Twenty-Two: In Dog Years.

12x04 | Keeper.

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"Yes!" Julia turns around as she hears Reid exclaim and make a drumroll out of his desk and spin around in his swivel chair. "Someone's happy to see me." Julia joked as she approaches Reid's desk with Rossi.

"Are we interrupting a private moment?" Rossi asks and Reid quickly shakes his head, "That was the director of the assisted care home where my mother lives."

"And?" Rossi asks as Julia sits halfway on Reid's desk, both intrigued by the convo. "I kept quiet because I didn't want to jinx it, but there's a groundbreaking clinical study on Alzheimer's at Johns Hopkins next month, and I just found out that my mom's gonna be one of the participants. She got in!" He exclaims with a smile on his face.

        "Oh, that's amazing!" Julia cheered. "That's great news, Spencer." Rossi agrees as Reid vehemently nods, "It's huge," He continues. "The program's called metabolic enhancement for neuro-degeneration, and results from earlier tests are hopeful, not just to slow the disease but to actually reverse it."

       Reid begins to chuckle and cheer and Julia laughs as she looks at the man, "I don't think I've ever seen you this excited before, sweetie pie." Julia smiles. And it's a sight she doesn't see often and frankly, wants to see more of.

        Garcia walks over to the three. "Okay, it's customary that the lottery winner shares that mega-payout with the rest of the office." She tells. "Well, Reid's news is even better than that." Rossi informs.

       "Oh. I can't wait to hear, but right now we got a case." Garcia informs and Julia sighs as she follows behind the woman and Rossi and Reid follow behind her as they walk into the conference room.

      "Just spoke to Hotch. He's still on TDY but available for consulting if we need him." Rossi informs the rest of the team. "Okay," Julia sits in between Luke and Reid but Garcia is currently standing in between her and Reid. "So for those of us who kvetch about our A.M. commute, this will put it in perspective. This A.M., a Virginia State Trooper discovered a bag of dismembered body parts. They were with a homeless man's belongings. Said homeless man then fled into the mountains."

       The team gets a look of the map on the screen. "The Appalachian Trail." Emily speaks, causing both Rossi and Reid to exchange a look and Tara and Julia both exchange a confused look until Luke speaks up, "Am I, uh, missing something?"

      "We had a case in the same general area six years ago. The unsub was never caught." Reid informed so the newbies on the team are not as confused anymore. "That guy was a pеdоphіlе," Rossi tells. "Do the body parts in Virginia belong to a child?"

      Garcia shakes her head, "They do not." JJ speaks up, "Well, if there's a silver lining in this, that would qualify."

      "The trail does have some history. In the early 1980s, Randall Lee Smith killed two hikers there. He served fifteen years, got released, then went back to the exact same spot and tried to kill two more people." Reid explains.

       "Jeez-Louise. And people still hike on that trail? Have they learned nothing?" Julia questions and then thinks over what she just said. "Not that I'm victim-shaming, I swear."
      "Maybe there's something in the water." Rossi comments.

      "Saving body parts is like collecting souvenirs, right?" Luke asks. "That's one possibility," Emily tells. "It could also be a forensic countermeasure."

      "Or he's keeping them as trophies." JJ suggests. "Well, homeless people often suffer from crippling mental illness. I mean, is it possible he stumbled across the body and then collected the limbs?" Tara wonders.

     "You mean like a hoarder." Rossi says.
     "Yeah, maybe." Tara tells.
     Rossi's cell phone dings as Reid adds on, "Compulsive irrational gathering of objects is a common psychosis among the long-term homeless."

     "Flushing people out of terrain like this is tough. I mean really tough." Luke stated and Julia nods in agreement, "Yeah, like Eric Rudolph, who evaded capture in this same wilderness for over five years. It's gonna be hard for us to track our unsub. He knows the best hiding places."

