CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX: REVELATION !

7x01

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CASEY WILLOWS PACED IN THE ROOM AS JJ HAD BEEN IN THE TRIAL ROOM WITH THE COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS WHAT OCCURRED ONLY A MONTH AGO. "Why aren't we in there?" Reid questioned, standing in the room with Rossi, Garcia, Casey and Morgan. "They're just trying to intimidate us." Rossi told. "Well, that's not about to happen." Morgan stated.

      "We didn't do anything wrong," Casey said as she stopped pacing for a moment and thought about the events that lead them to this point and then looked over at Reid. "Right?" Honestly, she had been unaware of just how much damage was caused within a week.

      "I'm not okay with this." Garcia admitted. "You may not even be a witness." Rossi assured but Garcia looked towards him. "Sir, I'm not worried about me. Don't they have anything better to do than--"

       "Baby girl, this is just what they do." Morgan told as Strauss had walked towards the group with a cell phone in her hand. "Anything?" Rossi asked. "It doesn't look good." Strauss admitted but not before looking around the group.

       "How long is she gonna be in there?" Reid asked, talking about JJ.

        Since the last case, JJ had been reinstated into the BAU and Casey was happy at first, until the ugly truth had been revealed, to not only her but the rest of the team as well.

         It hadn't been long until the rest of the team had been called in. Casey was called in after Reid and had gone over what she was going to say in her head but all of that was thrown out the window when she entered that room and she could physically feel her heart beat out of her chest. But frankly, she was done with the games and she was done with the way she was handling things before. She wasn't afraid anymore. So, if she had to be herself in this trial, so be it. She could care less about what other people were thinking now. It was a hard couple of months. And they had gotten worse in the span of another few months.

        After minor questions, the committee had gotten to the bigger questions. "So, you and Agent Reid made the decision to let Ian Doyle roam free under your care — is that correct?" Chairman Clark questioned and Casey looked up at the man.

       "Dr. Reid and I, sir," Casey corrected. "Didn't let him 'roam free' as you so put it. We both decided to stay close to him so he wouldn't roam free. That was the point of it all." The girl cleared up and sat tall in her seat as she did so.

       "So, you both made that decision? Or did Dr. Reid push you into making that decision without the knowledge of the rest of the committee?" Casey could understand why they felt the way they did. But she knew there was no other option they were going to take at the time. They had to do what they had to do. Even if that meant breaking a few rules.

       "I made this decision myself, sir, Dr. Reid didn't tell me to do anything. We made a decision together. What's happened happened." Casey told.

       "A foolish decision at that."

       "What, were you willing to let a boy die? Because if he did, that blood would be on your hands. He would've died, had we not acted as quickly as we did." Casey stated, getting fed up at this point.

        "Alright, calm down, honey."

        Casey sat up quickly. "One: you address me as Agent Willows. Not "honey", Agent Willows. Two: I am the wrong person you're telling to calm down."

         How did she and the team get into another mess like this? Let's recap:

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       Casey walked into the office and when she walked in, she had noticed JJ walking around the office and smiled. She had heard about JJ coming back and was ultimately happy that she was. This was her first time seeing her in a while. "JJ!" Casey called and JJ directed her attention at the girl and smiled.

      "So it is true! You're back!" Casey engulfed JJ in a hug as she did so and they both pulled away. "I know. I missed you!" JJ smiles. "I honestly thought Rossi was telling that lie just to get me to come to work." Casey chuckled.

       JJ had come back but she wasn't a communications liaison anymore. She had been reinstated as a profiler now. Ashley Seaver had transferred over to Andi Swan's unit shortly afterwards. Her and Casey briefly talked as they walked.

       The convo took a turn as JJ decided to ask: "So, how have you been?" Casey had shrugged as she thought. It had been a while since someone had asked her that question. "Uh, honestly pretty good. It took a while to heal from Emily, but with the help of the distraction with the job and the therapy sessions I've been going to, I can say that I'm pretty good." Casey smiled. JJ had a minor look on her face but Casey hadn't noticed the look of guilt.

       JJ smiled, "That's good," She took a pause. "And how's your relationship with that Marco guy going?"

       Casey took a pause in her step and looked at JJ. "How do you know about Marco?" She furrowed her brows.

      "Garcia told me." JJ answered and Casey nodded, "Ah.
Of course she did." They kept walking and Casey said, "Well, that thing ended pretty quickly."

       JJ looked at Casey. "Really?" She asked.

