Sarah, Pt. 1

Derek Morgan walked through the busy mall, looking for a present for his sister's birthday. It was his day off. Just then, he saw a little girl with long auburn hair and a small Hello Kitty backpack over her shoulder wandering around the mall, looking lost and scared. She couldn't have been more than five years old. Concerned, he went over to her.

"Hey there, sweetie," He said with a smile. The girl looked at him. Her eyes were full of tears and her bottom lip was quivering. "Are you lost?" He asked, kneeling down to her height. The girl nodded.

"I can't find my daddy. I forgot my backpack in the toy store and went to get it and when I came back he was gone," she told him, crying.

"Ok, sweetheart, it's going to be ok. Now where did you last see him?" Morgan asked.

The girl pointed to a small bakery shop across the wide hallway. Morgan nodded. "Ok, come on, I'll help you find your dad. What does he look like?"

"He has brown hair and he's really tall and he's wearing a green shirt and jeans." She told him.

"Ok, good. What's your name?" He asked.

"Sarah," the little girl said, her eyes wide and scared.

"Hi Sarah. My name's Derek Morgan. Now let's go find your dad." Morgan said gently. He stood up and looked around the mall. He couldn't see anyone matching the description the girl had given him, so he took the girl's hand and started walking toward the bakery.

After looking around for a little while longer, Sarah suddenly shouted, "Daddy!" and raced across the mall through crowds of people and jumped into a man's arms. He matched her description of her father, and he definitely acted like it when he pulled her in a tight hug and told her what looked like, "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

The man looked over in Derek's direction, smiled, and waved, as if saying thank you. Morgan smiled and waved back. Then he went back to looking for a present.

**********

Agents Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss laughed together as they walked towards the elevator after a long Friday at the BAU. They saw JJ, their co-worker, walk by.

"Hey, JJ, have a good weekend!" Morgan called with a smile. His smile faded when she held up a case file.

"Sorry guys," JJ sighed as she headed into the conference room. Morgan and Emily looked at each other, and with a sigh, followed JJ.

"There go my weekend plans…" Morgan sighed.

"I hear ya," Prentiss agreed.

They took their seats as Rossi, Hotch, Reid, and Garcia came in.

"What do we got?" Hotch asked.

"This is Henry Groves." JJ said, clicking a button on her remote and pulling up a picture of a man with brown hair and brown eyes, smiling at the camera. Next to that were pictures of a bloody crime scene. "He was found in an alley near his house last night. He was stabbed ten times and then shot in the head. He left behind a ten-year-old daughter. His death matches seven other murders over the last six months." She pressed another button and seven other pictures of smiling men came up on the screen, and with them, their murder shots. "All were stabbed multiple times, then shot in the head, all were found near their homes, and all left behind young daughters whose ages range from four to thirteen. All were white single fathers in their late thirties to early forties. Other than that, they couldn't find any similarities."

"I'll find one if it's there." Garcia said, her voice perky as usual.

The team split up to get their things and Garcia went to her lab.

(After a day and a half, as well as another murder, the team finds a name for the unsub)
(This started as a dream, and when I woke up, I couldn't remember this part. I know I dreamt it, but...)
(Totally open to ideas about how to fill in this gap.)

"John Silver. He's 41 years old and has a daughter named Sarah who attends preschool nearby." Prentiss tells the team. She, Reid, and Garcia had figured it out. "Sarah is five years old. Hannah Silver, his wife, was killed in a car crash two years ago. He was driving when he hit a patch of ice and crashed into a tree. She died on impact. Sarah was in the back seat. He now lives in Virginia and drives a black Toyota Rav4, license plate number B34 62R7."

"That's what connects all the men. They all had their wives die in tragic accidents. Henry Groves' wife died in a house fire while he and his daughter were home, Ryan Collins' wife died in a car crash when they swerved to avoid a deer, Paul Newberry's wife was killed in a home invasion, Gary Willows' wife drowned in their pool, Andrew Bryant's wife cracked her head open when she fell down a flight of stairs, Josh Addams' wife was killed in a car wreck, and Danny Slone's wife was killed in a house fire." Garcia told them.

"Anything on the daughter?" Hotch asked.

"She went to school on Friday, and according to her teachers is a sweet, shy little girl." Garcia said. "That's all I got of her."

"How about a picture?" Hotch asked.

"Of course, sir." Garcia pulled up a picture of John Silver, and then Sarah's school picture. Morgan took a look at the pictures and tensed up in shock. It was the girl he helped at the mall two days earlier.

"Hotch, I know them…" Morgan said softly. Everyone looked at him as he stared at the two pictures.

"You what?" Hotch asked.

"I mean, I don't know them, know them but…I met Sarah in the mall while I was shopping for my sister's birthday present two days ago. I helped her find her dad after she got lost." Morgan explained.

"John Silver also has a cell phone in his name. I'm running a trace on it as we speak," Garcia told them. After a few seconds, the trace was done. "I got him. He's in a forest next to Route 34." She said.

