"𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗜 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗯𝘆"
-𝗟𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁

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𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 - 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

Valentina was sat next to Spencer at the police station as Emily and Hotch came through the doors after coming from the crime scene "These guys don't lack confidence. Targeting entire families is a high-risk endeavour" Hotch started.

"It's possible they're minimising that risk by jamming cell phones inside the house. No one can call out" Spencer said while putting his hands in his pockets.

"High tech. That narrows the profile, right?" Lt. Nellis, the detective on the case said. A hopeful look in his eyes.

"Sadly not" Valentina said after taking a sip of her coffee "You can buy a hand held jammer online for like a hundreds bucks"

"I could use one of those next time I go to the movies" Lt. Nellis sarcastically said making Derek laugh until his phone started to buzz in his pocket. Garcia was calling.

"Hey, girl, you're on speaker, behave" He said into the phone before holding it out in-front of him so we could all hear her better.

"Or what, you'll spank me?" Lt. Nellis's eyes widened as Val had to look down at the floor to stop herself from laughing "Okay, erm, so I've been searching the area for unsolved robberies. I found four with similar elements, phone lines cut, small valuables only"

"Occupants tied up?"

"Yes, but no homicides"

"Okay, thanks doll face. I'll call you back" Derek went to hit the end button until Garcia spoke again.

"Wait! Before you hang up, put Val on the phone please" Derek smiled and handed his phone to the agent who nodded and told him a quick thanks before taking the phone off speaker and putting it to her ear "Val? You there?"

As the team started to talk among themselves, Val moved away slightly for some privacy "Yeah, I'm here Garcia. What's up?"

"Well I didn't get to see you this morning so I just wanted to make sure you were okay" Val smiled at the fact that her coworker cared so much. What would she do without Garcia.

"I really appreciate you checking up on me and I'm fine don't worry" Garcia nodded even though the female agent couldn't see her, that was all she needed to hear. Her voice and that she was okay.

"Okay sweet cheeks! I'll let you get back to work but when you get back me, you, JJ and Emily are having a girls night" The blonde said happily into the phone making Valentina smile.

"I'll hold you to that Garcia. Yeah, yeah I love you too" Finishing the phone call, she walked back over to the group and handed Derek his phone back "So, what do we think?" She referred to the case.

"Well I say, if we figure out what their trigger is that made them graduate to murder. It might tell us how they choose their victims" Emily told her.

"Yeah and I've been looking into victimology, and so far there's really nothing to connect the families" Derek said making Val sigh in defeat "Different political affiliations, different careers, different school systems. At this point, it simply appears that the unsubs are targeting their victims at random"

"So no pattern then. Great" Valentina mumbled sarcastically.

-----

Valentina was out of her hotel room and down in the lobby at six AM the next morning because she couldn't sleep. The nightmares and the memories were keeping her awake and because she still had another hour to kill before the team had to deliver the profile, she had texted Derek to see if he wanted to go and get coffee and breakfast for the team and the group of detectives who where working on the case with them.

Of course Derek agreed and since he was up too, he thought why not "Has Captain James and everybody gone back to Afghanistan then?"

Valentina nodded as the two walked down the quite busy street to say it was six in the morning "Yep. Two days after Noah's funeral and they were shipped off again to finish the mission"

"That must suck" Val nodded in agreement, her shoulders shrugging "It does but what can you do" Derek looked at her with concern. His arm then wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her into his side before leaving a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Just remember, if you ever need someone to talk to. We're here for you, I'm here for you" Derek said seriously while he rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

Valentina smiled at the contact and looked up at the man she saw as maybe more than just a coworker "I know and I really appreciate you guys"

Derek and Valentina made it back to the station at 6:45 AM. Perfect timing "Look what we brought" She called out to everyone who were crowded around the tables, holding the many bags she was carrying in the air. Derek did the same.

"You two are officially in my good graces now" JJ said, smiling at the agents as they passed out the bags to the now very happy detectives. Once it hit half seven it was time to deliver to the profile.