       Casey nodded, "Yeah. We wanted completely different things. He wanted me to move in with him and he wanted me to take a job at the PD where he worked. But, it didn't work out in the end. I told him there was no way in hell I was leaving Virginia no matter what. He understood, but we ended it there. He lives in New York and he was great guy, a really great guy, a really hot one, too, but... I don't know, maybe it wasn't meant to be."

       JJ put a hand on Casey's shoulder. "Sorry to hear that." She said and Casey shook her head, "It's okay."

       Casey had been telling the truth. Things really had ended with Marco. It had happened a couple of weeks ago when Casey had gone to visit him. She had discovered over dinner that he had recommended her at the job at the New York office, the one she and Morgan were suggested to go to. No one ever called them and they brushed it off but Casey was shocked to discover that her own boyfriend was the one that recommended her.

       They had gotten into a minor argument about it.

     "So, I thought you'd be a great fit for it, what's wrong with that?" Marco asked. He had been in the bathroom, finishing up brushing his teeth and spit in the sink. Casey had been outside of the bathroom, pacing in a robe as she listed.

     "What's wrong is that you didn't even think to tell me that you were going to recommend me to the New York office!" Casey argued.

     "I thought it would be a good surprise, sorry I didn't catch the memo." Marco told.

      "You know what a surprise is? Giving me a puppy, a ticket to Hawaii, front row seats to a football game for the Oregon Beavers, those are plenty of good surprises. This wasn't a surprise. More like you sprung this on me and expected me to say yes!"

      Marco walked out of the bathroom. "Because I thought you would say yes!"

    "See, that is where you're wrong, Marco! The BAU has always been my home, my family, my friends — my uncle was the co-founder of the BAU. Of course, it has a lot of meaning to me and I wouldn't just leave it for some other job."

     Marco faces his girlfriend. "We talked about New York. You said you would think about it so I gave a recommendation. That's all I did. I mean, it'd be nice to be a little bit closer to my girlfriend instead of us needing to catch the latest plane ticket available to see one another. I mean, aren't you tired of it?"

      Marco sat down and Casey took a breath. She knew where he was coming from with it, but he needed to realize that she needed to stay. And he got it, but he had his own job, his own life. And he needed to live it, even if she couldn't be a part of it.

     Casey sat next to him. "Yeah," She quietly spoke and interlocked her fingers with his. "I am tired of it." The girl took a deep sigh as she thought about what she needed to say and how she needed to end it. Her and Marco had this conversation a million times before. She knew he would keep asking and now, she knew she had to make her decision but she knew the answer... but Marco wasn't it.

     "But Virginia is my home. It's where I was born, it's where I graduated high school. Quantico has a lot of meaning to me. And I know New York is the same way for you."

      Marco looked Casey's way and took a deep breath. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." He admitted.
Casey sighed, "Maybe this wasn't."

     There had been a brief pause before Marco could admit it. The truth was sinking in and he knew he wasn't going to be a part of Casey's future and that hurt him. But he knew that he had to live his own life, even if Casey wasn't a part of it.

     "Casey, I think we should break up." He told. Casey exhales and nods. "I think we should break up, too."

      So, the next morning, Casey left back home to Virginia where she belonged.

     They both wanted different things... and that was okay.

     JJ and Casey walked into Morgan's office and saw Morgan and Garcia were talking. "Hey." JJ greeted. Both Morgan and Garcia looked towards the two and Casey realized what they were doing and what they had been doing for months now. Trying to find Ian Doyle. JJ had been unaware of what they were doing.

    "You guys seen Spence?" JJ asked. "He's at the firing range." Garcia answers. "Again?" Casey asked. "Ever since Prentiss died, he..." Garcia took a pause and JJ nodded, "Right."

     "Firing range, here, right?" Casey asked and Garcia nodded. "I can talk to him." JJ looks at Casey. "Are you sure? I think I should—" Casey interrupts and assures, "No, no. It's fine. He'll talk to me." The girl walks away and JJ looks at both Garcia and Morgan.

       "Don't try breaking those two up. They've become two peas in a pod since you left." Morgan joked. "Oh, I know." JJ says.

        Days had passed and Morgan discovered the whereabouts of Ian Doyle and saw that Doyle had found his son, Declan. Declan had gone missing and suspected Doyle had been a part of it. Now, he wasn't supposed to be doing this and Hotch had been away but he would be coming back shortly because they had successfully gotten Ian Doyle and had him in for custody.

Strauss, JJ and Casey had watched from outside of the interrogation room as Morgan had questioned Doyle about his son's disappearance. "How long has Agent Morgan been looking for Doyle?" Strauss decides to ask.

