CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: FINAL TOLL !

5x09
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CASEY WILLOWS SAT IN THE CHAIR OUTSIDE OF STRAUSS'S OFFICE, AWAITING THE MIND TORTURE THAT WOULD BE ENDURED ON HER REAL SOON. She began to think about the events that led her up to this. Could she had done something? Would it have turned out different?

Casey bit her fingernails anxiously as she bounced her leg up and down zoning off into space until the door had opened. Reid had just finished up talking to Strauss, meaning it was how her turn.

      Anderson walked out of the office and Reid followed behind him. "They're ready for you now." Anderson tells Casey. Reid makes eye contact with Casey and raised his eyebrows.

      Casey took a deep breath and entered the office and Strauss acknowledged her and Casey took a seat in the chair in front of Strauss's desk.

     "Agent Willows," Strauss began, taking her seat. "Ma'am." Casey addressed and Strauss studied Casey. "What's on your mind, agent?" Strauss asked and Casey gave a blank stare.

     "It wasn't his fault." Casey stated. She knew why Strauss wanted her in here. She knew why she was calling all of them in here. And she wasn't going to blame Hotch for what happened. "This was his family we were talking about."

     "Yet you managed to jeopardize your part on this team, correct?" Strauss questioned, clearly dodging Casey's comment.

     "We didn't jeopardize anything!" Casey argued. "His family's lives were at stake! Why are we even doing this? So you have more proof that Aaron Hotchner's not a fit leader? Is that what this about?"

     "No, it's not," Strauss told. "It's about making sure something like this never happens again."

     "Oh, please," Casey scoffed. "That's what this has been about since Aaron became Unit Chief, I asked around and I've known for a while."

     "Agent—"

     "And how can we possibly prevent something like this from happening again? You're just doing this to save your job and frankly, I'm tired of it!"

      "Agent." Strauss said a bit louder. "I understand your frustration with everything and I know that this is a loss that will take time to bounce back off of, but I need to do this. For protocol."

       Casey scoffed again, looking at the woman and repeated under her breath: "Protocol."

      "Now, do you remember what else that happened once you had Foyet in your sights?" Casey began to rethink the events that happened only days ago.

       It had started when JJ had come in informing everyone that they could possibly find Foyet after finding out that one allergy medication could be replaced with another and that there must be certain medications that Foyet takes that cannot be substituted. So, with that in mind, they got to searching.

The team had currently been waiting on Garcia's results in the round table room and continued their search for Foyet, looking at the map. "There's approximately 115 miles between Fredericksburg and Westminster. Why mail a letter from two cities?" JJ questioned.

"Maybe it's purely a forensic countermeasure. He knows that mailing letters close to home would lead us right to him, so he drives far away to mail the letters to throw us off his scent." Morgan explained.

"The Unabomber did that. So did the 2001 Anthrax suspect." Reid tells. "He could have gone anywhere, but he's trolling the DC area." Rossi tells. "It makes sense to stay close to Hotch. He stuck around Boston to watch Shaunessy deteriorate." Casey looks up at Emily after her comment and Emily looked over at Hotch, realizing her mistake. "Not that you're--"

Hotch interrupts, "It's all right. I know he's been watching me. It's part of the reason I stepped down, so he'd think I was falling apart."

"Okay, so what are we gonna do about the 2 cities? Don't we usually need three different points to get an accurate geographic profile?" Casey asks. "That's all we got right now." Morgan says as Casey sighs.

"Gaithersburg, Rockville, DC, Alexandria, Bowie, Annapolis." Emily lists off. "Where the hell are you, Foyet?" Morgan commented.

Suddenly, Garcia comes rushing in the room. "Okay, me and the boy found a thyroid medication that has no substitute over the counter. You've gotta get it from a pharmacist. But a lot of people are on it." She says, clacking on the keyboard of her laptop.

"Find the midpoint between the two cities and isolate names in a 25-mile radius." Rossi tells. "153 names." Garcia says. "Well, he's not gonna use his own name. What kind of aliases should we be looking for?" Morgan asks.

"He could have easily stolen someone's identity." Emily tells but Hotch debunks, "No, he's a narcissist in love with his own mythology. He'd use a name connected with the case."

"A victim, maybe, a cop." Rossi lists. "Okay, let's check the Foyet files for a list of names and... nothing." Garcia says. "Wait a minute, guys. Foyet likes things to have meaning to him." Reid stands up, walking towards the screen with the map on it.

"The eye of providence, the addresses in blood he wrote on the bus that led us back to him. Maybe he's doing the same thing with the alias." Reid grabs a marker and begins to try and find an anagram out of 'George Foyet'.

"You see something, Reid?" Morgan asks. Casey begins to think. Which one of his aliases sounded close to The Reaper? "Not yet." Reid answered.

          Wait... he called himself The Reaper. Casey thought. "Reid, he named himself 'The Reaper.'" She helped out and sure enough, Reid found his anagram. "Peter Rhea." Reid tells and Garcia types. "There's a Peter Rhea in Arlington." She informs. "We found him."

