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𝑷 𝑶 𝑽
❝ 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 ❞

╰ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╯

ㅤ"𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃?" Grant Anderson nervously asked as soon as he stepped out of Finley's BMW and stared up at Rossi's mansion, fiddling with his fingers.

"Of course not," Finley rolled her eyes at him fondly, smiling at him. "You may not be out there on the field with us, but you're definitely a part of the team. It would be a crime not to have you here."

It was the next day, and like Rossi had said, the entire team was invited over for dinner. Because of her role as the chef for tonight, Finley was asked to arrive at an earlier time to be able to prepare. But she made the last-minute decision to invite Grant, who had declined almost immediately. But she was able to persuade him, of course.

"Come on, kuya, Rossi's waiting," she pointed at the house with her thumb. "Let's go."

The two walked side by side, each carrying a bag of groceries that carried their ingredients for tonight's dinner. To ease them into Filipino cuisine, Finley made sure to prepare the popular ones; chicken adobo, sinigang na baboy, and lumpia. She also brought rice, because what's a Filipino meal without rice? She even brought her rice cooker.

As soon as she knocked on the door, she gave Grant an excited grin as they waited for the man of the house to let them in. The male agent could only let out a breath that signaled his nerves; yes, he's worked with the BAU for several years now, but other than Finley, he's never actually been close enough to any of them enough to visit their houses. He's never actually been part of the little bubble they all seemed to coexist in. But he's thankful that the newest agent went out of her way to hang out with the ones outside the inner circle, sort of becoming the bridge that merged the two groups together.

He gave a hesitant smile as soon as Rossi opened the door and gave him a confused smile. "Lee invited me, said you guys wouldn't mind. But I can, uh, leave if you guys want--"

"There's no need, Anderson," Rossi shook his head, confusion lacing his tone, but he still opened the door wider to let them in. "I'm just a little surprised, is all. Regardless, the more the merrier!" Closing the door as soon as the two walked in, he led them towards the kitchen. "So, Ms Barrett, where do we start?"

"Ooh, that smells good," Emily commented as soon as Rossi let her in, with Spencer and Penelope trailing behind her.

"I can't wait!" Penelope practically bounced towards the kitchen, where Finley was busy with finalizing the food while giving instructions to Grant, who was deep-frying the lumpia. Rossi then rejoined the two, going back to stirring the pot of adobo.

"Anderson?" Emily gaped.

Grant turned around at the call of his name. He waved at them with the tongs in his hand. "Hey, Lee invited me. Hope you guys don't mind."

"Oh, no, it's all good," Emily shook her head, sharing an amused look with Rossi. "Leave it to Finn to invite more people just so she can make more food." Rossi could only shrug in agreement.

"Oh my God, wait a second, is Finley Barrett wearing denim?" Penelope gasped, leaning against the kitchen counter while watching the cooking process from a distance. Finley turned away from the stove to face them, waving while giving the redhead a playful smirk. "Finn! Since when do you wear denim?!"

"Hey, just because you don't see me wear it does not mean I don't," Finley defended. "Plus, I really don't wanna look like I'm working, so casual clothes will suffice." She pointed down at herself. Under her white apron, she wore a denim jacket over a white cropped top, along with tan high-waisted pants. And if you look down, you can see her wearing a pair of fluffy bunny slippers. Her hair was tied up in a rather messy bun, haphazardly done to make sure her hair won't get in the way of her cooking.

"Well, you look good in everything," Penelope playfully whined. "So unfair."

"Did you guys know that the word 'denim' originated as a contraction of the French phrase serge de Nîmes, which means 'serge from Nîmes,' which is a city in southern France," Spencer began rambling, earning a smile from Finley as she stirred the broth. He leaned on the counter right beside Penelope. "It gained popularity in US back in 1873 when a tailor from Nevada named Jacob W. Davis manufactured the first pair of rivet-reinforced denim pants."

"I personally did not know that, so thanks doc," Finley looked up and smiled at him before turning her attention back to the food, feeling Grant nudge her teasingly; even he was a supporter of the two. He had a bet going with the other agents under the BAU, and was not about to lose.

From where he stood, Spencer couldn't help but purse his lips as he tried to fight back a grin, ignoring Penelope's teasing coos at the two.

Eventually, the food was ready, and the rest of the team finally arrived. Hotch even brought Jack, and JJ brought Will and little Henry. Unsurprisingly, both kids were quickly attached to Finley. Henry, who had been babysat by the brunette before, immediately made grabby-hands at her, calling out 'Lee-lee'.

