'reflections'
act one.

chapter four: stolen youths

"He stole her youth and promised heaven."
-Maisie Peters

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THE ONLY SOUND COMING FROM THE LIBRARY FOR THE PAST  HOUR HAD BEEN THE SCRIBBLE OF A PEN. Vienna had been hard at work on the most recent case assigned to her, Lia, and Michael. After Sloane had finished her work with Briggs, she had begun assisting them on the case as well.

Vienna couldn't help but worry for little Devon Walters. His father was a serial killer, she had no idea as to where he may be, or what the boy's father's motives were.

She still wasn't even sure if it was Drew Walters behind the gruesome murders, but she was pretty sure.

It had been only two days since they had started the case, and finding out  that Drew Walters had a son was the biggest lead they had.

Had, that was the key word. They actually were not so sure if this boy was still alive or not.

Vienna had brought these up to Briggs, but she was very upset when he had said that these were not great enough clues to jump to a conclusion that Walters was a murderer due to the fact that a man with a fiancé having an affair with a woman wasn't the most uncommon thing in the world.

Sloane, the best tech-sleuth that Vienna knew, was able to figure out that Drew Walters had a connection to every single woman that was murdered. She was able to trace the abortion of Brooke Walsh's baby to the hospital that Drew Walters had worked at. The abortion was done on March 5th, and Brooke was killed three days later on March 8th.

"That's all I can find on the abortion. I hope that's enough to go off of for now." Sloane says.

"Sloane, thank God for you." Vienna pulls Sloane into a side hug.

Sloane's lips crinkle into a small smile of appreciation for Vienna's affections. "I can see if I can find anything on the others if you guys need."

"That would be great." Michael speaks. "Sloane, you are our lifeline."

Sloane's smile widens as Lia nods in agreement as well. It was a well known fact that every single one of the Naturals have a special soft spot for Sloane.

Sloane began typing in her laptop, and it was seemingly within seconds that she began speaking again. "I found Shelia, Drew Walters' wife's medical records. I thought maybe she was infertile and that's why Drew went killing these women, but she's not infertile."

"She was 25. Maybe she wanted to wait until she was older to have a kid. Or maybe she didn't want one of her own." Michael says.

"If we're going with the theory that she wanted to wait, he was 15 years older than her. He hasn't got all the time  in the world to wait for her to have kids."

"If he's so set on having kids, why kill the women who he wants to have kids with? Why kill your wife?" Lia asks.

"Anger." Vienna says. "Maybe one of the women did agree to have a kid with him, and Walters realized he could have better with someone else. So instead of breaking things off with his fiancé, in his mind he thought murder was better,"

Cassie, who was sitting off to the side, wore a look of confusion. This was her first time sitting in on the other Naturals doing casework, and she was still very confused as to how the criminal mind operates, though she was seemingly a good learner.

"Dean." Vienna speaks, looking to the blonde boy sitting opposite Cassie, who looks up from the spot in which his eyes had been focused upon. "Can you profile this guy? We're at a loss here."

"Well Cassie's got to help me. Locke told me that the only reason we aren't having a formal lesson was for Cassie to get some 'real world' experience with everyone else."

Vienna sits against the back of her chair, her features relaxing as Dean and Cassie began profiling Drew Walters.

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AUGUST 14TH, 2016:

The grip of the knife tightened as you walked out of the kitchen. You weren't nervous for this moment, but you weren't exactly comfortable either. You didn't have as much killing experience just yet with only one kill under your belt, but you were experienced in human anatomy, your years in the hospital aided on that front.

Your wife practically hated you, loathed you and everything about you, so much so that she refused to have a kid with you. That is what started this whole thing. All you truly wanted was a child, no harm truly, the killing urges were merely normal.

'Normal.'

You remembered her screams last week, and that idea excited you. Not your wife, no. That little daycare worker, so young she was almost a child. She was carrying your child, but she didn't want it.

