CHAPTER NINE: IT'S ALWAYS HOT IN MIAMI !

3x17
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IT HAD BEEN THREE WEEKS SINCE CASEY HAD ARRIVED BACK AT THE BAU IN QUANTICO, VIRGINIA. Since her accident, she had spent time getting physical therapy and it also gave her time to study for her testing. She had finally decided to go back since she was tired of being on bed rest to heal up. And she had already been healed up, so she was okay to go. She even got her doctor to sign her off for work.

Casey had taken the elevator and arrived at the office. Things looked pretty normal. The first person to see her walk in was Emily and she smiled as soon as she saw the girl.

"Casey!" She grinned and immediately welcomed her back with open arms. "I didn't expect you back so soon!" Casey smiled as the woman hugged her. "Yeah, well, I'm back." She said.

       Behind Emily, Morgan and Reid had been approaching Casey next. "Hey, Ace." Morgan smirked and then went in for a hug that Casey happily accepted. Reid had given the girl a side-hug since he wasn't much of a hugger but he was willing to make a small exception for her.

       Emily and Morgan had exchanged a small look and then looked back at Casey and she could already tell by the looks on their faces that they were hesitant with her being back. "We thought you weren't gonna back." Emily said in a joking manner but Casey knew deep down, they really thought she wasn't gonna come back. And maybe some part of them hoped she wasn't going, too. But she couldn't read minds.

        "Why wouldn't I?" Casey asked. "Job's the highlight of my day." She looked upstairs and saw that Hotch was in his office and excused herself from the group and headed up the stairs and into his office, rapping her knuckles on the doorframe.

      Hotch immediately looked up and was shocked to see that Casey had made an appearance. Casey's eyes fell slightly.

     Did everyone just assume she was gonna give up after getting shot? Elle had come back after she had gotten shot — guaranteed she quit weeks after. But no one doubted her not coming back, they didn't do it with Penelope, either. Did they just assume she wasn't going to come back at all?

    "Casey." Hotch stood up. "Hiya, Hotch." Casey greeted. "Glad to see you here. I didn't—" Casey interrupted him. "Expect to see me back? Yeah, neither did Emily, Morgan or Reid." She stated.
"Are you eligible to be out on a case if we need you to be? Will you be alright?" Hotch asked, looking at the girl carefully. "I'm perfect capable, got a doctor's note. Ready for whatever's coming at me, boss." She assured. Hotch nodded his head. "Alright."

      There had been another knock on the doorframe and Casey whipped her head around and saw that it was JJ with a file in her hand. "Casey." JJ smiled as soon as she saw the girl. "Missed me?" Casey smirked. "So much." JJ leaned in for a hug and Casey accepted the hug and JJ looked over at Hotch. "I hate to cut this reunion short... but we have a case down at South Beach."

        Everyone — minus Penelope — had been at the round table room as JJ set up the screen for the current case. Rossi greeted Casey back with a: 'Glad to have you back, kid.' and Casey smiled with a: "It's good to be back."

       "Alright," JJ showed pictures on the screen of a corpse of a man and began. "Charles Luvet was found floating in a Miami Marina last night. Local M.E. thinks that he was only in the water about an hour." JJ informed.

       "Any attempt to weigh the body down?" Hotch asked as JJ took her spot next to Casey. "Doesn't appear to be." She said.

     "The dumping could be convenient, as a opposed to a means of hiding the crime." Morgan stated. "Well, he's the third victim found in Miami over the last two months," JJ said. "Though the locations of the bodies are different, many of the elements are the same--all males, 25 to 35, all traveling, all asphyxiated with no signs of sexual assault." She explained.

     "But tourists could be just simple robbery." Morgan told. "Well, there are some personal items missing." JJ informed. "He's targeting travelers for a reason." Rossi told as a frumpled Penelope walked in the room.

       "I'm so sorry." She apologized, walking in the room. "Hey, half-day today?" Emily asked. "Alarm, sir. I overslept. I'm so sorry." Penelope said, taking a spot in between JJ and Casey.

      "Everyone's allowed to be late... once." Hotch assured.

      "It won't happen aga—" Penelope took notice of Casey sitting next to her and her eyes widen and she smiles. "Oh, you're back! My fair maiden is back!" Garcia pulls Casey into a quick hug. "When did you— when did you get back?" She asked. "Thirty minutes ago." Casey said.

