#braindead fic

CASE CLOSED CHAPTERS

She had just pulled out a full tray of cookies from the oven when there was a knock on her door. Baking helped her think and she was frustrated about everything so she hoped it would help her see something she had somehow missed. "Just a minute!" She called out, setting the cookie sheet down and taking off her oven mit. She picked up the knife she had been using earlier to cut the dough and made her way to the door.

Seeing Mike on the other side, Bex let out a relieved sigh as she opened the door. That is until she saw his expression. "What's happened?"

He motioned for them to go inside and Bex nodded before heading back to the kitchen. "I've made cookies. You want one?"

"I honestly don't know if I can eat after what I just saw." Mike answered, sitting down at her kitchen island bar.

"What did you see?"

Mike gagged a little bit which caused Bex to pour him a glass of water. He took it gratefully, taking a few sips before continuing. "I saw a bug, a big bug, laying eggs in some cherry blossoms. Red was talking to it and then it went right back in his ear after it was done as if it was the most normal thing in the world."

Bex dashed out into her living room and grabbed her notepad and started writing everything down. "We might need to figure out a way to finally get Laurel to bring you on board because this is huge."

"This is the craziest thing I've seen. Bex, we were just working a mafia case a few months ago and now we're talking about space bugs living in people's heads."

"You sure you don't want a cookie?"

He let out a sigh. "I'll take a cookie."

Smiling, she took one off the sheet and handed it over before getting one for herself. "I know it's insane but we gotta look at this as all factual stuff, like putting together an info board as if we were trying to take down another mafia family. It makes investigating a little easier."

He nodded as he chewed his latest bite. "Is there anything you can't make? Cause these are really good."

"Creme Brulee, Baked Alaska, uh, I've not given my shot at making a pie before, believe it or not, so I could be bad at that."

Mike laughed. "Come here." He held out his hand for her.

Bex walked around the island and took his hand where he soon pulled her to him. She fit so easily in between his legs as he gently wrapped his arms around her waist. He placed a sweet kiss to her lips before resting his forehead against hers. "Thank you. I needed this."

Just then notification sounds beeped and dinged as things came swarming in. He let out a heavy sigh. "I will be so glad when this cover is over."

"What's going on?" She asked, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Red is going to be releasing a budget plan tomorrow that's going to be voted on in 48 hours. That's probably everyone I reached out to in order to get a press conference scheduled."

Bex pulled away slightly, confusion written all over her face. "Now I'm no politician but isn't that kind of quick?"

Mike nodded. "Not to mention it worries me because it came out of SBR-54."

"Oh, that's not good, at all."

"No, it's not." Some more notification sounds went off. "I really would like to stay here longer and eat some more of those delicious cookies but duty calls."

Bex nodded, giving him a kiss before stepping away fully. "Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow. Bring some of my cookies over. I'd rather not read a budget plan but I'm currently at an impasse with everything else, so might as well."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Mike smiled, giving her one last kiss before heading out the door.

<LINE BREAK>

As promised, Bex came into the office with a tin full of cookies and Mike let out a sigh of relief when he saw her. Red had just come in to give notes on the speech he had typed up and questioned if they were still on the same page, going so far as to check his temperature. "I think he's starting to question things." He whispered to her when they hugged.

"We can't know anything for certain, we just have to keep acting as if everything is normal." Bex rubbed his back a moment before pulling back to smile at him reassuringly. "I'm here. I got your back through all of this. Have you talked to Laurel?"

Mike nodded. "Will you come with me when I meet her?"

"Of course." She smiled before opening the lid of her cookie tin as she brought it in between them.

"Seriously, you're the best." He chuckled as he took one. Sticking it into his mouth, he scribbled down the notes that he had been given to revise Red's speech. After he finished his bite, he slowly reached out for the tin that Bex was still holding.

"Are these for me to keep?"

Bex laughed and handed them over. "I'm glad I made as many as I did."

"I'll bring you back the tin, promise." He said around his latest mouth full.

"I'm assuming that means later this evening." She teased him, flashing him a cheeky smile.

"Oh, ha, ha. You're not gonna get it back now until tomorrow, at least." He replied as he motioned for her to head out of his office.

She let out a small gasp, acting as though she was slightly offended. "Don't you keep my tin hostage."

"I would never. How else am I supposed to get whatever baked good you decided to whip up next?"

Bex just laughed, Mike's laughter following hers soon after as they made their way to the courtyard that he had asked Laurel to meet them at. He grabbed them both cups of water, wishing that the drinks were a little stronger especially after what he had just witnessed. He knew going into this assignment that he was dealing with something he had never seen before. Last night, however, no matter how much Bex had told him and no matter how much he had mulled over the details, left him a little frazzled. After all he had finally come face to face with what he was investigating and he was really glad that Bex was now back helping him because he was pretty sure he would have found a way to get back to the office to beg for someone else to take the assignment over.

"How many people do you think are infected?" He whispered to Bex as he took in the people surrounding them. It seemed as though no matter which direction he was looking in, someone was watching him, them. He wasn't quite sure and honestly he was starting to feel a little antsy so he sipped on his water.

Bex noticed his leg bouncing and reached out to place a calming hand on his thigh. "That's probably not an answer you'd like to hear right now. Let's just focus on right now, focus on getting Laurel to bring you in and then we can maybe take a lap around the Capitol or I'm sure I could figure out a way to steal you away so we could go to the firing range."

Mike brought the hand that was on his leg up to his lips to kiss across her knuckles. He felt so incredibly lucky to have her by his side. He also wished that he had just stayed in D.C. after he had finished with Graceland the first time and instead of falling into bed with Jessica, he had gotten the courage to get to know her beyond their sticky note and sweets exchange. He was just about to tell her this when Laurel showed up.

"I'm not interrupting a moment am I?" She asked as she sat down.

Shaking his head, Mike turned his attention towards the other woman while still keeping his and Bex's hands interlocked. "Not at all." The two agents smiled reassuringly at the brunette.

"Okay, good, because I'm actually glad you called. Can I ask you a question?"

Mike took a deep breath to refocus. "You can ask me anything you want."

Noticing how visibly shaken he seemed, Laurel waved her hand while eyeing Bex to see if the blonde would somehow let her know what was going on. "No, I'm sorry. You first."

"No, no you go. Mine's..." he trailed off looking to Bex who just smiled encouragingly, "too weird." He finished looking back to Laurel.

"Okay." She once more looked between the couple, trying to figure out what was going on but soon Bex's smile was turned onto her and she continued on with her question. "What's your boss doing with this budget?"

That wasn't quite what either was expecting but Bex had hope that if Laurel was looking into the budget too that meant her mundane days were about to be over.

"I don't know. What do you mean?" Mike answered her.

"Should I be aware of something hidden in it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I..." He let out a huff which caused Laurel to scoff. Well if she was getting nothing out of that, maybe his question would help in some way.

"Okay then. Your turn. What is it?"

Mike chuckled a bit, sipping on more of his water. "This other theory of yours about the CHI's. What is it?"

Laurel was a bit shocked and looked to Bex, who nodded approvingly. "What did you see?"

Mike retold the story of what he had seen happen in Red's office the previous night which then led to Laurel telling him about her bug theory. She then asked for him to draw it but when it didn't look like a regular ant, she shook her head. Bex slid the napkin over to take in the detailed sketch. Getting a better view of it caused a shiver to go down Bex's spine. That had crawled out of Red's head? If she would have seen something like that in her apartment she would have gotten a shoe as quick as she could have.

"I didn't see this." Laurel said.

"You told me there were bugs in people's heads." He gave her a bit of a pointed look.

"Yeah, but not these bugs. Bex knows. They're more ant-like." Laurel motioned towards the woman sitting on his other side. "Are you sure this is what you saw?"

Mike was getting a little more flustered. "I don't know. I'm not sure..." His voice raised but when he noticed people staring at them he lowered it again. "I'm not sure what I saw anymore."

"And how big was it?" Laurel asked.

Mike gauged the size with his forefinger and thumb, scrunching up his nose in thought as he tried to remember. When it was about the size of what he saw the previous night, he tossed his head from side to side as if saying about this big.

Laurel's eyes widened at how big the bug apparently had been. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"And that went into Red's head?"

"Yeah." He sighed, looking back to Bex, trying to gauge how things were going while also just trying to ground himself. "This is insane." She squeezed his hand. "I don't like things that are this insane." He said as he turned back to Laurel.

