She asks.

        "Uh, yeah," He nods, pulling his phone out and showing Julia a photo. "Roxy. That's my girl." Julia smiles, "Oh, she's so cute! As much as I love dogs, I can't imagine myself with one."

        "Why not?" Luke asks and Julia turns to him, "Oh, I'm a cat person," She pulls out her phone now and shows him a photo of Julia with her cats. "These little furballs are Einstein and Newton." She smiles.

        Luke chuckles, "Oh, so you're a cat mom." Julia shrugs, "I claim them as my fur babies with pride." The elevator dings and the two exit the elevator and head through the bullpen as they discuss their pets with each other further.

       "I mean, no family photos, no significant others. Not even a plant to over water." Julia's eyebrows furrow when she hears the familiar voice of one Emily Prentiss and her back is facing both Luke and Julia while Reid and JJ are facing her.

        And Emily is sitting on Luke's desk and from the looks of it, it sounds like she's profiling him. "I mean, this Alvez could be a real loner type. Somebody could have done a real number on this guy." She theorizes and Julia locks eyes with both JJ and Reid, who are trying to get her to stop without saying anything.

       "An ex, maybe. I mean, no doubt the army taught him order and discipline, but a desk like this could mean he has commitment issues." Emily trails off and sees the look her friends are giving her. "He's behind me right now, isn't he?" Julia stifles a giggle.

      "Luke Alvez, meet Emily Prentiss." Reid introduces and Emily stands up, facing both Luke and Julia. "Hey, nice to meet you." Emily greets as she shakes Luke's hand. "Hey."

      "And good to see you again, Julia." Emily smiles, shaking the woman's hand and Julia smiles at her, "Likewise, Emily."

       "Emily used to be part of our team, and now she's the unit chief for Interpol in London." Reid informed Luke. "Yeah, she's agreed to help us out while Hotch is off on a TDY and Lewis works on her research." JJ continues.

        Oh, yeah, Hotch was away on assignment. It was random, but he was called away and he'd left pretty abruptly. But Julia figured they'd see him soon again. Nonetheless, she was glad that Emily was here for a temporary amount of time to fill in the space.

        Emily nods at that, "I'm on temporary duty, so I'll be in and out. I'll be working on and off. I'm on today. Obviously. I'm just... I'm really happy that I could, uh, come back, you know, and help. Truth be told, it's pretty hard to resist putting the band back together again, so... yeah, so, I'm here to help." She rambled and Julia leans over and scrunches her nose, "Nice save."

       "Well, we have a lot on our plate." Luke nods and Emily agrees and Julia catches Garcia walking past the kitchenette and towards the BAU room, muttering to herself.

       "Speaking of which, looks like we have a case." JJ chimes in and Julia sighs as she walks to her desk to put her bag down and heads to the conference room with the rest of the group.

        "How much did you hear?" Emily whispers over to Julia. "Just up until you said he had commitment issues and how an ex must've done a real number on him." Julia reveals and Emily closes her eyes out of disbelief that she was caught.

         As they walk into the office, Garcia gasps when she sees her friend standing in front of her. "Hey, Garcia." Emily greets with open arms. "You really are here. It's a dream come true." Garcia tells, melting into the hug.

       "Have you met Luke Alvez?" Rossi asks and Emily and Luke exchange a look. "Oh, yeah, we just met." Luke nodded and Emily grimaces. Julia can't help the smile that comes to her face when she looks at JJ and Reid with a knowing glance.

        With that, Garcia begins to present the case. "So you know how I like to sometimes say something clever before I say something sad and disturbing to self-soothe. To that end, uh, please make sure your seat backs and your tray tables are in their fully upright position, because yesterday in South Florida, the body of a woman was found encased in concrete in a 55-gallon drum. Lisa Barclay, 35, single mom, lived with her 13-year-old son in Boynton Beach." Garcia told as Julia looked through her file.

      "If she was encased in concrete, how'd they ID her?" JJ wondered. "Because the M.E. was able to match prints from three of her fingers that broke through the surface." Garcia told, showing the photo.

      "When did she go missing?" Emily asked.
      "About a week ago." Rossi told.

"Where did they find the drum?" Julia wonders. "At an illegal dump site. Some teenagers found it." Garcia answered. "Uh, local PD needs to canvass the area for more possible victims." JJ suggests. "They're doing that right now." Garcia nods.

"Any signs of sеxual assault?" Luke asks. "That is unclear at this time because they're still removing the concrete from her body." Garcia answers.

