CHAPTER FOURTEEN: NICE SHINER, KID !

4x03
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CASEY HAD SAT HERSELF IN THE FRONT SEAT AS NANCY LUNDE DROVE DOWN TO COLORADO. She had offered to take the backseat but that had already been reserved to Spencer Reid.

Casey fiddled with her blouse a bit and looked at the dry land to keep the butterflies in her stomach from exploding outside of her stomach.
She was nervous, to say the least. Excited that this would be the first undercover case as an intern but downright scared if she had messed up one little thing and she hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Sure, she had been on cases before with the Bureau but never one she had to be undercover for. Reid had examined the file in front of him as his head peeked through the seat and the filed opened. "Tell us about the 911 call." Reid said, talking to Nancy as she drove.

"I believe the he that they referred to is the church's leader, Benjamin Cyrus." Nancy informed as Reid looked at the file and Casey decided to take a peek at it as well since it had been right in front of her.

"Benjamin Cyrus — no criminal record. No record at all, really." Reid pointed out and Casey nudged her head towards the woman driving. "What else do you know about him?" She asked.

Nancy continued, "It's rumored that he's practicing polygamy and forced marriages." Casey continued as she examined the file. "Any idea who the caller is?" She asked.

"Uh, Jessica Evanson is the one who the age fits, but... we can't be sure, so I negotiated interviews with all the children. It wasn't easy." Nancy explained. "A place like this, I'm sure it wasn't." Casey commented.

"Well, considering their view on outsiders, it would be best if you didn't identify us as FBI." Reid explained so Casey didn't have to. He had handed her the fake ID of her identity of being a child victim interview expert. "Just use our real names and introduce us as Child-Victim Interview Experts." Nancy nodded to the two.

The butterflies in Casey's stomach grew bigger and bigger as Nancy had found the road and parked right in front of the building. Casey took a deep breath before exiting the car and tried her best to look professional and she was pretty much already killing it. The three had noticed a scruff man at the end of the steps of the church. He had a bible in his hand and reading glasses on. Something was already off about the man to Casey. She guessed that it had been just part of being a profiler.

"I'm looking for Mr. Benjamin Cyrus." Nancy told, approaching the man first and Casey had come around the car next to the woman. "You found him." The man answered. "I'm Nancy Lunde." She introduced. "We spoke on the phone, regarding the allegation."

       The man had stood up and had taken his glasses off his face and closed the page of the Bible he was reading. "Savages they call us, because our manners differ from theirs." Benjamin stated as he walked towards the three.

"We didn't come here to hear you cite Scripture, Mr. Cyrus." Nancy stated. "Actually,
It's Benjamin Franklin." Reid corrected.

"Casey Willows," Nancy looked towards the two agents. "Spencer Reid — The Child-Victim Interview Experts." Casey nodded to the man as a sign of respect. Even with what this sick guy might've done, she acknowledged that he was still a human being. She had to do that to keep her cool.

"How far from God's word must we have strayed for there to be the need to invent a job called 'Child-Victim Interview Expert'." Casey bit her tongue from exchanging out a comment and stood up straight and nodded, "We wish we didn't have to be here." She told.

"So do we," Benjamin said. "But you are welcome, nonetheless. The children are in the school, as I indicated." Casey and Nancy had begun to make their way up the steps of the school and Spencer had followed behind with Benjamin.

The girl they had needed to talk to the most had been Jessica Evanson and she had seated herself in front of them in an empty classroom (only full of children and Nancy) as they interviewed her. Her mother stood beside her, watching over as they talked to her.

"We go to school. We do our chores. And we treat ourselves and each other with the respect that God demands." The girl explained and Casey nodded in understanding. "But you've never been off of the ranch?" Casey asked.

"I brought Jessie here when she was two." Jessica's mother stated and Casey had looked back at the girl as she continued to speak. "You've talked to lots of children in your work. Tell me, are their lives somehow better than ours?" Casey looked up at Reid and then exhaled.

