Chapter Text
You shift in the uncomfortable seat, your wrists aching from the handcuffs. You play with your hands, fiddling with the ring on your right hand, twirling it and shifting it up and down your middle finger.
You weren’t planning on being caught. Hell, you weren’t planning on stealing in the first place, but life has a way of twisting things and somehow pulling the worst from every situation. You just needed something to eat and drink.
The door opens and your head snaps up and two people walk in. There’s a younger, pale woman with blonde hair and an older man who’s more tan with grey, swept-back hair. They take a seat opposite you and the man opens a file.
“So, Y/N L/N, the only child of Sandy and Darren L/N. Do you mind telling us why you were stealing from the store?”
You sit back and sigh. You don’t say a word. The woman who asked the question huffs, making the older man place a hand on her shoulder.
“Okay, let’s try something else,” he starts. “JJ, do you mind leaving us for a few minutes?”
The blonde, JJ, nods and stands, leaving to presumably stand behind the one-way glass you’ve been staring at intently since you were forced into the interrogation room.
“My name’s Dave Rossi. Now, why did your parents hide you from us? I mean, surely you know your parents are under investigation…”
Your attention is grabbed by this, and though you try not to show it, Rossi picks up on the subtle shift in body language. “Wait, you don’t know?”
You speak up. “N-No. I b-barely see them.”
Rossi raises an eyebrow. “Is that why you were in the store, trying to steal some food from the top shelf?” He bites back a smirk as he remembers how you were caught—you were trying to reach the top shelf and fell into it, crashing to the ground and your backpack opening, spilling out stolen food.
“Look, I’m very small and I have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress that I am under,” you scoff out, still playing with your jewellery. Rossi leans forward a little, trying to close the gap between you.
“Don’t your parents give you money for food?” Rossi asks. You shrug.
“They spend it…elsewhere,” you reply and try to stop fidgeting. “I don’t see them, and they don’t tell me anything.”
Rossi nods and pulls something out of his pocket; a key. “They must hurt.” You nod and lean forward, letting Rossi unlock the cuffs. You smile a little, muttering a quiet ‘thank you’ before you rub your wrists, soothing them. That feels better. “Are they ever around?” Dave asks. His tone of voice has shifted from slightly harsh to softer, almost fatherly. You shake your head and Rossi sighs. He leans back. “Is there anywhere you can stay while we investigate your parents?” You shake your head again. “Okay. We can keep you here until the shopkeeper decides if she wants to press charges. We can make sure you’re fed, too.”
Rossi gets up and walks out, leaving you behind. He bumps into his team in the other room, who was watching through the one-way mirror.
“What are we going to do?” He asks Hotch. The unit chief sighs.
“The shopkeeper doesn’t want to press charges. Y/N’s known for stealing small amounts of food from shops around town. They tend to just ignore it since they know what their parents are like. I say we keep them here, make sure they’re comfortable at least, and then we can see what Garcia’s pulled up on the parents.” Hotch gives the rundown and the team nod.
Suddenly, his phone rings. He picks up. “Garcia? What have you got?”
He puts her on speaker. “Sir, it turns out Y/N’s parents are related to the distribution of heroin around the country and guess what? Three of our four victims were involved in it too,” she explains quickly, keyboard clacking in the background.
“And what about the fourth, baby girl?” Morgan asks.
“She knew the mother.”
“It did seem that the fourth victim was a more personal attack. She was stabbed five times more than the rest,” Spencer pipes up. Hotch nods.
“Okay, thanks, Garcia,” Hotch thanks and hangs up, turning back to his team.
“Morgan and Prentiss, I want you to go to the house with a warrant and search top to bottom. Check Y/N’s room, too. JJ, release a statement to the press that we want to find these two. Dave, you’re with me. We’ll search the town and go over the crime scenes, see if there’s anything the police missed. Reid, I want you to stay with Y/N. You’re the youngest and they’ll probably be less standoffish with you. Try and ask them some questions about their parents and the fourth victim. JJ, join him after.”
Everyone goes their separate ways and Reid goes back into the interrogation room. You look up and relax a little, seeing it isn’t the local PD.
“Hi Y/N, I’m Spencer,” the young man introduces himself. You nod.
“Hi,” you mumble.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink? We can get you pretty much anything,” Spencer asks. You think for a minute and nod.
“C-Can I have some…noodles, please?” You ask shyly. Spencer gives a bright smile and nods, quickly texting JJ to pick something up.
“Can I ask you some questions please?” The doctor asks. “You don’t have to answer any if you don’t want to, but it could help us.”
You think before nodding, messing with your ring again. “C-Can you…” You trail off.
“Can I?” Spencer asks.
“Do you have…something I can mess with, p-please? The ring’s hurting my finger.” Spencer nods and digs into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys and handing them over.
“They okay?” You nod. “Okay. Do you know Caitlyn?”
Silence. You’ve stopped messing with the keys. You nod. “How?”
“She…She’s my friend. She told me…” You pause. “She told me she’d help me get away.”
Spencer nods. “Get away from where?”
“My…my parents,” you finish, messing with Spencer’s keys again.
“Did your parents ever…come home with blood on them?”
You look down and nod. “When did that start?”
“Erm…” you think, “a-about a month ago. I wasn’t allowed t-to ask.” Your hands start to shake. “They…they…”
“Hey, Y/N? You’re okay. Everything’s okay,” Spencer starts to reassure you. “They can’t get you. You’re okay.”
You let out a shuddering breath and nod. Suddenly, the door opens and you jump out of his skin. It’s the blonde woman from before, and she’s holding a cup of ramen, steaming, with a plastic fork sticking up in it.
“Spencer? Hotch wants to talk to you,” she says. The young agent nods and leaves, letting JJ take his seat. She hands you the ramen and you give a grateful nod, slurping it.
“S-Sorry,” you mutter. JJ gives a soft smile and shakes her head.
“It’s alright. I don’t mind,” she replies. You nod and continue eating, only stopping to take a breath now and then. In five minutes, the food’s gone.
“W-Where is everyone?” You ask after a little while. JJ looks up from her phone, pausing the video you’re watching together.
“Well, Spencer’s with Hotch, and the other one you’ve met, Rossi, is talking with the police to see if we can get you a bed set up in here. It would mean you don’t have to go to the cells and you don’t have to sleep in that chair,” she explains.
“Hotch?”
“He’s our boss. His name’s Aaron, but Hotch is his nickname. Do you have a nickname?”
You shake your head. “N-Not really. My parents call me names, but n-not a nickname.”
“How about N/N?” JJ asks. You think about it for a moment, before a small smile breaks out on your face.
“I-I like that,” you mutter. “Yeah.”
“N/N suits you, kid,” a voice says from the door. You look up to see Rossi. He’s holding a folding camp bed in his arms. Behind him is a sterner-looking man with a blanket and pillow. “We’ve got you a bed. None of us want you to go to your parents’ house, and CPS can’t come until morning.”
You nod and lean back, playing with something in your hands.
“What you got there?” The other man asks.
“K-Keys,” you reply. His eyes narrow.
“They’re mine,” someone says; Spencer. “I gave them to them to play with.”
“S-Sorry. You c-can have them b-back. I’m s-sorry,” you stammer out. Spencer shakes his head and walks over.
“It’s okay. I don’t need them at the moment,” he reassures you. You nod.
Suddenly, radios flare up and almost everyone bolts out the room, leaving behind you and Rossi. Your eyes widen.
“W-What g-going on? D-Did I-”
“No kiddo, you haven’t done anything wrong,” Dave cuts in as he makes up the bed. “We’ve just had a hit on your parents…”