CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: NOSTALGIA OF THE PAST !

6x16
━━━━━━

       "SO, HOW WAS THE DATE WITH ROSSI'S NEPHEW?" Garcia questions as Casey and her walk through the office. After hearing about the Italian nephew, Garcia had wanted all the details from Casey. And from Casey's perspective, the date was pretty good.

        "It was really good..." Casey told. Garcia looks at the girl and nudges her head for her to continue. "But? There's a but." Garcia tells and Casey shrugs, "He's a total hopeless romantic. I'm the exact opposite." She stated.

        "But it's a good thing, right? There's nothing wrong with him? He's not a serial killer or anything?" Garcia questioned. "He's perfect. Maybe a little too perfect." Casey smiled. "I will look him up after I brief the case." Garcia decided and Casey's smile faded.

       "Penelope Garcia, you will do no such thing—" Garcia flaps her arm. "Oh, I won't. I was just messing with you." But Casey knew she was most definitely going to snoop.

       The team had all arrived at the roundtable and Emily had showed up late but was right on time to brief about the case. "Traffic, I'm sorry." She apologized. "Let's get started." Hotch says.

       Garcia directs her attention to the screen. "Okay, ten-year-old, Sammy Sparks of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, showed up at his elementary school this morning covered in blood. When police got to his house, they found that his parents, Charlie and Alison Sparks, were missing." Garcia explains.

       "Well, forensics indicate that at least one of them was injured, and by the looks of it, it was pretty severely." Morgan tells. "Has there been a ransom demand?" Emily asks. "There's been no communication whatsoever." Garcia tells.

       "Then, why call in the BAU?" Casey asks, curiously. "New Orleans is hoping we can interview Sammy." Hotch informs. "No one's talked to the witness yet?" Reid questions. "I don't understand. If Sammy was covered with blood, there's a good chance he could identify the unsub." Ashley tells.

       "Sammy's autistic," Hotch informs. "Getting him to tell us what happened isn't gonna be easy."

       With that, the team heads to the jet and before they debrief, Casey looks over the case in her head and overhears the convo between Ashley and Reid. Reid had been rambling about Doctor Who to the newbie and so Ashley had started with:

      "I'm really sorry."
      "For what?"
      "Asking."

      Ashley walks back to her seat that was next to Casey and as she does, Casey speaks: "Hey, only I get to be mean to him." She jokes.

      Garcia pops up on the screen in front of them and she speaks: "Good morning, Angels. New information to report. The blood at the crime scene matched type to Charlie Sparks, so we can assume that he is the injured party."

      "Well, shell casings by the door says he was shot. Are we looking at a robbery gone wrong?" Morgan asks. "No robber would break into a family residence before the start of school and not expect to find people home." Emily tells.

      "No, I think he came for Charlie and Alison Sparks. He planned the abduction and then gained entry to the house." Hotch says and Rossi adds on: "But the scene is frenzied, disorganized. He didn't think it through."

       "I hate to say it, but could Sammy be our unsub?" Ashley suggest and Rossi shakes his head. "I don't think so. What's the number one motive in kidnapping?" Ashley thinks it over. "Financial gain."

      "Yeah, well, if that's the case, they are barking up the wrong money tree. The family runs a music store that's been Sparks owned since the 1940s, but business is down and a loan against the house is the only thing keeping that store afloat." Garcia informs.

      "The unsub should have done his research." Rossi says. "Well, he may have," Emily added. "This area was devastated by the oil spill. A little bit of money would go a long way here."

       "When we get to Louisiana, Emily, Seaver, I'd like for you to go to the music store, investigate their home life. Morgan, you and I will go to the Sparks' home. Rossi, you and Reid will go speak to Sammy at the PD. See if you maybe you can get anything out of him."

      "And Willows," Casey looks up at the mention of her name from her boss. "Since you've had the most experience with kids on the spectrum, I'd like for you to join them."

       Casey nods, "Got it, boss."

       When they arrive at the PD, Reid throws out the lingering question of his that he decides to let out to ask Casey. "Hey, what did Hotch mean by you've had the most experience with kids on the spectrum?" Reid questions.

      "Babysitting," Casey answered simply. "When I was sixteen, I starting babysitting for this family that had an autistic son. I learned a lot about the habits, what routines they followed."

      Rossi interferes, "You sound like you've had a lot of experience."

     "Well, before I joined the FBI, I had to look over my options for a job..." Rossi and Reid look at the girl in disbelief. Considering how much she wanted the job, she had other options? But their theory was debunked when Casey continued: "Hotch made me." They both nodded.

