Here's chapter 3 of Poster Child. I hope you enjoy! (:

There was a woman beside him who would not stop talking about her son in Hollywood. He was some hot-shot with a manuscript and all. He seemed to have it going for him. The thing is, with those guys, they're really snobby with really snobby parents and they spend Sunday afternoons golfing and they own resorts and nice cars and have a different woman with them every time you see them. Anyway, this woman would not stop going on about how successful her son was. That was great and all, but Aaron really didn't want to hear about him. He wanted the damn plane to take off and all, since he really needed to get home to his family.

"Sorry about that," she said. "My son's getting married on Tuesday. We wanted an Autumn wedding, but I guess a Winter wedding will do. What's going on with you?"

Hotch didn't really want to say that his daughter had gone missing and now he was leaving work to make it home. He really didn't. He wanted to say he was visiting wealthy relative somewhere in Washington, but it wasn't like she was going to believe that.

"I've just come off a job," he said, turning to the plane window. It was stupid, really. He was in a big plane with loads of people when he could've taken a private jet home. What was the point, anyway? He wasn't even thinking when he booked his flight home. To him, it was all or nothing.

"You've got to get her blanket, too," Henry told his mother as he jumped onto Grace's bed. It had a nice white frame and a beautiful lilac bedding. It went really nicely with her light yellow walls. It was very delicate, much like their beloved Grace. "You've gotta get her purple one."

"What about her pink one?" Jennifer responded, digging through a big box of linens that Grace had beside her bed. Her room got all cold and all, being in the attic, and she was always bundled up in loads of blankets so she wouldn't freeze. "God, Henry, all of them look the same. You have to help me."

"It's her purple sign language one with the–"

"I've got it," JJ said. "You could've just told me that at first." Grace's purple sign language blanket was one of her favourites. She got it the day the doctors realized she was deaf and all. It was a really pretty orchid colour with 'Love' written on it in sign language. It was so neat and it made everyone want one. They were going to take it to the police to help with the case. It was going to help.

"So, what happens if we don't find Grace, then?" Henry asked, following his mother out of Grace's room. There was a door to the landing outside of her room, which led to the stairs. The stairs led down to the second floor.

"Life carries on," JJ told him. "At Christmas, we'll put presents on her bed, and on each of her birthdays, we'll have a cake and celebrate."

"But what about Ben and Tyler? They have the same birthday."

"Ben and Tyler will be fine. We'll light an extra candle for Grace if she's not back yet, I promise. And, like every year, we'll sign-sing Happy Birthday to her, wherever she is."

"That sounds nice," Henry said to Jennifer when they reached the second floor hallway. "But I miss her." Jennifer pulled her son in close to her and kissed his head.

"So do we," she said. "But it'll be okay."

"Why aren't you crying or freaking out?" Jack asked. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do when somebody goes missing?" He was walking into the office, where his mother had set up a search for Grace. "Aren't you supposed to cry and freak out and go to the police?"

"No," JJ said. "I mean, yes, yes, you can freak out and cry. But everybody deals differently. Your father doesn't cry unless it's very, very bad. I've only seen him cry a few times."

"When? Because I know he cried when my mom died," Jack told her. "I bet he cried when Ben, Tyler and Grace were born."

"He did," JJ said, smiling. "We both cried, actually. As soon as they took Tyler out, he looked at me and we smiled at each other and just cried, we were so happy. And you should've watched him hold Benjamin for the first time. They were a few months old when we held them for the first time, but it was enough to make him cry. He was so scared."

"Of what?" Jack asked. He had been told about what happened with the triplets and why they were so tiny and delicate and all, but he wasn't really able to understand how serious their health problem was. "Of Grace and stuff?"