"We're looking for two men. Mid to late twenties, intelligent, and organised" Hotch begun as the team faced the group of detectives who were either sitting or leaning against the walls with a notepad and a pen in their hands.

"These are career criminals. One or both has done hard time, but neither presents as a convict. They would appear clean-shaven, well dressed" Derek said after placing his coffee down on the table behind him.

"And they're neighbourly. This helps them talk their way into the homes. Maybe even using a ruse" Valentina spoke.

"What kind of ruse?" Lt Nellis asked her "Well given that the invasions have took place in the evening, it could be anything like door to door sales, person in distress, car trouble" Val replied with a small smile "Things like that"

"Uh, Derrick Todd Lee used a tape of a baby crying to get women to open up their doors in Baton Rouge. Never underestimate their creativity" Spencer warned.

"These men share a very tight bond and a mutual compulsion to kill, but their signature reveal two very distinct personalities" Emily continued.

"One brutalises the parents. This is the dominant one. Sadistic, remorseless, extremely volatile" Hotch spoke again.

"The other prefers a needle. His injections are consistent with an angel of death. He's more withdrawn, sensitive, and he had a warped sense of mercy" Emily explained. Derek then started handing out a sheet of paper to everyone.

"Agent Morgan is passing out a list of places where he might have had access to the drug he uses. It's long but-" Hotch was cut off when JJ rushed into the room "Hotch, there's been another one and they're sending an ambulance"

Valentina frowned "An ambulance meaning there's a survivor?" JJ nodded and the room went silent as everyone took the information in. There was a survivor and she was ready to tell them everything.

Hotch had sent JJ and Valentina to the hospital to talk to the girl who was named Carrie while him and Derek went to the crime scene "The injection went into a soft tissue of the arm and missed the vein" The ER Doctor told the two as they walked through the corridors of the hospital.

"That's a first, this guy doesn't miss" Valentina said in a confused but relieved tone of voice.

The doctor nodded "Like I said, she's lucky"

"Is she conscious?" JJ asked.

"She's in and out. Keep in mind she's surfing the effects of an acute barbiturate overdose. She's drowsy, confused" He said after they arrived outside the girl's room.

"Given what's happened, that's probably for the best" Val said and thanked the doctor before opening the door "Hi, sweetie. I'm Agent Ortiz and this is Agent Jareau we're from the FBI" She smiled at the girl and even held up her badge so the girl knew they wasn't lying. After the trauma she went through she probably doesn't trust anyone right now "We're just here to ask some questions and figure out who did  this to you, okay?"

Carrie nodded, sitting up in the bed "I went to get a bag, but when I got back, there was two of them"

"Do you remember what the other one looked like?" Val asked softly.

"Heavier. Hispanic. Quiet. He never looked straight ahead"

"What do you mean?" JJ asked from the seat beside Carrie's bed "Like, a few times I felt him staring at me. When I looked up, he would always look away"

"Avoiding eye contact?" She slowly nodded at Valentina's question "And then my dad came in from the study, and they jumped him. They made Danny call for my mom. And they tied them up. And then one of them went over and got the thing from the fireplace, he started hitting them with it. They made us watch" Val saw how much she was struggling to tell them all this and she felt so bad for her because she knew exactly what life was like without parents.

"Okay, you know what? We can take a break" JJ patted her arm and went to stand up but the girl quickly shook her head.

"No. You need this, right?" JJ sighed and nodded "After a while, the quiet one took Danny away, and the other one just started going through drawers, looking for stuff. And I ran. Oh and he kept calling me Lucy for some reason"

"Thank you Carrie, really. That took guts to tell us all of that, you should be really proud of yourself" Val said with a comforting hand on the girls shoulder. Getting back to the station, Valentina and Spencer were sat down at the table in the office while the rest of the team was stood around it. Her hand was holding her head up as she stared at the wall in front of her.