"Since the night he killed Prentiss in Boston." Casey admitted truthfully. "He refused to believe Doyle just vanished."

Strauss looked at the girl in disbelief. "He's been investigating Doyle for seven months?" She questions. "Yes," Casey answered. "Why, are you surprised? After what he did to Prentiss? It's taking me all I can not to go in there right now." Casey sighed.

"He seems genuine." JJ pointed out. "Well, of course he does. He's a master manipulator." Strauss told. "See his carotid? His heart started racing when Morgan told him about Declan. The tightness in his forehead, his darting eyes, are signs of real concern." JJ stated.

Okay, Profiler JJ... I like you. Casey thought in her head.

"Well, if he didn't take his son, then who did?" Strauss questioned. "That's for us to find out." Casey sighed.

JJ had gone, leaving Casey and Strauss in the interrogation room as they watched the interrogation go down. Rossi had entered the room and Casey realized that both he and Reid were back. "He didn't do it." Was the first thing Strauss said to Rossi. "No." Rossi told.

"What the hell is going on here?" Strauss questioned and both Casey and Rossi looked at the woman. Casey had remembered the sudden outbursts she had but that was when she was drinking. Casey then realized that Strauss kind of smelt of alcohol too, if you got close enough. But surely, that was just a coincidence of the outburst?

"What?" Strauss questioned.
"Nothing." Rossi said and looked over at Casey and noticed that she had seen the same thing.
"Has Aaron landed?" Strauss asks.
"He's on his way."
"Good."

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The team had been called into the roundtable room to chat with Hotch. Casey had walked in the room with Morgan and saw Garcia and Reid chatting.

"You get anywhere with Doyle?" Reid asks. "Doyle doesn't think Gerace has the guts to take him on." Morgan stated. "But that's definitely Gerace on the tape." Garcia pointed out.

"Welcome back." Morgan said as Hotch walked in the room and the first thing that Casey noticed was his beard. "Nice beard, boss." Casey smirked. "Thanks." Hotch told.

"Everybody have a seat." Hotch told and Casey and Morgan were the only two that remained standing as everyone else in the room had taken a seat. JJ and Hotch stood in front of the team. "Why? What's going on? Everything all right?" Morgan asked.

Hotch took a deep breath before speaking. "Seven months ago I made a decision that affected this team. As you all know, Emily had lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle. But the doctors were able to stabilize her." Casey furrowed her brows as Hotch spoke. "And she was airlifted from Boston to Bethesda under a covert exfiltration."

Casey exchanged looks with Morgan, Garcia, Reid and Rossi. All - except Rossi - were confused by what this meant.

"Her identity was strictly need-to-know. And she stayed there until she was well enough to travel. She was reassigned to Paris where she was given several identities, none of which we had access to for her security."

Casey's heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. The voice of Hotch had faded out and all she could hear had been her ears ringing. Clearly, this was some pathetic joke.

"She's alive?" Garcia questioned, her voice cracking as she did so. The whole team looked at their boss in disbelief. "But we buried her." Reid pointed out.

"As I said, I take full responsibility for the decision. If anyone has any issues, they should be directed toward me." Hotch told. "Any issues?" Morgan questioned. "Yeah, I got issues."

Casey shook her head and Hotch looked towards the girl, expecting most of the heat to be from her. She was quiet at first, but now she was firing back. "So, you're telling me that I went through four months of therapy for nothing, I carried her damn coffin—"

"Casey—" Reid tried but Casey immediately shut him down. "No, I carried her damn coffin, I watched her take her last breath... and she's been alive this entire time?"

"Casey—" Hotch tried.

"Do you not know what I went through? What we all went through? You lied to us, Hotch." Casey told.

"It was for the team."
"Bullshit." Casey spat.

"Casey, I understand that you're angry right now—" JJ tried next. "I'm not angry, I'm pissed off. Seven months. Seven months... you've been lying to us. I can't believe this crap—" Before Casey could walk out of the office, she looked up and it was like she was staring at a ghost.

There, Emily Prentiss, alive and well, stood in front of her. It had been a shock to the others as well as her as they looked at the girl at the doorway. Tears brimmed in the girl's eyes.

All of the grieving, all of the pain... all for nothing.

It hadn't even been thirty seconds and Garcia had already rushed up for a hug. Reid had followed, giving Prentiss a hesitant hug and everyone reunited with their loved one.

Casey stood in shock and didn't even bring herself to move towards Emily and neither did Morgan. "I am so sorry. I really am. Not a day went by that I didn't want to..." Emily spoke and looked at both Casey and Morgan.