"Sort of," JJ said. She was always saying 'sort of', mostly because she didn't know what to say. "We were terrified of their size. They weighed less than a pound each and they were all put on life machines because they couldn't breathe on their own. And then came Grace's stuff, which you know about. Your father doesn't like crying, you know that?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "He's really private." He was quick to steer the conversation back to the original topic. "But, I thought when your kid goes missing, you cry and yell and get mad...or are you private too?"

"I'm not private, at least not with you guys. Right now, I am trying to be as calm as I can because panicking will only make things worse." She used to panic. She used to panic a lot, actually. Back when it was her, Will and Henry, she would panic whenever Henry got lost in the grocery store. He'd be in the next aisle, but it killed her.

"I bet Grace'll be back soon," Jack said after a moment of silence.

"You do?" JJ replied. "Hopefully."

It was nine o'clock by the time Aaron reached home. He pulled up on the driveway in a hurry and practically hopped out of the car. He could hear the boys inside exclaiming, "daddy's home!" which made his heart pound even faster than it already was. The bastard would probably jump out of his chest if it got the opportunity.

"I'm home," he said as he walked inside. He wasn't loud or anything because he could see Benjamin fast asleep on the sofa. Tyler was at the door, jumping up to hug his father. They hugged and Hotch placed a kiss on his son's head. "Where's mommy?"

"She's in your office," Tyler said. "She's trying to find Grace."

"Technically, it's our office," Aaron corrected as he dropped his briefcase by the door. He brushed right past Tyler and hurried into the office, where his wife was busy looking up stuff on missing children. "Hey."

JJ looked up.

"You're home...I didn't think you'd–"

"I didn't think I would, either. I got off at four. I need you to tell me everything."

"How?" JJ asked. "They won't even let me read her case file. We're not allowed to do anything because we're her parents. I'm about to send a complaint, it's so stupid."

Aaron walked into the room fully and stood by his wife. "Can I have a hug?" He asked. "Do you want a hug?"

JJ nodded and threw her arms around his waist from where she was sitting. She held onto him tightly and breathed in his scent. You could tell she had missed him.

"You need a hug," he concluded, running his hands up and down her back in soothing patterns, just the way she liked it.

They stayed like that for a little while, peacefully holding each other, until JJ stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was level with him now, although much shorter, but she liked it. She didn't speak, she just closed her eyes and allowed him to comfort her. It wasn't long before she pulled away from him and looked into his sad eyes.

"Our daughter," she said, her bottom lip curling up as she started to cry. "She's gone, Aaron, she's gone."

"I know," Aaron said. He really wanted to cry, but the thing is with crying, it makes your face all sticky and then you've got to wash it. But why wash away tears that meant something? "I'm scared." This man was never scared. Never has he ever been so terrified of anyone in his life. His father, well, his father was a different story. Nothing scared him. But this, this was entirely new. Never in a million years did he think about his little girl being ripped away from him.

"Me too," she said as she trembled.

And then they held each other again, because that was all they could do

Nightfall came. It went quickly, getting everyone ready for bed. The boys were quick to fall asleep. Aaron and Jennifer walked around the house and made sure all of the doors and windows were locked. They somehow found themselves in Grace's room. It was dark, not at all scary, and was inviting. Her untouched stuffed animals sat on her dresser and her favourite lilac onesie was resting on the foot of the bed. Some piano sheet music was scattered on the music stand beside her little keyboard. They had a piano downstairs that she liked to play on. She was quite good at it, too. Her white curtains blew with the breeze and Jennifer went over to close the windows.

"I almost want to stay up all night," she said. "But it won't do me any good, will it?"

"I don't think so," Aaron replied. "Come on."

JJ took Grace's onesie off of her bed and held it closely as she went downstairs to the second floor. She went into the master bedroom and placed it gently on the bed. It had her smell, her sweet, child-like smell.

"I'll be out in a minute," she said as she walked into the bathroom. "Wait for me."

"I will," Hotch said, taking his dress shirt off. He threw it on the floor along with his pants and socks. It was a rather cold night, so he put on woolen pyjama bottoms and a short sleeved t-shirt. He then walked into the bathroom, where JJ was putting toothpaste on her toothbrush. "How long do you think it'll be?" He asked.

