Disclaimer: We do not own Criminal Minds... we wish we did :))
We'd like to thank everyone who read... and especially those who reviewed... it meant a lot!
----------------------------------------------------
When the lost lovers broke their stare to turn back to the news report as it rolled out, they missed Rossi walk off, and JJ rush to her office. The more they watched the more they realised that the news of Hotch and Penelope was now the official hotspot of all broadcasting. Derek grabbed the remote and flicked through the channels, each and everyone documenting the video, most of the time the pairs names being said, there was no escaping it, it was a reality.
As the name Aaron Hotchner bounced around her head, Emily slowly noticed the ringing of phones, millions seemed to ring out, Derek obviously in the same frame of mind with Penelope, blinked a couple of times as the noise of phones broke into his head and destroyed his worries as the profiler kicked in. He went straight for the phone, automatically going to dial his Baby Girl, it was when he saw her name on the screen that realisation truly hit: she was not there, she could not help them this time. He snapped the phone shut and flung it on to the desk before turning to see Reid already on the phone calling for a new tech.
New tech hit harder, new tech, no Penelope. No Penelope meant harder times were ahead. He walked from the bull pen, traced his tracks to her lair, walked in and found it still empty, his prays that by re entering the room would somehow mean she was back gone now. He swung round and hit the wall, his usual sign of aggression, he had done it when she was shot and now she was kidnapped, it warranted it, and he knew the urge would grow to repeat the action.
Emily paced JJ's office, not knowing where to put herself in the chaos, if she was in the bullpen she would surely be too occupied with watching the news, she bit her nail more before JJ smacked the next victim nail away from her mouth and carried on her conversation. Emily paced harder, the floor in the office would be worn down before long if no one gave her some type of duty to start to busy herself with. JJ finished her call and walked towards her.
'Emily, we'll get them back.'
'How do you know that JJ? The first video shows them with a gun against their heads! In this job that means execution!'
'Emily! We will get them back!' JJ reinforced sterner this time, with so much conviction her eyes watered with the possibility of not getting them back. 'We will.' She repeated so that she could believe it as well.
Emily's posture changed, her body language slacked. 'This is all wrong.' Emily said and left the office before JJ could question her, there was no time to play the chase game so she got back to phoning the news channels and getting as much on the origins of the video's as possible. Unfortunately for Emily, just as she headed outside to get some air, Rossi came marching into the bull pen, effectively cutting off her exit point. In tow were a number of young agents, all fresh eyed and bushy tailed and ready and willing to follow orders. 'They're here from IA, they have to look over the uh, hard drives, history, emails, note books, diaries. Everything. We need a team meeting in 5.' Emily just nodded before turning on her heels and heading back to the one place she didn't know if she could cope with at that moment.
'Where's Morgan?'
'I have a pretty clear idea.' Emily said. 'Want me to get him?' Rossi nodded and she left the room trying to keep it cool as this was no time for added tension on the team, it wasn't the break she needed, nor was Derek the person she was in the mood to talk to but he was needed. Petty fights were drawing them apart, she had felt their relationship being ripped apart slowly, the distance between them growing, the silence that used to be intimate when they hugged now felt friendly, almost brotherly sisterly, not the way it should do seeing as they switched between one another's places every night.
She pushed the door opened and found him staring at the pin board Penelope had on the wall, mixed together was her personal and work life. Derek had ripped one of the photo's off, one of them two hugging, him pushing a kiss to her head. Emily remembered the picture being taken no more than 3 weeks after Penelope was shot. Again the assertion of something between being all wrong hit her again.
'Derek...' She said softly so not to make him jump but loud enough to get his attention. 'Rossi's called a meeting.'
He slid the picture into his pocket. 'Come on then.' They walked down the corridor, the distance evident again. When they walked into the conference room and took seats they didn't sit next to one another, far from it, almost opposite one another.
'Morgan, Prentiss we understand if you want off, we know how personally involved you are.'
'I can do this.' Derek said as he leant on the table and gave his full attention.
'Yeah, me too.' Emily agreed and relaxed into her chair showing she wanted and needed to be involved in this as much as the rest of them, at the end of the day they were all involved personally.
'Okay.' Rossi said with a nod. 'IA have started to go through Hotch's computer to find out if there is anything that Hotch was doing without the team.'
'Garcia...' Derek started.
'They're going down now to do the same, emails, documents, internet history, you name it, it will be cross matched with every case we have done, every case that we have called Garcia in to help us with will be checked. Everything just so we can get them back.'
'You don't think they were involved in something, do you?'
'We have to rule everything out... it can't be case related, if it is, we would have been linked to it too somehow, something just doesn't add up.' He looked at the team. 'JJ what did the news stations say?'
'Well CNN, FOX and CBS were sent it from an anonymous viewer, I've got techs going to their head quarters to pin point but if these people are clever then it would be routed around millions of satellites.'
'If this is something to do with Hotch and Garcia and they know Garcia's skill... surely they would use her to send it on without leaving any evidence of its origins?' Prentiss said observing that this was non case related. 'Hotch has done this before, he has had a case looked into without the rest of us and only when he was certain let us in.' The idea bounced from one another, scenarios being forced to explore, situations being made loud and clear.
They watched one of the younger agents walk in with a mass of paper work. 'Agent Rossi... we found something on both of the computers.'
'What is it?' Rossi asked whilst surveying the paper work, he noticed the top one was an email; whether from Hotch's system or Garcia's was unclear from such a distance
'It seems that Agent Hotchner and Technical Analyst Garcia were looking into something on the side.' The agent said ominously, unable to disclose the exact nature of the case to the colleagues as yet.
