Hello! I have to apologize...I had no intention of waiting this long to post...there were a few unexpected hurdles that came up...but on a lighter note I appreciate the support, reviews and reads. You all inspire me to write and I couldn't thank you all enough.

The unsubs craft is credited to my friend JH! Pure Genius!

I hope you continue to read and enjoy the story!

Oh and I apologize for grammatical errors I don't have spell check, because my Microsoft Word doesn't work. I look through it as best as I can.

Happy Reading!

Hotch stepped out of his office and began making his way to the BAU room, when he saw JJ headed swiftly in his direction. Her expression was a concerned one. Hotch reciporcated a questioning glance as they approached one another. Once they were in close proximity, both agents stopped and Hotch asked, "What's wrong?"

JJ thumbed over her shoulder towards Rossi's office, "Rossi is in his office and refusing to come out."

Hotch looked past JJ at the older man's office. The door was shut and gray blinds were closed tightly in the window. He nearly sighed as his concern deepened with Rossi's increasing suspicious behavior. There was an obvious problem and it had come to the point where it was affecting his job and the situation needed to be addressed.

Hotch looked back into JJ's beaming blue eyes. With forced confidence and trying to avoid any telling signs that would make JJ or the team worry, he stoicly responded, "Thank you and you can let the team know the briefing will be delayed by fifteen minutes."

JJ nodded, "Yes sir." and went to tell the team of the delay.

Hotch walked the thirty feet to Rossi's office, contemplating with each step how he would approach the situation, only to come up empty handed as he reached the door. His stance was however upright and each step was thought out, forcing himself not to hesitate. He did this for his own benefit so the team wouldn't know that deep inside, he was unsure of himself and how to confront Rossi. Rossi wasn't just a colleague, he was a friend an older one for that matter making the situation for Hotch slightly awkward.

At Rossi's door, Hotch knocked firmly and said, "Dave, it's Hotch." While Hotch waited, the seconds seemed to tick by like minutes and just as he raised his hand to knock again he heard gentle words from a strong man, say, come in.

The team watched from the round table, as Hotch barely opened Rossi's door and slithered himself through a narrow opening, as if to keep what was on the other side a secret. The door closed and now all the team could do was wait, literally they were sitting on the edge of their seats.

Hotch entered Rossi's office and closed the door behind him. The scene inside was an unexpected one. Rossi was sitting slumped on the edge of his couch, with his suit jacket layed to the side. His face was flush and his eyes were faintly blood shot from weeping. Hotch, needless to say was caught off guard be rendered momentarily speechless.

Rossi sensed the uncomfortable silence and tried to lighten the mood, more so for Hotch than himself. "Nothing like seeing an old man cry." He said defeated.

Hotch tossed his case file on Rossi's tidy desk and pulled up an empty chair, scooting closer to Rossi. He rested his elbows on the top of his knees and leaned forward with apparent worry on his face, "Dave, what's wrong?"

Rossi had gained slight composure since the initial shock and without a moment's hesitation he said, "Emily Prentiss is my daughter." Rossi watched as Hotch conformed an unbelieving face in gaping silence. Rossi had just successfully make Hotch speechless twice in less than two minutes. Rossi could tell Hotch had not yet picked up the connection even though Hotch was very familiar with what happened to his daughter long ago. Rossi concluded further explanation was needed. He breathed deeply as he regained more control of his emotions, putting the shock stage behind him. Rossi made direct eye contact with Hotch and stated plainly, "She is mine and Ellen's." Rossi saw as Hotch now comprehended the full story.

Hotch sat up a little straighter with surprising comprehension, "Are you sure?" Was all Hotch could think to say.

"You remember Melvin Maxwell?"

Hotch nodded.

"A few months ago he let me know they had infilitrated an illeagal adoption ring and it was likely they would find..." Rossi paused almost saying his daughter's birth name, catching himself as he continued, "...Emily. This illegal adoption agency kept records and eventually Melvin got a hit in their picture database."

Hotch sighed, empathizing with his friend at the complicated revelation. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Go about my day as normal." Rossi stood up and put on his jacket.