The team wasted no time. They went to the car and headed to the forest next to Route 34. They split up to search the area. It wasn't long until Hotch found the body, and the cell phone he left with it, and called everyone over. As they examined the crime scene, Morgan noticed a set of footprints in the moist ground that didn't fit. They were much smaller than all the others. He followed them, even as Hotch and Rossi called him back. Morgan drew his gun when he realized there were two sets of footprints, side by side. He followed them to a tall oak tree, where he found Sarah Silver sleeping with a jacket over her body. There were footprints leading to the road, as well, but Morgan knew it was a dead end.

Morgan put his gun away and called back to his team, who had followed him, "I found Sarah!"

Morgan gently woke her up. "Hey, Sarah. Remember me?" The small child rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Why don't you come with me, ok? We can get you a snack."

Again, the girl nodded, and Morgan picked her up, taking her back to the car. While his team looked around some more, he and Prentiss drove her back to the police station.

Sarah sat in an interrogation room with a cookie and a juice box, as well as her teddy bear that she had with her when they found her. She hadn't said a word since they found her.

"Morgan," Hotch called him over. "No one can get a word out of this kid. But she knows you. Maybe you could get us something we could use."

Morgan nodded and headed into the room. Sarah looked up at him when he came in, then went back to staring at the table. Morgan went and sat down across from her.

"Hi Sarah," Morgan smiled at her. She didn't look up. "Sarah, do you know where your dad is?" he asked. Sarah nodded, still not looking up. "Can you tell me?" Sarah shook her head, staring down at her teddy bear in her lap. She was quiet for about a minute. Then she looked up at him.

"He doesn't want me to go." She said softly. Then she returned her gaze to her bear.

"Go where?" Morgan asked. The little girl shrugged. Morgan sighed. He introduced her to a social worker and told her she was going to take care of her, and to get some rest. It was already late.

After working for a few more hours, Hotch told everyone to go home and get some sleep.

The next morning, Morgan woke up and looked at his clock. As soon as the image came into focus, he leapt out of bed.

"Damn it!" He grumbled. He was so late! He took easily one of the shortest showers in history, got dressed, grabbed his gun, badge, and keys, and got in his car. He took out his phone and called Hotch, telling him he was on his way.

"The girl is gone." Hotch told him.

"Sarah? How?"

"She ran away. But we know where she's going."

"Where?"

"On her class field trip to the museum. We found the top half of the permission slip with her stuff." Hotch reeled off the address to him.

"I'm headed that direction," Morgan said. "I'll meet you there."

"Ok. And Morgan?"

"Yeah, Hotch?"

"If you get there before us, wait for backup."

"Yeah, Hotch, I—" Morgan broke off. He saw John Silver, in his car, heading for the museum. "Hotch, Silver's going to the museum. I see him. I'm right behind him."

"Stay on him. We're on our way. And remember, wait for backup!" With that, Hotch hung up.

Morgan got to the museum about three minutes after John had arrived. He knew that if he listened to Hotch and waited for backup, John would have gotten Sarah and disappeared. He couldn't let that happen.

"Hotch is gonna kill me…" He muttered, drawing his gun and heading inside. He showed his badge to the security guard and bypassed the metal detector. He asked one of the employees where the preschool tour would be, and he was directed to the interactive dinosaur exhibit, an exhibit that was also partially under construction.

He found the exhibit easily. And when he found the exhibit, he found John Silver, trying to take Sarah away without disturbing the group. Morgan raised his gun, aiming it at the man.

"John Silver! FBI! Put your hands where I can see them and get down on the ground!" Morgan shouted. Everyone screamed and ran out of one of the two exits in the room.

John pulled his own gun, aiming it at Morgan for a second, then aiming it at a small group trying to leave.

"Not you three," he said. The group froze. It was Sarah's teacher and two of her students. He motioned with his gun for them to move away from the door. The teacher ushered the two students in the direction he indicated, trying to sooth their crying. John returned his gun to Morgan.

"Come on, man, you don't want to do this. You don't want your daughter to think of you like this," Morgan tried to reason with him. "Now put the gun down!"

"No, Agent Morgan, you put yours down." John's voice was steady and cold. Morgan didn't budge. John sighed. With his free hand, he grabbed the teacher's arm and pulled her towards him, pressing the gun to her head. "Ok, how about this. Put your gun on the ground and slide it over to me, or I blow her brains out."

Morgan hesitated, keeping his gun steady. John turned to Sarah. "Sweetie, cover your eyes and ears, ok?"

The teacher started crying, and Morgan could see she was shaking. "Alright! Alright!" Morgan held up his hands and slowly put his gun on the ground. Then he used his foot to slide it over to John. John stopped it with his foot and let the teacher go. She scrambled away from him. Then John picked up Morgan's gun and put it in the backpack he had on his back. Then he motioned for Morgan to go join the others on the other side of the room.

"Oh yeah…Hotch is definitely going to kill me…" He muttered, sitting down next to the teacher.

**********

Outside, the BAU team arrived on scene. SWAT was on their way, and would be there in about five minutes. Hotch looked around.

"Where's Morgan?" Prentiss asked.

"I don't know, I told him to wait for us outside," Hotch said, looking around. He took out his phone and called him…

**********