      Rossi speaks up, "Preliminary ME report..." Reid looks over his shoulder. "The body parts came from at least five different victims."
     "Well, someone's been busy." Julia comments.
     "Then, that settles that. The unsub didn't stumble on anything. He's serial." JJ told.

      "This happened less than 90 miles away. It'll be quicker to drive." Emily suggests. "Our local ME isn't equipped to handle all this, so the body parts are being sent to the coroner here." Rossi decides. "Prentiss, you and Reid, you head out there. The rest of us will set up at the crime scene."

        Julia joins Rossi, JJ, Tara and Luke out in the crime scene, joining Rossi and Tara after checking out the area.

         Trooper Jim Carson led the three out towards the place where they set things up. "Here's what he left behind." He starts.

       "Did you shut down the trails in and out of the area?" Rossi asks and Carson nods, "Yes, Sir, like you asked. Thing is, all that guy had to do was cross country over any one of these hills off trail and he's gone. Easy as pie." He explains.

        "It's as much about sealing him in as keeping other potential victims out." Tara told. "How far in did your officers search?" Julia asked.

       "Half mile in every direction," The man answers and Julia's eyebrows furrow when she sees an officer pick up a muzzle. "Twenty-five years on the job, I've never seen anything like this." Julia looks the man's way, "I don't think we've ever seen anything like this either." Julia comments.

        As they head back towards the store where their perp was last seen, Tara gets more info from Garcia. "Okay, Garcia says no one's been reported missing in nearby towns for the past two months."

      "He's likely targeting lone hikers passing through." Rossi told. "And that means the victims could be from anywhere. A missing hiker wouldn't be noticed for quite a while." Julia added.

      "Any update from Alvez?" Rossi asks. "Well, he's on his way with the search dogs, but I'll check his ETA." Tara decides and Julia follows her, deciding to check what Emily and Reid have found at the ME so far.

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        Luke had arrived with the search dogs and had found something. It looked like another body and also found a leash, connecting the fact that their unsub had stolen dog food from a nearby store before Trooper Carson found the bag of body parts.

       Tara and Julia had been helping Luke with the search and looking through what the dogs had found. "Well, this backpack is brand-new," Tara started and Julia points towards an engraving on the backpack. "Looks like some initials there on that bottom pocket... K.F.." Julia informs and Tara nods.

       "Customized for someone with narrow shoulders, a shortish torso. Expansion belt for wider hips. This is a woman's backpack." Tara informs. "Likely it's our female victim's." Luke tells.

        An officer comes to take the backpack off Tara's hands. "So these body parts are like trophies, right? Souvenirs?" Luke asks and Julia nods, "Yeah, that's right."

      "Why would he suddenly go full Johnny Appleseed on us, tossing body parts all over the place? I mean, who throws away the souvenirs?" Luke questions. "Someone who knows there's more where those came from." Tara told.

       Luke and Julia had later joined Rossi back where the store was and went over all of the evidence they'd found as Tara and JJ were still searching for more. "An ice cube tray. Huh. Our guy didn't scavenge this in the woods. He must go into civilization now and then." Luke points out.

      Julia looks at one of the other pieces of evidence they found. "This wrapper is from a placed called... Lulu's." She discovers as she reads it off from the wrapper. "That's a burger place over in Dillon." Trooper Carson speaks up, looking at the evidence as well.

      "How far is that from here?" Rossi asks. "By car, 10 miles or so. But as the crow flies over that ridge, it's real close. Two miles, max." Trooper Carson details and Julia then nods, "Then, Luke must be right, he probably does go into civilization every now and again. Especially if he needs a bite to eat."

       Rossi speaks up next, "If we flushed the unsub out of the woods, he may have headed to town." He turns to Luke. "Why don't you and Cortez grab Lewis drive to Dillon, check it out?"

      "All right." Luke says and Julia nods, the two walking off to go and get Tara and to follow up with their lead.

       Since it was ten miles out, it really wasn't too far of a drive to take. They'd cut through to the woodsy part and look around the area. "Nobody at Lulu's remembers seeing that unsub," Tara informs as she gets off the phone. "He must have grabbed that wrapper after hours dumpster diving."

