Chapter XXII: Fallimento

TW: Kidnapping, Murder, yk the regular criminal minds shi aha

~"I'm fucked."~

Spencer came back to work about a week and a half after his and Eden's date. Speaking on the phone with her whenever he could, just hearing her voice kept him grounded. Eden also never pushed him on what was happening with his mom, for which he was grateful.

He did end up telling her, however, that there were issues with her medications and her doctors although not going into detail for privacy. The talks consisted of Eden complaining about Andy, talking about Fairly Odd Parents, and just talking about their days. It was nice. And they both now knew, despite the phone in between them, they fell hard.

Once he returned, they spent most of their time after work at Spencer's, wanting to avoid Andy's proposals for a four-way. Most of their nights consisted of a two-way instead. Nothing changed much at work, continuing to steal glances at one another and every now and then have a mini date in the break room.

"New case!" The cheerful voice of Garcia rung out through the bullpen.

"Finally, I'm tired of paperwork," Morgan rubbed his face with his hands getting up from his desk.

"Yeah, because people getting murdered is better," Eden hummed.

"Oooo, she got ya there," JJ said high-fiving the doctor.

Morgan rolled his eyes and scoffed as the entire team headed to the conference room. Garcia already setting up in front of the screen and Hotch seated by her side looking at photos already, the team sits down. Spencer seats himself by Eden, secretly interlacing their fingers under the table causing a small smile to grow on her face. The smile drops once Penelope presses the remote, showing an elderly couple, a woman in her mid-thirties, a middle-aged man, and another younger man in his mid-twenties all with their throats slit and a carving in Italian on their abdomens.

"Oh god," Emily mutters, her stomach churning at the pictures. Despite the simple M.O., there was quite an amount of blood along with their heads being nearly off their body caused by someone putting their hands in their throats.

"Alexandra Da Costa, Nicholas De Costa, Charlotte Young, Jesse Evans, and Tyler Owens," Garcia starts off by naming off the victims, "Were all murdered in their home by a slit to the throat, obviously."

"What's written on the stomach?" Morgan asks.

"Fallimento," Eden, Rossi, and Emily chimed all in.

"It means failure in Italian," Reid scrunched his brows together.

"Do you think the unsub thinks they're a failure?" JJ chimed in.

"Maybe the victims?" Emily suggested.

"Unlikely, the Da Costas had a successful restaurant and Young owned a jewelry shop," Reid said.

"Alright, let's go, wheels up in 20," Hotch declared.

The team started getting up and heading off to their desks, Eden still sitting rubbing circles on Spencer's hand. Spencer stayed sitting, looking over at Eden in concern as she read the file. Then slipping her hand out of his, she shot him a small smile before heading to grab her go-bag. Spencer made his way to his desk, grabbing his bag before heading over to Edens desk.

"Hey," Spencer said making her head pop up to look at him, a small smile growing on her face at his presence, "Are you okay?"

Eden nodded, "Just the case being...off, you know?"

Spencer lightly chuckled and squeezed her hand, "Yeah, I know."

~

Heading to Pennsylvania, although happy for the chance to visit her nain, was a bit dreadful for Eden. The victimology being all over the place made Eden worry for her grandma's safety. Yes, she stayed inside a majority of her time, only going out to get the mail or feed the stray cat that roams the neighborhood, the victims were still murdered in their homes. How could her nurse fend off a murderer?

"Victimology?" Emily snapped Eden out of her thoughts.

"The Da Costas were Hispanic, Young was Hispanic, Evans was white, and Owens was black," Spencer spoke.

"This guy doesn't care about age, race, social class," Morgan began, "what is this guy killing for?"

"Victims of opportunity?" JJ suggested.

"then why write failure? are they referring to themselves?" Emily said.

"When we get to the station, I want Ellis and JJ on victimology, Reid, you're on Geographical profiling. Morgan and Prentiss, interview the families, Rossi and I will visit Evans' apartment," Hotch announced. The team all nodded in agreement, everyone either going off to speak about the case or read through alone.

"Eden, what are you thinking about?" Morgan asked the brunette.

"oh, um, I was just thinking... what if the victims do have a meaning?" She said softly.

"How so?" Emily asked.

"These victims could represent maybe family o-or friends that could've made the unsub feel like a failure," she concluded.

"that's a pretty good theory," Emily nodded.

"Yeah, ever thought of working for the FBI?" JJ joked.

"Nah, ACAB," Eden said before resting her legs across Spencer's lap, staring at the crime scene pictures in front of her as the group chuckled.

The pictures showed the Da Costas bodies brutally killed, but the longer Eden stared, the more she saw the missing rings. Eden got up from her seat and immediately called Garcia.

"Hey, sweet stuff," Penelope's bright voice flirted from Quantico.

"Hey, bubs, did the Da Costas wear rings?"

"Uhhh," Garcia uttered typing away on her computer, "mhm, why? were they not wearing them in the pictures?"

"Trophy," Spencer mumbled quietly, reading Eden's mind.

"Was there anything of the other victims that was stolen?" Eden asked.

"I don't know about Charlotte, but Evans had a picture taken out of its frame, and Owens had his camera set up stolen."

Pieces of the puzzle slowly started putting themselves together in Eden's mind, realizing the 3 Hispanic victims, one white, the other black, all represented people in her life.

"Garcia, did Nicholas have any medical conditions?" Eden asked, hoping she wasn't right.

"Ellis, where are you going with this?" Hotch asked getting Edens index finger, signaling him to stay quiet.

"Stage 2 Liver Cancer," Garcia said, immediately catching Spencer's attention.

"Garcia, did charlotte have a kid?" Spencer asked urgently.

Garcia's keyboard clacking as the whole plane grew silent, questioning what they might hear.

"Yes, a 2-year old daughter, Abiona Young."

"Where is she?" Rossi asked.

"Father doesn't have custody and she wasn't found at the scene," Garcia said.

The pit in Eden's stomach grew as she had to say the words out loud.

"The unsub has Abiona."

( ͡ಠ ͜ʖ ͡ಠ)A/N: welcome to me not letting my characters have a moment without trauma cus ✨tea✨also we love emily, rossi, and eden all having an ✨italian✨ moment. don't we love trauma? i think it spices up the seggsy time. i need my phone taken away BUT that won't happen anytime soon, you know why? my parents know that this app and my friends are the only things making me happy lolz. also we're only a few chapters away from the end:( it's time to see if people trust me enough to give Eden and Spencer a happy ending orrrr maybe everything will go to shit XD

Thank you for reading!