"Yeah, I know, you'll get used to it. Bex did." She was actually rather surprised it seemed like the two hadn't talked or maybe they had and that's why he called her.

"Bex works with insane problems all the time. I, however, went the calmer route and yet here I am in the middle of one of the biggest ones I've ever heard her mention." He said, playing into their cover story.

"Didn't you tell me it laid eggs?" Bex asked, to get the topic back onto the bug so that they would be able to steer clear of any lies overlapping.

Laurel looked at the two shocked. "Eggs? You saw it lay eggs?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah. That's what it looked like."

Laurel picked up her purse and silently asked for the drawing which Bex handed over. "Okay, let's go."

"Why?" Mike asked, looking between the two women.

"Because we have to show this to someone." She said, motioning for the two to hurry so they could follow her.

Soon Mike, Bex, Gustav, Rochelle, and Laurel were all sitting in front of Dr. Wu at the CDC. "Okay, let me just say something here." Mike started before answering the doctor's question. "I'm not completely sure I saw what I saw."

Gustav rolled his eyes. "Come on. You told us that you saw it." He then pointed at the picture and looked back to Dr. Wu. "It's the queen bug, isn't it?"

The doctor looked down at the picture, perplexed. "I don't know, but this part looks like the egg sack." He looked back up to Mike. "That's where the eggs came out?"

Mike looked as though he was going to be sick and nodded as he took a deep breath to calm the nausea that was rolling through him. The two agents sat back and listened as the rest of the group discussed what finding the queen bug could mean. The group soon landed on that there was a chance if they killed the queen, they could kill the others. "I think we better go." Mike moved to get up, nudging Bex with his leg to follow him. This was a lot of information that they needed to discuss so they could plan their next move and he was slowly losing his patience over this assignment. He so wished he had been given another assignment with organized crime. That would have been so much better than whatever this was turning out to be.

"No. Wait. Why?" Gustav asked, looking between the pair.

"Because you're going to want to know how to get a large bug out of my boss' head and I don't think I have the patience for that conversation." Mike answered.

"It's in Senator Wheatus' head?" Dr. Wu asked just as Mike started to push up so he could stand.

"We should kill him." Gustav suggested.

Both agents covered their faces with their hands. This was why Mike was trying to get them out of there. If this turned into a plot to kill a senator, they would have to do something about it and knowing Bex's distaste for unnecessary paperwork was as bad as his, he really did not want to be there anymore.

"You can't just say that in front of a federal agent." Rochelle admonished Gustav.

Thank god they knew Bex's real identity, Mike thought.

"We're not going to kill him." Laurel said, looking to Bex reassuringly.

"I mean I'm just saying that if it'll save the human race is it wrong?" Gustav asked, looking at the group.

Mike looked up, eyebrows furled as he looked to Bex and then to Gustav. "Human race?" He then looked to Bex and Laurel. "When did we start talking about human race?" He knew, of course, that Bex had mentioned that this case was definitely meant for Area 51 but she didn't mention that the whole human race was now apparently in danger.

"You guys didn't tell him everything?" Rochelle asked, looking a little sheepish.

It was Laurel who answered but Bex wasn't sure how grateful she should be. "No, I-I don't think it's a good idea to get into..."

"What?" Mike asked, interrupting her. "What is everything?" He asked again when she didn't answer.

"They're not of this world." Gustav answered.

Mike looked at Laurel and Bex in disbelief. This was starting to become too much to handle even if he had known about the ties to space previously. "I'm going." With that he finally stood up and made it out of the room.

Everyone had their eyes on Bex who let out a heavy sigh and held her hands up, signalling her surrender in the choice to follow him. "Gareth, wait!" She called out, hurrying off after him.

She luckily didn't have to go too far, for he had waited for her out in the hallway. "Talk to me." She said, reaching out for him.

He let out a sigh and offered his arm, which she gratefully took. "Bex, when does this end? I mean I know you confirmed the whole Area 51 thing and they wanted more proof but this? I didn't sign up to be an agent for this. What am I supposed to do? They're in there without either one of us probably figuring out a way to lure out Red and they've already discussed killing him. What are we supposed to do with that?"

Bex leaned her head against his shoulder. "We've got to somehow get proof of what's inside Red's ear and what they're planning on doing. What you found isn't quite enough. Maybe we need to take the bugs out of this all together. I mean they're working as a hive which means it's kind of like a mafia family. We just need to know our key players and work our way from there."

Mike stopped just as they reached outside and looked down at her. "Bex, I saw something slightly bigger than a wasp come out of a man's ear. Is this really what my assignments will be from now on? Did I screw up that badly that they thought they'd just stick me with the joke assignments and all will be well?"

"I don't think this is punishment for you. I believe they truly thought that this would be an easy assignment but it turned out much larger than anyone could have ever expected."

He slowly nodded. "I should probably really get back to work. Are you going to be okay?"

"I think the question is, are you going to be okay?" She asked, worry written all over her face as she looked up at him.

Bringing a hand up, he caressed her cheek before kissing her, enjoying the feel of her lips under his for a moment before pulling back. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I'll call you." He promised with one more kiss before heading towards the front circle of the CDC building so he could get a taxi back.

Just as he had gotten out of the car at the Lincoln Memorial, his phone began to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw Charlie's name displayed on the screen. He had worried the first few times she had called randomly but by this point he knew to expect her either calling to check in on him or to ask his opinion on a case she was working. "Please tell me you're working on a normal case. I could do with a bit of normal right now."

"Aw, sorry, Mikey. I'm actually in between cases right now. You and Bex alright?"

He let out a disappointed huff. "Yeah, yeah, we're fine. This latest case is just insane and she just came back from dealing with a whole lot in Kansas City."

"Wait, she was the federal agent that had been kidnapped? She's really okay?"

Mike nodded despite his friend not being able to see him. "Yeah Charlie, she's good. I went out and got to bring her home. We, uh, we're actually together now."

"Holy shit. You finally asked her didn't you or did she ask you? I knew there was something between you two when I was there." She laughed a bit before growing a bit somber. "No matter how it happened, I'm glad you've got her."

"Now why do you say it like that?" He asked, a bit confused.

"I know you figured I was just calling to catch up since I'm not on a case right now but Mike, I called to warn ya too."

He did not like the sound of that, at all. "Warn me about what, Charlie?"

"Paige is back in D.C. She's on some apology tour. She left me this morning after spending about a week here. I told her to leave you alone but you know how she is."

Mike groaned and put his head in his hand. "That's not really the news I needed to hear after the day I've had."

"I know, Mikey but promise me you'll let Bex know. I'm sure she'll help you stay clear of her if she's able to find you."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. That was definitely not a conversation he was looking forward to having later. "I promise. I should probably get back to work. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Course. I'll talk to ya later and I'm sorry about adding onto what apparently has already been a shit day."

"You need to tell your brother that the next witness the committee is questioning is lying."

Laurel looked at him with a furrowed brow. "And you know this how?"

Mike just gave her a 'you know I can't tell you that' look.

Laurel just nodded. "Is there anything else?"

"That's it for now but I'll let you know if I learn something more." He really did not want to help Red start a war, after all.

"Well, thanks." She said, standing up. She was just about to walk away before she turned back around to face him. "Can I ask you something about Bex?"

His face dropped, was he about to hear just how questionable things were? Was it going to match up with what Bex had already told him? "Uh, yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Are you two more than just friends?"

Well, that certainly shocked him. He wasn't expecting the question. He's been meaning to tell Laurel anyway. "Yeah. Just recently though." He clarified when he saw a brief look of disgust on Laurel's face. He didn't want her to think that he was flirting with her to cheat. "Like it just happened yesterday recent."

"Oh." Laurel nodded, looking down at her feet. "Well, I guess I'll see you around then." She hated that she was hurt by this. They were far too different so it was probably for the best but rejection was rejection and that would always hurt no matter what.

"I'll see ya." Mike replied, feeling bad. If they had met under different circumstances things could have potentially gone the way that Laurel seemed to hope for. He'd have to ask Bex for a few pointers on how to possibly not feel as bad about flirting to get information.

Speaking of, Bex came over a few minutes later, two soft pretzels in her hands. "I thought what better way to cheer ourselves up than with some food?" She said in greeting, sitting next to him and handing it over.

"The smell was too tempting to not stop, wasn't it?" He teased her before happily taking a bite. They looked fresh; the butter was still melting.

Bex laughed and nodded. "It's scary that you know me that well."