       "All right. If our guy hiked over this Ridge into town, this was likely his entry point." Luke tells, pointing. "Let's be prepared for whatever we find." With that, the three head into the woods.

        Julia had never really done good with the woods growing up, or with nature for that matter. She'd had issues with woods since she was a kid and what happened in Ann Arbor when she went to school there. And with the fact that their unsub most likely resides in the woods didn't help the fact either. She almost wanted to kill Rossi for suggesting her, Tara and Luke to go into the woods. She knew she'd have better insight if she was at ME with Reid and Emily, since that was her specialty after all.

        Julia and Tara had come across dog food on a plate as Luke dove in deeper into the woods. Julia looked around, it seemed quiet. Too quiet. And she didn't like that a bit.

         All Julia heard was Tara calling for Luke and something hard hitting her in the back of the head. Julia landed on the ground with a thud and a painful groan and looked up to see that Tara was fighting off their attacker. "T-Tara!" Julia shouted and the man had Tara in a chokehold and yelled in her face.

         Tara threw him off of her and went to go and help Julia as much as she could when Luke had come swinging and knocked the man out and quickly put him in handcuffs.

       "You guys all right?" Luke asked and Tara nods as she pants, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Jules?" She asks. "What the hell did he hit me with?" Julia questions and Tara looks down to see a shovel on the ground. "That hurt." Julia frowned.

       Luke grabs the man roughly and takes him into custody.

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         Tara had drove and dropped off Luke and their supposed unsub as her and Julia headed back to the site. Luckily, there was a doctor at the scene that could check out Julia since her head... obviously felt like she just got hit with a shovel.

         Tara stayed with Julia as she was getting checked out by the doctor. JJ and Reid walked over and saw that Julia was holding an ice pack to her head. "Hey, we heard what happened." JJ started. "Are you okay?" Reid asks.

         "Oh, I'm okay. Seriously. I guarantee I've been through worse pain than getting hit on the back of the head with a shovel." Julia attempts to joke. The doctor nods, "It is nothing major. Her pupils are normal, most she'll suffer from is a pounding headache."

          "See?" Julia gestures to the doctor. "I'm okay." Reid looks over at Tara. "You guys bring that guy into custody?" He asks and Tara nods, "Yeah, Luke and Emily should be questioning him now."

        Reid nods at that, "Good." Julia raises a brow and smirks, "And I would've loved for you to come to my rescue, Prince Reid, but I assure to you— I'm okay." She tells and Reid nods at her in understanding. "Are you sure you're okay?" She nods once more with a smile.

JJ's cell phone buzzes and she checks it and finds out, "That's Rossi. We have another abduction. We got our unsub, but it wasn't soon enough." She reveals.

Julia hops off the hospital bed, "Let's go." Tara looks at the woman, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" She asks and Julia waves her hand towards the woman, "Oh, yeah, I'm fit as a fiddle, seriously."

But the team doesn't realize that Julia could quite literally be bleeding out and say she's fine. And even though her head is pounding, at least it wasn't too serious.

So, Tara remains at the command center while JJ, Reid, Rossi and Julia head to the place where their victim was last seen. JJ and Julia had gone to go and get some information from the people at the store where the victim's truck was at.

"The victim's name is Howard Walker. He was picking up pizza and beer for the family dinner." JJ informs Rossi and Reid. "We're a half mile or more from where me, Luke and Tara apprehended the unsub." Julia informed, looking around.

"It's a long way to transport the victim if he doesn't have a vehicle." JJ says and Reid's cell phone goes off and Julia watches as he checks it and walks away to answer a call.

"Well, we disrupted his normal routine. He may have been forced to take Walker elsewhere." Rossi tells and his cell phone buzzes in his pocket. "We're only, what, a couple hundred yards to the treeline?" Julia asks. "He may have dragged him there." JJ tells.