"Burying his victim like this may be the unsub's form of torture." Emily suggests. "It could be a forensic countermeasure." Julia comments. "Or a sign of remorse or undoing." Reid adds.

"Unfortunately, all of you could be right, because..." Garcia presses a button on her remote and shows another photo. "Is... is that..." JJ trails off. "An ultrasound of the drum," Garcia nods. "Lisa Barclay was still alive when he put her in there."

A chill is sent down Julia's spine as she sees Lisa's mouth is open and it looks like she's screaming for help and she shakes her head at the disturbing photo.

        After that, the team headed up to the jet. JJ and Julia sat with each other and Reid and Emily sat in front of them as Rossi sat on the couch and Luke stood next to Julia's chair as they began to debrief.

       "Lisa Barclay lived a low-risk lifestyle. She and her son moved to Boynton Beach after her divorce four years ago." Reid informs from the file. "So is this the work of a jealous ex?" Emily questions as Rossi shakes his head, "Unlikely. It appears the divorce was amicable. The ex-husband remarried and lives in Texas."

        Luke nods, "He sends child support checks like clockwork." JJ then looks down at her file. "She worked as an assistant bank manager. If she was known as a whistle blower, this could be a way of silencing her." She said.

       "What bumps me is how the unsub disposed of the barrel. I mean, there's no way that he lifted that sucker up. It must weigh—" Luke is interrupted by Reid. "542 pounds, give or take. Depending on such factors as moisture content of the concrete, the victim's body weight, and the laws of displacement."

       "Which still begs the question, how did he lift it? I mean, unless this guy is Frankenstein, there's no way he did it by himself." Julia stated. "We could be looking at two unsubs, maybe?" JJ suggests.

       Suddenly, Garcia appears on the jet monitors with news. "Guys, I hate to interrupt, but a second drum has been found with a woman's body encased in concrete inside it."
      "Where?" JJ asks.
      "At another illegal dump site not far from where Lisa Barclay was found." Garcia told.

      "Two women in literal dump sites," Emily starts. "He must view his victims as garbage."

       Everyone then looks over to Rossi, considering he was the one in charge with Hotch being gone. "Prentiss, you and I will check out the latest crime scene. JJ, set up at the local PD. Spencer, Julia, Luke, talk to the M.E." Julia nods at both Luke and Reid since she'd be joining them.

        When they landed, Julia had joined Reid and Luke in an SUV, where the two had just been talking amongst themselves before they wound up at the morgue. When they walked in, they saw a doctor using a drill to get the victims out of the cement.
 
        Julia knocks on the door as she calls out for the woman, not wanting to interrupt her work. "Dr. Durboraw?" She asks. The woman turns around and turns off the drill she's using. "Dr. Durboraw. Hi." Reid greets as he, Julia and Luke walk in the room.

       "Sorry," the woman says. "I didn't hear you come in." Reid holds up his badge as he walks over to the woman. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. These are Agent Alvez and Dr. Cortez."

        "Dr. Cortez, nice to finally meet you." Dr. Durboraw tells and Julia furrows her brows. "I've read your work." Julia smiles, "Oh! Uh, thank you. Uh, what do you have for us today?" She asks.

       The first thing they notice is the hand that Dr. Durboraw managed to drill out. "The unsub may have a gender preference, but not race." Reid started. "Any and all." Julia adds.

       "How long had Lisa Barclay been in the drum?" Luke questions as they walk towards other victim. "Based on the condition of the body, about a week." She informs.

       "Ligature marks," Reid notices first on the body. "He restrained her." Julia looks at the doctor. "Have you determined COD?" She asks. "X-rays showed she had concrete in her mouth, trachea, and lungs. She drowned in it. I won't know more until I can complete a full exam." She told.

      Luke looks towards the other victim. "She shows severe decomposition, but we should be able to I.D. her through DNA or dental records of other missing women in the area."

      "Ooh," Julia tells, holding up a liquid vial. "I see you tried dermal tissue rehydration to get her fingerprints. Not a lot of people know that."

       Dr. Durboraw nods, "My initial examination noted friction ridges were still visible."

       "Can I see it?" Reid asks as Julia hands him the vial as he looks it over. "You can rehydrate mummified skin?" Luke questions.

        Reid nods before Julia can answer, "It's a method adapted from an archaeological study on Egyptian mummies. The loose rehydrated skin is then slipped over a living person's fingertip and it's used to get the victim's print." He explains as Julia smirks, "Isn't he just so cute?" She teases as she ruffles his hair. Luke chuckles at the two, more at Reid's embarrassment and Julia's teasing.