Were you really that unlovable?

She had gotten an abortion in the very hospital that you worked, why would she think you would never find out? You are highly intelligent, as you never let anyone forget.

Your smile twists into that sickeningly sinister grin that occurs only when you do something truly horrible. You were about to carry out a fantasy that had haunted your nights for months, of course you were excited.

Your wife was sleeping. This was good. She wouldn't watch you kill her. Your beautifully young wife, with an appealing face, and a body perfectly able to carry your babies, though it was not what she wanted. As much as you didn't understand her, you had to accept it. Because as much as you hated to admit it, you still loved her.

The door hardly creaked open as you stepped into the nearly pitch black bedroom, facing the bed in which you had slept next to your wife for nearly three years.

It had to be done. Shelia couldn't carry out her purpose, and that daycare worker couldn't fill the void anymore, that's why you killed that little bitch. Now, it was your wife's turn.

You raised the knife above your wife's neck, lowering it down as smooth and easy as a scalpel to a knee you repair on the daily, though this was more satisfying than replacing tendons.

Clean, quick, quiet. That is what you needed to be.

Your wife woke up, her sea-green eyes locking with your dark sinister ones for only a moment before a scream of anguish left her throat, then there was nothing.

Blood trickles down her neck as her body falls limp against the pillow. It looked almost as if she was asleep.

You calmly walk to your bathroom, washing your knife clean from the blood, peeling off your brown t-shirt, rinsing the small bit of blood on the front, a smile blessing your lips again as you looked back to the bed, your dead wife laying in her own blood.

And somehow, she had never looked more beautiful.

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DEAN AND CASSIE'S PROFILE of the killing of Shelia Arnold had been recorded onto the large white board by a bulleted list in the corner of the library, it was the exact same white board that could be found in the study, they had many whiteboards in that house.

Dean, based off of what Vienna had told him, along with the case files, had come to the conclusion that Drew Walters believed that Shelia hated him. she really didn't, she just wasn't ready to have a kid with him. Though, he took her aversion to having kids at 25 as hatred, driving him to go on a murderous rampage.

Cassie was talking now. "You probably wanted a kid, for whatever reason, maybe you had a bad father growing up and wanted to show that you were better." Profilers often spoke using "you" or "I" when profiling. Cassie went with "you" and Dean often says "I".

Vienna nods, recording a summarized version of Cassie's analysis. Though she had only been in the program for about three days, she was seemingly catching onto the idea of profiling criminals very quickly.

Agent Locke is very good at what her does, after all.

"Angelica Willis, the high school teacher, was pregnant when she died. Why would Walters kill her when she was pregnant? If he wanted a kid, what's the point?" Michael asks.

"The baby was a girl. That's what the autopsy reports said." Vienna recalled.

"I found out that the baby was a girl, but that isn't what I wanted. I wanted a boy to carry out my legacy, whatever that was." Dean speaks, slipping into Drew Walters's mind with ease.

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OCTOBER 31ST, 2016:

You knew that her baby was a girl.

Angelica, unlike your wife, was excited to be having the baby, even though it was not under normal circumstances. Little did she know, she wouldn't carry her baby to term.

You only wanted a son. That was clear to you front the time you were a little boy. You needed someone strong to carry on the tradition, and you knew that only a boy could do that in the way you wanted.

You weren't sexist, that was just how life goes.

You entered the house through the front door with the key you had been given. You had been cheating with Angelica for almost a year now, and she had fallen pregnant right after you killed your wife.

Angelica was sitting on the couch, watching a Halloween movie, as trick or treaters would begin showing up any minute now, it was dusk.

A bowl full of fun-sized chocolates were perched on the table in the entry way in anticipation for children dressed from anything like Spider-Man to Elsa.

Angelica's face lit up as you entered. Her feet were propped on the coffee table, and she was wearing a sweater with a pumpkin on the front.