Emily made her way over to Casey. "Really, I-- you didn't deserve that." Casey touched the woman's arm and engulfed her in a hug. She had time to be mad later but all she could do right now is reunite with her friend.

After that hug, Emily made her way over to Morgan. "And I'm so sorry." She hugged him and Morgan seemed hesitant to hug her back.

Emily looked around at the team. "There's so much I want to tell you guys, and I will. I promise. But right now I really need to know what's going on with Declan."

"Emily, was there a man living at the house?" Reid asked. "Yes. My friend Tom Koehler. He was raising Declan as his own." Emily answers. "Where is he?" JJ asked. "I never saw him go in or out of that house." Garcia told. "He was on assignment overseas." Emily stated.

"But he's all right?" JJ asked. "Yes, he's on his way back now. He got a call from Declan, he called me, and when I landed, Hotch told me that you had Doyle in custody." Emily explained.

"And because of Tom's line of work, that's why you enrolled Declan in a boarding school." Hotch stated. "I made sure that he, Louise, and I were the only ones allowed to take him off campus." Emily told.

"Louise took him home last night because he was sick." Reid said. "Food poisoning." Hotch added. "Yeah, a few of the kids had it, apparently. So whoever did this got to him on campus. They knew they only had one chance." Reid told.

"Current suspect is Richard Gerace. He's the most recent arrival into the states. We've been tracking his progress through the city, but we came up empty." JJ explained. "But we know it's him because he has the scar." Garcia said. "That doesn't make sense," Emily said. "Why?" Casey asked. "Because Gerace gave up on Doyle a long time ago." Emily said.

"He said you were the only one who knew Gerace." Rossi said. "Which is why I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the balls to pull this off. There was no forced entry at the house?" Emily questioned.

"I had two agents working security." Morgan said. It was clear on his face that he was still in shock of Emily being alive and standing in front of him. "We think Gerace and his partner posed as the next shift, and one of the agents was a woman."

"She's the Alpha." Emily stated. "So we're looking for a woman who's getting back at Doyle." Casey thought. "And our suspect list just got a whole lot longer." Emily crossed her arms.

Emily had given Garcia the list of the women that Doyle had wronged and both Casey and JJ joined the other two in Garcia's lair. "Doyle had relations with all of these ladies?" Garcia questioned.

"Most." Emily said. "Wow." Garcia commented. "Hey, can you shoot these into the roundtable room for me?" Emily questioned. "Anything you say, visitor Prentiss." Garcia joked. "Thanks." Emily smiled and both JJ and Emily walk out of the room.

Casey and Penelope were in the room alone and Garcia noticed the look on Casey's face. "What's up, fair maiden?" She asks and Casey looked Garcia's way. "You're not mad?" Casey questioned.

"Mad at what?" Garcia asked.

"They lied to us," Casey told. "Hotch, Emily, JJ, they all did. And now we're just supposed to go back to normal and pretend nothing happened? What we went through didn't happen?" Casey questioned and Garcia thought.

"Emily's back, that's all that matters to me." Garcia said. "I get that and I'm happy she's back, too. But... it can't erase all of the pain I've gone through in these past months." Casey nearly lost her job because of this loss, it almost killed her at that point. Only people she really had guiding her through anything had been her therapist, Reid and Marco and that had been it. And she had lost Marco. The only person she really had now had been Reid.

Casey had gone to the restroom and washed her face with water. She needed to be refreshed after this entire day and had already seemed to take her down. After her minor break, she went back into the roundtable room as Emily began to debrief the team about Doyle and Gerace.

"These women are associates of Doyle's who may have crossed paths with Gerace." Emily said. "Anyone have a deeper personal connection with Doyle?" Morgan asked. "Whoever took Declan showed a lot of rage at the nanny." Hotch said. "She had been with Doyle since before Declan was born." Emily said. "The nanny represents a caregiver, a mother figure." Reid said.

Casey thought, "Who's Declan's mother?" She asked and Emily looked stumped at the question. "Doyle told me she was dead."

So, Emily had decided to talk to Doyle about Declan's mother. She was alive and was seeking revenge on Doyle. She never wanted to have Declan, yet he forced her to. It was all the more reason to go after him. She had a lot of charges on her and she seemed psycho enough as it is.

The rest of the team - minus Garcia - had decided to head to Baltimore as Reid, Emily and Casey decided to stay at the BAU. They watched Doyle in his interrogation room and Reid's cell started to ring and he picked it up and hung up soon after and revealed: "Declan's disappeared. They had him at the warehouse, but now they're gone." He decided to head into the interrogation room.