       "I'm running them through the system now." Dr. Durboraw nods as Reid turns his attention towards the unknown victim. "You know, we initially thought that she was the second victim. But the mummification indicates that she was actually killed before Lisa Barclay, making her the original known victim."
       "I'd say a month before." Durboraw tells.

       Julia examines the cement and hums to herself as Luke follows and looks over the cement in his hands. "This isn't the pre-mixed ready-to-use kind, which means that he went through the trouble to mix his own sand, cement, and gravel."

       "He obviously has the skills to make it himself or access to it through his job." Reid suggests. "We should have Garcia look over construction workers, brick layers, plasterers. Anyone who has this much skill with cement knows what they're doing." Julia informs as she pulls out her cell to tell Garcia what she should look for.

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         They'd ID'd their unknown victim as Sharon Landon and had talked with her sister and her son. The victims had a connection, both of them being single mothers. And JJ and Emily had talked with the Landons and pieced together that these mothers did everything for their children, they were good parents.

        Another woman had gone missing and they'd connected that she was also a single mom. The very next morning, they found out her body in another cement barrel. Rossi had sent Reid and Julia to go over the autopsy report with the ME.

       "I hate to use the word luck in this situation, but it was fortunate you found the latest victim so quickly. The concrete had no time to cure completely." Dr. Durboraw informed as she pulled the victim's body out.

        Julia examines the body and points with her pinky towards the bruises. "Look, she has the same ligature marks as Lisa Barclay." She tells Reid.
       "The COD is the same, too. She drowned in the concrete." Dr. Durboraw told. "Any sign of sеxual assault?" Reid questions.

       "I'm still conducting my exam, but I can tell you that based on core body temperature and lividity, time of death was about two hours ago." Durboraw informs.
       "Kim Conti went missing 18 hours ago, but he kept her alive for some reason." Reid stated and Julia looks down, "I wonder what kind of purpose she may have served."

       Reid kneels over. "I see that there's tissue damage. Have you tested that?" He asks and Durboraw shakes her head, "Not yet. But concrete itself can be corrosive."

      "There appears to be more damage here," Reid points toward her nose. "Do you have a light I can borrow?" Durboraw hands Reid a flashlight as he looks over into her nose. "It's chemical burns," He tells. "Look." He hands the flashlight to Julia as she looks it over for herself.

      "Huh," Julia muttered.
      "What are you thinking?" Durboraw asks. "I'm thinking concrete may not have been the only factor in her death." Reid concludes.

       And with that, they have their profile.

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        They'd concluded that their unsub was attempting to destroy his victims' frontal lobes. By injecting chlorine through their nostrils. (Julia thought she'd seen it all already but clearly she didn't).

        Emily and Luke had decided to stake out the land where their unsub kept dumping the bodies and came up with jack squat, except for a couple of teenagers trying to get it on at Lover's Lane.

        Julia couldn't even attempt to hide her teasing smirk when Luke and Emily walked in the office. "Sounds like you spoiled a romantic evening for those kids." Rossi comments. "Least it'll teach them to be safe." Julia shrugs.

      "So the unsub's disposal area is a Lover's Lane?" JJ questions. "Why dump the body of grown women in a place used by hоrny teenagers?" Luke follows.

      "Probably the same reason they go there. It's secluded, private." Rossi said and Julia shrugs in agreement.

      "Well, if the unsub took girls there when he was younger, it would explain how he knows the area and why it would mean something to him." Emily concurs.
      "Maybe he had his first sеxual experience there." Luke suggests. "Maybe the first time didn't go so well." Julia adds.

      Rossi nods, "Lobotomies might be his way of creating a willing sеxual partner."
      "Or, he could have recently started dating a single mother with a son. If she mocked or rejected his sеxual advances, this could be payback." Emily said.

       JJ nods, "Whatever the reason, we have made it impossible for him to return to the site, so, he's probably angry. Most likely he will devolve."
   
       The very next morning after that, they'd gathered again in the conference room to discuss what they'd discovered so far. "So we said the unsub may be performing the lobotomies on his victims to manipulate their inhibitions." Emily told.

      "People who experience frontal lobe damage often become aggressive, with heightened sеx drives." Reid told and Julia's cell phone rings as she quickly goes to take it.

       After a minute or two, Julia speaks, "Okay, thank you so much." She turns to the group. "That was the medical examiner. She completed her exams on all three victims and found no sign of sеxual assault. So, we might be back to square one." She informs.