Hotch followed Rossi's lead, also standing, replacing Rossi's chair to it's appropriate location and asked, "Are you not going to tell her?" A small hint of defensiveness noticeable his tone.

Rossi's eyes widened in surprise at Hotch's suggestion, "Now's not the place or time would you agree?" Rossi asked straightening his jacket while sensing Hotch had feelings for Emily, even if they were subtle. Rossi was an experienced profiler and could pick up on heartfelt cues a mile away, however he didn't let Hotch know he was on to him, at least not for the moment.

Hotch shifted his concern to Emily. He didn't like secrets being kept from her, especially if they were directly linked to her most recent behavior. Slowly and silently he was putting the pieces together regarding Emily's demeanor since the last case.

Rossi saw the wheels turning in Hotch's head, "What is it?"

Hotch asked, "Didn't you tell me a long time ago that your daughter was taken from her bedroom, being slipped out the window?"

Rossi now was the curious one, while forcing himself not to focus on his little girl being taken from a place of supposed safety, reliving an awful memory. "Yes." He answered Hotch.

Hotch remembers the little girl's room where Emily became fractured, "Did you have pink curtains hanging in the window?"

"If your referring to Emily's baby room, yes, we had pink curtains, white baby furniture and some type of pink bear wall paper." Rossi paused and then continued, "What's this about?"

Without missing a beat Hotch said, "I think the last case triggered Emily's supressed memories of her abduction."

Rossi's sweltering emotions faded in light of this new bit of information, and now the limelight was centered around Emily. "She was only six months old when she was taken." Rossi tried to reason, "Surely she wouldn't remember?"

"Dave you know as well as I do, especially with traumatic events, that they can leave a lasting imprint on a young child's memory, even with someone less than a year old."

"Yes." Rossi agreed, "But there's usually a trigger..." Rossi could tell by the look on Hotch's face something had happened. "Okay you mentioned the last case but what specifically triggered it? There's something your not telling me." Rossi enticed.

Hotch informed Rossi of Emily's reaction, in the little girl's room.

"What are we going to do?" Rossi asked, obviously realizing there was no small solution.

"Right now we have a briefing to attend and after that..." Hotch paused, not wanting to go along with the secretiveness, but it looked as if he had no choice considering the news would be life altering. "We will see what happens. We take it day by day and when her ability to do her job becomes affected we address it."

Rossi nodded in agreement and just before they stepped out of his office he added, "And not to completely send her into shock, I would hold off telling her you are interested in her."

"There are no perceptable cues I have given you, to even give the slightest hint that I'm interested in your daughter." Hotch thought a moment after spouting off that sentence, it was wierd referring to Emily as Rossi's daughter.

"Maybe, but its in your eyes, and that's all I need."

Hotch, still not willing to confront his feelings regarding Emily, opened Rossi's office door and headed towards the briefing room with Rossi in tow.

Rossi quietly said to himself, "Aaron Hotchner, there are some things even you can't hide."

Hotch entered the briefing room, wasting no time, "Let's get started."

JJ began before Rossi barely made it in the room, reacting to Hotch's demanding tone. She aimed the remote, brought up three victim's pictures and then began, "Over the course of the past month three people have been killed in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first victim was male and the last two have been women."

Reid leaned forward in his seat, focusing on a blatent abnormality of the corpses. He pointed, "What are the red markings on the side of their cheeks?"

JJ looked to the screen and clicked a few buttons each click bringing an enlarged picture to the screen. JJ explained, "Each victim had a message, from the unsub written in red sharpie, the first, WORK MORE, the second, BROWN NOSER, and the third..."

Morgan finished, "GO HOME."

JJ nodded in agreeance.

Morgan continued with some analysis, "It's apparent the gender or physical appearance of the victims are not what's important to the unsub. One's blonde, one's a brunette and their's nothing similar about their size."

"It's what they do at work." Emily added, "One works too much, one doesn't work enough, one kisses butt..."

Rossi questioned, "So what kind of person does that make our un-sub? Does he think he is the perfect example of how to do the job right or is he underminded in his job and lashing out at others in light of it, picking out the stereotypical flaws?"