"Last night you literally almost changed your order because the people next to us ordered something that smelled so good you asked what I thought it was." He chuckled.

Laughing, Bex nodded, before taking a bite. "Okay, you got me there."

They continued to eat in silence but it wasn't their normal, easy just soaking in each other's presence kind of silence. Mike didn't want to grill her for answers. She was forthcoming before so he just needed to be patient. She's never lied to him in the time they had known each other.

"Will you please ask me whatever question is on your mind so I can eat the rest of my pretzel with my head on your shoulder so we can be that couple?" She finally asked, breaking the silence as she looked over at him.

Mike chuckled, caught off guard by her forwardness. "We'd only be that couple if I was feeding you pieces of my pretzel while you were resting your head on my shoulder." He said instead of asking her his questions.

She let out a small sigh and turned to face him fully. "Mike, just ask what you want to know. I know what I said shook you a bit. Working in the gray space is never easy but it has to be done from time to time."

"I know. I know. Gray space typically leads to lies and pushing towards illegal activities from what I've experienced, hell, what I've done myself so I just need to know that you guys aren't torturing him, are you? I mean you just helped get Laurel free from being tortured and then you go into something like this."

Bex took Mike's hand in her and gave it a squeeze. "We are not torturing him. We're just trying to get him drunk and hope his lips get a little looser cause he's not giving us anything. The way he's contained could be a little better, I mean he's taped to a pole but other than that, that's all we've really done. Well, besides play The Cars backwards on a loop." He didn't need to know that the intruder was supposedly 2 years sober. That was a morality issue she'd have to deal with on her own. If the person turned out to be infected though, maybe that canceled it out.

Mike nodded and squeezed her hand. "Thank you for telling me. It's nice to finally have some honesty in a relationship."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "If it gets any worse, trust that I will fight harder to stop it. If you need updates, I'll even do that."

"No, I don't need you to give me updates. I trust you Bex."

To say thank you, Bex gave him a sweet kiss before settling against his side so that she could easily rest her head against his shoulder. They finished their pretzels in that easy silence they often had with one another. They continued sitting there. Mike had moved to wrap an arm around her and his head rested lightly on top of hers.

"I could get used to this." He whispered as the lights began to come on.

"I could get used to this too. Promise that no matter what happens next, we'll always find time for just us?" Bex asked, looking up at him. Sure the next steps for this case were unknown but even their future was unknown. She wasn't entirely what would happen with her transfer and she wanted to make sure for once she'd actually have someone to come back home to after a hard case.

Mike turned to place a kiss on top of Bex's head as he pulled her in close. "I promise."

The gang ultimately decided to let the infested intruder go. The trio informed Bex what they had gotten out of the intruder that morning, including that the alien bugs were planning on taking over the world and there was apparently a secret room in which the intruder unknowingly led Rochelle to.

Bex was now on standby, letting Laurel look into the room to see what she could find since she had better access to information. Meanwhile, she finished up her paperwork from her case and started doing some research on her own.

When her database only let her go so far, Bex headed over to the Smithsonian so she could also keep up pretenses. If Red had sent someone after Rochelle, she couldn't be too careful. She pulled up Garcia's number to give her a call, hoping that she'll be able to ask the questions she needed to while sounding like she was negotiating for a new exhibit.

"Well if it isn't my beautiful Bex. I wasn't sure if you were going to call before your transfer would take place or not." Bex could easily see Penelope's grin as she talked.

"I just put everything in a tidy little bow and sent it off. I was wondering if you could help me with something. And I promise I will do whatever kind of favor you may need from me for helping me out."

Penelope brushed her off. "Don't worry about it. It's what friends are for. Now what do you need?"

"I'm looking to broaden an exhibit I'm working on bringing in. The pieces are by Syrian artists and they're supposed to be mind blowing good." Bex looked to the sky hoping Penelope would catch on.

It took her a second but soon the tech wiz realized what was going on. "Of course! I'll send it your way as soon as I find something. Recent pieces only, correct?"

"That's right. You are truly a blessing. Tell everyone I say hello. Talk to ya soon." Hanging up, Bex pocketed her phone and continued on her walk, planning on entering one of the buildings at random. It had been awhile since she had actually walked around one of the museums.

"Does she follow you?" Laurel asked, spotting Bex as she was walking up the stairs to the history museum.

Mike, who had just learned of the secret room and informed Laurel about Red's investigation into her, turned to see who she was talking about. "Bex!" He called out with a wave before answering Laurel's question. "No, she doesn't. This is strictly coincidence."

At the sound of her name she looked in the direction where Laurel and Mike were sitting on the steps in front of one of the statues outside the museum. She smiled, returning the wave as she made her way over. "Fancy seeing you guys here. I was just making my rounds before heading back to the office." She said, coming to stand beside Mike.

"Making your rounds?" Laurel asked.

Bex looked around to make sure no one was really paying any attention to them before whispering. "Red thinks I'm an art curator here. I'm just keeping up appearances."

Laurel then nodded. "Maybe I should have taken up something and maybe then he wouldn't be looking into me." She joked.

Bex turned to Mike with an inquisitive expression.

"There was a leak about the CIA briefing the intelligence committee had yesterday and so Red's broadening his scope into looking at Senator Healy." Mike explained.

Bex nodded. "Well, I wish you good luck with that."

Laurel laughed. "Thanks. I should probably get going though. I'm sure my brother's going a little crazy with all of this. You can tell her the new information, by the way." She looked to Mike before flashing a small smile and making her way back to her office.

"New information?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mike wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer so he could give her a kiss. "Mmhmm. A mystery room in the basement that is apparently set up as a war room."

Bex smiled into the kiss, keeping an arm draped around his shoulders as she pulled back. "Ooh, I do love a good mystery."

"Shall we go investigate together?"

“Bex…” He trailed off, not really knowing what more he could say. He had been arguing this since they landed back in DC.

“I’m just going to call my parents and then take a shower until my hot water goes out then go to bed. I’ll come see you in the morning.” She opened her door, tossing her bag inside. “I really appreciate everything, Mike. I just need some time.”

He let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Okay, but if you need anything, call me, please.”

“I will. I promise. Good night, Mike.”

“Night, Bex.”

Once her apartment door was closed, Bex immediately tore off the scrubs and made her way into her bathroom. She stood under the spray of the hot water, letting it rinse off all the dirt and grime from the past few days. Soon the weight of everything grew to be too much and she placed a hand on the shower wall to brace herself. Tears mixed with the water running down her face as her sobs wracked her whole body making her appear to be shivering despite the hot water.

He had remembered her sister. He even knew who she was. But he was going behind bars now. She had finally caught him. No one else would feel like this because of that killer. She could now do the same for others if the bureau allowed for her transfer. She didn’t want to be around serial killers all the time when her sister’s had still been out there. Now that he was behind bars she wouldn’t feel as much as a failure and be able to do what she set out to do when she first joined the FBI.

She took a few shaky breaths before pushing herself up from where she had been leaning against the wall so she could wash her hair. She took her time, only hurrying when she felt the water’s temperature change. Wrapping herself in a fluffy towel, she made her way into her bedroom and pulled on some sweat pants and her sister’s favorite band tee.

Padding her way into the kitchen, Bex made herself a cup of tea before calling her parents. She curled up under a blanket on her couch, mug held close to her chest to feel its warmth, and her phone nestled between her ear and shoulder as she waited for her parents to answer.

“Rebecca? Please tell me that’s really you.” Her mother sounded worried beyond comparison that Bex didn’t even roll her eyes at hearing her full name.

“Yeah, yeah mom, it’s me. I finally did it. I finally caught him.” She had thought she had cried herself out in the shower but her voice cracked at the end and tears pooled in her eyes. Hearing her mom cry made her cry even harder and the two Morris women cried it out together over the phone.

“Oh, honey. Your father and I were worried sick when we saw the news.” Her mother told her through sniffles before calling for her father.

“Hey, dad.” Bex said when he got a hold of the phone.

“I can’t tell ya how good it is to hear your voice. You’re okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Bex shook her head despite him not being able to see her. “No, nothing I can’t handle anyway. Just some bumps and scrapes but I’ll be fine. I’m back home and I’ve got some really good friends here to help me out.”

“Good, because you know we’d come up there if you needed us.”

She sighed, laughing softly. “Yeah, I know but you don’t need to. I’m going to be hanging low for awhile anyway before I put in for my transfer out of organized crime. The guy who helped me out on my last case has a pretty bizarre case but it’s nothing too taxing so I figured I’d offer my assistance especially after he put it on hold to come help find me too.”