       Later, Rossi had come back into the room and the team sits around the table, trying to figure out a way to piece this all together.

       "Even though there was no sеxual assault, the use of a Lover's Lane as a dump site suggests a sеxual component." Emily tells. "And the lobotomies are still probably the unsub's way of exerting control over his victims." JJ nods.

        "It could go back to his childhood. He's trying to gain a control he never had." Luke suggests. "It seems primitive now, but in the 1940s and '50s, cutting portions of the brain was believed to rid a patient of delusions, nervousness." Rossi had explained and Reid nods, "Instead, most of those patients experienced loss of memory, motor skills, and language."

       JJ nodded back, "That happened to JFK's older sister Rosemary. She suffered brain damage at birth. At 23, her father secretly arranged to have doctors perform a lobotomy. It was a misguided attempt to control mood swings and sеxual behavior."

      Julia thinks to herself and then sits up as she figures out something in her head. "What if maybe instead of trying to turn on his victims' sexuality, our guy is trying to turn the switch off?" She asks aloud and Reid turns away, thinking about what Julia had just said.

       And a little while later, the thought is still stuck in his head. And it's evident when he goes up and examines the board in the conference room, close up. And Julia isn't the only person who notices this.

       "You see something, Spence?" JJ asks and Reid turns back to his team, "It's what Julia said. What if the unsub is deliberately damaging his victims' brains in his own misguided hope of fixing them?"

       "So, you do think about me, nice." Julia smirks.

       "He targets single moms," Rossi tells, ignoring Julia. "He could be trying to cure them of their sexuality."

       Emily nods, "To turn them into what he considers to be good, well-behaved mothers." Luke agrees, "So most likely his own mother or another woman close to him has brain damage."

      Emily is quick to call Garcia up to help with their parameters. "Garcia, we need your help." She starts.

      "Fire when ready." Garcia nods.
    
      "We are looking for local women who have or have been treated for a brain injury or disorder." Emily told. "I have nineteen names."

      "Well, he's targeting women in their mid-30s. How many fall into that category?" JJ asks. "Three women suffered traumatic brain injury and all due to accidents. I have a car crash, fall off a horse, and a surfing incident." Garcia informs.

       "Any of them have damage to the frontal lobe?" Luke asks and Garcia waits a moment before coming up with something. "One," she tells. "Lynelle Barker, thirty-six, of West Palm Beach. When she was fifteen, she was in a car crash that killed her father, Edward Barker. She wasn't wearing her seat belt. Soon after that, she was diagnosed with something called Kluver‐Bucy Syndrome."

       Everyone looks towards Reid as he begins to go into detail, "Kluver‐Bucy Syndrome is a neurological disorder associated with frontal lobe damage. One of its major symptoms is hypersexuality."

      "If Lynelle Barker was acting out sexually, she may have a husband or a boyfriend who was upset about it." JJ told. "Garcia, was she getting treatment for her condition?" Reid asks.

       "Yeah, a month ago she started seeing a therapist and taking medication." Garcia nods.    
       "That's when Sharon Landon, the first victim, went missing." Julia stated.

       "If the victims were surrogates of Lynelle and she was no longer hypersexual thanks to treatment, why would the unsub suddenly start killing?" Rossi questions.

        Luke turns back to the monitor. "Garcia, can you check males 35 to 40 that would have been in Lynelle's circle of family and friends?" He asks.
       "Bien sûr, je peux."
      "The Lover's Lane, the crude lobotomies, the possible sеxual dysfunction... this could all speak to the unsub's youth." Reid uncovers and Rossi stands from his seat as he speaks towards the woman on the screen. "Garcia, refine your search to men between 18 and 25."

       "Refining," Garcia tells. "Lynelle has a 20-year-old brother named Stuart. He lives with his mother in West Palm Beach."

       Julia furrows her brows, "Wait, he's twenty and she's thirty-six?" She asks.
      "Sixteen years is a big age difference between siblings." JJ comments and Julia nods in agreement.

      "Oh! That's because Stuart was adopted. Gloria barker adopted him a year after Lynelle and Gloria's husband were in that car crash. And brace yourselves, because methinks I'm about to uncover some family dirt of the hidden variety." Garcia pauses. "Okay, just days before Gloria adopted Stuart, Lynelle - Gloria's daughter, then sixteen, had a baby. And I am prying open the sealed adoption records now. And, um... yeah, guess what?"