"We devote ourselves to God. That doesn't mean we're not devoted to our children." Jessica's mother interfered and Casey shook her head. "We are not here because of your religious beliefs, Miss Evanson." She clarified.

Jessica squinted her eyes at the girl. "Why are you here?" She asked in curiousness. "Well, we received a phone call alleging that an adult male member of your church was having inappropriate relations with the younger women here. Girls like your age." Casey has explained to the girl in the most professional way she could.

"You're talking about Cyrus." The girl told.

"What makes you say that?" Casey questioned.

Jessie's mother had tried to step in and tried to shush her but Jessie kept continuing. "Is it inappropriate for a husband to share a bed with his wife?" Casey's eyes widened at the sentence she had just heard come out of the girl's mouth. If she wasn't being professional right now, she would've totally reacted a different way than how she reacted just now.

"You're married to Cyrus?" Casey asked.

Jessie nodded, "Yes. Cyrus is my husband
and a Prophet. It's an honor to bear his children." Casey couldn't help but widen her eyes again and she looked up at Jessie's mother and her behavior. In college, Casey had studied sociology and had a major in that and she studied the behavior of Jessie's mother at the very moment.

"Jessica, you're fifteen years old," Reid remarked. "The State of Colorado requires parental consent." Casey nudged her head to the mother. "She gave consent."

       Before they can continue the interview, a couple of men with guns and Cyrus had entered the room. "Get up! Get up!" They told and Casey had gotten up from her spot, wondering what the hell was occurring and they began to pat down both Casey and Reid.

      "What's going on?" Nancy questioned.

      "We just got a very strange phone call from a news reporter. Is there anything you want to tell me? About a raid, maybe?" Casey's eyes were wide and she had been confused about the situation Cyrus had been accusing her and Reid of and he was just as confused as her. Cyrus had gotten good looks on their faces and decided: "They don't know."

       With that, Cyrus had ordered everyone to go and hide into some type of underground tunnel like a safe place for people to go in dire emergencies and he had even issued for Spencer, Casey and Nancy to join. Casey followed behind small children in the darkness and had bent down a bit so she wouldn't hit her head on anything.

       "What's going on?" She heard Nancy behind her, her voice being a bit distinct. "I don't know, just stay calm." Reid said, his voice being a bit clearer than Nancy's.

        Casey had heard the gunfire above as she made it to the type of safe place and looked around at all of the children. A bunch of adults had followed behind the girl and her team. "All right, move quietly. Quickly, go to the left. Everybody stay together. Children, listen to your parents. Have faith." Cyrus and two others ordered and Casey couldn't help but notice the weaponry everywhere.

        Casey whispered over at Reid. "Where did all these guns come from?" She questioned. "I don't know. Garcia checked with the state police." Reid told.

       "Stay together, remain calm." Casey watched as the adults moved the children over to the corner and reassuring them that everything would be alright.

       Lunde's eyes found Casey and by her body language, Casey could tell that she was irritated. "This is ridiculous." She said and Casey looked at her with assuring eyes, "It's okay. Just calm down."

       A man had whispered something over at Cyrus and the man in charge looked ahead at the women and children. "All right. Remain calm, stay quiet. God will protect you." Casey sighed and overheard as the gunshots had continued. This was definitely not what she was expecting when she got out of bed today.

       Nancy looked over at the two FBI agents. "It's the state police. I'm an officer of the state." She told and Casey shrugged, "Well, there's nothing we can do right now." Not even taking into what Casey said, Nancy looked ahead. "I can talk to him." She had begun to leave and Casey could tell it was gonna be a bloodbath if she went up there with no plan.

       "No, you can't," Casey said as she tried to reach Nancy through the crowd of children. "It's dangerous. Nancy, stop!" Nancy had moved fast and Casey and Reid weren't quick enough. "You can't do it! You're gonna get yourself killed! Nancy!" Nancy had passed through but one of the guards watching over them had stepped out in front of Casey with a loaded shotgun in his hands and she knew she couldn't make a move. But Cyrus had come back.

     "Do not fear. We are on the side of the righteous." Casey approaches Cyrus. "Where's Lunde?" She questions. "It wasn't us." The woman that Casey had just been talking to was dead. "What? You can't shoot it out with the cops! You have children here. You can't continue it!" Casey told.

       "I didn't start this," Cyrus said and looked over at his men. "I'll take the roof. You take the tunnel." From what Casey had heard, they had been pulling out and both her and Reid knew that that wasn't gonna be long until they tried again.

Soon, the children had cleared out, leaving only Reid and Casey along with another guard and Cyrus and another man had been coming down the steps with their guns in their hands.

"Miles is dead. He was locking the door when they shot him. Lauren and Robert were asleep in their bed. The bullets came through the wall." A man had informed Cyrus. "What about the baby?" Cyrus questioned.

As if on-cue, Jessica had followed with a child in her hands. "I have her. She was at the school." Cyrus had approached the two. "Hello, darling. It's all gonna be all right, honey. Mommy and Daddy have gone to God. Okay?" Casey looked down at Reid since she had been standing up. This guy had been sick.

"It's all gonna be all right. Take her to the temple and pray." Cyrus told and Jessica nodded, taking the baby with her and Cyrus looks at the man in front of her. "Distribute weapons and ammo. I prayed this day would never come. But it has." Cyrus puts a hand on the man's shoulder. "God will see us through." The man walks back up and Casey stared hard at the man and he stared back and he followed the other man upstairs.

Casey had no idea what would happen next but she hoped it would end up with them getting out safely, along with the children. She just hoped that the BAU had already figured out what happened and that they were already on their way and knowing them, she knew they were.

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      First light had come and Casey had gotten at least forty minutes of sleep. She didn't do well in sleeping in places she didn't recognize or feel as if she didn't belong to.

As for the BAU team, Hotch had put Rossi as lead negotiator for the case. Rossi had gotten the opportunity to talk to Cyrus himself where he had informed them that one of the three children services workers had died. Everyone had felt the stress into thinking it had been either Casey or Reid and Hotch began to silently blame himself for sending the youngest of the team in there. Morgan already felt himself deteriorating from the group already as he heard the news and his heart pounded in his chest in worrisome and Emily felt her heart drop down to her stomach. But to their luck, Nancy had been the one down. It was still upsetting to hear that someone was dead but they were relieved that it wasn't Casey or Reid.

Cyrus had wanted essentials for the church and had ordered Rossi to bring the essentials by himself. And now, he had had been on his way to the church to do so.

       Reid and Casey were sitting in the chapel with others surrounding and sitting in spaces. They had kept to themselves and looked over towards the door when there had been a knock. Cyrus had opened the door a crack and Casey couldn't see who he was greeting.

      "Come on in," Casey looked and spotted the familiar David Rossi, standing as they took the box from him and patted him down. Cyrus had motioned to the children to the seats and then over at Casey and Reid, calling them their guests.

Casey's eyes lingered on Rossi but for only a minute so this wouldn't cause attention. The men had exchanged a few words that Casey couldn't listen in on but she knew that Rossi would try their best to make sure they would get out of this alive. He wouldn't risk putting Reid or Casey or the children in danger.

       They had shaken hands and Rossi had left just like that. Cyrus closed the door behind him and turned towards one of his men. "Prepare the wine."

       Before Casey knew it, her and Reid were standing in the back as everyone had cups in their hands that Cyrus had been pouring wine into.  Casey had been studying the behaviors of everyone to see if they worshipped this "God" in front of them.

          "We are celebrating. Everyone drinks. Everyone rejoices. Because today we are one day closer to being with him." Cyrus said as he made his way over to Jessica and she smiled up at him.

           Casey leaned over to Reid as she looked at the girl. "Look at Jessica's body language," She whispers. "The way she looks at him. She's... comfortable around him, not hasty or nervous and usually you would be that way if you around somebody you weren't comfortable with." Casey explained and Reid nodded in agreement as he looked at the girl as well. "She literally worships him. There's no way she made that 9-1-1 call."

            "Trust in God with all your heart. Lean not on your own understandings. Trust in mine." Cyrus continued and Casey noticed how Jessica's mother had tried to get Jessica's attention but Jessica only paid attention to Cyrus himself, ignoring her mother. "Look how she comes between Cyrus and her daughter. She's inserted herself between them." Casey pointed out to Reid, adding onto the fact that she couldn't have possibly made the 911 call.

             "Acknowledge him in all things, and he will guide your way. Drink to acknowledge him. And I will guide our way." With that, Cyrus had drank from his cup of wine and the children and the adults had drank the wine as well.

              Cyrus looked at those who looked up to him. "We will be with him soon. We have drank the poison together." Casey's eyes widen as she hears the words come out of Cyrus's mouth. She exchanges a glance with Reid and looks at the many people in the room that have just drank the wine and wasn't ready to see people die in front of her today.

           "Mothers... Fathers... Children, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we fear no evil. For thou are with us," Casey scanned the room as she noticed the many adults that were crying. "And God will wipe the tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying. And there will be no more pain. For all of the former things have passed away."

           Casey leans towards Reid once more. "What do we do?" She whispers as Reid looks around. "Nothing." He answers and Casey gives him a look disbelief. "We have to do something. These people just took poison."

          "Cyrus just told them he did. I think he's just bluffing." Reid told. Casey furrows her eyebrows. "Why do you think that?" She asks. "Just after he told them about the poison, he waited for them to start to react. Then he nodded to Cole. And he started writing. Look." Casey looked over at the man writing in a notepad as Cyrus looked around the room, staring at those who sobbed. "They're scanning the audience looking for reactions. They're writing down the names of the people who are crying."

          Reid nods, "It's a loyalty list. So he knows who will follow him to the end." Casey sighs and looks around and back at Cyrus. "Another Jim Jones on our hands, if you ask me." Casey commented.

            It was just a minute before Cyrus decided to uncover that nobody had drank poison. "Instead a test of faith. Because your adversary -- the Devil -- waltzes about as a roaring lion! Choosing whom he may devour. Watch each other for signs of weakness. You are your brother's keeper." Casey sighed in the relief that no one had drank poison.

            Her and Reid had been sent down to the tunnels of where they were before and they had waited. Casey found a spot to sit across from Reid and bounced her leg up and down as she waited for Cyrus to come down and soon enough, he did - - but he wasn't here to talk. He had brought his buddy with him and he was holding a rifle gun in his hand and Cyrus looked at the two.

      "Which one of you is it?" He questions.

        Casey looks at the man in confusion. Surely he couldn't have known that he just uncovered their identities? "I, uh, what-what do you mean?" Casey questions.

         He pulls his gun out and looks towards the ground. "Which one of you is the FBI agent?" Casey's mouth slightly opens and she furrows her brows, looking at Reid.

         "Why do you think one of us is an FBI Agent?" Reid questions, glancing over at Casey a moment before keeping steady eyes at Cyrus.

         Cyrus exhales, "God will forgive me for what I must do." Casey's eyes widen as Cyrus holds a gun to Reid's head. "Whoa, hey." Casey mutters and she could sense that Reid was a little nervous with a gun being held up to his head. "I--I don't know what you're talking about." He stuttered.

        "One of you does. Who is it?" Cyrus cocks his gun and that is enough for Casey to internally freak out. So, without hesitation, she closed her eyes and admitted, "Me," Reid looked at the girl in disbelief and Casey held her hands up in surrender. "It's me. Just put down your gun. He had no idea about it. It's all me."

              The hammer clicked on his gun and Casey mentally prepared for the worst. And that's exactly what she had gotten once Cyrus pulled on her hair and pulled her away from the room and Reid could do nothing but watch as the girl fought.

              Cyrus had pulled the girl into some type of storage room and shouted at her: "I told you not to put me in this position!" She looked up at him and felt a sting on her right cheek as he slapped her across the face.

             Little did Cyrus know, the BAU team had been overhearing what was going on and could hear the youngest member of the team getting hurt. Derek and Hotch couldn't take the sound of her getting beaten up. Hotch couldn't take it as he looked over to Rossi's side. "We gotta go in there." He had taken the headphones off for a second. "We'd be risking the lives everyone in there." Rossi stated.

            "Get up!" Cyrus yelled as Casey doubled over in pain and had punched her and making her crash into a mirror and he pulled her away and for a moment, Casey saw her face in the shattered mirror and she already had a bruise forming under her eye and a bloody nose. Cyrus had his hands on her shoulders, ready to pull her. "Proverbs 20:30 tells us blows and wounds cleanse away evil." He had pushed her into a wall and Casey stood up.

            "Come on, you son of a bitch." Casey said aloud and looked at the man. "I can take it." Cyrus scoffed, "Oh, you can take it?" He had slapped her across the face, causing her to crash down on the ground.

          Back in the tent the BAU had formed, Hotch looked about ready to take the headphones off but Rossi had stopped him and Derek. "Wait--wait. Listen to what she's saying."

            Casey spat out the blood in her mouth and stared long and hard at him with her cold, blue eyes. "I can take it." She stated.

           "She's antagonizing him." Derek said, looking over at Rossi. "She's not talking to him." Rossi told. Hotch had blinked back the tears he was holding in and looked up for a brief moment. "She's talking to us. She's telling us not to come in."

            "Pride comes before the fall." Cyrus had punched Casey in the gut, causing her to cry out and double over in pain once more. He pushed her to the ground and Casey glanced up at him. "Is that all you got?" Cyrus had kicked her in the stomach, twice.

          Morgan had had enough to listen to and threw the headphones down and he realized that once he saw Cyrus, he was gonna make this son of a bitch pay for beating Casey up. Morgan had looked at Casey like a younger sister and hearing this and sitting on the sidelines didn't sit right with him.

          Hotch had felt the same way, knowing Casey ever since she was young. He hated not being able to save the girl when that was his job from the get-go. Some part of him had felt guilty for sending the two youngest members of the team in, especially Casey, since she thought she was gonna mess up. Overall, he felt guilty even sending her in there.

         The girl had laid on the ground, her vision blurry as the sun from the window shone down on her. She had felt the blood on her face and felt proud of herself for saving Reid from getting shot. She knew that he was important to the team and even if that meant revealing her identity, the team backs up one another — no matter what. She knew they would do the same thing for her.

          She had been dragged and Casey opened her eyes to find herself in a bed and in a room she didn't recognize. How did I get here? She thought. Casey had taken notice of Kathy, Jessica's mother, sitting next to her bed, cleaning the blood off of her face.

"You should have told Cyrus who you were." She told. "He's a prophet. He predicted Satan's armies would come and lay siege to us." Kathy explains and Casey scoffs subtly. "There's a name for that kind of prophecy-- self fulfilling."

Kathy shook her head, "You don't know how dangerous it is to lie to him." Casey sighs, "I know it would take a brave woman to defy him, knowing the consequences. And that that woman would have to have a damn good reason to do it." Casey had studied Kathy's facial expressions and she looked around the room and left as if nothing had happened.

Away from Casey, Reid was left with Cyrus as he cleaned his knuckles. "Did you know she was F. B. I?" Cyrus questions and Reid decided to keep the lie going, for his protection.

"Nancy told me the woman was a Child Abuse Interview Expert from Denver." He kept it going. As much as he wanted to be in Casey's place right about now, he kept the lie going. "In the four years I worked with her, Nancy never lied to me before."

"As far as you know." Cyrus told and he stood up. "Their law says that a 15-year-old girl is a child. Fifty years ago that same law said a fourteen year-old was an adult. Have children changed so much in 50 years?"

"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges against small religious groups. Almost all of them turn out to be false." Reid stated.

"What do you think of that?"

"Doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"Because God wants to save you," Cyrus told. "I mean, that's why he sent you here. That's the reason."

Reid suddenly had an idea. "On the next call, you should test them. Test the negotiator. Make him prove that he isn't a liar." Cyrus leaned against the table where he sat, wanting to hear the suggestion idea. "How would you suggest I do that?" Cyrus questioned.

"Ask for the identity of the F. B. I. Agent." Reid told. "No, we already know her identity." Cyrus's colleague told. "They don't know that." Cyrus stated. "Yeah. But the F. B. I. would never tell us."

"They keep on asking you to release people. Tell him you'll release a kid, and you won't harm the agent. And if they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you." Reid plotted out.

"You're trying to get us to release a child."

"It's one kid," Reid said. "If they don't hold up on their end of the deal, you know they can't be trusted."

Cyrus nodded, "He has a point."

The colleague sighs and Cyrus takes notice, "What is it, Chris?"

"Some have been talking about... leaving."

Cyrus furrowed his brows. "Leaving?"

"Yeah."

Cyrus didn't hesitate to think when he said: "Wake the baby. Let's let them meet the orphan that they've made."

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Rossi had decided to phone up Cyrus and Reid had listened in to the conversation as Cyrus picked up the phone. "How you doing today, Ben?" Rossi started the convo. "I will release a child if you tell me the identity of the FBI agent. I promise no harm will come to them from this point forward."

        "I can't give you that information," Rossi told. "I will send the child now." Cyrus nodded at his colleague who stood behind Reid and at the given order, he had sent the child outside — to which Morgan had gotten.

          Hotch had gotten word that Morgan had gotten the child and Rossi had gotten back on the phone with Cyrus. "We're taking a big risk here, Ben."

          "Trust is earned."

          Rossi sighed, "Her name is Casey Willows. She came in with two child service workers to talk to the girls."

           "There's a good chance we can work this out, Dave. I'm gonna provide another sign of good faith." With that, he hung up the phone and looked at Chris. "Assemble everyone in the chapel. Get Agent Willows down here."

        With a nod, the man had gotten everyone to the chapel and brought Casey out, as well. "It has come to my attention that some of our brothers and sisters have lost their faith in God. That they no longer love us. They want to abandon us. So when I call out your name, please stand." Cyrus had explained.

        Reid looked over and noticed that Casey had looked as if she was beat up. I should've done something. Reid had blamed himself and he slowly began to walk towards the girl. Casey had noticed Reid had come up to her and she kept her eyes on Cyrus as she whispered about how pissed he looked.

         She took a notice that Reid had been staring at her and Casey noticed that he had been staring at the black eye she received from Cyrus earlier. "It's not as bad as it looks." Casey assures to him to ease his mind, but it's not helping him and Casey saw that in his facial expressions.

         "I'm so sorry." Reid had felt guilty. Casey didn't deserve this. She was only trying to protect him from getting hurt. Spencer felt responsible, he was supposed to make sure she was doing a good job. Casey wasn't supposed to get hurt.

         Casey moved on from the bruising on her face and she looked as Cyrus read from a list. "Look at who he's releasing." Casey muttered to Reid as she looked around the room. "It's the ones who failed the loyalty test." Reid stated.

         He looked back at the girl. "We'll get word to the team. Wait for a sign from outside to indicate what time the raid will come." Casey exhales as in the form of a nod so that Cyrus wouldn't have acted on the fact that Reid was lying to him. She put on a glare on her face as if Reid had changed sides and he walked towards Cyrus.

         "I told her she shouldn't have lied to you like that." Reid muttered to Cyrus. "To either of us," Cyrus nodded and he looked back at his colleague. "Take her back." Casey glared over at Cyrus and the man dragged her arm and Casey tried to fight but he was too strong. Reid watched as the girl had been taken away and just hoped his plan would work.

        Hours had gone by and the sun was down and. Casey had lifted the blinds near the bed with the heel of her boot and thought hardly about what she was about to say. "If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel, but I need to know when you're coming."

        Casey kept saying the sentence over and over until somebody could respond. "If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel but I need to know when you're coming."

     "If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can--" A red light had shone through the window and blinked a couple of times and Casey recognized that it was a member of the team. "Okay. I-I-I got you. What time? What time?"

      The red beam blinked three times. "3:00 a.m., correct?" The light bounced up and down as in a form of nodding. "Understood," Casey told. "Reid is on the first floor somewhere with Cyrus. And please remember there are children here." She looked towards the door and heard footsteps. "Someone's coming."

       The light had gone away and Casey put her foot down as if she had been doing nothing and the door opened to reveal Kathy with a glass of water and Casey sat up on the bed and Kathy had given Casey a sip of the water since her hands had been tied behind her back.

       "Cyrus is planning a mass suicide," Casey told and by Kathy's looks, she knew that she made that call. "I tried to figure it out before and I couldn't put my finger on it... but now, I have it. I study behavior. You made the 9-1-1 call." Casey told and Kathy squeezed her eyes shut, now knowing she had been caught.

        "This is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn't of made that call." Casey shook her head. "No, you were trying to protect your daughter. If I had a child and I was a situation like this, I would be doing the same thing to protect my child." Casey told.

         "There were other girls before Jessie. He--He would marry them in secret. And after a while, he'd take another. And we weren't permitted to speak of it." Kathy looked towards the door, to make sure they weren't being heard. "And so when she asked for my consent, I wanted to just take her and run. But I was afraid she wouldn't leave him."

      "You wanted us to take her?" Casey asked.

      "Well, I-I wanted to save her from Cyrus." Casey nodded in understanding. "I can give you another chance. The FBI is coming here at 3:00 a.m., okay? I need you to gather Jessica, the kids, the other women and get them into the basement just before 3:00 a.m.."

       Kathy stood up, unsure of this plan. "Why are you telling me this?" She questioned. "Because I have faith that you are a strong enough woman to do the right thing for your daughter. Do this for her. So, she can have a better life." Casey explained and with that, Kathy had walked out of the room and Casey had fear that she was going to tell Cyrus and mentally prepared herself for the worst thing than getting beat up — death.

      And it seemed as the BAU had been preparing for that, as well. Rossi had approached Hotch, who had been staring down at the church, worried for both Reid and Casey. "I know I can't go in there." Hotch sighed.

    "I'm going," Rossi assured, hopefully easing Hotch's mind. "If something happens to Willows or Reid, I... I don't know." Hotch couldn't even begin to think what would happen if Reid or Willows had been killed. Casey was already beaten up, it would just get worse for the two if something went wrong.

    Rossi exhales, "You're not alone." He had been just as worried as Hotch was. Being one of the oldest members of the team and having sent the two youngest just didn't sit right with him. He worried that he hadn't gotten to spend enough time with Reid or Willows - - and he knew that their story couldn't end, not just yet.

     Casey sat up in the bed and awaited for something to happen. Anything. If she was going down, she wasn't gonna go down without a fight. Kathy had gotten back into the room and looked at the young woman and pulled her up and began to untie her.

       "You were right. They're setting the place to blow up. I told Jessie that Cyrus wanted her gather the women and children."  Casey closed her eyes and began to think and the only thing that been on her mind was the undercover geek.

       "W-Where is the man I came in with?" She questioned. "He's in the chapel with Cyrus. It's 2:45 though. We gotta hurry." Kathy dragged Casey out of the room.

      Casey had awaited the corner as Kathy was bringing the women and children around the corner and once she had assured the coast was clear, she told them that it was safe to come through. Kathy had led the children through and Casey had come down the steps of the tunnel that they had gone through before.

Once she looked up, the eyes of Derek Morgan had connected with Casey and she had realized that her team was here — well, Derek, Rossi and Emily were, but her team was here.

      "Ace, you all right?" He dragged her arm and the first thing he noticed had been her bruised face. "They've wired explosives." Casey told as she grabbed onto Emily's hand.