“Just don’t over do it, Bex.” Her father warned.

“I won’t, trust me. If anything this will just be good ol’ fashioned detective work to help him out since his cover can’t really leave a senator’s side. Plus the original agent that was supposed to be helping him out is being weird now.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Call us if you need us. Oh, and your mother wants to know when you’ll come home next?”

A small smile tugged at her lips. “I’ll make it down for Thanksgiving. Tell mom that I expect a pecan pie and her mac and cheese.”

She heard a bit of shuffling on the other end of the phone before her mother’s voice was once more in her ear. “You’re really going to make me wait until Thanksgiving? After you’ve put us through this?”

“If I come any sooner, I’m afraid you won’t ever let me leave. Besides, I don’t know when the trial will be yet so I don’t know when I can actually take off from work. Just because we caught him, doesn’t mean I can rest just yet.” She tried to explain. Her mother had never been keen on what Bex decided to do for a living.

Once more there was shuffling heard and her father’s voice came through the phone again. “Bex, you do what you need to do. Be careful and maybe we can give that facetiming thing a try again soon. We’d at least like to see your face before Thanksgiving.”

Bex smiled, her dad always swooped in and saved the day. “Yeah, we can most definitely do that. I’m gonna head to bed now though but I’ll be in touch, promise. I love you and give my love to mom.”

When the call ended, she tossed her phone beside her and let out a deep breath. Slowly but surely, she was feeling a little lighter. She stood from her blanket cocoon after she finished her tea and placed the mug in her sink. The weight of her exhaustion was now beginning to hit her. She crawled into bed, taking the picture of her and her sister from her nightstand with her. She held out the frame so she could see the picture it protected. She and her sister wrapped in each other’s arms, standing at the end of the pier as the sun set, grinning at the camera. Hailey was only 16 and Bex 19, spending their last day of summer vacation together before going back to school. It wasn’t the last day that Bex saw her sister before the tragedy, but it was the last picture they had taken together. “I did it, Hailes. He’s not going to hurt anyone else. You can rest easy now.” A lone tear fell against her cheek as she kissed the glass before returning the picture to its home.

“I can’t decide if I’m surprised to see you in my office Morris or not.” Director Marchant said as he walked into his office after grabbing a refill on his coffee. Bex sat with one leg crossed over the other as she waited for him to return, smiling at him as he sat down at his desk. “Shouldn’t you be taking some time off? I would be taking some time off after you not only accomplished what you did but after what you went through to do so.”

“I appreciate that director, but Agent Warren is still working on his case and since he’s helped me with my last two cases, I had to see if there was something I could do for him.” Bex told him, hoping that he would just give her the go ahead so she wouldn’t have to sneak about.

Marchant stared at Bex for a few moments, weighing his options. Onofrio and Blades seemed to have switched their stories about whether or not the head explosions were related to a terrorist attack. Congress was not quite on his hide yet but he could feel them inching closer and closer. Senator Wheatus changed to where he actually was doing his job now so Mike couldn’t investigate like he needed to. “Okay, fine. You’ll be brought on as Warren’s liaison but I need you to not get caught up in the politics. I need someone actually running an investigation.”

Bex gave a small salute, nodding her head. “You can count on me, director.”

“Good,” he stood just as his phone dinged to remind him of a meeting. “You can come with me to meet the other agents and they can fill you in on our side of the investigation before you go meet Warren.” He gave her a knowing look as he passed her. Of course, he knew that she would help Mike regardless of what he said. He knew after the Capello case that the two had formed a bond. If Bex hadn’t been so focused on catching her sister’s killer, he was sure that he would have seen a disappointed look like he saw on Mike’s when he had given them their latest assignments.

“Where is Onofrio?” Director Marchant asked as he and Bex sat down in Agent Blades office.

“He called to say he was running behind. Guess traffic’s bad. He didn’t give a whole lot of details.” Blades shrugged.

“Very well. Let’s go ahead and begin since I have a meeting right after this one.” Marchant nodded before motioning towards Bex. “This is Agent Morris. She has just returned from her latest case and she’ll be serving as Warren’s liaison since Onofrio seems to have forgotten about that part of his assignment. They’ve worked together before and took down the Capello family with ease.”

“I heard about that take down. Impressive. It’ll be good to have a new set of eyes on this. I know Warren’s been working with a hill staffer that’s involved but hasn’t gotten into any theories with her. She’s working with the daughter of the first head injury victims though, so I think if we could somehow get you connected so that Warren can keep his cover. We originally thought that it was a terrorist group but -”

“We still think it’s a terrorist group.” Anthony said as he entered the room. When he noticed Bex he looked her over, trying to figure out who she was. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

She certainly didn’t like the way he looked at her as if she was intruding. Before she could say anything Marchant introduced her and told him to sit down. “Continue, Blades.”

“As I was saying -”

“Is she really necessary, sir? We’ve been doing a good job without her.” Anthony interrupted once more.

“She’s here because I brought her here.” Marchant told the other agent, hoping that it was all that needed to be said.

“But she’s a woman. Has she even dealt with terrorist? No offense.” Anthony argued. Bex was a fresh face and that meant another hassle for the bugs.

Marchant was about to say something when Bex placed a hand on his back as she stood. “All the offense taken, Onofrio. I may not have dealt with terrorist but I have shared the same bed as some of the biggest mafia lords so I could get close enough to cut off their operations to keep America safe. I just got back from going under with a serial killer who has been close to the top of the most wanted list. I have dealt with domestic terrorism here so do not once undermine me because I’m a woman. I was willing to work along side you, to make sure I didn’t step on any toes because I have just returned from a case but you’ve just lost that privilege. I’m going to show you how a woman closes a case.”

She then turned to Blades, her expression turing from a death glare to an easy smile. “Would you be so kind to send me the case file. I’ll look over it soon.” When Blades nodded, she made her way to the door, turning to address the group. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some real investigating to do.” She gave Anthony a pointed glare before exiting, shutting the door a bit more forceful than needed but by no means, slamming the door shut. She only had to prove a point to one agent after all.

Both Blades and Marchant started laughing after Bex left. “Where did you find her?” Blades asked between his laughter.

“She’s not one of the bureau's best agents for no reason.” Marchant chuckled as he stood. “I’d take notes Onofrio. You just made the wrong woman upset. I won’t be surprised if this case isn’t finished in a week or two. Blades, I want you working closely with her. Let her know how your department operates. I want a report on my desk by the end of the day about updates.”

Blades looked over at Onofrio after Marchant left with a small smirk. “I’d get going if I were you or you’re really going to get chewed up and spit out. It seems like you messed with the wrong person and I cannot wait to see what she does to you.” He chuckled, dismissing Anthony.

Anthony slammed the door on his way out, frustrated and flustered. This Bex was a new variable in their plan that they didn’t know about. They needed to assess her and figure out if she needed to be converted or gotten rid of. They couldn’t have another Laurel on their case.

Bex stuck her head into Gareth’s office despite the intern’s protests but when she found him in a meeting with Red, she grimaced. “Oh, god, I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you since I got back this morning. I’ll wait out here.” She motioned behind her but before she could leave, Red invited her inside.

“Nonsense, come on in. You came by just in time. Gareth just got back last night and boy did I miss him.” He gave Mike’s shoulder a squeeze before offering out his hand while still looking towards Mike. “I’m assuming this is Rebecca?”

“Yes, this is Rebecca.” Mike smiled at her as she shook hands with Red. “Did you even unpack your bags or did you come straight here?” He asked as they hugged.

“I’ll have to pick up my bag from the office but since I was this way, I figured I would see if I could steal you away for lunch?” Bex smiled as she looked between the two men for the answer.

“What is it that you do?” Red asked instead.

“I’m a curator for the Smithsonian.” Bex replied with ease. It was her go to cover story. She didn’t want Mike to potentially get made as an agent himself so she figured she would go with it.

Red nodded. “Keeping America educated, very good. Enjoy your lunch, buddy. I hope to see you around the office more, Rebecca.”

They shook hands once more before he went back to his office. When the door closed, Bex turned to Mike, an eyebrow raised trying so hard not to laugh. Mike snickered, not being able to hold it in, as he motioned for her to leave. The moment the pair stepped out into the hallway, they both began laughing. “That was something else.” Bex said in between her giggling.

“That was a calmer interaction than what I’ve seen. I’m just glad he didn’t ask you about the One Wayers.” He shook his head with a chuckle.

