CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: JJ !

6x02
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IT WAS NOW A USUAL FOR CASEY WILLOWS TO SHOW UP LATE TO WORK. No one questioned it, Casey kept to herself a lot of the time now. It was understandable. Casey showed up to work, arriving with cups of coffee for everyone.

Casey was ready for the next case that JJ had called her about. A 19 year-old girl had gone missing and the suspects — two 20 year-old boys, who hadn't changed their story but they had definitely done something.

Garcia, Reid, Morgan and Emily were together, looking up at Hotch's office. The blinds were closed. That wasn't a good sign. Of course, Casey didn't notice, though.

"Sorry I'm late, I slept through my alarm, my coffee order was wrong and this jag-off idiot cut me off as I getting out of traffic. Things got really physical." Casey stated. "Oh, my God, are you okay?" Emily asked, at the word 'physical'. "Yeah, I didn't hit the guy too hard." Casey told, handing everyone their coffee cups. "What's going on here? Fill me in." Casey asked, nudging Reid and kneeling down.

"It's JJ, Hotch and Strauss. I think that pretty much covers it." Reid answered. "Ooh, that is bad. I don't think he's ever had those blinds closed before." Casey told.

Emily looks down at the girl. "Hey, did you cut your hair?" She asked. This was true, Casey decided to cut her hair a little shorter even if it was already at her shoulders. She liked it being just a bit shorter. "Yeah, you like it?" Casey asked, looking up at Emily. "I like it, but why?" Emily asked in curiousness. Casey shrugged, "Needed a change."

There is a pause and Garcia looks over at Emily. "Do you know something?" She asks, mentioning the fact that JJ was still in the office. "Do I know something?" Emily asks and Garcia looks at Morgan. "She just repeated the question. You always say that's a sign."

Morgan looks at Emily. "Do you know why JJ's in there?" He asks. "I have no idea." Emily answers. "Casey?" She asks, making everyone direct their attention to the girl and Casey holds her hands up in defense.

"Don't look at me," She says. "Reid, you're her best friend, shouldn't you know?" Reid shrugs at the question. "What is going on?" Penelope questioned.

"Maybe she asked for a raise." Reid guessed, making Emily and Casey look at the man with raised eyebrows.

It had been a couple of minutes and JJ walked out of the office and the team immediately looked busy with themselves, all of them doing a terrible job at looking busy. Hotch exited his office with his briefcase and everyone followed behind, taking their go-bags with them.

"How long have they been in custody?" Morgan asks, pertaining to the two suspects. "60 hours," Hotch answers. "We have 12 hours to get a confession or find the body."

"Syd Pearson has a lot of money and connections. If we let him go, we may never see him again." Reid stated. "And Barrett?" Casey asked. "He doesn't have the same resources." Reid answered and Penelope followed behind the group.

"Do you think these guys did it?" Penelope asked. "The locals do." Hotch answered. "They tried to get them to turn against one another, but that didn't work." Rossi added. "It seems they have a bond that dates back to childhood." Reid told. "Can't mess with those ones." Casey comments.

"We only have a 30-minute flight. That's not enough time to delve into their histories." Morgan told. Garcia began to hand them files as Hotch pressed the button for the elevator. "Bullet points on the missing woman. Second and third pages are all about the suspects."

"Garcia, we're gonna need phone records, credit card receipts, anything you can find." Hotch orders. "Yes, you'll have them when you get there." Garcia nods. JJ catches up with the team and Garcia hands her the file. "Thank you." JJ says.

Garcia looks at the woman in seriousness. "Is everything okay?" JJ chuckles, "What, you mean Strauss?" Garcia had given the woman a look and JJ read her face. "Don't. I know that look. Everything's going to be fine." With that, the team had left.

On the jet, Casey had excused herself from the team to go to the restroom. She washed her face with water and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was hoping that the rest of the team wouldn't notice her hangover. The girl grabbed her bag and took a mint and popped it in her mouth. She enjoyed a minute of silence until there had been a knock on the door.

Noticing she had probably been in the bathroom too long, Casey decided to leave and opened the door and she was met with Reid, who had a concerned look on his face. "Hey, you okay?" He asked. Casey nodded, "Uh, yeah. You?"

Reid made his way into the bathroom as Casey exited the bathroom. "I just feel kind of sick. Excuse me." He told and closed the door. Casey brushed it off, flight-sickness was a thing. She could speak from experience. But she also figured it was that dairy he was insisted he loved even though it messed with his stomach.

Casey made her way over to her seat next to JJ. Emily and Morgan sat in front of them. "Hey." Casey greeted to JJ. "Hey." JJ spoke and all three of them began to look at her, trying to figure out what this morning was about.

JJ sighs, knowing she has to come clean. "I got this offer from the Pentagon. I turned it down twice. I never told Hotch or Strauss." She explained.