"Hi, Drew." She smiles, standing up, wincing slightly. She was finally showing, her baby bump protruding through her oversized sweater.

"Hello, Angie." You smile your typical charming smile, along with your special nickname for Angelica.

She kisses you softly on the lips, smiling gently. "How was work?" She asks.

"It was good. I did one shoulder reconstruction and some consultations."

Angelica nods. "My students were good today too. We read and analyzed some Halloween themed poems."

You nod, smiling gently.

"I thought you weren't coming tonight. What about the plans with your wife?"

"Oh, she's not here anymore." You say simply.

"Oh." The pregnant woman frowns. "Did she leave you?"

"No." Your voice is as smooth as silk. "I killed her."

Angelica's eyes widen for a moment, then she lets out a chuckle. "Haha, so funny. You can't fool me Drew, I know that it's Halloween."

Her laughing at the topic angered you. Almost as if she didn't think you were capable of those things.

"No, I'm serious."

"What?" Angelica stops laughing, eyes locking with yours.

"Yes. And that's why I came here. You know the reason I started sleeping with you, correct?" You pull the knife from your pocket suddenly.

"You wanted a kid. I'm going to give you one." Her eyes fill with tears. "I promise I will. I'll be good to you and our baby. I won't tell anyone that you killed Shelia. I promise." Tears streamed down her terrified face now.

"I'm afraid I have to."

Angelica gasped, gripping her stomach. "Please, I'm pregnant. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I wanted a son, not a stupid daughter!" You scream.

Angelica was now sobbing, and she was a loud crier.  You had to shut her up.

"Please, don't do this. SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!" She screamed. You couldn't have her scream.

You grab her with a strong force, holding your knife to her throat. "Shut up, shut up now."

"NO, PUT ME DOWN, PLEASE!" She screamed, tears falling from her cheeks, to her chin, hitting your hand holding the knife.

You were getting angrier by the second, and you could hardly take it anymore. Without another thought, and as if it were second nature, you slid the same knife used to kill your wife agaisnt Angelica's throat, and you felt her limp body loosen against yours, her weight crushing into you. You sat her back down on the couch, walking to the bathroom to wash the knife once again, and change your shirt.

You came back to the living room to see Angelica's dead body lying almost peacefully on her white couch, which was now blood soaked.

There was a ringing of the doorbell, and in that moment you were grateful that you couldn't see Angelica's living room from the entryway.

You opened the door to see two trick or treaters, around the age of seven. Their faces looked similar, you assumed they were twins.

The boy was dressed as Mario and the girl as a purple unicorn.

"Trick or treat!" They both grin, identical dimples poking out of their cheeks.

How adorable.

You place a KitKat into their matching pumpkin buckets, causing their cute faces to light up. "Thank you!"

You smile back, a genuine smile.

"You two have a happy Halloween."

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SLOANE'S EYES WERE GLUED TO HER LAPTOP. The conclusions that Dean had came to on the murder of Angelica along with her unborn daughter were groundbreaking.

"Angelica was murdered on Halloween. And Elizabeth, the final victim and mother of Devon Walters was killed in August of 2017. There isn't any record of them being involved before the murder of Angelica. And the baby wasn't delivered early, which means that Elizabeth would have had to have gotten pregnant in November for the baby to be born in august. Which means that they would have met not long after Drew killed Angelica." Sloane says, finally looking up from her laptop for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"That's true." Vienna speaks. "That's a very short window."

"How did he get all of these women to be with him?" Michael asks.

"Why, Michael? Are you looking to take a page out of his book?" Vienna raises her brow slightly.

Michael rolls his eyes. "Real funny. I was just wondering how he managed getting these four women in the span of like a year."

"He's not an unattractive guy." Vienna gestures to his photo in a lab coat stuck to the whiteboard with a magnet.