"Until Grace is back?" She replied, raising the toothbrush to her mouth. She was hesitant to start brushing her teeth, as she was afraid her husband would say something that would stop her heart.

"I think it'll be a while," Hotch said. "Like, you said the woman had a diabetes sticker on her car...you think that's her motive? Diabetes? It makes sense, but you can't just look at someone and say they've got diabetes."

"Unless," JJ said, spitting toothpaste out. "Unless she's been stalking her." She put the toothbrush back in her mouth and watched her husband prepare his toothbrush. It was silent, then, for the crevices of their poorly minds were filled with fear and anxiety for their young daughter, crippling them from believing all was well. And then, out of the blue, Aaron took his toothbrush out of his mouth and placed it on the counter and started talking.

"Grace might not even be hurt. Maybe...maybe the woman took her because of someone she lost? It would make sense, you know...but, think about it, JJ. Grace might be fine."

"Seriously?" JJ exclaimed, putting her toothbrush back into its jar. She wiped her mouth and splashed water on her face. "You think this is all okay because she might not be in pain? What do you think will happen when she wakes up in the morning, if she wakes up? What? You think she'll accept the fact that she'll never see Mommy and Daddy again? 'Cause she won't; she's got attachment issues, and you know that."

"I'm just trying to think of all the possibilities. Some people don't even realize what they're doing is wrong. Maybe that's how this woman thinks—"

"And what if she's got guys at her place that are dying to feast on little girls? We don't know anything, so can we please leave it at that?"

Aaron was quick to accept Jennifer's dismissal. It was very late, and they were both extremely tired and scared at the same time.

"I'm going to bed," JJ mumbled, pulling her shirt over her head. She threw on her favourite sweater—Aaron's soccer sweater, and crawled into bed. She held on to Grace's onesie and inhaled its scent. She felt empty. A piece of her had gone missing. She wanted to cry and get drunk. What a lousy way of dealing with a problem, drinking. But it certainly didn't stop her from thinking about it. JJ had only gotten drunk a few times. She didn't like it. It was fun until the feeling she got afterwards. She still went out to bars and all, but she wouldn't get so drunk that she'd have a hangover the next day.

"Okay, Jen, I didn't mean it the way you think," Aaron reasoned, turning off the bathroom light as he left it. "I'm just saying, we've got to think of everything."

"I know," JJ said, sitting up. She propped a pillow up behind her. "I want to find her and I don't want to think about that."

"We've got to talk about this tomorrow, you know."

"Yes, but not tonight. This can't be all we talk about."

Aaron nodded and turned off the bedroom light. He crawled into bed alongside his wife and laid down. He wanted to fall asleep and stay asleep forever, he really did. He had gotten someone to cover for him at work and he'd worked up the courage to tell everyone what had happened with Grace. If you must know, Penelope Garcia started to bawl, really. Grace never felt close with many people, but to her godmother, she was very attached. Spencer Reid, her godfather, was left speechless. For someone with a helluva lot to say, he surprised everyone. Everybody was mostly in shock. They'd been trained to respond without emotion, but it's different when it's your family.

"You still up?" Aaron asked quietly.

"Of course," JJ mumbled. "Do you think I'm gonna fall asleep?"

"No; I can't sleep either."

JJ turned over and rolled right into her husband's arms. If she could go back to that morning, she would. Grace pissed her off, she wasn't afraid to admit that. Kids piss you off at times. But it hurts like hell when you can't see them.

"What do you think is gonna happen tomorrow?" She asked.

"Well," Hotch started. "An amber alert has been sent out, so we wait. I'm sure they'll find some sort of clue and we'll get her back."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

I hope you liked chapter 3! This is my favourite chapter so far. It's written nicely and flows well, I think. Please leave a review! (: