"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

     NOAH WALKS into school with her headphones on. She takes a deep breath, trying to decompress after a terrible morning. She and Emily did not speak ever since her little shout in the car. Emily did not even bother to make her breakfast this morning or say goodbye to her when she dropped her off at school.

Noah tries not to be too upset about it, seeing as she did not speak to her mother either. She did tell her that they would speak when she was ready. Noah knows she cannot blame Emily for being silent when it is sorta what she asked her to do.

Putting it in the back of her mind, Noah makes her way through the hallways. She is trying to make her way to her locker in time before class starts.  As she tunes out the chatter and obnoxious noise of her peers, she feels someone grab her arm.

"Hey!" Liv exclaims as Noah takes her headphones off and leaves them around her neck.

"Hey," Noah says as they walk up to her locker.

"Been wondering where you've been," Liv mentions and sees Noah nod with a frown.

"Sorry, just been going through some stuff, but I'm good," The teen lies and flashes a smile.

"You've got some making up to do," The redhead notes.

"What do you mean?"

"Jess called me last night rambling about how she hasn't heard from you and you avoided her yesterday and something about talking to Parker," Liv says casually.

"What?  Talking to Parker about what?" Noah questions as she puts her jacket in her locker.

"I don't know, I started zoning out at that point," Liv says as she leans against the lockers, "I mean, I love Jess, but boy can she talk—"

"Do you remember anything?" Noah asks.

"Something about them getting into a little argument.  I guess she snapped at him and he seemed pissed off by the end of it."

"Great," Noah grits and grabs her books, shoving them into her bag as the warning bell rings.

"I'm sure it'll work itself out," Liv says, trying to calm Noah down. She can see the anger building, knowing she would probably be upset too.

Noah nods and walks down the hallway with Liv by her side. They talk about other things, but Noah's mind stays on Jess. She regrets not having spoken to her recently. A part of her wonders if their being together has affected their friendship already.

Nonetheless, she heads to class and waves Liv off.

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

Emily sighs as she puts her stuff down on her desk. Between Noah not speaking to her, getting stuck in traffic, and having to take the stairs because the elevator was busy, she has not had a great start to her day.

"This one's bad," JJ says as she rushes past Emily, Morgan, and Reid's desks. The three look at each other and scramble to grab their things and run to the round table room after JJ.

"What's going on?" Morgan asks as they step into the conference room.

"Something's happened with Haley," JJ answers quickly as she sets up the room.

"Hotch's Haley?" Emily questions.

"Yeah," JJ nods, "So, we found out Foyet's been corresponding with Karl Arnold through letters to get Hotch's attention," She explains as she pulls up a map, "There are approximately 115 miles between Fredericksburg and Westminister. Why mail a letter from two cities?"

"Maybe it's purely a forensic countermeasure," Morgan states as he looks at the map, "He knows that mailing letters close to home would lead us right to him, so he drives far away to mail the letters to throw us off his scent."

"The Unabomber did that," Reid notes, "So did the 2001 anthrax suspect."

"He could have gone anywhere, but he's trolling the D.C. area," Rossi tells the team.

"It makes sense to stay close to Hotch," Emily mentions as she puts the pieces together, "He stuck around Boston to watch Shaunessy deteriorate—" She pauses as she realizes what she has said and turns to look at Aaron, "Not that you're—"

"It's fine," Hotch mutters, "I know he's been watching me. It's part of the reason I stepped down, so he'd think I was falling apart."

𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

Jess walks down the hallway and peers out the window that looks out at the courtyard. She finds her eyes set on a girl walking across the grass, realizing that it is Noah. Jess quickly rushes outside and gently grabs Noah's arm.

"Hey," The blonde says. Noah turns around, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"Hey," Noah replies.

"Where have you been?"

"I actually need to talk to you—"

"Don't say that," Jess pleads as she fears for the worst.

"It's nothing bad," Noah calms the blonde, "What happened with Parker yesterday?"

"We just talked about where we stand," Jess shrugs, but sees by the look on Noah's face that she needs to explain further, "I mean, Noah, you and him had your fights and you got over it. But it's hard to be friends with someone who hurt the person I wanna be with. And also he and I were friends and I basically took his girl," She adds with a small giggle. Noah cannot help but let a little chuckle escape as well.

"I know, I just don't want you to fight my battles for me."

"This isn't about you or you and him, this is about me and him. I mean, what he did to you was unforgivable to me. And he told me he still has feelings for you—"

"What?"

"I mean, I get that they can't turn off, but it still hurts to hear," Jess says and peers into Noah's eyes, seeing her practically speechless. Noah tries to find the words to say, but she is confused and not sure what to do about any of it.

"You don't still have feelings for him, do you?" The blonde asks.

