Homesick

“I just really miss you,” Roni’s quiet voice floated through the speakers of Emily’s phone as she laid there in an empty bed in the dark.

“I know, I miss you, too. But I’m so proud of you, I’ve been watching the recordings of your concerts, of course skipping the ends, and you’ve been doing so good. You’ve only got what, two more weeks?” She asked though she already knew the answer, she’d been tracking the days since her girlfriend left on a five month tour around the country.

“Yep, and I’ll be in one city for two days, another for three, another for three, then for two again, I’ll have a rest day, then the last city will be another three days plus a rest day and then I’ll be coming home to you,” Roni promised and Emily’s stomach fluttered at that. She never had anyone to look forward to coming home, no one that made her feel secure and settled, no one to protect not until Roni.

Granted, Roni was independent and could handle her own but Emily was still extremely protective over her no matter what. It didn’t matter if she was states away, if Roni needed her she would be there immediately, perks of having a jet with your job, she knew JJ would pull strings for her if she needed to leave for an emergency.

“I can’t wait for you to be home, and my team keeps asking to meet you,” Emily laughed smiling into the darkness.

A couple weeks ago the team had been out to dinner after a case and Morgan asked when they would finally get to meet the girl that had Emily Prentiss head over hill. Of course they all knew who she was, her face was plastered all over every magazine in the city, they just hadn’t met her in person. She had just wanted to wait a while, they had only been together eight months when they started talking about meeting family and friends then Roni’s manager said she was ready for another tour and just like that five months together was swept under the rug. They had plans to have a whole ‘meet the girlfriend dinner’ when her tour was over assuming there were no classes immediately following that.

“I can’t wait to finally meet them, baby. You know I was really upset when I found out about the tour. I was so excited that we were starting to make plans for dinner to meet them. Of course I’m so grateful to be on tour just sometimes I wish things weren’t so hectic,” Roni shrugged, rolling over in bed and hugging her pillow.

“I know. And as much as I hate us being away I’m glad you have a career that keeps you occupied. I’m so used to people that aren’t used to how much my job travels but you’ve been gone for almost five months and I’m the one going crazy,” Emily chuckled but it sounded a bit more sad than the one before.

“Trust me, you’re not the only one it drives crazy. But hey it’s like almost one in the morning there should I let you go so you can get some sleep?” Roni asked with a quiet sigh. They had already been on the phone for almost three hours and honestly she was exhausted even though it was only barely ten o’clock.

“Stay on the phone with me until I fall asleep?” Emily asked, she was already close to sleep, only forcing herself to stay awake so they could talk.

“Of course, I love you so much, good night,” Emily smiled to herself before rolling over to get comfortable.

“I love you, too, Roni. Goodnight, baby,” Then Emily switched her phone onto speaker the sound of Roni on the other side of the phone just breathing and humming to herself pulled her to sleep quickly.

-

“Good morning, Emily. I watched your girl on tv last night,” Derek grinned as Emily walked to her desk, almost two weeks later, with a cup of coffee.

“Oh, yeah? What’d you think?” She asked with a big smile, spinning her chair around to look at him.

“She was really good. I especially liked the ‘special song she wrote for her girlfriend she can’t wait to get back home to’.” Derek gave her another toothy grin and that made her smile.

“Okay, well don’t tell me about it. She said I’m not allowed to hear the song until I’m with her in person and it hasn’t been easy,” Emily breathed, four months avoiding any stations playing Roni Black’s newest song ‘Homesick’ was not easy. It seemed like everyone except her had heard it but she made a promise to her love that she wouldn’t listen to it until Roni could sing it to her, herself.

“I bet, it’s everywhere right now. Statistically, considering the songs genreq, there are about thirty-six radio stations specifically for that genre. So at any given time just flipping through the stations there’s about a fifteen percent chance you can come across the song. With how much it’s being requested right now I say that percent goes up about two thirds. So really it’s kind of impressive how you’ve avoided it these past one hundred and forty nine days since she performed it on her tour for the first time. I’ve heard it on the radio at least four times this week,” Spencer rambled, sitting on Derek’s desk, handing him a coffee as he spoke.

“Thank you for those odds, Dr. Reid,” Emily chuckled, leaning back in her chair. Seeing the two of them together made her miss Roni even more. They got to spend so much time together since they worked together and last she heard they were even planning on moving in together once Spencer’s lease was up.