      Hotch's throat cleared and the two women looked over at him as he gave them both a look that said: 'Not now.' And of course, Casey and Penelope understood.

      "You guys notice the red flag on the autopsy report?" Rossi spoke, looking down at his file. "Yeah, none of the hyoid bones were fractured." Prentiss agreed, looking down at the report.

     "No visual signs of trauma, no ligature marks." Hotch said. "Yet, the unsub still managed to asphyxiate grown men."

     "Maybe a chokehold, wouldn't leave any signs of trauma." Morgan assumed. "It would also be a way of controlling a male. A powerful grip from behind gives the unsub all the leverage. None of these victims look out-of-shape or easy to control. In fact, they all look remarkably fit." Reid explained.

      "Well, as I said, the recovery locations are very different. Charles Luvet was found in the water. Daniel Brown was partially buried in the shallow sand dune. Paul Hayes was stuffed into a dumpster." JJ explained, showing the photos.

       "That's not much of an effort to hide any of them. The unsub's just putting them and stacking them in random places like they're nothing." Casey pointed out. "They were all found in high-traffic areas." Rossi stated. "Miami PD is asking for our help, considering there are currently four other men missing that match this victimology." JJ states, pulling up those pictures next.

       "I can dig up what I can on the victims from their hometowns." Garcia assured. "Miami is a Mecca for potential targets, and anyone traveling is more vulnerable than they normally would be." Hotch stated.

      "Case in point, Charles Luvet, the latest victim, he was a vacationing cop." JJ said and so, the case turned towards Miami and they headed down to Miami.

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      Miami was like a scorching desert compared to Quantico, Virginia. At least in Virginia, you could wear a jacket and call it a day. Casey was never used to that type of weather. Granted, yeah, she lived in California for a year for college but she preferred Virginia weather more and by Reid's comments, he wasn't used to it either as they arrived at the PD.

"Is it always this hot?" Reid questioned, groaning. "It's always sunny in Miami." Casey added on as she placed her sunglasses on her face.

Two women walked by and both Morgan and Rossi noticed as they did so. "Every day, all day." Morgan stated, looking at the women. "That's South Beach." Rossi agreed. "That's not what I'm talking about." Reid sighed and Casey rolled her eyes at the men. "They know." Hotch said and Casey nearly snickered at her boss's comment.

"FBI?" A woman had walked up to the group, looking at Morgan first. "Yes." Morgan had his sunglasses on, but Casey could tell he was looking at her up and down.

"Detective Lopez, Miami PD." She introduced herself. "Oh, um, Morgan..." Morgan reached out and shook her hand. "Derek." He finished, causing Casey to physically cringe. "Tina." Detective Lopez said. "So, thank you for coming down so quickly." She looked around at the group.

"Agent Jareau-- JJ. We spoke on the phone." JJ introduced herself to Detective Lopez. "These are agents Hotchner, Prentiss, Rossi, Derek, Dr. Reid and our intern, Miss Willows." Casey waved at the woman in a polite manner.

"Well, I hope there's no test because I'm lousy with names." Detective Lopez joked. "'Agent' will be fine." Rossi assured.

Emily looked over at a car door opening. "Hey, isn't that--" A tall man got out of his car and Casey did not recognize the man as the rest of the others did. "Who's that?" Casey whispered over at Reid. "Oh, William Lamontagne Jr.. We've worked with him before." Reid informed the girl.

By his walk, Casey could already see the man had some sort of Southern charm to him. "Detective Lamontagne just arrived from New Orleans to ID The cop they pulled from the bay last night."

"Uh, Detective, it's good to see you." JJ shook the man's hand and by the way they were looking at each other, they had a connection — or history, from what Casey could pull together. Both Emily and Casey exchange a glance.

"Yeah, Charlie Luvet and I worked together for seven years. We haven't formally ID'd him yet, but we believe it's him." The detective stated.

"Sorry for your loss, man." Morgan said.

"So, you all know each other?" Detective Lopez asked. "Professionally." JJ stated before Detective Lamontagne could answer. "Yeah, the BAU helped me out on a case about a year ago." He said.