“That’s the extremist grassroots group, right?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah. I’ll probably have to look into them more after all of this. Did you really go into the office this morning?”

“Sure did. Marchant told me I could be your liaison.” She grinned over at him as they walked down the steps of the Capitol building.

“Thank god.” Mike laughed. “I haven’t been able to do anything since Red decided he actually wanted to be a senator. After we eat, I’ll see if I can introduce you to Laurel. There’s something I feel like she’s hiding from me when there’s talk of the head injuries but she won’t tell me so maybe you can try?”

“Yeah, of course. You can introduce me as an agent with her. I just didn’t want Red to get suspicious.”

“I was going to ask you about that.” He chuckled. “Thanks for that and sorry for the Rebecca thing. With him being so extreme now, I didn’t want him to try and do something because he thought Bex sounded weird.”

She laughed before giving him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about it. So explain to me from the beginning, what’s all happened. I had the pleasure of meeting Blades and Onofrio this morning and Blades is all for me joining while Onofrio’s lucky I didn’t punch him in the face.”

Mike chuckled, shaking his head slightly. He didn’t even want to know what Onofrio said to Bex to warrant such a response. After ordering their burgers, Mike and Bex sat on a bench, a larger order of fries sitting in between them. “So,” Mike launched into his explanation, “a meteor crashed in Russia and brought over here. The people on the ship transporting it came back completely different. One of the wives went to Laurel Healy because her brother was the one who signed off on it being brought here for testing. The government shut down and the scientist who was researching this meteor gets infected, head explodes in the ambulance which Laurel is also in. A couple more people have experienced this same fate or have changed completely. Laurel is working with the daughter of the scientist and some unknown but I feel like they’re working on a theory that I don’t know about. Laurel called me last night but when I called her back, she gave the excuse of a drunk dial so I don’t really know what that was all about.”

She nodded, humming thoughtfully as she chewed her latest bite of her burger. “Sounds to me I need to meet this Healy girl then. You think she’d open up to me?”

He gave a small shrug, popping a fry in his mouth when he saw the woman in question walking up behind Bex. “Only one way to find out.” He murmured as he smiled over at the brunette. “Laurel, hey. You feeling better?”

“Hey. Yeah, I am. I guess you’re back in town. Did you find your friend?” She slowed to a stop, trying to figure out who the woman sitting next to Mike was.

Mike chuckled and motioned towards Bex. “I did. Even got to bring her home. Laurel, this is Bex Morris. Bex, this is Laurel Healy.”

The two women shook hands, smiling. “Welcome home. Gareth was really worried so I’m glad to see that you don’t even look like you went missing.”

Bex laughed. “You didn’t see me last night.”

“So how do you two know each other?” Laurel really hoped that she didn’t sound jealous. She didn’t even know where she and Mike stood. She just knew that they had been dancing around each other and now here this friend of his was.

“We met in college. I decided to go the political route while she went the crime solving route. Now she yells at me when she has to deal with red tape and I ask for favors.” Mike answered with a chuckle.

“Like getting information on Anthony?” Laurel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Actually that was all me. I had already pulled up his file to look into him since he’s now a partner of mine on my latest case. Gareth had mentioned him and after reading his file, I just grew worried and passed along the information. I’m sorry if I interfered in anyway.” Bex spoke up, trying to save face.

Laurel looked between the two, trying to figure out if what Bex said was the truth until it clicked. Bex was Anthony’s new partner. She had to warn her about the bugs somehow, so she wouldn’t get infected too. “Are you working with him on his current case?”

“Yeah, I am actually. I know you’re a major player in this case and he’s not exactly the most forthcoming on any information, so I’d love to talk sometime, hear your take on the events.” Bex smiled.

The other woman nodded. “That’d be great. I’m meeting a couple of my friends for lunch but stop by my office in a few and I’d be happy to tell you what I know.” Laurel then gave a small smile and wave before continuing on her way.

“Well, that went even better than I’d hoped.” Mike sighed, eating another fry.

Bex nodded, popping one in her mouth. “Mmhmm, now hopefully she’ll truly tell me everything.”

Once they finished their meal, the pair walked back towards the capitol building. “I don’t want you to think I’m not glad that you’ve been placed on this case but -”

“Have I really been cleared for it?” Bex finished Mike’s sentence with a small laugh. “Yeah, I truly have. I went for my eval before I even went to sit in the director’s office. I’m field ready but will have check ins periodically especially once the trial picks up since I’m so connected to the case. That wasn’t my first rodeo with an unsub. But thank you for checking.” She smiled over at him. “I even promise to follow the same rules I make you follow.” She chuckled, bumping his arm with her shoulder.

Mike chuckled and draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and placing a kiss to her temple. “Good because you’ve quickly become someone really important to me.”

Bex had looped an arm around his waist so she was nestled into his side despite the summer heat. A small blush tinted her cheeks as she looked at their feet coincidentally taking similar steps, their left feet stepped forward followed by their right. “Me too.” She agreed before she thought that it sounded odd. “I mean, you’ve quickly become someone really important to me too. I really don’t know if I could ever thank you enough for stopping things here to come help find me.”

“You did it for me once so how could I not?” He smiled down at her as he gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“Well, still, thank you. I truly appreciate it.” She smiled back up at him.

She continued to do that over and over again until the killer threw her to the side. Climbing on top of her, he wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed. Bex began to squirm, trying to fight him off of her as best she could with her hands still tied together. She kicked, arched her back, raised her hips, anything to try and get him off of her.

Just as spots were appearing in her vision, a gun shot rang out, causing the killer to loosen his grip. Another shot sounded and he fell over, yelling in pain. Bex scrambled away, gasping for breath. Soon her vision was filled with nothing but Mike. At the sight of him, it was as if a dam had broken. Tears blurred her vision as she cried. “You found me.”

“I told you I would always fight my way to you.” Mike said softly as he removed the rope binding her wrists together.

Once her hands were free, she launched herself into his arms, clutching the edges of his bullet proof vest in her hands as she sobbed into his shoulder. Mike held her tight for a few moments before maneuvering her into his arms so he could carry her down to the ambulance that would be waiting to check her out.

“I saved your arrows. I have them back in my room.” He told her as they went down the elevator.

Bex let out a sigh. “I was hoping someone would save them from evidence. I can’t believe it’s finally over.” She sniffled.

Mike placed a kiss on her forehead. “You did it. You finally closed the case.”

“She can finally rest.” Her cries began to pick back up again as she buried her face into his neck.

So can you, he thought resting his head on top of hers as he carried her out to the medic team. He set her down on the gurney, fully prepared to step back and let the medics do their job when he felt a tug on his hand. He looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m going to let them load you in first, okay?”

Bex nodded and he gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. Another medic team came down with Rossi and Luke following behind them. The killer had been handcuffed to the gurney as he continued to yell about just letting him go so that he could be with his kids. Spencer came out next, heading straight for the ambulance that Bex was in. “Look what I found!” He smiled, holding out her phone.

The blonde smiled. “We did it, Spence. We finally got him.”

Spencer handed over her phone and gave her ankle a squeeze. “We did. I always knew we would.”

“Will you take those heels off? I want to get out of this costume as soon as possible. Have you found my clothes?” She asked him.

He nodded, doing what she asked as he answered her question. “Emily and JJ are looking now as they look around his apartment to see how much evidence they can find.”

That didn’t satisfy her enough. She wanted out of the pink taffeta nightmare she was currently trapped in. She turned to the medic on her right. “Do you have a gown or scrubs you could spare?”

Looking to Mike, the medic pointed to a bin behind his head. “Check in that bin there. Should be some scrubs.”

Mike did as he was asked and found something for Bex to change into. He handed the scrubs to Bex and soon the medic was ushering everyone out so that the blonde could change. “Thank you.” Bex told her as she helped her out of the pink nightmare.

“Don’t mention it. There’ll probably be some bruising around your throat, those rope burns should heal up just fine, and take it easy with that concussion. Besides that, we don’t need to take you in for observation. You are free to go.” The medic explained to her as she opened the ambulance doors again.

Bex, freshly dressed in scrubs, gave the medic a hug before climbing out. Spencer saw her first and hurried over, wrapping her up in a hug and spinning her around. “We did it!” They exclaimed through their laughter.

“Does this mean you’re able to go home with us?” He asked her once he placed her feet back on the ground.

