AN: C'mon guys, more powerstones.
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It was nearly four in the morning when the bullpen finally went quiet. The press had been dealt with, the paperwork filed, the children reunited with their parents. Everyone in the precinct took a breather after a long and tense night.
Inside Holt's office, the blinds were drawn. Ray stood straight in front of the desk, while Jake and Boyle leaned shoulder to shoulder, both of them looking like kids about to confess they had broken a window.
Jake scratched the back of his neck. "So… yeah. We know we were off duty, and technically not authorized, and possibly trespassing in a licensed medical facility that turned out to be a cult lair, but—"
"But we couldn't let those kids die," Boyle jumped in quickly, his voice earnest. "We followed Ray because he saw it before anyone else, and we couldn't just sit back and wait."
There was a pause. Holt's hands rested on his desk, his gaze steady on all three of them. Then, in a rare break of formality, he inclined his head slightly. "I put Ray on this case, so he's safe. But you two... What you did was reckless. You undermined a federal operation. You risked your careers."
Jake and Boyle flinched, but Holt continued, his voice softening. "You also saved four children who would otherwise be dead. I am proud of you all. You have done the Nine-Nine proud."
Jake lit up like a teenager hearing his crush say yes. He fumbled his phone out of his pocket and held it up. "Okay, wait, can you say that last part again? Slowly? I need to record it so I can show Amy that you do actually praise people sometimes. She'll be so jealous."
Holt gave him the kind of look that could silence an entire room.
"He isn't going to repeat that, is he?" Jake mumbled to Boyle.
"Nope," Boyle mumbled back.
Jake lowered the phone, sighing. "Worth a try."
Ray, who had stayed silent, finally spoke. "Sir. We would not have gotten as far as we did without Amy's help. She flagged the connections, passed us critical information. This case would have gone nowhere without her work. She deserves the credit, not us."
For a moment Holt studied him, the way he often did when testing a cop's resolve. Then he gave a single nod. "Noted. Detective Santiago's contribution will be recognized. As will yours."
Jake glanced at Ray, eyebrows raised. "You know, for a guy who can snap necks with a toothpick, you're surprisingly humble."
Boyle patted Ray's arm with unfiltered admiration. "That's what makes him terrifying and noble, Jake. He's basically Batman."
Holt cut in before Jake could answer. "That will be all. Go home. Sleep. You've earned it."
...
[Outside Holt's office]
Jake lingered a step behind Boyle, his usual energy muted. His face was unreadable, but the weight in his eyes gave it away. Ray caught it immediately. He slowed, placing a steady hand on Jake's back.
"You did good tonight," Ray said quietly. "Do not lose sight of that."
Jake gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, except for the part where two kids didn't make it. That's not really the kind of case you high five about, you know?"
Ray's voice stayed calm, but his words cut through. "We do not measure ourselves by the ones we couldn't save. We measure by the ones who are still breathing because of us. Four children went home tonight. That is what you carry. The failures... Always remember them and try to do better next time."
Jake nodded, not entirely convinced, but the tightness in his jaw eased. "You're like a motivational fortune cookie. Only scarier."
Boyle piped up softly, "A really comforting fortune cookie, though."
Ray gave Jake's shoulder a final pat, then turned and walked away.
...
[Locker room]
The locker room was empty.
Ray opened his locker, took off his uniform, and folded it before slipping into his civilian clothes.
He closed the locker door with a metallic thud.
When he turned, she was already there.
Elle Greenaway leaned against the tiled wall, arms folded, eyes fixed on him. She hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her, still sharp, still carrying that mixture of warmth and steel that had made her dangerous in the field.
Her voice was soft. "How are you doing, Ray?"
He didn't flinch. His expression stayed calm, as if he had been expecting her all along. "Did Gideon send you to check up on me? Or, was it Hotch?"
Her brow furrowed. "No. I came on my own."
Ray gave a faint, almost invisible smile. "That would be a first. You usually do what they asks."
Elle straightened from the wall, her eyes narrowing. "Raymond White, rookie officer, NYPD. You think I wasn't going to check if that was really you? Ghost 00, running traffic stops? That doesn't add up."
Ray leaned back against the row of lockers, arms crossed. "It adds up perfectly. After what happened, I had to do some cleaning in my team and take down some corrupt officials. Then I wanted a break. Now I am on a break."
She looked at him with teary eyes. "I'm sorry for what happened. I should have listened to you... We should have trusted you."
"That word 'sorry'. Don't throw it before me like that. You, of all people, have no right to say that word to me. No one at the BAU listened to me. Not even you. Why? Just because I was a newbie? Alicia was like a sister to me. She trusted me to save her, but... You people put me in a cell for not following orders and followed your so-called unsub profile, and she paid the price of your ignorance."
Ray punched the locker door, creating a fist-sized dent, and the hinges creaked in.
"They butchered her, skinned her alive, while you followed Gideon's decision. The pain she went through... I keep telling you and even called my team and superiors, but no one helped," Ray stopped and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. "So, forgive me if I don't want anything to do with the BAU."
