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It had been three days since the funeral and Emily wouldn't let anyone in her house except for Reid. Various members of the team had asked to come visit, only to be shut out. Reid couldn't help but notice Emily's sunken in eyes, and tried to be strong for her.

The only time he allowed himself to truly let out his feelings was when he knew Emily was fast asleep. He let his head drop into his hands and he'd let the tears fall. He hurt so much because it was all his fault. He stayed up for hours, blaming himself, telling himself that he killed his own child. Hotch had tried talking to him, he had told him that it would feel like this for a time, but that it would get better. Yet, he felt like it would never go away.

He would dream of seeing his baby girl, but he could never see her face. All he saw was Emily holding a wrapped up pink blanket, smiling at the newborn. Reid always tried to reach them but he never could. Sometimes Emily would stare at him with accusation in her eyes and refuse to let him hold their baby. Those dreams were the worst.

He would wake up in a cold sweat. All he wanted in those moments was to hold Emily close to him, but she wouldn't let him. He wanted to express his sorrow and had no way to. He felt more alone those nights than he ever had before in his life.

XXX

Reid and Emily stepped into the bullpen together. Emily dropped his hand, and tried to stand confidently. Morgan noticed them before they saw him, and he stood up from his desk.

They made their way over towards him and he pulled Emily into a hug.

"Hey there Princess," He whispered.

Morgan couldn't help but notice how she felt so small in his arms. When they finally released he gave her a once over. She looked even worse than she had at the funeral. He guessed that the time had worn her down.

Emily stepped over to the side and made her way to the stairs to go to JJ's office, and Morgan's eyes landed on Reid. He placed his arms around him the same way he had Emily.

"It's nice to have you back K-," he stopped himself before he could call Reid kid. When he looked into his eyes, he saw clearly that he was no boy. A kid's eyes could not hold that much pain and sorrow. In front of him now stood a man.

Reid's eyes averted to the side to follow Emily as she walked into JJ's office. Morgan saw something in them that seemed to cover up his own pain. They now held a protective nature that seemed to take over, and push anything else out of the way.

"It's good to see you too," Reid finally answered, tearing his eyes away from the door that Emily had just closed behind herself.

"How are you doing?" Morgan asked seriously, his eyes filled with concern.

"I'm doing okay, but..." Reid glanced back up to the closed door.

Morgan nodded in understanding and rested his hand on the man's shoulder. "You know I'm here for you and Emily, right?"

Reid nodded. He had always known that.

XXX

When Emily stepped into JJ's office her nose was buried in a file.

"Don't you ever get a break from that stuff?" Emily asked.

JJ looked up from the file and smiled as she saw Emily standing there. "You can kid yourself that I ever get a day off." She laughed lightheartedly.

A smile twitched at Emily's lips and she sat down in the chair across from JJ's desk. JJ put the file down and looked at the woman across from her.

"It's good to see you, Emily." JJ reached out and took Emily's hand in hers.

"I missed you," Emily said looking elsewhere, "I just couldn't..."

"You don't need to explain anything Emily, I get it."

Emily looked up at her and a gracious smile crossed her lips. "Thank you for everything."

"Always."

The door opened behind Emily and Hotch stuck his head in. "JJ, we got a case, can you get Morgan?" He was about to close the door behind him when he noticed Emily sitting there.

"Hi Emily, I didn't see you come in." Hotch observed.

"Reid and I just got here a minute ago," She explained.

Hotch nodded and left the office to go get Rossi.

XXX

The team met in the conference room, but instead of JJ presenting the case, Hotch did. Rossi welcomed Reid and Emily before they started, but Hotch wanted to hurry.

"We got a call from Atlanta. They have had four murders over the past month." Hotch informed them.

"That's not much of a cooling off period," Morgan observed.

Hotch nodded and continued. "It looks to the police that he broke into their houses while they were alone and kidnapped them. He then took them to a secondary location to murder them and then brought them to the dump site. And not only has the murderer gotten away with these murders, but he has now started taunting the police. He places the bodies in public places, where there's prone to be a lot of foot traffic. He wants a maximum number of people to see these bodies before the cops get there."

"Who are the victims?" Emily asked hesitantly.

"That's the thing," Hotch started, "There were two women and two men, well, one man and one boy. Their ages ranged from eight to sixty eight. The Atlanta PD hasn't been able to find any discernible connection between the victims."

On the screen Hotch went through photos of the victims, there were before and after shots. As Emily saw the picture of a mutilated thirty two year old woman, she felt anger boil in the pit of her stomach. Next was a photo of a man, he looked to be around sixty. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from saying anything about it. Her vision blurred with anger.

But the worst came when the picture of the eight year old boy came across the screen.

The last time she could remember herself being this mad was about a month ago with Reid.

XXX

Emily sat at the kitchen table. Spencer kept his eyes down.

"Spencer." She said.

"I'm sorry." He said immediately, always keeping his eyes down. Emily sighed angrily, she hated that Reid blamed himself for the death of Sophia. She couldn't watch him do this to himself any longer.

"Look. At. Me." She growled out. She almost regretted her harsh tone when she saw Reid's pained eyes. His behavior made her so mad.

"Emily..." He started. She stood up and stepped forward, taking a moment to forget her sadness and let herself be angry.

"You need to stop blaming yourself." She said, "I'm sick of you pretending that it is your fault. It's not!" She tried to control her voice, but as she started at Reid, it was like she couldn't hold in the anger.

"If I had protected you..." His hands fidgeted almost violently with each other.

"Spencer! Listen to me right now. I have put up with you guilting yourself for a month and a half. I won't let this go on anymore." Emily almost stopped when she saw the hurt look in the soft brown eyes that began to shine.

"Sophia is gone, but it's nothing you did. You. Did. Not. Kill. Her. Get that through your genius brain!" Emily yelled at him. Her eyes were on fire, she was enraged to the point of tears. He didn't kill Sophia. He wasn't the one carrying her, Emily held this guilt alone.

"Don't you dare say you're sorry." Emily warned, "Tell me that you know it's not your fault."

"I-It's not my fault." Reid whispered. Emily wiped away the lonely tear that began making its way down his face. Emily let her hand rest on his cheek, he leaned into the touch that had become almost foreign.

"Can you look me in the eye now without berating yourself?" Emily asked gently, all anger previously in her system gone. Reid nodded and Emily kissed his cheek.

"Thanks Emmy." Reid said. Emily was startled at the nickname. Spencer hadn't called her Emmy in a long time. And for once the name didn't annoy her.

In fact, it was the only time Emily had come close to smiling since they lost the baby. And in that moment, Emily knew it was important to keep Reid close. Because as of right now, all they had were each other.