“You okay?” Derek asked after a second, pulling Emily from her thoughts.

“I- yeah. Um, I don’t know. I just miss her,” She shrugged trying to brush it off but she knew they could see straight through her.

“Well, that’s understandable what’s it been, four, five months?” Derek asked, his hand resting on Spencer’s knee as he sipped his coffee, he knew he probably couldn’t handle five straight months away from Spencer.

“Almost five month. She’ll be home soon and she’ll be in the last city for her tour tonight. They’ll be there for three days plus a recovery day before she comes home. The closer it gets the further away it feels,” Emily shook her head, Spencer opened his mouth to say something just as Hotch’s office door opened.

“Prentiss I need you in my office,” Aaron announced, turning away without another word. The two men looked at Emily expectantly but she just shrugged before getting up and walking around to the stairs.

“Shut the door,” Hotch spoke calmly when she walked in.

“Is something wrong?” Emily asked, shutting the door slowly.

“We just got a case from Louisville, Kentucky. Three teenage girl’s bodies were found in the past week,” Hotch started holding a file out to Emily.

“Louisville PD believes it could be connected to Roni’s concert coming to town,” Emily’s head snapped up at Hotch’s words, down at the file then back again.

“What? Why?” She asked, closing the file slowly.

“The one thing all three girls had in common were Roni. They participated in online fan groups, bought her merchandise, own her albums one of the girls even had a YouTube account where she posted vlogs, many of which were addressed to Roni or covering her songs,” Hotch explained, watching his agent try to school her expression but could see her swallow hard.

“Do- do you think Veronica is in danger? She is heading to Louisville tonight,” Emily swallowed, trying to clear the lump in her throat.

“As of now we have no reason to suspect Roni is the target of his killings. The victims are too young to be a surrogate for her. I have JJ gathering the team on the plane already and giving them a brief summary of the case. When Roni gets into town I’d like to have her come in to talk to us. Maybe she’s gotten some weird messages that she brushed off but even if not she’ll know what to look out for, okay?” Aaron answered her, that made her feel a little better. She nodded slowly before meeting his eyes turning when he gestured to the door for them to leave.

-

“Alright, crime fighters, Louisville PD has reached out to us for our help. Three teenage girls have been found beaten, hair chopped off and shot in the head from the back,” Garcia started as some of the crime scene photos popped up on their screens.

“First victim is Rebecca Jones, fifteen, she was walking home from a friend's house but was found in a park two miles away. Second is Lacey Barnes, fourteen, she was walking home from school and was found beside a restaurant her parents said she frequented often. And our most recent victim is Sara Leigh, seventeen, she was headed to a friend, Jessica Stanley’s, house after leaving a babysitting job, she never made it to Jessica’s house,” Penelope explained, flipping through the pictures on the screen to show the girls next to their crime scenes.

“We’re there any signs of sexual assault?” JJ asked, looking at the pictures in her own tablet.

“None. It was apparent Sara had intercourse prior to her death but it was confirmed consensual by her boyfriend before he dropped her off at the house she babysits for,” Hotch answered looking up at JJ.

“Well, the unsub crosses racial lines. Sara and Rebecca were white but Lacey is mixed. Exact age doesn’t seem like a preference unless they're just trying to get an approximate age. Without the sexual component we could probably rule out a pedophilic motive,” Derek pointed out, normally there would be a specific age or race but it seemed like the only thing that mattered was that they’re teenage females.

“Uh, the file says the only connection between the girls is-“

“Roni.” Emily confirmed when Spencer trailed off.

“Yes, all of the girls had social media revolving around Roni and her music; they all also had tickets to her concert. Rebecca and Sara had two day passes while Lacey only had tickets for one of the days,” Garcia nodded, typing something as she spoke.

“Did any of them ever try to message Roni directly through her Instagram, email or anything? I’m sure she’s never had any direct correspondence with the girls but just to cover all bases,” Rossi offered, glancing at Emily.

“Uh, just a sec. So it seems Roni mostly interacted with her fans over Instagram and Twitter. Mainly comments on her own posts, some direct messages, she does a weekly shout out ‘fan of the week’ type of thing and she always messages the fan first to make sure they’re okay with her posting them on her account. Twitter is a bit of a different story,” Garcia spoke still typing and Emily furrowed her brow wondering what that meant.

