When Liv faced a loss that would rewrite her entire life, she stepped away from her work. A year and a half later, she returns to the BAU in search of normalcy; so she can finally move on. On a new team, Liv is immediately thrown into the game of ca...
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✺✺✺ "Neighbors did see a woman coming and going from Molly's apartment over the last few months, but nobody saw her close enough to get a sketch." Prentiss sighed out to the group once she got back. "The best description we got was white female, mid-20s, light brown hair, plain."
"Molly never mentioned a roommate to her father or her coworkers." Hotch had his brow furrowed, like he did on every case. This one in particular had seemed to lead them nowhere so far, every lead running dry.
"Lyle didn't know either." Rossi mention the most recent victims ex-boyfriend.
Liv chimed in with a question. "Is he still here?" Guilty of this or not, he definitely wasn't a good person, and Liv couldn't suppress the desire to keep him off the streets where he could hurt more women.
"We couldn't charge him, so his lawyer walked him out." Rossi shook his head. Liv drew a sigh in response. Their biggest suspect was cleared and they were no closer to finding Molly.
"We need to start over, go back to both Gail and Molly's cases and look at everything from the perspective of a female unsub." Morgan quipped up, offering a new plan of action they had no choice but to take.
Back to doing so set everybody off on their own way, dividing their tasks to find out what they were missing. Prentiss went back to Molly's apartment and uncovered an obsessive food journal from months before hand, having Garcia send over her spending habits to look at. Rossi talked to Gail's parents, and all have you know, discovered a need for success in school that had driven her to new forms of study habits. It didn't take long to piece together that the woman who had been living with Molly, was involved in both of the victims lives, acting as a caretaker and self help expert to help both girls in their own problems, and break bad habits.
Liv watched Reid in wonder as he finished another self help book, looking for insight. It was the 22nd one he had read that day.
"The phrase Molly wrote, 'Today I do, tomorrow I will.' isn't an uncommon phrase in any of the books I've read today. It's actually a really popular mantra used by people trying to navigate a certain path of self improvement."
Liv looked at the phrase scribbled on the board, messy work done by the hands of Reid. She muttered it to herself, feeling it's familiarity on her lips. "Today I do, tomorrow I will."
"Does it mean something to you?" Hotch asked, suddenly appearing beside her. Apparently he had noticed her fixation on the common phrase.
He pulled her out of her trance, and she looked up at him in surprise. "Oh-" She turned back to the board. "Yeah, I just..."
She felt a weird churn in her stomach and a deeper need to save this poor girl before it was too late. It didn't help to see a piece of herself in her.
"My mother, she's big on mantras and, stupid little sayings. Growing up my house was littered with inspirational quotes that just seemed like nonsense at the time, I didn't give them much credit, really. This one, though." She drew a breath. She didn't mind so much, sharing with him, knowing only he would understand. She kept her eyes trained on the board, however. She didn't want to catch his gaze and find herself changing her mind about staying on the team. "When my husband died, this was the one my mother ingrained in me. Any day it was hard to even get out of bed. She always told me to pick one task, no matter how small, and only hold myself to doing that. If nothing else, I still accomplished something."
Silence was between them, yet not uncomfortable in the slightest. Liv was no longer surprised by that fact.
"I hate to think," Liv continued. "That Molly was just trying to survive the same way."
Maybe this is what he wanted, without knowing it. Perhaps Hotch pulled her into another case for a reason completely separate from now, but fate had led to one thing after another, and she ended up her as she should. What was it, a wake up call? Who cared? The simple similarity struck a chord in her that awaken suffering long stored away. Liv was sure it would do nothing but help find her.
"We'll find her." Hotch said, certain, stony. That was the moment she decided to allow herself to look at him, blank faced and all until her eyes landed on his. Then his composure was cracking.
"You don't know that."
And he truly didn't. Wasn't that the case with every situation they investigated? Yes it was; but it meant something to her, and that made him pause. He did so in a way, reading the lines of her face in a curved, saddened expression he had only seen one other time, that made him forget his selfish reasoning for asking her to come. Hoping she would decide to stay even though he had given her too many reasons not to. No, it wasn't about that anymore. It was about her, and anyway he could help. If putting his entire being into solving this case was the answer, he'd take it. His self loathing wouldn't allow anything else. There were two things in the world that he wanted, needed, to protect. Jack and Olivia.
"No, we don't." He admitted looking back at her with his face emotionless, but his eyes showing a sincerity she was always surprised to see. "But I'll make sure nothing is left undone."
It was what seemed like a meager response, but was one that held weight in a way that was so, Hotch, that she accepted it and sat in it's presence for awhile, still studying the phrase on the board. Hotch didn't speak anymore after that either, only gazed at the board with a mutual interest, only with all of the clues they had gathered on that one plain. She could feel the warmth of his tall, wide arm next to hers, but she didn't bother to move. She took the warmth as a moment of peace and calm offered to her by fate, and no matter who was on the other end, she received it with grace. She couldn't help but note, though, that moments like these were most common occurring when she was with Hotch.
She dwelled on that in the silence, before shutting it all out completely. She was not changing her mind, and in that moment, there was nothing that she wanted more than to find that girl. Wherever or whoever she was, she deserved to see her will for tomorrow.
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Hey all, Updating as soon as I can. Getting surgery for my chronic illness soon this summer so I've been pretty overwhelmed! This case the story is following now is purposefully being dragged out though.. I'm about to ruin your peace :-)