“Yeah, but, I actually might fly back with Mike.” She began to twirl the ends of her hair around her finger. “I just want to give my statement and go home. I can debrief later.”

“You both will fit on the jet.” Spencer offered.

Bex gave his arm a squeeze. “Just because I want to get home right now, doesn’t mean that I’m going to withdraw my potential transfer to the team. Besides, Mike needs to get back to his own investigation.”

Spencer nodded and pulled her in for one more hug. “Okay. Let me go get someone then.”

When he left, Bex looked around for Mike. She didn’t have to look far for he was talking to Luke as they watched the ambulance that held the killer drive off. Mike looked back towards where he last saw Bex and excused himself, seeing that she was alone again. The two met in the middle, wrapping their arms around each other. “I’m assuming they’re letting you go?” He asked her, holding her close.

She nodded. “Thank you.” She said as she reveled in the safety of being in his arms. She, of course, was grateful for the entire team in finding her in time but Mike had dropped everything to come out to help.

“You don’t have to thank me, Bex. You would have done the same thing. Actually, you practically did the same thing a few months ago.” He told her, recalling the time she put her Capello investigation on hold to help him detox.

“Marchant isn’t upset?” She looked up at him, worry written all over her features.

Mike shook his head. “Nope. He already figured I was going when I called and told me to bring you back as soon as possible because this meteor case is getting out of hand. I could really use a better liaison.” He smiled down at her.

Bex laughed slightly. “I can’t wait to hear all about this. I just need to give my statement and then we can go.”

“Okay, but before you do…” He trailed off as he reached into his pocket to give her back her earrings and necklace.

Bex gasped, tears coming to her eyes once more. “You saved them.”

“Of course I did." He smiled at her before helping her put the necklace on.

Back at the precinct, Penelope rushed forward to wrap Bex in a hug. “Oh, my brave, beautiful Bex, I’m so glad you’re okay. Come, sit down, I’ll get some tea.” She tried to usher her to the conference room.

Bex gave a soft smile, but stopped Penelope. “I just want to give my statement so I can go home. I’ll be okay.”

Penelope let out a sigh and changed course for the consult room. “Fine but I’m still getting you a tea.”

Bex nodded, leaning against her friend as they walked down the hall together. “Thank you and not just for getting me tea.”

The other woman laughed. “I knew there was something and I want all the details.”

Mike had watched the two women walk away, fully planning on gathering any of his or Bex’s things left behind in the conference room so they could head back to the hotel before going to the airport. “Hey, Mike, can I speak with you for a moment?” Spencer asked as he walked up to the other agent.

“Uh, yeah. What’s up?” Mike asked as they stepped into the hallway, away from the others.

“You’re aware that Bex has put in a transfer to work with the BAU, correct?”

Mike nodded. “Yes, it’s where she’s always wanted to end up after finishing this case. I’m actually surprised she hasn’t made this permanent sooner.”

“So, you’re not going to talk her out of it?” Spencer’s eyes widened. He had not been expecting that answer. When Bex mentioned she had a partner, he grew worried she would never join the team as hoped.

Mike looked at the other man just as surprised. Is this what they thought of him? He shook his head. “No, I would never. She wants to make a difference and she feels like she can do that with this team. I might worry about her more after today but I would never try to influence her decision because of that. Besides I’m not in any position to even do that if I wanted to.”

Spencer nodded, clearly he didn’t know how much he meant to Bex. “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you around. Thanks for your help today.” He gave another curt nod before making his way to the conference room.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Bex asked as Mike entered into the conference room. She had given her statement and wished everyone safe travels already. She even had gathered their things, handing Mike his jacket.

“Yeah, I’ve had Red blowing up my phone so I probably should get back.” He chuckled, motioning for her to lead the way.

“Or you shouldn’t have left at all.” She teased him, nudging his shoulder as she passed.

The man who was giving instructions stopped his pacing right in front of his latest victim. He leaned against the ax he had been swinging while he was pacing. "Do you think you can remember that when you get up there? Dorothy and the Scarecrow will be there waiting for you with Ben and Jamie. I'll be sending the next characters up soon so you can't start telling them the story quite yet since I'm sending characters a little out of order but tell them that it'll be soon, before the year ends. There's just so many characters, you see, that I have to hurry things along a bit."

The man in the gray sweats began to shake his head. On top of being tied to a tree, he also had a gag in his mouth. "But you're perfect. You're the best Tin Man I could find. You're going to have to remember." The man with the ax said, growing frustrated.

"I'll tell you one more time and then you're just going to have to remember. It's getting late and I have to leave so so they don't find me before I'm finished telling my story. Otherwise, Ben and Jamie won't understand and they'll never go to sleep." The man began pacing again, going over the story of the Tin Man once more.

"Do you get it now?" He asked but once again the man in sweats shook his head. "Well, you're just going to have to." The man said with gritted teeth as he brought the ax above his head. With one swift motion, he swung the ax down, lodging it into the other man's head.

The man in sweats slouched, blood dripping down his face from the wound. The killer bent down and removed the gag. Using the cloth that was in the other man's mouth, he tried clearing the blood away so that whenever his children, Ben and Jamie, met him, they wouldn't be scared. "Enjoy kiddos." He said, standing up and walking away from the crime scene once he was satisfied.

"Maybe you should just go with cereal instead?" Jennifer said as she pried open the waffle iron in front of Bex.

At the sound of Jennifer's voice and the smell of burnt waffle, Bex returned back to reality She shook her head with a laugh. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Thanks JJ."

The other agent gave Bex's shoulder a squeeze and a sympathetic smile. "We're gonna get him Bex." Bex just nodded her head, giving JJ a smile of her own before moving in front of the cereal containers.

The news they received walking into the Kansas City police station didn't do anything to lift Bex's spirits. JJ and Tara were speaking to the girlfriend of the man most recently killed. Emily was at the morgue while Rossi and Luke were at the crime scene. "I, uh, brought some tea, hoping it'll help a little bit." Spencer said as he walked into the conference room the BAU was using as their work space.

He placed the cup in front of Bex, who looked up as he sat down next to her. She gave him a grateful smile before taking a sip of the hot beverage. "I should be in there talking to her Spencer but the minute she walked in all I could see was my mom's face after she was told the details and I just couldn't." She set the cup back down on the table before leaning back in her chair, cover her face in her hands. "I don't even know why I'm still brought onto these cases. I'm too emotionally attached."

"You're brought on because you're our best asset on this case. You know him best so where do we start next?" He knew she did best when she was working with facts and what they knew. It helped her focus and feel like she was in control. They had gotten past her 'this is why I work in organized crime' phase of her return and now it was time to finally lock the guy behind 10 years worth of murders so that she could move past it all. He wished Morgan was still on the team so that she would at least laugh a little bit more.

Bex nodded as she started to go through all that they knew. "Well we know that he's not worried too much about physical appearance unless it's stated in the book. Dorothy was a brunette, therefore the person who he chose also needed to be a brunette. The person he chose for the Scarecrow was a farmer and the person he chose for the Tin Man worked at the paper mill. So is the person he's looking for next have to resemble a lion or are they deemed a coward?" She then groaned. "I just wish we knew more about this guy. The profile we came up with can only get us so far I feel like."

Spencer rubs soothing circles along her back. "We have to trust in the profile Bex. Garcia is trying to see if anyone on our list has connections with any of the victims."

"She could even start seeing if anything has come up in the news that our unsub will deem cowardly." Bex suggested, feeling a little better that they were at least trying to get ahead of the unsub.

She went to the board and wrote down their prediction. They had to get this one right or it would be another two years before their shot at tracking him down again. They were still unsure as to why but their unsub followed children's stories, killing and staging his victims as characters from the story. He usually chose four of the main characters, killing them within a six month period before disappearing for two years.

They were all making calls to those they thought, based off of Garcia's list from Bex's hunch earlier, could be potential targets. They were informing of increased police patrols in their areas of home and work as well as tips on being vigilant. Right before Bex was about to call the next person on the list, her phone rang. Mike's name flashed across the screen, making her smile. She excused herself so she could answer the call in private. "Hey, you." She said, hoping she sounded a little more enthusiastic than what she thought she sounded like.

She in fact did not. She sounded tired and that worried Mike. "Hey, what happened?"

She let out a sigh, knowing there was no getting around it. "The unsub killed again. We've got like two months to figure out who this guy is before he disappears again."

Mike looked down at his feet wishing he could give her a hug. "I'm sorry. You guys will get him. I know it. I can offer a distraction if you'd like?" He offered not wanting to just jump right into the problems of his case when it was clear she was upset about her own.

"Yes, please." Bex answered, not wanting to think about how she felt like she was failing her younger sister, yet again.

"Well, something weird is definitely going on. I just got out of a meeting with another agent who was just put on the case. Apparently people's heads are exploding." He whispered the last bit, to make sure no one heard him.

"Did you just say that people's heads are exploding?" She asked, trying so hard not to laugh.

"Yes, I did and that's not the crazy part. I mean, I have no place to judge but Red has completely changed his life around, drinking nothing but those green smoothies and is following this juice cleanse book to the t, where just the other day he was passed out drunk in his office." Mike continued to explain all that he was dealing with.

Bex grew puzzled at that. Even after detoxing Mike had done a few things to make sure that he wasn't ever tempted again but that was after a three day period. It certainly was not an overnight decision to stick to a juice cleanse like it sounded like Red had done. "That is odd. Do you think it's linked?" She asked, trying to help him come up with some wa for him to investigate.

"I'm really not sure. Anthony, the other agent will be taking lead with the explosions since he's with counter terrorism and that's what they're thinking this is. Meanwhile I'm stuck looking into this meteor from Russia that the office thinks could be alien and needs to get to Area 51."

At that Bex laughed. "They took you from bringing in drug lords and arms dealers to look into aliens? You should feel so insulted. See if you can come out to Kansas City. I trust the BAU with this case, I really do but I think a new perspective on it could be really useful."

Mike smiled at that. "I miss you too Bex, but they think that giving me this case will help ease me back into under cover work so I'm stuck here sadly."

Bex sighed, leaning her head against the wall. "Well that sucks. Maybe aliens took over Red."

That made Mike laugh. "Who knows. He's sounding more and more like every other politician on capitol hill so maybe the drink thing is all a rouse until election time." He then sighed when he realized what time it was. "Hey, I gotta go so Red can be on this talk show. I'll call you later. I'll need help getting ready for this tax prom thing tonight."

She started about by taking a few deep breaths but that wasn’t enough. There was still this feeling just sitting on her chest. She then let out a shout of frustration as she beat against the wall with her fist. After that she let out sigh. She felt a little better but she still felt like the weight she was carrying on her shoulders was pushed down just a bit more. Without really thinking, she pulled out her phone and called Mike.

“Why do I do this? I’m clearly not any good at it.” She said as soon as Mike answered the phone.

Her frustration was heard clearly in her voice. “You do it because you want to help keep people safe but give me one minute and we can dive further into this.” He replied, locking his computer as he stood to let Red know that he was stepping out to take the call. He poked his head through the door into Red’s office. “Hey, I’m stepping out of the office real quick. My sister’s having one of her bad days and my mom needs my help.” Red just waved him off and told him to hurry back.

Mike nodded and brought the phone back up to his ear. “Okay, back to why you do this.” He started as he walked out of the office, heading towards the exit of the building. “You do this because you want to help keep people safe, you do this because you fully believe in the constitution, you do this because you don’t want anyone else to feel the way you did at the beginning of your sister’s case. That case is still open and you’re going to close it, giving not only yourself a sense of peace but everyone involved.”

“Well, that’s all grand and good, Mike but I’m definitely not doing that now and I haven’t been doing that since I was put on this case. I should just request to be taken off the case and come back and help you out.” She slid down, bringing her knees up to her chest.

“Bex that is outside of your control. You are doing everything in your power that you can do. Now what happened? You sounded so hopeful last night.” He found a place on the steps outside of the capitol, out of the way and sat down.

She sighed and rested her head on her knees. “Another person was taken last night. Everything matched to a t, Mike. Every detail I predicted, matched. We had people at every bar in town and still we weren’t able to identify the person who’s doing all of this or protect the one deemed character enough.”

“I don’t know about you but that just seems to me like you’re almost there. You were able to predict his next move, Bex. Isn’t that a major break through? You told me at the beginning of this that the one thing you hated about this was that you couldn’t predict the next steps. Sounds like to me, you just did. So go back out to the team and start planning your next move. Think of it as you’re about to raid a buy. You are good at your job, Bex. Don’t ever forget that.” Mike hoped that she would believe him. He also hoped they would finally catch this killer because he wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to truly cope with him still not being captured.

“So now it’s the search for his location.” Bex looked up from where she was resting her head and slowly stood back up. “We can narrow down our list because he’ll need plenty of space to keep someone and not have a lot of witnesses.”

“Now there’s Special Agent Bex Morris. Go back out to your team and get started on your search. You’ve got this Bex. No one else is gonna fall victim to this guy. If you need a reminder of that or need someone to be your sound board, give me a call. Crazy senators can wait.” He smiled, standing up and slowly turning to head back up the steps.

“I will and thank you, Mike. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket. She took a deep breath and unlocked the bathroom door.

Just as she opened the door, Spencer had raised his fist to knock on the door. In his other hand was a cup of tea. “I brought a peace offering.” He said, holding the cup out to her.

She gave him a small, grateful smile and took the cup. “You know I don’t blame you right. He was probably sitting in some corner that couldn’t be seen all too well. We’ve still got time to figure out our unsub’s location.”

Spencer let out a breath of relief. She wasn’t mad at him. “Can I get a hug before we go back in there?” He asked, raising his arms slightly.

“Of course.” Her small smile grew into a grin as she wrapped her arms around his middle. She nestled her head into his chest and let out another deep breath. “I could never be mad at you. I’m sorry if I made you think that. I just thought that since we were one step ahead that we would be able to get him, you know? I’m just so ready for this case to finally be over.”

Spencer rubbed her back. “I know and we will. I’m sure you’ve already come up with some parameters that could narrow down locations.”

She giggled, giving him one last squeeze before pulling back. “Sure do and I could really use your help with that.”

It was one of the places he frequented before he went back to Graceland. According to Mike, it was the best pizza in the DC area. The moment Bex took a bite, she wholeheartedly agreed. "How did I not know of this place before?" She asked in the middle of her second bite.

Mike chuckled. "Clearly I'm more of a pizza connoisseur than you are." He teased her.

She smiled at the memory and at how before they went their separate ways, he gave her a kiss goodbye that left her both breathless and wanting more. She didn't mind taking things at a slow pace. She enjoyed truly getting to know Mike. Sure the kissing was nice and she'd be more than happy to share a bed with him but her past relationships had been solely for work or purely physical. She hadn't explored a relationship where she had more than that type of connection in a long time and it thrilled her.

Just as she unlocked her car door, her phone began to ring. Seeing that it was Mike, a smile lit up her face before she answered it. "Good morning."

"Good morning." He replied. "I know we just had dinner last night and if we lived lives outside of the Bureau my friends would tell me it's far too soon to call and ask you on a coffee date and your friends would call me a clinger but I would call you anyway like I'm doing now and I'm hoping that you'll still say yes."

Bex giggled. "I still say yes. Where do you want to meet? I'm about to head in, now."

"Well, here's the thing, I'm turning on your street now and I've already picked up the coffee." He sounded sheepish.

That caused her to laugh as she locked her car. "You know, this is getting into stalker territory." She teased him.

"Would you accept that I'm trying to look out for you?" He asked as he pulled into her apartment complex parking lot.

"I would but I thought we had covered how I'm quite capable of taking care of myself." She waved when she saw his car before hanging up.

Once she was situated in the passenger seat, Mike drove off and continued their conversation. "I know. It's just I've heard some chatter and if Onofrio talked to his people about your involvement, I'm just worried about some measures they could potentially take since they can get pretty extreme."

Bex had picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, smiling at how it was her regular order. "Then I guess I can allow it." She reached over and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. "Thanks for the mocha, by the way."

"You're welcome." He smiled over at her. "So, what do you have planned for today?"

"Briefing this morning and then lunch with Rochelle then my afternoon is open. How about you?"

"I will probably be dealing with the aftermath of yesterday. If you feel compelled to come save me after your lunch I would greatly appreciate it." He chuckled.

She laughed as well, nodding her agreement. "You got it."

Once they reached the Bureau's office building, Bex leaned over and gave him a quick kiss goodbye. "Thanks for the ride."

Mike smiled. "Don't mention it. I'll see ya later."

"Bye." She gave him another kiss before making her way into the office.

She headed to her desk first, putting all of her things down. She then grabbed what she would need for the briefing and her coffee cup before making her way to Marchant's office. "Morning, Director." She greeted as she stepped inside, taking a seat from across his desk.

