"𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗜 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆"
-𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝘆

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𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲 - 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝘂𝘁𝘆

It was another day at the bau and Valentina was in Hotch's office having a conversation of some sort with him while Spencer went go get himself some coffee. He frowned when he saw a little girl, no older than five running out of the elevator.

"Ehh, guys!" He shouted getting the attention of Derek, JJ and Emily.

"Yeah, what's up pretty boy?" Derek smirked before his eyes also landed on the little girl "I'm gonna go get Hotch"

While Derek went to Hotch's office, JJ walked over to the child before bending down to her height "Hey, sweetie. What's your name?"

"Gabriella"

JJ smiled "That's a pretty name. Is your mommy or daddy here?" And Gabriella nodded.

"Yeah-" The girl got cut off when Valentina and Hotch walked out of his office "Gabby?" Val frowned "What are you doing here?"

"Vee!" Gabriella was quick to run over and into Val's arm "Daddy told me to come up here and find you while he went to the toilet"

"Did he now?" It wasn't long before the elevator doors opened again and in stepped Micheal, Noah's dad. Val smiled "Speak of the devil"

"I'm so sorry for not calling Valentina, it's just me and Sarah both have work today and Gabriella doesn't feel well but we can't take any time off to stay with her and I just thought-" Hotch had nicely given the two his office so they could speak in private.

Valentina cut his rambling short "Micheal, it's fine really. Ya know I love Gabby" She smiled looking through the office window to see Spencer showing Gabriella a magic trick "And she seems to be warming up to the team pretty well so go to work, she's in safe hands here"

"Thank you Val, me and Sarah really appreciate this" Valentina smiled and gave him a quick hug before they left the office and Gabriella came over to say bye to her dad.

"So who's that?" Derek asked her "Do you have a kid we don't know about?"

She chuckled and shook her head "You all remember Corporal Wood right? From the night at the bar" The team nodded "Well that's his little sister and I'm now on babysitting duty"

tThey didn't have case and it was only paper work that needed doing so Gabriella was now on Valentina's lap asleep with her head on her chest.

"Hey, do you want a coffee?" Spencer whispered, careful not to wake up Gabby.

Val nodded "Yeah. Thanks Spencer" Putting her pen down and wrapping her hands around the warm cup "So how are you?" She asked, referring to what happened with Tobias.

Spencer shrugged "I'm okay. I'm just taking it one day at a time"

Valentina nodded, she didn't want to push him even though she had her suspicions of why he's been acting weird ever since his kidnapping but he was her coworker, her friend. Like a brother almost so she knew she couldn't profile him. Firstly, because it would be an invasion of his privacy but most of all, she just didn't want her assumption to be right.

"Well we're all here for you so don't ever think your alone, okay? We're all just a phone call away" She then took a sip of her coffee as Spencer nodded before looking down at Gabriella.

"How old is she?"

"She turned five last month" Valentina found herself playing with the ends of Gabriella's hair "She's the spit of Noah" She sighed.

"You miss him don't you?" Spencer asked.

Val smiled slightly "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugged "Yeah kinda" Valentina smiled slightly "Just know we're all here for you too"

"I appreciate that, Spencer. Now, will you please help me with my workload. I'm struggling here" They both chuckled as Spencer gladly took a few files from her pile. Of course, he got them done in minutes.

It wasn't long that the team were doing paper work when Emily's mother unexpectedly came into the BAU and basically demanded that they investigate why someone was kidnapped and hopefully get them back, alive.

Her mom and Hotch started to brief the team on the case and the reason for the FBI to take the case was because pieces of the kidnapped man were being delivered to the family. The team were shown a finger along with a ransom demand.

"This note is in Russian. I need to know the exact text" Spencer said to one of the girls as Emily was trying to calm down the crying woman on the couch in Russian.

"Wire £100,000 to Nadka bank account, number 155293846729 by tomorrow noon. If you don't, you'll receive another body piece then and every six hours after" The girl recited.

"That's it exactly?" Spencer asked, needing to make sure.

"Exactly. I'll never forget it" She told him.

