A/N: So here's the sequel to What If?. Its set 1 year after What If?. This idea came to life thanks to all of those reviewers who requested a sequel. :) Thanks to my lovely beta! :)

Chapter 1 – Breaking Routine

Hotch stirred from a peaceful sleep in his comfortable bed as he heard the familiar ringing of his cell phone. He fetched it off of the bedside table and answered gruffly, "Hotchner."

"Hotch, its Gideon, we have a case," he told him vaguely.

"Bad?"

Gideon scoffed, "Its not any better, that's for sure. At the office as soon as possible," he stated returning to the purpose of his call.

Hotch nodded to himself before he pressed the 'Off' button on his phone. He rubbed his sleepy eyes before he gathered up the energy to hop out of bed. He looked at his alarm clock for the first time and saw that it was 4:20 A.M.; it was going to be an early morning for the BAU team.

He walked around the front of the bed and into the walk-in closet. He picked up his ready bag from its usual spot on the floor and laid it on the blue carpet next to the bed. He went about his activities as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake his sleeping wife. He entered the bathroom off of the master bedroom and splashed his face with cold water and brushed his teeth. He dressed in a light blue dress shirt, dark blue tie, and black suit.

He was just retrieving his firearm from their safe when his wife awoke. "Aaron, what are you doing?" Haley mumbled quietly.

"We have a case," he answered regretfully.

"How long are you going to be gone?" She sighed.

"I don't know yet," he answered as he gathered up his FBI identification from the bedside table drawer. "But I'll call you before we get on the plane, okay?"

She nodded sadly; she was so used to being left alone. "Okay, I love you."

He smiled before he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Love you too."

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Hotch entered the empty, BAU bullpen and bypassed the office he had received after being promoted to Senior SSA, or second in command to the Unit Chief, on his way to the conference room. He took a seat at the round table beside Gideon, who was wearing a casual outfit, as usual, and surveyed the other occupants of the room.

Reid was sitting on Gideon's other side. The young man tucked a strand of his rather long hair behind his ear as he yawned. He fiddled with the straps on his messenger bag that was in his lap as he waited for the case briefing. He, like Hotch, had received a phone call around 20 after four, and had needed a very large cup of coffee to wake himself up. He had thrown on a brown, short sleeved dress shirt, tan tie, and beige corduroy pants. It was summer in D.C., and he hadn't been in the mood to put on a sweater vest.

Also sitting at the table was Special Agent Gary Burke, who was approaching the one year mark with the team. He was an intelligent, former NYPD officer in his early thirties. He had fit in relatively well from the beginning and was now another important piece of the BAU puzzle. He had taken a page out of Hotch's book this morning; he was wearing a black suit and tie, and a charcoal dress shirt.

The team's liaison entered the room balancing a large stack of files. JJ now had almost six months of FBI experience under her belt, and all of it with the BAU. She currently occupied the small office down the hallway from the elevator that was reserved for the media and police department liaison of the BAU's most successful unit. With her press experience in the country's fastest city, she had easily adjusted to her new job. She handled witnesses and victims with compassion, hostile police officers with respect, and kept the media at bay with her poised attitude and winning smile.

When JJ had finally managed to safely lay all of her files on the table, Hotch said, "So we have a case?"

She nodded as she passed out the case files before picking the remote up off of the table and turning on the television. It displayed the images of four young, pretty women. "This is Abigail Foster, Katrina Miller, Courtney Piercey, and Leona Murphy. All four are between the ages of 21 and 25, similar physical description, and residents of the Chicago area." Reid was scribbling notes on his notepad as JJ spoke. "Courtney Piercey and Leona Murphy went missing within three days of each other two months ago and are still missing. Abigail Foster and Katrina Miller also went missing within three days of each other, but it was three months ago. Their bodies were discovered two days ago, Foster's by a hiker in the woods just outside of Springfield, Illinois and Miller's was found on a farm in northern Missouri. They had similar signs of torture and the same cause of death, along with a distinctive drawing on their right hip. Local agents are working the signature angle," she added. "Also, they were both determined to have only been dead for 36 hours."

Burke's eyes widened. "He kept them for three months."

"He crossed state lines," Hotch said as he focused on the geographic details.

JJ nodded. "Exactly, which is why I was contacted by both the Chicago, St. Louis, and Springfield field offices, it's a federal case and it's ours if we want it."

"We do," Gideon answered simply.

JJ nodded again as she took her cell phone out of her pocket. "Okay I'll call and let them know that we're on our way."

JJ left the room, leaving the four male agents to ponder the details of the case. "Signs of sexual assault," Reid stated as he scanned the medical examiner's report.

"Most likely for all three months," Burke added honestly.

Gideon nodded to himself. "Possible sexual sadist," he proposed.

"Well neither of us is a sex crimes expert," Burke chuckled as he twirled a pen between his fingers.

Reid raised his head and looked at his colleague. "No, but I know one." Burke looked at him curiously but he turned to Gideon and Hotch instead. "I could call Elle." His mentor gave him a questioning look and he responded immediately, "We kept in touch."

"Who's Elle?" Burke asked confused.

"She's an agent at the Seattle field office and probably the best sex crimes specialist in the country," Gideon explained. He and Hotch exchanged a conversation in glances before he answered Reid. "Yeah, give her a call." The young genius gathered the files in front of him and put them in his messenger bag before he got up out of his chair and left the conference room.

"Airstrip in 20," Gideon announced as he got to his feet and began to move in the direction of JJ's office.

Hotch walked into his office to gather his things and call his wife while Burke joined Reid in the bullpen. "Airstrip in 20," he repeated Gideon's words.

Reid nodded in his direction but remained focused on his phone conversation. He finally closed his phone shut and put it back in his pocket. "I'm going to go see Garcia," he spoke more to himself than to Burke.

He walked to the perky technical analyst's office and politely knocked on the doorframe before entering. She spun around in her chair and smiled at him. "Are you as tired as I am?" She asked laughing. She did not give him a chance to answer before she asked another question. "What can I help you with sunshine?"

Garcia had settled into her new, and technically first, job almost effortlessly. There was no firewall that she couldn't sneak past and no piece of information that she couldn't mystically retrieve. In just one year, she had written several programs that have proven to be beneficial to all technical analysts in the FBI. She had verified her worth to sceptical supervisors and had a personality that made the blood and gore that they saw on a daily basis tolerable. Her office was bright, colourful, and fun, and it was always a pleasure to pay her a visit.

"We have a new case…" he began but she cut him off.

"Yeah, I know, I did get the glorious wakeup call. Where?"

"The Midwest," he answered nondescriptly since he did not know if they would set up camp in Illinois or Missouri.

"Okay so what can I do to assist you crime fighters?" She asked excitedly as she spun back around to face her computers.

"We're taking off in 20 minutes so can you get me everything you can about these girls?" He asked as he placed a file folder on her desk. "I took out all the crime scene photos," he added smiling timidly.

"Aww you sweetheart," she replied as she looked up at him and smiled brightly.

He laughed lightly, "Okay we'll make contact when we're in the air."

"Sure beautiful!" She yelled after him as he left her office.

Reid walked back into the bullpen and saw that Burke had just pulled his ready bag out from under his desk. He followed his lead and got his things ready as well. Shortly afterwards, Hotch came out of his office with his ready bag in hand, followed by Gideon, and JJ came from the other direction. The five agents walked towards the elevator, they were off once again.

A/N: I'm going to try to update every two days or so but I am busy. Give me feedback, I always appreciate all the opinions and suggestions!! :) And especially from those who requested the sequel, is this what you had in mind? :)