       Kathy had lead the children through. Emily turned his attention to Casey. "Where's Reid?" She asked. "He's in the chapel with Cyrus." Casey informed.

       "We gotta get you out of here." Rossi told.

         "N-No, we've gotta get Reid! If something happens to him—" Casey tried but Derek had grabbed the girl's shoulders and assured: "Willows, I will get Reid. Get out of here. Get to safety. Go now."

         The team looked over at the argument that Kathy and her daughter were having. "Cyrus didn't call for this. You lied to me!" The girl cried. "No, Cyrus lied to you, honey."

      "He can't-- he's my husband." Jessica had run through the tunnel and Kathy was going to follow after her when Derek and Casey had stopped her. "No!" Kathy yelled. "I will get her for you." Derek told. "Rossi, get her out of here. Torre, get your boys. Let's do this now."

        Derek and his team had rushed through and Rossi, Emily, Casey, the women and the children had run through their way out. And safely and quickly, everyone had gotten out. Casey followed behind Rossi and trailed down the steps and the building had blown up right in front of her.

      Her ears had rung but not for long and she coughed through the dust in the air. Casey turned her body towards the building and looked around for the rest of her team. "Reid! Morgan!" She called.

      The building had been on fire but she had refused to believe that they didn't come out. She couldn't prepare herself for this. She could for getting beat up, but nothing could prepare her for losing Reid and Morgan. She muttered their names this time and gulped at the thought of them being gone. She couldn't handle that.

       Her thoughts of them being gone washed away as she spotted Reid and Morgan and their coughing made Casey sigh in relief and she looked up at the sky in relief.

      "We're okay!" Morgan told.

      Casey mutters, "Oh, thank God." She climbs up the steps towards the two and Reid and Morgan are coming towards her. Casey opens her arms and engulfs Spencer into a hug, to which he gives back to Casey's surprise since he wasn't much of a hugger... or a hand-shaker... or usually, anything that had to do with greeting.

      "I'm so glad you're okay." Casey mutters.
      "I'm glad you're okay, too." Spencer whispers back.

      Casey pulls away from the hug and hugs Morgan next. "You okay?" He asks and Casey smiles into the hug. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

      "Nice shiner, kid." Derek comments as he pulls away from the hug. "Hey, I'm not really a part of the FBI unless I have one of these under my eye once in a while." Casey humored, pointing under her eye.

She had taken notice of Reid's guilty face. She thought that he thought it was his fault she had gotten beat up. But Casey didn't blame him, at all. She made the decision she made.

     Her eyes trailed over at Kathy and tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks. Jessica didn't make it. She was in the building when it exploded. Casey had walked towards her and there had been no words to exchange. How do you comfort a parent who has lost a child? Casey couldn't even bring out a simple, "I'm sorry." and it wouldn't heal the wound in Kathy's heart.

━━━━━━

       Casey had come out of the jet's bathroom and looked around to see that everyone else had been sleeping and the only other person awake had been Spencer and she had decided to sit in front of him.

"Hey," She greeted. "Hey." Spencer had given a bit of a friendly smile but had gone straight back to his book.

Casey looked at him and he had refused to meet her eye and she looked at him and motioned him to put his book down and she grabbed onto his hand.

"I need you to listen to me, okay? What Cyrus did to me... is not your fault. It was my decision, and I would do it again if it meant that I had to save your ass. Do you hear me?" Casey looked at him and he nodded at the girl as she felt his cold hands against her warm palm. "Thank you." She said.

Casey had leaned back in her seat and Spencer glanced up from his book at the girl and smiled and Casey gave a smile back and leaned her head against seat of the plane and fell into a deep slumber.

hey lovelies! this is one of my favorite episodes in s4 omg
the team being protective of casey <3
yes i updated once more
if y'all are ogs, i originally started this book in s4 and i still have some of the chapters from before written out, i just edit them as i go along lol
anyways thank you all for reading!!
i love you all!!
next episode — catching out
-mya <3