Chapter Text
"Right this way sir," an officer said as he guided a man through the station.
The BAU was currently investigating the murders of at least 4 babysitters which happened to be in your hometown. Not the trip home you had in mind. You were in charge of doing the initial interviews with the children. Less like interviews however and more just hanging out and hoping to get any information from the older children while the parents were being questioned. Currently, none of the parents weren't suspects in this case but you never know what information they may have. Same reason why you were low-key gathering intel from the kids.
You were finishing your notes from the last kids as 2 more were brought to you. You put a smile on your face as you looked up to greet the children only to be met with familiar faces.
"Oh my gosh, its you!" says the man with wide eyes and an even wider grin
Your eyes widen in surprise as you look at the man and kids in front of you. You smile as old memories flash through your mind. Standing in front of you was the last family you babysat for before finishing school and going away for FBI training. You babysat for Ken Wollen for about 6 months after his wife died in a car accident. Their baby Eden was only 2 months old at the time and their oldest Milo was 3.
The oldest child, Milo, gasps and runs over to hug you tightly.
"Agent, you know this family?" Hotch asks, with an eyebrow quirked just slightly up
"Yes, actually, I used to babysit for Mr. Wollen", you reply as you hug Milo back. "You guys are so big now!"
It was a pleasant surprise that Milo still recognized you. You're only communication with them now was comments on holiday/birthday Facebook posts.
"Hi, Mr. Woolen, It's nice to see you and the kids again", you cringe slightly at yourself and purse your lips together, "I wish it was under better circumstances of course"
You notice a flash of sadness in his eyes as he looks down and then at little Eden in his arms. His under-eyes are dark and a little puffy. It wouldn't be amiss to assume that the murder of their long term babysitter was bringing up feelings of grief or reminders of his also dead wife. You couldn't imagine how terrible it was that they were now going through another loss.
Mr. Wollen sighs quietly and clears his throat, "Please, call me Ken now." As he hands you Eden, you lock eyes for a moment. A slight feeling of discomfort begins to rise in your chest. A familiar tightness after years of panic attacks. But that's not what this is, there was an unreadable expression in his eyes, something off that you couldn't quite place.
"Mr. Woolen follow me" Hotch instructs as he leads him to a back room. You give another polite smile as they walk off but you still feel off. Whatever, he's probably feeling a multitude of things right now. You do your best to shake the discomfort off mentally and physically, by shaking your free hand.
"Alright, come on Milo", you extend your hand to him, "Let's go play and I'll introduce you to my friend Spencer!"
You led the kids into the back lounge of the police station. Spencer was busy placing points on the whiteboard map. He was focusing on the geographical profile in between interviewing the kids. Looking for any overlap in common places the families visited like parks, museums, theaters, and schools of course.
"Hi Spencer," you called out to break his focus, "Meet my friends Milo and Eden!"
Spencer spun around and glanced at the kids. "Hey guys!" He crouched down to Milo's height, "How old are you buddy?"
As Spencer started his conversation with Milo, you brought Eden to the couch and gave her the stuffed bear that had been a huge hit with the other toddlers today. She was 3, you really weren't expecting to get any info from her.
You tuned back into Milo and Reid. They had started playing with dino toys. "Did you know," Reid started, "That T-rexs actually were super smart with brains twice as big as giant carnivores!"
Watching Reid with kids was always refreshing during a hard case. It seemed like he was able to let out his inner child during those times. Like everyone on the team, Reid kept his most of his personal life private. Thanks to the Fisher King, everyone knew about his mom, but no one pried him for details.
While they were playing, Spencer asked him questions. Did he have a babysitter, what did they do together, was she nice?
"She was the nicest," Milo said as he played with the T-Rex, "I miss Mommy Anna, daddy says we can't see her anymore."
You and Spencer locked eyes. His expression was one of confusion but yours was one of sadness. Anna was the name of the last victim, their babysitter. These kids have already experienced 2 major losses so young. It wasn't surprising to you that the kids referred to her as "mommy Anna", a lot of young kids become deeply attached to their babysitters. Especially if they've already lost a parent. You always discouraged it
Milo looked over to you with hopeful eyes. "I miss you too, will you be my mommy again?"