"And now Strauss wants you to take it." Casey concludes. "Well, of course she does. It'll make her look good if you get promoted." Morgan added.

"I don't trust her for a second." JJ told. "You shouldn't," Emily says. "What does Hotch think?" JJ looks at Emily. "He knows I don't want to go."

"Well, then you won't," Casey spoke. "You're stuck with us whether you like it or not, missy." Casey smiles jokingly and JJ smiles at the girl's comment as well.

JJ looks over at Morgan. "Penelope's pretty freaked out, huh?" Morgan raises an eyebrow. "You have to ask?" He asks.

Reid exits from the bathroom and Hotch groups everyone up. "Okay, let's review." He starts. "Okay, Kate Joyce, 19 years-old, was last seen leaving a bar with these two men, Sydney Pearson and James Barrett, both 20 years old." JJ tells. "She was reported missing the next morning when she didn't meet her friends. That was almost 3 days ago."

"Their story is they dropped Kate at the motel, but there were no cameras to confirm that." Rossi told. "And search and rescue's been all over the island." Hotch adds. "Dragged the inlet and they found absolutely nothing."

"Both said they had sex with Kate. They're claiming it was consensual." JJ says. "There's no way to confirm. There's no body." Emily tells. "I doubt it was consensual." Casey says.

"We've got to prove they're guilty of more than just being seen with her." Rossi says. "Well, the police weren't able to find any holes in their stories. We're gonna have to break them down psychologically." Morgan says.

"Morgan, I want you and Prentiss to lead the interrogation. Dave, you, Willows and Reid start at the bar. JJ, Kate Joyce's family is still at the station." Hotch directs his order and JJ furrows her eyebrows. "Still? For 3 days?" She asks. "They never went to the hotel. I want you to stay with them." Hotch says and JJ nods.

As soon as the jet landed, Rossi, Reid and Willows had split up and examined the place. The sun was so bright Casey had to wear her sunglasses. Reid and Casey had been in the middle of a conversation, Casey was telling Reid about what was discussed on the jet with JJ.

"Strauss might make her take the job?" Reid questions. Casey shrugs, "I don't know, but I'm really hoping she sticks her nose out of it." The two go back to the case as soon as Rossi asks: "Okay, Kate Joyce, what do we know?"

"Kate Joyce comes from a stable family. She went to good schools, got good grades, has good friends." Reid told. "Everything points to her being a total sweetheart." Casey tells. "You don't think she is?" Rossi asks. "I'm sure she is." Casey says. "But?" Reid asks.

"She's nineteen," Casey answers. "Everyone agrees --Kate wouldn't leave with those boys, but she did. So, why? Why would this girl, this sweetheart, take such a risk?" Casey stops in her tracks. At nineteen, she wasn't much of a party-goer unless a friend made her go to one.

The three made it to the empty bar. "We don't have many images to go by." Reid points out. "We saw enough to know what happened. Kate Joyce and her friends moved around a lot." Rossi says.

"The suspects didn't," Reid said and Casey pictures the scene, people drinking, having fun, not aware of what's going on around them. "They waited for her."

"A sea of opportunity. Why was she drawn to those guys?" Rossi questions. "What if she knew them?" Reid asked. "Her friends never said that. She was only here a week." Rossi told.

"I think she trusted them," Casey spoke. "Why?" Rossi asks. "She may have been testing her boundaries, but she's way too cautious to just go off with total strangers. Her whole persona says that. She wouldn't go with them, not willingly, if she didn't know them." Casey stated.
"So, she met them before Friday night." Rossi concluded.

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The three made their way back and had discovered that the suspects had asked to take polygraphs, they were stalling. The results had been coming back any minute now. Reid had decided to sit and talk with Barrett and Rossi decided to take on Pearson and Casey decided to wait for Barrett's results.

They had both come back clean and they both passed. Casey had opened the door and found Barrett, defensive and standing over Reid, who was sitting. "Sit down." Casey smugly ordered.

The boy obliged and looked at her. "Who are you?" He asked. "Doesn't matter," Casey tossed the result on the table and crossed her arms, standing behind Reid. "How'd you pass it?" She questioned.

He wasn't answering and so, Reid and Casey had begun to question him once more. All he could talk about was the inlet, they even had Emily come in and question him and this guy wasn't budging. Casey had respect for him in a way, to be patient the way he was. If it were her sitting there for three days, she'd go ballistic.

Hotch had called the rest of the team out there after JJ discovered something new. "Kate's cell phone was left in the car and then later turned up in her room." Morgan asked. "How?" The detective on the case questions.

"We figure most of the story's true. That's why they never changed it." Hotch told. "They did drop Kate off at the hotel. Pearson took Barrett home, just like they said. But then, because Barrett was rejected, he circled back to punish Kate." Emily explains.