“Her Twitter DM’s are flooded with creepy messages. Which isn’t surprising considering it’s Twitter but it’s a direct contrast compared to her other social media’s. Most of them are positive messages from girls saying how she’s their idol but Twitter, poor thing. The things in these messages on here are... dark,” Garcia cringed a bit, making eye contact with Emily through the camera.

“What kind of things, babygirl?” Derek asked, glancing at Prentiss briefly, it was apparent she wasn’t aware of the fact that Roni had been receiving negative messages.

“Well, most of them are men sending multiple messages saying, ‘hi’, ‘hello?’, ‘are you getting my messages’, ‘fine bitch I see how it is’. There are some men taking digs at her sexuality and telling her ‘she just needs a real man’. And oh-“ Garcia broke off and that pulled Emily from the anger brewing inside of her.

“Garcia...what is it?” Emily asked cautiously.

“There some messages here from an anonymous account going into graphic detail about raping her and taking her organs to keep in jars in his basement,” There was a sound of collective disgusted sighs as Penelope spoke. Emily felt sick now and cleared her throat quietly.

“She never told me about that-“ Emily stopped shaking her head.

“That is probably because she never opened those messages. Twitter shows a preview of the messages so she probably ignored them and she’s significantly less active in the Twitter DMs,” Garcia tried to comfort her but she understood why Emily was upset.

“I wonder why, Jesus,” Derek muttered, leaning closer to Spencer.

“So how do we know Roni is related?” JJ asked, hoping to break the tension.

“As of right now she’s the only connection between our victims. There’s no overlapping family history, they were all in different grades at different schools, their looks are completely different. But the one thing they have in common is they idolize Roni and all three were wearing identical bracelets that one of the fan clubs sell. Though as of right now we have no reason to believe Roni is in danger, she could be a stressor, maybe he lost a daughter or someone that was a fan. However I told Emily that I’d like for her to come in and talk to us. She may have gotten some kind of messages linked to this that she just brushed off,” Hotch informed them, letting them process what he’d said before speaking again.

“JJ, you and I will go to PD and interview the families. Dave you head over to the corner and find out what was found on the autopsy. Morgan and Reid go to the most recent crime scene. And Prentiss, Mrs. Leigh was too upset to come to the station so I want you to go to her house, check out Sara’s room and see what you can find,” Hotch ordered, a round of nods and ‘yes sirs’ and the rest of the plane ride was pretty silent.

-

To: Roni
From: Em

Hey, princess, what hotel did you say you were staying at tonight?

Emily sighed, sliding her phone into her pocket before getting out of the suburban. She walked up to the door knocking gently waiting for a response. After a few seconds she furrowed her brow before knocking again.

“Mrs. Leigh, I’m Agent Prentiss with the FBI,” Emily calmed out, just a second later she heard shuffling and the locks on the door turning.

“Sorry, I thought you were one of those news people,” Mrs. Leigh sniffled, running a crumpled up napkin under her reddened nose as she spoke.

“That’s alright,” Emily shook her head, trying her best to give the woman a warm smile when she made eye contact.

“I know you,” The woman narrowed her eyes and Emily furrowed her brow.

“I’m sorry?” Emily questioned but the woman’s face relaxed a little.

“That singer, Roni Black, you’re her girlfriend. My daughter has- had pictures of the two of you together,” The woman’s voice shook as she stepped aside for Emily to walk in.

“Yes, ma’am that’s me. Sara must really be a fan, not many people know that much about our relationship,” Emily offered, surprised when the woman smiled a bit.

“My daughter was a huge fan. She knew everything about Roni, she was her idol,” The small smile had fallen from Mrs. Leigh’s face and her eyes filled with fresh tears.

“Ma’am did you know or do you know if Sara knew Rebecca Jones or Lacey Barns?” Emily asked as the door shut with a quiet click.

“Not until they were killed. They were both younger than her. She was so sad when she found out they had been killed though,” Mrs. Leigh answered walking to the living room and sitting on the couch.

“Would you mind if I took a look in Sara’s room? It won’t take long. I just need to see if there’s any evidence that could lead us to knowing who her attacker is,” Emily asked gently, maybe giving her a moment alone would give her some time to calm down before they spoke again.