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The team had sent a SWAT unit and themselves over to Peter Rhea's apartment, to which it was empty and they had entered anyways. The Reaper knew they found him. He was beginning to wipe his hard drive and he had been wiping many pictures of the US marshal that had been assigned to protect Haley and Jack.

Hotch and the rest of the team had decided to go to Kassmeyer's home and he had been close to dead when they had found him. Haley and Jack's location had been compromised and now, he knew where they were. And unfortunately, Kassmeyer had passed after giving Hotch his answers.

Hotch had called the team to give them the news. "Foyet called Haley from Kassmeyer's phone." Morgan spoke, "Alright, we'll get Garcia to trace it. JJ." He nudges his head towards JJ to do so.

"He told her she was compromised and I was dead." Hotch informed. "Well, have you called her?" Emily asks. "No, he said to throw her phone away and to buy a disposable."
"Hotch, we're gonna come get you right now." Morgan tells. "No, Anderson's bringing me a car." "You want to meet back at the office?" Morgan asks. "I'm hoping that she's just gonna call me, at least, to check."

"Foyet posed as a marshal, even called from a number that Haley recognized." Morgan says. "And then he did what gets him off. He scared her." Rossi adds. "No, he paralyzed her, he overwhelmed her." Emily says.

"And now she trusts him. Where do you think he would take her?" Reid asked. "Witness protection had her living in New Jersey." Casey stated. "He has a head start. He could be there now." Reid tells.

JJ walks into the room. "Garcia's got a trace." Garcia is now on the call with them. "He's bouncing between a few towers." Hotch speaks up, "Where?"
"Fairfax County."
"He's still local?"
"Send the coordinates to my phone."
"Done."
"Why isn't he on his way to New Jersey?"
"Wait, that phone's on?"
"Yes."

Hotch had suddenly hung up. "He hung up." Garcia informed. "Damn it." Emily sighs. Beeping was heard next. "What's that?" Emily asks. "Hotch is calling Foyet." Garcia tells and Casey leans in, ready to hear the convo.

"Agent Hotchner." Foyer's eerie voice loomed.
"If you touch her..." Hotch began. "Be gentle, like I was with you? What the hell took you so long? I was beginning to think this phone was dead or something." There was a pause before Foyet continued. "Why so quiet? You usually lash out when you're frustrated."

"I'm not frustrated," Hotch spoke. "You're more predictable than you think."
"Am I?"
"You didn't know where Haley was, so you made her come to you."
"You make me sound lazy."
"Just another way for you to show control."
"Oh, that's terrible."

"Your mother tried to protect you from your father, but she wasn't strong enough. And you hated her for that, didn't you? You decided that all women were weak." Hotch tried to get in his head. Casey listened in, looking at her team, who had been listening in as well. "Those are your words, not mine." Foyet said.

"What were you, nine when you killed them?"
"It was a car accident."
"That you couldn't take credit for. That had to be hard for you. But poor George got another chance. The little orphan was saved by the wealthy, sterile eastside couple, the Foyets. And the story should have ended there."
"I don't believe in fairy tales. Do you?"

"That's the thing, George. This isn't a fairy tale. You don't have to write this story. You don't have to do any of this. I know you're exhausted. Always looking over your shoulder, always wondering when the other shoe is gonna drop. Haven't you gotten what you wanted? You've set yourself apart from anybody we've ever dealt with. You're not just a famous serial killer, you're The Reaper. We're gonna study you and your methods for years and years."

There was a long pause from Foyet this time.

"You know what I've been thinking?" He spoke. "Haley looks pretty good with dark hair. She's lost some weight. Must be all the stress you caused her." He was already there. He had already seen her.

"Where's the little man? Oh. there he is. Does he like Captain America because of you?" Another cell phone began to ring. "That's your wife. Hold, please." There was another pause. "Mrs. Hotchner. Open the gate and I'll drive in." Foyet goes to the other phone. "Aaron? I really gotta go." And with that, he hangs up.

"All right, Foyet has to be in control. He had Haley come to him." Morgan began after the conversation they had heard. "Yeah, but where would he take her?" Reid asks. "He'd want Hotch to find him, to see where he was, to see what he did." JJ says.

"He said something on that call that tells Hotch where to go." Rossi says. "Reid, what did he say, exactly? Verbatim." Casey asks, knowing Reid could easily know if he said the words aloud.

"'Haley's hair looks good dark. She's lost some weight. It must be because of all the stress you caused her. Where's the little man? Oh, there he is now. Do you think he likes Captain America because of you? That's your wife on the other line. Hold, please. Hi. Open the gate and I'll drive in." Reid memorized.

"Open the gate?" Rossi asked.
"It would be someplace with the biggest emotional impact for Hotch." Emily tells.
"And Haley has access to the gate." Casey adds. "Their house, where they lived together." Rossi pieced.