"Well, why would she let him in?" The man asks. "Because he had this." JJ holds up Kate's cell phone. "No sign of a struggle in the room." The man says. "Barrett lured her outside, maybe drugged her, took her to his boat." Emily says. "He was obsessed with the inlet. He knew the traffic patterns there, when the fishermen were coming in and tourist charters were going out." Reid explained. "The inlet's all he talks about." Casey pointed out.

"The blood from the catch attracts hundreds of sharks. It's a feeding frenzy out there that time of night." Once the detective said that, Casey closed her eyes. That was the way they could get rid of her.

"We asked him if he killed her. He didn't. Asked where her body is. He doesn't know." Emily says. "Technically, those aren't lies." Reid adds. "How can you prove this?" The detective asks Hotch. "We'll get them to admit it." Hotch answers. "Well, we should hurry... because she does not have a lot of time left." Casey stated.

Casey, JJ and Reid entered Barrett's interrogation room. Casey closes the door behind them and then crosses her arms. "Why is the GPS on your boat missing?" She questions. "It isn't." Barrett answered.

"He tossed it after he dumped Kate." JJ stated and Barrett looked at the new woman in front of him. "Who are you?" JJ held Kate's phone up. "This. This was your ticket into her room."

Barrett looks at Casey. "Who is she?" He questioned. "Shut up." Casey mugged at him.

"You said the inlet's quiet between 4:00 and 5am. That's when you took Kate out, right?" Reid questioned. "You didn't want the search party to find her, so you just kept going and going." Casey stated and the man looked at her. "You had 6 hours before work. How far did you get? About 75 miles out?"

"A full tank on a single outboard motor will get you 150 miles. At 25 miles per hour, your round trip took just over 6 hours. Which is why you were late for work." Reid calculated in his head.

"Oh, you didn't kill her," JJ said. "You just left her to die. That's why you asked for a polygraph. You knew you'd pass it."

Barrett couldn't look the three in the eye and answer but he looked at the three eventually, tapped the table and said: "I think your time's up." He stood up and Casey stood in front of the door and it looked like JJ was about to get up in his face. "Oh, yeah? Well, you took away their daughter, their dignity. You don't get to win. We're going to find her." Barrett looks at JJ. "You still think she has a chance, huh?"

JJ walks out of the room and before Barrett could do the same, Reid and Casey stand in front of him. "Yeah, there's no way you're walking out that door." Casey stated.

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After the team had successfully found Kate Joyce on a buoy, pleading for help. The team had made their way back to the jet and shared a few laughs at the office. They were talking amongst themselves when Casey noticed Hotch and JJ in the round table room. She furrowed her eyebrows and everyone began to notice that she was staring up there.

Hotch walked out of the room and back into his office. They had all come to the conclusion that JJ might be leaving them. Casey, however, didn't want to think that. Some part of her had hoped that Hotch was just wishing JJ a good night and leaving her at that. But Casey knew deep down, she was saying goodbye to JJ.

That conclusion became clear once JJ had met up with the rest of the team. "No." Emily spoke as soon as JJ walked in the room. "Wait a minute. I thought Hotch was supposed to--" Morgan began but JJ interrupted him.

"It's above his pay grade. Strauss', too." JJ answered. Casey looked at the woman and couldn't figure out what to say. "But—"

"They can just take you away." It was like Reid had taken the words out of her mouth. "So, we do nothing?" Emily asks. JJ looks at the team. "It's done."

"It can't be that simple." Morgan told. "Yeah, there has to be something we can do." Casey stepped up. JJ walks up to Casey and rubs her arm. "It is," She says, looking to Morgan and then directs her attention to Casey. "And as much I want you to, you can't."

       "This job is hard enough," Morgan told. "What are they trying to do, bury us?" Emily looks at JJ. "You're too good. That's the problem."

        "It's true," Rossi says. "You're on everybody's wish list. Our loss is somebody else's gain."

        Casey's eyes well up with tears. "They can't just take you away." Reid repeats and JJ rubs his back in assurance. "Yeah, they can't just make you leave. We need you here. We'll fight for you, we'll—" The look in JJ's eyes told them that they couldn't do anything. And that hurt.

         JJ had begun saying her goodbyes to everyone, making her way to Casey last. Casey hugged the woman tightly. "Every week, we'll go out for brunch. I'll call you daily and don't forget, I'm still Henry's godmother so if you ever need anything, call me."

        "I'm gonna miss you, Casey." JJ told.
        "I'm gonna miss you, too, JJ." Casey said.

new gif alerttt 🚨
alsoooo
this was hella sad to write bruh
i missed jj so much in s6 🥺

anywayssss
thank you for reading
ik i literally have been updating daily but that's just because i have presidents' day break and i've had A LOT of time on my hands soooo yea
by next week: it's gonna go back to me updating whenever i want to lol
anywayssss
s6 yay
more to come!!
-mya <3333