"Are you saying that our serial killer is hot, Vi? "

"Absolutely not. I just mean that he passes as a normal guy. He's not hideous, and he's a surgeon, super smart, seemingly kind. I can understand why the women would be into him."

"Kind, except for the murderous tendencies." Cassie chimes in.

"That is a bit of a red flag." Lia grimaces.

"A red flag killer, hm?" Locke's voice came from the doorway in which she and Briggs stood. "That's not unusual."

Vienna chuckled lightly at Locke's words, though Briggs wore a more serious expression.

"How's the case going today? You've all been in here for five hours."

"Has it really been that long?" Vienna asks.

"Yep. I thought you all might've died or ran away from Briggs or something."

"We did think about it." Lia says.

Briggs glared at both Locke and Lia. "Tell me about your progress."

Vienna began to explain the details of the case. "Dean and Cassie said that they think Walters killed his wife because she didn't want kids, and I believe that he was using these women as a substitute for his wife. The high school English teacher was pregnant with a daughter when she died, so we came to the conclusion that he only wanted a son, and that's why he killed her when she was pregnant. We also came to the conclusion that Elizebeth had to have gotten pregnant during November in order for her son's birth to line up for an August 5th birth, which means that Walters would have started the relationship with her only a few days after he killed Angelica."

"Wow. That's quite a lot."

"Is that enough to put Drew Walters as the prime suspect?" Vienna stared at Briggs hopefully.

"Yes, I think we can now put him as our prime suspect."

"Okay, good." Vienna scribbles it onto the board.

"I have some ideas about Elizebeth and Drew's relationship." Dean piped up.

Locke looks at Dean. "Oh yeah? Why don't you enlighten us all?"

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NOVEMBER 2ND, 2016:

You walk into the bar. You had intentions of finding a woman to take your mind off of your recent stresses: work often took a toll on your ability to focus on other things, but that wasn't your concern at this very moment. Your concern was that you had murdered three women, and you were thirsting for another.

You remember how the blood ran through your system, the absolute high that occurred while seeing their lifeless bodies.

As sick as it sounds, you could get enough. You needed another.

The kills were so satisfying that you were starting to forget entirely the reason as to why your killings began.

Your true desire had been a child, a son. You still wanted one of course. Only successful surgeons could be males, and you were only after a son to follow in your footsteps.

The bar door swings after you as you enter, eyes scanning the room. Your gaze lands upon a beautiful blonde woman sitting alone, in what appeared to be medical scrubs.

'Scrubs?' You thought to yourself. A beautiful doctor, how shocking.

Before you could process, your legs carried you to the woman, plopping down next to her at the bar. She was having a simple beer, no fancy drinks like your wife used to like.

Maybe this woman was alright.

"Did you just get off?" You ask.

"Excuse you?" The woman looks at you defensively, and with confusion in her light brows.

"Sorry. I meant, I saw your scrubs. I thought maybe you worked in a hospital nearby?"

"Yes, I just got off of my residency. I've been working like crazy. Just needed a break, and so I ended up here."

You nod. "I like this place too. Surprised I've never seen you before."

"I've never been here until tonight." The woman smiles, lipstick-covered lips creasing slightly in the corners.

"Well then I'll just have to make it extra special." You wink.

You could've sworn you saw the woman blushing, but you just couldn't be sure.

"Oh yeah? And what's your name?"

"Drew Walters. And what is yours?" You smile.

"Elizabeth Keeton"

"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman." You muse, locking eyes with Elizabeth for just a moment. "Do you have someone coming to meet you, or...?"

"Nope. Just me tonight. You're welcome to stay with me if you haven't got anyone coming with you."

You nod, a simple grin twisting your lips. "That sounds amazing."

"Great!" Elizabeth grins. "I'm excited to see where the night takes us."

You look at her, at the look of excitement on your face. She would be perfect. "Oh me too, you have no idea."