Hotch looked over at the man and said, "Well, you've met everyone here. All except for Agent David Rossi and our intern, Casey Willows." Lamontagne shook Rossi's hand and then shook Casey's. "Nice to meet you." Casey smiled.

"Just for the sake of clarity, I'm not here to investigate. Charlie was supposed to be married this August, so if the guy that floated up last night was him, I guess I have the honor of notifying his fiancée. So, she's gonna need some answers, closure, and I'm just here to get that for her." Lamontagne explained.

"Do you know why he was here?" Rossi asked him, curiously. "He was meeting up with some college buddies to compete in a regatta. He was a big boat guy." Lamontagne told.

"So, he wasn't traveling alone." Hotch assumes. "Well, he came alone," Lamontagne tells. "He was meeting them here."

"We should track these friends down, see if they saw anything. And the two other victims, any potential witnesses?" Rossi asks Lopez.
"No," She answers. "Paul Hayes was here alone on business. Daniel Brown came down to windsurf by himself."
"So, they were all essentially alone." Reid comments.

"The unsub watched them long enough to know that." Prentiss stated. "Yeah," Lopez started. "He's probably already scoping out his next victim, and I don't have a damn thing to warn people with, so come on inside. I've got everything all set up."

Hotch had split the groups up and Casey was paired with Hotch, JJ and Lamontagne. Morgan insisted on Casey going with himself, Lopez and Reid but Hotch wasn't fond of the idea and was strict on her going with him. Perhaps, he was still worried about her. They had gone down to the morgue to ID Charles Luvet and Will had checked and instantly knew.

"Yeah, that's him. That's Charlie Luvet." Casey could tell he was uneasy with the fact that his friend was now dead and he was standing in front of him now. As soon as he saw, he looked away.

"We had to ID More than the photo before we could ship him. You're not family, but I can cut through the red tape." The woman working at the morgue said. "Thank you." Will nodded.

"Do you need help making arrangements?" JJ asked. "Liaising with families is part of what I do."
Will nodded, "I might just take you up on that. Excuse me. I'll be outside." With that, he walked out and Casey saw the look on JJ's face and she was concerned for him.

"Understandable what he's feeling," Casey spoke. "Seeing something like that, especially with a friend... that's gotta be hard." She stated.

They had decided to go down to Charlie Luvet's hotel room to investigate to see why he was down there. Casey put on some rubber gloves and looked around. "So they've already dusted for prints." JJ stated.

"I sure would feel better if we found his gun and shield. I'm thinking if somebody tried to grab him up here, He might have left them behind, you know?" Will asked.

"Charlie left the hotel voluntarily." Hotch said. "What makes you say that?" Casey asked. "Because we'd know if the valet had his car downstairs. This is a receipt for a Mercury Sable he rented." Hotch explained and showed the receipt to the three. "You know, most rental cars have locators in them. I'll call Garcia, see if she can find out where it is right now. Willows, check and see if they've gotten any prints yet."
Casey nodded, "Yes, sir." She had followed Hotch out and asked to see if they had gotten any prints yet. There had been no luck whatsoever and as she walked back in the room, Will was already walking out, leaving JJ in the room.

Casey watched as he walked out and she looked ahead at JJ. "Everything okay?" She asked. JJ nodded, "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Any luck on the prints?" JJ changed the subject. "Uh, yeah, no luck." She looked back at Will. "Are you sure everything's okay?" She asked.

JJ nodded, "Everything is fine." With that, she then walked out, leaving Casey in the room afterwards.

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      Everyone headed back to the PD but not before discovering that there had been no regatta and that Charles Luvet's rental car suggested that he had been headed down to South Beach at a bar — a gay bar, at that. And now, the victimology had to be rethought.

      Now, everyone was at the PD and Casey had been working when Emily when JJ had come in between them and gave them water bottles. "For you both." JJ said, handing them the bottles.

     "Oh, thank you. You read my mind." Emily said. "You're a saint." Casey told as the three opened their bottles simultaneously. "I don't understand how it can be this dry when it's this humid." JJ said.

     The three women drank from their bottles. "Sweat all your fluids out outside and then come into bone-dry air conditioning." Emily said. "Well, then if I could just hook this up to an IV--" JJ commented and Casey slightly chuckled.