"What? No," Noah asserts, "No, I told you, I only have feelings for you."

"It's hard watching you and him together, knowing he still feels that way. And I don't trust him, Noah."

"You don't have to trust him. You only have to trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Then, believe me when I say that nothing's gonna happen."

"But, Noah, don't you see how him still having feelings for you is a problem?"

"I—" Noah goes to speak, but her phone dings. She looks at it quickly and furrows her brows at the text.

—
𝐍𝐨 𝐈𝐃

Meet me in Montclair.
- N

who is this?

—

"Noah, are you listening?" Jess asks, making Noah look up from her phone.

"Yeah, I'm listening, I just—"

Another text comes in and Noah feels the color drain from her face.

—
𝐍𝐨 𝐈𝐃

You know who, Noah.

Dominion Park.  1 hour.

—

Noah feels her mouth go dry and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.  She peers around the courtyard, thinking someone might be messing with her. The teen shakes her head to herself, realizing what she has to do.  Noah looks at Jess and flashes her a sad expression.

"I have to go," Noah says in a rush.

"Noah—" Jess exclaims as she reaches out for Noah's hand.

"Jess, I really gotta go—"

"So, you don't even care?" Jess asks as she feels Noah slowly trying to pull away from her.

"Babe, I care," Noah assures the blonde as she grasps her hands tightly, "I promise I care, I just really have to go."

"What? What's going on? Where are you going?" Jess questions.

"I have extra credit stuff to do, but call me later. We'll talk about it."

"Noah—"

"I'll talk to you later, I promise," Noah says and kisses Jess' cheek. The blonde tries to grab the girl, but Noah slips out of her hands in a rush.

The teen rushes into the corridor of the school and runs to the main entrance. As she walks by the front office, she slows down and casually walks across the windows. Once she gets through the doors, she looks around and sees a bike rack. She walks over to the bikes and pulls on them until she finds one without a lock.

She would feel bad, but if there is no lock on a bike, then they are basically asking for it.

Noah furiously pedals down the street. She is following the maps on her phone, trying to avoid hitting people on the sidewalk and the cars on the street. As she is riding down the street, she sees the FBI building and finds herself coming to a screeching halt.

The teen looks up at the building, her eyes trained on the sixth-floor windows. She wonders if it may be the last time she sees it.  But no matter how dangerous it may seem, she has to take the risk.

𝘧𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵

The team found out Foyet's alias through a medication that he had to get from a pharmacy in which he used a fake name, Peter Rhea, which is an anagram of "The Reaper." They found an address to go along with the alias and moved out to scope around the apartment.

When they got there, they were all stationed in different spots. Aaron made the order that they wait to go in until they know for sure that Foyet is inside. Emily rode in the car with Hotch and sits with him as he looks inside the apartment with a pair of binoculars.

Emily opens her phone and goes to her texts.

—
𝐧𝐨𝐚𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐛 <3

There might be a case
so I'll keep you updated.
𝟵:𝟱𝟭 𝗮𝗺

There's a case, but it's
in town. Stay safe. Come
straight to the BAU after
school, please.
𝟭𝟬:𝟯𝟴 𝗮𝗺

Are you okay? I know we
had a thing this morning,
but I need to know that
you're safe, bub.
𝟭𝟭:𝟮𝟵 𝗮𝗺

—

"How much longer do we wait?" Emily asks as she turns her phone off.

"I need to leave that call to someone else," Hotch replies, making Emily realize how serious this is. She takes a moment to understand that Hotch is seriously attached to this case. Of course, none of them believe that anyone else will be able to solve it, but it could be dangerous to have Hotch as the boss on this one.

In the building across the street, Morgan tells JJ to have SWAT back off for now. He has been put in charge to make the call for when they enter. He would typically like being put in charge, but it is nerve-wracking when his boss' child and ex-wife's life may be in his hands.

"These guys are trained to move, not just sit around," Morgan says, "I can't really say that I blame them."

"He may not even be there anymore," Reid mentions.

"I know the longer we sit here, the further away he gets," Morgan states.

"You make the best call you can, kid," Rossi tells him.

"Alright, this is what we're gonna do."

𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢

Noah gets off the bike and sees that the park is across the street. She waits for some cars to pass and rushes into the park. She wonders if she is too late, but with her urgency, it did not take long to get there. The teen looks around, finding a bench that overlooks the park. She leans the bike against it before sitting down.

Noah takes in the distant sound of children playing and sees her breath in the cold air every time she takes a deep breath. She looks up at the sky as her heart pounds, but she feels something hit her foot.  She looks down to see a soccer ball and a kid picking it up.

"Sorry about that—" A voice says as the person rushes up, putting their hands on their kid's shoulder. The teen peers up and looks at the person standing before her.

"Oh my God."