Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters

A/N: So this is my first CM fanfic! It'll probably be JJ/Morgan. Reviews are appreciated!

XXX

"I am so sorry..." JJ wrapped her arms around Reid, and in that hug, although no-one else but Hotch saw, it was Reid who supported JJ. She was trembling like a leaf.

"It's not your fault."

He understood at once.

He knew.

And he reassured her.

She let him go- or rather, he let her go- and she wiped a stray tear away as she met Morgan's eyes. He nodded once, signalling that she had his forgiveness.

But it was never his to give in the first place.

XXX

"Hey, look who it is!" Prentiss grinned as Reid entered the office.

"Hey, kid, glad to see you're alive." Morgan nodded to him, unwilling to show exactly how glad he was. But Reid knew anyway- hell, they all knew. And that was what mattered.

Reid looked up, getting that familiar look in his eyes. "It's highly unlikely that I would have suffered any kind of injury or near-death experience between the last time you saw me- which I believe was yesterday- and this morning. Although now that you mention it, a recent study showed that-"

"Can it, hotstuff." Garcia flicked Reid's hair as she walked past. "I'm happy you're back, but I could do without the 24/7 babbling."

Morgan feigned hurt. "I thought I was your hotstuff?"

"Oh no, hotstuff doesn't even begin to begin to describe you, my delectably scintillating lump of chocolate."

"Chocolate? He's hotstuff, and I'm chocolate?"

"Hey, lay off the chocolate!" Emily ordered.

Garcia smirked. "Well, Derek Morgan, What if I told you I never particularly enjoyed hot food?"

"Uh, Morgan?" Reid interrupted the flirting.

"Yeah?"

"Where's JJ? Why isn't she here?"

"Conference room in ten." JJ smiled at Reid before exiting just as quickly as she had arrived, not making eye contact with any of them.

Emily frowned. "Is it just me, or was that completely out of character? She seemed like she was hiding something..."

Garcia rubbed her hands together. "Oh, it's not just you. Our JJ's got something she doesn't want us to know..."

"...And you're gonna know what that something is by tonight," Prentiss finished.

"Exacly."

They all trailed into the conference room, where JJ was waiting patiently with her clicker. They each grabbed one of the files she handed to them, greeted Hotch and Rossi, and sat down expectantly.

"We were asked to take this case by NYPD," JJ started, smiling slightly at the astonished looks. "This unsub is unique- he keeps his victims and-"

"Woah there, girl." Morgan had flipped through the file, and was now staring incredulously at its pages. "These murders...they happened over the course of six months! Why the hell did it take them so long to call us?"

"Because he's only killed five victims in that time frame. NYPD thought they could handle it so they waited, but it's been six months and as they haven't got any leads, they called us in." JJ didn't meet Morgan's eyes, and quickly started the presentation.

"New York, obviously. The victims were all found in public places," bodies popped up on the screen, "and they were all sexually assaulted. All women with blonde hair,
all between the ages of 30 and 35, all fairly attractive with good jobs. Most of their clothes were ripped and-"

"So we know he's a male," Hotch interrupted, studying the thumbnails displayed on the screen. "They were all in good jobs you said?"

JJ nodded. "Yes. And the unsub-"

"JJ, girl," Morgan cut in. "I get that it's your job to choose cases and you pick carefully; it's hard, I get it. But this guy killed five people in six months! Aren't there plenty of other cases where seven to eight people are being killed a week? Aren't we more needed there?" Morgan asked.

Fed up and inappropriately amused, JJ let out a small humourless chuckle.

"You're laughing." Hotch's words were a statement. "JJ, do you feel alright to work? You can have this case off, if you want. Of course," a sidelong glance at Morgan, "we will take the case."

She waved him off. "No, I'm fine. Just, I've been trying to tell you what makes this case important but two certain somebodies," she looked pointedly at Hotch and Morgan, "won't let me finish."

Hotch leaned back. "Point taken. Continue."

