JJ trudges through the door of her dark and unusually quiet apartment and gently closes the door behind her. She locks two of the door's locks and leaves the deadbolt undone, in case Penelope comes home later, if she's not spending the night at Kevin's. She slips off her black heels and leaves them tucked neatly behind the entrance of the door. She takes off her trench coat and unceremoniously lays it on the back of their leather couch, revealing her ruffled, long sleeved white work blouse and her customary media day black skirt. Or her battle skirt that she and her roommate and coworker have affectionately named it, her battle skirt.
JJ then reaches into their silver fridge and grabs one of her roommate's organic beer. She twists the top open and chugs half the bottle down and then unceremoniously slams the bottle on their granite counter. Sated for the moment, the media liaison walks to the front of the island and leans on the edge of it. She picks up the remote and turns on the television, hoping to catch a few minutes of her favorite show to unwind to after a day at the Bureau.
On a good day, the media liaison would turn on the tv to see if she could maybe catch the last couple of minutes of at least catch the daily double with a Blue Moon popped open. In her opinion, Jeopardy. The game show was better is usually at its best after a couple of beers during the daily doubles and in the beginnings of a nod right before she finds out the answer to the final question. Her effervescent roommate usually comes in then through the door loudly, waking her up just before she could fall into a deep sleep. The two women would then stay up until midnight, catching up on the latest office gossip she may have missed out on throughout the day. Or she would provide a listening yet firm ear and a shoulder to cry on for her best friend as Penelope complains about Kevin not wanting Derek around her anymore because he believes that the handsome agent still has feelings for her. Not having the heart to tell her best friend that her current boyfriend had a right to be worried about her partner still carried a torch for the analyst. It would do Garcia no good to try and tell her that Derek will always love her, no matter how long it's been since they've been together. She knows that her partner would never do anything about his feelings for Garcia because she was happy with Kevin. And her happiness means more to him than his longing for what they once had.
The first five minutes of the day started out promising for the media liaison, with JJ getting there an hour early to finish the last of their latest case files from San Diego, so that she could give them to Unit Chief Cruz. It wasn't until she came face to face with a lone Rossi waiting on his heels for her at the entrance of the bullpen, did she understand how bad the day was going to be. He told her that she was to immediately report to his office for a debriefing with him and Unit Chief for the Organized Crime Unit, Jordan Todd, to discuss the latest update on a case that currently has the team's attention on top of their already large caseload. She sighed knowing that speaking with the Unit Chief meant that the cops or some poor civilian had found another body somewhere. If their unsub is sticking to the pattern the team manage to figure out two victims ago, then man that was found in the alleyway would be mutilated to the point where traditional methods of facial recognition would be useless in trying to figure out who he was. They would need to identify this victim using his dental records, hoping that he'll have them to begin with. Victim number two wasn't lucky in that regard. The only way they were even able to identify them was through the poor man's tattoo that they found on his amputated arm.
When the media liaison was up to speed with the case, she, Rossi and Reid went out to the crime scene; where a whole host of reporters were waiting for her with more questions than she had time to answer. JJ then gave them a summary about what they knew now and how there would be a more in-depth press briefing back at the Bureau later that day. While Rossi and Reid acted as her own personal body guard and fended off the hungry press, who were getting too close to their crime scene for any of their comforts. Her announcement seemed to appease the vultures for the moment and they walked away, save for a couple of the more persistent, younger reporters, who had no idea how she ran her briefings and who wrongly assumed that their superficial charm and good looks would be enough to get her to spill more information. A stony look from Rossi ended whatever inquiries they may have had. JJ made a note to herself to get her surrogate father a nice bottle of scotch to replace the empty one in his desk as a token of her thanks.
They took their pictures when the chaos was over and they managed to be debriefed by the local police department, led by her stern face ex-husband, William LaMontagne. He spent two hours at her side, giving her sad, puppy dog eyes, when he thought that no one else was looking. He then offered to buy her lunch to catch up, but she quickly declined. JJ knew the only thing he wanted to talk about was them giving it another try and wanting to know why she left him when they were perfect together. Between this case and the media parade that awaited them on their arrival, JJ was in no mood to entertain her ex with a placating lunch today. He was persistent and even JJ had to admit that she almost went along with it. Until her own personal hero and savior, Penelope Garcia called to tell her that they identified the victim, the only sole good news of an already terrible day.
Dominic Parsons, who they managed to identify through his dental records, was yet another ex-employee associated with Prentiss Industries. He was a part of their tech department as an analyst up until five years ago, when he was unceremoniously fired from the company and moved on to Doyle Tech. A couple of days after taking an extended leave of absence from the tech company, he was reported missing by his wife, Lydia Parsons. The case became even stranger but not unexpected, when Derek went to the Parson's home to talk to one of the neighbors. Only to discover that Dominic's wife and teenage sons were placed in a black van and escorted out of their home, hours after his wife reported him missing. If the unsub responsible for killing their other three victims is sticking to their pattern, then the Parson family don't have that much time left. If their unsub is sticking to pattern, the family will be dead within the next forty-eight hours, with their bodies being left in a mass, public grave where everyone could see them.