Reid stood in front of Doyle now. "Your ex is working with Lachlan McDermott. How would he leave the country?" Reid asked. "I don't know," Doyle answered. "He's got endless funds. You'll never stop him."

"He hates you, doesn't he?" Reid asks.
"More than you do." Doyle says.
"Then I think we should give him what he really wants, you." Reid told.

Emily immediately stormed into that interrogation room. "No, we are not letting him out of here, Reid." Emily stated. "Emily, I will chain myself to him if I have to." Reid said. "He'll find a way to escape." Emily told.
"No, he won't, and we're running out of time. If we find McDermott now, we have a chance to save Declan."

There was a pause and Casey nodded, "He's right." She told. Emily turned over to the girl. "Casey—"

"There's no other way, Emily. This is our only option and we have to go through with it. Otherwise, we won't find Declan and he'll be dead." Casey told.

"But, it's too risky—"

"Screw that, it's two against one." Casey told and stepped towards Reid. "Besides, it's our only option that will lead us right to Declan."

With no other choice, Emily hesitantly agreed, hoping Reid and Casey were doing the right thing. She had told Strauss of the plan and decided to head to Baltimore with the two.

They had gone to the airport where Doyle, McDermott and Declan's mother had all been shot, trying to get away. Doyle died, holding onto his son's hand as he did so.

The committee found out of their actions and called to trial. Which lead them to where they were now.

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The BAU team of profilers all sat in a line, all of them sitting properly, their hands folded together and Reid sat back in his seat. Casey sat in between Rossi and Reid and looked up at the committee.

"This team took many unprecedented risks. None were approved. The DIOG has rules, and you chose to ignore every last one. That's blatant disrespect to the bureau and to authority of law in general. What I find interesting is that you are the experts in behavior but find nothing wrong with yours."

"May I?" Emily spoke. "The journey was not traditional, but this team neutralized four international criminals and saved the life of a young boy in the process."

"You started a war with Ian Doyle years ago that this team and the US government had to finish. The rest of you are dismissed. Agent Prentiss, we're not done."

With that, Casey got up out of her seat and headed back to the BAU offices. She had been with Morgan and Reid and it had been a moment before going back to the team.

Casey had seen the rest of the team and saw that Rossi was taking Emily's portrait down. She exchanged looks and began to walk away. "Casey." Hotch stopped her. "What?" Casey turned around to her boss.

"I know what you've been through. I understand that you're angry, but I hope that you understand that this is not about you... or me. This was about saving Emily." Casey heard Hotch say the exact same thing to Morgan.

Casey exhaled, "I understand that, Hotch. But... I went through hell with this situation. And to be lied to in a situation that is this one, feels like an incredible joke. And I don't even know what to feel right now. But I know I don't like being lied to. Especially about something like this."

"Casey—"

"We need to talk." Strauss walked into the offices and up to the roundtable room. Hotch gave the girl a look that said: 'We'll talk about this later'.

Everyone met up at the round table room and Strauss delivered the news. "The committee made it clear they will not support a rogue team. Agent Prentiss convinced them you were not that. They will be watching you closely. So I suggest you play by their rules."

"So, we're okay?" Garcia asked.

"Suspension is lifted for everyone." Casey took a sigh of relief. "Thank you, ma'am." JJ said for everyone.

"There may be more paperwork, considering your... situation," Strauss said, looking towards Emily. "But the team is lucky to have you, if you're interested."

"May I think about it?"
"Of course."
     "I'm in."
Everyone in the room smiled at Emily's answer. 

"I have a stack of cases on my desk." Strauss said. "I'm happy to pass them all off to you." Hotch nodded, "I'll pick them up in the morning." With that, Strauss left.

"Emily, uh... what did you tell them?" Morgan asked. Emily had told them that the only people she knew that could accomplish a mission like that had been the BAU team. With that, the committee understood.

Casey was happy to have her family reunited again but in a way, anger lurked. And it wouldn't be a pretty sight to see once it was unleashed.

hey, lovelies!
we are now on s7!! 🥳
peep the new gif even tho i hate it lol
anywaysss
thank you for reading!
this was a crazy ass episode
and it's only gonna get crazier lol
also
s7 will be the last season i will be doing in this book but fret not - s8-s12 will be next for book two!!!
yes, there will be three books for this series
and i am excited!!!
what are y'all's predictions for this next episode?
y'all know which one im talking about lmao
-mya <333333