JJ interjected, "Let me stop you right there..."Three more pictures came up on the screen, of different individuals.

"Who are they?" Morgan asked.

"Three suspects that are being held for questioning, each one being linked to one of the murders."

"Then what makes this a BAU case, if they have three people in custody?" Emily asked.

"It's presumed each suspect is being set up by the real unsub." Hotch stated.

JJ went on to explain, "At the crime scene of the first male victim, there were finger prints from our first suspect and a butcher knife from his home that was later verified as missing. With our second victim it was the same scenario, butcher knife missing from her home and strands of her hair found at the scene. Third victim, butcher knife and a red press on fingernail."

"So I'm presuming the butcher knife was the murder weapon with each victim?" Emily asked.

"Yes." JJ replied.

"Do the suspects have allibis?" Morgan asked.

"None that can be confirmed." JJ retorted.

Reid then asked, "Were the victims all killed in the same buidling? The crime scenes look almost exactly the same from picture to picture."

"No, but they were all killed in their cubicles, in multiple level office buildings that come to findout, were designed by the same person." JJ pointed out.

"The unsub is consistent." Rossi inferred.

"All the victims are linked to different gender matching suspects, each killed with a butcher knife and one piece of solid evidence planted at the scene." Reid added confirming Rossi's statement on the un-sub's consistentcy. "The unsub could actually be one of the suspects and we should direct a focus on the first suspect as the actual unsub and the first victim as the likely trigger of the unsubs rage, especially if we follow Rossi's theory that the unsub is underminded in his job. It's likely the two could be connected."

"The unsub could also have a what he thinks as a seemingly meaningless job and envy those of the people he killed, knowing in his mind he could do the job so much better. It's possible he could have been rejected or turned down for the same type of job our victims had." Emily added.

Morgan jumped in, "Okay that makes sense but what's the significange of the words written on their cheeks? Is that a message from the un-sub or a fake message to tie the victims to the suspect?" He wondered.

"That's what we have to find out." Hotch said, standing behind his chair at the table.

"The unsub is smart." Emily said stating the obvious.

"Maybe, but so far its proving to be his one mistake. He's too consistent and he's making it too obvious." Rossi analyzed, trying ot keep himself from staring at Emily.

"If that's the case then his intention is to keep us occupied with suspects while he gets away scott free." Emily said in response to Rossi.

Hotch walked a few steps toward the door and said, "When we land, JJ you and Emily will speak to the victims families. Morgan and Reid I want you to visit the crime scenes while Rossi and I question the suspects. It's Thursday and we only have 24 hours before another victim could turn up, wheels up in thirty."

Garcia chimed in before everyone left the room and siad, "I'll just look at everything and try to find a connection."

"You do it best Baby Girl." Morgan winked at her before leaving the room.

"Don't you know it." Garcia flirted.

Morgan flashed a smile at his blonde cupcake and then rushed to catch up with Emily. When he was at her side he leaned in close to her ear and asked, "So is everyone just going to ignore why Rossi shut himself in his office this morning?"

"I was wondering the same thing." Emily paused thinking about it and asked, "Did he seem upset to you?"

"No, but he did look at you more frequently than normal though." Morgan implied.

"It's probably because I've been a mess the past few days." Emily explained, "I think my compartmentalization skills are suffering due to lack of sleep."

Morgan has seen it before, especially in himself and guessed, "Bad dreams?"

Emily nodded and then defended, "They will go away eventually."

"If you ever need to talk, Hotch can help, he helped me through mine. I know he's not the most likely person to help, but he gets them too. We all do." Morgan continued, "Gideon helped Reid through his. We all have them at some point."

"Thanks." Emily smiled grabbing her go bag. It was bad enough Hotch witnessed a near melt down she coudn't bare the thoughts of talking to him about this. For the moment she would just deal with the dreams on her own and try to ignore the blue, hollow eyes that peep out of the darkness, haunting her every waking moment.

I'd love to know what you thought! Thanks for reading!