While the team spent the rest of the afternoon, retracing the steps of the Parson family and trying to figure out who could have taken them, JJ spent her afternoon trying to come up with her briefing for the upcoming press conference. She went through every update that they received today and analyzed what pieces of the new information that she wanted to share and what she was going to withhold for the sake of the Parson family's survival. Around five pm, she went up to Rossi's office and went over her statement. When Rossi seemed to be happy with what they had, the two of them made their way downstairs, with Derek meeting them at the podium and she delivered her briefing. Everything seemed to be going well, until one of the reporters that Rossi had vexed earlier asked if the previous bodies connection to Doyle Tech a lead that they were pursuing. The three of them were shocked to learn that the reporter knew that it was one of the possible theories they were pursuing, a detail that they had purposefully left out. The many divisions in the Bureau, including cybercrimes and white-collar crimes Rossi had to step in and tell the obnoxious reporter, who may have hastened the Parson's death warrant, if they're not already dead, asked if Dominic Parsons' death and the disappearance of his family, were connected to the previous killings. She didn't know how to answer that question without ripping the reporter's head off their body. Luckily, Rossi stepped in at that moment and told him that it was too early in the investigation to come to those conclusions. He then ended the press conference with the tip line number to help find the rest of the Parsons' family.
Which has led the media liaison here, watching the evening news at the exact moment the reporter asked the question. She cringes as her eyes widen and her deer caught in the headlights stare. She fights her every impulse within her not to throw her near empty beer bottle at the television. Garcia wouldn't appreciate having to replace another flat screen within the span of a year, just because she couldn't control her temper. So, JJ sighs and covers her eyes just as Rossi steps in and mercifully ends the disastrous press conference.
"If you have any information as to the whereabouts of Lydia Parsons, Sam Parsons and Troy Parsons, please call the FBI tip line at the bottom of the screen." The news anchor finishes just as JJ flops back on the couch and screams silently, hoping that by doing so the ground will open and swallow her whole.
"Breaking news coming in at the top of this hour." The anchor says unexpectedly, causing JJ to open her eyes. The bottom of the media liaison's stomach drops as she realizes what it might be. They've found the mass grave with the Parsons' in it and now she would have to go into work to brief the reporters who haven't gone home at this hour. JJ sighs again, dreading having to do this not even a couple of hours being out of the office.
The media liaison misses her phone vibrating and flashing right next to her, as her eyes remain on the news.
"According to the port authorities in Hong Kong, the missing and presumed dead daughter of billionaire Robert Prentiss, Emily Prentiss, has apparently been found alive."
JJ doesn't feel the bottle slipping from her hands and how it crashes to the floor as the twenty-two words that come out of the anchor's mouth flash across the screen, along with a picture of a smiling Emily Prentiss standing proudly next to her father, who towered over her a couple of inches in life. She remembers taking that picture for them at a fundraiser Robert Prentiss was hosting for Planned Parenthood.
JJ felt the world spinning around her and her knees go weak. She couldn't see the news anchor anymore and could barely make out the last picture Emily had taken before she left for that faithful trip, shopping around New York.
The last thing that JJ recalls as her world fades to black.
"Five years ago, Emily and her father Robert Prentiss, along with an unnamed companion of the ship, were lost at sea when Mr. Prentiss' boat, Emily's Gambit, was destroyed during a storm out in the North China Sea. The occupants of the ship's remains were never recovered two. Earlier this year, Elizabeth Prentiss officially declared her daughter and husband legally dead. Ms. Prentiss was found by a couple of fisherman off of the small island of Lian Yu, approximately twenty miles away from where her ship was wrecked. Ms. Prentiss has not offered a comment as to her whereabouts, but in a quick statement released by Elizabeth Prentiss' lawyers, a press conference is planned for the coming days."
A/N: Hello my Jemily fans,
First off, I'd like to apologize for my long absence. In between personal stuff and a large bout of writer's block, I haven't had the chance to finish up 'Known Subject'. But good news for anyone still reading that is that I am working on putting out two chapters for you guys at the same time as penance. So be on the lookout for those (fair warning, one of those chapters will not be pretty, so if you are sensitive to violence, then I would skip that chapter and wait on the next one).
Anyway, this is the story that I have been toying around with for as long as I have been writing 'Known Subject'. It is an AU for Green Arrow, with our favorite brunette as the Green Arrow herself. I finally took some time away to write it and I hope that you guys like what I have so far. I promise this rewriting of the Green Arrow will be marginally better than what the show has become now.
Would you guys like to take some guesses as to who in the BAU is going to become a costumed vigilante? The first person to get it right will get a special mention within the next chapter.
Thank you, guys, for your patience and I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it so far. And as always, your thoughts and opinions on this chapter or any chapter are greatly appreciated.
Until next timeā¦
Sincerely,
The Geek in Pink