CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE: ANGEL !

7x18

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      CASEY HAD WAKEN UP DUE TO HER PHONE RINGING AND GARCIA TELLING HER THAT THEY HAD A CASE. She had only gotten one hour of sleep. As she boarded the jet, a fit of yawns of escaped each time she took a step.

     "Hi, hi, hi. Sorry for the cryptic late-night text, but I promised I'd fill you in on the way here, and I am a girl who keeps her promises, so," Garcia started on the computer as soon as Casey sat herself down. "This boy was found two hours ago in the middle of nowhere. Technically he was found outside of Crockett, Arizona. My point is, he has clearly been to super hell and escaped some sort of captivity."

      "How do we know he wasn't just dropped off there?" Morgan asks. "Well, he has fresh cuts on the bottom of his feet from the local cactus fields, and that's away from any through roads. And his skin is rubbed raw around his ankles from chains." Garcia explained.

      "He must've had a chance to escape and he took it." Morgan told. "Or the unsub could have had him in transit." Emily says. "My God, you guys, look at his eyes." Casey looks at the pictures in front of her. He looks scared, confused.

       "Yeah, he's jaundiced. Probably hasn't seen daylight in a while." JJ told. "Yeah, and there's a lot of scars here." Morgan pointed out. "And those are the ones we can see." Rossi stated.

       "It's hard to tell for certain, but he's maybe 13." Emily tells. "Are there any missing children in the area, Garcia?" Reid asks. "None until now, but, sir, you may have more information than I do." Garcia tells Hotch.

       He nods, "I do. Earlier tonight another boy was reported missing in Flagstaff." Hotch informed the team. "That's not too far. It can't be a coincidence." Casey told. "Technically it could," Reid spoke. "But Arizona has the lowest abduction rate in the country, so the chances of these cases not being related are ridiculously slim."

        Just like the chances of you ever not talking are ridiculously slim, genius. Casey thought in her head as she rolled her eyes.

       "Yeah. That's why child abduction rapid deployment will meet you on the ground." Garcia told. "The Flagstaff abduction is Billy Henderson, thirteen. His parents say he was coming back from a friend's house after dinner. He never made it." Hotch explained.

      "Okay, they set up roadblocks, but the unsub has a head start." Garcia told. "Right now our best chance of finding Billy Henderson is to figure out what the first victim knows." Morgan said. "Exactly, so, Morgan, you, Willows and JJ go to the hospital, see if you can get through to him." The three nodded at one another and went straight to the hospital when the jet landed.

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     Morgan, JJ and Casey all met with the doctor taking care of the boy they had found. They had run into a bit of a small problem. "You can't examine the scars?" Morgan asks. "I can't get close enough," The doctor told. "He has the most severe case of CER I've ever seen."

     "Conditioned emotional response." Casey told. "I've only seen it in vets." The doctor told. "That's worse than PTSD." JJ added. "He had an adrenaline rush when he escaped, but coming down from that will be just as extreme." The doctor said. "And I'm sure he's sensitive to light and sound." Morgan told. "Incredibly." The doctor nodded.

       "We're keeping it as quiet and dark as possible." The doctor stated. "It's probably what he's used to." JJ says. "He's also been somewhere cramped. His legs show signs of advanced arthritis." The doctor said.

        "Any idea how old he is?" JJ asked. "It's hard to tell," The doctor answered. "His growth has been stunted. He's got major tooth and skin decay, clearly from a massive vitamin D deficiency."
         "Best guess?" Casey asked and all stopped to look at the doctor. "Maybe sixteen." He answered.

       The agents flash their badges towards the police officer and walk in the dark hospital room. A tray is untouched on the bed and the boy is cramped under a table in the corner of the room. JJ, Casey and Morgan all exchange a look and Casey and Morgan decided to hide their guns so they don't scare him.

       The three knelt down to get a better look at him under the table. "Hey," Morgan spoke to the boy. "My name's Derek. I'm one of the good guys. And these are my friends."
       "I'm Jennifer."
       "And I'm Casey."

     "You're safe now," JJ spoke. "Doctor says you haven't been eating much. Food looks pretty good." Morgan told the boy. "You must be thirsty." JJ grabs a waterbottle and tries to hand it to the boy but it backfired when he throws it. JJ assures to the boy that it's okay. It's understandable for why he was acting this way.

       "JJ, this is years of conditioning. Have Garcia go back to 2000 for missing kids." Morgan tells and JJ nods, "Yeah." Casey decided to join her and Garcia kept trying and trying but couldn't find anything.

         Garcia was going to try something so she hung up on JJ and Casey had gone to get snacks for herself and JJ since she knew of the fact that they were probably staying there a while. Casey gives JJ a bag of Cheetos and Casey got herself apple slices.

JJ had decided to strike up conversation as they waited for Garcia to call back. "So, you still not speaking to Spence?" She asked.

"Nope, those chances are ridiculously slim." Casey mocked him and JJ chuckles a bit. "I'm sure he feels bad." She says. "Oh, I know he does," Casey said. "And I don't really care, he can beg all he wants. I kind of hold grudges, you know."

"Believe me, I'd be pretty mad, too." JJ told. "I'm on your side with this one." Casey raises her eyebrows. "You are?" She was sure that JJ would've taken Reid's side since they were best friends but she guessed that maybe that wasn't the case. "He may be my best friend, but it doesn't mean what he said was right. Believe me, everyone's on your side, we're just being civil about it." JJ explained. "Suck on that, Reid." Casey told and JJ chuckles until Garcia calls her.

The two head back into the room and take notice that the lights are on and the boy is out of his hiding space and bonding with Morgan. He notices JJ and Casey and almost goes back to his spot when Morgan assures that it's okay. The boy stays in his spot. Casey hands Morgan a water as she sits on the ground next to him and JJ sits in a seat.

"What did Garcia find out?" He asks the two. "She broadened her search, but nothing that matches his description." JJ told. "Somebody's gotta be missing this kid." Morgan tells.

An alarm outside begins to go off, making the boy go back into his hiding space almost immediately when Morgan tries, "No, hey, hey, no. No, no. That's not for us. That's not for us. It's for the doctors outside. It's for the doctors, not for us. It's all right."

The boy comes back out and looks around and goes back to the space he was sitting in. Morgan hands him a coin and Morgan looks at both Casey and JJ. "I, um, I got him to nod, but... not much more than that." Morgan stated.

"And you asked him his name?" Casey asked. "Yeah." Morgan nods. "What about in Spanish?" JJ asks. "It doesn't matter the language if he won't talk." Morgan told. JJ decides to try it as she sits on the ground next to Casey. "Mi nombre es Jennifer. ¿Como te llamas?" When that doesn't work, JJ asks, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

JJ tries to talk to him. "Can I see what you have there?" The boy holds the coin up that Morgan gave him. "Ah. Do you like eagles?" JJ asks, noticing the eagle on the coin.

The boy points to the wings on the coin. "Yeah, the wings are-- are beautiful, aren't they?" The boy then touches his back. "Your back?" The boy points to the coin and then to his back. "Wings? Wings on your back?"

Casey figured it out, "Angel?" The boy stops and looks over at Casey. "Is your name Angel?" The boy smiles at Casey. Both her and JJ decide to call Garcia to see what they could find.

JJ spoke with Garcia as Casey watched over Morgan and Angel, the boy. Morgan was doing a lot of bonding with this kid. She watched as JJ hung up, talked to one of the doctors and then walked over to Casey. "Garcia find anything?" Casey asked.

"Angel Suarez, she found him through school records." JJ informed and the doctors walked in, needing to check in on Angel. Morgan, JJ and Casey had decided to give the boy a break with the questions.

They had given the doctors fifteen minutes with Angel as they went to go and get coffee. "Do you think Angel blames himself?" JJ asks. "I know I did." Morgan told. "So did I." Casey said, looking at the ground.

"You know, seeing his mom for the first time may not go well." JJ told. "Well, right now it's just about the shame he's feeling. She's gonna have to realize that he may not want to see her." Morgan said.

As they were about to walk in the room, hell broke loose when they had seen Angel cutting himself with a scalpel. The three immediately rushed as JJ hit the button for help and Morgan stopped him from hurting himself. Casey wrapped a towel around Angel's arms as Morgan held onto him so he wouldn't do anything. Casey and Morgan exchanged a look. He couldn't live anymore with the pain.

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Angel's mother had came to the hospital, begging to see her son but JJ knew he probably didn't want to see her like this. She led her away to ask her questions. Morgan had stayed in Angel's room. He was in a hospital bed, sleeping soundly. Casey had decided to follow beside JJ and decided to talk to Angel's mother as well.

They had found out that Angel had been abducted when he was playing in his front yard after school and she never saw him again. She tried to look for him and she wanted to tell the authorities but they would have to leave the country and she had to think of the entire family. After speaking with his mother, Casey had called Garcia and she gave her the lists of suspects and maybe Angel could recognize him.