     "At least we have something fun to look at, keep us on our toes." Both Emily and Casey exchange a glance as JJ wondered, "What do you mean?" She asked.

      "Lamontagne." Emily said and Casey nodded in agreement. "Oh, I thought I was the only one." Casey stated, glancing over to see that Lamontagne was nearby. JJ had noticed, too. "You think so, huh?" JJ asked, taking another sip from her bottle.

     "Don't you?" Casey asked.

     Both Emily and Casey were practically stepping on the back of JJ's heels trying to get her to admit her relationship with Lamontagne. After two seconds, Casey automatically knew. Hey — this profiling stuff does work wonders. And besides, to keep a secret like that? Yeah, word of advice, don't work with profilers.

     "Yeah. I guess he's-- he has a thing." JJ shrugged. "Definitely a thing." Emily commented and Casey nods in agreement, looking back at him. "Seriously, I'd let him take me out any day—" Casey began and JJ chuckled, "Okay, that's enough." With that, JJ smirked and walked away and both of them knew that they had definitely gotten on her last nerve.

     "I'm surprised she still held it in." Casey commented. "Me, too." Emily nods. "Honestly, I don't think she's gonna do it." Emily admitted and Casey shrugged, "Meh, I think she will."

     "$20 says she doesn't." Emily says.
     "$30 says she will... by the end of this case." Casey told, placing her bet.
      "You've got yourself a deal, Willows."
      "Appreciate doin' business with ya, Prentiss."

"All right, everybody. Listen up. The FBI has a profile of our guy." Detective Lopez announced and Casey sat down at a desk. "Okay, we want to stress, what we're about to present is just a preliminary profile. There may be a time restraint here, so we just wanted to give you what we have now. Our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, will start off By talking about the four remaining victims still missing." JJ explained as she got Garcia on screen.

"Two of them disappeared on the same day a few months ago, and then the third and the fourth went missing within the last 4 weeks." Garcia explained.

"We think the unsub is targeting these guys on their travels." JJ said. "Yeah, and then when the befriending happens, whoosh, they vanish. However it looks like there's a connection between our current victims and the men that are still missing. See, two of those four missing men were totally out, openly gay when they disappeared. I saw one of them on SocialCrib.net. That's a social networking site and it had a photo of his boyfriend." Garcia stated.

"Assuming the four missing men are meeting the same unsub, it means he's killing almost weekly, which also means he may have already chosen his next victim." Hotch explained out.
"What we need is more information on the movements of our victims before they met the unsub. We have three confirmed victims and four possibles. Some of our other colleagues are out in the community now trying to see if anyone remembers anything about these men," Emily stated. "It's also not just the fact that our victims were traveling alone That left them vulnerable to the unsub. We believe they may have been looking specifically to meet other men."

"Based on the ages of the victims, we're looking for an offender in his mid to late 20s. He's familiar with the area, and he may be offering assistance to those who are not from the area." Casey stated.

"He studies his victims' habits. He learns how to gain their trust. This unsub is charming, charismatic, intelligent. We assume he frequents gay establishments, But he may also work at one." Emily continued.

"And, given the technique with which he kills, he may have had prior defense tactic training, he may be a member of the military or recently discharged." Hotch told.
"He steals their possessions," Emily added. "But he doesn't pawn a thing."

"And the fact that he's targeting gay men May mean that this is a hate crime and/or the unsub may be struggling with his own sexuality." Hotch figures out.

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The profile was given out and the very next day, another body was discovered near another bar. The entire team had showed up at the crime scene. "What have we got?" Hotch asked Lopez, who had now been on the scene.

"Male, the same age range and we found Luvet's police badge about a half a block from here." Lopez explained.

"So, the unsub either ditched it or dropped it when he was getting away. Any sign of Luvet's gun?" Morgan asked.

"No. He may be holding on to that." Lopez assumes. "Why would he kill out on the open like this?" Reid questions. "He's losing control emotionally. He could be devolving." Hotch stated. "Leaving the body out in plain sight? It's off pattern." Emily speaks.

"He was interrupted." Lopez answered.
"Who interrupted him?" Rossi asked.
Lopez turned around to a boy talking to some police officers and the officers pointed towards Lopez and he walked over to Lopez and the team. "Bus boy. He's from the bar." The detective added.