He walked passed her and stopped at the door.
Ray glanced back slightly and said, "Every time I close my eyes, I can see her face... Hear her screams... I can hear her calling me a liar. Her voice keeps asking me why wasn't I there to save her when they..." He couldn't finish his words.
He walked out.
Elle stayed where she was, the silence of the locker room wrapping around her like a shroud. Tears slipped down her cheeks before she even realized they had fallen. Her hands trembled as flashes of a different time welled up in her mind.
The first time he walked into a BAU briefing, younger but already carrying that sharp edge in his eyes. The way he caught details no one else noticed. The way Gideon dismissed him for being too green.
Then, those late nights in hotel rooms when cases dragged on too long. Whispered jokes over takeout containers. The way Ray's hand always found hers, steady, grounding, even when everything else felt like it was falling apart.
She remembered the first time he kissed her, quick and nervous, and then the way it grew into something certain, something that pulled her in so fast she never even questioned it. He was younger, yes, but he made her feel safe in a way no one else ever had. He made her believe in a future she never thought she'd want.
There had been a ring. Plans sketched out on napkins and in notebooks. A house outside the city. A couple of kids running through the yard. A dog that would bark at the mailman. A life that seemed so simple and full of happiness.
Now those plans felt like smoke. The man she had loved was standing right in front of her again, but he was colder, harder, carved by grief and betrayal. And when he said he wanted nothing to do with the BAU, what she heard was that he wanted nothing to do with her.
Elle pressed her back against the wall, covering her face with both hands as the tears came harder. The weight of his words replayed in her head. Alicia. The way he had said her name, the way his voice had cracked.
She had been there. She had watched it happen, the decision that went wrong, the mistake that cost everything. And she had chosen to trust Gideon, to follow the profile, instead of trusting Ray because to her, it was the right thing to do and Gideon had never been wrong, except for that time. That choice had destroyed not only Alicia, but the man standing in front of her now.
Her chest ached. She wanted to run after him, to explain, to beg him to see that she had loved him, that part of her still did. But her feet stayed rooted to the floor. Because deep down, she knew that apologies were not enough.
Not for Alicia.
Not for him.
Not for them.
She straightened, pulling herself back together. That old BAU steel returned to her posture, but the ache in her chest lingered. She had come to see if he was still alive, if there was still a trace of the man she had once known. What she found instead was a ghost who carried too much pain to let her back in.
...
[A few hours later] [BAU Plane]
Most of the team sat scattered, worn out from the case. Morgan had his headphones in, JJ tapped quietly on her laptop, and Reid had fallen asleep against the window with a book still in his hand.
Elle sat alone, shoulders tense, eyes fixed on nothing. Her face was blotched from tears she had tried to wipe away, but the redness lingered. She thought she looked composed, but everyone had noticed. They just didn't ask and wanted to give her some space.
Hotch watched her from across the aisle for a long moment before finally moving. He lowered himself into the seat beside her. For a while, he said nothing. The hum of the engines filled the silence.
"You alright?" Hotch asked at last, his voice calm, not prying but certain.
Elle blinked, looking down at her hands. "I'm fine."
Hotch studied her, not pressing, not letting her off the hook either. "You went to see him, didn't you?"
Her breath caught, but she didn't answer right away. Finally, she nodded once. "He's not the same. He… he hates us. He hates me." Her voice cracked, and she quickly bit it back.
Hotch leaned forward slightly, his tone gentler than most ever heard from him. "Elle, whatever happened back then, none of it was simple. You should not carry all of it by yourself."
She let out a shaky laugh. "That's easy for you to say since you don't have his photographic memory. Besides, you didn't look in his eyes tonight. He looked at me like I was just another mistake."
Hotch didn't respond right away. He knew better than to offer easy comfort. After a moment, he asked, "What are you thinking?"
Elle hesitated, then exhaled slowly. "I don't think I can do this anymore, Hotch. The BAU. This life. I thought I could handle it, but every time we lose someone, every time we make the wrong call… it sticks. It doesn't wash off. And seeing him tonight, seeing what it turned him into, I keep wondering if that's going to be me in a few years."
Hotch's jaw tightened, but his voice stayed even. "You're one of the strongest agents I know. But if you're questioning whether this job is the right place for you, then you owe it to yourself to face that honestly. Not for me, not for Gideon, but for you."
Elle's eyes stung again, though no more tears fell. "I don't know who I am anymore without this job. But staying feels like it's breaking me."
Hotch placed a hand lightly on the armrest between them. Not touching her, just there. "Then maybe it's time to think about what comes next. And whatever you decide, you won't be alone in it."
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
Elle leaned back in her seat, eyes closing briefly. She wasn't sure if she was ready to leave, but for the first time, she admitted out loud that she was thinking about it. And that, in itself, felt like the first step.
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[POWERSTONES AND REVIEWS PLS]
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[25 advance chs] [No double billing.]
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