"Morning, Morris. Let's talk about yesterday, shall we?" He asked, leaning back in his seat, hands folded over his stomach.

"Which part, sir? The one where we nearly used torture on an innocent woman or the fact that high frequency signals can cause senators to run into walls or raise both of their arms?" She raised an eyebrow in a 'don't think I forgot' fashion.

Marchant let out a sigh. "You say innocent but she's been linked to so many incidents."

"Important to the investigation, does not mean guilty and you know it. Miss Healy has some rotten luck but she's further along in the investigation you first sent Warren to look into."

"So what happened at the hearing? And how does that prove our Area 51 case?"

"I honestly think you should just call in one of their agents, director. I'm going to meet with Rochelle at lunch to get all of their evidence. I also need to speak with the doctor they contacted at the CDC. Because what happened yesterday was practically the icing on the cake. They recorded some of the infected persons communication and played it back in parts which caused the running into walls and hand raising. The creatures inside the infected communicate via high frequencies that human ears can't normally detect."

The director pinched the bridge of his nose. "The guys out in Nevada are going to have a field day. So what she said about bug people..." He trailed off, not really wanting to believe it.

"Bugs have eaten people's brains, yeah, and they're causing the head explosions. The bugs were in the meteor and they're infecting people but no one's really sure as to why."

"That's your new objective then. Find out why they're doing this and then I'll reach out to my contact out in Nevada. Keep me updated, Morris. That'll be all."

Bex stood with a nod and made her way to her desk. She didn't want to focus on the craziness that Mike's case was at the moment. She had a few things she knew she needed to wrap up with the case involving her sister's killer. Mostly paperwork so she put on a coffee shop playlist and started typing things up in her report while sipping on the rest of her mocha.

Just as she was about to go to her next page, her phone started ringing. She briefly looked over to see that it was a name on the caller id instead of a random number so she answered it. "This is Bex."

"Hey Bex! Can we reschedule lunch?" Rochelle asked.

"Yeah, sure. Is everything alright?"

"Laurel stopped by and told us that Senator Wheatus saw us leaving the hearing yesterday and Gareth isn't sure what he's going to do."

Bex saved her report and started packing up. Sure, she could probably easily take Onofrio but she would rather not have to deal with HR. "What if I came to you instead? Strength in numbers and all that."

"I'd like that. I'll send you my address. See you soon."

With that they both hung up and Bex closed everything down. As she waited for her Uber ride, she called Mike. "Is my cover blown? Do I need to be on alert too?"

"I would just in case. Oh, I gotta go, mom. I'll talk to you later." Mike hung up practically as soon as Red stepped back into his office.

It didn't exactly put Bex at ease but she was a trained professional. She knew how to defend herself and how to fight. When the Uber arrived, she slid into the backseat, confirming the address and was soon being let out at the First District Apartments.

She went to knock on Rochelle's door when she noticed that it was open a crack. Bex pulled her gun and slipped inside. When she came to the spot where the floor plan opened up, she looked over to the kitchen where she saw Rochelle give the ending blow with a frozen turkey leg to some guy.

The other woman looked up, seeing Bex just as she was lowering her gun. "Call the others and I'll help you get everything sorted. Nice moves by the way." The agent said with a smile, going back to lock the door.

"I don't know if Laurel will be available." Rochelle said as she dragged the intruder over to one of the support poles in her apartment.

"Why not?" Bex hurried over and helped stand the man up and prop him against the pole.

There was a knock on the door then and Rochelle answered as she went to open it. "Because there's a possibility her dad is infected."

Bex shook her head, her heart heavy for the woman. She really was having the worst luck when it came to this whole situation.

The trio soon had the intruder taped to the pole. Gustav placed a helmet on top of the intruder's head to keep him from sending out any communication. Bex was in the kitchen with Rochelle, helping her clean up and tend to the box cutter wound that had been left on her arm. It luckily wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches but with the help of Rochelle's direction things would turn out okay and hopefully not scar.

When Gustav started questioning him and Rochelle checked his ears, Bex stayed back and watched, looking for any signs that he could be lying. Then again she was unsure if the intruder would have any of the same tells if it was true that half his brain was gone. Either way, he was very convincing.

"What do you think?" Rochelle asked as the trio huddled together.

"He's really convincing. I can't say for sure but I can call in my police contact if you'd like to press charges." Bex said. "That's the one thing he's been right about, they probably should get involved. This is starting to go against everything I signed up for when I joined the Bureau."

"Can we try a couple more things?" Gustav asked. "If we let him go and he is a bug person then we might be in more trouble than before."

Rochelle looked at Bex with a look that said what harm could be done. Bex let out a sigh and agreed. Soon "You Might Think" was playing but they put it on backwards. A knock was heard and Rochelle called out that the door was open. Laurel walked in, confused about what was happening.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked.

"It's "You Might Think" played backwards." Rochelle answered.

The intruder looked to Laurel, hoping that she would be sensible enough to help him. "Gustav is seeing what will work on him." She continued to explain.

Laurel looked to Bex. "You seriously can't be okay with this?"

"It's not one of my best decisions, but honestly I think we should call this thing off. It's clearly not working."

Gustav shook his head at Bex's answer, disagreeing completely. "No, we need to figure out what the bug people want!"

"And I agree, it's what I've been tasked to do but this isn't the way to do it." Bex argued.

Laurel sighed and turned to Gustav. "He's denying he's infected, right?"

"Yes, but he would." Gustav answered.

"So how are you gonna get him to talk?" Laurel asked.

"Can we put on some better music?" The intruder spoke up which caused Gustav to jump into action with the box cutter the intruder used before.

All three women raced over to pull Gustav away as he threatened to cut the intruder's fingers off if he didn't give them the answers they wanted. Rochelle and Laurel were on either side of him and Bex came around to get the box cutter out of his hand.

"We need to call this now. I'm going to let him go." She said, stepping back towards the intruder.

"Bex, no, he's not gonna talk to us unless we threaten him." Gustav argued.

"I think you should listen to your friend." The intruder commented.

Bex turned to look at him with a pointed look. "We don't need comments from the peanut gallery."

"Why don't we just find out who this guy is instead? You would need that for a report, right?" Laurel turned to Bex.

"Yeah and there's nothing wrong with doing a little extra research."

"So, see, there we go. Now, about my dad." Laurel said, informing the group what she had witnessed. When Rochelle mentioned him stopping sex, Laurel gathered her things and set out to find her dad's mistress.

Gustav set to digging around in the bag that he had brought over and pulled out a small bottle of three year old whiskey. "Bex, you might want to go somewhere else for this next bit."

"You know I can get you arrested also, don't do it."

"Listen to her please. I'm in AA. I'm two years sober." The intruder pleaded.

"Where's your chip?" Rochelle asked.

"Oh, my sobriety chip, I must have left it in my other clothes." He quipped.

Bex just shook her head. How stupid could he be to answer in such a way? The moment Bex wasn't watching Gustav and Rochelle poured the whiskey down the intruder's throat. Her phone began to ring then. Seeing that it was Mike, she stepped away and answered it.

"Please tell me you're having a better day than I am." He said as soon as she picked up.

"I actually don't know if I can properly answer that question." Bex replied. "What's going on?"

Mike let out a small sigh. "I think Red is up to something. His latest witness for this committee meeting is lying. And I'm beginning to really hate that this is taking so long."

"Have we entered into an alien bug version of Independence Day?" She asked with a small laugh.

Her question got the reaction she was looking for and she smiled when she heard Mike laugh as well. "It certainly seems that way. What have you got going on?"

"A not so legal questioning. I don't know if I'm aiding in it or stopping it because no one seems to be listening to me."

Mike took a deep breath. He had done plenty of not so legal things while out in California but to hear Bex admit it he wasn't sure if he was relieved someone was finally telling him the truth or be worried.

"The person did attack Rochelle and is possibly infected so, I'm not really sure if that helps or hurts my case." She had continued until she realized that Mike was silent on the other end. "Mike? You okay? Should I have not told you?"

That pulled him out of his thoughts. "No, no. I'm glad you told me. I would rather you tell me than keep it hidden honestly." His thoughts drifted to Paige and Briggs. "Should I come over?"

Bex shook her head even if he couldn't see her. "No. Gareth can't really help because he doesn't know yet. Why don't I come see you instead? You should also probably contact Laurel so she can let her brother know about the witness."

"Yeah, I'd like that. See you soon then?"