Chapter Text
Since the last case involving the murder squad, the team had yet to be called in on any cases. A blessing, if Lilith had ever seen one. Even before joining the BAU, Lilith wasn't very fond of traveling. Apparently, the thrill of moving around repeatedly in her adolescence ruined the fun of traveling in her adulthood.
Though, it was nice when murderers weren't living in her backyard, evident by the last case.
Lilith was not the first into the bullpen on that fine autumn day, not that she really expected to be first. It was just about half past seven, and Lilith was barely awake. She had stayed up late the previous night, attempting to ward off nightmares by drinking coffee and reading books.
It didn't really work. But it was nice to pretend.
"You alright there, sugar?" Garcia asked from beside the drink station in the kitchenette, prepping her own cup of tea. Lilith blinked groggily, pulling her eyebrows up in an attempt to make herself look more alert.
"Yep." She took a sip of her to-go cup from her new favorite coffeeshop. The Bean? Bean? Coffee Bean? She's blanking on the name of the place at the moment, just remembering that the word "bean" is in it. Cool beans.
Garcia nodded at Lilith, wholly unconvinced. Lilith shrugged, draining the rest of the cup before heading over to the pot of coffee, refilling the cup with mediocre lukewarm coffee.
Garcia kept trying to make conversation, and bless her sweet little heart, but Lilith was not in the mood. She'd apologize for snapping at her at a later date.
"Garcia! Please, I've got to work," Lilith couldn't find the energy to apologize.
"Oh," she was rubbing her eyes, didn't bother watching Garcia. Though she was entirely sure the other woman's face fell, "Sorry, I can see you're tired." Lilith, both grateful and regretful, sighed and sat down at her desk. Her coffee cup was finished in under ten minutes.
Apparently, the profilers, in comparison to the technical analyst, were much quicker to catch on that Lilith wasn't really in the mood for conversation. Tiny blessings.
"Lilith?" She turned around, ready to snap at someone. But instead she was greeted with the sight of Spencer standing next to her, awkwardly balancing a coffee cup in his hand while leaning on crutches.
"Yes?" Her tone of voice was suspiciously neutral.
"I got you a nice, hot cup of coffee." He set it down on her desk, smiling slightly. Lilith picked it up, cradling the cup to find it lacking any warmth.
She scowled, "Its cold."
"Nice cup of coffee," He amended. She eyed him, taking a sip of the drink and wincing at its overly sweet taste.
"Its horrible."
"Cup of coffee."
Lilith fought a small smile, and said, "I'm not even entirely sure this is coffee." The liquid was dark, but it tasted absolutely nothing like coffee. More like molten sugar.
"Cup."
They both broke out in a fit of giggles, and Spencer hobbled around to his own desk, "For the record, it is coffee- just coffee with five sugars."
Lilith could feel her eyes bug out against her command, looking at him as if he was a madman. But, with five sugars in his coffee, he might as well have been, "Five?" She asked, incredulously.
He nodded, still laughing. She stood up and plopped the cold, overly sweet liquid onto his desk, and said, "I appreciate the effort, but that's truly horrible."
Nobody else attempted to lift Lilith's mood after that, but she was notably less snappier after the coffee incident.
Two days later, Lilith was sitting on Spencer's desk as he info dumped about Carl Sagan, the astronomer, and why some random idiot on the internet was an idiot. Apparently, Carl Sagan would not agree with astrology and saying things like "I do this because I'm a Gemini."
"I'm an Aries," She interrupted him mid rant, "I'm supposedly hot-headed and impulsive. Is that incorrect?"
Spencer pulled a face, "No, but it's such a broad description that it cou-"
This time, Spencer was interrupted by somebody else, "Reid what did I miss?" Morgan called. The two of them looked over at him, who was looking down at his phone in a confused manner.
"Oh man, you're not gonna believe this. Some moron just posted a blog called "What Would Carl Sagan Do?""
"No Reid, the case. What's the case?"
"What case?" Lilith asked, pulling out her phone. "I haven't gotten anything about a case."
Apparently, Morgan had been getting emails from Hotch about a case, which the rest of the team were not privy to. Morgan left them abruptly, going to bossman's office.