"Well, we'll search the area, bring the dogs back in." Rossi checks his phone. "Lab results. DNA in that muzzle we found, it matches one of the original five victims."

Julia crosses her arms, "The unsub must make them wear it then, to dehumanize them."
"It's easier to kill an animal than a human." Rossi nods.

Rossi, Julia and JJ see Reid's back turned towards them, his shoulders tense with stress and he's off the phone call now. "Everything okay, Spence?" JJ asks.

Reid turns around towards the three and answers, "Yeah." Julia raises a brow because by his body language, he was very much not okay. He sees the looks he's reviving and admits the truth, "No."

"That was the Las Vegas police. I guess they found my mom wandering around a casino near her living facility. She didn't know who she was or how she got there." Reid explains and Julia's eyes widen. "Is she okay now?" She asks.

Reid nods, "Yeah. They put her on the phone. She sounded normal, just obviously embarrassed, you know, by all the fuss."
"You should go." Rossi told.
"I can't do that. We're right in the middle—" Rossi interrupts Reid. "Hey. We'll be fine here. Go."

JJ nods in agreement, "Rossi's right, Spence. This is a priority."

Julia then speaks up, "You know what? I'll... I'll take you to the ME's, my head is still... killing me, so it's probably better for me to not be out in the sun right now." She offers and Reid nods, "Okay. Thanks." Julia smiles at him, "Of course."

"We'll go to the M.E.'s office and grab something for Prentiss, but I'll leave first thing in the morning and spend a day or two." Reid stated and Rossi nodded, "Take all the time you need."

"All right." Reid says as Julia and he head to one off the SUVs to drive to the ME's office.

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        The drive to the ME's office wasn't too far of a drive, but Reid being the gentleman he was, decided to drive. Since Julia's head was hurting, he wanted to drive — despite her protests that she was okay enough to drive, but Reid took the keys and drove.

         Julia quickly met the medical examiner as she led them through to her lab. "The report you requested is almost ready. And forensics said you're gonna come pick this up as well." She announces.
       "Thank you." Reid nods.
       "I understand you've identified the remains of the female victim." The ME tells.

      "Uh, yeah, according to our trusty technical analyst, we're fairly certain the female vic is Kylie Fleming, but we're waiting on DNA samples from her family to be sure." Julia informed.

     "What do we know about the latest two victims?" Reid asks. "Same as the first four. White males, age roughly 40 to 50. Both sets of remains around a month old." The ME responds as Julia looks down at the body parts in the lab.

      "Anyway, your report should be ready. Let me go check." With that, she walks off, leaving Julia and Reid at the office.

       "Looks like it's just you and me," Julia smirks. Reid looks over Kylie Fleming's file. "Must you always flirt with me in ME offices?" He says, in a semi-teasing tone and Julia shrugs, "Can't help it, it's my area of expertise. Also, it's you. Can't help that the lighting does something to perfect that jawline of yours."

         Reid crooks a smile and then looks at Julia, "Is your head still hurting?" He asks. Julia sighs, "It's kinda better. Still hurts, but... better than me being dead, I guess." She says and Reid looks at her, "Definitely better than you being dead." He replies.

         Suddenly, Reid's cell phone rings and he checks the Caller ID and answers it, "Hey, Rossi, what's up?" Rossi speaks on the other side of the line. "We tried, but the remains are too degraded." Another pause. "All right, I'll have the M.E. take a second sample, but why?"

         Julia perks her head up, "What's up?" She asks and Reid nudges his head towards her, "They found out Todd's brother, Cormac disappeared shortly after leaving Luray and returned to Dillon where they grew up." He turns back to the call. "Fourteen months? That's about how long ago John Doe number one was killed."

          They'd later found out that the person that they thought was their unsub (Todd) was not their unsub but instead, his brother, (Cormac), was. They figured it stemmed from their childhood when Cormac had a pet dog that their father had forced Cormac to let go. Their father made them live like pigs, like animals. And Todd had just wanted to protect his brother, no matter what.