Your mouth fell agape, Spencer looked just as shocked and pursed his lips. Thankfully, before you had to answer, Hotch brought Ken over and in true 6 year old fashion, the last 2 minutes were forgotten.
"Soo what do you think that was about?" Spencer asked scratching his head
You sighed and crossed your arms over your chest, "It's a long, sad story, I'll tell you later."
He shot you a small understanding smile and went back to working on his map.
Later that day, after the team had successfully put all the clues together and caught the unsub, you were on the jet home. You were sitting next to Emily, watching her and Spencer play chess. She was winning, much to his dismay.
"You're awfully quiet today, " Emily said, addressing you
"Yea, sorry, just feeling a little nostalgic i guess?"
"Is this about your little reunion earlier?", Emily had a slightly teasing tone in her voice
"What reunion"? Reid asked, absentmindedly
"Oh, one of the victims, Anna, she babysat kids that I used to. Milo and Eden. I hate that those kids have to deal with another loss."
"Oh, the kid that asked you to be his mommy?", Spencer finally looked away from the board
"They asked you what?" Emily laughed
You groaned, "I don't wanna talk about it."
Emily picked up a piece and then put it back down as she turned to face you. She gave a quick glance to Reid and then asked you in a lightly lower tone, low enough for the 3 of you but not the whole jet, "Did he ever…was your relationship strictly professional? She asked
"Of course", you shook your haed a little in confusion "Why are you asking that?"
"Wellll, turns out she wasn't just a babysitter to him.", she pauses, as if choosing her next words carefully. "I was watching Hotch talking to him. He talked about her like a lover and stopped just short of calling her that. I don't think he wanted us to know and when Hotch asked him about his connection to you, it was like a switch flipped. He talked about you as though he forgot all about her."
You swallowed hard, as Emily was speaking the tightness in your chest from earlier returned. You spent the last of the flight in silence. Mulling over memories as Spencer and Em glanced at you occasionally throughout the rest of their game.
There actually was a memory that came to mind as you tried to sleep on the jet. You once went to the movie theater with Mr. Woolen (Ken) and the kids. There was a movie the Milo really wanted to see and Ken invited you to go along, stating that Milo requested your presence. You could never say no to an adorable toddler and it wasn't an odd thing for an attached kid to ask for so of course you went.
As you were leaving the theater, an old lady who was watching the same movie stopped you for a chat.
"Excuse me, I just wanted to say what a lovely family you are. Your little ones are so well behaved!" She smiled adoringly at Milo and baby Eden who was in your arms. It was understandable why she thought that but you didn't want people to get the wrong idea. Before you could speak up, Ken did.
"Oh thank you so much ma'am" Ken replied. He wrapped his arm around your waist, rubbing your back with his thumb, and your stomach dropped. " I owe this one all the credit though" He tilted his head towards you. You bit the inside of your lip and smiled politely as the woman walked away.
You pulled away from his grasp as you started walking out. "Why did you do that?" you asked, trying to keep your tone even.
"I'm sorry", he sighed and looked at you, "I just didn't want to correct her and have to bring up the whole dead wife thing,."
"Right, I'm sorry". Afterwards, he drove you home in silence. You remember feeling so guilty after; how could you think he had ulterior motives? His wife literally just died.
Now here you were, overthinking old things. After returning home, you did your best to put any odd feelings aside. Emily must've misread the situation. Maybe Ken did have something going on with his babysitter but he had known her for awhile. He hadn't seen you in years, and it wasn't like you actually kept in contact. He was always kind but never truly inappropriate. Besides, even if he was it didn't matter now. It was unlikely you would cross paths again.
3 days after you got home, you started receiving a flower delivery. It was a bouquet of your favorite flowers, wrapped with a red ribbon, and no card. At first, you assumed they were from family, but no one took credit for them. The next week, you assumed they were from a secret admirer. Maybe a certain genius profiler that you worked with? After a month however, nothing had changed and you started to feel paranoid, unsure if you were being watched. Then you received a delivery with a card attached.