Lilith leant down, speaking quietly to Spencer, "What do you think that was about?" He shrugged, and playfully pushed her off his desk.
"Reid, Kiernan," JJ said, also on her way to Hotch's office, "We got a case."
-o-o-o-o-o-
The case was interesting, to say the least. Three women killed over five years, each kept in captivity for two. Forced them to give birth to his child in captivity, and then killed them.
Men were just... ew.
It brought less than stellar memories back for Lilith, but she was successful in ignoring them. She drove herself over to the airport alone, not ready to face the others yet. She beat Reid, Morgan, and Hotch to the jet, and made herself comfortable in the chair across from Prentiss, who had just made herself some fancy jet coffee.
The others piled in, some looking worse for wear. (ahem- Hotch)
"So, why would a sexual sadist make women carry his children?" Prentiss asked, leaning back in her chair. The golden question of the day.
They spitballed ideas, nothing concrete coming about except that he probably built wherever he's keeping the women himself.
"Why wait until after she gives birth? Now he has a body, and a baby to get rid of." said Rossi.
Disturbing.
"I hate to suggest this," Lilith said, "But what if the women are simply a means to an end. What if the babies are really the ones he's exploiting?"
An issue they hadn't previously considered. If he's making them give birth, where are the children the victims just gave birth to? And considering a victim was just found, the unsub would have a newborn baby right then.
Hotch said, "Reid and Prentiss go to the last dump sight. We need to look at victimology. How he's treating these women in the final moments of their lives might tell us what he's doing to the children."
JJ and Rossi were ordered to find as much out as they could about the black market for infants and human trafficking.
"Hotch," Lilith interrupted, "I could go with JJ and Rossi. I'm familiar with the adoption process and foster system."
He furrowed his brows at her, nodding once. He probably knew her history with the system, he's the Unit Chief. Its his job to know about his teammates. "That's fine," Lilith ignored the stares of the rest of the team.
When the team had landed, Spencer had managed to single out Lilith. Sneaky little bastard. "Are you okay?"
Lilith frowned, looking up at him, "Fine."
Her tone was more hostile than intended, and he took a step back from her and held his hands up in a placating manner. "You just seemed tense on the jet, that's all."
"Well, I'm fine, Reid." She didn't wait for him to respond before jogging over to the SUV heading over to the police station. It was carrying everyone except Reid and Prentiss, who were both immediately heading to the latest dump sight.
The team made it to the station without a hitch, setting up their space. Before long Rossi, Hotch, and Morgan left to go to the coroner's, leaving JJ and Lilith alone.
"You good?" JJ asked, quietly. Lilith all but growled, glaring up at JJ.
"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" The question was rhetorical, and they both knew that, but JJ answered anyways.
She laid a gentle hand against Lilith's shoulder, frowning when Lilith shrugged it off. "You said you're familiar with the foster system. Kiernan-" JJ hesitated, "Lilith, in our job all of us know the foster system, at least to a degree. You saying that- well, you grew up in foster care, didn't you?"
Lilith stood up abruptly, heading to the bathroom without a glance at the blonde. What are they doing, getting into my business, she thought.
The bathroom was blessedly empty, and Lilith locked the door and braced herself against the sink. She looked up to the mirror through her long dark hair, curtaining her face, and caught a peek of her reflection. She was pale, with dark circles accentuated underneath her eyes. She could almost pass as a Tim Burton character. She was skinny, pale, had dark circles, stringy-
Scowling, she turned the tap on and wet her face, hoping to wake herself up. It didn't actually do much but make her skin cold, but perhaps a placebo would take effect.
Lilith brushed her hair aside, schooling her features with a determined nod. This case was gruesome, of course, but it really shouldn't bother Lilith all that much. She'd seen worse. She'd lived worse. A coffee would do her good right about now. Who gave a damn about caffeine addiction, anyway.
She smoothed down her hair, nodded to herself once more for luck, and went back to the room in the precinct set aside for the BAU.
In the time she'd been gone, really no longer than five minutes, Rossi, Hotch, and Morgan had arrived back from the coroner's office. Rossi was here to pick up Lilith and JJ, and drive over to the local Child Protective Services Headquarters in Albuquerque.