          After Luke and Emily had successfully caught their unsub, their case was all said and done. Julia had joined Garcia and Reid as they packed up for the night.

        "Hey, giant brain. When do you leave?" Garcia and Julia ask as they both walk together. "Tomorrow morning at 7:00." He tells and before he can join Garcia and Julia out of the bullpen, his phone on his desk rings.

        "Well, we'll see you when you get back." Julia chimes in as Garcia waves at him, "Bon voyage."
        Reid smiles at the women and waves back, "Bye." He takes his call as Garcia blows him a kiss and Julia catches one more glimpse of him before walking with Garcia.

        The two women walk out of the bullpen, where Garcia and Julia begin to talk, "So, why don't we say we go out for a couple of drinks, my treat!" Garcia tells and Julia winces, "Sorry, Penny, but Thomas is coming over tonight."

        "Oh, I know you are not blowing me off for your boyfriend!" Garcia told and Julia shakes her head, "Not in any way, shape or form. It's just... he gets called in like us, it's hard for us to find time, so we spend as much time as we can each other." Julia explains and Garcia gets it but she still frowns.

         And Julia hates being the one to make Penelope Garcia frown. "How about this? We'll plan for next weekend if we don't have a case." She plans and Garcia smiles, "Oh, my sweet angel, it's a date. But we seriously need to meet this boy toy of yours, real soon!" Julia chuckles, "Will do."

        As Julia makes it to the parking garage, she gets in her car and quickly calls Thomas. "Hey, pretty lady." He greeted over the phone. "Hey, just letting you know I'm heading to your place now." She tells.

        "Oh, good. You in your car?" Thomas asks and Julia nods, even though he can't see her. "Yup, on my way to you now." She tells as she pulls out of her parking space.

         "How was work?" Thomas decides to ask. "Uh, it was good. Same ol', same ol'. Solved the case, got the guy, etc.. But my head is pounding." Julia told.

         "Major headache?" Thomas asks curiously. "You could say that," Julia shrugs. "Guy we thought was our unsub hit me in the back of the head with a shovel."

         "Juli, oh, my God. Lead with that next time. Are you okay?" Julia winces, because of A) the panic in his voice, B) the headache and C) the nickname.

       She'd yet to tell him about her family issues or what happened to her parents, since they were still in their early stages of their relationship but Juli was something her dad called her and she didn't like it. (That's why she'd tell people to call her Jules instead).

        "Yeah, I'm okay. The most I have is just a major migraine." She hears Thomas sigh on the other end of the phone. "It's really not that bad, Tom. Seriously. And I had Tara and Luke with me, so I wasn't by myself when it happened."

"Still, Juli, you know how I feel with you being out there and I can't do anything about you getting hurt. I just care about you too much, you know?" Julia frowns a little at that. "I know."

Thomas had supported Julia at working at the BAU but it almost seemed like he felt emasculated by it in some way. His job consisted of him being on the road all the time, like she was, but it wasn't catching serial killers or murderers of any kind. He was an environment lawyer, it wasn't nearly as cool as hunting criminals.

"But I'll talk more about it when I get to your place, okay? What movie we watching tonight?" She asks and Thomas answers, "Scream," He tells. "Your favorite."

Well, at least he got one of those favorites right.

"Okay, I'll be home in a jiffy." They exchange goodbyes and Julia drives to his place, hoping that she could make Thomas forget about their convo and just focus on them being with each other in the now.

hey lovelies!
i hope you guys did enjoy this chapter
i felt like it was a lil rushed but oh well

thank you for reading
and also
"SAILOR SONG" WAS NOMINATED IN the "best spencer reid fic" category in the fanfic awards! it's listed in my conversations board so please please please vote for "sailor song" :)
and if you don't, that's totally okay too!
"the lakes" and "ablocate" are also pretty good choices :)
but it would mean a lot hehe 🤭

i love you all
-mya <333