"Of course, Foyet planned this all the way to the end. It's everything to him." Emily says. "He wants to take over Hotch's home to be in control to prove his dominance."

With that, the team had begun to head there now. Morgan and Rossi in the front, Emily and JJ in the back and Casey and Reid in the way back of the car. "Foyet's calling Hotch." Garcia spoke, talking about the beeping. "Garcia, can you get us on?" Morgan asks.

"Foyet." Hotch spoke.
"Aaron?" Haley's voice had come through the speaker. "You're okay?" She asked. "I'm fine." Hotch tells. "But... he said that..." Casey could tell that Haley was now coming to the realization that the person in her house was Foyet. "Oh, Aaron."
"He can hear us, right?" "Yes. I am so sorry."

"Haley, show him no weakness, no fear." Hotch tells. "I know. Sam told me all about him. Is he, uh--" Hotch interrupts. "No, Sam is fine."

Foyet speaks, "Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. Is that why your marriage broke up, because you're a liar?"
"Don't listen to him, Haley." Hotch assures.
"I have Sam's service phone right here. They sent out a mass text about his death. You can take a look if you want."
"He's trying to scare you."
"Did you even tell her what this was about? About the deal?"
"He's just trying to make you angry."

"Well, she should be. She's gonna... D-I-E because of your inflated ego."
"Ignore him, Haley."
"I'm sure you don't want her to know this part either. You know, all he had to do was stop looking for me and you wouldn't be in this mess."
"Don't react."
"What is he talking about?" Haley asks.

"Tell Jack I need him working the case." Hotch speaks. "What?" Haley asks. "Tell Jack I need him working the case." Haley puts a brave voice on for her son. "Jack. Did you hear that?"

"Hi, Daddy." Jack's tiny voice had broken Casey's heart. He was young and unaware of what was going on. Casey felt terrible. "Hi, buddy." Hotch says, Casey could tell his heart was breaking as well.

"Is George a bad guy?"
"Yes, he is," Hotch tells. "Jack, I need you on this case with me. Do you understand? I need you to work the case with me."
"Okay, Daddy."
"Jack, hug your mom for me."

Casey held back tears, listening.

"Mommy hug me too tight." Jack says. "I'm sorry." Haley tells. "Why are you sad?" Jack asks. "Oh, I just love you so much."
"Mommy, I gotta go. I'm working the case." With that, Jack is gone and Foyet speaks. "He's so cute. He's like a little junior g-man. I'll be right up, Jackie Boy!"

"Is he gone?" Hotch asks, talking about Jack. "Yes." Haley answers. "You're so strong, Haley. You're stronger than I ever was." Hotch assures to Haley. "You'll hurry, right?" Haley asks.

"I know you didn't sign on for this."
"Neither did you."
"I'm sorry for everything."

This was it. They were saying goodbye. They knew that this would be the last time they would ever speak to one another.

"Promise me that you will tell him how we met and how you used to make me laugh."
"Haley..."
"He needs to know that you weren't always so serious, Aaron. I want him to believe in love, because it is the most important thing. But you need to show him. Promise me."

There is a pause.

"I promise."

And Haley takes her last breath.

Three gunshots are heard and Casey flinches at the sound and looks away towards the window as tears spill from her eyes. She didn't even realize it, but she had grabbed onto Reid's hand. Reid didn't move her hand, he had let her be until they had reached the home.

Hotch had arrived and killed Foyet as soon as he did so. They had walked into the house and Casey had followed upstairs to a room that only contained Hotch and Jack. To Hotch, Jack was safe and that was what mattered in the end.

"What happened to you, Daddy?" Jack asked his father. "I'm okay." Hotch had taken notice of Casey in the doorway. "I want you to go outside with Miss Willows. Okay?" Casey threw a fake-smile towards the little boy. "Come here, honey." Casey had picked up Jack and taken him out of the house.

She had started small conversation with him. "Where's Mommy?" Jack asked and suddenly, Casey's heart broke once more. He didn't know and it wasn't her place to tell him. Tears filled up her eyes once more. "I don't know..." She admitted.
"Come on, let's go to the ambulance to get you checked out."

And here they were, present day, Casey had thought about what could've happened — what should've happened. But what could she have done? In the end, Haley was gone. Jack lost his mother and Hotch lost the love of his life. But Foyet was gone, too. Hotch no longer had to walk on eggshells. This was an ending, but it was an ending no one knew the outcome of. Now, they just had to grow from it.

Y'ALL

FAVORITE EPISODE TO WRITE HANDS DOWN

LEMME JUST TELL Y'ALL
when i first watched this episode, i DID NOT expect this lmaooooo

ik ik it's sad rip haley she'll be missed💔

but anyways
thank you for reading!
i wish casey had more of a part but congrats to her for stepping up strauss in the beginning i mean as she should😁

next episode will be slave of duty
it's probably gonna be a short one sooo yeaaa
more coming soon!
thank you for reading again!
love you all!
-mya <3