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BRIGGS AND LOCKE EXCHANGED glances of mild surprise at Dean's detailed analysis. Though, they weren't too surprised due to the fact that Dean is an amazing profiler, especially for only being 17 years of age.

He profiled that Walters often went to bars to find women, which was backed up by financial evidence that there was several credit card charges to various bars in the area around the times when the women started seeing Drew Walters. Sloane was able to find this by hacking into credit card records. She had tried to explain the process to Vienna, but it was far too complicated for even her to understand.

Vienna, feeling rather frazzled after hours upon hours in the library, had also filled up the entirety of the large whiteboard spanning from one side of the wall to the other.

"That's quite a bit of writing, Vi." Locke raises a brow, smirking lightly.

Vienna snaps her purple pen shut, smirking right back at the redhead woman.

"You know how she loves her note-taking, agent." Michael remarks, leaning back in his seat so only two of the legs of his chair remained on the floor.

"Michael, all four on the floor." Briggs says, causing Michael to scowl.

"You know, that makes you sound like a kindergarten teacher." He says.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?"

Michael scoffs, crossing his legs under the table.

"Okay, back to the case." Vienna speaks.

"Right, the case." Michael says. "If he went on a killing spree, why do you think he randomly stopped one day?"

This time, it was Cassie that spoke. "Well, we worked out that his motive was having a kid. He had his son, Devon. Since his 'mission' was complete, he probably didn't feel the need to keep killing."

"Well, a lot of times, serial killers don't exactly have the most clear logic."

"This guy was a doctor." Michael says. "He's smart. He knew that killing four women in itself is very risky, maybe he stopped with those methods."

"Michael, are you saying that Walters is still killing, but he just changed his MO?" Vienna's eyes dart from their view of Sloane's hands flying across her keyboard to Michael's face.

"It's definitely a possibility." He continues. "Maybe his hunger wasn't entirely satisfied, so he changed his MO as to not get caught?"

"Well if he changed his MO, maybe he changed his identity too?" Vienna's mind was racing. She pulls out one of her many notebooks and began to write at a very quick  speed.

"What are you writing?" Sloane asks curiously, resting her chin on Vienna's shoulder as she watched her pen fly across the tattered notebook.

"Just a theory."

"I can see the wheels in your mind turning, Vi. What's going on in that wonderful brain of yours?" Michael asks.

"I'm figuring out his alias."

"How in the-?" Michael starts.

"Let her work, Michael." Dean cuts him off. "She knows what she's doing."

Vienna smiles slightly at Dean's recognition of her skills, it was nice for someone to recognize it. Her mind was racing as she wrote down the names of all of the victims.

Brooke Walsh, first victim.

Shelia Arnold, second victim.

Angelica Willis, third victim.

Elizabeth Keeton, the final victim.

Vienna thought that maybe he could've combined the names of his victims into one joint name. It seemed unlikely, though this case had taught her that anything was possible, this case had been unlike the others she had worked before.

There could be millions of combinations using this logic, though Vienna was going to follow the profile of Walters's favorite victims for the longer parts of the name.

Maybe "Shawn" because of Shelia?

Too basic, too predictable. This was a smart man, Vienna theorized that he would not pick a common name like Shawn.

But maybe he would, in an attempt to not stick out? This was a very complex situation.

Walters hated Brooke, so he wouldn't incorporate her into the name, end of story. Vienna crossed the young woman's name from her page, the name of Shawn still running through her mind.

Shawn, for Shelia. She had been his wife, and the woman he seemingly felt more remorse when killing.

There was a reason as to why the name Shawn kept popping up in Vienna's mind.

Shawn Andrews.

Where had she heard that name?

He was wanted for murder, that's where she had heard the name.

Her head jerks up from her notebook, eyes racing from Locke and Briggs, to her fellow naturals.