As Casey was about to walk in, she had overheard and walked in on a conversation between Morgan and Angel. "Carl Buford." Casey watched the scene. "That's the name of the man who hurt me. I was just a young boy like you, Angel. And I thought about doing that very same thing to myself. I did." He points to his wrists.

"Because the shame was too much. But instead, I kept the pain buried inside of me. And it tore me apart. But, Angel, I never let that son of a bitch beat me. I never gave him that. I want to make this man pay for what he's done to you. But I need your help. I promise you that whoever hurt you will not win. You and me together can take away what he kept from you and what he values the most, and that's freedom. Angel, please. Will you help me do that?"

Casey had watched and was reminded of herself. She was about Angel's age when what happened to her happened to her. It was one of the main reasons she took this job - to stop the bastards like Eddie Wiley and throw them in a jail cell to rot. She related too much to Angel when it came to pain. She never did that - but like Morgan, she thought about it. She kept the pain buried inside - but she didn't let it define it. She kept going. And for Angel, Casey would keep going for him, too.

Casey walked into the room and the two noticed her as held the tablet up of the suspects' pictures. "Can you tell us if any of these men look familiar?" She asks Angel. The boy looks at the pictures and he answers: "No. It was always too dark. I'm so sorry." He apologizes. "It's okay." Casey assures.

JJ had come back into the room and Angel had been ready to talk to them about what the man would do. "What did he do? You can tell me." Angel looks at Morgan and begins to think. "He used to... he used to bite me. He hasn't for a while. But he did... he did other things."

"Will you let the doctor take a look?" JJ asks and looks at Morgan and Casey. "Maybe we can match dental records." Casey nods and looks at Morgan; who looks at Angel. Angel agrees, "Okay."

Casey and JJ had decided to speak to Angel's mother when Hotch told them to ask if Angel had a puppy the day he was abducted. "A puppy?" JJ asks. Angel's mother nodded, "That's right. Some of the neighbors were giving them away that day. They had a whole box. But I wouldn't let the boys keep one."

"Hotch, you hear that?" Casey asks. "Yes. Thanks." Hotch tells. "Uh, wait, Hotch. Um..." JJ turns away from the woman and Casey listens in. "We're trying to get a dental match. He's got old bite marks on him." She spoke lowly.

The woman that had been related to the unsub had gasped and the two could hear it. "What is it?" Emily asked. "Oh, my... my dad has his teeth recapped a few years ago. He said something like, that's what happens when you get older or whatever. He made a joke about it."

That's when they knew, they had him.

JJ stayed on the phone as Hotch and Rossi was informing the two about what was going on. "We're heading to Allen's house." Rossi told. "You think he's got a secondary location?" Casey asks. "He could, but guys like him keep their victims close. We'll search every inch of the property."

"Keep us posted." JJ told. "Will do." With that, JJ hung up. "JJ, Willows," Both of the women turned around to see Morgan. "What's going on?" He asks.

Casey and JJ exchange a glance when Casey decides to answers: "They're going to find J. B. Allen." Casey knew what she was expecting when Morgan began to head out the doors.

"Morgan."
"Come on, Morgan."

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After Billy Henderson was found and Morgan had successfully caught Allen (and beat the crap out of him), Angel and his mother reunited and the team headed back home. Casey had decided to meet up with Morgan in his office to check up on him since the case hit close to home for not only him - but for Casey, as well.

As Casey walked in, she saw Morgan holding a coin. "Do you always keep them with you?" She asks in curiousness. "Yeah, but the one I gave Angel was the only one that had wings on it." Morgan stated.

"You know Angel's never gonna let that go, right?" Casey asked. "What you shared, I know that wasn't easy." Morgan shakes his head. "None of this is easy."

"I mean, how did you deal with that? You were so alone." Casey told. "I'm here right now because of what that man did to me." Morgan stated. "I know. And I'm here for that exact reason. What Eddie did to me... I was Angel's age when that happened. Every time I saw him, I saw myself. I get it." Casey told.

Maybe that was the reason Morgan and Casey got on so well. Shared trauma and such. They understood each other. They walked out of Morgan's office and headed out of the BAU, another day coming to an end.

said it before i'll say it again
morgan and casey are the #1 brotp 🫶
anywayssss
thank you for reading!
the next chapter is going to be an original
also look at me with feeding y'all originals lmaoooo
this next one is gonna be a doozy lol
i love you all
-mya <33