I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON
Panic officially took ahold of your heart. It was clearly time to tell the team what was going on. You packed a bag, double checked that all your doors and windows were locked and decided to spend the night at a friends house while writing down all the info you knew the team would go over. It was an uncomfortable necessity to look at yourself as a victim in this situation.
Going into work the next morning was nerve wracking, you couldn't stop fiddling with your hands. You hated asking for help and everyone tried to keep personal life out of the office. Profilers don't like being profiled. However, as you approached your desk the objects of your anxieties were already present.
Morgan was sitting on the edge of your desk, smirking at you. In his hand was a card, clearly from the bouquet that was also on your desk.
The delivery was early.
"Good morning beautiful, when were you going to tell us that you were in a relationship?"
You snatch the card from between his fingers. Anxious to see what this one said.
HAVE YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT US YET? <3
You let out an exasperated sigh and looked around the room. Morgan still smirking in front of you, Spencer observing you as he fiddled with a pen, and Emily and JJ were watching from their side of the office. They stopped smiling when they saw the look on your face.
"Can we call Hotch over for a team meeting? There's something I need to talk about."
"Agent, what is this about?" Hotch asked as soon as he entered the room. Everyone was already seated around the round table except for him and Garcia, who was on speaker phone from her office. These past few months had already been so hard for the team. Losing Gideon, whatever was going on with Spencer, and Garcia being shot recently. You felt fear and guilt squeeze your heart as you stood up. You were worried you were making a big deal out of nothing but you also knew you needed to trust your team. You took a deep breath, explained the situation, and answered initial questions. The second you finished Hotch began barking orders.
"Morgan gather all the files for cases where she had extended interaction with an unsub or suspect, specifically the obsessive types. JJ call the local precinct and-"
Before you could object, Hotch looked over to you. "This is just a precaution. I won't force you to have a security detail but I want them on alert if it comes to that." He stated before continuing to address the team. "Reid and Prentiss go through a timeline with her of the few past weeks, and Garcia please run any of the names and places they give."
Everyone immediately got to work. Going through a timeline of the previous weeks was pretty easy as you were usually at work or home. The occasional detours were to your favorite coffee shop, store, and the bar the team visits usually for ladies' night. After an hour Rossi received a phone call alerting him of a new case that needed attention. You noticed the reluctance the team had as you all had to mentally file away your case to deal with another one. Even if they wanted to, it wouldn't be right to put your potential stalker as a higher priority than another serial killer.
As of now, there was no threat to you.
It's been a week since you told the team and for once you received no flowers. After the meeting, JJ contacted the flower company and had them put you on a no send list. You also decided to couch surf until you could find a new place that felt safe enough. First you stayed with JJ and the past 3 nights you stayed with Penelope Garcia. Between working normal cases and now your own case, it was the most relaxed you felt all week. No offense to JJ.
"I knew you had a crush on him! I can't wait for the wedding of the of the geniuses!" Penelope said in an excited tone as she added another sparkly star clip into your hair.
"Pen stop, please" ,you whined, "I can't think about anything more than a crush right now. Spencer is wonderful but I'd really like to be stable first."
"Okay, okay, let's go pretty girl" she said as you begin to walk towards her apartment door "Wait", she stopped and spun around to face you, "You should know that there's never a bad time to look at beautiful people." She winked and spun back around
You both chuckled as you followed her out the door. Laughter ceased when you spotted a note that was stuck to her door.
WE WILL BE TOGETHER SOON
Penelope grabbed your arm protectively as she looked up and down the hallway. Your chest tightened, breathing quickened, and your thoughts began racing. You could barely hear Garcia calling Morgan over the sound of your own thoughts. Your mind switched between examining the situation and your anxiety.
Check your surroundings. Why me? Go over the timeline for the night. What did I do? Was there ever a weird sound or shadow by the door? Maybe I caused this. Did you pass someone in the hallway? Maybe I deserve this.
"Pen," you were finally able to speak, "I think I'm going to have to agree to that security detail."