JJ nodded. "Okay, so the unsub, who we've established is male," another pointed look at Hotch, "keeps his victims for three weeks. He follows a monthly cycle:
on the first of the month, he abducts a victim while they're asleep using chloroform. After keeping the victim for three weeks, he drops the body at a public place in the middle of the night, and spends the rest of the month searching for new potential victims. The main thing is that during the three weeks-"

"So why only five victims in six months?" Reid. JJ fought the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"I don't know, shall I ask him for you?"

"JJ..." Hotch said warningly.

"I'm sorry. But will you please let me finish," she begged. At the silence, she went on, "He sends a live feed of whatever he does to the police. He...he tortures them...rapes them repeatedly and taunts them. From what I could see, he-"

"-'See'? You've seen the videos?" Emily asked.

JJ sighed. "Yes. Yes, I've seen the videos. Well, two of them anyway. It was necessary to ensure that I was picking the right case," she said, glaring at Morgan.

Hotch nodded, thinking the reason for JJ's behaviour was that the empathetic and compassionate media liason had been forced to sit through videos of women being tortured. "Names? Ages? Workplaces?"

"All had jobs which required some leadership skills. Allie Daniels, 32, was the manager of a shop downtown; Alice Young, 35 was a financial advisor; Felicity Chapman, 33, worked as a doctor in an independent office; Jenna Tanner and Mary Holden both held jobs at banks in which they were in a position of authority. Tanner was 30, Holden was 32," JJ reeled off the names and ages swiftly.

"Finished?" Hotch asked her softly. JJ smiled slightly.

"Almost. He also uploads the videos of the tortures and murders to a chatroom-type website, but only after the murder has taken place. The police get a live feed. Currently, the site has 67 members."

There was a collective gasp. "Seriously?" Morgan asked. JJ didn't answer him, instead going over to her seat.

"Well," Reid started, "obviously this unsub isn't act-focused. For them, it's all about the act of murder; their victims usually die a quick death. This unsub is using a slow and torturous way of killing his victims, so he's process-focused. And also, stands to reason that he's a sadist."

"No, I don't think so..." JJ said slowly. They all turned to look at her, not used to her giving input. She flushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's perfectly alright," Rossi reassured her.

"Go on..." Hotch prompted.

JJ paused, gathering her thoughts. "Well, if he's a sadist, wouldn't he want to cause as much pain as possible? To anyone? If I wanted to cause pain, I'd send the videos to the victims' families, which he didn't do. And also, he'd wake up the person first, so he could relish the fear in their eyes as he put the chloroform over their mouths."

It didn't go unnoticed by the team of profilers that JJ was unable to think of herself as a person who tortured others for more than a few seconds. The thought made the corners of Hotch's mouth turn up slightly. Jennifer Jareau would never be anything but a kind soul.

JJ continued speaking. "Um, and he...in the videos, he doesn't actually start hurting them until the live feed is set up. The victim is unscathed until then. The cops said there's a day between the abduction and the time the live video is set up, and if he was truly sadistic, wouldn't he hurt the victim in that time too?" She ducked her head down, unsure of herself.

"She's right," Reid said.

"So if he's not sadistic, and he's torturing women for himself... that could mean that he wants an audience," Morgan said.

"Or he could feel unadmired and insignificant in his life, so he sets up the website and the live feed in some twisted attempt to gain 'fans'. He wants to be feared, and seen as important, to make up for how unimportant and overlooked he feels in his job or home life," Prentiss said.

"Great. Meet at the jet in ten; we can carry on from there," Hotch said, stopping JJ as the rest of the team filed out. She raised an eyebrow at him. "JJ, are you feeling alright? This is our first day back from the Hankel case, and you've been unusually short-tempered, especially with Morgan…"

She shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. "I'm fine. Really. Just those videos...they got to me..." She attempted a weak smile, and he accepted it, walking with her to the jet.

And it was true.

The videos had affected her.

But they weren't why she was short-tempered with Morgan.

Or why she felt miserable as she boarded the jet.

Or why she couldn't look Reid or Morgan in the eye.

Or why she had that horrible gut feeling that everything was not going to be alright.