"Mi hijito, these are the FBI people that I told you about, so just tell them everything you saw." The boy sighs, "All right. Well, I came out here on my break to have a smoke and that guy was on the ground, and his friend said--"

"His friend?"
"Yeah. His friend said that they had just been mugged."
"Uh, so you spoke to this guy?" Casey asked. "No, ma'am. I tried." The boy said. "But he did say that he was a cop, so he took off, and he chased after those guys." The boy explained.

"Could you give a description of this cop to a sketch artist?" Morgan asked. "No. I can't. I mean, he was a white guy, but it was pretty dark out here, and he basically kept running away from me the whole time."

JJ had taken the boy aside to get his information. "So, this guy is impersonating Luvet?" Lopez asks. "Could just be a ruse he used to get away." Morgan stated. "But if he is impersonating his victims, why?" Emily asks. "Transference." Both Casey and Reid answered and the two exchange a glance.

"Whatever he sees in his victims, He wants for himself. He hates who he is. He's targeting tourists because he sees them as living a kind of lie, too." Hotch explained.

"Could be suffering from Cluster B." Casey stated. "Cluster B?" Lopez asks.

"A cluster of personality disorders," Reid began. "It's also called the erratic, dramatic emotional cluster, an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that differentiates itself markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture. It manifests itself--"
"This guy's a sick dude." Morgan interrupts to get to the point. Casey was wearing sunglasses and so was Reid but she saw the light leave his eyes as he stopped speaking even though the sun was beaming down on him.

"But something triggers his constant need to escape. It could be drugs, sex, something that makes him feel vulnerable." Emily said. "And he can't allow himself the vulnerability." Hotch added. "Escape into the fantasy protects him from ever having to look at himself." Rossi stated.

"You know, if the unsub lives in their skin, odds are, he's living in their hotel rooms." Morgan told. Hotch goes over to the woman from the morgue who had been coming to collect the body from the bar. "Any ID on the body?" Hotch asks.

"No wallet, nothing. It might have dropped. They're searching now." She said. "You're not gonna find anything. We need to roll the prints and run them. We need to figure out who he is and where he was staying." Hotch stated.

They headed back to the PD where they contacted Garcia and the prints belonged to a Deacon Rogers in Texas and he was staying at a South Beach hotel.

Lopez, Morgan, Emily and Reid had visited the hotel room and they decided to check out Steven Fitzgerald's home. Hotch had split the groups up and Casey had to stay at the PD while everyone else had been taking care of everything else.

Casey walked up to Hotch. "Uh, Hotch, I could come with if you need fresh eyes." She said. "No, I'd like you to stay here." Hotch answered and was going to walk away but Casey stopped him again. "No, seriously, you might need help." She insisted. "No, stay where you are. Help JJ and Reid if you need to." Hotch told.

"Hotch, I'm not a baby." Casey said. If she was gonna her anywhere with being a profiler, she had to do something. She was ready to get back out there — did Hotch not see that?

Hotch turned towards Casey and gave a her a look. "Oh, you get shot and all of a sudden, you think that makes you an agent? Just stay where you are." Hotch snapped with a firm tone in his voice and Casey gave him a look and scoffed.

"Fine," She began. "But if I get shot again... at another PD, that's on you." Casey stated and began to walk away. Reid had reached out but Casey slightly pushed him off and headed towards the bathroom to take a breather.

Of course, the team was still gonna see her as a kid, no matter what. Casey knew that — she just wished they would stop doing it. She was an adult now, she expected to be treated like one. That's how it worked, right? She knew Hotch was being overprotective and maybe snapping at him wasn't the best move — considering he was her boss. It may just had to do with her injury and the fact that the team didn't think she would be coming back. Casey found it ridiculous that they were all saying how they didn't expect her to come back. She was okay. She was breathing, she was alive. When you step on a thorn, you don't keep walking on it, you pull it out. Casey felt like that coming back. Getting shot wasn't the end of it. She knew the ups and downs of the job.

       She had walked out of the bathroom and went back to a desk and began looking back over the case. Maybe there was something she missed that would be helpful. Suddenly, there was a tall, slim shadow standing over her and Casey looked up and saw that it was Reid. "You okay?" He asked.