       "Stuart's sister is actually his mother." Reid told and Julia's eyes widen at that. "Uh-huh." Garcia nods. "Ain't that a family plot twist?" Julia comments. "And here I thought my family was screwed up."

        Emily nods, "And the woman he thought was his mother is actually his grandmother."

       "Guys, Stuart does repairs at a place called Blue Breeze Pools, that have worked at all three condo complexes." Garcia informs.
       "Was he working the days the victims disappeared?" Rossi asks.

       There's another pause until Garcia exclaims, "Yahtzee! Go get him."

      "Send us his home and work addresses."
      "Oh, newbie, already sent."
      Everyone heads on out through the doors.

      Julia joins Reid and JJ as they gather in an SUV while Rossi, Luke and Emily gather in another. As they head towards their destination, they begin to connect more of their case.

      "If Stuart believed he had an older, hypersexual sister he wasn't biologically related to, he might have been attracted to her." Emily told. "He may have convinced himself that it wouldn't be wrong to sleep with her." Luke added.

      "But what about Lynelle?" JJ asked. "Would she really have encouraged her own son?"
       "The taboo of incest is believed to be hard-wired in our DNA. Even with Kluver-Bucy, it's unlikely she would have crossed that line." Reid told.
       
       "Which could have enraged Stuart," Emily told. "Talk about a traumatized love map."

       Julia nods, "So, he slipped into an Oedipus Complex and maybe he's disgusted with himself. It'd explain his rage and could possibly be his reason for killing because he's trying to turn a switch off, like I said before."

       "If he found out the truth about his sister, that could be a trigger for the killings." Rossi told.

       In the end, Rossi, Luke and Emily had arrived and found Stuart trying to kill his grandmother by burying her in cement. Luke and Emily had successfully arrested her as Rossi had helped the grandmother out of the cement.

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       "Hey, Jules! You should join us at O'Keefe's. First round's on me!" Emily told Julia as she began to pack up. The woman smiles at Emily and shakes her head, "Would love to but I'm spending the night at Thomas', tonight."

       Emily furrows her brows, "Thomas?" She asks. JJ then chimes in, "Oh, it's her boyfriend— who we've yet to meet by the way." JJ tells and Julia rolls her eyes playfully at her colleague.

       "You'll meet him soon, the next time we're out with the team definitely." Julia shrugs. Her cell phone buzzes in her pocket and his name pops up in her Caller ID. "Oh, speak of the devil. I think he's here, now."

         Julia heads towards the entrance and points a finger at JJ and Emily. "And you ladies stay safe tonight. I'm a phone call away if anybody needs their ass kicked." She jokes. "Will do, say hi to Thomas for us." Emily teases and Julia chuckles as she answers her phone for her boyfriend and informs Thomas that she'll be down in a jiffy.

          When the elevator takes her in the parking garage, she sees the man standing outside of his Ford Fusion and holding flowers for Julia. The woman nearly squeals when she spots him. "Hi!" Julia smiles. "Hey, beautiful." He greets and they share a peck on the lips.

Julia looks down at her flowers, "Oh, these are so cute." Thomas nods, "Yeah, I know that peonies were your favorite flowers so I decided to buy you a bouquet, if it's not too much."

(Her favorite flowers were actually carnations). But she knew he got them mixed up with peonies sometimes and she didn't have the heart to correct him in his mistake, she smiled and loved the flowers regardless.

"They're just perfect." Julia smiles at the man, caressing his cheek. "Now, let's get out of here, I'm super tired." Thomas nods as he and Julia hop into the car and he begins to drive.

Julia felt like a giddy high schooler again as he began to drive them back to his apartment. Sure, two months was a little quick to jump into anything but when they'd saw each other in Hawaii, both on vacation nonetheless, it was like they were right back where they left off. And Thomas was a gentleman. He was sweet and comforting and a more mature version of himself in high school. He was different.

And Julia felt like this was a chance to pick up the pieces and go back to how they were in the past. Of course, being the adult versions of themselves, that is. But she'd act like that giddy high school girl again, stuck in a daze that she could escape to to avoid the torture she'd seen on the daily.

will probably change the title of this chapter i just thought it was fitting hehehe

i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter
i felt like it could've been better but ofc we can't win them all *sigh*

also to clear some things up!
NOTHING is gonna happen between luke and julia!
i noticed some concern but the most that's gonna happen is a one-sided crush from luke 😭
cuz #garvez supremacy ✊

also i'm sorry things are a lil slow between julia and reid rn but more will be coming soon 😈 i promise

thank y'all for reading hehe
i love you all
-mya <33