"There's no personalisation, no salutation? It's not addressed to anyone? Your father's name isn't mentioned specifically?" Spencer questioned.

"No"

"That's odd" He muttered.

Valentina nodded in agreement "Most ransom notes are personalised. Frightens the family to know they've been specifically chosen, watched for a time" She added, still holding Gabby to her chest as she sat down on one of the chairs at the table.

"It doesn't even say not to call the police" JJ said.

"Russian expats don't have the greatest experience with their home government. They tend not to trust officials" Emily told everyone in the conference room.

"Well, there's another reason they aren't worried. According to the note, they aren't planning on contacting them again" Gideon said.

"It's completely self contained. They expect their instructions to be followed" Hotch added.

"We don't have £100,000" The girl told them.

"They seem to think that you do" Derek said.

"Garcia, can you get any information on the account?" Hotch asked.

"I'm already checking. The account number does seem to correspond with that bank" She replied, typing away on her computer.

"Can you get the account holder's name?" Hotch asked again.

"I have no idea how Russian banks store their data, how their servers are structured. We'd have to call the bank directly" Garcia told him.

"No way. There's no way a Russian bank is gonna give information on personal accounts" Emily mumbled.

"Well, I could try to go through the embassy in Moscow" Her mother suggested.

"And say what? The FBI is looking for information on Russian citizens bank accounts? I mean, if we're lucky, we'd spend the next six years drowning in red tape" Emily argued.

"I can make some calls. I may still have some friends in the Eastern countries" Her mom said and Emily rolled her eyes. Not enough for her mom to see but enough for Valentina to catch it.

"That would be a great help, ambassador" Her mom then got up to leave and Hotch continued "We don't have much time. We need a division of labor. Morgan, Ortiz someone needs to go to the Chernus house in Baltimore in case they are contacted again"

Derek nodded "You got it"

"I want to be there" The daughter quickly added.

"That's a good idea" Hotch looked at her briefly before turning to Emily "Are you fluent enough to stay with the mother until we get a translator up here?"

She shrugged "I'm passable"

"Then Mrs. Chernus should stay with us"

"I'll meet with Agent Cramer in Baltimore. See if he has similar open cases" Gideon explained.

Hotch nodded "Alright. Reid go with Gideon"

When everyone dispersed, Valentina made her way to Garcia's lair to see if she could do her a really big favour "Val!! I've missed you" Penelope sang as she swivelled around in her chair to face the agent "Oh my! She's so adorable. Who's is she?"

Val chuckled at Penelope's bubbly attitude "I've missed you too Pen and this is Gabriella, Corporal Wood's little sister" She explained.

"Wait, I remember him! One of the many hotties at the bar, his name was Noah if I remember correctly. Anyway, what can I do for you my sweet?"

Val nodded with a smile "That's the one Garcia and I've got a favour to ask you. Turns out we have a case and I really need someone to look after Gabby if you don't mind"

"Of course I don't mind. I can show her all my collectables and how my computer works and-" She then started to ramble on about all the things she can show her as Val just smiled before waking up Gabriella.

"Gabby, gabby. Cmon, sweetheart it's time to wake up" She said, rubbing her hand up and down her back in a comforting manner "This is one of my good friends Penelope and she's gonna look after you while I go to work, okay?"

The girl nodded slowly "When will you be back?" She whispered.

"Before you know it"

"Pinky promise?" Valentina couldn't help the smile that came onto her face at the little girl in her arms with her pinky out.

"Pinky promise" She agreed, wrapping her own pinky around Gabby's before kissing her forehead "Be good"

"I will" Giving her one last hug before Val placed her down on the floor so she could go and get comfy on Garcia's couch.

"We, my love, are gonna have the best time together" Penelope beamed and Gabby sent her a matching smile back. They were already like two peas in a pod.

"Hey, there you are" The voice of Derek came from the doorway "You ready to go mama?"

Val nodded "Yeah. Thanks again Pen, I won't be too long I promise"

"No worries gorgeous. Now the both of you stay safe and go catch this freak. I'll do my best from here"

Derek smiled "Will do, baby girl. Will do"