"Witness says these Unsubs are using cats. We should find out where they might be getting them" Hotch said but she could barely hear him over her own thoughts.

"Well, there's plenty of strays out there. Nobody would notice if a few went missing" Derek said, looking over at Val who had yet to join in on the conversation like she normally would.

"Or they could work someplace where they had access to animals" Emily suggested with a shrug.

Spencer nodded "Could overlap with the pentobarbital. Research labs, veterinary hospitals"

"I'll get Garcia to make up a list" Derek whispered something to Hotch before he walked away. Hotch nodded and his eyes scanned over your figure, looking for anything that told him you weren't okay.

"Carrie also said they referred to each other as brothers" JJ quickly added in and of course Spencer had something to contribute to that "It's not uncommon for duos to be related. The Hillside Stranglers were cousins, the Carr brothers perpetrated the Wichita Massacre"

"Yeah, but these two are different races, and Carrie said the Hispanic one did not speak Spanish, which makes me think. . ." Emily started and Hotch was quick to finish her sentence.

"Raised in a white household. Maybe they're half brothers. What do you think Val?" Hotch asked but frowned when he got no reply. All eyes were on her yet she seemed to be too zoned out to notice.

"Valentina, you alright?" JJ put her hand on the woman's shoulder but she flinched and quickly shrugged off her comfort. She was zoning out because she was trying to hold back a panic attack. Her thoughts were going at a hundred miles per hour and the floor beneath her felt like it was shaking. She needed to get out of that room.

"I'm fine JJ" She muttered "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back" She was out the door after that and into the nearest bathroom. Her hands gripped the counter, the room was spinning and all she wanted was some air back into her lungs. She felt like she was back in Afghanistan so when the bathroom door suddenly opened, it was her instincts to grab her gun from the holster on her hip.

JJ's eyes widened when she saw her friend's gun pointing at her chest but when she really studied Val's face, she realised the poor woman was having a panic attack. To show she was no threat, the blonde slowly raised her hands in the air "It's okay Val, it's just me JJ and you're in the bathroom at work. Look around, you're safe in here I promise"

Valentina's breathing was laboured, her hands were shaking when her eyes eventually wandered around the room. JJ took that as an advantage to move forward and grab the gun from her hands. She placed it down on the counter "There you go, see it's just us in here. You're okay" The blonde whispered and pulled her into a hug and sure enough, the world started to slow down for Val, the room wasn't spinning anymore and she could finally breathe again. She was very lucky to have a friend like JJ.

"I'm so sorry" Valentina horsely whispered, her body finally relaxing in JJ's arms "I don't want an apology Val. I just want to know you're okay and what triggered the panic attack?"

She sighed and pulled away from JJ who handed her a bottle of water she had brought in with her "I don't know. . .one minute I'm there in the room and the next I'm back in Afghan" The blonde gave her a sad smile and brought her into another hug. They stayed in the bathroom for a bit longer to practise their breathing before getting back to the case.

"Hey, are you okay? JJ told me what happened in the bathroom" Hotch asked and Val simply nodded in reply while slipping on her jacket.

"Yeah I'm fine. It was just a little slip up now I gotta go. Carrie's being discharged from the hospital so me and JJ got her some clothes to change into" She smiled at the man and went to walk away but the firm hand on her arm said otherwise "Aaron what?"

"A panic attack is not a slip up Val. If you're struggling then you need to talk to us so we can help you because right now you're bottling everything up" He sighed "No one's invincible Valentina and there is no shame in admitting that you need help"

"I'm not having this talk with you right now, Hotch" Moving out of Aaron's grip she walked over to the door "I said I'm fine so I'm fine!" She snapped, making her way outside to her car in a matter of seconds.

However, as soon as Valentina got in the vehicle the tears were quick to fall. Her shaky hand went over her mouth to quieten her sobs, her body leant back against her seat while her head filled with memories of Noah. God how much she needed a hug from him right now.