      "And being a child expert and looking after children on the spectrum was an option but... I loved profiling more." They go through to the PD and are met with Sammy, who is left with a police officer and is drawing in a sketchbook.

      Crayons are sprawled on the table and a paper that is already drawn is front of Sammy, as well. "Hi, Sammy." Reid greets as he walks in. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. What are you drawing?"

      The police officer touches Sammy's shoulder, causing him to scream and he begins to freak out. "Some autistic children don't handle touch well." Casey tells the officer and he leaves to room.

      Casey sits in front of Sammy and begins to console him with her words. "Hey, Sammy. You're okay. You're okay. No one's gonna hurt you."

     Reid and Rossi watch as Casey works her magic. "It's possible that witnessing his parents' abduction pushed him into emotional overload and he shut down." Reid mutters over to Rossi.

     "I'm Casey," The girl introduced herself and she looks at the sketchbook. "What are you drawing there?" She looks at the notebook to see nothing but the letter 'L' sprawled out on the page.

     "Is he trying to tell us something?" Rossi notices the page. "Sammy," Reid takes a spot on the table next to Casey. "We're looking for your mom and your dad. Did "L" take them?"

     Sammy begins to draw out 'L' in the air and Rossi excuses himself from the room to talk to Garcia. This was definitely gonna take a lot to work with.

     Rossi, Reid and Casey decide to take a visit to Sammy's school and talk with his teacher, Miss Rogers. "We don't really have special resources to accommodate children like Sammy, so he's in with everybody else." The woman explains.

     "Can he comprehend the material?" Rossi asks. "Not everything," Miss Rogers says. "You know, I've done my best to research alternative teaching methods, but there's only so much I can do."

      "Children with autism normally think very logically. Their minds can pick up patterns that ours normally wouldn't recognize." Reid tells. "Hmm, yes, that's right. I've found that repetition and routine are the keys to getting through to him." Miss Rogers tells.

       "You know, that makes sense. Repetition forms patterns on the brain, and as those patterns reoccur, it forms a calming influence on the child." Reid explains. "Which would allow new information to be retained. I'm sure Sammy's parents figured that out, too." Rossi added.

       "His parents most likely kept him on a strict daily schedule. Did they?" Casey asks Miss Rogers. "Oh, like clockwork." She answered.

       "That's how Sammy was able to walk from his house to school yesterday." Rossi figures out. "He'd memorized the route."

       "Yeah, it's 7:45, time for him to go to school. He doesn't need to wait for his mom or dad. He simply grabs an empty lunchbox and heads here." Reid states. "If Sammy was living on a strict routine, that means Charlie and Alison were, too, which would have only made them easier targets." Casey added on.

        The three headed back to the PD after a discussion with Miss Rogers to go over what they found out with each other. "I'm not sure how we're going to get through to him," Reid tells. "Sammy's teacher says he's never even been able to return his own mother's hug."

       "Garcia, what have you got?" Emily asks. "On, E, I wish I could be more help. If this is about money, it would be a hell of a lot easier for me to give you a list of people who wouldn't need it, and I'd probably save a forest in the process. Due to the spill, fisherman and fishing-related industries have been hit the worst." Garcia explained.

       Hotch turns to the sheriff next to him. "Sheriff, was it common knowledge that the Sparks had gotten this loan?" The sheriff shrugs, "I knew. A loan around here is like winning the lottery."

        "So why no ransom note?" Emily asked. "Maybe the unsub thinks he can get the money directly from the source, cut out the middleman." Morgan says. "You think he'll use one of the parents as leverage to get the other to clear out their accounts." Seaver follows.

       "He's already shot Charlie," Reid told. "It shouldn't be that hard to manipulate Alison into doing what he wants if he offers medical assistance in exchange."

       "I think he just did." Garcia told.

       Casey furrows her eyebrows and runs a hand through her hair. "What do you mean?" Garcia answers: "I froze the Sparks' assets earlier today, but someone at the Bayside Branch one parish over just managed to withdraw $10,000 from their joint savings account."

      "Call the branch. It they're still there, don't let them leave." Hotch tells Garcia and Emily nudges for Seaver and Casey to go along with her to the bank.

       There, they had found Alison on a surveillance camera and that she was sent in alone. She tried to withdraw $40,000 but unfortunately could only get $10,000. The unsub needed a specific amount of money and he needed it for a reason. They had given their profile.

━━━━━━

        Reid, Casey and Rossi had decided to get Miss Rogers to come in and speak with Sammy. By now, he had drawn at least four pages worth of his sketchbook. Casey had been sitting next to Sammy on the couch, but kept a safe distance.