“Yeah, it’s down the hall, second door on the right. Uh, my other daughter will be home soon,” She nodded, a far off look in her eye that broke Emily’s heart. She turned away silently and made her way to the room, a big pink and white polk-a-dot ‘S’ hanging on the door across from a door with a matching ‘H’.

Emily pushed the door open. Right off the bat she noticed it was a typical teenage girls room. Pale pink walls, a white dresser that held a TV, a matching vanity that had makeup, perfumes and a laptop set nicely on top, her bed was made up with pink and white bedding and even her closet that was cracked open had clothes neatly put away. She pushed the door shut to just a crack and looked around more closely. There were posters of Roni on the walls surrounded by smaller pictures that when Emily looked closer were a mix between Sara and her friends, a guy she assumed was the boyfriend, her and her sister at a concert, pictures of Roni and there were two separate pictures that Emily recognized from Roni’s Instagram that had herself in there. That made her pause for a second, never did she think she would be hanging up in a teenage girl’s room. She stopped feeling her phone buzz and looked down.

To: Em
From: Roni

Hey, baby, and we’re gonna be staying at the Omni in Louisville, suite 24, we actually just got checked in. How is everything?

To: Roni
From: Em

Everything’s okay baby, call me tonight?

Emily slid the phone back in her pocket. She didn’t want to tell Roni about being here because she wanted to surprise her, probably with a bottle of wine. She turned around and walked to the vanity and lifted the top of the laptop. Once it powered on Emily took a seat not surprised that a teenage girl had a password on her laptop. The screensaver was a collage of Roni, pictures of her on stage, at interviews, on red carpets and it made Emily smile. She loved how much Roni inspired young girls, so much so that they looked up to her as an idol. Trying her luck she typed in ‘Roni’ as the password, but that was too easy. She bit her lip before typing ‘veronica’ and ‘veronicablack’ both of which were wrong. She furrowed her brow thinking for a moment, getting an idea and typed in Roni’s birthday which seemed to do the trick. Emily pulled out her phone again and pulled up Garcia’s texts.

To: PenelopeFrom: Emily

Hey Penny, I’ve got Sara’s laptop here, password is March24, and I’ll email you the IP.

Sliding the phone in her pocket once more she leaned back with a sigh, hearing the front door open and footsteps coming down the hall. Emily stood up and opened the door, a younger girl stopping in her tracks, her eyes widening when she saw Emily.

“Oh. My. God. You’re Emily Prentiss. You’re Roni Black’s girlfriend,” The girl who had very clearly been crying nearly squealed in excitement. Emily couldn’t help but smile at the girl.

“That’s me, are you Hanna?” Emily asked, the girl just giving her a wide eyed nod before she gestured to the girls bedroom door. She followed her into the room which was decorated almost exactly the same as Sara’s but with a pastel blue instead of pink.

“Hanna, is there anything you can tell me about your sister? We’re there any groups she might’ve met someone in that knew how much she liked Roni?” Emily asked sitting down in the seat chair when Hanna sat on the bed.

“Uh, one of the fan groups was specifically for Louisville, a bunch of us girls were planning to meet up at the concert,” Hanna answered, her chin wobbling.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Emily breathed, reaching out to rest a hand on the girls, noticing the bracelet on her wrist.

“Your bracelet, Sara has on one just like it. They started because a girl in one of our groups made one to send to Roni, she had cancer and died before anyone ever found out if Roni actually got the bracelet so one of the main leaders of the group started making and selling them and she donated the money to a charity in the girls name,” Hanna explained and Emily nodded patting her hand.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I have to head back to my team but if you think of anything that can help, please don’t hesitate to call,” Emily offered gently, pulling one of her cards out of her blazer pocket and handing it to the girl.

“Thank you,” Hanna gave her a small smile before she turned and left the room.

-

“Emily did you find out anything?” Hotch asked as she walked into the conference groom of the police department.

“To say Sara idolized Roni is an understatement, pictures, posters, magazines, laptop background even her laptop password have something to do with her. Hanna, her younger sister was able to tell me that a bunch of girls in the Louisville fangirl club were planning on meeting up at the concert,” Emily informed Hotch nodded and pulled out his phone, putting it on speaker.

“Garcia, can you get into the girls computers and find out if they were called in the same group for Roni, Sara Leigh’s you get sister said some girls were planning on meeting at the concert,” Hotch spoke followed by the immediate sound of typing.

