Hi Everyone, This is my first fanfic, so i do hope you will be gentle with your expectations. I am a through and through Hotch Prentiss shipper. I am not very adept at Casefic so the premise is from the series but ofcourse i DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS. This story borrows from the series but i have included thoughts and events to further build my fiction this is true for the timeline of events as well. This is a multi chapter story. Hopefully you will enjoy this story.

It was difficult for Emily to pinpoint exactly as to when that moment was when she started having more than friendly feelings for her boss SSA Aaron Hotchner. All she knew was that recently she became more aware of his presence when he was in the room. She found herself looking forward to their interactions while on a case and at a subconscious level she also found herself taking extra care when she got ready for work. Having heard from Reid that his wife had left him, she was extra careful to not let these emotions show or even discuss this with or Derek. She just happened to be taken in by his integrity,charisma and his compassion for the victims and their families. In time, she told herself, she will get over it and move on.

Though there was an initial reluctance Hotch seemed to warm upto her and valued her inputs as a team member and there was nothing from him to suggest that he probably had noticed her more than any of his other colleagues.

It was late in the evening when JJ had called her asking her to meet the team at a local mall. A young girl was missing and the team had to race against time. The numerous times Reid had reminded them that chances of a child surviving the abduction keep slimming every few hours. As soon as she reached the scene of the crime she got into the groove of things and she was immediately dispatched to speak to the missing girl's family. While Hotch and JJ were talking to the family Emily was trying to make sense of the responses by the missing girl's uncle,aunt and cousin. She started to get that gut feeling telling her that there was something amiss in their reaction and all the years of training kicked into her and she started noticing the subtext in what each of them was saying. Mentally she noted that she would later sift through them and look for vital clues and leads into what they probably were not telling her at this point.

Meanwhile Garcia, Derek and Reid were working with the other local teams. JJ conselled the missing girl's mother and she agreed to make an announcement appealing to the Unsub and Derek and Reid were onto something with the girls cousin Jeremy. They thought that he was hiding something Derek and Reid were talking to the boy, Emily noticed that the aunt was unusually agitated and decided to talk to her. The aunt lookas at Emily and says, "one minute i was buying a lighter for my husband and the next minute i hear Katie's name being paged on the intercom." Emily nods and in order to comfort her says these things happen. She in the meanwhile is piecing together everything she has noticed and will share this with the team during the mid case review they would have anytime Derek and Reid were ready.

Before that could happen Hotch called her over with the instruction that the cousin and the uncle had to be separated to 2 rooms immediately. Herself and Hotch started questioning the uncle, together they had proven to be extremely successful interrogators, the professional chemistry between them was evident and they took off where the other left using effective non verbal cue's even most partners who have worked years could not do so efficiently.

Together they used all the information gathered and built their pressure on the uncle to a crescendo till the uncle confessed to molesting the little girl. This disgusted Hotch and as he pulled Emily aside, she wished there was someway she could console Hotch before the earlier interviews with the family came back as a flash to her. She turned immediately to the uncle and said, "you know for the most stressful day of your life you have not smoked one cigarette." He in defeat responded, "I quit, a month ago." This brought back several important snippets to Emily. Especially the part where the aunt said she was here to buy a lighter for her husband, this lead to an unraveling of several other dark and painful details which eventually led to the revelation that the Aunt was the Unsub and she had abducted the little girl to protect her husband and her marriage.

Derek, Reid and Garcia chose to see this case as a victory especially because there was no physical harm to the little girl. Emily was sickened to the core by the existence of such monsters in such a seemingly normal family, there were sick serial killers but the realization that evil was closer home than they realized set her pondering. JJ who was the more trusting member of the team was taken aback by the deception that could exist within straight laced individuals. Hotch was the most affected as he was reminded of how vulnerable his little boy could be in the safest of environments. After a quick summary of the case Derek and Reid were back to their banter with Garcia chipping in. JJ left early as she had prior commitments but Hotch noticed that Emily was still a bit pensive, he quickly pushed that thought back to his head and rushed to see his little boy just to make sure that though there was evil, innocence still existed.

When Hotch was back to his lonely apartment strangely he felt this compulsion to reach out to Emily, just to hear from her and to also ensure that she was ok, as Unit Chief it was his responsibility to ensure objectivity on the job. Without realizing it he sent out a text to Emily

"Prentiss, are you ok?"

Emily in her apartment was going over her day, recalling every reaction of her boss and every nuance of him she found so endearing. She also shuddered at the absolute fury and disgust that he had shown toward the uncle. Just then she heard her phone beep. She was taken aback with the text, taken aback but also pleasantly surprised. Though she knew it was a professional question she delighted in the communication from him. She immediately typed back.

"Yes, but i think you need to be asked that question. Did you get to see Jack?"

Hotch was taken aback with the immediate response and the intuitive question. He slightly smiled and responded

" Saw an asleep Jack, not complaining though. You looked rather pensive and not like an agent who put away the bad guy. Anything you want to tell me?"

Emily bit her lip. If she was honest would he think her to be too fragile. If she brushed him aside would he snatch away from her and not connect with her. "Great" she thought to herself "why can't i have normal issues like acne or bad hair days?"

"I was wondering what would happen to the little boy, both his parents have been sent away. Hoping his uncle and aunt will let love prevail and not punish him for his parents sins."

Hotch was totally taken aback with her response. He could not believe that she went through so many dimensions. It was no wonder that Derek had so easily accepted her as his best mate, to Reid she was the elder sister and to JJ and Garcia the girlfreind like no other. He now realized that Emily had this ability to extend herself and accommodate her emotions and support to be so many things to everybody. He wished Hayley had that ability. He immediately chastised himself and stopped that thought from forming. He attributed that stray thought to being tired. He quickly responded a terse:

"These things will work themselves out. Please ensure this does not affect your you in the office at 9 tomorrow"

"Wow" Emily thought how foolish she thought there was something more to the sms than a supervisory concern!. Sighing she got herself ready for bed chiding herself for letting silly emotions get the better of her.