An Emblematic Woman ● S. Reid | ✓

17 - Damage

Reid

Hotch looked over the contents of the bag carefully. Kennedy stayed as my place last night, I let her sleep in, she wouldn't be coming in until later that morning. Until then, I wanted to show Hotch; he needed to know about this.

"This is everything?" he asked.

"Every last piece she collected," I replied.

"Well, she's thorough, I'll give her that," he said.

"Hotch, she was attacked in her own apartment. Somebody invaded her personal space," I said.

"FBI catalogue lists names, phone numbers, and addresses, anybody could've found her," he said.

"An opportunistic rapist who just happens to choose an FBI agent? This is more than just stalker behavior, somebody is after her," I replied.

"Call the rest of the team in the conference room," he said as he picked up the phone.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"If this is what I think it is, it may be more than a stalker," he replied. I didn't question him, but as I left the room, I heard him answer the call with 'Director'. I leaned out to the bull pen and called for everybody.

"Guys, we need to meet. Now," I said. They looked at each other, then slowly stood up one by one and followed me.

"Do we have another case?" JJ asked.

"Reid, what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"It's Kennedy," I told them.

"Is she okay?" Kate asked.

"No," Hotch said as he walked in. "Garcia, I was just on the phone with the Director. He's reaching out to the NSA regarding the file. He'll call you directly with his results," he told her.

"O-Okay," she stuttered.

"The NSA? What the hell is going on here?" Rossi asked.

"Everybody take a seat," he ordered, then placed the brown paper bag on the table.

"What's this?" JJ asked.

"It's a rape kit," I said.

"You said this was about Kennedy though," Kate said. I didn't say anything, instead I let her put two and two together. She understood the next minute. "Wait, you mean to tell us that...what?" she asked.

"Last night, Kennedy was assaulted in her apartment," Hotch said. The room was filled with audible gasps and shocked expressions, I couldn't blame them.

"Oh my God, is she okay?" Garcia asked.

"She's fine, she came to me last night," I replied, "Gave me that," I gestured to the bag.

"Was it targeted? Maybe a message to the bureau?" Rossi asked.

"She told me that her attacker didn't say anything, he just..." I couldn't bear to finish that sentence.

"We just saw her last night though," Morgan said.

"Is she okay?" JJ asked.

"As well as you could expect. She doesn't want anybody to know," I replied.

"Then why come to you in the first place if she didn't want to tell anybody?" Kate asked.

"She needed someone to confide in, she trusted Reid," JJ replied.

"Where is she?" Garcia asked.

"Right now she may be on her way here, so we need to make this fast. I've spoken with the Director; and he's granted us access to this case. IAB however is going to show up as well and take matters into their hands," Hotch said.

"Will she know we're taking this case?" Kate asked.

"Yes, but we'll have to tread very carefully. This may not be just an opportunistic attack," he replied.

"Attack one of us, attack all of us," Rossi said.

"So, what do we do?" JJ asked.

"We'll investigate. We have to look at every camera in that building, on that block. We delve into her past and find any present connections. We profile him from the damage he caused. He won't get away with this," Hotch said, "this is our priority case in the meantime,"

"Guys, heads up. Lara Croft at two o'clock," Garcia said. Before anybody could act fast, Kennedy peaked through the door.

"Hey, how come nobody told me that we had a..." she stopped as soon as she saw the bag on the table, then she looked at me. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "You know what? I'm not feeling too good, I'm gonna take a day," she turned and started for the door. I stood up and chased her through the bull pen, up until jsut before the elevators.

"Kennedy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so -"

"You're sorry?" she turned back around, this time with a look in her eye that was ready to kill. "You went behind my back and told everybody after I distinctively told you not to!" she shouted.

"I know, but they needed to know so that we could help," I said.

"Help? You can't help! You have no idea what this is about!" she snapped.

"What? What is it about then?" I asked.

"Reid, for a smart guy, you're pretty stupid," she said.

"I was only trying to help!" I told her.

"Help? You know what you just caused? IAB! Court! Law suits, investigations, I may even get canned because my performance isn't up to scale!" she snapped.

"We can make sure that won't happen," I said.

"Bull! I never should've trusted you with this!" she said.

"Kennedy-," before I could get another word in, she did something I would've never seen coming.

She slapped me.

I just continued to stand there as she headed back for the elevator, and disappeared behind the sliding doors, with tears gliding down her face. The rest of the team stood behind me, watching the entire thing with their mouths agape.

Russo

As soon as the doors shut, I let myself cry. The mirror on the wall didn't reflect the strong-suited, independent girl I had grown into; she had looked weak, small, and wrinkled with red eyes and frizzled hair. I saw dirt, filth, and uselessness. I was damage.

I was angry, I couldn't decide whether more at Reid or myself. He shouldn't have told anybody, I asked him to do one little thing, and he couldn't deliver!

Reid

"You okay?" JJ asked me.

"I don't think you should be asking me," I replied.

"What do we do now?" Morgan asked.

"We handle this like a regular investigation. JJ and Kate head over to her apartment, we need her to tell us what happened. Meanwhile, the rape kit has to be sent in to the lab. It's a high priority case. We also need to get in contact with her father and alert him of the situation," Hotch said.

"Sir," Garcia came in with the phone, "I have the Director on the line, he's given us clearance to open the file," she said.

"What file?" I asked.

"We have to try and keep this out of the papers as much as possible. Kennedy needs to stay out of this too, she's too close. We all agreed?" he asked.

"Agreed,"

"Let's go," JJ and Kate grabbed their coats and headed for the elevator, Rossi grabbed the phone and started dialing the labratory, while Hotch tended to the phone call with the director, leaving Morgan and I standing in the middle of the room.

"What do we do?" I asked. He huffed and shrugged.

"I guess it's time to meet Mr. Russo,"