Casey shrugged, "Just... feel like a kid again." She stated. Reid sighs, "You know, Hotch is only doing this—"

"Don't give me the pep talk." She interrupted. She knew she shouldn't have done it but she didn't want to hear the speech. "I know he's just trying to protect me. But I'm ready. And if I was still hurt or I didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't have come back. I just wish he understood that."

"He does," Reid assured. "It's just... you got shot. And you're an important asset to the team. Being an intern or not. He cares and... maybe, sometimes, he just cares too much that he doesn't want to lose anyone else." Casey knew his personal struggles and began to rethink. He was stressed enough with being Unit Chief and his divorce getting finalized and whatnot. She didn't know if she could ever cope through with that.

Casey gives a tight-lipped smile to Reid. "Thanks, Reid." She said and Reid nodded, "Of course."

After that, Hotch had thought that Steven Fitzgerald wasn't a victim — but the unsub. Steven had abandoned Deacon Rogers' car and hitchhiked the rest of the way to a South Beath dormitory room. Lopez and Morgan had decided to go there as Rossi, Prentiss and Reid took the other one — which was Seneca.

In their luck, Morgan and Lopez had gotten the unsub and taken him into custody. The team was ready to pack up and go home to Virginia breezes.

Both Prentiss and Casey had currently been watching as JJ and Will were speaking to one another and wondering if one of their bets was gonna win.

Will had begun to walk away and JJ watched as he did and both Emily and Casey came up behind her. "You should go for him." Casey encouraged. "What?" JJ asked. "You'd make a cute couple." Emily shrugged.

"You know what?" JJ turned on her heels and began to follow after Will and called his name. She began to talk to him and the two women overhear the conversation.

"It's not that I didn't want them to know. I don't care about that. It's not about the relocating. It's not about traveling on the weekends or some guy. I didn't want to tell anyone because the minute I do, it becomes real. And when it becomes real, people get hurt, and I've always run from getting hurt, always, and-- I don't want to run anymore, not from you, and--" JJ explained and Will had muttered something and the two kissed.

Both Emily and Casey watch and a smile is tugged on Casey's lips. Both Morgan and Reid had walked in behind the two and saw what they were looking at — both JJ and Will sucking face.

"Well, finally." Morgan smirked. Casey cleared her throat and held her hand out towards Emily. "Cough it up, Prentiss. $30, I said it was?" Emily rolled her eyes and pulled money from behind her pocket and smacked it onto Casey's hand. "Thank you." Casey smiled.

"I thought she was never gonna admit it." Emily told. "Yeah. What's it been, like, a year? You placed bets on them?" Reid asked as Casey started following behind Emily. "Well, in situations like this, that's what you do, Reid." Casey told, waving the money in his face as he followed. Morgan had chuckled behind them.

The very next morning, the team was about ready to leave on the jet when Hotch had pulled Casey aside. "Willows..." Casey didn't know how this conversation was gonna go but it needed to be done. Like ripping a bandaid off.

         "Listen, I know you didn't do much for this case... but I just want you to understand—"

         "I know, Hotch," Casey spoke. "You just want me to be okay. And you want me to be safe and protected. I don't blame you for that."

         "It's just... after Elle, I promised that nothing like that would happen to the team again but then Penelope and... you." Hotch said, thinking back.   
         "Well, I'm not Elle. I'm Casey." She joked. "And I'm okay. I'm healthy as a horse and I'm breathing. I'm alive." She told.

          Hotch went in for a handshake to call their truce but Casey stepped in and gave him a hug. The hug was a like a bear cub holding onto the mother cub. Hotch had accepted the hug and Casey felt his giant arms wrap around her and Casey felt safe and content with him — like how a daughter feels with her father. And perhaps, she did look at Hotch as a father.

          The two headed onto the jet and back home they went. As much as Casey did like the hot Miami sands, she was ready for averagely breezy Virginia weather.

hey, lovelies!
anyways, thank you all for reading and for your immense support!
i better not see will slander in the comments! ‼️
he's actually kind of fine like 🥴
but y'all can comment like "lemon-meringue man" or "subtitles man" or anything else because i do that too but i don't wanna see anyone bashing will cuz like what did he do wrong to y'all 😭😭
also
protective hotch 🥺
i love you all!
-mya <3