Over the next few weeks, Jack attended two weddings back-to-back. One was for John and Garris, and the other for Braxton and Ellia.
The second wedding was more spontaneous, triggered by Ellia's unexpected pregnancy.
Chris, soon-to-be uncle, was even more nervous than Braxton, the soon-to-be father. Braxton suggested waiting until after the baby was born to have the wedding, but his older brother immediately held a gun to his head.
Because of this, Jack was specifically asked by the brothers to fly to Wyoming to pick up two Native American elders from Wind River Valley—Ellia's parents, the Hanson couple.
Ellia's health had only gradually improved after meeting Jack, thanks to his care. But perhaps due to her past frailty, her early pregnancy symptoms were severe, with constant nausea and vomiting.
After hearing the news, Jack rushed over, not only casting a healing spell but also preparing a specialized pregnancy diet for her. Despite all this, Braxton, like a nervous wreck, refused to leave Ellia's side for even a moment.
Left with no choice, Jack had to personally fly to fetch the elders, then tirelessly help prepare the wedding. He served as both the wedding chef and Ellia's best man, so much so that he began questioning his life choices.
The real challenge, however, wasn't the busy schedule—it was the sheer number of women around him. Finding a date for the weddings had been a major headache for Jack.
Fortunately, after the two weddings were scheduled one after the other, and following several polite apologies from Jack, Hannah and JJ decided to cut him some slack. They took turns as his wedding dates, defusing the crisis.
However, with Zoe and Maureen's wedding coming up in August, Jack was truly anxious. He feared it might turn into a modern version of "being torn apart by four horses"—only this time, it would be four women tearing him apart.
As for Hotch's earlier heightened emotional sensitivity, it was traced back to lingering postpartum depression in his wife, Haley.
Even though Maureen had been providing psychological treatment and the couple was cooperating well, the unavoidable external conditions were causing their relationship to deteriorate again.
Despite Rossi and Jack having tried to ease Hotch's workload by reducing his overtime, new cases and serial killers in other states willing to participate in psychological research made travel inevitable.
This left Haley often overwhelmed and on the verge of breaking down while looking after their child alone.
Surprisingly, what seemed like an unsolvable domestic issue was resolved by attending a wedding. Haley, invited to the farm with Hotch for the wedding, unexpectedly became Ellia's go-to advisor on child-rearing.
Haley seemed to fall in love with the farm's peaceful surroundings, which she felt were ideal for their son. Having attended a previous gathering at the Wolfe brothers' farm, she enjoyed visiting as a guest.
The Wolfe family, with no experience in raising children, also welcomed Haley warmly. Eventually, with Rossi's help, Hotch sold their house in Virginia and bought a new one in a middle-class community not far from the San Fernando Valley.
It only took about half an hour to drive from this community to the farm.
The Wolfe brothers even prepared a room in their large house for Haley, so whenever Hotch was on a work trip, Haley could bring their child over and stay for a few days.
Thus, the couple's tensions quietly dissipated, and Hotch's trademark poker face seemed to be fading into memory.
After wrapping up the two weddings, Jack finally had time to deliver the "Irish coffee" he had promised Garcia, as Rossi had reminded him.
Of course, considering Western tastes, Jack didn't use Maotai as the base for a coffee-flavored cocktail. Plus, he had heard it was illegal to mix them like that.
Instead, Jack made a milk tea version, mixing cold brew red tea and low-alcohol sweet yellow wine in a 1:1 ratio, heating the mixture with preserved plums, yellow rock sugar, and cinnamon sticks. Once the sugar melted, he removed it from the heat and added a small spoonful of dried osmanthus for a warm, fragrant drink.
He had tried it before and found the flavor quite good. Of course, in his opinion, it would have been even better if he had replaced the red tea with ginger, paired it with a couple of hairy crabs, and a bowl of vinegar.
Satisfied with her large pitcher of tea, Garcia happily took it into the elevator, while the scent of osmanthus lingered in the air. Rossi, carrying a large stack of photocopies, emerged from another elevator, his nostrils twitching at the lingering aroma.
"Do we have a new case?" Hotch, stepping out of his office at the same time, casually asked as he bumped into Rossi.
"Not sure yet. It's from the Denver field office," Rossi said as he placed the stack of photocopies on Jack's desk, grabbing Jack's tea and taking a sip.
"An unusual drink—very delicate," he remarked with raised eyebrows.
"These came from an abandoned warehouse. One of the agents found them suspicious and asked me to verify," Rossi explained.
"Is that agent a friend of yours?" Hotch asked, puzzled.
Rossi shrugged with a smug grin. "No, she just knows me—you know how it is."
"Oh, a fan of your books," Hotch teased, complimenting him. "I bet you have a ton of those."
"More than you can imagine," Rossi replied, accepting the praise without hesitation.
While the two chatted, Jack had already flipped through the top few pages of the stack, whistling at what he saw.
"The FBI handles this stuff?" Jack asked incredulously.
The few photocopied pages he had shown featured simple sketches of a woman's alluring figure, bound in an imaginative style—an erotic art form originating from a certain Eastern country. As their former neighbor, Jack was quite familiar with it.
"We don't handle that, but we do handle this," Rossi replied, handing him more pages.
As Jack quickly scanned through them, his expression grew more serious.
The pages contained lengthy descriptions of sadomasochism, along with more graphic sketches of brutal torture scenes, reminding Jack of the Montana case with that deranged man.
He had once thought Francis Goring, the twisted individual who used a pear of anguish in Montana (Chapter 250), was bad enough. But this seemed even worse.
At some point, Reid had appeared behind Jack, nodding seriously as he analyzed the situation. "The writing is in future tense, which suggests it's more of a fantasy."
Rossi nodded in agreement. "But the agent believes it's not that simple."
"So there's more information?" Hotch inferred.
"Yes, she has several boxes of materials. I'm planning to drive over and take a look. After that, I'll make a judgment. If we confirm there are victims, I'll call you all in."
Hotch agreed, but Rossi immediately frowned at the next part: "Take Reid with you. He's an expert in analyzing documents."
"A road trip? Great! I just got the audiobook version of *The Foundation Trilogy*," Reid excitedly rushed off to grab his travel bag.
Seeing Rossi's pleading look, Jack couldn't help but clear his throat, quickly thinking up an excuse.
"How about I go with them instead? That way, we won't need to borrow a car. I just bought a new F-150 but haven't had time to break it in. This will be the perfect opportunity."
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