Lilith stayed sane and civil, but wasn't completely sure if she was able to fool the senior profiler into thinking she was dandy. Mercifully, however, he left her alone.
The pulled up, and were greeted with a CPS agent.
"Child trafficking is huge in other countries, but here, its mostly a myth," The agent told them.
"Why is that?" Rossi questioned.
"There's an easier an legal path- adoption."
"There'd be a paper trail though, wouldn't there?" JJ asked.
"Not necessarily," said Lilith in a monotone voice. The CPS agent gave her a look, but didn't argue.
She was unable to give them the adoption records for New Mexico, as all the state adoption records were sealed. But, they could do genetic testing and match the DNA with the child to the DNA records, finding them a match much sooner.
The agent agreed, wanting to help the child born to a murderer. What a lovely day in Albuquerque.
-o-o-o-o-o-
JJ talked to the parents of the first victims, asking the unfortunate question of if they could dig up their daughter. Heebie jeebies. They consented, and Morgan went to the ME to pick up the DNA sample.
Since then, Reid and Lilith had were looking through all the adoptive parents they could access.
The phone rang, and Garcia's voice was heard, "Ok, know this, most adoption folk are like the nicest, most dedicated people in the world-" Lilith couldn't hide her snort, causing Reid to give her a look, "-there are however, one or two skeezy ones."
"How skeezy?" Reid asked, resting his chin on the back of his hand.
"Very skeezy."
"Super skeezy." Both Garcia and Lilith spoke at the same time. "Don't interrupt me, Lily." Lilith's jaw dropped at the nickname, and she immediately started to question Garcia.
"Lily?!"
"Hush, you. Super skeezy. I've got a spread sheet from one of them expecting compensation for the baby I'm having."
"Lily?" It seemed Lilith's brain was rewiring itself from the nickname, and Spencer laughed at her expression of bewilderment.
"Something you wanna tell me, Garcia?" Morgan interrupted, apparently hearing Garcia's comment that she was having a baby. A false comment, of course.
"Oh, that's the sad part, my prince. The genetically perfect offspring of Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan wouldn't fetch top dollar."
"Who does?" JJ asked, though it seemed everybody already knew the answer.
"White babies are in higher demand than minorities. Boys are more popular than girls, at least this year anyway. And then there's the Swedish Supermodel rule."
"The what?" Prentiss asked. Lilith looked around, confused as to when everyone arrived. Just a minute ago it was just her and Spencer.
"Blonde hair blue eyed babies." Lilith answered, before Garcia could go on any fluffy get graphic rant.
"Garcia, did the baby's DNA turn up in New Mexico's adoption records?" Hotch spoke, this time. Lilith really ought to pay better attention to her surroundings.
"No. There's no hits on her profile. And it is a her, by the way."
The team shared an uneasy glance. Rossi spoke up next, "The unsub could still be selling babies, just not through the system."
Hotch sent the team home, and Lilith smiled fondly as she watched Prentiss help Spencer with his crutches, propping them up in front of him as he stood.
Prentiss, Spencer, and Lilith all rode in one SUV over to the hotel. Said hotel wasn't super dodgy, but it wasn't five star. Who knew the FBI was cheap.
Actually, Lilith interrupted her thoughts, was a well known fact.
Regardless, this cheap hotel with its cheap elevators made Spencer and Lilith ride together up to their shared floor.
"Good?" He asked, looking ahead to the doors of the elevator, casually leaning against his crutches with a content expression resting on his face.
"...Good." She said after a moment, slightly confused. Spencer just nodded, and the awkward moment was ended when the elevator made a ding noise and the doors opened.
They walked in silence down the hall, and Lilith had somewhat reserved fears of waking up Spencer with a nightmare, even though they weren't sharing a room.
"Goodnight," He called out, waving to Lilith who turned back to see Spencer unlocking his door. Funny, she realized, she hadn't noticed him stop walking.
"Night," She replied, voice soft, watching as he disappeared into the room behind him.
Lilith shook her head, and stopped staring at the closed door. Finding the door with the number on her key, she unlocked it, tossed her bag on the floor, and chucked her own body on the bed.
She'd regret sleeping like that in the morning, but she was too exhausted to care then.
Blissfully, she slept the whole night, without a single nightmare.