       "Oh, he's been busy," Miss Rogers pointed and Casey sat up as soon as she walked in. "What are those?" She asked, mentioning the drawn pages. "We have no idea." Reid told.

       "We're trying to find his aunt right now, but we're hoping that maybe in the meantime you'd be able to help us get through to him." Reid said. "Okay, I'll try, but even before this happened, Sammy wasn't wild about talking."

       Miss Rogers sits next to Sammy and pulls something from her bag. It was kind of a flip book. "What's that?" Rossi asks.

      "These help—"
      "It helps—"
      Both Reid and Casey look at one another and realize they're both about to talk but Reid decides to let Casey go right ahead. "You go."

      "Flip books helps some kids with autism learn routines." Casey told as Miss Rogers flips through it. "For example, school bus leaves at 2:15."

      "Sammy, what's this?" Miss Rogers holds up the page where Sammy had drawn an 'L' on over and over. This caused Sammy to begin freaking out. "Okay, okay." He began to start rocking back and forth in fear.

     "Do you have any idea what that "L" might stand for?" Reid asks. "I have no idea," The woman answers. "Sammy. Sammy, you're safe. It's me, Ms. Rogers. I'm here."

      "Sammy, you're safe." Casey assured and Sammy stopped rocking. On the paper in his sketchbook he was drawing in, Sammy began to tap his fingers on the paper, almost as if he was playing the piano.

     "I've never seen that. I don't know what it is." Miss Rogers tells. "Is he trying to type?" Rossi suggests. "I don't think so." Reid tells and Casey watched as his fingers moved. "He's going at a specific rhythm." She tells.

     "I think he's trying to play something," Reid looks over at Rossi. "Can we get a keyboard in here?" Rossi looks back at the man. "There's a piano at his house."

     "You want to take a 10-year-old boy back to the crime scene where his father was shot?" Miss Rogers questions. "Sammy's trying to tell us something. I think it's important we try to figure out what." Reid tells.

     Miss Rogers stands up. "Well, who decides whether the harm to Sammy's well-being is worth whatever information you may or may not get by doing such a thing? He's a child, and I don't think you get to choose what's best for him."

     Casey turns around and notices Emily walk in with an unfamiliar woman. "Everyone, this is Lizzie Sparks, Sammy's aunt."

     Everyone in the room — minus Sammy, leave the room to discuss what to do next. "I still don't see why you have to take him back to that place." Miss Rogers tells.

     "Sammy was playing the piano when his parents were abducted, so taking him back to the exact location might trigger an important response." Reid explains. "No, but he's fragile. It could also wound him further." Miss Rogers says.

      "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here." Lizzie, Sammy's aunt, starts. "You're Sammy's legal guardian right now. The decision's yours." Rossi says.

      "No," Miss Rogers tells. "He barely knows her. Lizzie, is it? For all we know, she's the "L" he's afraid of." Reid looks up. "Sammy saw his aunt and didn't even react."

      "If she was the abductor, we'd have seen a visceral response." Casey follows from what Reid is saying. "You can't be sure of that. He's in shock." Miss Rogers tells.

      "We are running a background check right now." Emily assured and Lizzie looks at the woman in shock. "On me?" She asks. "It's just procedure," Rossi assures next. "But you have to decide. What do you want us to do?"

━━━━━━

       Lizzie had decided for them to take Sammy back to the house. Rossi, Reid and Casey decided to go with Lizzie and Sammy.

       Sammy seemed anxious as first and he looked around the house and placed a toy train on the piano. "When was the last time you saw him?" Rossi decides to ask Lizzie.

      "On his 5th birthday." Lizzie admits and Rossi looks back at her. "Five years. That's a long time." Casey says. "Charlie and I had a fight. It got ugly. I haven't seen either one of them since." Lizzie admitted and she looked over at Rossi. "Do you think Charlie's going to be okay?"
      "I'm hopeful." Rossi says.

      Sammy sits at the piano and Casey sits nexts to him on his right while Reid sits on his left, the two sit but not before asking the child if it's okay for them to do so.

     Reid plays a scale on the piano and he looks over at Casey to do to same as she practices on the low notes. It's then that Sammy shows both of them up and plays the same scales they were doing.

     "Whoa, you've been holding out on us, Sammy."
Reid says, sounding impressed. Reid plays the scales backwards next. "I didn't know you could play, Reid." Rossi tells.

     "I can't," Reid says. "Well, I never have before, but it's essentially all math. I didn't know you played piano, Willows." Reid turns his attention to the woman sitting on the same bench.