"My godson likes you more than me," Spencer pouted, but the image of Finley with the child made him feel all warm inside.

Jack was shy at first, having not met the newest member of the team yet, but he warmed up to her pretty quickly and was now rambling on and on about super heroes and how his favorite was Captain America. While the others set up the table, she put her wooden spoon down as she leaned down to whisper into Jack's ear, making sure Grant nor Rossi would hear.

"Can you keep a secret, little man?" She smiled at him with a playful glint in her eyes.

"Mhm," the little blond boy nodded, his baby teeth showing as he rocked on the balls of his feet excitedly.

"I'm friends with Captain America," she winked.

"Really?" He whispered back with a grin, eyes crinkling at the edges. "Can I meet him?"

"I'll let him know that his biggest fan wants to meet him," she giggled. "He's a very busy man, but I'm sure he can find the time. Just be patient, okay?"

"Okay!"

Hotch watched the interaction with a small smile while placing plates onto the table, a little surprised at how quickly his son opened up to Finley. After Haley's death, the boy's been a little wary of strangers and struggled a little with the transition from having two parents to one. But apparently, Finley's miracle worker. And because of this, Hotch's respect with the younger agent grew tremendously. He turned away from the two as he continued helping the others.

"Now that the table is set," Rossi began, walking out of the kitchen while carrying a bowl, "it's time for the food that Finn, Anderson, and I worked hard on. In my hand is the chicken adobo, in the style of Finley's lola," he winked at Spencer, "which means grandmother, and yes Finley's now teaching me Filipino as well." He placed it in the middle of the table, amused as the others—who were now sat around the table—leaned forward to examine it. "Let me tell you, this one is my favorite."

Grant soon walked out of the kitchen too, carrying a plate and a dip plate. "This is lumpia. A very popular Filipino finger-food that I meticulously deep-fried, thank you very much." One thing that he was known for is his ability to joke without actually smiling, and JJ had to hold back her snort of amusement. "It's also vegetarian, and was made specifically for Ms Penelope Garcia."

Penelope couldn't help but place her hands on her chest as she cooed. "Aww, thank you!"

"Also," he continued, smiling at her as he palced them on the table and pointed at the dip plate, "this is sweet and sour sauce, you dip it here for an extra oomph, according to our chef."

"And finally, we have sinigang na baboy," Finley entered, carrying two bowls, nudging at Grant with her hip as he maneuvered over to an empty chair. "This is the same exact thing I had Derek and Spencer taste, but this time, it's pork. And of course, rice, because rice is life."

Her comment made them laugh and roll their eyes fondly, knowing her obsession with the thing—she almost always has a food container with rice, regardless of where she was.

"Well then," Derek clapped as soon as Finley found herself sat beside Spencer—which was not at all set up by him and Penelope—rubbing his hands together as he looked down at the food. "Let's eat."

The entire night was filled with boisterous laughter and exchanging of stories. They were all currently laughing as JJ was recalling the time Henry started asking for 'Lee'.

"We didn't know who Lee was," she recounted, sharing an amused look with Will who was laughing at the memory. "We were concerned that a man named Lee broke into our house or something!"

"Yeah, it was a bit scary, not gonna lie," Will added, "which was normal considering how both JJ and I are law enforcers."

"I was genuinely ready to call in a protective detail," JJ huffed. "That was until Finley came over and, well, lo and behold, Henry screamed out 'Lee'."

"Hey, that's my nickname for her," Grant jokingly frowned at the little boy, causing more laughter to erupt.

"What about you, Finley? Any stories to share?" Rossi turned to her. "I'm pretty sure you've got plenty."

Finley jokingly grimaced. "Sorry, classified."

"Oh, come on, you can't keep using that excuse!" Emily laughed. "Just one?"

She raised her hands in defense as they all encouraged her. "Fine, fine. Okay. Um, there was this one time, when I was called over to Germany," she began, eyes furrowed as she recalled the memory. "My friends were over there for a trip, and half of them ended up getting arrested."

"Jesus," Penelope gaped. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, they got into this huge fight that ended up damaging a few things that they didn't own," she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Anthony, the rich best friend slash older brother, ended up bringing his intern. Which is why I was called in. Because that intern was fifteen." Seeing their looks of shock made her snort. "Of course, he had consent from his legal guardian to travel with my friend considering the trip was supposed to be a 'learning experience,' but, uh, obviously it didn't go as planned. Lucky for Anthony, I owed him a favor and dropped everything to babysit for him."