"Shawn Elliot Andrews. He's wanted for the murders of married couple Isaac and Amanda Cooper.  He killed them on August 8th of this year, I remember reading about it in a newspaper article from a small town in Idaho. They were both shot twice. Once in the head, and once in the left arm. This pattern is the same with a couple killed only a few weeks ago, October 14th, in their home, Alexander and Sarah McCoy. He's only wanted because the Cooper household had security cameras around the house and it caught him breaking in. The police were able to identify him, but he's nowhere to be found."

"Vienna, I am still constantly amazed by you." Sloane looks up from her laptop for only a moment.

Vienna beams. "Thank you Sloane."

"How do you know that it is Drew Walters? What if it's just a random guy?" Dean asks.

"If my amazing pal Sloane would be so kind to pull the newspaper article from the paper." Vienna smiles at her fellow genius friend. "Then you would see." She takes the laptop from Sloane as she pulls up and zooms in on Walters's photo from the security camera, and then turns it around for everyone to see. "That he is the spitting image of that photo." She points to his doctor picture on the whiteboard.

Briggs's eyes widened. "It is."

"That's 1000% him." Lia says.

"I know." Vienna sighs. "I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. I remember everything, but my mind doesn't always connect the dots right away. If I would have, then maybe I could've spared these families lives." She began to spiral. She knew her memory was a gift, though she was quick to beat herself up over it.

"Hey, don't do that Vi. You couldn't have known, and even if you did, we're too far away to help them, he was always going to get to them. It was too late for them." Michael reached across the table to squeeze her arm.

The brief silence following Michael's words were deafening, until Vienna spoke. "Thank you, Michael." She smiled gently. Though they had a friendship build on teasing, Michael totally knew when to be sympathetic and gentle. He knew better than anyone, due to his ability to read emotions, and his relationship with Vienna was stronger than most friends.

Everyone in the room, including Cassie who arrived only two days prior, knew that they had something different, something rare. They were the only two that didn't pick up on that.

"The 14th of October, and August 8th are both days that Walters killed a woman, right? I haven't got an eidetic memory, though I think that's right." Cassie breaks the reoccurring silence, as everyone was deep in thought.

"Yes, that's right," Vienna says, smiling to Cassie. "Thank you. I-sorry guys, my mind is all over the place."

"He's probably trying to relive the murders by doing it on the same date." Dean says.

"Following the next logic, the next murder will be in two days." Vienna says. "On Halloween."

Briggs looks to Locke. "We don't have much time. We have to go. Now."

"Wait, you guys believe this?"

"Yeah, it all adds up. And I have lots of regrets about not believing you guys on these cases, and then causing more deaths to pile up. I won't let that happen again. We've got to go to Idaho."

"How will you even figure out who Walters is targeting?"

"We'll write a profile and share it with the police, a profile matching the first set of victims, along with the second. Vienna, can you please finish writing up this information and send it to me so we can review it on the plane?"

Vienna was shocked by his forwardness, and his lack of hesitation, he normally thought things out before taking a leap as big as this one.

"Of course. I'll do that now." Vienna opens her laptop quickly, entering her passcode and opening the document containing the information on this case. It was last updated last night, so she had a lot more new information to enter before forwarding it to Briggs. Without another thought, her hands began flying across the keyboard.

"Are you sure you'll be able to get all of it done?" Sloane asks anxiously.

Briggs casts her a look of worry at Sloane's words.

"Don't worry. I can do it."

"Okay." Locke nods. "Send it as fast as you can. I'll call when we land with any updates."

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cam's notes!

I didn't even have that second name idea in mind when I sat down to write, it just came to me, so I hope you liked it!

This is the longest chapter so far (almost 5k words!)

This chapter shows how Vienna contributes to cases, and I hope you thought it was interesting, lmk in the comments :)

I'm going to start asking you guys questions at the end of each chapter bc I think it would be fun to read your answers.

Qotd: what is your favorite tv show? Mine are Gilmore girls, criminal minds, and greys anatomy!

Remember to comment and vote and I'll see you in the next chapter <3