“Okay, so I see the chat, there’s a bunch of random usernames. Uh, there’s lots of talk about being excited to meet each other and see Roni in person. If this is how he’s finding the girls his plan would be to meet at the concert, it says some of the girls parents will be there. And ping, Sara, Rebecca and Lacey were all in this group and were part of the group meeting up,”

“Thanks Garcia, you’re the best,” Emily called out, followed by Hotch’s tank before hanging up.

-

To: Roni
From: Em

Hey, babygirl, you busy?

Emily sent the message as she pulled into the hotel. Roni’s tour bus was parked behind the building and Emily pulled into a spot a few cars away just as her phone rang.

“Hey, you still working?” Was the first thing Roni asked, her voice stressed and making Emily’s heart drop.

“No, I’m not working are you okay?” Emily rushed out, getting out of the car quickly.

“I’m okay, it’s just been a long day,” Roni sighed, her voice shaking and Emily thought it sounded like she was gonna cry.

”Oh, baby, I’m sorry, is there anything I can do?” Emily asked as she made her way through the hotel lobby to the elevator.

“I just really wish you were here, I miss sleeping in your arms,” That made Emily smile as the elevator started moving.

“You know I’d be there with you if I could be sweetheart,” The doors slid open and Emily got out, turning to the sign with the floor numbers, cursing internally when she realized it was the wrong floor.

"I know you would be, but you do so much good with your job I wouldn’t want to have it any other way,” Roni smiled, sliding on her robe at a knock on the door.

“Hey, Em, hang on a second. Someone’s at the door,” Roni announced walking from the bedroom. Emily sighed when she pressed the elevator button and it didn’t open.

“Who is it?” Emily asked.

"Um, I actually don’t know,” Roni trailed off as she looked through the peephole.

“Roni? Roni, hey can you hear me?” Emily called out, of that was the unsub-

That thought left Emily’s mind and she was running down the hall to find the stairwell. She shoved the phone in her pocket and pulled out her gun, running up the stairs as fast as she could she pushed the door open. She saw the sign for room numbers again, buying her lip when she realized Roni’s room was on the other side of the building. She turned quickly making her way down the hall holding her gun low but ready nonetheless. A shout echoed through the hall immediately followed by another, Emily recognized the voice and was taking off running.

When she rounded the corner her heart stopped. Standing there outside of one of the hotel doors was Roni, a large bald guy towering over her and holding her by the wrist. It was obvious Roni was uncomfortable and scared of this guy and that nearly enraged Emily. Neither of them heard or saw her approaching, she slowly raised her gun, the clicking sound of the hammer clicking made their man freeze and Roni’s head snapped to look at her but Emily never looked away.

“FBI, take your hands off of the girl now,” Emily growled, as soon as his hands were off she gripped the back of his shirt, pulling him away and slamming him into the wall face first.

“Don’t move,” Emily ordered, patting the man down with one hand, reaching into his pocket when she felt his wallet. A soft sniffle behind her caught her attention but she didn’t look away yet. Pulling out her phone she disconnected the call from Roni and took a picture of the man’s license, sending it to Morgan quickly before turning him around roughly.

“If I see you anywhere near her again you’ll wish I hadn’t. You’ll be getting a call from the police, now get the hell out of here,” Emily shoved at the man, making him stumble, as soon as her gun was holstered she turned and her arm were filled with a small body.

“Oh, baby,” Emily breathed, wrapping her arms around Roni.

“How are you here?” She asked against her neck and it was obvious how close she was to crying.

“We’re in town and I wanted to surprise you,” She answered, pressing a kiss to Roni’s head.

But then Roni’s head was tilting up and their lips were pressed together. Emily let out a slow deep breath, backing Roni up against the wall as she slid her tongue into her lovers mouth. God, it had been so long since they kissed, since they got to taste each other and the adrenaline from the thought of her girl being in danger was a rush. One arm rested on the wall by Roni’s head, the other wrapped around her waist to keep their bodies close. The sound of heavy breathing was the only sound in the hall has Emily pressed her body further against Roni’s

“Room key?” Emily breathed against her lips, taking the card when Roni silently pulled it from the pocket of her robe. Reaching down she grabbed Roni and lifted her up, pressing a quick kiss to her neck as she reached out and slid the card into the door, pushing it open and walking them.

The sound of the door slamming echoing down the hall.