Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Sorry this is coming so late. I appreciate the patience. Thank you as well for the reviews. I hope this story is as enjoyable as "The Violator" for you all :) I'm excited to be revisiting this storyline, and I hope you are, too.

JJ

"Why is Mom so sad, Liv?"

Henry's question to Olivia as JJ started down the hall of their apartment halted her in her steps. Her heart started to feel sore in her chest. She sighed heavily, and rubbed her forehead.

Just yesterday she and Olivia had gone to their third adoption agency to check their luck at getting a shot at adopting. This time went no differently for them. No work calls had hindered their meeting time with the head of the adoption agency, but JJ and Olivia's work schedules and the nature of their jobs were the biggest problems.

I'm sorry to tell you this, ladies, Susan at the adoption agency had told them, but with schedules like yours — not to mention the violent nature of your jobs — we don't feel adoption is a good idea for you now.

It crushed JJ as if a thousand pounds of snow were dropped on her. She had wanted to scream at the woman that she and Olivia were great parents to Henry, that they had a well-adjusted child already. But the woman already knew that.

For some reason it didn't matter to the adoption agency, though.

"Mom's just sad because the adoption agency we went to yesterday said no again," Olivia admitted. She and JJ had agreed ahead of time they weren't going to tell Henry about the failed adoption the day after it happened to keep salt from pouring into the wound even more. Right now she was glad Olivia had handled telling him; she didn't know if she could without breaking down into frustrated tears.

When she got to the kitchen, she found Henry and Olivia putting their dishes into the sink. She plastered a smile on her face and kissed the top of her son's head. "Hey, you," she murmured

Henry gazed up at her, but he didn't have far to look. At twelve years old, Henry already stood tall at JJ's shoulder. A sad gleam entered his eyes. JJ knew he was feeling sorry for her. She saw the pity in his eyes. She met Olivia's gaze, finding the same sorrow Henry had in her dark amber eyes.

"You ready for school?" JJ asked, looking back at Henry. She ruffled his hair.

Henry nodded. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Liv said you guys have a case to get to, though…so we gotta get going."

JJ looked up at Olivia again, cocking her head to the side. She rarely accompanied Olivia to work unless they needed a profiler, either herself or George Huang. This must have been a serious one.

The look her wife returned her told her it was.

Looking back down at Henry, JJ kissed his forehead and nodded. "Alright," she murmured. "Let's get you to school."

XXXXX

"So he killed again?" JJ murmured as she and Olivia made their way through the throngs of people crowded around the crime scene tape that blocked off the entrance to a modest Manhattan townhouse. She kept an eye on the crowd, searching for any signs of people too invested in the scene. She didn't know much about this unsub, and whether he would be watching the scenes to observe his work; she just wanted to take precautions.

Olivia nodded as they trotted up the stairs of the home. "Yeah," she said. She pulled her badge out and showed it to the uniform at the door. Pointing to JJ, she explained who they were and were waved in by him. As they walked down the hall, she added to JJ, "This makes it murder number three. Victims' names are Troy Holden and Justin Isaacs. Their children's names are Julianne and Alexandria."

"What has Warner ruled?" JJ asked.

"Too early to tell with these two, but the kids had injection points in their hairlines," Olivia explained.

JJ froze. The children. How could she forget that this unsub not only killed the men, but also their children? It was one detail the press certainly had access to, and JJ had heard all about them.

The first victims — John Hanson and Julio Gonzalez — had one child named Jared, killed at age six. Trent Barrows and Kyle Johnson's little daughter, Mara was only three. The manner of how the children got killed told JJ they weren't the object of the unsub's hatred. He made a habit of keeping the children from the same deaths their fathers endured.

It was a good thing, too; the couples' received some of the worst torture JJ had ever witnessed.

"Liv, JJ," a voice called from the hall.

JJ turned to see Elliot Stabler coming from a smaller hallway. "Stabler," she said. "What do we have?"

Stabler's face was grim. "They're in the living room," he said. "Everything is the same as the other kills."

"Torture and everything?" Olivia asked.

Elliot stopped them right before they entered the living room. "Getting worse if you'd ask me," he said.

Preparing herself for what was to come, JJ nodded and accepted one of the pairs of rubber gloves Stabler handed to her and Olivia. She slid them on and entered the living room where she found Dr. Melinda Warner examining one of two bodies.

Each man had his ankles and wrists bound together with cable ties. Duct tape covered their mouths. Bruises and blood decorated their bodies. One of the victims, Troy Holden, lay on his stomach, and a gunshot wound was visible on the back of his head.

JJ had seen some horrific crimes in her career as a profiler, but this unsub slowly but surely was edging himself into her list of worst ever.

Dr. Warner looked up at JJ as she entered the room. The medical examiner nodded to her. "Agent Jareau," she said. "I see they decided to bring a profiler in on this. Smart choice." When Stabler and Olivia joined them, she nodded to them as well.

"Hello, Melinda," JJ said. "What's the prognosis so far on the victims?"

"Severe torture wounds, just like the others," Warner said. "Abrasions, internal bleeding. I can't confirm it until I do the autopsies, but the torn underwear and blood suggests they were sodomized with a pipe…just like the others."

Elliot knelt down next to the bodies to observe them. "Cause of death?" he asked.

"Gunshot wound execution style to the back of the head," Warner said. "Again, just like the others."

JJ shook her head, looking away from the bodies to observe the room. Nothing was out of place, save for the hardwood floors being drenched in blood and the bodies of the dead men.

"He's very organized," JJ murmured, surveying the room. She walked through the room, trying to see every detail. Turning her attention back to the dead bodies, she went on. "Sadist, relishes in the torture of his victims."

Stabler arched a brow at her. "Is he getting off on this?" he asked.

"No," she said, returning to the bodies. "I don't think so. The amount of overkill here suggests rage and hatred. He's severely homophobic. That much we know from his victimology. Nothing overtly biblical about his MO, so I'd say he's not on a religious mission. He kills the children, but does it so they don't suffer." She shook her head, wracking her brain. "How does he find his victims, though?" She said the last part aloud to herself.

Olivia answered her anyway. "We have no idea," she said. "We're still looking for connections between the victims, but haven't found any other than they're gay men with families. They've never had contact with one another as far as we can tell, and there's no forensic evidence at any of the crime scenes."

"This is the third one of these murders," Elliot said. "What the hell do we do to catch this guy? We can't let this get to a fourth."

JJ was silent for a moment. "I…I need Huang," she finally said. "We'll need to go over this together. I need another set of eyes to give you guys an accurate profile."

"No," Olivia said. "You need more than another set of eyes. You need several sets."

Turning her gaze to her wife, JJ frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"She's saying you've got to call in reinforcements," Elliot said, rising from his kneeling position.

Olivia nodded at JJ, whose brow had lifted in an arch. "That's exactly what I'm saying," she confirmed. "We need to call the BAU."