     "Gideon made me take lessons when I was 10. Got bored of it at twelve." Casey told, remembering the recitals she would have to go to. She was pretty good for her age, some even insisted she was a gifted child, which was true, on some cases.

      "Sammy, how about you play this note..." Reid plays a high note. "For yes... and this note..." He plays a low note. "For no. Does that sound like something you could do?"

      Sammy plays the higher note. "Yeah, exactly. Just like that." Casey smiles at the interaction between Reid and Sammy.

      "Now, Sammy, do you remember when the man came and took your parents away?" Reid asks and Sammy pauses before playing the higher note and pressing the note over and over until he played a tune that Casey didn't recognize.

      Reid and Casey exchange a look. "Sammy, I don't understand. Does this song mean something to you?" Sammy takes Reid's hand and makes him play the higher notes. He then takes Casey's hand and makes her play the lower notes. The three begin to play the notes together.

      Rossi and Lizzie go into Sammy's room and come back out after a few minutes. "Reid, Willows, take a look at this." Reid and Casey get up from the bench and see a flip book in Rossi's hands. "What, at Sammy's flip book?" Casey asks.

     "Not just a flip book," Rossi tells. "His routine. Shower, brush teeth, dress. His entire life is planned in order." Reid looks at the man. "Maybe we can figure out where Sammy met the unsub."

      "He already figured it out." Rossi hands the book to Casey and Reid looks it over behind Casey's shoulder. "Sammy sees his life in pictures, he's been trying to speak with us, but he only knows how to communicate through symbols. Look, it's his language."

       Reid pulls out the pictures from Sammy's sketchbook from his bag and lays them down on the ground. Reid directs his attention to the picture of the drawn anchors. "Anchors. Like my socks." Reid lifts his pant leg and shows his socks.

       He looks over at another picture and sees the tread of a shoe — like a show mark and looks at Rossi. "And that's the tread on your shoes." Rossi looks down at his shoe.

      Reid looks at the other picture that Sammy had drawn — one where a half-drawn circle was drawn over and over and a mere scratch was on the circles each time. "And your ring." Reid points to Casey, who looks down at her ring.

       "He could've been drawing random circles on that one." Lizzie thinks. "No, my ring has a specific gap and a scratch from when I first bought it. It is my ring." Casey explained.

       "What does the "L" mean?" Lizzie asks. "It's not an 'L.'" Reid figures out. "It's a time." Casey says, holding up the flip book. "3:00, The time Sammy wants us to know about, the time that he met the unsub." Reid tells.

       "Where was he at 3:00?" Lizzie asks. "2:30, music store." Casey informs. "He goes there every day after school, and he doesn't leave until the store closes at 6:00." Rossi explains and Reid checks his watch, going up to Sammy.

      "Hey, Sammy. Sammy, it's almost 3:00. Is there someplace you should be?" Sammy looks at the watch and points it out and speaks: "Should be store."

       Sammy stands up and begins to leave and the team begins to follow him out and Rossi calls Hotch to inform him that they may have something.

       They show up at the music store and are met with Morgan, who is already at the store and over by the surveillance footage. They are let in by a police officer.

      "Morgan, we need to fast-forward to 3 p.m. If I'm right, the unsub is somewhere on this tape." Casey watches as Sammy looks around the store. "Reid, here's when Sammy gets to the store. They changed the music. Why would they do that?" Morgan questioned.

       "It's for Sammy." Casey tells. "Classical might be more comforting than Hard Rock." Rossi added. "Okay, here's 3:00." Everyone watches as Sammy makes his way over to a keyboard and begins playing the piece he was playing back at the house.

       "That's the song he was playing at the house." Casey states, turning over back to Reid. "Sammy's been trying to tell us who took his parents all along. At 3pm, the song plays, the same song every day at the same time because Charlie Sparks puts the CD in at 2:30 when Sammy arrives. Sammy's never late because Sammy sticks to a schedule, a routine." Reid rushes back to the cameras.

       "Thirty minutes later... this man arrives." Casey looks at the cameras to see a man on them, carrying a box. "A deliveryman with a routine all of his own. We need to figure out who that is, because he's our unsub."

       Morgan calls up Garcia and she calls up Hotch, Seaver and Emily and adds them on the call. She does her investigating. "Former fisherman turned part-time deliveryman, saddled with more debt than he and his recently removed sons could sustain, including a foreclosing house and a defaulted boat loan. Why didn't you tell me you were looking for Bill Thomas at 1024 Elmwood Avenue?" Garcia explained.