"You're a glorified babysitter," Emily deadpanned, causing Derek to let out a belly laugh.

"Essentially," Finley shook her head. "Anyway, I ended up giving the kid a tour around Leipzig because lucky for him, I'm fluent in German. And, uh, yeah. The kid still calls me from time to time, which is why I'm pretty well-versed internet slang. 'Cause I hang out with a bunch of teenagers." She rolled her eyes fondly.

Rossi chuckled. "I'm gonna need more stories, Finn."

"Nope, that's it, no more," she teased. "That's enough for one day."

It wasn't that much of a surprise when the team was invited to Boise, Idaho to investigate a series of abductions. They—sans Spencer—were all seated around the round table, discussing the case.

Finley was intently listening to JJ speak when the blonde suddenly stopped. "Well, hello."

The brunette frowned, looking up from her files to see everyone looking at one thing. She followed the direction of their gazes and found herself staring up at Spencer, who was sporting a new haircut. She had the urge to ruffle his mop of hair, but held back. She watched as he sat down, before she let out an amused snort when she saw everyone's expressions.

"What, did you join a boyband?" Hotch asked Spencer, causing Derek to wheeze and the others to snicker.

Spencer frowned adorably. "No...?"

After letting out a chuckle, Emily went back to business. "Okay, so what are we looking at here? Late 20s, early 30s."

"All single, though two are in committed relationships, all living on their own," Rossi followed.

"Looks like normal suburban houses gives the unsub privacy," Derek pointed out.

"The differences are more striking than the similarities," Spencer started, "Different hair colors, different body shapes."

"What do we know about his MO?" Hotch asked JJ.

"That's why we were invited in," she answered. "The abduction sites are pristine."

"And there's no DNA besides the victims' and there's no sign of forced entry or a struggle," Finley spoke up while reading through the files.

"And the victims aren't reported missing until two or three days after they're abducted," Emily added.

"Two or three days...women like this don't just vanish without somebody noticing," Rossi shook his head.

That's when JJ suddenly smiled lightly. "Yes, which is why I asked Garcia to dig into their lives."

Penelope took the remote offered to her by the blonde and began her thing. "And when I took a look at their online activity, I could easily see how the unsub is doing it."

"Social networking sites," Emily stated as the images of the women's profiles popped into the screen.

"Yeah. Facebook, Twitter. You name an online life-sharing time suck," she pointed at the screen, "the victims were on it. And if you look at each of their last posts, they say kind of the same thing: going out of town, going on a business trip, going on a vacation. But, when you look at the time and date stamp of each of these, cue the Twilight Zone music, because they were all posted the morning after each of them went missing."

"The unsub posted them," Hotch concluded.

"Social networks are an easy way for an unsub to target his victims," Spencer explained. "These women for especially open. They posted everything from what they were having for dinner to where they were going on dates."

"So this unsub friends his victims and then uses that as a cover once he takes them," Derek analyzed.

"That means he can hack into their accounts," Finley frowned.

"So he's excellent with computers," Emily followed her train of thought.

"Definitely profiles as patient and organized," Spencer noted. "He's obsessive enough to remove all forensic details but also patient enough to wait two months before abductions."

Rossi turned the attention over to him. "He can afford to be. He gets three days to do whatever he wants to these women."

"That means we need to assume these women are already dead," Hotch bluntly stated. "The question is what he does while he has them."

author's note: so, i decided to reread the previous chapters for you guys so that i could count how many easter eggs i've dropped per chapter. just so you know, the flashback scenes in the first few chapters are also considered easter eggs so it's counted ;)

chapter one — 2
chapter two — 1
chapter three — 4
chapter four — 1
chapter five — 4
chapter six — 1
chapter seven — 4
chapter eight — 2
chapter nine — 0
chapter ten — 3
chapter eleven — 3
chapter twelve — 3
chapter thirteen — 2

mind you, some of them are very very subtle and can probably only be spotted once you know that whole story. so i suggest, once i finish this book, reread it again with your new knowledge, so that you can spot some of them.

i'll probably also point out all the easter eggs once i finish the story, in separate chapter just so i can explain it thoroughly. that way, y'all would understand the clues a bit better.

hope you guys liked this chapter, and thank you for 9k reads! i'm surprised to be gaining nearly 1k reads per update. that's just insane.