         "Garcia, I love you." Casey comments. "Who doesn't, fair maiden?" Garcia smirks.

        "What about his boat?" Seaver asks. "Docked in the Marina." Garcia informs. "We're closer to the house." The sheriff tells. "Okay, we'll take the boat. Let's go." Morgan says and the team get ready to go.

        The team gets there in time at the dock and discover that Bill is dead and they had found Alison crying over Charlie's dead body. After getting everything situated, Sammy had arrived and finally gave in to his mother's hug and Lizzie reeled with the loss of her brother.

━━━━━━

        After that, the team arrived back home. Casey filled out paperwork and decided to go back home. She turned off her alarm security system, dressed into her pajamas, cooked a TV dinner and let a random soap opera play on the television. She had been on the phone with Marco as she brought the dinner to her living room.

       "You're gonna finally watch the soap-opera I keep telling you to watch?" Marco questioned. "I'll watch one episode. How do you know I'm gonna like this anyways?" Casey asks. "Because I know you and I think you might like it." Marco chuckles.

      "Hey, when are you gonna come visit?" Casey questions, messing with a pillow in front of her. "Soon, hopefully. If work isn't killing me with paperwork." Marco says. "Well, hopefully we do see each other soon. I gotta go. Got a soap-opera to watch."

       "Okay, goodnight. I'll call you when I'm free." Marco says. "Goodnight and you better." Casey smiles and hangs up the phone and sits up as she lets the TV play. She began to eat the vegetables on her dinner and started to play with her potatoes.

       Her attention was directed on the picture frame of herself and the family she used to babysit for. It had been nearly over ten years since she last saw them and left for college. Casey stood up and walked over to her table and took a look at the picture frame once more and got an idea.

       She discovered that the family had still lived in the same place after all this time, got dressed in more appropriate clothing — other than pajamas and decided to visit. Maybe it was a little late; but the family had been night owls.

       Casey walks up the steps of the home, with her heart in her hands and knocks on the door. She waited for a moment and was going to start walking away when Deborah McCartney answered, the mother of the child she used to babysit. She was still dressed in her clothes, her hair was a bit messy and Casey knew, she was a messy woman but she meant well. The woman almost couldn't believe her eyes as she saw Casey standing there.

      "Cassandra Willows?" The woman asks in disbelief and Casey smiles and waves a bit. "Hi, Mrs. McCartney." The woman nearly screams and hugs Casey tightly. "Come here! It's been such a long time. Come in, come in!"

      Casey comes into the house and Deborah closes the door behind her. "How are you? What are you doing here?" She asks. "I'm doing good," Casey tells. "I was in the neighborhood and I figured that I haven't visited you guys in a long time."

     "Well, it's so good to see you again," Deborah smiles and she puts her hands up to Casey's face. "You look so grown up." Casey smiles at the woman, too. She had been the closest thing she had to a mother. "I've seen your name pop up in articles and newspapers and I keep telling Hal — 'Look, she made it!' I knew you made it. I always knew you would."

      Casey looks upstairs to the home. "Is Shane still following his same routine? Is he asleep?" She asks.

      Deborah looks upstairs as Casey does. "You're in luck," She tells. "As he got older, we changed the schedule up a bit. He's almost sixteen, if you can believe it. Just about the same age you were when you started babysitting him. Well, anyways, he goes to bed around 11 now."

      "Can I see him?" Casey asks. Deborah nods, "Of course." She walks upstairs with Casey following behind her and Deborah knocks on her son's door and opens it.

      Casey couldn't believe how much his room had changed. From the six year-old that he was when Casey used to babysit him was gone. The wallpaper changed, the room changed, he changed, everything did.

     "Shane," Deborah spoke. "You have a visitor." Casey walks in the room. "Do you remember Casey? She was your babysitter."

      Shane looked the same, although his features were a bit different now. He sat his desk and looked up at Casey. "Hi." Casey greeted.

      Shane slowly stood up and approached Casey a bit and touched her shoulder. "Casey." He spoke and slowly began to hug her. Casey smiles, glad that she got to visit the family again. "Hi, Shane."

hey, lovelies!
i cannot believe that we're literally halfway to being done with s6-
idk why it wasn't this easy with s5 lmao
butttt
thank you for reading
i kind of incorporated a little bit of casey's past in here and speaking of that:

headcannon: rossi definitely went to all of casey's piano recitals☺️

thank you for reading
and for y'all's info-
valhalla is next and i'm scared-
love you all
-mya<3

p.s. peep the new user🤩